Adeptus Titanicus – Cerastus Knights Acheron and Castigator

Along with the Defence of Ryza campaign supplement, Games Workshop released the two of the missing Cerastus Knight variants - the Acheron and Castigator.

Among the Imperial Titans is a class of smaller and less powerful versions of the god-machines - the Imperial Knights. They are piloted by a single Knight commander, called scion, and not by a crew of princeps and moderati. With the knights being much smaller than Warhound Scout Titans, they can only to a limited amount carry titan weapon systems into battle. The Knights were introduced to Epic / Space Marine in UK White Dwarf #126 in June 1990, and a few years later in December of 1994 updated as part of the new editions of this game, Epic Titan Legions. Some of the new classes even derivate from the old names and types. There were Paladins, Lancers and Wardens, and those came back in the current variant as well. In addition knights had tiers, Squire, Knight and Lord, along with Senechal. Something that was picked up in the latest rules for Warhammer 40,000 to a degree.

The Cerastus Knights don't have a direct connection to the older games of Space Marine or Epic, but can be seen as a derivate of the Knight lancers, at least one of the classes. Today we are looking at the Knight Acheron and Knight Castigator adding further, now ranged weapon option to the Cerastus Class, in contrast to the pure close combat capabilities of the lancers. There is an additional sub-class of the Cerastus, the Knight Atrapos, manufactured by and for the Mechanicum.

I have covered the Cerastus Lancer a year ago in a combi-review along with the Questoris Knights. Different than the lancers, the Acheron and Castigator are released in a sprue double pack, with 4 Cerastus Knights in total for 55 EUR.

The box comes with two medium sized sprues and an assembly instruction leaflet. Four 50mm round bases and a decal sheet of multiple knight houses, Makabius, Vyronii, Malinax and Coldshroud. It is the same decal sheet as with the lancers. As this is a newer, more recent release, the card board command terminals are included and not sold seperately as before.

The sprues are well organized and beside the superb casting quality, covers a high density of parts. This sprue is included two times and covers all the pieces two build two Acheron and two Castigors, without any variants or options.

As the Cerastus share all the same basic knight (beside the weaponry, heads and shoulder pauldron), the legs are the same design, but at a different stand. You get a variant A and B in each sprue, with a different leg in front. These can be swapped freely among the knights, but left and right legs can't be mixed without additional work. The feet are added with a ball joint, but stand rather fixed. Still, they should give you the option to have the Cerastus walk or stand on uneven ground, ruins or some wreckage.

The upper body is the same on every Cerastus. It has two sides, a chest panel, engine cover and carapace for the top. These are the same on all of the variants. They are added to the hips on top of a ball joint and can be orientated quite freely. Depending on your painting needs, mit might make sense to add the carapace and shoulders on the last step, as these bits cover up a lot of the arm and head section.

Different than the Lancer, this box covers range weapons. In this case the Castigator pattern bolt cannon and Acheron pattern flame cannon. Both weapons have an ammunition feed that is connected to the lower back and due to the belt-feed fixed in position.

But that doesn't mean, that these can't defend themself in a close combat quarrel, as they cover the Castigator warblade and Acheron chainfists on the other arm as well. These are a bit more freely positioned and can be angled and turned.

I only added the weapons with blu-tac to the body, for better access during the painting. The only thing missing so far, are the heads and shoulders. Unlike the Cerastus Lancer, we have only the head option for the two classes. The legs can be mixed with the Lancer kit as well, to give more variation.

The three available Cerastus variants next to each other and to give you an idea of the size within the game, a comparison with a regular Knight, a Reaver and a Warlord Titan.

And of course, because we started it, we continue our EUR/Inch values with this kit as well. The Cerastus Knight is available as a Forge World kit in three variants, each one priced at 240 EUR. And no surprises here, the Adeptus Titanicus kit beats its Forge World pendant with 6,55 EUR / Inch (13,75 EUR for 2,1 Inch) to 29,62 EUR / Inch (240 EUR at 8,2 Inch). Pricing of the Knights is pretty close and the Cerastus is one of the cheapest large kits by Forge World by that EUR/Inch scale.

The poses are close to eachother, almost mirrored. But with the option to mix the lower body A and B, along with repositining the close combat arm, this will be enough to create variation within the banner. On top of that, you can mix and match the legs from the lancer kit as well.

Conclusion
I am very glad, that these variants were released in plastic as well and not as an Forge World upgrade kit. That would make availability and pricing much more difficult. At the first look, pricing is a bit irritating. This is basically twice the Cerastus Lancer kit, which is 25 EUR, so you would expect a price of 50 EUR or a bit below, as they only have one set of packaging, decals and assembly instructions, yet the Cerastus Acheron and Castigator is 55 EUR, so 10% more expensive. Yes, the command terminals are in there and you don't need to buy them individually (which was in some cases a bit tricky, as they were sold out quite quickly). But I am not sure if that really qualifies for that price rise, especially in comparison that it's only the thinner card board and not the thicker ones from the starter kit.

The amount of details is very well done. As is the fit and the quality of the casting. I just have the feeling, that it is missing few spare bits, at least a small decor for variation or to build a Lord Scion or a High King. A different head or alternate crest would have been great, and small enough to still fit in the sprue. Especially in a set of four, where you receive a proper banner, the need for a more present leader arises.

At about 12-14 EUR per model, they are still among the cheapest units for Adeptus Titanicus and don't underestimate them. Especially in a banner of 3-4, they are a threat to the larger titans. With the illustration we've seen in the Ryza supplement, the chances that we might see a Mechanicum Cerastus Knight-Atrapos for AT down the road, aren't that slim.

Warhammer 40.000 and Adeptus Titanicus are brands by Games Workshop.

The reviewed product item was provided by the manufacturer.