Fulgrim the Illuminator Revealed!

At long last, the next Primarch is here!

This weekend was an exciting one for those of us who play Warhammer 40,000.  The highly anticipated Horus Heresy Weekender event took place in Nottingham, resulting in a wealth of new information (and models!) from Forge World’s vision of depicting the epic civil war that set brother Space Marine against brother Space Marine across the known universe.  What I was looking forward to most, however was the full unveiling of Forge World’s next Primarch, Fulgrim the Illuminator!

Not long after the event had started, images of Fulgrim started to show up online, taken mainly from an informational pamphlet that must have been given out during the event.

Perhaps the more telling images of the Primarch came from the instructional PDF Forge World released, detailing all of the parts that come in the kit, along with some informative images of where to attach his many leather pteruges and the little clawed-eagle wing sigils of the Emperor's Children.

Forge World directions at their finest! Now there will be no confusion, surely...

His armour is similar to Angron’s but lacks some of the spartan bestality of the gladiatorial armour worn by the Primarch of the World Eaters.  Fulgrim’s armour looks more refined, with a more regal aire, suggesting Roman nobility rather than gladiatorial slavery. It has many more dangling pteruges and fine filigree veining across every millimeter of his battle-plate.  I really like how Egan chose broad armour plate to fashion Fulgrim’s armour, contrasting the lithe frame one might expect (unlike many space marines, he could probably get close to fitting in his armour, ha ha).  The Imperial Aquila is displayed all over the armour too, with an imposing wing cresting his left shoulder, and smaller ones trimming his ankles, with the claws’ grasping the segmented armour of his feet. And unlike the unruly pelt of animal hide that Angron wears, strung through with chains and skulls, Fulgrim has a simple cape of flowing cloth on his back, easily ruffling with his graceful motions. All said, the Gilded Panoply is a well deserved name for his ornate armour.

Two of the most deadly beings in all of Warhammer 30/40k.

Equally as important as all the other details, the pose of a model is can make or break a model.  A lot of the character’s personality and temperament can be reflected in it.  Each Primarch has a very defined persona, one that has been drawn out with both the Angron and Fulgrim models. I feel both the Angron and Fulgrim sculpts capture their respective essences well.  Angron fumes with barely contained rage, charging forward heedless of his surroundings.  Fulgrim, on the other hand, looks much more controlled, capturing his lithe grace, as he is preparing for perfect killing strike.  The sense of motion is excellent, his cape billowing to the side as he leaps into the air.  I really look forward to getting my hands on Fulgrim such that I can compare him, scale-wise to Angron.  While the dead marines at both of their feet are an indication, I would like to see both Primarches side-by-side to get a true sense of the models’ similarities and differences.

The sense of motion Simon Egan captured in Fulgrim is spectacular; it is not often that a running model looks so cool and convincing.  

For as detailed as the model is, Fulgrim does not look cluttered. At his waist he has two impressive looking daggers, with eagle-head pommels.  I was particularly excited to see that they included his Volkite Charger, Firebrand, in a holster (interestingly he would have to cross-draw his pistol, based on how it attaches) .  Like Angron’s plasma pistol, Spite Furnace, it is actually in an appropriately sized holster.  Although it is a minor thing, sidearms in the 40k universe have been notoriously mis-scaled, and it is nice to see that thought went into these ones (rather than just pulling a random plastic one out of a bitz box and adding detail on top of it).  The Blade of Laer he carries is nicely modelled and detailed and has a subtle resemblance to the Mark of Slaanesh (if you look at the pommel). It is a very unique looking sword, possessing an odd crook in the blade, making it really stand out from other blades.  I am not completely sold on the design, but feel most of my reservations come from the blades size (a little too large for my liking).

Firebrand!

In another interesting development, they were also displaying an alternate rendition of Fulgrim where he is carrying a Chapter banner and adopts a more static pose (potentially an earlier work in progress version?) . Overall, I feel the final version is superior to the alternatively posed one. While all of the individual components of the model are fantastically sculpted, the combination of them looks a little awkward. I think much of this comes from the fact that his arms are posed nearly identically to the other version, only changing what he is holding. The model would look much nicer if his left arm was lowered and positioned more naturally with his pose. I am anxious to see some nicer pictures of the model’s face, as it appears to be slightly different where he is not yelling (I know many were not thrilled with the yelling version).  It will be interesting to see if the model ever becomes available.  

Although certainly an interesting looking model,
I do not think it really compares to the other.

It is only a matter of time now before Forge World starts selling Fulgrim to the wider audience, but that time cannot come soon enough!

-Godwyn Fischig