And having finished it, I find I like the book much less than I did the first time. Whether that reflects changes in my tastes, or just having more exposure to Honsou, or what I cna't tell, but the book is a very average one by McNeill's standards. Part of that is my utter disdainf or Honsou as a character or a villain, I suspect. Honsou is, in my opinion, McNeill's Sarpedon. He's a character that is stated to be one thing, but actually ends up being something vastly different (and inferior) in practice. We're supposed to believe he's some big, dynamic, threatening villain who is going to topple the Imperium with his rage and passion. What we get is a whiny, inconsistent, delusional, and functionally retarded lunatic whose primary gift seems to be killing all his so called 'allies', and running away when things fail (which they usually do.) He's nothing like Marduk (from the Word Bearers novels) or Talos (from the Night Lords novels.) He's a wannabe Chaos Warlord.
That said, my chief problem with the book is that there is the kernel of a GOOD story present, it just never flourishes. One of the major ideas in Storm of Iron (especially on the Imperial side) is unity and brotherhood overcoming different backgrounds and attitudes. Iron Warriors was the story of both Forrix and Honsou - the 'old' and the 'new'. An Iron Warrior who has lost his fire and passion, and the disdained 'half breed' who rose up through the ranks despite the discrimination to a position of trust and authority, a warrior who is full of the zeal and the passion of the true rebel, yet lacks the depth of knowledge and experience that Forrix has. There is the potential for a bond to form between those two - one that can be full of tension and rivalry and even a future betrayal - they are chaos after all - but a bond of brotherhood nevertheless. There is even a moment in the story where that bond starts to form... and then is crushed utterly. By that point, the story begins the downslide into 'Honsou the grand warleader' and the slide of the Iron Warriors series into what it has become. Honsou the Iron Warrior Captain had much more potential than Honsou the Warsmith, and there's almost something schiophrenic between the two to me. Had Honsou the Captain become Honsou the Second in Command to Forrix, I might have liked Honsou more.
Which brings us to Forrix. Forrix is the tragedy of the Iron Warriors series. He starts out strong and goes out with a whimper because we have to make way for the 'revolutionary' ideas of the Half Breed, which is a shame because I liked Forrix a hell of alot, and he had a ton of untapped potential. I suppose there might have been a point in the abrupt 'killing' of that brotherhood - maybe it was supposed to reflect how Chaos inherently betrays itself and there is no brotherhood amongst the minions of Chaos, but I find that hard to believe given what other writers manage (again the Night Lords are a good example...)
So all you're really left with is a novel that starts out strong but degenerates into the usual Chaos KILL EM ALL grimdarkitude that is supposed to be CHAOS. Although Guardsmen Hawke is always an amusing figure.
Another minor point is that I find Storm of Iron to be contrived as hell. The idea that a vital facility is so lightly defended by troops (yet warrants a Titan Legion) and has virtually no space assets is pretty absurd, and the scale of the 'conflict' is pretty silly by 40K terms which only plays into the contrived. But alot of things in the series (most of them tied to Honsou) will fit into that category. Two parts, one update. The old thread is here for comparison, quotes, or whatever. I didn't duplicate it 100% but I figure most of it was re covered with new stuff.
Page 16
Astrotelepathic range.Inside, a young female astrotelepath lay recumbent, her emaciated body fitted with transparent cables that fed her nutrients and chemical stimms, and removed her bodily waste. Like the quill-servitor, she was eyeless, her lips moving in a soundless whisper.
The telepathic message she was receiving from half a galaxy away passed from her to the quill-servitor along psychically-warded cables and thence to its wiry fingers, where the message finally became tangible on the blessed parchment.
Page 17
A stove I guess. Except it has plasma....he huddled closer to the plasma wave generator that provided what little heat there was in the cramped surveyor station
Page 17-18
Might or might not imply a lasgun could 'bust' a human head. We know they can partly/totally explode them in some cases. Even if it is literal its not neccesarily a 'big' calc in either caes, single or double digit kj can accomplish it, and 'bust' doesn't even mean 'exploding' it either....he imagined putting a las-bolt into the back of his company commander's head...
...
..went back to imagining new and inventive ways of busting Tedeski's head.
Page 18-19
The Guardsmen out investigating seem to have at least SOME form of portable vox, although what it is and its exact range (weight) etc aren't known. Probably not micro beads, given McNeill's attitude to those things. It also has a range of at least 100 metres.His two companions in misery were out in the dust-stained rocks, some hundred metres in front of the post.
...
He thumbed the dial on the vox-panel, 'Hitch, Charedo? You
two find anything out there?'
He turned the dial to ''receive'' and waited for a response.
Page 20
The garrison has access to ornithopters that can act as limited transport, at leats out to the survey stations.The ash storm was playing hell with the ornithopter's engines again, so
they were stuck here until the Emperor knew when.
Page 20
The Hydra Cordatus garrison. That is one regiment so that is the entire complement. The odd thing is, that I've heard this place described as a Forge world. Except that in the novel it has no fabrication facilities, no admech forces (skitarii would have helped) and they wouldn't have a Guard Garrison.Why they felt it was worth stationing over twenty thousand soldiers of the Emperor, a demi legion of Battle Titans and all those batteries of artillery here was beyond him.
Also I hear other things happening in the EoT campaign imply this novel happened in and around the 13th Black Crusade, which means (probably) that the Smurf novels at some poitn take place during or after that. Also I hear necrons were supposed to be involved at some point.
Page 21
The bunker uses active sensing, and the power armour can pick up on it. You have to wonder why there seems to be no passive stuff, or why the power armour doesn't register but.. eh....the autosenses in his helmet alerting him to the surveyor sweeps of the armoured bunker. Each time his earpiece growled a warning he would freeze as the questing spirits of the ancient machinery sought him out.
Page 22
I've always found this a bit odd/interesting as a quote. You'd think that the bolt round would penetrate straight through regardless, but maybe there's a slighty chance of them stopping itHe was now less than seven metres from the bunker's rear, and only, door.
...
Honsou sighted on the soldier nearest him, lining the fore and back sight precisely on the gap between the man's helmet and flak jacket.
Also range of honsou's shot, and the distance he has to cover to reach the door.
Page 22
Honsou's bolt pistol seems a bit underpowered by bolter standards.Hawke heard a second, followed by two dull thuds. He swore, seeing Hitch and Charedo slump to the ground, gaping craters where their faces had been.
Page 22
Assault cannon. supersonic shells, and implied rate of fire. Thousands of rounds in seconds.He grabbed the handle of the rear cannon and yanked the trigger hard.
...
The supersonic shells blew up a storm, churning the mud and earth outside to atoms as thousands of rounds turned the area before him into a death-trap, shredding anything within its arc of fire.
Page 23
Assuming a regular lasgun and a 40-60 shot capacity, we're probably talking 40-60 shots in a matter of seconds at poitn blank range. Whether he actually hits with more than one shot, we dont know.He fired the rifle, laughing as his shot punched into the figure's chest. The massive silhouette reeled, but didn't fall. Hawke unloaded the remainder of the power cell through the door, shot after shot.
Page 24
Honsou took at least one hit from HAwke, and it seems to have penetrated his power armourBlood clotted on his chest where the Guardsman had shot him.
Page 24
Assault cannon predictably did more damageTwo of his men were dead, blown away in the first roar of the assault cannon.
Page 24
Other grenades (like Krak) are implied to be more powerful than frag grenades. This may suggest some of the more 'omnidirectional' krak weapons are just more powerful explosives or something, or dedicated antipersonnel weaponsFrags weren't the most powerful grenades, but contained within the cramped confines of this bunker they had been devastating.
...
He kicked the blackened, smouldering corpse of the Guardsman...
Also one of the corpses is 'blackened' by the detonation. Assuming 50 j per square cm, that is at least 500 kj imparted to the target by the grenade.
PAge 24
Honsou's power armour sustained him for 3 months in his guerilla activity on the planet.He was clad in power armour the colour of burnished iron, its surfaces pitted and scored by three months of living in the hostile environment of Hydra Cordatus.
Page 25
The spaceport and it sdefenses. Probably around 1000-1500 men.A typical Imperial military establishment, it boasted a collection of three dozen buildings, ranging from armoured hangars for Marauder and Lightning aircraft, fuel stations and mess halls to barracks and maintenance sheds.
...
Vast supply shuttles, each capable of landing a Battle Titan, could be handled
by the base, though it had been many years since anything larger than a Thunderhawk gunship had availed itself of the facilities.
...
The only way in or out of the Hope was through an adamantium door that required four gigantic pistons to open.
Five companies of the Jouran Dragoons were stationed here...
PAge 26-27
The starport has its own ornithopter flights for patrol and surveillance as well as limited transport, as well as gorund based patrol vehicles of some kind.Patrol vehicles, their engines modified to resist the intake of dust, circled the base, their
headlights feebly piercing the gloom.
...
"...but if you still can't raise them after another ten minutes, send a flight of ornithopters to investigate."
Page 28
Honsou's group had palnted targeting beacons/Honsou watched the red light on Goran's slate and marked this moment in his memory. The targeting beacons they had spent the
last three months planting around the spaceport on this barren rock were all now active, shrieking their locations into space.
Page 29-30
Implies 'days' to cross from the edge of the system to the planet. anything lonver than 2 days is going to be single gees (or less) and half a percent of lightspeed at 1 AU, but if the distances are greater (say 10-12 AU) you could get up to a couple gees and several percent of c (within 5-6 days perhaps.) Also dozens of ships in the Iron Warriors 'fleet'Startled, Cycerin reopened his mind to other portions of his awareness and his breath caught in his throat as he felt the presence of dozens of starships in orbit above Hydra Cordatus. Inconceivable! Where had these ships come from and why had they not been detected before now? Nothing should be able to enter even the outer edges of the system without them being aware of it… could it? Or was this another example of human error? No, the logic engines would have screamed the place down many days ago if it had detected this size of fleet approaching. Somehow these starships had avoided detection by some of the rarest and most precious equipment available to the Adeptus Mechanicus.
Page 30-31
They have enough time to plot vectors and give a warning, and they're much faster than drop ships or drop pods (presumably) so we might be talking tens of km/s, but probably not faster in this case than a few hundred km/s, if that. alot depends on orbital distance and such."We have multiple signals detaching from several contacts in orbit."
...
"They're too fast for landing craft, I believe they are inbound orbital munitions."
...
Cycerin's vox-amp crackled in sudden fear as he saw the approach vectors of the incoming
bombs matched almost exactly the locator signals being broadcast from the torpedo launch silos.
...
The battle barge Stonebreaker fired three salvoes of magma bombs into the desolate rocky slopes surrounding the spaceport, blasting vast chunks of rock hundreds of metres into the air and flattening almost all the torpedo silos in the mountains with unerring accuracy.
...
A few hastily blessed torpedoes roared upwards through the orange sky on pillars of fiery
smoke and powerful beams of laser energy stabbed through the perpetually cloudless heavens.
More bombs fell, this time within the perimeter of Jericho Falls, demolishing buildings, gouging great craters and hurling enormous clouds of umber ash into the atmosphere.
...
Bombs slammed into the rockcrete, scything lethal fragments everywhere. Others smashed into the runways, cratering them and melting the honeycombed adamantium with the heat of a star.
Also this seems to confirm that the speed of munitions vs attack craft is distinctly different (meaning that most ordnance - at least the 'direct firing' kind are much much faster.)
Spaceport magma bomb bombardment. The beacons provide telemetry to guide in the shells, suggesting some guidance systems on the munitions perhaps (or it just gives the guns precise targeting data itself.)
Pulverization as well as melting of the target area. 'heat of the star' isn't very precise in this particular context, since heat has been referred to as energy, temperature, etc. And even if it didn't we're talking about onplanet in an enviromental condition. It would be nigh impossible (but amusing to try) to ratoinlze this as an energy yield. OF course not all such sources are imprecise and only a dogmatic mind would try to suggest otherwise.
It could even be meant to imply some nuclear-like yield going on, although what that exact yield is is not specific (it could be tons, kilotons, or megatons, and all of those have been applied to such sources. Hell we know magma bombs are variable yield as per Nightbringer anyhow.)
The more likely event is that the magma bombs are being described in this case as extremely high temperature thermal weapons (stellar temperatures, whcih means thousands or millions of C) - probably an indication of some sort of plasma component involved in the weapon (EG as some sort of nuclear type reaction, or a plasma weapon, or both.)
Page 34
They do have a sorcerer onboard so this is likely.Accursed, warp-spawned sorcery must have confounded the spirits of the machines and rendered them blind to the monstrous evil that approached Hydra Cordatus
Page 35
Space concrte with space rebar....vaulted a rebar-laced chunk of rockcrete..
Page 34-35
Honsou's helmet has heat sensors as well as mapping functions, but they cannot pierce the smoke of a Dreadclaw drop pod's retros, it seems.Thick, grey smoke from the retros obscured his vision, and the flames burning across the
spaceport rendered the heat augurs in his helmet useless.
...
As his men gathered at the foot of the wall, he aligned himself with the map projected on the
inside face of his visor.
Page 36
Fortification. The bunkers are about as tall as the tanks, meaning 4-5 m roughly.Behind four linked and high-walled berms, Honsou could see the aerials of tanks, but what pattern they were he could not yet tell.
Armoured bunkers at each of the compass points sprayed the area in front of the tower with deadly bullets, turning the open ground into a killing zone.
Page 37-38
Lascannon to break a hole in the bunker wide enough for a multimelta to shoot through. If we go by FFG material (EG Deathwatch) that's up to several square metres, but the bunker is no larger than 4-5m anyhow. call it 2-4 meters diameter. The wider the hole the more area of the bunker that can be melted of course. We also know from various sources like FFG that the bunkers are something like a metre thick for their walls usually. Depending on source, lascannon can carry as few as 5 or as many as 20 shots, or 10 to 40 shots total. The following calcs will go by all 40 shots."When the lascannons blow open the bunker, I want you to put enough melta fire into that bunker to make the rock run like liquid."
...
...the two warriors carrying the lascannons moved into firing positions and aimed their weapons. Bolt after bolt of powerful las-blasts slammed into the protruding salient angle of the bunker, blasting away huge chunks of armaplas and rockcrete.
...
The two Iron Warriors paid no attention to the incoming fire, sending shot after shot of unimaginably powerful energy into their target. Honsou watched as the angled corner of the bunker cracked wide open, the rockcrete burning orange in the heat.
Damage can be calced in two ways. One, is Luke Campell's death ray caclulator for the holes blasted out as above, and assuming concrete. The other is the temp by color.
Using the calculator we can further divide it up by the assumption of a single pulse or several pulses. If a single pulse the holes are going to be wider but shallower, while a 'pulse train' is going to have a narrower but deeper hole. Given that we might figure each shot might blast at least a torso sized chunk out of the wall (call it 50 cm diameter at least) for 2 lascannon guns if its a single pulse. For a pulse train (assuming somehwere around 40-50 pulses) the hole is more likely to be around 30-40 cm in diameter tops. with a 5 mm spot size and 10 microsecond delay betwene pulses, the total energy is going to be around 2-3 MJ - 50-100 kj per pulse roughly .. but in this case its going to overpenetrate like hell (1.5-2m 'penetration' which isn't impossible) A single pulse would be roughly similar, 2-3 MJ per pulse, oddly enough.
A larger hole will, of course, result in a larger yield. If it took only 10 shots for example, you might get into double digit MJ (10-15 MJ at least per shot).
The other way is by the color. If we go by he old 'lava colors' holdover from ym last calc, the aforementioned volume would account for ~9 tons of rock. I'm feeling lazy so just call it a 1000K temp, which assuming an initial temp of 300K yields something like 400-500 kj per kg. which is between 3.6 and 4.5 GJ for the glow. For 40 shots thats 90-112 MJ per 'shot'. This could be generous, as it assumes more of a 'heat ray' effect, so the actual volume melted might be less (10% would be within single/double digit MJ per shot range, for example) But the actual value assuming 'real life' materials would fall somewhere between those values probably.
Page 38
This calc is probably not much different from my prior one, and is much more straightforward. Assuming a 4 m tall, 5 m wide 'bunker' with metre thick walls we're probably talking it massing 170 tonnes for silicon. Call it 300-400 GJ to 'melt. Since this is a heat ray, the actual value probably isn't dramatically less (less than an OoM, and more probably because parts of the bunker do not get turned fully molten.). Of more import is the probability this is not going to be instantaneous - but rather over a period of a couple of seconds. The reason for this is mainly that there is a strong limiting factor here: recoil. Assuming a massless beam we're probably talking no more than 100 or so GW would be possible as a sustained output even for a bulk ypsace Marine. This would definitely rule out my earlier 'terajoule' level outputs at least (that sort of output would probably send most Marines barring a Terminator backwards, unless they had some sort of force field anchor like a suspensor.)..the Iron Warrior with the multi-melta rose from his concealment and charged forwards to fire. The gun's discharge built to a deafening screech before erupting from the barrels in a searing hiss. The warrior's aim was true and the air within the bunker ignited with atomic fury, spurts of vaporised flesh and superheated oxygen blasting from the weapon slits.
...
He leapt over the Marauder's fuselage and sprinted towards the molten hell of the wrecked bunker, its walls now flowing like wax across the ground.
...
Honsou leapt onto the remains of the bunker, his iron-shod boot sinking into the molten rock. The heat scorched his leg armour, but it held firm as he pushed off and dropped into the heart of the defence.
...
Scorched and blackened limbs lay strewn about, all that remained of those stationed too close to the bunker; the backwash of the melta impact had burnt flesh and bone to cinders in an instant.
In any case even if I'm overstating the figure it probably isn't by much. The side effects virtually cremate soldiers standing nearby (and probably inside the bunker) which is going to require hundreds if not thousands of MJ per trooper, which in turn means we're probably looking at single or double digit GJ in a much briefer period of time.
Page 38-39
Damage done by melta weapon to Demolisher...a tank - a Leman Russ Demolisher - reversing from its revetment..
..
Another white-hot blast of melta fire flashed and the Demolisher's turret was engulfed in the inferno of the
impact. Steam and smoke obscured the tank for brief seconds, but, unbelievably, it continued onwards through the boiling cloud
...
Honsou roared in release as he realised the heat of the melta blast must have warped the barrel enough to cause the weapon to misfire and the shell to detonate prematurely.
Page 40
The bunker was destroyed in 'moments' which gives us a rough idea of the punishment the..the icon representing the southern bunker faded from a steady blue to an ominous black.
...
"t's gone, destroyed," replied Koval Peronus. "One second it was there, now it's not!"
Cycerin watched, horrified as the red icons suddenly spilled over the location that had, only moments before, been one of the lynchpins of his defence.
Page 40-41
Indication of the strength of a Dreadnought relative to a Marine (which implies hundreds, perhaps thousands of times stronger than a normal person depending on context and source.) and a security/blast door 'metres' thick. One wonders why they aren't using the multimelta or lascannons....the adamantium door shudder under the impact of the Dreadnought's siege hammer, the metres-thick door buckling under the repeated blows. It was only a matter of moments until the door would be ripped from its frame by the screaming war machine. Thick chains, looped through bolted rings, ran from its legs and shoulder mounts, where two dozen of the strongest Iron Warriors stood ready to restrain the machine once it had broken down the door to the control tower.
Page 44
Max power on a laspistol is worth 3-4 shots. Assuming a 20-30 shot capacity for a normal laspistol we're talking anywhere from 5-7x greater power for max yield over 'regular', to 7-10x for 30 shots. If its 80 shots (munitorum manual) we'd be looking at 20-27x greater power.Peronus stood alone, holding a pair of laspistols pointed at the door.
...
"It's easy. Just point and pull the trigger," explained Peronus. "I've set the power to maximum to give us a chance of actually hurting one of these heretics, so you'll only get three, maybe four shots at the most."
A lasrifle with variable settings would be between 2-3x more shots at maximum, given differences in relative power and capacity.
Page 44-45
We know from a number of sources both old and newer that Space Marine breastplates are at least an inch, probably two thick. We also know lasgun beam 'diameters' tend to be around an inch or so in diameter, so its likely that a 1-2 inch diameter 'crater' is blasted by the shot.The robed machine priest shouted and
fired his pistol, the blast punching a hole in the wall beside Kroeger. The technician fired a heartbeat later and Kroeger rocked back on his heels as the impact blasted a crater in his power armour. Before the Imperial could shoot again, Kroeger was upon him, backhanding his fist across his face and decapitating him in an explosion of blood and bone.
The adept fired again, the blast scoring across Kroeger's back.
Assuming Space MArine armour is 'armor steel' on the death ray calculator, a ~2 cm wide, 1 cm deep crater can be blasted out with as little as 10 kj. a 5 cm diamter crater would be closer to 50-80 kj. If we're talking a 'heat ray' and iron.. probably between 15 grams and 120 grams or so depending on diameter (2-5 cm diameter crater). Melting or vaprozigint that crater would result in 18 and 144 kj respectively for melting, and 112 and 900 kj for vaporization, but both assume basically a heat ray type laser.
Depending on the exact calcs we go with, a laspistol powerpack would have as little as 30 kj or as much as 3,6 MJ, and we might be talking about a 'typical' laspistol output of between 1 kj and 180 kj per shot.
Page 47
Size of the Iron Warrior landing craft and the scpoe of their assault.The massive star-ship strained against the oppressive attraction of gravity, disgorging hundreds of
landing craft from its belly like some vast sow giving birth to her litter.
Each of this craft's spawn was hundreds of metres in length and crammed with a mixture of slaves, soldiers, ammunition, weapons, siege engines, tools and all manner of materiel required for a besieging army.
Page 53
Distances in and around the fort. Its hard to guess those on the map since we dont see the razorwire, but we know the distance on th empa between the Gatehouse and Sepulchre.Hundreds of metres of razor wire stretched out from the lip of the glacis, the slope built up at the forward edge of the ditch before the walls to prevent them from being targeted with direct-fire artillery weapons, the wire forming a barbed carpet across the entire floor of the valley.
...
Positioned on higher ground, nearly a kilometre to the west of this blockhouse sat an ornate tower, crowned with winged angels and carved from a smooth black stone.
Page 56
Archmagos of the planet. He's wired into a machine that preserves his life, not unlike a Princeps or some starship captains. Also a slate with holographic capability, one of the rare, compact varieites (also recall that Lucian Arcadius regards hololithic tech as lost. hee hee.)...a brass-rimmed, holo-slate displayed a flickering image of an ashen face, haloed by wires and gurgling tubing. The face twitched as half-remembered muscle memories flickered across its features, their organic nature now subservient to the pulse of the machines around them. Arch Magos Caer Amaethon, Master of the Citadel of Hydra Cordatus, frowned from the depths of his machine-temple where he was forever linked to the beating, mechanical heart of the citadel, interfaced with every facet of its operation. So immersed in the internal matrix of the citadel, the scant remnants of Amaethon's body could never leave his mechanised womb buried deep in the heart of the fortress.
Page 58
Air forces on Hydra Cordatus. The interesting thing to wonder - were they a Naval detachment, either from a starship or seconded to the regiment, or are they like the Phantine? That one of the Jouran officers is an 'ex Marauder' pilot is rather suggestive in that respect.The stocky major was a small man, an ex-Marauder pilot with one arm and a crudely cauterised right eye socket of burnt flesh.
...
"Five squadrons of Lightnings and four of Marauders. A total of one hundred and
twelve aircraft, mostly air interceptors and, we suspect, mostly destroyed."
We dont know the exact breakdown in craft, but there are probably between 12 and 18 Lightnings per squadron, and 11 and 13 Marauders. That assumes full squads of course. Average is 12-13 per squadron.
Either way it suggests a non standard air force setup as well (at least compared to other sources, like the Rogue TraderRPG stuff.)
Page 58
They still have 20K troops despite losing 5 companies at the spaceport and whateve rthey had in the outposts (a platoon or so.) the first two battalions are the smallest, probably 6K apiece on average, whilt ehte third is 7-9K maybe. Battalion B and C have 900 vehicles all togther, and we learn that A had at least 500 at Tor Christo."We have over 20,000 soldiers, a brigade of armoured vehicles and a demi-legion of the Legio Ignatum at our disposal."
...
"Our forces are dispersed throughout the main commands. Battalion C is based here along with Battalion B, altogether some 12,000 soldiers and 900 armoured vehicles. Battalion A was split between Jericho Falls and Tor Christo, and, taking into account the losses suffered at Jericho Falls, the battalion now stands at a little under 7,000 men, all currently based in Tor Christo."
As far as regiments go, this one is VERY well equipped with tanks, especially for its size. And that doesnt' even include the artillery. I'm not sure whether the brigade is a tank or just a figure of speech, since most I can find about RL 'armour/tank brigade's tend to be far larger than what we see here.
Page 60
Each battalion probably has at least 3 artillery platoons. I'm banking on this being a lower limit."Major Tedeski will continue to hold Tor Christo, reinforced by two artillery platoons from each of the other battalions."
Page 60
Response time for reinforcements."How soon before we can reasonably expect reinforcements to
arrive?"
...
"Before the capture of Jericho Falls, the Adeptus Magos stationed there was able to despatch a coded communique with the highest priority prefix. This will be received by all nearby Adeptus Mechanicus outposts very soon. The security prefix I detected on the message should engender the swiftest response."
...
"It is impossible to say with any degree of certainty. Travel over such distances is fraught with all manner of variables and there are many factors that could adversely affect the arrival of our reinforcements."
"Your best guess then.'"
..
"Perhaps seventy days, no more than one hundred."
Since Naicin is (as we learn) a traitor, this may or may not be accurate (attempts to discourage or dispirit the troops), or it may reflect unusual (dnagerous) conditions. For that matter we dont know from how far away they're expecting reinforcement from. It's not an impossibility though - given the nature of distances and the warp, and other variables, months is not impossible, especially for aid from a long ways off.
Page 66
Effect of the grenade again.. it not only seemed to do alot of thermal damage, but may have even flayed bone form the body. This tends to suggest it might be more powerful and/or versatile (as in having thermal/incendiary as well as frag and blast effects) than real life grenades (of course I dont know if RL grenades can leave such extensive burning - maybe they can!) That it's more powerful says nothing, since it was a Space Marine grenade and they tend to be larger the same way all Astartes gear is....glanced over at the blackened shape across the bunker from him. The gleam of bone and the hand burned into a claw told him that it had once been his fellow squadmate, Hitch.
Page 67-68
Hawke's salvaged gear. I wonder if the vox was similar to what his allies had carried outside the outpost when Honsou attacked. It seems to be fairly man portable (at least, it fits inside the sack it seems, even if it is heavy.) The rest is mostly food, water and medicine as well as the gas mask.He stuffed as many ration packs as he could find into his pack as well as a couple of plastic
bottles of hydration capsules.
...
...pulling out a battered respirator kit and stuffing it in the rucksack. The oxygen level inside was
just over half-full...
...
Hawke grinned as he pulled out a portable vox-unit from the bottom of the locker, though calling it portable was a joke. The bulky battery packs weighed a kilo each and the vox itself would take up over half the space in his pack.
...
A direction finder and a set of magnoculars once belonging to Charedo went into one pocket...
I'd guess the direction finder is a compass.
Page 72-73
A tyranid spaceship infected with the Obliterator virus. It does show that the Tyranid resilience to the warp and genetic mutation has limits - at least once the protection of the Hive Mind is severed.A groaning like the sound of the world cracking open split the air, the grinding screech of massive organic pistons and gears overcoming the bass thrumming of the mechanisms that kept the bloated craft aloft. These ancient and arcane devices, a hideous mix of what had once been organic components and ancient technology, had been created specifically for this craft and there was nothing in the galaxy like it. Their construction owed as much to the power of hyper-evolution and sorcery as engineering, and the physics of their operation should have been impossible. Forrix knew for a fact that their manufacture had only been possible within the Eye of Terror, that region of space where the warp spewed into real space and all laws of reality ceased to have meaning. That region of space called home by the Legions of Chaos.
...
The massive vessel resembled a vast spire of rock pitched on its side and left to lie for millennia at the bottom of some depthless ocean. Its ancient surface was a loathsome, glossy black, like the carapace of some vile insect, pitted and encrusted with lesions and fluid-leaking orifices. Its underside was studded with sphincter-like caverns that shimmered in a monstrous heat haze.
Once, long ago, this vessel had plied the icy depths of space in the unutterable vastness between galaxies, home and locus to billions of creatures linked together in a gestalt consciousness, enslaved to the imperative to consume biological matter and reproduce. It had drifted from world to world, stripping each bare of life, each creature within its shared mind acting in perfect concert with the vast over-mind. That had come to an end when the Warsmith had caused its neural pathways to become infected with the same techno-virus that infested the insane Obliterators, severing the vital link between the massive parent vessel and its offspring, stripping away the smothering blanket of belonging from the swarm.
No one knew how long the leviathan had fought the infection before the Warsmith's sorcerers had defeated its defences and dragged the barely sentient carcass to the Eye of Terror.
...
Over two thousand metres in length, it hovered impossibly above Jericho Falls.
Page 75
Distance of the cannon fodder slaves the Word BEares are using form Tor Christo.The grey bastions on the rocks above were over a kilometre away, but
Utorian fancied she could make out the faces of the gunners and soldiers on the firing steps.
PAge 76
Electronic/computerized gunsight. What's more this may imply indirect fire, as he's behind the walls of the fort, and yet he can somehow see where the enemy is. He must be tied into some sort of optical sight or scope stationed elsewhere, or he has some sort of remote spotting capability. Of course if the walls are elevanted like in the map, he may still be 'behind' the walls yet be in line of sight of the targets but.. as we see that makes things make evne less sense than with indirect fire...Dervlan Chu watched the approaching line of vehicles through the gunsight of his Basilisk artillery piece mounted behind the walls of Tor Christo's Kane bastion with undisguised relish. The image was grainy and static interference washed through the sight, but its beauty was unmistakable....
Page 76
Basilisk shell. Since this is cased ammo (or at least, it uses a case) the actual length of the round may be ~50-60% the length (rough guess comparing to other shells), and the diameter is likely to be between 1/3 and 1/4 the length, so we're looking at maybe between 125mm and 200mm.. possibly a bit bigger (although I'd doubt it.) Most would seem to suggest it falls somewhere in the 6" range though, which would make these Basilisks roughly equal to modern arty....he knew the precise ranges of his gun, and his loading team already had one of the
metre-long shells loaded in the breech of the massive artillery piece.
Page 77
They're not in range? What the fuck? They're not much more than a few km away at BEST! Then again Graham McNeill tends not to be terribly consistent with his weapons ranges (300,000 km range for macro cannon in Nithbringer, but combat ranges - one for a nova cannon, a fraction of that in Warriors of Ultramar.)Smoke and dust billowed behind the attacking vehicles and soon they would be in range....
Page 77
The artillery pieces are indeed computerised, wired together into some central fire control computer...the senior officers of the Christo, together with the omnipresent priests of the Machine
God, gathered far behind the guns, consulting an attack logister that was no doubt wired into the gunsights of their artillery pieces
Page 77
Range counter.Chu smiled and returned to his gunsight, watching the range counter unwind as the enemy approached.
Page 78
[The only deaths likely this day were those of worthless prisoners, men who deserved to die anyway for their stubborn refusal to follow the only true path that could save mankind from the multifarious horrors of this universe.
Where else but in Chaos could humanity find the strength to resist the implacable advance of the tyranids, the barbarity of the orks or the nascent peril of the ancient star-gods that were even now awakening from their aeons-long slumbers? Only Chaos had the power to unite a fragmented race and defeat that which sought to destroy it. The soldiers of the corpse-god only speeded the ruination of that which they purported to defend by resisting Chaos.
Well, the great work they undertook here would bring the ultimate victory of Chaos one step closer, and the Warsmith would surely reward all those who aided in his victory with the patronage of the gods
You know, I know this is supposed to reflect Honsou having the spirit of the Crusade-era traitors fighting against what they see as a corrupt, lying regime, but fuck does Honsou really think Chaos is better? He really believes that the Chaos gods would 'save' or unite humanity? That's not conducive to their ideal situation, which is - unsurprisingly - CHAOS. Having even more horror and conflict and death and desturction serves their purposes more than uniting and defeating them.
There's some interesting Sarpedon-like parallels with Honsou here in that he seems naive enough to cling to those sorts of beliefs, despite the fact that his experiences with the Traitor Legions in general must tell him otherwise. Or we oculd view it as one of those little ironic twists of Chaos - its ability to give one hope or to delude oneslf with false notions of 'good intentions' even as you commit acts of barbarity and cruelty. Honsou's dismissal of the cannon fodder certainly echoes that.
Page 79
Bolt round blows apart a human torsoLarana watched as one of the giant warriors
casually gunned him down, a single bolt from his weapon blasting the man's entire torso away
Page 80
The recoil of the gun seems considerable, enough that the Basilisk chassis has to be locked down and even then it will still rock noticably.Dervlan Chu pressed the firing stud on the armament panel and closed his eyes as the Basilisk fired. The massive barrel's recoil pushed almost its entire length into the track unit, the crack of the shell's discharge easily penetrating the ear protectors he wore.
Despite the bolted locking clamps, the track unit rocked under the force of the recoil. Even as the first shell arced through the air, his loading team was ejecting the spent casing and unlimbering a fresh shell from the gurney beside the gun.
He pressed his eye to the gunsight, checking to see how much the recoil had caused the barrel to drift from its aiming position.
Not much, he saw, spinning the correction wheel, bringing the aiming reticle back to centre, and adjusting fire for the next shot.
..
Their first shell hadn't even impacted yet and they were ready to fire again.
...
He centred the aiming reticle on a smoking track..
Also the loaders are fast enough that they can reload the gun (casings note) before the shells land. Considering the absurdly short ranges involved that must be a matter of seconds, tops (which fits with Chu adjusting his aimpoint due to the recoil.)
Also, the Basilisks not only have reitcules, but there would be implication that the gusight might have some means of indicating barrel drift from recoil (other than aiming it, since he adjusts before aiming the reticule.)
The range is at least half a km to a km, and the height of the bastion is 60 m, although tis likely the guy is at least hundreds of metres back given the angle of the gun call it 700-1500 meters, a paltry 100-200 m/s. Which even for a 6 inch shell is not much recoil, so it has to be moving much faster due to the recoil, but the range is short so... AAAAGH
Page 80
Crater size of a basilisk shell. going by the ADC that implies around 600 kilos of TNT. Funny enough this fits with the 'kilos' mentioned in Wolf's Honour. Interesting how those things seem to work out in retrospect! Maybe someone at Balck Libarary reads my work...first Basilisk shell impacted, blasting a crater fifteen metres across and obliterating a dozen men in an instant.
...
She rolled over, across the lip of a crater, and flopped to its smoking base.
Scraps of flesh and bone spattered the interior surface of the crater, the stench of scorched human meat and burning propellant filling her nostrils.
...
The man sheltering in the crater stumbled over to her, his mouth working soundlessly up and down, but Larana ignored him, crawling to the lip of the crater...
Even if I was off by an OoM on that we're talking a tremendous amount of firepower for a single shell. Even if its larger caliber than Imperial armour implies (the 125-132mm - having shells pack tht much firpeower is even MORE insnae!) In any case, it also implies it blasts apart a dozen men in a single impact, which given the 400 j pre square cm 'flay flesh from bone' flash burn value we might figure is a good 50-100 MJ worth, which works out to around 12-25 kg of TNT equivalent. Not as impressive a sthe crater, but it suggests the shells are at least as good as anything modern forces would have firepower-wise.
Not sure how much it might help, but accorrding to here a 16" shell makes a similiar sized crater, and the Schwerer Gustav can make a 10m deep, 10m diameter crater.
Regardless it looks like we're talking about many tens, and likely at least a few hundred kg of TNT equivlaent.
Page 83
Multiple magnification levels and a rangefinder on the gunsight. Again remember he's behind the wall, yet he has 'line of sight' and can control the gunsight. Again he may be in LOS and direct firing, but given the values mentioned and all the other variables things get pretty damn silly.As he swivelled the gunsight around, he saw that the guns mounted in Mars bastion had been equally thorough.
...
Chu returned the gunsight to his own fire zone.
...
He switched up a level of magnification...
..
He pressed the range finder button on the armament panel and cursed as he realised the APCs and the warriors standing before them were some hundred metres beyond the maximum range of his gun.
...
As he increased the magnification another level..
Page 88
Range of Honsou from the fort.Honsou was now less than two hundred metres from the base of the rocky promontory that Tor Christo sat upon.
PAge 90
Flares on grav chutes. Cute use of antigrav.Both burst within seconds of one another and the plateau was suddenly illuminated by twin suns burning brightly as they slowly descended on small grav-chutes.
Page 90
Speed of Astartes coagulation.Polonas grunted in pain, the accelerated healing mechanism of his body stemming the flow of blood from his severed leg in
seconds
Page 90
Las fire 'vitrifying' the dust on the ground but not much of th ground. Assuming it did melt the rock within a 2-3cm diameter 'crater' we might be talking 10-40 kj, although its purely a thermal weapon at that point and I'm not entirely sure 'dust' is the same thing as the ground, which would make this calc problematic....now small arms fire began bursting around them. Las-bolts vitrified the dust and heavy bolters churned the ground. He felt an impact graze his shoulder and another clip his thigh, but these were little but annoyances: his armour was proof against such weaponry.
The other interesting point is how Honsou dismisses lasfire even tho Hawke' sown lasgun wounded him earlier in the boko. It may be due to range, or iht location, but its kinda silly.
Page 91
[qutoe]A bolt from a lascannon hammered into the ground beside him, cracking the earth and
flashing the dust to vapour.[/quote]
That would tned to cast doubt on my previous calc, it would also tend to argue lascannon aren't quite on the high MJ side as I assessted (much less GJ) against the bunker, but that would ALSO assume all lasguns are alike, which is unlikely considering how varied every OTHER 40K weapon is in effect and operation.
Page 91
Close range mortar of unknown type (presumably heavier than man portable though) mauls Power armour at close range. Honsou has Tau luck....as a mortar shell burst less than five metres directly above him, spraying him with razor sharp shrapnel. Red runes winked into life across his visor as the spirit within his armour registered breaches in its structure. Honsou could feel the stickiness of blood briefly run down his leg and back before his enhanced metabolism clotted the wounds.
...
...realised why he had been spared.
The veteran's back was laid open to the bone, his thick ribs and spine glistening and red. His head was a mass of gristle and bloody flesh, pulped grey matter pouring in a glutinous flood from his shattered skull.
Page 95
He sat up and rummaged through the pouches on the side of his pack, pulling out his hydration pills. He swallowed a pair of blue capsules with a mouthful of water from his canteen. He had water and tablets enough to last for maybe three weeks and meal packs for two...
Even allowing for his light carrying capacity, the food and water supplies Hawke had access to must be damn lightweight.
page 95
The Vox unit he has must have a range of at least several km.He had a vox-unit and though he had been unable to raise anyone last night, he fervently hoped he'd be able to make contact today.
...
He had climbed a thousand metres over steep, rocky terrain...
Page 96
The respirator has more than 20 minutes of oxygen.He'd needed ten minutes on the respirator just to get his breath back.
Page 98
The 'majority' of the (battle?) titans - reavers maybe? - are 20 metres tall in this novel...the Battle Titans of the Legio Mortis strode the earth, the thunder of their footsteps
threatening to break apart this planet's fragile crust. The majority of the hellish war machines stood over twenty metres in height..
Page 99
As much as they hate it, the AdMech will - when the situations require it - they will alter and even enhance the performance of their equipment - even incrementally, if the situation requires.Since the unexplained quarantining of the Star Chamber by Magos Naicin, they had been forced to try and adapt the vox-casters to provide them with some sort of link to the outside world. Much as it went against everything Corsil had learned on Mars, he had spent the last day and a half working on a dozen disassembled vox-panels attempting to alter the divinely decreed circuitry within each blessed device.
...
Two mechadendrites worked deep inside an open access panel on the side of the console,
adjusting the power couplings in attempt to reroute some of the power to the broadcast amplifier.
If he could isolate some of the more redundant systems - perish the thought that such a term could exist in relation to a machine - then he might be able to increase the range of the vox-casters by up to four per cent.
The implied redundancy also echoes the fact the AdMech seem to like to build in such redundnacy on purpose - reliability perhaps one factor, but also the fact they can perform such 'miracles' to improve performance if the situation requires. Performance-enhancing modifications are not unusual (whether its the modified engines on tanks and other vehicles, or the modified performance of a lasgun.) Hell that's what the 5th Necron Codex even told us about the Russes!
Page 99-100
Hawke seems to have some sort of squad/platoon level vox unit. The Jouran don't seem to have micro beads. Of course given the nubmer of armoured vehicles they have and their essentially defensive garrison deployment they don't really NEED them, but still..The squad-level vox-net? That was normally reserved for small unit actions; for platoon and squad
leaders to issue tactical orders.
Page 101
A psychic means of truth-telling, although at ranges of kilometres its reliability is (understandably) questionable.Naicin had balked at Vauban's idea of employing an empathic server to gauge the truth, citing the unreliability of such a procedure without the subject actually being present.
Page 103
Tor Chirsto's gates and its walls.The vast, southern gate of the citadel measured exactly forty-four metres high, thirty metres wide and was known as the Destiny Gate. Each layered half of the bronze gate was four metres thick and weighed hundreds of tonnes.
..
Flanked by the threatening forms of Mori and Vincare bastions, they were set within the sixty-metre high curtain wall of the citadel, surrounded by carven statuary.
Page 104
the loyalist demi-legion, or at least those present at Tor Chirsto. 12 Titans - 3 warlord, 5 reaver, 4 Warhound. The Warlords are 30 m tall.Princeps Fierach commanded the Warlord Titan Imperator Bellum, marching at the head of eleven more god-machines. Another two Warlords flanked Fierach...
...
..the soldiers inside cheering as his thirty-metre high war machine raised its weapons high in salute.
...
Five Reaver Titans, smaller cousins to their leader's war machine, took up rear positions and four Warhound Scout Titans loped alongside the Battle Titans.
Page 105
Battalion A's mechanised/armoured units. Along with B and C's that means at least 1400 vehicles. Depending on how big the companies at the Space port were, there might have been another 70-100 or so vehicles there, if the ratio between men and vehicles held constant.Five hundred vehicles, a mix of battle tanks and armoured fighting vehicles..
Page 106
Warhounds are 1/2 the size of a Reaver. Assuming 20 metre tall Reavers (hinted by the Mortis forces) we might be talking 10 m tall warhounds in this book.Less than half the size of a Reaver Titan, the Warhound was an agile Scout Titan, the
forward eyes and ears of the Legio.
Page 106-107
Warhounds. Not sure what sort of weapons can take out voids 'with a good volley', but warhounds are much more vulnerable to enemy than bigger tnaks. Again a km away - what sorts of fucking rnages are in this book?There was none at the moment, but it never paid to be too complacent when your void shields
could be taken out with one good volley.
...
The enemy line was a kilometre away and he knew their speed would protect them from all but a desperately lucky shot.
...
...Carlsen had a healthy respect for infantry and armoured vehicles. Friendly support was vital for a Titan of his size. Enemy infantry and vehicles could pose a serious threat to a Warhound.
Page 106-107
Implies that the Warhounds are outrunning the batlte titans and the tanks (Russes and Chimeras) are keeping up. This is clearly 'off road' speed.. and it suggests that the speeds are at least 27 km/hr (Reaver striding speed) and possibly as high as 58 km/hr (Warhound striding speed), although the later bit tends to suggest that they're not quite keeping up with the Warhounds top speed....[warhounds] sprinted ahead of the Legio's Battle Titans.
...
Behind him, advancing abreast, came a portion of the armoured might of the 383rd Jouran Dragoon...
...
Leonid watched the two Warhounds tasked to his storming force race ahead, their speed incongruous for such large machines.
Slower moving Reavers strode alongside his formation while the majority of the Legio advanced on the salient angle of the attackers' trench line...
Given what we know from Honour guard and Gunheads about Russ speeds (in excess of 30 kph off road) this is not surprising.
Page 108
At least 4,000 of the 7,000 (remaining) A Battalion troopers are part of the 500 vehicles. That implies a good 300-400 of those vehicles must be Chimeras. Again they're not fully mechanised, but for their size a damn large chunk of them are (over half, easily!)...the Jouran armoured thrust would hit the east/west trench line, storming the trenches with four thousand warriors hell-bent on revenge.
Page109
Iron Warrior gunsights penetrate smoke.Thick grey smoke wreathed the plateau, obscuring the Imperial
tanks, but the Iron Warriors in the bunkers were able to penetrate such petty obstacles as smoke with their gunsights.
Page 109
The Chaos forces seem to be running on diesel fuel. Diesel and promethium are different things.Diesel smoke and the choking stench of exhaust fumes filled the air as hundreds of armoured tank..
Page 110
Apparently these particular Battle titans can't see through smoke either, although the Iron Warriors can... *shrugs*PRinceps Fierach strained to see the enemy battle lines through the clouds of smoke thrown up by the barrage from the citadel and Tor Christo. Billowing banks of red dust hung in the air, rendering him virtually blind...
Page 110
They also seem to be able to outrun the Guard tanks even with the Warlords. What's more, is once they spot the Dis Irae, they pour on even MORE speed.He linked his consciousness to the Titan's sensorium, noting that his battle group was moving a little too fast, outpacing the slower tanks of the Guard in their haste for battle..
Page 111
And in a move that would do a Soul drinkers novel proud, the Titans break off to pursue their own agenda. Although to be blunt I'm not sure the armoured thrust would do much against fully prepared titans and the Chaos forces even unified, but its still pretty stupid for them to have broken up like that."Are you sure? Such a manoeuvre will leave the Jourans dangerously exposed."
"Damn the Jourans!" bellowed Fierach, "I want that Titan! Now be silent and follow me!"
Page 112
blind grenades I suppose to thorw off targeting sensors. Of course in this novel all smoke seems to do that.They were almost there and hundreds of tanks
belched smoke from their dispensers to confound the targeting spirits in their enemy's weapons.
PAge 112
Must have been a big missile to send a Russ punching sideways.AS it breaches the front armouor, which means considerable momentum. Although in this case it penetrates. one side...a shot streaked from a bunker in the centre of the traitor line, covering the distance to its target in less than a second. A Leman Russ was slammed sideways as the missile punched through its frontal armour. The superheated core of the missile ignited the vehicle's fuel and cooked off its ammunition, blowing it apart in a greasy black fireball.
