[40k] Model Review: Space Marine Assault Terminators and Terminator Ancient

Just after two years on from the release of 10th edition and a set of Primaris-sized Space Marine Tactical Terminators, their more assault-focused brethren finally get their own new model kits, bringing them in-line with the rest of the range when it comes to their weapon loadouts and, most importantly, the relative size of their models - new Terminators are large. A group of our most intrepid/power armor-pilled hobbyists tackled the new kits.

We'd like to thank Games Workshop for providing us with preview copies of these models for review purposes.

Assault Terminators

SRM: If you've built the other recent Terminators kit, you'll be right at home here. Their details are nearly identical, with a few different doodads available, and their poses vary slightly from their Tactical brethren. Construction is identical, with two legs, two body halves, two greaves, and two hip plates making up the bodies, with separate arms, heads, pauldrons, and weapons. I'll answer the question a load of people are probably asking: You can absolutely use these arms on regular Terminator bodies, or even on the Leviathan box set Terminator bodies if you cut off the posts. The only real difference in detail (aside from the big, obvious close combat weapons) is the lack of targeting doodads that the Tactical Terminators have. I always like the look of a targeting monocle on a Marine, so I was a little bummed those weren't in there, but it's not like you're aiming much with Lightning Claws.

Ultramarines Assault Terminators with Thunder Hammers and Storm Shields. Credit: SRM

I painted mine as Ultramarines using the new upgrade kit, and found the process to be lengthy but not unpleasant. These are models with a load of edges, panels, nooks, and crannies, and I left most of the extra decoration bits off, save for the tilting plates. After all, if there's a spot for heraldry, I'm taking it. They took me the better part of two weeks of dedicated hobbying to paint up, but I enjoyed most of that process. I'd probably leave the heads off next time, as I painted them in typical 1st Company white, and an argument can be made to leave the Storm Shields off as well. I found the poses to be open enough that I didn't really need to do so though.

Lastly, here's a scale comparison if you were curious how these stacked up to their dinkier predecessors.

Left to right: Assault Terminator (1989), Terminator (1994), Assault Terminator (2006) Assault Terminator (2025). Credit: SRM

Jack: I built mine using the regular terminator kit bodies, as you can see by their little targeting doodad (thanks for the extremely technical terminology SRM). The arms fit perfectly, though the slightly more static poses don't work quite as well. Not really a big deal, and it does add some variety if you're using a lot of terminators - I could easily see buying one box of regular terminators and one box of assault terminators so you can mix-and-match the bodies.

Imperial Fists Terminator Assault Squad. Credit: Jack Hunter

Unlike SRM I did leave the shields and heads off for painting, which made it a bit easier to get to the back of the shields and a couple purity seals. Not needed, but so easy to do there's no real reason not to. I also found them to take quite a while to paint, even if they don't have a ton of pouches or anything there's still a lot of edges to highlight.

Imperial Fist Assault Terminator Sergeant. Credit: Jack Hunter

MasterSlowPoke: The models go together very quickly, I got 5 lightning claw terminators assembled in just a few hours on a single night. As far as the lightning claw variant goes, I didn't feel the need to do any sort of sub assembly. On other 10th edition terminators I've left the heads off, but honestly there's not a whole lot of reason for me to do that. The portions that you can't get the brush into are completely obscrured by the hood, and I'm not painting mine with white helmets like the Ultramarines do.

Rainbow Warriors Lightning Claw Terminator but Craig "MasterSlowPoke" Sniffen

If you're using an airbrush to basecoat the lightning claws, you need to be very sure that you're getting your shadow color into all the recesses underneath the claws and inside the hand area. I thought I did a good enough job, but I had to go back in and reestablish my paint there, as I still had a lot of primer going. The scaffolding in the back of the legs is another area to watch out for.

Comparison with Leviathan Terminators

Painting the blades is a little awkward if the model is glued to a base. Getting the right angle to be precise on the insides of the claws, while also not jamming your loaded brush into the shins can be a bit frustrating. At the very least, this area is one where you can just paint it good enough, as it isn't exactly visible unless you're holding the model upside down, and most of you probably won't be trying to blend six different colors along them.

Terminator cake, if you're a sicko into that

keewa: These guys echo the same complaints I had about the Space Wolf Wolf Guard Terminators they're pretty much the same models shorn of their Space Wolves identifiers in favour of the generic Space Marines style, but they're practically the same models otherwise, replete with fiddly little bits, the rationale for which I struggle to discern. I chose to build mine with the Lightning Claws, which make them look sufficiently savage

Terminator Ancient

Credit: Blake Law

Blake Law: The terminator ancient model is what you would expect from a modern GW 40k sprue. The details are perfect, taking the style of the old ancient and modernizing it to fit the style of the 10th edition terminators. The wild thing about this model is the sheer number of bits on the sprue. We are talking 15+ to get this guy assembled. It would be annoying, if not for the fact that the pieces are seamless in their fit. I had no problems with any bad mold lines, either. You get the option of a helmeted head vs helmetless. I do like the style of the new helmetless, but went with classic helmet myself.

I went with the classic Lamenter paint scheme for this guy. Anyone who knows my paint style for 40k, this is absolutely my favorite color combination. I base my model with a saturated pink, then i zenithal it with white ink. After that, I take Army Painter fanatic yellow and thin it down 2:1 with thinner (1:10 90 IPA to distilled water). This is the most important step, as you want to put this on super thin and let it dry between layers. The checkers take a bit of practice, but are easy enough once youve done a few. I recommend doing a crosshatch of black lines, then filling it in black with the checkers first.

Overall, this model is what everyone wants in the new terminators. They are big and cool. They look great next to the new style termies. After painting this one I was legitimately inspired to go paint up an army of these guys to match!

keewa: Again we have another unnecessarily complicated kit with so many pieces, it's genuinely mind-boggling - they fit together very nicely and the finished guy looks great but get ready to settle down for a lot of clipping.

Final Thoughts

The new Terminators are a welcome addition to the army, especially for die-hard first company players hoping to bolster their ranks with more than bog-standard Terminators. We haven't seen much in the way of new rules for them yet, but we're hopeful there will be some kind of datasheet update in the near future for them. As-is, they're more useful than standard Terminators and so it's good to have updated kits for them.

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