I have always absolutely adored the more “evil” factions within Warhammer 40,000. Bestow upon me the spikes, the skulls, the grimdark nonsense in which it all marinates. Thus, when I got my hands on some of the upcoming Leagues of Votann kits, I’m sure you could imagine my audible scoffing. Well, the scoffing was misplaced, as I may well have fallen a little head-over-heels…
Games Workshop supplied us with preview samples of the upcoming Leagues of Votann releases. I was able to sink some decent time into the Grimnyr, the Sagitaur and the mighty Hekaton Land Fortress. Having painted a lot of Nurgle lately, I was quite unnerved to tackle the vehicles with their vast amount of flat, straight panels – but we’ll get to that.
Grimnyr
The Grimnyr is a superb little kit and a fantastic unit brimming with character. Whilst I’ve got a soft spot for squat space wizards, the best part of the Grimnyr would be the adorable CORVs that allow them to channel and focus their arcane energies.
Grimnyr communicate with the Ancestor Cores, the gargantuan and ancient super-computers that guide the Votann societies. Thus, the import of the Grimnyr cannot be questioned as they impart these impossible wisdoms and their interpretations. They also harness their abilities in battle, to protect their kin and annihilate their foes.
The Grimnyr itself was very simple to build and comes with both male and female options. The CORVs do come with the controversial “bendy hover stands”, but these work absolutely fine and I don’t see the hassle. Painting the three models within the unit took very little time at all, I managed all three in an evening. The neutral colours I’ve gone for mean that the Grimnyr will stand out nicely amongst the Greater Thurian League scheme across the rest of the army.
Sagitaur
Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy! The Sagitaur is, quite easily, my favourite model of the entire Votann range. The Sagitaur ticks all of my nostalgia boxes as someone who played a ridiculous amount of Command and Conquer in the earlier days of PC gaming. Nod Buggies, GDI Humvees, GLA Rocket Buggies – they’re all good. The Sagitaur harkens me back to this and it fills me with bizarre warmth.
Sagitaur ATVs typically ride alongside the Hernkyn Pioneers in missions to scout and recon ahead of main forces, either to assess alien terrain or to help Votann infantry setup forward positions in preparation for upcoming conflicts.
Building the Sagitaur was mostly painless, though I made this more difficult than I needed to – though for a reason! In sticking with the Greater Thurian League, the units all have white and teal as core colours throughout. Thus, I sub-assembled the Sagitaur so I could spray certain parts white and others grey to help in the painting process. Once all built, the kit went together great (bar a strange misfit with the cross-bar above the cockpit) and the main weapon on the hull can be swapped out freely with ease.
Painting the Sagitaur was much, much simpler than expected with thanks to the previously-touched-upon sub-assemblies. The main chassis was sprayed Leadbelcher, the main carapace was sprayed white and the armour panelling was sprayed Mechanicus Standard Grey to be painted with Thunderhawk Blue after. From here, it was a case of spot colours, some recess shading and minute sponge-weathering/drybrushing. The transfers then did most of the work and helped to add some wonderful visual moxie. I even adjusted a decal on the very back of the Sagitaur to feature “95”, the year that Command and Conquer was first released.
Hekaton Land Fortress
Where the Sagitaur is swift and nimble, the Hekaton Land Fortress is a hulking, inexorable monster. This thing is enormous and is very aptly named! I found it hard to deduce the sense of scale in some of the images but the Hekaton has some unquestionable heft. It packs firepower for nearly any situation and has the capacity to carry entire squads of infantry. It carries deadly cargo, yet is more than capable of defending itself. There’s over-engineering and then there’s the Hekaton Land Fortress.
I found building the Hekaton Land Fortress to be somewhat involved but not particularly horrendous. Despite the size of the thing, I’ve built some far more troublesome models that aren’t nearly as huge. There are moving components on the model, too. The point defence Bolt Cannons/Ion Beamers are gimballed and can be moved around after the kit is built. The main gun can also easily be turned and/or removed.
The Hekaton Land Fortress makes a fine centrepiece for the army and is certainly an imposing sight across the table. Getting it painted up was a priority so that it would be striking yet well-fitting amongst the army. Similar to the Sagitaur, the decals on this kit do a lot of the work to tie it all together and give it that futuristic, industrial vibe. The canopies are quite a pain to paint up due to the very smooth plastic needing several coats over the framing – if you’d rather spray them all-over, be my guest.
In order to give you guys a better sense of the scale, below are some images of the Hekaton and the Sagitaur together alongside a Primaris Reiver.
Are you excited for the rest of the League of Votann models to land? I can definitely see myself grabbing another Sagitaur in the future. Now all I need to do is paint up some of the Einhyr Hearthguard to come barrelling out of the Hekaton and we’ll really be in business.
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