Malifaux..... Stealing the soul out of my 40K Hobby

I have some additional painting complete and the pictures will be following further along in this post. I also received my shipment from Microart Studios, so have my new bases for my and my wife's Malifaux crews. Add to that a new order received from Phil @ theBrokenForge and my crew's have expanded to the basic Guild crew led by Lady Justice, along with a new Arcanists crew led by Rasputina. Oh wait, we also just announced a contest on the Gamers Lounge where we are giving away a full Outcasts Gremlin crew start box.

That's right, as the title says, Malifaux has stolen the soul out of my 40K hobby. It was not a violent theft as I would have expected it to be.The Farseers consulted their runes and shook their heads in confusion as Baby Kade innocently smiled his way onto my hobby table. The Autarchs stood passively by watching little Candy trade her treats for my attention. Now we come to Baharroth, cry of the wind, shedding tears as he is ignored at the side of my painting tray while a Sorrow and a Death Marshal grab all my focus! Pandora and Lady Justice are laughing at the Harliquins and Night Spinners clamoring inside their boxes, fully realizing that they will likely be painted and based before another Eldar leaves his packing. Take this as a warning, dear reader... Malifaux is an evil, evil I say! I am beginning to understand why it is taking over the attention of so many other gamers.

So lets take a look at the new additions, and happily my first painted model not part of my wife's crew. I need to decide if I will touch up the eyes or leave the face as it is, considering the face is not actually visible when the model is on the table.

And then we have the Purple Sorrow for my wife's Pandora crew.

On the Road......

Well, this summer poses a lot of travel for the DTP. I just returned from London UK (wrote my last post on the plane and posted from the hotel) and will be headed out to Atlanta GA (USA) and Seattle WA (USA) over the next month. Past that I will be spending 2 weeks in the North Eastern state of NH at the end of July and start of August.

So, is this just a post bragging about my travel plans? Nope, not at all. I am looking to get some games in while on the road. I will be packing up my Battlefoam and bringing the DTP with me on the plane and to the far reaches of the USA. So, fearless readers, I ask who is up for a game? I will likely have both my Malifaux and Eldar with me, so I am up for either.

Current plans are for Atlanta from 7/13 - 7/16. Due to work, I would need to nail down games for either Tuesday the 13th, or Thursday the 15th in the evening.

Seattle plans are for 7/20 through 7/22. I am on the red-eye flight out on the 22nd, so would need to meet for a game in the afternoon. I could also squeeze in a game on Tuesday evening, 7/20.

For the NH trip, I will be in town from 7/26 through 8/6. I have a fairly flexible schedule right now and will be in the Londonderry area, near the Game Castle. I will have a larger set of my army with me on that trip, along with (most likely) all of my Malifaux.

Hopefully I am able to get some games set-up with my "more remote" readers. Shoot me a message in the comments to this post or directly via email and lets schedule some games!

Book Review: Path of the Warrior

Path of the warrior by Gav Thorpe, what can I  say other than wow? 

Ok, let me go back a bit and explain. I am confident you are sitting and wondering to yourself " How did he get to read this book a week before it's release date?" Thanks to a good friend of mine, Phil from Broken Forge and the Warbanner I was able to get my hands on a preview copy of this novel. Then I ended up on a long flight to the UK for work so had plenty of time to read it due to my inability to sleep on a plane.

Now let me return to my previous comment, wow! This is a great book for several readers of Black Library books. Those casual BL readers will like Gav's writing style and the flow of the story once the book progresses to action. Gav's battle descriptions are fantastic and visceral, letting the reader feel the taste of blood in the air of the battles. 

Then there will be those readers like me who are fans of that elusive 40K backstory for the Eldar. For those of us who are Eldar fans this book provides the voyeuristic glimpse of the Craftworld Eldar lives we have been craving! Fiinally we get to see and experience the full meaning of the Eldar Paths and how they shape and impact an Eldars life. Any of you who are not Eldar fans may not understand how cool that is.

I felt the main character in the book, Korlandril, is very well developed. We see him grow along the Path from the Path of the Artist through what can only be called a breakdown and onto the Path of the Warrior. We get a brief glance at how an Eldar chooses one of the Aspects of the Warrior Path as he chooses to become a Striking Scorpion. We even get to experience the warrior path and gain some understanding about Exarchs and the Phoenix Lords.

So this will not be a gushing post of praise alone. I will admit disappointment in a couple areas of the book. There are two characters introduced early in the story, Thirianna and Aradryan, who are not developed well. We get shown these characters as counterpoint to our hero, along with their having key roles in  Korlandril's development. They are not well developed, not enough to really care for them. I suspect these will be the primary characters in the next two books, which may explain this decision. The other criticism I have is one of grandiosity. There is a scene near the end where three Phoenix Lords arrive in the story. Come on Gav...... 3 Phoenix Lords? While the event in the story at that point are moment us there is no real explanation why 3 are required. Then only 1 really plays a role in the story. While I understand and appreciate Karandras's role in the story, the others were not needed.

So for anyone even slightly interested in the Eldar, this book is a must read. 

For the general BL reader, this is a clear 4 out of 5.