Review: Legacy of Russ

Legacy of Russ by Robbie MacNiven. This is a collection of short stories (novellas is the fancier term) that were released as ebooks in between the two main releases of the Warzone: Fenris campaign during the last full calendar year of the 7th edition of Warhammer 40,000. These fill-in the gaps in the story between these two releases as well as expands and explores some areas of the story that may have only been touched upon in the campaign books themselves. The Legacy of Russ is the name of the whole series, and it is collected into the Legacy of the Wulfen omnibus along with Curse of the Wulfen.

Unlike my other reviews, I am going to sum up my thoughts and opinions on this work before I share with you what occurs in these stories, as I will not be able to avoid spoilers in the following summaries, Over the course of a few months, I slowly read through this and at the conclusion of each part I wrote out my thoughts on each one as well as summarized what I took away as being the most important aspects.

The story itself is good for the most part, being a serialized event with the intention to support and set-up the Wrath of Magnus campaign. However when it concludes it leaves subplots unresolved. Those specific spoilers I will review at the summary at the end of this review. A lot of chapters, or rather sub-chapters, are just straight up warporn. I may be exaggerating here a bit, but after the 5th or so overly detailed slaying of a Soulgrinder, my interest level wanes and I felt like I was just grinding through this material. I found the parts that advanced the over-all story of the Warzone: Fenris campaign were the best parts, and it's unfortunate that the Wrath of Magnus itself wasn't novelized. I find that weird since the first half of the Campaign, was novelized (I'll rant a bit more about this later).


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On with the story-by-story review, SPOILERS ahead!!!


LEGACY OF RUSS 1: THE LOST KING

Logan Grimnar is lost and everyone is freaking out!

The Space Wolves kill lots of daemons, and the daemons kill lots of Space Wolves.

Inquisitor de Mornay*, who just knows the Dark Angels are a sneaky lot, has an interesting encounter with Azrael on the Rock. The Changling clearly is manipulating the entire situation and avoids the Inquisitor's detection...




LEGACY OF RUSS 2: THE YOUNG WOLF'S RETURN


More daemons die, more Space Wolves die, and the Dark Angel crusade fleet wants to nuke everyone from orbit. Krom makes friends with Stern and the Grey Knights realize they have to prevent the Dark Angel's before they blow everything up. The Young King, Ragnar Blackmane, does indeed return.







LEGACY OF RUSS 3: LYING IN FLAMES


The war porn bloodbath gets deeper but some interesting moments occur that flavor this grind: Brother Captain Stern, while being transported to the rock has to deal with the three Space Wolf escorts after they morph into Wulfen. The other highlight being Conran's attempt to rescue Midgardia's Planetary Governor and his family before the crusade fleet bomb the planet. Also Ragnar's communication with Inquisitor de Mornay is especially interesting.





LEGACY OF RUSS 4: THE BROKEN CROWN

More warporn ensues, however the plots thicken as Ragnar meets Inquisitor de Mornay and a loose alliance is formed. Meanwhile the search for the Great Wolf heats up as clues are found (i.e. the "broken crown" in the title of this part) under Midgardia. Harold Deathwolf joins Sven Bloodhowl on Svellgard and they commit to stand together in defense of this world even if it means standing against the mustering Imperial Guard... and on the Ramiles Starfort Gormenjarl Brother Captain Stern and his Grey Knights discover that the starfort has been over-run by daemons.





LEGACY OF RUSS 5: INFURNACE

Inquisitor De Mornay meets with Ragnar Blackmore. Together, after hearing Brother Captain Stern's report regarding the Ramilies Starport being over ran by daemons, they team up to investigate the sister fort Mjalnar, which no one has heard from and communication with it has been lost. Upon arrival they are stunned to find that it is apparently untainted by daemons but the crew are unaccounted for. Baffled, and feeling the ever rising wild urge trying to take them, they are ambushed by daemons!

Infurance arrives on Svelgard to assault the World Wolf's Lair. He is the most potent Bloodthirster I have ever read about and he is so enraged that he burns hot from within. He arrives dramatically by jumping from the ocean in a cloud of steam to smash a thunder hawk gunship out of the sky. He lands on the Wold Wolf's Lair. Above in orbit, the Iron Hands vessel, Iron Requiem, spots the greater daemon and the captain makes the decision to target Infurnace from orbit...


LEGACY OF RUSS 6: WOLF TRAP

Ramilies Starfort Mjalnar is indeed infested with daemons. Sneaky ones. But their ambush is foiled by Ragnar and De Mornay. There are some tense moments with these two as Ragnar refuses help from the Inquisition with cleansing the starfort (because killing daemons is really fun!), but De Mornay sends a call out to the Grey Knights anyway. They later find and kill a giant Tzeentchian eyeball** that shoots warp lightning. The warp lighting transforms it's target into all manner of unpleasantness before it's popped.. 

Probably my favorite passage in the book so far has got to the lance strike on the Wold Wolf's Lair on Svelgard. A really powerful Bloodthirster called Infurnance has just kicked the crap out of the Space Wolves. While the they are scrambling to figure how to kill it, the Iron Hands lance strike hits the Bloodthirster, wrecking the Wold Wolf's Lair in the process. Sven  deals the deathblow to Infurnance who is in no shape to fight back after being ground zero to a lance strike. 

In the next  chapter we get a POV of Terrek, the Iron Hands Captain who fired the lance shot. He is thrilled to be able to take on both a Greater Daemon and the Space Wolfs simultaneously, and while he is figuring out the firing solution for the next shot, the Ultramarines contacts him and gets him to stop lancing Space Wolves, but to instead join him in a ground assault against the Wolves! 

On Midgardia Egil discovers that the planet surface above him has been firebombed into oblivion. It's a sad apocalyptic scene, and one can't help but mourn for Midgardia. Sadder still, he locates Conran and discovers that he died trying to save the Govenor's family. Sad indeed.

LEGACY OF RUSS 7: THE WILD KING

Part 7, and finally the pace of this saga is picking up! Egil the IronWolf, upon seeing the devastation on Midgardia as a result of the Dark Angels fleet's firebombing, returned to his command ship. Frustrated with the Dark Angel's refusal to communicate with the Space Wolves, he ordered his fleet to open fire on the crusade fleet. An intense and fun bit of reading happened here as the Dark Angel's Supreme Commander Azrael struggled to maintain command of his fleet due to the Changling's efforts to directly undermine him.

The Grey knights arrive on Mjalnar to assist De Mornay and Ragnar Blackmane against the Tzeentchian daemons. Ragnar slays the Tzeentchian Herald collapsing the rift, but not before the thing tells him some truths about the entire situation. With the star fort cleansed, they rally together and continue on toward Midgardia.

On Svellgard a parley of sorts has been made with the Ultramarines, Iron Warriors and Space Wolves agreeing to focus their assaults against the three main Warp Rifts plaguing the planet. Lots of war porn follows. My favorite aspect of this being Iron Warriors Captain Terrek's barely contained desire to just blow up the whole planet and be done with the situation.




LEGACY OF RUSS 8: FATE UNBOUND

A fast and final act, as many of the ongoing subplots are resolved. My favorite chapter being the arrival of Ragnar, De Mornay and Stern to the Rock to petition to the Dark Angels to stop the madness and get them to understand that The Enemy (i.e. Chaos) as been manipulating them in a complex orchestration to ignite a civil war. Vox Seneschal Mendaxis is revealed to be the Changling and all hell breaks loose as Ragnar, De Mornay, Stern along with Supreme Grandmaster Azrael and Master Interrogator-Chaplain Asmodai pursue the Changling into the depths of the Rock. Not much is different in regards to the campaign books as this scene is detailed well in The Wrath of Magnus, but I did find the Changling's encounter with a Watcher in the Dark to be quite fascinating. Ragnar lands the killing blow and the Changling is banished. Azrael concedes that he has been a bit of a dick to the Space Wolves and agrees to pull back the Crusade Fleet to the edge of the Fenris system for now.

The order to pull back the crusade fleet frustrates Iron Warrior Captain Terrek who was readying his ships to continue to engage the Space Wolves. This guy REALLY wanted to kill some Space Wolves, and I find his subplot to be amusing. I wonder if we'll see this guy again?

The conclusion of The Legacy of Russ ends with the Great Company commanders gathered on the Grand Annulus on Fenris trying to decide their next moves and more or less summarizing the whole mess that they are in. It's a good, if not feeling a bit forced, summing up of their situation. I did like the mention, practically a footnote, of the previous encounter with the Changling where he impersonated Logan Grimnar on Dargur. I had suspected that the story in Space Wolves was a sort prequel to Warzone Fenris and I felt satisfied to see that I was correct. It concludes with Kjarl Grimblood's Great Company projected to arrive in the Fenris system and Egil Ironwolf demanding to go join him so that he continue searching for Logan Grimnar.


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Guess who gets the last laugh?

And that was the Legacy of Russ. It sets up the Wrath of Magnus, and even tells some of the tales in the earliest parts of it, but does everything it can to not reveal the machinations of Magnus or the Thousand Sons. Which is fine if you are going to next read the story in the Wrath of Magnus campaign set, but as a casual reader I think this is a disappointment to not have the Wrath of Magnus novelized. To read this entire story, where far too much of it takes place  searching for Logan Grimnar on Midgardia, you need to read the campaign books. I think that  to not have resolution to the Grimnar mystery and the over-all meta plot regarding the Chaos schemes against Fenris and the reunion of the Wulfen, in novel form, just feels incomplete. And for the casual or new reader, getting a hold of these answers is now a challenge considering that the Warzone: Fenris books are out of print. Maybe GW ought to consider selling the 'fluff' books from both Campaign sets together? Not sure, but it seems like a lot work went into this project and it's a sad to see it just passed by and faded away.

Again, the Legacy of Russ was intended as a gap-filler and a time stalling tool. The releases for the two campaign books were many months, close to a year, apart. Without a proper ending to the over-all story, this collection is almost useless. Shame too, because for the most part, it was an entertaining read. Yes, I use the term 'warporn' a lot in this review, many because this story was drowned in endless combat description text which, to me, I feel like I have to grind through. But the highlights are definitely here.

Do I recommend this book? To causal readers, no. It's not necessary, and you won't feel like you got the full tale when it's all over. You're better off finding the two campaign books. For Space Wolf purists, yes. But not urgently so. The over all tale is already told in Warzone: Fenris campaign books, but there is some inspirational passages in this work that will allow you to better know your Wolf Lords. I would say this is a book for completists and collectors of all things Space Wolves. But for me, I think I burnt myself out on Fenrisian prose and I am going to take on a different area of the 40K universe next.

* I am fascinated by Inquistor De Mornay, and I want to read more about him and his retinue. I suspect that there are some interesting stories to be told around him suspecting the weird actions fo the Dark Angels but never being able to connect the dots. Oh heck, I also want a miniature of this guy on his palanquin! 

** I would love to see some one build a model of this thing some day, I can't help but think that it would like the Alpha Centurian from Dr. Who...

Zap!

All of the images in the post are Copyright Games Workshop Ltd. and are used here for the purposes of review and not as a challenge to their individual copyrights.  Except for the Alpha Centurian, that image is copyright BBC. 

Stormhawk Interceptor (Part 7)

It was time for the detailing. It took me awhile to figure out exactly which icons I wanted to use. I like to use the original Space Wolf badge whenever possible, often mixing it with the newer 'Blackmane' company badge. But recently I was introduced to a technique that influenced my decision.

Now with Iconography!

Once I decided which decals I wanted to use, I was prepared to start applying decals. Decal application can be a harrowing ordeal for me, but I have learned a lot of techniques over the years and I try to share them on this blog whenever I can. But recently I listened to something that blew my mind; even more so when I proved that it works!

On a recent episode of Voxcast , GW's bi-weekly interview podcast, Mark Bedford was the guest. He recounted his history with GW;  what he had done in the past and what he does now. Basically his entire history with this hobby and GW.  But about just past the halfway part of the interview he revealed a number of techniques and tips that he employs to be a better painter and hobbyist. I encourage you to check these out, a lot of it was eye-opening to me!

The tip in particular that I used on this model was to brush on Gloss Varnish to the area you intend to apply a decal prior to application. This eliminates the bubbles that cause the transparent part of the decal to appear as a film around the application. In the past I have painted over this when it occurs, but since I have been using Microset and Microsol, it hasn't occurred as much if at all. So let's see how my first attempt turned out:

Gloss Varnish applied to the panel.

I applied Gloss Varnish to the two large panels on the side of the cockpit (This is the piece with the aquila on it). The first decal was a stylized '1'.

One hope, one vision.

The other was a yellow diamond. And dang, this technique works like a charm!!!

Yellow diamond.

Since the early '90's GW has produced decals that look like that they were designed to overlap, but in all this time I have never seen a tip on how to actually do this, in fact I still haven't! But this tip from Mark Bedford helped me figure out that once the first decal is dried, if I apply Gloss Varnish over this decal I can apply another one over it without the water from the 2nd one reactivating the 1st one.

2nd decal applied over the first.

And by Russ, it works!!! I am totally thrilled by these results!

Next up I hand painted the Grey Hunters Pack marking to the tail. I assume Grey Hunters pilot these aircraft, since they seem to pilot or drive everything else in the Space Wolf chapter. The current codex is unclear on this.  Anyway, I sketched in the pattern with a micron.

Hand drawn pattern.

I then base coated the area with Khorne Red and Abaddon Black.

Pattern basecoated.

Next I painted Mephiston Red over the Khorne Red and applied a highlight layer of the old Blood Red on top of that. I then tightened up the Black until I was happy with it.

Pack marking finished.

Next I added more decals following the same technique from the Bedford interview. And repeating the overlaying step for the 2nd chapter badge on the wing.

More badges for the top.

I also added another 1 glyph, some Grey Hunter sword icons to the wing tips and tail and two campaign badges.

Designations added to the tail. 

And with that, I declare this thing done!

The finished model. 

The only thing left to do is the base and flight stand but I am waiting for some Bitz that I ordered to arrive before I can proceed with that final stage. Once done I will take some "glamour shots" of this in action. Better yet, I will try to get this thing into some action!

Black Legion Havocs (Part 1)

Here is a squad I found cheap on ebay. They were clearly kitbashed from leftover parts from a few different sets, but that's cool with me as they have a lot of character as a result. The four guys with meltaguns are particularly interesting as the back half of their torsos are from the Chaos vehicle accessory sprue. They have all this added wiring instead of a traditional backpack. It's a neat look, but I intend to stick backpacks on them regardless.

Rebased on 32mm bases. 

Also, I really like the look of these models without their paldrons. They look a bit tougher to me. Not that I intend to keep them this way however.

After some clean-up I rebased these guys onto 32mm bases and then glued on the grit. After this I primed them with Chaos Black spray paint.

...And they have sat on this state for a long time, although they did get to participate in a game against the Dark Angels during the interim.

After another long time cooling in the paint cue, and excited about the latest Black Legion updates (thanks to the Vigilus campaign books), I felt inspired to work on these again.

Shoulder pads now attached.

I have been jamming away on these guys and it's been going quick, however not quick enough to make my self imposed deadline for this week's blog post, so I'll have to present this in parts.

Just waiting for the final steps...

After I completed the two Grey stages I washed the models in Nuln Oil. The bronze areas were basecoated using Tin Bitz then covered with an old Ral Partha Bronze. These will be highlighted with Shining Gold. After that I will do some touch-ups and slap on some decals and these guys will be essentially done. Look out for Part 2 fairly soon where I will discuss not just those final steps but some challenges that the latest rules update presents to this unit.

Battle Masters Tower (Part 1)

Greetings!

Recently the notorious Bob and I have been chatting about getting together for another WFB game. Last year we played, and although we had a lot of fun, it was obvious that our local game store is a bit lacking in fantasy themed scenery. I wanted to get a few things for this next encounter (whenever it may occur) so I scoured Ebay for some cheap (-ish) options. As luck would have it I found a guy selling a bunch of parted out Battle Masters stuff, and with that selection was a small tower fort that looks like a little keep. I have always loved that game and everything that came with it, and decided that this would make a fine addition for our Fantasy gaming.

The Battle Masters Tower.

As you can see, the thing is a simple 5 piece model, and since Battle Masters was designed to be disassembled and put back into the box once the game was finished (a novel concept, huh GW?) the tower is easily snapped and unsnapped together.  And, due to storage space reasons, I think I will keep it this way.

You might also notice from that top pic that there is a sticker for the banner. All the pieces in Battle Masters came with brightly colored banner stickers for identification during the game. In fact, when that came out (1992) GW was starting to get into a banner craze where damn near every other model in both WFB and 40K had to have at least one banner per unit. Whoever was behind that vision must have had their dream come true with this game!

Masking the banner. 

I decided to keep the sticker and attempt to paint he rest of the modelled banner to match it. Removing it would a messy, joyless task, so that also influenced my decision to keep it. To preserve the sticker I had to place artist tape over it to mask it prior to applying the primer.

 Before the prime...

Next I took it outside and sprayed on Chaos Black to prime the model.

 ...Not sure if that was a twin-photo worthy event, but I was so thrilled to have a morning without rain that I did it anyway!

...after the prime.

While that paint is curing I figure I should plot out to you readers what my intention is with this paint scheme. I plan on having it match the scheme I used on Death Castle (yes, I know I need to finish it).  But for a minute there I was tempted to try to go for a lighter limestone or flintstone look, just to be different. But I settled on a cold grey granite look instead, considering how this thing is that color already it may have imprinted on my mind over the past 25+ years that it should be grey. So, grey it shall be!

Hopefully I can get it knocked out before the month is over...

Stormhawk Interceptor (Part 6)

With the assembly done, all that is left is to focus on the final paint coats.

Assembly complete! 

The next paint stage for the main hull was a careful strategic dabbling of Russ Grey blended toward the edges. The edges had a thick line of Russ Grey applied.

Russ Grey dabbing and edges.

And from the anothe angle.

After that I applied a thin dabbling of Space Wolf Grey which, was added near the edges, blending into the Russ Grey. Again, a solid line of Space Wolf Grey was applied to the edges.

Space Wolf Grey layer.

Next, the final step was a thin application of Skull White was added to the edges, bolts and upper most points as a final highlight for the hull.

The Space Wolf colors are done! 

All I have left to do are the details (guns, a few more sensors, etc) and determine what the iconography I will use will be and where it will go.

Stormhawk Interceptor (Part 5)

Hot on the heels of the progress I was making in Part 4 I have continued to capitalize on what free time I could spare to continue working on this model.

Lower Engine assembly.

As I continue to assemble this model I am covering large areas of it with GW's The Fang paint in order to darken the model more for when I get to the proper painting.

The Fang low-lights are painted on.

At this point I realize that this model is smaller than a Rhino but with a ton of parts. And it's starting to become heavy from the weight of all the bitz and glue. Astoundingly, the kit has an entire Sprue that is untouched (all the options for the Stormtalon Gunship). I consider this to be a waste on GW'S part. I'm sure the excuse to include the extra sprue was to save shelf space or some logic like that. But I guess it does provide the modelers out there an opportunity to make unique versions of these things also,  so maybe that's a win? But you do pay more for this box than you do for just the Stormtalon Gunship kit, so it's a win with a cost if it's a win at all.

Too many parts!!!

This thing is coming together nicely though. I noticed after I glued on the sensors with the little fins that their weight is pulling the front fuselage from the cockpit. I apparently did not feel that I needed glue on this area when I joined those sections together but now I see that I was mistaken.

Front fin sensors now painted.

A careful application of glue, a strategic binding of a rubberband and about two hours of time and those gaps are now gone.

For a tighter bond.

The wing and engines are assembled next.

Wings and main engines.

The underwing weapon pods are assembled and joined to the engines. As a happy bonus I discover that the front plates that distinguish the specific weapon options on the pods can simply pop on and off! No magnets required!

Engine mounted weapon pods.

I continue on from here adding the last few bitz from sections 1h and 1i. Then I circle back and add the tall wings that the instructions wanted us to add way back in section 1a. Having seen how fragile the Ork Fighta Bomba's tall fins are, I decided it was best to save that for last with this kit.

All together now! 

And with that, assembly is now complete!!! Hoorah!
...Now onwards to the painting stage, a lot of which is already done.

Space Wolf Primaris Reivers (Part 1)

In a recent game of Kill Team I was schooled in the awesomeness that are the Primaris Reivers (well, in Kill Team anyway). So impressed was I that I bought another three-man set before heading out that day. I wasn't so eager as to buy the full 10 man box that GW sells, or the Space Wolf Kill Team five-man boxed set, but a squad of three would work out just fine for future Kill Team games. That weekend I set about assembling these models. I used a few Space Wolf bits to customize these guys, simple stuff really, nothing too advanced.

You might recall that this isn't the first time that I have painted these models. When they first came out in 2017 I painted a box of these for my Ultramarines. I was impressed with how those turned out and how easy they were to work with overall.

After some set backs, I found a few brief windows in my fleeting time to work on these guys a bit, and I got them mostly basecoated.  Hopefully I can get these models painted soon, along with their Intercessor brothers. At the time of this writing  I have actually progressed a bit beyond the pic below, as I have been dabbling with them as I work on the Stormhawk Interceptor. Hopefully I will have more pics to show you soon...

Basecoated with The Fang.