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I am in the initial collecting phase for a Mechanicus army where most of the models are in power armour. While the majority of Skitarii are in flak armour, power armour is not uncommon, and even an equivalent of terminator armour has been seen. I know that most people build Mechanicus lists based on Codex: IG, but I am interested in building a force that is a little more elite, combines power armoured and non-power armoured troops, and would have some interesting subjects for conversions. Right now, I am debating between Codex: SoB, and Codex: GK. Both combine PA and non-PA troops, and have some interesting entries to represent the arcane-tech of the Mechanicus. I am leaning toward SoB because I think that the power-armoured skitarii would be less battle-effective than a standard astartes, well-repped by the SoB statline. The GK codex offers a ton of options for making cool counts as Mechanicus, but the basic GK doesn't seem like it is that fluffy as a skitarii. I just figured that I would open this up as a topic to glean some insight from you fine folks.

Have you thought about the tyrant's legion list from IA9? But with just those two, I'd go with GK as there is more flexibility. Hope I helped

Thanks for the tip, and the Tyrant's legion list definitely fits the combining PA and IG type troops criteria. I think that some of the mechanics would not fit what I am trying, namely the rules involving the marines killing off auxiliaries to mantain discipline. That was a good read though, and I had not seen that list before. I am leaning toward the GK codex, as it has a lot of tactical flexibility, and I think that its henchmen options allow a lot of freedom to build some cool Mechanicus conversions. Here are some of the unit entries that I think will work and their related Mechanicus unit:

Grey Knight Purifiers and Strike squads - Auxilia Myrmidon (Siege warfare specialists)
Inquisitor Coteaz - Magos
Inquisitor Valeria - Magos
Arco-flagellant - Electro-Priest
Crusader - Skitarii Guard with Storm Shield
Death Cult Assassin - Legio Cybernetica close combat robot (seen this done before, and it was pretty cool)
Jokaero - Jokaero, or some kind of techno-savant
Psyker - I was thinking some kind of Omnissiah choir? Possibly with some kind of weapon focusing their prayers.
Warrior Acolyte - Skitarii guard
Dreadnought - Piloted Dreadnought, with a cockpit
Dreadknight - A smaller version of the knight titan. I would use the DK model and buils a titan looking cockpit around the baby carrier.

Fluffwise, I like the idea of them using some xeno tech, so I thought that it would make sense for this to be a warband led by a radical Magos Xenologis. This would be an elite fighting force meant to capture and study xeno tech. Would explain any conflict with imperial forces, as well as xenos.

As much as I don't want to recommend it, the GK codex is the closest.

Cheers, I had the same feelings. I am thinking that the Dreadknights would be better as Myrmidon assault engines, fits the Auxilia fluff a bit better. The psychic powers would be explained by archaeo-tech that was held on to by the Auxilia from pre-imperial days, and by xeno tech that the magos have discovered. I think that one of the Magos will be an explorator, probably Coteaz. Once I build a list, I may also include a Techmarine.

I have a horrible feeling that we'll end up with an Auxilia Myrmidon - Spam list...

Unfortunately the GK are the closest.

Servitor units as troops.
Carapace-armored line troops.
Lots of walkers.
Lots of high-tech gadgets.
Techmarines, of course.

The problem is, try to stay away from psychic powers. You can make *some* rationalization, like how Fortitude is just a powerful Machine-Spirit or something. But it really isn't fluffy with so much psychic.

EDIT:

I personally use Black Templars for a couple of reasons:

1)Access to the Armory leads to individual kitting-out of heroes, and the Mechanicus' techpriests don't seem to be too uniform.
2)Two-wound Techmarines with, again, access to the tech-gadgets in the Armory.
3)Carapace-armored men alongside power-armored men in the line troops.
4)Blessed-hull land raiders are literally stated to be blessed by the Omnissiah.
5)Machine-Spirits in every vehicle.

Admech?
You are not limited to the Codex of just imperial forces.

Have a look at Eldar, or Tau. Or even Necrons...

I use Chaos Marines. All he fun of Loyalist codex's, all the crazy inventions of Chaos.

@Bap: I would love to spam the Myrmidon Assault Engines, but I don't think I will be able to afford more than 1 or maybe 2 of the DK's needed for the conversion. I am planning on scratch-building a Knight Titan with house rules for apoc games. BTW, what do people think of the BOLS Knight Titan rules?

@Unit: I may make robots that accompany the units to represent the psychic powers, kind of like Tau drones (may even use them for the conversion), only the models themselves would just be markers. Defensive powers would be the equivalent of a shield drone, offensive would be some kind of energy field that buffs their armour. Perils would represent a malfunction. They could also be explained by wetware, or some kind of personal hardware. Other potential would be some kind of programming routine transmitted by the magos. I am pretty set on the GK Codex, but I will definitely check out the BT, sounds like it has some promise.

@motorhead: You are absolutely right, and I considered using non-imperial forces. To be honest, I want to be able to use the Imperial vehicles that I have for my space wolves (Rhinos, Land Raiders) in addition to whatever vehicles I pick up specifically for admech use (chimeras, Stormravens...). Without heavy conversion work, it would be tough to make a rhino that could represent a wave serpent, and I still want to be able to use those vehicles for my wolves. Tau would be really cool though, talk about a focus on the walkers

@Jon: I would consider Chaos, but I already have wolves, and they have a similar playstyle. Defilers would make great stand-ins for Myrmidon Assault Engines though, and the possessed vehicle rules would make sense.

If you're willing to use Xenos codeci,

The Ork Codex actually (and hilariously) is rather fitting.

1) They repair better than normal tech-priests (4+ vs base 5+)
2) They have lots of walkers (not that there's something inherently Mechanicus about walkers other than "higher-tech" then tanks)*
3) They can have an invuln save from army-wide cybernetics
4) Their Str 3 T 4 statline is reminiscent of cybernetic humans
5) They have a "make your own vehicle" section in the Looted Wagon
6) They have a wide array of options in the technology department (i.e. upgrades on their vehicles and goons)
7) A Warboss statline isn't too different from a Magos Militant
7a) Nobs make great Praetorian Battle Servitors to go with said Magos.
8) A Mekboy statline (and options) isn't too different from a high-ranking enginseer

IMHO of course

*don't get me started - I dislike walkers, ironically.

I think you could probably argue a good case for almost any codex if you are creative enough. In the end I think you should figure out which codex you like best and see if it can fit your vision of the mechanicum. After all the adeptus mechanicus is an awfully big and varied organization. IMHO I think the codices I would consider would be grey knights or orks. I would stay away from tau, as even though they have the high tech look they lack any close combat punch and the mechanicus love a good combat servitor.

I might actually say necrons, with their high-tech equipment, units and vehicles, they might make good mechanicus. Warriors could = skittari, immortals could = elite skittari, lord/overlord could = magos, and so on.

Its only IMHO.

@Unit: I would not have ever considered orks to be honest, but your break down is awesome and would lead to an interesting army. The main problem that I see is a lack good vehicle listings in the ork codex for mechanicus. I don't really see them rolling around in open-topped low-AV vehicles. This also brings it back to scratch-building almost all of the vehicles, which would be cool, but I would rather put the effort into the troop conversions.

@Kurtz: Another vote for orks, I'm stoked that people are being that creative with it. You are right, any codex could be made to fit the concept. I think that I am limiting myself to Imperial because of the ease of using my other imperial vehicles, and for there being less counts-as confusion on the gaming table.

@Robotlol: Necrons would be cool, but what would make a good monolith counts-as? Honestly, you could kit bash an entire mechanicus army from necron and IG models.

Twinkle Starchild wrote:

@Robotlol: Necrons would be cool, but what would make a good monolith counts-as? Honestly, you could kit bash an entire mechanicus army from necron and IG models.

The monolith could be a kind of mini-titan or Experimental high-tech tank/newly discovered STC. I've seen each of them pulled of very well.
Just IMHO.

Pull units and vehicles from multiple codices, perhaps? Orkish troops and Meks, IG tanks (though some of the Ork weapons and upgrade options, perhaps? Grot riggers especially would fit well), with Necron Fast Attack and Tau Heavies.

You don't want to go dark mechanicum, don't you?
Because if you would, you could consider something like a Kaban machine for a monolith. http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Kaban_Machine#.T4jK4DIdZUQ

In the german article we got this fancy picture of it:
http://wh40k.lexicanum.de/mediawiki/images/6/63/Kaban-machine-1.jpg

What I want to say is, the Mechanicus is barely covered in the fluff at all, especially the warengines, so if you found a codex entry which doesn't fit too well in the existing fluff, be creative and write your own lumbering siegemachine or crazy flesh-iron-hybridsoldier, name it adequately and everyone will be fine with it.

I think the idea with the orks work quite fine. For high armorvalues you have got the BW (how can buy an upgrade to be not open top anymore) and you would have a wide range of walkers. The problem I see in themis the BS. How would you declare that nearly all of your technologically enhanced soldiers shoot so much worse than your humble machine spirit in a land raider?

Tyranids, seriously, think about it.


You could have the big beasts be Legio Cybernetica robots (with customized weaponry / biomorphs).
Tons of small creatures could be regular skitarii / techno-guard. And the cream of the crop Tyrnaid units could be Magos.

Additionally, Synapse just fits in with Robots and a chain of command imo.

@Robotlol: Good call. It would be an interesting build, I haven't built something with that degree of free-range before. It would still need to be roughly Monolith size and function. I am all about counts-as, but I am not fond of having models that can't be clearly defined on the tabletop as what they are representing. Any Ideas?

@Anvil: I appreciate the thought, but I am trying to stick to one codex for the sake of playability. My gaming groups is pretty flexible, but that would stretch it.

@Shadox: Awesome piece of fluff I have never seen before. If I went with necrons, I would definitely go with that as a 'lith. Good points about the orks, and you are right that the Closed top BW would work as a counts-as mechanicum transport. What to base the model on though? Some kind of multi-leg walker would be cool, but that would be some serious scratch-building. The BS is an issue, and to be honest, I have played orks before, and I don't know if I would want to commit to playing that as a list again. The kans having better BS than the dreads also seems a bit counter-intuitive.

@Dood: I just sold off my tyranid army, and I am not that interested in playing them again. The counts-as is pretty solid, and gaunts/gants representing CC/shooty skitarii would be cool. The main problem that I see is with the HQs. In order for the models to approximate the size of a tyrant, or even a prime, the Magos would pretty much have to be in walkers. In some ways this would be very cool. Also, having no transports (other than maybe spores) takes away the issue of scratch-building a bunch of them. I think that I am pretty set on building an elite army rather than a horde.

While I stand that Nidzilla / Legio Cybernetica would fit real nice, and the size isn't a problem at all, Legion Cybernetica has huge robots (Dreadnaught sized and bigger). Plus Magos could always make themselves bigger or mount a robot. Having said that, I can see wanting a gamestyle change.

Necrons would be extremely easy to work with and offer plenty of power and eliteness. But I don't know, it would feel a bit cheesy.

One final idea that may work and offer a varied yet elite style force could be Dark Eldar, pack plenty of Grotesques as Ogryn-Servitors (Preatorians) with guns, have several skimmers as high-tech vehicles and throw in some nice high I troops as bionic enchanced Skitarri.

Just to prove the point, I will also throw in Eldar. Well-armored skimmers, including jetbikes, and LOTS of walker options:
Warlocks - Initiates
Farseers - Magos
Guardians - Carapace armored skitarii
Aspect warriors - Various Elite Skitarii
Wraithlords and Wraithguard - Big and medium walker bots requiring programming guidance
Walkers - Piloted walkers
Avatar - No messing around walker piloted by a Magos

Wow, I think that we have officially covered every codex.

WAIT: I don't think we covered DA.

1) AV14 Skimmer
2) Imperial Jetbike = high tech
3) more techmarines than anyone else (1 per tank in heavy and elite slots)

(That's all I got. :/)

Grey Knights.


No other book has even half the flexibility for going wild with innovative army. That book is any true hobbyist wish come true and more. Use it and never look back.

Zweischneid wrote:Grey Knights.


No other book has even half the flexibility for going wild with innovative army. That book is any true hobbyist wish come true and more. Use it and never look back.

Yes, innovative! (Overpowered) Yes, hobbyist wish come true! (WAAC army) Yes, never look back! (Cause they can be overpowered and cheesy, to make you win!)