Szarekh the Silent King has arrived, and in Rob’s unboxing and build, he goes over all the things to watch out for when building it.
This week we are unboxing the new Szarekh the Silent King set and seeing what it takes to get it ready for the tabletop. Definitely some hits and misses with this set, and some serious gotchas along the way. Overall this took longer to build than even an Imperial Knight or any other kit Rob has ever built. If you’re new to the hobby you’ll need some help, and if you’re an experienced builder, get ready for some frustration.
We are going to show you everything including the sprues, bits, and of course the size comparisons. That way you can decide if this box is worth your hard-earned hobby dollars. Let’s go!
Szarekh the Silent King Necron 40k Unboxing & Build
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The Box:
Despite having tons of slots and seemingly correct places for things to go, this is not an easy build. Rob is going to call it “easier to build”, but not that easy compared to a lot of the current releases. His tune may change later on though on the easier idea.
Instructions:
The instructions are very well laid out (for the vehicle) like with almost all the new releases. With the nice colors and 3D pictures, it helps at least understanding what goes where. You get two of the same sprues so there is a lot of symmetrical pieces that go together to make one full part.
Once you get past the Dais of Dominion instructions, they have all the character instructions. These actually look far harder to build than the Dais. Rob is already getting nervous about building these guys because they have so many little pieces and odd supports. It almost seems like the guys and the vehicle were designed by two completely different teams, who took completely different approaches. Just not very well laid out from the get-go…
The cape is also something Rob is worried about before even starting. because it shows to glue the cape to the Dais before connecting it to Szarekh himself. The rest of the minis also have a bit of a suspect build for connecting them to the Dais.
Sprues
This is the duplicate sprue and even some of the bodyguards look to be on both of the duplicate sprues. Nothing too crazy but there is an insane amount of parts!
This is the single sprue with all the character parts, the riser in the middle, and the C’tan. These three sprues run $150, so you can do the math on that. Now that we’ve seen the sprues Rob is really hoping this will not take longer than a night to build. Don’t get your hopes up.
Build Impressions:
An Imperial Knight takes about 3-4 hours from start to finish to build. This kit took about 6 hours, including cleaning the kit, to build. Rob says this is the worst kit from GW he has ever built… If you are a beginner or new to the hobby, please have someone help you! This kit is no joke.
It has some really good parts and some really bad parts, but the bad parts are basically a dumpster fire. For $150 we were expecting more. Some people were upset about the super-easy build kits coming out. And we get that, but Rob has built a ton of kits (almost all of them), and this was by far the worst. 6 hours is a really, really long time to build one mini.
If you’re not as experienced, we have no idea how long this could take.
Tips for Building Szarekh the Silent King
Everything is good (but time-consuming) up until you get to the dudes themselves. First off, the instructions are not good when you get into the guys. They have multiple parts that are all turned around and don’t make sense when you get into it. Basically, they have like 5-6 parts for each guard that have to be lined up perfectly to work. But you have to build them separately and then hope it works, kinda frustrating to design something this way.
Rob recommends starting with the bottom of the instructions and then moving to the top half of the guys. That way you at least have something ready to go and base the mini off from there. He also uses Tamiya extra thin cement instead of regular glue. It’s so much thinner, making it easier and cleaner, you’ll need all the help you can get..
Szarekh himself isn’t nearly as bad to build as the bodyguards. The cape is definitely something you want to paint before gluing it into the Dias. It’s just going to be very hard if you glue it down then try to paint. It doesn’t really fit very well on him without gluing it to the Dais so maybe not even worth trying. Rob is going to show some of the assembled parts but not the whole thing altogether, it would just be way too hard to pint it if you build it all first.
Built Components:
Whoever designed this, you are amazing! The Dais itself went together really well as long as you take your time. This is all relatively sturdy and Rob did it without blue-tac or magnets. But he does recommend you do it in sets.
This is the first assembly and it fits into the bottom with those little nubs. You could magnetize it there as well if you had some extra time. Rob would also recommend painting all the guys separately before you put them on.
This part supports itself and you don’t have to glue it to the base if you don’t want. The Dais itself is well done, it’s really just the characters that are super hard to build. If you’re spending this many hobby dollars on something, you’d think it would go together easier…
Sizes:
The side pieces go together super easy and do look really cool.
Here’s the Dais compared to a Necron Overlord, the walker from the Indomitus box, and the two new walkers to just come out. You can tell this thing does have some serious size to it!
That does it for this one. Overall, just took way longer and a lot harder than Rob originally anticipated. If you’re buying this kit, be ready for a really long and kind of frustrating build. Maybe best to have someone help you or break it down over a couple of days. For the price, you would just hope it was a little easier to build…
Have you tried building this yet, how did it go?
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About the Author: Travis Pasch
Travis Pasch
Job Title: Head Writer & Editor
Socials: @paschbass
About Travis Pasch: Travis has been a Warhammer 40k hobbyist since the 1990s, playing the game since Third Edition. Through extensive traveling, he’s seen a lot of the miniatures hobby from across the world, giving him a unique perspective on the latest gaming topics and trends.
Travis’s brother even owns a commission painting studio, where he’s picked up a lot of good advice and techniques for painting Warhammer and tabletop miniatures over the years, as well. Travis joined the Spikey Bits team in 2019 and has been the lead writer since 2020.
Currently, he’s working on converting all his 40k Adeptus Mechanicus models and becoming a true tech enjoyer, complete with both sad and happy robot noises!
