The vast bulk of an eldar battleship was keeping station with the orbital, just outside the [armourcrys] dome, and beyond it I thought I could make out several more of the distinctive curving hulls. Before I could discern any more, however, I was dazzled by the discharge from one of the ship’s ventral lance batteries, and, once again, the entire dome shook.

But aren't they supposed to be a fragment of the literal Eldar god of war Kaela Mensha Khaine ? For wich an exarch is sacrified, so it can walk the battlefield along with the aspect warriors, wielding the Howling Death, slashing and smashing his foes while inspiring eldars warriors to do the same nullifying their fear. Giant of molten metal, scorching the earth and spoiling the battlefield with the blood driping from his cursed hand, token of a serious conflict and a Total War fought by the Eldars as much as a powerful moral and physical asset. But the avatar was faster, swinging its arcane weapon through the space the noncorporeal entity occupied, and a wordless wail of agony and despair echoed through the air around us. A nimbus of light erupted from the pole arm, in which a shadow seemed to move, struggling desperately as it was drawn into the very blade itself. Then the light faded, and the avatar froze into watchful immobility. Each miniature comes with a detailed base, and doesn’t require any glue to assemble. They’re a fun collector’s piece for fans of the forces of Chaos, and great additions to any Death Guard army. This Friday, you’ll be able to catch live coverage of the US Open Kansas City alongside one of the last official Warhammer 40,000 events of the current edition. So long, old friend.Inquisitor Amberley Vail once more delves into the Cain archive to present a selection of the man’s greatest and strangest exploits. From Cain and the Valhallan 597th hunting down the source of a warp-tainted infection that threatens to overwhelm the world of Lentonia with a starving horde of undead, to his early years with the Valhallan 12th Field Artillery fending off a tyranid invasion on a barren mining world, to the mysterious death of a fellow commissar that sees Cain’s life at risk (once again) as the killer’s attention turns to him... The immediate bonus to this book's overall score comes from its choice of extra characters. As the synopsis implied, there are a lot of returning faces here, but the fact the Valhallan 597th themselves are present is a definite boon. The ensemble of secondary characters and mixed regimental figures always helped to bolster the stories. The a mix of familiar faces offered more opportunities for jokes, stories and material for Cain's narration to work with. While this might sound like hyperbole, if you compare the first three books with Death or Glory, you might notice that one is more engaging than the other. They're both well written, excellently paced and brilliantly described, but the supporting cast elevates the tale to a new level.

Ciaphas Cain doesn’t mean to be a hero – he just can’t seem to help it. While trying to escape certain death, he somehow achieves unlikely victory after victory in the wildest and most dangerous warzones of the galaxy, to hilarious effect. Yet atop of everything else, Choose Your Enemies manages to sidestep a fair few of the pacing issues and structural problems inherent in the overall series. While hardly the worst example put onto paper, the efforts to reflect Cain's less formulaic style often interferes with the finer parts of pacing a book. When an event occurs, how it occurs, what drives the protagonist onward, how important something is to the overarching plot; that sort of thing. While it disguised this well for some time, toward start of the third trilogy these problems became much more obvious. A few of the more typically overused narrative devices were so often employed that it was clear how they were trying to distract the reader from problems.You asked the eldar for help?’ I expostulated, the conversation I’d overheard between Amberley and the tech-priest finally starting to make sense. Is it alive?’ I asked. The thing was looking at us with a gleam of malign intelligence, but its stillness was preternatural, as though a statue had somehow been imbued with will and intellect. The fourth, fifth, and sixth novels, as well as the short stories Sector 13 and Traitor's Gambit, were collected into a second omnibus entitled Ciaphas Cain: Defender of the Imperium in 2010. As a member of the Midnight Rose Collective he edited the Temps and EuroTemps collections of short stories with Neil Gaiman. A cataclysmic earthquake uncovers ancient necron tombs on the world of Damnos, and they waste no time exterminating the local human populace. Things are looking bleak until Captain Cato Sicarius and Chief Librarian Varro Tigurius arrive from the heavens with their Ultramarines – but even their consummate skills will be sorely tested by the risen xenos menace. And that’s before Tigurius receives a vision telling of the death of a hero…

A full-time writer since the mid-1980s, the majority of his work (as Sandy Mitchell) has been tie-in fiction for Games Workshop's Warhammer fantasy and Warhammer 40,000 science fiction lines, as well as a novelisation of episodes from the high tech thriller series Bugs, for which he also worked as a scriptwriter under his real name. Written by Sandy Mitchell. Narrated by Stephen Perring, Penelope Rawlins, Emma Gregory and Phillipe Bosher. Running time 6 hours, 28 minutes (approx).On several of the novels' covers, with artwork by Clint Langley, Cain is often shown holding a bolter or bolt pistol. In the books, however, Cain never uses either of these weapons, preferring his standard-issue laspistol and chainsword. In particular, the cover of Death or Glory shows him dual-wielding a pair of bolt pistols, which he does not do in the story. Stop! Stop!’ she wailed. Then the towering mass of flesh crashed to the ground. A miasma of nothingness, like its first manifestation, seemed to seep out of it, writhing like the scorching air over a desert as the thing’s essence sought to escape the destruction of her physical body. Of course,’ Amberley said, with the air of patient exasperation common to women all over the galaxy explaining the obvious to the men in their lives. ‘This thing is feeding off the souls of their people.’ Once again I felt I was on the verge of a crucial realisation, but she went on before I could bring it into focus. ‘Why wouldn’t they?’ If you’ve ever read a Ciaphas Cain story before, you’ll know exactly what to expect here – Cain and Jurgen getting into trouble (largely unintentionally) and scraping their way out again, as described by Cain’s irreverent, knowing first person narration, with a little help from Inquisitor Vail’s snarky footnotes. If you haven’t, you’re in for a treat – and despite being book ten this is as good a place to start as any. While 40k isn’t exactly known for humour, the Cain books are one of the few exceptions, and this is a great example of Mitchell’s easy to read style. For instance, in For the Emperor, the first full-length Cain novel, Cain refers in passing to the First Siege of Perlia, which earned him much of his unwanted notoriety, but this event is not depicted in any detail until Death or Glory, the fourth novel.

Ciaphas Cain first appeared in the short story Fight or Flight, and the subsequent novels and stories follow his career, through the time of his retirement from active service to teach at a Schola Progenium. And they’ve got it,’ Amberley said, glancing upwards to the breach in the dome. Another dot was falling, growing larger with every passing second. I expected it to swerve, or break its fall like the others, but it just kept plummeting towards us. And on a sidenote, I'm mad I missed out on the Emeli and Cain history and if anyone knows where that starts if you could just refer me to that installment I would be most grateful. This book was by far the best Warhammer 40K book I have read, so plus for that! Disclaimer, I didn't realize that this book was a part of a whole series about Ciaphas Cain (which I am now looking into reading). I found Cain to be a highly entertaining narrator, mostly because he is an unreliable narrator. Speaking of unreliable narrator Ameberly's endnotes where just perfect, they added another dimension and while I normally don't like reading endnotes and "extras" I highly recommend you don't skip these!

Adepta Sororitas

The new starter set features the Farstriders, veteran Stormcast Eternals armed with powerful boltstorm pistols, and the Sepulchral Guard, undead tomb wardens who overwhelm their foes with sheer numbers. The step-by-step instructions guide players through their first games, steadily introducing new rules and game mechanics until pure novices become seasoned veterans. The first three novels, as well as the short stories Fight or Flight, Echoes of the Tomb and The Beguiling, were collected into a single omnibus entitled Ciaphas Cain: Hero of the Imperium in 2007.