First published way back in the mists of time (well…1990), years before Black Library as a publisher existed, Wolf Riders is an anthology of short stories set in the Warhammer Old World, and is a little…different to more modern Warhammer stories. A little over 200 pages long, it contains eight stories from seven different authors, including familiar names like William King and Sandy Mitchell, and features fan-favourites Gotrek and Felix alongside a range of less well-known characters like halfling investigator Sam Warble and various assorted heroes and ne’er do wells, plus an appearance of the haunted castle Drachenfels.
These are Warhammer stories in the vein of so many early, often pre-Black Library tales, where the Old World was pretty much fully formed geographically, but perhaps didn’t have its full identity yet. With its instantly-familiar dynamic between Gotrek and Felix, William King’s titular Wolf Riders – one of the longest stories in the collection and both a thoroughly satisfying tale and a perfect entry point to that phenomenal series – is probably the closest to modern Warhammer in tone, although even that isn’t quite fully familiar. There are plenty of appropriate elements, and it does feel like a Warhammer story, but at the same time it still has hints – as do all of the stories here, to varying degrees – of the more traditional fantasy stories that Warhammer drew from, but eventually grew a little distant from.
Brian Craig’s two stories, The Phantom of Yremy and The Way of the Witchfinder, will be familiar stylistically to anyone who’s read his Orfeo trilogy, with the former being the more satisfying of the two, despite the plot twist being rather signposted early on. They probably cleave the closest to modern Warhammer in background details, although narratively there’s much less of the war from Warhammer here. In fact, that’s representative of the whole collection, which focuses more on small-scale, character-based stories than grand battles. Ironically, considering the popularity of Jack Yeovil’s Genevieve stories, No Gold in the Grey Mountains – an extension of sorts of the same series – is pretty much the least Warhammer-y of the lot, although if you like your fantasy to be heavily tinged with vampiric horror elements then there’s still lots to enjoy.
Sandy Mitchell’s The Tilean Rat has glimmers of his trademark humour and an engaging protagonist in halfling Warble, and its investigative elements are great fun, even if narratively it’s a little predictable. Alongside most of the other stories, however, like Cry of the Beast by Ralph T. Castle, Pete Garratt’s The Hammer of the Stars and Simon Ousley’s bonkers and slightly disappointing Pulg’s Grand Carnival, it could pretty much be transplanted into any fantasy setting and still work – that’s not necessarily a bad thing, and most of these are solid stories, but it’s worth thinking of this anthology as a time capsule demonstrating the sorts of stories and inspirations Warhammer was founded upon, rather than a representation of what it ended up as. It’s definitely worth seeking out if you can find a copy, especially for long-term Warhammer fans after a bit of endearing nostalgia, but King’s Gotrek and Felix story is probably the only one of these tales that will really last in the memory.
Another difference is that writers with a reputation outside Warhammer were reluctant to have their names attached to gamer tie-in stories–Jack Yeovil being Kim Newman and Brian Craig Brian Stableford.