TCF Reads the Dawn of War Omnibus by C.S. Goto

The Curious Fan · Mar 6, 2015

Ugolino said:
Aren't most of the non-Lysander centric Imperial Fist novels utterly mediore/forgettable?

I don't know, I haven't read them yet (I'll probably be doing Soul Drinkers next to see for myself whether the Soul Drinkers really are CSM in denail).

Ugolino · Mar 6, 2015

No. Chaos Marines have higher standards for competence and are less gullible.

The Curious Fan · Mar 7, 2015

The next chapter opens up with some accounts of how the Blood Ravens are getting pushed back by the Orks.

The masses of orks on all sides, both feral and developed, meant that Gordian had been unable to reach the fallen until it was too late, and the orks had already had their chance to despoil the bodies of the fallen Space Marines, cracking open the ceramite power armour they wore as though they were nothing more than rotten eggs, and then hacking and butchering the bodies within until nothing remained but pulp and gristle.

And here I thought that Chaos forces were the only ones who'd deliberately wreck gene-seed, I thought the Orks just went to go find another guy to fight when there was a fight going on and they've killed their opponent.

Of the nine Blood Ravens who had leapt from the Thunderhawk, only seven had survived long enough to offer assistance. A discharge from one of the orks' massive energy cannons pierced Battle-Brother Sten through the chest before he'd taken even a half-dozen steps, and Battle-Brother Xiao was crushed beneath one of the clanking feet of an ork mechanised walker only moments after entering the fray.

Wow they're getting slaughtered by the Orks.

After that we go to Gordian griping to himself about how long Niven is taking to heal.

But Captain Thule's orders in this matter were clear. Their survival, Thule insisted, depended on the Librarian being restored to full health, and unless and until Niven had regained consciousness and the use of his facilities, and while the chance still remained that he might do so, Apothecary Gordian was to stay at his side.

Nearly two days into the undertaking on Calderis, and already three battle-brothers of the Blood Ravens had fallen, their gene-seed lost to the Chapter forever. How many more would fall, and how many more gene-seeds would be lost, before it was all said and done?

'Heal, damn you!' Gordian said, resisting the urge to strike a blow across the face of the unconscious Librarian. 'Heal, lest the rest of us perish in waiting for you to wake!'

"We're fucked without a Librarian", really? There's roughly a company's worth of marines here and the Tyranids haven't arrived yet.

After that, we go to Thule, Cyrus and Avitus watching Orks launch themselves at the walls with a seesaw.

Now, the orks had hit upon a new strategy. Using long planks of sturdy material, perhaps ripped from the remains of one of the smaller townships that dotted the far edge of the desert, and which the orks had doubtless already overran, the greenskins had constructed a sort of seesaw, with a pile of dead bodies acting as the fulcrum, set far to one end of the plank.

One of their number - living, of course, and heavily armed - would stand on the end closest to the fulcrum, the other end of the plank rising in the air as his weight pressed his end down. Then, after a brief countdown, a dozen or more of his brethren would jump together onto the other end of the plank, and as their combined weight brought that end quickly down to earth, the end upon which the heavily armed ork stood was thrust suddenly upwards. More often than not, the ork thus catapulted skywards merely flailed back to earth atop his own brothers, precision and aim being beyond the orks' conception. But when the makeshift contraption functioned as intended - as it had just done once more - then the now skywards-streaking ork would arc up and over the city walls of Argus, a living missile.

That's one way to get over walls I guess.

Under other circumstances, it might have been an enjoyable diversion, picking errant orks out of the sky with bolter and melta fire, almost a kind of sport. But Thule and his men had more serious matters on their mind than a tally of who had hit the most airborne orks, and the consequences of a miss were too grave to allow any levity.

Using melta weapons against an airborne target some distance away?
:???:

After this, we get a page about how even after ten thousand years of on-and-off study the Imperium still knows very little about Orks.

It would not be until much later, long after the information would be of any use to Captain Thule and his party, that it would be discovered that the developed orks who had appeared on Calderis were under the command of Warlord Zagmor Gorgrim, whose name in Low Gothic would translate into something roughly equivalent to Wild-Lightning Bloodface.

Once a warboss in the Waaagh! of the Arch-Arsonist of Charadon, Gorgrim had gained in power and prestige as he led his warband to victory after victory. In time, Gorgrim had splintered his warband off from the forces of the Arch-Arsonist, commandeering a massive space hulk of his own and leading his warband to new systems and unspoiled territories.

Gorgrim had hit upon an innovation in the waging of war, a rare thing in a species born with skills and knowledge already encoded into their genetic strand. Having perhaps a few hundred fully-grown orks in his warband at the point that he struck out on his own, when Gorgrim's space hulk chanced upon a world inhabited by feral orks, he saw the advantage in recruitment. Taking his warband to the surface, he bested the local warlord in single combat, and then declared that all of the planet's inhabitants were henceforth to consider themselves part of Gorgrim's horde. But that only a select few would be allowed to leave on board Gorgrim's space hulk, and the rest left behind to die as Gorgrim unleashed an orbital bombardment that would wipe clean the surface of the planet of any life.

The hell? What happened to Bonesmasha?

Warlord Gorgrim and his horde had arrived on Calderis some months before the arrival of Captain Thule and his recruitment party, and Gorgrim had goaded the countless numbers of feral orks on the western hemisphere into savage combat, demanding that they prove their worth in order to join his horde.

How did the Blood Ravens not notice the Space Hulk?

After this, there's a scene of Merrik and his squad on bikes against some Orks before one of their walkers shows up and kills him (the rest of the squad was spread out so they survive for now).

We then go back to Gordian who has woken up Niven, Niven then starts shouting about how the Great Devourer is coming before we go back to Aramus looking at an egg in a crate in the markets as the chapter ends.

The next chapter opens with Aramus telling Thule about it, they agree that it looks like something the Tyranids would make and quickly note that it came from a shipping container on Typhon (quite a change from the games where Cyrus was the only one who knew about the Tyranids).

After this, a Calderis man who owns the warehouse the egg was found in and a Rogue Trader walk up to Thule and start explaining that they're just here to get some things off-world before the Orks kill everyone, they're interrupted by a Tyranid Warrior attacking (I wonder if it'll kill Thule).

We then go back to Thaddeus' troubled retreat, between what's left of his squad and the reinforcements, there are fourteen Blood Ravens in the fight other than himself and he resolves to get them all out alive or die trying.

Next we go to Avitus shooting some Orks on the walls while griping to himself about helping people (you'd figure that he'd just enjoy himself and shoot some Orks) before Thule shouts Tyranid over the vox.

Pov then changes back to Thule and Aramus vs the Warrior (didn't a single marine take down a dozen of these in the prologue? This isn't even a fully grown Warrior).

Against the chitinous armour of a tyranid, even a relative juvenile such as the warrior who faced them now, the bolts were all but ineffective.

Bolter rounds aren't that effective against Tyranids apparently.

After a bit of back and forth, the Warrior gets him with a seed-pod to bind his sword arm, fires a few spines in at point-blank range to crack his armour and then starts skewering him with it's claw, Thule manages to take it down with Wisdom before being taken down by poisons (another change from the games). The chapter ends with the Warrior dead and Thule dying.

Entropy Judge · Mar 7, 2015

The Curious Fan said:
And here I thought that Chaos forces were the only ones who'd deliberately wreck gene-seed, I thought the Orks just went to go find another guy to fight when there was a fight going on and they've killed their opponent.

While Orks do like to take trophies, that does seem ... excessive.

Wow they're getting slaughtered by the Orks.

"We're fucked without a Librarian", really? There's roughly a company's worth of marines here and the Tyranids haven't arrived yet.

The Tyranids ...

New Theory: Blood Ravens are part Tyranid, and Librarians serve as their Synapse Creatures. Without the presence of a Librarian, they perform significantly worse than normal, which is why they have so many Librarians in their ranks.

Using melta weapons against an airborne target some distance away?

Real ~~men~~ Space Marines use Meltas. All Meltas, All the Time.

The hell? What happened to Bonesmasha?

Too classy to appear in this book?

We then go back to Thaddeus' troubled retreat, between what's left of his squad and the reinforcements, there are fourteen Blood Ravens in the fight other than himself and he resolves to get them all out alive or die trying.

I'm guessing "die trying."

The Curious Fan · Mar 8, 2015

Entropy Judge said:
New Theory: Blood Ravens are part Tyranid, and Librarians serve as their Synapse Creatures. Without the presence of a Librarian, they perform significantly worse than normal, which is why they have so many Librarians in their ranks.

You're proposing that they're Space Marine/Ork/Tyranid hybids?

Entropy Judge said:
Real ~~men~~ Space Marines use Meltas. All Meltas, All the Time.

Not until the expansion pack where Thule becomes completely overpowered with a multi-melta.

Entropy Judge said:
I'm guessing "die trying."

If this book kills off both Tarkus and Thaddeus there will be hell to pay.

Captain Orsai · Mar 8, 2015

The Curious Fan said:
And here I thought that Chaos forces were the only ones who'd deliberately wreck gene-seed, I thought the Orks just went to go find another guy to fight when there was a fight going on and they've killed their opponent.

The Orks probably aren't doing it deliberately, just for the joy of violence and destruction.

How did the Blood Ravens not notice the Space Hulk?

If it's powered down, that would be relatively easy, it'd just look like an asteroid, albeit a large one. If the Blood Ravens are in a hurry to get to Calderis, and not paying a huge amount of attention to anything that doesn't look immediately hostile, they could easily skip over something like that.

The Curious Fan · Mar 8, 2015

The chapter opens up with Aramus carrying the beaten Thule to where he thinks Gordian is before we cut back to Thaddeus retreating from the Orks before a big one that's mostly cybernetics shows up and cripples one of the Blood Ravens' arms (Loew's) before dying.

We then go to Cyrus collecting aspirants in Argus and griping to himself about how the aspirants won't be enough to replace their losses even if none of them die in the Blood Trials. His scene ends with him planning something with a Thunderhawk that's contrary to Thule's orders.

After this the scene changes to Avitus shooting Orks again (this book is so goddamn slow) and planning to have a talk to Philetus (one of the guys under his command) about how banter is inappropriate in battle and how space marines should act serious all the time. He also notes that the Orks have also been making progress on their efforts to catapult themselves over the walls and make siege towers with their dead. The scene ends with him shooting the Orks some more (he's been shooting them for long enough that I've amazed that there are still Orks left attacking the walls).

Pov then changes to Niven warning about the Tyranids again.

The catalepsean node, one of the nineteen organs implanted in the Space Marine's body during the process of initiation, regulated the body's circadian rhythms and responses to sleep deprivation, and with it an Astartes was capable of remaining awake for long periods while at the same time getting the benefits of slumber by switching off different regions of the brain sequentially. It could not substitute for proper sleep entirely - even a Space Marine had to sleep eventually - but it meant that a Space Marine could survive long periods in the field while never losing awareness of their surroundings.

As a consequence, the minds of even the most highly trained Adeptus Astartes were not acquainted with long periods of inactivity, used instead to a near-constant influx of stimulation and information. When a Space Marine entered a state of suspended animation, however, their body regulated at the threshold between life and death by their sus-an membrane, the brain received virtually no stimulus, not even the low-level rapid eye movement activity experienced in dreams.

Hmm, no mention of the mutated catalepsean node in this infodump, I wonder if it's still canon.

After this, Aramus calls out to Gordian and brings him Thule, after this, Avitus arrives and announces that their evacuation is complete (not counting the refugees in Argus).

We then go back to Thaddeus and the number of Blood Ravens is down to 13 now, but after a bit of this a Thunderhawk piloted by Cyrus arrives to get them out.

By the time Thunderhawk One landed, loaded, and lifted off again, Thunderhawks Two and Three had already blasted up from the Argus space port, with all surviving members of the recruiting party and the Armageddon reinforcements present and accounted for. In all, four full battle-brothers and five neophyte Scouts had been lost in the undertaking, and another half-dozen had received wounds that would not soon heal, Captain Thule chief among them.

Hang on, I'm pretty sure I've counted more casualties than that over the course of this section of the book.

The chapter ends with the Blood Ravens abandoning Calderis to the Orks. They're doing worse than I thought, they haven't even really met the Tyranids and they've already lost Calderis (they've probably lost Typhon too judging by the fact that a Warrior egg came from there), the Eldar haven't made a (poorly explained) appearance yet either. This definitely isn't canon.

The next chapter starts with them thinking about the gene-seed they've got and how they're going to recoup their losses as they load Thule into a Dreadnought. The Scientia Est Potentia appaears to have disappeared into the abyss of plot since there's no mention of it in their retreat.

We then get a scene of Aramus talking to a serf who is asking (on behalf of the Lord Principal) what their destination is, leading to Aramus starting up a mental monologue about how he's not sure if he'd be a loyal or as proud to serve if he was just a serf. He also thinks to himself about how thanks to their chain of command being gutted, he's now the one in charge of the Armageddon.

After this, he gets news about how badly Thule was mangled by the Warrior from Gordian who tells Aramus that he needs to get a sample of a pure biotoxin from a similar Tyranid to the one who attacked Thule. Then there's a conversation about Tarkus taking command of a tactical squad and them planning to return to the Scientia Est Potentia at some point.

Next up, we get a pov of Niven sitting in his quarters and thinking about his duties and the Tyranids before another Librarian, someone named Konan, arrives.

It was a mark of the strength of the Blood Ravens Librarium, and of the prowess of the Librarians it produced, that a mere Lexicanium could serve on a Space Marine strike cruiser as her astropath. In other Chapters, Niven knew, only Librarians who had advanced to the rank of Epistolary were able to master the ability to project their minds across warp space itself, a feat that no normal psyker could endure without first undergoing the tortuous ritual of Soul Binding. Niven often wondered if the Blood Ravens had such powerful Librarians because they recruited such naturally gifted psykers, or if they recruited such gifted psykers because they had powerful Librarians. Or, in fact, if it even mattered at all.

I'm not sure how much of this is the Blood Ravens being reckless with the warp and how much of it is them being just that good.

Konan confides that he's having trouble contacting the Scientia Est Potentia due to some interference, prompting Niven to start questioning him.

After this, Aramus explains to the squad leaders and an Admiral named Laren Forbes that they're heading to Typhon to get the Tyranid sample they need and that Konan is having trouble sending messages. Forbes also volunteers one of his cruisers for the mission to deal with a possible Tyranid infestation since he's bored out of his mind from being stuck for years on dealing with trifles and has nothing else to do.

With that, the chapter ends and I'm suddenly wishing that this guy's pacing would improve to Goto's standards, this book is slow and there's barely anything quoteworthy in this book.

Entropy Judge · Mar 8, 2015

The Curious Fan said:
We then go to Cyrus collecting aspirants in Argus and griping to himself about how the aspirants won't be enough to replace their losses even if none of them die in the Blood Trials. His scene ends with him planning something with a Thunderhawk that's contrary to Thule's orders.

I'm starting to like this Cyrus guy.

After this the scene changes to Avitus shooting Orks again (this book is so goddamn slow)

Plot of DoW II Novelization, Part I: Orks-Orks-Orks-Orks-Orks-Orks-WAAAGH!

He also notes that the Orks have also been making progress on their efforts to catapult themselves over the walls and make siege towers with their dead.

Like, 'ramps up to the walls' siege towers or 'bodies stitched together in the form of a tower' siege towers?

Next up, we get a pov of Niven sitting in his quarters and thinking about his duties and the Tyranids before another Librarian, someone named Konan, arrives.

Konan the Librarian!

Forbes also volunteers one of his cruisers for the mission to deal with a possible Tyranid infestation since he's bored out of his mind from being stuck for years on dealing with trifles and nothing to do.

I like this guy. I kinda hope he doesn't die horribly or turn out to be a traitor.

The Curious Fan · Mar 8, 2015

Entropy Judge said:
'm starting to like this Cyrus guy.

He's alright if a bit of a cynic, I never got the hang of using him on his own though.

Entropy Judge said:
Plot of DoW II Novelization, Part I: Orks-Orks-Orks-Orks-Orks-Orks-WAAAGH!

Pretty much.

Entropy Judge said:
Like, 'ramps up to the walls' siege towers or 'bodies stitched together in the form of a tower' siege towers?

The piles of the dead were getting large enough to count as improvised siege towers.

Entropy Judge said:
I like this guy. I kinda hope he doesn't die horribly or turn out to be a traitor.

Same here.

The Curious Fan · Mar 10, 2015

This chapter starts with Tarkus, Thaddeus and Aramus talking as they arrive at Typhon.

'When last I was here,' Tarkus said, tapping one of the three half-century service studs affixed to his forehead, 'I had yet to earn this third stud.'

'A recruiting mission?' Aramus asked. 'Or some other undertaking?'

Tarkus quirked a fractional smile at the Commander at Sail. 'If an Astartes ever came to Typhon Primaris for any reason other than the search for aspirants, I'll eat my power armour.'

Why does he only have three markers for a half-century of service if he's been around for 300 years or so?

And second, what about the tons of archaeotech lying around on Typhon like the Astronomic Array? You'd figure that a chapter with supposedly good relations with the Mechanicus woud care about that stuff.

After this, Thaddeus pledges to find out what secrets Typhon has in the hopes of making Aramus eat his own armour.

They then land with Palmarius and Niven looking for aspirants on the planet with less than a million scattered people and an expected Tyranid infestation while aramus leads everyone else to look for a Tyranid bio-toxin sample.

When the servants of the Emperor first arrived, on their crusade to unite the myriad worlds upon which the seed of mankind had taken root, they had found only primitive tribes of pale-skinned, green-eyed jungle-dwellers who - aside from a complex matrilocal kinship structure that completely baffled the missionaries of the Adeptus Ministorum who later came to instruct the natives in the proper belief in the Emperor's divinity - displayed none of the sophistication their ancestors must once have mastered and then, inevitably, lost.

You'd think they'd have a bit of a tan at least rather than being pale if they live outdoors, I suppose the planet-wide jungles are implied to be dense enough that there is little light at ground level outside of some places. After this, they visit some superstitous villagers looking for aspirants and/or Tyranids while Aramus wonders what the villagers thought that they had come for since they weren't expecting that the Blood Ravens would be there looking for aspirants.

After this, we get a brief scene in orbit with Forbes getting a report about how their Astropaths can't communicate with anything properly before we go back to Aramus in the village.

Aramus exchanged a glance with the Blood Ravens standing nearest him. 'Don't worry,' he voxed privately to the others. 'This can't last long.'

'Now, Sky-Father,' the headman called out to the heavens, 'let us sing each of the Thousand Hymns of Praise, to thank you for the arrival of your mighty Sons!'

As the villagers began to intone the first of the thousand hymns, Aramus grimaced. He was wrong. This could last long...

:lol

The chapter ends with the Blood Ravens splitting up into squads to look for Tyranids in the jungle.

The next chapter starts with Thaddeus sneaking through the jungle.

With the canopy of trees overhead so tightly woven, their jump packs would have been of little use on Typhon Primaris, and had been left behind at the Thunderhawk. Unencumbered by the weight, the Space Marines of the Seventh Squad moved with even more ease than normal, and considering that they were all masters of the arts of infiltration, able to move through virtually any environment without being seen - even with their jump packs on - without the bulk and weight of their packs they were even stealthier.

The Blood Ravens are experts at sneaking while wearing bright red power armour.

And while Blood Ravens did not make use of the heaviest equipment often employed by other Chapters, still Thaddeus knew that he would not complain were a Predator Destructor or two to be offered him. Several centimetres of forged adamantium between him and an onslaught of tyranids would not be something he would readily refuse.

On the contrary, I'd say they have quite a few vehicles lying around.

After that we go back to Niven and Palmarius looking for aspirants after the last of the thousand hymns is completed while the chief tries to offer Aramus food. Aramus turns it down and the chief asks whether or not Aramus turned it down because he can't handle spicy food and Aramus gets a pagelong infodump about two SM organs.

Getting onto the serious stuff, there were apparently some ships that landed that the village spotted a few months back and asking about whether the Blood Ravens are here to chastise them, the scene ends with him mentioning visits from jungle spirits.

We then go to Avitus and his squad of eight devastators (himself included) walking through the jungle on their own where they find an offering of some sort. You'd figure that they'd send the Devastators out with more than just their heavy bolters in case they ran into trouble in the jungle.

After that it cuts back to the villager explaining that they used to worship jungle spirits before the emperor came and now they think the jungle spirits have come back since anyone who goes too far vanishes, never to be seen again, they've tried offerings but they haven't worked (I suppose that explains what Avitus found).

Next up, Tarkus and his squad find evidence of Eldar presence (I suppose it's time for the Eldar to die in droves for poorly explained reasons like in the games).

Back to Aramus the village chief explains again about how the offerings aren't working before we go back to Thaddeus thinking that there probably aren't any Tyranids on Typhon and about how the 5th Company's captains die more often than other captains. The chapter ends with a bunch of Lictors ambushing Thaddeus' squad.

...This book just spent two (admittedly shorter than average) chapters on Aramus hunting aspirants and the Blood Ravens trying to determine the presence of Tyranids, Chris Roberson is making Goto look good by comparison since at least Goto's books don't move at the glacial pace of this one and tend to have more to comment on.

Entropy Judge · Mar 10, 2015

The Curious Fan said:
Why does he only have three markers for a half-century of service if he's been around for 300 years or so?

I think it's saying that each service stud marks fifty years of service, so he'd have 150+ years of service under his belt. Unless the book says somewhere that he's 300+, in which case the only thing I can think of is that each stud is given at the half-century mark, so he'd get the first one at 50, the second at 150, and the third at 250. But that would be a strange way of doing it, considering what they were called, so I'm guessing he's supposed to be less than two hundred.

They then land with Palmarius and Niven looking for aspirants on the planet with less than a million scattered people

Well, at least the search will be quick, especially since they're only looking for boys within a certain age group.

:lol

"Squad, make sure your helmets are on, and go to sleep."

The Blood Ravens are experts at sneaking while wearing bright red power armour.

They move so fast their enemies never notice them!

On the contrary, I'd say they have quite a few vehicles lying around.

*Plays Dark Crusade, loses six Dreadnoughts ... in one mission*
Not anymore!

We then go to Avitus and his squad of eight devastators (himself included) walking through the jungle on their own where they find an offering of some sort. You'd figure that they'd send the Devastators out with more than just their heavy bolters in case they ran into trouble in the jungle.

I'm more curious about why they sent one squad of Devastators - you know, the least mobile type of Space Marine squad, who are supposed to use long-distance weaponry from more-or-less static positions in a fire support role - on a scouting mission. At least give them a Rhino!

Next up, Tarkus and his squad find evidence of Eldar presence (I suppose it's time for the Eldar to die in droves for poorly explained reasons like in the games).

"Because they're Eldar" isn't a poorly-explained reason.

The Curious Fan · Mar 10, 2015

Entropy Judge said:
I think it's saying that each service stud marks fifty years of service, so he'd have 150+ years of service under his belt. Unless the book says somewhere that he's 300+, in which case the only thing I can think of is that each stud is given at the half-century mark, so he'd get the first one at 50, the second at 150, and the third at 250. But that would be a strange way of doing it, considering what they were called, so I'm guessing he's supposed to be less than two hundred.

*checks*

They've made him less than 200 in this.

Entropy Judge said:
*Plays Dark Crusade, loses six Dreadnoughts ... in one mission*
Not anymore!

Eh, not as bad as the time I lost a chapter's worth of guys destroying the final base at the Eldar stronghold before capturing the three points to finish the level.

Entropy Judge said:
I'm more curious about why they sent one squad of Devastators - you know, the least mobile type of Space Marine squad, who are supposed to use long-distance weaponry from more-or-less static positions in a fire support role - on a scouting mission. At least give them a Rhino!

That's another problem with the plan.

As for Rhinos, they wouldn't fit through the trees.

Entropy Judge said:
"Because they're Eldar" isn't a poorly-explained reason.

But "because our writers never bothered to work out a good motivation for our actions" isn't a good reason.

The Curious Fan · Mar 11, 2015

This chapter starts up with Thaddeus telling Aramus about the Lictors over the vox and a quick fight scene with Thaddeus' squad vs the Lictors before Cyrus gets a scene of wishing Aramus luck while he stays to defend the village. We then go to Palmarius and Niven's examination of the village children.

'I find in each of them,' Chaplain Palmarius explained, 'certain impurities of belief incompatible with further instruction in the Imperial faith.'

'Impurities?' Aramus prompted for more. 'Are we dealing with cultists, then?' He glanced across the open space to the place where the headman was huddled with a group of his followers.

'I find no evidence of allegiance with the Ruinous Powers,' Palmarius said, 'but a full examination of the village entire by the Inquisition would be necessary to prove that there is none whatsoever. But still the responses of each of the candidates thus far suggests a lack of fidelity to the essential tenets upon which Imperial faith is built. Instruction can build a foundation of faith in the heart of an aspirant, but not if the soil upon which it would be based is treacherous and shifting.'

'Never mind their hearts,' Librarian Niven put in, 'it is theirmindswhich concern me, and they are, each and every one of them, weak and easily led.'

Aramus glanced over at the boys and young men who remained to be examined. If the previous examinations had produced no suitable candidates, he harboured little hope that the remainder would, either. But even the hope of a bare few aspirants to the Chapter was enough to justify that the evaluations be completed. Though none of these boys looked capable of surviving the Blood Trials, much less the torment of initiation that would follow, they would not stop looking until they had exhausted all the possibilities close at hand.

And here I thought that recruits from Typhon were supposed to be rare and highly prized.

We then go back to Avitus and his unsupported Devastator squad (you'd figure they'd send the Scouts out to scout while leaving the Devastators to defend).

Avitus had hoped to lure the tyranids out by making as much noise with their passage as possible, presenting easy targets that might prove irresistible to the tyranid mind. But after a few minutes of tromping through the underbrush failed to draw any enemy elements out of the wood, Avitus had to admit that it was impossible truly to understand the mind of the tyranid, or to understand what motivated such a creature.

Avitus: Please ambush me.

After this, Avitus gets his wish when a Hormagaunt swarm attacks and takes down one of his Devastators. We then cut away to Tarkus and his tactical squad starting at a dead bird.

Nord was young for a Space Marine, barely at the beginning of his third decade of life. It had been only ten years or so since he'd been an aspirant like the trembling boys that they had lifted off Calderis, or whom the Librarian and Chaplain now examined in the village centre.

One of Tarkus' guys was recruited when he was 20 apparently (and somehow made it to being a Tactical marine in 10 years). This author seems to like making his SMs really young.

After a bit more staring at the bird they determine that mycetic spores killed it and that they're not looking at the early stages of a Tyranid invasion.

We then cut to a brother Voire and his squad getting surprised by a Ripper swarm.

After this, we then cut back to Aramus worrying about how many Tyranids there are and how they've lost two marines while Gordian is on the Armageddon and unable to collect gene-seed. I wonder if Thule will get to save Aramus' arse from the Hive Tyrant in this of if there'll just be a bunch of Tyranid fight scenes.

Battle-Brother Barabbas didn't waste breath in replying, but swung the barrel of his meltagun around to spray its heat on the gaunts nearest the sergeant. But even the heat of the melta wasn't enough to destroy the hormagaunts with a single blast, and Barabbas was forced to chase the quickly moving terrors with his aim to do any real damage at all.

There had been perhaps a dozen of the gaunts when they'd first attacked and taken Philetus down beneath their flesh hooks and scything talons. Now, there were no more than a half-dozen of the monsters left. But reducing the brood's number by half had cost the Ninth Squad, and dearly. Philetus was down, never to stand again. Brother Gagan still lived, but the hormagaunts had managed to damage one of his legs quite badly and he was moving now only with difficulty, though he was still able to fire his plasma gun all the same. And Brother Safir had very nearly expended all of his hellfire rounds, and was now forced to employ the far less effective bolter rounds.

You'd figure that a squad of Devastators would do more damage to a dozen Hormagaunts before running into ammo problems.

The chapter ends with a cliffhanger of a Hormagaunt's jaws clamping around Avitus' neck (calling it now, his bionics will save him).

The next chapter opens up with Palmarius and Niven looking over the aspirants some more while Niven tries to tune out the thoughts of the Tyranid hive mind (and here I thought it was supposed to be incredibly difficult to understand the hive mind's thoughts).

We then go back to Avitus grappling the Hormagaunt and breaking open it's carapace in order to get it's toxin sac.

After this, Aramus calls for a retreat and we look back to Tarkus looking at the Tyranid hive and deciding that it's Tyrannoforming underway (there goes Typhon as well).

What they had in the darkness taken to be towering trees in the distance were by the first light of day revealed instead to be tyranid bio-structures - spore chimneys, cone-shaped structures hundreds of metres tall, belching mycetic spores into the atmosphere to travel wherever the winds carried them. They were broodhives, in which new monsters were birthed to range out over the land to kill and consume. Sunlight glistened off reclamation pools, miniature lakes of enzymes and acids, in which the bodies of both tyranid victims and tyranids who had outlived their usefulness were rendered down into raw, consumable biomass. There were even the beginnings of capillary towers, which when fully grown would stretch high into the thermosphere, mind-bogglingly tall organic structures through which the biomass of the reclamation pools would eventually be carried up into orbit and transferred to the bellies of spacefaring bio-forms.

I'd say that Typhon is probably a goner at this point, with how they're performing in this book the Blood Ravens wouldn't have a hope of cleansing the planet with less than their full chapter.

After this we have a moment of Gordian treating Thule before Konan asks him for some help.

'Might you be able to provide a cultured sample of the tyranid material, based on the chemical profile you received?' The Lexicanium's tone was quiet, respectful, but there was an urgency beneath his words.

Gordian straightened from the narthecium, his expression thoughtful. 'I suppose I could have a sample fabricated for your use.' He paused, curious. 'To what end?'

Lexicanium Konan leaned forward, and answered in a hushed tone as if he were imparting some precious secret. 'Master Niven, it seems, believes that with such a sample, he can locate the source of the xenos scourge.'

This probably won't end well.

After this, we get a bit of Thaddeus having trouble keeping his morale up after losing two of his guys to the Tyranids on Typhon (not counting Avitus' devastator).

Thaddeus had for so many years gone into combat with a grin on his lips, and returned from combat the same way.

'Come on, squad,' he called to his men, as the trees pressed closer and closer around them. 'Not much farther, and we'll be off this accursed world. And then we can properly mourn our fallen with the next tolling of the Bell of Souls.'

Now, he wondered if he would ever find reason to grin again.

If he's angsty by the end of this I'll be annoyed.

Back in orbit, Forbes is sitting in a bunk in her ( can't believe that I was sleepy enough when reading those chapters that I got her gender wrong) room and getting a report from commander Mitchels about how there are a lot of Tyranids on Typhon and little that her cruiser can do to assist.

Was it time to order the boats launched, and to have the cargo bays prepared to receive as many as a few hundred refugees? She was sure that Governor Vandis would be less sanguine about receiving the penniless and uncultured refugees of Typhon Primaris than he was about the few hundred wealthy Calderians currently making their way to Meridian. But Admiral Forbes wasn't about to stand idly by doing nothing if there was a chance to save at least a few innocent lives, at no cost or risk to her own vessel.

And she has a conscience too, I'm liking her more and more.

Her scene ends with her getting a memo about passing along some biological information to her astropaths and navigators.

We then go to Niven explaining how the Tyranid sample is supposed to help them find the hive to Aramus.

'Because, sergeant,' Librarian Niven explained, 'with the sample in hand, it is possible to search for psychic resonances, to attempt to pinpoint the origin of the tyranid thought patterns.'

'So you could find the hive mind?'

'Precisely. If we were to locate the source of the original infestation, then perhaps there might be some way to eradicate it and prevent future outbreaks.'

I get the feeling that finding the hive mind will end terribly for most psykers. The chapter ends with Konan touching the hive mind.

Onboard the strike cruiser Armageddon, Lexicanium Konan lay on a pallet on the floor of his quarters, his senses stretched to their fullest. He could faintly feel the cold, inhuman impressions that Master Niven had shared with him, and that he had shared with the astropaths on board the Sword of Hadrian. Their minds linked, astropath to Lexicanium, they could almost feel that inhuman mind out there, almost touch it, and then…

Konan sat bolt upright, cold sweat poring down his body.

He had touched the mind of the tyranid hive, and it was like nothing he had anticipated. This was no isolated infestation. This was a hive fleet.

Entropy Judge · Mar 11, 2015

The Curious Fan said:
Avitus: Please ambush me.

Wow. That was intentional? Whatever happened to Space Marines knowing ... like, tactics and strategy?

One of Tarkus' guys was recruited when he was 20 apparently (and somehow made it to being a Tactical marine in 10 years). This author seems to like making his SMs really young.

It's a little odd, too, since one of the reasons they prefer younger aspirants is because, IIRC, the implantation takes better.

You'd figure that a squad of Devastators would do more damage to a dozen Hormagaunts before running into ammo problems.

... How did the melta not fuck up the hormagaunts something awful?

Captain Orsai · Mar 11, 2015

Entropy Judge said:
Wow. That was intentional? Whatever happened to Space Marines knowing ... like, tactics and strategy?

There's a difference between blundering into an ambush and trying to goad one into going off early. The latter is what Avitus is trying to do, and it makes sense, since his Devastators aren't equipped for chasing down quick moving foes. Better to get the enemy to come to them.

It's a little odd, too, since one of the reasons they prefer younger aspirants is because, IIRC, the implantation takes better.

On the other hand, the indication is that the Blood Ravens are extremely desperate and probably resorting to taking aspirants they wouldn't normally to try and build their numbers back up.

... How did the melta not fuck up the hormagaunts something awful?

Depends on the range and the specific type of melta, there being a substantial variety.

Entropy Judge · Mar 11, 2015

Captain Orsai said:
There's a difference between blundering into an ambush and trying to goad one into going off early. The latter is what Avitus is trying to do, and it makes sense, since his Devastators aren't equipped for chasing down quick moving foes. Better to get the enemy to come to them.

And if the enemy had been anything but hormagaunts they probably wouldn't have walked away from the ambush. They shouldn't have been using Devastators for the job in the first place (IMO), and actually getting ambushed seems to indicate that they screwed up.

On the other hand, the indication is that the Blood Ravens are extremely desperate and probably resorting to taking aspirants they wouldn't normally to try and build their numbers back up.

Mmm ... how long after the first DoW does this take place? I got the impression that before that series went down they weren't any more desperate than your typical Chapter, which is what would have made taking someone so (relatively) old odd.

The Curious Fan · Mar 11, 2015

Captain Orsai said:
On the other hand, the indication is that the Blood Ravens are extremely desperate and probably resorting to taking aspirants they wouldn't normally to try and build their numbers back up.

Entropy Judge said:
Mmm ... how long after the first DoW does this take place? I got the impression that before that series went down they weren't any more desperate than your typical Chapter, which is what would have made taking someone so (relatively) old odd.

Less than a year after Dark Crusade, Kaurava doesn't seem to have happened yet.

Ugolino · Mar 11, 2015

Which is another inconsistency with the games, where Kaurava's actually a major plot point...

The Curious Fan · Mar 11, 2015

We finally seem to be getting into the meat of things in this chapter, it starts with Forbes looking over the information that the Astropaths and Librarians found and confirming that the Tyranids' main focus is on Meridian.

Thaddeus looked up, his youthful face lined and drawn.

'Meridian?' he repeated, disbelief echoing in his words.

Sergeant Aramus nodded. They were still awaiting the arrival of Sergeant Tarkus and First Squad to the village, but he'd summoned the other squad leaders - Avitus, Thaddeus, and Cyrus - to apprise them of the most recent news from the ships in orbit.

'Emperor's Throne,' Cyrus said, an uncharacteristic display for the stoic veteran.

'We have yet to make contact with Meridian, but Lexicanium Konan and the astropaths on theSword of Hadrianare working in concert to get word through to Governor Vandis and his people. But the fact remains that the tyranid threat will soon reach Meridian, if it hasn't already.'

'But surely the Planetary Defence Force would be in a position to respond to any initial incursion…' Thaddeus began, his voice trailing off as he went.

'When have you known a PDF capable of finding their backsides with both hands and an auspex?' Avitus answered with a snarl.

You'd figure that they'd be less surprised by the idea of the Tyranids trying to eat a hive world. And Avitus has noticed that PDF forces are not that good.

Thaddeus scowled, but knew that Aramus was right. Meridian was a hive world, home to billions of inhabitants. Every square kilometre of the planet was developed to some degree, with habs - enormous cities that stretched from horizon to horizon - covering most of its surface.

That's odd, there seemed to be a fairly large distance between hives in the game.

'The grim reality that we must face,' Aramus said, pointedly glancing in Cyrus's direction, recalling the Scout sergeant's constant refrain to the neophytes in his charge, 'is that Typhon Primaris is already a lost cause. This world is subject to a late-stage infestation, and we lack the resources and the time to even consider doing anything to reverse it. But Meridian is the capital of the sub-sector, home to billions, and if even some of those billions are to survive what is to follow, then we need to travel to Meridian with all possible speed and stop the tyranid incursion before it has a chance to take root.'

Called it, with this, Meridian and Typhon are both destroyed in this novelisation despite surviving in the games, and of course Meridian is the capital of the sub-sector, every other planet in the bloody sector has been taken out.

After this, they announce their intention to depart for Meridian while Forbes tries to evacuate as many as she can.

A short while later, Aramus surveyed the assembled villagers. Except for the three youths selected to accompany the Blood Ravens back to theArmageddon,the rest would be staying here, to wait for the creeping tide of tyranid infestation to finally reach this far. Even if he had wished to take the rest of the terrified villagers with them, there wasn't room in the Thunderhawks to carry them, nor space in the strike cruiser for them to be held.

It's a small village, how can there not be room on the cruisers?

As they're getting ready to leave, Tarkus asks to remain on the planet with his squad to keep the Tyranids away from the village while Forbes tries to evacuate them as a way of making amends for how he wasn't there when his home planet was eaten by the Tyranids.

The scene then changes to Gordian treating Thule again with his various anti-toxins not working and the scene ending as he gets ready to try the final one.

We then go back to Forbes explaining to Mitchels why she isn't going back to help with Meridian's defence.

A tight smile played across Forbes's lips, and she folded her hands in her lap. 'Leaving aside the fact that we have, as yet, been unable to make contact with Governor Vandis - and far be it from me to second-guess the thoughts of His Most Noble Excellency - we are not discussing a planetary evacuation. There isn't time for that many runs down into the gravity well and up again, for one thing, and not enough resources to house them all on board, for another. What we are talking about is preserving the life of a scant few hundred Typhonians who, but for our intervention, would very quickly find themselves in the belly of the Great Devourer itself. The rest of the Aurelia Battle-group is already en route to Meridian as we speak, and we should be able to join them within a day or two, at the outside, by which time we'll be in a position to lead an attack against any and all orbital elements of the tyranid fleet, and to provide cover for Sergeant Aramus and his Blood Ravens as they wage the ground war.' She paused, and her tight smile widened, if only fractionally. 'Or, to put it another way, yes, I am certain that this is the best use of our resources, commander. Or would you prefer to take this seat' - she gestured to the captain's chair on which she rested - 'and instead condemn hundreds of innocents to a painful death for the sake of some slight expediency?'

I definitely like her.

Next we go to Tarkus down on the surface patrolling around the edge of the village, after a few pages of thinking about what Erinia (his homeworld) was like in it's final days, a dozen warriors attack. I suppose this means that there scene with Tarkus on Meridian doesn't happen in this.

After that we make a surprise visit to the rogue trader from earlier waiting in the lower levels of Vandis' palace.

The security personnel who'd escorted him from the space port had divested him of his weaponry before leaving him in the room with the case he carried. They'd taken his duelling pistol, his knives, even the holdout that he kept hidden inside his right boot.

They had, of course, failed to confiscate the ornate signet ring that he wore on the index finger of his right hand. But then, one could hardly expect low-ranking security personnel to recognize Jokaero digital weaponry when they saw it. And they didn't for a moment suspect the surprises loaded into the rogue trader's augmetic eyepatch - he would use them only in an emergency, of course, but it was comforting to know that they were there, if needed.

After a bit Vandis walks over to the rogue trader and they make their exchange after a bit of talk about how some folks on Meridian are complaining about meteorites.

'Oooh,' the man said, reaching out and touching the flat of the blade. Even powered-down, it still seemed to crackle with life.

'Now,' the rogue trader said, backing away towards the door, 'with your permission I'm afraid I must excuse myself.'

The customer looked up, faint annoyance flittering across his round face. 'So soon?'

'Yes,' the rogue trader answered. 'I'm sorry, but I have an urgent need to return to my ship.'

'Go, then,' the man said, waving the trader away with an imperious gesture.

So that's where Wisdom (Thule's sword) got to. And the rogue trader probably knows exactly what the "meteorites" are and is getting ready to flee again.

'Yes,' the rogue trader answered. 'But who knows? Perhaps you'll get another chance to get your hands on a tyranid again. Perhaps even sooner than you think.'

'Oh,' the customer said, rolling his eyes skyward, 'that I should be so lucky.'

The rogue trader slipped out the door, and as it hissed shut behind him, he allowed the mask of calm complacency he'd forced on his face to slip.

Meteorites from the skies, the rogue trader thought, already racing down the hallway to the exit.

Spores, more likely. Let the security drones keep his pistol and knives and holdout, he could always get more. He knew too well what came in the wake of things that fell from the sky, and he had no intention of lingering on Meridian a single moment longer than was necessary to see it for himself.

Scratch that, he definitely knows, with that, the chapter ends.

The next chapter starts with Aramus in the sparring hall thinking to himsel about the aspirants they've collected while he practices his attack routines before Thaddeus walks up and they start talking about how they're both having trouble sleeping and Thaddeus angsts about the possibility that if he'd done better as a commander more of his squad would be alive (he's lost four guys so far). They then start up a sparring match to calm down.

It was a strange irony that a Blood Raven could recall in great detail all that befell him since completing his initiating and becoming a full battle-brother, but that his memories of a time before joining the Chapter were often hazy and indistinct. Perhaps it was the aberration in the catalepsean node that was rumoured to be the cause of their eidetic memory that was likewise responsible for the haze that fell over their earlier memories. Perhaps in changing the way that new memories were stored in the mind of the Blood Raven, older memories were lost. It was symbolic, it always seemed to Aramus, of the forgotten memories of the Chapter itself, the Blood Ravens' own lost beginnings. It was fitting, perhaps, that the individual underwent much the same transformation as the Chapter itself, which now recorded its every action and undertaking in exquisite detail, and yet could not recall with any certainty whence it had come.

Oh hey, that's the mutation from Goto's books, I suppose that it's canon then (though strangely enough they were talking about dreaming earlier despite them not being able to dream in Goto's version of the mutation).

After that's done, we then get a scene where Aramus is on the command deck and Niven exposits to Aramus.

'The shadow of a tyranid fleet has fallen over Aurelia,' Niven said, before Aramus had even had the chance to address him. 'Neither Lexicanium Konan nor I can make any astropathic contact outside the Armageddon, not even to the Sword of Hadrian or any of the other ships of the Aurelia Battlegroup. For reasons I've yet to uncover, the interference of the shadow in the warp is much greater here than elsewhere in the sub-sector, though we appear to be no nearer to the fleet itself.'

'Any suppositions, Librarian?' Aramus asked.

'None, I am ashamed to admit,' Niven answered. 'But be assured that neither Lexicanium Konan nor I will rest until we have divined an answer.'

That'd odd.

After this, we get a scene of Aramus being contacted by Vandis and get a memo about how the Tyranids are already attacking Meridian.

It had not proved easy, but in the end Aramus had been able to wring from the governor's report an accurate assessment of the state of affairs on the ground. It appeared that mycetic spores had rained down on the far side of the planet over the course of several days, a week or more before. Some days later, the first attacks were reported. At first the governor and his people had been unable to determine the nature of the attacks or the identity of the attackers, floating theories that it might be the forces of Chaos, whether cultists or actual warp-born daemonspawn, or perhaps even some entirely unknown xenos threat. But when a battalion of the Planetary Defence Forces was dispatched to deal with the matter, it was discovered that the attackers were, in fact, tyranids.

This discovery had, unfortunately, cost the lives of every soldier in that PDF battalion, none of whom survived the first encounter with the tyranids.

The governor had declared an immediate state of emergency, and ordered the planetary astropaths to send a general call for assistance to any Imperium forces in range. The governor had been less than pleased, of course, at the inability of his people to make contact with Fleet Admiral Forbes's flagship, or any of the other vessels of the Aurelia Battlegroup.

There's some more about how they're worried about where the two ships that were carrying refugees from Calderis are missing and about how Vandis doesn't really understand the threat of the Tyranids who have had a week or more to infest Meridian.

We then move on to a scene of Aramus, Avitus, Cyrus and Thaddeus planning out their response to the Tyranids.

The sergeants had not been unanimous in their support of Aramus's plans. The others, Sergeant Cyrus in particular, had not been pleased by his proposal regarding the use of the fifteen aspirants. The youths were even now spending their final moments before the onset of the evening rest period in study with Chaplain Palmarius, but after they awoke when the morning came, they would find even greater tests awaiting them.

They're apparently planning to use the aspirants somehow.

Avitus has a different plan.

Avitus bristled. 'Your pardon,' he said, making the apology sound like a curse. 'But I'll say again that we could get greater and more immediate results if we discarded concerns about collateral damage…'

Aramus held up his hand. 'Let's not use euphemisms, sergeant. You're saying, rather, that we could kill the tyranids faster and easier if we didn't mind killing a few million innocent civilians in the process. Isn't that it?'

'Yes,' Avitus answered without hesitation, his expression grim. 'If it means striking a blow at the hive fleet, then any cost is worth paying.'

Avitus appears to have extended his dislike of the IG to include the average citizen in this.

After this, Avitus and Thaddeus get into an argument, forcing Aramus to break them up before they come to blows (they don't get along so well without Tarkus there to mediate). Niven and Konan then come in and bring up the possibility of piercing the shadow in the warp just as the chapter ends.

Entropy Judge · Mar 11, 2015

The Curious Fan said:
And Avitus has noticed that PDF forces are not that good.

Well, to be fair, when the Imperium's tithing practice is "Send us your best and brightest," you're definitely going to get PDF that are inferior to the Guard.

We then go back to Forbes explaining to Mitchels why she isn't going back to help with Meridian's defence.

She paused, and her right smile widened, if only fractionally.

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

I definitely like her.

Her right smile? But yeah, she's awesome.

Scratch that, he definitely knows, with that, the chapter ends.

On the one hand ... he's kind of an ass, if he's not warning people. On the other, at least he's smart.

The next chapter starts with Aramus in the sparring hall thinking to himsel about the aspirants they've collected while he practices his attack routines before Thaddeus walks up and they start talking about how they're both having trouble sleeping and Thaddeus angsts about the possibility that if he'd done better as a commander more of his squad would be alive (he's lost four guys so far). They then start up a sparring match to calm down.

They seem very ... human. Not sure how I feel about that. And aren't most Space Marines supposed to have poor/hazy memories of their time before they joined? I thought it was fairly normal.

Avitus appears to have extended his dislike of the IG to include the average citizen in this.

Though that does seem to be a rather IoM-esque point of view. And when you're dealing with a population of - what, billions? - then the loss of a few million to make a decisive strike against the Tyranids doesn't seem like such a bad deal. Inhuman, sure. But arguably worth it, especially if your ability to defend the world without making that 'sacrifice' is in question.

The Curious Fan · Mar 11, 2015

Entropy Judge said:
Her right smile? But yeah, she's awesome.

That's a typo.

Entropy Judge said:
On the one hand ... he's kind of an ass, if he's not warning people. On the other, at least he's smart.

He presumably figured that they'd notice the spores quickly enough.

Entropy Judge said:
They seem very ... human. Not sure how I feel about that. And aren't most Space Marines supposed to have poor/hazy memories of their time before they joined? I thought it was fairly normal.

It's supposed to be a quirk of the Blood Ravens gene-seed in these books that they can't really remember anything before the gene-seed implantation clearly but they remember everything afterwards perfectly.

The Curious Fan · Mar 12, 2015

The next chapter starts by skipping over Konan's announcement with Aramus and the others heading down to the surface. We also get an explanation for why the shadow in the warp is stronger despite them being further away from the fleet.

Librarian Niven had explained that the hive mind of the tyranid fleet was being reinforced by ground-based tyranid vanguard creatures, specialized variants of the zoanthrope type; brains who acted in concert to extend the shadow in the warp, strengthening the interference. With the fleet so far removed from Meridian, there was no other explanation for the fact that the shadow should fall so far. Niven realised only now that the zoanthropes glimpsed on Typhon Primaris must have been fulfilling a similar role, but knew that the jungle world was already too far gone for the knowledge to have done the Blood Ravens any good.

Will they be as annoying to deal with as the ones in the games I wonder?

After this, they get a find something while searching the governor's garden for Tyranids.

'Contact!' Siddig shouted, and he, Voire, and a few of the others immediately unleashed a torrent of bolter rounds towards the object.

'Cease fire!' Aramus barked, holding up his fist.

The bolters fell silent, and Aramus strode forward to inspect the carnage.

'A gardening servitor,' he said, nudging the ruined man-machine with the tip of his boot, leaking blood and oil out on the verdant grass. The blades affixed to its arms still clipped and clacked, but would never trim another hedge.

Not quite what they were looking for.

After this, we go to a scene with Vandis (it would seem that Derosa has been cut from this novelisation

) complaining to Cyrus about how he expected real space marines, not scouts. Cyrus shuts him down with a glare and an explanation about how the scouts are already warriors, Vandis promises to report Cyrus to somebody in the end of the scene while other nobles just restrain themselves from facepalming.

After this, Thaddeus thinks to himself about what he's forgotten about Meridian.

Thaddeus looked out the window as Thunderhawk Two rumbled over the towers and spires of Zenith. Somewhere far below, deep underground, were the darkened, murky warrens of the underhive where he'd spent his formative years, running with the other members of the Lower 40th Ward Riot Boys. He'd killed a man before he'd reached the age of eleven - in self-defence, but the blood was on his hands, all the same - but all these years later he found it difficult to bring the dead man's face to mind. Just as he sometimes found it difficult to remember the sound of his mother's voice, or the cloying stench of the rotgut ''amasec'' his father used to drink. But he could remember every wrinkle, scar, and line on the face of every battle-brother who'd been lost these last years, the curse of the Blood Ravens' vaunted memory. Seeing the once familiar and now strange skyline of his home-hab only served to remind him of what he could never remember, and the things he could never forget.

I thought that hive gangers generally got their first kills a lot younger than age 11?

Still, he's the one who has been sent to hunt down the Zoanthropes. As he and his squad deploy from their Thunderhawk, the scene changes to Avitus and his Devastator squad clearing a few hundred square km of terrain (isn't Meridian supposed to be covered in hives in this? You'd figure that'd make it a bit difficult to clear a few hundred square km) to stop the Tyranids from using it as cover and depriving them of easy biomass from the algae farms. He also gets a bit about thinking of how he isn't too happy with Aramus' order not to shoot civilians as a way of convincing the others to evacuate (this book has made him far more violent than the games did).

With that, the chapter ends.

The next chapter opens up with Gordian treating Thule again (do we really need so many scenes of Gordian working on Thule without much progress?).

It was not unheard of for Space Marines to remain in sarcophagi for extended periods. It was told in the pages of the holy text, Apocrypha Azariah: Travails of Vidya, that the Great Father Azariah Vidya had been mortally wounded in a terrible battle against the unclean powers, and that enshrined in the hallowed confines of a sarcophagus had floated freely through the black void of space for many decades before finally being recovered by the Ravenous Spirit, strike cruiser of the Commander of the Watch.

And the Ravenous Spirit makes a return as well.

We then cut back to Thaddeus getting ready to start making his attempt at dealing with the Zoanthropes.

Thaddeus, who had so often gone into battle with a grin on his lips, now faced the shadows which lined the deserted thoroughfare with his expression hard and set, his mouth drawn into a line. There was no joy in this action for him, no exultation that he could hope to find in accomplishing a mission. Even if the Seventh Squad succeeded beyond all expectations, and managed to bring down not just one butallof the zoanthropes, eliminating the combat-readiness of a majority of the tyranid life-forms on Meridian, the small percentage that still remained would likely still number in the untold thousands, and would still constitute a threat beyond anything that the few dozen Blood Ravens on the planet could hope to stand against.

Thaddeus is getting less cheerful. And what about the PDF? You'd figure that a PDF from a hive world would be large enough to deal with a few thousand Tyranids with the help of nearly a company of space marines.

The scene ends with the six of them fighting a couple dozen Lictors and gaunts.

We then go back to Cyrus who is talking to the PDF and advising them on tactics (shoot the big ones, avoid close combat).

'Now, are there any questions or requests for clarification?' A dozen hands shot up.

Cyrus sighed. After decade upon decade of training neophytes of the Blood Ravens Chapter, who took years to grasp the essentials of Codex combat doctrine, he should have expected no better of planet-based infantry. They'd had little experience with anything more threatening than gangers and the occasional riot. How could they be expected to take on board all that a xenos threat like the tyranid entailed? He resisted the urge to find their requests for information a nuisance. After all, every bit of information they absorbed only improved the chances of any of them surviving the first few minutes of their initial encounter with a tyranid.

'Very well,' Cyrus said, as patiently as he could manage, 'let's take it again from the beginning…'

You'd figure that decades of working with teenage aspirants and neophytes would have taught him more patience.

After this we get a few pages of Aramus going through the gardens before finding some Zoanthropes.

Even an individual with a low psychic quotient like Aramus could not fail to detect the buzz of psyker activity crackling all around them. Perhaps it was this background din, beyond the edge of awareness, that blunted his normally keen strategic mind. For in the instant it took for the squad to crash through the trees, it didn't once occur to him to wonder - if this is the synapse vanguard of the invasion force, then where are their guards?

It was only as his feet struck the mutated, otherworldly grass that lined the clearing like a scarlet rug and he raised his bolter to fire upon the zoanthropes that the question occurred to him, and by then it was too late.

'Gaunts!' shouted Battle-Brother Isek as a brood of hormagaunts swarmed from out of the shadows towards them, all scything talons and ripping claws.

Even non-psykers can tell that the Zoanthropes are doing things.

Then there's a fight scene with the gaunts, Zach and Voire both die. Isek quickly follows. By the end of the fight only three members of the squad are alive. They leave for a bit to let the gaunts kill each other for a bit before they come back to finish them off and collect the fallen Blood Ravens.

With that, the chapter ends.

Entropy Judge · Mar 12, 2015

The Curious Fan said:
The next chapter opens up with Gordian treating Thule again (do we really need so many scenes of Gordian working on Thule without much progress?).

He's simply continuing a fine DoW tradition of including surgery porn. First Ckrius, now Thule. At least Thule won't get tentacle hands!

Night_stalker · Mar 13, 2015

Entropy Judge said:
He's simply continuing a fine DoW tradition of including surgery porn. First Ckrius, now Thule. At least Thule won't get tentacle hands!

Probably.

Kinda surprised at how the PDF here are so incompetent. You'd think a recruiting world would have a Blood Raven commander attached there to train and make sure they can be good at crap.

The Curious Fan · Mar 13, 2015

Night_stalker said:
Probably.

Kinda surprised at how the PDF here are so incompetent. You'd think a recruiting world would have a Blood Raven commander attached there to train and make sure they can be good at crap.

The Blood Ravens have a lot of recruiting worlds that they only visit sometimes (the only way they can compensate for the mortality rates of their silly blood trials), I'm not surprised that they didn't do that for all of them.

TCF Reads the Dawn of War Omnibus by C.S. Goto

Perpetually sleep deprived

Perpetually sleep deprived

Recurring Bouts of Misanthropy

Perpetually sleep deprived

Davion Heavy Guards Captain

Perpetually sleep deprived

Recurring Bouts of Misanthropy

Perpetually sleep deprived

Perpetually sleep deprived

Recurring Bouts of Misanthropy

Perpetually sleep deprived

Perpetually sleep deprived

Recurring Bouts of Misanthropy

Davion Heavy Guards Captain

Recurring Bouts of Misanthropy

Perpetually sleep deprived

Perpetually sleep deprived

Recurring Bouts of Misanthropy

Perpetually sleep deprived

Perpetually sleep deprived

Recurring Bouts of Misanthropy

Slava Ukraini!

Perpetually sleep deprived