Horus Heresy

Greetings Everyone

Hope you all have been doing well and regularly indulging in geeky nerd-dom. Diablo 3 has been out for a week and I must say it has affected my real life unfortunately...the addiction has slowly passed as I've gotten my fill of Sanctuary stomping, I think.

One thing I love about sci-fi and fantasy is reading books. My favorite series is George RR Martin's The Song of Ice and Fire, and one thing bad about it is that the books are slow to come out. A Dance with Dragons was released 6 years after the previous book, and I am itching badly for the next title in the series: The Winds of Winter. Interestingly, you can read a preview chapter from GRRM's website, and the man himself also narrates another preview chapter on Victarion Greyjoy. As usual...don't read it if you haven't caught up with the series yet.

To sate my thirst for sci-fi and fantasy books, I've begun to read Warhammer 40k novels and they're pretty good reads. I'm particularly interested in the Horus Heresy series, as I always have a thing for good guys gone bad and it fascinates me how heroes fall from grace in very human terms (which also means I have a budding interest in Chaos Space Marines).

Right now I'm in the middle of Graham McNeill's False Gods, which covers the time period where Horus the Warmaster is slowly being influenced by the dark powers of Chaos. It's a very interesting read, as the solidarity of the Luna Wolves is tested upon meeting Chaos, and loyalty to the Warmaster is weighed against that to the Emperor of Mankind.

The one thing that makes W40k novels (at least the ones I have read) intriguing reads is that the protagonists are almost always anti-heroes, who are not pure/perfect heroes that possess unparalleled skill. They are very human characters who navigate through challenges from both friends and foes, and not to forget the inner demons they face within themselves. Morality in the 40k universe is a very grim grey, and be prepared to let go of your preconceived perceptions of popular 40k characters.

Cover of Dan Abnett's Legion, a novel of the Horus Heresy series.

If you're looking for a sci-fi novel series to indulge in, the Horus Heresy itself is a good bet. Personally, Dan Abnett is probably the best writer for W40k novels, and I've heard his Eisenhorn series is a worthwhile read too. His writing style is dynamic in terms of plot and character development, there's rarely a dull moment in his books. He also injects some unique angles into his novels, such as describing the process of framing pictures with a camera, and the use of ancient Greek medicine humors (or "elements") to describe emotions of the Luna Wolves space marines.

Do you have other recommendations for sci-fi and fantasy books? I'd love to hear what you have been reading, as I'm always game for a good read :)

Updates!!

Good Day to all!

Always great to see our regular readers and newcomers alike taking interest in our blog. Josh and I are always giving it our best to keep giving you all great blog posts and it gratifies us to see stirring discussions on our post.

I must apologize for my long absence as I had lots on my hand. On the hobby front, I have been busy doing lots of stuff and I will give you a brief rundown on the updates. As for now, Josh has been preoccupied with much work but will be coming back with more great post inclusive of figures, model stuff and thought-provoking geeky/nerdy issues.

Recently, The Avengers movie hit the big screen and it has been the culmination of a string of Marvel Heroes' Movies that have been featuring along the years.

It has been close to a week or more since its release and there are so much reviews and rave about it. My sentiments are pretty much the same as the rest of the cohort. Being a Marvel fan myself, I have always been quite meticulous on how Marvel brings the stories out of the comic books and into the movie screen. More often than not, they never fail to disappoint. The Avengers is no exception. When I initially saw the trailer, I thought it was just so insanely great and the hype was so mindblowing that there was a sceptical part of me that thought it could be a  big underwhelming experience in which the good parts would only be what I saw in the trailer.

To my delight, not only did it meet my expectation and blow my mind away, the trailer was but only the tip of the iceberg to a very highly intensive action pack movie filled with great action sequences and an exceptionally directed show that focused on the synergy between all characters. The best of all was that this show was a great depiction of what I viewed the Avengers to be like.

As such, it is no wonder that the Avengers is currently top spot in many countries' billboards and hitting over $700 million in revenue so far. It is the fastest film to reach over $200 million, beating the Dark Knight, and setting a new record for revenue in opening weekend beating Harry Potter: Deathly Hallows Part 2. I will not be surprise if overall revenue would beat the Dark Knight's $1 billion dollar mark. Latest report has shown that The Avengers Movie is the first movie ever to post back to back weekend of $100 million plus sales. So much ownage.
SPOILER ALERT: Unlike the grittiness of Dark Knight and the whole in-depth complex story which was THE money maker for DC, Marvel did do it right by following the theme and atmosphere that makes the Avengers..THE Avengers. There were many breath-taking awesome action scenes that were well compose and the real wham bamming moment of the show was the ending credits revealing the next villain who turns out to be Thanos! As a Marvel fan, it was shit awesome to know that one of the biggest badassery of a villain would be featured in the next film. And truth be told, the Avengers are truly screwed if Thanos were to face them. Been speculating all week with fellow buddies of mine on how could they even stand up to Thanos. Obviously, i am hoping that Avengers 2 would give the same impact as this show and won't come up with some lame ass method of defeating Thanos (This is totally based ont he assumption that Thanos is the main villain of course)

Lets look again at this badassery of a trailer.


Onto the next topic,

It is nearing the mid of May and I am pretty sure one game is on everyone's mind. By this Tuesday this week, many shall once again travel to Tristam to do some badass killing of monsters. After 10 years of waiting, Diablo 3 shall return...

Just a heads up information, Diablo 3 has broke several presale records and became the most pre-ordered PC game of all time on Amazon.com and Blizzard. What's more, with this new hardcore mode in which your character can only die once, I can't wait to see how "extreme" have they made Diablo 3. Hopefully, it isn't dialed down from the previous prequels. I did get a chance to play the beta and I must say I am impressed by the graphics. The gameplay is relatively the same, but I do hope that it would be a great game that doesn't disappoint or underwhelm me.

Truth be told, I cannot wait to play with my friends....And as such, I have pre-ordered my Collector's edition through Joshua. With this game coming, I was inspired to give a few touches of Warhammer painting to these figures...

They are none other than the Boodletters. From head to toes, these daemons of chaos has a slight resemblance to Diablo.

It will be awhile before I can feature these guys as a regiment but I hope this psykes you up to get ready for some demon-killing time.

Onto the topic of Painting and Wargaming, a few weeks back, I believe I have mentioned in my Samurai Post about a Tabletop game I have stumbled upon called Bushido. It just so happens that they have recently posted up a campaign to raise money for their new faction on the website Indigogo.

If you had liked what you saw in my previous post and would want to get some really cool perks from this newly-established tabletop game, do contribute to funding their game.

This is the link: http://www.indiegogo.com/bushido

For more information and review of the game "Bushido", check out their website at www.Bushido-thegame.com

I will promise more post soon and apologize for the multitudes of delays. I have been neglecting much on the posting and also the painting of my miniatures and model kits. Been to caught up in The Avengers and Gaming. By the time, I have doen all that, I do not ahve any spare energy for anything else.

However, I promise you that there will be lots in store soon so stay tune! Gotta run now!

Cheerios!