Heldrake
Overview
A blasphemous fusion of man, machine, and daemon, these fell creatures of Chaos have enormous wingspans that make them even larger than Stormraven Gunships. 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 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 foetal ball that burns deep within the core of the aircraft.[3] A crude hierarchy pervades Heldrake swarms, with the most powerful and experienced entities commanding their followers through pack dominance.[4]
Heldrakes are often the first wave of any full-scale Chaos Space Marine invasion. Fully capable of traversing space, Heldrakes 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 to oppose them.[4]
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.[1][2][3] Heldrakes carry ranged weaponry in addition to their talons, usually mounting either a Hades Autocannon or Baleflamers, which spew daemonic bullets and fire.[2]
Known variants
Two-headed Heldrake
The Two-headed Heldrake is a bigger variant of the common Heldrake that has two heads.[5c] It is armed with flamers in both mouths,[5a], a sonic scream capable of stunning the systems of a Thunderhawk[5d] and teeth that can bite through Space Marine Power Armour with its unnatural force.[5e] The Two-headed Heldrake has a wing span of at least eighty feet,[5b] with the bio-mechanical wings themselves being a hundred feet broad.[5c] Through its sheer weight, it can force a Thunderhawk to crash by slamming into it, holding on to and tearing at the aircraft with its talons and teeth.[5d]
Known Named Heldrakes
Images
Sources
- 1: Games Workshop webstore : Heldrake (saved archive)
- 2: White Dwarf 394 (UK), pgs. 8–10
- 3: Codex: Chaos Space Marines (6th Edition), pg. 52
- 4: Death From the Skies (7th Edition) — Daemon Engines of Chaos
- 5: Morvenn Vahl: Spear of Faith (Novel):
| Daemon Engines | |
|---|---|
| Chaos Undivided/Unaligned |
Decimator • Defiler • Forgefiend • Heldrake • Helstalker • Maulerfiend • Soul Grinder • Venomcrawler |
| Khorne | Blood Reaper • Blood Slaughterer • Blood Throne • Brass Scorpion • Cauldron of Blood • Death Dealer • Doom Blaster • Kytan • Lord of Battles • Lord of Skulls • Tower of Skulls • Skull Cannon |
| Nurgle | Blight Drone • Contagion • Foetid Bloat-Drone • Plagueburst Crawler • Myphitic Blight-Hauler • Plague Centurion • Plague Hulk • Plague Tower |
| Tzeentch | Doom Wing • Fire Lord • Silver Tower |
| Slaanesh | Subjugator |
