These models were kindly provided to us by Modiphius for review.
I think it’s safe to say the (very real, not at all figurative) Goonhammer offices are abuzz with Fallout hype right now. With all the excitement around Fallout Factions it’s hard not to be, and hey, the TV show is actually good! Like, genuinely very good! With all this excitement and my own nostalgia for a series I’ve been playing for half of my life bubbling up, I thought it was time to bust out the Brotherhood of Steel Citadel Command set.
It’s unsurprising that Modiphius would be turning to Fallout 3 for more material, as it is largely responsible for the entire franchise’s place in the modern media landscape. It’s easy to forget that before Bethesda’s revival of the franchise, the series was basically dead and buried. This set in particular draws on many of the Brotherhood of Steel characters you meet in that game, characters such as Sarah Lyons who you may remember, and Scribe Rothchild who you almost certainly don’t. In addition to Sarah (RIP to a real one) and Rothchild, the set also contains Sarah’s dad Elder Lyons, Star Paladin Cross, and Madison Li; the only character from this group to make her way into Fallout 4.
Detail
The detail on these models, as with all of Modiphius’ resin offerings, is fantastic. I don’t mean that in a bits-and-baubles-everywhere sort of way, but in Madison Li’s wry smile, Elder Lyons’ combover, and so on. The faces are hugely expressive, and everything from the rivets on the power armor to the draped Brotherhood of Steel flag on Elder Lyons’ base looks game-accurate. I called the NCR Top Brass set an “HD texture pack you can hold in your hand” and this absolutely feels the same. These are the most detailed these characters have ever looked, fully escaping the uncanny valley their potato-faced 2008 digital doppelgangers reside in. As befitting their overall glowup, the power armored figures are in the post-Fallout 4 style of power armor, where it’s significantly larger and bulkier than the Fallout 3 and New Vegas suits. It’s still recognizably the T-45 model, but with the larger scale of the newer games.
Assembly
The first thing I’d noticed on opening the box was that a few pieces had fallen off of their respective sprues. The only damage I encountered was a broken chest handle on Star Paladin Cross’ chestplate. Her super sledge had a bend in it as well, but I dunked the haft in hot water and bent it back into place. There are no instructions, but the sprues for each character are labeled by number and bagged separately. The pieces also largely only fit one way, so there shouldn’t be much confusion in building this crew.
As these are bespoke characters, options are minimal. There’s a spare power armor head that can go on either Sarah or Cross, but that’s it. You could also position their heads to be looking one way or the other as they’re both on simple ball and socket joints, but the rest of the characters have their heads already sculpted onto their bodies.
Cleanup was minimal, with some light flashing and nearly nonexistent moldlines. I noticed a few 3D printing lines throughout these models, but they were generally fine enough that paint would cover them. I found the resin to be bendier than Forgeworld’s, but fairly easy to work with. I did a smidge of gap filling with superglue and had the whole kit built in just under an hour.
Here’s an additional detail for you barrel-drilling sickos out there who want a smidge more verisimilitude in your models. There’s a pair of hoisting lugs on the shoulders of most power armor, and you can see these being used in the Fallout 4 title screen and early on in the TV show. I like to drill these out with a very tiny pin vise, and while you’ve gotta be careful to make it work, I think it’s worth the effort. Keep that pin vise on hand for later, as paint can also clog up this detail.
Painting
I will once again refer to the Fallout wiki here for inspiration and uniform reference. I like the Independent Wiki over the Fandom one, which is a blighted minefield of advertisements and autoplaying videos. Looking up these characters and their equipment over there is a huge help for painting inspiration, and is quicker than booting up the game and finding them yourself. That’s still an option, however, if you really want to get up close and personal. I’ve also written a How to Paint Everything: Brotherhood of Steel article which I will be referring to when painting these.
Only when I started painting did I realize that the combovers on these old fellas are really, really hard to pick out. It’s hitting the level of diminishing returns where you kind of have to define the details for yourself because paint will fill them in. The print lines I noticed in assembly were the first of several, and I encountered more throughout the painting process, though most were only on larger flat surfaces like bases. I also noticed that Star Paladin Cross looks a lot like Grace Jones, so that was nice.
These few sticking points aside, painting these models was genuinely a lot of fun. There are so many textures to work with across the whole set – steel, skin, concrete, cloth, leather, and more besides – that it’s hard to get bored working on them. Some details like the various rivets and buttons on the non-power armored models will require an extremely steady hand to paint, and the previously mentioned hair on a few of these models is frankly kind of a pain.
Final Thoughts, Parting Shots, and What Have You
I think my biggest gripe with these models is that Scribe Rothchild’s cowboy shooting pose is way too cool for such a fuddy duddy of a character. Sarah and Star Paladin Cross’ poses are a little stiff, but I can only imagine these are challenges of posing such a chunky suit of power armor when you can’t just noclip overlapping parts like in a video game.
Li and Elder Lyons are absolutely my favorites in this set, and it was great to work on these old friends again. Hell, it got me to boot up Fallout 3 again, which I’m always happy to do. If you’re wondering how these folks will work in Fallout Factions, we’ve got a handy little guide for how you might want to use them. Ad victoriam, y’all.
If you have questions, feedback, or your own band of wastelanders you’d like to show off, drop us a note in the comments below or email us at contact@goonhammer.com.
