Black Library’s 2015 Advent Calendar continues apace, returning to the Age of Sigmar for the fourth short story with Rob Sanders’ By The Horns. It follows Chrysaor The Wanton, a Slaaneshi warlord leading his tribe to glory in the unstable terrain of The Plinth. We watch through his senses (not his eyes…he doesn’t have those) as he and his warband slake their thirsts on weak prey, but when the Stormcasts approach he realises that he may have made a terrible mistake.
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For the third story in Black Library’s 2015 Advent Calendar the action returns to the 40K universe with Ian St. Martin’s In Wolves’ Clothing, in which a pack of Space Wolves finally track down Lucius the Eternal on a daemon world deep in the Eye of Terror. Battling twisted cultists and the constantly shifting surface of the planet itself to bring Lucius to heel at last, pack leader Hrothgar leads his Wolves to a famous victory, but at what cost to their souls? Fans of 40K will know what happens next when Lucius meets his match…
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The second story in Black Library’s 2015 Advent Calendar, The Unending Storm is an Age of Sigmar short from Nick Kyme that’s written from the perspective of a champion of Chaos – Ghaar’ath, the Warson. Having led his warband to victory against a rival force he gets his first glimpse of the Stormcast Eternals, which sets him on a path to victory and glory in the eyes of his god, but also gives him an understanding of just why they’re called ‘Eternals’.
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The first story in Black Library’s 2015 Advent Calendar is Divine Will by Andy Smillie, a micro-short featuring a Vindicare assassin, an Inquisitor and an extremely risky trick shot. It takes place on the world of Drex, whose population has been swayed by a dangerous, heretic cult. To bring them back into line and re-instil the appropriate fear of the Emperor into them, Inquisitor Gerhart plans to make a public, visible demonstration of the Emperor’s divine will, but to do so he requires the particular skills of a master marksman.
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First To Hunt, by Chris Dows, is the sixth short story in Black Library’s Deathwatch serial, and the first to feature the White Scars chapter. Set on the planet Ballestae it sees Jetek Suberei on a solo scouting mission, accompanied only by his trusty bike and faithful cyber-eagle, hunting for intelligence on the invading eldar forces. As he approaches the eldar encampment he begins to realise that all is not well within the xenos ranks, and an opportunity presents itself to him to use the eldar’s division against them.
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The fifth Deathwatch short story in the current serial, Justin D. Hill’s Deadhenge follows Ennox Sorrlock, an Iron Hand grievously wounded by a dark eldar haemonculus and rebuilt as more machine than man. Joining a kill team led by Chaplain Cassius on a mission to an area of abandoned space known as Deadhenge to take out a dark eldar Archon, he learns that the same haemonculus will be in the Archon’s retinue. With the opportunity to take vengeance for his wounds and the deaths of his brothers, is there enough humanity in him left to relish the chance?
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For the fourth short story in the ongoing Deathwatch serial we get the first tale from a new Black Library author, in the shape of Redblade by Robbie MacNiven. It sees young Space Wolf Drenn, or Redblade as he prefers to be known, recently attached to a Blood Claws pack and railing against the cautious leadership of his older pack leader. Reckless and arrogant, he butts heads with his superior even while defending a floating refinery platform from waves of orks, while members of the inscrutable Deathwatch look on.
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The third short story in Black Library’s Deathwatch serial and Ben Counter’s second contribution, The Flesh of the Angel follows brother Zameon Gydael of the Dark Angels as he infiltrates a brood nest of the xenos sslyth. Venturing alone through alien-infested territory in order to detonate a virus bomb at its heart, he approaches the conclusion of his mission only to find his loyalties torn between the objectives of his Deathwatch kill team and the hidden, ancient goals of his parent chapter as an unexpected enemy shows itself.
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For his second Horus Heresy novella, Wolf King, Chris Wraight picks up a story thread left hanging in his novel Scars, returning to the battered forces of the Space Wolves as they take shelter in the lethal twists and turns of the Alaxxes nebula. Hounded by the overwhelming firepower of the Alpha Legion and abandoned by the White Scars, the Wolves find themselves trapped, outmaneuvered at every turn, but while Bjorn and his brothers hunger to bring the battle to the Alpha Legion, their primarch Leman Russ hides himself away from the rest of the legion and broods on their future.
His second novella in Black Library’s Space Marine Battles series, Sons of Wrath sees Andy Smillie continue to delve into the psyches of the brutal Flesh Tearers chapter, this time setting his story almost immediately after the events of the Horus Heresy. Still struggling to come to terms with the emotional and psychological impact of Sanguinius’ death, Chapter Master Amit and his brothers rail against their new identities as Flesh Tearers – as they vent their rage first against each other and then in battle with a tricksy foe, it remains to be seen whether the blood-thirsty Flesh Tearers are truly able to control their thirst for violence.