Tomb Kings Armybook Review Part 1

Having spend some time comparing the newest edition to the previous, there are many changes to both the army and the lore behind it. In this first look, I shall review the lore and artwork, with the rules in part 2 or the review.

As with the changes to the newest edition, the new books are of a hard cover. Though they claim it's better for it, most recon it's just to stop people scanning the books and uploading them to the net and as such, I can hardly say it was worth it as it hasn't stopped them from doing it. With the average price jump for the switch being around the $15(AU) amount, does this book really add more to the army?

From an Artwork view, yes. Though some of the artwork in the previous was used as box art for the models, this one does contain some very colourful pieces,  showing off what the new models would look like in the warhammer world. Overall, I liked many of the newer pieces as it gave that magical feel to the army. The painted model pictures were well done and it's great to see them in something better then just a sand landscape.

The lore however, is one thing I can't seem to get my head around. As it appears in many more newer editions, the lore seems to shift and change with the writers taking some pieces they liked and discarding the rest for something new. While this may seem fine in some areas, other parts ether contradict or re-write parts of their history. Not only having read the previous edition, but also the first two books of the Nagash trilogy (the third due to release in august), one cannot help but think that someone took a few bullet points from their history and re-worded the rest. Indeed, the three previous named heroes from the last book barely get a mention (King Phar got some mention, yet his stance against Settra didn't get a mention I believe). Instead we got a few new characters with background written in (why did we get Ramhotep the Visionary when we already had Sehenesmet?). Settra is the same and Khalida has had a bit more mention, but the introduction of Arkhan the Black into the Tomb Kings side of things was very interesting (having looked up much of his past, he's so-called piece with the kings proves amusing). The lore for the animated statues is given more detail and the meaning for the death look as opposed to what the deities should have looked like is understandable (somewhat).

My only real gripe is the lack of effort in explaining the Nehekharan pantheon of gods and goddesses. With the worship of such deities being of major importance, the little that they did give (which you found by reading mostly on  certain units) felt disappointing, as did any real history on the many cities of Nehekharan. Overall it wasn't too bad, yet I can't help think it could have been better.

Now Part 2.

Delay in pics

If you've visited my DeviantART page lately (and why havn't you?) you may have noticed a lack of updates (sounds familiar to another site I'm on...). The reason for this is simple, my #@%:( camera isn't letting me upload anything to my comp. Hopefully I'll get this problem resolved and get some pics and planned projects up and running.

Finally, hints to my latest conversion project involve Warhammer Online and a pie....

Tomb Kings

The first Warhammer fantasy army I started collecting was a Tomb Kings one and with the new incoming Tomb Kings, 3 things/rumors have peaked my interests. The first is the War-sphinx, I can't wait to get the chance to paint it.

The second is the new magic system for them. The focus seems to be more on constructs for this army (as opposed to endless troops for Vampire Counts) as the spells are more buff/debuff and only the lore attribute can restore wounds/models to a unit. So it seems a large force of skeletons may seem to be reduced to a sort of 50/50 skeleton/construct. I just wonder how this new lore (as well as lore of death/lore of light) will affect my liche's.

Finally is the rumor of a special character: Arkhan the Black.
Apparently he's a lev 5 wizard (being Nagash's second in command), but this is where I'm getting confused. The Tomb Kings hate Nagash and as such, all who serve him, so why stick him in the book. Surely the Vamp book would have been better as from his past history and even the recent Nagash novels, Arkhan isn't exactly good buddies with the dead kings. If anything, each time Nagash returns he sides with him, so why Tomb Kings? Perhaps when they release the book and if he is in it they may have an explanation for me.

Oh well, wait n see....

I'm baaaaaack!

My apologies for lack of up-dates but things have been rather problematic. With recovering from Hernia surgery and the natural desasters here in Queensland, it's been hard to focus on things. Rest assured, I will have a number of updates up soon.

After the Battle.

The mad rush is finally over. With the Island of Blood battle day gone, I can finally sit back, relax and focus on other projects now. I still have a Master-bred Rat Ogre and a few skaven projects to finish, but I have a few side chaos & seasonal projects to start on.

As for the battle day, it was 3 choices only and since everyone for Skaven were using their blood island box set, I had been asked to bring something more unusual. Since the Master-bred wasn't complete I chose my Globadiers, Jezzails and the Forgemaster (a 'count's as' Ikit Claw). After a crazy battle with various extra rules thrown in the resault was a Skaven victory (but only just). Needless to say, Grey Seer's a pushy, so in future I must remember to ensure that a few stray poison wind globes fall near them.

I'll post up a brief report soon.

Be very,very quiet...We're hunting Art thieves.

As I check on deviantArt regually (I'm here), I was reading the journal of one of the artists I have on deviantwatch.

Journal Update

Now I know art theft is common on the internet, but I must say I am impressed that this artist and her friends have managed to find various individuals who have stolen her art and claimed it as their own. She then links their sites and exposes them as art thieves. While it may not seem like much, an artist is very protective of their work and that simple art theft is a major blow to the artist. Sometimes a simple email to the thief will cause them to take the work down, but in many cases that thief may choose to insult the artist back and thus a vulgar and violent language slinging match between the artist's fans and the thief's allies begins. In some cases legal action may be threatened (an artists published work is copyrighted and they can sue you for theft) and in a minority of those cases it actually goes to court.

I applaud this artists actions and hope that down the track people will stop stealing her work, which is fantastic I must say. Now if only I could draw that good.

Alas poor MundoRare..

MundoRare Closes

In a recent looking through sites I visit occasionally, I was shocked to discover that MundoRare, a fan site of Rare, had decided they could no longer continue. MundoRare has been a great sorce of Rareware info and to see them having no choice but to close is disheartening. I admit that this whole 'wii' clone style that Microsoft is doing is rather boring as having both an Xbox 360 and a Wii there is no way in hell I'm going to get a wii-style game for my Xbox, cause that's what the wii was for duh! (plus Nintendo have had time to fine-tune their system games, unlike Microsoft). So while people like myself wait for another Conker or Perfect Dark game, Microsoft will keep pushing companies like Rare into whatever direction they like.

That said, I don't think Rare is itself without blame, though the recent fan abuse is somewhat uncalled for. Even MundoRare coped it too. For those that didn't understand, they were planning on closing it down but decided to go for an all-or-nothing shot with a documentary. When Rare shot them down, they had really no choice. Another publicity attempt to win back fans blundered and any hope of redemption for Rare (atleast in MundoRare's point of view) was lost. I admit that trying to run an up to date website on something that appears to be dying in your eyes is not worth the amount of time it takes up.

As for the future of Rare itself, I wonder if they suffer poor sales for Kinect Sports will cause Microsoft to distance itself from Rare or will Microsoft accept responsibility and admit their Natal (seriously, is that what the things called?!) project seemed doomed from the start. Somehow, I doubt the latter will occur.