Topic: For all the Warhammer 40,000 AD nuts like me...

[Benx6444]

Please tell me you're joking.

[Domino]

It's from here: http://forum.blpublishing.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=10302&PID=228491#228491

Later someone in the thread claims that they were PrimarchSakura and the whole thing was a joke. I thought it was awesome.

[Benx6444]

"Salamander" just got delivered! Woo hoo!

[Frank]

Ooh, Salamander was very good. If you weren't much impressed by the Ultramarine book you'd read, I highly suspect this'll appeal more.

As favourite standalone books go, I think Relentless, Storm of Iron, Angels of Darkness or Lord of the Night are probably the ones to watch. The latter three are what I think of as 'Space Marine Classics'; great stories but do an excellent portrayal of the Astartes in 'em. (Unlike Abnett's Iron Snakes and McNeil's Ultramarines)


Just finishing off Ravenor Rogue now. It's not been an amazing series, but it has been surprisingly enjoyable. I'm told the ending is a bit of a let down, but I've quite enjoyed trawling it!

Death World I found to be a surprisingly enjoyable read. Though the zombies were indeed a bit odd, the whole book worked on levels I simply didn't expect. A good deal of sincerity, character development, character interaction, good action and a fairly straight-forward plot added to an enjoyable book. Not amazing, but certainly striking. (It should be little surprise that a month after reading it I found myself in possession of a large number of Catachan miniatures!)

[Adrian]

So, are these books readable as a stand-alone fantasy series? I've always figured they were (shoddy) tie-ins to the RPG/tabletop games (which I intend to start this year)

[Benx6444]

So, are these books readable as a stand-alone fantasy series? I've always figured they were (shoddy) tie-ins to the RPG/tabletop games (which I intend to start this year)

Well, just to be clear we're talking about the books based on the Sci-Fi tabletop game "Warhammer: 40,000 AD."  Some of the books are good, most are not.

[Frank]

Most are a bit pulpy, but there's alot of good ideas scattered through them and some of them are great bits of SF. That said, it's not at all 'hard science fiction', and really could be more accurately described as 'Future Fantasy' more than SF.

The quality is, however, much better in general than the Star Wars books I've read (and I've read tons of 'em). Obviously 'Warhammer' is a bit action/war focused, but the supporting storylines are really rather enjoyable.

Alot of the readers I know know little of the games themselves, they simply enjoy the emersion in such a grim universe. The actual Warhammer Fantasy novels are arguably even better, as fantasy worlds go I find it one of the most compelling around.

Not to worry though. They're a good read, some of the short story anthologies contain stonkingly good stories. Planetkill, Heroes of the Space Marines and Let the Galaxy Burn are exceedingly good.

[Benx6444]

Most are a bit pulpy, but there's alot of good ideas scattered through them and some of them are great bits of SF. That said, it's not at all 'hard science fiction', and really could be more accurately described as 'Future Fantasy' more than SF.

The quality is, however, much better in general than the Star Wars books I've read (and I've read tons of 'em). Obviously 'Warhammer' is a bit action/war focused, but the supporting storylines are really rather enjoyable.

Alot of the readers I know know little of the games themselves, they simply enjoy the emersion in such a grim universe. The actual Warhammer Fantasy novels are arguably even better, as fantasy worlds go I find it one of the most compelling around.

Not to worry though. They're a good read, some of the short story anthologies contain stonkingly good stories. Planetkill, Heroes of the Space Marines and Let the Galaxy Burn are exceedingly good.

+1

[Benx6444]

Just got done reading the short story, "Renegades." Totally disappointed and disturbed. W...T....H?!! And what the hell does he mean at the end where he tells them they're going into the frickin' eye of terror for chrissakes? Does that mean they're going to take the fight into the heart of the enemy like they could never do while being punished or are they turning fucking traitors?! I have to know!!

[Benx6444]

Most are a bit pulpy, but there's alot of good ideas scattered through them and some of them are great bits of SF. That said, it's not at all 'hard science fiction', and really could be more accurately described as 'Future Fantasy' more than SF.

The quality is, however, much better in general than the Star Wars books I've read (and I've read tons of 'em). Obviously 'Warhammer' is a bit action/war focused, but the supporting storylines are really rather enjoyable.

Alot of the readers I know know little of the games themselves, they simply enjoy the emersion in such a grim universe. The actual Warhammer Fantasy novels are arguably even better, as fantasy worlds go I find it one of the most compelling around.

Not to worry though. They're a good read, some of the short story anthologies contain stonkingly good stories. Planetkill, Heroes of the Space Marines and Let the Galaxy Burn are exceedingly good.

Just got done reading "Heroes of the Spaces Marines" and oh GOD was it good!

"One Hate," "And they shall know no fear..." and "Headhunted" were just bad-fucking-ass! "One Hate" was especially good, I thought. Man. Awesome yarns and thank you again Frank for the recommends! 

[Frank]

Not at all, not at all. My fav was Headhunted, though I felt all except the first two or three were really bloody good. Aaron D-B (author of One Hate) has another book out just now; Cadian Blood, which I'd read just back in November, it's also a good read. Not awesome, but damn fun.

Parker, the author of Headhunted has a few books out and is working on a second 'Deathwatch' novel following on from (well, with the same team from) the story in Heroes, which should be quite cool, I hope!

Myself, I'm working through the Time of Legends books (of the Warhammer Fantasy stuff), and on Empire just now. Not McNeil's finest hour; quite dull I found.

Anyhow, for my hopes: Next year has a ton of Horus Heresy stuff coming out (inc. contributions by McNeil, Abnett, Swallow, Thorpe and Dembski-Bowden!)

As for Renegades, I hadn't thought of it like that. I took it to be a great (and tragic) story through it, but that the final page was 'stupid'. (E.g. "Hooray, we're renegages; oh dear, well...we'll have to go to the Eye and become Chaos now too, woo!"  .) If you can get a hold of Gav Thorpe's other books, I imagine you might enjoy them. Angels of Darkness is a great 'un (obv. about the Dark Angels space marines), with his The Last Chancers omnibus featuring the 'adventures' of folks in a Penal Legion (think Dirty Dozen + 40k, written in first person).

Anyway, plenty of good stuff out there; glad you enjoyed Heroes of the Space Marines, it's a fine anthology. Most of the authors in there have a blogs online too, a quick check oughta reveal 'em (or check the links in my own blog, below, a ton of them are in there).

[Benx6444]

I just finished "Gunheads" early this morning and DAMN was it ever good!

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It's got a very British flavor and feel to it, which is awesome! Canteens are no longer Canteens, they're "Jerrycans" etc and the author isn't afraid to kill off the characters he makes you love the most, which I appreciated. Couldn't believe Lt. Van Droi died at the end. Sad. I also got more of an appreciation for what the Guard goes up against when they fight the Orks. Damn Greenskin bastards. I love how the officers and the NCO's were portrayed too. Lots of great detail, character and "oh shit" moments. I loved the character development portions almost as much as the battle portions. And the way he describes the action is just.....damn. It's awesome. I've got more geek-respect for the Guard now having read this book. As Parker portrays them, they're more than just a gaggle of pathetic, terrified cowards who have to be "inspired" by a Commisar's Laspistol. They're hardened, scarred Vets who are doing they're damndest to survive the enemy and the stupidity of those few bad NCO's and Officers in their midst. But what the fuck was up with those Tech preists? Anyways, great, great read.

I'll be keeping my head up for more stuff by Steve Parker.

Now on to "Mechanicum" by Graham McNeil. Mixed reviews but I gotta read about the Titan Legions.

[Frank]

Good stuff, Gunheads was tremendous. The underground city was a bit of a reference to

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The Squats! A few books 'reimagine' the squats, Mechanicum is one of them with Legion another. Golgotha, historically, was a squat [nowadays listed 'abhuman'] world which helped out during the 2nd War for Armageddon.

Anyway, Steve Parker's tremendous. Some Space Marine Battles fun from him upcoming, I understand (and Aaron Dembski-Bowden, who's also quite good).

Back to Gunheads:

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With the Techpriest: They're always obsessed that way. It's very rare for techpriest to show up in a 40k book and not be sinister. Be it Mechanicum, Titanicus, Gunheads, Nightbringer, Dark Adeptus etc, you rarely meet a 'normal' one! Still, they do make for exceedingly odd 'demi-villain-allies'

. Skillful book, nice touches in the story, great pacing and great writing.

Mechanicum is good, I think, but it's a bit slow and much less action-packed than alot of books. The titan bits aren't terribly interesting, but the real meat and gravy, I found, was the Kaban Machine (have you read The Kaban Project? If not: The Kaban Machine was an attempt at AI during the Great Crusade which was 'uncovered' by a loyalist/dilligent/dutiful techpriest who'd befriended it before the chief Magos sent it after him to kill him. The assassin from Mechanicum features in it too.) and also the 'lore' about the Akashic Device (a golden throne, on MARS? Eh? Another one? Like the one the Emperor sits on...?)

Anyway, the ending was totally weird, but as I half-expected it 'broadly', I couldn't figure out the details and so it became very compelling. Of the most memorable scenes, the truly 'big thing' is surely the conversation between Malcador and Dorn. Very revealing if you know your Space Marine lore.

Still, an enjoyable book I found, but deary me...Graham McNeil could've done it much better too.

[Domino]

I keep meaning to upload some pictures of my slowly forming Ork horde to this thread. Most of them are painted to an alright standard (though I'm quite proud of the warboss, despite his flaws). But my lovely girlfriend got me a Shokk Attack Gun for Christmas and got him professionally painted, he's awesome 

Edit: By "he" I mean the model not my girlfriend. But she's awesome too.

[zandolit]

I'm not a 40K nut but my other half is.  We have a friend who writes some of the 40K novels, so I've read his books which makes me quite familiar with the world.  He's basically taken Harry Flashman and put him in the 40K world.  Have any of you read the Caiphus Cain books?  Those are the ones my friend has written.  I haven't read any others but I enjoyed those and I was curious as to how they compared to the rest of the novels.