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I'm just unhappy to see effort spent on another gigantic, expensive model. Obviously even with a new leader, the more extreme parts of GW remain.

Any word on the Tzn side of things yet?

 angelofvengeance wrote:
Ugh. It's a mythical creature. There are no 6 limbed reptiles on this planet. We have no anatomical examples to draw from. So no one here has any idea what a dragon would be like. Only our imaginations.

Anyways... let's get back on topic shall we? N&R thread after all.

A few more pics of the Star Drake:

Wow nice, they look so much better with the front plate painted. I sort of want to start a SE army just to have one of those as a centerpiece now... what's wrong with me...

All of those models look better from a higher-up angle. Looks like there's a slight bit of variation with the star drake.

 mdauben wrote:

 angelofvengeance wrote:
Ugh. It's a mythical creature. There are no 6 limbed reptiles on this planet. We have no anatomical examples to draw from. So no one here has any idea what a dragon would be like. Only our imaginations.

Anyways... let's get back on topic shall we? N&R thread after all.
I have not seen any OT posting going on. Part of a N&R thread is people expressing their opinions on the N&R that is presented. I've expressed mine, you've expressed yours and obviously neither of use are going to change our minds. 'Nuff said. I do agree its time to move on.

That, and bio-mechanical engineering is a thing, there's absolutely no reason why one couldn't quite accurately speculate on exactly how a six limbed vertebrate would bolt together, and the limitations and advantages that would bring.

Besides, if it looks wrong, it looks wrong, no amount of justification on behalf of those who have no idea how animals work have different tastes is going to change that.

As to the latest pics, I've been keeping my powder dry as I'm firmly in the "not sure" camp. I think daffodil yellow wing membranes is a stupid idea, and I'm not going to be sure until I see naked plastic.

Man, they should have made those wings such that they could be assembled at slightly different angles... I can think of several ways to have done that, and I think it's something GW needs to start considering with big kits like this if they're going to photograph 4 of them together!

I almost think there might be a slight change in the angle of the wings looking at the photo (along with the two heads), but if so it's not a huge one

the other explanation is they've photoshopped in the dragons and on two of them cut off one of the wings

I dont mind the little ones too much but the big fella still not my cup of tea. Looks like theres going to be 2 different head options and thats it?

I think the alternate build has the left wing right against the body, and the right wing seems a very slightly different angle.

 RiTides wrote:
Man, they should have made those wings such that they could be assembled at slightly different angles... I can think of several ways to have done that, and I think it's something GW needs to start considering with big kits like this if they're going to photograph 4 of them together!

I'm surprised they haven't gone more down this route. I think one of the barriers to selling more monster kits in fantasy is the repetitive look. It works for tanks in 40k but looks weird to have multiple of the exact same pose monsters. The magmadroth and this guy seem to have 2 builds, but I think kits should come with at least 3 fairly distinct looks if possible. The right wing on all of these star drakes immediately stands out as repetitive if there's more than one in the picture/battlefield.

It looks like the left wing can be positioned closer to the body. I'm pretty sure you can do the same with the right one with minimum amount of greenstuff.

 Ghaz wrote:
A few more pics of the Star Drake:

I see this image in front of me and just behind it in my cabinet is a Legion Archangel, one of, if not the most beautiful PP models out there. I can only think one thing. Those wings are fething ugly on that Star Drake.

I think what's throwing everybody off with the wings is that usually they're seen fully extended and not pulled back like these are.

 Grimtuff wrote:

 Ghaz wrote:
A few more pics of the Star Drake:

I see this image in front of me and just behind it in my cabinet is a Legion Archangel, one of, if not the most beautiful PP models out there. I can only think one thing. Those wings are fething ugly on that Star Drake.

All I thought was, those mounted dudes (24+) at £40 for 2. You're around £500 without counting those dragon things....

Yup... must be cheaper than WFB was. :-(

 Gimgamgoo wrote:
All I thought was, those mounted dudes (24+) at £40 for 2. You're around £500 without counting those dragon things....

Yup... must be cheaper than WFB was. :-(

They come in at $845 US just for the Dracothians. Those Star Dragons have got to be more expensive than the Magmadroths, so let's estimate $140 and that would give us a total of $1,405.

Don't know who they intend to sell it to, because I don't see any of this AoS stuff floating around my area.

Did you see pictures of GW's studio WHFB armies and calculate the prices of those?

How much would it cost to assembled the armies for the Battle of Volganaf, from the 8th edition BRB?

I can't be sure, but at RRP, less per model than that load of dragon ponies.

Rihgu wrote:
Did you see pictures of GW's studio WHFB armies and calculate the prices of those?

How much would it cost to assembled the armies for the Battle of Volganaf, from the 8th edition BRB?

Did that battle have formations for each side insinuating it was something to be fielded in regular gameplay?

 Azreal13 wrote:
I can't be sure, but at RRP, less per model than that load of dragon ponies.

I'm inclined to agree with that estimate.

Did that battle have formations for each side insinuating it was something to be fielded in regular gameplay?

No, but neither does the Extremis Chamber. Which we have a name of, and a picture of.
The formation could be 1+ Star Drake and 1+ "dragon ponies" (to steal the nickname from Azreal13), and the picture is just there to show, "hey, look how cool they look grouped all together!" just like the battle of Volganaf was "hey, look how cool huge battles are!"

 Ghaz wrote:
I think what's throwing everybody off with the wings is that usually they're seen fully extended and not pulled back like these are.

I think it's partly the colour choice, and partly that the anatomy is off. Wings are generally modified arms, with the 'finger' bones forming the framework for the membrane. This guy has way too many 'fingers' on his wings.

I think that would be less jarring in a less contrasted colour scheme, though. The pale cream against the green just makes it really stand out.

 Breotan wrote:

They come in at $845 US just for the Dracothians. Those Star Dragons have got to be more expensive than the Magmadroths, so let's estimate $140 and that would give us a total of $1,405.

Don't know who they intend to sell it to, because I don't see any of this AoS stuff floating around my area.

Have you never been to the painting showcase section? There are people buying painting commissions for armies 4 times bigger than what's on this picture. There's range for everybody in the hobby, not only your price bracket.

Fun things to notice;

- The Star Drake riders look like there are two different kinds - one is clearly the leader or a character, others look more generic...maybe some kind of troopers?
- We can see the usual weapons for elite Stormcast: big hammer, big axe, big lance. Certainly the same than Dracoth riders. Does that mean there are three different types of Star Drake riders? Naaah.
- Two different heads for the big monster. Would you like its mouth opened or closed? You choose.
- The way they are put together is strange...It looks like they are some kind of Monster Unit...Now that would be quite monstruous.

 insaniak wrote:

 Ghaz wrote:
I think what's throwing everybody off with the wings is that usually they're seen fully extended and not pulled back like these are.

I think it's partly the colour choice, and partly that the anatomy is off. Wings are generally modified arms, with the 'finger' bones forming the framework for the membrane. This guy has way too many 'fingers' on his wings.

I think that would be less jarring in a less contrasted colour scheme, though. The pale cream against the green just makes it really stand out.

Anatomy is really a non-issue to me when it comes to mythological creatures. If it didn't bother the Norse when they had an eight-legged horse, I'm not going to let a wing with a few extra fingerbones bother me

Anatomy is a very real issue, mythological or not.

We are all aware, consciously or no, of what looks right in an organic construct and what doesn't.

Give me a flaming, reincarnated bid of prey? No problem. Draw/sculpt/assemble it with the wings on backwards or a foot for a face? It's going to look weird

The unit of dragons sounds logical. Why sell 1 when you can sell 5?

It's growing on me a bit more and I think it will look even better with different colors on the wings especially. I was thinking of getting the Sigmarine Prime to lead my army, but I may just go with the star drake instead.. I have so much stuff to paint before I get to that point though, by the time I get around to it I bet there will be something else big and awesome to get instead. I'm forcing myself to paint the rest of my army before I buy anything new. So that's 2 units of shield guys, 2 units of flyer guys, and 1 unit of xbows.. I need a job where I can stay home and paint my minis all day long.

The battalion is probably 1 boss star drake 1+ regular star drake and 1 unit of each of the Knights. If we assume the new dragon to be £80 you could build that battalion for £240. Still stupidly expensive but not outside the realm of the possible.
Regarding anatomy, what if these wings are more like fins.

Well the picture is definitely for a Warscroll formation so the amount of minis is probably right. It's nothing new though. There's always been small and regular formations, and one that is made of all the smaller ones. Everchosen and Seraphons are a perfect example of that.

This one is the Extremis Chamber formation as a whole. And from the picture I'm guessing it's the smaller formation x3 and 1 Lord Celestant on Star Drake. The small formation is probably 1 Star Drake and 2 units of Dracothian Guards.

 Ghaz wrote:
Anatomy is really a non-issue to me when it comes to mythological creatures. If it didn't bother the Norse when they had an eight-legged horse, I'm not going to let a wing with a few extra fingerbones bother me

The thing is, even fantasy creatures look better when the anatomy makes sense. We all fudge this to some extent (most dragons portrayed in popular fantasy would be completely incapable of flight unless they're supported by some other means, like magic or (in the case of Anne McCaffrey's version, Telekinesis), for example. But even with that consession made, we still look at a dragon with grossly under-sized wings and think that they look too small.

How far to take that is obviously going to vary from person to person, but I would suspect that a lot of people react to it without even consciously realising it when deciding what looks good or not.

Chikout wrote:
Regarding anatomy, what if these wings are more like fins.

Fins are also modified hands. Structurally, they're not that different to wings.

The issue isn't just that the wings have too many bones. It's that they have a different number of bones to the dragon's other 4 limbs. It would look more aesthetically 'correct' if the underlying bone structure of the wings matched the forelegs.


It's not a deal-breaker... I still quite like it overall. But it is a thing that makes the kit look a little odd overall, that I think would have been better with a little more forethought in the design stage.

 insaniak wrote:

 Ghaz wrote:
Anatomy is really a non-issue to me when it comes to mythological creatures. If it didn't bother the Norse when they had an eight-legged horse, I'm not going to let a wing with a few extra fingerbones bother me

The thing is, even fantasy creatures look better when the anatomy makes sense.

Absolutely correct. We are more likely to believe the unreal when it's rooted in the real. If the parts make sense, we become less critical.

Example- GW Bullgors and their horrible "muscles".