Category Archives: Reviews

QUICK REVIEW: Engine of Mork – Guy Haley

Guy Haley’s short story Engine of Mork, while labelled as an Apocalypse story, is in fact the first glimpse of Evil Suns mek Uggrim and his Red Sunz mob. In the jungle of Garbax World Uggrim, Bozgat and Snikgob are happily working away building a stompa with the only distractions being the thieving Deathskulls getting in the way and slowing them down. When Warboss Grabskab sends one of his nobs to boss Uggrim around and ‘encourage’ them to get the stompa built quicker, that only fires Uggrim up to take things into his own hands.

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The Tainted Heart – CL Werner

CL Werner’s fourth Age of Sigmar novel, The Tainted Heart is a tragic tale of two witch hunters – or agents of the Order of Azyr – bound together by conflicting ties of love, loyalty and faith. Amidst the crawling dunes of Droost in the Realm of Chamon, Esselt and Talorcan (previously seen in The Witch Takers) seek to stop an insidious cult of Nurgle from spreading any further. A tragic discovery drives Talorcan to pursue their mission with a personal sense of vengeance in mind, despite Esselt’s warnings, but it soon becomes clear that the pair’s pain is only just beginning.

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Evil Sun Rising – Guy Haley

Available as a standalone novella or as part of the Sanctus Reach anthology in the Space Marine Battles series, Evil Sun Rising sees Guy Haley tapping into his orky side for a tale of Stompas and mekboy politics in the Red Waaagh! Big Mek Uggrim and his Red Sunz, along with their Stompa Fat Mork, have joined Warlord Grukk’s Waaagh! but are finding it more complicated than they expected. As they jealously guard the technorkology behind Fat Mork from the prying eyes of fellow meks, all they really want to do is get in the field and krump some humies.

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Wolf Riders – Edited by David Pringle

First published way back in the mists of time (well…1990), years before Black Library as a publisher existed, Wolf Riders is an anthology of short stories set in the Warhammer Old World, and is a little…different to more modern Warhammer stories. A little over 200 pages long, it contains eight stories from seven different authors, including familiar names like William King and Sandy Mitchell, and features fan-favourites Gotrek and Felix alongside a range of less well-known characters like halfling investigator Sam Warble and various assorted heroes and ne’er do wells, plus an appearance of the haunted castle Drachenfels.

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Hunger – Andy Smillie

Continuing Andy Smillie’s exploration of the Flesh Tearers Chapter of Space Marines, Hunger is an hour-long audio drama pitting Gabriel Seth and his brothers against Genestealers in the depths of a Space Hulk. As Seth leads his Honour Guard ever deeper in search of the controlling presence at the centre of the Genestealer brood, Chaplain Appollus wrestles with his own inner daemons even as he prepares to lead the Death Company into battle. Seth and the Flesh Tearers must stave off the Rage long enough to find victory, and discover just what lies at the heart of the ancient vessel.

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QUICK REVIEW: Guns of the Black Eagle – CL Werner

A short Age of Sigmar audio drama, CL Werner’s Guns of the Black Eagle is twenty minutes of sheer fun as two Kharadon Overlords captains vie for honour and profits, holding fast to the letter – if not the spirit – of the Kharadron Code. The Black Eagle, under the captaincy of Grimgar Odriksson, is being pursued by the piratical sky-captain Skarskorr Halfbeard, but Grimgar is determined to keep control of the aether-gold filling his ship’s holds. As Endrinmaster Thorgrad looks on, Grimgar and Skarskorr engage in a battle of ships, crews and wits, with neither one prepared to back down.

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QUICK REVIEW: Choke Point – Mike Brooks

For Mike Brooks’ second Black Library story he’s turned to the Astra Militarum with Choke Point, which is billed as a Kill Team short story. Defending their homeworld from invading orks, the men and women of the Kilgannor 27th – led by Lieutenant Kaseen – are on the verge of being overrun when salvation appears in the shape of Commissar Dorin and his Tempestus Scions…who have a plan. With the Kilgannor 27th in support, the Scions will take the fight to the orks and strike a blow that will change the complexion of the war, but it’s a risky mission.

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The Horusian Wars: Incarnation – John French

The second instalment of John French’s brilliant The Horusian Wars series, Incarnation follows on pretty directly from Resurrection to continue the story of Inquisitor Covenant and his pursuit of the shadowy cabal known as the Triumvirate. Guided by the Imperial Tarot, Covenant and his warband journey to the shrine world of Dominicus Prime where, amidst the secrets and machinations of the sprawling Monastery of the Last Candle, a terrifying power is about to manifest. The Triumvirate seek to use that power to raise a weapon against Chaos whilst Covenant – ever the puritan – is determined to see them fail.

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QUICK REVIEW: Elucidium – Simon Spurrier

Published in 2004’s long out of print anthology What Price Victory and strangely never subsequently reprinted, Simon Spurrier’s short story Elucidium offers a chilling, complex exploration of a Genestealer Cult secreted at the heart of an Imperial world. When the sinister Cardinal Arkannis arrives on Garial-Fall, the structures and certainties underpinning the world begin to change, from the heights of the ruling Plureaucracy to the depths of the long-hidden Underchurch. For G’Hait, the Cardinal’s arrival turns his entire world upside down and challenges everything he thought he knew, about himself and his place in the world.

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QUICK REVIEW: Altar of Cyrene – Lucien Soulban

A Blood Ravens short story featuring Captain Gabriel Angelos, Lucien Soulban’s Altar of Cyrene was first published in Inferno! magazine before getting a digital release under the ‘Tales From the Archive’ label. As the once-loyal world of Cyrene reels beneath an Imperial bombardment, and the Blood Ravens do their duty in stamping out heresy where they find it, Gabriel Angels hunts for a single man. Accompanied only by a trusted brother, he searches for answers in the dust and ash of the dying world, even as the bombardments creep ever closer.

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