By Ed Fortune
Iron Within is the latest animated short story produced for Games Workshop’s bespoke lifestyle subscription service, Warhammer+. Set in the world of Warhammer 40,000, it’s the tale of a beleaguered Imperial world being harassed by sinister aliens.
The story itself is pretty simple fare. A distant, grim and dark world is under attack by the Drukhari, evil space elves for whom the point of war is to spread as much misery and suffering as possible in order to nourish their rapidly rotting souls. Plucky human beings, equipped with crude but effective las-guns and armour, do their best to defend themselves, but they can only do so much against a constant onslaught of weird alien weapons and beings.
Their best option is to send a signal into the cosmos for help, and this being the Grim Dark world of Warhammer 40,000, rather than using a radio, sending messages requires some sort of weird wizard-priest. Help comes, but this is Warhammer; salvation is never what you expect.
This project started out as a fan effort and was later folded into Games Workshop’s in-house Warhammer StoryForge. The quality of the animation is strong, going for a 3D digital approach that emphasises the aesthetic of the Warhammer universe. It lacks the stylistic greyness of other Warhammer+ offerings such as Angels of Death, but makes up for this with an attention to detail usually found on the Warhammer models.
The voice-acting is okay. It would be nice to see Games Workshop create a regular roster of recognisable talent with these things, but the acting is strong enough.
Overall, a fun addition to a growing body of work and an excellent (if short) primer for this setting.
