I have had to do a couple of hardware things, first off, we have added a PCIe USB expansion card so that I can run extra cameras, specifically one for Megan’s painting desk and for her face.
And I added an extra decent webcam, Megan’s facecam has up until now been a Creative Live Cam Synch HD720 which is an utterly dreadful camera. so this has been replaced with a Logitech C925e.
So all we have to do is crack on with it and see if we can raid the £100 we are aiming for!
What I am Modelling
I have finally gotten back to the painting desk this week, and I started by basing the Secutarii Peltasts I finished last week.
Whilst also working on the vehicles for my Early War Germans for Bolt Action, those being a Sd.Kfz. 251, usually known as the Hanomag, and a Panzer IV Ausf. d, which is armed with a 7.5 cm KwK 37 L/24, which is basically an infantry support gun.
I went a little further with these, using weathering powders properly for the first time.
And this completes the resolution to paint 1000pts of Early War Germans for Bolt Action.
I then finished off the last unit for my secret project, but more about that next week!
Tonight I painted the Enduring Stormvault from Mortal Realms, which is in all honesty the worst part of the whole collection, simply because it doesn’t really work without a big piece of Stormvault terrain.
I have been provided with an advance copy of the new Legend of the Five Rings book Death’s Kiss by Josh Reynolds, 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 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.
So let’s crack on with a review then!
What is Legend of the Five Rings
L5R as it’s often known is a fantasy setting for a series of card games and RPGs originally published by AEG, but now taken care of by Fantasy Flight.
It’s set in the empire of Rokugan which is heavily feudal Japan influenced, with a bit of other East Asian influences, like China and Korea thrown in as well.
It’s a fantasy setting with the usual fantasy tropes of goblins and rat men, but also oni and kitsune too.
The Story
Daidoji Shin is a an aristocrat of the Crane clan banished to the City of the Rich Frog, to serve as his clans trade envoy.
In the last book Poison River his talent as a detective was discovered as he foiled a plot to bring the cities various factions to war.
And since then it seems he has become a very in demand fella, and the owner of a theatre (which he did sort of get burnt down). And when a powerful friend asks him to investigate the circumstances of a murder in another city.
The murderer is in custody and her execution is called for by the family of the man she killed, but the local magistrate is holding her as he attempts to figure out why the incident occurred as he tries to avoid the two families from coming to blows in the street.
With a woman’s life on the line, Shin throws himself into the case and ends up getting caught up in a sinister plan by a group of revolutionaries that wish to change the empire forever.
Conclusion
I am gonna put my cards on the table here, and say that whilst I liked this book, I felt is should have come further down the line.
The City of the Rich Frog was so well established in the last book, so well developed with an interesting cast of background characters who made it so deeply interesting, that I really missed that in this book.
Don’t get me wrong, Josh did a wonderful job in establishing a new city and new characters, but I just didn’t gel with them as well as I did those from the previous book.
He has set up some interesting possibilities for future books however with this novel.
Again we continue that Holmesian tribute act that Shin is, and it’s a very good one, the case may be straightforward but Shin needs to understand the why, not simply the how. He tenacity not only leads to a resolution that’s best for all the families.
I really enjoyed this book, knowing what happened did lend the twist as we tried to figure out the reasons for the crime, because they really do matter, and whilst there was some general predictability, it wasn’t glaringly obvious.
Instead the book makes you feel smart as you go “ahh I think I know”, then leads you to they why, what giving it’s all a bit of a twist.
This novel felt a bit more pulpy than the last one, not a bad thing, but it was an easy and enjoyable read that was hard to put down.
Josh has built a very interesting little corner of Rokugan and I really want to spend more time there.
I am actually currently thinking about perhaps running an RPG campaign in the City of the Rich Frog, I am that enamoured with the work Josh has done.
It’s 4 out of 5 for me and I only drop a star because I feel like the characters life in the City of the Rich Frog needed more development before he went elsewhere.
Deaths Kiss is out as an eBook on the 1st June and as paperback on the 19th August.
So last week the minor tear to my calf muscles means about 2 weeks of enforced rest, this first week of which has been spent upstairs in our living room.
The advantage of the set up of our house is that the living room is on the same level as the bathroom and has a fridge and tea making station here, so all my comfort needs are being met.
I have managed to get downstairs a few times, but it’s been very very painful.
Meet Douggie
We adopted a new cat, we really shouldn’t have, but when Beckie at Yarm Cat Rescue said no one had been interested in adopting him, we knew we had to.
So here is Sir Douglas T Cat, aka Douggie, who like Barrington before him, has had a very rough life.
He was beaten and kicked so badly it shattered his pelvis, which has healed very badly and given him a very wobbly walk. He will thus need extra special care for the rest of his life.
He has made himself very much at home, demanding loves, fusses and strokes quite regularly and even sleeping with us.
We are very much in love with him, and even Barrington is tolerating him, which is about as close to be long good friends as Barrington gets.
Many of you in the next week or so will be getting your premium kit with the Blades of Khorne for Mortal Realms and as such, may be thinking, can I start an army of these.
So just like with the other three packs for the Flesh Eater Courts, Sylvaneth, and Orruk Warclans, I will take a look at how to expand this pack into 1000pts and 2000pts as cost effectively as possible.
So let’s start by looking at what you get in the pack.
Bloodmaster
Flesh Hounds
Blood Warriors
Now if we plug that into BattleScribe, you get 380 points worth, which is 10 points lower than the Orruks.
Now as a Khorne Player myself, I can tell you that this is a weird start to a Blades army.
Generally speaking I would personally concentrate on either Mortals or Daemons, rather than a mix. But hey I am crap player and I do play a mixture myself.
Khorgoraths . Khorgorath: Bone Tentacles, Claws and Fangs
Getting to 2000 points means I think we need to pay attention to the Daemons side of things, so I would grab Start Collecting! Daemons of Khorne, which gives you three Bloodcrushers, ten Bloodletters and a Herald of Khorne on a Blood Throne, but I would build this as a skull cannon.
This then allows you to combine all of the Khorne Daemon units into a Murderhost, which is actually a really handy Warscroll Battalion.
And that gets us all the way up to 1510 points, so now I would now look at another Battalion, in this case the Gore Pilgrims for which we need to make a couple of purchases, specifically a couple of Slaughterpriests, for which there are two different models, the original one and one released a little bit later with Hackblade and Wrath-Hammer , and this brings us up to 1850.
At this point I personally would actually buy a box of Bloodreavers, these are very squishy and will die easily, which gives you Blood Tithe points, which you will want, and you will probably want a fair few more Bloodletters to summon with these eventually, but that’s something you can sort out later on.
And that brings you to 1990 points.
Bloodstoker: Blood Whip, Torture Blade
Mighty Lord of Khorne: Axe of Khorne, Flesh Hound
+ Other +
Khorgoraths . Khorgorath: Bone Tentacles, Claws and Fangs
I am not gonna pretend I am a tactical genius here, this list is probably very sub-optimal, but it’s what I would do personally because I think this is a nice route to 2000 points. And if purchased from Element Games, this will cost you a grand total of £155.
I would also giver serious consideration to grabbing some extra Daemons for summoning, which can be done with the Blood Tithe points, and it really can make a big difference to the game.
And the Skull Altar can be taken for free, and is surprisingly helpful in game.
In terms of painting, I would point you towards the tutorial on YouTube for the original Age of Sigmar Release.
There are also videos for the two Khorne Underworlds warbands too.
And here are a couple of ideas for your Bloodletters.
There is a cool basing guide as well from Warhammer TV that looks ace.
So let me know what you think of my ideas, and if you are gonna give them a try out, let me know how it goes!
Just a quick note, if you do follow the links to Element Games and buy something from them, a little bit of a commission is made for Edge of Empire which helps keep the podcast running.
I have been provided with an advance copy of the new Arkham Horror book Mask of Silver 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 Signthe cooperative dice game.
The Story
Like the rest of the Arkham Horror novels, its set in the 1920s specifically 1923 and sees a silent movie being produced in the town of Arkham by horror director Sydney Fitzmaurice (who in my head is Nathan Lane, not sure why, just is).
His costume designer Jeany Lin is the protagonist, and her sister Renee Love is Sydney’s muse and star. Sydney has relocated his company to his home town of Arkham where he is going to film a movie filled with thrills and the occult that will make a fortune for the studio and perhaps a lot more.
The story is a very slow burner, with the majority of the book being character development and just sight hints at the horror to come.
There is a lot of background on the production of silent movies, which in itself is fascinating, you can really tell that Jones has done her research and the book is grounded in realty, which makes it all the more creepy.
As things go wrong and the behaviour of Sydney just isn’t right Jeany investigates his past to discover what is going on in the mansion, why people are being hurt during the production and why does the silver mask haunt her dreams.
Conclusion
This is a slow paced book, but it’s deliberate and thoughtful, a very clever plot that is woven together so very well.
The main characters are well rounded, and extremely believable, the background players less so, but there is enough there that they aren’t just window dressing.
Arkham itself doesn’t my really feature too much as the story is set mostly in the Fitzmaurice mansion on French Hill, with the occasional trip to a nearby diner.
But there is a truly creepy atmosphere in the story, and it makes your skin crawl just a little bit.
Jeany is a wonderful protagonist and she offers a real insight into the contribution of Chinese-Americans to early cinema, a contribution that Jones suggests you read up in the notes after the story.
The end in a way felt rushed, but in many ways was not at all, it’s quite old fashioned in that the book builds up the story and characters so that you care about them, and then concludes quite explosively!
This was a book that I really really enjoyed and it’s a shame it took me so long to read it, but I really do highly recommend it.
I am now laid up for a couple of weeks, I tore my calf muscle a bit.
Basically a chair I bought last March broke when I sat in it, and I ended up with my leg crushed between the desk and the chair which tore an old lacrosse injury. (Yeah I know I am weird the only sport I was ever good at was one rarely played in the UK).
Anyway I am now confided to the middle level of our house, we moved my X-Box Series S up here and I am gonna be having quite a bit of time away from my painting desk.
In general I am not happy about it.
What I Am Modelling
I started the week by finishing up the Venatari for my Legio Custodes.
Last year I did a 24 hour painting stream for The Willow Foundation, which is an amazing cause and one very close to my heart.
We are doing this same this year, but for the Maritime Conservation Society, because, well the podcast loves Manatees!!!
What’s the Challenge
Last year I painted the battle box of Sister of Battle, alone, and it was cool, but I didn’t complete it.
This year, I am joined my Megan, and we are going to paint a tables worth of terrain!
We currently have the following in the box:-
Sub-Cloister x 2
Storage Fane x 2
Engine Shed x 2
Thermo-Exchanger Shrine x 2
Thermo Pipes x 4
Auto-choral Transmitter
Munitorium Armoured Container x 3
Haemotrope Reactor x 2
Galvanic Servohaulers
Thermic Plasma Regulators
Sanctum Administratus
The plan is that we will have the terrain built and primed and work in two twelve hour shifts for health reasons, since Covid I simply cannot manage a straight 24 hour shift.
We are going to paint the terrain, mostly using this guide from Warhammer TV.
We are starting to build the terrain today, and plan to have it all ready in about a week or so before priming it.
You can donate here if you would like to and we would be eternally grateful!
What I Am Modelling
I started by finishing off my Skorpekh Destroyers, Skorpekh Lord and Plasmacyte, which completed the Indomitus box set for me!
On Tuesday I played a couple of hours of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and had a few missions that proved difficult to figure out, mostly cause I was silly enough not to see some stairs!
But you can watch that session here!
I continued the play though on Thursday, and you can watch that below.
And here is a play session from yesterday!
What I Am Creating
This is a new section which I will be using to share the content I create and a way of getting me to actually do it!
What I Am Backing
The Wowstick funded, it says it’s gonna deliver in June, but I am not holding my hopes out for that.
Bring my Mechanicum to 3000 points for Horus Heresy, including the Warhound Titan – 4.16% Complete
I have calculated that I have 2040 points to complete this resolution, and I started it this month by painting the first Termite for the list I am thinking of.
I have been provided with an advance copy of the new Marvel Heroines book Elsa Bloodstone: Bequest by Cath Lauria, 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 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, the first two books in the series, Domino Strays and Rogue Untouched were extremly good, so I was looking forward to this.
The Story
So I think its best to introduce Elsa Bloodstrone first, she is a monster hunting heroine introduced to the Marvel universe by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning. She is the daughter of Ulysses Bloodstone and follows in his footsteps of protecting the world from vampires, demons and monsters. Very much a Buffy type character.
She is British, loves her tea and doesn’t take s**t from anyone, and likes to keep people at a distance, but all that changes when a woman turns up on her doorstep claiming to be her half sister who has had her Bloodstone shard stolen, the Bloodstone being what grands Elsa her powers of superhuman strength, healing and endurance.
The core of this story is less so the adventure they are on, but the relationship between Elsa and Mihaela as they travel across thje world, investigating Ulysses old bases of operation to ensure he hasn’t left anymore Bloodstone shards lying around, lest what could happen if they ended up in the hands of evil doers.
We start off being very distrust of Mihaela, who lacks the same strength and attitude as Elsa and its very much an odd couple kind of relationship, with them constantly at each others throats, in more ways than one!
Mihaelas comments about Elsas attitude and recklessness are meet with very witty, sarcastic and snarky comebacks, even in the middle of a battle. Lauria does an excellent job of getting into Elsas head, we slowly get to see more and more about why she prefers to work alone and more about why she doesn’t want her sister in her life.
Conclusion
This book is really really good, and its refreshing to get a good book about one of Marvels lesser known heroes, and I really hope that Lauria is allowed to continue this storyline as the conclusion sets up some cool possibilities.
The backstory for Elsa and Mihaela is explored very well, so if you have never heard about Elsa before, then you will have no issues enjoying this book.
Overall its a fantastic pulpy adventure with cameos by a couple of other heroes on the trek around the world and a rather cool twist that turns everything around very nicely.
This is a brilliant book, full of background, but done in such a way as to not overwhelm and crammed full of comic book style action.
Solid 5 out of 5 stars from me!
The eBook is released on the 4th May and the paperback hits the shelves on 22nd July.
