Is the Dark Mechanicus Dream Shattered by the Warhammer 40K Chaos Space Marine Codex?

The largest group in Warhammer 40K that isn’t represented on the tabletop is arguably the Dark Mechanicus. Official Aeldari Exodite models or T’au Gue’vesa are something that some xenos-loving players would love to see, but these are rather easy to convert using current kits.

Converting Dark Mechanicus is more difficult. My model, which is more accurately described as a Grey Mechanicus, is a combination of Ad Mech and Nurgle components, with extensive references to the Skaven, Astra Militarum, Space Marine, Ork, and Sons of Behemat models. Plenty is happening. I have observed players using both Necromunda kits and basic tools like guitar strings and toilet roll. Although Warhammer 40,000 players are imaginative and creative, we would still wish to base our conversions on official Dark Mechanicus kits, or at the absolute least, rules.

But that hope may be dashed by the 10th Edition Chaos Space Marine Codex. It comes with a range of detachments so you can customize your army as you choose, as is typical with 40K Codices. Do you want close combat skills and Khorne Beserkers? Use the Pactbound Zealots, probably. You have a ton of Land Raiders and are an Iron Warriors player? You are the Fellhammer Siege-host. Alpha Legion, perhaps? Tricks of the Trade. You get the idea.

Your army is granted special rules by each detachment that are loosely related to the roster’s theme. In the tank detachment, tanks get tankier, while in the sneaky detachment, sneaks get sneakier. However, the Soulforged Warpack could spell the end for the Dark Mechanicus because it is obviously meant to be a close replica of Vashtorr the Arkifane’s cursed demon engines.

For a long time, I believed that Vashtorr had indicated a way for the Dark Mechanicus to enter the tabletop. His heretical transactions contain all the characteristics of the wicked engineers, and his latest lore has addressed them by name multiple times. Tanks contaminated by warp? Verify. Unidentified cyborgs with mental problems? Verify. Is omnissiah a heresy? A perfect three out of three.

Though some have theorized that Vashtorr is attempting to bring back the Men of Iron, an AI army race that the Imperium long ago outlawed and (largely) exterminated, I believe that’s a reach for the tabletop. Don’t get me wrong, I think it may be his objective, but there will be too much demand for a tabletop counterpart for him to succeed. Will Games Workshop expand their roster of robots to include yet another race?

However, the potential of the Dark Mechanicus is limitless. Views on the cursed machines vary amongst rogue Tech Priests. An iconic depiction of a Dark Mech can be seen in the 2006 book Dark Adeptus, which has haunted machines roaming the forge planet of Chaeroneia. The Tech Priest in the Soul Drinkers trilogy, if my memory of it is true, conjures forth monsters out of a substance that resembles glass. Perhaps it was a different book, but the concept stayed with me, and I may try to duplicate it on the tabletop if I ever get my hands on some clear plastic for my 3D printer.

Alright, let’s return to the Chaos Space Marines. Dark Mechanicus meets Soulforged Warpack. It is all that the Dark Mechanicus would like, and it gives your daemon engines a boost in addition to giving ordinary vehicles the devastating power of warp.

This detachment screams Dark Mechanicus in every way, from the flavor text to the rules. You might assume that this is a good thing. You may still use the relatively lore correct guidelines in Dark Mechanicus to place your converted models on the tabletop? However, as it is part of the Chaos Space Marine Codex, it is unlikely that this edition of the Dark Mechanicus will receive a solo book.

All we get is this one detachment, which doesn’t even specifically address the Dark Mechanicus. Not new models, not official rules, not tasty lore. I guess I should be grateful that we have anything at all, but I’m sick of using my unique conversions to proxy Helbrutes or Kastelans, depending on how I’m feeling. Though I’m not sure Games Workshop feels the same way, I think The Dark Mechanicus needs more than two pages in a Codex.