Mechanicus??

[dark messenger]

So whatever you call them (gearheads, cogboys, etc) it seems they are the red-robed blood that slicks the gears of the imperial war machine.
Lest we forget, the two-headed eagle of the Imperium (supposedly) symbolises the partnership between the Terran and Martian empires.

The tech-priests make the shiny guns, the bada*s tanks, the myriad starships and the stomping titans.
But does anyone actually play them?

In my 8 years at my local gaming club, I have seen all sorts both tabletop and electronic, miniatures and cards. The 40K scene here is quite popular, but never once have I seen anyone walk in and field a Mechanicus army!

Is there some kind of stigma attached to them? Some gamer voodoo that everyone steers clear of?

I don't know much about the Mechs but considering the amount of tech they have at their disposal, they should be nearly as good as the Tau right?

Only reason I don't play them myself is the whole "heretic cyborg people" vibe they have kinda creeps me out a little...

Incidentally, apologies if this has already been posted but I couldn't find what I was looking for so I made thread.

[Wolfshade]

The biggest trouble for them is the question of how to play them.
They don't have a codex, nor have they so we are left having to proxy them.
Then is how do they look? We have some descriptions of them and a few Blanche pictures but no models so they will be an entirely scratch built force which i think is slightly beyond the average gamer.

I think I have only seen this as Imperial Guard, indeed a lovely force is found here http://www.lounge.belloflostsouls.net/showthread.php?6462-Adeptus-Mechanicus-Imperial-Guard-a-WIP-blog

Oh found this which is a Grey Knights count-as going through the henchman route
http://www.lounge.belloflostsouls.net/showthread.php?15830-Adeptus-Mechanicus

And miteyheroes has a nice little blog about his Ad-Mech http://admech.blogspot.co.uk/ which is worth a read through as he has some neat conversions.

A space marine list as ad-mech
http://www.warseer.com/forums/showthread.php?176971-Jimbobjeffs-Skitarii-cohort



:D

[Pendragon38]

The biggest trouble for them is the question of how to play them.
They don't have a codex, nor have they so we are left having to proxy them.
Then is how do they look? We have some descriptions of them and a few Blanche pictures but no models so they will be an entirely scratch built force which i think is slightly beyond the average gamer.

I think I have only seen this as Imperial Guard, indeed a lovely force is found here http://www.lounge.belloflostsouls.net/showthread.php?6462-Adeptus-Mechanicus-Imperial-Guard-a-WIP-blog

Oh found this which is a Grey Knights count-as going through the henchman route
http://www.lounge.belloflostsouls.net/showthread.php?15830-Adeptus-Mechanicus

And miteyheroes has a nice little blog about his Ad-Mech http://admech.blogspot.co.uk/ which is worth a read through as he has some neat conversions.

A space marine list as ad-mech
http://www.warseer.com/forums/showthread.php?176971-Jimbobjeffs-Skitarii-cohort



:DThey used to have models in the early 90s with a list of weapons and troops you could
take in WD.

[Mr Mystery]

Horus Heresy books are slowly introducing Mechanicus....

So far? One character and one troops choice. But it's a start.

Or at least it will be once the models are released.

[Wolfshade]

They used to have models in the early 90s with a list of weapons and troops you could
take in WD.

From '89 winter retail catalgoue
http://www.solegends.com/citcat89/c894011impguard-01.jpg
http://www.solegends.com/citcat89/c894009robots-01.jpg

That's all I could find :(
Certainly the roborts are Ad-Mech (c.f. A Thousand Sons) but the Ad-Mech just look like what became Techmarines

[rtmaitreya]

From '89 winter retail catalgoue

That's all I could find :(
Certainly the roborts are Ad-Mech (c.f. A Thousand Sons) but the Ad-Mech just look like what became Techmarines

The robot maniples are done either as terminators (they're about the same size as modern terminators) or as sentinels, depending on your army list.

You need carapace and power armor, lots of vehicles and artillery type things for Admech, which supposes an IG list with SM allies, or vice versa. Lots of work is the problem, or access to a lot of very hard to find miniatures. You won't see too many of these armies. Squats are easier, because, y'know, dwarves, so they can be modeled or augmented based on small quantities of ancient miniatures and plenty of modern ones. Admech takes work no matter what you do.

RTM

[Gotthammer]

Robots are part of the Legio Cybernetica which is, like the Collegia Titanica, a subset of the Mechanicus that is quasi-autonomous. Those old models were also essentially add ons to the IG army of the day much like Enginseers are now. The models for robots are a fair bit larger than Terminators, at least in height if not breadth.

And for AdMech I field a pair of Titans with IG support - sentinels and horde infantry for screening.

[Houghten]

I was under the impression that the Legio Cybernetica was an entirely different faction from the priesthood of Mars...

[dark messenger]

I must admit, despite my personal reservations about the Mechs, there is some beautiful work done on those models. Very impressive.
Seeing all this evidence that points to the Mechs being a unique and very striking force when assembled and painted makes me wonder why they don't have their own army. That was news to me btw.

I thought GW would be proud to release models of skitarii and servitors? Plus the many ways the tech-priests themselves are a combination of man/machine - even so far as to be part-man, part-tank...
It's a miniature maker's dream surely? How much cash they could spin off it?

I know it's mostly curiosity for me, but I'd like to see a Mechanicus army in action. I'd love to know what they'd be capable of.

[Wolfshade]

I suppose that the skitarii and other forces can be built into whatever form the arch-magos (?) (forge leader) wants them to be

[dark messenger]

Because I don't play Gothic or even with the larger models (titans) I have very little exposure to that specific faction. I always thought that the Mech armies always marched alongside the giant war engines?
At least from the few scraps I've picked up in the odd codex and from reading many of the BL books, that's just how I thought the Mechs rolled?

So I gotta ask how expensive it would be to collect these old models and convert some new ones into a Mechanicus army? Coz I'm kinda curious now, and I doubt adding some techmarines to my army really counts lol

[miteyheroes]

This thread makes me want to finish my Knight Titans... And I've got plans to do more robots and Space Crusade-style dreadnoughts... Maybe next year.

I also have a big box of vintage techpriests I've collected from ebay that need to be painted... So many plans, such little time!

[Gotthammer]

Because I don't play Gothic or even with the larger models (titans) I have very little exposure to that specific faction. I always thought that the Mech armies always marched alongside the giant war engines?
At least from the few scraps I've picked up in the odd codex and from reading many of the BL books, that's just how I thought the Mechs rolled?

There are two common scenarios for Titan deployment:

1st is where the AdMech send some Titans to aid an Imperial war effort (Vraks for instance). The Titans will often be rolling solo, relying on the Imperial forces for protection.

2nd is where the AdMech decide to wreck face themselves, when they will have hordes of Skitarii along with them (as shown in Titanicus).

Of course some of the attatched deployments will also have Skitarii present (Priests of Mars), but sometimes the Titans do march alone (though the Titan Legions do maintain their own ground forces independent of their Forge Worlds armies).

The Legio Cybernetica has almost zero background, but operates in basically the same way but on a smaller scale.



So I gotta ask how expensive it would be to collect these old models and convert some new ones into a Mechanicus army? Coz I'm kinda curious now, and I doubt adding some techmarines to my army really counts lol

Not overly - biggest hurdle will simply be finding some of them. I'm missing a couple of robots for my collection as they're quite rare, but have only paid around 10-20 dollars for the couple I've ebayed. The older techpriests will potentially be more pricey as they have more demand due to being usable in modern games without proxying.

[White Tiger88]

Hmmmm i would order the forgeworld titan tech priests they are as Mechanicus looking as you can get! (And have awesome little pokey parts)

[ElectricPaladin]

Because I don't play Gothic...

You really should. It's a great game, and the Mechanicus is a fully developed (sub)faction. You should give it a shot...