Moon Base Tau

There was a huge display of Tau forces defending themselves against an attacking force of Imperial Knights and Titans.

At the heart of the display is the huge Tau Manta.

The Manta, more formally known as the Manta Missile Destroyer, is a super-heavy Tau spacecraft that is also the Tau Empire’s closest equivalent to the Imperium of Man’s Titans and Ork Gargants. It is well-armoured for use in frontline combat and can deliver massive amounts of firepower to the battlefield to help support Tau ground forces during a frontal assault against entrenched enemy positions.

As for the model, it measures 630mm/25 inches long and has a wingspan of 860mm/34 inches! Weighing in at 12.5 kilos/28 pounds, it weighs six times as much as a Thunderhawk Gunship.

We never saw a version for Aeronautica Imperialis before the game was retired. As there are no xenon forces in Legions Imperialis, we won’t see one there either. Do think it is a pity that GW aren’t going to produce xenon forces for Legions Imperialis as it is a Horus Heresy based game. I do wonder if at some point in the future we might?

Across the battlefield were many different types of Tau forces.

Attacking were the Mechanicum with Knights and Titans.

Deimos Vindicator Laser Destroyer at Warhammer World

This Legiones Astartes Ultramarines Deimos Vindicator Laser Destroyer was on display in the cabinets at Warhammer World.

The Vindicator laser destroyer array is a devastating weapon, capable of unleashing a torrent of laser energy that can tear through the armor of even the heaviest enemy vehicles. It was first fitted to the heavily armored Deimos pattern Vindicator chassis during the dark days of the Horus Heresy, when several Legions fielded this variant as a mainline battle tank. The Vindicator laser destroyer proved itself to be an able tank hunter, time and again destroying enemy tanks and other armoured vehicles with ease.

After the Horus Heresy, the Vindicator laser destroyer array remained in service with Space Marine Chapters. It is still used today, and remains one of the most feared anti-tank weapons in the Imperium’s arsenal. Vindicator laser destroyer arrays are often deployed to support infantry units, providing them with the firepower they need to break through enemy armour and fortifications.

Arquitor Bombard with Spicula Rocket System

This Sons of Horus Arquitor Bombard with Spicula Rocket System was in the displays at Warhammer World.

Arquitor Bombard with Spicula Rocket System

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.

Battle of Angelus Prime

The primary action of the War for Sanctoria campaign was fought in Sanctoria’s capital city of Angelus Prime. The entire might of the Ultramarines Chapter and their allies among the Grey Knights, the Knights of House Terryn and the Titans of the Legio Astorum stood against the bloodthirsty hordes of the Blood God Khorne.

Much blood was spilled, as the Ultramarines made their last stand against the followers of Khorne on the holy ground of Angelus Prime’s cathedral dedicated to the Ultramarines Primarch. Yet in the end, the Ultramarines prevailed once more, and Chapter Master Marneus Calgar personally banished An’ggrath to the Warp.

The Battle of Angelus Prime is the largest diorama at Warhammer World.

The diorama depicts the forces of Khorne attacking a stronghold of the Ultramarines, with the intent to killing Marneus Calgar.

It is huge filling an entire room with the height of two floors.

It is complete with lights and sound, which actually makes it a challenge to get decent photographs.

It is one of the dioramas that you really need to experience in person.

See more photographs of The Battle For Angelus Prime.

Sons of Horus Deimos Pattern Whirlwind Scorpius

This Sons of Horus Deimos Pattern Whirlwind Scorpius was on display at Warhammer World.

Sons of Horus Deimos Pattern Whirlwind Scorpius
Sons of Horus Deimos Pattern Whirlwind Scorpius

An ancient variant of the more common Whirlwind missile tank, the Scorpius was designed with a single purpose in mind – the destruction of heavily armoured infantry. The Scorpius variant replaces the Whirlwind’s multiple missile launcher system with the intricate drum-fed scorpius launcher, whose implosive warheads are devastating to armoured infantry and light vehicles. The Whirlwind Scorpius’ origins lie in the dark days of the first inter-Legion civil war and, in more recent times, it has become an all but forgotten relic amongst some Chapters as the ability to manufacture its complex munitions has become a forgotten art, but for other Chapters it still remains a potent weapon of war.

 


Sons of Horus Spartan Assault Tank

The Spartan Assault Tank also known as the Land Raider Spartan, this armoured carrier was designed to punch through the most overwhelming enemy defences and deliver a knock-out blow of massed Astartes infantry. It became a common assault vehicle during the Great Crusade, where its nigh-impervious chassis could shrug off regular anti-tank weapons as it ferried up to 26 Legionaries – or 13 Terminators – into the fray, with a surprising turn of speed for its size.

These Sons of Horus Spartan Assault Tanks were on display at Warhammer World.

Land Raider Spartan Assault Tank Miniatures Gallery.

Aggradon Lancer armed with a Barbed Celestite Club

Aggradon Lancer armed with a Barbed Celestite Club
Aggradon Lancer armed with a Barbed Celestite Club

Aggradon Lancers are among the most aggressive cavalry known to the Mortal Realms, for their fearsome scaled steeds only become swifter and more ravenous as battle-frenzy overtakes their senses. A charge of Aggradon Lancers can collapse entire battlelines in a storm of predatory violence, riders and mounts alike lashing out with savage force and overwhelming ferocity.

Sons of Horus Typhon Heavy Siege Tank

This Sons of Horus Typhon Heavy Siege Tank was on display at Warhammer World.

Sons of Horus Typhon Heavy Siege Tank

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.

More photographs of the Typhon Heavy Siege Tank.

Slann Starmaster

Slann Starmaster

Slann Starmasters are amongst the greatest wizards in all the realms, ancient beings created to serve the unfathomable Old Ones. It is their cold and distant intellect that guides the Seraphon to carry out the Great Plan, deciphered from glimpses of a grand cosmic equation. A Starmaster may reshape reality itself with a languid gesture, wielding the energies of the stars to annihilate the enemies of true order.