Gothic War (Novel Series)

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This article is about the the novel series by Gordon Rennie. For other uses of Gothic War, see Gothic War (disambiguation).

The Gothic War series by Gordon Rennie consists of two Black Library novels, two short stories and a comic strip as tie-in fiction for the space combat wargame Battlefleet Gothic, and the books were later included as official products for the Eye of Terror campaign. They describe the role of the Imperial Cruiser Lord Solar Macharius under Captain Leoten Semper in the events of the Gothic War. The first book Execution Hour was published in 2001 and the sequel Shadow Point in 2003.

Novels

Execution Hour

• Execution Hour by Gordon Rennie
  • Released: June 2001
  • Format: Softback
  • Pages: 320
  • ISBN 1-84154-142-7
    • Republished: The Gothic War

Execution Hour tells the story of the Lord Solar Macharius during the early part of the Gothic War, featuring the notorious Planet Killer.

Shadow Point

• Shadow Point by Gordon Rennie
  • Released: March 2003
  • Format: Softback
  • Pages: 288
  • ISBN 1-84154-263-6
    • Republished: The Gothic War

Shadow Point follows Captain Leoten Semper and his crew during the middle of the Gothic War, including their part in the Battle of Gethsemane.

Short stories

Incident at Stranivar

• First Published: Warp Storm (rulebook)

As Captain Leoten Semper takes command of the Lord Solar Macharius for the first time, Chaos warships attack in the first major incident of the Gothic War.

Wolf Pack

• First Published: White Dwarf 242 (UK)
• Republished: Warp Storm (rulebook)

Defending a convoy to Orar, Captain Semper decides to go back and defend two lagging transports rather than leave them to the predations of the pirate "Wolf Packs".

Comic

Battlefleet Gothic

• Art: Colin MacNeil
• First Published: Battlefleet Gothic (game)
• Republished: Warhammer Monthly 34

The Macharius enters an uncharted Space hulk graveyard, and comes under attack from a lurking Chaos warship.

Reprints

Omnibus

• The Gothic War by Gordon Rennie
  • Released: March 2010
  • Format: Softback
  • ISBN 9781844169009

An omnibus volume that collects the original two novels and the "Battlefleet Gothic" comic. It was made available through the Black Library's print-on-demand service.

Other

• Baptism of Fire, the first chapter of Execution Hour, was included in the mini novel Black Crusade, given away free in White Dwarf 282 (UK) to mark the start of the Eye of Terror campaign
• A slightly edited version of the first part of Part 3 Chapter 1 was also reprinted in Codex: Chaos Space Marines (3rd Edition, 2nd Codex) (pg. 9)
• The Battlefleet Gothic comic was reprinted in Warhammer Monthly 34
• Both short stories were included in Warp Storm (rulebook)

Sequel

Gordon Rennie originally planned to write a trilogy of Gothic War novels, with the first (Execution Hour) set at the start of the war, the second (Shadow Point) set in the middle and a third novel set at the end. Provisionally titled "Suicide Run", it was planned to focus on the Blackstone Fortresses, but was never written.¹

Related

• Ancient History (Short Story)

External links

• The Black Library - Gothic War
• The Black Library - Execution Hour
• The Black Library - Shadowpoint [sic]
  • Extract from Shadow Point
• Interview: Gordon Rennie on Blackstone Six