Adeptus Astartes Reveals From Games Workshop
September 15, 2020 by avernos
To coincide with the launch of Codex: Space Marines Games Workshop has previewed all of the previously unseen units for the Adeptus Astartes. This is a mix of new units alongside multipart variants of existing single pose kits to round out your Space Marine armies on the tabletop.
Captain with Master-Crafted Heavy Bolt Rifle // Games Workshop
The first of the releases is the Captain with Master-crafted Heavy Bolt Rifle, bedecked in Mark X Gravis Armour. Apart from foot on rock, the captain is the very definition of statuesque wearing a formidable set of armour strong enough to stop most attacks in their tracks. I'm a little surprised that the Captain doesn't have more ornate armour now that the Primaris are starting to settle in, but he's certainly striking and would easily fit into any colour scheme depending on Chapter. The Cuban heels are an interesting choice I'm wondering if the capt is a fan of Prince?
Heavy Intercessor // Games Workshop
The Captain is not the only Astarte to get their genetically engineered hands on Heavy Bolt Rifles and the Mark X Armour. When I say they're heavily armoured I'm not kidding, Toughness 5 Troops unit with 3 Wounds aren't exactly ten a penny and anyone intending on chewing through this squad quickly will find themselves wondering where it all went wrong for them.
Eradicator with Multi-Melta // Games Workshop
The next bunch of Gravis armoured Marines are the Eradicators armed with Melta guns and the unit that first appeared in Indomitus are now getting a multi-part kit with all the bells and whistles. The kit includes loads more options, such as the ability to swap out their melta rifles for an even harder-hitting heavy version. You’ll even be able to give one Eradicator in the set a multi-melta, complete with its devastating new profile Heavy 2, 24" range and a Str 8 hit is painful enough but within half range the damage increases from D6 to D6+2. Knocking out vehicles couldn't be easier.
Assault Intercessors // Games Workshop
A multipart Assault Intercessors kit is also on its way. In addition to more flexible posing options throughout, the squad’s Sergeant can be assembled with a hand flamer or plasma pistol, and can even wield a power sword, power fist, or thunder hammer too! Alongside them the Bladeguard Veterans are also set to be treated to a multipart kit, offering dynamic new poses and the ability to equip the squad’s Sergeant with a neo-volkite pistol.
Bladeguard Veteran // Games Workshop
The four new infantry squads offer up expanded options for the Adeptus Astartes in the field and the multi-part versions of existing single pose are always welcome to stop armies feeling samey. The Cuban heels are still a weird choice but as "standard marines" go for the mainstay of peoples forces they certainly fit the bill. I do still think that they could use a bit more oompf, and I don't mean stick skulls all over them. Perhaps when we start seeing chapter specific parts we will get something that sparks something.
It would be remiss not to mention that the infantry sets are not the only new release coming for the Angels of Death and a new speeder has been shown off in all it's glory.
Storm Speeder // Hammerstrike
Taking its queue from the Landspeeder and the various Primaris repulsor vehicles the Storm Speeder kit comes in three patterns, each equipped with a blistering array of heavy weaponry designed to eliminate a particular type of enemy. The Hammerstrike comes equipped with tank-busting missiles, grenades, and even a tri-barrelled melta, capable of reducing most armour to slag in a single turn if the dice are with you. The other variants are the Hailstrike an anti-infantry platform armed with an onslaught gatling cannon, two ironhail heavy stubbers, and a pair of fragstorm grenade launchers and the Thunderstrike a dog fighter anti-air speeder but with enough firepower on hand to serve as anti-tank as well if push comes to shove.
Overall it's a big bunch of releases that hit the mark more than they miss it, but with them being Marines it's not like we expected anything else. These are certainly a statement of intent for the Adeptus Astartes for 9th edition and hopefully the other armies will get new kits commensurate with them.
Will you be crossing the Primaris Rubicon with everyone else?
Supported by (Turn Off)
Supported by (Turn Off)
Supported by (Turn Off)
Marines are marines, but the Storm Speeder is a really nice update on what was a great design and model. I still have a soft spot for the original landspeeder (especially when it contained guardsmen). It is the first Primaris vehicle I’d be tempted to buy for my Dark Angels – it would look lovely in black.
There is nothing special about those Marines. Like robert said marines are marines. How ever that new Land Speeder chassis is nice and as interesting detail pauldrons of it¨s crew members are smaller than usual.
Perfectly good models but the lazy CAD stuff is annoying. Every piece of armour is a copy and paste job 🙁
given yet another price hike from GW this month it seems (starting to lose count of how many they’ve had in a mere 2 years – it’s more than 5) I’m not sure these models will be affordable anyway.
I’m not a fan of the Space Marine hover vehicles to date but the speeder thingy is great.
I was so confused that the article was poking fun at the captain’s ‘foot on rock’ and high heels, and then realized it wasn’t Ben writing the article this time… These new marines are fine, but the army is starting to feel bloated. The sheer number of “marines with bolters” there are, with only miniscule differences, makes it difficult to actually put a collection or a list together. Who do you want as basic troops? Scouts with bolters? Classic marines with bolters? Intercessors with slightly better bolters? Slightly better intercessors with slightly better bolters? Too many of their units all… Read more »
it’s prep for when they phase out all the proper Marines in a single cull AoS style.
I’m not sure. They are making classic marines much better this edition; on par, even with Primaris, in many ways. Encouraging people to buy more only to then Squat them seems foolish, even for GW. There are too many millions of dollars of classic marines on tabletops everywhere for culling them all to seem wise. Honestly, what they should do rather than “cull” is just combine the units into one. They’re practically identical now, anyways, outside of aesthetics. Just make an open-ended dataslate for “Marine Infantry Squads”, and let people mix and match Intercessors and Classic Marines. They have the… Read more »
To my mind that would make more sense from a fluff pov. I’d see Primaris as “here’s Dave the new guy” topping up a squad that have taken hits (admittedly on a massive scale) rather than shoe-horning entire new formations into historic chapters.
I’ve not read much new fluff so that’s just how I imagine it would happen.
The truth is that the Primaris have been shoe-horned into the fluff for two reasons. Firstly, to sell new model kits. That’s obvious. Instead of just releasing a new box of “true-scale” marines, they wanted to release new units entirely to encourage even veteran Space Marine players to pick them up. Secondly, to allow them to wipe out Chapters on a daily basis, and kill Space Marines by the thousands, without the thorny issue of there only being one million space marines in the entire galaxy. Now they can kill one thousand Ultramarines in a single battle, but luckily Caul… Read more »
They’re gonna squat the kits.. not necessarily the idea of tactical marines etc. All marines can be Primaris’d and they’ve already got an extra wound this edition, the only difference is an extra attack.
GW do, imo, change their plans on a dime but it’s clear to me they want to phase out the old marines due to the poor unrealistic body proportions. That doesn’t mean they won’t replace them with new “to scale” kits, making the circle complete.
Yes, that’s what I’ve been saying. Just call the squad “Marine Infantry Squad” and be done with it.
The difference of 1 AP on the Primaris guys is insignificant in the grand scheme of things; just give the old marines “Cawl-Pattern Armour Piercing Shells” and the job’s done.
Remove the old model kits, condense the dataslates, and make classical marines the same mechanically as Primaris Marines. It’s win-win-win.
The only thing better than Smurfs is more Smurfs. Also available for other colours.
As a SM player, and Ultramarines at that, of course I like this and will be getting all the releases. However… it’s getting a bit much focusing on SM and the power creep is noticeable in 9th. We play casually, but even here games have been skewed so we might well give it a break for a while.
If GW’s track record holds true to form, they start with Marines and Faction X in a starter box, fill in some of the holes mentioned in the “new” codex, then the squeaky wheels begin to creek and the power creep starts. Every new codex brings out stuff to beat the marines who become the punching bag for all their opponents that follow. Finally, all the codices are done (maybe) and the cycle begins anew: slightly more powerful marines against a different foe, then all the rest designed to kill marines. The latest codex is always the faction to beat.
Oh, look. More space marines. How lovely. *yawns*
An excuse to suck more money out of people with a new codex I’m guessing
Well they DID release those new “heavy” space marines. Once upon a time you would have seen the rules for them appear in White Dwarf (for you to photo-copy or cut out and put in a ring binder), but now this makes the perfect excuse to sell you a “new” codex (when it’s 90% old stuff and 10% the new (the 10% is what you’re actually buying)). Basically if they release a couple of new kits, then they keep the rules hidden until they can sell you a whole codex so that you can use those two new kits. But… Read more »
Feeling sorry for the Marine using that missile launcher on the speeder, painters take note you’ll need to paint his helmet black (no matter the chapter) to reflect the backblast aimed from within six inches of his poor old noggin 😀
Sure. Those missiles could fire like a Javelin anti-tank missile in that they have a 2 stage launch with the first stage taking it some distance away before the actual motor kicks on. I’ve fired an AT-4 and managed to not have facial scorch marks, lol!
Maybe that’s a fire control system in between the missile launchers and they done it in the shape of a helmet so it looks pretty
Im digging all the models but think the Assault Intercessors seem worse than the easy build ones: they look like they have balancing issues like they staggered out of the local after drinking all day