Dark Angels Next Week

[Deakz28]

https://www.warhammer-community.com/2024/02/18/sunday-preview-the-dark-angels-prepare-to-mobilise/

Seems a new Kroot reveal for tomorrow too! 

Edited February 18 by Deakz28

[CL_Mission]

I'll no doubt be picking up all the Dark Angels stuff at some point but the Kroot reveal is probably the more exciting part of the article at the moment.

[Halandaar]

Surprised how quickly after Deathwing Assault the standalone release is. Think this is the shortest window between an army set and the actual wave we've seen so far.

[ISBEAR]

Companions is three guys only. Curious of the price, but guessing the same as bladeguard...

[Bouargh]

Asmodai looks like it has been designed by a different team. I dunno, but I feel like, although nice, it stands one level bellow or one srep behind  other DA releases.

[m_r_parker]

I'm also surprised how quickly these have appeared for general release considering the Army Box has only been out for two weeks now(?). 

I can't wait to get my hands on those Companions and see those sprues. I want to see how many swords you get, because I can see a lot of them being used in kitbashes with the new Company Heroes box.

[Halandaar]

11 minutes ago, Bouargh said:

Asmodai looks like it has been designed by a different team. I dunno, but I feel like, although nice, it stands one level bellow or one srep behind  other DA releases.

 

Yeah agree; I'm inclined to take a few bits from him and stick them on an Inner Circle Companions body

[crimsondave]

14 minutes ago, Halandaar said:

 

Yeah agree; I'm inclined to take a few bits from him and stick them on an Inner Circle Companions body

He’s my favorite of the bunch.  To each his own I suppose.  I have been accused of questionable taste.

[Karhedron]

33 minutes ago, m_r_parker said:

I'm also surprised how quickly these have appeared for general release considering the Army Box has only been out for two weeks now(?). 

 

So will that be be 4 weeks in total between them hitting the shelves? Well, if Blood Angels are coming later this year and follow the same pattern, that will make it a little easier to resist the hype train for the limited box and restrict myself to just what I need.

[Nova-V]

50 minutes ago, Bouargh said:

Asmodai looks like it has been designed by a different team. I dunno, but I feel like, although nice, it stands one level bellow or one srep behind  other DA releases.

It's that awful smoke GW every so often lumbers a model with.  It's alright if it's easy to clip off but regularly it's integrated into other parts. It's not GW's fault smoke doesn't work in plastic but I wish they stopped trying to force it too.

[ZeroWolf]

There's also the chance that Asmodai was designed earlier and held back, like the Desolation Marines and a few others

[crimsondave]

32 minutes ago, Nova-V said:

It's that awful smoke GW every so often lumbers a model with.  It's alright if it's easy to clip off but regularly it's integrated into other parts. It's not GW's fault smoke doesn't work in plastic but I wish they stopped trying to force it too.

Luckily, the smoke is optional on Asmodai.

[Nephaston]

25 minutes ago, crimsondave said:

Luckily, the smoke is optional on Asmodai.

If anything, models like asmodai should come with a hollow assembly so they can be hooked up to a smoke machine.

[Orange Knight]

I don't get the hate for the Asmodai model. As mentioned, the smoke is optional, and from what I can tell that's the most contentious element.

 

I think Belial and Azrael look better, but that isn't to say that Asmodai is a failure by comparison. 

 

I'm very curious to see the updated points once this release drops. To me it feels like we should have had access to the rules and points weeks ago, but of course the codex wasn't officially out.

 

Overall a great set of releases - the new models look great, the companions and Knights in particular. 

[Orange Knight]

About the Companions - has anyone seen the sprue or instructions? I assume you don't have to make one with a banner, and could put together a squad of six without duplicating it?

[Evil Eye]

I'm glad to hear the smoke is optional; the base mini isn't bad at all but that smoke looks absolutely atrocious. I really don't much care for GW's "effect" parts on minis recently and this is no exception.

Everything else looks decent though I maintain the new DA Terminators are a downgrade in all but scale.

[Helias_Tancred]

Good upcoming release, I look forward to the Lazarus novel  .... down the road I may build up another Dark Angel collection?

 

Edited February 18 by Helias_Tancred

[Halandaar]

1 hour ago, Karhedron said:

So will that be be 4 weeks in total between them hitting the shelves? Well, if Blood Angels are coming later this year and follow the same pattern, that will make it a little easier to resist the hype train for the limited box and restrict myself to just what I need.

 

Five weeks, I'd be wary of drawing any conclusions at this stage though; the Flesheater Courts range for AoS only hit store shelves yesterday and that army box came out before Christmas. If Kroot is also a short turnaround then maybe can start to call it a pattern.

[Tokugawa]

17 minutes ago, Orange Knight said:

About the Companions - has anyone seen the sprue or instructions? I assume you don't have to make one with a banner, and could put together a squad of six without duplicating it?

" Each miniature builds one of two poses, with two heads, two swords, and two backpack topper options each. "

 

You needn't to worry about clone models if you brought just 6.

[Nephaston]

20 minutes ago, Orange Knight said:

About the Companions - has anyone seen the sprue or instructions? I assume you don't have to make one with a banner, and could put together a squad of six without duplicating it?

so far I've seen two different sets of arms per body. So the banner is indeed optional. In fact it is so optional it doesn't have any rules.

[CL_Mission]

17 minutes ago, Orange Knight said:

About the Companions - has anyone seen the sprue or instructions? I assume you don't have to make one with a banner, and could put together a squad of six without duplicating it?

You certainly can. I haven't seen the sprues but it looks like there is six sets of arms.

 

[Halandaar]

31 minutes ago, Orange Knight said:

I don't get the hate for the Asmodai model. As mentioned, the smoke is optional, and from what I can tell that's the most contentious element.

 

The whole thing is badly executed, even ignoring the smoke. Both weapons look awkward (Crozius is held too close to the head, sword in the helmet looks naff), blocky detail on the front (the necklace is massive like the 1990s version), the head without the hood is laughably bad, flappy cloths on the shoulders look stupid and disrupt the classic Astartes profile. Neither previous version of Asmodai - nor even the artwork this mini is ostensibly based on - had those cloth bits and they actively detract from the menacing look he used to have. 

 

There are usable bits here but as an overall model it is (IMO of course) the worst of the minis based on classic Mark Gibbons art by a long way, and maybe even the worst Primaris-ised named Astartes character of the whole lot.

[MoriyaSchism]

1 hour ago, Orange Knight said:

I don't get the hate for the Asmodai model. As mentioned, the smoke is optional, and from what I can tell that's the most contentious element.

It's not just the smoke, it's the whole model in general. I feel like this is the only time that the direct adaptation of Mark Gibbons art didn't hit the mark for me. We already had a superior design in the finecast Juan Diaz model. A model so good that GW used it in pre-release promotional art for the Dark Angels.

 

 

[Helias_Tancred]

I'm not a fan of the smoke effect. However I have seen a painted Asmodai minus the smoke and he looked fine imo. I don't care for those sort of effects but they made it an option.

[Chaplain Killmer]

GW probably put Asmodai on a big base and without the watcher, what Azrael has its a bit empty. So just take the watcher from the DA sprue and you should be fine :)