Book Review - Brutal Kunnin.

 

Here we go with another black Library book review, this time the book I bought at the end of Orktober 2020.

Brutal Kunnin by Mike Brooks, caution Spoilers ahead!

So to start with there is a short story prequel I have not read, but which fills in the beginnings of Ufthak* and how he keeps mentioning about his "new body".

I've never read anything by Mike Brooks before and am always cautious of lesser known Black Library authors as they fall into two camps usually I find.

1: Understands the universe and settings. Can also write really enjoyable easy to read stories.

2: Either dosen't understand the settings, or tries to bend them to fit their vision (sometimes this can work, more often then not however it does not). Sometimes they have an easy writing style, however, often their writing is patchy at best, downright awful to read at worst (looking at you Nick Kyme).

It turns out that Mike Brooks falls into the first camp fortunately. 

He understood both the Ork and Adeptus Mechanicus mindsets, even the chaotic influence which turns up in the last third of the book. Obviously the Orks are the protagonists and get the most page time. In this I found he captured their archaic and ultra-violent sense of humour perfectly.

Ufthak at one point destroys a Warlord Titan by teleporting aboard it using a Shokk-jump Dragsta, with his second in command, a sniveling Grot who refused to get out of the Dragsta when they stole it, and an overly affectionate Squig which follows him like a lost puppy.

This leads to one of the funniest moments where said Squig kills the last member of the bridge crew saving Ufthak from being shot. In return Ufthak pets the Squig and looks around to name it.

A Squig named "Princess"! 

(Seriously I've got to remember that for another Ork Warboss when I make more greenskin models!).

Also throw in a rivalry with a certain Freeboota Kaptain and his crew of reckless Flash Gitzwho keep popping up throughout the book, just in time to nick the loot.

This makes the Greenskin sections of the book unpredictable, entertaining and extreme fun, just as Orks should be.

The Adeptus Mechanicus characters are a lot more stiff in comparison, which is to be expected. The surprising addition was the completely confident, unemotional presence of an infiltrated Iron Warrior.

Whose methods of going about an Imperial Forge World without being noticed are brilliant and a refreshing change from the usual fare of sewer/access tunnels and "he can because he's Astartes"...

Once I started reading this novel, I think I finished it in three or four nights. It's an easy enjoyable and fun read. Sometimes it's laugh out loud funny, when the Orks are amongst themselves. Equally it's quite dry in places, especially when the Iron Warrior is around (as you'd expect).

Standard fare for Black Library hardbacks runs anywhere from £15-£25 depending on the size of the book.

Brutal Kunnin from memory was £18, which I paid full for because it was from an actual GW store, not eBay, Facebook or Amazon.

I would say it is worth that price tag as it did its job of entertainment and it's got some re-read-ability in it simply from wanting to relive Ufthak's best moments in the book, but you'll get sucked into the full story.

I think I'll post another book review from my collection in another couple of weeks, as I've enjoyed re-reading books for this, and it gives me something to do before going to bed.

Until next time...

*Just a shame Ufthak is a weedy Bad Moon, not from a proper Ork Klan, like the Goffs or Evil Sunz!

I don't think the book would have worked as well if they'd have been Goffs though.

Inspiration, Inspiration...

 So the Chaos Warriors I started painting in the last post are progressing nicely enough, I thought it might be an idea to post about what made me search through the boxes and cupboard until I dragged them out to work on.

I mentioned that this inspiration came from a really unlikely book for me to have been reading, well...

This is the Eighth edition rulebook for Warhammer Fantasy.

"But Lewis, you're a Wargamer, that's not an unlikely book for you to have been reading" I hear you saying.

Well, I think I only played ONE game of eighth edition fantasy ever (and it didn't end well for me) and hadn't really played fantasy at all since maybe the end of fifth edition (I think that was the one which came with Bretonnian and Lizardmen miniatures?).

Anyway, what with the size of the rulebook, the janky movement, wheeling, formation, charge reaction movement rules (I kid you not, and that's only scratching the surface about how complex this was at times). 

Not to mention how many miniatures they expected you to actually field:

(This is just a standard 2,000 point game!)*

Now I have no idea how I came to own a copy of this book, probably a trade somewhere down the way in a job-lot maybe, who knows?

Now do I actually know why I was flicking through the book whilst eating my dinner the other evening, but at the back of the rules section there is an interesting section about legendary battles...

Or basically it's Apocalypse for Fantasy! Which sounds awesome, until you look at the fantasy rules...

Anyway, they give a run down of a Legendary Battle at the back of the book, in this case 'The Slaughter at Volgonof'.

That's a full page of background text in the run-up to the battle and even give a handy map of the path of the Chaos invasion;

They just really wanted to go further then every other Chaos army which stopped in Kislev didn't they?

There are lots of very pretty pictures which pad the pages (kind of like White Dwarf battle reports, of how we lament you failings), each filled with hundreds, maybe thousands of miniatures the likes of which we mere mortals who do not work for Games Workshop could never hope to own in such quantities:

So big it had to go on a four page pullout!

Each of those big units of knights are 46 models strong...who the hell has that many knights?

That castle seems to fill what would be considered a normal sized gaming board...it is nice though.

Siege towers! Need I say more?

Now the main bit of inspiration comes from the unit guides which they wrote and illustrated (rather than photograph miniatures).

Chaos Invasion Forces, led by Lord Mortkin:

Bits of background info for the various units involed, and then they photographed the damn models:

That is the old Warhammer Fire Dragon which Forge World used to make, personally a much better dragon then the Current One.

That converted two-headed giant is cool as well, but the really awesome conversion is the chaos sorcerer;

Complete with floating chunk of earth!

So from reading this and looking at all the photo's it got me thinking about trying to recreate a battle like this but in a sane way.

Obviously I'm going to use the Age of Sigmar rules, but thinking of organising things more along the lines of the Apocalypse formations and allocating units to certain characters rather then just having them.

Also another point is to keep things on a sane level, I won't be having units of SEVENTY-FIVE Chaos Chosen or three units of fourty warriors. So I'm thinking of making a unit of twenty warriors and then a couple of smaller Chosen/Veteran Chaos Warrior units as the main warband.

I have a bunch of beastmen I can pull out of hiding and get painted up, I love Ul-Ruk the Red from the Volganof game:

I may even attempt the replicate the banner!

The only sticking point I have are mortal troops, for both chaos and order.

The games workshop offerings are very old sculpts and not inspirational, generic bare-chested barbarians with horned helmets and sixteenth century German Landsknect.

So I've been looking at the Oathmark, Fireforge Fantasy and Frostgrave plastic boxes:

Some of the available non-GW plastics available now. Decent quality, decent amount of miniatures per box and decent prices.

They are in scale (roughly) with GW mini's as well so should work. Obviously the Oathmark and Fireforge (not pictured) boxes will be more useful for the Cities of Sigmar soldiery as they have more cohesive looks, where as the Frostgrave boxes have a slightly more ruffian/ragtag look so would be more suited to mercenary and Chaos Marauder replacement models.

I'll post more thoughts about this idea as and when they come to me in the future. Suffice to say that this will be an ongoing project, obviously a long-term undertaking as well.

Briefly I considered Undead Vs Order as I have been collecting the Mortal Realms magazine as and when I can get my hands on it with the Stormcast and Nighthaunt collections contained within. But that leads to many, many conundrums concerning the ghost's.

If they're incorporeal as ghosts, why wouldn't they just float through the walls and attack the garrison?

Why should they be concerned with taking a city in the first place?

Etc, etc.

Also I am enjoying painting the chaos stuff right now, and I have all my Khornate Bloodbound which can be added straight away to boost the invading force's numbers.

And Chaos get some cool stuff, I know that Death armies are getting some new models previewed recently, but I do love a lot more of the chaos gear out of the two ranges.

Well, I think I've rambled enough for now.

Until next time...

 - Lewis

*A joke of course. That's actually a 1,500 point game!

Motivation off, Motivation on

So January 2021 continues onwards with the inevitable march of time, and it seems like I've got bugger all hobby done.

In reality I have, but nothing towards a finished result really making it seem like bugger all.

I've gotten one of the camo cloaks for the Eliminator unit finished:

There is just his base to finish and the first model of THREE is done. I do like the way the yellow isn't overpowering on this model, just as intended.

But between working on these and the Deathwatch who have stalled (that's a whole saga in itself), I think I've just gotten fed up of painting Power Armour in what little hobby painting time I can muster at the moment.

I'm averaging about half an hour most nights simply because of work hours, house and cat stuff and now home schooling using video chat lessons. Yes, my corner of the UK, deepest, darkest South Yorkshire has finally been dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st Century. 

Also, the fact that both Chris and Dave have both posted finished items and ticked boxes off their respective hobby bingo sheets, whilst I've not finished anything has kind of dimmed enthusiasm as well.

So, not feeling the current projects, I dove into the cupboard of miniatures and dragged out some Chaos Warriors I've had sitting basecoated for a while.

Progress being made has been reinvigorating, and hopefully I can see something getting finished soon:

As mentioned I got these forever ago, in a trade from Chris and they're subtly converted from the standard chaos warrior.

A few extra spikes and SKULLS, as well as that cool as hell banner, meant that I am painting these ten models up as a more veteran unit (eventually), and the other unit of ten models will be standard chaos warrriors, hopefully reinforced soon if my luck with eBay changes damn snipers).

I did briefly consider using these as Chaos Chosen, but the latest start collecting box has such nice models meant for Chaos Warriors, that I'm going to use those as Chosen instead.

I'm kind of annoyed with myself over the change of project all of a sudden, but this is a hobby meant to relax with, not a job to get stressed over.

Hopefully I can start posting finished gear soon, as well as an inspiration I found in the most unlikely of books for me to have been reading...

Until next time...

 - Lewis

Book Review - Kharn, Eater of Worlds.

 

Recently I finished reading Kharn Eater of World's by Anthony Reynolds.

It's an enjoyable book if a little slow at the beginning with the man himself, Kharn, being kept in stasis after the defeat at the Emperor's Palace.

Obviously the story takes place after the Horus Heresy, and you get a real feeling for the desperation and sorry state of the World Eaters legion (or those who remain).

Whilst Kharn is THE World Eater which everyone knows, the story is told from the perspective of a couple of other legionaries and a couple of human auxiliaries to the legion.

*Spoilers*

Enjoyable parts include the female human having to perform surgery on herself and surviving. 

As well as a commando raid from another World Eaters warband, whose objective is to kill Kharn fully. An unfortunate oversight occurs when said lunatic wakes up to find four legionaries stood with weapons aimed at him...it does not end well for the commando's, put it that way!

I got my copy from a used book group on Facebook, and whilst the story is enjoyable, I wouldn't have paid the full asking price.

It's only 199 pages long, and ends with the feeling that it's half of the story.

Literally the books just ends as Kharn begins the war with the Emperor's Children on Skalathrax. We know how that turns out, but I'd have still wanted to read about it!

One of the best parts of the "Warhammer Legends" series of novels is that you get some full colour art plates in the center, this one being no exception.

Including the first artwork of Kharn (check out the chain-bayonet on his pistol), by John Blanche.

And the more modern incarnation by David Ghallager.

I would recommend this novella (it's not a novel, I don't care what Black Library say), if you can find it cheap online somewhere.

I'm going to give thoughts about other Black Library novels I have in my collection as the year goes on. This is just the start of the series and something I can write about whilst on my breaks at work.

Until next time...

 - Lewis

Ravenfeast, Free Viking Skirmish rules!

 

Hello, well, aside from the worlds of Age of Sigmar and Warhammer 40,000, I have been known to dable with other wargames from time to time, none of which have seemed to taken off with my usual suspect gaming group unfortunatlely. 

I'm still working on Test of Honour and some other Samurai related gubbinz on and off, but the maority of my hobby time recently has been based firmly upon GW's worlds.

What does this have to do with Free Viking Skirmish rules you ask?

Well, the guys at Little Wars TV* have taken it upon themselves to work up a set of rules to try to encourage people to enter the hobby of historical wargaming.

 

 **

Found at Ravenfeast.com this PDF is a brilliantly written, easy to learn set of rules which are quite comprehensive with a guide on where to buy miniatures, paint them, build terrain, as well as scenarios and army generators.

They've even done an Introduction video and played through a game trying to Capture Alfred the Great.

 

The PDF is laid out in an easy to follow manner as the contents page shows:

Lots to find in here, in such a short page count to.

The turn follows most of the standard game sequence of other games:

 

One thing I like about this is that the "Rally" step is not at the end of the turn like so many other games I've played (especially fantasy based) but right after you dice off to see who has the initiative for the turn.

Another point about the game is that it is more important to roll LOW rather then the traditional High rolls. that might take some getting used to, but gives awesome rules like this one:

I can imagine all kinds of narrative scenes coming from this one rule, and possibly setting up grudges and fueds, if you're so inclined to play more narratively. Most historical games kind of go down that route to a greater or lesser degree, some try to force the competetive side of the game with strict points values and equal armies, etc.

And whilst there are points values per model in this game, it's more of a skirmish game rather then a full on competetive battle (although it could be from reading the PDF) and i'd not go down that route personally.

 

There are force lists for Vikings (obviously), as well as a section to create a Saxon force, and most interestingly, a full open-points build system to customise your warriors.
Want to recreate William the Conqueror or Herewards the Wake in this game, use the points build system. Again an easy elegant solution to something certain big games companies mak so difficult...

Included also is this rather nice map of Britain, which may see some use later on for a campaign system I'm pondering with:

 

And, a bit which I really like, is that there is a tutorial included about how to go about building a Dark Age longhouse, fully step-by-step and with a list of tools and materials needed:

 I may just have a go at building one of these soon-ish...If I ever get the ruined cityscape on the go again, with hobby enthusiasm on the increase after the hectic Christmas and New Year period that's a possibility.

Speaking of Christmas, I spotted this reduced today and couldn't resist picking it up asa late present to myself (I'm of that age where relatives find it easier to give me cash then gifts):

 

Which is kind of fitting for this post as in the Caturing King Alfred game, it's based off of The Last Kingdom series anyway with Uthred of Bebbanburg as the central character, but it also finishes off my collection, meaning that I have all thirteen books now and plenty of inspiration to read through:

 So there you have it, I've gone and ordered myself some Viking and Dark Age plastic's and am working out what to field out of the sprues I've picked up (more on that when they arrive).

If you're looking at a new period, making a sart in historical wargaming byt switching from fantasy or just wanting a ruleset to read, you can't go wrong by downloading Ravenfeast, it is free after all!

I'll be posting more about this as my miniatures turn up and i'll get chance to try the rules on the tabletop, so there's a future plan being made (again!).

Until next time...

 - Lewis

*I often put their battle report series on in the background when I sit down to paint, A persnal favourite was the D-Day game, split into Part One and Part Two.

** No I'm not going to copy andpaste the entire rulebook in this blogpost, there are just example captures taken from the PDF. Go and download the bloody thing and take a look for yourselves, the LittleWarsTV guys took the time and effort to make this ruleset, so deserve people's support for the game!

Rumours of my demise are greatly exaggerated.

 Well, welcome to 2021:

With the UK going into a third lockdown straight after the New Year, things have been a bit hectic and I've not had much chance to hobby in general.

I've pushed on for a few hours here and there though and thought I'd post some progress photo's of the first models I intend to get finished in 2021.

First up is a unit of three Eliminators for my Space Marine army*:

The unit together, I decided on a dark black armour with. The chapter colours on the shoulder pads and knees in order to emphasize that these guys are stealthy snipers, and would be skulking around rather then charging forwards.

I'm trying to emulate the camo on the cloaks which GW painted, but also a little of the Berlin Brigade of the British Army in the 1980's. This is just the first step mind, there are other colours to go on-top and then wash everything with an Earthshade coat, so hopefully it'll look better when finished.

Secondly is this unit of five Deathwatch Intercessors:

With the black this time I've gone for a slightly blue-green tinge rather then flat black. I liked the effect on my friends Reaver Titan, so wanted to try it on a smaller scale. Classic red boltguns for that old-school GW asthetic works well I think.

I'm also practicing freehanding on their shoulder pads:

L-R: Mentor chapter, with additional sergeant stripes (once I've tidied them up). Red Templars marine and a Minotaur marine (with additional Lambda symbol behind the chapter symbol).

The other two members of the unit will be a Mantis Warriors marine and a Wolfspear marine (if I can figure out how to paint the wolf's head).

I wanted to do successor chapters for the entire unit because everyone seems to always to the big first-founding chapters.

Ultramarines, Blood Angels, Dark Angels, Imperial Fists, White Scars, Iron Hands, Space Wolves, Raven Guard.

I know that GW do specific moulded shoulder pads for those chapters, but there are over a thousand chapters in the lore, some great second or further founding with buckets of character. So I decided to push my freehand skills and try to work up an entire unit of lesser known chapters.

Hopefully they won't be too long to finish now...

And thirdly, are a unit of five Battle Sisters I picked up for a song off eBay:

Early days on these girls yet. Their armour is another variation of painting black, this time Black Templar contrast over a grey undercoat, then washed with Nuln Oil to add some darkness. 

I'm going to limit the palette of colours on these girls to just black, white, red and a little gold and silver. 

This should make them very striking and easy to paint (yeah, right) and quick to knock up**.

That should allow me to move onto other half-painted stuff from the "pile of potential" soonish.

Hopefully I'll be able to find the time to post a few thoughts which have been bouncing round my head recently, in the context of getting some games going, and looking at my samurai gear again.

Until next time...

 - Lewis

*I said Space Marine army because I've decided to switch them from being Imperial Fists.

When I decided to do Imperial Fists it was simply because I had never painted a yellow army, in 22 years of gaming!

All of a sudden though, with Indomitus being released all you saw was "MY IMPERIAL FIST ARMY", "HEY GUYS, HOW DO YOU PAINT IMPERIAL FISTS" etc.

So I'm not going to repaint the models I've already finished or gotten halfway through painting as I like them. I'm just glad I never added any iconography to them, as it'll be very easy now to make them into a Crusade successor chapter and just go from there with them.

**Oo-er, did someone mention Slaanesh?