I did manage to order and receive the new big box set while I was entangled. It's good but I do have some comparisons and some thoughts. On the marine side - there is always a marine side with these - it's not as exciting as the past few sets.
- 8th edition brought us the initial wave of primaris stuff which were all new models and units, even if some of us were not entirely thrilled at this approach to a marine update.
- 9th edition (Indomitus) brought us some cool characters and new units which were pretty well-received:
- 1 Primaris Captain (Sword and shield captain)
- 1 Primaris Lieutenant (Pistol and shield lt.)
- 1 Primaris Chaplain (first primaris version)
- 1 Judiciar (new character type)
- 3 Bladeguard Veterans (new unit)
- 1 Bladeguard Ancient (new character type)
- 3 Outriders (first primaris bikes)
- 3 Eradicators (new unit)
- 10 Assault Intercessors (first primaris assault marines)
Nothing here was a straight-up rehash of an existing model or unit. They all either brought things into the new Primaris Era or added interesting new options, or both. It was a great box. - 10th edition (Leviathan) was another great box full of new or newly-primaised units:
- 1x Captain in Terminator Armour: new upsized version of a popular character type
- 1x Librarian in Terminator Armour: ditto
- 1x Lieutenant with Combi-Weapon: yet another primaris lieutenant but with a new ability
- 1x Apothecary Biologis: Not a normal apothecary and with some useful abilities
- 1x Ballistus Dreadnought: New type of dreadnought
- 5x Terminators: Upsized to fit the new scale but otherwise the traditional squad we all know and love
- 5x Sternguard Veterans: upsized version of a popular squad type
- 10x Infernus Marines: a new squad (or two) of flamethrower specialists
So there was not as much pure new stuff in this one but it was still well received because of the new terminators and dreadnought. This was also the "shooty" batch of marines to balance out the melee-heavy group from 9th.
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| Old non-primaris Librarian |
- For 11th now though it's a little different. This one is not mainly ranged or melee it has more of a balance of the two but it also has the first duplicates of existing primaris units which is not really anything anyone was crying out for:
- 1x Captain with Relic Shield: It's another sword & board marine captain ... we just had one of those in the 9th edition starter set. I like it but it seems a little soon to do another one.
- 1x Librarian: This is another walking-normal-power-armored libby and while I love the pose - a callback to a prior librarian model - there is an existing primaris librarian that hasn't been out that long.
- 1x Chaplain with Jump Pack: I've loved the idea of the jump-chaplain since the RT days and one of my first "finished" models was an old metal chaplain with an old metal jump pack. This guy looks good and I'm happy to finally have one officially updated to the newer scale.
- 1x Ancient: We just had an ancient in the 8th edition box - granted that's not new - but there is also one available in a standalone character box and another one available in the "company heroes" box and probably a few others I am forgetting. Did we really need another ground-ponding banner guy in normal power armor?
- 10x Intercessors: This is where it really feels like filler. Sure every box like this needs some basic shooting marines - though 9th didn't and 10th didn't so much - but these look very much like what we already have and they have no special loadouts or new equipment options. They have a few different pieces here and there like a helmet or a breastplate but we had the first intercessors in the 8th edition box and then we had the multipart kit later in that edition and those intercessors have been packed into many if not most of the combat patrols and battalion boxes and starter sets ever since. No one playing today lacks basic intercessors. I know this unit was expected but it feels dramatically uninspired.
- 5x Vanguard Veterans with Jump Packs: They're fine but the old Vanguard Vets were know for versatility and having options for a bunch of different melee weapons. Now we may lose that in this edition (like we did in 10th on the old kit) but even if we do from a modeling point of view "everyone has a power sword" feels a little dull. I think we are all hoping the inevitable new multi-part kit will have more choices.
- 3x Eradicators with Heavy Bolters: Sure, ok. Eradicators came out with the 8th box with melta weapons and heavy bolters are pretty widely available in a marine army but they might have some utility. Their special rules are kind of ridiculous. The models do look good so I'll give them that.
- 1x Land Speeder: This is the one I like the best. I was always a fan of the Land Speeder going back to my metal RT speeders and I was disappointed to see the basic super-versatile model disappear awhile back. The heavy speeders felt like they were a little much for a fast scout and strike vehicle. This one though is a genius creation coming in a smaller size more like the old versions and packing all of the weapon options onto a single chassis! I think this is a great unit that almost any army can use and I plan to end up with multiples of them.
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| New Librarian! What a refreshing new design! (I do love this pose for these guys though) |
- The only really new thing here is the speeder with half credit for the eradicators. The chaplain and vanguard vets are a scale update and everything else is a new primaris update of an existing primaris model. There's a reason people were calling this part of the box "boring" and they are not wrong.
The Xenos half of the boxes has usually been interesting at least:
- 8th edition gave us a major Death Guard refresh that gave us updates to old models and a bunch of new types, expanding the army to the point it became its own force with a separate codex for the first time. It was a very cool set. Maybe someday I will finish painting mine ...
- 9th edition gave us a major Necron update with refreshed warriors and scarabs and some characters both new and refreshed, and a new unit type. It was great for them and I did manage to finish painting mine a couple of years ago.
- 10th gave us a major Tyranid refresh with some redesigned models and a bunch of new ones, units and characters alike. It was also a great set and no, I have not even finished building mine.
Now for 11th the OpForce is Orks and it is a big refresh for them too:
- 1 Warboss: An important unit in an Ork army and as much as I love the previous version it has been a while. This guy looks great and he's a fair bit bigger (on a 50mm base now) plus we know there's a multipart kit coming too so we will have some good options here.
- 1 Bannernob: Orks have had these for quite a while (they were metal before) but they pulled them out of the list in either 9th or 10th. This unit looks good and thankfully means we get our banner unit back in the army list.
- 1 Bigboss: These have been gone for a while too but they were a well-known unit a few editions back. Glad to see him return and fill the "Ork Lieutenant" niche.
- 1 Painboy & 1 Grot Orderly: We do have models for these already but it has been awhile since they came out. Still not sure about the look but at least if you want more than one the old and new should mix together fairly well.
- 1 Weirdboy: Not a big fan of this mini but at least we do have a new model.
- 20 Ork Boyz: Well, they had to be in this box and they do look good. Not sure how customizable they will be as I haven't started in on them yet but more boyz is not a bad thing.
- 10 Gretchin: OK, sure. Did they really need to be in the big box though? I know the whole thing is a tribute to the 2nd edition starter set but I feel like these could have been something more interesting and I don't know of any Ork player that lacks for grots.
- 1 Wartrakk: This ... yes! A longtime staple of Kult of Speed lists finally returns after a few editions away, and it looks amazing! I've already ordered a couple more and dug my old ones out of storage.
- 1 Big Mek Dakkarig: The one truly new unit here. I had mixed feelings about it on first sight but it has grown on me. It leans heavily into the dakka side of things with limited melee capability but that may be OK. It looks a lot like a looted and upgunned imperial guard sentinel but I think I'm ok with that too. It's supposed to be driven b a Big Mek but it has no repair or leadership type abilities, just a 5+ inv save to represent a force field of some kind I suppose. It's taken a while for me to warm up to it but now I think I do like it.
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