Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Dominion Review for Miniature Painters

Last Updated on July 7, 2021 by FauxHammer

A new era for Warhammer Fantasy beckons, heralded by a crate of books, cards and miniatures. With the dawning of a new edition comes a new kind of conflict, as Sigmar’s mightiest heroes face off against a new breed of foe: the savage, swamp-dwelling Kruleboyz. Come in and check out our review of Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Dominion.

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Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Dominion Review – Summary

Let’s be honest: it was never going to suck, was it?

Where to Buy Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Dominion?

If you are here looking for Dominion as suppliers are getting low, then check out our list of hobby stores you should visit.

Sure at the point of this article being released, this box still seems to be plentiful when it comes to stock. But the time will come when people are scraping the bottom of every last barrel for a copy.

Whilst many people seem to complain that GW is selling you on a Fear of Missing Out! Please consider that FOMO is used by many companies to create artificial demand for ongoing products lines. Dominion is not an ongoing product line. It is one release and done. GW isn’t going to be making more money, they have made a set amount of these. they’ll make the same no matter when it sells.

It’s not coming back. It will be replaced by AOS 3.0 starter sets in the coming months.

Missing out on this is a genuine possibility. In my opinion, don’t miss out.

Who is Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Dominion for?

Ok, this section is a bit weird, I just want to note that Rob and I added this after the review was complete and it’s the final sentence of this review that made me have a lightbulb moment.

Despite us likely referring to it as such below (several times) Dominion isn’t exactly a starter set in the true sense of the word. There’s no Dice, no Range Rulers, no Battle Matt.

Dominion as a box very much assumes you already have a working knowledge of the Age of Sigmar games. This box is aimed directly at AoS players and it wants to get you excited about Age of Sigmar 3rd Edition.

This is why the start here booklet (War at Amberstone Watch) is a booklet on the lore and the new units. Not a guide on how to build and play.

That’s not to say that you shouldn’t buy this if you haven’t played AoS before. If you want to get into the game, this is still the best value way to do it. Just be aware that you are gonna need to get yourself some dice and an inch ruler.

As for those of you like me who just like painting cool models (the people this review is mostly aimed at). course you should start here. You aren’t even going to open those books anyway.

Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Dominion Review – Introduction

Age of Sigmar fans rejoice! Did you watch jealously on as all the 40K fanatics went mad for Indomitus, wondering when you’d next get an opportunity to splash your hard-earned cash on a reliquary of plastic fantasy figures? Well, your day is finally here!

Dominion has finally arrived. After being teased as part of the Sunday surprise for WarhammerFest ’21, over the subsequent months; Games Workshop has turned the hype dial up to eleven with introductory videos to the new edition making their debut on YouTube alongside painting guides, as well as flashy images of incredible new figures being bounced around the internet.

Games Workshop also seems to have been particularly liberal with the press releases for this one, too. Pro-painters already flush with two brand-spanking-new, gloriously well-painted armies have taken to Twitter in their dozens to leave us all drooling over their pristine armies and desperate for Dominion’s release date.

And now it’s finally here.

Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Dominion Review – Contents

As you may well expect, the Age of Sigmar Dominion box is absolutely jam-packed full of goodies for you to get your teeth, nippers, files, paintbrushes, or whatever else, sunk into. Wargamers, modellers and painters alike will find themselves drawn to this box, as there really is something for everyone contained within its crimson walls.

Also, given the comparative paucity of some of the recent Games Workshop boxes that clock in at a similar price, the new edition box really is awesome. Here’s the much-publicised promo photo, with everything laid out and photographed by the wizards at Games Workshop Headquarters:

That’s a lot of stuff. To break it down, the box contains:

• 1 x 360-page Warhammer Age of Sigmar Core Book (Hardback)
• 1 x 24-page Start Here booklet – War at Amberstone Watch
• 60 x Plastic Push-fit Citadel Miniatures
• 14 x Warscroll Cards
• 2 x Allegiance Ability Cards
• 60 x Push-fit Citadel Miniatures, broken down as follows…

21 x Stormcast Eternals

• 1 x Yndrasta, the Celestial Spear
• 1 x Lord-Imperatant with 1x Gryph-hound
• 1 x Knight-Vexillor with Banner of Apotheosis
• 3 x Praetors
• 1 x Knight-Arcanum
• 3 x Annihilators
• 10 x Vindictors

39 x Kruleboyz

• 1 x Killaboss on Great Gnashtoof
• 1 x Murknob with Belcha-banna
• 1 x Swampcalla Shaman with 1x Pot-grot
• 1 x Killaboss with 1x Stab-grot
• 3 x Man-skewer Boltboyz
• 10 x Gutrippaz
• 20 x Hobgrot Slittaz

That’s a lot of stuff for your money.

But let’s put preview photos and lists aside for a moment. It’s time to crack open the box and see what Dominion is really like.

Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Dominion Review – Unboxing

We’ve all seen preview images of Dominion’s hefty box. Over the last month, I don’t think a day has gone by where I haven’t seen some lucky so-and-so waving their pre-release or press copy around on either Facebook or Twitter. But what awaits inside said box?

As one familiar with any much-hyped GW release would expect, Dominion comes in a pretty hefty box. Adorned in glossy crimson and striking artwork, the Dominion box will make a fine centrepiece on anyone’s gaming shelf.

Cracking the box open, you’re greeted with a divider.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: love them or hate them, you can’t deny that GW produces some of the best artwork out there. Just look at it! It’s a glorious piece of artwork that’d look incredible framed and looming over your hobby or gaming cave – provided, of course, it hasn’t fallen foul of any pointy bits of sprue.

Beneath the first divider awaits the plastic.

And, oh boy, there’s a lot of it.

There are ten sprues in total, and they aren’t exactly small, either – which made trying to get a shot of them all space out in the lightbox a nightmare!

The sprues are designated A-J. Two of these are duplicated (B & H) Though C & D along with E & F are joined (you’ll see when we get on to this bit) That’s still 10/12 Sprues (argue the number amongst yourselves). As a minor price comparison (jab), GW sells the Honoured of the Chapter sprue from the comparable Indomitus set for £89. Now compare that again to this Dominion box at only £125. Right…

If you have the money to buy Honoured of the Chapter, then you have no excuse not to buy Dominion. If you can’t afford Dominion, then don’t buy Honoured of the Chapter.

So, go buy Dominion right now.

With sixty minis to make, it’s no small surprise that the box is so heavy with plastic. But even at this stage, the detail on these figures is clear to see. This is shaping up to be a truly magnificent box.

Once all the sprues are out of the way, you’ll find another divider identical to the one on top. Whilst my upper divider was in pristine condition, this one had suffered a little in the box. Unfortunately, this one would not be wall-worthy thanks for a few puncture wounds from the sharper bits of plastic atop it.

It’s, therefore, good that the box contains two identical dividers. I would’ve been gutted if they had each sported different artwork and one had been wrecked. With two, though, there’s a backup – and a greater chance of one being serviceable for display, if such is your intention.

With the final divider to one side, beneath waits your new books, cards, and, tucked under the cardboard eaves, the bases for your new figures.

The thinner books are all packaged in a sealed envelope with the cards. I was relieved to find the Core Book beneath them – I would have been devastated had a sharp bit of sprue found its way to leave a mark in the Core Book’s incredible cover art.

And that’s that. What a lot of stuff! Now, let’s take a closer look at everything inside the box…

The Literature

I’ll be taking a look at the literature in this box as FauxHammer can’t read will be busy cutting, glueing, filing, and photographing all the lovely miniatures that come in the Dominion box.

There are a few non-miniature-related things included in the Dominion box. As anyone familiar with Indomitus – or any Games Workshop battle box, for that matter – will be aware, these are designed to take your figures from the sprues and onto the tabletop as quickly as possible.

In the Dominion box, tucked neatly under all your sprues, you’ll also find:

• Warhammer Age of Sigmar Core Book
• Start Here Booklet – War at Amberstone Watch
• Warscroll Cards
• Allegiance Ability Cards

We’ll have a quick look at each of these in turn.

Warhammer Age of Sigmar Core Book

So, let’s kick this off with the big one: the all-important Core Book. This is the beating heart of the new edition, the tome in which all the new rules are carefully laid out for your careful perusal and crushing of your tabletop foes.

Because the majority of our readership is more into the plastic than the paper in these kinds of boxes, here’s a very brief run-down of some of the biggest rules changes for those of you who want to know more:

• Unit coherency has been updated to be more like 40K. All models in your unit now have to be within an inch of all other models in the unit.
• Say hello to Heroic Actions. This is a new feature designed to make heroes more heroic. Heroic Actions allow a single hero on each competing side to perform one of four actions at the start of the Hero Phase. These are: Their Finest Hour, Heroic Willpower, Heroic Recovery, and Heroic Leadership. Each provides a serious bon to your force.
• Command Points have been revamped. Instead of purchasing points, you now generate a certain number with each round of play.
• Board size is smaller and designed to scale with the size of your game.
• Enhancements are no longer specific to Grand Alliance. Everyone gets access to the same stuff, irrespective of faction.
• Endless Spells can now be controlled by the caster, so you’re less likely to blast them back through your own lines.

The book itself is magnificent. Look at it:

One thing Warhammer always surpasses expectations on is its artwork. Irrespective of range and theme, one thing you can always be certain of with a Games Workshop release is that there are going to be some seriously pretty pictures involved. I have to say, though, I do think the cover art of a lightning-wreathed Yndrasta facing off against some terrible amalgamation of horns, teeth, eyes and tentacles may take the place as my all-time favourite.

I was surprised to find that the vast majority of the Core Book is given over to narrative. Now it has made it into its third edition, Age of Sigmar comes with a veritable mountain of lore. Of the 360 page rulebook, no less than the first 245 pages are dedicated to artwork, showcases, and enough lore to make even Tolkien quirk his eyebrows.

Not that I’m complaining really. I opened the book on a random page and found this phenomenal display of the forces of the Blood God squaring off against the Great Necromancer himself:

Even if you’re not interested in actually playing the new edition of Age of Sigmar, the Core Book is an awesome resource to have. It has something for everyone: jaw-dropping artwork and world-class showcases to inspire the painters; reams upon reams of lore for all the narrative-inclined; and, of course, lots of references to D6 and inches to keep gamers making war atop the table.

Start Here Booklet – War at Amberstone Watch

The Start Here – War at Amberstone Watch booklet wasn’t quite what I was expecting.

Perhaps I’ve spent a little too long reviewing battleboxes over the last year. I expected a pamphlet of scenarios and battle plans that I could use to get my new Stormcast Eternals and Kruleboyz kicking the snot out of each other as soon as possible. Instead, it’s a couple of pages of lore explaining the background to the events that led to the sixty figures in the Dominion box being thus interred in their cardboard tomb.

The book contains a run-down of the Age of Beasts, as well as the lore of each unit in the box. There’s nothing in here that’ll get you playing the game. One for the bibliophiles.

If it’s stats and stuff you’re after, you’ll want the…

Warscroll and Alliance Ability Cards

There are sixteen quick-reference cards in the box. Fourteen warscroll cards for your new units, and two faction cards detailing the pitched-battle profiles and allegiance abilities for both your Stormcast Eternals and your Kruleboyz.

They’re standard fare as far as warscroll cards go: impressive photos of the miniatures they relate to on the front, and a few tables and boxes of text on the back. They won’t mean anything to the thoroughly uninitiated would-be gamer, and will have to be taken alongside the Core Book, but for the tried-and-tested tabletop warchief they’re a great resource.

And that’s that. The only other book in the box is the build guide, and construction today is being handled by Bosshammer himself. So, without further ado, over to the man in charge of the plastic!

Warhammer Age of Sigmar Dominion – The Sprues

My fingers hurt, my legs ache and my Netflix account has seen more activity from me in the last two days than in the last month.

I was surprised by these sprues. After the Indomitus release where everything fitted together so easily and appropriately snug, I came into this expecting to blitz through building some of the highest detailed plastic models ever produced.

With these being of the easy-build/push-fit ilk, I expected this to be some simple chopping and squeezing with just a bit of attention applied to trimming down sprue games and shaving off mould lines. I wanted to come out of this review telling you that push-fit is now my preferred way of building Warhammer models.

Well, here at least, it isn’t.

Warhammer Age of Sigmar Dominion – Building Guide

When you come to your models, the build guide here is a necessity. Games Workshop has a really good approach to the parts on their sprues. The numbers aren’t random, they are sequentially related to the models you are building.

For example, on sprue A, Parts 1-9 are the parts needed to build your first Gutrippa, that being the Gutrippa boss or a standard Gutrippa variant. Parts 10-12 are your second Gutrippa Parts 13-17 the next and so on…

But the build guide (probably for layout reasons) takes this carefully planned out order and boots it firmly out of the portcullis.

What this leaves us with is a guide of random numerical sequences which gets more complicated as you go through and get to the models with multiple build configurations.

I’m splitting hairs here, but I’m a critic after all, and if this is my biggest complaint, well, that’s a good thing right?

Perhaps this is a personal thing, but I’m one who asks “What are the parts for this model?” Then, I look for those parts and cut them off. I’m not so keen on cutting off one part then having to refer back to the guide for the next part. But here I was forced to several times.

Perhaps this could be improved with a little text next to each model name, listing the part numbers. Not convinced? Okay, I’ll do it below. If you are reading this review before building the models, let me know if this helped.

Please, G-dubya, on behalf of the ADHD community, if you are going to put sequential numbers on your parts, then print the guide in the same order. Please. Either do the layout in line with the part numbers (please find a way), or don’t add the part numbers to the sprue design until you have laid out the guide. Hopefully, this is just a case of getting two teams working together but is more than likely to do with concurrent work across a huge production.

For those new to the hobby, these guides are a bit sequentially awkward, but they will get you through. For those of us more initiated, we just want to rip parts off sprues and chuck them together,

To help you with this, I’ve done two things for each sprue below.

1. Listed the parts for each model in numerical order.
   1. The letter designation is the one used in GW’s build guide
   2. Optional builds are in sub bullet points
2. Coloured the sprues in so you can see what parts go with each model
   1. Follow the Rainbow from red, throuh orange and yellow etc for the numerical order of parts
   2. I’ve used darker hues to show the optional parts, e.g. dark red is the optional parts for a red model.

If you share these, please at least give us some credit or a link back to this article. Thanks!

To end a positive note, it is great to see that there is not one single error in this book. All of the parts are correctly numbered. If you follow the guide step-by-step. you won’t go far wrong.

Warhammer Age of Sigmar Dominion – Sprue A – Gutrippaz

Sprue A contains our Gutrippaz, and is broken down as follows; (though I’ve ordered numerically and picked the names A-J from the guide)

• Gutrippa Boss (J) – 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 8
  • Gutrippa (J) – 1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9
• Gutrippa (F) – 10, 11, 12
• Gutrippa (G) – 13, 14, 15, 16, 17
• Gutrippa (E) – 18, 19, 20, 21, 22
• Gutrippa (I) – 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28
• Gutrippa (B) – 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34
• Gutrippa (D) – 35, 36, 37
• Gutrippa (C) – 38, 39, 40, 41, 42
• Gutrippa (H) – 43, 44, 45, 46, 47
• Gutrippa (A) – 48, 49, 50, 51, 52

And this is the mess I mean. The guide would have you get parts 48-52, then 29-30, then 38-42. Or, if you follow it numerically, you’re building J, F, G, E, I, B, D, C, H, A. It’s whatever heresy is in the Age of Sigmar.

And all of this hunting is time. Time I want to spend painting minis; time you probably want to spend playing the game.

The parts on this one are fairly spread out across the differing sprue segments, which made things tricky to find (beyond the numbering kerfuffle).

The only optional build on this sprue is model J (parts 1-9) which can be built as either a Gutrippa or Gutrippa Boss

As Dominion itself is a limited release, I highly expect to see this sprue in all of the upcoming AoS 3.0 Starter Edition Boxed Sets. Whatever they be named (I doubt that Recruit, Elite and Command will be reused).

Warhammer Age of Sigmar Dominion – Sprue B – Vindictors

Often incorrectly referred to as Stormcast Vindicators (which is something else entirely), this is another relatively straightforward sprue. You do, however, get two in the box, so you can build 10 of these warriors with some fairly decent variation across the unit(s).

In numerical order

• (1x) Vindictor Prime (E) – 1, 2, 3, 7, 8, 9, 12
• (1/2x) Vindictor (E) – 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 11

• 2 x Vindictor (D) – 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21

• 2x Vindictor (C) – 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28

• (1x) Vindictor Prime (F) – 7, 29, 30, 33, 36, 38
• (1/2x) Vindictor (F) – 29, 30, 31, 32, 34, 35, 37. 39

• Vindictor (B) – 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 49

• Vindictor (A) – 40, 41, 42, 46, 47, 48, 49

With so many units across two sprues, it’s great to see that there are only two/three sets of twins (C & D + E or F), though each of these at least has a distinctly different head option.

I say two or three sets of twins because the guide says that models’ E & F can be built as standard warriors or Vindictor Primes. You really should only have one prime in your unit, but the guide doesn’t explain this. Wanting variation (not really paying attention), I built two of them as Primes. I guarantee I’m not the only one who has done this by accident.

The Vindictor shield (Part 7, coloured red and blue above) is an odd part as this one can be used on Models E & F. As you get 2 sprues, you get 2 shields. So again, you can make both Vindictor Primes.

Each sprue also comes with 5 little basing features you can distribute as you wish.

I think, expect one (not two) of these sprues to come in the AoS 3.0 Starter sets that follow Dominion.

Warhammer Age of Sigmar Dominion – Sprue C – Knight-Arcanum

Sprue C is nice and simple: a Knight-Arcanum. This comes connected to Sprue D in the box.

Really easy to clip off the sprue as all the parts are together. She does have an optional masked and unmasked head.

When the new starter sets come out, expect to see this sprue in the entry-level box.

Warhammer Age of Sigmar Dominion – Sprue D – Orruk Killaboss & Stab-grot

As above, this is connected to Sprue C in the box.

Technically two models on this sprue, but it’s hard to get wrong

• Parts 1-8 are for the Killaboss. With parts 7 (shield) & 8 (flail) selected by your preference
• Parts 9-12 for the Stab-grot

Once again, expect this sprue to come in the entry-level starter set for AoS 3.0.

Warhammer Age of Sigmar Dominion – Sprue E – Lord Imperatant with Gryph-hound

The second of the twinned sprues, this time sprue E is connected to sprue F.

• The Lord-Imperatant is parts 1-11, with parts 5 & 6 being optional helmeted and unhelmeted heads. Part 12 is a base feature.
• The gryph-hound is parts 13-15.

This time, following Indomitus’ approach, I expect this to come in the mid- and top-tier AoS 3.0 starter boxes.

Warhammer Age of Sigmar Dominion – Sprue F – Swampcalla Shaman with Pot-grot

Once again a connected sprue, (connected to Sprue E). The 2 models on this one are 2 of the most detailed in the whole set.

• The Shaman is parts 1-7 with part 8 as some base detail.
• The Pot-grot is parts 9-13.

Like the above, this will probably come in the mid- and top-tier Starter sets.

Warhammer Age of Sigmar Dominion – Sprue G – Praetors

Another nice and straightforward sprue. In hindsight, this is actually probably the most straightforward sprue in the set, with only a little variation on one model. But the models are printed in the guide in the same order as they are numbered, with a minor exception being the Praetor prime which comes before its optional counterpart, despite the numbers being higher on the prime for the most part.

The breakdown is as follows;

• Praetor (A) – 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
• Praetor (B) – 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15
• Praetor Prime (C) – 22, 23, 24, 26, 27, 28, 29
  • Praetor (C) – 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24

So, the option here is to build model C as either .

Again, expect to see this in the mid- and top-tier starter sets when they come out.

Warhammer Age of Sigmar Dominion – Sprue H – Hobgrot Slittaz

From the most straightforward sprue to the most annoying. Two of these come in the box and can I just say, these sprues really irritated me. The layout alone was irritating with all the little parts, but the guide. Oh, the guide.

Instead of showing you a model and its optional build, the first five models get their own sections. The next five models use many of the same parts as the last five, so you need to swap to the other sprue. The final five models on each sprue are twins of each other with simple helmeted and non-helmeted head swaps between them.

Let’s do the breakdown a sensible way, using numbers:

• Hobgrot Slitta (H) 1, 2, 3
• Hobgrot Scrap Totem Bearer (B)- 1, 4, 5, 6

• Hobgrot Slitta (I) 7, 8, 9
• Hobgrot Scrap Totem Bearer (C)- 7, 10, 11

• 2x Hobgrot Slittaz (K) – 12, 13, 14, 15

• 2x Hobgrot Slittaz (I) – 16, 17, 18, 19

• Hobgrot Slitta (G) – 20, 21, 22
• Hobgrot Noise Maker (E) – 21, 23, 24, 25

• Hobgrot Boss (A) – 26, 27, 28
  • Hobgrot Boss (A) – 26, 29, 30
• Hobgrot Slitta (J) – 26, 31, 32

• 2x Hobgrot Slittaz (M) – 33, 34, 35, 36

• Hobgrot Noise Maker (D) – 37, 38, 39,
• Hobgrot Slitta (F) – 37, 40, 41

• 2x Hobgrot Slittaz (N) – 42, 43, 44, 45

• 2x Hobgrot Slittaz (O) – 46, 47, 48, 49

That was almost as much of a pain to write up as it was to build. 49 parts on each sprue, that’s 98 parts in total.

The parts at least are generally in the same vicinity of each other, though there are a few stragglers. and whilst you have five sets of almost-identical twins in this box, the other five are distinctly different, only sharing an armour plate between them.

I expect that in the upcoming starter sets, we’ll see one of these sprues in each of the tiered boxes. Giving you the options on which way to build the models rather than having all the variations available in one box.

Warhammer Age of Sigmar Dominion – Sprue I – Killaboss on Great Gnashtoof, Murknob with Belcha-Banna & Man-Skewer Boltaboyz

This wasn’t a hard sprue to work on, it was actually quite fun in the beginning, having the Killaboss on Great Gnashtoof to work on upfront made it really fun. This is an awesome model and one of the showcase pieces from this set.

The breakdown is really straightforward as there are no variation options here

• Killaboss on Great Gnashtoof – parts 1-14 with part 15 as a base feature
• Murknob with Belcha-Banna – parts 16-21 with part 22 as a base feature
• Man Skewer Boltboy (A) – parts 23-26
• Man Skewer Boltboy (B) – parts 27-30
• Man Skewer Boltboy (C) – parts 31-34

A really fun sprue, though a couple of the pieces are spread out, making number-hunting less fun.

Based on how Indomitus went, the final two sprues never made it to any of the starter sets. We could see the same here. In which case, expect this to appear in 3-6 months from now as £90 sprue?!

Warhammer Age of Sigmar Dominion – Sprue J – Yndrasta the Celestial Spear, Knight-Vexillor & Annihilators

I’ll be honest, I started with this sprue rather than ended here. Two reasons: one, Yndrasta; and two, it’s the first model the guide tells you to start on. If the first model you build is on the last lettered sprue, that should give an indication as to just how backwards some of these guides appear. Yes, I know. It’s because someone has to decide the best layout based on various factors. But you’re proper messing with my OCD here.

It’s the reason I do these colour guides and part numbers. It’s my way of calming my brain.

As with the above sprue, this is straightforward with only a single minor variant in all the models: an optional head choice.

• Yndrasta – Parts 1-11 with part 12 as a necessary base feature
• Knight-Vexillor – Parts 13-16
• Annihilator (A) – Parts 17-14 with part 25 as an optional base feature
• Annihilator (B) – Parts 26-33 with part 34 as an optional base feature
• Annihilator (C) – Parts 35-43, no base feature but parts 42 & 43 are your choice of heads

Once again, this is one we may not see in any of the upcoming starter sets. I hope we do, but if so, it would just be the same as Dominion itself. So again, my expectation is that will be a solo offering in a few months from now with a £90 (give or take) price tag.

The Miniatures

When it comes to cutting these parts from their sprues, I had absolutely no issues getting my clippers into the small gaps. With very little risk of damaging other parts of the model. I remember the days of Dark Imperium where the Plague Marines would have thin dangly chains with a sprue gate on needing you to carefully shave down excess plastic often causing damage.

On the whole, all of these parts were easy to remove and generally to trim down, but more on that when we get to the individual models.

Stormcast Eternals

Love them or hate them, these are the poster boys for the Age of Sigmar. Like Space Marines in 40K, you’re going to be getting these chaps (Sigmarines, if you will) in every major AoS release. But this time, they’ve really pushed the envelope on style.

I love the first iteration of the Stormcast. Curse me, but I never cared for Warhammer Fantasy. Just not my thing. But releasing these all-powerful mythic warriors immediately got my attention. I remember the day that a White Dwarf mag came out with a free Stormcast model – the first one to come out. The one time that year I didn’t make my weekly trip to Warhammer World and by the time I learned of this free mini., the mag was sold out. Gutted.

When Soul Wars came out, I was a bit disappointed with the new sculpts. I liked my classic Stormcast Liberators and Retributors. The Sequitors were a bit meh – too many robes not enough massive hammers. But it was nice to finally see some female warriors front and centre.

Dominion has literally turned Stormcast up to 11. Whilst not quite on the level of the Primaris re-design, with some sleeker bodies, more realistic face sculpts and various weapon options, Stormcast Eternals have turned a corner and are now heading in a direction I hope they continue in. One which I hope 40k shortly follows.

And finally, we can stop comparing them so directly to Space Marines… Right?

Lets take a look at the models in “Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Everyone Has A Shield Edition”

Vindictors

The new Assault Marines Vindictors (not Vindicators, you’re not alone, we’ve all done it) are your rank and file models.

Building these chaps was easy enough. The sprue gates are put on sensible areas throughout. There is come clean up to be made on the odd curved surface. But it was nice to have all the gaps covered by sensible armour joins.

As there are two sprues I’ve laid out each model above with its respective twin. thanks to some of the different arm choices along with the head, there are only 2 models above which look pretty much identical.

This is really nice to see across two sprues.

Due to the variation, this leaves us with a ton of leftovers. I’ll cover this later on.

Knight-Arcanum

The Primaris Chaplain Knight-Arcanum is another simple yet impressive model. Everything fit together relatively snug.

The main points of struggle were on the robe skirt and the sleeves. Using decent plastic glue (Tamia Extra Thin because it has a brush applicator, not a stupid spout) you can meld these joins together relatively easily.

The main struggle is her left sleeve as the parts you have joined will need clean up. However, there are other parts in the way of doing this. With a sharp hobby knife and some patience, combined with a bit of flexing, you can get in there. But this is where this format of push-fit lets you down.

There’s nothing on this model you can paint in sub-assemblies. Parts like the inside of the robes do not look fun.

Lord-Imperatant with Gryph-Hound

Absolutely love the Bladeguard Captain Lord-Imperatant.

Is it just me or does that Gryph-hound look a bit peeved that his owner is walking around with what could be a relative hanging over his shoulder?

This is another complex model and well put together. The Gryph-hound does have a join line across his chest and spine but these are easily hidden with a decent plastic glue and clean-up no more difficult than with a mould line.

Painting the inside of the robe again may be quite complex with zero options for sub-assembly painting.

The one issue I did have with building this guy was getting the gap to line up on the left side of his cloak, shown below. I’m not alone in this either: Rob had exactly the same issue.

Looking back now, this must be due to one of the pin joins being a touch too wide or too long. If I were to redo this model, I’d probably shave down and shorten the pins. The back of the body (E2) and front of the body (E7) initially connect together. The lower robe (E9) has a pin that goes through the front of the body into a cavity in the back. Making sure E2 & E7 are aligned first, then shaving the pin on E9 would make for a much more aligned fit.

In the end, I just filled this gap with sprue-goo. If you have this problem too, check out our guide on filling gaps on miniatures.

Praetors

Eradicators Praetors were really simple. Being on their own sprue helped.

As with the Vindictors, they all have multiple head options and I must be getting brave as a painter having chosen the faces over the usual masked models.

The main struggle with these is the join line down the cape on each side. once again some sprue goo (that’s glue with some old sprue mixed in to make a melted plastic paste) will be your friend here.

The inside of the cape is convex across the seam line making clean up tricky. The only option here is a thin but a firm sliver of sand paper and a lot of patience. I didn’t bother doing the inside.

Knight-Vexillor with Banner of Apotheosis

The Primaris Ancient Knight Vexillor Possibly the easiest model to build: everything clips together easily and there’s only one visible join line on the robe

This, however, can be easily covered in the same way as the Vindictors above.

Annihilators

My absolute favourite models from this box. The Bladeguad Veterans Annihilators are the big mean bodied hulks of the bunch. Big detailed shields, massive hammers, gigantic shoulders. That armour would make even Marcus Fenix blush.

Only one small variant in this model and that’s the optional head with the Annihilator prime

Speaking of whom, he has an awesome ornamental face plate on his hammer. Yet he is the only model with the hammer facing down, so you don’t actually see it…

Yeah…

The annoying part of these is once again the join lines. Hidden well on the upper shoulder, though the pins once again prevented me from pushing the body flush. However. even then the lower armour plates beneath the shoulder and the parts inside of the head carapace are obviously visible and inaccessible for clean up.

It was clever of GW to put these guys on the big sprue of awesome models. Because they are the ones in the highest demand and we’ll likely not see this sprue or any Annihilators for the coming months.

Yndrasta, the Celestial Spear

Bask in her glorious splendour.

Is this not the absolute best model to come out of a starter box, ever? The sheer wow factor of this is up there in the thousands. Perhaps it’s even over 9000! (DBZ y’all).

There is nothing hard about this model at all. It’s only 11 parts on the main feature and it goes together so easily. Whilst it takes a bit of firm pushing to get her snug, there are no visible join lines across the entire surface

We also get a minor but important subassembly choice here. the wings come off with relative ease, so you can really get into all of those details.

My one gripe: see the fourth feather down on the right win (our right not hers), that came in the box bent.

Okay, I want another one of these because they are just ace. Let’s have a look at eBay Oh £20, not bad.

Stormcast Eternals – Extra Bits

It wouldn’t be a starter box without some additions to our bits boxes. Below I lined up all the spares not shown in any of the pics above. We’ve got plenty of spears, heads, and a couple of shields left over.

Then I checked my desk as I cleaned up in preparation for the Orruks and realised there were even more parts left over. All of these are from the Vindictors. I have almost enough to build another model. except the front of the body and 2 legs.

All this stuff will make some great pieces for basing materials or to retrofit and differentiate some of my older Stormcast units.

Kruleboyz Orruks

Some people seem to dislike the Kruleboyz. I’m not sure why. They look incredible. The models are some of the most detailed we’ve ever had and they are something new.

Yet there seem to be two main camps on the subject: those who love the classic WHF Orks or Orruks and just wanted these to be of similar style but Sigmarised. And the other camp is those who heard the rumours that Dominion would introduce a new race, only to find that this race is as new as Dark Eldar, Wood Elves or Chaos Space Marines.

Same same, but different.

I fall into a smaller subset of Games Workshop fans, one that doesn’t care about the lore, or the factions, or the game. I’m one who likes cool looking models. And here, that’s exactly what has been delivered

I love the Kruleboyz Orruks.

Gutrippaz

First up, I wanted to show off the only variant model in this set. The Gutrippa Boss can also be built as a normal Gutrippa. Though, in fairness, the only difference is that he is wearing a metal helmet. The shield and arm bare little difference to any of the other models.

Building these was a cinch and only had the odd join-line visible, though all of these are hidden in natural armour gaps anyway.

What’s really nice is that a full unit of 10 warriors all has distinct sculpts. There are similarities, but no two are the same.

Killaboss with Stab-Grot

Another couple of awesome models, really easy to build again. With so many details there was some annoyances with the mould lines in detailed areas, but again the join lines have sensible placements to avoid them being visible on the final model.

The Killaboss comes with a shield or flail. With so many units already having shields, I decided to go with the flail option – though I think I may mount this shield on his back after a few knife carves.

Swampcalla Shaman with Pot-Grot

Look at the detail on this guy. Just look. Wow. That’s so awesome. Love or hate the new Orruks if you will, but I love the way these are going. More, please. MORE!

This one was a bit more of a pain. I should have just removed most of the push-fit posts on this one and glued him together. They were a bit too tight and with the parts so fragile it was hard not to have large gaps.

I did try filling these with some sprue goo, but the clean-up was hard as I simply couldn’t reach these areas easily. It worked okay on the arm, but for his hood, I ended up smoothing out gaps that should have remained as holes.

Hobgrot Slittaz

I want to say well done to the sculptor who designed these because they are incredibly detailed.

But I just hate them. Sorry.

It’s not the units themselves – they are highly detailed and look great. But in every starter box in the last half-decade or so, we’ve had really awesome Feature Units, some rank and file and then we have these. Think Chainrasps, think Necron warriors, think Poxwalkers.

There are just so many of them. Again, and I say this as a painter, not a player. I’m bored painting 5 of the same units. don’t give me 20.

As shown above, we have the first half of the force with their respective partners. the back row is our marching band and the front is the weaponised normal chaps. Though these are very different models as the whole bodies and heads change.

Shown below is the second half of the sprue with 5 pairs of identical models only having a head swap between them.

Their guide is a pain to follow, cleaning mould lines from them is incredibly tiresome, and many of the sprue gates sit on shoulders or chins which need shaving down and cutting off. My hands already hurt before I started these (as the last thing I built) and by the end I was not happy. Should have done these crappy ones first.

Again though, really detailed models. Creatively thought out on the sprue and the sculptor should be proud.

Murknob with Belcha-Banna

Once again Weta Games Workshop has really nailed this new style. Anyone who says they look like Orks from LOTR must be taking crazy pills. If you squint your eyes and look at them sideways, these bear absolutely no resemblance to anything from Peter Jackson’s masterpiece.

Really easy model to build with only the smallest join line visible above the spike on his shoulder plate.

Man-Skewer Boltboyz

Again, some awesome detail here. Be careful when cutting and trimming down the bolt strings as they do looks breakable. I survived, but it was the most nervous moment – especially on the longer ones.

Not much clean up to do here, but there is a very noticeable join line right down the archer in the reloading pose and very little you can do about it without a lot of work. cleaning out those details requires a touch of resculpting.

Another point for those wanting perfect sculpts before you paint is the bolter between the bow and body (shown above), the main armature is a single tree branch though they all have visible breaks across the wood in these areas.

Killaboss on Great Gnashtoof

And finally, the largest and most imposing miniature on the board.

This chap is mah-hoosive.

Looking back now, the one thing I wish I had done was to leave the faceplate off of the Gnashtoof until the end. I glued the head so that I could fill and clean the gap running down the centre. Then, I put the faceplate on, securing it in place. This has made it really difficult to reach the eyes.

Aside from that, one join line and a couple down the back legs. There is no visible line on the model. An absolute pleasure to build and I just can’t wait to paint it.

Kruleboyz Orruks – Extra Bits

Entirely from the grot sprues, you are blessed with so many little extra pieces here,

20 heads. 10 bodies, 2 armour plates and a banner. I’m almost certain I can fashion at least one extra grot out of this lot.

Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Dominion Review – Value Breakdown

I’ve done my best to try and figure out what kind of saving you might expect to see in the Dominion box. These big packages of plastic and paper goodness from Games Workshop are always a killer saving on buying all the units individually after release when they start appearing in their own boxes.

Using the tried and tested method of just guessing and hoping for the best searching for similar figures across the entire Warhammer range, I’ve leafed through pages upon pages of the Games Workshop Webstore trying to figure out what figures may be considered similar or comparable to those in the Dominion box.

This was actually very difficult to do. Whilst there are some fairly easy parallels that can be drawn between the existing Stormcast Eternals range and the new figures appearing in the Dominion box, there are also a lot of new figures – particularly amidst the Kruleboyz – that are rather unique. This had made trying to figure out a like-for-like incredibly tricky.

Anyway, here’s our basic breakdown and predictions:

As stated above, this is a very rough prediction based solely on what is currently available across the entire Warhammer range and good ol’ gut instinct. If the hero/HQ models are all bundled into an Honoured of the Chapter-style release, this could affect the costings again. Given that doing this following the Indomitus release was very poorly received by the community, it’s possible this might not happen with Dominion.

Have your own theory? Share it with us in the comments below!

Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Dominion Review – Where to Next?

Dominion heralds a promising new era for Age of Sigmar. As we’ve recently seen with Ninth Edition for 40K, this kind of overhaul tends to lead to an influx of exciting new miniatures, battletomes, and Black Library releases (then, many months later, a partworks magazine).

Ultimately then, where you head next after obtaining your copy of Dominion is very much up to how desperate you are to get stuck into AoS 3.0. If you’re desperate for more Kruleboyz or more miniatures in the same vein as the impressive new Stormcast Eternal figures, unfortunately, you’re going to have to wait for further releases. There were some particularly tasty-looking new Stormcast Eternal and Orruk Warclans figures teased in Sunday 4th July’s Warhammer Community preview (including sockless swamp Dobby), that you can find here. There is, however, no word on when we might see them available for pre-order yet, but it probably won’t be too long..

If you really can’t wait to get your hands on more Stormcast Eternals or Orruk Warclans figures, there are already a host of other Stormcast Eternals and Orruk miniatures currently available that might keep you busy until future AoS 3.0 releases.

If you also can’t wait to get stuck into painting your new figures, Games Workshop has recently released three new colours to aid you in the painting of your Kruleboyz, so you might want to pick those up as well.

If lore and Age of Sigmar’s ever-expanding narrative universe is your thing, then you’re in luck. Black Library has released a tie-in Dominion publication, penned by tried-and-tested Warhammer novelist Darius Hinks.

Of course, if the bibliophile in you wants even more info on the events that led up to where the Age of Sigmar narrative currently sits, you might want to check out the Broken Realms series, which also focuses on some of Age of Sigmar’s hard-hitters: Morathi, Teclis, Be’Lakor and comparative new boy Kragnos.

At the very least, Dominion is a phenomenal gateway into the world of Age of Sigmar. The world – and the Games workshop webstore – is very much your oyster.

Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Dominion Review – Price and Availability

Straight from Games Workshop’s webstore, Dominion will set you back the usual £125/$199/€155 that any regular purchaser of Games Workshop boxes will be familiar with.

For the uninitiated or those just coming to Warhammer with the advent of Dominion, this is a pretty typical price for any Games Workshop product that comes in a box with these kinds of dimensions.

In this instance, not only is this a great price, but it’s also a welcome breath of fresh air. Compared to other recent releases that clock in around a similar price, the sheer amount you’re getting sets it well apart from just about everything else currently available. Not only that, the quality of the miniatures in the box is phenomenal. Wargamers, painters and modelers alike will agree that this really is worth every penny.

Of course, as always, we would recommend checking in with your local independent gaming and hobby stores, or some other websites before buying directly from Games Workshop themselves. You might find they have a copy of Dominion tucked away in their stockrooms for a 10%-20% discount.

Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Dominion Review – Final Thoughts

Just buy it now before you regret it. With Indomitus, this fell on deaf ears because if you hadn’t already bout your copy, then you were SOL. Indomitus sold out on GW’s webstore in less than 15 minutes. Most independent online retailers had seen their stocks snapped up within the hour.

Though, to be fair, they did create the “made-to-order” initiative (which I’m now certain was their way of dealing with not making enough for initial release due to Covid).

We expected the same with Dominion, but alas, it’s still available in plenty of places – probably because they made enough copies of this one. As of now, they even still offer the exclusive Command tokens “whilst stocks last” when you buy direct from GW.

But still, Warhammer Fantasy has never been as popular as 40k. Maybe that’s why they still have stock.

Whatever the reason, Dominion is an unmissable boxed set for miniature painters. There are some of the best models ever sculpted available at some of the lowest possible prices. We don’t know what will come next but following the precedent set by Indomitus, we can hazard a guess that you’ll see various starter sets with a selection, but probably not all, of the models above.

Speaking of which, these are great. I’ve learned some things from this that I wish I knew before building. For example, we are once again back to trimming down push-fit posts, something I hoped had died with 40k Ninth Edition, but it’s back.

For the most part, these models are all but ready to go once you snap them together and throw some primer on them. Thanks to all the detail, with a few speed painting hacks, these puppies will pretty much paint themselves and look incredibly good.

Yeah, I had some jibes at the build guide booklet, but that’s only because I grew up learning a specific order to letters and numbers. And whilst there’s no rule which says the alphabet needs to be in the order we all know (seriously, think about it, there’s no reason the alphabet is in that order!) I still much prefer it when things follow a set pattern that I’ve been conditioned to understand for the last 37 years. The book is fine, but I had to critique something in this box. That was the best I could find.

Still not convinced, just look again at our value breakdown. Sure, money’s tight, but buy it from an independent with 20% off, sell on the core book and you’ve just bagged all these models for about £75. Hell, split it with a friend. Sell your firstborn. Life finds a way. Buy this box.

But I’m only giving it 3 stars because Rob threatened to quit writing here if I didn’t give it 5 (I am giving it 5 really, just don’t tell Rob, I want to see what he does).

Hey, wait a minute. How come there’s no dice?

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Summary

Reviewer

FauxHammer, Rob Hebblethwaite

Review Date

Reviewed Item

Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Dominion

Author Rating

5

Product Name

Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Dominion