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Could I use the Mechanicus Kastelan Robots to represent the Castellax? I don't feel like spending $70 CAD for 1 model when I can get 2 for $83.

thanks for your help Dakka!

Às long as the people you are playing are not snobs then sure, it's not like your subbing in grots.

Yes of course, there are in fact many excelent conversions and paint jobs of them as such.

You could even go a step further and use Skaven Stormfiends instead.
Same size, $75 for 3 compared to $83 For 2 and a little dude.

I do it myself, and whilst I do get a few curious questions, works out fine in the end because I've got things that make it work thematically.

You are playing the wrong game if money is a concern for your army.

Mechanicum are nothing but Forge World models. They are a Forge World army.

I'd be careful about proxying models - especially when you replace one official model (Castellex) with another model from a similar, but different army (Kastelan). Of course your meta will be the ultimate decision maker for you, just make sure you talk it over with your opponent first, and don't get all butt hurt when he refuses to allow you to proxy. I'm a firm believe in that if there is an official model, then you should be using that model (or a model converted to look obviously like the official model).

 Tamwulf wrote:
You are playing the wrong game if money is a concern for your army.

Statements like that are not helpful for trying to grow the hobby. There aren't that many people out there that have an inclination to play a table top war game. Limiting their participation in the hobby by adding community based restrictions doesn't help to draw in new players. New players are needed to keep GW/FW coffers full so that they churn out more models we all want to buy. New players also keep the hobby alive and make it possible to avoid playing the same 2-3 fellow greybeards every time. There is nothing wrong with trying to be budget conscious when building an army, even a Horus Heresy army.

bogalubov wrote:

 Tamwulf wrote:
You are playing the wrong game if money is a concern for your army.

Statements like that are not helpful for trying to grow the hobby. There aren't that many people out there that have an inclination to play a table top war game. Limiting their participation in the hobby by adding community based restrictions doesn't help to draw in new players. New players are needed to keep GW/FW coffers full so that they churn out more models we all want to buy. New players also keep the hobby alive and make it possible to avoid playing the same 2-3 fellow greybeards every time. There is nothing wrong with trying to be budget conscious when building an army, even a Horus Heresy army.

Every hobby has it's own expenses- no hobby is exactly cheap. "Expensive" is a very, very subjective term. If I make US$100,000/year, then spending a couple hundred at Forge World to make sure I have the right models is no big deal. Now, if I'm 18 years old, trying to go to college, and have no job, then 30K becomes a very expensive hobby- one that I probably shouldn't get into until I can afford it.

I agree with the new player rationale, but Forge World/GW seems to disagree as is evidenced by their pricing scheme and they haven't gone out of business yet. They seem to be turning a healthy profit every year, meaning the people that are playing 30K can afford it and are buying Forge World models. They sell a ton of 40K introductory sets at a reasonable cost, but beyond that, you start paying a large amount of money. There are no introductory sets for 30K. You could argue Calth and Prospero are 30K introductory sets, but they are not. They are whole games unto themselves that just happen to have models based in the 30K universe. Forge World made MK II, MK III, and MK IV Space Marines in resin before those box sets ever game out. Am I happy those games came out? Heck yeah! It introduced a whole new player base to 30K. Am I happy in seeing the same army, just a different Legion every week running Primarch's Chosen? No, not at all. No, I do not want to play your 1,500 points of your Primarch, three Vet Squads, some Mars Pattern Rhinos, and a Contemptor Dread. I want to play 3,000 points with huge Tactical Squads with Apothecaries, Sicarian Battle Tanks, Levithan Dreads, Fell Blades, Destroyer Squads, Praetors, Command Squads and the unique units from my Legion (Justarians and Reavers!). I can't believe that puts me in the minority or makes me a "greybeard". My meta says otherwise, and yeah, we have a core group of six guys that show up every week to play, but we have another 12 players that show up at other times, and we play 2,500-3,000 points. And we get at least one new player a month- one that doesn't proxy or use other models from other sources outside of Forge World/GW.

My stance: If you can't afford the official model, then maybe you shouldn't be playing 30K, which is more expensive then 40K by a long shot. 30K is the Cadillac of Warhammer 40K.

No. If anything 30k is the 'historical' version of 40k. nothing more, nothing less.

To say that 'if you can't go official, you shouldn't play probably' is to look at the hobby in general in the wrong light. 30k isn't about being expensive, it's about building a force at X or Y moment of the heresy. If that means using Castellans as Castelax (which WERE around durring the heresy, and WERE remarkably similar in function at the time. close enough where you could say they would have the same rules.), or using a different company's tank as your tank (Forge world even makes exceptions in the definitions of quite a view vehicles that these are examples of tanks around, and should be used as a catch-all term. i.e. the malcador/lightning)

 Tamwulf wrote:

There are no introductory sets for 30K. You could argue Calth and Prospero are 30K introductory sets, but they are not. They are whole games unto themselves that just happen to have models based in the 30K universe.

Those two box sets have been the highest selling items GW has ever made and yet I've never seen a single person play the actual boxed game. They are not official starter sets, but everyone uses them that way.

My stance: If you can't afford the official model, then maybe you shouldn't be playing 30K, which is more expensive then 40K by a long shot. 30K is the Cadillac of Warhammer 40K.

There are many many people who play 30k without "official" models. They could be deimos rhinos, sicarans and legion specific terminators, but they certainly did not come from FW. Do you ask all your opponents if they're using FW only models for which they paid full price? That's why I find the authenticity argument funny.

We all want to play against nicely painted armies full of cool units, however if someone wants to use other GW models or 3rd party conversions I'm all for it. If you show up week after week with a deodorant bottle for a land speeder I probably will get sour. However, if you're making an effort to make a cool looking army I really don't care.

Thanks everyone for weighing in on my question. I appreciate all the responses!

I think the only real issue with this besides how your group feels about it (though I'd still try convert their guns up and such) Is that it's been suspected for a while fires of cyraxus will add the 30k bots to 40k and forgeworld potentially add the skitarai forces when we near mars which would mean kastellans in 30k.

Now it should be a while before we see the later but the former is slotted for this year so it may become confusing with the units in both systems.

In my honest opinion I could care less who made your models whether its 30k, 40k or another company entirely (except for recasters) as long as your Amy looks like it fits in the setting and I can see you put (or are putting) a good amount of time and energy into the army to make it fit, then I'm just happy to have another opponent to play.

Personally as far as tanks and stuff especially, it gets really old seeing the same old official GW and FW models, especially for human auxilia. This was a time period when there was actually much more variety in the imperium armed forces not less. We should celebrate variety in our armies and collections not stymie it, especially if it means letting new players into our groups.