Mixed Signals

Straight-forward gaming

The Dark Imperium trilogy is a series set during the Cicatrix Maledictum era (which, at the time of this writing, is more or less 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...

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...

I'm re-reading the Horus Heresy, and this is my review of the fifth book in the series, Fulgrim by Graham McNeill. There are spoilers in this review.

The fifth book in the Horus Heresy continues to escalate the tension while simultaneously re-telling, like Flight of the Eisenstein did, eve...

I'm re-reading the Horus Heresy, and this is my review of the fourth book in the series, Flight of the Eisenstein by James Swallow. There are spoilers in this review.

This is an important book in the Horus Heresy series, as it transitions us away from standing next to Gavriel Loken, and gets...

I'm re-reading the Horus Heresy, and this is my review of the third book in the series, Galaxy in Flames by Ben Counter. There are spoilers in this review.

In my review of the previous book in the series, I mention that Horus himself feels like he skipped a notch or two between "really great...

I was the target audience for the original Star Wars. Or at least, I was the audience the movies found. I've heard from slightly older friends of mine that they saw the original Star Wars (it wasn't called "A New Hope" or even "Episode IV" then) when they were teens. I wasn't old enough to see the o...

"You're going to take journey to a time and place you've been before. All you have to do is follow the sound of my voice."

It's the not-too-distant future. The world's oceans have risen, leaving most land masses flooded by varying degrees. There have been mass uprisings as flood refugees scramble...

Imagine a far future where space travel is trivial, mercenary missions are determined by a random table, and your wargame rules use a d20. Sound unlikely? It's all real, and it's a wargame by Andrea Sfiligoi called Rogue Stars, published by the ever-reliable Osprey Games.

Rogue Stars is a 64-pa...

I'm reading the Stardrifter series by David Collins-Rivera, and reviewing each book as I finish it. The short story Playground is a story about the back alleys, or equivalent thereof, on a space station. This review contains minor spoilers.

This story is difficult to parse because it's written...

Not "The Arrival" with Charlie Sheen, just "Arrival (2016)".

Scifi has a funny history with cinema. It started out as cheap pulp fiction about grown men in funny suits. And then history started all over with 2001: A Space Odyssey. That movie redefined what scifi could be, and I think broadly sp...

I'm reading the Stardrifter series by David Collins-Rivera, and reviewing each book as I finish it. The short story Lacey and Time is a story about two people on a spaceship. This review contains spoilers.

I'm an absolute sucker for character studies. I think when they're done well, they're th...