What a week for Space Wolves players, am I right? Yesterday’s Sunday Preview promises plenty of long-awaited new toys for their armies.
An absolutely stunning pairing of a Wolf Priest and Wolf Guard Battle Leader? Check.
A trio of ferocious Headtakers and their Hunting Wolf companions? Check.
A small army of Grey Hunters and Blood Claws to lead in to battle? Check.
A beautifully-rendered Codex Supplement, with gold foiling and a ribbon marker? Check.
The arrival of the recently-teased Space Wolves: The Young Wolf special edition trilogy boxed set? Uhh…
Belisarius Cawl: The Great Work (Special Edition), by Guy Haley
Okay, so maybe Space Wolves fans don’t get to have it all, and it might just be that Games Workshop doesn’t want Black Library and Grey Plastic sales to cannibalize one another, so while releasing a special edition of Belisarius Cawl is a thematic miss, Space Wolves fans might well be breathing a sigh of relief.
After all, with the anticipated price point for The Young Wolf is going to be somewhere around USD $180, we may be passionate about our hobby but we aren’t made of money.
This special edition is absolute shelf candy, especially for Adeptus Mechanicus fans, though I was disappointed by the lack of author’s commentary. Having either a Foreword or Afterword in them is a great way to set them apart from the standard release, and it really maximizes their attractiveness for me.
I wouldn’t expect these to last long, so have your browsers at the ready when the ordering window opens this Saturday.
Warhammer 40,000 Crusade: Armageddon
Also preordering is the latest installment of Warhammer 40K’s narrative play series. Since I don’t (yet) play tabletop there was a time I wouldn’t have given this a second look, but after doing a deep dive Lore & More feature on its predecessor, Crusade: Nachmund Gauntlet, I found these are absolute treasure troves of lore and information (as I put it, “system-agnostic campaign sourcebooks” for any Warhammer RPG). You can certainly anticipate a similar feature in the works after I get my hands on this one.
Crusade: Armageddon will be releasing in regular and deluxe editions. No difference outside of the presentation.
New Special Editions Teased
Earlier I mentioned the upcoming Space Wolves: The Young Wolf boxed set. While we don’t know when it’s going to become available, it’s only thanks to an article on Warhammer Community this week that we know if it at all. WARCOM went ahead and teased four upcoming special editions, another of which was the Belisarius Cawl book coming up for preorder this week.
One of the other two revealed was another work by Guy Haley, this one brand-new. The Silent King will be the final installment of the Dawn of Fire series, and this beautiful faux-leather edition will also include an introduction by the author as well as “notes for further reading around the campaign.” That’s my kinda homework!
Finally, Robbie MacNiven’s Carcharodons trilogy will at last see its third book in the series with Void Exile. The special edition of the book will follow the same formatting recently given to Red Tithe and Outer Dark.
ICYMI
Two articles landed this week on the ol’ Goonaroonie covering the Black Library. First, I wrapped up my 2024 Year in Review with a look at the eShort stories of 40K. The digital subscriptions are the proving grounds of new and upcoming talent, and we had a bumper crop of debuts last year. Yesterday’s rookie may well be tomorrow’s all-star, so it’s always fun to see who is entering the talent pipeline.
In addition, I reviewed Elemental Council by Noah Van Nguyen. There was a lot to like in this thick, well-plotted story involving an insurrection on a T’au-occupied world.
And Now a Word from Our Sponsor
Hard to believe this week’s column is already the twelfth I’ve done for Goonhammer since being brought aboard the team. This represents a serious investment and commitment towards expanding our lore and Black Library coverage, and I hope you’ve been enjoying reading them as much as I have writing them.
This kind of content is only possible with the support of our readers. If you’re one of our patrons, thank you for helping make all this possible. If not, would you please consider becoming a patron today?
RPG Corner
Cubicle 7 continues working to spotlight as many of the rich Warhammer settings as possible with role-playing games, with a new one set in The Old World. For those keeping score at home, this will be their third product line for Warhammer Fantasy, joining Age of Sigmar: Soulbound and Warhammer Fantast Role-Play.
While The Old World hasn’t been released yet, this week they teased the covers (shown above) for the upcoming Player’s Guide and Gamemaster’s Guide.
Quick Hits
- If you’re an audiobook reader, Guy Haley’s Valedor (2014) has an audiobook version now available. No details on who is providing the narration yet.
- If, like me, you’re somewhat audiobook-ambivalent, it never hurts to grab one at a discount. Until tomorrow you can get Aaron Dembski-Bowden’s The Emperor’s Gift (2012) for 75% off. This tale about the Grey Knights on Armageddon also saw a special edition printing this past January.
- WarhammerTV’s Scribes & Scriveners will be dropping a new episode soon, this one with author Robbie MacNiven. Although his taste in football clubs is suspect (Rangers FC), he’s written some terrific tales including last year’s Oaths of Damnation (reviewed here).
- Back in 1913, Edgar Rice Burroughs- the creator of iconic characters such as Conan and John Carter- published a book called The Monster Men, a riff on the classic Frankenstein-esque tale of science creating artificial life. Not only is the book getting a new edition reprint, but a new sequel is also getting released alongside it. The sequel is penned by Josh Reynolds, prolific Black Library author of Lukas the Trickster and the Fabius Bile trilogy. Both books are now available for preorder!
- Tim Waggoner’s Just Add Writer: A Complete Guide to Writing Tie-ins and IP has released, and my preordered copy arrived this past weekend. Looking forward to the nuggets of wisdom and insight from a well-established property writer whose credits include Skin Man for the Black Library, Conan, and Terrifier.
- Preorders are now available for Shauna Lawless’s latest book, arriving this November. Set in medieval Ireland in the time of the Norman Invasion, Daughter of the Otherworld is historical fantasy from the author of The Last Psyker, a short story that was part of last year’s Astra Militarum Week.
- Two Horus Heresy books that had been unavailable as digital copies have returned to the Black Library. Vulkan Lives, by Nick Kyme, and Dan Abnett’s The Unremembered Empire are now “back in stock.” When asked, Kyme didn’t know why they’d been removed from availability to begin with.
- Triggers author Paul Kane has released the paperback anthology Bleeding Hearts: Dark And Twisted Tales Of Love. He’s also co-edited a romantasy anthology currently up for preorder called The Secret Romantic’s Book of Magic, and you can learn more at his website!
- The terrific Warhammer Book Club Podcast dropped their most recent review, taking a close look at Jude Reid’s Fulgrim- The Perfect Son. Jen and Keri are always good for a blunt and candid appraisal, and I’m waiting only to finish the book myself before giving this one a listen.
Writers Are Fans, Too
Guy Haley’s all over the Black Library Weekly this week, so it’s only fitting to show off this absolutely stunning Triaros Armoured Conveyor he shared this week. The weathered treading in particular is amazing work- this thing looks like it could actually be made out of metal instead of plastic.
Check out this work in progress from Robert Rath (The Infinite and the Divine, Assassinorum: Kingmaker). This is part of his Exorcists Kill Team, and he’s been experimenting with masking tape to get that oath wrap effect.
Let’s do one more! Prodigious Black Library author Ben Counter (Soul Drinkers, Blood on the Mountain) showed off this work in progress. While he happily labeled Lucius as “40K’s biggest jerk,” Erebus may want a word.
That’s it for this week! It’s been a wild couple of weeks for teasers and trailers, and if you’re aiming to play the Preorder Lottery this weekend for Belisarius Cawl, may the odds be ever in your favor!
Have any questions or feedback? Drop us a note in the comments below or email us at contact@goonhammer.com. Want articles like this linked in your inbox every Monday morning? Sign up for our newsletter. And don’t forget that you can support us on Patreon for backer rewards like early video content, Administratum access, an ad-free experience on our website and more.
