Second Quarter Book Review

I've continued the Warhammer reading festival through Q2, with the following list, in reverse chronological order:

White Dwarf (June)

The Last Hunt - The White Scars 4th Company, the Tulwar Brotherhood, come to an honour world to defend it from the Tyranid hive fleet Cicatrix, and are nearly wiped out but for the help of a Farseer of craftworld Iyanden. In the end they avert a time paradox by heading into the webway in search of their long lost primarch, Jaghatai Khan.

White Dwarf (May)

The Bloodied Rose - Sister Augusta from Mercy returns with her squad to that same cathedral to combat a darker foe there.

Mercy - A squad of Battle Sisters fend of a force of Orks to protect a cathedral near an isolated village.

Requiem Infernal - A Sister of Battle returns on a sort of pilgrimage to her home world to seek medical help for a regiment of Astra Militarum she is attached to. Many strange things are happening on the Candleworld.

Macragge's Honour - The Horus Heresy graphic novel that follows on from the betrayal at Calth.

White Dwarf (Apr)

Blood Oath - A Warhammer World exclusive campaign book for 40K 7th edition. Ultramarines fight off Khornate Daemons on one of the chapter's protectorate worlds.

Legends of the Dark Millennium: Astra Militarum - A lot of novellas and shorts starring Commissar Yarrik, Colonel Straken, and Lord Castellan Creed. I really enjoyed all of these.

White Dwarf (Mar)

The Solar War - The first book of the Siege of Terra series, capping off the Horus Heresy mega-series. The story of how the Traitor Legions fought their way from outside the Solar system to Terra's orbit.

A Company of Shadows - Severina Raine leads a force against a witch cult

Endurance - A Space Marine falls to Nurgle

White Dwarf (Feb)

Vigilus Ablaze shorts - vignettes about Vigilus now as a war zone

Shadowspear shorts - stories highlighting the forces of Chaos about to attack Vigilus

Vigilus Defiant shorts - peeks into life on the Imperial world of Vigilus as it becomes the center of a giant conflict

Games for Japan 2019

I picked up Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, and so far, so good! I do wish the graphics were 2D pixel art like Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, but I'll take this. I'm not far into it yet, but looking forward to getting a chance to delve deeper.

On a whim, I decided to pick up New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe at the register buying my next game. I've only played a few levels so far, but it's good. It's nice to have on a console I'll play, as well.

Finally, and at long last, I got Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age for Switch. I'm having a blast replaying this game. It's one of my favorite in the main FF series, with a system that is endless amounts of fun to optimize. This version of the game has some differences from the original release, most notably the more confined license boards that restrict you into more traditional FF job roles. It's one thing I missed in the game's original incarnation, where the license board was a total free-for-all, and you could end up making every character a bland jack-of-all-trades. I'm around 20 hours into the game now, having just gotten the full party roster and broken free of the moment-to-moment demands of the plot to go off on Ashe's own initiative and do something for the cause, the restoration of the rightful rulers of Dalmasca, namely herself.

I don't remember much at all of the plot of this game, so for that reason also it is nice to be replaying it. The scenario is of course created by Yasumi Matsuno, of Tactics Ogre, Final Fantasy Tactics, and Vagrant Story, more of my favorite games. I'm definitely into this replay and hope to not only finish it off, but get deep into the endgame as well.