Sisters of Sorcery

By

On 26th July 2023

In Book Reviews

I have been provided with an advance copy of the new Marvel Untold book Sisters of Sorcery by Marsheila Rockwell and 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.

This particular book focus on the character Clea, a character who was introduced to the Marvel universe in 1964, and is the Sorceress Supreme of the Dark Dimension, and the wife of Doctor Strange.

She was introduced to the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the post credits scenes of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and played by Charlize Theron.

The Story

The book does a lot to explain the background of the characters, so I would say that you don’t need to know that much about the characters in advance, especially as they are mostly, side characters in many ways.

In this story, the Dark Dimension is currently ruled by the vile tyrant, Umar the Unrelenting, who just happens to be the mother of Clea, and she has kidnapped the cosmic being, Ardina, who as the female analog of the Silver Surfer is able to access the Power Cosmic.

Planning to use Ardina as a source of energy, Umar has made plans to conquer all of the splinter realms, but Clea becomes aware of her plans and gathers a team of powerful sorceresses, to travel to the Dark Dimension, join with Cleas rebels and stop Umar in her tracks.

Working with a ghostly Agatha Harkness, Clea recruits Elizabeth Twoyoungmen, the Talisman, Margali Szardos, the Sorcererses Supreme of The Winding Way and Agatha’s student and ward Holly LaDonna, but the quartet find themselves unable to travel directly to the Dark Dimension due to Umars use of the Power Cosmic to cast a spell to prevent teleportation to her realm.

So the team is forced to travel across various dimensions, facing family and rivals as they attempt to save all dimensions from the tyrant.

Conclusion

This book was fairly fast, it started fast and did not slow down or allow you any time to recover, which was good.

I am struggling to read at the minute due to headaches from my brain injury stopping me concentrating on text, but when I was able to read, I couldn’t put this book down.

We have four major characters here, although Clea is the clear focus, but they all got a good look in and were given a chance to shine, I wasn’t that familiar with some of them, the magical side of Marvel has never been my favourite, but I have come away and gone to Marvel Unlimited and downloaded a few issues featuring Margali and Talisman in particular to read a bit more of their stories.

I really enjoyed this book, I am not sure what else to say, but I really want to see more of Holly, she was very much my favourite character in the book, and she hasn’t featured much in the comics, but this version of her, was really cool.

This book gets a solid 4 out of 5 stars from me, and I strongly recommend you go buy it!

Sisters of Sorcery is out now as an eBook and paperback!

The Steam Deck!

By

On 24th July 2023

In Blog

I have worked really hard at a few events and managed to earn the money to buy a Steam Deck, a device I have been planning to buy in August, but well the Summer sale price was just too good!

I absolutely love it, the ability to play my PC games natively on a handheld device is amazing!

The first thing I did with it was to okay Aperture Desk Job to get it tested out and make sure everything was hunky dorey!

After that I took it apart, well, I took the back cover off, unplugged the battery and replaced the SSD with a 1TB Corsair MP600 Mini, after which I installed SteamOS on to it!

And then began the process of installing the games I want to play right now.

I also set up a 256GB MicroSD card with Windows 11 on it, so that I can have the ability to play games on Windows natively as well, via the Epic, Xbox, GOG, Ubisoft, EA and Amazon apps.

I also installed a screen protector, to add some anti-glare and keep the screen protected from scratches and stuff.

I used it to play through 80’s Overdrive (review here) and I am currently pushing my way through The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.

Overall I am really impressed with the device, its super cool, but I do want to sort out eventually dual booting with Windows, so I can play things like the Ubisoft titles, I have the Heroic Launcher setup for Epic and GOG already and they are mostly working.

I have been having a lot of fun with the device, and its helping me game a lot more, cause I can hang out with Megan and Lindsay whilst I am gaming, rather than having to exile myself to the studio!

What I Am Modelling

I started off by painting up the horrors for Warhammer Quest, so that’s 2 Pink Horrors, 4 Blue Horrors and 4 bases of Brimstone Horrors.

Then I painted the Blood Ravens Infernus Squad for the Space Marine Combat Patrol

After that it was The Rashaar for Carnivale

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And a Skitarii Marshall

Followed by the Palatine for the Sisters of Battle

Then a Primal Lair from Stormbringer for my AoS scenery!

And finally some additions to the Ultramarines, starting with a squad of Bladeguard Veterans.

Then a Bladeguard Ancient.

And finally a Primaris Ancient

So what’s up next?

  1. Gutrippas x 10
  2. Imperial Fists Tactical Squad x 10
  3. Defkilla Wartrike
  4. Ultramarines Bladeguard Veterans, x 3 Bladeguard Ancient and Ancient
  5. Big Mek with Shokk Attack Gun
  6. Stealth Team x 3
  7. Canoptek Wraiths & Hexmark Destroyer
  8. Gutrippas x 10
  9. Elathain’s Soulraid
  10. Tazaangors x 6

What I Am Reading

No physical reading done, which is annoying, just can’t manage to do it!

But I have finished listening to Leviathan by Darius Hinks, the story is good, but the narrator was kind of meh!

I also listened to Neverland by Alan Barnes which was pretty good, nice to see Romanadvoratrelundars return!

I have now started on The Martyr’s Tomb by Marc Collins.

What Tabletop Games I Am Playing

Had a catch up game of Blood Bowl and it went very very badly.

I had two Clanrats murdered, ended up with seven players knocked out and just three Clanrats left on the field, and I lost the game 1-0

I had a game of Heresy with Graham at Durham Raiders, and, I won, which is weird!

And finally I played a game of Warhammer 40k Combat Patrol with my Drukhari and I got utterly tabled by the Dark Angels!

What Video Games I Am Playing

Played a bit more Boltgun!

But mostly played through 80’s Overdrive and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.

What I Am Spending

I bought a few more games in the Steam sale, specifically the Valve Complete Pack, which got me

I also purchased, The Witcher Adventure Game as well, plus the Window Flags and Volvo Construction Equipment for Euro Truck Simulator 2, a few bits of Lego Marvel DLC for a few different titles and Lego Indiana Jones The Original Adventures.

I grabbed a couple of bargains on Prime Days, I bought a new kettle, as our one was having issues.

A 65w USB C controller to give myself a second charger for the Steam Deck, this is gonna live in the living room and will allow Lindsay to power her MacBook or work laptop as well.

And the Luna Controller was going for a song, so I picked one of them up for the collection, and its now on the peg board!

80’s Overdrive – Its Fine, But Feels Incomplete

By

On 18th July 2023

In Video Game Reviews

Many a weekend of my youth was spent in an arcade playing racing games, they were for a very long time my favourite genre of games.

Believe you me, if I had the space and money, I would have a racing sim rig in the house, at the moment, I don’t even have a basic wheel!

But that aside, my favourite games that I played at home, were Outrun and Road Rash, beautiful games which just were so much fun.

And that’s where 80’s Overdrive comes in, its a 2D pixelart racing game, that evokes memories of Outrun.

Now lets start with this, I didn’t go out of my way to buy this game, I got it in a mystery bundle with Fanatical a few weeks ago, and I thought it looked ok and I might try it eventually.

But when I got my Steam Deck and fired it up, the first game in my Great on Deck section of the Library, was this game and I thought, why not just install it to give it a try.

And I am glad I did, its a very enjoyable game, mostly.

Its very 80s, like super 80s and its unashamedly so, in all its artwork, and its excellent soundtrack, which I am actually annoyed isn’t available.

So I spent a total of 5 hours and 36 minutes playing this game, mostly in career mode, which was fun, I liked the management aspect, upgrading your car, keeping it fueled and repaired.

But after a while, it started to get a bit dull, and to be honest at that point, I was mostly working towards the various achievements, I think if these were lacking, I would have stopped playing after a couple of hours.

The most annoying aspect was that no matter what you did, you could never get ahead of the other cars enough so that if you crashed, or were forced off the road by another driver or police car, you had zero chance of winning and you were better off restarting the race.

There were also missions, which were ok, and I enjoyed them, the finish ahead of such and such a racer seemed moot because you were already going to be trying your best to win.

I am glad it only cost me 95p, because I don’t think I would pay £8.99, its not that its not a good game, it just feels like an incomplete experience and it could do with more work to make it a better experience.

I would absolutely look at a sequel, because I think the bones of this are good, it just needs, a bit more, like the ability to retry failed missions, or reducing the rubber banding.

£4 would be a fair price I think, but I would pay £8.99 for the soundtrack, which is amazing!

I think in fairness, I can only give this game 6.5 out of 10.

Resolutions Update May & June

By

On 16th July 2023

In Blog

Due to illness, the May update kinda ended up getting forgotten about, but hey lets not let that be an issue, and even this update is very late!

Build & Paint a 2000 Points Army of Drukhari – 22.75% Complete

We got the Raider finished, but due to the points in the new edition the Wych detachment is now 45pts short of 500 🙁

But the next step is the Kabal detachment, which will be as follows

Archon - 85
Drazhar - 105
Kabalite Warriors x 10 - 120
Incubui x 5  - 85
Raider - 90
Ravager - 95

Total - 580

So once done that should give me a total size of 1035!

Build & Paint a 500 Points Combat Patrol of Genestealer Cultists – o% Complete

The new points means what I have is now 340pts, so to get these back to 500 I will be adding Atalan Jackals and a Achillies Ridgerunner at some point!

Build & Paint a 2000 Points Combat Patrol of Tyranids – 27% Complete

We have painted a Parasite of Mortrek, and this is now a 2000 point army project thanks to Leviathan, so lets take a look at what we are thinking for this army!

This is the list I am thinking of building

Winged Tyranid Prime - 80
Winged Hive Tyrant - 195
Lictor - 75
Parasite of Mortrex - 90
Broodlord - 100
Termagants x 20 - 120
Termagants x 10 - 60
Termagants x 10 - 60
Neurotyrant - 105
Screamer-Killer - 180
Psychophage - 125
Von Ryan's Leapers x 3 - 75
Barbgaunts x 5 - 50
Neurogaunts x 11 - 90
Ripper Swarms x 3 - 35
Ripper Swarms x 3 - 35
Genestealers x 10 - 180
Genestealers x 5 - 90
Gargouls x 10 - 75
Tyranid Warriors with Melee Bio-Weapons - 90
Tyranid Warriors with Ranged Bio-Weapons - 90

This leaves me needing to buy

  • Gargouls
  • Tyranid Warriors

Which isn’t terrible!

Bring my Primaris Ultramarines to 2000 Points – 50% Complete

Ok so lets see how my list is impacted, well here goes

Primaris Lieutenant - 75
Uriel Ventris - 85
Assault Intercessor Squad - 180
Intercessor Squad x 5 - 95
Intercessor Squad x 5 - 95
Redemptor Dreadnought - 225
Outrider Squad x 3 - 115
Suppressor Squad x 3 - 95
Eliminator Squad x 3 - 95
Eradicator Squad x 3 - 95
Repulsor - 195

That gives me 1350 points, so I need to add 650 points, so I am going to painting extra

Bladguard Ancient - 50
Bladeguard Veterans - 100
Sternguard Veterans - 105
Firestrike Servo Turret - 80
Invader ATV - 80
Primaris Chaplain - 65
Primaris Apothecary - 55
Impulsor - 95

And that would bring me to 1980 points!

Bring my Orruk Warclans to 2000 Points – 84%

OK so we have a new Generals Handbook so how does that impact what I have?

Orruk Megaboss - 140
Orruk Megaboss - 140
Killaboss on Great Gnashtoof - 130
Killaboss with Stab-Grot - 100
Murtknob with Belcha-Banna - 80
Orruk Weirdnob Shaman - 90
Swampcalla Shaman with Potr-Grot - 100
Gutrippaz - 150
Hobgrot Slittaz - 80
Hobgrot Slittaz - 80
Orruk Brutes - 150
Man-Skewer Boltboyz - 120
Man-Skewer Boltboyz - 120
Beast-Skewer Killbow - 100
Beast-Skewer Killbow - 100

So that’s 1680 points meaning I need 320 points!

I am next adding to the army the following which is on my desk right now

Da Kunnin' Krew - 150
Gutrippas - 150
Man-Skewer Boltboyz - 120

So any combination of two of those will get me there!

Build & Paint Two Gangs for Carnivale – 50%

The Guild are done, next up the Rashaar (Spoiler, they are now done!)

Get My Weight to Under 100KG and Sustain It Below That

I actually put some on with illness and I am back to 114kg!

Publish One Battle Report a Month

This needs serious addressing

Stream Twice A Week

This also needs serious addressing

Complete My 2023 VideoGameGeek Challenge

This also needs serious addressing, like seriously!

I Did It!!!!

By

On 6th July 2023

In Blog

I actually managed to get all 19 models painted up on the day, and I am so happy about that!

Although I was absolutely shattered afterwards, but I raised £195 for The Willow Foundation, and if you want to add to that, you can here.

So I am very very happy, more details about the models in the next section.

But a special shoutout to Megan and Lindsay who really helped get me through it, particularly Megan given that it was a sad anniversary, but you guys are amazing!

And Paul helped too with his micky taking in the first couple of hours!

So next years challenge will be happening and I am gonna have a good think on what to paint for that closer to the time!

What I Am Modelling

Most of the week was dominated by the 24 hour charity stream and I painted the Drukhari Combat Patrol.

I managed to get it all done which I was super happy with, and even had 25 minutes to spare!

So we painted an Archon

Drahzar and his Inclubi

A unit of Kabalite Warriors

A Raider to carry the Warriors

And a Ravager!

After that I was working on the Kruleboyz that have haunted my desk for a couple of weeks now, and finished a pair of Swampcalla Shamans & Pot Grots

Plus Mugruk Da Watcha the event only Swampcalla Shaman

And finally a pair of Beast-Skewer Killbows

So whats up for next week!

  1. The Rashaar
  2. Gutrippas x 10
  3. Imperial Fists Tactical Squad x 10
  4. Palatine
  5. Pink Horrors x 2, Blue Horrors x 4 & Brimstone Horrors x 4
  6. Deffkilla Wartrike
  7. Ultramarines Bladeguard Veterans x 3, Bladeguard Ancient and Ancient
  8. Big Mek with Shokk Attack Gun
  9. Stealth Team x 3
  10. Canoptek Wraiths x 3

What I Am Reading

Not enough 🙁

But I am listening to Leviathan by Darius Hinks which is ok, but the narrator isn’t brilliant for 40k.

What Video Games I Am Playing

Still working through The Witcher 3 and I am aiming to finish it in July!

I have played a bit of Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun, two sessions are on YouTube!

What I Am Backing

The Firefly: The Game – 10th Anniversary Collectors Edition Gamefound project is almost over, and its unlocked all of its stretch goals, so I am happy with that!

What I Am Spending

It’s the Steam summer sale, and I had set a little money aside for it, and I was able to purchase the following games

Its also Humble Choice week, which got me:-

Oh and I bought a Steam Deck!!!

Hopefully it will be here by the weekend, its already been dispatched and is in the hands of GLS right now!

In the meantime, I grabbed a 1TB Corsair MP600 Mini, a 256GB Micro SD Card and a JSAUX Screen Protector to upgrade the deck a little bit from its 64GB of storage and protect it a little bit.

Thinking of running Windows off the Micro SD card so I can play, Ubisoft, Epic, GOG and Xbox games.

2023 Charity Painting Marathon

By

On 29th June 2023

In Blog

As with most years recently, other than 2023, I am going to paint this weekend for 24 hours,this time to try and paint a Drukhari Combat Patrol in 24 hours!

I am aiming to raise £100 for the Willow Foundation, a charity that’s very very close to my heart.

I am going to be painting this weekend from 10pm on Friday night to 10pm Saturday night, so it would be great if you could drop by and hang out, and if you believe in the cause, drop a few quid in.

The Willow Foundation is an amazing charity that does special days for very ill young people, and made my friend Lees last days very happy, and his family and friends continue to raise money for the charity with LeeStock, an amazing festival in Suffolk.

But let me let the Willow Foundation tell their story in their own words.

At Willow we believe in quality of life and quality of time. Willow is the only national charity working with seriously ill young adults aged 16 to 40 to fulfil uplifting and unforgettable Special Days. This year we hope to fulfil 1,400 Special Days – a day to anticipate, to share and to remember when happy memories really do count. Sadly for some, it’s a last chance to fulfil a dream with the people that really matter. Thankfully for many more their Special Day is an important opportunity to put much-needed normality back into living.

To give to my fundraiser, visit this link, and you will be able to follow along on Twitch.

What I Am Modelling

I started off by painting the Catacomb Command Barge for the Necrons

Alongside an Overlord

And an Annihilation Barge too

I the. Completed a Big’Ed Bossbunka for the Orks.

I then finished up the Kill Zone Octarius to complete most of my Ork Scrap Town terrain box!

And finally I painted up the Primal Liar from Stormbringer, for my new Age of Sigmar terrain that I will be keeping at home.

So what’s coming up next?

  1. Swampcalla Shaman x 3 & Pot Grot x 2
  2. The Rashaar
  3. Gutrippas x 10
  4. Beast Skewer Killbow x 2
  5. Imperial Fists Tactical Squad x 10
  6. Soriatias Palatine
  7. Pink Horrors x 2, Blue Horrors x 4, Brimstone Horrors x 4
  8. Defkilla Wartrike
  9. Ultramarines Bladeguard Veterans, Bladeguard Ancient and Ancient
  10. Big Mek with Shokk Attack Gun

What I Am Reading

I am still reading Sisters of Sorcery by Marsheila Rockwell, but plan to get that finished in the next day or so.

I finished listening to The Helwinter Gate by Chris Wraight, got to admit the trilogy started off rough, but was absolutely phenomenal by the end, I hope to hear more from the pack in the future!

I am planning on starting listening to Leviathan by Darius Hinks next and reading Compromised by Thomas Parrott.

What Tabletop Games I Am Playing

I played a game of Horus Heresy on Friday, and weirdly I won!

It was against Russell’s Alpha Legion, and to be honest, I think taking Fafnir Rann and Sigismund in the same list may be a bit overkill!

And on Saturday I played a game of Blood Bowl for the league with my Skaven vs Shambling Undead, and the result

I took a lot of injuries in the game, like 4 players got taken out of the match in the end!

At one point I had only one players on the field!

What Video Games I Am Playing

Mostly The Witcher 3, I finished Hearts of Stone in it and am now working on Blood and Wine.

What I Am Creating

The latest episode of Edge of Empire has landed, both in audio and on YouTube!

What I Am Winning

Won a prize on Twitter, a new Western Digital 1TB M.2 NVME SSD, along with a Genshin Impact mousemat and a muscular bunny who looks a bit like my bunny Angron, Eater of Cables!

What I Am Backing

Still backing the GameFound project for the Firefly: The Game 10th Anniversary Edition, with the Veteran Pilots pledge level.

I am also backing the Jon Hodgson Backgrounds Book campaign, but undecided if I want to go with the Sci-Fi book or the original book, very torn on that one!

What I Am Spending

Bought a few more video games, i continued rounding out the Resident Evil series with Resident Evil 5, Resident Evil 6 and Resident Evil Revelations.

I completed the Wolfenstein series with Return to Castle Wolfenstein, Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus, Wolfenstein: Youngblood and Wolfenstein Cyberpilot.

Avengers was a bargain on Steam and I really want to play the single player campaign, so I picked that up, alongside 80s Overdrive, Garbage, F.E.A.R 2: Project Origin and F.E.A.R 3 and Necromunda: Underhive Wars.

I did buy some extra Termagants to bulk out some existing units to bring them up to 20 gribbly units!

And of course I picked up Leviathan from Gamers-at-Hart on Saturday!

UK Games Expo 2023

By

On 17th June 2023

In Blog

Ok this has been a long update, my health and metal capabilities have been in the damn toilet, but better later thane never!

It was a really fun weekend and I spent it demoing games on the Star Wars games, moving between being a stand greeter, Shatterpoint, Legion, X-Wing and the Deck Building game, all of which are a hell of a lot of fun.

Myself, Lindsay and Sean came down by car on the Thursday night, and got to Birmingham, around 9:30ish and we got a Dominos and hung out.

The hotel is fine, its not the best hotel, but it was okay, the biggest gripe was breakfast which had zero diabetes friendly option, but I was able to remedy that by buying some Wheetbix of my own.

It was a really fun if exhausting weekend, and once I get paid at the end of July, I am hoping to buy a Steam Deck, depending if its even in stock, cause that’s been a huge issue in the past few months 4.

I actually came away with the belief that this was the best UK Games Expo I have been to since before the plague, yes a few minor niggles, but actually really positive, probably helped by having an awesome stand manager and an absolutely brilliant team to work with.

Cannot wait for next year!

What I Am Modelling

I started off by finishing my scenery for the Imperium table, first up was the Haemotrope Reactor.

I then painted up three Ruined Factorum buildings

I then painted Tech-Priest Grombrindal who has been sitting in the pile of potential for a while now!

And then a squad of Ultramarines Outriders!

After that came Hedkrakka’s Madmob for Underworlds.

And finally I painted the Parasite of Mortrex for the Tyranids!

After that it was some Deathrunners for Silver Tower

And cause I thought I needed it for a game, I then completed a Rat Ogre for Blood Bowl!

After that I finally painted the Kairic Acolytes for Silver Tower

Followed by the ones for Shadows Over Hammerhal

So whats coming up next?

  1. Catacomb Command Barge & Overlord
  2. Swampcalla Shaman x 3 & Pot-Grot x 2
  3. The Rashaar
  4. Gutrippas x 10
  5. Beast-Skewer Killbow x 2
  6. Imperial Fists Tactical Squad x 10
  7. Soriaitas Palatine
  8. Pink Horrors x 2, Blue Horrors x 4 & Brimstone Horrors x 4
  9. Deffkilla Wartrike
  10. Ultramarines Bladguard Veterans x 3 & Ancients x 2

What I Am Reading

You can read my review of David Annadales In the Coils of the Labyrinth here!

I finished up Necropolis from The Founding Omnibus by Dan Abnett, and it was extremely good!

And I have now started on Sisters of Sorcery by Marsheila Rockwell and so far its quite canny!

I finished listening to The Lion: Son of the Forest by Mike Brooks, and thats an issue, cause now I want to start an army of Risen!

I also listened to Blightslayer by Richard Strachan, which is rather good, I had feared the loss of Maleneth but Amara isn’t a bad character, but I am still sad at losing the Witch Aelf.

I also listened to The Time of the Daleks by Justin Richards, which was ok, but not the best 8th audio so far.

And I just finished listening to Stormcaller by Chris Wraight which was great but at times a bit hard to follow

What Tabletop Games I Am Playing

Not much, but I did manage to get started with the local Blood Bowl league, and I lost my first match!

I lost 5-0 but it was a very very good match, and a lot of fun!

My team roster is as follows:-

Blitzer x 2
Gutter Runner  x 2
Rat Ogre
Skaven Clanrat Linemanx 5
Thrower
Re-Roll x 3

What Video Games I Am Playing

Bit more time on The Witcher 3 as I start on the DLC.

I also started playing Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun on stream, and that’s a lot of fun!

Also played a bit of Control on Stream too.

What I Am Creating

The second battle report of 2023 is out, and its Dropfleet Commander!!!

The new 40K podcast from the Edge of Empire team is here, its currently lacking a title, but here is our first episode!

What I Am Winning

Its been a minute, but I won these Govee gaming lights back in March, and they arrived this week, and will be getting installed on Megan’s desk in the next few days!

What I Am Spending

I bought Warhammer 40,000 Boltgun, cause hell yeah!!!

And as it’s Skulls, I got, Warhammer 40,000: Dakka Squadron, Blood Bowl: Chaos Edition and Space Hulk Tactics alongside some DLC.

I got Winds of Magic, Shadows Over Bögenhafen, Back to Ubersreik, Grail Knight Career, Outcast Engineer Career, Warrior Priest Career, Sister of the Thorn Career and Forgotten Relics for Vermintide 2.

I also got Sons of Cadia, Legacy of the Weirdboy and Horrors of the Warp for Sanctus Reach, and the Chaos Campaign for Battlefleet Gothic 2.

And I decided to treat myself to a few bargains from my wishlist!

So I bought Euro Trick Simulator 2: Road to the Black Sea, Lost Planet 2, Sleeping Dogs Definitive Edition, Metro 2033 Redux, Metro: Last Light Redux, Resident Evil 2, Resident Evil 3, Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, Wolfenstien 3D, Wolfenstein: The New Order, Wolfenstein: The Old Blood and Resident Evil Revelations 2.

Grey Goo and Kingdom Rush came in a mini mystery bundle.

And Junes Humble Choice came out and I got the following:-

I got a mini haul at UK Games Expo, the only games were Elector Counts and Catan: Soccer Fever.

And I got myself a set of bases for Carinvale and some Monitors for the UCM.

I was silly enough to buy the Warhammer stamps from Royal Mail!

I finally got my hands on Kâhl Yôht Grendok, he took a bit to get made, but he is here now and I quite like him, cannot wait to get him built and painted!

And some Word Bearers objective tokens arrived, the person who makes them is slow, but they are worth it!

Dropfleet Commander Battle Report – UCM vs Scourge

By

On 24th May 2023

In Battle Reports

This is a long delayed battle report, and I am very sorry its taken so long, was a bit of a case of lining things up and developing a new workflow that didn’t need days to edit a single report!

Figured it out now, so I have to catch up in order to meet my resolution requirements!

Anyway, enjoy!

Fleet Lists

United Colonies of Mankind

Line Battlegroup 

Strategy Rating: 5

1 X Rio

Vanguard Battlegroup

Strategy Rating: 12

1 X Moscow
2 X New Orleans

Pathfinder Battlegroup

Strategy Rating: 7

2 X Toulon
1 X Berlin

The Scourge

Pathfinder Battlegroup 1

Strategy Rating: 7

1 X Ifrit
2 X Harpy

Line Battlegroup 1

Strategy Rating: 5

1 X Wyvern

Vanguard Battlegroup 1

Strategy Rating: 12

2 X Gargoyle
1 X Shenlong

These two fleets are made up of models you can find in the Dropfleet Commander boxset from TT Combat, and you can get yourself a copy from Element Games for just £54 and start playing with everything you need!

Alternatively, my old Air Cadet buddy runs Extra Fox Games on eBay where he sells it for £54.49 and helps him out, plus has free postage!

In the Coils of the Labyrinth

By

On 22nd May 2023

In Book Reviews

I have been provided with an advance copy of the new Arkham Horror book In the Coils of the Labyrinth by David Annadale, 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

In this story we find Professor Miranda Ventham, seriously ill with TB as she books herself into the Stroud Institute, a new sanatorium with a new modern way to treat the disease and heal the patients of Arkham.

But dreams, bad dreams plague Miranda, and she cannot quite shake the feeling that something is wrong, deeply wrong with the Stroud Institute, especially with its mysterious director, Donovan Stroud.

With help from her friend, the parapsycholist Agatha Crane, they work to unravel the mystery of the Stroud Institute, in an investigation that takes them from Arkham, to Scotland and into the heart of the mysterious labyrinth, and the sinister secrets it holds, that is longing to be set free.

Conclusion

This is a subtle book, there aren’t many cultists or monsters as with most Arkham Horror books, but a look at the blurring between dreams and reality with a smattering of Romantic poetry and a look at 1920s health care.

I have been very critical in the past of David Annadales books, but I must admit his Arkham Horror stuff is very good, in fact its probably his strongest stuff and this shows off what he does well, brilliantly. Its a subtle type of horror, almost insidious and it feels like its getting under your skin.

For me this book feels like an idea way to get into the Arkham Horror series, its not too in depth, but touches on and introduces key concepts in the series and the wider Lovecraft mythos is a way that is very apporachable.

The protagonists are really rather good, and I hope to see their further adventures in the future.

One negative, that very nearly had me give up right at the beginning, the prologue is set in Scotland and the local priest is involved, and the locals refer to him as a Vicar, and that annoyed me, because there is not a chance in hell a Scotsman in any day or age will use that word for a priest, and it did destroy any chance of immersion in that prologue and made me feel like the book was going to have been very poorly researched. It just felt lazy, so please rectify that for the next printing, that needs changing to minister, or rector.

But the thing is, the book is incredible well researched, I found myself checking things about the treatment of TB and yeah, they really did stuff like that, so gah, why do I let myself get obsessed over little things like that!

Regardless of that tiny issue, I really loved this book, incredibly good story and its so well written and flows really well.

4 out of 5 stars!

In the Coils of the Labyrinth is out now as a paperback, eBook or audiobook!

Flying the ‘Verse

By

On 20th May 2023

In Blog

The other weekend we had our friend Iain, a fellow games demonstrator, down from Scotland to play Firefly: The Game, which is one of our favourite board games!

So we took the whole day had snacks planned out and we laid out our Whole Damn ‘Verse Mat, and set up all the contact and supply decks and just played a very basic game, in which the aim was to raise $12,000!

We love this game so much, we actually have pretty much everything made for it that’s not a cosmetic upgrade, so we were playing with the Card Pack, Pirates & Bounty Hunters, Breakin’ Atmo, Blue Sun and Kalidasa. The only expansion we didn’t use was Crime & Punishment cause we wanted an easy bit of misbehavin’.

For ships, Iain took the Artful Dodger, Lindsay captained Jetwash, Megan sailed on the Emeralda and I was lugging around the S.S. Walden from Pirates & Bounty Hunters.

So there were some interesting differences in our tactics, I went for slow and steady with lots of space for cargo and passengers, Iain went for speed and more crew space, Lindsay wanted a fast ship with some tricks and Megan opted for a ship that could carry people who didn’t want any Alliance entanglements.

We had a great time and played for a good number of hours, but in the end, of course Megan won, me and Iain were quite close with just $200 between us, and Lindsay ended up with no meney!

One more turn and I would have won 🙁

It was a great day and I really want to get the game out again for some solo play sometime.

What I Am Modelling

I started out by painting my Dwarf Fleet for Kings of War Armada.

Followed by The Guild for Carnivale

And then I moved onto the Ultramarines Repulsor.

Then it was a pair of Invader ATVs for my Blood Ravens.

And then the Annihilation Barge for the Necrons.

Along with the Overlord!

After that I painted up Xandire’s Truthseekers from Stormbringer.

Alongside a Stormstrike Chariot.

I am now working on the remaining scenery for the Imperium table

So what’s up next

  1. Kairic Acolytes x 18
  2. Hedkrakka’s Mob
  3. Skaven Deathrunners x 2
  4. Catacomb Command Barge
  5. Swampcalla Shaman x 3 & Pot Grot x 2
  6. Ultramarines Outriders x 3
  7. The Rashaar
  8. Gutrippas x 10
  9. Kabalite Warriors x 10 & Archon
  10. Beast-Skewer Killbow

What I Am Reading

I finished up In the Coils of the Labyrinth by David Annadale and expect a review shortly.

I am now fully dedicating myself to Necropolis by Dan Abnett.

I am listened to Blood of Asaheim by Chris Wraight, which was ok, but you can tell it was some of Chris’s early work.

I have now started on The Lion: Son of the Forest by Mike Brooks as an audiobook.

What Tabletop Games I Am Playing

When we had Iain over, as well as playing Firefly: The Game, we also played Firefly: Misbehavin’

We also played Firefly Fluxx, a few games of Just One and a game of Say Anything too!

And guess what, I didn’t win a single game all weekend!

I got to play a game of Warhammer 40K last night against some Eldar, and or course I lost!

What Video Games I Am Playing

Managed to finish the main game for Control: Ultimate Edition, which you can see on YouTube now!

I will be playing the rest of the side missions and the DLC in ad hoc streams over the next few weeks.

What I Am Creating

The latest Edge of Empire episode was published, and you can listen to it as an audio as usual, but now as a YouTube video as well!

And I made a vertical video thing on TikTok!

@biggeordiegeek Simple Light Leather Painting! #Warmongers #WarhammerCommunity #WarHamFam #PaintSlam23 #Painting #PaintingWarhammer #PaintingGamesWorkshop #PaintingLeather #MiniturePainting ♬ original sound – biggeordiegeek

The Assassin’s Creed II videos have now moved to BigGeordieGeek Plays now, so have been removed from my main YouTube channel.

And whilst I was at it, I uploaded the original game as well, so there is no more Assassin’s Creed left on the main YouTube channel!

What I Am Backing

My TTCombat Paints & Washes pledge arrived, which was a pair of paints to try out and a new painting mat.

What I Am Buying

I bought the Capcom Hero Collection at the £8 level and got myself:-

I also bought the Retro Rampage Bundle from Fanatical, which got me:-

I also grabbed the Bioware Mega Collection from the EA Steam sale, which got me:-

And I grabbed myself some objective tokens for my Drukhari!

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