Warhammer 40K: Daemon Engines of the Traitor Legions
Today we look upon the thrice-damned creations of the Dark Mechanicus — the dread Daemon Engines of the Traitor Legions.
Daemon Engines can vary greatly in form and function, but they are unified by one factor – the physical shells of the vehicles contain bound Daemons which control their actions. Daemon Engines have an insatiable bloodlust and revel in violence and destruction. Often they will destroy anything that lies in their path, regardless of allegiance, and so must be chained up until they can be unleashed upon the enemy. Like all entities of the Warp, Daemon Engines exude an aura of death and hatred that can overwhelm a lesser man. Untainted humans near one of these beasts often fall to their knees in horror and the demons presence fills their minds.
Daemon Engines are mainly constructed at soul forges. The most famous of which is the Forge of Souls. It is unaligned to any of the four main Gods of Chaos, and is located in the Formless Wastes of the Realm of Chaos, where it is perpetually cloaked in a pall of black, oily fumes and dominated by the wailing of uncountable tortured spirits. Blind, ever-mutating Daemon craftsmen work the forges, while their black fires are fueled by the souls of the damned and the colossal screaming bellows are manned by legions of semi-sentient nightmare creatures.
Creating a Daemon Engine requires that the entity be summoned by one who has knowledge of such things, such as a Chaos Warpsmith, sorcerer or priest. The Daemon is summoned into the hull of the machine so that the corruption spreads throughout its circuits, gaining complete control of all functions.
Daemon Engines of the Black Legion
Below are types of Daemon engines seen in use most commonly by the Black Legion, and unaligned Traitor Legions. The Cult Legions use additional exotic types as we will see soon enough.
Defiler
Standing on six piston-driven limbs, the Defiler’s hull supports a massive turret, which houses the main armaments of the infernal machine. While Defilers are usually seen with large arrays of weapons, such as a Reaper Autocannon and a Havoc Launcher, its main firepower comes in the form of a artillery-like battle cannon. There are often numerous variations of the weapon systems used; in some cases, Reaper Autocannons have been upgraded to house twin-linked heavy bolters or lascannons instead, whereas there have been sightings of Defilers with heavy flamers on multiple occasions.
In addition to being able to lay down a barrage of heavy fire, Defilers are also terrifying close combat opponents. When a Defiler arrives on the battlefield, the technosorcery keeping the bound daemon peaceful is released, allowing the daemon to truly enjoy the battle. As daemons are immortal and unconcerned for the survival of its machine host, Defilers ignore hits that would kill normal tank crews and continue on rampages of destruction that would otherwise be impossible to proceed with. Of its six limbs, Defilers use four for moving around and two arm-like appendages to crush enemies in their pincers.
Decimator
Decimators are hellish creations – horrific amalgams of human and Xenos technology fused and brought to unholy life by the darkest warp sorcery. Recorded in the forces of the Great Enemy as long ago as the mass genocides known in Imperial Lore as the “Grief of Herodin“ in late M35, they have fortunately been rarely encountered, save within the damned cults and daemon fleets that plague the benighted reaches of the Nightmare Rifts far to the Galactic South of the Segmentum Tempestus. Here in the dark void beyond the borders of the Imperium, some unknown source, it is believed, barters these dread killing machines for a high price in blood, plunder and souls. This has led some within the Ordo Malleus to label them the work of the infamous Dark Magos of the Silent Forge known as the Sepktraal Cult, which legend has it was driven to the rifts beyond the Silent Abyss during the Great Scouring, while others insist that the cult never existed at all except in the myths of the forgotten age.
Maulerfiend
This disturbing fusion of Daemon-beast and heavily armored machine is designed to attack enemy forces in close combat with gruesome melee weapons as opposed to its cousin, the Forgefiend, which is designed for long-range combat. Maulerfiends can rip apart the strongest armored targets or toughest defenses with a combination of Power Fists, Magma Cutters, and Lasher Tendrils. A Maulerfiend is powered and fulled by the rage of the Daemon that inhabits it, and this amplifies its melee weapons.
Maulerfiends are extremely agile and nimble for creatures their size, having the ability to climb steep walls. This has given them the nickname of Stalker-Tanks and Scalers. Worse still, they are able to lock onto the scent of a victim, allowing them to hunt the enemy over a great distance. However rather than a hunter, most Maulerfiends serve their masters as daemonic battering rams that crash into enemy lines. Once a Maulerfiend has latched onto an enemy war machine or fortification, it will find even the smallest weak spot to exploit in its armor before crushing or cutting it to bits, allowing them to rip apart the vulnerable individuals or components within.
Forgefiend
This disturbing fusion of Daemon-beast and heavily armoured machine is designed to attack enemy forces from afar with overwhelming firepower as opposed to its cousin, the Maulerfiend, which is designed for close combat. Upon the Forgefiend’s back is a assembly of soul-furnaces which contain the tortured screams and faces of its victims.
Forgefiends are created by either a Warpsmith or Sorcerer, who coax the spirit of a Daemon from the Warp to possesses the body of a machine, powering it with its fury.
The Forgefiend is typically armed with either up to three Ectoplasma Cannons (these called Cerberites by Imperium scholars) or two Hades Autocannons. Forgefiends do not fire normal ammunition, for even their bullets are tainted with daemonic essence. Moreover, they can reload and create new ammunition internally by feasting upon nearby metal.
Helldrake
Once fighter aircraft flown by noble Space Marines, these have since been mutated by the powers of the Warp into something far more hideous. Their original pilots are still inside, fused to their machines for eternity, and it is their anguish and hate that powers adds to the feeling of “wrongness” that a Heldrake gives. After centuries of gradually fusing to their machine and becoming overcome by the Daemon that inhabits it, in the end the pilot is only a fetal ball that burns deep within the core of the aircraft. A crude hierarchy admits among Heldrake swarms, with the most powerful and experienced entities commanding their followers through pack dominance.
Heldrake’s are often the first wave of any full-scale Chaos Space Marine invasion. Fully capable of traversing space, Heldrake’s will often cling to the underbelly of Chaos warships like a swarm of bats, feeding off the vessels energy through cables and pipes. Sometimes, Heldrakes will claim areas within warships for themselves, daring any to come oppose them.
A Heldrake’s preferred method of attack is to soar from high altitudes down upon unsuspecting enemy air support, ripping them to pieces with their claws, cables, and talons. Heldrake’s carry ranged weaponry in addition to their talons, usually mounting either a Hades Autocannon or Baleflamers, which spew daemonic bullets and fire.
Venomcrawler
These towering spider-like Daemon Engines are hosts to parasitic entities that infest the tides of the Warp, preying upon stray souls and lesser Daemons alike. Dragged into realspace and bound into hunks of metal by either Masters of Possession or Warpsmiths, these creatures often haunt the flesh factories of Daemonic forges. During the ritual of their summoning, Venomcrawlers are often embued with the most horrifying parasitic entities of the Warp. These Daemonic presences are bound to their structure. As more Daemons are absorbed into its metallic form, a Venomcrawler’s form will distend hideously and create a reservoir of empyric energies within its swollen body. This makes Venomcrawlers valued both and off the battlefield, for their repositories of stored Warp energy can be used to create fresh Daemon Engines.
Venomcrawlers are often used to hunt down rogue entities that have escaped the clutches of their summoners, consuming the raging spirit once it has been cornered. This daemonic energy can be used to power the Venomcrawler’s formidable weaponry which come in the form of Excruciator Cannon pods. The very presence of Venomcrawlers are also able to thin the veil of reality itself, allowing Daemons easier access to Realspace. Masters of Possession are particularly adept at drawing upon the energies of Venomcrawlers to lure Daemons into the Materium. At battle’s end, these entities are hastily devoured by the Venomcrawler.
World Eaters
Below are types of Daemon engines associated with the World Eaters, the results of Khorne’s blessing upon his Legion.
Lord of Skulls
Wrought only by the most skilled Warpsmiths with the bound spirit of a Bloodthirster, the engines of this towering contraption are powered by the boiling blood of murderers. Lords of Skulls are built in hell forges with the sole purpose of annihilating its enemies. Given its status as a prison of Bloodthirsters, Lord of Skulls are often worshiped by accompanying Daemons who will stack gathered corpses and skulls atop the engine during battle. Though it is considered as the incarceration by most of Bloodthirsters, still there are few of them (mostly from the eight rank) who consider the Lord of Skulls like a suit of armour within which they may unleash war on the denizens of realspace.
Lords of Skulls are armed with a variety of heavy weapons, such as a gigantic Great Cleaver of Khorne mounted on its right arm and a Skullhurler or Hades Gatling Gun on its left. Long-range weapons include a chest-mounted Ichor Cannon, Daemongore Cannon, or Gorestorm Cannon.
Brass Scorpion
The Brass Scorpions is a Super Heavy Daemon Engine, dedicated to the Blood God Khorne. The Scorpion is deceptively fast and agile for a vehicle of its size and excels at attacking fortified positions and engaging entrenched infantry. The Brass Scorpion seems to be imbued with a predator’s insincts and has shown a level of bloodlust and delight for slaughter rarely matched even my other machines found amongst the arsenals of Chaos forces. There appear to be various configurations of Brass Scorpion in use by the traitor legions, ranging in size from that of a Leman Russ Battle Tank to that of small Titans. Like other many Khornate Daemon Engines, the Brass Scorpion is inscribed with Runes of the Blood God, granting it added defense against psychic powers.
Whilst there have been variations in armament noted, the most common weapon layout consists of:
- One tail-mounted Scorpion Cannon
- One front-mounted Demolisher Cannon
- Two Hellmaw flame cannons
- Two large close combat weapons – usually in the form of large pincers, but occasionally as motorised saw blades
Death Guard
Below are types of Daemon engines seen in use most commonly by the Death Guard, the results of Mortation’s infernal genius.
Myphitic Blight Hauler
Resembling a Bloat-Drone that has been stripped of its turbines, this strange machine has heavy weapons mounted on its carapace, typically a combination of multi-melta and missile launcher for mid-to-close range tank hunting. These warmachines are alive, and should the enemy get too close, the Myphitic Blighthauler falls upon them like a ravenous wolf and injects toxic filth with its fangs. Despite its small size, the Blight-hauler is well armored and its blubbery flesh-parts can soak up additional trauma. It possesses a further defense mechanism in the form of the keratinous spouts that protrude from its body. As it devours the filth and corpse-matter carpeting the battlefield, the machine churns the accumulated foulness within. Toxic gasses and fumes build within the Daemon Engine’s boilers until it spews them forth in billowing clouds. The retched stink of these unnatural gasses is enough to render nearby enemies unconscious or send them into uncontrollable fits of vomiting. Meanwhile, the moistened matter borne upon the clouds hangs thick in the air, veiling the Myphitic Blight-hauler and any nearby units behind an obscuring curtain of filth. In this way, packs of Myphitic Blight-haulers provide rolling smog banks of revolting cover for the Death Guard advance, clogging the air with choking clouds.
Though lone Myphitic Blight-haulers are occasionally deployed to support the Death Guard, they are most commonly seen in packs of three, often referred to as tri-lobes. The Daemon Engines bond instinctively with one another, hunting as a pack and running down vulnerable quarry with a killer instinct.
Foetid Bloat-Drone
Believed to be a warped perversion of the ancient Vultarax Stratos-Automata, these foul machines are created on Nurgle-dominated Daemon worlds. Despite the costly blood sacrifices and extremely hazardous binding rituals used in their creation, Bloat-drones enjoy enduring popularity with Chaos Lords of the Death Guard Traitor Legion, deploying them in swarms that darken the skies. This is especially true among the forces of the 5th Plague Company, with warbands such as the Sons of the Maggot, the Suppurant Sting, and the Smogrot Brotherhood fielding great numbers of Foetid Bloat-drones in varying pack strengths and configurations.
The Daemons bound to Foetid Bloat-drones are more aggressive and spiteful than most Daemons of Nurgle. Some are even so willful that they cannot be entrusted with ranged weaponry on account of their desire to smash themselves into the enemy ranks. These drones are instead fitted with the macabre devices known as Fleshmowers, which tear apart enemies caught within them at close range. The mashed remains of fleshmower victims make excellent fuel for drones armed with Plaguespitters or Heavy Blight Launchers, and so the two variants often form parasitic war packs.
Plagueburst Crawler
The designs for the first Plagueburst Crawlers were created by Mortarion as an act of spite. The Death Lord sought to create a mobile artillery piece that would outclass any comparative Imperial weapon, and thus demonstrate the Death Guard’s superiority over their former kin. For months he locked himself away in the smog-wreathed spires of the Black Manse on Plague Planet, obsessing endlessly over his foul brainchild, turning all of his remarkable intellect to the challenge. The resultant Daemon Engines reflect well the values of the figure that created them. Plagueburst Crawlers are lumbering, formidable siege tanks whose huge ram-blades, thick armor plating, and daemonic energies provide them with incredible resilience. Their fearsome Plagueburst mortars boast a parabolic fire arc and terrifying range, while the shells they fire combine high-radius explosives with lethal clouds of corrosive spores to inflict damage comparable to that of Imperial Demolisher Cannons. The drawback of this weapon is its inability to fire at targets that are closer than its minimum range. However, the remainder of the Crawler’s weaponry is intended to slaughter the foe up close, spraying slime and hails of viral shells at any who approach.
Great effort is required to bind a Daemon within each Plagueburst Crawler, once installed the possessed entities tirelessly obey their masters and, by extension, the will of Mortarion. Plagueburst Crawlers are not swift vehicles, even running at full power. Yet their advance is as grinding and relentless as the Death Guard themselves. Intended to support infantry offensives, Plagueburst Crawlers plow forward like huge mechanical slugs, their mortars firing with metronomic regularity. An area under sustained bombardment from these weapons becomes so saturated with foul spore clouds Armour provides little protection, for the daemonic spores corrode the thickest adamantium plating. These hideous effects have made the Plagueburst Crawler a much-hated weapon of war.
Unusual Daemon Engines
Helstalkers
Helstalkers are scuttling Daemon Engines that serve as steeds for Lord Discordants, who ride them into battle. Many Chaos Legions use these constructs.
These nefarious Daemon Engines are able to parasitically devour the Motive Force of its mechanical prey be it Imperial or Xenos in origin with their Hypno-Armour Syringes that inject Scrapcode directly into its victim. As it does so, its own metallic frame swells with ingested code and subroutines. The Lord Discordant siphons off the pained spirit of the dying technology. This harvested energy is then used to reinvigorate other Daemon Engines, or is released as beams to infect the systems of other vehicles. Besides their own parasitic abilities Helstalkers are well-armed for war, with either an autocannon or baleflamer.
Learn of more exotic Daemon Engines
Lexicanum
~All hail the Dark Mechancum!
