Warhammer 40K: Adeptus Mechanicus Ordinatus – Mars’ Heavy Metal
Today, fellow Magos, we discuss Blessed Mars’ legendary macro engines of destruction. The dread Ordinatus!
Gather ’round my fellow Magos and Arch-magos. Today, we embark upon a journey, not physically–ours is a journey of the mind. We shall be journeying into the heady realm of knowledge, wherein we shall see how one of the Imperium’s guiding principles–bigger is better–is enacted throughout the Imperium. Today, we focus not on the relatively pedestrian Knights and Titans but rather on the Centurio Ordinatus who oversee the Ordinati.
What Are the Ordinatus?
Ordinati are leviathan-sized warmachines created by the Adeptus Mechanicus and overseen by the Centurio Ordinatus.
The Centurio Ordinatus is the Mechanicus organization responsible for all aspects of these machines. Every individual Ordinatus is a unique construction and named for the world on which it was first employed or built. Each Ordinatus is unique in that it was designed for a specific purpose, for a particular battle. This is why the different Ordinatii have very specialized weapons configured for their intended role.
Some were designed to devastate whole cities with a single shot, some devoted to dealing with enemy Titans, while others could transport entire regiments of soldiers under the earth. When the Adeptus Mechanicus was torn apart by civil war during the Horus Heresy, both sides unleashed all manner of Ordinatus upon each other.
After the Heresy, many Ordinatus were abandoned, lost, or simply forgotten, remaining hidden in secret armories, deep underground, or remote locations. Perhaps the greatest military weapon ever conceived, the rediscovery of an Ordinatus often results in civil war as the finders begin fighting over the great prize. Before they can be sent to war, Ordinatus must be ritually blessed by the Lord of the Centurio Ordinatus. Their crews are highly trained tech-guard warriors. They are protected by energy-intensive dispersion fields which deflect projectiles and energy bolts.
Ordinatus Minoris
The Ordinatus Minoris Macro Engine was a sub-type of more commonly encountered Ordinatus during the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy. Smaller than the colossal Ordinatius Primaris, these vehicles were nonetheless still gargantuan and rarer than a Battle Titan. Few Macro-Engines followed a broad class, and most were unique constructs designed by their Forge World of origin. Only a handful of Forge Worlds had the resources or authority to construct these engines.
Here are a few famous Ordinati Minoris featured across the battlefields of the Imperium.
Ulator
A rare and truly arcane weapon system of staggering power, the Ulator is one of the smaller classes of Ordinatus but, nevertheless, is one of the most potent war machines at the Imperium’s disposal. In the time of the Great Crusade, the Ordinatus macro engines were rarer than even the Battle Titans of the Collegia Titanica, and only a handful of Forge Worlds had the resources or, indeed, the doctrinal blessing and religious authority to produce or maintain such embodiments of the Omnissiah’s divine wrath. Such was the sacredness of these machines above all others that an entire subcult of the Mechanicum was devoted to their worship and propitiation. The Ordinatus Ulator carries a trio of Volkite Culverins as its secondary armaments, but its primary weapon is the terrifying Ulator class Sonic Destructor.
Sagittar
The Ordinatus Sagittar was a type of Ordinatus engine used during the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy. A smaller Ordinatus Minoris design, the Sagittar was equipped with a Belicosa-pattern Volcano Cannon used to destroy enemy Titans and most often carried on Warlord Class machines. Secondary weapons consisted of a trio of Volkite Culverins
Aktaeus
The Ordinatus Aktaeus is a type of Ordinatus engine used by the Mechanicum during the Horus Heresy. Essentially a massive assault drill, the super-heavy transport allowed for the delivery of troops directly into the heart of battle. The weapon also unleashes potent seismic forces upon the enemy in the process.
Ordinatus Primaris
Ordinatus Armageddon aka “Oberon”
It bears a massive plasma-based Nova Cannon, normally only mounted on Voidships, capable of blasting apart enemy Titans with one shot or destroying a tank detachment with a single salvo. It was originally constructed for the First War for Armageddon against the forces of Chaos and partially reawakened to be used against the Orks by the Black Templars for the Third War for Armageddon.
Ordinatus Mars
It’s armed with the devastating sonic disruptor. This immense weapon can level buildings with ease and annihilate enemy tank formations. Ordinatus Mars was created when civil war broke out on Mars during the Horus Heresy. It was intended to break through the defenses of the rebels holding up in the city of Castellum Jericho.
Ordinatus Golgotha
The Ordinatus Golgotha carries six Hellfire missiles capable of annihilating massive swathes of enemy infantry and light vehicles. It was first used on the Squat homeworld of Golgotha against invading Orks.
Each of these massive warmachines easily dwarfs tanks, transports, even cities. They are cloistered communities unto themselves, and they do not share their deadly secrets except upon the field of battle.
All hail the Omnissiah!
