There is currently a massive sale on Steam for the original
Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus from 2018. The Complete Collection is -75% at €10,21.
Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus
https://store.steampowered.com/app/6738 ... Mechanicus


Why am I making a big fuss about it? Because it's about to be unlocked in
Battlegrounds. It's already been semi-unlocked by
Recover the STC Fragment, and will be fully unlocked at the end of its upcoming sequel, "Transport the STC Fragment" which we're playing either next weekend or the one after it at the latest.
Why do these missions unlock
Mechanicus? It's true that
Mechanicus features Necrons, like these two missions. But they aren't playable, they're the antagonist. The protagonist is the Adeptus Mechanicus.
Seen that way, the unlock makes no sense. But it begins to make sense once you realize that the Space Marines and Mechanicus are part of the same mega-faction: the Imperium of Man. In fact Mechanicus makes the Marines' gear and vehicles. So instead of focusing on the Marines, focus on the Imperium. In the "STC Fragment" missions, the Imperium is shown to face the Necrons in a kind of mini/side mission like the opening of a Bond movie. So it makes sense that, after this introduction to the Necrons, the camera would pull back and zoom out and pan across the galaxy to a hotspot where a MAJOR plotline takes place between the Imperium and the Necrons. And that hotspot is... the planet of Silva Tenebris.
Battlegrounds wrote:Take control of one of the most technologically advanced factions in the Imperium: the Adeptus Mechanicus. As Magos Dominus Faustinius, you'll lead operations on the newly rediscovered planet of Silva Tenebris. Customize your force, manage resources, discover long-forgotten tech, and fight to prevent the Necron awakening across 50 hand-crafted missions.
Who will get to play these 50 missions?
I am instituting a points system specifically for the "STC Fragment" duology. Saf found the fragment in the first mission, so he gets a point. I'll also review the footage and find the player with the most Necron kills, and he'll get a point too. Then add more from the sequel. And whoever comes at the top will get the chance to lead Mechanicus in the first title. At the same time there is an expansion to the first game called
Heretek, which is 5 missions. So another player can do that. And then the sequel that came out in May features intertwined Mechanicus and Necron campaigns, so a third player can play the Mechanicus one, plus the winner from the Necron side in the second "STC Fragment" mission (which features playable Necrons) can play the Necron campaign in
Mechanicus II. All this provided the winners can stream (or at least record) at max detail at 4K60, otherwise the next player down the ranking gets the chance (or you can rent a cloud computer for a month, etc.; we could also wait a bit for anyone willing to upgrade their PC).

Basically the top-ranked Space Marine players gets a choice between
Mechanicus,
Heretek and
Mechanicus II. Then the second-ranked gets the second choice, etc., while the top-ranked Necron player plays the Necron campaign of
Mechanicus II, and if there aren't any Necron players and
Cult Intelligence (CI) takes over, then again a Space Marine player can play that campaign.

So there are 4 campaigns up for grabs, of various factions, durations and complexities, and in addition to the fun of getting to play them for us and record them on the overworld, you'll also be earning Mechanicus and Necron units for your armies!
Mechanicus II is also on sale btw, but only at -15% since it's so new.
Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus II
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2532 ... hanicus_II





And there's a pack with both of them plus all extras for €56,81. The entire sale ends July 9, which is why I raced ahead to make this post.
What about players who don't win any of the 4 campaigns? They might still want to play along just to experience more of the setting, just as they might watch a movie or read a novel. So the sale is for everyone interested in diving deeper into 40K and following the metaplot on the
Battlegrounds overworld. It's just that the official chain of events on our overworld will be the streams/recordings of the winning players.
P.S. If someone can gift me the
Mechanicus Complete Collection for €10,21 (or whatever it ends up costing you in your region), I will PayPal you the amount immediately. Can't buy it myself because account and PayPal/card regions don't match. DM me on Discord if you can help. I already have the base game (in fact I did a stream of it on Patreon back in 2018 for those who remember), but I am missing the
Heretek expansion and the soundtrack which I want to include in the overworld and related missions.