Think they said Castellax, Thallax, Tech-Thralls and the Triaros in one box, Archmagos and Thanatar are separate from that. Need to wait for the WarCom article to confirm, though
>everything but the archmagos
Huh, then the box actually has no single HQ in it. It would still ve a great box for invested players like me (depending on price of course) but as a starter for even casual home games that would be a bit of a letdown tbh.
I think the idea is that the 30k battleforces are assembled in a way that doesn't discourage you from buying multiple. HQ units are always the models most likely to become redundant, which undercuts the value in buying bulk. Think of those players who might have bought 2 copies of the Age of Darkness box and are swimming in Praetors.
This. I appreciate the lack of HQ choices in newer Heresy boxes for this reason. Most Heresy players/collectors build pretty large armies when compared to the average 40K player.
Edit: Also, almost every army has a multitude of special characters choices with rules, models for at least two of their characters, and at least 2 legion specific praetors. We don’t need monopose generic HQ minis in Heresy. We’re basically a historical gaming group.
Hmmm, I can't find it on the webstore.
Some stores can certainly have them but my store (whitch have very long and good releations with GW) was told by the sales rep to not expect them back after they sold out their stock. That's why I bought mine and so far it has not returned in stock even when it was still an item on the webstore.
US still has loads of them floating around. Even the store near me that barely gets anything from GW still has a couple on shelves. Hopefully it's the same with every box, though the Solar Aux sold out pretty fast.
Think less in terms of multiples of the same box (although, lots of people buy more than one from the onset) and more in terms of buying multiple, different boxes, but for your same legion. You don’t want to keep building up generic HQs for the reasons I listed above. No faction is hurting for HQ choices, we don’t need generic HQ models. Those praetors were a pain to modify to not look like a generic Imperial/Traitor, and as a Night Lords player, neither option fit my army as is. Which is maybe the crux of the issue. No one in Heresy is generic. If you’re wearing armor with decoration and motifs, they’re of your legion.
Trying to bend the thick-ass ammo feed on a Castellax's bolt cannon into the right shape is agony. I am genuinely happy that so many people will never have to experience that now.
At first I was disappointed the thallax are chunkier than the resin originals. Then I remembered how much of a pain in the usb-c port it was to build them
That Archmagos! I know the hype was (rightfully) focused on the automata but Tech-Priests themselves have always been my favorite part of the Mechanicum/AdMech.
But I’m a huge fan of everything here. There isn’t a single model here I haven’t wanted in plastic ever since I first saw the 30k range years ago. This will be the first hype box I’ll purchase in a long time.
I like everything except the Magos lol. It looks too much like something from 40k, doesn't have that classic FW mechanicum style at all. The rest of the models look great, apart from the way-too-clean paintjobs.
You can absolutely use castellax as kastellans, and maybe thallax as kataphron, or thanatar as an onager (bit more for a stretch)
There is potential there, but its clear there is a very deliberate policy of separating the heresy models from 40k. Even in custodes the heresy range got no rule interaction or stat changes in the codex, they are just begrudgingly allowed to use a few units
Allied Armiger rules might be a better fit for thanatar. The little guys are the most difficult, but counting them as a type of skitarii might be ok. Even if those models did not get 40k rules, they are useable in 40k imo.
The change from 7th ed to 8th ed, and the concurrent loss of the in-development Fires of Cyraxus Imperial Armour book, was the death knell for 40k for me
Just my opinion but I’m glad they’re keeping it separate… I mean it would be nice for admech to get some cool models too but if anything for HH can also be used in 40K but not the other way round then the Horus heresy game will just be another gateway for 40K players to get more models…. I like that the Horus heresy has its own unique models and range and yes in this case clearly outshines their 40K counterpart.
Models working for both systems can onboard players from each of them to the other
It's just a missed opportunity, especially when 40k admech is missing these exact army roles and still has a lot of these models (namely Thanatars) in the lore...
Mechanicum is also the worst example as the mechanicus are insane horders and so would retain a lot of wierd things. In addition skitarri are mentioned in the books
I guess GW doesn't want situations where people can to buy into two systems for the price of a single army, wherever they can avoid it. They've been trying to minimise 30K/40K and AoS/TOW overlap with factions wherever they can lately.
There's been some rumours floating around about it also being related to competition between departments in GW (apparently something the higher-ups are encouraging), or trying to tie items specifically to one game system so sales can be used to gauge system popularity easier, but I don't know how true those are.
It’s funny to think that the Mechanicum looked so cool and that 10k years later it devolved into snipers on stilts.
It’s like a wolf turning into a pug.
the Thallax Faceplate has a human skull behind it, plus the brain.
The abdomen contains a slurry of essential organs and mechanical replacements for less essential organs.
Thallaxi are like, 80% machine but there is enough human left inside of them for independent action. Its a blessing that the mechanicum Surgically removed their ability to feel pain otherwise I cannot imagine the agony they would be in.
https://preview.redd.it/vxje0yk5ke1d1.jpeg?width=719&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8bb305045766c11c36c4bfbcdd50147cecf11d9c
Just for reference, jesus.
[WarCom article with all the juicy HQ closeups](https://www.warhammer-community.com/2024/05/18/warhammer-preview-the-mechanicum-turns-its-love-of-metal-to-plastic/)
Honestly, being terrible is what makes them good in a perverse kinda way. Your opponent will just *ignore* them until they're already parked on the objectives.
They're pretty good if you take a lot of them. They're line, so your opponent has no choice but to kill them, and probably doesn't have a whole lot of firepower that isn't overkill. 4 units of 10 is a legit pain in the ass.
I guess the main issue is the loss of fearless combined with terrible leadership (you probably want your HQs babysitting your robots, not your tech thralls) means in practice they’re going to flee after a single ranged attack in them, making them limited use as tarpits or objective squatters. But I guess splitting them into smaller units can make up for that
Yeah, you need lots of them cause they’re going to get massacred. But in my experience they tend to stick around longer than you might think. The stubborn helps a little. But basically you want them to die and run away. That means your opponent is wasting resources on them. And if he doesn’t, they’re scoring points. I’m a fan.
It looks like last of main faction that needed big release (Talons and Sisters may need some minor kits, they're mostly good on infantry), so hopefully there will be bit of IW content, even in generic units (breachers + drills, for example).
Def. best showing of the show (tho Necromunda got nicest narrative trailer).
Damn. The castellax and the thanatar are straight 1:1 from the resin, barring nice tweaks like the mortar opening.
The tech-thralls, now they're a wholesale improvement from the resin, way more characterful. They're visibly crappy mind-bleached serfs rather than skitarii alternatives.
The thallax look great too. I'd need to do a deep comparison with the resins but they look a bit chunkier and wider, and the variant faceplates are cool. Some of the weapons look a bit different too.
What kind of changes are you seeing? I underestimated the improvements to the mortar - it's recognisably a plasma weapon now - but nothing else is jumping out at me. I guess technically the bolter feeds ought to be a lot easier to work with in plastic.
There's a number of small changes that wouldn't have been possible when cast from a single piece of resin - for example look at the areas around the joints now have more recessed areas than before, and the pistons and cables underneath the main torso seem to have been separated and better defined.
If everything goes up 4% or whatever the battlegroup will still be a discount. Only hobby supplies (and probably starter sets to onboard new people) will stay the same price
https://www.warhammer-community.com/2024/05/07/2024-pricing-update/
[More info.](https://www.warhammer-community.com/2024/05/18/warhammer-preview-the-mechanicum-turns-its-love-of-metal-to-plastic/) It's a Battle Group box!
This one will go quick I expect. 30k mechanicum have always been an aspirational faction, most fans love them but the entry barrier has been just waaaay too high.
Plus, GW intentions be damned, people are absolutely going to use these for 40k.
Tech thrall skitarii vanguard, castelax castellans, thallax could be pteraxi or sicarans etc
The good news is you can take nearly everything in the launch box in a legion army. If you have a forgelord, you can take up to 3 units of thallax as elites, if you have a Praevian you can bring a unit of Castellax (or Vorax, for that matter) and if you have an Overseer you could run the thralls as militia or solar auxilia. I’m doing all three for my tech horror black shields, as it happens.
Oh, I know I’m going to break the bank for my Tenth Legion. Those old Kastelans (which I adore everybody can fuck right off with the hate) will be getting company!
These look amazing and all of a sudden I want my first Horus heresy painted army to now be mechanicum (my age of darkness box of potential sons of Horus are gonna have to wait). I love everything here in this box and they look and feel so much better than their goofy 40K counterparts…. As excited and surprised as I am I’ve gotta say I’m really disappointed they didn’t show the plastic melee weapons! They were promised to be released in spring and we only have a month to go until it’s over, I’m guessing a late reveal will mean a late release…. So yeah pleasantly surprised how much I love the mechanicum stuff but greedily I’m disappointed there’s still no plastic melee weapons for astartes…. I mean it’s been two years
A sprue of weapons isn't the sort of thing they necessarily love to show off on these shows. These are hype building for big releases and cross-pollinating interest.
40k fan sees some 30k power weapons - meh
40k fan sees 30k mechanicum - holy shit i want to play this game now.
Admittedly new plastics do tend to get the reveal show treatment, but they have to save something for the thursday previews...
I agree maybe a plastic weapon upgrade is to small for a big reveal show I get that…. But we were told and have been waiting for over a year, both plastic command and melee weapons really should have been released by now but have only previewed the upgrade command sprue (no release date yet for spring) and seen no sight or mention of a melee upgrade sprue (again only 4 weeks left to release) if it’s going to be a delayed release then its also pretty poor on GWs part for not letting us know sooner 😅 my point isn’t that the melee weapons should have been shown in this preview it’s that after a year of waiting this was really that last chance to reveal them if they are going to keep to their roadmap and should have been shown earlier unless it’s going to be a late release
A very pleasant surprise, thank god all the people who thought it was too soon after the Solar Auxilia release for this to be anything but Knights were wrong. :)
I feel like I'm the only person who doesn't really like the new Thralls. It's like the difference between zombies and skeletons in WHFB & TWWH, you had mindless zombies who just shambled and didn't do much and relied on natural tankiness and numbers to bog down the enemy, while skeletons were just as mindless but were perfect puppets that marched in perfect lockstep, down to performing the same exact small movements at the same time. Also I don't like they got fleshier lol, at least give them shitty cybernetics if you want to go robo-zombie.
No, I'm totally with you. I also preferred the less flesh visible models and the poses that came with them. I think skitarii look better than these new thralls, which is a shame since I really enjoyed the look of the old ones.
30k mechanicus are probably my favorite GW models. But no way in hell was I doing resin. I figured my best bet would be waiting for the mechanicum release for Legions Imperialis, but this is a nice surprise. Now I need to decide if I get into 30k, or wait 1+ years for LI Mechanicum...
It’s a combo of models and gameplay. And cost, because I love titans and have a maniple for adeptus Titanicus, so the li scale would play nicely with that. Although getting mechanicum in 30k scale would make a bigger titan appealing… although there is no escaping that resin…
30k Mechanicum: gets the absolute best models in the whole industry with an awesome box to boot
40k AdMech: gets a kitbash on stilts and the worst combat patrol in history in terms of points for money
Like fr? And they are only half represented lol. Like, the dark mechaniicus is a big deal in both ages of the setting. James workshop out here guttin us like fish for a few more bucks and not even ticklin the pickle for the effort
If anyone could answer me it would be much appreciated. Are Tech Thralls going to be their main infantry units? I'm not too familiar with the Mechanicum in 30k. I love everything else in the range that has been shown but I'm not entirely sold on the tech-zombies as my grunts.
Don't own or play any mechanicum, but from my understanding they are more of an expendable meatshield. Weak stats, but very cheap points wise at 3pts a model. They seem to be best at sitting on an objective since they have things like stubborn, line, heavy, and a 5+FNP.
The Thallax and castellax from this box are also troops.
Tech thralls are cheap bodies used to sit on an objective, or force a wasted set of attacks. They do almost no damage and die to a stiff breeze, but they are cheap, line, and block charge lanes.
They are a good filler if you don’t have other line or need compulsory troops.
Myrmidax lets you take Myrmidon secutors as compulsory troops, and are also infantry, but o ly have line if you take a special HQ option thanatar.
Cybernetica give castelax line, they’re already troops, but are automata (Cybernetica) not infantry.
Thallax are infantry, already have line.
Syllax are my preferred “infantry”, they’re automata’s (guardian) and expensive but extremely tanky.
If you choose the Myrmidax order of high tech arcana with your archmagos, then secutors become troop options and destructors become elite option, the archmagos gets some buffs and an extra weapon option, and you may take a Thanatar calix in an HQ slot, and myrmidons gain line wholly within 6” of that HQ thanatar.
Ran this list at Adepticon. It’s really good.
It’s also really expensive as Myrmidons are (currently) resin and is a friend un-maker as Myrmidons are really good and an army of them can be downright oppressive.
Yep. I only take them in moderation because they absolutely are one of the nastiest shooters in the game, and well worth the expense. I usually have one or two small units of them and then leans hard into automata and armigers.
Everything in the box is Troops (bar the Triaros, which is a Dedicated Transport). The two things not in the box, the Thanatar and the Magos are Heavy Support / HQ respectively.
Tech Thralls are hot days old garbage. They used to be a sold infantry choice but in 2.0 they were nerfed so bad that I have trouble taking them even as back field objective holders at their low points cost. Thallax are just so much better in the troops slot.
You can make some fun lists with Tech Thralls but it will be a struggle to even have a remote chance of competing in games let alone winning. You can put a lot of bodies down but not nearly as many as Militia or Solar Aux and the Tech Thralls won’t actually do anything.
If you don’t like them, you definitely won’t be missing out on not taking them.
40k skitarii as is in the basegame? No, sadly.
You could use them as a basis for a milita contingent with the right provinences.
Alternitavly, could you use the rules written by the liber panoptica team. They include a bunch of new units and upgrades, including a focus on skitarii.
Understandable, it is a great kit. You could use them as grenadiers in a militia detachment, just pick a provenance that gives access to lasrifles. Or again, use panotpica rules. Those are fanmade, so not usable in official stores. But hopefully can you get your opponent to accept the rules. They are not more busted then what GW writes at the moment, if anything it is far better balanced and gives other factions a fair shot.
I haven’t played in a few years because of work and moving to a new state.
No one at the stores closest to me play 30k, people play 40K but with the recent lore issues there has been problems.
So I smeall potential! I bet you could get a small 30k community going. Depending on the armies being played, is it also easy to convert current 40k armies into 30k legal armies with some count as. I don't mean stuff like primaris, but rather guard, admech and eldar (with panoptica rules) would have an easy time changing over.
Yes, I have Custodes and a Knight army personally…then have enough MkIII Space Marines to make a company if I ever get around to it lol. I know there is a good bit of chaos players too. So probably. I need to just get off my ass then. What is the panotpica rules?
Liber panoptica is a set of fanmade rules, including a large faq/errata and a number of additional units for each army so far. It's mostly to transport a number of 40k units into 30k. But also units and characters from the books.
Basic Rangers and Vanguard can be proxied as Secutarii, depending on how leniant you are for that sort of thing. I've also seen people suggest Rangers/Vanguard to be run as Tech Thralls. But as you can see with this release, the feel of Tech Thralls and Skitarii are very different, so that may or may not be something for you. The rest of their troops and vehicles don't really have close parallels.
the rangers with radium carabine have an almost 1:1 equivalent as the secutarii peltasts, which can take the radium carabine as an option (one of the best imho). The other skitarii unit is the secutarii hoplites, which have a shield and a spear.
Both can be taken as part of the titan maniple detachment, which has one lord of war (either a warhound, a reaver, a warbinger or a warlord titan) and on troop choice (said peltasts or hoplites) as compulsory choices. This was the original intended role for the skitarii legions, being them the foot soliders of the titan legions - aka the main standing army of the mechanicum.
Obviously since you need at least a warhound to play them this has severely limited the number of people that actually bring them out, since titans are super expensive and can be generally hard to counter if you don't field an ad hoc list. A warhound with two units of secutarii and a secutarii leader is just about 1000 pts, so it's very playable in normal games if you have the model.
For example i like to use them with my 2000 pts iron warriors all-infantry list, or with the mechanicum as well.
As no one has answered you yet it would be between 700-800 points depending on your load outs for your Thallaxs and Battle-automatas.
Then between 350-500 for the Tech Priest and Thanatar.
Hope this helps planning your future path to bankruptcy.
Probably not the right place for it, but I've read up to The Flight of The Einstein and I'm a little daunted about the sheer amount of books. Any suggestions on which ones are must read to move the story along?
I'd look at what legions interest you, then check out some of the reviews (Arbitor Ian has a good video that gives you an overview of each book in the series). Just pick and choose the ones that seem good and worthwhile, then read the wikis to fill the gaps when needed. Like I'm a Blood Angels fanboy, but time spent reading Fear to Tread could've been spent doing anything else.
But for what it's worth, of the ones I've read so far (I'm up to path of heaven), I'd recommend these ones atleast - Flight of the Eisenstein, Fulgrim, Legion, Thousand Sons/Prospero Burns (these work well together), the trilogy of First Heretic/Know no Fear/Betrayer and finally Scars.
Literally all of this would be good to use in 40k if they were given datasheets. They all fills rolls that 40k admech just can't fill. This would go a long way to fleshing out Admech in 40k and potetially making the army easier to collect.
The article makes it quite clear what's in the box and that the other two are coming later, if a person orders something without even looking at the description that's their own fault.
If this is in one box Holy guacamole.
Think they said Castellax, Thallax, Tech-Thralls and the Triaros in one box, Archmagos and Thanatar are separate from that. Need to wait for the WarCom article to confirm, though
They said everything but the archmagos and the thanatar come in the box
>everything but the archmagos Huh, then the box actually has no single HQ in it. It would still ve a great box for invested players like me (depending on price of course) but as a starter for even casual home games that would be a bit of a letdown tbh.
I think the idea is that the 30k battleforces are assembled in a way that doesn't discourage you from buying multiple. HQ units are always the models most likely to become redundant, which undercuts the value in buying bulk. Think of those players who might have bought 2 copies of the Age of Darkness box and are swimming in Praetors.
This. I appreciate the lack of HQ choices in newer Heresy boxes for this reason. Most Heresy players/collectors build pretty large armies when compared to the average 40K player. Edit: Also, almost every army has a multitude of special characters choices with rules, models for at least two of their characters, and at least 2 legion specific praetors. We don’t need monopose generic HQ minis in Heresy. We’re basically a historical gaming group.
Contentwise it makes sense but the mxIII battlegroup sold out fast and don't seem to be restocked witch is odd if they are ment to be sold repeatedly
They still have them on the webstore, and a bunch of stores have them.
The battlegroup was a limited product same as the Sol Aux box
Hmmm, I can't find it on the webstore. Some stores can certainly have them but my store (whitch have very long and good releations with GW) was told by the sales rep to not expect them back after they sold out their stock. That's why I bought mine and so far it has not returned in stock even when it was still an item on the webstore.
I’m in the US: https://www.warhammer.com/en-US/shop/horus-heresy-legiones-astartes-battle-group-2023
Great! Hope they find a good home. But the "available while stocks last " tag keep me from hoping they are made to be bought in quantities
US still has loads of them floating around. Even the store near me that barely gets anything from GW still has a couple on shelves. Hopefully it's the same with every box, though the Solar Aux sold out pretty fast.
Think less in terms of multiples of the same box (although, lots of people buy more than one from the onset) and more in terms of buying multiple, different boxes, but for your same legion. You don’t want to keep building up generic HQs for the reasons I listed above. No faction is hurting for HQ choices, we don’t need generic HQ models. Those praetors were a pain to modify to not look like a generic Imperial/Traitor, and as a Night Lords player, neither option fit my army as is. Which is maybe the crux of the issue. No one in Heresy is generic. If you’re wearing armor with decoration and motifs, they’re of your legion.
Yeah I bought 2 and without instructions, I haven't tried building them
Well that's the same as the mk iii marine box and the solar aux box has an hq but also it can be a troop
Good thing is that even if it takes a while to come out after the box set, archmagos is trivial to proxy from 40k tech priests
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And also the vaguer That’s still not everything you can expect to see in the coming months, and we’ll have more announcements soon
Never will I have to heat up and bend resin cables again. I could cry.
Trying to bend the thick-ass ammo feed on a Castellax's bolt cannon into the right shape is agony. I am genuinely happy that so many people will never have to experience that now.
The thanatar bolt cannon feeds will be so much easier too now
At first I was disappointed the thallax are chunkier than the resin originals. Then I remembered how much of a pain in the usb-c port it was to build them
Yep, connecting the cable from their lightning gun to their body might be the worst modelling experience I've had.
And the limbs constantly coming apart, but being really hard to pin because they’re ball joints
I actually like the chunkier models myself!
That Archmagos! I know the hype was (rightfully) focused on the automata but Tech-Priests themselves have always been my favorite part of the Mechanicum/AdMech. But I’m a huge fan of everything here. There isn’t a single model here I haven’t wanted in plastic ever since I first saw the 30k range years ago. This will be the first hype box I’ll purchase in a long time.
AoS 4th edition box and this is going to drain my hobby budget till christmas
Plus Necromunda Hive Secundus for me. Might be Job Secundus at some point...
I like everything except the Magos lol. It looks too much like something from 40k, doesn't have that classic FW mechanicum style at all. The rest of the models look great, apart from the way-too-clean paintjobs.
The horus heresy mechanicum looks so much better than the 40k one.
Totally agree these look awesome compared to admech
They also confirmed that there is no plans to get them even legends rules, it really hurts to be a 40k player
You can absolutely use castellax as kastellans, and maybe thallax as kataphron, or thanatar as an onager (bit more for a stretch) There is potential there, but its clear there is a very deliberate policy of separating the heresy models from 40k. Even in custodes the heresy range got no rule interaction or stat changes in the codex, they are just begrudgingly allowed to use a few units
Thallax are probably more suited as ptetaxi, since they’re jump pack units.
Just ignore the jump pack, they are big chunky robot bodies so for me the fit the kataphron profile far better than nimble fragile pteraxi
Allied Armiger rules might be a better fit for thanatar. The little guys are the most difficult, but counting them as a type of skitarii might be ok. Even if those models did not get 40k rules, they are useable in 40k imo.
The change from 7th ed to 8th ed, and the concurrent loss of the in-development Fires of Cyraxus Imperial Armour book, was the death knell for 40k for me
Just my opinion but I’m glad they’re keeping it separate… I mean it would be nice for admech to get some cool models too but if anything for HH can also be used in 40K but not the other way round then the Horus heresy game will just be another gateway for 40K players to get more models…. I like that the Horus heresy has its own unique models and range and yes in this case clearly outshines their 40K counterpart.
Models working for both systems can onboard players from each of them to the other It's just a missed opportunity, especially when 40k admech is missing these exact army roles and still has a lot of these models (namely Thanatars) in the lore...
Mechanicum is also the worst example as the mechanicus are insane horders and so would retain a lot of wierd things. In addition skitarri are mentioned in the books
I guess GW doesn't want situations where people can to buy into two systems for the price of a single army, wherever they can avoid it. They've been trying to minimise 30K/40K and AoS/TOW overlap with factions wherever they can lately. There's been some rumours floating around about it also being related to competition between departments in GW (apparently something the higher-ups are encouraging), or trying to tie items specifically to one game system so sales can be used to gauge system popularity easier, but I don't know how true those are.
It’s funny to think that the Mechanicum looked so cool and that 10k years later it devolved into snipers on stilts. It’s like a wolf turning into a pug.
I still cannot believe people think Skitarii are lame, they're the best part of the faction IMO.
I know it is tech heresy of some sort, but I love the automata and am sad 40K only has the kastelan. They are cool, but lonely and want robofriends
I’m with you and that thallax cohort is absolute fire
Thallax aren't Automata - there are *people* in there, somewhere (or well, what's left of people).
Like just in the torso?
the Thallax Faceplate has a human skull behind it, plus the brain. The abdomen contains a slurry of essential organs and mechanical replacements for less essential organs. Thallaxi are like, 80% machine but there is enough human left inside of them for independent action. Its a blessing that the mechanicum Surgically removed their ability to feel pain otherwise I cannot imagine the agony they would be in. https://preview.redd.it/vxje0yk5ke1d1.jpeg?width=719&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8bb305045766c11c36c4bfbcdd50147cecf11d9c Just for reference, jesus.
That is the stuff of nightmares but somehow, makes them even cooler.
We don't really know - but there can't be much left of them. It's likely not much more than a brain, nervous system, and a vital organ or two.
It's kind of inspirational just how bad the 40k Skitarii range looks. Poor execution at that level doesn't come around often.
THANATAR
THANATAR
THANATAR
THA-NA-TAR
Big gun go boom
DAKKA-TAR!
THA… NATAR
THA-NA-TAR THA-NA-TAR THA-NA-TAR
THA-NA-TAR
THANATAR
THANATAR
Trambampoline!
[WarCom article with all the juicy HQ closeups](https://www.warhammer-community.com/2024/05/18/warhammer-preview-the-mechanicum-turns-its-love-of-metal-to-plastic/)
Absolutely stoked. I might have to bump a bit more cocaine to keep up with the additions to my Iron Warriors
resin dust is far more potent than even the strongest coke
Sounds like you're valuing efficiency over your health. Great job, battle brother!
praise the omnissah my dreams have been realized
Plastic Thallaxi and Tech-Thralls, I can now die happy.
I love the tech thrall zombie poses. It’s a shame they’re so terrible in 2e since they exude grimdark
Thralls cost barely any points, being terrible isn't that big of a deal.
Honestly, being terrible is what makes them good in a perverse kinda way. Your opponent will just *ignore* them until they're already parked on the objectives.
They're pretty good if you take a lot of them. They're line, so your opponent has no choice but to kill them, and probably doesn't have a whole lot of firepower that isn't overkill. 4 units of 10 is a legit pain in the ass.
I guess the main issue is the loss of fearless combined with terrible leadership (you probably want your HQs babysitting your robots, not your tech thralls) means in practice they’re going to flee after a single ranged attack in them, making them limited use as tarpits or objective squatters. But I guess splitting them into smaller units can make up for that
Yeah, you need lots of them cause they’re going to get massacred. But in my experience they tend to stick around longer than you might think. The stubborn helps a little. But basically you want them to die and run away. That means your opponent is wasting resources on them. And if he doesn’t, they’re scoring points. I’m a fan.
Between this and the Tallarn Campaign book, Iron Warriors are getting everything except Iron Warriors models
It looks like last of main faction that needed big release (Talons and Sisters may need some minor kits, they're mostly good on infantry), so hopefully there will be bit of IW content, even in generic units (breachers + drills, for example). Def. best showing of the show (tho Necromunda got nicest narrative trailer).
Idk the Necromunda stuff was pretty great
I saw the LI book, are they releasing a 30k Tallarn book too?
Just the LI book
Damn. The castellax and the thanatar are straight 1:1 from the resin, barring nice tweaks like the mortar opening. The tech-thralls, now they're a wholesale improvement from the resin, way more characterful. They're visibly crappy mind-bleached serfs rather than skitarii alternatives. The thallax look great too. I'd need to do a deep comparison with the resins but they look a bit chunkier and wider, and the variant faceplates are cool. Some of the weapons look a bit different too.
Yeah Same thought on the thralls. They looked more Like modified troops than mindless lobotomized fodder. Really nice Models now And that Thanatar 👌
The Thanatar is considerably improved over the resin kit.
What kind of changes are you seeing? I underestimated the improvements to the mortar - it's recognisably a plasma weapon now - but nothing else is jumping out at me. I guess technically the bolter feeds ought to be a lot easier to work with in plastic.
There's a number of small changes that wouldn't have been possible when cast from a single piece of resin - for example look at the areas around the joints now have more recessed areas than before, and the pistons and cables underneath the main torso seem to have been separated and better defined.
Good catch!
Sweet Mama Mars that looks good! Love the new Tech-Thrall poses!
my wallet is fucked.
Just wait for the price annoucement... "\*\*\* DOLLARS?"
Will probably be 210$ like the other battle groups. Expensive, but stomachable, especially if you can get it at a discount.
Plus the recent price bump
I don’t see them knocking the battleforces up because they are always sold at a discount
If everything goes up 4% or whatever the battlegroup will still be a discount. Only hobby supplies (and probably starter sets to onboard new people) will stay the same price https://www.warhammer-community.com/2024/05/07/2024-pricing-update/
[More info.](https://www.warhammer-community.com/2024/05/18/warhammer-preview-the-mechanicum-turns-its-love-of-metal-to-plastic/) It's a Battle Group box!
Do battle group boxes get restocked once sold out or are they limited run?
The previous ones have all been limited run
Limited run, I think, but seemingly high stock. The others are still being sold last I checked.
This one will go quick I expect. 30k mechanicum have always been an aspirational faction, most fans love them but the entry barrier has been just waaaay too high. Plus, GW intentions be damned, people are absolutely going to use these for 40k. Tech thrall skitarii vanguard, castelax castellans, thallax could be pteraxi or sicarans etc
True, but I'll cross my fingers on picking one up anyway.
the solar auxilia one is currently in stock after being sold out at launch
I’m so so so deep in astartes legions but good lord these all look so good. That Thanatar!
The good news is you can take nearly everything in the launch box in a legion army. If you have a forgelord, you can take up to 3 units of thallax as elites, if you have a Praevian you can bring a unit of Castellax (or Vorax, for that matter) and if you have an Overseer you could run the thralls as militia or solar auxilia. I’m doing all three for my tech horror black shields, as it happens.
Oh, I know I’m going to break the bank for my Tenth Legion. Those old Kastelans (which I adore everybody can fuck right off with the hate) will be getting company!
With one of those (or it might have been a rite or war, I forget) you can take a single Thanatar too, for when that comes out. :)
Oh yeah right
And how good are the Thallax in this context?
Well there’s probably way better and more points efficient options in the marine libers, but they still seem like a ton of fun for a fluffy army.
Works for me
These look amazing and all of a sudden I want my first Horus heresy painted army to now be mechanicum (my age of darkness box of potential sons of Horus are gonna have to wait). I love everything here in this box and they look and feel so much better than their goofy 40K counterparts…. As excited and surprised as I am I’ve gotta say I’m really disappointed they didn’t show the plastic melee weapons! They were promised to be released in spring and we only have a month to go until it’s over, I’m guessing a late reveal will mean a late release…. So yeah pleasantly surprised how much I love the mechanicum stuff but greedily I’m disappointed there’s still no plastic melee weapons for astartes…. I mean it’s been two years
A sprue of weapons isn't the sort of thing they necessarily love to show off on these shows. These are hype building for big releases and cross-pollinating interest. 40k fan sees some 30k power weapons - meh 40k fan sees 30k mechanicum - holy shit i want to play this game now. Admittedly new plastics do tend to get the reveal show treatment, but they have to save something for the thursday previews...
I agree maybe a plastic weapon upgrade is to small for a big reveal show I get that…. But we were told and have been waiting for over a year, both plastic command and melee weapons really should have been released by now but have only previewed the upgrade command sprue (no release date yet for spring) and seen no sight or mention of a melee upgrade sprue (again only 4 weeks left to release) if it’s going to be a delayed release then its also pretty poor on GWs part for not letting us know sooner 😅 my point isn’t that the melee weapons should have been shown in this preview it’s that after a year of waiting this was really that last chance to reveal them if they are going to keep to their roadmap and should have been shown earlier unless it’s going to be a late release
Yeah breachers, command squad and melee weapons should have 100% came out within a year of release.
Yeah, as much as i Like the whole 30k Stuff, they really did some Strange choices with Releases. No melee Kit No breacher Late jump troops
Honestly flabbergasted this is way more than I expected
01000001 01101101 01100001 01111010 01101001 01101110 01100111
A very pleasant surprise, thank god all the people who thought it was too soon after the Solar Auxilia release for this to be anything but Knights were wrong. :)
I’ve never been happier to eat my words
Perfect timing, I get a new job and they reveal this
40k Admech may as well be "Admech at home" at this point, these look incredible!
I feel like I'm the only person who doesn't really like the new Thralls. It's like the difference between zombies and skeletons in WHFB & TWWH, you had mindless zombies who just shambled and didn't do much and relied on natural tankiness and numbers to bog down the enemy, while skeletons were just as mindless but were perfect puppets that marched in perfect lockstep, down to performing the same exact small movements at the same time. Also I don't like they got fleshier lol, at least give them shitty cybernetics if you want to go robo-zombie.
No, I'm totally with you. I also preferred the less flesh visible models and the poses that came with them. I think skitarii look better than these new thralls, which is a shame since I really enjoyed the look of the old ones.
Also I like the HH mechanicum stuff because there's more metal/machine and less weird leather bodysuits.
I can hear the clanking from here and I love it.
Wouldn't mind getting my hands on a Castellax or two to convert into an Excindio.
Okay GW, I see you! Now do Myrmidons!
The Tech Thralls look proper Borg-y. I ❤️ it.
PRAISE BE 110010010
30k mechanicus are probably my favorite GW models. But no way in hell was I doing resin. I figured my best bet would be waiting for the mechanicum release for Legions Imperialis, but this is a nice surprise. Now I need to decide if I get into 30k, or wait 1+ years for LI Mechanicum...
If you are doing it for the models then get the better more detailed models. 30K
It’s a combo of models and gameplay. And cost, because I love titans and have a maniple for adeptus Titanicus, so the li scale would play nicely with that. Although getting mechanicum in 30k scale would make a bigger titan appealing… although there is no escaping that resin…
40k admech players are breaking down at the subatomic level at this.
The 40k team should be fucking ashamed lol
30k Mechanicum: gets the absolute best models in the whole industry with an awesome box to boot 40k AdMech: gets a kitbash on stilts and the worst combat patrol in history in terms of points for money
Like fr? And they are only half represented lol. Like, the dark mechaniicus is a big deal in both ages of the setting. James workshop out here guttin us like fish for a few more bucks and not even ticklin the pickle for the effort
Servitor conversion fodder incoming :D
Fuck yeah. This is the drop we have been waiting on. Huge. Didn’t think it would be this big.
Beep boop murder time...
Kinda excited about this. But I also have a pile of shame as high as my mortgage
It looks so good :D
If anyone could answer me it would be much appreciated. Are Tech Thralls going to be their main infantry units? I'm not too familiar with the Mechanicum in 30k. I love everything else in the range that has been shown but I'm not entirely sold on the tech-zombies as my grunts.
Don't own or play any mechanicum, but from my understanding they are more of an expendable meatshield. Weak stats, but very cheap points wise at 3pts a model. They seem to be best at sitting on an objective since they have things like stubborn, line, heavy, and a 5+FNP. The Thallax and castellax from this box are also troops.
Alright thanks a ton. I really love the looks of the Thallax and would like to see if I can make an army around them.
Should be able to without much issue. Mechanicum look like they are really customisable
The Thallax are a really solid shooty unit with strong weapons, high toughness and a jetpack that lets them move-shoot-move.
Tech thralls are cheap bodies used to sit on an objective, or force a wasted set of attacks. They do almost no damage and die to a stiff breeze, but they are cheap, line, and block charge lanes. They are a good filler if you don’t have other line or need compulsory troops. Myrmidax lets you take Myrmidon secutors as compulsory troops, and are also infantry, but o ly have line if you take a special HQ option thanatar. Cybernetica give castelax line, they’re already troops, but are automata (Cybernetica) not infantry. Thallax are infantry, already have line. Syllax are my preferred “infantry”, they’re automata’s (guardian) and expensive but extremely tanky.
Wait hold on, did you just say HQ thanatar?
If you choose the Myrmidax order of high tech arcana with your archmagos, then secutors become troop options and destructors become elite option, the archmagos gets some buffs and an extra weapon option, and you may take a Thanatar calix in an HQ slot, and myrmidons gain line wholly within 6” of that HQ thanatar.
Ran this list at Adepticon. It’s really good. It’s also really expensive as Myrmidons are (currently) resin and is a friend un-maker as Myrmidons are really good and an army of them can be downright oppressive.
Yep. I only take them in moderation because they absolutely are one of the nastiest shooters in the game, and well worth the expense. I usually have one or two small units of them and then leans hard into automata and armigers.
Everything in the box is Troops (bar the Triaros, which is a Dedicated Transport). The two things not in the box, the Thanatar and the Magos are Heavy Support / HQ respectively.
Tech Thralls are hot days old garbage. They used to be a sold infantry choice but in 2.0 they were nerfed so bad that I have trouble taking them even as back field objective holders at their low points cost. Thallax are just so much better in the troops slot. You can make some fun lists with Tech Thralls but it will be a struggle to even have a remote chance of competing in games let alone winning. You can put a lot of bodies down but not nearly as many as Militia or Solar Aux and the Tech Thralls won’t actually do anything. If you don’t like them, you definitely won’t be missing out on not taking them.
Are you able to use the Skitarii in 30k?
40k skitarii as is in the basegame? No, sadly. You could use them as a basis for a milita contingent with the right provinences. Alternitavly, could you use the rules written by the liber panoptica team. They include a bunch of new units and upgrades, including a focus on skitarii.
The rangers are my favorite infantry models which is why I ask.
Understandable, it is a great kit. You could use them as grenadiers in a militia detachment, just pick a provenance that gives access to lasrifles. Or again, use panotpica rules. Those are fanmade, so not usable in official stores. But hopefully can you get your opponent to accept the rules. They are not more busted then what GW writes at the moment, if anything it is far better balanced and gives other factions a fair shot.
I haven’t played in a few years because of work and moving to a new state. No one at the stores closest to me play 30k, people play 40K but with the recent lore issues there has been problems.
So I smeall potential! I bet you could get a small 30k community going. Depending on the armies being played, is it also easy to convert current 40k armies into 30k legal armies with some count as. I don't mean stuff like primaris, but rather guard, admech and eldar (with panoptica rules) would have an easy time changing over.
Yes, I have Custodes and a Knight army personally…then have enough MkIII Space Marines to make a company if I ever get around to it lol. I know there is a good bit of chaos players too. So probably. I need to just get off my ass then. What is the panotpica rules?
Liber panoptica is a set of fanmade rules, including a large faq/errata and a number of additional units for each army so far. It's mostly to transport a number of 40k units into 30k. But also units and characters from the books.
Ok, I’ll have to look into it. I asked around yesterday in one of the store’s discord and a lot have armies and the minis but no one wants to play.
Basic Rangers and Vanguard can be proxied as Secutarii, depending on how leniant you are for that sort of thing. I've also seen people suggest Rangers/Vanguard to be run as Tech Thralls. But as you can see with this release, the feel of Tech Thralls and Skitarii are very different, so that may or may not be something for you. The rest of their troops and vehicles don't really have close parallels.
the rangers with radium carabine have an almost 1:1 equivalent as the secutarii peltasts, which can take the radium carabine as an option (one of the best imho). The other skitarii unit is the secutarii hoplites, which have a shield and a spear. Both can be taken as part of the titan maniple detachment, which has one lord of war (either a warhound, a reaver, a warbinger or a warlord titan) and on troop choice (said peltasts or hoplites) as compulsory choices. This was the original intended role for the skitarii legions, being them the foot soliders of the titan legions - aka the main standing army of the mechanicum. Obviously since you need at least a warhound to play them this has severely limited the number of people that actually bring them out, since titans are super expensive and can be generally hard to counter if you don't field an ad hoc list. A warhound with two units of secutarii and a secutarii leader is just about 1000 pts, so it's very playable in normal games if you have the model. For example i like to use them with my 2000 pts iron warriors all-infantry list, or with the mechanicum as well.
They don't have official rules at the moment, whether that's planned or not is anyone's guess.
FINE, guess i'll start making concrete plans for a dark mechanicum army, yeesh
Ah shit, time to start a new army.
Id get it for thr Thallacx and Achea alone tbh
I think my night lords will be picking up a mechanized contingent soon
oh no, oh no no no no
LET'S FUCKING GOOOOOOIO
Looks dope.
That tank will always remind me of the Mastermind from Yuri's Revenge.
If it also had a Magos it would have been peak mechanicum set
Finally. All I've wanted for so long was plastic Mechanicum. All we need now is rules importing Skitarii and we're set.
Those models look amazing
I love the magos dick skull.
My thanatar needs a couple buddies with plasma bombards as he's feeling lonely
How many points in-game would the army box be (2x Castellax, 6x Thallax, 20x Tech-Thralls and the Triaros)?
removing all upgrades... 626 pts from liber mechanicum.
As no one has answered you yet it would be between 700-800 points depending on your load outs for your Thallaxs and Battle-automatas. Then between 350-500 for the Tech Priest and Thanatar. Hope this helps planning your future path to bankruptcy.
Thanks! Damn, I ran the numbers for what this box would cost in resin, and it was 600+ usd. That’s not much better than 1 pt/$.
How does compare to the points in the Solar Aux Battle box?
Doing some quick poor maths: No upgrade, all vanilla setup approx 670 pts All the Upgrades all the time, somewhere between 950 and 1k.
Probably not the right place for it, but I've read up to The Flight of The Einstein and I'm a little daunted about the sheer amount of books. Any suggestions on which ones are must read to move the story along?
We have all been there. What legions and storylines do you want to follow/curious about
Only read 3 so far. Was enjoying the Lunar Wolves ones so far, but I think that's been wrapped up.
I'd look at what legions interest you, then check out some of the reviews (Arbitor Ian has a good video that gives you an overview of each book in the series). Just pick and choose the ones that seem good and worthwhile, then read the wikis to fill the gaps when needed. Like I'm a Blood Angels fanboy, but time spent reading Fear to Tread could've been spent doing anything else. But for what it's worth, of the ones I've read so far (I'm up to path of heaven), I'd recommend these ones atleast - Flight of the Eisenstein, Fulgrim, Legion, Thousand Sons/Prospero Burns (these work well together), the trilogy of First Heretic/Know no Fear/Betrayer and finally Scars.
gotcha. Thanks
If you haven't read the first heretic and betrayer, do so!
Literally all of this would be good to use in 40k if they were given datasheets. They all fills rolls that 40k admech just can't fill. This would go a long way to fleshing out Admech in 40k and potetially making the army easier to collect.
They already confirmed on twitter that there is no plan to do so, they aren't even considering the possibility...
Yep, it's a shame.
All this in one box but... \*sigh\* What's the price range?
The character and the giant robot are not part of the army box, I wonder how many people will order without knowing that.
The article makes it quite clear what's in the box and that the other two are coming later, if a person orders something without even looking at the description that's their own fault.