More Tales From The Mortal Realms…
And we’re back for the last three ‘Raiders of the Realms’ story. You can read my thoughts on ‘Conn Crowhand’s Last Oath’ and ‘Vipers of the Marsh’ over Here or you can just scroll down a bit, either is fine by me ;o)
I was going to do this as ‘two stories per post, across three posts’, over the week, until I remembered that the ‘Raiders of the Realms’ collection only has five tales in total. Now, my math is comically bad (seriously, I’ve had interview feedback that said I shouldn’t be allowed to work with numbers…) but even I know that two into five will always leave one left over. So, here we are :o) The following three tales didn’t hit the mark quite as hard, as the previous two, but there was still fun to be had here and overall, I’m glad I forked out for the set. Some quick thoughts follow…
‘Slinktalon’ – Robbie MacNiven (Black Library)
Page Count: 35 Pages
A trio of rival assassins from the Clans Eshin join forces to take out a high profile Skaven. Pooling their prodigious skills and cunning, they hunt their quarry with consummate efficiency… but something isn't right. Is their mark everything he appears to be?
There is a lot happening here and I mean a lot :o) Like the Skaven themselves. ‘Slinktalon’ has a real capacity to surprise you at just the right moment and a constant flow of action keeps things moving nicely. It was just a bit of a shame then that, for me, there wasn’t quite enough characterisation to distinguish one Skaven from another (one was taller but that was about it)… I had to keep going back to figure out not only ‘who was who’ but also ‘who was where’. Given the ending, there’s an argument to be made that this was the whole point but it didn’t quite work for me.
‘Reclaimed Honour’ – Jacob Peppers (Black Library)
Page Count: 36 Pages
Gideon Vell is a disgraced member of a Freeguild – the sole survivor of a regiment whose commander fell to the temptations of Chaos. After he’s demoted to a Wildercorps Hunter outfit, he runs into an Idoneth Deepkin raiding party. Will he regain the trust of his peers, can he reclaim his honour, and will he manage to escape with his life?
Now this was a bit more like it. I saw the ‘reveal’ a way off but for me, the exploration of Gideon Vell, isolated within a frontier community, that’s already very isolated itself, was worth the price of entry. Here’s a man marked by ill luck but still standing up for himself in his community as well as the lands outside the walls. And what ‘walls’ they are… Peppers really goes for it with the background scenery and ‘Reclaimed Honour’ probably stands out the most in the ‘Raiders’ collection as a whole.
‘This Rough Beast’ – Graham Thomas Wilcox (Black Library)
Page Count: 32 Pages
A group of vampiric Blood Knights launches an ill-fated attack against a legion of Duardin, thinking them an easy mark. They soon discover the error of their calculation, as a mysterious white-bearded warrior leads the return fight.
Was it ‘that’ white-bearded warrior…? I think it was but either way, Wilcox comes up with another strong tale that looks like it’s just going to be another stand up fight but has a fascinating look at the warrior culture, of the Mortal Realms, and the respect given by its adherents, even though the outcome is always that only one is left standing. And it’s no spoiler to say that you only get one guess at the colour of the victors beard… ;o)
I was going to do this as ‘two stories per post, across three posts’, over the week, until I remembered that the ‘Raiders of the Realms’ collection only has five tales in total. Now, my math is comically bad (seriously, I’ve had interview feedback that said I shouldn’t be allowed to work with numbers…) but even I know that two into five will always leave one left over. So, here we are :o) The following three tales didn’t hit the mark quite as hard, as the previous two, but there was still fun to be had here and overall, I’m glad I forked out for the set. Some quick thoughts follow…
‘Slinktalon’ – Robbie MacNiven (Black Library)
Page Count: 35 Pages
A trio of rival assassins from the Clans Eshin join forces to take out a high profile Skaven. Pooling their prodigious skills and cunning, they hunt their quarry with consummate efficiency… but something isn't right. Is their mark everything he appears to be?
There is a lot happening here and I mean a lot :o) Like the Skaven themselves. ‘Slinktalon’ has a real capacity to surprise you at just the right moment and a constant flow of action keeps things moving nicely. It was just a bit of a shame then that, for me, there wasn’t quite enough characterisation to distinguish one Skaven from another (one was taller but that was about it)… I had to keep going back to figure out not only ‘who was who’ but also ‘who was where’. Given the ending, there’s an argument to be made that this was the whole point but it didn’t quite work for me.
‘Reclaimed Honour’ – Jacob Peppers (Black Library)
Page Count: 36 Pages
Gideon Vell is a disgraced member of a Freeguild – the sole survivor of a regiment whose commander fell to the temptations of Chaos. After he’s demoted to a Wildercorps Hunter outfit, he runs into an Idoneth Deepkin raiding party. Will he regain the trust of his peers, can he reclaim his honour, and will he manage to escape with his life?
Now this was a bit more like it. I saw the ‘reveal’ a way off but for me, the exploration of Gideon Vell, isolated within a frontier community, that’s already very isolated itself, was worth the price of entry. Here’s a man marked by ill luck but still standing up for himself in his community as well as the lands outside the walls. And what ‘walls’ they are… Peppers really goes for it with the background scenery and ‘Reclaimed Honour’ probably stands out the most in the ‘Raiders’ collection as a whole.
Page Count: 32 Pages
A group of vampiric Blood Knights launches an ill-fated attack against a legion of Duardin, thinking them an easy mark. They soon discover the error of their calculation, as a mysterious white-bearded warrior leads the return fight.
Was it ‘that’ white-bearded warrior…? I think it was but either way, Wilcox comes up with another strong tale that looks like it’s just going to be another stand up fight but has a fascinating look at the warrior culture, of the Mortal Realms, and the respect given by its adherents, even though the outcome is always that only one is left standing. And it’s no spoiler to say that you only get one guess at the colour of the victors beard… ;o)
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