Space Marines Rumor Roundup

[korgüll]

Pics of the new Tacs:

[Cpt Codpiece]

Pics of the new Tacs:

yeah, im sticking to FW

they look ok.... but nothing 'new' and nothing 'old' grav gun looks ok i suppose.... just looks like a fat version of the old plasma :/

[Mr Mystery]

New Tactical Marines look a wee bit chunkier!

[HsojVvad]

Is it me, or has the painting skills have gone way down for GW now? I mean they don't want to pay the 'Eavy Metal team no more? Looking at thoses SM, in the crevices, it's not even painted. Before everything was painted. I am shocked to see that the crevices are not even done.

Just saw this on Dakka.

[Cap'nSmurfs]

Those might be Hobby Team rather than Eavy Metal. I think they look lovely, subtly improved with a little variation but substantially still the classic look. The new Mk 8 gorget on the sergeant is great, too. And look! Grav guns!

[Chris_K]

The grab-guns do look good and the leg variant, similar to FW kits is nice but ultimately they look just the same, don't they?

[rabid_stoat]

Is it me, or has the painting skills have gone way down for GW now? I mean they don't want to pay the 'Eavy Metal team no more? Looking at thoses SM, in the crevices, it's not even painted. Before everything was painted. I am shocked to see that the crevices are not even done.

Those might be Hobby Team rather than Eavy Metal. I think they look lovely, subtly improved with a little variation but substantially still the classic look. The new Mk 8 gorget on the sergeant is great, too. And look! Grav guns!

I've noted the downturn in painting standards myself. I've been using black ink over the detail and in crevices myself, so to me at least these guys look terribly flat and toy like. The centurions will look MUCH better after I'VE painted them, and I can't believe I'm saying that, as I'm hardly a pro or anything. The Tacs look boring to me. Not sure what I was expecting. More gothic craziness?

[Patrick Boyle]

The grab-guns do look good and the leg variant, similar to FW kits is nice but ultimately they look just the same, don't they?

They're the base standard infantry of the army, I wasn't expecting anything super fancy. What I am happy for is new casts where the details show through, and maybe the mold lines aren't so bad. I'm fairly new so I don't have a huge stock pile laying around, what I do have though is the Space Marine mega force from two years ago that had two tac squads in it and holy crap was the casting on them spotty. The crevices on the legs were barely defined, humongous mold lines, so on and so forth. There are lots of other kits that could probably use a refresh due to casting issues too *cough*Tau Firewarriors*cough* but I'm happy to be getting marines.

Just the fact that the casts will be of the quality of Grey Knights/Dark Eldar is awesome. New poseability, new bits, and possibly some new weapon options are just icing on the cake.

[Cpt Codpiece]

well if those sternguard all look like that one dude.... and are only £25ish a box...... yup im having them as tacticals those dudes look mint!

[The Emperor's Champion]

The Tacs look boring to me. Not sure what I was expecting. More gothic craziness?

Ultimately, the Tacticals can't really get much more ornate than this.
They have to serve as the base for wildly differing Chapter aesthetics.
White Scars and Salamanders, for example, would benefit not at all from having more gothic decorations.

Indeed, the Sternguard are near the limits for what the Ultramarines should really need in gothicness, since their theme is meant to be Greco-Roman.
The Imperial Fists could tolerate a bit more since they're the "post-Roman empires" themed step in between the Roman Ultramarines and the medieval Black Templar.
Dark Angels, Blood Angels, Raven Guard and Black Templar are the Chapters that would always look better being more gothicy.


I mean, you can say that the overall theme of 40k is gothic, and that's true, but people choose their Chapters partially because they like their not necessarily gothic aesthetics(e.g. the non-European themes of the White Scars and Salamanders) more than the gothic stuff that's just EVERYWHERE.
GW should avoid alienating those armies by drowning their themes in gothic gubbinz.

Iron Hands should probably -avoid- gothic stuff just to differentiate themselves visually from the Black Templar and Raven Guard (They should be high-tech and bionic, and maybe try and put more emphasis on the Atompunk-type 50's sci-fi looking stuff [Conversion Beamers, Graviton weapons, Master Of Relics model]. The more rayguns the better.).

For the more "non-gothic" Chapters it could just be a setback if they started out loaded to the gills with gothic bits they may not want.
Same reason you wouldn't want Roman iconography on everything, even though a lot of Chapters use a hint of it and it's one of the underlying themes of the entire Imperium.



If it were up to me, I'd improve the Tactical Squad set with.
- More armor MK variations.
- Maybe a backpack with a comms array for a long-ranged communications Marine? Although...I'd put that in the Command Squad...
- More leg poses.
- Enough grenades, Bolt Pistols, knives, pouches, etc for the whole squad.
- Enough moulded "Tactical Arrow" AND blank shoulder pads that you could equip your squad either way.
- More variation in Bolters.
- More arm poses.
- Heavy Flamers (BECAUSE WHY DO ONLY STERNGUARD HAVE THESE????)

Beyond that, I can't really think of much I'd do... *shrug*


I look forward to seeing more Tactical Squad pictures, and especially the sprues so we can REALLY see what all has been changed.