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Friday 24 January 2014

Tyranid Model Review: Exocrine/Haruspex Kit



Well I thought it was time I actually wrote a semi-review of a model and as I am currently working on the new Exocrine kit I thought this would be a nice place to start. I'd like to start out by saying, my reviews will never be unbiased- if you want an impartial view then I this probably isn't for you......





The actual kit; This thing is very efficiently designed! This entire kit comes across only 2 sprues, there is no wasted space. Also am I the only one that thinks the new boxing style really suits the product. It clearly shows what is contained within and looks very professional. I was never a fan of the photoshop style battlefield photographs anyway.

All that goodness on only 2 sprues!!!


Assembly; Firstly I would like to say that I have decided to assemble mine as an Exocrine, but I have built as they are both built off of the same sub-assembly the review for either model would read identically. The actual body went together really easily, everything fitted neatly and didn't need that much cleaning. I will actually go off on a tangent now because it is slightly relevant.

I am fortunate enough that one of my friends works in the design studio as a sculptor (his most recent release was the re-worked Tyranid Warrior Kit including Prime) and we recently had a conversation about the quality of the actual models that GW is currently kicking out. Even when it comes to re-working older kits the team take it very seriously. Overall the aesthetic of the Tyranid Warrior did not need changing so they had to look at it the kit and decide what they could actual improve objectively and the 3 things they decided on were;

1) They needed more poses. The old Tyranid Warrior kit basically had a single pose and this was one of the things they wanted to improve, to add a level of dynamism to the kit.

2) Mould Lines; the old kit had some serious mould lines in places and GW's new design process is to minimise/hide mould lines wherever possible to make general hobbying, especially for newer and less experienced hobbyists, easier.

3) More inclusive of the options available in the book. There has been an ongoing and concerted effort by GW recently to include all options in a box (mainly to stop us going to Third Party Suppliers I think!) and it is really nice to actually get so many options in the box!


Gratuitous Shot of the Tyranid Prime sculpted by Mike
I think they achieved all of the above and the overall quality of the kit is exceptional!!

Anyway back to the case in hand. This kit goes together like a dream. The instructions included are very clear and concise. Nothing about this kit is overly fiddly and the entire model just comes together very neartly and quickly. Just a quick shot of the main body;

Basic Sub-Assembly of the body
Conlusion: This is another one of GW's high quality kits. I can't find anything to fault with it per se, actually if anything the amount of spare parts this leaves you with is surprisingly few! you basically end up with a head and 2 arms spare depending on which variant you build and I am already looking at the Haruspex head wondering whether I should make some kind of Tyranid-esque Sarlacc pit objective marker......


I have seen a very nice article recently about how to magnetise one of these bad boys, and I have magnetised models in the past but in all the turmoil last year I have completely misplaced some of my hobbying supplies so have decided not to magnetise this one for now so in future you will be seeing updates on this as I start to paint my very own Exocrine :D

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May The Dice Gods Be Ever In Your Favour

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