# Top Five Shorts



## bobss (May 18, 2008)

Be it Horus Heresy, 40k or Warhammer Fantasy. If you are lucky enough to believe you have more than five riveting shorts, feel free to categorise them accordingly.

Off the top of my head;

_The Last Church_ (Graham McNeill) -- a poignant piece by McNeill which delves into the Emperor's vision for mankind and the Unification Wars which preceded the Great Crusade, classic McNeill fluffing. Tackles the nature of religious beliefs and each participant has their turn to provide some insightful, thought-provoking discussion, even in the context of our world. Most importantly, this shows that the Emperor _can_ be written about in a relateable fashion, and there's even an Easter egg or two.

_At Gaius Point_ (ADB) -- a personal favourite of mine. My preferred portrayal of the Black Rage in action with some breathtaking scenes of the Siege of Terra, truly getting across the scale of war at play like in _Helsreach_. Quality truly is quantity's senior in this one, and the situation between Astartes and Sororitas reminds me of _Of Mice and Men_ somewhat. A nice surprise in a 40k anthology.

_Blood Games_ (Dan Abnett) -- I can't be sure about already established Custodian lore, but this feels like classic Abnett lore genesis and a nice view of Terra to boot. Like many stories in _Tales of Heresy_ it's relatively forgettable given the tendency of later full-length novels to draw inspiration from and elaborate upon. A recurring pattern I've noticed and one that justifies the continued existence of anthologies, I find.

_The Iron Within_ (Rob Sanders) -- Iron Warriors 101. No Chaos, no mutations, no messing around. Simplistic, brutal and efficient Iron Warriors tactics against other Iron Warriors. Nothing poignant, spiritual or emotional here, just gritty, smoky and death-filled. My favourite portrayal of Perturabo's sons to date. Links into Imperium Secundus I believe.

_Savage Weapons_ (ADB) -- If the _Age of Darkness_ anthology was in doubt for you, then this saves it. A firm portrayal of the Lion, cutting to the heart of his character which two whole books could not prior. Alongside some nice Night Lords focus without simply being Talos' gang dumped into 30k. The short actually feels momentous, like an excerpt from a larger novel while other shorts often give the impression an author has purposefully gone 'out of their way' to create a scenario which bears no greater significance with varied results.

I could switch _Savage Weapons_ for Farrer's _After Desh'ea_. A pioneer to what is later given greater flesh in _Betrayer_ and upholds Farrer's high reputation on this forum.

And yah, a lot of Horus Heresy here. I don't branch out much.


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## Barnster (Feb 11, 2010)

For me..

Mormacars lament - Chris Prama 
A classic for the oldies, From the very old realm of chaos anthology for fantasy. It tells the story of a HE captured and tortured in Hag Grief, who learns plans of DE and Chaos invasion of Ulthuan, and is desperate to get back to inform the helves. One of the best written stories with several plot twists.

Aurelian - ADB
A very good short story, Fills in some gaps and really develops the relationship between Magnus and Lorgar. It also deals alot with the nature of Chaos and time, of truth and reality 

Rebirth - Chris Wraight
Answers questions from 1k sons interesting dynamic between the captured son and the world eaters. Includes my favourite one line in any BL story something along the lines of "The Wolves came here because they thought you corrupt, we came here because we knew you were not"

Deaths Cold Kiss - Steven Saville (Think this is a fake name)
Tells of a Sigmarite priest who is attacked by a vampire in the early days of Vlads reign in Slyvania. He and the others think he will turn into a vampire. Its about the horror and fear that grips the priest and his entourage. Great intro to a great series. Really captures the true horror of vampires 

Final spot is torn between Raven flight and Dark king 
Go Raven flight 
Deals with the aftermath of Istavaan and really give the massacre huge scale. Great look at the raven guard, Corax, Iron warriors, World eaters and the relationship between astartes and humanity


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## Znoz (Feb 9, 2013)

Backcloth for a Crown (Dan Abnett)
Eisenhorn, fair, portraits, chaos...

Twelve Wolves (Ben Counter)
Saga of an old skald about beliefs of mighty space wolves (with some precaution in it).

Torment (Anthony Reynolds)
Story about dream of Word bearers space marine (post heresy), with an awesome ending - what becomes even more epic if you readed 3 books of Reynolds Word Bearers.

Wolf at the door (Mike Lee)
Story about 13 Great Company of Space wolves, lead by Bulveye. Rediscovered planet, fights with Dark Eldar and epic ending.

Fight or Flight (Sandy Mitchell)
Funny story about glorious hero of Imperium. Sometimes cowardice (or 
precaution, egoism) and luck can stop even tyranid horde


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## Lord of the Night (Nov 18, 2009)

_A Deeper Darkness_ - Rob Sanders: One of my favourites without a doubt. Sanders really keeps the atmosphere tense by making the very darkness into an enemy, the monster of the story was imaginative and the moral at the end of the story regarding ordinary people was a good glimpse of things to come. A real Warhammer horror story, one that leaps off the page and into your imagination.

_The Masters, Bidding_ - Matthew Farrer: A pure CSM story and one of my favourites. I liked the differing natures of the Legions present, what each one of them considered a great victory and how they viewed the others around them, and the divide between Veterans of the Long War and newly inducted CSMs that are becoming more and more prevailent among the Legions. Excellent descrptions and characterisations as always with Farrer, and that unique touch that would allow you to know that Farrer wrote it even without seeing the author's name.

_The Last Church_ - Graham McNeill: As Bobss said, it's intelligent, thought-provoking and deeply insightful. Neither for or against religion, it argues the merits of both a religious way of life and a secular one, and shows a darker side to the Emperor while at the same time showing him in a relatable and personable light. The final moments of this story are artistic and this is the story that I think everyone should read as a lead into the entire Horus Heresy.

_Crucible_ - John French: A shorter story than most but one that's still one of my favourites. Artistic with that beautiful descriptive work that makes John French's work feel lifelike, it's also a story that is as old as history. A knight fighting a monster, and through his own personal testing ground, and the nature of sacrifice and duty that comes when you fight monsters. French really makes this story feel meaningful and one that, if nothing else, will give you some really beautiful scenes to remember.

_Nightfall_ - Peter Fehevari: An older one but still a really enjoyable one. Dark and atmospheric, and with that esoteric touch that Fehevari does well, the plot of this story is definitely unique with a boy trying to survive a dark time on his homeworld as those who bring that dark time deal with their own problems, the two stories mesh well together and it shows an interesting look into how the Traitor Legions recruit in 40k.


Honourable Mentions: _The Long Games at Carcharias_ and _The Iron Within_ (Rob Sanders), _Primary Instinct_ (Sarah Cawkwell), _Renegades_ (Gav Thorpe), _Labyrinth_ (Richard Ford) and _Orphans of the Kraken_ (Richard Williams).


LotN


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## Khorne's Fist (Jul 18, 2008)

In no particular order, Prince of Crows, Dark King, Hell in a Bottle (from the Let the Galaxy Burn anthology), Wrath of Kharn, and most recently Wulfen, mostly because it was good to see more 13th Company, even if they weren't actually in it. Hopefully it's an indication there might be more from them in the near future.


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## Lord of the Night (Nov 18, 2009)

Khorne's Fist said:


> In no particular order, Prince of Crows.


Oh novellas count? Then PoC definitely supersedes _Nightfall_ on my list.


LotN


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## bobss (May 18, 2008)

I should've specified (and discounted Hammer and Bolter extracts from full-length novels too. And maybe audio scripts). Because it would be grossly unfair on other, true shorts if we're letting the likes of _Prince of Crows_ loose here. Lol.


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## Khorne's Fist (Jul 18, 2008)

bobss said:


> I should've specified (and discounted Hammer and Bolter extracts from full-length novels too. And maybe audio scripts). Because it would be grossly unfair on other, true shorts if we're letting the likes of _Prince of Crows_ loose here. Lol.


Ok, that's fair enough. I'll go with The Lightning Tower instead, just because it was the first time any mention was made of the lost Legions.


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## Marcoos (Sep 26, 2010)

I wrote a blog post about this a while back...

All from the Horus Heresy.

5. The Lightning Tower by Dan Abnett – from Shadows of Treachery

As mentioned earlier, this was originally released as part of the Games Day 2007 chapbook, and is a very welcome addition to Shadows of Treachery. This story focuses on Rogal Dorn as he fortifies the Imperial Palace on Terra. It’s an interesting story, despite containing no actual ‘action’, but it focuses on Dorn’s relationship with some of his brother Primarchs and also deals with his doubts and fears over the growing heresy.

4. Savage Weapons by Aaron Dembski-Bowden – from Age of Darkness

I’m sure many would disagree with this not being higher in my list, as Dembski-Bowden has quickly established himself amongst the best (in my opinion the best) Black Library authors. Savage Weapons is a really interesting story, showing a confrontation between Konrad Curze and Lion El’Johnson (Primarch of the Dark Angels). Whilst this story is taken from the perspective of the Dark Angels, it really marks the beginnings of Dembski-Bowden’s writings on the Night Lords legion in general, and the Night Lords First Captain, Sevatar, in particular.

3. The Iron Within by Rob Sanders – from Age of Darkness

As Sanders’ opening piece in the Heresy series, this is a great offering. It covers the resistance of a loyalist Iron Warriors stronghold against it’s own legion. This is, to my mind, a faithful portrayal of the Iron Warriors, and gives a brilliant demonstration of how fortifications would work within the technological landscape of the 31st millennium.

2. The Last Church by Graham McNeill – from Tales of Heresy

This story takes place during the Unification of Terra campaign, when the Emperor and his Thunder Warriors (genetic precursors to the Space Marines) conquered the planet. It is set in a backdrop to the fighting, as the Emperor takes time away from the military campaign to mark the destruction of the last church on Terra. The entire story focuses on dialogue between the Emperor himself and the priest of the last church, and contains a debate over the nature of science/rationality vs religion/faith. The insight into the personality, power and ambition of the Emperor is revealing, and the story itself is really well written given the potentially inflammatory nature of the subject matter.

1. After Desh’ea by Matthew Farrer – from Tales of Heresy

I’m mystified that this remains Farrer’s only contribution to the Horus Heresy to date. The story itself covers the first meeting between Angron, Primarch of the World Eaters, and his legion after his recovery by the Emperor. I use the word meeting, but that far from covers the violence and tension between Angron and Kharn, the 8th Company Captain (for fans of the Chaos fluff, I’m sure the fact that Kharn is captain of the 8th company is entirely un-coincidental).


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