It’s Warhammer+ Wednesday, and that means another batch of awesome new content is coming, including the next episode of Hammer and Bolter, In the Garden of Ghosts.
This week’s Citadel Colour Masterclass, meanwhile, offers the solution to one of painting’s most difficult challenges – how to paint white properly – while we continue to explore the Warhammer Vaults, adding four more issues of White Dwarf from 2018 and the thrilling lore section from the classic campaign book Angel’s Bane.
The Warhammer 40,000 universe is a pretty horrible place to live. The line between good and bad has been blurred beyond redemption, and the notions of honour and heroism in their purest forms have long since been forgotten. But has all hope been snuffed out, or is there still a glimmer of light in the grim darkness?
Well, after watching events unfold in In the Garden of Ghosts, you’ll probably need a bit of a Warhammer pick-me-up. Fortunately, we’re here with just the tonic you need – five reasons why the grim darkness of the far future isn’t ALL doom and gloom… just mostly!
1. Roboute Guilliman is Back!
Just when everything was beginning to look like it had gone irrevocably pear-shaped, the Avenging Son returned from his deathly slumber to save the Imperium from doom and turn the tide. Not only that, he’s masterminding the Indomitus Crusade, having mustered the greatest gathering of Imperial might since the Great Crusade and sent it forth to save Humanity. Whatever happens, rest assured that Roboute Guilliman is on the case.
2. Man Still Has His Best Friend
Any universe in which dogs exist can’t be too bad, can it? That’s right, not even the grim darkness of the far future can split man from his best friend. Whether a living, breathing canid or a ferocious cyber-mastiff, dogs are very much alive and kicking in one form or another, so that’s a silver lining if ever there were one.
3. You Can Achieve Immortality
It’s not just the Perpetuals who can live forever. In the 41st Millennium, even the most humble Imperial citizen from the remotest region of the galaxy can aspire to a deathless existence. Admittedly, one way to achieve this is to become a piece of living furniture, kept alive indefinitely through the dark arts and cruel malice of a Haemonculus – hardly the ideal outcome.
You could also throw in your lot with the Chaos Gods, offering up your mind, body, and soul to their every whim. Of course, to earn the privilege of unholy apotheosis into an immortal Daemon Prince, you’ll need to commit countless atrocities on behalf of your infernal patron over a long and terrible lifetime, condemning countless victims to a horrifying fate at your hands. That’s pretty harsh.
OK, so if you don’t want to go down the route of endless xenos torture, or to tread the (dark) path to (infernal) glory, the Imperium still has ways for good-hearted citizens to do their part, even after shaking off their mortal coil. By being rendered down into corpse-starch, you can carry on serving the Emperor long after your death – only in dinner does duty end!
Alternatively, your loved ones can remain by your side in perpetuity in the form of servo-skulls. In this manner, they could even float around offering drinks or condiments at their own wake to lighten the mood!
4. At Least You're Not an Aeldari!
Sure, the Imperium is beset on all sides, but at least you HAVE an empire. Anything’s better than living in the fleeting remnants of your former glory, forever doomed to be consumed by the Chaos God your ancestors partied into existence – or consigned to a cold half-life in a spirit stone, where all sensation is but a memory and hope is replaced by a lonely infinity of melancholy. Damn. We made ourselves sad again. Still…
5. Things Could Definitely be a LOT Worse
Of all the remaining Primarchs who sided with the Warmaster during the Horus Heresy, only Magnus the Red and Mortarion have been active in recent years. Considering how much damage they’ve wrought in the Fenris and Ultramar Systems between them, the Imperium can count its lucky stars that the other Daemon Primarchs seem to be content to remain within the Eye of Terror for now.
And, of course, one Loyalist Primarch in Roboute Guilliman has returned. Who’s to say that some of his brothers might not show up at some point? If the Emperor could cross his fingers, we reckon he would…
See? It’s not all that bad. It is pretty bad, admittedly, but there are always forces at work to prevent one side from gaining the upper hand, so there’s still room for hope. Even the threat that the Tyranids will end up eating everything in the galaxy may be at an end with the return of Szarekh the Silent King, who is bending his incalculable intellect and the reawakening power of the Necron race toward their defeat.
If you want to see exactly why we’re clutching at straws to find positive vibes in the 41st Millennium, sign up to Warhammer+ and watch In the Garden of Ghosts. You will, of course, be able to watch all the previous episodes of Hammer and Bolter, as well as the first instalments of the violence-fest that is Angels of Death (which will be returning from its mid-season break soon).
And that’s just the animations! You’ll also be able to catch every episode of Citadel Colour Masterclass, Battle Report, Deep Strike, and Loremasters, as well as delve through the Warhammer Archive for tons of classic lore and White Dwarf back issues. You’ll also get free access to Warhammer 40,000: The App and the beta version of Warhammer Age of Sigmar: The App (which has just benefitted from a load of key updates to StormForge), for all your army-building and rules-referencing needs made easy. Join Warhammer+ today and enjoy it all!
