Warhammer: The Old World Grand Cathay Miao Ying, the Storm Dragon
review by Sergio Almonte
Greetings Jade Warriors! It is I, high magistrate Almonte, here to tell you about the wonderful miniature kit Miao Ying, The Storm Dragon. We’ll cover the contents of the kit, a basic overview of Miao Ying’s lore and the realm of Grand Cathay, as well as my best estimation for the usage and rules overview of the model in Warhammer: The Old World. Without further ado, let us get started!
Lore
At the start of the Warhammer Fantasy universe, an ancient race of magical beings known as the Old Ones happened upon Mallus, a cold and inhospitable world floating in the cosmos. Well, inhospitable to all life besides the Dragons, of which we are particularly concerned with one, a scrappy lad known as Xen Yang. When the Old Ones brought Mallus closer to the sun, most of the dragons fled or died due to the changing climate, except for Xen Yang, who waited to see what the Old Ones desired to do with their newly terraformed sandbox. He watched as the old Ones created the Lizardmen, then the Elves, then the races of Ogres, Halflings, Dwarfs and eventually, Man. It was this latter group that intrigued Xen Yang the most, for they were a foolish but malleable species, and with the proper direction, they could achieve great feats.
So it was that Xen Yang and his consort, Quay-Yin the Moon Empress, founded the nation of Grand Cathay, shapeshifting to appear as humans to better understand their subjects. But the newly crowned Celestial Dragon Emperor could only manage so much, and so it was that he raised nine dragon children to administrate in his stead. One of these children, and the mightiest to still walk the mortal planes, is the storm dragon herself, Miao Ying. It is she who is tasked with protecting the Great Bastion from harm, and she is just as willing to strike directly into the chaos hordes that besiege its mighty walls in her draconic form as she is to cast sundering spells with her human form. Loyal to a fault, and the most reliable of Xen Yang’s children, Miao Ying will see the enemies of Grand Cathay rent to ashes, and will brook no dissent within her ranks. So it has been for thousands of years, and so it shall until the world itself falls to ashes.
Contents
The Miao Ying box includes the following…
- 2 Miniatures
- 1x Miao Ying, Human Form
- 1x Miao Ying, Dragon Form
- Assembly Instructions and Bases
This is a very unique box for a named character, introducing the concept of transforming Miao Ying between her more magically powerful human form and her more physically powerful dragon form in the middle of the game. Both models are superbly sculpted, although I found aligning the floating rocks on the dragon form’s base a little finicky to align. The assembly of both models is more intensive than your standard 40K or Age of Sigmar kit, but is around the same level of complexity as other Grand Cathay kits. The entire assembly took me about two full days, so expect a more detailed and complex experience overall.
Gameplay Style
Miao Ying is an absolute beast in any Grand Cathay army, with her numerous abilities coming with the eye watering price of 515 points! She has strong melee attacks in her dragon form as well as counts as wearing full plate armor, so paired with her 7 wounds, 8” flying movement and a leadership value of 10, she’s in for the long fight. Uniquely, she has the capacity to start the game in either her human or dragon form, and can transform between them during the course of a game. As a human, she can rally fleeing units, cast twice as many spells as in her dragon form and counts as heavy infantry, meaning that she casts a wide shadow and acts as a force multiplier to any Grand Cathay army fielded on the tabletop.
Conclusion
Miao Ying is a spectacular set of models, a true capstone to the revival of Warhammer Fantasy through the Old World game. I would highly recommend this model to any hobbyist with a desire to paint a large dragon model with a unique flair. Glory to Grand Cathay, and honor to the Storm Dragon!
Miao Ying is available to purchase now from our webstore.
