Welcome to the unboxing post of the third Horus Heresy Character Series kit on the Workshop! Gracing my workbench this week is Angron, the Primarch of the World Eaters, the first Primarch ever released by Forgeworld. Similar to the Fulgrim unboxing I’ll note on the box contents, post detail photos of the sub-assemblies so far and comment on the overall quality of the kit. So without further ado, let’s take a look at this beauty… hop in if you dare face the wrath of the Red Angel!

As with the other Character Series packages Angron comes in the standard black box trademarked Horus Heresy. I had watched some unboxing videos from YouTube users mainly and the common complaint in almost all of them was the lack of compartments in the box and the protective foams. I was confident that by the time of writing this and the order the miniature Forgeworld would have caught up with the idea and used some protective pads in the pack. The product has been on the market for about 1-2 years but it seems the same procedure continues – no foam, single compartment space. This means the mini and its components have quite a bit of room to move, making the mini more prone to damage.

Impressive how they house all the Character minis in such a small box. The leaflet just shows a fully assembled bare resin Angron. No backside. For those still not sure, yep, this is not a toy. Angron Lots of large pieces with about as large vents, next to tiny detail pieces and plenty of room to move. Not good.

There are no specific instructions given as to how to assemble Angron – it is assumed that you have some experience with Forgeworld kits (hence also the age disclaimer at 15+) but putting together everything isn’t really rocket science. I would still recommend giving the webpage photos on Forgeworld a few once-overs and the all round 360 applet helps a ton. Better safe than gluing a piece wrongly, ruining your precious kit!

Here’s the detail of the pieces out of the box, starting with the base.

The large 60mm scenic base and the 40mm gaming base. Look at those vents! Angron Angron At the end it took me quite some time to carefully remove all extra resin. Angron First casualty. Second casualty and details. This guy's bolter was broken from the sprue and hand... shame. The sprue also holds the legs for the casualty on the 40mm base.

Forgeworld depicts Angron slaughtering loyalist World Eaters space marines from Isstvan III during the onset of the Horus Heresy on the store page which I like and am likely to adopt on my version as well. With all this said I found the two bases a bit lackluster in detail compared to the beauty that is Fulgrim’s base. As usual the scenic base sits on a 60mm round base for which I have acquired a plinth and there’s also a fully removable 40mm base if you want to field Angron in 30k games. As with Fulgrim this is a moot point for me and I’m likely to fill the gaps from assembly and keep him on the scenic base. What’s lackluster in base details is made up with the dynamic pose of the marines being chopped down – I reckon the one losing his arm is going to take some significant pinning and putty work as the slot where the foot goes does not attach flush on my version. The other marine holding a bolter is fine as he sits on a rock that gets socketed into the base.

Unfortunately due to the packaging choices I mentioned above my copy of Angron had some damage to one of the casualties – the bolter was broken off from the sprue AND the hand. Not something that cannot be mended but again reinforces the fact that some foam is needed to lock in the parts and avoid such mishaps to an expensive model like this. Besides, the damage is on a very visible part of the model and I think it could have been much worse, especially with the cloak!

On to the Primarch himself.

Body, cloak, weapons and casualty details on the sprues. Gorefather comes in two pieces, here's the blade. There's also a sword that I've not seen mentioned thus far in the Horus Heresy books. Right arm and left arm holding Gorechild. Quite a bit of flash especially around the inner parts of weapons. Easily removed with a sharp blade. Angron The World Eaters leagion insignia are awesome. FW opted for a static head. Not that I'm complaining, as the detail is insane. Clearly Angron is a gladiator. Angron The crest and the Butcher's Nails are a delight to see. Angron Another great focus point. Each chain and piece of fur is chiseled piece by piece. Bravo Simon Egan. Angron Angron

Though the quality of the model really speaks for itself it is quite remarkable I think that as a Primarch prototype the level of detail is outstanding. Sculpted by Simon Egan the mini pretty much shouts out all the qualities we love about Angron and adds some! For me the real highlights are the face with the fierce expression and Butcher’s Nails etched onto the skull, his gladiatorial armor and pteruges and the very detailed cloak of furs and chains symbolizing freedom from his oppressors in Desh’ea. The sculpting of the World Eaters iconography is superb. There was only one casting error on the left leg but that was very easily corrected with a blade and I guess I got some experience from fixing Fulgrim! There are also some bubbles to be filled here and there. Some of them are in really obscure places like right under his toe or buried in a shoulderpad so I recommend giving several once-overs to your copy.

Here’s a set of my WIP shots before the fully assembled model as well as the full set of sub-assemblies to paint. The cloak itself is quite heavy and is difficult to tack but I managed to attach it in the final shots. I reckon it will require some pinning to the back of the figure. Another piece that was a pain to tack correctly is the casualty without the arm, so the photo shoot was not easy!

Here's the Red Angel without the casualties. Angron Angron Angron Angron And here we have him with his victims. Angron Angron Sub-assemblies. Probably can do with less but let's work with this lot for now.

Here’s the fully assembled model. Though the kit is very busy there’s a surprisingly smaller number of assemblies and all go pretty quickly. Once I deal with the bubbles and gaps it will go straight to primer stage!

Angron on his 40mm base. Angron Angron Angron Angron on the 60mm scenic base. Angron Angron Angron Angron

Overall Impression

As the first Primarch ever released this is quite a stunning piece especially how dynamic everything is and the pure rage depicted on Angron’s features. There are lots of spiky parts like his halo, the chain-axes Gorefather and Gorechild as well as the dangling chains on the cloak which call for care when handling the model. There is no instruction manual I could find but it’s not crucial as said and putting together a rough dry-fit didn’t take me more than a few minutes. The sculpt is superb, balance of the pieces is great, especially considering that Angron is attached on an inclined peg to the 40mm base. All in all a superb kit – save for the packaging which is the only part I’m mad at and is the root cause of damage, forcing me to rate only 4 stars for the model.

 

Verdict: ♦♦♦♦◊ Good

 

I hope you enjoyed this review and found it useful. If so, consider giving it a like and sharing with friends, and let me know what you think about Angron in the comments!


Filed under: Angron, Horus Heresy Character Series, Review, WIP Tagged: angron, assembly, horus heresy, miniature hobby, primarch, tips, WIP, world eaters