It's a start

So just got the Skaven opinions up and although it isn't me best work, it's a start. Expect more to be added here before this years end.

Skaven Battletome 4th Edition - Thoughts and Opinions

I have returned once again to the faction that really boosted my love for the hobby, those lovable ratmen, the Skaven.

I've always been cautious when it comes to Skaven representation as these editions come out, so when the previews for the new range came out I was both excited and concerned. Thankfully (for the most part), I can honestly say that I love what has come out so far for them. If you are reading this expecting a complex deep dive or an in-depth look at rules and units, it's best to look elsewhere for that. It's not that I don't want to look at this Battletome more in-depth, I just don't have the time, though I may come back later on for that. Instead, this is just a few personal opinions on the book. So with that, lets get started.

 The Lore

Lore wise, congratulations to The Great Horned Rat for his ascendance to officially becoming the 5th Chaos God. While he has always been a Chaos God, he never had the level of status of one of the main four and with Slaanesh still not back, he has played the game well enough to be able to sit at the big table now. The fact that he now has an official emotion that defines his power, the mortal emotion of Desperation, really cements his power as a 5th Chaos God. It's just nice to see him get some more development in this area. The idea that the main four Gods think they are still in control while the Horned Rat pretends to be their pawn for his own benefits shows how far his manipulative skill has grown since the Old World.

I'm still disappointed that Thanquol got little Lore wise compared to the two new named characters, both whom I have mixed feelings on. Still, there is still a lot on the Clans and units to help people who are new to Skaven to get an overall understanding of their race and how insane and evil they are.

The Bad

So let's get the things I don't like out of the way and the one major issue I have with: Gnawholes. Yes, Gnawholes. While yes, with the various holes in reality bursting open and Skaven poring out of them is fluffy given the narrative they are weaving, I truly hate the idea that your main rules mean you need to use faction terrain just to have any competitive chance. I now know how depressing a Sylvaneth player must feel when they want to build an army (though I feel with that faction it could simply be resolved by just having terrain already in their deployment zone count as an Awakened Wildwood, with them using abilities and spells to make other terrain pieces count as Wildwoods). Some will be fine with it, but it's something I take issue with and makes things like Stormfiend Grinderfists and Warp-Grinders feel like a waste.

If you were also a fan of Eshin or Pestilens, then it's a complete bag of disappointments for you as both factions lost units and got little to replace them. Pestilens lost their Plague Priest on foot and their Plague Censer Bearers, but did get their Underworlds Warband to now count as a Plaugepack, which is more like a Plague Priest on foot with entourage. Eshin on the other hand lost their Gutter Runners and their Underworlds Warband got sent to Legends. As if insult to injury for them, they got skipped over for a Battle Formation. No doubt they'll have something to say at the next Council meeting.

Yes, Moulder lost Giant Rats and Rat Swarms, but they did get a Brood Terror. It will be up to their player base to decide if it was a good trade off.

The Mixed

Now mixed bag. I don't know about Krittok Foulblade, though that may be more down to him just not being interesting enough to me. Sure he had a Verminlord trapped in a sword, but I need something that makes him stand out from other Skaven characters. Speaking of Verminlords, we also got another type of Verminlord, though not one that represents Clans Skryre or Moulder (though both Clans do have a lot more going for them, so it seems reasonable that such Verminlords aren't a thing yet). Vizzik Skour represents the more single minded devotion of faith to The Great Horned Rat and one who may inadvertently be responsible down the road for another civil war amongst the Skaven. Verminlords were never a thing for my Skaven, but he seems like his rules look decent enough and he does have his own Army of Renown.

 The Good

Now what do I like? Returning to the Armies of Renown, both look very thematic, with Thanquol's own Menagerie of monsters being rather 'Thanquol' in nature. I actually like the idea of having armies themed around special characters as it adds both a new unique playstyle to a faction, but also adds to the Lore of those characters. Obviously it will be some time before enough Battletomes are release to see how well this idea is handled.

We also can't go past all the neat stuff Skryre has gotten. It's no secret that my allegiance is to Skryre as I have long since been a fan of things like Techno-Sorcerey. So obviously when all the kit's were reveled, I was obviously was excited. So what did I think worked and what didn't. Well to get the negatives sorted first, I wasn't a fan of Weapon Teams being in units of three and Doom-Flayer's in unit's of twos, though I am slowly warming up to it. It just felt at the time that many of us didn't have the right number of same models to fill a unit and will still be some time until I have all the options available to me.

That's not to say they aren't good. They still get the benefits of Clanrat protection for the Weapon Teams and you could just have a full six Rattling Guns to just unload on your opponents. The new Warpvolt technology is good, though limiting it's bonus to Anti-Cavalry was a good idea, but you should run them with the new Warlock Galvaneer as he does give them a good once per battle buff. As for said Doom-Flayer's, they are still great Anti-Infantry killing machines, though I feel they would work well with a Warp-Grinder to have them burst out of the ground and go charging into an enemy. The Globadiers are also great looking, though a little unsure how effective they can be as they are competing with the Weapon Teams. The Ratling Warpblaster is good, but feel that it may have been pushed into a list full of War Engines, so time will tell how well they are incorporated into Skryre lists.

Also, just going to say it, that Brood Terror model looks great. There is an argument to be made over the Brood Terror vs Hellpit Abomination, but I'm the kind of person who would take both simply because both a great looking models and I prefer variety over competitive.

It's probably something I think most Skaven lovers will agree and that all these new models just look amazing. The design team have out done themselves on this and it should be acknowledged. Actually, the art in the book is also rather great. Good year for Skaven creativity overall I say.

Path to Glory

This brings me to the other thing I really wanted to talk about, Path to Glory. Or rather, the Anvil of Apotheosis to be more precise. For a while now I have felt that the creativity was missing from this hobby and I guess I feel it's because many YouTube channels seem to focus on playing like tournaments as opposed to just playing games for fun. Even modern White Dwarf issues lack the creative articles on things like kitbashing or designing a Nemesis for your army to fight against. Path to Glory has always been the fantasy version of army building while still telling a story and I feel that this hero creator with the Anvil of Apotheosis might be the thing that sparks my creativity back with all this.

To sum it up, you get to create a Hero based on destiny points and the points cost associated with it ( 10DP for 150pts, 30DP for 250pts and 50DP for 350pts). This Hero can be your Warlord and as such I do believe it overrides the 300pt limit on the Warlord roster, as there is nothing to suggest it doesn't (not that it should matter as your playing to have fun right?). Your Hero starts of with base stats and a base weapon, you spend your destiny points to improve that hero over several sections. For the Skaven, these sections are:

• Great Clan (the Clan your Hero is from)
• Origin (pick one to add it's benefits)
• Flaw (optional negative, but gives you more DP to spend)
• Mount (So a Skryre Contraption or various Moulder Beasts)
• Mount Upgrades (upgrades for mount - buffs or companion weapons)
• Character Upgrades (upgrades stats, main weapon, an extra range weapon, gaining the wizard/priest status etc)

From here your Hero is ready to go. Just pick a Path for them to follow and play some games. You can just use the normal models to represent them, but I can definitely see people kitbashing all sorts of characters in the future and as more Battletomes come out they will no doubt make things more interesting for the various factions. I've already started my own unique character, an insane Warlock Engineer in a large walking Skryre contraption, though am also going to make slightly modified Brood Terror to have as a Moulder Hero in his own Path to Glory, but still usable in normal games (where as my Warlock will not). 

Overall

So what are my overall feelings with this Battletome? Well it's brought me back here to talk about Skaven, so I'd say that's a rather big positive for me. Am a little bummed about how badly Eshin was shafted compared to the other Clans, but overall it does feel like it still has the fun and charm of what I like about the Skaven that actually makes me want to play them in Age of Sigmar. I was even able to dust off an old model and bring him back, so who knows where this will all go, but hopefully I'll start getting some more Skaven stuff put up here over the next few months.

We shall see.

He's needs a few repairs, but Skrag the Gatekeeper has returned.

Been a while

Oh boy, has it been a while since I put anything up on here. It was always my intention to continue this Blog with regular updates, but as with all things in life, things never go the way you plan. It's not like this is the only thing of mine that hasn't been updated in a while if you follow some of my other media spots.

I'm hope to change that over the next few years as I push myself to achieve some level of momentum for my various plans and projects. The first will be my look at the recent Skaven Battletome, which will be more of an opinion and thoughts piece as oppose to an actual review. This is due to the fact that I simply can give a proper review on something I don't regularly play and so will instead talk about what I like and dislike with hopefully a more friendlier viewpoint (as oppose to just being angry about something). Won't be the greatest piece, but I look forward to talking about the little ratmen again. Should be up within the next week or so.

Let's see what happens.

Thoughts on the recent Warhammer previews

With all the info that we got on all the big name previews that Games Workshop showed off, I thought I'd just give my own personal thoughts on it. These are my own thoughts and will most likely differ from the thoughts of others, but it's an interesting insight into what I like out of the Warhammer hobby. If you haven't seen any of what was shown off, check out the Warhammer Community site for articles showing off these announcements.

Warhammer 40K 10th Edition:

Straight off the bat, I feel sorry for anyone who bought the 9th edition rulebook or any Codex. The idea that you paid for something that has now been rendered useless in 10th has got to hurt. At least they plan to give out free rules for each faction to use to start 10th (until they can bring out new Codex's to sell), which is at least something. I mean, if you followed rumours over the last year or so the announcement of 10th edition won't be much of a surprise, but it still has some things that are worth looking into.

Bringing back The Lion for the Dark Angles will hopefully have more of a shake up Lore wise, which might actually add more to the story of Cypher and the Fallen, which has sort of gone slightly stale given the appearance in the Chaos Space Marines Codex. Given that we have had now three Chaos Primarchs, it only makes sense to start adding to the Imperials a few more of their own Primarchs. I imagine ones like Leman Russ and Fulgrim will most likely be next, with Perturabo most likely not showing up until they find a way to bring back Rogal Dorn and Corax will probably show up once Lorgar makes his return. As for the others, they would be linked directly to storylines associated with their Chapters (such as the return of Vulkan for the Salamanders once all his relics have been recovered story).

Rules wise I am curious about. It's clear that a number of rules have been altered to make the game more easier to play and for games to move quicker thanks to a lot of them now being universal. I have also seen some that have been inspired by rules used in Age of Sigmar, though I am wondering what else they have taken from it. For instance, If we look at some of the more recent Codex's, the stratagem for giving a second model a Warlord trait is missing in some of them. This falls in line with how Age of Sigmar's Warlord traits work, with only the Warlord getting it and no more being able to be used (though I imagine that Special Characters will still get access to their own). I wonder if things like Damage will follow the same route, as currently in 40K if you do two attacks with damage 2, if both fail save then only a max of 2 models can die if they have one wound, where in Age of Sigmar if two attacks with damage 2 have both fail saves then four models with one wound can die as the damage in AoS roll over. Will 40K take this also as a change? If so, what other changes will alter the game? Guess we wait and see.

Also, unlike most, I felt the animated trailer felt a little too silly (well, some of the Tyranid designs were for sure).

Kill-Team:

Votann needed a Kill-Team to bring them more align with other factions Kill-Teams, but what surprised me was the Beastmen one. Given that Chaos already had two box Kill-Teams, there wasn't really a need for a non-daemon one, or any more Chaos ones as it was. Don't get me wrong, I do love the fact that we got some 40K Beastmen as an actual squad, but I feel that people were hoping for a Kill-Team based on a faction that hadn't had a box release. Have to wait and see how people react to them.

Horus Heresy:

I'll be honest, this game isn't for me so I won't waste anyone's time by giving a half-arse try and it. I recommend finding people who are invested in the game to give their opinion on it (and there are a few of them, so you'll have no trouble finding them).

Age of Sigmar:

Don't know why, but I'm unsure how to react to this one. On one hand, I assume that Nagash would have his minions united under him in some big twist for his return. On the other hand, having the various Death factions turn on each other (if that what the release is eluding too) is something I highly approve of. I feel like unlike the other three factions who have various Gods and Heroes that lead to internal conflicts on a large scale, Death had always seen as all serve under Nagash and to refuse is to be obliterated. Outside of Mannfred, no one really stands out as a to oppose such rule. With the bone boys wanting more bones and now it seems they are targeting the Soulblight's minions for them, such conflict could really work to separate such unity.

 Or I'm wrong, so there's that.

That said, they have a new Vampire who loves Bats, so am going to have to add that to my force (which I have only just completed, so hopefully I'll have photos of them up soon).

The Seraphon look amazing. While I am going to choose the Skinks over the Saurus, that doesn't change how the newer designs have really added to the cold-blooded killers feel. An excellent example is the new Kroxigors. They have a much stronger feel to them compared to their previous designs and look much more dangerous as a result. Might need to add a unit to my list, but this is one faction to certainly worth waiting for.

Finally, there was a show off of the new Cities of Sigmar human troops and.....yeah, didn't feel too excited by their new designs. Much like the changes to the Soulblight's Skeleton Warriors (which I hated), these don't give me the kind of design evolution that they should have. They seem to lack a sort of devotion to Sigmar that the older models had. What I mean is, they should feel like they have more trinkets and heraldry with devotion to Sigmar, given that this is the era where they are intent on reclaiming the realms for Sigmar, so they should really show that faith in their duty to it. Will wait and see what else gets shown off in the future before truly deciding where I stand on these new designs.

Underworlds:

Now this is what I'm talking about. Yes some of the Stormcast look a little generic, but their leader looks great. However, that's not where my focus was on. The Ephilim’s Pandaemonium is what I truly have been waiting for as a fan of Tzeentch. The idea of someone cataloging the various daemons is great and all, but then showing off some of them is what makes this truly stand out for me. Are they a little plain? Well yes, but for a small scale game that is perfectly fine. I just really want more variety of Daemons when it comes to Tzeentch, because it suites him in every way to have such are large variety of Daemons what are altered versions of ones that we already have. He is a God of Change, so the variety of them would be endless. Either way, this one is something I have taken an actual interest in.

Overall, I feel that as far as previews go, this was one of their better ones. Lots of cool stuff (even if you ignore the 10th edition announcement) and certainly giving many players something good to look forward too.

So to sum up the beginning into the new year

So by day 3 of 2023, I was already rushed to hospital because of my heart. Sounds like this year is starting with a bang.

2022 was a whole mess of things and nothing I planned ever worked out the way I had wanted. Even the three main goals for my miniatures project never got done (one was so close, but the last month or two just fell apart for that).

As such, I'm going to keep things at a minimum this year. I have a feeling that the stress of the last few years has begun to take a serious toll on my physical health and until I know more about the causes of this heart issue, I have to take it easy. There for, I will focus more on Skirmish and small games over the large ones. I will also limit more of the spending so as to not add more to the ever growing pile of shame, with only expanding on what I already have. I have a Genestealer Cult Kill-team built, but will limit adding things to characters and maybe a few small add-ons for the small Arks of Omen boarding crew (as one example).

I also want to get the real project I want to do off the ground this year. This means an upgrade to equipment and starting small, working my way to the bigger stuff one I can find someone who can make high quality puppets. I may not have the space to start at the moment, but I can't sit around waiting for something to happen or I'll never get anywhere.

I also need to get back into writing more Animated Reflections this year too. I picked up some classic 80's stuff from a place in the city, but have yet to set up the multi-region dvd player to sit down and watch them. I feel I have really neglected that part of this blog for sometime and I should fix that this year.

I also plan to move away from some of the hate I am seeing a lot lately. Indeed, a lot of this seems to be in the Sonic fandom. While I have tried to defend them in the past (all fandoms have some problems, it's very common), I find myself feeling more disconnected from this fandom in particular. I might talk about this in more depth at some later date, but I will be moving back from it for a while, just to cut out more negativity.

While it is foolish to believe this year will be better, apart of me does hold hope that some things will change in a more positive way. I do plan on making more positive steps to better my health, but the space and time things I still have to work seriously on if I hope to make things better. Also plan to find ways to work with my Autism and ADHD, instead of letting those aspects take too much control away from me. Hard to stay focused when both keep pulling you apart. 

We'll wee what happens.

Until next time...

A Positive Post

 I am still fuming over yesterday and it will take some time before I'll can talk more about THAT movie. Today, however, is one with positivity.

First off, the Australian Federal Election is finally over (and hopefully all those forsaken UAP ads). We finally got rid of the arrogant and sef-absorbed morons, with an increase in Green votes just makes it all the sweeter.

I've also been working on a few Blood Bowl teams. I have found that doing one or two models here and there helps keep me going, even if its slow. Main ones I am working are an Underworld team and a Necromatic Horrors team. The latter is my attempt at a simple Halloween theme on to go with the festive theme Space Wolves. Speaking of which, finally settled on a colour scheme for the Thunderwolves, but will alter their riders with a Snowman look.

Finally, found a video about an app that lets you take photos of objects and turn them into 3D objects in 3D software. This could be a rather useful tool. I prefer to work with props, but given the space I have means that I have rather limited options. Something like this could provide a solutions to a few of the problems I've encountered.

Overall, a much better day then yesterday.

Rescue Rangers Movie Review/Rant

You all knew this was coming, so here it is. I saw the Rescue Rangers movie and wish I hadn't. Good lord was it horrific and cringy to sit through. I know what some will say, that it's just a movie and nothing to get offended about and they might be right. However, today I will give myself permission to get offended over this shit, because I'm passionate about it.

So let's start with the positives: Seeing Ugly Sonic made me want to go back and watch the far more superior Sonic movies, which I don't think that was what they were going for.

Now let's move on to the negatives. The story is terrible. It may have worked if the characters they had based them on were one's off a series and only that series in question, but we are talking about Chip and Dale, who have been around for some time, including after the Rescue Rangers show ended. The movie makes it out that were best of friends and that they only worked together on that show for Disney and nothing else for them before or after. That Rescue Rangers is what made them famous before breaking up as a result of Dale. The rules for this so-called universe seem to clash somewhat if you were to compare this to the other Disney afternoon shows, let alone other Disney franchises that they supposedly recognised. The fact that other non-Disney franchises were thrown into this movie, along with a Rodger Rabbit scene, tries to give that same feel as the world in the movie Who Framed Rodger Rabbit, but can't seem to figure out what parts are considered cannon in this world and what isn't. Even as the story progressed I just couldn't enjoy it. You could easily take out the Rescue Rangers and replace them with say, Bonkers D. Bobcat and it would have worked just as well, if not better.

I'll skip the whole Gadget x Zipper part. Seems like the whole reason they put it in was to piss off the Rescue Ranger fanbase in the hopes that their fury would entice more subscribers to Disney+. I'll also skip the Peter Pan thing because knowing the truth behind what happen to Bobby Driscroll made these scenes very uncomfortable. Once again, Disney has some serious issues, because some of this stuff is not OK.

The animation was mixed. Some parts were good, but a lot of the 2D stuff seemed off. Some characters had shading while other characters with the exact style of character designs didn't, which was very off putting. Some of the interaction between animation and 'live-action' also seemed a little out of place, which should have had someone go over it a few times to better incorporate it. Human actors did a decent enough job, which only makes me wish this had been a Bonkers movie instead of a Rescue Rangers one.

Music was...Honestly, I can't recall any of it or if it was any good, but I refuse to watch it again just to write this part.

Overall, I came in with low expectations and some how it was worse then even I thought it could be, so kudos to Disney for surpassing that. Honestly, this movie never felt like Rescue Rangers, nor did it even treat the RR fans with any sort of respect. This should have been a Bonkers movie as that had a lot more in common with this universe then any other of the Disney shows (yes, even the Might Ducks cartoon would work better as a live-action CGI action movie on a human only world instead of this one). I have to wonder who's idea this was, because it was a missed opportunity for one show while screwing over the other. As a Rescue Rangers fan, this felt like an assassination on the characters and franchise, but as a movie it is over bloated with character cameos and very little actual substance beyond that. I knew I would hate this movie, just didn't expect it to piss me off as much as it did.

I must apologise to Space Jam: A New Legacy. That movie was an advert for their HBO subscription service and while that was bad and I had serious issues with it, I never felt truly offended by it. But this movie, I have to ask: How is it that out of all the re-boots, re-imaginings and sequels done by Disney over the last 10 to 20 years, Duck Tales has been the only one that understood it's characters and premise in telling its stories while still treating its audience with respect?

I just don't think Disney has it anymore. Thank goodness with animation movies this year with Sonic 2 and The Bad Guys that there are still good animation movie scene that actually give a shit about what they produce.