If the Flesh is Weak, Why Do You Use Skulls in EVERYTHING?

::+..[] TARGET ACQUIRED ;:++-[

Do you like John Blanche? How about H.R. Giger?

Do you like skulls, skeletons, and corpses?

What are your feelings about robots?

If you are interested in any of those things, you should really check out this thread by H30k's Redjack. Serious fucking nightmare fuel, exquisitely converted and painted, with a vibrant martian sand basing scheme that really makes the dark models pop.

Go. Read. Comment. Tell 'em that LegionXVIII sent you.

The Casters of the Pod

As promised, it's time for me to introduce you to a few of my favorite Horus Heresy podcasts. Without any further ado, I enthusiastically recommend...

• The Adeptus Terra
• The Age of Darkness Podcast
• The Eye of Horus
• The Imperial Truth
• The Independent Characters
• Masters of the Forge
• The Overlords
• Seize the Initiative

And in case you don't want to just take my word for it, let's take them one at a time and I'll tell you what's cool about them.

The Adeptus Terra

These two guys are great to listen to, and play off each other in really entertaining ways. Although like some of the others, this is technically a Warhammer 40k podcast, they have been spending more and more of their time lately on Horus Heresy content, which isn't really surprising, the way this branch of the hobby seems to take over peoples' lives. In any case, like the other Warhammer 40k podcasts I link to, these guys have got the right attitude about the game and are dedicated to enjoying it for what it's good at rather than griping about the ways it's bad. Their production values are also top notch, making this a very easy podcast to be immersed in.

The Age of Darkness Podcast

Full disclosure - as of the writing of this post, I haven't finished their back catalogue, so it's possible that at some point in my future and their past, they begin to suck. Assuming that isn't the case, the Age of Darkness Podcast is definitely a fun listen for anyone who's into Horus Heresy. These dudes are so Canadian it hurts. Them being mean about Roboute Guilliman sounds like the New Yorkers I grew up with being nice about anyone. They're also a pair of clever and dedicated gamers with a positive attitude.

The only thing to watch out for is that almost every episode ends with a "book club" segment. If you're far behind in the series - like I am - you'll have to skip that part to avoid spoilers. However, I recommend sticking around for the brief audio fiction! Every book club segment begins with the hosts reading a part of the text out loud, and they're really quite good at it!

The Eye of Horus

Fully painted is for who? CLOSERS!

These guys have rapidly become one of my favorite podcasts, period, and I listen to a lot of podcasts. Their cheerful, positive, and profane commentary on Horus Heresy is endlessly entertaining.

The Imperial Truth

Possibly the most serious podcast of the bunch, the main host has been rising through the ranks of the hobby to the point that he's actually throwing his own events. Nevertheless, the podcast has a good balance of taking the game seriously and understanding it for what it is.

The Independent Characters

The podcast that started it all. Well, for me. I didn't listen to any of these losers until after Carl quit and I was suddenly down to zero 40k podcasts. I'm almost glad for the interregnum, because it gave me a chance to broaden my horizons. Carl is unfailingly enthusiastic, positive, and fun to listen to, and I'm overjoyed that he chose to return to us.

Masters of the Forge

Another 40k podcast that's got some Heresy content, this one definitely epitomizes the virtue of making the game your own. These guys, frankly, love to make shit up, and they're really good at it. I hope they fall deeper into the orbit of the Heresy and continue to invent characters, missions, and campaign for 30k.

The Overlords

Although this one was originally a 40k podcast, it's been overtaken by Heresy content to the point that it seems nearly 50/50, at least. These guys are also a lot of fun to listen to, complete with addled banter and ridiculous jingles. Their positivity and insight are unmatched.

Seize the Initiative

These guys are often a little more game focused and a little less narrative focused than I would like, personally... but hey, who doesn't like to win games? And it's not like they're WAAC assholes - it's just that they spend more time talking about how to win games and a little less on the story or hobby aspects. That said, I still enjoy them. They're a bit irregular at present, but they're also a young podcast, so we'll have to see what happens.

• • •

That's all I got for now. I hope you check out some of the podcasts I've recommended, and if there are any good ones I've missed drop me a line in the comments and let me know!

Introducing... Workbench Wednesday

This is something I did for a while back on Tumblr. I'm going to post a picture of my painting table, as messy as it is, and say a little bit about the visible works in progress. If you'd like to play along, start doing the same thing on Wednesdays and drop me a link in the comments. On Thursday I'll make a post of all the Workbench Wednesday posts I'm made aware of, and we can all oogle each others' progress.

Without further ado: my first Workbench Wednesday!

My actual workbench

Let's see... what's visible here. Center right are my almost-finished melta support squad and center left are my built-but-not-primed breachers. To the left, you can also just barely make out the beginnings of my Iron Hands survivors. There's the kitbashed quad mortar, its crew, and some terminators, including a forgelord with conversion beamer. Just in front of the breachers, you can probably also make out my other forgelord, this one Salamanders, with  grav gun.

And of course, in the background, underneath the little lid of watch parts (for the Iron Hands) is my eternal, uncompleted glaive... I've got to get that thing finished one of these days. Once I'm no longer focusing on getting infantry done for my upcoming zone mortalis campaign, I'll start getting some tanks done.

And, as a bonus, here's my to-strip bin:

Wooo! Take it ALL OFF!

I'm not quite ready to add the toxic chemicals, because I'm waiting for two more russes (and potentially two manticores to convert into basilisks/medusas) for my burgeoning Solar Auxilia army (you'll hear more about them in a post to come). But as you can see, my motor pool is growing! I can't wait to get this sicaran on the table - it's going to look great in green!

Apologies

I'd like to apologize for the text issues in the previous post. I've been noodling with it for almost twenty minutes, and I cannot for the fucking life of me figure out how to unfuck it, so I'm going to leave it the way it is. At least the fucking thing is readable now.

If any of my elder brothers of blogging have any advice on preventing this bullshit, I'd appreciate it. I know I'm not a professional, but I'd like my posts not to look like utter shit.

Fucking fuck...