Forge World New Releases : Phoenix Lord & Titan Power Glaive

Having once more defeated my erstwhile allies the Eldar (sorry Will, had to mention it), this time with a Blood Drinker Mech list, in a very close 2000 point game last Tuesday night; I thought I would attempt to liven their Spirit Stones with the contents of the latest news letter from Forge World.

Set for release on the 28th of November and now up for pre-order are Irillyth, Phoenix Lord of the Shadow Spectres and the Phantom Titan Power Glaive.

Books in Brief : A Thousand Sons by Graham McNeill

This is without doubt a great book and goes into the favourites section of my Heresy collection alongside Horus Rising, Legion and Mechanicum. It's the first Heresy book in a while that actually moves the series forward despite its events remaining before Istvaan.

Graham McNeill really defines the 'Sorcerer Astartes', fleshing out these very different Marines and orchestrating the most believable and moving fall of a Legion to date; casting a shadow of doubt over my own staunch loyalist views *shudder* somebody call the Inquisition!

He makes a sterling effort to forge coherency amongst the broken and confusing cannon of the 40k verse (at one point openly questioning and including in the story arc one of it's contradictions) with many questions that have niggled me for years finally answered and some great hints dropped about others.

Some faults, McNeill still loses himself occasionally (although he is getting better) in overblown and unnecessary description, how many times we need to hear how totally awesome a Primarch is, or how the Son's control and balance their powers, we hear you we get it, please stop repeating yourself Graham. All this does is slow down the flow of what is a captivating story and fills up extra pages, are you trying to meet a certain word count?

Also I lost track of how many times he used the word Impossibly... something was Impossibly strong, Impossibly bright, Impossibly Impossible!!! Really grated and I found myself cursing out loud every time I bumped over one, there must be host of better words for describing an amazing power or technical feat.

Other than these minor quibbles (what do I know, I'm not a bestselling author) this is an awesome read and I highly recommend it.

Drop Site Massacre : Death Company Drop Pod

Taking far longer than it had any right to and damaging my calm along the way, I present the first of my (almost) completed Drop Pods.

Reprogrammed : Matt Ward talks revised Necron Background

As I sit and wait for my latest and again delayed copy of White Dwarf to drop through the letter box, contemplating whether it still merits subscription. GW have offered up another slice of video, this time featuring Matt Ward talking about his revised background of the Necrons and giving a taster of the play style of the units in the new codex. I found it quite interesting, but not being a Necron player of old, I'm unsure whether Mr Ward has done a Lucas style re-edit and left you all screaming Noooo at the brutalisation of a much cherished back story.

Blood Drinkers Fandex : Chapter Honours

A final push on the Chapter background for the Fandex and I've put together a potted history of engagements and events involving the Blood Drinkers mostly over the past few centuries of the 40k timeline. I've included what I can find from the few official bits of writing featuring the Chapter, noting the source at the bottom of the post (although I have added or omitted minor detail to aid in the overall flow of my story telling) the rest is based on what battles I've fought with my army over the years and from the depths of my occasionally fertile imagination (they'll be the overly long bits).

Gaming Table Project : Another Brick in the Wall

You may have noticed in yesterdays Death Company post (if your eyes weren't riveted to the foreground by the sheer awesomeness of the painted miniatures) ;o) that there were now two blasted buildings crumbling in the background of the gaming table.

Death Company Progress

Following the encouraging result with my test miniature, I've finally pressed on with a few more Death Company. As you can see I'm using some older incarnations at the moment (I think these guys are late 90's 3rd edition sculpts) mainly because I've still got a stock of them laying around the Forge, I hate to waste them especially when it means a few quid saved.

Judgement Day : Official Reveal Date for Necrons?

For your viewing pleasure, GW posted this little teaser on their site today, throwing a big hint that Novembers White Dwarf will see the official ribbon cutting ceremony on the new Necrons; simple but effective, I think it's kinda cool.

Chain Reaction : Life Size Chainsword Replica

Completed the Space Marine solo campaign? Racked up every achievement? Seen the breadth of your domain and wept (manly tears) having no more foes to conquer?

Well my friends, solace may be at hand; for those of you who have won big on the lottery, own an energy company or happen to have sold your copy of Aurelian Gold Edition on Ebay, one of these beauties lies within your grasp.

Rise of the Machines : New Necron Model Pics

Oh, my! I... I'm terribly sorry. I didn't mean to intrude. No, please don't get up.

They can't be bargained with. They can't be reasoned with. They don't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And they absolutely will not stop, ever, until they get a new codex!

From Beasts of War and in this instance via Natfka's Faeit 212 excellent ear to the ground news & rumours site; we have some great pics of Games Workshops new Necron range. Having been sorely disappointed with their no show at Games Day last month, this 'leak' will definitely lift the spirits; brace yourselves, the Toasters have evolved!

Books in Brief : Fallen Angels by Mike Lee

Once again the Heresy clock is stuck in the hours before High Noon and the show down between the Emperor of Mankind and his wayward son the Warmaster Horus seems as far away as ever. I'll admit to growing frustration at the lack of forward momentum in this series, despite the wealth of great tales coming from the Black Library.

I'd happily read all the spin offs and side stories they can print; but pretty please, with sugar on top, give us some fethin progress!

Taking up the story of the Dark Angels again and following on from the series duff note Descent of Angels; Mike Lee had his work cut out to re-ignite my interest in the so far poorly served Chapter; returning to the main protagonists of the first book Zahariel and Nemiel as they continue their divergent paths towards the schism of the Great Betrayal.

The book is an improvement on its slow paced predecessor and benefits from being set in a more relevant period, between the events of Istvaan III and V; with some exciting combat on the Forge World of Diamat and some interesting developments on Caliban.

But it again seems to suffer from what is becoming the 'curse' of the Dark Angels in that the author appears confused and conflicted as to the motives of the characters or the plot as a whole. This in turn muddied the waters for me as the reader and I'm again left with the feeling that no one really knows what's going on with the 1st Legion.

So although I enjoyed this book for the most part, I came away with a yearning for clarity and tied up loose ends that it's somewhat hurried ending just didn't deliver.

UK Games Day 2011 : Pt II Selection of Golden Demon Entries

As it says on the tin, a picture is worth a Thousand Sons...sorry, words; here is a selection of 40k entries from the Golden Demon cabinets at last Sundays UK Games Day 2011. The bar was once again high although I thought the volume of quality pieces was much reduced from previous years, not sure why that may be as I don't enter; any thoughts?

UK Games Day 2011 : Pt I Forge World Studio Pictures

The sun has set on another years Games Day; I'm back from a rain drenched Birmingham, foot sore, tired and with a much lighter wallet. I was planning to hold off on posting for a few days and cover the event in depth as I did for the blogs inaugural post on UKGD 2010.

Sadly despite being a sellout gig this year, having a well padded official program, both of which I saw as good omens promising much; Games Day 2011 was...well a little Meh!

It wasn't a bad day out, it was just lacking in wow factor, there just wasn't all that much on show and a distinct lack of new product to tease the paintbuds; perhaps we were spoilt last year with the Dark Eldar. (I wouldn't know, somehow I missed them!)

Anyway, I still managed to take plenty of pics and those that I messed up were mostly duplicated by Will and kindly given to me, cheers mate. Over the next couple of days I'll endeavour to bring you what was on offer, for those of you who couldn't make it...or were stranded in the queue for the sales hall!

Books in Brief : Tales of Heresy (Anthology)

Again the Black Library denies us any forward momentum of the main Heresy story arc and instead offers an anthology of short stories, most with little if anything to do with the actual 'far from' Civil War. But this can be forgiven when, for the most part, the stories are of such fine quality and provide new insight into ideas and institutions of the 31st Millennium, so often drowned out by the thunder of Bolters.

Blood Games by Dan Abnett

No one does openings quite like Dan Abnett, in a few brief lines he illuminates the surface of ancient Terra giving detail to various geographic regions and at the same time plunging the reader straight into a gripping piece of espionage and assassination where all is not as it seems. The story fleshes out the crème Del la crème of the Emperors forces, his personal security detail, the Adeptus Custodes and in 50 pages we are treated to information on them, the Throne Worlds preparations for war and the surprisingly diverse nature of culture and politics still in existence there.

Postcards from the Edge

A delayed but somewhat fitting Postcard today. I'm currently embarked on another leg of the 'Grand Tour', Warp Storms and the state of the Imperial Treasury mean that for me it has to be experienced in bite sized chunks.

Having failed to find a local Astropath who could understand at least a fraction of my butchery of their native tongue; I've finally found a semi decent upload site to send this message Broadwave, in the interests of letting you guys know the reason for the resumption of infrequent posts.

On my return, fat on culture and pasta, I should hopefully have plenty lined up to see the month out. Just prior to my departure I took delivery of a whole heap of scenery bits from various sources for the Gaming Table project and my pewter piping set has arrived from the Dragon Forge Store so the Griffon project can now be resumed.

Also 'The Edge' will be a year old with the coming of UK Games Day, if all goes to plan I'll be celebrating with another trip and full report from this years event.

Right I'm off to try and find a potion that'll hopefully remove me from the menu of the local nasties. What do they eat when they can't get tourist!?

Thanks, that is all.

PS: Apologies for the lack of links & usual format, I'm learning rapidly that my iPad although very shiny and useful, has it's limitations.

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.

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.

Blood Drinkers Fandex : Chapter Organisation

A return to posting today, with another installment of my Fandex work.This is mainly bread and butter stuff, along the lines of the organisation pages in the official Marine codex's; but with my usual generous helping of fluff.

I am particularly proud of the Chapter composition diagram, I produced it last year but have been tweaking it along with the rest of the Fandex ever since; those that have seen the original post over on Bolter & Chainsword will note I've done away with a bit of the perhaps overly excessive nods to the Imperial Roman army.

We interrupt this Broadcast

Whilst Games Workshop continue their efforts to stir up former colonies (no offence guys) and the rest of the world in general, like some modern day East India Company; I have commandeered the Emergency Broadcast System to bring you important breaking news!

Postcards from the Edge

April turned out to be a mixed bag both personally and blogwise, which was reflected in both quality and quantity of posts. The good spell of weather played it's welcome part in keeping me from the cogitator, as did my not so welcome return to work, where I was tasked with a rather odious assignment (due to my lame duck status) that took a whole lot out of me, leaving me feeling rather creatively bereft.

Still most of the projects for the month got a tick in the box and despite hits being slightly down on March's epic showing, there were still some new followers dropping out of warp along the Veil's Edge; greetings one and all.

Books in Brief : Descent of Angels by Mitchel Scanlon

Having been disappointed with my choices during the short break from the Heresy, I sought a return to form with the resumption of the series; but was again to be left wanting. I lost track of the amount of times I tried to start this book only to be bored senseless by the prologue and cast it aside. But I finally steeled my resolve and finished it; now I ask myself was it worth the effort? This book is almost a complete waste of time.

It has absolutely nothing to do with the Heresy, being for the most part set way back before the arrival of the Emperor on Caliban. You will lose nothing from the series if you bypass this book. But I thought being the completest that I am, I would press on.

Once I accepted that this tale would have little to do with space marines I settled into it; it appeared as if Scanlon was going to take his time to iron out the fractured background of the DA's and give us a detailed look at their past and for a while he did just that.

But after some illumination it very soon becomes apparent that he has little to add and so begins the repetition that was very noticeable in the prologue. Ok so Zahariel and Nemiel are cousins who are like brothers and have like that love/hate thing going on (lot of that in the 40k universe) and then there’s The Lion and Luther who aren't related but are like brothers and have that love/hate thing going on (see what I mean) . So far so fething annoying.

Then the Emperor arrives and things look up; if the author has taken this long to bring the characters to the verge of being space marines (fully 3 quarters of the book) maybe we'll get an in depth look at the whole process of becoming one of the Emperors finest. No such luck, Scanlon for some unfathomable reason skips this completely and heads straight into some insignificant compliance mission with the required bloodthirsty engagements with, yes a cult of chaos loving deviants.

And this leads... well nowhere actually the book just ends. Pah!

In the Company of Wolves : A New Army for One of the Gents

It's my Birthday today, we'll not discuss years, lets just say I'm another year closer to immortality! So whilst I'm away eating copious amounts of jelly and cake; I thought I'd post up a copy of an amusing passage from one of my gaming group.  Bish is an Ultramarine player, but having suffered quite a mauling during our last, slightly curtailed, campaign; it would appear he will be changing his spots and will be doing a lot of 'wet leopard growling' (whatever the hell that is) from now on.

Growl away Bish...

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.

Blood Drinkers Fandex : Creation of a Blood Drinker

Some more fluff for the Fandex today, a rather lengthy but hopefully interesting section detailing the selection and creation of an Astarte of the Blood Drinkers Chapter. I'm toying with the idea of fielding this over on the The Codex Project but as I'm still in the background stage and not the army list creation, I'm not sure it's quite ready for that.

Also I'm doing this whole thing for my own twisted amusement and it's a big bonus if others get something from it, do I really want the pressure of evaluation etc...? 'I just don't think I can take that kind of rejection!' ;o)

Missing In Action : Chuck Norris, Barbarians, Goblins and Ninjas

A post today just to let any who were worried (hi Mum) know that I haven't fallen off The Veil's Edge and that the Astronomican is still functioning out here, albeit as faint and weak as my Web connection.

Nobody Tosses a Squat! : Demiurg Rumours

Today Natfka posted up a set of rumours in relation to the possible return of the Demiurg (thats Squats for oldies like me) in the Tau Codex; I don't want to steal his thunder so you can read what he's compiled from various sources over on his blog Faeit 212. I thought I'd mention it following on from last Fridays Jokaero post.

Books in Brief : The Blood Angels Omnibus by James Swallow

Taking a break from the 'almost' faultless Heresy series and I thought I would stick with James Swallow following my enjoyment of The Flight of the Eisenstein.

This Omnibus consists of two novels Deus Encarmine, Deus Sanguinius and one short origin story, Blood Debt; they are fairly uninspiring. A little too much GW product placement in the first book leads to overcrowded battles with stilted action scenes; you can almost feel the author being pressured into getting as many vehicles into one engagement and rather than bringing the scenes to life I found myself picturing a little 6 x 4 gaming table crammed with miniatures.

The plots are ok at a push but hardly Terra shatteringly original, there are no real twists and most of the characters are mere sketches. These certainly weren't the strong, intense and thoughtful marines of the pre heresy world.

I thought Swallow did the Blood Angels a great injustice, portraying them as very gullible, laughably inept and easily killed warriors, who at the first sign of battle started ripping anyone and everyone’s throats out. I’m sure even the blood thirsty sons of Sanguinius wouldn't corrupt themselves with tainted chaos blood.

Possibly worth a read for those Blood Angels completionists, but be warned, you will probably not like what you find; I hope for better with his follow up Red Fury.

Right Turn Clyde : Return of the Jokaero

Who you calling monkey? Ook!

With the first wave of Grey Knights miniatures revealed, I thought I'd turn my attention to one of their units still shrouded in a bit of mystery, the Jokaero Weaponsmith. Now I know very little about their place in the new army, I'm not really into reading debates on leaked stats and rules, I can wait for the codex; but when I saw their name mentioned on the rumor web the child within was ecstatic and began to sing the Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy song.

Fade to Grey : Grey Knights Showcased

The curtain has been lifted on the imminent Grey Knights release with some glorious teaser pictures and background article by Simon Grant; see the full three pages here at the Astronomican section over on GW's website, in the meantime here are some of those awesome miniatures to whet your whistle.

Imperial Thunderbolt Diorama

The last of my photos from Warhammer World and it's an indulgent trip down memory lane. Whilst the rest of the Gents battled it out, I took a wander into the Citadel Miniatures Hall, an area of WW that I'd not ventured into on previous visits. Its well worth taking the time to have a look if you're ever there as there are cabinets choc full of fantastic painted miniatures, most of which have featured in the pages of White Dwarf or the Codexs at some time or other.

Showcase : Chaos Marines by Bohun

Another few photos from the Warhammer World trip, this time Chaos Marines belonging to Tommo; these miniatures were done by a commission painter called Bohun, you can find more of his work here on Cool Mini or Not.