Track of Words

The Curse of Khaine – Gav Thorpe

We’ve seen Nagash rise and Altdorf fall, and now it’s the turn of the elves to get involved in the events of the End Times. Accompanying the Khaine background book comes The Curse of Khaine by Gav Thorpe, which follows Malekith, the Witch King of the dark elves, as he leads his entire race in battle against his high elf cousins. It’s the natural continuation of his long-running arc as in the chaos and confusion of the End Times, Malekith sees the opportunity to finally claim what he sees as his birthright, although along the way things don’t quite end up how he expected.

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Warhammer : The End Times – Glottkin

The second in Games Workshop’s latest series of Warhammer expansions, The End Times – Glottkin follows in the footsteps of Nagash and tells the next part of the apocalyptic End Times story. It keeps to the same format as Nagash before it, split across two volumes – one for the background and one for the rules – and while it’s noticeably shorter than its predecessor, this is still a hefty tome. With the Great Necromancer risen once again, the focus of the story now moves to the forces of Chaos, specifically the gruesome, rotting hordes of Grandfather Nurgle led by the horrifically mutated Glott brothers.

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Bloodspire – CZ Dunn (audio drama)

Released back in 2012, CZ Dunn’s Bloodspire was the very first Space Marine Battles audio drama that Black Library published, two years after the series began with the novel Rynn’s World. Based on a short paragraph in an old codex, it follows the Blood Angels’ assault on the hive world of Axonar; stymied by the hives’ defences, they turn to less conventional methods in order to gain entry and quell the insurrection, using scouts to infiltrate ahead of a massed drop assault.

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Templar – John French (audio drama)

So far in the Horus Heresy series, the Imperial Fists haven’t had a huge amount of the spotlight. Presumably that’s going to change the closer things get to the Siege of Terra, but in the meantime there’s John French’s audio drama Templar to whet the appetite of 7th Legion fans. It follows First Captain Sigismund, leading a mission to cleanse an enclave of Word Bearers that still remains within the Solar system. As he faces the prospect of killing his own kind for the first time, he considers the nature of his duty in light of the changing face of the galaxy.

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Master of the Hunt – Josh Reynolds (audio drama)

The 40k universe is all about suspension of disbelief, and perhaps the Space Marine Battles series especially so. After all, genetically engineered giants who can spit acid, absorb memories through eating their enemies. survive the loss of limbs and internal organs…and still prefer fighting with swords? It’s not exactly grounded in realism. Which is why it’s perfectly acceptable for the series to include Josh Reynolds’ audio drama Master of the Hunt, which follows Kor’sarro Khan of the White Scars as he pursues the daemon prince Doomrider – let’s face it, a story about a 10,000 year old, motorbike-riding daemon is unlikely to be very realistic.

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The Fall of Altdorf – Chris Wraight

The Warhammer world is changing, as The End Times carry on apace and the shadow of Chaos falls across the map. Released to accompany the Glottkin background book, the second Black Library novel in the series is The Fall of Altdorf, by Chris Wraight. After the dark events of Josh Reynolds’ The Return of Nagash, the focus now turns to the lands of men, as Archaon sends a vast horde deep into the Empire, led by the foul Glottkin, three siblings who have long since shed their past lives as men in favour of Grandfather Nurgle’s blessings. With the devastating loss of the Emperor, plague ravaging Altdorf, and the other cities of the Empire falling one by one, things are looking bleak for the stoic defenders of the realm.

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Mortarion’s Heart – LJ Goulding (audio drama)

The idea behind Black Library’s series of Space Marine Battles novels and audios is that they showcase some of the most famous actions featuring the Imperium’s finest, but while Space Marines are fundamentally cool, there’s often a risk of these stories being a little…well, a little silly. Step forward Mortarion’s Heart, the story of a single Grey Knight battling a daemon primarch and (SPOILERS) emerging victorious. It’s all well and good having things like this as colour text for a codex, but as a full story there’s a definite whiff of the preposterous. So how does LJ Goulding do as he tackles this particular tale?

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QUICK REVIEW : The Kaban Project – Graham McNeill

A prequel to the novel Mechanicum, available as a standalone ebook after previously being released in both Collected Visions and Shadows of Treachery, Graham McNeill’s The Kaban Project is a tale of loyalty and what it means to be human, even amongst the ranks of the Mechanicum. It features Adept Third Class Pallas Ravachol, a low-ranking tech priest on Mars who accidentally strikes up a friendship of sorts with an artificial construct that he fears has broken the Emperor’s ban on the creation of artificial intelligence.

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QUICK REVIEW : Heart of the Conqueror – Aaron Dembski-Bowden

Recently released as a 99p ‘quick read’, Aaron Dembski-Bowden’s Heart of the Conqueror was first printed in the 2014 Horus Heresy Weekender programme where it sat alongside game rules for Heresy-era Navigators. That was surely no coincidence, focusing as it does on Nisha Andrasta, the Navigator responsible for Angron’s flagship The Conqueror. Set in the aftermath of Betrayer, it sees Andrasta looking back at her purity of purpose when she first joined the ship, and struggling to reconcile that with where she finds herself now. Keep reading…

Iron Corpses – David Annandale (audio drama)

In conjunction with The Eagle’s Talon by John French, David Annandale’s Iron Corpses continues the tale of the Battle of Tallarn in audio format, either as an MP3 or as part of the upcoming joint audio CD. This follows on directly from The Eagle’s Talon, as a lone Iron Warrior strikes out through the blasted devastation created when the troop transport hit the surface of Tallarn. Having survived through sheer chance, Warsmith Koparnos knows he is slowly dying on the virus- and radiation-scarred surface, but sees an opportunity for both survival and vengeance in the shape of an intact Titan.

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