Blighted Empire Short Review

Warning: Contains some spoilers.

 I still have no idea how that Priest became such a powerful Necromancer.

A while back I did a (very) short review of Dead Winter. Blighted Empire is the sequel to it and kicks off about a year after the events in Dead Winter. I liked how they recapped the important events from the first book in the form of of a scholar who is recalling those events, explaining them as from his previous volume and that these events are from his second based on his research from that period of time.

The book focuses on four main locations of the Empire for the stories (Altdorf, Middenheim, Sylvania and eventually, Carroburg) and of the characters within them. We still follow the main characters from the first book, though the Skaven characters have shifted somewhat. While we finally see the true purpose of Seerlord Skritter and his plan for the moon (something that was kept very vague in the first book), the torch moves more away from Clan Pestilens and more towards the Grey Lords and their planned assaults of the surface world.

The stories themselves are fairly good, with more character development for characters like Mandred and Kreyssig. While the first book builds up the characters and the horror of the Black Plague, this one launches the insidious invasion of the Skaven as the various Grey Lords launch their invasions, with the same belief that they will be the one to show their rivals. As you can expect with all Skaven plans, they are ingenious, intelligent and very cunning. And like all Skaven plans, they always possess one obvious flaw.

One of my few complaints is that, unlike the first book, this one feels almost like it had finished up without telling the full story, namely the ending. Perhaps this is ment to leave more mystery as to the events in the third book (Wolf of Sigmar in 2014). I also felt that the battle in Altdorf didn't seem as big or grand compared to the ones in Middenheim and Sylvania, considering how quickly it ended (though that might be me just being nit picky). One thing I did love was the inclusion of Clan Mordkin in the book. I've always been interested in what purpose the clan could serve in Skaven society and this gives a satisfactory role, particularly with why they are brought in and how they work.

Despite there is still a third book to continue the story, there really wasn't much to tempt the continuation of the story (in other words, no real cliffhanger leaving you wanting more). While it's difficult to say if it is better then the first book (I do recommend reading it before this one), it does well enough as a stand alone book, given how the introduction and ending parts go.

Just for fun: Mordheim Skaven

I have never played Mordheim, and given GW's removal of it's specialist games, may never play, I decided to give it a look over. I must say it does indeed look interesting, but was more amused that Clan Eshin was the main clan used. Along with Storm of Chaos campaign, Clan Eshin has gotten a lot of focus over the years (I can already hear Snikkitch cursing) and looking back at all I've read on them, they do deserve it.

So what does that have to do with me? Well, I've got some clan rats, giant rats and a Rat Ogre left over and so using the Eshin list, will paint up a nice sized warband just for the heck of it (have chosen Clan Kreepus to represent the Verminkin/Clan rats). I will most likely purchase a Skaven assassin for the Assassin Adept model, but will probably convert the Eshin Sorcerer. I haven't done much with Skaven in a while and so I felt it's time to get back into them.

While I will continue to be a Clan Skryre member, I do have some respect for those of Clan Eshin and so this is a nice little way to show it.

Another Skaven project will be to convert four Skaven characters which are the other story side to my Skaven forces. Expect to see more information on them soon.

Is it Sexist?

A comment about Beyond Blue's Man Therapy page referred to it as being sexist since it's all about men. For those who don't know, Beyond Blue is an organization that helps people deal with things like depression and anxiety.Man Therapy was a side page dedicated to get men to look it up and give it a shot to convince them that what they suffer from is normal and that seeking help it the 'manly' thing to do. The male attitude in society is that if you suffered from these problems then it is a sign of weakness and so many men cover this up. This tends to lead to more violent responses to other people and may be responsible for the increase in drugs, crime and domestic violence (domestic violence in particular is very worrying indeed).

But is the creation of this page sexist? I guess you could say that since there is no such program dedicated to women or that the perception that somehow men need more help then women could give the impression that it is. Perhaps if they created a page dedicated to helping women then perhaps the sexist claims would go. I doubt it, but I would still support it's creation. However, I don't have any issue about the Man Therapy site if it's helping those who need help. In this day and age, any and all help is a blessing.

Update: Upon thinking about this more, I do feel that there is also the problem of AVO's. When it comes to violence of any kind, while DV has some laws and protection, AV's have little to no protection for women. I had forgot about that when I first wrote it and wanted to make sure that this issue was also included.

Just what did happen last night?

Warning: This is a political story. The purpose of it is to counter some of the misleading information that the media portrays and to remind those of past events. Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

As of yesterday, Julia Gillard threw open the challenge for Prime Minister to everyone in her party with the only rule being if you lose then you must leave Federal politics (basically, it was all or nothing). Keven Rudd accepted the challenge (given so many of the public have been pushing him to do, despite his families concerns) and low and behold, the party jumped the sinking ship and Rudd returned. Some could say this was wrong, but it was simply Karma.

Ms Gillard, for many of us, was considered the illaginament Prime Minister. Why? There was no denying that she was Australia's first female PM (Prime Minister), but (as my mother puts it) she was not Australia's first elected female PM. She gained power but overthrowing Mr Rudd (see, karma) and at the last election, only became PM after the independents sided with Labor, two weeks after the election. Apart from the show, she has done little to cement her name as a good PM and as time has gone on, her popularity has dwindled. As of last night (since Ms Gillard lost) there has been a backlash, mostly of women, who felt that this was a mistake. It's hard for someone like myself to respond to such comments without 'sexist' being used against me. I'm far from it, and believe someone like Penny Wong would be an excellent choice as a female PM.

My argument was simply, if she was such a great PM then why is she so unpopular and why did Labor feel she was leading them to their doom eh? Politics is a cruel and vicious area and one cannot enter it without risking their public standing (just ask Peter Garrett). The Gillard/Swan take over was well planned before the knifing of Rudd, given that leaked information showed that they had advised him on many decisions, which would ultimately ruin his policy stances and thus, cause the cataclysm for the take over. Now the blades have come back to bite them, that's how politics work in this day and age. Will the return of Queensland's hero Rudd save the party? I'm not so sure, but that is mostly due to the fact that people have ignored the other side.

There is a reasons why Queensland wanted Rudd in. The first being that his removal the first time was seen as an act of treachery by Labor to the people. If someone is to be forced out, that should be the peoples choice and since he never got elected out, people were angry. The second was the disaster that was the state election. While many new that Labor had lost before the campaign had even began, no one had predicted just how much power the LNP (Liberal National Party)would get or that Campbell Newman would actually be officially elected in. What resulted was what many consider the destruction of Queensland. Now many fear should the LNP win power in the upcoming Federal election that the rest of Australia will suffer the same fate (Queensland's only hope maybe if the Palmer United Party can steal a few chairs from the LNP, but that would be like asking one demon to save you from another).

Many have forgotten that Tony Abbott was the Minister of Health under the Howard government and that he did extensive damage to both health and medical research (his stance on stem cell research and other areas put back Australia's medical advancement, something which we pride ourselves on here). The man has a mind set of being in the 1800's and thus far, his policies have ether been proven to be more costly or unreliable. His big push was in the 'boat people' with his plans to send them back to Indonesia. The only problem, Indonesia would not accept them and that they would simply turn them back to Australian waters. His 'nerfing' of the National Broadband Scheme is also seen to be a major blow to the future technological improvement in this country. His own party approved the passing of a bill which would render one of his election promises impossible. There appears to be no real plans for the future when it comes to health, education and reducing the cost of living. Sadly, Shaun Micallef got it right when he referred to the LNP future plan as a pamphlet (though his picture of Tony Abbott which he merged with Lord Voldemort was hilarious).

Alas, once again we go into this next election feeling that no matter what the outcome is, we are all royally screwed.

Song of Madness

Time yourself and see how long it takes before you are driven insane.

The future of gaming is here

Headtaker Short Review

Warning: Contains some spoilers

I really enjoyed this book. I admit a slight bias towards Skaven, but I went into this one with some concerns. I am a big fan of C.L.Werner's depiction of the Skaven, but I had not heard of David Guymer, so I was weary of how it would turn out. I am glad to say that it was everything I could hope for.

The story seems simple. The Dwarfs trying to take back the Eight Peaks have recently been discovered to have much better weapons and so the Skaven must assault another Dwarf keep, Karak Azul, in order to stop production. The problem is that Queek has no interest and no amount of threats can convince him and it's only with the temptation of fighting a Dwarf king that he agrees to go. This is what makes this slightly different to other Skaven stories, Queek Headtaker is a little mad. He leads from the front in his constant attempts to find more powerful foes to attack, he listens to his skull trophies who are constantly talking to him (their voices even match the race their from), fears not Grey Seers or his God and expects his own troops to be 100% loyal to him. Truly mad for a Skaven, and yet for him all things that happen, happen in his favour.

Of course, there are other characters and there point of views. The old Skaven Sharpwit also has a view that seems a little un-Skaven like, even pointing out the flaws of the Skaven race and is another main schemer. There are also the Dwarfs, with two being the focus. The main one, Thordun Locksplitter, leads a band of humans in order to reap the reward offered by the king of Karak Azul for the rescue of his kin. The second is Handrik Hallgakrin, a retired Ironbreaker who takes a liking to young Thordun. Like all Dwarf stories, there are tragedies involved. Both are told well and are enjoyable (as far as Dwarf stories go anyway).

Since the book is about the Headtaker, it's no surprise that he is the most entertaining to read. He seems to have the violent tendency of an Orc, yet has a cunning to his actions that you don't see until the end. While he did appear in C.L.Werner's 'Thanquol's Doom', this version of the Headtaker is by far my most favourite. If you like Skaven, or just want to learn more about the Headtaker's madness, then give this book a go.

Side note, this review is also my 300th post. So to celebrate, the Headtaker personally showed up to promote his book. We're still cleaning up the bloody mess he left behind (oh well, time for another slave run I guess).

More Books

So, popped in to my local GW today to pick up Blighted Empire. I enjoyed Dead Winter and am interested to see what insane things our ratty fiends do next. Skarsnik was also in store so I'll pick that one up next week.

Also realized I forgot to do my short review of Headtaker. Will get that done and hopefully it'll be up tomorrow. Will also have an upload or two within the next week or so.

My Dragon 2 Fears Unfounded

Magazine cover picture that changed my perspective:

Now this is more like it. I had issues with the way the leaked pictures looked and felt that it was not only of poorer quality, but that the two didn't look much like their younger selves. I am so glad to have been proven wrong in this regard as the characters do infact look like their younger counterparts. Astrid in particular was the main reason for thinking that, but this version defiantly still looks like Astrid (the younger one).

Blast, now I'm even more pumped for the movie. I just hope Defenders of Berk comes out soon.

The Challenge

There are good ads, there are bad ads and then there are one that just make you laugh just because of the sheer silliness of it.

That Elusive Skaven

Does the name Viskit mean anything to you? Up until today I had never heard of it, but apparently he's a Clan Eshin Skaven character from the Mordhiem game who was 'fixed' thanks to Clan Skryre and is now a deadly killing machine.

 

Thing is, I've seen the model (google searched the image), but alas, I have been unable to find one for purchase (or atleast, delivers to Australia). While I will continue to scour Ebay for it, but I also found out something else during my search.

Update: Think I may have found the model. It's Bid only so here's hoping it goes well. I have been told to give a conversion a go, but I'm not sure at the moment.

Seems that a number or Blood Bowl and Mordhiem miniatures have gone off the Games-Workshop website. While I have no idea why they were removed, I feel that it means they are no longer available and thus, your only hope of finding any now are on Ebay. Just seems like a sad state of affairs. In truth, I think both should be brought back as both would be considered enjoyable compared to the main focus of huge armies for the fantasy setting. Plus, new miniatures which could easily be marketed towards fantasy players who might not play those variants.

School of Dragons

More HTTYD 2

DeBlois, Arnold Talk Up DWA’s ‘How to Train Your Dragon 2’

Somehow I can already see that the third movie will have a sad theme to it. 

When Anxiety Attacks

It's been a bad few weeks. If the depression wasn't bad enough, I suffered an Anxiety attack last week and needed the rest of the week to recover. The problem with such things is that the most tiniest, most insignificant thing can set it off, a real bloody pain I can tell you.

Back on my feet now, so lets see how the rest of the week goes.

New Plan

So, after some pointless ranting and another horrible day (I'm singing in the rain) I feel the need to re-address what I ment by the previous rant. My point was that if you bought a product, what you do with that product (ether use it or sell it) should be your choice. I felt that Games-Workshop have been screwing the southern hemisphere over for some time, but this was the final straw. I felt that the company was far too focused on making money then it was with the actual hobby and bringing us great miniatures. Yes, many are nicely sculpted, but there are some bad ones (Forsaken) as well as Female miniatures, both limited and not as nicely done as other companies (say Reaper Miniatures for example). While I may still leave the hobby, there are plenty of unfinished projects that I will continue to work on. I will also still be working on single miniature projects, though not as many. Again, I will wait and see what effect on Ebay will be before I give up.

Note:    SQUIGGIES STILL FTW!!!

More positive news is that I think I have found a few more locations to practice some more nature photography. While my camera may not be top range quality, with a bit of practice it does get the job done. I have been told that I should try and get some really good shots and have them printed onto canvas for hanging around the place. I like the idea and will give it a go.

Hopefully I'll have some more uploads ready by next week.

Note 2: I have thought about getting back into some writing, perhaps some short stories or something. Not sure what to write, so I'll ask around for ideas and see what others think.

The End Times Are Here!

Just received an interesting Email today. It said:

Hi Kaine ,

Well, the time has come.  In compliance with Games Workshop policy for retailers, we will no longer be able to supply you with Warhammer/Warhammer 40K bits starting June 15, 2013.

I wanted to take this opportunity to really thank you for all your business over the last two years.  We have had a lot of fun suppling just the right bits to customers all over the world.  We get pictures every day of awesome conversions that we helped make happen.  Sadly, we will not be able to provide this service after the 15th.  

What the hell?

So I decided to do some more research on this and, low and behold, the madness is true. According to Games-Workshop, it's to help the 'Brick and Mortar' store and keep them in business. Fine, I understand that. What I don't understand is why I pay $70 for ten plastic figures (I'm referring to the Sisters of Avelorn and not the Warriors of Chaos Forsaken - those things looked terrible) and as far as the 'stores' are concerned, you can actually get more recent models cheaper from Non-Games-Workshop stores.

What pisses me off the most....I'm a converter. I convert models, so I'm always looking to purchase bits needed for those conversions. The Games-Workshop website stopped selling bits years ago and so I use Ebay to get a bit or two here and there.

Much like the Xbox One issue, if you purchase a product, is that product yours to do what you want with? If I purchase a product and further down the line decide I don't want it or left over parts, can I not sell it/them off? Cause from what I see, I would no longer be able to sell any unwanted bits. It's not like their really loosing money as someone had to of purchase the product from them in the first place.

How should I stomach this bull shit? I know and respect my local Games-Workshop store and it's staff and I buy my products from them. However, sometimes I need a bit or two for a conversion and so I buy it from someone who has no need for it (I do not want to pay $69 for one Black Orc axe). The only way Games-Workshop can redeem themselves from this selfish mess (apart from reversing this policy change) is to re-introduce all the bits back onto their website and to start lowering the costs of their products here in Australia. How the hell do you plan to make money if your products are so expensive that the average person cannot afford to purchase them.

For the heads of the company, it is no longer about the hobby. They have been consumed by greed and have long lost what had made themselves so great. I had used this hobby to help me deal with my depression, with my stress and anxiety. Now it appears that this has become another dead end. I have had times when I had thought about quitting the hobby......now I think this maybe the final nail in the coffin that does it.

Squiggies!!

Taking a slight detour from projects to do some Night Goblins....and Squigs.

Dey's got Squiggies boss.....Squiggies FTW!!

Dragons 2 does sound good.

Jay Baruchel (the voice of Hiccup) gave Slash Film his opinion on HTTYD 2 (Link):

It took us three bloody years to do the first one so it’s a piecemeal process. I’ve been working on Dragon 2, on and off, for the past year and a half now. And boy is it ever something special. I truly adore the first one. I think it’s one of the greatest flicks ever. Period. And one of my proudest moments. So it’s no hyperbole when I say we smoke the first one with number two.

It’s going to be pretty incredible in every way. The emotional content, the action sequences, it’s everything it’s supposed to be and then some. It’s really going to be a pretty incredible, beautiful flick. People will go buy tickets, see this movie, and be taken on a journey like they’ve never been on.

Well, this gives me hope that the story will be amazing (actually, it gets me pumped to see what happens). Perhaps I've been too critical of this sequel and I totally agree with how amazing the first one was. Still not sure about the graphical animation, but we'll see when the movie comes out.

DD2 Beta

Got my first go at Dungeon Defenders 2 Competitive Beta playing as my all time favorite character, The Summoner. Given that I've played those types of matches before (though not at that view angle) it is always fun to play. I do feel that the Summoner does still need a little work, but they did take a character that was unable to attack and make him a very playable character in those matches.

Being Beta there are problems, but so far I have had little trouble as far as game play is concerned. Can't wait to really get stuck in.

HTTYD 2?

Alright....how do I put this? Well, there have been photos posted on the net of the preview posters for How to train your dragon 2 (or Defenders of Berk as we still have little to no information on that one too. Regardless of which one, I'm still not happy):

 

 

OK, so I know they are suppose to be older, but for the life of me I'm having trouble seeing that. This may be because the quality of the character design seems a little off from the previous movie. In fact, it seems to be of a poorer quality (at least for the characters). Besides Stoick, the rest just seem odd:

I can only hope that the quality of the animation is far better then what those posters are leading us to believe. I could forgive it if it was the T.V show a little, but not so much if it was the movie.

Despite this I will still hold out until I've seen the movie before I make any final verdict.