Upcoming BL Stuff 2024

[wecanhaveallthree]

>What happend to the days when thr only qualification you needed was to be a bald nerd who worked in the GW postal department?

 

We all knew that hairesy would creep in. After all, I was there, the day Horus slew the barber...

 

 

 

[cheywood]

 

>What happend to the days when thr only qualification you needed was to be a bald nerd who worked in the GW postal department?

 

We all knew that hairesy would creep in. After all, I was there, the day Horus slew the barber...

 

 

 

Hairless Lupercal vs Rogaine Dorn, battling for the Imperium’s follicle future. 

[Casual Heresy]

Behold, another novel reveal on Warcom. This time a new entry in this series of short character novels and this time is Lord Solar Leontus.

 

Leontus: Lord Solar – the Thrilling New Astra Militarum Novel - Warhammer Community (warhammer-community.com)

 

Story sounds quite interesting and I think Rob's work is generally well received so should be good. I'll definetly be picking up the LE to continue that collection.

 

[grailkeeper]

More nice covers. 

[darkhorse0607]

That cover is really nice

 

*edit

 

I wonder if this is just going to be serious Death or Glory from the Cain series. That kept popping into my mind when reading the blurb

Edited September 18 by darkhorse0607

[theSpirea]

Hardback looks a bit too much like another AoS novel... Their art director (if they have any) is not really doing a good job lately

[Nagashsnee]

 

 

 

I wonder if this is just going to be serious Death or Glory from the Cain series. That kept popping into my mind when reading the blurb

Thiiiiis, i kept thinking 'wait i sec i know this plot' and then it hit me, its the Cain book. 

 

But i have always been curious how they would deal with this character in a book. I mean he is a position and rank that should never ever warrant a sword and horse (and they did away with the horse at least). But because of the wargame suddenly you have a Lord Solar who is a frontline kinda guy. Which needs a very very good author to make work without him being a terrible lord solar. 

 

I had kinda hoped that they would the Don Quixote way, and have a previously fantastic Lord Solar who is on the way out mentally insist on frontline duty with his sword and his horse (bless) and high command just humor him while arranging things around him.  But i guess just taking the lord Solar away from any chance he would have to be Lord Solar also justifies his action novel. 

[Ubiquitous1984]

Interested to hear the perspective of the 40k veterans around here on this as I am still relatively new to the hobby compared to many on here: are the High Lords becoming a greater feature in recent years?  It feels like since RG's return (was it 7th or 8th edition?) there has been a much greater focus on who the High Lords are, and what they are up to.  This'll be the second book this year on a high lord, plus in recent years we have had dealings in BL books (especially through Chris Wraight and Guy Haley) and also the campaign books.  Has it always been this way?  If not, I wonder why the change in direction?

Edited September 18 by Ubiquitous1984

[Nagashsnee]

 

Interested to hear the perspective of the 40k veterans around here on this as I am still relatively new to the hobby compared to many on here: are the High Lords becoming a greater feature in recent years?  It feels like since RG's return (was it 7th or 8th edition?) there has been a much greater focus on who the High Lords are, and what they are up to.  This'll be the second book this year on a high lord, plus in recent years we have had dealings in BL books (especially through Chris Wraight and Guy Haley) and also the campaign books.  Has it always been this way?  If not, I wonder why the change in direction?

100% .  They have gone from near mythical high up creatures of supreme powers to....well Bob The dudeio,  he is head of the Administratum you see? 

 

The reasons for me seem obvious, 40K in generally for the last 2-3 edition have placed more and more emphasis on major 'lynchpoint' characters for each faction. It why the nids have the swarmlord rather then just swarms and the hivemind. The necrons got the silent king, who is the king of all kings, etc. The issues only really arise for this when you hit the factions where 'high up the totem pole' does not (or should not) equal combat efficiency.  You Imperial Guard, you Tau, your Ad mech, etc. Where you would have a leadership  geared towards large scale strategy c&c and logistics. Now GW use to get around this by having the exemptions be the ones modeled, often historical figures famed for being 'different'. Your commander farsights, your Lord Solar Macharius, etc. But you see thats where reason number 2 comes in.

 

40K Has become a living setting, and the company has become a much much bigger fish. Minis get bespoke novels now, maybe even video games, action figures, tv episodes, etc. Everything cross connects and everything support sales sales sales. So to bring this all back to the high lords, you want your living setting and its characters to matter, you want the universe to move and evolve and you pretty much ONLY want to deal with HUGE EVENTS OF GALAXY ENDING SIGNIFICANCE (tho this is stupid and they need to stop). And you want the main focus of your efforts to be on the Imperium of Man. Well you are going to have to deal/feature/outline the high lords of terra.  And since minis and factions and books (see point 1) gravitate around big and important lynchpin minis who have the equivalent level of fluff, the high lords door will open more and more and more. 

 

Finally you have the ULTIMATE lynchpin miniature in GWs history Roboute Guilliman. A living primarch, THE LOGISTICS primarch, he is back, there is simply no way of doing this without the High Lords taking centre stage, be it for removal, evolution, or whatnot. G man is making changes to the fabric of the Imperium and the Imperium is run by the High Lords. The more changes they do ( and they did ALLOT) the more high lords are involved. The fact that some of the high lords are themselves lynchpin models of their own faction (custodes and sisters) simply magnify this issue.  Suddenly the high 12 are not some obscure mythical demi god level of control, one we know from rumor's, lore about events millenia in the past  and old WDs that may or may not be cannon anymore ( i mean they do feature a BFG ad in them). 

 

When you combine all 3 it shatters any mythos or mystery the high lords had. I can safely say i kill at least 1 high lord a month on the table top, and at that point like the HH and primarchs before them, they become mundane.  

Edited September 18 by Nagashsnee

[Roomsky]

Oh wow another story where an Imperial character accustomed directing entire wars is forced to fight basically on their own against insurmountable odds.

 

[Ayatollah_of_Rock_n_Rolla]

My reaction exactly. Such weird choice for a Lord Solar.

[darkhorse0607]

 

When you combine all 3 it shatters any mythos or mystery the high lords had. I can safely say i kill at least 1 high lord a month on the table top, and at that point like the HH and primarchs before them, they become mundane.  

 

Part of the problem is the lack of creativity in that aspect or all the aspects.

 

Creed (either one) could have, and probably should've been the centerpiece for the Imperial Guard. Have them set up like the Triumph of St Katherine with an honor guard, Krell, or whatever. There's lore surrounding them (less so Ursula but still), it makes sense for them to be on the battlefield, and at the major events since they're leading the Cadians which are the poster children now. Or put them standing on some special tank, I don't know

 

I feel like, even as someone who's read the majority of the books covering the High Lords (minus the new ones like Vahls), I still do not know who they are, nor do I care. GW, at the same time they decided they wanted the High Lords to play more of an active roll, neutered them with Guilliman coming back. It doesn't matter who they are, or what they do, Guilliman will either outsmart them/replace them/do what he wants anyway (see the Regents Shadow for a prime example)

 

So that means they now have to be out doing stuff to garner any attention. Which as pointed out doesn't make sense, and misses the whole point about why people rally behind characters in the first place. These new models/characters didn't need to be High Lords

 

People rally behind Creed or like him because his model had a cigar and he's been featured a bunch over the years

 

Shoot, people love Jurgen and would buy his model in droves, and he just runs around collecting tea and playing with his melta half the time.

 

Same thing with Yarrick, people love his character and support him because he was that cranky old man who was still fighting, not because of his rank

 

It's just a lack of creativity like I said. They don't think that people are going to care about these models unless they're the biggest in their faction (figuratively speaking of course). Rather than put in the effort and supporting a long-loved character, or building one from scratch through the lore, they just say "Here's the big one, have fun, love them because they're the in thing now"

 

Just makes me curious as to what the next thing is, super high lords? Super duper Lord Solars? Mega Primarch Killing Tyranids? A talking Silent King? They've got nowhere to go now that they went straight to the top unless they just keep making things up

[Sothalor]

So, I'd be interested in something like this if it were an exploration of the natural consequences of the lore - a Lord Commander Solar riding around the battlefields of the 41st (or is it 42nd now?) millennium atop his frakking horse, looking to charge things with his sword.

 

That's legitimately like Eisenhower personally leading the Normandy landings from the front, aboard the first landing craft, charging the beaches with his 1911. It's absurd and ridiculous and completely contrary to what any top commander in an institutional military ought to be dealing with.

 

And you know what? I'm here for it. LEAN INTO IT, BL! Explore the implications and the consequences! What kind of impact does a man like this have on the institution and his responsibilities? How does the Imperial Guard cope with it? What does it mean for the Imperium that they have somebody with the role of George Marshall but who behaves like Alexander the Great?

 

Are there warfronts and battle groups suffering because their Lord Solar is doing combat dressage and giving tactical directives to individual squads instead of handling logistics and setting grand strategy?

 

Is Leontus actually a scholar and military genius, or a ponce propped by propaganda? Are there shades of both - is he a natural tactician who got promoted to a role beyond what he's personally suited for?

 

How does his staff see him? Are they the ones behind the scenes actually trying to hold the whole show together?

"Munitions stocks among Battlegroup Four are critical, Operation Smitehammer is six weeks behind objective schedule, the Lord Admiral is threatening to withdraw from the Noctil Cluster, and now there are reports that Astartes elements have begun their own separate operations! Where is the Lord Solar?!"

"He's gone out to Zone 14 to charge the trenches with his sword again."

"Throne damn it! That's the fifth time this month!"

 

How do the soldiers under him see him? Do they see him as some kind of poser? Do they love him because he personally fights among them? Do they dread whenever he shows up because that means things are about to get crazier?

 

 

There's so much potential here for a sort of tragicomic look into just how bonkers the Imperium is through the allegorical lens of one of its top generals.

[grailkeeper]

 

Interested to hear the perspective of the 40k veterans around here on this as I am still relatively new to the hobby compared to many on here: are the High Lords becoming a greater feature in recent years?  It feels like since RG's return (was it 7th or 8th edition?) there has been a much greater focus on who the High Lords are, and what they are up to.  This'll be the second book this year on a high lord, plus in recent years we have had dealings in BL books (especially through Chris Wraight and Guy Haley) and also the campaign books.  Has it always been this way?  If not, I wonder why the change in direction?

Yeah. I think the war of the beast books were the first to really deal with them. Before they were an unfleshed concept. 

 

Are we better off for knowing more about them? I think not. Another example of how sometimes leaving things as mysterious is better than shedding light on them.

[Roomsky]

The High Lords are definitely another casualty of 40k's new direction, in my opinion. Gone are the ancient, grotesque, incompetent-in-all-fields-but-maintaining-their-own-position aristocratic monsters they once were. The High Lords literally sit at the heart of the Imperium's corruption; they are the worst products of a terrible system. 

 

Making them semi-competent was bad enough, and while I can at least dismiss Tieron's respect for them as an extremely biased point of view (the man justifies the ludicrous waste of resources to get fresh fruit imported to Terra, after all,) but having them be active off Terra is blasphemy. Imagine if the bloody Custodes were-

 

Oh, right.

 

They no longer embody whatever these guys have going on, and that's a shame.

Edited September 18 by Roomsky

[grailkeeper]

It's a problem in other media too. We're we better off for knowing that what Darth Vader was like as a kid? 

 

This tweet hits the nail on the head

 

 40k is at its best when it creates more mysteries than it answers. It used to do so deliberately so that you could theme your guys around it. The classic example is the missing legions but this setting is filled with such things. It's cool when it comes up with ominous names for races and places and  doesn't explain them. If a book or map makes an off hand reference to something called "the screaming silence" the mystery and whatever your head canon is will beat any official exploration 9 times out of 10. Its the same reason why the monster in a horror movie is scarier when you don't see it.

Edited September 18 by grailkeeper

[wecanhaveallthree]

>Hardback looks a bit too much like another AoS novel... 

 

AoS? Old mate Leontus looks like he's about to saddle up Deathclaw and summon the Elector Counts.

 

>Gone are the ancient, grotesque, incompetent-in-all-fields-but-maintaining-their-own-position aristocratic monsters they once were. 

 

Because the Imperium is no longer 'feudal lords IN SPACE'. Oh, sure, there are feudal lords out there, but by some incredible sleight of hand, the High Lords have gone from being High Lords to being effectively the Council of Terra come again. It's no longer titanic fiefdoms and their murder-crowned rulers stabbing each other in the back and squabbling over completely pointless bull:cuss: while the Imperium dies - it's a bunch of questionably 'good' people who are trying their best but simply can't run the sprawling mess that is the Imperium and are, gosh, just trying their best, you know? 

 

One of my pet frustrations is talking to people over on 40klore about Badab, especially those new-come to the hobby. Badab is a huge victim of this. Huron had the absolute best of intentions: he tries and tries and tries to do his job in the Maelstrom Zone while Terra constantly pulls away his support, even right on the cusp of victory, while refusing to actually give him anything he asks for. Huron sends like fourteen pleas to Terra which are all ignored or rejected. It's during that time that he starts, slowly, to start just doing it himself. Withholding portions of his gene-seed tithe. Drawing resources directly from the Maelstrom worlds, fortifying them, organising the local Guard, and so on. He's operating without support and - more crucially - within his legal right as Adeptus Astartes in command of a warzone, where he's supposed to have essentially limitless power to prosecute his mission.

 

What sets it all off, though, is Huron interfering with the merchants of the Maelstrom Zone, who - of course - complain to Terra about it. And immediately get a punitive expedition as a response. 

 

The Badab War is the prime example of Imperial corruption at the top. It's not insanity like the Reign of Blood or a cold coup like the Beheading, or some wacky religious schism like Nova Terra. It's a loyal Space Marine trying to do the impossible task he's been set being constantly undermined by the uncaring powers that be, trying to do everything according to the mess of Imperial law, begging and begging for help - and then being immediately punished because some High Lord lost a few thrones from a fat merchant buddy.

 

With the characterisation of the High Lords, Badab loses a ton of its punch because it becomes 'dude we were like so busy with all this other important stuff and just couldn't help but we really wanted to but now you've gone too far and we have no choice boo hoo so sad this is like a structural failing of the imperium not us, specifically, its leaders'. Huron looks petulant and hasty rather than someone pushed to the absolute brink, then right over it, by the explicit corruption of the High Lords, or worse, it can be boiled down to 'oh no the astral claws were like totally corrupted by chaos'. While Badab certainly has hints of Chaos and the Tiger Claws being wrong, somehow, that's flavour and tension to the central theme. 

 

IT PISSES ME OFF.

 

>40k is at its best when it creates more mysteries than it answers.

 

This is why Fehervari's books are so good, IMO. He gets it. The reader is rewarded for engaging with the text.

 

There's that ol' chestnut: 'the price of getting what you want is having what once you wanted.' Or, perhaps more modern: 'you think you do, but you don't'.

 

 

[Nagashsnee]

 

>Gone are the ancient, grotesque, incompetent-in-all-fields-but-maintaining-their-own-position aristocratic monsters they once were. 

 

Because the Imperium is no longer 'feudal lords IN SPACE'. Oh, sure, there are feudal lords out there, but by some incredible sleight of hand, the High Lords have gone from being High Lords to being effectively the Council of Terra come again. It's no longer titanic fiefdoms and their murder-crowned rulers stabbing each other in the back and squabbling over completely pointless bull:cuss: while the Imperium dies - it's a bunch of questionably 'good' people who are trying their best but simply can't run the sprawling mess that is the Imperium and are, gosh, just trying their best, you know? 

 

 

 

 

Firstly absolutly agree with what you said about Badab War.  And i sorta agree with you on the high lords. I would argue they have not made the change over to 'questionably 'good' people'.  Or that they tried to show that the high lords always were. 

 

Instead they went half way there. And it is largely logical. Its still 'titanic fiefdoms and their murder-crowned rulers stabbing each other in the back', only with  the addet caveat that they are not stupid people. Unlike the Eastern Roman Empire so much of the Imperium is based on the High Lords know that there must be a kingdom to support them. And can when the need is great put aside the 'titanic fiefdoms and their murder-crowned rulers stabbing each other in the back'  nature to make sure that what they are fighting over will keep existing. 

 

Secondly the Imperium is broken but its not shattered. You do have lines in how crazy or corrupt you can go before it descends into actual for reals war, or you are basically taking over the government. And since present 40k lack any Vandire level high lords again the worse cases are self contained or taken care of.

 

Lastly one aspect that they should have pushed more is that the high lords pre primarch return were in the time of ending. The Imperium was on the clift side looking at another dark age, and those sort of times either shatter existing weak systems, or bring their inherent positive aspects to the fore.  The high lords we see are 'titanic fiefdoms and their murder-crowned rulers stabbing each other in the back' who are facing the result of this reality and are having to actually try to do their job right. And still we see them constantly fall back into 'titanic fiefdoms and their murder-crowned rulers stabbing each other in the back' at the slightest cause.  I think Chris Wraight got the balance perfectly, sure the high lords are 'titanic fiefdoms and their murder-crowned rulers stabbing each other in the back', but to become said rulers they NEED to be capable, smart and willing. Otherwise they would never get to be a high lord. And while some spots could produce puppet lords (the church comes to mind). Most posts cannot support it. The military branches, the Inquisition, Telpathica, Mechanicum these lords WILL be the best of the best (of politics if nothing else) of what their broken institutions can produce.  Otherwise they would be dead or 3 positions below what they are now. Add in the strain the time of ending placed on this institutions to at least TRY and get their act together Fall of Cadia time would be a high lords council of desperation, skill and last ditch efforts. AND THEY STILL tried all sort of 'titanic fiefdoms and their murder-crowned rulers stabbing each other in the back'. 

 

Its G man who is the one attempting to put a stop to the 'titanic fiefdoms and their murder-crowned rulers stabbing each other in the back' and instead get actual good guys in charge. But that is more with the wider new G man driven direction they took the imperium rather then any changes to the high lords up to that in my view. 

 

[wecanhaveallthree]

Having thought a little more on it, I think it's a reflection - conscious or no - of the times and the audience. Modern parliament is slightly less of a :cuss:-show these days, particularly with how image-conscious our mass media world has made people in power. Much of what's presented to the public is fed through PR and image consultants and all sorts of other guff. I'd suggest that it's particularly a result of how powerful the North American market is and general cultural hegemony guff (Europe and the UK combined have roughly the same sales as NA alone). NA does not have that 'feudal lord' element of history except that bit where they got upset and threw their tea in the harbour. Indeed, America is very anti-Imperial. So the switch towards 'bad politicians in a senate' rather than - thank you, Naga - 'titanic fiefdoms and their murder-crowned rulers stabbing each other in the back' makes sense, both for the American market and the more modern presentation of politics and politicians. The High Lords were never stupid, they were just totally self-interested and had fought their way to the top of the pile to better serve their self-interest - everyone else be damned. The 'modern politician', I think, is an image of someone beholden to other interests. Big corpo and the like. They are stupid, and I think the modern High Lords are foolish, by and large, and presented as hang-wringing ineffectuals rather than actively malicious and corrupt. 

 

I think Roomsky has hit it right on the head here. The image of the High Lords as being the vultures fighting over the Imperium's bones - at their very best just wilfully ignorant and disinterested - has been widely sanitised, which is honestly wacky considering that prior to 8th Edition and Guilliman's return, if you asked pretty much anyone where the rot was worst in the Imperium they'd say 'the High Lords'. Nobody even really fought Guilliman's reforms, while the old High Lords would have torn Terra apart in their absolute destructive resistance. The planet would have burned rather than a High Lord get bumped out of their seat.

 

Not to put too fine a point on it, but the old theme - and a common one, considering the time and area 40K came from - was obviously 'class struggle'. Here are the smug rich bourgeoise. Here are the suffering citizen-workers. Not hard to understand. Now, the problem has been pushed onto the system rather than the people. I think that's at the unfortunate 'mouthfeel' of the setting in recent years. Those hard edges have been sanded down. Cheer for the son of the galaxy's worst tyrant, he's gonna fix it all up! Don't worry about all those corrupt and awful people, they've quietly gone away and you don't need to think about it any more! The Imperium is the problem, the people were all just products of the system and bear no fault! If there's anyone to blame, why, it's the Emperor, who is too dead and distant to answer any criticism and is very easy to blame! 

 

Only in 'current 40K' could we have a conversation about 'gods are bad' on an Imperial ship and nobody pulls the EJECT ALL HERETICS INTO THE VOID lever (the lever is connected to a bunch of chains pulled by slaves to open the door into space, which is filled with ELECTICITY and LASERS (these are also operated by slaves walking on like treadmills)). The loss of themes like the class struggle really get the ol' noggin' joggin'. 

 

E: I think that's one of the reasons I like the Tau so much. They were 40K's take on the 80's/90's globalism, black helicopters and slimy politicians with a healthy dose of 'we don't need to torture you to agree with us, we just erase your culture and replace it with one that will roll out good little soldiers for the empire and you'll thank us for it'. The Tau are mega sinister because they don't use whips and chains, they use markets and media. 

Edited September 19 by wecanhaveallthree
WORDS WORDS WORDS

[Nagashsnee]

 

Having ...

 

I had half typed out a really long reply, but i honestly find this a fun and interesting topic and rather then derail this thread maybe we should open a thread on BL and their representation of the High Lords? If no one else does i will latter in the day when i can sit out and type out the subject properly. 

Edited September 19 by Nagashsnee

[Ayatollah_of_Rock_n_Rolla]

 

>Hardback looks a bit too much like another AoS novel... 

 

AoS? Old mate Leontus looks like he's about to saddle up Deathclaw and summon the Elector Counts.

 

>Gone are the ancient, grotesque, incompetent-in-all-fields-but-maintaining-their-own-position aristocratic monsters they once were. 

 

Because the Imperium is no longer 'feudal lords IN SPACE'. Oh, sure, there are feudal lords out there, but by some incredible sleight of hand, the High Lords have gone from being High Lords to being effectively the Council of Terra come again. It's no longer titanic fiefdoms and their murder-crowned rulers stabbing each other in the back and squabbling over completely pointless bull:cuss: while the Imperium dies - it's a bunch of questionably 'good' people who are trying their best but simply can't run the sprawling mess that is the Imperium and are, gosh, just trying their best, you know? 

 

One of my pet frustrations is talking to people over on 40klore about Badab, especially those new-come to the hobby. Badab is a huge victim of this. Huron had the absolute best of intentions: he tries and tries and tries to do his job in the Maelstrom Zone while Terra constantly pulls away his support, even right on the cusp of victory, while refusing to actually give him anything he asks for. Huron sends like fourteen pleas to Terra which are all ignored or rejected. It's during that time that he starts, slowly, to start just doing it himself. Withholding portions of his gene-seed tithe. Drawing resources directly from the Maelstrom worlds, fortifying them, organising the local Guard, and so on. He's operating without support and - more crucially - within his legal right as Adeptus Astartes in command of a warzone, where he's supposed to have essentially limitless power to prosecute his mission.

 

What sets it all off, though, is Huron interfering with the merchants of the Maelstrom Zone, who - of course - complain to Terra about it. And immediately get a punitive expedition as a response. 

 

The Badab War is the prime example of Imperial corruption at the top. It's not insanity like the Reign of Blood or a cold coup like the Beheading, or some wacky religious schism like Nova Terra. It's a loyal Space Marine trying to do the impossible task he's been set being constantly undermined by the uncaring powers that be, trying to do everything according to the mess of Imperial law, begging and begging for help - and then being immediately punished because some High Lord lost a few thrones from a fat merchant buddy.

 

With the characterisation of the High Lords, Badab loses a ton of its punch because it becomes 'dude we were like so busy with all this other important stuff and just couldn't help but we really wanted to but now you've gone too far and we have no choice boo hoo so sad this is like a structural failing of the imperium not us, specifically, its leaders'. Huron looks petulant and hasty rather than someone pushed to the absolute brink, then right over it, by the explicit corruption of the High Lords, or worse, it can be boiled down to 'oh no the astral claws were like totally corrupted by chaos'. While Badab certainly has hints of Chaos and the Tiger Claws being wrong, somehow, that's flavour and tension to the central theme. 

 

IT PISSES ME OFF.

 

>40k is at its best when it creates more mysteries than it answers.

 

This is why Fehervari's books are so good, IMO. He gets it. The reader is rewarded for engaging with the text.

 

There's that ol' chestnut: 'the price of getting what you want is having what once you wanted.' Or, perhaps more modern: 'you think you do, but you don't'.

 

 

 

Excuse  me, but this reads as  a very distorted represantation of what happened at Badab.

 

"Huron sends like fourteen pleas to Terra which are all ignored or rejected. It's during that time that he starts, slowly, to start just doing it himself. Withholding portions of his gene-seed tithe. Drawing resources directly from the Maelstrom worlds, fortifying them, organising the local Guard, and so on. He's operating without support and - more crucially - within his legal right as Adeptus Astartes in command of a warzone, where he's supposed to have essentially limitless power to prosecute his mission."

 

Huron withheld gene tithe, turned local PDF and Guard forces into his personal army and murdered swathes of local elites BEFORE ever contacting Terra (and let's not forget breaching the Chapter strenght limits - by three times!). None of these was within his rights to organize defences. He did indeed had the right to divert economical resources, but even this right did not supersede Admninistrantum rights but coexisted with them as two equals crearting a legal paradox. And we are told explicitely that Huron's reason for stopping resources from leaving the Maelstorm was not necessity but hiw desire to spite the Khartan Lords and Segmentum administration, with whom Astral Claws were conflicted over rights disputes.

 

Huron didn't send any desperate pleas for help to Terra. After reorganizing the Maelstorm defences he felt strong enough to imagine, that the Maelstorm can be conquered. He proposed at Terra a plan for such conquest envisiging redeployment of multiple chapters or alternatively a whole new founding and was simply told that Imperium can't send such resources to Maelstorm.

 

"while Terra constantly pulls away his support, even right on the cusp of victory" Terra was not randomly pulling ou forces from the Maelstorm, but because the conquest of the Maelstorm was considered less important than other issues. When it comes to the "cusp of victory", i.e. a whole Marine Crusade into which Black Templars had been talked into by Huron, the redeployment was forced by a trivial issue in the form of Hive Fleet Behemoth (I know, those pesky High Lords and their excuses; what's next, a Black Crusade?).

 

"What sets it all off, though, is Huron interfering with the merchants of the Maelstrom Zone, who - of course - complain to Terra about it. And immediately get a punitive expedition as a response. "

 

"Interfiring with the merchants" is a hilarius understatement considering that he was destroying whole imperial merchant fleets going through the Maelstorm. And yes, the Khartan Lords complained about it at Terra at got NO RESPONSE, because Adeptus Terra considered it a normal feudal squabble, which was allowed to go on for 100 years. It was only after Huron started invading Khartan and Administrantum worlds and destroyed the tithe fleet forcing the Khartan Lords to ask Fire Hawks and Marines Errant for armed intevention that the High Lords reacted.... by sending 3 legates to investigate and adjudicate the issues at hand. And all those 3 legates did after arriving was to impose an immediate ceasefire rejected by Huron, because it was too much for his ego. So no, Huron was not a victim of the High Lords. He dug his own grave with his refusal to stand down and wasted the only opportunity for deescalation. On the contrary, the High Lords were the only ones  trying to think straight in the internal dispute spiralling out of control and even after the War they did not blindly exterminate the secessionists, because they knew better than throwing away priceless assets in form of Astartes chapters.

Edited September 19 by Ayatollah_of_Rock_n_Rolla

[wecanhaveallthree]

Excellent, well-researched reply but I'm gonna hit ya with the RESPECTFULLY DISAGREE and do a lesser-than symbol reducing your argument to 'high lord apologia'.

 

I would, however, be happy to reframe Badab as a struggle between the limits of Space Marine autonomy (which is supposed to be limitless in areas they control) and the paranoia and vested interests of the Adeptus Terra. It's the ol' 'how much power does an Inquisitor have' question, the answer being, as much as they can get away with until someone decides to shank them. Huron had the right of law on his side until he started messing with the money. Then the knives came out real fast.

 

 

[darkhorse0607]

So Baneblade was supposed to go for pre-order today. But it's not on warhammer.com under pre-orders, and at least for me when you click on it on black library's website (just wanted to see who the narrator is), its a broken link and just reloads the webpage.

 

Stellar

[Ubiquitous1984]

 

So Baneblade was supposed to go for pre-order today. But it's not on warhammer.com under pre-orders, and at least for me when you click on it on black library's website (just wanted to see who the narrator is), its a broken link and just reloads the webpage.

 

Stellar

There appears to be a German version available now - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Baneblade-Warhammer-40-000/dp/B09HM537SC/ref=sr_1_3?crid=67PQXL9JFCYN&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.KElMQ2rl0VbNZ16yFZOulDJMW9Xp5Dpjcj23jP0uxwRDac8Qdo_8mtg-swjbDIMXhwCp-6Ezi_9GUxfICQqip5Oen2uDs15kh7YgO-YLPPSCxnux0fFEa4mAcHXCoWozPTJ4CfDNSWW8Wz1x0KB6ZESSEDH1uPsQ6F6JgcBfQcuGTi7bsBMwQrDRVAiYvZuo1d_2yefg4XIxOraLZgr2ksynhf5_gkqfHcMm1lh_RbDU9PEZrdQiezctXjysAN3dRPjnO-WPZ1Z8pE_SNtjTgAkMimtz1RKcPrKi_aEqkKg.pqwOBpWiEd25BY6A9xAMu0t9hXj8Wz4bw2JZb7ybd_w&dib_tag=se&keywords=baneblade&qid=1726990684&sprefix=Baneblade%2Caps%2C107&sr=8-3

 

I had no idea they produced non-English audiobooks.  

[DarkChaplain]

There's actually a ton of German audiobooks. They licensed them out to another publisher. There used to be ones that BL itself hadn't even recorded yet, like the Chris Wraight Space Wolves books.