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Umming and arrring about what to get with my bonus this year and wanted to run this Mechanicum list past you all for advice. All about the robots!

Think the points are right, but not sure which book(s) the units are in so need to know if its a legal army please.

HQ
Arch Magos- Protectiva, Familiar, Abeyant, Augury, Machniator Array, Master Crafted Photon Thruster- 215

Troops
Castellax- Darkfire Cannon- 105
Castellax- Darkfire Cannon- 105
Castellax- Darkfire Cannon- 105
Castellax- Darkfire Cannon- 105

Fast Attack
3 Vorax- 225
3 Vorax- 225

Heavy Support
Thanatar- Enhanced Targeting- 255
Thanatar- Enhanced Targeting- 255
Thanatar- Enhanced Targeting- 255

=1850

What do you think?

Written this list more based on models i like from what i've seen and heard over effectiveness as i haven't properly analysed the book(s) so any suggestions are welcome.

Thoughts please Dakka.

If you are using a legio list and the HQ is an archmagos dominus - yes it is legal. It is going to be a problem though. You have one cortex controller for all your automata - I would get another magos dominus.

Drop one Thanatar - give one paragon. All darkfires might be a bit much on those castallax. - i would run two with multi-melta and two with mauler cannon/flamer. Now I do not want to rewrite your list. But at 1850 I feel it is a little unbalanced.

You do need that archmagos to be a dominatus to run the Cybernetica list. I second felixcat; you need another Archmagos to keep your robots in check. I run 5 castellax, 2 thallax and 2 vorax in my 1850 list, and I'm always thankful that I brought two cortex controllers/cybertheurgists.




Automatically Appended Next Post:
You could cut a vorax or two to make room for the changes - they are the least useful of the robots.

Thanks for the replies guys.

Forgive my noobness with mechanicum, but i'm guessing from what you are referring to that magos are required to keep the bots in check and working, similar to how farseers used to work with wraithlords way back. that being the case, i'm thinking you are right that a second magos could be a very good shout.

Questions:

arch magos "dominus"?
Paragon? i haven't read up on that, what does it do please?
I see where you are going with the castellax weaponary regarding being more balanced, but i thought the darkfire sounded sweet, are you suggesting getting rid of all of it?

No - the darkfire has its uses. However Mauler bolt Cannons w/ Flamers and enhanced targeting comes in at 110 points and they are pretty darn good.

I would also prefer Thallax over Vorax since we are now getting to the heart of the list -

3 Thallax w/ multi-melta is a troop ( quite nice) and is fast and can do some AT work and kill meq/teq.

Paragon bypasses the programmed behavious adds rampage and IWND. Do you want an unkillable Thanatar - take it.

Now I could post my 1850 list but copying my list is not the way to really go. I use two flyers at 1850 in my list and I have five castallax and only one thanatar. I also use a small squad - can only take ten - of fearless tech thralls ( a steal at 50 pts - imagine cultists that are fearless w/ a better weapon). That said you want to go Thanatar - two really is all you ever need.

i played against a ordo cybernetica list once, it had two units of four castellax with no upgrades, two magos dominus with a cyber familiar and abeyant each, 3 units of 3 thallax no upgrades, a lightning strike fighter with the armourbane missiles and a unit of myrmidon destructors with volkite weapons.

it came to around 1500pts (maybe a little over) but that was a damn efficient list - he kept shifting the castellax around to distribute the wounds, the magos was hidden by their bulk and got their majority toughness7 and kept buffing their wounds back!.
his flyer, although a bit of a glass cannon, took out my mechanicum LR first time through the flare sheild and my useless armoured ceramite. sad times.
and he used the thallax to grab objectives and the myrmidons to take out the troops you might have put on them.

apparently it pasted everything it came up against and these people are the sort to get the codex, work out the optimum list, get the models and have them in their own case ready to use like a gun collection or something.

Thanks for the comments guys.

Ok so had a bit of a rethink. got this far:

Arch Magos Dominus- Protectiva, Familiar, Abeyant, Augury, Machinator Array, MC Photon Thruster- 215

Castellax- Mauler Cannon/Flamers, ET- 110
Castellax- Mauler Cannon/Flamers, ET- 110
Castellax- Dark Fire Cannon/Flamers, ET- 120
3 Thallax- Djinn Sight/Multi-Melta- 145
3 Thallax- Djinn Sight/Multi-Melta- 145
3 Thallax- Djinn Sight/Multi-Melta- 145

Thanatar- ET, PoM- 290
Thanatar- ET, PoM- 290
Thanatar- ET, PoM- 290

=1850

i figured if i took paragon on all of the thanatar's i could get away with just one dominus hanging near the Castellax? Then 3 Thallax units as you suggested?

Viable?

I am happy to drop a Thanatar in favour of something else if you have any suggestions? Flyers are not an issue in my area so not fussed on an avenger or lightning.

You can only take PoM once. So one Thanatar can have it.
Thallax are 150 points.

 felixcat wrote:

You can only take PoM once. So one Thanatar can have it.
Thallax are 150 points.

Ok, how about this?

Arch Magos Dominus- Protectiva, Cyber Familiar, Abeynat, Augury, Machinator Array, MC Photon Thruster- 215

Castellax- Flamers/Mauler Cannon, ET- 110
Castellax- Flamers/Mauler Cannon, ET- 110
Castellax- Flamers/Mauler Cannon, ET- 110
3 Thallax- Multi-Melta- 145
3 Thallax- Multi-Melta- 145
3 Thallax- Multi-Melta- 145

Thanatar- ET- 255
Thanatar- ET, PoM- 290

Imperial Knight Errant- 370

=1885

Ok, so i'm 35 points over, but a knight adds variety for modelling and painting, fits the army theme well and is badass to boot, any suugestions?

Theory is the PoM Thanatar and the knight hold one flank while the magos baby sits the bots that need it on the other flank.

What is your opinion on the magos build? anything i can drop there?

Thanks very much for your help so far BTW.

Arch Magos Dominus - Protectiva, Cyber Familiar, Abeynat, Augury, Machinator Array, MC Photon Thruster - 215

5 Castellax- Flamers/Mauler Cannon - 475
3 Thallax- Multi-Melta- 150
3 Thallax- Multi-Melta- 150
3 Thallax- Multi-Melta- 150
10 Adescularis Tech Thralls - Rite of Pure Thought - 50

Thanatar- ET, PoM- 290

Imperial Knight Errant- 370

=1850

If yu are playing the IK you only need one Thanatar. With paragon you bypass programmed behaviour.

Put all five castallax in one unit to play wound shenanigans and to hide your Archmagos (he will almost be as tough as tha Thanatar to kill. Now one cortex controller is enough.

The Adescularis are there for more troops but really they also front the Castallax on the move. Fearless troops for 50 points is a steal.

So you still have SEVEN MCs, a list less dependent on cortex control and some very tangible threats. In fact I would play that list - it only lacks AA support but it is so durable it might not matter.

 felixcat wrote:

You can only take PoM once. So one Thanatar can have it.

wow! if i had a medal for proofreading i'd give it to you.

would've never spotted that!

 felixcat wrote:
Arch Magos Dominus - Protectiva, Cyber Familiar, Abeynat, Augury, Machinator Array, MC Photon Thruster - 215

5 Castellax- Flamers/Mauler Cannon - 475
3 Thallax- Multi-Melta- 150
3 Thallax- Multi-Melta- 150
3 Thallax- Multi-Melta- 150
10 Adescularis Tech Thralls - Rite of Pure Thought - 50

Thanatar- ET, PoM- 290

Imperial Knight Errant- 370

=1850

If yu are playing the IK you only need one Thanatar. With paragon you bypass programmed behaviour.

Put all five castallax in one unit to play wound shenanigans and to hide your Archmagos (he will almost be as tough as tha Thanatar to kill. Now one cortex controller is enough.

The Adescularis are there for more troops but really they also front the Castallax on the move. Fearless troops for 50 points is a steal.

So you still have SEVEN MCs, a list less dependent on cortex control and some very tangible threats. In fact I would play that list - it only lacks AA support but it is so durable it might not matter.

I really like that except for the tech thralls, really not a fan of the models and they provide an obviously softer target for enemys to attack and grab first blood.

didn't realise you could take castellax as units.

What about:

magos- as written before.

4 Castellax- Mauler/flamers- 380
3 Thallax- MM- 150
3 Thallax- MM- 150
3 Thallax- MM- 150
3 Thallax- MM- 150

Thanatar- ET, PoM- 290

Knight Errant- 370

Thralls have their uses - but they're much more for a Taghmata Omnissiah list - the Taghmata Archmagos is an independent character and can hide in the unit.

For Legio Cybernetica, you're not missing much. More importantly, if you don't like the models, ignore them.

Thallax are good, but aren't automata - depends how bothered you are about a 'pure' robot force. Keep an eye on Photon Thrusters as well - they give the unit massive stand-off power compared to the multimelta, and let you cut through marine squads scarily easily.
Thallax are Ordo Reductor siege troops and have rules accordingly. They do four jobs, some of which the Legio cybernetica doesn't really need.

1) A fast (ish) unit with a multimelta. Good, but remember that any heavy tank may have armoured ceramite and/or a flare shield. Multimeltas are nowhere near as lethal an antitank weapon in the Horus Heresy as they are in 'normal' 40k.

2) Sniping power and/or terminator armoured marines out of cover with plasma fusils and photon thrusters respectively. Since the latter also has lance, it's a better general-purpose weapon. Of course, the Hellax Plasma Mortar on your castellax blows up marines in cover but good too.

3) Flak cover - I can't remember if you have access to the Icarian upgrade - not every mechanicum list gets every option - but two or more skyfiring photon thrusters can seriously inconvenience an enemy.

4) Assault - especially with heavy chainblades and the Ferrox upgrade. Cybernetica Automata may be monstrous creatures but they're not actually that great in a melee - a dreadnought will batter one silly in pretty short order.

5) Tough scoring units. Point for point, they're harder to kill than terminators against bolters and chainswords, and plasma and lascannons. They only really fall down against heavy bolters and autocannons - AP4, high rate of fire stuff - and provided they have a decent cover save (again, remember they're designed for siege work and cityfights!) then even this isn't a problem. On the other hand, in a Legio Cybernetica list, you're comparing their durability as a scoring unit to a toughness seven, four wound, atomantically shielded castellax, so who cares?

6) They aren't automata. This means your opponent can't lure them off an objective with a disposable 'bait' unit.



Your last list is nice. The Errant gives you all the antitank capability your could need, the Thanatar is a solid backfield unit which doesn't need babysitting and can 'reach out and touch' marines dug into cover, and the castellax are the solid core to advance out and break defended objectives. Thallax are mobile skirmishers.

I'd swap out a few multimeltas for photon thrusters, and possibly consider collapsing the units to two of six. Remember that thallax are one of the few units in your army list who aren't fearless.

If you like vorax, go with it. At least one small unit makes for good crowd control. Accept that they'll be using programmed behaviour most of the time (becasue thanks to scout the magos won't be chasing after them) and set them on crowd control duties. Two rotor cannons and an irrad-cleanser can dismember light infantry damn quick, and removing the lightning cannon in favour of a low strength fleshbane flamer means they won't get drawn off chasing down tanks.

 mixer86 wrote:

What about:

magos- as written before.

4 Castellax- Mauler/flamers- 380
3 Thallax- MM- 150
3 Thallax- MM- 150
3 Thallax- MM- 150
3 Thallax- MM- 150

Thanatar- ET, PoM- 290

Knight Errant- 370

maybe consider a couple of phased-plasma fusils for a thallax squad - great weapon and especially since thallax are relentless!

SirDonlad wrote:

 mixer86 wrote:

What about:

magos- as written before.

4 Castellax- Mauler/flamers- 380
3 Thallax- MM- 150
3 Thallax- MM- 150
3 Thallax- MM- 150
3 Thallax- MM- 150

Thanatar- ET, PoM- 290

Knight Errant- 370

maybe consider a couple of phased-plasma fusils for a thallax squad - great weapon and especially since thallax are relentless!

could be a good choice, same points isn't it?

it's cheaper! 10pts.

The tech thralls are not necessary - I like a small fearless unit of troops myself - multiple uses like preventing your IK from being tied up, backfield objective sitters, bubble wrap, etc. Not strictly needed though.

Your list looks good now.

Thanks Guys.

So final draft that is within points limits:

Arch Magos Dominus (215)
- Protectiva
- Cyber Familiar
- Abeyant
- Augury
- Machinator Array
- Master Crafted Photon Thruster

4 Castellax (380)
-4 Mauler Bolt Cannons
- 4 Sets of Flamers

3 Thallax (150)
- Multi-Melta
3 Thallax (150)
- Multi-Melta
3 Thallax (145)
- Phased Plasma Fusil
3 Thallax (145)
- Phased Plasma Fusil

Thanatar (290)
- Enhanced Targeting
- Paragon Of Metal

Imperial Knight Errant (370)

=1845

I think i'm pretty happy with that.

the only thing I'd like to add, is how many wounds it takes to force a leadership check with thallax.

in threes or fours, 3 wounds in a phase will have you trying to roll 8 or less on 2d6

anymore than 5 in a squad and they have to do 6 wounds to force a test.

the more you have in a cohort, the more work they have to do, so maybe lump them into cohorts of 6? you get 5pts knocked off if you do that too.

good looking list, I'd be confident throwing that against most things.

SirDonlad wrote:
the only thing I'd like to add, is how many wounds it takes to force a leadership check with thallax.

in threes or fours, 3 wounds in a phase will have you trying to roll 8 or less on 2d6

anymore than 5 in a squad and they have to do 6 wounds to force a test.

the more you have in a cohort, the more work they have to do, so maybe lump them into cohorts of 6? you get 5pts knocked off if you do that too.

good looking list, I'd be confident throwing that against most things.

I get what you are saying about the squad numbers, but i want to use them as objective grabbers, and smaller units are easier to hide and less of a threat. Frankly the enemy have bigger fish to fry in my list.

Thanks for all your help guys.

Roll on bonus day!!