WIR: Ravenor - The Omnibus

My current WIR book is Ravenor: The Omnibus. This is is third time I've start this book. The other two times I didn't make it even 100 pages in before putting it down in place of something else. It was usually a much shorter book that replaced it. This does not mean I couldn't get into the story but rather that I wanted something that was easier to carry around with me. This book is definitely not small, weighing in at 890 pages and in a larger format than normal paperback books. At 115 pages into it this time and enjoying it a lot.

Gone Digital: Shadowrun Returns

Woot! Two Kickstarter payoffs this month. First was the Reaper Bones mini, and now Shadowrun Returns. After waiting over a year since the KS ended, only a five more days to wait. Here is its main site and its trailer.

A Load of Minis

Well, I'm a happy gamer. My shipment of Reaper's Bones miniatures from their Kickstarter campaign finally arrived! I have no idea when, or if, I will get around to painting them all (not going to say how many but it's a lot). I'm just glad they finally showed up so I don't have to worry about it any more.

WIR: Ahriman: Exile

I'm back to Warhammer 40k with this Ahriman: Exile. It's based one of my favorites from the 40k universe: Azhak Ahriman, former Librarian of the Thousand Sons.

WIR: Pirate's Honor

This time round tis be a tale of seas and sails: Pirate's Honor.

WIR: Liar's Blade

Back to the Pathfinder Tales books. This time it's Liar's Blade. I'm about half way through and enjoying it a lot.

WIR: Into the Void

And along comes another Star Wars novel. This time it's Dawn of the Jedi : Into the Void, a novel set over 25,000 years before the timeline of the movies. It is set along side the stories covered in the Dawn of the Jedi comic books.

WIR: Book of Sith

So for the past couple of weeks, I have been reading the latest book on my list: The Book of Sith, It's taken me this long to get through it, not due to the content, but rather lack of time. (Most of my free time has been sucked up by Minecraft.) I really wanted to get this when it first came out in the holocron edition, but that one was way too expensive. I'm almost done, one 'chapter' left. I may end up getting the Jedi counterpart to this someday.

WIR: Queen of Thorns

Next up is Queen of Thorns. I'm back to fantasy with another of the Pathfinder Tales books.

WIR: Three in One Post

Since I had not posted anything for quite awhile, I'm going to list the last three books I've read. I think these are the only ones I have not put up already.

First, we have a very unusual story: The Quantum Thief. It is one of the few trans-human stories I've read. As such, it was really, really difficult to get into. I basically forced my way through the first half, hoping things would start making sense. I think by the end of the book, I was less lost then at the beginning.

Next up was yet another Horus Heresy novel: Fear To Tread. It's the story of Horus's attempt at trying to convert the Blood Angels to the powers of Chaos. This one too I found myself force reading at times. I'm not sure if it was the book itself or what. Still a good read overall.

My current book is The Last Four Things. This is a sequel to The Left Hand of God which I have also read.

Riley's Great Idea

Last weekend, Angela, Riley and I were at the table eating dinner while watching Diners, Drive Ins and Dives. Angela really liked several of the things this one guy was making and said something along the lines of "I really want to know where that place is because I want to go there." She said it two or three times during the segment. Finally, the three year old said, "Well, we should make a map of all of the restaurants so we could find them when we wanted to go there." Ang and I both stopped what we were doing, looked at Riley then to each other with huge grins on our faces. "Yes, that would be a great idea, little man."

WIR: Called to Darkness

Back to Pathfinder Tales with this one. Called to Darkness takes us to the frigid Realm of the Mammoth Lords.

WIR: Valkia the Bloody

Once more, back to Warhammer Fantasy. This time around the story follows the eldest daughter of the chieftain of a northern tribe that falls under the sway of Khorne: Valkia the Bloody.

Gone Digital: Minecraft

I've been hearing about Minecraft for the past couple of years now as well as watching Youtube videos of some amazing creations that people have made using it, from simple computers to recreations of actual buildings. Despite all of those cool videos, I have dismissed it as niche game due to its simplistic, blocky graphics. Am I ever sorry for that. Seriously.

Just over a month ago, a co-worker of mine mentioned how he got it and was loving playing. His two young kids eventually started playing, and he recently ended up getting a second account so he could play (again) as well. About a week and half ago, I started watching a Minecraft tutorial series called How to Survive & Thrive on paulsoaresjr's Youtube channel. I made it about 20 episodes in before I broke down and bought the game. To reiterate, I am sorry for dismissing this game these past few years and would loved to have gotten on board with it back when I first heard about it.

According to the Bartle Test of Gamer Psychology, I am EASK (Explorer, Achiever, Socializer, Killer) which I pretty much could have guessed.

And what does Minecraft do? It allows you to create and explore whole "worlds" that are randomly generated each time you start a new game. Heck, even in a game you have started, new areas are automatically generated whenever you get close to the edge of "known space". I am in explorer's paradise. But it's not just the exploring that's exciting. The creative aspect of Minecraft has me caught as well. I have not created any special yet but am still having an amazing time building my little homestead.

A Sad Day in Gaming Entertainment

Yesterday was the day for the last episodes for both X-Play and Attack of the Show, two shows that I have loved since they started airing. I'm going to miss both of them. Best of luck to the casts.

Gone Digital: Mixed Bag O Stuff

The past few weeks I have not been playing any one game consistently but rather switching up between a handful of them. Here are the time sinks, mainly thanks to Steam's holiday sale.

A Game of Dwarves - It's similar to the old Dungeon Keeper game, but this time around you are the "good guy".
Crusader Kings II - This one has eaten a lot of time lately and I still suck at it. That's mainly because it has so much going on, is incredibly detailed and has no real goal other than what you make of it.
Sengoku - Paradox's game previous to CK II (above). Fun with the setting of Japan but prefer CK II.
FTL - Rogue-like game based in space. Not played this one much but is still kind of neat.
Guild Wars - Yes, GW 1. This one has consumed at least an hour or two most days this week.
XCOM Enemy Unknown - Not played it this week. I may start over now that I have a better understanding and hit it hard this weekend. Really fun.

WIR: Treacheries of the Space Marines

I wanted a fantasy book for the next WIR entry, but I couldn't find on my shelves the one I was looking for. So another Warhammer 40k anthology took its place: Treacheries of the Space Marines.