Table Top Gaming

[Astros Fan]

I don't know if it's any simpler playing the game now, I'd certainly hope so as in the version I played while the basics were simple enough it became massively complicated when you had a lot of high level units particularly when you added Dark Millenium which beefed up the rules for Psykers and vehicles. I never actually bothered painting most of my army and instead preferred spending the time on the game itself so as long as my opponent and I were agreed on what the units were from the start that was fine.



I've actually just started reading the same series as I'd heard a lot of positive comments about it, I have to admit I'm not a fan of the Imperial Guard compared to the Astartes however I've run out of other WH40k books and knowing how well Dan Abnett does with 'normal' characters I decided to give it a go and bought the first six for travelling. So far I've been really enjoying them aside from some of the random jumping around which I find a little tricky to follow at times.

There's a few Heresy books due this year which I'm hoping are going to pick the pace back up, Prospero burns certainly sounds promising as this is one of the big events in the heresy where the Space Wolves clashed with the Thousand Sons after being sent to take the Primarch Magnus back to Terra.

John

I'm about to finish the first one, and move on to Ghostmaker. I don't really care for the jumping around either..but I do get how it would follow a person's own thoughts/memories, but going from in his 20s, to current time, back to teens, then to current time, then back to 20s is hard to follow if you don't have the time to knock out a couple chapters in one sitting. But so far I'm enjoying the series. I have the dawn of war series waiting in the wings as well, which follow the games.

[Johnmcl7]

I don't mind the idea of jumping around as one of the Dark Angels writers actually incorporated it extremely well into the main story (the shift is obvious but the link is subtle leaving you to think 'ah I see now' when you get the link) but I find the jumping in the Ghosts series too erratic. I'm just about to finish Ghostmaker which has calmed down a bit and following a better progression.

The Dawn of War series are the worst Warhammer books I've read, the author is clearly not familiar with Warhammer and makes a lot of stupid mistakes plus the stories are just rubbish - he spends ages and ages really slowly building up a story then it just collapses with a fizzle. The first book loosely follows the first game but that's it, the second and third book follow Angelos and have nothing to do with the other games/expansions. I won't be reading any more of his books.

John

[Timman_24]

Dan Abnett jumps around quite a bit in his books. I'm almost done with Titanicus and there are over 9 separate stories in that book. 4-5 could be considered main lines, others are just short stories that don't give much back to the main plotline. I like the book, but I prefer only 2-3 storylines that converge at the end rather than tons. I think he tends to go a little over board. I'm seriously juggling 20+ characters. It's not confusing, but it does get a little old.

[Johnmcl7]

In the Ghosts books it's the same person but it's jumping between different timelines making it difficult to follow at times as it's not always clear where it has suddenly jumped to.

I like the way Dan Abnett gives a view 'from the ground' so to speak to give you a better feel for the situation from the common man however I agree with you that it didn't work in Titanicus, the reserve group (led by Cally) and the tank crew group were just way too similar which made it confusing. The ex-Princeps and the toymaker seemed fairly pointless as they didn't actually add anything to the story as I was expecting them to eventually.

John

[Astros Fan]

oh forgot to mention....NICE ORKS!! finally some pics

[Timman_24]

oh forgot to mention....NICE ORKS!! finally some pics

Thanks man. I'm going to do my war boss sometime soon and am going to spend some time detailing him nice. I've read up on tons of techniques and finally have some decent paint and brushes.

[Recon]

I just got a pic of my custom die design......

[Kamakazie]

Where did you get a custom die? That is awesome. I am jealous.

[Timman_24]

Sweet dice.

Just finished Titanicus, I liked the book. The material is interesting but the story is a little lacking. I love the titan warfare and hope they do more books. I read Mechanicus and Titanicus back to back and want some more.

I started Tales of Heresy. Blood Games was decent and I just finished Wolf at the Door which was sweet. Can't wait to get further into it. I like the short stories as they aren't filled with filler.

[Johnmcl7]

Fallen Angels is now out for those wanting some more heresy reading.

John

[Timman_24]

I'm in the middle of reading heinlein right now, but will pick it up after I finish the short stories in Tales. So, have you picked it up? Does it actually continue the story a bit? As long as CS Goto doesn't write it, it should be decent.

[Johnmcl7]

I haven't picked it up yet, I've just finished the first Ghosts trilogy so I'm thinking it's probably best to stick with IG (I bought the second trilogy at the same time) before going back to a Heresy book. I really hope CS Goto doesn't write any heresy books, I don't know why they let him write any WH books.

John

[Recon]

time to buy a titan Tinman? did you ever look at the titans on my 40k site?

some guys have more money than brains =)

[Johnmcl7]

While they are very expensive, the Reaver/warhound 40k titans from Forgeworld are pretty impressive - if I thought I could paint them well I'd pick up a Reaver titan. I wonder if they're going to produce a Warlord titan, due to the huge size (and hence cost) I can't see it.

John

[Recon]

I'm fine with my shadowsword.....it gets the job done =)