The long-legged Cerastus Knight Lancer has taken a big step out into the wider world, stunning people with one of the biggest and most poseable plastic Warhammer kits yet.
In the not-so-distant future (because of the long legs, you see) the Cerastus Knights Acheron and Castigator will be loping onto battlefields in the Horus Heresy and Warhammer 40,000. Both of these mighty war constructs wield grim weapons which share a unique feature – a long, looping ammo feed or fuel hose connecting the gun to the body.
The original resin version of this miniature often required hobbyists to bend and twist the pieces with careful applications of hot water or hair dryer to accommodate posing, which was quite an involved task even for expert modellers. The new plastic kits for the Castigator and Acheron provide a smart solution – a separate sprue for the hose and ammo feed has been designed in a partially glueless assembly which can be moved into almost any position you want.
Warhammer Community designer Jon has taken a break from making articles look all pretty to mess around with the new plastic Cerastus Knight Castigator kit – and to see what poses and possibilities this new miniature unlocks.
Jon: Having never assembled an Imperial Knight before, I was really excited to see how the Cerastus Knight Castigator fitted together, and how far I could push the poseability to show the speed of these nimble war-machines.
The first feature of the new kit I was drawn to was the flexible ammo feed, which links the Knight’s weapon to ammo hoppers mounted on its back.
Each section of the ammo feed is made from two pieces, which when fitted together connect to a hidden loop in the adjacent section, just like the links in a chain. As the sections are held together by these loops, the completed feed remains flexible, so you can position the boltcannon without having to worry about whether the ammo feed will fit or not.
As mentioned in the Cerastus Knight Lancer design article, the poseability also extends to the Knight’s limbs. If you’re looking to get your Knight onto the battlefield with a minimum of mechanical fuss, the leg and toe joints are made with locating pins, which indicate their default positions, so you can put the kit together quickly and easily in the stock pose if you wish, but you can go further if you choose.
Each joint is cunningly formed around a pivot or ball-and-socket, and can be freely positioned. In many cases these joints can be moved even after assembly, meaning working out your chosen pose is very straightforward, and there is no need to dry fit positions before applying glue!
Even the pistons and pipes in the kit adjust to fit many different poses – each is made from two sections which slide inside one another to expand or contract in length depending on the position of each joint.
The example below shows just how flexible the new kits are – this pose was established without making any adjustments to the components (apart from removing the locating pins).
The Knights Castigator and Acheron will be available to pre-order this Saturday, ready to strike a limber pose in your games of Horus Heresy and Warhammer 40,000.