Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Helldrake Hello and Thoughts on the Oct 2012 White Dwarf Images

The images of the new chaos helldrake, forgefiend, warpsmith, warp talons, maulerfiend et al. are now available.  I must say: I'm excited by what I'm seeing. 

Firstly, the helldrake.  The image of it makes it look like a half crazed dragon that is eager to chase down prey.  When I read the description of this thing a while ago, I was worried.  But having now seen the image, I'm actually very pleased.  The chaos motif of warped and fused daemonic entities and corrupting auras combined with industrial warfare really comes to the fore for me with this flyer.  I hope the rules will make this helldrake a must-have for chaos marine armies, as I really want to purchase and utilize this model!

The forgefiend and the maulerfiend look like they are the same model, but with some bits swapped around (e.g. the fists and the mouth).  I like the look of both of them: the only concern is that they look aesthetically similar to the bloodcrusher juggernaut family of sculpts in some weird way (overlapping armour on the undercarriage perhaps?).  Still, from the pictures, I'm liking the forgefiend best out of the pair: and open gaping maw with a cannon inside ready to fire.  Couple that with rules that suggest it might be a pseudo-dreadnought with daemon-like saves, and I'm liking it.

As for the warp talons: I want to like them, but it looks like the sculpts are limited in their variety and poses.  A squad of lightning clawed raptors with (potentially) the ability to rip the fabric of reality and jump in to battle sounds cool.  That said, the visual of these guys really sets the tone nicely: these boys have spent much too long in the warp and have been ... distorted ... as a result.  Anyone also notice the lightning claws were called "vorpal claws" as well?  Oh, how that takes me back to AD&D.  Snickersnacker!

Finally, the warp smith looks very good as the chaos analogue to the techmarine.  With tentacles, snake-like maws and weapons brimming out from the body and an Iron Warriors vibe, its all good.  Just hope this one won't be too delicate to transport.

And finally, the new-look White Dwarf.  Gone are the traditional logos that have been with us for years to be replaced by a clean-looking font in the upper left corner of the cover. We can hope that the new look will be reflected by a new approach to the magazine that moves away from the advertizement laden content of recent epochs. 

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