Tag Archives: Imperial Guard

QUICK REVIEW: Savage – Guy Haley

Available in either Warriors and Warlords or the Black Library Events Anthology 2018/19, Guy Haley’s Imperial Guard short story Savage provides a quiet, thoughtful accompaniment to his novel Shadowsword. Alongside the rest of the Paragonian Seventh, the crew of the Cortein’s Honour are at rest, whiling away their time under the baking Omdurman sun. When whispers of redeployment begin circulating, Senior Loader Gollph is drawn into an illicit scheme which relies on the prejudicial views many of the Paragonians hold about his people, the Bosvodar, who hail from a feral world and are considered slow and primitive by many.

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QUICK REVIEW: The Jagged Edge – Maria Haskins

For her debut Black Library story Maria Haskins tackles a tale of desperation, sacrifice and familial bonds within the Imperial Guard in The Jagged Edge. Sergeant Aurelia Shale and her squad of Keplerian Scrappers are sent on a dangerous mission to infiltrate and destroy an enemy-held manufactorum, approaching through tunnels in the mountains of Kepler-Gamma. Accompanying them is Commissar Theodora Shale, Aurelia’s sister – in the darkness beneath the Jagged Edge, Aurelia must contend with not just the heretic cultists of the enemy but her painful memories of a once-close sibling who abandoned her long ago and never really returned.

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The Sabbat Worlds Crusade – Dan Abnett

A richly detailed and beautifully produced 220-page hardback, Dan Abnett’s The Sabbat Worlds Crusade makes for a fantastic companion to his epic, 15-novel Gaunt’s Ghosts series. Written from an in-universe perspective as a historical account of the Sabbat Crusade from its outset up to the liberation of Urdesh, it covers everything from the macro-level – the original context of the crusade, and Warmaster Slaydo’s (and later, Macaroth’s) overarching strategies – down to the micro-level – individual character portraits, vignettes, even vehicles, wargear and regimental awards. With gorgeous maps, graphics and artwork complementing the meticulous text, every page highlights new details and serves to expand both the setting and the series as a whole.

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QUICK REVIEW: Green and Grey – Edoardo Albert

Edoardo Albert’s Imperial Guard short story Green and Grey is an emotional gut-punch of a war story, a tale of a young tanker on his first mission which has gone horribly wrong. Waking to darkness and pain, Lucius Stilo finds himself trapped alone inside the Leman Russ Sancta Fide, the rest of the crew dead and a greenskin horde pressing ever closer in. As he waits for help to arrive, the distant voice of his commanding officer calls for him to remember his training and keep the orks at bay, and to do his duty despite the risks.

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Iron Resolve – Steve Lyons

Steve Lyons’ Imperial Guard novella Iron Resolve is a gripping tale of duty and bravery as the proud, disciplined Mordian Iron Guard battle feral orks on the forest world of Kallash. Young trooper Lucius Myer, fighting in his first campaign since leaving Mordian, arrives wounded at an understaffed, overworked command post turned medical facility believing it offers safety away from the horrors of war, only to find himself defending it against endless waves of ferocious xenos. As the Mordians mount a hasty but fierce defence, Myer has to face his fears after all if he has any hope of surviving.

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RAPID FIRE: Gav Thorpe Talks Armageddon Saint

Welcome to this instalment of Rapid Fire, my ongoing series of quick interviews with authors talking about their new releases. These are short and sweet interviews, with the idea being that each author will answer (more or less) the same questions – by the end of each interview I hope you will have a good idea of what the new book (or audio drama) is about, what inspired it and why you might want to read or listen to it.

In this instalment I spoke to Black Library author Gav Thorpe about his new 40k novel Armageddon Saint, the first new Last Chancers novel for over fifteen years! The physical edition isn’t due out until March, but the ebook is available as a ‘digital premiere’ as part of the 2019 Advent Calendar series. Whether you’re excited about a new Last Chancers story or wondering what all the fuss is about, read on to find out more!

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QUICK REVIEW: A Firstborn Exile – Filip Wiltgren

Filip Wiltgren’s second Black Library story, A Firstborn Exile is a direct sequel to The Firstborn Daughter and sees Lieutenant Ekaterina Idra of the 86th Firstborn continuing to battle against not just the Tovogan rebels but the ingrained prejudices of her own people. Joining up with more Vostroyans under the command of a famously rigid Colonel with rather different values to her own, Idra and her men are soon caught up in brutal city fighting against a dug-in enemy. Before long, any bureaucratic differences of opinion are outweighed by the need to survive against overwhelming odds.

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QUICK REVIEW: The Strong Among Us – Steve Lyons

Steve Lyons is one of the few Black Library authors to have tackled the Death Korps of Krieg, and he continues his exploration with the typically bleak short story The Strong Among Us. Blackfire Forge has fallen to Chaos, and been besieged by the implacable Death Korps. Ex-forge worker Jarrah mans an Earthshaker cannon on the ramparts, not in service of the invading cultists but simply as a means to stay alive. As the siege drags on and he does what he must to survive, he’s forced to consider whether the Death Korps are really the face of Imperial salvation.

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QUICK REVIEW: The Weight of Silver – Steven B. Fischer

This story is currently only available within Inferno! Volume 3.

His second Black Library short story after debuting with The Emperor’s Wrath, Steven B. Fischer’s The Weight of Silver is another Imperial Guard story, this time featuring a young Cadian officer wrestling with questions of confidence and authority. The Cadian 900th are newly arrived on an embattled Imperial world, and newly-promoted Lieutenant Glavia Aerand faces dissent within the ranks of her platoon as well as the dangers posed by the enemy. After her first mission ends in disgrace she questions her abilities and the merit of her rank, and she’ll have to dig deep if she’s to survive and thrive.

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QUICK REVIEW: Redemption Through Sacrifice – Justin Woolley

Established sci-fi author Justin Woolley makes his Black Library debut with Redemption Through Sacrifice, a Warhammer 40,000 short story featuring penal legionnaires, filthy heretics and the Inquisition. Ex-sergeant Marcus van Veenan, late of the Talissian 51st, joins thousands of other under-equipped cannon fodder – members of the Second Rapture Penal Legion, the ‘Meat Dogs’ – on Vandicius, tasked with shoring up the Imperial defences against a rampaging heretical cult. The disciplined days of his past in the Imperial Guard are gone, replaced by the chance to earn the Emperor’s forgiveness with his death, but van Veenan’s usefulness to the Imperium isn’t over yet.

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