Back at Warhammer Fest we revealed that the Cerastus Knight Lancer – currently a massive resin miniature available from Forge World – was to be joining the range of plastic Imperial Knights for Warhammer: The Horus Heresy.* This thundering war machine charges to war on truly towering bipedal legs, with a shock lance and ion gauntlet shield to complete the knightly look.
Daren, a sculptor at the Specialist Design Studio, designed both the original kit and its shiny new successor – he’s here to share the secrets of how he modernised this loping giant.
Daren: My primary objective was to faithfully convert the existing resin kit to plastic, including maintaining the poseable features offered by the original. I’d already done the design work almost 10 years ago, when I made the original, so it was a lot of fun to revisit it as a plastic kit. As a designer, that’s something you don’t often get the chance to do!
Most of the joints have kept their full range of motion, and the ankle pistons all slide in and out to accommodate various stances. The kit should appeal to both averagely skilled and more experienced hobbyists – the legs have set positions aimed at those who just want to get their Cerastus built, while the locator pegs that make this possible can be snipped off to make the joints fully poseable for anyone who wants to really play around with their Knight’s stance.
As with the legs, there are lots of options for posing the arms. You can even slide the lance between fully retracted or extended positions. I would suggest constructing the arm joints without glue so you can play around with the positioning. Then, once you’ve found your desired pose, carefully run plastic glue into the joint using capillary action,** to lock it in place.
Hopefully people will find the kit fun to build, and take advantage of all the possibilities to make it their own!
The kit also includes a seated pilot for the interior.*** It was nice to be able to represent the lore of how the pilot's helmet often reflects the look of the actual Knight's sensor head! We've also added a couple of banner options for the lance and between the legs, and there are also a couple of options for different shoulder pads, knee pads, greaves, and various Loyalist or Traitor accessories.
Thanks Daren! The Cerastus Knight Lancer will be up for pre-order very soon, and its more firepower-focused brethren won’t be too far behind. To find out exactly when, you’ll need to keep an eye on Warhammer Community – so why not read all about the day the first Imperial Knight sallied forth while you wait?
* Not just Warhammer: The Horus Heresy though - You can use a Cerastus Knight Lancer in games of Warhammer 40,000 using the rules on the WarCom downloads page - specifically Imperial Armour: Imperial Knights and Imperial Armour: Chaos Knights (depending on which deity you’ve pledged your eternal soul to). They’re fully usable in tournaments too! Points are in the latest Munitorum Field Manual.
** The phenomenon of fluids moving through a combined space without the action of gravity. It’s the same force that sucks wet paint up onto your brushes (and ruins the ferrule if you’re not careful!)
*** The resin Cerastus Knights needed a separate upgrade set to show off their pilot – but now this Noble Scion is safely ensconced inside the plastic kit!