Thoughts on Intercessors and Hellblasters

[Knight of the Raven]

I wish I could call this a review, but I doubt my inexperienced observations qualify as such. But I still found them worth sharing.

 

Subjective:

• I love the look of mark X armor. The Maximus-inspired helmet plays a big role in this.
• I can't enjoy old marines anymore. I don't know if it's because of the primaris' improved anatomy, bigger size or both.
• bolter rifles are too damn long.

Less subjective, hopefully objective:

• mold lines are as little pronounced as I'd expect from recent plastic sprues.
• the instructions are sometimes incomplete. While the Hellblasters' five two-handed heavy plasma incinerators have the number of each bit, the two one-handed ones require you to process by elimination and count the 'cylinders' along the cables linking the weapons and the backpack add-on. Not necessarily a dealbreaker, but it's a nasty surprise when your first model is intended to use the one-armed incinerators.
• reduced kitbashing possibilities. While the shoulder pads, heads and helmets from older marines fit the primaris, each two-handed weapon has the left hand molded on. So you need to pluck a left hand from an older kit if you want to use any of the several weapons given to marines across the years. Annoying for people like me who'd rather avoid pushing from kitbashing into converting territory, however minor said conversion may be.
• less posing possibilities. The legs and torso sets are each keyed to one specific pose, meaning you have to take a knife to the models if you want to avoid repetition across multiple models.
• less variety. The power packs and their eventual Hellblaster add-ons are all identical. So is the entirety of the whole mark X armor from the legs to the torso aquilas to the helmets save for one skull for the sergeant's. The sole variety comes from the weapons; three types for either box, but each variant is keyed to one specific ruleset, which might provide small problems.
• edit: the Intercessors actually have different shoulder pads. The Hellblasters don't.

That last point is key for me. Compare to the power packs of current tactical marines, which all have differences however slight they may be. Compare to the torsos of tactical and mark IV marines, even if it's only minuscule studs for the latter. To the helmets of tactical, mark III and mark IV marines. To the the legs of tactical and mark IV marines. To the shoulder pads of tactical and mark IV marines. To the bolters of tactical marines.

 

I fully understand the decision (if there even was one on the subject in the first place) to make kitbashing with older marines harder, since I subscribe to the point of view that they will be phased out of existence to make way for primaris. But the lack of variety, both in poses and design, makes me less than impressed and the opposite of hopeful in regard to where the models of Games Workshop's new flagship are headed, regardless of how I like the looks of mark X power armor.

Edited December 8, 2017 by Knight of the Raven

[Sonoftherubric21]

Interesting POV. I share many of your thoughts, and some of your concerns. 

I think *eventually* the normal marine kits will be phased out in perhaps years, but not before that. 

The semi mono-pose nature of the kits i tend to agree with in that its quite annoying, and will be a detriment in the long run. Lets hope when they receive more kits that those kits have some more modeling options in regard to leg/torso pieces. 

 

I also have the same issue you do; I own some primaris and I really am having trouble just tossing them into my already existing white scars list.... they are so off proportion with the other marines its jarring, I also like them for the size increase, proper proportions, and the models in general just being quite good. And am leaning on the side of "new army just for Primaris" as opposed to "toss into prexisting marines" as it triggers my OCD something fierce. 

[NiceGuyAdi]

I hadn’t realised the legs and torsos were ‘keyed’ together (I’ve stayed away from Primaris so far).

 

To repose is it as simple as cutting off a locking notch, or do you think green stuff becomes necessary to fill gaps created by putting the kit together not as intended?

[Mileposter]

To complete such a thorough review - was this the Primaris from the box set? The Combat Squad Box? The Full 10-man box? These appear to have different sprues in each.

[Knight of the Raven]

I hadn’t realised the legs and torsos were ‘keyed’ together (I’ve stayed away from Primaris so far).

To repose is it as simple as cutting off a locking notch, or do you think green stuff becomes necessary to fill gaps created by putting the kit together not as intended?

To complete such a thorough review - was this the Primaris from the box set? The Combat Squad Box? The Full 10-man box? These appear to have different sprues in each.

Here are the pages from each assembly instructions for four of the five bodies provided:

Intercessors Combat Squad:

Hellblasters Combat Squad:

As you can see, the Intercessors' legs are in four parts rather than two like the Hellblasters', which I assume was to fill up the sprues as the latter's three types of weapons require more bits.

Edited December 8, 2017 by Knight of the Raven

[Vel'Cona]

I'm probably in the minority that don't like the helmets.  I swapped all of mine for Mk. 6 thru 8's.  I do agree that bolt rifles and plasma incinerators are a bit too lengthy, but in the end the scale-up is worth some concessions in other aesthetics (and it's easy to fix with a bit of cutting and re-gluing).

 

As for the general kitbashing/converting complaints, I definitely understand that issue.  Shoulderpads are very much a running problem for Primaris models in general, with backpacks and melee weapon conversions being slightly lesser problems.  Still, they're plastic models and other than the length of the torso/distance in arms it's relatively simple to slide in some classic bits here or there, re-cutting and shaping as needed.  I've swapped most of the melee weapons (and subbed a few in) on the various Primaris kits from Dark Imperium etc. with ease, and while the multipart kits are still somewhat restrictive I think there's enough variety that it comes out in the wash, as it were.

 

The best fix I've found for the shoulderpad issue is third-party sellers.  Shapeways is my go-to for this, and despite recent legal issues, remains a solid choice if you're not a stickler for picture-perfect iconography.

[Paradogmatic]

I hadn’t realised the legs and torsos were ‘keyed’ together (I’ve stayed away from Primaris so far).

To repose is it as simple as cutting off a locking notch, or do you think green stuff becomes necessary to fill gaps created by putting the kit together not as intended?

To complete such a thorough review - was this the Primaris from the box set? The Combat Squad Box? The Full 10-man box? These appear to have different sprues in each.

Here are the pages from each assembly instructions for four of the five bodies provided:

Intercessors Combat Squad:

Hellblasters Combat Squad:

As you can see, the Intercessors' legs are in four parts rather than two like the Hellblasters', which I assume was to fill up the sprues as the latter's three types of weapons require more bits.

I think the intercessor was also designed with alternate shin-pads in mind. The way they did them, they could make alternate shinpads to go along with shoulders / arms and create other chapter-specific units pretty easily eventually -- put some GK iconography on the shins for example and you're quickly headed towards a GK-specific Primaris box. The tolerances are crazy too -- most of them will click on so well you'd hardly need glue to keep them there. Some impressive engineering.

They also make cleaning up mold lines on the legs easier -- half of the front is covered by the shin-plate. I wish they hadn't been stupid and put raised detail on some of the Intercessor legs right down the mold lines on the back though -- that's a fail.

I figure if you want to adjust the pose of the waist, a razor saw and a bit of greenstuff should work -- you'd probably have to redo the belt detail but that's not too bad with the flat surfaces.

Edited December 8, 2017 by Paradogmatic