Outgunned (Warhammer 40,000)

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Outgunned (Warhammer 40,000)

Outgunned (Warhammer 40,000)

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I must admit that while I deeply enjoyed Outgunned’s brilliant narrative, it honestly wasn’t what I was expecting when I first started reading it. Rather than a completely combat/military focused story about battles in the sky, Outgunned is a powerful and intense story that spends just as much time examining the darker aspects of the Imperium of Man as it does facing off against the ork threat. This becomes clear very early on, especially as the opening introduction from Simlex hints at the deceit, cover-up and lies that are to come. However, I was still unprepared for the full extent of the fantastic narrative that Flowers came up with, as he blends a lot of complex themes and components with some exceptional character work and clever universe expansions to create something truly special. ToW: What can you tell us about the role of an Imperial propagandist, and the inspirations for the character of Simlex? Outgunned served as an impressive standalone entry in the Warhammer 40,000 universe, and I deeply enjoyed how self-contained the narrative turned out to be. Flowers also did a great job explaining most of the relevant Warhammer 40,000 elements featured within Outgunned, and I felt that this book can be easily enjoyed by most science fiction fans, although established Warhammer fans will probably get the most out of it. I loved some of the very unique Warhammer 40,000 aspects that Flowers featured in Outgunned, as the author came up with some fantastic new elements that added so much more to the story. I personally thought that Flowers did a really good job examining the Imperium through his character’s eyes, and you really get to see a fun new edge to it. Not only do you get to see the Aeronautica Imperialis in action, which will appeal to many Imperial Guard fans, but you also get a cool viewpoint of the Imperium’s propaganda department. Watching the protagonist dive into the techniques and motivations of the Imperial propagandists is quite fascinating, and it gives another great edge to the already dark and gothic Imperium that make you understand that deep down, they really aren’t the good guys they try to make out. Throw in a fun blast of Imperial politics, as a corrupt planetary governor can manipulate the Astra Militarum for their own selfish ends, as well as some dark viewpoints of the brainwashing of young soldiers that occurred to certain characters, and you have a great, cynical view of the Imperium that I deeply enjoyed. The book begins as a fairly typical wh40k war story, but not about a typical commissar and not about a military person at all - protagonist is a film director whose specialization is propaganda movies (or picts as they are called in the book), more precisely - biopics about lives of heroes of the Imperium and imperial saints. And that is the starting point from which "Outgunned" ceases to be a typical grimdark war story and begins to be something new. Characters themselves are top notch ones. Lucille von Shard - a bratty and rebellious airhead rebel, best ace in the Imperium and a woman with a heavy burden on her soul. Lady-Governor Dolos - a magnificient queen of a dying world. Flight Sergeant Plient - a cheerful and competent soldier not unlike Jenit Sulla from Ciaphas Cain series. And of course many more others.

DF: The initial appeal was less the aerial combat and more the tone. The novel was pitched as a satire somewhat in the vein of Ciaphas Cain. That part really appealed to me, but I actually had reservations concerning the aerial battles. I’ve been a Warhammer fan for a couple of decades, but Aeronautica Imperialis was one of the few games I’d never played (my main experience with Valkyries was being gunned down by them during 5th edition 40k; those things were beasts!). DF: The story is told from the perspective of Simlex. He is a protégée, having produced numerous acclaimed picts employing a rather unorthodox approach. For Simlex strives to capture the true face of Imperium, rather than the tightly controlled facsimile favoured by his peers. He believes the God-Emperor is the custodian of truth, and a propagandist’s duty is to reveal it. This naivety blinds him to the political ramifications of his work; many of the Imperium’s servants strive to shroud the truth and will take whatever steps are necessary to ensure his work does not expose their own misdeeds. Iain M. Banks is my favorite Sci-Fi author of his time (though I love his non-genre fiction too), but my love of sci-fi really originated from reading comics as a kid, especially 2000AD. The blending of the horrible, humorous and bizarre with just a hint of satire is something I think carries forward in my own work.Yes, we had a Sabbat Worlds Crusade story "In Remembrance" about a sculptor, but "Outgunned" is the first 40k novel (at least of those I read) which protagonist is a man very, very far from military. Kile Simlex is a typical imperial upper middle class member - he doesn't know how to use any weapons, he has never been in a battle, always filming battlefields after end of hostilities, he never experienced travelling through a warp storm. He doesn't know Gellar Field can malfunction, all his knowledge about orks in the start of the book stems from a single recruitment video (and very, very derpy one). He is not a hero, and his appearance is unremarkable. But he also can be called a privilleged person - he is very far relative of a subsector governor, has made himself quite positive reputation in imperial cinema circles by filming a succesful biopic about an imperial saint who bludgeoned 300 traitors with his own severed leg and important enough to own three servo-skulls made from heads of famous imperial propagandists who died on work.

I play various games depending on my time constraints. Currently I’m in my third Blood Bowl league; it’s such a well-designed game and it fits neatly into my gaming time constraints. I’m also painting up some Death Guard that have only been sitting on my painting table for a couple of years, an impressive turnaround for me. ToW: To start things off, how would you describe Outgunned, and what readers can expect from it? What sort of story is it? Thanks SO MUCH to Denny Flowers for sending me a copy of Outgunned in exchange for my honest review. But these skills may prove the only hope of survival, for something vast and terrible lurks within the clouds. The Green Storm approaches.Iktomi, Caleb’s stoic partner, is of ratskin heritage and has little time for the inhabitants of the Hive. Cold, insular and amoral, Iktomi is nevertheless bound to Caleb by their shared history. A nihilist a heart, she has made her choice to stand with Caleb and therefore will do so to her dying breath, despite the annoyance of his company. Without him, she would probably be far richer, but her life would then be without purpose. And this is probably one of the few prospects that actually scares her. However, Denny Flowers' writing ( and Phillip Sacramento's performance) flew right over those expectations and delivered an absolutely superb tale that had me hooked from the first few minutes right until the very end. The action was wonderfully done and immersive, the political intrigue was handled expertly and the underlying almost WW2-esque aspect that the Aeronautica Imperialis setting touches upon was just right in my opinion. It’s not often we get to witness tales of aeronautical derring-do in the 41st Millennium, but now the action ascends to the skies in Outgunned by Denny Flowers. The pilots of the Aeronautica Imperialis have been thrown into battle against hordes of Ork flyboyz, and propagandist Kile Simlex has been sent to capture the exploits of ace pilot Lucille Von Shard! …if only things were going as well as he was told. There are arrogant aces, waxed moustaches, airborne antics and a very generous amount of dakka - all the important parts of a good Warhammer 40,000 air-war...and that's without even considering the plot itself!

I deeply enjoyed the way that Flowers set out Outgunned’s narrative as there are so many great elements to it. Told in a chronicle format from Propagandist Simlex’s perspective as he recalls the events in a more realistic and negative light. This works to tell quite an intriguing tale, especially as you get some hints of the events of the future, and the negative tint that Simlex gives to the book’s narrative was a fantastic overall tone. Despite this interesting narration choice, this novel has a brilliant, fast pace to it and the reader is never left in a dull spot, as there is always some cool action, fascinating intrigue or powerful dive into a character occurring throughout. I loved the balance of story elements, and I must highlight the fantastic moments where Simlex works on his propaganda picts and dives through his recordings of the events around him. I also had a lot of fun with the outstanding ariel combat scenes that are featured through the plot. While they aren’t as heavily featured as you would expect from a book about the Aeronautica Imperialis, there are still some great sequences that were very fun to see. Flowers really captures the magic and brutality of combat in in the air, and I loved some of the crazy scenes that resulted, especially against the ork stronghold. There is also a particularly good fight sequence in the middle of a swamp that was pretty awesome, especially as it showed one character’s particular ingenuity and fighting spirit. Braving the foetid waters of Bacchus and its rampaging greenskin hordes, Simlex is tasked with producing a cinema-pict portraying Shard as an Imperial hero. Shortly after his arrival planetside, however, he discovers the war effort is in shambles the Imperium’s overstretched forces are in full retreat, the local planetary governor is desperately downplaying the conflict at every turn, and Shard is an arrogant misanthrope who only avoids sanction due to her consummate skills.Simlex’s cynicism develops interestingly; but his creeping horror as it dawns on him that the simple caricature of orks he has been raised to expect is a dangerous lie is excellently portrayed. Likewise the slow peeling away of Shard’s protective(?) personality and the uncovering of the cause of Bacchus’ decay and blight. His trio of servo skulls help progress the plot unobtrusively and I *really* appreciate the way that their use as translation devices is gradually introduced- the Xenos in this book, unlike several recent titles, aren’t conveniently fluent in Gothic.

In the far future, the soldiers of the Imperium of Man fight monsters and aliens on many battlefields and there is always a need for fresh bodies to fill the gaps in the ranks. That is where Kile Simlex comes in. A talented propagandist, Simlex excels at creating moving cinematic picts to inspire the people and increase recruitment to the Astra Militarum. However, Simlex desires greater realism and seeks to travel to a battlefield to gain real footage for his greatest pict yet. I read a lot on the train. All sorts of genres and authors; whatever I could find. One day I ran out of books but had some paper in my bag. I decided to try writing a story, which soon became a novel, and then became a completely different novel. I experimented with a variety of genres and formats and was wildly unsuccessfully, but kept trying. Though Simlex is the semi-reliable narrator of the novel, the hero and star of Outgunned is Flight Commander Lucille von Shard. A fighter ace of consummate ability, Shard’s skills are matched only by her disdain for her foes, peers, superiors, acquaintances, and virtually everyone and everything else she encounters. In fact, were she a less capable warrior, she would have long since been consigned to a penal colony. Or more likely an executioner. ToW: Can you remember a defining moment when you were growing up, or a particular book or author, that steered you towards science fiction and/or fantasy? ToW Do you have anything else in the works (whether for BL or otherwise) that you can talk about at all?Through the novel we learn that there are various approaches to the propagandists’ art, some involving semi-accurate portals of life within the Imperium, others splicing together image and sound to create whatever tale they deem suitable, irrespective of its relation to the truth. Simlex’s insistence of capturing the true face of war is rather unusual, and enough to raise eyebrows amongst his puritanical colleagues. His philosophy is difficult to refute however, as to do so would involve suggesting that the ‘true’ Imperium is a less than ideal place. At the beginning of the tale his star is in ascendance, and he is dismissive of the woefully inaccurate efforts produced by his predecessors. But his philosophy is tested when confronted by the realities of frontline conflict, where idealism clashes with the reality of war. Denny Flowers: Outgunned is the story of Propagandist Kile Simlex’s attempts to produce a cinema-pict depicting the brave pilots of the Aeronautica Imperialis. Simlex has lofty aspirations for the pict, envisioning it as his magnum opus, featuring the fearless Flight Commander Lucille von Shard’s victory over craven ork invaders. I enjoy working out. In theory anyway; I haven’t really done it properly for years. But I’m hopeful that if I bring it up here it will shame me into getting off my butt. So if you happen to run into me feel free to ask how the gym is going so I can shuffle my feet awkwardly before throwing a smoke bomb and fleeing.



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