Faction Focus – The Mechanicum

For today’s look into the rules and tactics of the Age of Darkness we are joined by Scribeservitor-2Ɣ as the representative of our staunch allies in the Mechanicum. 

The Horus Heresy was the darkest of times for the Legiones Astartes, and it’s often remembered as ‘their war’. But while the Legions fought for the fate of the Imperium, the Mechanicum fought for something far greater: freedom and knowledge. Long shackled by the dictates of the Emperor, some saw opportunity in Horus’ betrayal as a chance to break free from Terra’s oversight and embrace forbidden science, while those who remained loyal fought with cold and emotionless logic in an effort to preserve the tenets of the Machine God.

Building the Taghmata

Mechanicum armies in this edition embrace the ‘masters of puppets’ theme so prevalent in the Horus Heresy novels. At its core, your Primary Detachment will be entirely composed of Archmagos, Magos, and Tech Priest units, with each belonging to a High Tech Arcana – from the unbreakable automata of the Cybernetica and the sinister priests of the Myrmidax cult to the endless hordes of the Lacrymaerta and the massed armour of the Macrotek. Your Auxiliary and Apex Detachments comprise the bulk of your forces, and all units in each must share the same High Tech Arcana* – your magi are bringing their own personal retinues to battle with them! 

Bringing an Archmagos unlocks one of six unique Apex Detachments focused around their particular High Tech Arcana, which further improves the units in that Detachment through Prime Advantages. For example, an Archmagos from the Macrotek can bring up to three Armour units and three Heavy Transports in an Iron Phalanx Apex Detachment, which all benefit from the Macrotek’s Prime Conveyor – blessing them with increased armour, hull points, and transport capacity!

Mechanicum armies in the past tended to have a lower model count than Legion armies and were primarily focused around Cybernetica automata, Reductor Thallax cohorts or Myrmidax units. 

While lacking the massed firepower and furious combat prowess of the Legiones Astartes or the mass of infantry and armour like the Solar Auxilia, the Mechanicum have always been one of the more durable armies in the game, shrugging off hits that would destroy elite Legion units. That resilience remains in their new rules but, with the advent of damage profiles, it is a little easier to bring them down than before. However, Mechanicum units are generally cheaper now – so you can take more! 

Weapons of the Magos

Each of the sub-factions of the Mechanicum now gain access to Cybertheurgic Rites – powerful buffing abilities that mean your Magi and Tech-priests will be even more important when getting the best out of your units, enabling you to make them faster, stronger and tougher. My favourite of the Rites so far is Flesh-knit Protocols available to Lacrymaerta Tech-priests, allowing them to boost the Movement and Initiative or the Strength and Toughness of Ursarax models, closely followed by the Ordo Reductor’s Unseal the Portals, which can force a Transport, Building, or Fortification to immediately eject anyone inside it before suffering Cybertheurgic feedback! 

Offensively, the Mechanicum make use of more esoteric weaponry, having access to more arc, lightning, and rad weaponry than any other army. Many of these weapons have the potential to impose Tactical Statuses on enemy units, weakening their targets in a barrage of coruscating energies. They are no slouch in melee combat either with significant improvements to Ursarax, Scyllax, and Vorax, giving the Mechanicum fast and lethal combat units capable of holding their own against their Terran counterparts. 

Standout units

It’s hard to choose a favourite unit in this army as so many have seen significant improvements in character and usefulness, but if you held a lightning gun to my head I would have to pick the Domitar Battle Automata or the Krios battle tank. Domitars have had their armour save improved to a 2+ and the combination of graviton hammers, Domitar fists and a cyclone missile launcher means they pack quite the punch. Dreadnoughts and Terminators beware! 

The Krios is a fast and resilient battle tank which is the ultimate infantry killer from the red sands of Mars. Its primary armament, the lightning cannon, is now a weapon to be feared with Shred (5+), Breaching (5+), and Suppressive (1) coupled with Damage 2, so there isn’t much the Krios can’t threaten. 

Although the pre-schism Mechanicum is the focus of this book, it’s also great to see updated profiles for the Dark Mechanicum's Brass Scorpion and Kytan, making them immense Automata instead of Vehicles so devious tech priests can attempt to further enhance their already impressive statlines!

For me personally, the Mechanicum are the most visually unique army in the Horus Heresy and they now have a playstyle to match. They are an army of synergy at heart, where your Command and Troops choices must work hard to improve and coordinate the combined forces of the Taghmata – with spectacular results!

Thank you, servitor! We’re going from lightning guns to lasrifles tomorrow, as we ship out with the Solar Auxilia.

* They only need to share the High Tech Arcana with other units in the Detachment, not every unit in your army.