Sneaky, sneaky GW. I wasn’t planning on posting a Day 3 review since this was Black Library day, but you could say something snuck up on me. They just appeared out of nowhere and faded back into the mists. Mission accomplished.
Enough with the furtive puns, the Tanith First & Only returns to the battlefield! We’re getting the early principles of the regiment in plastic, plus Bragg. They need a little heavy support. At the moment, we don’t know if these are going to be available in decent quantities, like the Noise Marine or Talons of the Emperor, or if they’ll be a tight limited release.
But till then, lets get a closer look at the miniatures and compare to their original metal releases.
Day 3 Review – Tanith First & Only Miniatures
Colonel-Commissar Ibram Gaunt
Metal is so slimming! When rescupting miniatures for a plastic medium they seem to gain a few pounds in the legs and torso. We can put that down to one too many meals in the officer’s mess or that he’s wearing actual armor under his uniform. Armor, has to be the armor.
However, plastic gives GW plenty of room to work with depth. While metal Ibram is mostly a flat plane, with only the sword projecting out, plastic Ibram has good depth. The raised knee, chainsword, and cloak all push out of the plane formed from his torso, bolt pistol and head.
Also, really nice to see him aiming with a properly sized gun. Add a stock and it would make a decent carbine. Maybe he took that one off a space marine.
Games Workshop hasn’t had a commissar with the stock bolt pistol and chainsword in awhile, so it is nice to see that option in play again. Plus, the early stories had him with just that pairing. Undoubtedly he’ll have some special rule to reflect his superior skills. Can’t have a named character falling behind unnamed commissars.
Colonel Colm Corbec
Gaunt’s Ghosts was one of the first GW series I read. While you expected the surrounding Guardsmen to drop, the main named characters were supposed to go on and on. Imagine my surprise when Colm just died. He wouldn’t be the last. Glad to see you back, Colonel.
Once again, you can see the weight gain. However, here his armor shows prominently and the cloak adds bulk to his already muscular frame.
I like they decided to go with a haggard head. Between the fuller beard and irregular hair, Colm’s showing more than a bit of war weariness and age. Nice change from the uber-heroic sculpt.
Again, in terms of depth, plastic Colm wins. Hands down. His head is nestled down in the folds of his camo cloak. Then it wraps around behind his torso. I get a sense of space there as well. While his lasgun remains in frame with his stance, his arm points out as if it just snapped down to indicate movement or direct fire.
Master Sniper Hlaine Larkin
Our final pair of comparison pics shows Mad Larkin at work. The plastic mini’s stance prevents you from seeing weight gain, but still provides that sense of depth from the cloak and underlying details. A good reimagining of Larkin.
However, I’m going to say I prefer the sense of character from the older miniature. I think every Guard sniper from that era, and since, was sighting in on a target. Here Larkin is set back and relaxed. He’s surveying the field before deciding on his next kill. That bit of calm before action is rare in GW miniatures.
Plus, his sniper rifle has been clearly modified from a long-las. It has a side-mounted hotshot power pack and wooden stock. Nice.
Major Elim Rawne
Rawne, near villian that he was, did not receive a miniature back in the day. This plastic more than makes up for it. His steel’s out and ready to stick it into someone unsuspecting. Rawne oozes deadly casual violence.
There’s not as much play with depth in his figure, the knife arm pose could have been done with metal, although it would be one piece with his chest. However, the spaces under his off arm and depth around his neck and shoulders would have been much harder to pull off.
‘Try Again’ Bragg
Back in the day, my Bragg was a Catachan with a Leman Russ’ heavy stubber. A crappy green stuff cloak wasn’t much of an improvement.
Now, this looks much more like book Bragg. He’s wielding a chopped down autocannon and braced to lay down the pain. Bragg would deliver quantity of fire over accuracy in every scene. With any luck he’ll get a few rules to increase his rate of fire, maybe with a permanent BS 5+, or reroll. He’d hit pretty often when he’d try again.
Nearly two decade old spoilers, he’s gone too.
Sergeant Scout Oan Mkoll
While present from the beginning of Gaunt’s Ghosts, Mkoll has figured prominently in the later part of the series. Here we see the master scout in his element, hunting. The pose, crouched over with hand on raised leg would have been very hard to pull off with metals. We might have seen it in a Forge World design, but not metal blister packs.
Like the older Larkin model, Mkoll has been caught in a moment of calm. While his hand holds Tanith’s straight silver, it isn’t in a ready grip. Here, I see him about to point out a track or trace to a promising scout in training. Alternately, he may be addressing the assembled officers regarding the latest reconnaissance and sketching out some details in the field. Whether you subscribe to either interpretation or one of your own, he’s not about to stick someone, he’d be stepping over the branch if that was his intent.
Thank you for looking over our Day 3 Review. My apologies for not getting to any of the books, but I’m strictly on the game side of things here!
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