On the thirteenth day of Christmas, Black Library gave to us…a Shield of Baal short story by L J Goulding. In preparation for events taking place within the Shield of Baal campaign, The Word of the Silent King looks back to an unusual moment in the history of the Blood Angels. As Dante and Tycho lead them in battle against the necrons on Gehenna, a tyranid splinter fleet threatens both forces and leads to an unlikely alliance. Seen through eyes on both sides of the alliance this looks at some of the justifications each had for forming the alliance, and some of its implications.
A Blood Angels/necron alliance is an odd thing within the 40k universe, and the overriding sense when reading this story is one of unease, as it’s difficult not to be puzzled by such a strange event. It’s a neatly-constructed story, flicking between viewpoints and hinting at the wider context, not to mention a strange but interesting possibility within the Blood Angels’ history, and it works nicely to set up events in Shield of Baal. It’s also fun to see Tycho pre-Armageddon. Overall though…it’s a strange one.
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