Warhammer 40K Lore Discussion

Thaluikhain

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To be fair, they kept promising big sweeping changes to WHFB and then disappointing the fans b forgetting about that (Albion and Storm of Chaos), so credit for actually doing something, it's just the thing was rubbish.
 

Trunkage

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I'm not into Fantasy but I remember they basically exploded the entire universe or something, and started this Age of Sigmar thing.

It even has Sigmarines! I mean... Stormcast Eternals...
I've heard they might go back because Total is not set in Age of Sigmar and would just confuse people if they moved from the game to real life

But that was when the second one was released...
 

Thaluikhain

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Well, AoS dwarves (or whatever they are currently called) are much like squats anyway. Also, that article mentions the demiure, which were canonically not squats but also were space dwarves (but alien), might be them.
 

Zykon TheLich

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*Looks towards his old copy of the Warhammer 40K Compendium*

Well, I always like to think they're just the least updated army in 40K. Although my rare bearded ratlings sometimes used to put in a showing with the guard on the odd occasion that I played.

EDIT: Looks like it is indeed squats...

 
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Dirty Hipsters

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I feel like reading some Warhammer books.

I've read the Eisenhorn trilogy and really enjoyed it. As far as my familiarity with the universe, I've played a couple of Warhammer 40K games (currently playing Darktide with some friends), but I don't have a huge familiarity with the overall lore of the universe.

Any recommendations? I've heard people really like Ciaphus Cain (it was described to me as "Blackadder in space") and I was also recommended Brothers of the Snake and Spears of the Emperor. What would be the best to read for someone who doesn't already have a lot of 40K backstory in their brain?
 

Bob_McMillan

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I feel like reading some Warhammer books.

I've read the Eisenhorn trilogy and really enjoyed it. As far as my familiarity with the universe, I've played a couple of Warhammer 40K games (currently playing Darktide with some friends), but I don't have a huge familiarity with the overall lore of the universe.

Any recommendations? I've heard people really like Ciaphus Cain (it was described to me as "Blackadder in space") and I was also recommended Brothers of the Snake and Spears of the Emperor. What would be the best to read for someone who doesn't already have a lot of 40K backstory in their brain?
You could move on to the Ravenor and Bequin trilogies. Not as good, but similiar enough.
 

RhombusHatesYou

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Any recommendations? I've heard people really like Ciaphus Cain (it was described to me as "Blackadder in space") and I was also recommended Brothers of the Snake and Spears of the Emperor. What would be the best to read for someone who doesn't already have a lot of 40K backstory in their brain?
It doesn't really matter if you have much 40K lore on the brain as Black Library writers tend to ignore or just change it when it suits them.

As already recommended, the Ravenor and Bequin books aren't bad (but not as good as the Eisenhorn books). The first few Gaunt's Ghosts books are pretty good but after that the quality goes a bit wobbly.

If you're going to binge some 40K books, leave Ciaphus Cain for when you feel you've overdosed on GRIMDARK and need something a bit more lighthearted.
 

Dirty Hipsters

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You could move on to the Ravenor and Bequin trilogies. Not as good, but similiar enough.
Similar but not as good isn't really what I'm looking for. I'd rather have different but better.
 

Zykon TheLich

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I would give the Enforcer books a go. I've always liked the books that show you the imperium away from the front lines, and this follows the story of Shira Calpurnia, an Arbites (captain iirc) doing Arbites type things.

Ravenor and Bequin also recommended. As they follow on from Eisenhorne they might be of interest if you liked Eisenhorne even if they aren't quite as good. They also have some decent little short stories in them. Like the 3 short stories about the lowly magos biologis who helps ravenor on a backwater planet. A nice little semi-human interest tale.
In fact, I 'd look up short story anthologies of which there are a few. Quality varies of course but there are some interesting little sci fi shorts to be found.

Cain is great for a laugh but maybe not what you're looking for.

The Horus Heresy books are probably a good idea if you want to go deep. There are a fuckton of them of varying quality but the first 5 or 6 are all generally pretty good and explain a lot

Lastly, remember 40k is a confusing mess put together ad hoc over 35 years by a huge number of different people taking the setting in varying directions so don't expect all of it to make sense.


Also, if you like comics there are a few decent graphic novels you can still buy and a monthly comic was published some time ago. It's not available anymore but can be found online through proscribed means.
 
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Dirty Hipsters

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I ended up buying The Founding Gaunt's Ghosts ombibus and Ciaphas Cain Hero of the Imperium. A friend of mine recommended the Gaunt's Ghosts books and claimed that they're "probably the best Warhammer fiction" so I guess we'll see.
 
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Thaluikhain

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Yeah, Gaunt's Ghosts start out good, but I feel Abnett got a bit lazy and was pumping them out after a while.

I'd second Matt Farrer's Enforcer series. Gav Thorpe is a bit hit and miss, but his Dark Angels books were mostly hit, with the exception of the end of the last one, and all of the one about Azrael.

Ben Counter's Grey Knights and Soul Drinkers series also started out well, but went downhill a bit. Bill King's Space Wolf series also started out well (though the first and especially the second dragged at times), but then he left and they gave it to people with no writing experience but were big fans and it was rubbish.
 

RhombusHatesYou

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The Horus Heresy books are probably a good idea if you want to go deep. There are a fuckton of them of varying quality but the first 5 or 6 are all generally pretty good and explain a lot
Honestly, you can stop after The Flight of the Eisenstein, secure in the knowledge that you've read the best book in the series and avoided a lot of crap that reads like fanfic.
 

Thaluikhain

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Honestly, you can stop after The Flight of the Eisenstein, secure in the knowledge that you've read the best book in the series and avoided a lot of crap that reads like fanfic.
Having read some of the earlier books, I'd agree with that. And I didn't think that was a great book, just the best of the early ones, not having read the later ones because I've read the early ones.
 

SilentPony

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Fuck me, there are 62 of them atm.
Yeah I know lots of people who want to get into Horus Heresy and its like...well, see you sometime in the Fall, you got a lot of work to catch up on.
And sadly there is very little skipping books. Like maybe one or two are stand-alone, full enclosed stories. Most are continuations of other stories or set up characters to be in place X or looking for other character Y.
Which is double funny because the Siege of Terra the writers realized they had hundreds of characters arriving at the same place, and they just kill them off a few dozen at a time per book.
 

Bob_McMillan

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As someone who's been chugging 40K books like there's no tomorrow, the Heresy books terrify me. Ridiculous amount of them. I've only bothered with Eisenstein and some more prequel-y Heresy books.