Blood Drinker Assault Squad Idus

At last, another squad ready for deployment, I'm sure the Emperor would be mighty miffed at my tardiness in readying my Chapters forces; but he's been lazing around on the Golden Throne for the last 10,000 years, so he's one to talk. I mean you'd have thought the guy would have run out of reading material and bog roll by now and the queue outside must be worse than at a Forge World stand!

Lazing on a Sunny Afternoon : More ToS Pics

It's an awesome sun baked Bank Holiday weekend here in the green and pleasant land and as Sol has seen fit to grace us with some rays, something that happens all too rarely in this usually grey, rain soaked Isle; I'll be outside making the most of it.

For your viewing pleasure whilst I'm away sunning myself a shade of Blood Red and lighting up the BBQ like a Flamestorm Cannon; here are some more pics from my recent trip to Throne of Skulls.

Books in Brief : Red Fury by James Swallow

Having been disappointed with the trilogy of books featured in The Blood Angels Omnibus, which were hampered by weak story and characters; also riddled with ill conceived battle scenes where squads of men turned into hundreds; wallowing in excessive gore, seemingly for lack of anything imaginative to do.

I approached Red Fury with some trepidation, determined to give it a go despite the warning given me by MC Tic Tac; I am after all a Blood Drinker player and I reasoned I owed it to my Chapters Primogenitors to read all their fluff.

Sadly the warning rang true, this book is no different and the Blood Angels are again penned as complete idiots as they let another Chaos plot overrun them (this time on their home turf of Baal).

The inclusion of the Successor Chapters (including my beloved 'Drinkers) did lift my heart, but there are precious few lines dedicated to them; much of which amounts to nothing more than name dropping on behalf of the codex, which is a real shame because there were seeds of some good ideas here.

Swallow rallies in the final chapters of the book, for a better stand up fight than he has been able to deliver thus far in these novels; but then drops the ball at the ten yard line with a seriously tepid ending. If you are a Blood Angel or Successor fan as I am; steer well clear, Swallow only does them harm.

Throne of Skulls : Been there, Done that, Got the T-Shirt

Back from a fun packed day at Throne of Skulls, held at Warhammer World, Nottingham; very tired and still sorting through a mountain of very poor photos I took, trying to rescue enough for a half decent article.

Those lethal hands have struck once more (Grrr) and to reference Robert Capa again for an analogy; he managed better focus whilst under fire, hitting Omaha Beach, than I did in the (mostly) peaceful environs of the gaming hall.

Throne of Skulls : Trooping the Colour

Another guest post today, this time by brush myster Paul aka 'Pestie' from PPE; he's been painting Tomo's army in readiness for this weekend's Throne of Skulls tournament and shares with us some work in progress pictures and thoughts.

You have the Con Number One.

A Time of Heroes

On returning to the blogosphere this week, following another enforced leave of absence (I've been declared officially on the mend and return to light duties in a few days, so lots of kit prep).

I find it to be a time of great deeds and legends reborn.

Gaming Table Project : Terra Firma

The gaming boards are now finished, after some deliberation (I do after all have the DIY skills of Bloody Stupid Johnson) I decided to try something a little fancier than just sticking the gaming mat to the boards. My aim was to try and make the boards look like some kind of stratagem table, so here's what I ended up doing with them.

Throne of Skulls : Journal of a Novititate Warmaster

My good friend Tommo, a founding member of our gaming group, the League of Extraordinary Gentleman (the Gents for short); will be taking the plunge into his first tournament in a few weeks time at the Throne of Skulls and has taken time out from his preparations to share his thoughts on the upcoming challenge. I'm interested in how the whole thing goes, having also never played in a tournament and of course I'll be lending my support to his endeavours; but most importantly having him do a stint as a guest writer will allow me to crack open a cold stubby and go catch up on some 'Gods of the Arena' with the Missus.

Gratitude to Tommo...

Forge World Open Day 2011 : A Tale of Two Queues

As promised in yesterdays Postcard here follows the account of my trip to Forge World's open day, held at Warhammer World in Nottingham. *Rant Warning* if you just want to skip to the interesting pictures please feel free to do so, thus avoiding my much needed venting.

Postcards from the Edge

Well what a busy month March turned out to be, mad as a March Hare if you'll excuse the English idiom. Despite the deliberate slow up toward the tail end of the month; my lack of mobility combined with a veritable flurry of rumors, reading and releases, saw me posting like a rather large amount of Jokaeros with access to a Scriptorum and it's cogitators.

That pushed my monthly post tally into the teens for the first time Woot! (Cabin fever can drive a man to get excited about the most mundane of things). Hopefully its not been a case of 'never mind the quality, feel the width' and judging by the still growing readership, all your welcome comments and support; my hammering away at the keyboard has resulted in me hitting at least some of the right notes.