Victrix – Ancient Greek Hoplites
At the beginning of the year, Victrix Miniatures released new Greek Hoplites (VXA050) as a plastic kit. Although the previous version is still available, it is also one of Victrix's oldest kits.
As typical for Victrix, the minis come in a larger plastic bag. The bag contains 48 Hoplites, consisting of six different bodies that can be combined with pairs of arms with spears or swords. 15 arms are armed with spears, seven with a sword.
Horus Heresy – Mechanicum Thanatar Cavas Siege-Automata
Along with the individual kits from the Mechanicum Battlegroup there are three novelties for pre-order this Saturday, the new supplement for Horus Heresy - The Martian Civil War, an Archmagos Prime and the Thanatar Cavas Siege-automata. The last one we're going to build today.
The Thanatar Automata is the largest walker, that is not a Knight, within the ranks of the Mechanicum and a former resin kit, available in the Cavas or Calix Siege-Automata variants. With the Cavas being the first to the produced in plastic. But don't worry, you will see it further below, the kit (or rather the sprues) are designed in a way, that the armament can be swapped and the Calix variant will likely be covered with a weapon sprue of its own.
Legions Imperialis – Solar Auxilia Leman Russ Exterminator and Annihilators Squadron
And we're covering the third Leman Russ plastic kit, the Exterminator and Annihilators, for Legions Imperialis, after the Leman Russ Strike Squadron, the Executioner and Demolisher today.
All four new variants are included as formations in the new Devastation of Tallarn campaign supplement. They start out as squadrons of four and can be upgraded to a squad size of 10. Note, these can not be mixed, each squadron consists only out of one variant. With six different variants of the Leman Russ covered, the only one missing would be the Leman Russ Incinerator, with the Volkite Macro-Saker.
Legions Imperialis – Legiones Astartes Termite Assault Drills
And the third kit in this wave is are Termite Assault Drills, a unit for the Legiones Astartes.
The Termite Assault drills are an underground transport vehicle, often used in sieges or during similar heavily fortified scenarios. It is classified as an Imperial Subterrain Vehicle, and not the only one of its kind. Back in the Rogue Traders days, some armies had access to the Mole (used by the Imperial Guard/Astra Militarum and Squats) or Hellbore (Mechanicum and Squats), with variants like the Hades Breaching Drill.
Legions Imperialis – Legiones Astartes Sabre Strike Tank Squadron
A new type of tank for the Legiones Astartes, with the Sabre Strike Tank Squadron for Legions Imperialis. These have been expected for quite some time now, as their very distinguished shape was used for the Light Armour units icon.
In this boxed set of 8 Sabre tanks we have the choice between hull mounted neutron blaster or Anvilus autocannon, which means this kit is missing the volkite option, just like the three Leman Russ kits. The rules for the formation of Sabre Strike tanks can be found in The Devastation of Tallarn supplement, and the boxed set will set you back 41,00 EUR / 31,50 GBP RRP.
Legions Imperialis – Solar Auxilia Leman Russ Executioner and Demolisher Squad
Along with Shadowsword and Sicaran, the second of three Leman Russ tank kits for Legions Imperialis is available for pre-order as well. While we have the regular Leman Russ Battle Tank and Vanquisher since the starter set, we now have access to the Executioner and Demolisher, with an further upcoming release of the Annihilator and Exterminator later this year.
The Leman Russ is one of, if not the work horse of the Imperial war machine. The chassis is used for multiple variants, mostly the Leman Russ battle tank with various turrets (And even beyond the 6 mentioned above, there are still further variants to explore) and before the chimera chassis was developed used for artillery and self-propelled guns.
Legions Imperialis – Legiones Astartes Sicaran Arcus and Punisher Squadron
The only release for the Legiones Astartes among this weeks pre-orders for Legions Imperialis are the Sicaran Arcus and Punisher tanks.
With the starter set, we already have the regular Sicaran and Omega variant of the tank, now adding the missile launcher of the Arcus and rotary cannon of the Punisher to the Astartes battle tank. Thus covering all known variants, beside the Venator, who replaced the turret mounted weapon systems for a hull-mounted neutron-laser.
Horus Heresy – Mechanicum Battle Group
After the Solar Auxilia Battle Group and Legiones Astartes Battle Group, we now have a third Battle Group covering the core of the next faction in plastic - the Mechanicum!
This is a huge step for this army, while Solar Auxilia could re-purpose plastic kits for tanks, the Mechanicum only had the Scitarii as a plastic kit, the entire remaining range was resin. And they did not just add a kit or two, but a whole bunch and put them together right for the start of this impressive Battle Group.
Legions Imperialis – Solar Auxilia Shadowswords, Stormblades and Stormswords Squadron
On this day three new plastic kits are going for pre-order for Legions Imperialis, for Astartes the Sicaran Arcus and Punisher, for Solar Auxilia a new Leman Russ kit with the Executioner and Demolisher and a Shadowsswords, Stormblades and Stormswords kit. The last one is the one, which we are going to cover today.
The Shadowsword multi-kit is the third super heavy set for the Solar Auxilia in Legions Imperialis, after the Baneblade/Hellhammer and Stormhammer kits.
With the last price raise, these kits went up from 40 to 41 EUR, or 31,50 GBP from 30 GBP, covering two identical sprues, an instruction leaflet and a black and white decal sheet.
These vehicles are tank destroyers build upon the Baneblade chassis, where as "tank" destroyer isn't the proper name for those, as they are clearly can be used against them but are uparmoured to fight against knights, titans and fortifications. The chassis is very versatile and depending on what they are intended to fight, there are different variants using different weapon systems, some of which are even mounted on titans.
Legions Imperialis – Dire Wolf Heavy Scout Titans
A novelty for the Legions Imperialis, and not just a repack of a former Adeptus Titanicus or Aeronautica Imperialis boxed set, is the double pack of Dire Wolf Heavy Scout Titans. These are formerly only available as single resin kits by Forge World (we've covered them here as well - Dire Wolf Heavy Scout Titan with Neutron-Laser and Volcano Cannon), and with them moving over into plastic, we even got new weapon options.
This new plastic kit, is available as a double pack from Games Workshop at 62,50 EUR, which makes them a bit cheaper than the resin variant which were 44 EURs each. On top of that, the weapons not only cover the Neutron-Laser and Volcano Cannon, but received a third option, the Conversion Beam Dissipator.