Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

I have not seen this elsewhere, and it is a review from memory when I saw the sprues about an hour and a half ago. I did not have a notebook with me:

Saw these assembled today so I have updated and in part ammended my post:


New LEMAN RUSS sprue contents

1. This is NOT a new turret sprue for the orginal Leman Russ. The kit is a complete redesign of the old tank, same scale but better execution and model detail.

2. The assembly is roughly similar you have the two tank sides each of two sections plus a surround of tracks, however assembly is stremlined and from what I have seen the kit assembles in a far less tricky way.

3. External side detail is rougly similar, but there are small changes.

4. The turret shape is 'Ryza' pattern rarther than stock Russ pattern.

The weapons.

5. This kit screams out 'magnetise me!'. All the major weapons and options are plug ins with identical sockets, one socket type for sponson and hull mounts and one for the main gun.

6. You get a lascannon, IIRC three heavy bolters, two multi meltas and two plasma cannon. All secondarty weapons are one piece. The weapons are now normal sized, not extra chunky.

7. The main weapons are in two or three pieces and dont look at all bad on the sprue. You get the Punisher, Demolisher and Executioner variants. again the weapons fit onto an identicle sized mounting on the front of the turret with a hexagonal plug, it would be very easy to magnetise these. In fact because of the hexagonal plus it is possibly the barrles might stay in by themselves or if carefully deep pinned without magnets. However the turret mount piece varies, one for each gun though this is a minor detail (wiring on the plasma weapons mounting etc) and you can choose a generic mounting and add any of the three barrels to it.

Customisation.

8. One odd ommission was the lack of the battlecannon, because this kit is so definately superior to the stock russ Gwe had an option to save on logistical costs and retire the old kit entirely. The good news is that the punisher cannon is narrow enough that it can serve as an armature when cut down to glue on a plastic sleeve to make a DIY battlecannon. Done this way you can fully customise your Russes with a split between Punishers and stock Russ with each tank having Plasma and Demolisher options.

9. Customising the addition of sponsons will be tricky, but outfitting the sponsons and hull will be fairly easy.

10. The only other detail dependant on the weapons loadout regards the turret stowage. The turret has rear stowage built into the kit. You get a sperate strip cover representing the three stowage lids to glue in place. However if you have the executioner you are expected to use a seperate cover which represents heat sinks or power generators. You could work out a way to pin or magnetise the covers, this will involve underfilling the cover for something to mount a pin hole or magnet. Alternately this piece can be ignored altogether, the executioner turret is defined clearly by the big plasma weapon, not by the power pack at the back, there is no reason why you couldnt just have stowage.

11. The commander is Cadian and similar in options to the one on the Baneblade, This includes a cavalry sabre arm - for driving closer and hitting with. This arm was in fact NOT included, the arm I saw was apparently from another kit or the store bitz box, not taken from the Russ sprue, but from the Hellhound sprue perhaps? The store manager was in fact fond of that motivational poster and wanted to replicate it. The commander appears to be pointing with it.though this part of the sprue was part cut and I havent seen all the details.

Future concepts.

12. Oddly part of the interior (the floor) was detailed. GW seem to be setting up for Forgeworld to have the option of making open topped variants in the future. With a sculpted floor forgeworld will need to provide an upper hull piece and drivers partition wall and have a tank chassis ready for a Russ mounted artillery piece.


Second look.

13. I heard comments that the new hatches are too small or fiddly to have hinged access, you will need to glue them shut or open.

14. The exhausts, rear chassis stowage, towing hooks etc all fit on the chassis on 'featureless' mounting points. there are recommended guids for where each goes but the detail is on the add on not the tank. So for example the round riveted connecting ring for where the exhaust protrudes from the tank is on the exhaust, not the tank. Thus any of these features can be omiited or replaced in a different location. The guide brackets fro the side sponsons remain and look identicle to how they did before. I did notice a general lack of detail on the main chassis in fact, unlike the sides there is little or no riveting, you add the detail you want.
This does mean that there are alos no guides to get the pieces level, that might not be problematical for some, but the job I saw today has crooked stowage items, expect to see that a lot.


All in all a damn good kit.


New HELLHOUND sprue contents

This kit came without instructions and I cannot fully see what is where.

1. Ok the pictures dont do this justice from what I can see from the sprues the Hellhound is 'open topped' at the back you can see into the chassis. The floor of the chassis has room for a quad of four large barrels standing upright. the barrel bottoms are part of the chassic bottom, the barrels sides are two prices each and with a seprate lid then there are some piping etc and a cover the leaves detail exposed. The barrels are covered by a hinged cover plate which doesnt entirely conceal them (the actual tank cover is hinged, the models hinge is non functional). There is also a hinged rear hatch roughly similar to that on the Chimera. All this means that the rear section looks like it is intended to open up like 'jaws' so that new fuel barrels can be inserted or otherwise filled. A nice bit of detail that hints on the tanks logistical functionality. It also encourages options for dioramas with Helhounds being refueled or worked on with the two plates open.


2. The hull weapons are plug in like those for the Russ. These weapons unlike those on the Russ are two parted so they have cored barrels as per those on the Baneblade.

3. The turret main weapon is in several sections, each weapon has a two piece barrel 'base' which is standard for the tank, then there is a seperate two piece extension that forms the main gun, with a cored barrel. While more fiddly than the Russ armament it should not be difficult to pin or magnetise the main weapons. I suggest deep pinning from what I have seen, the socket is not rounded so a deep pin should hold without the need for.

4. I did however notice a very nice head with an officers cap and an arch topped mask covering ther nose and mouth.

5. The main gun of the Hellhound has an erectile dysfunction, it will droop unless glued or a piece is inserted to stop the berel drooping during assembly. because ther barrel itself is four pieces it needs to be assembled with care, even the one featured in the studio imagery looks not quite right.

6. Please do undercoat and paint the barrels and fule lines before full assembly there is a lot of submerged detail which will be all but impossible to reach afterwards. You may well have to part assdemble and spray basecoat this tank in stages if you want to get the most out of the detailing.

7. The remade Hellhound/Chimera chassis has been simplified for assembly along the same grounds as the Russ. Also the transmission plate covers protrude far less from the sides of the tank, with the new design there is still a significant amount of tank overhanging the tracks, but far less pronounced than before.

8. The turret includes options for three pieces of spaced armour, which was well handled and looks good.

After seeing the assembled kit I must say I am much more impressed than I was with the pictures.

Thanks for the info!

This includes a cavalry sabre arm - for driving closer and hitting with

I chuckled.

I suspect we will be seeing the resculpt applied to the standard Russ when they release the other patterns. Certainly, the Vanquisher need only really be an extended Battle Cannon barrell.

Overall, can't wait for pics!

Deleted per Iorek's PM

Erm. Read it again John. He said it's a complete redesign.

Why not wait to see the sprue and a contruction diagram before jumping off the deepend.

Oh, I forgot. This is the internet.

All the more for us Hwang.

Besides I dont see logic to your anger, the point quoted its that they have fixed the Russ. The only thing they didnt 'fix' is the battlecannon barrel, which I mentioned elsewhere on the post, and is replicable because the punisher cannon is narrow enough to be cut down and use as the core for a plastic tube barrel.

Geez John, did a Leman Russ rape you or something?

He's just angry that they didn't change it into a mini-Baneblade.

JohnHwangDD wrote:

Orlanth wrote:New LEMAN RUSS sprue contents

1. This is NOT a new turret sprue for the orginal Leman Russ. The kit is a complete redesign of the old tank, same scale but better execution and model detail.

GW had an opportunity to fix the Leman Russ for real, and they feth it up with a half-assed limp-dicked touch-up of a gak design.

feth you, GW. I won't buy any.

You want some cheese with your whine, John? The Russ chassis has been around for ages, and it's not changing. You want more modern tanks, play Space Marines or something.

BrookM wrote:He's just angry

Fixed your quote.

Deleted per Iorek's PM

Does the kit include any parts from the old accessory sprue, in particular the track guards?

So you've seen it from all angles yes? Or just the same piccy we've seen?

Also re the Baneblade. This design predates the Great Crusade. The Leman Russ, as the name suggests, was designed by...Leman Russ, during the Great Crusade. Thus historically, there is bone all reason for the Russ to follow the design of the Baneblade.

Comment removed at behest of mods.

Potential for open-topped Russ' eh? I'm thinking artillery piece like they did with the M4 Shermans in WW2 by shoving a howitzer onto the chassis.

John needs to learn that he doesn't speak for everybody.

I'd call H.B.M.C in here, but the pure, unbridled hate for John would no doubt cause the Dakka server to short out and blow up half of the UK.

Held the sprues my hands yesterday, It looks like the tracks are easier to fit on and there's some internal detail, overall the detail seems to be crisper. On the downside the hatches are sealed shut on the side, above the lascannon and on the deck, also I dislike the old style heavy flamers and it certainly would have been an excellent opportunity to drop the height, lengthen the hull and give it some sort of suspension.

I already have half a dozen Leman Russ so the changes are meaningless to me. I don't hate it but it is a waste of a redesign. As it's now on three sprues instead of five and has no metal parts I assume it will be getting cheaper.

There's no need to speculate on the price of the new IG tank kits coming this August. They have been showing in the Advance Order section of the GW online store for weeks now.

I actually saw the sprues for the new Leman Russ Demolisher/Executioner/Punisher several weeks ago. I like the new track attachment system which eliminates the need for the wheel sprue. The new weapons look great. I'm planning to do a little converting and use the unused weapons from the new Demolisher kit on as yet unbuilt tanks from the 10-tank Apocalypse deal. All plastic parts should make this very easy.

Thanks for posting this information Orlanth. While I too have more Russes than I already need, the fact that this kit could be used to make a standard Russ with some converting is interesting.

it is too bad that we lose the wheel sprue and track sprues though, I know that there are GW oriented scratchbuilders who will be very sad about that.

So wait. does it still have the same track assembly with the little wheels or no?

Hey John, if you want a more realistic looking russ, head over to warseer, and look up my thread "This ain't no pansy GW armor, son" you may like (or not) what you see.

Scottywan82 wrote:So wait. does it still have the same track assembly with the little wheels or no?

No, the bogey wheel sprue is gone. The tracks now fit into little c-shaped slots molded on the hull side pieces. No more fiddling to get them evenly spaced around wheels. It's a much better system that results in evenly spaced tracks every time.

Pictures are needed!

No more wheel sprue? - shock horror , I've used those wheels for so many conversions, they were such a nice source of 'round bits'

But it makes sense from a manufacturing perspective - it was a whole sprue that was normally invisible on the completed model so why have it at all?

So, I presume this is true for both the new Russ and Chimera hulls?

Cheese Elemental wrote:You want some cheese with your whine, John? The Russ chassis has been around for ages, and it's not changing. You want more modern tanks, play Space Marines or something.

Yeah, because Space Marines have so much to offer to a modern tank fan, with none of their vehicles being anything like modern tanks at all. The closest they get is the Predator, the two variants of which are armed with either a glorified pea shooter, or a pair of anti-tank energy weapons. Hardly MBT material.

infilTRAITOR wrote:Potential for open-topped Russ' eh? I'm thinking artillery piece like they did with the M4 Shermans in WW2 by shoving a howitzer onto the chassis.

Yes, because what the Imperial Guard really needs is more artillery variants, to go with the half a dozen we have already...

Are the turrets for new and old LR interchangeable?

Agamemnon2 wrote:

Cheese Elemental wrote:You want some cheese with your whine, John? The Russ chassis has been around for ages, and it's not changing. You want more modern tanks, play Space Marines or something.

Yeah, because Space Marines have so much to offer to a modern tank fan, with none of their vehicles being anything like modern tanks at all. The closest they get is the Predator, the two variants of which are armed with either a glorified pea shooter, or a pair of anti-tank energy weapons. Hardly MBT material.

infilTRAITOR wrote:Potential for open-topped Russ' eh? I'm thinking artillery piece like they did with the M4 Shermans in WW2 by shoving a howitzer onto the chassis.

Yes, because what the Imperial Guard really needs is more artillery variants, to go with the half a dozen we have already...

Negativity makes you die sooner.

Marshal2Crusaders wrote:

Agamemnon2 wrote:

Cheese Elemental wrote:You want some cheese with your whine, John? The Russ chassis has been around for ages, and it's not changing. You want more modern tanks, play Space Marines or something.

Yeah, because Space Marines have so much to offer to a modern tank fan, with none of their vehicles being anything like modern tanks at all. The closest they get is the Predator, the two variants of which are armed with either a glorified pea shooter, or a pair of anti-tank energy weapons. Hardly MBT material.

infilTRAITOR wrote:Potential for open-topped Russ' eh? I'm thinking artillery piece like they did with the M4 Shermans in WW2 by shoving a howitzer onto the chassis.

Yes, because what the Imperial Guard really needs is more artillery variants, to go with the half a dozen we have already...

Negativity makes you die sooner.

We can only hope so. His blood must've turned to pure vinegar by now.

BrookM wrote:

Marshal2Crusaders wrote:Negativity makes you die sooner.

We can only hope so. His blood must've turned to pure vinegar by now.

I see things a lot more clearly than you lot, that much is for certain. And really, would I even want to spend more lifetime in such company? I think not.

Deleted per Iorek's PM