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I get regular updates from Forge World and I see their Ad Mech stuff a lot. I am not that much into the Ad Mech but dang it if their stuff doesn't look awesome. It got me to thinking since I know there are some people that play 30k, has anyone run an Ad Mech army or played a against one and what is the general consensus on this army from Forge World? Has anyone done an Ad Mech army against a regular 40k army and what were the results? I know when the Imperial Knights hit and people saw that their were Houses aligned exclusively to the Ad Mech that there might be a chance that we will see this actually happen? And if the Ad Mech was added to the regular 40k line up, would it be a good thing that the community welcomed?

I've tested it out once so far, with proxies, against a 40K Chaos Marine force. While I did win the game quite thoroughly, I finished with about 4 models left, and the mission was in my favor to begin with (kill points). And my opponent is quite willing to play against it again, as he said it was fun playing against something that is so different. I ran a list of Thallax, Castellax, and one Thanatar.

Lessons learned:
In the long run, the Thallax really aren't that more resilient than Space Marines, suffering almost the same number of wounds over time. It's just that more wounds have to be caused before the first one drops.
Lightning guns aren't that great, but phased plasma fusils are!
Programmed Behavior was not a problem in the one game I've played, so trying to keep a cortex controller in range may not be worth the hassle.
Cybertheurgy can be fun, if you're lucky to get it off where and when you need it.
A Thanatar with Paragon of Metal is an awesome thing. A Thanatar firing off that Plasma Mortar is a thing of beauty. A Thanatar locked in close combat with his two attacks is a thing to pity, because then that plasma mortar is doing nothing.
There are a lot of extra rules scattered throughout all the units, so it's hard to keep up with all of them at times.

If you've already got the rules, try testing it out for yourself. I used terminators for Thallax, dreadnoughts for Castellax, and a Dreadknight for the Thanatar.

I've been hoping of integrating Ad Mech weapons into my army (AM).

Where do you find their rules? Do they have a book akin to IA just for them?

 Engine of War wrote:
I've been hoping of integrating Ad Mech weapons into my army (AM).

Where do you find their rules? Do they have a book akin to IA just for them?

The rules for Ad Mech in the Horus Heresy is found on FW's third book of the Horus Heresy: http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/The_Horus_Heresy/Horus_Heresy_Books/THE_HORUS_HERESY_BOOK_THREE_EXTERMINATION.html

It has other army rules for the Horus Heresy but it is the only place where the Mechanicum can be found right now. You can surf around their website and see how many cool things the Mechanicum bring to the game too.

This makes me want to try it out but I definitely would be doing what you did and do it with proxy. To invest that heavily into a pure Forge World army would be expensive since you won't be able to use it as frequently as a regular 40k army unless you have a huge 30k player base near you. Sounds really interesting and it also sounds like they would bring some awesome things to the table. Maybe they are hesitant because maybe they think the feel of the army would be too close to Necrons. Do you feel that the army is distinguished enough to not encroach on an area already covered by another army? I also know a lot of people would probably lament to the fact that another Imperial army was added.

If anything, the Mechanicum army feels something like a Tau army (although I do not have a Tau army to truly compare to). The Thallax are jet infantry, so can do the extra move in the assault phase. The Castellax and Thanatar are monstrous creatures that carry big guns. And the Thallax apply cover penalties to their attacks. They are, however, a bit shorter ranged as the Lightning Guns (the basic Thallax gun) are only 18". Only one in three Thallax can upgrade to a special weapon. However, I cannot speak to the other units in the Mechanicum list (like the tanks, the Myrmidons, and the assault units).

I have a mechanicum army. I've played it against space marines, knights, csm, daemons, dark angels (death wing list), and orks. I've also used it in a massive apocalyptic game. Thallax as another poster said are fine. Castellax, I own 20, are broken for 40k, horribly broken I think. A monstrous creature troop choice with ap3 gun that gets 3 shots and more often than not wounds on a 2+. Has a 3+/5++ against shooting, high toughness, and plenty of wounds. Castellax will regularly survive d weapons shooting them, I know because I've had titans shooting at mine. All for the cost of slightly more than 2 terminators. Oh and for fun you can purchase an upgrade that makes them bs5 and -1 to your opponents cover saves. I had 20 of them kill 50+ terminators in a single turn. Myrmidon destructors are also slightly broken for 40k, but no where near castellax broken levels . Secutors with plasma fusils are really good as well.


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Oh the tanks are good as well. The two they have models for have two purposes. The first one has a large blast ap3 cannon. So that's your troop killer since the gun also has shred and rending. It will not effective ly kill armor but it can if need be in a pinch. The other tank is clearly meant to kill other armor, having a ordinance 4 ap1 high strength cannon. Basically the mechanic um are the ultimate meq killing force.

Castellax spam is cheesy as hell, but only because when you spam enough of them the whole disadvantage of needing controllers or have them go after whatever is closest is nullified as they are everywhere, and as such attacking everything anyway.

If you take them in moderation, they are fine though. and the rest of the army is usually on a legit power level, and an interesting style of play, some kind of a nid/tau mixture.

Sure, lots of Castellax will be powerful, but the same applies to any army that can field lots of monstrous creatures. But they can still get pricy if you load them up with their options. And they also can't be used to fulfill compulsory troop choices.

1d4 chan has a pretty nice breakdown on the individual unit and options for said units. Pretty informative, and real makes me want to try them out.

Theyre basically a hyper low-count--elite-unit army, as I understand it. Their basic troopers are like jet pack ogryns with nasty zapp guns, and cost as much.

They also have an uber cheap horde unit in their core choices.

ImAGeek wrote:
They also have an uber cheap horde unit in their core choices.

That's only a horde unit if you use unbound, it can only have 10 models and it doesn't count as a main troop.

Well I didn't so much mean horde I guess, just like really cheap. But I didn't realise it didn't count as a main troop

The Adsecularis tech-thralls can go up to units of 20 and can be used to fulfill the compulsory troop choices.

 Tannhauser42 wrote:
The Adsecularis tech-thralls can go up to units of 20 and can be used to fulfill the compulsory troop choices.

That's who I meant yeah.

Castellax can be brutal, but it also depends on what faction you're fighting.

I've fought a Mechanicus army twice, and in both instances I massacred his 3x4 Castallax units with invisible seeker squads.

Rending everything doesn't give a gak about high toughness, and their AP3 guns are more or less wasted on T3 5++ models.

They're basically tailored to murder Space Marines and other MC's.

Well considering they are meant to be used against legions, there best job is killing power armour.

Having played with and against them a few times, I can say that they are pretty good. To be honest, they play exactly like a tyranid ought to play. Expendable troops and big tough monsters and hq units. However, they do struggle against av14. They only have a few units which can do any damage against them.

I know the Ad Mech was basically designed to compete with the other 30k armies since it is all about the Horus Heresy. Is there any chance that this army could be integrated into the 40k universe or do you think that the Ad Mech will just continue to be a support group in the Imperium appearing as Techmarines, Ad Mech Tech-Priest, and Ad Mech aligned Imperial Knights?

 Envihon wrote:
I know the Ad Mech was basically designed to compete with the other 30k armies since it is all about the Horus Heresy. Is there any chance that this army could be integrated into the 40k universe or do you think that the Ad Mech will just continue to be a support group in the Imperium appearing as Techmarines, Ad Mech Tech-Priest, and Ad Mech aligned Imperial Knights?

You could totally use ad mech in 40k rules. They are forge world and games workshop has decided that everything from forge world is allowed in regular games.

 welshhoppo wrote:

 Envihon wrote:
I know the Ad Mech was basically designed to compete with the other 30k armies since it is all about the Horus Heresy. Is there any chance that this army could be integrated into the 40k universe or do you think that the Ad Mech will just continue to be a support group in the Imperium appearing as Techmarines, Ad Mech Tech-Priest, and Ad Mech aligned Imperial Knights?

You could totally use ad mech in 40k rules. They are forge world and games workshop has decided that everything from forge world is allowed in regular games.

What about the possibility we would get a full blown 40k Ad Mech instead of just bring the HH Ad Mech to a 40k game?

Probably not. Games Workshop moving an entire faction Forgeworld into like, a standard 40K codex is unprecedented.

That is a real shame, although the Ad Mech has a look of their own, I would like to see how GW would update the look to be align with a little more of a 40k aesthetic.

Admech look amazing, some of the stuff is brilliant, not all but I like the designs and if its fprgeworld less risk of odd chariots or flyers shaped like bricks.