Tag Archives: Warhammer 40k

QUICK REVIEW : Bad Blood – Steve Lyons

After One Bullet, which was only barely a Deathwatch story, it’s reassuring to see that Steve Lyons’ Bad Blood, the second in Black Library’s latest Deathwatch series, is much more deserving of the name. Featuring the Blood Angel Antor Delassio it takes the form of the stalwart Space Marine’s vivid, troubled recollection of the first battle in which his chapter’s gene-flaw – the Red Thirst – revealed itself. Preparing for a new battle to come, painful memories surface of a vicious against-the-odds fight for survival when his ship was boarded by the traitorous Black Legion.

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QUICK REVIEW : The Caged Wolf – Ben Counter

Black Library’s latest Space Wolf serial continues with The Caged Wolf, in which Ben Counter details the reaction of the Wolves to the daemonic infiltration of the Fang and the worry that the Great Wolf Logan Grimnar might be in need of assistance. With the Wolf Lords thirsting for blood and ready to crusade across the stars in their lord’s name, Ulrik the Slayer counsels caution, leading a small force to track the Great Wolf and test the validity of the daemon’s tale. When he arrives it takes all of his willpower to keep his own battle-lust in check.

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QUICK REVIEW : Feast of Lies – Ben Counter

Black Library are all about releasing serial stories at the moment, and a new Space Wolf serial starts with Feast of Lies by Ben Counter, featuring Logan Grimnar and Ulrik the Slayer at the conclusion of the thirtieth Great Hunt. As Grimnar battles the Tau on a distant world, the remaining Great Companies return to Fenris with trophies and tales of their exploits, feasting and boasting of their successes. When a human emissary tells a worryingly prophetic tale of Grimnar and a shocking discovery, Ulrik realises there is more going on than he realised at first.

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QUICK REVIEW – Yarrick : The Wreckage – David Annandale

The sixth story in Black Library’s Summer of Reading campaign features another big-name character, this time Commissar Yarrick, in David Annandale’s The Wreckage. Previously only available in an event-only anthology, it’s a smart little story looking at what most will see as one of the core elements of being a commissar – the decision of whether or not to deliver the Emperor’s Judgement to an officer. In this case it’s an inspirational, much-loved Captain whose recklessness has led his men into a lethal trap and threatens to doom them all.

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QUICK REVIEW : Dishonoured – Ray Harrison

The fifth story in Black Library’s Summer of Reading is that rare beast, a 40k story where the Space Marines actually lose. In the case of Ray Harrison’s Dishonoured it’s High Marshal Helbrecht and the Black Templars on the receiving end of some serious punishment handed out by the soulless Necrons as they try, and fail, to recapture the outpost of Blight’s Edge. Outfought and outmanoeuvred at every turn, Helbrecht’s fury is directed at himself as much as the Necrons, as he and his men attempt to avert disaster and at least retain their honour.

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QUICK REVIEW : Hollow Beginnings – Mark Clapham

Four days into Black Library’s Summer of Reading and the Space Wolves are back, in Hollow Beginnings by Mark Clapham. Following on from In Hrondir’s Tomb (way back in 2012’s Hammer & Bolter 20, now released as an e-short) it sees Anvindr and his pack braving a burning ork fortress to make sure the warboss is really dead, unwilling to trust to the guns of the Imperial Guard. Billed as looking at the Wolves’ objectives and whether they’re really there to help the Guard, it’s actually much simpler than that – it’s a case of Marines doing what mortals can’t.

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QUICK REVIEW : Monolith – Chris Dows

The third short story in Black Library’s Summer of Reading, Monolith sees Chris Dows return with a second tale of Veteran Sergeant Zachariah and his Elysian Drop Troops (see Hammer & Bolter 21 for the first – The Mouth of Chaos). Here we see Zachariah and his squad attempting a daring high-altitude drop to reinforce a beleaguered Cadian outpost situated at the summit of the titular monolith, facing off against the Traitor Marine Raptors of the Blood Disciples. Forced to fight in the air and on the ground against superior opponents, things look bleak for the Elysians.

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QUICK REVIEW : One Bullet – Ben Counter

Ben Counter’s contribution to a loose series of Deathwatch-themed stories from Black Library, One Bullet looks at the Ultramarines of Third Company as they face off against a vast army of orks among the wreckage of an industrial city. Led by the fiery rhetoric of a young Chaplain Cassius, and supported by a squad of experienced Sternguard veterans, the Ultramarines must make use of every weapon in their arsenal if they are to emerge victorious.

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QUICK REVIEW : Whiteout – Andy Clark

The second of Black Library’s Summer of Reading stories sees a new name added to the author pool in Andy Clark, whose story Whiteout sees a Deathwatch team launching a pinpoint strike against a vast ork Waaagh! that’s threatening to overwhelm the Imperial defences. When their insertion goes wrong the Marines find themselves in the midst of a blizzard, battling against time as well as a vast tidal wave of orks as they attempt to destroy a vital bridge and deny the enemy an easy route into the Imperial lines.

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QUICK REVIEW : The Cost of Command – Sandy Mitchell

The first in a week’s worth of new short stories for Black Library’s Summer of Reading campaign, Sandy Mitchell’s The Cost of Command features the Astral Knights way back before their fateful all-out assault on the necron World Engine. Here we see two of their number duking it out in an honour duel, the reason for which gradually becomes clear as the protagonist looks back on his squad’s last mission and the toll it incurred on each of them.

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