The remaining Helsmiths of Hashut have arrived, and Norman and Rich are taking a look at the range. Our thanks to Games Workshop for providing Goonhammer with review copies.

Amidst the still cooling embers of their first strike into the Mortal Realms with last month’s army set, the Helsmiths of Hashut are arriving in Age of Sigmar in force with the separate release of the book and units from the set, alongside everything else that’s been revealed. Let’s dig into the kits and see what we think!

First Impressions

This release puts the Helsmiths of Hashut up to nine separate kits, of which a whopping seven give you access to two different warscrolls through build options. Okay, a few of these, like the Infernal Cohort, are units that we might have seen as a single warscroll with a choice of weapon in previous editions; nevertheless it all adds up to feel like quite a broad range at launch, with a decent selection of options.

It’s interesting to see the design cues through the range, and how they differ between units. The Infernal Razers, for example, tend to wear slightly less armour than the Infernal Cohort, and tie their waist sashes to hang differently, perhaps an indication of more willingness to get their hands dirty as they get more hands-on with the Chaos-infused blunderbusses they wield. Meanwhile, the Hobgrot Vandalz are down in the muck, scrabbling for whatever imperfect castoff weapons and armour they can find. The Ashen Elder takes things in a different direction, with some design language like his devotional fascia that isn’t seen elsewhere.

All in all, this feels to me like a stronger range release that some of the first waves of factions that we’ve seen in the past. The identity of the faction feels more locked in from the start, and while I’m sure we will see development and new units in future years, it feels like there is a bit less scope for change than (e.g.) adding a whole new temple to the Lumineth Realm-Lords.There are pros and cons to this, of course – I like the range, and it definitely seems to have resonated with a lot of people, but having such a strong identity so early means that it’s probably been more divisive than some launches. Still, you don’t have to like everything, and there absolutely is not time to collect every army in the game.

Building

Ashen Elder and Daemonsmith

This guy goes together nice and simply, and there is scope to leave the weapons off if you want to for subassembly painting. The instructions tell you to put him on a hero rock if you’re building as a Daemonsmith, or leave it off if building the Elder, which I did, but I don’t see why you couldn’t still use the rock if you wanted to – there are a few tiny divots for the lectern’s claws to fit into, but they wouldn’t be particularly noticeable without it. If you’re maximising your efficiency, the spare parts from this kit could be used with the leftovers from the Taurus kit to make another foot hero.

Norman: I really like this kit’s design mostly because of just how different the options are. You get a lot of leftover bits and the Ashen Elder doesn’t just look like a Daemonsmith with different options. They have different poses, different clothing and different weapons. I was able to take the leftover bits from the Daemonsmith build and kitbash an extra War Despot I had lying around into an Ashen Elder and I’m sure you could do the opposite.

Urak Taar, the First Daemonsmith and Daemonsmith on Infernal Taurus

This is a lovely centrepiece kit. I found it went together pretty well, although I do have two small complaints. Firstly, the smooth nature of the Taurus’ skin means that any small nicks or gaps from the building process are super noticeable, and there are a couple that stand out around the back legs. Nothing criminal, but it’ll benefit from a little time spent filling and sanding if you want a perfect finish. Secondly, those flags. I broke both in the course of putting paint on my Infernal Taurus, which certainly didn’t help with motivation. They are just a weak point sticking up above the rest of the model, and they’re going to take the brunt of any accidental knocks. Hardly a unique problem, but an irritating one nonetheless. If you’re building Urak Taar, his smoke seems to have a similarly weak contact point.

Otherwise this kit is a pretty pleasant build – it’s easy to leave the rider’s pulpit off of the rest of the beast for painting separately, and the rider is a separate assembly too. You can also leave the Taurus disconnected from its scenic base to get in underneath more easily. The choice of building Urak Taar or a Daemonsmith gives you a couple of arm options for each, and head choices for the wizard, but more importantly gives you an entirely separate body for each. What this means is that there’s an easy route to magnetising/pinning for a swappable rider if you want. Alternatively, with a bit of custom base-work to address the slightly odd angles they stand at, your spare body could be used fully or mixed with leftover parts from the Ashen Elder/Daemonsmith kit to make a separate foot hero. Urak Taar stands out a bit, but with a swap to the Elder’s hammer/staff he’d look a bit more normal.

Bull Centaurs and Anointed Sentinels

These go together well, and the two different unit builds are pleasingly different if you’re a person that gets bored building the same thing over and over. As with a lot of modern kits, you’ll start to notice pose repetition after a while, but there are a choice of heads to keep thing varied, and luckily they convey a sense of weighty momentum without having poses so dynamic that the repetition will be instantly noticeable.

Infernal Razers

Another simple build, with a few head choices and a choice for the whole unit to be armed with either Blunderbusses or Flamehurlers. Aesthetically, both are pleasing, with a decent line in looking like they’re full of roiling, barely-harnessed Chaos and might explode at any point.

Hobgrot Vandalz

You just have to love Hobgrotz. These little weirdos were some of my favourites of the old Chaos Dwarf range, and I also adore the Hobgrot units in the Kruleboyz army. These are another joy, bristling with second hand armour and wicked blades. A single box builds 20, which is two units of ten or one reinforced unit. They go together no problem, usually as just a few pieces per model. There are a few head and weapon choices, and there’s a bit of choice on the banner build too in case you want to do multiple units.

Painting

Ashen Elder and Daemonsmith

I’m super happy with how this guy came out. The Ashen Elder is a really nice foot hero to sink some time into, and there’s a lot of different areas and colours to try out in comparison to the rest of the range. I’d initially decided I wouldn’t do the freehand on his fascia, but in the end I decided it was slightly too plain without it, and with a steady hand it only took 10 minutes or so.

I really enjoyed bringing some jade tones into this model, which isn’t a colour I’ve used much elsewhere in the range so far. I think it suggests that the priesthood of the Helsmiths follows a different set of devotional practices to the Daemonsmiths, and have found meaning in different materials as a result.

Urak Taar, the First Daemonsmith and Daemonsmith on Infernal Taurus

I opted to paint the Daemonsmith on Infernal Taurus, whilst Norman went for Urak Taar. I focused on the Daemonsmith herself first, and I couldn’t resist doing that fireball-hurling pose. It was really fun trying to push this model a bit further than my line troops, whilst making sure she still fits with the force. For the fire I followed the time honoured tradition of working light to dark, and I applied layers while the previous ones were still a bit wet to encourage a bit of blended transition whilst keeping the flame looking quite random.

Unfortunately, the Taurus caused me a lot of problems, meaning that the noble Daemonsmith remains unmounted for now. Broadly, I’m happy with the scheme, and think this ultimately looks alright for the tabletop, but I had a lot of problems with texture buildup and failed attempts to save it which has led me to decide that I’m going to strip it and try again. This wasn’t possible in the time available before the preorder though, so please enjoy the half-finished picture for an idea of how the beast will look when it’s finished! This model is super heavy on both hard edges and recesses, so be prepared for it to take a lot of time to paint neatly.

Norman Like Rich mentioned I went for painting Urak Tarr. Continuing my scheme from the box, I opted to add a bunch of cool hotrod flames to the Taurus. I used airbrush stencils for this and while it wasn’t too bad, doing the underside of the wings proved too difficult because I added a bit too much superglue to easily snap them off while painting. If you plan on sub assembling (something I don’t think you need to do except for the rider and Taurus) leave the wings off all together. The evil cloud is actually much more stable than I would’ve thought because it has a small connection point on the right wing which was nice. Overall I really like this model, but I can see these being boring if you don’t go the extra mile with texture or freehand.

Bull Centaurs and Anointed Sentinels

Although the Sentinels get hidden behind those imposing bull heads, the Bull Centaurs have the rare painting treat of a humanoid (duardinoid?) face that is slightly enlarged due to their monstrous nature. That makes it a lot of fun to work around the skin with highlights and shading to craft some severe expressions.

Broadly painting these is the same as painting the infantry, except that every area is bigger, and you also have to paint two thirds of a cow per model. Painting a cow, it turns out, is very similar to painting a horse – especially when you can’t see its head. We’re breaking new ground here. Unfortunately I ran out of time to finish my centaur thanks to the aforementioned issues with the Infernal Taurus, so my cow discovery time has been limited. I’m looking forward to getting back into this unit though, as I think they tower so high over the infantry that a block of 6 will be a mini-centrepiece in its own right.

Norman: I started painting a set of Sentinels for my batch of models. I only managed to get one over the finish line but these guys are a pleasure to paint. I agree with Rich’s assessment that these are broadly just big infantry, but they have a lot of character without being overly busy.

Infernal Razers

These are possibly the simplest models in the range to paint. They forgo decent chunk of the trim present on the Cohort, and the guns are a lot simpler than the spear/sword and shield combo. Broadly I found that it was fine to get to anything visible with a paintbrush when the models were fully assembled, but you could leave the arms off if that is a concern.

There is also a bit more flesh to paint on these compared to a lot of the range, barring the Anointed Sentinels and the musician from the Infernal Cohort. That’s a nice opportunity to expand recipes from the relatively scrunched-up faces inside helmets and do some smoother blends and glazes, if that’s your speed.

Hobgrot Vandalz

I had a lot of fun painting these, and it was a fun challenge to make them match the rest of the Helsmiths units whilst giving them a bit of identity of their own too. In the end, I settled on the same dirty orange robes as I’d used for the Hobgrot crewman on my artillery piece, and added a lot of weathering to the armour and weapons. The Helsmiths themselves are almost completely clean, other than the occasional scratch on their armour/weapon, so leaning into the rust here let me keep the themes distinct. I also chose to use the dark bronze colour for weapon hafts and decoration here, with the idea that perhaps what the Helsmiths deem as the minimum acceptable material for their armour is something both extremely valuable and relatively inaccessible to the Hobgrots.

I also enjoyed really sinking some time into the banner, using glazes to build up the transitions on the flag and stone before adding a few transfers from the Helsmiths sheet. I couldn’t initially decide whether this would be a banner for the Hobgrots’ own community or the Helsmiths they march alongside, but in the end I decided that it would be a banner given to the grots by their Duardin lords. The Hobgrots couldn’t resist attaching one of their shields above the Helsmiths’ colours though!

Final Thoughts

It’s probably no surprise that I’m a big fan of the Helsmiths of Hashut range. In my opinion there’s a good selection of different model types to paint, and they’re all crammed with character. If I do have a criticism, it’s that these seem to be models that really reward careful attention and taking your time. I’d love to see some more speedpainted armies, because I’m sure there are great ways of saving time whilst keeping the visual impact of the force, but I found myself really focusing on detail. Still, that’s hardly a bad thing, and the sculpts really reward it!

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