By now everyone has read enough about Storm of Magic, the rules overviews, the reviews of the book, and seen the plethora of new models as well. In my first post about Storm of Magic a few days ago, I mentioned picking up a Chimera, Cockatrice, Dreadfire Portal/Eternity Stair, and a Dark Elf Sorceress. So let's take a look at those models and I'll break down my opinion of each, the ease of assembling those models, and some tips and tricks for getting them to stay together.
Cockatrice
The Cockatrice is a Citadel Finecast model that stands on a 50mm monster base. An absolutely gorgeous model whose wingspan is wider than the model is tall by a great degree. It rests on a coiled up tail with the claws out and the beak ready to snap at nearby enemies. The cockatrice possesses a very dynamic pose when observed in person. The model itself comes in 8 pieces if you include the base. Quality wise, since that's been a concern for some with the Finecast product, is really pretty good. My model showed few mold lines and minimal flash. I did find two bubbles that either degraded detail or appeared in awkward areas, but both filled just fine with some greenstuff. Total assembly time took maybe 25 minutes to clean all the parts, glue and pin together, and fill in the seams with greenstuff.
This model really does not present a challenge for assembly and I think even a novice modeler could assemble this kit with little help. I would suggest pinning most of the pieces to the main body. I realize Finecast is lightweight and flexible and thus, should not shatter into pieces when dropped but one can never be too careful. The only tricky part of the assembly were the claws. Not so much tricky as simply finicky. Pin them in place to avoid any hassle. The wings should not present a problem. They fit perfectly into the slots provided and if pinned are amazingly durable.
The Cockatrice is one of my favorite new kits released for Storm of Magic. The model proves exquisitely detailed in its ugliness, aggressiveness, and sheer brutality while also possessing a very narrative dynamism that eludes to a monster in motion. This alludes to a giant reptilian chicken-lizard about to eat your face off that is only brought down from its lofty perch by a few defects resulting from the Finecast resin molding process.
Final Score: 9/10
Chimera
The Chimera exudes a brutish elegance both graceful and terrifying as befitting the monsters legendary status. Reared back on its hind legs the model looks like it is either rearing up to rip some poor sods face off or perhaps take to flight. Either way, the flickering snake tail combined with the three beautifully designed heads and the rearing body give the model a very active pose that fits the model and the fluff. The model comes in roughly 20 pieces and unfortunately lacks any sort of pose-ability. Total assembly time including cutting from sprue, cleaning the pieces, assembly, pinning, and greenstuff filling for the few seams was roughly 45 minutes.
The model possesses a normal amount of flash and mold lines for a plastic model. Again, a novice should find no problems when assembling this kit as GW really has insured the new plastic kits fit together almost seamlessly with little to no gap filling. One notable comment is that while the pieces are numbered on the sprue, the directions for assembly do not reference any numbered pieces. I'm thinking this is more of an oversight and it really shouldn't be necessary for numbered pieces. Overall the model possesses only a few minor issues with assembly and many of these issues can be avoided by simply taking the time to pin the model. First, make sure to glue the body to the base or a suitable surface used for gripping before continuing onto the limbs, heads, tail, etc. If you choose not to pin and wish to use plastic glue, make sure you let the tail section dry before moving on or you will definitely end up snapping the tail section off. The heads I really didn't find a good way to pin given they are hollow and the sides really don't give much room for pins. So superglue/plastic glue will be the method. I recommend gluing one head at a time, starting with the middle head, and let those dry for a few minutes before moving on. Prop the model up vertically if you have to to keep the heads in place as my griffon head really didn't want to stay in place.
So the Chimera model is a little pricier than the Cockatrice for some reason and has little pose-ability. The kit itself assembles quick and easily, particularly when pinning. The model, when fully assembled looks fantastic and has a great in-your-face pose that adds much needed motion to what could have been a very static monster. Great model, easy assembly, a little pricey for what you get, 'nuff said.
Final Score: 8/10
Dark Elf Sorceress
Dangerous beauty describes this model to a tee. When GW first showed shots of the new casters released alongside Storm of Magic, no one anticipated these models would be plastic. Remarkable sculpt, albeit a little tricky to assemble. This lovely vixen sports the new line of Victoria Secrets and will melt your face if you try and peek. A very delicate and slender model, although I find the pose a little static. Still, GW really outperformed themselves with this model. She possesses finely detailed features and obviously a casting process that they've nearly perfected since my model had only minimal mold lines on the hair and the legs and no flash or other defects. Clocking in at seven pieces including the base this model really shows just how advanced GW's casting process for plastic has become. Assembly time clocked in at roughly 15 minutes for me and I did not pin her (except to her base) or use green stuff of any kind.
I would not give this model to a Warhammer newbie. While I would not classify her as hard to assemble she certainly can prove finicky. Ignoring the placard on the back of the packaging I plowed straight into assembly and ignored the numbered steps. While the majority went together just fine I came to the arm, which technically goes under the hair I had just glued on. So after ripping her apart and retrying following the instructions I managed to get her together pretty easily... except the arm proved very irritating when attaching the two pieces of hair/headdress. Definitely let the pieces freshly glued cure a little bit when assembling this model or you will knock pieces out of place frequently.
Overall a beautiful model with almost flawless casting but a bit finicky to assemble at times. Did I mention she's dirt cheap? A shame she lacks any sort of pose-ability whatsoever which is usually pretty important for character models.
Final Review: 9/10
Dreadfire Portal
The dreadfire portal comes in one of the terrain two-packs for Storm of Magic. Paired with the Eternity Stair (reviewed below) this model offers up a long set of stairs leading to a raised platform with some skull braziers burning. Alongside the stairs viewers are treated to an interesting mural that includes death and some sigils symbolizing the winds of magic. The platform is roughly three inches off the table surface with the braziers rising another inch or two. The stairs leading up to the "portal" measure between 5 and 6 inches. As a note to everyone, this model has NO Chaos markings. If you are looking for that, look elsewhere. One seems to notice that this box has more empire-related terrain while the other box seems more Chaos oriented. Overall this kit took me about an hour to cut, clean, and assemble the roughly 11 pieces.
I would not recommend this model to novices at all. The directions are much like the Chimera and offer no numbers to follow and the model fits together very poorly with large gaps apparent (see photos). I even stuck my model in C-Clamp overnight and it still warped. The culprit? GW decided to make the stairs as one long stairway instead of breaking it up into several small segments. The longer the piece the more prone to warping. Don't be afraid to whip out the rubber bands or clamps on this model as otherwise you will spend a long time filling gaps after the glue sets.
An interesting piece of terrain that does not fit together well. Fortunately the kit comes with the eternity stairs or I couldn't recommend the whole box.
Final Score: 5/10
Eternity Stair
Anyone who buys the Eternity Stair/Dreadfire Portal box will likely be buying the kit for this very cool piece of terrain. Like a wizard tower with external stairs winding up a central spire and covered in imperial markings and magical sigils (non-chaos) this piece of terrain truly looks impressive on the battlefield. Standing an impressive 5" above the tabletop surface this piece of terrain will give your wizards the perfect vantage point to maul your opponents and draw line of sight anywhere necessary. All total this kit comes with 19 pieces and took me roughly 45 minutes to assemble.
I place this kit as moderate difficulty for a novice modeler. The directions share the same flaw as the Dreadfire Portal with which it shares a box and while impressive once assembled the Stairs really do have some interesting quirks to consider when assembling. First, make sure the central spire goes together correctly and actually forms a circle. Yes, a circle. Not an oval or rhombus or other weird shape. Don't worry about the gaps so much. The bottom stair section does not rest on the bottom surface, so let the glue set and cure a little before continuing to avoid displacing the bottom stairs. When continuing, set a piece of stairs in place and then let it cure some more for the best results. Finally, make sure the appropriate gargoyle goes at the spot nearest to the top stairs, otherwise you'll have your gargoyle fall off easily.
An impressive piece of terrain that also possesses some interesting quirks when assembling. This piece along almost makes the whole box set of terrain worth the money, the Portal is just gravy.
Final Score: 8/10
A few pictures of the terrain for size-comparison purposes:
Note: All pictures in this post are without greenstuff. I wanted everyone to see how the gaps looks before filling
So join me next time when I jump back on the bandwagon and work on some of my other blog projects like making my Wet Pallete How To, Malifaux discussion, Warmachine tribulations, maybe a storm of magic battle report/gameplay experience, or what have you.
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