Mini-maker Para-Bellum has opened pre-orders for a new Abomination of the Spires model, a description-defying beast that would stand toe to toe with a Warhammer daemon prince or greater daemon.
The new Abomination kit costs $142 (€129.99) and is made from resin. It replaces a plastic kit originally released in 2019. If you’re unfamiliar with Conquest, it’s a rank and flank fantasy wargame – not unlike the upcoming Warhammer: The Old World – that uses the unusual 38mm scale, giving it very large figures.
The new kit celebrates Conquest’s fifth anniversary, and joins an impressive line of massive monsters including dinosaurs, giants, and nameless horrors.
Launching a new wargame is always a risky prospect, especially a full army game that uses a miniature scale incompatible with other popular miniature wargames. The fact that Conquest has made it to five years is quite an achievement.
Its high quality sculpts have surely played a part, and there’s plenty of appeal for people who just love painting miniatures – check out this video by Duncan Rhodes Painting Academy as an example:
For my part, I’m a monster aficionado, and the Conquest range is very high up my list of “minis I would buy if money was no object and I wasn’t already neck-deep in plastic”. The new Abomination is actually one of the less impressive kits that Para Bellum makes.
The Spires Siegebreaker is a writhing nightmare that looks like some kind of MTG Sliver on steroids. The Nord Jotnar would make an amazing centerpiece DnD miniature of a giant. The Dweghom Hellbringer Drake is a giant lizard with two cannons and a throne on its back, which is self-evidently awesome. How about a domesticated T-Rex, or a one-winged angel?
I’m not about to say that these are better than Games Workshop’s monsters as a whole – just last year we got the new Tyranids range, the incredible Tahlia Vedra on Manticore for the Cities of Sigmar, and of course Daemon Primarch Angron. But they’re on par with a lot of it, and they really show up the older, weaker parts of the range, particularly Chaos Daemons.
I think the core designs of the Chaos Daemons are timeless, but the minis lack the infinite variety you find described in Warhammer 40k books or depicted in Warhammer art. The older sculpts – like the Greater Daemon of Khorne, or Nurgle Plaguebearers – simply don’t stand up in a world with 3D printers, where incredible horror miniatures are easy to find.
Competition is good for innovation, and I have no doubt the sculptors at GW are looking at Conquest’s designs to work out how they can make their monsters better. Here’s hoping for many more years of excellent monster designs from Para Bellum to keep them on their toes.
Got a massive monster you want to paint but daunted by the sheer number of brushstrokes required? Check out Wargamer’s guide to the best airbrush for miniatures to speed the whole process up.
Source: Wargamer
