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| courtesy of the PP Forum |
Let's get something straight from the beginning. I have a great respect for Privateer Press in regards to their models. Being a GW player from the start of my hobby career, I see quite a bit more daring in PP's models than in GW's. The first place I see it is in the dynamism of the models. There are very few models without some sort of "movement" sculpted on them. What I mean is the sense of movement a model gives. GW is notorious for having very static models. Privateer Press thus far, has shown a penchant for very dynamic models. Many models are sculpted in action poses. If a model is standing still, the movement might come through a tabbard or cloak that is modeled blowing in the breeze. This is great in my opinion. The Harbinger is no different. Seeing as how she gently floats above the ground in fluff-terms, there is still a lot of movement sculpted into the model. The tabbard flowing down (which incidentally are a genius way of supporting the model), the banner held out behind, and even the curve of the legs to show forward motion depict a model that is very much in motion. This is commonplace with Privateer Press models and has been for sometime, while GW is only now getting around to doing it on a larger scale.
Also as mentioned earlier, PP's model, the Harbinger not withstanding are ingeniusly modeled. Again company's like Rackham and Privateer press have done this for awhile now, GW not so much. I love the way the Harbinger achieves a floating effect by using the tabbards and chains of her bearers to hold the model aloft. This is genius. We are only now seeing this occur often with GW models.
The final cool thing about this model in particular and many of Privateer Press' stuff is the level of detail. It is quite amazing how much detail the get on a model and these models are very delicate, again something that GW hadn't quite accomplished until recently. That said, the Harbinger model is beautiful. Some don't like it for various reasons, but I can't imagine attention to detail is one of those reasons.
So, in such a glowing review, could there possibly be anything wrong?
Yep. For every high there is a low, but I tend to think the highs outweigh the lows.
One of my biggest complaints of Privateer Press' models is that due to their delicate nature, they are prone to breakage. I have had plenty of models (spear and staff hafts in particular) break when being bent into shape correctly. You have to be very careful when fixing bent models from PP. This is a big deal as it causes a lot of unneeded pinning if you aren't careful. Ugh....
My second criticism is more a matter of personal aesthetics really. I am not a fan of the huge pauldrons on the Harbinger. This happens often with Privateer Press models. I don't mind it so much on a warjack as they are mechanical constructs, and yes, I know that this is a purely fantasy game, but still each of those things must weigh in excess of 75lb. That poor girl must be suffering from some horrible back strain (please keep your mind out of the gutter here). Sometimes the warcaster armor can look silly and I have noticed that a few other models, especially Menoth, suffer from the same malady. I say fire the tailor.
Overall, I would give the Harbinger an A-. The model is beautifully sculpted, shows dynamic motion, and is ingeniusly sculpted. However, it displays some fragility in its design especially in critical points that bear weight. It also suffers from the scaling problems. Otherwise, I really like it and can see why people pick up this model purely from an aesthetic standpoint.
Other Warmachine Articles:
Warmachine the Way I See It: Menoth Warcaster, pKreoss
Warmachine and Horde Resources
Why Privateer Press Get My Vote
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