This week, we’ve been treated by Games Workshop to a brand new Kharn The Betrayer model and I for one think it looks brilliant. Dynamic and full of character, the new sculpt captures the true madness of Angron’s equerry and his brutal, rampaging nature with violent bloodlust as well. Gorechild looks like a Primarch’s weapon now too. It’s a big win for me, and a lovely treat to the much beleaguered (though not for much longer if all the rumours are true) Chaos Space Marine players.

However, and I mean this in no way to be moan, there are still some characters kicking around the galaxy of the 41st Millennium that could definitely do with their own resculpts. One might even argue that they needed updating before Kharn had his turn. I for one always quite liked the old Kharn model (though the new one is a lot better of course).

The cocked head, the ‘come on, I dare you to come closer to me’ stance and the raised axe were all pretty cool. All of those features I just mentioned (and plenty of others) do look better on the new miniature, but I suppose what I’m saying is that Games Workshop have plenty of other fish to fry in this area. And to that end, I’ve picked out five miniatures that definitely need an update, and the faster, the better. In no particular order…

Mephiston

Now, in fairness, I could have picked half of the characters in the Blood Angel range at the moment to fit into this list, but rather than stick them all in here, I’m going to restrict myself to just Mephiston. I remember when the model was released in metal the first time round and I loved it back then, but now, one of the most legendary Sons of Sanguinius is looking somewhat static, and while many of the details make for a cool mini, imagine how much better they’d look with a modern sculpt? The cloak could be billowing out, the plasma pistol could be held more threateningly and that skull shoulder pad could really be brought up to a higher standard. What’s more, those two pointy bits on the sword could be streamlined as I’ve always wondered how they gave him any benefits at all as they would make a blade harder to cut with and stab with. His rules make him a boss, but the mini, while not quite sending me into a black rage, does make me thirsty for a redoing. Here’s hoping they can make him a little more dynamic and detailed soon.

Drazhar 

I’m no great fan of the Dark Eldar as a rule – nothing against them but they’ve never really got my hobby juices flowing. One thing that they do have going for them is that they have a lot of very good looking characters and HQ choices, from Lelith to Urien, from the Succubus to the Haemonculus. And then there’s Drazhar, doing what I’d call a ‘prancing velociraptor’ impression. The enigmatic master of blades looks just a bit underwhelming when stacked up against other characters in the range. Add into this that he got a little bit of a nerf with the last codex (albeit with a points drop), you don’t see him much these days. Those demiklaives of his could be much better positioned, and in fact the model would look far better in a leaping pose. Throw in a few more details to that desperately dull armour, and he could be a real winner in terms of looks at least. A character with fluff as good as Drazhar’s shouldn’t have the worst sculpt in the Dark Eldar range.

Cypher

Ah, the bathrobe wearing wild west gunslinger. He’s been skulking in the shadows for so long now, and only part of that is due to his ancient sculpt. Arguably one of the most popular characters in the game if we’re going by lore alone, he is well overdue an update by now. I’d like to see him in a pose that lends itself to his shadowy background and not something that would better suit a Western B Movie extra whose about to be shot by the man in the white hat. The holsters for his pistols are about the same size as his upper legs and his face looks like something out of a bad horror movie (ok, so that’s not unique in the CSM line), so it really does need clearing up. Also, I’d like to see the armour being maybe MkII or MkIII – bring him in line with the fluff a little more. As it is, I don’t think I could stand the idea of painting this guy up now, which is a shame because he really is an incredibly cool character to have in the 41st Millennium.

Ragnar Blackmane