40K: It’s All Getting Bigger
The Primaris Marines aren’t the only ones getting bigger.
When the Primaris Marines arrived It looked like they were going to be the way to make the new range physically more appealing than the existing Marine range. It’s an easy and effective trick. Make the new faction slightly superior in stats (hello W2), and make them physically imposing.
At the end of the day we all play a physical hobby and unless you are a hardcore WAAC tourney player, appearances DO matter.
Then I saw the Death Guard models.
As a long term Death Guard player I am very familiar with the existing range. The new models should certainly be more detailed. They should be more dynamic. They should be sculpted using the latest digital techniques from 2017.
But should they be bigger?
And not a little bigger – a LOT bigger. Because they are.
Take a look at this:
Left Typhus – Right Lord of Contagion
Left metal Plague Marine – right New plastic Plague Marine
What’s Going On?
Some of this is fine. There’s not too much of a scale difference between the Lord of Contagion and Typhus. Characters have been slowly getting bigger, but the lower image is the one that gets me. The new Plague Marines are GIANTS compared to all the previous minis. Not only in volume and girth, but height. It looks like GW has scaled the Plague Marines up to be fitting opponents to the new Primaris models. It does make them more impressive and imposing on the tabletop. They are fantastic looking and a pleasure to paint.
But again – it makes no sense according to the fluff. It makes the existing range of Plague Marines look like merely “CSMs with Mark of Nurgle” Which may be what happens to all the previous models.
In any case I think it’s a harbinger of things to come. We will have to wait to see the next set of 8th Edition minis that aren’t Primaris or Death guard to see what’s up. but I have a suspicion that bigger minis is the way of the future for 40K.
~What do you think?
