Summary
- Resin versus plastic.
- Battle brother versus battle brother.
- Mechanicum versus Mechanicus.
Games Workshop recently revealed a bunch of awesome Mechanicum models in a 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Warhammer showcase. A whole load of ex-Forgeworld resin miniatures are coming in plastic, and they look ace. From the hulking Thallax with their devastating plasma guns, to the even bigger Castellax Battle-automata with xenotech weaponry, to the new Archmagos Prime a🔴nd the Triaros Armoured Conveyor tank, the models look stunning. However, players aren’t happy.
As a staunch 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Dark Mechanicus defender, the owner of a 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Grey Mechanicus force (that’s morally grey, not unpainted), and general lover of all things Omnissianic, the reveal was fantastic. The number of new robots is astonishing, the size of the Thanatar-Cavas Siege-automata is impressive, and♛ ꦏthe Servitors are there too.
But not everyone’s on board. Because these are Mechanicum models, not Mechanicus models. The single-l🐼etter difference means a lot in the worlds of Warhammer, with the Mechanicum being almost a proto-Mechanicus, existing 10,000 years before the latter, in the time of Warhammer 30K.
This technology has largely been lost, and the Adeptus Mechanicus that we know in the 41st Mil🗹lennium are a shadow of their former selves. That is probably a horrendous oversimplification of thousands of pages of lore, but it’s the tabletop ramifications that people are upset about.
You cannot use Warhammer 30K units in Warhammer 40K. 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Games Workshop will not r💮elease 40K rules for all these cool models. And Mechanicus fans are in disbelief.
Some context: the Adeptus Mechanicus Codex released last year is widely👍 regarded to be the worst 10th ed🌺ition Codex to date. The rules are bad, it costs an unbelievable amount of money to build a force, and there’s not even any flavour to make up for it. The🧔 Adeptus Mechanicus are no longer a force of high-tech experimenters, they’re a horde of useless troops.
What’s more, the only model released with the Codex was the 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:much-maligned Skatros, a normal dude who wears enormous stilts. I don’t mind the model as much as many others, but comparing it to the enormous release for 30K, a specialist game, doesn’t p💎aint a great picture.
Some more context: Games Workshop never releases rules for a model across two systems. It wants you to buy entirely separate armies for every game you play. It doesn't release 40K rules for any of its 30K releases any more. The Mechanicum is not the exception, it’s the rule. But that’s not to say it doesn’t sting.
Civil War
Mechanicus fans are, in my view justifiably, upset that their army is getting so little support after such a naff Codex. ꦆBut they’re taking it out on Mechanicum players. It’s not the Mechanicum players’ fault that they’re getting new toys. It’s not their fault that Games Workshop is so filled with capitalist greed that it won’t print rules for cool models in two systems.
But Mechanicum players bite back. Sick of always being looked over in favour of Games Workshop poster child 40K, they feel like this is their time in the spotlight. They’re finally getting plastic miniatures💙, years after resin left most other ranges. Their rules are rarely updated thanks to the classification of 30K as a specialist game, and this is their time in the sun. They’re not going to let 40K Mechanicus players take that away from them.
But what if I told you ꦇthere was another way? That we don’t have to argue and bicker and take cheap sh♛ots at each other? What if, inside our steely, robotic exteriors, we all have the same beating heart?
The Solution
But here's the thing. You can use Mechanicum units in your Adeptus Mechanicus force. You can use Adeptus Mechanicus units in a Mechanicum force if you so wished, although why you would want to is another question. You can use a mix of both! And you should.
The easiest option is to proxy. The Thallax are roughly the same size as Kataphrons. My converted Kataphrons are already bipedal, and if people don't mind playing against monstrosities made from Orks and Space Marines smushed together like a toast soldier into dippy egg, they won't mind a 30K proxy. I know Arc Rifles are all the rage at the moment, but if you run plasma, you won't even need a weapon swap.
The bigger Castellax are roughly the same size as Kastelans. These might need some light work to make the guns look more like their 40K counterparts, but, for friendly games, you should be sound. Servitors can be Vanguard or Rangers, whichever you so wish, provided your opponent knows exactly what they represent and you don't try to pull a fast one.
But even better than straight up proxying would be whipping out your hobby knife and convertin𓃲g the models. Start with weapon swaps, perhaps, or magnetise the wea🌜pon options so you can use this one force in both 30K and 40K systems.
That way you're also future-proofing against blindsiding rules changes that render your favourite gun useless.
I'm certainly going to get my hands on this box, and I'll rummage through my bits box to find the grubbiest, Nurgliest pieces I can graft onto the army of automata. I'm thinking bellies from the Sons of Behemat, rusted armour from Age of Sigmar, and an unhealthy amount of green stuff to bring it all together.
Players are seeing this Mechanicum release as the inciting moment of a war. Mechanicum versus Mechanicus. 30K versus 40K. Resin versus plastic. But it's not. This is an opportunity to transcend the barriers of system and rules through modelling.
Engage in that part of the hobby, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:feel the joy of converting and shaping models into what you want them to be. Play the same m♒odels in two systems, defy corporate greed. Use magnets and modelling putty, use your imagination to turn this release into what🙈ever you want it to be.
At the end of the day, that's what the Mechanicus is about. Use this opportunity to experiment. Expand your horizons by using kits you, by rights, shouldn't be playing in 40K. Put a 30K robot on the tabletop. Shock your friends with a mutated automata that looks like nothing they've ever seen before. Make them guess where the parts are from, make your army unique. It may feel disappointing that the Mechanicus hasn't had a 'proper' release in years, but with the right mindset, anything can join your army, and nothing is more Mechanicus than that.
