It’s (War)Hammer time!

I have been an avid reader for the past 20 years. I love fantasy and I love science fiction. Despite that, I have never started or even considered reading Warhammer. In truth, I was turned off by Warhammer because of the table top game when I saw that in order to play, you needed a bunch of miniatures, a landscape, and a ruler. I believe it was the ruler that threw me off.

Fast forward to 2025. While talking to 2 different people at 2 different places at 2 different times and then seeing an article where Henry Cavil mentioned that he is looking to produce a show and do right by Warhammer/the fans, it seemed like the right time to give Warhammer a go. Ruler be damned.

When I talked with one of the instigating parties (not Cavil), they recommended a place for me to start, The Solar War – The Horus Heresy, Siege of Terra. I immediately went to the local bookstore and found a copy. Fearing that I may be missing some of the lore, I looked up the appropriate reading order for Warhammer. This was definitely a problem because now I started to feel like I had made a mistake…there are a bazillion books/audiobooks/novellas/short stories to read. What. the. hell.

Overcoming the fear of decision fatigue on whether or not The Solar War was indeed the right place to start, I went to Reddit to find additional advice on a reading order. From this search, I realized that this wasn’t going to be a simple – just start here and read these few books and you’ll be fine. I mean I guess that is sort of the case because Warhammer isn’t a linear place it is a world and setting that people tell stories in. But, I am a pretty linear person and I like to know where to start an activity. After searching through various posts and even consulting ChatGPT, I will use the following list: https://www.reddit.com/r/40kLore/comments/jjr9m5/cd8ds_personal_guide_to_reading_the_horus_heresy/