Cannibalisation and re-use of marine equipment during the Heresy

[Doghouse]

There was a really nice article in white dwarf a while back which introduced the idea of there being other marks that were lost or prototypes that never saw mass production. My favourite is Imperial armour which is also known as the lost mark which saw some service during the end of the Great Crusade, this being the anniversary model with the disintegrator bolt gun.

 

It also mentions two variants of Mk V, the one that which we know as the existing model being known as production Mk V and the salvaged technique of mixing parts of all marks like we see with the shattered legions.

 

The other part I liked was where it mentions that Forge Worlds have a kind of WIFI internet linking worlds and that the reason the likes of Mk6 became common use was that once uploaded to one forge world all linked forge worlds could download the blue prints. Bit like an STL file and 3d printing I guess.

[Chainsword Cookie]

The Istvaan battlefields were thoroughly looted for anything of value, from geneseed to whole tanks. Same goes for every battle where the victor could consolidate the gains. MKV is clearly an armor mark made from a number of scavenged power armor elements. Standard gear such as bolters, combat blades, even Rhinos and other redoubtable vehicles was routinely scavenged on both sides and no matter the logistic train behind each legion, all had to scrounge for replacement parts, ammunition or in general anything. 

 

By the end of the Siege I believe that no Legiones unit was integral in its equipment and outlook and during the Scouring an active effort was made on both sides to gather as much Astartes wargear as possible. 

 

A clear indicator are the Chaos Space Marines which have no access to plasma cannons for Havocs or never had any "repulsor plates" vehicles due to the advanced technology and intricate mechanic parts which are required to maintain them. 

 

I think it is safe to assume that any Astartes unit placed on the line suffered losses in wargear and materiel which were hard to replace and thus resulted to battlefield scavenging as a rote. 

[lansalt]

On 10/10/2023 at 11:47 AM, Petitioner's City said:

 

And yet we've been shown that since Betrayal they became interchangeable through cannibalising and scavenging :)

 

 

Spoiler

 

That's supposed to be a MkIV torso with bolted on MkIII front plates. The MkIV weapons kit and others had a couple of those where you could see side cables going to the back.

 

On 10/10/2023 at 1:42 PM, AGRAMAR said:

I think this is one of the few (or even more, unique) official Horus Heresy miniature with such mix of pieces of different MKs (III and IV at least).

I think we need a bit more with this concept.

 

Spoiler

 

This is the same case, a MkIV suit with MkIII extra plates in arms and one leg. In the model you can see it looking from behind.

 

MKII-III and MkIV and onwards are supposed to have been distinct tech and not compatible besides common interfaces for the helmets, paudrons and backpacks; with only the most technically oriented Legions being able to make hybrids of the two:

 

 

That said, the new heavy weapon arms designed to be used with MkVI and MkIII seem to contradict this. My headcanon is that those were designed on purpose to be cross compatible and lower production costs, just like in real life :-)

 

28 minutes ago, Chainsword Cookie said:

MKV is clearly an armor mark made from a number of scavenged power armor elements.

As @Doghouse mentions above, MkV designates two similar types of suits based in "low grade" MkIV parts, with one of them being mass produced with the familiar helmet and torso with crossed cables we know. It also existed before the Heresy, as it was in service in legions like the AL or WE.

 

[Marshal Rohr]

Someone on BnC a while back (2014/2015) did an Iron Hands Force that had a lot of kitbashes and conversions meant to represent captured traitor equipment but I can’t remember their screen name. They had heavily converted regular tactical plastics to do custom Sarum helmets and Mark 6 armor meant to be taken from Raven Guard casualties back when Mark 6 was meant to be rare. 
 

Projects like that really make the Heresy feel lived in and deep and hopefully as 2.0 goes on we will see those old school kitbash heavy armies come back. 

[Machine God]

2 hours ago, Marshal Rohr said:

Someone on BnC a while back (2014/2015) did an Iron Hands Force that had a lot of kitbashes and conversions meant to represent captured traitor equipment but I can’t remember their screen name. They had heavily converted regular tactical plastics to do custom Sarum helmets and Mark 6 armor meant to be taken from Raven Guard casualties back when Mark 6 was meant to be rare. 
 

Projects like that really make the Heresy feel lived in and deep and hopefully as 2.0 goes on we will see those old school kitbash heavy armies come back. 

@Marshal Rohr - That would be Iron Hands Fanatic

[Petitioner's City]

13 hours ago, Machine God said:

@Marshal Rohr - That would be Iron Hands Fanatic

 

Now working for Specialist Games!

Edited October 17, 2023 by Petitioner's City

[Marshal Rohr]

18 hours ago, Machine God said:

@Marshal Rohr - That would be Iron Hands Fanatic

I know IHF’s most excellent work, im thinking of someone else. It appeared to have been purged when I searched.