The idea behind Black Library’s series of Space Marine Battles novels and audios is that they showcase some of the most famous actions featuring the Imperium’s finest, but while Space Marines are fundamentally cool, there’s often a risk of these stories being a little…well, a little silly. Step forward Mortarion’s Heart, the story of a single Grey Knight battling a daemon primarch and (SPOILERS) emerging victorious. It’s all well and good having things like this as colour text for a codex, but as a full story there’s a definite whiff of the preposterous. So how does LJ Goulding do as he tackles this particular tale?
Category Archives: Audio
Iron Corpses – David Annandale (audio drama)
In conjunction with The Eagle’s Talon by John French, David Annandale’s Iron Corpses continues the tale of the Battle of Tallarn in audio format, either as an MP3 or as part of the upcoming joint audio CD. This follows on directly from The Eagle’s Talon, as a lone Iron Warrior strikes out through the blasted devastation created when the troop transport hit the surface of Tallarn. Having survived through sheer chance, Warsmith Koparnos knows he is slowly dying on the virus- and radiation-scarred surface, but sees an opportunity for both survival and vengeance in the shape of an intact Titan.
The Eagle’s Talon – John French (audio drama)
In a brave move that will gain approval and derision in equal measures from different elements of their fanbase, Black Library have decided to tell the events of the Battle of Tallarn across not just multiple releases but multiple formats. Having told the main body of the story in his novellas Tallarn : Executioner and Tallarn : Ironclad, John French has also contributed an audio drama in the shape of The Eagle’s Talon, available as a standalone MP3 or soon to be packaged with David Annandale’s Iron Corpses on audio CD. Told largely via found footage-esque snippets of vox transmissions, it follows a handful of Imperial Fists legionaries attempting to take control of a vast traitor transport vessel.
QUICK REVIEW – Garro : Ashes of Fealty – James Swallow
Released to tie in with an upcoming box set collecting together all of the Garro audio dramas so far, Garro : Ashes of Fealty is a brand new 18-minute short audio that re-introduces an old character from Garro’s past. Set at an unspecified point in the overall story arc, it shows a bitter, unhappy reunion with his old comrade Meric Voyen, the apothecary last seen in Flight of the Eisenstein having chosen to dedicate his life to finding a ‘cure’ for the terrible affliction that blighted his Death Guard brothers.
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Garro : Shield of Lies – James Swallow
Since first appearing in Galaxy In Flames Nathaniel Garro has become something of a fan favourite, as well as the poster boy for the ever-growing range of Horus Heresy audio dramas. James Swallow’s latest contribution to the Heresy series, Shield of Lies is the fifth audio to feature Garro and finds the first of Malcador’s Knights Errant on the orbital plate of Riga, in pursuit of an Administratum scribe who has stumbled across a deadly secret. A small cog within the vast Departmento Munitorum, Katanoh Tallory has paid a heavy price for her hard work and now finds herself caught between the menacing inhumanity of Riga’s mechanical guardians and the uncertain mercy of Garro.
QUICK REVIEW : The Watcher – CZ Dunn
On the twenty-fourth day of Christmas, Black Library gave to us…a Horus Heresy audio drama by CZ Dunn. The final advent short, The Watcher sees one of Malcador’s Knights Errant receive a message in the form of a broken and bloodied Space Wolf. Using his psychic abilities the Knight watches through the eyes of the Wolf as he recalls his Sigillite-ordered mission to ‘observe’ the Night Lords, and the events that led up to his appalling wounding.
QUICK REVIEW : Loss – Joe Parrino
On the twenty-first day of Christmas, Black Library gave to us…a Raven Guard audio drama by Joe Parrino. Loss, a fifteen-minute audio, sees a squad of young Raven Guard scouts battling against dark eldar, ambushed from out of the shadows in a reversal to the usual order of things. As the inexperienced scouts pit their strength against the xenos they find their preconceptions of superiority and invincibility sorely tested.
QUICK REVIEW : Holder of the Keys – Gav Thorpe
On the nineteenth day of Christmas, Black Library gave to us…a Dark Angels audio drama by Gav Thorpe. Another twenty-minute audio, Holder of the Keys sees an unnamed member of the Fallen offering his recollection of events that took place on and around Caliban 10,000 years previously, as he suffers under psychic interrogation by the titular Holder of the Keys. His confession, drawn out of him under duress, paints a very different picture of events to those held to be true by the Dark Angels Inner Circle.
QUICK REVIEW : Herald of Sanguinius – Andy Smillie
On the eighteenth day of Christmas, Black Library gave to us…a Horus Heresy audio drama by Andy Smillie. Set amidst the turmoil of the newly-founded Imperium Secundus, Herald of Sanguinius sees Commander Azkaellon making some difficult decisions regarding the safety of his primarch, the new Emperor Sanguinius. Tensions are running high amongst the gathered Space Marines, and the future of Imperium Secundus weighs heavily upon both Sanguinius and his sons.
QUICK REVIEW : Brethren – Phil Kelly
On the twelfth day of Christmas, Black Library gave to us…a Space Marine Battles audio short by Phil Kelly. Brethren looks back to an early conflict between the Imperium and the Tau Empire and offers a comparison of sorts between the two. As the Ultramarines descend upon the world of Vespertine and battle the tau, sergeants Numitor and Sicarius lead their assault squads in vicious close-quarters fighting against the disciplined and technologically advanced xenos.