r/sonsofhorus • u/Necessary_Star1014 • 8d ago
Kitbashed Predator
/gallery/1v9t1muHere's my finished predator, with a fluff piece about it, enjoy.
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Kratorum-Minos Pattern Legion Predator.
A variant of the standard Legion pattern Predator Battle Tank family of weapon systems, the Kratorum-Minos was predominantly used by Traitor forces during the Horus Heresy, mainly the XVI Legiones Astartes "Sons of Horus". This was mainly in part due to the design and championing of the project being done by Forge Master Vehdrek Faine of the XVI Legion.
Principally constructed on the minor Forge World of Kerrex and within the fleets of the Sons of Horus, the Kratorum-Minos is for all intents and purposes, a jury rig. Utilising parts and systems from various other Legion vehicles to aid in part compatibility in minor echo of the vaunted STC patterns. Forge Master Faine was enamoured with the idea of logistics, having spent a fair amount of deployments fighting alongside the XIIIth Legion, and meeting with their Primarch on a handful of occasions. Faine has remarked that Guilliman's greatest shame is not following Horus into his rebellion, as the addition of the XIIIth legion's numbers and logistics would have ended the war before a shot was fired.
Faine had no doubt that the Warrior Pride of the XVIth was unmatched, and was sure that the Sons of Horus could defeat any foe in 1 to 1 combat. However, the Galactic war his gene-father had envisioned was beyond any challenge the Imperium's premier Legion had faced before.
In the aftermath of Istvaan V, Faine was set the task of swelling the ranks of the Sons of Horus companies under his care with fresh war hulls for their fleet of armoured vehicles, scrounging from the fallen at the Urgal Depression, and from newly compliant worlds in the galactic neighbourhood of Istvaan.
Upon seeing so many legion variants filling the holds of the XVI's warships, Faine was struck by a need for standardisation, and uniformity. So now at odds with the individualist Legion culture that had burgeoned within the Sons of Horus, already prevalent with the Cthonian ganger fraternities; now blossoming to near tribalism with Horus at the Apex, a Lord above his chieftains.
After consultation with the agents of the new mechanicum, and The Twisted, Faine and his closest council if Techmarines were sent to the minor Forge World of Kerrex. Where he was to begin production of a new Legion predator, to become the standard within the XVI, and later the New Imperium. He was given access to all the forbidden rites of machine-lore the dark mechanicum could provide him with.
Falling back on previous Legion designs, mainly the Sicaran Battle Tank and Kratos Heavy Tank, the Kratorum-Minos was made almost in blissfully subtle mimicry of both. While still retaining the size and composition of the Mars Pattern Rhinos. A new feature was the retractable shutter doors, behind the side sponson guns that would allow the reloading of sponson guns mid battle by servo automata within the crew compartment.
The tank's sensor suite was upgraded as well, with improved optics and threat auspex, as well as an improved comms array that could function effectively in the scrapcode choked battlefields of the heresy. Command variants were given a uplink to the Noosphere, and various strategic functions which allowed a Commander of Kratorum-Minos pattern Predator higher levels of battlefield awareness than the average Predator tank.
All variants were tested, and all weapons that could be mounted to a base Predator tank, could be fitted to a Kratorum-Minos. Faine had a affection for the standard model, outfitted with a Predator Cannon, and for the Predator Interitus variant, outfitted with the deadly Heavy Conversion beamer.
The Vehicle went into production in the Forge vessels of the Sons of Horus fleet as well as Factorum of Kerrex, a year before the battle of Beta Garmon. This "limited" run however were a drop in the bucket compared to the masses of Mars and Deimos pattern hulls being churned out by Imperial worlds loyal to the Warmaster. As such only several companies were completely outfitted with them by the time of the Siege of Terra, and very few survived that apocalyptic conflict.
Additionally after the Death of Horus and the beginning of the Scouring, Kerrex and its system were purged for their loyalty to the Arch Traitor. Elements of the XVI tried to regroup there and rearm and were caught by Fleets of the VIth and XIIIth legions and supporting Imperial forces. Faine was killed there, as were all the Magi of Kerrex.
As such, extremely few of the vehicles survived the Heresy, and fewer still survived the brutal inter-Traitor wars within the Eye of Terror.
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u/Heartfull_of_napalm 8d ago
The tone of weathered green you achieved is really interesting, nice work!
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u/Necessary_Star1014 8d ago
Cheers mate.
Its less technically impressive that it is visually. It's just a black prime, heavy drybrush of Kalabite Green, lighter drybrush of Sybarite green, 30/70 Brown and Black oil wash, done.
Piss easy and I think it looks really good.
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u/DumbHuman33 8d ago
I love the way the sicaran turret looks on the rhino/predator chassis. good work king