Tag Archives: c.l. werner

Games Workshop Pre-Order Preview: Black Library Celebration and Warhammer: The Horus Heresy dominate the week

It’s that time of the year for the Black Library Celebration! Along with books, there’s some limited miniatures and beyond that, a lot of releases for Warhammer: The Horus Heresy. Check out below for what you’ll be able to pre-order from Games Workshop starting next week.

For those into Warhammer 40,000, there’s Hell’s Last miniatures and novel! Minka Lesk of the Cadian 101st has fought tooth and nail to survive in the wake of the tragedy of Cadia, but war is eternal in the 41st Millennium and new challenges are on the horizon. She stars in upcoming novel Hell’s Last by Justin D Hill, which is also accompanied by a set of miniatures featuring Captain Lesk herself, Commissar Shand, Confessor Talbeas, Veteran Sergeant Grawnya and Veteran Trooper Jaromir.

The regular hardback, eBook and audiobook formats are joined by a special edition in a cloth case with foil details – each copy is signed and numbered, features a gilt page edges, a purple ribbon bookmark, and the short story Arcady Pride.

  • Hell's Last
  • Hell's Last
  • Hell's Last

Into Age of Sigmar? You can get Maleneth Witchblade and Shade of Khaine! Gotrek’s infamous associate Maleneth Witchblade has accompanied our truculent hero across the Mortal Realms in several stories. Now she’s breaking out on her own and joining him on the tabletop with a new plastic miniature, and starring in new novel Shade of Khaine by Evan Dicken.

Shade of Khaine will be released in the usual formats, as well as a signed and numbered special edition with a presentation case, gilt page edges, a purple ribbon bookmark, and the extra short story On Shadowed Tides.

  • Maleneth Witchblade and Shade of Khaine
  • Maleneth Witchblade and Shade of Khaine

Anyone who purchases a book during the celebration will receive the Black Library Celebration 2025 Anthology. This year’s collection features Visage by Rich McCormick, The One Road by David Guymer, Web of Ruin by Adrian Tchaikovsky, and The Long Promise by Mike Brooks. Those who make a purchase in store will receive a paperback copy while stocks last, while if you buy from Blacklibrary.com, you will receive an eBook edition.

Black Library Celebration 2025 Anthology

The Black Library: The Art of Warhammer 40,000 contains over 100 beautiful illustrations including cover art and interior art from Black Library books published over the years, and comes in an A4 hardback.

Black Library: The Art of Warhammer 40,000

Blood of the Imperium features stories written by Mike Brooks, Adrian Tchaikovsky, Jude Reid, Marc Collins, and others, featured alongside Jon Flindall’s four-part story Tome Keepers: Legacy of Defiance, first published in White Dwarf issues 496 to 499.

Blood of the Imperium

Fifteen Hours by Michael Scanlon returns for a 20th anniversary edition hardback. A lone guardsman finds out some warzones are worse than others when they’re thrust into combat against the Orks, where his life expectancy is estimated at just 15 short hours.

Fifteen Hours

Gotrek and Maleneth: The Omnibus contains Bone Desert by Robbie MacNiven, The Neverspike, Ghoulslayer, Gitslayer, Death on the Road to Svardheim, Soulslayer, and the Crown of Karak-Khazhar by Daris Hinks, plus The Dead Hours by David Guymer. It will be available in paperback and eBook formats.

Gotrek and Maleneth: The Omnibus

Grey Seer by C L Werner returns in paperback as one of the Black Library Reader’s Choice winners for 2024. The legendary Grey Seer Thanquol is plotting to poison the city of Altdorf with the noxious Wormstone and cement his legacy as the most cutthroat of all Skaven – he just has to contend with all the subordinates, superiors, smugglers, and mysterious sorcerers who stand before him.

Grey Seer

Titanicus by Dan Abnett is the second Black Library Reader’s Choice winner for 2024. Having just secured victory in one military campaign, the Legio Invicta heads to the forge world of Orestes for refit and repair, but a twisted force of Chaos Titans ambushes them just as a religious schism begins to tear the Adeptus Mechanicum in two. As tensions rise and casualties mount, Legio Invicta are pushed to their limits.

Titanicus

There are also a lot of French and German Language Releases! French and German readers can each look forward to four different books from as part of the Black Library Celebration, with the paperback and eBook releases of Gotrek and Malaneth: The Omnibus, Hell’s Last by Justin D Hill, Interceptor City by Dan Abnett all on their way. You will receive a physical copy of the Black Library Celebration 2025 Anthology when you make a purchase at a Warhammer retail store, while stocks last, or an ebook edition with orders from Blacklibrary.com.

For Warhammer: The Horus Heresy, you can get the Mechanicum Heavy Support Force. It includes a Thanatar Calix Siege-automata equipped with sollex heavy-las and graviton ram, a Krios Strike Tank which can be built with a lightning cannon, an irradiation blaster, or as a Krios Venator with a pulsar fusil, and the Karacnos Assault Tank sporting a radiological mortar battery. This set also includes two Mechanicum Macro Constructs Transfer Sheets, which each comprise 394 transfers.

Mechanicum Heavy Support Force

The Arcuitor Magisterium is a Forge World resin kit. The technologies used to create those machines have been thoroughly vetted by an Arcuitor Magisterium, an all-in-one judge, jury, and executioner for those found practicing tech-heresy.

Arcuitor Magisterium

The Secutarii Axiarch protects the Titan Legions from small forces at close range. They lead forces in defence of these treasured god-engines with arc lance and mag-inverter shield in hand. The Secutarii Axiarch is a Forge World resin kit.

Secutarii Axiarch

The Iron Hands Legion Praetor is a cold and calculating commander kitted out with some serious enhancements and a cyber-familiar, made from Forge World Resin and supplied with a choice of two heads.

Iron Hands Legion Praetor

The Iron Warriors Warsmith is armed with a colossal graviton crusher and wearing immense cataphractii terminator armour, the Warsmith is an expert kit made of Forge World resin and comes with a choice of two heads.

Iron Warriors Warsmith

Space Wolves Caster of Runes obscure allies and tear at foes in equal measure. This expert kit is made of Forge World resin and comes with a choice of two heads.

Space Wolves Caster of Runes

You can get Loyalist and Traitor Herald Consuls feature banners and standards blessed by the Primarchs, and toppling or claiming one was often considered as high a priority as slaying an enemy general. The Loyalist and Traitor Herald Consuls are separate expert kits made of Forge World resin, and each comes with a choice of two heads.

The Loyalist and Traitor Overseer Consuls ensured supplemental forces followed Legion doctrines and maintained good order – or suffered the consequences. The Loyalist and Traitor Overseer Consuls are separate expert kits made of Forge World resin, and each comes with a choice of two heads.

Warhammer 40,000 Water Canteen is themed after those carried by the Astra Militarum – it’s made of aluminum, comes with a synthetic leather jacket which features an Astra Militarum pin badge, and can carry a litre of the life-giving liquid of your choice.

Warhammer 40,000 Water Canteen

Review: Conan: Serpent War #1

Conan: Serpent War #1

I don’t know Robert E. Howard’s creations all that well. Say Dark Agnes or Solomon Kane and I’ll stare at you blankly. Still, Conan: Serpent War #1 is intriguing to me on multiple levels. It’s my introduction to those characters who join Conan the Barbarian and Moon Knight for the limited series. Going into the comic I was looking to see how well it introduces those characters. I also wanted to see how Howard’s characters gel with Marvel’s Moon Knight.

Written by Jim Zub, Conan: Serpent War #1 is a decent introduction to the various characters. They’re brought together to take on an Elder God. The story revolves around a dying James Allison, another Howard creation. Allison’s visions introduce us to the various characters as Allison experiences his past lives. It’s an interesting hook that gets to the point eventually, though slowly.

There’s a lot to pack in. We need to get a good sense of the characters and what we can expect and Zub succeeds in that. By the issue’s end, I have a good sense of the main characters, their archetypes, and some of their personalities. It’s enough I want to read what comes next making the first issue feel a bit like a chapter in a story in a way. Each character’s connection to the threat is presented and the vignettes set up what’s to come. It’s not a comic to read on it’s own but the start of the adventure to come.

Zub’s use of Moon Knight works well as his connection to Egyptian mythology fits with Howard’s world and “the Serpent God.” The disconnect that has happened with Conan meeting other Marvel heroes isn’t as present here though the adventure has just begun. The mythology as folded together feels a bit like a case is being made as to why it all fits together like a dungeon master taking ideas from various modules and mixing them to their own seamless adventure.

The art sequences are broken up between two teams. Vanesa R. Del Rey and Jean Francois Beaulieu handle Allison’s sequence while Scot Eaton and Frank D’Armata handle the rest. There’s a slight disconnect in the art in the beginning as the style differences are notable but as the issue progresses it’s less noticeable. The various eras and settings work well together and the teams present each page in the dreamlike storytelling that’s presented. Travis Lanham‘s lettering stands out as so many characters have a “unique” voice when it comes to that and it all enhances the read.

The issue also features extra material to enjoy in the form of a prose story by C.L Werner. It’s the beginning of a four-part adventure featuring Solomon Kane and feels like the cherry on top of an already enjoyable read.

The issue is a good one in that it checks the marks off as an introduction to the adventure and characters. As an opening chapter, it’s a good one but as a standalone comic, it’s just ok. This may be an adventure to read in one sitting as part of a trade or all of the issues but the issue has me wanting to read what else is to come. It feels like a menagerie of heroes come together for a roleplaying game adventure.

Story: Jim Zub, C.L. Werner Art: Scot Eaton, Vanesa R. Del Rey
Ink: Scott Hanna Color: Frank D’Armata, Jean Francois Beaulieu
Letterer: Travis Lanham
Story: 7.5 Art: 7.5 Overall: 7.5 Recommendation: Read

Marvel provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review