2d4chan - User contributions [en]

Approved Literature

2022-03-02T18:16:35Z

2A02:1811:3B7F:7E00:9C23:93F3:1DDB:8E40: Guys, I get you like Marco for being a dashing roguish explorer; but there's no need for a double entry.

This page lists the genre fiction which is popular on /tg/, along with a brief description and the notable area's of merit. While paragons of Fantasy and Science Fiction...

=Genres=
There is, of course, crossover. Grimdark fantasy and SF has Horror elements, mythology is all over the place and (in the sagas) blends into history, and on and on. We feel safe so far in the assignments we've provided; but if you have an alternate opinion, the Discussion tab is the door to the right.

And don't say we didn't warn you . . .
{{spoilers}}
You hate 'em, we try to avoid 'em. But if you're planning on reading without 'em, just skim through the authors and titles in '''bold'''. Maybe you'll see a name you don't know and will feel like searching that in whatever FBI-monitored and corporate-spidered engine you like best.

==Fantasy==
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First up, what list would be complete without Gary's own [[Appendix N]] of classic (mostly) pulp - so Read That First. Mostly here we'll be looking at authors not in that list although we cannot avoid Howard, Leiber, Tollers and the 'Cock.
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*'''''Richard Adams - Watership Down''''': The epic story of a tiny band of desperate people's odyssey to flee a great calamity and find a new homeland. Along the way, they fight dangerous battles, encounter dangerously seductive dystopia after dystopia, and ultimately destroy a fascist dictator before founding a new nation. Also, [[Bunnies and Burrows|everyone's a rabbit]]. Badass storytelling, sweet worldbuilding, and an incredible level of quality for a children's book.
*'''''L. Frank Baum - The Wizard of Oz''''': American parents love reading this to their kids, and for good reason if we're grading it on that curve. Dorothy and her little dog too get [[isekai]]'ed, meet companions, defeat the witch. Possibly makes some wry commentary about the silver-standard controversy of the (farm-based) Populists at the time. Baum milked this franchise to death releasing sequel after sequel. Its movie was, alongside ''Gone With The Wind'', a groundbreaker in kino. The movie skips a few scenes but nobody misses those scenes; also swaps out the silver slippers for ruby, ostensibly to show them off in full color Technovision. The movie has a terrifying 1980s sequel arguably closer to Baum's vision but considered Fail (watch Labyrinth instead, they're pretty similar); also some bullshit spinoffs like ''Tin Man''.
*'''''Jim Butcher - [[The Dresden Files RPG|The Dresden Files]]''''': Basically the [[World of Darkness]] with <s>all</s> most of the depression, brooding, doom and gloom replaced with badass, humour and a pinch of noir detective. Follow the young wizard/private investigator Harry Dresden through his misadventures in a supernatural world of Chicago, as he grows in power and fame, deals with ever increasing levels of supernatural horrors, get his life ruined to oblivion and beyond and yet manage to make it look cool rather then utterly depressing and sanity-check inducing by sheer will alone (OK, will ''and'' snarkiness).
*'''''Brandon Carbaugh - Deep Sounding''''': A two-part story written by a fa/tg/uy, dealing with themes of isolation in a Dwarven society. Consistently humorous and socially relevant.
*'''''Glen Cook - The Black Company''''': I can't remember the exact quote, but someone put it best when he said "it's a story about level 5-8 badasses trying to make it in a world dominated by epic level Wizards". Follow the mercenary entourage known as the Black Company as they sell their swords to the highest contractors, who usually end up being The Big Bad Evils. The first three books (now conveniently available as one book, "Chronicles of the Black Company") are good then things start to get weird.
*'''''Larry Correia - [[Monster Hunter International]]''''': In the modern world monsters of all kinds are out there. Stopping them from eating humanity are private groups of monster hunters who get paid very handsomely for removing the supernatural with superior firepower. As one would expect from an author with a background in running a gun store and competitive shooting, it's very [[/k/]]. A character's choice of firearm describes them as much as their clothes or hair and guns work as they're supposed to. The first book (which can be obtained as a free e-book) is enjoyable, but very rough, and the series improved dramatically each book. Features a writing style that improves dramatically when listened to as an audiobook.
**'''''Grimnoir Chronicles''''': A separate series by the same author. Set in an alternate 1930s where a small (but constantly increasing) percentage of humanity has been born with super powers since at least the 1830s. While there's X-men style discrimination, it's largely in the background. The series is actually about how Japan is trying to use its research of Power to take over the world. The super power system is unique in that there are only about 30 documented Power types, with many just being lesser versions of other powers, and outside of a core handful everything else is rare but the creative and powerful can stretch the rules. The world has also had cultural and technological shifts as a result of Power instead of keeping it the same aside from their existence.
*'''''Steven R. Donaldson - Thomas Covenant''''': The first two series are the ones /tg/ has read; there's a (much) more recent series that ostensibly wraps it all up, plus some outtakes (like "Gilden-Fire") that SRD refactored as shortstories. The titular character nuzzled the wrong armadillo apparently so is a leper. In the story he gets [[isekai]]'ed; driven with self-hatred and a refusal to compromise, he does [[rape|horrible things]] but anyway has to defeat the [[BBEG]] named, we shit you not, "Lord Foul". Massive influence on [[Monte Cook]]'s [[Arcana Unearthed]] oeuvre (particularly) so we gotta note it. The ''Ansible'' #46 article "Well-Tempered Plot Device" hilariously described these two series as "so flatulent you have to be careful not to squeeze it in a public place"; publisher Lester Del Rey is rumoured (''Ansible'' #50) to have disliked the series too, but (correctly) judged the (mid 1970s) moment as good to release some fantasy ''any'' fantasy. SRD wrote some other fantasy and SF; only fans of the Covenant books went on to buy those, but they number enough to maintain Donaldson's alimony payments. Characters get forcibly boned in those stories too.
*'''''Steven Erikson - Malazan Book of the Fallen''''': An enormous read that stretches across over three million words and ten books, Erikson's worldbuilding rivals anybody else in the genre, with a large focus on the many different cultures, how they rose, and then how they fell. Can be overwhelming at times due to the sheer number of simultaneous plotlines and a large, perhaps even bloated, cast. Very much the definition of epic fantasy, the level of power at play swings fairly wildly depending on which set of characters is being focused on at the time, from assassins fighting upon rooftops, to flying castles being crashed into cities, and then back to the oft-humorous exploits of a group of mostly mundane soldiers that is reminiscent of Glen Cook's Black Company. In all, a story full of engaging personalities exploring a supremely fantastical world, with all the hallmarks of classic fantasy, elves, dragons, gods, and wizards, given a unique spin.
*'''''Raymond E. Feist - The Riftwar Cycle''''': A 30 book epic written over the course of three decades, The Riftwar Cycle starts off as the story of a boy learning how to be a wizard, only to save the world by the end of the debut novel, ''Magician''. After this the series evolves into an epic spanning multiple generations of characters (but roughly half focusses on the initial cast) fighting to protect their world from internal political strife and malevolent external forces. Grew to be a lot more cosmic in scale in the last eight or so books, and the ending was kind of a lacklustre business. The classical fantasy races are not the focus here: the [[dwarves]] and [[elves]] get along just fine, and while there's [[dragon]]s, serpent folk and [[dark elves]] (the latter of whom are Native American inspired), it's mostly about humans and their struggles. The series is divided into ten sagas, with the best one being the Empire trilogy which tells the tale of the chronologically six first book from the perspective of the antagonists in a beautiful tale of loyalty, honour, politics and love. Was also Neal Hallford's inspiration for ''Betrayal at Krondor'', a [[/v/|Dynamix / Sierra vidja]] that is held in high esteem in some circles. Not enough circles, apparently; since Hallford's remaster proposal didn't get funded.
*'''''Neil Gaiman - American Gods, The Graveyard Book, Neverwhere, Sandman, etc.''''': He's a damn entertaining writer, known for his unique and well fleshed out ideas. There's something here for everyone, from the [[Noblebright]] Stardust to the [[Grimdark|fairly grim and pretty dark]] Sandman comics. American Gods, however, is the one he's best remembered by, which is a story about physical manifestations of IRL gods fighting a losing war against globalisation, mass media and technology. [[/d/|There's also a part where a man is swallowed whole by a woman's vagina.]]
*'''''Jane Gaskell - The Atlan Saga''''': A series of gloriously cheesy fantasy novels from the 60s that combine all the best elements of pulp with post-modernism. The misadventures of a heiress to Atlantis empire in the prehistoric world where various myths - and genre cliches - are all true. It's the last big thing in the genre that didn't try to copy-cat ''Lord of the Rings'', so worth reading for originality alone, along with being what shaped various cliches regarding Atlantis ever since.
*'''''William Goldman - [[The Princess Bride]]''''': The book the famous movie was based on. Has a couple of twists and details left out of the movie, usually for good reasons. Still worth reading, though.
*'''''Michael John Harrison - Viriconium''''': A truly peculiar set of novels and short stories dedicated to put traditional world building on its head, by never making sure if the stories are happening between the same characters, in the same place or same time. A very open-ended to interpretation "setting", which is also a great exercise to how tell a story without overburdening anyone with details and in the same time providing all the important elements to keep audience (readers or players) invested and interested.
*'''''Robin Hobb - The Farseer Trilogy and The Liveship Traders''''': First is a story of a royal bastard's horrible upbringing as an assassin. Second is a story of magical sailing ships that talk, dragons, pirates, rape, 14 year old girl overcoming terrible misfortune. It has it all. (Please note the following two sets of books in the series are a little average compared to these two). The endings of the books in the second series are a little pat, but are still entertaining.
*'''''[[Robert E. Howard]] - [[Conan the Barbarian]]''''': Conan the Barbarian was born from this quill. A seminal pulp classic which could be considered the father of sword and sorcery.
*'''''Ursula K LeGuin - [[Earthsea Cycle]]+''''': Threads about /tg/-approved literature will consistently end up having a poster say something to the effect of "no Sea Jedi Wizard Chronicles WTF" about halfway down, immediately being followed by a chorus of agreement. Needless to say, this series is an excellent one, little-known but surprisingly influential. It's the series that established the concepts of the concept of nominal magic as understood in modern fantasy literature: names of power in the language of magic are spoken to exert power over the person, place, thing or idea that name refers to. Later, less-respectable novels such as those by Christopher Paolini would abuse this concept for fun and profit. Sadly, such novels seldom strive to equal the actual accomplishments of the Earthsea novels, such as the successful building and display of a rich, believable, and internally consistent setting without letting any of the world building bog down the narrative like in LotR.
*'''''Fritz Leiber - Swords and Deviltry, et al.''''': A runaway momma's boy and a failed magician's apprentice lose everything and become thieves in Lankhmar, centre of civilization and debauchery. They are Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser:, swordsmen supreme, insatiable adventurers, womanizers unequalled, and bros of the highest calibre. Together, they plunder the world of riches, bitches, and wine, while facing magic and horror of a decidedly cosmic sort. Another Appendix N staple.
*'''''[[C.S. Lewis]] - The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe''''': Oxford don retells the Johannine Passion, but in Oz-expy Narnia. Our man is inferior (even) to Baum as a worldbuilder, but very good as characterbuilder - for the characters Edward, Lucy, and (later) Eustace anyway. Series goes on like ''Star Wars'' forward and backward in time; ends with [[Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies]] except older sister Susan, whom [[catgirl|NekoJesus]] blows off. Neil Gaiman will whiteknight "Professor Hastings" in "The Problem of Susan".
*'''''Charles De Lint - Someplace to be Flying and Trader, Pretty much all of his books, you can't really miss''''': Most of the books seem to be set in Canada and revolve around Gypsy folklore and Native American spiritual stuff with urban settings. Don't get attached to characters.
*'''''[[George R. R. Martin]] - [[A Song of Ice and Fire]]''''': Some of the better character development in genre, with a bit of mystery, political chess and high death rate. Tends to drag at times, and since the release of the HBO series will be consistently overrated by those who've seen little else. Noted for Tolkien-envy.
*'''''[[Michael Moorcock]] - [[Elric]] series (and so many others)''''' An iconic author, albeit considering the number of books he has written, very hit and miss. [[Elric]] is his most popular character. Stick to the collected sets Stealer of Souls or Stormbringer as a starting point though. Remember that Elric is first an foremost an icon for heavy metal, so adjust your expectations accordingly. Noted for really fucking ''hating'' Tolkien.
*'''''Terry Pratchett - [[Discworld]] series''''': Starts from parodying Fantasy as a genre, soon turns to far beyond [[AWESOME]]. Rare combination of good humour and wise messages. Does get a little preachy towards the end, but hey, it's still a great read.
*'''''Patrick Rothfuss - The Name of the Wind''''': A mary sue bard goes on mary sue adventures (arguably an unreliable narrator) - world building may be weak but it's a fun read, so enough people on /tg/ have read it to count, even though nobody will praise it.
*'''''J.K. Rowling - [[Harry Potter]]''''': Love it or hate it (and there are things to [[RAGE|hate]], [[skub|especially where the author herself is concerned]]) this series is a big part of the collective fantasy consciousness, especially where normies are concerned. As such, if you want a tone that is easily familiar to those unfamiliar with fantasy in general, or children, this is not a bad place to start. At best, they're pretty readable books; at worst, they're thoroughly mediocre and derivative as all hell. At the very least, you'll look less of a [[neckbeard]] knowing what a Muggle is. '''MAIN BOOKS ONLY.'''
*'''''Andrzej Sapkowski - [[The Witcher]] (especially the short stories)''''': While the Witcher saga is just getting more bland and increasingly more generic with each following part, the two initial books collecting all the short stories (especially "Sword of Destiny") are the reason why everyone treated Witcher as unique and original. Tonnes of wacky ideas how to spin cliches and old tropes into something fresh. Reading the saga proper is not required and generally not advised, especially with wooden English translation.
** Alternatively, the later saga can be read for precisely what it is routinely bashed for. Starting from "Baptism of Fire", it turns into an unapologetic "you all met in the forest reserve and your party is tasked with retrieving a lost princess" campaign. If read with such mindset, it's pretty good after-campaign report, including random hijinks, new players joining half-way through and bunch of party in-jokes about the situation at hand.
*'''''[[J.R.R. Tolkien]] - [[The Hobbit]], [[The Lord of the Rings]], and anything else he wrote (eg; [[the Silmarillion]])''''': The great grand-daddy of modern fantasy. Not having even the slightest familiarity with his work is inexcusable in eyes of [[/tg/]].
*'''''Karl Edward Wagner - Kane series''''': Essentially a more grimdark version of Howard's style of sword and sorcery, [[Kane]] is more akin to a villain that Conan would fight than the "noble savage" barbarian archetype. Immortal and cursed with the inability to ever truly settle down, [[Kane]] is an expert fighter, leader of men and potent sorcerer. After thousands of years his only real goal is to stave off boredom, which he does by offering his services and considerable intellect to various rulers, although more often than not with an ulterior motive. In one story he sets out to revive a race of ancient cosmic horrors simply because they offered him a chance to explore the cosmos.
*'''''Tad Williams - Shadowmarch series, Memory Sorrow and Thorn series, War of the Flowers''''': A somewhat lesser known american author in comparison to J.R.R.Martin that manages to put out a crapton of fantasy ranging from good to gotta-keep-reading-to-see-what-happens-next-omg. Does mostly high fantasy but tries to avery most cliches of the genre by giving them a new spin though still keeping within the bounds of the genre's comfort zone (so you won't see elves as space aliens or dwarves as octopus cannibals).
*'''''Gene Wolfe - The Book of the New Sun''''': The setting is inspired by [[Jack Vance]]'s Dying Earth series (itself lifting from [[Clark Ashton Smith]]), so this could be either in SF or Fantasy. A torturer is exiled from his guild and old life after he helps kill the woman he loves to spare her from the agony of torture, now forced to journey through Urth; our Earth in the far, far, far future, in a time when our sun is beginning to die. These books do not make for easy reading, however. The author uses lots of very obscure words to create the worlds own unique lingo. Also, the main character is an unreliable narrator of the more extreme sort. The reader will be spending some time figuring out what are the truths and what are the lies.
*'''''Roger Zelazny - The Chronicles of Amber''''': A lesser known series (although it's in Appendix N too) written between 1970 and 1991 about a family of (essentially) demigods who inhabit the "true" reality of the city of Amber. Everything else is merely a shadow of Amber and its inhabitants. The princes and princesses can move freely between Amber and an infinite number shadow worlds but the constant plotting and backstabbing at home and the less-than-real nature of everything outside makes them callous and often amoral. The first book effortlessly turns from "hard boiled detective story" to "psychedelic road trip" to "drama about Greek gods" in style.
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==Science Fiction==
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*'''''Douglas Adams - The Increasingly Inaccurately Named Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Trilogy''''': One of the funniest works of science fiction ever made, although you could count it as the first. The precursor to all comedy stories about everyday people having to deal with the absurdly massive and meaningless universe around them. Grab your towel, make a fresh cuppa, and make sure you've got enough tape to keep your sides from splitting too much.
*'''''Neal Asher - The Gridlinked Series''''': Some of the best, hardest sci-fi out there, this is one of those universes that has unique, creative technologies (rare nowadays)as well as 007...EEEN SPESSS
*'''''[[Isaac Asimov]] - Foundation Series''''': The seminal space opera modelled roughly on the decline of the Roman Empire. It follows the rise of a new civilization from this empire's dying body and then its corpse. The model of Empire-In-Decline SF; also floats ideas like the world-city, so there's no Warhammer 40k without Asimov. In other Asimovana also influential, although less obviously, are the '''''I, Robot''''' stories; wherever you encounter [[golem]]s or [[undead]] who act according to their own book-of-rules - but consistently! - Asimov approves.
*'''''Paolo Bacigalupi - Pump Six and Other Stories''''': Biopunk meet post-apo and hefty dose of shady business. Think Shadowrun, minus the magic.
*'''''Iain M. Banks - [[The Culture]] Series''''': A series about a perfect, utopian spacefaring society and all its many problems. Some of the grandest-scale worldbuilding in science fiction, and full of clever ethical and political musing.
*'''''Stephen Baxter - The [[Xeelee Sequence]]''''': For those for whom Donaldson just isn't rapey enough, Baxter is here to scratch that itch. Backdrop is the cosmic war between the Xeelee and the dark-matter entities "Photino Birds". Starts with ''The Ring''. Baxter wrote a lot of other crap too, like Proxima and Stone Spring/Bronze Summer; likewise full of nasty. We'd rather not discuss this stuff either but Xeelee has its stans on /tg/: this entry is dedicated to you, as long as you read it outside a 500 yard radius from a school.
*'''''David Brin - The Postman''''': First novel to present post apocalypse not from the point of view of badass heroes or insane raiders, but random villagers and such. Great world building for a very small world. Has infamous film "adaptation", sharing only title.
*'''''Edgar Rice Burroughs - the Barsoom Series-aka Mars Chronicles and the Pellucidar Series''''': Iconic, manly, and fuckin' A! This guy also did Tarzan and a whole slew of other works that would go on to inspire other manly stories, chiefly Conan the Barbarian and most of the knockoffs thereof.
*'''''Glen Cook - The Dragon Never Sleeps''''': Basically an EVE Online novel written decades before EVE Online. Was supposed to be a trilogy but the publisher wouldn't okay sequels so it gets rushed at the end. Not as iconic as The Black Company, but this is in SPAAAAAAACCCCEEEE!!!!!!!
*'''''James S. A. Corey - The Expanse series''''' Bar the intentionally fantastical elements it provides <s>a fairly grounded</s> muh gritty realism version of near future space exploration. Some fantastic characters and stories, but as the main plot goes, slowly turns into a generic space opera-western mix. Got an unapproved TV show adaptation that ignores all the good stuff, while taking the worst aspects of the books and runs wild with them.
*'''''Harlan Ellison - I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream''''': The last five humans alive are being held deep in an underground complex, where they are perpetually tortured by AM, the sadistic AI that wiped out the rest of humanity, with no hope of escape. The most creepy thing in this book is that the author thought it was ''optimistic''. If he someday went to wrote something pessimistic, the universe would implode from the sheer grimdark overdose.
*'''''Philip Jose Farmer - The Riverworld Series''''': A group of dead people from many different time periods, including Richard Burton, Hermann Göring, Tullus of Rome and Mark Twain wake up on an alien planet and have to survive. Very fun read with interesting character interactions.
*'''''[[Robert Heinlein| Robert A. Heinlein]]''''': A god among hard-SF / adventure-SF / military-SF, until he became a dirty old man. Stick with his 1940s-60s work.
**'''''Glory Road''''': An homage to ''John Carter of Mars'' about a badass Vietnam Veteran who travels to another planet act as a champion to an alien queen in her war against rebels. It features an interesting deconstruction of Portal Fantasy/Isekai genre.
**'''''[[Starship Troopers]]''''': Where Space Marines and Tyranids came from. Started as one of his "juvenile" stories; got rejected as it stood, resold to the adult market which then made its author very, very rich. [[Roboute Guilliman]] keeps a copy in his duffel. Got a Verhoeven movie rife with [[skub]]: partly because it plays it cute whether it's satirizing the book's (idealized) society, or recruiting for same; mostly because waaah where's my power armor.
*'''''Frank Herbert - [[Dune]] & its earlier sequels''''': World-building, politics, super-humans - it's one helluva party. The spice must flow! <s>[[Navigator|Navigators]] are totally not stolen from Dune</s> {{BLAM}}. Avoid anything written by his son, though, it's pure garbage.
*'''''Aldous Huxley - Brave New World''''': Take 1984, and do the total opposite the way people are controlled (rather than punishing bad behavior, it's rewarding good behavior) mixed with a Tau-esque genetically enforced caste system and conditioning to make people embrace their servitude.
*'''''Stanisław Lem - Tales Of Pirx the Pilot''''': Collection of short stories documenting gradual progress of humanity in space exploration and AI development. Nice deconstruction of all the shitty elements from space opera, ''before there even was space opera''.
*'''''Andri Magnason - LoveStar''''': Equal parts biting satire and bittersweet love story, set in a bizarre future (think equal part of Brave New World, corporate dystopia and high-concept sci-fi). It's the humour and creative application of own setting and its rules that makes it helpful for worldbuilding that amounts to anything more than just trivia.
*'''''Walter M. Miller, Jr. - A Canticle for Leibowitz''''' In the grim darkness of the far future there is only Catholicism. Think Fallout meets Catholic Church and you wouldn't be too far off.
*'''''Larry Niven''''': Very prolific author although sometimes a coauthor, notably with Jerry Pournelle. His best stuff is SF; like Heinlein, he's an American Cold-Warrior.
**'''''Known Space''''' especially '''''Ringworld''''': many, many stories are set in this future setting. Features FtL travel, several alien races living and dead, and deep lore from the far past. There's a war with [[catgirl]]s called Kzinti, which events Niven has let other authors write. The Ringworld is a Dyson sphere on the cheap: instead of wrapping the entire sun, "only" the inhabitable orbital ring is built up, above the stellar rotational equator (but by WHAT?!). MUCH influence on /v/ came from this cycle, from ''[[Star Control]]'' to ''Halo''. For /tg/ it's mostly such space-exploration and -combat systems as are not so grimdark.
**'''''Footfall''''': Remember kids: if at first your nukes don't kill the xeno, just use more. Also 'The Magic Goes Away' is good for DnD while technically not fantasy.
*'''''George Orwell - [[1984]], Animal Farm''''': WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY, IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH! FOUR LEGS GOOD! TWO LEGS <s>BAD</s> BETTER!
*'''''Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson - The Illuminatus! Trilogy''''': /x/ the book, and a cult classic in every sense of the word. Once you get used to the massively cheesy tone, what you'll find here is an intelligent and fun series of books that are both a parody and a send up to: 70s counterculture, Western esotericism, political and religious dogma, numerology, and conspiracy theories.
*'''''Robert Sheckley - short stories''''': once dubbed the clown prince of sci-fi, recommended by Douglas Adams.
*'''''John Steakley - Armor'''''
*'''''Charles Stross - Missile Gap''''': While Stross is most famous for his Laundry Files (basically collection of [[Delta Green]] shorts, which are all worth reading too), Missile Gap is just mind-numbing novella about entire Earth being transported on an Alderson disk... or maybe a snapshot of Earth... or maybe ''both''. All right in the middle of the Cuban Crisis. Think "Primer" meet Tom Clancy techno-thriller. In his youth Stross was an old-school fa/tg/uy, submitting stuff to [[Fiend Factory]] of varying quality and no originality; although, as a result, we have him to thank for translating George Martin's [[githyanki]] into 1e game stats.
*'''''[[H.G. Wells]] - The Time Machine''''': Where the [[morlock]] comes from, and probably the [[derro]] too. In the grim darkness of the far future, there are only Boulder yoga-instructors ("eloi") and Denver hobos - and the hobos find the eloi delicious. Yes, it is about trends in his ''own'' society, but isn't all SF about that? And Yvette Mimieux was super hot in the movie nnnngg. Wells wrote several other classics, starting with '''''War of the Worlds'''''; when Welles-with-E did its radio adaptation - for the American eastern seaboard - a regional panic ensued, because the locals thought it was ''actually happening''.
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==Horror==
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*'''''John W. Campbell - Who Goes There?''''': Remember John Carpenter's The Thing? Well this is where it all started. Taking into account ''when'' the novella was written is the real game-changer.
*'''''Laurell K. Hamilton - Guilty Pleasures''''': Probably one of the most iconic and influential urban fantasy in existence, despite seemingly obvious setup for occult detective. While the rest of the Anita Blake series (or anything else written by Hamilton, in fact) is unquestionably in shunned territory, this one is still a must-read. Also, mind the title.
**'''''Aneta Jadowska - Dora Wilk series''''': Essentially Anita Blake: Polish Edition. Unlike original, doesn't turn into BDSM harem porn, but instead gradually distances itself from romance and focuses on the world-building and occult. Also, it fully embraces being written to cover for bills. Decent fan translations exist.
*'''''[[H.P. Lovecraft]] - At the Mountains of Madness and anything else published after it''''': Lovecraft is to modern horror what Tolkien is to fantasy. While his early stories are mediocre, starting with At the Mountains of Madness, their quality rises sharply, explaining how this guy reached such memetic status.
*'''''Richard Matheson - I Am Legend''''': Single-handedly responsible for creation of post apocalypse genre and modern take on zombies and vampires. Also, depressive as fuck, so bring some tissues. No, really. None of the 3 film adaptations managed to match the quality of the novel.
*'''''Anne Rice - The Vampire Chronicles''''': Where [[Vampire: The Masquerade]] started. You are probably already familiar with this particular style of vampires even without knowing there were any books, that's how iconic the imaginary is. And for the sake of everyone's sanity, let's just pretend the Chronicles consists of only three books: ''Interview with the Vampire'', ''The Vampire Lestat'' and ''The Queen of the Damned''. You really don't want to read any further titles, trust us on that, especially since this is a self-contained trilogy.
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==Alternate History==
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*'''''SM Stirling - The Peshawar Lancers''''': In the 1878 a bunch of comets hit the Earth causing much havoc and forcing the British to Evacuate to warmer parts of the world. In 2025 the British Empire still reigns as the most powerful nation on earth run from Delhi, along with French Africa, the Japanese Empire and a rather nasty Russian Empire in a world powered by steam. If you want steampunk that's more than superficial, exotic and just all around well done this is where you go. Just be prepared for a lot of Indian terms.
*'''''Charles Stross - The Merchant Princes''''': A Boston tech reporter one day finds out that she can jump between alternate versions of Earth and that she's part of a large extended family with that talent based in a world at a renaissance level where semi-romanized viking knights control the eastern seaboard of North America and the Chinese have begun colonizing the west coast, and said family is deeply involved in the Drug Trade. That is just the start as events also include a steampunk America ruled by the English crown, homeland security and more. Good for lovers of crime and intrigue, blending both the medieval and the modern quite well.
*'''''Scott Westerfield - Leviathan series''''': In this absolutely batshit-insane reimagining of World War One, the world is divided into two competing schools of technological thought - the Clankers, who represent machines and mechanization; and the Darwinists, who believe in mutating nature to solve man's problems. Naturally, the Central Powers are the chief adherents of the Clanker philosophy and you can imagine the brutal warfare of the Western Front except with [[The Empire (Warhammer Fantasy)|German Steam Tanks]] versus genetically-enhanced [[Clan Moulder|British Abominations]]. [[Awesome|Yeah]]. Word of warning, the series is advertised as a YA novel series and does feature some questionably mundane character plotlines that do tend to spoil the setting a bit.
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==Mystery==
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*'''''Raymond Chandler - The Big Sleep''''': The grandfather of noir, single-handedly responsible for establishing about half of all genre conventions and creating the image of what an investigator should be like. If you '''ever''' plan to run just about anything about cool detectives doing cool stuff, it's a must read.
**'''''The Lady in the Lake''''': Probably the most applicable of the books featuring Marlowe, trading the big city and its massive police department for rural nowhere and a much smaller scale investigation, but not stakes.
*'''''Agatha Christie - And Then There Were None''''': Ten random strangers trapped with a vengeful killer. Or so they think. Aged like milk, but is still one of the staples of the genre and a well-tested premise.
*'''''Arthur Conan Doyle - The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes''''': A staple of detective fiction, often to the point of being considered the godfather of the genre. An incredibly useful point of reference for late 19th century social norms and attitudes, on top of being a great influence for mystery-focused campaigns. If you run Call of Cthulhu or any period-specific setting relevant to Victorian Britain, Doyle's tales are a must-read.
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==Historical Fiction==
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*'''''Robert Bolt - The Mission''''': A journey of a young boy into becoming a murder-hobo and then trying to repent his sins as a missionary, taking place in 1740s Paraguay. But more seriously, it's about the Jesuits and their mission in a patch of land contested between Spain and Portugal, with great, nuanced characters caught up in a conflict they can't even hope to win. Mostly famous for its movie adaptation with de Niro and Irons and cutting the entire backstory which made the book worth reading in the first place.
*'''''Tom Clancy - The Hunt for Red October''''': '''The''' quintessential techno-thriller, being one of the hallmarks of the entire genre and probably the most famous of all Clancy's book. Tightly written, with plausible story and great characters.
*'''''Bernard Cornwell - [[Sharpe]]''''': A series of books following Richard Sharp as he rises through the ranks of the British Army during the first few decades of the 1800s (the bulk of it set during the Napoleonic Wars). More commonly known by its great TV series, staring Sean Bean. Most fans of historical and Napoleonic-era wargames will recognise the green riflemen of the 95th Regiment with fondness, due to Sharpe.
*'''''Cormac McCarthy - Blood Meridian''''': The most highly regarded work by the guy who brought you No country for old Men and The Road (which are excellent books in their own right with great movie adaptations). Set during the middle of the 19th century in the southern United States, it follows the exploits of "The Kid" who joins what is essentially a band of Murderhobos to terrorize the prairie and hunt Indians. In that sense, it doesn't sound like anything special, until you count in the fact that the group is possibly led by the devil himself in the form of Judge Holden, who manages to be one of the most frightening antagonists in all of fiction. Superhuman in almost every regard, he leads the group on to ever greater acts of depravity that would make Khorne and Slaneesh uneasy. Violence in all its incarnations is the books main feature and you should stay away if you can't stomach that kind of thing. It is in fact so jaw-droppingly violent that every movie adaptation attempted has failed because of it. The famous literary critic Harold Bloom had to start the book over three times because he couldn't handle it. After he managed to finish it, he dubbed the book the second greatest American novel ever written, with only Moby Dick being slightly better.
*'''''C.S. Forester - Horatio Hornblower''''': A series of books following Horatio Hornblower as he rises through the ranks of the Royal Navy from the late 1700’s through the early 1800’s. Has a TV series adaptation free off YouTube if books aren’t your thing.
*'''''George MacDonald Fraser - [[Flashman]]''''': Ever wondered what happened to Flashy from Tom Brown's Schooldays? (Did you even read Tom Brown's Schooldays?) Here's the VERY unauthorised spinoff you never knew you needed. A little on the nose for Yanks these days, as Fraser pants Kipling and all his fellow Victorian-era adventurers, starting at - you guessed it - Afghanistan. Meanwhile Flashy pants a lot of women, runs away from their irate siblings and husbands, and generally tries to save his own wretched skin.
*'''''Homer - The Iliad''''': One of the oldest pieces of historical fiction. Trojan prince steals a Greek king's wife and all of Greece comes for revenge. For a long time considered complete fiction, but excavations and analysis suggest at least at a concept level Homer's epic is based on real war, even if the details got obscured or lost over hundreds of years of oral tradition. Not /tg/-relevant in of itself, barring this or that citation from the Archaic-era mythology at the time; but its ''legacy'' will be ''vitally'' relevant, as we'll see in the Mythology section later.
*'''''Allan Mallinson - Matthew Hervey series''''': If Captain Aubrey was the pinnacle of Napoleonic naval escapades then the career of Matthew Hervey is the pinnacle of life in the cavalry regiments of the time. A series of 14 splendid novels, the level of detail is tremendous, touching on many of the equestrian and veterinarian aspects of cavalry upkeep and warfare that is presented in a much more manly fashion than what passes for horse-care in those sappy teen's novels. Also helps that the author was a bona-fide military officer of the (Queen Mary's Own) Royal Hussars. If you've ever wondered how the fuck the armies of the 19th century could maintain so much cavalry and how those regiments lived, this is the series for you.
*'''''Brian Moore - Black Robe''''': A French Jesuit on his perilous quest to reach a remote mission, helped by distrusting Algonquian guides and crossing with them the bleak, frozen hell that is pre-colonial Ontario. The novel combines two elements that make it worth reading: it is well-researched on all covered subjects, creating a very handy panorama of 17th century Canada, and, more importantly, it puts a nice spin on the generic "travel up-stream through all sort of dangers" plot to make it interesting. The film adaptation is also approved.
*'''''Patrick O'Brian - Aubrey–Maturin series''''': A series of 21 nautical historical novels, set during the Napoleonic Wars and centering on the friendship between Captain Jack Aubrey of the Royal Navy and his ship's surgeon Stephen Maturin. Almost autistically well-researched and amazingly addictive series which should be read by just about anyone even wishing to run a maritime-themed game. They are really addictive, so make sure you have enough time to spare before starting reading. The film adaptation is also approved.
*'''''Neal Stephenson - The Baroque Cycle''''': Adventures of a really big cast of characters living amidst of the central events of the late 17th and early 18th centuries in Europe, Africa, Asia, and Central America. Extremely well-researched portray of the era, seamlessly blending history with fictional characters. And a real door-stopper.
*'''''Robert Louis Stevenson - Treasure Island''''': If by any chance or twist of fate you still didn't read it, you damn should right now. Absolute classic and absolute gold mine for ideas, not even for pirate game, but just adventuring in general.
*'''''Mika Waltari - The Egyptian, The Etruscan''''': The Egyptian follows the life of a fictional egyptian Sinuhe living in the New Kingdom period and witnessing the upheaval that monotheism and war with Hittites bring to the ordered Egypt. The Etruscan does the same for Turms, an amnesiac hero set in the time of Greco-Persian Wars and the beginnings of the Roman Republic. In both novels the protagonists tour the known world and give insight to ancient cultures and their own societies while also exploring deep topics such as the nature of humanity (Egyptian) and the relationship with the divine (Etruscan). Waltari was recognised and lauded by the historians at the time for spending autistic-levels of time researching the cultures he was writing about and even though ancient archaeology and historiography have advanced by leaps and bounds the books are still valid insights into the [[Bronze Age|Bronze]] and [[Iron Age|Iron]] age worlds.
*'''''Kawabata Yasunari - The Master of Go''''': The story of a brash young [[munchkin|power gamer]] challenging a grizzled old [[neckbeard]] to a championship [[Go]] match. Chronicles the national-scale [[edition war]] that was 1930s Japan through the medium of gaming obsessed hyper-autists.
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==Weird Stuff==
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This is for things which may not strictly be the best stuff but have some off beat noteworthy qualities which might make it worth a look regardless. Sometimes "flawed but novel" can beat "generally good but run of the mill".
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*'''''David Brin - Uplift Hexology''''': A sort of really lazily worldbuilt sci-fi setting, based around the idea that a trillions-years-old galactic civilization is perpetuated by the "uplifting" of near-sentient animals and tool-using species. Every species has its specific attitude and special trait, like most bad sci-fi, except for humans and their uplifted dolphins and chimpanzees. But it does have some interesting ideas about evolution and how that could lead to truly strange forms of life and ways of thinking, if you can suffer through all the ecofanaticism.
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==Mythology==
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SF/F, classical style.
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*'''''The Epic of Gilgamesh''''': The original Conan, gettin' bitches and slayin' witches since 1800BC, baby. The story of Gilgamesh (no shit; might have been Bilgamesh originally), a demi-god <strike>Babylonian</strike> Sumerian (big difference) king who the gods continually try to beat down and/or kill because he's [[Awesome|just that fucking awesome.]] [[That guy|He's also a HUUUUUUGE dick.]] Eventually meets his best bro for life Enkidu and they go on fuckin' sick adventures. Unfortunately some parts of the story are lost.
*'''''The Odyssey''''': Sequel to Homer's Iliad, possibly by a fan adopting that name. Odysseus, hero of the Trojan War with many cameos in the Iliad, has to go home to his wife - but he's in no hurry. Runs through many adventures before finally getting there; his wife somehow had stayed more loyal than ''he'' had. Many C.S. Lewis and then D&D monsters got aired here first. [Also] in Iliad / Odyssey fanfic may be included the Cypria and the Aeneid; Argonautica, concerning Jason's earlier voyage to the Black Sea, further had much influence from this book.
*'''''Beowulf''''': ''Not'' the English national epic, as Tollers noted; it belongs to the Geats, a now-dead tribe of para-Swedes. Beowulf rips Grendel's arm off, then goes down [[What|to kill his mum]]. Beowulf is killed, himself, by a dragon. Somehow got translated into Old Anglo-Saxon, sprinkled with an ultrathin veneer of Christianity, and copied; long enough for the English to find it again.
*'''''[[The Poetic Edda]]''''': A historical source, the Poetic Edda provides most of the basis for what we know about norse myth and belief today. The mere fact that it's [[Viking]] myth poetry written in [[Awesome|Old Norse]] should entice most fa/tg/uys, but for those somehow unmoved still, it's basically THE sourcebook for the [[Lord of the Rings]] and all else [[Tolkien]]. If you want to know where Gandalf (who is basically Odin), [[Dwarves]] (and their names), [[Elves]], the phrase "[[Middle Earth]]" and that obsession he has for massive trees came from, then look no further. Also, pick up a copy of the Prose Edda while your reading this one, seeing as you're on a roll. Features a now-confirmed-to-AD-1022 visit to Newfoundland ("Markland"), whence the Norse bugged out in a generation because who the fuck wants to spend more time in Noof than one has to.
*'''''Der Nibelunge liet''''': A ring is found at the Rhine; a dragon (Fafnir, for Wagner) finds it; dragon gets BTFOed by one Siegfried who is then corrupted himself. Written around AD 1200 by a High German, that is high up in Bavaria; with many parallels to similar stories in the ''Edda'' far north. Deemed too pagan for the Renaissance-era Germans, lost in the ensuing religious wars; rediscovered 1755 and became the national epic... for better or worse. Wagner's [[/pol/]]-approved take (Fafnir is a greedy dwarf, becomes that dragon) pulls more from the Norse. That's the one wherein wabbits are killed.
*'''''Kullervo''''': Some Finnish nationalist figured, how come ''we'' don'ts gots a mythology. So he made one - the Kalevala - but with even MORE grimdark and [[incest Smith|incest]]. JRR Tolkien edited a rendition of the Kullervo subset and, further, both he and Moorcock independently(?) took inspiration for their own antiheroes with magic souldraining swords, Turin and Elric respectively.
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==History / Philosophy==
{{topquote|Upon this a question arises: is it better be more [[This Guy]] than [[That Guy]], or more [[That Guy]] than [[This Guy]]? The answer is that one should desire to be both, although as it is difficult to unite the two in one person, it is much safer to be [[That Guy]] than [[This Guy]] if one of the two must be dispensed with.|Machiavelli, quote mined. (It's important to note that Nick added immediately after that "Nevertheless, one should avoid smelling of rat piss at all costs, because '''everybody''' ''absolutely hates'' that version of [[That Guy]]")}}
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*'''''Julius Caesar - Commentaries on the Gallic War''''': If you study Latin, this is the first full text you'll be assigned to translate (same goes for Xenophon if you're learning Greek). Caesar wrote this autobiography of his campaign in Gaul to bolster his support among the only so-so literate plebs, and as a result it avoids using big, confusing words. On the flip-side, this makes it dreadfully dry and boring at times. Still, if you want to have ''the'' Roman experience, it's mandatory read.
*'''''Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra - The Ingenious Nobleman Mister Quixote of La Mancha''''': The misadventures of an old man driven to madness by reading chivalry novels, being the first major parody of the classic interpretation of that setting. Mixing comedy and a ton of political commentary for its time, it's one of the most important novels of all time, and the elements and tropes it brought to popular culture are referenced and satirized to this day.
*'''''Marcus Tullius Cicero - De Re Publica''''': A political dialogue, explaining all the virtues of Roman Republic. Survived only partially and in short-hands, but still makes a compelling read about "ideal" (and most definitely not idealised into absurdity) state of Roman politics and political machine, along with all the machinations gradually leading to [[Star_Wars|the Republic turning into the Empire]]. An obligatory read for all Romanboos.
*'''''Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli - The Prince''''': [[This guy]] seems to be very underrated in popular culture, and its name is often used as a pejorative term, sometimes as twisted or evil. But this guy only wrote some sort of historical summary of how previous governments around the world have risen to power, how they handled it, and how they lost it all. It's just a guide of how you should rule your kingdom. You totally won't find [[Skub]] here. There is a later version of the book with additional commentary by '''Napoléon Bonaparte''', which is naturally the preferred version. A major influence on Camarilla of [[Vampire: The Masquerade]] (note the name of their leaders).
*'''''Antonio Pigafetta - Journal of Magellan's Voyage''''': A historical account of the first circumnavigation of the globe. Aside obvious historical value, it's worth to note Pigafetta wasn't an explorer himself or a member of the crew - he was a tourist, joining the expedition for the thrill of adventure and described everything from such perspective. Provides a lot of nautical and ethnographical observations, creating a panorama for Age of Discovery.
*'''''Sunzi - The Art of War''''': The Codex Astartes of ancient China dating back to the Spring and Autumn period. Essentially a "How to Wage Wars for Dummies" guidebook and trivial from modern perspective - which doesn't stop people from gushing how brilliant it is and making it one of the most mis-quoted books in human literature. Most editions contain more commentaries than there is actual Sun Tzu writing in them.
*'''''Marco Polo - The Million''''': The seminal travelogue of an Italian explorer as he travelled the breadth of Middle East and Asia all the way to China and back again during the height of the Middle Ages. While there is some question as to the accuracy of the work, scholars today agree that generally speaking the accounts are as accurate as can be expected for the time period.
*'''''Publius Cornelius Tacitus - The Annals''''': A Roman historical account of the time from Augustus' death in 14 AD. to the reign of Emperor Nero. Although fragmented as hell (as the overwhelming majority of ancient literature is), it is one of the most important sources on how the Roman Empire survived and gained permanency after its charismatic founder Octavian-Augustus died. It is generally regarded as being one of the finest works of Roman history that has survived, as well as containing one of the only extra-biblical accounts of Jesus, alongside the writings of Flavius Josephus. Tacitus is especially appreciated for his penetrating insights into power politics, so think of him as a proto-Machiavelli in far more readable prose.
*'''''Thucydides - History of the Peloponnesian War''''': Happens right before The Anabasis, covering roughly two decades of warfare between Athens and Sparta, in varying degrees of detail depending on the sources Thucydides had access to at the time (he was exiled from Athens and switched sides mid-war). Trails off at the end, presumably he died writing it. Basically the oldest human text in existence that is regarded as a historical account to be taken at face value, and it inspired many other leaders such as Xenophon and later Julius Caesar to write accounts of their own deeds.
*'''''Xenophon - The Anabasis''''': Another historical account, this time of the journey of 10,000 Greek mercenaries (hence the other title - ''The March of the Ten Thousand'') who end up stranded in the middle of Persian Empire after their employer, Cyrus the Younger, got killed in the battle. Problem is, Cyrus was trying to overthrown his brother, king Artaxerxes II, using said Greeks. So now they are in the middle of hostile territory, with no means to resupply, no support and constantly endangered by Persian military and tributary locals. Due to Xenophon's writing style, the book is highly entertaining and action-packed, while also providing countless descriptions of both Greek and Persian customs. And if you wonder why the plot sounds familiar - you probably saw "The Warriors".
*'''''Saint Augustine of Hippo - Confessions''''': An autobiographical work set during the tail-end of the classical world and the Roman Empire chronicling Augustine's life path from a dipshit youth to soul-searching man dabbling in various new philosophies to eventually settling on this new thing called Christianity. Even if one is not religious or christian, the work gives an interesting insight into human nature and even laid the foundation for Kierkegaard and the existentialist philosophy.

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==Shunned/Hated==
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*'''Marion Zimmer Bradley''': We're just going to drop this name in here. When she was alive, she was best known for her [[skub|feminist]] takes on arthurian legend as well as other sci-fi/fantasy series she wrote. Nowadays, she's perhaps more famous for having been a pedophile and child abuser who also helped enable her husband, a convicted pedophile, to do similarly depraved and twisted stuff all while, allegedly, justifying every single one of these actions. All this just adds a special, extra slimy layer to a lot of the stuff that was in her books and is also another tick against the SJW crowd. Nice going, Marion!
*'''Terry <del>Good</del>Badkind - The Sword of Truth''': An infamous series full of Terry's [[magical realm]] BDSM, utterly gratuitous rape and torture (Terry's cheap/lazy method of making his main characters look better by comparison), and "heroes" we're supposed to arbitrarily like no matter ''what'' horrible things they do. Badkind himself having nothing but contempt for the entire fantasy genre while bragging about how he is a "serious" novelist and packing the later books with his stupid Ayn Ranting (even when it ''contradicted previous fucking events'') did him no favours.
*'''Stephanie Meyer - [[Twilight]]:''' ...Have you ''been'' on the internet? The series that single-handedly killed an [[Vampire: The Masquerade| entire style of modern fantasy vampire]] for an entire generation of fantasy fans who ''aren't'' sexually-frustrated housewives and/or hormone-addled teenage girls. Though it's a bit old hat to bring up the series with any seriousness, doing so will irritate the scars of bitter neckbeards.
*'''John Norman - [[Gor (John Norman)]]''': A cheap knockoff of Barsoom and Conan made notable (as the series goes on) for having a lot of half baked philosophizing, skeevy BSDM stuff and [[/d/|a ton of fucked up ideas about gender, slavery and sex]]. In brief a bunch of bug aliens make a zoo full of humans to live "as nature intended" as misogynistic slaving barbarians and make sure of it [[wat|by incinerating anyone who attempts to develop technology or societies they don't approve of with laser beams. Which they sometimes do to whole cities just for the lulz]]. Also for spawning one of the ''original'' obnoxious apologist Internet subcultures, the Goreans. Spread to Second Life, so go there if you want to burn your brain. There was a hilariously bad 1980s movie done by someone who clearly had not read the books.
*'''Christopher Paolini - [[Eragon|The Inheritance Series]]:''' A Mary Sue main character and a derivative plot. It was written when Paolini was a teenager and it shows. Every single book could stand to lose at ''least'' a third of its wordcount and there are lot of times when the plot grinds to a halt for entire chapters just for the characters to think and ramble about the most inane of topics. Less offensive than other stuff on this list since it lacks traits such as bootlick fans and an asshole author. The author also put a decent amount of effort into his worldbuilding which is more than can be said for Badkind and Smeyer. If you must, start in book two and read his cousin's story, he is a farm boy who was getting his dick wet while struggling with a hostile father-in-law, until the civil war reached his hometown and his betrothed is whisked away by humanoid bug-birds, he then murders 200 people with a hammer and deals with PTSD.
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=Gallery=
<gallery>
Image:Approved Children's Literature.png|Kid-tested, fa/tg/uy-approved.
</gallery>

=Other Recommendations=
*[http://desuarchive.org/tg/thread/27995546/ Fatguys briefly exit their basement comfort zone to recommend /tg/ romance novels.]
*[https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/109337._tg_approved_reading_list /tg/'s approved reading list on Goodreads]

[[Category:Approved Media]]
[[Category:Literature]]

Luthor Harkon

2022-03-02T17:20:04Z

2A02:1811:3B7F:7E00:9C23:93F3:1DDB:8E40: /* Total War: WARHAMMER */

[[File:Harkon.jpg|thumb|right|600px|"Fortune favors the infamous." <br>Harkon, breaking the fourth wall to directly address the viewer because the battle going on behind him isn't interesting enough, nor are the broadsides fired by ghost ships into the same battle.]]
{{Topquote|...for there is no folly of the beast of the earth which is not infinitely outdone by the madness of men.|Herman Melville, author of "Moby Dick"}}
{{Topquote| For too long I've been parched of thirst and unable to quench it. Too long I've been starving to death and haven't died. I feel nothing. Not the wind on my face nor the spray of the sea. Nor the warmth of a woman's flesh. You best start believing in ghost stories, Miss Turner... you're in one!|Barbossa, <i>Pirates of the Caribbean</i>}}

'''Luthor Harkon''' is the primary pirate of the [[Warhammer Fantasy]] setting, dating back to the Warhammer Armies: Undead Army Book for 4th edition, having been mentioned throughout Warhammer history since.

Harkon is a [[Vampire Counts|Vampire]] pirate, leader of the Zombie Pirates faction, which is found off the eastern coast of [[Lustria]]. Thanks to being such an old character that has been touched on a lot and expanded very little, there're some substantial differences in editions between versions of Harkon. But his primary defining trait, being <strike>FUCKING CRAZY</strike>'''LUUUUTHOOOR HAAAARKON!!!''', is consistent, while the rest of the details can actually be resolved with each other using minimal mental gymnastics.

Depending on his current mood, he calls himself the Arch Grand Commodore, the King Of the Vampire Coast (or some derivative of that), or, in the End Times event, the Mortarch Of The Abyss.

Also, he's the only Warhammer character with an official themesong: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7tJELpDfKU the Tattered Sails Shanty.]

==The Legend==
Luthor Harkon began life in [[Nehekhara]], as a member of a tribe called the Harkoni. At the time, he was called Lutr. He was brought into the city guard of [[Lahmian|Lahmia]] by [[Abhorash]], due to his skill in battle (this particular bit of lore comes from the Master Of Death novel), and appointed one of Abhorash's four primary lieutenants. Luthor guarded the harbor while his cousin [[Walach Harkon]] guarded the palace (this is a retcon used by [[Gav Thorpe]] to minimize confusion with the two having the same last name but not previously being related). Either Abhorash or Walach made him a Vampire; it's unclear which, but he's definitely a [[Blood Dragon]].

How Harkon participated in the fall of Lahmia and the second defeat of [[Nagash]] (start clicking links to read that story, its not relevant enough to retell on this page) is still vague, but we do know that he traveled with Abhorash afterwards, meaning he probably fought valiantly against the living to defend the city until there was nothing left to defend. At some point he became separated from Abhorash, instead finding refuge in [[Marshes of Madness|Mourkain]] under the command of [[Ushoran]]. After that city ALSO fell (again, not relevant enough to get into here) Harkon once again left. So while he's technically a Blood Dragon, he hasn't spent time among the dynasty in a while and he's got as much in common with them as with them as with the [[Lahmian]]s and [[Strigoi]]. Between that and his... uh... state of mind, he doesn't really have the characteristics of any bloodline in particular.

None of the above actually matters, since Harkon doesn't remember his own origins and never exhibits any Bloodline traits.

During the year 876 of the Imperial Calendar an [[The Empire (Warhammer Fantasy)|Empire]] merchant ship was attacked by [[Norsca|Norscan]] pirates, who stole everything aboard and slaughtered the crew. Unfortunately for the Norscans, Luthor's coffin was among the loot. We never found out how he got there; he doesn't remember it either. The ship sailed towards Lustria, and at some point Luthor turned them all into zombies. He made a home where he landed, turning all the corpses that washed up on the shore for various reasons (this is after all a setting where you can just kind of dig in random places and find pits full of skulls) into members of his zombie empire, which eventually became known as the Vampire Coast. High Elves and Norscans, the two primary naval powers of the setting, both stayed away, since Harkon managed to pull everything from Banshees (which he calls "Syreens") to ghost ships into his service. His zombies are far more impressive than what could normally be called a zombie, retaining intelligence and personality from life (although no willpower to disobey), as well as the dexterity needed for sailing and even using ranged weaponry.

Eventually he found an abandoned Lizardman city in the jungles, called Huatl. In the city's temple he found an undisturbed chamber, but the undead he sent to excavate it were disenchanted by the glyph protections, turning them back into lifeless corpses. Out of frustration, he tried to blast it with magic, not realizing that the protections were strong enough to keep fucking [[Daemon|Greater Daemons]] of [[Tzeentch]] out. As the glyphs began to drain the magic out of his body, the chamber began to collapse around him. Only with all of his willpower was he able to break himself free and escape with his unlife. This experience had two unique effects. The first was that it transformed him into a peculiar type of being: an undead animated by magic, but cut off from the Winds Of Magic (other than his power to animate zombies). His detachment from the Winds is so strong he exudes an anti-magic field stronger than that of an entire army of [[Dwarfs (Warhammer Fantasy)|Dwarfs]]. The second is that it shattered his mind, resulting in Harkon gaining an extreme case of multiple personality disorder; his body plays host to twelve Harkons. At any given point his body is controlled by one of these personalities, although he occasionally lapses into a semi-comatose state when they are evenly matched, until a victor emerges to take control again. On the other hand, when mental strain becomes too much for one of his personalities, another will take control, allowing Harkon to continue on with whatever he is doing with renewed morale and focus. All of his personalities have different goals, save one; stealing Lizardmen shit, which all of them think will help them find a way to heal the split.

Having retained his ability to create undead, he continued to expand his armies, and no force that has come against him, by land or by sea, has stood a chance. Luthor has been such a major factor in Lizardmen plans that there are literal prophesies in their history that they work to ensure come true about their battles against him. In the year 930, it took both a [[Slann]] and the fucking legendary [[Kroxigor]] hero [[Nakai the Wanderer]] just to keep him from gaining an invasion route into central Lustria. In 1011, he cast a spell to draw ships from all over the world to his coasts for sixteen years, then sent the resulting undead armada of armadas to capture even more ships and bring the corpses back. By 1351 his pirate army was so enormous that he was supposedly able to sack the sacred city of Axlotl and looted everything that the Skinks weren't able to haul away (literally EVERYTHING. No stone remains in its original location). Since then, the Lizardmen have considered Harkon their most <strike>pressing</strike> annoying threat, after only [[Chaos]].

As for Harkon, he spend 400 years learning what he could from Axlotl. At the end of it, he was able to create legendary relics called "Ebony Skulls", which he sent throughout the world as gifts to pirates, raiders, and just about every other aggressive and power-hungry potential ally. When thrown at the ground the skulls grant necromantic powers to the user, but doing so enters them into a contract with Harkon whereupon their souls belong to him. These invaders now swarm Lustria as well as the rest of the world, bringing corpses and treasure alike to Harkon either by his command or simply their own greed and ruthlessness. All things that die end up on the Vampire Coast.

Oh, he also stole a Hellhammer Cannon from the Empire, the "Queen Bess", a big fucking deathgun. It's mounted on the front of his ship. Just in case the rest wasn't enough.

He also gained a second in command at some point, the dimwitted but intensely loyal Captain Drekla, who had a hook for a left hand which he lost in service to Harkon.

===[[End Times]]===
Despite being immensely powerful and insane, Harkon immediately surrendered to Nagash the moment he got word Nagash had come back to the world of the living. Why is unclear, possibly loyalty from his origins if one of his personalities remembers, possibly boredom, possibly because he thought either Nagash could cure him or could be tricked into invading Lustria. Either way Nagash granted him the title of [[Mortarch|Mortarch Of The Abyss]] for his loyalty, then commanded him and his fleets to sail up the River Mortis (Warhammer version of The Nile) and defeat the immensely powerful (but generally unused) fleet of the [[Tomb Kings]], which he accomplished easily via not only Queen Bess but also several secret weapons including fire ships made using Salamander bladders, undead sea monsters of every variety, boarding parties from civilizations who perfected naval battle over the course of history, and many more. His armada was massive and made up of ships from every nation in the world at every point of history, but large numbers of them just smashed against the rocks or beached themselves on the shore with the zombie crews shambling out to take the coastlines. Harkon met up with [[Mannfred von Carstein]] as instructed and the two made up the bulk of Nagash's armies in Nehekhara with Drekla reinforcing both as needed, although Harkon looted just about anything not nailed down along the way which slowed their progression, and everywhere he went he left zombies and Tomb King skeletons alike buried in sand and mud continuing to fight long after their masters abandoned them. At one point he secured victory with a giant swarm of bats and himself in bat form assassinating the enemy Liche Priest.

Harkon was left to his own devices after that, doing what batshit insane pirates do with their spare time, until Nagash called on him to join Mannfred in defending Sylvania against the forces of [[Nurgle]], which were lead by [[Drachenfels]] and the Daemon-possessed [[Isabella von Carstein]]. Mannfred had come to hate Luthor and generally disregarded the concept of working together while looking for an opportunity to take over Harkon's zombie apocalypse-tier army, although instead he spent the battle weakening Harkon's magic and allowing the already badly deployed force to be mulched by the Daemons.

Harkon's zombie army was eventually taken over by Drachenfels, forcing him and Drekla to flee to a small inn called the Dead And Buried. Mannfred killed one of Harkon's captains and shredded his soul to keep his own Dread Abyssal mount alive after it contracted a disease from the Daemons, and in return Harkon was about to behead Mannfred until Nagash's small reinforcement force arrived and saved him. They were joined by some of the most powerful Vampires in the world in that ironically named inn, including [[Vlad von Carstein]] himself. The Vampires were overrun however, and in the battle Harkon slipped into one of his most insane personalities which attacked without thought for self-preservation and swore in barely coherent pirate ramblings. Drekla died protecting him from a Great Unclean One which Mannfred and Harkon killed together, only for Mannfred to steal it's soul to fully heal his Dread Abyssal and flee the battle to escape Isabella. Harkon attempted to hitch a ride only for Mannfred to cut his hand off and let him fall into the horde of Daemons (not because Harkon hindered his escape of course, just because Mannfred is an asshole). Harkon, alone with broken legs but at the peak of his rage, managed to hold off the literally infinite horde of Daemons until Isabella herself simply appeared before him and cut off his hand, instructed the Plaguebearers to hold him down, and via a simple touch to the cheek managed to transfer a rot that instantly killed him (despite external working around him) by melting him.

===[[Total War: WARHAMMER]]===
Because he was too awesome to stay down he was added to Total War: Warhammer 2 via the Vampire Coast DLC alongside a host of other pirates, Luthor Harkon has to battle against Lizardmen, Elves, greenskins, the forces of Chaos, and other pirates in his quest for regained sanity as well as, if he wants it, command of [[Amanar]] the [[Merwyrm]] of the High Elves. Also, fight anyone else he wants because he's fucking Luthor Harkon and he can do what he wants, besides he deserves a timeline where he doesn't end as Nurglish sludge. While he certainly has multiple personalities still, the one on display in the cinematic reveal trailer for the DLC is surprisingly amiable as he cheerfully tells his life story to the corpse of a dead sailor, pausing to watch a battle between his fleet and the Empire several times, until he digs up a Lizardmen artifact.

In the TWW canon he is confirmed to have been turned into a Vampire by Abhorash and thus inherits a Blood Dragon statline, but his Strigoi influence is shown by being the only non-Strigoi who can ride a Terrorgheist outside of [[Age of Sigmar]].

You can actually succeed in restoring him to sanity by doing a quest to collect Slann Gold and unearthing a Lizardman vault in his home settlement, and if you do so the rewards are great as he regains the ability to use magic and becomes a very powerful Lore of Deeps caster. Sadly none of his in-game dialogue changes and his animations still have him spasm like a lunatic.

==[[Zombie Pirates]]==
Harkon's personal army, first introduced in White Dwarf issue #305. Unlike the zombies of the Vampire Counts, Harkon's undead are functional enough to use ranged weaponry; they favour black powder weapons. Furthermore, they aren't impeded by water hazards.

The army isn't particularly powerful, but it's wacky and fun.

As mentioned miles above this section, on November 8th, the Vampire Coast faction for [[Total War: Warhammer II]] will be launched; its roster is based primarily on this one, with some new stuff listed at the very bottom.

===Heroes===
* '''Shipwights''': Captains chosen by Harkon to be raised as wights rather than zombies. Later it was retconned that he sometimes makes people into vampires to serve as his captains, but they were still not a part of his army list.

* '''Syreen''': Banshees whose screams make you sad instead of dead. Their name is yet another curious choice of Harkon.

===Core===
* '''Deckhands Mob''': The lowest of his forces, using rusty melee weapons.

* '''Gunnery Mob''': Zombies with dakka.

* '''Bloated Corpses''': Zombies that explode when punctured, spewing out deadly gasses bacteria living inside.

* '''Scurvy Dogs''': He probably only raised these for the pun. They're zombie dogs.

===Special===
* '''Razortooth Rats''': Zombie rats. Yep, Harkon is pretty scary.

* '''Deck Droppers''': Fell Bats. Carrying a zombie to drop on the enemy. And the zombies have guns [[FAIL|(but cannot shoot them on the tabletop)]]. Fucking hell, Harkon is broken in the head. In Total War: Warhammer II, there's a variant that can drop bombs on the enemy instead.

* '''Carronade''': A small, portable cannon (and therefore the most accurate thing in Harkon's aresenal), manned by zombies. Inferior to those of the Empire, except for it's points cost where it's little more than half the price.

* '''Animated Hulks''': Zombie Ogres. Less scary than they should be given zombification seems to work more like normal compared to Harkon's usual intelligent zombies. Although its still a fucking zombie Ogre commanded by Luthor fucking Harkon. In Total War: Warhammer II these are Bloated Corpses 'adjusted' by necromancers instead, but they fill the same role. The TW:W2 version has them armed with either anchors as melee weapons, or with cannons strapped to their arm.

* '''Deck Gunners''': Swivel cannon gunners. It's still zombies taking aim, so you're probably safe. Until you get a zombie dropped on you by a giant bat, anyway.

===Rare===
* '''Rotting Leviathan''': It's a seamonster of some kind, like a giant crab called a [[Promethean]] or a sea dragon. A dead one that's been turned into a zombie anyway. In Total War: Warhammer II, these are all big Prometheans, and have multiple riflemen on the crow's nest atop the monster.

* '''Queen Bess''': Stolen at some point from the Empire, nobody knows when or from where. Its type was counted among the number of the biggest cannon in the world before Harkon modified it during one of the events of what is apparently an engineer personality taking over which included reducing its size. Normally mounted on his flagship, he's not above bringing it into any battle he feels she's needed in. The TW:W2 version [[wat|is a mortar instead of a cannon]] that causes units caught in the blast radius to take a movement penalty, making them vulnerable to follow-up attacks.

===Additonal Units===
The following units were added by Creative Assembly to help round out the faction. No official rules exist for them, but since we’re assuming you’re reading this article because you were inspired by the DLC, they’re included for completeness. Many of them are poached from [[Dreadfleet]], the [[Monstrous Arcanum]], or elsewhere in Warhammer lore. The Zombie Deckhands and Gunnery Mobs also have a few new options in terms of kit, such as polearms, rifles, blunderbusses, grenades, and so on. The pre-launch roster information is [https://www.totalwar.com/blog/curse-of-the-vampire-coast-roster-reveal here] and [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQFDYPfcqGU here].

*'''Depth Guard''': Heavy infantry vampires armed with axes or polearms. Their armor resembles that of the Blood Knights, but the closed helmets and general colors make them look like antique diving suits. Functionally similar to the Vampire Counts' Grave Guard; however, they have sacrificed their ability to hold for the ability to deal more damage and as Vampires they have independence by themselves before they start to disintegrate. They also don't have shields, making them vulnerable to missile fire. In general though, the Coast's playstyle is being about doing a shitload of damage very quickly; the entire army doesn't have much staying power. These guys are to the other infantry forces the same as Blood Knights are to Black Knights and Hexwraiths.

*'''Rotting Promethean''': CA decided to create a smaller version of the Leviathan to allow the army to field more tanky units to shore up the otherwise relatively weak zombies. Comes either naked or with a two-man crew of gunners on their backs. They also have charge defense vs. large, so you can use them to protect your artillery and missile troops against those pesky lancers.

*'''[[Mourngul]]''': Take the wendigo of Algonquian legend, cut it in half, and give it the Warhammer treatment. What you’ve got left is a terrifying beast that is disembowled from the waist down, and a mouth full of needle-like teeth. This beast works well as a [[DISTRACTION CARNIFEX]], since they are fast, scary, and can heal themselves while engaged in melee - most likely by devouring its victims. The model is still sold by [[Forgeworld]]. Listed for the Vampire Coast since dying of exposure, hunger, and cannibalism at sea is just as likely as it is in mountain wildernesses.

*'''Necrofex Colossus''': Do you like pirate ships, but hate that you can’t take them with you on land? Now you can! The Colossus is almost like the vampiric equivalent of a [[Daemon Engine]]; to power the construct, it has a core of undead corpses in the center of its hull, allowing it to walk and use its weapons. Speaking of weapons, this thing uses four cannons strapped together for devastating long-range attacks. Oh, and when something finally knocks it down to half health, some of those corpses fall out and start biting at whoever was stupid enough to get within melee range. Sadly it never got a model. The fanbase was obsessed with trying to figure out how it reloads itself, then CA showed it in a video, animation and all, which demonstrates once again they are boss. If you want one for the tabletop, Reaper Miniatures sells a decent proxy [https://www.reapermini.com/Miniatures/golem/latest/77627 here].

*'''Gunnery Wight''': Not actually a Wight, apparently. Carries a very large rifle, which it can use surprisingly effectively given it's a zombie, but its really marketable skill is that it can refill the ammunition of nearby units. Since Vampire Coast missile units get a damage buff when their ammo levels are over a certain threshold which is when the army makes or breaks a battle, this is a pretty big deal.
<gallery>
Image:Creative-assembly-cst-vampire-fleet-gunnery-wight.jpg|When you're still a rotting corpse enslaved by a lunatic, but still have a damn fine suit and hat.
</gallery>

*'''Death Shriek [[Terrorgheist]]''': You know this thing from the Vampire Counts army list. Big undead bat-thing that scares people and also eats people. There's nothing particularly unique about it. One is also a mount for Harkon, and at this point its shocking he didn't decide to ride a Deck Dropper like a surfboard and throw Scurvy Dogs like bombs.

*'''Mortars''': They send rounds up, and then the rounds come back down again. Hopefully on top of an enemy unit, and not one of your own, but crewing these things with zombies means shouldering some amount of risk. Supposed to be good in conjunction with Queen Bess, since in Total War she slows down anything she hits. In practice this is best as a campaign tactic, since the cost of loading up Mortars AND the Queen in battle leaves you with not a lot else in case your opponent can react fast enough.

==Gallery==
<gallery>
Image:Old Harkon.jpg|An older piece of art that was later implied to be depicting Harkon, by [[Adrian Smith]].
Image:Harkon Blanche.jpg|A [[John Blanche]] piece depicting Harkon.
Image:End Times Harkon Drekla.jpg|Harkon and Drekla in End Times.
Image:TWW Harkon.png|Harkon in Total War: WARHAMMER, hey Nagash, can you resurrect him in AoS so we can have a mini?
Image:M1610043 99060207182 ColSartosanVam.jpg|The generic "Sartosan Vampire" mini. Used twice, first in White Dwarf and later in End Times: Glottkin to represent Harkon on the tabletop. It's the closest he has to an official miniature...
Image:Harkon Conversion.png|...aside from this miniature, a conversion featured in a republishing of his army list in [[Warhammer Chronicle]].
Image:Norba Harkon.png|The [[Norba Miniatures]] version of Harkon, because 3p do what official don't.
Image:Disneys Pirates Of Warhammer.png
Image:Giant Enemy Crab.jpg
Image:LuthorArmyComp.jpg|An entirely expectable strategy from a vampire who gets zombies to perform drive-bys by being carried by Fell Bats
</gallery>

[[Category:Warhammer Fantasy]][[Category:Vampire Counts]]
[[Category:Vampire Coast]]

Raketenwerfer Batterie

2022-03-02T07:50:06Z

2A02:1811:3B7F:7E00:9C23:93F3:1DDB:8E40:

[[File:Raketenwerfer.jpg|300px|right|thumb|Zis is a Raketenwerfer. It werfs raketen.]]
{{topquote|I took ballistics in school, fascinating subject: things go up, things go down!|Anonymous artilleryman, Company of Heroes 2}}

Mounting 36 rocket tubes, the LARS is capable of delivering massive salvos of high explosive onto enemy forces.

==In Team Yankee==
[[File:LARS Rakatenwerfer.jpg|300px|left|thumb|Das Stats]]
The LARS is basically the West German version of the Soviet [[BM-21 Hail]], serving the same role of unarmored rocket artillery. As such the best place for the LARS is as far away from the front line as you can possibly be while still being in range of its Rockets, which shouldn't be very hard as they have a range of 80 inches.

Speaking of the Rockets, they have a surprisingly good Firepower of 4+, which means that half of all of the vehicles and dug in infantry you hammer will be destroyed, and with an Anti Tank of 3 is enough to threaten top armour 0 and unarmored vehicles. You can also load smoke munitions to screen your forces as PACT forces rarely have thermal vision. There is also a MG3 machine gun bolted to the top of the cabin, but if you are in a position to use it, you have seriously fucked up. Remember: Vehicle save of 5+. No goddamn AV. Just a d6. This thing is goddamn fragile and it should be hiding behind that big huge <s>Leopard</s> <s>building</s> <s>forest</s> mountain.

Perhaps this vehicle's most interesting trait is the ability to take minelet volleys for an additional point. While not particularly useful against infantry, this ability can make life hell on earth for unsupported armour. From denying the enemy access to an easy flank, to mining out a known reserves entry, to pinning entire Soviet tank columns into glorified parking lots, having Raketenwerfers on the board can help funnel enemy vehicles into very dangerous situations.

A battery of two LARS will set you back 3 points in typically expensive West German fashion, and a battery of 4 will cost you 6 points.

==IRL==
[[File:LARS Rakatenwerfer IRL.jpg|300px|right|thumb|Vatch me blow larch clauds of smoke out my arse.]]
Developed by the Bundeswehr in 1969, the LARS was a multiple missile lancher mounted on a Magirus-Deutz truck's chassis designed to deliver a huge barrage of missiles onto a target. That is not the vehicle that appears in Team Yankee, instead we have the LARS-2 (which is what the model is, seriously Battlefront you couldn't just put a "-2" in the title?) which was the same missile launcher from the first LARS mounted on a MAN Truck. The LARS-2 began replacing the first LARS in the early 1980s where it served for close to two decades before being phased out in 1998 by the American [[M270 MLRS]], which was already being used by the Brits at that time.
{{West German Forces in Team Yankee}}

[[Category:Vehicles]]

Raketenwerfer Batterie

2022-03-02T07:49:49Z

2A02:1811:3B7F:7E00:9C23:93F3:1DDB:8E40:

[[File:Raketenwerfer.jpg|300px|right|thumb|Zis is a Raketenwerfer. It werfs raketen.]]
{{topquote|I took ballistics in school, fascinating subject. Things go up, things go down!|Anonymous artilleryman, Company of Heroes 2}}

Mounting 36 rocket tubes, the LARS is capable of delivering massive salvos of high explosive onto enemy forces.

==In Team Yankee==
[[File:LARS Rakatenwerfer.jpg|300px|left|thumb|Das Stats]]
The LARS is basically the West German version of the Soviet [[BM-21 Hail]], serving the same role of unarmored rocket artillery. As such the best place for the LARS is as far away from the front line as you can possibly be while still being in range of its Rockets, which shouldn't be very hard as they have a range of 80 inches.

Speaking of the Rockets, they have a surprisingly good Firepower of 4+, which means that half of all of the vehicles and dug in infantry you hammer will be destroyed, and with an Anti Tank of 3 is enough to threaten top armour 0 and unarmored vehicles. You can also load smoke munitions to screen your forces as PACT forces rarely have thermal vision. There is also a MG3 machine gun bolted to the top of the cabin, but if you are in a position to use it, you have seriously fucked up. Remember: Vehicle save of 5+. No goddamn AV. Just a d6. This thing is goddamn fragile and it should be hiding behind that big huge <s>Leopard</s> <s>building</s> <s>forest</s> mountain.

Perhaps this vehicle's most interesting trait is the ability to take minelet volleys for an additional point. While not particularly useful against infantry, this ability can make life hell on earth for unsupported armour. From denying the enemy access to an easy flank, to mining out a known reserves entry, to pinning entire Soviet tank columns into glorified parking lots, having Raketenwerfers on the board can help funnel enemy vehicles into very dangerous situations.

A battery of two LARS will set you back 3 points in typically expensive West German fashion, and a battery of 4 will cost you 6 points.

==IRL==
[[File:LARS Rakatenwerfer IRL.jpg|300px|right|thumb|Vatch me blow larch clauds of smoke out my arse.]]
Developed by the Bundeswehr in 1969, the LARS was a multiple missile lancher mounted on a Magirus-Deutz truck's chassis designed to deliver a huge barrage of missiles onto a target. That is not the vehicle that appears in Team Yankee, instead we have the LARS-2 (which is what the model is, seriously Battlefront you couldn't just put a "-2" in the title?) which was the same missile launcher from the first LARS mounted on a MAN Truck. The LARS-2 began replacing the first LARS in the early 1980s where it served for close to two decades before being phased out in 1998 by the American [[M270 MLRS]], which was already being used by the Brits at that time.
{{West German Forces in Team Yankee}}

[[Category:Vehicles]]

Raketenwerfer Batterie

2022-03-02T07:48:39Z

2A02:1811:3B7F:7E00:9C23:93F3:1DDB:8E40:

[[File:Raketenwerfer.jpg|300px|right|thumb|Zis is a Raketenwerfer. It werfs raketen.]]
{{topquote|I took ballistics in school, fascinating subject. Things go up, things go down|Anonymous artilleryman, Company of Heroes 2}}

Mounting 36 rocket tubes, the LARS is capable of delivering massive salvos of high explosive onto enemy forces.

==In Team Yankee==
[[File:LARS Rakatenwerfer.jpg|300px|left|thumb|Das Stats]]
The LARS is basically the West German version of the Soviet [[BM-21 Hail]], serving the same role of unarmored rocket artillery. As such the best place for the LARS is as far away from the front line as you can possibly be while still being in range of its Rockets, which shouldn't be very hard as they have a range of 80 inches.

Speaking of the Rockets, they have a surprisingly good Firepower of 4+, which means that half of all of the vehicles and dug in infantry you hammer will be destroyed, and with an Anti Tank of 3 is enough to threaten top armour 0 and unarmored vehicles. You can also load smoke munitions to screen your forces as PACT forces rarely have thermal vision. There is also a MG3 machine gun bolted to the top of the cabin, but if you are in a position to use it, you have seriously fucked up. Remember: Vehicle save of 5+. No goddamn AV. Just a d6. This thing is goddamn fragile and it should be behind that big huge <s>Leopard</s> <s>building</s> <s>forest</s> mountain.

Perhaps this vehicle's most interesting trait is the ability to take minelet volleys for an additional point. While not particularly useful against infantry, this ability can make life hell on earth for unsupported armour. From denying the enemy access to an easy flank, to mining out a known reserves entry, to pinning entire Soviet tank columns into glorified parking lots, having Raketenwerfers on the board can help funnel enemy vehicles into very dangerous situations.

A battery of two LARS will set you back 3 points in typically expensive West German fashion, and a battery of 4 will cost you 6 points.

==IRL==
[[File:LARS Rakatenwerfer IRL.jpg|300px|right|thumb|Vatch me blow larch clauds of smoke out my arse.]]
Developed by the Bundeswehr in 1969, the LARS was a multiple missile lancher mounted on a Magirus-Deutz truck's chassis designed to deliver a huge barrage of missiles onto a target. That is not the vehicle that appears in Team Yankee, instead we have the LARS-2 (which is what the model is, seriously Battlefront you couldn't just put a "-2" in the title?) which was the same missile launcher from the first LARS mounted on a MAN Truck. The LARS-2 began replacing the first LARS in the early 1980s where it served for close to two decades before being phased out in 1998 by the American [[M270 MLRS]], which is already being used by the Brits at this time.
{{West German Forces in Team Yankee}}

[[Category:Vehicles]]

Not as planned

2022-03-01T21:49:09Z

2A02:1811:3B7F:7E00:9C23:93F3:1DDB:8E40: Doesn't matter: keep /pol/ out of this.

[[Image:Angrymarines tzeentch.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Things are not always JUST AS PLANNED for [[Tzeentch]]. However, because Tzeentch is the grand schemer; a "Not as Planned" could have very well been just as planned for Tzeentch to be not as planned.]]

{{topquote| No battle plan ever survives contact with the enemy.| first spoken by Helmuth von Moltke. Later adopted by the [[Ultramarines]] during the [[Great Crusade]].}}

"'''Not as planned'''" is what you say when things are the exact opposite of being [[Just As Planned]].

The [[Imperium of Man|Imperium]] is a good example of Not as planned from the Emperor's point of view, who originally envisioned a secular empire based on logic and knowledge. See also the [[Fall of the Eldar]].

Expect to say it a lot if you worship [[Chaos Gods#Zuvassin|Zuvassin]] (who is the [[Chaos Gods|Chaos God]] of NOT AS PLANNED). Also, expect to say this if your unit is utterly outwitted by tactical geniu-
[[Creed|CREEEEEEEEEEEEEEED!!]]

==Examples of not as planned==
* the [[Dragonlance|Kingpriest of Istar]]'s edict against all evil.
* [[Aroden]], ''almost'' the Christ of [[Golarion]].
* How [[WGR3: Rary the Traitor|Shattados]] became "unquestioned ruler" of the Bright Desert.
* [[Horus Heresy|The outcome]] of the [[Great Crusade]].
* The [[Space Wolves]] surviving the Burning of [[Prospero]] due to [[Magnus the Red]] sitting out the fight ([[Tzeentch]] somehow didn't plan for that, so it "saved" the [[Thousand Sons]] as a reward).
* ''The Outcast Dead'' hints that the [[God-Emperor of Mankind|Emperor]] learned something relevant to the duel with [[Horus]] that might still manage to screw over the Chaos Gods after being mortally wounded. When asked by the Outcast if they would ever see each other again he gives the enigmatic answer that nothing is certain as far as the Warp is concerned (a hint that we might see the return of the Emprah in all his physical glory if the storyline ever really progresses?)
* The Imperium of Man in all its current [[Grimdark|unwholesome]] glory!{{BLAM}}
* The fall of the Eldar, perfect for lolz.
* [[Black Crusade]]s by a [[Abaddon|certain armless failure]]… (although canonically they actually were [[Just As Planned]]. Well, except maybe that one that tossed Failbaddon right into the middle of a ton of [[ork]]s, but Abaddabbadoo still got something out of it).
* Loose [[C'tan]] shards (just roaming around the galaxy)
* Everything the [[Inquisition]] does to try and strengthen humanity (it all goes tits up, time after time).
* Playing [[Tau]] against [[Tyranids]] in cityfighting scenario.
* Playing [[Tyranids]] against [[Tau]] in anything BUT a cityfighting scenario.
* Playing an army entirely in reserve and suffering [[Kroot Conga Line|spontaneous existence failure]].
* 7th Edition and all the non-[[Space Marines|power]][[Eldar|creep]] codices for said edition (that said, the Daemonology powers are a nice addition, although trying to use them as a non-daemon or GK SUCKS BALLS).
* 7th Edition Eldar nerf. Because making best codex in the game even stronger is a great idea. But hey, you cried about Serpents, and GW toned it down!
* A dying cell giving death the middle finger and [[Cancer|deciding to persist]].

==See also==
*[[Rocks fall, everyone dies]]
*[[Creed]]
*[[Tzeentch]]
[[Category:Meme]]

Not as planned

2022-03-01T21:30:27Z

2A02:1811:3B7F:7E00:9C23:93F3:1DDB:8E40: Keep /pol/ out of this.

A-10 Warthog

2022-03-01T21:28:52Z

2A02:1811:3B7F:7E00:9C23:93F3:1DDB:8E40: /* IRL */

[[File:A-10.jpg|300px|right|thumb|If you hear the sound of it, you're either on the right side, or you're next.]]
{{Topquote|You can shoot down every MiG the Soviets employ, but if you return to base and the lead Soviet tank commander is eating breakfast in your snack bar, Jack, you've lost the war.|Anonymous A-10 Pilot, USAF}}

Officially called the A-10 Thunderbolt II, the Warthog is a brutal ground attack aircraft used by the US military. The A-10 was designed with one purpose in mind: destroying anything and everything that could possibly stand between the US and total victory. [[Dakka|This thing was basically built around the GAU-8 30mm Avenger Gatling Cannon, which fires depleted uranium rounds at up to 4,200 RPM.]] The recoil from which is so powerful that it basically [[Awesome|halves the forward thrust of the two engines while firing.]] If the seven barrels of GAU-8 weren't enough for you, the A-10 also can mount a staggering amount of ordnance on its wing rails, ranging from the devastating Maverick missile, to CBU-52 cluster bombs, to AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles for dealing with Helicopters.

The A-10 is also extraordinarily tough. Almost every system has a back up, and the A-10 is quite capable of flight with only one engine and half its tail. [[METAL BOXES|The pilot is protected with a "Titanium Bathtub" that encompasses the cockpit and shields against all but the heaviest ground fire.]]

==In Team Yankee==
[[File:A-10 Stat Card.jpg|300px|left|thumb|The Stat Card]]
Whoo boy, this thing is epic, if ludicrously expensive. 5 points each, for something on the board only 50% of the time! The A-10 is the tankiest ground attack aircraft in the game, offset by its extreme cost. The GAU-8 Avenger makes it superior to the SU-25 for marginally more versatility. With a Rate of fire of 4, you can BRRRRRRRRRRRRRR at exposed infantry and APCs like an airborne [[M163 VADS|VADs]] firing on the move, with pretty strong chances of mass-bailing lightly armoured units to death.. With an AT value of 11, the Avenger Cannon is suitable for destroying cheap tanks like the T-55AM2 from the side; and is simply overkill for transports. Also, since the GAU-8 Avenger doesn't have the HEAT Special rule, BDD armor and Bazooka Skirts don't affect the armor value you are rolling against. Sadly, the mediocre 5+ FP also makes it a rather unreliable choice for killing, but a decent option to force bails. As an added bonus, its also anti-helicopter, so those Hinds the Soviets like to spam are suddenly looking a lot less secure.

For dealing with more robust things like Main battle tanks, the A-10 packs the Maverick missile. An AT 27(!) firepower 2+ tank buster, the Maverick is ridiculously good at tearing armoured vehicles a new one. Its also got the special rule ''Brutal'' which means successful unarmoured saves must be re-rolled (sweet). The other two rules, ''Guided'' and ''HEAT'' are great as shooting at targets with the Maverick basically ignoring the penalties for firing at long range, so you can snipe things from well outside AA range. However, there are some downsides, like the 8-inch dead zone, BDD armour affecting your rolls (wow, side armour 13 sure is tough!), and the fact that it cannot shoot infantry if they're not twiddling their thumbs in slit trenches (but then again, ''why'' would you use a Maverick on infantry?).

Speaking of infantry you also get a one-use Template in the form of the CBU-52 cluster bomb, though the range is even shorter than that of the Avenger. With a 6+ Firepower, this bomb will devastate infantry in the open but is next to worthless against entrenched infantry.

The A-10's legendary durability is reflected in-game as its 3+ aircraft save is the strongest of any strike aircraft.

You can buy a Squadron of 2 A-10s for your American army for 10 points, and a squadron of 4 for 20.

Any competitive player wondering why they haven't seen Warthogs being spammed in games despite it being "the best ground attack aircraft"? It is overcosted and has a very specific role: engaging armour with its missiles, or isolated support units like artillery. Much like the Leopard 2, units in Team Yankee become competitive on their cost efficiency and NOT being the 'best'. Your A-10 might be pretty, but a company of mechanized infantry will outperform it every time. While its 3+ save is undeniably its best trait, it cannot make its point cost back if your opponent can simply whittle your ground forces down. Ground-attack aircraft in Team Yankee are typically geared towards the anti-tank role, but the meta favours large infantry blobs, rendering the Frogfoot and A-10 virtually worthless for any form of serious play. Combined with the fact that Warthogs need to be called in on a 4+, and you get a unit which disappears half the time (or every single time you need it).

For the role of sniping or forcing AA to spread, Cobras are the superior choice due to the fact that you control when they engage, not the dice. You could purchase a flight of 4 Cobras for 14 points, with almost the same level of firepower. Should the enemy forget their anti-air or have it wiped, your Cobras' ROF 6 can actually make their points back, unlike the Warthog.

HOWEVER, the Warthog is a key part of an American air-cavalry list spamming helicopters. Used as the tip of the spear to pop enemy air-defence, their durability allows them to trade points for tempo, while your Cobras provide the killing power. Apart from that, it remains rather unusable until expensive tanks re-enter the meta (looking at you, T-80s and M1A1s).

==IRL==
[[File:A-10 irl.jpg|300px|right|thumb|BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRT]]
The A-10 was first developed by the US Air Force as a response the US Army's development of the AH 56 Cheyenne. The Army had come to the conclusion that nuclear-armed tactical aircraft aren't all that helpful in a conventional war and had begun to come up with its ground support airframes. The Air Force took one look at the Army's plan and immediately had visions of the Army dominating the close air support niche (and subsequent control of the air support budget), and that would just not do, no sir. When the A-10 was rolled out, the general consensus from the Army was, "This is just what we wanted! That wasn't so hard now was it?" The Air Force then grit its teeth and has since tried to get rid of the A-10 at every opportunity.

The Warthog has served in multiple conflicts, like the Gulf War, the Balkans Conflict, The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and most recently in the War on Terror. Originally, there was a plan to retire the A-10 by the year 2022 and replace it with the F-35. However, the defense committee in Congress eventually got tired of the USAF's hateboner for the A-10, and so put the kibosh on their attempts to retire it, effectively telling them to cut that shit out. They concluded that while the F-35 is nice enough (in theory) in the ground attack role and even though the GAU-8 is no longer quite the ultimate tank killer gun, there really isn't any substitute for the A-10 in many situations. So the A-10 is now slated to remain a part of the US Inventory "for the foreseeable future," alongside other mainstay platforms like the B-52 and F-15. Also, whenever the Air Force tries to retire it the Army casually mentions that it wants to buy and refit them and GEE GOLLY WE CAN'T HAVE THAT!

Ultimately, the reason that the A-10 exists in the first place is because it can loiter around the battlefield for a long time, it is resistant to return fire, can take off from and land on roughly-prepared air strips, and it also has the capability to accurately deliver a lot of ordnance. And while it's not particularly fast the A-10 is highly maneuverable. You can find videos of them training by flying through a forest, nailing targets. Not "flying ''over''", flying ''through the damn forest, '''dodging trees'''''. Not that it has to, though. The A-10 was designed to fly with one engine, one stabilizer, and half of one wing '''GONE'''. Not any one of those, ALL OF THOSE, at the same time. The engines are reversible, one side being mounted upside down. The hydraulic controls have mechanical backups. The landing gear stick out when retracted so it can belly flop. The cockpit is armored to resist 23 mm autocannon rounds [[ZSU 23-4 Shilka|(gee we wonder why)]]. It also hard counters enemy attack helicopters, being the airplane with the most chopper kills by a large margin.

The A-10 is the source of multiple [[memes]], whether it's the sound it makes (BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRT) or the fact that "it's not a plane with a gun strapped to it, it's a gun with a plane strapped to it." It is more than just a joke, though: the GAU-8 is so [[awesome]] a weapon that the A-10 frame had to be specifically designed around it. The engines are so far at the back to act as counterweight, the frontal landing wheel is slightly off-center as to allow the huge gun to be perfectly centre-line and the recoil must be taken into account by the pilot when the gun is fired. There is a lot of truth to 'it is not a plane with a big gun strapped to it, it's a big gun with a plane strapped to it'.

With re-winging complete, the A-10 will likely serve until the late 2030s. Although a number of different replacements have been proposed from time to time, none are in the pipeline. There were some plans to mod A-10s to be remote controlled/optionally piloted drones, but those programs appear to have been canned.

{{US Forces in Team Yankee}}
{{Iraqi Forces in Team Yankee}}

[[Category:Vehicles]]