Hobby Table: Stormcast Eternals Vanguard Hunters

Get your brushes and clippers, and welcome to the Space Dinosaur Hobby Table, where I cover what I've completed recently in the Age of Sigmar hobby, along with my thoughts on the sculpts, how easy they're to paint, and any tips or tricks I can pass on to make your life easier. Today's post will cover the sneaky soldiers of Sigmar's army: the Vanguard Hunters. 

With the release of Age of Sigmar 3.0 and the new Stormcast Eternals, it was time for me to look at some of the older Stormcast models that I have. While I do genuinely believe that the newer models look far better, the old range does have some good ones. The Retributors in particular I like, more so than the new Annihilators. I do think that these Vanguard Hunters look pretty good, although I think they sit in a pretty weird design space. 

My main issue stems from their lore and the design cues on the model. These are supposed to be stealthy infiltrators, attacking the strongholds of Chaos in rapid assaults. But they're dressed in full war plate, which in my mind goes against the whole "sneaky" thing. If GW wanted more convincing scouts, I think some normal humans would have done a better job. I have similar issues with the Vanguard Raptors that have the same design cues.

Outside of those lore ramifications, I do like these models. The fur and tassels really help to add more varied textures to the basic Stormcast model. The flowing cape gives the mini a more pronounced silhouette than the boring old Liberator. You can have a lot of fun adding different colorations into the fur too. I added the subtle effect by layering on some washes in a V pattern along the cloak. 

I did do a tiny conversion on the astral compass on one of the models, more from necessity than desire. The model came with a mistake in the plastic injection and the hand and compass were just wisps of thin, undefined plastic. A quick trip to some bits from the Celestial Hurricanum and that resolved my issues. 

Now for my overall thoughts on the model, I will judge it based on two categories. Firstly, the sculpt itself will be scored on a scale of 0 to 10, with 5 being average, 0 horrendous, and 10 a marvel. For a reference point, I consider the Stormcast Liberator to be a 5, neither great nor bad. Just a passable, average model. Then I will score on Ease of Painting, between 1 and 5, 1 being a slog to paint and 5 being a breeze.

 

My Stormcast Eternals Vanguard Hunters review:

Sculpt: 6/10

A really nice change of pace to the standard Liberator. That said, still not a stand out model, especially compared to some of the other models in the Age of Sigmar range. 

Ease of Painting: 4/5

The model is easy to paint as almost all Stormcast are, but the cape can get in the way of easy painting if you already glued it on like I did. 

Final tips: There are some details obscured by the cape, so don't feel pressured to paint them. It saves you time and frustration from trying to squeeze a brush into confined areas. 

-The Space Dinosaur