Now that many of us have our new kits in hand, what are your thoughts!?

[Noserenda]

Heh hadnt really thought about the mould lines but yeah they are definitely a lot more pronounced than the chaos marines despite all the spiky bits, and i do think its the side by side building/kitbashing that really condemns the Mk6 kit, its such a bare bones optionless kit while the Chaos marines are constantly giving me new ideas and bits i want to use.

On a purely aesthetic point i love having the pistols and grenades moulded on the body as a time saver these days but i do appreciate its nice for folks to have the option to run them bare bones, it was my preference for a long time after all :D 

[bushman101]

3 hours ago, Ayatollah_of_Rock_n_Rolla said:

Tl;dr: I am not amused with Spartan.

Spartan is a mix of good and bad.

Treads that can be used on either side and push in to fit is awesome.

Getting the built halves lined up and put together was a chore. Mostly, I blame that on building a large, mostly hollow tank. 

Some of the instructions could have definatly been put into a different order for sanity.

I managed to magnetize the turret with little issue. So that was a plus

[Tyriks]

11 hours ago, Astartes Consul said:

Picked up the Big Box and the Rhino. Really impressed with how the vehicles have been moulded to hide as many mould / seam lines as possible. The Mk VI kit is lovely and my only real complaint is the studded shoulder pad design - but I know at least there is a reason for why it was done that way.

 

One thing, has anyone else with the new Rhino notices that the interior and back ramp are an incredibly tight fit?

Yeah, I had to cut mine down to fit and even then they couldn't function. I don't do interiors anyway so I didn't mind much but it was surprisingly difficult to assemble that part.

[Ayatollah_of_Rock_n_Rolla]

11 hours ago, bushman101 said:

Spartan is a mix of good and bad.

Treads that can be used on either side and push in to fit is awesome.

Getting the built halves lined up and put together was a chore. Mostly, I blame that on building a large, mostly hollow tank. 

Some of the instructions could have definatly been put into a different order for sanity.

I managed to magnetize the turret with little issue. So that was a plus

Yeah, tracks are good despite the clean-up. You can also fairly comfortable keep them unglued for painting.

[Kenzaburo]

The kits seem fine, so far. I'm not that hot about the Liber Astartes. Somehow I expected more than just the Legiones Astartes red books rolled into one. There's no fluff and not even the illustrations for the Primarchs. The amount of graphics and pictures overall is almost zero, just army list after army list after army list with no flavor. 

I know, I know, they are cheaper than the black books and I certainly wasn't expecting all those campaign history sections in here. But I had hoped for more on the legion organisation. And also a bit more info on heraldry - you only get the info on helmets but no examples for the legio's destroyer armour, their veteran's look or more of their vehicles.

I don't know, I think it's not really the product I'd have liked, but what can you do. I just wish they were still selling the original black books so I can finally get a copy of Tempest and Inferno.

[UtariOnzo]

Haven’t sunk my teeth deeply into it, but I love the contemptor and the ease of magnetisation. I really hope the leviathan is the same.

 

Not a big fan aesthetically of the praetors, but they seem easy enough to convert.

 

libers are, well, they’re ok but as above poster mentioned they’re a bit light on colour plates/artwork/fluff for the legions for my tastes, but the main good thing is getting all the rules (basic legion list and legion add ons) in one tome rather than across 1-2 black books and a red book

[Valkyrion]

Putting the tracks on the Spartan was tantamount to hobby utopia when compared with tracking literally anything else - falchion, baneblade, 40k rhino and land raider, anything.

Building the rest of it was a fiddly pain. You can usually wet build things like this, so you don't have to wait for things to set, but once you've built the top and bottom of the hollow hull you need it to be properly set before you try and join it together, otherwise it'll bend and squish.  Why the bottom plate needs a 1cm wing/fin on either side Horus only knows. 
 

The MKVI are fine, ten a penny, easy to build, can't really get it wrong kinda stuff.

The Contemptor was largely fine, but I've end up building mine with a bit of an awkward gait. The next one I build should be a lot better.

Praetor with the axe - fine.

Praetor with the sword - it honestly took me a good fifteen minutes to figure out the cloak and backpack set up. I just could not get my head around it, but otherwise fine. 

[Tyriks]

21 minutes ago, Valkyrion said:

Putting the tracks on the Spartan was tantamount to hobby utopia when compared with tracking literally anything else - falchion, baneblade, 40k rhino and land raider, anything.

Building the rest of it was a fiddly pain. You can usually wet build things like this, so you don't have to wait for things to set, but once you've built the top and bottom of the hollow hull you need it to be properly set before you try and join it together, otherwise it'll bend and squish.  Why the bottom plate needs a 1cm wing/fin on either side Horus only knows. 
 

The MKVI are fine, ten a penny, easy to build, can't really get it wrong kinda stuff.

The Contemptor was largely fine, but I've end up building mine with a bit of an awkward gait. The next one I build should be a lot better.

Praetor with the axe - fine.

Praetor with the sword - it honestly took me a good fifteen minutes to figure out the cloak and backpack set up. I just could not get my head around it, but otherwise fine. 

I had the opposite take on the Praetors. The axe one's cloak was so strangely designed I just didn't include it in my kitbash despite intending to.

[Ayatollah_of_Rock_n_Rolla]

56 minutes ago, Valkyrion said:

  Why the bottom plate needs a 1cm wing/fin on either side Horus only knows.
 

If I understand what parts you mean correctly, it's because you are basically stretching a Land Raider into a Spartan. It's one of the parts designed for LR and the "fins" widen it to Spartan seize. One of the fratres showcased how much of a Land Raider you can build with Spartan (http://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/363129-30k-hobby-chat/?do=findComment&comment=5836721) .

[Ayatollah_of_Rock_n_Rolla]

Btw, it's is worth pointing out that GW's unwillingness to use slide molding, divide parts into more substeps or invest in better molding techniques leads to problems with straight angles when more complicated shapes are in play.

The sponsons' scopes are rectangularish in resin, but hexagonal in plastic to ease ejection from molds:

 

The sponson parts L1&2 should be straight like in resin, but again, in order to ease ejection they are angled (they have this shape: / \ ), producing a V shaped recess in the middle of finished sponsons:

Aaaaand of course the insides of the tank sides - apparently the STC for a straight rod has been lost to some Warp storm:

[Astartes Consul]

On 6/26/2022 at 4:03 AM, Nemesor Tyriks said:

Yeah, I had to cut mine down to fit and even then they couldn't function. I don't do interiors anyway so I didn't mind much but it was surprisingly difficult to assemble that part.

 

Good to know I'm not going mad. Bad to know I have this ahead of me.

[MegaVolt87]

@Ayatollah_of_Rock_n_Rolla, good insights there into the Spartan. Shame GW cheaped out on the kit. I'll wait and see what the stand alone RRP is before I offload mine I think. Good to hear the Kratos is a good kit. 

[Felix Antipodes]

Pretty happy with what I’ve got model wise.  The trials of assembling the vehicles are still to come though, so that may change 

Most disappointing thing was definitely the two Liber books though.  While I wasn’t expecting BB standard lore chunks I did expect more detail on the Legions internal structure and a lot more interior illustrations and/or maps.  Honestly, I felt that I’d wasted my money on these.

[MegaVolt87]

I disagree about the Libers. They are all the rules, no puff in one book which makes things easy for new players. There is enough there to make a decision onwhat legion to pick and play and examples on how they look, along with each Primarch in photo's etc. Best to stay away from the 40k book model with split rules for each SM faction. 

[Corswain]

I've now built all the new stuff in the kit and have had no dramas. My kitbash ideas on the Praetors worked out pretty well and I managed to keep the capes on too, despite my changes.

The Spartan was nowhere near as bad as I'd feared - I've only ever built a couple of tanks (one plastic rhino, three resin ones and a Sicaran) and the early build reviews have been mixed but I found it pretty good. The instructions seem to be outright wrong on the hull-mounted (cupola?) weapon placement though. 

All in all, I am very happy.

[Ayatollah_of_Rock_n_Rolla]

8 hours ago, MegaVolt87 said:

@Ayatollah_of_Rock_n_Rolla, good insights there into the Spartan. Shame GW cheaped out on the kit. I'll wait and see what the stand alone RRP is before I offload mine I think. Good to hear the Kratos is a good kit. 

Yes, it's a shame. I can live with total lack of straight angles, which in most instances can be explained with some fluff reason, like the armour being angled on purpose, or is not that noticeable (but seriously, just check the two roof parts or the sides - everything is at circa 85 degrees), but the decision to unify the kit with Land Raider is primordial sin.

The market is so oversaturated right now, that I would wait even if the RRP was out (my guess is 65 GBP - I don't belive it'll cost as much as Kratos). In my country Spartans sell poorly, because everyone already into HH or just entering HH bought the box. The realistic price is currently under 40GBP (and even that does not sell) and i could see it reach 50GBP only if the Spartan is priced like Kratos, which goes under 60GBP at discount retailers anyway.

Edited June 28, 2022 by Ayatollah_of_Rock_n_Rolla

[Casual Heresy]

Because real life gets in the way, I've only been able to build one tactical squad so far but I love the kit. Found it easy to put together and there is plenty of scope for varying poses by swapping arms. I used sculpted Ultramarine shoulder pads and they fit in fine (I don't mind the trim since been building 40k marines with one trimmed and one trimless studded shoulder pad for years). Also used a plastic UM power sword on the sergeant and there is no odd scale issues with the hand. I'll be trying more kitbashing and converting with the rest of the kits. Two more will be Tactical Squads, but one will become a Praetorian Breacher squad.

[SkimaskMohawk]

 We've known the contents of the libers since April, and I'm pretty sure they weren't marketed as anything other than rules tomes. Really unsure how people went in expecting more than a combination of the two red books.

Though I do miss the sketched art of the characters.

[Noserenda]

I think the super chonky books and compromised designs are just symptoms of coming from FW/SG, its not ideal but id rather they use their limited sprue allocation cleverly to make a bunch of tanks and get rules out asap, lord knows im frustrated as hell about having to wait until October to see if Sisters have been mauled from lack of minis or might be getting those minis :D 

[Haranin]

Perhaps the difficultly of the spartan is a plot by chaos to tempt loyalists into hating the mechancium?

How ever bad it is, it acn't be as bad as the FW kit

[Viridia]

I wasn't intending to open mine until I'd built more of my old stuff, but it turns out somone seems to have stuck a craft knife along the side of the box at the back and cut through the plastic wrap, so I decided that counted as 'already open' and had a look inside. I have one of the praetors in mind for use as a counts-as of a certain bat-winged boy we've never had a model for to the best of my knowledge, the other one, no idea. Not at all pleased with the beakies having hands molded onto the foregrips, that'll be a pain in the backside if I want to mix and match parts like I do with my armies. Not really looked at much beyond that since the templates and range rulers were giving me tremendous 3rd edition flashbacks.

[Dont-Be-Haten]

So I feel like even though we have a lot of cookie cutter marines, it doesn't take much to make them feel unique. This is nothing new, although I wish we could've gotten 10 unique sculpts instead of five.

The positive here though is arm switches, head rotations & transfers help make each marine look and feel like it's own character. If you put the elbow grease into them!

[Burni]

On 6/25/2022 at 4:15 PM, Astartes Consul said:

Picked up the Big Box and the Rhino. Really impressed with how the vehicles have been moulded to hide as many mould / seam lines as possible. The Mk VI kit is lovely and my only real complaint is the studded shoulder pad design - but I know at least there is a reason for why it was done that way.

 

One thing, has anyone else with the new Rhino notices that the interior and back ramp are an incredibly tight fit?

Yeah! What is up with that. I did one side, panicked and pulled it apart again, shaved it down and refitted. Still had to be held while it dried a bit. I just ended up cutting that back tab off for the other side.

And as others have said, the mould lines are the worst I've seen on a new kit, at least on my Rhino. My Contemptor is up next (4mm magnets arrived today!) and looks better.