Grombrindal: Chronicles of the Wanderer

Warhammer Age of Sigmar

by David Guymer

A Warhammer Age of Sigmar Anthology

Grombrindal – the White Dwarf. Few names conjure up as many tales of adventure and intrigue, and his legend grows across the length of breadth of the Mortal Realms.

READ IT BECAUSE
This legendary Warhammer character comes to life through the eyes of the various duardin across the Mortal Realms.

THE STORY
The duardin are a proud folk, renowned throughout the Mortal Realms for their peerless craftsmanship and their stubbornness in battle. They are also a divided people. But whether they dwell in the stone halls of their doomed ancestors, in the furnace heat of Fyreslayer lodges, or free from the anchor of their traditions in skyborne cities, they share a common legend – that of an aged traveller, a wanderer, whose timely arrival will avert calamity and right intractable wrongs. When the foes of the duardin are many, when the foul creatures of the realms bay at the doors, Grombrindal will return and take up his axe once more.

Genres: Fantasy, Science Fiction Fantasy, Audiobook

381 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 29, 2022

About the author

David Guymer is a freelance author, PhD in molecular microbiology (which still comes in more handy than you might think), and tabletop warlord based in the Yorkshire East Riding. He has written for Black Library, Marvel, Aconyte Books, Asmodee, Mantic Games, Cubicle 7, Creative Assembly, and Mongoose Publishing.

Reviews

[Tony · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was hoping for the Old World. Didn't realise it was Age of Sigmar stuff. I just find it too dark and hopeless. Its like reading about Frodo and Sam being slowly tortured to death, while Hobbiton burns to the ground. Why does it have to be so dark?
I liked the main characters and eventually enjoyed the story of survival. But will not read another Age of Sigmar book. Sorry.

[Carol · Rating 2 out of 5]

I can say that duardin are not one of my favourite Sigmar factions. Since I discovered Warhammer I've been trying out books from different factions (both Sigmar and 40K), and I knew I'd find books that wouldn't be for me. This is one of them.
I really love the fantasy setup Sigmar has, it's very rich in lore, there's many characters, and the high fantasy feel is fantastic. However, you do meed to know stuff sometimes to understand what is happening. This book didn't explain anything so I had to go look, maybe this was not a good book to start reading about duardin, but the order of Sigmar books are confusing. This is probably a great book for someone who already knows them. I was also hoping to see more of Grombrindal, but he actually appears very briefly in the stories. I really liked 2 of them. The one with the girl that grows up to become the Tavern Keeper and she sees Grombindal every year as he comes to taste the brew for the year and one where a duardin goes to an Elf city to sell his wares. The first one is more dark as chaos is involved, and the second one is more bright. I'll keep trying more factions.

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 rounded up for the fact that I love dwarves. I am not a big fan of the newer lore for Warhammer. I read The earlier Warhammer dwarf collections and those books were heavy heavy metal. This new book had a surprising lack of war and hammers. It's like when you have a guitar player quit drinking and get sober sure he is a better person but the music isn't as gritty and BR00T4L.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mother of Fire - 3.5/5: A bit harder to follow and slow going, so can be a rough start, really gets me wanting some Femme Fyreslayer sculpts though. I think this story would have been better in the middle with Old Whitebeard's Special as the first story

Old Whitebeard's Special - 10/5: Best short of the collection by far, fun, thematic, and flavorful. feels extremely accessible and one of the most "High Fantasy"

Maker's Mark - 4/5: a Surprising setting for a Duardin focused story in the Realm of Hysh, surprisingly, I think this is one of the better setting stories to understand the Lumineth and their realm. Otherwise an Ok story.

Protect with Honor - 3/5: I've completely forgotten this one since the original listen.

Graveyard of Legend - 3/5: a fine follow up to the event of Gotrek: Blood of the Old World for those who wondered what was going on in the Silver Tower there, but otherwise a pretty by the numbers fantasy story that fails to stand out

The White Bearded Ancestor - 5/5: An excellent dive into the gods and magic of the setting, giving an almost cinematic zoom-in/zoom-out into multiple Duardin factions and settings and establishing how Grombrindal could even be here in the first place. Very well done worldbuilding.

Masters of Stone Fire and Sky - 5/5: A short story featuring the Beastclaw Raiders as the main villains and ALL of the Order Duardin Factions as Protags, this longer short story was by far the star of the show and was an excellent cap to a decent collection. It's nice to see my own faction of choice (Ogors) take center stage in a shockingly ambiguous antagonist, compared to other stories that may have reduced them entirely to brutish monsters with nary a thought. and the Duardin POV characters all were well conflicted and fleshed out. the employment of Grombrindal in this story actually has me eager for Tabletop rules for a United Duardin Force, similar to the Cities of Sigmar or Big Waaagh.

[Jozua · Rating 4 out of 5]

First half of the book are short stories where Duardin (Dwarfs) meet a certain stranger (Grombrindal) when they are in need.
The second half is a small novel about the politics between the Duardin factions (Dispossessed, Fyreslayers and Kharadron) during a siege (and yes Grombrindal is present).

If you love Dwarfs and Dwarven Lore then this is a must-read.

[Griffin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this collection of short stories featuring the dwarves from the Mortal Realms and Grombrindal’s advice to them all in each story. The final novella featuring all three of the different kinds coming together (or stubbornly not as is the way with dwarves) was great and I loved hearing story focusing on Grugni at the outset of the Age of Chaos.

[Jo Turner · Rating 4 out of 5]

A strong collection, definitely my favourite work based wholly on dwarves, even if a few of the stories aren't terribly exciting. Special shoutout to "Old Whitebeard's Special," a fantastic and surprisingly emotional short. The characterization of the Ogors in the novella was also a treat.

[Adrian J Ratcliffe · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a wonderful love letter to all things Duardin. Each short story is great, and the final one is a particularly great tale. However the surprise star of the show in this was how well David Guymer writes the Ogor antagonists in the final story.

[Alberto · Rating 2 out of 5]

No resonó conmigo como creí que lo haría, aunque algunos de los cuentos cortos me gustaron mucho y el estilo está maravillosamente escrito.

[Alexander W · Rating 4 out of 5]

Was ok, not essential reading other than more details on what some of the dispossessed are up to.

[Matthew Hipsher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read and an amazing way to tell the story of a myth.

[Trevor James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great Book, loved the short stories style the book went with