Tag Archives: Warhammer 40k

Blackstone Fortress – Darius Hinks

Darius Hinks’ Blackstone Fortress was released at the same time as the game of the same name, although it’s not so much a novelisation of the game but a standalone tale simply featuring the same setting and characters. As befits a Warhammer Quest game this is a warped, 40k-style dungeon-crawler adventure centred on Janus Draik, the disgraced scion of a noble Terran house. Determined to honour his family name, Draik gathers a motley selection of companions and ventures deep into the Blackstone, but rather than seeking out riches he plans to take control of the Fortress in the Imperium’s name.

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QUICK REVIEW: The Battle of Blackthunder Mesa – Phil Kelly

A sequel to Blades of Damocles and a companion piece to the various Farsight stories, Phil Kelly’s short story The Battle of Blackthunder Mesa tells a tale of the fundamental differences between the T’au and Imperial ways of war. On the embattled world of Dal’yth Prime, the T’au forces are being pushed back by endless numbers of Imperial tanks, but Commander Bravestorm is determined to strike a telling blow before withdrawing. With a new weapon at his disposal – the Onager Gauntlet – he has a tool to do just that, but its use seems to go against the T’au’s very ethos.

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QUICK REVIEW: Motherlode – Nick Kyme

Nick Kyme’s Motherlode is a cheeky, irreverent little Blackstone Fortress short story featuring the ratling brothers Rein and Raus, ex-Militarum auxiliaries who survive by virtue of nimble fingers, sharp wits and brotherly teamwork. After ditching their last client and returning to Precipice with valuables to sell, the brothers’ celebratory mood doesn’t last very long. When an attempt to offload their prize goes awry, it soon becomes clear that enemies from their shady past are returning to haunt them, and their survival instincts are going to be sorely tested if they’re to find a way out of this particular pickle.

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Anarch – Dan Abnett

The fifteenth (!) Gaunt’s Ghosts novel, and the fourth and final instalment in the long-running The Victory arc, Dan Abnett’s Anarch picks up almost immediately after the conclusion to The Warmaster (so beware spoilers if you’ve not read The Warmaster), on Urdesh. In the aftermath of Sek’s aborted assault on Eltath, most of the Ghosts are still dug in around the Tulkar Batteries, though some are in uneasy residence in makeshift billets beneath the Urdeshic Palace, while Gaunt wrestles with the realities of his new role. Neither Gaunt nor Rawne believe Sek was truly defeated, but nor do they yet understand the parts they have to play in coming events.

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QUICK REVIEW: Man of Iron – Guy Haley

Guy Haley’s Blackstone Fortress short story Man of Iron focuses on the intriguing character of UR-025, and offers a short but entertaining insight into what goes on behind the blank facade of this ‘Imperial Robot’. We’re first introduced to UR-025 through the eyes of Rein the ratling, before the robot joins with a party of Adeptus Mechanicus tech-priests and heads into the Fortress in search of archeotech. Once within the shifting halls of the Fortress the priests are reliant upon UR-025 for both directions and protection, all the while unaware of its real reasons for choosing to accompany them.

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QUICK REVIEW: Fire and Thunder – Rachel Harrison

One of several excellent 40k short stories featuring Commissar Severina Raine and the 11th Antari Rifles, Rachel Harrison’s Fire and Thunder is a bleak and powerful examination of the grubby, confused horror of war in the 41st millennium. Raine and the Antari are redeploying from the cathedral city of Whend when they find themselves under heavy fire and cut off from Imperial lines. With walking wounded and no chance of extraction, their only hope is a dangerous forced march through enemy-held territory, but with ammunition running low and enemies pressing in all around, the odds are heavily set against them.

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Black Library Advent Calendar 2018

December has come round once again, which means it’s time for the 2018 Black Library Advent Calendar! As is the Black Library tradition, there’s going to be 24 days of Black Library fiction in the run up to Christmas, with a new* short story or audio drama revealed each day. This year it’s mostly short stories, with just six of the tales coming in as audio dramas (compared to 10 audios in 2017), and things are split across 40k (including Blackstone Fortress!), Age of Sigmar, Necromunda and the Horus Heresy.

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QUICK REVIEW: Spiritus in Machina – Thomas Parrott

This short story is featured in Inferno! Volume 2, which is due out at the very end of 2018.

Thomas Parrott’s debut Black Library story, Spiritus in Machina is a smart story of obedience and loyalty among the Adeptus Mechanicus. Skitarius Alpha-Primus 7-Cyclae wakes from stasis aboard a Mechanicus Ark ship to find he’s the only survivor in his maniple after a rebellion amongst the ship’s crew. Guided by a servo-skull operated remotely by Magos Explorator Aionios, Cyclae braves the dangers of the damaged ship to try and restore power and allow the Magos to complete his mission. Despite an unsettling absence of data, Cyclae willingly obeys the Magos’ instructions, but gradually realises things aren’t quite what they seem.

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QUICK REVIEW: Son of Sek – John French

Originally published in the Sabbat Crusade anthology and linking in with Dan Abnett’s Gaunt’s Ghosts series, John French’s short story Son of Sek is a sinister, ambiguous tale which offers an insight (of sorts) into the dark world of the Sanguinary Tribes and what it means to become a Son of Sek. It’s the interwoven stories of a Son waiting to hear his master – the voice of his god – speak and give him purpose, and an Imperial warrior rising through the ranks in blood and violence without finding any meaning in his life.

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Spear of the Emperor – Aaron Dembski-Bowden

The first novel in a new series, Aaron Dembski-Bowden’s Spear of the Emperor explores the grim realities of life for the defenders of Elara’s Veil, in Imperium Nihilus. Over a century after the Great Rift, the Imperium sends Amadeus Kaias Incarius of the Mentor Legion to assess the status of Elara’s Veil’s defences. The Star Scorpions are long gone, the Celestial Lions crippled, so the Spears of the Emperor hold the line almost alone. Despite a cold welcome from the Spears, Amadeus recognises that there’s no way back to the Imperium, so resolves to stay and fight, and help the Spears however he can.

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