Dorn's Dawn

The past few days have seen a rush of announcements of various types coming out of Games Workshop and its associated branches. One of them in particular grabbed my attention, and that of plenty of other Heresy fans: the imminent release of a finished Rogal Dorn model for 30k.

The accompanying video that went alongside the announcement on the Warhammer Community webpage captured the real essence of this model for me. In the video, the designers talk about Dorn effectively being the new Warmaster -- the Imperial Loyalist Warmaster -- following the fall of Horus Lupercal to chaos and sedition. This is ultimately the essence of what I also see in Rogal Dorn as well.

The pose of the model is in contrast to Horus though. Where Horus is depicted as the conquered of worlds, atop a marble staircase with his weapons at the ready to do some damage, the pose of Dorn here is that of a true master surveying the battlefield before him. To me, it looks like the battle is already over and that the outcome (should it have ever been doubted) was in Dorn's favour. At his feet lie the dead sons of the Night Haunter. I'm not sure what battle this is supposed to be in the background detail, but it certainly feels like an epic scene and aftermath. I could easily imagine that the rest of the battlefield is filled with the dead corpses of Dorn's enemies, whilst his loyal sons are helping their own recover dropped bolt guns from the field and escort wounded brothers to the medical bays. Hence, this pose is not dynamic, so much as inspecting, and even introspective, of the scene. What is Dorn thinking here? Is he pleased? Or is he feeling terrible at having to carve out the traitors that he once called loyal and numbered at brothers?

Other aspects that I like about this are the breeze catching the cape as it gusts uncaringly across the battlefield and the incidental details on the scenic base. Whilst I might have thought that Dorn's miniature would be a dynamic affair, I am actually pleased with how it has turned out ultimately. Not every Primarch needs to be captured in the moment of battle. This one of Dorn has the feel of a chess piece King. Check mate.

[Image sourced from, and copyright by, Warhammer Community.]