Music to Paint Miniatures By

A whimsical post of sorts today, having caught up on all my Deepstrike Radio podcasts (good show but listener discretion is advised) and admittedly having had my fill of Chase, sorry mate but 'Really!?' when it comes to 40k background you're 'Like a Boss' but 'I swear to God', more than one of your rants in a sitting and 'I am disappoint.' ;o)

New Life into Old Lead Pt II

Before I get into today's post, I'd just like to pass on a belated big thankyou to Brian aka The Inner Geek for his invaluable help in setting up the quotes gadget you may have noticed appear over to the right in the past week. He sourced me a very easy to use script and if it wasn't for his assistance I'd probably still be locked in search engine hell.

Following on from my success with my Techmarine last month I embarked on another renovation project; this one was going to be much more of a challenge and I'd been putting it off for ages through a lot of fear and doubt in my own ability. Many years ago, my good friend Pestie aka Paul of Pauls Painting Emporium painted a conversion I had put together of a Terminator armoured Sanguinary Priest; whilst he did an outstanding job as always, there were now a couple of bits that didn't quite sit right with the look of my Blood Drinker army or the rules of the 5th edition Blood Angel codex.

Postcards from the Edge

As the sun sets on another month I realise that I didn't send a Postcard back in June; but taking Ron's sage like advice I'll not waste words on an apology (see his wise FTW post here) and instead crack straight on with some dispatches from the far reaches of the Imperium. There's two months worth of backlog filling up the Scriptorium and my Lexicographers are getting testy.

Last time I saw them this riled up was something to do with a cockroach, a misprinted file and the arrest, interrogation and execution of one Archibald Buttle; turns out he wasn't the heating engineer the Inquisition were looking for. *Shrugs*

6k Big Game : Orks & Guard v's Marines & Eldar

A couple of weekends ago, saw the Gent's piling into a mass cargo conveyance for another gaming trip up to Warhammer World in Nottingham; that said conveyance was piloted by our resident Ork player Pestie should have given us pause, but when you're handed the chance of not having to be at the wheel when navigating the Black Hole that is the Catthorpe Interchange (where time stands still and even light has to apply the handbrake) you take it.

In the Company of Wolves : Thunderwolf Alternatives

Since transferring to the Space Wolves, Bish's fortunes as a commander have taken on a decidedly upward momentum, with a string of victories against several of the Gents. The Wolves of Fenris have bitten sizeable chunks out Pestie's Orks and then cocked a leg at their remains after a rematch. Stomped rather mercilessly over our newest member Danny's freshly founded Imperial Guard and but for a misinterpreted rule, come close to turning Will's Eldar into Pedigree Chum.

Looking to bolster his forces with some Thunderwolf Cavalry and with GW shockingly still not producing figures for a unit they published rules for three years ago! He turned to me for some advice about what alternatives were out there and as he's yet to reignite the age old war between the Lycans and Vampires by battling my Blood Drinkers, I was only too happy to oblige.

Blood Drinkers Fandex : The Legacy of Sanguinius

Coming to the end of the Fandex installments detailing the background of the Blood Drinkers; here I look at the defining feature of any Chapter born of the Sanguinius bloodline, the Flaw and the duality it weaves into all aspects of Chapter life and in some cases, death!

It's been a tricky one to lay out coherently because when you sit down and really examine the Flaw you realise it's not a single entity, but rather a conglomeration of fluff, much of it contradictory. Anyway, here is my attempt at papering over the cracks.

New Life into Old Lead

Work is still playing havoc with my hobby life at the moment, clearly evidenced in the distinct lack of posts over the past few months. Still I did manage to grab a few hours at the painting table over the last couple of days and with my Griffon project on hold whilst I await a specific jump pack that I'm scrounging off one of the Gents; I fixed my sights on a task that might be achievable in the limited time available to me.

Books in Brief : Mechanicum by Graham McNeill

McNeill has done a fantastic job with Mechanicum, although again it’s not a return to the hellish surface of Istvaan III and the ‘hopeful’ possibility of some loose ends left by the original Heresy trilogy. As such it may be taken as another side story from the main arc, but to label it as such is to do the book an injustice.

It may not be about the warring Astartes (it’s a refreshing break from the super soldiers and their constant belly aching over loyalty and honour) but the Mechanicum are an integral part of the 40k verse and the war on Mars is pivotal to the whole Heresy campaign.

McNeill has done an Abnett like job (no offence Mr McN) in conjuring a truly awe inspiring vision of the far future, making it at once both dark and alien, but with touches of the familiar to anchor it to our past. It’s these little touches which are finally bringing the sprawling and at times contradictory 40k verse into some semblance of order.

40k Veterans will find a wealth of old favourites, now sadly missing from the game, within the pages of this tale; Knight Orders, Robots and the Scutarii. The Titan battles are suitably earth shattering, with a wealth of illumination as to their workings and the crew’s mindsets. McNeill shows the God Machines to have a lethal grace and fashions Titan combat into an art form akin to a hybrid of submarine and tank warfare.

My one quibble with the book is that the main story line again is an unfinished tale; it leads us through the early explosion of the Heresy on Mars but leaves us with the war raging and many unanswered questions. So now I’m left wanting a follow up to the main Heresy books and also this grand off shoot; crafty BL sales devils!

An exciting read, with enough depth to place it firmly up there with my favourites of the series; its lack of Space Marines (there is a guest appearance) does not detract from the action and there’s plenty of it.

The Eagle Griffon Has Landed : Pt I

I've finally got my hands on the plastic High Elf Griffon kit from GW's Warhammer Fantasy Battle Island of Blood boxed set, picking it up for a very reasonable price on Ebay and have set about my 'admittedly slightly bonkers' conversion project for the Captain of my 8th Company 'The Talons' of the Blood Drinkers Chapter.

Books in Brief : Battle for the Abyss by Ben Counter

Good to be back in the Heresy timeline again (Descent of Angels doesn't count, for reasons made apperent in my review); although this is another side show piece dealing with the initial moves by the Word Bearers against the Ultramarines.

The action is good, gripping and almost without pause throughout the book, there is a good range of characters within a small group of Marines, drawn from several legions, that make for surprising and interesting allies.

Counter is still learning his craft as a writer and there are moments in this book where it shows, I lost count of the amount of times someone in close combat 'used his momentum' to do something; I know that’s how it’s done but some more imagination would be nice. And descriptions of craft 'Thunking' down on decks along with other strange noise descriptions grated a little.

There are some very obvious nods from iconic films within the books dialogue, I spotted both Predator and Lord of the Rings; but these weren't unwelcome and never strayed towards the realms of plagiarism.

Also the writer seems to suffer from the same affliction of most of the Black Libraries staff, they can't keep track of numbers; killing off limited amounts of Marines with careless abandon (so much for being super soldiers who know no fear) but just when you think they should all be dead there seems to be another bunch waiting in the wings to be incinerated or eviscerated or vaporised and so on.

That said I did enjoy this book and despite it being surplus to requirments with regards the main thread of the series, it’s a steady and welcome return to form.