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I guess everyone has seen the FW upgrade pack by now. Very underwhelming, and I think GW know they’re yanking everyone’s chain as they have assured us there are more plastic infantry on the way.

A few possibilities:

- they didn’t allocate enough resources to HH, and got caught out by its popularity (or perhaps thought most HH players would want tanks). This set is a stop-gap while they rush to get stuff done.
- there was no plan to do Mk VI assault infantry; they will be a different mark so these resin bits are just for those who want their dudes to be MK VI.
- they are saving the proper Mk VI plastic assault troops for a big boxed set later in the year.

What do you think?

I’m hoping stop-gap. Because this is, so far, out of character for HH. Special and Heavy Weapons are in plastic, so this being resin is…odd.

Notably this is for MkIII, MkIV and MkVI, all of which lack HTH for infantry options.

We are promised more Infantry in the works. So hopefully it’ll be another 20 man assault themed set.

All of the above?

Another possibility:

Making upgrade kits in superior resin is the start of a new trend, finally replacing all of the plastic 30k kits.

Sadly I doubt it will happen but we can always hope.

Looking at it properly?

I’m wondering if the arms are from an as yet unseen command upgrade set, hastily repurposed?

I say this, as the pistol and Chainsword arm are the same sculpt, repeated five times.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
I say this, as the pistol and Chainsword arm are the same sculpt, repeated five times.

Are they the same as the jetbikes?

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Looking at it properly?

I’m wondering if the arms are from an as yet unseen command upgrade set, hastily repurposed?

I say this, as the pistol and Chainsword arm are the same sculpt, repeated five times.

Well, "ackshually" they are all individual sculpts. Some small details on the arms are ever so slightly different across the bits. Also, it seems that the angles of the arms are also ever slightly different, maybe not all unique, but there's at least a couple different angles there.

But yeh


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Snord wrote:
I guess everyone has seen the FW upgrade pack by now. Very underwhelming, and I think GW know they’re yanking everyone’s chain as they have assured us there are more plastic infantry on the way.

A few possibilities:

- they didn’t allocate enough resources to HH, and got caught out by its popularity (or perhaps thought most HH players would want tanks). This set is a stop-gap while they rush to get stuff done.
- there was no plan to do Mk VI assault infantry; they will be a different mark so these resin bits are just for those who want their dudes to be MK VI.
- they are saving the proper Mk VI plastic assault troops for a big boxed set later in the year.

What do you think?

I think it's #2 or #3

i'd guess #2.. resin Mk.6 parts, for the plastic Mk.6 kits.

then later they release a redone (and resized) plastic Mk.4 kit focused around close combat builds and resin upgrades for it (like jumppacks)

maybe eventually a new Mk.3 kit focused on breachers.

(i also suspect they will be dropping the non-primaris marine squad plastics from 40K, instead offering a plastic upgrade sprue for the horus heresy marine kits so people can make their "firstborns".)

tbh this is for Despoilers, which is an... ODD troop choice. They prefer a transport option, which is often more expensive than the points saved on not going with jump packs.

The hope is that when Assault Marines do come out for 30k, they'll be full plastic with jump packs. Then, it'll be a lot easier to just get those and find extra backpacks to make fully plastic despoilers.

Otherwise, it does feel like a stop-gap, and not an awful way to kit out sgts, get extra bolt pistols, etc.

It's pure speculation, but I wonder if they realised that Mk VI armour doesn't look that great on assault infantry. It certainly doesn't look heavy enough for Breachers. So, assuming that releasing assault infantry will involve a basic kit plus add-on sets for jetpack-equipped dudes and Breachers, maybe they have opted for a different armour type. Like Mk V, which would (1) add more variety, (2) still be compatible with Mk VI-related bits, and (3) arguably look better in an assault role. And going with Mk V would avoid 'invalidating' the existing Mk III and Mk IV kits. In the meantime, anyone who wants Mk VI assault troops has to settle for these resin bits.

I am underwhelmed by those arms. The mkvi bodies just don't have the posture for a dynamic assault squad.

Regarding the size of the team working on the HH range; it's massive. They haven't been caught short staffed. The scale of what they are wanting to do is enormous, and so I wouldn't be surprised if a better kit came out later.

I think that the marine releases will soon slow down to make way for plastic releases of other factions.

I'm hoping it's option 2, and there's a non-VI melee kit coming shortly.

I doubt there is a melee kit coming - because doing this just reduces those later sales, they would be cannibalising their own sales to deliver units faster to players, not something they are traditionally keen on.

This may just be me being overly optimistic, but does anyone else think that GW is going to announce a plastic assault squad at Adepticon? They announced the MKVI squad at Adepticon 2022, and GW has to know that a plastic assault squad would sell like gangbusters.

I doubt there is a melee kit coming - because doing this just reduces those later sales, they would be cannibalising their own sales to deliver units faster to players, not something they are traditionally keen on.

I think that's the reason this kit was so underwhelming - GW knew they needed to release something to mollify people before they released the actual kit, but they also knew that if they released something too good than it would cannibalize future assault squad sales. So they released a deliberately mediocre upgrade kit, along with an assurance that they were indeed planning on releasing more plastic infantry, in order to throw a bone to people without jeopardizing future profits.

Eh, if they don't release good stuff it just encourages peeps to fill the gaps in other ways. Mate of mine has a lot of world eater despoilers with printed parts cause GW hasn't been supplying.

cody.d. wrote:
Eh, if they don't release good stuff it just encourages peeps to fill the gaps in other ways. Mate of mine has a lot of world eater despoilers with printed parts cause GW hasn't been supplying.

^ This.

3rd parties have recognized the gaping hole in the line and stepped in in a big way. With a bit of shopping around you can assemble despoiler squads in whatever mark you like that are upscaled to MKIV size for about very nearly the price of GW's 20 man tactical boxes. Elites & Legion Uniques are cheaper, given the absurd price of FW stuff. And while it gets noticeable pricier if you want to go all out (legion shoulder pads, battlefield role shoulder pads, legion helms, legion specific bits like chain axes), it's still substantially cheaper than it'd be to assemble all that bilk from purely GW parts due, again, to absurd FW prices.

By the time GW gets around to releasing their assault infantry - a fething year after the system launch - plenty of people straight up won't need them anymore.

Perhaps not for 30K players, but there will still be plenty of 40K players who will buy rescaled plastic Assault Marines.

I could totally see the main 40K product line dropping all Firstborn kits eventually (in, say, 5-15 years) and simply going with upgrade kits for HH plastics for any 40K firstborn models. Then the 40K Marine range can be left 100% Primaris, but everyone will still be able to play with Firstborn (just buy HH models). win-win.

I'm sort of in this camp already (buying almost exclusively HH stuff for my 40K army)

The wound changes they made to firstborn marines did a lot to close the gap between old and new. An extra attack, extra ap and a few statagems are the main differences between Firstborn and primaris right? Eventually they indeed could the firstborn and in fluff they should be a dying breed if all new marines are being made into primaris.

But HH models do need some plastics with some more bling, a veterans unit is sorely needed but having legion flair is also wanted. I'm on the fence if I would have wanted an upgrade sprue like with 40k chapters. Shoulderpads, helms and lots of faction specific detail bits to scatter around. It has pros and cons.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 morganfreeman wrote:

cody.d. wrote:
Eh, if they don't release good stuff it just encourages peeps to fill the gaps in other ways. Mate of mine has a lot of world eater despoilers with printed parts cause GW hasn't been supplying.

^ This.

3rd parties have recognized the gaping hole in the line and stepped in in a big way. With a bit of shopping around you can assemble despoiler squads in whatever mark you like that are upscaled to MKIV size for about very nearly the price of GW's 20 man tactical boxes. Elites & Legion Uniques are cheaper, given the absurd price of FW stuff. And while it gets noticeable pricier if you want to go all out (legion shoulder pads, battlefield role shoulder pads, legion helms, legion specific bits like chain axes), it's still substantially cheaper than it'd be to assemble all that bilk from purely GW parts due, again, to absurd FW prices.

By the time GW gets around to releasing their assault infantry - a fething year after the system launch - plenty of people straight up won't need them anymore.

Would you consider 3d file shops 3rd parties? Cause you can get a lot of both free and paid for files out there.

I’m of the opinion that anything not made by GW (or FW) / made with GW parts, but made explicitly for use in GW systems, is 3rd party. Doesn’t matter if it’s an stl or an actual model.

What... what else would they be if not 3rd party?

I dunno, user created content?

My mind is going to things like paid/free mods for video games.

Oh fair enough. I guess there's a bit of a gradient but it would mostly hinge on whether it's for profit or not.