I have been provided with an advance copy of the new Arkham Horror book The Deadly Grimoire by Rosemary Jones, 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.
What is Arkham Horror
Anyway that put to one side, let’s look at this book, by first looking at the game Arkham Horror which is a cooperative game, originally designed by Richard Launius, and is now in its third edition which was released in 2019.
It’s published by Fantasy Flight Games, a subsidiary of Asmodee, and is set in 1926 in the town of Arkham, Massachusetts. Each player takes on the role of an investigator, who are working to stop the Ancient Ones, eldritch horrors which lurk in the void beyond space and time.
It’s a 1-6 player game and you work together to gather clues and defeat the evil of the Ancient Ones and save the world.
As I said I haven’t actually played Arkham Horror but I do own its spin off Elder Sign the cooperative dice game.
The Story
Like the rest of the Arkham Horror novels, its set in the 1920s specifically 1926 and is a sequel to Jones’s previous novel in the setting Mask of Silver.
We see the return to Arkham of Betsy Baxter who has now become a star in Hollywood in a film serial series, The Flapper Detective, which has made her very rich!
After the fire at the Fitzmaurice house three years ago, Betsy has been looking for her lost beau Max, who disappeared that night, the last thing she saw of him was him stepping through a mirror as he pushed her out of the burning building.
Teaming up with fearless pilot Winifred Habbamock and bookseller Tom Sweets, she returns to Arkham to try and find out what happened to Max, and solve the mystery of what happened that night.
But the trio find themselves caught up in a mystery involving a mysterious book that belongs to Toms family, and is being fought over between an Innsmouth bootlegger, and a local doctor, who seek the forbidden knowledge within, to travel the secret ways.
Conclusion
Now this is a curious story, despite being set within the horror universe of Arkham Horror, there isn’t actually any horror to speak of, its a very interesting paranormal mystery, but even then, its quite light on that too.
But that’s not to say it isn’t a great book, Betsy was very much a minor character in the last book, but now she has been very fleshed out into a daredevil, wanting to perform ever more dangerous stunts to keep the punters buying tickets to her movies!
Yes, it’s a sequel and whilst I do think having read the previous book is helpful, you don’t need to, it explains enough to set the scene.
What is great about this book is that it’s not presenting Betsy, our Flapper Detective, as a mere jazz baby, with interest mostly in having a good time, but she is very well aware of the issues of the time, and this book doesn’t shy away from touching on the racial and social issues that those who aren’t white, and protestant faced in 1920 US. It’s not in your face, but it’s acknowledged in a very natural way which adds to the story and creates a deeper sense of immersion.
The story itself is very very well researched and there are a lot of references to silent movies, jazz, aviation etc that I ended up grabbing my phone to read more up on.
The story moves along very well, but the conclusion did feel a little rushed, but it worked.
I really want to hear a bit more about some of the characters, I think there is room to develop some other plotlines from the two books.
It is giving me lots of ideas for RPG adventures in the setting!
I have to give this book, 4.5 out of 5.
The Deadly Grimoire is out now in paperback, ebook and as an audiobook!
Well, I turned 40 last week, and it was not what I expected!
After Marys passing, I had stated that I wanted a quiet birthday, the only thing I wanted to do, was get a Big Mac, that’s it, nothing else.
But the polycule convinced me to make a bigger deal, we planned awesome meals that I love, a trip to Warhammer World, and watching Hamilton.
However, none of it happened, Lindsay got Covid on the Sunday night and all of the plans were cancelled.
To be honest, after having people making me build it up into something great, it turned out to be a huge disappointment.
I don’t know, it’s just really got me down, that the week was such a bust, and Lindsay has no more time off until Christmas, so we can’t even reschedule it to later on in the year, because Paul works weekends, and Megan can’t handle the crowds at Warhammer World on the weekend.
I did get some nice gifts; we did watch Lord of the Rings in 4k (Extended Editions of course), but it still felt like a big disappointing week.
Sorry for the moan, but I couldn’t even get a prearranged game at the club as I had planned, and Lindsay was mostly asleep, no not even any board games got played.
I guess my decision to make a bigger deal of 42 is more sensible.
What I Am Modelling
I finished a squad of Terminators for my Imperial Fists first.
These last few weeks have been a hell of a busy ones, with mine and Megan’s handfasting and house move, plus Company of Legends to boot.
My mental health is still in recovery mode, but I am getting there.
The Handfasting
Me and Megan have intended to have a commitment ceremony for some time, because as a polyamorous couple and me already being married to Lindsay, we didn’t need to stick to the traditions of a normal marriage.
We were going to do it next year, but accelerated plans when Mary was diagnosed with cancer, in the hope’s she would still be with us. But the speed at which the cancer took her meant we are a few weeks too late, which in itself is devastating.
We hired a hall near Sedgefield, as it was close enough to Hartlepool for Mary that getting her there in the condition we thought she would be in, was not going to be too arduous.
Due to the speed in which it was organised, we couldn’t get a lot of guests there, especially with it being midweek, but we were happy with those that could make it.
Megan wore a beautiful green dress for the ceremony with a black shawl.
It was small and pleasant, not a lot of friends could come, but those that did, we greatly appreciated it.
Moving House
It’s been nearly two months now, but we are pretty settled in Hartlepool now, and it’s quite nice here, the house is lovely if a bit smaller than the Pelton one, but in general is pretty good.
There are a lot more things in the town which is nice and that really does help you make a lot better when you can pretty much get stuff without having to make a big plan on how to get it.
Only thing I am lacking is a place to buy paint in Hartlepool, but so far Lindsay and Paul have been getting me to Asgard when I need it.
Slowly but surely getting my studio in order, but next step is to actually put some armies into storage.
But I also wanted some other games too, so I bought myself for the PS4, Grand Theft Auto Trilogy, The Last of Us Remastered and The Last of Us Part II.
I have been provided with an advance copy of the new Legends of Asgard book Three Swords by CL Werner, 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.
I am also friends with Clint on Facebook, but I suspect that’s more about him connecting with fans rather than being a big fan of mine!
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 the Warriors Three, at long last, this really is something I have been waiting eagerly for!
Hogunm Fandral and the ever so modest Fandral are helping a rebellion against a tyrant, when they are recruited into a quest to save the nine realms from a dire threat presented by three Sorcerers accross time and space.
Crossing across history and the cosmos itself, the Warriors Three must take down these three sorcerers and seize their living talismans to prevent them from completing their plans.
Conclusion
This book is full of action, from the very start you are involved in battle and it rarely lets up, its pretty much non-stop.
As you can probably guess, the Warriors Three facing three sorcerers, there is a degree of mirroring from their opponents, and this mostly works, but at some points less so, but 90% of the time it does.
The battle against the first sorcerer felt a little rushed but the second and third were much better.
There is plenty of humour in here too, you will laugh when you find out what name Fandral used to be known as. But alas, soon after, you will end up a little upset when you find out why he abandoned that name.
So far the Tales of Asgard stories have all been amazing, and this is the first one that I would say is absolutely anchored in the world of Marvel, as the rest could have passed for stories just of the Norse Gods.
This one absolutely could have been a dibbly dobbly, but instead its an outright corker.
I have to give this book, 5 out of 5.
Three Swords is out now in paperback and as an ebook!
Last night myself and Lindsay were invited along to the opening evening for NQ64, a new venue in Newcastle upon Tyne.
The venue provided us with a bunch of game tokens, and two drinks vouchers, but this review hasn’t been seen by them in advance or approved by them.
Now the place was initially pitched to me as a new adult arcade, but to be frank, it’s more of an arcade themed bar than an arcade, and that’s cool, just different to what I expected.
Entering the bar, which is located at 82 Pilgrim Street, opposite the old Bank of England site, which is currently under redevelopment, you come into a large room, this is where the main bar is located, along with a small selection of games, specifically Galiga, Donkey Kong and X-Men.
The bar serves a selection of draught and bottled beers, and video game themed cocktails, but currently no mocktails which is a bit annoying as I am generally a teetotaller.
However I did cave and try a cocktail, I had a Dr Ro Bev Nik, which is a Jack Daniel’s, cherry and Dr Pepper concoction, which was very nice. (I know, I am a terrible example of a Baha’i, but I am still a work in progress).
Further in you come to a room in which there is a central column in which there is located a Mega Drive, Xbox (complete with Duke controllers), PS1 and Game Cube.
There are loaded up with a selection of games to play, but, the Mega Drive was using a widescreen monitor and was forced into 16:9 which made many of the games borderline unplayable, because they were originally designed to be played at 4:3.
The other games in this room include Outrun 2 SP, the only AM2 game in the bar, the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Game, Pac-Man, Space Invaders and some Pinball machines.
In the back are a couple of shooting games, including House of the Dead, a dancing game, a snowboarding game and a couple of others.
Downstairs are the toilets, a further bar, but this was closed on this occasions. There is a room containing Mario Kart, Tetris, Mortal Kombat 2, Street Fighter 2: Champion Edition, and a couple of others.
On the opposite side of the basement is a larger room, in which you can find Ms Pac-Man, Tim Crisis and Time Crisis 2, a Neo Geo 4 slot MVS, Killer Instinct 2 and Crazy Taxi.
So what did we get up to, we’ll we played games and had a couple of drinks.
I am gonna start with the negatives, the first one, being a biggie for me, was when we got our second drink, a soft drink for both of us, the barman asked if we wanted a pint or half pint, we both said pint, but he pulled out a half pint, when we pointed this out, he swore blind that this was a pint glass, it clearly wasn’t and he wouldn’t believe me that a pint was twice and much, despite me handing over Lindsay used pint glass.
I wasn’t in the mood to make a scene, but that was not great and if we had been paying punters paying for a pint and getting only a half I would be quite angry, I could imagine a pissed up bloke could get very aggressive.
Lindsay loved the blue lemonade which reminded her of the Barr Bubblegum drink she and Megan are huge fans of .
The other criticism and this is very personal, but for me, the golden age of the arcade, at least from my youth was the first half of the 1990s and in particular the games made by Sega AM2, and other than Outrun 2 SP, these games were absent. I would have loved to have seen Virtua Fighter, Daytona USA, Virtua Racing or Virtua Striker. But that’s just me and my love of the Model 2 games!
The place has an emphasis it seems on original hardware, and I couldn’t find any emulated stuff at all, which was wonderful.
The Neo Geo MVS cabinet was in my opinion the best one there, oh my god the joystick microswitches were sublime and heavenly to feel. Best game of Metal Slug I have had in years, especially with the CRT monitor.
Time Cop 2 was fantastic, and me and Lindsay had a great time playing it.
The one slight disappointment was Street Fighter 2, I would have rather have seen The New Challengers or Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo. The cabinet felt well worn, and some of the buttons felt like less good quality replacements and were a bit mushy, but most people won’t notice, and it’s good enough, especially with a few drinks in you.
There is also a cool Photo Booth, which not only gives you a print, but also a download code to allow you to get a digital version, which is really cool.
Conclusion
So would I go back, yeah I think I will, just annoyed I am moving to Hartlepool, putting me further away.
If I were to visit again, it would have to be on a school night, I get the feeling it will be a bit too crowded on a Friday or Saturday and you would struggle to get access to the games.
The prices seem reasonable, a bit more expensive than normal Newcastle bars, but those machines are gonna need a lot of maintenance, and being a chain you expect to pay a premium., and even then it’s not too daft.
The overall aesthetic is really cool, a bit too cool for a nearby 40 year old me, but I didn’t feel too out of place.
So I can absolutely see this being a regular haunt when I am in the Toon, it was a really fun night and other than the one barman who didn’t know what a pint was, it was a great night.
It’s been a a long time since my last post, a few months now.
Truth is, one of my best friends, and most trusted companions, Mary, passed away.
She was diagnosed with cervical cancer earlier this year, and in around three months it took her from us.
It was a particularly aggressive form of cancer, by the time they discovered it, it was already stage 4 and it ravaged her body despite several types of chemotherapy being tried on it.
She leaves behind the rest of the polycule, devastated, particularly her husband Paul. They were only married in October and we are all heartbroken.
So as a result my mental health pretty much hit rock bottom and I let everything just go to hell.
Too many things were ignored, not properly written down and neglected.
It took some friends telling me that I looked and sounded like shit to try and pull myself together, and so yeah, I have kinda been working towards that.
As a result of her passing, we are relocating to Hartlepool, Paul needs looking after as he is a bit of a disaster of a human being, and with him working away from home a lot, someone needs to feed his cats, Lexi and Lilo.
We found a place, just 10 minutes walk away from his, and we pick up the keys on Tuesday.
We start moving in from Thursday when me and Megan Will be taking a bunch of stuff we transferred to storage at her parents, to the new house.
It’s a bit smaller, but to be honest not by much, other than the kitchen which is teeny tiny!
It has a dining room, in which we can pop our dining table and a lot of our kitchen stuff too, plus perhaps some board games, but it’s largely going to be a food eating/prep area.
The living room is huge compared to ours now and we will comfortably fit in there with a place for the telly and some board games with the sofa!
The first floor has two bedrooms, and because unlike most of the houses round there, it hasn’t tried to squeeze in a box room, these are both much bigger.
The loft is going to be my new studio, we are picking up some new desktops and a few bits and bob’s to make me and Megan a much bigger and better desk with more room.
Hopefully I can fit a gaming table in there too, well Paul has been commissioned to build us one.
Most of my stuff is out of the house now and in storage and the majority will be moved over in the first big day of moving.
The broadband gets switched on a week Wednesday and I need to be there for then do I am going to set up my desk then.
Still onwards and upwards
UK Games Expo
I worked the UK Games Expo, well as much as I could within the limits of my disability.
I worked the Catan stand with my good friend Donna from the Catan Studio in the US and mostly demoed 3D Catan, which I now want, despite the ruinous price tag!
I picked up the Port Royale big box, I bought direct from the publisher, so paid over the odds, but I am fairly happy with the choice as they got a bigger cut of the money.
I also purchased some bits for my Imperial Fists and some Primaris Company Champions!
I also managed to pick up a cheap sprue of the characters from Calth, so another Praetor and a Chaplain.
So far, all I have done with them, is to build three HQs, two Tactical Squads and three Terminator Squads, and I have airbrushed on the first coat of yellow for a single squad of each.
Media Servers
As we move, one thing I am doing is to reduce down my physical media, so all of my DVDs and BRDs have been ripped and I am only keeping the ones I really want to have physically.
So we have set up the Raspberry Pi which has been doing very little as a media server.
First up we installed Audio Book Shelf, a fantastic piece of software that runs in a docket container and is a wonderful little audio book server.
I love audio books and have an awful bloody lot of them, mostly Sci-Fi, a lot of Doctor Who, like pretty much most of Big Finishes catalogue, plus I think every Black Library audio published, and everything from Aconyte thus far.
The dude behind the software is constantly providing updates and so far it’s utterly fantastic.The two bugs I found were fixed in a matter of hours
We also picked up a set of Alex drawers to replace the cupboard which is moving to another part of the studio, this gives me more space to store stuff and actually get to what I need when I need it.
The current Echo that’s in the studio is to be paired up with the current living room one to form a stereo pair for better music playback in that room.
So I got the kids Tiger version, cause look at it, it’s a mother fucking tiger, and I fucking love tigers!!!
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 also friend with Josh on Facebook, however I am sure for him that’s more about connecting with fans rather than being one of my best buds, that said he is actually a really nice guy.
I am going to try my best to not let that cloud my judgement in this review, but I accept that subconsciously it might.
What is Watch Dogs
Watch Dogs is an action-adventure game franchise, published by Ubisoft, and there have been three games published since 2014, the most recent being Watch Dogs Legion, published in late 2020.
Watch Dogs feature protagonists who are hackers working against criminal underworlds, corrupt companies and rival hackers.
Watch Dogs Legion, takes place in a post Brexit London, in which Britain has rapidly declined, and a hacker collective known as DedSec works to clear their name after being blamed for a series of terrorist bombings.
Their main opponents are the PMC Albion, who they try to liberate London from, Clan Kelly, an east end crime family, and Zero Day, a cyber terrorism group.
The Story
Day Zero takes place a over a few days and features several characters who find themselves drawn into a murderous conspiracy, that they must get to the bottom of, or risk London falling into control of a private military contractor who have their own designs on the city.
Our cast of characters is Olly, a new DedSec recruit and bike messenger, Sarah, an ambitious young Labour MP who has an eye on the advancement of her own career, Danny, a former soldier, and now Albion employee, being lead down a dark path, and his sister, Ro, a former MMA fighter and enforcer with Clan Kelly.
A series of assassinations across the city drag our protagonists into a mystery and things are starting to spiral out of control, requiring the killer to be tracked down.
Conclusion
Ok I have yet to play the game, I did buy the Ultimate Edition when it was on sale after reading this novel, but I am aware that this is a prequel, and the game protagonists and antagonists only feature briefly.
But as I said I haven’t played it, so for me, its very much a cool intro to the universe, as I have yet to play the first two games either, but they are on my purchase list!
The book was very enjoyable to read, it took me a little longer than I would have like to read, but I have some personal stuff going on in my life right now which is reducing my reading abilities.
I personally think, this not being a retelling is actually a positive thing, because the plot didn’t feel like a video game plot, sometimes when tie-ins are a retelling, it just doesn’t work.
This book is a perfect meld of the two writers style, James Swallow, writes very tight, very ordered plots, and Josh Reynolds is a master of witty dialogue and unlike many books with two authors, you never really see where ones work begins and the others ends. It feels like the two authors have merged Tuvix style and created a work that takes the best of both of their talent.
My only criticism is that with so many characters, the development of those characters is not the best, and I would like to learn more about them. So I do hope that they return to the setting and what Olly, Ro and Danny in particular do next.
I find myself very excited to play Watch Dogs Legion, and I am very much considering buying the first two games first.
This is a very solid 4 out of 5 Stars.
Day Zero is out now in both ePub, paperback and as an audiobook from all good booksellers!
If buying online, I recommend the below, but if you have a local indie bookstore and like the physical books, go take your custom to them!
