The Captain is an absolute dream of a miniature. Armed with a Storm Bolter that he sports in one hand and a Power Sword held high in the air. The animation is excellent and the attention to detail remarkable. Even the Storm Bolter has an underslung belt and the way that the Captains cloak flows is very natural. Right down to the Terminator honour badge on his chest, this is one of the best looking Marines that I have seen and will no doubt grace many games tables in the future. The model comes as two pieces, with the arm holding the Storm Bolter being a separate casting from the body. Assembly is simply a case of mating up the male and female halves and gluing them together with crazy glue. No filling needed at all.

The Apothecary is different from the last version of this medic model and is posed with his Chain Sword raised high in an attack arc. A one piece casting that only requires (as with all the models) its backpack gluing in place. The backpack is the standard pack for an Apothecary and isn't anything that hasn’t been seen before. Once again the animation is first rate and the miniature looks as if he is about to move to attack without warning.

The Techmarine comes with a Bionic arm, Bolt pistol and a nasty looking Power Axe, in the shape of the Techmarine emblem. The axe is a separate casting and needs to be glued into place, again no filling is needed as the handle fits snugly up against the body with no problems. The detail here is perhaps more so than the Captain, with chains, pipes and bionic bits all over the Marine. The facial detail is great and this is another must have for any Marine Commander!

Moving along to the Banner Bearer and the Veteran Sgt now. The Banner Bearer is perhaps the weakest link in this very strong chain of miniatures and looks a little out of place. Another two part casting, with an eagle emblem for the top of the banner pole. The set contains decals for Dark Angels, Blood Angels and of course the Ultramarines, and also includes a set of back banners for the Ultramarines. The final miniature in the set is the Veteran Sgt. Although last in the review it is no means least. The miniature is holding a scanner in one hand and barking orders to his men, while pointing with the other hand. The expression on his face is one of command and he looks like the kind of man who gets the job done and not the type you would wish to mess with. A Bolter is slung down over his body and hangs by its belt, ready to be wielded at an approaching foe of the Emperor. A lovely miniature. In fact a lovely set of miniatures and well worthy of the Gem of the Month award!

So what does the future hold for the Space Marines? Well the new edition of 40K hits stores in a few weeks and come complete with a squad of plastic Marines that are multi pose and believe me when I say are the best plastics that I have ever seen. The new Space Marine Battle force will also hit stores soon and contains some of the newly designed Marines, proving that Jes Goodwin is still the best there is. I was informed by the very best of sources (from the studio) that this Command set is only the first in a range of such command sections and that Imperial Guard, Eldar, Dark Eldar and Chaos will all get their own turn.

Marc

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