Age of Darkness-Warhammer 30k/2.0 Tactics/Mechanicum Tactics

From the weakness of the mind, Omnissiah save us
From the lies of the Antipath, Circuit preserve us
From the rage of the Beast, Iron protect us
From the temptations of the Flesh, Silica cleanse us
From the ravages of the Destroyer, Anima shield us
From this rotting cage of biomatter, Machine God set us free.

Ave Omnissiah!

These are the current rules for the Horus Heresy era Mechanicum, featured in Liber Mechanicum – Forces of the Omnissiah Army Book.

The previous editions rules can be found here.

Why Play The Mechanicum?

Start at the top, and requisition your way to the bottom.

You've seen the models, right? For the first time since Rogue Trader, the followers of the Machine God can take to the field en masse! You can embody the grimdark universe of Warhammer 40,000 30,000 with your exotic Martian death-rays, terrifying Battle-automata and horrific Cybernetic monstrosities.

Also? Robots.

At the beginning the force used to be divided between the three ordos of the Mechanicum: the footsloggin MCs of the Legio Cybernetica, the more complete Taghmata (vanilla) and the extremely limited Ordo Reductor. This led to question why would anyone ever use Reductor when the Taghmata list had better siege engines. The most recent update, however, offers you six Orders of High Tecno-Arcana to choose from.

The list is still fairly small, with limited unit choices, but a large amount of flexibility within many of these units, and many units have been yeeted in 2.0. Furthermore, almost all the models are FW resin. Be warned, this is a slippery slope that may result in the loss of financial security, family, friends and house...

Also, BIG Robots!

Unusually for Forge World, the Mechanicum is one of the cheapest armies to get in to. It's possible to start an army with a single Magos, and a pair of Castellax or small Thallax Cohorts (Adsecularis if you really want to break the mold!). The army lists, whilst capable of standing alone, are intended to be used as allies for the Legion army list. As a starting point for a new army, this is ideal, as you need even less to get have something you can field. Mechanicum units provide you with some unique possibilities for conversions, too! Take a cursory glance around Coolminiornot or a painting forum and you'll find some damn fine examples. Of course, if this is not your thing, Forge World's own models are more than capable of satisfying any model fanatic.

Special Rules

Advanced Reaction

• Advanced Reaction - "Scornful Fire": Triggered when the enemy shoots a unit containing an Independent Character. This unit can immediately shoot that enemy if they're within 12".

Army Special rules

• Disruption (X+): The common rule for Arc weapons, this gun will deal instant glancing hits on vehicles and auto-wounds dreads and automata on an X+ to hit. If you played in the pre-8th days of 40k, this rule should be giving you uncomfortable shudders of the old Gauss guns.
• Data-Djinn: Weapons with this rule will not hurt any enemies that lack the Vehicle, Automata or Dreadnought unit types.
• God-Engine: Your Ordinatus and titans are all-out immune to psykers and cybertheurgy, not to mention Haywire and Disruption (X+) - any weapons using those rules must use their base Strength to wound your superheavies. In addition, any units within 12" of this God-Engine count as Fearless, which is a serious buff for your troops.
• Paragon of Metal: The special character upgrade for a lone Automata (Cybernetica) unit. This unit replaces the Cybernetica subtype with the Paragon Subtype as well as +1 to Wounds and WS, It Will Not Die (4+), Precision Strikes (4+), Precision Shots (4+) and Rampage (2). Simply put, this is a Primarch made of steel.
• Patris Cybernetica: Allows the Independent Character to join a unit with the Automata type or Monstrous subtype. Note that this won't work on anything else with the Monstrous subtype or Automata type, meaning your Magi on Abeyants can't fly alongside their pet Vulturax despite wishing to.
• Reactor Meltdown: As expected from a Titan, if it catastrophic damage, it explodes in fantastic fashion. Magna (Reserved for the Warhound) makes the explosion deal Destroyer hits, Major makes those Destroyer hits AP2 and Maxima (For the Warlord) doubles the range of this explosion.

Warlord Traits

All generic Mechanicum Warlords from all three lists have the option of getting a Warlord trait from one of the charts in the main rulebook, or rolling on their own unique chart:

1. A Soul of Cold Iron: The Warlord and any unit with 6" may still declare charges if they are under the effect of Pinning but are still subject to Snap-Firing. He also allows an additional reaction during the movement phase.
2. The Logic of Victory: If the warlord has not shot, or is not locked in combat the whole army may make an additional reaction in all phases of the following turn. In addition the Warlord and a unit he is attached to gain +1 WS and BS during reactions, and +3 Movement and Initiative during movement based reactions.
3. The Science of Slaughter: For each turn this Warlord is locked in combat (so staring on the 2nd round) he gains +1S and Strength for each round of combat he is in. After he has left the combat, his Strength and WS return to normal. The army may also make an additional reaction during the Assault Phase.

Cybertheurgy

Psychic powers for machines. No, seriously. They're pretty much running the same rules as Psychic powers, only now you have your own unique Cybertheurgist unit sub-type. In addition, failing a Cybertheurgy check only deals 1 wound to the cybertheurgist, a fairly light injury for most magi but this becomes d3 wounds for vehicles or automata.

<tabs> <tab name="Artificia Machina">

• Animatus Integro: Allows the Cybertheurgist to apply Battlesmith (X+) to anything within 12", extending their support range considerably as they don't need to contantly be touching things to repair them. If you pass a Cybertheurgy check, this makes a second repair as if you had rolled for Battlesmith repairs twice. It goes without saying that repairing your bots and tanks is a necessity, so being able to restore 2 HP/wounds or fixing a wound and a lost weapon is a massive gift.
• Animatus Excindor: A wild 12" Assault d6 S1 AP1 gun with Haywire and Data-Djinn. This is basically devastating on any tanks or Automata you come across, though the swingy Assault d6 won't guarantee any kills and it's a waste against Terminators.

</tab> <tab name="Artificia Cybernetica">

• Cybernetica Exortus: Instead of shooting, you can target a unit with at least one Automata unit within 12" and make a Cybertheurgy test. If successful, you can apply a buff to the entire unit (Re-roll charge distances, ignoring the first wound from the shooting phase, +1 BS, overriding Reaction restrictions). Note that this only requires one model in the unit to have the Automata type, meaning that this can even work with Techpriest Auxilia who lost more Servo-Automata.
• Mordeo Cogita: An instant-kill 12" Assault 1 S10 AP1 gun with Instant Death and Data-Djinn. Pretty much custom-made to eradicate lone tanks and automata, but you'll need to guarantee that you're actually going to hit them in the first place.

</tab> <tab name="Ephemera Incursus">

• Ephemera Perfidiae: Target one enemy vehicle or automata within 12" and you can make it shoot at its friends as snap shots because you managed to hijack its brain. If you make a successful Cybertheurgy check, these shots are made at the Cybertheurgist's base BS, not counting as snap shots. Whichever you choose, you just pissed off that engine so hard that it now gains Hatred (Cybertheurgists) for the rest of the game.
• Ephemera Exocluo: A 24" Assault 6 S3 gun with Data-djinn, Blind, and Vox Silence. While this won't hurt anyone, Vox Silence knocks enemy Leadership and Blind can hit them pretty hard nonetheless. Following up with a melee squad can see that target easily routed.

</tab> <tab name="Ephemera Lacyraemarta">

• Ephemera Instigare: Target a friendly Mechanicum infantry unit within 12". This unit can immediately move a distance equal to twice their Initiative bonus towards the closest enemy. If you pass a Cybertheurgy check, this unit also gets Hammer of Wrath (1) and Furious Charge (1), making this an ideal option for a melee-equipped pack of Thallaxi.
• Ephemera Excrusis: An AP3 melee weapon with Rad-Phage, Fleshbane and Concussive (3). A pretty sick weapon that can easily soften up any enemies you fight for an incoming pack of Vorax.

</tab> <tab name="Artifica Reductor">

• Portis Fractis: Target one occupied enemy building, fortification or transport within 12". A successful Cyertheurgy check must immediately bail out of their hiding spot and must make a pinning check, screwing over any camping snipers or heavy supports hiding in a bunker or a rhino carting tacs. Doesn't work on flyers or superheavies.
• Manos Ruinus: An Unwieldy and Cumbersome S10 AP1 melee weapon with Data-djinn, Armourbane, and Exoshock (3+). A ruinous weapon that'll only see use on tanks and dreads, but unlike the lascutters that can shoot, this can only be used as a melee weapon.

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High Techno-Arcana

Your specialised faction rules, which give you additional bonuses and buffs to units. Similar to the old Provenance of War that Imperial Auxilia used to get, these may be only taken if your army includes an Archmagos Prime, who may choose one High Techno-Arcana option for free. If your army includes more than one Archmagos Prime, then each must take a different option, which allows for some degree of overlap within the detachment.

<tabs> <tab name="Archimandrite"> Your dedicated supports, these guys work on making sure everything stays working at peak performance, if not better. While this doesn't outright improve anything, your Techpriests won't complain about having new ways to support your tides of steel and your Archmagos Prime will now become an even stronger Cybertheurgist.

• Bonds of Vassalage: The Archmagos Prime with this rule must become the warlord. As a benefit, you can include a Mechanicum allied detachment, though any Archmagos Prime attached to that one cannot take this Techno-Arcana as well.
• Magister Theurgica: The Archmagos Prime with this rule can select another discipline of Cybertheurgy.
• Master Technomancer: Units with Battlesmith (X+) gain two extra options when they repair things. One lets the unit use the Battlesmith's BS for shooting and the other gives vehicles the Power of the Machine Spirit rule.

</tab> <tab name="Cybernetica"> You want to focus on robots and have them as Line units, better shooters, and making them joinable units of bodyguards. Generally meaning that you have less concern about what other unit types are doing.

• Cohort Cybernetica: Your Castellax Battle Automa Maniples all become Line units and can therefore claim objectives.
• Networked Sensorium Protocols: If models with the Automata unit type are within 12" of two models with Cortex Controllers, when those Automata make a shooting attack they may reduce any cover save the target has by -2.
• Preservation Protocols: The Archmagos Prime with this rule gains the Patris Cybernetica rule and so may join units of Automata. In addition, when joined to a unit of Automata, all wounds that are inflicted upon them must first be allocated to the Automata models first, even those with the Precision Shots (X) or Sniper rules.

</tab> <tab name="Lacyraemarta"> The spooky zombie-makers. Their bots might not see any improvements, but their Adsecularis and Myrmidons will now become tougher to remove with a toughness that almost seems to reflect the purity of steel.

• Incorruptible Flesh: The Archmagos Prime with this rule and any infantry units can only be affected by Rending, Poisoned or Fleshbane weapons on a natural 6 to wound, making them hardier than anyone would expect.
• Opus Viscera: Units with the Battlesmith (X+) rule can now repair infantry. A successful roll lets them either restore a lost wound (Though resurrecting a model is impossible) or immediately move a distance equal to twice the unit's Initiative.
• The Sanguine Hook: The Archmagos Prime with this rule gains the Ephemera Lacyraemarta discipline of Cybertheurgy but cannot select any others.

</tab> <tab name="Macrotek"> The guys who build buildings, fortresses and other fortifications in giant forges. Their rules focus on buffing terrain and fortifications.

• High Enginseer: Techpriest Auxillia units may be taken as Troop Choices but they must take the Enginseer Techno-Arcana if they are taken as troops.
• Moderati Munitoria: During the battles set up, but before objectives have been placed you may move up to 3 pieces of terrain up to 6" as long as they are 2" away from another piece of terrain.
• Reactor Aedificii: Models with the Battlesmith (X+) rule may also repair buildings and they can choose to apply a special rule to models they have repaired, that means when they are targeted by an attack that inflicts either Exoshock, Breaching or Rending (so choose one, not all three) they are only effected by the rule on hit rolls of 6.

</tab> <tab name="Malagra"> The closest you get to tech-assassins. Everyone now has access to the data-spikes and a bit of extra mobility. The biggest winners of this are the Arcuitors, as you can take multiple of them to hunt down specific nuisances.

• Ictus Incindiae: Characters in this detachment can upgrade their machinator arrays and servo-arms with prehensile data-spikes for 10 points.
• Interfector Auxilia: All Techpriest Auxilia units must take the unique Interfector Techno-Arcana. This gives all models Scout and prehensile data-spikes.
• Sacred Mission: One Arcuitor Magisterium can be taken as a non-compulsory HQ choice. This does not preclude you from taking another as an Elite as normal.
  • Court of Executioners: Instead of their usual Hunter-Killer rule, they instead get Scout and the ability to become a squad of up to three (each one costing 110 points) that are deployed together but are then split up after the game starts.
• Scindex-malagrus: The Archmagos Prime with this rule improves their WS and Attacks to 5. In addition, they gain the Hatred (Independent Characters), Precision Strikes (5+) and Monster Hunter rules, making them specially-tooled to murder things.

</tab> <tab name="Myrmidax"> All-out war is the name of the game here. You take this if you're planning on taking tons of Myrmidons with all the guns to destroy.

• Avatar of Destruction: One Thanatar-Calix automata can be taken as a non-compulsory HQ choice. While it cannot be a Paragon of Metal, any Myrmidons within 6" of it gain the Line sup-type and add +1 wound to combat resolution rolls.
• The Myrmidon Host: Myrmidon Secutors are now Troops choices and Myrmidon Destructors are now Elites choices.
  • Sadly, only the two compulsory Myrmidon units are deemed Line units, so the rest of the slots will either need to crowd around daddy Thanatar or be used for other units.
• Vessel of Destruction: The Archmagos Prime with this rule now has 5 wounds and gains the Hatred (Everything) and Bulky (3) rules.

</tab> <tab name="Reductor"> Where the Macrotek builds, the Reductor destroys. Your Techpriests now have options to weaken vehicles and you have the means to demolish the buildings your enemies cower behind.

• Demolisher: Units with the Battlesmith (X+) rule now have offensive options for their rule. Now they can deal 1 HP of damage to a vehicle or building, deal an unsavable wound on a dreadnought or automata, destroy one weapon on a vehicle without dealing a wound or immobilize the vehicle without dealing a wound. Now your enemies aren't worried about those Techpriests because they can fix their tanks, now their land raiders might suddenly stop dead in their tracks or lose their precious sponson guns.
• Harbinger of Devastation: Before the objectives are set, pick three pieces of terrain, buildings or fortifications. Any cover saves they might have offered are now destroyed and now count as difficult and dangerous terrain. Any chosen buildings or fortifications now add +1 to the building damage rolls. The way to go when you plan on screwing over any defensive enemies and forces them to fight on your terms.
• Secrets of Annihilation: The Archmagos Prime with this rule gains the Artificia Reductor Cybertheurgy discipline but cannot select any others.

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Armoury of the Omnissiah

Being a heresy era list, we get some funky wargear that's not found in later eras/outside of the hallowed halls of the machine god. Augments may also be a thing.

Ranged Weapons

• Archeotech Pistol: S6 AP4 Master-crafted pistol with Rending (3+).
• Arc Weapons and Lightning Guns: Arc and Lighting weapons have seen some small changes from their 1.0/7th edition incarnations, but they are still reliable and solid weapons.
  • Arc Pistol: A S6, AP5 pistol. It's has lost Haywire from it's 7th incarnation, but has gained Disruption(6+) instead.
  • Arc Rifle: The standard Arc Weapon. With a 30" range, Rapid Fire, S6, AP5 and Disruption(6+), it's superior to the Bolter that Marines will be lugging around.
  • Arc Blaster: The Heavy Bolter equivalent, dropping down to a 24" range, in exchange for Heavy 4 shots, Shred and Disruption(4+).
  • Lightning Gun: Have gotten a pretty good buff for 2.0 as they now have two firing modes. The first is a fires 18" range, Heavy 3, S4, AP- shots with Shred for clearing hordes, and the second is an improved version of its 1.0 incarnation, firing a 18" range, Heavy 1, S7, AP4 shot with Rending(4+) and Shred, which is capable of dealing with meatier targets.
  • Lightning Lock: Fires a single Small Blast(3), S7, AP4 Heavy shot at a 36" range and having the Rending(4+), Shred, Exoshock(4+) rules on top of that.
  • Lightning Cannon: A super lightning Lock with all the same stats and rules, but at an increased AP3 and Large Blast(5).
• Autoweapons:
  • Heavy Stubber:
  • Rotor Cannon: Lost Salvo and is now Assault 4, S3 AP-. Not very strong but it does have Pinning with Shell Shock (1), making them very good for locking down enemies for another unit to assault.
  • Light Autocannon: S6 Ap4 Assault 2.
  • Autocannon:
  • Icarus Autocannon:
  • Defence Autocannon Battery:
  • Phaeton Autocannons:
  • Avenger Gatling Cannon
  • Gatling Blaster:
  • Macro-gatling Blaster:
• Bolt Weapons: Ever-present, ever reliable.
  • Maxima Bolter: The basic armament on the Castellax (and free on Scyllax), it's a 12" bolter with Assault 3 instead of the basic Rapid Fire, meaning that they can always shoot at peak firepower.
  • Kraken Bolter: Default on Scyllax, it's longer-range with 30" with S4 AP4. Better suited for front-line firepower.
  • Mauler Bolt Cannon: Heavy Bolters +1, they're Heavy 4 24" S6 AP4 guns with Pinning. A basic gun for the Castellax to work with plenty of bite to work with.
  • Defensor Bolt Cannon: A Mauler Bolt Cannon, but it's stuck on a superheavy. Though it can't pin, the Ardex-Defensor lets these knights and titans fire Overwatch with this gun.
  • Vulcan Mega-Bolter: Only seen on titans and for good reasons. A Heavy 16 S6 AP3 barrel of death with Pinning and Shell Shock (1).
• Conversion Beam Weapons: Could be seen as inverse Melta, inflicting greater damage at longer ranges.
  • Conversion Beamer:
  • Conversion Beam Cannon:
  • Heavy Conversion Beam Cannon:
• Cutting tools of the Mechanicum:
  • Las Impulsor:
  • Attrapos Phasecutter:
• Flame Weapons: Remain your reliable templates to cook through crowds of low-Toughness foes but will falter against most armor saves, especially against marines.
  • Acheron Flamestorm Cannon:
  • Inferno gun:
• Graviton Weapons:
  • Graviton Gun:
  • Graviton Imploder:
  • Graviton Pulsar:
  • Graviton Hammer:
  • Graviton Ram:
  • Singularity Cannon:
• Las, Photon and Pulsar Weapon:
  • Las-Lock: The Mini-Ball muzzle-loaded musket to the Lasgun's AK47. Shorter 18" range, Assault 2, and packs a nasty S4 AP6 punch. Of course, as of current, AP6 is completely useless, but S4 however is not.
  • Multilaser: 36", S6 AP6 Heavy 3 Guard players know and love.
  • Photon Gauntlet: The photon pistol. 12" Assault 2 with S5 AP2 with Blind and Gets Hot!.
  • Photon Thruster: 24" S6 AP2 Assault 2 with Blind, Lance and Gets Hot!. Its' usefulness against TEQ this edition is severely hampered by an additional wound they received.
  • Darkfire Cannon: 36" S7 AP2 Heavy 2 with Blind, Lance and Gets Hot!.
  • Defensor Lascannon:
  • Pulsar-fusil:
  • Magna Lascannon:
  • Sollex Heavy-Las: An amped-up Heavy 3 Lascannon with S10 AP2 and Armourbane (Ranged) and Shock Pulse.
  • Turbo Laser Destructor: 96" S10 AP3 (!!!) Destroyer 1 with Large Blast. Hilariously underpowered.
  • Laser Blaster:
  • Volcano cannon: 120" S14 AP1 Destroyer 1 with Ignores Cover and Large Blast. Doesn't have Sunder.
  • Belicosa Volcano cannon: 120" S14 AP1 Destroyer 1 with Sunder and Apocalyptic Blast 9". Yes, this template doesn't exist. Doesn't have Ignores Cover.
  • Nemesis Volcano cannon: 36-180" S14 AP1 Destroyer 1 with Sunder and Apocalyptic Blast 9".
• Melta Weapons: Short-ranged, but the Armourbane (Melta) rule means that they can roll a second die when rolling for vehicle pen or to wound Automata or Dreads.
  • Thermal Cannon:
  • Melta Cannon:
• Missile Weapons:
  • Missile Launcher:
  • Havoc Launcher:
  • Hunter-Killer Missile:
  • Whirlwind Launcher:
  • Ironstorm Missile Pod:
  • Stormspear Rocket Pod:
  • Karacnos Mortar Battery:
  • Apocalypse Missile Launcher:
  • Terrebeax (?) Rocket Battery:
• Plasma Weapons: Plasma has taken a nerf in AP but have gained Breaching to make it count as AP2 against non-vehicle units on a certain roll to-wound. Be warned that while your models can take a Gets Hot! wound without dying, all other unsaved wounds received by the squad must first be allocated to a wounded model.
  • Plasma Cannon:
  • Phased Plasma-Fusil: 24" S6 AP3 Heavy 3 with Breaching (4+) and Gets Hot!.
  • Plasma Mortar:
  • Plasma Blastgun:
  • Sunfury Plasma Annihilator:
• Rad Weapons and Irradiation Projectors: Rad-weapons contain the Rad-Phage rule, which reduces the Toughness of a target unit for the turn. While it can't stack, it will expose the enemy to a more dangerous set of guns, especially if you have something that can deal Instant Death.
  • Lucifex: A little Rad Pistol with 8" range and a single S2, AP5 shot. Luckily it has Fleshbane so you'll actually have a good chance of wounding infantry and inflicting Rad-Phage.
  • Irad Cleanser: A Cancer Flamer. Fires a S2, AP5 Template that has the Fleshbane and Rad-Phage rules.
  • Irradiation Engine: The heavy Cancer Flamer. It's a bigger version of the Irad Cleanser, as it fires a S4, AP3 Template that has Torrent on top of Fleshbane and Rad-Phage.
  • Radium Pistol: Despite not having Rad-Phage like other Rad Weapons, it has seen a buff from it's 7th edition rules as even though it's lost Rad-Poisoning, it's gained Brutal(2), which does the same thing but on all successful wounds, not just wound rolls of 6+. Apart from that it's a S3, AP- single shot pistol.
  • Radium Carbine: Similar to it's Pistol counterpart it lacks Rad-Phage, but has Brutal(2) instead. Apart from that it's an 18" range, Assault 3 weapon with S3 AP5 shots. Due to the high number of shots it fires, a squad of these will burn through 5+ armour saves and Brutal(2) will also cause problems for 4+ armour saves since they'll have to make two saves with only a 25% chance they'll successfully make both of them.
• Volkite Weapons: Certified Martian Death Lasers. Low AP but superior to Bolters in almost every way. The main gimmick for Volkite Weapons is Deflagrate, which inflicts an additional hit for every unsaved wound caused by a weapon with this rule. Note that these hits aren't affected by other Special Rules of the model.
  • Volkite Serpenta: More or less direct energy Machine Pistols. Still S5, AP5 at 10", they are now Pistol 2. Serpenta's seem underwhelming at first. However their value comes from the fact that they can be dual wielded or paired with squads that have Firing Protocols (X). The new rules for Monstrous Creatures allows both types of Magos to fire all their weapons during the shooting phase regardless. A decent sidearm for those who can pair Serpenta's with Rad Weapons.
  • Volkite Charger: The rifle, though since its smaller than a Boltgun it may as well be a Carbine. Still the same old MEQ killer with S5, AP5, Assault 2 at 15".
  • Volkite Caliver: Volkite LMG. With twice the range of the charge with plus one strength and an extra shot. For the AdMech, Calivers are only mounted on tanks with few or no upgrades allowed.
  • Volkite Culverin: Heavy Machine Gun variant. 45", S6, AP5 at Heavy 5. The primary weapon of Myrmidon Destructors but you'll mostly likely exchange them for less generalized weapons. As other slots can deal with blobs and MEQs instead. Culverin are semi-common secondary weapons for Super Heavies that can't be exchanged for something better.
  • Volkite Incenirator: Curiously usable in melee as a S6 AP2 weapon with Instant Death and Prisoned, a drawback that only makes this usable as a single attack against Infantry. As an assault weapon, it's a short ranged 10" Assault 2 gun with S5 AP5.
  • Volkite Veuglaire:
  • Volkite Chieorovile:
• Exotic and Miscellaneous Weapons:
  • Sonic Destructor:
  • Shock Lance:

Melee weapons

• Arc Weapons:
  • Arc Lance: A spear that doubles as both shooting and Melee. Its shooting attack is a 12" Assault 1 S6 AP5 shot with Disruption (6+) while in melee it's S+1 AP5 with Disruption (5+). Either one can make them potentially terrifying for vehicles set upon.
  • Corposant Stave: A Two-Handed S+1 AP4 weapon with Haywire, making it more effective against vehicles and automata than infantry.
  • Arc Maul: The meaner weapon in the Secutarii armory and the default for the Axiarch, this is S+2 AP5 with Disruption (5+).
  • Arc Scourge: An S+2 AP3 melee weapon with Rampage (d3) and Disruption (5+), making it more capable of hitting crowds as hard as it does automata.
• Chain Weapons: Got a decent improvement from last edition, now even the humble chainsword gets Shred, improving their effectiveness considerably.
  • Chainsword The ever-humble CCW now has Shred to help get through armour saves.
  • Chainfist: Absolutely devastating at Sx2 AP2 with Armourbane (Melee), but Unwieldy means that this will only swing at Initiative 1.
  • Chain Bayonet: Formerly Heavy Chainblade. It's a Two-Handed S+1 AP- chainblade with Shred.
  • Reaper Chainfist: S10 AP2 Armourbane. For cutting up Vehicles.
• Cutting tools of the Mechanicum:
  • Las Impulsor:
  • Atrapos Phasecutter:
• Graviton Weapons: Both melee Graviton Weapons happen to have shooting profiles too, but both uses come with Concussive in some form.
  • Graviton Hammer: Your choice of either an AP6 template with Concussive (1), Graviton Pulse, Grav Wave and Haywire or an S10 AP2 hammer with Concussive (2) and Armourbane (Melee).
  • Graviton Ram: It's either an AP4 template with Concussive (1), Graviton Pulse, Grav Wave and Haywire or an S10 AP1 fist with Concussive (2) and Armourbane (Melee).
• Paragon Blade: S+1 AP2 Specialist Weapon without Unwieldy that inflicts Instant Death on a wound roll of 6.
• Power Blade Array: The mantis blades of the Vorax, it's an AP4 melee weapon but Breaching (5+) lets it potentially carve through higher saves.
• Power Weapons: A step up from the basic chainweapons, but you'll often see these on characters without better tools.
  • Power Sword: An AP3 with Rending (6+). Not very powerful but it can cut through most armor with a chance to even get past termie plate.
  • Power Axe: S+1 AP2 with Unwieldy. Slow but just as dangerous as ever.
  • Power Maul: S+2 AP3, this is the strongest of your power weapons with the only limit being anything with a 2+ save.
  • Power Lance: S+1 AP3 with Reach (1). A decent tool for challenges, though a well-kitted melee character will want something stronger.
• Servo Weapons: The ever-traditional servo-arms and the like for the Mechanicum.
  • Servo-Arm: Gives an additional attack equivalent to a power fist (S8 AP2 with Unwieldy).
  • Machinator Array: While weaker against infantry at S+1 AP2 with Unwieldy, it's giving you two additional attacks with Shred and Armourbane (Melee). It also comes stacked with a flamer and meltagun as well as adding +2 to any Battlesmith rolls you make, meaning that this is very important to anyone seeking to cheese it out for all it's worth because...well, depending on your High Techno-Arcana, you'll have a lot of uses.
  • Prehensile Dataspike: Expect to see plenty of this with a Malagra army. While weaker with S5 AP4, it can beat most things to the punch with Reach (2) and can deal damage with Breaching (4+) and Murderous Strike (6+).
• Shock Chargers: The weapons of your automata, AP3 is no-frills and capable of taking down marines pretty easily.
• Siege Destroyers:

Equipment & Special Rules

• Armour of the Mechanicum: Unlike the basic power armor of the Adeptus Astartes, the various armours of the Mechanicum is more varied than one would think.
  • Corpus Skitarii: The armour of the Skitarii. 4+ save and re-roll FNP rolls against Poisoned and Rad-Phage attacks.
  • Lorica Thallax: The heavy frame of the Thallaxi provides a 4+ save as well, but also forbids them from Sweeping.
  • Titanshard Armour: The blessed armour of the Secutarii Axiarch, complete with a shard of an actual god-machine embedded in it. Provides a hefty 3+/5++ save and re-roll FNP rolls against Poisoned and Rad-Phage attacks.
• Augury Scanner: Prevents any units from deep-striking within 12" of the bearer. On top of that, the unit not only gets to ignore Night Fighting but also gets the ability to use the Interceptor reaction without eating into the reaction budget.
• Cortex Controller: Seen on all your magi. Cybernetica units with the Programmed Behavior rule ignore it when within 12" of the Controller. Critical for full control of your automata, as Programmed Behavior forces them to only shoot the closest unit or charge when they can.
• Cyber-Familiar: Provides a 6++ Invuln and allows a unit to re-roll any one test that don't involve Leadership or Dangerous Terrain each turn. More valuable in that it can boost an existing Invulnerable Save as well.
• Mechanicum Protectiva: A 4++ save seen on only the Magi, equal to the Iron Halo of the Astartes.
  • Refractor Field: The ever-vital 5++ Invuln.

Vehicle and Battle-automata Equipment & Rules

• Atomantic Deflector: The 5++ Invulnerable given to all automata. This not only provides this protection, but any Instant Death hits instead only deal d3 wounds instead of all of them. The major downside is that dying makes it explode, dealing S8 hits to anyone within d6".
• Flare Shield: The protection for the Mechanicum's tanks, the Flare Shield offers no saves, but instead reduces the damage of any incoming attacks to the tank's front by 1 (by 2 for any Blast or Template attacks). The only thing that gets past them are Destroyer weapons.
• Galvanic Traction Drive: Given to all your vehicles, this allows them to re-roll Dangerous Terrain tests.
• Ion Shields: Instead of the redirecting shields of yore, Ion Shields of HH2.0 grant any Knights a 4++ save against any shooting attacks aimed at the front, and a 5++ when targeting a Knight's sides. This does nothing for any melee attacks.
  • Ion Gauntlet Shield: The Invuln is now set to a 5++ against shooting from the front or sides, but it trades that off for a save when in melee.
  • Ionic Deflector: The protection for Armigers. This grants the unit a 5++ Invulnerable save against anything, including giving Eternal Warrior. However, these can explode just as hard as an Atomantic Deflector, dealing S8 hits to those within d6+3".
• Rad Furnace: You've got robots that spread cancer by guns and by merely being in the same room as the enemy. Enemies attacked by a unit with a Rad Furnace are easier to wound, as the target to wound is 1 less but this can't stack with Rad Grenades or anything with Rad-Phage. You also get protection from Rad-Phage, as any weapons with Rad-Phage can only trigger those effects on a 6+.
• Shock Ram: Instead of a mere ram, your big tanks get Shock Rams, making their rams S10 AP2 with Concussive (2) to scare off opportunistic tank hunters with meltas. It also has Ram (d6), meaning that each ram does 1+d6 hits to take out more than just that one guy with melta bombs and a power fist.
• Void Shields (X): Gives X spare wounds for the lucky vehicle (usually titans and Ordinatus). Any shots targeting a model with shields instead targets the shields, resolving their hits against AV 12. If the hit manages to beat the AV, then it just breaks that shield and nothing more.

Unit Analysis

HQ

• Archmagos Prime: Your head Cyborg and the guy you want to bring to almost every game. Like the Space Marines Praetor, the Archmagos is pretty much essential for your army as he allows you to bring Techno-Arcana rules for your army. His Feudal Hierarchy rule means you can only bring one of any type of Archmagos Prime, so he will be one of a kind on the table and important to protect. Coming standard with a Volkite Serpenta, Power Weapon, a Mechanicum Protectiva and a Cortex controller, the sheer amount of options he can be equipped with makes it so you can tailor him for most situations. He can be equipped with a Machinator Array to improve his Battlesmith rolls, Heavy weapons to make him a walking gun platform (even more so if you take the Myrmidax Techno-Archana rules), a Paragon Blade and Chainfist to make him as killy in melee as possible and he can even take a Cyber-familiar to improve his Invulnerable save to 3++. The sky is near enough the limit with this guy when it comes to customisation. He also comes with a bucket full of special rules having Relentless, Stubborn, Battlesmith (4+) and Firing Protocols (3) allowing him to shoot and repair multiple times in one turn. Master Cybertheurgist allows him to select either the Artificia Cybernetica, Artificia Machina or Ephemera Incursus Cybertheurgy rites, and the High Rites of Technoarcana allow for even more specialisation and customisation.
  • He does have some drawbacks though. Firstly, as you could have guessed, a basic Archmagos is fairly expensive on his own, being 155 points for the standard Cyborg, and almost all these options will severely ramp up his price and it means you'll have to pour a fair bit of your army's allowance into him.
  • Secondly while his BS, Strength and Toughness are all 5's, he comes up short when compared to his Marine counterparts in melee, as he has WS4 and only 2 attacks base (3 when adding his Volkite Serpenta and Power Weapon into the mix), meaning that he's going to be hitting tactical marines of 4's and Praetors on 5's, though it is possible to make him more adept at duelling with the right upgrades. Like most Mechanicum units he's better suited at shooting then combat and he relies primarily on his toughness and good saves to keep him alive during fights, over being able to kill his opponents quickly.

• Archmagos Prime on Abeyant: The same as above but mounted on a floating command console. For 30 points extra your Archmagos gains an extra point of toughness and 2 wounds bringing him up to T6 and 5W. He loses Firing Protocols and Relentless, but that's fine since he gains the Monstrous and Anti-grav sub-types which allow him to fire all the weapons he has and counts as stationary when shooting them, as well as lets him float over terrain. Finally, he also gains Pride of Place that stops him from boarding a transport, because the Abeyant is not cheap and he wants to show it off.

• Magos Dominus: A scaled-down Archmagos Prime, now only costing 75 points. While still very versatile, you'll notice the considerable drop in loadout options as well as the now Marine-tier BS4/S4/T4. While he comes with the Heavy subtype, he's also only one unit and most likely will strap him to Adsecularis or Castellax, things that wouldn't care about running anyways. You're probably going to need that extra kit too, because a power sword and laspistol will only carry you so far. Probably why there's no limitation on how many you can field.
  • Firing Protocols (2) will make your decisions count more, as now you'll find yourself either needing to pick whether you need to fire that gun once or spend both rounds of shooting to repair your bots.

• Magos Dominus on Abeyant: See above, but now on the floating pimp-throne. You curiously still keep the Heavy subtype, giving template protection, but there's not going to be many cases where such can be the case when this guy is now a giant floating target.

Special Characters

• Calleb Decima Invictus, Lord of Ruin, Vengeful Archmagos of the Ordo Reductor: Look how far he's come. A Reductor Archmagos Dominus with a MC power axe and bolt pistol as well as a machinator array, all carrying Ignores Cover, Sunder and Wrecker to demolish tank and building alike while Hatred (Traitors) and Precision Strikes (5+) make him threatening in melee. On top of his Reductor rules, he also lets those within 6" of him gain Move through Cover, which can seriously help them go through the wreckage he causes.
  • Calleb can pick up a pack of Scyllax or Techpriest Auxilia as a retinue, customized as you see fit including grabbing a transport. This retinue will also carry Ignores Cover, Sunder and Wrecker.

• Archmagos Draykavac, Warlord of Cyclothrathe, Sovereign-Prelate of House Atrax, Bringer of Perfection: Horse-face is back and for 240 points he acts as one of, if not THE best buffing characters for the Mechanicum, though only for Traitors. Armed with a Paragon Blade, Graviton Gun, and a statline that would make a Necron Overlord glow green with envy, he's a Traitor character with he has all the standard Archmagos rules as well as a few extras thrown in. He has a Machinator array and Preferred Enemy (Infantry) and his special rule Incursus Cybertheurgist gives him access to both the Artificia Machina and Ephemera Incursus so he can spit computer viruses and Scrap code as he goes. He also quite nicely buffs the army he is in with his Djinn-skein as it adds +1 to the BS of any unit he joins and allows ALL scatter rolls to be re-rolled as long as he can see the targeted area and is not embarked in a transport or a building, giving added help to artillery heavy and Deep strike lists. He can also be a bit of a menace in combat, as while he has not real anti-horde, he can pose a threat to single models with his Liquifractor rule. This allows him to exchange all his attacks in combat (all 2 of them) for a single I1 attack that auto hits his opponent. This attack rolls 2 D6, and he inflicts a number of wounds that is equal to the number rolled, minus the toughness of the target (e.g. 7 rolled - T4 = 3 wounds), which are resolved at AP2. If he hits a vehicle with a Armour Value, half the AV of the targeted vehicle and use that number in place of toughness when doing the math. For every point over he inflicts a Penetration (e.g. 7 Rolled - AV12 halved(6) = 1 Penetrating hit). Remember, since this attack is used during the Assault phase against a model his is in base contact with, this will be resolved against the Vehicles rear armour.
  • His Warlord Trait Cruel Taskmaster turns him into a Cyborg Commissar, as any unit within 12" of him that fails a moral or pinning test, he can *BLAM!* a model from the same unit to make it automatically pass the test. In addition, he gives the army an extra reaction during the shooting phase.
  • As if that wasn't enough, his unique High Techno-arcana Stataraga allows him to be taken as a troop choice in a Questoris Knights Detachment. In addition to this, he makes Castellax and Vorax non-compulsory troops while part of a Knight detachment. Back up you big robots with little robots.
  • He is very tough, and while not the technological monster that Scoria is, he's rocking 5's for his WS, BS and strength, a 6 for his toughness and 4 wounds.
  • Finally, he can be taken on an Abeyant for 25 points extra, which does the standard abeyant rules replacement and bumps his already impressive toughness to 7 and wounds to 6.

• Anacharis Scoria, the Xanophane Tyrant, the Fallen Master, Lord of the Nine Cohorts, the Apostate Magister: The absolute monstrosity of HH1.0 has returned. Now strapped to his giant scorpion-thing that used to be called an Abeyant, he's now a super-Traitor Archmagos Prime with all known Cybertheurgy Rites (except those he can't learn from other disciplines), Battlesmith (3+) and Move Through Cover. As if having a 2+ save on a 7W T7 beast with a cyber-familiar wasn't bad enough, he also has It Will Not Die (5+) so he can heal himself too. He's also a walking tank, carrying a photon thruster and two archaeotech pistols that he can fire at-will while he gets in close to smack them up with his Vodian Sceptre. While no longer the auto-wounding monstrosity of yore, a S+2 AP2 Two-Handed weapon with Armourbane (Melee), Exoshock (4+) and Murderous Strike (5+) is nothing to scoff at, especially if the enemy has to also contend with Fear (2) if they survive. The one weakness it gained is that without anything like Brutal to back it up, he will get held up by Terminators and other multi-wound units. Also for some reason he has Firing Protocols (3) despite being able to shoot all his ranged weapons thanks to the Monstrous sub-type, what does this mean? Don't know, stellar rules writing.
  • His Warlord Trait, Forbidden Protocols, gives a 6" bubble, allowing units of Automata to make reactions despite any insistence otherwise. Adding an additional reaction each Movement phase means that he thrives on sending his bots over to rip up the enemy while he cackles and sends out whatever technosorcery he slings out.

Elites

• Techpriest Auxillia: The most customisable and utilitarian choice. You get a unit of 1-3 Tech Priests with 4-10 Servo-Automata. There is quite a lot to do with this unit, the Priests are Infantry (Character, Line) and are able to claim objectives, while the Servo-Automata are unit type Automata (Guardian) so will always be allocated wounds first, regardless of any other special rules. They Servo-Automata also have a decent range of weapon options that range from dirt cheap las-locks up to expensive Multi-Meltas, and they also bring the average toughness of the unit to T5.
  • One Tech Priest may be upgraded to a Magos granting him several stat-buffs including an extra wound and the ability to take either the Artificia Machina or Artificia Cybernetica Cybertheurgy options.
  • The Tech Priests in the unit must choose a "lesser" Techno-Arcana option from a different list compared to Archmagos Primes.
    • Enginseer: the Tech Priests gain Servo-Arms for free, and while there are any Servo-Automata remaining in the unit the Priests have Battlesmith (4+).
    • Lachrimallus: Every model in the unit has Feel No Pain (5+). In addition, friendly units of Adsecularis Tech-Thralls within 6" of one or more Tech Priests with this rule gain +1 to their Feel No Pain rolls.
    • Reductor: the Tech Priests gain Servo Arms for free, while all models in the unit gain the Sunder and Wrecker rules. Additionally, a Magos in the unit may replace their Servo-Arm with a Conversion Beamer or Graviton Imploder for 25 points.
  • As a combined unit of models with the Battlesmith (X) rule and the Automata unit type, this unit is affected by quite a lot of the High Techno-Arcana rules that an Archmagos could take, so there is considerable room for additional function.
  • Techpriests and Magos with Cotrex Controllers are the go too unit to ignore programed behavior of Automata. Archmagos and Dominus are too expensive to act as babysitters.

• 0-1 Arcuitor Magisterium: Loyalist-exclusive techno-assassin. This guy's about as strong as a Magos with S5 T5 W2 but exchanges a wound for some extra speed. While they have the Magos-like aspects with Battlesmith (5+) and Firing Protocols, but they're more keyed to melee with Monster Hunter and Precision Strikes (5+). To that end, they've started with a Corposant Stave and Archaeotech Pistol with the option for a Servo-Arm or Machinator Array for some more swings at I1. They can also pick up a Photon Thruster or Phased Plasma-Fusil if you're intending on using those Firing Protocols for shooting more than repairs and/or swap their melee weapon for Paragon Blade for 15 pts, which can be worth it, but with 2 attacks base it's not a auto-take.
  • The Arcuitor can attach themselves to a retinue of Vorax or Arlatax as a single unit, letting them hop around with extra protection, though this will hamper the bots' movement to their new owner.

• Myrmidon Secutor Host: A squad of 3 Tech-Priests who decided to become their own Necron Destroyers. They are 150 points, bristling with special weapons and want nothing more than to kill all those disgusting fleshy things. They come standard with two Maxima bolters, but you can swap one/both of them out with Volkite Chargers for free or with Graviton guns, Irad-Cleansers or Phased plasma-fusils for some extra points. Don't worry about moving them about since they have Relentless and Firing Protocols(2) allowing them to march around and fire all of the guns they are carrying and still charge. With their Refractor Field, 5's for their Strength, Toughness and BS, 4 wounds and WS4 they are pretty tough and while they only have an Initiative of 2, the Myrmidon Axes they carry have S+2, AP2, Sunder and Unwieldy means you won't care too much about it. These Axes combined with their 3 attacks (4 on the Secutor Lord), Hatred(Everything) and Stubborn make them one of the few effective melee units that the Mechanicum have, as they will quite happily cut their way though most marine squads, as long as they don't have WS5.

• Domitar Class Battle-Automata Maniple: 145 points and you get one almost-dreadnought armed with two Graviton Hammers and one back mounted missile launcher, and coming with Relentless and Hammer of Wrath(1). An additional 4 Domitars can be taken in the same unit and if you feel like it, one model can be given Paragon of Metal, and each bot has an Atomantic deflector, giving them a 5++ Invulnerable save and some protection against Instant Death. Despite having 7's for Toughness and Strength, 5 wounds and 4 attacks each, they have a pretty average WS4 and a pretty disappointing BS3. That being said their Graviton Hammers are template weapons with Haywire in shooting and are S10, AP2, Armourbane in melee giving them a pretty clear role as vehicle punchers, and they should perform well against Militia hordes and tanks (when they actually get rules).
  • In a vacuum these are a decent unit and can perform their role as tank hunters fairly well, however when compared to the Space Marine Dreadnoughts they come up very short.

Troops

• Thallax Cohort: Ogryn equivalents, being pretty hardy with T5 and 3 wounds and are also equipped with jump packs and Lighting guns. Their stats have been slightly nerfed for 2.0 as they are now S4 standard and have had their Ld reduced to 7, though in return they can take Chain Bayonets on their Lighting Guns for 2 points each, giving them S5 attacks with Shred and now have Relentless, Stubborn and a 6+FNP standard. Additionally 1 in 3 can take either a Multi-laser, Irad-cleanser, Phase plasma-fusil, Multi-melta or a Photon thruster. They have a few extra special rules, with Djin Sight allowing them to reduce cover saves by -2 and no enemy unit can be set up with 24" of them, and their Lorica Thallax give them a 4+ armour save and stops them from Sweeping Advancing. Sadly they have lost Thallax Augments so you can't buff them any further outside of your chosen Tecno-Arcana.

• Adsecularis Covenant: The cheapest unit available in 30k just got pricier, 45pts for 10 dudes with Infantry (Heavy, Line). Don't expect the Heavy subtype to do much for them though, as they only have a 6+ armour save, so are not likely to be rerolling anything. Being Heavy really just means they cannot perform Run moves. Additionally, with the Rite of Pure Thought they also cannot perform Reactions or make Sweeping Advances. They have low stats; WS/BS/I are all 2, and their Ld value is 6 so their fighting ability is almost negligible, not to mention they have lost the ability to take Carapace amour and all of their options from HH1. However, despite all of these downsides, they are the cheapest unit in the book, they are all Stubborn and they have Feel No Pain (5+) so they have some added resilience against low strength incoming damage, and can come in units of up to thirty models. They are an objective holding unit, and really that's all you need them for.
  • For added protection, they gain a +1 to their Feel No Pain rolls while within 6" of a Tech Priest Auxilia unit who have the Lachrimallus Techno-Arcana upgrade. Granted, this still does nothing against S6 or above, but is a desirable bonus if you have several squads who are likely to be subjected to bolter fire.
  • Mitralocks are not in the book for some reason, despite being available on FW site. Though they are now out of stock, so there is a chance they might get Squatted or less likely FAQ'ed.(hope for Solar Auxilla Las-Rifles) At worst you can get away with using them as count for Las-Locks.

• Castellax Class Battle-automata: Now troops with no "ifs", "ands" or "buts". These trustworthy brutes are plenty capable of taking the abuse with 4 T6 wounds and a 3+/5++ save. It's plenty well-rounded to take whatever role you assign it with two Shock Chargers and built-in Bolters as well as a Mauler Bolt Cannon. Even better, they have a pretty broad list of upgrades available to any role. You can grab multiples for a squad, you can instead make a lone Castellax a Paragon of Iron if you're intending to make a super-weapon of a bot.
  • While the Shock Chargers give you plenty to work with, but you can grab a pair of Power Blades if you're looking to sacrifice AP3 for a chance of AP2. If you're looking to total tanks up-close, then you can replace a hand and its strapped-on bolter for a Siege Wrecker, a lethal S10 AP2 fist with Sunder, Wrecker and Brutal (2). The major drawback of this is that it's quite costly and as a Specialist Weapon, it loses the extra attack for dual-wielding.
  • The arm-bolters can be freely swapped for Maxima Bolters, which works far better for a close-range Castellax by letting it fire an extra shot at a shorter range. Flamers are also available for its arms, which has uses if you're considering going up against mobs. The bolt cannon in the meanwhile can become more anti-tank by either buying a Multi-Melta for up-close tank demolition or a Darkfire Cannon, one of the few weapons with Lance so it can rip through heavy tanks at long-range but Gets Hot! makes it a bit of a gamble.
  • Despite being Troops, they lack the Line subtype and cannot ordinarily claim objectives, however they can if your Archmagos Prime has the Cybernetica High Techno-Arcana.

• Scyllax Guardian-Automata Covenant: Oversized Servo-Skulls with a 4+ save, BS4, S4, T5, 2 wounds each and 3 attacks, that come equipped with Kraken Bolters, Rad Furnaces and Scyllax Combat Arrays, they are quit considerably armed for their size. Move Through Cover, Relentless and Night Vision give them the ability to float around quite well, but they have the Heavy and Guardian Sub-types which restrict their movement, and they need to be joined by characters if you want them working at full capacity. They have Line meaning they can score unlike Castellax, though they are a Support Squad so they can't act as your compulsory choice. They come in a unit of 4 which can add additional automata for 25 points to a maximum of 16 in a squad, and all of them can swap their Kraken Bolters out for Maxima Bolter for free or a Flamer, Volkite Charger or Rotor Cannon for 5 points. The Scyllax Combat Array has two settings; "Standard", which is S-User, AP5 and Shred or "Dismember", which is S+3, AP2 with Cumbersome and Unwieldy which will hurt their already poor WS, but won't effect their Initiative if they aren't joined by a Character since they will have penalties from Guardian, and the with the Rad Furnace, it allows them to infect instant death on Marines (if they are lucky enough to hit them). The "Dismember" setting could also be relatively effective at popping open light tanks. Finally for every 4 robots, 1 of them can take either Graviton Gun, Plasma Gun, Irad-Cleanser or a Melta gun for some added punch in shooting.
  • The best way to utilise these guys is to throw a Magos in with them and to take them in a large unit to secure a chosen objective, while keeping the Magos alive and being tougher to shift than you would first think thanks to the bonuses from Guardian and Heavy.

Dedicated Transport

• Triaros Armoured Conveyer: Dune Train Not quite a CRASSUS, but close. 14/12/12, 5HP, and Transport Capacity of 22! The thing comes standard with a flare shield for all that -1 goodness, and is armed with two Volkite Calivers and a Twin-linked Mauler Bolt cannon, meaning it can defend itself from infantry in a pinch. It's also equipped with a Shock Ram so you can live out your dreams of being a navy Torpedo ram and ramming a bunch of walkers (ironically it's the Martians who are ramming the walkers this time), and since the Ram is S10 with multiple hits it's arguably the Triaros' best weapon. In addition Galvanic Traction Drive lets it re-roll Dangerous terrain tests, so it doesn't pop a track when it rolls over a landmine. It's a fairly expensive Transport, both points and money wise, but you can style on all those marine players and their little Metal Boxes with your Victorian warship on tracks.

Fast Attack

• Arlatax Battle-Automata Maniple: One big robot armed with two Power Blade arrays that have built in Light Autocannons, a Plasma Cannon and an Utan Jump Booster (more on that in the Ursarax entry). It has Hammer of Wrath(1) and an Atomantic deflector giving it a 5++ Invulnerable save and protection from Instant Death, not that it needed much protection from ID since it's Toughness 6 with 4 wounds. They can reasonably hold their own in combat this edition with WS4, S7 and 3 attacks base (5 with Power Blades, 4 with Arc Scoruges) and it's Initiative is pretty good for a Mechanicum robot (4 is good for an Automata). Poor Arty has seen a fairly harsh nerf to his weapons in 2.0, since he no longer gets his awesome S+2 AP2 Lighting claws and is now stuck with AP4 Breaching(5+) Power Blades, which will be effective against Militia and Auxilia hordes, but inconstant against MEQs and TEQs. These can be swapped out for Arc Scourges which you should do in most cases as they are much better than the Power Blades being S+2 AP3 with Rampage(D3) and Disruption(5+), allowing them to punch tanks to death and go all out with extra attacks when they are out numbered by tactical marines. The unit can contain 2 more Arlatax and one of them can be upgraded to a Paragon of Metal. Arlatax are no longer the auto-take monsters they were last edition but they can still be an effective when used in the right way.
  • For some reason Arlatax don't have Bulky despite being big 4 wound robots.
    • If you take Arc Scourges your Arlatax will gain Rampage(D3) when he gets outnumbered by two militia bumble-fucks, making them more effective anti-horde/infantry weapons.
  • Arlatax don't have any models, so if you want them you need to convert them out of a Domitar or something.

• Ursarax Cohort: A squad of three Thallax's with melee weapons and Iron Man chest lasers. They come equipped with either 2 Lighting Claws which gives them 4 attacks each and for every three models, one can be upgraded to take 2 Power fists, but they only have 3 attacks if this option is chosen. Unfortunately they have seen a bit of a nerf this edition as they are now only S4, meaning they wound marines on 4's with their claws and they can't Instant Death T5 models with Power Fists and as stated above, only one model in three can take Powerfists now. The Volkite Incinerator in their chests is a 10" range Volkite charger when it fires, but in melee it can be "fired" at an infantry model the Ursarax is in combat with, instead of fighting with it's claws, in which case it "fires" a S6, AP2 Instant Death hit against the infantry unit (I would assume it uses the Ursarax's WS since when it's used in this way as it's classed as a melee weapon).
  • Their Utan Jump Booster can make their movement to a flat 12", which makes charges easier thanks to the new charge bonuses units get for having higher movement values and it allows them to Deep Strike and still lets them embark on transports, however they can't run anymore but that's not really a problem.

• Vorax Class Battle-Automata: The killer mantis-bots have gotten a lot zippier with non-fixed movement ranges, not only getting Scout, but also having a high speed, Fleet (2) and the Light Subtype so running makes these things cross the board even faster. If you're worried about anything trying to outrun them, each Vorax also comes equipped with a Rotor Cannon, not the strongest gun but one that can pin foes while it can charge in with its S6 AP4 Rending (5+) Power Blade Array.
  • Each one comes with a Lightning Gun, which got a pretty decent improvement by being able to alternate between rather light crowd-clearer and the heavier shot that can go through armor. One in three of the bots can instead replace that with an Irad-Cleanser, allowing the unit to more reliably take down mobs but at the cost of its effectiveness against most things with a decent armour save.

• Vultarax Strato-Automata: No longer deemed a vehicle, the Vulturax is now deemed an Antigrav Castellax with T6, though it's way faster thanks to its Stratos Thrusters allowing it to change its movement from the basic M8 to an insane M16 on any turn. There are pretty much entirely for harassing at range, with the Arc Blaster letting it zap through bots and tanks while it's twin Havoc Launchers let it shell anything else, especially with Djinn-Sight effectively nullifying cover. This turns the flying tanks into mobile harassment units, no longer pseudo-fighters like before but more along the lines of Land Speeders in how they can attack.
  • In one helpful addition, Surveillance Protocols lets the Vultarax ignore Programmed Behavior during the charge phase. Of course, these things lack melee weapons of any sort, so it only makes sense that this thing won't automatically throw itself away the moment a Magos isn't there to stop its suicidal stupidity.

Heavy Support

• Thanatar Class Siege-Automata Maniple: A walking tank of a robot with S8 T8 W7 and 2+/5++ with an Atomantic Deflector. Each also comes with a TL Mauler Bolt Cannon so it can defend itself from crowds when it can't use its preferred weapons. While you can buy up to three Thanatars, they're ultimately on their own after the game starts.
  • Thanatar-Cavas: The basic Thanatar, this comes with a pair of Shock Chargers for AP3 melee power, complemented by the Thanatar's stock Hammer of Wrath (1). The Plasma Mortar provides it with plenty of bombardment with S8 AP4 Large Blasts with Breaching (4+) and Ignores Cover. Reactor Overload allows this cannon to shoot twice, but must suffer d3 wounds without saves to offset it.
  • Thanatar-Calix: 20 points more expensive than the stock Cavas. The big draw is the Sollex Heavy-Las, a Heavy 3 lascannon with S10 AP2, Armourbane (Ranged) and Shock Pulse to flat-out demolish tanks. While it lacks the reliability of Shock Chargers, it comes with a Graviton Ram, which can either be used as an AP4 Template with Haywire, Grav Wave, Graviton Pulse and Concussive (1) or a S10 AP1 fist with Armourbane (Melee) and Concussive (2) for a more devastating stun.

• Myrmidon Destructor Host: The real Necron Destroyers of the Mechanicum and the heavy weapon variant of the Secutors, they lack the Myrmidon axe and are instead equipped with shock chargers which combined with fact they lack Hatred(Everything) makes them less impressive in melee. However you don't want these guys in melee since then you won't be able to use their heavy weapons, as they come with Volkite culverins as their default equipment and they can be upgraded to take Conversion Beamers, Graviton Imploders, Darkfire cannons or Irradiation cannons, so they can be kitted out for most shooting roles that you desire. Their 4 wounds each, Toughness 5 and Refractor field means they can be quite hard to shift by shooting attacks and thank to Relentless they can move around and shoot as much as they want.
  • Unlike Walkers(Dreadnaught Talons) and Automata. Myrmidon Destructors shouldn't mix and match their weapons. Treat them like Heavy Support Squads or 40k Devastators. I.e. you give them all the same weapons. Plus a Triaros is very good at dealing with MEQs and blobs on its own.

• Karacnos Assault Tank: The heavy battle tank with 14/12/12 and a Flare Shield to ensure that anti-tanks weapons won't instantly spell its doom. While it has Lightning Locks to bombard whatever it comes across, the main star of this tank is the Karacnos Mortar Battery, a massive S6 AP4 chemical bomb that's using the rare Massie Blast template with a whole slurry of rules: Fleshbane, Rad-Phage, Ignores Cover, Barrage, Pinning and Shell Shock (3). Simply put, you aim this at crowds of infantry, it will disintegrate, though like with all ordinance Space Marines will likely have a chance to walk away from the initial assault. That's where Crawling Death comes in, allowing it to slide over to the unlucky foe (if they're trapped, and with that Pinning check, it's a good shot) and hit them again.
  • While all of its weapons are swingy pieplates, that doesn't mean that it doesn't have anything to protect itself up close. Unusually, it has a Shock Ram, letting deal 1+d6 ram attacks at S10 AP4 with Concussive (3). While this by no means makes it capable of combat, it does mean that you're not hosed against any tank hunters.
  • Expect this to draw a LOT of fire and be ready for anything as Hazardous Munitions means that any explosions it suffers will be catastrophic, dealing S8 AP4 hits to anyone within 6+d6".

• Krios Squadron: While not as armored as the Karacnos at 13/12/10, this is the only tank you can take in squadrons and it comes with It Will Not Die (6+) to give some manner of regeneration. It's a zippy tank as well, as it has a very good move speed and the Fast subtype to make it always go the distance. Aside from the basic armaments of each tank, you can also grab volkite calivers to add some guaranteed incineration on each tank.
  • Krios Battle Tank: Comes with a Lightning Cannon for some crowd coverage that can potentially cause some extra damage onto any vehicles it hits as well.
  • Krios Venator: Costlier than the basic tank, but much more reliable at breaking tanks. Less prone to moving, as it comes with the Pulsar-Fusil, an ordinance weapon with S9 AP2 Pinning. Not only is it capable of totaling lesser tanks in one go, but it can also lock down anything less.

• Knight Moirax Talon: Why yes, the Mechanicum can throw in Armigers as Heavy Supports. While largely similar to its Questoris kin, the Moirax comes with a Rad Furnace to spread Cancer in melee. These have a pretty flexible load out in contrast to the fixed loadouts of other Armigers, giving an option for either Volkite Vegulaires or Siege Claws w/ Irad Cleansers in any combination depending on where you want it to stay. If you plan on taking other guns, you can buy Lightning Locks, Conversion Beam Cannons, or Graviton Pulsars.
  • The Greuso Protocol is a unique reaction available to the Moirax, triggered when an enemy charges a friendly Automata or Knight within 12". This allows the Moirax to shoot at whoever is charging, allowing for Tau-tier supporting fire against any charges.

Lords of War

Note: the Mechanicum Knights are not the same as the Questoris Knights from the Questoris Household army list. The Mechanicum Knights all have It Will Note Die (6+) built into their special rules, and all of them except for the Acastus Knight also come equipped with a Flare Shield for added protection, and cost around 20+ more points than their Questoris equivalent.

• Mechanicum Knight Magaera: The Mechanicums cheapest Knight, it's an upgraded Questoris armed with a Lighting Cannon, a Hull mounted Plasma-fusil and a Reaper Chainblade which can be swapped out for a Siege Claw with a built in Irad-cleanser. It has both the Mech-Knight IWND(6+) and Flare shield but it also has Night Vison, though to be careful about having too many units being near it if it blows up, since its explosion blast is resolved at AP3. The Lighting Cannon is a very good weapon in HH2.0 as Large Blast AP2/3 weapons are all but extinct so being able to vaporise a unit of power armour with a single shot is worth its weight in incense these day, and for 400 points will happily fit in most games.

• Mechanicum Knight Styrix: The Magaeras' brother, having all the same rules but being equipped with a Volkite chieorovile and Hull mounted Graviton Gun for 10 points more than the Mageara. It also causes an AP3 blast if it explodes and it can also exchange it's Reaper Chainblade for a Siege Claw with a Irad-cleanser. The Volkite chieorovile is less impressive than the Lighting Cannon as it's Heavy 5 S8 AP4, which will make it very good at clearing Solar Auxilia and Milita hordes, and it should perform well as a medium anti-armour option, but it lacks the MEQ melting of the lighting cannon.

• Mechanicum Knight Atrapos: The only Cerastus pattern Mech-Knight (the tall ones) and 100 points more expensive than the two Questoris Mech-Knights, but its stronger, faster, is carrying heavier weapons and if it explodes it hits everyone with an AP1 blast. Equipped with both a Atrapos phasecutter and a Singularity cannon, this thing is the bane of TEQs and Tanks. The Phasecutter has both a Ranged and Melee profile, with it having a 12" range Ordnance 1 S10 AP2 shot which should punch a hole in most tanks, and its melee option is S10 AP1 with Instant Death and Armourbane, but it's not great at fighting non-vehicles since it also has Cumbersome now. The Singularity cannon is the real great weapon here, as it shoots S8 AP2 Large Blasts(5"), making it one of the few guns in the game that can effectively deal with units of Terminators at range. Praise the Omnissiah! The Singularity cannon also has Haywire and Concussive(1) which is great. It also has Graviton Singularity which is like Gets Hot except it's rolled before the gun fires and it inflicts a hull point on a roll of 1, does nothing on a 2-5 and gives the shot Vortex on a roll of 6. It has Flank Speed like the other Cerastus knights if you want to increase the knights movement at the cost of shooting and Macro-extinction Targeting Protocols which gives all it's guns Twin-linked when targeting Super-heavies, Titans, Knights or Monstrous units making it a decent Greater Daemon hunter and anti-LoW choice.
  • Despite gaining both a Flare Shield and IWND(6+), the Mechanicum version of the Atrapso costs the same as the Questoris Knight version

• Mechanicum Acastus Knight Asterius: A knight that rivals a Warhound titan in size, fire power and price costing 625 points. It's got an Armour Value of 14/13/12, 9 Hull points and is armed with two Twin-linked Heavy Conversion Beam Cannons, however the real kicker is the fact it's armed with a Karacnos mortar battery making the Knight extremely effective against both Tanks and Infantry. It also has two Hull mounted Volkite culverins just in case the dirty bomb launcher and giant cannons weren't enough firepower for you. Night Vison means those pesky night fighting rules won't phase it and Catastrophic Explosion means that anything caught in its death explosion will eat an AP2 hit.
  • Unlike the other knights, the Mechanicum Asterius is the exact same as the Questoris knight Asterius.

• Ordinatus Ulator: For a mighty 1075 points, you get a giant sonic cannon mounted on, what is essentially a stripped down Baneblade chassis (but with better AV than the actual Baneblade now), and despite seeing a bit of a nerf it's still as terrifying as ever. It's a Super-Heavy with AV 14/13/13, 14 Hull points, It Will Not Die(5+) and Reinforced structure (a 5++ against shooting attacks) making it a very tough self-propelled gun. It's Ordinatus dispersion shield now only works during the first turn and attacks against the front and side armour and any indirect attacks that hit the Ordinatus reduce their Strength by 2, to help stop it being shot of the board turn 1 since that will be everyone's game plan when they see it. It has three Volkite Culverins, one rear and two sponson, but the real reason you are bringing this thing is its gun, the Sonic Destructor. Having seen a bit of a nerf it's now a flat S6 (increasing to S10 when it hits a Super-heavy, Knight, Titan, Building or fortification), though it can still ruin an entire section of your opponents army like nobody's business. Its Sonic Wave rule means you don't place the weapons Large Blast(5") template like normal artillery weapons, but you instead use it to draw a straight line from the front of the Ordinatus to its maximum 72" range, and every model (including flyers) that is under that 5" wide line, eats a Destroyer 1, S6, AP2, hit with Armourbane, Pinning, Murderous Strike(5+) and Ignores Cover. Find the area where the models are bunched together and watch this thing clear a choke point like a shotgun clears a trench.
  • A (possible) writing oversight is that the Sonic Destructor remains S6 when it hits Dreadnoughts and Non-Super Heavy vehicles, meaning a Rhino will be less likely to be glanced or penned than a Fellblade or Warhound titan.

• Ordinatus Aktaeus: THUNDERBIRDS ARE GO!... *Ahem* I mean, for 800 points you get a Super-Heavy transport with 14 hull points, AV 14/13/13 and that can carry 42 passengers and it has a Transport Bay for Automata. The Mole (that's what Imperials called it) is armed with a Terrebrax rocket battery, which is a 12 shot Autocannon with AP5, and it has It will Not Die(6+) and Reinforced Structure making it a hard nut to crack. Its main armament is its giant Macro-drill, which now once per-game can create an earthquake at the end of a turn. Pick a point 6" from the front of the Mole, and everything with 6" x the current game turn (except the Mole) suffers D6 S7 AP4 Pinning hits. After this the Mole can not move again for the rest of the game. Over all this attack isn't great, but it can help clear out the surrounding area. It's odd that it just sets off an earthquake and then taps out instead of using the drill like a ram, but clearly the Mechanicum (and GW) think there on to something with their man-made earthquakes. Where the Mole really shines is the fact that it has Subterranean Assault allowing it to deep strike its 42 transport capacity into your enemies rear-line and Terrestrial Disregard which means you place an Apocalyptic Blast(10") on the table at least 1" away from impassable terrain and enemy models, you then place the Drills hull over the centre blast template and place it on the table. With that done every model and fortification within 6" of the drill takes a S10 AP2 hit and must make a Pinning test, and the area under the 10" blast template becomes Dangerous and Difficult Terrain for the rest of the game. While this Ordinatus is not as lethal as its sonic friend, it is a great super-transport for your army and it can effectively disrupt your opponents forces when it arrives and drills them. Also it looks awesome.
  • This thing is absolutely great in a Subterranean assault army, with the main force in the mole and the rest being transported in Terrax Assault drills, they can all pop up in your enemies defences and start causing chaos. What do you mean "the Mechanicum book doesn't have rules for assault drills?" WHAT DO YOU MEAN, "ONLY MARINES HAVE RULES FOR THEM?"

Divisio Tactica: The Titan Legions

Titans can be taken in two ways: either as a Lord of War choice in another army, or by using the Titan Maniple Detachment as an allied detachment, which counts as a "Mechanicum" army for the sake of faction and allies. Being taken as their own detachment is notably the only way you can field the Secutarii in any way, as they're not considered part of the traditional Mechanicum hierarchy (and anyone familiar with 9E can share their frustrations about how they don't share the precious keywords).

Titan Maniple Detachment: requires 1 Lord of War OR 1 unit of Troops (either Peltasts or Hoplites). 2 HQs, 6 Troops and 3 LoWs can be added.

HQ

• Secutarii Axiarch: A support hero, he's pretty much marine-strength with S4 T4 while his Titanshard Armour gives him a 3+/5++ save that can re-roll FNP rolls against Poisoned and Rad-Phage hits while the Kyropatris Field Generator lets him re-roll armor saves of 1 and reduces the strength of any incoming attacks by 1 if he's accompanying a unit of 10+ Secutarii. The main purpose you grab him is for his Binaric Stratagems, which gives all Secutatrii in his detachment one of four rules (Feel No Pain (5+), Move Through Cover, Wrecker, Preferred Enemy (Infantry)), allowing them to specialize a bit.
  • Strangely, despite being BS5, they're largely stuck with pistols, with the basic ones being a Radium Pistol or Volkite Serpenta. Even if you go for the Hoplite's Arc Lance and shield, your maximum shooting range is 12".
    • Speaking of that shield, unlike the Hoplite Alpha, the Axiarch can't keep it while swapping out the lance. While one can argue that it's for the sake of balance (and it might if you could also take the arc maul), you also can't take any of the guns available to the peltast, including even the galvanic casters.

Troops

• Secutarii Hoplite Phalanx: The marching line of shields and spears, the Hoplites are pretty well-protected with a 5++ Invulnerable, Feel No Pain (6+) and the Kyropatris fields. Each one comes with an Arc Lance, capable of both shooting or fighting at AP5 and Disruption (5+). That said, their melee prowess is sadly limited, as S3 (S4 with the lances) isn't very good and at WS3, punching marines is well out of their depth.

• Secutarii Peltast Phalanx: Though not as protected as the Hoplites unless you buy that Refractor Field, but more consistent in their shooting dedication. Each one comes with a Galvanic Caster with either S3 AP6 Flechette shots with Shred to handle most crowds or the short-ranged S2 AP5 Ignis Shots more meant to Blind and Ignores Cover. They can add onto this by buying Hammershot Rounds, a bit stronger with S4 AP3, but benefit most from their 30" range and Molecular Dissonance, which lets them auto-wound any non-Vehicle non-Primarch units on a 6+ to-hit. The Alpha can add some extra support if you decide to trade in his caster for a free Radium Carbine or an Arc Rifle.
  • Their special rule is Blind Barrage, giving them a single-use attack that gives an allied unit that isn't a vehicle, Knight, Titan, or Monstrous the Shrouded (4+) save, a pretty strong defense.

Lords of War

• Warhound Scout Titan: The most lightweight of your Titans, gaining the Fast subtype and AV 14/13/12 with only two Void Shields protecting it. This is also your cheapest titan, if you consider 725 points cheap - at the very least, it can be taken alongside a 3000-point army of some substance. Expect to use that mobility a lot because it can only shoot things.
  • Each arm can alternate between the same list of guns, all at the same price. The Vulcan Mega Bolter provides a massive flood of firepower, seeking to eradicate mobs and drown bigger things in a bucket of dice. The TL Turbo Laser Destructor provides a Large Blast to bombard enemies, with Destroyer being capable of overwhelming even multi-wound models like Terminators. The Plasma Blastgun isn't quite as dangerous, being Ordinance and only being S9 AP3, but it gets Breaching (4+) to overwhelm AP2 and uses a Massive Blast - and Reactor Overload can let it fire a few extra times at the cost of HP. The Inferno Gun gives you a hyped-up Flamer with Destroyer and the Hellstorm template as well as a massive Torrent (24") range for a surprising amount of coverage when eradicating crowds.
• Reaver Battle Titan: The Medium Titan and for the medium price (for a Titan) of 1500 points, it stand firmly as a compromise between the Warhound's speed and the Warlord's toughness. Having AV 14/14/13 18 Hull points and 4 Void Shields it can take fair bit of damage thrown it's way, but don't be negligent with its survival and prioritise anti-Super heavy weapons first, then the big blobs of infantry you want to vaporise.
  • He comes armed with an Apocalypse Missile Launcher which fires 2 Destroyer S7 AP3 Apocalyptic Barrage shots and all his arm weapons are free to swap out and equip (points wise, money wise they are all expensive. FW's not running a charity here.) His weapons aren't as big as the Warlords, but they are all still very effective and all of them are effective as both infantry and vehicle killers, with the Melta Cannon probably being the best all rounder gun.
• Nemesis Warbringer Titan: Now we get to the true heavyweights. This behemoth comes with a full 6 void shields and AV 15/14/13, and with 24 Hull Points, you can easily take some blows from even another titan before collapsing. While it lacks the Warlord's LoS blocking shenanigans, it does have a 6++ Invuln against guns via Heavy Structure.
  • By this point, just having arm weapons won't do (though you still have them and they're all great and terrible), you'll need a full list of firepower on your Warbringer. Your carapace mount is a choice between the Nemesis Quake Launcher for an Apocalyptic Mega-Blast or Nemesis Volcano Cannon if you plan to annihilate heavy tanks. The hull has two Defensor Bolt Cannons at the front and two Defensor Lascannons at the rear, which alongside the carapace-mounted Defensor Autocannon Batteries have the Ardex-Defensor rule, allowing them to fire overwatch on straight-up anything with firepower that can outpace even the Warlord. Even better, those autocannons have Skyfire so you can even gun down Stormbirds.
• Warlord Battle Titan: 3000 points means that this thing won't be visible anywhere but the most massive of games, and it's going to cost you several children to afford it. One thing you won't be worrying about is losing it any time soon, as it's not only toting six Void Shields, but also gains a lot of resistances, with Towering Monstrosity making enemies unable to target anything near it and making enemies unable to hit it on a 6+ (5+ for knights) and Reinforced Structure giving it a constant 5++ against shooting. Combined with its monstrous AV 15/15/14 and 30 HP and it'll require an entire army just to take it down.
  • As befits such a behemoth, the Warlord doesn't have just its arm cannons to count on, even though all of those options are some flavor of instant obliteration. Your carapace mount is a choice between twin Apocalypse Missile Launchers for Apocalyptic Barrages or twin Laser Blasters if you just straight up want something big dead. The hull has two Defensor Bolt Cannons at the front and two Defensor Lascannons at the rear, all with the Ardex-Defensor rule so they can fire overwatch against anything that tries to bumrush them at any angle, be they an unlucky band of combi-melta termies trying to break a seeming weak spot or a bumrushing knight trying to break you from the front.
  • Curiously, this is the only knight that can actually fight in melee with more than the odd stomp, as you can replace its arms with Arioch Power Claws, each one giving you blows that chainfists wished they could make and mounted with Vulcan Mega Bolters so it can still fight crowds.

Warhammer 30,000 Tactics Articles
General Tactics	General (7E) Movement (7E) Psychic (7E) Fortifications (7E)
Imperium	Legiones Astartes (7E)
	Legio Custodes (7E) Sisters of Silence (7E) Mechanicum (Legio Mechanicum • Taghmata Omnissiah)
	Questoris Knights (7E) Solar Auxilia (7E) Imperialis Militia (7E)
Chaos	Ruinstorm Daemons (7E • 7E Codex) Warp Cults(7E)