White Dwarf 388 - Empire!

So White Dwarf 388 is out and, would you know it, it's all about these empire chaps. Even though the pictures have been on the internet for a week or so, it's nice to see them in print. Now that i've had a proper look at these guys i can say that i'm still not blown away by Karl Franz/Generic General on Griffon. The pose is just too static, it looks like a statue of a griffon (especially when you put it alongside the Island of Blood griffon), and i'm still not sold on the random Steam Tank hull they've strapped on its chest. That said, the two-headed one is the best of the bunch.

With the, slightly disappointing, griffon out of the way i'm very happy with all the other releases, especially the Celestial Hurricanum, which may get re-puropsed as a Tzeentch Warshrine for the Warriors of Chaos army i have to keep stopping myself from buying.

Now i've seen the Demigryph Knights, i think they look cool, plus, they're on 50x75 bases, so they wont look stretched out/dwarfed by their base.

Of the rest of the models, the Master Engineer is nice (i prefer him to have the scope) the captain is holding his weapon all weird, but shouldn't be too hard to convert. The Witch Hunter and Warrior Priest are the best of the four new finecast (the wizard is probably third). My only complaint is with the re-released finecast models, to be exact the "HEROES OF THE EMPIRE - VALTEN", three resin models for £40? World. Gone. Mad. I don't think Forgeworld charges that much (i'm ignoring the existence of Lietpold the Black here, otherwise my argument would look stupid).

All in all, i'm impressed with the Empire releases (also, am i the only one who's noticed that Flagellants are Special choices now?) and it's taking a lot of willpower for me not to start collecting them (that said, i have ordered the book and Master Engineer, just to see them in the 'flesh'). Once i've completed the Vampires (or Skaven) i'll consider Empire (or Warriors).