Here's the link to the video interview, there's also a full trascript that I'm pasting below. Quite a few interesting answers there!
Spoiler:
- Mock signal clear. Resolving communications. Receiving astropathic relay transmission from remembrancer Dan Abnett. Who would prevail in single combat, a Grey Knight or an Adeptus Custodes?
- A Grey Knight versus a Custodes. Oh, my goodness me. That's one of those, you know, who's stronger, the Hulk or Thor, isn't it, kind of type question. Serious answer, my money would just be on the Custodes. Grey Knight's got amazing abilities but I think the Custodes would probably end up winning. However, my real answer to that question is, my God, that's the scene I want to write. Hi, I'm Dan Abnett, author of many novels for Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000. And today I'm going to tackle some of the unsolved mysteries of the Warhammer 40,000 universe.
- Were the twin Primarchs Alpharius and Omegon tricked by the Xenos Cabal, or was it all part of the intelligence gathering and complex plotting the traitorous Alpha Legion are known for?
- I personally believe that the Alpha Legion is not duped by the Cabal at all. What I wanted to set up with the idea was they made a really conscious decision. They weren't being tricked by anybody at all. Now I think they may have later come to believe that they had been tricked or manipulated, but that was not the Cabal's intent. I mean, that was not my intent in writing the Cabal and that was not the intent that I was trying to write into them. Whether or not the Alphareus and his legion went along the route they went simply because they completely trusted what they were doing or whether, as seems more likely in hindsight, they were deploying their usual cunning, which is to go along with something in order to learn more about it, in order to make a better decision further down the line, is I think a very good retroactive reading of what is happening there. So yes, that suggestion you're making in that question, I think is a really good re-reading of the intention of those stories.
- Alphaexodus asks, how much of Alpharius-Omegon's backstory did you have worked out? How do you feel about the trajectory of the legion and twin Primarchs since writing Legion?
- Writing Legion was an opportunity where I really discovered that we were doing a good job of the Horus Heresy. And we weren't sure yet whether the the high lords of Games Workshop trusted what we were doing. There's one guy, Alan Merrett, who is fantastic lore master of stuff, coming to our meetings, tell us what we could do. We'd point out all the contradictions and strangenesses in the lore of the things that we would have to resolve, the choices that we'd have to make about which version we went with, all those kinds of things. I wanted to join the main storyline from a different route, like I was coming on from a different feeder line. Start with a different Legion, one of the less famous ones, show how the heresy was affecting them. And I chose the Alpha Legion mainly because I didn't know much about them, I thought they were interesting. So knowing that they were all about secrets and stealth, I realized the one thing that the book really had to do was to have a big surprise in it. I worked at about six things that I thought could be the big twist in the book. And I went in to see Alan. So I said to him, can I do this? And he went, yeah. And I'm like, Oh, all right, can I do this? And he went, yeah. We went down the whole list and he let me do all six of them. So I came out of the room with permission to not only do the things that I thought were going to be big secrets they might let me do one of, plus this enormously huge one that I never thought I'd get. So I, it was great. I loved being able to be able to do that and to deliver a book that made people just go, what the hell? Because there was stuff in about the Alpha Legion they'd never seen before in their lives.
- Thornybacon. What are your designs for the future of the Gaunt's Ghosts series?
- As soon as I get the chance, I'm going to go back and begin a new arc of books. I've got some fairly cool ideas about what's going to happen in this and things that explore the new dynamic of the regiment because they've ended up in unusual places. And actually, although it's probably a year off before I get into that, without giving anything away, there's going to be some sort of Gaunt's Ghosts niceness to see before then at some point, some really interesting things that we're going to do. So the Sabbat World's Crusade will reappear before, even before I get back into the next major arc of Gaunt's.
- FlatSquashy. Who is your favorite traitor Primarch? And why is it Angron?
- It's not Angron, it's Perturabo. I love the siege warfare angle. I love the fact that he's kind of the demented version of Dorn, and it's totally frustrated. I, Perturabo's my favorite, sorry. Angron is great, but Angron does one thing. He shouts a lot.
- Thornybacon. If you were permitted to explore the missing Primarchs, would you do so? Should they remain a mystery?
- No, I wouldn't do it. I wouldn't do it. I wouldn't do it. I'd be really tempted if there was an official request and they said, we'd finally decided we're going to announce this and we want Dan to write the story in which that appears. That would be such a singular honor that I probably would be foolish not to say yes but they are deliberate mysteries. They are deliberate mysteries first of all, because it increases the sense that this is a huge and ultimately unknowable universe. And that makes it more interesting. There are always things that we don't know the answer to. The universe becomes much richer because, because it allows space for your imagination. The Horus Heresy era, the Primarch's era is the mythology. It's ancient history and it's mythology. And what we have is mythical versions of those stories to play around in the 40k. I always think about it in terms of things like the myth of Hercules. There are so many myths about Hercules and they're actually massively contradictory that he couldn't possibly have done all these things. Some of them are obviously very literal stories, some of them are very symbolic stories. And after a while you have a body of stories about Hercules by the time you get to the Roman era, and virtually none of them, if any of them, ever happened to a person called Hercules. So if you think about that in 40k terms, 10,000 years in the future where a lot of information is lost or deliberately suppressed, how do we know the stories we have, contradictory stories we have about Rogal Dorn are exactly that? They're just, they're just stories. So one of the things we're doing in the novels is to try and work out the best way of telling that that makes the best sense in terms of the story. And we try and find a way of telling it in a brand new way. Ollanius Pius part is a really good one example of that, where what we're trying to do there is to say, yes there was a root to the myths that you know but they sprung from different places and actually here's the real story of it. And I think, again, going back to the missing Primarchs thing, if you go back to one of these things and you try and explain it too definitively, it robs it of its mysteries. That absolutely is the biggest challenge of writing the Horus Heresy books. What we've ended up doing is telling, I don't, I've lost count now, but we're sort of telling four, five or six different versions of the myth. All of these stories, like the Hercules stories I was mentioning earlier, all of these things happened and they were handed down. They were told and retold and retold and retold and eventually they were all hooked onto this name, Ollanius Pius. They all became stories about Ollanius' past but they weren't originally. He has become, he is this composite figure of other people. And that's how the story has reached here.
- ThlintoRatscar. Is there room for hope in the grim dark future of Warhammer 40,000?
- I do hope not because then it won't be the 40k universe anymore. I think the reason that Warhammer 40k is so distinctive is because it is incomparably bleak. We bandy around the word grim dark and all that kind of stuff but it is, it is just, it's an awful, awful place. It has that unique distinction with just about every other fictional, science fictional universe that you can think of. There are always places that you'd love to go and visit. You'd love to go and spend some time in, I don't know, the Star Trek universe or travel with Dr. Who or whatever it is because there are attractive places where you think there might be adventure, there might be danger, but they're also wonderful. Warhammer stands alone as being the place where you would not even want to visit for five minutes because it's so atrociously awful. And I love the fact that the fans have embraced 40k because it literally is the darkest possible timeline. And I think the 40k universe was almost a reaction to fascist Britain and the problems we were having there. It was like, let's take that and make it even worse. It is an object lesson in how things can go disastrously wrong, and you wouldn't want to have anything to do with it. Having said that, there isn't room for hope with a capital H but there is definitely a necessarily room for hope with a small H on the short-term at the human level because otherwise, what we're creating in this fiction would be unbearably depressing, I think.
- Jeanlucpikachu. How involved are you with the Eisenhorn pict-recorded series?
- I don't believe, on pain of excommunication by the Black Ships of the Inquisition, that I'm allowed to talk about that very much at all. Conversations have been had, and I have attended certain meetings. Beyond that, I'm not going to say anything other than I'm very, what's the word? Very optimistic about the way it's going to shape up.
- Can one feel pity for Magnus the Red?
- No. He's a dick. [laughs]
- Medicaean. In Salvation's Reach, the Imperial Guard are aided by three Astartes from three different Chapters. Why weren't the Astartes from the same chapter?
- Oh, that's a good question. I try and keep the focus on the human characters. The Gaunt's Ghosts series obviously about the Imperial Guard. They are about the human level, regular fighters. And to start dropping Astartes and to start dropping Chaos Astartes into those stories is difficult because they are working on a completely different level. So I had to be very careful about it. So I didn't want to have a whole bunch of space Marines turning up and completely eclipsing the importance of Gaunt's Ghosts in the course of the story. By the same token, it was an important mission and it was likely that they would get some support from the Astartes, so the sort of chapters of Knights that you need to petition to, to ask them a favor. The reason there's only three of them is because Astartes are very, very rare in the 40k universe. There aren't really very many of them around anymore so for an Astartes to turn up, for an army of Astartes to turn up, it's like it's got to be a really big deal. And I thought that that was not only in keeping with the nature of the storyline and served by purposes in the storyline but also really showed us a lot about the way the universe worked. The fact that these Astartes were very special and they were literally an unbalancing factor if they appeared. And therefore you had to sort of use them sparingly and one was enough or in this case, three was enough. And I think that works really, really well. I think that book is one of the ones that shows the differences and connections between the regular Astra Militarum and the Adeptus Astartes very, very clearly indeed.
- Eyrelliah. The Noosphere concept seems fundamental to 40k fiction. Did you conceive it for Titanicus and share the idea with the rest of the Horus Heresy team?
- Well, no, I didn't. Noosphere, which is how I presume it's pronounced but somebody I'm sure will write in and correct me, is one of those slightly more esoteric end of things which is really, really interesting. When I was writing Titanicus and I wanted to create the idea of a shared machine language and shared machine consciousnesses, I sort of worked hard to try and think of terminology that worked and I thought it would be great to borrow that and repurpose it in 40k terms. And one of the things that I found writing, even writing Imperial Guard books and certainly when I got to Eisenhorn is, there wasn't regular terminology, in-universe terminology, for all sorts of very obvious things, because no one had ever had to write about it before, because it's the sort of things you needed when you're writing a novel but you don't need when you're playing game on a tabletop. So I was coining words left, right and center just to give myself a vocabulary to use in these books that sounded 40k-esque. I consider it to be my greatest achievement in terms of 40k.
- What would one see if they entered the Emperor's throne room?
- The ultimate truth is probably something quite horrific sitting on something that vaguely resembles something that used to be a throne but isn't a throne but is actually just a huge, complicated piece of apparatus with pipes and tubes going everywhere. But even that is doubtful as to actually even, even if that is there. To me, the most interesting answer to that is that most people who enter the throne room now in 40k would probably last about four or five seconds before they were killed, just incinerated by the brightness of the light, destroyed by the currents of the Warp that are flying around the throne room, irradiated to the point of instant death by the machines that are running there. It is like the heart of a nuclear reactor that has melted down. It's not in any way, shape or form a conventional throne room that you walk into and bow and at the end of the carpet and look up at the throne, it doesn't work like that. It is a mechanism at the heart of a bigger mechanism at the heart of a bigger mechanism that is the planet Terra. And the notion that there is an emperor sitting on a throne in a throne room is just part of the myth. You know, you've made all the way this pilgrimage of lifetimes to reach the Emperor. What is probably happening to them is they're being consumed by the machine. They're just being eaten up, their souls and everything of meaning on the machine. It's not a nice place.
- Particular-Thought38. Did the Cabal survive in some way despite Eldrad Ulthran and Barthusa Narek's series of assassinations of its members? If so, could the Cabal be playing a role in the rise of the Ynnari?
- Wow. I'd like to think they did. The Cabal was, the Cabal was an oddly oddly rare example of non-human forces actually trying to do something constructive and positive. In fact, several of the Eldar, the Aeldari particularly, are often trying to do positive constructive things, much to the annoyance of mankind and vice versa. So I'd like to think the Cabal do exist in some form or some legacy of them. There's a lot of institutions in the 40k universe, some of which I have created, that clearly are recurring. They might not necessarily have survived intact all the way through, but the notion and the name has recurred and somebody else has gone, that was a good idea, let's do that again. I suppose like the Druids. The Druids may not have existed historically speaking and may have just been an entire invention of Victorian England. But the point is that they were an idea that came back in and people said, let's do this again. So I think the same is true of some of those things, and the same is true of the Cabal.
- Can more Adeptus Custodes be created? By what means are they made?
- I believe they can still be made in 40k universe. I don't think it's been said they can't. I don't think there are, they are a finite supply that's diminishing. They certainly aren't made in great numbers. They are a very precious resource. We know from the 30k era, from the Horus Heresy era and the Unification War, the Great Crusade, that they are far, far more than Astartes. Astartes are almost like the cheap bulk version created by a much simpler, cruder process that only begin to approximate the degree of the build quality of Custodes to the point where it's said that the Custodes aren't even necessarily purely genetic creations but they are something slightly more metaphysical. They have, almost everything about them has been perfected in all sorts of weird ways. What that means is that they are immensely expensive to produce, not just financially expensive, which doesn't seem to matter in 40k universe, but in terms of time, effort, resources, special things, they are... It takes so much to make a Custodes, which is why they are comparatively few of them and why they are given such a special task. And also I think why they feel so frustrated because if, they are almost as godlike as Primarchs. You know, they should be, they feel they should be out there doing amazing things. They basically are posted as sentries, you know. The best soldiers in the universe are kept as sentries. So we know that they are very special. There is, there is more than just a mechanical, surgical, genetic process that results in a Custodes. So that's a good enough answer that I can give for that.
- Was Garviel Loken a founding member of the Grey Knights?
- Ah, that's a good question. If you really, really, really know your lore, there are enough clues already for you to have answered that question by now. That's all I'm saying.
- Who is your favorite Chaos God and why is it Nurgle?
- The Chaos Gods are not gods. They are enormous concentrated saturations of warped energy within the Immaterium that embody certain personalities and therefore give the semblance that to all intents and purposes, they are to us gods, but they are not gods. And it wouldn't be that, it would be, it wouldn't be Nurgle. It would probably be Slaanesh. I like my weekends, what can I say?
- What does the Emperor truly look like?
- The Emperor presents himself like any good god should in the form that is most useful to him to get across. You think about the Greek gods appearing as rams and snakes and all that kind of stuff, because they, you know, they want to pull a fast one or they want to trick somebody, whatever like that. The Emperor is the same. He's, what he looks like is unknown to everybody. What he appears as, manifests as, is as appropriate to the circumstance. That manifestation, particularly post Unification War, that manifestation has had to be god-like. It has to be as the Emperor. He has had to command respect. So the commonly perceived image of him that we see in paintings, the golden figure on the throne, the sort of westernized emperor and the idea of saints and all of that kind of stuff, all the religious trappings that have gone through into 40k, are almost like a necessary psychological defense to keep the people of the 40k universe sane in the light of the things that they see occasionally and the things that they historically they have seen in great profusion. And it speaks to the fact the Emperor is probably not around as much as he'd like to be, but he hasn't done anything about it. Or if he is around as much as he'd like to be and he is genuinely watching over everybody in a kind of a higher psychic way, maybe he has come to the conclusion that what I said earlier on, he is what he needs to be. Maybe he's realized the way he needs to be now is a god, that people, the only way for human humanity to survive is to trust in something divine above them. Because otherwise with the rise of chaos, everything will be too horrible to bear and everything could be collapsing overnight. It is not definitively official because again, it's one of those things that strays into the mystery box we don't talk about. But, I know it is head can shared by most of the key writers and I believe therefore it makes it semi-official.
- Soundwave 11. How much planning went into the big reveal in your novel Penitent? How vast will the repercussions be not only inside your works, but for the wider lore?
- I have been planning it for a long time, a long time. I had to get permission to do it. It's been a secret thing. There's, there's been an, it's been on a need to know basis only. Only a few select personnel have been allowed to know this until it actually came out. Not going to spoil it except to say, yes there is a huge, huge twist. There are quite a lot of huge twists actually but there's one particularly huge twist in it. It's going to have massive ramifications for, if nothing else, for the third book in the series, Pandemonium, which, which is, which is due. And it will probably have great ramifications for the Eisenhorn Inquisitor series. And I think it will probably, in the long run, have massive implications for the universe as a whole. I quite like the fact that we can sneak a big twist like that into what appears to be a subsidiary story thread. I think it is really fun because I think it made it twice as unexpected.
- Which is your favorite Traitor Legion and why is it the Night Lords?
- Every single one of these, no matter what, you're getting the wrong ones every single time. My favorite Traitor Legion is the, is the, is the Sons of Horus, aka the Black Legion as they became. Cause they are, first of all, I feel a great bond to them having written Horus Rising and set it all in motion but also because I think they've got the most interesting things going on with them, this there's wonderful arc of tragedy. They're not just like cackling villains. They've got this, this extraordinary thing going on so yeah, sorry. It's not the Night Lords. Night Lords are cool, love the Night Lords, but you know.
- Who is your favorite Primarch and why is it Ferrus Manus?
- My absolute favorite is Rogal Dorn because he's just so stoic. And he, he ran that campaign. He is the, he is the epitome of the precise general. I will love writing him as a character. I love the, what he does at the Siege of Terra and the fact that he's just like, tries to out game everything that's happening, even when it is literally, he's playing sort of with chaos mathematics and he can't, you know, it all becomes unpredictable and then the uncertainty principle, and he's still going, no, we can do this. I just need a bigger chessboard. I think that's fantastic and that's why I love him.
- With so many shared threats, what prevents the Imperium, Eldar and T'au factions from working together?
- Underlying tragedy is one of the fundamental rubrics of the 40k universe though surely. I mean, let's face it. It is based originally on a tabletop game where you were meant to field armies against each other. So the idea of maintaining those distinctions and rivalries is vastly important. And if it was too easy for people to become allies, it would weaken the mechanics of the basic game. So that's an important thing to remember but also it shows how difficult these things are. The human race in 40k universe is kind of the worst version of ourselves. They are massively intolerant towards everything that isn't perceived as being normal human. The common ground can't be found very often. One of the things I deliberately did in the recent Gaunt's Ghosts novels is actually really show how the humans on the Chaos side of the war, who they'd been battling now for 15 novels and half a million, 1 million and a half words, they are so similar except their fundamental basis of what they understand as a starting place are diametrically opposed. They'd both been trained to hate the other. And that is a sadness of the human state in the Warhammer universe.
- Will the Emperor of Mankind reincarnate if he dies?
- Well, it is, it's very, very difficult. The Emperor, the Emperor is functionally immortal and seems to be all but invulnerable to except, but to the very highest levels of damage that could be applied by say, the living Avatar of Chaos, as is likely to happen at the end of the Siege of Terra. You think the end of the Siege of Terra is bad. You have no idea how horrible and traumatic it is. We all know mythologically speaking, the Emperor ends up on death's door, having been seriously damaged in the final confrontation. We know that. And there is a distinct possibility that very much like, I don't know, an incarnation of Doctor Who, that he has suffered so grievously from his wounds, he would reincarnate perpetual style and come back as the next version, the next, played by a different actor probably, the different version of the Emperor who would then take over. But they, he thinks the Golden Throne is important to this so allegedly, he insists that he is put on the Golden Throne to keep him alive. There is a vice versa thing there cause he also needs to go back on the Golden Throne to keep the Golden Throne alive. So there, there is that aspect. So it's quite possible. And this adds to the tragedy and trauma of what the Emperor has become, is that he's been stuck on, trapped on the Golden Throne, bonded to it forever because people think they're doing him a favor to save his life. But what he's actually doing is dying and reincarnating over and over and over and over again for 10,000 years just to keep the whole system running, which is agonizing and horrible. No wonder he's the, you know, the Corpse God on this throne. So, so yeah. Again, we're straying into the realms of what actually is the truth. Can't tell you, it's a bit of a mystery but there are certainly enough things about the lore there that we know so we can speculate about the true horror of the situation.
- How were the Primarchs named?
- All of these things were being grown organically and they were invented on the hoof. And I cannot believe that the Primarchs, I've no basis for saying this, but I can't believe the Primarchs were not invented out of the names of someone's mate or a combination of the names of two people over there or a conversation in the pub or that sort of thing. Cause we know that a lot of these really simple things came out of exactly the sort of anecdotal fun conversations that friends have when they are doing a hobby together, when they're war-gaming or they're playing role-playing games and something, let's say, you know, they call a character something because that's a fun name to call them. And then it sticks and becomes canon and that's the way it works. It is true to say that the fundamental origin of the Horus Heresy or which is that of say a civil war that racks the universe was originally down to the fact that they were making the original Titanicus game and it was incredibly expensive to produce the Titan models for the game so they can only afford to make one set of molds. They couldn't make two rival armies to look different. And in order to try and make it a functional game, all they did was they cast two sets from the same molds in different colors. And when somebody said, well why are they fighting each other? They're the same thing. Somebody said, oh there was a terrible war where they fought each other. And that was it. That was just the explanation for why that game had to be that. This is the really early days. That's the way it had to be, way it had to be like that. From that, then somebody said, well, what was the war called? Somebody else went, Horus Heresy. And it just added to it, it added to it and then it, and like a, like a boulder rolling downhill, it starts to accrete stuff around it and then it becomes mythology. And then that mythology grows and becomes bigger and then it becomes, it becomes color text in the back of books. And it becomes mentioned over here and then somebody mentioned and that's and that's the way you get it. Essentially, the Horus Heresy was the throwaway remark like the Clone Wars. It was just a thing. Just a thing. Just to give you a bit of color. And now look at us, 67 novels later. [laughs]
- What will happen if the Astronomican and the Golden Throne fail?
- The issues you're talking about there, the operation of the Golden Throne, which is mysterious, the function of the Astronomican, which ultimately is mysterious. What happens when the Golden Throne fails, which is ultimately mysterious. These are all things that if they ever happen, there won't be a Warhammer 40k anymore. There won't be a Warhammer full stop. The universe will end. But these are obviously enormously important issues to the universe. And this is the place where they matter the most. So I'm actually, as a grown man who ought to know better, have spent hours on Skype and Zoom in the last few months talking to other grown men who ought to know better, discussing things like, how does the Astronomican actually work? More interestingly, how do you kickstart the Astronomican and if it's shut down, what do you need? How does the Golden Throne actually work? What is its process of operation? All those sorts of things, all these questions that in terms of lore never need to be answered but this weirdly is the moment when we, they do. Even if I then don't put it into the book in every detail that we've worked out, I need to know in order to make the plot work. And we're making sense of these sorts of things. We're saying, what is the, what is the event horizon of the stuff that we can admit? You know, we can work out a logical explanation for all of these things. But what is the event horizon, once we've laid that out so we can write, what is the event horizon at which we stop and say, we're not going to tell you any more than that. We know more than that. We're not going to tell you any more than that but everything we've, up to that point that we can tell you, is informed by the unknown that exists beyond that. Which sounds like a very pretentious way of doing it but it's the only way you can tackle things of this kind of ridiculous scale. And that is true of the Golden Throne, it's true of the Astronomican. So if, if the fundamentals of that ruin then fell apart, if the last couple of bricks holding the wall up, the Golden Throne, the Astronomican, if they fail, that's it. All bets are off and there would be nothing. The rest would be heat death of the universe and silence. Well, there'd be a lot of shouting for a short while but that it'd be the heat death of the universe and silence and that will be it. You're talking about fundamental building bricks of a fictional universe and you pull those out and everything else just topples. I think one of the great things about Warhammer, really, is the fact that you could do so many things with it. You can read the books. You can play the game. You can paint your armies. You can listen to the audio. It means that people can come to the universe in the way they want to and engage their imagination and creativity with it the way they want to. Thank you for your questions. I'd like to thank all the 40k fans on Reddit and on the Ars Technica forums for a brilliant set of questions that I really enjoyed answering. I hope you've learned something because I certainly have.
The Abnett interview is very cool, thanks for the link.
I liked the bit about how the HH grew from a throw away paragraph to 50+ novels. And he points out that HH is NOT the greatest example of a throw away line growing to a giant. That honor goes to:
"So tell me, Luke... do you know about your father's service in the Clone Wars?"
3 movies, 6 seasons of TV and who knows how many books later...
I quite like his idea there about "The Emperor on the Golden Throne" not really existing in a conventional sense, where the typical depiction of him sitting there is just a very heavily sanitized version of what it's really like, in no way resembling the actual situation of there just being some horrific mass of unexplainable machinery imbued with the remains of something that doesn't resemble a man anymore to create a terrifying eldritch entity flowing with psychic power.
Indeed, the novel the Emperor's Legion has a Custodes being chosen to become one of the few who is to enter the throne room and guard it, the Companions I think they're called? At the threshold he catches a glimpse of a massive machine with something hidden away in there that might be the Emperor.
I'm a bit confused by the new Sabbat Crusade book. Is it just the same one that released last year, only this time there's a limited edition and the normal version is being put as made-to-order?
Mentlegen324 wrote: I'm a bit confused by the new Sabbat Crusade book. Is it just the same one that released last year, only this time there's a limited edition and the normal version is being put as made-to-order?
CragHack wrote: lol, that que. Either website crashes or you get to wait 20 mins, jut for all limited editions to be sold out anyway. GG, GW
Makes me wonder what generally feels worse to people that miss out on limited stock, having the server crash before checkout or getting placed too far back in the queue.
Yup, just as expected, the tin edition has already sold out by the time I got in. The other one is still available, though. Lolnope, also sold out.
AND the website crashed
In fairness in theory when you get into the queue system is the same as if its there or as if you're there without it.
The order of connection remains the same so you have just as much chance of getting it with the system as without. However with the system it should streamline access to the GW website and thus reduce the chances of it crashing.
46 minute wait was 20 minutes in the end. The limited stuff is gone now, but I didn’t start queuing until quarter past (not actually after the limited stuff). The website seems stable once you’re on. Fingers crossed it works out better in the long run. Can’t be much worse than the old system to be fair.
Im just very nervous about getting the last three SoT novels after an awful experience with Mortis.
Thankfully wasn’t on for the Ghosts book today, but was online at 09:55 as per usual for pre-orders - only to be dumped in the queue for another 30mins. Does not bode well for the Horus Heresy limited editions. Sigh
Phutarf wrote: Thankfully wasn’t on for the Ghosts book today, but was online at 09:55 as per usual for pre-orders - only to be dumped in the queue for another 30mins. Does not bode well for the Horus Heresy limited editions. Sigh
Showing up 5 minutes in advance used to be a guarantee to get a book, they usually went up for sale like 2 minutes early as well so as long as you didnt forget to actually be there it was fine. Guess a lot of people will be forced to get scalped on ebay again for the remaining books..
Phutarf wrote: Thankfully wasn’t on for the Ghosts book today, but was online at 09:55 as per usual for pre-orders - only to be dumped in the queue for another 30mins. Does not bode well for the Horus Heresy limited editions. Sigh
Showing up 5 minutes in advance used to be a guarantee to get a book, they usually went up for sale like 2 minutes early as well so as long as you didnt forget to actually be there it was fine. Guess a lot of people will be forced to get scalped on ebay again for the remaining books..
Have BL quietly retired a lot of physical editions of books or is it likely a Covid/Brexit supply chain issue?
I've had a load on wishlists and buy a few a month but a fair few now are out of stock on Amazon and BL - Primarch books mainly and Beast Arises 3rd omnibus.
I know a few of them are older but figured I'd still have time to get them!
foostick wrote: Have BL quietly retired a lot of physical editions of books or is it likely a Covid/Brexit supply chain issue?
I've had a load on wishlists and buy a few a month but a fair few now are out of stock on Amazon and BL - Primarch books mainly and Beast Arises 3rd omnibus.
I know a few of them are older but figured I'd still have time to get them!
It's notable that there haven't been any discounted BL books on Kindle for two months now. I actually wonder if Amazon and BL are having a bit of a distribution row behind the scenes or mid-renegotiation.
Might be a bit of both - that said get yourself a kindle and you can get a lot of the story books at least without much issue from Amazon or BL direct.
I actually have really enjoyed the Horror and Crime novels I’ve read so far.
Flesh & Steel was very good in audio form. Helped along by a good narrator perhaps, but very enjoyable
Did anyone here get the "Art of Warhammer"? I always get annoyed that GW never shows a nice "here's a dozen pages" or a "flip through" for books like that
Does anyone know what is going on with the limited edition Siege of Terra: Warhawk?
Amazon appear to have the regular book up for pre-order in about a month's time, but IIRC the limited edition versions usually came out many months before the regular hardback.
I don't think I've missed the limited release have I? Maybe just another global shipping\covid release schedule mess up?
Bear in mind Amazon only shows what the publisher tells them and most categories are not actively managed , so it could literally go past Amazon’s release date and still not be actually out , customers just get a “we’re struggling to supply this” email and a “no expected date” email. Happens on other books a lot though usually US import ones.
I really like Dan Abnett's comment that the Horus Heresy is telling 5 or 6 different stories. Sometimes I think Warhammer 40k is easier if you think of it as all the different alternate universes of the 41st millennium all stacked together and mixing through the Warp.
Available for pre-order from Black Library next weekend is the sixth book of the Siege of Terra series, Warhawk. This gripping tale by Chris Wraight describes Jaghatai Khan and his audacious gambit to liberate the Lion’s Gate space port from his daemonically empowered brother Mortarion.
All around him, slaughter reigns as the Traitor Legions gain more and more ground on Terra – can the White Scars and their Primarch stand strong against the Death Guard?
The limited edition is full of all the additional illustrations and details that you’ve come to expect from these luxurious releases, including a faux leather cover, gold gilt page edges, and a ribbon bookmark. You can also pre-order Warhawk in ebook and MP3 audiobook formats.
Not having to wait x-amount of months for the regular edition of Warhawk to drop is great news, now we wait for them to update the Siege site with the next map.
No queue either, I thought the whole point was for stuff like this. I had 2 fail and one payment make it through. There’s still 2 left in the series, I’m not sure I have the energy. Never doing a series in limited edition from them again.
Oh.,, bottoms. This release completely slipped under my radar. I was expecting more of a fanfare rather than being tucked away at the end of a warhammer community email.
Ah feth, wanted to order the regular hardback of Warhawk alongside Grim Repast to save on shipping, but the latter has already sold the feth out, great.
Wolftime paperback and limited edition, and a black library advent calendar.
Very glad to see there's an Advent Calendar, was a bit worried that the Chibi Space Marine one would be all there was this year, which seemed very boring and repetitive in comparison.
Red Gobbo novel is by Mike Brooks who is on my list of favourite BL authors (I loved Brutal Kunnin and Alpharius) which makes this book a must have for me.
I finally understand all the "Is it resin or plastic" debates, as I would swear these guys would be resin. The way the terrain looks, the paint, it all screams forgeworld. But the vid says plastic...
Automatically Appended Next Post: One thing that hits me - again - is that this is less "Black Library" and more "30-40K" with one or two other stories thrown in (almost quite literally). It's a huge shame that BL still doesn't seem to have really picked up the pace with AoS stories. Indeed it almost feels like they are being forced out for key marketing of the core game rather than exploring their own stories. Surprised there's also no Warhammer Chronicles updates either so far as they've been pretty solid with that.
Automatically Appended Next Post: One thing that hits me - again - is that this is less "Black Library" and more "30-40K" with one or two other stories thrown in (almost quite literally). It's a huge shame that BL still doesn't seem to have really picked up the pace with AoS stories. Indeed it almost feels like they are being forced out for key marketing of the core game rather than exploring their own stories. Surprised there's also no Warhammer Chronicles updates either so far as they've been pretty solid with that.
Didn't Josh Reynolds say AoS stories sold far less than 40k?
Yep! Just wish that AoS had more than 2 books from the whole mega-release. I think BL clearly needs a new author or two that focuses on AoS. It's still a huge shame that they lost Josh Reynolds who seemed to be a one-man machine for writing great AoS stories in various themes and ideas.
It wasn't very interesting overall. Uneeded reprints, more space marines and very little variation. Only really Kragnos, witch hunters and the Sisters book actually sounded interesting. It really, really needed some non-imperial stuff for 40K.
Inquisitor Gideon wrote: It wasn't very interesting overall. Uneeded reprints, more space marines and very little variation. Only really Kragnos, witch hunters and the Sisters book actually sounded interesting. It really, really needed some non-imperial stuff for 40K.
You mean like the Red Corsairs book?
It had nothing to do with Imperial or non-Imperial. It just was too focused on "series" books.
Automatically Appended Next Post: One thing that hits me - again - is that this is less "Black Library" and more "30-40K" with one or two other stories thrown in (almost quite literally). It's a huge shame that BL still doesn't seem to have really picked up the pace with AoS stories. Indeed it almost feels like they are being forced out for key marketing of the core game rather than exploring their own stories. Surprised there's also no Warhammer Chronicles updates either so far as they've been pretty solid with that.
Didn't Josh Reynolds say AoS stories sold far less than 40k?
Yes, however at the same time I think its a bit of the marine effect, notice how almost every single book is Marines. Not many Cadians, no Xenos at all.
At the same time I think there's a bit of the "build it and they come" effect where if you start to reduce offerings the already smaller interested market only get smaller. Where as in theory if you build it up they should build up. AoS was marred a bit as the early Realmgate books that set the scene are very Stormcast MarySue style books with the Stormcast just smashing everything with inhuman powers. Very combat focused, very Stormcast focused and such. I'm glad that Gotrek is continuing, though sad that there's no Audio Drama announced.
Heck on the model front why isn't there a Malineth model for Gotrek? She's clearly not going anywhere and Gotrek already has a fantastic model.
Chikout wrote: Josh Reynolds said soul wars sold very well but that 8 lamentations didn't unfortunately. It's clear that the gotrek books do very well.
Which is surprising when I remember a lot of people being abuzz about how the first (only?) Eight Lamentations book was the first proper introduction to the Realms from a boots-on-the-ground perspective of exposition. I read a lot more chatter and discussion about it than I ever did Soul Wars, although I guess that has more to do with the latter being an edition tie-in they successfully get people to impulse buy along with their Soul Wars boxset.
It was not a flashy presentation overall, but happy that Wade was present to keep things on topic and mostly waffle-free. I'm looking forward to adding the new edition of Xenos to my collection. Also really chuffed that Danie Ware is finally releasing her first full-length sisters novel, her Bloody Rose novellas thus far have been great reads. Also somewhat interested in the Sigismund novel, as I quite liked what he became in Warhawk, the quote from the book itself perfectly nails him.
And I will again echo the sadness that Eight Lamentations will not be continued, as it was one of the few AoS novels that really got me into the setting. It was sold as a "big dumb Summer action movie" thing and it is the perfect way to get into the setting when Stormcast are not your thing.
GaroRobe wrote: I thought eight lamentations ended because the author left.
I liked the series, even though Grugni's depiction wasn't for me. And it was kind of a nostalgia bait book, sort of like Gotrek. We got:
*Grombrindal *Fimir *Krell And a lot more Warhammer fantasy name drops, allusions, and nods
I could be remembering wrong, but I think Josh said he wanted to continue the series but it didn't sell well enough for the suits to commission another.
I have the first three in MMPB. IIRCGW said the series would be in all three formats, as they were aware a lot of people had collected everything up to that point in MMPB, as that was the only format it was first printed in (and why I've stuck with MMPB).
I’ve only ever seen paperbacks on the GW site with the cheaper MMPB price, weirdly (£8.99 or whatever rather than the £12.99 that the bigger paperbacks were).
trade paperbacks are basically hardbacks in paper covers
MMPBs a normal bog standard paperback (although a lot of US publishers are moving to a slightly taller slightly narrower MMPB format)
And, more importantly, price.
MMPB also don't really "make enough money" to be the main thing available anymore, hence the awful Trade Paperback size and price that we're apparently mostly stuck with now.
For those interested in paperback versions of Abnett's Pariah and Penitent:
- Book Depository has 17 February '22 as the publication date of Pariah.
- Amazon UK has 12 May '22 as the publication date of Penitent.
According to Track of Words the release dates given by Book Depository and Amazon are a bit later than the Black Library release dates. So I'm guessing Pariah will be released halfway February and Penitent early May.
February 19th is when the celebration will take place, happy I got that day off, but still annoyed GW doesn't announce these dates well in advance. Here's hoping I can secure a copy of Xenos.
Personally I really hope GW starts to put a bit more behind AoS. I feel like the last few BL events are mostly "HORUS HERESY" and "40K" with something AoS tacked onto the side. Esp since they lost Josh Reynolds who seemed to be a one-man writing machine for the AoS setting.
It's not that AoS hasn't got books, but that they don't seem to get the quality writer attention of 40K nor the same marketing push.
The loss of Josh is still felt IMHO, as the current bevy of AOS books are, at least from what I recall, mostly about Stormcast and big battles? Could be wrong here, but that's how it feels to me. The setting would be so much better served with some more books along the lines of (I can already hear the nimrods groan ) Eight Lamentations, books that take you places and aren't just about big battles. But then again, I could be completely wrong.
I'll also be glad when the Horus Heresy is over, just two more books to go, hopefully 2023 we'll get the next one.
40k at least, not mostly astartes novels thankfully. Would love for another Severina Raine novel / novella, or for BL to finally commission another Imperial Knights novel. Could do with more crime from Chris Wraight as well. And Pandaemonium obviously.
It's not just Stormcast, I'd honestly say AoS has a good covering of other factions. The main issue is that right now they've a feel of either being unknown names writing short stories (which is no bad thing everyone has to start somewhere and most of the BL authors started that way); or people writing books for specific event releases. Eg a book for a new Warcry or Underworlds major release.
There's only one series standing on its own and that is Gotrek.
Josh going certainly squashed a lot of those as he had several potential series in the making and I kind of get the feeling that I think one of the reasons he did leave was perhaps because he wasn't being allowed to explore his own characters in depth. That BL was more focusing on one and done book releases perhaps.
I don't know, all I do know is that for the last few years the BL EVENT has been a 40K event. Heck they don't even release a Stormcast model for it.
I'll also be glad when the Horus Heresy is over, just two more books to go, hopefully 2023 we'll get the next one.
There's already at least one book's worth of short stories with Horus Heresy branding, and I'm sure we'll get at least one more hardback novella in the Siege Of Terra series, then a book collecting those and other SoT shorts.
For those interested in Warhammer Horror, the last sentence of newly released Gothgul Hollow is something of a bombshell for those of us who have been here since the start of Warhammer fiction.
Read at own peril :
Spoiler:
“Genevieve,’ she said slowly. ‘My name is Genevieve Dieudonné.”
Dries_Lee wrote: For those interested in paperback versions of Abnett's Pariah and Penitent:
Definitely among the top 10 Eisenhorn books out there. No one would dispute that. And if you're ever planning a walking tour of the architectural wonders of Queen Mab these are the books for you.
I could get behind that. Yeah. Just read the (absurdly overpriced) Valdor book and I really like the idea of techno barbarians fighting over the dusty ruins of Earth.
Automatically Appended Next Post:
nels1031 wrote: For those interested in Warhammer Horror, the last sentence of newly released Gothgul Hollow is something of a bombshell for those of us who have been here since the start of Warhammer fiction.
Read at own peril :
Spoiler:
“Genevieve,’ she said slowly. ‘My name is Genevieve Dieudonné.”
Unless the books are by
Spoiler:
Kim Newman/Jack Yeovil
There's no reason to be interested. The character mentioned went on to live a much more interesting life in
Hard pass on Krieg for me. I read Lyon's Dead Men Walking and I really don't like his over the top dehumanized approach. Also he went through the battle descriptions like some sort of Forgeworld Cart check boxes. I'll grab it once the inevitable next Guard Omnibus hits (that will probably again completely ignore any name and numbering pattern by it's predecessors)
Lord Damocles wrote: What, you don't like Kriegers throwing meltaguns between each other like some absurdist grimdark game of hot potato?
Or Necron scarabs being full of goo..?
I'm not saying it didn't have it's moments. That was actually a very good explanation that I also use to justify that the special weapons bearer also seems to die last in squad. I also enjoyed the "love can bloom" ark, it was very appropiately grim dark. Especially when the protagonist finally became a hero.
But I wanted to read a Krieg novel, you know, from a Krieg perspektive. All that book has is senseless automata, the Necrons are comparatively humane by that standard. That was a big let down for me. Down Amongst Dead Men was a little better, but still far off. The best depiction was done by Mitchell in one of the Cain novels. It was short and you could read that the author didn't really know what to do with them, but obviously had to include them for miniature marketing reasons. Yes it was still third person, Cain observing them an all that. But they had character, competence and felt like there was a human underneath the masks. Correct me if I am wrong, but at this point I have no hope at all that we might find something like a person that has an agenda and a personality in the Krieg ranks. It might just turn out to be another story, where they are a background noise in their own book.
nels1031 wrote: For those interested in Warhammer Horror, the last sentence of newly released Gothgul Hollow is something of a bombshell for those of us who have been here since the start of Warhammer fiction.
Read at own peril :
Spoiler:
“Genevieve,’ she said slowly. ‘My name is Genevieve Dieudonné.”
OMG -must get - although they could
Spoiler:
be someone else using her name but great to see some new references beyond WFRP 4th ed
The book was on my list anyway but will need to get it faster
Shadow Walker wrote: Finished Krieg. After the awesome Dead Man Walking it was a huge let down. Mediocre at best.
Really? I throughly enjoyed it. I thought the origin stuff superb.
The origin stuff was interested at the start of it but later it degraded, and felt forced. Together with the extremely boring Inquisitor parts it made for a poor reading for me. Dead Man Walking was fresh and original but this book felt like it was written just because they needed to advertise the DKoK Kill Team.
Yeah, it has its flaws but it is probably still the best description of what a gurdsman #483939 could expect in ''reality' of 40k.
It's really not though. The whole premise is centered around not a Guardsman but a conscript.
They are conscripted into the Guard = they are Guardsmen, just inexperienced. Most will die (which the book is about), some survive to die in other battles (which are described in other books).
They are conscripted into the Guard = they are Guardsmen, just inexperienced.
Cool, so Ogryn are Guardsmen?
No? How about Scions, are they Guardsmen? No?!
There's a specific terminology that's used. You're not a Guardsman until you're a Guardsman(i.e. part of an Infantry Squad or a tank crew).
The whole bloody book title is additionally specific to the locality in the book. The "15 Hours" refers to how long replacements are expected to last in a warzone that's been effectively been overrun for 10 years, with ships occasionally dropping off small reinforcements.
Most will die (which the book is about), some survive to die in other battles (which are described in other books).
The book is about how the Imperium has so much manpower to throw away that they're sending regiments into a 10 year old warzone with no concern because of clerical errors.
They are conscripted into the Guard = they are Guardsmen, just inexperienced.
Cool, so Ogryn are Guardsmen?
No? How about Scions, are they Guardsmen? No?!
There's a specific terminology that's used. You're not a Guardsman until you're a Guardsman(i.e. part of an Infantry Squad or a tank crew).
The whole bloody book title is additionally specific to the locality in the book. The "15 Hours" refers to how long replacements are expected to last in a warzone that's been effectively been overrun for 10 years, with ships occasionally dropping off small reinforcements.
Most will die (which the book is about), some survive to die in other battles (which are described in other books).
The book is about how the Imperium has so much manpower to throw away that they're sending regiments into a 10 year old warzone with no concern because of clerical errors.
Ogryn etc. are auxiliaries not a guardsmen. Scions also are not guardsmen. Only because you have a separate unit called conscripts it does not mean it is not a guard. Many of the Russians invaders are conscripts too - so are they Russian Army or not? And how different is what I said about most of them dying from that what you said that the Imperium will throw their lives away because it can?
Ogryn etc. are auxiliaries not a guardsmen. Scions also are not guardsmen. Only because you have a separate unit called conscripts it does not mean it is not a guard.
Yeah, actually it does.
Conscripts != Guardsmen. This is not new lore people.
And how different is what I said about most of them dying from that what you said that the Imperium will throw their lives away because it can?
Yours insinuates that they die because they're Guardsmen. Mine specifies the origin of that garbage "Fifteen Hours" title and the trash meme that Guard lore discussions have become since it was published.
Ogryn etc. are auxiliaries not a guardsmen. Scions also are not guardsmen. Only because you have a separate unit called conscripts it does not mean it is not a guard.
Yeah, actually it does.
Conscripts != Guardsmen. This is not new lore people.
And how different is what I said about most of them dying from that what you said that the Imperium will throw their lives away because it can?
Yours insinuates that they die because they're Guardsmen. Mine specifies the origin of that garbage "Fifteen Hours" title and the trash meme that Guard lore discussions have become since it was published.
If you are conscripted into the army you become the army.
Yes, they die because they are guardsmen as their role is to give their lives for the emperor. Guard is throwing people into the meat grinder just because it can, having as you said manpower to do this. That does not mean it is always the same scenario, depending on the battlefield, and current resources but it is often the best solution because life is so cheap, and easy to aquire for the Guard.
Kanluwen wrote: Mine specifies the origin of that garbage "Fifteen Hours" title and the trash meme that Guard lore discussions have become since it was published.
Unfortunately, one of the newer Guard book from BL has a Guardsman mentioning how he outlived his ''fifteen hours'' so it's gone from a specific time frame in one peculiar warzone for Conscripts to a gakky meme to apparently a thing. I forgot the book, but it was probably announced here, as well as one of the Kill Team book. It's really unfortunate, and it's definitely some trashy lore I'll happily ignore, but folks will certainly mention it in the future. So yay for making the Guard even crappier than it was.
It's been a while but Black Library is back with a vengeance in the Amazon Kindle monthly deals section. Not a full list and I don't know if the deals exist outside the UK but here is a selection below:
Necron novel, The Infinite and The Devine.
Gaunt's Ghosts omnibus versions.
Grey Knights omnibus.
The Emperor's Gift.
Gate of Bones
Two Bequin novels.
Early Horus Heresy novels.
If you don't have Horus Rising welcome to Earth but there are some newer ones. Gate of Bones for 99p is nice as I've just read the first one after picking it up via a Humble Bundle.
Gate of Bones. Yeah I need to read the series that’s in. Avenging Sons rings a bell?
And the first introduction of Primaris trilogy (Dark Imperium books?), and then maybe whatever came out for 9th..
Danny76 wrote: Gate of Bones. Yeah I need to read the series that’s in. Avenging Sons rings a bell?
And the first introduction of Primaris trilogy (Dark Imperium books?), and then maybe whatever came out for 9th..
Would've loved another Baggit and Clodde audio drama, but a full novel will do nicely instead.
Really enjoyed Flesh and Steel.
Have the rest of the Crime stuff. Just need to get through it all
Flesh and Steel is my fave warhammer book of them all, Bloodlines is good Grim repast is ok and pretty much all of Broken City is awesome, especially Bleedout, its crazy fast paced and written like it should be a movie.
BrookM wrote: Avenging Son is the first book in the Dawn of Fire series, Gate of Bones the second one.
And yes! If you somehow don't have Horus Rising at this point, where have you been?
You misunderstand.
I read Avenging Son via Humble Bundle and now have Gate of Bones cheap via the Kindle Sale.
I've found over the last couple years that, unless I desperately want a specific book, Humble Bundle and Kindle monthly deals allow me to scratch my Black Library itch at a fantastic price.
Yeah, stacks of good books on sale on Amazon today, and several that haven't been on sale on Amazon before either. Good to see these making a return, I was nearly half way through my backlog from the last sales
re: Crime books, still like Bloodlines best myself and I still need to get over the fact there is a lot of actual swearing in these books. Some use it sparingly or to get a point across while others.. like a teenager being permitted to sit at the grown ups table sometimes. Nick Kyme in particular seems to want to cram in as many f-bombs as he can these days.
Hated the protagonist of Flesh and Steel, such an donkey-cave! Still working my way through Grim Repast, but really want a sequel to Bloodlines, as the main character and the secret he carries with him, so good.
I like my characters flawed, like Agusto, who still has redeeming qualities, but in my eyes Noctis is an donkey-cave trying too hard to atone for how much of a witch he is.
I still need to listen to the audio version of Flesh and Steel, maybe that'll sway me, I really enjoyed Bloodlines, both in dead tree format and audio book, though again, having a BL narrator do all the swears, was a bit jarring.
Kinda wish we'd get an ETA on more audio dramas though, have been missing those over these last two years. Part four of Agent of the Throne when already?!
Best opening in years, if the bit with the clown doesn't get you in nothing will.
I've just bought this, I've never read a horror novel (of any kind) so not sure how it can work but I'll move onto this when I'v finished the first Gaunts Ghost omnibus.
I liked Noctis too, I read it not listened, but it was my first GW crime novel so maybe it being a regualr(ish) guy in 40k swayed me. I'd def like more of all the characters we've seen, inc some of the characters from some of the short stories.
Classic Inferno! 46
Get your fix of Warhammer fiction as Classic Inferno! 46 returns from the murky mists of Black Library’s past, featuring stories by Dan Abnett, CS Goto, Nathan Long, and CL Werner. Inferno! was the first ever publication to emerge from the nascent Black Library, and this reissue is a great way for collectors to add a classic edition to their shelves.
Best of all, it’ll be available to order via Print on Demand straight away on Saturday.
Bit annoying that it's on its own, don't know what else to pad the order out with, seeing as my GW store is awfully flakey when it comes with mail orders and their actual operating days these days.
Was just coming here to post that - its the final issue of the whole run that GW started a while back on reprints - fantastic to get the final issue! I was kind of surprised that they did a regular 10 issue order and didn't just bump it up to 11 last time. So great to get the last of the last of classic Inferno!
Obvious Tactics ran in Inferno! "thankfully". And gakballs, first comic or not, it was still pretty awful in my eyes.
WHM did have gems like..? I don't know, they never really sold those around here, I remember there being one about a squad of Catachans going AWOL and hunting for a treasure or something.
Finished Catachan Devil. There were some moments (mainly from Ork perspective) but overall you will lose nothing by skipping it. Another forgettable IG novel.
BrookM wrote: Obvious Tactics ran in Inferno! "thankfully". And gakballs, first comic or not, it was still pretty awful in my eyes.
WHM did have gems like..? I don't know, they never really sold those around here, I remember there being one about a squad of Catachans going AWOL and hunting for a treasure or something.
Daemonifuge, Darkblade, Uli and Marqand(set in Mordheim) and Bloodquest.
Titan was decent.
They had a What If type edition where Ephrael Stern was a Sister of Sigmar, Helbrandt Grimm was an Inquisitor and so on.
Shadow Walker wrote: Finished Catachan Devil. There were some moments (mainly from Ork perspective) but overall you will lose nothing by skipping it. Another forgettable IG novel.
I've had a hard time getting through every 40k-related book that wasn't part of the main HH plot. They have a hard time coming up with good characters or memorable stories outside of that.
Seeing how the newest dawn of fire book is coming soon, I’m curious: is wolftime worth it if you don’t care about or like space wolves? I avenging son and gate of bones but they seemed pretty independent story wise.
Finished Da Gobbo's Revenge (the title has more than the obvious meaning ). Mike Brooks proves once again that he is the best BL writer when it comes to greenskins. Hopefully there will be more grot books in the future.
Shadow Walker wrote: Finished Catachan Devil. There were some moments (mainly from Ork perspective) but overall you will lose nothing by skipping it. Another forgettable IG novel.
I've had a hard time getting through every 40k-related book that wasn't part of the main HH plot. They have a hard time coming up with good characters or memorable stories outside of that.
Yeah, most of 40k books are either mediocre or bad but there are some that I really liked (Titanicus or Dead Man Walking for example). Also even if HH is generally better there are still some books that are pretty bad too (The Damnation of Pythos for example).
Quasistellar wrote: Seeing how the newest dawn of fire book is coming soon, I’m curious: is wolftime worth it if you don’t care about or like space wolves? I avenging son and gate of bones but they seemed pretty independent story wise.
It's largely unrelated. There is a lot of Space Wolf stuff there, and toward the latter half of the book I took to skipping the alternating chapters that featured the vikings!
Once I finished I passed it off to my Space Wolf-loving friend, just another case of not every story being for everyone.
Given the characters returning for book 4 are the ones from book 1, by the same author, I'm thinking these are more like a loosely linked collection of series rather than a single ongoing narrative, taking it in turns for the spotlight.
Quite surprised they chucked Deathwing in there. But as is, have read most, if not all of these in dead tree format at some point, newer books aside, when the Astartes burnout started to set in for me. Spear of the Emperor is good though, not at all what I expected.
Any indication about how much the new Adepta Soritias art print releasing tommorow will be? i wonder if that sort of thing is going to become more common, it seems quite random - it's not like there's been a significant recent release for them or something to celebrate with a print.
Catachan Devil is on my to do list.
Just did a few more Primarch books. Fulgrim, Khan, Lorgar and Ferrus. All interesting,some a lot more than others. But none were a waste.
Need to get into the Dawn of Fire series properly one of these days, Avenging Son didn't exactly sell me on the premises, though this may be Astartes burnout on my end.
I did finally get around to wrapping up Grim Repast, it was okay.
Am looking forward to hopefully securing a copy of Danie Ware's novel next Saturday, been looking forward to that one for a while now, her Bloody Rose stuff is good.
And on Dawn of Fire I’m not sure how good they’ll be. But they seem to be the next main series of books in the setting I guess?
Indomitus never got a follow on or anything, so that’s the 9th Ed story path perhaps.
Gate of Bones is really good. It's from Human, Custodes, Word Bearer, and Iron Warrior perspectives so you get some excellent contrasting viewpoints.
Wolftime is just about the Wolves. It's fine but it was such a cookie-cutter story.
It's got some good bits and I'll pretty much read anything from BL (except Horror cos spooky and Crime because meh) but it firmly sits in the "Ok" section of opinions. It helps move bits of the wider story along but I'd be disappointed to see the story between the Primaris and Firstborn in it played out again and again in future novels. It's fine within Wolftime because it works well with the Wolves not liking outsiders but we've already had it in War of Secrets, Seth mentions he doesn't trust them in Devastation of Baal, and every other time both types show up there's always one character going "grrr these newfangled Primaris grind my gears with their Ipods and rollerskates". In fact, Apocalypse is the only novel with both Firstborn and Primaris in it that doesn't seem to do that, they actually get along well. If BL could drop that requirement it would be neato.
At least we haven't gotten any more gakky Salamanders stuff as of late, feels like the majority of HH books were about them at some point, really drawing out the pointless stuff, feth off already. Sorry, in a series already bloated with filler, most of the Salamanders stuff felt even more so like that to me. Do what Chris Wraith did with the White Scars, just two novels to deal with their arc, instead of all that bollocking about with "Vulkan lives!"
The horror stuff isn't all that great to be honest. In a setting where cosmic horror and the like are daily fare, a lot of these stories feel like novellas or short stories stretched into full novels that aren't really all that scary. Gothghul Hollow was great though, probably because they had revolvers and cartridge fed rifles, plus being very light on the AOS word salads. Horror audio dramas aren't half bad either, they make great use of ambient sound and good voice acting at least to set the tone.
Crime is hit and miss, Bloodlines is great, the others not so much, but YMMV obv. Ditto on the short story anthologies, again very hit and miss, some authors seem to just write stories in either setting to make the most of their f-bomb privileges they've got all of the sudden, looking at you Kyme. Nothing against swearing, but a well-placed f-strike is better than swearing up a storm. I do like that they've created a single new setting for the series, got together and made this extensive glossary of slang, terms, brands and whatnot, making it into more than just another generic Imperial world.
Assassinorum Kingmaker was really good btw, I love me some Knight stuff, but well written assassins being asses towards one another and being scheming sneaks was icing on the cake.
edit.
With regards to responding to Primaris marines, I liked how in the Alpha Legion novel Shroud of Night, the Alphas still killed them, but had a harder time and were genuinely worried about how big their loyalist cousins had gotten since they last stepped out of the eye of terror.
I very much enjoyed Gothgul.
Not read other horror aside from one of the short stories books which Was ok.
And any pre WHH range items they did and rereleased.
Crime there’s been some good ones, and the imprint in general I’m quite interested in seeing more from.
So I'm only a few pages into the new Gotrek book and
Spoiler:
I REALLY wish they'd settle down and decide what they are doing with Gotrek. I totally get that his system is to be a repeat adventure character visiting different realms and races. I get that. It was him and Felix doing that through a LOT of the Old World.
It just feels really forced right now when almost every event in the previous book is setup to then fall down with "and then he decided to be grumpy and walked off". It's a bit of a sting and annoyance that not only did they choose to end his sudden link with the Khadoran's but to also end it in effect "off stage".
I dislike major character events happening off-stage like that. At least if you're going to re-set him each time show us these events unfold so that it feels natural and not a "GW CEO says we can't do a long term Khadoran Storyline, he wants FishElves next book"
Funny coincidence. That is exactly an order I would put them on, judging from the best to weakest (not that I think Fury is weak, simply not as good as other two).
Overread wrote: So I'm only a few pages into the new Gotrek book and
Spoiler:
I REALLY wish they'd settle down and decide what they are doing with Gotrek. I totally get that his system is to be a repeat adventure character visiting different realms and races. I get that. It was him and Felix doing that through a LOT of the Old World.
It just feels really forced right now when almost every event in the previous book is setup to then fall down with "and then he decided to be grumpy and walked off". It's a bit of a sting and annoyance that not only did they choose to end his sudden link with the Khadoran's but to also end it in effect "off stage".
I dislike major character events happening off-stage like that. At least if you're going to re-set him each time show us these events unfold so that it feels natural and not a "GW CEO says we can't do a long term Khadoran Storyline, he wants FishElves next book"
MALINETH NEEDS A MODEL GW
Totally agree with all - esp Malineth needing a model. I prefered Robbie Macnivens versions of the characers as well.
also
Spoiler:
The Overlords are a perfect race to go exploring with! Also be nice to have some interactions with the Daughters of Khaine....esp after Morathi went down the goddess route and is still sorta...kinda ally
Funny coincidence. That is exactly an order I would put them on, judging from the best to weakest (not that I think Fury is weak, simply not as good as other two).
I haven't read Alpharius but there were parts of Saturnine that had me gripped. I really enjoyed it.
Funny coincidence. That is exactly an order I would put them on, judging from the best to weakest (not that I think Fury is weak, simply not as good as other two).
I haven't read Alpharius but there were parts of Saturnine that had me gripped. I really enjoyed it.
Alpharius is IMO the best Primarch novel released. Mike Brooks perfectly captured his/their character etc. There are also some very interested reveals (assuming they are true ).
Saturnine is really good, great midway point of the series, after what felt like a lot of drawn out stuff that was building up to that point of the story, but actually delivered and gave some great moments. What a difference an author can make when handling certain characters.
Still need to read Alpharius, on the fence as I found most Primarch novels to be pointless filler, or rather poorly handled by the authors. The only one I really liked was the one about the Khan, which actually added to the overall arc of the White Scars by adding in some prequel groundwork.
Though not part of the Primarch series (but still falling in line with the whole prequel spirit of things), the Valdor novel is really ace and well worth a read.
Though not part of the Primarch series (but still falling in line with the whole prequel spirit of things), the Valdor novel is really ace and well worth a read.
Agreed. It was really one of the best prequels for HH.
Though not part of the Primarch series (but still falling in line with the whole prequel spirit of things), the Valdor novel is really ace and well worth a read.
Agreed. It was really one of the best prequels for HH.
It nicely fills in what is basically, spoilered for size:
Spoiler:
Also, the Imperium before it was the Imperium proper, following the first High Lords as they started to shape said Imperium, the building of the palace itself and whatever's going on in the dungeons.
Makes me want a Unification Wars series even more now, penned by Dan and Chris primarily.
Makes me want a Unification Wars series even more now, penned by Dan and Chris primarily.
Yeah, it would be awesome to read all that TW action etc. I would add Mike Brooks to the trio, and kept others miles away from the series. Also similar to Beast series it should have a pre-defined lenght, to avoid HH like bloat.
BrookM wrote: Saturnine is really good, great midway point of the series, after what felt like a lot of drawn out stuff that was building up to that point of the story, but actually delivered and gave some great moments. What a difference an author can make when handling certain characters.
Still need to read Alpharius, on the fence as I found most Primarch novels to be pointless filler, or rather poorly handled by the authors. The only one I really liked was the one about the Khan, which actually added to the overall arc of the White Scars by adding in some prequel groundwork.
Though not part of the Primarch series (but still falling in line with the whole prequel spirit of things), the Valdor novel is really ace and well worth a read.
I’ve just finished Corax, making it ten read so far. Ready to get through the rest. Alpharius is one I’ve been looking forward to on there.
Yeah most haven’t been super groundbreaking etc.
Was hoping for more “Primarch being found” stories for those we didn’t get in the Heresy or elsewhere.
What I’d also like is more Primarch’s “end stories”
We’ve had Ferrus, will have Sanguinius and Horus of course.
But I’ve started Dark Imperium and it goes back to Roboute’s fight with Fulgrim, I’d like to see more Last Thing They Did stories.
Obviously some may have them and I’ve just not read them yet, or can’t think of some.
But a nice list of where each ones story of getting Found and also Moving On etc would be good. See what gaps we have.
Haha, YMMV but I found the Beast series horrible, even with its short length it felt like an awful lot of padding was thrown in there for the sake of things.
Still need to read more of Mike Brooks, but he has put out a nice diverse selection of books so far, must investigate.
BrookM wrote: Haha, YMMV but I found the Beast series horrible, even with its short length it felt like an awful lot of padding was thrown in there for the sake of things.
Agreed. it could be done much, much better. Still, the defined lenght was for the good. Imagine it being 20 books or more
Prince Maesa getting a novel, looks to finish off his narrative(or at least part of it?). I've liked his stories since he was introduced when Shadespire came out.
Not a massive fan of the author, but was pleasantly surprised by the series of short stories he did revolving around the characters all meeting up in a keep for the night.
The coming soon page on WarCom has been cleared out again, no new titles added as of yet, they're slacking off again.
Hey does anyone know if BL / GW are making fluff / sourcebooks still? I ask because I don't remember seeing any at all for some time now and I've been considering expanding my collection after selling off a load of classic books of this type some years ago (I kept my favourites but I sold off plenty of good and rare ones and for some reason I felt a bit of regret about that lately and I think the best way to remedy it is to buy some more).
They get random reprint runs sometimes of the ones they've published before. And sometimes there's a new one that comes along.
However they are always very random when or if they do such things. Sometimes what can be good is keeping an eye on Humble Bundle for if they do a Cubical 7 PDF release of some of the RPG stuff as they've done a few of them and the yare always good for getting a bunch of lore style books.
Overread wrote:They get random reprint runs sometimes of the ones they've published before. And sometimes there's a new one that comes along.
However they are always very random when or if they do such things. Sometimes what can be good is keeping an eye on Humble Bundle for if they do a Cubical 7 PDF release of some of the RPG stuff as they've done a few of them and the yare always good for getting a bunch of lore style books.
Needs to be physical copies for me when it comes to this type of book.
Oh wow they heard my prayer! (The Wraight Sanguinius one that is, from a different thread it seems)
JWBS wrote:Would be amazing if they came out of leftfield with an Abnett or Wraight Sanguinius though.
I'd love to see Dan do more stuff, but he's too locked into Gaunt, Eisenhorn and Siege of Terra right now, alongside his 2000AD, Marvel and DC writing.
Chris is a great writer though, his Scars and Valdor stuff is just great, no filler or bloat to boot.
Not my legion, but the author has yet to disappoint me, so a must-have for me whenever they release the non-limited pauper edition.
Interesting the trim/colour lay out on the armour varying wildly between the 3 space marines pictured.
All from different squads?
Wildly different ranks?
Garrac wrote: Oooooh man. Just disapointed to see that none of the Primarchs books has been written by ADB. I love that dude
He’s one of the best, but notoriously slow and has other book series’ I’d rather he be writing for tbh.
Oh yeah, people are still waiting on the third Black Legion novel, but at least his Siege of Terra is DONE, and will be released sometime this year, hopefully the regular hardback will be released alongside the limited edition like they did with Warhawk, instead of making us wait even longer.
According to Amazon, book seven won't drop until 13th of September or thereabout. So I think Dan's book won't drop until 2023, unless they're cutting it really close, but I doubt it.
Garrac wrote: Oooooh man. Just disapointed to see that none of the Primarchs books has been written by ADB. I love that dude
He’s one of the best, but notoriously slow and has other book series’ I’d rather he be writing for tbh.
Oh yeah, people are still waiting on the third Black Legion novel, but at least his Siege of Terra is DONE, and will be released sometime this year, hopefully the regular hardback will be released alongside the limited edition like they did with Warhawk, instead of making us wait even longer.
BrookM wrote: According to Amazon, book seven won't drop until 13th of September or thereabout. So I think Dan's book won't drop until 2023, unless they're cutting it really close, but I doubt it.
There was some speculation based on something Dan said (that I haven’t seen myself) that his last book was very big and has been split into 2 books. Nothing official, he didn’t even specify it was that book from what I remember. I’d be pretty unhappy if that’s the case as it was sold as a limited 8 book series from the start, and it’s been stressful enough trying to get the limited editions so far - an extra one might do me in.
BrookM wrote: According to Amazon, book seven won't drop until 13th of September or thereabout. So I think Dan's book won't drop until 2023, unless they're cutting it really close, but I doubt it.
There was some speculation based on something Dan said (that I haven’t seen myself) that his last book was very big and has been split into 2 books. Nothing official, he didn’t even specify it was that book from what I remember. I’d be pretty unhappy if that’s the case as it was sold as a limited 8 book series from the start, and it’s been stressful enough trying to get the limited editions so far - an extra one might do me in.
To be fair I expected them to milk a lot more LE novellas. If it's too big for one book (and there does seem rather a lot still to do) I'd rather they didn't edit it to death to hit an arbitrary number of books.
Also, sympathy with ADB, in that turning out a book with a newborn strikes me as herculean enough as it is.
I'm a bit surprised this week with the HH relaunch that we've not had something about another run or POD for the Primarchs books. Some (most) of them are complete gaks to find now.
Hasn't the Ghost saga been put on hold until Pandaemonium and Siege of Terra are finished though?
Speaking of Dan's Ghosts, finally had the chance to read the Vincula Insurgency, quite enjoyed it, now we wait for the next batch of plastics and accompanying novella I guess, as he did drop in some nice stuff to make up for the lack of real danger with regards to it being a book set so early in the series.
The Vincula Insurgency neatly slots into the second book, Ghostmaker, following up on the story where they got flushed out of the city, blew up the sewers and were then shelled by friendlies under orders of those Volpone bastards.
Dan really needs to do a recommended reading order timeline like he did with his Eisenhorn saga, though the Ghosts one maybe a bit massive and convoluted given the amount that's been written for the series.
I apologize if this thread isn't quite the place to do so (in which case please tell me where to go), but I wanted to ask for recommendations for the very best Chaos 40k and fantasy books, particularly concerning Tzeentch.
I've read and loved Riders of the Dead, A Thousand Sons, Burning of Prospero, Know No Fear, The First Heretic, and the classic opening Horus Heresy trilogy.* Have I already read the best of what Black Library Chaos has to offer, or are other tomes worth perusing?
Thanks for any help you can provide.
*(On audio, I'd also highly recommend the audio drama Perfection and the Gotrek and Felix audiobook, Slayer of the Storm God, an early Black Library audio gem. Slayer of the Storm god is a great Old World Chaos tale concerning a minor deity (Chaos demigod?) rather than one of the big four, written by Nathan Long and brought to life by Danny Webb, a highly talented reader who, much like Martyn Eliss, is sadly no longer cast in Black Library productions. If you like stories that blend Old World sword and sorcery, folk horror, and a dash of seaport brine, this is smart, brisk, flavorful stuff. Webb does damn fine character voices, nailing Gotrek, Felix, a belligerent tentacled pirate, and a delightfully hateful, mischievous mutant hag, among many others. I've played it for my not-Warhammer-initiated family, and it's good enough that it sucks them all in with sheer quality.)
I like Lords of Silence, Lord of the Night (many years since I read it, might not be as good as I remember), Orfeo trilogy by Brian Craig (a style of book that BL doesn't make anymore, might not be to everyone's taste, might also be hard to find) The Corrupted, and Fel Cargo is a bit chaosy too I suppose.
While neither are really Tzeentch related, the Night Lords trilogy is good, the main character does have the psychic ability to somewhat reliably tell the future. There's also Shroud of Night, which is a fun read if you're into the Alpha Legion and their first encounter with Primaris Marines.
The Imperial Guard novel Honourbound and it's prequel novellas all deal with the Imperial Guard fighting against an army of cultists called the Sighted (IIRC) that's very Tzeentchian with its culture and rituals.
The Horus Heresy novella Aurelian also features Kairos, this story takes place in between a few chapters of the First Heretic.
Vermonter wrote: I apologize if this thread isn't quite the place to do so (in which case please tell me where to go), but I wanted to ask for recommendations for the very best Chaos 40k and fantasy books, particularly concerning Tzeentch.
It's out of print now, so it's second hand copies only, but 'Eye of Terror' by Barrington J Bayley does have a delightfully convoluted Tzeentchian scheme, wrapped up in some very old-school Rogue Trader-esque dressing.
I wonder if they're going to put an asterisk on that ending to leave room for writing some kind of a denouement or two. These are characters a lot of readers have grown up with, after all. If you started with Horus Rising as a teen, you've probably got a mortgage and children by now
Agamemnon2 wrote: I wonder if they're going to put an asterisk on that ending to leave room for writing some kind of a denouement or two. These are characters a lot of readers have grown up with, after all. If you started with Horus Rising as a teen, you've probably got a mortgage and children by now
...that...is a very true and sobering thought!
Also, I understand that hyperbole is the nature of just about every business, but "How to Start and Finish the Most Epic Series in Sci-fi" seems like a bridge just a bit too far, especially given how we kind of already know how it is going to end?
William King wrote the end pretty concisely and quite well 30 years ago. Now, his was a meat and potatoes version, and the scope has expanded and expanded, so there is plenty of room for drama and surprise. But the blueprint for the main narrative has pretty much “how to”ed, as Alpharius says. Still, I’ll be excited when Book 8 is available, because then I’ll start reading Book 1. Been collecting them, but haven’t read a one until it completes. Glad ADB and Abnett are taking it out.
I was in college when I read William King’s sublime short, so imagine where I am now . Mortgage and college and…
Alpharius wrote: ... especially given how we kind of already know how it is going to end?
Don't say that Alpha. They'll do something to "subvert expectations" and next thing you know it was the Emperor who died, Horus lived and is on the Golden Throne, and Sanguinius was catapulted (alive) forward in time just in time for the new Blood Angel Codex.
Having dropped out of reading Heresy novels, I will be coming back for Abnett's conclusion. (I did read Saturnine, which was also penned by Abnett but felt like just more water-treading anyway. I may be a fool to trust him again, but he has delivered so many times over the years that I'm willing to play the fool one more time.)
I hope that after finishing the Heresy GW is finally inspired / forced to launch something as ambitious in a different 40K era. Thunder Warrior times, 60K, whatever, so long as it has the same creative scope and freedom (or more) as the Mournival trilogy that launched the Heresy.
Having dropped out of reading Heresy novels, I will be coming back for Abnett's conclusion. (I did read Saturnine, which was also penned by Abnett but felt like just more water-treading anyway. I may be a fool to trust him again, but he has delivered so many times over the years that I'm willing to play the fool one more time.)
He's spreading himself quite thin these days, even considering that he only does a big GW book every few years. Last one I really liked was the recent Eisenhorn book, and before that the first Bequin book. The Bequin sequel wasn't too good and neither was Saturnine imo (though both were far from his worst).
Finished Ghazghkull. A bit weird experience. Most of the time it did not feel orky but krorky instead, which I suppose it should as Ghazghkull is supposed to be on the way that orks were always intended to be, rather than a current ''devolved'' state. Anyway few bits that may be interesting to some folks:
Spoiler:
- Makari's first dead was caused by Mad Doc.
- Looks like a Psychic Awekning can make Ogryns both intelligent and psykers too.
- Ghazghkull head plate was originally taken from a Terminator's arse plate.
- Inquisitor interrogating Makari was Kryptman's acolyte.
- Each Makari grot has a mark on his shoulder from where he was touched by Ghazghkull, and thus brought to existence as Makari (kinda like Phoenix Lord's armor), which when eaten by a Kroot Shaper caused his death.
He's spreading himself quite thin these days, even considering that he only does a big GW book every few years. Last one I really liked was the recent Eisenhorn book, and before that the first Bequin book. The Bequin sequel wasn't too good and neither was Saturnine imo (though both were far from his worst).
True. Saturnine was just kind of there. Not throw-it-against-the-wall bad, but not really time and money well-spent.
Danny76 wrote: The Wicked and The Damned.
Anybody read it?
Just listened to the commissar story. Was actually so enjoyable.
Read it, didn't particularly care for it.
Spoiler:
I didn't like the way the commissar story has neither a payoff nor a link to the other two stories. It built a really good atmosphere, but had no real significance.
He's spreading himself quite thin these days, even considering that he only does a big GW book every few years. Last one I really liked was the recent Eisenhorn book, and before that the first Bequin book. The Bequin sequel wasn't too good and neither was Saturnine imo (though both were far from his worst).
True. Saturnine was just kind of there. Not throw-it-against-the-wall bad, but not really time and money well-spent.
I strongly disagree, but different strokes and all that.
Finished Cthonia's Reckoning - save your money and skip that book. It is like Calth's stories (just replace UM and WB with IF and SoH) but worse. Boring, predictable, HH box product placement.
Happy that the third Vaults of Terra has been unveiled. I also saw a new Inferno! compilation being shown off on Facebook, but sadly that one is all about Space Marines.. womp-womp! I'd much rather see them do more of the regular Inferno! format; short stories set across all settings, instead of one faction.
Now that looks interesting. Have there been many/any other books that go into Guard psykers? I feel like we know a decent amount about Librarians and Inquisitor psykers but the guard psykers seem to not have much fluff that I'm aware of.
Danny76 wrote: The Wicked and The Damned.
Anybody read it?
Just listened to the commissar story. Was actually so enjoyable.
Read it, didn't particularly care for it.
Spoiler:
I didn't like the way the commissar story has neither a payoff nor a link to the other two stories. It built a really good atmosphere, but had no real significance.
Just going back to this briefly also.
Spoiler:
What do you mean no link to the other two? They weren’t linked to each other either. Aside from the ending linking all three..
Honourbound and the prequel short stories also features a sanctioned psyker as a secondary character, how she's viewed by her regiment, how the commissar debriefs her after every battle and just how dangerously powerful some of them can actually be.
I really hope the Vulture Lord is the start of GW focusing on Ossiarchs abit more and perhaps releasing some more models for them. I'd 100% welcome them getting point drops to make room for more model options. Even a general lore shift
"After his first, not a defeat, at the hands of Chaos and the sudden need to support armies across multiple fronts. The Ossiarchs started to shift toward using fewer souls per creation and focusing on producing greater numbers. They are still elite warriors, but now their souls are spread thinner over more forces."
Represented on the tabletop by a subtle shift that lets you use more models and thus more variety
I really liked the first book and haven't read the second one yet. I kinda fell out with BL, most was just bolter pron and that wasn't my cup of tea. I really like Wraights writing style. His If book about the scouts was a fun read. I hope its kind of a earth shattering revelations for the Inq and his acolyte but doesn't impact the wider imperium. Just like most 40k books should be, Its a big Galaxy out there and no matter what happens you will not me missed.
I really liked the first book and haven't read the second one yet.
I too really liked the first book. Second was weaker, and felt rushed. Hopefully third one will be better, and will give a worthy conclusion to the whole story.
I hope that after the trilogy is completed, Chris Wraight gives us a version of My Wish to Generate Children with You is Only Exceeded by My Devotion to Him. Black Library needs to expand into the romance genre!
Shakalooloo wrote: I hope that after the trilogy is completed, Chris Wraight gives us a version of My Wish to Generate Children with You is Only Exceeded by My Devotion to Him. Black Library needs to expand into the romance genre!
Speaking of Necron Dynasties, is the upcoming paperback release of The Twice-dead King: Ruin the first in the series? Checked the BL site, but not really getting a clear answer there.
BrookM wrote: Speaking of Necron Dynasties, is the upcoming paperback release of The Twice-dead King: Ruin the first in the series? Checked the BL site, but not really getting a clear answer there.
Yeah, Ruin is book 1 and Reign is book 2. They’re really good, I would recommend them if you have any interest in Necrons already.
So the Khan near enough squandered his legion and sacrificed himself in order to banish Morty...Only for Nurgle to say 'nah fam I got you' And Morty is back in the game straight away?
I get that Chaos is ascendent at this stage but...jeez.
Looks like Primarchs are the new Avatar in fiction
BrookM wrote: Speaking of Necron Dynasties, is the upcoming paperback release of The Twice-dead King: Ruin the first in the series? Checked the BL site, but not really getting a clear answer there.
Yeah, Ruin is book 1 and Reign is book 2. They’re really good, I would recommend them if you have any interest in Necrons already.
Severed was really enjoyable, so I have some hopes for this one being, perhaps not as quirky as the novella, still a good read.
So the Khan near enough squandered his legion and sacrificed himself in order to banish Morty...Only for Nurgle to say 'nah fam I got you' And Morty is back in the game straight away?
I get that Chaos is ascendent at this stage but...jeez.
Looks like Primarchs are the new Avatar in fiction
BrookM wrote: Speaking of Necron Dynasties, is the upcoming paperback release of The Twice-dead King: Ruin the first in the series? Checked the BL site, but not really getting a clear answer there.
Yeah, Ruin is book 1 and Reign is book 2. They’re really good, I would recommend them if you have any interest in Necrons already.
Severed was really enjoyable, so I have some hopes for this one being, perhaps not as quirky as the novella, still a good read.
Reminder that Zahndrekh forgets that Doomsday Arks can fly...
So the Khan near enough squandered his legion and sacrificed himself in order to banish Morty...Only for Nurgle to say 'nah fam I got you' And Morty is back in the game straight away?
I get that Chaos is ascendent at this stage but...jeez.
Looks like Primarchs are the new Avatar in fiction
I managed to get it from somewhere else, and for less money, but the new Vaults of Terra standard hardback was no longer available online from GW less than an hour after it went up 🙃
I'm glad I managed to get the Vaults of Terra novel somehow, because I had a feeling it would sell out in moments. They are really dropping the ball with the hardcover stocks as of late. 😑
BL/GW keeps most things in house so they can often do reprint runs. IF or when they will is totally random. They did a huge reprint of all 46 of the old Inferno magazines and even then they stopped at 45 and waited several months before doing the very last on its own (before that they'd done runs of 5 and then 10 issues at once).
Also don't forget ebooks - most of those are not only up for sale but often pretty affordable. You can get a lot from BL themselves (DRM free) or from places like Amazon for a Kindle ereader
