Category Archives: Black Library

Black Library Weekly – W/C 12/12/16

Hello and welcome to another instalment of Black Library Weekly, where I take a look at the Black Library-related news from the week just gone – announcements, pre-orders and new releases.

Christmas is fast approaching, so the Advent Calendar has been in full flow once again with seven more stories this week. There’s not been a vast amount of news or further releases though, so it’s going to be a slightly shorter instalment than usual. As with last week, I’ll take a look at all of the week’s Advent Calendar content first, then move on to the rest of the news and releases. Let’s get started…
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QUICK REVIEW: The Aegidan Oath – LJ Goulding

Day seventeen of Black Library’s 2016 Advent Calendar gives us The Aegidan Oath by LJ Goulding, a 40k short story…well, sort of. Set on Sotha at the turn of M32 it sees a pair of Ultramarines venture to Mount Pharos in search of Captain Oberdeii, the last of the Aegida Company. Almost a thousand years after the end of the Horus Heresy Oberdeii still holds to the oath he swore to his primarch, but times are changing in the rest of the galaxy. It’s time for the Ultramarines to finally remove the last reminder of Imperium Secundus.
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QUICK REVIEW: Valerius – Gav Thorpe

Day sixteen of the 2016 Black Library Advent Calendar gives us Valerius by Gav Thorpe, a Horus Heresy audio drama that continues a specific arc on from the novella Weregeld. As the title suggests it follows Marcus Valerius, Vice-Caesari of the Therion Cohort, as he leads his forces into battle at Beta-Garmon. Looking to the words of the Lectitio Divinitatus for guidance and holding tight to his faith in the Emperor, he continues to believe – despite the odds stacked against them – that he and his Therions are serving a higher purpose…
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QUICK REVIEW: Doc Morgrim’s Vow – Josh Reynolds

Doc Morgrim’s Vow by Josh Reynolds is behind day fifteen of Black Library’s 2016 Advent Calendar, a Blood Bowl short story and sequel to Manglers Never Lose. Following their hard-fought victory in the Doom Bowl, the Middenplatz Manglers have been invited to the frozen mountains of Norsca to compete for the Angry Dragon Cup against the Dragon’s Hold Drakeslayers. Accompanying them on their journey is team physician Doc Morgrim, whose discomfort in venturing into Norsca turns out to be for unexpectedly personal reasons.
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Track of Words on The Imperial Truth

Head over to iTunes, if you use it, then navigate to the Podcasts section and search for Warhammer. Or Games Workshop. Or the Horus Heresy. There are literally dozens of podcasts out there talking about all manner of things to do with the hobby, between them generating hours and hours of content. I’ve tended to be a bit of an unintentional luddite so far when it comes to podcasts, as until recently I’ve never quite managed to get myself keyed into them as part of my routine. Well, that’s about to change…
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QUICK REVIEW: Becoming – Andy Clark

Two weeks into Black Library’s 2016 Advent Calendar, day fourteen brings us an Imperial Knights story in the shape of Becoming by Andy Clark. Setting things up for the upcoming novel Kingsblade, we’re introduced to the knightly houses of Adrastrapol and their rituals, as veteran Knight pilot Sire Markos tells the story of his first battle to two young squires on the eve of their coming of age ritual. Thrust straight into battle without time to prepare, the young Markos had to learn quickly in order to survive, and in doing so forged himself a legend. It wasn’t all glory though…
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QUICK REVIEW: The Painted Count – Guy Haley

It’s back to the Horus Heresy for day thirteen of Black Library’s 2016 Advent Calendar, with The Painted Count by Guy Haley. Picking up where Gender Skraivok left off at the end of Pharos, we see him back on the Nightfall among his fellow Night Lords, embroiled in a power struggle for the leadership of the Legion. Deeply troubled by the clinging presence of the daemon weapon that he acquired on Sotha, Skraivok nevertheless finds himself in a position where he may well need every source of power he can lay his hands on if he’s to survive.
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QUICK REVIEW: The Embrace of Pain – Ian St. Martin

The 2016 Black Library Advent Calendar hits day twelve with the fourth of six audio dramas, The Embrace of Pain by Ian St. Martin. A short prequel to the novel Lucius: The Faultless Blade it finds Lucius’ vessel The Diadem assaulted by a vast, plague-ridden daemonic entity deep within the Eye of Terror. With its geller field breached and corruption spreading through its corridors, Lucius faces off against the guiding intelligence of the attack, a daemon of Nurgle who was once a warrior of the Death Guard. Though supremely confident in his martial skills, has he underestimated the danger this time?
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QUICK REVIEW: Bear Eater – David Guymer

Day eleven in Black Library’s 2016 Advent Calendar brings a second Age of Sigmar story – Bear Eater by David Guymer. Following on from the events of Guymer’s Knights of Vengeance audio drama series, it sees Lord Castellant Hamilcar of the Astral Templars, known as the Bear Eater, leading a handful of Stormcast to meet with the ruler of a nation seemingly untouched by Chaos. Still hunting for Mannfred von Carstein, Hamilcar hopes to warn the people of Jercho (yep, subtle…) of the vampire’s trickery, but even in a realm of constant sunlight he finds that darkness is already waiting for him.
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QUICK REVIEW: Prodigal – Josh Reynolds

The tenth story in Black Library’s 2016 Advent Calendar is Prodigal by Josh Reynolds, a Fabius Bile story which sees the apothecary musing on the nature of his work and what his legacy will be. When his pensive mood is shattered by a daemonic attack launched directly into his laboratorium, he’s surprised to find that not all of the daemons are trying to kill him, or at least not yet. Faced with the return of one of his earliest (and perhaps greatest) creations bearing riddle-like warnings, an unexpectedly paternal side of Fabius is revealed.
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