Jared, glad you liked Heldenhammer (and hopefully you’ll like Empire), as the vibe you describe is exactly what I was going for. And you’re welcome. Thank *you* for coming along for the ride!

Looking at more of your books, I picked up Guardians of the Forest, which I loved so much that I began a wood elf army that I have now been playing for more than 4 years. My best friend then started a Brettonian army after reading it.

Unfortunately I remained bored of the fantasy books, though I played fantasy far more than 40k, until I came upon Heldenhammer. The book came off amazingly as a myth, like the stories you would find in a collection of norse or greek mythology, and that instantly drew me in. The story was so immersive and fascinating that I began reading more fantasy novels, so I feel I must thank you for rekindling my love of the background for both 40k and fantasy. Not only that, but you got me back into the hobby of warhammer fantasy. I should probably be unhappy that stemming from you, I’ve spent most of my money on books and models, but really, I just thank you.

As to the two missing Primarchs. Here’s the scoop. You heard it here first. Remember where you were when you heard the news. Dan’s the Primarch of the 11th Legion, and I’m the Primarch of the 2nd. The mystery is solved.

The Codex Astartes did exist before the Heresy, it wasn’t an official tome at the time, but Roboute Guilliman was collating his thoughts and writings all during the Great Crusade. Its influence was felt throughout the Chapter, but the *rigid* adherence to its words wasn’t quite the same as it is now, because, as you say, the necessity of it hadn’t arisen yet (ie the consequences of Legions acting without such guidance). We did some reverse engineering of Ultramar and the Legion at the last meeting, and let me tell you the results were head-spinning to say the least. I’ll leave it at that for now, but to answer your question I’ll have to say that A: yeah, I’d love to tell part of that story and B: you’ll have to wait and see.

Jay: Space Marines can indeed be interesting. Just look at Priad in Brothers of the Snake. Rafen in the Blood Angels books. Glad you hopped on board the Astartes train, and you couldn’t have picked a better place to enter the world of 40K than with Eisenhorn.

Cheers Big, nice to see you in these salubrious surroundings, and thanks for the best wishes. I think Guilliman wrote the codex as more of a journal, intending to make something along the lines you suggest, but fate forced his hand… Honsou will be appearing in his own novella later this year, and the Sigmar books will indeed be a trilogy, though don’t discount the idea of seeing more of his story in the future.