Category Archives: Reviews

Black Library, Book Reviews, Declan Waters, Games Workshop

Book Review – The First Wall

March 25, 2022 Declan and Eeyore 1 Comment

Book 3 The Siege of Terra by Gav Thorpe

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It’s Book 3 and of course the reigns had to be passed to Gav Thorpe at some point. A safe, dependably write who seems to really care for the Warhammer 30k story line… and produces cracking books as well.

Black Library – Always Excellant Cover Art

From the book:

The war for the fate of mankind blazes on. Though the outer defences have fallen, the walls of the Palace itself remain inviolate as Rogal Dorn, the Praetorian of Terra himself, uses every known stratagem and ploy to keep Horus’s vast armies at bay. In Perturabo, the Traitor siegebreaker, Dorn faces an adversary worthy of his skill. A terrible, grinding attrition ensues. The crucial battle for the Lion’s Gate space port is at the heart of this conflict. With it in their possession, the Traitors can land their most devastating weapons on Terran soil. Dorn knows it must not fall. But with enemies attacking from all sides, and the stirrings of the Neverborn drawn to the slaughter, can the Imperial defenders possibly prevail?

Gav Thorpe brings characters from Terra and Terra orbit together from Imperial Guardsmen, Rememberancers, Traitors and Primarchs… and knits it all together in a satisfying progression of the story… as the Space Port comes under attack from Perturabo.

Not every novel can include Sanguinius and his Blood Angels, and so this one brings in the battle of the greatest strategists within the Primarchs together in the first for the Lion’s Gate space port. As with other books in the series, Gav Thorpe ensures that he includes ‘normal’ citizen in the form of Imperial Guardsmen and Rememberancers to give us – the simple reader – a change of understanding the super-human conflict which is raging on Terra. And he does a good job of it too.

There are times when the battles stall a little, but it is barely noticable as you quickly dive into another ‘set-piece’ battle as part of the conflict. It’s another great addition to the end of the story!

We always encourage people to shop at local bricks and mortar stores, but if your friendly local book store doesn’t have this available, we have a UK Amazon affiliate link & a USA Amazon affiliate link for which Woehammer receives a small commission.

— Declan & Eeyore

Check out the full list of Book Reviews we’ve done on Woehammer here

Black Library, Book Reviews, Declan Waters, Games Workshop

Book Review – Honour Guard

March 18, 2022 Declan and Eeyore 1 Comment

Gaunt’s Ghosts – 4 – By Dan Abnett

Welcome to Woehammer – have you noticed the lovely feeling of no adverts (ads), no pop-ups and no auto-playing videos? Well, that’s the norm here at Woehammer.

Continuing my re-reading of the Dan Abnett series – Gaunts Ghosts – next up is book 4, Honour Guard.

Gaunts Ghosts – Honour Guard – Black Library

‘Commissar Gaunt and his Ghosts are back in the thick of the action in a battle to defend a vital shrine-world. But the vile forces of Chaos will never allow them to hold their prize for long and as the counter-attack rages, Gaunt is sent after the most priceless relic of all: the remains of the ancient saint who first led humanity to these stars.‘

In Honour Guard, Gaunt and his Ghosts are tasked with taking a Holy Sabat city, but given impossible deadlines by the General in charge, they have to capture the city quickly… allowing chaos to blow up the city.

Gaunt is blamed for the failure and given the opportunity for one last mission before command of the Tanith First and Only is taken from him – he must recover the bones of the Saint and evacuate them from the planet before it is left to Chaos.

The Ghosts fight through an enemy who shouldn’t be there, in numbers unexpected whilst trying to reach their goal. Meanwhile some injured Ghosts try to join up with the rest of the Tanith to be with Gaunt for his last mission.

More lasguns, big guns, tanks, transports, and fighting! All with Abnett’s characteristic page turning style. This book is a great addition to the books of the Imperial Guard / Astra Militarum and shows how humans can overcome the seemingly impossible in a far future where there is only war.

Another great novel and a good read.

— Declan & Eeyore

Previous Gaunt’s Ghosts Book Reviews on Woehammer:

First & Only
Ghostmaker
Necropolis

Check out the Woehammer Book Review Archive for more reviews!

Black Library, Book Reviews, Declan Waters, Games Workshop

Book Review – Bossgrot & Fangs of the Rustwood

March 11, 2022 Declan and Eeyore Leave a comment

Short Fiction from Black Library by Eric Gregory & Evan Dicken

Welcome to Woehammer – have you noticed the lovely feeling of no adverts (ads), no pop-ups and no auto-playing videos? Well, that’s the norm here at Woehammer.

I like short fiction, so this week I thought I’d branch out a little and review two of Black Library’s short stories from their previous releases.

Regular readers of Woehammer will know that I love Goblins and Grots and will read almost anything that includes them… so both my short stories this week are about the diminutive little devils.

Bossgrot – by Eric Gregory

This book can be picked up on E-Book from Black Library.

Unfortunately the price point for these stories is high (£1.99) for a story that can be read in an hour… still it lasts slightly longer than a pint of beer!

Gribblak is having a rough time. A disastrous battle against a Khornate horde has robbed his skrap of its morale (not to mention two dozen Fanatics, two troggoths and a gargant called Hurg). Worst of all, when he fled from the blood-soaked ‘umie boss, Gribblak lost his dignity, his pride and the respect of his grots. He needs to get them back, and draw the attention of the Loonking if he is to achieve his goal of being the most powerful bossgrot ever. He needs to do something magnificent – so he leads his skrap against the most heavily defended enemy outpost in all the Loonking’s lands: the famed Glinty Crown. There’s no way his plan can fail…

This is a great first person view into the strange world of the Loonking’s Skrap, and one of his Loonbosses who has a little bad luck in his battles. Having been scared by a ‘umie Big Boss, and accidentally letting his followers know that he wasn’t a boss, Gribblak then pulls an ‘Emperor’s New Clothes’ storyline on us to hear what he Grots think of him.

Their diminished opinion brings him to promise to destroy the Glinty Crown… an enemy outpost which has been built in Grot territory.

This story is a great view of the world of the Grots and their fearless (or should that be hapless) leaders. A great introduction into Age of Sigmar Gloomspite Gitz.

Fangs of the Rustwood – by Evan Dicken

Also available from Black Library as an E-book

I picked this up because of the cover, and the Fangs… who doesn’t love a very large Spider.

Kantus Vallo, witch hunter of the Order of Azyr, escorts a caravan of prisoners back to civilisation for trial. Their path takes them through the Rustwood, a great untamed wilderness, menacing and foreboding. Each prisoner is a suspect in the murder of an influential governor – sorcerer, poisoner and guard captain, each has their means and motives. Vallo’s attempts to discover the truth are derailed when the inhabitants of the Rustwood attack. Enemies quickly become allies, but can Vallo truly trust three potential killers?

So there may not be as Gitz in this one, as it does take place with them threatening to kill Vallo, his soldiers and prisoners. As the Grots and their Spiders emerge from the woods and attack with poisoned arrows, spears and fangs (see AoS rules writers… poison! …) and start to kill the guards. Will Vallo be able to keep his prisoners safe and escape the Rustwood?

Whilst this has limited Gitz background it is good to have a view of the Gitz from the humans and to see what they can do from ambush. A fun read, but difficult to justify at the cost.

— Declan

If you’ve enjoyed these reviews you can see our back catalogue of them here!

Book Reviews, Declan Waters

Book Review – Project Hail Mary

March 4, 2022 Declan and Eeyore Leave a comment

By Andy Weir

Welcome to Woehammer – have you noticed the lovely feeling of no adverts (ads), no pop-ups and no auto-playing videos? Well, that’s the norm here at Woehammer.

In our occasional series of looking outside the Worlds of Warhammer, I recently finished Andy Weir’s book which follows on the success of The Martian.

From Goodreads:

Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission—and if he fails, humanity and the Earth itself will perish.

Except that right now, he doesn’t know that. He can’t even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it.

All he knows is that he’s been asleep for a very, very long time. And he’s just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company.

His crewmates dead, his memories fuzzily returning, he realizes that an impossible task now confronts him. Alone on this tiny ship that’s been cobbled together by every government and space agency on the planet and hurled into the depths of space, it’s up to him to conquer an extinction-level threat to our species.

And thanks to an unexpected ally, he just might have a chance.

Part scientific mystery, part dazzling interstellar journey, Project Hail Mary is a tale of discovery, speculation, and survival to rival The Martian–while taking us to places it never dreamed of going.

First up and to be honest — this is not a follow up to The Martian. It is a stand alone book. That said it includes all the styles and things that made the Martian so successful. Science… and lots of it – with some Engineering thrown in for good measure. There are also two story-lines here — one of Ryland Grace and his new companion trying to find the reason why the star they have visited is safe – and the second of the build up to the Earth mission.

This method is well executed by Weir and allows us to find out information at the same rate as the hero. It also allows for twists and turns in the story and some suprises and ‘ohhhhh’ moments which is great fun.

Meanwhile the main story is all about the difficulty of communication, new technologies, space, and science and Andy Weir does it superbly. It was a great read and definitely one worth considering if you’re looking for stories outside the Warhammer worlds.

— Declan & Eeyore

Peter Holland, Reviews

Neat and Handy Airbrush Review

March 3, 2022 Peter Holland Leave a comment

I’ve never actually owned an airbrush despite wanting one for many years. With the birth of my first child in 2019 I decided to postpone this purchase further as I was concerned that an airbrush would wake any children in the house when I used it (myself being a late night painter).

Recently however I had seen the YouTube advert for the neat and handy airbrush. The main draw was the fact that this was a cordless airbrush and no louder than an electric razor.

Delivery

I ordered the product on 21st February via their website, when ordering you’re given three locations for the airbrush to be despatched from. These are the UK, USA and Australia. I was given updates throughout the week on the progress of my order until it arrived on my doorstep on 23rd February. 3 working days! Impressive!

Note I purchased the pack with the additional battery.

The airbrush came very well wrapped inside a bubble wrap envelope, the airbrush itself sits in a foam tray as shown above, very little opportunity for this to be damaged on route.

Batteries

Being an eager beaver I charged up the batteries immediately with the USB connector supplied. There is no plug with this, so you will need to plug the USB either into a computer or a phone charger plug with a USB port. The batteries were charged within 40 minutes each and they both provide 30 minutes of non-stop use.

Note that you can also use this while connected to the power supply if you wish through a power inlet on the compressor shown below. So if you do run out of battery you can still continue using the airbrush.

Noise

So how was the noise? Was it really as quiet as an electric razor? Actually, it was quieter! I recorded this on my phone (phone is approx 15cm from the airbrush).

Airbrush Download

But the true test of this, was my infant son of 5 months was sleeping in his cot in the next room and he didn’t even stir! Exactly what I need so far!

First Use

Here I had a problem. I had connected the charged battery, screwed the cup in and filled the cup with a little diluted Abaddon Black. I went to use the airbrush and only air was ejected from the nozzle. After playing around for sometime and becoming increasingly frustrated I emailed neat and tidy using their contact us page.

Bear in mind that I emailed them at 23:30 GMT, with this in mind I had a response within half an hour from a nice chap called John. John asked me how I had used it so far and if I could provide a video for them to view. After saying that I had cleaned the brush and tried it with water alone I was provided with a link to a quick fix.

Yup, that did the job!

I used citadel paints on my first go and immediately found that these needed diluting for them to work, but once they had a little water added to them the airbrush worked a treat.

There is very little in the way of over spray from what I can tell and the airbrush is extremely easy to control.

Conclusion

It’s obviously not a high end airbrush but it’s a perfect tool for undercoating your miniatures indoors as well as giving you an easier way to paint OSL if you wish.

Plus with the support I received I can’t recommend this brush enough!

Black Library, Book Reviews, Declan Waters, Games Workshop

Book Review – Necropolis

February 25, 2022 Declan and Eeyore 3 Comments

Gaunt’s Ghosts – 3 – By Dan Abnett

Welcome to Woehammer – have you noticed the lovely feeling of no adverts (ads), no pop-ups and no auto-playing videos? Well, that’s the norm here at Woehammer.

I read Gaunts Ghost’s on their first release, but lost track of the books after a while. When Black Library offered the first trilogy on ebook at a discount I picked them up and have started to re-read them. You can read my review of the first book First and Only here; and the second Ghostmaker here.

The last book of the opening trilogy is Necropolis:

On the world of Verghast, a grinding war between two hive cities – one loyal to the Imperium, the other fallen to the worship of the Dark Gods – is bolstered by the forces of the Astra Militarum, spearheaded by the Colonel-Commissar Gaunt and the Tanith First and Only. But bitter rivalries and treachery threaten to derail the defence of Vervunhive, and it falls to Gaunt to take command of the Imperial forces and forge victory from an almost certain defeat.

Necropolis is the third book in the Gaunt’s Ghosts series and it is getting closer and closer to being Sharpe in Space…! Or at least Sharpe does Warhammer. Whilst the first two books were essentially collections of short-stories about the Ghosts this is the first story about one battlefield from beginning to end.

Vervunhive is under attack from a neighbouring hive and the Warmaster has sent a few Imperial Guard regiments to shore up the defenses – but Gaunt and his fellow commanders are about to find that there is something more troubling is behind the attack – and that the defenders are not all fully invested in ensuring Vervunhive stands.

Abnett keeps all the action clear despite dotting around about the various combat zones. He also brings short vignettes of soldiers and hivers fighting and dying for minimal gains – or none at all. The Gaunt’s Ghosts novels are beginning to show the randomness of combat in the 41st millenium and the cruelty of it, the Imperium and the luck (or lack of it) that dogs the Ghosts.

Another great novel and a good read.

— Declan & Eeyore

Check out the Woehammer Book Review Archive for more reviews!

Black Library, Book Reviews, Declan Waters, Games Workshop

Book Review – Ghostmaker

February 18, 2022 Declan and Eeyore 3 Comments

Gaunt’s Ghosts – 2 – By Dan Abnett

Welcome to Woehammer – have you noticed the lovely feeling of no adverts (ads), no pop-ups and no auto-playing videos? Well, that’s the norm here at Woehammer.

I read Gaunt’s Ghosts on their first release, but lost track of the books after a while. When Black Library offered the first trilogy on ebook at a discount I picked them up and have started to re-read them. You can read my review of the first book First and Only here!

Having finished the second book, let’s have a look at it:

On Monthax, Colonel-Commissar Ibram Gaunt and his Tanith First-and-Only await the order to advance into the sweltering jungle and drive the alien eldar from the world. As battle approaches, Gaunt walks the lines, raising his men’s spirits and remembering their most heroic deeds – and the tragedies that have dogged Gaunt’s Ghosts from the day of their founding on lost Tanith. The day that Gaunt became known as the Ghostmaker.

Dan Abnett’s classic series of Sharpe in the Warhammer 40k universe continues with Ibram Gaunt and the Tanith First and Only regiment.

Gaunt returns with the Tanith First and Only in their second book and this one – similar to the first – is essentially a series of short stories. Each story covers one of the main Tanith characters, their relationship with Gaunt and within the Tanith Ghosts and as a solider.

As this is my second time reading the series, it was great to read the background and history of the main characters who we grow to know so much about later and this is a fun way to introduce… but it is a collection of short stories, and if that isn’t your thing this will likely be a disappointing book, that you may want to skip and return to later when you have more emotional investment in the characters.

— Declan & Eeyore

Black Library, Book Reviews, Declan Waters, Games Workshop

Book Review – First and Only

February 11, 2022 Declan and Eeyore 12 Comments

Gaunt’s Ghosts – 1 – By Dan Abnett

Welcome to Woehammer – have you noticed the lovely feeling of no adverts (ads), no pop-ups and no auto-playing videos? Well, that’s the norm here at Woehammer.

I read Gaunts Ghost’s on their first release, but lost track of the books after a while. When Black Library offered the first trilogy on ebook at a discount I picked them up and have started to re-read them. Having finished the first book, let’s have a look at it:

In the Chaos-infested Sabbat system, Imperial Commissar Gaunt must lead his men through as much in-fighting amongst rival regiments as against the forces of Chaos.

For a thousand years, the Sabbat Worlds have been lost to the Imperium, claimed by the dread powers of Chaos. Now, a mighty crusade seeks to return the sector to Imperial rule. And at the forefront of that crusade are Colonel-Commissar Ibram Gaunt and the Tanith First and Only – better known as Gaunt’s Ghosts. Trapped in the grinding trench warfare of Fortis Binary, the Ghosts find themselves drawn into a conspiracy to assassinate the crusade’s leader, Warmaster Macaroth. With enemies all around them and no one to trust, Gaunt and his men must find a way to save the warmaster and prevent the Sabbat Worlds Crusade from falling into anarchy – even if it means waging war on their supposed allies.

Dan Abnett’s classic series of Sharpe in the Warhammer 40k universe starts here, with Ibram Gaunt and the Tanith First and Only regiment.

The men of Tanith are forced to leave their homeworld when Chaos attacks and Gaunt takes the regiments off world to save them for the Emperor… to die later!

This is essentially a collection of short stories / novellas with the characters and regiment introduced slowly. The stories are also ordered in a non-chronological order, but this just means you find out information as Abnett intended. Whilst there is a not a lot of character development here – apart from Gaunt – there is a lot of information about the Tanith First and Only and about their world. You get the impression of what Tanith is like, and a view into how the scouts are able to contribute to the fighting of the Imperial Guard / Astra Militarum.

A classic in the Warhammer 40k Universe.

— Declan & Eeyore

Book Reviews, Declan Waters

Book Review – Robots in Space, The Secret Lives of Planetary Explorers

February 4, 2022 Declan and Eeyore Leave a comment

By Ezzy Pearson

In our occasional series of looking outside the Worlds of Warhammer, I present for your reading pleasure – the story of man’s first explorations into space from M3.20. Written by remembrancer Ezzy Pearson.

Space Robots… a precursor to Warhammer 40k if ever I did see it!

Space may be the final frontier, but we no longer have to explore it on our own… we have robots to go out into the great dark abyss and do our bidding!

Dr Ezzy Pearson brings us the history of these Robots, their adventures, failures and successes. Pearson brings them to life and imbues them with goals and personalities, turning them into remote-human explorers… from those who are destined to die in the atmosphere of planets and moons, to those trundling around long beyond their expected time.

We couldn’t have learnt what we know about Space without these plucky explorers and this book is a superb, heart-felt, and well-written homage to them.

Dr Pearson takes us through the history of Robots in Space with the Moon, Venus and Mars and our solar systems neighbours a little further away – comets, asteroids, and the moons of the Gas Giants. The book covers much I didn’t know and all of it was interesting. It shows the importance of collaboration, teamwork and the army of people who work to get space exploration right… but also reflects on the failures and how the space agencies pick themselves up, dust themselves off and get going on the next mission(s). A moral for us all!

You’ll have to make your own minds up if the Great Expansion or the Wars of Unification were a good thing, but it is always good to know how and where we started, and why Holy Terra is the centre of the galaxy!

— Declan

Black Powder, Historics, Peter Holland, Reviews, Warlord Games

Unboxing – French Starter Army for Black Powder: Epic Waterloo

February 3, 2022 Peter Holland 1 Comment

Warlord Games have released their Epic Waterloo miniatures and game system this weekend just gone. I was lucky enough to pick my French Starter Set from SCN Hobby World yesterday and I was eager to take a peek and see what was inside.

It’s one of the largest starter boxes I’ve seen, and one of the heaviest! I picked mine up at 20% off for £72 through Sarah at SCN Hobby World.

Lifting the Lid

Theres a tonne of sprues inside. Ten infantry, three heavy cavalry and three light cavalry. Along with the meaty full colour rulebook, a scenery piece, painting guide and flags. I

It was all very nicely packages tightly inside. Warlord must have learnt their lesson form the ACW version Starter Set here, as a common complaint was that everything was a bit loose inside that box and often some of the contents would arrive damaged.

They have coloured the plastic of both starter sets, (blue for french and Red for British) so if you’re eager and know someone with the other set you can play straight away without the need for painting.

Sprue 1 – Light Cavalry

There enough here for 11 bases of Light Cavalry, as well as 3 artillery. Made up of 4 Lancer bases (one spare model), 3 Hussar bases (3 spare models) and 4 Chasseur bases (1 spare model). None of these models are command models but the addition of two Imperial Eagles on each sprue allows you to convert some in to standards. You can also use the spare models for ADC’s or for diorama pieces on your Brigade Commander stands.

Geek Point 1: The standards were made optional as none of the French Cavalry had their standards on the Waterloo campaign.

Sprue 2 – Heavy Cavalry

These are the other 10 bases of Cavalry, but these make heavier versions of the Cavalry regiments. Here you’ll have 4 bases of Cuirassiers, 3 bases of Carabiniers and 3 bases of Dragoons. Again, you have the inclusion of an artillery piece on each sprue and two french eagles. There were a lot more Cuirassiers and Dragoons at Waterloo than Carabiniers but I can understand why Warlord have included one of each type on the sprue.

Sprue 3 – Infantry

There’s loads of infantry… all told just over 800 men. The detail on the sprues is incredible given their size, and time has been taken to differentiate the flank companies of Grenadiers and Voltigeurs from the centre companies.

This sprue is packed. You’ve eight stands of infantry and enough skirmishing Voltigeurs for another stand, as well as some foot artillery and a command figure.

Bases

Of course, none of these would play well without the basic addition of bases… just look at that pile! It’s huge.

Dice

And some dice… as if wargamers don’t have enough to build their own fort! Still a good inclusion for a starter set.

Decoster’s House – Building

Warlord games have teamed up with Sarissa Precision to bring some scenery with the boxset which also comes with its own painting guide and stencil.

Flags & Painting Guide

A great addition is a full colour sheet of French flags. This will really add to the colour and make the regiments individual on the tabletop. Well done to Warlord games for this inclusion.

Rulesbook

The full rules book for the Waterloo Campaign in Epic Battles. This appears to be a full rulebook at 260 pages. It’s in glorious full colour as well and means you don’t need a separate copy of any of the existing Black Powder rule books.

Summary

This is a great box, and real value for money. It should draw many GW fans looking to get into Napoleonics. Declan and I are just two of them.

Delivery

Batteries

Noise

First Use

Conclusion

Lifting the Lid

Woeful Wargaming