Hobby insurgency

Meh, the drafts are piling up and I keep missing posts. Life is busy, I guess. But on a brighter note, a while back I decided it’s time I got back to a niche of the hobby I dropped out of when the only other player in the city left the country – Flames of War. It’s a another game with miniatures like Warhammer 40k, but this one’s World War II themed (thus, awesome).

With that in mind, while saving up cash and looking for the cheapest way to get a big pile of plastic soldiers and tanks, I’ve stumbled on a few bargains. One would be a lovely recovery halftrack someone was looking to get rid of. I snapped it up, eagerly waited or it to arrive and then quickly built it:

Sd kfz 9 recovery halftrack

The barrels were supposed to be loaded in the back as alternative to the canvas cover, but I decided it looks better with the cover on, and the barrels will be kept for a nice fuel/ammo dump objective marker later on.

Next, I have some 1:144 airplanes.

Fantasy Book Review – American Gods

“Furthermore, it goes without saying that all of the people, living, dead, and otherwise in this story are fictional or used in a fictional context. Only the gods are real.”

I’ve been wracking my brain on how I could review American Gods by Neil Gaiman for a while now, and since today it’s the blog’s birthday, I set my mind to actually getting this done. I thoroughly enjoyed the book, but I find myself at a loss of words to explain why or how. Fortunately, it offered a lot of memorable quotes, so I’ll just dump as many of them as I can without becoming spoilerific (yes, that’s a word), in a haphazard-pretend-to-be-structured manner.

Historical Book Review – Stuka Pilot

“Only he is lost who gives himself up for lost.”

So as I log on to WP to write this review, I’m notified it’s been 6 years since I started this ‘blog’ as a WP platform test. A funny coincidence is that the exact message from WP was You registered on WordPress.com 6 years ago! Thanks for flying with us. I snickered a little. Anyway, on to the subject: Stuka Pilot by Hans Rudel.

I will start with a quote from the end of the book: “This book is no glorification of war nor rehabilitation of a certain group of persons and their orders. Let my experiences alone speak with the voice of truth.” – this, I thought, should have been printed right at the beginning. The book is a highly subjective account of a man who has been through hell and back for his country on almost a daily basis during the darkest years in human history.

Fantasy Book Review – Sigvald

Since reading Ahriman, I also managed to finally read Neil Gaiman’s American Gods, and while still pondering on how to do a decent review for that book (which I enjoyed in a really weird manner), I decided to go on with my reading list and picked up Sigvald, expecting a light but entertaining read like Valkia the Bloody or Wulfrik. Boy, was I wrong…

40k book review – Ahriman: Exile

“Fate has come for you, Ahriman, as you feared it would and knew it must.”

I was extremely excited when I got my hands on Ahriman: Exile. Not only does it feature a character from one of my favourite legions, it’s also written by John French, a relatively new Black Library author I’ve been quite impressed with so far. This is his first full-blown novel published at BL, and so far his previous short stories (printed in Architect of Fate and Treacheries of the Space Marines) were quite impressive. Now that I finished it, I can say

Science Fiction book review – Metro 2033

“It had been possible to develop a route by considering only the length of the journey and not how it would change the traveler walking it.”

While I don’t have a good enough PC to play the computer game, I was quite eager to read the Metro 2033 book that spawned it, being the post-apocalyptic fanboy that I am. Reading around the net, I managed to go into the book with relatively high expectations, starting on it right after Christmas and expecting to finish it around New Year’s. That was not the case, however.

Horus Heresy book review – Aurelian and Deliverance Lost

“All I ever wanted was the truth.” – Lorgar
“We were born to greatness, but we must endure tragedy.” – Rogal Dorn to Corax

Since Aurelian is a pretty short novella, I thought I’d chuck a mini-review in with Deliverance Lost. Though I also read Death of a Silversmith, I’ll tackle that one when I reach Shadows of Treachery.

I’ve already started Deliverance Lost, unable to help myself. But I’m going to try to put down my thoughts on Aurelian while they are still fresh.

Horus Heresy book review – The Outcast Dead

I decided to catch up on the Horus Heresy, and so I picked up The Outcast Dead. I finished the book just a few moments before writing this review, and I’m still not certain how I feel about it. The first part of the book was absolutely great. The ending was spectacular. The action throughout the middle part was entertaining. I maintain my opinion that Graham McNeill writes far better than many over-hyped BL authors. But, unfortunately, there are details and questions that mar this book too much.

Fantasy Book Review – Valkia the Bloody

So, while shaking off my literary laziness, I stepped away from 40k books to try something that’s almost as light, but just that little bit better usually – a Warhammer Fantasy book named Valkia the Bloody. I’d been eager to sink my teeth into this one for a while now, and I hoped this book would not go against my general belief that most Fantasy books from the Black Library tend to be better written than the 40k ones. And I was not disappointed. 😀

40k Book Review – Treacheries of the Space Marines

“In the Emperor’s Name, fire in the hole!”

I still didn’t feel like reading anything ‘serious’, so another 40k book from the Black Library moved to the top of my reading pile – Treacheries of the Space Marines.