Meanwhile...

The consumerist bug bit me today resulting in a trip to GW. There I was able to pick up the new assault terminator set that was released Saturday last- when I was too busy with World D&D Day to have any time for the latest GW releases.

I have been a fan of GW's iconic genetically-engineered power-armoured super-soldiers pretty much since day 1. And the terminator variants of these same definitive toy soldiers of our time were the first 40K minis I ever owned. I have owned 3 different incarnations of these minis since then. The new plastic terminator minis are the 1st new space marine terminators to be released since GW reinvented their plastic 40K with the advent of 3rd ed. 40K several years ago.

The new assault terminators boxed set follows the pattern expected after the release, earlier this year, of the updated plastic terminator boxed set: the leg and torsos sprues with which space marine fans have already become familiar; and additional sprues for lightning claws, and for thunder hammer and storm shield close combat options. As ever with such sets from GW of late there is a full complement of both weapon options.

In addition to the 5 full sets of each weapon options, the new sprues- the lightning claws' sprue to be precise- include 18 new accessories- from purity seals to decorative shields. These are in addition to the 8 accessories included on the leg and torso sprues. This is perhaps not the most generous allocation of extra parts in a GW plastic boxed set, but it's still not bad, especially when you consider that you get 25 parts for the 2 different weapon options that are at the core of this set.

Questions of how much stuff aside, what about the quality of the contents?

Well, I have here to repeat my earlier remark that newer GW plastic releases seem to me to have more flash than did the company's releases of old. And I must also here state a personal preference: for once I find myself preferring an older GW space marine design to an update- the new lightning claws in this case. That said the sheer versatility of the new plastic parts- even before conversion possiblities are considered- mean that I'll certainly be using the new parts for any future terminator lightning claw squads. I'll be keeping the older parts for conversions for other models I guess.

Those 2 complaints aside, the new plastic terminators are just so much better than any previous incarntions of these classic GW minis- because of the inherent posability that comes from their design, that I would recommend them to any space marine fan. They look like fun models to work with. They come with some nice parts for the spares box. And here's hoping that they might just kick some serious ass one of these days! ;)