Great Crusade Great Crusade arms & armaments

[Pacific81]

Hi folks. I'm putting together some of the MKII kits as an early-mid Great Crusade-era force but think I am a bit out of touch on the latest background on what was heavily in use (or what was not) during the Crusade. I did think Saturnine would be the Terminator armour of choice for example, especially for early crusade as the fluff always used to be the early ones were high pressure/reactor suits from the Saturnine fleets adapted for war - however now are they much later, pre-heresy as they were used by Vulkan and the Salamanders at Istvaan? (Although presumably didn't help them much!)

 

I'm compiling a list below of ins/outs, very grateful if anyone has any useful info they can add! Or to correct what I have entered already. 

 

Ins:

- Volkite weaponry

- Plasma weaponry

- 'Hover' vehicles (jet bikes, land speeders etc.)

 

Outs:

- MKV & MKVI armour. (I know technically 'pre-heresy', but would be very late Crusade). 

- Inductii. These programmes were generally initiated as a result of the civil war.

Edited December 12, 2025 by Pacific81

[SvenIronhand]

Can't go wrong with bolters.

[No Foes Remain]

I started on a similar thread a few years ago, but I never got anywhere further with it since with more releases there seemed to be less about when such equipment was made. I found most of this through just trawling the Black Books for lore tidbits.

[Pacific81]

Thank you so much for that, @No Foes Remain that is exactly what I was searching for!

 

I am not sure that much has been updated since then? Only thing I have spotted is that the Kratos is now known to be early/mid Crusade especially.

And Saturnine armour has now had a lot more detail added: was a conquest of Sol/early Crusade thing, dropped out of use due to maintenance requirements, then Vulkan brought back a Deluxe version in time for the new Istvaan boxset.

[Doghouse]

I know Vindicators and Sabres were originally a Heresy invention but I think are now late Great Crusade, Mk IV originally came into use I think about forty years before the Heresy based on The Last Heretic. 

 

As I remember it:

 

Rhino APC Deimos pattern - Late Unification Wars to very early Great Crusade - Horus Heresy Book One: Betrayal

 

Land Raider Proteus - Late Unification Wars transitioning into early Great Crusade - Horus Heresy Book Two: Massacre/Horus Heresy Book Five: Tempest

 

Predator Destructor - Early Great Crusade once armoured formations scaled up - Horus Heresy Book One: Betrayal/Horus Heresy Book Two: Massacre

 

Predator Annihilator - Mid Great Crusade as anti armour needs increased - Horus Heresy Book Five: Tempest/Horus Heresy Book Six: Retribution

 

Vindicator - Last Great Crusade - Horus Heresy Book One Betrayal/Horus Heresy Book Five Tempest

 

Sabre: Late Great Crusade - Horus Heresy Book Two Massacre/Horus Heresy Book Six Retribution

 

Sicaran Battle Tank - Mid to late Great Crusade - Horus Heresy Book Two: Massacre/Horus Heresy Book Six: Retribution

 

Whirlwind Scorpius - Early Great Crusade with limited distribution - Horus Heresy Book One: Betrayal/Horus Heresy Book Two: Massacre

 

Contemptor Dreadnought - Late Unification Wars through entire Great Crusade - Horus Heresy Book One: Betrayal/Horus Heresy Book Two: Massacre/Horus Heresy Book Five: Tempest

 

Leviathan Dreadnought -Mid to late Great Crusade - Horus Heresy Book Two: Massacre/Horus Heresy Book Five: Tempest/Horus Heresy Book Six: Retribution

 

Deredeo Dreadnought - Mid Great Crusade onward - Horus Heresy Book Six: Retribution/Horus Heresy Book Six: Retribution

 

Stormbird Assault Lander - Late Unification Wars and early Great Crusade - Horus Heresy Book One: Betrayal/Horus Heresy Book Two: Massacre

 

Thunderhawk Gunship - Early to mid Great Crusade as rapid deployment doctrine matured - Horus Heresy Book One: Betrayal/Horus Heresy Book Five: Tempest

 

Fire Raptor - Late Great Crusade - Horus Heresy Book Six: Retribution/Horus Heresy Book Eight: Malevolence

 

Fellblade Super heavy -Mid Great Crusade with Legion level logistics - Horus Heresy Book Two: Massacre/Horus Heresy Book Five: Tempest

 

Glaive and Falchion variants - Late Great Crusade and rare even then - Horus Heresy Book Five: Tempest/Horus Heresy Book Six: Retribution

 

Rapier: Late Unification to early Great Crusade. - Horus Heresy Book One: Betrayal

[Pacific81]

Thank you Doghouse. I love that we are still having a similar conversation as once did 16-17 years ago on the old Great Crusade forum! Its amazing how much has been padded out nowadays with official sources, although so much Crusade-era is still the odd (sometimes contradictory) snippet here and there.

[Doghouse]

Yeah the good old days of trawling through novels and old rules books like Imperial archivists for the tiniest snippet of lore and then talking about it for hours and deciding what models we'd convert.

 

Good times. 

[Pacific81]

We should organise a Great Crusade re-union! Will be interesting who is still about playing Heresy. I would dare say a fair few.

 

Although not invite the chap that deleted the image I had posted in the discussion thread about fortifications of Terra, of Bowser's castle from NES Mario, as it was deemed "not constructive in the discussion relating to the construction of the defences" (and then tried to give me a warning, despite me also being a Mod!  ) Ah, good times..

 

I did also get told by someone that one of the regulars, Whitehorn, had passed away, only for us to then share messages a few years later! Which was a bit of a shock, to say the least.

Edited December 19, 2025 by Pacific81

[Doghouse]

Yeah certainly seems like a lifetime ago, I can only really remember you, Ed (Apologist) and Laurie off the top of my head. Whitehorn rings a bell though.

[roryokane]

On 12/12/2025 at 9:18 AM, Pacific81 said:

Hi folks. I'm putting together some of the MKII kits as an early-mid Great Crusade-era force but think I am a bit out of touch on the latest background on what was heavily in use (or what was not) during the Crusade. I did think Saturnine would be the Terminator armour of choice for example, especially for early crusade as the fluff always used to be the early ones were high pressure/reactor suits from the Saturnine fleets adapted for war - however now are they much later, pre-heresy as they were used by Vulkan and the Salamanders at Istvaan? (Although presumably didn't help them much!)

 

I'm compiling a list below of ins/outs, very grateful if anyone has any useful info they can add! Or to correct what I have entered already. 

 

Ins:

- Volkite weaponry

- Plasma weaponry

- 'Hover' vehicles (jet bikes, land speeders etc.)

 

Outs:

- MKV & MKVI armour. (I know technically 'pre-heresy', but would be very late Crusade). 

- Inductii. These programmes were generally initiated as a result of the civil war.

I think Phobos pattern bolters for the most part, since the Tigrus is usually paired with MK IV armour kits and the Umbra with MK VI, whereas Phobos bolters are usually seen paired with Mk II and III kits, which seems to suggest earlier production (also Phobos is a moon of Mars, so part of the Imperium from before the Solar Reclamation was complete, so being part of earlier production makes sense, when compared to the more distant forge world of Tigrus, and I think the Umbra/Umbra Ferrox pattern were explicitly a late crusade/heresy era boltgun).

[calgar101]

Threads like this are so great and helpful. 

[lokkorex]

I thought Bolters went Phobos->Umbra->Tigrus?

 

And wasn't Umbra at first paired with Mk.2 and Phobos with Mk.3 in the Forge World resin sets?

 

EDIT: My bad, all pictures I found that both the Mk.2 and Mk.3 sets were paired with Phobos Bolt weapons.

Edited December 29, 2025 by lokkorex

[Uprising]

Not wanting to start a new thread as this relate to this topic, when did the Mars pattern Rhino (and other mars vehicles) start production, and when did the Rhino APC Deimos pattern start getting replace?  

[Jamafore]

From what I remember, it was stated that the Mars pattern Rhino chassis vehicles were available late Crusade/ Heresy era, though that might also be a concession due to the fact that the Deimos pattern used to be FW only availability while the Mars pattern, being plastic, was readily available. Not sure about when the Deimos pattern started being phased out

[calgar101]

Aside from aesthetics, how different are a Deimos and Mars pattern vehicle? Are Demios chasis far superior? 

[roryokane]

On 1/1/2026 at 9:00 PM, calgar101 said:

Aside from aesthetics, how different are a Deimos and Mars pattern vehicle? Are Demios chasis far superior? 

I don’t think there’s ever been any specific sources comparing the two.

[calgar101]

Yeah I haven't read anything saying that but I assumed Mars patterns may be slightly inferior as they're easier to produce or because they're massed produced?

Quite a few variants of tanks from several Forge worlds, it would be interesting to see what differences other than aesthetics they have.

[roryokane]

On 1/4/2026 at 10:26 PM, calgar101 said:

Yeah I haven't read anything saying that but I assumed Mars patterns may be slightly inferior as they're easier to produce or because they're massed produced?

Quite a few variants of tanks from several Forge worlds, it would be interesting to see what differences other than aesthetics they have.

The Deimos pattern was hardly artisanal!

[calgar101]

Well no but was there anything inherently better in a Deimos pattern than a Mars or Ryza etc?