Legions Imperialis – Mechanicum Battle Group

A proper start for the Mechanicum in Legions Imperialis, not with single boxes but directly with a Battle Group boxed set and a new campaign supplement The Rise of the Dark Mechanicum to cover the rules for these new units.

This trend to introduce new units as a bigger boxed set is something that we saw for a while now with the Horus Heresy, we received the "full scale" Mechanicum this way, the Solar Auxilia and most of the updated Marks for the Legiones Astartes.

The Mechanicum Battle Group is available as of today (October 19th) for pre-order and will be released on Saturday November 2nd 2024.

The way Games Workshop counts the miniatures for Legions Imperialis is a bit irritating, as they count each model individually (for example crew of weapon platforms count as individual models), so the 40 Tech-Thralls boost that number quite a bit. In this case you get 146 miniatures in their epic scale for 95 GBP / 125 EUR RRP. Unlike the two other Battle Groups for Solar Auxilia and Legiones Astartes, the Mechanicum "only" covers four boxes instead of five, which is the reason why this boxed set is a bit cheaper than the other ones. What individual kits these are, will be answered further below.

This article is the overview on the boxed set, more like an Unboxing with the detailed review on each each set linked within.

The box is a medium sized one, as you get for example for most of the vehicles and covers eight sprues, a coloured instruction leaflet and two bags of bases in different sizes. No decals, which is a bit surprising as the promotional pictures uses iconography that looks like decals, for example on the Triaros.

There are little easter eggs nowadays on the packaging, in this case it does not show the traitor or loyalist icon, but the icon of the Legions Imperialis product line. And the eight sprues stacked together cover all the parts you need to build the 146 miniatures.

The bases in this set are 25mm and 32mm round, and are the flat ones that were introduced with Legions Imperialis. Unfortunately, same as with the starter set, the different designs are not evenly distributed. Of the 25mm round bases are six different designs (A1 to A6) with some only included twice and others eight or more.

Similar uneven distribution with the 32mm round bases. These come in five different designs (B1 to B5) and while some designs only had a single one included, we had eight of B2.

The four individual boxes this Battle Group is made from, are the Mechanicum Infantry, the Battle Automata, Thanatar Siege Automata and Triaros Squadron. As usual with these sidegames, each box consists out of two identical sprues.

In detail each of these boxes covers the following units, listed with number of bases and base sizes.

Mechanicum Infantry (link to individual review)

2x Archmagos Prime on Abeyant (25mm)
2x Tech-Priest Auxilia (25mm)
4x Myrmidon Destructors (25mm)
2x Myrmidon Secutors (25mm)
10x Adsecularis Tech-Thralls (25mm)
8x Thallax (25mm)
4x Ursarax (25mm)

Mechanicum Battle Automata (link to individual review)

2x Arlatax Battle-Automata (25mm)
4x Castellax Battle-Automata (32mm)
2x Domitar Battle-Automata (25mm)
2x Vorax Battle-Automata (32mm)
2x Vultarax Stratos-Automata (32mm)

Mechanicum Thanatar Siege-Automata (link to individual review)

8x Siege-Automata, divided into 4x Plasma Mortar, 4x Sollex Heavy Las (32mm)

Mechanicum Triaros Squadron (link to individual review)

4x Triaros Armoured Conveyors

Conclusion

As the individual boxes have a RRP of 41 EURs each, and the battle group is set at 125 EURs, you get a proper 24% discount by buying this box. Remember, it is not a regular line product and once it is sold out, you only have access to the individual kits. I can't say anything about the rules, as of today I don't have access to that book and the unit entries, but regarding the mixture and price advantages - if you want to start a (Dark) Mechanicum list and due to the point sizes and small amount of bases of some of the units provided per individual kit, one or two of these battle groups are a reasonable starting point for such a project. It is a bit sad that we didn't get any decals with this set, as at least the Triaros would have benefited from that and as far as I can tell, used some on the boxed pictures.

I went into detail regaring the individual sets in their according reviews. The details are proper all across these sets, but the fun I had building them scattered wildly. The infantry kit is very pleasant, as is the Triaros, but the Automata sets are rather time consuming, and while the Thanatar is large enough at that scale to be properly handled, the Battle-Automata kit is something that will put your patience to a test and I strongly suggest tweezers and a calm state of mind.

Beyond that, I can not wait to get my hands on the larger units of this army. Along with the further tank models, we were already teased with. The Mechanicum Battle Group is available for pre-order as of today (October 19th) and will be released on Saturday November 2nd 2024.

The Horus Heresy and Legions Imperialis are brands by Games Workshop.

The reviewed product item was provided by the manufacturer.