Authorised - Bill's Monthly Column

June 2003

Gamesday

Hi and a big hello to everybody I met at LA Gamesday. I hope all of you had as good a time as I did.  It was a real pleasure meeting everybody and getting feedback on the books. It was also great to catch up with old friends like Robin Dews and Davie Gallagher. I would like to thank the good people at Sabertooth Games, the folks behind the War Cry Warhammer collectable card game, for all the Felix and Gotrek cards I used as prizes during my panel appearance. Hope you remember to send me some more, guys. I also caught some glimpses of the future. For those of you who want to know what it will be like…read on!

Fire Warrior

There were a bunch of Playstation 2's up and running the new 40K shoot-em-up. I have to say it looked astonishing. For the two of you who haven’t heard the details yet, you play a Tau warrior locked in a life or death struggle against the forces of the Imperium. The scenes I saw looked amazing, with our hero racing down trenches and shooting up Imperial Guard while animated tanks bounced across the gap between the trenches. The concept may not be the most original thing since Doom but the execution is superb. I’ll buy it when it comes out.  

Warhammer Online

Robin Dews was in LA running screens and doing a presentation for Warhammer Online, the upcoming MMORPG. I have to say, having heard the details and seen the screenshots I am sold. This looks like the next best thing to being in the Warhammer world. Actually, for me it’s probably better since the trolls are not actually capable of taking my head off. The game concepts were excellent (those of you familiar with Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay will recognise a lot of them), the magic system sounds very strong, and apparently there will be guest appearances from Gotrek and Felix among others. What more could you possibly want?

Stalingrad Here We Come

During downtime Robin also showed me how to play Combat Mission 2, a WW2 tactical simulation set on the Russian Front. This featured a number of views from almost orbital to down on the ground fly-around true line of sight, and it let you command a fair old force in one of history’s most epic conflicts. The Up Front player in me demanded I get a copy of this ASAP and so I will.

The Black Company

I also used my time in LA to fill in the gaps in my collection of Glen Cook’s Black Company series of novels. For those of you who are not familiar with them, these follow the adventures of a very hard-bitten mercenary company through a fantasy world dominated by some of the best depicted Dark Lords in the fantasy genre. The stories are fast-moving, gritty and very morally ambiguous; the villains' complex and sympathetic. It's not often you get to see a Dark Empire from the point of view of those running it, and, for me, this alone would make it worth the price of admission. Cook’s writing, plotting and characterisation make it even more so. 

Highly recommended.

Upcoming

Looks like it's Tyrion and Teclis next. Having taken them for a test drive in Giantslayer, I will be putting them onto the main highway in the first book of a projected and as yet untitled trilogy. I also just finished writing an introduction to a collection of Adrian Smith’s artwork coming soon from the Black Library. This will be a book worth checking out if you like your fantasy art very dark and brooding-which I do. 

Right, that’s it till next month. 

All the best

Bill

[ Top ]  [ Un-Authorised ]