Josh Reynolds’ Age of Sigmar novella Hammerhal is a surprisingly ambitious tale filled with action, adventure, faith and dark magic. Spanning the Realms of Ghyran and Aqshy, the twin cities of Hammerhal Ghyra and Hammerhal Aqsha are protected by powerful wards – but a darkness nevertheless grows within their walls, and in the dark Hexwood of the Nevergreen Mountains in Ghyran the beastkin gather. While Lord-Celestant Gardus Steel-Soul lends the Hallowed Knights’ strength to the sylvaneth against the tzaangor beastkin, knight of the Order of Azyr Sol Gage leads his comrades in excising the darkness that lurks within Hammerhal.
There’s a lot going on here for a novella, with the two main strands focusing on Gage and his fellows (an Age of Sigmar variation on the classic combination of dwarf/elf/wizard archetypes) battling cultists in Hammerhal while the Steel Souls, seen through the eyes of Liberator Serena Sunstrike, grind their way through the beastkin in the depths of the Hexwood. On top of that we get a few point of view scenes from the Tzeentchian antagonists, adding a little character to what might otherwise have been fairly generic Chaos bad guys, and both Sigmar and Alarielle make brief appearances. That’s all wrapped up in a fiendish plot to infiltrate the great city and bring the Realm of Ghyran under the sway of Tzeentch.
It’s all tidily done, however, and Reynolds nicely ties everything together into a well-paced, highly entertaining story. Serena perhaps gets the most room to develop, interacting with both fellow Stormcasts (including Gardus, amongst others) and mortal Freeguild soldiers and even finding time for the usual musings on the cost of Reforging, but Gage gets most of the swashbuckling fun (at one point he literally swings through the rigging of a sky ship, pirate style). The two strands connect without the characters actually meeting, essentially offering two sides of the same story each with its own epic conclusion. That nicely plays on the theme of duality – the twin city, two antagonists with shared souls, two groups of characters moving towards a shared conclusion without realising it.
Currently this is only available within the anthology Hammerhal & Other Stories, and it’s clearly intended as an introduction to Age of Sigmar as a setting. It undoubtedly fulfils that requirement, telling a clever story with engaging characters while also showcasing plenty of the scale and ambition that the Mortal Realms can offer…all in about 140 pages. Existing fans will enjoy picking back up the Hallowed Knights arc as well as seeing cool characters like a Lord-Veritant, some surprisingly interesting tzaangors and even the Age of Sigmar equivalent of what would have once been a High Elf White Lion, while for new readers it should provide an excellent grounding in the setting. Wherever you lie on that scale, the key thing is that this is hugely entertaining and very much worth reading.
