Kratos Heavy Assault Tank
Not to be confused with the rageaholic albino Spartan from God of War.
The Kratos Heavy Assault Tank was a heavy tank of the Legiones Astartes during the Great Crusade and the Horus Heresy, and it may also be the sister design/replacment to the old Hercules tank mentioned in Rogue Trader (which also shares a similar design to the Kratos). It was created as an infantry support tank, and its weapons loadout was tailored to clear a path through enemy lines for the troops following in its wake. The Kratos had three different main weapons: the Kratos Battlecannon, a Volkite Cardanelle, or a Melta Blastgun. The battlecannon was a multipurpose weapon which fired high-explosive, armor-piercing, or flashburn shells, the latter of which were meant to chew through tank armour. The volkite cardanelle was meant for infantry killing, and the melta blast-gun made it a dedicated anti-armour platform. It also had a coaxially mounted autocannon, two hull-mounted weapons, and two sponson-mounted weapons, including lascannons, heavy bolters, and volkite culverins. It could also mount an XBOXHUEG fuckoff dozer blade.
Much like the heavy tanks of the real world, the Kratos was eventually made obsolete by smaller, faster vehicles, such as the Predator and the Sicaran Battle Tank. Yet some legions kept some Kratoses in reserve. The Blood Angels in particular made good use of them during the Signus Campaign. In terms of combat power, the Kratos rested somewhere between a Sicaran and a Fellblade; it was more heavily armed than a Sicaran, but not quite as heavily as a Fellblade or its variants.
Tabletop[edit]
On the table it's a tough old nut, with AV14 on all sides and 5 Hull Points, making it on par with the Spartan Assault Tank and other tanks that use the Spartan hull. It can also take a fucking Flare Shield, making it a very beefy tank indeed. Its Battlecannon comes with HE shells for blowing up squads of infantry, AP shells for shooting tanks and Flashburn shells for blowing holes in Knights and Super Heavies. It can also replace the Battlecannon with a Melta Blast-gun for a more concentrated anti-armour role, or a Volkite cardanelle which is what you bring when you're facing a guy running 300 bodies of cultist levies. The real drawback to this tank is that for about 100 points more you could bring a Fellblade which is even tankier and has even stronger guns, or take two Sicarans and pretty much double the amount of firepower you can bring to the table.
Unlike many of the 31st millennium's nice things, this bad motherfucker can also be used in 40K games though it costs a command point to deploy it. The main gun is simplified to anti-tank and anti-MEQ attack profiles, and T8 Sv 2+ is more than enough to shrug off attacks from infantry and even many heavy weapons but no invuln save leaves it open to dedicated anti-tank units. At 320 points you might be better off with a pair of Predators but, at least for casual games, there's something to be said for an awesome-looking tank that can anchor both an HH and 40K army. In addition to its main gun it can carry a lot of lascannons which significantly improves its ability to deal with the sort of things that like to take out heavy tanks.
Gallery[edit]
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