Almost exactly two years ago, the Black Library issued a new Special Edition of 2020’s The Infinite and the Divine, the 2020 debut from Fall of Cadia and Assassinorum: Kingmaker Robert Rath. The book’s tremendous success came as a pleasant surprise not least to the author, who confesses in the books recent Illustrated and Annotated Edition that he pretty much shot the moon in asking for things from the editorial and studio staff, figuring this might well be the one novel he’d be allowed to write.

When in November of 2025 the book overtook Dan Abnett’s Horus Rising as the “#1 Book” on the shelf at Warhammer World, Rath’s tale of two bickering Necron frenemies had undoubtedly become one of the Black Library’s best. Little surprise, then, that Rath was greenlit for a sequel, and The Wicked and the Warped- up for preorder this Saturday- will be hitting bookshelves in a month.

And with a gorgeous Special Edition to pair with the last one, the Necron wing of my own Museum is going to need some extra space…

Value City

The other big news dropping on the mothership this week was upcoming changes to Warhammer+, Games Workshop’s subscription service whose most prominent offering is access to WarhammerTV.

Previously, a subscription cost USD $60 per year if you subscribed yearly, and $7 a month if you instead opted for monthly, and for that you got the following benefits:

• Access to WarhammerTV

• Access to The Vault (the digital archive of game books1 and White Dwarf back-issues)

• Access to the Warhammer 40K and Age of Sigmar digital apps

• Merchandise discounts and partner benefits (for example, the occasional promo code for a new Tacticus character)

• Your choice of one of the two Commemorative Series miniatures released exclusively for subscribers

Whether that was worth it or not is, of course, highly subjective. Amazon Prime has a lot of benefits, for instance, but if you only watch a movie a month there are probably cheaper ways to unwind.

That said, one could also argue that the real cost could be driven down even lower, simply by selling your promotional mini each month to recoup most of the cost of the subscription. If you’re not into collecting plastic, they retail for $45 and like most Warhammer plastic they don’t depreciate all that much. Sell the mini for sticker and voila, you’re looking at a $15 annual subscription. A buck-fifty a month.

To me, this subscription has always been a no-brainer, and with the addition of the Show and Tell series here on the Wordforge in regular rotation, I’d have been quite happy to keep going at the current rate.

But lo! As such things are wont to do, this week we learned that the cost of a subscription would be increasing. The annual is rising to $75, with the monthly rate moving to $8.50. Nobody ever likes to see prices of things go up2, but I was very surprised to see that the benefits would be going up as well.

There are two big differences with the new Warhammer+ subscription. The first is that, rather than having to choose one or the other, you will now get both of the Commemorative Series figures. That’s $90 in plastic for a $75 subscription, in addition to all the other benefits listed above.

And here’s the part that got me really excited: they are also introducing a hardcover annual yearbook. “This is a lavish, coffee table-style annual packed with photos and artwork,” notes the reveal, “celebrating the worlds of Warhammer.”

Back in my Magic: the Gathering heyday, one of my favorite casual collectibles were the Player’s Guides they’d include in Fat Packs from each set. Pictured below, these would have some short lore blurbs and summaries of what the set was about, perhaps featuring decklists or different mechanics, and spotlighting some of the highlight cards from the set. Get me a Warhammer Yearbook anywhere close to that, and I’m sold.

Since it’s included in your subscription it’s impossible to put a price on it, but since it’s hardcover I don’t think $20 is too crazy a valuation based on its size in the image above. That brings us to $110 value in actual, physical merchandise for your $75 subscription. That’s… really not bad, folks. Not bad at all.

Complaints in the community about Warhammer+ typically are complaints more about WarhammerTV, and tend to fall under two broad types.

First are complaints about the WarhammerTV animations, which- at least in the circles I move in- tend to be the biggest draw3.

Second, there are complaints about the variety of programming. I get it, not every show is for every person, and I’ll be the first to put my hand up and confess I’ve never watched a single episode of Scrap Demon (even if the concept admittedly does sound cool).

Part of this, I think, lies with Games Workshop’s marketing of the channel’s offerings. Up until recently it’s been fairly footnote-level stuff, a quick blurb at the arse end of a Sunday Preview. Lately, though, we’re getting something a lot more visually attractive and clever:

I love everything about this new graphic format. First, it tells me at-a-glance what’s coming up this week in a simple, attractive format. Second, it changes what to me felt like a “content dump” every week into a programming schedule by assigning shows unique days of the week. Compare the above to what it used to look like in the Sunday Preview articles:

New week, three new shows. That’s what I mean by “content dump.” It’s a tale as old as time: if you want consumers to take your product seriously, you need to take it seriously. This is a big step up. Bravo.

So sure, WarhammerTV isn’t going to be for everyone, just like some people think there’s not a lot they want to watch on Netflix, or AppleTV, or Hulu. That’s certainly fair.

But what I think has been put to bed here is the ability to call Warhammer+ a poor value. $110 in goodies… plus The Vault… plus discounts every month for Warhammer merch4… plus the other stuff. All for $75.

Seems good.

Feeling Edgy

Saw some incredible creativity this week that I had to share. Sprayed edges refer to the practice of coloring or decorating the ends of a book’s pages, so that when it’s closed it has a striking visual look. You see this frequently on the Black Library Limited and Special Editions, for example, but here one fan took it upon themselves to do a custom job.

The book in question is a French-language edition of The Horus Heresy Collection, Vol. I, which is an omnibus series collecting the Horus Heresy books that- get this- is only offered in French and German. Verrückt, non?

This stunning treatment is by Alquinas.art, and make sure to check out the reel here.

Right on Track

Last year I noted that community member Andrew Wilmot had created a free book tracking app for the Black Library, and since that time he’s continued to develop and update it. After a large update this week put it back on my radar, I gave it a spin. While I’ve never used any kind of book tracker before, I had an absolute blast walking through the different categories for a bit and flagging the ones I’d read.

I had to force myself to quit and get back over to writing the column, but not before I poked around the site a bit. There’s a lot of neat features here, from unlocking achievements5 based on what you’ve read to seeing community ratings and usage reports (catnip to us statheads).

The secret in the sauce is the layout and organization. The site’s default not only breaks things out into their respective categories, like the Horus Heresy or Age of Sigmar, but also into individual book series such as trilogies or “The Astra Miliatarum Series.” Browsing it not only is fun for marking what you’ve read, but also in seeing what else you haven’t in a particular category. If your to-be-read list needs some inspiration, this is a terrific way to find it.

Arrivals & Departures

In this section I look at what’s coming up around the corner (Arrivals) and what’s landing on bookstore shelves (Departures).

Arrivals

The big news for new books is Robert Rath’s The Wicked and the Warped. Everyone’s favorite bickering Necron frenemies are back at it, this time facing down the forces of Chaos.

Speaking of The Infinite and the Divine, that book is being again offered in hardcover this week. If you don’t yet own the book, or (like me) you only have it in softcover and welcome an upgrade, this is your chance.

Departures

Seeing their way off into the public square this week was a trio of hardcovers. Rob Young’s latest, Ghosts of Cadia, arrived in both standard hardcover as well as a Special Edition, and Longshot- the first novel to feature sniper Darya Nevic- enjoyed its hardcover reissue.

Meanwhile, the new edition of Guy Haley’s The Devastation of Baal also hit store shelves. Originally printed in softcover as part of the Space Marine Conquests series in 2017, it’s back in hardcover as well.

ICYMI

Here’s what’s been going on this week for Warhammer content!

Warhammer Wordforge

• Black Library Readers’ Hall of Fame weekends are always big events, with The Hall Monitor series serving as a kind of director’s commentary on the project. This time around I looked at the Horus Heresy at the midway point, as well as showcasing some writers’ reactions to being inducted.

• I was also very excited to kick off a new initiative this week, the Black Library Reader Satisfaction Survey. If you haven’t had a chance to vote yet please do so, I’m looking forward to sharing the results with everyone in an upcoming Black Library Weekly!

• Finally, in this week’s Warhammer RPG Weekly we look at the new release from Cubicle 7 Games, Sylvania: The Cursed County!

Tabletop Battles

• Last Saturday saw five books get inducted into the Readers’ Hall of Fame from the CLass of 2013, as we next move forward to the books that released in 2014. Age of Sigmar is right around the corner!

• Fantasy reviewer Saelfe spent some time with Grombrindal, reviewing the Legend of the White Dwarf anthology- and came away pretty impressed!

• If, like me, you’re always curious about the lore and narrative content that comes in the different game boxes, there was also this review of the narrative elements in the new Kill Team: Exodites box!

• Finally, outside of Warhammer but always worth a mention, lynnding-library’s back with another BattleTech fiction review, this time of Jason Hansa’s A Skulk of Foxes.

Warhammer Community

• Salamanders fans had cause to rejoice this week, with the Pages from the Black Books series releasing a trove of lore about a prototype assault carrier designed by Vulkan himself.

• Got $1000 burning a hole in your pocket? Wētā Workshop has produced a new limited-edition statue for collectors, and it’s stunning. File this one under Black Library Bibliophiles, because it would be a wonderful addition to any Fantasy-heavy library display.

WarhammerTV (paywalled)

• No Black Library content this week.

Around the Webway

• Cinderfall Gaming’s been busy this week, offering not one but two reviews! First up is Morvenn Vahl: Spear of Faith by Jude Reid, while their second one is a bit unusual. Lair of the Skaven is part of the Warhammer Adventures series, an AoS line aimed at younger readers. Cinderfall typically reviews the audiobooks, with this one being narrated by none other than Dr. Who star Billie Piper!

• Speaking of Jude Reid, Kenny Boulder dropped a new book review this week of Fulgrim: The Perfect Son.

• The Fluffenhammer gang is back with their series that’s an issue-by-issue deep dive on Warhammer Monthly! This time up it’s the Kal Jerico-packed issue #29!

• Not just Cinderfall, Arbitor Ian and Mira Manga’s Book Club podcast dropped two episodes this week as well! First up is a look at Faith & Fire by James Swallow, then Mike Brooks’s Voidscarred goes under the microscope!

• Finally, just had to pass along this terrific read I saw this week on Substack from Thomas Rawlings, The Odyssey of Warhammer 40,000 - Exploring the links between Ancient Greece and Warhammer 40,000. Rawlings covers a lot of Warhammer history, and is well worth subscribing!

Cold Open Stories

• This week’s featured story is Lockwarden, by Graham Pritchett. “In the deepest depths, amid the darkest caverns, the Imperiums most profane secrets lie. The prisoners that are too valuable to kill, the creatures too dangerous to allow free. Arcane things are sequestered here, enigmas and mysteries set side by side and watched. But those things despise confinement and are always seeking that which is denied to them. A way out.”

• Also, a reminder that the current fast fiction competition’s deadline is the end of this month. Once again, I absolutely encourage anyone- even those folks who are just getting their pinkie toe wet writing- to give it a shot. After all, if I can do it, anyone can!

Quick Hits

• Given my involvement in fiction, I often get the question as to whether or not I’d like to be a writer myself. If I’m completely honest, while that intrigues me I think being an editor might be more up my alley. Thus I particularly enjoyed this piece from Danie Ware (The Triumph of St. Katherine, Aestred Thurga: Pyre of Faith), On Editors.

• As if Nottingham wasn’t already cool enough, the Mayhem Film Festival will have just gone on sale at the time this goes to print. An annual celebration of horror, sci-fi, and cult films, the co-director of the event is Steven Sheil (Tithemarked, Ghost Planet).

• Ben Counter (Battle for the Abyss, Phalanx) is one of the writers on the upcoming multimedia podcast project called American Abyss. It’s set in a quarantined town where all manner of strangeness has been occurring, and you can listen to the first episode here!

Coming Attractions

Here’s a list of the known 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.

This section will be updated weekly in this column, and anything in bold has been added (or updated) this week.

Upcoming but Undated

• Ghazghkull Thraka: Prophet of the Waaagh! (Illustrated and Annotated Edition), by Nate Crowley

Current PODs in Production

• Hive, by Dan Abnett (Special Edition)

Upcoming in 2026

• Mephiston: The Box Set, by Darius Hinks (8/1)

• Archmagos, by Guy Haley (paperback, 8/8)

• The Relentless Dead, by Steve Lyons (paperback, 8/8)

• Warhammer Age of Sigmar: The Ultimate Guide (hardcover, 8/11)

• The Wicked and the Warped, by Robert Rath (hardcover, Special Edition, 8/15)

• The Infinite and the Divine, by Robert Rath (hardcover, 8/15)

• Raldoron: Revenant, by Guy Haley (hardcover, Special Edition, 9/246)

• Words of Waaagh!, by DK Books (hardcover, 10/6)

• The Sundering, by Gav Thorpe (paperback, 10/6)

• Dropsite Massacre, by John French (paperback, 10/20)

• Apostle, by David Annandale (paperback, 10/20)

• Master of Rites, by Rob Young (paperback, 10/20)

• Death Rider, by Rhuairidh James (paperback, 11/19)

• Ghost Legion, by Mike Brooks (paperback, 11/19)

• Chem Dog, by Callum Davis (paperback, 12/17)

• Ghazghkull Thraka: Warlord of Warlords, by Denny Flowers (paperback, 12/17)

• Ashes of the Imperium, by Chris Wraight (paperback, 12/17)

Thanks again for joining me for all the going’s on in the Black Library, and see you next week!

Happy Monday, readers, and congratulations to all of you who strapped on your flak vests, limbered up your wallets and waded into the fray that was this past weekend’s Mephiston Boxed Set preorder. While I didn’t hear of any widespread or persistent issues with this window, it certainly seemed like this one- as expected- sold out very quickly.

People certainly do love their IX^th.

What did manage to land on my radar through all this was something that I’d never given much thought to, though, and that’s global variation in pricing. To this point I’d always simply assumed that I was paying approximately the same for my products as a punter in Paris or a collector in Kyoto. Turns out, that’s not the case. At all.

Pop quiz! Consider the following countries/regions:

• Australia

• Canada

• Europe

• Japan

• New Zealand

• South Korea

• United Kingdom

• USA

Which of them would you guess paid the most for the Mephiston Boxed Set this weekend. I’m talking sticker price for the item, no shipping or anything else.

The answer? Those of us here in the United States, with a retail price of $170.

Now, which of them would you expect paid the least? Here’s a hint: it’s not the UK.

Apparently, it’s Japan. The boxed set cost ¥15,500, which in USD (at time of writing) is… $95.48? This is such a wildly unexpected amount that I’m going to show my work just in case someone can tell me what I’m doing wrong here (if indeed I am).

Again, if I made an error somewhere here please let me know in the comments, because Japan paying about half of what I pay here in the US- and significantly less than what everyone else in the world pays, too- is the kind of anomalous data point that suggests a PEBKAC error1. Otherwise, it appears to be a factor of fixed pricing running afoul of a historically weak Yen- but I’m no economist.

Here’s what the rest of the spread looks like.

Ultimately, I present this as a curiosity rather than a cause for concern. Currency valuations fluctuate as a matter of course, and undoubtedly there’s a long time horizon for Games Workshop’s price-setting. Think steering an oil tanker, not a cigarette boat. It would be confusing if prices were “updated” every preorder window to account for changes in relative currency values, and certainly would add am measure of work for GW’s staff to monitor and update on the regular.

The question for me is simply this: do I feel like I’m getting proper value for the amount I pay for an item, or do I not?

And in the case of the Mephiston Boxed Set I did- and it turns out I paid a lot less than I paid about as much as our friends in Japan did due to an unexpected twist of fate…

The Rynn’s World Mishap (Update)

Last week I spoke about my disappointment at having my order of Rynn’s World thwarted by a Games Workshop fulfillment employee. When my local Warhammer store manager cracked open the box containing my shipment, instead of what I’d ordered it contained two Chaos Battleforce boxes. The store manager was able to replace the missing For the Emperor Illustrated and Annotated Edition from his store stock, but of course no such luck for a Special Edition release. He fired off an email, and the following Monday I was not surprised to find a confirmation from GW that a refund was being processed.

Now here’s the interesting part, and where Games Workshop can do a better job at its communications with customers. Turns out, GW emailed my store’s manager to express their condolences about what happened, and let me know that not only would they be issuing me a refund, but they’d be adding a further $80 credit on top of it.

I’m very pleased with this response. I accept that, while frustrating, screw-ups can- and do- happen, and by accepting responsibility and putting me ahead with the bonus credit, that’s a fair consideration. My only thought is that it would have been better if they’d informed me of that response as well, rather than just the store manager.

The “refund is being processed” email made no mention of a dollar amount, so I had no way to know that they have approved a bonus credit. And unfortunately, the Voucher section of my account screen on Warhammer.com doesn’t have a transaction history, so unless I’m on top of exactly how much I’ve got in vouchers on the website I wouldn’t necessarily notice the increase.

It’s a small complaint, but hey, if you’re going to do something nice for a customer, wouldn’t you want to make sure they see it?

Overall, this was the second-best outcome I could have hoped for, with the best response being if they’d tracked down a copy for me and fulfilled my order. My heart is going to hurt a little when someone posts a picture of what’s in-stock at Warhammer World and I see a copy or two of Rynn’s World just sitting there on the shelf, because I know they hold a certain number of copies back for in-store distribution.

All the same, I can’t say it was unwelcome when it came to the boxed set I opened this week’s column with. I’d been on the fence about the set2, but getting that surprise voucher made the cost much more palatable.

The Six Guiding Principles of the Wordforge

I took the opportunity in Friday’s Warhammer RPG Weekly column to talk about my guiding principles when it comes to creating content about Warhammer. A lot of my Black Library readers have seen me talk about these on occasion, but a lot of RPG readers are coming here comparatively cold. It was a good exercise to sit and brainstorm, what do I stand for?, and thought it worth sharing over here.

They are as follows:

I meant it then and I mean it now, thank you to all of you reading this and this extraordinary community I find myself amongst. Now, let’s see what else is going on in the world of the Black Library!

Arrivals & Departures

In this section I look at what’s coming up around the corner (Arrivals) and what’s landing on bookstore shelves (Departures).

Arrivals

Thanks to a reveal piece on the mothership, some more exciting news for Blood Angels fans this week as Raldoron: Revenant, the next book by Guy Haley, was announced!

The book will be offered in both standard hardcover and Special Edition.

While Raldoron wasn’t in this week’s Sunday Preview, there were a couple of paperbacks that are right around the corner: Guy Haley’s Archmagos as well as The Relentless Dead by Steve Lyons (review).

Departures

Just one made the journey to the bookstore shelves this week, as the paperback Flames of Betrayal was released. It contains James Swallow’s Garro: Knight of Grey as well as the anthology Era of Ruin.

Too Weird to Live, Too Rare to Die

The famous line from Hunter S. Thompson came to mind when I saw this curiosity shared in the Black Library Nutters group by Eddie Arnold. This was a misprint of the new Horus Heresy Saga version of Dan Abnett’s Horus Rising.

While there’s a corner of the Magic: the Gathering community that chases oddities and misprints, we don’t see a lot of them on the book side of things. That’s not to say they don’t exist, as I previously covered my own misprint of Si Spurrier’s Hall of Fame novel Lord of the Night here. Still, this one was too warp-touched not to share!

ICYMI

Here’s what’s been going on this week for Warhammer content!

Warhammer Wordforge

• This week saw the next in the new White Dwarf Stories series, which explores that corner of the Black Library tucked away in the pages of Games Workshop’s flagship periodical. This time it was Answered Prayers, the latest by Goonhammer Book Award-winner Russell Zimmerman (Resounding, Seven Ships).

• While I talked about this earlier with the section on the site’s guiding principles, here’s another link to the latest Warhammer RPG Weekly piece which dropped last Friday.

Tabletop Battles

• TTB’s Lore Friday this week was my review of Death and Duty: An Astra Militarum anthology. Slightly problematic in that it shared four stories with No Peace Among Stars, the other anthology that released at the same time, it nevertheless had some ripping yarns!

• Longtime readers know I’m a sucker not just for the books, but for great ways to decorate your library and gaming spaces. Greg Chiasson reviewed the Secret Labs Dark Angels-themed gaming chair this week, and was pleasantly surprised!

Warhammer Community

• With the focus this week on the Ogor Mawtribes for Age of Sigmar, the mothership dropped an Ogor-themed Chronicles of Ruin story, The Law of Meat.

• The Pages from the Black Books series shifted gears (literally) this week, looking at the Knights of the Mechanicum

WarhammerTV (paywalled)

• No Black Library-related content this week.

Around the Webway

• Arbitor Ian and Mira Manga’s Book Club dove into Dropsite Massacre this week, John French’s critically-acclaimed Horus Heresy tale. It was 2025’s Black Library Book of the Year, runner-up for the Goonhammer Book Awards’ Best 30K/40K novel, and my own Book of the Year to boot!

• Kenny Boulder also offered up a video review of the Twice Dead King Omnibus, by Nate Crowley

• The Unseen Library released a top-10 list of best audiobooks for the first half of the year, and a number of 40K titles made the cut! I love seeing more audiobook reviews, since they’re helpful in keeping my own pipeline full!

Cold Open Stories

• No spotlighted story this week, but Cold Open Stories announced two of the guest judges for the current story competition, Geneviève Laprise and Kat Peterson. The current fast fiction competition’s deadline is the end of this month, and I absolutely encourage anyone- even those folks who are just getting their pinkie toe wet writing- to give it a shot. After all, if I can do it, anyone can!

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Quick Hits

• James Swallow (Flight of the Eisenstein, Nemesis) announced his next novel, Tasker, as well as two previous novels (Airside and Dark Horizon) will be getting US editions! He also has two stories coming up in Commando, Britain’s comic magazine of wartime drama.

• Scholarguard, the latest by John Sollitto (Rok Crackers, Redemption through Blood) is now available. “Hunter Hardcutt has a problem. His illustrious adventuring career has died on the vine. Thankfully, the perfect job just arrived in the form of a nervous scholar named Embergleam. He needs a bodyguard to protect him on his way back to the Arcane Institute. What could be simpler than walking an academic back home?” Obviously, nothing in this job will be simple.

• The Kickstarter for Echobound Adventures, the latest by Open Owl Studios, has gone live! A cooperative tabletop game for 1-4 players, it features extensive writing by Will McDermott (Lasgun Wedding, Underhive Apex). If you’re curious about the game, make sure to check out this review by Board Stupid as well!

• Analog Magazine’s July/August issue features a novella from Tom R. Pike (Dream of the Locust, Worm of Valhalla), called Red Ships. The story tracks the death of a culture over the course of a hundred years, and while looking into that I found this interesting little tidbit: “Look for his debut military SF novel, coming out in hardcover September 2026—though the powers that be won’t let him announce the title just yet.” A debut Black Library novel, perhaps?

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Coming Attractions

Here’s a list of the known 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.

This section will be updated weekly in this column, and anything in bold has been added (or updated) this week.

Upcoming but Undated

• Ghazghkull Thraka: Prophet of the Waaagh! (Illustrated and Annotated Edition), by Nate Crowley

• The Wicked and the Warped, by Robert Rath (hardcover, Special Edition)

• The Infinite and the Divine, by Robert Rath (hardcover)

• Raldoron: Revenant, by Guy Haley (hardcover, Special Edition)

Current PODs in Production

• Hive, by Dan Abnett (Special Edition)

Upcoming in 2026

• Ghosts of Cadia, by Rob Young (hardcover and Special Edition, 7/25)

• Longshot, by Rob Young (hardcover, 7/25)

• The Devastation of Baal, by Guy Haley (hardcover, 7/25)

• Mephiston: The Box Set, by Darius Hinks (8/1)

• Archmagos, by Guy Haley (paperback, 8/8)

• The Relentless Dead, by Steve Lyons (paperback, 8/8)

• Warhammer Age of Sigmar: The Ultimate Guide (hardcover, 8/11)

• Words of Waaagh!, by DK Books (hardcover, 10/6)

• The Sundering, by Gav Thorpe (paperback, 10/6)

• Dropsite Massacre, by John French (paperback, 10/20)

• Apostle, by David Annandale (paperback, 10/20)

• Master of Rites, by Rob Young (paperback, 10/20)

• Death Rider, by Rhuairidh James (paperback, 11/19)

• Ghost Legion, by Mike Brooks (paperback, 11/19)

• Chem Dog, by Callum Davis (paperback, 12/17)

• Ghazghkull Thraka: Warlord of Warlords, by Denny Flowers (paperback, 12/17)

• Ashes of the Imperium, by Chris Wraight (paperback, 12/17)

Thanks again for joining me for all the going’s on in the Black Library, and see you next week!

I found myself with a rare evening free this week, with zero competition for the television. Normally in my family of seven the competition for the remote (or PS5 controller) is hot and heavy, so this felt like getting the keys to the kingdom for a night. With no-one to object or interrupt, I could watch anything I wanted, anything at all1!

I landed, as one does, on Sharpe.

Sharpe was a television series in the UK that ran from 1993 to 1997, in the British style of a small number of movie-length episodes rather than the 30- and 60-minute installments more common here in the US. Based on the novel series by Bernard Cornwell, it follows the exploits of Richard Sharpe and his men during the Napoleonic Wars.

I watched the debut episode, which sees Sharpe’s men unexpectedly on their own deep behind the French front searching for the banker carrying the army’s wages, linking up with local partisans in the Spanish mountains who seek to bring Spain more fully into the war against Napoleon.

I found it thoroughly engaging, with terrific writing and acting and even a bit of humor sprinkled in. Nobody would call the period war historical ‘lighthearted,’ but it wasn’t nearly as grim as I’d somehow expected it to be. The action sequences and effects were fine, though you’d be under no illusions that you were watching something from the present day, with men falling about instantly dead on the battlefield rather than bleeding, screaming, and crying out for unseen loved ones.

And if that picture above reminds you in some vague, echoing way of Gaunt’s Ghosts, well, there’s good reason for that.

The Warhammer DNA

To his credit, Dan Abnett wears his inspiration on his sleeve. “I wanted to capture the spirit of the Sharpe books,” he shared in a 2017 interview with Track of Words about the Ghosts, “which is to say a brave and capable leader with a group of men who will often find themselves doing really unlikeable missions because they’re essentially disposable, and to have that sort of feeling about it.” He continued,

When he writes that Tanith marching song, Over the Skies and Far Away, Abnett’s providing a direct- if subtle- homage to the Over the Hills and Far Away of the Sharpe’s Rifles.

To be clear, Commissar Ibram Gaunt is hardly Richard Sharpe ported into the grim, dark future, but the struggles of the two have a number of parallels. Their burdens of command are cultural, with Sharpe being an officer elevated from the common soldiery, while both chafe against the ascendant military aristocracy (be it senior staff of the British Army or the Volpone Bluebloods).

Watching Sharpe- perfectly enjoyable on its own merits, mind- was like looking into the evolutionary history of one of my favorite Warhammer series, and one I’d absolutely recommend.

Want another? Widely held to be a direct influence on the conception of the Mechanicum, Walter M. Miller Jr.’s 1959 novel A Canticle for Liebowitz. In a post-apocalyptic setting, robed monks obsessively preserve humanity’s technological heritage, endlessly copying schematics and blueprints that they do not themselves fully comprehend. Each have their own language unintelligible to others, the monks employing Latin rather than Lingua-Technis, and are reserved and remote from the rest of society.

The copy pictured above is a beautiful special edition reissue from The Folio Society, and to date is the only non-Games Workshop work of fiction that occupies space in my Black Library Museum.

Making History

History and evolution had a central place in Robert Rath’s highly acclaimed The Infinite and the Divine, too, and there was a lot of excitement this week with the announcement that it would be getting a sequel.

The Wicked and the Warped will see Trazyn and Orikan reunite to track down a missing expedition lost on a planet that’s been corrupted by Chaos. No hint of a release date as of yet, but the launch will have a standard hardcover offered alongside a Special Edition.

Not only that, but in keeping with recent form the original book will be reissued in hardcover at the same time. If you missed it the first time back in October of 2026, now’s your chance to add it to your library as well!

And since we’ve got a bit of time before The Wicked and the Warped arrives, why not check out Robert Rath’s recommended reading list to make sure you’re ready?

Our July Giveaway Winner!

Last week we held a giveaway for Jude Reid’s Armageddon: Season of Fire, just the read for welcoming in Warhammer 40K’s 11th Edition and a Return to Armageddon.

After pulling up ye olde randomizer at Random.org, Periklis Begzos is our lucky winner! Congratulations Periklis, look for a message from me to get your shipping details, and I hope you enjoy the book!

Arrivals & Departures

In this section I look at what’s coming up around the corner (Arrivals) and what’s landing on bookstore shelves (Departures).

Arrivals

Just one for preorder this week- but it’s a big one! The Mephiston trilogy by Darius Hinks is arriving in a gorgeous-looking Limited Edition box set.

This is almost certain to be a high-demand item, and if you’re relatively new to the ordeal here’s the guide I wrote for Tabletop Battles that might be of some help!

Departures

Loads of books made their way to store shelves this week, with paperbacks of Robbie MacNiven’s Vagabond Squadron (review), Krakenblood by Marc Collins (review), and Adrian Tchaikovsky’s Starseer’s Ruin (review) now available for purchase.

Joining them were the Illustrated and Annotated Edition of Sandy Mitchell’s seminal For the Emperor, a new edition of Dan Abnett’s The Sabbat Worlds Crusade, and the Special Edition of Rynn’s World, by Steve Parker.

It was apparently my turn for a disappointing experience this week as Games Workshop’s order fulfillment bungled my online order. Instead of a box containing For The Emperor and Rynn’s World, clearly marked on the invoice included in the box, the order picker instead threw in two of the recent Battleforce: Chaos Space Marines Warbands and called it good.

Given that the alternative is that we all get replaced by robots I try to respond to such errors with grace, but I’ll admit given the difference in what I ordered and what I got I wonder if the picker even looked at the invoice.

My store manager came through, of course. After reclaiming both Battleforces for store inventory, he gave me the store’s remaining copy of For the Emperor. Alas all he can do for Rynn’s World is email GW’s customer service. I think we all can guess how this story ends, but perhaps the Emperor will provide after all.

UPDATE 7/13: I received a form email happy to tell me that my refund was being processed. Insert your “disappointed, but not surprised” meme of choice here.

ICYMI

Here’s what’s been going on this week for Warhammer content!

Warhammer Wordforge

• Since this week is a Black Library Readers’ Hall of Fame week over at TTB, my companion piece The Hall Monitor dropped on Saturday as well. This time I talked a bit about the surge in inductions we’ve seen in 2010 and 2012, and what that might portend as we continue to move forward towards the modern day. Also, the fun Top 20 lists got an update too!

• This week’s featurette saw the return of Black Library Bibliophiles, the series dedicated to collection and display of the books we love. This time around I reviewed Wicked Brick, who makes officially-licensed Warhammer acrylic displays for the minis that take some inspiration from the Black Library!

• For the RPG players, this week’s Warhammer RPG Weekly highlighted a terrific idea from one of the community’s reviewers, who is selling his reviewer copies of board and RPG games for a charity benefit!

Tabletop Battles

• The big news this week was that eight books were inducted into the Black Library Readers’ Hall of Fame from the class of 2012- a tremendous accomplishment!

• I also provided this week’s Lore Friday review, diving into Justin Woolley’s swashbuckling ork-stravaganza, Da Freebooterz Code.

• Robert “The Chirurgeon” Jones is back this week with the next in his series of Lore Explainers on Armageddon. This time he zeroed in on the Second War of Armageddon, a stage where an ork by the name of Ghazghkull Thraka comes to prominence!

Warhammer Community

• The Pages from the Black Books series continued this week covering the war at Calth, this time focusing on the Mechanicum forces involved in that terrible clash.

• While discussed above, for those who may be skimming I’ll add the link to the Black Library article this week announcing The Wicked and the Warped here as well!

WarhammerTV (paywalled)

• Deep Strike is the series that goes behind the scenes of Warhammer’s video games, licensed books, animations and more. This week they dove into Sigmar’s Toll, the 2025 Age of Sigmar animated series.

Around the Webway

• Terrific piece this week on Wargamer spotlighting Toby Longworth, narrator of many a Black Library audiobook whose “preposterously versatile voice has performed over 200 books and audio dramas for Games Workshop over almost a decade, somehow perfectly inhabiting a thousand different characters, from curt, feminine air traffic controllers, to lofty, booming primarchs, to daemonic warp-things with throats made from hatred.” I love to see the narrators get some attention, and Longworth isn’t one I’ve covered here in Audio Impressions- yet.

• The TTP Field Manual pod reviewed Adrian Tchaikovsky’s recent Age of Sigmar novel Starseer’s Ruin this week, as part of their book club series.

• Warhammer RPG site It Always Rains in Nuln gives a review of Rise of the Horned Rat, the End Times novel from Guy Haley.

• The Fluffenhammer crew has been doing an issue-by-issue deep dive into the pages of the comic serial Warhammer Monthly, which ran from 1998-2004. This week it’s the Mordheim-filled issue #28 under the microscope!

• Meanwhile in the Horus Heresy, Arbitor Ian and Mira Manga’s Book Club examined the anthology Mark of Calth, the 25th book of the series.

• Finally, over on Reddit the Black Library subreddit’s bi-weekly book discussion turned its attention to Nagash the Sorcerer, from Hall of Famer Mike Lee.

Cold Open Stories

• And now for something completely different! This week’s featured story is Hyperphagia, by Daniel Dolgos, a more lighthearted tale featuring- of all things- a squig! “Hunger is great sauce, as the Irish say. And no better creature on the 40K galaxy than a squiggly beast to put that saying to the test, because as much as Squigs are the Orks, primary food source, Squigs need to eat too. And my word, can they eat when they put their minds to it…”

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Quick Hits

• Paul Kane (Triggers) saw his latest venture, the folk horror graphic novel Men of the Cloth, launch on Kickstarter this week. It’s based on Kane’s novelette of the same name, which also was the basis for the 2021 horror film Sacrifice. Looks great, Paul!

• Andrew Kenrick, former Editor of White Dwarf, published a new history book, Rex Juba. A biography of Juba II of Mauritania, it’s available here through Penguin Books, you can find preorder information for it here.

• Finally, last March I noted the Kickstarter campaign for a tribute anthology for legendary fantasy writer David Gemmell, one stacked with a lineup of Black Library writers. The campaign was successful, and preorders are now available for The Iron Code, including stories from Dan Abnett (Pariah, First and Only), Jonathan Green (The Dead and the Damned, Necromancer), Juliet McKenna (Fear Itself), Gavin Smith (Suffer Not a Human to Live, Apex Predator), Anna Stephens (Trisethni the Unseen, Gothghul Hollow), and Adrian Tchaikovsky (On the Shoulders of Giants, Starseer's Ruin)!

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Coming Attractions

Here’s a list of the known 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.

This section will be updated weekly in this column, and anything in bold has been added (or updated) this week.

Upcoming but Undated

• Ghazghkull Thraka: Prophet of the Waaagh! (Illustrated and Annotated Edition), by Nate Crowley

• The Wicked and the Warped, by Robert Rath (hardcover, Special Edition)

• The Infinite and the Divine, by Robert Rath (hardcover)

Current PODs in Production

• Hive, by Dan Abnett (Special Edition)

Upcoming in 2026

• Siege of Terra: Flames of Betrayal, by various (paperback, 7/18)

• Ghosts of Cadia, by Rob Young (hardcover and Special Edition, 7/25)

• Longshot, by Rob Young (hardcover, 7/25)

• The Devastation of Baal, by Guy Haley (hardcover, 7/25)

• Mephiston: The Box Set, by Darius Hinks (8/1)

• Warhammer Age of Sigmar: The Ultimate Guide (hardcover, 8/11)

• Archmagos, by Guy Haley (paperback, 8/11)

• The Relentless Dead, by Steve Lyons (paperback, 8/11)

• Words of Waaagh!, by DK Books (hardcover, 10/6)

• The Sundering, by Gav Thorpe (paperback, 10/6)

• Dropsite Massacre, by John French (paperback, 10/20)

• Apostle, by David Annandale (paperback, 10/20)2

• Master of Rites, by Rob Young (paperback, 10/20)

• Death Rider, by Rhuairidh James (paperback, 11/19)

• Ghost Legion, by Mike Brooks (paperback, 11/19)

• Chem Dog, by Callum Davis (paperback, 12/17)

• Ghazghkull Thraka: Warlord of Warlords, by Denny Flowers (paperback, 12/17)

• Ashes of the Imperium, by Chris Wraight (paperback, 12/17)

Thanks again for joining me for all the going’s on in the Black Library, and see you next week!

If there’s an upside to having to drive back and forth between Louisville and Houston, where my wife is staying for her clinical trial, it’s that there’s lots of time to unwind with a good audiobook. After all, if you’ve going to be a captive audience for fifteen-odd hours, you might as well make the most of it, right?

As a result, I’m not only am I well stocked for Audio Impressions for the foreseeable future, but I’m even behind in writing them up for the Wordforge. Nice problems to have!

As longtime readers may recall, because so much of my active reading is determined by what I’m looking to review for Tabletop Battles, I’ve struggled a bit to find time to round out my Black Library experience. Progress on the Horus Heresy, for example, had slowed to a crawl, and I was dismayed to think I’d never get to dive into some of the classics like Trollslayer, by William King. Published in 1999, there’s not much demand for a review of the book now, relegating it to the dreaded “background/pleasure reading” category which gathers far more dust than attention.

Audiobooks have been a real game changer, and I couldn’t be happier. I almost exclusively listen to them in the car, but with five kids to drive to their respective activities that offers up a surprising amount of book time. While I’ve been mainly focusing on the Heresy and old fantasy titles, this last trip I nabbed another long overdue: Brutal Kunnin’, by Mike Brooks. Stories like these make the time- and the miles- just fly by.

With another trek southward coming up in a week or so1, I’d love to hear any recommendations you might have for some particularly delightful audiobooks. Feel free to leave a comment, or hit me up on social media!

Now, let’s see what the week’s brought our way!

July Giveaways

Welcome back to Armageddon! To ring in the arrival of Jude Reid’s Armageddon: Season of Fire, we’ve got a hardcover copy to give away to one lucky subscriber (and remember, subscribing is free!).

To enter, simply make sure you’re a subscriber to the Warhammer Wordforge, then leave a comment on this article telling me what the best Black Library book you’ve read so far this year.

That’s it! I’ll pick a name at random next Sunday from all entries, and the book shall be on its merry way to their library.

While you’re at it, Mythicanum is a new content channel that’s releasing Warhammer lore content, and to celebrate their first milestone of 100 subscribers, they’re giving away a hardcover of the Era of Ruin anthology.

Black Library App Sales for July

A new month means a new slate of sales on the Black Library app. As a reminder, this is a very new (and very welcome) approach; previously there was only one eBook offered on sale each month. With the introduction of the new app, each month appears to be bringing with it a much larger number of eBook and audiobook releases at a discounted price (50% off the eBook, 66% off the audio).

For July, these are:

• Eight Lamentations: Spear of Shadows, by Josh Reynolds (eBook)

• Dark Imperium, by Guy Haley (audio, eBook)

• Farsight: Crisis of Faith, by Phil Kelly (audio, eBook)

• For the Emperor, by Sandy Mitchell (audio, eBook)

• The Lioness of the Parch, by Evan Dicken (audio, eBook)

• Blood of Sanguinius, by Darius Hinks (audio, eBook)

• Storm of Iron, by Graham McNeill (audio, eBook)

• Cadian Honour, by Justin D. Hill (audio, eBook)

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Arrivals & Departures

In this section I look at what’s coming up around the corner (Arrivals) and what’s landing on bookstore shelves (Departures).

Arrivals

Lots of goodies incoming, including most of what was recently teased on the mothership. First up is Ghosts of Cadia by Rob Young, the next chapter in the story of sniper Darya Nevic. It will be offered both in standard hardcover as well as a Special Edition, pictured above.

Darya’s first novel was 2023’s Longshot, which as part of the Astra Militarum series was released only in paperback. In conjunction with Ghosts of Cadia, it’s now being offered in a standard edition hardcover as well!

Another book making a reappearance in hardcover is Guy Haley’s The Devastation of Baal. Originally part of the Space Marine Conquests- another paperback series- this was originally published in 2017 before being brought back in 2023’s Lords of Blood omnibus.

And finally, speaking of that Lords of Blood omni, look what’s being offered en francais?

Departures

Maming its way into the world this week is Graham McNeill’s False Gods, the Horus Heresy Saga edition, which was offered both in standard edition hardcover as well as a Premium Edition. Dan Abnett’s Horus Rising appeared in paperback as part of the Saga, and Andy Clark’s Gloomspite- offered once again in hardcover- also joined in the fun!

Half-Year “Spend Ask” Check-In

Now that we’re halfway through the year, I thought I’d check in and see how the Black Library’s “spend ask” was doing.

Spend ask refers to the amount of deluxe product Games Workshop is releasing during a particular time. “Premium” product here is any non-standard edition, from Special/Limited Editions right down to Illustrated and Annotated Editions. Listed in USD, this is the dollar amount you’d expect to shell out if you bought one of everything.

Two quick things jump out at me here. First, 2026 has seen an increase from the previous year, but it’s fairly modest. Quarter 2’s increase of $40 is the retail cost of a single Illustrated & Annotated Edition.

Second, it’s probably time to start getting your wallets ready. As you can see, the second half of the year is always where the pain increases. At the moment, we already know there’s a hit coming with the Mephiston Box Set from Darius Hinks. What else might be on offer- and if we’ll get another Mega Limited Edition- only the Black Library knows, but forewarned is forearmed.

ICYMI

Here’s what’s been going on this week for Warhammer content!

Warhammer Wordforge

• First up on the Wordforge, I put together a kind of how-to guide for the site, including guidance on quickly and easily tailoring subscriber notification emails to make sure you’re only getting the stuff you want. This will remain pinned to the front page for reference for awhile.

• This week’s featurette was a look at the newly-completed Aeronautica Imperialis animation, as the last episode dropped about a week ago.

• For the RPG players, this week’s Warhammer RPG Weekly had a relatively quiet week, though Cubicle 7 Games’ bestseller positions on DriveThruRPG were almost universally up!

Tabletop Battles

• Heroes of the Black Library received a new installment, with Commissar Ciaphas Cain in the spotlight! This series covers the character’s history in print, plastic, and even covers goodies to decorate your library.

• Togepi stepped in for this week’s review, giving us a look at Chris Wraight’s Ashes of the Imperium, the kickoff novel for the new Scouring series.

Warhammer Community

• The Pages from the Black Books series continued this week covering the war at Calth, where the Ultramarines were betrayed and nearly destroyed by the Word Bearers.

WarhammerTV (paywalled)

• Nothing new in the world of the Black Library here, though the long-running Loremasters series featured the Word Bearers this week.

Around the Webway

• If you’re missing a few of the DK Books Warhammer releases, such as The Art of Warhammer Video Games, this might be a good time to remedy that, as Mars Garrett of Bell of Lost Souls put together a list of current sales and discounts for them.

• Jordan Sorcery’s GW Book Club is back, this time with a walk through the pages of the Warhammer Armies: Undead codex from the game’s Fourth Edition.

• Cinderfall Gaming posted a first look at the new Warhammer Age of Sigmar: The Ultimate Guide, the latest offering from DK Books.

• If you’re relatively new to the Black Library, the TTP Field Guide pod may have just the thing for you this week, choosing a book for each faction in the game.

• Many years ago there was a television commercial which asked, “how many licks will it take to get the center of a Toostie Pop?” u/ChillSappho took a similar approach to the Black Library this week in a terrific Reddit post worked out how long it might take a reader to get through the Black Library. Warning: there’s math!

• Finally, a couple of notable reader reviews on Reddit:

  • u/NewSpeak2050 assessed Chem Dog, by Callum Davis

  • Farseer, by William King, was given an unsparing review by u/PlatoIsOverrated

Cold Open Stories

• This week’s featured story is Rejoice, by Kyle Tam. “Sometimes the most unsettling horrors in the 41st Millennium don’t arrive with bolter fire or daemonic invasions. Sometimes they begin with a single message... and an invitation to rejoice.”

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Quick Hits

• Anna Stephens (Gothgull Hollow, Trisethni the Unseen) shared that her new “pun-riddled fantasy heist” novel, An Honesty of Thieves, will be published in March of 2027.

• Maria Haskins (The Jagged Edge) is a nominee for the 2026 Ignyte Awards, which has public voting open until 16 August. She’s up for the Critics Award and is a regular contributor covering speculative fiction for Strange Horizons magazine.

• Now this is interesting: Josh Reynolds (Neferata, Road of Skulls) shared a free short story he wrote for the shared universe, Hookland. The whole thing’s worth a look, as Josh talks a bit about the Hookland concept and plenty more.

• Jonathan Green (The Dead and the Damned, Crusade for Armageddon) has released a special edition boxed set for the five-year anniversary of his ACE Gamebook Dracula: Curse of the Vampire. A new chapter offering a “behind-the-scenes” look, postcards, a pin badge and more, they are individually signed and numbered.

• James Swallow (Nemesis, The Flight of the Eisenstein) shared a blog post this week outlining some of the things he’s been working on, including a new novel as well as helping bring his Dark Horizon to television!

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Coming Attractions

Here’s a list of the known 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.

This section will be updated weekly in this column, and anything in bold has been added (or updated) this week.

Upcoming but Undated

• Ghazghkull Thraka: Prophet of the Waaagh! (Illustrated and Annotated Edition), by Nate Crowley

• Mephiston: The Box Set, by Darius Hinks

Current PODs in Production

• Hive, by Dan Abnett (Special Edition)

Upcoming in 2026

• Rynn’s World, by Steve Parker (Special Edition, 7/11)

• For the Emperor (Illustrated and Annotated Edition), by Sandy Mitchell (7/11)

• The Sabbat Worlds Crusade, by Dan Abnett (hardcover, 7/11)

• Krakenblood, by Marc Collins (paperback, 7/11)

• Vagabond Squadron, by Robbie MacNiven (paperback, 7/11)

• Starseer’s Ruin, by Adrian Tchaikovsky (paperback, 7/11)

• Siege of Terra: Flames of Betrayal, by various (paperback, 7/18)

• Ghosts of Cadia, by Rob Young (hardcover and Special Edition, 7/25)

• Longshot, by Rob Young (hardcover, 7/25)

• The Devastation of Baal, by Guy Haley (hardcover, 7/25)

• Warhammer Age of Sigmar: The Ultimate Guide (hardcover, 8/11)

• Archmagos, by Guy Haley (paperback, 8/11)

• The Relentless Dead, by Steve Lyons (paperback, 8/11)

• Words of Waaagh!, by DK Books (hardcover, 10/6)

• The Sundering, by Gav Thorpe (paperback, 10/6)

• Dropsite Massacre, by John French (paperback, 10/20)2

• Ashes of the Imperium, by Chris Wraight (paperback, 12/17)

Thanks again for joining me for all the going’s on in the Black Library, and see you next week!

Being in the US preorder window means getting an early look at how things may be going when it opens up in Oceania, a fact I talked about last week when things didn’t quite get off on the right foot. This week seemed to be a similar challenge, with inventory appearing to go out of stock almost instantly.

But this week, the real excitement seemed to be reserved for us in the North American region. And what a ride it was.

The preorder window opened up at 12:55pm EST for me right as rain. One minute Cain and the gang weren’t there, then they were. My must-have was the For the Emperor Illustrated and Annotated Edition, with the Special Edition of Rynn’s World a close second. The pair of library decoratives- the Cain/Jurgen mini and Valhalla banner- would be nice-to-haves.

My cart full, I went to check out with my pre-loaded voucher and got this:

That wasn’t immediately concerning; this is an error I see weekly, and usually a refresh or two puts it to bed and allows me to proceed.

Not this time. Refresh after refresh, the red box kept reappearing.

At first I wondered if there may be a rush on the site, the kind of thing we saw last June with the Era of Ruin special preorder window that was almost instantly crashed by botters. But very quickly the flags went up on the play in r/BlackLibrary, and the number of people saying they were having site issues told me this was a system issue, not a stock one.

Despite all the frustration, that came as some relief. Last week when Oceania’s stock went out immediately, some came back in an hour or two later. Perhaps we’d see that happen here?

Ten minutes went by, then twenty. Ordinarily that’s a death sentence for preordering, but at this point I was determined to see it through. I was eventually rewarded for my persistence with a momentary change of scenery:

You don’t say.

But I kept at it, because what else was I going to do. I saw this twice, confirming some sort of technical issue at work:

There won’t be a test, but this will be important later.

Sweet Success

The dam broke at 1:33pm, thirty-eight minutes after the preorder window opened. Someone posted on r/BlackLibrary that they’d managed to break through and complete their order, so I figured any refresh now would see my order complete. When it didn’t, I removed the Cain/Jurgen mini on a whim to see if that might make any difference. Whether that measure was causal or coincidental I’ll never know, but it worked on the very next attempt.

Then I went back and bought Cain, easy as you like.

When situations like this happen, an order confirmation never feels truly safe. It wouldn’t surprise me if three days from now I got an order cancellation notice from Games Workshop, but for now I’ll take the win.

Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch

Soon after, I dropped in at my local Warhammer store and chatted a bit with the store manager. He shared that they’d had some issues with the in-store preorder as well, but ultimately was able to resolve it and everyone waiting to preorder got everything they wanted.

Then he shared something interesting. While he doesn’t know any more about this stuff than anyone else (he’s a store manager, not GW IT), he suspected there might have been an issue with the newly-implemented product recommendation window that triggers upon checkout.

I didn’t connect the two things in my head right away, but upon reflection one certainly could call that recommended-product window a “carousel,” right? And it was intended to pop up during checkout, right?

Hmm.

The Fallout

On the one hand, system issues happen. It sucks and it’s frustrating, but there hasn’t been a site invented yet that is immune to them. Games Workshop should get a certain amount of grace here, not least because these are luxury goods rather than life necessities1.

But by the same token, we can’t have conversations around website reliability in a vacuum. That’s because at the end of the day, it’s all part of the consumer experience, a conversation that also includes:

• FOMO capitalization

• Artificial scarcity

• Customer integrity assurance (read: anti-scalper countermeasures)

• “Spend-ask” considerations

• Premium product exclusives/incentives

Obviously, much too much to tackle in one go. But I think while it’s important to recognize Games Workshop’s efforts to make the Black Library consumer experience more enjoyable (anti-scalper measures, the introduction of de-limiting measures for premium products, and printing on demand come to mind), we also need to acknowledge when things fall short.

If you missed the carnage and want to see how the day went, here’s the subreddit’s preorder megathread. Have at it.

Of course, it wasn’t all bad news…

The Emperor provides?

Every Librarian’s Nightmare

Some people call us ‘worriers,’ but I prefer the term advanced contingency planners.

And of all the misfortunes that could befall a family, I have to imagine a house fire is way up there. In my mental imaginings of such a calamity, I think how I’d get my wife and five kids out of the house first. The younger kids upstairs can climb out onto the roof of the garage if they had to, while the teenager downstairs can clamber out of his window. Come to think of it, he’s probably started doing that already.

Then, of course, the critters. The budgies first, as their tiny respiratory systems are the most delicate. Then the reptiles, the rats, and the guinea pigs. The cats are on their own- that’s what you get when you can’t be bothered to exclusively use the litter box. You want to make independent choices, do you? Well have at it.

With the pets rescued- thus avoiding lengthy therapy bills for the kids- I’ve got just enough time to dash in one last time, for the barest essential of family treasures.

Like I said, I’ve thought about this a number of times, replaying the scenario in my head. Drilling for the possibility should it oneday occur. The only part I haven’t quite figured out yet is how to explain to my wife how I managed to come out with an armful of Warhammer books instead of our wedding album. But I’m working on it.

Earlier this month on the Black Library subreddit, u/GovernmentFast9743 shared that this had tragically come to pass, and unlike my imagined scenario, he lost his entire Warhammer collection. Three armies’ worth of miniatures, five bookshelves’ worth of books. Terrifying.

But there’s a happy ending to this one, and that’s why I wanted to share it this week.

When u/dvduster read about what happened, he reached out to u/GovernmentFast9743 and offered to help rebuild his library. He had a score of Black Library hardcovers and Special Editions that he’d be happy to let go for about ten bucks a book. And if that wasn’t enough, he’d drive the four hours down to Florida to meet up and hand-deliver them.

In any collector community it can be easy to get caught up in the goings-on of the parasites and opportunists who make finding older books or preordering new ones such a painful process. It’s great to have a reminder that at the same time, the community does look out for its own as well.

Best of luck in your collecting, u/GovernmentFast9743, and glad it was only your material possessions that were damaged in the fire. For u/dvduster, you get this week’s Unsung Hero Award for your selfless generosity. Communities like ours are always the better for having people like you in them.

The Big Reveal

Exciting news dropped this week with another surprise tranche of reveals from the Black Library. While I’ll never be sad to see one, I always find this method of whetting consumer appetite to be a little… anticlimactic? Just as with this past March and some Ork-themed books, I have to wonder if there isn’t perhaps a way to use these tasty reveals that has a little more impact? It’s not like Games Workshop is any stranger to generating excitement about upcoming products:

But the important thing in the end is the books, and boy howdy do we have some treats in store!

Ghosts of Cadia, by Rob Young

Look who’s back! Fresh off Master of Rites (review), Rob Young returns to the Astra Militarum with this sequel to 2023’s Longshot. That story was sort of a 40K version of the movie Enemy at the Gates, with sniper Darya Nevic going scope-to-scope with a t’au rival, and I’m delighted that Darya (and Rob!) are back in action.

The book will be offered both in standard hardcover as well as a Special Edition (pictured above).

Longshot, by Rob Young

Now this is an extra surprise. Similar to what they did with Andy Clark’s Demolisher last December, they’re bringing back the preceding book in an upgraded format. While Steel Tread received the same Special Edition treatment that Demolisher did, here we just get a standard hardcover release. No complaints here, I’m never loved how the Astra Militarum Series books are softcover-only, and will be delighted to replace mine with a hardcover copy.

Mephiston: The Box Set by Darius Hinks

Brace for impact! Blood Angels deluxe editions command some eye-watering prices on the secondary market, and I expect this one will provoke a similar preorder frenzy upon release. Darius Hinks’ original Mephiston trilogy was released from 2017-19, and just from the pictures this looks to be one of the more attractive of the recent spate of boxed sets.

The Devastation of Baal, by Guy Haley

Originally printed in 2017 as part of the Space Marine Conquests softcover series, like Longshot this one from Guy Haley is coming back for a hardcover treatment. Over the years a good number of Black Library books have been released as softcover-only, so I like seeing opportunities for upgrades for those who like the look and feel of a good hardback.

We probably won’t have too long to wait for these, and with the Blood Angels highly involved with Armageddon there’s a good chance these releases will be tied into something… a Codex, perhaps?

The Big Summer Preview Show

Despite its recent run of technical issues, I always enjoy these shows and look forward to them even if there isn’t the promise of much Black Library content. After all, any library is only improved by having miniatures on display with the books, so even if there isn’t much for the Library, there may be some treasures for the Black Library Museum!

I enjoyed Saffgor’s writeup over at Tabletop Battles, and while I didn’t see much in the miniature department that screamed Black Library this time2, I was excited to see that there’s an upcoming animation. The Butcher’s Nails will be a one-shot episode for the Hammer & Bolter series, featuring the World Eaters. The first-person POV looks kinetic as hell, and you can be sure it’ll get reviewed here in an upcoming Show and Tell.

Arrivals & Departures

In this section I look at what’s coming up around the corner (Arrivals) and what’s landing on bookstore shelves (Departures).

Arrivals

Just one this week, the last of the Siege of Terra series in paperback from. Flames of Betrayal combines the Era of Ruin short story anthology (review) alongside James Swallow’s novella Garro: Knight of Grey.

Departures

We’re getting this glut of terrific paperbacks right now, so I hope folks who missed out on them the first time around in hardcover are taking full advantage. First up is Jonathan Beer’s Necron story Tomb World, which had a terrific focus on the Imperium’s logistical vulnerability. I reviewed it here, and interviewed the author here.

The Remnant Blade showed Mike Vincent taking on the Night Lords- no small task after they’ve been so closely identified with Aaron Dembski-Bowden for so long! Vincent leans a little less into a sympathetic portrayal, navigating the Byzantine intrigues of the Chaos warbands (review).

Mike Brooks’s Voidscarred cleaned up at the awards last year, taking Best 30K/40K Novel in the Goonhammer Book Awards as well as runner-up for the official Black Library Book of the Year. TTB’s Falcon40K reviewed it here.

Finally, the gorgeous Special Edition of Jude Reid’s Armageddon: Season of Fire arrived this past weekend for any of you lucky devils who managed to snare one. Fetching in black and gold, it’s pure shelf candy.

ICYMI

Here’s what’s been going on this week for Warhammer content!

Warhammer Wordforge

• For this week’s featurette I jumped back into the pages of White Dwarf, taking a deep dive into the five-part serial The Chronicles of Bain by Black Library newcomer Neil Andrew Miller. I thought he knocked it out of the park, but don’t take my word for it- read it for yourself if you’ve got this year’s back issues handy!

• For the RPG players, this week’s Warhammer RPG Weekly looked at the new Sons of Russ release, as well as how Cubicle 7 Games’ releases are performing on the DriveThruRPG bestseller list.

Tabletop Battles

• The big news, of course, was that this was a Black Library Readers’ Hall of Fame week over at TTB. 2011 saw a trio of titles inducted, a respectable number but just a fraction of what got in for the star-studded Class of 2010.

  • Please don’t forget to vote! We’re using Google Forms now for the public voting, so it should be easy for everyone to make their voice heard for the Class of 2012!

• I returned to the Beyond the Black Library occasional series this week over on TTB, penning a review of White Feathers, Crimson Leaves- Aconyte’s latest Legend of the Five Rings novel from Black Library veteran Josh Reynolds (Neferata, Lukas the Trickster).

• While we’re afield of Warhammer for the moment, you can also check out Lynnding-Library’s BattleTech book review of By Civil Blood Betrayed, the third book in the Dominion Civil War tetralogy by Bryan Young.

Warhammer Community

• The Pages from the Black Books series continued this week with an excerpt for the Ultramarines. This is taken from 2015’s The Horus Heresy: Book 5: Tempest, and is a free download at the mothership!

• As discussed in detail above, here’s the link to the Black Library reveal this week. Plenty of goodies in our future.

WarhammerTV (paywalled)

• The final episode of the newest animated mini-series, Aeronautica Imperialis, dropped this week on WarhammerTV. Here’s the announcement over on the mothership, but you’ll need to be subscribed to enjoy the actual show.

• There’s also a new episode this week of Scribes and Scriveners, the Black Library interview feature. This time around they’ve corralled Denny Flowers to talk about Ghazghkull Thraka: Warlord of Warlords!

Around the Webway

• The Black Library subreddit’s most recent book discussion was, appropriately enough, Helsreach, by Aaron Dembski-Bowden.

• Jen and Keri of the WH40K Podcast took aim at Rich McCormick’s Zardu Layak: The Crimson Apostle this week, feeling it came up a little short. I can’t say I disagreed.

• We got a two-fer this week from Cinderfall Gaming! First up was the review of Death Rider by Rhuairidh James, and then Tom Huddleston’s The City of Lifestone. If that second one isn’t quite coming to mind, it was part of the “Warhammer Adventures” series aimed at younger readers. Not something you see reviewed every day!

Cold Open Stories

• This week’s featured story has an intriguing premise. My Name is Roboute by Jennie Ruskin looks at the life of a normal, everyday person in the Imperium, one whose name carries no small weight. “A name can affect a personality, in ways that go far beyond self-perception. It can influence not only how a person sees themselves, but how others see them too. Worse still, it can great expectations. His name is Roboute. His name is grand, a marker of greatness. But he is not.”

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Quick Hits

• It’s Scribe Award season again! These awards are kind of like the Oscars for the International Association of Media Tie-In Writers (IAMTW), awarding those creative voices who bring excellence to the world of tie-in writing (such as for Warhammer or any other established property). A number of our Black Library writers made the shortlist this year, and the winners in each category will be announced next month at the San Diego Comic-Con.

  • Josh Reynolds was nominated for Return of the Monster Men (Adapted)

  • Tim Waggoner (Skin Man) had three nominations: Terrifier 3: The Official Movie Novelization (Adapted), Conan: Spawn of the Serpent God (Original Novel – Speculative), and Conan: Marked for Death (Short Story)

  • Carrie Harris (The Strength of Symbols, A Forbidden Meal) for Snagged (YA/MG)

  • Sarah Cawkwell (Silver Skulls: Portents, Valkia the Bloody) for Thunder’s Edge – Echoes of Memory (Original Novel – General), which I reviewed here.

• The latest from Adrian Tchaikovsky (Starseer’s Ruin, On the Shoulders of Giants), Green City Wars, which he describes as “a cyber/solarpunk noir detective story starring a raccoon” arrived in bookshops this week!

• Gareth Hanrahan (Castle of the Exile, The View from Olympus) did an AMA over at the r/rpg subreddit, on the occasion of his latest venture, the Merryshire Detective Club RPG. Its crowdfunding launch is just three weeks away, and you can check out Wargamer’s terrific feature on it here.

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Coming Attractions

Here’s a list of the known 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.

This section will be updated weekly in this column, and anything in bold has been added (or updated) this week.

Upcoming but Undated

• Ghazghkull Thraka: Prophet of the Waaagh! (Illustrated and Annotated Edition), by Nate Crowley

• Ghosts of Cadia, by Rob Young (hardcover and Special Edition)

• Longshot, by Rob Young (hardcover)

• Mephiston: The Box Set, by Darius Hinks

• The Devastation of Baal, by Guy Haley (hardcover)

Current PODs in Production

• Hive, by Dan Abnett (Special Edition)

Upcoming in 2026

• False Gods, by Graham McNeill (hardcover and Premium, 7/4)

• Horus Rising, by Dan Abnett (Saga edition paperback, 7/4)

• Gloomspite, by Andy Clark (hardcover, 7/4)

• Rynn’s World, by Steve Parker (Special Edition, 7/11)

• For the Emperor (Illustrated and Annotated Edition), by Sandy Mitchell (7/11)

• The Sabbat Worlds Crusade, by Dan Abnett (hardcover, 7/11)

• Krakenblood, by Marc Collins (paperback, 7/11)

• Vagabond Squadron, by Robbie MacNiven (paperback, 7/11)

• Starseer’s Ruin, by Adrian Tchaikovsky (paperback, 7/11)

• Siege of Terra: Flames of Betrayal, by various (paperback, 7/18)

• Warhammer Age of Sigmar: The Ultimate Guide (hardcover, 8/11)

• Archmagos, by Guy Haley (paperback, 8/11)

• The Relentless Dead, by Steve Lyons (paperback, 8/11)

• Words of Waaagh!, by DK Books (hardcover, 10/6)

• The Sundering, by Gav Thorpe (paperback, 10/6)

Thanks again for joining me for all the going’s on in the Black Library, and see you next week!

Spare a moment’s thought for our friends on the other side of the world. While living in the Land Down Under or Middle Earth certainly has no shortage of benefits including extraordinary wildlife and Aussie Rules Football, they’re also on the bleeding edge of the Games Workshop preorder window.

That means when things go right, the only thing they have to worry about is their traditionally-lean allocation. When things go wrong, well… then they’re the ol’ canary in the coal mine.

This past weekend, things went very wrong indeed.

Saturday, of course, was a big preorder day for the Black Library as the second book in the Horus Heresy Saga, Graham McNeill’s False Gods, went up for preorder in both standard hardback and Premium editions. If you’re relatively new to the Black Library, let’s take a quick detour back to March of 2019 and this bad boy:

The Solar War by John French was the kickoff novel for the Siege of Terra series, each installment of which was released in a beautiful, Limited Edition leatherette treatment with embossed medallion. This series was catnip to collectors- and, naturally, chum in the water for scalpers. It’s difficult to overstate just how frustrating this era was for many, working to complete a collection of books that frequently sold out at near-instant speed.

As a result, we’ve been conditioned to chase these books like they’re front-row seats for a concert. If you’re not in the running the moment the gates open, well, there’s always eBay- and may the Emperor have mercy on your wallet. While it does appear that Games Workshop has taken steps to limit the influence of scalpers (implementing a Captcha and de-limiting the ‘Premium Editions,’ for instance), I think a lot of us go into the experience fearing the worst.

Folks in Australia and New Zealand experienced exactly that.

The Saturday Preorder Megathread on the Black Library subreddit showed story after story, but as the window of opportunity made its way Eastward things did seem to stabilize. Some problems in the UK… and then a very smooth experience for us in the US, with product being still available for longer than many expected.

Unsung Hero Award

It looks like the issues this time around were technical in nature, rather than being a supply problem. It’s unfortunate, but the site hasn’t been invented yet that’s impervious to technical misadventure (go ask our Magic: the Gathering-playing friends how “magical” an experience they have with Secret Lair drops). Being the tip of the global spear means you’re always going to be the guinea pig for high-demand order days, and I wish I could say there’s an upside to that beyond just serving as a warning for others.

But I do want to take a moment to recognize u/PedroDelCaso. Once GW had worked out the bugs and stock for the Oceania region was restored, this guy leapt into action like Paul Revere copying and pasting an alert to everyone and anyone that had been impacted.

Good on you, Pedro! When we look out for one another, that’s when a community truly becomes greater than the sum of its parts.

Penny for Your Thoughts (Conclusion)

Last week I asked subscribers to share their thoughts around the structure of the site, and thank you to all who did here, on Reddit, and elsewhere!

The general consensus seemed to be, “give us the tools to customize the notification emails we get from you, and we’ll take it from there!”

So here it is! Black Library content will be divided into two Sections.

Black Library Weekly will get you just the Monday column.

Black Library Features will get you everything else. That’s typically the Wednesday featurette (Audio Impressions, Show and Tell, Black Library Bibliophiles, etc.) as well as The Hall Monitor every other week.

And of course, there’s:

Role-Playing Games will get you all RPG content, from the weekly column on Fridays to anything else.

Again, this is just concerning email notifications for subscribers in an effort to make sure I’m not flooding people’s inboxes. If you need a refresher on how to add or remove what you’re subscribed too, I have a walkthrough here.

And with that, this should be the last site-based content you’ll have to sit through for awhile. Thank you to everyone helping to make the Warhammer Wordforge the best it can be!

Now, it’s a big week for new stuff, so I hope you’ve been saving up!

Arrivals & Departures

In this section I look at what’s coming up around the corner (Arrivals) and what’s landing on bookstore shelves (Departures).

Arrivals

Hooboy! It’s been quiet in the Black Library for a bit, so I guess we can’t be too surprised that we’ve just hit the first “Bonanza Week” we’ve had in awhile. There’s a crazy amount of goodies up for grabs this Saturday, including the Illustrated and Annotated Edition of Sandy Mitchell’s For the Emperor.

No product in recent times has gotten me more excited than the Illustrated and Annotated Editions. As I talked about in my review of Chris Wraight’s The Lords of Silence, these are simply an incredible value for dollar. Not only do you get a classic Warhammer story with some nice illustrations throughout, but the author’s additional commentary is absolute gold. Ciaphas Cain has left a huge mark on the Black Library, and being able to get into Mitchell’s head for a guided tour of the first book of the series is an opportunity you really shouldn’t miss.

As a reminder, unlike other deluxe editions these are distributed through Warhammer retailers in addition to being available online. If you’re worried about being able to obtain one when the preorder window opens on Saturday, check in with your friendly neighborhood Warhammer store or FLGS.

Next up we’ve got a new printing of Dan Abnett’s Sabbat Worlds Crusade. This has been offered before, including as part of a Limited Edition boxed set, but much like the iterations of the Imperial Infantryman’s Handbook it’s nice to see them periodically return for a new generation of readers and collectors.

A new Special Edition of Rynn’s World by Steve Parker was teased awhile back, and we’ve been waiting to see when it was gonna drop. Well, the wait is over! Originally part of the Space Marine Battles series and published in 2010, it sees the Crimson Fists fighting off an Ork invasion of their homeworld.

For those like me who take as much enjoyment from decorating their library (or museum) as stocking it, the new miniature of Ciaphas Cain (and his faithful sidekick Jurgen) are hitting the store shelves. You get a choice of bases, able to build them separately (as shown above) or together as a diorama.

I’ll admit I find the distinguished gentlemen unsettlingly simian in appearance here, but the ability to have a Cain diorama makes this a no-brainer all the same.

Finally, Valhallan enjoyers will have the opportunity to add a regimental banner to their displays. I’m a sucker for this kind of stuff, curios that bring bookshelves to vibrant life, and this one’s going right into my cart as well.

Three Black Library novels are arriving in paperback as well, and this is an awfully stacked lineup. I know, because I’ve reviewed them all! Mark Collins wrote Krakenblood like pure poetry, Vagabond Squadron’s Warhammer-meets-the-Vietnam-War flyboy tale was one of Robbie MacNiven’s finest novels to date, and I can’t rave enough about Adrian Tchaikovsky’s Starseer’s Ruin, the 2025 Goonhammer Award Winner for Best Age of Sigmar Novel. It’s a superb point of entry for anyone wanting to explore AoS fiction but just not sure where to start, and I had an enjoyable interview with the author as well.

I know I risk sounding like a shill here, but I genuinely enjoyed all three of these and recommend them.

Finally, some books are on the menu for the French and German audiences. I find it interesting that they’re releasing the translations of Abnett’s Hive separately, forcing those folks to have to wait for the conclusion of the story rather than just going full-tilt into it like us English-speakers enjoyed (my review here).

Fair play to the Germans here, though- that distressed cover of Verteideger des Imperiums is fire.

Departures

Just one this week, Jude Reid’s 11th Edition tie-in Armageddon: Season of Fire. Note that this is just he standard edition hardcover; the Special Edition was offered one week later and won’t be in our hands until the end of this week.

Any Tacticus players? As a Warhammer+ subscriber we occasionally get some extra goodies in our inbox, and this month there’s a code for Mataneo of the Blood Angels: 000T5KMGPJKG9VMKH

It’s all yours to the first person who claims it! All I ask in return is that you leave a comment below that you have, so that other folks won’t waste their time trying to input a claimed code.

Enjoy!

ICYMI

Here’s what’s been going on this week for Warhammer content!

Warhammer Wordforge

• This week’s featurette was a review of Prospero Burns, by Dan Abnett, for my audiobook series Audio Impressions. I didn’t love this one, but it does have a truly fascinating history that I cover in some depth.

• For you RPG players out there, Cubicle 7 Games also teased the upcoming Sylvania Setting Guide which I discussed in Friday’s Warhammer RPG Weekly.

Tabletop Battles

• The next installment of my Heroes of the Black Library series dropped on TTB, and this week we talked about the Beast of Armageddon himself: Ghazghkull Thraka!

• Not enough? I also reviewed World Ablaze, the latest 40K anthology filled with new stories from some of the Black Library’s most veteran talents. Spoiler: it’s damn good.

• And now for something completely different… If you read one thing this week, make it this piece by Lenoon. It’s part of his Warlord Titan series, but never have I seen a Warhammer model so infused with a sense of time and place. This is actual art masquerading as a wargame, and it’s absolutely sublime.

Warhammer Community

• I’m not sure why it annoys me so much that Warhammer Community runs its short fiction as uncredited, but when they have such terrifically creative pieces on there like the Hedonites of Slaanesh story they ran this week for the Chronicles of Ruin series, it comes right to the fore. C’mon, GW, put a name on it and give credit where credit’s due!

• This week’s Pages from the Black Books offering covers the Betrayal at Chondax, with the White Scars ahunt amongst the greenskins.

WarhammerTV (paywalled)

• The trailer for the third installment of WarhammerTV’s latest animated series, Aeronautica Imperialis, dropped this week over on WARCOM. The episode arrives on Friday, so look for my full Show and Tell review the following Wednesday!

• A new episode of the Black Library author interview show Scribes & Scriveners lands tomorrow, and this time they’re talking to Denny Flowers (Ghazghkull Thraka: Warlord of Warlords, Outgunned)!

Around the Webway

• Cinderfall Gaming did a review of Aaron Dembski-Bowden’s Black Legion. I enjoy their reviews in particular because they typically consume the books in the audio format, making this a video equivalent to my Audio Impressions series.

• It’s been a hot minute since we’ve had one, but the Fluffenhammer Podscast is back with their series walking through the pages of Warhammer Monthly one issue at a time! This week they dove into issue #27 (from February 2000), with Darkblade, Bloodquest, Pariah, and more on offer. Welcome back, fellas!

• Finally, over at Arbitor Ian’s Precinct House he’s got the latest installment of the Warhammer Book Club with Mira Manga. This time they’re giving a look at the 26th book of the Horus Heresy, Vulkan Lives by Nick Kyme.

Cold Open Stories

• This week’s featured story, Embalmed by Lincoln Addington, is a real rarity: a story about the necrontyr. “Before 40k, before the Emperor, there were the Necrontyr. A powerful yet tragic race, they were a product of their environment and circumstance, as all are in the grim darkness of the Galaxy, even in the forgotten eon. They were possessed wisdom and arrogance in equal measure, but in the end, only one would win out.”

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Quick Hits

• u/BriarFox13 shared what a great time she had at a recent book signing with Dan Abnett. “He's so lovely and kind as always,” she noted. “Had great fun chatting about his books and upcoming projects.” According to her, those ‘upcoming projects’ include writing the third book in the Double Eagle series, and he’s keen to write a new arc for Gaunt’s Ghosts should his schedule permit down the road. Exciting stuff!

• Gareth Hanrahan (Castle of the Exile, Rites of Binding) has a “cozy fantasy mystery RPG” crowdfunding campaign coming up soon with the Merryshire Detective Club. The pre-launch page is up if you’d like to check it out. Also, if you’ve got an RPG-focused blog or podcast, he’d love to connect!

• Tim Waggoner (Skin Man) wrote a piece this week on AI from an author’s perspective, and- in particular- what authors can (and should) do to avoid having their work accused of being AI-generated.

• John French (Dropsite Massacre, The Hollow King), meanwhile, offered some indispensable writing advice on crafting deep characters that readers will respond to.

• Josh Reynolds (Fulgrim: The Palatine Phoenix, Clonelord) dropped a new Baron Vordenburg short story, A Thousand Iron Teeth. If you’re unfamiliar with the ongoing saga, the are “the adventures of Baron Palman Vordenburg, latest and last scion of a family of infamous Styrian monster-hunters. As the world reels in the wake of the Great War, Vordenburg continues his family tradition, hunting the horrors that haunt the shadows of Europe and beyond.”

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Coming Attractions

Here’s a list of the known 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.

This section will be updated weekly in this column, and anything in bold has been added (or updated) this week.

Upcoming but Undated

• Ghazghkull Thraka: Prophet of the Waaagh! (Illustrated and Annotated Edition), by Nate Crowley

Current PODs in Production

• Hive, by Dan Abnett (Special Edition)

Upcoming in 2026

• Armageddon: Season of Fire, by Jude Reid (Special Edition, 6/27)

• Tomb World, by Jonathan Beer (paperback, 6/27)

• The Remnant Blade, by Mike Vincent (paperback, 6/27)

• Voidscarred, by Mike Brooks (paperback, 6/27)

• False Gods, by Graham McNeill (hardcover and Premium, 7/4)

• Horus Rising, by Dan Abnett (Saga edition paperback, 7/4)

• Gloomspite, by Andy Clark (hardcover, 7/4)

• Rynn’s World, by Steve Parker (Special Edition, 7/11)

• For the Emperor (Illustrated and Annotated Edition), by Sandy Mitchell (7/11)

• The Sabbat Worlds Crusade, by Dan Abnett (hardcover, 7/11)

• Krakenblood, by Marc Collins (paperback, 7/11)

• Vagabond Squadron, by Robbie MacNiven (paperback, 7/11)

• Starseer’s Ruin, by Adrian Tchaikovsky (paperback, 7/11)

• Siege of Terra: Flames of Betrayal, by various (paperback, 7/28)

• Warhammer Age of Sigmar: The Ultimate Guide (hardcover, 8/11)

• Archmagos, by Guy Haley (paperback, 8/11)

• The Relentless Dead, by Steve Lyons (paperback, 8/11)

• Words of Waaagh!, by DK Books (hardcover, 10/6)

• The Sundering, by Gav Thorpe (paperback, 10/6)

Thanks again for joining me for all the going’s on in the Black Library, and see you next week!

I’m a big fan of ‘see something, say something.’ There’s always a tendency to assume someone else has already raised the alert when a problem is detected (there’s even a term for it, the ‘bystander effect’), but ten pairs of eyes are always better than one and a little extra vigilance goes a long way.

Thus I appreciated the head’s up from reader David Clatterbuck this week:

The short answer is that yes, it’s intentional. But it also raises an interesting question that I’d love to get your feedback on. Help a fella out today? Don’t worry, we’ll get to the books right after!

Penny for your thoughts?

Whenever a writer publishes a post, Substack gives them two options:

• Publish it to the website only, or

• Publish it to the website and send it via email to all Subscribers

The platform knows that readers don’t want to be drowned in email updates, and cautions us to be mindful of how much email traffic we’re churning out.

On the Black Library side, I email out Black Library Weekly every week. That’s the flagship series and the site’s biggest draw. Some weeks I’ll email a second featurette, espeically if it’s a “mainline” series like The 40K History of the Black Library or Black Library Bibliophiles. For the short time I was hosting Black Library Readers’ Hall of Fame voting here, I also emailed out the ballots to Subscribers.

There’s also stuff I don’t typically email out, like The Hall Monitor, and that’s probably what caught David’s eye.

Another option- at risk of overcomplicating things- is to make Black Library Weekly its own content category, and put the rest of the Black Library stuff in a different one. That would let each reader have more control over what they get:

• Just want the Weekly? Check that category, uncheck all the others.

• Want the Weekly and the other Black Library stuff? Check both boxes.

So here’s the question: what’s your preference? Should I email everything, which would be 2-3 articles a week? Or is that too much? Would having two categories for the Black Library (the Weekly, and the rest) be too much, or would you welcome being able to better tailor what you get from the Warhammer Wordforge?

If you’d be so kind as to take a sec and let me know your thoughts in the comments below, I’d truly appreciate it. I’m still new to this format, and want to make sure I hit that sweet spot of ‘respect for my audience’ and ‘giving the people what they want.’

On the RPG Side

Right now, this content is limited to the Warhammer RPG Weekly column each Friday. When I begin to develop more content here (already in progress, by the way), I’ll likely send those out via email since they won’t be as frequent.

Since readers can opt-in to the RPG side just like they can the Black Library side, folks only here for one or the other can already tailor that to their preference.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts, it will definitely help the Wordforge be the best place it can be! Now, let’s get to those books…

Arrivals & Departures

In this section I look at what’s coming up around the corner (Arrivals) and what’s landing on bookstore shelves (Departures).

Arrivals

It’s a big week for the Black Library, with the second book in the Horus Heresy Saga on the horizon. False Gods, by Graham McNeill, will be arriving in the new hardcover format as well as with a beautiful Premium Edition. The new series cover art from Neil Roberts has been outstanding!

Of course, deluxe editions of Horus Heresy books have been amongst the most hotly-anticipated, which means if you want your copy you’ll need to be sharp when the preorder window opens this Saturday. I wrote a guide for Tabletop Battles on collecting the Black Library that you may find useful if you’re not a veteran of this particular long war.

I wondered last week about the listing for the paperback Horus Rising, but it all came together this week as the Sunday Preview also offered up the first book of the Horus Heresy Saga editions in paperback.

And this week’s out-of-left-field offering is a reissue of Gloomspite, the Age of Sigmar novel from Andy Clark originally released in hardcover in 2019. I’m not complaining at folks having another chance to grab this in hardcover (nothing quite makes a shelf pop like hardcover books), but it does leave me scratching my head a little as to the reason.

Departures

Nothing until next week, when the standard hardcovers of Armageddon: Season of Fire by Jude Reid release.

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.

Andy Clark (Gloomspite, Bad Loon Rising) shared this work in progress for his Ork mob. The colors in here are terrific, really giving them some individuality. Looking great, Andy!

Twizelda the Brave comes to us courtesy of the skilled brush of Ben Counter (Galaxy in Flames, Soul Drinker).

This badass Bullgryn will take particular issue if you mess with the ratlings on Robert Rath’s (The Infinite and the Divine, Assassinorum: Kingmaker) Kill Team. Don’t say you weren’t warned!

Chris Thursten did gorgeous work on his first-ever Blood Bowl team, with some Bretonnians that really pop with that coloring.

Adrian Tchaikovsky (Day of Ascension, On the Shoulders of Giants) showed off some delightfully unhealthy-looking Nurglites. Hope your shots are up to date!

If slow-and-steady-wins-the-race is your painting style, you’re in good company with Victoria Hayward (Deathworlder, The Feast of St. Luthera) and her lovely verdant Knight.

Finally, some up-close-and-personal rodent work courtesy of Denny Flowers (Ghazghkull Thraka: Warlord of Warlords, Grotsnik: Da Mad Dok).

ICYMI

Here’s what’s been going on this week for Warhammer content!

Warhammer Wordforge

• The Hall Monitor is a sort of “director’s commentary” I write to accompany each new Black Library Readers’ Hall of Fame piece over on Tabletop Battles. This week featured a deeply personal reflection on how Warhammer has given me a refuge during my wife’s battle with Stage IV cancer. It’s not for everyone, but for us it’s gratitude that’s seen us through.

  • If that’s too heavy, that’s okay- I get it! Scroll to the second section of the Hall Monitor for the fun stuff: top 20 lists of the highest-performing books in the public voting!

• For those of you into RPG’s, don’t miss last Friday’s Warhammer RPG Weekly (formerly the RPG SITREP). I’m giving away a bundle of goodies for Cubicle 7 Games’ new Warhammer: The Old World RPG!

• Finally, last week saw the debut of a new occasional feature here on the Wordforge. Just like Show and Tell talks about WarhammerTV offerings and Audio Impressions reviews audiobooks, White Dwarf Stories will examine that tiny corner of the Black Library that exists within the pages of Games Workshop’s flagship magazine. I kicked things off with a look at last October’s horror story, the terrific Tattered Sails by Jake Ozga.

Tabletop Battles

• Here’s the link to the most recent Black Library Readers’ Hall of Fame, which covered the absolutely staggering year of 2010. Considering that 2009 only saw one book get in (Aaron Dembski-Bowden’s debut novel, Cadian Blood), 2010’sinduction of nine really seems incredible. But what amazing books those were!

• Those hoping for a review weren’t left out! Here’s my review of Hive, a book I consider to be Dan Abnett’s magnum opus.

Warhammer Community

• Not a lot for us on the mothership this week, but we did get the regularly-scheduled Pages from the Black Books lore drop. This week’s involved those pathfinders of the Great Crusade, the White Scars.

WarhammerTV (paywalled)

• Episode two of the new Aeronautica Imperialis animated mini-series dropped this week, and WARCOM gave a nice little dive into some of the lore around what you’ll see in the episode. Once the last episode drops I’ll be penning a proper review here as well!

Around the Webway

• While it’s not Black Library per se, a lot of us loreseekers enjoy reading the Codexes and supplements of the game throughout the years. Jordan Sorcery’s no different, and in his GW Book Club this week he dove into the 2nd Edition’s Codex: Imperial Guard.

• Staying in the realm of the tangential-to-books for one more second, Mira Manga penned a review of the Warhammer 40,000: Day of Ascension card game from Cubicle 7 Games. Sharing a name with the thematically-parallel book by Adrian Tchaikovsky, her review appears in the latest Tabletop Gaming Magazine.

• The Fluffenhammer Podcast devoted a full episode to remembering John Blanche this week, helping mark the passing of the legend.

• This week on the WH40K Book Club, Jen and Keri covered the “Nathan Drake of Warhammer,” Aestred Thurga in the latest by Danie Ware.

• “Anarch feels more like a horror novel in many places and takes advantage of its Warhammer 40K setting in ways that previous books rarely did,” wrote C. T. Phipps. Their review of Dan Abnett’s fifteenth Gaunt’s Ghosts novel landed this week at Grimdark Magazine.

• It Always Rains in Nuln is a terrific blog with a heavy focus on Warhammer Fantasy Role Play, but this week Xathrodox86 took a bit of a cudgel to Gav Thorpe’s The Curse of Khaine.

Cold Open Stories

• I don’t want to offer any spoilers, but if you happened to have read a certain new release from the Black Library, then Spore, this week’s highlighted story from Cold Open, will have particular resonance. “Mother finally comes to Photon, determined to give her gifts to the world. But not all will be able to receive her favour – for Erin, and others like here, a different fate, and a different destiny awaits.”

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Quick Hits

• The Best of Adrian Tchaikovsky, a collection of short stories by the award-winning author from Subterranean Press, arrived into the world this week. This was a limited edition, hand-numbered and signed by the author (Hi, I’m #657!). If you’d missed the book’s issue, there’s an ebook version available for just ten bucks- a steal, as this contains 37 stories spanning more than 600 pages.

• Tim Waggoner (Skin Man) shared a pic of his contributor’s copy of the upcoming Creepshow: 13 Tales of Terror anthology he’s included in. “I saw Creepshow in the theater when it first came out, and it's so cool to become a small part of its legacy now!” I’ll have you know that legacy includes childhood me being absolutely terrified of “The Crate.” #IYKYK

• “Every attempt you make teaches you what that scene is not,” wrote Danie Ware this week, as she discusses what happens when the motive force for writing breaks down a little. Not every writer invites you to their desk to understand the process behind it all, and I greatly appreciate when they do!

• Like chocolate meeting peanut butter, it’s always a treat when two things you enjoy come together. In this case, it’s the writing of Andi Ewington (Da Red Gobbo’s Last Stand. Fire and Fungi) and Rogue Trooper. Andi’s got a story in next week’s Judge Dredd Magazine, don’t miss it!

• How much would you have enjoyed a Space Marine-style video game that takes place during the Horus Heresy? Animator John Martinez shared some footage of the sadly-canceled game he’d done some work on, and just as amazing was that Graham McNeill (Dead Sky, Black Sun, Fulgrim) shared that he’d done some of the writing for it. Someone necro this thing and get it to market, stat!

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Coming Attractions

Here’s a list of the known 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.

This section will be updated weekly in this column, and anything in bold has been added (or updated) this week.

Upcoming but Undated

• Rynn’s World, by Steve Parker (Special Edition)

• Ghazghkull Thraka: Prophet of the Waaagh! (Illustrated and Annotated Edition), by Nate Crowley

• For the Emperor (Illustrated and Annotated Edition), by Sandy Mitchell

Current PODs in Production

• Hive, by Dan Abnett (Special Edition)

Upcoming in 2026

• Armageddon: Season of Fire, by Jude Reid (hardcover, 6/20)

• Armageddon: Season of Fire, by Jude Reid (Special Edition, 6/27)

• Tomb World, by Jonathan Beer (paperback, 6/27)

• The Remnant Blade, by Mike Vincent (paperback, 6/27)

• Voidscarred, by Mike Brooks (paperback, 6/27)

• False Gods, by Graham McNeill (hardcover and Premium, 7/4)

• Horus Rising, by Dan Abnett (Saga edition paperback, 7/4)

• Gloomspite, by Andy Clark (hardcover, 7/4)

• Krakenblood, by Marc Collins (paperback, 7/14)

• Vagabond Squadron, by Robbie MacNiven (paperback, 7/14)

• Starseer’s Ruin, by Adrian Tchaikovsky (paperback, 7/14)

• Siege of Terra: Flames of Betrayal, by various (paperback, 7/28)

• Warhammer Age of Sigmar: The Ultimate Guide (hardcover, 8/11)

• Archmagos, by Guy Haley (paperback, 8/11)

• The Relentless Dead, by Steve Lyons (paperback, 8/11)

• Words of Waaagh!, by DK Books (hardcover, 10/6)

• The Sundering, by Gav Thorpe (paperback, 10/6)

Thanks again for joining me for all the going’s on in the Black Library, and see you next week!

I never really knew John Blanche.

When I think of the foundational artists I came up with in my hobby, those whose visual imaginings perfectly encapsulated the fantastic worlds they were depicting, I think of Ralph McQuarrie, Larry Elmore, and (later) Tony DiTerlizzi.

Though he was certainly a contemporary of all of them. there wasn’t a lot of Warhammer Fantasy in Dragon Magazine and my gateway to Warhammer 40,000 came many years later in the form of omnibuses for Gaunt’s Ghosts, Eisenhorn, and Ciaphas Cain.

But much like dark matter, you don’t need to see a thing to have it made plain through its gravitational influence. Blanche was foundationally influential on the worlds of Warhammer, and even if you didn’t know the first thing about it you could see the mark he made by the reaction to the news of his passing.

There were also some wonderful tributes posted across the hobby, including by Dan “Swiftblade” Richardson on Tabletop Battles, Simon Berman on Bell of Lost Souls, Ben Sledge on TheGamer, and Wargamer’s Timothy Linward.

And, finally, the one from Games Workshop with that very touching final line.

I never really knew John Blanche, and yet I can only imagine how much poorer my life would have been had he himself never been.

Thank you, John.

Arrivals & Departures

While previously I’d focused more on what was right around the corner with Up for Preorder, the new Arrivals & Departures section will also serve as a reminder to what’s been released this past weekend.

Arrivals

If anyone else found the lack of a deluxe edition of Jude Reid’s Armageddon: Season of Fire puzzling, at least we weren’t left scratching our heads for long. After all, the tie-in novels from previous editions had been given the royal treatment, so why not this one?

Well, the wait is over and it seems well worth it- that’s a stunning treatment. Reid must be friends with someone in the design department because the deluxe editions of her books have been home runs (see below).

In addition, we get a trio of superb novels arriving in paperback for the first time. Voidscarred by Mike Brooks (review), Mike Vincent’s The Remnant Blade (review), and Jonathan D. Beer’s Tomb World (review, author interview).

Departures

The only ‘new’ book leaving the “Upcoming Releases” lists is a paperback reprinting of Horus Rising by Dan Abnett that I’d added to the Coming Attractions section at some point. A new reprinting, perhaps, one little distinguishable from ones before it? Amazon yields curious results, sometimes, like this possible mini-less reissue of the Warhammer Character Encyclopedia by Wade Pryce releasing on 1/5/27.

Music in the Sighing of a Reid

With apologies to Lord Byron, Jude Reid’s string of visually striking deluxe treatments is pretty impressive. Here’s a pocket visual history of her novels, any of which would make a nice display in your library/museum.

Creed: Ashes of Cadia, 2023

Creed wasn’t a bad Special Edition, but the treatment looks a bit plain with a spine layout indistinguishable from an academic text. I suspect it looks better in person, which as you’ll see is a bit of a trend.

Don’t worry, it only gets better from here.

Daemonbreaker, 2024

There’s something very elegant in the line art and white front cover here, and the sprayed edges really make for a gorgeous piece.

Morvenn Vahl: Spear of Faith, 2024

Not just a Limited Edition, Morvenn Vahl received the Mega Limited Edition treatment this time. A set of six illuminated prints accompany the book, which- and the pictures do it no justice here- is a lush black velvet rather than the flat black it appears here. There’s also a second book, 56-pages and cloth-bound, called The Book of Saints.

Fulgrim: The Perfect Son, 2025

If there’s a poster child for books that look far better in person than they do in the promotional pictures, it’s this one. An absolutely stunning treatment, here’s what I wrote at the time:

As it turned out, one of the nicest things about this design wasn't something that translated well in photographs- its satin finish. The book is absolutely sumptuous in person with a rich magenta hue, and the "it's nicer than I expected" comments rang through the Black Library community on Reddit.

"I remember thinking how flat red it looked in the pictures compared to the glorious magenta of my author copy," noted Jude Reid in an exchange we had on BlueSky. "Nice that people are pleased with how it looks in the flesh."

With Armageddon: Season of Fire, the design team at the Black Library have delivered once again. Unfortunately, it’s not so apparent that the same care has gone into its marketing…

Integrated Marketing

So let’s talk about that marketing for a moment. Two Sundays ago, the Sunday Preview was short, sweet, and to the point with just three items available:

• Warhammer 40,000’s new Armageddon box,

• The standard hardcover of Armageddon: Season of Fire

• White Dwarf #525

Notably absent was any mention of a deluxe edition of the book, which was curious because past tie-in books were given the bonus treatment. Like lots of folks, I went ahead and ordered myself a copy of the standard hardcover (and we’ll get into that experience in a moment).

Lo and behold, just one week later we get the Special Edition and what feels like it should be a celebration is instead a bit of a “gotcha!” See, while we do have a few “completionists” in the Black Library Nutters group on Facebook ordering one of every edition that’s released, most folks who want deluxe editions will not feel the need to also purchase the standard one.

Most of the time, when deluxe editions are offered either in advance of, or at the same time as the standard edition, folks can choose which version they want. But the end result this time is you’ve got a bit of heartburn in the community as those who would normally have just gone for the Special Edition find themselves already locked in to a standard edition.

In this case, a simple acknowledgement that there would be a Special Edition in the future, perhaps in this article, would have been the right move.

But hey, no points for guessing what my Black Library Giveaway book for July’s gonna be.

Credit Where Due

If this was a miss on the part of the Black Library, we did have a couple of hits this week in the marketing department. If you logged in Saturday for the usual preorder window, you might have been surprised to note that they had a queue system in place due to the expected demand for the new 11th Edition box.

So the first bit of credit comes to whomever decided not to release the Special Edition of Armageddon: Season of Fire on the same day, saving many of us from the traffic jam just to get a book.

Second, hats off to whomever suggested letting folks in the preorder queue read an excerpt of Aaron Dembski-Bowden’s Helsreach. They also had lore primers and even painting tutorials, all things you could enjoy without losing your place in line.

Finally, one more bit of integrated marketing has been a welcome sight. While the Sunday Previews have done an okay job of listing the upcoming WarhammerTV content, the new format for that information is outstanding. WarhammerTV is one of Warhammer house media’s most-maligned avenues, and whoever pitched this format (pictured above) deserves a raise.

Bigger in Texas

I’ve spent most of the last week in Houston with my wife and three daughters as Jimi is getting treatment at MD Anderson. As I often like to do when visiting a different city, I make a point to stop in at the local Warhammer Store and pick up something for the Museum.

I’ve never found a state prouder of its own identity than Texas- and it’s not close. It’s everywhere. The state flag, state outline, state name. You can’t go a hundred yards without being reminded where you are, with the clear subtext that this fact should be regarded as one of God’s own blessings.

And so it came as little surprise when we stopped in at the Warhammer Store in Houston and met the manager Kenzie, the first thing she said when she learned we were from Kentucky was, “I’m sorry.”

“You know, sorry that you’re not from Texas,” she helpfully clarified with a laugh, lest there be any doubt.

The first thing I noticed in Kenzie’s store was the prominent display of Black Library books on the table (pictured above). I’ve never seen an official store do more than simply having the books on shelves, so this was a welcome sight.

Kenzie shared that the store had been founded in 2009, making it one of North America’s oldest still-operating locations. Speaking to her, it wasn’t hard to see why as she did a terrific job of mixing sales with conversation. Was there anything in particular that brought me in that she could help me find? Did I know about the new release box, and that there was a special coin I could get for ordering it? And of course, ordering in Houston for Louisville delivery, that would be no problem at all1!

As a onetime FLGS owner, I love to see staff that take both sides of the role seriously. She was also very friendly with my daughters, and we each walked out with a Mini of the Month. And while I’d arrived hoping to pick up Commissar Yarrick for the Museum, they were all out. Still, Inquisitor Greyfax will certainly look great somewhere.

June’s Black Library Weekly Giveaway: A Winner Appears!

Last week we unveiled a copy of Hive as the prize for June’s Black Library giveaway, and all folks had to do to enter was share their favorite book from Dan Abnett. We had some terrific entries:

Javericks, selecting First & Only, noted that his “collection of his works has mostly ended up in audiobook format now which, for me, means everything I have listened to has been elevated by Toby Longworth's narration.” I loved this one because I’m considering giving the Ghosts series a listen in audio, and it’s encouraging to hear that it’s well-done in that format.

Dawfydd Kelly had a deeper cut with Hammers of Ulrik, due to its centering on Middenheim. Bonus points for pointing out some of Abnett’s non-Black Library work, including Triumff and Embedded!

Then there was Jonas Kaufman, who I think spoke for most of us when he noted that “picking a favourite Dan Abnett book is like picking which pizza is best. They're ALL yummy!”

I threw everyone’s name into the ol’ randomizer, and the winner is…. Jonas Kaufman! Congrats, Jonas, feel free to order some pizza to celebrate and keep an eye on your messages here, we’ll be getting Hive into the post for you soon!

Creative Uncommons (Redux)

Last week we shared a look at a 3-D printed custom slipcase for Hive that Vyas Sundarrajan made and shared with the folks at the Black Library Nutters Facebook group. Well, Vyas went back in the lab this week and reappeared with this absolute beauty, for Robbie MacNiven’s Carcharodons trilogy.

This is stunning work, and another great example of how much creativity goes into storing and displaying these wonderful books- as well as the generosity of spirit that brings so many of us together. Thanks again, Vyas!

Black Library App Sales for June

A new month means a new slate of sales on the Black Library app. As a reminder, this is a very new (and very welcome) approach; previously there was only one eBook offered on sale each month. With the introduction of the new app, each month appears to be bringing with it a much larger number of eBook and audiobook releases at a discounted price (50% off the eBook, 66% off the audio).

For June, these are:

• Dante, by Guy Haley (narrated by Gareth Armstrong)

• Gloomspite, by Andy Clark (narrated by Harry Myers)

• The Gate of Bones, by Andy Clark (narrated by John Banks)

• Realm-Lords, by Dale Lucas (narrated by Richard Reed)

• Cadia Stands, by Justin D. Hill (narrated by David Sneddon)

• Helsreach, by Aaron Dembski-Bowden (narrated by Jonathan Keeble in an absolute masterclass of a performance2)

• Warboss, by Mike Brooks (narrated by Harry Myers)

• Renegades: Lords of Excess, by Rich McCormick (narrated by Richard Reed)

ICYMI

Here’s what’s been going on this week for Warhammer content!

Black Library Dispatch

• First up is the big news that the site’s tweaking its branding. I announced yesterday that we were changing from The Black Library Dispatch to the more all-encompassing Warhammer Wordforge.

• This week’s review content takes a look at the audiobook for Aaron Dembski-Bowden’s The First Heretic, narrated by Gareth Armstrong. It’s a good origin story- but perhaps a little thinner than I’d hoped in the faith department.

• Finally, for you RPG folks out there, this week’s Warhammer RPG SITREP saw a new cover reveal from Cubicle 7 Games for Warhammer: The Old World.

Tabletop Battles

• This week’s review took us back to the Mortal Realms, courtesy of Saelfe. He cracked into Queen of the Rose Throne, the latest by Gary Kloster.

• TTB has been running a multi-part Lore Explainer series on Armageddon, beginning with a look at the planet and then the First War of Armageddon. Part Six (time jump!) landed this week, Rob “The Chirurgeon” Jones laid out what’s going on with Operation Imperator.

Warhammer Community

• All last week we saw a number of interviews with Warhammer studio staff about the upcoming new edition. Make sure to catch the installment with Phil Kelly (Shadowsun: The Patient Hunter, Farsight: Blade of Truth) on the latest developments in the lore.

• For those Black Library Bibliophiles out there, make sure to check out the latest collectible coin available at Warhammer stores this month. If you’ve got a Yarrick or Armageddon section in your library, this makes a terrific accompaniment.

• Well lookie here, what’s this coming up in the next White Dwarf? New Armageddon-set fiction from Russell Zimmerman (Seven Ships, Resounding)? Let’s go! “I knew that this was coming for months,” shared Russel on Facebook, “but I’m still kinda geeking out about being in a White Dwarf magazine, y’all. I wrote Armageddon fiction well before I had any inkling it had to do with the launch of the new edition, or a major new global campaign with the Return to Armageddon event, etc, etc. I didn’t know WHY they liked my story pitch, I was just glad to pitch it. But now that it’s all falling into place, it’s still pretty danged neat.”

WarhammerTV (paywalled)

• With the debut episode of the brand-new animated series Aeronautica Imperialis out last week, we’re counting down until the next installment, In Death’s Shadow, on 12 June. Can’t wait til then? Check out the episode 2 trailer!

Around the Webway

• Not technically Warhammer, but fans of Dark Future will be keen to note that The Oldhammer Fiction Podcast is diving in to Kim Newman’s Krokodil Tears this week.

• Cinderfall Gaming reviewed David Annandale’s Apostle this week, giving it 4/5 stars.

Cold Open Stories

• Two of Cold Open’s recent curated anthologies of fan-made Warhammer 40K fiction, XV and XVI, have now been made available in more formats, including EPUB, MOBI, PDF, and AZW3.

Quick Hits

• Josh Reynolds (Neferata, Deathstorm) published the latest installment of the who’s-who in his Royal Occultist compendium, which you can find for free here and focuses on the Necromancer of Paris!

• The next chapter in Dan Abnett’s Brink releases this week. Look for it in the pages of 2000AD, prog 2485.

• John Goodrich (Mud and Mist) announced that his upcoming fantasy/noir novel Dead Wrongs will be releasing in July 2027 from Grand Central Publishing.

Coming Attractions

Here’s a list of the known 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.

This section will be updated weekly in this column, and anything in bold has been added (or updated) this week.

Upcoming but Undated

• Rynn’s World, by Steve Parker (Special Edition)

• Ghazghkull Thraka: Prophet of the Waaagh! (Illustrated and Annotated Edition), by Nate Crowley

Current PODs in Production

• Hive, by Dan Abnett (Special Edition)

Upcoming in 2026

• Armageddon: Season of Fire, by Jude Reid (hardcover, 6/20)

• Armageddon: Season of Fire, by Jude Reid (Special Edition, 6/27)

• Tomb World, by Jonathan Beer (paperback, 6/27)

• The Remnant Blade, by Mike Vincent (paperback, 6/27)

• Voidscarred, by Mike Brooks (paperback, 6/27)

• Krakenblood, by Marc Collins (paperback, 7/14)

• Vagabond Squadron, by Robbie MacNiven (paperback, 7/14)

• Starseer’s Ruin, by Adrian Tchaikovsky (paperback, 7/14)

• Siege of Terra: Flames of Betrayal, by various (paperback, 7/28)

• Warhammer Age of Sigmar: The Ultimate Guide (hardcover, 8/11)

• Archmagos, by Guy Haley (paperback, 8/11)

• The Relentless Dead, by Steve Lyons (paperback, 8/11)

• Words of Waaagh!, by DK Books (hardcover, 10/6)

• The Sundering, by Gav Thorpe (paperback, 10/6)

Thanks again for joining me for all the going’s on in the Black Library, and see you next week!

The year 1994 stands not only as a major turning point in the history of the Glasgow Celtic football club, but also a rare and triumphant example of how ‘people power’ can change the way beloved companies operate.

It was, admittedly, a pretty lousy time to be a Celtic fan. Crosstown archrivals Rangers were in the midst of a nine-in-a-row championship run, and the White and Kelly families that had controlled Celtic for nearly a century seemed unwilling both to invest in the club financially or adapt to the changing face of modern football. Celtic was falling further and further behind Rangers both on and off the pitch, and there didn’t seem to be any ambition or urgency to restore the days of past glory.

Eventually, fan misgivings and complaints turned to direct action. Fans banded together in organizations like Celts for Change and Save Our Celts, boycotted matches, protested at games, and even picketed Celtic’s bank. The board splintered, and cast into financial crisis were forced to sell the club to Fergus McCann, Scottish-Canadian businessman and lifelong Celtic fan. McCann had promised to pump money back into Celtic, and had the backing of the fans on his side.

“The game is over,” board member Brian Dempsey famously noted on the steps of Celtic Park on the day of the sale, “the rebels have won.”

There was similar rejoicing around the Black Library community this week as the latest developments in the Hive saga unfolded. I covered much of the twists and turns the story has taken last week, with readers facing the grim prospect of having to find a participating Warhammer store location to get the Special Edition of Dan Abnett’s magnum opus.

But there was one more twist, dropping on Wednesday.

“We’ve received a lot of feedback about the special edition only being available in select Warhammer stores,” Games Workshop noted in an update on Warhammer Community, “and know many of you were worried that you would miss out on getting a copy.”

And then the words so many had been hoping for…

And there it was. No online mad dash to beat the scalpers. No quantity-limited, in-store fight to get them. Instead, a wide-open, print-on-demand reissue. And if anyone thought a 180-day wait was too steep a price to pay, I haven’t heard a peep.

As I noted last week, “I think eventually we’ll look back at this period of time and see a Games Workshop that was struggling to find a distribution model for its deluxe edition Black Library offerings that could satisfy everyone.”

If this week has shown anything, it’s that while Games Workshop may not get things right every time, they are at least willing to listen.

Under McCann’s ownership, Celtic’s change of course bore fruit in 1998 when they stopped Rangers from winning ten championships in a row. Indeed, from then until now they’ve won 21 titles, with Rangers only managing eight1. While a similar renaissance for us Black Library readers is unlikely, this is certainly a step in the right direction.

Not For The Faint of Heart

So if we’ve moved to a print-on-demand model for Hive’s Special Edition, one without numbering or Dan Abnett’s autograph, what’s to become of the original print run? You know, the ones that were shipped to all the stores?

Don’t ask.

It’s been famously noted of Magic: the Gathering players that if you handed them a hundred-dollar bill, they’d complain about how it was folded2. There was an element of that this week in the wake of the Hive news, with a few complaints about the released copies not being available for Saturday purchase.

I mean, c’mon, we just got handed a big concession from Games Workshop, right?

But on the other, they’re probably right. I don’t think there would have been a lot of ill-will if GW had gone ahead and done both. Made the original print run available in-store as they’d prepared to do, and offer the POD window for anyone else unable or unwilling to trek to their closest Warhammer store.

As a bibliophile, the idea of pulping books is painful. Sure, sometimes it’s a matter of legality, as with the story of Dark Hunters: Umbra Sumus, but if you don’t have to, why do it?

Arrivals & Departures

While previously I’d focused more on what was right around the corner with Up for Preorder, the new Arrivals & Departures section will also serve as a reminder to what’s been released this past weekend.

Arrivals

It’s here! The latest from Jude Reid (Fulgim: The Perfect Son, Morvenn Vahl: Spear of Faith) is the tie-in book for the launch of Warhammer 40,000’s 11th Edition. Armageddon: Season of Fire will be up for preordering this coming Saturday. To my surprise, though, it will only be offered in standard hardcover- no Special or Limited Editions in sight.

Longtime readers may recall I did a pocket history of the previous editions’ tie-in novels here, as well.

Departures

No new books dropped onto store shelves this week, so the runway is clear!

Sharing a Six-Pack With… Justin Woolley!

The Six-Pack is an occasional Black Library Weekly tradition, with a Black Library author past or present sharing some of their personal book recommendations. The ask is simple: three books from the Black Library. Two books that aren’t. And then one book of their own!

If your tastes run to the greenskin persuasion, a return to Armageddon has been a real banquet. New models, a new edition of the game featuring your faction- and plenty of Ork action in the Black Library including the latest book from Justin Woolley!

Woolley, whose previous works for Warhammer have included Catachan Devil, Prisoners of Waaagh!, and Long Live Da Red Gobbo, joined us this week for some of his personal recommendations!

Three Black Library Books He’d Recommend…

The Infinite and the Divine by Robert Rath. “I mean, this one probably doesn’t need a recommendation because the community has well and truly embraced how terrific it is. Rob Rath’s dueling necron maniacs are like if Itchy and Scratchy were astronomically intelligent ancient creatures whose cartoon battle lasted millennia and stretched across the galaxy. It is funny, smart, epic in scope and still perfectly captures the universe of Warhammer 40k.”

Brutal Kunnin’ by Mike Brooks. “Almost all of my Black Library work has been about orks. I came into Black Library from writing science fiction comedy and I love the orks as the faction that allows us to produce a lighter side to the grim darkness while maintaining them as an utterly brutal and terrifying enemy. I have to credit Mike Brooks with laying the foundation for an increasing desire and foundation for orks to take centre stage in Black Library fiction. Brutal Kunnin’ is, to my mind, where great ork novels really started in Black Library. So I recommend this. Standin’ on da shoulders of giants and all dat.”

For the Emperor by Sandy Mitchell. “Among the first Black Library books I ever read many years ago and the first that showed me that Warhammer 40k could be funny. For me, even in the darkest of settings contrast is important. Humour is rife in war. Laughter and dark humour have long been a tool humans have used to endure hard times and build psychological resilience. For a setting born from satire sometimes leaning into the more comedic aspects makes for the most memorable characters and, for me, Ciaphas Cain is one of the settings very best.”

Two Non-Black Library Books He’d Recommend…

The City & the City by China Miéville. “Always one of my go to recommendations when people ask because it combines several things I love in fiction. A police procedural. Meticulous world-building. Highly imaginative fantasy. I won’t reveal too much but this is a special book. A detective novel set in a place where two cities overlap in the same dimensional space and two detective must solve a murder that crosses that boundary. One of my all time favourites.”

Night Watch by Terry Pratchett. “I mean, Pratchett is the GOAT of comedic genre fiction and this is, in my opinion, his best book. If you are a fantasy or science fiction reader and you have never delved into the Discworld then you are missing some of the true masterpieces in SFF. The man who inspired me to write and my favourite author of all time.”

And Finally, One of His Own Books He’d Recommend…

Da Freebooterz Code. “My newest work for Black Library and one that I really feel I hit my orky stride on. I loved writing the adventure of Kaptin Skeeg Horntoof and hope I managed to achieve what I set out to do, a comedic adventure that still feels at home within the 40k universe. Bonus sneaky second plug, if you like my comedic 40k work you might also like Shakedowners, my comedic science-fiction series.”

Thanks, Justin! And if- like me- you’re curious about Shakedowners, here’s the book’s premise:

Oh, and he’s got signed copies available at his website, too!

June’s Black Library Weekly Giveaway

Some were fortunate to grab a copy of the standard, hardcover edition of Abnett’s Hive when it hit the store shelves. Others will be happy to wait the 180 days to get theirs through the new print-on-demand offering.

But one lucky reader will get to split the difference, winning a copy for the Dispatch’s June Black Library Giveaway!

Here’s how to enter:

1. Make sure you’re a Subscriber to the Black Library Dispatch.

2. Leave a comment below sharing what your favorite book by Dan Abnett is, and why (and it doesn’t have to be a Black Library title). A line or two is perfectly fine, please don’t feel you need to write a Hive-length explanation unless the spirit truly moves you. And hey, if you haven’t read any yet, that’s okay too- we all start somewhere!

That’s it! Next week I’ll pick a winner at random, and ta-daa, you’re getting Hive-d! As the Black Library is a global community, the contest is open to readers from anywhere on Terra. Sorry tech-priests, we’ll have to wait a bit to unlock Mars delivery.

Creative Uncommons

I always love seeing the incredible creativity and passion of the Black Library bibliophile3 community, such as custom bookbinding for the Horus Heresy, or hand-written transcriptions of Black Library stories onto scrolls.

This latest bit of awesome comes to us by way of Vyas Sundarrajan, one of the amazing residents of the Black Library Nutters Community over on Facebook. Vyas noted he wasn’t thrilled with the flimsy cardstock slipcover the books come with by default, so he designed and 3-D printed one of his own.

Not only does it look fantastic, but Vyas has freely shared the STL files with anyone who’d like to print their own! “I have been unconditionally helped by wonderful people here before,” he noted, “and am sure I will be in their debt in the future too - this is just me passing their good will on.”

Thanks, Vyas!

200 Subscribers!

Just 60 days in to the new Black Library Dispatch and we’ve crossed 30 articles and 200 subscribers! I’m delighted on both counts, but the latter is a little bittersweet as I’m frustrated about the issue with polling.

As I covered in the most recent Hall Monitor, I’d been a little perplexed why voting participation was down since we (temporarily) moved it here while Tabletop Battles gets polling fixed in the backend. Turns out, apparently Substack for whatever reason only allows Subscribers to vote in polls.

Now I’m fine with that being an option (and indeed, there is an option where Substack editors can make it even more restrictive by limiting it to paying Subscribers), but not as the basic default. If a Substack editor like me wants their polling to be open, by Jove, that’s a pretty reasonable functionality to expect! To be clear, I’m delighted when someone feels the content here is worth subscribing to, but I don’t like anyone feeling like they have to in order to participate in voting polls.

I’ve sent off a features request to the dev team, but who knows if/when that’ll happen. In the meantime, I’ll try to find a Plan C for voting for the Readers’ Hall of Fame next time.

ICYMI

Here’s what’s been going on this week for Warhammer content!

Black Library Dispatch

• It’s a Black Library Readers’ Hall of Fame week, so that means (at least while Tabletop Battles figures out the polling issues) we’ve got the ballot for 2010 here on the Dispatch. Again, the caveat is that you have to be a Subscriber to vote due to Substack’s design. Kindly bear with us, the show must go on!

• That also means we’ve had a new installment of The Hall Monitor, a sort of “behind the scenes” chat around all things BLRHoF. This week I talked a bit about the mystery of the lower poll voting, a mystery that we then appeared to solve.

• For review content, I took a look at the audiobook of The Daemon’s Curse, the first book in the Malus Darkblade series by Hall-of-famers Dan Abnett and Mike Lee. You won’t find a better voice for Malus than Andrew James Spooner, and I can’t wait to spin up the next one.

• Finally, whether you’re into Warhammer role-playing games or not, this week’s Warhammer RPG SITREP talked about an upcoming book covering the entire history of Warhammer. Exciting!

Tabletop Battles

• The main article for the Black Library Readers’ Hall of Fame is always at TTB, of course! We crown the inductees for the Class of 2009!

• As part of my new Heroes of the Black Library series, this week I dove into Commissar Sebastian Yarrick. Not only the man, the myth, and the legend- but also the books, the author, his history in miniatures, and on-theme curios to decorate your library.

• TTB has kicked off a multi-part Lore Explainer series on Armageddon, beginning with a look at the planet itself. This week, Rob “The Chirurgeon” Jones was back to talk about the oft-overlooked First War of Armageddon.

• Meanwhile, Saffgor reviewed the new Mechanicus II video game, with writing by the Black Library’s own Ben Counter (Soul Drinker, Grey Knights)!

Warhammer Community

• The Chronicles of Ruin serial mini-anthology for Age of Sigmar dropped a new story this week, The Steel Baron. These unattributed bits of fiction tend to follow the tabletop releases and this one’s no exception, featuring the new Cogforts!

• After his triumphs at Isstvan, Horus and his armies didn’t sit still. This week’s Pages from the Black Books covers his march of conquest through the Coronid Deeps.

• Aside from the Sunday Preview, it’s not every week we get new content but this time they dropped the new Warhammer 40K trailer. Almost four minutes long, if you’re not getting chills or gooseflesh here, what are you even doing?

WarhammerTV (paywalled)

• The first episode of the brand-new animated series Aeronautica Imperialis, Ignorance Leads Death, arrived this week. Dogfights between Imperials and Aeldari? Hell yeah.

• For more book-oriented far, the latest episode of the Black Library Book Club also was released. As we prepare for Armageddon, the lads were discussing Nate Crowley’s Ghazghkull Thraka: Prophet of the Waaagh!.

Around the Webway

• Alex at Wargamer had a humorous rant piece this week talking about why Perturabo is the worst Primarch. Part of his case comes from Guy Haley’s Hammer of Olympia, Perturabo’s entry in the Primarch series, and I found the whole thing an amusing read.

• Jen and Keri of the terrific WH40K Book Club tackled Ghazghkull Thraka: Warlord of Warlords by Denny Flowers this week, and just as I did they found it terrific fun!

• Then over at the 40K Book Club run by Arbitor Ian and Mira Manga, Mike Brooks’s Voidscarred went under the microscope. Voidscarred was the Goonhammer 40K Book of the Year for 2025 as well as the runner-up for the official Black Library Book of the Year, so I was keen to hear their thoughts on it.

Cold Open Corner

• The word “fanfic” tends to get a bad rap (not entirely undeservedly), but Cold Open Stories sets a very high standard of excellence for its Warhammer offerings (although somehow I managed to sneak in, so there’s that). This week they released their latest anthology, Sanctum Librarium vol. 16.

Quick Hits

• If you’re around Nottingham towards the end of this month, make sure to check out the Waterstones booksellers on the evening of the 30th. The event features a conversation with Mike Brooks (Lelith Hesperax, The Lion: Son of the Forest) around his new, original novel This is Where the Future Bleeds. And his interviewer? Some guy named John French (Ahriman: Exile, Dropsite Massacre)!

• In the meantime, if you’re in Kent on the 13th, Dan Abnett will be in attendance at the 2026 Broadside Games Show at the table of the Monster Merchants.

• Crimson Fists Omnibus reprint incoming? One retailer in Germany seems to think so.

• The new James Bond video game, 007 First Light, got a glowing review from the Guardian. Congrats to Simon Jowett (Apothecary’s Honour, Xenocide) who was part of the writing team!

• Exciting news for Adrian Tchaikovsky (Day of Ascension, Starseer’s Ruin), who shared that one of his book series, The Tyrant Philosophers, is being turned into a tabletop RPG by Handiwork Games!

Coming Attractions

Here’s a list of the known 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.

This section will be updated weekly in this column, and anything in bold has been added (or updated) this week.

Upcoming but Undated

• Rynn’s World, by Steve Parker (Special Edition)

• Ghazghkull Thraka: Prophet of the Waaagh! (Illustrated and Annotated Edition), by Nate Crowley

Current PODs in Production

• Hive, by Dan Abnett (Special Edition)

Upcoming in 2026

• Horus Rising, by Dan Abnett (paperback, 6/2)

• Armageddon: Season of Fire, by Jude Reid (hardcover, 6/20)

• Tomb World, by Jonathan Beer (paperback, 6/30)

• The Remnant Blade, by Mike Vincent (paperback, 6/30)

• Voidscarred, by Mike Brooks (paperback, 6/30)

• Krakenblood, by Marc Collins (paperback, 7/14)

• Vagabond Squadron, by Robbie MacNiven (paperback, 7/14)

• Starseer’s Ruin, by Adrian Tchaikovsky (paperback, 7/14)

• Siege of Terra: Flames of Betrayal, by various (paperback, 7/28)

• Warhammer Age of Sigmar: The Ultimate Guide (hardcover, 8/4)

• Archmagos, by Guy Haley (paperback, 8/11)

• The Relentless Dead, by Steve Lyons (paperback, 8/11)

• Words of Waaagh!, by DK Books (hardcover, 10/1)

Thanks again for joining me for all the going’s on in the Black Library, and see you next week!

No business intentionally sets out to make bad decisions. Let’s start today with that.

In hindsight, I think eventually we’ll look back at this period of time and see a Games Workshop that was struggling to find a distribution model for its deluxe edition Black Library offerings that could satisfy everyone. If we’re assuming good faith- which in my experience one always should- then in such situations steps will happen alongside missteps.

The news in yesterday’s Sunday Preview regarding the Special Edition release of Dan Abnett’s Hive is a misstep. Today we’re going to dive in as to why. But first, here’s what we’ve lined up today for you:

More Questions than Answers (Part 1)

If you’re coming to this cold, yesterday’s Sunday Preview confirmed what had been rumored this past weekend: that the Special Edition of Hive was going to be offered as an in-store item only at participating Warhammer stores.

Lay of the Land

Here’s what the footprint looks like, in terms of those stores.

Europe: Eleven stores. Seven locations in the UK, and then Prague, Zurich, Geneva, and Dublin.

Australia and New Zealand: Fifteen locations.

North America: All locations. 2021 stores.

This means it will not be available for pre-order online. If you don’t live within convenient distance of an official participating location, you will need to either acquire your copy on the secondary market- or simply go without.

When considering your ability to secure one, there are naturally two things you need to take into account. The first is, how far away is your closest store. The second, how much competition are you likely to face2?

Here’s some fun, back-of-the-napkin math for my fellow statheads3, showing the geographic footprint for each participating store as well as the slice of the population they’re expected to serve. (For instance, the UK figures came from dividing the population and land area by 7, because there are seven participating stores in that region.)

Western Europe is clearly the most disadvantaged here, since there are only four eligible locations. UK has the most favorable geography, while the US is optimal for lower potential competition.

Bottom line: My personal advice? If you really want this thing, you should plan to be at the store two hours before it opens. At least.

Why Are They Doing This: The Proactive Scenario

Ahh, the $64,000 question. Cui bono?

Obviously we don’t work for Games Workshop, and therefore we’re left to reading tea leaves and making educated guesses. But to cover our bases there are two different scenarios that we’ll need to consider.

Scenario 1: This is a proactive move by Games Workshop.

Scenario 2: This is a reactive move by Games Workshop.

Let’s start with the first one, that this deployment strategy is the result of a deliberate choice by GW. Why would they do this? I spoke to a source within the GW ecosystem, and these are the possibilities that came up.

Scalpers: Scalping has been the single largest persistent problem the Black Library has had to deal with as it seeks to cultivate a loyal and growing consumer base. We’re all likely familiar with the old pattern: online sales stock depleted minutes after a chase product goes on sale, then like mushrooms after a rainfall the eBay aftermarket listings spring up at 2x-3x the cost. This isn’t just a Black Library issue, but rather one that impacts GW’s offerings across the board. Go look at eBay listings for the Kill Team: Terror on Devlan release real quick, you’ll see the same story played out.

YES, there is certainly a larger conversation to be had about Games Workshop’s supply model and the artificial FOMO-driven consumer behavior it generates, but that’s outside of the scope for today. For the present we’re going to play the ball where it lies, not where we might prefer it to be.

The idea many of us have in our minds of industrial-grade scalpers are people who employ armies of bots to flood the zone, buying up multiple copies which they can then turn around and flip for a high profit. Indeed, this is exactly what happened about a year ago with the release of the Era of Ruin’s Special Edition (and if you weren’t part of that interesting event, I told the full story here).

Well, certainly one way to take the bots off the table is to restrict purchasing to in-person locations. And by limiting quantities to one per person, you can depress (but not eliminate) the capacity for scalpers to snatch up a greater share of the offerings. Naturally, nothing might stop a scalper from showing up with a friend or two in tow, but it is what it is.

As I noted in the beginning, this has been a year of GW experimenting with different approaches to curb one of their customers’ greatest pain points. Consider what else we’ve seen:

• The Era of Ruin Special Edition being moved from a regular release model to a guaranteed-stock, print on demand model.

• Chris Wraight’s Ashes of the Imperium being released as a new “premium edition,” which was not only de-limited but also with the promise of “potential future restocks.”

• The release of the new Horus Heresy Saga run of Horus Rising as a “premium hardback,” again with the possibility teased of “returning to print at a later date.”

The Ashes of the Imperium case is particularly interesting, as copies have been seen in the wild that did have sequential numbering pages- suggesting a change in strategy that happened fairly late in the game.

Juicing the Books: Games Workshop’s fiscal year ends on the Sunday closest to the end of May. All companies in general, but publicly-traded ones in particular are under immense pressure to show healthy balance sheets by the end of a fiscal year for a number of reasons. Pushing for an end-of-year spike in sales performance is incredibly common- there’s even a term for it (“channel stuffing”) for when it gets taken too far. For some this is a matter of meeting Wall Street expectations. For others; for others, there may be executive bonus structures that incentivize these last-minute pushes.

It’s not outside the realm of the reasonable that GW might be using this as a way to drive one last bump of in-store traffic to its official stores right at the end of the fiscal year.

Now, let’s switch gears from “they jumped,” to “they were pushed.”

Why Are They Doing This: The Reactive Scenario

Remember, Hive’s Special Edition was launched in a Sunday Preview, only to be quietly clawed back with a stealth-edit to the original article two days later:

If we assumed (as above) that this was a planned event, it seems another case similar to Ashes of the Imperium, where it almost feels like one hand didn’t know what the other one was doing over at GW, or someone had a last-minute change of heart that forced a big, dramatic change. But what if it wasn’t planned at all, but rather something dictated by misfortune or circumstance?

One theory making the rounds is that this was a result of some adverse event happening to the physical stock, like flood or fire in the warehouse or accidentally being shipped to stores (like regular copies of Hive would have been). This theory does check a few boxes, as it certainly could explain the last-minute pulling of Hive’s SE from the announced preorder model. If the warehouse sustained damage four days before you’re pre-selling product, it’s probably wise to yank the listing and start over once you’ve got a better idea of both surviving stock as well as any possibilities for an expedited restock. The last thing a company ever wants to do is sell product it doesn’t have and can’t (affordably) get.

If we assume we’re dealing with depleted stock, this might also explain the decision to ship the surviving copies to stores rather than hold an online pre-sale, one which would sell out almost instantly (due to insufficient stock) and lead to higher-than-usual consumer frustration.

While this makes a certain amount of sense, I’m not fully convinced this is what we’re seeing. For one thing, my aforementioned source noted that to their understanding there were 2,000 copies available worldwide, which is right in the ballpark of most recent deluxe editions4. This seems to discount the “copies were somehow destroyed” theory.

Then there’s another reputable member of the Black Library Nutters, the Facebook group I always recommend, who confirmed with three regional stores that they’ll have four copies per store (a figure that falls within the range my own source gave me). If we take this as correct (which I’m comfortable doing), that puts us at a little over 800 copies just here in North America alone5.

Assuming no copies are held in reserve (unlikely), that leaves about 1200 to account for across the remaining 26 participating stores (15 in Aus/NZ, 11 in UK/Europe). Now obviously Warhammer World is going to get a larger allocation, perhaps some other stores as well. But 40-odd copies per store? I wouldn’t have thought so- but then I’ve also heard that the Dublin store has confirmed that they have 30 copies.

At this point it’s pure speculation, but those wondering whether GW might put some up online at a later date are probably going to be disappointed.

The Law of Unintended Consequences

If this is an anti-scalping measure, I applaud GW’s willingness to continue to tackle the problem- but I’m not sure they thought this one through. Let’s talk about Cannibal Gate and Other Stories for a moment, as it’s an example of this distribution model.

Each year, Games Workshop allows their retail locations to celebrate the anniversary of the store’s founding. Special miniatures, pins and other goodies…and a special hardcover short story anthology (Cannibal Gate being this year’s model). They’re only available as part of the special event, and only if you attend in person.

My local store in Louisville had six copies this year, four copies last year. Both times the books were already spoken for by people in line by the time the store opened for business. This, for a small anthology of previously-released stories.

As a result, most readers- those who don’t live near a store6- have no choice but to shop the secondary market if they want a copy of the Store Anniversary anthology each year. You enfranchise some, while disenfranchising others- simply on the basis of geography. For a store celebration item this isn’t too objectionable, but far less so for a Special Edition by your IP’s most celebrated author.

To be sure, you can make a case that there are haves and have-nots no matter what method you use. But the online model at least offers fans an comparatively equitable shot- at least, the ones like me who aren’t buying to flip and don’t have a legion of bots at their disposal. Rightly or wrongly, the Black Library marketplace has been based on a kind of social contract of (reasonably) fair access. A location-driven distribution model represents a pretty significant departure, one whose juice probably isn’t worth the squeeze7.

All this is before we even get into, shall we say, variations in the intended distribution model. Stores that release theirs ahead of time (there are already several reports of this8), or managers that put the thumb on the scale to make sure their best customers (read: friends) get a copy… these petty corruptions are unavoidable. You can’t fight human nature, not fully.

It’s also unfortunate that there was no suggestion of a possible future print-on-demand run, as GW had done with the Era of Ruin event, as this would have gone some way towards retaining the goodwill of the community.

Ultimately, a business looks to do the most good for the most customers. While it’s good news for me personally (my local is right up the road), I’m not sure this distribution model fits that bill.

June’s Black Library Weekly Giveaway: A Sneak Peek

I wouldn’t normally tease a giveaway, but I think we could all use a little good news about Hive today, don’t you think? June’s giveaway will be in next week’s Black Library Weekly, and it’s a copy of Hive. Not the Special Edition, sadly, but the beautiful standard hardcover box all the same.

Especially good news for those who held off on getting the regular edition in expectations of the deluxe9.

More Questions than Answers (Part 2)

As if one mystery wasn’t enough, we’ve got a second one to unpack this week as well. Fittingly enough, this one involves the mysterious and enigmatic Alpha Legion.

Last March as part of my post-mortem on this year’s Black Library Celebration, I talked about the curious case of Solomon Akurra, hero of Ghost Legion by Mike Brooks. All signs pointed to Akurra being this year’s Celebration mini. The Celebration coin was for the Alpha Legion. Brooks noted in Ghost Legion’s SE introduction that Akurra had “been immortalized as an absolutely stunning miniature!”

“I'd love to say that the model inspired the novel,” he went on, “but the novel was written before I'd even seen it.”

But then the Celebration arrived… and no Akurra. Just the coin. Curious.

Well, this week a few canny collectors noticed something truly interesting appearing on eBay: a Black Library Celebration-branded, Alpha Legion medal with Akurra on the cover of the box (shown above).

And inside…

What’s truly intriguing, though, is what’s on the back of the box.

Assuming this is legitimate and not some elaborate hoax10, this seems to indicate that there was some sort of “activity” planned for 2026’s Black Library Celebration- one which had this medal as a reward.

And then at the last minute11, Games Workshop canned it.

I asked my local store’s manager about it, and this was the first he’d heard of this. So it never got as far as the local level, but that still leaves a lot of unanswered questions.

And the Alpha Legion wouldn’t have it any other way.

Arrivals & Departures

While previously I’d focused more on what was right around the corner with Up for Preorder, the new Arrivals & Departures section will also serve as a reminder to what’s been released this past weekend.

Arrivals

The Hive Special Edition will be available this Saturday in-person, but there’s nothing else this week for preorder. And honestly, if you’ve read this far you probably already knew that…

Departures

Zip! No books hit the bookshelves this week for the Black Library. Plenty of time for us to keep working our way through Hive, amirite? (The standard editions, at least).

ICYMI

Here’s what’s been going on this week for Warhammer content!

Black Library Dispatch

• It’s back! Black Library Bibliophiles, my occasional feature dedicated to the art of Warhammer book collection and display, made its glorious return in the wake of the Warhammer Skulls event!

• This week’s content review took a look at Pariah Nexus, the three-part animated series on WarhammerTV.

• Finally, for those (like me) who also enjoy role-playing games, this week’s Warhammer RPG SITREP column takes a look at some shipping issues with the new Warhammer: The Old World RPG that caused some folks to get double what they ordered. Hey, beats the alternative, right?

Tabletop Battles

• It’s not Black Library related, but speaking of Warhammer Skulls, here’s the official TTB overview from Marcy! If you can’t find at least one video game in here you’d like to play, I don’t know what to tell you.

• For this week’s Lore Friday, Contemptor Kevin took a look at Warboss, by Mike Brooks. As we head for a return to Armageddon with the game’s 11th Edition, everything’s coming up greeen!

• Finally, for those of you that play competitive tabletop, we’ve announced what might be the last-ever Goonhammer Open, this July in Baltimore. Don’t worry, the event isn’t going anywhere, it’s just about the name!

Warhammer Community

• The Pages from the Black Books series continues this week with The Wars of Retribution, covering some of the earliest engagements in the Horus Heresy after Isstvan.

• A new trailer dropped for the upcoming animation Aeronautica Imperialis, whose debut episode is right around the corner on WarhammerTV this week.

Around the Webway

• The Lorebeards had a terrific sit-down chat with “the man, the myth, the legend” Gav Thorpe (The High Kahl’s Oath, Azrael). These guys are content machines, to make sure to check out their slate of offerings while you’re at it!

• What a week for Mira Manga! She’s dropped interviews with both James Swallow (Nemesis, Faith & Fire) as well as Adrian Tchaikovsky (On the Shoulders of Giants, Starseer’s Ruin).

• Not enough James Swallow? Mira and Arbitor Ian chatted all things Faith & Fire for the most recent 40K Book Club episode this week as well!

Quick Hits

• Over at the Black Library subreddit (like the Nutters group, my homes away from home), a new Writers of the Black Library periodic discussion thread kicked off, opening with- who else- the man of the hour, Dan Abnett.

• Aconyte Books released Season Two of Arkham International: Call of the Cursed Sea. Some terrific Lovecraftian fiction has been coming out in service to the Arkham Horror line of games, and this one’s written by Josh Reynolds (Manflayer, Shadespire: The Mirrored City).

• Ben Galley’s (Mournclaw) fantasy epic the Bloodwood Saga is now complete with the release of Demon’s Ruin, co-written with David Estes. You can find the book here on Amazon, but of course I always recommend your local independent bookstore instead!

• Finally, Amanda Bridgeman (Paragon of Faith, Reconsecration) revealed the cover for her upcoming book, The Survivalist. The latest in her Salvation series, it’s hitting shelves this August!

Coming Attractions

Here’s a list of the known 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.

This section will be updated weekly in this column, and anything in bold has been added (or updated) this week.

Upcoming but Undated

• Rynn’s World, by Steve Parker (Special Edition)

• Ghazghkull Thraka: Prophet of the Waaagh! (Illustrated and Annotated Edition), by Nate Crowley

• Armageddon: Season of Fire, by Jude Reid

Current PODs in Production

• None

Upcoming in 2026

• Hive, by Dan Abnett (Special Edition, 5/30)

• Horus Rising, by Dan Abnett (paperback, 6/2)

• Tomb World, by Jonathan Beer (paperback, 6/30)

• The Remnant Blade, by Mike Vincent (paperback, 6/30)

• Voidscarred, by Mike Brooks (paperback, 6/30)

• Krakenblood, by Marc Collins (paperback, 7/14)

• Vagabond Squadron, by Robbie MacNiven (paperback, 7/14)

• Starseer’s Ruin, by Adrian Tchaikovsky (paperback, 7/14)

• Siege of Terra: Flames of Betrayal, by various (paperback, 7/28)

• Warhammer Age of Sigmar: The Ultimate Guide (hardcover, 8/4)

• Archmagos, by Guy Haley (paperback, 8/11)

• The Relentless Dead, by Steve Lyons (paperback, 8/11)

• Words of Waaagh!, by DK Books (hardcover, 10/1)

Thanks again for joining me for all the going’s on in the Black Library, and see you next week!

This is probably my favorite Warhammer meme, because each answer is both correct and wrong. If you’re relatively new to the lore, the Emperor (beloved by all) created twenty Primarchs.

Or was it twenty-one? There’s that curious business of the Alpha Legion leadership. And then, of course, there are the two Primarchs that never existed. Wait, who?

It’s enough to do one’s nut in trying to get it right, so it’s probably a kindness that this poor fella is about to receive the Emperor’s Mercy…right?

In the annals of the Black Library, one author that comes close to being one of those ‘Lost Primarchs’ stricken from history is Henry Zou. His name came up in a Reddit thread this week, as it does every now and again, so let’s jump in today on an interesting bit of Black Library history.

Zoutopia

Sydney, Australia native Henry Zou was a soldier in the Australian army, and idle time during long training exercises was fertile ground for his budding writer’s imagination. His military experience gave him plenty of inspiration, and in 2008 he placed his first short story with the Black Library, Voidsong.

Voidsong, part of that year’s Planetkill anthology, tells the tale of an insurgency on the planet Sirene Primal that pits Imperial Guard forces against a mysterious rebel leader known as the Sirene Monarch. Meanwhile, a member of the Inquisition, Inquisitor Roth, has arrived on-planet to investigate a mysterious psychic signal that’s been broadcasting into the void. Fans of the three-armed amigos probably know where this is going, and it was well-received enough by the Black Library team to springboard Zou into a book deal.

2009: Emperor’s Mercy

It’s not at all uncommon for Black Library writers to use short stories to introduce characters that will feature in their own novel (for instance, Mike Vincent’s Blades of Atrocity paved the way for The Remnant Blade), and here Zou was no exception. Inquisitor Roth returned for his novel debut, chasing down ancient artifacts on the planet Medina while contending with a Chaos warband known as the Ironclads.

While much of the official documentation of the time has been lost to history and memory, it’s clear that the Black Library was giving Zou a significant push. His gritty realism, grounded in his own military experience1, was just the thing Games Workshop wanted to offer fans of Gaunt’s Ghosts and other military-focused 40K stories, and towards that end they took the unusual step of securing a front-of-book endorsement from none other than Dan Abnett himself (visible on the front cover, above).

Crunchy and vivid, sure- but Abnett would likely soon come to rue the use of the word “memorable” here.

2010: Flesh and Iron

If you needed further evidence of the Black Library’s investment in Zou- a writer who had no previous published stories but certainly had impressed with his audition- it’s the branding of Zou’s novels as the “Bastion Wars series.”

This was Zou’s sandbox, much in the same way the Sabbat Wars were Abnett’s, and to land such license as a relative unknown was something of a coup. Zou took full advantage, handing in a highly-acclaimed sophomore effort that surprised many by being a sort of plot-twist stealth prequel to Emperor’s Mercy.

The story centers on the 31st Riverine Amphibious, a sort of bayou-coded Guard regiment that is up against a (non-genestealer) rebellion. One contemporary reviewer praised its parallels with the river battles of the Vietnam War as well as its focus on water-navy engagements, and combined with a very tragic, human narrative element it seemed clear that Zou had delivered something unique2.

2011: Blood Gorgons

Zou was on a roll, and his stock amongst Black Library readers (and, no doubt, editors) was climbing. His third effort, Blood Gorgons, also managed to stand out in its more thoughtful, even sympathetic portrayal of its renegade Astartes. Instead of Chaos-obsessed two-dimensional moustache twirlers, Zou’s Blood Gorgons played in that ‘middle ground’ space inhabited by others like the Night Lords, Red Corsairs, and Ashen Claws.

The tale was also noted for its lack of an Imperial perspective, instead focusing on the internecine squabbles of those who had turned from the Emperor’s light as the Blood Gorgons battled Chaos Astartes and Drukhari to protect their territory.

The Fall from Grace

Zou in 2011 was at the peak of his powers, having delivered hits for two completely different factions.

And then everything fell apart.

It started in the fan forums, with sharp-eyed readers discovering content in Flesh and Iron that appeared to be lifted out of 2007’s House to House: An Epic Memoir of War, a book penned by U.S. Army Staff Sergeant and Medal of Honor recipient David Bellavia. This wasn’t just concerning overlap, but the kind of full-passage smoking guns that remove even the possibility of the benefit of the doubt. For instance:

• David Bellavia (House to House, p. 44):

“I had done it to deny the father a chance to see his children one last time. The men I lost in Fallujah and all the good soldiers killed under my command had not been given the chance to say goodbye to their loved ones... I had denied him the last chance to say goodbye. For some reason, I felt a thrill of joy. It was something I had not wanted to become. They had made me this way.”

• Henry Zou (Flesh and Iron, p. 192):

“He had done it to deny the father a chance to see his children one last time. The men he lost in Lauzon and all the good soldiers killed under his command had not been given the chance to say goodbye to their loved ones... Baeder had denied him the last chance to say goodbye. For some reason, Baeder felt a thrill of joy. It was something he had not wanted to become. They had made him this way.”

Beyond that, there were a number of other “liberties” taken. Zou’s character Sergeant Major Pulver was a clone of Bellavia’s Sergeant Major Faulkenberg, from descriptions of their demeanor and appearance to specific actions (like a sequence where he surrenders his weapon to arm a less-equipped junior soldier). Any claims of unintentional or inadvertent similarity would not be credible, and once the axe fell it fell hard.

The Black Library moved to blacklist Zou immediately, though in many ways corporate action is a bit like steering an oil tanker. As a result, Zou didn’t disappear from store shelves overnight, and some things that were in the works snuck under the radar.

In 2012, the Blood Gorgon cover art (featuring a Blood Gorgon legionary) was used for the 6th Edition Codex: Chaos Space Marines. The following year, the massive 40K anthology There is Only War released, with Zou’s Voidsong sitting happily between stories by Sandy Mitchell and John French hit store shelves, and then in 2014 saw the completion of Bastion Wars: The Omnibus. The ghosts linger even now, as you can still find a sample chapter of the offending novel on the Black Library website.

If ever Zou put pen to paper again he did so under a nom de plume, as nothing under his own name has ever appeared. A promising talent and bright future, cut short for committing literature’s greatest sin.

Sharing a Six-Pack with… John Sollitto!

The Six-Pack is an occasional Black Library Weekly tradition, with a Black Library author past or present sharing some of their personal book recommendations. The ask is simple: three books from the Black Library. Two books that aren’t. And then one book of their own!

LA-based John Sollitto’s recent trajectory through the Black Library has been a whistle-stop tour of the talent pipeline that is the Black Library’s short story system. His first story, Redemption through Blood, was part of the Daughters of the Emperor Week in July of 2024 before arriving in print the following July in Paragon of Faith and Other Stories. In my review I wrote the story was “an excellent debut for the writer, and I hope to see more of him in the Black Library in the future.”

I didn’t have long to wait.

That November, Sollitto’s story The Redoubt was contained within Death and Duty: An Astra Militarum Anthology. Another year, another incremental step in 2026 as he was included in another anthology, World Ablaze, but this one released in hardcover and with all-new stories from seasoned vets like Guy Haley, Robbie MacNiven, and Marc Collins.

Outside the Black Library, he’s also written a short story anthology3 called The Ones Who Remain, “that explores what happens when long forgotten grievances create real life problems.”

Here are John’s personal book recommendations!

Three Black Library Books He’d Recommend…

First and Only, by Dan Abnett. “I know I’m not shocking anyone here with this recommendation, but if you’d like a solid entry point into What Warhammer Is without submerging yourself in the minutia of the Horus Heresy, I can’t recommend this enough. Abnett is a master at his craft, and someone I view as a quality bar for the brand. If you like the show Band of Brothers you’ll love this. His characters are deep, the settings are varied, and the story itself has some good twists and turns to leave you guessing. Also, there’s a bunch more in the series if you end up enjoying it!”

Outgunned, by Denny Flowers. “First and Only is a good Old Guard Black Library rec, so I figured I’d also throw one in from the more recent years. I cannot speak highly enough about Denny Flowers’s work here. Lucille Von Shard somehow manages to avoid the trope I hate of ‘so good you have to put up with how much of a jerk they are’ characters, and Propagandist Simlex is a phenomenal perspective character to view her from. Maybe it’s the journalism degree that I’ve yet to dust off since I got it, but something about seeing the thinkings of a media professional in this universe tickles my brain. Do yourself a favor and pick up this book and anything Von Shard related if you’re a dogfight fan and a mystery lover.”

Starseer’s Ruin, by Adrian Tchaikovsky. “I hadn’t read much Age of Sigmar until very recently but boy howdy did I love Starseer’s Ruin. Tchaikovsky’s ability to weave varying perspectives around a common theme, give insight into each individual character through that, and tie it all together with a single plot that touches each of their lives is astounding. If you’re on the fence about AoS right now and not sure where to begin, pick this up. I can now confidently say I want to read anything by this author, as well as delve more into the races and realms that he’s written here.”

Two Non-Black Library Books He’d Recommend…

The Forever War, by Joe Haldeman. “It’s been said that Grim-dark War Fiction starts here with The Forever War and I’d be hard-pressed to disagree with that. This is a rough read for those who are not prepared for it, but I haven’t stopped thinking about it since I have. A bit dated with some of its topics and timelines (so come at it with an open mind), but still poignant in its themes and message, this book really is a time capsule that shows us the same things have always been on our minds, and war is perhaps the only constant we shall ever see.”

Parable of the Sower, by Octavia Butler. “I didn’t have a lot of knowledge of this book going into it, but much like The Forever War I find myself thinking about it long after I finished it. If you’re looking to read more diverse authors for different kinds of sci-fi, Butler is one of the masters who is always brought up for contemporary fiction. She has an incredibly evocative writing style and her characters possess a realistic depth that is, at times, uncanny and arresting.

“I genuinely wished some of the ideas and thoughts in this book were in non-fiction form for me to read just as an academic and philosophical exercise, but will gladly take them in the form of this great work. Another rough read, so gird yourself for it, but I think you’ll come out the other side changed for the better. Or, at the very least, thinking.”

And Finally, One of His Own Books He’d Recommend…

“This was hard to narrow down as I’ve just begun my journey with the Black Library and I’m incredibly thankful for the opportunity to do so. I think my short Rok Crackers in the latest World Ablaze anthology is one of my favorite things I’ve written. I had a blast working with The Steel Legion and getting a little more room to play with some new characters. I hope you all enjoy them!

“Buuuuuut my personal portfolio prior to working on Warhammer happens to include quite a bit of comics work! I recently have been working on the next instalment of my all-ages mech fighting comic Circuit Champ which I’m incredibly proud of. It takes a lot of influences from manga and my collaborator Brendan Albetski is knocking it out of the park with his unique style. I know it’s very different fare compared to the things I’ve recommended above, but maybe you’d like to take a chance on something new! Who knows? I’ve got other comics that might be more your speed if not, just ask. *Winkwinknudgenudgefollowmeonsocialmedia*”

Meanwhile, Back at the App

One of the big changes to the Black Library this year has been the rollout of the new app, accompanied by the end of support for the official website. When I talked about it this past February after the announcement, I referred to it as the “answer to a question no-one was asking.”

Three months on, I’ll admit my impression hasn’t much changed. Outside of claiming the raft of free books they offered to entice adoption at the outset, I haven’t been on it. Out of curiosity this week I logged in, and the first thing that jumped out at me was…

…sales!

That’s right, genuine, bonafide discounted goods and offerings. Previously these were a relative scarcity, with a “Book of the Month” offering and little else. These days in the app, they’ve gotten with the times and offered a number of books at half off or more4:

• I Am Slaughter, by Dan Abnett

• Soul Wars, by Josh Reynolds

• Steel Tread, by Andy Clark

• Grotsnik: Da Mad Dok, by Denny Flowers (review)

• Levaithan, by Darius Hinks

• The Fall of Cadia, by Robert Rath

• Valdor: Birth of the Imperium, by Chris Wraight

• Hallowed Ground, by Richard Strachan

Some good reads on there! Soul Wars comes up frequently as a “best-of” for readers new to the Age of Sigmar setting, and the audiobook of The Fall of Cadia holds firm as the best audiobook experience I’ve ever had. Pure cinema.

The discounts aren’t entirely uniform, but it looks like it’s mostly 50% off the eBook and 66% off the audiobook. Happy shopping!

Arrivals & Departures

Based on some feedback I’ve received, starting this week I’ll be covering books that have hit the bookshelves in addition to what’s coming up. While previously I’d focused more on what was right around the corner with Up for Preorder, Arrivals & Departures will also serve as a reminder to what’s been released this past weekend.

Arrivals

Nothing! Not only is it another Wallet Appreciation Week for us Black Library fans, but there was very little on offer at all this week. Though if you’ve been waiting for a French translation of Abnett’s Eisenhorn Omnibus, a winner is you!

Departures

Hive, by Dan Abnett. After a false start with the Limited Edition, the long-awaited little baby is all growsed up. Early returns suggest it’s a bit chewy with the early worldbuilding but worth powering through!

And that’s it for new books, a fairly quiet week.

ICYMI

Here’s what’s been going on this week for Warhammer content!

Tabletop Battles

• It was a Black Library Readers’ Hall of Fame weekend, and we announced the two winners of 2008. Let’s just say it was a(nother) good year for Dan Abnett.

• Unfortunately, the website woes for TTB continue when it comes to polling integration, so the voting for the Class of 2009 will be hosted again at my Substack. PLEASE take a moment to cast your votes!

• For Lore Friday, I reviewed Zardu Layak, The Crimson Apostle by Rich McCormick, a book with a lot of great ideas but somewhat uneven execution.

• Sure it’s not Black Library, but I love to see more books getting the TTB treatment. My friend lynnding-library reviewed the Battletech story Ghosts of Timkovichi by Bryan Young.

Black Library Dispatch

• I started a new series called Show and Tell, giving impressions and reviews for different WarhammerTV animated programs. In the crosshairs for the debut was 2023’s Iron Within, a cautionary tale of being careful of what you wish for…

• For you RPG fans, my weekly column Warhammer RPG SITREP this week covered Cubicle 7 Games’ continuing on the interview circuit with an under-the-hood look at the Warhammer: The Old World RPG.

• One more time, here’s the voting post for the Black Library Readers’ Hall of Fame Class of 2009. If you haven’t already, please take a minute to have your voice heard!

• Finally, a slight change to my biweekly Hall Monitor series. These are pieces that act as “director’s cut” companions to the Hall of Fame articles, providing thoughts, reactions, and behind-the-scenes looks at how it all comes together. This week I looked at the sad decline of Warhammer Fantasy in the Black Library, well worth a read (if I do say so myself!).

Warhammer Community

• The Pages from the Black Books series has finally touched on the Warmaster himself, examining Horus’s preparations for taking on Terra.

• This year’s Warhammer Skulls fest is coming this week, highlighting the new and exciting in the world of Warhammer video gaming.

Around the Webway

• So not exactly Black Library either, but Poorhammer released a ranking of every Warhammer 40,000 10th Edition Codex. I don’t know about you, but I’m a sucker for content like this.

• The Lorebeards pod sat down to interview Mark Gibbons, Warhammer illustrator extraordinaire (and World of Warcraft, and…)

• Our friends Jen and Keri at the WH40K Book Club tackled Chem Dog, by Callum Davis this week. (My review here as well).

• I loved this from Arbitor Ian this week: Why is everyone in Warhammer so old? Seeing as how I can’t read a YA fantasy or sci-fi novel without feeling like a left-behind fossil, maybe that’s not such a bad thing?

• And finally, on the reviewing front Arbitor Ian and Mira Manga took on Aaron Dembski-Bowden’s Betrayer this week as well!

Quick Hits

• The Guardian posted a wonderful obituary for Ian Watson (Inquisitor, Space Marine) this week. As one of the early forefathers of Black Library literature, it’s well worth a read- and thanks to Juliet McKenna (Fear Itself) for the share. (I reflected on his life in a previous Black Library Weekly here as well).

• Carrie Harris (The Strength of Symbols, a Forbidden Meal) shared that she’s starring in Echoes under Ashwood, a “actual play meets audio drama podcast. It's a Gen X themed slowburn horror using Call of Cthulhu rules.” She plays a county coroner with a rebellious punk rocker past. Two episodes have been released, as well as some bonus content!

• Jacob Peppers (Reclaimed Honour) has a newly-released boxed set comprised of the first three books of his grimdark fantasy epic, The Nightfall Wars. “They are called nightlings—creatures out of legend, hungry for blood, waiting just beyond the light. Once before, they nearly destroyed the world and were defeated only by warriors chosen and empowered by the gods themselves. Now, the nightlings have returned.” Best of all, it’s in eBook format for ten bucks.

• Amanda Bridgeman’s Black Library novella Paragon of Faith has been shortlisted for a Tin Duck Award. This award highlights excellent in speculative fiction for writers from Western Australia. Best of luck, Amanda!

• The upcoming fantasy novel by Mike Brooks, This is Where the Future Bleeds, has seen its release date pushed out a week to 7 July, and Brooks will be doing a brief tour in support of the book. If you happen to be near any of the stops, make sure to put that on your calendar!

May’s Black Library Giveaway

This month’s giveaway is a paperback copy of Ghoulslayer, by Darius Hinks, in celebration of my Heroes of the Black Library piece this month on Maleneth Witchblade. To enter, readers simply needed to comment about their dream team-up with Gotrek Gurnisson, and we had some terrific entries!

Andrew Wilmot had the entry I’d most love to read:

I’m going to go REALLY weird and say Grand Justice Gormayne.

If you didn’t know, Grand Justice Gormayne is a ghoul who is a bit more aware than most that he’s a ghoul, and has to hide these moments of lucidity from his fellow ghouls. He’s also described as a learned fellow and a scholar. This may be from a ghoul perspective, but maybe the man behind the delusion knows something Gotrek needs?

The obvious counterpoint is that Gotrek would just kill him without asking questions, but that is just a challenge to write around!

It’d be brilliant to get a more humanised portrayal of the Courts, teased a bit in Ushoran, and an opportunity to show how Gotrek reacts when presented with a monster he needs to not kill.

Of course, this month’s winner is randomly selected (I’m not a big fan of contests that make you do a dog & pony show for a chance to play), so using all the powers of randomness available to me I can announce that our winner is: Ullyses!

Congrats to all who entered, and we’ll have another giveaway in just a few weeks for June!

Coming Attractions

Here’s a list of the known 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.

This section will be updated weekly in this column, and anything in bold has been added (or updated) this week.

Upcoming but Undated

• Hive, by Dan Abnett (Limited Edition)

• Rynn’s World, by Steve Parker (Special Edition)

• Ghazghkull Thraka: Prophet of the Waaagh! (Illustrated and Annotated Edition), by Nate Crowley

• Armageddon: Season of Fire, by Jude Reid

Current PODs in Production

• None

Upcoming in 2026

• Horus Rising, by Dan Abnett (paperback, 6/2)

• Tomb World, by Jonathan Beer (paperback, 6/30)

• The Remnant Blade, by Mike Vincent (paperback, 6/30)

• Voidscarred, by Mike Brooks (paperback, 6/30)

• Krakenblood, by Marc Collins (paperback, 7/14)

• Vagabond Squadron, by Robbie MacNiven (paperback, 7/14)

• Starseer’s Ruin, by Adrian Tchaikovsky (paperback, 7/14)

• Siege of Terra: Flames of Betrayal, by various (paperback, 7/28)

• Warhammer Age of Sigmar: The Ultimate Guide (hardcover, 8/4)

• Archmagos, by Guy Haley (paperback, 8/11)

• The Relentless Dead, by Steve Lyons (paperback, 8/11)

• Words of Waaagh!, by DK Books (hardcover, 10/1)

Thanks again for joining me for all the going’s on in the Black Library, and see you next week!

Last week we covered Dom and Pádraig of Cubicle 7 Games appearing on WarhammerTV’s Deep Strike, a show where they go into some of Warhammer’s many licensed products. It was a light, breezy chat for the better part of an hour largely aimed at folks who are fans of Warhammer but not necessarily into role-playing games.

This week both gentlemen sat down with Miniature Realms to dive into Warhammer: The Old World for about half an hour. This one is definitely aimed at a more experienced audience, and therefore much more nutrient-rich. While the PDF copies have been in circulation for awhile, this is the print debut of the new game system and host Stuart wanted to hear some thoughts and impressions from the both of them as it prepared to launch fully into the world.

I particularly enjoyed the section on what both guys were most proud of with TOW. For Pádraig, he noted that they’ve gotten a lot of positive reception to the bestiary section, which injects some personality into the different foes the party may face rather than just presenting generic mobs. In addition, he highlighted the “hit point free and consequence-dense” combat system, which Dom seconded as it helps the game feel suitably “dangerous” for players. There’s also a sneak peek at the upcoming Talagaad Adventures.

They also touched on WFRP’s upcoming 5th Edition, which Dom noted is “more of an evolution than a revolution,” and will be backwards-compatible with the current 4th. It’s a real treat, make sure to give it a look.

ICYMI

• The Lorebeards have been ridiculously busy this week with coverage relevant to Warhammer RPG fans, including:

  • A conversation with Andy Law (Adventure Afoot in the Reikland!, Death on the Reik Companion), WFPR producer and designer, about how to be a great gamemaster at the table

  • An interview with Andy Leask (Enemy in Shadows, Buildings of the Reikland)

  • Finally, an interview with Lindsay Law (Old World Adventures: Night of Blood, Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay Starter Set)

• Over on Ill Met by Morrslieb, Zekiel gave a review of the Imperium Maledictum Gamemaster’s Screen as well as the content within

• Curious about Warhammer: The Old World RPG? Actual play videos are a great way to check out new games, and what better time to get in on the ground floor than with character creation? This week Dungeon Musings posted a video doing precisely that!

• At the r/warhammerfantasyrpg subreddit, there was an interesting thread from someone interested in a Warhammer Fantasy RPG, but not sure which game to begin with. I always enjoy hearing veterans give their opinions of the different games and editions.

• And while on the subject of interesting things on Reddit, here’s an Imperium Maledictum player-made campaign, The Glass Suture, that’s getting ready to be released by u/pjrgaming89. With adventure material for the game in short supply compared to other systems, it’s a welcome sight!

Coming Attractions

Here’s a list of the known upcoming releases from Cubicle 7 based on the available preorder information we have. Note that Cubicle 7’s own delivery estimates appear to be just that- estimates- which is why many products have an upcoming delivery listed for Q1 while we’re already into Q2.

This section will be updated weekly in this column, with new or updated info presented in boldface.

To make this section more useful, starting this week I’ll be breaking them out by game.

Shipping Q3

• Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay: Temple of Spite

• Limited Edition Warhammer Fantasy Map Bundle 1 (July 2026)

• Limited Edition Warhammer Fantasy Map Bundle 2 (July 2026)

Shipping Q1

• Warhammer: the Old World Roleplaying Game, Weapons & Armour Card Deck

• Warhammer: the Old World Roleplaying Game, Spells Card Deck

• Warhammer: the Old World Roleplaying Game, Prayers & Miracles Card Deck

• Warhammer: the Old World Roleplaying Game, Wounds & Conditions Card Deck

• Warhammer: the Old World Roleplaying Game, Allies & Antagonists Card Deck (Q1)

• Warhammer: the Old World Roleplaying Game, Grand Duchy of Talabec Dice Set

• Warhammer: the Old World Roleplaying Game, Character Sheet Pad

Shipping Q2

• Warhammer: the Old World Roleplaying Game, Player’s Guide (April 2026)

• Warhammer: the Old World Roleplaying Game, Gamemaster’s Guide (April 2026)

• Warhammer: the Old World Roleplaying Game, Collector’s Edition (April 2026)

• Warhammer: the Old World Roleplaying Game Starter Set

• Warhammer: the Old World Roleplaying Game GM’s Screen

• Warhammer: the Old World Roleplaying Game, Grand Duchy of Talabec Map Pack (May 2026)

Shipping Q1

• Warhammer Age of Sigmar Soulbound, Champions of Chaos: Dark Gifts Card Pack (Q1)

• Warhammer Age of Sigmar Soulbound, Champions of Chaos: Spells Lore Card Pack (Q1)

• Warhammer Age of Sigmar Soulbound, Champions of Chaos: Artefacts & Wargear Card Pack (Q1)

Shipping Q3

• Limited Edition Age of Sigmar Map Bundle (July 2026)

• Warhammer Age of Sigmar Soulbound, Champions of Chaos: Core Rulebook (Standard and Collector’s Edition) (Q3/4)

• Warhammer Age of Sigmar Soulbound, Champions of Chaos: Bloodwind Spoil Map (Q3/4)

Shipping Q1 2027

• Warhammer Age of Sigmar Soulbound: Champions of Chaos: Carngrad Adventures

Shipping Q2

• Warhammer 40,000: Wrath & Glory, Sons of Russ (Standard and Collector’s Edition)

• Warhammer 40,000: Wrath & Glory, Adventures in Gilead

Shipping Q2

• Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Imperium Maledictum, Voll Adventures (May 2026)

• Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay, Imperium Maledictum: Adeptus Mechanicus Collector’s Edition

• Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay, Imperium Maledictum: Adeptus Mechanicus Player’s Guide

• Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay, Imperium Maledictum: Adeptus Mechanicus GM’s Guide

• Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay, Imperium Maledictum: Adeptus Mechanicus Character Sheet Pad

Shipping Q3

• Limited Edition Imperium Maledictum Macharian Sector Map (July 2026)

Undated

• (Nothing at this time)

Thanks for reading, and see you next week!

By way of illustration, here’s a pocket history of the last several expansions.

Dark Imperium, by Guy Haley

Year: 2017

Tabletop Edition: 8th

Summary: “Fell times have come to the galaxy. Cadia has fallen, destroyed by the onslaught of Chaos. A Great Rift in the warp has opened and from its depths spew daemons and the horrors of Old Night. But all hope is not lost...

“A hero, long absent, has returned and with him comes the wrath of the Ultramarines reborn. Roboute Guilliman has arisen to lead the Imperium out of darkness on a crusade the likes of which has not been seen since the fabled days of the Emperor. But never before have the forces of Ruin amassed in such numbers, and nowhere is safe from despoliation.

“From the dreaded Scourge Stars come the hordes of the Plaguefather, Lord Nurgle, and their pustulent eye is fixed on Macragge. As the Indomitas Crusade draws to an end, Guilliman races to Ultramar and a confrontation with the Death Guard.”

Indomitus, by Gav Thorpe

Year: 2020

Tabletop Edition: 9th

Summary: “For nearly ten years, the Indomitus Crusade has waged a war of defiance and reconquest in the war-torn Imperium. Attached to Crusade Fleet Quintus – dubbed the Cursed Fleet by many – the Ultramarines of the Ithraca’s Vengeance are drawn to a stricken world. With millions enslaved, a malign necron technology siphons the souls of the innocent and heralds the Silent Kingdom’s expansion. The Ultramarines face an impossible decision: mount a desperate last stand to destroy the Pariah Nexus, or break away and damn the entire sector to bring word of this ancient foe’s resurgence to the only being capable of halting it – the Lord Primarch Roboute Guilliman.”

Leviathan, by Darius Hinks

Year: 2023

Edition: 10th

Summary: “‘The dream.... it is a portent... of the end.’

“The fortress world of Regium has a proud history, For millennia, it has endured when others have fallen to ruin and damnation, standing defiant in defence of the Imperium of Man. But now it is shaken. Parasitic plagues run rampant, and Regium’s citizens are haunted by dreams of horrific monsters feasting upon their flesh and marrow.

“Lieutenant Castamon of the Ultramarines recognises these signs of an impending Tyranid invasion all too well. Rallying his warriors, the battle-hardened veteran launches a strike force to slaughter the xenos in the outer system, before it can reach Regium. But as this new tendril of Hive Fleet Leviathan proves unpredictable and deadly, Castamon and the First Company must harness all their skill, might, and zeal, or face utter annihilation.”

This brings us to the most recent installment, the newly-revealed Armageddon: Season of Fire. Warhammer Community posted a short interview this week with author Jude Reid, who noted that “from the start, this novel was always going to be a love letter to Armageddon throughout the ages.”

Armageddon: Season of Fire, by Jude Reid

Year: 2026

Edition: 11th

Summary: “Armageddon is dying. Hive Tartarus will fall. In Armageddon: Season of Fire, Major Ambrosius Roth of the Steel Legion, Sister Superior Sabreen of the Order of Our Martyred Lady, and Brother Gavriel of the Blood Angels face impossible choices as they try to hold back the Ork advance.

“This is a look at one of the key battles on Armageddon and how it’s been fought over the generations, told from three perspectives – Astra Militarum, Adepta Sororitas, and Space Marines.”

These tie-ins aren’t exclusive to the grim, dark future either, as books like Gary Kloster’s Skaventide (Age of Sigmar 4th Edition), Dominion by Darius Hinks (3rd Edition), and Harrowdeep by David Annandale (Warhammer Underworlds) can attest to.

The other thing we can glean from looking at the past pattern of tie-ins is that we’re highly likely to see a Special Edition of Armageddon: Season of Fire on offer here as well before too long.

May’s Black Library Giveaway

I had a lot of fun writing the latest Heroes of the Black Library installment over on Tabletop Battles this week, featuring one of Gotrek Gurnesson’s sidekicks that graduated into her own novel. It’s a deep dive into Maleneth Witchblade, from the novels we see her character grow and develop, the tabletop miniature, and even some ideas for decorating your library!

That’s why this month’s giveaway is a new paperback copy of Ghoulslayer, by Darius Hinks! All you need to do to enter is leave a comment below answering the following question:

Which Age of Sigmar character would you love to see as a one-off Gotrek sidekick, and why?

One line will do, I’m not asking for the Great American Novel here (unless you’re happy to write it!). And if you don’t have one, that’s okay too, I’ll take that answer too.

I’ll pick a random comment this coming Sunday and voila, a winner is you!

In my last giveaway, there was a question about whether the giveaway was open to folks outside the US. YES, the Black Library is a global community, and I’m happy to send a bit of Gotrek & Maleneth to wherever you may be.

Judging a Book by its Cover

Back in April of last year, Jude Reid’s Fulgrim: The Perfect Son arrived in both standard hardcover and a satin-covered Special Edition. As I talked about in detail here, many were surprised at just how incredible the Special Edition looked, after the official Games Workshop pictures hadn’t appeared to capture it’s rich texturing and hue.

Since then I’ve paid closer attention to books “that look better in person,” and found another one this week with Justin Woolley’s Da Freebooterz Code. I wasn’t particularly impressed with it when I ordered it, but once I got in in hand it was a completely different story.

This cover pops, and it’s gone from being something that would be filed away in the library to something I’d like to display in the Museum’s eventual Ork display.