Picking the Bones is a short tale that follows around Arkhan the Black and the rest of Nagash's Lieutenants in the days after the fall of Nagash at the end of the Rise trilogy when everything and everyone's still in disarray and the mighty Necromancer's power is still up for grabs.
As the various undead armies swarm to Nagashizzar to claim the power to be found in Nagash's tomes, Arkhan, with only a bare handful of Wights to his name, is forced to do some quick thinking and use all his guile in order to survive amidst the greed and treachery of his erstwhile allies whose armies vastly outnumber his.
It's not a great tale and it's not as stellarly written as was the trilogy but it does serve as an interesting enough addendum for when you've finished Nagash's story and just need something extra. Lovely ending and some surprise character motivation from Arkhan to be found here. Should indeed be read after the trilogy.
A Small Victory by Paul S. Kemp is not in this omnibus, which is a shame because it does take place in the Rise of Nagash period, as it speaks of the coming of the usurper and his undead hordes... I think it takes place specifically after or somewhere during Nagash the Sorceror novel. Either way, if you're looking for a perfect chronological reading order to read Warhammer in, you're out of a paddle on shit's creek as Warhammer's simply too huge for that. But I think A Small Victory should have been in here nonetheless, as a slice of life (and death) of the common man during the Nagash War.
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I cast my mind ahead from this point in time and see names I still recognize, and events that are still to come and I find that what's so cool about this little tale is that it highlights how something that had such small beginnings, one man's greed for power and learning of Druchii magic, has become such a massive tapestry at this point: the utter destruction of the first thriving human civilization, the birth of the vampires, the origins of the Tomb Kings, on and on, the connections are a tangled web at this point.
From the Rise of Nagash to the Blood of Nagash (which I'm reasonaly sure is getting a continuation at this point) to Empire, to Saville's Vampire Wars, to Blood of the Necrarch and Ancient Blood, to Vampire Slayer, Ulrika, The Return of Nagash and then even further, right into the Age of Sigmar where Nagash has an even lager role. It's crazy to think how big this as gotten.
There was a point, as is usual for Warhammer, where I took a moment and thought how good it was to be back in the Old World. I'm glad there's still so much to read, even if I might never get around to it.
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And here's what I still need to read of each omnibus for them to be put on the 'Warhammer Read Shelf', with paper slips to mark out which one's got the least pages to go, cause I'm anal like that.
Only a few short stories in the Vampire Wars and the Legend of Sigmar.
(and I'm almost certain that I have actually already read all of the Sigmar ones, but I'm not a 100% sure about it so I NEED to read those again. You see, why this post is definitely necessary, don't you?)
The Sundering has the Blood-Handed novella and a short story (or two?) left to read.
The Chaos Omnibus still has all the Valkia stuff ready to go, and I'm quite looking forward to it thank you very much. And I have read not a damn thing yet of the War of Vengeance.
The Witchhunter Omnibus 'll arrive soon, and I've completely read that one, so unless there's a new short story or two in that one that one's going slam-dunk on the Read shelf.
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