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what are the odds eh ?

From the artwork and comments made I gather the first book/books will feature the Crimson Fists.

Artwork is very nice IMO.

The artwork is nice, but the title seems like a rehash of almost every other Black Library book. I mean, other than a couple IG novel series, what *isn't* a "Space Marine Battle" book?

Warhammer's also a part of it too. BL's published some great WHFB books; Heldenhammer, the Ambassador Chronicles and Tales of the Old World but to name a few.

BL is running out of clever ideas.

Whoever did the art has little to no real 40k experience. Those bolters look like they are ripped from a generic shmup box art. Plus that commander.. He is bald, he is not screaming however, his mouth seems a little to slack for that.

caseless ammo dammit.. caseless ammo.

two_heads_talking wrote:caseless ammo dammit.. caseless ammo.

Nay, that was phased out a long time ago because brass belching weapons are much cooler. The Tony Montana marine is probably the best example of this.

Those bolters are dreadful. They're different for a start, the two in the foreground, and the magazine is in a really stupid place. They'd never work.

Could be the Rynn's World invasion. Orks and Crimson Fists in the picture.

BrookM wrote:BL is running out of clever ideas.

Whoever did the art has little to no real 40k experience. Those bolters look like they are ripped from a generic shmup box art. Plus that commander.. He is bald, he is not screaming however, his mouth seems a little to slack for that.

qft.
He looks like he just lost all is teeth to an angry warboss

Im not a fan so far. Apart from fugly art, GW is in dire need of new ideas, and good ones at that. There are more than enough SM hurr stories around. The heresy series is pretty much set on them as well. So why the hell is an entire series needed!? Gah

Nuclear Mekanik wrote:Those bolters are dreadful. They're different for a start, the two in the foreground, and the magazine is in a really stupid place. They'd never work.

And a different design is bad because.....?

When you look back at bolters from Rogue Trader up 'till now, a lot of them look very different. They're all clearly bolters though, just like these weapons.


I agree that the magazine placement is a little odd, but that's pretty much how it is with all bolt pistols, which is what the two weapons in the foreground are. Other than that, I actually think this variant looks kind of cool.

I don't get it.
What is it? Novels of famous battles? Like Rynn's world, or Armageddon, but featuring space marines?

Daggermaw wrote:I don't get it.
What is it? Novels of famous battles? Like Rynn's world, or Armageddon, but featuring space marines?

That seems what it is about.

Black Library seriously needs a proper Editorial staff. Some of the recent stuff has looked very much like first draft writing.

I was hoping for some more Xenos/IG battles myself. Oh well. I'll likely buy any Salamanders-centirc novels in this series, but won't be colecting them all like in the Horus Heresy series

So, Instead of lots of books with featuring a space marine conflict we can now look forward to one book with a lot of space marine conflicts. Great.

BrookM wrote:BL is running out of clever ideas.

Whoever did the art has little to no real 40k experience. Those bolters look like they are ripped from a generic shmup box art.

Brook, a shmup isn't a FPS. A shmup is a flying ship vs. "billion enemies" kind of game, like R-Type, Gradius, or Ikaruga.

A FPS is the generic "Space Marine" vs. Aliens or Al-Queda or Nazis.

No big deal. But I grew up on Life Force and Axelay, so...

Hordini wrote:When you look back at bolters from Rogue Trader up 'till now, a lot of them look very different. They're all clearly bolters though, just like these weapons.

I think we can all be glad that they don't have "have a nice day" written on them

And hey, if they can flesh out the 40k fluff with more detailed stories like they do with Horus Heresy then this might just work. Especially stuff like the fall of the Crimson Fist's homeword should be wrote in novel form.

I also wouldn't complain about Marines being the main characters again. I don't think you could write an interesting novel with Eldar or Orks as protagonists.

dienekes96 wrote:

BrookM wrote:BL is running out of clever ideas.

Whoever did the art has little to no real 40k experience. Those bolters look like they are ripped from a generic shmup box art.

Brook, a shmup isn't a FPS. A shmup is a flying ship vs. "billion enemies" kind of game, like R-Type, Gradius, or Ikaruga.

A FPS is the generic "Space Marine" vs. Aliens or Al-Queda or Nazis.

No big deal. But I grew up on Life Force and Axelay, so...

So side-scrollers a-la Metal Slug and the like aren't shmups as well?

Anung Un Rama wrote:

Hordini wrote:When you look back at bolters from Rogue Trader up 'till now, a lot of them look very different. They're all clearly bolters though, just like these weapons.

I think we can all be glad that they don't have "have a nice day" written on them

And hey, if they can flesh out the 40k fluff with more detailed stories like they do with Horus Heresy then this might just work. Especially stuff like the fall of the Crimson Fist's homeword should be wrote in novel form.

I also wouldn't complain about Marines being the main characters again. I don't think you could write an interesting novel with Eldar or Orks as protagonists.

Well, C.S. Goto tried an Eldar novel and from what I heard it is a real crap fest. He hasn't written a book since then for BL if I remember correctly.

That's more Got than Eldar... And isn't the (also crap) Fire Warrior novel written from a Tau viewpoint.

Fire Warrior was a bit silly, but not too bad by BL standards.

Well, that's what you get for trying to promote a crappy game that has a very crappy story that is really stretching some of the boundaries of the set background.

Didn't C.S. Goto also write the Dawn of War novels?

Anung Un Rama wrote:Didn't C.S. Goto also write the Dawn of War novels?

Yup. I still can't erase the mental image of Terminators piling from a Razorback.

Ah, so it is as bad as I suspected. Good to know.

Dont read em!! It was such a ginormous waste of time.

Most of Goto's books are one big Eldar-fetish. Not to mention he claims that the background is there to be shaped and moulded as the writer sees fit. For better or for worse. The latter mostly in his part.

Warrior Brood? Marine captain with an Eldar sword and a mysterious Eldar machine that can mind control Nids.

Dawn of War series? Eldar have a hand in the creation of the Blood Ravens. Plus the force hammer of Gabriel is forged from shards of a Wailing Doom.

Salvation? Probably some Eldar temple all along down there that made those Ratskins sooooo super.

I wasted quite some time on those books, makes me sad I guess. Goto is bad, but not as bad as Lucien Soulban with his generic cyberpunk Necromunda novel (away with the cyber-western themes!) and 100% predictable and stupid Desert Warriors novel. Gee, I didn't see that ending coming in a million years.

wow thats a stupid name

just thinking-
Being the picture is in B&W, so they could be imp. Fists, probably not but nice to think, Eh?

Problem with this series will be that just like the other series it starts off great but gets lamer and weaker with each instalment, as with their Necromunda and Imperial Guard novel series. Those both went off on a solid-ish start but in the case of the prior got properly killed by those horrible Kal Jericho novels and in case of the latter by poor plot and writing.

Then again, these be marines, so you can expect the top three authors (Abnett, McNeill and Counter) to each write a book for it, leaving the rest to the up and coming writers.