That's what we're covering today. The latest Journal Tactica, the Mailed Fist: Legiones Astartes Super-heavy Tanks. So let's dive in!
So basically, we begin with the introduction of Standard Template Constructs and how vital these were to supplying the burgeoning Imperial Army and Legiones Astartes with weapons and vehicles. Of these, the ubiquitous Baneblade and Malcador tanks manufactured from these STCs were first used by Legion warriors, who tried crewing them but found them lacking in flexibility and effectiveness.
The Emperor turned to Archmagos Agrinoss Krown, a senior magos within the Macrotek order, who belonged to the Forge World of Phaeton. They became head of a conclave of Magi from across the Imperium to develop new advanced super-heavy tanks for the Legiones Astartes, using the highest quality systems, weapons, materials and techniques. Four other Forge Worlds joined in, and they eventually came up with three different prototypes. The Fabricator General chose one of the prototypes, which eventually became the Fellblade Super-heavy Battle Tank.
Based on the Baneblade STC, the Fellblade's armor was constructed with reinforced metalplas alloy, which was half the thickness of the Baneblade's plating, but similarly resilient while reducing the overall weight. The Fellblade is powered by an atomantic arc-reactor, an advanced generator used by the Legiones Astartes (you'll remember that the Contemptor Dreadnought uses this).
Obviously, the secrets of the atomantic reactor's construction and maintenance are closely guarded secrets of the Mechanicum, which explains why we don't see many of them in the 41st Millennium. Speaking of closely guarded secrets, Krown's eventual allegiance remains unknown. Apparently, what they did during the Horus Heresy, after inventing the Fellblade and Glaive, wasn't recorded, and Krown was lost to history. Oh, well.
The Fellblade's twin accelerator cannnon is developed from technology originating from the Forge World of Tigrus, the accelerator weaponry using a vacuum-based system reliant on an overpressure mechanism to propel heavy shells. This allowed for significantly smaller propellant charges, so more of the shell is composed of the primary payload. It's also very stable and extremely accurate. The complex munitions loading mechanism allowed for rapid shell selection, switching between high explosives and armor penetrative rounds instantly. Apparently, the twin barrels can also fire independently and alternately, which increases rate of fire, or simultaneously for more firepower.
The Glaive was another of the prototypes created as part of the Fellblade project - probably one of the prototypes above, but was initially rejected because its volkite weaponry required signficant maintenance, too large and unwieldy, as well as too difficult to repair. However, the Salamanders, Iron Warriors, Dark Angels and several other Legions were interested in a variant vehicle to the Fellblade that specialized in anti-infantry (hence the full name, Glaive Super-heavy Special Weapons Tank). So Magos Arginoss Krown got to work once more and modified the existing Fellblade they created.
Using the same metalplas alloy armor as the Fellblade, he ditched the demolisher cannon, instead giving the space originally set aside for solid-shot ammunition to emergency capacitors and additional cooling systems. The upper cupola hatches for the commander and gunner were removed because of the dangerously high levels of radiation and heat levels found above the turret, and instead, the sponson and prow gunner gets his own cupola forward in the hull. His commander and fellow primary gunner, however, have to rely solely on external targeting cameras and scopes for target acquisition.
The volkite carronade's design originated on Mars during the Age of Strife, but its replication required an astronomical expenditure of resources, such as materials in high demand. The volkite carronade works by building energy charge within large capacitators situated at the rear of the turret before unleashing this energty as a direct beam. The gunnery crew can traverse the turret, elevate or depress the weapon barrel, allowing them to sweep through whole ranks of enemy troops, though this will result in a longer recharge cycle and more maintenance. Yikes.
In addition to deflagration, volkite carronades can even incinerate power armor, lighter vehicles and speeder units. The Glaive was deployed first against the apex xenos codified as the Catachi Diabolum, then fielded in large numbers against Ork empires (I suspect Ullanor is one great example).
The Falchion Super-heavy Tank Destroyer, in contrast to the Fellblade and Glaive, is based on the Shadowsword instead of the Baneblade. Apparently, the earliest Falchions use the same volcano cannons as Shadowswords, so you can still use your old conversions if you want. However, with a new plastic model inbound, the Falchions are now armed with a neutron-wave cannon, thanks to the discovery of its STC later during the Great Crusade.
With complexity of the volcano cannon and the rarity of materials required to maintain it (though that never seemed to be a problem for the Imperial Army, who can field entire squadrons of Shadowswords in sufficient numbers to threaten Titan Legions), the Legiones Asrtartes diteched the good old volcano cannon with the neutron-wave cannon. Like the Shadowsword, the Valdor and the Sicaran Venator, they ditched the turret and placed the immense neutron-wave cannon and its capacitors low in the hull. This made him more stable.
Made of the same metaplas alloy armor plating used for the Fellblade, this made Falchions lighter and more mobile, and more maneuverable. Like the Glaive, the sponson gunner has a cupola upfront, but unlike the Glaive, the commander's cupola remains, though they end up being subject to the venting of excess energy from the tank's primary weapon, which has a lot of heat and radiation. The Iron Warriors and Iron Hands didn't care, though. Typical.
The neutron-wave cannon has two vast capacitors at the base of twin barrels, and it fires alternating pulses of neutrons through twin beams, bombarding the target with disrupting energy and ceeating electro-magnetic shock pulses to disable electrical systems if the target survives. It's also devastating against biological targets like Hierophants and other Bio-Titans. The drawback, of course, is the feedback shock of exotic radiation, which resulted in crews having notably reduced lifespans and regular augmetic reconstruction.
They also talk about the ubiquitous Rhino chassis and its flexibility, the Rhino STC having been developed independently during the dark millennia of Old Night, but used to mount lots of armaments and leading to plenty of prototypes. The Whirlwind is one such prototype, created by the Salamanders at Taral III, which we'll see below. Anyway, passenger seating is replaced with ammunition storage and gunnery station, and the original STC being used as a base made it easy to maintain.
The Whirlwind missile launcher can hold up to 8 missiles, each capable of being fitted with a variety of warheads, such as high-explosive and incendiary, but also including missiles with graviton field generators, phosphex, chemical or viral payloads. The Death Guard, especially, love the latter...or shall we say, such payloads went viral with the Death Guard?
There's also a cute detail that mentions how reloading is generally conducted by the gunner or dedicated servitor, but the Whirlwind missile launcher requires the crew to disembark from the vehicle to manually load missiles into launch tubes, which can be very trisky during battle. The Iron warriors and Night Lords don't care and used the gunnery role within Whirlwind squadrons as punishment details. Typical.
Oh, and the Whirlwind also has a complex targeting and guidance system, collating data provided by external reconnaissance sources, orbital scans or the driver's helm-feed.
Now, the actual battles.
The First Battle of Paramar V
The Alpha Legion attacked Paramar V, which is defended by the Loyalist Iron Warriors of the 77th Grand Battalion. Instead of waiting for a siege, the Loyalist Iron Warriors dispatched the Khalekaorus, an armored company of renown in the IVth Legion. Warsmith Kyr Vhalen asked the Khalekaorus to take advantage of the situation, when Legio Gryphonicus was distracting Legio Fureans, to attack the Traitor Mechanicum command and control stations of the Taghmata Satarael. The commander of the Khalekaorus is Decurion Arn Vorsk, who has his own Falchion. Cool.
Long story short (go buy the Journal Tactica if you want to read the full story), the Iron Warriors plus automata demi-cohort from Legio Gryphonicus ambushed an Alpha Legion armored squadrons, destroyed most of them and forced them to withdraw. Once the Alpha Legion retreated, the Iron Warriors made for Taghmata Satarael, who was defended by their supporting Knights of House Perdaxia and House Rajha, as well as battle-automata, Thallaxii and Autokratorii.
The Iron Warriors and their Legio Gryphonicus Automata allies are able to destroy much of Taghmata Satarael. For some reason, Inar Satarael decides to send his Knights forward, asking them to continue to siege the fortress where the rest of the Loyalist Iron Warriors were - the rest of the 77th Grand Battalion, I mean. So if you're wondering why most of the Taghmata Satarael was destroyed and what happened to the Knights, yeah...that's what happened. Anyway, the volkite beams from the Khalekaorus formation (presumably their Glaives) ignited a bunch of promethium pipelines and triggered a devastating sequence of explosions across the battlefield.
Whoops.
The survivors of the Khalekaorus were forced to retreat, wgile Archmagos Satarael sent pursuers after them to wipe them out, though he was aware they would all be annihilated by the sheer firepower of the super-heavy tanks of the Khalekaorus. Unsurprisingly, that's exactly what happened. Vorsk then saw the Loyalist fortress go up in smoke or something akin to that (must be the Knights of House Perdaxia and House Rajha tearing open the fortress and massacring the 77th Grand Battalion inside), and swore vengeance against the Traitors. Also, there's a mention of how the Alpha Legion mysteriously disappeared. I wonder where they went.
The Battalion of the Alrathan Ridge
The Traitors assaulted Portresh, and the Ultramarines were reinforcing their Dark Angels allies engaged with the Sons of Horus. During that battle, the Fellblade, Triumph's Hand, commanded by Decurion Salan Mur was disabled because its left track was shattered by concentrated autocannon fire. So they get left behind, by the rest of the contingent while the crew attempted repair. Fortunately, a reconnaissance squad under Sergeant Attla remained with the tank to keep them informed of any enemy movement.
A Traitor armored column showed up, and Decurion Mur's Triumph's Hand made its last stand.
Long story short, Sons of Horus throw tanks and Dreadnoughts at the Fellblade Triumph's Hand, most of the crew save Mur himself and his turret gunner are slain, and the Dark Angels show up with their own Falchion tanks when all hope seems lost. Decurion Mur and his gunnera re recovered by Sergeant Attla's squad in the aftermath, and despite the combined efforts of Ist and XIIIth Legion Techmarines, they couldn't salvage Triumph's Hand, unfortunately. Poor guy is left as a wreck on Portresh.
The Purging of Taral III
Remember the Whirlwind info above? This is their origin story. Salamanders's badly damaged vessel, the Blade of Fire, tumbled into the system after the beating at the Dropsite Massacre at Isstvan V, and they take the chance to wreak vengeance upon the Word Bearers garrisoned there. The Salamanders 87th Company was once an armored company, but Captain Vareon - the commander - had lost most of his strike tanks. All he had left were eight squadrons of Predators, six Vindicators and ten squadrons of Scorpius missile tanks.
Unfortunately, their vengeful assault stalled because the armored company wasn't suited for urban warfare. Traitor Militia and Word Bearers made use of hab-blocks and structures to ambush their vehicles with anti-tank weaponry, and Vaeron basically lost 5 Vindicators, with the last one badly damaged. Yikes.
So what do the Salamanders do? Well, it turns out the Blade of Fire contained a large number of prototype Helios-pattern missile launcher systems in transport crates and conveniently stockpiled with compatible missiles. So Vaeron had an ephiphany, and got his Techmarines to swap the Scorpius's missile launchers with Helios missile launchers. Nice.
That, my friends, is the birth of the Whirlwind. Pre-loaded with incendiary and high-explosive munitions, they basically demolished the structures and hab-blocks swarming with Traitor Militia and even Word Bearers, burying the poor guys under tons of rubble. Oh, and they flattened the entire city district. Awesome.
Having won the day, Vaeron then handed over Taral III to the Imperial Army and Solar Auxilia of the relief force from the 689th Expeditionary Fleet before returning to Nocturne.
More little details
The Isstvan V Dropsite Massacre is mentioned. Go watch the cinematic trailer. Cool mention: Salamanders have lots of super-heavies, which they used to batter the entrenched Death Guard, while the Iron Hands name their super-heavy formations Subjugator battalions. The Iron Warriors also deploy a lot of Fellblades, Falchions and Glaives, while Word Bearers field squadrons of Fellblades. Interestingly, it's the Alpha Legion who favor massed Glaives.
The Loyalist titans of Legio Bellatus deploy to the mining world of Askos, deceived by the Night Lords and lured into the mountains where their super-heavy tanks could ambush the Titans and hide in the terrain to avoid retaliation. Of course, the Night Lords win. Ouch.
On the other hand, the World Eaters attack the Ultramarines recruitment world of Lannishar, only to be annihilated in the open grasslands by the newly formed 562nd Super-heavy Armored Company. In a single engagement. Whereas the Ultramarines only lost a single vehicle. Talk about burn.
There's also mention of Tallarn, where the Iron Warriors assault the Sapphire City and drive the Loyalists out. Traitor Knights from House Caesarean pursue heavily damaged Legio Gryphonicus Titans, but an armored contingent from the Iron Hands Clan Brannsar - comprising of Cerberus and Falchion super-heavy tanks - intervene. Unfortunately, the Loyalist super-heavy tanks are overrun, but they are able to buy enough time for the Titans to escape while slaying a significant number of enemy Knights before they are destroyed.
During the Loyalist push to retake Beta-Garmon III, the Iron Hands 19th Reserve Chapter deploy a vast armored force in a counter-assault, punching through the encircling 138th Cohort of Cthonian Headhunters, and forming a cordon around the Ferrum Tower, which has a vast relic-cannon. The Iron Hands use both this relic-cannon and their super-heavy tanks' armaments to bombard their foe.
The Death Guard assault Boro IV in the Boros system, their Falchions and Fellblades destroying the defenses of the Mechanicum facility and allowing them to plunder the datacores within. To add insult to injury, the XIVth Legion then nuked the site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.
And...that's it! Next, I'll cover the Leviathan missions!
