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.

If you were ever a kid in a comic book store, at some point you grabbed a floppy solely based on the strength of that cover. Batman and Robin are swinging into action on the front, and inside it’s mostly a story about Commissioner Gordon talking to his son at a diner. A cover promises a villainous showdown, only for that villain to be curiously absent, and some C-lister is filling in. It’s always a bummer and definitely what happens this issue, with its portrayal of The Curseling on the cover (that even sounds like a supervillain!) and not a lick about the guy(s) inside.

The Narrative Materials

Instead of a devious transforming Tzeentch duder, our issue starts with a short story about a group of Stormcast Vindictors who sacrifice their lives to protect a group of civilians fleeing a gargant raid. The city “…cracked and crumbled like pastry” in the words of this story, which, while evocative, probably isn’t the simile I’d use in that instance. Instead it just reminds me that I can’t eat croissants anymore. The story itself is fine, selling the idea that these noble warriors can and will die for the good of the people. It’s nothing we didn’t already know, but it’s a fine little story.

The only other piece of our narrative section this week is a group of background tables for heroes from Chamon. I rolled up a dude who knows metal inside and out, so he knows where weaknesses in armor are. He leads a squad of troops who joined together so they could climb the metallic cliffs of a floating mountain in search of precious metals. It’s not my favorite group of these tables but it’s alright if the Realm of Metal is your thing.

The Hobby Materials

This is a hobby supply-forward issue, containing two paints and a Citadel STC Small Layer brush. Said brush is decent for general highlights and basecoats of smaller areas, and generally pretty perfect for an up-and-coming hobbyist. I’m not a huge fan of synthetic brushes (the tips curl and fray a bit easily) but they tend to be cheaper and I like using them for things rough on brushes, like metallics or drybrushing. The included paints are Balor Brown, a kind of pukey brown color good for ropes and bowstrings, and Skeleton Horde, a Contrast paint good for getting a warm sepia tint to an area. They get a load of use in this issue’s painting tutorials, which have hobbyists go through their collections with these paints and several others, picking out detail on models going back to the very first issues. There’s also a guide to painting Kruleboyz Skareshields in the colors of a few different wraclans, replete with some background information on each. Of the three presented I’m a fan of the Big Yellers, since they use loud yellow shields and make an equivalent amount of noise before a fight, but are largely lazy as hell and just lie about all day. The three tutorials get some good results, and while I’ll never remember the differences between different Kruleboy warclans, I like the color variety.

The Gaming Materials

The next scenario in our mission pack is Shifting Paths, which is preceded by a delightful bit of flavor text where one grot throws another over the horizon. These lands are in flux, with some great magical spell written over the rocks and roads. This fluctuating terrain is represented by this mission’s special rule, where any time you roll doubles on a charge roll, you charge 12″ instead. It’s a chaotic little twist and one that I think makes for a very good one-off game.

Final Verdict:

The STC Small Layer brush is $6.50, and the two paints combined stack up to $12.35. That’s $19.85 when you total it up, making this issue’s $13.95 cover price a bit of a bargain. The lore section is scant, but the hobby section would be valuable for anyone following along, or even looking for some variety with their existing Kruleboyz mobs. The mission even seems pretty fun to boot. It’s not an issue targeted at me, but for a developing hobbyist, I think it could be a good one.

See you next issue, warhams.

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