How to re-begin?

[snakebyte]

Hi, I'm new here! 

 

I started the hobby in 2nd, left the playing days behind between 4th and 5th but I always kept up with the lore until 8th.

I read all the gathering storm stuff and then Primaris began and I fell out of it. It was just too much of a change for me. 

I'm sure I'm not the only one, but for 30 years or thereabouts your normal space marine was THE 40k character.

I didn't like the change so, as I had no toys left to throw out of the pram, I just tried to pretend it didn't exist anymore.

All the while, BOLS is on my favourites tab and I check it daily for new news, then I come here to read you guys opinions of the new news without ever signing up and pretending that I'm not really that interested....clearly I am!

 

So, I feel like I'm rejoining the 40k community brand new all over again!

 

I know 9th is coming soon, but I mean more about how to re-begin lore wise, ideally without buying all the codexes and stuff from 8th!

A novel, or the vigilus stuff, or psychic awakening? It all seems very big now so a nudge would be good!

 

[N1SB]

 

A novel, or the vigilus stuff, or psychic awakening? It all seems very big now so a nudge would be good!

 

I thought about what you said.  I'll just share this experience as I think it's relevant to how you feel about the current lore.

 

Imho, I'd skip Vigilus and Psychic Awakening if I were in your position, because they didn't have the same significance as the Gathering Storm trilogy.  The Gathering Storm really was a major historical turning point, and I'm glad you read those.  Vigilus and Psychic Awakening were more like a collection of side stories.  They weren't bad, but perhaps it's a case of expectations management, they simply lacked the same gravitas as Gathering Storm.

 

The main experience I'd share, withOUT spoilers, is that I probably felt mostly the same as you did about the Primaris, then I read Dark Imperium (the original 1st book) by Guy Haley.  You think you're alone in having reservations about the Primaris, you're not a lone, even in-universe.  A major figure in the Imperium shares the exact sentiment as you and, in his heart of hearts, thinks of the Primaris as Belisarius Cawl's "blasphemous hordes".  Even the Primaris know how other Space Marines feel about them.  It happened that book changed my mind on the Primaris.

 

Dark Imperium had a proper sequel, Dark Imperium II: Plague War, but I found Belisarius Cawl: the Great Work also by Guy Haley to contain the most interesting insights on the secret creation of the Primaris.  It was only like maybe 10 pages near the end, but it answers the question, "how did this no-name Techpriest know how to upgrade Space Marines when no one else could?"  The answer was kinda, "he didn't."  The book was also surprisingly more related to the Necrons, which you already know from the Gathering Storm and the 9th ed reveals have a much greater role than previously assumed.

 

I was NOT looking for reasons to like the Primaris when I read these, I was just looking for the huge gaps of lore between Gathering Storm and 8th ed, but they happened to really change my mind.  Truly the Emperor's plans were greater than I previously thought.

 

I suggest these because it sounds like, at this current stage, you're interested in learning more of the currently evolving plot rather than rushing out to buy models & paints.  Dark Imperium I, maaaybe II, then those snippets from The Great Work are the ones I share most with my local meta, so I reckon they're relevant to your interests, too.

[Perry]

BL have a new book series out soon set between Gathering storm and Dark Imperium, it'll help fill in the blanks abit.

[Vanger]

Lore wise, I would say if you've read teh GAthering Storm books, then maybe a 8th Edition Rulebook would be okay (I gues you can get it now for cheap), as it talks about the opening of the Great Rift, the Cicatrix Maledictum.

 

Then the Indomitus Crusade happens, which kinda is there in the lore, but has not been fleshed out really. Codicii are kinda right after the turmoil happened (Great Rift opened). Psychic Awakening tries to tell stories about what happened after the Great Rift tore the Milkyway in two and during the 200 or so years of the Indomitus Crusade.

So those don't really contain much continous fluff.

 

Regarding Books, there are Dark Imperium and Plague War. These are after the Indomitus Crusade happened. It's mostly about Guilliman and how he tries to cope with everything, how the primaris try to cope with being assigned to various Chapters, how their integration works. As mentioned Belissarius CAwl The Great Work deals with their creator and some of the characters from the DArk Imperium books, so they hold some interesting revelations regarding the conception of primaris. Also a good read in itself imo.

Aside from that there is the Conquest line of books, which are sometime during the Indomitus Crusade and mostly deal with how the new primaris are received. It's a bit wibly-wobly, timey-wiymey as the books don't have a clear chronological order.In Honour and Iron, they never even heard about primaris, in Apocalypse they are already common, even if new.

 

But you could hold out a couple of months and wait for the release of Dawn of Fire. This series will deal with the Indomitus Crusade itself and flesh out those 200+ years.

[Dark Shepherd]

Good news is this site is much better in many ways than BOLS for rumours :)