Kelborn

When Brother Tyler once contacted me and asked if I'd like to join the ranks of the moderator team, I was flabbergasted at first but of course, I accepted. Being a moderator was a great honor for me and this team was able to bring some new and necessary changes (for example the pronoun adaptations). Change is the only constant thing in life and trying to be stagnant always leads to ruin. A lot would agree with that. Some few don't. It is what it is. Nonetheless, seeing many of those mods I looked up to retiring, was to be honest, a difficult period of time. In the end, reallife catches up on each and everyone of us and throughout the last months, I wasn't able to spend as much time as was needed to fullfill the role of a moderator to the fullest. Hence my decision to retire, as well. I leave with a sad and a happy eye (as the saying goes). Sad to leave a great part of my spent time here behind and happy to leave certain parts of that spent time behind. Some might take a guess as to what I'm talking about @Brother Captain Arkley Thanks, man. If you need anything, you can always pm me, even as a regular Frater. That goes for everyone, of course. @Ace Debonair Thank you, Ace. You were always a constant part of the community! It's members like you that kept me motivated. :D @Doctor Perils <3 To the wider community: thanks for the support and respect you gave me. Always tried to keep the BL section a good place for discussion and exchange. To those mods remaining (you know who you are): <3 Keep it up! Remember to embrace change. Even if you won't like it, the world's keep spinning. To @Chaplain Lucifer and @Brother Lunkhead all the best in the world! You earned your retirement. Cheers, Kel

Seriously though, I'd be very very happy if someone like Dan would take a chance with them. :)

Obsidian Sentinels Black armor, right arm + pauldron in sand/ golden colour Based on Sardaukar and Fremen, House Corrino emblem as chapter symbol Could either go with Ultima Founding and replacing a lost chapter (mayhaps the Obsidian Blades, who were basically extinguished during the Red Waaagh) or with an earlier founding and just treat them as a regular chapter. The emergence and addition of Primaris vanguard forces created a shift in their combat doctrine and culture. While the vanguard focus way more on hit and run tactics and flanking manoeuvres, they're taking inspiration from their homeworlds desert people while the majority of the chapter continues to be the unrelenting warriors of the Emperor. The chapter creation table also gave me: animal companions and don't make use of Devastor marines which would fit the infantry based source material quite well Animal companions could be eagles or lion-esque creatures (no wolfrider equivalents!) Geneseed officially via Ultramarines but I think Iron Warriors would be quite fitting, as well An alternative concept I'd have liked to explore instead of the Knight Household of Toho.

New releases and books are all fine but (imho) they fall behind translations. Talking about another of their IPs here but it's insane how few books are actually translated and how many of the recent releases aren't. It's probably due to lack of demand but damn... I'd love to see some fair/ equal representation in stores.

Oh, a fellow Questoris friend? I see, you're a person of culture. Intrigued to see your take on them. The crest looks already dope. Did you make it yourself?

Probably because we were all younger back then and were the first to read their stuff as their main target group. I'm feeling old now...

Yeah, it feels odd that GW doesn't build upon the hype around Henry. They certainly got more attention than ever before but they don't make use of it. Fingers crossed that they're saving stuff for a big release schedule when the show/ movie drops. But then again...we're talking BL. I dread the Weekender in which the supporting novels will be announced...

*knuckle noise* *aching back noises* Well, I think I'll join in, as well. Good opportunity to pay the Household of Toho the attention and care it deserves. Gonna skip the second and third challenge as I don't do models. Datasets might be interesting though. Can I instead use the time to work on either the article, story or both?

Too true. Probably a mix of nostalgia, some giving it a shot for the first time and the (subjectively!) lack of quality content. Absolutely agreed. Infinite and Devine was already amazing but I loved Assassinorum even more. Cadia is his first "great event" novel. And he nails it. Like you said, his "weakest" work is still top notch and amongst the "top" work of others!

Colour me surprised: Rank 10: Cypher Rank 9: Genefather Rank 8: Vainglorious Rank 7: The End Part One Rank 6: Fall of Cadia Rank 5: Warboss Rank 4: Cain Anthology Rank 3: The End Part Two Rank 2: The End Part Three Rank 1: Son of the Forest Although I've voted for it myself, I didn't expect the Lion to toplle the End trilogy. It's even funnier that parts 2 and 3 are rated higher than 1 when considering the backlash 2 received here but well. An anthology on rank 4 is a joke. I love Cain but that shouldn't have been amongst the candidates in the first place. I half-expected Storm of Iron to be in the list, as well. :D Also no AoS anywhere. What a surprise...(sarcasm) "...and an Ork Warboss who killed a Warlord Titan with a flying car..." Ehm...that was in Brutal Kunnin' and not in Warboss but sure, you do you, I guess. If I'd started with Fall of Cadia prior to the vote, I'd have voted for it instead of the Lion. About 3 hours in and it's so damn good. Worldbuilding, characters, plot. *chef's kiss* Rath is surely becoming one of my top BL authors by now but I digress. It is what it is. Could've been "better", could've been "worse". *shrugs*

Speaking about excitement. I'm sorry but the BL presentations are a disaster. No compassion. They treat every story/ book as if they're learning about 40K for the first time. No preparation in advance. No mise en place. How do they intend to hook us and get us hyped if they're seating seemingly bored employees in front of us???

What shall we even discuss? Here's the official list from Warhammer Community: https://www.warhammer-community.com/2024/02/10/saturday-pre-orders-welcome-to-the-black-library-celebration/ - Da Big Dakka: Great to have a new Ork novel by Brooks. He really nails it for me. Can't have enough of his Orky weirdness! We know it'll be good but theres nothing to theorize or predict about. A blank slate if you want. Anticipated but nothing breathtakingly unexpected here. - The Art of the Horus Heresy: *shrugs* Yeah, alright. That's a thing. - Deus Encarmine: An anniversary edition of an old book. Hurray... - The Ghosts of Barak-Minoz: Age of Sigmar -> forbidden (although, it's honestly the one which really got me hyped) - Riders of the Dead: Old World -> forbidden - Lord of the Night: A reprint...again...didn't have that in a long time *cough* Storm of Iron *cough* - The rest is just the regular announcement of French and German releases, etc. All in all: There's nothing noteworthy to talk about. Just a single new 40K novel and that's it. Already the last years were kind of lacking. Don't know if it still the repercussions of COVID which naturally shook things up and changed a lot. Compare this with 2020: https://www.warhammer-community.com/2020/02/05/what-you-can-get-at-the-black-library-celebrationgw-homepage-post-3fw-homepage-post-3/ You had way more stuff happening back then. Pins, Various announcements of new books, hardbacks, translations and even merchandise like the dice set or pins. So yeah, not a surprise that this years Celebration passed by so quickly.

For those, who haven't voted yet (or don't intend to). I don't even know why they include reprints or stuff like First Founding. Cain anthology??? STORM OF IRON?! Did they just list all releases? Not only should they seperate AoS and 40k/ HH but also keep it focused on the works of single authors and their new accomplishments, i.e. books. My vote will be easy. Just read a single novel of this list (don't counting Storm of Iron for reasons): The Lion. Excellent one, if you'd ask me.

I'm surprised that the signing actually happened instead of Dan being kidnapped by scalpers... Seriously though, I agree with Taliesin. The way he phrased it feels more like a strict denial than a wibbly wobbly "No, it's not happening! *wink wink*" scenario.