As I said, I have been working on several things. One of them is a bit of a "project" that I'm going to show on a future installment. That "project" took longer than anticipated. It wasn't that it got tedious, but it took quite a bit of doing. More of a labor of love than anything else. As I said, I will be showing that soon enough.
Unfortunately, that project took time away from other things. Ultimately, once I finished the big project, I dove back into Mechanicus. I really love the army, though I got some mixed results at my recent Tournament; I'm still learning the rules and the options.
I do wish the 2 codexes would be put into one. Having 2 books for it is really, really dumb; frankly, neither half is really complete without the other, as I discovered at the tournament (I had taken ALL my units from the Cult Mechanicus book, and I discovered their limitations big time).
So, let us start with my Kataphron Destroyers. Now, these guys are nasty on the battlefield. If you equip them with Grav, you are getting a ton of shots- whatever they shoot at is going to have a bad day (unless I'm rolling poorly, which happened at the Tournament, sadly). The Plasma Calivers are also pretty nasty, though I have an aversion to small templates drifting. But if it hits, it is devastating. You can also mix and match them in a squad (something that I haven't tried yet, but is really interesting).
So, as I had a box of Kataphrons that I had not assembled, I decided to make two Gravs and 1 Plasma. I figured that each of the Grav could go with my other grav squads (making two 4 man grav squads), and the Plasma joined my 3 man Plasma squad (thus making 4). Theoretically, I could have an 8 man squad of Grav--- talk about overkill! I wonder if a large grouping has its merits, or am I better off with MSU? I will have to try both approaches.
I really like this model and how they look uniform, and yet can be made to look more distinct with head swaps and weapon poses. I deliberately left the servo-arm off the smaller guns- just to further distinguish them from others.
They really have a lot of firepower, and at T5 they really can't be ignored, but can also be tough to kill, especially if you have them in cover or with a Tech-Priest Dominus. Combine that with Canticles and the Kataphrons are a great troop choice.
However, the Cult: Mechanicus book lacks speed. I took a list to the Tournament that was all Cult: Mechanicus and a Knight Ally. Now, I blew chunks with my Knight at the tournament. I couldn't make a 4+ ion shield roll to save my life, and my Knight blew up in all 3 rounds of the Tournament.
As this happened, I saw that the Cult: Mech units are all very slow. Tough, but slow. I love the Kastellan Robots, but since they can't deep strike or anything, have to slog 6" all the way. Same is true for the Kataphron Destroyers (Breechers can Deep Strike IF you take the formation- and I haven't yet as I don't have enough Breechers for that formation). The army has lots going for it, but without transports, it is a slow army.
But in Codex Skitarri- there are the Ironstriders and Dragoons. These are units that move fast and are actually much more formidable than one might think, considering they are open-topped walkers. In the few games I've used them, they have done very well. In one, they took on a Lord of War character (can't remember which one now- Draigo I think)- they got him down to one wound and then the game was over. They tied him up for two turns! He could have done a lot of damage before the endgame, and the Dragoons more than paid for themselves by keeping him out of the bigger fight. After the Tournament I decided to get a bunch more of them, so that I might do the formation with them.
But to do the formation I had to build some of them as the Ironstriders- these are walkers with either auto or las cannons. I think these guys may also be very useful, particularly in the formation. In tandem with the close combat walkers, moving 9" at a clip- they can be both mobile and hard hitting. If all these walkers target one vehicle or unit, I suspect it will indeed be dead meat.
As I have said in previous posts, I have envisioned a whole bunch of walkers supporting my Imperial Knights. I just love the idea of these "knights" charging into battle with their mechanical steeds. The mental image for me is very strong, and I am determined to make it a reality. I am not even considering it to be strong tactically or not- I just want these guys storming over the table! LOL
So, now I have 4 of the Dragoons and 2 of the Ironstriders. Ultimately, I would like to get 2 more Dragoons- this would enable me to do 2 squads of 3 or 1 squad of 6 (that must be brutal on the charge). I would also like 1 more Ironstrider, so that I could have 3 twin-las or autocannon shots to support the Dragoon charge.
As far as the models look goes, I like the Vanguard better. While the Ranger hoods are nice, I feel that the Vanguard look far more mechanical than the Rangers. They look more mechanical with that extra metal head exposed. I also like that their regular guns are shorter than the Ranger rifles, which gives the Vanguard a sleeker look.
I gave the leader a power sword and an Arc pistol, while the 2 special weapons are Plasma and Arc. I think both of those special weapons are quite useful. I also gave one an Omnispex. I was inspired to paint its lenses as red, blue, and green by the 1950s version of War of the Worlds. The device made me think of the Martian probe in that film- since the Mechanicum are based on Mars I thought it was appropriate.
Well, that's all I got for now. I have plenty of other projects in the pipeline, so I'm sure you'll be seeing them on here sooner or later. Until next time...
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