Mortarion :-(

Hey there Chaos fanatics! Old Man Chaos is back with yet another piece of hobby goodness (or badness, depending on your point of view). This article is a bit mixed in terms of my own feelings and sentiments. So let's take a look...

So, I must admit to several things. First, I was really excited by the idea of a Death Guard codex and special releases. I was also greatly looking forward to the new units, the new tank particularly. Of course, I was stoked about the impending release of Mortarion. Especially as I loved my finished Magnus- what a great model.

Unfortunately, my hopes were dashed on all fronts. The Death Guard codex is lackluster. It is very gimmicky with the POTENTIAL Mortal Wounds, but it is not strong, relying on hordes of Poxwalkers (which is fine, but I want an all marine option too). As it stands, the Plague Marines are too expensive points wise. Further the book invalidated things like Heldrakes and the like (I guess you could have a separate CSM detachment for them, but that becomes annoying). The Plaguecrawler is also a lackluster vehicle with a poor ballistic skill. I want to get one, but the rules make it suck in my opinion. And then, there's Mortarion...

I have never felt so torn on a GW model. On the one hand, its great to have another Daemon Primarch on the field. Mortarion is a large model, much larger than Robute Guilliman (though smaller than Magnus, which I "get"). The inclusion of Silence and the Lantern shows that GW pays attention to their own fluff. Finally, the face and gas mask is very nicely done- he looks sickly and deformed, but still strong. Love the face. And his armor is quite cool too, complete with pockmarks and the like.

Unfortunately, I have way too many problems with the rest of the model. First, the total lack of posibility. The model only goes together two ways. One way both weapons are down. The other the gun is pointed (obviously I went with that one). But I am really upset about the poses. I envisioned Mortarion sweeping with his scythe like the grim reaper, rather than it just kind of being at his side.

I am also not too fond of Mortarion's pose as a whole. I despise how it looks like Mortarion is leapfrogging. I know its supposed to make him dynamic. But Mortarion shouldn't be dynamic. His is slow creeping death, not a jumpy and hovering. I imagine him standing all nice and decayed, like a monolith. I also dislike how the cloak holds him up- it just looks stupid in my eyes.

Finally, the other things on the model make it look WAAAAAYYYY too busy. There are way too many censers on Mortarion. One would have been sufficient. As it stands there's just too many jutting off him. And then there's the Nurglings. I made a huge mistake in putting them on his base. I did because he MUST have the two flying ones carrying the censers (otherwise you would have to make some nasty cuts on the model).

I would be remiss if I didn't mention the wings. The model comes with two bug wings, which look similar to the wings on the daemon Plague Drones of Nurgle. On a regular daemon prince they would be cool. But Mortarion needs something bigger and more evil looking. The bug wings just look silly on him. So I added different wings, from the old Balrog LoTR set. He looks more like an angel of death instead of moth man. LOL

The model took me forever to paint. Part of the problem is that it is way too busy and detailed. Deatil is fine, but add on the cloak, the nurglings, the censers, etc... well, it tends to slow painting production down quite a bit. Then there is another issue. Enthusiasm. Or the lack thereof. I was just so not into painting him. Unlike say Magnus or the Bloodthirster, I wasn't too excited to paint Mortarion. I just kept feeling indifferent about the model. No doubt the paint job suffered as a direct result.

So how did he turn out? Considering all of the above not too bad, though he pales in comparison to my work on Magnus or the bloodthirster. It's just too bad I don't like the model more. To me, while I get what GW was going for, it just doesn't work for me. I am looking forward to using him in battle sometime soon.

Sorry if this article seemed to be a complain-fest. But hey its my blog so I'm allowed LOL

I am however looking forward to my next projects. I'm finishing up a few more mechanicus pieces (Rangers with Arquebuses). I also have some of the Plague Marine special characters which I got from my friend Pete. Finally, my wife bought Shadespire for me. I just like the idea of a fast paced game that takes less than half an hour. And I love the models in the set. Reminds me of Heroquest a little bit...

Until Next Time...