It’s been a hot minute or two (or three, or … hundred) since Warhammer TV delivered an animation to our doorstep. Sure, there’s been a few here and there, but as our friend GreedyRaven quipped, “Warhammer+ has delivered minutes of content over the years!” I hesitate to even call the latest animation, Broken Lance, anticipated so much as welcomed. Let’s dive in.
The Knight houses of WH40k are of endless fascination to me. They occupy such a strange place within WH40k lore; part of the Imperium, but governed by their own rules, they are Arthurian creatures in a sci-fi universe. The intro for Broken Lance details the illustrious history of House Corvec, before diving straight into a fight to the death against the forces of Nurgle. It’s sleek, loyalist Knights vs. gnarly, bloated beasts. But oddly, that’s not the main focus of the series.
As would be expected in a Knight house, all is not well politically. The queen of the house is not well mentally, and she has acerbic feedback for her disappointing sons. It’s not until her outcast niece, daughter of the previous king, enters the room that we learn more about the truth of House Corvec’s history. As is common in the WH40k universe, legend is not entirely accurate, and Nurgle’s presence on the planet is not only not a surprise, it’s intrinsically linked to the illustrious Knights.
It’s a tricky feat to begin a tale at the end. The writer has to almost instantly connect the players to the audience, and establish stakes. In a short story, it’s even harder to pull of this connection. I’m sorry to say that Broken Lance doesn’t pull off the trick for me.
As the Knight queen lays bare her family’s curse, her past deeds, and her plans for her niece, it’s not readily apparent why we should care. The opening history lesson was not entirely truthful, which doesn’t come as a big shock to those well-versed in WH40k. Oh, a ruling house has secret chaos debts and ties? Again? The queen’s desire to see her house fall to a final ruin doesn’t have the emotional gut punch that it probably should.
Additionally, our protagonist is introduced with lots of exposition explaining her outcast status, but again, the gravitas of this doesn’t quite reach through the screen. As she takes matters into her own hands to push back the tide of Chaos, it’s unclear why this legacy of treachery was even necessary. The story might have been stronger without the the baggage of duplicity.
It’s an odd complaint that in a story about Knights, the Knights don’t feel as large of a presence as the human politics. When we do see the Knights, they’re beautiful. The Imperial Knights are beautiful, regal machines that march with an air of nobility. The Chaos Knights are a beautiful corrupted counterpart. They’re bloated and horned where the Imperials are sleek and painted. When the Knights clash, the visual conflict between flails, tusks, and tentacles is fantastic vs. chain swords, guns, and good old fashioned weaponry.
The problem is we just don’t get to see enough of them. There are some good shots of the ground troops of Nurgle attempting to overwhelm the Imperial Knights. Additionally the final clash between father and daughter is lovely, if not too short. Much like the Michael Bay Transformers movies, this story needed to focus more on its giant mechs, and less on its human drama.
Broken Lance is merely OK in terms of content. If it wanted to be a big political drama with gravitas and an emotional heft, it needed to be longer. This is the type of story that would have suited itself well to a multi-episode entry. But as a short story, it needed more action and less dialog. Or it needed to drop the massive historic revelations.
Speaking frankly, Warhammer+ has really struggled in the content area. This means that expectations for content quality are heightened when they do release. Broken Lance just doesn’t have the heft to justify the months-long drought between animation releases.
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