The Imperial war machine is a very versatile creature indeed. It is designed to adapt to a wide multitude of theatres on a myriad of planets. One of the things that makes it so adaptable is the wide range of vehicles and tanks used by its forces, the Imperial Guard and the Space Marines.

Among these many vehicles are the Imperial Land Speeders. A fast moving attack platform that can provide support for advancing ground troops. The Land Speeder flies across the battlefield, laying down fire from its heavy Bolters or Multimeltas as it tears over the heads of the enemy at high speeds. Its these kind of vehicles that make playing Space Marines or Imperial Guard such fun to play and collect.

On October 10^th this year we will see the release of the latest incarnation of Games Workshops best selling sci-fi combat game Warhammer 40,000. The new edition of the game will come complete with rules, terrain, and plastic Space Marines and Dark Eldar as well as an all new version of an old favourite, the Land Speeder!

Right from opening the box you realise that your in for a treat here. The kit is excellently sculpted and moulded in a light grey plastic. Comprising of 28 highly detailed parts and including a plastic flying base with the extra addition of a ball and socket on the top so your finished speeder can be posed at almost any angle (a really neat touch) giving a touch of the dramatic to the finished kit.

Assembly instructions are given and as usual with plastic kits from Games Workshop they are clear, concise and easy to follow. Construction of the kit shouldn’t cause too many problems, even for the inexperienced modeller, however I did find that the main body and the lower hull didn't marry together well without first shaving a few millimetres from the base of the rear wall of the cockpit. This is the only flaw in the entire kit I found and with a little patience is very easily overcome. As well as the usual polystyrene cement you will also need a pair of clippers or a craft knife for cutting the parts from the sprues, and perhaps a file to smooth down any rough edges. Clippers are really needed here as some of the parts are very delicate and could very easily break if twisted off.

The Land Speeder comes complete with a crew of two Space Marines (driver and gunner) which go together extremely well. The Marines are the same as the new multi pose Marines, (as found in the new game) with plastic torsos fitting onto the legs that form the floor of the cockpit and the addition of arms designed to hold onto the heavy weapon or steer the speeder. Two separate heads are given for the Marines (a bald one with osmotic gill and a MK 7 helmet) as well as a heavy Bolter and a Multimelta. The way the kit goes together is designed as to allow a great deal of movement with the gunner and the weapon just clips to a small semi circular rail allowing the gun to turn from one side of the craft to the other. Speaking of the weapons! Both the Bolter and Multimelta are excellently done and its a toss up which one to use on your speeder? Of course don't throw away the spare weapon as with a little work they can be fitted to a Marine or other model. There is even a armoured shield for the driver to help deflect incoming fire, if you wish to use it.

Other working features are a set of small cargo doors at the rear of the craft that allow access to the engine compartment. From what I can gather Games Workshop plan on releasing a number of variants of the basic Land Speeder, and the small compartment sections may be used to house missile racks that will swing out and stand above the vehicle (like the dropship in Aliens!) or perhaps some other plan.

When you stand the new model at the side of its older counterpart the difference is startling. The old Land Speeder was a great kit, but was a little top heavy and had a tendency to topple over to one side, rather than staying erect on its flying base. The new plastic kit doesn't suffer from this at all and is at least 2" bigger all around and almost an inch taller. Rather than a chunky looking vehicle the new Land Speeder is very aerodynamic in shape and looks almost like a shark when seen in profile, giving an air of fierceness to its overall look.

As for painting the kit! Well the skies are literally the limit here. There is a great deal of detail to keep the veteran painter/modeller happy, I painted both of my speeders in Crimson Fists colours, to fit in with my re-vitalised Marine army, and found both of them great fun to paint. There is a great deal of detail on the Land Speeder, including some nice areas around the engines that can be picked out and even the bottom of the craft is detailed well.

Of course their isn't anything stopping you converting your speeder to fit in with a Chaos force or an Imperial Guard or even Sisters of Battle for that matter, and because it is made from plastic its a simple matter of snipping to convert your speeder rather than filling and sanding and such. I intend to field a full squadron of these speeders complete with converted Sisters in my SoB army in the near future, and will hopefully bring you pictures of them once they are finished. You could very easily cover the cockpit completely hiding the Marines from view and making the speeder a different variant that is more armoured!

Overall I was very impressed with my Land Speeders and found the kit a dream to go together and fun to paint. The addition of the ball and socket is an excellent idea and I (like many others no doubt!) will soon be mail ordering a quantity of them for my other flying troops and models. If you have a Space Marine force this kit is an essential item to field. In the rules the speeder can move at a maximum distance of 24" in the Movement phase and a further 6" in the assault Phase making it very fast and easily capable of taking on other troops/vehicles as it streaks across the table.

If you add to this the very low cost of the kit compared to the old metal version you have a real bargain here, one that is well worthy of a look.

Detail 8 out of 10

Animation 10 out of 10

Value 10 out of 10

Overall 9 out of 10

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