Mixed Signals

Straight-forward gaming

I'm re-reading the Horus Heresy in preparation to start the sub-series Siege of Terra, and this is my review of Heralds of the Siege , book 52 in the series. Heralds of the Siege is an anthology, consisting of several short stories, and I'm going to review each one. The Grey Raven is the sec...

I'm re-reading the Horus Heresy in preparation to start the sub-series Siege of Terra, and this is my review of Heralds of the Siege , book 52 in the series. Heralds of the Siege is an anthology, consisting of several short stories, and I'm going to review each one. Myriad is the first short...

I'm re-reading the Horus Heresy in preparation to start the sub-series Siege of Terra, and this is my review of Slaves to Darkness , book 51 in the series. By now, the traitor legions are getting awfully close to Holy Terra, but Horus himself is mortally wounded. Again. Still.

Things look bad...

Having just read Leman Russ: The Great Wolf of The Primarchs books from the Horus Heresy series, I thought it appropriate to continue on to the next in the series. Graham McNeill's Magnus the Red: Master of Prospero is something of an ironic title, I think, because Magnus spends some time i...

Last month, I started reading Gate of Bones, and only realised after I finished that it was book 2 in the Warhammer 40,000 Dawn of Fire series. That says a lot for how modular Warhammer books are, and I really love that about them, and because I found Gate of Bones so satisfying, I didn't inte...

I don't want to hate the Space Wolves, but The Wolftime does the faction no favours. As a novel, it's got awkward pacing, a strangely anticlimactic story, and several unlikable characters. It left me disinterested in a faction that's pretty interesting on paper. I like the idea of space vikings,...

Tabletop gamers have come up with three ways to measure distance in games that feature movement as a mechanic. There's the grid of 1-inch squares, there's the grid of hexagons, and there's the ruler or measuring tape. Over the past few decades, it's emerged that square grids are used for roleplaying...

I started reading Gate of Bones, and it wasn't until I'd finished it that I realised it was book 2 in the Warhammer 40,000 Dawn of Fire series. I'm sure the first book is very good, but I have to admit I got through all 384 pages of Gate of Bones book without any confusion, so I probably won't...

I just finished reading Gav Thorpe's The Wolftime, book 3 in the Warhammer 40,000 Dawn of Fire series, and just because I didn't like it doesn't mean it's not well-written. Gav Thorpe wrote The Grey Raven, one of my favourite stories from Heralds of the Siege, and one of the reasons I liked...

Having read about Roboute Guilliman's return to Warhammer 40,000, I decided to read Roboute Guilliman: Lord of Ultramar in the Primarchs book series. This is my review of the book. This post contains no spoilers.

I have no particular affinity for the Ultramarines, aside from the fact that th...

The Dark Imperium trilogy is a series set during the Cicatrix Maledictum era (which, at the time of this writing, is the "current" time of Warhammer 40,000). It's notable because it features Roboute Guilliman, the primarch of the Ultramarines, risen from a centuries-long coma. This is my review...

I sometimes play the Genestealer Cults faction in Warhammer 40,000. The new Genestealer Cults codex recently came out. I already own the digital index and the physical reference cards, but I purchased the new book for a few different reasons, and I've read it from cover to cover. This is my review...

The Dark Imperium trilogy is a series set during the Cicatrix Maledictum era (which, at the time of this writing, is the "current" time of Warhammer 40,000). It's notable because it features Roboute Guilliman, the primarch of the Ultramarines, risen from a centuries-long coma. This is my review...

While I was painting a Warhammer 40,000 Genestealer Cult army and an opposing army of Adeptus Mechanicus, I decided to listen to the book Belisarius Cawl: The Great Work by Guy Haley. This is my review of it, and it contains no spoilers. But I'll cut to the chase and say that this is one of the...

Taking a break from the 31st millennia for a while, I just finished Cadia Stands by Justin D. Hill. Set solidly in the 41st millennia, this novel is about the planet Cadia, a sentinel guarding the massive Warp rift known as the Eye of Terror. This review contains major spoilers. You have been...

Good storytelling is usually about the process of achieving something. That's the story part of a story. A character wants something, but can't have it. The character goes through some transformative trials until the thing is "earned", at which point the character gets the thing and the story is ove...