Re-scaled Mk IV preview?

[TimeHoopin]

While watching a video on the Warhammer: The Horus Heresy Facebook page, I noticed a few frames of a marine in MKIV armor. I noticed a couple oddities that make me think this is a shot of rescaled MKIV:

- The skull on the helmet appears slightly higher than on the current heads. Maybe it is a trick of the light but the eye sockets also seem deeper. 
- the trim of the shoulder pad doesn’t match that of the current kit. It appears thicker.

- Comparing this shot to the existing models on the Games Workshop page for MKIV armor, none of the models that have the skull on the helmet have the head angled as shown in the picture. 
 

What do you think? Is this just the current kit at a new angle or sneak preview of a new kit?

Edited July 4 by TimeHoopin

[Urauloth]

Definitely seems like a bigger pauldron rim than the old kit. The whole pad looks bigger too (which would fit with the other rescalings) but that could be the angle.

[TimeHoopin]

Yes, that is the hardest part to explain for me I think. Everything else might be a trick of the poor lighting but I don’t recognize that pauldron.

[No Foes Remain]

7 hours ago, Urauloth said:

Definitely seems like a bigger pauldron rim than the old kit. The whole pad looks bigger too (which would fit with the other rescalings) but that could be the angle.

The Mk4 kit does come with some Mk2 style and some Mk4 with large rim sections on it, so it could be one of those.

 

 

[Agramar_The_Luna_Wolf]

If it's the video I believe is, maybe, maybe  is a picture of a JoyToy action figure and not a new mk IV.

Edited July 4 by Agramar_The_Luna_Wolf
Added pictures

[apologist]

11 hours ago, TimeHoopin said:

While watching a video on the Warhammer: The Horus Heresy Facebook page, I noticed a few frames of a marine in MKIV armor. I noticed a couple oddities that make me think this is a shot of rescaled MKIV:

- The skull on the helmet appears slightly higher than on the current heads. Maybe it is a trick of the light but the eye sockets also seem deeper. 
- the trim of the shoulder pad doesn’t match that of the current kit. It appears thicker.

- Comparing this shot to the existing models on the Games Workshop page for MKIV armor, none of the models that have the skull on the helmet have the head angled as shown in the picture. 
 

What do you think? Is this just the current kit at a new angle or sneak preview of a new kit?

 

Good spot, and I'd love to think that this is a preview, but it just seems too similar to the old ones. Both Mark II and III have had quite substantial redesigns in their new kits – often to bring them back to looking more like the John Blanche sketches that accompanied the Armour Through the Ages article in White Dwarf 129. The redesigned plastics have also tended to match the more recent resin character models – presumably because those are based on a shared 'digital dolly'. 

 

   

 

 

There are some particular details that the new resin model shares with the sketch but are absent from the current plastics; such as the helm having a more pronounced 'snout' than the current plastics; the kneepads and torso having piping/banding; and the torso plate having an attached hanging groin plate. 

 

I'd therefore be inclined to suspect any new Maximus armour plastics will follow suit, and more closely resemble the banner bearer on the right (stripped of his trimmings), than the old plastics.

 

  

 

 

Though with that said, who knows? It's certainly fun to speculate!

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 4 by apologist

[TimeHoopin]

I agree it is fun to speculate! Thanks for joining in. 
 

It is really interesting how different the MkIII is from the previous version, I wonder if we will ever find out why. MkVI is pretty consistent with previous plastics and the current kit, to me at least.

 

I think MkIV will also be pretty close to the current plastic version. There was a WH Community article that had some new color plates at the bottom, and while the art style is a bit different, it looks largely in line with the HH1.0 art.

 

MkIV must be being worked on in the background but I imagine we probably won’t see it for a while, maybe as a mid-edition release like MkIII in the battle group box was.

[TimeHoopin]

7 hours ago, No Foes Remain said:

The Mk4 kit does come with some Mk2 style and some Mk4 with large rim sections on it, so it could be one of those.

 

 

Good catch, those are certainly closer to the pauldrons in the video. I don’t see any of the rivets though, but it could just be the poor lighting of the shot.

[Xenith]

Good spot! The mkiv rescale is already hidden in plain sight with the above herald and thousands son librarian, the same way MK3 was with fafnir and MK2 was with the khan model (hibou or shiban?). I think we might see MK4 mid cycle as suggested probably with the javelin...

[The Scorpion]

I think that new MK4 is pretty much a given. There is also artwork for new Mk5 which is baller because that armour was almost retconned by Forge World

[roryokane]

On 7/25/2025 at 4:12 AM, The Scorpion said:

I think that new MK4 is pretty much a given. There is also artwork for new Mk5 which is baller because that armour was almost retconned by Forge World

How do you mean, almost retconned by Forgeworld? 

[Urauloth]

Upscaled Mk.IV is going to to awful things to my brain, because I know I'm going to want to repopulate Betrayal at Calth (terrific boxed game, one of the best GW ever made) with new scale models. We might have new Cataphractii by then as well, and we already have a multi-pose Contemptor. Big project, but probably a really cool one.

[The Scorpion]

On 7/28/2025 at 8:04 PM, roryokane said:

How do you mean, almost retconned by Forgeworld? 

If you see lore regarding "production" and "non-production" MkV is is because for a while, the Horus Heresy novels and black books outright retconned Mark V armour into a catch-all term for any improvised or prototype suits that existed outside of the main series, but weren't advanced enough to be considered artificer armour (likely so Forge World wouldn't get nagged to make variants of all their Mark III and IV squads in Mark V as well), but (fortunately) they ended up backpedalling on this a bit in Black Book 6: Retribution.

The classic "studs and cables" version is now apparently considered the "production" model of Mark V armour (lore-wise based on common designs for parts known to have specific cross-compatibilities, often based on prototypes circulating among the Legions for testing purposes), while the more variable, improvised suits it was based on are "non-production" models.

I suppose it dawned upon Forge World that the retcon didn't make much sense, since all known art and models of the Mk5 "Heresy" pattern up to that point were no less visually consistent than any of the other Marks (and arguably more consistent than a couple of them).

According to the newest lore, its most common "studded" form is made from combined elements of Mark IV and Mark VI armour in a manner that could be locally manufactured and be maintained even with supply lines destroyed.


Ultimately, I'm glat that Mk5 survived. It is such a distinct look and in my opinion, deserves more attention as the true Heresy-era pattern