warhammer the horus heresy Archives - Page 5 of 22

Legion Thunderhawk Gunship

This Blood Angels Legion Thunderhawk Gunship was in the display cabinets at Warhammer World.

The Legion Thunderhawk Gunship, used during the Horus Heresy, is a formidable aerial weapon platform, a testament to the Imperium’s technological prowess during the Great Crusade era.

This massive gunship, larger than a Space Marine Rhino transport, is equipped with a formidable array of weaponry, including twin-linked heavy bolters, a powerful autocannon, and a devastating missile launcher.

Its hull is reinforced with ceramite plating, providing exceptional protection against enemy fire. Inside the Thunderhawk, a crew of skilled Space Marines operates the various systems, while a troop compartment can accommodate a squad of Astartes.

The gunship’s engines, capable of reaching incredible speeds, allow it to rapidly deploy troops and provide crucial fire support during battles.

The Thunderhawk’s versatility and firepower made it an invaluable asset to the Legions during the Great Crusade, and its legacy endures even after the Horus Heresy.

Arquitor Bombard With Spicula Rocket System

This Imperial Fists Arquitor Bombard with Spicula Rocket System was in the displays at Warhammer World.

The Legion Arquitor is a heavy artillery platform designed to operate at the forefront of a Legiones Astartes advance. Equipped with a reinforced chassis and brutal short range firepower, it is called upon to break the most stubborn of fortifications or to annihilate massed enemy infantry and armour.

The spicula rocket system fires rippling salvos of unguided missiles that crash down on enemy positions, creating massive cumulative blasts that can scatter whole formations.

Sisters Of Silence Kharon Pattern Acquisitor

From the displays at Warhammer World.

Built to approach its targets silently and with utmost stealth, the Kharon Pattern Acquisitor is deliberately made to be a thing of mystery and terror when its presence is unveiled.

Used primarily in a paramilitary role by the Sisters of Silence, it can suppress civilian resistance with lethal effect, its hellion cannon cutting through rampaging mobs and destroying makeshift barricades. Against greater threats, various payloads of missiles can be deployed, including sophisticated antipsyker warheads.

Legio Custodes

This Legio Custodes Caladius Grav-Tank Annihilator was part of the displays at Warhammer World.

Based upon the technology of the Coronus Grav-carrier, the smaller Caladius grav-tank is designed to utilise the firepower afforded by the heaviest elements of the Legio Custodes’ arsenal on a highly mobile, protected platform.

Given the fusion of advanced systems and weapons, the Caladius is perhaps the most powerful battleline armoured unit of its size in the Imperium’s forces, utilising technologies and materials derived not only from the Dark Age of Technology, but from developments made as a result of the Great Crusade’s two centuries of warfare. A particularly powerful variant was the ‘Caladius-Annihilator’ which featured an enhanced capacitor-fed Arachnus blaze cannon potent that is enough to pose a threat even to super-heavy armour.

There were a number of Legio Custodes vehicles in a huge diorama display of The Burning of Prospero.

The Burning of Prospero, is the name of the full-scale invasion and planetary devastation of Prospero, homeworld of the Thousand Sons, by Imperial forces that mainly included the Space Wolves Legion, the Adeptus Custodes and the Sisters of Silence.

This is a Legio Custodes Caladius Grav-Tank.

The principal armament of the Caladius is the double-barrelled Iliastus accelerator cannon, an advanced weapon which was to become the precursor to the main weapon of the Legiones Astartes Sicaran Battle Tank.

There was also a large Orion Assault Dropship.

Created as a dedicated assault dropship for the Legio Custodes, the Orion can carry a full task force of the Emperor’s Talons into combat. Protected by frontal armour superior to that of the Legiones Astartes Thunderhawk Gunship, its Arachnus heavy blaze cannon and Lastrum bolt cannon can swiftly clear a landing zone of hostile infantry and armour with brutal efficiency, allowing the units within to deploy before it soars back into the sky to unleash death upon any foe who dares approach.

Mechanicum Ordinatus

The Mechanicum Ordinatus are massive weapons of destruction that the forces of the Imperium use when faced with unprecedented enemy forces. Essentially they are Titan style weapons on tracks.

In the time of the Great Crusade the Ordinatus macro engines were rarer than even the Battle Titans of the Legio Titanica, and only a handful of Forge Worlds had the resources or indeed the doctrinal blessing and religious authority to produce or maintain such embodiments of the Omnissiah’s divine wrath. Such was the sacredness of these machines above all others, that an entire subcult of the Mechanicum was devoted to their worship and propitiation.

We first saw these vehicles in Epic, and then Forge World released 40K scale Horus Hersey versions of these massive vehicles.

The Ordinatus Ulator is a rare and truly arcane weapon system of huge power. Its primary weapon is the Ulator class Sonic Destructor.

Another version is the Ordinatus Sagittar, similar to the Ulator, it is armed with a Volcano Cannon.

These are nice models, but I am not really a fan of them. They look very vulnerable to enemy fire, there is no armour to speak of. They also don’t look very mobile (despite the four tracks). What do you think?

Achilles-Alpha pattern Land Raider

Minotaurs Achilles-Alpha pattern Land Raider on display at Warhammer World.

I quite like the up-armoured appearance of this pattern of Land Raider, and the weaponry looks quite formidable. I can imagine this being used to clear barricades in the ruins of an Imperial City.

The Achilles-Alpha pattern Land Raider is the most durable vehicle currently in the service of the Legiones Astartes. These vehicles shrug off weapon strikes that would cripple other battle tanks, and are proof against even the most toxic environment. The weaponry of these vehicles is formidable, featuring an advanced quad launcher and powerful volkite batteries.

This Achilles-Alpha pattern Land Raider is from the Minotaurs Space Marine Chapter. The Minotaurs is a Loyalist Space Marine Chapter whose true origins and genetic lineage remain unknown. The Space Marine formation by this name at large in the Imperium today appears to bear little resemblance to accounts of its past.

Plastic Arvus Lighter

One of the reveals at the World Championships Preview was a plastic Arvus Lighter for The Horus Heresy.

The Arvus Lighter is a small, general purpose cargo shuttle that is widely used by the Imperium of Man for many tasks, both in space and on the surface of planets. The Arvus is commonly used by both Imperial Navy warships and Imperial merchant vessels, including Rogue Traders.

I really like this model and I will probably get this when it is released.

Though released for The Horus Heresy, I suspect it would also make a great model for, not just Warhammer 40K, but also Necromunda.

Photographs of the resin model of the Arvus Lighter.

Deredeo Pattern Dreadnought

These Deredeo pattern Dreadnoughts were in the displays at Warhammer World.

The Deredeo pattern Dreadnought is a dedicated heavy support frame, though it shares many core components and systems with the more general assault-based Contemptor class.

Imperial Fists Deredeo Dreadnought with Boreas air defence missiles.

Initially deployed in limited numbers to each of the Legions due to difficulties in its manufacture, its durability and firepower saw demand for the Deredeo pattern dramatically increase after the outbreak of the Horus Heresy.

Legion Sabre Strike Tank

The Legiones Astartes use the Sabre Strike Tank for attacking enemy targets and destroying them before they become a threat.

The Sabre Strike Tank is fast rugged and heavily armed, this speed allows them to out-manoeuvre and evade counter-attacks.

Land Raider Proteus

The Land Raider is regarded by many as the finest armoured fighting vehicle of its class in the Imperium’s arsenal, and is the mainstay battle tank of the Space Marine Legions.

It is a phenomenally powerful war machine, its multi-layered composite armour and reinforced hull all but impervious to even heavy weapons, being a sealed unit designed to resist enemy attack from any approach.

Intended to serve in almost any environment as both war machine and exploration vehicle, it can operate freely in war zones ranging from acid swamps to rad-deserts without any noticeable impediment to its performance, and can even operate in hard vacuum, ensuring there is no open battlefield on which its armoured wrath cannot be unleashed.

This is an Ultramarines Land Raider Proteus.

Those of us who have been playing Warhammer 40K since it was first released will recognise this model. It is of course a new version of the original Land Raider that was released back in 1987 following the release of the 1st edition of Warhammer 40,000, Rogue Trader. Forge World released a resin version a fair few years ago, and since then, a plastic version of the kit has been released as part of The Horus Heresy range.