Warhammer 40K: Redemptor Dreadnought Review

The back of the box calls it a "weaponized war tomb", piloted by a venerated but damaged-beyond-repair Space Marine and if that doesn't excite you, maybe the fact that the Primaris Redemptor is the biggest dreadnought that the Citadel sculptors have produced to date will. This chubby bad boy towers over previous dreads, and like most Primaris models, it makes its predecessors look diminished at best, goofy at worst. With two primary weapons- your choice of a Heavy Onslaught Gatling Gun or a Macro Plasma Incinerator- and a host of supplemental armaments to suit any situation, this walking crypt is an Elite choice at 140 points before you kit it out. If you are playing with the casual power points as I am then it'll cost you 10 to field it.

It's an interesting kit. Overall it's a somewhat advanced build that may cause some trouble for novice modelers, especially due to its posability and the way its legs and torso have to be sort of coordinated with a couple of ball joints. I had some trouble getting my model to sort of line up like I wanted it to, and found myself ripping it apart a couple of times when I wasn't satisfied with the visual balance. I'm still not quite happy with it but it is already past the "too much glue" threshold. I also wasn't entirely happy with how some of the movable joints (yes, there are some) fit. Sure, it's not an action figure, but a few parts didn't sit as firmly as I'd like. I like the opening carapace, but it also feels flimsy and not secure.

Fortunately for average painters like me, the carapace comes with a hatch that DOESN'T have the scroll that looks lame without hand-painted lettering on it.

Since this kit is, technically, a mech I can't help but compare it to Japanese mecha models. I also build Gundam kits, and seeing how those models handle things like moving parts with soft joints some elements of the Redemptor kit felt somewhat old fashioned and clumsy. It's not really a fair comparison since one is more of a toy and the other is more of gaming piece, but it was still on my mind.

On the table, The Redemptor acquits itself nicely. I outfitted mine with the Macro Plasma Incinerator for some heavy fire support (AP -4!) and the smaller Onslaught Gatling on its other arm for its high rate of fire. I took the body-mounted Fragstorm Grenade launchers because I thought they looked cooler than the Storm Bolters, and the anti-air Icarus pod on its back is standard. It offers an 8" move and it has 13 wounds, so it has decent staying power and can easily hold down an objective on its own until your backline moves up. Or, you can employ it for long-range support. Like a lot of Space Marine units, it's quite versatile and easy to use, but it also lacks a sense of specialization.

This is a good piece overall even though I felt a little disappointed in the quality of my build and some of it was more of a hobby hassle then it needed to be. I like playing with it, it's an imposing piece that makes older models like the Helbrute or previous dreads look small by comparison. It's capable and unassuming, the kind of unit that can easily become a humble staple of any army.