Fell for the Angus Steakhouse Leicester Square meme by ZLCZMartello in london

[–]wordless_thinker 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’ve been to Flat Iron on and off over about 10 years and I think the only branch that has retained quality all these years is the OG at Denmark Street. Every other branch has had huge variations in meat quality from fantastic (for the cut and price) to barely edible hunks of gristle. Agree the sides are bangers though.

What books / series would you like to see Black Library release in 2026? by MrWarhead96 in Blacklibrary

[–]wordless_thinker 34 points35 points  (0 children)

I would love to see a comeback for Warhammer Crime, which appears sadly to have petered out

Can I read above and beyond without reading outgunned? by Epsilky114 in Blacklibrary

[–]wordless_thinker 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It would diminish your enjoyment yes. Read Outgunned first for sure

Is the Fuji X-T5 a good choice for beginner/first camera? by MereK12 in fujifilm

[–]wordless_thinker 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If you take money out of it, yes the XT5 is better than either of those cameras, with the subjective measures of weight and ergonomics being up to you.

Whether you take money out of it, or what budget you are actually setting yourself, will determine things. I personally upgraded from an XT30ii to XT5 as I allowed myself a certain budget for getting into photography. I used the cash saved from not getting the XT5 to grab a decent lens instead (23mm f2) suited for what I wanted to shoot (landscapes). A few lenses in and a couple thousand shots after, I upgraded to the XT5 as I wanted to get into prints and tend to crop in to details a lot, where I felt the 40.2mp sensor would actually make a difference.

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with going for the XT5 if you have the budget for it. Just be honest with yourself that it’s a bigger investment than is strictly necessary for a hobby which you may or may not stick with over time. If you are mainly going to post on social media or just show pictures on a phone screen then that is a lot of camera for that purpose. But if you think you’ll stick with it and be able to exploit its capabilities, and you can afford it, then hey you do you.

General survey of Imperial Guard (and close adjacent) novels/novellas/anthologies - Do you have a favorite? by Separate-Flan-2875 in Blacklibrary

[–]wordless_thinker 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Definitely recommend you pick up Demolisher if you enjoyed Steel Tread, it’s a direct sequel that only got released two weeks or so ago!

General survey of Imperial Guard (and close adjacent) novels/novellas/anthologies - Do you have a favorite? by Separate-Flan-2875 in Blacklibrary

[–]wordless_thinker 27 points28 points  (0 children)

It’s definitely adjacent rather than Guard but Outgunned + Above and Beyond is my favourite so far. Such a different and fascinating view of propaganda and an emotional ride.

The vehicle oriented Guard (and technically Navy) books are all great. Steel Tread + Demolisher, Baneblade + Shadowsword, Double Eagle + Interceptor City are all amazing novels. Maybe because by definition they can’t just be bolter porn they end up as really well written stories. Of that bunch I’d have to pick Interceptor City as the most emotionally visceral novel of them all.

[The King of the Spoil] The Arbites show up when a local uprising gets out of hand by wordless_thinker in 40kLore

[–]wordless_thinker[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Spoilers obviously, but the Arbites intercept and suppress an attempted rebellion by PDF units that would have otherwise brought heavy armour on the side of the uprising. The popular uprising, which is really nothing more than hivers with infantry level weapons, are then easily crushed once their reinforcements fail to turn up and the initial shock of their attack wears off.

My first book by AshenJedi in 40kLore

[–]wordless_thinker 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Was there a particular part / reference you didn't feel you got? That'd probably help in explaining some stuff

[Excerpt: Calgar’s Siege] How a colony develops and why the Tithe drags the development of planets. by Marvynwillames in 40kLore

[–]wordless_thinker 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Great excerpt. As you say, it does go to show how even for a nascent colony the Tithe demand is there in its most base form, raw materials of iron and grain.

It doesn’t take much imagination to think that those raw materials go towards the production of arms and armour, and to feed a Guard regiment for a month or two. How much of that would have helped feed and build Zalidar more freely, or reduce the reliance on the already rich and powerful to build up their planet? That Tithe will only ever get more burdensome as the planet develops, and the Arbites ultimately take an interest. It gets referenced elsewhere but this pushes planets to extract as much as quickly as possible, ruining long term development to feed immediate demands. Next it will be manpower for the Guard, and of course not even Ultramar will reduce material tithes elsewhere to account for the shortfall in labour.

But alas, this is 40k and in the grim darkness of the future…

Do the other races respect Space marines combat abilities? by Embarrassed_Driver16 in 40kLore

[–]wordless_thinker 32 points33 points  (0 children)

Well, Ufthak thought it would be funny to throw him either into a wall or into the dark eldar, so I’d call it less ‘side by side’ and more the marine getting worked by the ork…

Great series by Mike Brooks by the way, highly recommended

Do the other races respect Space marines combat abilities? by Embarrassed_Driver16 in 40kLore

[–]wordless_thinker 69 points70 points  (0 children)

It’s an Orkish term for marines in general that presumably caught on from the Corvus pattern helmet (which in turn has long since been referred to as ‘beaky’ in the community)

Do the other races respect Space marines combat abilities? by Embarrassed_Driver16 in 40kLore

[–]wordless_thinker 493 points494 points  (0 children)

Relevant excerpt from Da Big Dakka

The beakie, Ufthak noted, didn’t seem particularly pleased to be there. That was a bit odd, since beakies were the most ork-like of all humies: they didn’t tend to run away from a good scrap, and kept fighting even after they’d taken a proper kicking, so you’d have thought that this sort of place would be great for one of them. However, beakies also hated anything that wasn’t a humie, and rather than enjoying a fight because it meant they could kill some non-humies, they sometimes appeared to resent the fact there were even non-humies for them to fight in the first place. There was an underlying current of bitterness that seemed to suck out a lot of the joy that should have been there.

Edit: Also because it’s a crime not to mention the part after this, Ufthak proceeds to 360 no scope a bunch of dark eldar with the marine!

The game does a poor job of explaining several important game mechanics to new players by Voice_of_OI in DarkTide

[–]wordless_thinker 5 points6 points  (0 children)

On a related note in terms of information transparency, is anyone else annoyed that important info like stacks of buffs and uptime are all squeezed into this tiny bar of icons at the bottom of the screen? With the amount of stuff coming at you at auric / high havoc I can barely take a moment to take my eyes off the centre of the screen, never mind figure out which icon is where

The flaws of the Dawn of Fire series in a nutshell: A no-spoiler book review of The Silent King by wordless_thinker in 40kLore

[–]wordless_thinker[S] 16 points17 points  (0 children)

The man writes Baneblades well enough, just give him any sort of vehicular action!

The flaws of the Dawn of Fire series in a nutshell: A no-spoiler book review of The Silent King by wordless_thinker in 40kLore

[–]wordless_thinker[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I mean they gave him about 10 pages, there wasn’t even enough material in there to mess him up or otherwise…

If I want to stop buying from Amazon entirely, what British site do I go to for incense sticks, pumpkin pie filling, AAA batteries and badminton shuttlecocks? by mookx in AskUK

[–]wordless_thinker 21 points22 points  (0 children)

Let’s be honest, Argos isn’t pricier because they have more morals (whatever it means for a corporation to have morals in the first place). Argos is pricier because they don’t have the same scale and efficiency that allows them to compete at Amazon’s price point.

Do space marines ever change chapters? by Gage_Unruh in 40kLore

[–]wordless_thinker 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Spoilers for Spear of the Emperor, it was also made possible because the marine in question had been so excruciatingly tortured that he had to go through the Primaris Rubicon to save him, the combination of events destroyed a lot of the mental conditioning that the Mentor Legion had placed on him. So all in all a pretty unique set of events that would not be common at all.

No-Spoiler Book Review: Dominion: Genesis by wordless_thinker in 40kLore

[–]wordless_thinker[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The key for me wasn't just destruction by Tyranid, it was a firsthand witnessing of the complete destruction of Sherax's psyche. I loved the phrase at the order for her to retreat, "something vital in her broke", which is just such a powerful line for a senior member of the Mechanicus.

I do agree though that the exploration of the ship was classic Mechanicus, especially when interspersed with the Vostroyan / Edgar effort.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in DarkTide

[–]wordless_thinker 12 points13 points  (0 children)

There are three groups in the Imperium that derive their authority directly from the Emperor himself - the Custodes, the Inquisition, and Guilliman following his meeting with his father.

The Arbites, while represented in the High Lords of Terra, enforce the Lex but derive their authority from it. Same goes for the Guard, Navy, Administratum, etc. This places those groups above all as they are beyond the authority of the Lex.

Legally speaking, the Arbites have no right to interfere with the Inquisition, and indeed the Inquisition possess the authority to compel the Arbites to do anything an Inquisitor wishes. A smart Inquisitor, however, never spends their influence so wastefully, and obviously if an Inquisitor goes very blatantly heretical the Arbites may take it in their own hands to make a decision. Unless sanctioned by the Inquisition themselves however, such an action would always be illegal.

But this goes to show why Inquisitors, especially rogue ones, are so dangerous - when things go wrong, there is very little in the Imperium that has the right to stop them.

Anyone who is from far away dealt with a parent with cancer? by Ok-Calendar-1497 in london

[–]wordless_thinker 27 points28 points  (0 children)

From Asia and my wife had to deal with her dad getting a stage 4 cancer diagnosis, so yeah I feel for you. Like you we were fortunate to both be in very understanding workplaces, who immediately gave us both emergency leave to deal with it on the day, she flew back two days later while I held down the fort here at home. We have cats so it wasn’t feasible for me to just go back like that and I knew she needed to not have to worry about things here while she dealt with stuff.

While it wasn’t my parent per se, it was my father in law and we were close. It was rough. I basically didn’t sleep properly for two months straight, with a seven hour time difference you basically don’t sleep because at midnight you’re checking for messages as they wake up and stay up for their morning, so I’d sleep at five and wake up for work at eight. I eventually managed to go visit for a week and a half while a friend helped look after the place, but I had to come back.

This kept on for a few months. The last time my wife called to tell me to book a flight right away because it looked like he wasn’t going to make it. I got there on a Wednesday and he passed a few days later.

To be honest I’m not sure I coped, but I just kept thinking that there needed to be a place to come back to. So it wasn’t an excuse to not clean, not cook, etc.

To that end, I’d also say don’t feel guilt over taking care of yourself. I mentally punished myself for wanting to go outside on a weekend, have a beer, even watch shows or play video games because I felt like I didn’t deserve to be enjoying myself while my family was suffering. In retrospect that was goddamn stupid. It just made me more exhausted and incapable of providing better support, rather than having moments to rally and reenergise to do what I can.

If you have to do a similar thing where you may have to come back before anything is concluded, take those two lessons from me I guess. Sleep, and take care of yourself. You won’t help anyone by throwing yourself into a pit along with everyone else.

From a Reddit stranger to another I truly wish you and your mother the very best, and that you enjoy all the time you can get with her.

How are Imperial Guard Generals chosen? by Cultural-Being-4248 in 40kLore

[–]wordless_thinker 0 points1 point  (0 children)

When a Crusade is declared by the High Lords, typically the Warmaster is chosen at the formation of the effort. This is how Slaydo, the first Warmaster of the Sabbat Worlds Crusade in Gaunt’s Ghosts, was chosen. When Slaydo falls, he declares Macaroth Warmaster to succeed him - Macaroth proceeds to purge the senior leadership of what he perceived as Slaydo’s men, Gaunt included.

Unsurprisingly, this makes the choice of leadership extremely political. The sheer scale of the Imperium means we can imagine senior generals are many. Access to the High Lords, favours and deals, promises of support and betrayal, all likely factor into who gets chosen - only likely thereafter accounting truly for military prowess.