Deredeo Dreadnought: Unboxing

Iron Within, Iron Without!

Since I became invested in the hobby years ago, I have been enthralled by the design and concept behind the Space Marine dreadnought, and I doubt that I am the only one.  There is something intriguing about these sepulchral walking tanks, primarily stemming from their utilitarian function of saving a heroic warrior from the verge of death, giving them the opportunity to fight once more.  Although they had some comical renditions in the beginning (a walking peanut), since the 2nd edition, they have looked like a squat walking sarcophagus of adamantium, complete with stubby gun arms, a drum-like powerfist, and a rectangular sarcophagi in the center.  This has become a cornerstone in the Space Marine aesthetic. Forge World, always wanting to shake things up a bit, released a new pattern of dreadnought loosely based on some old models a couple years back, the Contemptor.  Although reminiscent to its smaller cousin, it is bulkier, with a more rounded design.  Coupled with its separate head and its more articulated legs, the Contemptor is a far more agile and believable walker.  SInce its release, Forge World has produced numerous Contemptor dreadnoughts, including many chapter specific ones.  Just when we were all getting used to this new dreadnought, Forge World decided to release yet another variant, the Deredeo dreadnought.  Although reminiscent to the Contemptor, the Deredeo is slightly bigger, and serves as a dedicated weapons platform.  My fascination with dreadnoughts made ordering one of these Deredeo variants an inevitability, and a few weeks ago I got it in the mail, and thought you all might be interested in seeing what comes with the model.

And I thought the Contemptor Dreadnought was large!

A Deredeo armed with a Hellfire plasma cannonade.

Although the model is clearly heavily based on the Contemptor design, with a broad domed body, and separate head, it has a lot of visual differences that corroborate its battlefield role as a heavy weapons platform.  The legs are perhaps the element most similar to the contemptor, but they are substantially bulkier.  They also have two additional stabilizing toes, one either side of each foot, allowing the warmachine to get a better footing when setting up a firing position.  Its torso is noticeably longer than its counterpart, extending with a shark-like snout.  This snout, which houses the model’s head, protrudes from the main body, where the weapons systems and legs attach, giving the walker an interesting look, reminiscent of a mechwarrior Madcat.  Although it has a traditional looking powerpack, it attaches perpendicular to the body.  This was to allow the attachment of the optional Aiolos pattern missile launcher, a mammoth whirlwind style missile silo containing some 32 rockets.  Curiously, there is no additional piece to cover up this optional weapon system.  Rivaling even its prodigious size, are the Anvilus pattern autocannons.  They have a long barreled design that mimics the other Horus Heresy autocannons, including their characteristic muzzle breaks.  Each arm has its own large hopper from which snakes an impressive ammunition belt.  Like most of the other FW autocannons, the weapons are so large that they are almost comical.  But unlike the one held by the Cataphractii terminators, this one almost works, since the Deredeo is such a large warmachine.  Although these are currently the only weapons available for the dreadnought, the Horus Heresy Weekender revealed that there is at least one additional option, long barreled plasma cannons called a Hellfire Cannonade.

The model has relatively few parts.

Look at how crisp and clean the cast is!

When getting my Deredeo, I was stunned at the quality of the cast.  Most models that I have received from Forge World are rife with casting defects, mold shifts, bubbles, and deformed edges.  In all honesty, these sorts of issues are inherent with resin, so I was expecting this kit to be no different.  Instead, I was surprised to find an almost perfect cast, likely the best resin cast that I have ever seen on any model (FW or any other company).  Each piece has crisp, clean details and edges (without any bowed in).  The mold lines are very minor, and there are very few bubbles.  Even the little radiator disks at the base of the autocannon barrels are nice!  Perhaps it is because it is early in the life of the molds, or maybe FW is starting to get better with quality control, but regardless I am extremely pleased with the quality of all of the pieces.

Rather than the spherical front of a Contemptor, the Deredeo has a pointed prow.

The powerpack is placed perpendicular to the body so that it does not interfere with the optional missile launcher.

The kit has a conservative number of pieces, only 16, in fact.  When looking at the instruction sheet provided, I thought they may have forgotten to include two extra sets of variant feet, but after contacting FW about it, they informed me that those feet never went into production.  The base kit comes with two weapon options to be mounted to dreadnought’s body.  The first is a pair of awesome looking heavy flamers, reminiscent to a Grey Knight incinerator.  The second is a compact set of heavy bolters, which look nice, although the barrels are a bit odd.  They are pre-drilled, which is nice, but the bore size is incredibly large (even for a heavy bolter), making them look ridiculous.  The head that comes with the model is really neat looking, closely mirroring a standard Space Marine helmet.  Its thin grill and aggressive slant to its eyes really give it a especially sinister appearance, synergistically adding to the model’s ominous character.

Has anyone ever considered how short the barrels are on heavy bolters?

This is probably my favorite of the new FW dreadnought heads, and certainly the most unsettling.

With a little luck, I will be able to assemble this behemoth within the next few weeks.  The excellent cast will certainly make this more probable, although resin models always take longer to assemble than you anticipate, and I imagine this will be no different.  I am not sure what I want to do with socket at the top of the model, because I did not purchase the missile launcher.  Regardless, I am excited to give the rules a try in a game or two of Warhammer 40k; the ability to reroll armor penetration results, as well as gain Skyfire and Interceptor abilities if remaining stationary is pretty powerful.  My contemptor needs a friend afterall!

-Eric Wier