Summary

• Age of Sigmar 4.0 brings new rules, models, and smaller scale battles with streamlined rules.
• The new Skaventide box is packed with detailed plastic miniatures, including improved Stormcast models and updated Skaven units.
• Skaventide offers good value considering the amount of plastic packed into the box.

Warhammer’s fantastical offering has always been my third-favourite 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Games Workshop system. I, like many hobbyists around the age of 30, was drawn to my local Games Workshop thanks to The Lord of the Rings’ Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game. While it 168🌳澳洲幸运5开奖网:doesn’t get much support these days, it remains my first love and a strong sourceꦰ of nostalgia.

From there, I moved to Workshop’s own IP. 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Warhammer 40K was my jam, and I collected enormous armies of T’au, Iron Hands, Orks, and 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Dark Mechanicus. I dove into 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Warhammer Fantasy 🎀on numerous occ🌞asions, intrigued by boxes like Islands of Blood (yes, that meant High Elf and Skaven armies), but it never beat the highs of the 41st millennium or Middle-earth.

Age of Sigmar changed things a little, presenting me wꦚith a more engaging set of rules, but it was still my least favourite of Games Workshop’s big three. With Age of Sigmar 4.0, however, that might be due to change. Games Workshop has pulled ou🐻t all the stops for AoS 4th Edition, with new models, streamlined rules, and the brand new Spearhead rulebook for smaller-scale battles.

My first impression of Skaventide is that the box is dense. Workshop has clearly tried to ensure the box itself is as small as possible, but that means it’s jam-packed with plastic and pap𒈔er, which practically sꦐpills out as you slide the lid free.

The best part of any new edition for modellers like me, and the subject that I will beཧ discussing most in this review, is♏ the miniatures themselves.

While I’m allowed to talk about some of the paper in the box this weekend, I’d prefer to do it all in one go, so 💫we’re sticking entirely to plastic.

And what plastic it i🌟s. Games Workshop has been smashing it with its miniature designs recently, and there’s not a bad model in the box. That’s saying something, considering half of them are St♏ormcast, who traditionally have had all the personality of a Mini Cheddar.

I’m not one🐽 to lambast the Age of Sigmar poster boys for being ‘Sigmarines’ or anything, but the original range was clunky, faceless, a🍸nd boring. These are meant to be the souls of dead warriors sent forth from the heavens to wage war in their god’s name. Finally, they look the part.

Age Of Sigmar Has Finally Made Stormcast Look Cool

I’ve said this before, but Games Workshop has nailed the design of the Stormcast at long last. Prosecutors are angels descending from the heavens with wings of flame🍃, their spear-and-shield combo reminiscent of a Roman gladiator or spearfisherman with their eyes on rats instead of sea creatures. Their dynamic poses (yes, utilising l🅘arge tactical rocks, but they still look great) and the squad leader with a trident make them my favourite Warhammer sculpt since the Krootox Rampagers.

For me, an unapologetic ratmen enjoyer, to say that Stormcast models are better🌸 than any Skaven in the box is a big deal.

The Stormcast side of things includes no fewer than four Heroes, the Knight-Questor (who will find his way into a Mordheim campaign of mine before too long), the Lord-Veritant with his loyal Gryph-crow, the Lord-Terminos who wields an enormous executioner’s axe, and the centrepiece of the army, the Lord-Vigilant on Gryph-stalker. I actually like this model the least, as it’s got less personality than the others. I’m looking forward to painting the regal mount, 🦹but it’s the ot🧸her heroes who really sell the new look Stormcast.

This extends to the footsoldiers, too. From the elite Reclusians to the rank-and-file Liberators, the new Stor💧mcast are more lithe and sleek. While all🌳 the miniatures in the box are push-fit monopose plastic, the new dimensions and poses give the army more visual interest than previous iterations. Speaking of updated designs, let’s move onto the horde of rats that are gnawing their way through the internet and approaching your eyeballs.

The Skaven Horde

The Skaven are one of Age of Sigmar’s most iconic factions, and they were long overdue a range refresh. The new Clanrats have had plenty of focus on the website, and they look just as good in person. However, there’s much more exciting miniatures in store as you delve into Skaventide, so෴ I won’t focus on the basic troops.

In terms of Heroes, the Skaven receive one fewer than their Stormcast foes. What they lack in quantity, however, they make up for in quality. The new Grey Seer is a lovely model, complete with the detailing of a Screaming Bell on its base. I also love the Steampunk aesthetic of the Warlock Engineer, but I’ll withhold full judgement until we know exactly how this unit fits into the Skaven lore, a💙s its current connection is dubious at best.

Finally, we come to the Clawlord on Gnaw-beast. Wow. This is the model that the Lord-Vigilant wishes he was. Tall, imposing, and slightly decaying, this gross rat-beast is the perfect level of disgusting and gruesome for 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Age of Sigmar. The rat atop is resplendent in thick armour plates befitting its rank, and its long cloak breaks up the model perfectly. If the Prosecutors weren’t in the box, this would be my favourite model. As i🐈t stands, I might have to combine both kits into some kind of duelling di🍒orama.

When it comes to ranged weapons, Skaven have♉ some of the best around. The new Ratling Warpblaster is a much-needed refresh of the old Warp Lightning Cannon, but it’s the only miniature in Skaventide tཧhat I would say is a pain to put together. Some of the wheels and connecting pipes just don’t quite sit right, and it took a little while to get right. That said, I love the details on the model, from the rat slaves pushing it to the frontline to the mechanical levers that direct its fire.

The Warplock Jezzails were even more in need of a refresh than the Warp Lightning Cannon, and thankfully the new unit is just what we needed. I love t𝐆he personality of the shieldbearers on these models, and can’t wait to start sniping on 💎the tabletop.

I’m repeating the word ‘personality’ a lot in this review. I think t꧒hat’s the biggest strength of modern GW sculpting, and I love the stories you can tell with the miniatures in Skaventide alone.

However, I must mention the Rat Ogors. This was the unit I was most excited for; big buff✃ rats pumped ful𝔍l of enough Warpstone to kill a mortal man. However, the new models are underwhelming. There’s a cartoonish element to them which doesn’t gel with the rest of the box, or the Age of Sigmar aesthetic overall, and I think the issue comes from the oversized hands.

There are cool weapons, details, and helmets, but there’s something here that doesn’t work for 💮me. As such, I haven’t even built them, and plan to draft them into my Grey Mechanicus force instead. I have grand plans for my Skaven army’s Rat Ogor equivalent though, so watch this space.

Is Skaventide The Best Warhammer Box Ever Made?

From a miniatures perspective, Skaventide smashes it out of the park. It fixes the Stormcast, updates the archaic Skaven range (although we still need new Stormvermin, Eshin, and Pestilens please, James), and brings half a dozen brilliant new Heroes to the fray to boot. The push-fit miniatures are a breeze to put together, and most would work fine without a drop of glue – although I used sꩲome Tamiya cement to make sure everything held.

Howe🅺ver, there’s more than that. The box also includes the full, hardback Age of Sigmar 4th Edition rulebook, three small terrain pieces, the Fire & Jade supplement that acts as both rulebook and battletome for every faction in the game, and plenty of quick reference cards for your matches.

Is this the best Warhammer box ever made? It’s certainly up there. I’d be inclined to point to Cursed City – a very different affair, but Warhammer Bloodbor🔜ne is a top tier concept – and the original battleforces were a steal back in the days when they cost just £40. The Age of Darkness box is also great value if you want a Space Marine army, considering you can use both halves of the box for the same force.

None of these are starter boxes, thoug🌱h. Maybe I’m shifting the goalposts (and Skaventide rivals all of those mentioned above), but this box feels like the fantasy equivalent of 40K’s Dark Imperium. The Stormcast are getting a major refresh like the Space Marines, and the Skaven receive great updated miniatuಞres for their force, like Nurgle.

£160 is a steep price to pay for a box of plastic miniatures, especially if this is your first dip into Warhammer, but Skaventide is good value. If you can swap halves of the box with a friend, you’ll both have very respectable starting forces for Age of Sigmar 4th edition, plus a bunch of extra Heroes to kitbash to your heart’s content. This is an expensive hobby, and the fact is that this is a reasonable price for a box this big in 2024❀.

Skaventide has captured my heart, and I’m already planning armies around its contents in a way that Age of Sigmar or Warhaꦛmmer Fantasy hღave never really done before. The time of 40K is over, the Age of Sigmar is upon us.

Games Workshop provided a copy of Skaventide for this review.