So I haven't had a chance to check the interwebs until today for over a week now, and haven't been able to follow ANYTHING in the world of Warhammer for slightly longer. So as I came online today I was excited to get my first look at the Dark Vengeance models. So far, I am by and far impressed and can't wait to see what the plastic kits look like over these snap together versions. As long as they keep going with this, I will be very satisfied.
Looking at the kit, there is a clear winner in terms of hobby and model potential and design. CHAOS. They rendered these guys PERFECTLY. The possessed marines are beautiful, and are very reminiscent of WHFB Chaos Warriors, which they should be IMO. Those guys carry an air of power about them lacking compared to a standard SM or CSM, and GW has finally captured them I believe.
The lord is a little static, as to be expected from a snap together model, but is lovely none the less. The Hellbrute is awesome. The exact right combination of dreadnought, daemon prince and dare I say... Warjack... that is required in a model such as it. Makes it much more fluid and dynamic than the robotic nature of just a pure Dreadnought.
But none of those are really surprising or new. Okay, maybe a little, but the concepts and imagery are just a progression of GW work. What is nice and refreshing are the cultists. GW did a great job in seperating these from renegade guard that is easy to convert or readily available from Forge World. And in fact, these plastic kits will only AIDE in making renegade guard conversions, so that is a bonus (no more having to plunder only a handful of useful fantasy bitz. The simple fact is these Dark Vengeance cultists look like a rabble, an assortment of the fallen, where as renegade guard/militia appear as a uniformed military force of chaos.
What I first saw in them however is not just cultists, but gangers. These guys are PERFECT for any budding
Necromunda player, and actually present a lot more options in terms of gang design to to the flexibility of weapons and modeling, especially once the plastic kits come out . Furthermore, what it really allows for the avid hobbyist, is the inclusion of Necromunda models into your Chaos army, especially if you are trying to be more thematic or capture devotion to a god. While the dark vengeance cultists are very Chaos undivided looking, House Goliath gangers and pitslaves would make great servants of Khorne, while House Escher are the perfect ladies for Slaneeshi cultists. Thats not to say that you have to do that. Redemptionists would make great looking zealots spreading the word of Chaos, while ratskins and scavvies make up the lowly unwashed masses. Or maybe you are Alpha Legion and want a slightly more civilized look to your cultists. Orlock and Delaque are there to fit that niche. And of course you can mix all of these in with your 40k cultists to get a diverse look and feel.
