Robster The Lobster

So my order just got shipped. Which was a nice surprise since I didn't think it would ship until the 1st of December. Hopefully I get it before the weekend, leaving me plenty of time to read.

Wonder if BL will do something similar leading up to the release as they did with Warmaster limited edition, Abnett read a part of the book. If memory serves me right they also had an unboxing. Would be fun to see A D-B read aloud. Mostly to see if he can pull of the same air of coolness that Abnett have.

Well a day after I asked when the book was due, it came up on pre order. Feeling lucky today. Sure, the price made me stop for a moment, but black library have two authors I would gladly spend that type of money on. Abnett and A D-B. Will take a day of when this book arrives, and who knows perhaps 2019 will be the year I get back to the tabletop again after a year of. Perhaps this book will make me consider painting up some Spears. Most say that what I'm most looking forward to is, after looking up some info on the book. Is the more human perspective on space marines and life among them. Septimus and Octavia is two of my favourite characters among, and part of the reason the night lords trilogy was so good. Let's see if this narrator bring back that feeling.

I'm really excited for this book. Usually take a day of work when A D-B release a new book. Though this one took me a bit by surprise. Mostly my own fault, life in general have been busy this year. So have not really done any hobby things or really any social media. Which actually was pretty relaxing. But yesterday a friend told me that this book was about to release. So went to black library, but doesn't see it in the upcoming section. Is this like an event thing, and release a few months later?

I do think that its actually a tough road to walk, and probably at least some authors spend time tho.king about. I mean, When you have a setting that it's inherently grim, it can be too much to constantly be reminded of it. Like if you have something that is in itself funny; it becomes cheesy if you start making joke after joke about it. When it's funny just by existing. With that said I would like to see some other sides of "the good guy". Like is the Salamanders truly humanitarian or are they just stoically following their creed. Or, are the Ultramarines truly the defenders of humanity or are they the defenders of the Imperium. Those questions interest me, and don't necessarily take away the good guy quality. Well, at least in the 40k sense.

Unfortunately I still have some catching up to do with the HH Series, but I can give you guys and gals a cent or two.... Well, I'm not rich, so you only get my opinion. My opinion will be based on the character building of the legion and the characters within, not about winning or losing. So let´s begin. The Good List Word Bearers- The perfect legion when it comes to characterization, quirks and flaws. But still being likable. And they do have a primarch who isn't´t stagnate, Lorgar actually evolve through the series. Which is one the the reasons I hope he survive´s the horus heresy, the one primarch who got what he wanted and than got enslaved by it is such a cool story. World Eaters- Together with the former legion they are the prime example of a legion well done, it got a couple of excellent character, a primarch who is kickass. And its own quirks and flaws, and lets not forget Lotara. Space Wolves- I have not read everything about the wolves, but from what I´v read they get a good showing, a complex primarch, and show of a more complex side to the legion as well Thousand Sons- The legion we thought we knew from a few paragraphs in codex´s over the years, but the we got an entire world in Tizca, were we first hand got to see how a legion influenced and got influenced by it´s home world. Alpha Legion- Just read Legion and Praetorian of Dorn, that´s all I have to say about that. Ultramarines- Abnett really saved the Ultramarines for me. By the time I picked up Know no Fear I was really tired of every book, codex telling me how perfect they were. We got the best Chapter Master, the most powerful Librarian, and the best sergeant, and on and on it went. But Abnett made ol´papa smurf likeable and flawed, and he did the same with the Ultramarine´s themselves Scars- Again we get a legion who is a character in it´s own right.And a primarch who is complex. Bad List Night Lord- Besides A D-B´s work they feel like a cartonish villian. Something to throw in and be defeated, We learn nothing really new, We are told that Curze descend into madness and that the legion start to descend into criminals instead of seeing it. Dark Angels- IAgain I have not read everything out there. my experience with them are from Descent of Angels, and let´s just say that it was a book that is wish to forget. Sons of Horus- They started good, but I think they suffered from the period when BL wanted make us see that the primarchs and certain legion´s wasn´t perfect. I love a great many authors in the BL stable, but one of the great flaws is that they are usually very blunt in their writing´s., instead of using a chisel they smack you over the head with a shovel and you are left to wonder what happened. I think that is what happened to the Sons of Horus, they wanted to take down the legion from it´s throne, but instead turned them into glory hounds. For me personally the best characterization of the legion is when Loken spar against Lucius the first them, were Loken explain that the how´s and why´s is not important, only to win. Legions that need book list Death Guards- I´m a Death Guard player since twelve years back, so I might be a little biased. But they really need a book to show of the legion and it´s primarch. Iron Hands- The only legion to lose it´s primarch. I would have loved to have a book were they bury their father and show how it affected them Imperial Fists- We might get more fists now when we are getting closer to Terra. But I would really like to see more characterization of their legion and characters... Sigismund I´m looking at you. And we really need to care about Dorn, or at least be made to see what a tragedy his death is to the Imperium I´m working through the books one by one right now, so perhaps I can write about the legions I left out at a later date.

While you're right in part, the thing is that the NL's aren't just psychological warfare specialists. They're selfish, paranoid, fractious sadists who can't really trust the man standing next to them. That's their real Achilles heel. BUt despite that, they are actually capable, from Sevatar and Curze's antics, Vandred at the helm of a ship, or even relative unknowns like Balthasar Sul, you can find examples of NLs doing well in direct confrontations (or being sneaky enough to win without charging down the enemy's guns). However, they need those strongmen to keep the troops in line, otherwise they just don't have the cohesion of other Legions, which places them at a major disadvantage in stand up fights. Are they still incredibly dangerous, highly competent and deadly warriors? Of course, but they're fighting enemies who can match them in all of those, but without the suspicion that the real enemy is in the foxhole next to them. I'd say it's more like England going up against the All Blacks at Rugby (afraid I don't know American sports well enough for an appropriate analogy). Yes England can win, and on a good day with the right people, do win. But the majority of the time New Zealand win, and they expect to. However, this doesn't mean England are bad, in fact they're often among the best around, and would comfortably beat the majority of rugby teams that exist. But they look bad because they keep going up against the absolute best, creme de la creme, top 0.1%, and so are compared to an extremely high standard. I do think you are right about every point made about the Night Lord legion, and their paranoid faction. But I will say that most authors need to make their strong side a little, not necessarily better, but defiantly clearer. What I mean is, their tendency to make the opponent give up before the fight even begins, I know that this is harder to to when they are up against other legions, but even they should fear what happens if the Night Lords get a hold of you, just that little thing, that you are feared by those who are your equal. Not because you are stronger, but just, well, everyone´s bogey men, would give them a little more credibility and make them see more like a threat

This is a must have for me, Josh really knocked it out of the park with Primogenitor, so should be really fun to see what he does with Fulgrim.

I have never really understood why Prospero isn´t considered a Space Wolves victory, just because Horus ordered it. The Space Wolves managed, yes with the help of Sisters of Silence and Adeptus Custodes, drive the Thousand Sons away from their home planet. I say that again, A legion´s home planet, which would have been pretty well defended, and that´s without the thousand sons themselves, which, included some of the most potent psykers in the entire galaxy, even if we don´t count Magnus himself. You had Ahriman, and I think nearly all of the captains can count into that category. And yes the Space Wolves didn´t have a neat(good) victory, were they steamrolled an entire legion, but they and only they are the only one´s confirmed to have attacked and driven away a legion from their home world( I have not read everything in the HH series, so if I´m wrong about that point out the book, because that is something I need to read). So yes, It was a victory for Horus, but it was also a victory for the wolves. Not everything is binary, yes or no, on or off, strong and weak. You can win and somebody else can take advantage of that. Horus himself is a pretty good example of that, He is one of the strongest creatures who probably have ever existed, yet he his arrogance blinded him from the dangers of the pantheon, so he was also weak. Or you can simply say that none of the legions got a clean victory, since we know that chaos is the only victor after the war ends. But it not really that simple, is it!

So you all convinced me to buy this. BL even had free shipping. Perhaps it was fate