Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Hello!

I wanted to get started with 30k a while back, and Imperial Fists were my target then. Now I'm more interested in the Mechanicum though, since I really love their models and their gothic grimdark-ness. I am having some trouble getting some good information on how to get started though, specifically with two things: what to buy and how to paint them.

So to get started with the Mechanicum, what do I buy? I've heard talk about something like Cybernetica and a bunch of different lists and ways to play them, but what's a good way to get started? Also in regards to painting them, is there a list of 30k Forge Worlds that I can look at (specifically colour schemes). I really like to paint existing armies/forge worlds and engage myself in their fluff, but I'm having a hard time finding these. For example the picture below, which Forge World is that? I like the bluish-grey armour panels with the white stripes. I would prefer a loyalist Forge World. Me no heretic, no sir.



Thanks in advance for your answers in helping me getting started with these lovely killing machines!

Assuming that you're going to stick with the Legio Cybernetica...

Model-wise the HQ choice is 1. the magos dominus (£22) 2. archmagos draykavac (£60) 3. kitbash/convert an archmagos inar satreal (£??)

your compulsory troops are pairs of castellax minimum, so four castellax in flavour pairs minimum for troops (£160)

If you want to use the planes with kracken missiles you have to take either a vultarax (£70), a unit of vorax (£52) or an arlatax (£??) first; same thing with the heavy support slot, if you want to bring a macrocarid, krios or myrmidons you need to take a thanatar (£75) first.


Thats all i feel i can really comment on because i've never been to keen on the legio cybernetica and haven't looked into it very far.

I don't know about fluff and forgeworld but I can tell ya where to start depending on what faction you want

If your going to start with cybernetica (robots) then I suggest getting a tech priest dominus / Enginseer from GW and then by the castellex robots. With the cybernetica list they do not score, they can only deny, but they can be taken as a troop choice. They are very friggen tough and can take a ton of punishment, and have some great guns on them tat can mulch space marines. if you want scoring units then get absecularus for the cheapest scoring unit in all of warhammer.

For reductor, your going to want thallax, which is the jump pack guys. They are your basic troops and can zip around the board like a tau crisis suit but their damage output is really low. The main thing you want is the heavy tanks, which can be outfitted with all kinds of artillery goodness. Those can be made from most of the regular GW tanks with some minimal conversions This may cost more to start off with than the cybernetica or the Taghmata.

Tahgmata is basically both of the above combined with none of the buffs or heavy tanks. It's more of a style thing I think, as there is almost no restrictions on what you can take.


Hope that really crappy post works!

I can't really help with the Forgeworlds, either. Most of them seen in the books so far are traitors, i think. Otherwise, you have to make one big decision for determining which way to go with your army: big stompy robots or no big stompy robots.

Or tanks. Lots of them. Some with artillery. Thats what I do.....

Big stompy robots sound just like my cup of tea actually, so the Legio Cybernetica sounds like it's right up my alley :-)

About the tanks though, like the Krios, those can still be taken when using Cybernetica right? Cus those look great aswell, and I think some robots with tank support sounds fun.

It's a shame no one knows about the Forge Worlds though. I'm going to dig a little deeper and try to find which were active during the Heresy, and I really want to know about the one in my picture I posted.

 alleus wrote:
-snip-
About the tanks though, like the Krios, those can still be taken when using Cybernetica right? Cus those look great aswell, and I think some robots with tank support sounds fun.

They can, but as SirDonald said, needing to fill the compulsory Heavy support slot with a Thanatar first; "Fast attack and Heavy support choices must first contain at least one unit with a Cybernetica Cortex ~before anything without one can be taken."
Thanatars being the only Heavy support with a cortex.

Best place to get started with a Cybernetica army is the £280 Cybernetica Battlegroup.
4 Castellax, Thanatar, Dominus, 6 Thallax. You get your compulsory robots and some scoring infantry.

-snip- I really want to know about the one in my picture I posted.

I've had a gander through what pages there are on the 40k Wikia, and none bear the same liveries as seen on that Domitar. The closest are Agripinaa and Graia, but they have very dark blue instead.
Given that the vast majority of forge worlds existed pre-crusade, you could probably find some luck in just sifting through what's in the Skitarii and Cult codices, and picking your fancy from that.

Something nifty I found in my search:
"Ordinatus Belacane, an ancient and forbidding device mounted upon a colossal tracked crawler which can project a vast stasis field up to a kilometre away. This field can either freeze anything in the path of its beam immobile, making it vulnerable to missile attacks, or age the target by centuries in a second if it is organic." Could be fun to make rules for and try out; pen results always immobilise, has fleshbane?

 Buddingsquaw wrote:
They can, but as SirDonald said, needing to fill the compulsory Heavy support slot with a Thanatar first; "Fast attack and Heavy support choices must first contain at least one unit with a Cybernetica Cortex ~before anything without one can be taken."
Thanatars being the only Heavy support with a cortex.

Best place to get started with a Cybernetica army is the £280 Cybernetica Battlegroup.
4 Castellax, Thanatar, Dominus, 6 Thallax. You get your compulsory robots and some scoring infantry.

-snip- I really want to know about the one in my picture I posted.

I've had a gander through what pages there are on the 40k Wikia, and none bear the same liveries as seen on that Domitar. The closest are Agripinaa and Graia, but they have very dark blue instead.
Given that the vast majority of forge worlds existed pre-crusade, you could probably find some luck in just sifting through what's in the Skitarii and Cult codices, and picking your fancy from that.

Yea, found the battlegroup as well, looks really good. I wanted different loadouts on the robots, but I think the savings make up for it (I counted and it was something like 60 pounds or more, pretty good).

About the Forge Worlds, do you know if they all have kept their same colour schemes though all this time? Many of the Marine Legions changed their colours after the Heresy, but maybe the Forge Worlds didn't really need to, since they didn't have a second founding or anything like that. In that case any from the 40k codices could work :-)