Warhammer 40,000 – Chaos Space Marines Vashtorr the Arkifane

As part of the Wrath of the Soul Forge King boxed set Games Workshop introduces a new character for the Chaos Space Marines - Vashtorr the Arkifane.

He is part of the Arks of Omen storyline, which introduces him as a powerful Daemon and ruler of the Forge of Souls.  He commands his own army, the Cult of the Arkifane, which has no specific allegiance to any Chaos God, but more Chaos Undivided with a Dark Mechanicum proximity.

The model itself is currently only available as part of the Wrath of the Soul Forge King box set, but will be available as have others in the past, as a single model in the upcoming weeks / month. We do not have a RRP on the single model yet, but assuming from its size, it will be most likely in the price band of the new Daemon Prince, which is 65 EUR.

Vashtorr is spread across two medium sized sprues and comes with an 80 mm round base.

The wings of Vashtorr take up most of the size in the sprue and have a very mirrored design, as most of his body is cut in the middle and layout accordingly within the sprue. Clean cast, a few mould lines, especially around the wings (which took quite some time to clean off due to the delicate details). Unfortunately, no optional parts in this sprue, but a base topper as base decoration.

Vashtorr has a mix of organic and mechanic body. His skin is stretched and mutated, on his back are multiple exhaust pipes and fans, with screaming faces. A really great and fitting detail for this kit.

The parts fit incredibly well together and the overlap covers most of the gaps, so that you don't need to fill in or rework areas.

Vashtorr's legs are kept in a similar design. You have skin stretched over mechanic parts. He has tall, animal-shaped legs, with armour plates on top. As the hooves don't stand flat, I added the base topper for him to stand up for the further assembly.

His body now receives additional armour plates, with a back and breast plate and a long, multi-segmented waist apron.

Vashtorr wields the Hammer of the Soul Forge in his right hand, while his left hand has a talon. The hammer is used to create and destroy, as Vashtorr seems fit. The weaponry is as it is shown, no options, no variants. From what I understand, this is a fixed character set, without a generic or alternative option. A bit sad, as with the space in between the spines of the wings, there would have been room for an alternate head, variants of the weapons.

His head is designed like a mask, really  bringing along the daemonic engine that he is. And a long tail growing from his spine.

The wings are a great part of this model and create a lot of volume for it, as they noticeably increase his size / presence. Yet, as you can see from the step above, he doesn't do a bad job without them either. They were rather time consuming to clean from the sprue, as you have a very long mould line running across it. But from a production perspective, there is basically no other way to cast this piece.

With the last step building the base topper. It is a mostly flat piece with broken earth and small Dendrites growing from the cracks within. These three pieces are glued to the base topper and we're done!

Here he is, the Soul Forge King, Vashtorr.

He is standing very tall, a proper leader of a daemonic chaos cult army. Towering impressive over the Space Marines.

Due to his size, he would make a great part donor for mutated / possessed titans (more on that later). He is able to get toe-to-toe with mighty Space Marine vehicles and will certainly be a threat to Azrael, we covered earlier.

A really impressive plastic kit, with a lot of detail and detail.

Conclusion

A well-made miniature. The design absolutely fits the role Vashtorr wants to play - the Soul Forge King. A blend of organic and mechanic body parts, warped and twisted by the dark forces. The pose, slightly hunched is well chosen and the forge hammer the weapon of choice for a character with this background.

I am aware, that he is a named character and as such fixed to the options he comes with, and maybe it is just a bit of "bad" timing, as I am very amazed by the recently released daemon prince kit, but I would have appreciated it, if they had included some options for this kit. And even if it wasn't for alternate weaponry, just something to give you an option to vary your Vashtorr a bit from all the others. Like an alternate head, a pointing left hand, grabbing the hammer with both hands or cutting the wings in a way, that you could spread them or move them closer to the body. Just a bit of an option and really making the most of the fact, that we have this model in plastic.

But beyond that - very good fit of the parts. Rather rapid build for a miniature this size. Mould lines weren't an issue beside on the wings and I am glad, that I didn't have to build this from metal or resin. Transportation can be an issue, as the model, especially with the wings is protruding, so I'd suggest adding magnets to the base and use a larger carrying case, as foam might not be the ideal choice for this.

Warhammer 40,000 is a brand by Games Workshop.

The reviewed product item was provided by the manufacturer