Leviathan (Transport)
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This article is about the Imperial Transport; for the other page, see Leviathan (disambiguation). |
The Leviathan super-heavy assault transport is based on the same chassis as the Colossus.[1]
Contents
Description
The Imperium uses its Leviathans as gigantic army group command centres for coordinating the vast numbers of men and vehicles found in Imperial Guard Regiments.[1][2] Standing at 100[9] or over 90 metres tall,[3] each Leviathan contains extensive communication and surveillance equipment - including satellite uplinks and tiny flying spy robots - to allow a Colonel and his command staff to coordinate an entire regiment all at once. It also has room to carry an entire infantry company into battle.[1][2] The Leviathan's main tactical command centre is a tiered chamber filled with display console[7b] and hundreds of logic engines[7d] with a strategium pit projecting a large holographic display at its centre.[7d] It projects a 3D continental map, tracking Guard movements and showing assessed enemy activities and emplacements as well as reported firefights in red, yellow, crimson and brown indicator runes.[8] The command centre is manned by intelligence officers, tacticians and high-order servitors.[7b] Despite appearances, some Leviathans have luxurious rooms deep in their interior for formal officers' functions and events.[4] A Leviathan is equipped with an intercom system to facilitate internal communications.[7c] Battle-data collected by the Leviathan's command centre can be shared with the data-slates of frontline officers over the vox-net.[9]
A Leviathan also has a landing pad on its hunched back,[7a] capable of accommodating lifters, gunships and fliers[7d] like Valkyries[7a] and Destriers[7d] for refuelling[7a] and personnel transfer.[7d] The pad also has as a freight hoist, allowing landed freight objects to directly be brought onboard.[7a] The objects are deposited into a freight silo deep in the bowls of the vehicle.[7b] The Leviathan is powered by a huge enginarium in its belly featuring vast turbine powerplants to power its machinery, overseen by tech-adepts and engineers.[7c]
Protecting the Leviathan are metres-thick armour plating and four Titan-scale Void Shields.[1] Its primary weapon is the massive Doomsday Cannon mounted in the prow of the vehicle. It also carries a turreted Battlecannon, Lascannons and Bolters that can provide all-around protection.[1][2] The Doomsday Cannon can be heard from fifty miles away firing ten-yard long shells.[5a] Leviathans can also mount Mega-bolters.[5b] Its armaments are primarily designed to engage and destroy infantry. In a Leviathan-on-Leviathan duel, it is impossible for one to destroy the other as soon as the void shields are raised. However, an immobilised Leviathan is vulnerable to boarding action by another. For this reason, Leviathans carry Corvus ramps.[5a] To detect unauthorised intruders, a Leviathan is equipped with internal scanners.[7c]
Leviathans can be docked together to serve as a mobile campaign HQ, forming a cross if four such vehicles are involved.[7a]
Leviathans can be found in Imperial Service as late as the 13th Black Crusade and the onset of the Era Indomitus, such as those present during the Fall of Cadia.[3]
Squats
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Leviathans were built by the Squats, and were supplied to the Imperial Guard as part of the mutual exchange of materials between the Homeworlds and the Imperium of Man. The Squats employed the Leviathan as a massive troop carrier to transport special "Ironbreaker" Brotherhoods of Squat warriors into combat.[1][2]
Known patterns
Known Named Leviathans
Miniatures
A Leviathan (Epic scale)
Trivia
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- As the Colossus was originally a Squat creation but then was stated to be a Leagues of Votann vehicle following the Kin reboot, it is not infeasible that the Leviathan may also have some shared origin among the Kin of the Leagues.
See also
Sources
- 1; Ork and Squat Warlords, pg. 60
[Pre-League of Votann] - 2: Armies of the Imperium, pg. 54
- 3: Cadia Stands (Novel), Part 1, Chapter 3
- 4: Baneblade (Novel), Chapter 12
- 5: The 13th Black Crusade (Background Book):
- 6: The Citadel Journal 33, pg. 45 — Tank Shock! Imperial Guard Super-Heavy vehicles in Warhammer 40,000
- 7: His Last Command (Novel) — The Lost (Omnibus):
- 8: First and Only (Novel) — The Founding (Omnibus), Part Six, Section Two
- 9: Ghostmaker (Novel) — The Founding (Omnibus), Chapter Eleven
