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So ive seen multiple batreps of mechanicum vs. 40k armies, and the only place ive found the models is in forge world's horus heresy range. Im wondering if its viewed as valid to play mechanicum against 40k armies. None of the batreps seem overly one sided, but i dont know any of the differences in 30k and thus dont know the intricacies of models and their rules interacting with eachother cross-game systems. The fluff of the army and aesthetic is very attractive to me, but my local gaming group almost exclusively plays and collects GW 40k. Do you dakkaites think i would cause controversy upon collecting and fielding mechanicum against their armies? It would be the first real interaction with anything FW that my local group has had. I would hate to spend all that money to never get a game.

You should probably ask your fellow players first if they would play vs. 30k Mechanicum.

My best friend runs Mechanicum allied with 40k Grey Knights (Draigostar using Gravitin Imploder Myrmidons ibstead of Centurions) and so far nobody in my group has felt it was too strong.

I play mechanicum (Ordo Reductor FTW!) and i have had no problems getting people to play me.

You cant take LOW in less than 2000pts and it cant be more than 25% of your total points so you aren't going to be fielding deathstars like your 40k opponents can.
Ordo Cybernetica can be pretty nasty, with a cheap hq and castellax as troops (MC troops!) and myrmidons for some properly intresting weaponry (secutors with pairs of graviton guns or pp fusils, or destructors with irradiation engines)

Some just want to see what the mechanicum do, some want to tailor a list to prove a point, and most of the time it's very balanced.
The only issues i've had have been against eldar, tau and IG orderspam; par for the course really.

It's really up to your opponents. The problem you will face is that the Mechanicum plays completely different from any other army that already exists in 40K. Your opponents well be unprepared for it, will need to have every special rule, model, and weapon explained to them, and will probably lose hard in their first game against you because of their unfamiliarity. And there is the issue: will your opponents realize they lost because they simply weren't familiar with the Mechanicum, or will they automatically just blame "OP FW rules" and then never play you again?

I've heard quite the opposite - that mechanicum doesn't play well against most 40k armies. I can see how a low model count would struggle against some more numerous armies despite the firepower and durability they enjoy. Not to mention they don't have the versatility some other armies enjoy from their much larger number of units to draw on for list building.

I honestly wonder what if anything Admech can do better than a 7th edition 40k army. Sure they are durable, but Castellax can be maneuvered around easily. I can't imagine that any of their anti-infantry weapons are any better than Wyverns already are, or that any of their anti-tank weapons are any better than podded melta.

Again, it's just the difference between playing against an army you know and playing against an army you know nothing about. I'm not saying the Mechanicum are that amazingly awesome on the tabletop, but anytime you face an army you've never fought before and that is completely unknown to you,, the odds will be against you.

It's not officially sanctioned; check with your opponent ahead of time and you'd need a generous TO to play them in any tournaments, but it shouldn't be too wacky for a pick-up game.

I think most people will give it a shot at least, plus the models look so cool I would have a hard time denying someones request to use them.

There's a chap called "winters SEO" on youtube who regulalrly plays a mechanicum list on his channel. It certainly doesn't seem broken or OP in his batreps. I think the biggest problem with the Mechanicum (and 30K in general) is the sheer number of points you need for a decent list. 2500 points seems about average, which give most 40K armies a ton of toys and options.

BTW, it's a good channel: fully painted terrain and minis and highly recommended.

I'd play a 40k army against a Mechanicum army any time. The best method for doing this is where both armies follow the Force Org structure presented in the Horus Heresy books.

 ultimentra wrote:
I honestly wonder what if anything Admech can do better than a 7th edition 40k army. Sure they are durable, but Castellax can be maneuvered around easily. I can't imagine that any of their anti-infantry weapons are any better than Wyverns already are, or that any of their anti-tank weapons are any better than podded melta.

As far as I can tell from playing against them and a few list building discussions:

- Very high BS (I think they can get almost their whole army filled with BS 5 units.
- They're probably only second to Tau in their ability to mess up units in cover. even if Ignore Cover is rare, they ahve a ton of units that get -1 cover, -2 cover or reroll successful cover saves.
- Almost everything has an Invulnerability save
- (Almost?) everything is Stubborn
-If you are allowed to ally with 40k, Myrmidons with Graviton Imploders make better Centstar material than Centurions.

 cvtuttle wrote:
I'd play a 40k army against a Mechanicum army any time. The best method for doing this is where both armies follow the Force Org structure presented in the Horus Heresy books.

I agree, though I usually let my 40k opponents run their list as they normally would when I use my IH/mechanicum list. So far every game has felt as a balanced as any other, my opponents all found it fun, and there's been no objections of note.

Many thanks for the input, I really enjoy the idea of a high toughness, low model count, high BS army. I run daemons in 40k and love them dearly but it would be nice to get away from the randomness of it all and have a structured no-nonsense shooty army. Not to mention those models are simply beautiful. I will definitely ask my fellow gamers before I plop the models on the table, but i seem to be having trouble finding the rules anywhere. I think it would be a more efficient discussion if I had a rulebook to put in front of them to see how they feel about it and let them peruse it on their own, rather than filtering knowledge from various batreps I could steer them towards.
Where can I find and buy a rulebook? What would it be called? I havent bought from forgeworld before and to be honest i find their site slightly confusing.

Ordo Reductor; HH book 1: Betrayal + book 2: Massacre
Ordo Cybernetica; HH book 2: Massacre + book 3: Extermination
Taghmata; HH book 3: Extermination
Dark Mechanicum/Archmagos Draycavac; HH book 4: Conquest + book 3: Extermination
Knight household: HH book 4: Conquest

There are rumors of a Mechanicum 'little red book' sometime.

On the FW site; hover over the 'Horus Heresy' tab and a list will drop down - there is one for 'Books' and another for 'Mechanicum' - should find all you need there, but ebay is a good place for the books, generally people look after them so they are usually in very good condition for ~£60 including postage.

 Lobukia wrote:

 cvtuttle wrote:
I'd play a 40k army against a Mechanicum army any time. The best method for doing this is where both armies follow the Force Org structure presented in the Horus Heresy books.

I agree, though I usually let my 40k opponents run their list as they normally would when I use my IH/mechanicum list. So far every game has felt as a balanced as any other, my opponents all found it fun, and there's been no objections of note.

I prefer to let the 40K player use the 40K force orgs. Otherwise you're basically telling them "you can't use all your special detachments and formations, but I get to use my Rites of War, which are almost the same thing."

just thought i would set the record straight with regards to the strengths of mechanicum armies as detailed in this thread.

Ordo Reductor ballistic skill is 4 apart from - servitors (BS3), the imperial avenger strike fighter (BS3) and an Archmagos reductor (BS5).

Taghmata ballistic skill is 4 apart from - myrmidon destructors (BS5), myrmidon secutors (BS5), ursarax (BS3), tech-thralls (BS2), tech-preist adepts (BS3), servo-automata (BS3), Inmar satarael (BS5) and an Archmagos Prime (BS5)

thallax get a -2 to enemy cover saves, castellax and thanatars can pay 15 pts to get +1 BS and -1 to enemy cover saves, and a cyber-occularis (15pts each) will drop enemy cover saves by 1 when within 12" of them.

The thanatar's weapon has a rule which forces re-rolls of successful cover saves.

Its not true to say everything has an invuln - our HQ's do, tech-preists can get a 6++ for 5pts, myrmidon secutors and destructors have a 5++ and castellax and thanatar have a 5++ against shooting and a 6++ in CC

Most things are stubborn (i am jealous of ATSKNF) apart from tech-thralls and servo automata which run away when breathed at heavily; castellax, vorax and thanatar are fearless as a by-product of programmed behavior.

The graviton imploder is the tool for cracking 2+ armour but its 18" range and it doesn't leave dangerous terrain templates after firing - The graviton gun and graviton cannon do that.

Just for reference: A squad of myrmidon secutors with all graviton guns costs 240pts but lays down 6 small blasts of difficult terrain 18 inches away that have the haywire rule.