Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Are they competitive in tournaments? Do they count as Heavy support ot is there a way to make them count as troops? would 2 max squads or 3 max squads be competitive in 1850 tournaments?

thanks

They are heavy support, yes. And they can't be taken as troops.

However, if you get yourself the rules for the War Convocation, and include in your Cult part of it a maxed-out Elimination Maniple, the Phosphor on those robots will result in some mega-dakka churning out of the Kataphrons.
You'll also end up with an incredibly good Flamer Wall, to protect your lines of Rangers and Dunecrawlers from charges.

I think what's best is to take the term "Heavy Support" literally. They're there to help your other guys do damage.
(But don't get me wrong; those 36" Heavy Phosphor Blasters do hurt alot, and they're Twin Linked)

 Buddingsquaw wrote:

However, if you get yourself the rules for the War Convocation, and include in your Cult part of it a maxed-out Elimination Maniple, the Phosphor on those robots will result in some mega-dakka churning out of the Kataphrons.
You'll also end up with an incredibly good Flamer Wall, to protect your lines of Rangers and Dunecrawlers from charges.

I think what's best is to take the term "Heavy Support" literally. They're there to help your other guys do damage.
(But don't get me wrong; those 36" Heavy Phosphor Blasters do hurt alot, and they're Twin Linked)

That's not really how it works. You need the admech's Force org to run the war convocation and you cannot subsitute it with a random formation they have. You could still get Robots for that list though, and they will have all their upgrades and relics for free

Also take a look at the Cohort Cybernetica Formation (not the 30k army). it consists of two Robot squads and a tech priest that form up into one big mega unit with psuedo-split fire. so basically it's 4 robots, 2 2w sergeants with power fists, and the dominus which can repair wounds off of the squad and take the IWND relic. it's quite a tough formation!

where do I find these rules? is it just in the codex?

Yea, cohort is in the Cult Mechanicus codex. War convocation was in a white dwarf a long time ago, so you may need to find it.

I was under the impression you could just simply attatch a Kastelan unit to the Battle Congregation, and nab the two Kataphron units for the Elimination Maniple formation, whilst still being classed as a Battle Congregation for the sake of the Convocation.
(Not ignoring the Tech priest here; he's just not in the Elim Manip)

I have run a unit of Kastelans in War Convocation a few times now, twice in a tournament. They are a good unit, but not extremely so. The amount of firepower they offer in proportion to their expense is rather inefficient. Yes they are very durable and can offer quite a bit of table control or support to other units, but tournament play is all about min-maxing. You can get a Knight for not much more points, and Knights are faster. I would argue that depending on the variant, the durability and firepower of said Knight is probably on par with the Kastelan unit, but 12'' move is what makes it. You have to be mobile, durable, AND killy to play tournaments. 2/3 just wont cut it, and sometimes that extra 6'' is what you need to win a game.

 Buddingsquaw wrote:
I was under the impression you could just simply attatch a Kastelan unit to the Battle Congregation, and nab the two Kataphron units for the Elimination Maniple formation, whilst still being classed as a Battle Congregation for the sake of the Convocation.
(Not ignoring the Tech priest here; he's just not in the Elim Manip)

The problem with this is that a unit cannot simultaneously be part of two formations. You have two units of kataphrons, that are a part of the battle congregation which is in turn a part of the war convocation formation. While you can add kastelans to the detachment as it's rules allow, those kastelans would be part of the war convocation as well, netting them free wargear. If you wanted to run an elimination maniple, you would need to add all of those units again and then THOSE units would benefit from the elimination maniple rules, but not the war convocation rules.

Probably the best detachments for these awesome looking robbits:

1. War Convocation because it's just the best AdMech
2. Cohort Cybernetica combined with some fast Objective Secured allies
3. Elimination Maniple - so shooty; no HQ tax

And I don't think the flamers or power fists are ever really appropriate. All phosphor all the time.

Also I highly recommend these third-party heads http://wargameexclusive.com/shop/imperial-mechanics/adeptus-mechanicus-kastelan-robots-heads/

I really like the formation where the robots can form one unit with the HQ tech priest dominus. He can give the unit IWND and he can also heal wounds on a 2+.

Could I turn up to a game with just 1 formation and not have a cad?

or 1 formation and an inquisition ally? is it legal?

champagne_socialist wrote:
I really like the formation where the robots can form one unit with the HQ tech priest dominus. He can give the unit IWND and he can also heal wounds on a 2+.

Could I turn up to a game with just 1 formation and not have a cad?

or 1 formation and an inquisition ally? is it legal?

Yes these are both legal in 7th edition 40k and in nearly all tournament formats.

That would easily win Kill Point missions but would probably lose any contest for objectives. Best to ally the Cohort formation with fast and durable Objective Secured units. Space Marines are great for that, although other stuff like Tempestus Scions may also be fun.

I have faced them a lot in all of their formations, and I can confirm that they are a NIGHTMARE to kill. At minimum you have 8 majority toughness 7 wounds, with the option to tank non ap2 on the priests. This is with a 5+ invul and probably fnp until you decide to change it. The only thing that is effective is grav, and even then you have a 1/6 chance to bounce the shot back. A seriously nasty unit that will almost always have a significant effect on the battles you play


Automatically Appended Next Post:
I have faced them a lot in all of their formations, and I can confirm that they are a NIGHTMARE to kill. At minimum you have 8 majority toughness 7 wounds, with the option to tank non ap2 on the priests. This is with a 5+ invul and probably fnp until you decide to change it. The only thing that is effective is grav, and even then you have a 1/6 chance to bounce the shot back. A seriously nasty unit that will almost always have a significant effect on the battles you play

I've loved running the robot formation. They'll absolutely lose any mission dependent on securing objectives, but they will never die. If you don't care about running anything else you can load them up with ALL the toys, and get IWND, BS2 snapfire, and splitfiring into everything. The only thing to be careful of is not putting too many extra datasmiths into the unit and bumping the majority toughness from 7 to 4 with one unlucky dead robot.

Anyone considering the Cohort Cybernetica formation (and everyone in this thread should be) also check out the Divination discipline. The Primaris Prescience greatly increases the units firepower and it's a guaranteed pick. Misfortune's Rending helps against the few targets they can't normally hurt. Even Forewarning's 4++ helps the robots in close combat with Force and D weapons.

Also shameless plug for my Army List thread please halp http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/0/689792.page