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This will also help identify those who take the hobby just a little too seriously.

I think this is great, the parents I play with are excited to be able to get their kids into the hobby with some less gruesome reading.

Happily reading a new Warhammer Adventures book to my three year old:

"And then the darkness ate them, one by one and their screams echoed for an eternity to the laughing and hungry gods"

Close book.

Child never sleeps again.

Save a bunch of money on bedroom supplies but spend a fortune on psychiatrists.

Joking aside its not a bad move considering how many fans of the series now have kids of their own. A means to have their kids get involved in the hobby is a nice way for families to bond and enjoy the same thing in their own way.

Books like this might well get kids into getting some help and building their own models; doing some painting (heck lots of gamer parents have a few squads of marines or other models painted by their kids).

Oh I'm going to love how they'll weave Slannesh and Khorne into this one...

I think some gamers would do well to remember that not all of the 40k univerae is a war torn hellhole where horrific demons stalk rubble strewn streeets eating children or where every Chaos cultist is some Slaaneshi worshipping rapist having coke fueled murder-orgies. There's room for these types of stories, too.

Heck, if Star Wars was able to run a series of horror novels aimed at younger readers, I don't see why GW can't run a series of adventure novels aimed at younger readers. I think that's going to be one of the key things here, too. These are adventure novels, likely with an emphasis on the adventure aspect rather than the grimdark parts.

Plus, there's always the possibility that these books may wind up having tie-in figures of the kids.

Hmmmm, Initial reaction was WTF is this?

We need new blood in the hobby, but it this the way towards it? It feels like it's diluting the brand significantly here (Although Marvel and DC do a lot of the same with their universes, are GW big enough to try the same?).

40k is a complex crapsack world that is certainly not suitable for young children (hence why GW in the past said you had to be at least 11), but there are some of us here that are old enough to remember the tie-in toys for definitely-not-for-kids films like Alien, Robocop and Rambo. Although this still does go on today to an extent (Looking at you Cineworld with the Deadpool 2 cups with the kid's munchbox) it had its heyday in the late eighties early nineties.

Time will tell if this will damage the brand (some of us have enough trouble justifying this hobby and these certainly don't help the "it's for kids" mantra) or enhance it.

I think this could work for 40k.

What better book to help kids deal with the harsh realities of every day life than a book about kids living in the 40k universe?

Why do they hate that person who looks different? I don't know, they just do.
What's a heretic? Just keep reading.
But, the kids helped the Inq find the heretic, why are they being taken away from their families? Best not to ask.

In all seriousness, I hope it works. I will make sure some get ordered for the library I work at which would be a great way for kids to access them.

Young Adult and Juvenile reading level books cover a lot of topics these days. The stuff GW puts out isn't too much for kids to handle, to be honest, except, maybe, Slaneesh. With Slaneesh I can see why they shelved her for redevelopment and a makeover.
I see the 40kJr. books focusing a lot on aliens, like Necrons as exampled on website, who are not human enough to be something kids can humanize as compared to Eldar and Tau.

Age of Sigmar Adventures


Chapter one:

ANYTHING DEAD, GREEN OR SPROUTING HORNS WILL KILL YOU!
[u]


40K Adventures

Chapter one:

EVERYONE NOT WORSHIPING THE EMPEROR WILL KILL YOU. EVERYONE![/i]

Chapter Two
Congratulations! The Inquisition will take you and one other persion to Terra to serve the One True God. Please stay where you are so we can pick you up.*


THE END


There, I spoiled it for ya.

*in addition we will also execute your entire friends and family for heresy. if you feel sad that they are dead, immediently report to your superiors for voluntary hanging as a lession to others.

Congratulations GW, one further nail in the coffin of my growing apathy for this hobby.

And if a departure does ensue, fear not as I won't let the door bang my arse on the way out - before some smarty-pants advises me of the same.

Where and when are those miniatures going to be available?

I see a lot of possibilities for a easy board game with a team of those kids, add in a miniature of each of the enemy models, and one of each of the other races, and you can have a pretty good introductory game...

Of course you might start having an issue when you start in on the Slannish demons, the Sister Repenta, and the cute little Tyranid- Phallic-cannon... But hey- Get those kids indoctrinated early!!!!!

CONSUME! SPEND MOMMY'S MONEY, THROW IT AWAY!! BUY MORE!!! rinse and repeat!

Anyone read these? We can have a taste of what we can expect from these stories.
http://tomhuddleston.co.uk/star-wars-adventures-in-wild-space/

I think Age of Sigmar has a little more potential being fantasy and such. They can make something like a Cities of Gold out of this.

...or maybe authors will make a SJW stories out of this? hmm?

Can't see the announcement, but going by the art, is this strictly 40k? Some of those kids look like they'd fit in with Sigmar's crowd

This is a good thing though.

As others have said, there's plenty of space in both GW worlds for more family friendly stories to be told.

Most of us grew up with stories like this, be it in the form of books, movies, or games.

Reminds me of the Ewok movies and how they tied in to the Star Wars universe. Family friendly, but definitely some dark undertones to them. Despite Ewoks.

Yeah tentacles, skulls, rotting corpses, more SKULLZ, Egyptian robots with weapons that rip layers of flesh off your bones and space elf raiders that use human face flesh for masks- all perfect for the pre-teens and younger crowd.

Wait until Fulgrim encourages the pre-teens to give into those kind of funny and tingly but good sensations toward the other pre-teen characters... Or the Big I encourages pre-teens to report their peers that manifest "magical" powers...

The comics I understand but this is going to be a very interesting read...

 Barzam wrote:
I think some gamers would do well to remember that not all of the 40k univerae is a war torn hellhole where horrific demons stalk rubble strewn streeets eating children or where every Chaos cultist is some Slaaneshi worshipping rapist having coke fueled murder-orgies. There's room for these types of stories, too.

According to the website, for the AoS book, Kiri was raised in barbarian slave camps, and the Darkoath barbarians are described as "Just one of many brutal tribes who roam the Mortal Realms, the Darkoath Barbarians are pledged to the forces of Evil. Clad in rugged leather armour, these savage marauders cause mayhem and misery wherever they go: plundering, pillaging and enslaving whole populations." For the 40k book, "Talen ran away from home to avoid being enlisted in the military. He fell in with the Runak Warriors, a feral gang who lived in the tunnels beneath Rhal Rata, the largest hive-city on Targian." and Zelia is afraid of spiders "after being trapped in the web of a gigantic temple-weaver when she was a small child."

So... still a war torn hellhole where horrific demons stalk rubble strewn streets eating children, just with 83% less coke fueled murder-orgies.

This is amazing, i love it! Fantastic way of getting the next gen in And i have to admit it, the sheer amount of vitriol from the "adult" community about daring to try and bring kids into the game is god damn hilarious. I haven't laughed this hard in a while

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:

 streetsamurai wrote:

 Hybrid Son Of Oxayotl wrote:
No. Just no. That's like having some "Marquis de Sade for children". The universe is inherently not suitable for children. Make some great sy-fy books for children,great idea, but this will either not be suitable for children or not be truthful to the universe...

"Hey, let's make some children's book about some extremely xenophobic obscurantist empire that are the good guys! That will get some good messages to those kids!"

I don't know about AoS, maybe it could work there, though.

kind of agree

this just scream brand dilution

It's a series of age appropriate books. Not an announcement that henceforth, all Black Library will be age appropriate for 8-12.

I don't think you know what brand dilution means

 Hollow wrote:
I think that the 40k IP is big enough to be able to house both child friendly stories and adult ones.

Just because it could, does not mean it should.

Also, look at these books like this.

These books will provide a steady revenue stream for GW to not only produce more books but to also put towards their games.

Even if kids never go beyond just the books, it's still a success for GW.

On the other hand, this market is a hard one to break into. You have to have something really unique to catch, and keep, kids attentions.

 streetsamurai wrote:

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:

 streetsamurai wrote:

 Hybrid Son Of Oxayotl wrote:
No. Just no. That's like having some "Marquis de Sade for children". The universe is inherently not suitable for children. Make some great sy-fy books for children,great idea, but this will either not be suitable for children or not be truthful to the universe...

"Hey, let's make some children's book about some extremely xenophobic obscurantist empire that are the good guys! That will get some good messages to those kids!"

I don't know about AoS, maybe it could work there, though.

kind of agree

this just scream brand dilution

It's a series of age appropriate books. Not an announcement that henceforth, all Black Library will be age appropriate for 8-12.

I don't think you know what brand dilution means

I think you care too much.

If this is targeted at 4 year olds the imagery and style here makes sense. But I remember I got into the hobby around 12 years old and if it had looked like this I would have never given it a second look. My child mind was in fact reeled in by stuff like the diaz daemonettes, and brutal chaos warriors slaughtering everything in sight.

 Sqorgar wrote:

 Barzam wrote:
I think some gamers would do well to remember that not all of the 40k univerae is a war torn hellhole where horrific demons stalk rubble strewn streeets eating children or where every Chaos cultist is some Slaaneshi worshipping rapist having coke fueled murder-orgies. There's room for these types of stories, too.

According to the website, for the AoS book, Kiri was raised in barbarian slave camps, and the Darkoath barbarians are described as "Just one of many brutal tribes who roam the Mortal Realms, the Darkoath Barbarians are pledged to the forces of Evil. Clad in rugged leather armour, these savage marauders cause mayhem and misery wherever they go: plundering, pillaging and enslaving whole populations." For the 40k book, "Talen ran away from home to avoid being enlisted in the military. He fell in with the Runak Warriors, a feral gang who lived in the tunnels beneath Rhal Rata, the largest hive-city on Targian." and Zelia is afraid of spiders "after being trapped in the web of a gigantic temple-weaver when she was a small child."

So... still a war torn hellhole where horrific demons stalk rubble strewn streets eating children, just with 83% less coke fueled murder-orgies.

I didn't see the bit with the character backgrounds. Even so, that's really not that bad and seems honestly fairly tame for their settings. I've seen worse backgrounds for characters in other media aimed at children. Let's not forget, Devilman and Fist of the North Star were aimed at kids, too.

I think he’s making it up as he goes along meself.

These are books aimed at 8-12 year old kids, who will almost certainly already be showing an interest in the game worlds.

Why wouldn’t a company want to tap that vein? Since when was diversifying a bad thing? Or become this nebulous ‘probably means whatever he wants it to mean) brand dilution?

 Backspacehacker wrote:

 Hollow wrote:
I think that the 40k IP is big enough to be able to house both child friendly stories and adult ones.

Just because it could, does not mean it should.

well Marvel and in general comics can be all over the place in terms of child friendliness so can starwar but it didnt stop the big mouse from playing both fields and its definitely working for them.

gw should if they want to get new blood for the blood god in

Why can't they just read the normal fluff about coke fueled murder orgies at a young age and be scared for life like the rest of us?

Even though I know these books are kind of a separate entity that runs parallel to the Warhammer IP, my concern is that 40K will start to become less Grimdark and more hopeful as a result. Which would be catastrophic for the setting. They've already done enough damage by introducing Primaris. Next thing you know Jar-jar Binks will be running around as personal assistant to Guilliman.

This universe should be a horror beyond mentioning.

Nevermind.

 Brutus_Apex wrote:
Why can't they just read the normal fluff about coke fueled murder orgies at a young age and be scared for life like the rest of us?

Even though I know these books are kind of a separate entity that runs parallel to the Warhammer IP, my concern is that 40K will start to become less Grimdark and more hopeful as a result. Which would be catastrophic for the setting. They've already done enough damage by introducing Primaris. Next thing you know Jar-jar Binks will be running around as personal assistant to Guilliman.

This universe should be a horror beyond mentioning.

Well blacker than the blackest black clearly stopped sell well. it limits potential customers and also limits new fluff and models. besides giving the imperium a little bit of hope only makes the fall much more painful.

 Barzam wrote:

 Sqorgar wrote:

 Barzam wrote:
I think some gamers would do well to remember that not all of the 40k univerae is a war torn hellhole where horrific demons stalk rubble strewn streeets eating children or where every Chaos cultist is some Slaaneshi worshipping rapist having coke fueled murder-orgies. There's room for these types of stories, too.

According to the website, for the AoS book, Kiri was raised in barbarian slave camps, and the Darkoath barbarians are described as "Just one of many brutal tribes who roam the Mortal Realms, the Darkoath Barbarians are pledged to the forces of Evil. Clad in rugged leather armour, these savage marauders cause mayhem and misery wherever they go: plundering, pillaging and enslaving whole populations." For the 40k book, "Talen ran away from home to avoid being enlisted in the military. He fell in with the Runak Warriors, a feral gang who lived in the tunnels beneath Rhal Rata, the largest hive-city on Targian." and Zelia is afraid of spiders "after being trapped in the web of a gigantic temple-weaver when she was a small child."

So... still a war torn hellhole where horrific demons stalk rubble strewn streets eating children, just with 83% less coke fueled murder-orgies.

I didn't see the bit with the character backgrounds. Even so, that's really not that bad and seems honestly fairly tame for their settings. I've seen worse backgrounds for characters in other media aimed at children. Let's not forget, Devilman and Fist of the North Star were aimed at kids, too.

What? No they weren't. They were over the top horror and ultra violence. Fist of the North Star in particular was cut to hell and back when it was brought over originally. That's like saying Urotsukidoji was aimed at kids.

There’s already new found hope in 40k with the advent of Cawl, Guilliman and the Primaris coming to sort out the dirty little traitors.

Yes, in some ways things are darker than ever with the Great Rift, but it does now feel like Mankind has at least a fighting chance, and will go down on the merits, rather than the inevitable.

But here’s a thought.....why not wait to see what the books are actually like? They might cross level cack, overly dependant on the IP to sell. They might become bestsellers and a well regarded series of varied stories with a common background. And rather than my fellow 20-40 something Sad Gits, I’d suggest just handing the book to someone of the target age range with an interest in sci-fi and fantasy, then seeing what they make of it.

I think we can safely assume that these books will exist in a different but similar literary universe.

 Inquisitor Gideon wrote:

 streetsamurai wrote:

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:

 streetsamurai wrote:

 Hybrid Son Of Oxayotl wrote:
No. Just no. That's like having some "Marquis de Sade for children". The universe is inherently not suitable for children. Make some great sy-fy books for children,great idea, but this will either not be suitable for children or not be truthful to the universe...

"Hey, let's make some children's book about some extremely xenophobic obscurantist empire that are the good guys! That will get some good messages to those kids!"

I don't know about AoS, maybe it could work there, though.

kind of agree

this just scream brand dilution

It's a series of age appropriate books. Not an announcement that henceforth, all Black Library will be age appropriate for 8-12.

I don't think you know what brand dilution means

I think you care too much.

I've posted not more than 2 lines about the subject. Should be a good indication that I don't really care about it