Kromlech has sent Blood of Kittens products for review and like any good wargamer we sent them off to someone better at painting and hobbying than me, here is a review by one of my favorite players and painters Jody Pez Man. Jody is available for commissions for characters and squads only contact him at pez5767@hotmail.com for pricing and details.

Review of Kromlech Wardemons:  Zg’orzel, The Morbid Herald and Morbid Beast Araneaeman

In addition to the Kromlech Wardemon Putrid Snail Beast and the Morbid Beast “Chimney” from my last review (here), I also had the opportunity to work with Zg’orzel, The Morbid Herald and the Morbid Beast Araneaeman, Lesser Wardemon.

The Morbid Beast Araneaeman Lesser Wardemon requires a little bit of assembly, and much like the Putrid Snail Beast doesn’t have any modular components for assembly. However, the casting was very clean and only had the most minimal of mold lines.  The details on the figure are deeply cut and very crisp featuring an excellent variety of textures and surfaces to work with.

In painting the Araneaeman I used a similar layered, wash approach to the one I used in my review of the Snail Beast and Chimney Wardemons.  If you’d like to read more about that, follow the link above, or follow this link to an article I did for Santa Cruz Warhammer about painting with washes. What I will say about painting the Araneaeman Lesser Wardemon; is as I worked through specific details, images of spiders, the human centipede, and something out of a trypophobics worst nightmares were conjured. The Araneaeman is less whimsical than the other Kromlech Wardemons, and as such, could be used in a wide variety of armies and instances. Similarly, Zg’orzel, The Morbid Herald would fit the role of almost any Nurgle hero.

Considering how clean the other Kromlech casts I’ve worked with, I was surprised to see flash on the head and worm-companion components of Zg’orzel, The Morbid Herald.  However, I was able to, literally, wipe away the flash with an old paintbrush; no further cleaning was needed in those areas.  After attaching Zg’orzel’s head and right arm, I left the worm-companion separate to make the painting process a little easier. As the harness on the worm-companion is very delicate and would be in the way during painting, I would recommend using a similar sub-assembly when painting the model.

I went with a more traditional green look while painting Zg’orzel, The Morbid Herald’s robes.  I also attempted to add a more distressed and textured look to his shoulders and robe by using layers of stippling between the layers of wash.  I painted Zg’orzel’s flesh in a similar way to the other Kromlech Wardemons, so he would look unified with the other 3 models.  The details on Zg’orzel’s face a very fine, and you could easily spend hours working in more nuanced layers of color and depth than what I’ve done here.  However, the details are crisp enough that a traditional basecoat and wash approach would yield an excellent result as well.

In terms of scale, the Kromlech Wardemons are quite large.  For sake of comparison, Zg’orzel, The Morbid Herald is on a 40mm base, the Araneaeman is on a 50mm (the same size a GW Chaos Spawn is supplied with now), and the other two figures are on 60mm bases. Araneaeman, the Snail Beast, and “Chimney” would serve equally well as either Beasts of Nurgle or Chaos Spawn.  Additionally, the combination of Zg’orzel, The Morbid Herald and the Morbid Beast Araneaeman would serve as wonderful Nurgle proxies for the Forgeworld models Sayl the Faithless and Nightmaw.  After having worked with quite a few Kromlech models I think their crisp details and heavy use of texture really make Kromlech models such a joy to work with. Whether you have only basic hobby skills or are a master painter, Kromlech’s models will yield an excellent result to add a unique element to your army.

Hopefully, you’ve found this review helpful.  Before long I’ll have another Ork review headed your way. Thank you again to Kromlech and Blood of Kittens for the opportunity to review these models. Until next time, happy hobby!