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Issithill, Agitator of Khthon

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  • Issithill, Agitator of Khthon By Mierce Miniatures

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Name:	KTH-GOR-3102 - Issithill - 01.jpg
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ID:	438188When this snake warrior arrived in the mail I must confess my first thought was: “Didn’t I kill thousands of this guy and his friends in the desert area of Diablo II?” Then my second thought was: “Wow, this thing is DETAILED! No wonder so many people like Banelegions.” Not that this is a Banelegions piece. Issithill, Agitator of Khthon, is part of the Darklands series from the same company. First impressions were quite good, but does this miniature stand up under close scrutiny?

    Issithill is one of the larger monster miniatures I have ever worked with and it comes in 11 pieces: the body, main tail trunk, end of the tail, large bladed staff with right hand, left arm with sword, neck, head, 2 pennant spikes for the back of the armor, blade for the butt of the staff, and ribbons for the staff. There is also a plain, recessed 60mm base made of the same material as the rest of the figure.

    This is a resin figure and most of the small pieces came on sprue. To my delight, this resin is extremely easy to work with. To get rid of even the largest gate tag all I needed was my sharp hobby knife which shaved away the excess material in a few short swipes. However, because it is so easy to remove this resin you are going to want to be careful, otherwise you’ll remove too much.

    I could not find any evidence of air bubbles in the resin, which is fantastic. In fact, I did not see any problems with the resin on the figure. The blade of the sword did snap off with a little pressure, but all it took was some super glue to reattach it and now it’s stronger than before.

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ID:	438189While all the parts fit together well, you will need some green stuff to fill in around the joins to make it look seamless. This is especially true with the tail and head. Experienced green stuff users won’t have any problems, but less experienced hobbyists may have a little trouble. Thankfully, none of the join areas are in awkward places which means you don’t have to worry about having to resculpt any details. The sculptor made some very smart decisions about where to split the model because every join comes together with a straight bit of detail, like a leather strap or hard edge of the armor.

    The details on this sculpt are really amazing. Every ridge of the snake’s belly and every scale has been painstakingly detailed. The armor is dented and scarred, showing that this is one snake that’s not afraid of battle. Even the ridges in the snake’s open mouth are carefully sculpted and I am amazed that they came out so well in casting. There are also a number of riveted leather straps that hold the monster’s armor in place and a few shrunken head trophies along his sides. This is a very dangerous beast and the sculpt does a very good job of communicating that in pose as well as in the details.

    The plain recessed base was a bit of a surprise and, honestly, a little bit of a disappointment. When I saw how detailed the miniature was through the packaging I was excited to see what kind of base it might have. After thinking about it, though, I see it more like a blank canvas- it’s a base that will be very easy to work with for attaching Issithill and you have plenty of room to do whatever custom work you choose. This means that you can choose to base him however you want.

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Name:	KTH-GOR-3102 - Issithill - A-C-O - 01.jpg
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ID:	438190If you want to paint this miniature, then you’re going to want the time to do a good job because this guy deserves a great paint job. There are a lot of different textures to contend with: metal, scales, ridges, leather, and cloth. There’s even a little flesh, if you count the shrunken heads. There’s not much to speak of when it comes to open spaces or areas where one could do freehand design without having to deal with some detail, but I’m sure that would be a fun challenge for someone who wants to paint an emblem on the armor or a tattoo on the snake’s scales.

    Some less experienced painters might be intimidated by the size and level of detail on Issithill, but he’s a good value for the price, meaning that he would be a good starter piece for someone wanting to get into big monsters.

    While there are some other snake warriors available from other ranges, none of them are this well sculpted, except perhaps for the other snake warrior from Darklands. Issithill is definitely more of a hero unit than the other figure due to his commanding pose. I’m honestly not sure if this guy could be used as a proxy in any miniature wargames, but he would make an exceptionally scary encounter in a roleplaying game. Until Darklands releases its wargame I feel that this is more of an artistic or competition miniature, but it’s something that will be cherished by anyone who buys it; it’s that good.

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Name:	Issithill,-Agitator-of-Khthon.png
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ID:	438191The Breakdown:

    Quality: 10 / 10
    *Amazing detail on a very unique piece
    *Great resin cast
    *Sword blade snapped off at hilt, but easy to reattach
    *Plain base leaves room for custom work

    Assembly: 8.5 / 10
    *Resin is very easy to work with
    *Because of the level of detail, experienced hobbyists will be more comfortable
    *Gap filling needed at all of the large join areas

    Value: 8.0 / 10
    *Very reasonable price for a very high quality miniature

    Overall: 8.8 / 10
    Issithill is a great example of imagination and fine sculpting on a grand scale. The price is reasonable and you are getting a very nice work of art for your money. As I have said before, more experienced hobbyists will be more comfortable with this figure, but he’s also a good one for people to learn on because of the excellent planning that was done when the sculpt was broken down for production. If you’re looking for something unique and fun to work on, then look no further.
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    About the Author

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    Cregan Tur Painting since 2002 | married and proud father
    Find out more about Cregan Tur

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