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Both models are harmed by being designed to 'look cool' rather than making narrative sense.

Are we supposed to interpret that the Wraithlord's spirit stone was inside its head on a pendant? why? If the seer has just added it to the pendant (why?) why is (s)he then striking a pose?
I'd expect a Spiritseer to be a bit more respectful towards their charges than standing on their fallen bodies...

Why is glam rocker necromancer standing on the gravestone? Why is he neither looking at nor gesturing towards the wight?
Why is one of the skellybois doing lunges?
Neither boney is looking at whatever the conjurer is looking at...

Im kind of indifferent to both of these. Like, they are nice sculpts, but im not excited by them.

Don't like the eldar. The spines of the wraith lord keep distracting attention away from the main dude.

Necromancer's fine, although the action posed skeletons are the best part.

Ok first time I REALLY want both!

I want to like the Spiritseer, but I do agree the posing is a bit off. I am wondering about whether you could rebase the Spiritseer with a tactical rock of some kind and then use the dead wraithlord piece as an objective marker...?

I like the base/skellies on the necromancer, but not the guy himself. Maybe with a top hat.

Something seems a little off on the seer, but overall I like him. Might be the paint of the angles. It will be interesting to see if he can be put on a normal base.

Looks like the other bonuses are the same this year. Coupons for discounts on stuff I don’t need. Chance to win stuff? Sure I guess. But enough people get subs that the odds are tiny. Not a draw.

On the Seer?

Maybe it’s having their legs out. Normally, that’s a look firmly associated with Guardians and Aspects. Seers and Warlocks like to wear Their Big Coat, covering those shapely legs.

And so it does kinda look like a Seer torso glued to Guardian legs?

I still like it, just wondering if that might be what’s throwing off the eye.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
On the Seer?

Maybe it’s having their legs out. Normally, that’s a look firmly associated with Guardians and Aspects. Seers and Warlocks like to wear Their Big Coat, covering those shapely legs.

And so it does kinda look like a Seer torso glued to Guardian legs?

I still like it, just wondering if that might be what’s throwing off the eye.

Could be. The high back angle that shows the cape/robe hits the more classic look.

The bright shiny yellow on a scene of destruction does not help either.

I’d love to see someone with far more skill then me paint this up desaturated with OSL coming from the waystone. The spirit-sight view of the diorama.

 Lord Damocles wrote:
Both models are harmed by being designed to 'look cool' rather than making narrative sense.

Are we supposed to interpret that the Wraithlord's spirit stone was inside its head on a pendant? why?

A wraithlord is powered by the soul of a warrior. Does it not make sense that a former warrior's stone is simply inset within the helm as a relic?

I like both the models in their way, the necromancer is definitely the better of the two. I like the narrative contrast between the two, both essentially the same thing but represented by different cultures.

I figure it’s an emergency soul capture.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
I figure it’s an emergency soul capture.

I think if there was "soul energy whispy stuff" coming from the cracked head to the soulstone people would see it as the Warlock having pulled out a soulstone they were carrying to transfer/capture the leaking soul stuff from the downed Wraithlord.

No reason this year to donate to Warhammer+.

Maybe next year.

Just can't use those models for anything.

 Overread wrote:
Ok first time I REALLY want both!

Likewise - two great models and coincidentally for my main armies for each game.

 Olthannon wrote:

 Lord Damocles wrote:
Both models are harmed by being designed to 'look cool' rather than making narrative sense.

Are we supposed to interpret that the Wraithlord's spirit stone was inside its head on a pendant? why?

A wraithlord is powered by the soul of a warrior. Does it not make sense that a former warrior's stone is simply inset within the helm as a relic?

Hence my question about the fact that the soul stone is on a pendant, and what we're supposed to interpret is happening in the diorama.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
I figure it’s an emergency soul capture.

The description in the Community article is '...retrieving a spirit stone from the shattered hull...' so I don't think that we're supposed to be interpreting it as the Spiritseer putting the Wraithlord's soul into a new spirit stone before it flies away in some fashion (not that I think that's even possible...)

Ah fair enough. Missed that bit!

I'm planning on doing a Iyanden Army at some point in the future. I think I'll be getting a WH+ conscription for the first time just because of that model. So, they got one new subscriber at least

The reactions here are interesting. To me, the Spirit seer is okay and would look better on a regular base and I'm not a fan at all of the actual necromancer but his base clutter is okay. However, some people seem to adore these. I wouldn't even call these guys marmite models, as I think they're too bland for that label.

I like the idea of the spiritseer miniature, but i can't say they've done it well really. An action oriented pose and a more combat-themed spiritseer style for what you'd expect to be a more revered subdued diorama theme, just seems out of place really.

 Lord Damocles wrote:

 Olthannon wrote:

 Lord Damocles wrote:
Both models are harmed by being designed to 'look cool' rather than making narrative sense.

Are we supposed to interpret that the Wraithlord's spirit stone was inside its head on a pendant? why?

A wraithlord is powered by the soul of a warrior. Does it not make sense that a former warrior's stone is simply inset within the helm as a relic?

Hence my question about the fact that the soul stone is on a pendant, and what we're supposed to interpret is happening in the diorama.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
I figure it’s an emergency soul capture.

The description in the Community article is '...retrieving a spirit stone from the shattered hull...' so I don't think that we're supposed to be interpreting it as the Spiritseer putting the Wraithlord's soul into a new spirit stone before it flies away in some fashion (not that I think that's even possible...)

I just see it as the spirit stone had the thong on it already so that it's easier for whomever retrieves it to carry it around.

I have an Iyanden army. I have a friend with WH+ with no interest in either models. I will have a new Spiritsear

The Spiritseer model is excellent. Shame it's only through Warhammer+, as Iyanden could do with a special character on par with Eldrad Ulthran.

"Rise up you dead, slain of the Hydra. Those who steal the golden fleece...must dance - I MEAN - must dieeee! You know what I mean! Just rise up and kill'em!"

The Necromancer is pretty cool in a Saturday Night Fever meets Eye of the Beholder kind of way.

SamusDrake wrote:
The Spiritseer model is excellent. Shame it's only through Warhammer+, as Iyanden could do with a special character on par with Eldrad Ulthran.

"Rise up you dead, slain of the Hydra. Those who steal the golden fleece...must dance - I MEAN - must dieeee! You know what I mean! Just rise up and kill'em!"

The Necromancer is pretty cool in a Saturday Night Fever meets Eye of the Beholder kind of way.

Pretty sure Valrak has said a Yriel revamp is on the way.

Ah, he'd probably head up the Corsairs instead....which is still good, but he's not standing atop a fallen Wraithlord in an uber-cool pose.

The Necromancer is awful lmao.

It is cool that you could flip the kit into 3 new unique skeletons, though.

Maerge Simp'sonn is ok, but assuming an extremely bizarre pose on her tactical wraith.

I do still think WH+ subs will fall because of these models being generally unloved.

Loving that Eldar. The Hammer and Bolter Episode Garden of Shadows where the Farseer returns to a dead craftworld to retrieve his mother's Spiritstone and puts it in a Wraith... This ISN'T that story, but it's evocative of it. It's the closest match to an episode we've had since year one's Vindicare, who also featured in a Hammer and Bolter, executing a dude from another ship.

I also agree with the poster above who said "Emergency Rescue" - to me, this is a retrieval DURING a battle- the enemy is close, the Seer is under fire, and he doesn't have time for reverence- if he doesn't get the stone and find cover quick, there will be two spirits lost, not one.

His pose and lack of robes make him look more young and warlike, and I think that's a really nice contrast with all the other psyche-dudes trying to look all serene in cliche robes rather than getting gak DONE!

Garden of Shadows, incidentally, is tied with Kill Protocol for my favourite Hammer and Bolter episode.

I am so glad it's Eldar- I'm starting a Craftworld army, having almost completed the painting of my Drukhari Space Lane Raider boarding action army- still hopeful it'll be done for Wednesday night's game.

I don't mind the spirit seer. If you want some kind of narrative justification, in addition to Jake's comments about emergency speed to get the spirit, they're also eldar. They have high tech everything. Maybe he's got a psycho active thong that draws the spirit stone to it? Like one of those magnet fishing games... :p

 Lord Damocles wrote:

Hence my question about the fact that the soul stone is on a pendant, and what we're supposed to interpret is happening in the diorama.

Sorry what I meant in my other reply is: let's say that's the spirit stone of a Dire Avenger or whatever, then it being on a pendant makes sense, no? There's never been anything describing the size of the stones beyond it being something wearable. The fact it remains on the leather thong makes sense, to me anyway. As I said, it's therefore like a relic that's placed within the psychic helm of the Wraithlord.

It doesn't even have to be an emergency thing, I'm assuming there's just a wee slot that you pop through spirit stone in to and hey presto your Wraithlord is up and about. Chassis gets all blown up? Whip that out and away you go.

 Hellebore wrote:
I don't mind the spirit seer. If you want some kind of narrative justification, in addition to Jake's comments about emergency speed to get the spirit, they're also eldar. They have high tech everything. Maybe he's got a psycho active thong that draws the spirit stone to it? Like one of those magnet fishing games... :p

That would explain why it's wrapped so tightly around the wrist. Had it just been pulled out, it would no doubt be being held in the fingers.

Once unfurled the thong would be insanely long. Like Wraithlord-necklace length. There are definitely elements of the composition that make it look AI-assisted or "designed for coolness" rather than designed by an artist who is testing their ideas against reality.

It makes way more sense for ALL spiritstones to come with an attached thong and be stored inside your helmet than inlaid on the front of your armour, though.

See, I think the stone itself is the thing that is inserted into armour or constructs or the Infinity circuit.

That metal frame that surrounds the stone? That thing was already attached to the thong, waiting for a stone to carry- a spirit seer probably carries a bunch of these empty clasps into battle to recover stones from any of his constructs who fall. Dude touches the the clasp to the stone; it simultaneously sends an impulse to the clasp on the Wraith Unit to release the just as the clasp itself grips. Then the seer lifts the it out on the thong, which is when the image was frozen in time as the model. Now, that's just headcanon, but I think that (or something like it) is very reasonable.

In terms of design language, we see the same look with the Corsair Soulweaver; those are Channeler Stones, which the AI search result says "Are more commonly known as Spirit Stones" - now I don't trust an AI search result. I've checked the dex, and it doesn't give any details, but Spiritstones hold Souls, and the character who wields Channeler Stones is called a Soulweaver. Furthermore, the power provided by the stone (reducing the damage of the first failed save to zero) is in line with the sort of power a soul stone might provide.

Regardless, I love the model, so I'm always going to find headcanon that justifies it, just as someone who dislikes the model will always find headcanon that condemns it.