Book Review 104 // Faith and Fire (Sisters of Battle #1) by James Swallow

I was excited to read this novel Faith and Fire by James Swallow as I've never read a Sister of Battle novel before. It's a side of 40k that has never appealed to me over the years. The idea of the Church, in general, is something I have a distrust in so the idea of the fanatical 40k world and warrior nuns just didn't sit well. But after discovering the Sister of Battle Omnibus at a thrift store, I decided I should crack the spine and sink into the God-Emperor of Mankind's chosen daughters. Wish me luck.

An Adepta Sororitas novel

Disgraced by the escape of a dangerous heretic psyker, Seraphim Miriya of the Adepta Sororitas swears to hunt down and recapture the traitor, whatever the cost.

READ IT BECAUSE

It's an in-depth look into the Sisters of Battle, and a cracking tale – a part detective story, part actioner, with strong themes of faith and redemption. And also fire.

THE STORY

In the grim nightmare future of the 41st millennium, the witch-hunting zealots of the Sisters of Battle stand between humanity and damnation. From the elite Seraphim warriors to the berserk Sisters Repentia, they are the strong arm of the Ecclesiarchy and the brutal hammer of witches. When dangerous psychic heretic Torris Vaun escapes from her custody, Seraphim Miriya is disgraced in the eyes of her fellow sisters and superiors. Following Vaun's trail to the planet Neva, Miriya takes her sisters in pursuit and, along with Hospitalier Sister Verity, starts her investigations. When they uncover a terrifying plot that could threaten the future of the Imperium, is Miriya's and Verity's faith strong enough for them to triumph?

Once again Black Library brings an exciting-sounding tale. Sitting at 416 pages in total this was a chunky book and one I wasn't sure I could get behind, but I soon found myself hooked and started reading at a pace I hadn't done in a little while. For me, the characters (especially the villains) are the true highlight of the book. The sisters of battle all come across as fanatical believers, all angry and with chips on their shoulders. The main villain comes across as cold, moral-less and ruthless a very one-dimensional character but in the perfect way and with badass powers as well.

The main story arc is as described, with some fast-paced action, well thought out detective scenes and a twist I didn't expect too early on in the tale. I enjoyed the setting of Neva and how the "faith" of the world is viewed as extreme to even other faithful planets and I also enjoyed how due to faith controlling everything skilled labours are hard to come by, it is small touches like that, that actually add the weight of realism to a world being created in your imagination, as you can see the towering monuments built to honour the Emperor slowly eroding due to lost knowledge, the perfect mirror of the Imperium at large.

One troublesome part for me was the freedom the sisters had from their own order, just being able to do as they pleased, whenever they pleased. This didn't seem realistic especially the Hospitalier Sister, actually being able to freely move to an ashamed combat unit to aid in tracking down her biological sisters killer - just seems too far of a stretch. But that is just me being picky.

When the twist finally was revealed, took long enough for the reveal, it was great to see how it took shape and watch how everyone was played to manipulate the final plan. I wish more time had been spent on this as it really sparked my interest.

Pros

• Worthwhile Characters
• Excellent Villians
• Intriguing World
• Fun Psykers

Cons

• Weird plot hooks
• Sisters having too much freedom
• Repentia Sisters (the author seemed to enjoy writing about a bit too much)
• Not enough page time on the villains.

Overall great read and excited to continue reading the omnibus, not going to start an army of Sisters but it has made them a more interesting faction. Let me know your thoughts in the comments below and go click follow.

Beer Review 114 // Devil's Trill IV A New Hope by Blood Brothers

Clearing the back log of images and notes. This time we travel back to April 2019, a weird time when people could travel to other cities and explore neighborhoods without wearing masks.

I was in Toronto due to work and whenever I'm there I make sure to visit Blood Brother. With arm load of beers I headed back to the hotel to enjoy. Up first was Devil's Trill IV: A New Hope.

This is a nitro double IPA which already soons exciting! After aggressively shaking the can I am greeted to a creamy, golden pour, no way of seeing through this monster. The white capped head settles and is definitely going no where fast.

The aroma coming off are all bright and flavoursome. I get citrus orange peel, grapefruit and  something else. Not sure what it was so investigated and discovered it was hopped with Citra, Simcoe and Cascade. But then an addition of fresh pureed apricots was added!

The taste was exactly what I expected and made me think of fruit milkshakes, thick full bodied with a slight tartness that comes from the actual fruit added. Overall an amazing beer and I highly recommend it

Comic Review 109 // Aliens: Omnibus Volume 2

Been a while since I review volume one way back in June (Follow the LINK). With us, well into the creepy month of October, I felt it was right to have some scary comic reviews. For me the Xenomorph is the ultimate in the scare factor, it is completely uncaring, unforgiving and so cosmically horrifying that it is perfect for a good scare. Let us take a dive into the comic book stats and then we can move onto the review.

Comic Stats

Writer: John Arcudi, Jerry Prosser, Chris Warner, Kelley Puckett, Dan Jolley

Illustrator:  Damon Willis, John Nadeau, Kelley Jones, Paul Guinan, Tony Akins, Allen Nunis, Mike Richardson.

Commercial Fluff: Many humans have died horribly at the claws of the Alien. The surface of Earth has been devastated to cleanse the beasts from our world. But the commercial value of this scourge has never been in doubt, especially when the special properties of the Alien Queen's royal jelly are discovered. Will Mankind once again risk its very survival as a species in order to sleep with the Alien? Dark Horse Comics' critically acclaimed Aliens series set the bar for how the universe of a popular film could be expanded through graphic fiction. Aliens Omnibus Volume 2 collects more of these exciting series in a value-priced, quality-format omnibus, featuring over four hundred story pages in full color. Includes the complete story arcs of Genocide, Harvest and the never-before-collected, epic-length Colonial Marines.

Pages: 456

Published Date: December 25th, 2007 

Publisher: Dark Horse Book

Review

Going to break the comic down into stories and go through each one. These won't be super in-depth as I plan on doing that with the novels when I find them. Ultimately like its predecessor, this graphic novel is made up of three stories, Genocide, Harvest and Colonial Marines. I had already reviewed the book Genocide (here), so I already had a feeling of how the story arc was changing with the inclusion of Queen or Royal Jelly so I was interested to see how this is picked up in the other stories. As with most things in life let us begin at the start.

Genocide

Earth is a mess and big companies are making a killing in exchange to help clean it up. One such company is making a drug called Xeno-Zip, using trace amounts of Queen Jelly it is able to make people stronger and faster. But due to lack of supply, they attempted to make their own with unstable results, the main problem being people turning into Psychos. In steps the military to help secure a pure source in exchange for the psycho version for the marine corps. Of course, as soon as they make planetfall everything thing goes FUBAR, why are their two factions of Xenomorph? A fast-action paced story, with stereotypes straight out of an 80's action film. Fun enough read just like the book.

Harvest

A strange tale that I hope the book does more justice to. In this tale, we follow a dying scientist who is using the royal jelly to prolong his life. But in order to this, he needs more jelly. With the help of his love interest, a robotic pet ant and a robotic Xenomorph, they attempt what I can only describe as a Jewel thief. Heading to the alien homeworld to raid the nest. Once again nothing goes to plan and we end up with a plasma rifle-armed robotic Xenomorph, fighting the alien hordes. This was a weird-ass tale, but I am intrigued to read the book now.

Colonial Marines

The selling point of the graphic novel. Colonial Marines was a 10 part series that faced a ton of issues during production. It had multiple writers work on it, issue numbers were cut and it ended up being delayed. This clearly comes across in the story, it so badly disjointed and I am pretty sure a marine who died in one part is alive in the artwork later in the story (HA). What you do get is a dead beat LT. who is tasked with looking after a bunch of down and out marines. Unfortunately, no story is that simple and soon Xenomorphs are running wild. The LT. character is all over the place as writers struggled to pick a motive and hang on to it. Leaving us to not care about anyone whilst the story collapses under its own weight. The highlight of this tale was the water versions of the Xenomorphs at the Kelp farm, this was worth the price of reading such crap.

Overall Thoughts

Don't buy this graphic novel it is just a hot mess! The colonial marines story ruins an otherwise below average offering. I will move forwards onto Volume three but wow did this one leave a bad taste in my mouth.

The Cult of the Blessed Wormlings - Undercoating and a zenith highlights

Trying my hand once more at a youtube video (if you missed the first attempt see it here). As always I'm very new to all this vlogging, be gentle with the criticism. Last week I spoke of the Cult of The Blessed Wormling; well today we start the process of finally painting them.

As mentioned before I decided to start with the Neophyte Hybrids. I see this cult army being exactly that a cult. I am looking for a mass of unwashed downtrodden Grave Diggers/Robbers/mourners that have ended up crossing paths with the Children of the Star Emperor, so I want to make sure I have the scheme in place as this will be a large amount of my painting project.

This first step is a simple one. The black basecoat on the built models is then dry brushed over, using a light grey paint to help pick out the details and offer some inbuilt shading. I believe this process is called Zenith painting but I feel this may be the wrong term. Well, that's enough writing for now, check out the video below and give me some feedback once finished. If feeling kind or generous remember to hit follow on here and youtube.

As always thanks for stopping by!

Book Review 103 // Dante by Guy Haley

I'm sticking with the themes of Angels for my next book review. Last week was the Dark Angels and their new Primaris brethren, whilst this week I turn to the noble and slightly tragic Blood Angels. I really haven't experience much of the Blood Angels so being able to delve into their chapter masters past is going to be a real treat! As always hit the subscribe button and give me follow, also say hi in the comments below.

Dante: Warhammer 40,000 by Guy Haley

Published as always by Black Library and clocking in at a weighty 304 pages, I am glad to have this as an e-book. Here is the official view point on the book:

The untold origin story of Chapter Master Dante of the Blood Angels, one of the Imperium's greatest heroes.

Dante is Chapter Master of one of the noblest but most troubled Chapters of Space Marines in the Imperium: the Blood Angels. From the time of his birth in the rad-scarred wastes of Baal Secundus, he was destined for glory and strife. From his apotheosis to Scout, to the hive cities of Armageddon and the alien menace of the Cryptas system, Dante has waged war against all the enemies of the Imperium. He has witnessed the divine, and struggled against the darkness within all sons of Sanguinius. Longer lived than any other Chapter Master, this is his chronicle, his great and storied legend.

Feels like a week for Chapter Masters on the blog, first Marneus of the Ultramarines and now Dante of the Blood Angels. As mentioned I was really going into this book blind, I know of Dante from the tabletop war game and I know a little of their gene curse but I have never sat down and read about them. The reasoning for me was the whole idea of space vampires, seemed a bit meh. So tragic, so noble, so blurg!

Turns out I had done them a disservice. Maybe it is more Guy's writing but what ever it is, I am now finding the Blood Angels a lot interesting. This novel is a great example of a character driven story. Split in two, the novel follows Luis as he completes the trails to become a Space Marine and how these moments have form the modern times Dante (Luis' Angel name). I found myself enjoying the Luis arc more as it was so interesting to discover what the Baal population are like and how it plays into the Blood Angel chapter. Also the whole section about Angel's Leap was stress inducing, whilst also thrilling! I found the modern arc of Dante a bit more slower paced and less intriguing but this maybe more to do with me being a bit more up to date on that lore?

Overall a great read and has me looking for the Devastation of Baal Book which I believe this Dante book was building to.

Fan of the Blood Angels? Let me know below, want to hear what the chapters fans think of this novel.

Beer Review 113 // Harry Porter and the Cherry Hoarder by Great Lakes Brewery.

Here comes the follow-up to last week's review of Harry Porter. This time it is the same base recipe but with cherry thrown into the mix. I quite enjoyed last week's brew so I do have high hopes for this one.

This official notes on this beer are pretty short and sweet just how I like them:

Harry Porter with cherries. Delicious, delicious cherries. Chocolate, coffee, cherry...smooth and velvety with a touch of acidity.

As you can see if you compare photos to the last review the pour is very similar, the main note of difference is the slightly redder hue on the edges of the glass. Ultimately we have a delicious dark brown/reddish pour with a lively bubbly head of mocha foam that does fizz away to nothing.

The aroma, of course, includes coffee roast, chocolate and cherries. The perfect line up for this style of beer. I am also happy to report that it is a real cherry smell and not a fake lip gloss aroma, which makes me so happy. The first sip is everything I could for, sweet milk chocolate, cherries (not sweet or sour just right) and then a hint of coffee comes to play. It is surprisingly low on carbonation which helps it to coat the mouth and as the beers warm we start getting tobacco ash in the finish which is also quite pleasant to experience.

Overall a very enjoyable fruited beer and a good variation on the original recipe.

As always thanks for giving this read and feel free to hit the subscribe button above as I love seeing a new follower.

Comic Review 108 // Warhammer 40,000: Marneus Calgar Issue 1

What happens when you combine one of the biggest wargames franchises with one of the biggest comic book franchises? The answer is right here, so you best keep reading. As always please take the time to hit subscribe to support my blog it means a lot.

So earlier this year, sometime during the early phase of COVID, Games Workshop teased that Marvel was creating a Warhammer 40,000 comic. The theme of the first series is the poster boy himself Marneus Calgar and the Ultramarines. So the hype train ready to leave the station I am hopping on board and seeing where this adventure will take me.

Genres: Sci-Fi

Publisher: Marvel

Writer: Kieron Gillen

Artist: Jacen Burrows

Publication date: October 14, 2020

Fluff: In the grim darkness of the far future there is only war…The saga of WARHAMMER 40,000 comes to Marvel Comics! MARNEUS CALGAR, the legendary Chapter Master of the Ultramarines, leads his elite Space Marines against humanity’s greatest threats in a galaxy engulfed in endless war. Kieron Gillen (UNCANNY X MEN, JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY, The Wicked + The Divine) spearheads the initiative with this introductory miniseries, illustrated by Jacen Burrows (PUNISHER: SOVIET, MOON KNIGHT, Crossed)--and we’re just getting started! Now, witness Marneus Calgar’s never-before-told origin story, from his beginnings on Nova Thulium, to his campaigns in the Black Crusades, and to the unfolding mystery of the BLACK ALTAR, as a deadly threat from his past reemerges to threaten the present of the Ultramar system. This all-new tale is essential reading for 40K aficionados, as well as the perfect primer to the world of WARHAMMER 40,000 for those new to the universe. See the Ultramarines in glorious combat, the strife between the worlds of the Imperium, and witness the larger than life characters who preside over it all! This is but the first foray into the larger darkness that is to come from Warhammer and Marvel Comics. Be prepared.

Well it sounds good so far, the cover is what I've come to expect from franchises, meaning it clean and kid-friendly, no grimdark to be found here. Marneus is front and centre blazing away at some unseen foe and the colour palette is bright enough to be eye-catching, so far okay feelings.

Some great full-page images greet us and get the story moving. Set after the 13th Black Crusade the Imperium is battered and bruised. Marneus is overseeing the restoration of Nova Thulium, an agri-world in the Macragge System, which is seemingly having a heretic problem. We also discover in these opening pages that this is the birth world of Marneus himself! Here begins the first flashback.

In our flashback, we have a young Marneus child of an aristocrat training with his childhood friends in the hopes of becoming a Space Marine. His parents wanted this to become a reality and so have hired a tutor to train the young Marneus. Wishing his friends to have the same opportunities and training, Marneus has spent his inheritance in ensuring they are apart of his training too. Soon the four youths are shipping off to a frozen moon above Nova Thulium - their first challenge is to cross the frozen valley and survive the Ambulls that are native to the moon!

Back in the current timeline, the story moves to the same moon. Here we find two tech adepts discussing rebuilding before being ambushed by two traitorous Black Legion Space Marines who are seeking to ambush and kill Marneus.

Here endeth the first issue. To be honest, this was a lot better than I could have expected, artwork though kid-friendly was gory and awe-inspiring. The story seems to have a good plot and the flashbacks are a welcomed edition as we finally get to learn of Marneus and how he became the hero of 40K. I am excited to see where it goes from here,

Let me know your thoughts in the comments and thanks for reading.

Thanks for reading and check out these links below if you wish to support the blog:

Amazon (I get a commission, win, win): Issue One

Links to other fun projects: Linktr.ee/Adventureswithpeps

Monday - Getting better at Blogging

Hey everyone, welcome back to the blog. In an attempt to improve my blogging I am going to attempt some vlogs. This is something I have never actually done before which will be apparent when you watch the video below. With anything new, mistakes are made and it definitely felt weird talking to myself, but overall it was a fun experience that I hope to keep plugging away with. If you are feeling kind be sure to click the subscribe on this blog then head over to my youtube channel (link) and give me a follow there.

What I learnt from attempt one:

1. Backlighting is not my friend.
2. Need to have some key points written down to prompt me.
3. Overheating battery cutting the video short - this issue is at least now fixed.
4. Have fun!

Enough talking, for now, have a watch have a laugh at my expense and hopefully, I will have more videos up soon. Got helpful tips? Then drop me a comment or if you have a channel you wish to share then leave me the link in the comments. As always thanks for stopping by.

Book Review 102 // War of Secrets (Space Marine Conquests) by Phil Kelly

Welcome! I am back tipping my toe into the secretive world of the Dark Angels. I have read a few Dark Angel novels (LINK) and I am really enjoying the intrigue behind this Chapter/Legion, so a chance to see how they square off with the new Primaris Marines was not to be missed.

Here is the fluff:

Lieutenant Xedro Farren is a Primaris Marine, stronger and more adept than even the Space Marines his brotherhood is sent to fight alongside. As the Dark Angels and the Primaris Marines fight a trauma-scarred force of T’au hellbent on destroying their former allies, the true quarry becomes clear – the shadowy instigator of a psychic curse that could plunge a string of Imperial planets into madness. As worlds burn in the fires of battle, an unthinkable pact is struck, with the Primaris Marines peeling back layer after layer of deceit to find the appalling truth. Can Farren hope to emerge from this web of lies without losing his honour – or come to that, his life?

A decent length novel at 416 pages, War of Secrets by Phil Kelly finally puts Primaris Marines in the pathway of the secretive Dark Angels Chapter. Why is this interesting? I hear you cry. Well in a Chapter built on lies and forbidden lore the last thing you want is some new marines whos loyalty is to Gulliman and Cawl first then the chapter second. This simple difference is the building blocks of this novel. We follow a Primaris squad as they battle the T'au on the world of Saltire Vex. Here we start to see the friction between factions as the Primaris are already noticing that the brothers of the Dark Angels are less than friendly. Slowly as the battles unfold the Primaris Marines begin to realise there is a secondary mission underway, one they are privy to.

Alongside this, we have the T'au forces also up to some civil disobedience (greater good my arse) and of course a Fallen Character causing trouble on a world controlled by an Unforgiven Chapter the Angels of Redemption.

This was a great read and a great way for me to get introduced to the Primaris Marines in general. It is interesting to see how the lore is changing and reshaping into the current 40k lore. I also like to see the T'au becoming a more interesting faction and that the Dark Angels are still far from being the poster boys of 40k. Ultimately it is time to charge up the Hellbalster and burn ourselves some heretics.

Turns out this is apart of a series known as Space Marine Conquests, so I will attempt to seek out the other novels Devastation of Baal and Ashes of Prospero - watch this space.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you will give me a like and a subscribe.

Beer Review 112 // Harry Porter by Great Lakes Brewery

Welcome back, I took a week off to reset the batteries and adjust my focus. Ottawa has rolled back into phase two of the COVID lockdown, causing indoor dining to close and a lot of the local hospitality businesses to question if they can survive this. Watching people I have worked with go through this is a painful experience. One I would prefer to not repeat.

But the batteries are reset and I am back with another beer review. I'm sticking with my Great Lakes Brewery beers. This time Harry Porter:

- As an American style porter, HP offers up the best of a traditional porter with a flash of unique bittering hops to complement the roasted malts. Chocolate, espresso, a hint of smoke and a touch of magic all right there in the aroma and in the flavour. Medium-bodied with a creamy, silky mouthfeel, and a soft chocolatey finish, HP is wizardly in all facets.

As you can see it pours a beautiful dark brown with a lively tan head, I hate to say it but it almost looks like a glass of coke! It is a beautiful smelling brew, sitting at 6.2% it gives off lots of roasted, toasty notes, from those dark malts and I am definitely getting some coffee in the background. I personally would have loved more coffee but that really is just a personal preference. On the first sip, you get all the traditional flavours that you would expect, the roasted coffee starts pushing through the malts to shine a bit more and there is a welcomed sweetness that helps round out the brew and give it a creaminess.

Overall an excellent porter, easy-drinking and gone all too soon. Sadly this beer is a limited release and since drinking this I have not seen another batch made. I am looking forward to trying its cherry counterpart, which is up next.

As always thank you for stopping by and reading and remember to hit the subscribe button!

Comic Review 107 // Dredd: Final Judgement

Welcome back, after a short trip into the Star Wars universe with Boba Fett I decided it was time to go back to the tried and tested Judge Dredds. Unknown to me there has been another movie tie in comic, called Dredd: Final Judgement. As soon as I realized this I purchased and downloaded a copy and dived right in.

To start us off this comic is 96 pages long and is set in the 2012 Dredd movie franchise, here is the commercial fluff:

THE CRIME IS LIFE

Mega-City One – a seething metropolis built on the ruins of the old world, walled off from the irradiated wasteland of what used to be America. With eight hundred million people living within, only the harsh regime of the Judges can safeguard the lives of the citizens and keep the city from descending into chaos.

The toughest of them all is Judge Dredd, a veteran that has survived and judged every lawbreaker that Mega-City One could throw at him. But this time Dredd goes up against an enemy unlike anything else he has encountered before. What can the law do against Death?

The story begins in the Northern Sectors of MC-1, and there is an unusual rise in suicides with perps talking about the coming of death and the world burning. But before Dredd can investigate he is called away to a Tek lab where a team of Tek Judges has disappeared into an alternate dimension. This group is led by Sidney D'eath and it would seem they have awoken something coming back as the Dark Judges it is up to Dredd to solve how to stop them and save MC-1 from mass extinction.

Now I'm not going to lie, I enjoyed the tale for what it was, full of action, full of beautiful artwork. But it failed to capture the original Dark Judges for me and though they looked scary, they didn't give me the chills like the originals. It felt like they knew what the fans wanted and tried to shove a square through a circle to achieve it. A solid C+ but I just don't feel Dredd is a supernatural world like the comics.

As always thanks for stopping by, if you enjoyed the short review think about dropping me a comment or hitting the follow button.

The Cult of the Blessed Wormlings - Step One.

A new project is in the works. Genestealer Cults have taken root in the dark recesses of my heart and it is an itch that needs scratching. I am not looking at a codex until the new one comes out so I am buying, building and collecting items that actually excite me and I can't buy the next piece until the first one is completed and painted, so this will be a slow grow project - you have been warned.

Step one of a new project - The theme. Having read through the cults on Fandom I have decided to dive fully into the following Cult:

The Blessed Wormlings

The sigil of the Blessed Wormlings is segmented, much like the earth crawling insects they emulate.

The Blessed Wormlings is a Genestealer Cult whose cultists feed only on the beetles and squirming annelids that burrow through the loam of the Cemetery World of Masuchi Parr. A sombre brethren who are dark of mood and aspect, they believe that the verminous insects that prey upon the dead inherit the strength of all creatures once they pass into the earth.

They preach that, by embracing the ways of the lowliest creatures of creation, they will find a humility that brings them closer to the god they name the "Star Emperor." In truth, the deity they refer to is not the Master of Mankind, but an anthropomorphic personification of the Great Devourer -- the Tyranid species that will one day consume them all.

In the late 41st Millennium, a seven-man Deathwatch Kill-team was deployed to Masuchi Parr to investigate reports of the existence of the cult. When they discovered that the threat was greater than first feared, the Kill-team fought heroically to reach the planet's spaceport and escape to bring the word of the menace to the wider Imperium.

Yet their numbers proved too few and, though the Astartes heaped the corridors with xenophile corpses, the Deathwatch Marines were eventually overrun. Theirs was but one story of tragic loss for the servants of the Emperor during this time when the Deathwatch found themselves stretched to their limits and beyond by the growing Xenos threats to the Imperium.

Where next? Well up first will be the Neophyte Hybrids as I want to work out the scheme and paints I plan on using.

Thanks as always for stopping by and remember to hit the follow button and subscribe.

Miniature Monday // Voice of Twilight - Wraithlord

It's been a while since an Aeldari miniature post on this blog which is crazy (as I love aeldari). With that in mind, it is time to fix my error and post photos of the ancient Wraithlord Voice of Twilight. I feel like I have an addiction to Wraithlords, I just love the kit, over the years I've properly built over thirty and broken properly 90% of them. This time around I am showcasing a more current wraithlord, the second in my army with the first being Pheonix Lord Deathspinner. Though fun having a character type I knew I needed a more standard lord to bolster my army, and into this spot marches the Voice of Twilight.

Armed with dual flamers and duel scatter lasers, I see the Voice as an anti-horde unit. Supporting the armies Guardian squads, like a bodyguard. I haven't personally played 40k since early 8th so I can't speak of whether this is a winning combo or not (got info let me know in the comments). But I personally love the thought of this vision of death standing over the living and acting like a loyal guardian angel. Maybe the spirit entombed is a loved one from the family lineage, come back to ensure the bloodline survives.

As far as painting goes I followed a scheme set down by an image of an Alaitoc guardian in the codex. I really liked the vertical patterning and thought why not Iyanden as well? To this, I added some freehand and some tiger stripes in hopes of linking him to Yriel and the Eldritch raiders. Still not a finished piece but finished enough for now.

I plan on one more Wraithlord build for the year based on a Bright Stallion titan (google it), but that model will have strong ties Ynnari, so expect some red. Watch this space.

As always thanks for stopping by and give me a subscription.

Book Review 101 // Brothers of the Snake by Dan Abnett

Welcome back and we are now safely into the hundred reviews now eek! Following on from my short read from last week I knew I needed a longer tale to get my teeth into, so I turned to my trusty shelf of Abnett for inspiration and decided it was time to crack open Brothers of the Snake.

Written for Black Library this 320-page tome is set in the Warhammer 40k verse. Here is some commercial fluff:

THE STORY

Best-selling author Dan Abnett turns his hand to the mighty Space Marines! The war-torn far-future is laid bare as Brothers of the Snake follows the exploits of the Iron Snakes Space Marines as they battle against the enemies of mankind. First appearing in the pages of Inferno! magazine, the Iron Snakes Space Marines quickly gathered a loyal following and now they wage war in a full-blown adventure, battling aliens and heretics as they defend the Imperium.

So we can gather it is Abnett's first time writing solo for a Space Marine tale, but not his first story of Iron Snakes as I have fond memories of them being in the old Inferno magazine which came before this unless of course, that wasn't Abnett writing then?

What I really enjoyed was that Abnett brings his own style to this book, though one long story it is technically a series of short stories merged into one. The lead character Priad start's on an Imperial World alone fighting Dark Eldar, it is this starting point that shapes the future of this character and the region of space known as the Reef Stars. We follow Priad through the stories watching him rise through his chapters ranks to become the leaders of a Notable Squad (Elite Veterans) before being sent back once more to that original world to fix an error made in that mission so long before.

The Iron Snake Space Marines and Priad, in particular, are a rare bunch of Space Marines as they truly seem to care about the human race, which is sometimes forgotten in other novels and the bonds of Brotherhood between them make them seem almost human (making them more like Salamander successors than an Ultramarine). Overall it reads like Abnett had fun creating this chapter, from it's Ocean wrapped homeworld, to the unusual organization of the chapter or the creepy Dark Eldar and Brutal Orks, this was just a great book. I can easily see myself picking it up again in a year to give it another read-through, great solid reading that is a must for any 40k fan.

As always thanks for stopping by and remember to subscribe! 

Aeldari Flora and Fauna

As I read through the Aeldari Black Library books, I am slowly discovering new types of Flora and Fauna mentioned in them. Though mostly in passing they have for the most part been on Craftworlds, making me think they have existed back when the original Aeldari fled. I would love to create some of these creatures in the near future. Until then here is the info:

Flora and Fauna

Aelindrachi Shaderavens: Nightmare Fowl that feast on your sanity.

Blood Crows: Crows located within the Saim-Hann Craftworld.

Darkmoths: Moths

Demisylphs: Gossamer winged servants. Dark Fairies - Drukari

Lianderin Trees: Pale silver trunks, yellow flowers, dark green leaves.

Littlewings: Bird type of creature.

Maelithii: Cat Creatures

Nightcallers: Birds

Peakwolves: Husky Dogs

Scarlet Ungulaes: Deers

Spiralhorn:  Raindeer