The Hersesy Will Not Be Televised

(Spoiler Alert)

It will be talked about on the Intewebz. I love me some 40k books. In fact, in the decade plus that I have been playing it has been the one consistent part of the hobby for me. When I was deep into WoW, WAR, MTG or MTGO and had no time/desire to paint miniatures I still picked up all the novels I could. Words can not express how happy I was when they started to write the Horus Heresy series, and for the most part they have not disappointed. Here are my rated list of the books so far:

Did not place: Battle for the Abyss

Not only was it a poorly written story, it had little to no impact on the Heresy storyline. Besides some off-references to 30k characters, I think this book would have been just fine as a 40k book. Its best quality was the depiction of the Thousand Sons Marine, its worse quality was the annoying way it tried to depict the Space Wolves.

and now on with the list......

10. Descent of Angels

It seemed like the author had never even read any 40k books, much less should write about the Heresy. I think the Lion is an annoying fancy pants just as much as the next guy, but come on, he seemed pretty weak and annoyingly moody in the book.

The Lion preparing for a fight

9. False Gods

To be fair, Graham had a tough act to follow. Abnett built his characters beautifully, set the stage wonderfully.....and then handed it over to Mr. McNeill. But, this is the point where Graham really drops the ball. His characterizations of Horus are all wrong. And the dream sequence where Horus makes the decision to side for chaos.......... This book could have been so much better if they would have put an extra page in there where it actually seems like Horus had a moment of doubt when he chose to betray his father and everything he stood for.

8. Mechanicum

I don't have a lot to say about this, I just felt like it was a bit much to make the c'tan canon.

7. Flight of the Eisenstein

My issues with this book is more about timing then content. I thought the book was well written and told a good story. This book was the first time I realized that they were going to draw out the Heresy for longer than 3-5 books. I'm happy with the decision, but I remember being very disappointed when I read a book that paralleled more storyline then it actually expanded on.

6. Fallen Angels

Mike Lee should be commended for bringing the Dark Angels out of the emo morass that Descent of Angels left them in. I'm not sure if he better explained what the DoA author was trying to get across, or just made shit up, but he did a good job. I felt the Lion finally had some character. I also really liked how the Sons of Horus were portrayed as experienced elite. So often authors fall into the "my army is awesome the rest can suck it" trap. Looking back, I really liked this book, the fact that it scores so low in the list says a lot about what is left.

5. Galaxy in Flames

I'll be honest I don't remember much about this book, besides it saved the series from False Gods. I tried to reread them all but ended up putting them down after 50 pages of False Gods. Has it come across yet that I didn't like False Gods? I remember wanting more when I was done with this book.

4. Tales of Heresy

Short stories have always been my favorite 40k books. Often time you get a really cool concept that teases you without having to read 350 pages. I really like the little teasers cause they get the imagination running. This book had great stories on some very interesting topics:

• Angron and Kharn are two of my favorite characters in 30k cause I just don't get them at all in 40k and would like to see how they got there
• A great Custodes story (the first of its kind I think)
• A great pre-history to the Sisters of Battle
• An amazing piece with the Emperor as a central figure

3. Legion

Alpha legion was my second army, I love the subtlety and intrigue. Then Dan Abnett writes my Heresy book!!! He did everything right, made the XXth legion unique and on top of that answers some questions that have always been in 40k lore. I need to reread the book cause I am sure I missed half of it, but that's what I should expect with the Legion right?

2. Fulgrim

I came into this book with a lot of trepidation because of False Gods. I liked the story. But OH MY FUCKING GOD the ending!!!!! One of if not the best endings in a 40k book ever.

Fulgrim gets PWND

1. Horus Rising

"I was there the day Horus killed the Emperor...." I still remember how giddy I was when I first read that. I can't remember a time that I was so excited to read a book. It was masterfully done. The characters, plot devices, everything was just amazing. In my mind this book single-handedly saved GW. I think they were on the long slow decline as they were milking their IP for profit without bringing anything new to the table (seriously, go look at White Dwarf before this book came out there is almost no 40k). I think what happened with this book and the series made the company realize that storytelling is the true draw of the 40k universe.

Rix

Armies that make Me Hate 40k

Continuing.......

These are the top five armies that, because of the fluff, I really don't like or plain hate

5 - Space Marines

Its not the idea of marines that I don't like, or even the history behind them. I just hate the chapter organization. Also, I don't really like the fact that what should be an army of supermen is really nerfed down to just a little above average guys so that the model count is right for buying an army. Read about Priad to find out what a marine is really supposed to be like.

4 - Tau

They just don't feel right. Generally I like the idea, a caste system society that is expanding by bringing bringing other races under the banner of a central semi-religious ideal "the greater good." But I think the whole concept about the greater good is weak. I would like to know a whole lot more about the "greater good" and what about it makes them so expansive. If I could reload this army I would have a very solid HQ choices being religious leaders, some very elite tau in their robotech suits, and a lot more other races as the basic troop choices.

3 - Dark Eldar

So we know the starting point of this army, normal eldar that didn't give a shit about those hoity-toity craftworld bitches (OK maybe looking back they might have had a valid point...). And we know where they end up, sado-masochistic slave trading pirates. But I am just unclear of how you draw the strait line between those points. How did they hold a society together when the rest of the eldar are so close to the brink? What do they do with all of the human cargo? It is easy to imagine what they would do with some, but the fluff suggests that they use slaves like currency. Also, how is it that they basically venerate Slaanesh in every way possible with their actions, yet still do not worship him? Maybe I haven't read enough about them, but I just feel like there are a lot of holes.

2 - Necrons

I get what they wanted to do, add undead to a futuristic universe. But I am not sure I really like what they did with this army. First of all I just don't by into the ideal of a basic human body type being the blueprint for an entire mechanical army. Not saying that it would have been easy to model, but I think they could have added a couple of extras limbs at least. Lastly the idea of playing alongside your demi-gods? By all accounts the C-tan are roughly the equivalent of the primarchs (close to the emperors strength but not quite), why would they ever be on the battlefield with some 1500 pt army, its a little bit of a reach for me. I like the whole Old Ones vs. Necrontyr concept but they have always shrouded that in enough mystery that there is just not enough to really draw me in.

1 - Chaos Demons

I despise this army. It is the biggest example of GW making a mockery of their own fluff to make some extra money. They stripped out demons in their very comfortable place in the Chaos Space Marine codex to "expand" their number of armies. Lets start with the obvious, where are we expecting these demons to have come from? They just randomly appear? good thing their just so happened to be another army there so they could fight. Why not include at least some cultists, or beastmen, or anything to summon them. Then to make matters worse, they made the codex such that to make a usable army you need to include two chaos god's units.........argh this army just makes me mad talking about it.

Rix

Armies That Make Me Love 40K

I have a love hate relationship with the 40k fluff. Most of it is just amazing, I read almost every book that comes out of the black library. Unfortunately Games Workshop is run by humans and run like a business, so sometimes the shit that they put on the shelves is just awful. To be fair I probably hold them up to a higher standard, but some businesses should be so lucky to have such devoted followers.

Lets start with the good. The following is my top five favorite armies according to the fluff. How they feel, their back story, and how much they intrigue me. I won't go into how they play, imo any army can play well given the right circumstances. These are the armies that make me excited or happy when I read about them or play against them.

5 - Orks

Yes they play the role of comic relief in a very serious future, but surprisingly their back story supports it. They tell an interesting story of what it takes to survive and thrive in war torn galaxy. Intelligence, cunning, and technology can take you far but never underestimate the power of strength, fury and an effective breeding scheme. For those of you who don't know the Orks were genetically engineered as a slave race (apparently by what later became snotlings) and were given enough genetically ingrained knowledge to proliferate. They eventually became the dominant race in the relationship.

I likei them cause they always fit the fluff, fit into the universe, and are generally fun to play against.

4 - Imperial Guard

As an Army veteran I am a little partial, but I can say GW did right by the lowly trooper. They feel like an army for a massive bureaucracy should: cumbersome, faceless, and powerful. I really get the sense that as a trooper you always know you will win, but you and all your friends might be thrown into the meat grinder to achieve that victory.

As a little aside, they even move like a real army does. When leading infantry there is a natural tendency for the men to heard together, SGTs have to enforce discipline to get the men to stay spread out. Watch the next time you play against IG, watch the player start to move his guys closer together to save time. Its small but for some reason it makes it more realistic to me.

Overall I just like the way the army feels.

3 - Eldar

I will get this right out and say it, I despise the fanboy pretty space elf aspect of the army. You will be hard pressed to ever see me field an army of dancing, yellow and white painted, prissies. What I do like is The Fall. The idea of a race becoming so hedonistic that they actually create a god. It's great. And now, they are forced to live out a shallow existence running from a gruesome afterlife. They even feel like that army when you play against them. All of the aspects feel like thrown together remnants of a once great society. And the guardians feel like citizens, their guns hit hard (even against Space Marines) but they crumble when actually hit by a bolter round.

2 - Chaos Space Marines

Entropy, its what the destiny of the universe is, these guys are just the champions of it. They are dark, sinister and just plain don't give a fuck. Its not that I believe that the bad guys are right, its just that I feel that they are more natural. What makes more sense: a bunch of genetically bred supermen fighting for the betterment of humanity, or the same group of supermen roving around slaughtering everything in their path because they feel like it. I like the baseness of it. I also like the fact that they are tragic villains. They know that to win is to destroy everything including themselves, but they are cool with that.

1 - Tyranids

The apex predators. 'Nids just slightly eek out the CSM in coolness for me cause they are just so damn devoted to what they do: survive. They are a study in genetic imperative. There is not alot about them to say, they are mostly mindless killing machines, but that's all that they really need to be. A shark did not become a shark by contemplating what it is to be a shark, it just continued eating. On a galactic scale it speaks to what is really important, the winner will be the one who puts everything he has into fighting. The nids are there to do one thing eat. I spoke about the baseness of the CSM but it doesn't get more base then expanding for the purposes of hunger.

Non-coincidentally they get my vote for the "winner" in the 40k universe.

Next post, the 5 worst,

Rix