Marc Gascoigne

The final outing of brooding hero Chadda Darkmane and his rock-like jawline sees our hero, in reflective mode after the great victory against Rivel, thrown rapidly into another battle. This time his companions are super-wizard Yaztromo, who finds that without his powers he is just an old man in a big dress; the weasely con-artist Weasel (and don't we all know a Weasel, good character writing there by MG); and the sexy elf Star, who has a damn good excuse for being the pastiche of a sexy show more minor character. This all flows along nicely, has some nice battle set pieces, a trio of fine villains with some decent characterisation and plot-twists, lots of weird gory monsters that don't get used as much as they should; and builds to an excellent pair of final chapters and an almost perfect finale. Lacks any sort of depth and is a bit of a sausage fest, but you can't have everything. show less

What is there to say?

This is a big collection of artwork of the Old World from the 90s and early 2000s that really shows that Millennium shift to the big classical battle paintings aesthetic of 5th and 6th edition that are incredibly nostalgic for me from the mora unique and weird cartoony style of the 90s. Personally, I prefer the character of the bizarre old stuff, but the skill and dynamism on display in the landscapes filled with waves of Bretonnian Knights and hordes of Lizardmen Saurus show more with a delightful amphibian aspect cannot be denied. The former get my imagination going about individuals and their lives, while I get lost in the beauty and detail of the latter that takes me back to picking up boxes of the squat one piece and shield Chaos Warriors and the the Beastmen who, casting my mind back, kinda looked like they were about to launch into a pole dancing routine on their halberds...

Warhammer Fantasy was my first introduction to Warhammer, but 40K really stole my heart, and I might be biased, but I do think there is something more unique and fascinating in general about the art of the Dark Millennium. Regardless, the art of the Old World and the Realms is wonderful, and at least they can be accused of doing weird artwork and in store posters that are weird fascistic propaganda pieces, like some of the return of Guilliman stuff was. The old and the future settings always look better and themselves when they are more grimy and weird.

A phenemonal collection from a stable of absolutely brilliant artists. show less

By Calgar's calloused cuticles, this book is nightmare gorgeous and shouldn't be judged by its awkwardly designed cover!

Covering the full span of the release or Warhammer 40K in 1987 to this book's release in 2006 the is a breathtaking look at artwork for each faction from a veritable smorgasbord of artists, including many who are forgotten or missed because they only did a set number of pieces.

Having just come from devouring Adrian Smith's book, which had no titles or text, I appreciated show more seeing some of that in here and everything with the title, artist, and where they are from. This includes box art, codices, comics, video games, novels, and more.

I am the same age as Warhammer 40K and have been a daughter of Chaos for many years, and I was amazed at how many pieces were entirely new to me, as well as feeling an immense amount of nostalgia for things I recognise that first got my interested and then hooked on this universe.

If I had anything critical to say, beyond the cover being unnecessarily ugly (in design, not the Crimson Fist artwork), it would be that the quotes throughout are rarely actually interesting or insightful, generally amounting to 'artist is great and knows Warhammer good', which I absolutely agree with, but it's funny to see it so many times. Oh, and most notes are relatively relevant, which makes the ones that aren't seem very bizarre. Honestly though, Blanche et al absolutely deserve their flowers and to tell each other and us how awesome they think each other are. This book is proof! show less

This is a fun book that I've played a few times before but have never completed until last night. You're a prince sent on a quest by a god-dream, to liberate your god and your people from the siege of the lizard people. Theoretically there should be lots of lizard-slaying but I think the best route involves killing none (at least not using the combat system). Author Marc Gascoigne has a long and storied history in rpgs but this was his only FF gamebook - perhaps the experience put him off show more writing them. It is definitely a good book at heart, but it feels like it was heavily edited and badly proofed. There is a bit, for example, where I fought my way out of a situation but left my rucksack behind - but I had never taken it off, so did I always take my rucksack off when exploring, or was it just this time? If the former, why didn't I lose it in other situations, if the latter, why wasn't it mentioned? The epic magic finish could have done with another few hundred words because it feels quite perfunctory - well done you win bye! But the story itself was great, fun to play, hard to beat - there are so many ways to lose your stuff. The final dungeon crawl I have memories of being tricky but this time I found it quite easy, and was pleased to find the essential bits without much trouble. All in all a decent gamebook that could have done with slightly better editing and perhaps a director's cut. show less