Blog News - Black Library action, Posts and Plans!

Hi Folks,
time for a round up of the happenings on and off the blog, I know its a while since the last one so I thought now would be a good time to catch up and let you all know the going-ons!

Black Library Recognition and Twitter
As regular follows will know I often review new Black Library releases on the blog and recently I have begun posting links to these on Twitter. Recently I'm please to say that a couple of these have been retweeted and mentioned by the Black Library so at last the blog has some wider recognition. So hello to any new readers from the Black Library and thanks to them for mentioning the reviews on their feed.
Follow Millests Mediocre Meanderings on Twitter here:

MMM Twitter feed

Followers and Posts
Speaking of new readers I'm please to note that we now have 70 followers on the blog, so firstly thank you all for following and coming back time and time again to view the blog.

The blog has also hit a mile stone by passing the 250 posts mark, so whilst this escaped me and slipped by without me realising (I think we're on 260ish now) I do intend to get something special arranged for post 500 and hopefully have a painting comp or give away open to all.

Finally going on the blogger counter tool we have have nearly 64000 hits and according to google over the course of the life of the blog so far we have had 25000+ unique visitors to the site!! All I can say to those states is WOW!!

So once again thank you all and just, WOW!!! I cant believe it and I'm glad that enough people are enjoying the blog that they are not only coming back but most likely also sharing the site with others. Thank you all and keep enjoying
 
Tale Of Five Gamers plans
As you are now doubt aware the TOFG 500pt challenge is coming to a close (more below) and over the past week or so, despite their lack of progress, myself and some of the other members of the challenge have been looking in to the onward progression of the challenges.
I have therefore decided to document the plans so that people cant change their mind or chicken out. So without further ado here's a list of what you can expect to see in the future:

• Completion of the 500pt challenge
• Expansion of the TOFG challenge to 750pts
• The Power Armour Challenge
• Expansion of the TOFG challenge to 1000pts
• The Terminator Armour Challenge
• Expansion of the TOFG challenge to 1500pts
• The Deathwatch Challenge

More details will come for the various challenges as and when they roll out on the blog but lets just say they look fun. I'm also considering opening up some of the smaller challenges to allow people from outside the blog to submit their own work, but this will be looked in to for practical terms closer to the time.
Just so you know whilst these are planned these will be featuring alongside any other articles, guides, reviews and projects that might crop up. Hopefully these are intriguing and hope you enjoy them.
You can catch up on the TOFG progress so far here:

TOFG 2011 Archive

Tale Of Five Gamers votes
With the 500pt challenge coming to a close over the next few days you should see features appearing for each of the armies rounding up their fluff, lists and pictures. Once these are completed we're hoping to have a vote up and running for around 2 weeks so you can pick the force you feel works the best or sticks closest to their fluff or just appeals to you in general. The winner will definitely get bragging rights and more then likely a beer or two from the lads but that will be decided later! So please keep and eye out and please cast your vote when you it goes live.
You can catch up on the TOFG progress so far here:

TOFG 2011 Archive

New reviews
As previously mentioned a number of new reviews have gone up recently and have been added to the Book reviews tab. Coming soon I'm hoping to have some reviews on some products and sellers but this will be added once the 500pt votes are in so I can use the models in this for the reviews.
The reviews sections can be found here:

Book Reviews

Product & Retailer Reviews

Layout and Feedback
As regulars will notice I'm often fiddling with settings on the blog, but the thing is no matter what I think looks good the blog is all about you the readers. So if you have any feedback on the layout, the articles you want to see or something you want adding please let me know and I will see what I can do for you. Also on the flip side of that if there is anything you don't like or don't want to see let me know. Any and all suggestions will be welcomed and looked in to. I can be contacted here:

Email me here!

Guest articles and Blog rolls

If any regulars would like to have their Blog added to the blog rolls on the right hand side please either post below or contact me via email. I have also decided that given the number of readers and hits it is time to open up the floor to guest bloggers. So if you have an article or an idea for an article please get in touch and I will see if it works for me and the blog and if so I will try to include it with full credit.
If you have a blog or an article you would like to see here please contact me here:

Email me here!

Holidays
The final bit of news for this round up is that I will be away on my hols again soon (not that I have another one booked or anything) so I wont be updating the blog or able to respond to any comments or emails from around the 3rd to the 17th of September. Any emails, comments or requests will be dealt with on my return, but the voting for 500pt challenge will be open over this period so please continue to visit and vote in the poll.


That's all folks so thank you all once again for reading the newsy news and the blog. Also as I'm going to be away from the blog in around a weeks time please remember:

Space Marine - Book Review

Space Marine by Ian Watson
First published in 1993 – though completed some years earlier – at a time when the background to the Warhammer 40,000 universe was still in a state of flux and not yet fully coalesced, the book follows three young Imperial Fist recruits from their formative years in the underhive gangs of Necromunda through to fighting as part of the First Company within the bowels (literally!) of a Tyranid bioship.

Not only will you find squats in this novel –Tzeentch-worshiping squats at that – but also Space Marines controlling Titans, Space Marines with lasguns, the Pain Glove and more than a small amount of toilet humour. Oh, and a Zoat. How could we forget the Zoat?

Although the temptation was great to rewrite significant portions of this book to make it conform to current background, as a curiosity piece, an historical snapshot of the Warhammer 40,000 universe circa the early 1990s, this book is invaluable. It also serves as a shining example of what can happen when a respected genre author at the height of his powers is let loose on an established shared universe.

In another month of reading (when I should be painting) I decided it was time I re-read this book. I have owned the original for sometime now but rather then it get further dog eared I decided to pick up the print on demand copy from the Black Library. Firstly about the book itself and I must say, as with my Bloodquest book, I am pleased with the quality. OK so the price is a bit steep but to have one of the founding pieces of 40k lore available again its worth it. The larger then normal format and the simplified cover looks really good and certainly works, it also means larger font as well which is nice.


I wasn't planning on doing a full on stonking review going in to great detail on the story and on the background but the thing with the novel is its so different! Which ever way you look at it Watson’s fluff does not fit the current mythology and Black Library story telling ethos. If anything perhaps is more literary than most current readers would like and is very cerebral in places (though with an unhealthy obsession with excrement and body parts!). All that in mind though any true aficionados of 40K and mainstream science fiction should embrace the novel as a classic and enjoy it for its strengths and inventions.

The novel begins with three young protagonists, citizens of the Trazior Hive, an vast city on the planet Necromunda, engaged in gang warfare. Yeremi Valence, Biff Tundrish and Lexandro d’Arquebus are the leads and each protagonist belongs to a different social class and as a result differing gangs> the novel cleverly begins with the collision of three levels of the hive, represented by three young gangs, battling each other in brutal warfare which is used to link them through out the story. Through various routes the three end up becoming recruits for the Imperial Fists Space Marines, it is here where things progress. I don't want to take it further as it would ruin the book for readers, one thing of note though is how actions in this book (originally meant as a one off) are linked to the subsequent follow up book, Inquisitor, a clever plot device before they even knew they needed it.

One of the big sells for me was the novel’s psychological complexity, but the biggest draw is the exquisite use of language. Each sentence is poetical and rigorous, more often then not Watson uses alliteration to dramatic effect, though you never feel its over used. One of the simplest ways in which he used this command of language is how as he quickly follows the three men’s rise to become battle-brothers he changes the manner and style of their speech to reflect this, but cleverly throws in slips when they in action.

As previously mentioned the novel doesn't sit wholly within the realms of current accepted background and imagery. For example in the novel Orks are not great threats and a blight on the universe they are simply space-faring pirates and spoken of as almost potential allies. We also get to meet squats, something unfortunately missing from the current universe, who with their human overlord are minions of Chaos. We also get a unique, if somewhat bodily orifice and excrement tinted, view of the two major players in the theme, daemons and Tyranids. The spin on these forces is certainly unique and twisted but it is something fresh and worth exploring.

See, I said I wouldn't do a full review and there I go and do one. All I can say to you now is go get this book! Beg, Borrow or Buy you need to have read this book to understand the Genesis of the 40k universe. The style and imagery isn't to every ones taste but for me this book rates a full 5 out of 5, if nothing just for the nostalgia I feel when reading it.

Available from:
http://www.blacklibrary.com/
Space Marine by Ian Watson
Softback • ISBN 9781844169016