Warhammer adds MkIV Maximus Space Marines to Horus Heresy range

The Horus Heresy just gained a fresh painting-desk workhorse. MkIV Maximus Space Marines bring the classic Legion look back in plastic, and the release lands with the kind of broad armour geometry that makes a force easier to batch paint, weather, and personalise across different legion schemes. For painters building around exact Heresy-era identity, that matters as much as the lore.

Warhammer Community framed MkIV Maximus as the most technologically advanced armour available to the Legiones Astartes during the Great Crusade, before the Mechanicum fractured and supply lines collapsed across the galaxy. That history helps explain why the pattern was never as widespread as its reputation suggests, even if the Sons of Horus famously received large stocks of it. On the hobby desk, though, the appeal is immediate: clean plates, bold trim, and enough flat and segmented surfaces to take edge highlighting, chips, grime, and legion markings without the model getting visually crowded.

The new Tactical Legionaries come armed with Tigris-pattern bolters, and the kit sits alongside the existing plastic MkII, MkIII, and MkVI armour lines. That gives Heresy armies another visual register to work with, whether the goal is a uniformly armoured company or a more mixed and campaign-worn look. MkIV also plugs into the range’s upgrade ecosystem, with compatibility for existing heavy weapons, special weapons, and command squad builds, which opens the door to more conversions without having to reinvent the base kit.

Warhammer Community also confirmed Assault Legionaries in MkIV armour, plus the option to build Veteran Assault Marines with power lances. The first chance to get the new miniatures will be the Maximus Battle Group box, which bundles 20 Tactical Legionaries, 10 Assault Legionaries, a Contemptor Dreadnought, and a Sicaran Battle Tank. For painters, that is a sizeable infantry core ready for assembly-line prep, unified weathering, and legion-specific decals or freehand across multiple units.

The release also replaces one of the line’s earliest plastic Heresy infantry kits. The older MkIV Tactical Squad first arrived with Betrayal at Calth in 2012, so this update gives the range a newer, larger-scaled take on a pattern that has always sat close to the heart of Horus Heresy visual identity. With MkVI having defined much of the later Great Crusade and Heresy silhouette, MkIV now fills a missing middle ground again, and that makes it one of the most useful marks to buy and paint right now.