Dark Vengence: The Novel - Review

Over the past two days I’ve read this book and whilst everyone else is out there giving their opinions on the Hellbrute figure and how best to paint the bone of the Deathwing I thought I’d give a quick review of Dark Vengence: The Novel, the Black Library’s offering for the new edition.



Hard bound, as looking at the Chaos Space Marine codex will be the way of things during 6th edition, and penned by CZ Dunn (also known as an editor by the name of Christian Dunn). The story is clearly intended to be accessible to younger readers, with a large spaced typeface that barely fill up the 126 pages and short attention capturing chapters. This is not said as a complaint, but is worth noting so as people know what to expect.

In fact the short chapter style is probably the books greatest asset, as it provides the perfect opportunity for a very broad range of viewpoints to be explored in so few words. In greater and lesser amounts we get some story from the points of view of seven Dark Angels, two Chaos Space marines and two Chaos Cultist Leaders. The last two are only single chapters that go into depth on the characters backgrounds, detailing how they came to be fighting alongside the Crimson Slaughter Chaos Space Marines and tying them into the box set figures nicely.

It’s the story told through the Marines views that drive the narrative forwards. Between the White Dwarf (Sept. ‘12 – 393) and the contents of the box the outline of the story and some salient details about the characters are fairly well known, and I won’t spoil it all any further. Suffice to say that the story is simple and fast paced.

The story’s best part in my opinion were the flash back scenes that detailed what characters had been up to before their arrival at Banes Landing, the books setting. The tale of Sergent Arion’s good fortune in the Fourth Company before becoming a member of the Ravenwing or learning some of the details behind Mortis Metalikus’ creation were great parts. I feel also,that Dunn captured the mistrust, secretive and layered ways of the Dark Angels at all levels of the chapter with uncertainty and duplicity being constant in the ways the Dark Angels handle things. However all these flashbacks add to the fact that the central story is brief at best, token at worst. Not the biggest crime for a little add-on to a main product, but at £12rsp it is expensive for what you get.

I’ll give this a 5.5/10. The story was enjoyable though brief and the characters were interesting though underdeveloped individually. The biggest problem I have with the book though is the price, it seems too much for 126 sparse pages to compliment a box set, although if you get a chance to read it the little time you’ll use will not be wasted.

What I Read (Focused)–Doc Bungle’s Tournament Prep

Over the past few weeks Doc Bungle over at Miniature Musings of a Bear has been showcasing his Cygnar forces that he took to his first tournament this past weekend. I’ve been following the articles with real joy, not only because the choices he has made are similar to the one I would have but also because he has given such great reasons behind the choices. This series may not be an in depth tactica but it really is interesting, thorough and clear. On top of that Dave’s army looks great and filthy. Below are a few pictures from his posts and links to the different articles he posted.

	Intro Post Squire Stormguard Stormclad Journeyman Warcaster Strangeways Aiyana & Holt Ol’ Rowdy Gun Mages Storm Strider
	Reinforcements Warcasters The great hobby bear has also promised us a write up about his tournament experience soon. By all accounts he did alright.

Seeing all this inspires me to put together a ‘Works of the Inquisitor’ post about my own Cygnar force and my limited experiences with Warmachine.

‘New’ White Dwarf Review

“At the end of the epic quest lies daemonhood, spawndom or a bitter hate-filled death”

So Thursday afternoon I picked my post out of the mailbox and found the new White Dwarf had arrived. Two happy days early. Having avoided Twitter and most blogs for a few days now so as not to tarnish my first impressions I was very pleased to receive it two days early. Now normally White Dwarf reviews are WarLlama’s area not mine, but this is something special so I figured I’d stick my oar in. And I mean it, this issue is really something special. This is a change on the level of ‘Fat Dwarf’ if not bigger.

First of all some external changes that have gone on. This is the October 2012 issue, not issue 394. Looks like there will be no more numbers, not a big problem but perhaps a little sad given how high a number we had come to. The general layout of the cover has taken a change, bold headlines, new (pictured above) logo and back to a quote on the spine. Speaking of which, where is the rest of my Dark Angel spinal image? Whilst my WD collection is not as impressive as Nick Simmerson’s I have about 100 issues lined up on display and I gave this years issues their own box for display.

           

The cover doesn’t just look different, it feels it as well. Thicker paper for the cover and gloss images on the front and the back, it’s a very fancy affair.

                 

And whilst it’s clear from the outside of the issue that this isn’t your granddads White Dwarf it’s the content that is what really matters, and it has changed that much is sure. As we’ll see throughout the magazine there is a pretty dense, photo heavy layout. At 152 pages this is 25% larger again than the previous issue. The new releases section of the magazine and the back section that covers hobby centres and independent stockists are larger than ever but beyond that there is only one, double page spread that could be described as a true advert. I’m not saying that the entire magazine doesn’t try (quite hard and effectively) to sell GW products, but everything else is slotted neatly into articles and features. Those there are plenty of.

So after the preamble comes the New Releases section, 46 pages of it. The focus is on the new Chaos Space Marines codex and figures coming out, some stunning stuff, but the focus of this review is White Dwarf itself. However to get a nice photo of some new models here and show off something pretty special from the magazine I present this…



On top of this we see that White Dwarf has a four page, opening up spread, quite a way to display new products. Each featured model includes a description of it in terms of fluff and a ‘discussion’ on the model from a visual standpoint and a little about gameplay. These write ups were done by various members of the White Dwarf team and are initialled to indicate who wrote it. I feel that this is one of the many little touches throughout the new WD that give the feeling of a much more modern, mature and ‘professional’ magazine than we’ve received before. Alongside all of the new Chaos releases are multiple pages about Black Library and Forge World releases, plus a double page on Relic from Fantasy Flight Games, the 40k version of Talisman. Plus a mention of the upcoming Blood Bowl: Chaos Edition coming soon from Cyanide. There is another two pages about digital products, most notably White Dwarf Digital Edition, that’ll be a discussion for another day…

Army of the Month is the first true article, it provides a look at Ben Johnson’s (formally of the Bad Dice Podcast) Skaven army. The introduction to the piece includes an explanation as to their plans for showcasing armies from the studio as well as armies from the larger community. Ben’s Skaven was a great example, a fantastic and detailed looking army.

The images that fill this issue are almost all tagged by a little number (Ben Johnson’s Forge World Vermin Lord is number 3) that matches with one of the small sections of text, this provides a greater amount of detail than a simple caption and a description and purpose to every picture. A considerable amount of information is included in these blocks throughout the issue.

Jervis’s two page write-up about some part or another of the hobby (this time comp. and army limits) is in there the same as it ever has been (recent article about how the focus of his focus has changed over time aside), and is as enjoyable, amiable and ‘hippie’ as ever. Again the new formatting, and mug shot add to the feel of a more mature magazine.

Can you imagine anything more GQ in your White Dwarf

Next up is a battle report, no spoilers here about the results, a whole world of conspiracies exist to debunk the meaning of ‘winning’ a bat. rep. any way. Andrew Kenrick (the previous WD editor) as the Alpha Legion vs. Adam Troke (40k 6th. designer) as White Scars. This is a 1,750 point battle where they openly and up front say they want to showcase the new things for the bad guys. So not a very narrative game but a pretty decent battle split up in to first turn, mid game and end game. Again there is some serious photo density across the pages with bullet point descriptions and a mixture of third person and first person looks as to what was going on. I enjoyed the report and the style, it felt like a good game of 40k played between generals who were both trying to win.

The Rivals was a discussion between a Warhammer Fantasy Vampire Counts general and a Dark Elf general, I’ve only browsed through it as neither army interests me a great deal. However the format was that of a discussion between the two with point and counter point raised and debated. A very interesting idea for the future, and again read like an FHM group interview article.

You’ve probably already seen the video of Angron the first of Forge Worlds Primarchs to be released for their upcoming Horus Heresy book. But here is a picture of him and a description of how Simon Egan went about sculpting him. The rest of the cover article about the Horus Heresy goes in to some details about the upcoming book, ‘The Betrayal’ and the Horus Heresy series of Black Library novels. It is a light read that I as a fan of the series and figures found to be enjoyable if not overly ground breaking. The side bar about the HH’s real life timeline was interesting, now I want the Horus Heresy CCG that was launched at the end of my ‘get a girl and life’ absence that so many of us take from the hobby.

Bringing out all of the big guns for this premiere issue we also find John Blance weighing in with a Blanchitsu and a lovely self portrait, done in the style of a 40k Inquisitor that I’m sure many will recognise. Then his article goes on to discuss John’s Inquisitorial Warband, the art he has whipped up for them, the figures he has converted and the lovely archaic accoutrement he has assembled to go with it all. A really inspiring little article that continues to show that no matter your opinion on his art style, he has a real mastery over the aesthetics of the GW games.

Also a popular series of articles from the ‘old’ White Dwarf is the Citadel Hall of Fame, and returning here is a double page on the Necron C’tan The Nightbringiner. With a whole page going to a picture of the studio figure and then a couple of close-ups as well, there is not too much text here, nominated and defended by ‘Eavy Metal’s Anja Wettergren and accepted by the figures sculptor Alex Hedström. There is comment about what a joy the model is to paint and the lovely flowing lines, all well and good and true. What I’d like to have seen is some images of other versions and uses of The Nightbringer, especially as comment is made as to how many times and how effectively The Nightbringer has been used as the base for detailed and varied conversions.

Parade Ground & Kit Bash are both showcase articles, the first looks at loads of varied figures from the collections of members of the studio team. To call these figures basic would be a disservice, but at the same time they are for the most part simply examples of well done, out of the box units from GW’s three games. Lacking any great focus it’s hard to pick much to stand out here, although Duncan Rhodes’ dragon skull bearing Peasants are fun. I’d have rather seen a varied selection of figures about a theme of some kind, one army, one figure, one painting style, etc. Kit Bash was exactly that, three different Ork Bombers, again more detail could have been added, but for those looking to kit bash their own Bombers, or any other Ork vehicle there is definitely inspiration to be found here.


Battle Ground give the detail about a project that I’m talking about, six pages describing the pieces, effects and idea that went into the Urdek Refinery; one of the themed boards that was used in the 6th edition 40k rule book. This has the mixed blessing of being made up almost entirely from GW terrain pieces, meaning that it is nice and clear what has been used to do what and anyone could recreate or take direct inspiration. Of course the down side is the fact that only those working for GW can afford to work on this kind of scale. Still the article does contain a lot of great ideas and goes through the thought process behind a lot of the decisions. A lot can be learnt here, I really hope that alongside massive pieces like this the future of Battle Ground pieces include ideas for small scale and home made pieces of terrain. Also note the red word at the start of each section heading, that is carried out throughout the entire magazine and is another of the little touches that add to the smart feel of the design.

Continuing the useful hobby tips section as we near the back of the magazine, is Paint Splatter. The focus here is on Chaos Space Marines. Various Legions are described in the format to the left here along with rust techniques and detail on how to copy the studios different Daemonfire (chaos glow) techniques. Also included is a section on Ork Dakka Jets and tips from Ben Johnson from the start of the magazine on how he painted his banners and warpstone for the Skaven. The image to the left is a Sons of Horus Forge World marine, they also cover Emperor’s Children, World Eaters and Death Guard in their heresy-era colours.

Jeremy Vetock, occasional stand-in for Jervis, GW games designer and all round ‘hobby champion’ also has his say in this issue, he talks about dreaming big and wanting to make his games as epic and perfect as possible. The article itself is an interesting read, I hope that if he stays a regular contributor his articles include a little more in the way of details on top of the inspiring but vague thought.

After 17 pages of store listings, recommendations for going to a Hobby centre, following them on Facebook, subscribing to White Dwarf et cetera, comes the final section of mini articles, This Month In… Covering four different operations, White Dwarf, The Design Studio, Forge World and Black Library. These are great little reads, just a few pages each. I felt they really captured a lot of what I wanted to hear about things in general and also really gave the right feel about the hobby from White Dwarf and some honest to God decent information about the other teams’ work.

All in all I’m very pleased with the new White Dwarf. There are facets that can improve and I hope the quality of thought behind the articles continues. I like the lack of advertising throughout the entire magazine and I wouldn’t even begrudge one or two article appropriate half pages more if they felt they needed them, although they can hold off on the full barcode and price point idea of previous terrain articles for example. Not being  the hardest of reviewers I’m going to give this issue a 8.5/10.

For WarLlama’s sake here is a picture of the issue’s advert, I know how he loves them. Plus the last page image, I guess we all know what the focus of November’s issue will be (to be released on October 27th).

"A wizard is never late!"

What I Read (Focused) - WarLlama 40k: Warllama is 1!

Tim of WarLlama 40k has now turned one! Well his blog did yesterday, as I've said before this is one of my favourite blogs and I'd recommend it to anyone interested in the hobby. He is also running a competition goin into his second year to up his followers, so please head over there, wish him HAPPY BIRTHDAY and  if you don't already, follow him...

... NOW

WarLlama 40k: Warllama is 1!: So my humble blog has reached the huge milestone of 365 days! Sometimes it feels like I've been doing this for ages, but at the same time th...

What I Read–WarLlama

Here we are with an absolute favourite blog of mine, WarLlama. Tim (@WarLlama40k) is a fellow member of the Shellcase Alliance and a fantastic blogger. Mostly a hobby site, there are regular updates of his progress with various armies alongside a steady flow of news and reviews.

As you can see from the WarLlama banner above, Tim’s focus is entirely GW and mostly 40k. He doesn’t have large painted armies, but after seeing some of his recent videos and reading his posts you quickly understand that like most of us, his collection far outstrips his completion rate. More impressive however is the constant progress he seems to be making. Few weeks go by without some sort of post about hobby progress getting done. Be it the addition of Necrons to his army range or how to create bases in the style of a Dwarven drinking hall.

Recently Tim had a week free from work where he planned to paint up all of his Necron's, a search on Twitter under the #Warllamanecronweek should show everything that he did through the week, and his post afterwards sums it all up nicely. Now painting the entire army in a week went as well as anyone could expect, but that didn't stop it being an awesome and enjoyable week of progress reports.

A highlight of the WarLlama are his White Dwarf reviews. These are fantastic, including a range of back issues going back to the good old days (pre Fat Dwarf) and including each issue as it is released now. A recent inclusion is video reviews to go besides his written summary. Tim is fair, but harsh. His leaning towards 40k colours his views, but not as much as his dislike for pages thrown away on advertising pictures. This is a  really fun series that I’m pleased to see he is fully behind, he just recently bought a new batch of old WD’s from ebay.
A lovely page on the site, and one that I may work on copying some time (maybe for the new year) is the Scores and Stats section. A great idea where w/l/d’s for different armies and ratings for WD’s and Black Library novels are recorded. A recent success was Tim’s Battle Report, Necrons vs. Ultramarines allied with Tau (Tim’s force). A game of 6th edition 40k that was described in a narrative fashion following advice he got from Vox Diaries of the Imperium (also in the Shellcase Alliance).

All in all WarLlama is a really enjoyable blog written by an everyday dedicated hobbyist. Tim carries it all off in a style that really suits me, hence this is always the first blog I check when I get to sit down in the evening. As always I hope anyone that follows the links from here find something that they like as well, I’d love to hear back on anyone's opinions on the WarLlama.

What I Read–Miniature Musings of a Bear

Here is the second of the blogs that drive the #Warmongers Twitter community. Miniature Musings of a Bear is the blog of Dave (@DocBungle) and is very active and varied. You get plenty of Games Workshop coverage here but the focus feels like it sits heavily on news and hobby from other games.

Doc Bungle’s blog is a joy of regular news & rumours, previews, reviews, re-blogs from all corners and some fantastic army updates from Doc Bungle’s own forces.

Left: Dark Eldar Talos Above: Cryx Bane Knights

Below: Ork Mega Nobs Right: Guild Death Marshall

The Bear has a fantastic series of interviews within his blog; the Bear All Showcase. These are a set of questions replied to by various bloggers that are involved in parts of the hobby. Not only are the answers often fun, showing a great degree of personality and humour from the community but they also provide a great way of learning about blogs you may not have seen that could be really interesting.

Just recently Doc Bungle has been arranging a #Warmongers random meet up at Stafford Games on August 26th. I wish I could be there, but new baby and no more holiday means no chance, next time maybe.

What I Read – The Shell Case

A little update for anyone who reads this now. The Shellcase Forums have closed down due to not being used so much. Whilst this is a shame it is a sign of the fantastic community that Phil, et al have grown over Twitter and across the blog network. To that end the Shellcase Alliance has received it's own website and is as strong as ever.

I wrote this post a few days ago as part of my attempt to get on top of blogging and have content ready to post. I'd thought to put it up tomorrow when I was home and had some free time. but as The Shell Case is celebrating it's one year birthday today it feels like I should get this out. So Happy Birthday Phil, well done and thanks for the hard work and inspiration.

Here are one of the two blogs I feel stand back the #Warmongers, a fantastic Twitter community that stretches the world over and covers many games and aspects of the hobby. Whilst the community is widely spread in interests as well as location I believe it’s success stems from the dedication of Phil (@TheShellCase) of the Shell Case and Dave (@DocBungle) of Miniature Musings of a Bear.

The Shell Case blog is many things all in one. There are a lot of reviews and early looks at models and games, although recently at least they have been focused on games that don’t interest me so much. There have also been a lot of ‘personal opinion’ posts, these of late have been focused on the new fluff of 40K and an entertaining look at Ultramarines from a guest writer (#Warmonger @tjstep83).
The support to the community goes far beyond his own blog posts however The Shell Case blog is also the hub for four extra, and excellent  services.
The Shell Case Alliance is a group of hobby related blogs that are all accessible from one place. The members (and especially the two bloggers covered today) re-blog each other and support each others projects and competitions etc. Many blogs that I cover over time will be members of the Shell Case Alliance as it is a great resource for finding the works and opinions of people within the hobby.
The Shell Case Shorts is a series of monthly (or thereabouts I think) writing competitions run by Phil and supported by a great selection of prizes. The topics have ranged from Steampunk to design a Space Marine chapter. I’ve read some of the winners and really enjoyed them, one day I’ll enter. Simon (my most regular commenter) should really think about entering these.
The Shell Case Forum is a great forum that anyone can join up to and all of the writers within the Shell Case Alliance are members of. It’s not the busiest forum in the world, but like the Alliance you can find discussions and help on a massive range of topics.
The Shell Case Chronicles is a paper.li online paper that has a collection of articles from around the web with a broad pull of hobby related topics. A great browse that updates regularly.
The Shell Case blog is a great resource and a great read, one of the four five blogs I check daily, and Phil’s regular and interesting comments and discussions on Twitter add massively to the appeal.