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Thing is for HH its a bigger investment and takes longer; meanwhile for LI in one Battleforce set we are getting pretty much more than half the entire Mechanicum model line.

Plus you can't string it out with paint schemes and shoulderpads like you can 32mm scale.

This sad old gig is pleased as punch that Epic is once again the mother of invention 🤣

 vadersson wrote:
I am really surprised that they are going with separate Mech and Dark Mech units. I figured they would go for the same set up as the SA and Marines. GW is really investing a lot in molds and models for LI which is a great sign. Now if the rules would get some work...

With them being fairly unique & named units, this makes me wonder if they're going to go with Ordinatus engines as the centrepiece of a future loyalist Mechanicum faction. That way you don't have identical "Ordinatus Ulator"s fighting on both sides of the same battle.

Also given the unit name I'm wondering if there's a non-heavy DarkMech 'stalker' unit coming too.

I doubt we are getting too many more Dark Mech models. Probably only two more sets, one with smaller models and leaders and one with medium size ones. They will just also get access to the normal Mechanicum models and have a few additional models to get the Dark Mech optics

Dark Mech could also tie in to some of the chaos titans that have rules but no kits to represent, and to the various slaaneshi hell Knights and scout titan.

Article is up now:
https://www.warhammer-community.com/en-gb/articles/pg4mfy13/warhammer-day-preview-more-machines-roll-out-from-the-martian-forges/

Full Knight and Titan armies:

Rise of the Dark Mechanicum is the next book for Legions Imperialis, and it contains army lists for both the Mechanicum Taghmata and the Dark Mechanicum, as well as Formations for dedicated armies of Collegia Titanica and Questoris Familia.

This is also clearly a 28mm image since you can see the new Tech Thralls:


And also (not surprising) they confirm there is more coming for Dark Mech and Mechanicum

I'm getting both Brass Scorpion and Cryx Crabjack vibes off these models - probably a common root model with the Brass Scorpion, at least for the torso?

The crab things look like digital renders with the plastic tech thralls edited into the image to me, rather than them being true full sized 40k scale models. There's a pretty stark level of difference in detail, lighting, and contrast between the thralls and the big guys. At a minimum they were not photographed together under the same lighting.

Those are definitely shield generators of some kind.

I don’t think they’ll be Void Shields though, but the same shields we see on other Mechanicum vehicles. Flare Shields I think they’re called?

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
This sad old gig is pleased as punch that Epic is once again the mother of invention 🤣

Yes! This for days!

Love the look of that walker. Excited to see what’s next.

Single handedly stole the show.

I had a feeling they'd show a larger model, but wasn't expecting Dark Mechanicum. Throwing in the titan & knight formations as well...this could be the best release so far.

chaos0xomega wrote:
The crab things look like digital renders with the plastic tech thralls edited into the image to me, rather than them being true full sized 40k scale models. There's a pretty stark level of difference in detail, lighting, and contrast between the thralls and the big guys. At a minimum they were not photographed together under the same lighting.

I agree, we can't read too much into that image, photoshop is a thing.

That being said if GW isn't already planning a 28mm version they should fast, people are really excited and a huge model on thin legs might just be possible.

I disagree.

We know GW uses photoshop or similar to composite such photos. But, that doesn’t mean a given model is purely a digital asset.

Indeed, whilst my knowledge and memory is not encyclopaedic, I can’t immediately think of such an image where we never did get the model or models shown.

There a large number of images like this one where we have yet to receive the models shown. It doesn't mean it's never coming, but some of the images have kept us waiting an awfully long time.

Yeah some stuff appears to be a really obvious choice for GW to make a model of it; but they won't do it for 5-10 or more years.

Mechanicum in HH honestly has a lot of releases for 32mm scale to go just ot move the army from resin to plastic. Plus GW has made some odd choices there - eg in the recent update there are 2 models that could easily have had alternate weapon/build options, but GW chose not to go that pathway and is instead keeping the alternate versions in resin.
Is this just so they can make another plastic kit or because they are wanting to keep the army plastic and resin - who knows only GW does and its every chance that their thoughts on it change over time.



Regardless I wouldn't expect to see dedicated 32mm Dark Mechanicum models for a long while yet.

Well GWs pattern seems to be a mix of converting resins to plastics + injecting new designs straight to plastic (aethon, Kratos, etc), so we could see some DM stuff sooner rather than later... I just remain ambivalent about what.

Whilst still in its infancy, and we’ve but a single example (Solar Auxilia Heavy Sentinel), it’s still our benchmark for how quickly we might expect units debuting in Legions Imperialis to come into 28mm, and with more weapon options.

So whilst I can’t say it’ll be soon with any certainty, the 5-10 years feels way off.

On the other hand we are still waiting for most titan weapons in 28mm period

True, true.

 Fugazi wrote:

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
This sad old gig is pleased as punch that Epic is once again the mother of invention 🤣

Yes! This for days!

Love the look of that walker. Excited to see what’s next.

I am definitely of a like mind here! Great to see the scale being used to full advantage, and does make me look forward to whatever else is in the pipeline.

I’ll make the argument it’s also good for the game itself.

See, way back when as we’ve covered? Epic was the home of tanks and titans and the biggest gribbly monsters. Because it was a time when popular as 40K was, large plastic kits were an expensive investment, and so a risky one.

Epic? Epic didn’t care. More than a few now beloved tanks began life as simple one or two piece bits of lead alloy. And because the overall scale was dinky, very large units could be made, and realistically fielded. And for more than a few armies, it was the only home to tank sized and bigger toys until well into 2nd Ed.

2nd Ed itself saw a decent expansion of offerings (Falcon, Russ, Chimera, Basilisk) in plastic, further expanded with metal hybrid bits (Hellhound, Demolisher, Griffon) for big things, and a raft of smaller light vehicles in plastic.

Even then, Epic remained the home of the vast majority of tanks.

Eventually, Apocaylpse came to be, as did Forgeworld, bringing us more and bigger kits to duff our mates up with.

And so whilst still a better home for Super Heavies and Armoured Columns? Epic kind of lost its unique space.

And to me, Epic being the sole home of certain war machines is just the natural order of things. Hence I’m very excited that at least For Now? Epic is reclaiming that part of its crown.

Will any/all of such things eventually come to 28mm? Yep, I’m sure they will. Certainly some will.

But Dark Mechanicum, for the now, being LI exclusive warms my cockles. It’s a sign to me that GW does understand Epic, and where its appeal can at least partially lie. And in turn? The tantalising prospect other armies will, in time, get units only see in Epic Scale.

Exclusivity. Hopefully without snobbery!

I was just grumbling the other night that as much as I really like the models for Legions, its such a wasted game because its just a shrinky dink version of HH 30k scale stuff.

We'd get an announcement for one game, its almost a guarantee its just an advert that the other game would get the same models eventually. (barring a few obvious models that might never see either of the games much. Titans, primarchs etc)

But seeing Epic scale as the platform for new war machines never before seen in big scale. That's what they should be doing.

I'm not against people seeing some of these things in big scale if they are big scale only collectors- I'd not want to gatekeep the hobby for anyone. But it should be a rare treat on the table top.

But I think Epic shines when it does the things that no other game/scale can do, and that's fantastic war machines and epic scale battles. All the time! Hundreds of war machines! Up to now, legions is just wearing its fathers big suit and running around the house with the arms and legs flapping about wanting to be a grown up.

I don't think I'll ever get along with the rules they have chosen for the game, and the lack of orks, but if they keep pushing new armies and units it would be easier to convince people its got a unique identity and help sell the game. I'm certainly stocking up on enough mechanicum to see me through to the real 41st millennium once they release.

So, apparently this goes up for sale on 2nd of November along with the Mech box, well according to those 'in the know'.

I'd add that the power of Epic isn't just in being able to field new things, but also in being able ot field lots of new things and in volume at the same time.

Models that aren't just expensive, but are huge and cost a lot in money, time and points in 32mm - can be much more affordable in all fronts in Epic.



Sure you can run a tank heavy IG army, but you're never going to have room to put three baneblades down at once; even if you can get a game the cost to get them and the difficulty of transport are big barriers - not to mention the size of table you need.

Epic is the home of such things and I think giving it freedom to do stuff that might never appear in 32mm scale is valid. 32mm has its shining points too - its infantry don't have huge random square blocks on them; they can do way more detail on things; have intricate models; lots of varied weapon options (that you can actually see) and more.


Each scale has its strengths

Agreed with that perspective

Looks cool - I wonder if we'll see some more bespoke style units like the ones for Thousand Sons psychic style mechanicum creations (as far as the book described)

Sincere apologies for crap-o-vision, but lifted this via screen grab from Instagram.

Love the look of the butcher, really hope we get a 32mm version. Also, am I miscounting, or do some of those have 5 legs?

Look forward to seeing them in 28mm

So now we know what a regular stalker is to a heavy one. And the little ones are also interesting, almost a vulturax variant.