Robbie MacNiven’s first full Age of Sigmar novel, Scourge of Fate is a Chaos-focused tale of the lengths one man is prepared to go to in order to join the ranks of Archaon’s Knights of Ruin – the Varanguard. The Black Pilgrim Vanik, a powerful warlord in his own right, is one of two aspirants competing against each other to claim a single place among the Fifth Circle of the Varanguard. Tasked with killing a great hero of Order, to stop a prophecy and prevent a threat to the Varanspire itself, Vanik raises a great host of warriors and marches on Helmgard in the Realm of Chamon.
Age of Sigmar novels have generally tended to focus on the forces of Order, so right from the off it’s nice to read something from a different perspective. This is full-on Chaos as well – Vanik is a callous, cruel character who’s fully committed to his path and willing to sacrifice anything and anyone to reach his goal, although he’s very much a follower of Chaos Undivided rather than an adherent to one specific Chaos power. He’s not necessarily the most likeable of protagonists, and there’s not that much backstory for him to explain what set him on this path, but it’s nevertheless quite satisfying to watch him tackle his challenges with blunt force, sheer determination, a dash of cunning and even a little bit of good fortune.
It’s quite a straightforward narrative, built around the tests and challenges Vanik faces and the battles he fights over the course of his quest, but while the pace occasionally flags a little it’s largely kept quite focused and lean. It’s not a long book – 250 pages in hardback – but there’s plenty of entertainment and action to be found alongside some genuinely interesting (if not truly in-depth) explorations of unusual aspects of the Mortal Realms. Vanik spends a large part of the book searching through the varied landscapes of the Eightpoints, even spending time in the Varanspire itself (sort of like a Chaos-ified Hogwarts on an epic scale), before moving on into Chamon, and along the way MacNiven explores a little of the politics within the Varanguard as well as the interesting question of loyalty among the forces of Archaon.
There’s quite an old-school Warhammer vibe to a lot of the book, with Vanik and his chosen warriors really channelling the gritty nature of classic Chaos. That extends to parts of the narrative itself, not least a thoroughly enjoyable, epic battle scene which somehow takes up almost a third of the book without overstaying its welcome – it’s a chance for MacNiven to tap into his military history background and feels oh-so-Warhammer with its massed maneuvers, flying cannonballs and moments of total carnage. Overall it’s going to appeal most to those looking for a bit of a retro vibe and the cynical satisfaction of watching a straight-up villain in his quest for dark glory, and while a longer page count might have allowed it to really dig into its themes there’s still plenty here to enjoy in terms of both brutal action and Chaos-inflected world building.
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