So, on Saturday my boyfriend and I went to Salute, which is a wargaming event run by the South London Warlords. It’s a whole hall full of gaming groups and shops. We turned up a little bit late and they’d run out of goody bags by the time that we got there which was a little bit annoying/frustrating. I don’t know what exactly was in the bags but we arrived before 1pm and the show didn’t shut until 5pm. I guess that if we go again we’ll have to turn up earlier, which, if we do what we did this time and stay outside of London, means an early start. The only trouble with getting there early is having enough energy to last the day.

I had a few things that I was looking for and I got one of them. I picked up two sets of pelts from MaxMini (large and small). I’d been thinking about buying some for a while, but as they were a small purchase I sidelined them as being too fiddly to bother with. I was going to pick up another Devastator squad for my Long Fang conversions, but only the most expensive of the stores that I was looking at had one left (and I forgot to check the pricing on the GW site before I left!).

I also wanted to ask about getting a KR Multicase. I’ve now seen what the backpack looks like. I didn’t have space to carry one home unfortunately and talking to they guy at the stall, it was decided that it was probably best if I ordered online in euros (which I really have to do- I can’t carry on packing my guys in plastic boxes). I need to write up my list as is and what I’m planning to get.

I was looking at getting some bits at the Bring and Buy/ the bits stalls. The only trouble was that most things were a little bit overpriced for something that I’ll have to strip and clean up. For instance, I saw 5 bikes for ₤20. Now Space Marine bikes are ₤6 each new from Wayland Games or ₤7.50 from GW (they’re considerably more in euros it seems ). ₤4 seems like quite a nice price but in order to use them I would have had to strip them using Dettol (they were painted yellow), prise off heads or add lots of bits and green stuff in order to make them all wolfy, and only then could I paint them. I’m just lazy I guess.

I did spend money on books though. I picked up a pile of books from the stall that aren’t out for a while, including Wrath of Iron and Butcher’s Nails, both of which are books that I’ve been looking forward to. We also bought Architect of Fate which we then got signed by Sarah Cawkwell and The Primarchs which we got signed by Graham McNeill. Both authors were really great to talk to, although I put my foot in it when I admitted that I played Space Wolves because of Prospero Burns. I love Thousand Sons (which is written by McNeill). To be honest you can’t have Prospero Burns without Thousand Sons and vice versa. Graham McNeill’s story in the Primarchs (The Reflection Crack’d) is brilliant! I’m on the last of the novellas now and I can say that the three I’ve read so far have all been up to scratch. The reason that I haven’t quite finished The Primarchs is that I read Architect of Fate first. It’s not the most hopeful book in the world but it is very good and that’s all the review you can expect from me for now (I’ll write more another time hopefully).

Finally I should say a really big thanks to Jim who gave me a Land Raider. That was absolutely awesome, thanks!

L.o.F.

If you’ve not seen it, here it is:

It’s loosely based on John Blanche’s original Angron sketch, which is right here:

And the art for The Primarchs, next year’s anthology, was also shown at Games Day and is now doing the rounds…

Horus (who looks like my friend Ben Cawkwell) and Fulgrim

Jaghatai Khan, Lorgar Aurelian, and Rogal Dorn

Sanguinius, Mortarion, Magnus the Red and Angron

And here we see Neil’s gone back to a more Blanchey-ish (less ‘most-muscled primarch’)  Angron. Sometimes I love the Blanche depiction, sometimes it just makes me think of Dhalsim.

YOGA FLAME.

But back to The Butcher’s Nails for a minute. I didn’t have much say in that artwork, which is always frustrating for an author, but it’s occasionally a mundane evil of the trade. I did manage to have the Butcher’s Nails implanted on his head, which is why he’s got those stylish cyber-dreadlocks. In my writing, I base the Nails on the later artwork of Angron (and/or his bodyguard – whomever that might be) in the Heresy, and the man himself as a Daemon Prince, when he’s got that sci-fi mane of awesome cabling going on.

Oh my, yes.

Handsome fellow, that Angron.

It’s a weird moment to realise you’re writing a character one way, and the art gang are depicting him another. With nothing but love for John Blanche, I wasn’t really writing an Angron based on his sketch, and I still don’t really see him that way. My imagination was more fueled by the other style of artwork, admittedly, as well as by my own reading of the text. But Trust Your Art Director. He knows what sells. And d’you know what? Public reaction to the Butcher’s Nails cover has been immense, and hugely positive. This strongly indicates that I don’t know shit.

I plan to have a lot more say in my next HH cover, since The First Heretic was me and Neil coordinating all the way, and it rocks on toast. It’s not about forcing an artist to depict your vision, it’s about giving an artist enough info that he or she can interpret it their own way. And as for TBN, I have no complaints. It kicks maximum booty.

May I also add that I love the Lorgar shot in The Primarchs? That’s fucking rad.

May I just add, furthermore, that I may just be squeezing into that anthology? And would it be with a novella about Konrad Curze? Yes, yes it might be.

Anyway.

On the topic of The Butcher’s Nails, I added some voiceover direction suggestions to the end of the document. I have no idea if the guys making it will stick to them, but it’s an interesting (ish…) slice into life behind the scenes of a Horus Heresy audio drama.

ANGRON – Ron Pearlman / Hellboy.

LORGAR – Dr. Manhattan.

KHARN – vox-altered almost all the time, similar to Throne of Lies.

CAPTAIN LOTARA SARRIN – Mid-30s, energetic English female. A moronic tabloid would describe her as “posh but saucy”, when they really mean “she speaks like Nigella Lawson”.

IVAR TOBEN – British WWII officer.

VOXMASTER KEJIC (and any other officers) – British WWII officer.

SERVITORS – Just like in Throne of Lies, as they rocked.

ELDAR REAVER CAPTAIN – a rasping whisper, disgusted to even be talking to humans, and with abrasive background noise, like the transmissions in Event Horizon. Also, when he says “mon-keigh”, can it be “mon-kee” and not “monk-eye” like in the DoW games? Otherwise it no longer makes sense and misses the point of why it’s funny.

ARGEL TAL – He speaks in two voices at the same time: one like a normal Space Marine, one lower, daemonic, and eerily resonant.