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.

This article is coming out like 3 days after the US election so by the time you read this I’m either on hour 72 of a panic attack or I’m actually having a decent morning. I’m hoping it’s the latter as I’d like to live to see 40. Anyway, let’s talk about goblins and skeletons for a minute.

The Narrative Materials

Let’s begin with endings – namely several ZIP codes worth of them in the Realm of Death. It’s goth Candyland here, with fields of black flowers and shambling corpses as far as the eye can see. It once contained all the afterlives; like, all of them ever. I feel like that’s a big metaphysical question to just kind of gloss over like that, but this is Warhammer, baby. Now it’s Nagash’s realm, and he does what he pleases with the souls of those who were hoping to enjoy some respite from the whole eternal war thing. There are mortal settlements here too, as I assume real estate is wicked affordable on Murderskull Blvd. or the Bonespur Plateau or whatever. You’d hope that living on a continent-sized graveyard might make for quiet neighbors, but souls are a resource like any other, and where there are resources, there are folks fighting over them. Instead of magic being stronger at the edges of the realm, it’s stronger at the center around the Shysih Nadir, the inverted black pyramid where Nagash sits on his big Spirit Halloween throne. Said Nadir is expanding and might swallow not just Shyish but the other realms as well. I’m sure that’s not a big deal, no sir.

Next is one of those in-character articles that are always a delight. This is The Enemy Within, narrated by one Brother Mouchard. This is full grimdark fantasy McCarthyism, a literal witchhunt guide wherein readers are encouraged to suspect everyone from their aging parents to themselves of heresy and sedition. One moment of weakness and boom, you’re a vessel for the corruption of Chaos. The difference here is that said suspicion is actually warranted in this setting, even if the notion that suspicion alone is evidence of corruption is a bit dubious. This is the most mean-spirited and grimdark stuff that appears in Stormbringer, and I like seeing that aspect of the setting reflected. It’s that classic Warhammer background that often gets glossed over in light of Big Damn Battles between Big Damn Armies and their Big Damn Heroes.

We’ve got some Spite-Revenants this week, who are the outcast infantry of the Sylvaneth. These are more savage, cruel tree spirits than your typical Sylvaneth, and what made them that way is still a mystery. Maybe Alarielle made a mistake somewhere or maybe it’s something in the water; we all enjoy a little mystery. What are our Spite-Revenants up to? Let’s find out!

Angeliki swung his axe again, hearing a sharp crack and stepping away. He shouted “Timber!” and the other woodsmen around him made room. Angeliki watched the falling pine’s arc as it found its way towards the ground. Only then did he lock eyes with something bestial in the wood; something that wasn’t there a moment ago – a Spite-Revenant. It shrieked, bursting from the trees with four more of its ilk. “Run!” Angeliki called out, dropping his axe. Had he the ear for their song, he’d know these Spite-Revenants were native to Ghur, and were every bit as brutal as the land they called home. He would find this out firsthand very, very soon.

The Hobby Materials

This week we get a group of five Spite-Revenants, also buildable as issue 43’s Tree-Revenants. These look a smidge more monstrous than their kitmates, who have more of that elf aesthetic (Aelfsthetic? Whatever). They are models made chiefly of spindle, and I’d recommend using sharp clippers or an even sharper hobby knife to remove them from their sprues and clean them up. The painting instructions are a bit drab, which sucks because these models can look lush and naturalistic or really lean into the magical aspect, like Rockfish shows here. They’re easy to make your own though, so I encourage any hobbyist to wild out on these.

The Gaming Materials

It’s a hefty gaming section this week, even if most of it won’t be of much use in a post-4th edition Age of Sigmar world. Alongside a warscroll for Spite-Revenants we get tactics articles for the Loonboss and Fungoid Cave-Shaman. These both outline upsides and downsides of these units, with helpful little 3D renders showing good ways to position them and use them on the field. There’s also a centerfold with a load more tactical know-how on playing around objectives, using deployment zones smartly, and navigating the dreaded double turn. It’s largely outdated info, but some general notions like being careful on the first turn to insulate yourself from the double turn or denying ground to your opponent still hold true.

Closing out this section, we get a new mission: Dark Woods. A Stormcast scout has found a group of Grots setting a trap, and now a warband of Stormcast and Sylvaneth clash with the gitz in a dense wood. I was hoping those traps would maybe play into this more, but instead, all shooting attacks reduce their range by 6″ and all units reduce their Bravery by 1. It’s not a bad set of limitations at all, they just doesn’t really vibe with the intro story.

Final Verdict:

I don’t kvetch about prices altogether too often, but for staple rank and file infantry, Spite/Tree-Revenants are real pricey at $58 for five. This issue’s only $13.95, so if you want to pick up a squad of these while saving enough money for nearly 30 ¼lbs Costco hot dog combos (tax notwithstanding) this is a hell of a way to do so. The rest of the issue is solid, with some fun lore and what would have been a trove of good tactical information. If you’re treebro-curious, this is a real solid issue for the models alone, and any Sylvaneth player will appreciate the bargain.

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.