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I got two of these kits relatively cheap off of ebay to add to my spaceport terrain and figured they were worth a proper standalone review.



I've not played 40k in ages and never played Horus Heresy so I can't really comment on the rules or utility, just on the kit.



Once build and painted it's a good looking kit. The problem is getting it there.



https://www.warhammer.com/en-US/shop/legiones-astartes-araknae-quad-accelerator-platform-2025

Per warhammer.com it's a 92!! part kit costing $69 (nice). As with a lot of modern GW kits there is a lot of parts, each gun barrel is in 3 parts, the optics and antenna for the controls include bits smaller than a pen tip. Did that optic really need to be a separate part? Well it is!

There are of course no options. For your $69 you do NOT get an optional missile launcher or laser load out, this thing has 4 quad accelerator guns and you'll like them!



Then for all the 92 parts there's some surprising cheapness. The legs are one part (hurray!) but are hollow, no details, nothing to fill them. Basically the level of care you expect from a cheap toy. I put some plastic rod in them to give them weight and so they're not completely embarrassing.

They do fold up for storage so that's cool.

Oh and Araknae seems to be from the Greek for spider, but it only has 4 legs, maybe they count the gun barrels as the other 4?

As usual the instructions give no thought to how you're supposed to paint this. I recommend leaving the guns off and not attaching the egg to the base until after painting.



So yeah, a nice $25 kit but not a $69 one.

 Kid_Kyoto wrote:
So yeah, a nice $25 kit but not a $69 one.

Yeah, I picked up a couple for a few quid each. Not built them yet - I'm leaning towards something like a Hydra conversion.

Different guns have been previewed for LI - punisher cannons & missiles:

I think 25€ is what I've paid for mine when people split the saturnine box. I found it actually quite nice to build. And the wobbly legs are kind of fun and allow you to put it anywhere on the table. The "feet" appear to be made so you could lift the whole thing into the air, but I wouldn't know how you'd stabilize the gun part without gluing everything in that fixed position.

beast_gts wrote:

 Kid_Kyoto wrote:
So yeah, a nice $25 kit but not a $69 one.

Yeah, I picked up a couple for a few quid each. Not built them yet - I'm leaning towards something like a Hydra conversion.

Different guns have been previewed for LI - punisher cannons & missiles:

Spoiler:

Good to see, I noted that the frame is a separate sprue so easy to make add ons.

I might, MIGHT pay $69 for a kit with missiles and punisher cannons, especially if GW made it easy to swap, but the current kit. A nice $25, $69 not nice at all.

I keep thinking this thing suffers from the droppod challenges, where getting over it creates issues with movement. For that reason, I'm not playing one anytime soon.

Oh did I mention it's an AA gun that can only elevate about 10 degrees? I should mention that because, generally you want your anti aircraft guns to be able to shoot, y'know, up.

Everyone in 40k flies close to the ground...

Though off topic I love the Ork-10

I imagine its Arachnae to match the terminology of the existing Tarantula sentries.

I mean the original form of the tarantula was the funky tripod mount from Space Crusade, so I don't think they are being particularly careful about matching form to their nomenclature

 Flinty wrote:
I imagine its Arachnae to match the terminology of the existing Tarantula sentries.

I mean the original form of the tarantula was the funky tripod mount from Space Crusade, so I don't think they are being particularly careful about matching form to their nomenclature

Four legged Venusian spiders no doubt.

Just realized the variants are for LI, and not for the big game. Which I suppose is a relief since I won't be dropping $69 on a kit I'll hate.

 Flinty wrote:
I imagine its Arachnae to match the terminology of the existing Tarantula sentries.

I mean the original form of the tarantula was the funky tripod mount from Space Crusade, so I don't think they are being particularly careful about matching form to their nomenclature

The original metal version was older, mounting twin heavy weapons (the modular metal ones for gunners).

 Kid_Kyoto wrote:
Oh did I mention it's an AA gun that can only elevate about 10 degrees? I should mention that because, generally you want your anti aircraft guns to be able to shoot, y'know, up.

I was going to ask if it's actually described as an AA gun anywhere, but a quick Google shows WarCom stating "they’re excellent air defence weapons that can accurately track flying foes and shoot them down as soon as they zoom in range of the battlefield"... I wonder if the intention is they use their legs to gain additional elevation?

beast_gts wrote:

 Kid_Kyoto wrote:
Oh did I mention it's an AA gun that can only elevate about 10 degrees? I should mention that because, generally you want your anti aircraft guns to be able to shoot, y'know, up.

I was going to ask if it's actually described as an AA gun anywhere, but a quick Google shows WarCom stating "they’re excellent air defence weapons that can accurately track flying foes and shoot them down as soon as they zoom in range of the battlefield"... I wonder if the intention is they use their legs to gain additional elevation?

What!?!? You cant appreciate a degree of abstraction between rules vs the static pose models?