The second part of the Warhammer 40,000 Imperium Battle Report Series
Each issue I will bring you a fully painted White Dwarf style battle report.
In this second episode, we see the Blood Ravens Primaris Lieutenant attempting to prevent the Necron Warriors from escaping and activating a Canoptek Plasmacyte which in turn can awaken the Destroyer cults.
Who will prevail in this battle between the sinister Necrons and the noble warriors of the Imperium
I then began work on a Fire Raptor for the Heresy Death Guard, I have had this model for so long, originally it was intended for the Space Wolves, but plans changed.
I have been provided with an advance copy of the new Terraforming Mars book In the Shadow of Deimos by Jane Killick, published by Aconyte Books, so here is the honest review I promised in exchange for the book.
So here is an important disclaimer which is always important to put out there first. I have a casual work contact with Asmodee to demonstrate board games for them in stores and at conventions. Asmodee being the parent company of Aconyte the publisher.
I am going to try my best to not let this cloud my judgement in this review, but I accept that subconsciously it might.
What Is Terraforming Mars
Terraforming Mars is a strategy board game designed by Jacob Fryxelius, in which you work to raise the temperature of Mars and make it habitable for human life
Players take on the role of a corporation that work together to terraform Mars, and advance human infrastructure throughout the Sol system.
The game is incredibly successful and has five expansions, a Big Box, and a spin off game.
It also has a digital version available on Windows, iOS, MacOS, iPadOS & Android.
The Story
Set in the year 2316 not long after the formation of the Terraforming Committee, a rogue asteroid crashes into a research centre and kills its sole occupant, which kicks off an investigation, an official one by Julie, the head of the UNs terraforming team, and an unofficial one by Lucas, a recent immigrant to Mars who witnessed the disaster.
As they start to dig into the accident, they quickly learn that things on Mars aren’t quite right and the corporations are keen to cover things up, to prevent damage to their profits.
At the heart of this story its a good old fashioned murder mystery, and that’s its strength, it takes a genre of book which works and gives it the sci-fi twist.
The book is one which gives the reader a broader scope than the characters, who themselves are approaching the investigation from very different sides, and you figure out things before them, and see how they reach the same conclusion as you as more information is revealed to them.
There is a healthy number of side characters as well, all of whom are responsibly well rounded and that makes the setting feel ever more real.
Conclusion
I really enjoyed this book, the story itself was competent and entertaining, but what elevated it for me was the realistic science. All too often books in sci-fi assume we will have invented fantastical machines to work miracles and wonders, but this book is more grounded and whilst things have advanced, its not unrealistic.
Things like characters returning to earth needing time in physio to readjust to the heavier gravity, just little things like that which really stand out as showing how much attention to detail there is.
My favourite scene was one in the mess hall where Lucas and some friends were playing football, and the way the author has realistically described how different a ball would behave in a lower gravity environment, plus it showed how even on the frontier, people find a way to goof off.
There are scenes that make you think, and some high paced adrenaline fuelled parts which get your heart racing, and both in a nice balance. In particular the pacing is good, it never feels too slow or too fast, just right as it builds up to the conclusion.
This is a very strong book, Mars has been the subject to many many books written about it, and for me this felt just as good as Kim Stanley Robinsons Mars trilogy, and frankly is Hugo material.
I solidly recommended this book and give it 5 stars out of 5.
You can buy the ebook now, and the paperback is published on the 11th Novermber.
I am starting a new 80 part series covering the Warhammer 40,000 Imperium collection from Hachette Partworks and Games Workshop.
Each issue I will bring you a dully painted White Dwarf style battle report.
In this first episode, we see the Blood Ravens entering Warzone Ramasus and the valiant Primaris Lieutenant attempt to stop a Necron Royal Warden of the Sautekh Dynasty from activating a series of Repair Nodes, which will reactivate the systems that will awaken the warriors of this tomb complex deep under the moon of Megaria.
Who will prevail in this battle between the sinister Necrons and the noble warriors of the Imperium
Really happy with how it’s turned out, it I have actually painted way more than needed so plenty of stuff to help expand it to 3×3 and perhaps even 4×4.
Next up, I think I want a Charadon box to add some big furnaces to block line of sight, and add a bit more variety and probably some more Munitorium Armoured Containers.
I also have somewhere a Repressor unbuilt that I will be building and painting up in Enforcers colours to be parked up to show that the brutal security forces of the Hive have been deployed into the area.
What I Am Modelling
I started off by finishing the Galvanic Servohaulers for my Zone Mortalis board.
I then painted the Praetors, Anhiliators, Knight-Vexillor, Knight Arcanium and Lord Imperitant from Dominion for my Celestial Vindicators alongside a Vindictor from the Getting Started magazine.
Nowt this week, but a few things are on the production queue.
What I Am Backing
I did get an email about Car Wars giving me a chance to update my shipping address so that can’t be long in coming!
Also we are backing Rawr! Velociraptor! by The Doubleclicks, not for the plushy, sadly shipping to the UK makes that impractical, but we have gone in for the digital version of their Greatest Hits album.
I have been provided with an advance copy of the new Marvel Heroines book Outlaw: Relentless by Tristan Palmgren published by Aconyte Books, so here is the honest review I promised in exchange for the book.
So here is an important disclaimer which is always important to put out there first. I have a casual work contact with Asmodee to demonstrate board games for them in stores and at conventions. Asmodee being the parent company of Aconyte the publisher.
I am going to try my best to not let these things cloud my judgement in this review, but I accept that subconsciously it might.
Also I won’t lie, I have looked at other reviews to see what others think, so there may be some influences from them in this book review. If I am going to quote them, I will attribute them. But if I forget to, or something is highly influenced by them, and you think I ought to attribute someone, let me know so that I can.
What is Marvel
Look at this point I would bore you with a bit of background to the game/universe, but lets not, you all know the Marvel Universe, if you don’t have you been living under a rock!
The Marvel Heroines series focuses on the female hero’s of the Marvel universe, Tristan wrote the first book in the series, Domino Strays, which I really enjoyed, so I was looking forward to this book.
The Story
This is not an origin story, this picks up very much in the middle of The Hotshots, the posse lead by Domino being a thing, and begins with them doing a job for Tony Stark, by seizing an AIM freighter headed for Boston.
When the job goes south, Inez Temple, AKA Outlaw finds herself taking the blame, and starts wondering if she is losing her mind and her health as she feels run down and seems to be missing parts of her time.
She has always counted on her wits to survive, but now feels like she is being robbed of it. Taking a journey back home to Texas, via the Xavier Institute, she has to face her past to find out why she seems to be losing herself.
Look I don’t want to go too much into the story, because frankly, I don’t want to spoil it for you, and much more would spoil it.
The story draws a lot from Outlaws limited history within the comics, which despite her being only a very recent addition to the comics, is still quite rich.
But don’t worry, you don’t need to know anything as everything you need to know is explained in the story, its very good, in the way it portrays the background you need as almost wandering thoughts within Outlaws mind as she tries to make sense of what’s going on.
Conclusion
I can’t lie, The Hotshots is one of my favourite super teams, there are kickass women, who despite having very different background and abilities, actually get on very well, a real sisterhood. This novel is set slightly before that really clicks into place and there is still a bit of tension between the original members of Dominos Posse, and the newer recruits, but by the end, they are well on their way to being that tightknit team.
This story is full of action, but at the same time is quite introspective, there is a lot of time alone, that Outlaw has to think about the journey that lead her to where she is now. The way it sort of beats around her fear that she may be developing a form of dementia is actually really emotional.
The book contains links to some of the other Aconyte Marvel novels, which I loved, although one of them I haven’t yet read, but I can see myself buying it.
I am not sure what else to say, this book is super enjoyable and I literally devoured it in two sittings.
Absolutely a 5 out of 5 stars from me, and I really hope Tristan does more Hotshots novels.
The eBook is out now and the paperback hits the shelves on 11th November.
I want a full suite of all of the retro consoles, sadly due to money and space, that’s not an option.
And thus I have turned to emulation, mostly using Retroarch.
Controllers
One thing I need to have are good controllers, if I cannot have the original machine I can at least have a controller that’s as close as possible.
Currently I have the following.
Mega Drive x 2
Mega Drive 6 Button
NES x 2
SNES x 2
Saturn
N64
PlayStation Original x 2
GameCube (original & Wavebird)
Madcatz Arcade Joystick
Xbox One
The N64 is the most recent addition to that list and if I am honest, the next one I want is either a DualShock 4 or even a Dualsense for PlayStation emulation.
The plan is to do some play through videos of some classics from when I was a kid, the first one I want to do is Alex Kidd in Shinobi World, I loved that game, leant it to my friend Simon and never saw it again.
PlayStation 3
The PlayStation 3 is unused for the most part, so what I have done with that is installed PS3Hen along with a big collection of Mega Drive, Game Gear and Master System Games.
Sadly it won’t run Mega CD or 32X games, which is a shame, but I will live with that, to be honest, I have set it up mostly so the nibblings can play Sonic the Hedgehog, Willem and Brandon really love those games!
I mean every time they come round the first question is, can we play the Hedgehog game.
What I Am Painting
Not much given the needed work for Company of Legends.
But here is a pair of Pallas Grav-Attack for my Legio Custodes.
I have been provided with an advance copy of the new Legends of Asgard book The Serpent and The Dead by Anna Stephens, published by Aconyte Books, so here is the honest review I promised in exchange for the book.
So here is an important disclaimer which is always important to put out there first. I have a casual work contact with Asmodee to demonstrate board games for them in stores and at conventions. Asmodee being the parent company of Aconyte the publisher.
I am going to try my best to not let that cloud my judgement in this review, but I accept that subconsciously it might.
Also I won’t lie, I have looked at other reviews to see what others think, so there may be some influences from them in this book review. If I am going to quote them, I will attribute them. But if I forget to, or something is highly influenced by them, and you think I ought to attribute someone, let me know so that I can.
What is Marvel
Look at this point I would bore you with a bit of background to the game/universe, but lets not, you all know the Marvel Universe, if you don’t have you been living under a rock!
The Legends of Asgard novels specially focus on the Norse mythology influenced Asgard with characters like Thor, Odin and Loki.
The Story
This story focuses on Lady Sif and the Valkyrie Brunnhilde as they investigate why the souls of slain warriors, including Sifs friend Gyda.
Travelling across Asgard, to try and get to the bottom of why worthy warriors are not reaching the promised afterlife and confront the dark forces behind this.
While they say its a story with a team of two, Brunnhildes girlfriend, Inge, also plays a pivotal part. And this story is a story of friendship and trust, with the relationship between the three protagonists being deep and very interesting, as the three characters all have their own distinct personality and role. Sif is the warrior, bold and brash, Brunnhilde is more thoughtful and wants a plan rather than rushing in, and then Inge is the diplomat who bridges the gulf between these two.
Of course Sif is convinced that Loki, the Trickster god, is behind the horror, and so they start a journey to find him and confront him.
Conclusion
This is a really good story, it is, at its heart an action book that quickly moves from battle to battle with little time in between, and the action itself is very well written.
That said the moments of the book I enjoyed the most, were the quieter more insightful moments in which we got a better idea of the motivations behind why the characters have chosen to undertake this quest.
There is a deep appreciation for Norse mythology in this book and it feels very well researched and whilst its identifiable a Marvel book, its not so deeply Marvel, that you need to be too familiar with that fandom to appreciate this book.
Its an interesting mixture of action adventure, epic quest, Norse mythology and a little bit of superhero mixed together, which means I think it will really appeal to a lot of people.
The thing I really loved about this book though is the characters, they were at once very identifiable as the characters from the comics, with a nice twist from the author to make them her own, and the comradery and relationships, both platonic and romantic, between these three strong female characters made this a real joy to read.
The only thing I would have liked different, would be more of those quiet character building moments, but I hope to see Anna write more Legends of Asgard novels.
4 out of 5 stars!
You can buy the eBook now and the paperback gets a release on the 28th October
I know some people are determined to not get Warhammer +, but I have, and I will walk you through the reasons.
And I have honestly seen a lot of rants about it, mostly seeming to focus ok the animation side, but I do have to say that Warhammer + is a service that is more than just Warhammer TV, it’s also the included mini, the Warhammer Vault access, the apps, etc. to base your impression on just one aspect is just a bit daft.
First off, I would never usually suggest getting a service/product based on its possible future potential as I find this is usually a waste of money as nothing is ever guaranteed. Products should have a decent feature set before launching rather than promises of future features.
However Warhammer + makes sense financially for me, let me walk you through it. I play both Age of Sigmar and 40K, and I use the apps, which currently cost me £2.98, which is going to rise to £3.98 with the new AoS app.
So annually I will be paying £47.76 to Games Workshop for these two services, so Warhammer + would only cost me £2.23 if I get the annual plan.
Now the £10 voucher for signing up before 1st September means actually it’s going to be -£7.77, and when add in the model you get with the subscription, models that I want both of, you save even more.
These models I have set at a price of £20, although the Megaboss from the normal range is £25. So that means it’s actually now at -£27.77.
So it works for me, of course for other people the maths will vary and for them it may not be worth it, but it is for me.
What’s It Actually Like???
Well in all honesty, it’s a little thin on the ground right now, but what’s on there is good.
Angels of Death is very cool, although the mouths are a bit odd, but I can live with that.
I am yet to watch any of Hammer and Bolter apart from Old Bale Eye, which I really enjoyed.
The Battle Reports are well, extremely high end and professional and really raise the bar for those. Makes my stuff look pants by comparison.
The painting Masterclass is superb and I am digging out some Thousand Sons Terminators to try out some wet blending.
The Vault, that’s the one aspect I am less keen on, simply because you can’t download stuff, and the site is clunky when using a phone, if they bring us an app for that it will be better.
In general I am happy with the service, if they keep up with the new content every Wednesday I will be very happy.
I would like to see the YouTube painting videos included in the service at some point, just so everything is together in one place that’s a bit easier to navigate.
The service is as I said, thin on the ground, but I think within a few months it will be a lot better.
I have subscribed for a year because I want it to be a success, I want it to work, and I am breaking my own rule because if this does work, it will be an amazing resource for the community.
The reveal of the first weeks new releases, is a bit underwhelming, I would have hoped for a couple of the Citadel Masterclasses and at least two animations.
The Vault additions are actually pretty nice, with some White Dwarfs for this year being added.
But it’s still early days.
What I Am Modelling
I started off the week with some Triarch Praetorians.
These have been painted as being from the Szarekhan Dynasty because they serve the Triarch and thus why would their armour be in the colours of another dynasty?
Stormcast Eternals Praetors x 3, Knight-Vexellor & Vindictor
Legio Custodes Agamatus Jetbikes x 3
Stormcast Eternals Anhiliators x 3, Lord Imperatant & Gryph Hound
Blitzkrieg HQ & MG34 MMG Team
Death Guard Fire Raptor
Necron Canoptek Wraiths x 6
Mechanicum Magos Macrotek Engineseer & Servoautomata x 4
Flesh-Eater Courts Crypt Flayers x 3
What I Am Reading
Ummm I actually haven’t read all week 🙁
What Video Games Am I Playing
Not played a lot, but just a few bits and pieces here and there.
I did manage to get the Saturn emulator running properly. Retroarch ended up being a bust, there wasn’t a single core that could run the games correctly and the way it handles six button controllers is kinda annoying.
So I ended up going with Mednafen which works like a dream, just need to add a graphical front end.
Speaking of six button controllers, I finally managed to get my hands on a reasonably priced 6 button USB Mega Drive controller, and playing Street Fighter 2 on the Mega Drive Mini is no longer an awful nightmare!
