Today we will be reviewing another Mechanicum release for the Horus Heresy, the Ursarax Cohort. Going up for pre-order today, we share our thanks to Games Workshop for sending the Heresy Team at Goonhammer a preview review copy.
If you’re a new disciple of the Machine-God or unsure where these units might fit into your Mechanicum army, check out our extensive faction focus.
The Models
Similar to the Thallax Cohort, this unit shares a common sprue (its legs and torso) to their more shooty brethren. Setting itself apart though is a choice to equip this common pair of legs with Lightning Claws or Powerfists. The box contains enough to model 6 pairs of Lightning Claws or 5 pairs of Powerfists – the latter of which is only allowed one per three which is interesting.
The build is straightforward, but like much of the Mechanicum range, it shows the pros and cons of modern GW plastic compared to Forgeworld Resin. Yes, this kit is gorgeous, and yes, its assortment of bits leave little to no mold lines on a final model, but each Ursarax is 35 parts with the shoulder Melta Bombs. Despite that, and unsurprisingly, they are straightforward to build. With a cold beverage on my table and pressing play on my latest Audible, I knocked out the kit in about 3 to 3 and a half hours and once I got going, there were no “challenging” aspects to building these. I recommend building the entire set a page of instructions at a time (ie: Building 6 pairs of legs, then attaching 6 torsos, then adding 6 pairs of arms) so that it is easiest to set aside different combinations of arms and ensure that you do not build two overly similar posed Ursarax.
Soggy: As Realsnice has mentioned, these kits have an absurd number of bits for what they are like their Thallax brethren in the Ordo Reductor. I got my arms confused a bit during assembly and would probably do the arms part one at a time if only because I am easily distracted.
In terms of mould lines – I would be careful when trimming the fists themselves from the sprue as it is possible to carve off too much and leave a patchy join of the two halves.
The magnet pervert in me was curious to see if it was possible to magnetise the fingers to be able to swap between weapons – the answer is probably not unless if you are very keen and particular (I am neither). I did personally find the gluing of the fingers a bit tedious, as I left this to last to see what positions the arms were in before committing positions to each talon.
Speaking of posing, the models are relatively adjustable with ball sockets in the pelvis and arm “pits” that have pins and slots to lock the limbs into. If you want a more diverse pose you could easily snip these pins off and have a wider range of posing for the legs but keep in mind that the arms have plastic cables that really only let you pose an arm in a specific way. You could also fully snip these cables off but they add a lot of weight to the model. Again, this is an aspect of plastic that makes the kits easier to build and look “good” but also limits your ability to pull out the hair dryer and bend any arms to your desired angle.
Show Your Colors
Again, applying Medder’s Mechanicum speedpainting video to more of my slowly growing Mechanicum force, I largely followed the recommended colors with an inclusion of more desaturated violets into the mix to my Powerfist wielding Ursurax. Below is a list of what products I ended up using if you wanted to try something similar:
- Greens:
- Basecoat of (AP) Evergreen Fog
- Highlight (AP) Forest Faun
- Edge Highlight (kinda, its not a constant one as mentioned in Medder’s video) (AP) Mossy Green
- Light spray of (AP Speedpaint) Hardened Leather into the shadows
- Desaturated Violets:
- Blanched Berry
- Moldy Wine Highlight
- Metals:
- (AP) Gun Metal
- (AP) True Copper
- (AP) Mithril
- Washed Copper – (AP) Dark Red Tone
- Chest Volkite (AP) Gun Metal washed with (AP Speed Paint) Hardened Leather and then (AP Speed Paint) Purple Swarm
- Claws and other Gun Metals are washed with (AP) Grim Dark Shadow with a Mithril Edge Highlight
- Oil pinwash/wash
- Purple and Burnt Umber Oils
- (AK) Turquois Lights
- (AK) Dark Earth Liquid Pigments for the feet
- Basing
- (AK) Dark Earth Diorama
- Krautcover Kodama Woods and a.tale.of.grimdark flock mixed. 66/33%
- Base Rim – Monument Hobbies Satin Black
End of Line
I look forward to continuing to buff out my Xana-aligned Dark Mech that have continued to come out in plastic. Despite my minor complaints about the ultimate cons of plastic as a medium, these kits are significantly cheaper, and easier to build without risk of mold slips or other challenges that occur sporadically with Resin. On the table, I would argue that this unit is a bit overcosted but I still look forward to running these (5 claws, 1 set of powerfists) alongside a Jetback wielding Archmagos (edit: JK, I can’t.). I think there is some play here to make the unit viable with plenty of T5 ablative wounds and effective enough weapons to clear any squad of Power Armor wearing Astartes.
I cannot wait for future plastics joining this range and praying to the Machine-God that we get the Vorax and Vulturax in plastic soon too.
Soggy: While I echo much of the above, much like Thallax kit – I will see if I can pick up more of these preassembled second hand, as the assembly time on these seems a little long for six models of this size.
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