Page 0(inside cover page) : Exclusive Subscriber Cover window : GhoulSlayer cover from Johan Grenier without letters!
Page 2 : Contents : ‘A Slayer Reforged’ article : It is the article of Gotrek!
Page 6 : Ask Grombrindal window : A reader from Australia asks if the rules writers and miniature designers can bring Gotrek in Warhammer : Age of Sigmar! Of course, Grombrindal answers that Gotrek has returned!
One of the best ever articles considering Gotrek! A must!
Page 126 : Contents : ‘A Slayer Reforged’ article!
All novels image!
‘An Enduring Saga’ window : As it is mentioned many times before, the 1st appearance of Gotrek & Felix was in 1989. William King also created many other characters such as Tyrion & Teclis. Gotrek has appeared in 18 novels, 21 short stories, 4 audio dramas, and has been immortalized as a Citadel miniature five times!
It is mentioned that Gotrek made his first appearance 30 years ago. He was an unusual choice for a hero. All he wants is to die a heroic death in battle. Sadly he’s exceptionally bad at dying have survived battle against trolls, skaven, daemons, dragons, orcs, beastmen, etc! Accompanied by his faithful companion and rememberer Felix Jaeger carved a saga for himself across the Old World finally journeying into the Realm Of Chaos during the End Times in search for an honorable death. He failed!
‘The Continuing Adventures of Gotrek Gurnisson’ article :
Mentions that Gotrek arrived in Mortal Realms in RealmSlayer as a ‘super production’ audio drama by David Guymer. Now there are 2 new Gotrek adventures: Blood of the Old World and GhoulSlayer. Blood of the Old World is RealmSlayer ‘s sequel. Also, a new miniature is released! So, to celebrate all these releases White Dwarf team chats with David Guymer, Darius Hinks, Johan Grenier, Brian Nelson and Anja Wettergren in order to share their thought about Gotrek(& Felix)!
Page 127 :
‘Forging a Hero’ article :
It is an interview with Brian Nelson and Anja Wettergren.
Brian Nelson :
Brian Nelson window :
In his short bio we read that he is in Games Workshop for more than 20 years. He is best known for sculpting Orks, Orcs and Orruks and he has also worked on countless ranges of Citadel miniatures.
Brian Nelson says :
He is honored (as everybody!) for working in a Gotrek project! He is also, trepidated!
The artwork of RealmSlayer (by Johan Grenier) was the starting point for this project. More precisely it captured the look of Gotrek perfectly! In RealmSlayer Gotrek is a dwarf out of time, so the model has to reflect that. He still wears his belt made up of golden ancestor faces, the trinkets in his braided beard are the same they have been for decades and he still wears a pair of manacles on his wrists that have been a part of his background, the artwork and the miniatures him over the years.
An important part of any Citadel miniature is the narrative behind it and in this piece I wanted to show the aftermath of a battle – namely the fight between Gotrek and the skaven at the end of RealmSlayer. There he recovers the Master Rune and in order to keep it safe he hammers it to his own chest! But for the miniature this would be hidden beneath his beard. So, instead I sculpted him holding it aloft in that moment of victory over his hated foes.
Gotrek’s miniature details :
Gotrek stands victorius over a pile of dead skaven, the Master Rune of Kragg Blackhammer held in his left hand, the FyresteelGreataxe Zangrom-Thaz held in his right. Though not a Fyreslayer, Gotrek’s dyed orange hair and beard clearly link him visually to his kinspeople from the Mortal Realms.
Brian Nelson says :
The shoulder pad is based on a Stormcast Eternals design. In the story it belonged to one of Gotrek’s acquaintances and I liked the idea that he’s started to integrate himself in the Mortal Realms picking up bits of wargear here and there.
His new Axe shares design elements with those wielded by the Fyreslayers, such as the burning brazier in the head. I added a dwarfen knotwork to the axe head to hint back to Gotrek’s past in the World-that-Was.
From the front you can see Gotrek’s missing left eye – he lost it the the story Wolf Riders , written way back in 1989. The story would be later featured in TrollSlayer.
Gotrek’s dispay base features mounts of dead skaven. The model also comes with a 32mm base for gaming.
Anja Wettergren says :
When painting Gotrek, I used quite a light colour scheme so that he would stand out of his dark base.
I used Kislev Flesh for the basecoat of his skin, then shaded it down by carefully glazing and blending the colours in to get a smooth texture to the skin.
Lastly, I allied some very thin glazes of red to the areas of skin I wanted to look a bit more gnarly, such as around his missing eye.
When painting his tatoos, I practiced on a piece of paper first, identifying the basic shapes and paying attention to the negative space(the distance and shape between the lines) as well as the lines. I used a neutral light grey to carefully sketch out the design on the figure before refining it with darker colour of the tatoos. I also mixed in a bit of the skin tone with the tatoo colour to make it look more natural.
If RealmSlayer was about Gotrek’s discovery of, and coming to terms with, the Age of Sigmar, then RealmSlayer : Blood Of The Old Worldis the story of his search for a purpose now that his old oaths no longer bind him.
This story sees Gotrek on a new quest, but, unfortunately finding a single axe in 8 near infinite realms isn’t as straightforward as he first thought. And it’s before a certain maniacal Grey Seer of his acquintance gets involved.
The story follows on more-or-less directly from the end of RealmSlayer. A short-story I wrote for the 2018 Black Library Advent (also available in the Myths and Revenants anthology) called Gotrek : One, Untended bridges the gap and shows Gotrek getting increasingly drunk and miserable as the impossibility of his task sinks in and then killing some ghosts and skaven.
Here you can see Gotrek racing through the mysterious labyrinths of a Silver Tower. It’s a place of distorted magic where the fabric of the world is constantly changing. I tried to convey architecture, impossible structures and the mad presence of Tzeentch. It was a good opportunity to play with contrast as well. Our hero is a flaboyant tornado of fire and hair, and it was fun to put him in a cold, impossible land of Chaos.
Pages 128 – 129 :
David Guymer says :
How is Gotrek adapting the life in the Mortal Realms? In ReamlSlayer, I liked the idea of using Gotrek to represent the dyed-in-the-wool old-school fantasy fan determined to dislike Age of Sigmar, only to be slowly won around as he was introduced to its scope and wonders.In RealmSlayer : Blood Of The Old WorldGotrek has become slightly more relaxed in his opinions. He’s come to terms with the fact that the world has changed some of which he’s more or less at peace with, others he still struggles or downright refuses to accept. He’ll share a drink with a wandering orruk in Hammerhal-Ghyra, but he’s still not a fan of the Fyreslayers or the Kharadron! What irks Gotrek most through is the foreground role that the gods now play in the Age of Sigmar and this is a big theme of theRealmSlayer : Blood Of The Old World,what is the place of flesh and bones heroes like Gotrek Gurnisson when the likes of Alarielle and Nagash walk the Mortal Realms?
Page 129 :
David Guymer says :
Despite all these changes, Gotrek hasn’t given up on Felix – he’s convinced that he’s out there somewhere, propably as a Stormcast Eternal in Sigmar’s Armies, he’s just not entirely sure how much of ‘Felix’ would be left after so much time. Gotrek does have a new companion, through – the darkling Shadowblade, Maleneth. The position in which she finds herself in RealmSlayer : Blood Of The Old Worldis similar to Felix’s in that she’s stuck with Gotrek until the Slayer dies. Unlike Felix, she’s not at all content to stick around and wait for nature to take its course! She already seems to have stuck a chord with the fans and a lot of credit for that is due to Penelope Rawlins’s wonderful evil portayal of her in the audio dramas. We also get to see a lot more of Maleneth in One, Untended, as well as the short stories and novellas by Robert MacNiven and Darius Hinks and of course in Darius’ new novelGhoulSlayer.Only time will tell if she will enjoy the enduring popularity of Felix Jaeger. Interview me again in 20 years!
It has been brilliant having Gotrek voiced by Brian Blessed. Walking across the car park at the Black Library Weekender last year when ReamlSlayerfirst went on sale and hearing his voice booming out of a dozen car stereos was a surreal experience and not one I’m ever likely to forget! Brian (see how we’re on first-name terms now?) is obviously the big draw for the series, but everyone who has performed in these audio dramas has been outstanding.
I already have ideas in my head for RealmSlayer III propably focusing more on Maleneth and the Temples of Khaine, but that’s not something we’re even talking about yet. Whatever happens with that through, I’m sure we’ll be seeing a lot more Gotrek in print in the years to come!
‘Jordaius’ window : A painting of this character. And a caption :
Jordaius is just one of the characters that Gotrek will meet in RealmSlayer : Blood Of The Old World. His name sounds suspiciously familiar, through. Who could he possibly be?
(GhoulSlayer) is the first full Age of Sigmar nover featuring Gotrek. It all begins with a powerful Fyreslayer rune. A Khainite assasin named Maleneth and a Stormcast Eternal by the name Trachos have sworn to retrieve this rune for Sigmar. The problem is that the rune is embedded in Gotrek’s chest, as established in the audio drama RealmSlayer. Meanwhile, Gotrek is currently fighting and drinking his way through the Realm of Death, hell-bent on a showdown with Nagash, one of the few names from the Old-World that Gotrek know in the new and someone who’s almost certainly willing to grand him the heroic death he desires. As Gotrek carves a path through the Amethyst Princedoms, the two agents of Sigmar try to keep up, fighting a losing battle to keep him alive so that they can retrieve the Master Rune and return it to Azyr upon the Slayer’s death.
GhoulSlayerfollows on from the events that take place in the RealmSlayer audio dramas, but the novel is also a stand-alone tale in its own right. I made sure that it could be read and enjoyed even if you have no prior knowledge of the characters. I feel that’s important with any Warhammer novel.
However I really love what David Guymer has done withRealmSlayer, and I’ve tried to make sure this novel builds on the themes and characterisation he established in the audio dramas. David and I kept in touch and exchanged lot of ideas to make sure our stories mesh and don’t tread on each other’s toes. We want to create an ongoing Gotrek narrative for anyone who wants it. I always loved the way the old Gotrek & Felix novels worked. You could read them individually, but they also told a bigger story if you read them back to back.
The original novels are clearly a huge influence on the new saga that David and Darius are forging for Gotrek but what has been like for Darius bringing the irascible Slayer into the Mortal Realms? It’s been so much fun. GhoulSlayer is one of the most enjoyable books I’ve ever worked on. RealmSlayer did a wonderful job of establishing Gotrek’s new place in the Warhammer universe – a displaced, cantankerous curmudgeon who’s a complete fish out of water in the Mortal Realms. He dissaproves of almost every aspect of the new world he’s been spat into(especially his cousins, the so-called duardin), and he’s absolutely furious that he’s still alive. Everyone he knew has been killed, while he, a death-seeking berserker, has somehow survived. The gods have played a bad joke on him and he’s bloody well make them pay.
Pages 130 – 131 :
As far as Gotrek is concerned, nothing in the Mortal Realms matches up to his old life and he would give anything to have Felix back at his side. He’d kind of gotten used to the human being around! However, he does take pleasure in watching Maleneth and Trachos struggle to survive his trail of death and destruction. In his mind they’re clearly not quite up to the challenge of adventuring like he used to in the ‘good old days’. Hopefully they’ll prove their worth(in his eyes) in the fullness of time.
Page 131 :
Darius Hinks says :
As we’ve heard from many Gotrek authors over the years, writing about Slayer can be a pretty entertaining venture. We ask Darius what he enjoyed most and his favorite scene from GhoulSlayer (without giving away any spoilers!) . Gotrek is a joy to write about whenever he appears. By nature, I’m a reserved bookish type better suited to a pen than an axe so it’s winderful writing about someone who doesn’t give a damn about what anyone thinks or even care if he survives to see the next day. There’s a vicarious thrill in watching him cannonball through life as everyone else scrambles to keep up him with him.
I reckon my favorite moment inGhoulSlayerwould have to be when we first meet him in the book. I was grinning as I wrote those scenes because I was realising how much fun it was going to be spending time in Gotrek’s company. He’s such a vital, energetic character with loads of wonderful nuances. You can get quite a lot of dark humor into him.
So what has Darius got planned for the future? More Gotrek stories, we hope. I’d love to write more about Gotrek, but I’m actually busy on a few other projects for a little time while now. Mind you, one of the great joys of this character is seeing how different authors tackle him. Like most people, I’ve got battered, well-loved copies of the old Gotrek & Felix novels in my shelves, but it’s a great that this character has been passed on to new authors. He’s got a powerful hold on people’s imaginations that, even though his entire world was blow up, he’s still around, venting his spleen on whichever poor soul gets in his way. Gotrek’s alive! Long live the Slayer!
Also 2 images :
A portrait of Maleneth by Johan Grenierand some information about him.
An image of undead revenants of Shyish. They are considered terrible foes by most travelers, but not for Gotrek as we see in GhoulSlayer.
Page 132 :
‘The Art of Slaying’ article : Johan Grenier interview.
Also, there are 3 of his paintings taken from both Warhamer : Age of Sigmar and Warhammer 40,000(not Gotrek releated).
All the recent artwork for Gotrek has been illustrated by Johan Grenier. We asked him what it’s like illustrating a character like Gotrek and how he went about creating the cover for Darius‘ novel, GhoulSlayer. Illustrating Gotrek is a lot of fun and very rewarding. He’s entertaining to paint because he’s very expressive and I can really push the expressions and poses I give him. Also, like his duardin brothers and sisters, his facial features are very caricature-like, which allows me to carve interesting volumes of light and shadow into his face. Gotrek’s look has also been well established over the years, so there are lots of pieces of art I can reference and loads of previous iterations of him. I can evacuate all the stress of a creating such an important character because a lot of groundwork has already been done.
Saying that, he did require quite a bit work of work to fit him into the Mortal Realms. He has evolved. First there is the addition of the Master Rune on his chest and the presence of it in the form of golden hairs in his beard is very visible. His outfit and weapon needed to be adjusted as well to make him look more apprpriate for the tone of the Age of Sigmar. I took out a lot of the more cartoonish and colourful elements of his design and painted him in a more limited palette of red, gold and orange focusing more ion the badass aspects of his personality.
Pages 132 – 133 :
When it comes to creating a book cover, I not only aim to paint a beautiful picture, but also to tell an interesting story. If I’m creating the cover for a novel, that story will be whatever the book is about! I receive a brief explaining the key elements of the story and I’ll play around with a few ideas to see how they could become a cover piece. The composition also has to respect some printing constraints, such as the placement of the title as well as being readable from a distance and colourful enough to stand out on a shelf. With all this mind, I can begin the sketching process.
Page 133 :
(Sketches window) (For more information also visit Johan Grenier‘s post) :
Sketch no1 :
The first sketch establishes the composition of the place, with Gotrek in the foreground and Maleneth behind him. The undead city can be seen in the background.
Sketch no2 :
A few ghouls are introduced as adversaries, with Gotrek and Maleneth in more action-oriented poses that reflect their preferred styles of fighting.
Sketch no3 :
The third sketch defines Maleneth’s pose, while Gotrek is shown grappling with a ghoul. The ghoul later dissapears but Gotrek’s pose remain pretty similar.
I always start by creating some black-and-white sketches(as the ones in this page). I can create several of them in a day, then select those I like the most and refine them before I send the sketches in to Rachel Harrison, the Black Library art commissioner. I try to come up with few different moods and poses so we can select the best option available, sometimes merging two propositions in one to get the best of both worlds.
Then I move on to the first colours. Some, such as Gotrek’s skin tone and hair colour, are already established, but the rest of the piece also needs to have an interesting palette while maintaining the initial contrasts and values (such as the which areas will be lighter and which will be darker). At this point, eighty percent of the job is done, but the hardest part is still in front of me – the details. I spend the vast majority of my time asking where, when, and if I should add detail here or there, going back and forth to balance the picture and keep the focus where it needs to be. Warhammer pictures are often crowded and each character has weapons, wargear and trinkets that need to be carefully approached to ensure the piece is easy to understand. That’s why I try my best to work with efficiency and clarity. The more details I add, the neater my technique and style needs to be pull them out efficiently without spoiling the global picture.
Also an image that is half black and white, half colored, as mentioned above, in order to understand his methods in painting.
Page 134 :
3 details from the cover of GhoulsSlayer arranged in set of two : on the left it is the early stage painting, on the right the ‘almost’ final result. Both are in color.
The Victims (it is about Gotrek’s opponents) :
The details stage is where the overall fell of the piece changes the most. The ghouls went through a few iterations as I subtly changed the positioning of their arms or weapons to ensure they didn’t get in the way of the main characters. Because I illustrate with digital tolls, I can make regular changes, even very late in the process. Here you can see how the ghoul’s arm, position, hair and bone fetishes have all changed through the last details are still to be done.
The books title is GhoulsSlayer; it’s about Gotrek, so he has to be the star of the show. He was always going to be the focal point of the composition and once the title is in place he should sit in the center of the cover with Maleneth offset behind him. At the detail stage – once I was happy with Gotrek’s pose and overall composition – I began to refine the colours I used on him, lightening his beard and skin tone and adding the rest of his tattoos and his nose chain.
The Shadowblade :
Maleneth and Gotrek share that odd kind of relationship where they are so different to each other, yet they have an interesting synergy. While they are clearly in a dangerous situation, I didn’t want to show them in a desperate struggle, so I went for a joyful fight, Gotrek pulling out the ‘come get some’ gesture while Malenenth stands behind him (she’a an Assasin after all, not a front liner) slicing through ghouls. She enjoys her work, as you can see from her expression.
Page 135 :
GhoulsSlayer‘s cover without letters, etc. with the following caption :
Johan Grenier‘s finished cover piece for GhoulsSlayer in all its glory. The last additions to the piece include the blood on the ghouls’ bones and blades, a couple of tweaks to Maleneth’s pose and the burning brazier on Gotrek’s axe, which servers to illuminate the Slayer in the centre of the piece.
Pages 141 – 142 (from Inside the Studio article. An article about a quick look at the games people have been playing and the models they’ve been painting in the studio over the last month).
Page 142 :
(Top, Header) : At the end of header we read : Plus, Gotrek & Felix in Total War : Warhammer.
‘Gotrek Loves Total War’ window :
There is a mention of this White Dwarf issue that comes with a special promotional card that enables to recruit Gotrek and Felix for the races of order. Also, Brian Blessed reprises his role from the RealmSlayer audio dramas as Gotrek.
Gotrek as he used to look in the World-that-Was, complete with eyepatch, tattoos and braided beard. He wields the fable Axe of Grimnir.
‘Inside side’ of back Cover : Exclusive Subscriber Cover of this month’s issue : GhoulSlayer cover from Johan Grenier without letters!
Notes :
White Dwarf subscribers have a different cover compared to the ones found in shops. Also, the cover of the magazine is without any letters, contents, etc. in order to appreciate the art in all its wonderful glory!
Both covers are included in the cover section, i.e., with and without Gotrek & Felix card for Total War : Warhammer II.
Originally the issue was in a plastic bag(in order for the card to be in place and not get lost). The plastic bag on its top has the following text written in capital letters(except the cautions of all plastic bags) :
