The Rotary Missile Launcher as seen from above
The Rotary Missile Launcher is a rotary missile launching system that is used by the Chapters of the Adeptus Astartes on their Relic Sicaran Arcus Strike Tanks to replace the no longer manufactured Arcus Launcher originally used by the Sicaran Arcus during the Great Crusade era.
The Sicaran Battle Tank was an Imperial main battle tank and one of the most advanced armoured vehicles ever used by the Imperium, and the Arcus variant was no different. The Arcus Strike Tank was originally part of a program once initiated by the Primarch of the Ultramarines Legion, Roboute Guilliman, seeking to grant a Legion strike force access to highly specialised weapon systems without the need to employ numerous vehicles for each role. The Sicaran hull was chosen to mount the newly developed Arcus Launcher, which was capable of deploying with a wide range of warheads, each crafted to fulfil a distinct tactical niche during combat. The Arcus was intended to become the cornerstone of a new tactical doctrine the Master of Ultramar had begun to formulate, allowing small Legiones Astartes forces to operate without extensive support and in smaller numbers than during the Great Crusade.
Despite production of the Arcus being limited to a few prototype vehicles at the onset of the Horus Heresy, and the doctrinal issues that kept it out of production on most major Forge Worlds, a number of Legion homeworlds produced small numbers of this variant. Of particular note is the inclusion of the Neutron-flux Warheads, a Terran development dating back to the years prior to the Emperor's alliance with Mars. This weapon saturated the silica stratum of the Cybernetica Cortex employed by Mechanicum Automata with xenon, causing terminal cascade failures in those systems. The continued production of these weapons is believed to be the cause of the Mechanicum's refusal to sanction the Sicaran Arcus Pattern, and its inevitable downfall.
The Rotary Missile Launchers used by the Relic Sicaran Arcus Strike Tanks of the 41st Millennium lack the ability to exchange their standard High-Explosive warheads for alternate types, thus limiting the Arcus' combat abilities -- and preventing the use of munitions still considered heretical by the Adeptus Mechanicus.
Sources[]
- Forge World Webstore - Legion Sicaran Arcus Strike Tank
- Forge World Webstore - Relic Sicaran Arcus Experimental Rules (PDF)
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