Horus Heresy Review: Mechanicum Thallax Cohort

Augmented shock troops of the Mechanicum, these guys appear in multiple volumes of the Isstvan campaign books. In the case of Betrayal, they're under the Ordo Reductor forces.

There are multiple good things about these jet pack troops. Not only are they multi-wound models with a decent toughness (needing a Vindicator shot to instant kill no less!), but the entire unit can be upgraded with a choice special rules.

There are four such rules. Tank hunters, Skyfire (if stationary), Rage and Rending weapons, and deep striking.

This means that there are a number of nice builds that we could consider using for the Thallax cohort. But in addition to this, they have an excellent infiltrate counter in the form of their Djinn-sight meaning their enemy cannot set up within 24" of them. As an Alpha Legion wannabe, I'm going to have to keep an eye out for that one. As if that were not enough, they can also diminish their opponents cover save.

Here are some build ideas.

6 Thallaxi, heavy chainswords, melta bombs, Empyrite augmentations, 2 Irrad-cleansers (or 2 phase plasma fusils). (360 points)
The idea here is brutal but straight forward. This squad is kitted out for deep striking (Empyrite) and taking out some tanks or heavy troops. I could imagine going up to 9 models here as well, but it might be hard to deep strike so many successfully. Replace the special weapons with multi-meltas to taste.

5 Thallaxi, heavy chainswords, Ferrox, 1 Irrad-cleansers. (275 points)
This is a squad to place inside of a mechanicum land raider and assault out of it.

9 Thallaxi, 3 Photon Thrusters, Icarian or Destructor augmentations (475 points)
Back field. Take out the fliers or the lighter tanks of the enemy, or the heavy infantry. Nice and flexible and a good infiltrator denial unit.

3 Thallaxi (135 points).
Yep - the naked version. The idea here is a counter to infiltrators. Multiple units of these will cause headaches to a number of marine armies due to their high toughness and multiple wounds. With jump infantry, they can also move around well and get in (or out) of the way as required. Mechanicum forces that feature Thallaxi troops will be a pain to most enemies.