Review: Hammer and Bolter “Fangs”

It’s been a long time coming, but Warhammer’s animated anthology series is back with more episodes that’ll pleasure your warrior-like senses. It’s pretty surprising that we had to wait this long for more episodes to come out compared to the Angels of Death’s episodic releases. As someone who doesn’t play the games, I thought the first three episodes of Hammer and Bolter were diverting enough to get me into the massive franchise. Now that one of the next three storylines is out, is it able to continue the show’s momentum?

Its fourth episode is titled “Fangs”. It centers on three famed warriors of the Space Wolves who gather for a game in their fortress, the Fang. Their game takes place in the frozen wilds. Their champions will have to battle both the elements and a bunch of terrifying beasts to deliver the fangs and earn their place amongst the Space Wolves.  

This episode is basically survival of the fittest with a dash of The Hunger Games thrown in there. One champion fights a massive bat in the forest. The second champion battles a wolf in the frozen wasteland. Finally, the third champion confronts a monstrous polar bear in an ice cave. While it did offer some entertaining moments, they weren’t enough to make this story stand out above the previous three episodes. It’s just 17 minutes of people talking and seeing their champions fight off unique beasts in different areas and nothing more.

The only problem that bothered me since the show began was that it expected me to understand the lore to grow more attached to the episodes. Since I hadn’t played the games, I had a hard time caring for the characters and what would happen to them. “Fangs” is no exception as it puts three different champions against three monsters without a hint of urgency and depth in their confrontations. Whenever the two champions get injured or killed, I was like, “meh, whatever”.

On the plus side, the animation for this episode still looked good regarding its stylistic sequences and settings. It’s like something you would see out of a graphic novel, except in motion. However, there were a few times where the characters’ mouth movements still looked a bit stiff. Other than that, its visual style remains the only reason this anthology series is worth watching.

Overall, the “Fangs” episode starts the show’s next three episodes on a middling note. While I enjoyed its animation style, the story and characters lacked the substantial impact it needed to deliver a thrilling game of survival and wits. Here’s hoping that the following two storylines would provide something more enjoyable for me to endure.