Sunday, March 09, 2008

WE had chocolate cake...

...thanks to Alex, who came to the Cambridge GW signing this afternoon. Apparently, at the last Cambridge shop signing, I had told him that if he brought chocolate cake, I would be prepared to sign his entire back catalogue of books. Alex duly brought chocolate cake and a very heavy bag. Twenty minutes and a repetitive strain injury later, I had upheld my side of the bargain. The Cambridge signing was great, and my thanks go to Andy, the store manager who organised it and mediated the entire event. It was great to see people like Big, and also new faces like Gregg, Martin, Lars and Paul (welcome to the bloggage and thanks so much for showing me your fantastic sketch books). Thanks to everyone else who attended, it was great to see you.

Over lunch, at the Fucking Stupid Large Burger Joint across the street (buffalo! Who knew buffalo could be so good?) Big told a story about a group of variously deaf and blind people who had turned up in his club the other night. Big is a doorman, and runs security and general behaviour, just so you know. He’s also big, ex-army and, you know, big. He has a way with words. The deaf/blind group came to his club for a night out and got a bit carried away with the haha juice. What happened then was something out of the ‘Keystone Cops’. I can’t begin to repeat it here, or do it justice, but if you encounter Big Steve at a Games Day or similar event, implore him to tell you the story, because it is the fething funniest thing I have ever heard. I almost choked on buffalo. I think it was the moment where Steve said, ‘Mind the step,’ to the blind guy and the blind guy fell down the step and the deaf guy, who hadn’t heard Steve, started to attack him for pushing his blind friend down the step. The entire story is much longer and much more involved and much funnier than I’m presenting here. Get it from Big himself, and when you have, ask for the other stories: the luminous shards of wood in his arse, for example, and the wolf man on the roof of his building when he was a kid. Laugh? I nearly went to Ethiopia; second class of course.

It was great fun to hang out in a shop with the living embodiment of Gol Kolea (Big Steve, or is he Corbec? Or Bragg?), MkVenner (Gregg, I hope you don’t mind me comparing you to the character, but you were so quiet and serious), and Varl (Andy, you are Varl, and if you’re not, you’re Brostin, take your pick). I write them here and they come out there, in person, to meet me, and they are always much better than the characters I have fashioned in my head.

Let us now attend to the day’s business. I’m sorry if these recent blogs have come across as a bit of a Q&A, but it seems the fastest and most efficient way of getting things done.

Lordy - I’ll be at Forbidden Planet in London next Saturday with Graham. Is that any good?

Allandaros - Very few things in the entire universe beat the coolness of the Starship Enterprise. It just IS. But I am a devoted fan of both Firefly and Babylon 5. However, in terms of doors, I wish life worked the way it did in Space 1999, when you can point a comlock at a door and make it open. I have a fabulous replica comlock sitting on a shelf above my desk. Sometimes, when a novel is going slowly, I pretend I am John Koenig (or actually, Alan Carter) and point my comlock at various doors. Non ever open, but (see previous post) I’m hardly surprised.

Jack - Me and a Jerry Cornelius, Michael Morcock story in the same book? How chuffed am I? I’m glad you enjoyed ‘Point of Contact’, and if Dreadstar is as wired into your makeup as it is mine, we’ll be friends forever.

Xhalax - You are not a minion, but you are a servant of the Legion and one of the few who gets to hear the command, “Do it.”

Big - I’m delighted you enjoyed my most recent Warhammer 30K novel, Legion, and your expressions of delight were duly noted here at Abnett Towers. Good luck with the therapy.

Toobad and Sredni - Ravenor Rouge will now become a short story in the forthcoming Ravenor/Eisenhorn collection. It will be about Maxilla.

Rory - I will come to Scotland and, indeed, Edinburgh as soon as the Black Library organises it (late summer, we hope).

One day gingers will rule the earth - Delighted as I am to be playing tennis with the multiple personas you are lobbing at me over the net, I feel, at this time, I should say, “Good luck with that.” Paper towels are, of course, always an option.

Shawn - This is how it worked. Mike Lee was cloned from my genetic material into 15 bodies and then ran wild and free with creative energy to turn the Darkblade graphic novels I had produced into proper prose. He now needs to have a long, restful lie down.

Jimmi magnus - The Emperor was worshipped right from the minute he sent his forces out from Terra. They didn’t actually understand him as a god, but they realised he was fething heavy duty.

Anonymous - The Patrick O’Brian novels are, indeed, fantastic, and I would recommend them to anybody. The film’s pretty good too. I wish I was half as good as Mr O’Brian.

Kromvolt - I am so glad I put the E in epic. I may have put the c and i into epic as well. I’ve nearly got the whole word covered.

Nemesis749 - No one in the known world can actually explain the colour code at the top of the Horus Heresy novels. It’s just a fact. Accept it and get on with your life. I have. If it’s any consolation, we meet regularly and discuss the over all structure of the Horus books and none of us understand the colour coding either.

Ross - Yes, you did get mentioned in a Dan Abnett blog post. Oh my fething god, you got mentioned again.

The-seventh-son - Thank you for your kind words, and welcome to the blog. May you post regularly.

Brandon - The death of Gary Gygax was, indeed, a terrible blow. Without D&D, AD&D, Traveler and Call of Cthulhu, I would not be doing what I do today, and neither would my wife. We were RPGers in the 80s and we were proud to be so. The death of Mr Gygax made me think of iron spikes (always useful), the original Games Workshop pale blue cover edition of D&D, which I treasure to this day, and the fifth form at school (year 11 or 9th grade to you lot). My friend, Julian Styles had the original 3 volume D&D and introduced me to role playing. Everything I do and write now is based on the campaigns I mastered back then.

Chris - Thanks for your fond remarks. Gravier’s storyline never really came to an end.

nhz - The wounds that Gaunt has received during his career defy cataloguing. Just be thankful he’s still alive.

mob - Guardians of the Galaxy, like Nova, is going to be a blast. Hold tight and prepare for action.

Jennifer Burdo - If it was me, I’d call my cat Ludd, which is like purr, backwards, except it isn’t. I’d also be tempted to call it Mkvenner, except that it would go out and never come back again.

sorl kennedy - Namatjira is empowered with the authority of Horus, which equals the Emperor. He is the commander of a branch of the crusade. Of course fething primarchs kneel to him. He’s the proxy of the fething Emperor. By the way, congratulations for being the first Legion nay-sayer so far.

Paul - As I said somewhere at the start of this rambling monologue, welcome to the blog. Your sketches were really fantastic and you should post them here for others to enjoy.

Thus concludes the business of the day. Tune in next week to hear Nurse Janice say...

123 comments:

Anonymous said...

Woo. *steals first post again*

Damn - I go home on the 16th, so I'll be one day late for Forbidden Planet. Maybe I'll ge the next one, though my collection is beginning to pile up again.

Anonymous said...

Dukeleto - Nice art work wish i was able to draw like that i especially likd your version of the bloodpact and your Brostin's great too

Dan - Think i might have finally converted a mate into a Abnettholic lent him First and Only and he hasn't talked about anything else since :)

Deserter said...

Shame about Gravier, I liked the concept of the never-to-be-seen storyline :( No hints? Heh.

Finished Legion yesterday, probably my favourite of the Heresy books so far. I really liked the "revelation" about the AL, makes sense really, and makes you ponder about the AL in current 40k background...

Will we be seeing the characters again? And any hints on what Blood Pact will be about? I forgot to mention how much I loved Only in Death, I was on tenterhooks for the first few paragraphs! I was told off by my better half when she woke up at 3:30am to find me still reading. I had to put it down and wait til she was back asleep... Sad? Yes, I think so.

Jackwraith said...

Dreadstar? Wow. There's a blast from the past. I had the good fortune to stumble across the Metamorphosis Odyssey when it began (thus, dating myself) and continued from there. Had always been a Starlin fan from the Warlock days (thus, dating myself further) but MO/Dreadstar was one step beyond (as Mike Barson might say.) Too bad some old legends can't seem to give up the ghost. I picked up an issue of Jim's latest, Cosmic Guard, and was disappointed to see the lack of cosmic evolution, as it were. Still, there's always the old stuff.

Anonymous said...

James F - I've managed to track down what you were looking for. If you e-mail the site with your address, I'll put it in the post for you.

Don't tell anyone, though, or they'll all want one :-)

Johan said...

haha! I'd love tho read about Maxilla, that would be awesome, maybe about how he got to where he was in the Eisenhorn series.
seriously, that could be a good story.

oh, and where is the video of Big dancing, I'm slowly melting with anticipation.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the reply. Sorry for the rude manner in which I asked the question. I broke my cardinal rule of not communicating on the internet while under the influence...

Your explanation makes sense, I guess. It still doesn't sit well with me (I subscribe to Bill King's vision of the Horus Heresy primarily, which is somewhat different to your own). Does this mean the primarchs aren't proxies of the Emperor too? How many of these branches of the crusade are there exactly? If there are only a few then doesn't it mean that some of the primarchs fall under the authority of an Imperial Commander such as Namatjira (sacrilege!)? Or am I on the wrong track?

Incidentally, I enjoyed Legion immensely (though not quite as much as I ejoyed Horus Rising)! I dearly wish it was you writing the entire series.

Thanks.

Pack_master said...

A story about Tobius Maxilla. Whew, sounds sweet.

Reading Legion now. The full "I am Alpharius - no, I am Alpharius" from here, the weeks and months before, at this place, now makes so fugging funny sense. I nearly collapsed multiple times because I had not enough breath when laughing.

Pack_master said...

Oh, seconds: I stole the funny "Throne of Terra"- meditation from Ludd for an 40k RPG scene... Kampfhamster collapsed laughing when he read it ;)

Anonymous said...

@Sorl Kennedy
Well, if Nurth was designated Six-Seventy Twenty-Five, wouldn't thast mean there's at least 670 fleets out there? As opposed to twenty primarchs? (I'm sure there can't actually be 670+ branches of the Crusade, as...well...that's just a lot, but still).

Anonymous said...

it's the-seventh-son, but i cant remember my password

i just finished reading Only in Death for the 3rd time

I have to say that that book is great, but does creep me out a bit, with the "blood" leaking through the walls

thanks for the mention Dan by the way. one thing i have to say though Dan is why do my favourite characters constantly get it in your books: Bragg, Corbec, Gutes, Caff, Cullwoe, Cuu even though he is a feth. And how is Viktor Hark so bloody hard is he secretly a Necron or a cat?

Pack_master said...

Don't forget Hark's "superior bulk" - I'm sure it counts as additional ablative armour :D

Anonymous said...

"and if Dreadstar is as wired into your makeup as it is mine, we’ll be friends forever."

It would seem we have a mutual appreciation of all things Jim Starlin (if you tell me you read the Gilgamesh thing he did around 1988 or so, that's it, best pals forever.) I loved Dreadstar from the day I found it, and still judge a lot of space comics against it. Heck, I'd have to say that the fight between Vanth and the Lord High Papal in #14 is to this day still my favorite fight scene ever. ESPECIALLY the ending of it.

Following up a Jerry Cornelius story would scare the heck out of me if I wrote science fiction. (I think my reaction to finding that out would be "oh crap.") Anything else in the pipeline for Solaris?

Oh, and a word to those here, like me, who do not have Legion yet. Do NOT spend a night going through Wikipedia reading entries on the Primarchs. You will be spoiled, big time. Grrr.

Anonymous said...

I'm sorry but I think Sorl Kennedy is letting Dan off easy. Before these novels the primarchs were nothing less than beings of worship to mankind. Now this - and the author gets into a strop when someone rightly complains about this gargantuan liberty taken with the established background (which is far older than Macneil and Merrit I might add).

Poor show.

Anonymous said...

I considered MkVenner as a name, but I don't know yet if this cat will turn out quite that antisocial and standoffish. (OK, most cats do, but this one's still a kitten.)

Oh, and I found a couple more songs that fit the Tanith nicely. Maybe we should put together a tribute album?

"My only homeland is six foot high,
For its independence, I will die,
No matter where my feet may fly,
I'll be at home with the exiles."
-- At Home With the Exiles, by a Scot expat named Ed Miller

"Why d'you smile, noble Elliot of Lariston?
Why does the joy-candle gleam in your eye?
Bold border ranger, beware of your danger,
Your foes are relentless, determined and nigh!"
-- Lock the Door Lariston, a border ballad. I don't remember if Ewan MacColl recorded it.

Pack_master said...

Jack - I work on a 40k-only wiki, so I know really good what you mean...

Dukeleto said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Dukeleto said...

I've managed to pursued a friend to read Xenos, she has some tolerance for sci-fi on telly but it's one of the first such books she's read.

I had to borrow it back on Friday so Dan could sign it (thanx Dan) she's itching to find out what horrible thing Mandragore will do next...

Thanx all for kind comments about my artwork. I'll post the link again Here" ?

Anonymous said...

sorl kennedy: there are thousands of crusade fleets (it's called the Great Crusade for a reason, i guess). presumably the primarchs move their flags between fleets as and when they're required. plus a lot of fleets probably run out of steam and manpower after a while and get amalgamated into others, while new ones are formed and sent out all the time. it would be an ongoing process, since when they started they wouldn't have been able to predict how long it would take them to conquer the entire galaxy ...

and there aren't 20 primarchs; remember 2 of them (2nd and 11th legions) got "deleted", so there are only 18 (i was going to type something else there, but i suddenly noticed a large fellow in blue and green power armour pointing a bolter through my window)

can't wait for Maxilla and his bionic mascara applicator.

Lightbringer said...

Hey Dan - now finally got my act together and got myself a proper name, no more "anonymous" nonsense for me. Being anonymous is all well and good for sending abusive letters to the gas board, but no good here.

Anyway, I just finished Legion. Loved it, best HH book so far. I love the Spartacus thing, and I love the Cabal. Plus John Grammaticus is now my favourite 40K character: let's hope Slau Dha decides two deaths aren't enough for him, it would be interesting to see John scheming away 10,000years later...

So which Primarch will you work on next, then? I guess you can't tell us, but I'd like to see a fairly dull "cipher" primarch given the Abnett touch. I'm thinking Ferrus Manus (body disassociative disorder)or Vulkan...

I'm glad you like Patrick O'Brien too, his stuff is pure deep fried gold!

Oh and as for the deaf/blind thing, I can top that: my brother's lost his voice, and my Dad is going deaf. So whenever my brother speaks, my Dad can't hear him. So he writes it down. Except my brother is dyslexic, so my Dad can't understand what he's written...

the-seventh-son said...

anyone here like the blood pact?

wanna see an AT-70 Reaver?

Rory said...

Did big dance?! Did he!?

Bodjo said...

Thanks for the response, and you can bet your Volpone rubles that I'm thankful Gaunt is still alive. I mentioned how terrified I was around page 170 of OiD, did I not? :)

Inquiring masses desire to know how Titanicus is going, Dan. And by, inquiring masses, I mean the Tanith gangsters. :P

Ah, crap. I said that, and now I miss Feygor.

Dukeleto said...

Yes please 7th Son, we want to see an AT-70!

Rooney said...

I have a confession to make.... I was supposed to be at the Cambridge store, bright and early (well, almost) at 2pm on saturday. Unfortunately, it was a friends birthday the day before... they held the celebrations at the Anglia Ruskin SU... I woke up at 4pm on saturday, too drunk to drive, and with no chance of getting to the store before closing on foot... the shame!

*Flagellate's himself*

And now I hear tales of chocolate cake, and Big telling funny stories, and Mr Abnett almost choking on a Buffalo... Let this be warning about the evils of alcohol!

Rooney

the-seventh-son said...

now i must state that this is only a Work In Progress and was a fething pain to build!

but here goes nothing:

http://www.coolminiornot.com/184625

oh and that got your attention didnt it Dukeleto :P

the-seventh-son said...

but the real pain is that i need to do another 17 of them for my Apocalypse army :@

oh my poor wallet

Jambo said...

Just finished Legion on the tube into work.

Bombshell.

Brilliant. Now I really want to know what happens next and in the future etc.

Thanks.

Anonymous said...

Hey, Dan, I don't know if you've seen this, but it's cool. This website:-

http://menducia.atspace.com/primarchs/VI.html

charts all of the Primarchs according to their astrological symbology. Oh and it predicted the big Alpha Legion plot twist...

Anonymous said...

Phew, I had a bit of a fanboy giggle there, sorry about that (frickin' twice!).



Anyhow, I'm going to weigh in on the whole 'how big is the Great Crusade?' thingummy. Vashtar has it right, there are thousands of Crusade fleets (the total number is mentioned somewhere in Horus Rising), and I should imagine that the total number is changing constantly.
The Primarchs DO NOT fall under the authority of the Lord Commanders. They are the Emperor's Sons, not merely his proxies, if Alphariius chooses to operate the way he does than thats the way he operates, most Primarchs directly control operations wherever they are.
And 'theydrilledholesinmydamnteeth'? If you can't take liberties with the established canon, whats the point of writing the HH stories? The whole background to the HH was always shrouded in mystery, I have read about two dozen different interpretations of the story and it was never clear what the truth was. Surely you should expect dramatic revelations and differences from what we have been told already (just read Legion to see what I mean)? If you don't agree with whats being written thats fine, but the story will always be different.

Anonymous said...

anonymous: love the astrology link. I had given some passing thought to the primarchs in that context, so it's nice to see that someone has bothered to do it properly.

(meaning, it's nice to see that at least one person somewhere is even sadder than i am...)

Brother Chadeux said...

How do all, finally made the jump from the sanctuary of BL's forums into the terrifying eddies and storms of the world wide warp.

First post with blogger and I'll dive head first into the "how big is this crusade we're on?" debacle.

One query I did have was with the numbers for the army/legions. At the start, the Emperor could only call on the resources of ONE planet, that being Terra, which had just come out of a severe and very bloodthirsty civil war of it's own (unification), so I very much doubt that the Imperial army and The First Legion (the only marines to leave Terra with the Emperor in the beginning, the other legions were founded from terra as the crusade wore on and more Astartes were required) were overly huge. So it's a small but significant leap of faith to assume that the Crusade grew in size with every conquered world, very very quickly.

Collected Visions lists the Emperor as having conquered almost 2 million worlds before Ulanor, so you could say that by the second century there would be thousands of campaigns going on at the same time. Some fleets splitting up to take on more managable targets, and others coming together to crack especially tough nuts. This fluid nature, combined with the fact that Primarchs were still being found right up to the last days of the emperors involvement at the sharp end, would mean that an accurate analysis of the imperial deployment would be next to impossible.

I don't mean to hand off the problem by saying "oh it's all too complex" but the logistics would be absolutely staggering after twenty decades of warfare.

In other news: Legion was brilliant and you protrayed the legionairres just how I'd always thought of them :) though I think the Cabal is at risk of being over employed when plugging holes: The Cabal Did It!

Enough ramblings and salutations to you all.

Chadeux

Anonymous said...

Chadeux - The Legions we're all formed at roughly the same time, the Emperor was working with the genetic material he had gleaned from the Primarchs to create his warriors. The Legions grew from small companies, into regiments, and then finally to the legions we know - if you have read 'Flight of the Eisenstein' then you'll know that the Death Guard we're the Dusk Raiders, famed for their raids on enemy camps on Earth before Mortarian renamed them, and almost all of the legions have men in them who are terran, not from the Legions adopted 'Home'. The Emperor took all of his legions to war when he left Earth, not just the First.

And as far as resources go, who needs numbers when you have the Astartes?

Rory said...

Ross is right, i just finnished False gods. and doesnt i say in there that the primarchs were created on earth? then sent out to there "home" worlds, Or does that change.. i mean ive only read the first two books. i might be abit behind. :D

childofnurgle said...

Dan - Firstly thankyou (And Nik!) for another great day on Saturday, once again everybody was blown away it was a great event before my inforced "break"

And it`s gotta be Varl, oh god thankyou so much!!! Varl, I mean the man`s a fething hero!

So until the brass finally sees through my 3 year blag and reposesses my shop, or Varl gives up the con and joins the ecclesiarchy......... ;)

Anonymous said...

finally getting to read Ravenor so sorry i havent blogged.
But what a fantastic day even though i got called away(so i didnt get to do my dance ,but its something to look forward to).Also nice to meet some fellow Blood Pact fans ! and finding out theirs definately something major on the horizon for them ,an not just as cannon fodder brilliant.Any way just a quikie to say thanks Dan Nik for comin down luv ya!.....(now back to Ravenor)

Rob Rath said...

Augh! My Varl-ness has been stolen by the childofnurgle!

That's ok. I was uncomfortable with the Mantle of Varl in the first place. (I mean, I love Varl, but do I really want to BE him?)

I must meet this childofnurgle. We can have a Varl-Off.

Brother Chadeux said...

There's a wee sentence in the original Rogue Trader (page numbers elude me at this time of the morning) That alludes to the Emperor only taking one legion of marines. When Horus turned up he returned to Terra with the big E, where he was shown the legions being created.

I fully realise that the canon had moved on somewhat since those days, the dusk raiders being a good example, I agree with you Ross that it is accepted as given that all the Legions were created at the same time.

Rory - the Primarchs are indeed out amongst the stars when the Crusade started.

mmmm chocolate cake

Chadeux

Anonymous said...

Ross said:

'The Primarchs DO NOT fall under the authority of the Lord Commanders. They are the Emperor's Sons, not merely his proxies, if Alphariius chooses to operate the way he does than thats the way he operates, most Primarchs directly control operations wherever they are.'

I know this but does Dan..?

Anonymous said...

I should think so, I mean, we are but mere mortals...






























I Am Alpharius!


Or Am I!?

Anonymous said...

Ross said: 'if Alphariius chooses to operate the way he does than thats the way he operates'

That doesn't really hold water.
I never got the impression that it was really a choice. When he knelt before him nobody batted an eyelid. Namatjira and everyone in attendence behaved as if this was something a primarch was expected to do, as if it was the done thing.

Pack_master said...

Yeah, my thoughts - but on the other hand in the other parts of the Heresy novels everyone was cowering before the primarchs, and not only in front of Horus. I was taken aback a bit, too, when Alpharius (or rather Omegon on that point - but Alpharius and Omegon are only together the full primarch, so...) knelt before Lord Commander Whatshisname... in my understanding the primarchs were the unchallenged Masters of the Crusade, only with Horus as First among Equals and the Emperor als overall CiC.


Ah, yes, am ready with Legion now. The ending makes all the Heresy now really creepy, if you understand what I mean...

Anonymous said...

What do you mean Alpharius and Omegon are only together the full Primarch!

Pack_master said...

Oops, shit, did I forget the spoiler again* *ducks*

Anonymous said...

Don't worry, in my case that's what Wikipedia already spoiled for me. Mind you, others here may not have made that mistake.

Anonymous said...

I got the impression that Alpharius (or whomever...) kneeling was more along the lines of public courtesy in the interests of an amicable working relationship, than as an acknowledgement of perceived superiority. in fact, you might even suggest that the gesture was deliberately intended to highlight the fact that had he NOT chosen to kneel - as many of the other primarchs certainly wouldn't have - nobody would've really been able to say or do anything about it.

similar rituals weren't uncommon in the courts of medieval monarchs and their barons/warlords/whatever, and the same pattern of behaviour can still be observed in many circles. it's basically a statement along the lines of "i'm playing nice and observing your nominal authority here for the sake of etiquette and protocol, but don't ever be tempted to forget that i command real, tangible power, placed at your disposal only because it suits me to do so ... and you'd better believe that you'd be eyeball deep in shit if it wasn't for me."

after all, mistaking mutual benefit for subservience has been the downfall of many a tyrant - as the Emperor found out the hard way ;)

Anonymous said...

So I just finished reading Nova #11, and first off, "self's siredam did not approve of self's lifestyle choices" is yet another brilliant line in a series full of them, and second...wow, what a cliffhanger. I keep thinking Nova can't get any better and get proven wrong with every issue. Well done.

Rob Rath said...

So, on a non-Legion topic...

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/03/12/gun-bullet-neutrino.html

Can someone say reynbow? (Or rather, a reynbow in reverse.)

Cool to see that the coilgun works, at least on a molecular level...

Anonymous said...

sredni vashtar said: 'I got the impression that Alpharius (or whomever...) kneeling was more along the lines of public courtesy in the interests of an amicable working relationship, than as an acknowledgement of perceived superiority'

Like I said, Namatjira and all those in attendence didn't behave as if it was public courtesy or compromise. They behaved like it was normal and expected!

Regardless

Why should a primarch worry about creating an amicable working relationship with those he shouldn't have to answer or even explain himiself to?

Surely a primarch (a son of the Emperor) shouldn't have to dance around like this. Surely one of the few sons of the Emperor had the authority to a.) execute Namatjira for this affront and b.) commandeer all of his fleet/forces if he willed it and for the slightest of reasons?

We've waited so long for proper stories about the primarchs who were colossi of the universe and then we find them BOWING to human beings in this novel Legion...

It feels like 'primarch of the White Consuls' all over again.

the-seventh-son said...

well i just hope Dan writes the novel about Konrad Curze judging how good a writer he is

i just wanna know what happens to Gaunt and his mob at the moment

Brother Chadeux said...

Horus bows to a human - goes down on one knee in Horus Rising... the names elude me yet again (I hate mornings) - Alpharius may be acting the part - he is the master of manipulation after all

the-seventh-son said...

oh and to all those who are interested i have got a good little idea for my stalk tanks - you gonna have to wait and see but i promise its worth it

Anonymous said...

"theydrilledholesinmydamnteeth": i think you've missed the point, wilfully or otherwise. just calm down and put Alpharius back inside your pants.

the whole point is that any of the primarchs could indeed behave as you describe without expectation of any serious censure - the fact that they (usually) choose NOT to is a significant part of what makes the "30k" setting different from 40k. the Emperor sold the Great Crusade as a glorious quest by a unified human species to reclaim its destiny - not as a great big boltgun safari for his primarchs.

they believe (to start out with) that they are serving an ideal - the protection and prosperity of huamnkind. in fact, it's by appealing to that sense of honour and destiny that Horus initially wins so many of them to his side. the primarchs are revered by "ordinary" humans because they're seen as almost messianic saviour figures, not as 40k-style authority figures who maintain power through fear and the threat of violence.

it's precisely because they go to such lengths to demonstrate that people DON'T need to be afraid of them, that the primarchs are so honoured and respected. if you read the first few books in the series you'll quickly appreciate that the Heresy is essentially the undermining and eventual subsidence of that trust.

Anonymous said...

Here here, well said.

Chadeux - read 'Lord of the Night' by Simon Spurrier, thats got a load of good background on the Night Lords, and it also contains therein a terrible and dark secret... (Also, in the whole Horus Heresy theme, read Angels of Death by Gav Thorpe, more big surprises there, particularly with regards as to why the Dark Angels were late to arrive at Earth...)

Anonymous said...

Don't you mean Angels of Darkness ross? Which, incidently, is due for republishing in June I think.

Lofty said...

Well Dan hope to see you and Graham at some point this weekend, my younger sibling (xhalax), has dispatched some novels for your signature (now that puts me into true minion status)

We have discussed Legion after reading it in 3 sittings in 1 day (love london transport!!!), she seems to be looking for something that isn't actally there in the book, and i think that's what's left her cold, i admit there were a few times where i was thrown off kilter, but i found it pretty straight forward all told.

Was the main revelation (A.O) your idea or the one Alan Merritt gave to you? (you can answer that one on Saturday if you wish to save on spoilers). All in all, more good stuff from yourself, just have to await the arrival on Only in Death to get my next fix of Dan-ness (which is comparable to Ban-ness i suppose)

Anonymous said...

"she seems to be looking for something that isn't actally there in the book"

I suspect it's Ban Daur

Anonymous said...

Lord of the Night& Angels of Darkness are two bloody good extra books to read if your into H.H. full of twists and conspiresy.
Good choice!

Anonymous said...

I agree Big, especially as Lordy is short of LordoftheNight.

(Incidently, I was using the nickname before the book came out - wasn't my fault they decided to write about me).

nemesis749 said...

Someone should check on Xhalax...this is an unusually long absence from blogging!

Lofty said...

Xhalax is out looking for more Ban-ness

Anonymous said...

theydrilledholesinmydamnteeth said: 'Like I said, Namatjira and all those in attendence didn't behave as if it was public courtesy or compromise. They behaved like it was normal and expected!'

I thought I said that... but who am I to argue?

Sredni vashtar, the way it was written, and also Dan's personal reply to me on the blog (which were along the lines of 'yes a primarch should kneel. An Imperial Commander is the proxy of Horus and the Emperor!'), imply this was not a choice but mandatory and nothing to do with trying to make themselves less scary to the rest of humanity. This state of affairs may not have been Dan's intention but nothing to the contrary has been written by him as far as I can see (apart from Horus' stunt in Horus Rising which was nothing like the same thing)...

I must disagree with you on that point you made. Authority and command, not to mention personal bravery and dignity (and all the rest) are surely more important than displays of false humility (and that's certainly what it is when a primarch kneels to a mortal). It would be confusing to boot.

Anonymous said...

you're forgetting that Alpharius WANTS Namatjira to think that he's in charge. if he thinks the Alpha Legion are just there to prosecute his campaign, he's less likely to suspect them of any other motives. of course, as it turns out, he's a bit smarter than that, but it does still give the Legion the head start they were after.

Anonymous said...

Gotta tell u gents that Alpharius presented himself to Namatjira because its Namatjira's crusade not his!
Key words being Namatjira's crusade

Alpharius's philosophy is not to Piss in another mans gravy!A sound philosophy if u ask me,i have used it many times myself(even when i could have wiped the other person aside).

Remember keep ur friends close and ur enemies closer...
As for the subject of wether a Primarch could get rid of an imperial commander ....course he could ,try telling Russ he was'nt in charge.Alpharius just handles things more civilised like.

Anonymous said...

sredni vashtar said:

'you're forgetting that Alpharius WANTS Namatjira to think that he's in charge.'

I can't remember it saying that anywhere in the book but I'll take your word for it. It's not what I've been complaining about.

Uncle Truth said...

All previous, (painful) attempts at esoteric humour aside, there's something that I want to say.

Having read the founding series as a mere nipper of teenage years, it was many moons before I was aware of the Eisenhorn series and was baffled by the appearance of that insidious horse-faced b**tard 'Heldane', (a definite runner up to Zygmunt Molotch for the favourite characters award) in both the aforementioned eponymous title and the Gaunt books.
Until this time, I had never actually considered the 41st Millenium as an epoch in its' own right; with chronological events in sequence, like the history of any other civilisation.
It was the presence of Heldane in both titles, (as well as The Chair's encounter with the nids') that helped me to stop thinking of the characters and races of 40K as living in an isolated pocket of history. I suppose it's the nature of the franchise, (with the possibility of armies featuring solar macharius battling the Necrons across a tabletop) to assume that all events take place at the same time in this universe, instead of stopping to remember that the fiction therein takes place over the span of 1000 years.
What I'm trying to say is that managing to put the stories of such a fraught, hectic fictional realm, (whether intentionally or otherwise) into the beginnings of a historical context is a Herculean achievement and it's the thing that I admire most about your work.
This is the closest I'm going to get to a sycophantic platitude Mr A, but your BL work really raised the bar for me and I now expect such scope from all subsequent SF writers.

Looking forward to the next book, as always. Time for me to Feth off to my kip!

Rory said...

Sorry for the Change of subject:

But Paintball is fun, i went today. i shot lots of people, and a guy stunned himself with a Flash Grenade =D

Dukeleto said...

lol glad you had fun with Paintball, Rory. I had my first Airsoft experience a couple weeks ago, those flashbangs are quite intense!

Rory said...

It was Hilarious, ive been a few times. but this is the first time ive used Pyros,

One guy threw the flash. it hit a tree and landed next to steve.. He just looked at it and went. Oh Crap. as it exploded. The two guys behind me couldnt move for laughing so much. Was totaly Ace!

the-seventh-son said...

sounds like you had a good time rory, i've paintballing a couple of times, manasged to ace someone in the fourhead from +20 yards, which i was pretty happy with

never ued a flashbang though... gives me many ideas

as to other issues... i wanted to find out what nurse Janice said :(

oh well

Lofty said...

Just like to say, was good chatting with you at the signing Dan, wanted to ask more questions, but didn't get around to it (was aware of the queue behind me and the grewat british impatience when it comes to queuing), glad i got the Alan Merritt thing right. Oh and i apologise for the crapness of the postal system as Nikki's book didn't arrive in time for me to bring it for a signature

Received my copy of OiD yesterday (actually opened it out of the packaging), and finished it in 2 sittings, didn't feel like a proper GG book, and definately not an ending to a story arc (like Necropolis and Sabbat Martyr did), not a bad, thing, just a weird thing, had an amusing text conversation with Nikki, over the DEATH Lasgun (she played the part of the rest of the Simpson clan), glad to hear from you, RE: the next Story Arc's title (well i say hear, overheard is more like it). Just a couple of questions:
1) when you intorduce a character into the Ghost's series, do you have in mind their ultimate fate from the moment you introduce them, or do you have a vague outline of the journey?
2) On language What language is the dilaect Ezrah speaks based on (is it an existing language or is it purely a made up language), same with the Blood Pact speak.

cheers once again

Xhalax said...

Did i hear my older sibling correctly?

Are the short stories done?

Anonymous said...

Dan just got to the first Psi battle in Ravenor.
Hell yeh
Knocks the shit out of D. Gemmels battles at the source,its real roof smashing ,glass breaking people having heart attack, arse kicking stuff.....Yeh baby!

From now on when theirs a psychic duel goin down, thats how they should be written!

By Order of Jack DaSilva

Imperial Marshal

Anonymous said...

Lofty -i thought the whole Gereon thing was something different for the GG boys and OID was a welcome return to form and all out action.
Nothing like a good siege to kill a Ghost (or two).

Xhalax welcome back

Garrett said...

Hello I just wanted to pop my head in and say thank you for the work you do. I've been reading your books for a while now and love the Gaunt's Ghosts series. I posted once before a while back and may have said as much then, but after powering through "His Last Command" in a day, something I can't claim to have done with any book before, I felt a need to thank you for such an enjoyable series. I can't think of a series I've read where I've become so attached (without even realizing it) to the characters. I would physically become upset over the loss of characters such as Bragg, or heck even Feygor (which I have to say came as a surprise to myself). In truth I feel sad to lose every character in the course of your books. The notable exceptions being Cuu and for a brief while Hark, but come on you made me choose between Soric and Hark that was rough.

This is getting a little long so once more I'd like to thank you for the work you've done, and I look forward to reading much more of it.

Now I just have to finish AoC and OiD so that I can read the blog with out fear of spoilers :).

All the best.

Anonymous said...

Here's a story about why patience is a virtue:

Lately it's been taking next to forever for local bookstores to get Black Library books on the shelves-sometimes as late as two weeks after the release date, not sure why. Online is a different matter, as both Amazon and Barnes & Noble.com have the books available a couple of weeks ahead of their US release date. Last week I ordered Legion from B&N.com, it was supposed to ship yesterday. I received an e-mail this morning saying that the shipment of the book had been pushed back to March 24.

Hmm, I thought. I can top that.

Went to Amazon, ordered the book, estimated shipping date March 20. AH HA! Back to B&N.com, canceled the order, all is well, right?

Well, no. I just got an e-mail from B&N saying that Legion had been shipped...despite me canceling the order. Checked my account, it's listed as shipped. Oops...okay, no problem, I'll cancel the Amazon order and laugh at myself for not having patience and...it's being prepared for shipping and can't be canceled. Oops.

So...I have two copies of Legion coming my way.

The funny part is, this isn't the first time I've bought two Black Library books because of shipping madness-What Price Victory suffered the same fate, though different circumstances. Right now my mom is laughing at me and reminding me about patience.

the-seventh-son said...

i understand your suffering jack, i had a similar problm where i ordered my OiD from my local games dealer, who didnt bother to tell me it wasnt coming in after he fed me some lies, i then bought it from waterstones

only for him to say he had ordered it that day, i demanded my money back and got it eventually...

i havent got legion yet tough, need to read the rest of them first, just finished Horus Rising and i have to say i prefer the Ghost books at the moment, only time will tell though

Xhalax said...

Big - I was away?

Xhalax said...

Oh and also, I agree with you Big on OiD.

Going back to Gereon was a bit of a disappointment for me....so OiD was like a breath of fresh air in comparison.

It wind blowing over skulls in a dusty valley with the tops sawn off (couldn't resist).

the-seventh-son said...

for me the main disapointment with gereon was a certain someone dying at the end...

oh and the frustrating lack of detail on the 1st stay there after Traitor General, i think that would make a kick-arse book, hint hint ahem!

but OiD had some nice bits and i think did return back to the Ghosts proper, burn baby burn!

any idea when Blood Pact will be released, Dan?

Anonymous said...

I just finished re-reading The Lost arc, and I found that, on re-reading, Armour of Contempt came off much better than my first reading of it. It doesn't feel like a Ghost book because so much of the action takes place with Dalin and it's not your usual type of Ghost battle-it's D-Day times ten-but on second reading, it not only pays off a lot of the dangling threads from Traitor General but really sets up Only In Death nicely. You couldn't move on from His Last Command to OiD without giving closure to Gereon, only Dan managed to resolve that while denying the emotional closure everyone needed.

I'm finding as I re-read the Ghost books that while I adore the big event books that everyone seems to like-Necropolis, Honor Guard, Sabbat Martyr, OiD-it's the writing in books like Straight Silver and Armour that I really like. But that's just me.

Rory said...

Yea, Im just Re-reading it just now :D I love it, Im at the park when -
- Dry skulls in a dusty valley with the tops sawn off

Ezrah steals the sword its amazing^^

Xhalax said...

Ooooh...missed out 'dry'

So close. So so close! Though not bad on the memory side of things since I read Only In Death in September and I've been within three feet of a copy since.

the-seventh-son said...

why this is a long collection of posts

just too let anyone who's interested know i have more blood pact on the way...

an N20 shall be making an appearance and i'm working on my own codex/set of rules because i doubt GW will ever do a proper one

Anonymous said...

OiD finally made it into my local library, so I've finally managed to read it (being poor, I can't afford swanky hardbacks). Dan, you made me cry. Again. Even though I knew what was going to happen cause my mate spoiled then end for me months ago. Twice. Maybe I'm just a big softy? I cried when we lost Bragg, and Corbec and Caff and even Feygor. Bless you for creating such utterly loveable characters and for writing the series that got me into 40K in the first place.

Anonymous said...

Not-quite-an-edit-but-almost: darn, garrett beast me to it. Still, the sentiment is there.

Bodjo said...

Aww, you cried? I've never cried reading the Ghosts, but close to it I reckon. I still get goosebumps when rereading Corbec's death. He was such a great guy.

"Friend. Brother. Ghost,"

Anonymous said...

Hello, Im a new one here and english is not my best thing but just wanted to ask something.
Just finished reading The armour of contempt (great novel by the way) and couldnt stop crying. I could understand killing lots of Tanith even Bragg or Corbec ;( but why Caff? I know they cant live forever, be a cute family in the middle of war, life goes on dead too, story have to exist, but why him? There just had to be sad story or i really should read next one book, which i wanted to have at least a week break cause my family just hate me for leaving everything and run away to Ghosts world. And i really really want to read it just now.
So i'll wait for any answer it's a good excuse to have a break ;)

Anonymous said...

seventh son -so ur a blood pact player huh! welcome to the club.
My armys been on the circuit a while now we should meet at one of Dans signings,i will show u the codex we made up thats (according to other people) quite fair.
Theres some pictures on this site that Lily took of the army ,cant remember what month though.We are sometimes at Dans bigger signings like at Gamesday ,Conflict etc hope to c u there so i can show u the EtoGaur in action!

C Dan the Pact is spreading....

Xhalax- we were told u were off reading all things Ban..may i suggest all things Cuu?

Xhalax said...

Big - Might I suggest you be silent upon such matters?

Smurf said...

Dan - Thanks for signing my book at Forbidden Planet on the 15th of March mate. Im all the way from South Africa and have been reading your books since the first Gaunts Ghosts came out. Really awesome coming over here and being able to get the books as soon as they come out and not like 6 months later. Keep writing mate and ill keep reading.
P.S. Really looking forward to the sequel to Double Eagle

Anonymous said...

nhz - yeah, I cried like a baby. Losing Corbec knocked me for six, I was sort of sobbing and my boyfriend kept asking me what was wrong and I could only point at le book *blushes* he threatened to take the book away forever and I, er, got a bit more sensible. Now I read them when he's not about so I can have a good cry all on my own.... I always get too emotionally involved with my books, but then again I think that's also the mark of a really good author!

Maybe I should get that on my GD t-shirt this year... 'Arianwen: Big Softy and Attention Whore"

Xhalax said...

Arianwen - You still have a lot of catching up to do.

So far I've cried at at 7 different 40K books, and still cry at at least 4 of them whenever I reread them. The last one was while I was on the bus to work....there were actual tears running down my face when it happened. And when I went back over it at work while making the morning hot beverages, I cried again.

Added to the fact I've literally flung books across the room due to what's happened in them (my brother was deeply amused to see Flight of the Eisenstein go sailing past him in another room) and I've ran around the house screaming 'Oh my god' on at least one seperate occasion.

I've completely ignored people because I'm too deeply involved on a book and in my haste to read the words, the books sometimes end up inches from my face...as if I can pour the books into my eyes.

I think I may have even dodged a couple of fictional bullets at times too.

I've fallen in love, I've hated and loathed and I've laughed so hard I've almost puked and nearly fallen off the bed.

Yes....my life truly is that boring!

Anonymous said...

Xhalax c'mon i almost shit when he came back to do Larks,u gotta give it to the guy whatta evil barstardio,i mean theirs talk of a book on Mkvenner ,but hey a book on the life and times of a serial killer (namely Cuu )would be fantastic .
Brostin is a real prospect to, the man is a pyromaniac .
In fact cant we add some real depth to Bans character by getting Brostin to burn him up a little in an accident,making him all deep an dark an shit ,u know like the Phantom of the Opera or just disfigure him slightly like Quasimodo.....

"The bells Xhalax the bells"
Vote Ban for Quasi you know it makes sense!

WARNIG!!!
Big Stve is a trained proffessional, stunts and statements like this should not be done at Home.
Dan & Nik take no responsability for deaths that may occour from such statements or behaviour!

Anonymous said...

7th Son and Big - Pics of the Blood Pact are listed on the blogspot under June 2007. I just took another look at them and I would urge you all to do the same - lovely stuff!

Dukeleto said...

@Big - I rather hope some of these gaps in the background are left open to speculation and mystique.

Maybe some short origin stories set back on Tanith would be characterful, but it'd be a shame to give to much away if you ask me!

How're you getting on with that Stalk Tank? Checked out my gallery yet?

Anonymous said...

Hey i only just realised if u click on the pictures u get close ups

Cool.....

Anonymous said...

Dukeleto-That name ...is that Duke Leto Atredies from Dune?
Weve met havent we ?
Was it at Cambridge? Hope so but not quite done the stalk tank yet .Im looking for none Gw stuff for a base like the old Zoids or something .When i find it i'll know it and let everyone know!
U got any ideas?
Send me the name of the Gallery where ur art is if its the same stuff we saw its bloody fantastic.

If ur not the guy i met " hello" as i walk away embarassed.

Dukeleto said...

@Big - yeah that's me, I gave Andy a note for you, but he was understandably distracted the rest of the day. My gallery is on Deviantart
There's a lot more coloured work than I brought to GW Camb, hope you find it useful.
Paul (yeah I'm a big fan of Dune!)

Anonymous said...

Big - I bloody loved Zoids. I had them in my dorm room at college, way back in the day! Whatever happened to them?

Anonymous said...

Nik -as far as i know they re released them ,as a sort of
Yu- Gi- Oh type battle monster companion thing-a-ma-jig,u know the type pokemon sort of.
A f**kin tragedy if u ask me .I actually remember them sharing the original "Secret Wars comic" with the rest of the Marvel universe.
I loved it .

Duke-I to am a massive fan of Dune
loved it .ChildofNurgle sadly is recovering from an operation at the moment so forgive him for not passing on the note.
Guys the Dukes stuff is great,youve got Blood Pact ,Stalk tanks,Roane troops loadsa stuff well worth a look!

Anonymous said...

Duke - just seen ur stuff mate its the bollocks!some of the black an white stuff took me back to Rouge Trader days fantastic!
If we could meet up i would like u to do some Blood Pact pictures based on my army .Something tells me there gonna need a portfolio.
As u know loved the stalk tanks and Tona Crid.

Dukeleto said...

@Big - I have all the Zoids series on DVD and it's actually great fun, the Yu-gi-oh comparison is apt to start with, but it builds to mega-weapons and genocide, so well worth a look!

About the toys, I think I still have a couple of Spiderzoids around somewhere. That'd be a good basis for a Stalk-tank, altho I always saw them styled after the Defiler, tho lighter on its feet of course!
re. Dune, have you heard about the new film about to start production?

Rory said...

Big and Nik - Zoids! Ahh! I love it! it used to be showed on Skyone in the mornings, so id get up at rediculous hours so i could watch it before school. it was on at like 7 everymorning. I loved it!

the-seventh-son said...

Big - funny you mentioned those i started my army some while back (near the dawn of time, naturally) but i didnt get very far as it was taking forever and i didnt like the end result - im not very good at sculpting

after seeing those pictures of your army i decided to continue and the served as my inspiration, i love the way that you've done your models i think they are so detailed

just have a few questions if you dont mind:
1. How do you do those bloody grotesks?
2. What do the mutants represent
3. what else have you done for your army?

we will have to meet and go pact against past, a mini uprising kinda thing

as to Stalk Tanks, i have an idea, and i shall indulge you:

The new soul-grinder, which i belive is smaller than the defiler, i'll use that as the basis then add a "turret" to the upper chassis. It'll be expensive but i think its damn worth it i mean my AT-70s cost 70 quid so why not :P

if i could get a copy of that codex i would really appriciate it cheers

E.T. said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
E.T. said...

seventh-son: I use the old raptor aspiring champion head for grotesques.

Big: I think I've still got a Zoid T-rex and maybe a (partial) Brontsaurus one. I'll have a look and give it to Child o' Nurgle if I find it.

Child o' Nurgle: Oh feth, does this make me Brin Milo?

the-seventh-son said...

you cant get it anymore, which is a pain and also i want them to have some variation so i didnt really wanna go down that route, cheers for the suggestion though e.t.

Anonymous said...

Seventh-son so ur a Disciple of Urlock hu!
U taken the traitors oath yet ...or are u a natural from the Sainguinary worlds!
The reason i ask is ur Army will depend on its background.
Let me tell u about my armys developement.
Me and my comrades at Enfield Gw got together and realised that we had completely turned around the B.L. department in our store ,mainly thanks to Dans writings but also the hard works of all the authors and my colleuges.
so i decided that we should run a Sabbats World crusade Campaign game in the store U know the sort ,campaign maps, re enactment battles ,charactfull troops etc.
BUT we had a problem anyone that did want to be a bad guy wanted to play as chaos space marines ,predictable huh!
so when it came to who was gonna be the bad guy everyone pointed at me ,"fine" i said "lets do it".
Turns out i had to build an army big enough to take on most of the store!i mean this was way, way , before Apoc. At the time G.McNeil had written about Honsou & the Iron Warriors so they were my Allies along with Nurgle Traitor guard zombies.
The games we had were fantastic ,so much so that we then had one every year with up 25- 30 people in attendance(for our store that was fantastic).So my army developed trying to strictly adhere to the book but also to make it a playable army.
Now if u ever try to play an authentic B>P>Army at tournament the grief u get from whingers makes the whole experiance just not worth it.Playing games with an army that u have taken from a book is also risky.First thing out of a friend of mines mouth was "That armys shit you've got no plasma"
Then i have to explain"Their Blood Pact u Fuckin Idiot" before whooping his ass.So to please the masses and not frighten the to much we stuck these simple rules.

We used the standard imperial guard list as our mother list only borrowing frm the traitor guard list.As the Blood Pact style them selves on the guard.
1.get rid of comissars ,psykers ,preists and replace them with Aspiring champions from the T.G.list.A A.champ should near enough represent these things anyway!

2.Take all the powder weapons u can ie. shotguns Grenade launchers Stubbers ,Autocannons (50 cals)etc

3.Take out stormtroopers, Take the Death Brgade instead (article in white dwarf cant remember what number but i have it somwhere)
I also have rules for the Loaxtl somewhere.

4.replace Ogryns and whiteshields with the T.G. listing Abhumans and Mutants (with the khorne ability)

5.Take hardenend vets,Die hard skills .

Hopefully most people wont shit thier pants and start cryin "its not in the rules"
And remember ur an Eto-DemiGaur so play in character .
If in doubt "CHAAAARGGE"

We sculpted 5 or so different heads and bodies then spun them.

My mutants represent mutants...remember the variety of pact troops is next to that of the guard itself.Aliens ,Mercs, all find a home after taking the Pact!

I've around 5-6 thousand points of stuff including Air support,Titans,Armoured company,Mech company u name it .

next on the list Tumble guns ,Stalk tank (any Defilers to big ,but u never know)Roughriders abhumans (cruikshank)..

As for the mini uprising ..many have tried (havent they dave)
I'll be sure to send a letter to ur folks telling them u were a brave soldier!

the-seventh-son said...

Cheers big, theres some good ideas there, i've been using my Blood Pact quite differently

they are a mixture of Imperial Guard and Witch Hunters (the Irony)

The Loxatl i have been repping with Orgyns as they are closest too from official lists. i have been using a Vindicare Assassin (Saul) and an Inquisitor (Saggitar Slaith)for my special characters

i also do use Priests and Commissars to represent Beserkers and Life-Wards, i have an conversion of a priest i'll have to put up here, i'm yet to make desolane...

i also take doctrines, using Hardened Fighters if i have space and points. one however always go to having unorthodox equipment, allowing me to take Heavy Stubbers (10 pts) and Plasma Cannons (25 pts) for Infantry and Plasma Cannons for Stalk Tanks (which will be sentinels when i bother to do some)

i am a traitor, moving from Dark Angels and normal Guard to Night Lords and Blood Pact. what about yourself?

oh i also was going to add a squad of kroot, you know, just because i can

Next on my list is lost more infantry, a phalanx of tanks and stalk tanks and rough riders...

Anonymous said...

ow man i have a hangover,s.s.-rough riders are cool i use them as my eyes an ears. Plasma is in ur army were they of the ones who took Urdesh, mine was, so im chekky an take a few stolen las cannons to spice things up.All the exsseries come from the Kroot to give them a cannabalistic edge and the real basic weapons like the black powder pistols and throwing bombs.
Krot mercs are a fantastic idea u know we coud create a Kroot merc or any alien spot together if u like.

Anonymous said...

I think we need a dedicated Blood Pact gallery so you guys can show off.

Anonymous said...

while we're on the subject, who made the BP figures shown here?

(I liked Steve's better)

Dukeleto said...

@Shredni - Yeah that's not a bad idea. I could make a Deviantart group...

the-seventh-son said...

i'm up for that

just bought some catachans to spice my units up a little bit. I haven't a distinctive background to mine yet, we'll have to see where that goes, the only reason im doing that is because they were used in Sabbat Martyr, Guns of Tanith and His Last Command - i have way to good a memory for just random facts

i like that idea about a seperate page, we'll have to see where we can go with that, what you think Big?

Pack_master said...

What about a general "Dan Abnett Work Group" (or so) at DevA? There everyone of us can show of their Dan-inspired work.
I for example don't have my IG or cultists made after Blood Pact or Gudrunite Rifles, but every time I'm working at my Inquisitor's retinues, I have Eisenhorn and Ravenor in mind. (Remember Neve and Titus Endor? They both had Kasrkin. I bought a bunch of them for my inquisitional retinues only because of them ;) )

Anonymous said...

I finished Legion this morning, and let me add my voice to the chorus of praise this book is getting. So many twists and turns, so many revelations, and damn, I did not see coming in the least what the Cabal really wanted the Alpha Legion to do. Well done, well done, well done.

Dukeleto said...

@Pack Master - That's a good idea, but we gotta think of something a bit less fanboi to call it!

The Sabbat Worlds, perhaps?

Pack_master said...

@ Dukeleto: I was called "ringleader of the german Dan Abnett sect" in the past, so what? :D

But The Sabbat Worlds sounds really nice, sure as sure.

Anonymous said...

HE`S BACK!!!!

And this time he`s been eviscerated!

I return to the land of the living (Quite apt as it was easter weekend...) replete with Gaunt like scar across the belly!

I`m not sure ET, I see you as more of a Meryn.... You know, trying hard to be bad ass and nasty, sinister facial hair......

Anonymous said...

I have just been browsing through the blog, only to find myself namechecked as the person who introduced Dan to D&D. Gosh. I am deeply flattered and touched. Dan, I sent a longer email to your info@ address, no idea whether you will get it. Or indeed ever read this comment. I'll just stay here and go zootlewurdle...

W.R.Young said...

Lord Abnett,You bloody brilliant bastard.I am sure you have vox-stealers in my writting hab,and on my vox caster.I'm a novice writer,and some how you are getting my Ideas.Brothers of the Snake,you make the astartes a little more human,I loved it.I am a great fan.Gaunts ghosts,Waiting for The Lost to come out.Maybe I should write faster,or just send you my Ideas.But you seem to get them anyway.Maybe one day I'll be as great a writer as you.( not holding my breath though)Thank you for the great reads and the enjoyment they bring me

Anonymous said...

It wasn´t untill one of my best friends gave me a call and said ´´HEY THE RELEASE DATE FROM THE LOST IS ANNOUNCED´´ that I actually said; Feth me.