Horus Heresy: The Care and Feeding of Your Legion Sicaran Venator Tank Hunter
The plastic Sicaran Venator Tank Hunter has arrived and is rumbling to stores near you. Here’s the rundown on what to expect from the tank, both on your hobby table, and the tabletop!
Built on the durable Sicaran chassis but wielding a massive Neutron Laser, the Legion Sicaran Venator Tank Hunter was put into commission in the early days of the Horus Heresy as a capable anti-armor weapon for the Legio Astartes. It was a favored tool of tank companies that needed additional firepower to defeat xenos armored threats. On the hobby side of things, it is very similar to the standard Sicaran. Due to the significant difference in center hull design, it is not easy to set it up for weapon swaps outside of the side sponsons. It is plastic glue friendly and captures all of the elements of the original at a third of the price and easily a fourth of the weight. While it doesn’t have the functional advantage of being used to prop up the sagging end of a couch or as block to put your car on, it does go together without any of the heating, epoxy, pinning or usual construction methods needed for resin. Along with the instructions and sprues, you get a niffy sheet of Imperial Fists or Sons of Horus decal sheet found in all Horus Heresy plastic vehicle releases.
The Sicaran Venator Kit
The plastic release of the Sicaran Venator is well-designed and builds easily, though I will say it suffers from the new GW vehicle construction philosophy. It’s parts-heavy and does demand an eye for detail as you put the sub-assemblies. It’s a fairly intuitive build but does require some test fitting as you put things together. It’s necessary to ensure that you remove all of the nubs left over from sprue removal, as they are often in places where you join pieces together. I expected this build to take around an hour, but I’d say I was done in about two hours, given the sanding, and trimming needed to ensure contact points were flush; this was especially so in putting together the neutron laser. It’s not uncommon to find gaps and seams that don’t close all the way if you get a piece mis-aligned or miss a stray piece of sprue gate. I would anticipate this would take maybe two hours for your typical hobbyist looking to do a quality job and longer for novices or those inexperienced with GW construction methods.
The Sicaran Venator Loadout
There’s not much here to really discuss as far as loadouts. Given the options I think I’d probably pair the Neutron Laser with Lascannons or Vulkite Culvins. Each option is only +10 points for the pair, making them incredibly cheap in comparison to taking them on other models. Search Lights are also probably necessary as the likelihood of running into a mission with night fighting is high. You want this tank and maybe its pair to be firing from turn 1 until they are destroyed or hit the end of the game.
How it Plays
Real talk, you’re taking this thing because you want that high strength low ap main weapon. As far as lethality, it doesn’t get much better than the Neutron Laser, this Str 10 AP1 Ordinance 2, Concussive (3), Shock Pulse, Gets Hot weapon is going to have no problem dropping whatever you shoot it at. There is a high chance that this will kill tougher T5 custodes and Admech in one shot without breaking a sweat. Best of all, you can take 2 bare bones Venator’s for under 400 points. That’s a lot of firepower for that price point. The interesting thing about the Venator vs the Cerberus is that you end up with just about as many high strength shots. The main difference between 2 Venators and a Cerberus is that Venators can be run from a Heavy slot which still allows you to take a Primarch vs a Cerberus that will fill your Lord of War slot. The other main difference is that the Venator is built on the Sicaran chassis which is overall less durable than the Cerberus – it’s Armor 13, 12, 12 and doesn’t have flare shields. These aren’t horrendously hard to blow up, especially if you’re facing down something with Lance.
In game, these are probably going to sit on your backline taking pot shots at whatever appears in front of it. Its main weapon is ordinance, so you really don’t want to be moving it around the table much. You want that thing to be firing every turn all game. Park it in a good vantage point and watch your opponent remove pieces.
The Sicaran Venator is a great addition to any army looking to run Armored Spearhead or in need of some heavy fire power while also wanting to run a Primarch due to it not being a Lord of War. I think the usual suspects as far as legions are still relevant. Death Guard, Iron Hands, Night Lords, Iron Warriors and Ultramarines are my favorites for this tank. If you’re looking for a deep dive into running armored spearhead, check out our video below into that Legion Rite of War. That being said I don’t think there is a legion out there that can’t find good use for this spicy scrap dealer. The price is right.
Final Thoughts
At the end of the day the Sicaran Venator is there to bridge the gap between a Predictor and Cerberus. I think you have to decide how you want to spend your points between the available options. The Cerberus weighs in at a thirsty 425 before upgrades and has similar fire output to 2 Sicaran Venators. The Cerberus’ strength lies in its serious durability. It’s AV14 on all but the rear and has a flare shield. That means that opponents will need to keep up sustained fire to either glance it down or get incredibly lucky and pop it with a penetrating hit off of a Lascannon or something more potent. The Venator on the other hand is on the less durable Sicaran chassis but has significantly more movement. That would be a major boon if the weapon you were trying to fire wasn’t ordinance. For those Death Guard players out there, this tank is worth a serious look as they can ignore penalties to moving and firing.
Well folks, given that GW is no longer going to be doing the Horus Heresy Thursday I think we can expect less output for the game for the foreseeable future. That being said I’ll be looking to Warhammer Fest this weekend in the UK for sneak peeks as to what is coming to Horus Heresy. The Cthonian Black Book should be coming out in the next couple of months and with it a slew of upgrades and possibly character models to fill out holes within the range. Also, this week we were surprised with additional rules for Militias. I’ve been pouring over these and will probably be publishing my findings. Be well, play games, keep rollin’ them bones.
