Legiones Astartes – Legion Mastodon
- Legion Mastodon 690 pts
The Mastodon is one of the heaviest assault transports in the arsenal of the Legiones Astartes and one reserved for use against the most heavily fortified positions. Several times the size of a Land Raider, its transport bay can convey over forty Space Marines through the most perilous of battlefields and protect them even from enemy Titans. The Mastodon’s primary role is to deliver these troops directly into the breach created with the siege melta array mounted on its armoured prow. Few fortifications can withstand this fearsome weapon, the Legionaries passing through the melted stone, steel and flesh to press directly into the heart of the enemy position. Although every Legion’s armoury includes a number of Mastodons, deploying them is a major operation in itself and so it is only utilised in protracted siege operations where one or more entire Legions are amassed to deliver overwhelming force and destroy a foe no other was capable of engaging. As the wars of the Horus Heresy ground onwards, however, these heavy assault transports saw use in increasing numbers as both sides committed every last effort to destroy utterly their hated foe.
| Armour | Transport Capacity | ||||||
| M | BS | Front | Side | Rear | HP | ||
| Legion Mastodon (⌀Use model) | |||||||
| Legion Mastodon (⌀Use model) | 10 | 4 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 12 | 42 |
- Centreline Mounted siege melta array
- Two Sponson Mounted heavy bolters
- Two Sponson Mounted heavy flamers
- Turret Mounted skyreaper battery
- Smoke launchers
- A Legion Mastodon has one Access Point at the front and one Access Point at the rear.
- Legiones Astartes (X)
- Assault Vehicle
- Transport Bay
- Void Shields (2)
- Vehicle (Super-heavy, Transport)
- A Legion Mastodon may take:
- - Up to four Hull (Front) Mounted hunter-killer missiles +5 points each
- - Searchlights Free
- A Legion Mastodon may exchange both of its Sponson Mounted heavy bolters for one of the following options:
- - Two Sponson Mounted heavy flamers Free
- - Two Sponson Mounted lascannon +10 points per model
- - Two Sponson Mounted volkite culverin +10 points per model
- A Legion Mastodon may exchange both of its Sponson Mounted heavy flamers for one of the following options:
- - Two Sponson Mounted heavy bolters Free
- - Two Sponson Mounted lascannon +10 points per model
- - Two Sponson Mounted volkite culverin +10 points per model
- A Legion Mastodon may exchange its skyreaper battery for:
- - Command vox relay +25 points
The Space Marines of the Emperor’s Legions are genetically engineered, psycho-indoctrinated warriors with superhuman abilities, and minds and souls tempered for war. Each of the Legions has its own idiosyncrasies and character – the product of their gene-seed and the unique warrior cultures fostered by their masters.
Any unit with this special rule will have a number of additional special rules and abilities specific to their ‘named’ Legion, all of which will be defined in other Horus Heresy – Age of Darkness publications. A Space Marine unit may only have one such ‘named’ rule, e.g., Legiones Astartes (Sons of Horus). Space Marine units from a different Legion may only be included in an army using an Allied Detachment and in conjunction with the Allies in the Age of Darkness chart.Many armoured fighting vehicles bear simple grenade systems rigged to distribute smoke upon being triggered, granting the vehicle a brief and passing cover that can prove crucial in the worst of situations. Such devices are of most use in slow moving engagements, as a vehicle at maximum speed will quickly disperse or outrun its own smoke shield.
The controlling player may choose to trigger smoke launchers once a model with them has completed its movement in the Movement phase, and may only choose to trigger them if the model has moved no faster than Combat Speed that turn. Once triggered, the model with smoke launchers counts as being more than 25% obscured, regardless of terrain, until the start of the controlling player’s next turn and gains a 6+ Cover Save. A model whose smoke launchers have been triggered may not make any Shooting Attacks, except as part of a Reaction, in the same turn. Smoke launchers may only be used once per battle, and once triggered may not be further used – in addition, they do not count as a weapon and may not be targeted by Weapon Destroyed results on the Vehicle Damage table.Mounted illum-beacons or simple electric torches, many vehicles mount some kind of portable light to aid in target identification and destruction in darkness and poor weather.
A model with searchlights ignores the 24" limit to line of sight imposed by the Night Fighting rules when making Shooting Attacks, however enemy units also ignore that same restriction when making Shooting Attacks that target a model with searchlights.In addition, any unit that has been the target of a Shooting Attack made by a unit with searchlights (regardless of whether any Hits were inflicted or not) may be freely targeted for Shooting Attacks by any other unit in the same Shooting phase, ignoring the 24" restriction to line of sight imposed by the Night Fighting rules.
Searchlights do not count as weapons and may not be targeted by the Weapon Destroyed result on the Vehicle Damage table.
This vehicle is specifically designed to disgorge troops into the thick of the action.
Passengers Disembarking from Access Points on a Vehicle with this special rule can Charge on the turn they do so (including when forced to make an Emergency Disembarkation) unless the Vehicle arrived from Reserves that turn.This datasheet has Lords of War Battlefield Role. Full list of Legiones Astartes units sharing same Battlefield Role follows:
Some of the largest transport vehicles are specially designed to carry both infantry and engines of war into battle, allowing versatile battle groups to be deployed to the battlefield at once. These rare war machines are often restricted to the most elite of an army, and used to tackle the most perilous of missions.
A model with this special rule may carry models of the Dreadnought and Automata Unit Types, as well as models with the Cavalry Unit Type but not the Antigrav Sub-type. Each Dreadnought model uses 10 points of Transport Capacity, while each Automata and Cavalry model uses up a number of Transport Capacity points equal to twice its starting Wounds Characteristic.Some vehicles are equipped with almost impenetrable shields of energy, relics from ancient times known as void shields.
A model with this special rule has a number of void shields, as listed on its profile. Shooting Attacks which Hit a model with this special rule instead target this model’s void shields while at least one remains active. Void shields have an Armour Value of 12. A successful Glancing Hit, Penetrating Hit or any successful Hit from a Destroyer weapon which targets a void shield causes it to collapse, reducing the number ‘X’ by -1. When the number of void shields is reduced to 0, this special rule has no further effect and subsequent Shooting Attacks target the model instead. Void shields have no effect on close combat attacks, and may not be affected by close combat attacks.Certain designated command vehicles mount powerful omni-vox relays, which occupy much of their internal compartments. These arrays allow those leaders fortunate enough to have access to such rare assets to carefully judge the flow of battle and maintain close watch over their troops, urging them onwards to victory.
While any model with the Character Sub-type is Embarked upon a model with this special rule, friendly units with the same version of the Legiones Astartes special rule that are within 18" or that include a model with a nuncio-vox may use the Embarked model’s Leadership Characteristic for Morale checks and Pinning tests. If more than one model with the Character Sub-type is Embarked upon a model with this special rule then the controlling player chooses which model’s Leadership Characteristic is used.