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so im looking to start a Mechanicum army from Forge world but i need a bit of help. i would like to start it small to reinforce my Gray Knights, however i dont know were to start could someone help put a shopping list together for about $200 USD or link to to a different post. also how i should build them im a even bigger scrub in that way.

I recently started mechanicum and had the same questions. Luckily I did lots of homework for you. First, there is a mechanicum facebook group which is dedicated to the 30k side. Scroll through posts on there to see builds other people use. Then, look through the red book. There are several types of lists you can build, each with their own restrictions, drawbacks and bonuses. Just building an HQ in this game can be a headache as there are so many war gear options for them and ways to make them synergize with other units in your army. A loadout that would work with MSU thallax won't necessarily work with an army full of robots that need cortex controllers to babysit them.

The most important thing to remember when building a list is ONLY TROOPS SCORE. You cannot take 2 min squads of troops and fill the rest of your points with heavy support, fast attack and elite units like you can in 40k. My favorite build is 6 min squads of thallax. 2x with photon thrusters, 2x with irad cleansers in Triaros, 2x with multi meltas, melta bombs and CCW upgrades deep striking with empyrite. A thanatar sits behind a building holding a backfield objective. Use arcmagos draykavac with 4 cyber occularis. Use the line of sight from them to keep your thanatar out of harms way. I would also suggest making him your paragon. Castellax are fun with darkfire cannons but they take a troop slot and don't count as scoring so they aren't as awesome as they used to be. Myrmidons are good in transports but you have to buy 3 sets to be able to run them all with the same weapon option. Running them with 3 different weapons is not helpful as one or two will always be out of range and useless. The triaros is the best transport in the game IMO. Land raider armor up front, counts as 1 higher when tank shocking, has decent weapons for a transport as well.

Now for the bad news, $200 doesn't get you very far at all. That's about £135. Also they charge sales tax for whatever state you're in, plus 15% shipping. A $200 order in models would come out to $245 in Alabama. So assuming you mean $200 total, we're down to about £110.

Red book - £32
Magos dominus - £21
2x units of thallax - £60

We're at £113 and that's with the cheapest possible book, HQ and troop units to field a legal army. Even with every upgrade possible you have around 500 points that will get annihilated by any other 500 point 30k or 40k army. 30k is meant to be played at 1750-3000 points. I played a 1k game the other night and I had 12 models, my opponent had 18 and it was the most boring game ever. If you're planning on using them as allies in 40k games, they're going to be horribly underpowered and overcosted. GK didn't exist in 30k so it also seems odd to use them together but to each their own.

well if you put it like that i may be able ti spring for the CYBERNETICA BATTLEGROUP and the book. but it is just to start ill get more sooner or later. and if im not going to play 30K would i need the other books?

No, the red book has everything as of right now and several models that haven't been released yet. It also has the changes to the rules from 30k to 40k, all 30k FOC charts and 6 missions for 30k. It's well worth the buy. That battlegroup is an excellent place to start and sets you up to build just about any kind of list. I think you'll find 30k far more rewarding. The rules are much better with armies requiring synergy rather than just picking the best units in a codex. Troops are essential to your army and must fit a role, instead of being taxes you take 2 min units of. LOWs don't show up until 2500 points and can only be 25% of your army. People are more into the hobby side so you rarely see anything unpainted being fielded and paint jobs are usually high quality. Power gaming isn't as much of an issue. It's just a better overall experience IMO.

ok let me rephrase i would love to do it but no one at my LGS is looking to do it. and the power gamers would feth it up any way. we are doing a highlander and thy are trying to game that .

mcnair111 wrote:
so im looking to start a Mechanicum army from Forge world but i need a bit of help. i would like to start it small to reinforce my Gray Knights, however i dont know were to start could someone help put a shopping list together for about $200 USD or link to to a different post. also how i should build them im a even bigger scrub in that way.

Keep in mind that 30K armies, as a general rule, cannot ally with 40K armies. What your opponents will allow is another thing.

Anyway, the Cybernetica battle group is a good start, and you can then buy some cheap guardsmen or whatnot off of Ebay to serve as tech thralls to fill out some more troops choices.

 Tannhauser42 wrote:

mcnair111 wrote:
so im looking to start a Mechanicum army from Forge world but i need a bit of help. i would like to start it small to reinforce my Gray Knights, however i dont know were to start could someone help put a shopping list together for about $200 USD or link to to a different post. also how i should build them im a even bigger scrub in that way.

Keep in mind that 30K armies, as a general rule, cannot ally with 40K armies. What your opponents will allow is another thing.

Anyway, the Cybernetica battle group is a good start, and you can then buy some cheap guardsmen or whatnot off of Ebay to serve as tech thralls to fill out some more troops choices.

^ Pretty much this. Forgeworld Ad Mech use the age of darkness foc, or the Legio cybernetica, leviathan, etc. You will have to modify their rules to use them in 40k. Does a thanatar score? According the red book it doesn't, according to the 40k rulebook it does. There's a difference between using a fire raptor in a 40k space marine list and trying to use a whole 30k army in a 40k list for a 40k league/tournament.