Review: McFarlane Warhammer 40k Ultramarines Lieutenant in Phobos Armour
- Mephitsu
- Jul 29
- 6 min read
"Whilst we draw breath, we stand. Whilst we stand, we fight. Whilst we fight, we prevail. Nothing shall stay our wrath"
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 Ultramarines Chapter, the latest release was that of a Lieutenant in Phobos Armour.
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 logo’s 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 Reiver Ultramarines preparing to launch into battle.
This Ultramarines Reiver Lieutenant in Phobos Armour utilises most of the existing Reiver sculpt from 2022, with core armour cast in the base blue and the connecting joints in black. The armour is accessoriesed with weapon holsters and sheaths to either side of the thigh armour, with the right hand side sheaths painted in brown and gold with skull iconography. While these look operational, they are solid sculpts and cannot be used for the included weapons.
The upper chest piece features further components and pouches, on either side of a gold skull central panel. The shoulder pauldrons include the Ultramarines logo in white on the left, trimmed in gold, while a further Ultra skull symbol is found on the right with the gold ‘Ultra’ plate sculpted as part of the armour. The final Chapter detail can be found on the left knee with a white diamond and black skull design.
The backpack is the Reiver Phobos Armour, cast in blue and with the twin articulating fins as seen on the original Reiver release. This time around, the backpack is left in the base blue with no extended paint detail. The headsculpt is new and depicts the Lieutenant complete with half face mask breather in the same blue as his armour. Straps across the head hold comms tech and some scopes, each painted with a red lens. A single strip of hair crosses the centre of the head, front to back, and is painted in a grey finish. The eye detailing is much improved on previous WH40k unmasked heads, with the realism much improved.
The Reiver Lieutenant is armed with a trio of weapons, the first of which is a basic knife with a gold hilt and a silver serrated blade. This is the same piece as first released in 2022 with the Artist Proof Reive,r and it fits into either of the Lieutenant’s hands, but with the usual difficulty due to the solid plastic and lack of flexibility in the fingers. Looking at the knife and the aforementioned sheaths, it is a shame the McFarlane couldn’t have made the two compatible.
Weapon two is a Heavy Bolt Pistol, a weapon that dates back to the start of the line in 2020 and was included with the first Ultramarines Intercessor release. For the Reiver Lieutenant, this is cast in silver with no wider detail. It is designed to fit in the right hand, which has an extended trigger finger.
Our final weapon is a Heavy Bolter, similar to those seen in the line before, but with a variant scope. The black cast piece has a painted silver grip and ammo clip. To the front of the Bolter is a sculpted winged skull design, painted in gold and repeated on both sides. Like the Pistol, the Bolter fits into the right hand. The weight of this final weapon does pose some challenges to the arm articulation, and there is no extra left hand with a supporting pose to hold the barrel of the Heavy Bolter in a two-handed firing position.
Articulation is limited due to the bulk of the armoured figure, but you do get 19 points in total (21 if you include the hinged flaps on the backpack). The key knee and elbow joints are pinned and double jointed to give the broadest movement. This Riever body also comes with toe articulation for walking or running poses. The other articulation of note is around the shoulders where the arm is jointed into the torso, with the shoulder armour jointed separately so they can move independently and one doesn’t impede the other.
There are plenty of posing options, despite the limitations of the bulky amour, although like most previous Space Marine releases from McFarlane the lack of any obvious ratchet within the arm joints in particular does leave the joints loose and in some cases unable to support their own weight, most notably when the weapons are raised upward, the Heavy Bolter being the worse of the three.
As with all releases, the Reiver Lieutenant also comes with a collector card, and the black circular display stand with white Warhammer 40k logo. The peg on the stand can plug into holes on either feet, and while this is a tight fit, once secure the stand does help in keeping the figure stable.
The new Ultramarines Reiver Lieutenant in Phobos Armour is a welcome addition to the McFarlane line and the Ultramarine display. Sadly, the figure doesn’t see any of the lines key niggles resolved and we still have loose joints, and difficulty in getting the weapons into the hands. There is also more paint variation from prior releases, and while the darker blue of the Lieutenant is a reasonable match to the Intercessor Marines, it is somewhat different to the 2022 Reiver. There are plenty of positives too, with these figures now coming with multiple weapon options and the unmasked head sculpts much improved on some of the earlier versions.
Our Lieutenant in Phobos Armour is a strong base release for fans of the Warhammer 40k series, with bold and crisp paintwork that works perfectly fine for display, or that can be enhanced by those with skill with a brush who want to enhance the figure to the same level of detail seen on the WH40k miniatures.
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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