New Plastic Contemptor Dreadnought Kit for 30k

Contemptor Dreadnought, ready to make a stand on Terra with the VII Legion Astartes.

Back with another "catch up" post, and back with more 30k painting to share. Here we have a Contemptor Dreadnought, painted in the black and yellow colours of the VII Legion Astartes, the Imperial Fists. This is a multi-part plastic model which came with the new "Age of Darkness" box set for GW's Horus Heresy setting.

"Net zero compliant" power pack on the rear of the model.

I would expect anyone taking the time to view this post beyond a quick scan is already familiar with the idea of the dreadnought armour from GW's 30k/40k setting. These are sort of "enhanced suits" of great combat power, but it's just that the pilot is, well, in there forever - a severely wounded marine, somehow still alive, but no longer able to operate in his "regular" armour. If the apothecaries don't put him out of his misery, the tech marines will simply "install" him into one of the Legion's dreadnoughts, and he can go on fighting for his Primarch and his Emperor or Warmaster...

I love the OTT look of the twin auto-cannons, probably one of my favourite weapon options, but there are so, so many choices for guns - very 30k!

The Contemptor Dreanoughts were a fun stand out feature of the early 30k efforts from Forge World. The dreadnought models of the 40k setting had become these really weird walking boxes...they had a certain charm, I guess...but these Contemptors were much, much better looking IMO. They were also a shout-out to the "Epic" roots of the 30k game (along with the Rapiers, the "Deimos" pattern vehicles, etc). The Contemptor sculpts look much more like what they are nominally supposed to be - a Space Marine stuck inside even bigger combat armour, shooting even bigger guns and punching enemies with even bigger power fists.

These models were always resin, and came with the joys and (mostly) frustrations of hobbying with Forge World resin. GW did release a plastic version of the Contemptor with the "Betrayal at Calth" box set, but that model was a cut-rate two piece plastic kit, a pretty weak effort by GW. 

If the job calls for shooting AND punching stuff, the Contemptor is ready for work!

With the advent of the "Age of Darkness" box set, 30k geeks now have access to a true, proper multi-part plastic Contemptor kit, and wow, is it a beauty! It goes together very nicely, without too much fuss, and as an added bonus it is possible, without too much trouble, to magnetize the weapon mounts! This opens your collection the full spectrum of bonkers 30k weapons which can be used to equip this thing! Adding the magnets might seem fiddly, but trust me: if I can manage it, anyone can, and it is worth it in the end - sure, you want autocannons or lascannons or whatever....but you also want to try out the conversion beamer in at least ONE game, right?

Here the twin-lascannons have been swapped on to the weapon arm. You also get twin multi-meltas or twin heavy bolters as weapon options in the "Age of Darkness" box, and separate frames are available which contain beamers, volkite weapons etc.

Are there downsides? Maybe a couple, at most. The building sequence makes sub-assembly very, very hard, and this, in turn, can create some challenges when painting the model, especially the "helmet". If you want to paint the helmet/head separately, then you basically cannot assemble the torso very much at all. It would have been better for the "neck" to be one separate piece - but that is picking the flyshit out of pepper. This is an annoying, but not insurmountable, and in the end, overall, this is a HUGE improvement over the resign models and pole-up-its-ass plastic kit from the Calth box. It is just a great kit, 30k fans will really enjoy it!

This brings me to the only other "criticism" I might have of this kit - and it is not really about the kit itself, rather, the fact that you probably already have one or two (or maybe a lot more) of these Conetmptor models in your collection already, and as such, the advent of this kit is sadly late and perhaps a touch pointless. That said, for new entrants to 30k, or the deep hard core nut cases like me, well...this is still just great! Enjoy building and painting it!

Last stand, anyone?

I mean, I think Contemptor Dreadnoughts are sort of a must-have in any 30k collection, just because they look cool, the design tie back to the good old days etc. Even better, with the new "Age of Darkness" edition of the rules, they are also a lot more impressive in terms of their combat power on the table - now that they take "wounds" instead of vehicle-style hits, they tend to last longer in the game, which is great, much more cinematic, and gives a game performance that feels a lot closer to the "fluff" in the Black Library novels. No doubt this fellow will help the doomed defence of the VII Legion last that little bit longer atop the Walls of Terra.

Forge World continues, for now at least, to sell the Legion-specific Contemptor Dreanought hulls. Certainly, you could combine one of those with the plastic weapons if you wished - that might be something I end up attempting down the road - but these plastic kits are lovely, and it would be just as nice (and cheaper) to customize the hulls using 3D-printed stuff from third party suppliers out there.

That's all for now - thanks for visiting and for reading, and watch this space for more painting soon!