Editing Warhammer 40,000/Tactics/Mechanicum (30k) (section)

===HQ===
*'''Magos Prime:'''  Kind of like a Praetor.  Must be upgraded with an Arcana.  Independent Character! REJOICE!  The warlord can get a Djinn Skein (for a hefty 2 and a half melta guns) which lets them do all kinds of delightful datamancy--things don't scatter when coming in within 6", +1BS within 6" to one unit, etc. In all cases Abeyant and cyber familiar are a must for most builds for the sheer resilience; they also don't have any conflict with other potential options. Machinator Array further increase toughness, and some additional attacks at I1. Unless you have some specific plans, this is the go-to.
**The Archmagos prime is a huge step up, allowing you the use of an Archimandrite and the Djinn-Skein. As well as a stat-boost it grants you relentless. You may only have one Archmagos Prime in an army - no allying yourself for additional an additional one! However this doesn't include taking an Archmagos Dominus/Reductor within an allied detachment.
***Archimandrite: Gives all your vehicles IWND and gets +1 to reserves. Oddly, because of these two rules, Fleet-Support wings become way more interesting, and he compliments well with a Land Raider mounting a Exploratar Augury web.
**Malagra: Chases down hereteks, so gets +1WS and Attack, as well as Preferred Enemy (characters) and Monster Hunter. This arcana should be there to help you beat characters and monstrous creatures; with the right equipment, it will. Most combat characters are likely to hit faster than you, but the properly equipped Magos prime should be able to take the damage. A Machinator-array is a good choice but things could be considered. This dude should not leave home without the 'combat augment array' from book 4, a cyber-familiar and a master-crafted paragon blade/chainfist combo; the relic ALLOWS YOU TO COUNT ANY DICE ROLL AS A 6 once per game, announced at the start of your player turn. you have to take a toughness test at the end of your turn for each wound the model has, but you get re-rolls from the cyber-fam. no saving throws at all and no FNP either. take an abeyant for peace of mind. getting close to 270pts though...
**Myrmidax: Makes you a Myrmidon. The most important part of this unit is the fact it has relentless; making man of the heavier weapons usable on this; namely the Conversion beamer, Graiton imploder and Photon Thruster. The Alternative method of getting relentless on this unit is the Jet-pack, which would completely cancel out those options (leaving only the Graviton gun and Phased-plasma-fusil to utilize said rule). However the previously mentioned heavier weapons also block out the usage of the Machinator array; leaving him substantially more vulnerable. This guy and the Malagra are the ones with the most diverse set of equipment choices, due to having rules encouraging the use of things that aren't the Machinator Array. Fusilade is also fucking rad allowing you to shoot more. Oh and Hatred; leave melee to the Malagra and troops though.
**Ordinator: Gives you a bombardment attack, Armourbane and Wrecker. Bombardment is an Ordnance D3, 5", Pinning, S8 AP3; this is once per game so use it carefully. It could come as kind of lack-luster due to that D3 and scatter and its not Barrage so it needs LoS to the target. However its one of few Large-blast options available to you, the others being the Thanatar and Minotaur; the former is a Castellax^3 and the latter a sexy super-Leman Russ SPG, both doing this job so much better and can make use of the Djeinn Skein Rule. Armourbane isn't too hot considering you have lots of stuff that is good against vehicles anyway, Wrecker is interesting but limited, allowing rerolls of Armour Penetration against immobile structures and adds +1 to the results table; these rules benefit all of its attack so bombardment also benefits from this. Potentially, could be cool, but you're probably better off taking a Thanator or an allied choice if you're looking for some hot heavy Ordnance. A poor choice of Archmagos, a strong consider for regular.
**Lachrimallus: Forces you to take a unit of thralls. However, Thrall units come back from the dead on a 5+ and into reserves. '''Don't forget the 5+ feel no pain too; given a machinator array, abeyant and cyber familiar you end up with a t6 character with 4 wounds who has it will not die who has a 3++ save and feel no pain.'''  This guy won't go down quickly, if you're taking an Archimandrites or sizeable numbers of well equipped Thralls, take this guy. The Former allowing you to bring those Thralls back on quicker, and the latter meaning they return into reserve for free, potentially maximising cost effectiveness. Also notice unlike the Archimandrite, this guy ''does not'' have to be the warlord to use his bonus. 
**Macrotek: Reroll battlesmiths for your dude and Auxilia are troops.  Also an extra fortification.  A combination I have found to work pretty well is giving a Macrotek a cortex controller and machinator array and sticking him in a unit of Castellax. Makes the Castellax a fairly durable unit as he can repair one on a 3+. See page 234 of Extermination: Deal with THAT.
**These sphincters are ridiculously durable, if properly built, can tie/beat Smashbubbler.

*'''Magos Dominus:''' Just like before, you need these assholes to keep your robots under control (unless you take Auxilia).  NOT ICs and does not have the Archmagos upgrade available; as a result they are more dangerous to use than the LC-Archmagos; it may be better to have an engineseer or give the Prime a cortex controller if you're looking for direct robot control. Just to reclarify; Cortex control isn't necessary to keep Battle-Automata fighting, its just needed for them to do it precisely; the robots won't rip out their servos like Nids rip out each others vestigial stomachs. 

*'''Magos Calleb Decima:''' An all-rounded character that also comes with a rule called Curse of the Omnissiah which ''will'' cripple anything less than a Titan.  That said -  he doesn't have relentless and the Mechanicum don't have access to a transport with fire points.  His Curse of the Omnissiah attack is HEAVY 2d6 with 'gets hot' which means Caleb could very well die while waiting around for a worthy target for it and he might burn himself trying to use it (though that's incredibly unlikely).   Caleb actually does significantly better in the Taghmata than the Reductor as you can put him in a group of Castellax (as he's not an IC) and optionally give him an Abeyant.  He'll buff the squad (especially if one has a Multi-Melta) and his 5 S6 AP2 attacks fit perfectly well with the squads S6 AP2 attacks.  The Castellax T7 also protects him long enough to use Curse of the Omnissiah too.

*'''Archmagos Inar Satarael:''' Monstrous creature sized Magos with a shield that can reflect shots back at the shooter and teleports home on a 3+ if he would otherwise die.  Comes with a cortex controller and is an Archimadrite, as well as a 5+ FNP.  If you're taking a lot of robots and who isn't, he'd be worth your time if you wanted a fully kitted-out Archmagos, as with his special rules he ends up being better than the generic version overall though he still costs more than one of your super-heavy options and with a 3+ invulnerable save he costs just 30 pts less than a Questoris Knight.

*'''Archmagos Draykavac:''' The first of the [[Dark Mechanicum]].  A scary bastard with a Paragon Blade, graviton gun, Djinn-Skein, and a Machinator array, gives all friendly Walkers, SH walkers and MCs +1 on their charges and sweeps, and a WT that gives all units within 3" of an objective Preferred Enemy (Infantry).  He's rather tough and has some nice tools, but his weirdest tool is his Liquefractor: a special weapon he can use in place of his normal combat attacks. It's an autohit on Initiative step 1, which inflicts "2d6 - T of the target" wounds with AP 2 to a single chosen model in base contact with Draykavac.  If he's against vehicles, then they take 2D6 - (Armour Value/2)  Penetration hits.  This weapon might be really scary, but doing so requires you leaving the protection of your tools, which might be helped by getting an Abeyant.  Otherwise, use him like a basic Magos Prime.