I just finished reading the - I quote: "latest instalment of the best-selling Horus Heresy series" - or, which I would prefer to call it, "the latest stroke of genius by Dan Abnett", which is the sixth book in the relatively new and impressive cycle telling the story of the great civil war of the Imperium of Mankind in the 40k universe, taking place ten thousand years ago, which is known as the 'Horus Heresy', of course.
From my point of view, the humans in charge at GW Headquarters couldn't have picked anyone more suitable for starting this series (except maybe Alex Stewart, whom many know under his pseudonym Sandy Mitchell) as Dan Abnett, who - in a writer's galaxy of page-long descriptions of excessive bloodshed and rhetorical mediocrity - manages to create interesting, even lovable characters and neat stories, wrapped up in words and sentences that aren't repeated on every second page, and excels with it in a way, so that not even - more than debatable - 'authors' as Ben Counter are able to break the spirit he created.
Now he struck again with another novel in this very commendable series, breathing life into the often overlooked Space Marines chapter of the Alpha Legion. Again, it includes less battle and more story, though a bit too few of those adorable Space Marines, but all the other characters are well worth it (plus, it's the Alpha Legion - they're all in for stealth ^^). And again, he manages to make the Legionnaires look more human and on the other hand far from it at the same time.
For me, Dan Abnett has made the Space Marines (and their later-to-be 'heretic' counterparts) even more enjoyable, the same as Alex Stewart managed for the Imperial Guard with his Commisar Ciaphas Cain, lifting them from oh-so-superhuman-invincible-killermachines down to another level and at the same time to unknown heights as interesting and likeable persons and invididuals.
A definite must-read for anyone who's into the 40k universe or wants to get into it.
Tags: Alpha Legion Dan Abnett Horus Heresy Warhammer 40k Black Library Novel
Yesterday I had - due to a cold which rendered me unable to do anything useful ^^ - the opportunity to take a look at my wargaming hobby in general.
I unpacked (after more than two years in this house) all of my miniatures, counted them (again), mourned over the dozens of unpainted and unassembled minis (the new Chaos Marines or Thousand Sons as well as the Daemon Prince for instance) and also took a look at the newest ('bout half a year or what old) Chaos Space Marines Codex.
When the 4th Edition of WH40k was released,it wasn't with the impact the 3rd had on my army. From 2nd to 3rd, it was a huge step. Most rules I knew had been completly revised, profiles, weapons, even lots of background had been redone. The 4th editio, however, came rather unnoticed. The changes seemed minor in comparison, some features quite appealing, others far less.
Since yesterday though, it deems me completely different. I'm not the type of guy to go on a rant-rampage like "oh my, the new edition of just plain sucks! The old ones were SO MUCH BETTER!". In fact, I hate statements like that. Metal was NOT better before they invented technology that could cope with this kind of music and bring it's strengths to bear, D&D was NOT better with an A in front of it's name as a collection of some loosely coherent rules, and Windows ME was sure as hell NOT better than XP. If you don't like the new stuff, keep the old! It's anyway cheaper that way.
But on this special occasion (keep your red pens ready, folks), I gotta admit it. Yeah, the Chaos Space Marines Codex 3rd Edition (the second one ;) was indeed much better than anything that came after. I liked the idea of the 4th edition to keep things simple, to use "general" special rules and not between one and three for each troup type of every race.
But honestly, have you taken a look at the wargear? I always went mad flipping pages 'cause I couldn't find it, until I realised, there wasn't any wargear to find. Granted, Chaos Lords tended to be uberpowered. But they tended also to cost a small fortune in points. Add a Terminator retinue and one lucky hit from a vindicator eradicated half of your army. And now? Where is my Chaos Armor, where are my daemonic gifts, where are my themed armies, my master crafted weapons, my PSI-gear, my veteran skills (I was SO happy to eventually get some after years of waiting), cult terminators, and where the f**k is the goddamn Fallen Angel again, the only sign of hope for at least some of the lost and the damned to return to the light of the emperor (posthumously, of course)??!!
*sigh* Guess I'm stuck with grumpy, confused 3rd Edition, full of "we did that for the first time"-errors and unbalanced codizes in dependency of their relative age...
But you know, since the 2nd Chaos Codex for the 3rd edition was one of the last ones to be released before the 4th edition, there's harder fates to cope with... *grin*
Tags: WH40k Warhammer 40k 4th Edition Codex Chaos
I put some pics of my beloved miniatures online..
I've been playing WH40k for quite some time now, but I never was the big painter. So the Legion's color scheme played right into my hands, leaving me more time to customize the looks of the little guys.. leaving me again with boxes full of customized, unique miniatures in dynamic poses that will take years to get some paint coat on their grey and silver little bodies. It's a saddening view, I can tell you that.
One day I'll be finished . o O ( LIES! ) and can boot the whole team worth roughly 15.000 points (3rd Edition). And when that day comes... I have to find an opponent in for such a ridiculously large game. Thank God Apocalypse already hit the stores ^^
Tags: Miniatures Gallery Warhammer 40k Wh40k
