Tag Archives: Horus Heresy

Black Library, Book Reviews, Declan Waters, Games Workshop

Book Review – Saturnine

April 8, 2022 Declan and Eeyore Leave a comment

Book 4 The Siege of Terra 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.

But this is only possible because of our wonderful Patreons. So, some articles over 1 year old will now display our Patreon request at the top of the article… like this one! Don’t worry, we are not adding ads – but if you can afford to donate to the site, we would definitely appreciate it. Membership is available from just £1/month (plus taxes!!)

They couldn’t keep the author of so many Black Library books away and Dan Abnett comes into the Siege of Terra with a tour-de-force very different (but earily similar) to the Gaunt’s Ghosts series.

Black Library – a great example of movement and scale!

From the book:

The Traitor Host of Horus Lupercal tightens its iron grip on the Palace of Terra, and one by one the walls and bastions begin to crumple and collapse. Rogal Dorn, Praetorian of Terra, redoubles his efforts to keep the relentless enemy at bay, but his forces are vastly outnumbered and hopelessly outgunned. Dorn simply cannot defend everything. Any chance of survival now requires sacrifice, but what battles dare he lose so that others can be won? Is there one tactical stroke, one crucial combat, that could turn the tide forever and win the war outright?

Dan Abnett brings his own special writing style to the Siege of Terra series and it is a tour-de-force. The defenders of Terra are trying to delay their defeat, in the hope of rescue from the other loyalist legions, and Dorn is at the head of the defense.

In common with the other books in the series, the Primarchs are incidental in most cases, and the battles are seen through the eyes of Space Marines, humans, and Sisters of Silence. It’s great to have more female representation in warhammer and Abnett succeeds with a truely scary representation of a Sister.

Although not the last book in the series, it is a powerful stand alone book and definitely not a bridge between set pieces – a great read.

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

Games Workshop, Sci-Fi

Horus Heresy 2nd Edition: Which Legion are you?

April 4, 2022 Woehammer Leave a comment

A few of us at Woehammer are getting a little hyped for the new Horus Heresy edition. As such, we decided to do the choose your legion series of questions on theHorusHeresy.com

Peter

I’m a massive Blood Angels fan and have been ever since I first got into the hobby. However, since reading the first few books in the Horus Heresy series I developed a love of the Luna Wolves.

That being said, the Luna Wolves were renamed the Sons of Horus by the time of the Horus Heresy. So how would I go about creating an army in this style? There’s two options here, the first is to simply say that loyalist Sons of Horus somehow survived Horus’s purge and turned their back on the Primarch by returning their colours to that of the Luna Wolves. The second option is to claim that these particular Luna Wolves were left as a standing guard to ensure compliance of a particular planet and were somehow forgotten by their brethren. I’m more inclined by the second option as it leaves a question mark as to whether they are loyal or traitor….

Steve

An easy choice for me, my 40k chapter of choice and the one that I am currently painting and playing with is the Crimson Fists. Therefore, a Horus Heresy project would have to be based on a force commanded by Alexis Polox, the Crimson Fist, first Chapter master of the Crimson Fists. During the Great Crusade, Polux became one of Rogal Dorn’s most senior captains, rising to his advisory council, the “Stone Men.”

Captain Polox led primarch Dorn’s Retribution Fleet at the Battle of the Phall system against the Iron warriors. After the battle Polox with the remains of his company found themselves at Macragge.

After the Heresy, and the splitting of the Legions, Polox was the chapter master of the newly formed Crimson Fists chapter and led them for 800 years,

My HH force would be based around Captain Polox and his Imperial Fists Legion’s 405th Company.

Dave

I am a terrible hobby butterfly, so this was a bit trickier for me. I have previously played both Space Wolves and Ultramarines in 40K and (briefly) started an Imperial Fists army when I got back into 9th Edition. I took the big quiz and realised it was fairly clear it was going to end up with either Imperial Fists or Iron Warriors but did I really want to dive back into Imperial Fists again….?

Imperial Fists were tempting because the main thing which had put me off in 40k was the fact that my favourite units tended to be a bit (OK, a lot) pants, this could be remedied in Horus Heresy because I really liked the older marine sculpts. Then I remembered “Storm of Iron”. It’s an absolute classic in the 40K literature from Graham McNeill, with Iron Warriors and lots of cannon fodder Traitor Guard besieging an Imperial fortress. I shan’t properly review it here or give spoilers but it’s great fun and 100% worth a read. Well, I now have a Renegades and Heretics army for 40K and I could happily recreate a late Heresy army with them and some nice new Iron Warrior friends (aaahhh friend…..I’m hoping the rules will allow this sort of mixing).

Bonus points being if Pete and Steve are playing Loyalists I will relish having a bit of banter, especially with Steve and his Fists. I think I will enjoy playing the bad guy and truly hope there’s some sort of special rule which allows me to shell my own troops for the lulz.

So, it’s time to set up a direct debit for Iron Warriors paint, develop some fairly serious daddy-issues and prepare my crusade to liberate the galaxy from the scourge of the False-Emperor.

Iron Within, Iron Without!

Declan

Blood Angels for me all the way – they were my first chapter – and not at all picked because they were all red – but I’ve never not liked them as I began to read around the fluff I liked them even more.

One of the first White Dwarf’s I ever bought has the iconic black and white drawing of Horus & the Emperor facing off and Sanguinius dead and their feet, have inflicted the damage that would be Horus’ downfall. And that is how I see the Blood Angels. Perfect… flawed and willing to die for the right of the Imperium — and kill anything that stands up to it.

I’ve painted a few armies in my time but I don’t play 40k anymore so pictures are more limited – and all the models packed away. If you’re nice to Peter in the future maybe he’ll get me to show you some photos… I even have an army mostly made up of RTB001 models — yes I am that old!

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

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.

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!

— Declan & Eeyore

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

Peter Holland

The Woehammer Painting Competition

October 26, 2021 Peter Holland Leave a comment

This is just a reminder that we have a painting competition taking place where the winner gets their choice of a Start Collecting or Combat Patrol box. We wouldn’t be able to give away this fantastic prize without the support of our good friends at SCN Hobby World. Why not join their emailing list and receive 25% off Games Workshop products whenever you place an order with them?

To enter you’ll need to paint a miniature with a base size no larger than 50mm and send it’s picture to thewoehammer@gmail.com. you’ll also need to send a small fee of £1 to the same address via PayPal. Your miniature doesn’t even have to be a Games Workshop model, it can be from any range you like.

One of your pictures must include a picture of your email address on a handwritten note. This should prevent people using internet photos for their submissions.

The closing date of the competition is 30th November where submissions will be placed into groupings of four and placed on the Woehammer Twitter account for a poll. The winner of these polls continue into the next round and so on until only one submission remains.

There you have it, get painting! If you want to find out more then either please leave a comment below, on my twitter profile or as an email to thewoehammer@gmail.com.

Solo Wargaming for your Favourite Games

I’m in the process of creating a series of Wargaming Aids which allow players to play their favourite games in a single player format against an AI controlled enemy army. To find out more on this click here.

For as little as £1 a month (the price of a chocolate bar) you can help support me in this endeavour and receive cool perks as a thank you, such as access to our Discord Server as well as downloadable copies of the gaming aids which you can print out and use at home.

Why not pop over to Patreon and sign up and help me in this project? Money raised will go towards making these as physical products.

Black Library, Book Reviews, Declan Waters, Games Workshop

Book Review – The Lost and the Damned

October 22, 2021 Declan and Eeyore 1 Comment

Book 2 The Siege of Terra by Guy Hayley

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.

Guy Hayley returns to the Horus Heresy in the second book from the Siege of Terra. This is the follow on series from Black Library and was made as a great ‘drop in’ point for those who lost track of the Horus Heresy series. I previously reviewed book 1, which can be found here.

From the book:

With the solar defences overcome through the devastating strength of the Traitor armada and the power of the warp, Horus launches his assault on the Throneworld in earnest. After withstanding a ferocious barrage of ordnance, an immense ground war commences outside the Palace with every inch gained paid for in the lives of billions.

On the thirteenth day of Secundus, the bombardment of Terra began… With the solar defences overcome through the devastating strength of the Traitor armada and the power of the warp, Horus launches his assault on the Throneworld in earnest. After withstanding a ferocious barrage of ordnance, an immense ground war commences outside the Palace with every inch gained paid for in the lives of billions. The front lines are beyond horrific and the very air is reduced to poison and blood. Bodies are thrown into the meatgrinder but the outer redoubts cannot possibly hold for long, even with the loyal primarchs to reinforce them. For Horus has his own generals to call upon… Between the plague weapons of Mortarion and the fury of Angron, the defenders face a losing battle.

The Lost and the Damned includes the three Primarchs defending Terra from Horus and the attacks from Mortarion and Angron. Guy Hayley continues to tie together the threads of the battle, and as this book is based on Terra it is much easier to follow than Book 1 (which concentrated on the battle for the Sol system).

Sanguinius also makes his first appearance at the Siege, ignoring his brother Dorn’s instructions to stay behind the Wall, and going out to take the fight to the Heretics. His presence rallies the defenders and brings them hope that victory may be achieved… his appearance is great from a personal point of view, as I collect Blood Angels!

And similarly to much of the Horus Heresy series there are stories of ordinary defenders either from Astra Militarum regiments or from local PDFs.

A really good second book in the series – and definitely leaving me wanting to read the rest!

— Declan

A Life in Wargames, Games Workshop, Peter Holland, Warlord Games

Jervis Johnson – A Life in Wargames

September 6, 2021 Peter Holland 7 Comments

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.

But this is only possible because of our wonderful Patreons. So, some articles over 1 year old will now display our Patreon request at the top of the article… like this one! Don’t worry, we are not adding ads – but if you can afford to donate to the site, we would definitely appreciate it. Membership is available from just £1/month (plus taxes!!)

Jervis Johnson officially retired from Games Workshop in July. As such I thought it was a great time to cover his career as a games designer, from his first game to his last and the impact he’s had on the hobby.

If you don’t know who Jervis Johnson is then this will introduce you to a man who has created many of the great games you know and love today.

Jervis joined Games Workshop as a trade sales assistant in 1982. During this time he started writing rules for Games Workshops’ own games in his spare time (them being the seller for dungeons and dragons in Europe.and not producing their own game of Warhammer Fantasy until 1983). What would become the first edition of Blood Bowl was produced in 1986, followed closely by Rogue Trader (the 1st edition of Warhammer 40k) in 1988.

During his time Jervis has designed or has been involved in the design of over 93 games and add-ons. Both for Games Workshop and other companies.

These include;

Blood Bowl (1st, 2nd & 3rd Editions) – 1986, 1988, 1994
Adeptus Titanicus (1st Edition) – 1988
Advanced HeroQuest – 1989
Advanced Space Crusade – 1990
Armies of the Imperium – 1991
Battle for Armageddon – 1992
Black Powder (2nd Edition) (Warlord Games) – 2019
Blood Bowl (2016 Edition) – 2016
Epic Armageddon – 2003
La Haye Saint (Warlord Games) – 2014
Necromunda – 1995
Space Hulk (2nd Edition) – 1996
Space Marine – 1989
Warhammer 40,000 (3rd Edition) – 1998
Warhammer 40,000 (4th Edition) – 2004
Warhammer Ancient battles – 1998
Warhammer Fantasy (8th Edition) – 2010
Warmaster – 1993

Many other companies have taken inspiration from some of Jervis Johnson’s games. Whether you know it or not, your favourite game has probably been worked on or has used inspiration from one of Johnson’s game.

Some of the games Mr Johnson has worked on

His retirement is well deserved, but the wargaming community is losing a true giant of the industry. Goodbye Jervis, and enjoy your retirement.

Why don’t you let us know in the comments below which of Jervis’ games was your favourite?

Why not join our Facebook group to get the notifications on new posts and share your work with us for Tale of Painters.

Next Week

Alessio Cavatore

Black Library, Book Reviews, Declan Waters, Games Workshop, Sci-Fi

Book Review – The Solar war

September 5, 2021 Declan and Eeyore 3 Comments

by John French

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.

The Solar War is the beginning of the end in the epic Horus Heresy series from Black Library.

With the Horus Heresy reaching 54 books, countless short stories and novellas I admit to finding it difficult to keep up-to-date with the storyline – and I read a lot, and have known the story since I was 11! As such, it was a great decision to ‘restart’ the series numbering to allow readers to get back on track with the ‘Siege of Terra’ series.

Horus’ fleet has arrived at Sol and must get to the Emperor’s palace on Terra – fortified by Dorn – but first he must fight through the remaining loyal fleet of the Emperor.

The book returns to some of the characters from the start of the series – Mersadie & Logan – and is was fun to read their story of the start of the invasion.

The book includes mass space battles, many (many) deaths as the loyalists attempt to slow down Horus’ treachery.

I did struggle at times with the number and names of the ships many introduced to be destroyed and I did sometimes have to re-read a passage to work out if a destroyed ship was loyalist or traitor. Although they have restarted the numbering, it is difficult to see how anyone who is new to the lore could understand what is happening in the story. Definitely a book for those already invested in the Heresy – although fine if you’ve not read all the previous books.

The pace feels significantly quicker than the rest of the series, so don’t expect another 50 books for the Siege of Terra, but I’m looking forward to the next in the series.

A promising start to the Siege…

— Declan & Eeyore

Peter

Steve

Dave

Woeful Wargaming