Forge of War

Forge of War is a five-issue American comic book limited series from Boom! Studios, written by Dan Abnett and Ian Edginton.

Set in the low-fantasy world of Warhammer Fantasy, it follows several characters of the Averland army, a county within the Empire, and their conflict against the forces of Chaos.

Characters and plot

The series follows a few characters in each issue.

Sergeant Vogal leads the Averland's regiment of Greatswords, a unit of the greatest, hand-picked soldiers, chosen by the Elector Count himself. However, as the battle rages on, despite the Elector Count and his closest officers on Griffin-back joining the battle, his hand is forced to call for a retreat as Chaos magic decimates the Imperial army, severely troubling him as the Greatswords are sworn to never retreat in battle. He is then knocked unconscious as a regiment of Chaos Warriors follows the retreating Greatswords and traps them in a wood.

Vogal wakes up the next day to find himself and his men in a convent where the nuns are caring for his men's wounds. He is offered some wine to help him sleep, which he refuses. Woken by a nightmare in the middle of the night, he discovers his men have been drugged and that the nuns, who are actually the servants of a Lamiahn vampire queen, have been feeding soldiers to their mistress. He convinces his men not to take their wine that night, they recover their weaponry, and they kill the vampire and her servants. They then head out to find more of the fled troops from the battle and organize a counter assault.

Skor Lokkinson is a Dwarf who leads a regiment of Dwarfs sworn to the Averland army. When the Averland army retreats, he commands his regiment to continue fighting, despite the odds, and shows visible contempt at the humans' actions. Of the 3 dwarves captured by the chaos horde after the battle, he is the first to be thrown in the pit with the Chaos Ogre.

Vargni Valhirsson is the last dwarf captured by the Chaos horde. While Uthamir Gundasson slays the Chaos Ogre in the pit (and is slain by the angry Chaos Warriors in the crowd), Valhirsson escapes from his cage and flees into the woods. He overheard that the rout of the Empire army was planned, but mistakenly assumes that the Dwarf forces were betrayed by the humans.

Widdman leads the Averland Army's gun battery. He is seen tasking other men to use cannons to soften the Warriors of Chaos' initial charge. However, a few cannons misfire, destroying the battery and he calls for his men to retreat as the Chaos army charges.

Konig is a wizard in the Averland army. When the Averland army is forced to retreat from the Chaos onslaught, another soldier sworn to protect him, Enz, helps him to flee. Konig and Enz come across a village plagued by a crazed War Griffon who lost his rider during the battle. With the help of Sergeant Vogal, whose men had come across the village the day before, Konig subdues the Griffon and claims it for his own.

While Konig and Vogal's men prepare to launch a suicidal delaying action against the Chaos host, Valhirsson attacks them, intent on taking vengeance on the men he believes betrayed his people. Vogal subdues him and convinces him to speak reasonably. With Valhirsson's account of his captor's words, Konig realizes that the Chaos Sorcerers had conjured and atmosphere of doubt which caused the empire army to break. With what's left of the Empire army now reunited, they lure the Chaos horde into a narrow valley and launch a suicidal counterattack as the series ends.

Vogal returns in Condemned By Fire Issue 3, where he informs the Witch Hunter Magnus Gault that the ambush was rescued at the last minute by a massive Empire army who defeated the Chaos host. Vogal joins Gault on his quest and is reunited with Valhirsson in the next Issue.

Collected editions

The series has been collected into a trade paperback:

• Forge of War (5-issue mini-series, May 2007-January 2008, tpb, 128 pages, Boom! Studios, April 2008, ISBN 1-934506-36-2)

See also

• Warhammer 40,000 comics
• Damnation Crusade, Warhammer 40k comic by the same writing team

References

External links

• Boom Studios
• Review by Ain't It Cool
• Rahsan Ekedal: Heating Up the Forge of War, Comics Bulletin, September 20, 2007