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The Achilles-Alpha pattern Land Raider is the most durable vehicle currently in the service of the Legiones Astartes. This is the version on display at Warhammer World.
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.
Harlequins are the Eldar followers of Cegorach, the Laughing God. They are the performers and entertainers of the Eldar, the self-appointed protectors of the Eldar’s pre-Fall history, which they perform in extremely elaborate plays involving not only elaborate costumes, scenery, acrobatics, and a troupe of dedicated actors, but further elaboration of the drama through psykana and psychedelic drugs.
These beautifully painted Harlequin flyers were on display at Warhammer World.
This is a Harlequins Starweaver. I think one of the reasons I would not paint up a Harlequin army is the necessity to paint large amounts of checked areas.
Starweavers streak across the battlefield as a storm of shattered light, relying upon a mixture of velocity and misdirection to confound the enemy’s aim. These swift attack vehicles have a transport platform at their rear capable of bearing a Harlequin Troupe into battle.
The more heavily armed Voidweaver is shown here.
Boasting a veritable arsenal of heavy weaponry, Voidweavers leave flaming devastation in their wake. Their every salvo sees enemies punched off their feet as storms of shuriken scream through the air, and enemy tanks are vaporised by the deadly prismatic cannon.
This is a Skyweaver.
Heavily armed and incredibly fast, squads of Skyweavers outmanoeuvre their foes before cutting them to pieces with concentrated firepower. Their ripping streams of shuriken fire and crackling bolts of electromagnetic energy slaughter foot troops and reduce enemy tanks to sparking wrecks with equal ease.
Named for the ‘Great Beast’ of Ancient Terran myth, the immense Typhon Heavy Siege Tank was developed by the Mechanicum alongside the Spartan, with which it shares a basic chassis design.
The Typhon’s primary armament is the massive Dreadhammer cannon, and was created in response to a request from the Primarch Peturabo, master of the Iron Warriors. He demanded a Legiones Astartes war engine that could rival the great batteries of the Imperial Crusade Army in firepower, but manoeuvre and deploy at the speed of a Space Marine force.
Some more photographs of the Typhon Heavy Siege Tank.
What with all the hype with the new edition of Warhammer 40000, there is a renewed interest in the Necrons.
The Necrons are a race of mechanical warriors, created from the Necrontyr. They have lain dormant in their stasis-tombs for sixty million years. They are ancient beyond reckoning, pre-dating even the Eldar. At long last, however, they are beginning to awaken, seeking to reestablish the supremacy of the Necron Dynasties over the Galaxy once more.
There have been some nice models for the Necrons including flyers, such as the Doom Scythe, this one was on display at Warhammer World.
Doom Scythes are heralds of terror, supersonic fighter craft that range far ahead of a Necron invasion. Thanks to the precision of his android brain, the pilot can simulate billions of strategies in nanoseconds.
The crescent-shaped Necron Doom Scythe is an impressive model. It’s numerous, elegant panels are covered in Necron iconography, and there are numerous orbs and grills located around the model, and a spine-like engine. As well as a Necron pilot tucked away in the centre of the model, the weapons on the flyer include a twin-linked tesla destructor and a death ray set within a claw-like vice.
I have a few galleries of Necron models:
I did wonder about starting a Necron army, mainly as it looked like an easy army to paint…. In the end I decided I had too much to paint on my workbench and I should get that lot finished first. This is the same reason why I didn’t purchase the new Indomitus boxed set as well.
Based upon the same STC data as the Baneblade and Deathhammer super-heavy tanks, which are a mainstay of the vast brigades of the Imperial Army, the Fellblade is a more advanced variant that first saw widespread service with the Legiones Astartes in the last decades of the Great Crusade.
It is most noted for its use of Mechanicum atomantic arc-reactor technology and a reinforced metaplas alloy chassis superior even to that of the Baneblade, alongside an advanced accelerator cannon as its primary armament. These systems are all fruits of Dark Age technologies rediscovered and restored to humanity shortly before the nightmare of the Great Heresy.
This Fellblade was part of a airbase diorama at Warhammer World where there were all the different kinds of Space Marine Flyers as well as the odd tank or three.
This beautifully painted Mechanicum Triaros Armoured Conveyer was on display in Warhammer World.
The Triaros is the primary armoured battlefield transport of the Mechanicum Taghmata during the era of the Great Crusade and the Horus Heresy. Eschewing the more commonplace STC designs, it relies on a number of unique technologies held as arcana by the Magos Autokrator and never divulged for wider Imperial use, even by the Legiones Astartes. Designed for use in hostile environments, it incorporates multiple galvanic traction drives and its defences are comprised not merely of brute armour, but layered techno-cant wardings and interlocking energy shields, particularly around its seemingly exposed control dais, as well as independently animated weapons servitors.
More photographs of the Mechanicum Triaros Armoured Conveyer.
This Mechanicum Macrocarid Explorator was on display at Warhammer World.
Originally released in November 2016, the model is now no longer available to buy from Forge World.
Uniquely crafted to the needs of the Magos leading the expeditionary force, Macrocarid Explorators first saw use as frontline combat and mobile command vehicles in the early days of the Great Crusade. Heavily armoured and equipped with the Mechanicum’s signature technologies and weapons, they are now pressed into service on both sides of the cataclysmic battles of The Horus Heresy.
Macrocarid Explorators can transport Magos’ or their units of deadly automata across the battlefield, cutting through any opponent foolish enough to come close with powerful weapons enhanced by augury scanners. Their heavy armour makes them as durable as the Legiones Astartes Land Raider, with the addition of extensive self-repair systems.
On the dying world of Duriel, once the glittering capital of the Valedor system, the forces of the Eldar Craftworld Iyandem attempt to halt the advance of the Tyranid Hive Fleet Kraken.
This massive display was at Warhammer World and includes over a thousand models. There are twenty-six Carnifexes.
A Wraithknight prepares to attack along with an Eldar Falcon tank and Wave Serpent troop carrier.
Wraithknights are colossal Eldar Wraithbone constructs. Looming ghost warriors many times larger than even the mighty Wraithlords, the war machines known as Wraithknights are still dextrous enough to run through the ruin of a shattered city, leaping from pillar to spar as their arcane weapons bring oblivion to the enemies of the Aeldari.
Wider shot of the battlefield, showing the land literally breaking apart as the forces fight for dominance.
Tyranid Hierophant Bio-Titan treading carefully. The Hierophant is amongst the largest and most formidable of the Tyranid Bio creatures faced by ground forces.
Eldar Wave Serpent bringing troops into the heart of battle. The Wave Serpent is the main troop carrier of a Craftworld’s army. Protected inside its sleek hull, strike forces of Aspect Warriors and Guardians can be transported in safety to any part of the battlefield. The Wave Serpent’s energy field projectors generate a rippling bow wave of force at the front of the craft that disrupts incoming fire. Its powerful anti-grav engines give it speed enough to hurtle across a battlefield in seconds.
This overview of the diorama shows the size of it, though there is some reflection on the glass from the lights.
It was a wonderfully put together display and the combination of swarms of Tyranids assaulting the mighty Eldar was a sight to behold. The scenery was amazing as well, the glowing lava pits looked really hot. The only thing missing was steam and smoke.
The Aktaeus is the most recognisable of the Ordinatus Minoris created and operated by the Mechanicum, a super-heavy transport designed to carve a path through the stony heart of a world to deliver its cargo of warriors to the centre of the battlefield. Known to the armies of the Emperor as the Imperial Mole, this vehicle is employed primarily as a siege engine capable of rendering even the most formidable fortifications pointless by burrowing beneath them.
