As Rogal Dorn’s Retribution Fleet landed upon Isstvan V and prepared to slaughter their traitorous former brothers, the defenders built a great network of defensive guns aiming to cost the loyalists dearly. Among the fields of Tarantula Sentry Guns and artillery emplacements were hundreds of Araknae Quad-Accelerator Platforms – massive weapons which could threaten the heavy tanks soon to be rumbling through the Urgall Depression. Worse still, for the loyalist forces, more were deployed by the Legion forces forming the second wave. Thus the Salamanders, Iron Hands and Raven Guard found themselves trapped in amid a network of guns.
You get one of these awesome new platforms in the Saturnine boxed set, and they’re much more than just a box with guns on top.
The Araknae platform is a beast of a kit that dwarfs infantry and gives tanks a run for their money. In fact, this battery of accelerator autocannons are equivalent to two of those found on the Sicaran battle tank, and they function in much the same way – albeit with a significantly higher rate of fire.
Much like the smaller Hyperios missile platforms, they’re excellent air defence weapons that can accurately track flying foes and shoot them down as soon as they zoom in range of the battlefield. With new rules for Flyer Combat Missions coming in this edition, expect to see more traffic in the air, so keep a platform or two in your back pocket.
What makes the Araknae really special is the advanced atomantic pavise mounted inside its central unit – a more powerful version of the shield technology found on dreadnoughts. Rather than simply protecting its own chassis from incoming fire, this superior defensive field extends to nearby allies too, making the Quad-Accelerator Platform the perfect anvil for a fortified line.
Atomantic Pavise
This device, adapted from the atomantic shields commonly found on Dreadnoughts, projects an energy screen at a short distance, providing protection not only for the war machine it is mounted upon, but also for nearby troops.
Models wholly within 3" of this Model have a 5+ Invulnerable Save against Shooting Attacks.
That wraps up our look at the big new kits coming in the Saturnine box set, but don’t fret – there’s still loads more to see from the new edition, with a highly anticipated look at new army building rules coming next week.
