The taghmata was the fundamental battle-host of the Mechanicum, a modular formation assembled from whatever the forge-worlds could furnish: ranks of skitarii and thallax, cohorts of battle-automata, batteries of self-propelled ordnance, and the grim magi who commanded them all. No two taghmata were alike, for each was raised to a magos's own design and doctrine, yet all shared the same cold character — a war-host that fought as a single machine, unhurried and unfeeling, grinding forward until the equation of battle was solved.
The Taghmata of Mars were the oldest and proudest of these hosts, drawn from the Red Planet itself and armed with the finest the priesthood could forge. When the Schism came, the forge-hosts of Mars were torn between loyalty and treachery, and taghmata that had marched together for centuries turned their war-engines upon one another. Whether they fought for the Emperor or for the Warmaster, they fought in the same manner: with overwhelming firepower, tireless automata, and a patience that no flesh-and-blood army could hope to outlast. In their cold and modular ranks lay the true strength of Mars, an arsenal the whole Imperium had come to lean upon and, once the Schism came, to dread.
Mechanicum
Order of battle
The Taghmata of Mars field the units of the Mechanicum — a detachment from the roster:
Kindred formations
Other Mechanicum formations
The Dark MechanicumThe traitor priesthood of the Schism, the Dark Mechanicum threw open the forbidden vaults and bound the warp into their machines, forging horrors no loyal adept would dare conceive.
The Ordo ReductorThe siege-cult of the Mechanicum, the Ordo Reductor made an art of unmaking, breaking fortresses and worlds with demolition-engines and the grim mathematics of destruction.