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Mr. Balloon Hands wrote:Dont know if I am going to be able to dive right back into Archatect Of Fate and really need a good summer read. I would love some suggestions. I am really really into the 40K universe, WHF doesnt really do it for me. If anyone has a book they have been absolutely excited about and really egar to tell someone to read, i would love to hear about it.

Fair Tides,

Reds8n has been waxing lyrical about (also AD-B's) Emperors Gift; one of the best BL books he's ever read or some-such!

Red', would you say it's worth getting even if you have no interest whatsoever in the Grey Knights? (although I am a Space Wolf fan and they're in it) I have trouble getting into novels in which I have no care for the faction I think, so I'm unsure if I can really like a Grey Knights novel, particularly when I've got to pay for it being hardback. AD-B or no AD-B!

reds8n wrote:

Spoiler:

IIRC "Nonus", ie the ninth servant/slave is the human guy who is in the 2nd book. Killed towards the end IIRC.

Hence why the son ( assuming it is him) is Decimus/the 10th one.

Pacific wrote:Just Dave, regarding the 13th Black Crusade, this is my understanding of it..

Spoiler:

Most of the background material up until this point has just revolved around it being forthcoming. There is one extract in the Chaos codex that talks about '12 attempts' by Abbaddon all leading up to that point - the stealing of the Pylons, etc. I don't have any of the books with me now, but I'm sure there is plenty of reference to it. As far as I know, the 13th Crusade has always been the one that will either save or break the Imperium - the End of Times, the Randadanra (sp?), the 'wolf time' etc. That moment just beyond the remit of 40k, 2 minutes to midnight and the end of humankind, that we will never get to see

The only 'official' information about the 13th Crusade was when GW ran their 'Eye of Terror' campaign. At the time Andy Chambers had said (yes it was that long ago) that whatever the result of the worldwide campaign, there would be consequences for the actual game universe of 40k. However, as the campaign progressed, it became obvious that the side of 'disorder' were going to win. There are some pretty detailed accounts of what happened during the campaign which you can find with a google search, but what followed was GW basically saying, "erm, yes we will change the background setting". But ultimately, apart from some really ambiguous comments about the effects of the campaign (which I seem to remember as "Yes Abbaddon won, but he, erm, decided to go back to the EoT to plan something even more sinister! Yes, that's right! ") It was a bit of a cop-out to be honest, and I remember a lot of angry talk at the time. But, in the larger scheme of things I can understand GW not wanting to do a 'White Wolf' and end up killing off their game universe with an ill-advised plot progression, which would have essentially shattered the central premises and ethos of the 40k universe.

Interestingly, I wonder if ADB was referencing the EoT campaign with the story of Void Stalker, or it was just circumstance? In the EoT campaign, just about the only 'order' faction that got their act together (and had a net victory) were the Eldar. Ironically, considering their campaign faction label, the other forces of 'Order' were almost comical in their complete inability to play in an organised manner. In Void Stalker, the reason that Ulthwe are trying to kill Talos and his warband is because their farseers have forseen the NL being the doom of their craftworld. In that future, the Eldar form an alliance with the Imperium during the 13th Crusade and help to stop Abbaddon. Throughout the books Talos talks of returning the NL to their former glory - not just meaningless pirating and plundering, but in helping to bring the Imperium to its knees. He ultimately finds out that they can indeed accomplish this through their support of Abbaddon, or at least Talos' 'successor' does. The book ends on the cusp of the 'End of times' - perhaps more surely than any other BL title that has ever been written, and in that regard the book has a massively important ending (either good or bad, depending on how you look at it! )

That's just my take on it anyway! It was a wonderful book in any case, I think that series stands as a jewel in the crown of BL releases over the past few years.

Are you trying to tell me the 13th Crusade isn't actually finished?
I thought it was basically finished - although there was still some fighting going on - and Abaddon basically didn't take Cadia[n Gate], but did kick the gak out of Cadia and blew up a planet or two (and was it this one he got the Blackstone's in?), but otherwise it was basically over. Whilst Abaddon did almost accomplish his goal and did a heck of a job on the Imperials...




Automatically Appended Next Post:
Will probably have to read Embedded next I guess...

Red', would you say it's worth getting even if you have no interest whatsoever in the Grey Knights?

Yes. IMO it's better than the NL books.

.. Plus, god damn he makes the Space Wolves seem cool as feth.

The results of the 13th Black Crusade were in White Dwarf 287.

"Victory for Chaos! Note a complete victory, the forces of Order have held the line in many places and Cadia itself still defies the Arch Warmaster Abaddon."

Basically, the Imperium got its rear kicked in 40k.

The Eldar did really well. Also, the Dark Angels did great. The only real general Imperium win was in Battlefleet Gothic where Chaos barely got a look in.

Another quote was.

"The Cadian Gate may not be open to the forces of Chaos, but their minions are over the walls in unprecedented numbers."

reds8n wrote:

Red', would you say it's worth getting even if you have no interest whatsoever in the Grey Knights?

Yes. IMO it's better than the NL books.

.. Plus, god damn he makes the Space Wolves seem cool as feth.

They're already cool as feth!

Guess that's gonna have to go on The Other List.

Compel wrote:The results of the 13th Black Crusade were in White Dwarf 287.

"Victory for Chaos! Note a complete victory, the forces of Order have held the line in many places and Cadia itself still defies the Arch Warmaster Abaddon."

Basically, the Imperium got its rear kicked in 40k.

The Eldar did really well. Also, the Dark Angels did great. The only real general Imperium win was in Battlefleet Gothic where Chaos barely got a look in.

Another quote was.

"The Cadian Gate may not be open to the forces of Chaos, but their minions are over the walls in unprecedented numbers."

Yeah, I remember that well as I have that particular WD as well as the 13th Black Crusade Redux that allows you to run your own campaign.

The campaign initially started with the Imperium doing well on all fronts in the first 2-3 weeks, but suddenly the Forces of Disorder were "allowed" to exploit the threshold system. I say this because even with the rules-explanation at the start of the campaign about the threshold system, it appeared it didn't matter as no headway was made by the FoD. Then when you saw Thracian Primaris and Scarus suddenly tanking, it appeared something was up and the campaign admins explained the system again, but it appeared the rules were tweaked somehow. Additionally, the areas where you could place victories or defeats were at the sector and system level; so when victories or defeats were lets say, allocated to the Agrippina sector for instance....where would they go? Yayor? Lelithor? Agrippina itself (the planet)? So some conjecture that alot of the Imperium's victories were allocated to sectors, especially those doing Gothic battles, which led to the potential for misplaced victories where they would matter most.


So, on it went; the FoD concentrated on the Cadian sector while the Ork forces hit Scarus and Thracian Primaris (home to some Eisenhorn adventures). GW then pushes the plot a bit when St. Josemane's Hope is reduced to 0% and makes a storyline out of it where Creed sanctions the plasma reactor overload of the Penal World, thus destroying it. Then we see the DE get their asses handed to them in the web-way battles along with Ahriman and his Thousand Sons cohorts. The strategy/event cards that were played seemed to favor the FoD at some opportune times. So, Solar Mariatus (or was it Macharia?) goes in the tank and Inquisitor Coteaz sanctions Exterminatus, destroying the planet from orbit. Eldrad gets his soul sucked while trying to disable a Chaos tainted Black Stone Fortress while the Necrons turned on the Chaos invaders in a rare turn of events. The Dark Angels just hammered away at Caliban and it was even noted in the story line that they were not answering any hails or distress calls for aid and assistance....pretty funny if you look at that as it appeared to be a very subtle message to the DA players lol!

So, yes, as the result of the campaign was a Chaos victory, it still didn't explain the Imperium's dominance in the ship-battles ala Gothic. Their response was that the space lanes were owned by the Imperium, thus resulting in a blockade of the besieged planets/systems and that the Chaos impetus had run out but they had shattered the Cadian Gate defenses and left several sectors in ruin that would take centuries to contain and reclaim. The FoD players had organized well and exploited the threshold system and of course there were players playing both sides of the equation. Some thought a Chaos victory would change the storyline and that they would get something special but we all know how that went. The Tau did very well with their 3rd sphere of expansion......but again, there were promises of new changes if there was a FoD victory or a new golden age if it was the FoO....some people really bought into that.

The 13th Black Crusade source book paints a clearer picture; it is even noted in that book that the Iron Hands on Medusa were involved in one of the biggest tank/armor battles in the galaxy. They were using their monastic fortresses which were mounted on huge tracks, supported by their serfs/servitors plus IG armor to engage the enemy in a titanic tank battle. Some good stuff in the book though with other details.

So, in summary, the Cadian, Agrippina, Scarus, Cinchare, Belis Corona sectors and others are in constant strife adn they've become primary warzones. GW did enough to change things, but not enough to really shake things up and I, like others believe that they really won't since it would paint themselves in a corner for their game system storyline.

Mr. Balloon Hands wrote:[ I am really really into the 40K universe, WHF doesnt really do it for me. If anyone has a book they have been absolutely excited about and really egar to tell someone to read, i would love to hear about it.

A lot depends on what you're looking for in a fantasy book. Josh Reynold's Knight of the Blazing Sun is a good read, as are Sigvald by Darius Hinks and Luthor Huss by Chris Wraight. For your more epic stuff, look at the Sigmar or Nagash trilogies by Graham McNeill and Mike Lee respectively.

Pyroriffic wrote:

Mr. Balloon Hands wrote:[ I am really really into the 40K universe, WHF doesnt really do it for me. If anyone has a book they have been absolutely excited about and really egar to tell someone to read, i would love to hear about it.

A lot depends on what you're looking for in a fantasy book. Josh Reynold's Knight of the Blazing Sun is a good read, as are Sigvald by Darius Hinks and Luthor Huss by Chris Wraight. For your more epic stuff, look at the Sigmar or Nagash trilogies by Graham McNeill and Mike Lee respectively.

Not even going to plug your own book?

I'd like to add Wulfrik to the list above though, some good old high action right there.

I'm far too polite and well-mannered to mention Valkia the Bloody.

Whoops!

Pyroriffic wrote:

Mr. Balloon Hands wrote:[ I am really really into the 40K universe, WHF doesnt really do it for me. If anyone has a book they have been absolutely excited about and really egar to tell someone to read, i would love to hear about it.

A lot depends on what you're looking for in a fantasy book. Josh Reynold's Knight of the Blazing Sun is a good read, as are Sigvald by Darius Hinks and Luthor Huss by Chris Wraight. For your more epic stuff, look at the Sigmar or Nagash trilogies by Graham McNeill and Mike Lee respectively.

Don't forget The Shadow King...

Kanluwen wrote:

Pyroriffic wrote:

Mr. Balloon Hands wrote:[ I am really really into the 40K universe, WHF doesnt really do it for me. If anyone has a book they have been absolutely excited about and really egar to tell someone to read, i would love to hear about it.

A lot depends on what you're looking for in a fantasy book. Josh Reynold's Knight of the Blazing Sun is a good read, as are Sigvald by Darius Hinks and Luthor Huss by Chris Wraight. For your more epic stuff, look at the Sigmar or Nagash trilogies by Graham McNeill and Mike Lee respectively.

Don't forget The Shadow King...

And the Brunner omnibus.
Finished void stalker. What an excellent read.

Also, if you just want to whet your WHF appetite, there's the Age of Legend anthology.

How about Genevieve Undead yo? Know thy classics!

LULZ-ing. OK, I have offically been convienced to give a WHF book a go. I must say I read the Hobbit when I was young, loved the movie "The Neverending Story" and played my fair share of Ultima Online. So I would not say Fantesy is forieng to me. But now that you have rattled off A BUNCH of books. Realistically, what would be a good started book, packed with epic adventure. Maybe three I could choose from that would be good for a first time fantesy reader.

I truly appreciate it all.

Fair Tides,

Anyone noticed how the next HH (the BA one) book is more expensive than the rest? Must be a bit of a beast...

Same price as the rest of them for Australian, are we actually avoiding a price increase for once?

The Blood Angel HH has indeed gone up in price by one quid. However, the one after that is regular price again.

520 odd pages AFAIK.


Extract in :
http://www.blacklibrary.com/all-products/hammer-and-bolter-issue-21.html

Can't say I'm looking all that forward to it, not a big fan of the author and his previous works

reds8n wrote:520 odd pages AFAIK.


Extract in :
http://www.blacklibrary.com/all-products/hammer-and-bolter-issue-21.html

The Shadow of the Beast - The Scythes of the Emperor face annihilation in this brand new Warhammer 40,000 story from Laurie Goulding. Can Reclusiarch Hornindal escape the vanguard of a tyranid hive fleet and save the Chapter's home world of Sotha?

No

With a name like that no, I don't want to be rescued by a guy named "Hornindal"

GW Dublin wrote:
On Saturday the 26th of May, three of the most iconic authors for the Black Library will be in the store at the same time signing their books. At this once in a lifetime event we will have limited quantities of pre-release books and a chance to win a copy of Aurelian.
the Authors will be here at slightly different times
Dan Abnett will be here from 1-3 pm
Graham McNiell will be in from 12-2pm
Aaron Dembski-Bowden will be in from 12-2pm

Pilau Rice wrote:

reds8n wrote:520 odd pages AFAIK.


Extract in :
http://www.blacklibrary.com/all-products/hammer-and-bolter-issue-21.html

The Shadow of the Beast - The Scythes of the Emperor face annihilation in this brand new Warhammer 40,000 story from Laurie Goulding. Can Reclusiarch Hornindal escape the vanguard of a tyranid hive fleet and save the Chapter's home world of Sotha?

No

Ha - no kidding!

Unless they're planning on changing the background significantly...

BrookM wrote:With a name like that no, I don't want to be rescued by a guy named "Hornindal"

No worries there then, as we already know the outcome to this particular mission...

Also, congrats to Mr. Goulding!

I'm fairly sure he's the Main Man over at The Great Crusade - and now he's a published BL author, a few times over now?

http://www.blacklibrary.com/warhammer-40000/Space-Marine-Battles/bloodspire-mp3.html

out soon !

Hmm, will need to grab that Scythes book methinks.

May I ask as to what qualms people have with Deliverance Lost? It may not be the best book in the HH series, nor the best written* but I feel it performed well for fleshing out the details and background to the Raven Guard. As someone whom has not had much exposure to said Legion, it was refreshing to learn things entirely new.

Now, I am currently reading Know No Fear. Ach, I don't know how to take it. The writing style, the consistent writing-like-a-teenagers-blog, is ticking me off to no end. Still, I have plenty to plough through so here's hoping the narrative saves the day. As with all HH books, I am eagerly awaiting the point where traitor and loyalist are made known to one another, usually on the point of a single bolt.

* As someone who reads a wide variety of classics, Russian literature and Americana beatnik, the HH and indeed the BL collection are hardly awe-inspiring for those literary inclined. However, they excel in delivering the details and characters during my favourite period of 40k's history. For that I am thankful!

Eiríkr wrote:As with all HH books, I am eagerly awaiting the point where traitor and loyalist are made known to one another, usually on the point of a single bolt.

That part, Know No Fear does very, very well.

I did thoroughly enjoy Deliverance Lost for the first 3/4's, it's just the last quarter falls down badly. It mostly felt rushed and quite anticlimatic at that point.

I did enjoy the Corax background a great deal though. - It's the first time, properly I think, we've really had a primarch as the central character, where you truly find out his private thoughts on things.

Know no fear was particularly good, I found. A lot of the style I felt was like a written equivalent of the new Battlestar Galactica series. - Especially the scenes in orbit when things go horribly wrong.

Compel wrote:I did thoroughly enjoy Deliverance Lost for the first 3/4's, it's just the last quarter falls down badly. It mostly felt rushed and quite anticlimatic at that point.

These are pretty much my thoughts on the matter.

best we stick to tags I guess.