A new starter box

This week Games Workshop has given us a release date for the new edition of Warhammer 40k and I couldn't be more excited!

They've also shown us the contents of the Starter Box named 'Dark Imperium'. This is slightly different from the rumoured contents and has changed my plans. First up I want to talk about the contents:

Primaris Marines:

• Two five-man units of Intercessor Squads, these seem to be 'basic' (as basic as a genetically engineered super soldier can get) rank and file of the new Primaris Marines, armed with the Bolt Rifle. With a 30" range, -1 AP, and rapid fire these should be eating up some dirty Xenos.
• A five-man Hellblaster Squad, armed with some sort of plasma weaponry. These plasma rifles seem to be longer than the 'standard' plasma gun, so I am thinking these will have a slightly longer range as with the Bolt Rifles. The entire squad is armed with the plasma weapons including the sergeant, bringing to mind the crusade legion organisation, with specialist weapons being bought together as a single squad, rather than single specialists in each squad.
• A three-man Inceptor squad armed with two Assault Bolters, and a jet pack of some description. The Assault Bolters have an 18" range, with three shots at S5 AP-1. Clad in Gravis Armour, giving them an extra pip of T. These appear to come with the new flight stand. The rules we have been shown give the unit a deep strike ability and when they charge at a unit they cause a mortal wound on a roll of a 6 on a D6.
• Two Primaris lieutenants, one armed with a Power Sword, and the other with an 'Auto Bolt Rifle' what ever one of those is....
• One Primaris Ancient carrying a banner and a bolt rifle.
• And finally one Primaris Captain armed with a Master Crafted Power Sword, and a Bolt Storm Gauntlet, that has two profiles; one for combat, doubling the captains strength causing 3 wounds with -3AP and one for shooting giving him 3 shots at strength 4 up to 12" away. Clad in 'Gravis armour' giving plus 1 T. He comes with a ability allowing marines of the same chapter to re-roll hit rolls of a 1 with in 6" of the captain. 

Death Guard:

• A squad of seven Plague Marines, with a mix of weapons, at least one plasma gun, and the sergeant seems to be armed with a Power Fist.
• A squad of twenty Poxwalkers, seemingly armed with close combat weapons.
• A Foetid Bloat Drone, a floating Daemon engine, very reminiscent of Forge Worlds Blight Drone. Armed with two cannons of some sort. I'm sure this is going to be doing some damage!
• A Malignant Plaguecaster, this fellow seems to be a psyker of some sort. Will be interesting to see what kind of plague spells this model gets access to.
• A Noxious Blightbringer, described as a dark reflection of the "noble Legion Banner Bearers of old" who carries with him a cursed bell that tolls death for its victims.
• Finally to round the Plague Marines off, their leader: the Lord of Contagion. Clad in warped Cataphractii terminator armour, and armed with a MASSIVE axe!

My local store got a few of these models in on Wednesday, so for a few quick observations; the Poxwalkers are on 25mm bases, the Plague Marine and the Primaris Marine are both on 32mm bases, the Primaris captain is on a 40mm base, and the Lord of Contagion is on a 50mm base. From what I could tell (as all the models that the store had were built and painted/primed) the models are single pose. I've included one of the marines from Dark Vengeance for scale in the picture above.

In some respects this hasn't changed anything, the boxset will still be split between my housemate and I, with him taking the Death Guard side and I taking the loyalist Primaris Marines. What has changed is how I plan to paint the Marines. The plan was originally going to be to do some minor conversions and make the Marines into Black Dragons, a chapter from the Cursed Founding that is known for growing bony protrusions from their arms. Upon seeing the new Primaris Marines I realised that they wouldn't fit the aesthetic that I had planned for the Black Dragons (so that will go on a back burner for the future). My new plan seems to have started as a bit of a joke on Facebook but I have decided I really like the colours so may I introduce you to the Infinity Chapter:

So ignoring the 'wings', I just love the look of the colours. It's a scheme nowhere near anything I have painted in the past. Looking at the crisper white, with the bold green and purple combo. It just has to be done!

So whats everyone think?

That's all for this week. See you next time from the table of a Plastic Addict!