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.
Early in this issue, a short story is accompanied by some wonderful old Karl Kopinski art of some Night Goblins. This used to be on the front of every box of Night Goblins for Warhammer Fantasy, and I really wish we still had bespoke evocative, beautiful piece of art for every kit like this. I can’t imagine Kopinski works cheap these days, but I always found some painterly scene hit my imagination far harder than a photo of some models standing in the void. Maybe someday I’ll bug my fellow graphic designerly Goons Whomst Hammer about doing a dissection of GW’s package design over the last 40 years. Maybe that article already exists and I can’t find it. Maybe I just want to talk more about lovingly illustrated goblins.
The Narrative Materials
Our all-too-brief narrative section this week begins with a continuation of The Gathering from a previous issue that was very difficult to search for. You see, when I Google “The Gathering Stormbringer Goonhammer” it reminds me that we have a lot of coverage of everyone’s favorite game of wizard poker and prioritizes those search results. Proper nouns directed me towards issue 45 so I hope you enjoyed my real-time digital sleuthing of my own work. Claggit Blacktongue is rallying grots to fight the Sylvaneth, who are already on his trail and killing any grot stragglers who fall behind. His genius plan to lure out the tree-gitz was to brew up some fungal concoction and intoxicate/incapacitate his entire mob, luring the Sylvaneth to prey on the passed out pile of Grots. Once they got close enough, he unleashed his Fanatics, who smashed the Sylvaneth attack to pieces. It’s a more entertaining and interesting story than the first part, and is the kind of slapstick that Gloomspite Gitz excel at.
We’ve got a Battle Record for the Loonboss on Giant Cave Squig, a mounted Gloomspite Gitz hero. These riders lead Squigalanches and Git hordes of all varietals, inspiring their fellow Gitz to suicidal acts of bravery.
Some say Rikk Da Poka had bounced all the way from Gallet in one massive boing! but Gloomspite Gitz were notoriously poor at citing their sources. The Loonboss had showed up mysteriously one day, commanding an almost supernatural control over his fellow boyz. Waxy’s Shiny-Seekers pledged their loyalty to him immediately, the Boingrot Bounder knights proudly volunteering to lead charges ahead of their new boss.
The Hobby Materials
Our model today is the aforementioned Loonboss on Giant Cave Squig. Assembling this model is pretty simple; there’s some spindly bits on the basing but the bulk of the pieces are on the chunky side. The only option is a weapon choice for the Loonboss, either taking the spear above or a sickle. The model’s got some good presence for a goblin, and conveys a strong sense of motion – something the whole Gitz range is pretty good at. There’s a decent painting tutorial here, but I think the result is too muted. It instructs painters to paint the Squig with Khorne Red then wash them down with Nuln Oil. I’d go for a subtler wash than black, and then bring the red back up while leaving the darker color in the recesses. Knowing me I’d also then layer it up half a dozen times with custom mixed colors, but we can’t be here all day.
The Gaming Materials
This is where the bulk of the issue’s pagecount resides. While there’s of course the expected warscroll for our new Loonboss on Giant Cave Squig, there’s also a few pages dedicated to the Forged in War Battlepack. This breaks down most of Stormbringer’s models – past and present – into a strange kind of army list construction format. Instead of points values, every unit is just designated as taking up a Troop or Hero slot, with some more powerful units taking up multiple slots. So for example, in this week’s mission, Squig Chase, the Order player has two Hero slots and four Troop slots. The Destruction player has an equivalent selection, but must take the Loonboss on Giant Cave Squig as one of their Hero units. In this battle over a hoard of magical artifacts, the Giant Squig has broken loose and stolen some relic that turns them invisible. Said Squig starts in the middle of the board, and is invisible to units outside of 3″. If he dies, he also becomes an objective marker. This is an inventive and kind of goofy mission, and by gum am I here for it.
Final Verdict:
The Loonboss on Giant Cave Squig is a $42 miniature, and definitely worth grabbing for the rough 66% savings this issue’s $13.95 represents. The mission was an unexpected delight this week, and is the kind of offbeat mission I like seeing in these magazines. The narrative section was more fun than I was expecting given its short length, and even if the hobby section is nothing special, this issue still feels pretty strong.
See you next issue, warhams.
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