Adeptus Titanicus – Acastus Knight Porphyrion

The latest addition to the Adeptus Titanicus range is a Knight class unit, the Acastus Knight Porphyrion.

The Acastus pattern is a new knight pattern and among the most heavily armed and armoured of all the Knight chassis in service, as such it rivals the Scout class Titans in size and power. It has no history in the old Titan Legion / Epic games, as the Acastus pattern was just introduced with Horus Heresy Book 7 Inferno, to the lore of Warhammer 40,000. With its bulk and firepower it is argued, that a single scions mind is even capable to properly control it, and strains even the most will-powered pilots.

An Acastus Knight Porphyrion's primary weapon are a pair of twin-linked Magna Lascannons and either a carapace-mounted Ironstorm Missile Pod or Helios Defense Missiles. There is a second pattern, the much rare Knight Asterius, which isn't part of this kit.

As these knights are much younger and lesser entries compared to the lords of war, like the much taller titans, the lore on them is by far not as extended or deep. So I am unfortunately not ableto tell you as much, as in the other reviews.

Games Workshop charges 40 EUR for the double pack of Acastus Knights. The titans are spread across two identical medium sized sprues in grey plastic. As usual with the Titanicus sprues, they are densely packed and the quality of casting is very high. This is not an easy-to-build or push fit kit, but a regular one, where you will need plastic glue to assemble the miniatures. The kit covers the regular Acastus Knight Porphyrion with its twin-linked Magna Lascannons and the two choices for the carapace mounted missiles. There is no differentation between loyal or traitors, at least not with the plastic parts. The decals cover insignia for the four houses of Makabius, Vyronii, Malinax and Coldshroud. And there is a construction leaflet (which is not up to the same quality as the others and seems more like a double sided copied A4 size paper) and two 65mm round bases. It says these are 60mm bases, but as you can see from the middle picture, they are a bit larger and much closer to 65mm instead.

Games Workshop offers a pack of command terminals for the Acastus Knight as well. These are 20 EUR for the pack of 5, but it is important to point out, that these are optional and you can download a PDF with the command terminals and print out your own (but the Acastus hasn't been added to the PDF yet). These are made from thick cardboard and quite sturdy.

As mentioned above, the sprues are identical. So no A / B poses or so, like with the Warhound Scout Titans or Cerastus Knights. Other than that, the casting quality you expect from Games Workshop, few mould lines and proper usage of the sprue.

I will build both simultaneously, and picture the parts from different angles to show you back and front of the parts / current step. The groin comes with a banner, but for some reason, that one doesn't move in the wind but hangs straight down. Even if the Acastus is standing still, it is very unlikely that a banner of that size wouldn't catch some movement or breath of wind.

The legs of the Acastus are pretty massive, but unfortunately not posable, so you have the same position for both of them. As the knee is fixed, it would take a bit more elbow grease to change that. You could probably angle the feet a bit and if you replace or reposition the cables from the groin, it could work.

Next up the rather massive torso of the Acastus. It is really close in size to the titans upper bodies, and has additional armour plates to cover the reactor on the back. Depending on your paint job, it might be useful to not glue these right away and leave them off until completely painted. The upper part goes ontop of the legs with a ball joint connection, so is moveable at the hip.

Now you add the upper plate to the upper body. Along with the railing on top. This is the point where you have the first option, auto cannons or las cannons on the shoulders. The third option, Irad-Cleansers, isn't included in this kit. I went with auto cannons for the one and laser cannons for the other.

In the back part of the carapace, the Acastus has a missile launcher system. It can be either build closed (in that case you have to keep of the front bit), or with one of the two included fronts for Ironstorm Missile Pod or Helios Defense Missiles. You can move them a bit, but not fully close them after adding the missile front piece to the lid.

Now for the main armament, the twin linked Magna Lascannons. These are fixed and can be mounted on the left and right, and swiveled up and down, to give it a bit of variation.

These are the spare parts you have left after building the kit, a front of each missile launchers and the alternative cannons on the shoulders.

You can see the the Acastus is almost as tall as the Warhound, and a bit taller than the Cerastus Knight. For a Knight the size is quite impressive and as it is mentioned in the lore, it is fittingly very close to the proportions of a Warhound.

The Acastus Knight Porphyron is available as a 28mm resin kit for the Warhammer 40.000 range as well by Forge World, at 430 EUR. There is the less common Asterius variant available as well, for the same price. For comparison, the Warhammer 40,000 Acastus is four times the height of the Adeptus Titanicus kit. At the incredibly useful euro per inch ratio, the Adeptus Titanicus Acastus beats the Forge World Acastus with 8,7 EUR/Inch (20,00 EUR for 2,3 Inch) to 43 EUR/Inch (430 EUR for 10 Inch).

And the build Acastus Knights. As you can see both with opened up missile launchers, but both variants and the different weapony for the shoulders.

Conclusion
This set captures the design of the Acastus very well in the smaller scale. Due to the heavy nature of it, we have a bulky and non-dynamic pose, unfortunately. But they added the options they had, with the different weapons for the shoulders and the missile system. It would have been nice if the heads would be moveable, though.

As for the price, this kit is bigger than the Knights I have covered yesterday, but smaller in mass and options compared to the Warhound Scout Titan, so 40 EUR is good measure between the 25 and 55 EUR the other kits cost. The command terminals surely have their price, I assume that we will see the Acastus be added to the PDF soon, so this is something, just for the ones who want to have it complete.

What does await us beyond the Acastus? Some may have already forgotten the previews from Warhammer Fest in May 2019. There will be further carapace weapons for the Reaver, vulcan mega-bolter and warp missile support rack, along with the missile pod and glove for the Questoris. I don't assume that these will be plastic, as it is an upgrade to small to justify a sprue. There was some terrain for Adeptus Titanicus previewed as well in the link above (you have to scroll down quite a bit), which will most likely be resin and by Forge World as well, similar to the terrain modules that are already available. And just below that is a teaser for Aeronautica Imperialis, a dog fighter system within the 40k universe. If these are connected and compatible in scale is so far not clear, but it would be possible.

Warhammer 40,000 and Adeptus Titanicus are brands by Games Workshop.

The reviewed product item was provided by the manufacturer.