[40k] Model Review: Ultramarines Marneus Calgar, Cato Sicarius, Victrix Guard, and Upgrades

While it was safe to assume Cato Sicarius would eventually get either get the Primaris treatment or be sent to the Legends Shadow Realm, we weren't expecting to see him come out alongside a new upgrade sprue, Victrix Guard, and the fifth iteration of Marneus Calgar. We've since unleashed this bunch on some of our premiere Macragge Blue enthusiasts (Embluesiests? Whatever.) to see what they could do with these new kits.

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

Marneus Calgar

keewa: He's back once again, Marneus Calgar has yet another new model (surely he's comfortably the 40k character with the most models) and it's a doozy. Strapped into his battle-fridge with two enormous fists, this distinguished gentleman makes an impression, his pose a pretty clear homage to the previous metal incarnation of ol' Marny in his Terminator get-up.

How does he build? Pretty straightforwardly honestly, there wasn't ever really a point where I thought to myself "this is unnecessarily difficult" - though there are some absolutely essential sub-assemblies to be made here, firstly you are absolutely going to have to paint the head separately and then put it in later, sitting as it does quite deep inside an exaggerated version of the high vaulted space typical of Terminator armour. Glue it to a toothpick, paint it, and then you can stick it in later (there's even a big peg on the back of his head to match to a hole inside the armour to help line it up properly). The second necessary sub-assembly is the cape - the area underneath would be all-but inaccessible if you tried to paint it in-situ, given the large pillar-debris section he's perched on top of. Fortunately the cape is a single piece and it's very easy to pop on and off to check how everything is lining up, I stuck it to my painting handle with a big wodge of blu-tac which made everything a breeze.

Oldgar and Newgar - Credit: Keewa

I like this model a lot more than I thought I would, he's impressive in a similar way to the recent model of Logan Grimnar (although he's smaller - I guess he doesn't have to match up with Guilliman and The Lion) and although he's not a centrepiece, he's definitely got plenty of charisma. In particular, I feel like the pose is much better than Primaris non-terminator Calgar - I always found that strange Village People L-shape he was doing with his hands a little weird.

TheArmorOfContempt: Let's talk about the good: This is a definite improvement over the Gravis version. Much like Guilliman, the early Primaris character releases have been thoroughly eclipsed by later releases, and while this still falls short of Sheen or Helbrecht, it is a Chapter Master model worthy of the name. Assembling Calgar into sub-assemblies was easy enough, and aside from a few annoying mold lines he went together very easily. The only bad here is that this is another missed opportunity to add anything new to the model. When you consider what we have seen from the most recent character releases they could've done more than simply upscale the original model.

Cato Sicarius

THE Cato Sicarius - Credit: Keewa

SRM: While I didn't have time to paint him, I did build this guy, and found it to be an unusually painful experience. His pieces just fit together weird in a way that's hard to define, almost like the sprue was engineered within an inch of its life to actually hold the entire model.

I'm wondering if there was some difficulty in manufacturing, as the mold lines here are the worst I've seen from a GW kit in over a decade, and I know I wasn't the only person who had that issue. The model just doesn't quite fit together right, and the cloak on mine ended up being uneven as a result. It's a shame because the pose and detail are genuinely lovely once you clean them up. Both of his faces are expressive and convincingly sell him as being an absolute heel, though I used a more patrician head from the Ultramarines upgrade sprue as I liked the idea of him being more stately and measured with age. The banding of his armor will prove a bit of a challenge for painters, as will his back banner. I can see a case for leaving him off his base to better reach under his cloak, but as a glutton for punishment, I glued mine in place. I do think he's a genuinely appealing model, but prepare yourself for a mighty fiddly time putting him together.

keewa: Really just echoing Campbell here, these are some Eldar Dire Avenger level mould lines, maybe we're just spoiled these days but I was genuinely taken aback by how pronounced they are. This guy also goes together terribly, especially the cape with the hand holding the helmet, the instructions are astonishingly vague as to how that whole thing is supposed to go together and I (not an inexperienced miniature builder by any means) really struggled with it - a whole lot of dry-fitting and "is this right? Am I sure?" before I took the plunge and added the glue.

Big oof of a mould line

Very complicated construction

As someone who came to this hobby as an adult unclouded by the mind-altering effect of 90s/00s teenage nostalgia, I hate these Space Marine back banners (and moulded banners in general to be honest), if I were building Mr Sicarius for myself rather than for review, I would clip that thing off, chuck it in my bits box, and not think twice about it.

Cato also has a lot of trim, which maybe you'd expect for a Space Marine of his stature, but it causes problems, on the greaves the trim is so tiny and so difficult to access that a lot of painters are going to struggle with it. It's not all doom-and-gloom though, once it goes together and it's painted, it looks pretty good, there's lots of character here, from the pose to the heads (both of which absolutely exude a real unpleasant asshole vibe).

Victrix Guard

Victrix Guard - Credit: Keewa

keewa: First up, let's talk about the bedsheet in the room - that enormous banner - it truly is colossal, dwarfing even the Primaris Space Marine holding the damn thing. Whenever I posted my progress photos to the group, they'd always say "I can't get over how big that banner is. Unfortunately I'm a certified bas-relief sculpted banner hater, I find them incredibly difficult to paint convincingly without them devolving into a total mess (to me, a plain banner with transfers always looks much better) and this particular banner is far beyond anything else. I reckon about 95% of people who buy a box of Victrix Guard will choose to build the banner guy, and 100% of them will regret it.

Bearer of the Bed-Sheet of Macragge - Credit: Keewa Note - This helmet is from the Ultramarines Upgrade box

The other Victrix guys, on the other hand, go together very nicely and paint up quite easily, there aren't a ton of options to be had, one guy can be a champion with two gladiuses and no cape, the others have a long cape and either an axe or gladius and bolter, I will say that I miss the fun tower shields from the old Victrix guys (I'd definitely have taken sword and board if given the choice), these lads have all the trim and bling you'd expect from Calgar's elite, silly eagle wing-moustache helmets and all.

Victrix Guard - Credit; Keewa

No Hero Rock for you, little man :(

TheArmorOfContempt: While I only had time to paint up Calgar, I am super excited for this unit, rules aside, the Mark Gibbons depiction of the Ultramarine Honor Guard is what got me into this army originally.

Upgrades

SRM: I worked a few of these upgrades into the Assault Terminator kit, using the new Ultramarines Terminator pauldrons, tilting plate, and Terminator bare head. Said head is pretty nondescript, but the tilting plate is lovely, even if it looks more like a boogieboard on anything smaller than a Terminator. The heads are wonderfully expressive, and I've already earmarked specific characters and models I want to use them on. The MK VII helmet in there is a nice touch too, as are the helmets with crests that would work for either Captains or Champions. Also, I can't overstate how nice the new transfer sheet is. As someone who used loads of the Forgeworld transfers for my Ultramarines, I'm happy to see a set with a similar diversity of design, if not exactly the same scope. There's loads of variety in things as standard as a white Ultima, with variations decorated with laurels, numerals, and other Imperial symbols that will make even your basic Intercessors stand out. While I don't think this upgrade kit is as crucial to making the army work as the Black Templars upgrade kit, it'll add loads of variety to give even your vanilla Marines some distinct flavor. Here's to hoping more chapters get upgrade kits this good.

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

keewa: Unlike my friend Campbell, I'm not an Ultramarines collector, so I can't really say how useful the pieces are, but I will say that they look very nice, the Centurion-style crested helmets are beautifully Roman, as well as some nice bare heads decked out with laurel wreaths. The transfers are wonderfully intricate, far beyond anything on the regular Space Marine transfer sheet, with a particular shoutout to some of the larger vehicle transfers for being suitably bombastic and over-the-top. If I were an Ultramarines guy and had some vehicles to build, I'd 100% be blinging them out with both the sculpted and decal Ultima symbols.

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