Want To Play Some More: Solution

These really are popular features. Wouldn't be much fun if I left you hanging, so here is the solution to the puzzle left on the blog yesterday.





For those who have yet to check out the Horus Heresy short story The Iron WIthin, it can be found here. Here's a short extract to whet the appetite.

Want To Play Some More?

Earlier in the month we played some games on the blog and they were well received. I decided to take another shot. Something a little more difficult this time: a puzzle relating to my Horus Heresy short story The Iron Within.


The Iron Warriors are masters of siege warfare and fortification. Check out the Iron Warriors construction below. See if you can use the clues to fill in the blanks.

THE IRON WITHIN



ANSWERS

Paint it Black

Painting. When I initially took up the Warhammer 40k hobby - in my younger days - I was struck by how involving it is. There’s the time and imaginative energy it takes to assemble and collect the miniatures and lend your army/armies character; to get together with friends who had done the same and devise battle scenarios and background; to read the wealth of background books and codexes that accompany the different factions; to create scenery and objectives; to paint your glorious miniatures and finally, to play the game. Entire summers of my childhood zoomed by in a haze of rulebooks, tape measures and multi-sided dice.

I was a passable painter but again it was the creative element that appealed to me rather than the technical aptitude. I really have respect for painters who can do both. Recently I discovered this miniature on the internet by a painter-gamer called QiaoZhong. It is Barabas Dantioch - a Loyalist Iron Warrior – from my Horus heresy short story called The Iron Within. The Iron Within can be found here or as part of the Horus Heresy anthology Age of Darkness here. I’m very fond of Dantioch’s character and he’s also proved popular with reader meaning that it is especially nice to see him represented in miniature form. An excellent paint job, I’m sure you’ll agree. Thanks QiaoZhong.

Role Model

'Captain Convertion' has been busy both reading my Horus Heresy short The Iron Within from The Age of Darkness and crafting a representation of Tauro Nicodemus, one of the story’s main characters. Brother Nicodemus is a legionary champion of the Ultramarines, Tetrarch of Ultramar and a member of Primarch Roboute Guilliman’s Honour Guard and has bad news for the Iron Warriors garrison on Lesser Damantyne. I am, of course, honoured that Captain Conversion has brought Brother Nicodemus to life on the battlefield. Excellent conversion. I hope that he brings his Ultramarines (or Iron Warriors!) luck with the dice. Perhaps the title should be ‘Roll Model’. 'Captain Convertion’s work is showcased on his new blog here.

Electronic Shoeboxing

Like sportspeople and actors, writers try to keep track of reportage and responses to their works / performances. They cut out reviews from magazines and profiles / interviews from newspapers and keep them in a folder or shoebox. The internet complicates this rather old-fashioned process, simply because of the sheer number of responses there might be to a particular text on any one day. It is also difficult to cut responses out of the internet. It occurred to me that this blog might be an appropriate place to set up an ‘Electronic Shoebox’ – a place where relevant snippets can be stored and enjoyed.

Like many Black Library writers I am a sporadic haunter of discussion boards and forums relating to speculative fiction and the specific setting / sub-genre in which I write. Heresy Online is one such hang out, where a range of opinions - both positive and negative - are exchanged in relation to Black Library books. Forums are a mixed bag for all writers. There are no authors, BL or otherwise, that receive universally good or bad feedback on such sites. Apart from the ‘Ask the Author’ section at the Black Library Bolt Hole, I tend not to intrude on such conversations (largely due to time constraints), but in fairness, I know authors that do and enjoy debating the merits of specific opinions with friendly forumites. The best thing about discussion boards for any writer, regardless of their genre, is the almost immediate nature of feedback. Before the advent and popularity of the internet, writers and publishing companies had much less of an idea regarding the specifics of what their readers thought and wanted.

Anyway, I digress. Here is a review from Heresy Online on Age of Darkness – the Horus Heresy anthology in which my short story The Iron Within can be found. I’ve reproduced the snippet regarding The Iron Within below but the remainder of the review, detailing responses to all the fantastic stories contained within Age of Darkness can be found here.


“The Iron Within – Rob Sanders

Finally, Iron Warriors!! We have waited long enough (I’m a fan as you can see). This story addresses the loyalties of the Iron Warriors left to garrison the compliant planets, and how they view their now traitorous primarch. The stage is set for an awesome siege with a fortress of unusual characteristics. The main Warsmith is brilliantly portrayed (having been a victim of the Hrud campaign), and the devious tactics he has up his sleeve provide an outstanding climax.

A ten out of ten for Rob Sanders, I hope much more from him going forward."