Warhammer Age of Sigmar – Awakened Wyldwood

Along with some novelties for the Sylvaneth, primarely the Battletome, they receive a boxed set of terrain - the Awakened Wyldwood.

And there is something new on the box, the new Warhammer Logo, combining the hammer and the imperial eagle. We will see this a lot from now on, as it will be used as the new brand to promote and sell the Games Workshop products with.

The Awakened Wyldwood does replace the former Citadel wood, which is a bit of a pity as the kit is quite a nice set of trees. This new kit costs 40,00 EUR and comes with three large sprues, and an assembly instruction, that covers the rules for the terrain piece as well in multiple languages.

The sprues cover one with the tree trunks and bits of bases, along with two identical, large sprues with the leaves / branches. Casting is properly done and few mould lines, but it takes a bit of time along the leaves to clean up.

There are a total of three different trees, all with the same set up, two halfes of the trunk itself and two base pieces, that help to stabilize the stand. The tree trunk have ball joints to later add the branches. There are little details on the trees, like funghus and little rocks. The bases are c-shaped and you can place them to encircle a part of the table. But more on that further below.

I like the open roots and how they are a bit hollow, so these could be placed in a swamp as well, and not just in a forest / gras land.

The trees are build and now its time to add the "foliage", there are two sets of three toppers, you can mix them freely to add the top leaves.

Each tree has 8 ball joints for the remaining branches. There are two sets of 12 different branches, I sorted them a bit by size and went from big to smaller from bottom to top. But you can mix it freely. I started with the lowest branches.

Due to the ball joints I can imagine that we might see different sets of these trees maybe with empty branches or corrupted branches, to go with winter, undead or chaos, as it would be an easy way to bring more variety into this kit.

As the branches are quite massive parts, they might need some support during the time the glue cures. So I used bases and blu-tac pieces on a pen to keep the branches in place until the glue hardens.

This is an example how the trees can look, as you can mix the branches as you like. I am not sure about the diameter of the Citadel wood branches, but they might be the same size, so if you have spare bits, you might be able to mix them in there.

As for the C-shapes of the bases. That has a reason. One of largest discussions you can come across while playing with trees on your table, is that unit within the tree line / forest, does it benefit from cover, can it be seen and such. This is nothing exclusive to Warhammer, but to other rule sets as well. One way to take care of this, is by adding larger terrain bases to your forests and put the trees on top of them. The Citadel wood worked like that, other model trees are offered in a similar way, with MDF bases, where you have a fixed area covered with the large terrain base do clearly show what is inside and what is outside of the forest.

This is an practical approach to cover a large area on the table and keeps it easy to move miniatures across it, without having to move the trees themself. Games Workshop sets the size of an Awakened Wyldwood at 3 to 6 pieces, so a box gives you the minimal set up. An old Citadel wood counts as one piece. The C-shape makes it possible to use two as forest, but then you don't benefit from the special rules of the terrain piece, that support the Sylvaneth.

These trees are tall, you can see that from the pictures above, but it becomes much more clearly when you see them with a miniature in front of them. A Stormcast along with an old Space Marine in the first picture. As these are surprisingly low key on their "warhammer-esque" design, so a minimal amount of skulls and bones (yes, the bases have some skeletons and bone pieces on them), they could be used for other Fantasy or even historical settings. So here they are with some Cowboys and Agincourt / War of the Roses miniatures in front of them.

I would have loved to show the new trees with the old Citadel wood, but wasn't able to acquire them within the time to prepare the review. But I have some nice old palm tree from the third edition Warhammer 40.000 starter kit (the one with the Space Marines and Dark Eldar in it). And a cheap model tree that I bought on eBay.

I have written an article on diorama photography and scenic backdrops, and due to their size in width and heights, I can see them being used for such things. Just to give you an idea, with a "mock up" using the Sylvaneth warband for Underworlds.

Conclusion
I am a fan of plastic terrain, as it is sturdy, easier to transport and store. And especially with trees, this is something that goes even further. Proper model trees are costly and you have to protect them with thinned down PVA or some coats of hair spray. But that is no 100% solution, as you will loose foliage of the time and there will be need for touch ups. This is something, that just isn't there with plastic trees. It wasn't a problem with the old Citadel wood and certainly not with the new Awakened Wyldwood.

I find them very playable, as mentioned above, moving miniatures through them or through the area they frame is rather easy, and as you can see from the pictures with the Sylvaneth, the branches start rather high and it is easy to place miniatures below them without or least with less hassle. It is a bit of a pity that the "old" Citadel wood is discontinued, as I think a mixture of both kits, the Wyldwood and the regular wood, would make for a great forest "space" filler.

40 EUR is reasonable, it is more expensive than the old kit, which was somewhere in the mid 20s EUR range, but with less space coverage and smaller trees. Similar sized 3d printed trees are in the high 30 EUR / low 40 EUR price range, when you buy them at a store, but come without foliage. As mentioned above, I think that we might see a variation of this kit, as you have a seperate trunk sprue and could replace the branches with different designs of them. That is just my assumption, but it would make sense from the product design point of view and if Warcry will become the same or a similar product for Age of Sigmar, as Kill Team is for 40k, we are in for a treat with some fantasy Killzones, maybe covering some trees and such.

Warhammer Age of Sigmar is a brand by Games Workshop

The reviewed product item was provided by the manufacturer.