Games Workshop has revealed the first new miniature for Warhammer Age of Sigmar 4th edition – a new version of the first ever Age of Sigmar mini, the Stormcast Eternals Liberator. The updated sculpt is taller than its 2015 precursor, wearing a svelte new kind of armor.
Games Workshop revealed the new model in a Warhammer Community post on Tuesday, as part of its ongoing teasers for Age of Sigmar 4th edition. Though the firm hasn’t yet announced when the mini will be available, going on past form for previous marketing campaigns it will be bundled into a launch box set, alongside other new units teased in the AoS 4th edition trailer.
The Stormcast Eternals Liberators are the foot soldiers of Sigmar’s crusades throughout the Mortal Realms. Their minis debuted in 2015 in the first edition Age of Sigmar starter set, making them among the oldest Age of Sigmar models (not counting those that were previously available as part of the Warhammer Fantasy battle model line).
The new kit updates the original stocky Liberators to wear ‘thunderstrike armor’. This was first introduced in the Age of Sigmar Dominion third edition starter set on the spear-wielding Vindictors. Compared to the original Liberators, the new armor is more slender, better proportioned, and replaces leather pteruges with a scale-mail skirt.
In the lore, thunderstrike armor can explosively catapult Stormcast souls back up to the realm of Azyr to be reforged on death. The Duardin smith god Grungni added the feature after the Warhammer Chaos Daemon prince Be’lakor tampered with the skies to prevent their souls escaping. It even has an in-game effect in the current edition, with Stormcast in thunderstrike armor more likely to damage nearby enemies when they fall in battle and explode.
We’ve been expecting these minis to show up for a little while, after they were added to the Age of Sigmar RTS game Realms of Ruin as a cosmetic option. If the new edition trailer is anything to go off, the flying Prosecutors will also get an upgrade. We have high hopes that the rest of the first edition range – including the Khorne Bloodbound – gets a similar spruce up.
Fourth edition is set to be a major upheaval to the game: GW has already revealed that all current Age of Sigmar battletomes will get the chop, clearing the rules slate for the new edition.