| CONTENTS: CHARACTER PROFILES | INTELLIGENCE REPORT | MAXIMIZE YOUR BATTLE PASS REWARDS |
Commanders!
The World of Tanks and Warhammer 40,000 collaboration is coming to an end. Battle Pass Season VIII is set in the grimdark future where humanity is engaged in an endless conflict, threatened by heretics, mutants, and aliens on a million worlds, but what's the story behind the characters and what have we learned about the battles fought?
We recently sat down with Games Workshop (Warhammer 40,000 creators) Loremaster, Michael Haspil, to discuss the story, his passion for writing, and his take on the 3D styles in-game. Watch the interview and dive into the juicy lore below!
Character Profiles
Meet the commanders and main protagonists in the Warhammer 40,000 lore. Get to know each of their unique skills, exciting perks, and fun querks before you dive into the intelligence report.
Completing the Chapters of Season VIII will bring these iconic characters to your side in-game as tank commanders. Their battle prowess and adventures discovering the powerful Standard Template Construct (STC) artifact will help to inspire you in action-packed clashes. Their weapons and accessories will be featured in the 3D styles inspired by the Warhammer 40,000 factions they represent.
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| Natalestra Aspais crew member |
Patricia Laserian crew member |
Dolgoth Sepk of the Death Guard |
Volusad Thassius of the Ultramarines |
Kroglin da Facegrinda of the Evil Sunz Orks |
Adepta Sororitas
Sister Aspais is a battle sister of significant prowess. Inducted into the Adepta Sororitas at a young age, much like other sisters, she fervently dedicated herself to her pious duties and prepared herself to fight when called upon by the Emperor. However, when that fight manifested at the Fall of Cadia, she was not there to answer the call. And though many of her order perished, it was their faith that brought about a miracle and summoned the great Saint Celestine.
Sister Aspais thinks it was somehow her fate to be absent from the battle and sees it as a mark of eternal shame she was not there. A fervent zealot, she re-dedicated herself to her combat duties so that such an event would never happen again. When next called upon to do battle with the corrupt forces of the Archenemy, she will not only be prepared, but have the skills and equipment needed to lay as many low as she can. Her training has seen her assume command of a Castigator Tank and its battle cannon and heavy bolters await any that would stand in her way.
- Get Patricia Laserian as a crew member with the recent Prime Gaming package until August 26 at 04:00 PT | 06:00 CT | 07:00 ET.
- Get Natalestra Aspais as a crew member with the Cleansed by Fire bundle (available for purchase until August 30 at 00:30 PT | 02:30 CT | 03:30 ET) by winning a battle before September 29 at 19:00 PT | 21:00 CT | 22:00 ET.
Ultramarines
- Lieutenant Volusad Thassius
- Primaris Techmarine Vitarian
- Ultramarines Sergeant Goran
A competent, dependable, and level-headed officer, Lt. Thassius now commands the demi-company of the Ultramarines Second Battle Company. He worked his way up the ranks as an Impulsor operator and feels most at home with the pulse of gravitic plates beneath his boots and within the close confines of a battle tank. Commanding the Repulsor Executioner allows the Chapter to exploit his capabilities as an innovative and dangerous armour commander. With the knowledge of the ancient Standard Template Construct possibly falling into Xenos or Traitor hands, he would rather see it destroyed. But he is not ready to resign the Imperium’s legacy to that fate without a concerted fight.
Get Volusad Thassius as a crew member (Germany) by completing the Battle Pass Courage and Honour base rewards track before August 30 at 00:30 PT | 02:30 CT | 03:30 ET.
Fascinated by machines of all types from a young age, Vitarian’s propensity for all things mechanical did not subside when he was elevated to the ranks of the Adeptus Astartes. He leapt at the chance to train on Mars with the Adeptus Mechanicus and would be an avid devotee of the Machine God, if he believed in such things. As it is, he is much more at ease communing with machine spirits rather than his fellow Space Marines. He has a specialist’s touch and is often able to coax performance from machinery that exceeds specifications. Taciturn, he keeps the company of machinery, ever trying to perfect the symbiotic relationship between man and machine. He currently serves as the Enginseer of the Ultramarines Repulsor Executioner Fortitudinis Caerulus, under the command of Lt. Thassius.
Sergeant Goran is the current pilot and main operator of the Fortitudinis Caerulus Repulsor Executioner tank. He and his tank (because he does think of it as his) hail from the Ultramarines Sixth Company and not the Second Company, for they are the caretakers of the chapter’s main battle tanks. He has a special affinity for working with the tank’s machine spirit and takes great pleasure in nimbly moving so large a vehicle through enemy fire to deliver a killing blow.
Death Guards
- Death Guard Champion Dolgoth Sepk
- Death Guard Chaos Lord Fecrustus Spute
Dolgoth Sepk is a Champion in the Death Guard’s 5th Company, known as the Poxmongers. He is not an overly ambitious person choosing instead to wallow slothfully in the blessings of Grandfather Nurgle’s gifts. However, whenever presented with the opportunity to impede or frustrate the efforts of his corpse-worshipping brethren, he will rise to the occasion and can be counted on to conduct his mission sheerly out of pure spite. If he can damage the Ultramarines in any way, he will. He undertakes the current mission to retrieve the Standard Template Construct with great zeal, for it means an accelerated path to the conquest of worlds in the heart of Ultramar and dealing a hammer blow to the so-called loyalists there.
Get Dolgoth Sepk as a crew member (U.S.S.R.) by completing the Battle Pass All Shall Rot base rewards track before August 30 at 00:30 PT | 02:30 CT | 03:30 ET.
Chaos Lord Fecrustus Spute views himself as one of the favoured of Nurgle, but perhaps ranks himself too high. He will ingratiate himself to anyone in Grandfather’s service if he thinks it will further his cause to rise in favour. He is even subservient to daemons, like Ku’gath Plaguefather, though in this case, he understands the daemon has special friends to strike at the heart of Ultramar and possibly the Primarch Roboute Guilliman himself. Spute will take any action to strike at the Imperium of the False Emperor.
Get Fecrustus Spute as a crew member (USSR) with the Gold and Chaos bundle before August 30 at 00:30 PT | 02:30 CT | 03:30 ET.
Evil Sunz Orks
Krogler da Facegrinda, also known as the Mekaniak Facegrinda, is always in pursuit of two things: more speed and more Dakka. Anything that doesn't contribute to those two characteristics he tends to ignore. He doesn't care what's in the ruins on the planet Tahnicus Mundi, only that the shiny gubbins within will bring all kinds of Beakies to krump and maybe he can loot one of their floaty tanks so he can get, you guessed it, more speed and more Dakka!
Get Krogler da Facegrinda as a crew member (Japan) by completing the Battle Pass Red 'Uns Go Faster base rewards track before August 30 at 00:30 PT | 02:30 CT | 03:30 ET.
Intelligence Report
Ready To Move Out
The lander dropped them more than five kilometres from their objective but only three from their enemies. Techmarine Vitarian raced to unshackle the machine spirit of the Fortitudinis Caerulus, an unbelievably powerful Ultramarines Repulsor Executioner main battle tank. Lieutenant Volusad Thassius monitored through helmet displays as all systems changed from orange to green and the weapon safeties disengaged.
The indicators showed the tank’s bristling weapons—the main Heavy Laser Destroyer, the Onslaught Gatling Cannon, the myriad Heavy Bolters, Storm Bolters, and Stubbers—all executed their self-test protocols and signalled their readiness. This took a matter of seconds.
The Vanguard Advances
"Sergeant Goran," Lieutenant Thassius addressed the tank's driver. "We are the vanguard. Onwards." The Executioner shot forward, which momentarily sent Thassius rocking on his heels and almost crushing the red-robed Adeptus Mechanicus Magus Dominus Nozick Beta-12. The Magus happened to be a renowned techno-archaeologist whose speciality regarded exotic power sources.
Thassius needed him aboard the Fortitudinis Caerulus like the tank needed a gaping hole in its side. But when the Magus had overheard the words "Standard Template Construct," he’d invited himself as part of the operation.
Their squad leader nodded and gave him a thumbs-up. Their gear and plasma incinerators were stowed. When the time came, the Executioner's rear hatch would spring open and the Hellblasters would dismount and purge any enemies in their path. Then, if necessary, they would deploy the teleport homer to allow the First Company to deploy veterans in tactical dreadnought "Terminator" armor with terrifying precision.
Racing Forward
Thassius continued to face forward and opened the commander's hatch above him. "I know my duty," he muttered, then stood on the access steps which raised him from the commander's seat and elevated his torso above the tank's turret.
Columns of black smoke rose ahead and populated the horizon, fuelled by thousands of fires as Xenos and Heretic vehicles burned.
Incoming!
"Weapons free," Thassius announced. The other tank commanders acknowledged. "Incoming Xenos fighters at zero-three-zero," one of the Gladiators reported.
Thassius swung the stubber around in the cupola of the tank. He spotted the target almost instantly—a group of swirling blobs in the distance, scarcely visible against the roiling polluted grey sky. His helmet's autosenses singled out each target. Marking them with a superimposed diamond designator with the range and closing velocity. An instant later, it identified them as Ork fighter-bombers.
He gripped the handles of the pintle-mounted heavy stubber before him and snapped the bolt back. Sergeant Goran called up a warning from below. "Orks and Daemons up ahead. I’d warrant our traitor brethren are nearby as well."
"How far?" Thassius asked. "Roughly sixty seconds," the sergeant responded.
A Disturbing Battle Scene
Thassius pulled up the Executioner's sensor feed in a sub-compartment of his helmet display. Ahead, through the cloud of disturbed dust and belching ebon smoke pouring from a various assortment of rickety Greenskin vehicles, he could just barely make out a swirling morass of Daemons and Xenos bodies interspersed with a seemingly random assortment of vehicles. Among the scores of smaller explosions and muzzle flashes, the occasional retina-searing beam lines of Heretic Entropy Cannons or Ork Zzap guns blazed ahead, silhouetting the battle scene.
Preparing For Further Onslaught
He divided his attention between the incoming fighter-bombers and the battle, increasing the magnification and enhancing the image of the onslaught. Smaller black clouds, which at first appeared like smoke, moved of their own volition, swirling to and fro against Xenos targets with a clearly intelligent purpose.
The infernal plague flies accompanied the Death Guard heretics everywhere they went. "Heretic Astartes confirmed. Death Guard," Thassius announced. "Secure all hatches. Switch to internal life support." Thassius ducked back inside the Executioner and closed the hatch.
He watched as the greenskin aircraft approached, apparently with no discernible formation. Their haphazard manoeuvring doing the job of evading or minimising the scattered fire still going their way.
A Method To Their Madness
The Orks were hitting the formation directly in the flank. Thassius hadn't thought to give the Xenos that much credit. It appeared there was a method to their madness.
The heavy bolters to the fore of the tank burst into life. Thassius checked Sergeant Goran's targets. He was shooting at the weapon's extreme limits, but he was blasting into the general melee ahead and not aiming for a single target.
The outgoing fire attracted the attention of one of the Death Guard's daemon engines, a Plagueburst Crawler, an insidious tank said to have been created by the daemon primarch Mortarion himself. Thassius could sense the malign intelligence within as it brought its weapons to bear. He swung the Executioner's turret in its direction.
The tank's machine spirit considered velocity and closing distance, fixing the enemy vehicle in its targeting reticle as the main gun charged. "Six, break right!" a voice cut through, addressing Thassius' Executioner. He couldn't identify whose it was.
Sergeant Goran reacted, jinking the tank to the right violently just as Thassius squeezed of a destructor blast at the Crawler he had sighted. The abrupt motion spoiled his shot and though it flew wide of its target, it was impossible to completely miss a mark in the morass of fighting.
In The Thick Of It
Almost simultaneously, a horrific blast lifted the left side of the Executioner so high Thaddeus was sure they would overturn. Somehow, Goran righted the tank. Then power flickered across the displays and the front dipped as the gravitic plates failed.
The Executioner struck the ground with an impact so severe it might have pulped a non-Astartes crew. Thassius gave Nozick Beta-12 a quick glance. The techpriest had deployed two additional mechanical arms from beneath his crimson robes. They gripped the sides of the compartment and helped the techpriest brace himself. The Magus stared at Thassius with unblinking artificial glowing eye lenses as if daring him to find something wrong. It appeared the Magus would be fine. But he had to be feeling it and maybe even second-guessing his decision to accompany the Space Marines.
A Sit Rep
No casualties yet. It could only be a matter of time. They'd been struck by either a mortar from the Crawler or one of the aircraft's bombs. Perhaps both. How soon until one or the other realized they hadn't achieved a clean kill and concentrated their attentions to finish them off?
The Executioner rocked and the power flickered again. Thassius felt the impacts as a string of explosions peppered the tank and its surroundings. "Vitarian?" He asked the techmarine.
"Just a glancing hit. Working to restore functionality," Vitarian sounded untroubled, as if this setback was a mere minor annoyance. "Six, this is two. Are you still with us?" Thassius answered, "Indomitable as always, brother. Those blasts stunned our systems’ machine spirits. They are reawakening. Proceed to objective. Maximum speed. We will join you presently."
"Understood." They released their bombs at the whim of each individual pilot.
Air Support Unknown
The lumens and displays inside the Executioner's cupola flickered back to life.
Another massive explosion sent the tank skittering sideways and the power winked out again, plunging them back into darkness. "Guilliman's Oath," Goran shouted. "Where is our air support?"
"Unknown," Vitarian answered, unperturbed. "Near miss. Or we wouldn't still be here to hold this debate. There is a problem, brothers. The last impact caused significant damage. I am unable to restore power." "At all?" Thassius asked. If so, they would need to dismount immediately or be picked apart by subsequent strafing runs.
"One moment," Vitarian said as he took stock of the damage. "Several minutes at the earliest." "We don’t have minutes." Thassius made his decision. "Prepare to abandon and dismount. We will disburse among the other vehicles and continue."
Back Online
Nozick Beta-12's high-pitched mechanical voice squeezed its way into the interaction. "This unit will correct deficiencies. Stand aside."
Vitarian tried his best to manoeuvre his bulk out of the Magus’ way as the techpriest dislodged himself from the makeshift jump seat and extended mechadendrites fitted with hardware plugs and jacked them into receptors tied directly to the tank’s machine spirit. Other mechanisms extended and flashed as they welded conduit open and soldered and rewired the cabling within.
"Progress." Nozick Beta-12 said. "Progress. Progress." All the while, his limbs flashing this way and that like so many mechanical tentacles. The displays flared back to life. "Partial functionality restored," the Magus continued.
An instant later, Thassius felt the hum of the plates thrumming through the tank's surfaces and through his armor. The Executioner bobbed as it rose from the churned soil as it regained its stability. "I'm afraid the Machine Spirit is still dormant," Vitarian said. "We have no cogitator assistance to fire control. Magus Dominus? Any additional assistance would be appreciated."
"Negative. Unable. The spirit is displeased and must be placated. Time increment equals decrease. Mission success correlates. Must proceed." Thassius nodded in acknowledgment. "Then we do it manually. Get us moving, Sergeant."
An Unidentified Voice
A distorted voice crackled over the vox, "Still with us, brother?" The tone was mocking and derisive. "It would have been a shame to have lost you to the Xenos."
"Identify yourself," Thassius demanded. "Of course. You have the honour of speaking with Champion Dolgoth Sepk of the Death Guard. Know that it was I who killed you."
A Hasty Engagement
They were just over a kilometre away from their objective now. Mere moments at the speed they were travelling. Ahead, the battling Daemons and Orks parted to allow two Plagueburst Crawlers to squeeze through the melee. They fired their Plagueburst mortars.
Sergeant Goran jinked. The blasts missed the Executioner only to catch a nearby Gladiator Lancer almost directly. The Lancer managed to get a shot off and punched a neat hole in one of the Crawlers. Then the mortar's corrosive plague spores pitted and dissolved the hardened adamantium and ceramite armour on the Gladiator tank.
Large bits of the hull rotted and flaked away leaving nothing more than a gravitic sled. An instant later, the Gladiator slammed into the ground and tumbled end over end.
Thassius sighted in the injured Crawler through the viewfinder slaved to his helmet's display—the wound the Lancer had inflicted slowly closed, already healing. He squeezed off a blast with the Heavy Laser Destructor and scored a direct hit, but it seemed to have little effect.
Power Issues
"Vitarian, I need more power to the main," Thassius called out. "One moment," the techmarine said. The engines changed in pitch accompanied by a hum of redirected power. "Try now."
Thassius sighted again, in time to see the Crawler tracking its sponson-mounted weapons at him. He lined up his shot and tried to match it directly to the hole where the Crawler was already wounded.
He fired a millisecond before the Crawler did. The impact of the Executioner's laser destructor spoiled the Crawler's shot and bored a hole clear through the daemon engine.
No Hesitations
Thassius sighted the second Crawler and lined up a shot. Before he could fire, a gargantuan Ork Gunwagon careened into view. It smashed into the remaining Crawler with a massive front-mounted roller, crushing a portion of the vehicle before upending the daemon engine and causing a fatal amount of damage.
Thassius adjusted his fire and sent a blast from the Laser Destructor straight through the side of the Gunwagon and into its ammunition stores. He was rewarded with a truly impressive explosion which shot starbursts of debris and Xenos bodies across the battlefield in blobs of fire, metal, and gore.
As Goran ploughed the tank forward through the remains of mingled Gunwagon and Crawler, Vitarian adjusted the gravitic forces coming from the plates, creating a bow wave that pinned anything ahead of them to the earth and reduced combatants to gory splotches as the tank swept over them.
"Fury of Descent, this is Lieutenant Thassius. You may drop now. Teleport homer will be deployed momentarily." He didn't wait for an acknowledgment. Sergeant Goran brought the tank to a halt and spun it one-hundred-and-eighty degrees, so the rear hatch faced the objective. Thassius vacated his place in the turret. "Vitarian, get up here." They exchanged places and Vitarian cleared the space around the tank with the Onslaught Gatling Cannon. The rear hatch dropped.
"Stay behind me, Magus, and we’ll get you to your STC." Thassius shouted. He was rewarded with a burst of binaric in the form of a response as the techpriest allowed the marines to dismount.
A Final Burst
A horde of Orks faced them, charging the last few meters toward the Executioner. The Hellblasters cut them down with superheated plasma as they disembarked. Some of the Greenskins burst in mid-step as the beams struck them. Thassius activated his Astartes chainsword and swept out of the Executioner with it in his right hand and the teleport homer in his left. He noted motion between him and the ruin.
A colossal Ork Mekboy rose from a ground hollow. Thassius presumed the Ork had been thrown clear of the gunwagon as he couldn’t fathom where else it had come from. The creature was torn and bloody, bits of its own flesh hung from it in tatters. One of its tusks had snapped off at the base. Still the creature screamed a guttural war cry and charged Thassius.
Supersonic cracks from the sky above drew the combatants’ attentions away from each other. Drop pods punched through the cloud cover and hurtled toward the planet below. In the next minute, the objective would be saturated with Ultramarines.
Thassius turned his attention back to the hulking Ork Mekboy and smiled. Though it could not see his expression as he charged it, he swore the Xenos was smiling back.
Maximize Your Battle Pass Rewards While You Can
With Battle Pass Season VIII coming to a close on August 30, now is a great time to buy the Improved Pass. If you've completed a Chapter already, get the Improved Pass to unlock all the improved rewards from that Chapter. You could be sitting on up to 150 rewards if you haven't purchased any improved reward tracks!
Boost your Battle Pass with the Improved Pass, available for 2,500 per Chapter on the Battle Pass screen in your Garage or in the in-game Store. If you want to save some gold and instantly secure access to all the Base and Improved Rewards, then grab one of these special Battle Pass packages today!
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Reap the rewards this Season with the Improved Pass for all three Chapters. |
Pick up the Improved Pass for all three Chapters, plus a gold allowance, a new unique crew member, and customizations. |
Play combat missions for another unique crew member, an exclusive Warhammer-inspired 3D style, bonds, gold, and other goodies. |
The Cleansed by Fire bundle does not contain the Improved Battle Pass. The 2D Style "Purifying Flame" and Sister Lucia Decals can be applied only to the vehicles of the French nation.
Has the story gripped your interest, Commanders? Join the action and battle gallantly like the Ultramarines! Roll out!
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