Descending like Angels of Righteous Fury, the new Venatari box is up for pre-order this weekend. Thanks again to Games Workshop for providing this kit for review.
What's in the Kit
This new box contains six plastic Venatari. These are on two sets of identical sprues of three bodies, meaning you get two of each pose. Each sprue set contains options for both the Verutum Lances or the Destroyer and Buckler combo, with optional Neutronium Cascade Mines, so you can equip all your models with whichever loadout you prefer. Each set also comes with 5 bare heads, so you’ll have to pick your favourite to double up if you want them all with different heads. You also get four pairs of wings for every three Venatari so the spares are ideal for conversion fodder.
Assembly
These go together as easily as most other Heresy infantry kits (not too many parts, not too many options), except for a couple of frustrating moments. There are some really unfortunately placed mould lines in this kit, specifically on some of the leg armour panels and around the entirety of the jumppack. These require very careful scraping and filing to avoid breaking the smooth curves and edges of the panels and it really slowed down our build. We also found seating the thigh panels to be a little more tricky than expected, with very small contact points that made holding them in place whilst the glue set essential.
These bloody plates
Unlike the other jump infantry in Heresy, Venatari attach to their bases via pieces of modelled ruins/rubble. Obviously that’s fine if you’re building Siege of Terra/Burning of Prospero style forces like us, but something you’ll want to plan for if you’re using a different base scheme. There’s only one nub on each foot to attach to this, with all the detail still sculpted around it so it’s easy enough to scrape that off and pin to whichever base you like. I’d recommend pinning regardless as it seems like a prime point for breakage during transport.
Venatari base attachment. Credit: NotThatHenryC
NotThatHenryC: I actually quite liked these and mine seem pretty secure. There’s tread covering nearly all of the models’ feet so you wouldn’t have much work to do if you wanted to stick them onto something else or even have them floating on a wire or something. I’ll be more worried about breaking the spears, personally.
It is worth noting that this kit is a lot more flexible than the Custodian Guard kits where their specific bodies, cloaks and arms have to be built together, with features like hands of different sizes for the male and female Custodes making it extra difficult to swap anything. There’s none of that with the Venatari; you can stick any arms onto any Venatari body with straightforward flat joints at the shoulder, meaning you're not stuck with identical posing across your army if you want to run two or more squads. There’s space under the jump pack for the Misericordia and Neutronium mine, which is covered by the cloak on the Troops. The downside is having only three poses to work with, not six.
One surprising feature is that you get twice as many shoulder pads as you need. This means it’s possible to build both sets of arms and magnetise them (Magnet Sickos rejoice). Henry did with two of his using 3x1mm magnets. You might be able to get away with 2x1mm, and it’s easier to drill holes for smaller ones, but 3x1 is more stable and harder to misalign.
Venatari magnetised arms Credit: NotThatHenryC
It’s probably worth leaving the jump pack off for painting. Leaving it on, means you'll struggle to paint some of the finer detail on the shoulder pads, and the air intake behind the halo becomes almost impossible to reach.
Painting
Max: Similarly to the previous Custodes kits these paint up really nicely. Yes there's a lot of detail, but you can easily achieve a very quick and effective scheme whether you’re airbrushing or drybrushing.
Adeptus Custodes Venatari Sodality. Credit:Max
The bodyglove elements on the Venatari also give you an opportunity to add in a nice bit of contrast vs the standard Custodes kits which can feel a little overwhelmingly gold at times.
I found sub-assemblies very helpful for painting leaving the jump pack as recommended above. I also left the heads off because I personally find them a lot easier that way. I would also consider leaving the raised left hand spear off as it similarly can get in the way of the chest area on that sculpt (obviously very easy if you’re magging them).
For me I wanted to go for more of a tarnished desaturated gold for mine (similar to original Forge World Venatari) so opted for Scale75 paints. Using the airbrush I laid down a coat of Decayed Metal, a generous zenithal of Necro Gold, into a very tight highlight of Elven Gold on the key highlight points. I then went back to establish deeper shadows using very thin purple ink from below.
Once this was set I applied a recess oil wash of 1:1 Emerald Green and Shadow Brown (which in hindsight I could have been more generous with) to establish a sort of tarnished patina (yes I know gold doesn’t patina in real life, but maybe Auramite does huh?).
After this had dried fully, I went back and highlighted any details with Necro Gold, Elven Gold and a final drybrush of Citrine Alchemy.
Venatari. Credit:Max
NotThatHenryC: I also found these models straightforward to paint, though not especially quick. I’m doing bright clean Custodes* so I used Vallejo TMM Imperial Gold for most of the armour, with their silver for the details. I used the wash and highlight colours that come with those paint sets, which are a very good system. The jump packs are time-consuming with lots of twiddly bits to pick out but I think they look really good. At least there’s no cloak to paint.
Venatari with Verutum Lances. Credit: NotThatHenryC
I put some Vallejo exhaust manifold on some of the tubes and intakes, using a very dark metal to differentiate the functional parts from the decorative armour.
There are lots of textures on these models. Armour, various types of cloth, leather, skin, gems and so on. They’re models that reward some time investment. They’ll look mostly done after a gold base coat and a wash but then you’ll find you actually have a ton of stuff left to do. I based my models with rubble, plus various hats and skulls.
Venatari rear view Credit: NotThatHenryC
*My last army was Raven Guard so it’s time to do something shiny!
Final Thoughts
We had fun with these guys. They’re a really nice kit, so long as you don’t mind scraping off mould lines.
Venatari mould lines. Credit: NotThatHenryC
Does it make sense for the Emperor, who insists that he isn’t a god and who we definitely shouldn't be worshipping, to dress up his personal guard as Angels? Yes! If the Emperor says so, it must be right.
Venatari with Kinetic Destroyers and Tarsus Bucklers. Credit: NotThatHenryC
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Tags:
Horus Heresy |
the horus heresy |
heresy 3rd edition
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Goonhammer Reviews: Horus Heresy Adeptus Custodes Venatari Sodality
