I finally finished my interceptors. In about a day, maybe 30 some hours I managed to finish the hellblasters, the intercessors and two lieutenants. It has taken me since then to finish three Interceptors, so a little over a week.
Of the Primaris models released so far these figures are probably my least favourite. This comes from a few things in their design that I feel are a little bit of a let down.
Lets start with the good though.
These models are like the other Primaris marines in the starter set in that they are big, well detailed, powerful looking Space Marines. All the refinements that GW has worked into the design of Astartes over the years are apparent in these guys.
They are dynamic models, especially the Sergeant and really look like they are bouncing into combat.
The figures are wearing jump packs that harken to the the standard assault marine jump pack but have a few more details on them like the jet vector pieces and the fact there is some sort of thruster on the legs in addition to the regular jump pack. They also have these shock absorbers on their feet which is a nice touch.
The detailing and sculpting is all great.
The most minor of quibbles I have with them is the gun shields on their assault pistols. They just seem unnecessary and on such a well designed, almost aerodynamic model a little bit of a kick back to some of the design elements of 40K that people feel to be archaic. None of the other marines have anything like this except maybe the power swords, and those aren't going any where. I painted the gun shields on my guys black to blend in with the guns more than the blue in the studio models and I think it worked to make them stand out less so they don't bother me as much.
Again this is a minor quibble.
The bigger problem with the model design is how they are flying. The flight stands included with the figs are problematic. I don't like flight stands in general. One of the things I really liked about the Prosecutors from the Age of Sigmar starter set is that they had flying models that didn't have flight stands and I thought that GW was moving away from flight stands with a lot of their infantry models, reserving them for bigger kits, although I guess we did see some like this with the Kharadon Overlords.
The effect doesn't look bad but it has two problems.
One is that the flight stand doesn't intersect with the center of balance of the model which makes it difficult to attach in the first place.
The second, and bigger, problem is that you need superglue so the bond will be more fragile than if you were to attach plastic to plastic with model cement.
So unlike their AoS cousins, who I carry around in a cardboard box un-restrained, these models are actually very fragile.
You can see the attachment in the picture above.
Having a large hole in the model for the flight stand to fit into would have been a better solution. Having the models less high off of their bases with some rocks or debris connecting them to the base would have been another.
I've glued them to the flight stands for now but will probably just drill a hole in the packs later and insert the flight stands when they break off. I guess I'll be bringing an appropriately sized drill to the next game I play as I don't anticipate the models making it through the first game intact.
The only other problem is how they work in the game.
And this is speculative as I haven't used them yet so take it with a grain of salt.
The troops seem to have a jump, shoot, move role and while they can pack a punch in close combat, close up fire support seems to be where they shine. They pack more of a shooting punch than any other unit you get in the starter set with the possible exception of the hellblasters, but against regular enemy infantry I'm not sure that is true. If I'm correct, and I think I read that I was, each model gets six S5 shots.
S5 shots aren't what they were in previous editions, wounding T3 models on a 3+ now instead of a two, but that is still 18 shots in a 3 man squad.
Not that any of this is necessarily bad, except it makes them too much like the Tau Crisis suits, who fill almost exactly the same role but have more flexibility in what they can target.
Overall I like the models and will actually look forward to using them in a game. This sounds pretty negative for a review as I've focused a lot on the negatives. I think that I've said enough good stuff on here about the new Primaris Marines over all that much of what is on these models is covered under that. Most of those points are true and overall I think all of the new marines are some of the best miniatures I've seen in a while.
So keep that in mind as you ponder what I've said here.
I'd give the rest of the primaris marine troops in the set a 10/10, these guys, because of the few flaws I see, would get an 8/10.
shows how his higher-level Synths turned out.
