Here’s an uncontroversial opinion for you: power fists are awesome. They’re a mainstay of the classic Terminator package, tried and tested for more than 10,000 years – but sometimes, smushing people in your giant, crackling hand isn’t quite enough. Maybe it’s a little overkill, and you’d rather have the ability to strike faster. Maybe it’s a little underkill, and you need something that’ll break through those extra-thick skulls.
Space Marines are smart and they figured this all out long ago – enlisting Assault Terminators for those days when you need a real blender in close combat.
And now they’re back.
Thunder hammers and storm shields transform the already intimidating Terminators into a veritable brick wall of death, marching into the melee to smash xenos and heretic alike into the ground like fence posts. They deal an immense amount of damage and can crush right through the thickest armour, while their shields add an extra Wound to soak up even more firepower.
If, on the other hand, you need to kill lots of things at once rather than just a few things really well, there’s still the option of lightning claws.
Rather than going for all-out damage, these lethal talons are for slicing through the chaff when combat is more of a numbers game. They’re basically the equivalent of strapping four power swords to each hand, and a unit of these champions can butcher entire mobs of Orks, Tyranids, or lesser daemons in moments.
Each squad of five miniatures comes with six unhelmeted heads, five helmets, five tilting plates with unique designs, and 15 additional accessories split between purity seals, Oaths of Moment, and other small badges. The sergeant also gets their own choice of two heads, a special storm shield variant, and two more tilting plates with fancier adornments.
Terminator armour is only assigned to those with a proven track record of excellence in battle, and many senior officers and veterans take it into the field. Ancients have been known to don it on particularly perilous battlefields, so they can better protect their company’s banner while combat rages around them.
These new combatants will be available first in a new boxed set: the Crux Terminatus Battleforce, named for the symbol of veterancy adorning every Terminator’s left shoulder, which legends say contains a miniscule fragment of the Emperor’s own armour. Not only do you get 10 of the new Assault Terminators and the Ancient in Terminator Armour, but also five regular Terminators, a Chaplain in Terminator Armour, and a Captain in Terminator Armour – that’s a decent portion of your entire First Company right there!
There’s also a new dedicated Terminator transfer sheet to go with it, comprising over 500 individual decals for the Ultramarines, Salamanders, Imperial Fists, White Scars, and Raven Guard – as well as plenty of generic icons and honour markings, such as campaign badges, checkered patterns, numerals, and scripture.
The Crux Terminatus Battleforce will be coming to pre-orders soon, with individual releases for the new kits arriving shortly afterwards.
