New Sternguard to replace the old Space Marines?

Posted on August 17, 2013 by Ben Jackson

Picture of new plastic Sternguard have surfaced in the last week, with no action being taken by GW? The question on my mind is what is going to happen to the old models. Should we be ordering as many as we think we will needs now, or will they continue to be offered on direct order only. I’m not sure I want to take the risk.

The old Sternguard

The New Sternguard

Sergeant in Mk8 Power armour with Plasma pistol and power sword

Sternguard with bolter

New space marine sternguard combi gravgun

Sternguard with combi gravgun

Sternguard combi melta

Sternguard Heavy Flamer

Space Marines – New Plastic Mk 4 and 8 Power armour?

Posted on August 15, 2013 by Ben Jackson

For a change I’ve updated my blog

Is that a plastic mk viii space marine?

The forth space marine on the picture has a helmet design I don’t recall ever seeing before. I may just be having a bad day though.

ChaperMasters blog

New space marine pictures have now hit the web.

Posted on August 11, 2013 by Ben Jackson

So far pictures of the centurions the hunter Sternguard the Vanguard Space marine captain Chaplin , librarian and the tactical squad Have all surfaced. Of all these I am most impressed with the Vanguard. They appear to come with a range of helmets including Mach 3, Mark four, Mark six, Mark seven, and a helmet with a halo.

From what I have seen so far, The hints I was given by the design team about a wider range of power armour appear to have been correct, however the armour seams to be spread throughout the box set rather than contained just within the tactical squad, as I had assumed, but then they couldn’t very well tell me there was going to be plastic veterans as well. The Tactical squad does now appear to have a mk6 chest plate, along with mk4 legs as well as more mk6 legs sets. Given the are not going to be more than 10 sets of legs in the box, I think it’s fair to assume we are getting 1x mk iv, 4x mk vi and 5 x mkvii. There does not appear to have been any pictures of anything but mk6 and mk7 helmets but it’s early days as far as options are concerned. The veteran sets do appear to have mk3, mk4 and mk6 helmets. I did see some mk8 legs on one of the veterans, which may mean a full suit of mkvii armour may now be possible. A full suit of mk6 looks to be contained within the tactical set as the missing rimless shoulder pad is now present. The bolters I’ve seen so far do not appear to be any but the common patterns. The back packs also all look to be mk7 with little design tweaks, as do the jump packs. At this stage only a missile launcher has been seen with the set but I’m fairly sure there will be a heavy bolter in one of the new sets. So that must means it is true!

New Tactical Squad, mkiii power armour, mkiv, mkv space marine

New Space Marine Tactical Squad – Price Rise Rumours

Posted on August 6, 2013 by Ben Jackson

I generally like to stay away from rumours, especial those without pictures to back them up. However the discussions around the new space marine tactical squad are getting too exciting.

So just what are the rumours about the new Tactical Squad.

1) The current 10 man box set is being replaced.

2) The new box set will have more old armour styles, but won’t be complete suits of old power armour like Forge World produces.

3) The box will contain all the parts required for the tactical squad’s upgrades.

4) There is a gravitation gun and gravitation pistol included.

What hasn’t been “leaked”

1) How many models are in the new box (5 or 10)?

2) What price the new box will be?

3) If the devastator squad also getting retired?

4) Will the armour through the ages set also be retired?

5) Will the set provide all the components for sternguard?

I’ve mentioned these last 3 points as Games Workshop love saving shelf space and many of the recent plastic set are designed to make multiple unit types. If old armour and all weapons for the Tactical squad are included that means combi weapons for the sergeant. Of course Combi weapons are all that is needed for a Sternguard squad. If the Sterngaurd are part of the box then it’s not very difficult to picture that it will be a 5 man box set, like the Dire Avengers.

The problem with making it a 5 man set it that there are no other cheep troop choices left for Space Marine players, unless you count the 3 man static pose set or scouts. Where Eldar players have Guardians to make the core of their army, Space Marine players rely on the Tactical Squad for the baulk of troops in their forces. If the Tactical Box Set goes the same way as the Dire Avenger set, the cost of a space marine company is set to almost double.

Given that the Tactical Squad box is the best selling product produced by Games Workshop, they are surly going to have to get something out of redesigning it. That’s got to mean either a price rise, a cost reduction (less models in the box) or more shelf space (3 or more boxes in 1).

I’m personally hoping we will see a new 10 man set with a modest 10% price rise, rather than the bad treatment Eldar players have received.

Ben

Eldar rumours: New Eldar Models may not be in the June White Dwarf

Posted on May 22, 2013 by Ben Jackson

One source is claiming GW are still having production and distribution problems. There have been a serious of distributions issues in the last 12 months, worst of all the 40k 25th Anniversary. The Tau release was not without incident. Eldar is a more popular line for GW so it’s no surprise to hear they are not able to get enough stock out to stores. This problem could range from a slight delay in the distribution of White Dwarf and release of the models to a full reschedule with goodness knows what (aka Apocalypse) happening this month. It’s very worrying that the Eldar codex is still available for order. The old codex is normally with drawn from sale a month before a new codex is released.

Update: it appears this issue is unlikely to impact UK or GW distribution .