Experience the beginning of the Plague Wars, as the Imperium's lord regent fights to reclaim his home from the Death Guard and their daemonic allies. There is nothing mentioned within A Common Ground (Short Story), that marks it as taking place within the Age of the Dark Imperium. However its ending leads directly into the first section of the Rites of Passage (Novel), which does take place in that era. [18] Luther: First of the Fallen Spoiler! The paths of Roboute Guilliman and his fallen brother Mortarion bring them inexorably together on Iax. Once a jewel of the Imperium, the garden world is dying as the plans of the Lord of Death to use it as a fulcrum to drag the stellar realm of Ultramar into the warp come to deadly fruition. NOTE: until such time as BL produces an official resource, I’ll do my best to keep this reading list up to date with new releases as and when they’re published. This version of the article was created in January 2021, but I’ve added books in here and there along the way – the last minor update was in August 2022. The first phase of the Indomitus Crusade is over, and the conquering primarch, Roboute Guilliman, sets his sights on home. The hordes of his traitorous brother, Mortarion, march on Ultramar, and only Guilliman can hope to thwart their schemes with his Primaris Space Marine armies.

Some spoilery thoughts: The last third or so of the book features some of the my favorite moments. Mathieu's faith train moving through the wastes is spooky and really well balanced against the action elsewhere in the plot. When the rat monster appears on the horizon and just oozes on past them is really fantastic. It's tense, but quiet and filled with dread. In fact, Haley in general does a great job nailing the dramatic tense waiting right before the storm thing. There's quite a bit of that right before things really exploded and it works well. Guy: Guilliman has changed since the days of the Heresy. He’s appalled by the 41st Millennium. He’s dogged by a sense of failure, he’s completely alone, and he’s lonely. Belisarius Cawl believes that the twenty primarchs were created as a harmonious system. Guilliman’s just one small piece of that. He’s much less patient than he was, very driven. He has no time for petty politics, and to him, that includes at the galactic scale. Although he knows he is storing up trouble for the future, he has to be bold and decisive, and he knows that he could fail at any moment.The vast majority of what I’ve mentioned so far has shown events from an Imperial viewpoint, but there are a few books which take a look from different perspectives as well. These are all set after the Great Rift has taken place. Read my review of Ghost Warrior or my Rapid Fire interviews with Gav about Ghost Warrior and Wild Rider. What else?

After Plague War didn't feature as much of the Gulliman introspection I loved so much in Dark Imperium, I was delighted to see it return in full force for Godblight. He may have a rod up his arse, and is kind of a nerd, but goddamn it, I -love- Gulliman. His relationship with his soldiers, his brothers, and most importantly, The Emperor, are all fantastic to behold, and of the three books of the Dark Imperium trilogy, this easily paints the best picture of the Last Son of the Emperor. The Deus Ex Emperor at the end is outstanding narrative work. The sacrifices of his lesser tools permits the THE EMPEROR OF MANKIND to take a flamethrower to the home of Nurgle, with Guilliman at his most noble. Yet, does THE EMPEROR OF MANKIND really care for them as individuals? No, not at all. And Guilliman, the Avenging Son, must face that while being the ultimate tool of all: but must keep doing it, and the below line appears in the same monologue as Guilliman’s denial of his father’s divinity.

The path of Roboute Guilliman and his fallen brother Mortarion bring them inexorably together on Iax. Once a jewel of the Imperium, the garden world is dying, as the plans of Mortarion to use it as a fulcrum to drag all the stellar realm of Ultramar into the warp come to deadly fruition. Gman observed Matheiu giving sermons directly calling Gman a demigod, almost a jesus like figure to the emperor's yahweh. Colquan wants to end the mad priest right there but Gman is not so sure after the events of the last 2 books. Matheiu also threatened Gman by saying if he is killed, the church will believe that perhaps Gman wants to take the throne afterall and there will be civil war. All the priest wants is for Gman to see the light & believe his father is a God. The only reason that this isn't getting a one star review is because of Banks' performance and a few scenes that were the novel's saving grace. An example would be a conversation about Godhood that Guilliman has with a few choice characters very early in the novel. Another would be the daemons. Although I'm not really a fan of Haley's humorous approach to the Nurglite characters, you could tell he still had passion while writing their scenes and plot lines. The loyalist Primarchs were largely lost — dead, vanished, or otherwise unavailable. While the Horus Heresy novels (which have run since 2006) explore these characters in depth, the Primarchs are largely figures of myth and legend in the modern day. That changed in 2018 when Horus’ successor, Abaddon the Despoiler, came out of nowhere with the metaphorical steel chair. He destroyed the world of Cadia, the Imperial world that held off Chaos, and opened a Great Rift across the galaxy. Oh, great! Now things are even worse for everybody! Prodigal son Image: Games Workshop Despite his formidable powers, Ku'gath does not enjoy fighting and usually attempts to avoid scenarios where he would have to personally battle. [10a] Wargear

Gman still believes the Emperor is definitely something but he is not a God (Mathieu also admitted in his last moment that maybe Gman wasn't built to believe in that way). The emperor simply uses people, he has always been like that, Gman thinks not without a hint of bitterness. Keeper of Secrets • Daemonette • Infernal Enrapturess • Seeker Chariot • Fiend • Steed • Seeker • Hate-Angel • Contorted Epitome You may recall that we teased this battle in the run-up to the launch of Warhammer+ when we took a peek behind the scenes to discover how the Garden of Iax battlefield was built. Well, now it’s time to see this custom gameboard in action – it’s truly a battleground fit for a duel between Primarchs. In 012. M42 [9] during the Plague Wars, he appeared on Iax leading seven hosts of daemons, trying to destroy it because of its conversion to a hospital-planet, something that caused death to Nurgle's gifts. [5] During the war on Iax he was given a portion of Nurgle's own cauldron, which he attempted to use to concoct a brew that could slay Roboute Guilliman. [6] Ku'Gath's plan later came to a head at Parmenio, where the Daemon failed to kill Guilliman who instead slew his lieutenant Septicus. [7]It is done. Mortarion is gone. His network is broken,’ Roboute Guilliman said. ‘The Plague Wars are over.’ My father is no god. It is men who do His work for Him, as I must now. He uses people. He always has.' Guilliman is portrayed as a master strategist, but his plans are incredibly simple and easily thwarted The sequel to The Emperor’s Legion , this takes a similar approach and features two of the three main characters from its predecessor. The Regent in the title refers to Guilliman, and the Primarch’s absence – and the void left behind – is very much at the core of this excellent, politics-heavy story.

Gman's plan on Iax is to fortify the captial and goad Mortarion (now equipped with Godblight) to come to him. At the same time the imperium is trying to locate and destroy Ku'gath's cauldron which also acts as a focal point for Nurgle influence on Ultramar. Orbital sensor couldn't find the cauldron because Iax is now 90% corrupted so the search has to be on foot. Gman see Matheiu's crusade leaving the city supposedly on a vision from the Emperor, Felix wanted to stop the crusade host but Gman let him go. It's almost as if he wants to test if the priest's belief is true the hard way. Or maybe is he starting to have faith in his father?? Book 2 in the Dawn of Fire series, this portrays the next steps in the early stages of the Indomitus Crusade. It takes place on/on the way to Gathalamor, as a mixed force of Imperial soldiery – led by Shield-Captain Achallor of the Custodes – races to keep the vital shrine world from Abaddon’s grip. It’s a bit more of an all-out action story than Avenging Son, but it’s a fun read and it expands the scope of the series even if it’s not exactly a sequel to the first book. Also set on Terra, this takes a different approach to The Carrion Throne and shows the same time period through the eyes of the Imperial Chancellor, a Sister of Silence and a member of the Adeptus Custodes. It also features a BIG battle which takes place roughly simultaneously with the tail end of Rise of the Primarch.How those words burned him, worse than the poisons of Mortarian, worse than the sting of failure. They were not a lie, not entirely. It was worse than that.