Latest book received

[archangel1]

A nice collection of colour schemes for our favourite ratmen with plenty of standards, icons and shield designs to keep one busy for a while.  Several very interesting possibilities for conversions or scratchbuilding, too.  Anyone for a boss type on a two-wheel cart drawn by a rat ogre?

[Diakon]

A nice collection of colour schemes for our favourite ratmen with plenty of standards, icons and shield designs to keep one busy for a while.  Several very interesting possibilities for conversions or scratchbuilding, too.  Anyone for a boss type on a two-wheel cart drawn by a rat ogre?

What's this? The piccie doesn't seem to work. Your description of it sounds interesting re. conversions and scratchbuilding.

[Steve F]

A nice collection of colour schemes for our favourite ratmen

1. Brown
2. Greyish-brown
3. Reddish-brown
4. Greenish-brown
5. Yellowish-brown
6. Darker brown
7. Lighter brown ...

[archangel1]

How's that? The picture was there before when I previewed it. Another weird wide web anomaly!

[Jim French]

Out at the Hurst--Brookhurst Hobbies-- last Tuesday I picked up An Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Uniforms of WWI.  A lot of art work with both color plates and fotos.  It is much better than the volume on the 19th Century.  A more manageable period I think.

[Tomsche]

Japanese manga artbook for Gundam 00 Legend of the Trailblazer and some 2010 - 2011 GunPla catalogues

[JollyBob]

Naomi Novik's Temeraire.

I enjoyed it, and will hunt out the sequels, but there is something about the writing that struck me as off, a slightly juvenile quality maybe. There's an over-emphasis on how everyone feels that comes from a female author, and some of the language doesn't strike me as right which is probably down to her being American. Generalisations, certainly, but that's just my opinion. It makes the story jar a bit in places, but not enough to spoil it overall.

Not enough background about the world either. We only get snippets of why there are still dragons and how they have been used and bred for war through the ages - hopefully this will be filled out in later books.

I've heard the series described as "Sharpe with dragons", but I think it would be fairer to call it "historical Anne McCaffrey" instead. 

7/10

[Hammers]

Naomi Novik's Temeraire.

I enjoyed it, and will hunt out the sequels, but there is something about the writing that struck me as off, a slightly juvenile quality maybe. There's an over-emphasis on how everyone feels that comes from a female author, and some of the language doesn't strike me as right which is probably down to her being American. Generalisations, certainly, but that's just my opinion. It makes the story jar a bit in places, but not enough to spoil it overall.

Not enough background about the world either. We only get snippets of why there are still dragons and how they have been used and bred for war through the ages - hopefully this will be filled out in later books.

I've heard the series described as "Sharpe with dragons", but I think it would be fairer to call it "historical Anne McCaffrey" instead. 

7/10

They have a sort of unsatisfying, moreish quality, don't they? Like Popcorn? I've read all of them, the last one is a plain hack job, its is an almost uneventful road trip through the outback of Australia. Novak really, and on so many levels, manages to capture the drudgery of it all.

[JollyBob]

Yeah, that's exactly right. Not great literature by any stretch, but the first one at least barrelled along at a fair old clip and didn't really give you time to think about what was missing until you finished it.

Popcorn is a good way to think of it.

[twrchtrwyth]

Took advantage of the Northstar offer and bought all three of David Bickley's rulebooks.

[HerbyF]

Picked up a copy of The Zombie Survivale Guide by Max Brooks.

[archangel1]

...I picked up An Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Uniforms of WWI...

Got my copy today.  I just hope the proof readers did a better job with this one than they did with the other volumes.  Far too many dropped words and misleading, or just plain wrong, captions to some of the artwork for an otherwise handsome series of books.

[joroas]

Just started Sahib by Richard Holmes, to fit in with my Indian Mutiny background reading.
In the car listening to Johnson Beharry's Barefoot Soldier, that I picked up cheap at a Car Boot.
Since Richard was Colonel-in-Chief of Johnson's regiment, there is a strange symmetry in play.

[TheMightyFlip]

Neverwinter by R.A.Salvatore

[Poiter50]

WH Gladiator thanks to their 50% off sale, makes it much better value. Nice eye candy and some ideas for revolts etc.