I Read All The Warhammer 4 Kids Books (So you Don't have to) 

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Child deaths in children books are common because back in days so many early fatalities through diseases, those little children lose their best friends sometimes and it happens a lot. Look at children movies in 90's you can see the pattern. I think the purpose here is teach and comfort them in those situations in their early lives. But necron annihilator beam is an interesting choice to depict children diseases.

If they want to appeal for kids, they should lower prices first lol. 60 something USD for a box of 10 space marines is not something children or their parents will want to buy. And thats not including the paints.

Space Marine: Hi, Jimmy, your parents said "Hello" Jimmy: huh? Space Marine... Tosses Jimmy a large can of corpse starch.

you dont get it, obviously a group of kids would get mauled down by any of these threats, but you have to remember that THESE kids are named characters.

To be fair the child gang could more be something along the lines of a cluster of kids who join hands to survive in vents and stuff not exactly fighting in gang wars and shit

Just a note, but beastmen aren't Chaos mutants; they are sanctioned abhumans who descend from pre-unification humans who settled on hostile worlds and modified their DNA to better survive. There are plenty of Chaos aligned beastmen, though, as they are often shunned by the greater Imperium.

You're cool. I can see ganger kids existing. Their gang would have to be subserviant to the gang actually in charge of the area giving tithe and intel, all the while when they age out joining the main adult gang.

"soft as puppy toes" has now entered my lexicon.

"These books don't have dark themes" mfers when the theme is literally child soldiers lol.

Amity is a child. This inquisitor. A grown ass man, employed gainfully, as a a protector of the imperium. One of the most well trained, disciplined, and lethal agents you could come to find in the universe... Is rivals... with a *child.* This like, 10year old little girl has this inquisitor in full gaslight mode, desperately seething about her. Amity isn't even old enough to buy smokes yet, and this *TAX PAYER* has *ACTUAL* beef with her. That's the funniest shit ever dude. You're cool.

"For the Emperor!" - Kid scorching ants with a magnifying glass

8 year old me read the 2nd 3rd edition chaos codex almost every day, and I came out mildly ok.

A fourteen year old absolutely can handle the entirety of the setting. I first got into Warhammer when I was twelve or thirteen and enjoyed every part of it. Edit: I didn't plan on starting a war in the reply section, but here we are.

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="746">12:26</a> i mean when i was 10 i was into a series where serial killer killed 5 kids and the bodies were stufed into animatronic suits so i think this is fine

I dont think its too mature for children. Death is a part of life, and as long as it isnt needlessly gorey or gruesome I think its fine. Then again, I'm in my 40s and have fond memories of lawn darts.

Why did I watch a grown man talk about a children series for an hour and a half while I (also a grown man) painted little figurines. Pretty cool

You know…for a “kids series”, I never would’ve thought an Inquisitor would’ve devolved into a fucking mass of Nurgle stuff, effectively off screen. Really dark stuff.

honestly; knowing the Deathmarks statline... It makes sense that he's got problems with a bunch of kids

Dude, being a kid in 2019 and listening to David Tennant read a 40K book was amazing. I know these books aren’t really anything really special, but they are a fantastic way to introduce younger people to this amazing hobby

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="945">15:45</a> The Predator 2018 "Autism is the next stage of Human evolution!"

Why wouldn't a child gang fly on gang heavy worlds? Societies that have a lot of gangs have _always_ been swarmed with children either working for those gangs, or child gangs fully. Why? They could do things the adult gang members couldn't. They were worth their weight in crime, one could say.

"I don't wanna throw shade" continues to throw shade...

My thing is the 40k books already have a lot of child protagonists. One of the protagonists of the space sharks book is a 14 year old in a prison gang on a prison colony mine world. His entire gang extorts him until space sharks literally blow all the teenagers away in seconds. A lot of 40k space marine centered stories that highlight their backstories often have them as children going through horrific stuff. Talos and Xarl from the nightlords were committing armed robbery, murder and assault at 11 and 12. Even Ciaphas Cain was a child soldier sent on suicide missions.

So, I've been listening to this while farming relics on Warframe, and.... Gotta say, the Necron bit made me raise my eyes and turn to STARE at the screen about the Diadem. Like... That is some fucking Yuvan selection process with Kuva fuckery there in Plague of Nurglings. So Legitly speaking, you are pretty solid and cool in putting ya self through that rough chaos to read the books and learning the secret truths of how fucking DARK things can get.

Image someone doing one of these bad boys for an elementary school book report

Child to necron overlord: "um im literally neurodivergent and a minor" Necron overlord: "i think that insect is making its noises at me. Oh well"

I remember when I was 6 playing Dawn of war and seeing a Dreadnought Grab an ork and turn it into a bloody mist in the game. My dad being a space Wolf player. I was born into the hobby... I guess I have the final Fiddle though as I'm now a Battletech fanatic

I could see a deathmark being written like this. Deathmarks are one of the tiers of Necron that actually have a personality and of the two we have examples of, one (Twice Dead King) is a conniving murderer who will happily kill whoever it needs to get whatever it wants. The other (pariah nexus) was more of your traditional cold and methodical assassin. That one showed active annoyance at the job it was assigned because it was seen as beneath it. Even went so far as to actively choose not to shoot civilians because they both weren’t on his list or worth the effort. All in all a mixed bag but it certainly is possible for a Necron Deathmark to behave like you described. - A Necron player who stacks doomstalkers.

For the sake of accuracy, Cavan Scott IS a 40K author and has been so since about 2013. He even wrote “Flayed”. If you’re a Death Spectres fan, you probably hate that story because of the really dark reveal of how they keep their numbers up which would obviously smear any Chapter’s reputation. For those who are darkly curious: They kidnap girls and take them to breeding worlds where they will be r@ped for the rest of their lives to produce potential candidates for Astartes recruitment.

I was flashbanged by the words, "...Meki piloting a T'au Crisis Suit..."

I jumped into the Warhammer books in late middle school / early high school, and it was an incredibly smooth transition that didn't require any handholding because I started with the Ragnar Blackmane Space Wolf stories after reading through all of Redwall and Brian Jacques' literature. The similarities between the Bloodwrath (experienced by Martin, Matthias, and the Lords of Salamandastron) and the inner struggles of the Space Wolves made the concept of the Wulfen far easier for me to process than it may have been in other circumstances.

Hey Arthur, great video! I especially liked the coverage of the reception of the book series. It's impressive how you remained as objective and respectful (I wouldn't have XD) as you did. I wouldn't mind watching more videos like this since it's surprisingly rare to have obscure 40k books to be analyzed like this. I'm certain you can share some fascinating insight into otherwise unexplored aspects of the franchise.

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="445">7:25</a> ... not gonna lie, I didn't catch that that was a brace and not a full cybernetic.

A servo sprite is probably just built on the skull of a child.

Love the long form. Helps that we actually get the whole of the story and not just a very brief overview. I really appreciated all of your chapter videos that were put together in one lump. I got to just put that on and paint my Templars just enjoying how you tell stories. This one was great to listen to when I would drive myself into work in the morning. Just made a week of it. So thank you. I know they're probably harder to make, but they are great for me.

It would be cool if they'd make a series of books about a bunch of kids being turned into Space Marines with excruciating descriptions of trials and transformation process.

you're cool honestly I was always interested in knowing more about these books because I find the idea of making warhammer 40k's setting presentable to kids to be so fascinating.

My local Games Workshop is near a private school and the kids there are a massive part of the customer base. Their parents will buy them Baneblades like it’s nothing.

with all due respect mr bones if you think horrific violence is unusual for kids books i assume you didnt read many books as a kid

Little Jimmy works 16 hour shifts in the ammunition manufactorum polishing bolter casings, and little Susie works 12 hour shifts in the promethium processing facility cleaning fuel tanks. How much more does the God Emperor love Jimmy, than Susie ?

As a dad and uncle, I'm really glad you made this video. My daughter likes painting with me and I've bought my nephew the young adventurers dnd books, I wouldn't really want to buy these 40k children's books myself but after listening to this, I may buy them and Read them before deciding if what age they may be good for my kid

Warhammer children’s books is like taking the diary of ann franke and turning it into a doc mcstuffins sideplot.

Honestly, i think it's just jarring seeing children in the 40k setting. I'm pretty sure just having a kid in M42 is de facto child abuse. Kids eat that dark shit up, though, i remember being in elementary school and reading Deltora Quest and Animorphs and shit and being like YEAH I LOVE MURDER AND DEATH Wait i'm sorry the scumbag gets eaten by a what P.S. You're cool

a lone deathmark would struggle too take out a full squad of guardsmen unless it had a massive positional advantage actually... Too be fair though if the perfect position exists that deathmark is in it.

I like you think there would be no violent child clans of vicious gangers who are monsters in children form in Necromunda when the reality is they would be far *more* prevalent. Whatever pleasant thought that made you think that wasn't possible can be ejected now because people suck more than you think.

Children cant handle grimdark *my second grade ass being read Animorphs*

9-12 is pretty inline lol I was reading books about vampires having wars of genocide against each other and world war 1 alt fiction that had chimera abominations fighting mechs around these ages and i got those books from the school library (cirque du freak and the Leviathan trilogy for those wondering) both books had very graphic deaths like the main character gets his neck snapped in the first cirque book so they can fake his death to his family and he discusses the potential of the doctor doing an autopsy on his body 😅

Is it concerning that I could tell it was a picture of Mephiston just from seeing the plasma pistol and hos hand? <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="95">1:35</a>

Im not one to take issue of any kind with portioning off a slice of a franchise to be made accessible to children But I find the idea of warhammer for children just absurd not necessarily in a "thats bad dont do that" kind of way but more like a "okay but why though" way

You're cool, Arthur Bones. Thanks for reading these things so I don't have to.

40k goonies in action

You’re cool for doing a review of this series. It was an interesting experiment to try and find a way to get kids into warhammer. It just feels unfocused and like they didn’t have faith in it as a project so it got cut short and abandoned.

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="1649">27:29</a> when in doubt, HEAVY FLAMER!

I honestly enjoyed this video! Would love to see more longer videos from you, as long as you still have fun with it, so will we!

I know WH40k is a very mature setting but books set in the universe where the setting is toned down don't seem to be so bad. Not every waking moment in WH40k is hell.

You know there was this fan comic someone drew that traced this kid who impresses some space marines by taking a shot at them on a planet they're suppressing, becomes a squire, and eventually goes through novice trials and ascension. That'd be a good basis for a kids/YA 40k novel, right? The terror of life on an imperial world at war, the dizzying revelations of leaving your world and seeing the cosmos, the cosmic horror of xenos and chaos, the agony and glory of becoming a space marine, the transformation of your psyche and body as you literally become someone else (puberty allegory?) and ultimately entering the headspace of the Emperor's warrior monks, with bits of who you used to be floating to the surface here and there as you see people and things that remind you of your past.

I feel like people forget how dark 9-12 books cam get, look at percy jackson, the warriors series and bridge to teribetha

Regarding how a Rogue trader could lose their warrant, It's very possible it just depends a lot, not all warrants are total blank cheques that let you do anything you want, a lot have caveats and rules regarding what areas of space your allowed to travel, what races your allowed to deal with etc. A lot of them are also conditional in that they require a certain tithe, "you can do whatever you want as long as the ad mech get a supply of X every 50 standard terran years" or something like that.

"And she's a Rogue Trader" I knew it.

According to the gang wars series, and various other Necromunda related material I've read, the underhive gangs oftentimes recruited very young outcaste children. There are also the cannon Brat Gangs. Sources --- Necromunda: Gangs of the Underhive + White Dwarf + The Citadel

Dude your timing is PERFECT, I was literally just looking at getting these for my daughter last night

If you don't pay ya taxes then you can get your trade warrant can get taken

A long form video?? THANK YOU MR. BONES!! You're so, so cool.

You're cool! Interesting video, I've been considering adding some of the Warhammer books to my "to-read" list since I've spent so long being a tourist with lore videos and whatnot. I'll probably go with Gotrek and Felix first, but might also add these.

I can't believe you spent a full hour and a half on a video for the Warhammer kids books and that I also stayed through and watched the whole thing. I guess we're both cool.

you're cool Mr. Bones... NOW LET ME OFF YOUR WILD RIDE

I'm assuming that Skitarius is a play on the Latin word Scutarius. Scutarius comes from the word "scutum" which means shield, so a Scutarius is a "person who fights using a shield." "Scire" is Latin for "to know," so a "Scitarius" would be "person who fights using knowledge." I'm assuming they just changed the C to a K to be cool. But yeah, if it's based off of Latin, "Skitarii" would be changed to "Skitarius" to make it singular. Also, you wouldn't pronounce Skitarii "ski-tar-ee," you'd pronounce it "ski-tar-ee-eye." Anyway, you're a dork! Which is why I'm subbed.

Well this does interest me slightly because I don't think that I've ever heard anyone talk about this in any substantial way. It's kinda of wacky that all of that happened within the books and it's a bit darker than one would expect, If I ever do the time maybe I'll check them out. Anyway your cool, see ya next video.

YOU'RE COOOOOL! ;) Thanks for doing these... I was curious about them and you've saved my sanity with what little free reading time I have.

I think something that helps the books be less dark for kids is that when the book sort of glosses over the grimdark stuff, us as adults know what is actually going on between the lines when kids might not notice it. Stills seems on the dark side but not much more than some other kids books like Goosebumps.

You're cool. The kids seem to have no more armor than any main character in a book who is a guardsman.

Necromunda gangs used to have members called “youths”. They’re usually early teenagers to mid twenties.

An hour and a half of pure unadulterated cringe? Not even we are that inhuman. And we bomb planets! Jokes aside, love the longer form content. Makes for great study bgm

I'm cool. You're cool. This was actually my first video on your channel, the algorithm recommended it and I was very curious about the subject matter since I remember when they were released and the backlash that popped up online. It's nice to get a summary that gave a fair run down!

I refuse to acknowlege the existence of these books

Longform content? In this day and age? Don't mind if I do.

Know what's really funny about these books? In secrets of the tau, they show that Kroot can live on Imperial words(which is true to canon, its just very rare), and they use this to push the narrative that the Imperium are the good guys and that immigration isn't always a good thing.

There’s some WEIRD deep cuts in these books I wasn’t expecting

who has hope that the main characters will meet a night lord or a emperor children?

Soul transference is a theme in 40k, with an inquisitor looking for a way to transfer the Emperors soul to a new host.

1. Love the longer format 🦾, cheers mate! 2. Thank you(!) for covering these. 3. Enjoy the choice of background music and sound edit, makes listening in headphones quite nice THANK YOU

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="940">15:40</a> It's explained in the show that the Autobots taught Raf their code and language

You're cool. I skipped these for the secondhand opinions you gave. Thanks for doing this!

Honestly, never gave the books a chance bc by their character intros, all the kids felt like one step away from falling into heresy, and the 'oh I'm so quirky' style of slop that was being published at the time, and I just forgot about them entirely until I saw this video.

You're Cool! Listened to this while painted and loved it more than I thought I would!

I listened to the 40k and AoS kids (6 and 8) books on a few road trips with my kids. They friggin loved em. In the back of my head I was nit picking all the stuff I didn't like about it, but I knew going in I wasn't the target audience. Both series were waaaay more grim dark than I expected, but the story is far less dense than a normal 40k book. They're just easier for a kid to follow. I do agree that 12 or 14 year old kids can dive straight into 40k books. Folks that age don't need something like this. I think they should have actually toned the grim dark down a bit and marketed the books to younger kids. Now, I know that they don't have money to spend on games workshops stuff, but I do. I get my kids loads of GW stuff. They friggin love it. We also buy a load of minis. You better believe that my kids both wanted to paint a death mark after hearing the first book. We ended up picking up an orc start collecting box and the orc kill team because of my kids wanting to paint em from the book. There are a lot of aspects of 40k that just aren't kid friendly. I like the idea of being able to ease kids into the grim dark. Heck, I honestly wouldn't mind some of the grim dark tones down and the old silliness turned back up a bit....

Ah man, we never got to the kids meeting the Night Lords and having a lesson in being a hero from Talos.

Its very interesting to see Mr.Boneman talk about kids getting into 40k. I read my first book 40k book in that rough age group that these books are for, that 9 to 12 age group. Iron Snakes, fantastic book. I also got my first model during that time as well, so its not as far fetched as people would think for kids to get into 40k, though they may not fully grasp the grimdark aspects of it

I remember not caring when this came out, but I think if the lore is not altered to fit a child audience I think this would be an interesting way to get my future kids involved in my hobby

You're cool man, thanks for giving this series a genuine shake

Come to think of it, I was 9-10 when I got into warhammer fantasy, being introduced via a friend's Hordes of Chaos army book and then collecting Vampire Counts and all their creepy undead stuff. Was also looking at 40k stuff. So the age range is pretty spot on. I think think the cartoon artwork and child characters are what caused the knee-jerk reaction.

You're cool. Thanks for covering this when most people wouldn't give it a second glance.

Undoing the transference also involves making new Necrons. Not just hijacking humanity.

If I would've spotted these when I was young I would've been so hyped, I didn't even know 40k was anything other than Dawn of War until I was like 14

Regarding the mekkie reveal: I'm pretty sure that route was taken because as soon as the art for him was shown in book 1 and his bio given, pretty much everyone I heard talk about it said "wouldn't that make him a heritek?"

I feel like these books could also be used for dads to give their kids an early and easy introduction to 40k in a way that will be actually fun. Easing into the lore even for an adult is hard.

Actually with a bit more polish and a slightly slower pace. These sound like a lot of fun and could be a great way to introduce people into 40k. A childs perspective is also something we don't normally see in this hell setting so it's a cool way to go.

these books are one of the most mindboggeling things games workshop gave the greenlight to

You underestimate how dark children's content can be. And around the age of 10 they can definitely handle a bit of shade.