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Warhammer 40,000 |OT| In the Grim Darkness of the Community Forum There Is Only War

Ruuppa

Member
Soooo subbed.

Also: Everybody should read the Ciaphas Cain novels. They're awesome, just the right mix of humor and terror.

They offer a great contrast to the everything is horrible -attitude of all the other series surrounding 40k. Except Orks. Are there any books on Orks?

The wait for paperback Greater Good is excruciating.
 
Subbed. This thread reminded me I've got a ton of Black Library books from a £1 book sale they had years ago. Outside of a few Cain and Gaunt novels I've barely read any!

One day I'm going to track down the Horus Heresy Novels (and the artbook!), plus some of the older army books. My days of buying the miniatures (of which I still have loads) are long gone over with the prices as they are today.

I have to applaud GW though in many respects- selling the limited edition SM books at £75 a pop? License to print money with such ridiculous margins on them.

Edit: how good are the SM battle novels?
 

Meteorain

Member
Just a heads up about the OP. The OP's been updated with a heading banner for the SM and Imperial Guard.

Obviously the text part of it looks almost disastrous, but that's why it's there. Need a bit of input as to how I can change it!

I don't remember any of my PS techniques from when I fucked around on it from years ago, so it looks a bit shitty. Font styles and effect inputs would be appreciated!

I'll try and get banners for the other armies done, but finding pre-rendered images is just well.....not happening. So I have to render the images myself which is taking a bit of time! So bear with me whilst I try and work on that!

Don't want to sound like I'm claiming reponsibility for making the entire OP myself, so thanks to GarthVaderUK for being the first to get off his ass and make a 40k OT.
 

Fou-Lu

Member
Oh damn. You already created the OT?

I was working with Ichor on one!

I wasted the whole day making some fucking banners :(

You might as well have a PM with Ichor, he some good ideas for the layout and additional content and what not since you're open to having the OP revised. Aesthetics can always be fixed later :p

Welp, I'm still glad to see an OT! If the OP wants any input on content I am still up for it.

I think this thread will be my new home on GAF.
 
Thanks for the awesome banners Meteorain, they look great!

More input is welcome Ichor!

Maybe we could have some reading guides for the more popular series of books? Also could have a short bit of info about each of the miniature games based in the 40K universe?
 

ArcLyte

Member
For someone who has any interest in trying some 40k novels, Dan Abnett's Eisenhorn trilogy is arguably the best series in the Black Library. Really, anything by Abnett is a great place to start.
 

DKehoe

Gold Member
Soooo subbed.

Also: Everybody should read the Ciaphas Cain novels. They're awesome, just the right mix of humor and terror.

Hero of the Imperium, it collects the first 3 Ciaphas Cain novels into one omnibus, with some short stories as extras. Great bang for your buck.

These sound like they should be pretty fun. Will maybe check them out sometime.Thanks for the recommendation!
 

Karakand

Member
Senator Soufflé;79289617 said:
There's a MMO, a FPS Space Hulk and rumours of Dawn of War 3.

And a F2P card-based tactics game starring the Space Wolves.
lol wat

What're the best Warhammer 40K comic book series?
...and what Warhammer 40K characters are as badass as Titus from Space Marine?

Damnation Crusade, it's a short (6-7 issues?) mini about the Black Templars. It has a fun little twist at the end like a 40K short story too.
 

Karakand

Member
Since we finally have a community thread...

I'm listening to Prospero Burns at the moment.
  • The first chapter is probably the worst 40K thing I've ever consumed. Excessive jargon (that's not even regular 40K jargon!)? Check. Poor allocation of attention to unimportant events? CHECK. Abnett gonna Abnett.
  • I played Space Wolves as a kid but I really don't like them as they are portrayed in this book. They're really hammering home the point that they're a marginally less awful counterpart to the World Eaters, aren't they?
  • Does Dan Abnett have some raging political bias he can't check at the door when he writes ridiculous fiction? The whole subplot with Kasper Hawser (lol) and the Administratum doesn't seem like much in isolation, but the Ravenor trilogy is all about a
    corrupted planetary bureaucracy
    (special slops for
    Harlon Nayl
    finding an Administratum office one of the worst things
    he's
    ever experienced in
    his
    life) and Eisenhorn also runs afoul of
    corrupted political structures
    too. I get it Dan, the gummint is bad!
 
I think you should add this to the OP for kicks:

Rocks are NOT ‘free’, citizen.

Firstly, you must manoeuvre the Emperor’s naval vessel within the asteroid belt, almost assuredly sustaining damage to the Emperor’s ship’s paint from micrometeoroids, while expending the Emperor’s fuel.

Then the Tech Priests must inspect the rock in question to ascertain its worthiness to do the Emperor’s bidding. Should it pass muster, the Emperor’s Servitors must use the Emperor’s auto-scrapers and melta-cutters to prepare the potential ordinance for movement. Finally, the Tech Priests finished, the Emperor’s officers may begin manoeuvring the Emperor’s warship to abut the asteroid at the prepared face (expending yet more of the Emperor’s fuel), and then begin boosting the stone towards the offensive planet.

After a few days of expending a prodigious amount of the Emperor’s fuel to accelerate the asteroid into an orbit more fitting to the Emperor’s desires, the Emperor’s ship may then return to the planet via superluminous warp travel and await the arrival of the stone, still many weeks (or months) away.

After twiddling away the Emperor’s time and eating the Emperor’s food in the wasteful pursuit of making sure that the Emperor’s enemies do not launch a deflection mission, they may finally watch the ordinance impact the planet (assuming that the Emperor’s ship does not need to attempt any last-minute course correction upon the rock, using yet more of the Emperor’s fuel).

Given a typical (class Bravo-CVII) system, we have the following:
Two months, O&M, Titan class warship: 4.2 Million Imperials
Two months, rations, crew of same: 0.2 MI
Two months, Tech Priest pastor: 1.7 MI
Two months, Servitor parish: 0.3 MI
Paint, Titan class warship: 2.5 MI
Dihydrogen peroxide fuel: 0.9 MI
Total: 9.8 MI

Contrasted with the following:
5 warheads, magna-melta: 2.5 MI
One day, O&M, Titan class warship: 0.3 MI
One day, rations, crew of same: 0.0 MI
Dihydrogen peroxide fuel: 0.1 MI
Total: 2.9 MI

Given the same result with under one third of the cost, the Emperor will have saved a massive amount of His most sacred money and almost a full month of time, during which His warship may be bombarding an entirely different planet.

The Emperor, through this – His Office of Imperial Outlays – hereby orders you to attend one (1) week of therapeutic accountancy training/penance. Please report to Areicon IV, Imperial City, Administratum Building CXXI, Room 1456, where you are to sit in the BLUE chair.

For the Emperor,
Bursarius Tenathis,
Purser Level XI,
Imperial Office of Outlays.
 

CTLance

Member
I get it Dan, the gummint is bad!
Now, I am by no means a knowledgeable WH40k'er, but I have yet to see administratum or nobility depicted as anything but inbred/deranged/hyperbureaucratic/completely useless unless an Inquisitor or similarily dangerous individual is breathing down their collective necks, at which point they will become useless AND hectic.

Keep in mind, grim dark. Everything sucks.
 
Dan Abnett is in touch with the dystopian character of the Imperium that everyone else shies away from really exploring. He's the only one that understands and can depict mortal life in the Imperium IMO. The Imperium is 1984 and he's right to be true to that, and not in the juvenile "grr m gonna shoot you for being lazy, soldier" way of other authors.
 

Showaddy

Member
Since we finally have a community thread...

I'm listening to Prospero Burns at the moment.
  • The first chapter is probably the worst 40K thing I've ever consumed. Excessive jargon (that's not even regular 40K jargon!)? Check. Poor allocation of attention to unimportant events? CHECK. Abnett gonna Abnett.
  • I played Space Wolves as a kid but I really don't like them as they are portrayed in this book. They're really hammering home the point that they're a marginally less awful counterpart to the World Eaters, aren't they?
  • Does Dan Abnett have some raging political bias he can't check at the door when he writes ridiculous fiction? The whole subplot with Kasper Hawser (lol) and the Administratum doesn't seem like much in isolation, but the Ravenor trilogy is all about a
    corrupted planetary bureaucracy
    (special slops for
    Harlon Nayl
    finding an Administratum office one of the worst things
    he's
    ever experienced in
    his
    life) and Eisenhorn also runs afoul of
    corrupted political structures
    too. I get it Dan, the gummint is bad!

The whole tone of PB was a pretty deliberate choice by GW, they've wanted to get away from Bill King's light hearted Wolves for a while now. In fact across most of the Heresy books the Wolves are depicted as very World Eater-ish, worse in some cases because it's made clear Russ is actually very intelligent and knows butchering a whole planet is wrong but hides behind a uneducated savage guise so no one questions him.

Also without spoiling anything Prospero Burns was kind of ruined by Abnett's onset of epilepsy. It was supposed to come out before A Thousand Sons and mostly deal with the massive battle but got delayed so it's mostly fluff now with not a lot of Prospero in it. The battles covered from the Thousands Sons book now.
 
Wait, so Slaneesh feeds of the souls of eldars as a result of being an eldar creation?

How do regular Eldars avoid being eaten up then?
I've read that Harlequins still got like protection from one of the Eldar gods, but I have no idea how regular-folk non-dark Eldars do so.
 

Leunam

Member
Soulstones.

The Eldar spirit stones are called Waystones. A spirit stone is a small, seemingly precious stone carried on an Eldar's chest, used to save their souls from destruction by Slaanesh. At the moment of the Eldar's death the stone acts like a 'psychic trap' absorbing his psychic self and preventing it from entering the warp and being consumed by the nemesis of the Eldar race: Slaanesh.
 

bremon

Member
Then if I remember right, the spiritstone is stored on said Eldar's Craftworld and is used for providing more psychic energy for Farseers or something? I can't recall. I haven't played in 5 years and if I played now I'd probably have to choose Blood Angels. 5 years of Eldar arrogance wore me out.

On another note, fantastic OP!
 

WanderingWind

Mecklemore Is My Favorite Wrapper
Is it possible to get the Horus Heresy as an eBook? I'm on the third one but can't find it physically anywhere around here.
 
I haven't played in 5 years and if I played now I'd probably have to choose Blood Angels.

he-chose-poorly-oclsn2.gif
 

Meteorain

Member
Wait, so Slaneesh feeds of the souls of eldars as a result of being an eldar creation?

How do regular Eldars avoid being eaten up then?
I've read that Harlequins still got like protection from one of the Eldar gods, but I have no idea how regular-folk non-dark Eldars do so.

SOULSTONES!

When they die, their soul gets "captured" in the soul stone thus preventing it being consumed by Slaanesh.

These Soulstones can then be popped into several types of Warmachines called Wraithguard, Wraithlords, Wraithseer, Wraithknight. All of these things are made from wraithbone which allows it to be controlled by a Soulstone'd Eldar.
 

DERF

Member
The forces of Eldar long lasting and vigilant it has been 15 years since last we did battle together. You remain on hold should you be needed again.
 

WanderingWind

Mecklemore Is My Favorite Wrapper
Also, is there something like a Codex but strictly for lore? I don't really care about the game itself, but I'd love to read something like the Silmarillion for 40k
 
Also, is there something like a Codex but strictly for lore? I don't really care about the game itself, but I'd love to read something like the Silmarillion for 40k
The Black Library has some lore books, but you're looking at paying a tidy sum on Ebay for those. Imperial Armour books are 90% lore and written like military history books (in a good way) but they are too expensive if you aren't using them for gaming,

Really the closest thing that's readily available is the generous fluff section of the current main rulebook.
 

Eppy Thatcher

God's had his chance.
So Eternal Crusade is still on then? ... From one of the videos on their website it looks likey they are retaining the TPS feel just like the canceled game was rumored to have so that is FANTASTIC.

I'm going to fucking WAAAAAAAHG all over you little pink umies...

If i can't end game myself up to a Warboss... complete with pole and power claw .. just stomping about the place wrecking house.. i'll be mighty disappointed.

edit: Found it.

bigboss126.jpg
 

WanderingWind

Mecklemore Is My Favorite Wrapper
....a Warhammer 40k MMO may get me to play an MMO.

May.

*still would prefer a new Dawn of War or Space Marine
 

Sinatar

Official GAF Bottom Feeder
I still can't believe they haven't made an online version of the tabletop game. It'd be a license to print money.
 

Eppy Thatcher

God's had his chance.
....a Warhammer 40k MMO may get me to play an MMO.

May.

*still would prefer a new Dawn of War or Space Marine

Titus in the Death Guard or Dark Templars or some such badassery should have been a given. I can't recall off the top of my head how Space Marine did for numbers... i thought it was pretty good. Best competitive multiplayer i've played in ages (before TLoU) and just amazingly true to the source material. You play that game... hear a Bolter get fired and think "Fucking yes. That is EXACTLY how it should sound." Whole experience was a win 100% We should of had a follow up by now .. or at the very least they should make the DLC free in a patch so the online might pick up again before this gen is completely over (I still get into Exterminatus rounds without any waiting... but have not been able to join a "Dreadnaught" game type even once since i bought the DLC.)
 

WanderingWind

Mecklemore Is My Favorite Wrapper
Titus in the Death Guard or Dark Templars or some such badassery should have been a given. I can't recall off the top of my head how Space Marine did for numbers... i thought it was pretty good. Best competitive multiplayer i've played in ages (before TLoU) and just amazingly true to the source material. You play that game... hear a Bolter get fired and think "Fucking yes. That is EXACTLY how it should sound." Whole experience was a win 100% We should of had a follow up by now .. or at the very least they should make the DLC free in a patch so the online might pick up again before this gen is completely over (I still get into Exterminatus rounds without any waiting... but have not been able to join a "Dreadnaught" game type even once since i bought the DLC.)

Yeah, they nailed the scale in Space Marine too. I'm a total newb with this entire universe, I've only read through the codex while at the card shop in between MtG rounds, played Dawn of War 1-2 religiously, Space Marine and the first 2 books of the Horus Heresy (which apparently is 32 books long? What the actual fuck?). Oh, and watched a pretty crappy CGI movie on Amazon. Ultramarines?

But I really enjoy the video games. I'm starting to see why the guys at the card shop hate Starcraft so much...lol. Wholesale 100 percent theft. Like, not even candy coated. Just straight jacked.
 

Meteorain

Member
At no point was I ever bored whilst playing Space Marine. That game was so good at encompassing the whole SM perspective. You just go in and smash the absolute fuck out of anything that stands in your way. Hell it even got the Orks right. Massive monstrous brutes that even made your godlike SM feel a bit weak when you got to the big guys.

The only thing it had missing was the ability to spit furious acids at your enemy and melt their face off.
 
I still can't believe they haven't made an online version of the tabletop game. It'd be a license to print money.

I can see GW's logic behind it; why sell a fifty quid game which'll have the same content as several hundred quid worth of miniatures?

Not to mention that multiplayer would be an absolute nightmare. I had a battle with five friends of mine when we were sixteen or seventeen. Eldar vs Space Wolves vs Tyranids, on a ten feet by six feet table, and it took us three days. You just couldn't do that kind of thing with a videogame in a way that would do it justice.
 
For someone who has any interest in trying some 40k novels, Dan Abnett's Eisenhorn trilogy is arguably the best series in the Black Library. Really, anything by Abnett is a great place to start.

This tread has piqued my interest in some 40k novels, so thanks for this. Are the various series chronologically important, or should I just jump in wherever?

I still can't believe they haven't made an online version of the tabletop game. It'd be a license to print money.

They probably feel that it cause loss of revenue from their tabletop products, kinda like how you can't just get a straight up version of MTG to play online.

Well, back to hacking up greenies in Space Marine.
 
So Eternal Crusade is still on then? ... From one of the videos on their website it looks likey they are retaining the TPS feel just like the canceled game was rumored to have so that is FANTASTIC.

I'm going to fucking WAAAAAAAHG all over you little pink umies...

If i can't end game myself up to a Warboss... complete with pole and power claw .. just stomping about the place wrecking house.. i'll be mighty disappointed.

edit: Found it.

http://www.the-warforge.com/wp-content/gallery/bigboss/bigboss126.jpg[IMG][/QUOTE]
[img]http://abload.de/img/ko10lhsow.jpg
 
This tread has piqued my interest in some 40k novels, so thanks for this. Are the various series chronologically important, or should I just jump in wherever?

The Black Library have some good suggestions for starting points depending on what you're most interested in (Space Marines, Imperial Guard, The Inquisition, or how things went down during the Horus Heresy 10,000 years prior): http://www.blacklibrary.com/Getting-Started/New-Reader.html

The Lexicanum lists the various series' books in order of release over here: http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Portal:Publications
 

Karakand

Member
Now, I am by no means a knowledgeable WH40k'er, but I have yet to see administratum or nobility depicted as anything but inbred/deranged/hyperbureaucratic/completely useless unless an Inquisitor or similarily dangerous individual is breathing down their collective necks, at which point they will become useless AND hectic.

Elena Derosa?

I would even settle for more people like the planetary governor in part 1 of The Stromark Massacre (bad, but in possession of some redeeming qualities).

The whole tone of PB was a pretty deliberate choice by GW, they've wanted to get away from Bill King's light hearted Wolves for a while now. In fact across most of the Heresy books the Wolves are depicted as very World Eater-ish, worse in some cases because it's made clear Russ is actually very intelligent and knows butchering a whole planet is wrong but hides behind a uneducated savage guise so no one questions him.

Also without spoiling anything Prospero Burns was kind of ruined by Abnett's onset of epilepsy. It was supposed to come out before A Thousand Sons and mostly deal with the massive battle but got delayed so it's mostly fluff now with not a lot of Prospero in it. The battles covered from the Thousands Sons book now.

I didn't know about his health, that sucks. :-/

Thanks for letting me know about the later contents, I was getting a bit confused that the only Thousand Sons in the story so far were the ones that broke up Hawser's dig during a unification war and stole whatever he had found. (I guess the Blood Ravens really are loyalist Thousand Sons.) I think I'm gonna give Dan a mulligan on this one.

The Wolf King is quite crafty.
Poor Angron.
 
V

Vilix

Unconfirmed Member
Yeah, they nailed the scale in Space Marine too. I'm a total newb with this entire universe, I've only read through the codex while at the card shop in between MtG rounds, played Dawn of War 1-2 religiously, Space Marine and the first 2 books of the Horus Heresy (which apparently is 32 books long? What the actual fuck?). Oh, and watched a pretty crappy CGI movie on Amazon. Ultramarines?

It was unfortunate that the movie was generally a disappointment. The story and CGI were meh. On the other hand I though they some top notch voice actors. Such a waste. I wish they could get actors like that on The Lord Inquistor. But that type of talent doesn't come cheap much less free.

Mark Strong did a good job playing the role of Titus. I remember my wife watching the end of SM and saying "Oh come on! Really?!"

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=oBxD2weBe-o&desktop_uri=/watch?v=oBxD2weBe-o
 

Showaddy

Member
I didn't know about his health, that sucks. :-/

Thanks for letting me know about the later contents, I was getting a bit confused that the only Thousand Sons in the story so far were the ones that broke up Hawser's dig during a unification war and stole whatever he had found. (I guess the Blood Ravens really are loyalist Thousand Sons.) I think I'm gonna give Dan a mulligan on this one.

The Wolf King is quite crafty.
Poor Angron.

Yeah you'll need to read A Thousand Sons to get the other side of the story (plus it's one of the best Heresy books anyway) as they were written as a pair by Abnett & O'Neill. Their covers were even drawn to match up:

a-thousand-sons-poster.jpg

posterprosperoburns.jpg


You'll only get the massive Russ vs Magnus battle in A Thousand Sons as well unfortunately. Also I do get your point about Hawser being the point of view in PB, was really disappointed bearing in mind Ahriman is the point of view character in A Thousand Sons.
 

Jarnet87

Member
empxfbne.jpg


I remember looking through the 3rd edition rulebook when I got the starter kit and being amazed by the artwork, especially images dealing with the Horus Heresy. It's really awesome that years later were getting the novel series about it.


Started reading them when they first came out and got to about book 9 of the series, gonna get back into them soon.

Edit: I forgot that when I first got into 40K, i thought The Emperor was the guy on the left lol.
 
The Black Library have some good suggestions for starting points depending on what you're most interested in (Space Marines, Imperial Guard, The Inquisition, or how things went down during the Horus Heresy 10,000 years prior): http://www.blacklibrary.com/Getting-Started/New-Reader.html

The Lexicanum lists the various series' books in order of release over here: http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Portal:Publications

Great links, thank you!

Edit: it just occurred to me that I have a 40k tabletop box sitting in my garage, and I'm just drunk enough to start randomly painting miniatures. What have you done to me GAF?
 

WanderingWind

Mecklemore Is My Favorite Wrapper
It was unfortunate that the movie was generally a disappointment. The story and CGI were meh. On the other hand I though they some top notch voice actors. Such a waste. I wish they could get actors like that on The Lord Inquistor. But that type of talent doesn't come cheap much less free.

Mark Strong did a good job playing the role of Titus. I remember my wife watching the end of SM and saying "Oh come on! Really?!"

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=oBxD2weBe-o&desktop_uri=/watch?v=oBxD2weBe-o

I'm not going to lie, it was still entertaining, but entirely on the level of any fan service material. It wasn't very well made, but I enjoyed it. Even my wife liked it, so it wasn't a waste or anything.

It was better than the Dragonlance cartoon, that's for sure!
 
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