Skorpius Hover Tank

A vehicle utilized exclusively by the Skitarii, the Skorpius Hover Tank basically serves the same function as a Rhino, with both transport and battle tank variants. Except it looks like a hovercraft. Not a fancy anti-grav tech either, a conventional hovercraft. Apparently using big-ass fans to float an armored vehicle on regular old air (something we can do in fucking M2) is now, and we quote: "barely understood, deadly technology from the Age of Darkness." Yeah. Essentially the Skorpius can be thought of as a hybrid of the Higgins assault boat, the LVT amphibious tractor, and the LCAC hovercraft. It has a similar design to the Higgins, but with the hover technology of the LCAC. While the variants are set up similar to the LVT, having the Dunerider be open topped transport similar to the LVT-1, and the Disintegrator serving as either a light battle tank or an armored self-propelled howitzer like the LVTA-2 and LVTA-4 respectively depending on which cannon it carries. In other words the Mechanicus at some point gathered up every landing craft of the 20th century and decided rather than just picking one they would take them all at once and mashed them together.

GW also attempted to compare this with the "Deodorant Bottle Skimmer". One of these things is not like the others...

Skorpius Dunerider

The Higgins Boat on land.

The Higgins Boat of 40k (or a smaller and more advanced version of the Gorgon Armored Assault Transport, either/or), the Dunerider works exactly the same as the WWII Landing Craft that inspired it: hit the beach battlefield, suppress enemies with the many stubbers mounted on it, and then drop the front ramp and have the Skitarii within re-enact the opening scene of Saving Private Ryan.

The Dunerider has four Cognis heavy stubbers that offer a high rate of covering fire which would probably help the troops to survive ten seconds after disembarking. An additional turret-mounted pair of cognis heavy stubbers rises is mounted on a rear cupola, its Servitor gunner protected from return fire by an armored shield mounted between the barrels.

Ironically, it's arguably the most conventional vehicle design in the entire Mechanicus motor pool (they apparently don't use Chimeras, Rhinos, or Land Raiders anymore), to the point where the one thing about it that doesn't make sense is why the Imperial Guard aren't allowed to use it, seeing as how the technology behind Sentinels and Plasma Guns is more complex than a Skorpius Dunerider. According to the Regimental Standard, their use of "primitive hover-tech" is to be understood as a proof of the AdMech's charity in "saving more solid wheels and treads for the Astra Militarum".

On tabletop, the Dunerider has 12 wounds, Strength and Toughness of 6, and a degrading statline (movement 12” at bracket one, 9” at two and 6” at three. Base BS of 3+ going up 4+ and 5+, and you have 3, D3 and 1 attack. base WS of 6+ as with any vehicle). It has Ld8 and a 3+, which makes it decent as far as troop transports go. It has two Cognis Heavy Stubbers, one twin Cognis Heavy Stubber, and a Broad-Spectrum Data Tether. It’s special rule, Hover Platform means that you suffer no penalties for moving and firing heavy weapons, unless you advanced.

Skorpius Disintegrator

If you squint a bit, it bares some resemblance to a rubber duck.

The battle tank variant of the Skorpius replaces its transport capacity for heavier weaponry and a tougher hull. The Skorpius Disintegrator is an Adeptus Mechanicus fast-moving Battle Tank meant to be the rough equivalent of the Predator.

In addition to a trio of cognis heavy stubbers, it packs a prow-mounted disruptor missile launcher and either a Ferrumite cannon, think auto cannon on steroids, or a Belleros Energy Cannon, aka a Laser Plasma Mortar.

On tabletop, the Disintegrator comes baseline with 3 Cognis heavy stubbers and a prow-mounted disruptor missile launcher that packs a highly explosive wallop: 36” Heavy d6 S7 AP-2 Dd3. Random attack numbers and damage make it unpredictable but it is a decent weapon nonetheless. It also comes with a broad spectrum data-tether and canticles, as well as ignoring heavy weapon rules unless it advances.

In terms of armor and survivability, it has the exact same stats as the Skorpius Dunerider, except for an additional point of toughness (T7). Probably the most critical difference when deciding between this and the Dunecrawler, is the invun save, or rather lack thereof on the Disintigrator. So in summary, the Disintegrator has better firepower for the cost than the Dunecrawler but is less durable, which in the current anti-knight global meta (Your local meta may vary), means it can be shot off the board dishearteningly fast.