Children of the Omnissiah rejoice; the plastic forges have been busy. The new Horus Heresy Mechanicum Battlegroup box goes up for pre-order this weekend and we’re here with our review. Our thanks to Games Workshop for sending us a preview copy.
To start things off, let’s take a look at the box’s contents:
- 20 Tech-Thralls
- 6 Thallax
- 2 Castellax Battle-automata
- 1 Triaros Armoured Conveyor
Also contained within the box are three decal sheets, two of the left and one of the right pictured below.
Up until now anyone wanting to start a Mechanicum force has had to pony up some serious cash for resin kits or be a capable converter. While this is still largely the case, this box has all but one of the Mechanicum’s Troops and Dedicated transport options at a much more affordable price point.
Many people familiar with Mechanicum lists will point out that the Triaros is an odd inclusion, as while it can transport the Thallax or the Tech-Thralls, no one would ever actually do this in game and would rather use it to transport MVP units like Myrmidons. Given that this box is priced close to what a single resin Triaros would have cost previously, I can live with that.
This box should not be confused for a self-contained army; you will be adding stuff to it if you plan to play a dedicated Mechanicum force. There are several ways you can work Mechanicum into your existing army which we’ve covered here.
The Models
Let’s talk about the kits themselves. I haven’t put any resin Mechanicum together myself, so I can’t comment to if the builds are better or worse than before. However, I can say that these kits do take a little bit more time to put together than your average Space Marine. Aside from the cost difference, plastic kits are always more durable – too often I’ve seen Mechanicum players fixing breakages at events when transporting their models.
The Techthralls are the least fun to build in this box, as some of them have four parts below the torso which still have gaps and minimal contact areas – in hindsight, perhaps assembling these with super glue rather than plastic glue may have been easier. This got a lot easier as I got more familiar with them, after the first five or so.
The Thallax are likely to be the most sought after item in this box and were a straight foward build. The six Thallax are spread across two duplicated sprues and a weapon sprue, making it a bit harder to split with your mates. The main thing to highlight here is that not all of the optional weapons are present on the sprue – only the Multi-Melta, Plasma-Fusil and Proton Thruster are included. I don’t think the lack of Multi-lasers or Irad-cleansers is really going to upset people as I’ve never seen anyone use them.
The Castellax were the first thing I put together in the box, as everyone loves a chonky boi. These also are spread across two common sprues and a weapon sprue. Both can be assembled with the default loadout of Shock Chargers and Mauler Bolt Cannons, or a set of Power Blade Arrays, Darkfire Cannon and Multi-Melta are included. The leg poses are rather static, however a variety of elbow joint pieces are included to give a variety of poses.
Finally, the Triaros build was very reminiscent of the plastic Proteus Land Raider or Spartan. The two side tracks can be added on to the central hull later, allowing for intricate patterns or masking if so desired. Do be careful when trimming the central hull top piece, as it is possible to carve off too much and leave you with an ugly seam. Lastly, don’t faff about with putting the volkites on and off a few times – while they are friction fit, they aren’t the most durable and I snapped the right hand side one off mine during assembly.
Paint Scheme
When trying to figure out a scheme, I wanted to do something which would complement the basing I use on my White Scars. While on holiday, I saw Medders’ Miniatures video on speedpainting Mechannicum which sold me on a green based scheme. I was rather tempted to go for purple as an accent colour ( ala Devastator or EVA-01), however went for orange and hints of white to complement the bases more.
I tend to be an army painter rather than an individual model painter, so went with a basic airbrush > airbrush zenithal > metals > oils approach. I skipped on things like edge highlights, which still managed to deliver a result that I’m happy enough with. For those curious as to the paints used, I’ve listed them below:
- Greens:
- Army Painter Ruinous Spell, hit with Vallejo Cockpit Emeral Green “Faded” and zenithaled with Army Painter Potion Green
- Orange:
- Vallejo Game Color Orange Fire (that’s it, I’m lazy and hate painting orange)
- White:
- Army Painter Shark White -> Army Painter Yeti White
- Flesh
- Genestealer Flesh
- Metals:
- Vallejo Gunmental
- Darkstar Blue Steel
- Darkstar Aged Copper
- Darkstar Copper
- Darkstar Polished Copper
- Darkstar Old Silver
- Darkstar Baroque
- Oil pinwash/wash
- Mix of Black and Sepia oils applied generously at the end to give some more depth.
The bases are the same usual lazy method as my White Scars – Vallejo Desert paste, with a Fuegan Orange wash and a Tau Light Ochre drybrush.
End of Line
It’s great to see the barrier to entry lowered for another faction in Heresy. This welcome change will help bring more people into the game or allow veterans to pick up new hobby projects – the impact of the plastic jetbike kit was obvious recently at Warhammer World where there were at least ten Chogorian Brotherhood jetbike armies. I’m quite interested to see the impact this will have in a year’s time: will boards be full of Techthrall tarpits while Thallax run around and nab objectives? Time will tell.
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