Conclave review: 40k Legends/Fifteen Hours by Mitchel Scanlon

Who'd ever thought we'd get a Warhammer partwork eh? I remember there being a Lord of the Rings one years back which I think GW were involved with but generally the universes Games Workshop have created have always been very niche and very underground with a the vast majority of people having no idea what a Space Marine is. To be honest that's just the way I like it, once something becomes mainstream it is doomed to become homogenized and compromised. It's one of the reasons I hope there is never a Hollywood version of anything GW produce.

Nonetheless Hatchette Partworks have got the rights to republish a number of 40k novels, under the moniker 40k Legends and they first launched on a trial earlier in the year. I didn't manage to grab one of the limited release run but signed up online to subscribe as the incentive gifts for subscribers looked great. For my interest I was sent a couple of books, both were damaged (presumably returned stock) but other than that they were fine, The paper quality was OK (though overall a bit on the cheap side compared to a Black Library hardback) and to my relief they were full copies rather than some abridged abomination. The bonus colour sections were at the end of the book and largely consisted of reprinted artwork and background material. Overall I felt they were worth what they were priced at but wasn't exactly blown away. I didn't bother reading them as they were both titles I had read before (seriously who HASN'T read Xenos at this point? - If YOU haven't do so NOW) so I set them aside and waited to see if the collection would continue. After all, I wanted those subscription freebies.

It did, Scant months later I received notification that the collection would resume and they would be resending the original two books as well, This was pleasing as the copies I had were damaged but as it turned out there was another reason for re-issuing the books.

Firstly, the spine art had changed. 40K legends has one of those things going on where all the books in order makes up a picture, this also means you get sent random books out of order so you don't get a complete section of art and get tempted to cut off the subscription early. The new art looks OK, I think I preferred the old one if i'm being honest, still it's a minor change. The quality of the books was unchanged but the colour section had moved to the middle of the book to align with Black Library releases. Though this isn't a major problem I did prefer it at the end rather than disrupting the middle of the book. More bizarrely, and possibly as a result of moving the colour sections there is a number of completely blank pages at the end of the book, and not just one or two, we are talking about a dozen or so here. I find it hard to believe they couldn't have found SOMETHING to fill the space..

So that was the books, I'll talk briefly about the subscriber gifts although it is too late to get them now I believe. With my first delivery I got a poster of the Imperium, which was small but of decent quality and a rather nifty faux leather notebook bearing the Aquila. I was pleased to find out it was blank paper rather than lined too. Perfect for scribbles and sketches. It's a lovely item and of premium quality.

It was to be book 4 before I got a title I hadn't read, in this case Fifteen hours by Mitchel Scanlon, a title that had somewhat passed me by at the time (and given his disastrous Heresy effort not a book I was in a hurry to read), i'll get to reviewing that in just a second but I want to talk about the collection a little more first. With books 3 and 4 came my next two freebies, a rather splendid set of artwork coasters and two metal Chaos icon bookends. Given at this point i'd spent a total of twenty quid on the collection I was quite pleased. I still want that Inquisition Tankard though! (delivery four - they aren't stupid)

So lets look at Fifteen hours. Like I say, I never read this at the time, there was just so much else being released at the time (though this was pre heresy series if I recall correctly) and Guard stories that weren't Tanith based didn't exactly rock my boat. Given the only novel I HAVE read by this author I found to be a terrible (if perhaps harshly judged at the time) Horus Heresy entry doing no justice to the Dark Angels it wasn't exactly on my list of books to pick up.

Still, I was determined to get some use out of this series so I resolved to read it, thankfully it wasn't a particularly long book, being from a time when the page count was greatly diminished. It was actually little longer than the novellas that are released these days. This was actually something that I found quite encouraging, a nice quick read between big novels.

Fifteen Hours is one of those stories that just don't get written anymore. A small scale personal tale in a time when everything these days is of battles of an epic scale. It's a shame really as a few short stories aside these days the minutiae of the universe are rarely explored.

The story revolves around one man, Arvin Larn. I say man, perhaps boy would be more accurate as the tale begins on his home world as he enjoys his last night of freedom and normal life. Though his existence is somewhat simple and idyllic you know his universe is to be turned upside down as he has been drafted to the latest regiment to be raised from his homeworld. The author shows a remarkable talent for grasping and illustrating the dichotomy of the absurdity and stark totalitarianism of the 40k universe as is amply illustrated by the letter announcing the drafting, Imperial Propaganda at it's finest.

Further to this is the crux of the entire story, the hinge on which the narrative pivots where a simple adminstratum error sends the  troop ship containing Arvin and his company to the WRONG planet where instead of suppressing a simple rebellion he is embroiled in a losing battle of attrition against the Ork scourge. From there on the young guardsmen is given a harsh lesson in the realities of life in the Emperors service as naive illusions are shattered and long held beliefs shaken by his myriad experiences in the field in his first 15 hours. Of course the  titular 15 hours in question (which may in itself be a nod to a certain Blackadder Goes Forth episode)  is the average life of a rookie guardsmen in the field.

On the whole reading this book reminded me more than anything else of Charleys War, the long running comic strip by Pat  Mills (who went on to write the Redeemer Necromunda Series for Warhammer Monthly which is also well worth checking out). Of course where Charley's War was a whimsical look at the life of a young Tommy in the Somme, Fifteen hours is bleak and brutal and suitably Grimdark (without a bolter in sight) and relentlessly oppressive. That's not to say that Pat Mills opus wasn't sobering in it's own way but Fifteen Hours is on another level all together.

It's the tragic futility of war that is highlighted here, the grim meatgrinder of Imperial Society that demands high sacrifice and unending blind devotion in an endless  circle of stagnation purely to maintain Man's existence. As a reader of Black Library books from the very beginning there was something refreshingly familiar about this book and I enjoyed it a great deal. It was also free of the typing errors that plague later publications as GW seem to have assigned proofreading to a dsylexic bushbaby these days. The  writing was fine and this kind of subject matter seems to be Mr Scanlon's forte. In fact reading Fifteen Hours made me slightly more sympathetic toward Descent of Angels and I can see why that book was written like it is. It doesn't make it a better book but I can at least see what he was going for.

So I have to say i'm very grateful to the 40k Legends series for prompting me to read Fifteen Hours and I would not hesitate to recommend it to readers that might perceive that the current novels might not take the horrors of war seriously enough and in fact any that want to read a short small scale story about the horrific realities of life in the 41st Millennium. They certainly don't write them like this anymore.

Given however that out of six books I already have four I do need to question the value of the series to me. The other book that I haven't read is Crossfire, another old novel. Had I been so inclined I could have easily picked up both of these novels for a very small sum and it seems somewhat uneconomic to continue, the fact that no list of the 70 planned novels is available further compounds my dilemma. The books are nice but if I own the majority of what has been released (usually in a series so I can't even replace the individual books) then i'll have to gauge if it is worth continuing. I'll wait to see what turns up in my next delivery, once I have that shiny freebie in my hand THEN i'll make a final decision as to whether the Legend continues.

Hobby Diary 4th December 2016

Bit of an odd week really, the first week that I haven't engaged in hobby everyday despite having a week off work, I did manage to squeeze a game of Silver Tower in though and undercoated the models as I was reminded of just how nice they are. I chose to undercoat the vast majority of the models white as I'll be aiming for bright colours befitting Tzeentch's chosen. Of course there are a few models that require a black undercoat such as the Grot Crawlers and a few of the Heroes.

The game itself didn't go so well, to be fair we were attempting one of the harder trials maybe someway before we should. We were doing well but then a couple of unlucky rolls saw us get attacked by Deathleaper and then finished off by a group of Tzaangors. That'll learn us. Oh well.

Other than that I tried to do some more to the UCM fleet but my back started to play up so sitting bent over a painting desk was a no go. I got a little more done before it gave out but not as much as I liked.

So it was back to assembly, I had done a trade with a mate for another set of Cultists from Overkill so i got those done, converting a few to use the shotguns i had left over from the neophytes box. I'm really looking forward to getting these painted, It's a big job too, there are a LOT of models there. Still, I am determined that they will be my next 40k project.

In the meantime i haven't forgotten about 30k and I had intended to get a Contemptor AND a Tactical Squad but mental and physical problems had killed that plan off. It had not been a good week. I did manage to get one of the Contemptors painted but that was about as far as it got.

So a blip to be sure but after doing hobby everyday for quite some time a small lapse seems reasonable. I have some games with Lee scheduled for this weekend so they will feature in next months diary. I still have two days to get the Contemptor done though so you never know, though it seems very unlikely at this moment in time.

Lee

I have completely thrown my painting schedule out the window and gone on a hobby binge of Horus Heresy model construction. I haven't made all of my models as I have a shortage of 32mm bases and Word Bearer shoulder pads but they are on order. While I wait for them to arrive there is a queue of constructed and primed models awaiting my attention and with time off week on the horizon having I need plenty to do.

First up is Lorgar.Though he is not the most powerful of Primarchs he will be a monster once he gets amongst regular troops. If he is in my army then my Word Bearers get buffs to their leadership and combat results. He is a psyker as well which is hard to come by in most lists.

I converted a Legion Centurion with a jump pack who I will use at the head of my assault force. I have three units with jump packs, one assault squad and 2 Ashen Circle which will be a fast stab into my opponents guts. He is made from the body of a Legion Champion with an added jump pack, I added a possessed head to show his favour in the eyes of the pantheon. He is armed with a thunder hammer and plasma pistol so that he has some real heavy armour smashing ability. My Ashen Circle are biased towards any infantry so they need someone to back them up who can whack dreadnoughts and the like.

As command support I have two Apothecaries and a Master of Signals. The Apothecaries can either be a Primus Medicae upgrade for a Centurion which offers the potential for additional victory points or as an Apothecarion detachment allowing me to attach them to squads and increase their survivability The Master of Signal can call down a bombardment that will help my heavy support starved Dark Brethren detachments.

This Breacher squad is an additional troops choice to pad out my army requirements. They are also my first MkIII armour unit.The Sergeant has been modified with an old plastic chaos warrior head that really looks at home with the simple design of the MkIII armour.

This recon squad is also a troops unit. I aim to have them targeting army characters and special troops. I have a lot of bikes and some jet bikes that I can include later on that will give me a decent scouting army. That needs another squad of these, a character on a bike and some speeders for additional heavy support.

Burning heretics seems to be a passion of the Word Bearers so these heavy flamers fit right in. As they need to get up close to the enemy to give him a severe tan I will likely have them in a Rhino to get them where they need to be.

If there is someone who absolutely positively needs to be taken off the board then these Volkite Culverins will do the job. They spew out 4 shots each and each unsaved wound generates an additional hit. They may not have much in the way of armour penetration but the enemy has a lot of dice to roll for saving throws.

This Deimos pattern Rhino will accompany the Heavy Flamers if they are included otherwise there are Tactical squads that can make use of it.

Another flame unit, the Predator Infernus. All the weapons are magnetised which lets me swap out the Flamestorm cannon for a Magna-melta depending on the situation.

This trio of dreads are added to the two Mahra Gal dreads I have so I have quite a walker heavy force. Each of these is heavily armed and is designed to fill in for the lack of tank busting weaponry the rest of my units have. As well as this I have constructed my corrupted Knight who has magnetised carapace weaponry that I can swap depending on whether there are flyers in the opposing army.

I have a lot of daemons so so took this time as an opportunity to put some together. The three Plague Toads can double up as Beasts of Nurgle and the Fiends of Slaanesh can dole out a lot of attacks. You don't see them on the battlefield often so I reckon they will surprise a lot of people once they get into combat. With Codex Traitor Legions due out shortly I will need a lot of demons as this appears to be what the Word Bearers are most famous for ten thousand years later. I'll get round to them once this lot are painted.

Hobby Diary 20/11/2016

Though I have done little on the painting front, I have nonetheless done a bit of hobby each night. I still had two tanks to assemble for my Genestealer Cult. Now, it might surprise you to know that I have NEVER assembled a Chimera or Leman Russ. Thankfully they are both very easy kits. One a night was no problem at all. I wanted to magnetize the Leman Russ Turret but due  to the design it's not really possible. Oh well.

Another night was spent spraying my UCM fleet as I got to grips with my Airbrush for the first time in an age and another couple of nights went on painting them though I was far from happy with the results in the end.

Y'see I had a vision in mind for the fleet. I was going to aim for a Sulaco look, a military green/grey that would convey the sense of scale I was going for. I had a look at some colour swatches and Vallejo German Green looked about right. It was even a sod to get hold of. Imagine my annoyance when I realised that it was FAR more green than i had planned on, more akin to the base colour for my Emperors Blades than anything I had envisaged.

Bugger,

Even after mixing in some black and Drakenhoff Nightshade it was still not right. Well, fuck it I thought. Stick it in the airbrush and get it done.

I love airbrushing, though I am but a novice and haven't yet got to grips with the even the most basic of techniques. It makes basecoating so incredibly quick and easy. Yes the airbrush requires a fair bit of cleaning and maintenance but I consider that worth the saved time it would take to basecoat this lot by hand..

So a bit messy to be sure as I got to grips with Airbrushing again, but I got them all basecoated, Sadly they were still dark green so a few coats of Drakenhoff  Nightshade were thrown on top and this helped somewhat. However, it still wasn't the colour I wanted so I knew that I was going to have an uphill struggle painting this lot. They were barely basecoated and already I wasn't happy with them

.

I threw on some mid range metallics and mixed up the basecoat with some Vallejo stone grey and black to get a kind of dark grey olive  which I ustilised on some panels here and there. Overall I wanted to add some bright blue energy to the ships, it looked rather cool in Call of Duty Infinite Warfare and I wanted to try to replicate it. Sadly it just wasn't happening.

In the end I was just about satisfied with the way it turned out. I'm far from happy with the scheme but it'll do. I'll need to see how it looks on one of the larger capital ships before I can form a final opinion on it.

Still, my confidence had been knocked. Somewhat deterred I turned my thoughts towards the PHR. I wasn't writing off the UCM but I definitely needed a break from them. So I started to put together the other fleet.

The PHR frigates are very easy to put together and with a single hull configuration it means the only bit that was going to vary was the underslung piece. They would be easy to magnetize and swap out but in all honesty with the low squadron numbers and the high number of models I had it wasn't necessary. I had all the Frigates done over the course of a couple of evenings.

The cruisers are a lot more fiddly, however, the principle is still the same, the flanks of the ships have weapons just like Battlefleet Gothic models they could be magnetised but a couple of the configurations are repeated so I haven't bothered at this stage.One point I must make is that a couple of the sprue connection points are in very frustrating places. One is right on the top of the hull, nigh on impossible to clean up.

The Kickstarter Exlusive battlecruiser was a different matter entirely with many of the components being resin, There was a lot of warping and hot water was required to straighten things out. Worse, the two hull sections really didn't want to go together so elastic bands were employed. There isn't even a hole for the flying stand, very disappointing overall.

And that was about it for this week. not bad but the UCM fleet not turning out the way I wanted was very disappointing. I really didn't want UCM green. Oh well, I have a week off of work and only a few plans so hopefully i'll get a a lot more done then, and then there is my Heresy entry to think about as well as Lee has surged even further ahead, as you can read below....

I didn't do one of these last week as I spent all weekend with my other half being in hospital so got no hobby done at all for those two days. Despite then being in hospital myself for two days during the week I have still managed to hit one of my hobby goals and completed November's Horus Heresy unit on time, my Word Bearers Sicaran tank.

I'm really pleased with how quickly this got done. I'm always a little bit intimidated whenever I start any Forge World piece but there was not a lot of exterior detail that wasn't going to be red which really sped things along. I even got the tank tracks done first as those are the parts I hate most on any tank and probably helps explains why I like Eldar so much.

The build was easy enough, there are some mould likes that may be visible in the pictures that I had no chance of getting rid of but that's fine. I justify them still being there as battle damage or the beginnings of blessed change.

Colour wise the tank was airbrushed all over with a mix of Forge World's Word Bearer and Gal Vorbak red. From there I painted the tracks Runefang, washed black and dry brushed with Runefang again, I really didn't want to spend too much time on them. The track housings were painted Corvus black same as my Ashen Circle and highlighted with Eshin Grey. 

The red sections were given a Leviathan Purple wash in the recessed areas, tidied with the original red mix then highlighted with a mix of Word Bearers Red and Blood Red. All over are blasphemous excerpts from the Book of Lorgar picked out in white. I didn't bother with the transfers as I was happy enough with this effect but didn't want to overpower the model with them. You'll notice I used the Lascannons on my Sicaran (which are magnetised for transport). The Word Bearer's special formation, the Dark Brethren, only permits one heavy support choice so whatever I take has to be able to knock out the heavy hitters in my opponents army.

I've already decided on December's Horus Heresy model. As I want to be able to spend more time on my Wild West Exodus models next month I've chosen a single model, the plastic Calth Contemptor. I should be able to knock that one out pretty quickly giving me a couple of weeks to complete some Hired Hands. 

After that I really need to get back to an infantry unit. Most likely another tactical squad of 10 men or maybe the MkV assault squad I have as they also count as troops. One I get a regular unit done I will treat myself to something more exciting, like some Gal Vorbak.

White Dwarf Review: Issue 3

Right, i think this will be the last one for now, i'll do another review if the magazine substantially changes but  I think we are just going to be retreading a lot of old ground from here on out, we know more or less how the new White Dwarf works now. Of course if you DO wish for reviews of every issue please leave a comment below and I may be swayed.

Onwards to Issue 3:

A break from artwork this month as the models from the Prospero Burns Horus Heresy game dominate the front cover. Part of me wishes that this had still been the artwork from the boxed game, though i'll be honest the size and layout may have been difficult to translate to a magazine front cover. Besides, it meant we got a sneak preview of the Custodes weeks in advance (though the Sisters of Silence were craftily hidden). I still prefer artwork on my magazine cover though.

Planet Warhammer has a big splash on Prospero Burns as you would expect. Looking more or less like an improved version of Calth I can see this one selling particularly well. I've already got mine! Mk III armour really looks the part and oddly enough i'm more impressed by these than the other elements of the game. Still, a full review will be incoming on that in due course so i'll not dwell on Prospero Burns here.

Elsewhere we get new scenery, for both 40k and AOS and new scenic bases for heroes. At 20 quid for a set of 8 40k or 11 AOS bases of varying sizes its not a bad deal compared to the competition but some of them look rather impractical. There is also a new mini version of the Mould line remover  with inbuilt file and canister for holding superglue. Genius idea and day one purchase for me. The other noteworthy release is a Citadel Tints set, 10 for 30 quid though as they are 3 ml pots this seems expensive to me. Hopefully a video will be released that will sway my opinion.

Black library is covered as usual as The Beast Arises series comes to an end, there is also a very expensive new Salamanders novella about the artifacts of Vulkan for the Heresy. £35? On your bike! I'll presume that the limited edition and we'll get a sanely priced release down the road. We are getting a Heresy novel every month now anyway, i've no need to fork out beyond that. I'm also massively behind on my Heresy reviews so i'm in no rush to pick up even more overpriced novellas.

So after Planet Warhammer and a brief piece about Total War Warhammer (there is a code to download Grombrindal as a hero in the game on the front of the mag) we are onto Golden Demon. Again.  GW seem to host a GD at every event they run now so I do not see this feature ending anytime soon. Nice paint jobs but some excellent tips aside, a bit redundant. Some of the models aren't even that well painted. I feel GD has become somewhat diluted now, more akin to Armies on Parade or a store painting competition, i think it has lost some prestige. It was a special event when it was held once a year at Games Day, this has now changed, familiarity breeds contempt indeed.

The running  order of articles is switched up, I guess in an attempt to keep things fresh, A Tale of Four Gamers is next as once again they seem to have added as much as they have been able to paint this month to their forces. This is the first time I have been let down by the Nurgle army as the Slaughterbeast looks very mediocre, i guess the distinctive painting style is shown up a bit on large models. Better is the Terrorgheist in the Undead force.  The theme this month appears to be monsters. Apparently there are three months left for this series. I'm sure i'll have run out of interest before then. There is no reason or order to the army building it's just add as much as you can in a month. Not a patch on the originals.

Temporal Distort is next and I got my wish from last month granted as it goes all the way back to 1995, just before I got into the hobby proper. With Epic Tyranids, Drawn Battle Report maps and the introduction of the Valhallans there was a heady sense of nostalgia on reading this article, in fact i'd really like to see it extended a bit, a double page spread just doesn't seem enough.

Hall of Fame is the Landraider, no complaints here, it's a truly iconic model in every sense of the word. A lot of the material is reused from previous issues but it's been a while so I think this gets a free pass. Another Jes Goodwin Masterpeice, in fact i'd quite happily see similar featured every month. Some of those old articles about the design process were fascinating.I still remember the one about the Falcon Grav tank way back in the day. Now that was a revolutionary plastic kit at the time (which has still held up well)

Next up is The cover feature which is of course, Prospero Burns, presenting a good look at the set up, the models themselves, a bit of Heresy history and designer notes. Pretty much everything apart from the rules actually. It would have been nice to see even the most basic of play throughs. Perhaps they realise most people just get these boxes for the models. A shame. I'd rather hoped for more especially after wasting half hour of my life watching the developers video for a paltry 6 minutes of gameplay explanation.

Ultimate guide to...  is Commoragh, most of it you'll know but it's nice to see the Dark Eldar featured as I had feared that it would just become a plug for whatever the new release was that month. The Dark Eldar haven't been shown much love or attention recently and they are an amazing range (Jes Goodwin again) crying out for an update to make them playable, let's hope it comes sooner rather than later.  I have a massive army collecting dust right now.

Army of the month is a nice Blood Ravens Army, this is where the fold out section is too. It's nice but not spectacular. Something other than Space Marines next month please!

The battle report is an AOS affair but what is this? Points? Army lists? Icons and Arrows on a proper top perspective map?!?. They almost convinced me AOS is a serious game.  In all honesty it is a cracking write up, you very much get a good idea of what the game is like even if it does still seem horrifically unbalanced towards the Stormcast Eternals (though the army points values are equal). Great stuff and certainly the standout surprise of the issue. I still don't like the simple core rules of the game or the majority of the models but i'll be damned if they don't do a good job of making it look good.

Armies on Parade gives us a few excellent entries, some really inspired and crazy stuff here. Illuminations is Prospero Burns themed, Battlegrounds is a big BIG Chaos Fortress.

The rules section gives us a Contemptor based seventh mission for Prospero Burns and 30k rules for Sisters and Custodians (40k rules are downloadable from the website though I do not approve - I think they should remain Heresy only - but hey, gotta boost sales I guess) and a warscroll for the new Stormcast model.

Blanchistu is taking a month off, a good idea as it gets a bit samey, it looks like we'll get some gaming action from Blanchitsu next month though as people take their warbands to battle. John looks a bit frail these days i hope he is in good health other than the effects of his stroke a few years back. Losing Wayne England this year was a big enough blow.

Sprues and Glue is around basing in a plug to the new releaases and the Paint Splatter focuses on last months new textured paints with a detailed guide to continue the basing theme. Eavy Metal Masterclass carries on this time focusing on cloaks. Hopefully it will be a regular feature. Lastly there is a page on using the new tints, bizarrely using printed swatches rather than actual pictures of the ways you can change the colours. It's not particularly useful and doesn't compel me to fork out £30 quid for them, hopefully Duncan will do a video.

You know what closes out the mag, no need to repeat it. It's not changed in three issues.

And that's issue three done and dusted. My opinion hasn't changed much. This is by far the best version of the magazine that we have had since the Fat Bloke days when White Dwarf was edited by Paul Sawyer. That said there are a few niggling problems (still)

A fair few typos are creeping into the magazine. I have seen about six or seven in this issue. Now I do hate bad spelling and grammar at the best of times but in a professional magazine it's particularly galling. Nor is White Dwarf the only culprit, with Black Library novels and even Games Workshop Promotional material being subject to errors. I'll volunteer as a proof reader if it helps! So there is that, which is a shame as the rest of the mag looks nice and professional and slick (if a little sterile). I realise i'm as guilty of typos as the next man but then i'm not charging people six quid to read what i write.

Still too many non studio models, though sensibly Parade Ground appears to be missing for this issue. The adverts are fairly restrained though they do take up about 10% of the page count. One of the most pleasing things is that Subscribers genuinely get the magazine early, and not just a few days,.  It's a good thing too as there is little other incentive to subscribe with a 15% saving on the cover price still representing a 33% increase on the subscription I have held for 6 odd years.

As far as i am aware, this is the last WD with a freebie in it, now i'm not saying that they absolutely must have a freebie every month in order to make it worthwhile, but i'd like to see them throw a poster or something in every now and again, time will tell on that front, at the moment i think it's overpriced.

So that's three issues, and my overall review is that its a decent read, it doesn't take very long to get through and its not exactly rammed with material but what is here is mostly worthwhile. It is very pleasing to see just how many nods to the past there are as for a long time GW has completely neglected it's past. Yes many of the articles are inferior to their old versions but it shows a willingness from the company that bodes well for the future. I'll keep my subscription going for now, getting the mag a whole week early is quite the boon and I

do like a great deal of what's in it. Why not drop a comment below to let us know what you think?

Conclave Horus Heresy Novella Review: Wolf King By Chris Wraight

I've got a bit behind in my reviews, so far in fact that I'm going to have to start working backwards. Deathfire was meant to be the next if I were proceeding in order but frankly although I have a few notes written down, my attempts to go back and finish it only lengthen the gap. It wasn't all that memorable anyway. I remember a lot of crying Space Marines....

So, whilst I have  a backlog that only seems to increase with the frequent release rate of late I have decided to take action to stop the rot. I'm reviewing the last thing I read and will work backwards as time allows. The last thing I read was Chris Wraight's Novella, Wolf King.

I actually picked up Wolf King along with The Silent War (which i have just started). I had just finished Path of Heaven and was rather hoping that Wolf King would fill in a few of the gaps that i perceived in that book. After all they are by the same author so I somewhat hoped they worked as an accompaniment to each other.

As it turns out Wolf King is somewhat more standalone than that, barely referencing Path of Heaven or the White Scars at all. It could however be considered to take place immediately before it. (I'm reviewing Path of Heaven next by the way the aim is to get it done before I finish reading The Silent War...)

So anyway the plot of Wolf King finds the Space Wolves harried and hunted by the Alpha Legion, ravaged at the Battle of Prospero (Where Jaghatai Khan refused to aid Leman Russ) they are wounded and on the run, fighting a losing void war of attrition. Leman Russ in particular is very out of character in this book, he's brooding and conflicted, more Sulking than Wolfking. Some people have taken extreme umbrage at Russ's portrayal in this book but I have to say that Wraight rationalises everything rather well.

Russ is somewhat damaged here but more than anything else he is contemplative. He realizes that his legion has been manipulated into killing the Thousand Sons and he knows that it is his inflexible and predictable attitude that has allowed it to happen. It's more of an existential crisis than anything else. Yes, perhaps it is a little heavy handed and it is tough to emphasise with him entirely as he broods while his Legion is attacked again and again but it is a side of the Space Wolves Primarch that we have not seen before and it is rather refreshing to see something other than an infallible superhuman.
With Russ sitting in his hall casting runes as he searches for a way forward for his legion. it is left to his Jarls to lead the fleet as they follow his overriding orders to flee. Of course this doesn't sit well with his sons who would much rather fight and enact a number of rearguard actions against the Alpha Legion, losing more ships in the progress but at least going down fighting. Dissension builds though and Lord Gunn is inclined to stand and fight and die in one last glorious battle. For a moment the fate of the very legion itself rests on a knife edge...

Thankfully, everyone's favourite Space Wolf, Bjorn, turns up to shake Russ from his fugue state and get everything back on track. I'm not going to lie, Bjorn comes across a little deus ex-machina here, the answer to all the Vlka Fenrys ills. Russ certainly thinks so, one of his runes constantly lands face down and it just happens to be the one depicting a bear. Consulting with Bjorn, the Primarch discovers his mojo in time for the climax of the book. I wont go any further into the plot here for fear of spoilers but let's just say with an infiltrator on the Space Wolves vessel there is a lot more to events than a brooding Primarch. Revelations and sacrifice feature in equal measure by the time you get to the final page, the end result is more than satisfying.

Chris Wraight deftly wields a vastly reduced cast here, with no more than half a dozen characters featuring in any significant way. This allows him to construct a tight and focused narrative lacking the myriad subplots that can sometimes weigh a story down. His writing is as elegant as ever and for a book that deals with nothing but boarding actions and void warfare the action is visceral and brutal. It's a well crafted novella with decent characters and is pretty compelling, which is good as the book lacks chapters and instead is split into three lengthy parts.

Overall i would say that Wolf King comes as recommended but not essential. The author obviously understands the Space Wolves and should Dan Abnett not return to reclaim the legion he did so much work on with Prospero Burns then i think that Chris Wraight would serve as a worthy custodian. I look forward to his next entry in the Heresy with great interest.

8/10