What do you think?
Rate this book
Warhammer Age of Sigmar
Thunderstrike & Other Stories
Get started in the fantastic Worlds of Warhammer with this great value book.
Enjoy a collection of tales from the Mortal Realms, covering a host of races and factions and providing a taste of the flavour of the Age of Sigmar.
The city of Excelsis is in mourning. Thousands were slain in the great greenskin siege, the streets of a proud civilisation reduced to bloodied pits. The sheer might of Sigmar’s allies may have won the battle, but the war between Order and Destruction is far from over, and out in the Ghurish wildlands a new evil lurks. When Freeguild captain Holger Beck and his regiment are ambushed on patrol, there is no time to fathom the cunning intellect of their foe – all they learn is terror. Broken and beaten, Beck latches on to a retinue of Thunderstrike Stormcasts led by Knight-Relictor Actinus, a formidable warrior under whose intrepid shadow Beck falls. Together, mortal soldier and divine warrior must strike forth into the dark heart of Ghur to destroy their enemy, before it takes advantage of the weakened city. But their trials have only just begun, and when even the indomitable Thunderstrike’s mettle is tested, what chance is there for a human soul to claw at victory?
This anthology contains the thrilling novella Thunderstrike by Richard Strachan, and a host of short stories that showcase the many warring armies that exist within the worlds of Warhammer Age of Sigmar.
Enjoy a collection of tales from the Mortal Realms, covering a host of races and factions and providing a taste of the flavour of the Age of Sigmar.
The city of Excelsis is in mourning. Thousands were slain in the great greenskin siege, the streets of a proud civilisation reduced to bloodied pits. The sheer might of Sigmar’s allies may have won the battle, but the war between Order and Destruction is far from over, and out in the Ghurish wildlands a new evil lurks. When Freeguild captain Holger Beck and his regiment are ambushed on patrol, there is no time to fathom the cunning intellect of their foe – all they learn is terror. Broken and beaten, Beck latches on to a retinue of Thunderstrike Stormcasts led by Knight-Relictor Actinus, a formidable warrior under whose intrepid shadow Beck falls. Together, mortal soldier and divine warrior must strike forth into the dark heart of Ghur to destroy their enemy, before it takes advantage of the weakened city. But their trials have only just begun, and when even the indomitable Thunderstrike’s mettle is tested, what chance is there for a human soul to claw at victory?
This anthology contains the thrilling novella Thunderstrike by Richard Strachan, and a host of short stories that showcase the many warring armies that exist within the worlds of Warhammer Age of Sigmar.
- GenresFantasyShort Stories
320 pages, Paperback
First published July 31, 2021
30 people are currently reading
104 people want to read
About the author
Richard Strachan
42 books25 followersRichard Strachan lives in Edinburgh, UK. He has had stories published in magazines like Interzone, The Lonely Crowd, Gutter and New Writing Scotland, and writes for Games Workshop's Black Library imprint.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
August 25, 2021
"It is on the anvil of pain that the gods forge heroes."
I picked this little compilation of short stories for £5 in my local Games Workshop while looking for new reading material: I get the impression that it's meant as an introductory read for people first getting into the game Warhammer: Age of Sigmar, given it contains all the major factions in the game get at least one story in these pages, from the warrior angels of the Stormcast Eternals, to the blood-crazed warrior women known as the Daughters of Khaine, the shadowy and elusive Idoneth Deepkin, the bone-forged undead Legions of the Ossiarch Bonereapers, and the multitudes of monsters and barbarians who fight beneath the banners of the Three Eyed King, there's something from the Mortal Realms for all tastes!
Not all of the stories were to my liking, but there is some brilliant short fiction in this anthology: The Sea Taketh is a chilling short story that evokes The Shadow over Innsmouth in its creeping horror, while Emelda Braskov channels Geralt of Rivia hunting down a vampire in the aptly titled Last of the Braskovs.
Thunderstrike, The Garden of Mortal Delights and The Siege of Greenspire are epic action-filled stories that will set your pulses racing as heroes and monsters clash (the ending of Garden is deeply satisfying in the schadenfreude it inflicts on the antagonist), while The Serpent's Bargain and Strong Bones are chilling showcases of how monstrous some of the races in this savage new world are. I also enjoyed The Spears of Autumn, a rather thoughtful piece that reminds us courage is not the absence of fear, but the acknowledgement of it and the decision to fight irregardless.
All in all, a satisfying read over the last few days I recommend for those intrigued by AoS or looking for some high fantasy escapism.
I picked this little compilation of short stories for £5 in my local Games Workshop while looking for new reading material: I get the impression that it's meant as an introductory read for people first getting into the game Warhammer: Age of Sigmar, given it contains all the major factions in the game get at least one story in these pages, from the warrior angels of the Stormcast Eternals, to the blood-crazed warrior women known as the Daughters of Khaine, the shadowy and elusive Idoneth Deepkin, the bone-forged undead Legions of the Ossiarch Bonereapers, and the multitudes of monsters and barbarians who fight beneath the banners of the Three Eyed King, there's something from the Mortal Realms for all tastes!
Not all of the stories were to my liking, but there is some brilliant short fiction in this anthology: The Sea Taketh is a chilling short story that evokes The Shadow over Innsmouth in its creeping horror, while Emelda Braskov channels Geralt of Rivia hunting down a vampire in the aptly titled Last of the Braskovs.
Thunderstrike, The Garden of Mortal Delights and The Siege of Greenspire are epic action-filled stories that will set your pulses racing as heroes and monsters clash (the ending of Garden is deeply satisfying in the schadenfreude it inflicts on the antagonist), while The Serpent's Bargain and Strong Bones are chilling showcases of how monstrous some of the races in this savage new world are. I also enjoyed The Spears of Autumn, a rather thoughtful piece that reminds us courage is not the absence of fear, but the acknowledgement of it and the decision to fight irregardless.
All in all, a satisfying read over the last few days I recommend for those intrigued by AoS or looking for some high fantasy escapism.
October 26, 2021
An amazing bargain price of £5 for some of the best Age of Sigmar fiction out there.
The subjects of these stories vary across the whole breadth of AOS, and some will be more or less to your personal taste, but for me I want to single out the excellent stories by Richard Strachan and Eric Gregory.
3 stories by Richard Strachan, including the Thunderstrike novella, and all are superb. Each of these stories is very different: a close-up and personal look at Stormcasts beset by genuinely menacing Orks; an elegiac snapshot of the Lumineth, and the bloody drama of Chaos champions.
2 brilliant stories by Eric Gregory. Bossgrot is probably my favourite AOS fiction ever, and worth the price of the book alone. We also get a great tale of a Stormcast interacting with a Priestess of Sigmar in the dying moments of a losing battle.
The subjects of these stories vary across the whole breadth of AOS, and some will be more or less to your personal taste, but for me I want to single out the excellent stories by Richard Strachan and Eric Gregory.
3 stories by Richard Strachan, including the Thunderstrike novella, and all are superb. Each of these stories is very different: a close-up and personal look at Stormcasts beset by genuinely menacing Orks; an elegiac snapshot of the Lumineth, and the bloody drama of Chaos champions.
2 brilliant stories by Eric Gregory. Bossgrot is probably my favourite AOS fiction ever, and worth the price of the book alone. We also get a great tale of a Stormcast interacting with a Priestess of Sigmar in the dying moments of a losing battle.
January 4, 2022
Amazing collection of stories! Fast read. Much joy it gives to a longtime WH fan.
October 26, 2021
Introductory book to almost all the Warhammer: Age of Sigmar factions. Reading this book could help you decide which army to buy, collect, paint and/or play. Stories tend to be grouped together: Order, Destruction, Undead, Chaos. This book won't give you an explanation of lore, but you don't need to know much about Age of Sigmar lore to enjoy this book. Some stories are more interesting and better written than others.
October 1, 2021
If you are new to the Age of Sigmar universe, like myself, this book is a a worthwhile introduction to the world. The smaller stories are hit and miss for the most part but the title book, Thunderstrike, was an excellent read and really got me excited to read more books in the Age of Sigmar universe.
November 24, 2023
This is a great introduction to the mortal realms of Warhammer: Age of Sigmar. And while the stories were all incredibly entertaining to read and showcased the different factions of Age of Sigmar pretty well (although I would've wished for a bit more diversity), many of the stories felt quite hurried just to be able to write the ending in a couple of pages.
January 11, 2022
Started this book months ago - honestly it was a slog although I don’t know if the book is to blame for that. Most of the shorts were decent though and I particularly liked the last few stories. Worth a read if you want a taste of the fiction of Warhammer without committing much.
August 22, 2021
(rating is for the title novella, I'll rate the other stories separately)
October 17, 2021
This was a really strong and entertaining collection of stories about adventure and life in the Mortal Realms. I especially enjoyed Strachan’s work and the last story in the collection.
February 25, 2023
Some authors and stories were better than others but overall a good introduction to the various factions of Age of Sigmar
May 8, 2023
Was okay. Had stories, wanted to see the ending of them.
They weren't the greatest pieces of literature I've ever seen but I was entertained. =)
They weren't the greatest pieces of literature I've ever seen but I was entertained. =)
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews