Upcoming BL Stuff 2026

[hd3]

10 hours ago, darkhorse0607 said:

 

Again want to state my like for the cover. The first three weren't my thing, but this Id rate higher than the original 

 

 

Yeah I definitely prefer the new ones if only because they all bring greater specificity. The original covers from Horus to Eisenstein were all just generic space marines without even the correct colours in most. Though I'm trying to remember WHEN did garro leave exactly? Was it before the bombardment? During the battle? Its been so long since I read it I need to check. 

[Nagashsnee]

3 hours ago, wecanhaveallthree said:

 

Nagashnee, I understand that emotions run high, but you have just been explicitly warned about exactly this. Please edit your post to remove this sociopolitical commentary and other rule-breaking behaviour. Otherwise, I will have no recourse but to report you to the relevant authorities (and Roomsky).

If we cant talk about and explore the cover of the novel, there is little point in posting the cover of the novel. If we cant talk about feudal customs, there is  little point in taking about a book taking place around customs on a knight world. Especially as hd3 pointed out the cover and the story description is LITERALLY about someone claiming their dynastic birthright and based on the cover i assume being crowned something or the other in the end. 

 

See the core issue and one that i truly find fascinating is that the imperium IS STILL making knights. So throne mechanicums with no prior experience or spirits are coming off the factory line.  The imperium and the mechanicum is also still settling worlds, and some of those are chosen to be forge worlds, agri worlds, factory worlds and some KNIGHT worlds. Then of course you have mechanicum knight houses and bases and maybe even worlds.  Heck there is a knight house on the howling griffons astartes home world.  A world the marines keep in a state of constant warfare on purpose to farm recruits from.  How would a feudal aristocracy react to a constant outside force starting conflicts with the sole purpose of having the population kill each other? Can you even have a feudal system in such conditions?  What would the political structure....oh wait no no topics. 

 

So there is nothing stopping a new knight house being democratic (democracy does exist in 40k), or non feudal parliamentary monarchy, or ANY other type of goverment. It also means that the well knightly culture of a knight house is not nature (as we know not all houses have it) but nurture.  Sure the thrones push certain character traits....unless they dont like in house tarranis, which also gets new knights, so Mars at least can make knights WITHOUT any character changing side effects (which depending on source is either no one get this tech, or else its just super duper rare).  Also the throne takes between decades and centuries (again source depending) to start making enough of a dent for cultural changes. And of course the mechanicum houses exist which are just a WHOLE different set of worms. 

 

The warhammer CENTRIC point, is that there is no lore reason a knight household has to have 1)feudal nature, 2) much in the way of medieval feudal character 3) dynastic politics. Like space marines and ultramarines or imperial guard and cadians MOST will be like that (tho just how many mech houses exist in the lore vs what they push mini wise is a question). But between the codex standard making of a marine  and throwing kids in blood filled coffins to make angels, oceans lie.  If however we talk about the classic feudal world knights, then we will talk about feudalism, serfdom, class systems and knightly traditions.  Or we might as well not talk about it. 

 

Which is where it gets complicated, cause things like feudalism and knighthood ARE complicated, they are also very different dependent on place and time period one is refrencing while talking about them. And as BL engages more non British/ do actual research/ want to explore themes not just pew pew  authors we will get different perspectives on these which are and this is the key part EQUALLY valid.  And a huge part of the fan of warhammer for me is exploring these things.  Plus classism, monarchies, the role of the rich and in built aristocracy are all very very much still active modern day topics. If anyone should know this its the British. 

 

So how do we talk about a book on a faction where the chair you sit on CHANGES your identity without discusing identity? On feudal/knight rituals without refering to well....feudal/knight rituals? On a persons view of themselves and how they want to be refered to when their life resolves around straping into a chair that changes your sence of self?...sometimes...depending on the house....on the culture...and how old you suit/house/planet is.....

 

So report away is what i am saying. I want to talk about Imperial Knights. 

 

 

 

 

 

[Krelious]

17 hours ago, grailkeeper said:

Leaving aside the issues Brother Tyler has ruled on, and which I won't revisit. The main character of the new knight novel look like they took a fair bit of inspiration from the Joker. Pale skin, black eye make up, chelsea smile facial scars.

 

It's a bit of a  "We live in a society" coded look.

 

Do you see it too?

 

Its like I never expected the attack helicopter meme to become a reality in warhammer 40k but i can guess thats going to be part of the book. 

"On all levels except physical, I am a 40 ft tall knight robot, mom!" "As long as you purge the heretics I don't care what you call yourself."

[Scribe]

4 hours ago, Nagashsnee said:

If we cant talk about and explore the cover of the novel, there is little point in posting the cover of the novel. If we cant talk about feudal customs, there is  little point in taking about a book taking place around customs on a knight world. Especially as hd3 pointed out the cover and the story description is LITERALLY about someone claiming their dynastic birthright and based on the cover i assume being crowned something or the other in the end. 

 

See the core issue and one that i truly find fascinating is that the imperium IS STILL making knights. So throne mechanicums with no prior experience or spirits are coming off the factory line.  The imperium and the mechanicum is also still settling worlds, and some of those are chosen to be forge worlds, agri worlds, factory worlds and some KNIGHT worlds. Then of course you have mechanicum knight houses and bases and maybe even worlds.  Heck there is a knight house on the howling griffons astartes home world.  A world the marines keep in a state of constant warfare on purpose to farm recruits from.  How would a feudal aristocracy react to a constant outside force starting conflicts with the sole purpose of having the population kill each other? Can you even have a feudal system in such conditions?  What would the political structure....oh wait no no topics. 

 

So there is nothing stopping a new knight house being democratic (democracy does exist in 40k), or non feudal parliamentary monarchy, or ANY other type of goverment. It also means that the well knightly culture of a knight house is not nature (as we know not all houses have it) but nurture.  Sure the thrones push certain character traits....unless they dont like in house tarranis, which also gets new knights, so Mars at least can make knights WITHOUT any character changing side effects (which depending on source is either no one get this tech, or else its just super duper rare).  Also the throne takes between decades and centuries (again source depending) to start making enough of a dent for cultural changes. And of course the mechanicum houses exist which are just a WHOLE different set of worms. 

 

The warhammer CENTRIC point, is that there is no lore reason a knight household has to have 1)feudal nature, 2) much in the way of medieval feudal character 3) dynastic politics. Like space marines and ultramarines or imperial guard and cadians MOST will be like that (tho just how many mech houses exist in the lore vs what they push mini wise is a question). But between the codex standard making of a marine  and throwing kids in blood filled coffins to make angels, oceans lie.  If however we talk about the classic feudal world knights, then we will talk about feudalism, serfdom, class systems and knightly traditions.  Or we might as well not talk about it. 

 

Which is where it gets complicated, cause things like feudalism and knighthood ARE complicated, they are also very different dependent on place and time period one is refrencing while talking about them. And as BL engages more non British/ do actual research/ want to explore themes not just pew pew  authors we will get different perspectives on these which are and this is the key part EQUALLY valid.  And a huge part of the fan of warhammer for me is exploring these things.  Plus classism, monarchies, the role of the rich and in built aristocracy are all very very much still active modern day topics. If anyone should know this its the British. 

 

So how do we talk about a book on a faction where the chair you sit on CHANGES your identity without discusing identity? On feudal/knight rituals without refering to well....feudal/knight rituals? On a persons view of themselves and how they want to be refered to when their life resolves around straping into a chair that changes your sence of self?...sometimes...depending on the house....on the culture...and how old you suit/house/planet is.....

 

So report away is what i am saying. I want to talk about Imperial Knights. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Great post, touching on concepts I love that are central to 40K and have always been.

 

What is it to be a man in such a world universe? What is it to be a young man coming of age? What is it like to accept the burden of duty? Of your role as a man in such a setting? The Knightly (and yes very British, its coded into the DNA of the whole thing!) and Class systems. Yes, all of these things are 100% on point.

 

So yeah, all of that should be the focus of a story of a young man, about to, expected to, having a duty to, accept the mantle of his station, and easily could have been.

[Griefbringer]

Speaking of social structures, one recurring trope in WH40K fiction seems to involve "incompetent upper class fop in charge messing things up". Seems to occur especially when the story involves some poor Imperial guardsmen who find themselves in trouble due to the failings of those above them. One classic example is Herman von Strab, the incompetent overlord of Armageddon during the Second Armageddon War, introduced as part of the background for The Battle for Armageddon board game (1992). Of his incompetence during that war, and his treasonous behaviour during the Third Armageddon War, plenty has been written elsewhere.

 

That said, sometimes the trope is inverted, and those "upper class fops in charge" are actually described as both competent and caring of those serving beneath them (sometimes this actually takes me by surprise). I would presume that in a knight novel main protagonist is not likely to be presented merely as an "incompetent fool" - or at least there is room for personal development once a protagonist realises personal shortcomings in need of addressing.

 

Space marines tend to be less affected by the trope, since they are recruited young and tend to give up family ties, with promotion based on actual service merit.

[Lathe Biosas]

1 hour ago, Griefbringer said:

Speaking of social structures, one recurring trope in WH40K fiction seems to involve "incompetent upper class fop in charge messing things up".

 

That's not just in 40k fiction.

 

The same trope is played out every time a new edition of 40k is announced. 

[Nagashsnee]

10 hours ago, Griefbringer said:

Speaking of social structures, one recurring trope in WH40K fiction seems to involve "incompetent upper class fop in charge messing things up". Seems to occur especially when the story involves some poor Imperial guardsmen who find themselves in trouble due to the failings of those above them. One classic example is Herman von Strab, the incompetent overlord of Armageddon during the Second Armageddon War, introduced as part of the background for The Battle for Armageddon board game (1992). Of his incompetence during that war, and his treasonous behaviour during the Third Armageddon War, plenty has been written elsewhere.

 

That said, sometimes the trope is inverted, and those "upper class fops in charge" are actually described as both competent and caring of those serving beneath them (sometimes this actually takes me by surprise). I would presume that in a knight novel main protagonist is not likely to be presented merely as an "incompetent fool" - or at least there is room for personal development once a protagonist realises personal shortcomings in need of addressing.

 

 

 

The most unexpective negative example i have seen in 40k Warlord Fury of the God Machine, where a adeptus titanicus princepts and really his entire legions culture seems to upper class hunting fop. And i kept expecting him to be humbled and learn at some point and iirc (it beens years) he never really does.  But then you have whole regiments like the royal volpone of compotent incompetent upper class flops, so 40k really plays with this trope.  Where they are a good regiment....when their clasism, elitism and general snobbery doesnt make them try to derail entire battles.

 

The other side of the coin is seen a couple of times in the Ciaphas Cain books, with Cain always expecting the imperial leadership on planets to be "incompetent upper class fop in charge messing things up", but get pleasantly suprised a couple of times.

 

Its generally a weird case cause we only really explore 40k thru the lens of war, and war time, but for 99.9% of the time the people in charge priorities will be squeezing out the tithe and maintaining order. This over time leads to structures and skill sets that when suddenly the tithe doesnt matter and order gets tossed out the window that cannot adapt and have little use.  Its why wartime leaders often make terrible peace time leader and the oposite. 

 

Take Van Strab for instance, form a Imperial pov if the orks had never come, and he delivered the tithe on time every time (as he had been doing) he would have gone down as a examplary governer.  He succefully plotted his way to the top over 3 older brothers in a culture where doing so was expected and the norm, and achieved his goal of becoming planetary governor. A position he then mantained untill the invasion.  It just that a lifetime of using fear to keep workers in line and aristo politics do NOT prepare one for leadership or military planning during a xenos invasion. And even then its noted he generally just followed the instructions for such cases from the codex iirc(no not astartes lol).  A lifetime of plotting, paranoia and mistrust does not prepare one to suddenly step back and hand the levels of power to others. Neither does living in a enviroment where weakness is a sight for others to strike, one that makes one ready to admit they are not capable of handling the current situation.  If the virus bombs had launched and he had wiped out the orks, he would have likely been executed for failing to meet the tithe, rather then any military errors. 

 

 

Edited yesterday at 06:11 AM by Nagashsnee

[wecanhaveallthree]

1 hour ago, Nagashsnee said:

Where they are a good regiment....when their clasism, elitism and general snobbery doesnt make them try to derail entire battles.

 

Volpone Glory exploring this was absolutely incredible. The corrupted ideal of 'noblesse oblige', so perfectly 40K, was great. If you're not a noble, you are literally forbidden from touching a weapon, even in self-defence. Fighting (and, more importantly, dying) for the Emperor is a duty only those of noble blood may, and are expected to, perform. It's selfishly selfless. You go out and fight not because you're protecting the people or sparing them from the horrors of war, but because they'd profane it with their unworthy souls. Kyme's not bad when he's on a roll, eh?

 

It is also unapologetically the gayest book in canon, and all the better for it.

Edited yesterday at 07:17 AM by wecanhaveallthree

[Griefbringer]

Dan Abnett certainly likes to play with the "upper class fop" tropes in his books, especially the Gaunt's Ghosts series. But it can also be seen in his fantasy fiction. For example, in The Riders of the Dead (2003, one of the first BL hardcovers) one of the themes involves an arrogant young Empire nobleman slowly developing into a slightly less arrogant person. I think I have seen it also in one of the (non-GW) comic books that he wrote, but I have not read many of those.

 

As for Ciaphas Cain, I have not read much of those stories, but I would expect a certain number of tropes to be inverted in those works, considering that Ciaphas himself is something of an inversion of the heroic, self-sacrificing commissar. Though from what I have read, the series also develops its own tropes and repeats them shamelessly.

 

The most literal (ahem...) take on "class conflict" in the WH40K Imperium that I can think is the initiation rite of the young nobles in Necromunda. These upper class fops (who literally dwell in the uppermost parts of the hive) dress up in the fancy spyrer rigs and go hunting for the "under class" that dwells in the underhive (literally at the bottom of the physical hive and its social structure). Supposedly makes the young fops to show that they have the kind of character they will need later on to manage their houses in the internal struggles of the upper class.

 

That said, Imperium is structurally divided when it comes to hereditary issues. On one hand, you have organisations with strong hereditary structures: naval officer families, planetary aristocracies (which get mirrored to their PDF and Imperial Guard regiments), mercantile houses, navigator houses etc. And on the other hand, there are organisations that take children of youngsters away from their familiies (possibly never to see them again), and train them for service in essential meritocratic Imperial hierarchies. Examples include Schola Progenium (for orphans of Imperial officials), the black ships of inquisition (collecting young psykers), space marine chapters (mostly) and assassin temples.

[Griefbringer]

1 hour ago, wecanhaveallthree said:

Volpone Glory exploring this was absolutely incredible. The corrupted ideal of 'noblesse oblige', so perfectly 40K, was great. If you're not a noble, you are literally forbidden from touching a weapon, even in self-defence. Fighting (and, more importantly, dying) for the Emperor is a duty only those of noble blood may, and are expected to, perform. It's selfishly selfless. 

 

Thanks for the tip, I will need to keep this book in mind. Sounds like they are a culture where "warfare as nobleman's task" is taken pretty seriously - and explains why they have trouble dealing with other, less noble regiments.

 

Space marines are not totally immune to the "arrogant upper class fop" syndrome. In the Great Crusade (30K-ish) era, the Emperor's Children was originally recruited from families of Terran nobility. The philosophy of the EC was based on striving for perfection, but this somehow led to many of them becoming arrogant and snobbish, even over the other "less perfect" marine legions. And this was before they got corrupted by chaos. This is explored at least in Horus Rising (the first book in the Horus Heresy series), written by Dan Abnett.

 

Getting back to Abnett's Gaunts Ghosts book, one notable but little explored feature of the early books is the failure of the whole officer corps to evacuate Tanith - somehow several thousand men end up being transported off the planet, without a single platoon or company leader accompanying their unit. This leads to a peculiar structure, where the Ghosts have no command structure above platoon level, and even Colonel Corbec doubles up as a platoon leader.

 

And once more back to the treasonous Herman von Strab, who in the Third Armageddon War helped the orks take over Acheron in exchange for being given the rule over it. He was not alone in this treason, for many of the old noble houses of the Acheron hive welcomed him back and acknowledged him as their overlord - despite his association with the orks!

[Nagashsnee]

1 hour ago, Griefbringer said:

That said, Imperium is structurally divided when it comes to hereditary issues. On one hand, you have organisations with strong hereditary structures: naval officer families, planetary aristocracies (which get mirrored to their PDF and Imperial Guard regiments), mercantile houses, navigator houses etc. And on the other hand, there are organisations that take children of youngsters away from their familiies (possibly never to see them again), and train them for service in essential meritocratic Imperial hierarchies. Examples include Schola Progenium (for orphans of Imperial officials), the black ships of inquisition (collecting young psykers), space marine chapters (mostly) and assassin temples.

The imperium largely only cares about results. If your family can train good naval officers thats fine, if on the other hand you want a officer training school thats fine too.  

 

The Imperium hereditary system is often weirdly merit based, in that if you are NOT a good naval officer your own family will likely deal with you before you ever become the navies problem.  Because its expects results, and expects them fast, it just doesnt care how these come about.  The Imperial is wonderfully agnostic to most things people irl get crazy over, even on religion it is suprisingly flexible on the articles of faith as long as the final result   is what it wants (the Emperor is god, pay your taxes).  And because its the Imperium you will be sent to/have to deal with forces that your family cannot affect, so you have to have to have to produce results. 

 

 

 

 

 

[Griefbringer]

Good point Nagashnee, Imperium is not really into micro-managing planets - it is pretty much left to the individual worlds (and their governors) to organise themselves, as long as they can produce results and keep things in order. On the other hand, if things get out of hand then the planetary governor will not be long in the office - and there is usually no golden handshake with Imperial retirement plan available for failed governors. And the people who have been sent to fix the mess will not be interested in listening to excuses.

 

Imperial cult is notoriously lenient in the variety of forms of Emperor worship it allows. Adeptus Mechanicus conveniently associate Emperor with Omnissiah. Preachers entering human worlds newly integrated to the Imperium have the freedom to integrate local religious traditions to the worship of the Emperor - or possibly vice versa, convincing the locals that they have actually been worshipping Emperor all along, just with a different name (and some other details). Sometimes this flexibility gets subverted by various elements, such as genestealer cults promoting worship of the Four-armed Emperor, or cunning chaos worshippers trying to introduce questionable new practices to remote communities.

 

As far as Imperial navy is concerned, they have cadet schools for training officers, and I would expect that the offspring of even the most established naval officer families are expected to attend one of those before getting commissioned. But if you are coming from one of those families, you are also very likely to get in to the cadet school - either because of connections, or because your family preps you really well. Or both. On the other hand, that family may not be very supportive should you wish to pursue an alternative career. (Some of the old Battlefleet Gothic articles in White Dwarf featured lectures in naval cadet schools.)

 

This reminds me of admiral Parol, a very capable naval officer in command on the Imperial navy in the Third Armageddon War. A bried snippet of his background:

 

"Parol was the second son of the Imperial Commander of Lostan, and as a result, his career in the Imperial Navy was virtually guaranteed. Because he was raised to command from an early age, he was a natural authority which few dare to challenge."

 

Parol has self-confidence and an air of authority, but he also luckily has the competence to go with them. Meanwhile, the stereotypical "incompetent upper class fop" may also have self-competence and an apparent air of authority - though the later may start to suffer once his actual incompetence starts to become apparent.

[DarkChaplain]

Loving this level of discussion. It scratches on a lot of things I love about 40k, while also pulling on plenty of works at once. It's some prime Black Library necromancy, wish I could read more discussion of this type on here somewhere. These deep dives beyond the shooty shooty pew pew are why I still come here.... well, aside from shilling for Peter Fehervari.

 

On that note, did you know that we'll be able to read Cold Covenant shortly? I'm giddy already. 

[Griefbringer]

DarkChaplain: I think the better sort of BL books manage to combine that "shooty shooty pew pew" action with other kinds of non-combat content into an enjoyable whole where the different kinds of content support each other. Sometimes, that fighty content is at its best when used sparingly and to highly dramatic effect.

 

"Space-fantasy" genre has a bunch of tropes, but again the better sort of BL books do not always play all of these straight. This can provide surprising twists to the reader, when things do not play out like one would expect them to play out in a typical codex background blurb. Also, some tropes do not work that great in actual novel format, where you try to describe things in any detail: six hour duel between two mighty champions (*) might sound like an epic concept when briefly mentioned, but if you actually tried to write it out in any detail a reader would probably fall asleep half way through. So a smart writer might opt not to include such an event in the novel, or might have it just mentioned as a brief note by an old hoary veteran telling stories of the epic battles he witnessed in yonder youth.

 

(*) I am here referring to the kind of  six hour trope duel blurb that reads something like following (this is not a quotation an actual GW publication):

 

"And then in the middle of the battlefield Wargon, the mightiest champion of the World Eaters, met with Urlis, the champion of the 2nd company of Ultramarines chapter. Wargon swung wildly with his massive chainaxe, yet Urlis managed to parry every blow with his gleaming power sword. Like two mighty gods of war they danced on the battlefield, trading blows at each other - no man or daemon dared to get anywhere close to that whirlwind of blades. Neither the brutal berserker nor the valiant champion of Ultramar was able to land more than a glancing blow at the other, so evenly matched were they in skill and strength. For six long and tiring hours they fought, with neither able to gain advantage over the other. At last, Urlis slipped on a pool of blood and lost his footing, the ancient sword slipping from his grip. Roaring savagely, Wargon lifted his chainaxe to land a fatal blow at the seemingly helpless Ultramarine..."

[Nagashsnee]

6 hours ago, wecanhaveallthree said:

Kyme's not bad when he's on a roll, eh?

 

 

As long as he is rolling away from the parts of warhammer i want to read about, yeah sure. Roll him towards some scouring salamanders they do say that 7-8th time is the charm (tho surely they deserve one time period with a single, just a single good book?). 

1 hour ago, DarkChaplain said:

On that note, did you know that we'll be able to read Cold Covenant shortly? I'm giddy already. 

Why do you think we are passing the time on here for? If it comes out tonight might just read it in one sitting. 

[hd3]

1 hour ago, Nagashsnee said:

As long as he is rolling away from the parts of warhammer i want to read about, yeah sure. Roll him towards some scouring salamanders they do say that 7-8th time is the charm (tho surely they deserve one time period with a single, just a single good book?). 

Why do you think we are passing the time on here for? If it comes out tonight might just read it in one sitting. 

 

Nick Kyme's short story 'Dreams of Unity' was really good. And several of the good authors have said he's good as an editor. That is all I have to say that I think will pass moderation.

[Fedor]

11 hours ago, Griefbringer said:

 

Thanks for the tip, I will need to keep this book in mind. Sounds like they are a culture where "warfare as nobleman's task" is taken pretty seriously - and explains why they have trouble dealing with other, less noble regiments.

 

Space marines are not totally immune to the "arrogant upper class fop" syndrome. In the Great Crusade (30K-ish) era, the Emperor's Children was originally recruited from families of Terran nobility. The philosophy of the EC was based on striving for perfection, but this somehow led to many of them becoming arrogant and snobbish, even over the other "less perfect" marine legions. And this was before they got corrupted by chaos. This is explored at least in Horus Rising (the first book in the Horus Heresy series), written by Dan Abnett.

 

Getting back to Abnett's Gaunts Ghosts book, one notable but little explored feature of the early books is the failure of the whole officer corps to evacuate Tanith - somehow several thousand men end up being transported off the planet, without a single platoon or company leader accompanying their unit. This leads to a peculiar structure, where the Ghosts have no command structure above platoon level, and even Colonel Corbec doubles up as a platoon leader.

 

And once more back to the treasonous Herman von Strab, who in the Third Armageddon War helped the orks take over Acheron in exchange for being given the rule over it. He was not alone in this treason, for many of the old noble houses of the Acheron hive welcomed him back and acknowledged him as their overlord - despite his association with the orks!

 

If you read the Emperor's Children's Index Astartes entry which provided their main background expansion prior to the HH series, it's actually quite heavily "working class utopia and idealistic egalitarian cult of personality icon gone wrong and descending into hedonistic corruption" in its vibe.

 

Fulgrim is basically a legend of the factory workers who rises up from the factory floor to provide a more egalitarian society and solves the planet's dying industry issues through masterful central planning (and not warfare). He's still toiling away in his "spartan quarters" when the Emperor arrives. Then, later on, the rigid top-down cult of personality structure of the legion allows the Slaaneshi corruption to spread rapidly once the comes into play, which to me seemed a nod tp the 20th century communist regime leaders/heroes failures once in power. That might sound a stretch, but it's more obvious from the whole vibe of the article itself.

 

It was an interesting contrast from the later black book background about the terran EC's being often from noble stock, which in theory seemed to set up giving the EC some additional conflict and thematic material to play with....the socialistic Chemosians and the aristocratic terrans, but the series didn't really engage with it beyond some of Fulgrim's internal conflict.

 

[Griefbringer]

Good reminder about the Index Astartes series, I do have the relevant WD issues in store (though not the compilations where they got reprinted). Need to give that Emperor's Children article a proper re-read this weekend.

 

Regarding the 20th century examples and old WD issues, there was an article by Jervis Johnson about The Battle for Armageddon back when it was published (1992), mentioning that the game was somewhat inspired by three World War II campaigns. While those specific campaigns were not named (giving the reader something to ponder), they are not particularly difficult to figure out if you are familiar with real world history and take a look at the game map. Herman von Strab's surprise as the ork hordes managing to pass through the jungles and launch a new surprise attack seems to have been inspired by some real world examples.