My Top 5 Black Library Novels

5) Flight of the Eiesnstein; It is by no means the best Horus Heresy novel but I felt it did a much better job then the "Horus" ark books in actually detailing the horror of chaos and the feelings and emotions of the Imperial Loyalists

4) Battle for the Fang; Did a much better job of fleshing out the Space Wolves then any of the Bill King/Lee Lightner and the disappointing Prospero Burns. It felt so much more like the brother of A Thousand Sons I wonder if this wasnt meant to be a placeholder in case Dan Abnett didnt recover quickly enough to get the book to the editing table

3) Malus Darkblade; Ok im cheating and selecting the omnibus but really its a great series. It is really what Warhammer and Black Library should be about, a interesting and conflicted character with a proper motivation and feelings. Sure there are some ridiculous elements and moments not to mention poor editing but you can overlook it because it just delivers the fun and intrigue of an utterly irredeemable character set in one of the harshest races.

2) For the Emperor; The start of the Ciaphas Cain string of novels which really expose the over dramatisation of the setting of 40K and take the time to sit back and have a laugh at the every aspect of the grimdark future. Ciaphas Cain leaves the door open for you to decide if he is actually as cowardly or scheming as he claims or if he is actually just very self deprecating and uses the humour as a coping mechanism which straight off the bat helps you relate and feel a connection to the universe you normally cant due to everyone having such an extreme mindset with insane goals set in the truly insane 41st millennium. The omnibus is a good buy but the jokes can begin to fall flat if you try and smash through them back to back. I found at the end of an omnibus I would be fatigued by the writing style and if I came back in a few weeks it felt fresh and LOLOLOL worthy again

1) Eisenhorn; Ok im cheating again but its my blog so shut up. Anyway there is something about a first person writing style that usually makes me over sell a book but I think Im on the money when I say this is possibly the best series that Black Library has produced. The main character grows and faces horrifying challenges and where Ciaphas Cain points and laughs, Eisenhorn drags you into actually experiencing the difficulty of being an Inquisitor and how soul crushing it is to live within this universe. There are so many layers and with the continuation in the Ravenor series and the new Ravenor vs Eisenhorn is probably a great time to jump in and read up if you havent already



THE WORST; Ok im sure there are worse books but the one that really shit me the most was the tie in book for the starter set ASSAULT ON BLACK REACH. I mean Sicarius is such a tool. Really there is no bigger tosser in the galaxy then this guy. Everything he does is rage inducing and stupid.

I understand that this is meant to be a bit pulpy to get people into the game but it honestly felt like it was written by someone who was vaguely aware Space Marines were the good guys and has a predilection for writing dick head characters. He is close to one of the best characters in the Space Marine codex and rather then show the hubris and grandeur and sheer brilliance of one of the youngest and best known Captains EVER they make him a complete window licker and apparently ran with this in the Uriel Ventris novels not to mention Fall of Damnos.

If you read this and didnt burn it immediately you have made a bad choice and should feel bad. Also you may have a subnormal IQ so.... get that checked I guess.

Iron deficiency!

Heeeeyyyy mates!

I have finally got off my lazy arse and stripped a bunch of the iron warriors down and rebasecoated. So good new everyone!

heres some pictures;

Very bland at the moment but the plan is to use yellow and green washes to give them an oily feel around the joints just to add some different colour to the angry band and a bit of character.

The main things left to build are my chosen and pin the contemptor as well as the Land Raider (thanks Josh!)


So anyway my Huron counts as is actually Warsmith Telchines who im planning on having a profound interest in chemical warfare as his namesakes did before they will killed by the Gods. I will have a small backstory for him eventually but it is shaping my force significantly as ive been eyeing off some plague marines counts as to be the chem weapon experts. Interesting to see where I end up with that

Anyway C&C is welcomed and appreciated so lay in like there is no tomorrow

The start of my Iron Warriors/ Death guard plans

Alrighty I have decided to star doing Iron Warriors for my next project pretty much decided by the bolter and chainswords call of chaos army muster

What id like to have for this army eventually is;

HQ
Huron
Normal Terminator Lord
Sorc
Warpsmith

Troops
70 Chaos Marines
Rhinos
40 Cultists

Elites
Squad of Termis with Landraider
Squad of Chosen
Contemptor

Fast Attack
Squad of Bikers
2 Helldrakes

Heavy Support
Squad of Havocs with autocannons
Squad of Havocs with a mix of weapons
Predator
2 Maulerfiends


Not only that but my pre heresy death guard will hopefully encompass

HQ
Typhus conversion

Elites
Cataphracti Termiators
Deathshroud
2 Contemptors

Troops
Mix of tacticals but around 40-50

Fast attack
maybe jetbikes? doesnt really fit in my mind but ill see how I go

Heavy Support
Deimos predators
Devastators
Land Raider

Id like to hear as many opinions on this as possible or suggestions such as what to use instead of the normal bikers for my iron warriors. Im thinking of using destroyer bodies but havent been sold on anything yet so any help would be appreciated

Anway here is the start of my iron warriors!

Codex Review - Chaos Space Marines

So to begin with the codex is in hardcover of comparable rigidity to the fantasy books but with some embossed lettering to go along with the shiny artwork. The binding looks solid, it isn't a huge book, and the paper quality has also improved from previous 40k codexs'. The blood gorgon on the front is a cool piece of artwork and if they continue in this style it will be a ton better than the fantasy ones, which while I enjoy them, are hardly everyone's cup of tea. Particularly the vampire counts with the apparently angry vampire annoyed at scooby and the gang for thwarting his plan and the fact his bat sidekick puked blood all over his hand. 

Anyway lets get stuck into it. We have pretty much the same initial fluff we have had for years. Horus was the best Primarch became disillusioned and injured on davin, decided to get some of his brothers who had their own problems with the emperor to punch up on the other brothers. We also have the vague explanation of what chaos is which to be fair is hard to condense down without sticking to the old paradigm of Khorne=angry, Slaanesh=porn addict, Tzeentch=wishes he didn't know what Slaanesh was doing etc. 

We then transition straight into the Traitor Legions

This was the biggest problem many had with the old codex as the fluff was light in the field and close to non existstant in the army list. Now the fluff doesn't really make a huge showing but it is more comprehensive in explaining the motivations even through the quotes below the names. Phil Kelly deserves a ton of praise for managing to condense these disparate and uniquely motivated forces into a paragraph that somehow doesn't feel shallow. Next we have the bane of the previous codex and that is the renegades. They are always cool but I don't know many people who have bothered beyond maybe a unit or two or a pet project to their main army and the persistence in providing arguably more fluff is perplexing. Sure the corsairs will probably gain a surge due to the badab war and the tyrant making some bad arse cameos but still. The new poster boys the crimson slaughter get a big write up and it also deals with the corsairs, the cleaved, the purge, the flawless host, company of misery, blood disciples and the scourged. A half decent spread of different factions and gods as well as style which is really nice. 

Then we progress into the fluff proper  with the Abyssal Crusade, I really enjoyed this even though it is very renegade focused and has some odd actions. I'm sure I've read this somewhere before the sixth edition rule book but apparently not. In any case basically a cardinal becomes something of a living saint and says the nearest hundred chapters around him could be tainted. They are investigated and thirty found wanting. To clear their name these chapters enter the eye of terror and generally have a shit time. Pretty much all of the chapters turn to chaos after suffering big casualties. The few that do survive after 800 years return and focus out previous cardinal was actually a chaos worshipper so they smash his shit up. There are some fluff inconsistencies here as some of the chapters that are now rebel were helping up until the black crusade so obviously someone forgot to really do their research. 

So the fluff probably is hovering around the 6 to 7 out of 10. It does its job and has some good bits. I should state that a five is a pass and I'm happy with it buy not blown away. It will be rare to see a 10. 

Now into the meat and potatoes the actual army list. It will become tedious to hit every unit but I will focus on my top five in no order as well as my five miss steps

1) chaos boon table. Feels like the old 3.5 deck but sticks with that random element 

2) chaos lord. He feels tough and is insanely cheap and takes the edge in my mind due to the price point and efficiency and the fact the daemon prince doesn't have eternal warrior. And the daemon prince is nuts expensive

3) warpamith. I think this will make a few lists but just the fact it feels like a tech marine but is its own distinct entity is just so much win 

4) chaos bikers. Have become cheaper and will probably replace the old termicide unit 

5) cultists. They fill a unique roll and you can have something of that old lost and the damned army

Now the downers

1) Dark Apostle. Doesn't manage to pull of the warpamith maneb pure and feels way to close to the loyalist version

2) Terminators are unable to take combi weapons and powerfists. Just confusing

3) Mutilators/Obliterators. Essentially the same unit they just aren't worth the point really

4) The Hellbrute. It's just not very viable and a lot of options are missing from the old dread

5) Warp Talons. They are bad. To use their special rule you have to deep strike within six inches of a unit. This is bad because if you can land there you get shot up or they have a mishap. The only way to get them to work is to take a lord with the key daemon aefiact to ensure they land where needed but its a lot of hoops to hop through to make a below average unit just average. 

The characters are all pretty ok but my favorite again is typhus. Such bad arse artwork. However the one wtf in character is that Ahriman is the favored  son of tzeentch but can only roll half his psychic powers from the tzeentch psychic power table

We will skip the basic warhead and instead talk about the artifacts of chaos mother are cool but six isn't enough. There isn't even one for each god which is pretty lame but the ones there are flavor some and very cool. Even have the choice of taking kharn the betrayers flamer! 

So the main army list gets a 7/10 for the choices and 8/10 for the potential viable army builds

I really can't score the artifacts cause the ones there are easily eights but the fact many gods were snubbed is really poor

Overall the book with its presentation and huge step forward make it a 7.5/10 overall. 

The reasons for the score are that it picked up the pieces of the previous codex and managed to head in the direction without being the wreck of the previous book by keeping the feel and little fluff and rules that make it a unique force

It lost points for a number of  fluff oversights, spelling and grammatical errors, odd choices in some rules and equipment but its hardly a write off

The best thing I can say is even though I found the release just awful this book has still made me want to sit down at the table and bash out some lists and that is really exciting that GW has managed that again

So I hope you enjoyed that especially the man child that is Randy

Chaos Codex; or how to create the biggest meh event in history

Alright I should start off and say the new codex is head and shoulders above the old but that isnt really that hard if we are honest. Unlike many I understand the direction they were trying to head in with the previous codex but it was a ship wreck because they decided to hand the rudder to the sea monkeys... look I'm really bad at these so what im basically saying is that when Matt Ward is one of the lead game designers/ fluff writers you know you are on rocky shores, unless you have a good team to keep him on target. Im not sure where the sea fairing theme has come from but it is probably tied to the Blood Gorgon on the cover with all his EVIL crustacean friends along for the ride which seems as good a place as any to start. GW pulled the biggest troll by putting renegades on the front probably to induce frothing at the mouth from all my fellow neck beards

In what was meant to be the year of chaos so far we have had dark vengeance (but its not really a chaos release) and this subsequent codex which came out with two multi unit kits and a Helldrake. All right, hardly inspiring considering one is basically the same unit with lightning claws and the other two are angry angry dinobots. But never fear im sure they released some new troops for the woefully outdated core or some bitching new characters!!!

Nope they totally didnt. What we got was an aspiring champion that was clearly in the Dark Vengeance set and someone realised they could just take it out and sell it as an individual to bulk out the release, a Dark Apostle that looks like it was designed in the studio around five years before with it not necessarily being bad just looking dated before it has even hit the tables, a sorcerer that borrows heavily off the previous chaos characters which is odd considering GW direction with the Dark Vengeance in having heavily mutated marines rather than just angry pointy ones and the Warpsmith. The Warpsmith is pretty good to be fair and the rules could make it an actual look in on the tabletop.

Now alongside this we have the finecast release that GW makes a big song and dance over, but was probably done months before and have just been sitting in storage waiting for this day to make it seem like more was done. Now im sure some will be saying "hey Brad you tosser, what about the mutilators" and too that i reply;



YOU SHUT YOUR DAMN MOUTH!!! YOU SHUT IT!!! WE NEVER TALK ABOUT THEM AGAIN!


Alright then. Glad thats dealt with.


Honestly it all just feels so lazy, they have been hyping this up all year and while the rules are probably above the middle of the pack and should have some versatility in viable non balls on table retard list the models are just sad. Honestly look at the chosen, I realise they dont fit in with all legions let alone all renegades but they look a shit ton better then angry mcangry pants who was so angry at the emperor he put some leather gloves on, a chain dick protector and punched a deer to death to put some horns on his helmet. Look at the cult choices or the havocs. I mean with the push in playability the Havocs received this would have been the best time to rush out a plastic kit of those guys along with the bikers who are very good now.

I realise the warriors of chaos will be getting a wave release of models and some updates for fantasy but the last two months with barely any model releases does not make something "the year of".


While I think the codex is very good I still have some gripes about it which, while not making it terrible, just make me wonder why they weren't implemented. I get the feeling Kelly had his hands tied but still;

1) The hellbrute. Its bad and also all those that used sonic/dakka dreads now have to rip some arms off. Hardly crippling just leaves a sour taste
2) The fact things like Veteran of the Long War was an upgrade for a Dark Apostle. He is already leadership 10 and hates everything making it the stupidest waste of points
3) Daemon Princes having no real way to get access to Eternal Warrior
4) The Lord only receiving a 2+ if he wears Terminator armour
5) Only one Land Raider variant


There are others but im sure people are starting to get bored. Chaos is one of the most exciting factions in GW and to have another bland model release just feels stupid and a bit money grab again. It really needed to be put on the back burner for a while to update the core range and offer enough upgrade packs that you could walk in put down the money and get the force you want. I mean an Iron Warrior player would be hard pressed to use the chosen from Dark Vengeance because of all the skin mutations over them etc. It feels sloppy and could be rectified down the line but releasing it piecemeal just makes it look like they were after the cash injection and are playing catch up and after the last codex was perhaps a marketing mis step.

Again it is a good codex and I do like the direction I, like many, were hoping for a radical change and a big overhaul and we got the diet coke of evil instead.


On a parting note the most annoying thing was the limited edition codex. Talk about money screwing. All that extra cash for a frank miller colour scheme on the front cover and some silver paper? and I thought Andy was a retard

When Campbelltown lies in ruins then you have my.... oh it already does? shit

Alrighty as promised many months a go I have finally decided to do something useful with my life and have started a blog on the internet for all the other neck beards. I am hoping to do a weekly post on what happening with all aspects of my awesome gaming life. Of course by awesome I mean woeful, but I hope hours of enjoyment can come at my frustration of cutting myself on the apparently "safe children's mold line remover" or my idea for models standing in the rain.

So in the coming months expect to see updates on my pre heresy Death Guard (which Mitch actually assembled), my sons of medusa (which Josh undercoated), my Dark Eldar (which Andy laughed at like a massive bell end) and my ogres/dark elves (which I painted but stalled with the release of new paints).

As a disclaimer I will also probably be posting up some reviews of books and games I am currently playing which happen to be The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson and Borderlands 2 and will possibly talk about some of the games of Magic: The Gathering I have been playing. So I will hurry off and get some pictures of my Death Guard and hopefully my completed Maluerfiend for you all to clap politely at the computer screen too and hopefully keep me motivated to not be a lazy douche.