Legions Imperialis – Mechanicum Krios Squadron

Just in march of this year we had the "big brother" of this vehicle for Horus Heresy and just two months later we see the Krios as a Squadron kit of six for Legions Imperialis.

The Krios was the main battle tank of the Mechanicum, similar to role of the Predator for the Legiones Astartes, during the Horus Heresy. There were multiple variants of the Krios produced and this kit covers the two Krios Battle Tanks with Lightning Cannon or Irad Scourers, as well as the Krios Venator variant with Pulsar-Fusil.

This kit will go on pre-order on April 19th and will be released on May 3rd for a RRP of 31,50 GBP or 41 EUR.

And this kit finally comes with decals, something that I wished for in the initial wave with the Mechanicum Battle Group. Beyond that, we get the regular setup of these boxes. Two identical mid sized sprues and a greyscale assembly instructions.

The sprues are tightly packed and have minor mould lines. Some pieces are quite delicate, so take your time while removing these from the sprue as well as during the preparation.

We do not need bases for these and for this review we will build a single sprue to give you an idea of the models themself. And a closer look upon the new transfer sheet, with various mechanicum icons in black and white.

Per sprue we have eight main weapons, three Lightning Cannons, two Irad Scourers and two Pulsar Fusils. This means per squadron box we can build either a total of six battle tanks with the lightning cannon but "only" four of the other variants. As we can build three tanks per sprue, we will go with one of each for this review.

The sides are for each of them identical, and as I just recently build the larger Horus Heresy model it is impressive to see how much of the details they managed to still keep around at 25% size. Technically you could just glue the lower U-shape frame and keep the gun moveable, but I'd recommend putting it in place.

Now only the front shield for the venator variant and the side sponsons with the volkites are missing. The later are quite fragile and I would recommend taking your time with their assembly. If you drop these into a carpet or under your table, they're pretty much gone.

The Venator shield is added to the front and here's how the trio with different weaponry looks like.

A brief comparison with the other vehicles / larger units from the mechanicum, along with a sideshot of the Epic Scale miniature next to the Horus Heresy model.

We close this review with some shots from different angles of the Krios Battle Tank and Venator.

Conclusion

The Krios Squadron is a well designed and manufactured set, and with 6 miniatures per box still within a reasonable price range. You could very likely kitbash some weapons for larger knights or smaller titans from the spare pieces, as you have a surplus of four main weapons per sprue, or in cominbation with the Triaros/Karacnos kit, try to build your own Ordinatus, if Games Workshop keeps us waiting for an official model.

The rules for the Krios including the Venator variant, can be found in the Rise of the Dark Mechanicum supplement for Legions Imperialis. Both variants count as Battle Tank Detachments and are between 2 and 9 in size (Venator start with Detachment Size 2, regular Krios at 3 - both detachments can be increased by 6 further vehicles).

The Horus Heresy and Legions Imperialis are brands by Games Workshop.

The reviewed product item was provided by the manufacturer.