Warhammer 40,000 Imperium Delivery 5: Issues 15-18 Review

Another month down and another delivery of Warhammer 40,000’s flagship partworks magazine Imperium is gracing our doorsteps, post-boxes, or whatever other receptacle it is you leave for the postman to fill up. We’ve got an array of stuff in this month’s delivery – from skin-wearing robots to yet more chainsword-wielding swole dudes – as well as any premium subscriber’s first Premium Kit!

Be sure to also check out Tale of Painters coverage for this delivery over on their site.

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Warhammer 40,000 Imperium Delivery 5: Issues 15-18 Review – Introduction

Happy New Year FauxHammer readers! I hope you’re all still managing to retain a little festive cheer even though we’re beginning to get into 2022. What’s that you say? You ran out weeks ago?

Well, that’s probably a good thing given that this month’s Imperium Delivery features a quintet of Flayed Ones. You can be sure your goodwill to all men will well and truly have dried up by the time these little horrors are assembled.

Warhammer 40,000 Imperium Delivery 5: Issues 15-18 Review: Contents

As I said above, this delivery is the first in the series that gets premium subscribers their extra kit. We’ll deal with that separately at the bottom of this article, as not everyone will be receiving it.

Here’s what everyone will be receiving in Delivery 5, irrespective of whether you’re a standard or premium subscriber:

There’s a fair bit to do this month, as there are no fewer than 11 miniatures in the delivery, as well as a few bits of scenery to get stuck into.

The Magazines: Issues 15-18

Issue 15 – the one that comes with the Necron Flayed Ones – festoons the hellish skin-peeling robots on the cover in all their macabre glory.

Inside, there’s the usual inclusion of a battle log/character sheet thing for the Flayed Ones, as well as some further information on the Imperium of Man, as well as Space Marine hierarchy so you can continue to expand your understanding of humanity in the 41st Millennium.

Issue 16, that’s the Assault Intercessor issue, is decidedly blue on its cover. I wonder why?

Inside, there’s not all that much of a focus on Space Marines as the overall bluey-ness of the cover may have led one to expect. There’s a decent section on Necron armaments, as well as some information on the forces of Chaos. Premium subscribers will be able to double-down on this with their additional issue dedicated entirely to Chaos Space Marines.

Issue 17 is the crate issue.

It’s all about dat box, with a painting guide, as well as a scenario to play through with the use of your new equipment.

There’s also a fold-out insert dedicated to the Necron empire.

Finally, the Technomancer takes prime position in Issue 18 with some lovely artwork depicting him and his pet spider-thing on the cover, as well as some more information on him inside.

There are also a few sides on Space Marine armour types – very useful information for any fanfiction writers to have – as well as some background on everyone’s favourite faction of elven space pirates.

Next up, the plastic.

Miniatures

Delivery 5 comes with no less than 11 new miniatures for your collection – along with another one of those accursed storage crates that we saw in the last delivery. Two down, one to go!

Whilst the included bit of scenery is neither that much fun to build, nor a particularly interesting thing to paint once its together, there is something even more detestable in this delivery.

Flayed Ones.

I first came across the new Necron Flayed Ones when I reviewed the Kill Team: Pariah Nexus expansion which I wasn’t very nice about, in part thanks to these horrendous miniatures. I hated building them then: I found them to be too fiddly, too breakable, and made up of an unnecessary number of tiny parts. What’s more, their builds aren’t intuitive: attached two arms that are crossed over a chest, then attach a chest component; or perhaps a head needs to be slotted in between hunched shoulders after you’ve attached a hand or an arm that’s blocking where the head should be.

Legs don’t fit onto hips properly, contact points are miniscule, and everything seems determined to just fall apart in your hands. I didn’t say it in my Pariah Nexus review, but I’ll say it now: the Necron Flayed Ones are, in my humble opinion (and somewhat limited experience) the worst miniatures I’ve ever had to build.

Here they are in all their misery.

Anyway, Issue 16 comes with five Space Marine Assault Intercessors who, in light of the woeful experience one will have assembling the Flayed Ones, are a veritable delight to put together.

Subscribers will have quite a few of these chaps now, and there are still more to come.

Issue 17 nets us another sprue that builds a big crate, some smaller boxes, and a couple of barrels – the likes of which we’ve already seen.

And finally, Issue 18 comes with a Necron Technomancer whose build is surprisingly straightforward.

The staff-wielding arachnophile and his robotic eight-legged companion come spread across two small sprues, but even then there are only a handful of components to assembling the pair – who also share a base. After the Flayed Ones, I heaved a sigh of relief when I saw that the main body of the Technomancer was made up of about four parts.

Paints and Hobby Tools

Delivery 5 nets subscribers one of the new (but not really all that new anymore) Citadel Painting Handles.

A perfectly serviceable bit of kit, whilst the Citadel Painting Handle does exactly what it says on the tin, it does so with no pomp or bluster. it’s a basic – but useful – tool, and whilst there are far better and more diverse handles out there, you can’t really go wrong with it.

You can read an in-depth review of this painting handle here.

Premium Kit 1

The first Warhammer 40,000: Imperium Premium Kit comes with this delivery. Premium subscribers will find themselves flush with not only all of the stuff covered above, but also a little cardboard box like this.

Within lies your first batch of extra goodies, and it’s a good ‘un for devotees of the Chaos Gods. Premium Kit 1 comes with ten Chaos Space Marines, a pair of Greater Possessed, as well as a single Chaos Sorcerer, as well as an additional magazine with a heap of background information on the forces of the Dark Gods.

It also contains a complete painting guide for all the Chaos Space Marines included in the delivery, which is very helpful to have.

The Chaos Space Marines and the Greater Possessed come on a single sprue. I had a few really beastly mould lines on a few of the figures, but on the whole, I’m a big fan of these minis. There’s a superb level of detail across all of them, and they’re in a real array of varied and dynamic poses.

Whilst they’re very straightforward to build (nice chunky components that slot together with blissful ease) their parts are scattered almost randomly across the sprue, so you’ll find yourself having to hunt each bit down.

Unless you have a quick look at our, almost seizure-inducing, sprue breakdown. If you haven’t built yours yet. I hope this helps you.

This dynamic sprue was originally released as part of the Shadowspear box and now is only available in the Start Collecting Space Marines Boxed Set.

The Chaos Sorcerer is largely the same, though he does have one fiddly component: his hand, which is mid spellcast. Compared to the Flayed Ones that come with this delivery, this component seems almost cumbersome, but it is still a little small so do be careful when removing it form the sprue.

Any subscriber excited by the influx of Chaos Space Marines with this delivery may want to take a peek at the not-so-recently announced Eldritch Omens battlebox.

I’m a big fan of this kit. There are some really nice bits in here, and more than enough to have any would-be 40K fan pledge themselves to the Dark Gods.

Warhammer 40,000 Imperium Delivery 5: Issues 15-18 Review – Price and Availability

Some decent savings to be had this month. Take a look at the tables below.

Those Flayed Ones – nightmares though they may be to glue together – don’t half increase the value of this delivery!

I’m going to pinch the table from our Premium Sets Savings Breakdown so you can see how much money you’re getting off with each kit, as they’re all fairly similar. You can also find more info on the premium subscription there.

If you want more information on the costings associated with Warhammer 40,000: Imperium as a whole, you can find more info on our complete contents page.

Warhammer 40,000 Imperium Delivery 5: Issues 15-18 Review – Final Thoughts

From a perspective that’s focused upon value for money and the amount of plastic you can have jammed into your mailbox, delivery 5 is excellent. You get a heap of new stuff to paint, and it’s all for a knock-down price.

However, on closer inspection, there are one or two buts. The first but comes in the form of the damnable storage container. It’s just not very exciting, let’s be honest.

The second, much larger but are the Necron Flayed Ones. Sure, these units look really cool all painted up, and sound all their descriptions lend them an exciting feel, but in reality these are possibly the worst models to build that can currently be purchased from GW. They are the stuff of nightmares.

However, it’s important not to let the rest of what is a nice delivery be overshadowed by a few spindly knife robots. Assault Intercessors are always a welcome addition to any Space Marine collection, and those familiar Space Marine shapes and far easier-to-build models will come as a huge relief after the Flayed Ones. The Technomancer is also a really nice model and he’s surprisingly easy to put together as well.

Finally, as far as premium subscribers are concerned as well, you won’t be disappointed with Premium Kit 1.

Summary

Reviewer

Rob Hebblethwaite

Review Date

Reviewed Item

Warhammer 40,000 Imperium Delivery 5: Issues 15-18

Author Rating

4

Product Name

Warhammer 40,000 Imperium Delivery 5: Issues 15-18