No DIY? No, STFU! Or, why you should create your own Space Marine Chapter.

Hello all,

Jason, aka Clown Baby, aka Raw Dogger here and today I wanted to talk about the merits of creating your own Space Marine Chapter for the tabletop war game, Warhammer 40,000.  I call it 40k.  It’s an abbreviated name, and I think it will really take off around the internet.  I am afraid to admit to you all that I was an abused man.  I had a lover, who beat me up constantly, and no matter what he did to me I continued to crawl back to him.  He berated me and treated me like a child, insulted me in front of my friends, and (this pains me to say) was a violent and selfish lover.  His name is Games Workshop.  He used to be really sweet.  When we first met he would sell me a Land Raider for $40.  Then he started to drink, and before I knew it I was using my 29% Citbank credit card in order to come up with the $75 it took to get a new one.  My family and friends would constantly lecture me.  They would ask how I could pay $75 for the same product that used to cost $40 less than a decade ago, and I would tell them that they don’t know Games Workshop like I did.  He really loved me.  They were just jealous of our relationship.  Well, one day after Games Workshop had been drinking more than usual, he tried to charge me $82.50 for a Storm Raven that used to cost $60 less than 2 years ago.  That was enough.  I packed my bags that night and left.  It’s been a tough journey of healing and self discovery, but I finally think that I am strong enough to talk about how I escaped the money grabbing drunk that is Games Workshop.  I still love him, but I’m no longer IN love with him.

                I found that after some time away, I still wanted to play 40k (see how easy that is compared to writing Warhammer 40,000?).  However, I did not want to return to the abusive pattern of behavior that I had grown accustomed to.  I noticed that I had a large collection of Space Marines (who doesn't) and began to feel bad about the time and money I had spent collecting and assembling the models, never having really played with them due to the shiny new products constantly being released by GW (this is an abbreviation of Games Workshop.  I think this abbreviation will also take off eventually).  I began to think of all the codices I could play with these models.  The only difference, really, with the different Space Marine chapters is the color of the armor and the special characters.  I began to play around with different color schemes until I came up with a teal and white pattern that I didn’t hate terribly.  After that I came up with a name, the Mind Rangers (I stole this name from Big Nasty B from Life after the Cover Save, a 40k podcast I suggest you check out)which would feature librarians in all lists.  I then purchased the various Space Marine codices that I did not already own, as well as a couple unique chapter specific characters and got to work painting.  From then on, the only things that I needed to purchase were the new codices (I bought all of these anyways) and the odd special character here and there.  However, much like rollerblading, the use of custom chapters seems to raise a lot of eyebrows.  My word of advice is that if you create a cool chapter with a unique color scheme and keep the special characters and legion specific vehicles (Dark Angel DJ Speeder) within your unique paint scheme, people will be a lot more receptive to your skin flint ways. Enjoy your cheap army and if people still give you shit, F them.  F them in their A.  Like Old Jack always says, “What the hell.”

       

It's Like, Literature, Dummy! Wrath of Iron

Wow two posts in two days? I'm on a roll!  (I actually had two of these sitting around that I featured on my roomate Reecius' website www.frontlinegaming.org)

Wrath of Iron by Chris Wraight

‘Wrath of Iron’ by Chris Wraight is the second book in the Space Marine Battles Novel series that I have read, the first being ‘Hellsreach’ by Aaron Dempski-Bowden.   ADB being my favorite Black Library author, Mr. Wraight had some big shoes to fill.  Luckily for me, ‘Wrath of Iron’ has not only been one of the most enjoyable reads I have had in quite some time but a detailed look into the psyche of one of the least written about Space Marine chapters, the Iron Hands.  Full of pulse quickening action and well written, thought out dialogue Wrath of Iron fulfilled everything and more that I expect from a story that focuses on 8 foot tall robotic demi-gods.  I have read more Black Library books than I would like to admit, and one of my biggest peeves with their portrayal of Space Marines has always been the act of trying to humanize them.  Names will not be named but I recently read a certain omni-bus regarding a very famous chapter of Space Marines where the characters sat around and used language you would expect from a high school locker room.   I’m sorry but genetically modified super humans with little to no concept of human emotion or feelings should not be using contractions and slang.  Leave that kind of language for Guard novels.  Well, enough about my personal likes and dislikes in 40k prose.  On to the summary! (NO SPOILERS)

When the time comes, I will strip my hands of their unnatural silver.  I will instruct my Legion to recant their distrust of the flesh.  I will turn them away from the gifts of the machine and bid them relearn the mysteries of flesh, bone and blood. – The Neimerel Scrolls Attributed to the Primarch Ferrus Manus.

In ‘Wrath of Iron’, rebellion has erupted throughout the poisoned hive planet Shardenus Prime.  The Iron Hand’s Clan Raukaan has been tasked with finding the cause of the rebellion and crushing it.  Clan Commander Rauth leads the Clan with ruthless and machine-like efficiency, something that the mortal commander of the Imperial Guard taskforce Lord General Raji Nethata finds impossible to comprehend.  Rauth is supported by Chief Librarian Telach and Iron Father Khatir, who know the salvation of the planet will need both the strength of the Iron Warriors’ spirit, as well as ethereal power of the warp.  When the truth of the uprising is unearthed, Rauth must use all of the tools at his disposal to utterly destroy it, even if those tools happen to be thousands of Imperial Guardsmen or even the mighty titans of the Adeptus Mechanicus!

Chris Wraight does a fantastic job of showing the tense relationship that the Imperial Guard shares with the Space Marines.  I especially like the internal torment that Lord General Nethata goes through as he attempts to work with a force that is not only autonomous but will requisition entire armies to fulfill a mission that is only known to them.  The fragility of humanity is shown in stark contrast to the massively powerful and neigh immortal Space Marines.  This has been done numerous times, but Wraight makes it a point to show the raw emotions felt by average humans when confronted by the Space Marines, which more often than not terrify them as much as the enemy.  The Iron Hands inner workings are examined in great detail throughout the novel, which was a big selling point for me.  All I knew about this secretive chapter was that their Primarch Ferrus Manus was killed by his brother Fulgrim and that they worked closely with the Adeptus Mechanicus.  Their relationship with the Adeptus Mechanicus is also explored in detail and there are some really interesting revelations made on this front.  Wraight goes into exacting detail when describing the philosophy of the Iron Hands and why they feel the way they do about living flesh.  The battle tactics and fighting style of the Clans are also detailed throughout the novel.  One of my favorite characters is the Iron Father, Khatir, who more or less functions as the Clan’s Chaplain and is given, in my opinion, some of the best dialogue in the novel.  Though he is a minor character, his speech to the terrified and exhausted guardsmen towards the end of the novel definitely has stuck with me.  Chris Wraight is truly a master of dialogue and be it Space Marines, Titan Princeps, or Imperial assassins every word spoken (written) holds true weight and their tones are true to their characters.

So why should you go out and pay $12.99 for this novel? If you like detailed Imperial Guard tactics, crisp and insightful dialogue, background into an extremely interesting Space Marine Chapter and gratuitous blood and violence (without being ONLY about that) than this is the novel for you.  If you want Space Marines speaking like teenagers and lasguns punching through tactical dreadnaught armor, go pick up something else. 

It’s Like, Literature, DUMMY!

Angel Exterminatus by Graham McNeill

‘Guilt upon the soul, like rust upon iron, both defiles and consumes it, gnawing and creeping into it, until at last it eats out the very heart and substance of the metal.  But if all the world hates you, and believes you wicked, while your own conscience absolves you from guilt, you will never be without friends.’ – Perturabo, Primarch of the IV Legion.

I would like to start this review saying that I like Graham McNeill’s writing. Like, a lot.  Well, at least where the Horus Heresy series is concerned.  He has written some of my favorite selections from the series, such as Fulgrim and A Thousand Sons, so when I heard that he was writing the newest Heresy novel Angel Exterminatus I almost creamed my pants in anticipation.  Then I heard he was focusing on the little known Iron Warriors Legion as well as revisiting the Emperors Children (in all their depravity) and I DID cream my pants.  Bodily fluids and ruined underpants aside, let’s get to the meat of this article, the review!

While the focus of Angel Exterminatus is Perturabo and the warriors of the 4^th legion, the novel actually follows three different stories which revolve around the same plot.  The Iron Warriors are reeling from the events in the Shadows of Treachery heresy novella in which they are handed a crushing defeat by their sworn enemies, The Imperial Fists.   The primarch Perturabo’s mood is as unpredictable as it is violent.  Driven to Horus’ side of the rebellion due to bitterness and jealousy, the Iron Warriors are struggling to find their place in the civil war that has engulfed the galaxy, as well as the role they played in the slaughter of their brother legions at the Isstvan drop site massacre.  Enter the 3^rd Legion, the Emperors Children.    Of all the rebellious legions, the Emperors Children along with their primarch Fulgrim have changed the most since the massacre.  A disturbing parody of their once beautiful and perfect appearance, the Emperors Children have devolved into the depraved and debauched warriors we are all familiar with today.  Even Perturabo and his   Iron Warriors are puzzled and horrified by the changes that have taken place within the 3^rd legion.  Fulgrim asks Perturabo to join his legion and undertake a quest to the heart of the Eye of Terror in order to find and utilize and ancient Eldar weapon that will sweep the armies of the loyalists from the face of the galaxy.  Perturabo, ever the general and tactician, is intrigued by the weapon and agrees to join Fulgrim and the Emperors Children.  All the while this is happening, a small ship crewed by survivors of the Isstvan V massacre are shadowing the traitor legions, plotting revenge for the loss of their legions.  We see the perspectives of warriors from the Iron Hands, whose primarch Ferrus Manus was killed by Fulgrim, as well as warriors from the Raven Guard and the Salamanders, the latter of which we have heard literally nothing about since the start of the Heresy series.  As the traitors delve deeper into the Eye of Terror, their distrust for each other grows and all out conflict between the Iron Warriors and Emperors Children seems to be inevitable.   Can Perturabo and Fulgrim work together to find the ancient wonder weapon, or will their past conflicts and growing disgust for each other be their undoing?

            McNeill really hits the nail on the head with novel.  On one hand we have an in depth look at the Iron Warriors and for the first time really see into the psyche and background of the legion.  They stop being ‘Space Marines that are good at sieges’ and become a complex and even sympathetic group of warriors who feel abandoned and unappreciated by the more well known Ultramarines and Imperial Fists.  A lot of new characters and units are introduced and we see finally get a personal look at Perturabo, a very superhuman being with very human characteristics.  Of all the traitor legions, possibly baring the Thousand Sons, I most closely understand the reasoning behind Perturabo and the 4^th legion’s decision to rebel against the Emperor of Mankind.  A cast of familiar characters from the Emperors Children also reappear, such as Lucius the (almost) Eternal (we really get a lot of background on this guy, as well as hints to how he ends up the way he does) and Fabius Bile (who somehow gets MORE depraved).  One of the best parts of this novel is the introduction of characters from the 10^th legion, the Iron Hands, and the Salamanders, who have gotten NO love throughout the series.  Hopefully this means that there are Salamanders novels being published in the near future, since all of the other legions present on Isstvan V have been covered (the Iron Hands have several short novels throughout the Heresy series) and it is about time Vulcan and his coal skinned Salamanders get some love.

  Overall, Angel Exterminatus is a great read, and a must have from Heresy Fans though there is a lot of storyline that is driven by events in previous novels.  A lot of new info about the legions present in the novel is revealed, as well as information regarding the two lost legions (you have to look REALLY carefully for this). I give Angel Exterminatus 5 creamed underwears out of 5 creamed underwears!