Nagash the Unbroken

I just finished reading Nagash the Unbroken, and while in general I loath warhammer Fantasy, the Time of Legends books have been great reading. Furthermore, the one aspect of Fantasy I love is Nagash's storyline. I think if Nagash returned to Fantasy, I would as well. But, I fear he has been resigned to the old days of herohammer.

So Nagash the Unbroken is written by MIke Lee of Mallus Darkblade fame. He's a great writer, and I would love to see him venture into 40k territory. If you have read the first Nagash book, then definitely read this one. If you haven't read either, than definitely do so. This book covers the period where Nagash is wandering the shores of the bitter sea and the simultaneous events in Lahmia.

Ultramarines Ironclad Dreadnought

Here is my second Ironclad dread. This one is built with hurricane bolters and a chainfist with built in heavy flamer. I also added a couple of brass etched pieces for detail. The company number, dreadnought number and a pair of Ultramarine insignia have been added.



I decided not to add the hunter killer missiles this time, purely for aesthetic reasons. I also added one of the honor scrolls from the venerable dread kit.



This dread marks the beginning of the final few dreadnoughts I need to build for my chapter - only seven left to go - and with the new venerable dread kit, there is almost too many combinations for me to consider for the remaining few.

Gav Thorpe's Raven's Flight

To audio book, or not to audio book, that is the question. For many avid reader's, audio books are looked down upon, maybe even with disdain. I know I share that feeling to some degree. Why listen to a book when you can savor the words as you read it yourself? Hence the discontent with the BL's decision to release some works as audio books rather than in print. Then again, there is also the question of price - I paid $17 for Raven's Flight, and at the same time picked up the new Henry Zhou book for about $9. Which seems like the better deal?

Unlike some audio books, which are a dry reading of the prose - Raven's Flight was more of an audio drama. Sound effects and the narrator's use of infection to give each character a different voice and character. While I think gav Thorpe is a moderate to mediocre author at best, his works are usually entertaining. I think the audio format set out in Raven's Flight suits Thorpe's writing well, and this audio book nwas well worth the price. For fans of the HH series, I would definately recommend it.

Chaos Rising

The new Dawn of War II expansion came out last Tuesday, and I was able to pick it up on Friday this week. Ever since it's been pretty hard to split my hobbying time between modelling - I've had to do a lot of that lately since I painted everything I already had built and primed - and video gaming. Chaos Rising is a great follow on to Dawn of War II. It adds a corruption track, so your marines can turn towards Chaos, or resist and stay pure in the Emperor's Light. So far it's been a hard balance, as some tasks require you to risk corruption just to accomplish them. The art and cinematics continue to be great as well. If you liked the first, most definitely pick it up. If you haven't played either before, I can't more strongly recommend them. It's great for that 40k fix when no one is around, and best of all, you can port your character info and stats from the first game into the expansion.

Thousand Sons list

So I have been contemplating a Thousand Sons army, and have been unable to really decide what is fluffy/thematic and what isn't. For example, the fluff states that there are only two kinds of Thousand Sons - rubric marines and sorcerers. So The 1k Sons boxed set would make up the main kit - providing the troop choices for the army. I would want a chaos lord, probably in terminator armor because I like that model kit. A squad of chosen in terminator armor as well to make up a retinue. But could I dare to take havocs or raptors? Are they even worth it. I've spent days trolling through Bolter & Chainsword's Thousand Sons forum, and really can't decide. I mean it's not like they are the Ultramarines, with a long, tried and true way of building an army. So I'm unsure of what to do, and even if the army would be worth building. But I have loved the Thousand Sons since I started playing back in '92 and keep putting off building an army. I suppose I could always make the army my own, with only a core of Thousand Sons. I guess this bares more thought.

Legion of the Damned

Though I bought a squad of Legion of the Damned during the first release round, they've sat primed on my desk for a while. Pretty much through all of the projects I've displayed on this blog (and a couple that is still haven't gotten to). Today I finally got around to painting them and even surprised myself by being able to finish them as well.



Though I still need to do some detail work with a Micron pen, the LotD are pretty much done. I think the level of detail on the daunted me for a while. That and a series of releases that drew my attention more - I'm still contemplating picking up another venerable dread.



This is the second LotD squad I have, the first was an original 2nd edition squad. I think at some point I would like to do a third squad using the other models that were released in the second wave. Plus I wouldn't mind being able to field the apocalypse formation GW created as well.

Ultramarines Venerable Dreadnought

Last week I purchased the new venerable dreadnought kit, which I'm sure everyone who has a Space marine blog has either talked about, is talking about or will talk about. So here is my offering. I decided to give the kit a pre-heresy build, and used the chest piece that hearkens back to the Visions of Heresy art books from the HH card game. The same with the head and the close combat weapon arm.



The addition of the banner from the Ironclad adds a bit more heraldry to the model,and is one of four brass etched pieces form the Forgeworld Ultramarines brass etched sprue on the model. I opted to keep the inscribed battle honours on the knee pad and chassis as well, though I opted to cover them up on the Plasmacannon arm.



The dreadnought number is displayed on the plasmacannon arm, along with the addition of terminator honors and a purity seal. On the close combat arm I choose to model the heavy flamer, as well as add an Ultramarines symbol and the company number.



All of the writing and fake writing is done with a .005 micron pen, I find it to be more controllable than a brush at that level, though my handwriting is naturally messy so it makes it a smidge hard sometimes. To finish of the model, I based it with fine and large slate pieces from the GW basing kit, and a large resin piece. I also added a small bit of razorwire