Realmgate Wars: The Quest for Ghal Maraz

This 250 page tome, the first of a series in the new Age of Sigmar (formerly known as Warhammer) book is a bit of a special thing.

It is, in a way, a three-in-one book, combining novel, scenario and paintguides in one tome.

The story of the book, and which takes up most of the space, is two-fold.  On the one hand, it continues from the fluff of the main rulebook, where Sigmar's mighty hammer Ghal Maraz was hinted at at being discovered.  The Stormcast Eternals (while some more mysteries are unveiled in "what" they exactly are) are send out to recover the weapon, and conquer the Realmgates, which allow passage through the lands, in one go.

In the secondary tale, another cadre of Stormcasts is send to the realm of Life to aid (and re-enlist) Alarielle into the cause, as her Sylvaneth battle against the forces of the Plague Monks and Nurgle in order to free up the Realm.

The book includes scenario`s for every major event in these storylines, so that you can actually have a go at what they are telling about, something in older novels was left completely to imagination and dungeon mastering blokes.  The final part of the book contains warscrolls for a lot of units featured in the book, as well as the occassional painting guide being interspaced in the stories and scenarios.  This allows you to recreate the troops of certain forces as such.

Nicely produced with both artwork as well as pictures of painted miniatures, this is a very intresting read.  I can`t comment on the balance of the scenario`s though, as I haven`t played anything in years...

... but not for long anymore ;-)