OK, so it's not technically a spider (it's got six legs not eight, and also its a 30 foot tall daemon engine, not a household bug). But whatever it is, Warhammer 40k's Defiler is finally getting the brand new model Chaos players everywhere have been waiting over two decades for. And ye gods, it's terrifying.
Revealed via Games Workshop's Warhammer Community site on Monday, the brand new Defiler replaces a venerable plastic kit from 2003 (yes, 2003) that's long been on fans' wishlist for a redesign. After getting new Mutilators in the run-up to the now confirmed Iron Warriors narrative book, we had good reason to suspect a revamped Defiler was waiting in the wings, but it's still a happy day for Chaos fans to see it confirmed, especially with Warhammer 40k 11th Edition just around the corner.
It appears that, as before, the Defiler will be playable in all the Warhammer 40k factions based around Chaos Space Marines, as GW's announcement shows off five alternate heads included in the kit: one generic, horned one, and one for each of the four Chaos gods' chosen legions.
Its arsenal, too, appears very similar, though we can now swap out the chest mounted battle cannon for an embiggened plasma cannon. The main gun is flanked by either heavy stubbers or autocannons, and there's evidently a pick n' mix of twin lascannons, twin autocannons, twin heavy flamers, missile launcher, or power scourge as the arm weapons.
What has changed a lot is the appearance of this monstrous, fleshy daemon hybrid of tank and dreadnought. Where the much maligned classic 2003 miniature was hunkered down, blocky, and mechanical, appearing more like a vehicle than an organism, the new one is tall and bulbous, with its unsettling organic parts bulging out at every seam. It has more in common with 2019's Venomcrawler than anything else, only it's a big centaur-dreadnought-spider as opposed to, you know, just a spider.
From the photos we've seen in Monday's Warcom reveal, that extra height, combined with what appears to be a small increase in overall volume (in line with 40k's broader scale creep) is going to make the Nu-Defiler a much more imposing centerpiece model than its soon-to-be-dear departed predecessor. We won't know for sure until we see some proper size comparisons.
But either way, it's certainly a major redesign for a fairly popular model. It makes this well known daemon-tank a lot more daemon, and a fair bit less tank. Like many newer 40k kits, the more dynamic pose is also likely to make this Defiler more difficult to do conversions on (unless you know what you're doing).
That's liable to make some folks grumpy, while delighting others who'd avoided this janky old fella, despite it being a mainstay of many Chaos armies' competitive lists for years.
What's your take on this newer, rounder, gribblier Defiler? A daemonic delight, or do you feel the Chaos Marines' many legged pal has been done a little dirty? Come let us know in the free Wargamer Discord community! We can talk about the best way to sculpt weird abs onto its newly exposed midriff if you want.