Lords of Valour

Warhammer

by Marc Gascoigne (Editor), Christian Z. Dunn (Editor)

Anthology of fantasy stories set in Games Workshop's Warhammer universe.

Genres: Fantasy

288 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published June 26, 2001

About the author

Publisher, editor, designer – a lifetime in books. Previously publisher of Aconyte, Angry Robot, Black Library, and Solaris. Before that, responsible for a whole bookcase worth of books, both fiction and non-fiction, tie-ins and original works, as well as games design, journalism, computer game scripting, etc. Winner of both the World Fantasy Award and British Fantasy Award.

Reviews

[Gianfranco Mancini · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vote: 3,5/4

A good anthology of classic Warhammer tales previously published in Games Workshop's late "Inferno!" magazine. Individual reviews of the stories after the spoiler.



Faith: 3, 5 stars

A bretonnian knight and his older squire, a village in the woods, people missing, the Lady of Lake and a monster lurking in the dark. A nice arthurian tale mixed with horror and mistery by Robert Earl.

A choice of hatreds: 5 stars

A great tale full of action and twists of C.L.Werner's Mathias Thulman witch hunter, a Solomon Kane style grim character. Planning to rest in the backwater town of Kleinsdorf, celebrating the killing of a minotaur lord and his chaos beastmen spawn centuries past, Mathias and his nasty henchman Streng are not looking for trouble. A young noble in search of vengeance for his love burned at stake by the templar of Sigmar and a rich merchant worshipper of the Ruinous Powers are going to ruin it for good when their murderous intents collide in this long festive night.

Tybalt's Quest: 3, 5

A young questing bretonnian knight fighting a necromancer and his undead minions in an ancient graveyard on the mountains by night. A nice tale of chivalry and faith by Gav Thorpe.

Who mourns a necromancer: 4 stars

When Lanfranc Chazal, old magister at the University of Gisoreux, pass away, famed for being a necromancer and shunned by people, only two men mourn him at his funeral: Alpheus Kalispera, his former colleague at the University and priest of Verena, benevolent Goddess of Wisdom, and their former student Cesar Barbier, who needs to make a confessione. A grim chilling tale by Brian Craig about love beyond the grave and how life and death are bonded, far away by usual fantasy cliches.

Son and heir: 3, 5 stars

A noble bretonnian knight is going to become father of his first son and heir, but Chaos has different plans about it. A grim and twisted tale by Ian Winterton, but the ending was not much a surprise.

The Judas Goat: 3, 5 stars

A nice tale by Robert Earl about a group of new soldiers on training patroling the roads around the city of Nuln. When recruits start missing, Captain Gustav Mollens starts thinking about mass disertion, but the truth is far darker.

The sound which wakes you: 4 stars

Tomas, son of a bretonnian town blacksmith, is looking for vengeance after the soldiers of the Marquis ruling Montreuil like a tyrant killed his brother.
But sometimes the cost of rebellion is just too high and things are more bearable as they are.
A nice tale of vengeance and in some parts you just think Tomas is going to say Inigo Montoya's quote from "The Princess bride": "My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die." ...

Portrait of my Undying Lady: 4, 5 stars

Giovanni Gottio, former great artist from Tilea, is painting portraits no more, just spending his days and nights drinking and so on. But when he's adducted by a vampire and awaken in an old abandoned villa filled with paintings all of the same subject, an alabaster-skinned noblewoman of a striking but glacial beauty, is he going to paint his masterwork or die?
An amazing vampire story with an Ann Rice feeling, with humour and great references (Gottio, Da Venzio and so on, you know who they are, no?) by Gordon Rennie. Already printed in the "Lords of Valour" anthology, you can download and read it here in .PDF for free: http://www.blacklibrary.com/Downloads...

The Plague Pit: 4, 5 stars

Another great tale of Jonathan Green's Torben Badenov, Kislevite veteran whose lust for glory is only surpassed by his ferocity in battle, and his Band of mercenaries travelling across the Old World. After the vampire brood of the previous story, they end fighting a Daemon Prince and hordes of Nurglings in the cellar of an old mill, shrine to Father Nurgle itself.
A very enjoyable Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay style story that nails for good the grimdark gothic atmosphere of the setting.

Ancestral honour: 5 stars

"I am a dwarf, my honour is my life and without it I am nothing. I shall become a Slayer, I shall seek redemption in the eyes of my ancestors. I shall become as death to my enemies until I face he that takes my life and my shame"

Grimli Blacktooth is determined to take the Oath of the Slayer and seek redemption in the eyes of his ancestors, after his forefather Okrinok Skrundigor put his family to shame for seventeen generations fleeing from goblins, but he's going to find out in the deeps of lost Karak Azgal that sometimes there is more than meets the eye.
A great epic dwarven tale by Gav Thorpe.

A Gentleman's War: 3 stars

Young noble Otto von Eisenkopf can't wait for his first battle against Bretonnians raiding border coal mines.
He's going to learn the hard way that there is no chivalry honor code in war.

The Ultimate Ritual: 4, 5 stars

Two scholars in Nuln use a forbidden tome to summon a demonic steed and fly across the Old World to the Chaos Wastes and to the Dea of Souls in their quest for knowledge.
But is just that what they are looking for from Tzeentch the Great Mutator?
A cherry on cake final story by Neil Jones and William King.

[Paulo "paper books only" · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lords of Valour. Here's a book I start reading a while back then stopped only reading one story. Since I am trying to catch up with warhammer older books I started here. It was a good book to read. Here is my individuals reviews...

Faith - Robert Earl - A story about an Bretonnian Knight (and a squire) and the quest to be a knight. He tries to defeat an evil greater athan his brother. He has defeated some before but none pleases him enough. He arrives at a village in need of help of him. There he finds a fiend that masquerades as the Lady of the Lake (the sacred goddess of tne Knights) but he was not fool... I think it was a good story to begin with this book. I have read two books by Robert Earl but this was is chronological before. I always enjoy knights (and I always thought that more books about them should be written). 8/10

A Choice of Hatreds - C L Werner - This tale is probably the first tale of Mathias Thulman. I really enjoy it and it had some interesting points. Being a Witch Hunter and after reading some books with witch hunters (none were main characters) I was taken aback that this was not an ordinary Witch Hunter.The story is quite good and the ending was very twisted. It is a good thing I read this story. Maybe sometime later this year I will read the trilogy of Mathias Thulman. 9.5/10

Tybalt's Quest - Gav Thorpe - Another interesting tale with a Bretonnian Knight. It was as good as the first but good nevertheless. This one had necromancers in it which are always interesting. It ended pretty quickly. 7/10

Who Mourns a Necromancer - Brian Craig - Being a fan of Brian Craig (Brian Stableford) it was a tale I had read several years before and now I read it again. Unfortunally it was not it's best. It's interesting because this is not a story with action as the previous. This is a tale of a Necromancer. As I say this word it comes to our mind a person who deals with the dead. We see it as a awful people who wants to to bring back the dead and recluse being. Then read this this tale. It has nothing of it. I enjoy that part but I think he could been better 7.5/10

Son and Heir - Ian Winteron - This is a tale of a author who didn't write a full novel to black library. All others have. This tale again it has Bretonnians and it takes us to a battle for faith. how appearances ilude. I enjoy the tale even if it remind me of something. The characters were that good either... 6/10

The Judas Goat - Robert Earl - This tale didn't had bretonnians. It was a tale about a band of fighters patrolling outside the city of Nuln. As their numbers dwindle he captain thought of desertion but the reality was other. They were being betrayed by one of them to the skaven. It had a good main character but besides that I didn' enjoy it. 6.5/10

The Sound which Wakes You - Ben Chessell - This tale is set on Bretonnia of old times. I mean that corrupted Bretonnia that vanished. It's a tale of a small village where an iron fist lord use it's land as it's private kingdom. There we know a young boy with rebellion on his mind and he sets a plan to free the village that doesn't go as plan. Good story but it's a cliche 7/10

Portrait of My Undying Lady - Gordon Rennie - This tale depicts vampires and an artist. Being one of my favourite writers than unfortunally left Black Library I was pleased to read the tale. It was a story with good characters and no fighting. I enjoy it even if it was nothing special. 7.5/10

The Plague Pit - Jonathan Green - This a tale of Torbar and it's mercenaries. Probably the first story. I have the book the Dead and the Damned that was released two years later. It was a good tale of them against a nurgle daemon prince. I thought it realistic and I am leaning to read the book in the following months.. 8/10

Ancestral Honour - Gav Thorpe - The first tale of Dwarves. Being beings of honour to the guts it's odd that nobody else made a story of dwarves. It was one of the my favourite tales. Undoubtl Gav Thorpe is good with dwarves. He wrote a full novel (linked storis) some years later which turned out good. I really hope he writes antoher book in the near future (with dwarves that is). 9/10

A Gentleman's War - Neil Rutledge -This tale was quite good. I don't know why Rutledge didn't wrote a full novel. This is a tale of a small dispute in the border of the empire and bretonnia. As our main character full of honour (the ones in ballads and court) goes into his first battle. We see two world clashing. Honour vs Winning. It was good even if it depicts everyone without honour besides the main character (I think the writer wanted to made him a boy with that Honour found in books but not used). Besides that criticism to one valour (I may be wrong), I enjoyed the tale. 8.5/10

The Ultimate Ritual - Neil Jones & William King - This was an odd story. It has one of the most acclaimed writers in the Black Library and I enjoyed it. It was a tale into the unknown. I don't think I had ever read anyting going so far into the realms of chaos (besides C L Werners books) and besides that into the sea of souls where they see the constelations of the ruinous powers and even talk to Tzeentch. I don't know if we were supposed to know that much. It even hinted into the warhammer 40k with machines 80feet hight that could level cities.. (titans?) It was a good tale. If it had a couple more pages depicting all that scenery it would be great. 9.5/10

[Peter Rybarczyk · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's more something between 3 and 4.

There were few really remarkable ones, especially the one, Ancestral Honour, which is about Dwarf's honor, for me as an RPG game master this was like a big pill of new ideas for sessions. This short story gave an accessible description of how Dawi's society is bounded by oath and honor, and fact that not all oathbreakers become Slayers.

Another worth of recommending is A Gentleman's War, which gives a greater description of how young nobles can look at war vs how war really looks like.

For me, that's the end of 4 stars stories in this book. The rest of them is 3 or 2 stars worth. They are less engaging and does not give any new point of view for the Warhammer world. But still, the book is worthy of reading if you like dark fantasy.

[Sebastien · Rating 3 out of 5]

J'avais acheter ce livre en même temps que Realm of Chaos donc j'ai décider de le lire malgré tout pour ne pas l'avoir acheté pour rien. Je venais de terminer un excellent roman et je voulais utiliser cet entrain pour passer au travers d'un livre moins intéressant. Je savais ici aussi que Lords of Valours contenait des mini-histoires et que ça allait surement ressembler à Realm of Chaos. Ce fut le cas, presque à l'auteur près.

Cependant je dois dire que ce livre est surprenant par son égalité. Contrairement à Realm of Chaos qu'on avait un très gros écart entre la qualité des histoires, Lords of Valours lui donne une qualité beaucoup plus stable donnant une lecture beaucoup plus appréciable.

Encore une fois, le titre, la couverture et l'intérieur sont carrément différent. Il y a même certaines histoires qui sont la suite de Realm of Chaos. Alors, on ne peut pas vraiment se fier la dessus.

Une bonne lecture tout de même qui permet de voir plusieurs aspect du monde de Warhammer. Il m'a pris plusieurs mois à finir de lire ce livre. Donc ne soyez pas étonné si le nombre de critique pour l'année 2003-2004 est de loin très restreint.

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

I reserved this from my library before realizing I'd read several of the stories in Tales of the Old World but I reread some old favorites and enjoyed the new stories, for the most part.

Two were new to me, Judas Goat and the Plague Pit. Judas Goat was cliched and predictable though I did like the main character. The Plague Pit was much better written and engaging and I can see why the characters depicted went on to be in their own series. The Columbus Metropolitan Library system is an award-winning institution, but they have a dearth of Black Library titles so unless I find them at used bookstores I don't get the chance to read many of the older WH and 40K novels. Granted in the scheme of things that's a miniscule problem.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice collection of Warhammer world-centered short stories. Most revolved around various aspects of noble behavior, and the Bretonnian's. One I particularly enjoyed followed the story of a house of dwarves and their perception of honor and dishonor passed down through generations. Finally, and unexpectedly, the last little story seemed totally out of place, a quick romp into succumbing to the temptations of Chaos.