Olde Weirde- The Novels

 Hi all,

for this weeks delve into the murky past of our hobby, I'm going off on a slight tangent (yes, I know it's only the second post!) and I'm going to talk about the war game-inspired fiction of yesteryear. My inspiration- the fact that I'm currently reading "Angel Exterminatus", the latest in the Horus Heresy series from Black Library.

Now, this is a pretty good series of books. I especially like Graham McNeill's work (mainly because his books remind me of David Gemmell's Drenai novels). But there are books from years ago which evoke very fond memories for me. Krokidil Tears for example, based on the Dark Future games by Jack Yeovil (she also wrote Genevieve, which is again fantastic) Not great writing, but a fantastic daemon host-assassin story. If you get the chance, pick a copy up second hand.



But I'll stick to the main-stream: 40K and Fantasy. Top of the list on fiction inspired by/ written by GW has to be Rogue Trader and Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay (or, more accurately, the truly awesome Realm of Chaos pair of sourcebooks.) There are great touches in the background, like the REAL name of the 1st Legion Primarch (Lionel El'Ghonsen) and the name of the galactic rubbish-dump of the Galaxy (Birmingham.) These touches are missing from the books we get now, which are more concerned with Grimdark than they are originality, or Gods forbid comic relief.

I miss the glory days when Black Library was establishing itself- when we had Warhammer Monthly comics (bring back DwarfLords!) and Inferno. This was the first broad-scale exploration of the GW worlds, before they had become entrenched, and authors had freedom to write what they wanted. It made the whole game environment feel much more free and easy. Of course, the downside is that it gave us people like Dan Abnett (the Imperium should't have Railguns Dan) and returned writers like Bill King to us (surely Gotrek doesn't have a thumb left by now?), but I think that's a fair trade for fleshing out Space Wolves, Dark Angels, Vampires and Dwarves.

My favourite book from the old days? Ian Watson's "Space Marine". This was the first time Lysander of the Imperial Fists was presented to us, as an acolyte, then Scout, then Marine. Squats are in it. My personal high point- when a squad of Imperial Fist Scouts infiltrate an Imperator Titan, eat the brains of the crew, learn to control it and wreak havoc. Yes, the Ossmodula works in a novel (something that seems to have been forgotten about since.) This book provided the inspiration for my own Space Marine Chapter, and was the first book which really got me hooked into the background of the hobby (plus it starts with a great Necromunda style Hive description.)

The days of high fantasy in GW seem long gone (in all of their systems) and I think that's a pity. I now have to visit D&D for my dose of ridiculous swords and sorcery antics. In summation- Batman as Dark Knight is all well and good, but I can paint with Avengers playing in the background.

Comments, as always, are welcome.