The avalanche of Underworlds articles continues! In this one, we will be reviewing the new models in the Spitewood box – Kurnoth’s Heralds and the Blood of the Bull. Many thanks to Games Workshop for providing a copy of Spitewood for review. Check out our other coverage for this release:
- Spitewood Unboxing
- Decks of Spitewood: Hunting Grounds and Deadly Synergy
- Warbands of Spitewood: Kurnoth’s Heralds and The Blood of the Bull
And four articles for each of the four Grand Alliance boxes:
- Chaos Warbands: Reavers of Ruin
- Death Warbands: Morbid Minions
- Destruction Warbands: Gitz and Goliaths
- Order Warbands: Seekers in Shadow
Kurnoth’s Heralds
Kurnoth’s Heralds arrive this week as one of the two new Underworld warbands! They are part of the Sylvaneth range, but bring a new unit style in a deer/elk style centaur.
Detail and Assembly
Blake Law: This warband was an absolute joy to assemble. The detail on these models are crisp. The sculpts are so unique and fresh for the sylvaneth range. Previously, we had a centaur type model in the Skaeth’s Wild Hunt warband. This seems to be a refinement of that model. One of the things I liked about the sculpt is that they did not sculpt in texture. This allows painters to create as much or as little as they want. Want to make that leather shield metal? Absolutely okay to do.
Once assembled, these guys have some seams that likely need light putty work. I like to use a water based putty and brush it into the seam to gap fill (Aves or milliput work well). Most noticeable of these are the seams down the center back of all three centaurs. You may notice some on the torso, but GW did a great job of putting these at muscle creases. I would recommend dry fitting the pieces beforehand so you ensure a snug fit and no gap there.
Painting
Blake Law: The good thing about wood elves is that you can go any direction on their paint. The models lend themselves to both subdued woodland tones and crazy saturated tones. I think you could do almost any color scheme on these guys and it would work. I elected to push vibrant saturation with classic orange hair and a funky greenish teal skin. This made sense to me with the orange because its supported both in color theory, as well as woodland mystical creature lore. It forced my hand to paint the metallics gold in support. I went with a black/red leather for the straps and hatched armor.
I think we are going to see a lot of people really flex their imagination with this warband!
The Blood of the Bull
The Chorf side of the warband gives you a smattering of models that are somewhat present within the rest of the current range. You get, an alternate War Despot, a dude with a flamehurler, two Infernal Cohort type guys and a Hobgrot.
Detail and Assembly
MildNorman: There’s a lot to like here, the models basically go through some ideas that were left on the cutting room floor for the full release or just alternate versions of models that appear in other units. The War Despot gives you a female option for the hero and a take on them that leans more into their “taskmaster” role with the big whip and the pose. You get a look at a more specialized Hobgrot, one who’s got an actual job (poison assassin) as opposed to just “Laborer” or “Gong Holder”. My favorite model in this vein is the one with the Flamehurler, which shows you how the Helsmiths load these dang things and gives some insight into how they work.
There’s not much to write home about regarding the builds themselves. All and all pretty easy to slap together. Be careful with the War Despot though, I almost snapped one of her earrings off while forcing the body together.
Painting
MildNorman: If you painted other Chorfs in the range there isn’t anything particularly new here. It has the same armor, slight cloth, and sash motif the rest of the range has, with a bit more characterization per model since it’s a warband. It’s a great test to cover all your materials if you’re considering the army though, every texture you’ll have to paint is present in this warband.
Conclusion
We’ve got another excellent crop of miniatures in the spitewood box. Kurnoth’s Heralds expand on the centaur vibes started by Skaeth’s Wild Hunt, and the Blood of the Bull provides some cool alternate sculpts for models in the brand new Chaos Dwarf range.
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