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Battle Missions: Death Worlds

One of the issue with playing with supplements is the sheer number you sometimes need to carry. The advantage of an iPad version is that you can have a fair few with you, but only need to carry the iPad.

So I think the idea of a digital Battle Missions: Death Worlds is a good one.

The Emperor’s realm encompasses a million worlds, each with its own potential dangers. Yet certain of these planets are so deadly that they are classified as death worlds. From man-eating flora and fauna to deadly poisonous atmospheres and many stranger things besides, on a death world it’s not just the enemy that your warriors have to worry about!

This Warhammer 40,000 supplement contains information on the deadly planets known as death worlds, as well as full rules for playing games with your collections across these unique battlefields. In addition, a comprehensive modeling and painting guide is included, full of easy to follow tricks and tips and suggestions for creating your own death world terrain.

Another advantage is that unlike a physical book you can leave it “open” at the right page, without needing to bend back the covers.

Battle Missions: Death Worlds

Doctor Who: The Roots of Evil

As part of the 50th Anniversary of Doctor Who, there are going to be eleven short novels from famous authors covering (as you might have guessed) all eleven Doctors.

The fourth book is The Roots of Evil and features the fourth Doctor and Leela.

When the Fourth Doctor takes Leela to visit an immense tree space station known as the Heligan Structure, little do they know that the tree has been asleep for centuries, dreaming of vengeance against a man in a blue box … As the tree awakes, the Time Lord and his companion soon discover why they are such unwelcome guests.

Get The Roots of Evil at Amazon.

Get The Roots of Evil at the Apple Bookstore.

I did enjoy the last book, The Spear of Destiny, which was a good romp through Viking times.

Doctor Who: The Spear of Destiny

As part of the 50th Anniversary of Doctor Who, there are going to be eleven short novels from famous authors covering (as you might have guessed) all eleven Doctors.

The third book is The Spear of Destiny and features the third Doctor and Jo Grant, oh and Vikings.

The Third Doctor and Jo Grant are trying to track down the magical spear of Odin when they find themselves caught up in a vicious battle between two Viking tribes. But one of the Vikings is even more dangerous than he appears to be. Can the Doctor stop the spear getting into the wrong hands before it’s too late?

Get The Spear of Destiny at Amazon.

Get The Spear of Destiny at Apple Bookstore.

Doctor Who: The Nameless City

As part of the 50th Anniversary of Doctor Who, there are going to be eleven short novels from famous authors covering (as you might have guessed) all eleven Doctors.

The first book was released last month and in February the book features (as you might expect) the second Doctor.

When Jamie McCrimmon brings the Second Doctor a mysterious book, little does he realise the danger contained within its pages. The book transports the TARDIS to a terrifying glass city on a distant world, where the Archons are intent on getting revenge on the Time Lord for an ancient grudge.

I quite like these short novels, and will probably get them all.

Get The Nameless City at Amazon

Get The Nameless City at Apple Bookstore.

The Regiment: The Real Story of the SAS – Book Choice

I borrowed this book from my local library.

On 4 May 1980, seven terrorists holding twenty-one people captive in the Iranian Embassy in London’s Prince’s Gate, executed their first hostage. They threatened to kill another hostage every thirty minutes until their demands were met. Minutes later, armed men in black overalls and balaclavas shimmied down the roof on ropes and burst in through windows and doors. In seconds all but one of the terrorists had been shot dead, the other captured.

For most people, this was their first acquaintance with a unit that was soon to become the ideal of modern military excellence – the Special Air Service regiment. Few realized that the SAS had been in existence for almost forty years, playing a discreet, if not secret, role almost everywhere Britain had fought since World War II, and had been the prototype of all modern special forces units throughout the world.

In The Regiment, Michael Asher – a former soldier in 23 SAS Regiment – examines the evolution of the special forces idea and investigates the real story behind the greatest military legend of the late twentieth century.

This is a very “technical” book and what I mean by this there is a a fair bit of jargon used, which isn’t always obvious or explained. However this is still a fascinating and indepth coverage of the SAS from World War Two to the 1991 Gulf War. It was interesting to see how the SAS had to move from Green Ops to Black Ops and back again.

The Falkalands War showed how the SAS struggled against not just the freezing weather of the South Atlantic, but also command problems. Operation Mikado, which was the code name of a military plan by the United Kingdom to use the SAS to attack the home base of Argentina’s Etendard strike fighters at Río Grande, Tierra del Fuego is covered in some detail. The book discusses the near mutiny by SAS soldiers who saw the raid as a suicide mission from which they would never return.

If you are interested in recreating SAS actions on the tabletop, then this book is a good starting point from which to choose from the many different actions that the SAS have taken part in.

Get The Regiment: The Real Story of the SAS at Amazon.

Arnhem – Book Choice

I recently read Arnhem: The Battle for Survival by John Nichol.

In September 1944, a mighty shock force of battle-hardened Allied troops dropped from the skies into enemy-occupied Holland in what was hoped would be the decisive final battle of World War II. Landing miles behind the German lines, their daring mission was to secure bridges across the Rhine so that ground forces could make a rapid dash into Nazi Germany. If all went well, the war could be over by Christmas. The plan went terribly wrong …

Seen through the dramatic first-hand accounts of those who were there, Arnhem is the gripping story of a bitter military defeat that became a triumph of the human spirit. It paints a vivid portrait of those in the cauldron of war, fighting for their lives, fighting for their comrades, fighting for their honour, a battle they won hands down.

For fans of A Bridge Too Far, Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brothers, and for readers of Antony Beevor’s Stalingrad and Hugh Sebag-Montefiore’s Dunkirk.

It’s a good book, but I don’t think it really covers the Arnhem battle as detailed and as gripping as Antony Beevor’s Berlin and Stalingrad.

If you have watched A Bridge Too Far then you will find this book useful in finding out more about how the assault on Arnhem actually happened, as well as more details on the British and German forces. As this book is about Arnhem, the rest of the Market Garden operation is covered in minimal detail.

It was a really interesting read and recommended for those interested in this aspect of World War Two.

Buy Arnhem: The Battle for Survival at Amazon.co.uk

Doctor Who: A Big Hand For The Doctor

As part of the 50th Anniversary of Doctor Who, there are going to be eleven short novels from famous authors covering (as you might have guessed) all eleven Doctors.

The series starts with the First Doctor and is set in 1900.

London, 1900. The First Doctor is missing both his hand and his granddaughter, Susan. Faced with the search for Susan, a strange beam of soporific light, and a host of marauding Soul Pirates intent on harvesting human limbs, the Doctor is promised a dangerous journey into a land he may never forget…

I don’t know the First Doctor very well, but I did enjoy this story. Reading the reviews though seems to indicate that not everyone did.

Get A Big Hand For The Doctor at Amazon.

Get A Big Hand For The Doctor at Apple Book Store.

Devil in the Smoke

I finally got round to watching the Christmas episode of Doctor Who and I will say I did enjoy it. I really liked the fact it was set in a Victorian London and glad a fair bit of screentime was given to Madam Vastra, Jenny and Strax.

I was quite pleased to find that there is an ebook with a Madam Vastra story which is available for both Kindle and the Apple Book Store.

Madame Vastra, the fabled Lizard Woman of Paternoster Row, knew death in many shapes and forms. But perhaps one of the most bizarre of these was death by snow…

On a cold day in December, two young boys, tired of sweeping snow from the workhouse yard, decide to build a snowman – and are confronted with a strange and grisly mystery. In horrified fascination, they watch as their snowman begins to bleed…

The search for answers to this impossible event will plunge Harry into the most hazardous – and exhilarating – adventure of his life. He will encounter a hideous troll. He will dine with a mysterious parlour maid. And he will help the Great Detective, Madame Vastra, save the world from the terrifying Devil in the Smoke.

This is very much a must read if you enjoyed the Doctor Who Christmas special.

Get Devil in the Smoke at Amazon.co.uk for your Kindle (or Kindle App).

Get Devil in the Smoke on the Apple Book Store.

Dominion – Book Choice

I saw this book in my local branch of WHSmiths.

1952. Twelve years have passed since Churchill lost to the appeasers and Britain surrendered to Nazi Germany after Dunkirk. As the long German war against Russia rages on in the east, the British people find themselves under dark authoritarian rule: the press, radio and television are controlled; the streets patrolled by violent auxiliary police and British Jews face ever greater constraints. There are terrible rumours too about what is happening in the basement of the German Embassy at Senate House. Defiance, though, is growing. In Britain, Winston Churchill’s Resistance organization is increasingly a thorn in the government’s side. And in a Birmingham mental hospital an incarcerated scientist, Frank Muncaster, may hold a secret that could change the balance of the world struggle for ever. Civil Servant David Fitzgerald, secretly acting as a spy for the Resistance, is given the mission by them to rescue his old friend Frank and get him out of the country. Before long he, together with a disparate group of Resistance activists, will find themselves fugitives in the midst of London’s Great Smog; as David’s wife Sarah finds herself drawn into a world more terrifying than she ever could have imagined. And hard on their heels is Gestapo Sturmbannfuhrer Gunther Hoth, brilliant, implacable hunter of men . . . At once a vivid, haunting reimagining of 1950s Britain, a gripping, humane spy thriller and a poignant love story, with DOMINION C. J. Sansom once again asserts himself as the master of the historical novel.

I’ve always had a soft spot for this kind of alternate history novel. I’ve not yet had a chance to read it, but the blurb sounds good.

Buy Dominion from Amazon.co.uk

World War Z

They are currently filming World War Z up in Glasgow. They are using Glasgow to stand in for Philadelphia and as a result they have dressed the place up with props to make it look the part. Very strange to see Glasgow with American police cars, fire engines, taxis, cars and trucks.

The signage looks very effective as do the extras dressed in SWAT gear or army camouflage.

There are some more great photographs of the filming in this Flickr group.
With this story in the news it did make me think about checking out the book on which the film is based.

It began with rumours from China about another pandemic. Then the cases started to multiply and what had looked like the stirrings of a criminal underclass, even the beginnings of a revolution, soon revealed itself to be much, much worse. Faced with a future of mindless, man-eating horror, humanity was forced to accept the logic of world government and face events that tested our sanity and our sense of reality. Based on extensive interviews with survivors and key players in the 10-year fight-back against the horde, “World War Z” brings the very finest traditions of American journalism to bear on what is surely the most incredible story in the history of civilisation.

I have to admit I am not a great fan of horror movies, but will occasionally watch the odd zombie film and quite enjoyed The Walking Dead.

Zombies have, as I am sure you know, great potential for gaming. Hordes of the undead swarming across the battlefield, whilst a small group of humans try and survive. At quite a few shows I have been to, there have been zombie participation games which I think demonstrate the interest in the genre.

So while I wait for the movie to be finished and released I am probably going to get a copy of World War Z and have a read.