[Good Minton]

40 notes? They are taking the piss surely....

 

[Words_of_Truth]

Can't order it server can't handle it.

 

[Brother Lucian]

Color me suprised, the BL website is tanking baaad for this one.

 

[Brother Subtle]

$90 AUD? Ummm... No thanks.

 

[forkmaster]

Limited ed Novellas are one thing. Now Limited Ed novels. I dont like where this is heading...

Me neither! My theory is that it was supposed to be just one novel in the beginning, then BL wanted to split it into 3 novellas. Then BL put the last remaining 2 into one and called (two 3rds of) a novel.

 

[Scrad]

$90 AUD? Ummm... No thanks.

Doesn't help that the AUD is just getting worse too

 

[Brother Subtle]

Wouldn't have mattered. BL use their own crazy exchange rate instead of the real exchange rate. $90AUD when at $1.10USD and $90AUD when at $0.72USD. Seems legit...

 

[forkmaster]

Seems like according to BL that there is still 500 copies left.

 

[ckcrawford]

Any get theirs? Is it good? I hope it is. I mean, I really help this new book proves me wrong. I would pay double the price on eBay to get it if they finally started writing something worth that price.

 

[Words_of_Truth]

I got mine and finished it, writing a summary now but will take time as it jumps around a lot.

Here's what I got so far.

The story starts with an Imperial Army Malcador Assault tank commanded by Silas Kord who is the main Imperial figure in the book. He's part of a third attack on the Sightless Warren, which is a series of underground complexes that lie beneath the ruins of the Sapphire City. The attack does not go well and the Iron Warriors are waiting for them. The perspective shifts to Hrend, an Iron Warriors Contemptor Dreadnought whose the commander of an armoured assault company, he continually dreams about his death on Istvaan V. The company he commands is made up of two other dreadnoughts, a Sicaran, some predators and venators. This is the image from the front cover, he destroys a tank and uses hunter kills on his carapace to take out the turret of a White Scars predator.

A stormbird enters the Tallarn system it's carrying Argonis, the Emissary of the Warmaster, a Dark Mechanicum agent and what appears to be a bonded astropath with a metal helmet locked to his head. He approaches the fleet and is targetted instead of standing his weapons down he takes evasive manoeuvres, he's an expert pilot, he transmits his clearance and demands to see Perturabo.

Next we see a Vanus assassin whose in the loyalist complex, she's hunting alpha legion operatives, she uses mini fly cameras to scour the place but then she realises something is up as she drops from her hiding place, she lands and in front of her are three Alpha Legion operatives. It cuts back to Argonis whose in front of Perturabo demanding to know what the Iron Warriors are doing here, he basically says he's just trying to secure a major route to Terra, after leaving he talks with the Dark Mechanicum agent and says he's not happy with the explanation and it's time to contact the Alpha Legion asset. It flips back to the assassin who uses her extreme information processing abilities to dodge shots from the volkite chargers the kill team is using. She then leaps back up to her hiding place in the grate and drops an smooth egg like xenos device which turns out to be a razor filament type grenade which turns the kill team into a mess, she drops back and takes their communication devices so she can hack the alpha legion network, she then legs it.

We return to Kord whose now back in base having survived the battle which was a failure in regards to breaking the Iron Warriors line, they'd tried it twice before and it was always the same outcome. Kord believes there's more to the war on Tallarn, he has a map and all types of data where "ghost" patrols have been spotted and lost, he thinks there's more going on and a colleague whose he's known for ages but wasn't particularly friendly with keeps telling him to forget it, Kord is committed to the idea though and won't let it lie.

Hrend is back in the base and was put back to sleep, until he's awoken and told the Primarch wishes to see him. Argonis is talking to his dark mech agent and she tells him the alpha legion operative has made contact. the Vanus assassin is busy with breaking the alpha legion network and succeeds and she hears them say the emissary has arrived which causes her to get moving as she sees a chance to exploit. Kord is out on patrol and his scout spots one of these ghost patrols he's been obsessed with, he decides to follow them. Hrend meets with Perturabo who gives him a mission of great importance. Argonis meets with the alpha legion operative called Jalen whose some sort of psyker, he confirms something else is going on and that he should head for the surface to find out.

The Vanus assassin kills a female tank crewmen and assumes her identity so she can take her place in a tank where she then manipulates the auspex to steer the tank away from the patrol group she's with and then kills the crew, she stops the tank near the Iron Warriors Sightless Warren with the hopes they will come and get the tank and she can infiltrate the complex.

Kords patrol is disrupts as a group of aircraft make a drop on Tallarn directly above them, they cut engines but nothing comes of the aircraft they pass by. The scout tells them the patrol they are following is moving off and they either follow now or give up and return to base, there's some decent and Kord is torn by the decision, he decides to let anyone who doesn't want to come to head back to base and those who will get rdy to move, all but one follow him with a single executioner deciding to return to base.

Hrend and his company are the exit of the Sightless Warren Complex, he questions Jardak the commander of the sicaran on what it means to be Iron, it seems his conversation with Perturabo was pretty deep. Argonis was part of the aircraft drop that Kord detected, they decided not to attack Kord's convoy so they could remain "undetected" by things that could actually hurt them. The vanus assassin is in the tank and she begins going over a series of questions her mentor would pose to her as it helps her to maintain her focus, she comes to the conclusion she's being a little to wild and it will end with her making a mistake.

Kord's company has lost contact with the patrol they were shadowing, but they come upon a stuck vanquisher with a single survivor in it (I thought it was going to be the assassin at this point but it was a swerve) the guy says he was cut off from his unit a couple of days ago when a iron warriors patrol hit them, he says if he could have a shunt then he could get moving again, they call up a tank with a bull dozer blade and are about to move him when Kord sees something, a figure of some sort and realises something and asks when the tanks air ran out, then all of a sudden the bulldozer tank blows up and a force of renegade mechanicum attack the company with darkfire weapon, then a battle magos rises out of the sand with a black disc on front of it that powers up and just owns tanks, it takes a direct hit from the Malcadors demolisher cannon and keeps coming, it destroys a tank near the malcador and is beginning to charge to take out the tank when a lascannon beam strikes the black dics and it cracks, Kord's tank delivers the killing blow with another shot which takes out the commander and all the remaining mechanicum units stop dead. Kord passes out from the effects of being hit by the darkfire weapons previously.

Hrend is leading his company, which also includes a spartan carrying a navigator, and a big drill. He recalls part of his conversation with perturabo when perturabo asks him what is the purpose of being Iron is and how what it used to mean is no more as the galaxy they fight in now is a lie. The navigator speaks to him through his mind, he tells hrend he sees him and he is sorry. Argonis reaches the Sightless Warren and meets with the commander whose an old "friend" he asks him whats going on and he says the same as Perturabo and knows as much as he does.

The Vanus assassin has successful infiltrated the Sightless Warren although she say admires the security of it and compares it to a brief incursion onto the Phalanx she once made, it's a problem for her to get around and they were slowing her progress. She had located the Emissary and had her net flies follow him, analysing him and his retinue.

 

[forkmaster]

I got mine and finished it, writing a summary now but will take time as it jumps around a lot.

Here's what I got so far.

The story starts with an Imperial Army Malcador Assault tank commanded by Silas Kord who is the main Imperial figure in the book. He's part of a third attack on the Sightless Warren, which is a series of underground complexes that lie beneath the ruins of the Sapphire City. The attack does not go well and the Iron Warriors are waiting for them. The perspective shifts to Hrend, an Iron Warriors Contemptor Dreadnought whose the commander of an armoured assault company, he continually dreams about his death on Istvaan V. The company he commands is made up of two other dreadnoughts, a Sicaran, some predators and venators. This is the image from the front cover, he destroys a tank and uses hunter kills on his carapace to take out the turret of a White Scars predator.

A stormbird enters the Tallarn system it's carrying Argonis, the Emissary of the Warmaster, a Dark Mechanicum agent and what appears to be a bonded astropath with a metal helmet locked to his head. He approaches the fleet and is targetted instead of standing his weapons down he takes evasive manoeuvres, he's an expert pilot, he transmits his clearance and demands to see Perturabo.

Next we see a Vanus assassin whose in the loyalist complex, she's hunting alpha legion operatives, she uses mini fly cameras to scour the place but then she realises something is up as she drops from her hiding place, she lands and in front of her are three Alpha Legion operatives. It cuts back to Argonis whose in front of Perturabo demanding to know what the Iron Warriors are doing here, he basically says he's just trying to secure a major route to Terra, after leaving he talks with the Dark Mechanicum agent and says he's not happy with the explanation and it's time to contact the Alpha Legion asset. It flips back to the assassin who uses her extreme information processing abilities to dodge shots from the volkite chargers the kill team is using. She then leaps back up to her hiding place in the grate and drops an smooth egg like xenos device which turns out to be a razor filament type grenade which turns the kill team into a mess, she drops back and takes their communication devices so she can hack the alpha legion network, she then legs it.

We return to Kord whose now back in base having survived the battle which was a failure in regards to breaking the Iron Warriors line, they'd tried it twice before and it was always the same outcome. Kord believes there's more to the war on Tallarn, he has a map and all types of data where "ghost" patrols have been spotted and lost, he thinks there's more going on and a colleague whose he's known for ages but wasn't particularly friendly with keeps telling him to forget it, Kord is committed to the idea though and won't let it lie.

Hrend is back in the base and was put back to sleep, until he's awoken and told the Primarch wishes to see him. Argonis is talking to his dark mech agent and she tells him the alpha legion operative has made contact. the Vanus assassin is busy with breaking the alpha legion network and succeeds and she hears them say the emissary has arrived which causes her to get moving as she sees a chance to exploit. Kord is out on patrol and his scout spots one of these ghost patrols he's been obsessed with, he decides to follow them. Hrend meets with Perturabo who gives him a mission of great importance. Argonis meets with the alpha legion operative called Jalen whose some sort of psyker, he confirms something else is going on and that he should head for the surface to find out.

The Vanus assassin kills a female tank crewmen and assumes her identity so she can take her place in a tank where she then manipulates the auspex to steer the tank away from the patrol group she's with and then kills the crew, she stops the tank near the Iron Warriors Sightless Warren with the hopes they will come and get the tank and she can infiltrate the complex.

Kords patrol is disrupts as a group of aircraft make a drop on Tallarn directly above them, they cut engines but nothing comes of the aircraft they pass by. The scout tells them the patrol they are following is moving off and they either follow now or give up and return to base, there's some decent and Kord is torn by the decision, he decides to let anyone who doesn't want to come to head back to base and those who will get rdy to move, all but one follow him with a single executioner deciding to return to base.

Hrend and his company are the exit of the Sightless Warren Complex, he questions Jardak the commander of the sicaran on what it means to be Iron, it seems his conversation with Perturabo was pretty deep. Argonis was part of the aircraft drop that Kord detected, they decided not to attack Kord's convoy so they could remain "undetected" by things that could actually hurt them. The vanus assassin is in the tank and she begins going over a series of questions her mentor would pose to her as it helps her to maintain her focus, she comes to the conclusion she's being a little to wild and it will end with her making a mistake.

Kord's company has lost contact with the patrol they were shadowing, but they come upon a stuck vanquisher with a single survivor in it (I thought it was going to be the assassin at this point but it was a swerve) the guy says he was cut off from his unit a couple of days ago when a iron warriors patrol hit them, he says if he could have a shunt then he could get moving again, they call up a tank with a bull dozer blade and are about to move him when Kord sees something, a figure of some sort and realises something and asks when the tanks air ran out, then all of a sudden the bulldozer tank blows up and a force of renegade mechanicum attack the company with darkfire weapon, then a battle magos rises out of the sand with a black disc on front of it that powers up and just owns tanks, it takes a direct hit from the Malcadors demolisher cannon and keeps coming, it destroys a tank near the malcador and is beginning to charge to take out the tank when a lascannon beam strikes the black dics and it cracks, Kord's tank delivers the killing blow with another shot which takes out the commander and all the remaining mechanicum units stop dead. Kord passes out from the effects of being hit by the darkfire weapons previously.

Hrend is leading his company, which also includes a spartan carrying a navigator, and a big drill. He recalls part of his conversation with perturabo when perturabo asks him what is the purpose of being Iron is and how what it used to mean is no more as the galaxy they fight in now is a lie. The navigator speaks to him through his mind, he tells hrend he sees him and he is sorry. Argonis reaches the Sightless Warren and meets with the commander whose an old "friend" he asks him whats going on and he says the same as Perturabo and knows as much as he does.

The Vanus assassin has successful infiltrated the Sightless Warren although she say admires the security of it and compares it to a brief incursion onto the Phalanx she once made, it's a problem for her to get around and they were slowing her progress. She had located the Emissary and had her net flies follow him, analysing him and his retinue.

The story seems to be somewhat all over the place and still doesn't conclude the conflict, which means there will be more content on it all. Kinda glad I did not buy it. Thanks for the summary version!

 

[Words_of_Truth]

The story seems to be somewhat all over the place and still doesn't conclude the conflict, which means there will be more content on it all. Kinda glad I did not buy it. Thanks for the summary version!

That wasn't it all, that was about the first half of it but I had to do other things and couldn't finish it. I've written a summary of the ending that spoils it all if you'd like that. The conflict does end though, there won't be any more.

Edit: It seems all over the place because things appear to be happening concurrently with each other. They all have a knock on effect to each other, it's actually a pretty well written intertwining novel.

 

[forkmaster]

That wasn't it all, that was about the first half of it but I had to do other things and couldn't finish it. I've written a summary of the ending that spoils it all if you'd like that. The conflict does end though, there won't be any more.

Edit: It seems all over the place because things appear to be happening concurrently with each other. They all have a knock on effect to each other, it's actually a pretty well written intertwining novel.

Ahh I retract my previous statement then!

 

[Words_of_Truth]

Ahh I retract my previous statement then!

Np Here's the big spoilers of the ending if you want to read them.

Ok to sum up the ending, the Iron Warriors are looking for a chaos artefact because Perturabo is peeved off with people betraying and spying on him and he wants to make his legion strong again in this new galaxy, he knows the Alpha Legion is about and after the same thing as him, he's been sending patrols out to look for the artefact but they go missing which is eventually explained as the Alpha Legion destroying them in some shape or form. the Vanus assassin has been hunting the Alpha Legion operative Jalen, turns out there's three of them which are triplets, one gets executed by Ardonis after the Vanus fakes a distress call by Ardonis, as Ardonis was captured after finding out about what they are searching for, Ardonis gets annoyed at the Alpha Legion being secretive and puts two bolts in the eyes and one in the mouth of Jalen (just before that Jalen figured out he'd been tricked by the Assassin).

Ardonis subsequently kills several Iron Warriors and escapes the base just as the Iron Warriors and Loyalists are about to undertake one final massive battle. The second Jalen ambushes the Vanus as she watches Ardonis kill the first Jalen, it's then when she reveals she knew about the triplets, she'd sent a warning and the Iron Warriors show up and take out the Alpha Legion including the second Jalen. She then jumps to her death to avoid being captured by the Iron Warriors but it's a long way down.

After taking out a moderately sized company of loyalist armour including a baneblade and stormlord (who wrecks all the predators and a dreadnought), Hrend comes across some Alpha Legion tanks, Perturabo warned him about spies and after faking comradeship and heading to their target location, shoots them in the back and wipes them out. The Alpha Legion's messages were blocked by the Vanus assassin and altered to make it sound like they'd lost the Iron Warriors.

Khord after having made it mistakenly to the major command centre of the Loyalists gets arrested as a suspected spy but then gets let out by an Iron Hand who commands a Predator, they head off after the Iron Warriors patrol. Hrend and his men find the place of the object and begin to dig, executing the astropath who guided them there. The drill cracks and Hrend decends he comes across a black wall that could be part of a round structure, it has pictures of Daemonettes on it and a fake Perturabo tempts Hrend with visions of what the Iron Warriors could become if they give in and accept chaos, the images are of them looking like molten Iron killing all in their path. Hrend refuses and subsequently explodes, I can't be sure whether he trigged his own self destruct or whether chaos killed him I'll have to read the passage again. Prior to the explosion Khord in his Malcador and the Iron Hands tank shows up and begins a battle with the Iron Warriors. Kord's tank gets flipped on it's side and is unable to move, then the explosion erupts and everything but the Malcador tank seems of been destroyed. The scout who'd been with Kord from the beginning (called Origo) tells him to call out call out and they will hear him, his brothers are dead but they will hear him (this leads me to believe Origo is the third Jalen brother though I'm not sure.) He calls out but the Vanus is listening (she had been manipulating Khord the entire time) and she's close to death, she either has the choice to let the signal broadcast as she had intercepted it, or she cuts it. She decides to cut it.

That's the end of that path, the other part is Argonis makes it to the Iron Blood and confronts Perturabo and Perturabo finally comes clean with him saying he was doing it for the sake of the Warmaster, but Argonis is having none of it, and finally unlocks the Astropath that has been following him about, turns out to be one of those Davinite conduit guys and Horus looks on and explains he's been watching his Emissary the whole time and begins to berate Perturabo demanding he recall his troops and leave Tallarn, then he tells Perturabo to kneel before him.

The final paragraph describes how the Iron Warriors packed their bags and left.

 

[forkmaster]

Np Here's the big spoilers of the ending if you want to read them.

Ok to sum up the ending, the Iron Warriors are looking for a chaos artefact because Perturabo is peeved off with people betraying and spying on him and he wants to make his legion strong again in this new galaxy, he knows the Alpha Legion is about and after the same thing as him, he's been sending patrols out to look for the artefact but they go missing which is eventually explained as the Alpha Legion destroying them in some shape or form. the Vanus assassin has been hunting the Alpha Legion operative Jalen, turns out there's three of them which are triplets, one gets executed by Ardonis after the Vanus fakes a distress call by Ardonis, as Ardonis was captured after finding out about what they are searching for, Ardonis gets annoyed at the Alpha Legion being secretive and puts two bolts in the eyes and one in the mouth of Jalen (just before that Jalen figured out he'd been tricked by the Assassin).

Ardonis subsequently kills several Iron Warriors and escapes the base just as the Iron Warriors and Loyalists are about to undertake one final massive battle. The second Jalen ambushes the Vanus as she watches Ardonis kill the first Jalen, it's then when she reveals she knew about the triplets, she'd sent a warning and the Iron Warriors show up and take out the Alpha Legion including the second Jalen. She then jumps to her death to avoid being captured by the Iron Warriors but it's a long way down.

After taking out a moderately sized company of loyalist armour including a baneblade and stormlord (who wrecks all the predators and a dreadnought), Hrend comes across some Alpha Legion tanks, Perturabo warned him about spies and after faking comradeship and heading to their target location, shoots them in the back and wipes them out. The Alpha Legion's messages were blocked by the Vanus assassin and altered to make it sound like they'd lost the Iron Warriors.

Khord after having made it mistakenly to the major command centre of the Loyalists gets arrested as a suspected spy but then gets let out by an Iron Hand who commands a Predator, they head off after the Iron Warriors patrol. Hrend and his men find the place of the object and begin to dig, executing the astropath who guided them there. The drill cracks and Hrend decends he comes across a black wall that could be part of a round structure, it has pictures of Daemonettes on it and a fake Perturabo tempts Hrend with visions of what the Iron Warriors could become if they give in and accept chaos, the images are of them looking like molten Iron killing all in their path. Hrend refuses and subsequently explodes, I can't be sure whether he trigged his own self destruct or whether chaos killed him I'll have to read the passage again. Prior to the explosion Khord in his Malcador and the Iron Hands tank shows up and begins a battle with the Iron Warriors. Kord's tank gets flipped on it's side and is unable to move, then the explosion erupts and everything but the Malcador tank seems of been destroyed. The scout who'd been with Kord from the beginning (called Origo) tells him to call out call out and they will hear him, his brothers are dead but they will hear him (this leads me to believe Origo is the third Jalen brother though I'm not sure.) He calls out but the Vanus is listening (she had been manipulating Khord the entire time) and she's close to death, she either has the choice to let the signal broadcast as she had intercepted it, or she cuts it. She decides to cut it.

That's the end of that path, the other part is Argonis makes it to the Iron Blood and confronts Perturabo and Perturabo finally comes clean with him saying he was doing it for the sake of the Warmaster, but Argonis is having none of it, and finally unlocks the Astropath that has been following him about, turns out to be one of those Davinite conduit guys and Horus looks on and explains he's been watching his Emissary the whole time and begins to berate Perturabo demanding he recall his troops and leave Tallarn, then he tells Perturabo to kneel before him.

The final paragraph describes how the Iron Warriors packed their bags and left.

How is the portrayal of Perturabo in the story? I found him rather well-written in The Crimson Fist, but not at all good in Angel Exterminatus.

 

[Words_of_Truth]

How is the portrayal of Perturabo in the story? I found him rather well-written in The Crimson Fist, but not at all good in Angel Exterminatus.

He's more like the Angel Exterminatus portrayal imo, thoughtful and some what paranoid now. Although he only shows up during flash backs with Hrend and when he speaks to Argonis which is once at the start and once at the end.

 

[Brother Subtle]

The last LE novella I got was The Seventh Serpent. I'll be waiting my 2 years to pick them up non-LE from now on (1/3 the price). The money I save can go into replacing my old HH paperbacks into hardcovers (lots of $$$ to go there!).

 

[Anakwanar]

I would be plain - this is a single example of the most dark, gloomy, ambient, oppressive and hopecrushing novel i have read in years! And it is - AWESOME!
To be fair - it should have 2 review scores, because it's score actually depends on people who read other Tallarn stuff before, and people who hasn't, and read only 1 page fluff summary. For the second group Tallarn is '10 millions tanks' - biggest armored clash in all HH (probably till the Siege of Terra). This group should not touch this novella - they would be pretty disappointed. Not by the writing style (you can't unlove this kind of writing), BUT - SPOILERS, BEWARE


it's not in the book (Ok it is - in several sentences of the narrative)

But for the first group - this novel-novella (decide how to call it yourself) IS BEYOND GODLIKE. As i mentioned in a previous Tallarn review - John French is a true master of ambience, occultism and fear. To give him the praise, he actually deserve - i would call him a true Lovecraft for Black Library.
Anyway - people who wants to know the dark stuff, the secret plotlines and the actual story behind all that Tallarn conflict, - should read it! You will not regret your time. It's money and time well spent.

PS. People who wants a 10 mils of tanks battle for 230 pages - do not read this book, wait for the Forgeworld Tallarn HH fluff book. They will give you 10 mils of tanks

 

[Apfeljunge]

Finally finished this. I really loved the Iaeo vs Alpha Legion stuff. It's nice to have someone who can play the game on their level