The Realmgate Wars: Quest For Ghal Maraz

Warhammer Age of Sigmar Rulebooks #Campaign Book #1

by Games Workshop

The mortal realms hang in the balance...

The whereabouts of Sigmar’s sacred hammer, the weapon of legend known as Ghal Maraz, has been discovered. Limited is the foremost goal on the mind of the God-King, who sends twelve Stormhosts to the Hanging Valleys of Anvrok, determined to retrieve it at any cost. Meanwhile, in the foetid reaches of Rotwater Blight, the search for Alarielle’s Hidden Vale continues apace. Can the Stormcast Eternals forge an alliance with the Sylvaneth before the pestilent tide of Nurgle’s foul magic consumes their world entirely?

The first book in the Warhammer Age of Sigmar Realmgate Wars series, this is an absolute must-have for any and all Warhammer fanatics! Within its pages you’ll details of the thrilling narrative as the Stormcast Eternals press on in their quest to recover Sigmar’s sacred hammer, with in-depth descriptions and backgrounds of all the factions involved. Detailed stage-by-stage painting guides are included, with beautiful, evocative photography and artwork.

As well as all this, you’ll find a wealth of battleplans, warscrolls and Time Of War rules, as well as all the rules required to play exciting games of Warhammer Age of Sigmar.

Hardcover

First published August 1, 2015

About the author

Games Workshop Group PLC (often abbreviated as GW) is a British miniature wargaming manufacturing company. Games Workshop is best known as developer and publisher of the tabletop wargames Warhammer, Warhammer 40,000 and The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game.

Reviews

[Witek Łukowiak · Rating 3 out of 5]

Better than BL's Realmgate Wars, this serves booth as a good story and nice tool to extend your AoS campagains.

[Markus Gentle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite an average read. But the series picks up. Stick with it if you care.

[Kyle T · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good but also written like how an imaginative kid plays with action figures. So overall a fun and dramatic story, but just a little chaotic and over the top. But that's Warhammer, baby!

[Kassar Krennic · Rating 4 out of 5]

I confess, when AoS came out I didn't really give it a chance. Not because I'm some bitchy, old and balding grognard who can't go a single day without crying over the "death" of Warhammer Fantasy (I say "death" because no one came and destroyed your models, burnt your rulebooks and threw your paint down the sink, if you stopped playing Fantasy just because GW ended official support, that's on you), but simply because it never really appealed to me. I like Warhammer Fantasy, but I don't love it, so the end of that game didn't destroy my world like it did some people. No, Age of Sigmar simply looked fine to me, but never really held much interest.

Fast forward a few years, and I now adore the Age of Sigmar universe and tabletop game.

Say what you want, but I am not a complex man. A uber-High Fantasy setting in which Lightning Angels shoot down from Heaven amid thunderstorms to fight armies of daemons? That's simply awesome and I love it. To me, Age of Sigmar has more interesting lore, characters, models and rules than Warhammer Fantasy ever did, and I simply cannot get enough of it.

I started to play AoS again recently, so I thought it best to give the setting a fresh read through, which has led to me re-reading all the lore, in the form of the rulebooks and campaign books/sourcebooks.

I started with the core rulebook and the Realmgate Wars books (as those are all really one long, continuous story). Having recently finished the rulebook called Warhammer Age of Sigmar - Mighty Battles in an Age of Unending War, alongside The Realmgate War books Quest for Ghal Maraz, Balance of Power, Godbeasts, Ironwarp Citadel and All-Gates, I can happily say that I loved every moment of it.

There is a lot of action in these books. That much needs to be said from the start. There is a shit-ton of Stormcast vs Chaos, Stormcast vs Skaven and Stormcast vs Orruks, but there are also battles between Nurgle's followers and the Sylvaneth or the Fyreslayers and Skaven so it isn't all Stormcast stuff. That being said, the action was pretty fun imo. While some of the many battles do feel a little samey and blur together, most of them are both interesting and engaging.

For example, the first battle fought by the Celestant-Prime when he arrives to save Alarielle is simply awesome and I'll never forget it, the war for the Mercurial Gate was gripping, the entire storyline involving Vandus and Thostos attempting to recover Ghal Maraz was very interesting, the siege of Nulahmia was a great read, and so on.

But beyond the action, you will find extremely interesting and cool characters that fun to read about. I personally loved every single thing involving the Sylvaneth and Alarielle, Vandus was awesome and I absolutely ADORE Ionus Cryptborn. Tornus the Redeemed is a fascinating character and Gardus is great but...well everyone who reads/plays AoS loves Gardus so that's a given. Even the Seraphon get to do stuff and the scenes involving them are easily some of the best.

It isn't just the "good guys" that are well done, however. Khorgos Khul is a complete and utter badass who steals every scene he is in, the Glottkin are both funny and cool, even the Ironjawz characters somehow manage to be memorable. While the villains obviously do not get as much development or screentime as the heroes, they get enough in my opinion to not just be flat, 2D enemies for the Stormcast to fight.

Beyond the characters and action, you also get a good look into the Mortal Realms, which are a truly insane places. These stories are filled with lands floating upon drifting continents in the sky, kingdoms that are lit and heated by the light of a god-beast that glows like a sun and was caged by a Smith God in days long forgotten, unending magical forests, incomprehensibly large, hellish wastelands filled with daemons, and so much more. You visit worlds of beauty, horror, misery and splendour that are each unique and every one of them is as strange as the last. The Mortal Realms are a very odd, but also very distinctive, part of AoS and I can't really think of anything else I've seen like them. I love the Realms, and if you ask me it really makes Age of Sigmar's setting stand out as something truly different from 40k or Warhammer Fantasy.

So, to finish this off, I will say that Age of Sigmar is indeed a fantastic setting with many things to love. I found the core rulebook's fluff and the lore from the Realmgate Wars books tied together to create an engaging narrative that kept me reading, and that the characters involved in these books are both memorable and fun to read about. I highly suggest you give these books a go.

My final score is 4 out of 5 stars. I'm removing one star since I encountered a few spelling mistakes, and the large amount of action did sometimes blur together.

[Michael Dodd · Rating 3 out of 5]

The second novel-length Age of Sigmar release from Black Library, and the second title in the ongoing Realmgate Wars series, Ghal Maraz combines novellas from Josh Reynolds and Guy Haley into a single volume. Both novellas follow on from the stories in War Storm, moving the wider Age of Sigmar story arc a little further forward as the Stormcast Eternals continue to make inroads into the Mortal Realms. Specifically it follows events taking place in the realms of Ghyran, where the forces of Nurgle blight the realm of Life; and Chamon, where the legendary weapon Ghal Maraz has been located.

Read the rest of the review at https://trackofwords.wordpress.com/20...

[Kenneth · Rating 2 out of 5]

The old world is much more believable. No back story on what has happened.