The first is a Barony Guard Lance, where I use two Questoris Knights slots and two Cerastus Knights slots. Three Questoris Knights and three Cerastus Knights in each slot.
Barony Guard Lance
3 Questoris Knights Errant with missile pods (535)
3 Questoris Knights Paladin (ignore the Warden, I screwed up his arms) with missile pods (535)
3 Cerastus Knights Lancer (605)
3 Cerastus Knights Castigator (605)
Points: 2,280
The second primary Formation is a Bonded Household Lance where I field all my Mechanicum Knights - the rarer and more esoteric patterns, so to speak. This time, I've divided the Knight detachments into pairs, with the exception of the single Acastus Knight Asterius.
I know, I know. "Why are you using the Bonded Household Lance when it doesn't give you special rules or bonuses? Why not just reorganize them into a Barony Guard Lance and put the Acastus Knight Asterius into a Bastion Lance along with the other two Acastus Knights Porphyrion and a couple of spare Questoris Knights?"
The answer: Flavor, theme, narrative. This will be the House Kanda branch of House Yato, the branch family sent to serve in the Forge World of Draconis IV. Plus I prefer to stick my Acastus Knight Asterius with the Mechanicum Knight patterns, and my Acastus Knights Porphyrion would feel like the odd ones if I stick them in the Bastion Lance along with the spare Knights Styrix. So yeah. Anyway, this should be what my Bonded Household Lance looks like.
Bonded Household Lance
2 Questoris Knights Styrix (390)
2 Questoris Knights Styrix (390)
2 Questoris Knights Magaera (390)
2 Cerastus Knights Atrapos (455)
1 Acastus Knight Asterius (270)
Points: 1,895
Making use of the new Support Formations provided by Warhammer Community, I'm escorting my remaining Knights with inducted Cybernetica automata in a Knight Household Aegis Cohort! Woohoo! This means I don't need to scrounge ebay or elsewhere for an extra Archmagos Prime on Abeyant or a HQ for my Dark Mechanicum forces! I can just put the automata with my Knights! Inducted automata escorting my Knights and blasting from afar! As a Support Formation, this will be accompanying the "compulsory" primary formation of Barony Guard Lance.
Knight Household Aegis Cohort
2 Acastus Knights Porphyrion (500)
1 Cerastus Knight Castigator (215)
4 (x3) Castellax battle-automata (140)
2 Domitar battle-automata (65)
2 Arlatax battle-automata (75)
4 Thanatar siege-automata (210)
4 Thanatar siege-automata with Sollex heavy-las (230)
Points: 1,435
Rounding my Knight Household Army out is a Knight Household Retainer Cohort, because I still have the Vorax battle-automata and Vultarax stratos-automata. They will be placed with my last Cerastus Knight Lancer to give him outflank.
Knight Household Retainer Cohort
1 Cerastus Knight Lancer (215)
1 Vultarax stratos-automata (35)
1 Vultarax stratos-automata (35)
2 (x3) Vorax battle-automata (80)
Points: 365
And with this, my Knight Household Army is complete! Yay! The total points cost of all four Formations is 5,875. That means I'll have to cut out a couple of formations for smaller games, unless people are willing to play 6,000-points game with me. For example, to play a 3,000 point game, I'll have to cut down my Questoris Knights and Cerastus Knights in my Barony Guard Lance into pairs, rather than trios, which will reduce them to 1,570 points. By cutting out the 4 Thanatar siege-automata with Sollex heavy-las, adding a second Cerastus Knight Castigator in the Aegis Cohort, and swapping the second pair in the Barony Guard Lance into Cerastus Knights Lancer, and splitting the Thanatar siege-automata into two detachments of 2, I'll have a 3,000-point army (with 15 points leftover, or 5 if I upgrade the second detachment of Thanatar siege-automata with Sollex heavy-las). Or, if I want, I could do my Bonded Household Lance with an Aegis Cohort that cuts out the Acastus Knights Porphyrion and replaces them and the 4 Thanatar Siege-automata with Sollex heavy las with 2 more Cerastus Knights Castigator (or just swap the Cerastus Knights Castigator for Cerastus Knights Lancer) while dividing the remaining Thanatar siege-automata into 2 detachments of 2.
I can also field the Cybernetica units as part of a Titan force, as Bonded Taghma that escort the Titans. It's sad that we don't have Secutarii yet, but to use the Collegia Titanica Support Cohort, I must first have a compulsory primary Formation. Which I do have, when you see my three Titans - a single Warmaster and 2 Warlord Titans. Initially, I was in a pickle because I couldn't exactly play a full Titan army with just a single Warmaster and 2 Warlords. I could field the Purgigatus Heavy Maniple, but I would have a single Warlord Titan left out. Whoops.
Thankfully, Warhammer Community offered me a solution with the new Support Formations, and I'm grateful to them for that! Now let's see how I can reorganize my Titans into a Legions Imperialis Army.
First, I have the Purgigatus Heavy Maniple, which I mentioned above, for two of my Titans. Phew!
Purigatus Heavy Maniple
Warmaster Heavy Battle Titan (750)
Warlord Battle Titan (600)
Points: 1,350
Next, I have a single Support Formation to supplement that overwhelming force.
Collegia Titanica Support Cohort
Warlord Battle Titan (600)
2 Arlatax battle-automata (75)
2 Domitar battle-automata (65)
4 Thanatar siege-automata (210)
4 Thanatar siege-automata with Sollex heavy las (230)
Points: 1,180
These two Titan Formations will be escorted by an allied Legio Cybernetica Cohort. Now that's where I'm saving one of my two Archmagi Prime on Abeyant for, along with the Tech-priests Auxilia. And a couple of Thallax squads, plus two Triaros Armored Conveyors and all the other Cybernetica automata.
Legio Cybernetica Cohort
Archmagos Prime on Abeyant (45)
2 (x3) Thallax (25)
2 (x3) Thallax (25)
4 (x3) Castellax battle-automata (140)
2 Tech-priests Auxilia (30)
2 (x3) Vorax battle-automata (80)
2 Vultarax Stratos-automata (70)
2 Triaros Armored Conveyors (30)
Points: 445
Now, let's add all of those up! The two Titan Formations, along with the allied Legio Cybernetica Cohort, will add up to a grand total of 2,975 points! That's awesome! This is actually viable in smaller games! I'm not saying it'll win games in terms of victory points and holding objectives, but I can totally bring this force for 3,000-point games! WOOHOO! That's going to be my list! It's a lot less than my Knights, but hey, it seems fun too!
Perhaps we might get Secutarii in future, in which case I'll swap out one Thallax detachment and a Triaros Armored Conveyor for them (unless I can also take them as Core for the Legio Cybernetica Cohort, then I'll swap both!).
That's a wrap for my Loyalists. Now shall we see my Dark Mechanicum force?
I currently have enough for a Dark Mechanicum Dark Taghma Sub-Covenant. Let us list what we do have now.
Dark Taghma Sub-covenant
Archmagos Prime on Abeyant (45)
4 (x5) Adsecularis Tech-thrall Covenant (30)
6 (x5) Adescularis Tech-thrall Covenant (42)
4 (x3) Thallax (50)
2 (x2) Myrmidon Destructor Host (30)
2 (x2) Myrmidon Destructor Host (30)
2 (x2) Myrmidon Secutor Host (30)
4 (x3) Ursarax Cohort (40)
2 Triaros Armored Conveyors (30)
Points: 327
That's...not a lot, to be honest. Oh, well. They're going to get crushed by my Loyalists, even if I somehow have 10 times that number of forces. Yikes. But wait! Games Workshop has promised us that a box of Stalker Constructs will be coming, which will have 30 models, eight Harpax ‘Swarmer’ Scout Hosts, and two each of the Errax, Tenebrax, and Scintillax, while the Serperos ‘Overlord’ Heavy Stalkers box contains four. That's great! Assuming they're telling the truth, and assuming I successfully buy those two boxes in the future, let's divide them into Formations once more and see how it goes.
Terror Protocol Cohort
1 Scintillax Cyclops Noospheric Stalker Network (75)
4 (x3) Harpax Swarmer Scout Hosts (30)
4 (x3) Harpax Swarmer Scout Hosts (30)
1 Errax Butcher Assault Stalker Cohort (45)
1 Errax Butcher Assault Stalker Cohort (45)
Points: 225
Purge Protocol Cohort
2 Serperos Overlord Heavy Stalker Maniple (175)
1 Tenebrax Archer Battle Stalker Cohort (35)
1 Tenebrax Archer Battle Stalker Cohort (35)
1 Scintillax Cyclops Noospheric Stalker Network (75)
2 Serperos Overlord Heavy Stalker Maniple (175)
Points: 495
That's still a total of 1,047 points. They're still heavily outnumbered by the Loyalists! Oh no! What should I do?! Maybe get a second box of Stalker Constructs, plus Titans. Let's say I do that.
Terror Protocol Cohort
2 Scintillax Cyclops Noospheric Stalker Network (145)
8 (x3) Harpax Swarmer Scout Hosts (55)
8 (x3) Harpax Swarmer Scout Hosts (55)
2 Errax Butcher Assault Stalker Cohort (90)
2 Errax Butcher Assault Stalker Cohort (90)
Points: 435
Purge Protocol Cohort
2 Serperos Overlord Heavy Stalker Maniple (175)
2 Tenebrax Archer Battle Stalker Cohort (70)
2 Tenebrax Archer Battle Stalker Cohort (70)
2 Scintillax Cyclops Noospheric Stalker Network (145)
2 Serperos Overlord Heavy Stalker Maniple (175)
4 Serperos Overlord Heavy Stalker Maniple (325)
Points: 960
That now brings me to 1,722 points. Throw in a Warmaster Iconoclast Titan (750) and a Warhound Hunting Pack (330x2=660), and that will bring me up to 3,132 points. That's a bit too much, whoops. That's fine, I'll just cut out 2 Serperos Overlord Heavy Stalkers and it'll go down to 2,982 points. Alternatively, I can replace the Warmaster Iconoclast with a Warlord and field all 8 Serperos Overlord Heavy Stalkers, or swap the 4 extra Serperos for a bunch of Krios battle tanks and Kranacos - the Dark Mechanicum has no qualms hurling radioactive mortar shells from afar, after all. Perfect. Now my Loyalist Mechanicum can play against Dark Mechanicum, especially if I use the Titan ones! Titans versus Titans, plus Legio Cybernetica Cohort versus Stalker Constructs and Dark Taghma Sub-covenant! Can't wait to create a narrative based around this!
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