Can you believe we’re on week seven of releases for Age of Sigmar, already? It only feels like yesterday when I was watching those painting tutorials and thinking “this might be worth looking into…”
This week feels like a fairly quiet one, though, with just one new kit and a whole host of re-packaged stuff for Nurgle. Not really being a Chaos kinda guy, I’ve passed on this again, though I must say, the model for the Exalted Deathbringer does look quite nice. This is actually an issue that probably needs addressing right now, the Chaos kits that have been coming out – well, since End Times, really – are really, really great. I think the problem is they’re perhaps too detailed for me, I don’t think I’d have the patience to paint all of those little trophies and such. I absolutely don’t mean to bash these kits in any way, I’m just not interested in them because I’m so caught up with the Stormcast Eternals!
So yeah – if Chaos is your thing, that’s awesome!
White Dwarf, and next week
Chaos continues next week, with something pretty damn huge!
It’s the Chaos Dreadhold! The releases are actually a collection of four scenery pieces that are entirely modular, and can be put together to form something pretty incredible!
Not having any Chaos army, I don’t really have any use for this, but it looks absolutely immense, and I really feel well and truly mind-blown by the scale. I mean – wow!
The Dreadhold kits are accompanied by a hardcover book that sounded very much like a Codex: Scenery Pieces when I first read the description in White Dwarf. I mean, it talks about the rules for using the pieces in your games, but also features “warscroll battalion formations” like you have an army of terrain on the board! But I suppose that’s essentially what you have with these pieces, seeing as how much more of a role scenery appears to play in this game.
More new Chaos warriors are also released next weekend, the new Blood Warriors of Khorne. I thought there was already a kit for these guys, going back a whiles ago, but on perusing the store, I think I may have been thinking of the Khorne Berzerkers from the Chaos Space Marines. Which I think raises an interesting point about how Age of Sigmar is looking a lot like 40k in some respects.
Another fantastic kit, featuring lots of weapon options, it looks like it would be a whole lot of fun to put together, getting all manner of poses out of them!
The week’s adventures
Which brings me onto my painting adventures of the last week! Well, kinda. I’ve been having a lot of trouble sleeping the last week for some reason, so have been using the time to build models – why not, right? I eventually had to stop myself as I was building too much, but one of the things I’ve returned to is the Ogres! Remember these guys from much earlier in the year? Well, they’re back!
I first started with Ogres back in January, following an impasse with painting over the festive season. Inevitably, I gave up with them having only really gotten one model anywhere near completion, the Mournfang Cavalry musician, but have now returned to the kits as a suitable foe for my Stormcast Eternals! I’m hoping I can tempt my buddy Tony into playing…
The Ogre Kingdoms – now Ogors in the Age of Sigmar – are really great kits. For the most part, the kits are actually just the same basic body shape, but with so many different head and weapon choices, to say nothing of the extraneous wargear, that each model can look totally different. The Ogres from the Mournfang Cavalry and the Ironblaster do look different, but the different parts are enough of a match that kitbashing between them all is not really a problem:
The centre Ogre there I’m intending to use as the Ogre Crusher for the battalion – he uses both arms and weapons, and head, from the Mournfang Cavalry kit, the gutplate is (I think) from the Ironguts kit, and the body is a basic Ogre body. These sorts of modular things are what I really like about kits like this, allowing for a real sense of army customization and the like.
Of course, Ogres aren’t the only kits I’ve been building over the last few evenings…
I currently have a grand total of thirteen new models built and undercoated (though with some gnoblars, so it’s probably at least 15), and also three yhetees that were undercoated and then left. Alongside these, I have five further Ogres that need work from earlier in the year, but I’m hoping to get them done, if nothing else this week. All in all, I’ve got my work cut out!
Amazingly, I’ve also started working on some of these things! Ever the king of procrastination, I usually build stuff, maybe undercoat it if I’m feeling particularly adventurous, but rarely do I actually move on to doing stuff with them already. Not so, the Judicators!
These models are superb, without a doubt. They were a bit of a nightmare to put together – they’re the first “real” Age of Sigmar kit I’ve put together, and while I knew they were fiddly because of all the awesome weapon options, I wasn’t quite prepared for how many parts they come in!
That said, after one or two Judicators, you really get the sense for how the go together and can just get on quite easily. I’ve gone for three with the Skybolt bows, and made up two Judicator Primes: one with the Shockbolt bow, and one with the Thunderbolt crossbow. That last looks amazing – I thought it looked silly at first, but the actual model is really nice, looking forward to doing something (hopefully) amazing with that one!
And I’ve also got three more Dryads built up!
Over the horizon
Next week is the Chaos Dreadhold, but what’s next? The White Dwarf teases “Hallowed Knights, Golden Demon and a Prime Example” – which, if the cryptic musings of my local GW store manager are anything to go by, is indicating another Lord-Celestant, the first Sigmar created. And he’s huge. The internets rumour him to be the size of a Bloodthirster, and wielding Ghal Maraz itself! (Spoiler for The Quest for Ghal Maraz, I guess…). I’m a bit torn by this, as I don’t really go in for these particularly huge models – I mean, it’s supposed to be miniature wargaming, right? I suppose it might be interesting, but I’ll reserve judgement for that.
The week after, we finally get the Prosecutor kits I’ve been waiting for for, like, seven weeks…
spalanz.com 