Upcoming BL Stuff - 2022

[Knockagh]

There *must* (surely?) be some sort of logistics reason for the feast/famine approach to new BL books, because I cannot fathom why they are doing what they do. One 40K novel released at a time would allow equal buzz to develop for all titles- the dual release of Krieg and TTDK:2 makes no sense with this spell of absolutely nothing coming out.

Nothing has ‘made sense’ in Black Library’s release schedule for a long time

[caladancid]

 

There *must* (surely?) be some sort of logistics reason for the feast/famine approach to new BL books, because I cannot fathom why they are doing what they do. One 40K novel released at a time would allow equal buzz to develop for all titles- the dual release of Krieg and TTDK:2 makes no sense with this spell of absolutely nothing coming out.

Nothing has ‘made sense’ in Black Library’s release schedule for a long time

 

They just do what they do. HC/PB, limited/not, updating websites, letting great authors go, etc., BL business side is masterclass in how to leech off an IP rather than enhance it. Which is a shame because the talent is definitely there.

[Taliesin]

It could be worse. Imagine if you subscribed to Warhammer Plus for the animation only to be confronted with long droughts and only the occasional podcast about a show to come, thrown in.

[caladancid]

It could be worse. Imagine if you subscribed to Warhammer Plus for the animation only to be confronted with long droughts and only the occasional podcast about a show to come, thrown in.

 

That would be entirely my fault for being gullible enough to sub to Warhammer Plus.

 

I say this as a fellow BL subforum junkie. BL subforum junkies don't let fellow BL subforum junkies allow GW to abuse them without trying to help. Break the cycle. Don't be like the Krieg troopers in the new book and just accept it (see how I kept it on topic).

Edited February 6, 2022 by caladancid

[sitnam]

 

 

It could be worse. Imagine if you subscribed to Warhammer Plus for the animation only to be confronted with long droughts and only the occasional podcast about a show to come, thrown in.

That would be entirely my fault for being gullible enough to sub to Warhammer Plus.

 

I say this as a fellow BL subforum junkie. BL subforum junkies don't let fellow BL subforum junkies allow GW to abuse them without trying to help. Break the cycle. Don't be like the Krieg troopers in the new book and just accept it (see how I kept it on topic).

Eh I think it’s pretty unfair to call it Guillible. I’ve quite enjoyed my subscription, especially as the digital library has a ton of old campaign books I never got my hands on. If you are in it just for animations… probably not the best premium service.

 

Also, once you discount the mini price from the subscription, it’s one of the cheapest services out there

[Knockagh]

War+ has been a huge waste of money for me. I’ve liked the odd cartoon but there’s nothing really in it for non gamers. I’m not interested in the model. Will probably sell it and try and recoup some of my waste. Won’t resubscribe, hopefully it’s not an automatic renewal

[DukeLeto69]

I have held off from War+ for those very reasons. I may be tempted when there is sufficient animated film content to have a proper binge but not yet.

[DarkChaplain]

I've been annoyed with the service ever since figuring out how the digital background material is being accessed through a crappy online shell, and that they neutered the painting tutorials on their Youtube channel, which could often go for an hour for a big miniature, to put them onto War+ instead, while only keeping "battle ready" and "paint skin tone xy" on Youtube. They didn't actually create new value, but took it from where it was free to lock it behind a subscription. No thank you.

 

So I tried the thing for a day, and then requested a refund via email to GW. Took them a while to get back to me, but I did receive my refund, so at least on that point I'm satisfied.

 

Not sure the miniature after subscribing a year makes the service actually worth it, though. Especially when you don't care about either of the offerings; I'd initially picked the Vindicare, but just because it'd look decent by itself thanks to its base design. The Orc feels very generic. I'd be putting neither on the tabletop, though, so it's rather pointless.

[byrd9999]

While everyone's taking a dump on WH+, I'll stand up for it.

 

I am pleased with the subscription so far. It's, what, £40 for a year (including £10 GW voucher)? That's 80p a week. Plus a free model + base.

 

Sure, I'd love a show each week, but I also understand that to put out 50 shows a year, for the revenue they are expecting from it, would mean a drop in average quality. I have rewatched several Hammer & Bolters. My son invites his friends round and they get to watch it too, and they love it. They are just getting into Warhammer.

 

This week's best offering is the OOP Imperial Armour book Doom of Mymeara. Having recently discovered Alan Bligh's writing (he sadly passed away before I was really into BL), I am grateful for a chance to read his writing (best GW lore writer ever?) at a fraction of the cost of having to source the book secondhand.

 

I also think BL's Battle Reports are the best out there. The Xmas Kill Team with Louise Sugden's squig army & homebrew rules was a real highlight.

 

The forthcoming animation series like the T'au and the abstract-noir Interrogator look even better than what has come before.

 

I read BL, I play most of the GW game systems, and I paint a lot, and my wife and son are into the hobby also, so maybe it suits me more, but if anyone isn't happy with it so far, what kind of service do you want and what kind of price would you expect to have to pay for it? [automatically discounted are any answers that revolve around more/better products AND at a lower price].

[cheywood]

Considering how much they’ve focused on the animation aspect of WH+ it is somewhat silly that their content library is so barren to start. The Imperial Armour/Horus Heresy books are a nice bonus, but right now it still seems like poor value for those of us who don’t paint/play. Like a lot of people I’ll probably sign up for a couple months once there’s more content out, but I can’t see myself ever becoming a continuous subscriber. Netflix/HBO Max this is not.

[Petitioner's City]

While everyone's taking a dump on WH+, I'll stand up for it.

 

I am pleased with the subscription so far. It's, what, £40 for a year (including £10 GW voucher)? That's 80p a week. Plus a free model + base.

 

Sure, I'd love a show each week, but I also understand that to put out 50 shows a year, for the revenue they are expecting from it, would mean a drop in average quality. I have rewatched several Hammer & Bolters. My son invites his friends round and they get to watch it too, and they love it. They are just getting into Warhammer.

 

This week's best offering is the OOP Imperial Armour book Doom of Mymeara. Having recently discovered Alan Bligh's writing (he sadly passed away before I was really into BL), I am grateful for a chance to read his writing (best GW lore writer ever?) at a fraction of the cost of having to source the book secondhand.

 

I also think BL's Battle Reports are the best out there. The Xmas Kill Team with Louise Sugden's squig army & homebrew rules was a real highlight.

 

The forthcoming animation series like the T'au and the abstract-noir Interrogator look even better than what has come before.

 

I read BL, I play most of the GW game systems, and I paint a lot, and my wife and son are into the hobby also, so maybe it suits me more, but if anyone isn't happy with it so far, what kind of service do you want and what kind of price would you expect to have to pay for it? [automatically discounted are any answers that revolve around more/better products AND at a lower price].

Doom isn't by Alan, it's by Talima Fox - but Fox was also a brilliant writer too!

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKCj38E8G-I

 

This interview with Fox is great, and gives a real interest in eldar psychology and of course the origins of the corsairs list.

 

I am a bit sad about Taros, though (and presumably Mymeara too) they don't have the unit profiles, alas (probably because these included rules and this was hard to cut out). This means it is less likely that IA 1 or 2, or IA 13, will ever go up as these were basically unit profile books except for smaller sections.

 

A key point also is that Taros's second edition again wasn't Bligh, it was Fox with Neil Wyllie, revising Warwick Kinrade's original (brilliant) text. 

 

 

The final thing is Bligh was wonderful - his solo books are great, but its reductive to reduce FW to Bligh, when it ignores the wider team (starting with FW first honcho, Warwick Kinrade, who authored IA 1-8, including Vraks, which was when Bligh joined the team), as well as Cottrell, Wyllie, Fox, Hoare, French and others :)  

Edited February 7, 2022 by Petitioner's City

[byrd9999]

Ah, my mistake, I haven't looked at it yet! I saw on a website that Talima Fox was listed as the primary author, but Alan Bligh was listed as one of the others, along with Warwick Kinrade.

 

https://www.isbns.net/author/Talima_Fox

 

I can find out for myself on Wednesday

 

 

I know Carl Tuttle is a huge fan of the Imperial Armour series (Doom of Mymara, Vraks and Badab War in particular), and I have always been so interested to read them, but they are way out of my price range, so I am grateful for the chance now.

Edited February 7, 2022 by byrd9999

[Petitioner's City]

Ah, my mistake, I haven't looked at it yet! I saw on a website that Talima Fox was listed as the primary author, but Alan Bligh was listed as one of the others, along with Warwick Kinrade.

 

https://www.isbns.net/author/Talima_Fox

 

I can find out for myself on Wednesday

 

 

I know Carl Tuttle is a huge fan of the Imperial Armour series (Doom of Mymara, Vraks and Badab War in particular), and I have always been so interested to read them, but they are way out of my price range, so I am grateful for the chance now.

 

You're totally right! He did additional material (and the original story idea was from Kinrade) - but it's definitely Fox's book   She mentions in the interview Alan's help and support. Sadly I don't know if Fox carried on at FW and GW; her LinkedIn is rather out of date, and the move to anonymous books means it's hard to tell if she continues to work there (she isn't credited for IA12, Fall of Orpheus, by Bligh; IA13 by Hoare or the early Heresy books).

 

Does anyone know what happened to Fox? Also is Neil Wyllie still at FW? 

Edited February 7, 2022 by Petitioner's City

[Kelborn]

Let us return to upcoming BL stuff, yes?

 

Talking War+ and who wrote what for FW and what became of them can be discussed in a separate thread.

[Darkwrath121]

- Ignore - Edited February 7, 2022 by Darkwrath121

[Knockagh]

Dont you only get imperial armour if you own physical copies? And is t it only the rules, not the fluff?

[Petitioner's City]

Dont you only get imperial armour if you own physical copies? And is t it only the rules, not the fluff?

 

This is off-topic, so I'll spoiler

 

 

but essentially based on Taros, the "upcoming" FW books on Warhammer Vault may just be the history of the focus campaign in a given book - so you could read about the campaign, but it didn't include the unit entries, as many of these were inextricably linked to the rules for old 40K, with fluff followed by rules on the same page.

 

Thus Mymeara is likely to have just the history of the campaign (p. 5 to 71) and nothing beyond it (including the descriptions of the Cadians, the Space Wolves, etc). Which means nothing on the Corsairs either! 

 

I hope they realise that was a bad way to treat the book, as it cut the book in half and missed all of this kind of stuff:

 

 

Tbh, this was my favourite section of many a FW book, and it recalled the text of the very first Imperial Armour book.

 

So if Mymeara is the same as Taros, this could mean the following is missing:

 

 

TBH, I just wish they hadn't removed the rules as that is part of the joy of older texts!

 

 

--

[Noserenda]

Ich, removing the rules was bad enough,but yeeting out two thirds of the book because its easier than blanking the odd page is downright criminal :( The IA series is some of the best work GW ever put out. 

[MarineRaider]

Do you think we get the first part of the last act of the siege this year? 

 

I am excited for the conclusion and frankly to be finished. 

 

Also I am somewhat confused about the Throne of Light book, isn't this set a prequel or set like 100 years before the other books so how can there be a big E reveal, wouldn't it already be known in the first books? I am probably messing this up but keeping track of all of this requires a personal assistant at times. Maybe the next version of Siri.

[cheywood]

Do you think we get the first part of the last act of the siege this year?

 

I am excited for the conclusion and frankly to be finished.

 

Also I am somewhat confused about the Throne of Light book, isn't this set a prequel or set like 100 years before the other books so how can there be a big E reveal, wouldn't it already be known in the first books? I am probably messing this up but keeping track of all of this requires a personal assistant at times. Maybe the next version of Siri.

Entirely possible the Siege ends this year. Pretty much certain we’ll get at least one installment since they’ve already revealed the cover art.

 

There’s been some timeline revision for the Dawn of Fire series. The Dark Imperium books are now set 12-13 years after Guilliman’s return to Terra and Dawn of Fire is filling in the gaps of those twelve years. It’s rather confusing and unsurprisingly hasn’t been addressed in the most proactive fashion.

[DarkChaplain]

They really should've just started putting a rough two-page timeline at the front of their Indomitus-Era books (and reissues/reprints) starting with the reworks of Dark Imperium, Plague War and Godblight. Just putting each release in a list and giving approximate timeline placements where relevant, or noting when the timeline doesn't matter beyond "after x"

 

As is, we're once again stuck doing the work for GW/BL, of course. Thankfully, Track of Words did this one a while back:

https://www.trackofwords.com/2021/01/10/black-library-new-40k-reading-list/

 

Chronologically, Throne of Light will occur before Godblight, by nearly a decade (seeing as we're now ~3 years into the Crusade, and the triumph at Raukos occurs around 12 years into it). As readers, we'll see the connections clearly, but for the characters, this will all be new turf. This'll likely also be the book where our pious Imperial Fists friend will get to join up with the Black Templars (looking at the cover) - he's been in both Dawn of Fire and Godlight so far.

 

It makes sense for Haley to do Throne of Light himself, as a result of how closely to Godblight it might go thematically, too. It'll likely be full of buildup, though it might take a different focus (i.e., not deal with Guilliman's views on the Emperor so much as that of Kor Phaeron and the Black Templars).

[MarineRaider]

They really should've just started putting a rough two-page timeline at the front of their Indomitus-Era books (and reissues/reprints) starting with the reworks of Dark Imperium, Plague War and Godblight. Just putting each release in a list and giving approximate timeline placements where relevant, or noting when the timeline doesn't matter beyond "after x"

 

As is, we're once again stuck doing the work for GW/BL, of course. Thankfully, Track of Words did this one a while back:

https://www.trackofwords.com/2021/01/10/black-library-new-40k-reading-list/

 

Chronologically, Throne of Light will occur before Godblight, by nearly a decade (seeing as we're now ~3 years into the Crusade, and the triumph at Raukos occurs around 12 years into it). As readers, we'll see the connections clearly, but for the characters, this will all be new turf. This'll likely also be the book where our pious Imperial Fists friend will get to join up with the Black Templars (looking at the cover) - he's been in both Dawn of Fire and Godlight so far.

 

It makes sense for Haley to do Throne of Light himself, as a result of how closely to Godblight it might go thematically, too. It'll likely be full of buildup, though it might take a different focus (i.e., not deal with Guilliman's views on the Emperor so much as that of Kor Phaeron and the Black Templars).

Thanks. I am even more confused at how that plan on possibly advancing the Emperors story. I mean even the title and blurb would make little sense base don where we left off but I'm a sucker and will buy it anyway ;)

 

Frankly the best part of it for me is seeing a possibility of the E taking a more active role in this setting. 

[Taliesin]

 

 

 

 

 

Does anyone know what happened to Fox? Also is Neil Wyllie still at FW? 

 

 

Neil and Anuj were the writers of the last book or two and and when Anuj left last year he referred to Neil so he is still working there.

What we dont know is if Anuj was ever actually replaced.

 

Havent heard about Talima Fox doing any books for years, she's not part of the Heresy team in any case.

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKCj38E8G-I

 

This interview with Fox is great, and gives a real interest in eldar psychology and of course the origins of the corsairs list.
 

I am a bit sad about Taros, though (and presumably Mymeara too) they don't have the unit profiles, alas (probably because these included rules and this was hard to cut out). This means it is less likely that IA 1 or 2, or IA 13, will ever go up as these were basically unit profile books except for smaller sections.

 

A key point also is that Taros's second edition again wasn't Bligh, it was Fox with Neil Wyllie, revising Warwick Kinrade's original (brilliant) text. 

 

 

The final thing is Bligh was wonderful - his solo books are great, but its reductive to reduce FW to Bligh, when it ignores the wider team (starting with FW first honcho, Warwick Kinrade, who authored IA 1-8, including Vraks, which was when Bligh joined the team), as well as Cottrell, Wyllie, Fox, Hoare, French and others   

 

 

 

I wish they still did videos about their releases. Alan Bligh talked with such passion about the Black Books, was great to see. They havent done any for the last few books.

Edited February 8, 2022 by Taliesin

[theSpirea]

I was expecting it and here it goes: 

 

So, regrettably, we’ll soon be increasing prices a little.

In many cases, this will be about 5%. So, as an example of what you can expect on most kits, a box of Space Marine Intercessors will go up just £1 from £35 to £36.*

A few things are going up about 10% (e.g. books, scenery, resin miniatures), and there are a couple of outliers (e.g. Blood Bowl teams and metal miniatures) which are going up around 20%. 

The price change will come into effect on the 7th of March.

 

It's still a bit annoying they announce the price increase shortly after reporting their annual profit being one of the highests. I consider their books already overpriced and I really hope they will not sneakily increase prices of ebooks as that would be quite hypocritical. And let's hope they will stick to 10% for other currencies as well.

[Sothalor]

For US customers, I expect this to mean:

 

Full-size hardcover: $27 -> $30

 

Smaller hardcovers (Primarch series, Valdor, Luther, etc.): $19/21 -> $21/23?

(This size format actually seems to have already been transitioning prices over the past year, or there's a variable range of prices already)

 

Siege of Terra hardcover: $30 -> $33

 

Trade paperbacks: $16 -> $18