Dreadnought fans rejoice; the long awaited second weapon sprue for the Deredeo has dropped. Today we’ll be reviewing the Boreas-pattern Deredeo Dreadnought and would like to thank Games Workshop for sending us out an advanced review copy.Â
This definitely took a while to come out didn’t it? After the initial release of the plastic Deredeo back in October 2023 (our previous review), it seemed relatively safe to assume that the remaining weapon sprue would be just around the corner – similar to other dreadnought releases like the Leviathan. What fools we were.
The Boreas-Pattern Dreadnought kit contains the same base chassis sprues as the earlier plastic Deredeo, with a different weapon sprue. This sprue has the carapace mounted Boreas Air Defence missile launcher and two options for the arms: the Arachnus Heavy Lascannon Battery and the Volkite Falconet. Both this weapon sprue and the old one are going to be made available to purchase separately, letting you swap the guns over between all the different options – more on this later.
Assembling for War
If you’ve read our earlier review of the earlier kit or put one together yourself there won’t be any surprises here, given the majority of the kit is shared. This kit has two main issues, one being the rigid posing options and the other some seams you have to be very mindful of.
The main issue with posing is the lack of it, and specifically the arms which diverge, pointing outwards, rather than focusing on a target in the distance. It just looks slightly off on account of this. The cable feeds to the weapons which plug into the backpack powerplant prevent you from point them dead straight. With a bit of careful hobby you could likely bend these bits, but it’s very odd choice for the default pose. I’ll get over it, hopefully.
The legs can easily be put into a standing position, braced to fire or midstride, using a different foot being lifted off the ground. You can trim the nubs off the legs to allow for slightly greater flexibility, but you aren’t going to get much more than the Captain Morgan pose with one foot elevated on a rock – which is what I did on my original plastic Deredeo.
Flexibility of posing aside, if built as is (which is what I did this time around) the main challenge are the large seams which are front and centre. I feel almost embarrassed posting the close up photo unblurred below, however it clearly shows where I’ve been too keen with removing sprue nubs on the chest or the two hemispheres of the feet have joined quite right. This wasn’t my first derodeo and I still butchered it, as well as that pun.
Thankfully plastic glue and sprue goo hides many ills. I would advise you don’t even consider taking this model out of the box if you don’t have plastic glue.
One aspect of this kit which deserves praise is inclusion of inset holes to mount magnets for easy weapon swaps. Coming from Adeptus Titanicus, I am a magnet pervert and am grateful for the inclusion of these. As you can see below, holes are present on the top carapace mount, the torso guns, and on the backpack and shoulder for the arms.
Magnet sizes:
- Arms and mounts: 3x1mm (I only magnetised at the shoulder as I found friction was enough at the hinge)
- Torso guns and mounts: 4x1mm
- Carapace launcher and mount: I used 5x2mm, although it a 6x2mm should fit
Being able to swap weapons around is awesome and lets you get the most out of your painted models. There’s only one catch I found, which is that when primed (and even worse when painted) is that the tolerances were so tight on the guns that I couldn’t even put the torso guns in. After a little bit of trimming, these are now a very firm fit and the magnets ensure that they won’t dislodge be lost forever. I found that the backpack magnets add a bit of strain on the cable feed which allows you to straighten the guns a tiny bit more otherwise – bonus.
When it comes time to put paint on the model, I’d suggest leaving the torso as well as all of the weapons for ease. The weapons themselves have a surprising amount of detail on them, which I admit I was taking shortcuts on by the end as I didn’t have much time to paint this one up. It’s at this point you can hide your sins further with seams with weathering.
Pew Pew
Over the past year, I’ve learnt to respect Deredeo dreads, particularly after running a four flier list – I still have flashbacks to the games where I was unable to have one survive a turn, or in the worst case the movement phase. The Arachnus is no joke with it’s STR 10 volley with sunder and I fear for my fliers now that this kit is available*.
*I’m joking. Maybe.
While plastic Deredeo chassis is something needs to approached carefully and has some oddities, it’s great to see Games Workshop finally release the remaining options for this kit in plastic for those who celebrate – even if it does mean the skies are that more unfriendly.
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