Jon AS Posted January 26, 2012 Share Posted January 26, 2012 It's kind of interesting to me that most people seem to prefer the 40K universe for readingMight be because the 40k setting is so massive in scale that you can write lots of stories with entire planets/subsectors on the line without threatening the integrity of the setting. Warhammer stories will either be on a scale that effect entire countries (or the whole world) or need to confine themselves to Sword&Sorcery stuff.Says the guy whose WHFB reading so far has been one Gotrek & Felix omnibus. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nukelavee Posted January 26, 2012 Share Posted January 26, 2012 What would be the point, Galactus?The point is that I think I'd enjoy it. I mean, it might turn out like the grilled peanut butter and bacon sammich experiment, but I'm willing to risk it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Galactus Posted January 26, 2012 Share Posted January 26, 2012 I'd also note that the Emperor returning wouldn't neccessarily be a good idea. Heck, I'd rather take the Tau than the Imperium, and the Tau are space-commies. At least the Tau will ask you to surrender before they atomize your planet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon AS Posted January 26, 2012 Share Posted January 26, 2012 Oh come on, everybody knows the Emperor was an old sap. He only rarely directly ordered the entire destruction of (human) worlds, and then he had good reasons, like wanting to avoid a drawn out argument with a son who was confused as to what he was supposed to be doing.If he had been less sentimental he wouldn't be in the state he's in now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Galactus Posted January 26, 2012 Share Posted January 26, 2012 Oh come on, everybody knows the Emperor was an old sap. He only rarely directly ordered the entire destruction of (human) worlds, and then he had good reasons, like wanting to avoid a drawn out argument with a son who was confused as to what he was supposed to be doing.If he had been less sentimental he wouldn't be in the state he's in now.Who's talking about humans here? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickg Posted January 26, 2012 Share Posted January 26, 2012 Reading the Enforcer Omnibus by Matthew Farrer now and it's not bad. Actually pretty good, even if it isn't quite on the level of Abnett. Its nice reading something that explores a different aspect of the Imperium. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon AS Posted January 26, 2012 Share Posted January 26, 2012 Who's talking about humans here?I was trying to humourously agree with you, since a guy who'll lay an entire planet to waste just to make a point is not necessarily the kind of person to pin your hopes on for building a more peaceful future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Werthead Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 I don't think there is much drive to have an ongoing narrative in the background at all. The background for a game doesn't need to move along like the plot of a novel does.I think there was a thought at GW to have a 'current ongoing event' in the 40K universe for people to give a fanwanked background for their battles, currently the 13th Black Crusade and the ongoing battle for the Cadian Gate (which at this point has been going on for like five years, IIRC). They probably need to resolve that and start heading into M42 :)I haven't played 40k in over a decade now, but as far as I know hardcore fans tend not to be the biggest source of income for companies like GW. That's what the casual gamers are there for. Hardcore gamers (be it in RPGs, computer games or miniature wargames) tend to assume they are more important to the company than they really are. The casual gamers don't spend an awful lot of time discussing the intricacies of the game and setting.There is definitely a change in approach going on at GW. Their sales in the last decade have been driven by casual fans getting into the game off the base of the DoW computer games and the LotR stuff. That period is now ending and it's the hardcore fans buying expensive models who are starting to make GW the most money, so a switch back to focusing on them and high-value models is likely. I'd actually be willing to bet that a majority of players don't care all that much about the background, though. They just want to play the game.Many year ago, a former GW employee once ill-advisedly said online that GW considers the game itself to be something of an irritation, they'd rather people just bought the figures and displayed them on their shelves looking awesome. The game's just an excuse to give to people to justify the exorbitent costs of the models. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickg Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 Isn't there also a 40k mmo coming sometime in the next couple of years? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nukelavee Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 That would be so sweet.I mean, if it turned out to be exactly what I'm imagining right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickg Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 That would be so sweet.I mean, if it turned out to be exactly what I'm imagining right now.I know. I'm pretty sure it's called Dark Millennium. Probably just gonna let me down though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon AS Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 I think there was a thought at GW to have a 'current ongoing event' in the 40K universe for people to give a fanwanked background for their battles, currently the 13th Black Crusade and the ongoing battle for the Cadian Gate (which at this point has been going on for like five years, IIRC).Yeah, the 13th Black Crusade campaign probably became irrelevant to anyone who cares about the background when GW explicitly tried to minimise its impact on the setting. IIRC Chaos/Disorder players achieved a pretty decisive victory, but that was reduced to a few elements of the Crusade breaking through the Cadian Gate into the Imperium proper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickg Posted January 31, 2012 Share Posted January 31, 2012 Finished Crossfire, the first book in The Enforcer omnibus. Different from most other 40k novels as it follows a female member of the Adeptus Arbites. Slower paced than something like Gaunts Ghosts, but there is still a fair deal of action.I liked it. Way more than I expected to ( expectations were low going into it ). I wouldn't put it far under anything Abnett has written for 40k. Nothing groundbreaking, but it was enjoyable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkynJay Posted January 31, 2012 Share Posted January 31, 2012 Almost done with Xenos from my Eisenhorn ombibus. Gotta say, yall got me convinced. I see good things in the future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickg Posted January 31, 2012 Share Posted January 31, 2012 Almost done with Xenos from my Eisenhorn ombibus.  Gotta say, yall got me convinced.  I see good things in the future.I was a late arrival to the 40k scene myself. I never gave it a chance. Its not for everyone, but I really like the setting. I'm so freaking hooked now and I place the blame squarely on Werthead for getting me started. Btw, I thought Eisenhorn was awesome, but Ravenor was better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antonius Pius Posted January 31, 2012 Share Posted January 31, 2012 I was a late arrival to the 40k scene myself. I never gave it a chance. Its not for everyone, but I really like the setting. I'm so freaking hooked now and I place the blame squarely on Werthead for getting me started. Btw, I thought Eisenhorn was awesome, but Ravenor was better.Yeah, Wert is real bugger that way. His reviews of Gaunt's Ghosts and Ciaphas Cain are what got me started too.I've finished Eisenhorn some time ago, and I've still got Ravenor lying on my to-read pile. The same as the first three books of the Horus Heresy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
voodooqueen126 Posted January 31, 2012 Share Posted January 31, 2012 Is there anybody else here who reads the Warhammer Fantasy and Warhammer 40k novels?They are my all time favourites, from the huge series like Gotrek and Felix and Ultramarines to the stand-alone novels like Daemon World and Blood Gorgons. In fact if it wasn't for Black Library I would never have gotten into reading sci-fi, and then again Black Library got me interested in Fantasy by Malus Darkblade who will forever remain one of my favourite fantasy series and characters, and if it hadn't been for that I would never have read ASOIAF. So I pretty much owe my literary interest to Black Library and authors like Graham McNeill, Mike Lee, C.L Werner and Dan Abnett.Some of my favourite series from the Black Library are...The Night Lords Trilogy by Aaron Dembski-BowdenOne of the best Space Marine stories in the entire range, and they are Chaos Space Marines to boot so its ten times better. Perhaps the only series with villains that are undeniably evil yet sympathetic and ones you can root for over the heroes. Other novels have likeable villains but none of them were every sympathetic, when they got killed you felt they deserved it. When a Night Lord dies in the series, apart from one very satisfying death, its a harsh thing that makes you feel sorry for that particular warrior. Its also very funny, one of my favourite scenes in the first novel Soul Hunter is one of the funniest moments in the series, The protagonists, First Claw, a group of Space Marines which are genetically altered superhumans that stand at eight ft tall, are standing in a burnt out prison on a conquered world, their squad leader has just walked off to meet Abaddon the Despoiler, the Warmaster of Chaos who is one of the most powerful beings in existence with a notorious short temper, they are being guarded by two Terminators, elite warriors in armour that makes them walking battle-tanks, and the character Cyrion, whose voice is described as like rumbling thunder, merely looks at them and says, "So.... how are you?" Absurd and hilarious.The Chronicles of Malus Darkblade by Dan Abnett and Mike LeeThe series that got me into Fantasy, that led me to others like Sword of Truth and A Song of Ice and Fire. Malus Darkblade is a great anti-hero that is a joy to read not because he's the best fighter, its repeatedly proven that he isn't; not because he's the smartest, again others have outsmarted him; not because he's the most powerful, he is the hated 5th son of a family and isn't even permitted to have the same last name as them. But because he never gives up. Malus fights against impossible odds and never quits, despite being possessed by a Daemon who owns his soul and with a year to recover five artefacts scattered around his homeland with his only constant ally being his faithful mount Spite, a mix of a T-Rex and a raptor, or else be damned forever, and even with that Daemon chattering in his head and his entire family out to get him or use him up, Malus soldiers on.Ciaphas Cain: Hero of the Imperium by Sandy MitchellOne of the funniest series i've ever read. Cain is an odd hero, he's a Commissar attached to an Imperial Guard regiment, responsible for maintaining discipline and order, and for advising commanders and he has saved more worlds than most ever see through his actions. And his driving motivation is to get the hell out of the fighting and survive long enough to enjoy a comfortable retirement. As he says it best, "The problem with being in mortal danger for most of your life is that people tend to assume you like being in mortal danger and go out of their way to provide it for you." Written in a first-person format from Cain's memoirs as he finally earned his semi-peaceful retirement Cain, along with some helpful additions and footnotes from Amberly Vail of the Inquisition, tells the stories of his accomplishments and what was really going through his head when he, nearly always silently unwillingly, went into danger countless times, aided only by his reeking and utterly stoic and unflappable aide Gunner Ferik Jurgen. A really great series about either a coward or a true hero with a immense inferiority complex, the author isn't even sure himself, so make of that what you will.So does anybody else here read Black Library? And if so what are your favourite novels and series? And why?LotNFrom the title of this, I thought this might be a discussion of Roots, Beloved and Push. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickg Posted February 1, 2012 Share Posted February 1, 2012 Finished Legacy, second book in the Enforcer omnibus. Liked it alot as well. Focuses on the fleet of a Rogue Trader. Again, it was quite different from most other 40k books. Also started Honour Guard by Abnett. Not too far in and its going to take a while because im reading several other books. It seems like he was getting better with each one. Glad I picked the omnibus up. 4 books for $15 is badass. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkynJay Posted February 5, 2012 Share Posted February 5, 2012 Welp. Finsished Eisenhorn. Yall have convert for sure, at least when it comes to Abnett.Though I do got to say, one tiny nitpick that made me laugh. Throught the first two books we know Gregor can not smile because of the tourture done to him, no facial expresion. Untill the third book where this detail seems to be forgotten, and he "couldnt help but smile." Read a few others on my pile, then I will go through Ravanor, which is why I wanted to start these books in the first place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord of the Night Posted February 7, 2012 Author Share Posted February 7, 2012 I have recently finished Path of the Renegade by Andy Chambers, the first Dark Eldar novel, and the latest Horus Heresy Know No Fear by Dan Abnett.Both are great but Know No Fear... its the best Heresy book. It beats out all the others. A must-read for any BL fan.LotN Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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