Cataphractii Torrentia

Wielded in the first days of the Great Crusade as a bastion of armour and firepower, the Iron Revenants have fielded the Torrentia as a measure to cut down vast swathes of enemies swarming the battlefield. While limiting the speed more than the armour does already, the ability to rely on more or varied weapons gives a legionary veteran frightening versatility.

History
As one of the many designs within The Midasian Hoard, the Iron Revenants have taken advantage of the abundance of Cataphractii armour forged for them during the beginning of the Great Crusade. Allowing several Skand tech-claves to make adjustments on a small batch sent back to them on Terra the modifications were relatively simple in creating the Torrentia variant.

To help during the early days of the Crusade, the Captains of the First Chapter were faced with a common problem amongst many legions; that their enemies were countless and they themselves numbered few. To offset this the First Chapter sought to even the score through a simple force multiplier, namely adding more weapons for any individual marine, and so the Torrentia was created.

Initial testing of the armour saw an individual Terminator-clad marine's combat potential skyrocket, as the amount of firepower brought to bear could mow down battalions of enemy troops within minutes. Even with the offset of reduced manoeuvrability the armour proved a pillar that, one rooted, could not be toppled.

Standard Legionary practice does have squads of Torrentia-armed marines moving in a leapfrog fashion, as several stay rooted covering the advance of their comrades, but they regularly have tactical squads acting as support. These tactical squads are charged with covering the more vulnerable rear of the terminators, dealing with flanking units and finding perfect positions from which to lay down withering barrages of fire.

Description
The chassis of the standard Cataphractii Terminator armour remains mostly the same, the only outward difference being the articulated arms and weapon systems extending from the rear of the torso armour. The major changes have been made internal to the suit, with the teleportation pack standard to most terminators having been replaced. In it's place are a set of control motors, ammunition storage boxes and a secondary targeting cogitator that link to the various arms and weapon systems mounted on the back.

The amount of articulated arms mounted on the rear of the armour varies slightly dependant on a individual marine's weaponry preference, but usually is limited to 2 with heavy bolters mounted on top. The heavier weapons require stronger support structures and mounting units, usually in the form of a mag-rail running from the top of the armoured head cowling to the centre of the back. This support allows the front of the weapon to be moved into place and magnetically locked to steady it while firing. Smaller weapons like bolter and pistol sized weapons can be mounted with a single arm, and move more independently at the cost of heavier firepower.

To round off the system are an extra set of targeting augurs, placed just above the helmet of the marine, inset into the outer rim of the chassis. Placed here the augurs give a commanding view allowing to cogitator to track and target enemies for the marine. This is to alleviate extra strain on the marine's black carapace link, letting the extra weapons prioritize and fire due to a set of pre-programmed parameters. In particular they are normally used to augment damage to a larger target, or take care of enemies trying to flank the marine. Direct control can be handed over at any time if need be to focus down tougher enemies. Due to the nature of the forward-facing augurs and limited arcs of fire of heavy weapons (thanks to the mag-rail mounts) the Torrentia can only effectively fire in a 270° arc when firing. While this does leave their rear exposed this deficiency is usually covered by appropriate squad formations or supporting troops to cover them.

While the inclusion of extra systems and ammunition weigh the already formidable bulk of terminator armour down slightly more, Torrentia tactics have evolved to adjust to this. As a grouped upgrade the Torrentia proves to be an adept anti-infantry powerhouse, relying on stability and sustained firepower to cut down the vast hordes of any who oppose the legion.