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Since I have always loved the AdMech and wanted to play them, the new Forgeworld rules set had me incredibly excited from the start. However, nobody in my local game group plays 30 k, so I have been playing with other 40 k armies and trying to gauge which units are fun, and which are overtuned by 30k's over saturation of marine armies. I've come to the conclusion that, while theres nothing that's OP on the scale of Codex: Wave Serpents or Codex: Riptides, there are a few things clearly balanced based on their usage vs marines and not other armies. So you may want to take care with a couple combinations in particular, but in general the army has more weaknesses than strengths moving from 30k to 40k- in particular, it has a lot of unnecessary low AP items that are too expensive for their points cost in certain situations.

HQ: Magos Prime

I have tried several different load outs for my Magos, to varying degrees of success. Ranked here from least to most recommended.

Malagra: clearly intended as a monster/character hunter, the Malagra sounds cool on paper, but he very much pales in comparison to the other beat stick load out I tried later. He quickly becomes a victim of points bloat if you try to outfit him as a blunt instrument, and doesn't perform well as a points-light HQ who can kill higher point cost models, since he basically has to choose between hitting fast and hitting hard.

Macrotech: good, but in my opinion not the best around. If you're going for a REALLY mech heavy list with Castellax and Thanatars all over the place he's great, but besides being cool that list tends to have the problem where you're fielding 1/5 as many models as your opponent and you just can't claim enough objectives to win. He's less efficient if you like vehicle lists that come with Sacred Autosimulacra, as his power overwrites that. Also, it seems a little counterproductive to have the repair-centric dude be the one who also makes it less likely that you'll ever need to make a repair roll.

Lachrymae: Say hello to Beatmaster Robo-Crusher. Lachrymae, cyber-familiar, Machinator Array, Power Axe, Abeyant and a bunch of cyber oculari is a goofily expensive but freaking awesome beat stick HQ who can kill or tie chapter master smashfucker. Pair him with Ursarax to create an ungodly melee Death Star unit, and just because it's fun, populate the rest of the list with nothing but swarms of Adsecularis supported by Lachrimallar Tech Priests for an absolutely crazy robot zombie swarm army.

Ordinator: the big bad bunker buster HQ. Actually my personal favorite, he's an absolute pro at sitting back with either a Conversion Beamer or Photon Thruster, sitting on an objective with a 10 man Adsec unit and going to town on the enemy's vehicles. It's great to have an Hq who actually pulls his weight in points.

HQ: Magos Dominus

In short, not really worth it. He's a character, so if you want him to live you need to hide him, and the Cybertheurgy powers aren't amazing enough to warrant taking him over a Techpriest squad with a cortex controller, who get ablative thrall wounds for 3 pts apiece. The double tap is in theory awesome for a dope-ass Thanatar alpha strike, but beyond that glorious "FETH YOOOOU deep striking terminators" moment, he doesn't provide a benefit for his points. Just use the Dominus model as your Magos prime.

Troops: Adsecularis Covenant

One of my first purchases for my army was a massive lot of poorly painted guardsmen, who I remodeled with lasguns mounted on their shoulders and zombied up a bit, and I love them to death. The forgeworld thralls are cool, but you're paying nearly a dollar a point, which...yeek. As for their in game use, I've found the best load out is 20 man squad-Carapace-Rite of Pure Thought. Think of Pure Thought as an IG priest who doesn't get a model-on one hand, you lose his attacks, on the other he can't be killed. The armor upgrade I usually spring for so that they shrug off basic small arms in a terrifying fashion when advancing in their standard ranks. You can also take them absolutely basic 10 man as ablative wounds for a Magos Prime, they're a bit better than Cyber Occulari. Any upgrade that's meant to increase their actual effectiveness in combat is missing their point, adsecs are tarpits, bullet sponges and cover saves and they're darn good at it.

Troops: Thallax

Float like a butterfly, sting like an eight foot tall killer cyborg with Nicola Tesla's love child gun. They play like Tau Battlesuits, swooping in to deliver a devastating volley of shots and jetting out of assault range afterwards. I've played them two ways: three man squad with melta gun, hunting tanks, and 9 man squad with three photon thrusters and the sky fire "Icarian" upgrade. The former is absolutely beautiful at bringing down any kind of armor and the latter, while expensive, smokes anything that relies on a Jink save to survive. Their little mini marker light special is pretty sweet but they're very specialized. A single strength seven shot with no AP at 18" range can be pretty dang useless against hordes, heavy vehicles, and TEQ/MEQ who rely on armor saves. If you're looking for a smaller Mechanicum detachment or wondering what the first thing you should buy to get started is, look no further than Thallax with a multi melta.

Troops: Castellax

Can't be taken as compulsory troops choices. Sorry, Mechzilla list , you need to take six thallaxes. These guys are like Eldar Wraithlords who can be taken in squads of up to five, and they're pretty much as cool as they look. Basically you should either take them with their basic load out and in a unit of 3-5 with flamers as a monstrous creature hunting beat stick unit that can also sweep troops, or running solo with a dark fire cannon as anti tank. Power blades are a waste of points.

Dedicated Transport: Triaros Armored Conveyor

What do you put in a Triaros? The two real answers are: Myrmidon Destructors, or nothing. Believe it or not, "nothing" is the crazily competitive option. A Triaros is the middle ground between a Land Raider and a Chimera, with the closest comparison being a Necron Tomb Barge: lightly armed and costly, but insanely hard to kill. It has been pointed out that the key to a competitive Mechanicum list revolves around using tank hunter Thallax squads as troops, buying them Triaros (thus the Triaros get Objective Secured) and then filling out the rest of the list with Myrmidon Destructors in yet more Triaroses. Then you sit on objectives being unkillable with your empty dedicated transports and kill your opponent with the rest of your army. Warning: before you spend 2,000 dollars on half a dozen impressive looking objective paperweights, remember that A) you can do the same thing with 30$ waveserpents, and B) that strategy is unlikely to make you any friends or repeat opponents.

Elites: Tech Priest Auxilia

I find it really cool how these guys are made the backbone and the weak point of the Mechanicum army. They are the key to its strength-huge durability-and the key to bringing them down. I faced one IG player who used ratlings to pick off an Enginseer holding a cortex controller to lure my unit of Castellax into a fearless guard blob, and I didn't even case that it cost me the game it was so god damn cool. There seems to be three basic arrangements:

Wrenchman: Enginseers, 2 servo arm thralls, 4 extra basic thralls. A better version of the standard IG Techpriest. Give him a challenge worthy of his skill. Stick a cortex controller on him if he's near a castellax, and add a second priest if there's a whole squad of Castellax.

Zombuddy: Lachrymae, 4 extra thralls. Braaains. I put him right behind 2 squads of Adsecularis to grant them FNP, and I love him to death. Good thing there's almost no elites I want to take in this army.

Reductor?: in my quest for a reason to take the Triaros I may try Destructor priests with some servitor mounted heavy weapons. It could work? Maybe?

Elites: Myrmidon Secutors

Just...why? Why take these when you can have destructors or Ursarax? They're kind of cool, in that you can pump a jillion points of plasma fusillade into them but that gets expensive real fast. Everything they do, some other unit does better. And besides all that, they look ridiculous, like they're having trouble even carrying those axes and their guns are just kind of slapped randomly into their bodies. Look at the guy with the plasma guns sticking out of his head at 45 degree angles. He's like, "rrrrg Ima getchu"

Heavy Support: Thanatar Siege Automata

The robo-riptide. The gun on this thing is absolutely nuts, and the barrage allows you to snipe out heavy armored special characters from squads. At its point cost, it's a hefty investment for something that doesn't do much vs tanks, but damn are they cool looking. It would be awesome at strength 10 but even with the ability to wipe anything without an armor save, you need to get off a number of good shots to take out an equivalent number of dudes to its points.

Heavy Support: Krios Squadron

Both of these guys are points efficient little beauties. The battle tank devours infantry, filling a definite hole in the mechanicum roster, and the Ventator is great for pounding down tanks. I use the Venator because of how close it is to a SM predator with Lascannons, which comforts opponents, and is still greatly effective.

Heavy Support: Myrmidon Destructors

Secutors, with the added benefit of being actually useful. If you're trying to fill your heavy support slot in a Mechanicum detachment, you won't find a more versatile purchase than these guys. Also giant death lasers. On paper, they seem like a clear choice with the Volkite Culverins, but this is in my eyes one of the clearest cases of a special rule not being properly pointed for 40k. There of these dudes with Culverins kill ANY unit with 5+ or 6+ armor and no cover. They cause 19.6 unsaveable wounds vs ork boyz-I can't help but think they were only underpointed because of their "meh" performance vs space marine equivalents in 30k. I've tried them with Volkites, Conversion beams and Photon Thrusters and every time I was impressed at their performance and flexibility. To avoid them getting aced by AP3 I would deploy them behind a unit of Adsecularis. Just keep in mind these dudes are EXPENSIVE at almost a dreadnought a pop. Don't throw them away.

Note: another great (probably the best) option for them is to deploy them in a Triaros packing Gravitron Thrusters. This sets you up with an extremely potent short range murder squad. They act similar to Eldar Wraith...whatever the smallest one is, Wraithschmucks, the ones with the guns.

WARNING: Any summaries past this point are purely speculative, and I HAVE NOT tried them in a game.

HQ: Archmagos Inar Satarael

The eeeeeeeevil Archmagos. Gets a beefed statline, some special rules, including a nifty shield (although he loses the normal invuln save), doesn't get the cavalry type. Comparing him to the "vanilla" option, which is

Archmagos prime, Archimandrite, Abeyant, Gravitron Imploder, Djinn Skein, Cortex Controller

Satarael is: +20 points, and he gains FNP, Fear, Stubborn (he can't join units though sooo...), nifty reflecto shield 4+ which he gets against any HITS from S6+ non blast weapons, and the ability to deny slay the warlord VPs on a 3+, also an extra little gun and a servo arm.

Vanilla Magos gets: 4+ invul, 2+ save to Satar's 3+, Independent Character.

I'm gonna let you make the call here, but I doubt I'd run either of these guys. Points bloat like woah. My personal beat stick Lachrymallus load out only clocks in at almost 75 points cheaper, and he gets T6 2+3++FNP (albeit he has no gun, but you know. Still more efficient.)

HQ: Magos Reductor Caleb Decima

Can only be taken by ordo Reductor, at the low low cost of around half your unit options. Yeah I'm gonna pass on him.

Fast Attack: Ursarax Cohort

FORGEWORLD MAKE THEM A MODEL THEN TAKE MY MONEY. ahem. Sorry. This is the melee version of the Thallax, and they're so darn cool they get a whole force org slot basically all to themselves, unless you're the kind of 40k player that likes the boring kind of fliers. They (hopefully) look like giant robot grizzly bears with Iron Man chest lasers. Same defensive statline as the Thallax, i.e. what tyranid warriors wish they had, but they exchange the shootier Jet Pack infantry type for the chargier jump pack type. Good thing too, they're the only thing in the codex that moves 12" in the movement phase, so if you want a buddy for your Abeyant riding magus, you got only one option that can keep up with him. They have the ability to exchange all their attacks in combat for a single AP2 attack (off the charge, that's -2 attacks by the by) which is an okay answer to termies, especially considering it strikes at I2 and so does the magus' power axe. Basically, they're beefy, scary, but they'd better be because they cost as much as terminators and only get a 4+, FNP for saves.

Fast Attack: Vorax Class Battle Automata Maniple

When I said Ursarax were the only non flier FA slot? I kinda lied. Forgot these guys existed-and apparently they've got a very cool model now, if you like Praying Mantises and miniguns. They are...what the heck are these guys for? So they're like a less sturdy Castellax, with fleet and scout, and they've got...eight S3 shots and 1 S7 shot. I really can't think of anything I could shoot with that where it wouldn't be a total waste of one of those two things. I guess I would just take them with Irad-cleansers and use them as horde sweepers. Heavy risk though, hey re fairly flimsy even with T6.

Fast Attack: a really boring plane

These don't even have any giant gears on them. What's the point? The only cool fliers are still Orks Necrons and CSM.

Fast Attack?: Tarantula Sentry Gun Battery

Stretching anyone's definition of fast, here's this completely stationary gun battery. I guess it could be something for your repair priest or a servitor to do if they're sitting around in the backline waiting for a tank to get hurt or being a meat shield for a Magos Reductor? I can dig that.

Heavy Support: Mechanicum Land Raider

It gets an anbaric claw and Blessed Autosimulacra, but other than that it's just a land raider and still the mechanicum doesn't have much it wants to transport. Other than the still lame Myrmidon Secutors. You could have a unit of Adesecularis pimping hard and riding dirty I guess? 195 point transport for 35 points of models? There are exactly three infantry units that don't move faster than normal in the entire codex and only one of them is both good and screams "I want a transport to protect me". And even then the Triaros is way, way cooler.

Great to see some 30k loving and cool write up too.
What armies have you faced with your admech lists?
Any pics of your units?

 Ratius wrote:
Great to see some 30k loving and cool write up too.
What armies have you faced with your admech lists?
Any pics of your units?

I have faced:

Dark Angels (victory. My coincidence I decided to test the conversion beamer destructors and be decided to test a fortification. They just lobbed S10AP1 all game from 50-60" away)

Space Marines (Victory but super close, 21 to 20 VP. Smashfucker and the Lachrymae had an epic 3 round duel, which ended with SF winning and promptly losing his last wound to a bunch of cyborg zombies.)

Astro...adeptimus..Imperial Guard (loss. Horde army just laughed at all my AP weapons. Malagra died like a chump.)

Tau (loss. Killed two Riptides with my beautiful Thallax swarm, but it was abundantly clear that my slightly goofy experimental FW lists were not competitive top tier 40k lists)

As for my units, I can try to get some pictures when I get home but I have been doing a lot of IG proxies, with sentinels as Castellax and as I said remodeled guard as Adsecularis. I have several homemade Techpriests, and I just finished my Myrmidon destructors but I'm still working on getting my Thallax and my Magos painted up.

I have my IG armies lore in such a way that they are close to the Admec, and I would love to be able to field admech as an ally. What do you think about doing that? I've tried to give HH3 a read, but there's just so much in there, lots of special rules and I got confused really fast.

Always good to see the Mechanicum. I've been toiling over making a Taghmata Omnissiah army; its helpful to see things summarized.

In the HH book, if you look at the beginning of the section on the TO army (pg 202)... There are a number of units from the previous books that aren't particularly Mechanicum that FW chose to remind us about but didn't include the rules in the section.

Magos Reductor Calleb Decima
Crusade Fleet Support Wing
Tarantula Sentry Gun
Mechanicum Land Raider

For the sake of thoroughness, might be nice to a see a write up of those.

Thanks for the unit summaries, scotsman. I don't have any of the HH books, but I adore the admech models FW has put out. In fact, so much so that I actually purchased a Thanatar to convert into a Dreadknight for my GK army.

 aka_mythos wrote:
Always good to see the Mechanicum. I've been toiling over making a Taghmata Omnissiah army; its helpful to see things summarized.

In the HH book, if you look at the beginning of the section on the TO army (pg 202)... There are a number of units from the previous books that aren't particularly Mechanicum that FW chose to remind us about but didn't include the rules in the section.

Magos Reductor Calleb Decima
Crusade Fleet Support Wing
Tarantula Sentry Gun
Mechanicum Land Raider

For the sake of thoroughness, might be nice to a see a write up of those.

Added, along with the two units I had forgotten previously. Honestly none of those impress me too much.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 ultimentra wrote:
I have my IG armies lore in such a way that they are close to the Admec, and I would love to be able to field admech as an ally. What do you think about doing that? I've tried to give HH3 a read, but there's just so much in there, lots of special rules and I got confused really fast.

I would say go for it!

I'd say start with Thallax as your mandatory troop and a Magos prime HQ (if you don't love the Abeyant either make your own out of a Techmarine or use the Dominus model). That gives you a really versatile HQ you can customize however you want, and a troop that fulfills a role that Guard tend to struggle with-bringing down monstrous creatures and heavy armor. In addition to that if you have a Techpriest and some servitor models, you can get a unit of Techpriest Auxilia as elites, who are pretty much solidly better than IG Techpriest+servitor squads. If later on you're feeling really fancy, go for a battle-automata, since IG already have tanks and expendable infantry aplenty.

Good thing too, they're the only thing in the codex that moves 12" in the movement phase, so if you want a buddy for your Abeyant riding magus, you got only one option that can keep up with him.

As far as I can tell, an Abeyant doesn't make the Magos go faster than normal infantry. Am I missing something somewhere?

the_scotsman wrote:

 aka_mythos wrote:
Always good to see the Mechanicum. I've been toiling over making a Taghmata Omnissiah army; its helpful to see things summarized.

In the HH book, if you look at the beginning of the section on the TO army (pg 202)... There are a number of units from the previous books that aren't particularly Mechanicum that FW chose to remind us about but didn't include the rules in the section.

Magos Reductor Calleb Decima
Crusade Fleet Support Wing
Tarantula Sentry Gun
Mechanicum Land Raider

For the sake of thoroughness, might be nice to a see a write up of those.

Added, along with the two units I had forgotten previously. Honestly none of those impress me too much.

I think the Land Raider, though kinda generic is useful for hiding away your Techpriests and effectively increasing the spread of their FnP buffs and Cortex Control since distance would then be measured from the hull of the raider.

Sentry guns seem only worthwhile if you're playing Zone Mortalis.

The Support aircraft are presently our only option for aircraft.

 Thud wrote:

Good thing too, they're the only thing in the codex that moves 12" in the movement phase, so if you want a buddy for your Abeyant riding magus, you got only one option that can keep up with him.

As far as I can tell, an Abeyant doesn't make the Magos go faster than normal infantry. Am I missing something somewhere?

I thought I had read that it follows all the rules of a Mount. I.E, +1T, +1W, Cavalry unit type?


Automatically Appended Next Post:

the_scotsman wrote:

 Thud wrote:

Good thing too, they're the only thing in the codex that moves 12" in the movement phase, so if you want a buddy for your Abeyant riding magus, you got only one option that can keep up with him.

As far as I can tell, an Abeyant doesn't make the Magos go faster than normal infantry. Am I missing something somewhere?

I thought I had read that it follows all the rules of a Mount. I.E, +1T, +1W, Cavalry unit type?

True, if you want a Lachrymae with 1 priest and a cortex controller you could stick him in a LR. But still... Protecting a 75 point unit with a 195 point land raider seems...suspect to me.

And strictly speaking the Triaros is a bigger model.

the_scotsman wrote:

 Thud wrote:

Good thing too, they're the only thing in the codex that moves 12" in the movement phase, so if you want a buddy for your Abeyant riding magus, you got only one option that can keep up with him.

As far as I can tell, an Abeyant doesn't make the Magos go faster than normal infantry. Am I missing something somewhere?

I thought I had read that it follows all the rules of a Mount. I.E, +1T, +1W, Cavalry unit type?

HH3, p.209: +1W, Move Through Cover, Very Bulky, Hardened Armour, and It Will Not Die.

Doesn't mention +1T or Cavalry.

If you want to take Caleb Decima, he's good but I would only do so in an Ordo Reductor allied detachment. Give him servo-automata armed for punching people and use him as a counterassault unit. His one-use curse ability is truly ridiculous against people who aren't expecting it; I've seen him one-shot an entire killa kan mob with it.

There are two reasons to want the Ordo Reductor force:

1) Siege Artillery.
You get a battery of BS4 earthshakers. This hurts, especially with wrecker-boy standing nearby

2) Thallax upgrades
Thallax are the core infantry of the Ordo Reductor, Castellax for the Legio Cybernetic and Adsecularis for the Taghmata. Reductor Thallax get extra shiny options and don't get moved around the force organisation chart.


I agree on the Magos Dominus. Legio Cybernetica get a better version as they can field an Archmagos Dominus with better toughness and more wounds.

Plus, they can field a pure battle-engine force.

And yes, the Myrmidon Secutors are just flat out not as good as their destructor brethren. The devastation that three or four of these guys with volkite carronades can wreak on light infantry has to be seen to be believed.

 Thud wrote:

the_scotsman wrote:

 Thud wrote:

Good thing too, they're the only thing in the codex that moves 12" in the movement phase, so if you want a buddy for your Abeyant riding magus, you got only one option that can keep up with him.

As far as I can tell, an Abeyant doesn't make the Magos go faster than normal infantry. Am I missing something somewhere?

I thought I had read that it follows all the rules of a Mount. I.E, +1T, +1W, Cavalry unit type?

HH3, p.209: +1W, Move Through Cover, Very Bulky, Hardened Armour, and It Will Not Die.

Doesn't mention +1T or Cavalry.

Ahh, interesting, that's my mistake. Not sure where I thought is read it was just a mount, probably because it says "may be mounted on an Abeyant" and I couldn't find specific special rules for it so the guy I was playing it against suggested it was just like a mounted daemon HQ.

Sartarel is a bit more of a tempting choice then, but that leaves you without a great option beyond Myrmidons to stick him with, and still no assault transport.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

locarno24 wrote:
If you want to take Caleb Decima, he's good but I would only do so in an Ordo Reductor allied detachment. Give him servo-automata armed for punching people and use him as a counterassault unit. His one-use curse ability is truly ridiculous against people who aren't expecting it; I've seen him one-shot an entire killa kan mob with it.

There are two reasons to want the Ordo Reductor force:

1) Siege Artillery.
You get a battery of BS4 earthshakers. This hurts, especially with wrecker-boy standing nearby

2) Thallax upgrades
Thallax are the core infantry of the Ordo Reductor, Castellax for the Legio Cybernetic and Adsecularis for the Taghmata. Reductor Thallax get extra shiny options and don't get moved around the force organisation chart.


I agree on the Magos Dominus. Legio Cybernetica get a better version as they can field an Archmagos Dominus with better toughness and more wounds.

Plus, they can field a pure battle-engine force.

And yes, the Myrmidon Secutors are just flat out not as good as their destructor brethren. The devastation that three or four of these guys with volkite carronades can wreak on light infantry has to be seen to be believed.

Carronades? I see only Volkite Culverins as an option for the destructors. Isn't that a difference between 4 shots and 2?

excellent stuff. I'm slowly assembling my own inhuman mass of automatons to battle with and this'll do nicely as a guide. Missed the bit in Extermination about Castellax not being able to be taken as compulsory troops. Time for more Thallax...

PS the future looks good for the Mechanicum with Ordinatus Minoris mentioned a few times by FW...

 zedmeister wrote:
excellent stuff. I'm slowly assembling my own inhuman mass of automatons to battle with and this'll do nicely as a guide. Missed the bit in Extermination about Castellax not being able to be taken as compulsory troops. Time for more Thallax...

PS the future looks good for the Mechanicum with Ordinatus Minoris mentioned a few times by FW...

Can you confirm that Thallax are listed in there as troops for Taghmata? My book is at home ATM.

I disagree, with the state of the current meta Taghmata has the tools to be one of the most obnoxious 30k armies in 40k, mostly revolving around their ridonkulously OP Objective Secured transport, the Triarios Armoured Conveyor and the most badass Heavy Support in the game, Myrmidon Destructors. If you thought Wave Serpents were bad, it has AV 14 Front, 4 HP, 12/12 sides and -1 str to any shooting coming in from the front with transport capacity 20 for 135 pts. The Magos can get an upgrade to give all vehicles IWND, and if you take it, your friends may never want to play you again.

To win in competitive 40k these days, you need to be able to 1) Deal with Wave Serpents 2) Deal with Deathstars 3) Deal with MSU 4) Deal with fast rush melee. Luckily, Taghmata is good at all four.

I personally like Deathstar gameplay so here's how I do it:

1) Wave Serpents. Don't present them a target and they're not a threat. Your entire army are all in AV14 transports, T8, or in reserve. Thallax are also fantastic for hunting them: Deepstrike behind with -2 to cover and Tank Hunter = dead Wave Serpent.

2) Graviton Imploders coupled with Irradiation Engines should do the trick. I use a mixed squad of 4 Grav / 2 Irradiation, aren't too many units in the game which can survive a round of that shooting. Tarpit with Thanatar if in doubt.

3) Triarios are fantastic for dealing with MSU as their tank shock and Volkite weaponry really do a number on small squads. Your Myrmidon Deathstar is also good for killing pods + marines, aim the torrent flamer at the pods and roast the marines.

4) I kit my Magos out to tank for the Myrmidon star, with a Chainfist to deal with Knights. The Myrmidonstar isn't a slouch in close combat either with all those PE Power Fist attacks. (Seriously, it's like they have Prescience/Doom on all the time).

I typically run 3 Obsec Triarios Conveyors, 3 units of DS Thallax, 1 large unit of Objective Adsecuredis Covenant, a Magos with all the tricks and 5-6 Myrmidons Destructors with Thanatar support. Knight support is possible swapping out the Thanatar and 1 Triarios.

the_scotsman wrote:

 zedmeister wrote:
excellent stuff. I'm slowly assembling my own inhuman mass of automatons to battle with and this'll do nicely as a guide. Missed the bit in Extermination about Castellax not being able to be taken as compulsory troops. Time for more Thallax...

PS the future looks good for the Mechanicum with Ordinatus Minoris mentioned a few times by FW...

Can you confirm that Thallax are listed in there as troops for Taghmata? My book is at home ATM.

Aye, they are

Yeah, that certainly sounds powerful! Of course, that's a bit more of an issue with GW's idiotic rules for dedicated transports but that's neither here nor there.

I'll edit the entries for destructors and Triaros tomorrow, definitely the core for a truly hardcore Taghmata force. Sitting on objectives with dedicated transports while a Death Star wipes out any unit it comes in range of: competitive 40 k at its very finest.

After re-reading the HH3 book, there's still some stuff I don't understand in there but I really like Thallax cohort. My only worry is that I want be able to counts-as them for something incase my opponent doesn't want me to use the HH TO rules. Obviously, the Magos HQ can be a techmarine, MOF, or a techpriest, but what about the Thallax?

It seems like the Thallax are too big to be terminators, but too small to be Centurions, Dreadnoughts, or Sentinels.

 ultimentra wrote:
After re-reading the HH3 book, there's still some stuff I don't understand in there but I really like Thallax cohort. My only worry is that I want be able to counts-as them for something incase my opponent doesn't want me to use the HH TO rules. Obviously, the Magos HQ can be a techmarine, MOF, or a techpriest, but what about the Thallax?

It seems like the Thallax are too big to be terminators, but too small to be Centurions, Dreadnoughts, or Sentinels.

The real trouble with them is that they're clearly some kind of jump infantry. They *look* like something that wants to be mostly shooty, and is probably going to deep strike in.

The best counts as I can think of would be tactical terminators, armed with power weapons (representing the blades on their weapons) and storm bolters with 1 multi melta. But honestly the Thallax are pretty good, but fairly tame for their points cost. As much as a terminator, but with only 4+ armor, and a single S7 shot with no Ap? They're effective tank hunters thanks to the multi melta, but they're hardly as OP as half the stuff that's considered tournament viable in the GW codexes.

Sounds good enough to me! I've always wanted some kind of awesome jet pack using dudes for my IG, Thallax are perfect!

If you want counts as, I'd say your best bet is a SM/AM allied detachment

-Adsecs are conscripts w/Ministorum priests
-Magos as MoTF
-Techpriests as (obviously) techpriests and servitors
-Krios Venator as SM predator w/Lascannons
-Castellax as Dreadnoughts
-Thallax/Ursarax as terminators w/ tactical weapons/lightning claws

Thallax make wonderful Tau crisis suits (they are even jet pack infantry).

Castellax are excellent centurions for a SM list.

I am wondering if Vorax might make good Tau Broadsides.

 ansacs wrote:
Thallax make wonderful Tau crisis suits (they are even jet pack infantry).

Castellax are excellent centurions for a SM list.

I am wondering if Vorax might make good Tau Broadsides.

Castellax are dreadnought sized. Centurions are only a bit bigger than termies...