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Good Morning Everyone. I really enjoy playing this game, and always find myself reading the rules, or a new codex. I NEVER EVER read the story stuff though. My friends are always talking about it, and told them I'd give it a try. Since I'm a BA player they game me Flesh tearer or ear flesh or something like that. (Thats how you know I didn't like it, can't even remember the name.)

I just couldn't sink into it. They made such a big deal about the primarchs or whatever. I laughed and said nothing a vindicator shot couldn't handle. Maybe its because I'm partial to fantasy stories and found this a bit later in my life, I dunno, I just can't read this book.

Anyone else feel similar to this? or Did I just start on a crudy book?

I like the background, but a lot of the books I have read have been rather bland, I don't think I will ever pick up a book about space marines

With everything some stuff won't appeal to you, curious about what you think about the warhammer fantasy books ? Or have you not read any.
And well I

I personally haven't read the BA codex, but if Fantasies more to your liking, trying picking up WHFB. I gotta admit that they've made some great background around the whole 'Grim Dark Horror' feel of the world and I love the novels.
If you don't like reading the fluff of BA, maybe try some other codex that's not by Matt Ward as I find some of the older Codex's seem to have some really good fluff.

Fantasy wise I meant LoTR, Wheel of Time, Wizard's First Rule etc... I've read some Sci-Fi also Dune, Ender's Game series.

I've always played D&D and think that setting just suits me more. Who doesn't love knights and magic and stuff?

I do enjoy the game, just not the stories. Are there any orc or tyranid books?

g0atsticks wrote:
Good Morning Everyone. I really enjoy playing this game, and always find myself reading the rules, or a new codex. I NEVER EVER read the story stuff though. My friends are always talking about it, and told them I'd give it a try. Since I'm a BA player they game me Flesh tearer or ear flesh or something like that. (Thats how you know I didn't like it, can't even remember the name.)

I just couldn't sink into it. They made such a big deal about the primarchs or whatever. I laughed and said nothing a vindicator shot couldn't handle. Maybe its because I'm partial to fantasy stories and found this a bit later in my life, I dunno, I just can't read this book.

Anyone else feel similar to this? or Did I just start on a crudy book?

A lot of the space marine books are very boring in my experience. They come across as predictable and bland. Maybe try reading a series like Ghaunt's Ghosts or some of the other Imperial guard novels? They tend to have a lot more intrigue because unlike space marines, they, you know, can actually die, no matter how thick their plot armor is.

That said, I have a well documented hatred to all space marine chapters besides the Lamenters (the only good thing to come from the blood angels in my opinion) and to a lesser extent Black Templar, so I'm pretty heavily biased. In fact, try reading about the Lamenters some too. They're a Blood Angels successor chapter that is cursed in a sense, and they have some really cool moments in the background that make them seem a lot more human than most of the other chapters you see in the fiction these days.

I like LoTR and D&D stuff lots also it can be based on who you read and what your looking for.
Don't worry to much if you don't get into the setting much, from the sounds of it you would have plenty to read still

MrMoustaffa is right, can try some of the other faction books, but I don't think there is tyranid or ork ones.

g0atsticks wrote:
I just couldn't sink into it. They made such a big deal about the primarchs or whatever. I laughed and said nothing a vindicator shot couldn't handle. Maybe its because I'm partial to fantasy stories and found this a bit later in my life, I dunno, I just can't read this book.

Yeah all of the background fiction is basically crap, especially primarch Please don't bypass the swearfilter like this. Reds8n space marine horus heresy stuff. They justify it as "in-universe propaganda" but it's obvious they just want to hook kids and dragonball enthusiasts.

Try the first edition stuff, it's way better. Space marines are just marines in space and primarchs are just space marines.

 MrMoustaffa wrote:

g0atsticks wrote:
Good Morning Everyone. I really enjoy playing this game, and always find myself reading the rules, or a new codex. I NEVER EVER read the story stuff though. My friends are always talking about it, and told them I'd give it a try. Since I'm a BA player they game me Flesh tearer or ear flesh or something like that. (Thats how you know I didn't like it, can't even remember the name.)

I just couldn't sink into it. They made such a big deal about the primarchs or whatever. I laughed and said nothing a vindicator shot couldn't handle. Maybe its because I'm partial to fantasy stories and found this a bit later in my life, I dunno, I just can't read this book.

Anyone else feel similar to this? or Did I just start on a crudy book?

A lot of the space marine books are very boring in my experience. They come across as predictable and bland. Maybe try reading a series like Ghaunt's Ghosts or some of the other Imperial guard novels? They tend to have a lot more intrigue because unlike space marines, they, you know, can actually die, no matter how thick their plot armor is.

That said, I have a well documented hatred to all space marine chapters besides the Lamenters (the only good thing to come from the blood angels in my opinion) and to a lesser extent Black Templar, so I'm pretty heavily biased. In fact, try reading about the Lamenters some too. They're a Blood Angels successor chapter that is cursed in a sense, and they have some really cool moments in the background that make them seem a lot more human than most of the other chapters you see in the fiction these days.

haha, "plot armor",

Maybe try fear the alien or something like that, short stories that don't focus to heavily on the emperor or primarchs. As far as fantasy goes, troll slayer is awesome.

I like some of the background, I think WHFB has a better background though.

I like the stories more than I like playing the game.

Modeling>Painting>Stories>Playing is my order of enjoyment of the 40k hobby.

I don't get why you think this isn't a fantasy game. That your knights have electronics in their armor doesn't change that they do most of their fighting with a blade and would rather wear the heraldry of their order than anything approaching practical camouflage.

Really, the entire Horus Heresy is just Paradise Lost with crazy superscience rather than the pure will of the divine.

Admittedly, a lot of the Blood Angel stuff is very repetitive, since the Legion is utterly trapped in the genetic defects that come from being essentially clones of a powerful telepath's corpse. Bear in mind that Space Marines also suffer tremendously from having their emotional development stunted at around the age of 12, when they go from being adolescents to transhuman demigods, raised by the previous generation of superpowered homicidal children.

Check out some of the Eldar stuff, since they really are just Tolkien elves in space or the Imperial Guard stuff that is either a lot more fatalistic or a lot more lighthearted. Either way, it's less bolter-porny.

You don't have to like the fluff. I don't care for it personally and I find it rather amusing to mess with people when they comment on how "unfluffy" my army lists are.

Not read much of it, didn't enjoy the (pretty poorly written) bits I did read and I'm happy enough playing the game as a tactical game with obvious failings rather than a future fantasy cinematic experience. Plus so many of the models look cool.

If your imagination isn't sparked up by the fiction in the codices or rule book, I think it'd be a poor idea to buy one of the rather trashy books. You'll just regret spending time on it...

From 5th to 6th; the game does have a much more cinematic feel, and you know.....thats all I need. Fluff......psht.

g0atsticks wrote:
Good Morning Everyone. I really enjoy playing this game, and always find myself reading the rules, or a new codex. I NEVER EVER read the story stuff though. My friends are always talking about it, and told them I'd give it a try. Since I'm a BA player they game me Flesh tearer or ear flesh or something like that. (Thats how you know I didn't like it, can't even remember the name.)

I just couldn't sink into it. They made such a big deal about the primarchs or whatever. I laughed and said nothing a vindicator shot couldn't handle. Maybe its because I'm partial to fantasy stories and found this a bit later in my life, I dunno, I just can't read this book.

Anyone else feel similar to this? or Did I just start on a crudy book?

Well you did start on a crudy book. In order, I'd recommend Xenos, the Founding, Horus Rising, and Soul Hunter, They are each the first book in the best of the best 40k series. If none of those grab you, I don't know what will.

The quality of writing in the books varies wildly, and really only gets up to "Decent".

It's the sort of game where you're going to get grabbed by the basic background, or you won't. It's pretty entertaining setting for a game, but the fluff isn't always the best. And a lot of that comes from having dozens of authors interpreting a single setting without much oversight. Even the Heresy series, which has the most editorial control, suffers from authorial interpretation.

Basically, the books are written by guys not working with any coherent editorial vision, and they aren't really the best writers of war stories, and try to write stories about things they don't understand. "Write what you know" is a very basic tenet of being a good author, lol. These guys know 40K (usually), but they don't know warfare very well. And none of them seem too concerned with doing any research. I imagine that there is more profit in turning out lots of books, instead of really good books.

 Veteran Sergeant wrote:

Basically, the books are written by guys not working with any coherent editorial vision, and they aren't really the best writers of war stories, and try to write stories about things they don't understand. "Write what you know" is a very basic tenet of being a good author, lol. These guys know 40K (usually), but they don't know warfare very well. And none of them seem too concerned with doing any research. I imagine that there is more profit in turning out lots of books, instead of really good books.

This is exactly the issue with black library. However, the codices and the universe itself are a bit more controlled, I guess since there's more money in it. The issue there lies with the target audience as far as I understand it.

g0atsticks wrote:
They made such a big deal about the primarchs or whatever. I laughed and said nothing a vindicator shot couldn't handle.

They're in magical tank-armor and have magical healing powers.

The fluff is only bad if you don't fully understand it, as far as I've noticed.

Its only magic if you don't understand it. Oh I understand my strength 10 AP2 weapon will blow that crap to smitherens...magic lol. We call it science.

g0atsticks wrote:
Its only magic if you don't understand it. Oh I understand my strength 10 AP2 weapon will blow that crap to smitherens...magic lol. We call it science.

No, no. Its magic.

Psykers, the warp, invuln saves, eternal warrior; all warp-related. Not science.

Science is largely abhorred in 40k, in fact. So looking at the fluff in a logical, scientific way just doesn't work.

Logically an orbital bombardment would kill a primarch instantly.

But 40k doesn't use logic. Discard it and you'll begin to understand the fluff.

TheCaptain hit it on the head just keep in mind Humanity has had 28,000 years to develop technology. That which applies now won't apply then necessarily.

We have chainsaw swords with monomolecular blades yet have blade housings (whatever the big blocky bit behind the chain is called) that are so wide you'd only be able to cut a few inches into anything before the sword would get stuck. On top of that, it can't even cut through FLAK ARMOR.

Logic died a death in 40k that made the emperor look like he got a small papercut.

g0atsticks wrote:
I do enjoy the game, just not the stories

How? The game is clunky, counter-intuitive, slow and out-dated. The only thing it's got going for it is the background!

Having said that, the novels are pretty naff. Some of them are pretty good, but the overwhelming majority are just war-porn. Heaps of action scenes and over-the-top descriptions of stuff, but very light on character depiction and development. The basic background as set out in the rulebooks and codexes are pretty good though. They describe the setting, and leave it up to you, the player, to create your own stories within it.

But without that setting, and the motivation to tell stories within it, you've just got a really bland set of game mechanics.

I stopped reading fluff in the codices and rulebooks after 2nd edition. I sleep better that way.

The only thing the game has going for it, Kaldor is the miniatures.

The rules are clunky and a dinosaur, the background is cliched, homaged and at the same time ridiculously bad to the point of fan-fic.

.....fan fiction.........say it out loud.....

While the universe is great and much of the background is awesome, a lot of the newer stuff is pure garbage pulled straight from the depths of bad internet fanfiction, especially on the Marine front.

That said, 40k doesn't work without its background and visuals, the game itself is one of the least capable and most clunky sets of mechanics in print today. The universe's IP has always been what carried it and what is GW's most valuable asset, not the mechanics and rules of the game.

Gaunt's Ghosts.

Those are probably the best books I've read from all of the Black Library. They are much more interesting than Space Marines (they're Guard) Because the characters are more humanlike, also the can die (though some of the very main ones obviously don't).

ya too each there own. ounce you understand that the primcahces had a huge royal rumble on earth where the emprorer killed his son in effort to save his empire. i love reading about the horus hersey or how an orc blows up a battle tank or with a landmine the ilistration backround theme fans all make is worth it for me.

another suggestion is if were looking at books is

last changers really a must read so well done

tonyneedspills23 wrote:
ya too each there own. ounce you understand that the primcahces had a huge royal rumble on earth where the emprorer killed his son in effort to save his empire. i love reading about the horus hersey or how an orc blows up a battle tank or with a landmine the ilistration backround theme fans all make is worth it for me.

another suggestion is if were looking at books is

last changers really a must read so well done

Well. Couldn't help it.

*to
*their
*Once
*Primarchs
*Emperor
*Heresy
*Illustration
*it

Another day, another dollar.

 TheCaptain wrote:

tonyneedspills23 wrote:
ya too each there own. ounce you understand that the primcahces had a huge royal rumble on earth where the emprorer killed his son in effort to save his empire. i love reading about the horus hersey or how an orc blows up a battle tank or with a landmine the ilistration backround theme fans all make is worth it for me.

another suggestion is if were looking at books is

last changers really a must read so well done

Well. Couldn't help it.

*to
*their
*Once
*Primarchs
*Emperor
*Heresy
*Illustration
*it

Another day, another dollar.

glad someone did it