Huge thanks to Games Workshop for providing our team with the new Stormcast Eternals releases for review.
Since they were first revealed at NOVA, I have been routinely pounding my desk, chanting “Goth! Bird! Goth! Bird!” in eager anticipation of Iridan the Witness. This is arguably the big centerpiece of the newest wave of Stormcast Eternals (unless you’re hornus for Tornus) and we’re going to be taking a look at them today.
Assembly
Building this big birb largely consisted of assembling a hefty limb and attaching it to the body via pretty large contact points. Despite the size and relative intricacy of the model, this chunky construction made the hour and a half I spent assembling and cleaning up the model fly right by. Most joins are hidden in creases or between feathers, but a few stand out as pretty noticeable, namely the ones going down the center of the belly and head of Ariax, Iridan’s Morrgryph mount. Their wings also attach via large pill-shaped pegs which should make them pretty easy to magnetize for portability. I did not do this, as I am not infrequently a dingus when it comes to planning out my builds. This also would have made painting the underside of the wings and some of the details beneath easier, so I implore you to learn from my mistakes.
There’s a bit of hero rubble the Morrgryph’s hind legs stick onto which give the model some nice vertical presence. It’s pretty integral to the whole critter, with one rear foot wrapped around a crushed beam, so you’ll have a hard time leaving it off if that’s not your thing.
Iridan themself is pretty easy to put together, save for the hand holding the reins which fits in a pretty counterintuitive angle. I’d probably test fit that one and put glue around the join after the fact.
The question you’re probably asking is whether or not you can magnetize this kit to make both Iridan and the generic Lord-Vigilant on Morrgryph. It’s easy enough to swap out the head on the monster to the hooded or bare variant, but the rider is pretty well integrated into their saddle. Unlike Tahlia Vedra, that saddle is also part of the Morrgryph’s body construction, so you can’t really leave that off for subassemblies either. You could probably figure something out with enough carving and magnetizing, but the reins are different between the two rider options and rather fiddly. That said, if you are building the generic rider, that will be hard to work into a subassembly as well, given how the body is constructed.
Painting
Due to the lack of adequate subassemblies available here, painting this model is a real challenge. It’s hard to maneuver a brush through the model’s underbelly, and painting the back of its forelegs was a real headache. There were several points where I had to play Operation with a paintbrush, reaching between the back legs of the Morrgryph in an attempt to paint the feathers on the back of its forelegs. There was also a problem I personally had with paint rubbing off the model as I tried to find good places to rest my fingers while painting the monster and rider. Trying not to catch Iridan’s axe or brazier was a constant issue as well, as I didn’t want to errantly snap off these more spindly bits of the model. I will say, the extra trinkets and baubles on Iridan’s axe do make it a bit more structurally sound, so while I groused a bit about painting three separate hourglasses up there, they meant it didn’t snap when I accidentally bumped it. Smart engineering on that, mystery GW sculptor.
There are a few areas where you can put your own spice in the details, like the round bits I painted as gems that are usually just solid colors in the studio schemes. There actually aren’t that many extraneous details either; Iridan’s got those aforementioned doodads hanging off their axe, but the Morrgryph is pretty easy to grok, mostly being feathers, animal skin, and some leather. Those feathers will be a dream come true if you’re looking to do a quick wash and drybrush, or feel like a Sisyphean task if you’re going with a layer and highlight technique like yours truly. I found a sort of zen in it, just wiling the hours away with multitudes of browns and tans on all the feathers here, but it’s not a technique for the painter in a hurry.
Final Thoughts, Parting Shots, and What Have You
Iridan the Witness represents a real challenge to painters looking to test their skills and manual dexterity. The sheer number of textures and opportunities to flex makes me think this will be a regular entry in painting competitions going forward, and for your average army painter they’ll still make for a great centerpiece to build their armies around.
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