Five books in, and the End Times are well and truly here for the Warhammer world. The latest in the series of background books, Archaon sees the forces of Chaos poised to finally triumph over all else. Nations and races are crushed and scattered, with only a handful of heroes remaining to stand against Archaon and his armies – Karl Franz has rallied what remains of the Empire at Averheim, supported by a handful of remaining Bretonnians and dwarfs, while the elves battle to keep Athel Loren free of taint from within and without. Even Nagash is assailed on multiple fronts. Things look bleak for the world.
Tag Archives: Warhammer
Gotrek & Felix: Kinslayer – David Guymer
The longest-running series of Warhammer novels by far, the Gotrek and Felix series reaches novel number sixteen with David Guymer’s Kinslayer, book one of The Doom of Gotrek Gurnisson. Returning to the ‘nounslayer’ style books and set a year after Nathan Long’s Zombieslayer, we see Felix dragged from a quiet life in Altdorf by the appearance of the vampire Ulrika to help rescue the wizard Max Schreiber, who has been kidnapped by the Troll King and imprisoned in the enemy-held city of Praag. With his loyalties torn between helping Max and being with his frail wife Kat, and still struggling to deal with his feelings for Ulrika, Felix finds himself back in his old life of adventuring once again, and soon reunites with more familiar faces than just Ulrika.
The Rise of the Horned Rat – Guy Haley
The Warhammer End Times series of novels gets its 4th instalment with Guy Haley’s The Rise of the Horned Rat, accompanying the Thanquol background book and exploring the skaven’s involvement in the series. In a similar way to The Fall of Altdorf this avoids trying to cover everything that happens in the background book, instead focusing on the ratmen’s all-out assault on the dwarfs. Queek Headtaker returns to the war-torn Karak Eight Peaks to finally cast out his great rivals, Skarsnik and King Belegar, while the all across their realm the dwarfs see only darkness and death. In the shadows, pulling strings, lurk the daemonic Verminlords.
Warhammer : The End Times – Thanquol
For the fourth Warhammer End Times background book, the focus is on the skaven as they attempt to put aside their traditional backstabbing and double-dealing, and work together for once. Emerging from their tunnels all across the world, they lay siege to the lizardmen cities of Lustria, the remaining cities of the Empire and the scattered dwarf holds in the mountains. In typical skaven fashion however, things don’t turn out to be so simple; the grey seers are in disgrace, Verminlords are getting personally involved in the various plots and plans, and both the dwarfs and lizardmen are determined to make the skaven pay for every victory.
Warhammer : The End Times – Khaine
Following the template laid down in the the Nagash and Glottkin books, the third in the series of Warhammer End Times background books is Khaine, which unsurprisingly focuses on the fate of the elves during the End Times. A new chapter in a story thousands of years in the making, it sees the three elven races drawn back together in a battle for the soul of their combined race. The elven gods play out their own battle through mortal avatars as Malekith risks everything in an all-out assault on Ulthuan while the high elves reel from the latest daemonic assault and the wood elves reluctantly venture forth from Athel Loren to join the fray.
The Curse of Khaine – Gav Thorpe
We’ve seen Nagash rise and Altdorf fall, and now it’s the turn of the elves to get involved in the events of the End Times. Accompanying the Khaine background book comes The Curse of Khaine by Gav Thorpe, which follows Malekith, the Witch King of the dark elves, as he leads his entire race in battle against his high elf cousins. It’s the natural continuation of his long-running arc as in the chaos and confusion of the End Times, Malekith sees the opportunity to finally claim what he sees as his birthright, although along the way things don’t quite end up how he expected.
Warhammer : The End Times – Glottkin
The second in Games Workshop’s latest series of Warhammer expansions, The End Times – Glottkin follows in the footsteps of Nagash and tells the next part of the apocalyptic End Times story. It keeps to the same format as Nagash before it, split across two volumes – one for the background and one for the rules – and while it’s noticeably shorter than its predecessor, this is still a hefty tome. With the Great Necromancer risen once again, the focus of the story now moves to the forces of Chaos, specifically the gruesome, rotting hordes of Grandfather Nurgle led by the horrifically mutated Glott brothers.
The Fall of Altdorf – Chris Wraight
The Warhammer world is changing, as The End Times carry on apace and the shadow of Chaos falls across the map. Released to accompany the Glottkin background book, the second Black Library novel in the series is The Fall of Altdorf, by Chris Wraight. After the dark events of Josh Reynolds’ The Return of Nagash, the focus now turns to the lands of men, as Archaon sends a vast horde deep into the Empire, led by the foul Glottkin, three siblings who have long since shed their past lives as men in favour of Grandfather Nurgle’s blessings. With the devastating loss of the Emperor, plague ravaging Altdorf, and the other cities of the Empire falling one by one, things are looking bleak for the stoic defenders of the realm.
The Return of Nagash – Josh Reynolds
The accompanying novel to Games Workshop’s first Warhammer : End Times background book (see the review of Nagash here), The Return of Nagash comes from the prolific pen of Josh Reynolds. It follows Mannfred Von Carstein and Arhkhan the Black as the two rivals forge an uneasy alliance in order to bring about Nagash’s reincarnation, each of them for their own, wildly differing, reasons. Accompanying or opposing these two legends of undeath are some of the most famous characters in Warhammer, from Heinrich Kemmler and Krell to Ungrim Ironfist, Eltharion the Grim, Morgiana le Fay and Volkmar the (also) Grim; the stage is well and truly set for the first stages of the world-spanning, cataclysmic End Times.
Warhammer – The End Times Series
Anyone familiar with Warhammer will surely be aware of the cataclysmic changes happening as part of the ongoing End Times sequence. While the books published for this series are not approaching the complexity of the Horus Heresy, I think it’s still worth having a quick overview of what’s what.