Review | ¡Bitzkrieg!

Review: White Dwarf 199 (390)

Posted by A Person from Porlock at 22:26 Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game, Reviews, Warhammer 40.000, Warhammer Fantasy

Jun 072012

Stuka, Stuka! O madre mio!

Well, I am quite inclined to not make too much fuss about June’s White Dwarf… so let’s make this short ‘n sweet… what do we have in this issue?

Warhammer Fantasy Battles

New Releases: little to comment here, as the White Dwarf only brings the new Savage Orc Big Boss and a Goblin shaman, both of those clamshell plastic models. Both are ok to me, the Big Boss is probably the first Savage Orc model I actually like and plastic’s always good… there is a cursory mention of the upcoming Finecast re-releases of models for the Tomb Kings, Dark Elves and Lizardmen, but if you want to more about that, you’ll have to heed over to Warseer.
Army Project: Orcs & Goblins: Duncan Rhodes returns to the Savage Orc army he already painted for White Dwarf 183 (375). But of course this time he’s using the new paints from Games Workshop – huzzah!
No, that was too negative. I like this one, it will be great help when I get back to painting my own orcs… and Duncan Rhodes is a fine painter. Perhaps it’s just me but nowadays I prefer the paintjobs of Mr. Rhodes and Mr. Peach over the official stuff the ‘Eavy Metal crew produces…
Golden Demon gallery: The Empire: two pages with photos of some Empire models that got a price on various Games Days between 2009-2011. Nothing bad, but this one made little sense to me…
Terrain project: Reiksguard Chapter House: Chris Peach used a lot of scenery kits to create a chapter house for the Reiksguard. Some ideas are nice and the paintjob is well done… still it all looks a bit too artificial to me… and aside from that, with just four pages it’s just too short to be of any use…

Warhammer 40.000

New Releases: Space Marine Stormtalon Gunship – Ork Bommer – Necron Night Scythe/Doom Scythe: never before have the new releases of Games Workshop been presented with that many pages. 22 pages for just three models? That’s a bit too much…
On the positive side, each flyer is presented with a neat photo spread-out, including a double page (one page with the Necron Scythe) elevation that gives you a pretty neat idea what each of those models is about… still I long for the old painted frame diagrams they used to give you…
As a sidenote, neither here nor anywhere else you will find any prices (or mentioning of the upcoming price-hike). Whatever that’s worth…
Ultramarines Stormtalon Gunship: Chad Mierzwa shows us how to paint the Stormtalon in the colours of the Ultramarines. As usual nowadays it’s all about many little pictures and lists of colours, but little to no text… still pretty good if you are all into the most blueish of standard Marines…
The Battle for Cardrim: One of the biggest letdowns of this issue is this: instead of a regular battle report, we have Robin Cruddace giving us a long and largely uninteresting tale of a battle between Orks and Space Marines of the White Scars on the war-torn world of Cardrim, which just happens to be a Tomb World of the Necrons. Of course the new flyers are all into this one, with the “Red Nob” making a remarkable appearance. The winner? Well, it’s a battle with Space Marines included, so draw your own conclusions…
Included are a long history of the conflict, a timeline, some very sketchy overviews of the participating armies (no stats included). And finally we get a battle mission called “Scramble”. Largely this one is for rich people with at least three flyers, preferably more… the main goal is for the attacker to destroy the three flyers of the defender before he can get them started (though it should be possible to win it even if that main goal isn’t reached).
The battle mission is all right, but the rest is… sub standard. Really. I am no basher of Robin Cruddace and usually his background sections are not bad… but this one is bad, really bad… uninspired, boring, uninteresting… I really would have preferred a regular battle report over this one… and no nice photos can ease those feelings…
Unfortunately, there is an announcement at the end of this issue that we will return to Cardrim in the next month when the Orks and White Scars are battling it out – again…
Army Project: White Scars vs. Evil Sunz: Steve Bowerman (White Scars) and Duncan Rhodes (Evil Sunz) show us how to paint their armies. So, even more little pictures and lists of colours… but it’s nothing bad, actually there are a lot of tips here I will probably use on my own Marines and Orks…
It is remarkable, though that this article is mainly a vehicle for promoting the Black Reach starter set just months before we get the next starter set in September… each battleforce consisting of the corresponding models from this set with one added flyer… but then, modelwise, it is a good set, so I won’t complain…
Stormtalon Gunship / Dakkajet / Burna-bommer / Blitza-bommer: the official rules for the new models. Well, as you know me I am not too much into actual playing, so I shouldn’t really comment about those… from my own point of view, the Stormtalon is expensive (twice the cost of a Landspeeder who fills out the same spot), but I think the armament and weapon options are worth the price.
As for the ork flyers, I think the two bommers are pretty useless, while I really like the Dakkajet. I am lucky here, as the Dakkajet is the option I like best visually, too.
Armies on Parade – Paul Norton’s Blood Angels: pretty photos of pretty Blood Angels… I especially like the converted Death Company-Dreadnoughts.

The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game

Nothing - well, the truth is hurting, my LotR friends, GW doesn’t like you until November…

Miscellanous

Standard Bearer: Jervis Johnson tells us that everybody has his own “Hobby-Gene” and that every hobbyist is different, but equally precious… nothing new here and definitely one of the weaker texts by Mr. Johnson, still, it’s ok…

Conclusion

Well, definitely the White Dwarf has changed during the last months… the previous layout has changed in many ways, including a breakup of the “new releases” and “news” sections, which are now spread all over the issue… there are no interviews anymore and no regular battle report for quite some time now (though they may return, who knows).

They do bring in a lot of new rules and missions now, which is a good thing… but to be honest, for me those cannot compensate the loss of all those features I actually liked about the White Dwarf… I want to know more from the designers, from the modelmakers… I want my sprue diagrams, I want my battle reports…

So, yeah, despite the flyers with their shiny rules and despite I like both, this issue is a weak one to me, possibly one of the worst of this year. Yeah, there’s a lot to improve, Games Workshop, a lot to improve…

Review: White Dwarf 197 (389)

Posted by A Person from Porlock at 12:17 Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game, Reviews, Warhammer 40.000, Warhammer Fantasy

Mai 062012

I'm big, I'm bad, I'm Necron... and my colours are green to behold!

For a change I am doing this review quite on time for a change… so without further ado, let’s take a look at May’s White Dwarf. Can it be called a good, issue, a fine issue or just a gloriously illustrated catalogue of shiny new products from Games Workshop? Not that it would be that bad, mind you, I do like my share of catalogues and illustrations…

Anyway, you might ask, would you just start with your review?

Of course you may…

Warhammer 40.000

Army Project: Necrons: Chris Peach shows us how he painted up an army of Necrons of the Nihilakh dynasty (the one with dark metal and lots of turquoise). As far as I know, it is the same army he painted up for the new Citadel Painting Guide, so if you play Necrons and buy this issue, you can skip the other book for good.
I am not sure if I like the new way Games Workshop presents its painting guides. It’s not even the fact that I find it slightly annoying to always turn my issue to read (or rather: watch) them, but more that nowadays they consists of those big shiny pictures and (almost) no text. They “read” more like the instructions of some IKEA shelf than a real painting guide…
Tomb Worlds Unleashed (Simon Grant, Mat Ward): truly, the old way of presenting the newest releases – with interviews with sculptors, designers and artists as well as with painted frame diagrams – is gone forever, it seems. Instead we have a lot of pictures and some very short texts that tell us how good those miniatures are… even reading the painting guides is more fun and has more use. Easily the weakest article of them all.
The Battle for Tanrak (Mat Ward): this article more or less fills in the spot normally taken up by the large battle report. It is the first of a series detailing the latest studio campaign, which portrays the Necron invasion of an imperial world.
We get a nice mix of various elements here. First there are the campaign rules, which are supplements to the standard rules provided with the Planetary Empires set; they include some tables for leaders who “died” in a scenario and rules for dogs of war, which in this case refers to players who would just drop by for a game or two during the campaign. Next are three scenarios, one for a standard 40K game – called “Bring me the Head of Trazyn the Immortal” – where basically the non-necron player has to kill the “real” Trazyn, who comes to battle with two proxies (and of course one doesn’t know who is who). Next is a scenario for 2-4 players (“Attack on Antar top”), which is rather unremarkable, and finally a Apocalypse scenario which was insert to give the Necrons a chance to get their invasion actually rolling (“Ashes and Death”). I don’t play Apocalypse, but both the scenario and the two Necron Datasheets look solid. Inserted are a number of small and smallest battle reports as well as some photos of the participating armies. Here it’s a pity we only get a minuscule photo of Kevin Chin’s Imperial Fists, which are beautifully painted – and I say this even though I thoroughly dislike painting yellow Space Marines.
All in all this is the central Warhammer 40.000 Highlight of this issue. It also shows that Necrons obviously have some serious problems with Space Marines and especially Space Wolves. Even though he tries to somewho hide the fact, even Mat Ward has to admit that already after the first campaign round, the Necrons are seriously losing the invasion.
Death World’s Scenery Showcase (Chad Mierzwa): on four pages Chad Mierzwa shows us how to paint up citadel terrain so that it would look like a Tyranid-invaded world or an Ice Planet. I found most of this very delightful, especially as I plan my Dark Elves to get an “icy” appearance, but one cannot but wonder over the fact that this article is far too short.

Warhammer Fantasy Battles

Colours of the Empire (Chris Peach): more or less this is a painting guide for colouring your Empire troops in the uniforms of one of its fourteen provinces and cities.
It should be noted that this is no “full” painting guide for the empire, though, no matter what they tell you in the text. Instead there are entries for various parts of the uniforms (like: painting black uniform parts, painting white uniform parts..) so to put together the instructions for “your” province, you have to do quite some page-turning. Also, there are no instructions given for anything but the uniforms – nothing about faces, armour, wood, shoes and so on. As such it is a long article, but at the same time strangely lacking.
Uniforms & Heraldry of the Empire: Demigryph Knights (Neil Hodgson, Robin Cruddace): this one is a splendid set of illustrations and short background texts on the new Demigryph Knights, retconning them into the older background. Details both orders filled exclusively with Demigryph Knights as well as the Demigryph troops of already existing Orders.
Tome of Battle: Night Of A Thousand Arcane Duels (Mar Ward): The first installment of an irregular series of rule expansions for Warhammer Fantasy Battles (and probably not, as other reviewers assume, for Storm of Magic exclusively). This time, Mat Ward tells us the story of the night where imperial wizards almost succeeded in burning down the city of Altdorf. Ruleswise we get both a scenario for “Storm of Magic” for 2-8 players, where effectively the wizards have to get hold of as many of eight arcane fulcrums as they can. Most of this installment is dedicated to bring the “Storm of Magic” expansion in line with the new Empire Armybook. Thus we get new cataclysmic spells for all eight schools of magic, new prayers for the priests and finally relics for the Witchhunters.
Looks pretty solid to me, even though I don’t play Storm of Magic… yet…

Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game

A Tale Of Four Gamers (pt. 3): Well, this one came as a heavy disappointment as it is both the last installment after only three issues – and again it feels rushed and crammed. We do get the challenges (paint up a diorama or big monster, bring your forces up to 700 Points and do a big multiplayer battle), but we don’t even get to know what two of the four players actually did to meet the goals. The battle report is so short that one can more or less skip it and while the four participants write a lot about how they enjoyed this challenge, there is nothing enjoyable for the readers here.
I am sincerily doubting that Games Workshop will be able to create some Hype for a new edition of the Lord of the Rings game or the upcoming Hobbit-Box if they continue to print bad jokes like this one. I for one am interested in the game (though not necessarily in its Peter Jackson aesthetics), but I do feel with articles like this that there are more enjoyable games out there…

Miscellanous

Citadel Miniatures: Painting Guide (Part Two): continuing from last issue, we get 15 quick references for painting details of “iconic” Games Workshop armies with the new colours. While this is interesting to all of us who sooner or later have to get new paints, it also made me think why anyone should buy the overpriced Painting Guide when everything you need is already in the White Dwarf…
Standard Bearer: well, it’s Jervis Johnson again, this time telling us that compromises are good, both in play and in game design. Dear Mr. Johnson, I love your column, but please, pretty please, TELL ME SOMETHING NEW!

Conclusion

Well, it is a solid White Dwarf with something for players of Warhammer 40.000 as well as for Warhammer Fantasy Battles. All the rules expansions are good enough to appeal to players of all sorts and the painting references – while almost textless and somewhat annoying to read – are good enough for daily use.

I am missing a lot which used to appeal to me, though. There are no interviews with sculptors and artists, there are no painted frame diagrams. Why has every new turn the White Dwarf takes to result in a loss of things I actually enjoyed?

Almost dreadful is the way Games Workshop is still treating players of the Lord of the Rings game. Do they really expect anyone to continue (or start) playing that game? I almost imagine the Hobbit game, which is expected in November or January, to be some real tabletop-box office-bomb…

Review: Hammer & Anvil

Posted by A Person from Porlock at 20:21 Books, Reviews, Sisters of Battle

Mai 052012

James Swallow: Hammer & Anvil (Cover by Hardy Fowler)

Well, after reviewing James Swallow’s tales “Faith & Fire” and “Red & Black“, you would have known that I’d continue with the third Sisters of Battle tale, wouldn’t you?

So here it is, “Hammer & Anvil“, published by the Black Library in 2011 to coincide with the release of the newest incarnation of the Codices of the Adepta Sororitas (the ill-faited White Dwarf Codex) and the Necrons. After reading its predecessor and the Audio Drama (which was published at the same time as Hammer & Anvil), what do I think of this novel?

Introduction to the plot (minor spoilers ahead)

We are some years after the events in “Faith & Fire”. But more important, we are 12 years after a minor convent of the Order of Our Martyred Lady of the Sisters of Battle – called Sanctuary 101 – was wiped out by some unknown force. 12 years, during which the Ordo Xenos of the Inquisition and the Adeptus Mechanicus were allowed to explore the planet – but the Adeptus Sororitas were not. More than that, they weren’t even told what actually happened to their convent.

So it is no wonder that, when finally the Sororitas are allowed to return to Sanctuary 101, they are more than eager to reclaim their convent and find out what happened. They even agreed to some conditions they loathe: they have agreed to take a team of the Adeptus Mechanicus – led by sinister Lord Questor Tegas – with them. And they have abandoned the bodies of their fellow sisters, which, instead of being properly buried, are now in the custody of the Inquisition and the Mechanicus. No Sister of Battle would normally endure such conditions, but in this case, there’s a secret agenda, to which they must obey. For when Sanctuary 101 was attacked and subsequently destroyed, it didn’t just mean the death of a whole convent, but also the disappearance of one of the holiest artifacts of the Order of Our Martyred Lady – something which is more precious to them than the life of any sister.

The forces of the Order of Our Martyred Lady are led by Canoness Sepherina and her second-in-comand, the Celestian Eloheim Imogen. Sepherina herself hails from Sanctuary 101 and she feels guilty of not being there when it was attacked. But among the Sisters that come to Sanctuary 101 are also some sisters we know from Faith & Fire- There’s Sister Miriya, still in the low rank of a normal Battle Sister after the events of the older book, her former fellow Celestians Cassandra and Isabel who decided to give up their status as Celestians to stay with their former commander. And there is the Sister Hospitaller, Verity Catena, who also has come to Sanctuary 101.

Upon their arrival on the desert planet of Sanctuary 101, everything seems quiet and empty. But nothing’s as promised. Firstly, Quaestor Tegas of the Adeptus Mechanicus and his retinue disappear, obviously having their very own agenda – and definitely to them, only a dead sister is a good sister… and then there is a strange creature, who calls itself the “Watched”. Who is it and is it friend or foe?

Finally, hell breaks loose as the true lords of Sanctuary 101 – the Necrons – decide that those pesky humans have ventured too far into their territory yet again and attack. After all, their master has set his cold eyes upon the center of the Empire of Mankind and they won’t be stopped by just a few sisters…

Characters

James Swallow has definitely evolved his writing style since he wrote “Faith & Fire” in 2006. Unlike there we have quite a number of characters in this novel, which are developed above the level of their sole purpose as a plot device.

Of course in the center of this novel are the protagonists of the last one – Sister Militant Miriya and Sister Hospitaller Verity Catena. Both are as fierce and clever as in Faith & Fire, but obviously they also have earned a new quality to their characters, when compared to the older book: self-doubt and a somewhat shaken faith. Obviously both haven’t yet come to terms with the events in “Faith & Fire” and have come to Sanctuary 101 to find their faith again.

Among the new characters among the sisters, the Canoness Sepherina is probably the most developed. She is portrayed as a person deeply troubled by guilt, as she feels personally responsible to not being at Sanctuary 101 when it was attacked. She is faithful, honorable, but not too clever, one might said.

Other sisters in the novel include Sepherinas second-in-command, Imogen, Miriya’s former celestians Cassandra and Isabel and a variety of minor sisters militant and hospitallers. While they are not developed as characters like the aforementioned, they certainly get a better treatment and more depth than characters in the older novel. One of the minor sisters, Battle Sister Ananke, should deserve a seperate mention as she is the first black Battle Sister I have ever stumbled across (the first asian Sister, at least when judging from her name, would be Sister Reiko in “Faith & Fire”).

Then there are the Adeptus Mechanicus. Much like in “Faith & Fire”, Swallow has a deep love for describing everything technical in the universe of Warhammer 40.000 and as such, his portrayal of Questor Tegas and his subordinates (some of whom I cannot mention without giving away too many spoilers is unparalleled).

And there are the Necrons. Again, I won’t go into details here, but the author nicely works out the difference between the rank and file (that is: mindless) normal Necrons and the aeon-old, intrigant and cunning leaders appearing in the novel. If someone is complaining about the changes the background of the necrons got with the newest codex, I would recommend him to read this novel. At least to me, it is a convincing argument that giving the Necrons a soul (well, at least a few of them) and factions was the right choice.

One major character so far unmentioned is the “Watched”. Unfortunately I cannot go into details here without giving away major spoilers, but I should mention that this one is a bit over the top, up to the point where it became slightly annoying to read about it. But then, tastes are probably different…

A honorable mention should finally go out to Deacon Zeyn, an imperial preacher who accompanies the sisters and is in charge with “encouraging” the workers who have come to Sanctuary 101 to help with the rebuilding of the convent. He is marvellously portrayed as one of those righteous zealots you surely won’t like to meet.

Writing

Mr. Swallow has also vastly improved his writing since he penned down “Faith & Fire”. The story runs smoothly and never fails to deliver. There still is a certain tendency of his battle scenes to read somehow… dry. He surely still is fond of working his way through the army lists of the corresponding forces (Sororitas and Necrons) and trying to include as many entries as he could. But that is less annoying than it was in his other novel.

I should point out that writing about the faith of the Sororitas still isn’t the strong point of the author. But even here he has improved. The rituals and faith the sisters in “Hammer & Anvil” show feels much more real than in “Faith & Fire”.

That he could write about the Necrons surely was a happy decision for Mr. Swallow. As I already mentioned, whenever he is writing about technology, like the Adeptus Mechanicus or the Necrons, his prose truly shines. And, as some scenes with Questor Tegas and Deacon Zeyn show, James Swallow does have a certain talent for irony that I hope he’ll employ more in future novels.

If I have to criticise Mr. Swallow, it would be for his portrayal of “the Watched”. The passages on this character read too much like the portrayal of Star Trek’s Borg – and as Mr. Swallow has worked for Star Trek: Voyager, I couldn’t help but think he was writing too much with Seven of Nine in his mind…

Continuity

Much like in “Faith & Fire”, the author took great care to employ the backgrounds as set down in the Warhammer 40.000 universe. It is clear that he had both the White Dwarf Codex for the Sororitas and the Necron Codex at his disposal while writing down his story.

As I don’t own the newest Necron Codex, I cannot judge how accurate his descriptions are. But from what I know from White Dwarfs and other publications, I do think Mr. Swallows portrayal is fully in line with what you would find there.

As for the Sororitas, Mr. Swallow does a fine job to bring “Hammer & Anvil” in line with both its predecessor (which was based on the background as set down in the Witchhunter Codex) and the new White Dwarf Codex. He even does a wonderful job to explain why the Sisters of Battle are no longer the armed forces of the Ordo Hereticus.

There are some points in which Swallow departs from the rules and descriptions in the White Dwarf codex, though. Most importantly, there are no clear descriptions to the Acts of Faiths of the Sororitas (well, there is one, but it is not clear if it is really an act of Faith). Also, his portrayal of the battles show that to him, the Battle Sisters are much stronger and deadlier than the stats in the codex would suggest. As such they appear almost as deadly as the Space Marines. Some other reviewers therefore think that this might be a hint to the 6th edition or the “real” Sororitas codex that might – or might not – be published in one or two years. I think it’s probably just to give those poor sisters a chance in this novel…

If something might hint to a future codex, it’s probably a bigger role for the Sisters Hospitaller and for the “herded” workers and faithful that are rushed to work and battle by Deacon Zeyn in the novel.

Finally it should be pointed out that to Mr. Swallow, the Adeptus Mechanicus always seems a bit… too eager to be corrupted by their own longing for knowledge. Probably that’s a bit too much, though personally I love it.

Conclusion

I vastly enjoyed this book. It outshines easily its predecessor and as “Faith & Fire” isn’t necessary for understanding “Hammer & Anvil”, I would even suggest to skip the older novel and just read this one. Surely, the plot is rather thin, but as it’s basically an action novel I am fine with this one.

If you are interested in the Sisters of Battle or love the Adeptus Mechanicus, this one is a must-read for you. But I would say that this novel is especially for players and lovers of the Necrons. Even though they didn’t feature much in this review as I don’t want to give away too many spoilers, they are truly the heart of this novel.

As for myself, I am already playing with reading more books by Mr. Swallow. Perhaps his Blood Angels novels? I am really growing attached to his style…

Review: Faith & Fire

Posted by A Person from Porlock at 13:41 Books, Reviews, Sisters of Battle

Apr 192012

Well, I do look a bit pissed off... with all those heretics out there...

Before I start I should mention that this is actually the first “proper” Black Library-publication I’ve ever read. Normally I shun reading tie-ins, as it is quite difficult to produce a good book here. That’s because the usual readers of tie-ins are hardcore fans of the corresponding movie or game. They have a fixed set of visuals on their mind and many of them read such novels not to experience something new, but to find descriptions of situations, characters or weaponry they already know about.

Yeah, as I see it, effectively most tie-in novels are a bit like porn. Of course people want to have different and new porn all the time (else there wouldn’t be an industry for it, wouldn’t it?). But at the same time they don’t want to see anything but the same things, settings and positions they always want to have with their porn…

I am not saying here that tie-ins have to be that bad all the time; in fact many aren’t. There are the likes of Timothy Zahn with his Star Wars Novels or even a certain Thorarinn Gunnarson who did the best AD&D-Trilogy I have ever read… but it makes doing a good tie-in more difficult than doing a “regular” novel.

Having said that, let’s get on with this review…

“Faith & Fire” was first published by the Black Library in 2006 and re-released 2011 in connection with the release of two follow-up products: the novel Hammer & Anvil (which I will review another time) and the Audio drama “Red & Black” (you can find my review of that here). As such it is one of the earlier novels by notable author James Swallow.

Plot (minor spoilers ahead)

Back in the 41st millenium, the Celestia Elohim Miriya of the Order of Our Martyred Lady and her team are assigned with the duty of escorting the captured rogue psyker Torris Vaun back to his homeworld Neva. Here he is due to be publicly executed on demand of local Lord Deacon Viktor LaHayn. Of course it is always wrong to transport a psyker to his execution when you can execute him on spot – and truly Vaugn manages to escape from custody on the Space Ship Mercutio, killing one of Miriyas Sister (convincingly named Sister Lethe) and mentally raping fellow Sister Iona before making his way from the Mercutio back to Neva.

Neva, it turns out, is a world where the Ecclesiarchy wields a lot of power, while the local gouvernour and noblemen are doing their usual intrigues to determine who should govern what. Here Miriya is (slightly) reprimanded by local Canoness Galatea, while Sister Iona decides to join the Repentia.

During the burial of Sister Lethe, Miriya meets the young Sister Hospitaller Verity of the Order of Serenity. It turns out she is the real-life sister of Lethe. Of course, Miriya, who is convinced that the death of Lethe is her fault, takes a liking to the Hospitaller, and together they join their fellow sisters for the main celebrations of the Ecclesiarchy in the Lunar Cathedral of Neva. Then hell breaks loose as Torris Vaun and some fellow psykers make an terrorist attack on the cathedral, creating a bloodbath but failing to kill LaHayn, who seems to have been the main target of Vaun.

In the aftermath of the slaughter at the Lunar Cathedral, Sister Miriya and Sister Lethe find out that there is more to Torris Vaun than meets the eye – and that there is more foul on the holy world of Neva. Indeed, even the Ecclesiarchy here seems to be less holy than it should… together they set out to investigate, even though that would defy some direct orders…

Characters

Actually, there are only three characters in the novel that can be called such. First we have Miriya. As the heroine of the novel, she is, of course, almost without fail (and she is, unlike the title illustration, black-haired). She is a bit unorthodox, though, liking to defy direct orders by her superiors if she thinks she knows better (and usually she does). The death of Sister Lethe, who is introduced as something of a close friend of her, touches her deeply, making her pondering about guilt and her faith for most of the novel’s run.

Much as in the (newer) Audio Drama, Miriya’s portrayal is a bit inconsequent. She is at the same time clever, devout, spiritual, matter-of-fact, logical… her fondness of Verity is sometimes bordering a lot of kitsch, especially when she is entrusting the Hospitaller with missions to the librarium and other places where she can be sure the other woman would have a high probability to fail.

Speaking of her, Verity is of course the second “real” character in the novel. She is portrayed as kind and clever, surely no fighter, but also having deeper faith than Miriya. One does wish Mr. Swallow would have left out all those scenes where she is forced to fight and kill – and I do wish he would have chosen a different name as well. All in all I had an easier time indentifying myself with Miriya than with Verity; I am even sure most of the novel would have worked better without her.

Finally, it’s the rogue psyker Torris Vaun who is allowed to be a more complex character. Note that this novel is written firmly from the point of view of the Sisters of Battle, so there is nothing redeeming about Torris Vaun at all. Still he is the only character with real (though not ulterior) motives and a background that is quite interesting. It is a pity Mr. Swallow didn’t devote more space to that.

Apart from those, the people appearing in this novel are cardboard-characters with little or no development apart from what is needed for their role in the novel. This is especially true for the other Sororitas – like the Canoness Galatea, her second in command Reiko or the other Celestias of Miriyas troop. They are devout, they hate heretics, they are sceptical of Miriyas unorthodox approach to everything.

Simliarily the noblemen of Neva are just incompetent and corrupt, while the rogue psykers around Torris Vaun are wild, erratic and brutal…

The biggest let-down as far as characters are concerned, is probably the Lord Deacon Viktor LaHayn. From the moment he enters the story, he reeks of being the main villain of the story and his monologues could hail from all sorts of bad superhero movies.

Writing

James Swallow surely is an experienced genre writer, but here he obviously was yet at the start of his career. At least that’s my impression. He writes well, but strangely detached from the subject. Especially when reading his battle scenes, one cannot help but imagine he had the old Codex: Witch Hunters and the 40K rulebook sitting on his desk, feverishly trying to include everything he found there.

Talking about Battle Scenes, I guess if you are into those, you might be disappointed that they are relatively short and casually written. Personally I was quite happy that most of the novel is not set during battles. There are only two major battles in the novel, with only a few more minor skirmishes described.

There are some highlights in his prose, especially when he gets on with describing the inner workings of buildings and of the machines of the Warhammer universe. His description of the Neva’s Lunar Cathedral and the main villain’s hideout are among the best passages in this novel, though the chapters dealing with Verity’s visit to the local librarium clearly outshine even those. As I can add with the knowledge of his other Sororitas writings, Mr. Swallow should really do a novel on the Adeptus Mechanicus – it’s clearly an organisation he does love.

On the other hand I found his description of the daily life and rituals of the Adepta Sororitas too… exerted… I can see how he wanted to show us the sisters as pious and devout, yet their procedures as described here seem too antiseptic, too fotmalized to tell of real spirituality.

And there is another thing: this is supposed to be a book on warrior-nuns, yet as it is written, there is nothing female about those women. The characters could as well have been men from the Imperial Guard or Space Marines. They think like men, they talk like men, they act like men…

Continuity

Unlike many fans I am always open to give an author of tie-ins the possibility to alter things to fit the plot of his or her novel. I do not demand a multimelter to work like described in the rulebooks or codices. As long as its a good read, why bother?

Having said that, Mr. Swallow obviously was too much afraid (or indifferent) to use anything like that. His portrayal of the Sisters of Battle and the 40K universe is firmly as written down in the fitting books and codices. For the Sororitas, this is the Codex: Witch Hunters, so there are more references to the inquisition than would be necessary nowadays (and as such they were dropped in the second installment “Hammer & Anvil”). His description of the battle at Metis could have happened on the tabletop as well and he takes care to include in his writing all Sororitas options mentioned in the codex. This makes a read of the novel partly a (colourful, but also faithful) retelling of parts of the Codex.

The only thing where Swallow differs from the official rules are when it comes to the Acts of Faith (which come in as a plot point only once) and the incorruptability of the Sisters. Where the Codex states that during the entire existence of the Sororitas, only one fell to chaos, the danger is much more real in this novel, where many of the sisters seem to undergo periods of doubt and shaken faith. But I might add that this makes them a bit less two-dimensional, too.

Conclusion

I enjoyed “Faith & Fire”. It was a good choice for reading during my flight to Japan. It was a book I could enjoy, but easily put down anytime necessary (for example to help with my child) without the feeling I would lose too much by having a break from the prose.

In other words: this is easy entertainment, solid entertainment, but surely not inspired or extraordinary writing. If you look for some battle scenes, for an entertaining plot and for a description/flesh-out of the Adepta Sororitas as described in the old Codex: Witch Hunters, then this is a novel you will enjoy. I expected less than that, so I can say that personally I even found this novel delightful.

It is (possibly) not the best novel the Black Library has ever published, nor is it the best novel by James Swallow. Compared to many Fantasy or Science Fiction novels out there, it surely is nothing but good average.

I would recommend this novel to players of the Sororitas or people interested in the Ecclesiarchy of the Imperium. If you are interested in anything else (including character developments or deeper plotlines, but also grasping battle scenes), you probably should pick up some other book.

Review: White Dwarf 196 (388)

Posted by A Person from Porlock at 19:01 General, Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game, Reviews, Warhammer 40.000, Warhammer Fantasy

Apr 172012

Wherever you go, don't forget your gun... or your skull...

Well, I am late again, no doubt about that – but as I only returned from Japan last week, I actually only found time to read my Dwarf yesterday… sometimes it can’t be helped…

Still, let’s take a look at April’s White Dwarf – is it worth buying or (if you already bought yours) reading or (if you already read it but didn’t think about it) keeping?

Warhammer 40.000

Battle Missions: Death Worlds (Phil Kelly): a small but fine article and, in my humble opinion, the best read of this issue (well, it is written by Mr. Kelly…). The article includes a small summary of Death Worlds, followed by some rules. When you battle on Death Worlds, you roll a die each turn on a “Hazard Randomiser Table” to determine one of four tables of events, named “Environmental Hazards”, “Seismic Hazards”, “Indigenous Hazards” and “Hellscape Hazards”. Then a second die is cast to determine a random event for the turn. As far as I can see, all of those are potentially troublesome, but none of those is game-breaking, adding some nice problems to your game, but nothing that can’t be solved.
The lists are followed by three new missions. “Search and Rescue” has you to put 2-4 transportable mission objectives on the table: the player who controls most of those by the end of the game wins. The second mission is called “Breakthrough”. Basically, each player has to reach the opposite end of the table with as many troops unharmed as he can. The third mission “Weathering the Storm” is just about surviving the game, while the aforementioned hazards (plus additional hailstorms at 4+) are hammering at your army.
Personally I think both the ruleset and the new missions read like a lot of fun and are unique in their way.
Battle Report: The Wolf and the Kraken (Simon Grant, Tom Hutchings): I really wish they would have left out this – it is too short to be a good read. It has two 1000-points armies – Space Wolves (Simon Grant) and Tyranids (Tom Hutchings) – fighting the “Search and Rescue” mission of the Death Worlds expansion. The Tyranids win, as far as I can see Tom Hutchings first victory in a battle report (and it’s his last, too). Normally I pretty much enjoy the Battle reports, but this one is bad, really bad…
Army Project: Space Wolves (Steve Bowerman): Mr. Bowerman shows us how to paint Space Wolves “the new way”. As always a good article and as we all have to learn a load of new names, it’s no problem we actually had a Space Wolves Painting Workshop just a few months ago.

Warhammer Fantasy Battles

Sigmar’s Heirs: The usual introductory article on the real star of this month, the Empire, its units and its new miniatures. The article is anonymous and unless you are a beginner and have never heard anything about the Empire and its history, it is easy to read and easier to forget. No comments of miniature designers or armybook writers anymore, it seems.
The Reign of Karl Franz: a mini-article, featuring the armybook entry on Karl Franz and Deathclaw as well as a small chart of his battles and a heavily illustrated re-telling of the third Battle of Nightfire Pass (the one where Marius Leitdorf found his demise).
Warhammer: Civil War (part 4/4) (Jervis Johnson): The final installment of this expansion has the lists for the Empire, Dwarfs and Skaven, as well as a quick (and not very good) write-up of the age of three emperors between 1152-2304. Again I found the various options delightful, though possibly not balanced. Especially liked the Dwarf list with all the ale and grudges…

Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game

A Tale Of Four Gamers (pt. 2): Now this installment is a bit of a letdown. No, not because of this month’s challenge, which was enlarging the army to 500 Points, playing a game with it and naming all yet-unnamed characters in your force. I am fine with that. But at just four pages, the four generals don’t actually talk about their armies or what they did that month. All we get is just a quick write up of the four armies and the two games. That’s just not enough. I really hope they commit more space next month.

Miscellanous

The All-New Citadel Paint Range: well, more or less just a huge advertisement for the new range of paints with 145 little pots… it is an impressive range and I am sure it is a huge improvement over the previous range of colours, but still… they could tone down their blatant bloating…
Citadel Miniatures: Painting Guide: Partly this article is an advertisement for the new Painting Guide, but it also offers step-to-step instructions for painting basic parts of various miniatures like dark wood or bones. The clear layout is something I do like a lot, but I wish they would not print those transverse to the normal reading order of a White Dwarf – the Dwarf is not the Painting Guide, nobody is going to put it up on the table for painting…
According to the Games Workshop Website and the directory, it’s only the first part, so probably we’ll see more instructions next month.

Conclusion

I am not sure how I can rate this issue. Actually there’s a lot to find here. I love the Civil War expansion which comes to an end here. I even love the Death Worlds expansion better. The painting articles are fine, too. I am bad at painting and I am slow at it. Thus I welcome more colours and I welcome painting guides. But I can imagine many people out there will be annoyed by the masses of painting info and advertisements in this issue.

But while I am happy the Dwarf is having more “real” content nowadays, there are some things I am greatly missing. I am missing the interviews. I am missing the painted frame diagrams. I am even missing that the articles used to have a proper author assigned. The articles on the Empire are easy to read, but equally easy to forget or ignore. Same goes for the Battle Report. Those parts used to be what I liked about the White Dwarf during the last years while it was weak on rules… so I cannot help but feel that for all shiny new articles we get nowadays, we equally lose other parts of the Dwarf that were solid entertainment.

All in all I thus think this Dwarf is best for novice painters, players of the Civil Wars expansion and players of 40K. Players of the LotR game will find this one thoroughly disappointing; I have read in my time almost all “Four Generals” articles and this one is the worst of them all….

145 colours and some BIG kits...

Right, as a gimmick we got this poster with the Dwarf. Well, I am not complaining, it’s definitely better than nothing. Still wondering who will put this on his wall, though…

Review: Titan Forge – Demon Slayers Cleansing Squad Shoulder Pads & Robes

Posted by A Person from Porlock at 00:52 Grey Knights, Reviews

Apr 162012

Yesterday I had a look at Titan Forge’s Shoulder Pads and Robes for the Demon Slayers Heavy Squad – today I will review to other sets of bitz the folks at Titan Forge generously gave me for just that purpose. If you haven’t had a look at my other review, please do so now. There are some common things with all of Titan Forge’s bitz I won’t repeat here.

Anyway, today I’ll be talking about the Bitz sets Cleansing Squad Shoulder Pads and Cleansing Squad Robes. And, yes, I do think there’s some similarity between those “Cleansing Squads” and the official Grey Knights “Purificators”…

Again, both sets of bitz arrived here together in one blister – simple, but appropriate.

Unlike the “Heavy Veterans” there are ten Shoulder Pads in the set for the “Cleansing Squad” – five for the left shoulder adorned with burning books (which may be unfit for reading afterwards, but thoroughly cleansed, I guess) and five for the right shoulders, featureing parchment scrolls and purity seals.

Again the quality of design, sculpting and casting are impressive. Apart from two left shoulder pads every piece has been sculpted individually. There are only very few small air bubbles on those bitz and they are all on the inside of the shoulder pads, easy to ignore.

Along the kerbs of some of the pads, there are a few visible mold lines, which are easy to remove, though. Again the consistency of Titan Forge’s resin is quite astonishing, it is much more elastic and easier to work with than the more brittle resins used by the likes of Forge World, Micro Art Studio or Scibor Monstrous Miniatures.

Even in comparison to the normal plastic Grey Knights Shoulder Pads, the bitz from Titan Forge can surely hold their own. They have more details and the casting is visibly sharper than the plastics from Nottingham.

Unlike with the shoulder pads for the Heavy Veterans I had not problems using the Cleansing Squad shoulder pads with my Grey Knights. The fitting was (almost) just as good as with the official Shoulder Pads from Games Workshop.

Still, more than the shoulder pads the robes are the true highlights of those two sets of bitz. They are chocked with details (including a lot of burning incense) and they are – of course – well cast. Again you will find some minor mold lines around the kerbs of those bitz but they are easy to remove for sure.

Just as with the Heavy Veterans those robes are sculpted to each fit with a certain pair of legs from the regular Grey Knights kit. That’s why one of the “robes” consists just of an incense burner – this one is sculpted to fit with the pair of legs already sporting a robe. Of course it is possible (and in fact easier to do as with the Heavy Veteran’s robes) to put those robes on different pairs of legs, but one should have Green Stuff and a modelling tool handy when doing so.

Of course the many details of the robes come with a price, as they somewhat limit the number of positions the upper torsi can take. Those limitations are less than with the Heavy Veteran’s robes, though. One should be prepared to remove suspended details from some of the Grey Knight torsi, like purity seals or pendants. Possibly it would be the best choice to use unadorned upper torsi from the standard Space Marines kit and later “pimp” those up with some bitz from your Grey Knights kits.

To some people the design of the robes, which incorporates a lot of flames and smoke, might be harder to swallow (or rather: inhale) than the skullery of the Heavy Veterans; personally I am very fond of this idea, though.

Here a few photos of the purificators I built employing both bitz sets:

And some photos of the Shoulder Pads in action:

My conclusion: as with the bitz sets for the Heavy Veteras, both sets for the “Cleansing Squad” offer a fine supplement to the standard kits provided by Games Workshop. With 5 € per set (One Euro per robe or 50 Cent per shoulder pad), the prices are fair.

The target group for those sets are surely Grey Knights players who are fed up with their Purificators being “like Grey Knights – just in White”. But those bitz work equally well for people who want to create their own miniatures for HQ choices or even named Charakters.

As for myself, I am sure I will add some more bitz packs to my collection later this year. I love variety with my miniatures and this is one of the best ways to provide for some with my Grey Knights!

Many thanks to the folks of Titan Forge for providing the bitz for this review!

Review: Titan Forge – Demon Slayers Heavy Veteran Shoulder Pads & Robes

Posted by A Person from Porlock at 10:31 General, Grey Knights, Reviews, Space Marines

Apr 152012

Titan Forge is a relatively new company from Poland, that hotbed for innovative bitz- and miniature makers (think of Scibor and Micro Art and you know what I mean!). During the last months, they have built up an impressive portfolio of miniatures, bitz and bases cast in resin, with parts for (almost) everybody out there. As you might already know they generously provided me with four splendid bitz packs for reviewing purposes. Today I am taking a look at two Upgrade Packs for the futuristic “Demon Slayers“, namely the Heavy Veteran Shoulder Pads and the corresponding pack of Robes.

With their products for the “Demon Slayers” the guys from Poland are filling a small, but important niche on the miniature market. Because, as we all know, all standard units of Warhammer 40,000′s Grey Knights are to be built out of just two kits, the standard Grey Knights and the Grey Knights Terminators. While both of those kits come up with loads of weapons and other parts, one cannot help but yearn for… variety after building a couple of those kits… and that’s where the bitz from Titan Forge come in.

So, what do you get when you order those bitz?

As you can see, all bitz are delivered in a simple but fitting blister. All bitz for the “Heavy Veterans” I got from Titan Forge came together in the same blister – I could imagine that orders at the company are still individually packed or even cast, which is always a good thing.

First, let’s look at the Heavy Veteran Shoulder Pads. The set consists of five Shoulder Pads that, according to the conventions of Games Workshop’s Space Marines, are thought to be put on the right shoulders of your terminators.

I found the resin used by Titan Forge to be stable, but softer and more elastic than the rather brittle resin used by other companies like Forge World, Micro Art or Scibor. It is not as soft as Citadel Finecast, of course. I could easily work with modelling knifes, scraping tools or ember boards on them. Speaking of casting, I found Titan Forge’s quality to be almost flawless. There are only very few air bubbles and all of those are on the inside of the bitz, so no problems here.

Titan Forge delivers its bitz without sprues or other chunks of resin left from casting. There are also (almost) no visible moldlines, though I did some minor cleaning work on the inside of the bitz and along the kerbs.

The modelling of the bitz is packed with details but if you like that (I do), there’s nothing to complain. All Purity Seals and parchment stripes are finely detailed and each shoulder pad manages to look sufficiently different. Here we have a comparison with two (left) shoulder pads from the Grey Knights Terminator kit. The photo’s not as good as I hoped, but in fact the details with Titan Forge’s bitz are sharper and, in my opinion, better sculpted than the bitz from Nottingham.

When using the Shoulder Pads on your miniatures – in my case I used them for my Grey Knights Paladins, as you will see below – there are relatively few problems, though the fitting accuracy could have been better. Unfortunately I found one of the Pads (the middle one in the first picture) to be a bit too small, when using it one can clearly see the shoulder joint of the arm beneath. But I am pretty sure one won’t see this after painting.

Modelling and casting quality of the Heavy Veterans Robes are more than satisfying, too. Unlike the Shoulder Pads, you can find visible moldlines around the kemps of these bitz, though. I am pretty sure those won’t be visible after the paintjob, but I would recommend removing them with a scratcher or knife. Again, Titan Forge’s resin is very easy to work with, it took me just a few minutes to clean those bitz up. And when comparing with the likes of Forge World, this is really no effort at all.

Games Workshop’s kit only has one robe (or rather: loincloth) to offer and it lacks by far the details Titan Forge has to offer. As far as bitz go, those are playing at the top for sure.

It should be noted that this massive use of skulls, chains and other details does put some limits on the hobbyist. First, the robes are sculpted so that each of them is fitting to exactly one of the legs of the Grey Knights Terminator kit. There is no freedom of choice which robe you use with which pair of legs (unless, of course, you take up some Green Stuff). This can be somewhat annyoing, especially if you want to use these with other terminator kits or the cheap-to-come-by terminators from the Black Reach starter set.

Secondly, the robes do put some restrictions on how you can position the upper torsi of your terminators. Therefore I found it useful to first glue legs and robes before glueing the torso. Some of the torsi of the Grey Knights Terminator kit feature suspended details like chains or purity seals. I would recommend removing those before using those torsi. For a maximum of flexibility I would even recommend to use the plain(er) torsi of the normal Space Marines Terminator kit here. After all, the Grey Knight kits offer enough options to decorate those in style…

Here some more impressions of the five paladins I did with those two bitz packs:

To the left you can see the not perfectly sculpted Shoulder Pad. In this case I should have filed away parts of the shoulder joint beneath to provide for perfect fitting – well, I am still learning, too. Next time I will do it that way.

Here all five shoulder pads in all their glory.

My conclusion: for 5 € per set (or one euro per bitz) you get a very fine couple of bitz to either make entire elite units stand out of the (grey) crowds, or to gear up some leader miniature or self-made named character. I would agree that the mass of details might be too baroque for some people out there, but if you’re fine with it – as I am – there is no reason not to buy those.

Especially if someone’s afraid of Finecast-models, like Kaldor Draigo, that beloved buddy of many power gamers out there – Titan Forge’s bith are a fine start to make a do-it-yourself construction of him and all those other characters.

Finally it should be noted that while the robes are quite especially made for the Grey Knights kit, the shoulder pads are quite universal. I could see those put to good use with Black Templar or Dark Angel terminators as well.

Many thanks to Titan Forge for gently providing the bitz for this review!

Fully mounted 25th anniversary model

Posted by A Person from Porlock at 17:51 Space Marines, Warhammer 40.000

Mrz 172012

It took me a while until I found the time to clean up and assemble my 25th anniversary model from Games Workshop, but last week I got my chance and went on with it. Fortunately the cleaning went pretty well. If there is some big plus for Finecast, then it’s the fact that it’s really easy to cut and trim…

Unfortunately the cleaning unveiled some more air bubbles, but in the end, I got all of those filled up with Liquid Green Stuff. As this was my first time using that, I had some minor difficulties with it at first (I should have used some applicator instead of a soft brush), but in the end everything went fine. There are some small air bubbles I couldn’t fill up without covering up some details, so I had to leave them for the time being. I hope they won’t be easy to spot after painting…

I was pretty tired when I took the photos yesterday, so they turned out quite blurry. If you want to take a better look at the assembled miniature, you could also head over to german portal Brückenkopf and look at their review of this miniature. They, of course, rate it pretty badly, but then they are a bunch of Games Workshop-haters over there. Well, at least they don’t try to hide it… and they do professional photos for sure.

That's the way I like it - larger base with the captain ready for use!

But back to my own miniature. I disliked the fact that Games Workshop only gives you the option to either glue the Crimson Fists Space Marine on his own small base OR on the scenic base. Even though I am more a collector than a gamer, I do want my miniatures to be able to go to battle – and I want my scenery pieces to serve their role on the battlefield, too.

So I first sculpted my own scenery base made from cut and glued CDs with sand, stones and some assorted bitz. It offers space for the original scenery base with the standard and some inconspicuous spot to put the Space Marine on it. This way I can use the scenic base as a terrain piece (probably a mission goal or something) and I can put the Crimson Fist guy on the game, too (though probably just as a mission-specific character – don’t think I would paint him in the colours of my chapter).

Perhaps you think differently, you might well do so, but to me, it looks more epic that way...

In a certain way I do think it actually gives the miniature more “epic” value to put some space between the Marine and his standard.

I can't wait till I have you painted!

From this angle you can have a better look at the whole piece. I haven’t yet glued the original scenic base with the standard on my new base, so there’s still a visible gap between the two… but I think it will make painting the standard easier that way.

Of course this time I will paint the edges of small base of the Space Marine to blend in with the rest of the scenery. Might even end up sanding that, too.

Can you see... the mask of the devil? Though actually it looks more like an ork?

Can you see... the mask? Though actually it looks more like an ork?

As I lack Orks (I only have those from the Black Reach box with some assorted eBay-Orks thrown within) I was a bit at a loss for additional Ork bitz on the base. Fortunately I once won a Deff Dread and he had some nice pieces I didn’t need… I especially like this mask here.

Next stops: priming, painting, glueing... and deciding, what to do with the head...

Note that I still haven’t decided what to do with the sewered Ork’s head. I know that it belongs attached to the Power Fist, but frankly I think the miniature looks better without it… really have to think about that…. if I keep it separate, I will probably glue it on the spot where it is now, attaching some spike to the helmet.

Anway, that’s my 25th anniversary model. All in all I am pretty pleased with it, I think it will look splendid once it is finished. Next steps are priming, painting, glueing the resin part to the bigger base and hiding the transition with some additional sand and paint.

Review: White Dwarf 195 (387)

Posted by A Person from Porlock at 21:47 Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game, Reviews, Warhammer 40.000, Warhammer Fantasy

Mrz 122012

Who said there's no Ale left in da house?

It’s astounding, time is fleeting…. as I will be off for a longer holiday later this month, I am running quite out of hobby time and my White Dwarf reviews – while being fun and actually blockbusters on this blog – are taking away quite a lot of them… I thought about abandoning those reviews for good, but then I think it’s always a nice thing to write about something you’ve read, so for the time being, I’ll just try my best to keep those WD reviews shorter.

So let’s dig right into this shiny March White Dwarf – should you go and buy it? And if you bought it, should you actually read it? Let’s take a look at my (german) issue…

Warhammer 40.000

Devourer of Worlds: a mostly visual look at a variety of Hive Fleets, including the official GW-Hive Fleets Behemoth, Kraken and Leviathan as well as Phil Kelly’s own Jormungandr, Keith Robertson’s Ouroboros and Tom Hutching’s Hydra. All in all a nice set of photos with some background tidbits and some assorted comments from ‘Eavy Metal painters.
The Swarmlord (Robin Cruddace): yes, Mr. Cruddace it is and he’s writing a bit about the new Tervigons and Swarmlords. Most of this one is made up by excerpts from Codex: Tyranids. And of course there’s a sample Army List. This one is fine for people like myself who only play against Tyranids – anyone who has the Codex at hand won’t find anything here he doesn’t already know.
Painting Workshop: Tervigon (Steve Bowerman): Mr. Bowerman shows us how to paint a Tervigon, using the colours of Hive Fleet Behemoth. I always love Painting Workshops and if you do so, too, you’ll like this one.
A Company of Wolves (Phil Kelly): Some background on the twelve Great Companies of the Space Wolves in general and the Great Companies of Logan Grimnar and Ragnar Blackmane in particular. The highlight of this article is some new background stuff – the Saga of the lesser-known Wolf Lord Harald Deathwolf (for unknown reasons called “Leif” in the german edition). Possibly the best 40K article in this issue.
Painting Workshop: Thunderwolf Cavalry (Steve Bowerman): it’s Mr. Bowerman again and this time he’s painting three Thunderwolves and their Space Marine riders. His ways for painting fur are quite universal. I enjoyed the tervigon workshop more, but this one will actually be more useful for painters like me.

Warhammer Fantasy Battles

Warhammer: Civil War (part 3/4) (Jervis Johnson): I like this expansion, and this installment is again quite colourful and nice, though sometimes illogical – the list for Wood Elves could end up in having your Civil War in two seasons at the same time. Contains the lists for Daemons of Chaos, High Elves, Dark Elves, Wood Elves and Bretonia.
Armies on Parade: Christian Byrne’s Ogres: a nice army, but then, it’s just some photos… can’t really grow fond of this “Armies on Parade” thing…

Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game

Ambush at Amon Sûl (Andy Hall, Tom Hutchings): this month’s battle report pits Mr. Halls Hobbits against some poorly rolling Nazgûl led by Mr. Hutchings. Few surprises here, the biggest being the shameless advertisement stating that the sets you need to re-fight the scenario actually sum up to 78 GBP – who is ever willing to pay that just for re-fighting Wheathertop? Especially as the Mines of Moria already includes the whole Fellowship, too…
A Tale Of Four Gamers (pt. 1): it’s the return of that iconic series of articles. This time we follow Dom Murray (Rohan), Nick Bayton (Isengart), Simon Grant (Minas Tirith) und Dan Harden (Mordor) on their quest of building up armies. The first month has them painting up two warbands and one leader each. Some interesting approaches here, including two different takes at making paved bases.

Miscellanous

Standard Bearer (Jervis Johnson): the Old Man is talking about Games Days and frequently asked questions there. He has a lot of standard answers to standard questions, so that you might not end up asking him that. I quite liked that – Mr. Johnson, please write more of this!
Citadel Hall of Fame: Joe Tomaszewski of the ‘Eavy Metal team nominates the Empire Battle Wizards kit by Brian Nelson. This article includes a photo spread on the famous Wizard Painting Challenge of 2009. I like it that Mr. Nelson writes he hopes he can one day sculpt the three missing lores of magic – now that’s something we all hope!
Slayer Sword Winners Gallery: well, photos of all the Slayer Sword winners of 2011 and a gallery of Vampire Counts entries.

Conclusion

All in all I can quite recommend this issue, though as always this Dwarf is not useful for all players. This time, it’s clearly a must-have for players of the Space Wolves and players who usually battle against Tyranids. On the other hand, for players of Warhammer Fantasy, there is little; and the Civil War expansion, while a great thing, is not something everybody needs at home.

For the occasional Lord of the Rings enthusiasts, there’s quite little to get as the articles are clearly aimed at newcomers. Curiously enough, that’S fine with me, as I am thinking about an army in this game for a long time…

As a sidenote, they are experimenting with the Layout in this issue. Both the Editorial, the Table of Contents and the advertisements show a streamlined, more modern layout and design. I quite like that, even though they forgot to note the authors of quite a number of articles.

The Spine image continues to build up to a greenish Space Marine in robes with a plasma gun – a Dark Angel indeed….

And here it is, gentlemen: my 25th anniversary model…

Posted by A Person from Porlock at 15:09 Reviews, Space Marines, Warhammer 40.000

Mrz 032012

It took Games Workshop and the German Post quite some time to get this one sent to me, but finally my specimen of the limited 25th anniversary model arrived here last Wednesday.

Normally I have the peculiar habit of opening my pewter or plastic fix only on my hobby evenings on Friday or Saturday, but as this miniature is limited and there had already been a growing amount of complaints over at Warseer on the casting quality of this one, I decided to immediately open the box, in case I would have had to file a complaint… not that I have experienced big problems with Finecast in the past… but you know, one should never rely on his luck…

Normally I would have waited with unboxing this one... but, you know, with Finecast you DO never know...

Anyway, here’s the box, still wrapped in plastic. While the size is quite small (the same they use for small plastic kits or the original miniatures for Inquisitor, if you recall), it’s still a beauty with the old Rogue Trader artwork on it.

The mother of all boxes... at least when we are talking Games Workshop here, I once knew a AD&D set, that... well, never mind...

Right, and here it is without the shrink wrap… did that one because I didn’t know if my camera would catch the artwork with the plastic covering… and no need to get that one wasted, doesn’t it?

Actually I'm starting to think Games Workshop wants us to keep the miniature IN the box... and look at it and dream...

Unlike those aforementioned boxes, this one has a double cover that can be opened like some book, held in place by a little magnet. Inside we get the information that the ever-talented Juan Diaz did the sculpt and we get some shots of the studio paintjob, so that we can find out in the end that ours didn’t quite make it…

It is slightly funny they took so much care with the box as you won’t be able to fit the miniature back into it, once it’s built. Almost as if they’d expect you to keep it unbuilt… as for myself, of course, I will build it, but keep the box as a trinket and adornment, I guess.

Why, oh why didn't they pack the stuff in foam?

Already while shrink-wrapped there was a nasty rattling coming from inside the box… and, yes, they had the nerve of sending all the Finecast parts in the usual plastic tray without any additional protection – no foam, no bubble wrap, nothing… normally the little sprues they do their Finecast miniatures in would offer some protection, but as you can already see here, the standard had no such sprue and so the tip had broken off…

Apart from the miniature itself the tray contains a usual 25 mm and a 60 mm base respectively. The latter is for the scenery piece with the standard, while the small base is provided in case you want to employ your Crimson Fist Captain/Sergeant/Character on the battlefield.

The five parts of Mr. Marine... and he wants us to get a head!

And here is the main sprue with the parts for the Crimson Fist guy (often assumed to be Mr. Pedro Kantor himself). He comes in five parts: the main body with right arm and Power fist, the left arm with the Plasma Pistol, the backpack, his head and the Ork head he is wielding.

From this face, the miniature comes around next to perfect. No parts are warped and there are only very few minor air bubbles that are mostly easy to ignore (one on the left arm, one in the entrails where the Ork head was ripped off.

And here's Mr. Dead Ork, grinning...

The view from the rear is equally pleasing, though there are more issues here, including two tiny bubbles on the feed cable of the Plasma pistol and one slightly out-of-form exhaust on the backpack.

One, two, three, four bubbles and a moldline, it seems...

I couldn’t get a really good photo of the inside Power Fist, but even this way you can see that this part will include the heaviest use of cutter, emery board and Green Stuff. There’s a lot of flash, one hard-to-remove mold line and on the tips of four of the five fingers, there rests a larger air bubble.

Taking it from the internet (always a hard thing to do, as most of the people writing there are more interested in whining and making claims than any honest account – and for the rest you never know, too) this is the part of the miniature that often turned out to be utterly miscast, with huge chunks of the fist missing, so I guess the trifles I will have with it are still ok in comparison – or, rather, it’s less troublesome to remove them than to phone for replacement.

And here I give you... the Base! Rather... base-ic, wouldn't you agree?

On with the scenic base, this one turned out quite pleasing, if a tad too small for the 60 mm base. The details are fine, I am in fact rather pleased that it only includes one shoulder guard and one Space Marine head – alse it would have looked too full…

There's a bunch of holes in my base... and in all it's solidness, it's quite hollow...

Unfortunately, while sufficient, the casting is a bit uneven. As you can see there are a good deal of holes all over the piece, including one area which is more reminiscent of a swiss cheese than with a base. The resin there is paper thin, so I will have to apply some (liquid?) Green Stuff to it to stabilise it.

Can you spot the pimple on that fist? Quite annoying, that one...

On with the standard, this one is mostly well-casted, albeit with some flash. On the front, there are only a few air bubbles, of whose only the one in the middle of the (crimson) fist annoys me as it will be almost impossible for one of my skill to cover that one up without ruining the structure there.

Nothing to see, you know...

On the back, there are equally few problems – the cloth of the standard next to the pole appears extremely thin, though, when put against a light.

Thus, the main problem with the standard is that the tip broke off.

The pride of the Empire, they said... fell with an air bubble and lack of foam...

And here it is, again sorry for the blurry quality. As you can see, the casting itself is acceptable, just a few air bubbles and flash. This part also is the only one that arrived slightly bent, though that may be the sculpting, as it’s very regular.

On this side of the standard there's quite some flash.

On the reverse, theres a load of flash and as you might see (if not, you have to believe like Fox Mulder) there are no less than three air bubbles at the point where the tip broke off – one to the front, one to the back and a larger one right in the middle of the pole. Together, they definitely worked as a predetermined breaking point, which together with the unprotected transport caused the breaking of the pole.

I really have to think how to handle this one. Porbably I will first have to fill up the bubbles to create a substantial connection between the pole and the tip – at the moment, both share too few contact points.

Will it be... the right stuff?

So this ismy freshly acquired companion for this (and a lot of other) projects: my first pot of Liquid Green Stuff…

With this, we are at an end here. I have too many more pressing things on my desk, so it might well be May or June until I will turn my attention to this miniature again… which is fine as it gives me some time to ponder on how I will go on with it. As for the arrangement, I think I will put the scenic parts (the rocky base and the standard) on a much bigger base, either the large oval one or some self made base. Together with some more stones and perhaps a dead ork or two it may then serve as a object marker in my battles. The miniature itself will end on the small 25mm base which I either will put on display together with the rest, or use in battle… just have to decide whether I will paint him as a Crimson Fist, or in the colours of my chapter… well, we’ll cross that bridge once we arrived at the banks, I guess…

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