Imperial Castellum Stronghold Unboxed

This is one of those pieces that I have long wanted to own ever since it came out: the Imperial Castellum Stronghold. Remarkably, it is also my first ever purchase in the Realms of Battle style of board pieces. This ultimately means that I may end up getting more at some point. But we will see how this one goes first.

My Horus Heresy Review of the Imperial Castellum Stronghold can be found here. Clearly there are many build options to think about if we are going to use it as part of a game. For my Alpha Legion - if indeed I use it for them - it will come as a surprise for many opponents who are just not ready to face either an Alpha Legion force holed up inside the Stronghold -- or a portion of it that are infiltrating way beyond its boarders. Who says that the Alpha Legion are no good at fortifying their positions. With tanks hunters special rule on the battlements, I think this idea has a lot of potential. 

Obviously, it can also be used as a scenery piece in its own right without needed to think of using it for any kind of force. In doing so, I think I would want to consider a special deployment zone arrangement so that the Castellum is situated in no man's land at the commencement of any game given how good it could be if all its rules are in play. Otherwise, it could just be used as pure "scenery" in the sense of blocking lines of sight and being able to be clambered all over.

The picture above shows the Imperial Castellum Stronghold straight out of the boxing. It comes in a very large box from Forge World that is very well packed and protected from minor dents whilst in transit. 

What surprised me a little was that the resin it was cast from is black. I think I was expecting some kind of grey colour to be perfectly honest. At first, I even worried that they had sold me some kind of second hand one that had already received an undercoat of black spray paint. But no. The resin on this piece really is black to begin with.

Being cast of this material, the details on the piece are really crisp in most places. Indeed, there are very few holes or mis-cast portions anywhere on the entire model. Cleaning up flash lines will take minimal work. That said, I think I will glue in to place some small stones and scatter material before I undercoat this board centre piece just to add to its ambience. More on this project at a later date. Its going to be a long-term project!