Masked Death & Shadowy Seers Arrive For Warhammer 40,000
February 21, 2015 by brennon
Games Workshop have bought out those new heroes for the Harlequins of Warhammer 40,000. See what you think of the Death Jester and the Shadowseer...
The new sculpts are in plastic and come in some very neat poses. I like the more athletic look to these models that's in keeping with the Solitaire that we saw come out at the start of the new Harlequin release schedule. All of this ties together nicely to make a very well themed army.
The real question is which one of these is the best? I would have to say the Death Jester simply due to his more threatening pose and...well, he's a bit of a metal head I reckon.
What do you think?
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That is one pretty awesomely painted Solitaire. Amazing! I really love it. 🙂
I like the minis and the paint scheme…….but, does anyone in the 40k or warhammer universe ever walk on the ground any more? Do they have to hop from piece of rubble, to lump of rock, to broken architectural feature. If every “special” character does it, then to me, none are special…….or at least its looking a little over done.
It’s so they don’t have to keep tripping over the long towels that dangle from the waist
What should we do with one of the coolest harlequins? Lets have him crouched down, hiding 90% of the cool bone armour, holding a shreiker cannon like its a hunting rifle.make sure “The Rock” is well detailed
The solitaire is probably the only model they have painted sufficiently multi-hued for me. More broken Eldar architecture and again no reason to buy if you already have previous versions. in my view. Just lacking that wow factor – but otherwise well executed.
I bought a few of the last original resin last week. The Shadowseers had massive finecast bubbles in the same place which could not be fixed with green stuff – and the Deathjester looked as if the mold’s time had run out : the detail was clearly lessening. I actually think these two models *had* to be remade – and I actually think the new plastics have a bit more character and detailing than the previous two. Why they have to be standing on ruins I have no idea. It’s absurd. What if these chaps attack a fortification for example?… Read more »
@poosh, that’s more of an issue of material and qc standards any company with regard to quality would have refused to release then sculpt quality. I was lucky to get the metals. However I remember when GW could get you to re-buy units and armies because the new stuff was that cool. Not sure if that is the miniature standard is hitting a bit of a plateau or the minis coming out lack that spark.
Quite the reverse. Now I go to ebay to buy the old stuff before it’s gone.
A complete box of those went for over 60 euros here on swedish “ebay” 🙂
They’ll go for less in a month or so, once the panic has died down, if the previous ‘replacement’ releases are any indication. But it used to be that guys would dump their old figures for a song when the new ones came out.
I think the resin process means certain models are prone to errors no matter what, after all the issue with the Shadow Seer is in the same single area (half an ammo pouch bubbled out). I’ve seen this before with Finecast, there is a distinction between random bubbles, and, bubbles which appear in the same area over and over (the way to fix this is to change the mold I believe, which may be costly). I honestly think they noted this issue and decided to replace the model with a plastic to avoid the constant need of replacing that model.… Read more »
Better than previous Harlequin offerings, and actually well painted. Still not fond of the base architecture. I’ll build my own if I need it.
Two superb models if you exclude the weird need obsession with “omgz-I-am-on-a-rock”ism with I believe a bit MORE detail than the resin models (who, from the looks of it, the molds were starting to die from the recent ones I purchased + finecast bubbles). That being said, once again GW ruin opportunities offered by plastic and release some mono-pose models, but at least the Shadowseer comes with an extra gun option and the Deathjester, I think, comes with a different mask option. Still, these models are far better than the leaked images – though at £16 you expect more potability… Read more »
£16! Are they on crack? Who would pay that? You can still buy a box of their older, multi-part, multi-pose units for around that price.
Yep you can indeed :s I think £12 for each model is reasonable *if* they had a few more options … which they don’t . If you’ve been paying attention GW have stopped their annual price hikes but have continued to shift the hikes elsewhere – their mono-post clam pack plastic models seem to have doubled in price. Before they used to be £8-12 which was reasonable. Eldar Farseer Plastic £12 Officio Prefectus Commissar Plastic £12 (option to have plasma or bolt pistol) Saurus Oldblood Plastic £9 Captain of the Empire Plastic £9 (NICE model) Somewhere inbetween the Plastic Daemon… Read more »
The ‘value’ of ANY box of GW stuff, for me, lay in the hours of fun I could look forward to in posing the figures and selecting all the bits that would hang off them, and the weapons they would use. I always factored in that entertainment value when I bought one of their products. And of course, I ended up with a handful of bits at the end that I could use elsewhere. Mono-pose figures take that aspect away… no thanks. There’s better, cheaper, multi-pose figures out there.
Well, art is art really, there is a massive range of metal/resin models which are mono-pose but are fantastic pieces of art. I have almost every single Warhammer Warrior Priest, for example: each one kicks ass. ((Make no mistake though, GW’s metal kids (and other metal kits, Avatars of War for example) did come with a few extra gun/head options in the blister)) But when you’re releasing a plastic model either keep the price reasonable or make it it a multi-part kit. When you see an £8 single-pose plastic, if it looks good that’s fine! But at £17.50….. no options?… Read more »
I actually prefer monopose as i hate assembling models these days – but then again I get all my “creative” enjoyment from sculpting my own stuff so when it comes to other peoples models I just want to get down to the painting!
@poosh I totally get ( and agree with ) what you’re saying, but your figures are a bit off. £7 per hour is well below the average wage in the UK, in fact it’s just above minimum wage. Average wage is more like £12 to £13 per hour.
Your point remains the same though. I like these models but the price does seem very high.
@abstractalien well these mono-pose plastics are not what you’re after :p as despite being mono-post with almost no options they’re something like 8-12 different pieces on the sprue despite being mono-pose
@erastus my figures are off but I think £7 per hour is to be expected for those who are more likely to buy GW products who *do* actually have a job.
I like the shadow seer but agree the death Jesters pose doesn’t show off his bones!! If you can take it off the ruins you could have some really nice lurking dioramas… Imagine slow deep laughter as Guardsmen are lured to their deaths…..
“I like the shadow seer but agree the death Jesters pose doesn’t show off his bones!! ”
Giggity
Damn straight.
I will admit, I have ordered the Harlequin book and Solitaire.
Any chance of a review @dracs, not really for me but will be interesting to see what you make of the book. I haven’t brought a codex since 7th – I am not playing and 7th highlighted anything I could buy now could be invalid in 18-24 months so I have held off on buying until/if I pick 40k for gaming again. @erastus – I think you need to take into account the average wage is a figure that bears very little relation to most peoples earnings, as it is an average. Now if we talk mean wage I think… Read more »
Although I forgot to add what people value something on is entirely personal – For someone who will use this army for the next year get hours of enjoyment from painting it cost per hour of entertainment could be very low so reasonable. For someone who is going to table top standard in a couple of hours and maybe use the army every 3-6 months that cost may be very unreasonable. Hence why I believe @warzan very rarely discusses price because it is so subjective.
@dags hate to turn this into a mathematical discussion, but the mean is not only an average, but is what most people are referring to when they use the word, “average” in everyday parlance. Of course it is true that the mean wage may be higher than what most people earn (by most I mean more than 50%) because it can be distorted by the very small number of people who earn massive amounts. Perhaps a better figure to use would be the median salary of around £500 per week (according to a report published this time last year). I… Read more »
Right Fighters Anonymous called. They’ve revoked your day pass 🙂 .
Oh I do love it when I get abuse on BoW @cpauls1 😛
The mean is not an average they are distinct and separate mathematical terms, and if mean is referred to as an average then it explains why I encounter incompetent figures on a daily basis at work. If you genuinely think the salary the majority of people earn in the UK is 26k then you are sadly mistaken.
@dags Average in Mathematics is a collective term for measures of central tendency. Mean, median and (to a lesser extent) mode are all averages, but when people say average, the usually (in the UK) at least refer to the arithmetic mean. An average is not meant to represent the most common value, unless you are specifically referring to the mode. In saying the “average” wage is 26k that does not in any way infer that this is the most common wage. If you are using average to talk about what most people earn, then you’re talking about a modal value… Read more »
Foot on thing is strong with these.
From the look of them it’s clear that they are trying to infuse a sense of motion, skill and agility in the models. The scenic bases being a tool to show they glide across the battlefield with ease. Weather it was executed in a fashion that works well is up to debate.
Very much so .. the solitaire could easily be mounted in a girls jewlery music box instead of the ballerina
lol @hatamoto . That’s a great idea!
The Jester is squatting on a broken arch. It has fallen and amazingly landed upright! It is highly unstable so you squat on top of it in the middle of a battle? I get that the Harlies are Eldritch nutcakes but even so, it seems a preposterous vignette to me The Shadowseer is dancing on top of a similarly miraculously fallen arch, presumably to see how long he can do that until he falls of and/or breaks the remains. Or gets shot. I get no sense of using the architecture as a springboard. Just a figure posed on top. One… Read more »
Never was sure why Lelith Hesperax was running up a spear/standard that was sticking out of the ground, but at least she looks as though she knew and would smack your head off for daring to question her motives! lol
I love the ShadowSeer above……….captures (keeps) the Harlequin feel more than any of the new releases.
I’ll make my own solitaire I reckon….
I think people on here are confusing the solitaire in black trench coat and demon mask with this Shadowseer.
I must admit I am not sure what all the fuss is about the bases. Many manufacturers have the standing on or foot on something sculpt = kinda got used to it. I always like to change or create something on my bases but I guess if you hate re-basing or creating your own base it can be an issue…
It all depends @spaced2020 The foot on a random small rock cliche deserves all the derision it gets. There are legitimate uses for resting one foot on something, even a rock. But not just some small dejected rock Make it look as though there is good reason for that pose. Not just as an easy way to break a straight vertical line for a standing figure. To be fair it is within most people’s abilities to use some Greenstuff to make the sad bit of rubble more substantial But come on sculptors, do a proper job. Not everyone wants to… Read more »
Totally agree @spaced2020 Foot on a small rock does look a bit silly, but it’s an opportunity to do something interesting with a base.
In the case of these two eldar, the perching on alien ruins does look wrong to me, but I do like the pose it creates. It’s a simple matter to remove the ruins from the mini and base them however you want.
How are these broken down into components?
If the figures are separate from the arches then Bob is your mother’s brother.
In both cases the miniature is only attached to the ruins by the soles of the feet. It would be a piece of cake to cut them off @chibi . If you take a look on the GW website you can see a photo of the actual spruces and you’ll see what I mean.