Aurox Armoured Transport
It's a new year and Forge World has released another model for the Horus Heresy lines.
The Aurox Armoured Transport is a vehicle used during the Great Crusade and the Horus Heresy by the Solar Auxilia and the Imperial Guard IMPERIAL ARMY. It is a brutal-looking transport vehicle for the Solar Auxilia. Heavily armored and with lots of the ornate detailing common to the human forces who fight alongside the Legions.
Overview
Basically an upscaled and upgraded version of the Chimera, this thing was not only the Chimera's bigger brother, but also its more troop orientated brother. Seriously this thing has less firepower than the Chimera, boasting only a Heavy Stubber whilst the Chimera boast not only a turret mounted Multilaser, a frontal Heavy Bolter and it's own pintle weapon, but also several side Lasguns for the troops to fire from within. If there is one thing the Aurox excels is in its troop transport capacity. Holding more troops into the battlefield due to its larger size and profile. This is not surprising as the Aurox is meant to be like an actual APC whereas the Chimera is more in line with an IFV.
The Aurox's job description as a light APC is probably a much needed grace for the Imperial Army in the 31st Millennnium as the only APCs available comes in ECKS BAWKS HUEG METAL BAWKSES such as the Gorgon Armored Assault Transport and the CRASSUS ARMORED ASSAULT TRANSPORT. Sure there is the Hades Breaching Drill, but that is for a very specific niche. The all-rounder of the Aurox is essential for those who want to transport a large amount of redshirts safely without wasting a lot of points.
So far it is available in the 31st Millennium. It is unknown how the 41st Millennium Guard would fare since we do not know whether they are still in use or are mothballed due to bureaucratic incompetence, or a simple preference for the Chimera's superior fighting ability due to the aforementioned armaments.
Carnodon
The Predator Battle Tank of the Great Crusade. The Carnodon was an extremely versatile tank that could mount a wide variety of weapons. You want it to be a dedicated tank destroyer? You can have two lascannon sponsons and a twin-linked lascannon turret for quadruple the fun. You want it to devastate MEQs? Just swap the lascannons with autocannons and Volkites and your opponent would roll for Anal circumference as his troops will be facing a barrage of bullets and martian death rays. The only downside is that it doesn't have a hull mounted weapon like the Leman Russ.
Overview
The Carnodon is a versatile medium battle tank which acted as the lynchpin for many of the storied successes of the Imperial Army during the Great Crusade. As a premier mobile fire platform, it was regularly adapted to combat a wide variety of foes and respond to any number of battlefield conditions. During the early years of the Great Crusade, it rapidly became a byword for conquest amongst the Expeditionary fleets, a legacy which led to the production of the dedicated Imperial battle tanks of latter-days.
As the Great Crusade moved ever outwards and supply of the Aurox chassis peaked, it is thought that many Carnodon tanks entered a strategic reserve and were distributed to Crusade muster worlds behind the front lines; with over two hundred thousand examples thought to have been stored pending secondary mobilization in the warrens under the world of Tallarn.
The lack of any Carnodons in the 41st Millennium means either two things, that the Carnodon has been mothballed due to the Leman Russ being far more cost effective in the long term, or the Adeptus Mechanicus forgot or lost the STCs for this pattern of tanks at some point. Given how prevalent Carnodon was supposed to be, being a main battle tank of the Imperial Army and likely being produced on dozens of Forge Worlds, it was most likely the former. If it was just the latter, surviving Carnodons from those days would still be in service, like so many other borderline lost vehicles from the Great Crusade.