Workshop Wednesday — ‘Warhammer’ The Horus Heresy: The Rise Of The Dark Mechanicum

Welcome to the table,

Today, with the Horus Heresy front of mind, we are going to talk a bit about the rise of the Dark Mechanicum. This occurred during what is arguably the most intense conflict in all of Warhammer.

Across countless worlds, in open defiance of the Imperium of Man are innovative, heretical, visionaries classified by those with far less vision as the the Dark Mechanicum. Originally formed after swearing their loyalty to the Warmaster Horus in the early 31st Millennium, the Dark Mechanicum defied the Emperor of Mankind siding with the traitor legions and the forces of Chaos in the bloody galactic campaign that would become known as the Horus Heresy. 

Unlike their loyalist brethren, the Dark Mechanicum were wide eyed techo-priest and experimental innovators who embraced the strange corrupting powers of the Chaos Gods they communed with from the transdimensional spaces in the Warp. This collection of renegades, cultists, and dreamers yearned to slip free of the yoke of stagnant ordered advancement. They felt this was put upon them by the god-king who ruled them and eagerly forged a pact with his traitorous son Warmaster Horus Lupercal. This alliance crafted strange horrors and technological wonders of mass destruction that would serve to defy the dogmatic teachings of those who they once had to follow with monastic obedience.

These defiant innovators would eventually be crushed under the weight of the loyalists to the Golden Throne. They were scattered to darker corners of the galaxy as they continued to creature wildly unhinged inventions that defy logic, science, and the will of the Imperium itself.

If you can’t tell … I really like these little weirdos and all the wonderful technological abominations they create. What I presented above is a very, very, very abridged version of the history of things from a time in the Warhammer setting known as the Horus Heresy. Essentially the god-king of mankind and a handful of his super powerful space warrior kids got into a big bloody fight that spanned several years and brought calamity and ruin to a large portion of the worlds and systems that mankind called home.

It’s a really chaotic and eventful time in the world of Warhammer. For those of you, myself included, who want to field these defiant little techno-magus and their wonders war-machines at the table, Games Workshop has a ton of fun miniatures ready for you to assemble and paint. They have sent me a few of these along with the Rise of the Dark Mechanicum book to check out. I have to tell you, as soon as my office is back together, these are next up on my painting project list because they are nothing short of delightful!

First up is one of my current favorite minis, the Thanatar Calix Siege-automata. This mini represents a fully functioning mobile artillery platform that fuses the combined techno magics of a multitude of clandestine Mechanicum factions into single walking construct capable of unleashing untold destruction on the battlefield.

I dig this thing so much. It really feels like it captures the weird techno-sorcery of the Mechanicum as they start to dabble into the dark forbidden practices that they have previously been forbidden from working in.

In addition to the massive mech of the Mechanicum, the forces of heretical technology also employed Tech-thralls are a source of disposable fodder to to their bidding. These entities are mostly crafted from the organic bodies of tech-thralls and deployed as a sort of disposable militia known as the adsecularis.

The organic human bodies of the tech-thralls that have already been altered to lift heavy loads and survive in more hostile environments are fitting with basic weapon systems and armor and unleashed on the fields of battle as expendable troops who are puppeted by a tech magi who can command them remotely to do its bidding.

The army is really cool. It comes in a box set that lets you construct 20 Adsecularis Tech-thralls to field as part of your forces when you want to wield the power of the Dark Mechanicum.

Another amazing addition to your Dark Mechanicum forces are the “Silica Mutus” or the Stalkers. The Legions Imperialis: Stalker Constructs are constructs deigned for specialized roles that range from tracking and anticipating opposing forces to engaging in brutal close combat on high priority targets. The way these creepy crawling constructs are engineered allows them to adapt to ever changing battlefield situations but they still maintain tech-arcane wards and suppressors to stay under the control of their Dark Mechanicum masters.

The current kits allow for 30 epic-scale Stalker Construct miniatures across 14 bases. The armour plating elements on each minature features iconography that links them to the Mechanicum but is modified by spikes and clawed feet allowing them to maintain the meta look of the rising heretical forces.

The Stalker Constructs box is a pretty solid purchase as it provides 30 minis split between 24 Harpax ‘Swarmer’ Scout Host miniatures across 8 bases, 2 Errax ‘Butcher’ Assault Stalker Cohort miniatures across 2 bases, 2 Tenebrax ‘Archer’ Battle Stalker Cohort miniatures across 2 bases, and 2 Scintillax ‘Cyclops’ Noospheric Stalker Network miniatures across 2 bases. You can really pull together a rad little force of chaotic constructs with this one.

There are a multitude of other mighty mechanical monstrosities to unleash upon your hobby table. The lore of this well-recorded time during the conflict between titans can be found across novels, YouTube channels that I listen to on the regular because I adore lore, and the Games Workshop books (both digital and in print). I will have some cool painted minis to show you as I finish up my personal paint project, but for now, we will draw this Workshop Wednesday to a close.

Worry not, I will return soon with more miniatures and books to delight, inspire, and entice you to join in the hobby that is Warhammer.

Until next time, I really need a Fabricator-General Kelbor-Hal mini… like now!