If you've taken a look at any forum thread surrounding the last Codex: Space Marines, you'll no doubt have seen at least a good two or three people ridiculing the addition of the Centurion suits. Often criticised for their poor design, not fitting with the army and generally bad lore, they're a fairly widely derided model which many fans have opted to customise into something more sightly. While the above example is what I would personally consider to be a step in the right direction, this doesn't quite solve the lore issue. So please, enjoy.
A recent addition to the armories of the adeptus astartes, the Centurion fire support platform has been rushed into production as the Imperium faces its darkest days.
Built upon fragments of prototype Dreadnought designs discovered in M40.975, the Centurion was designed to serve as a potential bypass to many problems surrounding the the venerated attack walkers of the space marines. With the secrets of the life supporting sarcophagi lost to eras past, replacing these once numerous machines has become a problematic task. Worn instead as armour linking into the black carapace of an astartes, the Centurion is designed to allow members of a chapter's first company to don the armour in times of great need.
Retaining many elements of the legendary Contemptor pattern, the Centurion retains far greater dexterity than other Dreadnoughts without sacrificing its immense durability. With far higher maneuverability than any other Imperial machine of its size, the unit has proven to be especially adept at culling masses of infantry and keeping pace with even the attack bikes. With strength and firepower aplenty, their role as a response unit to counter breaks in battle lines or spearhead assaults has proven invaluable.
However, for all its advantages the Centurion has definite failings. Many of its vital support systems were could not be replicated by the Mechanicus, resulting in a design cobbled from existing parts. The power core of the machine has notably been taken from other Dreadnoughts, and thanks to missing schematics the left primary weapon must be fully built into the machine rather than more readily replaced as was intended. This has resulted in various malfunction and reliability problems with certain internal systems failing in the midst of combat, something which has left some chapters wary of using these new machines.
Furthermore, unlike the Dreadnoughts the wearer lacks the full connection of a traditional sarcophagi and multiple auger arrays. This has resulting in disorientation and various blind spots which might be exploited. As such, these towering machines require the direct support of multiple astartes to prevent these failings being exploited in the heat of combat.
Such shortcomings cannot be corrected as demands for front-line service are made in the face of Abaddon's latest assault against the Cadian Gate. With limited production of the Centurions already ponderously slow thanks to their advanced designs, the Imperium cannot afford to waste what time it has attempting to perfect their creation when they are so desperately needed.
Despite this, their impact on morale cannot be denied. Seeing such advanced machines of war combating encroaching traitors and xenos forces serves as a reminder of the days the primarchs bestrode the galaxy, and of the might the Imperium may yet reclaim. It is in service to this that the machine was named the Centurion, directly connecting mention of the unit of the heroes of the Legiones Astartes. For as the night gathers and hope dwindles, memories of a mightier age are all that the Imperium may be left with.
All credit goes to stevie37-1976 for his work on the above model.
While I think the lore is far superior to the actual lore, I'm not too sure about the model, don't get me wrong, I like it a lot more than the regular model, it just feels... lacking in some way, and I think it might be because, even though there's all of that armour on, it looks a little too flexible.
ReplyDeleteNow I'm going to get into personal opinion here, but I think Centurion armour that suits this lore a bit better would be the old Mark 1 Terminator suits, here's some links for reference (I am only linking the images): http://img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130107221742/warhammer40k/images/3/31/Mk_1_Concept.jpg
http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2012/3/29/347314_sm-Pre%20Heresy,%20Primered,%20Terminator%20Armor.JPG
and here, you need to go to the bottom, and he's the terminator farthest to the right: http://www.solegends.com/citcat89/c894106marines-h.htm
To me it's very obvious that while those machines could certainly smash through enemy lines and be incredibly hard to take down, they've got a lot of drawbacks too (most notably the lack of mobility, both in body and head movement, so they have trouble seeing anything that's not in front of them), so they'll need other astartes support, just like in this lore, not to mention they look like the miniature dreadnoughts they're supposed to represent, all of this is why I think they fit this lore just a little bit better than the model shown, though they're too small for the guns they're supposed to carry, but a quick upscale would fix that issue.
I would tend to agree that the far bulkier and more armoured look definitely suits this idea better. The above model was originally pitched as a variation of the Contemptor, but the model itself was originally based on Witch Hunter Tyrus to it lacks much of the bulk or extremely armoured look of the original. What the lack of visibility and such was primarily referring to though was the lack of additional auspexes and other scanners on the model. Whereas dreadnoughts tend to have multiple ones beyond the sarcophagus along the arms, main body and the like, there's nothing of the sort here.
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