As any good ganger will tell you, a good vantage point is key to getting the drop on your rivals. To help fighters clamber around your Habs and gantries, the Thatos Pattern kits come with a host of extras – including a versatile set of ladders.
These ladders are modular, to allow for alternate strut heights. They’re separated into a top section, plus short and long middle sections that allow any combination. They also can hang freely on the bars of the platforms, allowing you to combine them with whatever terrain configuration you have gone with.
The curved railings, vital for any sniper lurking near the edge of a significant drop, are also very easy to add to any build. These can be attached without glue, and will sit on the curved bar on the platforms.
Want to add some additional details to the underside of your platforms? Both of the platforms and the Hab have fittings on the underside to attach accessories from the Sector Mechanicus terrain kits – such as cables, chains, and ladders – further adding to the variety of build options on offer.
The platforms are also the same thickness as Sector Mechanicus floors, which allows for the Sector Mechanicus railings to be used on them.
For that little bit of extra detail – not to mention more cover – the underside of the roof has fittings for a long ladder section (D39, for those of you checking your construction guides) to glue into, giving gangers easy access to the roof.
Speaking of extra detail, each Hab comes with four tension cables that attach to slots on the central strut. These can be assembled in two ways – down to the base, or up to the Hab. Or if your strut is tall enough, and you’ve got cables spare... both!
Need to clamber up a stack of Habs? You can add a ladder attachment (D40) to the bottom of a ladder. This allows it to neatly and gluelessly join two curved bars, giving you an easy way to access a roof, a second Hab, or a mounted platform.
The Habs were designed to allow for easy movement of models – the roof sections don’t need glue, so you can easily take them on and off, and there are plenty of wide openings in the sides of the Habs. The kit also comes with panels, however, allowing you to fill some of these openings in. Combined with the careful placement of ladders, this can make for an interesting battlefield where fighters must climb and dodge their way through a maze of modules and walkways.
Need to keep the sun off your face… not to mention that pesky rain of radioactive dust? The awning can be built in 2 ways. It can attach to a balcony piece (A18), or you can attach two parts (D13 & D14) Which will let it attach to the curved bar.
The Hab walls have fittings for aerials, a hanging lamp, or an anemometer... which is useful to let you know when a storm is on the horizon!
The kit also comes with a shelf of stowage, and an electrical box, which can be glued onto the blank wall or blank panel. These kinds of details are great for marking out some Habs as workshops, armouries, or Rogue Doc chop shops.
There are several separate components, such as aerials, a searchlight, and radar, which can be glued on the corresponding fittings found on several other parts. Much like the stowage, these can mark out a vox-equipped Hab, or a full comms centre.
Need an ash wastes objective or just an interesting piece of terrain? The strut top made from D15 and D16 has the same fittings as the Hab, to allow for two of the aerials to attach to it and create a communications array.
Strut D17 actually has six fittings to attach aerial accessories to, allowing for plenty of customisation and stacking.
There are two aerial features (D33 and D34) – a wind gauge and a communication emitter – that will both fit onto the top of the vertical aerials.
Want to connect a Hab roof to a Sector Mechanicus walkway or Zone Mortalis level? Like the platforms, a Hab roof has curved bars – and with the Hab being the same height (to the curved bar) as a Zone Mortalis column, this means it is the correct height to place floors.
A Zone Mortalis walkway will sit onto the vertical bars on the platforms and the Hab roofs. With these being curved, they can pivot and tilt at different angles.
Like the railings from Sector Mechanicus, Zone Mortalis and the Gang Stronghold, the railings will fit onto both of the other terrain set floors and vice versa.
The walkways fit the same gap as Sector Mechanicus floors. Use C15 (not C16) to attach the two together – this allows for several walkways to join two Habs or platforms.
That’s all for now – hopefully, these articles have given some insight into the versatility of the Thatos Pattern terrain sets, and inspired you to plan your very own ash wastes outposts!