Hello and welcome to the final batch of issues from the Hachette Partworks Age of Sigmar magazine series, Stormbringer!

The final set of issues has arrived in a large drop from Sigmar himself, and includes issues 75 through to the final issue. 

If you missed the last batch of issues you can find the article for those right here. If you want to find out what was in the complete series, along with a value breakdown, then you can find all that here.

It’s been a great series, especially for newcomers to Age of Sigmar, or in fact Warhammer full stop. By now you should have quite the Stormcast force, as well as a large encompassing Destruction army, with a smattering of other Order forces. Not only that, but you’ll also have a fair chunk of paints and a decent amount of hobby tools.

The final disclaimer in this series of articles… When I come to value these issues I am comparing the price of the issue (£9.99) to the RRP on Warhammer.com. You can of course find cheaper prices elsewhere, for example our affiliates Element Games (clicking this link will take you straight there, and should you purchase, give us a cheeky kick back too!).

With all of that out of the way, it’s time to delve into the last lot of issues. Buckle up.

Issue 74

Contains: Orruk Warchanter
Value: £21.50 over on Warhammer.com, so a nice saving of £11.50.

Magazine:

He’s green, he’s mean, and he bangs out tunes with his two massive bones. He is of course the Warchanter for the Ironjawz. As well as being a cool looking mini he is also pretty essential in an Ironjawz force. He also looks awesome on the issue’s front cover, the style of artwork really does him justice!

If you have been following along then you would know that normally each issue opens up with a piece of lore, or a story. Not in this case. The magazine kicks off right away with narrative content for your Warchanter, giving you charts to either pick from, or roll on if you want to go full narrative and leave it to fate. I’ve said all along that these narrative ‘bits’ are my favourite sections of the magazines. 

This is then swiftly followed by the building instructions for your new Orruk. Again, and as always, these are fully detailed and easy to follow. 

Speaking of which, the painting guide follows and shows you clearly how to paint your Warchanter using the colours you have picked up during the course of the magazine series. It gives you hints and tips on shading and highlighting your mini. The painting help doesn’t stop there, as another painting guide is included in this issue. This next one helps you paint those details on your scenery that you have built and painted so far, including swirly magical effects!

Moving on we then have the 3rd edition Warscroll for the Warchanter. For those who don’t know, the series launched mid-way through 3rd edition, so you won’t see any rules or hints at 4th edition in any of these magazines. If you have been building and playing along then I would suggest continuing with 3rd edition and playing with all the rules gained so far. Once you have finished the series then you could always look to switch to the latest edition of the game. The abilities on his warscroll are looked at in much more detail on the following page, to ensure you make the most of the mini on the battlefield.

Again, with a focus on 3rd edition, the next page gives you tactics on how to make the most of your Warchanter and the previously collected Megaboss. 

To wrap up the issue we have Battleplan 5 of the ongoing, final, campaign. 

Issue 75

Contains: Stormdrake Guard (Part One)
Value: £77.50 these would set you back on Warhammer.com. Bearing in mind these dragons come across three issues that gives us a total cost of £29.97, so that is an epic saving of £47.53!

Magazine:

The next three issues will have you building and painting two incredible Stormdrake Guard for the Stormcast Eternals. I mean, they are some of the finest Dragon models we’ve had for a long time, and I know some people have been trying to snap up these three issues online to nab themselves a cheaper pair of dragons.

This issue kicks off with the biggest, complete story so far, entitled Spearhead. It’s written from the perspective of a Stormcast warrior, and is a great little written piece.

The next, large, section concentrates on the assembly of your two dragons. Even though you won’t have the full kit in this issue, the magazine does give you the complete instructions on how to assemble. It helps you with sub-assemblies too, to make building and painting both the dragon and the rider easier. Note that the magazine shows you how to build the kit as Stormdrake Guard however you do have the full kit, so you could turn one in to a Knight Draconis (you may be able to find the instructions for this alternative build online).

To help your Ironjawz in battle, the next section is dedicated to giving your Orruk’s Battle Traits aka army wide special rules to help them KRUMP! It explains how Mighty Destroyers, Smashing and Bashing and the WAAAGH works (again, all 3rd edition rules).

To round out the issue it of course finishes on a batteplan, A Test of Mettle.

Issue 77

Contains: Stormdrake Guard (Part Two)
Value: See issue 76

Magazine:

The second Stormdrake sprue is included with this issue, and it’s identical to the one in the last issue.

This issue opens with the conclusion of a story started a few issues ago, Venom, which of course focuses on a band of Kruleboyz. Again, really well written, although you may need to go back to part one to remember what is going on!

Ever wondered what makes a Troggoth tick? Well, the next few pages answers that (burning?) question, with a section on there Anatomy. This is swiftly followed by some lore focusing on the Stormdrake Guard, as well as Krondys and Karazai. Finally in this section are some narrative charts to grant your Dragons a back stop and reason for going to war. 

We then have some more narrative flavouring, with a chart for finding our your origins should you decide that your hero will hail from the realm of fire, Aqshy. Two further charts are included for units and creatures.

Following on from this we have a painting guide which will help you finish painting your Marshcrawler Sloggoth from a few issues ago, using paints gained more recently. It also helps you add those subassemblies back on to the model too. Again, some great painting tips in here.

The painting doesn’t finish there however, as the magazine now helps you add some finishing touches to a number of models that you have collected and painted along the way, such as painting Xandire’s Lamp and making your Stormcast banners pop a little more. 

Severed Lines, the seventh battleplan of the final campaign completes the issue.

Issue 78

Contains: Stormdrake Guard (Part Three)
Value: Again, see issue 76.

Magazine:

We are really getting close to the end now, and this issue completes your Stormdrake Guard, as it includes 2 flying stems and accompanying bases.

For the third issue running the magazine opens up with a story, this time its the conclusion of Nature’s GIft. Fans of the Sylvaneth will like this one.

With your Dragons now fully assembled it’s time to get them painted, which is the next section of the issue. Again, it breaks down the painting process by subassemblies, to make life so much easier.

The warscroll is up next, which as always also has three full page explaining in detail how the warscroll’s special abilities work. 

Finally, Poisoning the Well is the name of battleplan 8, as the end battle edges closer. 

Issue 79

Includes: Swampboss Skumdrekk (Part One)
Value: His RRP is £40. He’s across two issues, which combine to a cost of £19.98. That’s a good saving of £20.20.

Magazine:

It’s the penultimate issue! This one includes the first sprue of another fantastic kit, which you don’t see very often on the tabletop, Swampboss Skumdrekk! He really is an ace model, which also has an alternative, standard hero build (again, the series will include the instructions for Skumdrekk).

The Gathering is the name of the story that opens up this issue, which revolves around the Gloomspite Gitz.

A WAAAGH is Born is the name of the next segment, and as you can imagine, it talks about the lore behind the WAAAGH and what happens when it is indeed called.

The final narrative section is up next, and as always you can choose or roll on a chart for the reason Skumdrekk has joined your army, as well as peek at his chosen tactics. 

The full detailed guide on how to assemble your new Krulboyz hero follows. Even though you won’t have the second sprue yet this issue shows you the complete instructions from sprue to base.

The Stormdrake Guard get the tactics overview in this issue, to help you make the most of them whilst you are still playing 3rd edition.

Sally Forth is the penultimate battleplan, and it’s one of the best ones yet, as the Order player has to split their forces, whilst Destruction runs up the board. 

Issue 80

Includes: Swampboss Skumdrekk (Part Two)
Value: See previous issue

Magazine:

And so, here it is, 79 issues later and we hit issue 80. The final issue in the Stormbringer magazine series. Mini-wise, it includes the second and final sprue for Skumdrekk, as well as his base.

The issue kicks off with probably the best story of the series, called The Last Stand. It features what can be best described as a big punch up between Order and Destruction!

The final painting guide is of course for your now fully assemble Skumdrekk, with a nice detailed look at all the little gubbins he’s carrying, such as the cage. 

His warscroll is then included, with clear, image driven descriptions of how his abilities work. The Swampboss and Da Kunnin’ Krew get the final tactics breakdown, helping you make the most out of both units in battle.

The Storm Breaks is the final, climatic fight of the battleplan (and series!). What I love about this battleplan is the additional special rules you can use. Depending on how you and your opponent got on in the other missions you could get some bonus buffs, for example, the winner of the Test of Mettle battleplan gets a free move, whilst the winner of Poisoning the Well gets to redeploy a slain unit at the start of battle round 4! It’s given me some ideas for if I finally get round to creating a full campaign of my own…

To finish off the magazine, there is a little page that talks about what is to come…that is…the Rise of the Great Horned Rat!

Annnnnd that’s a wrap! Stormbringer has finished. It’s been a brilliant series by Hachette Partworks, and hopefully some of you out there have been painting and playing along as the magazine has been landing, as I think that is the best way of enjoying the content. 

The narrative features and the battleplan/campaigns have been fantastic, and I’m tempted to play out that final campaign from the last set of issues with the Sprues and Brews team, as I think it could be a lot of fun, in particular the final battle in issue 80.

That isn’t the end of Hachette’s magazine series however, as they recently launched Combat Patrol, which you can find in shops right now. 

Published by David Jennings

Born and raised in Crewe in Cheshire, Dave is a geek through and through. Enjoys designing and managing websites. View all posts by David Jennings