Review: McFarlane Warhammer 40k Blood Angels Assault Intercessor Sergeant
- Mephitsu
- Jul 28
- 6 min read
"By the blood of Sanguinius!"
The July 2025 wave of McFarlane Warhammer 40k figures expanded on the forces of both the Blood Angels and the Ultramarines, whilst also giving painters two further Artist Proof figures. For the Blood Angels Chapter, the latest release was that of an Assault Intercessor Sergeant.
The packaging for the Summer 2025 wave remains broadly the same as the newer and larger boxes established in 2024 after the line took an extended break. The box front is white with a right-side strip of grey artwork taken from the Warhammer 40k source material. The Warhammer 40k and McFarlane logos top the box front, with the character name sitting in large text under the window. Just above this is an Ultramarines blue flash confirming the Chapter for the release. The right hand spine continues as a wrap around of the grey artwork, while the left hand spine has now moved from being colour coordinated to the Chapter, to a blue design imprinted in the centre with the Chapter logo.
The back of the box carries no detail other than the same WH40k and McFarlane logos and the various legal and copyright text. What we do get is a glorious illustration of the Blood Angels Assault Intercessors in the heart of battle.
The Assault Sergent is made up of the established Intercessor parts established in the line since it launched in 2020. Each of the armoured sections is cast in red Blood Angels plastic, with the connecting joints in black. The figure features the same belt as the Hellblaster, with a Blood Angels red tear drop pendant on one side trimmed in gold paint. The upper body and the central chest features a sculpted winged skull, rather than the blood drop symbol, painted in black and with grey drybrushing.
The shoulder armour features the tilting plate on the right shoulder, as seen on the original Intercessor, this is painted up in four quadrants with two plain red panels and two white panels the top with a painted black skull and the lower with a red diagnoal slash. The shoulder panels themselves feature a black central panel with red trim, the right painted with a single yellow blood drop, and the left with a yellow winged blood drop. The armour is finished off with a sculpted skull cross on the left forearm, and a black painted knee pad with a white lightning bolt symbol that indicates the Squad Number.
The backpack is the basic Intercessor pack, cast in the same red as the armour and with a sculpted Blood Angel winged blood drop design on the rear circular panel, painted over in black. The headsculpt is new and shows the Sergeant unmasked, apart from a chin strap, and connected component parts over both ears. The Sergeant is sporting a single Service Stud on his forehead and is painted in a relatively realistic style, complete with painted eyes.
These newer WH40k figures are now starting to feature alternative head options, and our Blood Angels Assault figure comes with a second standard Intercessor helmeted head in yellow, with green eye lenses, as is the colour for Assault Intercessor Marines. The head swaps easily enough with a long central neck peg that sits into the socket in the upper part of either head.
Our Blood Angels Assault Sergeant is the first Space Marine release to come with a Power Fist. The Power Fist has been developed as a sleeve to fit over the standard hand of the figure rather than connecting directly to the wrist. This is not particularly well-engineered, and there is no securing the Power Fist in place, relying solely on the position of the arm. This lack of any clip, socket, or bracket, leaves the Power Fist prone to sliding off the arm too easily, particularly when the fist is positioned downward. It is cast in the same red with the only other paintwork a gunmetal pipe to one side. The Power Fist is sculpted in a clenched fist pose.
The figures standard hands include a pointing left hand and an alternative gripping hand. The right hands can be swapped between a standard clenched fists, or to a weapon grip hand with trigger finger - although the Sergeant doesn’t actually come with any projectile Weapons. I did find that the right gripping hand holds the Power Fist in place more securely than the gripping fist.
The other weapon is a Power Sword, a piece that will arrive warped due to how McFarlane are packing it under the figure and taking its full weight in the box. The plastic is very flexible, and while that doesn’t help the warping, it does mean it is relatively easy to straighten back up with some heat/cold treatment. The blade is a pearlescent sky blue over a silver base to give a finish that is almost glowing. The hilt is black with a large sculpted skull central section painted in bone white.
The Power Sword can fit in either of the gripping hands, but both are so stiff that the sword hilt won’t actually go past the fingers without heating them up gently. This issue has been ongoing since the line launched 5 years ago and is yet to be resolved. There is no sheathing option for the Power Sword when not in use.
Our Blood Angels Assault Sergeant has 17 points of articulation, including pinned double jointed knees and elbows. While not extensive in its movement due to the bulk of the armour, the Assault Sergeant can hold some varying poses with any of the included weapons, including holding the sword aloft. Sadl,y the shoulder joints in particular are not ratcheted and are therefore prone to drooping when the Power Fist in particular is in situ.
The Sergeant comes with the usual display base in black with the McFarlane logo and the collector card. The base is tough to attach to the feet as the holes on the feet seem to tight and too shallow for the peg on the stand. The figure lines up nicely with the other Blood Angel releases to date, with a good match on the red of the new Sergeant to the older Hellblaster figure.
Our Blood Angels Intercessor Assault Sergeant extends the Blood Angels Chapter out, and while not as extensive as that of the Ultramarines, we can now start to assemble a Blood Angels Squad, particularly if you lean into the army building options of this figure and the extra helmeted yellow head to complete a standard Assault Intercessor. The same issues persist with the gripping hands a pain to work with, and the shoulder joints too weak. McFarlane also needs to think about how they pack certain weapons in the line, with a particularly poor position chosen for the Power Sword. Also disappointing is the engineering and execution of the Power Fist, a long sought after piece for the line that fails to connect or secure itself to the Marine armour in any way.
For your money, you do get a crisp and neatly painted Blood Angels figure which looks great on display, but also provides a base for those collectors who want to lean into the customising and painting aspects of the WH40k hobby. The face sculpts and heads are improving wave by wave, and I look forward to seeing where McFarlane goes next.
Figure Hacks
As the WH40k line from McFarlane grows, and in particular the various Space Marine releases, we are now starting to see wider options for creating new variations of the figures by swapping parts. In this Summer 2025 wave alone - including the Gold Label Exclusive - there are a raft of weapon options as well as different head options, all of which work on each of the figure bodies for some variation and army building in your collection.
Keep Track of all the Warhammer 40k figures from McFarlane at our comprehensive
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About Me : As a child of the 70's and 80's I grew up in a golden age for action figures and in my youth bought and sold myself through collections of Star Wars, G.I. Joe (Action Force) and M.A.S.K. while also dabbling in He-Man, Transformers and Ghostbusters. Roll forward and I am now reliving that Youth with the action figures of today and am a collector and fan of the larger 6-8 inch figures from my favourite movie and TV licences - including the ones mentioned above, but also the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Doctor Who and the Aliens. I launched The Mephitsu Archives in 2015 with a view of creating a UK focused site or these figures where fans can pick up the latest action figure news, read reviews and get information on where to buy their figures and what is currently on store shelves. I hope I am delivering that to you guys...
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