One of the reasons I enjoy it Warhammer 40,000 is because it allows for some relaxing moments off screen. It’s just me, a few little guys, and a paintbrush to pass the time. But I also enjoy the way the little ironies coalesce into thick layers of sarcasm, an atmosphere that has been present since the beginning of the game. Ultimately, much of the 40K universe is just plain stupid, and no faction is crazier to me than the Death Korps of Krieg.
Krieg’s Death Corps comes from a world where a long military standoff was neatly ended by global thermonuclear war. And by neat I mean almost everyone died.
Using the same logic that creates entire desert planets in Star Wars, this means that the Krieg Death Corps is particularly good at fighting siege warfare in extremely dangerous conditions. Their penchant for exhaustive warfare leaves an awful lot of them dead, but this is heralded in the lore as a feature of their military tactics and not a bug. On the table, it also helps that they look like a cross between World War I German soldiers, World War II German Nazis, and sad futuristic military conscripts with woefully inadequate equipment. Because if you send poorly equipped troops in large numbers towards certain death, they might as well remind you of the worst people who ever lived.
Meanwhile, the awkward look you’ll receive at the checkout when purchasing your little space fascists is at least somewhat offset by the quality of these models. The field rifle in particular is a delight, with multiple weapons to choose from and multiple points of articulation – including a nice little opening break for those interested in creating action-packed dioramas. The infantry is also excellent, and a huge upgrade over the now tall resin sculpts that previously formed the core of the Corps.
If you want to pick up the new army set, which went up for pre-order on January 11, it will cost you $230 Death Korps of Krieg – Astra Militarum army set is a pretty good deal. It even comes complete Codex: Astra Militarum rules of the game in a beautiful collector’s cover. Although, as with most things Warhammer, you’ll need two or three boxes for a large army.
You’ll also have to paint them, which brings us to another irony of the set: its proximity to the release of a new set of paints from none other than John Blanche. For nearly 50 years, Blanche set the tone for the entire 40K universe with a wild, gestural art style and a uniquely warm color palette. That palette was not codified and celebrated by his employer of some 46 years, but by one of his biggest competitors, New Zealand-based The Army Painter. On January 10, a day before Krieg’s pre-order went live, Masterclass John Blanche from army painters, part one and part two went to pre-order, complete with a print of Blanche’s artwork and a selection of colors you can’t find anywhere else.