The Medusa and Basilisk self-propelled artillery platforms are the latest Warhammer 40k tanks to feel the shrink ray, as Games Workshop reveals miniscule new miniatures for its upcoming wargame Warhammer the Horus Heresy: Legions Imperialis. GW previewed a new kit that builds eight of the diminutive warmachines on Thursday.
The new small-scale models are a miniaturisation of Forge World’s Solar Auxilia artillery tanks. The Solar Auxilia are the precursor to the Astra Militarum Warhammer 40k faction, which operated during the Great Crusade, circa the year 30,000.
This version of the tanks is built on the armored Leman Russ chassis rather than the lighter Chimera chassis favored in the 41st millennium. As they’ll be sharing a battlefield with Warlord Titans, we don’t think this improves their chances of survival a whole lot.
The Basilisk provides long range fire support with its Earthshaker cannon, while the Medusa packs a heavier calibre of shell but operates at closer range. GW hasn’t revealed the Legions Imperialis rules for artillery and indirect fire weapons yet, but we do know that it’s possible to destroy buildings, something the Medusa is very good at in other game systems.
Models for the new Legions Imperialis range are in what Games Workshop is calling ‘Epic’ scale, about ¼ the height (and 1/16 the volume) of their Warhammer 40k counterparts. Confusingly, from the ’80s to ’00s Games Workshop produced another range of tiny models that it also called Epic scale, but these were even smaller.
Games Workshop has delayed the Legions Imperialis release date to an unknown time, and it’s not clear if these artillery tanks will be part of the product lineup for the game at launch or not.
I am exceptionally keen to get Legions Imperialis to the table, to the extent that I acquired a 3D printer specifically to make Legions Imperialis terrain of the correct scale. Whenever the game actually does launch, my battlefield will be ready.