The First Heretic - Review

I actually went through this book fairly quickly. I've see a couple of reviews which basically take it as the Word Bearers going from devout Emperor-worshipers to Heretics in only a few pages.

Oddly enough, I really didn't find that. The Word Bearers going rogue was definitely more rapid than I think most people anticipated, but it's somewhat understandable. I mean after you've been doing things one way for a century and your god-figure pops in to say you're a miserable failure; it creates a rather insane situation. Best case, you say "Dude, you couldn't have filled me in on this little nugget say like 99 years ago?" Bottom line though, when you go from zero feedback to 'You've been doing it wrong for years', people don't react well.

Overall, I enjoyed the book. The story flowed well and I'm generally a fan of authors trying to portray the Warp and its various entities. The author actually did this quite well in my opinion. In both cases, he gave enough detail to get your imagination started and left it at that. When you're trying to describe something that malleable, it's one of the ways I prefer to see it done. The characters were pretty much what I expected in terms of the Word Bearers. Devout, loyal and stoic. I'll also say that I think the main characters; Argel Tal, Cyrene and Xaphen would had more depth than they appeared to in the book. The lack of interaction with other Legions and units made it somewhat difficult to see what made the Word Bearers unique. The comparisons we saw between Lorgar and the other Primarchs like Magnus needed to be done on a Marine level rather than between Primarchs. At least, that's my thought.

The other thing I would have liked to have seen was just the Word Bearers prior to their censure. Again, it would have provided a valuable comparison, but really I was just interested in seeing how they originally did things.

All in all though, I enjoyed the book. The beginning seemed a little odd, but it made sense easily enough. There weren't many important characters and while the cast could likely have been expanded a bit, you definitely didn't need to bust out the glossary to keep track of everyone, which was nice. The Word Bearers were interesting enough and Lorgar was well portrayed as the odd man out in terms of his brothers. The Adeptus Custodes were funky and the Possessed Space Marines were cool. The book definitely fits well with the rest of the series.

Another Morning Post

Apparently I'm starting to wake up earlier. Lots of fun at any rate. Up here, when you wake up, it's basically cold and dark. Needing something to do, I've started posting here a little more.

At this point, I've decided to finish up my Bastion. It's been sitting there just needing detailing for a while now. The building itself is largely finished. I just need to add things like some of the Servo-Skulls and sensors. The greater part of the work actually comes from the add on bits like the laser cannon and communications array. At any rate, it'll let me putter about this week (and probably next while my mouth heals).

Sparky and I chatted a bit last night too and the consensus was that we should have something to do other than our little 40K campaign in the event that we have folks not showing up. Makes some sense, so now it's off to the drawing board on that as well. That's part of the reason for doing the Bastion next. Very little in terms of large painting to do, but it'll let me do an Aquila here and a sensor there while I build a scenario or two.

It's Cold and Dark

Yep, it is. -13 with the wind and the sun won't be up for a half hour or so. It's one of those mornings. I couldn't sleep, so I took a crack at that priest with the eviscerator. Unfortunately, the good ol Space Pope didn't turn out well, at least the blade of the eviscerator didn't. I tried a yellow and just wound up with too much paint on the blade. So, it's into the strip bucket for him. I'll clean him off and take another crack later on. Now, it's back to figuring out what I want to paint next.

In other news, I went over the Daemonhutners rumours from Blood of Kittens. They're somewhat interesting for me just for the fact that it might mean some heavy changes for my Witch Hunters army if the weird Inquisition units don't also wind up in the new Witch Hunters book (whenever that actually makes it out). Basically, I was going for a force of Inquisitors, Priests, Arco-Flagellants and Penitent Engines. I wound up grabbing some (Ok, quite a few) Sisters for Troops since I like the models. At any rate though, if the oddball Inquisition/Ecclesiastical units aren't repeated in the new Witch Hunters book, it looks as though I'll wind up with a second and third army rather than just a second army in terms of the Witch Hunters. Not a huge concern until a new Witch Hunters book comes out, but still, something to consider.

Death Cult Assassin

I finished my second Death Cult Assassin. The washes worked out well. The swords didn't. This model was one of a batch that I sprayed flat black before painting. I'm not sure I should have done that. Some of the flat texture made parts of the model a bit odd. I likely should have just put some Citadel Foundation straight onto the metal, but that's part of life.



I had a rather nice surprise when I gave Mike his Chaplain. He handed me a bag with a Land Raider Crusader/Redeemer kit and the Battlewagon Accessory sprue in it. Rather an early Christmas present from an old friend. So, thanks Mike.

I'm currently resisting the temptation to loot the shiny new Land Raider. It should be doable since I've a looted one I picked up from eBay which I've not finished yet and I think it might be a great home for a Deff Rolla........

At this point, I'm debating what to do next. I'm thinking either some Catachans for Nic, something Chaosy for Sean or something Orky for a change of pace. At this point though, I'm thinking a Witch Hunters Priest with an Eviscerator is probably going to win out since I've got his robe near done with spare paint from the assassin up top. I can likely have him done this week, which is rather tempting. I'm getting a wisdom tooth out on Friday and having my paint area clear of projects while I'm getting over that is kind of tempting.