New MkIV Tactical Squad + Assault Squad + Maximus Battle Group

[Xenith]

I snagged a box from Travelling man - GW has broken my budget for the month! That said, the armageddon marines are still uninspiring up close, so I might offload them and recoup some £. 

 

I'm looking forward to bashing the Mk4 assault marines with spears and Mk2 jump packs to make some Dawnbreakers. 

[Hfran Morkai]

Dispatch email making me smile.

 

Interestingly still seems in stock (or at least available to order) at a fair few places in the UK.

 

I'm definitely not considering another box. 

[soviet1337]

The Mk IV are great, I think the best tacticals since Mk VI, but I will hold on a while longer and just pick up the 20-man tacticals box

[Xirix]

On 6/27/2026 at 11:53 PM, MoriyaSchism said:

Retro stuff is cool, but regressions is bad. The FW versions of the shoulder mounted weapons that were based on the old designs came with accessorized backpacks that had extra optics and bits to represent as spare cells or magazines. This comparison is a bad excuse. 

 

I wouldn't be surprised if somewhere down the line we got some bespoke heavy weapon teams (with appropriate backpacks), as there's a ton of different marks of heavy weapon. It makes sense they went the route they did to start with as it was an easy way of just getting a load of heavy weapons on the table, while also giving a 2nd Edition Devastator look to them. (Though I miss the over-the-shoulder Heavy Bolter honestly)

[ThaneOfTas]

Just got my 3rd party dispatch email. Naturally while I ordered from an online retailer, my local has had one on the shelf for 2-3 days , Ah well, its not like i'll be getting to them soon anyway, plus the ~$30 AUD that i saved was worth the extra couple of days.

[derLumpi]

One of our club members received his box last week already.

I had my retailer postpone shipping since I didn't realized that the box has a two weeks pre order timeframe and I'm in vacation for the next weeks.

[roryokane]

7 hours ago, Xirix said:

I wouldn't be surprised if somewhere down the line we got some bespoke heavy weapon teams (with appropriate backpacks), as there's a ton of different marks of heavy weapon. It makes sense they went the route they did to start with as it was an easy way of just getting a load of heavy weapons on the table, while also giving a 2nd Edition Devastator look to them. (Though I miss the over-the-shoulder Heavy Bolter honestly)

Love me a Kalibrax-pattern autocannon!

[Doghouse]

Having got mine today I have to say these MK IV Tacticals are REALLY nice.

 

The details are very crisp , the helmets take a bit of getting used to as they are a smidge taller as in elongated but not by much. I have cracked out the micrometer to measure the legs and other parts of the models and although they feel like they are bulkier they are the same as the MK VI.

 

They have corrected the pose of one of the advancing marines that always used to bug me so that the torso is more upright which is great.

 

The add on vambraces are ok but, like the Mk III, only cover the outer side of the arm where as the Tactical arms are fully encased. I think I will use the assault squad arms for characters and the like.

 

Great kit and already cracked on with building them.

[Matcap86]

22 minutes ago, Doghouse said:

Having got mine today I have to say these MK IV Tacticals are REALLY nice.

 

The details are very crisp , the helmets take a bit of getting used to as they are a smidge taller as in elongated but not by much. I have cracked out the micrometer to measure the legs and other parts of the models and although they feel like they are bulkier they are the same as the MK VI.

 

They have corrected the pose of one of the advancing marines that always used to bug me so that the torso is more upright which is great.

 

The add on vambraces are ok but, like the Mk III, only cover the outer side of the arm where as the Tactical arms are fully encased. I think I will use the assault squad arms for characters and the like.

 

Great kit and already cracked on with building them.

 

Fully agree, might get some prints as not sure I can get used to the new helmets, but other than that rest of the kit is great.

[Doghouse]

Yeah, the back of the helmet is quite different as well. The socket is a bit odd looking as is the continuation of the cabling from the front around the back.

 

Minor nit picks at best though, not sure if you can get them but the old Forgeworld helmets tended to be smaller than the original plastics so may work a treat.

[roryokane]

On 6/27/2026 at 11:53 PM, MoriyaSchism said:

Retro stuff is cool, but regressions is bad. The FW versions of the shoulder mounted weapons that were based on the old designs came with accessorized backpacks that had extra optics and bits to represent as spare cells or magazines. This comparison is a bad excuse. 

 

Truly, we were blessed in those times. I might have snagged some of those a while back but I'm not sure.

As for the Mk IV Big Box, I think I may have accidentally ordered 2, from different websites. They came up on the Outpost so I ordered one, but given the rush I wasn't sure they'd get enough stock, so when they popped up on Element Games (my usual go-to outside of eBaying OOP firstborn these days) I ordered one from there, just in case. Whoops. Oh well. MOAR SPEHSS MAREEEEENS.

[de Selby]

My box arrived without instructions for the tacticals. Luckily I am building them as despoilers so I don't need to match up the arms.

 

They are pretty. I think the mk2 marines are still my favourite.

[Marshal Mittens]

Picked up my 3 copies today (perfect for my soms of horus project that I plan to restart in September!), and someone ahead of me was buying several boxes as well. The store had ordered loads and they are already almost sold out. 

 

I think this set is very popular. 

[Hfran Morkai]

Mine is apparently hiding in a bush at the front of my place and I'm not back for another 7 hours at least.

 

I have asked in my house's group chat if someone could bring it in but no-one has responded.

 

Cue anxiety haha.

[Xenith]

7 hours ago, de Selby said:

My box arrived without instructions for the tacticals. Luckily I am building them as despoilers so I don't need to match up the arms.

All the parts needed are generally in order, so parts 1-10 will be the body arms and legs of a single model. You know that arms 7+8 will go with torso 6. Has that changed?

 

I can also confirm that the dread is the full boxed release with the volkite and c-beamer - I had a concern that it would be missing the second weapons sprue like the one in AoD.

[de Selby]

8 hours ago, Xenith said:

All the parts needed are generally in order, so parts 1-10 will be the body arms and legs of a single model. You know that arms 7+8 will go with torso 6. Has that changed?

 

I can also confirm that the dread is the full boxed release with the volkite and c-beamer - I had a concern that it would be missing the second weapons sprue like the one in AoD.

I've now assembled the torsos and they went together from consecutive numbered parts as you say. The bolter arms appear to follow the pattern (but I can't check for sure without clipping them and fitting them on, and luckily I don't need to). I'm sure the instructions will be up on buildinstructions.com soon.

 

There are a few quality of life improvements in this kit. Better locator lugs where the thighs and shins connect, and the locators at the shoulders are not connected to the sprue gates so no risk of damaging them when clipping and cleaning up.   This should make fitting them together easier if you are building them as tacticals, I found the bolter arms with the twisted wrists made it surprisingly tricky to find the pose on some of the earlier kits.

 

And delighted to have all the contemptor weapon options too!

[Hfran Morkai]

My lads managed to use their skills to remain unseen in the local foliage thankfully, clearly they'd been on rotation with the Raven Guard.

 

What a large box (makes sense given the Sicaran).

 

One step closer to realising the army I've wanted since Horus Heresy second edition.

[Hfran Morkai]

Double post but figured some may miss it if they're not checking out the combi-weapons thread.

 

https://www.warhammer-community.com/en-gb/articles/cfauyhwi/sunday-preview-exodites-leap-from-the-jungle/

 

Individual MkIV kits coming up for pre-order, good for people looking for just the MkIV but you can still get the Battlegroup from various sources.

[MoriyaSchism]

The new Tigrus bolter no longer has the cutout to convert the gun for left-hand use. It's like they forgot how the other side looks. 

[Mmmmm Napalm]

3 hours ago, MoriyaSchism said:

The new Tigrus bolter no longer has the cutout to convert the gun for left-hand use. It's like they forgot how the other side looks. 

Yeah I think the Tigrus bolters in the rapier crew set were better. Interestingly, they were actually closer to the HH Black Book color plates than the 2015 plastic tigrus were, having a slightly beefier handguard than the latter. These new ones have a larger handguard than the 2015 ones, but their width is flush with the rest of the receiver unlike the Rapier crew/Color plate hanguards

Edited Friday at 01:20 AM by Mmmmm Napalm