When it comes to iconic miniatures and kits from the Rogue Trader era, the natural counterpart to citadel’s range of so-called ‘Imperial Robots’ are its old ‘Imperial Dreadnoughts’ of which the Furibundus-class, with its pod-like chassis, stubby legs, chunky feet, and gimbal-mounted heavy weapons is the singular example.

The resurgence in interest in Rogue Trader era models, driven in part by gamers from the 80’s and 90’s hitting the 40+ mark, but also by renewed interest in older units courtesy of Forgeworld’s Horus Heresy line, not to mention the proliferation of fan-sculpted homages, STL files, and 3D prints, has led to a rennaissance for such OOP examples of Citadel’s bygone talent.

Now, whilst I don’t condone the creation of counterfit miniatures, such as those commonly produced in Russia and China, I don’t necessarily see the harm in fan-sculpts of truly OOP miniatures and kits, especially when these refine and rescale the original miniatures for modern play. I therefore had no hestitation in purchasing one of the excellent resculpts of the Furibundus produced by the rather marvellous folk at Trollsoup (You can find them on Instragram, here), especially as it was hand-sculpted like the originals, rather than 3D sculpted like more modern alternatives.

It had never been my intention to include a dreadnought in my Dusk Raiders force, as the new-look Contemptors are a little too modern for my tastes (although might be making an appearance in my allied Warhounds), and whilst I toyed with the idea of adding a Furibundus to my Contritum side-project, once I’d got it in my grubby little mitts, I knew that he would have to be added to the loyal scions of the 4th Great Company.

In terms of rules, I’m intending to use Ancient Adrætan, (as he has now been (re)named) as a straight up proxy for the more prosaic Castraferrum-class available to the Legiones Astartes during the Great Crusade. The evolving fluff for the old Furibundus-class in the modern literature has it as one of the earlier classes of proto-dreadnought, capable of being piloted by both wired-in transhuman war-wounded and ‘normal’ human pilots and the original background material suggests that Trollsoup went for the Combustion Fuel Manifold/Exhaust rather than the Crystal Fuel version.

In narrative terms, Ancient Adrætan is a direct link to the earliest days of the Great Crusade, a point in time that is already edging into the distance as we join the Dusk Raiders’ story. Whilst tragedy is always a watch-word in my writing, I also wanted Adrætan’s fate to feel more like an ominous fading into the background of the Dusk Raiders’ journey, rather than an explicit statement of impending doom: Adrætan best represents, to my mind at least, what was truly lost in the Horus Heresy; the storied legacy of the Legions that should have been remembered, even if only in dusty tomes and cherished histories of the heroic age of Imperial conquest, but which was erased outright by the Warmaster’s treachery.

So, it being November, Ancient Adrætan joins the Dusk Raiders, lest we forget…