The Gods of the Aeldari

In my continuing adventures to clean up my Aeldari Encyclopedia, I turn my ancient eyes to the Gods. As always this is a personal enjoyment encyclopedia and is in no my own work. The information collected here has been collected from multiple sources and may include fan fiction.

The Pantheon of the Aeldari is considered to have been destroyed by the creation of Slaanesh, the great enemy. But whilst the Aeldari still reveres all the gods and preserve their stories within the mythic cycles, they do not call on them for aid or hope for their intervention any longer. In this collection of gods, possibly four of them still live and I have even discovered some Drukari gods.

"Feel the rush of the wind against your skin and hear her keening cry in your ears. Listen to her call well, for are we not the Wild Riders, the children of the storm?" - Nuadhu 'Fireheart' 

Asuryan: The greatest of all the Eldar Gods, and the one who bears the greatest influence amongst the others in heaven. Sometimes known as the Phoenix King, Asuryan was the king of the pantheon of Aeldari gods. While the mythic cycles seem to indicate that he held sway over all the others, he was nevertheless consumed by Slaanesh. He is often depicted in relation to fire and light, his chief symbols.

Cegorach: The God of the Harlequins is the other surviving god of the Aeldari Pantheon after Isha. The Laughing God was the trickster and artist of the pantheon. When all the other gods were destroyed, Cegorach fled before Slaanesh until Khaine rose to do battle with it. The Laughing God took this chance to escape into the realm of the Webway, as only he is said to know all the secrets of its passages. The master of the Harlequins, Cegorach is the only Aeldari god that still remains in his original form.

Gia (or Gea): A consort of both Khaine and Asuryan.

Hekatii: The Red Crone. Many traditionalist Wych Cults always invoke the favour of this legendary Wych before they enter any battle.

Hoec: Revered amongst the near-invisible assassins known as Aeldari Pathfinders, the mysterious wandering Aeldari divinity known as Hoec is said to be one with the Webway, and has walked the paths between planets since the stars themselves were young.

Isha: The Mother of the Aeldari race, Isha is a fertility goddess in many respects. She was imprisoned by Khaine for a period of time until Vaul paid her ransom. She is often depicted crying, and her symbol is a teared eye, symbolic of her sorrow in being separated from her mortal children. Her tears are said to have been formed into runes by Vaul so that she could communicate with her children. It is also whispered the Isha was taken from the jaws of Slaanesh by Nurgle and she currently remains his prisoner.

Kaela Mensha Khaine: The God of War, whose Avatars can still be summoned into the material universe to protect the Aeldari from its place in each Craftworld's Infinity Circuit, as long as a powerful Aeldari warrior sacrifices his life to serve as a vessel for the possessing god.

Kurnous/Kurnoth: God of the Hunt, the Father of the Aeldari race, and the consort of Isha. He is often shown in conjunction with hounds, hawks, and other trappings of the hunt.

Lileath/Lilcarth: The Eldar Goddess of Dreams, and whose name takes two forms, Lileath and Lilcarth, which literally mean the same Eldar Goddess.

Lhilitu: A Dark Muse and the Consort of the Void. Its worshippers, a mysterious sisterhood, are desired by Archons to have as their courtesans, both for being imaginative lovers and exceptional poisoners. They descend from the Cult of Llamaea, whose courtesans elite also worship Lhilitu, and use knowledge of poisons of Shaimesh.

Mathlann: God of Storms and Seas, a God of old believed to be the protector of the Aeldari Navy. Worship of him was given up a long time before the fall.

Morai-Heg: The Crone-Goddess Morai-Heg is the consort of Khaine and the third in a trinity of female Aeldari goddesses who appears as an ancient and withered creature who holds the fate of mortals inside a skin rune pouch.

In Aeldari myth she sought to partake of the wisdom contained in her divine blood. She manipulated Khaela Mensha Khaine to cut off her hand so that she might drink deep of her own vitae. It was the fingers of this lost hand that were fashioned into the Croneswords that now offer hope of an Aeldari resurgence to the Ynnari.

With this deed, Morai-Heg gained the knowledge that she sought, and in return, Khaine gained the aspect of the banshee.

The original homeworlds of the Aeldari Empire that were lost to the Eye of Terror after the Fall became known as Crone Worlds, a reference to the Crone Goddess.

The inhabitants of Craftworld Iybraesil are noted for being followers of Morai-Heg.

Qa'leh: Mistress of Blades. Traditionalist Wych Cults also often seek the ritual favour of the Mistress of Blades with a sacrifice for good fortune before combat.

Shaimesh: A Dark Muse and the Lord of Poisons. He is favoured by assassins and murderers and is the treacherous brother of the legendary figure Saim-Hann the Cosmic Serpent (presumably for whom the craftworld had been named). Dark Eldar Haemonculi consider themselves practitioners of Shaimesh's dark art.

Vaul: The Artificer, Vaul is one of the central gods of the pantheon, and an enemy to Khaine. In order to purchase the freedom of Kurnous and Isha, Khaine demanded one hundred potent divine blades from the smith god. Vaul was unable to finish the last blade in time, and so hid a mortal blade amid the others. This fooled Khaine long enough to get Isha and Kurnous to freedom, but when he realized the trick he cried out for vengeance. Vaul finished the final blade, Anaris the Dawnlight, and took it to do battle with Khaine. Though it was the greatest of all swords, Khaine was the better warrior and crippled Vaul. The smith is often shown chained to his anvil, the punishment that Khaine set upon him.

Vileth: Vileth is a being synonymous with the immense arrogance so often displayed by the Drukhari, and is particularly popular as an ideal to which many Drukhari Archons aspire. The "Scions of Vileth" are also known as the best aerial hunters of the Drukhari, piloting aircraft such as Razorwing jetfighters and Voidraven bombers. These Drukhari pilots will sometimes form mercenary aerial squadrons that will work for Kabals, Wych Cults, and the Haemonculi of the Dark City.

Ynesth: Ynesth is known to be a Dark Muse particularly revered by the Kabal of the Onyx Scar. It searches for her ashes in the Warp rift known as the Screaming Vortex in the Segmentum Obscurus, where they are rumoured held in a chalice on the pirate-held world of Sacgrave.

Ynnead: The God of the Dead. A potential god formed of the souls of the dead Aeldari contained in the Infinity Circuits of the Craftworlds. Ynnead represents the last, faint hope of the Aeldari that they will overthrow Slaanesh and free themselves of his curse. The Aeldari believe the Aeldari souls contained within the Infinity Circuits of all the Craftworlds are collectively forming a new god which will have the power to destroy Slaanesh, freeing their racial soul from destruction and consumption by the Prince of Chaos. As yet the souls contained in the Circuit can muster only a tiny amount of power compared to Slaanesh -- the Aeldari believe that only once every last Aeldari has died and their souls combined into what they call Ynnead, will it have the power to finally confront and destroy Slaanesh--and the Aeldari race can be reborn.

Exodite Gods

Cobra-God: The Cobra-God is an animistic creature of destruction who does not care who is caught in his wake; he is venerated by the Exodites.

Scorpion-God: The Scorpion-God is an animistic spirit of defence, brother of Cobra; he is also a spirit deity venerated by the Exodites.

Serpent-God: The Serpent-God is an animistic creature of secrets who knows all there is to know in the universe; he is the third major spirit deity venerated by the Exodites.

And with that our story is complete. As always drop me a comment and remember to follow my adventures.

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Book Review 108 // Redemption by Darius Hinks

I'm still riding that Necromunda short story wave, and this time we reach Redemption by Darius Hinks. Now from the title alone, it is easy to think this has to be a House Cawdor or Redemptionist tale. Well, you would be...wrong. Though Cawdor is mentioned we actually follow the exploits of two gun for hires. Atys and Seva, described as ex-Escher this pair are now guns for hire. Seva is in fact a badly mauled only survivor of her gang who suffers from a terrible head injury that leaves her at times completely dumbfounded. Atys on the other is a caring, trouble maker who from an early start preferred the solo life. Together they live in an area known as the Assow Roadpipe, which has seemingly seen some rough times. Having become the centre of a zombie plague outbreak, with a weakened defence the settlement has now been taken over by an aggressive bunch of Cawdor brethren who are purging any and all victims of the plague (including some people who aren't).

It is in this backdrop that our duo is tasked with delivering a shady doctor and his mysterious canister to a shuttle landing pad nearby, for an off-worlder to collect him. The only issue is the canister contains a sample of the plague in stasis, and if discovered by the Cawdors they would all be killed.

The story does a good job of making the Underhive feel like a real place, the bond between Atys and Seva is wonderful and heartbreaking all at the same time and the ending of the tale is extremely satisfying. If you enjoy a short story of twists and turns then you may well enjoy this.

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Comic Review 112 // Aliens Omnibus Volume 3.

A great opening image on the cover of the Queen ripping open a doorway screaming. I can hear Ripley in the background saying, " Get away from her, you bitch!". 

I'm excited to be on Volume three of these already, if you have not already, please check out Volume One and Two. Volume three has a lot of stories contained within: Rogue, Sacrifice, Labyrinth, Salvation, Advent/Terminus, Reapers and Horrorshow. With plenty of titles to review, let us dive in.

Rogue

With a script by Ian Edginton, art by Will Simpson, it feels like we have stepped back into the 1990s. The main plot of the story is based around a mad scientist who is slowly feeding his staff to the aliens. His goal, to manipulate the alien DNA and breed a King Alien. In classic Alien fashion storytelling, the shit soon hits the fan with the Rogue King Alien on the loose killing everything in its path, but it seems this new alien has a goal in mind. To face off against the Queen, but can a king beat a queen? Hell no!

A solid tale, that I am sure is better as a novel with space to explain characters better and the driving force behind the crazed doctor. But ultimately a great opener.

Sacrifice

Story two is written by Peter Milligan and the art is produced by Paul Johnson. The artwork is beautiful, I recognized the style enough to have a google and yes, Paul Johnson has drawn for 2000 AD in the past. Great start to the story already then. The tale begins with a spacecraft crash, that mysteriously has only one survivor; Ann. Took in by the local colony, Ann starts to realize something is off and soon discovers the town is offering up sacrifices to a lone xenomorph in the Jungles. In the course of not fully understanding why they sacrifice child to the xeno, Ann affects the norm and leads the colonials into a deadly fight with the xenomorph.

Strange how many times the themes of family and religion come up in stories to do with Aliens. It is a great tale with amazing artwork, well worth the read, a true highlight of this book.

Labyrinth

Story three, Labyrinth by Jim Woodring and art by Kilian Plunkett.  Once again a slightly unhinged doctor, testing out his theories on the xenomorphs. He believes that with the right mental attitude, a human can turn away a xenomorph without using a weapon! Of course not everything goes to plan, I feel this almost follows the same story arc as Rogue. The story though ultimately good, is not great. It delves deep into the aliens behavior patterns and how science can possible manipulate it. I was not a fan of the artwork, and the writing was a bit movie-style storytelling, focusing on gorey imagery rather than the fear factor. Not a great tale to be honest.

Salvation

This tale I have reviewed before, so I won't rewrite it, all I will ask is for you to go check it out here: Salvation

Advent/Terminus

Written by Anina Bennett and Paul Guinan, artwork by Paul Guinan. I would class this a mini tale. A pyramid of unknown design has been discovered and film teams and explorers are rushing to discover it secrets. Only problem is no team ever seems to leave. Not the worst story in the comic, but sadly a little throw away and filler. Nice to see as one team dies another arrives.

Reaper

Written by John Arcudi and artwork by Simon Bisley (another ex-2000 AD artist). What a weird ass tale! No written script just art, lucky it is beautiful art. We watch as a team of green humoid aliens (Of unknown origin) hunt down some xenomorph eggs to sell back  at home. Why, I hear you ask? Well this race of aliens enjoys eating Facehuggers! Wierd artwork, weird story, just plain weird.

Horror Show

Written by Sarah Byam and artwork by David Roach. Set on Luna during the still happening xenomorph takeover of Earth. Once the gleaming city of the rich it is now infested with the poor escaping Earth's demise. Once more a deranged scienciest is at the centre of the tale and is virtually downloading the dreams to train Marines in combat against the xenomorphs. To be honest a bit of a weak tale for me, I can see it working as novel but as a comic it doesn't really work for me.

And with that we come to an end. Seven stories in this collection, I would say three solid stories: Rogue, Sacrifice and Salvation. One story was just plain weird: Reaper and three stories a little dull: Labyrinth, Advent/Terminus and Horror Show.

For me this seems to leave me with no choice but to say this is an average omnibus at best. I enjoyed Sacrifice the most it had a great theme going on and made the humans seem like the true villains of the tale. Have you read this story? Let me know your thoughts below.

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Miniature Monday // Warlord Games: Judge Dredd - Graveyard Shift

Welcome to the first of the Graveyard shift episodes, where I will be going through the process of playing Warlord Games: Judge Dredd Miniature game in solo mode. For those unsure, the solo mode was created to allow gamers the chance to play during COVID times. It is a small enough ruleset that is free to play and I will be recording my version of the campaign to share here and on my youtube channel.

Up first Judge Creation. Watch the following video as I create my first Judge going out onto the mean streets of MC-1.

Hope you enjoyed it? The next video will have some rules explained and some actual gameplay. Until then you can support the channel by using any of these links or by following this blog and commenting below. Thanks for stopping by.

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Book Review 107 // Dirty Dealings by Rachel Harrison

I'm enjoying these shorter Necromunda themed stories at the moment. I nice to just tip the toes into a theme I enjoy without having to commit to a full-blown 300 plus page novel (looking at the next few Horus Hersey novels).

This time I am reading Dirty Dealings by Rachel Harrison, a 21-page tale of shady dealings in the Underhive. Before I give my feedback here is the official blurb:

A Necromunda story

Weapons dealing is an infamously dangerous business – and Kora Zekk knows that. When she and her comrades deliver a crate of guns to a House Orlock stronghold, she expects to be betrayed and prepares accordingly. So she's far from surprised when it all goes wrong and the Enforcers crackdown on them. Even then, it will take her ingenuity, skill and will to survive to get out of the situation intact…

My Review

Written like a pulp crime novel, we spend the tale enjoying it from the viewpoint of Kora Zekk. This first-person viewpoint gives us a pretty in-depth view of the Underhive. This style of writing allows the author to hold our hand through the entire going on, starting with the selling of weapons to an Orlock gang.

Kora Zekk is an excellent lead in a solidly written story, the plot is clever and not forced and the characters met are engaging and interesting. Overall an impressive little short that makes good use of the 21-page count. For a tiny $5 CAD price for the kindle, I see no reason to not treat yourself and enjoy the read.

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Comic Review 111 // Warhammer 40,000: Marneus Calgar Issue 2

It's been two weeks since issue 1 of Marneus Calgar (Check this link) and I am actually excited to see what issue two gives us. Straight away the cover is so much more exciting than the original one, showcasing Marneus front and centre carving his way through some filthy traitors. It even has a cherub!

Genres: Sci-Fi

Publisher: Marvel

Writer: Kieron Gillen

Artist: Jacen Burrows

Publication date: November 2020 (Not sure of the official date).

Unsurprisingly issue one set up the story nicely for us. We are in the Ultmar system on a world called Nova Thulium. The actual birthplace of Marneus, now under siege by Black Legions following the opening of the warp storms. Whilst set in the present timeline we are also treated to some pre-space marine flashbacks as Marneus relives his childhood memories. The last issue finished with Marneus's troops slaughtering their foes on the planet, whilst in flashbacks younger Marneus was starting his training to be able to become a marine and with his friends was left facing off against an Ambull!

Okay, first issue NO Ambull! WTF Marvel, you just breeze past such a cool thing, shame on you. On a more positive note, we do get to visit the Calgar Estates as Marneus travels home to fortify the estate to aid in the battle against the Black Legion. It is like an over top roman castle, fall of statues of the Chapter Master and other family members who have gone on to become space marines. The main focus of this issue is the flashbacks and I warn you now MASSIVE SPOILER!

Still, reading? Spoiler incoming...

The training is brutal and we start to witness the once-friendly group split in two. Severan and Kato, gain strength and aggression not matched by Marneus and Tacitan, and Crixus continues to push Marneus and Tacitan hard. One night Marneus and Tacitan discover the boys gone and realize they have travelled into the forbidden caves. Following their tracks, the young boys discover a terrible secret. Crixus is, in fact, a follower of the Blood God and discovered a shrine in the caves, where he sends young recruits to spill blood. Soon the battle is joined and the two lads give a good account of themselves against the other boys, that is until Crixus stabs Marnues through the back and into his heart. Tacitan fearing for his friend grabs Marneus and the pair plunge into a chasm. Fall into an underground lake Tactin watches Marneus die!

Yep, Marneus is dead. Tacitan decides to honour his friend by taking on his name and seeking vengeance. Here ends the flashback. The story ends in the current timeline with the now Marneus staring at the statue of his dead friend.

What a great plot twist! I wasn't expecting to discover. Personally, I loved it, but there are definitely going to be some fanboy rages on the internet so watch out!

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Miniature Monday // Building Gantries - Part One the basic

Welcome to a building workshop. I am attempting to build a 4' by 4' table for as cheap as possible. 

As I continue my futuristic gaming board build for Killteam/Necromunda/Judge Dredd/Strontium/Infinity games, I realized I was lacking gantries and walkways. Gantries are the classic futuristic scenery, made famous in any action film that has a factory or warehouse scene. They are great terrain features as they help create height, additional access routes and deadly falls if you mess up.

For a while now I had been searching for the option of making my own. Inspiration struck whilst I was in a dollar store and discovered a $4 train/car road set made out of brightly coloured plastics.

As you can see, it is a cheap piece of tat, that if actually bought for a child would be broken within days or might not even start. It comes with a lot of different length pieces and even a bridge, not bad for $4. I then visited the gardening aisle and grabbed some cheap plastic mesh to act as the wire grates you normally find on these walkways.

As soon as I was home I tipped out the pieces to see what I had. In total, we have two purple pieces that act as risers, five-light blue straight sections, six green corner piece, two orange short pieces, some blue bridge pieces, yellow risers, red signage which some is pretty usable and then some random crap that will end up in the bin. Combining that with the mesh and some hot glue and I've spent somewhere around $10 tops for all this and the mesh will last at least ten boxes worth of tracks if I wanted (I'm sure I will buy more).

With a plan in mind, I started cutting and gluing the first piece. Starting small I went with one of the orange sections and cut mesh to cover the base, then dabbing hot glue along the plastic I went about sticking the mesh down. Moments later I had a finished piece. To be honest it goes together pretty darn quick, which is great news for me as I hate hard projects. Better yet it looks pretty sweet. I will do a Youtube video of the rest of the pieces and then do a blog post about painting them so watch this space!

Let me know what you think in the comments below and take the time to show your support by helping the blog out:

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Mesh: Amazon - Gutter Mesh

Toy track: Dollar Store - Can't find a link.

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Book Review 106 // Wanted: Dead by Mike Brooks

Welcome to Underhive!

Necromunda, as a hive world has been in the 40k lore for a while now. With its infamous Guard Regiment the Spiders, to the origins game of confrontation, Necromunda has inspired the imagination of many a gamer. With the most recent version of the game gaining new followers daily it should be no surprise that Black Library has supported the releases with a huge amount of new literature, from the new Kal Jericho stories to this novella titled Wanted: Dead.

A Necromunda novella

When an ambush in the underhive goes wrong, and a Guilder gets killed, an Escher gang suddenly find themselves outlawed. Now the hunters have become the hunted, and everyone is after their blood…

READ IT BECAUSE

It's a rare excursion into the underhive, where we'll see what happens when gang warfare turns sneaky…

THE STORY

In the teeming hives of Necromunda, from the highest peaks to the lowest depths, life is a constant fight for survival. When an ambush in the Underhive goes wrong, and a Guilder gets killed, an Escher gang suddenly find themselves outlawed. Now the hunters have become the hunted, and everyone is after their blood – enforcers, bounty hunters, even other gangs. With their leader dead, Jarene has to take control and save the lives of herself and her sisters in arms, as well as restoring the honour of their gang. For the fateful ambush was no accident, and the true culprits need to face justice.

My opinion

But what did I think of it I hear you cry. Well, I loved it. It's a well written, story of survival. Following an Escher gang as they are betrayed, outlawed and hunted through the Underhive. Soon the cast of characters is whittled down to three and the betrayals just keep coming. We get to experience exotic locations, that are weird and deadly, we experience creepy milliasaurs and gene forged Goliaths and we finally experience a resurgence and vengeance.

Considering the limited page space of 86 pages, Mike Brooks squeezes a lot in. I was hooked from the start and I hope we revisit the characters again in the future.

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The Blessed Wormlings - A guide to painting - Part Two

A week ago, I posted on here about painting the Blessed Wormlings. If you missed part one, click here. Now, if you have seen part one already, amazing. I ask you to take a moment to hit subscribe and stay up to date with my progress. With all the intros complete, let's get into the grime and head into part two.

Painting Guide: Genestealer Cult - The Blessed Wormlings.

Last week we finished on stage five - Shading. Seems a legit place to restart.

As I mentioned, this would be a great spot to stop and have a great tabletop ready miniature. Due to the fact, I am doing a very, slow growth force, I decided I would add a few extra steps and get a couple more details in place.

Stage 6 - Metallics.

Personally, I hate using metallics, they never look the way I want. At the same time, I am not about to start attempting Non-metallic painting, as I currently lack the skill set for that type of painting. Using Leadbelcher, I hit up a few obvious parts to give them a nice metal finish. Parts like the gun and some little gubbins, nothing too crazy. It's worth noting that it may not be exciting, but it was needed to complete a finished looking model.

Stage 7 - Shading (Part Two).

These second-stage steps are so quick and easy. I love it! Grabbing a pot of Casandora Yellow, I hit the lamp on the pack to give it a touch of shading.

Stage 8 - Highlighting - Gun and Suit.

Due to having darkened the model down, it was time to go back and pick out some highlights. Grabbing the Mephiston Red paint, I proceeded to edge highlight the gun casing. After this step, I got the Waaagh! green and I touched up the mining suit and boots. During this stage, I found myself getting pretty excited about the model, it is looking close to my sample image, and I can imagine the force as a whole and how they will finally all look together.

Stage 9 - Flesh and Glasses.

One thing I noticed, as I looked over the model, was how tanned the figure looks. This did not seem right for a worker, who lives in a graveyard world, eating bugs. I had to fix this, knocking the shade into a paler, more sickly tone. I achieved this by using a straight-up dry brushing of Flayed one flesh, making sure to leave the recesses shaded to produce a strong shadow on the model.

The glasses were a simple add on stage. Using Flayed Flesh paint that I had left on the brush, I mixed in some Ultramarine blue paint to make a light blue, using this, I picked out the top third of the glasses working down.

Stage 10 - Mining Suit, final Highlight.

At this stage, I was feeling pretty happy with the result but felt another highlight should be added to the suit to help it pop. I used Zandri Dust to achieve this, when I first started off I was worried I made a huge mistake, but I stuck with it, ending up with a look I am quite proud of.

Stage 11 - Base.

Then, the final stage was upon us. The base ultimately will help tie the models together, so is a pretty important stage. To get the brown just right, I had to layer with about three coats to get the solid brown I wanted. Then, I set about dry brushing the cork aspects with Zandri Dust, this helps to pick out the texture and then finally, it was all given a heavy wash of Agrax Earthshade to blend it together.

With that, I put the model to the side and called it complete. I would say this is not going to win any prizes, it is definitely painted beyond the standard tabletop level. Ultimately, I hope you have enjoyed this tutorial? If you have hit subscribe and drop me a comment below. Cheers for stopping by.

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Book Review 105 // The Gunslinger by Stephen King

Welcome, everyone. I've been searching for a non 40k or Games Workshop related series to enjoy, and I've been struggling. Nothing grabs my interest like the dark gothic of the 40k verse, but I was recommended the Gunslinger by a few people (got your own recommendation? Reach out in the comments). So I grabbed the first book in the series, strapped on my pistols and dove in.

Surprisingly, a smaller book than I was expecting, clocking in at a mere 231 pages. I was surprised to discover, it is more a set of short stories rather than one epic tale. Before writing up my thoughts, let us read the official blurb.

In the first book of this brilliant series, Stephen King introduces readers to one of his most enigmatic heroes, Roland of Gilead, The Last Gunslinger. He is a haunting figure, a loner on a spellbinding journey into good and evil. In his desolate world, which frighteningly mirrors our own, Roland pursues The Man in Black, encounters an alluring woman named Alice, and begins a friendship with the Kid from Earth called Jake. Both grippingly realistic and eerily dreamlike, The Gunslinger leaves readers eagerly awaiting the next chapter.

Okay, where do I begin? I found this to be a weird novel, where I am left unsure if I liked or disliked the stories. It felt like it expected me to know what was going on, and a lot of the short tales felt so slow in pace, I felt like I was having to grind my way through every one of them. The entire time, it seemed a bit disjointed and forced, it felt like an overly long prologue leaving me wondering if I should have skipped book one and started with book two? What do you think I should have done? Let me know in the comments below.

The book does have some true highlights, one for me was the Slow Mutants. These creatures are pretty creepy and I hoped they would be in the story longer. These highlights though are few and far between. I  found the Man in Black to be rather dull as a villain, with him playing more of a background role to the world the gunslinger passed through. I found myself being more interested in the world at large and was hoping, we would discover more about that.

Where has that left me with the book? Well, to be honest, I want to try book two; but in no way will I be rushing out to find it in the local thrift store. Did I miss something? Have I been ruined by Bolter violence? Let me know and remember to give me a follow and thanks for stopping by.

Ottawa Food // Mike Holland - The Shining Cake vs Beetlejuice.

An all-new section for the blog; Food! Every now and again when I have something truly special I will show it off here.

Well, to start things off I will be showcasing some cakes, with it being Halloween recently the local cake master Mike Holland out of the Morning Owl kitchen here in Ottawa created two masterpieces for his Friday special.

The first was The Shining.

Chocolate Cake, chocolate milk icing, redrum pastry cream, peanut/Oreo/saltine toffee crumble, an axe and bleeding red ganache.

The second was Beetlejuice.

Beetlejuice - Purple Vanilla Cake, Black and White Vanilla Icing, Juice Pastry Cream, Streusel, Tombstone Shortbread and Green Ganache.

For me, the winning cake was Beetlejuice. Light and easy eating, vanilla throughout with what I think is a lime citrus hit from the Juice pastry cream? Was delicious and definitely my preferred cake out of the two.

Let me know what you think, enjoy seeing some of the fun food I eat or would you rather I showcased something else? Better yet suggest somewhere in Ottawa to eat and I will see if I like the menu. As always hit subscribe up top and thank you for reading.

Comic Review 110 // Leviathan by 2000 AD

Stepping into a new one book adventure called Leviathan by my favourites 2000 AD. Now a few things I enjoy straight up with this, 1 - Digital getting to read it on my pixelbook is always a joy, being able to zoom in and get into the artwork is pure joy. 2 - The artwork of D'Israeli, his black and white work is so full of detail and eye-catching I just get lost in it and it really brings extra details to the stories. Purchasing this and waiting for the download I could feel the excitement growing. Here are the comic stats.

Written by Ian Edginton who has worked on a few great comics with D'Israeli before like Stickleback, the artist is obviously D'Israeli, who we know is amazing and finally the Letters by Tom Frame.

Here is the official write up.

All Alone On Infernal Seas!

In 1928 the largest cruise liner the world has ever seen is launched. With a crew and passenger complement totalling nearly 30,000 people the Leviathan is bound for New York. However, it never reaches the Big Apple and simply... disappears!

Twenty years later - with the Leviathan stranded on an unearthly sea - Detective Sergeant Lament begins to investigate the mystery at the liner’s heart. What he discovers will change his world forever - but it might just bring the Leviathan home…

From the creators of Scarlet Traces and The Great Game comes a unique story that will continue to haunt the reader long after the last page has been turned!

Stories include:

• Leviathan
• Chosen Son
• McLean's Last Case
• Beyond the Blue Horizon

So let me get reading and swiping and get some thoughts down here on the blog.

Wow-what a book. This is going to be a hard review without giving away far too many spoilers. Let's start with the location - Leviathan. Built as the world's largest vessel it is basically a fully formed city in the shape of a boat. Think about that for a minute a whole city on a boat! 30,000 souls stuck on a boat lost at sea, there is even a zoo onboard which turns out to be a main source of food following the disappearance of the boat. That's right this giant ass boat disappears on its 1928 maiden trip and has so far been lost for twenty years.

During this period of time, the ship has become a pyramid scheme system. At the top are the aristocrats and the higher up crew, living in First Class and reaping the awards of those beneath them. Then you slowly work through the classes and ship crew until you reach the engine room area. This is where things go a bit weird, no one has had contact with the engine crew in nineteen years, but yet the engine is still running!

Now if that weird setup wasn't bad enough? It would now seem there is a weird mystery unravelling within the first-class quarters of the boat. Following a string of murders the upper-class requests the services of Lament, an ex-detective Sergeant from the Second class area to discover the killer.

And with that, we are on page two! Wow, from here on in we are surrounded by spoilers so I won't go too in-depth but expect a Cthulhu style mystery full of great twists and turns. Overall an amazing local to set the story and then proved popular enough to set off four other stories. The first is about how the engine room crew end up the way they are (I want to talk about this but spoilers!), the second is how alcohol is made onboard, a crazy over the top story - now is it actually myth or truth? This was a great story. We then have one about an amazing lady who attempts to fly ahead and search for land, this is a sad tale and shows how no one can expect to escape. The third and final tale is three images of the captain's log, highlighting the ship's plight and the lead up to the main story. I would have loved this as the opening tale to set up the main story but that is just me knit-picking.

Overall I loved diving into this new world, but I really enjoyed it all being wrapped up in one book. Very refreshing and has readied me to dive back into Judge Dredd.

The Blessed Wormlings - A guide to painting - Part One

Welcome back to the fold of the Star Emperor brothers and sisters! This week our meet up will be all about how to paint your line troops. As we are now aware I have chosen to create a force of The Blessed Wormlings, so I managed to practice the scheme and created a setup I like. Now in the past, I have just dived into painting and ultimately never match my results as I forget setups. But no more! This time I decided I would take pictures to help remind me.

Here are the results of those images:

After sharing these on Instagram and seeing how popular it was, I realized I would be remiss if I didn't do the same on here. So here is the step by step process. I hope you enjoy and if you do please become a subscriber to help support my blog (link in the top corner of the blog). This will be split into two parts based on the nine images in each photo. We are starting on the left image and going from there.

Stage 1 - Uniform

Stage One is simple. Starting with Waagh! Flesh, paint any aspect of the suit that is not cloth. Boots, mask, shoulders and chest plates. Then with Uniform Grey highlight the cloth aspects of the tunic, shelves and trousers.

Stage 2 - Flesh

Flesh - now the model I have started with is pretty humanoid in aspect. The slight bulbous head and of course the claw, but with for this run-through, I am treating him as more on the human scale than genestealer. For other models, I might add in a purple wash or two to add the otherworldly aspect to them. Step one of this stage was blocking out the flesh areas with Zandri Dust before highlighting with some Flayed one flesh. I was after a lighter done as I wished to showcase the poor diet and graveyard nature of their homeworld.

Stage 3 - Gun and Leather

Simple stages, up firsts the contrasting red on the gun body, followed by a healthy wash of Guilliman Flesh across the model to add some dirt. Quick simple and effective.

Stage 4 - Goggles, Lamp and Chitin Armour

This section isn't too hard but helps the model pop a little bit. The Ultramarine blue is used purely on the googles, whilst the Flash Git yellow is out there for the lamp. I then use Contrast Magos Purple for the Chitin armour plates. This was a super quick stage which is wonderful.

Stage 5 - Shading

For this stage, I grabbed the Contrast Black Templar, slightly watered it down and made almost a wash and started picking out areas of ribbing, piping and recesses that I wanted to have showcased a darker shadowed area. I recommend really thinking about this and what areas to hit as it will be harder to fix any mistakes.

And with that stage finished Part, One is complete. At this junction, I would also state it is perfect for tabletop paint standard. You have more than three colours and some nice focal points. Considering this is a standard line troop you can call it to quit, but personally, I want to hit it with a few highlights before calling done, so that is what part two will be all about.

I hope you enjoyed it and it would be great if you followed me on one of the platforms to show support (I will leave some links). Also, remember to hi in the comments and leave some feedback. See you next Monday for part two.

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