Stormbringer is a weekly hobby magazine from Hachette Partworks introducing players to Warhammer: Age of Sigmar. In this 80-week series, our intrepid magazine-receiver will be reviewing each individual issue, its included models, and gaming materials. A Premium US subscription was provided to Goonhammer for review purposes. If you want to follow along at home, US Customers can check out Stormbringer here.
The cover of this issue has a heroic gobbo on squigback fighting a perfidious, deceptive, and frankly just rude Sylvaneth warrior. It’s really sad to hear that not even Stormbringer is immune to pro-elf and anti-goblin propaganda. Just when you think you know a guy/publication.
The Narrative Materials
We open this week with a focus on Sylvaneth, the AoS take on the classic Wood Elf archetype. This range’s launch was one of the early turning points in Age of Sigmar, with a unique aesthetic that’s quintessentially AoS. They’re a proud people and the guardians of nature across the Mortal Realms. They were created by the old Warhammer Fantasy character, Alarielle the Everqueen, who has now ascended to godhood. She created the Sylvaneth to protect the forests of the Mortal Realms, and they’re by all accounts pretty good at it. Sylvaneth range from spiritual aelf-like creatures to giant treefolk and everything between. When the spiritual Sylvaneth die, they drop soulpods which are replanted and grow again, because it just wouldn’t be elves/aelves/eldar/aeldari without some sort of resurrection hook.
A third dose of Venom is administered this week, continuing on from the previous chapter in issue 27. This is the story of Golmrog City-Eata, attempting to repay a debt to Swampboss Skumdrekk. He last found himself in the clutches of the Gloomspite Gitz, and is now being led to the throne of their king. Golmrog tries to negotiate with a Loonboss to find his way into the grot’s good graces, and is pointed instead towards Skragrott, the Loonking. It’s just a chapter of setup, but the writing is entertaining.
It’s time for a history lesson, and this week’s focus is on Azyr, the Realm of Heavens. In the Age of Myth, Azyr was occupied by Dragon Ogors, and Sigmar did such a good job expelling them from Azyr that he even expelled them from the game. Some more early lore gets summarized here, such as the Battle of Burning Skies where Sigmar got duped into throwing his hammer into a magical hole, and the first battles of the Stormcast Eternals. It’s foundational stuff for Age of Sigmar as a setting, but gives the narrative and models some context.
The Arch-Revenant who graced the cover this week gets some focus next. These are Alarielle’s traveling scouts, gathering intelligence and leading armies across the Mortal Realms. With a Battle Record to fill out, we can find out exactly what they’re up to in our little corner of the Mortal Realms:
Silene of the High Aeries passed silently through the Garagevale trees, gliding between the branches of the junipers and pines. Her growth in the shadows of Ulgu made her an invasive species here in Ghyran; her autumnal aspect marking her as an outsider among the evergreens and summer foliage.
The Hobby Materials
This week we get our first Sylvaneth model – the Arch-Revenant. This model is genuinely gorgeous, and I think the tree/bug/elf combo makes for an extremely strong aesthetic. Assembling this model isn’t all too complex as it’s a fairly small and modern miniature, but it is a model that consists of about 80% spindle. I also think Stormbringer’s omission of knives in its selection of hobby tools (a concession for this magazine being aimed at children) will be an issue, as these pieces are too thin and delicate to use the somewhat kludgy mold line scraper. The paint guide is incomplete, as a number of the more Sylvaneth-friendly paints haven’t yet arrived, but it’s a decent enough start with some bases and shades.
The Gaming Materials
Predictably there’s a warscroll for our new Arch-Revenant and some associated strategies. If you’re playing along at home, there won’t be too much for them to do until more Sylvaneth are introduced. That said, they’ll still be leading the charge in this week’s mission, War in the Woods. The Kruleboy/Gloomspite alliance intends to corrupt the woods in Ulgu, turning them against the Stormcast, while Sigmar’s forces are hoping to build an alliance with the Sylvaneth guardians of the forest. I appreciate the narrative justification for adding a single wood elf to a Stormcast army. The mission is an objective-based 1-2-more scoring situation, with the twist bringing those objectives to life. If you control an objective, you get a 6+ ward save and on a 4+ any enemy units within 6″ take D3 mortal wounds. It’s not that wild, but without actual tree models, it’s hard to sell the “War in the Woods” angle.
Final Verdict:
It’s 42 bucks for an Arch-Revenant, so getting one for this issue’s $13.99 cover price represents a massive 66% savings. We’re running into the typical stumbling point where a new faction is being introduced, so if you’re all-in on Stormcast or Kruleboyz, this might not appeal to you as much. That said, it’s a gorgeous model, and a great start for the faction. The lore section is dense this week too, both informative and fun to read. Despite not being an Aelf Guy (instead being a lifelong victim of Elf Bullshit) I really did enjoy this issue and all of its Sylvaneth focus.
See you next issue, warhams.
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