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.
We’re at the tail end of October, meaning I’m no longer getting emails inviting me to Fall into Savings, but instead missives along the lines of Don’t let compliance haunt you – file before Halloween. Now it’s just a matter of time until I get an email from my dentist’s office telling me to be thankful I don’t have any cavities this year.
For what it’s worth, I am.
The Narrative Materials
The first article concerns Disciples of Tzeentch, who it describes as “strange mutants, manic humans and gibbering daemons” – but enough about my coworkers, heyooooo! There are four main subgroups in this faction, with little boxouts for Mutants, Cultists, Sorcerers, and Daemons. Mutants are normally at the bottom of any given Warhammer hierarchy, but Tzaangors and their shamans get point of pride here. As much as they are skilled combatants and magic users, they are still just Bird Dudes who will rip open a guy. Cultists are infiltrators who work in secret most of the time, eventually taking the field and hucking fireballs in open combat. I think they work better in smaller scale stories like John French’s The Hollow King, where intrigue has more space to flourish. Sorcerers are kind of their own thing, as changed by Tzeentch as the realms they touch with their magic. Last are Daemons, who only get a few sentences in this Tzeentchian CliffsNotes. There’s big bird guys! Little guys made of psychic bubblegum who split into littler guys made of psychic bubblegum! You’ll go crazy and also be on fire! It’s pretty neat.
Our narrative section is real brief this week, so I’ll break format and fold the rest into one paragraph. First is a random table to roll on for your battles in Chamon, the realm of metal. You might be fighting over a magical spring that turns metal into some diamond hard substance, or fight over rotted Ayadah, a field of rust and corrosion. I don’t think I want to live here. If I did though, I’d be sure to live near a Nexus Syphon, the subject of the next page. Dawnbringer Crusades carry these in pieces when they’re riding out, erecting these prebuilt structures over magical leylines at the center of their new settlements. This power then channels towards guardian idols at the city’s walls, creating a magical boundary that holds back daemons and ghosts. It’s basically a magic power generator, and with just how many of said ghosts and daemons are out there, I can see why Sigmarite cities would be so enthusiastic about having a Nexus Syphon.
The Hobby Materials
The main attraction this week is unfortunately one we don’t have an image for – the Nexus Syphon. This satisfyingly chunky little terrain piece is perfect for representing Sites of Power in AoS games, and a rare example of some non-ruined urban development on a Warhammer table. Construction is simple, with each of its 20 pieces being hefty with large connection points. It’s recommended that you leave the bulk of the building off its base for easier painting, and I think that’s a fair suggestion.
Should you think my inclusion of the Primal Lair above was erroneous, here is where I would reveal that you have played right into my trap card. The hobby section this week contains more involved painting instructions for the Primal Lair, a friend we met long ago in issue 16. While the instructions won’t get up to the level of my buddy Peter’s terrain here, it’ll certainly be a level up from where we last left off. Still, these guides are more than good for terrain, and we’re not done yet: There are also appropriate instructions for the Nexus Syphon and some updates to the Azyrite Fountain from issue 25.
The Gaming Materials
This week’s mission is Font of Magic, where a curiously well-armed construction crew working for Sigmar has to defend an in-progress Nexus Syphon from a Grot assault. It’s a pretty standard mission with a typical spread of objectives, but the Nexus Syphon is a little special – it’s dead center and counts as an objective, but can only be held by wizards. I think that’s pretty cool, and encourages you to move your squishy backfield characters up front and center.
Final Verdict:
If you’re lucky, you can find yourself a Nexus Syphon (which I just now checked, that’s a British spelling, not a copyrightable Warhammer spelling, however much it may appear to be one) for around $60, though they’re no longer available from Games Workshop directly. You’re spending less than a quarter of that at this issue’s $13.99 cover price, so if you want some Sites of Power or just a neato terrain piece, that’s a banger deal. The rest of this issue is solid, if slight. However if you’re looking to level up your terrain painting game, there’s some decent guides in the hobby section.
See you next issue, warhams.
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