Greetings wargamers. Today I’m setting out to give a good overlook of Games Workshops’ latest model release, the Chaos Exalted Deathbringer. So, lets get started.

So, first impressions are overall good. The model has a lot going on, a nice sculpt with a cool pose. Also, the 40mm base is nice. First thing I noticed about this box was the instruction sheet having highlighted surfaces showing where glue should be applied-I can see this being incredibly useful in larger, complex kits. Yes Slaughterbrute, I’m looking at you, you fat red fuck.

First off let’s have a look at the parts on the sprue. Overall there are 8 parts (how appropriate), and they are very tightly designed-no room for a custom pose without some knifework I’m afraid. But this is often the case with character models who aren’t Space Marines.

This guy would be very easy to do up in to a 40k character, a careful clip and snip could definetly see his wolverine gorefist deal swapped for a bolt weapon. Personally, I think he’s good to go with some Daemonkin as he is.

I’m going to go over the ‘cons’ later, for now I’d like to focus on the good shit;

The Axe:

If you’re a fan of Khorne, you’re a fan of Axes. You understand the importance, no, the necessity of a hefty, over the top and lucidcrously decorated axe. And this red bastard delivers. From tip to base this axe comes in at 2″-for reference, it dwarfs a Space Marine. Proper cool stuff. Gives off a real executioners vibe, perfect for skull claiming.

The Body:

I rarely ever say this word, so please understand the sincere weight of my meaning when I say-this pose is gnarly (dude). My camera doesn’t do any of this justice. You see this in Lego a lot as well as good Warhammer-even the best photo just can’t capture how good of a pose this guy is throwing. I recommend you hit your local GW and check it out yourself, he looks commanding, dominant and aggressive. I feel a bit aroused looking at his four million abs.

A truly majestic ponytail:

Maybe GW were cheating a bit of extra height, but it really fits with the half daemon/half barbarian look. Another point of praise here, and I’m not sure how well PotatoCam™ shows this, is the Khorne symbol on his forehead is actually sculpted in, not freehand as I suspected by the promo image.

The rest of his sculpt is largely good, his armour plates have a good amount of evil décor, and there’s a surprisingly tame amount of skulls on this half Daemon bitch of Khorne. Just the right amount if anything. So, I’m impressed. Now that I’ve covered all the exceptionally good, lets have a look at the bad.

How much ripped is too much ripped:

While I appreciate the trend among GW sculpters to firmly cement that this is a very manly hobby for only manly men, even this model takes the piss. It’s not the quality of the sculpt I’m criticising here, it’s what is actually sculpted. Look to the topmost picture above this paragraph-between his shoulders there’s a sort of ‘dip’, created by two arm-sized muscles holding his huge horned head up, and it’s frankly terrifying. Even for a daemon infused killing machine, it looks like some kind of post spinal operation recovery, something’s just missing. And then if we take a look at his absurd amount of chest, stomach, side, arm, back and fucking armpit muscles, you really see how overboard this model’s creator has gone. There’s no smoothness here, some of it comes across as a bit botched for the sake of MOAR HIGHLIGHTS.

Final Thoughts:

Overall, this model is fucking cool. Despite suffering from the typical Games Workshop ‘yo dawg i heard you liked muscles’ syndrome, and a slightly goofy face, this guy is still in line to become one of my favourite individual models. I think the pose sells it most of all-despite his static ‘stand triumphant’ look, he is dynamic and has a good depth to him. A bloody brilliant sculpt with lots of little details hiding around. He’ll be a fucking mission to paint. Another HUGE setback, ofcourse, is the price. I paid £17 for something akin to a hench terminator, while I have high praise I would definitely value it at 10, 12 pounds at the most. Heads out of asses, Games Workshop, you won’t have this market chokehold forever.

So overall, I’m giving him an 8/10 (see what I did there). Not without room for improvement, and glaringly overpriced, but a great addition to any Khornate legion for any dedicated cultist.