Warhammer 40k

[Humble Architect]

Book nerds, I'm in need of your help. Have any of you got some good recommendations for books that have decent portrayals of daemon worlds?

I'm working on a supplement/re-skin of Necromunda and I'm after some inspiration. I've read the "classics" as far as the subject is concerned; the Ahriman trilogy (particularly Sorcerer), Daemon World, the old Lost & The Damned/Slaves To Darkness books, Liber Chaotica (more fantasy focused, but still has some good stuff in there), The Lords of Silence, Crimson King etc. I'm looking for anything that has some good "nuts 'n' bolts" portrayals of daemon worlds beyond just the spoopy "the rules of nature are turned on their head" kind of fluff that Black Library is so fond of.

This is mainly for inspiration. Theres going to be good dose of OC donut steel in what I'm creating, but I don't want to stray too far from established lore.

The third Word Bearer novel has an Undivided shrine world, the Honsou/Uriel stuff has an Undivided “forge world” kinda. ADB’s Talon of Horus and Black Legion do a good showing of life in the Eye. The audio drama “Children of Sicarus” is a good showing of an “untamed” daemon world and life on one. The third Fabius book has the Pleasure world of Fulgrim and it also appears in Slaves to Darkness.

Daemon worlds are either untamed warp-matter loosely tethered to “reality” or are the design of their “master” which means they can be anything, like Medrengard and Sicarus show. Though the default seems to be somewhere in the middle, with daemons either corrupting the local fauna or outright becoming it and various settlements and tribes, that existed before the CSM moved in.

 

[Muad'Dick]

Cheers boys. I knew I could rely on you.

Really good book on its own. A good balance of the Daemon world being both absolutely insane but having its own kind of order.

Yeah. Daemon World is a banger. Good story too. For some reason I always get big Conan vibes from that book.

The Dark Imperium trilogy has some Nurgle moments I found interesting, but it's not the focus at all.

Nice one. I'll give them a look over. Nu-Guilliman always put me off the Dark Imperium stuff. I'm pretty sure Lords of Silence was the only Dark Imperium novel I bothered with.

I'm not salty about it being Mortarion that was Guilliman's foil and not Lorgar. Not at all.

Daemon worlds are either untamed warp-matter loosely tethered to “reality” or are the design of their “master” which means they can be anything, like Medrengard and Sicarus show. Though the default seems to be somewhere in the middle, with daemons either corrupting the local fauna or outright becoming it and various settlements and tribes, that existed before the CSM moved in.

I'd forgotten about Medrengard (how can you forget Honsou's dussy?). This is the kind of direction I'm heading in. Forge Worlds, even daemonic ones, justify a good human presence and a certain amount of functionality. Going full AoS and having everything look like it's been pulled from a Heavy Metal cover isn't really going to work with what I have in mind.

I think the specialist games team did a decent enough job with Helot gangs in Necromunda, but the setting kind of limits how far you can lean into the chaos aspect. The odd spawn and some spoopy powers doesn't cut it for me, hence why I'm embarking on this little project.

 

[Humble Architect]

I'd forgotten about Medrengard (how can you forget Honsou's dussy?). This is the kind of direction I'm heading in. Forge Worlds, even daemonic ones, justify a good human presence and a certain amount of functionality. Going full AoS and having everything look like it's been pulled from a Heavy Metal cover isn't really going to work with what I have in mind.

I think the specialist games team did a decent enough job with Helot gangs in Necromunda, but the setting kind of limits how far you can lean into the chaos aspect. The odd spawn and some spoopy powers doesn't cut it for me, hence why I'm embarking on this little project.

It’s not a daemon world but the port they visit in the second NL novel has a functional society, it’s obviously a harsh and remorseless one in the Maelstrom but it’s more a case of people living and existing within chaos and not everyone being a Starscream.

Canticle City on Harmony was 40k Las Vegas but was also a functional society, built by Fabius to get his idiot brothers distracted with a shiny, degenerate but they did build it from the ground.

For Daemon world terrain, get a jar, get your sprues, get whatever odds and ends you wanna throw in, get some acetone and let that toxic concoction sit. It’s poisonous so use a mask and some really good chemical gloves, but that sludge when smeared and mixed with anything makes quick, relatively cheap terrain fast.
What I did was put it inside a terrain kit, one of the hollow ones, packed it to the brim and let it sit. I’ll try and remember to get a pic tonight. It expanded and left columns that looked genuinely tortured, like the environment itself was chaos spawn. Throw in wires, hoses, pipes, chains and spikes and it’s quick and dirty terrain.

 

[Farm Hand]

What's a good 40K book for someone that has no experience with 40K to read?

Contrary to the advice I usually see, I always say that the best entry point into 40k lore is not through novels, YouTubers, or wikis (the latter two questionable veracity), but rather through the rulebooks for the main tabletop game. Get the latest 10th edition core rulebook and read that first. It summaries the setting, the factions, and other important bits. After that, glances over the factions to see which ones look cool to you and then get the corresponding 10th (or 9th) edition codices (army books) to read more about them. It can also be worth looking at previous core rulebooks and codices since the amount of information varies from edition to edition. If you find a faction you like out of this and want to read further, then ask about Black Library fiction (novels, shorts stories, etc.) recommendations. The fiction is often categorized by factions or named special characters as the protagonists with most factions having options available. There's a lot of audiobook versions as well, though keep in mind that text versions sometimes have "dramatis personae" cast lists to keep track of who's who when there's a lot of characters.

I think it's easy enough to find PDF, ebook, and audiobook files of everything if you look.

 

[Guntkvd]

Opinion on poorhammer? They sound like GW shills.

 

[Paul-Denton]

Opinion on poorhammer? They sound like GW shills.

I could murder the co-host that obviously knows nothing and adds nothing to the conversation with my brain. It feels like he's literally there so the guy with the tsons mascot has someone to talk to. So many times the nerdy sounding fucker almost verbatim repeats what the other guy says.

 

[p1138]

I could murder the co-host that obviously knows nothing and adds nothing to the conversation with my brain. It feels like he's literally there so the guy with the tsons mascot has someone to talk to. So many times the nerdy sounding fucker almost verbatim repeats what the other guy says.

At least he has a vague understanding of what the conversation is about, unlike DK on Adeptus Ridiculous who is still the know-nothing idiot after like 5 years.

Opinion on poorhammer? They sound like GW shills.

Some episodes are fine, others are just fucking retarded. Since they still seem to think that combat patrols should be 500 points at 35-40% off when GW themselves clearly don't. It's honestly kind of hard to think of a good episode of theirs because it's usually just a bunch of wishlisting(their ideas for combat patrols, discount boxes, etc.), random tier list slop(ranking guns and crap like that), most of the "every faction's <insert thing here>", but then every now and then they have something like the distraction carnifex episode which is ok. But I wouldn't call them GW shills, and they don't seem to be like other content creator channels that get free shit from GW to promote.

 

[Michael Wade]

Read a good old Smurf book

Killing ground.


Its following the aftermath of the last book where the smurfs went to hell, blew up the iron warrior baby maker and jacked a teleporting demon train with friendly mutants to an imperial world. ( Trust me it was not a fun as it sounds. good book, but they really went the extra mile to make sure every step was an agonizing journey ) The stakes are at first pretty low, and it was neat to just read about the smurfs chilling while trying to figure out where they are and how to get home. A big feature I've noticed about Graham McNeil's books is he really likes to share the spotlight with other human characters besides the ultramarines and this was no different. A large amount of focus is put upon an imperial guard regiment that was allowed to retire as PDF on a world they conquered after years of service. Unfortunately they have PTSD out the ass and a narcissist commander that hands out atrocities like candy. The warp powder keg went off when the smurfs landed via demon warp train and eventually lead to their mutant buddys getting possessed. Then at the end the Grey knights show up to bail their asses out.

It is such a refreshing thing to have a 40k protagonist that is kind and honest in trying to save people. Dude knows deep down he screwed the pooch by not immediately killing the mutants he came with, but he really REALLY thought he could save them. Uriel Ventris has often been referred to as the character Captain Titus ripped off, but that's not true. Uriel is a much more introspective and ordinary example of an ultramarine. He's not the kind of guy that's going to solo an entire demon world or save the day by himself, but he will take the time to understand someone's point of view, lead his people and find solutions. He sticks up for the little guy in 40k while not losing sight of the big picture and I like that. Part of the reason why I unironically believe the "greatest of them all" meme is because the ultramarines feel like the most adult and reasonable chapter in terms of leadership and maturity. Yeah the grey knights fight on the front lines everyday and kill more demons then they can count, (so much so Uriel briefly thinks his life is meaningless after a mind link) But while plenty win the peace the Ultramarines KEEP it and have it thrive under their stewardship. After reading a ton of grimdark shit it really does feel nice to kick back and read about the smurfs and their efforts to save the day.

Miscellaneous favorite moments: The smurfs legit enjoying the rare opportunity to just sit down and chill. An imperial priest being faithful and driving away sprits. And Grey knights being built up as the biggest badasses on the planet only to get jobbed and saved by Uriel.

(Grey knights were cool, but they seemed pretty lax on the whole kill or mind wipe anybody that sees them rule. They even have a honor duel with the ultramarines in front of the planetary gov and his staff.)



I liked the twist about what exactly is going on in the planet

Spoiler

It's not demons for once. Demon related activity in the past made the warp fragile, but when the smurfs came down train came down it allowed a psyker to gain power and raise the spirits of the dead.

My head canon for SoB is that long space flights are when they "replenish the Emperor's ranks".

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Really good book on its own. A good balance of the Daemon world being both absolutely insane but having its own kind of order.

I hate demon worlds. Has anyone successfully blown one up?

 

[Humble Architect]

Daemon worlds can be aborted during apotheosis (you can do this in Rogue Trader) and as the Dark Angels demonstrated, Barbarus and Colchis were very destructible, but once it’s warp-matter, it’s gotta be quarantined.

Necrons could probably do the job and pop the thing/cut it off, but the other factions are shit out of luck.

 

[Judge Dredd]

The main issue with Chaos as an alternative to the Imperium is that Chaos is even more predatory and cutthroat. So humans worshipping Chaos makes zero sense unless they are manipulated to thinking it would result in some socialist utopia rather than a completely Darwinist society.

They think it's a political movement agitating for change in the planetary government, or a secret club catering to a specific fetish, or some kind of warrior brotherhood.

Late, but basically this.

The idea of a warrior brotherhood is not one I thought of. Genius.

But yes, the Chaos cults do offer people something "good". Tzeesh offers you cool magic powers and preys on conspiracy nuts. Slaanesh offers sex, drugs, and rock and roll in a world that is pretty grim otherwise. It's Nurgle and Khorne I don't see a good initial sales pitch.

In real life, cults don't recruit by telling you they want to kill themselves in a suicide pact when the alien space ship flies overhead 3 months from now. They sell you on a friendly community that promises a cure for what ails you.

 

[Snekposter]

Ciaphas Cain. Any of them. Start with Caves of Ice if you want a proper start (they're quite similar to each other).
They're quite normie-friendly.

Afterwards he can read the early Gaunt's Ghosts stuff.

Uriel Ventris has often been referred to as the character Captain Titus ripped off, but that's not true. Uriel is a much more introspective and ordinary example of an ultramarine. He's not the kind of guy that's going to solo an entire demon world or save the day by himself, but he will take the time to understand someone's point of view, lead his people and find solutions. He sticks up for the little guy in 40k while not losing sight of the big picture and I like that. Part of the reason why I unironically believe the "greatest of them all" meme is because the ultramarines feel like the most adult and reasonable chapter in terms of leadership and maturity.

He represents why people used to be fans of the UM before Ward did his thing. They were the Everyman of the Space Marines, acting as necessary and with concern for the common person of the Imperium as much as their duties allowed, and whenever they fucked up they'd take their lumps and go on a penitent crusade of some kind without complaint, knowing that in either victory or death they'd find forgiveness for their misdeeds, and should they come back alive be welcomed back into the fraternity as if they had never left since they had already paid the price for their wrongdoing and there was nothing more to hold against them.

 

[Depressed_Oni]

Thin. Your. Paints.

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But it’s a spray can primer, how do you do that?

 

[Spilled Spaghett]

Opinion on poorhammer? They sound like GW shills.

They came out strong and I watched them for a while. Then Bricky noticed them and now he basically runs the show. He's in charge of their merch so naturally their shows either have Brickey as the main guest, or they're sucking his cock. They aren't GW shills at least. They are clearly out of ideas. Poorhammer made sense when they had episodes trying to measure cost efficiency of armies, or trying to find cheap ways to start an army. Now they put out such great content such as "Ranking the Many GIRTHY Guns of the Aeldari". They are the definition of slop. They work the algorithm with clickbait and SEO and that's it. They aren't funny, they don't do anything new or interesting. The only stuff that might even be worth watching are their codex reviews, but you are better off listening to channels who actually know what they're talking about.

 

[Humble Architect]

But it’s a spray can primer, how do you do that?

Passes and not lingering. Don’t hold and spray on a spot, do passes.

 

[wtfNeedSignUp]

I hate demon worlds. Has anyone successfully blown one up?

Yeah but issue is that it sometimes causes a warp entrance to permanently show up instead of the planet which is arguably worse.

They came out strong and I watched them for a while. Then Bricky noticed them and now he basically runs the show. He's in charge of their merch so naturally their shows either have Brickey as the main guest, or they're sucking his cock. They aren't GW shills at least. They are clearly out of ideas. Poorhammer made sense when they had episodes trying to measure cost efficiency of armies, or trying to find cheap ways to start an army. Now they put out such great content such as "Ranking the Many GIRTHY Guns of the Aeldari". They are the definition of slop. They work the algorithm with clickbait and SEO and that's it. They aren't funny, they don't do anything new or interesting. The only stuff that might even be worth watching are their codex reviews, but you are better off listening to channels who actually know what they're talking about.

Pretty much this. A lot of slop content, which is admittedly not bad, but I forgot the entire point of the channel was comparing price point.

 

[An Old Salt]

I could murder the co-host that obviously knows nothing and adds nothing to the conversation with my brain. It feels like he's literally there so the guy with the tsons mascot has someone to talk to. So many times the nerdy sounding fucker almost verbatim repeats what the other guy says.

So I absolutely agreed with this until I popped in and listened to their grey knight codex review. It didn't have brad (the t sons guy) and stayed far more on focus, and was less slop click bait and more an honest review without the horrible takes I expect from them.

I'm now left having to assume that Brad trys to strong arm Eric into ideas he doesn't want to do, and that Eric barely tries as a result. Doesn't take bricky's cock out of their mouth or make the show enjoyable, but if they decide to try and quit their jobs and go full time expect it to fall apart fast.

 

[Rimanah]

New Raptors have been leaked in full

 

[Paul-Denton]

New Raptors have been leaked in full

I got a sensible chuckle out of reading "senor Del Chaos"

 

[p1138]

But it’s a spray can primer, how do you do that?

Start spraying before you pass the model, stop spraying after you've passed the model. Do it in thin coats, 2 or more if necessary but don't bother trying to get 100% full coverage(it's not necessary) Don't do it in 90% humidity. Don't do it with a cold can(if you've left the cans outside in the garage or something, heat a pot of water on the stove, turn off the heat, put the can in it), actually shake the shit out of the can for a full 2 minutes(a lot of rattle can instructions will say this but then people will halfass it and run into issues because it's not mixed properly). Don't start spraying so close it globs on instantly, don't start spraying so far away the paint dries before it hits the model and generates a rough surface.

All of the videos showing this are fairly short, or padded with lots of other bs because it's pretty simple.

 

[TingoFranDingo]

New Raptors have been leaked in full
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new nightbringer too