Very hard to write again. Been quiet too long.

Saturday 10 February 2018

Warhammer Chronicles: The Third Batch

There's a little extra news on the Warhammer Chronicles omnibi front, with every month of the year having an omnibus all to its self. Except, oddly enough, next month's march slot is open still and the august one as well. (surprise releases maybe?)

After the already announced ones in the previous Warhammer Chronicles post here's some new releases:

In september we have the badass-looking Masters of Stone and Steel:


This one will be collecting 4 novels by Gav Thorpe and Nick Kyme.
The Doom of Dragonback, which is a Time of Legends stand-alone which I haven't read yet, and the novels; Grudgebearer, Oathbreaker and Honourkeeper, which... I also haven't read yet. And which, also all seem to be stand-alones.

Honourkeeper takes place before the War of Vengeance, Dragonback during or after, I'm not sure.
The other two I don't know squat (sorry) about.
The omnibus will also include the short stories Ancestral Honour and City of Dead Jewels.
Grudgelore, the foreshortened background novella on the dwarves doesn't seem to have been included even though it had been in the earlier Dwarves omnibus.



And then, not seen a mention of this yet anywhere else and this one's cover is very definitely changing (as this is the second edition of the first omnibus' cover) Released on October 16th in the Warhammer Chronicles Range: Gotrek and Felix Omnibus 1.


Very Pleased to see this one.
And I advise any and all readers to purchase this one as it comes out.
Judging by past experiences with the Gotrek and Felix omnibi, they always sell out rather fast.

Included in the book are, as is usual, the very first novels of the saga; Trollslayer, Skavenslayer, and the ridiculously epic Daemonslayer. Also collected will be a bunch of short stories.
Seeing as this information matches any of the previously released omnibi I imagine this list could still be shaken up a bit, or not at all.

I'm still hoping for an all-out, lavish, definitive, chronological collection of the Gotrek and Felix series. Collecting all novels from Trollslayer to the End Times stuff, everyhing in its proper chronological place.
The price doesn't matter, Games Workshop, I'll buy that shit on the spot!
Just make sure you don't stifle the demand again: People want Gotrek and Felix.

And right in Horror-haunted November we have the release of another very cool-looking omnibus:
C.L. Werner's The Black Plague trilogy.


The omnibus collects the novels: Dead Winter, Blighted Empire and Wolf of Sigmar.

I had read the first one of these right after I had read a Game of Thrones, and believe it or not, I very much enjoyed it, even when I compared them at the time. There was some very good characterization in Werner's novel. I didn't follow up on its sequels, unfortunately, as the Black Library was going through one of its irritating format changes again, which made me hunker down and wait for the inevitable omnibus instead of following up novel by novel.

And, at the last, right around Christmas, we have the release of an omnibus for William King's Tyrion and Teclis trilogy.


Collects the novels Blood of Aenarion, Sword of Caledor, and Bane of Malekith.

I do hope that that cover indeed isn't final.
But then, elves as a whole aren't my thing, even though Blood of Aenarion was gripping enough.
William King always has a good story to tell. The story was unconventional in its set-up and resolution, and I remember King had to suit his plot to some rulebooks, which explains the oddities.

To revisit my hope for an alteration of that cover; I'd love it if the artwork got a little more ambitious than 'Blurry elf, constipated, buried in his armour, grits his teeth'. Just compare the above with the original Raymond Swanland covers for the individual novels:


You might know Swanland's work from his Artwork for Glen Cook's Black Company or Dread Empire, or at least, that's where I know him from.

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For the rest in Black Library fantasy news, there's an anthology in December for the Blood Bowl setting, and of which I have never read a thing, even though I have the deliriously fancy Blood Bowl box set.


I'm not sure as to what this novel's actually collecting.
The information I'm getting is that this one's 960 pages, which points to the inclusion of novel length works, but I expect that this one does not, in fact collect Matt Forbeck's 4 novels and rather collects the short stories (e-shorts) that were published for the re-release of the Blood Bowl game, which would be about 12 short stories.

On the other hand, the e-shorts really aren't that long (what's in a name, after all?) and the four novels + 12 e-shorts don't seem that implausible to fit into a 960 page massive omnibus.

Especially not if you look at the last omnibus on the list, which will collect the entire second part of the Realmgate War Saga.


This one will collect Warbeast, Call of Archaon, Fury of Gork, Bladestorm, Mortarch of Night and Lord of Undeath.
They're not that lengthy tales, and I'm still not convinced that they're any good, if one listens to common opinion.

And, please, change that cover.
You have such awesome artwork for the Age of Sigmar. Use that, instead of always trying to hawk the models, please.

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I also caught sight of Michael's post at Track of Words and his rundown of the Black Library at Horus Heresy Weekender and I must say; That Hardback Journal looks mightily interesting.
The post is mostly about the 40k, the Horus Heresy and Necromunda settings, but interesting nonetheless.
The most interesting bit to me is that the Horus Heresy series will likely run to over 60 books at this point, which, at 25 euros or higher per Hardback novel, means that the series as a whole has just about outstayed its welcome.

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