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Hey, can anyone confirm that ADB's latest, "Blood and Fire" came out this week? I know it was due for July, and I saw a blast of people talking about it this week, but I don't see it on BL's site
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Jul 19, 2013 21:59
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I was at my local GW store a couple of days ago and it wasn't there and they usually have everything that's currently available.
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Jul 20, 2013 00:43
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I see it as an ebook (?) http://www.blacklibrary.com/warhammer-40000/blood_and_fire_ebook.html
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Jul 20, 2013 00:56
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I am seriously giving thought that BL is about to give up on printed books or something the lines of that because thus shuffling about is kinda odd. According to some rumors I picked up elsewhere it seems they are going through some reorganization and are being split into two divisions, one being a digital one handling the digital rules for other platforms.
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Jul 20, 2013 01:17
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Fried Chicken posted:Hey, can anyone confirm that ADB's latest, "Blood and Fire" came out this week? I know it was due for July, and I saw a blast of people talking about it this week, but I don't see it on BL's site Looks like GW bundled it with this  http://www.blacklibrary.com/warhammer-40000/armageddon.html Is Blood and Fire just a short story? Also re-reading the HH series after the amazing Night Lords Series, half way through False Gods, i have noticed some awful and nonsensical things: Loken is an idiot. Loken has the Anathame, which he knows is from the Interex, and is proof of treachery, since it is from the Interex hall of weapons. I know Abaddon is an idiot, but it doesn't take an iterator to figure out who was on both Davin and the Interex world, aside from the Sons of Horus. But no, instead of telling his most trusted and close brothers at the serpent lodge. He says screw this and wanders away. Also Magnus, hmm how can i save horus? I know SYMBOLISM!  .What is even more confusing to me is that the Primarch Horus couldn't see through Erebus's manipulation. Yet, a remembrancer could.  
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Jul 20, 2013 05:05
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UberJumper posted:Looks like GW bundled it with this quote:Also re-reading the HH series after the amazing Night Lords Series, half way through False Gods, i have noticed some awful and nonsensical things: Yeah, the first few books of the Horus Heresy are really weak. You need them to get to the rest, but by shifting to 3 different authors the use of symbolism, metaphor, character development, and motivation really got hurt. Really, if they had let Abnett do the entire first trilogy instead of splitting it between 3 authors (or, if we have my magical time machine here, brought ADB in to collaberate with Abnett on mapping this out since the very beginning) it would have been a lot better. Recently though it has really stepped up its game, with ADB and now Chris Wraight. ADB is amazing and Wrath of Iron and Battle of the Fang were very different and intensely fun, so giving Wraight the Iron Hands and White Scars should be awesome.
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Jul 20, 2013 05:34
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Fried Chicken posted:Novella, but yeah. Looks like I'm gonna be the rear end in a top hat who goes to Barnes & Noble, reads something in the coffee bar, and leaves without buying! It helps that Battle of the Fang is basically a direct sequel to the Thousand Sons/Prospero Burns duology, but yes Wraight is a good talent to keep an eye on.
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Jul 20, 2013 11:22
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Fried Chicken posted:Novella, but yeah. Looks like I'm gonna be the rear end in a top hat who goes to Barnes & Noble, reads something in the coffee bar, and leaves without buying! I hate you for posting that, because now I'm trying to grasp just how awesome the HH series could have been in that scenario. Hell, let's make it even more painful and consider a C&C-style event where ADB goes back in time and shakes the hands of Graham McNeill and Nick Kyme, creating a new universe where sadomasochistic primarch anal fruit torture is replaced by, well, that thing that ADB does that gives me reading orgasms. I'm pretty far into the Ghosts series now, one of the books is actually what first sparked my interest in 40k some twelve years ago and it's a lot better reading them in order. I feel kind of confused being just a ways in to Last Command, because while I like Dan Abnett it feels really, really weird when he starts doing something more than lasgun/anti-authority porn in a Ghost book.
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Jul 20, 2013 12:41
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Vorenus posted:I hate you for posting that, because now I'm trying to grasp just how awesome the HH series could have been in that scenario. Hell, let's make it even more painful and consider a C&C-style event where ADB goes back in time and shakes the hands of Graham McNeill and Nick Kyme, creating a new universe where sadomasochistic primarch anal fruit torture is replaced by, well, that thing that ADB does that gives me reading orgasms. Horus Rising is good at least. I kinda liked the general stupidity that lead to Horus' corruption - admittedly, for my own reasons. See, the way I view Space Marines is less as awesome kickass super soldiers and more extremely broken teenage boys that discovered violence instead of girls. The over-the-top 'Brother!' 'Battle-Brother!' thing is less like what real soldiers do and more what boys acting how they think soldiers act do, only it goes on long enough that it becomes actual Astartes culture instead of mere affectation. Likewise with the huge daddy complex all the marines have for their primarch - they constantly try to be Just Like Dad. Unfortunately, Dad is a crazy genetically engineered war monster created by an even crazier psyker, so things get a bit weird. This personal theory has the benefit of explaining the stupidity as teenage petulance writ large, and the flashes of genius as those occasional moments of sanity and rational thought you get from teenage boys. Also, did I imagine it or did Erebus state his ultimate goal is to get the primarchs out of the way so that regular space marines can decide the fate of the galaxy, and if he did where?
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Jul 20, 2013 14:12
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VanSandman posted:Horus Rising is good at least. I remember that, I think it was in Betrayer in a conversation with Argel Tal.
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Jul 20, 2013 14:18
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Demiurge4 posted:I remember that, I think it was in Betrayer in a conversation with Argel Tal. I think it might be First Heretic. I haven't read Betrayer, but I remember the line from somewhere. (waiting for a normal sized paperback release before I get Betrayer. Fooled me once with Angel Exterminatus)
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Jul 20, 2013 19:22
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UberJumper posted:
This one at least has the excuse that Primarchs, especially Horus, have never really had any reason to expect Marines to be anything but absolutely loyal, especially since they spend most of their time surrounded by members their own Legion, who are genetically programmed to be unswervingly obedient.
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Jul 21, 2013 03:54
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Can-O-Raid posted:This one at least has the excuse that Primarchs, especially Horus, have never really had any reason to expect Marines to be anything but absolutely loyal, especially since they spend most of their time surrounded by members their own Legion, who are genetically programmed to be unswervingly obedient. But a book prior Horus is basically able to pick up all the social cues dropped by Sanguinius's. Throughout the books Horus is shown to have great charisma (once of his key features), and subtle tact as one of his defining features.I am sorry, but if a remembrancer can figure out Erebus is a mustache twirling villain i am sure the emperors favourite demigod and leader of the great crusade should be able to figure it out. Furthermore Horus knows it is the imperial guard who turned traitor, yet Erebus is sitting on Davin with a whole company of space marines doing gently caress all. The greatest primarch never thought, "Why the gently caress are you sitting on Davin? Its just standard imperial guard. Go do your drat job Erebus!". More or less the entire second half of the book with the reasoning for Horus's betrayal are so rocky and poorly written. Horus basically sees a vision with someone who he knows is not Sejanus, and is representing the powers his father kept telling him "They are bad", and basically just turns into "Oh alright, lets go kill daddy". The entire reasoning is just piss poorly written, in Horus Rising it seemed Abnett was going somewhere, with Horus having conflict with how they treat the Xenos. But Graham Mcneil just throws that out the window and goes with Mustache Twirling Erebus with an alien sword, telling horus lies, and warp ~magic~. I would pay a good amount for some sort of novella that takes place right after horus's transformation, that actually makes Horus's transformation much more believable. Preferably something by a good author. This is the defining moments that more or less starts the heresy, and the reasoning behind it is so poor. Also Galaxy in Flames so far is so much better written, which i find hilarious because this is the same author that wrote Battle of the Abyss. Also i seem to recall Fulgrim actually being rather good, which is odd because false gods is so terrible. UberJumper fucked around with this message at 07:02 on Jul 21, 2013 |
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Jul 21, 2013 06:56
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So, after reading all of the Horus Heresy era books i've been able to get my hands on, I have to ask a question. Am I the only one thinking that the big reveal regarding the Emperor's grand plan is going to be something soul crushingly depressing like the Emperor actually being a sociopathic rear end in a top hat setting himself up as a new warp god? The hints are there for that in the older lore. Or even worse, him realizing that humanity is hosed no matter what happens. Either in the immediate future after the heresy, or tens of thousands of years down the line. Therefore he was so desperate that he decided to make a hopeless play to try and save it or buy humanity just a bit more time. Despite knowing that he's going to be doomed to be tortured for millenia after Horus fucks his poo poo up in the final battle if he does so? Some of the stuff in the earlier Horus Heresy books makes it pretty clear he knows he's screwed. Which has all sorts of horrible implications. The setting is too grim dark for a happy ending. Archonex fucked around with this message at 12:21 on Jul 21, 2013 |
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Jul 21, 2013 12:16
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Archonex posted:So, after reading all of the Horus Heresy era books i've been able to get my hands on, I have to ask a question. Am I the only one thinking that the big reveal regarding the Emperor's grand plan is going to be something soul crushingly depressing like the Emperor actually being a sociopathic rear end in a top hat setting himself up as a new warp god? The hints are there for that in the older lore. In Outcast Dead, he tells an astropath sometimes the only thing you can do is force your enemy into a draw, implying some kind of eternal stalemate.
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Jul 21, 2013 12:41
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Shroud posted:In Outcast Dead, he tells an astropath sometimes the only thing you can do is force your enemy into a draw, implying some kind of eternal stalemate. The sad thing is... The only reason it became a draw is because he told Magnus that Psykers are bad and banned their use. Magnus in desperation to warn his father of Horus' heresy destroyed humanity's only way to remove dependency on the warp forcing the warp and humanity to be forever entwined. If the console of Nakie never got started in the first place. Magnus may never have had to react the way he did and humanity would have a way to travel across galaxies with out even having to interact with the warp ever again. The Eye being the only way for Chaos to enter their realm and have been effectively quarantined forever.
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Jul 21, 2013 13:05
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EyeRChris posted:The sad thing is... Not entirely true, also I think you don't need to spoil any of that since its pretty basic background lore. There's always psykers, and beyond them there's no reason humanity couldn't go the way of the Eldar.
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Jul 21, 2013 13:20
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EyeRChris posted:The sad thing is...
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Jul 21, 2013 13:55
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EyeRChris posted:The sad thing is... There are other spots where Chaos can easily enter (such as the Maelstrom) and the Emperor was right in banning the use of magic. Sure he could have actually explained himself to Magnus but Magnus' pride drove him to gently caress everything up. He was never really aware of his own limitations and his story is that of a classical tragedy.
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Jul 21, 2013 14:19
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The Emperor reversed his stance on Librarians (don't think this has appeared in novel yet) because it often takes a psyker to fight a psyker. Did he ever try to mass produce untouchables instead? He has these Sisters of Silence - why doesn't he clone a legion of them?
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Jul 21, 2013 14:24
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Baron Bifford posted:The Emperor reversed his stance on Librarians (don't think this has appeared in novel yet) because it often takes a psyker to fight a psyker. Did he ever try to mass produce untouchables instead? He has these Sisters of Silence - why doesn't he clone a legion of them? As a super mega psyker I imagine doing significant work with untouchables was something that he avoided.
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Jul 21, 2013 19:08
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Really liking The Emperor's Gift so far, thanks thread! It's so much better than Ben Counter's Grey Knights anthology, and let's just not mention Soul Drinkers. Also picked up Cadian Blood, so I've got some reading to do.
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Jul 21, 2013 19:16
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Fuzzy Pipe Wrench posted:As a super mega psyker I imagine doing significant work with untouchables was something that he avoided. Are there any good books on untouchables outside the Eisenhorn books? I heard Ciaphas Cain's sidekick is an untouchable, which explains his Baldrick-like bad luck. Baron Bifford fucked around with this message at 21:40 on Jul 21, 2013 |
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Jul 21, 2013 21:37
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Baron Bifford posted:There's some stuff from Abnett that says that really powerful beings such as greater daemons don't suffer much from the presence of untouchables (Bequin tried to take out a Chaos Titan and was killed by the feedback). It's kind of contradictory, suggesting that there is a sort of bell curve of suffering related to the psyker's strength. Yeah but Bequin didn't do it the traditional way by standing next to it. She tried to channel her anti-psychic power through a psychic super staff, which obviously was stupid.
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Jul 21, 2013 22:47
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Baron Bifford posted:Are there any good books on untouchables outside the Eisenhorn books? I heard Ciaphas Cain's sidekick is an untouchable, which explains his Baldrick-like bad luck. His sidekick is arguably the hero of the story. Albeit either an oblivious or unprepossessing one. Also, the Ciaphas Cain books are hilarious and you should read them. They don't have the layered nuance of Eisenhorn, in that you won't notice little lines and details leading up to the ending that weren't a big deal before, but they do show the civilian half of the setting fairly often. And the whole thing is done Flashman style in that the character both simultaneously pokes fun at the ridiculous nature of the setting and is not what you'd expect a hero of the Imperium to be. Archonex fucked around with this message at 23:22 on Jul 21, 2013 |
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Jul 21, 2013 23:20
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Baron Bifford posted:There's some stuff from Abnett that says that really powerful beings such as greater daemons don't suffer much from the presence of untouchables (Bequin tried to take out a Chaos Titan and was killed by the feedback). It's kind of contradictory, suggesting that there is a sort of bell curve of suffering related to the psyker's strength. This kind of makes sense, in a vacuum of knowledge about how blanks actually function as such. "Normal" psykers can get stymied by your standard blank, but you might expect that a group of psykers, or a particularly asymmetrically powerful one, could manage to project a bit more strongly and overcome the blank. Only stands to reason that the Big E could wipe his rear end with one. Although maybe I've forgotten something in the fluff that essentially makes blanks like multiplying by zero, such that any and all psykers are equally vulnerable to a given blank. That wouldn't be very exciting however, and could open potentially world-breaking loopholes.
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Jul 22, 2013 06:10
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Two problems with that idea. 1: you're working off a Baron Bifford assumption as your premise, which never ends well. 2: Culexus assassins literally kill psykers by standing near them, whereas normal non-psykers (except for Eldar who aren't currently on the path of the Warlock or the Seer for some reason...) just have a harder time passing LD tests.
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Jul 22, 2013 06:16
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Why didn't Horus just physically throw a blank at the Emperor's head, then? Surely we have to have something ex machina to preserve E's status, lest any old meatbag wander by the throne room and gently caress up his day.
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Jul 22, 2013 06:25
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I don't have anything to add to the actual argument, but the various lines of discussion about a blank failing to overcome a Chaos Titan, and varying degrees of blankness cancelling out various degrees of psychic activity, have given me the mental image of an inquisitor trying to overcome a Chaos Titan by having several dozen blanks hug it, complete with the Chaos Titan flailing around like "get it off get it off get it off" 
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Jul 22, 2013 06:29
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I think its a little weird that the chapter thats anti-demon and chaos, the Grey Knights, don't have kill squads of blanks. Psykers like its going out of style, but no psyker kill teams. I have to wonder how long a ship of Knights would last if Magnus decided it was time to rape another world for its knowledge.
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Jul 22, 2013 06:35
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EDIT: Blank kill-squads, not blank Space Marines I think it's because blanks are even rarer than psykers, and Inquisitors would rather have one in their retinue. They're a bit too valuable to be sent in action all the time. Also they could potentially disrupt Grey Knight powers (despite the existence of limiters) if something wrong goes on. Lily Catts fucked around with this message at 06:53 on Jul 22, 2013 |
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Jul 22, 2013 06:51
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EyeRChris posted:I think its a little weird that the chapter thats anti-demon and chaos, the Grey Knights, don't have kill squads of blanks. Psykers like its going out of style, but no psyker kill teams. I have to wonder how long a ship of Knights would last if Magnus decided it was time to rape another world for its knowledge. Aside from the fact that they're rare, one of the better explanations about why the're not gathered up as a collective group is because they're generally prone to misuse and mismanagement. The inquisitor from the Caiaphas Cain series knows that Cain's aide is a blank but doesn't put him on her staff because she's worried that if other people knew he was a blank, some senior inquisitor is going to take him and waste him by sending him on a suicide mission. It was better just to hide him off on the side lines and use him (through Cain) when needed.
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Jul 22, 2013 07:05
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EyeRChris posted:I think its a little weird that the chapter thats anti-demon and chaos, the Grey Knights, don't have kill squads of blanks. Psykers like its going out of style, but no psyker kill teams. I have to wonder how long a ship of Knights would last if Magnus decided it was time to rape another world for its knowledge. Schneider Heim posted:EDIT: Blank kill-squads, not blank Space Marines Kegslayer posted:Aside from the fact that they're rare, one of the better explanations about why the're not gathered up as a collective group is because they're generally prone to misuse and mismanagement. The inquisitor from the Caiaphas Cain series knows that Cain's aide is a blank but doesn't put him on her staff because she's worried that if other people knew he was a blank, some senior inquisitor is going to take him and waste him by sending him on a suicide mission. It was better just to hide him off on the side lines and use him (through Cain) when needed. They do though. They work with the Purifiers to guard some prisoner X at the heart of Titan, and do other duties for the chapter like caring for the dead. They pop up in the codex and The Emperor's Gift. Their presence doesn't appear to hurt Grey Knights, but Hyperion was shocked that they were blank and he couldn't read them even existing. What exactly they are doing is left as a plot hook, presumably in case ADB or someone else wants to come back to it.
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Jul 22, 2013 07:32
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Fried Chicken posted:They do though. They work with the Purifiers to guard some prisoner X at the heart of Titan, and do other duties for the chapter like caring for the dead. They pop up in the codex and The Emperor's Gift. Their presence doesn't appear to hurt Grey Knights, but Hyperion was shocked that they were blank and he couldn't read them even existing. What exactly they are doing is left as a plot hook, presumably in case ADB or someone else wants to come back to it. Wow. I'm dying to read The Emperor's Gift now but the paperback isn't around in stores yet despite what BL's website says...
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Jul 22, 2013 07:50
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The Barnes and Nobel have them, or did the book seems to disappear from the shelf pretty quick. Found my copy there a week ahead of street. Must have forgot the part about them having blanks in the chapter. Might be because the only part of the book I was truly disappointed with was how short the battle of Armageddon fight was. *edit* not to say that I didn't like it alot its just that when compared to (related to Battle of Fang) Magnus got a lot more face time than Angeron did. But then again we also got Magnus getting punted through a thunderhawk by Bjorn. Still a good read. I just wish the second act got fleshed out a bit more. EyeRChris fucked around with this message at 08:53 on Jul 22, 2013 |
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Jul 22, 2013 08:47
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EyeRChris posted:The Barnes and Nobel have them, or did the book seems to disappear from the shelf pretty quick. Found my copy there a week ahead of street. Battle of the Fang is so good.  For what it's worth, I think part of the reason blanks can't become Space Marines is the process involves heavy psychic indoctrination. In Space Wolf, doesn't Ragnar get memories basically turkey-basted into his skull by some psyker servitor machine?
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Jul 22, 2013 11:01
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Any idea when the Yarrick novel will be available on retail or amazon? I kinda want to read a novel about a commissar that is so bad rear end that Orkz consider him an honorary war boss.
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Jul 22, 2013 11:33
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VanSandman posted:I think part of the reason blanks can't become Space Marines is the process involves heavy psychic indoctrination. In Space Wolf, doesn't Ragnar get memories basically turkey-basted into his skull by some psyker servitor machine? I got the impression that it was more of a science/dark age of technology based machine. However I think you are right, but maybe its also because blanks are so rare and then the chances of them passing training etc. CreepyGuy9000 fucked around with this message at 16:58 on Jul 22, 2013 |
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Jul 22, 2013 12:39
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VanSandman posted:Battle of the Fang is so good. That, and I'd think their general nature of isolation and introversion wouldn't make them the best candidates for the space-bros. Even non-psykers don't want to be around them and are affected by their blankness.
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Jul 22, 2013 14:18
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TheStampede posted:That, and I'd think their general nature of isolation and introversion wouldn't make them the best candidates for the space-bros. Even non-psykers don't want to be around them and are affected by their blankness. The Night Lords seem to manage. Badly, but they manage. Do Blanks get along ok with other Blanks?
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Jul 22, 2013 15:19
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