Black Library Weekly: The Assassins are Here, and the Massacre is Coming

With Warhammer Community dropping lots of teasers here the last few weeks, nobody should have been surprised that the Limited Edition release of Robert Rath’s Assassinorum: Kingmaker is up for preorder this week. If anything, I was slightly surprised that there was only one! After all, we’ve got a trio of brand-new books and three Special Editions to look forward to, and it’s only a matter of time before they’re here.

What did surprise me was that Kill Team: Tomb World arrived so quickly, but hey, feast is certainly much preferred to famine (even if my wallet disagrees).

Assassinorum: Kingmaker was first published in April of 2022, with Rath first having started to play in that space three years prior with the short story Assassinorum: Divine Sanction. Here a pair of assassins are tasked with a bit of wetwork on a Knight world, and the intrigue and action has reminded more than one reader of James Bond.

This Special Edition will include a previously-released short story, Assassinorum: Iron Sight, as well as an introduction by Rath.

WarCom kept up the steady drip of excitement this week as well by announcing another upcoming title, and it’s almost starting to feel like August is a stealth Black Library Celebration with how much we’re getting to see.

They Got the Drop on Us

The Dropsite Massacre is a huge focus right now, what with the release of the newest edition of Horus Heresy. Perfect time, then, for a new novel from John French (Ahriman, The Dead Kingdom).

Dropsite Massacre will tell the story from different perspectives as the Imperium moves against the nascent rebellion within its ranks, hoping to crush this civil war before it can take hold. We know now, of course, that things didn’t go as hoped, lending an almost romantic air of ill-fated doom to the subsequent events. Excited to see French’s take on it!

No release date was given, but I wouldn’t expect we’ll have long to wait.

ICYMI

Here at Goonhammer we’ve been working our way through another of Warhammer 40K’s classic campaigns, this time the epic actions against the t’au in the Damocles Gulf. In practical terms that typically means one or more Lore Explainer features as well as a book review of the corresponding novella anthology. We’ve done it for Sanctus Reach, Shield of Baal (including a Lore & More feature specifically on Josh Reynolds’ excellent Deathstorm), and now we can add a look at the novella quartet Damocles.

Guy Haley’s Broken Sword was the standout story for me in this one, highlighting the true friendship that can develop between human and t’au. But if you’re looking for some spectacular action, the White Scars in particular won’t disappoint.

I’ve long been intrigued by Games Workshop’s marrying of lore and game rules, and it’s something we’re continuing to see. For instance, the new edition of the Horus Heresy tabletop will be delivering regular Tactica Journals, which combine new gameplay with plenty of lore and story (we reviewed the first one here).

For Warhammer Fantasy, the Arcane Journals fill a similar role, and this week our own Falcon and Liam got under the hood of the latest, Dawn of the Storm Dragon. While not strictly Black Library content, it plays in the same familiar space.

In a similar vein, Warhammer Community dropped a new entry in their Chronicles of Ruin bite-sized story series, Blood Offering, featuring the Nighthaunt.

Around the horn, the Fluffenhammer Podcast continued their issue-by-issue deep dive into Warhammer Monthly, this time going cover to cover on Issue #10 (December 1998). An issue of “highs and lows,” it features an installment of Daemonifuge as well as The Samos Sanction, a standalone Assassinorum tale. For those following our History of the Black Library series, we touched on that issue here ourselves!

Meanwhile, the wonderful WH40K Book Club pod rendered their verdict on the concluding entry in the Dawn of Fire series, The Silent King by Guy Haley.

Quick Hits

• Ludology is a podcast devoted to board game design, and the latest episode featured an interview with Nathan Long (Manslayer, The Broken Lance). In addition to being a writer, Long designed the game Shanghai Noir and they chatted awhile about narrative in game design. While Shanghai Noir is currently unpublished, Long has made it available on Tabletop Simulator for anyone who wants to give it a go!
• The Black Library site has offered up a new audiobook for its ‘Audio of the Month’ series, and this month it’s Gav Thorpe’s The High Kâhl’s Oath. This one is narrated by Debra Michaels and 75% off the usual cost. “If you’ve ever wondered what Warhammer 40K might look like if it leaned just a little harder into science fiction,” I wrote in my review of the book, “The High Kâhl’s Oath is your jam.” Ten bucks for eleven-and-a-half hours of entertainment is a helluva value, but the offer expires tomorrow!
• Speaking of audiobooks, there’s a new one coming soon for all you Star Wars fans out there. The Jaws of Jakku was written by Cavan Scott (Secrets of the Tau, Plague of the Nerglings) and will release on 09 October.
• Dominic McDowall-Thomas, CEO of Cubicle 7 Games, sat down with Wargamer to discuss the evolution of how their Age of Sigmar RPG’s upcoming Chaos expansion, Champions of Chaos went from being a regular Soulbound supplement into a complete standalone expansion. Because bursting through it’s carefully-placed parameters and taking on a life of its own is exactly what you’d expect from Chaos, right?

Writers Are Fans, Too!

While I’ll never scorn an author making an honest living selling the fruits of their imagination, I take an extra degree of satisfaction knowing how many of the writers whose stories and words populate the shelves of the Black Library are genuine Warhammer fans first, and Black Library writers second. Here’s a few who shared that love recently. 

First up, here’s some Legions Imperialis work from Andy Clark (Bad Loon Rising, Knightsblade). I’m intimidated enough by the prospect of painting full size-minis, I can’t even imagine what it takes to make these look this good!

Next we’ve got some terrific Blood Bowl minis from Denny Flowers (Grotsnik: Da Mad Dok, Above and Beyond) that he shared on social media.

Blood Bowl didn’t just capture Denny’s passion this week as David Guymer (Verminslayer, Angron: The Red Angel) shared some pics from his most recent tilt at the table. Here he is, relishing a breakaway run from his Skaven Gutter Runner.

And finally as we noted earlier, Robert Rath’s upcoming Special Edition, Assassinorum: Kingmaker, takes place on a Knight World. He’s not just about the assassins, though, if his work on this Titan is anything to go by!

Coming Attractions

Here’s a list of the date-set upcoming releases from the Black Library based on the available preorder information we have. As always, take all of this with a grain of salt unless it’s Games Workshop-confirmed.

Going forward, this section will be updated weekly in this column. Any titles that are announced but without a date will be added once a date is assigned it, and anything highlighted in green is something just added (or updated) this week.

2025

• The High Kâhl’s Oath, by Gav Thorpe (paperback, 8/26) (review)
• The End and the Death: Volume III, by Dan Abnett (paperback, 8/26) (review 1, 2)
• The Legend of Sigmar, by Graham MacNeill (paperback, 9/9)
• Ciaphas Cain: The Anthology, by Sandy Mitchell (paperback, 9/23)
• The Twice-Dead King: The Omnibus, by Nate Crowley (paperback, 9/23)
• Elemental Council, by Noah Van Nguyen (paperback, 10/7) (review)
• Morvenn Vahl: Spear of Faith, by Jude Reid (paperback, 10/21)
• Double Eagle, by Dan Abnett (paperback, 11/18)
• Death and Duty, by Steve Lyons (paperback, 11/18)
• Interceptor City, by Dan Abnett (paperback, 11/18) (review)
• Hell’s Last, by Justin D. Hill (paperback, 12/16)
• The Rise of Nagash, by Mike Lee (paperback, 12/16)

2026

• Farsight: Blade of Truth, by Phil Kelly (paperback, 1/27)
• Fulgrim: The Perfect Son, by Jude Reid (paperback, 1/27) (review)
• The Shattered and the Soulless, by Graham McNeill (paperback, 1/27)
• Vaults of Terra: The Omnibus, by Chris Wraight (paperback, 1/27)
• Siege of Terra: The Shattered and the Soulless, by Graham McNeill (paperback, 1/29)
• Huron Blackheart: Master of the Maelstrom, by Mike Brooks (paperback, 3/10)
• Carcharodons: Void Exile, by Robbie MacNiven (paperback, 3/10)
• The Green Tide, by Mike Brooks, Nate Crowley, and Justin Woolley (paperback 3/24)
• Carnage Unending, by Dan Abnett (paperback, 4/21)

That’s it for this week, happy reading!

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