Teaser

Armageddon is a world of constant war between the Imperium and the Ork menace. Gathered here are eleven tales of villainy and heroism from the grimdark future’s most infamous battlefield . . .

Review

The release of a new edition of Warhammer 40,000: The tabletop miniatures wargame inevitably means a slew of new books to come alongside it. I expect that’s partly why we’re getting so many Astra Militarum novels this year, many of them by newer authors. However, some of the books tie in more closely to the main game than others. The great big boxed set of miniatures that launches the new edition of the rules sets the action firmly on the world of Armageddon, which has been seen many times before, but always has room for a few more battles. The main novel to launch alongside the new edition is Jude Reid’s Season of Fire, which I’ll be reading and reviewing over the coming days. But a in the run-up to that, we have an anthology of short stories set on Armageddon. Uniquely, it appears that all these stories are original to the book, rather than having been gathered from previous digitally released titles. There’s also a solid skew towards newer authors working in the setting.

My personal favourite story in the anthology is Jude Reid’s ‘The White Horror’ – because why would I not love a story about space marines being hunted by a yeti? Okay, so it’s not exactly that, but that was very much my takeaway from the story. It’s tense, well-paced, unremittingly brutal, and puts a nice spin on the idea of a lone squad tracking an unknown xenos monster.

In fact, all the space marine stories in this book are good. Opener ‘Pursuit of Redemption’ by Mike Vincent is a reminder that I really must look into his full-length novels, and is a brilliant depiction of a Blood Angel slowly succumbing to the madness inherent in their genes. In contrast, Marc Collins’ ‘Seasons of Woe’ is a more sombre look at the duties of a space marine, protecting those who will never understand their burdens, and looking at the links between different bloodlines of the Astartes.

Of course, it’s not just the Imperium’s side of the story that we get to see. We see things from the orkish perspective too. The best of these stories is ‘Riderz of Da Storm’ by Ork veteran Denny Flowers, who gives us a whimsical and brutish look at life as a goblin bartender. Again, kind of. But it’s a lovely reminder that there’s more to a war than just the frontlines. It takes all kinds to win a battle.

One other story I’d like to call attention to is Guy Haley’s ‘Good Enemy,’ which is not only a prime example of the diversity within the Imperium, and the surprising depths of the orks too, but is also the most experimental story in the collection from a narrative perspective. If any story here serves as a teaser for a full novel one day, I hope it’s this one. The grimdark future needs more reminiscing scholars.

Overall, this anthology is a great way of introducing new readers (or lapsed veterans) to the violent worlds of Warhammer 40,000. The stories might all be set on the same planet, but each one stands on its own, and there’s precious little ground re-trod during the endeavour. For certain, this is one of the stronger anthologies Black Library have put out in the past few years.

Book Stats

• Contains 11 Short Stories
• Published in 2026
• 270 Pages