The machine cults of Mars were an integral part of the Great Crusade and the Horus Heresy that followed. Their legions of automata and lobotomised thralls proved valuable in the deadliest battlegrounds, and their advanced weapons were highly coveted by the most ambitious of warlords.
Mars, with its proximity to Holy Terra, was a major strategic location for Loyalists and Traitors alike, and the Tech-priests fell into their own brutal civil war. Always lurking in the background of the Horus Heresy, the traitorous experimenters of the Dark Mechanicum now have their first miniatures for Legions Imperialis – and we caught up with the Warhammer Design Studio to discover more about their forbidden genesis.
“The Dark Mechanicum represented a rare and fascinating opportunity to dive into a faction that's always been present in the Age of Darkness, but which due to the sheer scope of the project hasn't yet been explored in any great depth. Certainly, the Horus Heresy background has always said the Mechanicum were split down the middle between following the Warmaster into treachery and remaining true to the Emperor, and the novels have featured lots of tantalising hints on what they might look like, but translating such suggestions into actual miniatures is another thing entirely!
“The Horus Heresy team actually began conceptualising the Dark Mechanicum some five or six years ago, coming up with an amazing range of potential war machines and characters. The problem was making them all at the size they really needed to be to do justice to the concepts. Then along came Legions Imperialis, with its smaller-scale plastic miniatures, and the ideas for huge, multi-legged warp-infused terror-machines found their natural home.*
“This concept work started on the premise of “what would happen if the Mechanicum were let off the leash?” The Warmaster allows the Traitor factions of the Mechanicum to explore forbidden knowledge, unlock vaults of restricted technology, and tap into proscribed power sources such as the Warp. We imagined that syphoning this power into weapons and vehicles would have long-term effects, mutating men and machines into the forerunners of the Chaos vehicles we see in the 41st Millennium. This allowed us to create a different silhouette from the one we’re used to with the loyal Mechanicum forces – one that’s more spikey, spindly, and creepy.
“Aesthetically, the various classes of Dark Mechanicum stalkers (as the big, many-legged monstrosities are termed) are intended to look like they were created by a mad subsect of the Mechanicum, one which, no doubt for many years, hid its delving into prohibited and arcane technologies, outwardly presenting as faithful adherents to the Cult of Mars while all the while developing and disseminating plans for war machines utilising technologies outlawed by their creed.
“By drawing forth the exo-planar energies of the empyrean, for example, and investing their creations with the fell beings that dwell within it, the Dark Mechanicum created an entirely new and utterly forbidden canon of technology with which they would ultimately bring to bear against Terra itself.”
Thanks for the peek behind the (oil-black and burnished-gold) curtain. The Rise of the Dark Mechanicum is the next supplement for Legions Imperialis, charting the schism on Mars and introducing the diabolical machines of the Dark Mechanicum. It’s available to pre-order alongside the Mechanicum Battle Group, while the many-limbed horrors of the Traitor forces will follow later in the year.
* That isn't to say these machines will never appear at the Age of Darkness scale, but that's a long way off!
