Scales of the Hydra

The wait is over! 

Today, Forge World announced that Alpharius and the Lernaeans are now on pre-order. I have been waiting, very literally, years for this to happen. Naturally, I have placed a pre-order for both, using the Scales of the Hydra bundle that puts the Primarch and his elite terminators together in a single order. 

The price point of both are a little higher than I was perhaps anticipating. The most expensive Primarch to date is Magnus. He is indeed a large miniature with a lot of extra things happening on his base (such as the magic stones he appears to be shooting ahead of him). To my surprise, both Rogal Dorn and Alpharius are next in line in terms of price. To be honest, I would have thought either Corax (with his large dynamic pose) or Horus (just because of the sheer bulk of his figure and his base) would be the next most expensive. To be honest, both Perturabo and Mortarion both have a large amount of bulk to them as well, including the base. To my eyes, Alpharius has somewhat less bulk in terms of the sheer amount of resin. However, given that he is new, and that I really like the sculpt (coupled with my statement above about waiting years), I am prepared to pay.

The Lernaean Terminators also feel slightly high. Compare them, for instance, with the Death Guard Deathshroud terminators, or the Iron Hands Gorgons. They certainly look like similar bulk and quantity of resin. Only the Iron Warriors tyrants are more expensive comparatively - and there we are paying for the missiles that they carry on top of their armour. However, seen against the Space Wolf Varagyr terminators, they are worth it. Basically: we get the conversion beamer for free in addition to all the other parts. Or maybe it could be put a different way. Ten pounds for a conversion beamer in comparison to the Death Guard? Once again though, these are miniatures that I have been waiting for such a long time to get my hands on that I was always going to order them regardless. Even if I don't use them as is, I think that they would make wonderful command squad style infantry. 

All that said, I'm really excited! Can't wait to open these guys up when they arrive in just over a week's time. I have waited years. I can wait another week for the pre-orders to actually ship.

[Image copyright belongs to Forge World. Used here under "Fair Use" clause to illustrate discussion above on the new products. No infringement intended on copyright.]