Skaven Hell Pit Abomination Released!

*Squeek!*

Yesses, the Skaven Second Wave of new models goes on sales today, Saturday 15th of Jan, 2011! If you haven't already seen them, I put up some photos when the models were announced, as well as a poll (Thanks to all who voted...) Since I haven't done so officially already, here are the results:

1. Hell Pit Abomination: 27%
2. Ikit Claw: 25%
3. Warp Lightning Cannon/ Plagueclaw Catapult: 14%
4. Doom-Flayer Weapon Team and Warp-Grinder Weapon Team (Tie): 11%
5. Tretch Craventail: 9%

So there you have it, the HPA wins by a (twitching) nose! 

...and as luck would have it, I have one! Please see below for an unboxing and some sprue photos...

Inside the box are a couple of large sprues, and extensive instruction leaflet ("Remember to always cut away from your fingers") and a large base. 

Having taken a few photos, I have a couple of initial reactions.

Firstly, from the instructions and box shots (as well as the photos at Games Workshop) you can see that there a number of options for the jaw, arms and heads. There appear to be eight different heads, of which it looks as though four are freely interchangeable. At first glance, I would agree with some comments on the web that the model doesn't seem to lend itself to modification very much outside of the options I mentioned above. Now, that might seem crazy, because of course having a choice of body parts at all is great, but the potential problem may be the overall body and limb positions don't leave a lot of options to make easy changes due to the moulding. The cool thing about any miniatures painting and assembly is making adjustments to each model. With small models that is pretty easy to do. In this case, I am sure that we will see some very cool conversions soon, but I think that these will probably be done by experienced modelers (i.e. Not me...) at least if significant changes are to be made.  If these are even half-way as good as some of the amazing HPA models that were made before this was released then we are in for a real treat. I'm really looking forward to making this model, but as a beginner, I'm pretty nervous about how well I'll be able to paint it due to those vast areas of skin and flesh.

(I can see myself trying to remove the terrain piece from the front hand and replacing it with some hapless enemy model. That way it looks as though the HPA has someone in it's claws and is about to burst their skull like a grape - hahahaha!) 

Secondly, when I saw the pre-release photos from Games Workshop I have to admit that I couldn't see the connection with the Blindwyrm, the dreaded creature that a Hell Pit abomination is supposed to be in part created from. I guess that I was expecting something more..."wormy"?

That is still the case.

While the model does have worm-like qualities these seem to be given mainly by the paint-job used. A very pale colour or white creates the image of something that has lived out of the light, just like a worm in fact. What detracts from this however in this case is the number of limbs and the rat ogre parts - and I guess the size of the limbs. I know the HPA is made by combining rat ogre parts (and others) with the blindwyrm but I guess it is different to my expectations. Having said that, this is going to be a really great addition to my army - but I still want the awesome Scar-Skath model from Maelstrom too (use him as a Vermin Lord...)

Returning to the poll for a minute I was really, REALLY surprised and disappointed to see that so few people liked the Tretch Craventail model. I think it is a fantastic sculpt because it is really different from most other models. The way Tretch is perched on the terrain looks really natural and fits in with his backstory really well too. As I have said before this allows Tretch to have his tail extended - something we don't usually see in other Skaven models (so they can be more easily ranked up probably.) With Tretch on the terrain piece, it almost looks as though it is a "Unit Filler" piece. Points also from me for adding the little rat at the bottom. It is the little details that add a touch of class to a model IMHO. LONG LIVE TRETCH!

...definitely going to pick one of those up!

Anyone got any of the other new release models yet? What are they like?

*Squeek*