Now, I am Become Death : Space Marine Demo

For many months now, my Xbox has been languishing in it's own private hell slowly gathering dust and occasionally plagued by by our moggy Merlin hoping that the heating has been turned back on at nap site #360.

There had been no games to tempt me to retrieve my controller from the corner where it had come to rest, following the throwing incident brought about by my billionth failed attempt at Halo Reach's "If they came to hear me beg" achievement.

This was good for my hobby activities, not so good for my wife, at least she saw me when sat on the sofa in front of the console.

So it was with some relief to all parties concerned that the demo download for THQ's third person shooter Space Marine became available last week.

Gaming Table Project : Bricks and Mortars

I can't believe it's been four months since I completed my gaming table, some of the Gents are hankering after blooding the new battlefield and I still haven't got a shred of cover to put on it. So in the absence of a multi-million dollar Atmosphere Processor I had a rummage around the Forge and located my scenery supplies.

The Craft of Death : Death Company Tester

Well it took a bit longer than I had planned, but here is the completed test miniature for my Death Company, known as the Evocati in my Blood Drinkers background.

A Little Tinkering

As you may have noticed over the past few weeks I've been meddling with the blog a little (I know I never learn), firstly my apologies to those that have dropped by the Veils Edge only to find the bonnet up and the whole thing running less than smoothly.

Secondly I'd like to thank those that have helped me out, bringing some much needed finesse to my ham fisted efforts, preventing me from causing a meltdown of the Eastern Counties power grid and more importantly from screwing up the blog. Bish and Brian aka The Inner Geek , cheers chaps.

With their help I've now 'pimped' the Edge out with not only the 40k quotes gadget but also, following on from my last post about music and it's place in the hobby; I've installed a music feed gadget that 'should' list what tunes I'm currently listening to whilst working in the Forge.

On the subject of working in the Forge, I think it's high time I rolled the Veils Edge back out of the Magrathean workshop and got on with some painting and modeling.

Picture featured 'Mek Town' by Paul Bonner copyright Games Workshop Ltd 2000-2011

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.