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Call of Chaos #6
The Gift of Khorne
A magically protected city of the free peoples still stands, and a Khorne champion named Gigante seeks the ultimate gift of Khorne, daemonhood, by destroying it and killing all of its defenders.
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It shows how far a servant of the Blood God will go to achieve his apotheosis and ascend to daemonhood. And what happens when he displeases his master...
17 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 6, 2015
1 person is currently reading
33 people want to read
About the author
Guy Haley
281 books733 followersGuy Haley is the author of over 50 novels and novellas. His original fiction includes Crash, Champion of Mars, and the Richards and Klein, Dreaming Cities, and the Gates of the World series (as K M McKinley). However, he is best known as a prolific contributor to Games Workshop's Black Library imprint.
When not writing, he'll be out doing something dangerous in the wild, learning languages or gaming.
When not writing, he'll be out doing something dangerous in the wild, learning languages or gaming.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
December 20, 2015
The Gift of Khorne is basically a story about the Chaos Boon / Eye of the Gods table from 40k's Chaos Space Marines or Warhammer Fantasy's Warriors of Chaos books. I am not aware of an equivalent existing in the Khorne Bloodbound book for Age of Sigmar, but at least in the lore, this concept still exists.
For those unfamiliar with this set of rules, it is basically a dice-table of gifts from the Chaos Gods for a champion in your army. Roll well, and you'll receive bonuses to your statline, new abilities or, if you roll badly, the God's fickle favor might run out and you'll end up as a Chaos spawn waving tentacles around.
This is basically what this story presents us with: A mighty Khorne champion who has been rising in Khorne's favor for a long, long time, amassing gifts such as a forked spine tail, claws, horns, and even a secondary hand on one arm to support his giant axe.
But sooner or later, even this Gigante has to learn that failure is not rewarded.
I quite enjoyed this story for what it represented. Haley described the mutations masterfully, and made it easy to visualize the champion. He certainly is shown as a massive beast of a former man!
My one regret is that, once more, the Stormcast Eternals had to be the ultimate doorstopper, rather than the civilization Gigante and his warband aim to bring down at long last. I'd have liked the city's defenders to be the antagonist here for good, rather than see them lose out in favor of the golden boys. Especially since their city is described as having resisted Chaos successfully for centuries. It would have felt more rewarding for them to put a stop to the warband's conquest, rather than it being down to external saviors again.
Still, this is the type of story that I look forward to reading in every Black Library advent collection. It focuses on a theme, something a little abstract, a slice from a faction's lore, which wouldn't have worked so well in a longer format.
The Gift of Khorne certainly hammered its core idea home!
For those unfamiliar with this set of rules, it is basically a dice-table of gifts from the Chaos Gods for a champion in your army. Roll well, and you'll receive bonuses to your statline, new abilities or, if you roll badly, the God's fickle favor might run out and you'll end up as a Chaos spawn waving tentacles around.
This is basically what this story presents us with: A mighty Khorne champion who has been rising in Khorne's favor for a long, long time, amassing gifts such as a forked spine tail, claws, horns, and even a secondary hand on one arm to support his giant axe.
But sooner or later, even this Gigante has to learn that failure is not rewarded.
I quite enjoyed this story for what it represented. Haley described the mutations masterfully, and made it easy to visualize the champion. He certainly is shown as a massive beast of a former man!
My one regret is that, once more, the Stormcast Eternals had to be the ultimate doorstopper, rather than the civilization Gigante and his warband aim to bring down at long last. I'd have liked the city's defenders to be the antagonist here for good, rather than see them lose out in favor of the golden boys. Especially since their city is described as having resisted Chaos successfully for centuries. It would have felt more rewarding for them to put a stop to the warband's conquest, rather than it being down to external saviors again.
Still, this is the type of story that I look forward to reading in every Black Library advent collection. It focuses on a theme, something a little abstract, a slice from a faction's lore, which wouldn't have worked so well in a longer format.
The Gift of Khorne certainly hammered its core idea home!
August 24, 2021
Couldn't decide between a 3 star or 4 star. It's a short story that delves into the double-edged nature of a gift from Khorne (the Blood God) and it does exactly what it sets out to do. It's not anything special, but it's a good enough read (especially seeing as you can get through it in less than half an hour).
May 17, 2021
The perils of Chaos patronage prevail here.
December 10, 2015
Day six in Black Library’s 2015 Advent Calendar brings us The Gift of Khorne by Guy Haley, an Age of Sigmar story featuring another powerful Chaos champion (there’s a trend appearing here…), this time the more-beast-than-man Gigante. Besieging a still-intact city in the realm of life, Ghyran, he revels in his god-granted gifts and the carnage that he wreaks in the name of Khorne. Gifts from the Chaos gods tend to be a little risky however, so he had better hope that nothing puts a stop to his successes, like the unexpected appearance of the Stormcast Eternals…
Read the rest of the review at https://trackofwords.wordpress.com/20...
Read the rest of the review at https://trackofwords.wordpress.com/20...
February 25, 2016
Highly entertaining story. Violent and horrible events fill the world of Warhammer.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews