40K: The Orks Rampage in 2016’s The Beast Arises

Games Workshop advances the fluff in a GIANT way – 9,000 years in the past.  Come see what 2016’s year-long Ork event is all about.

Her’s the rundown of the yearlong 12-book series by Back LIbray that looks to fill in a critical linking period of 40K background – the post Heresy – very early Imperial of Man era.  Here’s the Series major points:

• 12 books (it looks like 1 a month)
• Kicked off by Dan Abnett
• Setting is 1500 years after the Horus Heresy
• Entire Chapters will be destroyed
• The Orks Return in Force
• The Eldar strike at Terra
• “Legends will return”

Books listed are:

Book 1 I am Slaughter – December by Dan Abnett

Book 2 Predator Prey – January

Book 3 The Emperor Expects – February

Book 4 The Last Wall – March

Book 5 Throneworld – April

My two cents on this are:

1. It looks like they may be wanting to tie the xenos into the “Heresy era” or “Near Heresy era” so all you xenos players dont feel left out in the cold with the new game system being spun up.  I have a feeling these books will introduce new exciting units and vehicles that will be making thier way onto the tabletop in time.
2. The Horus Heresy series is nearing book 30 and Terra isn’t even within sight.  So the timing on this seems a bit premature.  Maybe this is proof positive that the HH novel series is not intended to approach completion any time soon.  I mean Black Library just devoted the resources to produce 12 novels to this INSTEAD of cranking out 12 more Heresy novels.

~ Who’s up for this and what do you think it means for 2016 and GW’s longterm plans?

Author: Larry Vela

Dad, Gamer, Publisher, Pilot, Texan. All games all the time since junior-high. I started BoLS Interactive in 2006. I’m a lifelong tabletop & RPG gaming enthusiast, and internet publisher working to entertain and inform my readers every day. I've been playing RPGs and Tabletop Games since the 1970s. I'm been playing and covering Warhammer and Warhammer 40K for over 35 years.