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.
I know we’ve got all these tall, proud Sylvaneth based on big noble trees, but why not some kinda crummy ones based on like, junipers? Give me some Charlie Brown Christmas Tree-ass Sylvaneth, or some chubby Baobabs. Maybe next book.
The Narrative Materials
We return after several months to Spearhead (no, not that one), the short story that follows Stormcast hero Alyria Swiftwind. Last we saw her, Bastian Carthalos was sending her off to Ghur to secure a realmgate. As her Stormhost trudges through a misty Ulgu forest, seemingly lost for hours, they’re entangled and ambushed by a Sylvaneth attack. To this particular grove, Sigmar is as much a destroyer as any Chaos god – whether you’re deforesting an area to build a city or giant skull pit doesn’t make much difference to the trees getting cut down. Alyria steps in as one of her Stormcast is about to destroy a tree containing Sylvaneth soul-pods, tells her guys to cut it out, and the Sylvaneth Branchwych goes “okay you’re cool, actually” and lets the Stormcast pass. I think it sets up why these two assumed allies would come to blows well enough but it isn’t anything too special.
We get a lovely little foldout on the Armies of Death, with brief descriptions of some of the Death armies and some wizard van-worthy artwork. These armies are all just puppets of Nagash, with precious little individuality or free will to go around. The Nighthaunt are an army of ghosts living out ironic punishments; each trapped in their own perpetual Homer Simpson Donut Hell while also terrorizing the living. The only way to kill a Nighthaunt is to deliver a blow with courage and conviction, which explains why my dudes always bounce off them and my wife’s ghosties table me on turn 3. The Ossiarch Bonereapers, Soulblight Gravelords, and Flesh Eater Courts don’t get as much info, but there’s a great centerfold of Nagash leading the studio of Soulblight Gravelords. It does kind of drive home how silly and Harryhausen-esque the older Grave Guard are compared to the newer stuff, but an army of skeletons, zombies, and vampires still looks sick as hell, no matter the vintage.
This week’s new unit is Ylthari’s Guardians, a Warhammer Underworlds warband of Sylvaneth tree-spirits. Their goal is to bring life back to the realms, so pretty much in line with the general treefolk M.O. They were Alarielle’s Shyishian ambassadors back before Nagash betrayed the Pantheon of Order, and now they seek revenge against the Great Necromancer. Turns out life magic is good at both bringing life back to the realms and destroying the undead, so that’s two birds with one realmstone right there.
While the smell of death still lingered distastefully on the Stormcast of the Undying Phalanx, Ylthari’s Guardians knew they had common cause. After aiding in their defense of a soulpod grove, these Sylvaneth looked kindly on their new Sigmarite-clad allies and would join them on campaign. The Thornwych Ylthari decided to take a step back this season; Gallanghann would be taking the lead in this latest endeavor.
The Hobby Materials
This week’s models are a quartet of miniatures made of roughly 80% spindle. In a rarity for this magazine, they’re actually pretty light on instruction. As they’re push-fit models they don’t really require that much direction, but some additional words of caution probably wouldn’t be a bad thing for newer modelers. My advice would be to trim them out of their sprues with a hobby knife and cut their pegs down for a flusher fit that requires less pressure to assemble. The painting instructions make for a decent finished product; it helps that these models don’t actually have that many textures or superfluous details on them. They’re a good looking little warband, and a good primer for the Sylvaneth to come.
The Gaming Materials
This week we learn about Enhancements, a system that more or less has carried over into 4th edition. These are the free upgrades you get to give your army – Command Traits, Artefacts of Power, Spell Lores, Prayer Scriptures, and Triumphs. Of course we get warscrolls for Ylthari and her Guardians, who aren’t anything too special. They take root this week in Growing Darkness, coming to the rescue of a beleaguered Stormcast expedition. That backstory is just flavor text, unfortunately, as it’s actually just a standard “two armies crash into each other” battle instead of something that reflects the story. Personally, instead of 3 objectives in the center and a standard deployment map, I’d have the Sylvaneth get to deep strike or something while a surrounded Stormcast force was stuck in the middle. The twist in this mission is that we get to use those aforementioned Enhancements, and can also apply them to Ylthari and Mannok Da Kunnin’, even though those are named characters.
Final Verdict:
As an Underworlds warband, Ylthari’s Guardians sold for anywhere from $30-$44 at retail, plus their cards. As you can seldom find them without giving a kidney to a reseller, this $13.99 issue is kind of your only bet to get them. The narrative section doesn’t have a lot of meat to it and the hobby section isn’t outstanding either, but if you’re after these (now) rare models, this issue is the best way to get them.
See you next issue, warhams.
Have any questions or feedback? Drop us a note in the comments below or email us at contact@goonhammer.com. Want articles like this linked in your inbox every Monday morning? Sign up for our newsletter. And don’t forget that you can support us on Patreon for backer rewards like early video content, Administratum access, an ad-free experience on our website and more.
