Tartaros Terminators for the Thousand Sons

When archivists get mad...Tartaros Terminators for the Thousand Sons

Another set of figures from GW's "Burning of Prospero" box set.  This is a Terminator Squad clad in "Tartaros Pattern" Terminator armour. They are painted in the colours of the XV Legion, the Thousand Sons, from GW's Horus Heresy setting.

Lovely poses on these plastic multi-part figure kits from GW

It seems like there were a lot of dueling notions regarding how best to equip the Terminators - the heaviest of the heavy infantry in the Space Marine Legions - back in the 30k era.  Players are spoiled for choice, with two patterns of armour to choose from (Tartaros or Cataphract) as well as numerous Legion-specialized Terminator units. There are Justaerin units in the Sons of Horus. The Alpha Legion has Lernaean units. The whacko World Eaters have the Red Butchers. The Iron Hands have some kind of crazy monstrosities. Maybe the most awesome, there are the Siege Tyrants of the Iron Warriors.

The Reaper Autocannon is a thing of absurd and magnificent beauty...I just love the look of those bonkers weapons

Another view of the insane Reaper Autocannon...what a nutter of a weapon, really captures the essence of 30k!

The Thousand Sons are in on the specialized-terminator fun too, with their "Sehkmet Cabal" units.

So much choice! I guess a lot of things needed terminating in the 30k era. Once the Horus Heresy got going, the terminating requirements grew to include other Legions!

Another view of the Terminators

Getting back to this specific squad, I find the Tartaros pattern armour still looks ponderous, but is very sleek compared to the slab-looking baroque bulk of the Cataphract pattern armour (which looks super-cool too).  These are plastic figures, and the plastic kit for the Tartaros armour shows GW's designers at their best.  You get a wide variety of weapon options, but best of all, you can choose between the heavy flamer and the insane-looking reaper autocannon, because both are on the sprue! That is a real down-side of the plastic Cataphract models, which only include the heavy flamer option.

This guy aiming the combi-bolter is a favourite...

Prepared for persecution on Prospero...

Together with veteran tactical squads one and two, these Terminators will complete the Thousand Sons troops portion of the forces from the "Burning of Prospero" box set. Up next: Ahriman!