Happy Xmas

Have a great Xmas and a Happy New Year

Review of Kharne, Eater of Worlds

I used to buy a great number of GW fiction, going right back to the novels by excellent writers like Kim Newman and Ian Watson. But I kinda tailed off as they became a bit samey. All the quirky, interesting characters disappeared and there are only so many ways you can describe battle scenes.

Nevertheless, I still buy the odd one when I fancy a bit of pulp action blood and guts.

My latest purchase was Kharn, Eater of Worlds, by Anthony Reynolds. I like Reynolds' work. He writes a good adventure tale.

Now I don't normally review other writers' work and I don't intend to start now beyond saying that Reynolds does a good, solid writing job and I was really getting in to the story when: it stopped!!!

The eBook I had just paid £8.99 for was incredibly short. How many words I can't extract from my Kindle Reader but Amazon lists the paperback scheduled for next year as 240 pages. That's about half the size of a normal SF novel and £8.99 is a premium price for an eBook.

I kinda feel ripped off. Now you don't buy a novel by the word but an author needs space to develop the characters and the plot, especially with epic multi-POVed space operas. I felt Reynolds was just getting into his stride when his tale was chopped.

I noticed something else recently when I was browsing in Waterstones at Thanet. GW books were relegated  to one tiny section on the bottom shelf. And they consisted mostly of bundled omnibuses of already published material. Not sure what this portends, if anything.

Antares Ghur - Humbrol Multi-Effect Spray

I experimented with a new paint spray for these.

It's called Humbrol Multi-Effect spray and is intended to recreate the multi-hued, refracted-light paint used on the metallic paint of premium cars where the colour changes and blends according to the direction of the light. Up to now this effect could only be reproduced on models by mixing refractive crystals into the paint, a clumsy and difficult procedure.

We have nothing resembling sunlight in December in Kent; it's dark all day. So I tried to reproduce the effect by firing a Speedlight straight at the model. That doesn't really work, unfortunately.

The paint is designed for flat surfaces, like car bonnets, not the splintered surfaces of the Ghur models, but it does give an interesting effect.

To use, first prime the models in matt black then undercoat with black gloss before spraying the multi-effect in thin layers.

The paint comes in various colours and retails for a little under £10.

Recommended.

Rochester War Dead Memorial

Every village, every town, every city in Britain has a war memorial to our war dead. This is Rochester's, set in a little park between the Cathedral and the high street. I took this photo in late November.

VBCW Militia - Sloppy Jalopy

Panzerkaput's excelent VBCW site has alerted me to some wonderful militia troops for VBCW.

Like me, you probably associate Sloppy Jalopy with, ah, sloppy jalopies but they do these as well for the giveaway price of £15. The miner's pack above apparently even has a choice of heads - miners hat or otherwise.

Two six section militia chaps from the village cricket team: also for £15.


Ace.

Betrayal at Calth - Word Bearers

Finally finished my Betrayal at Calth, Word Bearers.

Very pleased with these models.

I largely used Tamiya paints. The red is Tamiya Metallic Red spray can. This is a superb colour. It looks much better in sunlight than in a flash photo. The base is Tamiya 'pavement' coarse paint. It dries to a rough stony look that is great for a cavern battle.

Now for the Ultramarines.

Fake Ardennes M10 (Panther)

This is a neat model from Warlord Games.

One of the German Panthers in the Ardennes that were faked up to resemble M10s.