Hello and welcome to the first article in a series regarding the newly released plastic kits for Warmachine. This review will detail the contents of the Khador Warjack Plastic Kit and point out its qualities and flaws for everybody who wants to grow their Russian-themed army. But let’s get started with the review.

Opening the box

The kit comes in a snug plastic box that contains a strip of plastic wrapping that houses the pieces and the cards for the 4 warjack variants. The pieces are grouped inside various pockets of the strip in a somewhat logical fashion: Base and heads in a pocket, torso in his own pocket while the shoulder-pads, arms and weapons in the others. The heads are pretty small so I would suggest setting them free after you’ve finished with the rest of the model, for obvious reasons.



After clearing the contents of the box some things will attract your attention:

1)The warjacks have a new design that is less rounded than the metal models and puts the accent more on hard edges and good fits. Everyone who assembled a warjack had to do some major green stuff work to fill in the huge gaps that existed in the old privateer press models. It’s not the case anymore as all the components have guides and holes that fit almost perfectly with one-another. Also, from what I could see, no guides are on the mold lines, so there’s nothing to clear in order to properly assemble the model.

2)The new warjacks are roughly 50% bigger than the old ones. It’s not obvious at first, but once you put them one near the other you’ll immediately notice it. Luckily, since Warmachine combat is centered on the unit’s base, this increase of size will not shift the balance of power on the battlefield in any way.



The box contents

The four unit cards are for the Juggernaut, Destroyer, Marauder and Decimator. The Decimator is a new warjack added recently that is equipped with a high powered gun and a saw that’s totally evil if it focuses on a single target. People who have bought the Khador MK2 deck will find these cards a bit redundant, but having them in the package is a very good idea for new players.

For the plastic components we have as follows:
• a large base
• a torso which is not perfectly symmetrical. I have no clue if this is the desired effect or it’s just a casting defect.
• A warjack pelvis which houses the slots for the legs.
• 2 shoulders. These are perfectly symmetrical so you can place either one on the left or right side. On the inside of each shoulder you will find a big guide line which fits all the robot arms. This line will allow you to assemble the warjack arms only they way they should be assembled.



• 2 legs which have the same trapezoidal assembly guides as the GRIND warjacks, however these fit perfectly into the pelvis slots. The only problem with the legs is the uninspired mold lines.



• 4 heads , one for every warjack model.
• 5 weapon arms that are very well cast and have some nice details. The ram pistons are my personal favorites because they have the battle damage modeled in them.



• 2 generic arms with 3 attachments – these are where PP deserve all their stars and praises. The generic arms are used to fit the handheld weapons (axes and open fists) and are brilliantly designed as generic slots. What this means is that if you want to replace something from the robot you only have the replace the hand instead of the whole arm. Magnetizing, anyone ?


Casting and mold lines

The kit does not come on a sprue, and because of that almost all components have some nasty cuts on them, as if somebody manually cut them off in a hurry. Almost every single piece (with the exception of the heads, probably) requires cutting and filing to some extent.
Mold lines are sometimes good, sometimes really bad. On the weapons we have the typical center mold line that resembles the GW weapon models. Heads don’t have any mold lines that I could see. On some other components, however we have mold lines running from rivet to rivet (which pretty much ruins the detail in those parts) and on flat surfaces. I expect a lot of chipped robot legs from beginner hobbyists



Apart from those issues the models are pretty well made. They are a bit bigger than before and they seem initially less detailed. However, if you look closely they have details in all the parts that matter, such as the pistons, steam engine, exhaust pipes (that finally look like they should), weapons. They even have some really minuscule screws modeled that look quite awesome. Hard edges are present exactly where they should be, and weapons now look like they can cut through something. Finally, all the pieces have assembly guides , which will make putting a warjack together a breeze.

Closing thoughts

The kit is a brilliant move from PP. It’s gonna allow people to finally field a diverse warjack army without having to shell out insane amounts of cash. Also, them being plastic makes the models more resistant to damage and less prone to accidents.
The way they went with the modular design is also a stroke of genius, because it really allows you to fit your warjack to your heart’s content. Magnetizing this kit completely is almost a no-brainer seeing how it is built. Beginner hobbyists may have a hard time doing this, but for them just gluing the model should be a breeze.
All in all, this kit goes highly recommended for anybody starting a Khador army because of its versatility, value and quality.

Stay tuned for the next part of the series, that shows how in soviet Khador, warjacks magnetize you.