The Vindicator has been in use by Imperial forces since the Great Crusade, and it has hardly changed since those turbulent days so long ago. The Space Marine Legions that sided with the corrupted Warmaster and Primarch of the Luna Wolves, Horus Lupercal, used their Vindicators against the Loyalist forces of the Emperor during the Horus Heresy. After the Horus Heresy ended in a pyrrhic victory for the Emperor’s Loyalists, the Traitors fled into the Eye of Terror, and luckily the number of Vindicators they still have in their possession is quite low in the late 41st Millennium, due to the Traitor Legions’ inability to easily replace their losses.
This Chaos Vindicator was part of a large display at Warhammer World.
The Vindicator is an Imperial siege tank based on the Rhino chassis used by many Space Marine Chapters that boasts the most powerful weapon of its type in the Adeptus Astartes’ standard armoury, the Demolisher Cannon. It is highly valued and can only be issued to company officers whose units have been tasked with a specific tactical requirement. Though short-ranged, the Vindicator’s Demolisher Cannon is capable of destroying enemy armour and fortifications in a single shot.
Games Workshop have had a Vindicator model in their ranges for many years now. Originally a conversion article in White Dwarf back in 1989, it was followed up some years later with a Forge World resin conversion kit of the then new plastic rhino.
In 2007 Games Workshop released a new plastic Vindicator. Not to be outdone, in 2013 Forge World released the Demios Pattern Vindicator.
A nostalgic throwback to the original plastic conversion from 1989, this is obviously a lot more detailed and sophisticated model.
The Vindicator has a long history in Games Workshop and the many variations providing an interesting insight to the design and development of Games Workshop as a whole. From the early days of simple conversions, to Forge World conversion kits, a detailed plastic kit and then a retro throwback.
