Warhammer Age of Sigmar – Etheric Vortex Gloomtide Shipwreck

As part of the release of the Idoneth Deepkin, Games Workshop presents a new scenery item, the Etheric Vortex Gloomtide Shipwreck. This goes along with the new idea, to pair a matching terrain piece for each of the Age of Sigmar factions. In this review I'd like to share with you my experience on unboxing and building the Gloomtide Shipwreck.

The Gloomtide Shipwreck comes in a medium sized box, that is similar to the one used for other terrain kits, like the Ryza Pattern Ruins or Azyrite Ruins. It is priced at 25 GBP / 32.50 EUR / 40 USD.

The kit is spread across 4 medium sized sprues and comes with an instruction leaflet, which covers the rules for the shipwreck in Age of Sigmar in addition.

Like many of the terrain pieces, the Gloomtide Shipwreck was manufactured in the chinese production facilities of Games Workshop. When I noticed this, I was afraid that it would have softer edges and blurry details, like some of the base detail kits did, but it was not the case. It is not the same level of crisp details as the main product ranges (infantry or vehicles) have, that are produced in the UK, but it is more than enough for a piece of terrain. The cast is clean and with moderate amount of mold lines. It takes a bit of time to clean the parts from the sprue, but this is due to the amount of details and split parts, so absolutely worth it.

As you can see, the individual pieces are quite large and the hull of the ship is cleverly split to make most use of the provided space. There are even some additional / optional pieces in this kit, two sets of 3 different fish. I'll show those later in this review.

The shipwreck consists out of two pieces, the bow and the stern. We begin with the bow, using the two largest pieces of the kit. They receive a bend piece of wood in the lower front on each side to complete the first step.

Now a piece of rotten deck is added, and connects the two sides of the ship. The halfs form the body of the figurehead.

Both pieces of the wreck have their bases, grown over with corals, skulls and other sunken items. The longer piece makes the base for the bow.

Now we have to details the figurehead. The face is added, along with two arms holding a hammer. This is obviously a statue of Sigmar. But the long beard and hair makes him look more like Manann, the Old World's god of the sea. But I assume he didn't make it through the End Times. (If you want to convert him with a trident, I assume you could get one in of the Idoneth sprues).

Last detail bits for the bow piece, adding some planks to the lower hull and the mast.

Now after the front is done, we continue with the stern. Beginning with the starboard (or right side for you landlubbers), the back piece of the deck (quarterdeck) and lower piece of the rear. I suggest you separate and clean the next few pieces at once before assembly, so you can quickly go through this step and arrange the pieces towards each other before the glue settles.

After the starboard side is set, the portside and the upper rear is added. The ship has a Sigmar lettering on its back.

Now the stern is added to the second, smaller, base and a small piece of wood for the center is added.

Last detail pieces here as well, the stern lantern, the rudder and a plank are added to the hull. Finished is the second part of the shipwreck.

You can connect both pieces of the shipwreck to form a huge terrain piece. It even interlocks. And as mentioned above, one of the two identical sets of fish, that are included as extras with the kit.

As for scale, this shipwreck can be used in a couple of settings, beside Warhammer: Age of Sigmar. It could be seen within the Warhammer World along the coast of Tilea or Estalia, or even stranded near Marienburg. Further than that, it works quite well with the pirate settings / miniatures of Freebooter Fate or Black Scorpion, or even the range of North Stars Frostgrave Ghost Archipelago.

And for the last set of pictures, the combined shipwreck.

As well as stern and bow.

Conclusion
Although I've already seen the shipwreck, I was amazed by the sheer size of it while building the Gloomtide Shipwreck. Some people have argued, that it is pricy at 32.50 EUR for a terrain piece and mentioned it'd be cheaper to get one of these aquarium ship wrecks. But that is comparing it to a much less detailed item and it is going to cost you 15-20 EUR anyway. You receive not a single item but two pieces of scenery along with a bit of scatter pieces with the fishes. And for the price, it makes more sense to compare this to the Ziterdes shipwreck, which is similar size, but more expensive (priced at around 40 EUR).

I could even see someone rebuild a proper Warhammer ship based upon this and filling the gaps with plastic card and green stuff. If you've seen such a conversion, please let me know, I'd like to see it. Maybe even recreating one of the out-of-production Warhammer Forge / Forge World Marienburg Class Land Ships.

To sum it up, with the Gloomtide Shipwreck you get a proper addition to your terrain collection, that is usable beyond the world of Warhammer at a reasonable price.

Link: Games Workshop

The reviewed product item was provided by the manufacturer.