Book Review: Legion of the Damned

If ever there was a Black Library book that I feel was false advertising, this would be the one. That sounds a bit ominous, but its not all bad.

I think everyone that is a power armor and fluff nut like me (I am hoping that there are others out there like me) knows about the Legion of the Damned. The fluff says that one of the 21st cursed-founding chapters, The Fire Hawk was sent to fight Eldar pirate. The entire chapter made a warp jump to Crowe's World, but none of them arrive (I personally blame those dirty Eldar!).

After that, from time to time, when Imperial forces were facing insurmountable odds, the silent Black and Flame armored Astartes would joint the fight and leave without a word. These were the Legion of the Damned.

When I saw that this book was coming out I got very excited. I like any of the "mysteries" in 40k, and this is one. "Too bad the book was coming out in April", I thought to myself.

Space Wolves Venerable Dreadnought: WiP 1

I've said it once, and I'm sure that I will say it again, but I loves me some Dreadnoughts!

I currently own four Space Wolf dreadnoughts, and I am currently putting together three Grey Knight dreads.

The Space Wolf dreads were mostly done, but then I decided to go back and repaint my Space Wolf army because my skillz (yes, that is skillz with a 'z') had improved so much (if you think my current paint sucks, you should have seen them before). In fact, you can go back and see where all four of them were.

Anywho, I have already started, and finished my Forge World dread, and now I'm starting in on my old school Venerable Dread. This is the old ven dread that was all metal. When this guy came out, I was just putting my SW army together, and the GW web site had a really cool article on how to "wolfify" the new metal ven dread. It essentially consisted of taking one of the torso from the old Grey Hunter/Blood Claws box that had the wolf pelt on the back, and cutting it off and creating a tabbard. Then cutting off the tassels and putting wolf tails on. This was pretty spiffy to me, so I went out and snatched one up.

Chaos Space Marine Lord with Jump Pack: WiP 1

So a while back I happened upon this blog called Dark Future Games (you should go check it out) and I noticed that one of the guys there was selling some minis. There wasn't really much I was interested in except for one thing. The Chaos Space Marine Lord with jump pack. 

Now I will be the first to admit that I am a sucker for all things Power Armor, and after reading the Badab War books from Forge World, and reading Blood Reaver and The Gildar Rift, I have hand the thought of doing a Red Corsair army in the back of my head. When I saw that CSM jump pack lord, I had to have him.

Book Review: Hammer & Anvil

So the last few Black Library books I have read haven't been the best, so I was a little apprehensive about this one, but I was worrying for nothing. Hammer & Anvil was one of the best books I have read in a while.

This book takes place following the events of Faith & Fire (that came out almost six years ago!) and again follows Battle Sister Miriya and Hospitallar Verity.  This time they are sent to reconsecrate the destroyed bastion on Sanctuary 101. For those of you in the know, you know that this was the first time that the Imperium had contact with the Necrons.

With the Necron codex still fresh, this book was a great one to publish about the same time, and if anyone wonders whether or not the BL authors have advanced knowledge of what will be in the codex, this book proves it.

The Beginning of my Grey Knights army!

Finally, after a long friggin' time, I have started some serious work on my Grey Knights army. I bought these guys way back when, and now I have finally done some substantial work on them and have some pics to prove it.

This afternoon I broke out the air brush and sprayed some Boltgun Metal.

A (Dwarf) Pirate's Life For Me

So it's been quite a while since I bought these Dwarf Pirates for a steal from the FLGS. I really enjoyed painting them, and while it took me a while, they were a lot of fun and I think they look great.

Book Review: The Gildar Rift

So after the last two Black Library books I read, I was a little worried about reading another. I know it seems kind of silly. It is not as if the last two books were terrible, I just didn't care for them, and what is it that people say about opinions?

Anywho, I picked up The Gildar Rift and I was a bit excited because a) I enjoyed Ms. Cawkwells' short stories about the Silver Skulls, b) after Imperial Armour 9/10 & Blood Reaver, I've got a thing for the Astral Claws/Red Corsairs, a c) I don't think I've met "A Space Marines Battles Novel," I haven't liked yet. So with those things in mind, I dove in.

I have to start with a bit of a critisim. The book began with a bit about a Rogue Trade moving into the Gildar system, not waiting for their marine escort and subsequently being attacked by pirates. There was nothing really wrong with it, but it really served no purpose in the story. It is just a gimmick that the BL authors seem to do more and more. Some of them can pull it off (like Dan Abnett in Bloodpact), but for others it really just falls flat, as it does here, in my opinion.

Santa was Good to Me!

I have got to say, that Santa was good to me this year. The first thing (which really wasn't a Christmas gift) was to hit Battlefoam up for their yearly Black Friday sale. As always, they didn't disappoint.

Lately I have been going over to a buddy's house and we've been hanging out and paint. He has two kids, so it is usually me packing all my stuff up and going over to his place, and it can be quite a pain. So what I did was to buy the PACK 216 with the paint load out.

Little Bit of This...

One of the things I love about Reaper minis is that they are cheap. In price that is. The wife and I went into the FLGS the other day and we were just looking around and happened upon the Reaper mini shelf. Wow what a selection. From the Pathfinder minis, to Dark Haven range, there is something for everyone! 

Not that we needed anything, but my wife and I walked out with four minis.

Book Review: Atlas Infernal

It has been quite a while since I have finished this book, but I decided that I needed to get on with it and post a review, so here it goes.

This book, along with Outcast Dead were pretty painful for me to read. I didn't really like the majority of either book. With Outcast Dead, there was a really good ending to pull the book up, with Atlas Infernal, it didn't feel that way to me.

Now any book about the inquisition is going to be compared to the Eisenhorn/Ravenor books by Dan Abnett. This is a little harsh, because these books are excellent, and any other inquisition book is going to have a hard time living up to that standard.

In Eisenhorn, we see the story of an Inquisitors change from a fairly purity inquisitor to a much more radical inquisitor by the end of the book. Eisenhorn does some pretty messed up things by the end of the third book, but by that time, you see the man that he is, and I at least could understand why he did what he did.

Basically: Dwarf Pirates

Ever had deja vu?

So a while back, I purchased some bases from Back 2 Base-ix. I am planning to put my Dwarf Pirates on these bases. As with my Grey Knight bases from last time, the slow down has, well, slowed me down and I haven't really done as much as I wanted. I did however, finally get my bases done for the Pirates. 

Basically: Grey Knights

So as I said a while back, I bought some bases from a place called Fantascape. I am planning to use these for my Grey Knights army. With the Christmas slow down, I haven't done too much with them yet, but I am trying to get back on a regular posting schedule, so this is what you get for today.