Horus Heresy Imperial Fists Dreadnoughts

I have always been a fool for Warhammer 40k dreadnoughts. I can still remember visiting my cousin who played Warhammer 40k and seeing these cool space marines, and then noticing this giant killer robot! He then let me know what a dreadnought was, and I was hooked! That was the original 90's metal Castraferrum Dreadnought. The thing was tiny, by today's standard, and super heavy.

When I decided to play Horus Heresy I knew that I needed Contemptor Dreadnoughts, then that grew to Leviathan Dreadnoughts. But after playing more games of Horus Heresy V2, and feeling slightly guilty about how good Contemptors are, I was drawn back to my roots with the old box dreads. They are, in my opinion, amazing for their points costs. They are easier to kill but still just as skilled as the bigger dreads. 

Over the course of the local game shops Horus Heresy Escalation League my Castraferrum Dreadnoughts were the MVP's of my armies. I would run most of them with a Lascannon/Fist combo and add searchlights (as I love fighting at night). These dreads would advance slowly and target vehicles with the lascannon, then when the enemy got close they would wade in with their dreadnought close combat weapons. Many met their end at the hands of tooled up characters or enemy Contemptor Dreadnoughts but they always were worth their points cost.

An example of my four different Dreadnought miniatures.

That is a lot of heavy metal!

And half dead Astartes.

A few weeks ago I ran across some STL files for the old grandaddy dreadnought, the Rogue Trader era Furibundus Dreadnought! The original, nearly 40 year old, Furibundus model has not held up compared to modern 40k designs. However, some really talented 3d artists have created their own takes on the classic design. There are several different versions of the Furibundus Dreadnought on various sites but I settled on this one by Boredpilot.

I cannot praise this model enough! The design is supper easy to print, even by me, a total novice. I use an older Elegoo Mars Pro for my printing and everything turned out great. It even has an interior, with a interred Space Marine!

I have been running them as Castraferrum Dreadnoughts but they could easily be used as Contemptors.

I have fallen for these goofy-looking designs.

The main aesthetic is true to the old model, but the details are modern.

Details are sharp and clear.

I painted these first two in a traditional Imperial Fist scheme.

Weapons are modular. I can add all different arms.

I even magnetized one, so you can see the pilot.

Stomping on a Word Bearer.

Horus Heresy Escalation League - Vol 4

Warhammer Horus Heresy V.2

In my fourth game of our local Horus Heresy Escalation League game I faced off against the Dark Angels in a 2000 point game. I brought my modified Recon Company, although I was not using a Rite of War.

Imperial Fists Forces.

My force consisted of a Castellan Centurion and a Vigilator Centurion leading the force. My troops consisted of a Despoiler Squad, a Tactical Squad, a Recon Squad, a 5-man Scout Squad, a Seeker Squad and a 5-man Heavy Support Squad. The main killing power was made up of three Castraferrum Dreadnoughts and a single Leviathan.

My opponent was using a Pride of the Legion force led by Corswain himself! He also had the Dark Angels specific Centurion and a squad of Inner Circle Knights Cenobium. Then a full 10-man Cataphractii Terminator Squad, a Spartan, a Landraider and two full Tactical Squads and a Leviathan Dreadnought.

My deployment table quarter.

The view of the board at the start.

The Castellan makes the heavy weapons squad line.

The real punch of this force.

The infiltrators ready to turn the Dark Angels flank.

My beloved Recon Marines.

The Dark Angel tacticals.

Our mission was War of Lies with the Search and Destroy deployment, the Dark Angels took first turn. I could not use night fighting in this mission and one Castraferrum dreadnought took all the fire from the Dark Angels losing several wounds. The rest of the Dark Angels advanced.

In my first turn the Recon Marines and Seekers nearly wiped out a squad of Dark Angel tactical marines. A few Dreadnoughts and the Scouts did a few wounds to the Leviathan and the remaining dreads took off a hull point from the Land Raider. My forces shifted slightly with my Tacticals going for an objective in No-Mans land.

The Inner Circle Knights were in the Land Raider.

The fighty Leviathan ready to rush forward.

This objective is secure!

An absolute menace to the Dark Angels.

The Dark Angels second turn saw the Leviathan Move over towards the Scouts, the landraider moved up and Corswain's big squad of Terminators got out and moved up. A few scouts were killed in shooting. Then Corswain and the Cataphractii failed their easy charge with a double 1's! 

In my turn the Recon Marines knocked off a hull point from the Landraider and my Leviathan finished it off. When the Inner Circle knights got out they took a lot of fire and were pinned! Shooting took the Dark Angels Leviathan down to its last wound and killed a few of Corswains big squad.

The Knights have to walk.

Close Combat time.

The Spartan does not like the look of this.

In Dark Angels turn three the leviathan was killed in a return fire reaction by the last two Scouts before they were gunned down by the last Dark Angels Tactical squad. My Castraferrum lost a few wounds from the Spartan. Finally, Corswain and the Cataphractii charged one of my wounded Castraferrum's and the Leviathan, they lost a terminator in defensive fire. In combat Corswain killed the Castraferrum and the Leviathan killed a couple of Cataphractii.

In my shooting phase the Inner Circle Knights were killed down to their Centurion and one Knight. The Recon Marines beginning to take out the final Dark Angels Tactical squad. I charged a Castraferrum into the Spartan and just knocked off a few hull points. Then my Despoiler Squad went into combat against the Cataphractii. My sergeant challenged and the Cataphractii sergeant accepted, they would fight each over for the next few turns! Corswain put his attacks into the Despoilers and killed several, the Leviathan killed more terminators.

Corswain holding the line.

Objectives secured.

The Seekers on the hunt.

Turn Four saw the Dark Angels Centurion and last Inner Circle Knight charge the Leviathan. The Spartan fired at the dreadnoughts and the last few Dark Angels Tactical Marines moved forward. In combat the leviathan was damaged and all but the Cataphractii Sergeant were killed in that squad and a few more Despoilers died. The Despoilers then ran from the combat.

I missed some photos in here as the fight in the middle was getting wild!

I then rallied the Despoilers and the Recon Marines had moved to take an objective. My turn four shooting saw the Spartan get blown up by a Castraferrum which walked into its side arc and fired. The Dark Angels Tacticals finally were taken out by the Seekers and Heavy Weapons Squad. Leaving the only living Dark Angels in the center combat! I charged in another Castraferrum into the combat... where it was immediately murdered my Corswain. His instant death on a 4+ to wound is really good against dreadnoughts, especially the little Castraferrums. Then his Centurion took out the Leviathan, but the explosion killed the last Inner Circle Knight.

The Despoilers hold Corswain one more turn.

The Autocannons ready to fire.

In turn Five Corswain and the Terminator Sergeant advanced towards my Heavy Weapons Squad with my Castellan, who was also my warlord. The Castellan didn't want to fight Corswain in close combat. I was able to use my Imperial Fist advanced rection to charge the remaining Despoilers into Corswain when he moved closer to them. Thus, keeping them from charging the Heavy Weapons. In combat the Despoilers were killed down to a single marine who almost passed his morale check to stay in combat! That would have been bad for me. But he ran, leaving Corswain the the terminator standing right in front of me!

In my turn Five the seekers moved towards the center and the last Castraferrum moved that way as well. It took the Seekers and a few Recon Marines to kill the Dark Angels Centurion, the rest of the fire went into Corswain and the Terminator Sergeant. When all firing was done Corswain was still alive on a single wound!

Defensive fire takes his last wound.

In turn Six the last Dark Angels model on the board was Corswain, who moved forwards and charged my warlord's squad. Only a single wound got through from defensive fire... but it was enough!

Seekers.

The last Castraferrum took care of the Spartan.

The Vigilator and his squad taking a third objective.

The Tactical Squad avoiding the Phosphex blast.

A great battle! I knew Corswain was a great fighter but he really did all of the damage single handedly this game! Over the course of the game he made over a dozen 3+ invulnerable saves, 9 of which were instant death! 

But in the end the battlefield was fully controlled by the Imperial Fists.