I’ve been playing The Horus Heresy for a long, long time now and for as long as I can remember, I’ve been a loyalist through and through. After spending years painting black armor for my Raven Guard, I’ve constantly talked about building a traitor force.
Over the years, the theory-crafting went into overdrive:
- First, I was convinced I was going to build a Word Bearers army.
- Then, I tried putting together a Sons of Horus force (scrapped that pretty quickly).
- Finally, I started working on an Alpha Legion force designed to link up with my stealthy Raven Guard boys.
After a very long stretch of always being the “good guy” on the tabletop, I decided to finally pull the trigger on a proper second army. But instead of Space Marines, I went with Mechanicum.
I’ve always loved the Mechanicum range, but with the models historically being exclusively Forge World resin, building an entire army was going to bleed my wallet dry. Then Games Workshop went and released the plastic Mechanicum models… and suddenly, my last remaining excuse evaporated.
The Build Phase: Thanatar-Induced Madness
I kicked things off with the Battle Group box, a Thanatar, two Castellax and six Thallax. To top it off, I was gifted the Arch-Magos Prime model for my birthday, giving me just enough plastic to pull together a rough starter list.
Then came the building phase.
Oh boy, is the Thanatar an absolute nightmare to assemble. The Castellax and Thallax were smooth sailing by comparison, but trying to pose a Thanatar when it’s multi-jointed at the hips, waist, legs and feet drove me completely insane. By the time the glue dried, I was ready to throw it out the window.
Force Org & Rules: Cybernetica to Save My Sanity
Once the plastic was built, I sat down to write a list. My brain, thoroughly hardwired from years of building Space Marine Legion lists and wrapping my head around standard Force Org charts, was completely useless. Building a Mechanicum list is all sorts of weird.
Here’s a quick taste of the headache:
- Troop Choices: First of all, you only get one unit type as a core Troop choice and that unit is a Tech-Priest. Which hurt my brain because I was used to creating legion lists with a plethora of options.
- Support Detachments & Arcanas: I tried fitting Thallax and Castellax into the same Support Detachment, only to realize you can’t. Because they belong to different High-Tech Arcanas, a single detachment (outside your primary) can only field units sharing the same Arcana.
- Command Conundrums: Your Command and High Command get to select their Arcana, which gives them flexibility. However, if they join a unit from a different Arcana, they are treated as separate factions and cannot use their Cybertheurgic Rites on them (kill me now!). To make matters worse, the Arcana on your High Command unlocks a specific Arcana-themed Apex Detachment, meaning your entire list structure often hinges on your High Command’s choice.
After all of this rules-induced math nearly gave me an aneurysm, I threw my hands up and made a simple decision: I’m going Cybernetica.
My army would be themed heavily around big robots, loads of Castellax and Thanatars. My Thallax would still make the list, but purely as fast flanking/distraction units to harass the enemy far away from my main battleline. It means my Thallax won’t get targeted by my Rites for buffs, but that was a sacrifice I was more than willing to make to stop my brain from hurting.
The Painting Guide: Low Effort, Maximum Impact
Before we dive into the steps, a quick disclosure: I absolutely hate painting.
I love seeing a fully painted army on the tabletop, and the pride of fielding a force you finished yourself is a brilliant feeling. Getting to that end product, however, is akin to stubbing my toe repeatedly for hours on end.
After painting Raven Guard black for years, getting a completely different color onto my palette was a welcome change. I picked up a simple painting scheme from Mediocre Hobbies (click here for a link to the video) and was insanely impressed with how effective the end result looks for such a streamlined process. Shout out Mediocre Hobbies! You made this process bareable!
If you hate painting as much as I do, here is the exact 7-step recipe I used to get my Traitor Mechanicum tabletop-ready fast:
1.Metal Basecoat: Fast coverage.
Spray the entire model with Leadbelcher spray. This does 70% of the heavy lifting for all the exposed mechanical joints, cables and armor undersides in one go.
2.Contrast Red Tint: Building depth.
Paint all the main armor panels with Blood Angels Red contrast paint over the Leadbelcher. This gives the panels a rich, metallic red sheen straight off the bat.
3.Armor Layering: Solid red finish.
Layer all the red armor panels with Mephiston Red, leaving a slight metallic edge in the recesses to keep that warm depth underneath.
4.The Magic Wash: Instant grimdark shade.
Wash all the metal parts, joints, and mechanical bits with a healthy coat of Nuln Oil to dirty everything down and pick out the deep detail.
5.Cables & Faceplates: Spot details.
Paint any visible cables black using Black Templar contrast paint. For the craniums and main faceplates, paint them with Balthasar Gold for a nice brassy contrast against the red armor.
6.Martian Basing: Red planet vibes.
Base the model with Martian Ironearth or Martian Ironcrust. Once dry, finish the base with a quick wash of Agrax Earthshade followed by a light drybrush of Ryza Rust.
7.Job Done! The finish line.
Pour yourself a drink, admire the finished robot on the desk and smile because, against all odds, it really wasn’t that bad!
It feels great to finally step across to the Traitor side of the Heresy after all these years—even if the Mechanicum Force Org nearly broke my spirit before I even picked up a paintbrush.
Have you started building any of the new plastic Mechanicum kits yet? Let me know how your Thanatar build went in the comments!
Happy modeling!
Tom
