Goonhammer reviews new Horus Heresy tank kits, Falchion leads expansion

Falchion first, but not alone

Goonhammer’s modeling team has turned three new Horus Heresy tank kits into something collectors can actually use: a decision guide. The review looks at the Falchion super-heavy tank, the Whirlwind Missile Tank, and a Spartan variant with different guns, and it quickly becomes clear that Games Workshop is not just adding rules entries. It is building out a larger armored range, with new plastic sprues, new options, and new reasons to clear space on the hobby desk.

That matters because these kits are aimed at different kinds of buyer. One is a centerpiece armor project, one is a flexible staple for armored lists, and one is a niche specialist for players who want a very specific battlefield job. The appeal is not only what they do on the table, but how they build, how they paint, and how they sit in a collection.

The Falchion as the centerpiece buy

The Falchion is the obvious headline act. Warhammer Community revealed it on March 9, 2026 as the first plastic Falchion kit, and framed it as a Titan-hunting, vehicle-destroying monster built around a neutron-wave cannon. That alone gives it instant collection value: it is a classic Horus Heresy super-heavy with the kind of profile that demands attention before a dice is rolled.

Goonhammer’s review treats that scale as part of the selling point. This is the tank for collectors who want a showpiece first and a datasheet second, especially if the force already leans toward Blood Angels or any other Legiones Astartes army that benefits from a dramatic centerpiece. The model’s sheer footprint is part of the joke and part of the warning: it can dominate a display shelf almost as easily as it dominates a battlefield.

From a build perspective, the team is clear that this is a much better experience than the older hybrid resin-plastic super-heavies. It still rewards careful dry fitting, gap filling, and patient assembly, but the modern kit design makes the process feel more manageable and more satisfying. If your priority is one huge armored anchor that looks like it should have its own transport case, this is the first box to justify.

The Falchion is also the best canvas of the three for hobby finishing. Extra weathering, weld texture, and scale-modelling detail all make sense here, because the tank reads like a display piece even before paint goes on. That is a rare combination: a super-heavy that feels both practical enough for the table and ambitious enough to justify a long, luxurious paint project.

The Spartan Prometheus as the flexible armored staple

If the Falchion is the dramatic purchase, the Spartan Prometheus Assault Tank is the practical one. Warhammer Community previewed it at AdeptiCon 2026, where it was presented with a choice of gravis heavy bolter arrays or laser destroyers, plus pintle weapons and accessories for further customization. The design pitches itself as both transport and fire support, which is exactly the sort of dual-purpose role that makes a tank earn shelf time in a growing Heresy collection.

That flexibility shows up in the modeling too. Goonhammer notes that the Spartan’s build rewards sub-assembly, especially with separate treads and detachable detail parts that make painting easier if you break the kit down sensibly. For anyone who likes to paint armor cleanly before final assembly, that matters as much as the loadout options.

The wider value here is that the Spartan sits in the middle of the collector decision tree. It is not as singular as the Falchion, and it is not as specialized as the Whirlwind. Instead, it gives you a durable armored platform that can be tailored to a force’s look and battlefield role. If you want one kit that can move from transport duty to support fire without feeling wasted, this is the most adaptable buy of the bunch.

The Whirlwind as the specialist support pick

The Whirlwind Missile Tank is the most focused of the trio, and that focus is exactly what makes it attractive to some collections. It now has official Liber Addenda support, which adds it to the Legiones Astartes army list, and Warhammer Community describes its missile launcher as a system that can fire warheads independently or as a pre-designated barrage. That makes it feel less like a generic artillery piece and more like a precise battlefield tool.

For list-building, that specificity is the point. The Whirlwind is the tank you buy when you want long-range threat projection and a model that does one job extremely well. It is not competing with the Falchion for centerpiece status, and it is not trying to be the broadest possible armored platform like the Spartan. It is the niche specialist, the piece that makes an armored line feel more complete and more tactically varied.

In modeling terms, that specialization can be a gift. Tanks like this often reward cleaner presentation and sharper weapon detailing, because the silhouette reads immediately. If your army already has its headline models covered and needs a support chassis that fills a very particular slot, the Whirlwind is the most efficient place to spend hobby money.

Why the range expansion matters beyond the three kits

What makes this rollout more interesting than a normal pre-order wave is the continuity behind it. Warhammer Community laid out the modular strategy back in March 2023 with shared plastic sprues and weapon attachments across multiple Horus Heresy vehicles, including the Predator, Sicaran, Typhon, Land Raider, Spartan, Arquitor, Glaive, Fellblade, Falchion, Mastodon, Javelin, and Damocles Command Rhino. These new tanks are part of that same philosophy: retooled hulls, fresh weapon options, and a system built to make armored formations easier to support in plastic.

That is also why the accompanying rules material matters. Mailed Fist: Legiones Astartes Super-Heavy Tanks is a 48-page Journal Tactica supplement, and it is doing more than handing out datasheets. It packages background, rules for fielding companies of these vehicles, and the support structure that makes the whole armored expansion feel like a real chapter of the Horus Heresy game rather than a one-off novelty. Warhammer Community’s broader rollout also points to continued updates through official downloads and errata support.

For collectors, the practical takeaway is simple: this expansion is built to be played, built to be painted, and built to sit together as a coherent armored force. The Falchion is the attention magnet, the Spartan is the dependable workhorse, and the Whirlwind is the specialist tool that sharpens the rest of the army.

The clearest message in Goonhammer’s review is that these kits are not just new rules with plastic attached. They are modern Heresy builds with enough presence to anchor a collection, and the Falchion leads the charge because it delivers the biggest payoff the moment it hits the desk, the shelf, or the table.