Servants of the Imperium

Twink's fanclub

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 05:20:49 GMT

New strip up and no, Twink's not dead. I'm amazed how many people told me last week how glad they were that I had "finally" killed off the arbite. When I first added Twink to the strip I wanted him to be a bit of an ass, but I'm surprised (and kind of pleased) that people really seem to have taken against him.Well, sorry guys, he's not dead yet! Arbitrators are made of tough stuff!This week I've been mostly ill with a nasty cold/flu thing. But at least the time off has given me time to catch up on some SotI stuff I've been meaning to do for a while.I watched Zombieland last night. I missed it in the cinemas, and I'm glad I caught it on DVD. It's great! I kept catching myself expecting one of the characters to die at any moment, or for the comedy to suddenly nose-dive into drama the way the end of Shaun of the Dead does, but I was glad to realise it's not that kind of movie. It's a simple, funny zombie-comedy and well worth a watch.Now I'm off to play some more Mass Effect.

#091: Nice throw

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 05:12:20 GMT

Motivations

Sun, 28 Feb 2010 07:12:30 GMT

So this week I've been playing a lot of Mass Effect (which reminds me, it's a Bioware game as I'm sure you all knew, not a Bethesda game as I mistakenly called it last week) and reading War and XPs, the fifth Order of the Stick compendium by Rich Burlew.I read the OotS strips on Rich's website every week, but I also buy the printed compilations when the come out because of all the bonus strips and author notes included in the books. Also, the first two books aren't available to read online, and really add some depth to the already-fantastic Order of the Stick world story.A lot of people assume that I started SotI as a sort of direct homage of OotS, but I'd like to say that's not true. I can't claim that I haven't been influenced by Mr. Burlew's strips and the distinctive style he uses, but the main reason I started SotI was just as a silly doodle while my friends and I played Dark Heresy one night, which got turned into what is now strip number <a href="http://www.servantsoftheimperium.com/comic/index.php?comicid=2" target="_blank">two</a> and the comic evolved into its current form after I wanted to turn it into more than a simple black-and-white talking-heads panel. I never once thought "Hey, I want to do a 40k version of Order of the Stick".The reason I chose the stick-figure genre for the strip was that, although I can draw to a degree, I can't draw with any kind of consistency; my characters end up looking different in each panel! Drawing them on a computer as stick figures allows me more time and room to tell a story and add some jokes.Anyway, I love drawing SotI, and I'm glad that so many people come to this site each week to read the strip. The fact that what is basically my hobby can be enjoyed by other people brings me a lot of happiness.Plus I get to write rambling blog entries like this! How cool is that, eh?

#090: That looks like it hurt

Sun, 28 Feb 2010 06:56:48 GMT

Erm... title?

Sun, 21 Feb 2010 08:36:00 GMT

The title of this week's strip is taken from the awesome Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan. The full saying goes "Duty is as heavy as a mountain, Death is as light as a feather". Pretty basass-sounding philosophy.The Wheel of Time, for those of you who don't know, is a 12-book (and growing) fantasy series that the author started back in the 90s. It's a very good read (although at 12 novels, each around 800 pages, it's in no way light reading) and even though the author passed away last year it's still ongoing, having been passed on to another writer, Brandon Sanderson, to be finished.I final ordered myself a copy of Mass Effect this week. That's right... the FIRST one. I haven't played it yet, as when it first came out I deliberately avoided it because everyone else was making such a fuss over it. I did the same with Fallout 3 and Oblivion as well, so maybe it's a Bethesda thing I do? And just like Fallout 3 and Oblivion, now the hype is over and a sequal is out, I thought I'd check it out. I'll let you know what I think!Also, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0D8IRIYBSnk" target="_blank">this is hilarious</a> (and kinda NSFW):

#089: As heavy as a mountain

Sun, 21 Feb 2010 08:25:17 GMT

Aroo!

Sun, 14 Feb 2010 05:31:12 GMT

So I went to see The Wolfman yesterday with the Mrs, and it was thoroughly enjoyable. When I looked up the running time before we went I was surprised how short it was - only 1 hour 40 mins which, in the era of 3-hour blockbusters, seems rather brief, but after watching the film it's reminded me why only a few years ago any film longer than 120 minutes was considered almost too long.You don't need a long film to tell a good story, and Wolfman does exactly that. It also does worry about the other recent annoying Hollywood trend - exposition. It starts with a werewolf attack and seems to say "Yeah, werewolves. Get on with it." There is no pointless preamble about where and how werewolves are created, it just jumps right into the story.Another thing I liked about it was the fantastic hammer horror/ b-movie feel of the film. It didn't take itself overly seriously and had some very familiar and wonderfully fun sequences that really made you root for the wolfman.Hugo Weaving was great as Inspector Aberline, and had probably the best piece of dialogue in the entire film. He even managed a half-decent East-London accent. Benecio del Toro was also brilliant as Lawrence Talbot, even if I kept expecting him to turn into Dr. Gonzo from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas!All in all a great film.

#088: Fond memories

Sun, 14 Feb 2010 05:20:10 GMT

Babies, explosives and flamethrowers

Sun, 07 Feb 2010 03:38:56 GMT

Sorry people, no strip this week; I'm taking a short break to try and get rid of the writer's block that's been plaguing me for the last few weeks. I'll have a strip up next week though!This week I've been up to London to see Rammstein play at the Wembley Arena. They were Epic as always. I've seen them play the Brixton Academy in the past, and they always put on a great show, and each time they manage to top themselves. This time the set featured exploding babies with laser eyes, Till dumping molten fire onto Flake, flamethrowers (a staple of Rammstein concerts) and a huge foam cannon in the shape of... well... if you know anything about Rammstein you can guess what it was in the shape of...All in all a great night!

All fixed

Tue, 02 Feb 2010 14:13:54 GMT

Right, the wallpapers are downloadable now! Turns out I was just being a moron, but that's nothing new.Enjoy!

Oops!

Mon, 01 Feb 2010 02:19:57 GMT

Hmm, seems the new wallpaper won't download, which is annoying!I'm looking into it, please stand by!

Something something something, Warhammer

Sun, 31 Jan 2010 07:04:58 GMT

Can't think of a better title!New strip up, and on the 'Extras' page you can find a brand new cast wallpaper, updated with most of the characters that have featured so far (and a few that haven't).Enjoy!

#087: "Stealth"

Sun, 31 Jan 2010 07:02:38 GMT

Happy Pigday

Sun, 24 Jan 2010 12:10:44 GMT

Ok, firstly some very random in-jokeness for my friend Chris, who's birthday it is today:<img src="http://www.servantsoftheimperium.com/comic/images/40k_pig.jpg" width="250px" />Right, that's that then. Let us never speak of this again.This week saw the actual start of the Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay game I'll be running for some friends for a while. The party consists of Graf, a Slyvanian Knight of the Raven (ominous music here); Wolfgang, a Nordland Hunter of Sigmar; Rulhund, a Dwarf Soldier/ Rifleman; and Wanda, a Halfling cook/ ace slingslot. The first session began with the party being ambushed by Goblins, reverse-ambushing said Goblins, Wolfgang getting chopped into dogmeat in seconds and Wanda proving just how dangerous a Halfling can be with a slingshot.Hopefully I'll continue to bore you all with more tales of their exploits in weeks to come!

#086: Inquisition On Ice

Sun, 24 Jan 2010 08:25:39 GMT

Chaos update

Sun, 17 Jan 2010 09:10:35 GMT

During all the snowy weather we've been having in the UK over the last few weeks, the wife and I have gone back to our 40k armies and resumed painting and finishing the outstanding models we have left.For Rhi it's her Wraiths and Destroyers (ugh), and for me it's my customised Chosen scouts. I've modelled and greenstuffed each member of the 5-man squad quite extensively, so that when they're finished I should have a nice looking unit of crack infiltrators to send against my enemies. I am SO glad Chosen now get Infiltrate again as part of their skill package. They had it in Second edition but lost it in Third, which I always felt took something away from them.I loved the idea of these ancient veterans stalking across the battlefield towards their foes, their skills so sharpened by aeons of combat that they were virtual invisible despite their power armour.Still, now they're all sneaky again, which rocks. Now to find someone to fight! Someone who doesn't use Necrons, that is...

#085: Smackdown

Sun, 17 Jan 2010 08:56:43 GMT

Erm...

Sun, 10 Jan 2010 06:55:23 GMT

New strip up!Not much else is going on, except England continues to shiver under several feet of snow.I also discovered YuGiOh - The Abridged Series recently, which is so much better than it sounds! It's a Gag Dub of the anime series, cutting down several episodes into 10 minute chunks and it's very, very silly.You can find it here: <a href="http://www.yugiohabridged.com" target="_blank">http://www.yugiohabridged.com</a>Peace out y'all!

#084: Haw haw

Sun, 10 Jan 2010 06:37:20 GMT

Space Woofs!

Thu, 07 Jan 2010 09:18:40 GMT

Everyone who plays 40k usually starts out with a Space Marine army -or at least ends up with a few models that they carve up for bits- and I am no exception. I bought the 40k second edition boxed set back in the 90s and used the included Marines to form the basis of my first 40k army (I sold in included Ork models to a friend who then proceeded to whip my ass with them repeatedly).I wasn't a huge fan of the established Chapters, mostly as back when I started the only Chapters to recieve any real cover in White Dwarf were the Dark Angels, Blood Angels, Ultramarines and Space Wolves; it wasn't until I had fallen to the lure of Chaos that other Chapters like the Imperial Fists, White Scars and Black Templars started to appear. I liked the Dark Angels, with their edgy history and dark colour scheme, but a friend of mine who started playing at the same time had started a DA army and I didn't want to copy him, so I invented my own Chapter; the Imperial Scorpions!I largely based them off the Ultramarines, except that instead of a tasteful Ultramarine Blue I chose the eye-watering Scorpion Green as the primary colour for my marines, with veterans having white- and red-striped helmets to pick them out. It's not as bad as it sounds, really.Anyway, nowadays there's a lot more coverage of the other chapters, and you can also find some damn good fan sites out there with some really useful support material on them. One such site is <a href="http://space-wolves-grey.blogspot.com" target="_blank">Space Wolves</a>, a blog and resource site by Adam Smith, one of the guys behind Firebase magazine (another excellent resource for 40k players). Adam and the guys at Space Wolves have some great articles, including painting and coversion tips and even tactics for tabletop use!Cor, if only they'd had such sites when I was a young'un, I might not have fallen to the dark side!Hehe, nah, I still would have!

2010: the future!

Sun, 03 Jan 2010 08:23:15 GMT

So it's 2010. Where's my damn rocket pack? Stupid crappy future!I've had an interesting holiday period; I was stranded in Basingstoke overnight during the worst snowstorm the country has seen in years; I got lots of lovely presents for Christmas; my computer monitor died and has now been replaced and I took advantage of the time off and went to see a few movies.Some movie review (spoiler free) in brief:Avatar Seems to be a real marmite movie; people either love it or hate it. Personally I loved it. Fine, the plot is very simple and has been done many times before, but it was done well in this instance and really the film was so beautiful you didn't care! Worth seeing in 3D as well, as it's 3D used as it should be used - to add depth to a scene rather than having something flying out of the screen at you.Sherlock Holmes Brilliant fun! Holmes is great and Watson kicks ass and the whole plot, look and execution were perfect. Made me want to play Victorian roleplay games afterwards! Also resulted in my overuse of the word 'discombobulate' for the rest of the week.I also downloaded Left 4 Dead 2, which is just dandy. Rather different visually and gameplay-wise to the original, but that's not a bad thing in any way shape or form!Right, now to try and do something Warhammer related in the new year!

#083: Don't think about it

Sun, 03 Jan 2010 08:10:10 GMT

Go eat a Tau

Sat, 02 Jan 2010 08:03:15 GMT

I've added a new link to the 'Friends of SotI' section (found under the Contact page) - the brilliant 40k webcomic Eatatau. If you like Tau, Kroot and Warrior Academy hijinks, check it out! Hell, even if you don't, check it out anyway: that's an order!The strip will be up tomorrow as usual!

Yappy Hew Near!

Fri, 01 Jan 2010 04:39:19 GMT

...or something along those lines!

Merry Yule

Sun, 20 Dec 2009 08:10:00 GMT

Well, as you may have guessed; the next strip won't be for a week or so, as next weekend is Christmas and I'll be lying around stuffed full of turkey, ham, cake and nibbles, too overindulged to be drawing a strip.I'll be like a big fat festive Nurgling!So happy Christmas to you all, and merry Yule for tomorrow to those of you who follow the Craft.Oh, and the SLA Industries fanbook I spoke about last week, Evidence is Everything, can be found <a href="http://www.servantsoftheimperium.com/downloads/Evidence_is_everything.pdf" target="_blank">here</a>.Enjoy!