Horus Heresy – Land Raider Spartan Assault Tank

Last of our Horus Heresy Age of Darkness detail reviews, covers after the regular Infantry and the Contemptor Dreadnought, the mighty Land Raider Spartan. The kit is not yet available on its own and currently only available as part of the Age of Darkness starter set.

This is not the first time a Land Raider Spartan is available in (or at least made from) plastic. Actually the first one, was a conversion based upon the Rogue Trader era Land Raider kit, combined with plastic card and parts from the old Space Marine Rhino. It was introduced as part of the Modelling Workshop section of White Dwarf 119, by no other than Tony Cottrell (former head of Forge World and designer of an incredible amount of kits) back in 1989!

2012 the resin variant was introduced with the release of Horus Heresy (Forge World even covered it in a video teaser), for comparison here's the old Imperial Armour (that was Forge World's Warhammer 40,000 product range) instructions of the kit.

And now, with the 2nd edition of Horus Heresy here and a huge starter set, covering a full squad of Terminators, it is rather fitting, that we see the return of the Land Raider Spartan Assault Tank.

The kit covers four large sprues and two medium sized ones. Some of them shared with the regular Land Raider Proteus, who we will see in future as a plastic kit as well. The sprues are filled to the max, with a lot of tracks, massive side panels and the medium sized sprues covering the weaponry and generic Space Marine vehicle accessories. Casting is well done with a lot of crisp details and no warpage even on the larger sprues.

As you can see, some sprues are labelled with Land Raider, not Spartan, so these are shared components. Something we will see down the line during building.

If you have read some of my historical tank reviews (there are quite a bunch on here), you will know, we usually start with the tracks. And so do we here. As you can see the sides are built from a modular frame, that has some spacers in there, so provide the length of the spartan.

As I have a Land Raider Proteus (with armoured sides) from Forge World here, we can do a side-by-side comparison. If you leave out the prolonging elements, you have the measurements of the regular Land Raider, and in the third picture the prolonged chassis of the Land Raider Spartan.

The two sides of the tracks are combined and create a stable side piece. I have to say, this well-designed section. I have built the old 1998 Land Raider, which had troubles on longer parts due to warpage / shrinkage, but this is a really clean and tight fit. And another comparison of the side section with the one from a resin Land Raider.

The sides have doors in the standard size for Land Raiders, so you can swap them with the ones from the newer plastic kits (and upgrade sprues) as well as the Forge World legion specific upgrade. We build these twice, as we need a left and right part.

So, along with the blank doors (we're just putting them in place with blu-tac) and weapon covers, we complete this built step.

Next up the actual tracks. And this will be something that will cause tears in the eyes of many, many Forge World customers. Track sections, especially with resin, can be tricky to build. You have to stretch them, you have to realign them and sometimes, if they are a bit short or not properly in shape, you will have gaps. Those gaps often are touched up with mud and dirt, to cover these problems, but with these properly casted plastic tracks, those are problems of the past. Tears of joy! As you can see the proportions are cleaner on the new plastic model and here's a little something that will help you differentiate the resin and plastic models in the future. The small studs on the tracks (And that detail is going to be important, when we talk about the Liber Astartes and Liber Hereticus in the upcoming days).

It went so smooth and easily. Already an amazing building experience so far. And these side pieces are massive!

Now for the hull itself. As the Spartan has a prolonged and even widened chassis, there are a few more bits and pieces to combine here than on a land raider. We have a sturdy underbody, sides for the ramps and a detailed interior. Very stunning and a bit sad, that a lot of this won't be seen once completed. The ramps / doors are once again compatible with the pieces from the plastic kit and Forge World. There is an OOP plastic vehicle accessory sprue for the Black Templars that many Imperial Fists could find interesting, and I had some Black Legion parts, that can be used as you can see. Keep in mind that the older Forge World castings had their problems with shrinkage, and that you need to shorten the upper door hinges to fit in between the sides.

You don't need to glue the ramps / doors, as friction keeps them in place. But painting the interior beforehand is strongly advised, is you want to do that.

The upper part of the mid-section is a larger piece, including the hull mounted weapon system and a stabilising back panel. Don't glue this down, if you want to move the hull weapon.

A really massive build group is the exhaust. This comes with four exhaust pieces and covers, but provides a clean fit.

These pieces, along with a wide underbody plate are combined to build the hull. I suggest to use one side for alignment and add the individual pieces to it until you're done. Surprisingly stable and well connected. From my experience with the older Land Raider kit, I was expecting some hassle due to the size, but I had no problem at all.

There's quite some room in there for conversions or "special equipment" (let's say you want to light up your spartan using LEDs or something.)

And with the other half added, the Spartan is more or less complete. Only missing details and the weapons. A very stable build and incredibly satisfying to see in front of you.

As for the weapons. You have synchronised dual laser cannons on both sides. The kit gives you the option to build regular synchronised laser cannons, as the sprue is shared with the regular Land Raider. The weapon mounts for the sides are simply turned on, by putting them on in a 90° angle and then moving forward.

There are a few options for the hull. Like search lights, grenade launchers and such. Including various options for the lukes. As are there for the hull weapons, between laser cannons, heavy flamers and heavy bolters.

You have an incredible number of options for the tank crew. Multiple hands, heads and weapons. I went for a gunner with a multi-melta, but didn't want both hands on the weapon, so I used two different pairs and cut the grip of the melta, to add it to the other side of the hand.

The sprues come with insignia of the traitors and loyalist factions, so you have the eye of Horus in different sizes and the aquila along with a banner, that you can use on the vehicles.

And here is the final Land Raider Spartan Assault tank, with the weapons and crew attached.

I don't have one of the Mk III Land Raiders here for comparison, but to give you an idea of the Spartans size, here it is with a few of the marines (remember this carries a full 10 marine squad of Terminators) and next to the Land Raider Proteus, where you can clearly see the difference in width and length.

Conclusion

It is an amazing build. A large kit and maybe not the thing you give your kid as a first build, but manageable for a newcomer if you take your time. Casting is properly done; you don't have warpage even on bigger parts and it is a really proper fit. I have built large plastic kits by Games Workshop, like the Baneblade or as mentioned above the "old" 1998 Land Raider, and you had to invest some time and skill for a clean finish, but this kit needs nothing of that and I am really looking forward to get my hands on the new Land Raider.

We don't have prices on the individual kits yet, but this being part of the Age of Darkness box, you get it at a discount. The price of the Forge World model was around 150 EUR, with the Land Raider now being 85 EUR, I expect this to be around the same price as the Kratos kit (4 large sprues, 2 medium ones, same amount as this one) with 100 EUR. Not a bargain at regular RRP, but cheaper and far more pleasant to build than the resin kit.

It is going to be interesting, what the people will build from these kits. They are impressive as they come, but I think with some additional love for details, some really impressive results can be achieved. For example, like Abaddon's personal Spartan, as you need to ride in style when you're on the battlefield with your Justaerin. Beyond that, a plastic kit opens up new possibilities for the Typhon Heavy Siege Tank or Cerberus Heavy Tank Destroyer in plastic, or at least as a hybrid kit.

Warhammer 40,000 and The Horus Heresy are brands by Games Workshop.

The reviewed product item was provided by the manufacturer.