The industrial world of Zybos has fallen to the Black Legion. Now it’s massive foundries produce countless foul Daemon Engines. The Imperial Fists have declared that they will purge this corrupted world and destroy all traces of these hideous creations.
The Astraeus is a super-heavy tank, similar in form to the smaller Repulsor transport in use by the newly created Primaris Space Marines. It mounts a formidable array of weapons, designed around a pair of immense macro-accelerator cannon. Providing a stable firing platform for these temperamental weapons are banks of enhanced repulsor plates, allowing the inexorable advance of the Astraeus to continue unhindered by hostile terrain or the vain defiance of the foe, while its layered void shields can shrug off even the most devastating weapon strikes.
Unlike the lumpen and unlovely battle tanks of other races, the Fire Prism is graceful and swift. Despite its aesthetic qualities, the Fire Prism sacrifices none of the killing power associated with heavy armour, and its prism cannon is the bane of the heavy battle tanks of the crude races.
Fire Prism Grav Tank at Warhammer World
The main armament of the Fire Prism is an extremely unusual device that uses a two-stage firing process. A medium-magnitude laser is discharged into a massive crystal prism that greatly amplifies the potency of the shot in a fraction of a second. This energy can be discharged in a focused beam capable of blasting through the thickest armour. Or, it can be dispersed to slay entire squads of enemy infantry. Most unusual of all, sophisticated tracking arrays allow this technological wonder to channel its firepower through the prismatic lens of another prism cannon, forming one all-powerful laser blast that can obliterate any target.
At Warhammer World there were lots of fantastic Tau models in the display cabinets.
The Tau (or T’au) are a young, humanoid and technologically-advanced intelligent race native to the Eastern Fringes of the Milky Way Galaxy who are fighting to expand their interstellar empire and extend a philosophical concept they call the “Greater Good”.
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.
A TX4 Piranha is a type of lightly armoured combat scout skimmer used by the Tau Fire Caste – a mobile weapons platform that is capable of great speed and manoeuvrability. Using its jet-thrusters and anti-gravitic engine, a Piranha is a fast moving craft that is extremely hard for a foe to hit, its twin crew well able to hug the terrain and make the best use of any cover. Furthermore, a Piranha’s weaponry allows it to punch well above its own weight, either using its Burst Cannon to slaughter enemy infantry, or using a Fusion Blaster to blow apart battle tanks many times its own size. Along with a nose-mounted main armament, a Piranha carries two Gun Drones — either retained on the vehicle to add firepower, or detached into AI (Artificial Intelligence) mode to perform some other mission. When operating as lone hunters, Piranhas are dangerous enough, but it is when they are fielded in teams that they become truly lethal.
The T’au XV104 Riptide is the pinnacle of the Earth caste’s battlesuit development. It stands twice as tall as the XV8 Crisis suit, but its movements are more like those of its smaller cousins than the mechanical stiffness displayed by Imperial walkers with their crude servo-motors.
The Sky Ray Missile Defence Gunship is a specialised variant of the Hammerhead that replaces its turret gun with an array of deadly seeker missiles.
The Forge World Ork Shanty Town was on display at Warhammer World, though many of the models which were within the display when it was shown at GamesDay were not there.
The industrial world of Zybos has fallen to the Black Legion. Now it’s massive foundries produce countless foul Daemon Engines.
The Imperial Fists have declared that they will purge this corrupted world and destroy all traces of these hideous creations.
This diorama was originally built for the Warhammer 40000 Apocalypse Book and featured Ultramarines. When it was moved to Warhammer World, it was extended by the team and the Ultramarines replaced by the Imperial Fists.
This impressive Evil Sunz army was in the display cabinets at Warhammer World.
There was a lot of ork stuff, including this Deff Dread.
Deff Dreads epitomise three main ideal of Ork warfare: big, shooty and stompy. They thunder and clank towards the foe, limbs waving as heavy weapons spit death into the enemy ranks and powered shears snip excitedly in anticipation of the bloodletting to come.
There was this Battlewagon. A Battlewagon is a catch-all term used for any type of Ork assault tank and heavy armoured troop transport.
The term Battlewagon seems to refer overall to a category of large Ork armoured vehicles. A Battlewagon can be wheeled, tracked or a combination of the two and is used in many battlefield roles. It always carries a large complement of weapons.
Also a Big Trakk was in there. Big Trakks are essentially an enlarged and modified version of the Trukk
The Big Trakk is a Turbine powered Ork tracked vehicle with twin Big Shootas, designed to move across sinkholes, rubble, or ash wastes without getting bogged down. They are also designed to be bigger, louder, and carry much more armament over the standard Trukk and are frequently used as gun carriers instead of troop transports. In addition, for many Mekboyz without the resources or know-how to build full Battlewagons, Big Trakk’s are the next best thing. There are a profusion of Big Trakk designs favored by different Mekboyz and Clans, from the Blood Axes who often mimic Imperial patterns to the ‘kustom’-built Bad Moon gun platforms. And while some Ork Speed Freaks decry them for their lack of speed, both the Goffs and Deathskulls make extensive use of Big Trakks. The Goffs because they keep the big gunz mobile and can get to the frontline quickly and the Deathskulls because they’re capable of hauling large amounts of loot.
In the Ork displays at Warhammer World there were some nicely painted Ork Vehicles.
This is a Megatrakk Scrapjet.
A favourite amongst Speed Freeks and grounded Flyboyz alike, Megatrakk Scrapjets provide rocket-propelled acceleration, impressive firepower and the hilarity of ramming into enemy lines at the helm of what is effectively a gigantic, thrust-driven drill. These vehicles allow former Ork pilots to revel in the dimly-remembered joy of mowing down enemies at point-blank range – a joy which, of course, often caused the Flyboy to crash in the first place. Explosions blossom amidst the enemy as rokkits and missiles collide with their targets, while Grot tail-gunners blaze away with chattering big shootas – the array of weaponry welded, bolted, riveted and lashed onto a Megatrakk Scrapjet is fearsome.
The Rukkatrukk Squigbuggy is a type of Ork attack vehicle. The first Rukkatrukk Squigbuggies were invented by enterprising Snakebites in order to feed Speed Freeks on the move. Mobile pens full of edible squigs, the vehicles kept pace with the warband’s Warbikers, buggies and Trukks while their grinning crews hawked their wares at the tops of their lungs.
Once a suitable bag of teef was slung across to them by a hungry driver or passenger, choice Squigs were loaded into the Rukkatrukk’s Squig Launchas and fired into the hands — or even waiting gobs — of the hungry customers. Legend has it that it was only after a rabid Attack Squig was accidentally stuffed into the launcha and fired into a luckless Ork’s face that the true potential of this mobile murder-menagerie was realised.
Nowadays, Rukkatrukk Squigbuggies are often seen muscling their way through their fellow Speed Freeks as they roar towards the front lines. Easily identified by their rugged construction, the throaty roar of their engines, and the anarchic masses of Squigs and Orks riding aboard them, these vehicles employ their close-range living artillery to wreak havoc amongst the enemy ranks.
The Shokkjump Dragsta combines two of the foremost triumphs of the Mekaniak’s art – recklessly fast speedsters and deranged weaponry. It is perhaps unsurprising that it has become one of the most popular forms of transport amongst the Mekboyz of the Kult of Speed.
Armed to the grille with guns, blades and greenskins, the Kustom Boosta-blasta is one of the deadliest Ork vehicles around. Ferociously fast, absurdly heavily armed, and boasting the capacity to set things on fire by simply overtaking them, it exemplifies everything the Speed Freeks look for in a vehicle.
Aeronautica Imperialis is a game of aerial combat set in the Warhammer 40,00 universe. While ground troops push forward to secure tactical objectives, winged squadrons push forward in the skies to decimate enemy positions and intercept enemy fighters.
At Warhammer World there are some lovely Aeronautica Imperialis models on display.
The Marauder Bomber is the workhorse of the Imperial Navy. Capable of both atmospheric and void operations, it is used as an attack craft in fleet actions as well as fulfilling a tactical role, supporting ground offensives by bombing enemy troop concentrations and support positions. Such tactical bombing missions are often launched prior to, and in support of, Imperial Guard offensives.
Sacrificing a portion of its bomb payload in favour of nose-mounted autocannon and an increased complement of Hellstrike Missiles, the Marauder Destroyer specialises in low-level assaults on ground targets.
The Thunderbolt is the mainstay weapon system of Imperial Navy fighter wings and is a rugged, well-armed and armoured heavy fighter with all-around capabilities, a good maximum speed and above-average maneuverability, powerful nose-mounted weapons and hard points located on the wings for missile or bomb load-outs. The Thunderbolt’s primary combat role is as an air superiority fighter. It seeks out and engages enemy aircraft in dogfights or hunts enemy bombers to establish air superiority.
As well as the Imperial Navy there were some great looking Air Waagh! Ork flyers as well.
Among the smallest and most numerous of Ork aircraft, the Dakkajet is built for speed and firepower, capable of unleashing devastating hails of buffets from its arsenal of quad big shootas.
The diminutive Gretchin have long been enthusiastic supporters of Ork aviation, whether gleefully pushing bombs out of open bays, crawling into tight spots to fix engines, or acting as spotters and even gunners on ork planes. It doesn’t take long before they become obsessed with flying just like their bigger kin, begging for their own turn on the control stick.
Some enterprising Ork meks decided this arrangement could be mutually beneficial, and created guided missiles that could be flown like a tiny, gretchin-sized airplane. Fitted with a short-burn rocket engine and stuffed with unstable explosives, some rabid grots are happy to climb aboard just for the (short-lived) thrill of speed and freedom. They’re loaded into the wings of specially-fitted Grot Bommers, and launched in support of the Air Waaagh!
The Brass Scorpion is a Daemon manifesting as a machine, these formidable daemon engines of the Blood God Khorne wreak havoc upon the battlefield.
The superb Forge World version of the Brass Scorpion on display at Warhammer World.
This is one of my all time favourite models from Forge World. I seem to be in the minority as I really quite like this model, and if you read this blog I am not a fan of Chaos one bit!
The Brass Scorpion is a terrifying daemonic engine of destruction dedicated to the Chaos God Khorne, Lord of Slaughter. This nightmarish construct, as much hell-spawned beast as war machine, it storms across the battlefield like a monstrous predator hunting and killing. Its huge claws are capable of shredding armour with ease and its firepower laying waste to swathes of enemy infantry. Even in destruction the foes of Chaos have learned to fear this unholy war machine, as its infernally-charged reactor erupts to scorch the battlefield with the fury of its death-throws.
The Brass Scorpion of Khorne is a fantastically impressive resin model designed by Daren Parrwood and this model was painted by Mark Bedford. I love the paint job on this model, the combination of glossy red and brass details really makes this model both impressive and threatening.
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.
One of the huge displays at Warhammer World is The Battle For Angelus Prime.
The Battle For Angelus Prime is the largest display board Games Workshop has ever created. It fills the entire room and there is even a mezzanine to view the display from above.
