Short Story Saturday: The Year of the Rat

Today marks the beginning of the Chinese Year of the Rat, and as I've been thinking a lot about Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000 fiction of late, I was reminded of the Skaven short stories I've written over the years.

The Nagenhof Bell
This Badenov's Band story first appeared in Inferno! magazine #27, but despite being cut from my first Black Library novel/short story collection, The Dead and the Damned, it was eventually reprinted in Swords of the Empire, which is still available as an eBook.

Sir Dagobert's Last Battle
The conniving ratmen also make an appearance in this short story, about a Grail Reliquae and the Grail Knight it once was. What can I say? I'm a sucker for a good rat ogre! Originally published in Hammer and Bolter #9, the tale finally saw print in The Best of Hammer and Bolter: Volume 1. Although the book is now out of print, you can still pick up copies second hand.

The Skaven also appear in my Warhammer Path to Victory gamebook, Shadows Over Sylvania, but good luck finding a copy - it's probably even harder to get hold of than The Best of Hammer and Bolter!

Warhammer Wednesday: Skaven - Warpstone!

The End Times are* all about the Skaven at the moment. A couple of weeks ago I posted links to my Skaven-themed stories, including Herald of Oblivion.

Those stories are not the only occasions on which I've written about the ratmen of the Under-Empire. A few years ago** I wrote an article for White Dwarf Magazine called Civil War! which was accompanied by a scenario called Warpstone!

Well some enterprising individual has posted that very scenario online, and you can find it here.

* Or should that be 'The End Times is'?

** It's probably nearer 15 years ago!

Warhammer Wednesday: Rise of the Skaven

Black Library have been making much of their Skaven stories of late, what with the Rise of the Horned Rat in the Old World with the coming of the End Times. The chittering denizens of the Under-Empire have appeared in various of my Black Library stories including Sir Dagobert's Last Battle, the Badenov's Band story The Nagenhof Bell, and quite extensively in my Path to Victory gamebook Shadows Over Sylvania.

All of the above are available direct from Black Library, Sir Dagobert's Last Battle as part of Hammer and Bolter Issue #9, The Nagenhof Bell as part of Swords of the Empire, and Shadows Over Sylvania as its own print on demand title. Just follow the links to find out more and purchase them.

Mission Games Workshop: Return to Brighton

As I was in Brighton for FantasyCon at the weekend, I popped into the local GW store (as is my wont). I was very pleased to see both The Best of Hammer and Bolter: Volume 1 and Treacheries of the Space Marines on display (since both contain stories by me), and there were some totally awesome gaming boards on show in the shop window.

The Empire/Skaven themed board.

 

The Dark Vengeance-inspired board.

But most pleasant of all was meeting Joe Gallup, who was on duty at the time, and who (it would appear) is a big Black Library fan. And I think I might just have persuaded him to pick up a copy of Shadows over Sylvania when it comes out (probably some time next year now).