Postcards from the Edge

The end of the month is almost upon us and as I sit trying to figure out quite how Old Father Time has managed to swindle me out of a couple of weeks, I swear he's getting better at it with each passing year the crafty bugger; I realise that I haven't sent a postcard, how remiss of me.

It's been a busy few weeks for the blog, following it's near demise by my hand at the start of the month; I've got the 'Edge up on both Librarium Online and House of Paincakes blog networks, a special thanks to Lauby from HoP for the warm welcome and to Roger from LO for sorting out that technical issue (there's that hand again, lethal I tell you!)

February's White Dwarf : The Blood Angels Issue...again!

With the hulking form of Brother Sergeant Rafen dominating the cover of this months White Dwarf, you can be in no doubt that the Son's of Sanguinius have once again seized control of GW printing press. The artwork by the excellent Clint Langley, is from James Swallows Blood Angels Omnibus, the only bit of the book worth having IMHO, but thats another story.

Forty First's Famous Faces

Following on from my recent post of Jan 11th featuring artwork by David Gallagher, with a Blood Angel who looked a lot like Christopher Lee as Count Dracula. And further inspired by Bryan's latest Rogue Trader Fridays post over on FTW; where b.smoove quite rightly pointed out the presence of Al Pacino's Tony Montana within the ranks of the Dark Angels. (I'm also going for a record amount of links in one paragraph btw).

Stormravens and Dreadnoughts and Eldar! Oh, my!

So my hunch was right, not that you needed to be a rocket scientist to figure it out, which is fortunate for me; GW have announced the 5th February as the release date of the long awaited Stormraven and the Furioso Dreadnought and don't these kits look the business!

Ultramarines the Movie : Bix's Review

I finally got to sit down and watch the much anticipated and (in some quarters at least) much maligned Ultramarines Movie from Codex Pictures. I had been planning to see it with the rest of the Gents, along with a good supply of beer and pizza to sustain us through it's epic run time of...erm...70 minutes.

Books in Brief : False Gods by Graham McNeill

Another gripping read from an excellent series, though I think Dan Abnett's work is a shade better; McNeill still ticks all the right boxes. Certainly where the action is concerned, it's fast paced and thrilling with plenty of moments for the Marines to show off how truly awesome they are.

With the groundwork done, the scene and players set in Horus Rising, False Gods can take time out to colour the main characters some more and that means more Loken, which is never a bad thing. Once again he shines as the most engaging character in the story, acting as our witness to events and aptly showing the finest elements of the Astartes as both ultimate warriors but also deep thinking and dare I say soulful men.

I did find McNeill's take on Horus to be a little blunt, I know that the tale demands a momentous change in him, but he loses a lot of his tact and charisma in this portrayal; this being his most dangerous quality to my mind seemed to be a mistake. Also the story does on occasion get bogged down in extraneous exposition about the Mournival; although I find this ancient council very interesting, the author does dwell a little too much on the strained relationship with their Primarch. Things are rocky, we get it, move on.

Still it's a great book and being part of the spine of the Heresy it's a must read; this epic tale of power, corruption & tragedy moves on apace.

Battle Report 3 : Traitor's Rain

As I've posted previously, the Lalinta Prime Campaign is drawing to a close, we've only got one game left to play and I'm well behind on the reports. So I plan to bang out in quick succession all the games I fought in and an overview of the rest of the Leagues progress in the campaign.

They are pretty basic affairs, I think all the games for this campaign ended up being annihilation matches (so much for all my intricate plotting) and I'm learning the art of reporting as I go; this is my first using Vassal although I ended up just using templates from it in Paint, which wasn't ideal, but time is against me and well you know by now my somewhat ham-fisted track record with IT; maybe I can master it another time.

1500 point battle Blood Drinkers v's Eldar

Stormraven in the pipe, five by five!

Got home from work today to find my January issue of White Dwarf on the door mat, it's arrival lifting my weary spirits, I'm still acclimatising to the new working year, how about you? I was also cheered to see that it remained fully intact, despite Merlin our resident moggy eyeing the rodent festooned cover with cold contempt that threatened a short future full of claws, teeth and use as a litter tray.

A DIY Success and a near IT Disaster

The shelves are up in the painting room and they're not half bad, even if I do say so myself, hurrah! Crosses one objective off the long list; so the years off to a good start. Now my host of unfinished projects and half painted miniatures can glower down and motivate me with a mixture of guilt and the threat overloading the brackets; damn you plasterboard walls.

2011 Oath of Moment

A belated Happy New Year to you all, I hope that the new decade finds you well, not overly stuffed and needing Mass Cargo Conveyance to remove you from the sofa. Did (insert your choice of anthropomorphic personification of Christmas here) deliver all you had wished for?