Warhammer 40,000 – Leviathan Ballistus Dreadnought

Part of the Space Marine battle force from the Warhammer 40,000 Leviathan box is a new sub-class of the Redemptor Dreadnought, armed with a versatile missile launcher and a devastating twin-linked lascannon.

Of the Redemptor class of Dreadnoughts we've built the Brutalis Dreadnought in February and now have the chance to cover another Primaris scaled Dread. They are a bit of a mixture of the classic dreadnought, which we know from the 90s and are classified as Castraferrum Pattern Mark V Dreadnoughts, and the old Rogue Trader era Dreadnought Armour. The early designs, closer to robots than the walking sarcophagus they are nowadays, were picked up with the Contemptor pattern. If you take a look on the legs, you see they are more articulated as with the Castraferrum pattern and the design department went back to that.

But the Redemptor, Brutalis and Ballistus are both much closer in design to the Castraferrum of the 90s, but clearly updated and refreshed. The Redemptor is the general warfare variant, the Brutalis has a clear connection to the Furioso Dreadnought of the Blood Angels from around the 3rd edition, but the Ballistus is a nod to the classic 2nd edition kit, actually the Dark Angels Dreadnought loadout. The old metal miniatures from the 90s, got replaced with plastic kits, some were multi-class, covering different variants, others were specific like the Scriptor or Venerable, and are currently - as broad parts of the First Born range - replaced by newer, Primaris-sized kits. And the Ballistus is the fourth variant of the Primaris age walkers, if you include the Invictor Tactical Warsuit. It is interesting to see, if these new Dreadnoughts will receive a Venerable variant like the old Castraferrum had.

The Ballistus is a push-fit model and spread across three small sized sprues, as well as a 90mm base. Cast is very clean and crisp and the sprue optimized, with very little empty space.

As this is a push-fit with a fixed pose, you don't have the flexibility with the pose as you have with the multipart kits of the Redemptor and Brutalis. Still, with the small base topper (a few rocks), you get a neat pose with a raised right knee.

And due to the push-fit nature, the upper body is still detailed, but not as layered or modular. The front panel doesn't open, you have no options for the sarcophagus plate. As well as not rotating hip weaponry and these are fixed bolters, no options for a swap (for example flamers or meltas). Fit is good, clean finish and no problems. You could rotate the upper body, if you snip the small pins from the hip connector.

The weapons are quickly assembled, and a good thing is, the connectors fit the other primaris dreadnoughts as well. You turn them by 90° upwards, slot them in and turn them forward. You can elevate them a bit up and down. And these new Dreadnoughts are huge, even compared to the Primaris as you can see in the last picture.

The new Dreadnought is almost twice as tall as the classic Castraferrum dreadnought and goes eye to eye with the new Screamer Killer.

Really well-done kit, looks incredibly well for a launch box / push-fit model and I especially like the upgrade details on the back, as that was something where the old dreadnoughts were a bit dull.

Conclusion

Along with the Terminators, this is the next step closing the door towards the First Born range. Is it sad? Well, just from a nostalgia point of view, but that design is 25+ years old and it is time for something new. These new kits are well done, much more convenient to build, better proportions and plastic. Yes, this is a push-fit, you can't convert it as much as the multi-parts. It takes more elbow grease to make it fit your non-vanilla Space Marine Chapter, but it is possible. And with the Dread, the new Sternguard and Terminators all you need is a regular Primaris Intercessor Squad and you are very much having a proper battle force to begin with.

I am looking forward to the multi-part plastic kit, the new weapon options etc., but as part of the Leviathan boxed set already a very proper kit. And the empty surfaces give you the option for either decals (of which you'll find some in the launch boxed set) or purity seals, or third party / 3d printed chapter insignia.

Beyond that, good fit, clean cast and very quick assembly. A proper addition to this starter set and far better than for example the push-fit Dreadnoughts we had for example in Assault on Black Reach.

Warhammer 40.000 is a brand by Games Workshop.

The reviewed product item was provided by the manufacturer.