They had received their black box and I proceeded to plunder the contents.
Inside I found the codex (thank god) a squad of Terminators which the redshirt had already assembled and the dreadknight which sat untouched on its sprue. No power armor grey knights! Seriously guys? The staple of the release is missing? Well this didn't start off well.
First thing I did was pick up the dreadknight sprues and look it over. I would have liked to see it fully assembled and said as much to the redshirt. He said they weren't going near it until instructions arrived! Too bad, unimpressed I remained with just a simple sprue in hand.
I took a look at the assembled terminators next. I picked them up and scrutinized them carefully. Clearly the redshirt was told to go for variety, we had one with falchions, one with daemonhammer, one with warding stave, one with longsword and one with a halberd. First reactions didn't disappoint, I liked some of the angles he got with the weapons and the helmets didn't look horrible.
I then went on to leaf through the codex. Was interested to see some things (dreadknight stats, grenade rules, points costs) and read some absurd fluff (Draigo). Too bad Lysander wasn't a Grey Knight... maybe he wouldn't have been tortured.
All in all I was fairly impressed with the codex, lots of nice art, solid rules, got the gears turning.
Then I hit the army showcase sections and I remember why I was so disappointed. Every. Single. Model. Is. Static.
There are literally no models moving about, they are all standing awkwardly with their blocky storm bolters and uncomfortable looking weapons. The level of detail and awkward proportions present in the sculpts makes them look like they were made at the same time as the disappointingly comical plastic Daemon Prince.
Having this reminder I looked at the Terminators again. They look to me like they were just plastic casts of the metal models of old. Then I looked again and realized I didn't even think they were on par with the metals. They have flat panels where there should be some rad details (knee plates specifically.) They have the same problem with blocky storm bolters compounded by the need to attach box clips in place of the (slightly) smaller sickle magazines (please just give me belt feeds again.) The vents on the back (look similar to the standard terminator's) look so out of place and hastily sculpted with the changed upper torso. Finally the way the cast flows at the leg joints makes them look like they belong in a starter set. Certainly not a CA$60.00 plastics kit.
Before I left I gave the codex one last look and thought long and hard about the future of my Daemonhunters.
I ended up spending my 60.00 christmas gift certificates on the preorder of the Grey Knights codex and I picked up the Dark Eldar codex as well.
Maybe I can just track down some more metal minis to expand my infantry with.
I'm going to spend the weekend brooding over the denizens of the dark city and see where I stand with them.
Let me know what your reactions to the Grey Knights codex are once you see it. What do you think of the new models? Have we been spoiled by the Blood Angels/Dark Eldar/Space Wolves releases or am I right in saying these don't stack up?
Give me opinions from all sides of the sphere.
Cheers,
Kelly
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