Re: Thanatar Siege Automata Rulesl
Giovanna Qiu
The Thanatar-class Siege Automata is a heavy class of Imperial robot utilised by the Legio Cybernetica during the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy eras of the late-30th and early 31st Millennia. Designed as a mobile artillery platform rather than a general battle unit, it is armed with a Hellex Pattern Plasma Mortar. This is a terrifying weapon able to launch dense spheres of blazing plasma on arcing trajectories over defensive barriers and into the heart of enemy fortifications, incinerating anything in their blast radius with a liquid tide of sun-hot fire.
The Thanatar's frame, built to accommodate the huge weapon and the power systems and fuel reserves required to supply it, is considerably larger than even the hulking Castellax-class Battle-Automata. Its frame is also heavily reinforced, both to withstand the stresses of firing its principal weapon and to protect it from incoming attacks. This factor, alongside the use of an Atomantic Shield array, make Thanatars notoriously durable. Such is their resilience that Thanatars are beyond the ability of most small arms, no matter how advanced, to harm. It is not known if this particular class of heavy-siege automata is still utilised by the mysterious Legio Cybernetica in the late 41st Millennium.
Unlike many of the Battle-Automata produced to enhance the Mechanicum's military power during the Great Crusade, the origins and lineage of the Thanatar Pattern remain uncertain, save perhaps for the fact that its armament was known to be the product of the Forge World of Ryza. Ryza remained the only locale where the Hellax Pattern weaponry utilised by the Thanatar was produced during the time of the Great Crusade.
The Legio Cybernetica were a part of 40K's first and second editions, before the escalation of grimdark in 3rd Edition made tech-heresy a thing (also, their rules required essentially mapping out their actual programming with logic gates, which was theoretically awesome but practically kind of a pain in the ass). Armies of these thinking war-robots have been fighting alongside the Space Marines and the Imperial Army since the Great Crusade, but without direct command and programming were completely useless.
While thrown out the proverbial airlock since 3rd edition, the Legio Cybernetica have made a comeback in Forge World's Horus Heresy series (and in Lords of Mars) and in regular 40k! Seriously, look at their store! It looks like the Legio is finally about to return to the 41st millennium, thanks to Imperial Armour 16. At the November 2016 Weekender the author confirmed Automata, such as the mighty Thanatar, will soon be handing out cortex controlled carnage to the Tau and other enemies of the Imperium.
Ambots are built by a process perfected by the Adeptus Mechanicus. A native Ambull is captured and then reworked and heavily cybernetically augmented. When the creature awakens in its new robotic shell, it retains its aforementioned natural tunneling instincts while having its aggression suppressed by cranial governors. The biological core of the creature circumvents Mechanicum laws regarding bans on Artificial Intelligence in the same way servitors do. Ambots are typically employed for mining and ash excavation on worlds such as Necromunda.
Still, despite being civilian constructs, nothing stops hive gangers from 'hijacking' it and turning it into a weapon of war. Due to its equipment meant for slag mining and ash excavation, a Ambot in close combat could quite literally RIP AND TEAR any poor bastard in its way.
They also appear in Necromunda: Hired Gun as a high tier enemy, carrying rapid-fire Grav-Guns and missile launchers, as well as being able to tank whole magazines of your heaviest weapons. Even worse, once you shoot off their weapons and ablative armour, they'll chainsaw their way into your face and/or dig into the ground under you.
The Sanctioner Pattern Automaton is another type of hybrid cyborg-automaton that has been revealed in February 2023. Rather than using the bestial nature of a Ambull, the Sanctioner uses a human's brain as its computer.
They are seldom seen given the high operational costs needed to maintain them. The only time some Necromundan can see them is when the mother of all shitshows appear. When we mean shitshows, we mean full-blown uprisings and civil war. Once such a thing occurs, expect fleets of semi-sentient servo-automata piloted by the psycho-conditioned transplanted brains of especially fanatical enforcers.
The Castellan is an assault Robot useful for a wide range of battlefield roles. Its twin power fists and heavy bolter give it a dangerous punch, protected by a power field/synchroniser unit. It can substitute its heavy bolter for a lascannon, melta gun or third power fist, while the standard fists can be replaced with a Siege Hammer, autocannons and flamer.
In Heresy-era 30k and first to get a Forgeworld model, but for some reason called the Castellax, mounting a Mauler-pattern Bolt Cannon on the shoulder which can be replaced with a multi-melta or a Darkfire Cannon (essentially a somewhat weaker Lascannon Long Range Plasma Rifle with Lance that blinds enemies that it hits) and coming with a choice of hand weapons.
They are the most common and numerous pattern of Castellans and are designed primarily for siege and shock assault operations. So common, that even the Solar Auxilia had incorporated them into their army.
Crunch-wise, the Castellax is a surprisingly cheap Monstrous Creature pretty much made to fuck up the Space Marine Legions (thanks to BS4, T7, W4, and armed with AP3 guns base) unless there's list-tailoring involved (like Plasma vets) it'll hold its own against nearly everything thrown at it and can put out a lot of hurt in both the Shooting (thanks to the aforementioned AP3 guns) and Assault, don't let the two Attacks fool you, charging will boost your attacks up to 4 (if you do this make sure to get the Frag Grenades).
If you want them to be Choppy, then you may also take dual powerblades. At first AP2 rending in melee seems fantastic, but then you remember that this is a monstrous creature; thus it already has AP2 by default via smash. And with S6 its quite likely to be wounding most targets reliably anyway. Unless you absolutely need an extra attack, just stick with stock.
Anyways, these Battle-Automata were fitted with a crystalline Psi-control matrix that allowed psychic Space Marines to manipulate them like puppets in a fashion far more seamlessly than standard Legio Cybernetica technology. It is primarily armed with the unique ther-Flame Cannon.
On tabletop, these Egyptian Prosperine robots are completely different than the mainstay Castellans. For starters, they add Asphyx Shells everywhere with options for a therflame cannon instead of the Mauler. Then they add the Rage and Fearless special rules alongside a special self-destruct that deals d6 S4 AP- hits, like any other Castellax, only differently written. IWND. And the the crown jewel, Psi-Control Matrix is a piece of hardware that might veer a little too Heretek for some people's liking; it allows anyone with at least ML1 to counter the Mindlock that so-hampers Automate from charging, running and making Sweeping Advances, which is by no means terrible, since you can still move and shoot in any target, not the closest one like Automatas with Cortex.
In addition, friendly psykers can draw Line of Sight from any Psi-Control Matrix Castellax for their Malediction and Witchfire powers, but should the psyker suffer Perils the Castellax must pass an LD test as well or take d6 unsaveable wounds, if this kills them their death-splosion has a maxed radius. Achaeas have I4, It Will Not Die, Shred on the Mauler Cannon and beautiful model, all for merely 30 points over regular Castellax, what's not to like? (Hint: they are equipped with twin Power Claw aka Power fist, making em effectively +1A and S10, and priced exactly the same as a castellax equipped with paired blade and wrecker, if it is not enough they don't have Automatic shielding BUT Refractor field, for a sweet 5++ in melee.) Oh, and after all this cheese you won't need Cortex Controller to bring them to the party.
In 40k we have the Kastelan which superficially looks similar to the Castellax, being a somewhat rounded, robotic, monstrous creature type with a shoulder mounted weapon and a pair of power fists that can be replaced with twin-linked Phosphor Blasters, it is also the most common model you'll ever find for 'bots. Though these ones can replace the fists for moar guns. Unlike the 30k version they are less autonomous and operate under "Battle Protocols" which are determined by a specialist tech-priest called Datasmith, but if the priest ever goes missing then the robots just follow the most recent protocol issued to them, which can cause them to stand still and shoot, or to forget they have guns.
Apparently, this was done because after the Heresy the Mechanicus came to the conclusion that the Castellax's machine spirit was too close to Abominable Intelligence to be used again. Hammer and Bolter shows that Tech Priests program them by verbally setting parameters including expenditure authorization, targets, goals and if necessary sacrifice thresholds.
In 8th Edition, Kastelans are improved significantly, as they are far more slot-efficient than the Dunecrawler; getting 6 in a unit. (Spamming them is a trap though, since they're extremely vulnerable in the Fight phase; 2-4 is enough.) They still have the same Monstrous Creature statline, and can reflect guns back at their shooter (for a Mortal Wound now), but are now faster and cheaper.
Fully shooty is actually the cheap option now. Go full phosphor and enter protector mode for 18 S6 AP2 shots per robot. Yes, a full unit of 6 will fire 108 bullets... In protector mode becomes twice as good as any unit we have. Beware combat with this option though, as without the Fists, you don't have any AP in close combat. AdMech now has fewer ways of dealing with high Toughness, and Kastelan Fists in Melee will punch holes in virtually anything, so consider fists if you are lacking in Dunecrawlers. It's recommended if you are going shoot, deck them out with 3 Heavy Phosphor Blasters, or if you are going punchy, get Fists and the Incendine Combustor. Don't mix the Combustor and Phosphor options together, they don't synergize well.
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