Andy Hall’s second Blood Bowl short story, Foul Play follows retired lineman Gulden von Sulkenhof, otherwise known as Sulk, who’s reduced to working as hired muscle for a pair of ogre gangsters. When his bosses place a risky bet on a match between the Gouged Eye and the Dwarf Giants, Sulk is roped in to be the referee in order to ensure the result goes their way. That’s easier said than done, and Sulk quickly finds himself between the Blood Bowl equivalent of a rock and a hard place.
A companion piece to Eye of Night, part of Black Library’s Audio Week 2017, Gav Thorpe’s Hand of Darkness is an hour-long audio drama featuring the debut appearance of the Ynnari in a Black Library story, and is the second story to be set in the post-Gathering Storm 40k. This time it sees Roboute Guilliman persuading Eldrad Ulthran and Yvraine to help him by retrieving the Hand of Darkness, gifted by Abaddon to the daemon primarch Mortarion and now residing on the Plague Planet. To find it they seek knowledge from the Black Library before entering the Garden of Nurgle itself.
Calgar’s Fury is Paul Kearney’s third novel for Black Library, after the ill-fated Dark Hunters: Umbra Sumus and 2016’s Calgar’s Siege, and sees him return to the character of Marneus Calgar that he tackled so well previously. When a vast space hulk appears within the bounds of Ultramar, inexperienced Captain Galenus of Fifth Company is called to investigate, but the threat is enough for Calgar to step in himself, alongside the Inquisition and Adeptus Mechanicus. Leading two full companies onto the hulk to try and divine its secrets, he soon finds himself caught between two enemies, even while his allies pursue their own agendas.
Originally published in 2013, Chris Wraight’s Blood of Asaheim sees him return to the Space Wolves after the excellent Battle of the Fang, this time set in the current 40k era. When the returning Ingvar, back after over fifty years serving with the Deathwatch, rejoins his old pack – Járnhamar – their sense of unity and identity is challenged. Under strength and weary, Járnhamar is sent to Ras Shakeh to prepare the way for a major assault, only to find the world under attack by the Death Guard, so instead stands to defend it alongside the stoic, but wary, SIsters of Battle.
“For now, any action where no brother is lost must be victory enough…”
The first, and for a long time only, Black Library story focused on the Scythes of the Emperor, Orphans of the Kraken by Richard Williams takes place many years after the loss of Sotha and the Scythes’ near destruction at the hands of the Tyranids. Sergeant Tiresias, commanding the 21st Salvation Team, leads a handful of inexperienced, mismatched neophytes into the depths of a dead hive ship in search of long-lost brothers, or failing that, salvage. Unsurprisingly, things are not all they seem, and their mission takes an unexpected, dangerous turn.
Since my review this has since been released as a standalone CD/MP3 audio drama, rather than being split into three parts – so you’ve got options for how to buy it!
The first of two audio dramas by Gav Thorpe to be released over Black Library’s Audio Week 2017 campaign, Eye of Night is also the first 40k story to be set in the wake of the Gathering Storm. It features Inquisitor Kataryna Greyfax as, on the orders of the primarch Roboute Guilliman, she searches for a powerful artefact – the titular Eye of Night. Accompanied by a single squad of Grey Knights she journeys first to the Gothic Sector and then on to the Eye of Terror, and is forced to bargain with unexpected allies in order to achieve her mission.
The eighth new Blood Bowl story to come out of Black Library in recent months, Gav Thorpe’s Scrape to Victory follows aspiring lineman (linerat?) Kikkit of the lower-tier Crookback Cretins in his quest to escape a life of grinding monotony and danger for the opportunity to play for the Skavenblight Scramblers. All he needs to do is earn one more confirmed injury as a result of a foul, to claim the all-time record and his place in the big league – easy-easy, surely? Maybe not, with his debts suddenly being called in and only a single match left in the season!
“You’re Imperial Guard, servants of the Emperor first and nothing else second.”
His second Black Library short story, Dan Abnett’s Ghostmaker introduced the world to Colonel-Commissar Ibram Gaunt and the proud soldiers of Tanith, who would become Gaunt’s Ghosts. Given the command of three freshly-raised regiments, Gaunt barely has time to reach Tanith before a Chaos splinter fleet forces him to gather whatever fragmentary resources he can and escape to Imperial lines. Haunted by the loss of their world, the Tanith are resentful of not being allowed to stand and fight, but Gaunt is determined to begin the process of putting their unique skills to use on the battlefields of the Sabbat Worlds.
It’s Audio Week 2017 on the Black Library website – two brand new audio dramas serialised over five days beginning Monday 17th April. This would be cause for celebration on its own, but when you add in the fact that these two stories are the very first to be set in the post-Gathering Storm 40k universe…it’s very exciting indeed!
Set on the Imperial shrine world of Lubentina, CL Werner’s Cult of the Warmason is all about the clash of fanatics. With militia patrols going missing, Sister Superior Trishala of the Order of the Sombre Vow learns that the growing unrest is not caused by rioting workers but an infestation of genestealers. Despite her warnings, Lubentina’s government refuses to react accordingly…until it’s too late. When the insidious Cult of the Apocalypse rises up, the city’s defenders find themselves beset on all sides while their leaders bicker and procrastinate, risking the safety of the Warmason Vadok Singh’s priceless relics.
Just to be clear – that’s the guy who designed the Imperial Palace alongside Rogal Dorn! The Cult of the Warmason refers to the Imperials…sneaky title, there…