Space Wolf series thread

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Connor MacLeod
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Re: Space Wolf series thread

Post by Connor MacLeod »

Sons of Fenris. This is a single update, since Id idnt pull alot technical from it. Its the first of the two Lightener novels. you can really tell a difference story wise.. Lightener isn't bad per say, he's just... not William King. That really made a difference to me. And this is really the weakest book of the series, more of a setup for Wolf's Honour (which is better, but still doesn't feel like William King.)

Anyhow off we go.

PAge 10
Besides their stature, standing half a metre taller than any man, the most outwardly visible sign was their extended canines.
Implies Space wolves gain half a metre in height over normal people. Whether tis is average or compared to the tallest, we don't know.

Page 15
A bolter shell tore through the Blood Claw's head, spreading fragments of his skull in front of his body.
Night Lord bolter headsploding Space Wolf.

Page 22-23
With a war cry akin to the howl of a banshee, he raised a writhing metal gun, and fired a burst of blue-white plasma, not at Tor, but at a cluster of Grey Hunters, engulfing two, and leaving them melted piles of flesh and ceramite.
Night Lord plasma pistol. given 100-200 kg and made of iron.. we're talking hundreds of MJ at least. if silicon and 200+ kg we're talking closer to a GJ or more. Also purely thermal plasma weapons (eg inefficient kill mechanism.)

Page 23
A Grey Hunter twisted to the ground as a bolter round tore through his armour and his intestines. Tor felt the bolter rounds crunch on his armour, each a hammer-blow.
One Grey Hunter has his armour pierced, other survives.

PAge 23-24
Tor gritted his teeth and fired his plasma pistol, all the while trying to keep his eyes off the enemy's armour. The plasma enveloped the chest plate of the Night Lord, burning its way through the ancient ceramite. The intense heat melted everything it came in contact with including the chest of the Marine encased within. Liquid remains oozed out of the opening as he collapsed to the ground.
Assuming boiling point or thereabouts for flesh and a 10 kg breastplate (assume somewhere between silicon and iron) we're talking several tens of MJ perhaps. still a ppurely thermal weapon.

Page 28-29
Behind Ragnar, the world exploded in a bright fireball. Then, a second blast erupted, and a third. The Night Lord holding the icon fell as a lascannon shot instantly vaporised him.
Lasgun vaporises night Lord. Again hundreds of MJ for armour alone, possibly gigajoules. IF we take vaporization literally. If not, then its more like single digit MJ or so (grenade if we're talking really efficient, maybe up to 8-10 MJ for 400 j per sq cm flash burn flaying.)

Page 33
Hyades was a lush planet, many sectors from the Imperial capital of Holy Terra on the fringes of Space Wolf territory.
If its near Space wolf Territory we're probably talking thousands of LY away (ten thousand LY maybe)

Page 34
Without Navigators to guide them safely through the immaterium, Imperial spaceships could never travel long distances between the stars. Even the custody of a planet was a side business interest compared to the House's true asset of Navigation. Promethium production was one of House
Property ownership is a sideline compare to trade and navigation. Note that short rang warp travel without Navigators is possible.

Page 34
Promethium production was one of House Belisarius's many benefits to the Imperium. Promethium, the white-hot fuel used in Imperial flame weapons, was found naturally in only a few places, including Hyades.
Thats different from the 'space oil' fossil fuel perspective in other sources (like FFG) - its just for flamers and its rare naturally. It must be for a particular kind. :D

Page 40
The team couldn't be more than a few kilometres from the city itself, although Ragnar had lost exact track of their exact location. He suspected that his armour's locators needed some recalibration.
Armour tracking systems - they seem to be able to tell location and relative distances. and direction.

Page 46
The Chimera was a versatile vehicle, but even with terrain modifications, Ragnar found it surprising that one would force its way here to the temple.
Chimeras can accept terrain modifications of some kind.

Page 47
With their enhanced muscles, each Space Wolf moved faster than an ordinary man despite their armour.
Space wolves can run faster than 'normal man' - assuming 5 m.s we're talking 15-20 kph maybe.

Page 49
Ragnar heard the retort of the turrets from the wall. Heavy bolter shells pounded Magni. Dirt sprayed into the air as the blasts gouged holes in the earth. The large shells knocked Magni from his feet, cracking his power armour.

Magni twisted backwards as another blast threw him into the air, instinctively seeking the shelter of the jungle. He came to rest at Ragnar's feet in a broken heap of blue-grey armour.
heavy bolter fire penetrates Space wolf armour.

PAge 51
One of them fired a bolter at the Sentinel, but the rounds bounced off its armour.
Bolter fire bounces off Sentinel hull.

Page 53
The heavy bolters on the walls opened fire immediately, ripping gouts of soil from the earth. He changed direction, evading the shells, uttering a swift prayer to the Emperor that his armour would hold.
Ragnar thinks his armour might stand up to at least (limited) heavy bolter fire.

Page 57
Although he was a Space Marine, Magni had suffered serious injuries and had lost consciousness.
Seemed to take heavy injury from the heavy bolter fire

Page 57
The lab was up to Imperial standards with prosthetics, augmetics and surgical tables.
Imperial standards for medical tech.

Page 59
Would you prefer we talk like this? Gabriella's voice echoed in Ragnar's mind.

The Space Wolf shuddered. He trusted Gabriella, indeed he was pledged to her protection and service, but there was something that bothered him about her psyker abilities. Although the Rune Priests of the Space Wolves had similar gifts, Ragnar still kept something of the superstitious warrior in his heart, and he clung to his old instincts.
Curious that Gabriella, as a Navigator has some telepathic gifts.

Page 64
Ragnar met Commander Cadmus's gaze. Something was missing. When Ragnar looked upon most men, he saw fear, no matter how well they hid it, but Cadmus showed no such emotion.

The commander was a massive man, although not quite the size of the towering Space Wolves.
Cadmus. Note these details they become important later.

PAge 75
High above the planet of Hyades dozens of transports, cargo barges and cruisers of various designs and sizes were going about their business, transporting supplies and promethium to and from the planet. The amount of activity within the orbital corridors above Hyades made it easy for a light cruiser to enter into high orbit without attracting any attention.
..
To standard scans the ship's configuration was that of a light cruiser, no different from any other used by merchants to transport goods and cargo.
Orbital (merchant) traffic in scope and numbers. I'd guess more than 'dzoens' - clsoer to hundreds if one ship can get lost in the crowd. Also light cruisers (and similar) seem to be a fairly standard cargo transport hull. Which kind of 'light cruiser' (the Rennie era 2 km ones, or the 4.5 RT era ones) we dont know.

Page 78
At night a flash of this nature would be visible several kilometres away, however Hyades's thick jungle canopy restricted the flash's visibility considerably.
Constraints on teleport insertons. They're not very stealthy without obscuring cover. Also, the Dark Angels apparently have a merchant-grade light cruiser with a teleporter dedicated to stealth insertions. Given the role of the Deathwing and its covert duties, this is not really surprising.

Page 93
"Spectral rotation scan." Jeremiah sub-vocalised this command.
The optics in his helmet responded, switching through each wavelength of the light spectrum, giving Jeremiah a clear picture of what was on the street. However, Jeremiah was also aware that whatever the divine technology of the Emperor would allow him to see could also be thwarted by the insidious technologies of the Emperor's enemies.
multi-spectral auto-senses scan. Can be jammed.

Page 93
Elijah silently activated the auspex and uploaded the city maps to the display. Even though the interference had played havoc with its sensors, it could still display the city maps they had acquired.
Auspex has map plans loaded into it.

Page 109
"Full spectrum scan," Elijah sub-vocalised the command. The optics within his helmet began to cycle through the visual spectrum.

To his surprise the visual sensors were unable to penetrate the glass of the atrium.

"The atrium is shielded from my optical scan, my lord."
Again multi-spectral optical scanning in the helmet, and again it can be blocked.

Page 112
As he and Ragnar stepped out onto the walkway, the side of the palace wall exploded as bolter rounds peppered the corner. Torin took a hit to his arm, which spun him around and back.
...
"Armour stopped it cold, just caught me off guard."
Arm armour stops bolt round.

Page 116
The Dark Angel raised the plasma gun for a second shot. Suddenly the plasma gun began to glow first red and then white hot. Waves of electrical energy danced across the surface of the weapon and up the arms of the Marine, who began to convulse from the sudden surge of energy that the plasma weapon was discharging.

The technology behind plasma weapons was ancient and their devastating power made them highly effective in combat. However, that effectiveness came at a price. Sometimes the massive energy was too much for the weapon to contain, and it would short circuit, overheat and then explode, sometimes taking the wielder with it.

This was not one of those times. The weapon exploded, engulfing its wielder in the blue-green flame of plasma fire and throwing him back and to the ground. His armour was scorched and melted in spots, but it was intact.
One of those rare, in-fluff Plasma weapon overloads.

Page 117-118
Blind grenades exploded with a blinding visible white flash. While the explosion did no physical damage, the bright burst of light could cause momentary or even permanent blindness to the unprotected eye. However, they also emitted an electronic pulse, designed to disrupt electrical and even neurological systems. This would cause even the optic in an Astartes helmet to temporarily cease to function.
Blind grenade. Or rathre a varient that is more flashbang/photon flare rather than smoke with fancy EM effects.

Page 119
There was a two metre-wide hole in the ground where the Dark Angels had been standing.
..
"I would imagine that some sort of directional explosive, possibly a melta-bomb charge was placed on the ground, it burnt through the dirt and bedrock until it reached the abandoned mine, igniting the promethium fumes"
Explanation for a hole. I assume similar would have been krak grenades and like.

Page 128
The bow launch bay of the starship entered normal space first. A robed winged figure thrusting a sword upwards stood above the bay opening, challenging all that lay in her path. With a ripple, the remainder of the Space Marine battle-barge cleared the tear and completed its entry into real space. The hole of light shuddered to a close in the vessel's wake.
A rather peculiar and non-flashy realspace entry.

Page 130
Vargas turned, walking the length of the bridge until he stood just behind the helm station. The adept quickly glanced towards the interrogator-chaplain in an effort to acknowledge his presence before turning his attention back to guiding the Redemptor.

"Distance to Hyades?" the interrogator-chaplain asked. His raspy voice had a metallic quality to it.

"Approximately twenty-five million kilometres, lord-chaplain," replied the helmsmen.

Vargas nodded. "Comms, contact our kill team on Hyades. See if they respond."

Vargas strode over to the comms console. "We have high levels of interference, lord-chaplain, but I think, yes, we have a signal" the relieved communications officer stated.

Vargas took the main comm. "Captain Jeremiah, this is Interrogator-Chaplain Vargas aboard the Vinco Redemptor. Respond."

Vargas paused for a moment.

"Captain Jeremiah Gieyus of Interrogator Kill Team Lion's Pride, respond." Vargas's impatience was apparent through his metallic tones.

Static answered him.

"Comms, are you certain we have enough signal strength to get through?" asked Vargas.
"Yes, lord-chaplain we—" He was cut short by the response of the kill team.
They emerged a brief time ago from the warp, and they're 25 million km or so out from the planet, so they emerged well within an AU of the planet (tens of millions of km, rather than hundreds of millions or even billions.) In warp entry terms this is damned close, although not the closest (2 million km for specialised inquisitorial ships, or under a light second for Orks or Chaos cultists willing to take losses.)

This also seems to suggest near-realtime communications between the Dark Angels team on the planet and the ship. How they manage this is.. interesting given they're millions of km away. Note that even if it were some sort of FTL signal that doesnt mean its automatically a replacement for astropaths for galactic communication - for all we know the speed is slow (single or double digit c) and it only needs to be that here to be 'realtime.'

Page 132
"My lord chap—" Jeremiah's reply was cut short as a high pitched whine broke through the comms, forcing several adepts to quickly cup their hands over their ears.

"Things are dramatically different with the Sons of the Lion than I remember." The strange augmented voice burst through. "In my day failure such as this would not have been tolerated."
This would again imply near-realtime communications if the distance held open. (which is likely, since this is s upposed to be a stealth mission to a world in Space Wolf territory under the control of House Belisarius, one of their allies.)

Page 133
Suddenly defensive alarms sounded throughout the ship drowning out the hideous laughter. Vargas quickly turned to the tactical screen. Adepts and servitors reacted furiously to identify the new threat.

"Lord-chaplain, several orbital defence platforms just went active. I'm detecting laser batteries and torpedo bays." The adept was shouting to overcome the alarm sirens.

"Lord-chaplain, I'm detecting launch. We have an inbound torpedo salvo!"
Defense platform torpedoes launched against the Dark Angels ship. Possibly the lasers having similar range but we really dont know. This probably suggests the battle barge has similar range.

Range isn't stated, but they haven't been indicated to have moved either from their 25 million km mark earlier, so it would stand to reason they have the same range. Then again the short propogation range would suggest much closer (within a few light seconds of the planet - although that's still a pretty damn long range.) On the other hand they're on a stealth mission as previously stated, and getting closer means using their plasma drives, which means announcing their presence. Unless they started out travelling at a substantial fraction of lightspeed.

It is possible they emerged from the warp some 25 million km away and are making a slow approach hundreds of km/s perhaps. All this is taking place at less than a day (12 hours or less)

Page 134
It was time to bring this to an end, to bring it to an end his way. He turned to give his instructions when a single voice came from the comm. It was the voice of Jeremiah Gieyus.

"Lord Vargas—" Vargas cut off Jeremiah in mid sentence.

"The target must be located, captured and brought to justice, captain. All other concerns are secondary. Do what you must to secure him. The threat of contamination is too great, and the time for covert operations is over. I will be sorting this my way."

Vargas gestured to the communications officer to close the channel.

"Guidance, bring us within assault range. Activate shields and all weapons batteries," his metallic voice commanded.

Weapon and defensive system adepts repeated Vargas's words back to him as they accomplished each command with lightning precision.
Again implies very near-realtime communications speed, the importance of this as a stealth mission, and 'move into assault range' at last inidcating they are moving towards the planet.


PAge 134
"Forward launch bay prepare and launch Thunderhawk Squad Alpha for defensive cover. Drop-pods prepare for immediate launch."
Preparations for drop pod assault. Again implies a very close distance and a very short approach. It bears noting that while drop pods are used from orbit, it would be quite possible to use thunderhawks from even a few LS away probably (many novels have them space capable and insystem-travel capable like many fighters) so this might be a strong indicator they are closer to 25 million km away. Assuming a 500 km/s closing speed for the battle barge it might cross 21 million km or so in 12 hours, and it would still make 4 million km torpedo range. Combined closing speed for both torpedoes and battle barge across 25 million km would be ~578 km/s, so it could be juggled a bit one way or another. It still seems reasonable to assume though that torpedoes can have a range of millions of km.


Page 135
The planet Hyades was at the centre. Several ships floated at various orbits above the planet. The orbiters were mostly transports and cargo vessels in standard docking orbits. These ships posed no threat to the Vinco Redemptor. The defence platforms however were another matter.

"How is it you missed the platforms on your initial scans?" Vargas demanded, clenching his gauntleted hands.

"Their power grids must have been down as we approached, Lord Vargas, and we were too far away for visual confirmation," the tactical officer replied, failing to hide the stress in his voice.
They're well beyond visual range. That would fit with being 25 million km away, although quite possibly also just a few LS away.

PAge 136-137
The Dark Angels commander looked out from the pulpit on the observation deck as the battle-barge closed on Hyades. Small pinholes of light flashed through space towards the great vessel. The incoming torpedo salvo was almost upon them.
...
"Lord-chaplain, impact with inbound torpedo salvo in twenty seconds." the tactical adept declared.

Twenty-four torpedoes cut across the void on a collision course with the Redemptor. The civilian transports and cargo ships between the torpedoes and their target banked and turned, making dramatic course changes and showing manoeuvring abilities more akin to warships in avoiding the oncoming wall of destruction. Weapons turrets aboard the battle-barge vomited a hail of defensive fire against the unexpected onslaught. Several torpedoes unable to alter course exploded while others fell horribly off course as they passed through the Redemptor's defensive salvo. Four passed through the hail of defensive fire unscathed. Onboard klaxons trumpeted the impending collision.

"Four torpedoes remain inbound." the adept shouted, attempting to be heard over the alarm klaxons.
The torpedoes attack. The exhaust is visible but they aren't, which suggests they're peraps tens or hundreds of km away. Assuming between 20-200 km/s velocity for torpedoes (Based on other sources) and 20 seconds we're tlaking 400-4000 km range for point defense. If we use the 578 km/s closing speed its a bit over 20,000 km. If we use the 1000 km point defense range from Execution Hour torpedo speed is 50 km/s.


PAge 137-138
The first of the torpedoes struck amidships. Ripples of blue energy radiated in waves out from the point of impact as the Redemptor's defensive shielding absorbed most of the weapons' energy. The next two torpedoes sent waves of blue energy rippling across the ship as they also wasted themselves on the defensive shielding. The fourth torpedo struck home just outside the forward launch bay. The defensive shield, already strained by the previous strikes, was not able to withstand another direct hit.

The explosion ripped through the weaker sections of the armoured hull and flames engulfed the launch bay. Shards of metal, fragments of ceramite plating and other debris ripped through crewmen manning the launch craft. Secondary explosions from ammo lifts and fuel carriers enhanced the destruction.
Damage of 4 torpedo impacts. Note that they aren't MIRVs and they don't seem to 'penetrate before impact' but they also don't just ignore shields either. This might suggest their velocities were far higher than the tens/hundreds of km/s speed I mentioned (threshold for such from other sources), or it may indicate that these shields are capable of deflecting torpedoes/missiles regardless of velocity (as hinted at in other sources, like Sabbat Martyr, Gray Knights, etc.)

Also note that battle barges (and other ships) have variable levels of armor protection, which isnt surprising given bays, windows, gunports, etc.

Page 141
"My brothers, you are all aware of what's about to happen. Chaplain Vargas will be launching the assault force in a matter of minutes. Our target has infiltrated the Hyades defence forces."
Shortly after comms cease. Implies 'minutes' instead of hours for invasion to occur. This actually makes sense given all that is going on. However, unless they ARE only a few LS away its debatable the bAttel barge crossed the distance in a few minutes. 5 minutes of accel/decel would be tens of thousands of gees accel which is.. debatable. 15 minutes would be some 6000 gees 700-1000 gess would be an hour or less. Indeed getting closer to 5-10 gees out of this again gets back to that "12 hour or less' stuff.

Page 142
"What caused that explosion? It was too big to be a reactor overload."
...
"Lord-chaplain, I've conducted a focused scan of the remaining transports. Most of them are empty, but four of them are loaded top to bottom with promethium fuel cells."
..
"Reports are coming in now, sir. We've lost our port weapons batteries, gravity generators on decks twelve through fifteen port side are down, and the port shields have been depleted to thirty per cent,"
Kamikaze transport loaded with 'fuel cells' detonates. Interesting that promethium can be used in fuel cells, which is a tad different than simply using a combustion engine I believe. We've heard of chimeras and such running on fuel cells so this might be it.

The interesting thing to speculate is on how promethium being able to be used in fuel cells as well as ICEs works. hydrogen is fairly common as a fuel cell (and its been suggested promethium is hydrogen.) but it is possible (I think) for hydrocarbons to be used in fuel cells, so that would ta leas tsuggest promethium is a kind of hydrocarbon. Of course we also know of promethium is used in reactors (even for starships) which suggests it can be used in other reactions (especially the nick-kyme style magic fusion reactors like from the Tome of Fire trilogy) If Promethium has a hydrogen element to it (And depending on how magical we want to get power generation technologies) it might actually be used in all the above applications (perhaps refined or altered to suit purposes) - its not the first time there's been some magical holy grail material crop up like this ...
The more obivous answer of course is Promethium is a category of fuels, which can run from space oil to hydrogen of various kinds (for use in fuel cells, reactors, etc.) Part of me is simply tempted to still call it a form of hydrogen because diesel we know exists in 40K distinct from promethium.

In any event we don't know masses and quite what form it took when it exploded (or the kind of explosion) but the kamikaze ship does do some damage at a distance (unkonwn distance, size/mass, and the like.) And as noted before the ship had already taken damage from torpedoes. That said it probably is suggestive and makes it a bit unlikely 40K starships routinely chuck around many many teratons/petatons of energy for hours on end. ;)

Page 144-145
"My Wolfblade, a Space Marine battle-barge has engaged Hyades's orbital defence forces. Report to me immediately at the governor's command centre."
...
Their encounter with a squad of Dark Angels in the capital was strange enough, but now a battle-barge had not only entered the system, but had actually begun an assault of the orbital defences.
..
It took the four Space Wolves several minutes to reach the command centre, but upon their arrival they found themselves in the middle of a torrent of activity.
As I already outlined, 'minutes' seems a bit unlikely for crossing 25 million km unless they're pulling some insanely high (and unrealistic) accelerations or started approaching at a substantial fraction of lightspeed from the warp, Of course 'engaged' is up for debate - does that mean when the Hyades platforms detected and fired, or does it mean when the battle barge fired back?

Page 153
As the Wolfblade moved through the darkened - tunnels and refinery that still existed beneath the city, he had a new appreciation of how tenuous human existence was o n this planet. All around him, promethium flowed through cooled pipes to keep it from exploding in the hot air of Hyades.
...
Keeping the oxygen content of this complex low probably made the promethium safer, Ragnar thought.
They're also concerned about weapons fire setting it off so, we're probably not talking about anything more exotic than chemical reactions. IT doesn't tell us much more than it is volatile and probably combustible. Hydrogen and space gasoline can combust after all.

The temperature thing is interesting. It implies that the temperature belowground is the same aboveground, but we know humans can get around there. It could mean 'flash' point or ignition point (ignore 'explode' - gasoline only explodes like a bomb under precise circumstances.) Autoignition would seem to be suggested (which is around 400-500 F for gasoline or diesel) but that is rather high, and could only be possible if the belowground temps are different than aboveground (which they may well be, its not definite that above and belowground are thes ame or that all temps are identifcal everywhere.)

Flash point is another possible one, although if it does it probably isn't gasoline like (gasoline is -45F or thereabouts, while diesel and jet fuel are (100-150F). Despite my teasing about space oil, I don't really recall much about Promethium behavng like gasoline.

Of course this assumes Promethium is anything like the above, and its flashpoint/autoignition temp might be different, and as I said it might be an entire category of things so its all conjectural to begin with. :)

Page 156
The members of Markham's team were from Hyades, wearing carapace armour and rebreathers. They were some of the bestarmed and armoured troops Ragnar had seen, virtually the equal of elite Imperial Guard storm troopers in regard to their equipment
Carapace and rebreathers belowground. Probably due to the fumes, but it may also be due to the temperatures as well (we know carapace can have cooling systems like the navsec armour from Xenos, and it would be useful here.) What temp it is useful at in this context isnt' known (as per above) but I'd bet on 100-150F, although 400-500F might be possible.

Page 168-169
From Torin's fight, Ragnar heard the distinctive clatter of bolter rounds ricocheting off ceramite.
..
Elijah caught Torin with his bolt pistol, but the shells bounced off the Wolfblade's chest plate.
Bolt rounds bouncing off Wolf armour again.

Page 190
The ogryns were huge mutants, one of the few altered humans allowed in Imperial forces. Imposing figures, they dwarfed the Space Marines, standing a full head higher than even Haegr. Ragnar had heard stories of ogryns strong enough to lift tanks.

The massive creatures were pure muscle and stupid as rocks, with no mind except for killing. Unfortunately, that meant that their brains took longer to realise when they were wounded or even dead. Ragnar had once seen an ogryn fighting with a large hole in his chest, until a medic had pointed the wound out to him and he fell over.
Ogryn strength and durability.

Page 199
A blue-green fireball engulfed the governor's head, killing him instantly. His second shot took Magni in the knee, burning straight through the Space Wolfs power armour and dissolving the knee, severing his left leg.
Plasma pistol fire. Engulfing the head in 3rd-4th degree flash burns would be easily double or triple digit kj, although 'blue green fire' tends to suggest its an odd, non thermal effect. Or magic plasma.

PAge 200
Cadmus spun without warning, placing a perfect shot with his plasma pistol. The Space Wolfs hand was consumed instantly in blue-green fire.
More magic plasma burning astartes hand.

Page 201
"I recognised the warp signs. The Space Wolves' patrol of the sector must have just arrived. Within hours, you won't have to worry about Dark Angels. The Great Wolf has an alliance with Belisarius."
Implies the wolves will arrive over the planet in hours, (from the warp, probably includes warp travel though) and that Hyades is perhaps in the same region/setor as Fenris.. not more than a few hundred LY away tops, perhaps.

Page 207
"Begin system scan. Comms, announce our presence and extend my compliments to Governor Pelias. Let's see if they have some hospitality to offer."

"Wolf Lord!" said Hroth. "Scans show a battle-barge in low orbit over the planet. Civilian ships are scattered throughout the system, fleeing the planet. There's an orbital defence platform in a decaying orbit, and I think she's scrap. I'm also reading weapons fire on the surface. It appears that the capital city of Lethe is under attack."
Rather useful sensors.


PAge 208-209
"Do not approach or attempt to enter orbit."
...
"Wolf Lord, their weapons are tracking us"
They haven't been in realspace long, but the guns are already tracking to fire on them. This would suggest they're at least millions of km away from the planet, but it really can't be sure just yet. They're at least outside the orbital range (tens or hundreds of thousands of km) although it would be unheard of for ships to routinely emerge from space that close (and 2 million km or so, as per Savage Scars, is on the high end perfromance for warp emergences. 120,000 km is suicidally close as per Rynn's wrodl.

Page 210
The Imperium would not take kindly to a conflict between two of their own Chapters, and although both organisations were formidable, neither could hold out against the fury of the Imperium. The endless numbers of Imperial Guard, coupled with dozens of Chapters of Space Marines, could spell the end for the Dark Angels or the Space Wolves.
That's a rather interesting insight, given the IA books pretaining to the Badab war.

Page 210-211
"Their weapons are still tracking us, Lord Berek."
...
"They wouldn't dare fire on us, warning shots or not."

A barrage of shots came from the Vinco Redemptor towards the Fist of Russ, missing high. The Space Wolf ship continued to approach Hyades, undeterred.
...
"We will fire another barrage. This will be your last warning."
...
"Hroth, fire a volley at them. Make sure you come close. "
...
"Ready, fire," ordered Hroth, but just then, another barrage erupted from the Vinco Redemptor. The laser batteries struck the Fist of Russ. Just as the Space Wolf vessel fired her guns, a Dark Angels torpedo salvo was detected.

The explosion shook the vessel. "We've been hit, Wolf Lord," cried Hroth.
..
The Vinco Redemptor began rising from low orbit. "You will suffer from our next volley."
...

"My lord, the battle-barge is departing orbit, moving to engage, weapon batteries are charging."
The Dark Angels Battlebarge and space wolf starship exchange fire. Again this is just shortly (subjectively) after emerging from the warp, but in context the range does not really seem to be many millions of km away.. maybe a few light seconds tops given the implied delay of laser fire. It might have reduced due to the Space Wolf ship approaching (no mention was made of moving towards the planet initially, but its clear that some poitn after emerging from the warp they were heading in-system, maybe that's part of standard procedure for their patrols.)

Page 212-213
"Helmsman, bring us within lance battery range."
...
The Fist of Russ was smaller than the Dark Angels battle-barge. Berek knew that in a close range ship-to-ship engagement, the Dark Angels had the advantage. Their bombardment cannons would rip the Space Wolves to shreds. The Fist of Russ, however, was not without teeth. Her lance batteries had much greater range than the bombardment cannons. Using the longer range, Berek would bring the Fist of Russ close enough to launch his Thunderhawks and drop-pods, and carefully deploy his smaller ships.
...
The Fist of Russ moved into position, entering Hyades space above the opposite hemisphere to the Dark Angels ship. Berek moved his ship into a low orbit to deploy the Thunderhawks.
...
Berek would need to risk a quick pass of the Vinco Redemptor, bringing the Fist of Russ within range of the bombardment cannons.
An interesting comment about weapons engagement ranges. 'opposite hemisphere suggets it might be on the opposite side of the planet form the battle barge (in low orbit) possibly out of line of sight, but it also might suggest that lances have shorter ranges than the laser batteries (for some reason..) and that the bombardment cannons ranges are evne shorter (smaller than the diameter of the planet, approximately - no more than a few tens of thousands of km range, tops.)

Page 215
..the second flight of Thunderhawks dived hard, entering the atmosphere at such an angle that friction fire blazed across the leading edges of their noses and wings. If the crews had not been Space Marines, their bodies would have been turned to bloody pulp by the forces involved.
That would suggest in excess of 10+ gees, probably many tens of gees, endured on the part of Astartes, and the Thunderhawks can generate them. And no AG to compensate (unlike Eldar craft.)

Page 216-217
Two of the four [bombardment] cannons were unable to bring themselves to bear upon the smaller cruiser. The Space Wolf vessel shuddered from the salvo of the remaining two as wide holes appeared in the cruiser's hull.
The Dark Angels Battle Barge has 4 bombardment cannon, and is able to bring all four to bear front or broadside, it seems.

Page 223
Alarm sirens blared in the cockpit as anti-air defence missiles leapt into the sky, vectoring towards the Thunderhawk. Sigurd's hands darted across the panels, tapping activation runes for defensive system counter measures.
Missile warning, and antimissile countermeasure.s Whether that means ECM, flares/chaff, or both we don't know.

Page 233
Magni was clutching the burnt, curled remnants of his right hand to his chest. The plasma fire had cauterised the wound, slowing his blood loss. The stump that was now his left leg was an entirely different matter. Plasma had burned completely through his leg melting away power armour, flesh and bone. Severed arteries, strips of muscle and tendons hung from where the knee and lower half of Magni's leg were once attached. Blood had pooled around him where he rested.
Magni's injuries from CAdmus' plasma pistol. Rather odd the hand cauterized but the leg didn't (despite armor melting around it) Given an inch or so of armor thickness and a 15-20cm diameter leg, we might figure at least a few MJ to melt through just the armor.. but no burning the leg? That seems odd. I'd assume armor stopped the bulk of the damage perhaps, but plasma weapons don't quite work that way and it severed the leg. The fact the wound isnt self healing also suggests Magni was still pretty damn weak from the heavy bolter abuse he took earlier, which makes you wonder why he's up and fighting at all.

Assuming the hand is 15x10cm surface area (both sides) and 200-1000 j per square cm 60-300 kj. That should at least allow for possible cauterization. A few hundred kj for the hand mass at least to be cauterized as well (up to 800 or so if the entire volume was boiled and weighed a few kg)

Page 235
His body was failing. Space Marine bodies were designed to withstand almost any injury, to survive poisons and toxins, and they were immune to virtually any disease. Their respiratory systems allowed them to survive without oxygen for extended periods of time. Special organs were implanted to change the composition of their blood. This normally enabled their blood to coagulate almost instantly. Even with all these genetic manipulations Space Marines were not indestructible. Sometimes, in cases like Magni's, without immediate medical treatment, the enhancements weren't enough.
Again commentary on why Magni is bleeding out. I suppose it works - its not the first time an ASartes' physiology took such abuse that the larraman cells fail to work properly but it seems odd.

Page 237
"Yes! She anived only a few days ago with a contingent of Wolfblade from Holy Terra."
The sublight journeys of the Battle Barge and the Space Wolf ship could not have been more than 'a few days' tops, and far less than that really given everything that happened in between,

Page 252-254
Madox looked directly at Cadmus. "Now, Fallen, as you said, it is time."
...
"Cadmus, you are not worthy of honour. In that way, you are the same as your former Chapter"
..
"By Luther's blade," cursed Cadmus.
Cadmus is a renegade Space Marine. Yet another case of a Space MArine walking amongst people and imitating a regular human. Says something about 40K potential hieghts.

Page 257
A Leman Russ tank, reinforced with siege armour, drove down a side street. It paused to fire its massive battle cannon at a target that Markham couldn't see. Although the Leman Russ was the main battle tank of the Imperial Guard on countless worlds, the planetary defence force kept few of them on Hyades.
Modified russ.

Page 259
Markham had a vox that he had scavenged from a dead soldier so he could to stay in touch with the Space Wolves.
Dead (human?) troopre had a vox unit that can be salvaged. Probably not astartes since they are either implants or built into the helmet, usually.

Page 273
Upon their arrival several stowage crates had been offloaded. The Wolfblade were always on the move, supporting and protecting House Belisarius's interests. Since supplies for a contingent of Space Marines were hard to come by on most worlds, the Wolfblade always brought their own.
Space Marine supplies are so rare and specialised it cannot be counted on for a world - even one under their protection - to neccesarily have the equipment.

Page 275 -
"It must be the heat or the promethium still causing interference."
This is one of several quotes made about promethium intefering (somehow) with auspex. It seems that its unrelated from the heat or energy too, given the comment.

Page 276-277
A red cloud rose just above Elijah's left shoulder, drizzling red mist on his armour's shoulder pad and the side of his face. The shot spun him around, causing him to lose his footing and fall.
...
The round had managed to penetrate the armour at the lower rear section of the shoulder pad, grazing the upper arm. The wound was minor and Elijah was already climbing to his feet.
...

Members of Cadmus's elite unit of storm troopers poured from the cover of the jungle onto the Space Marines.
...
Some still carried these weapons but they were now merged with their wielder in an unholy union of flesh and metal.
Cadmus' 'storm troopers' gunfire manages to penetrate a specific place in Space Marine armour.

Page 321
"We're heading through a wall of fire."

Everything became extremely hot and there was a loud bang. The Chimera lurched to the right, sending Haegr flying across into Ragnar.
Chimera passes through a 'wall of fire' of unspecified size created by the underground promethium being ignited.. Loses a track, but the interior compartment stays relatively safe.

Page 326
He slammed a repto with the front of his bolt pistol and then fired. The round ripped through the first creature and blew a hole outof the back of the second.


Bolt pistol round penetrates through two bodies.

Page 328
"My lord, the battle has drained many of the ship's spirits. The strength of the generators is spent. The proper rites and rituals are replenishing their energy, but for now, providing shields and engines is the extent of their ability. To restore them would take time."
A rather peculiar state for power generation onboard a starship. It implies they have a finite endurance with the reactors before replenishing from some other stock. That could mean capacitors (except its hard to treat capacitors and generators as the same) or it could mean reactors (in which case it might be fuel, which is also odd because.. why do they have an interrupt with the fuel supply?) My bet is on capacitors for stuff.

Page 334-335
Berek knew if he could fire the Nova cannon without completely draining the ship, the Fist of Russ had a chance. If they could take out one cruiser with a single shot, and that's all that they'd have, then they could board the other while the Iron Priests strengthened the ship's spirits.
...
"The Iron Priest reports that we have enough power for the Nova cannon, my lord."
...
"We'll only have time for one shot with it before they close."
...
The Fist of Russ shuddered as the spirits of the Nova cannon drew all available power.
..
The beam exploded out from the prow of the Fist of Russ. It felt as if the legendary Firewolf itself had opened its maw and unleashed the fury of every volcano on Fenris as one.

"'Lord Berek, the spirits of the Nova cannon have drawn too much power in their zeal."
...
The beam struck home against the Chaos cruiser, spearing it through and erupting from the other side to continue tearing through space. The holographic display showed the blast continuing unabated, glancing another distant cruiser, but all eyes on the bridge focused on the main target. The enemy ship shivered, and was replaced for an instant by a new sun in the Hyades system. As the light faded, there was nothing left.
Nova cannon firing. rather than a projectile type its a beam type. Implied to be as powerful as all the Volcano's on Fenris, which might be anywhere from megaton to teraton (Depending on the kinds of volcanos and numbers.) but that's a 'point of view' thing too so.. *shrugs*

Page 366
"Berek Thunderfist and his fleet have returned battleworn from Hyades, but the astropaths have reported attacks on many worlds. The Thousand Sons have launched an offensive, unforeseen in recent centuries against planets protected by our Chapter."


Considering that the Wolfblade just arrived not long ago itself, this implies perhaps hours to travel from Hyades to Fenris (wherever it is.)

PAge 369
"The Thousand Sons have attacked across the sector. Some of the Wolf Lords got hit hard."
The Wolves seem to be responsible for an entire Sector of space. 5th edition mentions that they watch over a 'hundred worlds' beside Fenris.

Page 398
The Night Lord writhed, but reached for the grenades on his belt.
Ragnar saw the move and pinned his foe's wrist to the ground with the barrel of his bolter and then pulled the trigger, blowing his foe's hand off.
Point blank bolt round blows Night Lords hand off.
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Aaron MkII
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Re: Space Wolf series thread

Post by Aaron MkII »

My interpretation of Torin is that he's more of a chameleon then a dandy. He implies to Ragnar that his appearance is as much camouflage as it is fashion. And later in the series after they stop at The Fang, he starts to grow his hair and facial hair out.
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Connor MacLeod
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Re: Space Wolf series thread

Post by Connor MacLeod »

And we come to the last space wolf novel, Wolf's Honour. It's basically the 'conclusion' to the Ragnar Blackmane story, which is interesting because I've often felt the idea that the Space Wolf was like the Ultramarines series or Ghosts, ongoing with no immediate end in sight, but I guess when Bill King stopped writing for BL they decided to cap it off (and two more novels would just coicidentally mean they could put out a second omnibus....)

As far as endings go its not horrible either, I'd say of the two lightner novels its the closest to 'true' Space Wolf, and I'd even put it on par with Grey Hunter in most respects (but its no Wolfblade in my heart..) and we get plenty of Torin and Haegar but.. it really just lacks the William King touch. I think the main reason the Lee Lightener novels are so off is because they do seem like they're meant to cap off the series. The first four Space wolf novels were largely 'exploratory' in nature. The basic premise was 'Ragnar learns a lesson' - each story was a step along his path of learning towards becoming a Leader of his own Great Company, and the first four novels were all paths of discovery and the expansion of Ragnar's mind and the borders of his understanding. We don't quite get those in the last two novels - you sort of have that in Sons of Fenris (although it was a bit too predictable what with the Dark Angels and all) and you sort of have it with the 13th Company in Wolf's Honour, but it just doesn't.. feel right. Which is another reason I consider it a shame the series was cut off so soon, Iw ould have loved to see where king had intended to go with things, and the end of the series coming after a mere six novels (and all that development) just feels so abrupt.

Anyhow, Ragnar's Claw. The climactic last battle between the Space Wolves and Thousand Sons (at least for this cycle of things.) and its actually pretty epic all things told.


Page 7
It hung in the void like the pitted shard of a broken world. Ridges of stone, plains of ice and towers of trapped metal stretched for more than ten kilometres, dwarfing all but the largest of Imperial battleships.
Space hulk 10 km long, and bigger than 'all but the largest' Imperial battleships. We aren't sure if it means length or mass, but I'd be more inclined towards the latter, given what we know of Imperial ship sizes (EG FFG, Salvations' REach, etc.)

Page 8
When the space hulk first arrived at the edge of the system almost eight standard months ago the handful of decrepit ships that comprised the Hydalis system defence squadron drew close enough to perform a series of long-range auguries.
System defence force size.

Page 8
Now all that stood between the oncoming hulk and the forty-five billion Imperial citizens of Hydra Cordalis was Ragnar Blackmane and his small company of Wolves.
Population of Hydra Cordalis. Whether this is planetary or system population we don't quite know

Page 13
The cavernous assault bay, large enough for thirty fully-armed Space Marines, was crowded with ten warriors in massive Tactical Dreadnought armour.
Thunderhawk Carrying capacity.

Page 16
...then pronouncing the Benediction of the Fiery Breach as he flipped open an access panel beside the hatch. Jurgen lifted a heavy lever, and the shaped melta charges attached to the ventral breaching unit detonated with a leaden thump. There was a shrieking of incandescent gases as the focused plasma charge drove like a molten spear tip through more than half a dozen metres of heavy armour and pierced the battleship's hull.
From what I gather the hatch is in the 'floor' of the Thunderhawk. The craft basically lands on the hull, the charges go off and melta hole through the hull, and the Wolves jump through the breaching door into the ship. The battleship has at least a 6 m thick hull. This is arguably a lower limit (more than half a dozen metres) or it indicates that some sections of the hulla re thinner than tohers, given what we know later in the novel for a Mars class Battlecruiser and also from FFG WRT cruisers and Grand Cruisers (10-40+m thick armour)

Page 17-18
..With a sharp hiss and a column of scalding steam, the breaching hatch slid open. Ragnar stepped to the edge and peered down into a circular shaft of semi-molten metal that dropped away into darkness.
...
The drop was longer than he expected. Ragnar fell through the breaching shaft and into a cavernous space beneath, hitting the canted deck twenty metres below with an echoing boom.
The hull is probably thicker than estimated previously.. upwards of 20 metres though probably less (no more than 15-17 m given heights of Terminators) Also the breach melted is wide enough to permit the access of armoured terminators (a metre or two in diameter at least.

PAge 19
"Someone turned those turrets on us."
...
"It could have been an automated response triggered by the ship's machine-spirit,"
compouter controlled defense turrets on a Reign of Blood era battleship.

PAge 29
"Twelve seconds to insertion!" Mikal Sternmark shouted over the vox, his voice rising over the shrieking wind and the thunder of the guns. "We're entering the flak barrier now."

As if on cue, a heavy shell exploded close to Berek Thunderfist's drop-pod, peppering its armoured hide with shrapnel, and shaking the Wolf Lord in his restraints like a rat in a terrier's jaws. More shells exploded in rapid succession, like staccato drumbeats against the drop-pod's skin, as the assault force streaked at near-supersonic speed through the capital city's air defence zone.
12 seconds to landing, traveling at 'near supersonic' speeds (call it 300-400 m/s) we can figure on maybe 3-5 km range at least for flak batteris.

Page 30
The Chaos uprising was in its fourth month on the planet Charys, an agri-world ominously close to Fenris. Servants of the Ruinous Powers had arisen on dozens of worlds spread across the Space Wolf domains, overthrowing local governments, staging suicide attacks and disrupting vital military and industrial networks. Many of the uprisings had been brutally dealt with by the Space Wolves and local Imperial Guard units, but the speed and ferocity of the campaign had left the Chapter scattered and their resources stretched thin. Elements of the Space Wolves' twelve great companies were in action on more than two dozen worlds, and several important sectors were teetering on the brink of anarchy.
...
The enemy's ultimate objective remained a mystery, but one thing was clear: if the Chaos forces were not stopped soon, the damage inflicted to many of the local sectors could take decades, if not centuries to repair.
Scope of Space Wolf responsibilities. At least 2 dozen worlds spread across multiple sectors, if not 'dozens' (remember 5th edition implies 100+ worlds in their domain officially) - all fo which are vital economic or industrial key points. They all have their own guard forces as well as their Space Wolf support.

Also note the conflict on Charys has been ongoing for 4 months.

Page 30
The Old Wolf Logan Grimnar, Master of the Chapter, had seen that at once. It had begun with a Chaos uprising among the primitive xenos tribes on Hyades, triggering near-simultaneous attacks across vast stretches of space.
...
Berek and the Old Wolf had studied the pattern of the uprisings for months, looking for the lynchpin of the Chaos campaign.
The wars across the Space Wolf territory has lasted months.

Page 31
Battle reports from the planet's surface indicated that two local Guard regiments and the vast majority of the local Planetary Defence Force had forsaken their holy oaths and sworn fealty to the Ruinous Powers. Opposing them were seven loyal Guard regiments shipped in from neighbouring worlds...
7 Regiments to fight back against PDF and 2 (garrison?) regiments. Assuming 9 regiments involved over 2 dozen worlds or so we're talking hundreds of 'standing' regiemtns in the sectors involved, probably. Hundreds of thousands, millions of troops at least.

Page 32
Loyal Guard regiments operating from the nearby starport had only managed to seize a narrow foothold on the eastern fringe of the city, almost a dozen kilometres from the fortress of the governor's palace. The air over the massive, walled compound shimmered with the dark haze of an Imperator-class void shield, proof against the heaviest shells the Guard could throw at it.
Major population center on an Agri world.. at leas 12 km across, possibly more (twice that, assuming the Governor's palace is in the center of the city.) Palace at least has its own Imperator (Titan?) class Void shield.

Page 32-33
An amber warning icon flashed along the margin of the holo-display as the Holmgang and her attendant strike cruisers opened fire. Salvoes of bombardment rounds, each one massing as much as a Leman Russ tank, impacted in a curtain of fire four seconds later, stretching in an arc five kilometres wide in front of the Imperial advance. Rebel strongpoints disintegrated. Entire city blocks vanished in boiling clouds of flame and pulverised ferrocrete. In a single instant of righteous fury, the traitors' defensive line was shattered.
...
As the Guard units watched in awe, the bombardment shifted, marching inexorably towards the city centre...
..
..the icons of five Nova-class escorts in high orbit flashed crimson and unleashed their lance batteries on the shields of the governor's palace. Ravening beams of energy stabbed downwards amid the plummeting drop-pods.
...
Five lance beams played across the palace's shields for almost a full second, setting off a ripple of concussive blasts that hammered at the falling drop-pods and rattled the Wolf Lord's bones.
Orbital bombardment in two parts:

First point 5 lances targeted on the void shields of the palace overload it in a second. Assuming a megaton range 'tactical' bombardment (as noted in planetstrike, Battlefleet Koronus where it 'boils a square km' of water, etc.) we might figure multiple megatons of energy delivered to overload said void.

Secondly, orbital bombardment from the strike cruisers and holmgang (Battle barge?) devastates a 12 km+ long, 5 km wide swath of area in a very short period of time (Seconds) Priobably not *quite* nuclear levels of devastation given proximity of guard units, but its still damn impressive.

Bombardment shells are Leman Russ size, we dont know if this means a battle tank or what kind of tank. Atlas class hulls and Rapier Laser destroyer hulls are 40-50 tonnes roughly for example, wheras Demolishers (Inferno magazine) can get as high as 70 tonnes. A regular russ is around 60 tonnes. We also dont know if this is 'bombardment cannon' shells or regular macro cannon shells used for bombardment. IT can go either way. Using such a shell with the EH bombardment cannon velocity yields a KE of 1.8e20 J for a 60 ton shell.

The other curious thing is to wonder how fast said shells might be travelling - 4 seconds to reach the ground from orbit. We don't quite know the orbit. IF its high altitude/low orbit (hundreds of km) we might be talking 50-100 km/s. If tis high low orbit (~2000 km) we migth be talking 500 km/s.

But if the Strike cruisers are as high up as the frigates (High orbit?) that could mean anything from geostationary to nearly 100,000 km as per this definition. That would be a velocity of 7,200 km/s to 25,000 km/s. To be fair, that seems a bit unlikely for the devastaton caused above, since the sheer KE involved would be (frankly) insane to use on a habitable planet. That probably argues more towards the lower end, but one never knows - 8-9 thousand km/s is 'only' a few hundred megatons :lol: Or maybe the shell is mass lightened :mrgreen:

Even if it were low orbit though, I'd note that Dark Heresy: Daemon hunter lists 'low orbit' as being up to 5000 km, and geosynch as 40,000 km. So we could figure its between 1250-10,000 km/s in that case, although getting up to 10,000 km/s would be brushing the iffy 'gigaton' threshold. So arguments probably are more for tens, hundreds or thousands of km/s than tens of thousands of km/s.



Page 35
One of the Wolf Guard levelled his assault cannon at a charging squad of rebels and tore them to pieces with a twosecond burst.
2 second burst of assault cannon fire shreds 2 rebel guardsmen.


Page 35
The krak missile struck the Space Marine full in the chest, knocking him back a step, but the anti-tank round could not penetrate the adamantine breastplate of the ancient Terminator suit.
Krak missile does fuck all to terminator armour.


Page 37
At that moment, he stepped forward and smashed his power fist into the APC's right quarter. There was a thunderous detonation. Armour crumpled, partially converted to plasma by the power fist's energy field. The forward axle snapped, hurling a spinning tyre past Berek's head, and the APC flipped heavily onto its left side.
Power fist vs Chimera APC. One possible reason why Power fists (and other 'impact' power weapons like crozius Arcanum, power maces, and Thunder hammers) do explosive damage is because of that rapid 'plasmatizing' matter - explosive vaporization baiscally. Assuming a 15x15 cm area 5 mm deep of iron is vaporized we might be talking 6-7 MJ or theraboutes.


Page 37-38
...the Wolf Lord set off at a ponderous run, heading north.

Lasgun fire flickered over Berek's head as he drew closer to the palace walls, growing in volume with each passing minute.

Streams of tracer shells stitched their way through the smoke as rebel gunners opened fire with heavy stubbers mounted on the square towers of the palace gatehouse. Missiles hissed through the air and exploded above the battlefield, showering the Wolf Lord and his companions with clouds of red-hot shrapnel.

Berek reached the bulk of his company a minute later, just a few hundred metres short of the palace gates.
at least 2 minutes of running to get withn 'a few hundred metres' of the palace. the defenders are using stubbers and tracers as well as lasfire to target th ewolves. At the low end 200-300m range at least, minus the running. Assuming the wolf lord is running at 1 m/s that is an extra 120m... so 300-400m in such a case. At 2 m/s (about normal human running pace from a standing start - something the Astartes should be easily capable of even in terminator armor given that power armour allows a 3-5 meter stride) its 240 m extra, whcih is 440-540 m range. Assuming a Terminator can run at 10 m/s, we're talking 1200 m extra range.. which is 1400-1500m. That's actually a bit unlikely, I doubt Terminators can run flat out like an olympic athlete (not impossible, just unlikely. Astartes running speeds seem to hover in the 35-50 kph range depending on your source. Assuming a Terminator is half that (18-25 kph) we're talking 5-7 m/s which is an extra 600-840 m.. 800-1000m lasgun and stubber range. Overall 500-1000m seems a reasonable assessment from this instance, especially given what is learned later.

Page 38
Two of his three Grey Hunter packs had taken cover behind the burning wrecks of a pair of Chimeras, while his two Long Fang packs fired at the palace defences from the rims of a pair of shell craters nearby. As he watched, two lascannon gunners from Thorbjorn's Long Fang pack targeted the battlements of the leftmost gate tower. The red beams vaporised a corner of the structure in a cloud of pulverisedferrocrete, spilling burning bodies onto the square sixty metres below.


Given the context of pulverisation - total vaporisation is impossible, so how much is vapor and how much pulverized material is hard to say (At least a little vaporization to cause explosive effects though) nor do we know how big it is (at least big enough to let a few bodies out of.. so several metres in diamater) It also sets at least two (probably more) bodies aflame, which at 125 j/sq cm (flash burns for igniting clothing) is 1.25 MJ apiece.. so secondary effects are multi MJ from lascannon impacts. assuming a 2-3 m diameter 'crater' we'd probably figure on 2-5 kg of TNT for pulverizing. Unfortunatley we dont know duration, number of beams (probably fewer than ten and no more than a few seconds since people didnt' get out of the way) but hard to say.

Page 38-39
"It's the damned gate." Einar said, nodding his head towards the palace. "It's a great deal stronger than we'd been led to believe. Gunnar and Thorbjorn's lascannons can't scratch it."

A line of stubber shells marched across the ferrocrete a few metres away and up the leg and chest of one of the Wolf Guard. The Terminator was knocked back a step by the heavy impacts, but the slugs shattered harmlessly against the heavy armour.
LAscannon resistant gate, and heavy stubbers do fuck all to terimatnor armor (unless its a stubber rifle lol)

Page 39
"How many melta bombs do you have?"
...
A lasgun bolt, possibly from a long-las sniper rifle, struck the side of his helmet with an angry crack. The Space Wolf appeared not to notice. "We've got four, and Ingvar's pack has two left."

"Hand them over," Berek ordered, and the pack leader began gathering up the heavy plasma charges.
6 meltabombs (heavy plasma charges) which muddies the whole analysis thing even further (although meltabombs making plasma isnt new) to breach the door. Also long-las round (probably, which probably also means a hot-shot charge) does fuck all to Terminator helmet.

Page 40
Intersecting lines of lasgun fire wove a burning web around the Terminators.
That implies sustained beam (EG cutting) lasweapons.

Page 40
Lascannon beams and missile trails lanced towards the gatehouse, punching molten craters in the ornately carved stone facade, and spilling curtains of shattered masonry onto the pavement below.
That might suggest partial melting from before of the lasgun destruction. 1

Page 40-41
Lasgun bolts and autogun shells rang off the Wolf Lord's armour. A burst of rounds from a heavy stubber struck his left leg and a bloom of fiery pain caused Berek to stumble.
...
An autocannon let off a loud, rattling burst at a Terminator to Berek's right. Red and yellow detonations hammered across the Space Wolfs chest. The Wolf Guard staggered out of the cloud of dust and smoke, his storm bolter still firing despite the three bloody craters punched into his breastplate. After two halting steps, the warrior fell to his knees and pitched over onto his face.
..
He could feel the shell in his leg lodged close to the bone.
Weapons fire against Terminator armour. Again stubbers do nothing unless a lucky hit (I'd guess a weak point) but autocannons can do significant damage (alot more powerful than heavy stubbers.) Whether the kinetic or explosive aspect of autocannon fire we don't know (or possibly both.) 3 hits to take down the Terminator. This means autocannon rounds of the same grade should easily do the same to ower armour (which echoes roughly the same feat happening in Fallen Angels.)

Page 41-42
The breaching charges were ready in seconds.
...
There was a bone rattling whump and a rush of superheated air, and the stink of vaporised metal made Berek grimace.
...
The melta charges had blown a roughly circular hole three metres across in the thick metal gate, just large enough for one Terminator to pass at a time.

..
..but now the sloped face of the strong-point was ablaze, its surface ignited by molten shrapnel from the melta bombs.
6 melta bombs to blast a 3 m diameter hole through a metal gate. WE dont know how thick it was, but given the thickness of bunkers in other sources and the importance of the gate, being at least a foot thick seems reasonable for a main gate. Assuming iron composition we're talking 22 GJ to 'melt' through the door. Each meltabomb has ~3.7 GJ of thermal energy.

Alternatley lets assume it reaches almost the melting point (~1500K temp change) and around 400-600 J per kg*K for specific heat. But it does not achieve heat of fusion (I'm assuming 'molten shrapnel' might mean that the door was partly melted, but not totally.. there might be some hot but still solid debris there.) 600-900 kj per kg. At this level we're talking 'only' 11-16.5 GJ, and 'only' 1.8-2.7 GJ per bomb.

Assuming it simply craters a 3 m diamter hole through an iron door (no melting or anything) we're probably talking close to 130 kg of TNT ("only" ~550 MJ of explosive) and each meltabomb is equal to ~22 kg of TNT at least. Even if only a fraction of that, the melta bobms (which can be ridiculously compact and man portable) would be equivalent to many kinds of anti-tank weapons, which is impressive. Hell even allowing that, like all calcs this is more of an order of magnitude estimate, its still pretty damn impressive, even if only 'pulverization' occurs.

Page 44
The Wolf Lord swept his storm bolter in an arc before him, cutting a vengeful swathe through the packed throng. At such close range the heavy shells tore through two or even three bodies before their explosive tips travelled far enough to detonate.
bodily penetration of storm bolter rounds.

Page 57
He pointed at the spot where his last blow had fallen. "Femoral artery," he said. He then pointed to the cut along the inside of Ragnar's sword arm. "Brachial artery." Torin jabbed at a fading red mark on Ragnar's abdomen. "Main pulmonary artery. Even with the clotting factor, I'd have bled you white about two minutes ago."
..
"You should have paid more attention, my friend. Half a dozen minor blows are just as deadly as one big one."
An interesting look at the potential limits of the self-healing/clotting factors - at least of the Space Wolves - in that it has trouble clotting multiple major arterial wounds. Perhaps this has something to do with the enhanced circultatory system -they have better blood (powerful, more efficient) and a stronger circulatory system to support their enhanced physiques, but the need to push blood through that bigger, tougher, enhanced body must mean some vastly greater blood pressure.. and if breached they must bleed out faster than normal humans. Perhaps the larraman cells have trouble containin gthe pressure.

On the other hand I suspect most if not all of the major veins and arteries are covered by the solid plates of power armor, so exploiting this potential weakness is difficult (and most weapons that can brute force through the plates generally would mangle the body in other serious ways anyhow.)

Still this can give hints at how a Space Marine can die in a melee or if overpowered by greater numbers - evne the rigid plates may not stop a lucky blade wedged in or under and penetrating at an angle. This would also explain the 'bad luck' of the wooden spear killing a Word Bearer in 'First Heretic'.

Page 58-59
"I prodded you on purpose, trying to draw out some of the melancholy that's gripped you these last few months."
...
Ragnar, Torin, Haegr and six of their brothers had left Terra more than six months ago to accompany Lady Gabriella, one of House Bellisarius's highest ranking Navigators, on an inspection of the House's holdings on Hyades, a jungle world valued for its promethium mines.
6 months since the events of Sons of Fenris (which itself lsated only a matter of days) which sets a firm upper limit on travel time from Terra to Space Wolf territory (We already have established through this book and the last that Hyades is likely iwthin a sector or two of Fenris, which means its probably less than 1000 LY away.) I would note that baesd on the last novel's transit times (hours or days) to reach Fenris that the place cannot be two far away so we have it bracketed. If it were 2 weeks for example and 1000 LY away it would have taken 26,000c to reach Fenris from Hyades. And much faster if days.) Going by 5th edition map Fenris is some 10-20 thousand LY from Terra, and in 6 months we're talking 20-40,000c travel speed at least.

That is conservative however. Given 4 months of conflict on Charys as mentioned before, the 'few months' on Fenris, and other similar references, we're talking no more than 2-3 months, which translates into 40,000-120,000c at least. And that assumes it was straight line and a single trip. And that nothing else happened between Leaving terra and reaching Hyades (or from Hyades to Fenris) to distract.

Overall it tends to fit into the 'tens to hundreds of thousands of c' benchmark for warp travel speeds. I'll also note this is a House Belisarius ship and not a Space Wolf or navy ship. Whether this means its faster, or slower we dont know, because despite being 'civilian' it is a Navigator ship, and Navigators have both wealth and power and influence.


Page 60
The months on Fenris had changed Torin somewhat.
Months again.


Page 65-66
Systems currently under attack or in revolt shone brighter than the rest. Minor attacks or incursions were coloured yellow, while major attacks were red. Ragnar was shocked to see that more than thirty systems were affected.
...
"Many of the initial uprisings made sense from a military standpoint: forge worlds, industrialised hive-worlds and trade centres, attacks designed to sow confusion and cripple our ability to respond."
The scope and nature of the Chaos incurions in Wolf-protected territory - it also includes hive and forge worlds (multiples of each in fact)


Page 72
He'd heard of worlds scoured down to the bedrock by virus bombs and cyclonic torpedoes, once they'd been deemed too tainted to reclaim.


Virus bomb snad cycloincs 'scour to the bedrock' - although why he treats this as rumor rather than fact is confusing. Do Space Wolf ships not cary Exterminatus munitions?

Page 78
She had once been a Mars-class battle cruiser that had served with distinction alongside the capital ships of Battlefleet Obscuras, nearly fourteen centuries before.
The Fist of Russ. That explains the nova cannon, at least.

Page 74
Though she'd survived, and even triumphed, in both battles, the Fist of Russ had paid dearly for her victories. Ragnar could see that the warship needed months, perhaps years, to repair all the damage she'd received
Scope of the damage and time needed for repairs. She's not operating at full capacity, obviously.

Page 83
They were three weeks out from Fenris, and more than four days past their scheduled return to real space at the edge of the Charys system.
Three weeks to reach an adjacent system (or at least within the same sector) through warp storm activity. 4 days behind (17 rather than 21 days) - 170-210c for 10 LY distance to travle. If it were 200 LY (From one end of the sector to another) 3500-4300c.

Page 85
It had been many weeks since he'd last managed a full rest cycle, and what little sleep he did manage was fraught with strange, fragmentary dreams. Although a Space Marine could function without proper sleep for months at a time if necessary, Ragnar could feel the strain beginning to affect his ability to think and react.
Space Marines can function withotu sleep for months if needed, but doing so for more than 'weeks' can still degrade their abilities

Page 98-99
They had arrived at the Charys system, and they were under attack.
..
It took Ragnar almost half an hour to find his way to the command deck..
Half an hour from arriving in the system to reach the bridge.

PAge 100
Individually, they were less than a third the size of the Fist of Russ, but they were swift, agile craft, and in large numbers they were a threat to the largest battleship
Chaos raiders. If ew're talking length they're maybe 1.7-1.8 km long. IF we're talking mass.. a good 7-10 megatonnes perhaps, at least going by FFG numbers (or the numbers i nthis book.)

Page 102
The Fist of Russ was less than an hour from entering orbit around Charys, but no less than nine enemy raiders stood in their way.
...
"How long have we been in real space?"
...
"Less than an hour. I brought us in as close to Charys as possible,"
time in realspace. They supposedly emerged on the 'edge' of the system earlier but we learn later that Gabriella brings them out much closer than usual to the planet, and it took Ragnhar 'half an hour' to reach the bridge. So we're talking 1 1/2 to 2 hours to reach the planet from the point they emerged. How close that is is up for debate.

We know from Savage scars that it can't be closer than 2.3 million km, and it isn't likely to be that. We know that a Dark angels battlebarge emerged 25,000,000 km in Sons of Fenris. Other sources would typically indicate between 1-10 AU, more towards the far end for 'safe'. In this case, we might lean mor towards 25,000,000 km to 1 AU.

Even assuming 2.5 million km (ridiculosuly close that only hihg end Inquisiton ships can manage) we'd be talking between 20-35 gees constant acceleration, although to be fair speed is rather slow - 600-900 km/s only.

At 25 million km we're talking 200-350 gees (10x greater) and speeds of 2.4-3.1% of lightspeed.

At 1 AU, we're talking 1000-2000 gees and 12.6-18% of lightspeed.


PAge 102
The Wolf Lord had brought a battle-barge, two strike cruisers and half a dozen escorts to Charys.
Assumign these numbers hold constant across the other wolf lords, there would be something like a dozen battle barge (analogues), 2 dozen strike cruisers, and over seventy-two escorts in the Space Wolf fleet. Although the Fist of Russ is also BErek's. and there are excess ships (we know they have hundreds of warp capable ships at the Fang alone..)

PAge 103
"The charts show an asteroid field nearby. We can hide there and try to come up with another approach to the planet."
Assuming a system setup like EArth, the asteroid field would be 2-4 AU from the sun, which means 1-3 AU from the planet.

Page 105
Thousands of kilometres distant, the black-hulled raiders shook off the grip of Charys's gravity with a flare of plasma drives, and swung their rakish bows towards the oncoming Imperial ship.
The distance between the two forces is 'thousands of kilometres'.. which suggests its probably less than a million km. Probably alot more than just thousands - combat ranges are tens or even hundreds of thousands of km more typically. Chaos forces are still within vicinity of the planet.

Page 105-106
Along the battle cruiser's dorsal hull, two massive turrets slewed to port, bringing their energy projectors to bear on the incoming enemy craft. Arcs of cyan light crackled and seethed within the huge accumulation chambers of the lance batteries, gathering intensity with each passing moment until the blunt projectors were shrouded in a haze of voltaic wrath.
...
...the reach of her guns was longer than most other ships in the Imperial fleet.

The lance batteries fired half a second apart. Twin beams of irresistible force crossed the black gulf in the blink of an eye, converging on the foremost raider in the pack. The first energy lance crashed against the raider's void shield, blazing white at the point of impact and shooting arcs of cyan and magenta lightning across its curved surface. For perhaps a millisecond the powerful shield held, but then the semi-invisible shield flickered and flared as it struggled to dissipate the lance's tremendous power. It failed in a spherical flash of light, like a bursting bubble, and then the second lance beam struck home. It tore the raider open from stem to stern, ripping open its flank like a fiery talon until it penetrated the small ship's reactor decks. The Chaos ship disappeared in an incandescent ball of plasma and radioactive vapour,
Lance fire from the Fist of Russ. Assuming a massless beam or near-c particle beam.. an 'eyeblink' can last anywhere from 150 to 400 milliseconds. call it 1/6 to half a second.. which would give an effective combat range of between 50,000 and 150,000 km for this case.

Page 106-107
Blackened, pitted blast doors drew back from launch tubes recessed into the ships' angled bows, and a pair of powerful anti-ship torpedoes, each more than forty metres long, streaked towards the battle cruiser on boiling plumes of fiery gas.
...
"Lance batteries switch to antimissile targeting," the ship's master declared. "Portside batteries lock on to those torpedo ships and fire at will!"
Lance weapons used as anti-torpedo weapons, with a similar range as against the ships. Batteries lock onto starships at range, but don't fire.

Page 107
The weapons were powerful but unguided, their trajectories planned by the infernal logic engines aboard their parent craft. Swift as thunderbolts, they streaked towards the battle cruiser's kilometre-long flank. Though her thrusters were roaring at near full power, for all intents and purposes the Imperial ship might as well have been standing still.

Twin cyan beams lashed through the darkness at the oncoming torpedoes, detonating four of them in globes of nuclear fire.
torpedoes seem to be packing nuclear warheads. Lances catch 4 of the 6 torpedoes. Ship's thrusters going at full power still do not rapidly or easily move the ship any noticable distance before torpeodes strike. Assuming torpedo velocity of 50 km/s and 50K km range, we're talking 1000s econds to reach target. Which is rather odd given that even the single digit gee accels from rogue trader should move the ship out of that range in that timeframe. Either the range is shorter or the torpedoes are faster.

Fist of Russ has 'kilometre long' flank.

Page 107
At fifty kilometres the battle cruiser's defensive turrets clattered into action, hurling a torrent of energy bolts and explosive shells into the path of the oncoming weapons. A close burst from one shell punctured the fuel tank of one of the enemy missiles and the resulting explosion blew it apart. The second torpedo flew on unscathed, flying by unholy luck through a gap in the ship's flak coverage. It struck the Fist of Russ just forward of the portside hangar deck, its nuclear warhead detonating like the hammer of an evil god.
Range and effect of last-ditch point defense at 50 km. Last torpdeo is nuclear warhead. Given the low end estimates for ship velocity when the torpedo collides, the torpedo hits with megatons of KE.

Page 109-110
"Enemy ships in range of our broadsides!" he said with a vengeful snarl. "All gun decks report weapons lock!"
...
...the dozens of huge gun turrets that swung into action.

Macro-cannon barrels elevated into position, aimed by complex gunnery rituals performed by machine-spirits on the battle cruiser's bridge. The enormous weapons fired in sequence, hurling shells the size of land raiders at the oncoming Chaos ships.

Salvoes of explosive shells bracketed the three oncoming torpedo ships, hammering relentlessly against their void shields in staccato bursts of fire. Without warning the shielding on one of the raiders faltered, and a cluster of shells erupted on the warship's rune covered bow and superstructure. One shell tore through the iron decks and found the raider's forward magazine. The resultant explosion ripped the traitor vessel in half.

Half a second later, another raider succumbed, its hull pierced in a dozen places and its superstructure ablaze. The last remaining torpedo ship continued on, its shield overloaded, but otherwise unharmed… until a cyan bolt from the battle cruiser's lance batteries tore the raider apart. Nearly half of the raiders were gone, but the rest plunged ahead. They were less than fifteen seconds from entering gun range.
Dozens of macro cannon turrets in a broadside. Land Raider size macro shells. Assuming that menas mass we're talking 70-80 tonnes. If we talk dimensions.. that could be alot bigger 10m long, 4 m diameter 100-150 tonne shells assuming water density. TArgeting handled by machine spirit on bridge. Again based on the velocity of the Fist of Russ, KE of the macro cannon shells of that mass is on the order of megatons. More if the velocity is greater as noted below.

Implied propocation rate on the order of seconds. 15 more seocnds till enemy reaches gun range. Assuming tens of thousands of km range we might be getting an implied weapons range of thousands of km. Given my earlier assessments for ship velocity (hundreds if not thousands of km/s approach speeds) this is almost certainly the case (the shells ought to be travelling many times faster than the ship, since they can cross the distance with 15 seconds or more to spare beore the enemy even enters gun range!)

Page 110-111
Wulfgar had timed his move carefully, bringing the warship's heavily armoured prow into position just as the enemy ships hove into range. Macrocannons and magna bolt projectors spat torrents of fire at the oncoming Imperial ship, bracketing her void shields with an unrelenting storm of explosions. The first layer of shielding failed. Then, seconds later, the inner shield gave way as well. Fierce blasts pummelled the battle cruiser's bow and superstructure, leaving scorch marks against fifteen-metre thick adamantium plate.
Not sure what magna-bolts are but raider cannons bombard bow (armoured prow) and superstructure, which is 15 metre thick armour, Not unusual for prows, but superstructure rarely is that heavily armoured (or at least stated beyond being 'metres thick') Also at least 2 layers of voids.

Page 112
All starships were blind directly aft, where the roiling wake from their thrusters made sensor returns impossible.
Engines interfere with rear sensor deteciton.

Page 115
The unguided warheads fell at random across the ten-kilometre square starport, detonating amid empty revetments, burned-out warehouses and blackened administration buildings
Size of the starport. 10 km square is *generally* not the same thing as 10 sq km, meaning a 10x10 km area, whereas 10,000 square would be some 3.1 km per side.

Page 122
The hard pews had been cleared away, replaced with tables and portable work stations. Harried aides darted between the narrow aisles, carrying flimsy printouts to staff officers who were monitoring battle reports from half a world away. Tense conversations and muted orders rose above the dry clatter of logic engines and vox teletypes. Enginseer acolytes hovered in the corners of the room, muttering prayers and lighting votive candles to keep the data channels open.
Temporary IG headquarters. Note the priests with the candles. Again out of universe its sill flavour, in universe it keeps the bad magic away (EG scrapcode and technodaemonic possession or something.)

Page 124
"Thanks to the Lady Navigator's skill, we emerged very close to Charys, whereupon we came under attack from a force of enemy raiders that had been at anchor in high orbit,"
...
"Much of the enemy fleet has been drawn off to hunt for them, although groups of raiders have appeared from time to time to bombard our positions from orbit.'"
Potential high orbit bombardment (by Chaos at least) of loyalist positions. Also note that Gabriella brought them out closer than normal ot the planet. AGain how close that is is up for debate, but the limits I assessed earlier probably hold.

Page 128
"How are the Chaos Marines managing these feats of teleportation?"
...
"It's not technological. They appear and disappear like ghosts, coming and going apparently at will, and not just here in the city, but across the entire planet as well." He shook his head in exasperation. "We've laid wards to protect the starport perimeter from attack. They seem to have worked so far, but the cost of maintaining them is enormous. If I knew how the enemy was accomplishing this, I could perhaps devise a better way of countering it..."
Lage scale warp teleportation, and the Inquisitor has wards/means of defeating non technological teleportation. Probably rather useful given the prevalence of sorcerers amongst the Chaos types.

Page 127-129
She reached down and keyed a control panel recessed into the edge of the table. A holo-map of the planet instantly appeared in the air above the table, showing nearly sixty small cities and townships scattered across the world's vast plains.
...
The general turned a brass knob and the view switched to an operational map of the capital city. Nearly eighty-five per cent of the districts were red, with only a narrow band of Imperial blue around the outlying sectors to the east that stretched back to the starport outside the city.
...
"At this point, we've been driven back to the edge of the city, and there are indications that the enemy is preparing another major offensive." The holo-map shifted again, returning more or less to the thin blue line at the city's eastern edge. "Their objective is the starport. If it falls, we lose our one and only air base and supply point."
Holomap with various (mobile) features (movement, variable scale, etc.). Also a strong indication that the starport is on the eastern edge of the city.

PAge 131
She adjusted a set of dials and the map's viewpoint pulled back until it showed the countryside within sixty kilometres of the city.

"There is a large PDF base approximately twenty kilometres west of the capital. Before the uprising it was the supreme headquarters for the Charys defence forces." The map shifted, focusing in on a large, fortified military base some five kilometres across. "We've suspected for some time that the traitor regiments were still using it as their command centre. Naturally, we've bombarded it at every available opportunity, but the base's bunker complex was built to shrug off that kind of attack."

With another turn of the dial the map zoomed in on the rebel base. Ragnar observed tall, thick perimeter walls sited with dozens of gun emplacements that commanded a flat, featureless killing ground for kilometres in every direction. He saw tank parks and reinforced barracks large enough to hold four or more armoured regiments, defended by Hydra anti-aircraft positions. The central bunker complex alone was over two kilometres across, and Ragnar suspected that it extended even farther underground.
More mapping features, zooming in to show exact details of the base, as well as scooting out to show a large (60 km radius) area around city.

Moreover we learn about a base. 20 km west of the city, which itself (we learned earlier) ist at least 12 (and perhaps as much as 24 or so) km from the starport. And said base is 5 km across itself. They're noted to have bombarded it from the port vicinty, which indicates we're talking a good 30-40 km range for their artillery at least.

Page 132
"reinforced armoured regiment: at least fifteen hundred troops with heavy weapons and almost forty battle tanks."
Size of a 'reinforced' armour regiment.

Page 134
They had returned to the Fist of Russ, in high orbit over Charys only a few hours ago, and he'd spent most of the intervening time meditating in his old quarters
The Fist of Russ is in high orbit, and they intend to teleport down. to attack. 50 wolves making a teleport attack over a range of 35,000-100,000 km or so. :)

Page 137-138
At Gorgon-4, an Imperial Guard firebase five kilometres east of the starport, a vox teletype began to clatter in the company commander's blockhouse.

...

Within minutes, the long barrels of Gorgon-4's Earthshaker batteries rose into the sky. Six hundred kilo shells had already been fed into the guns' open breeches, and bare-chested Guardsmen were still blinking sleep out of their eyes as they wrestled propellant bags from their armoured caissons.
..
"Fire!" he cried, dropping his arm, and the eight heavy guns roared.
They're bombarding the enemy headquarters. As established early, the HQ is 20 km from the capital. Which itself is at least 12 km from the 10 km square starport (10 km or so, or 3 if you're really nitpicky.) And to that we can add another 5 km for the Gorgon-4 firebase. At least 40 km (for the 3 km starport) to close to 50 km. If we assume the 12 km for the city was a diameter (and ignore the palace's size) we can add another twelve for a range of nearly 60 kilometers for Earthshakers. This fits with the Artillery ranges implied in Necropolis for Zoican artillery, as well as the ranges given in Tactica Imperialis (which was actually 100 km. LOL)

The ranges are bigger than Imperial armour/Inferno and other related instances, but on the other hand the Earthshakers here are apparently larger calibre than 125-132mm, because they're loading 'six hundred kilo' shells. Part of me doubts that's literally the mass, because they'd either have to be insanely dense (r we're talking a artillery piece on the order of a 10-12" battleship gun! And to load the shells you'd have to have a team of Braggs and/or Ogryn to carry them. Its prboably referring to explosive yield (which is a damn lot for Earthshakers) - and oddly its consisten tiwht the 15 m craters from 'Storm of Iron' - go fig. Even if it was literally mass they'd still have about that same yield in explosive (or at least half of it) so its not a big diff either way.

One possibility I'd considered was that it was 'six, one hundred kilo' shells, but there's eight guns. That would only work if 2 are already loaded. A possible interperetation but unlikely. :P

Page 140
Heavy shells howled overhead, falling across the rebel base with thunderous detonations and tall pillars of dirt and smoke.
...
The base's garrison had run for the shelters the moment the barrage began.
As I said, the artillery is bombarding the base. :)

Page 141
There were three large Hydra anti-aircraft batteries situated around the base, consisting of four quadruple cannon mounts and a high-power auspex unit.
Hydras

Page 141
They covered the three kilometres to the battery in just over three minutes. The gun mounts were in concrete revetments arrayed in a diamond around the central auspex unit and barrage shelter.


Hydra batteries and its separate auspex unit. Also 3 km in 3 minutes is about 60 km/hr, which is fast for a run.

Page 143
The Wolves ran to the door, one of them detaching a heavy melta charge from his backpack. Working quickly, they attached the charge's magnetic clamps to the door and keyed the timer.

The bunkers' ferrocrete construction made them strong enough to shrug off a direct hit from an Earth-shaker round. It also made them strong enough to channel the blast of a melta charge instead of bursting apart and dissipating it. Ragnar had seen what melta charges did to the crews of enemy tanks. He expected a similar result here.

With a hollow thump the charge detonated, vaporising the steel door and hurling it inwards as a plume of incandescent plasma.
Bunker durability. First from the 600 kilo earth shaker rounds, and also from the effects of a melta charge big and powerful enough to melt/vaporize a door. Assuming 2 m tall, half a meter wide and 2.5 cm thick made of iron we get 200 kilos. At 5 cm thick we get 400 kilos. Thats roughly 240 MJ to melt, and 1.5 GJ to vaporize. Either way the bunker stands up to it rather effectively.

PAge 144
"You've all got maps of the complex loaded into your memory cores."
Space wolf armour has memory cored, and maps sotred in those cores.

Page 145
Their sergeant let out a yell and shot the young Space Wolf full in the chest with his hellpistol. The crimson bolt cracked harmlessly against the ancient ceramite breastplate.
Hellpistol bolt does fuck all aginst power armour.
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Connor MacLeod
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Re: Space Wolf series thread

Post by Connor MacLeod »

The finish of Wolf's Honour

Page 147
"Did you try any grenades?"

Haegr blinked at him."'Grenades. Yes. A good idea," he agreed.

Torin rolled his eyes. "What did you do? Eat yours?"

The burly Wolf glowered at Torin. "The mighty Haegr prefers to look the foe in the eye before ending his life, not cowering behind a cloud of shrapnel."

"Meaning your thick fingers can't work the grenade dispenser," Torin said drily.

Haegr shifted uncomfortably. "Yes, well, possibly that, too," he growled.
Another great Haegr moment. Have I mentioned how great Haegr is? Also, grenade dispensers again.


Page 148
Scarlet bolts of hellgun fire burst across his breastplate and pauldrons, leaving scorch marks across the ceramite plate.
..
Another bolt detonated against his thigh, and Ragnar felt a jolt of pain as the shot burned through his armour. He stumbled, and then redoubled his pace...
..
Two more shots struck his midsection as he leapt over the barrier.
More hellgun fire. Except for the thigh hit, which isn't serious, it does fuck all against the armour.


Page 153
Ragnar's keen senses caught the ultrasonic whine of thermal-vision goggles and marked the locations of the rebel Guardsmen in the stroboscopic flashes of their weapons. Light burst from a lasgun to his right, sending a beam point-blank into Ragnar's breastplate.
Lasfire again doing fuck all to power armour even at point blank range. The Guardsmen here have thermal goggles.

PAge 157-158
Stubber shells whipped through the air around Ragnar or rang off his ceramite armour. One gouged a fiery path across the side of his head before ricocheting off his thickened skull.
...
A heavy blow struck Ragnar in the left arm, and fiery pain blossomed just above his elbow.
...
The mutant turned its beady red eyes on Ragnar and levelled a short-barrel heavy stubber at him.
...
Its heavy stubber hammered at Ragnar, spitting a stream of tracer rounds at the onrushing Space Wolf. Hammer blows struck
Ragnar in the chest and abdomen, but the blessed armour plate held against the heavy stubber rounds.
Stubber and heavy stubber fire does very little against Wofl armour. A stubber shell even ricochets off Ragnar's skull :P

Page 166
"Have you got any charges left?"

"Two," the Wolf Priest said, and nodded to Harald. The Blood Claw pack leader waved a pair of his men forward, and they began setting the charges against the door.
...
"'These doors are doubly reinforced, designed to protect the general staff in the event of a major attack. More likely the Shockwave will rebound back on us, so I suggest standing well off to either side of the door."
..
When the smoke cleared, Ragnar leapt forward, weapons ready, and found a hole melted through the thick steel doors just wide enough for a Space Marine to fit through. He threw himself into the gap while the metal edges were still red-hot, with Torin, Haegr and Sigurd just a few steps behind him.

The vault was a small redoubt, with a narrow, thick-walled passageway beyond the molten doors that opened into an octagonal chamber barely ten metres across. Two bodies, charred almost beyond recognition, were sprawled on the stone floor at the far end of the passageway.
Two (melta) charges melt thorugh a 'thick' steel door, making a hole big enough for a Space Marine to pass through.

Call it 3 m tall and 1 m wide, and half a foot thick (15 cm) 3500 tons roughly 4.2 GJ... so each is melting at least 2.1 GJ.

Page 174
The loss of Sigurd was an exceptionally hard blow to Sternmark, recalling as it did the ambush at the governor's palace a few weeks earlier.
No more than a 'few weeks' passing since Berek was ambushed.

Page 175
Once they'd settled Torin back in the same suspensor-web he'd lain in on the flight out of the PDF base...
Suspensor web. Not sure if its like a medical stretcher made from gravity, or if its like a strap-in harness that has suspensors built in to handle accelerations.

Page 176
It had only been a few days since he'd last had a meal, but focusing on his body's mundane needs kept more troubling thoughts at bay.
Ragnar has gone several days without a meal.

PAge 179
"I failed to pay close attention to reports from the other affected worlds across the subsector.."
The war is across a subsector rather than a sector, so we're talking 24-30 worlds. The whole sector might encompass 150-200 or so worlds depending on the number of subsectors.

Page 181-182
"This is what is known as a cornerstone, an anchoring sigil designed to shape the boundaries of a much larger occult symbol," he said. "In my time, I've seen them spread across the hab blocks of a small hive city, even once across the breadth of an entire island." He traced a finger across the surface of the page.

"Only once in history has anyone attempted such a feat on an interstellar scale."
...
"It happened around thirteen hundred years ago," he said, flipping quickly through the ancient pages. "A traitor named Arsenius Talvaren tried to open a permanent gateway to the Eye of Terror, centred on Holy Terra itself."
...
"The attempt was doomed almost from the very start, but the madman's underlying theory was
entirely sound, from an arcane standpoint."
...
"Talvaren, the mad genius, overreached himself. He could not master the forces necessary for such a feat, and even if the Inquisition hadn't stopped him on Luna, the demands of the ritual would have destroyed him." The inquisitor glanced at Sternmark and the general. "Here on Charys we're dealing with forces that are altogether more powerful and sophisticated."

"Then what, pray tell, are they attempting?"
...


"A bilocation," Volt said gravely. "A… link, if you will, between Charys and a daemon world within the Eye."
...
"A co-location is not the same as a conduit," she said, setting her books on the table. "Because the Eye of Terror is a location where the warp spills into physical space, the notion of distance and time within the region is fluid," she said. "This is the same reason why we use the warp to travel between the stars."
...
"Well, think of the warp as a fast-flowing river." the Navigator continued. "A person could either walk along the bank to get from one town to another downstream, or he could leap into the water and be rushed there at a much faster rate. Now, what Talvaren tried to do was create a tributary of that river, allowing the water to flow from the Eye of Terror directly to sacred Terra, a tremendous feat that had little chance of success."
..
"We think Madox is trying to strain the fabric of reality around Charys and create a shadow of the world inside the Eye of Terror."
A rather interesting bit of warp mechanics from a great many angles.

First is the actual bilocation/colocation itself. What is being described is, essentially, a webway portal or a warp gate/portal (like the one to Jericho Reach.) It may not be PRECISELY that, but its along those lines. A connection between point a and B on an interstellar scale. The idea that it is 'unprecedented' on this scale is up for debate - nevermind the attmept Volt mentions (which is interesting if a little frightening.) but we saw in the latter Ghosts novels (Traitor General and IIRC His Last Command) that the Archenemy in the Sabbat Worlds had similar capabilities (those warp-worm creatures that linked on eplanet to another for the transfer of resources, etc. is similar.)

This tends to put some interesting insight into the scale of achievement that the Old Ones/Eldar achieved with their webway, since what the Sons (and chaos in generla) attempts is still a much smaller-scale effort. It really tells you something about their abilities.

Likewise, the fact that a traitor could attmept to do so on TErra is interesting, as it suggests the scope of interstellar travel - Someone has to be able to move aorund the Terra region at the subsector/sector level (and coordinate at that scale) to be able to pull this off, nevermind reach Terra. Pehaps it was tied to the Pilgrimmages in some way, but it does serve as another case of sector level 'commerical' traffic of some kind.

The next interesting point is the tactical implications of this ability for Chaos. Even if interstellar is difficult to achieve (debatable) the ability to create gates across a planetary scale (or even a continental scale) can prove to be an immense tactical and operational advnatage - for moving troops, equipment, etc. Again we saw this in the Ghosts series.

The last detail of interest is the discussion of this in context to warp travel itself. Gabriella's explanation is a bit like the usual 'ocean/river' analogy we get - you can walk along it or be carried along the river (basically you can move youreslf along the warp, or let the currents carry you. There are advantages an ddrawbacks to both) but it also plays more heavily into the nature of time/space being completely malleable (or having no meaning) in that dimension, as well as the 'thought/emotion' influenced nature of the warp (belief, faith, etc. altering it.) What we think of as 'routes' or 'distances' covered in the warp probably have no literal, actual meaning with respect to the warp itself (it only seems that way from the perspective of those travelling through it, or from those in realspace.) - in theory, if you think the distances are short enough you could probably travel near-instantaneously even from one point fo the galaxy to the other.

It would also explain a prime reason why Navigators are so good, since their powers are specialized towards this sort of thing, but the 'belief' in navigators can lend it power as well. Indeed, Gabriella is describing the Sons and Madox doing just that, in a fashion (to 'convince' the warp that the two planets actually overlap, rather than being separated by countless light years.')

That sounds simple, but the mechanics are probably more complicated, which again shows the sheer scale of achievement that the webway OR Navigators demonstrate as far as conquering the warp goes.

Page 183
"The Eye of Terror is hundreds of parsecs away." he protested. The Eye was a vast stellar region within the Segmentum Obscuras, where the Chaotic energies of the warp bled into the physical universe.
...

"Remember that within the warp there is no notion of space or distance," the Navigator said. "A location can be fixed by will and ritual alone, and Inquisitor Volt suspects that a series of daemon worlds within the Eye are maintaining cornerstone sigils to stabilise the shadow world as well. The sigil within the governor's palace provides the glue that conjoins the two worlds." She turned to Ragnar. "It's this ritual that is causing the strange turbulence in the warp I spoke of."
Further elaboration of the ritual and the mutability of time and distance in the warp, as well as how belief/thought can manipulate those ideas within the warp. I suspect having the warp 'saturate' a region can make it easier to do this ('weakening' the boundaries and the laws involved) - basically the Sons are 'convincing' the warp two regions are close by when they really aren't. And again Navigators and the like probably try to do something similar, and the feats of engineering implied by the Webway (which is perpetual) is truly fascinating. Indeed, this may explain on some level why the webway is (as per the Path of the Eldar novels) something of an infinity circuit - the spirits of the Eldar provide a conduit for the 'belief' that maintains said webway in the manner it does. It's an idea that is, in its way, endlessly fascinating.

A different and more mundane point is we get a bit of a closer fix on Charys, which is 'hundreds of parsects' from the eye'. This would suggest that it is closer to the Eye than Fenris, if taken at face value. given the Eye (as per 5th edition's rulebook) is perhaps some 10K LY from Fenris, we're talking 5-10K LY away (not impossible, Space Marines have been noted before to be responsible for whole sectors around their territory, as far as coverage, or thousands of light years.) As noted before (and later) the Wolves took no more than a few weeks to reach Charys from Fenris, or 5-10K LY in 2-3 weeks. whch is at least 87-130,000c at least, if not double that.

Given that Charys and Hyades are in the same sector/subsecotr it would probably suggest even greater speeds, since they reached Fenris from Hyades in relatively short period of time (days or perhaps hours.) - atlernately, it does add more to the transit from Terra-Hyades-Fenris (which happened in a timeframe which is relatively solid) which could more than double the distances covered.

Also we get the notion that this is all in 'turbulent' warp weather, which makes it far from an upper limit (even from Hyades, since the ritual started there.)


PAge 185
"Providing we activated the drive close to the planet, the ship would cross the barrier into the immaterium at the point where the shadow world is anchored."
I wonder how 'close' we're talking? as I've already pointed out other novels have put some pretty firm limits on what is safe (and what is insane) for warp transits due to gravity, so if they can emerge close to the planet it would be an extraordinary circumstance - either to the nature of the planet/system they are in, or beceause of the sorcery, or what.

Page 191
"No challenges during war time! That's the Old Wolfs law!"
Given the nature of the Space Wolves (and their tempers) this seems like an eminently sensible rule.

Page 191
Half the space was given over to humming vox consoles, where soldiers hunched over flickering cathode screens and read off messages from sheets of flimsy parchment passed from the war room across the hall. The rest of the dimly lit room contained rack upon rack of transmitters, receivers and power supplies.
Comm station.

Page 192-193
"It's too premature to call for Exterminatus."

Volt turned to face the dour Space Wolf. "Do you think I'm doing this lightly? I've been an inquisitor for a hundred and fifty years, and do you know how many worlds I have condemned? None. Not a single one."

The inquisitor took a step towards Sternmark, his bandaged hands trembling. "There was always another way to deal with the traitors and save the innocent, always. We… we always found a way."

He took a deep, shuddering breath. "But not this time. The enemy was too well prepared. We worked for years, slowly penetrating the governor's household and the PDF hierarchy, but they were aware of us the entire time. When the traitors finally revealed themselves my… friends… were the first to die." Volt's face grew haunted, his gaze turning inwards as he relived that bloody night in the capital. He shook his head. "Now… there's nothing left. If we don't succeed on the shadow world, then it's only a matter of time before your positions are overrun." Volt regained his focus with a start, like a man waking from a nightmare. "We have to be prepared for that eventuality."
This is another example of how the last two Ragnar novels, while they aren't up to the standards of Bill King's work, still manage to come close. We've got something that breaks and spits on the 'cariacture' angle of an Inquisitor or the Imperium that gets built up from the propoganda of the codexes. This isn't some hollow mouthpiece for pointless grimdark - he's an acutal person, in the same way Abnett managed to make Eisenhorn seem like a real person without totally ruining the 40K atmosphere. This isn't Inquisitor Asshole with unlimited power and fancy jewelry, this is a man who knows the lives of millions - an entire world - hangs in the balance of his actions, and that knowledge is a burden to him. Look at how he speaks about the loss of his friends and his previous failure. You can sense his fear - not of dying, but of failing again. He's driven to prepare Exterminatus not because he's some sanctimonious asshole, but because he is a human, haunted by his own fears and failings. He is, in fact, human. That makes him more believable and forgiving than the usual caricatures, and it kind of drives home the severity of just what he is setting out to do - and the horror of it because of what he is driven to do.


PAge 193
"Holmgang, this is Citadel," Volt said, using the code name for the planetary headquarters. "My authorisation is five-alpha-five-sigma-nineepsilon. Please respond."

For several long moments nothing emerged from the vox-unit except for the ghostly hiss of static. Then, faintly, a voice replied.

"Citadel, this is Holmgang. Countersign is gamma-alpha-seven-four-omicron-beta. What is your message?"

The battle-barge and her surviving escorts had been hiding out in the asteroid belt for weeks, powered down and maintaining vox silence to avoid detection. Volt had insisted that the ships be held in reserve once it had become clear that losses were mounting against the Chaos fleet. The barge's powerful barrage cannons and cyclonic torpedoes were a force of last resort in the event that the Imperial defenders on Charys were overwhelmed.

Volt took a deep breath and invoked the wrath of the Holy Inquisition. "Implement Tripwire." he said. "Acknowledge."

Silence hung heavy in the air as the signals crossed the void. Finally, the voice replied, "Tripwire acknowledged. Holmgang out."
Another case, like in Sons of Fenris, suggesting conventional comms having a FTL aspect to them. The Holmgang is described as being at the edge of the system in the asteorid field, which almost certainly means hundreds of millions if not billions of km out, and any light speed signal would take almost an hour, if not longer, to get back and forth from the planet, not 'moments'. Even fudging with the distances (EG tens of millions of km rather than hundreds of millions') isnt going to fix this. And again being 'ftl' doesnt mean it moves at any speed that makes it useful beyond 'local' communication. a signal that travels a few times c would still take years to reach a nearby system, for example.

One possibility is osme comms are sort of tachyonic. We know of Tachyons from the Eye of Terror website and the Achiuls Assault book (for Deathwatch.)

Also we get mention of Exterminatus munitions again, barrage cannon implies its at least partly a brute force attack (no point using them if they contribute only a trivial amount, is there?)

Also 'several weeks' again the BArge has been hiding, putting a bracket on my aforementioned trip between Fenris and Charys for the Fist of Russ.


Page 195
Fires were still burning out of control at the fuel depot on the other side of the starport, and several of the Guard's aircraft had been damaged or destroyed.
The Guard has their own air units on Charys. Whether they are a regiment like the Phantine, or something borrowed from the PDF we don't know. They may be navy secondment, but since there is no naval forces on planet that I know of (or in orbit) aside from what the Wovles have, its unlikely they are there (unless its perpetual/permanant secondment.)

To be fair as well we dont know what KIND of aircraft either. They oculd be just vultures and Valkyries, which could be organic to a regular regiment, or to the drop troop/storm troopers or some other specialist component.

Page 197
She arrived at the shuttle silent and withdrawn, clad in partial carapace armour drawn from the Guard's meagre stores. She walked with great care across the tarmac and up the ramp into the shuttlecraft, as though burdened by the unfamiliar weight of breastplate and greaves.
Partial guard carapace drawn from stores. Useful.

Page 200
At once, the pack leader broke into a run, covering the few dozen metres between them in moments.
Assuming Assuming ~5 seconds we're talking 6-7 m/s from a standing stop. Considering that earlier they could run at 60 kph and we know from Emperor's Mercy that Blood Gorgons could make 40 kph, this isn't surprising. If its 2-3 seconds we're talking 12-18 km/s, which is 40-65 kph, which is closer to those upper limits. Although its alot slower than the '90-100 kph' speeds of Talos in Void Stalker. :P


Page 204
"Do you think I haven't seen you these past few weeks?"
Again a 'few weeks' since Berek fell and Mikal took over.


Page 208
"It takes many hours to recharge a warp drive under optimal conditions."
Time to recharge jump engines. If we pplied the 'truly stellar' reference for warp power from Execution hour, and a 2-20 hour timeframe and depending on the definition of 'star' you use (e20 to e26+watts ) sustained output could be anywhere from e16-17 to greater than e25-e26+ wattages (for a really big star.) In other words, not nearly as precise as I used to think :mrgreen: Oh well, I'm still using it MUAHAHAHAHAHAHA!


Page 211
Huge siege mortar rounds and Earthshaker cannon shells blew gouts of pulverised ferrocrete and structural steel dozens of metres into the air and turned human bodies into clouds of blood and vaporised flesh.
arty rounds 'vaporize' people.


Page 211
Nearly three weeks of constant shelling had turned the once-prosperous commercial district that lined the causeway into a nightmare landscape..
3 weeks of shelling, agian indicating the scope and length of the battle


Page 212
The defenders had built their barricade from the carcasses of the bombed-out buildings that lined the causeway. Heavy slabs of ferrocrete had been dragged into place by cargo walkers brought up from the star-port, and engineering teams had gone to work constructing firing steps and gun pits out of masonry and layers of flakboard. The line of fortifications stretched for a full kilometre, from one side of the causeway to the other. An entire regiment, the Hyrkoon Grenadiers, one of
Athelstane's veteran units, had been ordered to hold the causeway at all costs. A full platoon of Leman Russ battle tanks had been assigned to support the defenders, their squat, blocky turrets rising threateningly from ferrocrete revetments built just behind the barricade. From their firing steps, the defenders could see for almost two kilometres down the wide, flat causeway. It was an ideal killing ground, one that any sane commander would dread having to cross, but it also stretched from the city like an out-thrust spear, reaching right for the heart of the Imperial forces on Charys. If the enemy forced open the causeway they could reach the star-port in little over an hour.
The IG fortifications. the kill-zone (and line of sight) is 2km long and 1 km wide.

Also note the mention of a 'veteran' regiment of Grenadiers. If they're anything like IG Grenadiers, they could be pretty badass. :P


Page 213-214
Sternmark placed a boot on the firing step and raised his head above the lip of the stone embrasure. A thick wall of grey vapour was swelling silently across the concertina wire and tank traps laid before the barricade, fuelled by the bursts of dozens of rebel smoke rounds.

At the same time, the roll of artillery blasts dwindled, and beyond the wall of smoke Sternmark heard the distant growl of petrochem engines and the war-shouts of the rebel host.

A grim smile touched the corners of the Wolf Guard's soot stained face. He keyed his vox-unit. 'Here they come!' he called out, both for the benefit of his battle-brothers and for the platoons of Guardsmen huddled against the fortifications to Sternmark's left and right. "Stand ready!"
...
Shouted orders echoed thinly along the barricade as sergeants broke the spell of the enemy barrage with a shower of fiery curses and got the men onto their feet. The long, grey line seemed to swarm with darkly coloured beetles as the grenadiers scrambled onto the parapet and readied their weapons. The cries of wounded men rang shrilly through the air, mingled with angry shouts and the piping notes of officers' whistles. Not far from Sternmark one of the Leman Russ battle tanks started its engine with a throaty roar, its turret tracking slowly from left to right as its gunner sought targets beyond the curtain of smoke.
...
More grenadiers raced past the towering Space Wolf from shelters further to the rear, and climbed awkwardly onto the firing step. Rifles were checked. Some men laid grenades on the chipped stone parapet where they would be close to hand.

Bayonets were pulled from their sheaths and locked in place. A tall, cadaverous-looking sergeant strode quickly along the line, eyeing the grenadiers' preparations with a practised eye.

Volleys of crackling red las-bolts began lashing their way through the smoke, detonating against the stone barricades or buzzing angrily overhead. Bursts of shells kicked up puffs of dust or ricocheted crazily off the edges of the parapet. The roar of the engines was closer now, as well as the demented howls of the rebel infantry.
Enemy advances into the smoke. Range is between 1-2 km, given that no more tha na few minutes could have passed between the advance and the firing happening (assuming 1 m/s marching pace it would take over 15 minutes just to cross 1 km) Bear in mind that being 'in range' isnt neccesarily 'precision range' - vehicles and a huge mass of men are big targets.


Page 215-216
Ahead, the smoke was thinning. Sternmark could see the dark shapes of Chimera APCs heading down the causeway towards him, their multilasers and heavy bolters spitting fire. Platoons of infantrymen ran along in their wake, snapping off wild shots with their lasguns as they advanced.

Bolts of energy tore through the air around Sternmark, and the Imperial defenders opened fire, unleashing a storm of energy bolts and deadly shells into the ranks of the oncoming enemy. A Chimera was struck by a lascannon beam and lurched to a stop, smoke pouring from its burst hatches. Men staggered and fell as lasgun beams or heavy stubber shells found their marks. The foe pressed on, drawing closer to the barricades with each passing moment.


Imperial and Chaos forces exchange fire from lasweapons, heavy stubbers, tank guns, etc. Again a 1-2 km range is suggested, which fits in with the effective ranges of stubbers, battle cannon and lascannon, etc.


Page 216-217
"Run the reactors at one hundred and twenty per cent."
...
"Reactor at one-twenty, aye," he confirmed, "but the containment wards won't hold for long."
...
"We can be at the hangar deck and launch our Thunderhawk in ten minutes"
You can run a starships reactor sat greater than 100% for at least 10 minutes. Probably closer to (at least) an hour, as we learn later the Thunderhawk was 45 minutes out from the planet before the Fist of Russ was actually destroyed. This echoes the similar case in 'Face of Treachery' during hte HH where a World Eater Battle BArge overruns its reactor by 120% or more.

Also even with weakened shields and surrounded and outnumberd by enemies, the Mars Class can endure more than ten minutes of bombardment.


Page 218
A cyan flare from beyond the viewport showed that the battie cruiser's remaining lance battery had gone into action. The arcs of voltaic force leapt across hundreds of kilometres in the blink of an eye, and flared in a raging storm against the shields of the onrushing Chaos ship. The battery charged and fired again within seconds, and once more the powerful beam weapon battered against the still-glowing curve of the enemy cruiser's void shield, until it failed in a blaze of light.


Lance fire crosses 'hundreds' of km in the blink of an eye (hyperbole perhaps?) and recharges in seconds.


Page 219
Macro cannon shells smashed aside enemy shields and blasted deep craters in the flanks of the Chaos ships.
Macro cannon shells can make direct hits and make contact hits on the hull - at point blank ranges, at least.


Page 219-220
"Engineering, increase reactor output to one hundred and thirty-five per cent. Helm, bring us to ramming
speed."
...
Though the Fist of Russ was burned and broken, she was still a massive ship, weighing tens of millions of tonnes. The armoured prow of the battle cruiser struck the cruiser's bow and split it open like a rotten fruit. Crumpled hull-plates and shorn bracing beams burst outward from the impact, propelled by a cloud of superheated metal and escaping gas. The Imperial ship tore through the cruiser from stem to stern, plunging like an iron tipped spear thrust by a wrathful god.
..
Then, with a flare of multicoloured light, the Chaos ship's reactor exploded, wreathing the forward end of the battle cruiser in fire.
A (damaged) Mars Class still masses 'tens of millions of tonnes' and can ram through a Chaos cruiser without being completely destroyed (amazing feat considering how badly damaged its already been from the previous battles in this book and the last one, including bombardment cannon hits.) We dont know the exact ranges or velocities, but even at a few tens of km/s per ship we're talking immense amounts of abuse (and collision). The reactor going up only adds to it.

Also reactor at 135%.


Page 221-222
"We are on emergency reserve power,"
...
"'No one is responding on the engineering deck, but indications are that the reactors have failed."
The ramming took out their own reactors.

Page 224
She went down fighting, her guns still defiantly answering the enemy barrage. Ragnar saw an enemy cruiser burst apart under a punishing strike from the battle cruiser's lance battery. Then an enemy shell found one of the Imperial ship's magazines. The Fist of Russ disintegrated in a massive chain reaction, a fitting pyre for her heroic crew.
The Fist goes down to a magazine hit (showing the munitions are volatile, whatever they are.) Also macro-cannon hit penetrates straight through the hull - not only just a direct hit. Also the lances still had power to fire, showing that they are designed to be fought even without the reactors (for at least a little while, perhaps.)


Page 236-237
The traitors had hurled wave after wave of assaults against the barricade over the course of the day. Burning vehicles and the bodies of the dead stretched for almost a full kilometre down the causeway, but each attack had brought the rebels a few hundred metres closer to the Imperial positions. Four times the enemy troops had attempted to scale the barricade, and four times the Space Wolves had driven them back.
...
Looking out along the causeway, he saw figures in tattered Guard and PDF uniforms retreating back into the smoke, chased by las-bolts and bolter fire from the Imperial defenders. The last of the mutants who'd tried to challenge him had stumbled back down to the base of the mound and were running for their lives.
...
The enemy had been broken for a fifth time and hurled back in disarray. Watching their fleeing figures...
Another barricade scene establishing range. The 'simple' way is just to note that the bodies start a kilometre from the barricade, indicating that weapons ranges (including for the small arms since they're the ones firing as they retreat) extend at least to a kilometre or so.

The other approach is by noting they made 4-5 charges to the barricades, and made it 'a few hundred metres' closer each time, depending on how many charges and how you define 'few hundreds' (at least 200, more likely 300) you could get as little as 800 metres, or as much as 2 km ('few hundred metres' meaning 400 metres at 5 charges.) which would be close ot the upper limit of visibility established previously. More conservatively you'd go 300 meters at 4-5 charegs (1200-1500 m).

all in all its probably safer to treat it as being roughly 1-2 km range, and that's reasonable enough, considering (as I noted before) 2 km range does not neccesarily mean 'accurate' fire - effecitve range and max effective ranges are two different things (IIRC most assualt rifles have a 500-600m max range IRL, but most riflemen are expected to only be accurate to maybe half that) and there is differences between 'point' and 'area' targets. a 2 km range could refer to the fact its a large mass of people charging forward, which would be rather hard to miss. :P

Page 244
The Space Wolves could cover a hundred kilometres in less than seven hours at a forced march..
100 km in udner 7 hours (call it 6-7 hours) is between 14-17 km/hr, which is slow considering that the wolves could make upwards of 40-60 km/hr in other cases. On the other hand, this is 'long distance' travel over a much longer period, rather than sprinting short distances, and the two cannot be compared. Just becuase you can cover a few km at 40-60 km/hr does not mean you could maintain that pace for hours over a hundred+ km.

Rather, we're probably talking a fast walking pace - which for a normla person would be a run - in a context designed for maximum sustainability - its more a tribute to their ability to balance speed vs endurance more than anything.

Page 250
One of the bondsmen wasn't so lucky, however. Two bolts took him high on the chest and shoulder, blowing the gunner apart.
'
Energy weapon - lascannon perhaps or plasma - from Chaos fighter. Two hits to blow apart a person - high kj/low MJ dpeending on context and how efficient it was.

Page 254
One of the Blood Claws was struck full in the chest by one of the energy bolts, blowing a hole the size of Ragnar's fist clean through the young warrior. The gunner staggered, and then sank to one knee, but the Blood Claw kept firing.
...
One glanced off his left pauldron and burned a molten furrow through the ceramite...


Unknown energy weapon again. This time punching a fist size hole through Space Wolf, although it doesnt kill him. Considering its described as melting the surroundings we could assume the same through the armour. Assuning a 3 cm thick plate on both sides (6 cm thick) and made of islicon and a 15 cm diameter space wolf fist we're talking 2.5 kg melted.. call it 6-7 MJ at least.

Page 258
The Raptor's bolt pistol boomed and a mass-reactive shell flattened against Ragnar's breastplate.
...
Ragnar took another step forward, put his bolt pistol against the Raptor's left eye and pulled the trigger. The heavy shell burst the helmet apart
Bolt round 'flattening' rather than exploding on impact. Another shot bursting a helmet, which means by KE rather than explosive power. REminds me of the James Swallow Blood Angels novels...


Page 260
Inquisitor Volt levelled his bolt pistol at one of the Raptors and fired. The shell took the armoured warrior square in the chest, and powerful blessings worked into the ammunition punched right through the armoured breastplate and consumed the man inside in a sheet of silvery flames.
Powerful magic cremation bolt rounds.

Page 261
The wounded Raptor let out a sharp hiss and staggered backwards, shooting Gabriella twice in the chest. She pitched backwards and fell without a sound.
..
She sat up with a grimace, letting go of her sword and pressing her hand to the two slugs that had flattened themselves against her breastplate.
While it seems amazing that Guard issue carapace could *stop* a bolt round, remember these aren't exploding/armour piercing rounds. They're behaving more like bullets (meaning they deform/f latten on impact) so the ballistic issues aren't quite the same. Still that's a shit ton of momentum/KE to deal with, which is quite impressive. Odds are its many times greater than the KE of a heavy stubber.

Page 272-273
The mmble of the rebel tank engine and the squeal of its treads were very loud now, sounding as though it was just a few dozen metres away on the other side of the barrier.
...
The warriors with hellguns popped up and rapid fired into the approaching traitors, while Sven took careful aim with his meltagun. There was a draconic hiss of superheated air as the assault weapon fired, and a thunderous explosion sent the rebel tank's turret spinning into the air.
Meltagun range. Guard issue. the hellguns seem to be grenadier weapons, whether they all had them or only some we don't know.

PAge 287
"But I felt nothing before I returned to Fenris, just two months ago!"
..
"Even with an initiate, it takes at least a year for the first changes to make themselves known."
...
"'If I were wolf-bitten a year ago, Ranek would have known it," Ragnar declared, "and I would have never been sent to Terra to serve House Bellisarius."
Less than a year has passed since the events of Wolfblade starting. This includes the transit from Fenris to TErra, and from tErra back into Sapce Wolf territory. That's around 10-20K both ways, and minus a two month stay on Fenris (at least) we're talking no more than 5 months on either locale. That's at least a good 24-48 thousand c. Odds are that is conservaitve, as it doesn't factor in time spent on TErra, Hyades, etc.

PAge 292-293
Rebel troops had reached to within half a kilometre of the Charys starport before their offensive ground to a temporary halt.
...
Now the frenzied rebel troops found themselves under the guns of the starport's defenders, forced to march across hundreds of metres of open ground covered by mines, anti-tank guns and artillery batteries. After two bloody assaults, the traitors were forced to pull back out of range until their heavy artillery could be brought forward to pound the Imperial positions.
...
Just over a kilometre from the beleaguered defenders, the first batteries of rebel guns were being rolled into position by the light of the dying sun. Bare-chested gun crews strained and cursed as they unlimbered heavy, stub-nosed siege mortars and tried to roll them into position along the reverse slope of a low, treeless hill.
Range of the Defenders and rebels guns (including small arms I'd guess) is between 500-1000 metres in this case.

Page 294
"Ammunition?" he asked of his men.

Sven eyed his two packmates. "Jurgen and Bors can shoot those bloody flashlights for another month before they run dry." he said, scowling at the hellguns in the Wolves' hands.
Not sure I'd take Sven at his literal word in this case, but it does imply Hellguns have quite a large shot capacity here (hundreds/thousands of shots?)

Page 293-295
..eight armoured figures observing the battery from a copse of trees a hundred metres to the west.
...
"Sven, when we're in range, you put your last shot right there."
Implies melta has a range of less than 100 meters.


page 296
..Terminators pulled apart more crates and hefted mortar shells like oversized boltgun rounds. Within moments, they were being fed into the breeches of the six waiting siege mortars.
...
Haakon peered over the slope. 'A motorised battalion between us and the starport,' he said, raising the targeting surveyor in his hand. 'Range six hundred and fifty to seven hundred metres.'
..
The mortars went off in a staggered volley, spitting half-tonne shells high into the air. They screamed like the souls of the damned, and Sternmark threw back his head and howled along with them. By the time the first shells burst among the unsuspecting rebels Sternmark had crested the slope and was charging towards the foe.
Space wolf artillery bombardment. Terminators can heft half tonne shells into breeches in seconds not unlike the way normal people could heft 120mm rounds I'd wager. 650-700 m range estimated from targeting surveyor (interetsing bit of gear for artillery mortars) Shells might be half tonne, which also gives an diea of explosive yield.

Page 297
Once, an infantryman lurched upright, struggling to aim a meltagun with a pair of charred hands, but Nils blew him apart with the last of his storm bolter shells.
Bolt shell blowing apart a person.

PAge 298-300
"We're fifteen hundred metres from the starport."
...
The Wolves fell in behind their leader as he marched stolidly up the slope. At the summit he saw the broad expanse of the starport spread before him and the killing ground littered with the dead. Energy bolts and tracer fire sped back and forth across the corpse choked field as Imperial troops and rebel forces along the causeway traded volleys.
...
For ten minutes, the Space Wolves strode across the smoking plain, in full view of both sides. Redclaw caught the light of the setting sun and her blade shone like an evening star, drawing the eye of every soldier within sight. Almost at once, rebel gunners opened fire on the slowly marching warriors, but the las-bolts and stubber fire flew wide of their targets. Sternmark did not alter his pace in the slightest, his head straight and his stride measured. A chance shot cracked against his side, but his armour held and he missed not a single step.

By the time they reached the middle ground between the two sides, the Wolves could hear the cheering from the Imperial fortifications. Return fire stabbed out at the rebel troops, providing cover for the heroic Space Marines, and lone voices called out encouragement to Sternmark and his men. More shots flashed through the knot of bloodstained warriors. The rebels were firing grenades at long range, sending hot pieces of shrapnel ringing against the Wolves' flanks. A missile streaked from a rebel position to the south, but its aim was poor and the shot fell short.

Three hundred metres. Two hundred and fifty. A shot from a heavy stubber smashed into Sternmark's hip, shattering against the armour and sending splinters into his leg. Mortar rounds whistled overhead, smashing into the earth ahead of the Wolves like burning fists.

...
...las-bolt cracked against his leg, and he brushed irritably at the scorch mark it left.
...
They were less than a hundred metres away.

He faintly heard the clatter of treads far off to the west, and a lusty shout went up from the rebel positions. Then, too late, he heard the hollow boom of a battle cannon.
...
The world seemed to slow to a turgid crawl. Sternmark's senses grew supernaturally sharp. He could feel the rumble of displaced air as the heavy shell arced towards them.
...
The shell was a dark, thumb-shaped smudge in the air, spinning lazily as it fell. Next to him, Sternmark heard Sven draw in a sharp breath. "Allfather protect us." the Grey Hunter said, and the world vanished in an eruption of earth and flame.
Rebels and loyalists exchanging small arms and heavy weapons fire across 1-1.5 km of distance, including some accurate fire against the space wolves against at least half if not most of that distance.

Also a battle cannon fired from 1500 m away, although the time implies at least a few seconds pass before the round hits. Considering its a HE round.. not really surprising.

PAge 319
Volt was right; the Inquisition would spare no effort to hunt the Wulfen to destruction. Virus
bombs would fall upon Fenris...
...
By the time the war was over, entire sectors would lie in ruins.
Implied scope of Space Wolf territory/responsibility.


Page 320
"He was constantly losing the damned thing. You may not remember any more, but I do." The Rune Priest pointed to Bulveye. "Do you recall the time he drank all that stormwine on Sirenia and tried to throw the bloody spear at the moon? Took us four days to find it afterwards." He chuckled ruefully and grinned at Ragnar. "Truth be told, he hated that big boar-sticker, but the Allfather gave it to him as a gift, so he was stuck with it. He dragged it out for ceremonies, and then he'd stick it in a corner somewhere and forget about it. Drove his huscarls mad."
Leman Russ stories. Again captures the amusing aspect of the Space wolf novels, although I'm ont sure how this would quite mesh up with the Ultra-Serious 'There are No Wolves on Fenris' interpretation Abnett pushed in 'Prospero Burns.'


Page 324
A technician was hurrying out of the war room with a portable logic engine in his arms as Sternmark arrived.
..
"Those logic engines are difficult to come by."
Portable computer.

Page 325-326
"The enemy has driven us from the capital and is preparing for a final assault against the starport. Now, I must concern myself with preserving as much of my command as possible while there is still time."
..
"My men are exhausted, and their vaunted heavy weapons are nearly out of ammunition. There's nothing more we can do here except die," she said, "and I won't waste the lives of good soldiers on a lost cause."
Another one of those sensible IG officers. You know, like the ones you don't find amongst the Krieg.


Page 327-328
Halfway across the Charys star system the Holmgang and her escorts drifted silentiy through the icy void. For weeks the battle-barge had played a deadly game of cat and mouse with Chaos ships in the asteroid field at the system's edge, but Holmgang's wily master reversed his course and slipped unnodced through the enemy cordon. Since then the Space Wolf ships had been gliding on a parabolic course back towards the embattled agri-world, growing closer with every passing day.
...
Within the hour the orders were transmitted to the rest of the fleet. Thrusters glowed to angry life, and the Space Wolf ships put on speed. Belowdecks, Iron Priests garbed themselves in leaden robes and began the Rites of Atomic Redemption, unlocking the great seals that would waken the ship's cyclonic torpedoes. There was little time to waste.

The Holmgang would reach Charys in less than four hours.
Four-5 hours to reach the planet - far under a day (the timeframe for tripwire, the exterminatus order.)

Assuming 5 AU distance, we;re looking at 40 gees and .057c at least. Even at 2 AU distance we'd be looking at 15 gees constant accel and 2.2% of c at least. At ~5 hours we're looking at 900+ gees and .27c


Page 329
They spoke of Russ himself, not the blessed Primarch Russ, but the black haired, flame eyed warrior who was more wolf than man. They spoke of his rough manner and intemperate heart, of his wild oaths and petty rivalries, of his melancholy nature and his merciless rage. "He drove us all to distraction," Bulveye said ruefully. "I remember one time when he'd got Horus so worked up I thought they were going to come to blows. The Allfather got between them, and Leman punched him full in the jaw."

Ragnar's eyes widened. "What happened then?"

Bulveye laughed. "The Allfather hit Leman so hard he was unconscious for a month. Spent the rest of the campaign flat on his back aboard the battle-barge."

One of Bulveye's pack leaders, a warrior named Dagmar, shook his head and chuckled. "That was the quietest month we ever had,'" he said, and his companions laughed along with him.

"Leman didn't speak to the Allfather for almost a year, but eventually they came around," the Wolf Lord said with a grin. "That was how they were, like a jarl and his sons, always squabbling about one thing or another, but they never forgot the ties of blood and kin."
Another story of Russ and the Emperor. Frankly I'd love to have seen more of this in the Series.


Page 330
"You had no idea that Russ has been lost for ten thousand years, and that he'd left his spear behind on Garm. You expected him to be here."
..
"Leman is no more lost than we were," he replied. "I don't know where he's gone, but I do know this: he swore an oath to us a very long time ago, and one day he will keep it."
...
"Because, little brother, Leman of the Russ was a scoundrel and an axe-bitten fool at times, but he always kept his word, regardless of the cost." Bulveye held out his right hand. "When last we met, he clasped my wrist and swore that one day we would meet again."
The 13th Company, at least, believe he is alive. Again this presents a different image of Russ from Abnett's view, but I could see this meshing with Prospero burns because of its more serious tone.


Page 334
Slowly, carefully, he drew out a squat cylinder the size of a melta bomb and cradled it in his lap. Then he reached over his shoulder and drew forth his great ale horn.
...
"Good, brown Iron Islands ale, tapped from the kegs in the Fang's deep cellars," he said proudly. "I've been saving this one for a special occasion, and this seems like the time! Bringing it all the way from Fenris was a saga all by itself, I can tell you."
Haegr's been carrying around his own beer keg for most of the battles in the book. Which gets donated to the 13th Company people here.


Page 341
...Sven laid his sights on one of the advancing warriors and fired a quick burst. Detonations crackled along the foe-man's breastplate and blew a fist-sized hole through its helmet.
Bolt round blows a fist sized hole through Thousand son helmet.


Page 342-343
A squadron of Chaos raiders picked up the Holmgang on their scopes halfway to Charys, and swung about on an intercept course.
..
Commanders invoked the blasphemous names of their gods and ordered their ships to flank speed.
...
Converging at maximum speed, the two forces reached extreme weapons' range within moments.
...
Upon command, the remaining Thunderhawks of Holmgang's battle group rammed their throttles forward and streaked from the sensor shadow of their parent ships. By the time the Chaos commanders realised what had happened the strike craft were already starting their attack runs.

Fifteen seconds later the Wolf ships passed through the expanding debris clouds of the Chaos raiders. Hours later the light from the violent explosions would reach the hunter-killer squadrons stalking through the asteroid fields, but by then it would already be too late.
Brief space battle. ASsumng the speeds range from between 2-10% of c earlier (at least) and we assume at least 15 seconds closing time on both sides we're talking at least 198,000-900,000 km assuming closing velocities are equal. If we take 'maximum' speed literally we're talking closer to .5-.75c for both which is between 4,500,000 and 6,750,000 km.

Of course, that also means those thunderhawks must have been travelling faster/accelereated damn quickly to close the distance lik ethat soo.. it might at best argue more towards the lower end of the scale, :)


PAge 348
"We've learned a few of the enemy's secrets on our long hunt," he replied. "A keen mind and a bold heart can accomplish much, even in this terrible place. I can cross leagues in but a few steps, so long as I can see the destination in my mind." The Rune Priest winked conspiratorially. "Soon we'll be able to walk between the worlds as well as our enemies can."
The 13th Company Rune Priest sknow a few useful tricks of travel that the Sons seem to. That includes interplanetary travel (which is suggested by their ability to appear or disappear from thin air) as well as teleporting 'leagues' in a few steps.

Sufficed to say the Malleus Inquisitor is not happy. I'd be amused to think how Heresy era rune priests would react to this, given their arrogance about their own powers (comapred to the Sons.)


Page 351
Twin beams of lurid red light swept across the ruins from overhead, sweeping back and forth across the rubble. The whistling turned into a faint wail, and a strange, bat-winged figure glided swiftly overhead. Ragnar caught a glimpse of glistening, leathery wings and corroded metal ribbing, a long tail made of steel barbs and a pale, misshapen head. The creature's fleshy mouth was distended around the rusted grille of a vox speaker, and the crimson beams shone from its augmetic eyes.
Cybernetic daemon!


Page 357
It was no simple thing to turn a living world to ash.

Cyclonic torpedoes operated on the principle of igniting a planet's atmosphere and creating a self-sustaining firestorm that spread across entire continents. Kindling such a fire was no easy task, however; the warheads had to be seeded in a complex pattern and their detonations synchronised in such a way as to ensure a proper chain reaction.

The calculations began while the Holmgang was still an hour away from Charys. Like pieces of a puzzle, data about the agriworld's magnetic field, rotational speed and atmospheric density were computed, and orbital patterns for the bombardment took shape. This translated to manoeuvring orders for the fleet as the flagship choreographed insertion patterns for her attendant cruisers. Huge warships shifted positions with funereal grace, taking their places for the dreadful dance to come.

Holmgang's master and her command officers watched the green orb of Charys fill the grand viewports along the command deck and listened as the ordnance officers determined landmass ratios and populadon densities,
Preparations and calculations ofr cyclonic bombardment.


Page 360
Inquisitor Volt cried an oath to the Emperor and shot another Guardsman full in the chest. The sanctified bolt pistol shell punched through the traitor's desecrated armour as though it were made of tissue, and the blessings carved onto the round's surface consumed the man in a sheet of silver fire.
another magic Malleus bolt round immolation.


Page 363
Then a shell struck her high in the chest, knocking the Navigator from her feet.
...
"It flattened against my armour. Help me up."
Autogun round vs guard issue carapace.


Page 370-371
In the middle ground between Ragnar and the Dreadnought, an armoured figure staggered amid three blackened and melted corpses. Smoke rose from Sigurd's armour, and the ceramite plates shimmered with heat, but the power of the iron wolf amulet had saved the priest from a gruesome death.
3 Wulfen reduced to charred/melted corpses by plasma cannon. Siguard survives due to rosarius/Iron amulet. At least single digit MJ, probably more like double digit at least.

Page 385
At a signal from Holmgang, the seven strike cruisers of the Space Wolf fleet broke away from the flagship on divergent courses, setting up orbital insertions that would carry them over their designated bombardment zones. The fleet's eight surviving escorts quickly fell behind the onrushing cruisers. Standard procedure for the Hunter and Falchion escorts was to provide a cordon in high orbit to protect the capital ships while they were locked into their attack runs.

Aboard the battle-barge, orders were passed to the helm, and Holmgang came about, setting up her own bombardment run. Her track would carry her over the capital city and the planet's starport. It wasn't the ideal placement for the cyclonic torpedoes, but the ship's master wanted to give the lost warriors of Berek's company the heroes' pyre that they deserved.
More exterminatus preparations and the scope of the Wolf fleet.
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Connor MacLeod
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Re: Space Wolf series thread

Post by Connor MacLeod »

Well I'm resurrecting an old thread because I've realized I haven't yet covered 'Blood of Asaheim' by Chris Wraight. Which seems to be the start of a osrt of new 'Space Wolf' series. Now, if you've read my coverage of Battle of the Fang you'll note I wasn't terribly thrilled with Wraight's depiction in that book. I can say now that whatever I thought then I've probably mellowed out now, because I did really like this book and depiction. It had similarities to King's stuff, but it wasn't a total copycat. The plot was interesting, and I liked the characters much in the same way I liked Wrath of Iron. I'm actually eager to read more because there was tons of mystery laid down and more to come, I think. Lots of unanswuered questions.

This is of course from the hardback edition and it will be two updates simultaneously:

Hardcover edition.

Page 9
The noise was an irrelevance by then – a cluttered fury that signified nothing but the slow death of the drifting Arjute-class heavy troop conveyer. The Imperium would not miss it; it could spare a million of them and never notice.
The Imperium has at least a million, probably more like several million, of this particular troop conveyor. We dont know exactly WHAT it is - it could be a shuttle/dropship or a troop transport, but they have a fucking lot of them. Context would imply an actual troop transport, but its up for debate either way.


Page 10
He didn’t know what they were. Human, perhaps. If so, they were heavily augmented and stuffed with bionics, for they moved liked he did and hit almost as hard. That was worrying. It shouldn’t have been possible.
Rather interesting, given we know AdMech can make Skitarii and/or battle servitors that match a Space Marine at least in some ways. Why this was not considered as a possibility is beyond me.



Page 10
His retinal display screamed at him, detailing pedantically just how badly he’d been torn up: two lungs gone, chest cavity flooded, seventy minor fractures and six big ones. His skin was a mess of partly-clotted plasma and slowly knitting tissue, all seething with a contradictory mix of stimms and pain suppressors.
Pretty bad. He was breaking up, just like the ship around him.
Level of injury Space wolf has taken and remaining more or less active. Also again implication that the 'arjute' is actually a starship, not just a dropship.





Page 11-12
The first he knew of the frag grenade was a gentle tink-tink-tink as it bounced down the corridor.
If his senses hadn’t been crushed, he’d have spotted it sooner. If his muscles hadn’t been ripped apart, he’d have been able to leap clear in time. If his armour hadn’t been carved open, he’d have withstood the blast.
It exploded. The blast-wave hurled him backwards, throwing him onto his back and sending him skidding into the far wall of the junction.
Intact power armor would have withstood a grenade powerful enough to send the Wolf flying back (which considering how much more they mass compare to a normal person, is quite alot.)



Page 17-18
After leaving U-6743 he took the Inquisitorial line cruiser Obsession for Integrity through the warp from Orelia – a long jump and a wearying journey.
..
After that it was a mid-range stint in an Imperial Navy frigate whose name he never learned. He scared the hell out of the regular troops with his brooding and grey-eyed stare.
..
Only at Kattyak was he able to switch to passage on a Fenrisian vessel – Yvekk, a clunky system-runner with a full kaerl crew and a leaking enginarium containment shell. At least the attendants were able to speak to him in Juvykka. For a while even that made him feel awkward, having been confined to Gothic for so long.
Inquisition cruiser delivering a returning Deathwatch marine. Oddly the Space Wolf merits transport on his own frigate too, which tells you about the influence of either the Ordo Xenos, the Deathwatch, or the Space wolves.
Also the Space Wolves have their own sublight vessels run by, I gather, serfs.



Page 20
That is me. I am an alien here, treading spores into stone from halfway across the galaxy. The Aett knows that I no longer belong.
Implying our former Deathwatch marine has travelled 'haflway' across the galaxy to return to Fenris. Likely serving out on the Eastern Fringe?



Page 22
When Ingvar had last served as a member of the Rout on Fenris, he had barely known the name Ragnar Blackmane – a Blood Claw in Berek’s Great Company, already tipped for an illustrious future, but no more so than many of the headstrong berserks they pulled off the ice.
Now, six decades later, the whelp had grown. Ragnar’s face still had the supple bloom of youth but his armour was scarred as badly as any other Jarl’s, draped with age-bleached trophies of a hundred kills and carrying the clenched-fist sigils of Berek’s old company amid the howling wolfshead device of his own. The blackmane pelt was slung over rune-graven shoulder guards, tight with weathering. A huge chainsword hung idle at his side, chipped and scratched from use.
Ragnar smiled, exposing short, sharp fangs. Glossy sideburns ran down each jaw, each as black as the long top knot that mingled fluidly with the pelt on his shoulders.
I was actually a bit surprised to have Ragnar make an appearance, but it sa welcome surprise. Its nice as a way to ease iun people familiar with Bill King's take, but its done in a way that doesn't copycat his work either.. this is the RAgnar who always told the stories in the King novels, the one from the codex we're familiar with, the one who succeeds Berek and wears his experiences despite his evident youth. Chris Wraight seems to have managed to borrow certain elements of King's novels whilst retaining his own take on it, and I have to say honestly this contributed to me acclimating to the book more easily than I did Battle of the Fang.






Page 31
Olgeir, the big one he’d managed to hit with his neutered bolt-round, the one they called Heavy-hand, came over to punch him on the shoulder. The gesture was possibly intended to be affectionate; it felt like a slug from a lascannon.
Which may reflect lasweapons having an explosive effect which could impart recoil, if we take it literally.



Page 31-32
Olgeir’s gnarled face was encrusted in an impossibly dense mix of scar tissue, tattoos, ironwork piercings and curls of dark, stray hair. His streaked beard was full and unruly, cascading in snarls and braided twists over his full breastplate. For the exercise he’d reluctantly left his heavy bolter, the beloved sigrún, behind, and he looked strangely massive without it.
..
Baldr Fjolnir was easier to look at than his larger battle-brother. His beard was less ragged, his skin less tortured by burns and scores. He was lean, compact, with a mouth that tended to smiles and clear amber eyes. He wore his hair long, and it still bore traces of the sandy blondness it had had when he’d been in the Claws himself.
I have to dmit I like these two, they give me a bit of a Haeger and Torin vibe. They're not EXACTLY identical, but there's a bit of that feeling there nonetheless, with the big, powerful and good natured Space wol and a bit more of a skilled/better looking one. Like Ragnar, its another element of the story that ties it in a bit more with Bill King's version of the Wolves without totally duplicating it.



Page 32-33
Sparks showered, bounced and died on the stone floor, hurled from the glowing, gaping jaws of a thousand foundries.
Gunnlaugur looked up, away from the magma-light of the forge floor and up towards the distant roof. He couldn’t see it. Thick columns of smoke swam up into the heights, pooling and drifting before being filtered up through hidden vents. The cacophony of the forging went with them – a discordant, overlapping strain of heat-softened metal being beaten into shape by ranks of vast, tilting hammers.
Molten steel ran down gullies like river water, spitting and frothing as it slopped over the sides. Bloated calderas tipped up, sending fresh gushes into waiting moulds. Conveyer belts of segmented adamantium rolled endlessly, shunting metal from bulbous cooling vats, to anvils, back to the furnace, on and on in a round of hammering, shaping, folding, tapering and tempering until the proto-weapons emerged, carried off reverently by dull-eyed servitors for the benediction and finishing of tech-priests and Iron Priests.
Above it all hung the silent images of the ancient forge gods, picked out in beaten bronze and mounted on pillars of stone. As the army of semi-human artificers laboured, those bronze images flickered and glowed in the sullen light of eternal fires, staring calmly and inscrutably across the shifting gloom of the Hammerhold.
A Forge/manufactory on Fenris. It may be in the Fang, but its probably not the only one. It seems to be operated nearly entirely by servitors with Iron preist/Admech oversight to manufacture weaponry and other shit in a 'thousand' foundries.




Page 33-34
A single anvil rested in the centre of the chamber, black and heavy-set, shiny in the darkness. A furnace the height of two mortal men stood beside it, lit with shimmering coals that made the narrow opening shake with heat. A few other items stood beside the furnace – a rack hung with dozens of metalworking tools, a cauldron of water, iron caskets full of ingots – but otherwise the space was almost bare.
No servitors droned around that place; no conveyer belts brought raw materials to the hammer’s bite. Less than one weapon a year left that anvil, and many more were destroyed by their maker before they reached the Iron Priest for blessing.
Few ironworkers would have had their painstaking energies so indulged by the Jarls. Arjac, though, the one they called Rockfist, was a special case.
Arjac apparently makes artificer and specialty works, the high end stuff for the Important folk in the Chapter. That probably means he is/was an Iron Priest, or at least a Space Wolf heavily involved in frabrication and smithing.
This also gives us an idea of how often at least certain kinds of artificer gear might be turned out by a master craftsman.



Page 34
"It’ll be melted down, just like the others."
"Seems a waste."
"A waste? Of what – metal? There’s more down here than we could use in a thousand years."
We dont know actually how much metal 'down here' means, if its just in the forge or what, but it could easily amount to trillions of tons or more annually. If we figure 5% of the Earth's crust in iron (about the actual percentage) it would work out to roughly quadrillions annually. Either way it implies they may use a shit-ton of material.



Page 40
In space, a Thunderhawk was a clumsy, compromised thing, hampered by atmospheric drives it couldn’t use; on land it was a bulky monstrosity, squatting against the earth like a deformed mockery of a prey-bird. Only in the inbetween spaces, the thin airs where void and matter met, only there was it unsurpassed.
Whic despite being SPECIAL SNOWFLAKE in lots of cases suggests Thunderhawks accept certain copromises for their bybrid role that other aircraft might not. Which would probably explain why they bother with aeronautica as well as void fighters. Its basically designed to do a bit of everything (troop transport, ground support, air to air and superheavy roles) although it can't excel at any one thing the way a specialist design can.



Page 41
"Ras Shakeh."
"Never heard of it."
"Two months away, on the fringes of protected space. Grimnar thinks we need to be pushing out a bit, extending our reach as others withdraw theirs."
..
"We need to retrench, not expand. Will someone ever tell the Old Wolf that we’re all taking losses? Does he think that we can pick up the slack of every half-manned Chapter in the segmentum?"
Two months (roughly) travel time to the fringes of 'protected' space. I'm assuming this means Space Wolf territory, although we dont know quite how big it is. It presumably is bigger than a sector given implications about Space Marine protectorites/terratories from 5th edition's core rules (surrounding sectors) It also implies it may span the entire Segmentum (which I'm guessing is Obscurus, given that is where the Space Wolves occupy.)
If we just figure something between 200 and 10K Light years, the speed would translate to (on average) somewhere between 1,200 and 60,000c

One of the interesting counterpoints of the novel is how the Wolves have progressed since their asperations in Battle of hte Fang to grow and become wardens of the Eye of Terror. Instead they're hard pressed to maintain the forces and commitments they already have, suggestive of the 'dwindling' of the Chapter and playing on that 'Wolftime' End of the Millenium thing.



Page 43
But the Wolves didn’t use training drones...
...
"Why don’t you use them?" Callimachus had asked him.
Ingvar remembered the Ultramarine’s studiously polite expression. Callimachus had been trying hard to be diplomatic, but it had been clear enough what he had thought.
“A drone doesn’t attack you like a minded creature,” Ingvar had said. Back then he had been fresh out of Hjortur’s old pack, contemptuous of the skills of those he’d been thrown together with. “It has no soul, and a warrior needs a soul. We fight each other. We fight the enemy. That’s the way to learn.”
...
“Why not send your neophytes into war with the skills they need?”
“They learn the skills in real combat, or they die.”
“Indeed. Which is a tragic waste.”
“Conflict tests the warrior.”
“Quite so – but the drone-drills prepare him. They are more flexible, perhaps, than you realise”
...
“I entirely respect your way of war, Eversson,” the Ultramarine had said afterwards, picking his words carefully. “Truly, I respect it. But is it possible that there might be some virtue in learning from precedent?”
“You mean the Codex,” Ingvar had said, back then barely knowing of what he spoke.
“It does have some uses.”
I found this passage interesting as it was a highlight of the flaws in Space Wolf methods/culture, and perhaps one of those factors that contributed to the earlier 'decline'. As the Ultramarine points out it is rather wasteful, and a Legion that focuses on expanding its coverage of protection neeeds every soldier it can get, so the former Deathwatch dude is cognizant of the fact that the Space Wolf way, whilst very traditional, may not be the best way. (And in some respects this sets him apart from his pack-mates, and creates certain underlying tensions driving the character dynamics in the novel.)



Page 50
”Ras Shakeh,” said Gunnlaugur, flicking the switch on a palm-held device and sending a flame-red hololith spinning up into the air before him. “Shrineworld of the Ras subsector. It is under the Ecclesiarchy with distant support from the Adulators Chapter, though our brothers have declared themselves no longer able to contribute to its defence. They are stretched, I am told, to breaking point.”
..
“Before the Ras worlds were taken under the control of the Imperial Cult,” continued Gunnlaugur, “it is said that an arrangement once existed between them and Fenris.”
...
“It is the beginning of an offensive, a multi-front assault into abandoned space covering three subsectors. We are to be part of it.”
More on the destination and protectorates. Apparently protectorates extend beyond just the Smurf descended Chapters. I think this reinforces an earlier speculation I had where we could assume Chapter 'terirtory'/protectorates would reflect an unofficial intermediate level of administration between sectors and segmentum. This would also reinforce the idea that Space MArine 'protectorates' might overlap.



Page 51
”Who governs this world?”
“The Adepta Sororitas,” said Gunnlaugur. “The Order of the Wounded Heart.”
The sororitas seem to have their own territories sa well. At least unofficially.



Page 60
Gunnlaugur looked out ahead. The milky grey of the sky had faded to black as the atmosphere thinned to nothing. Familiar constellations emerged into pure clarity, obstructed only by dozens of gunmetal-grey defence platforms in orbit above the planet. The closest of them was less than a kilometre away and hung massively in the void, the marker lights on its gun turrets blinking in the dark.
Scope of the orbital defences at least in this zone in space.



Page 60
Gunnlaugur narrowed them, scanning the velvet darkness. For a long time, he saw nothing. Hundreds of vessels, from tiny system runners to gigantic capital ships, occupied the Fenris system at any one time, but few lingered for long in the planet’s shadow.
Scope of the space fleet (not all warships, nor not all warp capable.) 'at any one time'



Page 60
It was small for a frigate, of an old design. The engine-level on it looked big; its weapons array looked small. Its shell was black, with old Rout images painted on the flanks in chipped yellow and grey. Its bridge was set lower than usual, surrounded by charred bulkheads. Faint plumes of gas vented from something jagged and reflective under its hull.
..
“I’m told it’s fast.”
We dont know how 'small' it is, but it reflects tradeoffs in design as well as the fact older is not neccesarily better. lol




Page 61
As on all such ships, a low murmur of machine-clicks and human muttering provided a constant accompaniment to the grind of the sub-warp engines.
'sub-warp' engines. another way of saying sublight probably.



Page 61
”What’s your complement status, master?”
..
“Twelve per cent down, lord. But we do have extra servitor provision. Demands on the fleet are heavy, I’m told.”
The Wolves place a higher value on human crews than servitors, which is a bit different than Space Marines normally operate.



Page 62
”‘Very well, master, you have the order. Take us out to the jump-point. We’ll cross the veil as soon as we can.”
..
In a few hours that view would be gone, replaced by heavy lead shutters to blank out the madness of the empyrean.
A 'few hours' to reach the jump point from Fenris. Assuming betwen 25 million and 150 million km at least, we'd have at least 4-5 gees on the low end (~12 hours) and 1200 km/s average velocity, whilst 2-3 hours at least would be 100-150 gees and 2% of c. Whilst at 1 AU you could go as low as 10-15 gees and stil take over a day to travel and a max speed of .013c, and topping out at a whopping 1000 gees and 13% of c on the other end.



Page 72
”The veil is breaking,” reported Bjargborn. “Navigator reports that your desire to come in close will be satisfied.”
Reference again to the variation of emergence points from the warp - the better the navigator the closer you can get.
I also am wondering if perhaps the Wolves might have ties with more than one Navigator house, or have somehow acquired more navigators from Belisarius, as the original intent was navigators on the capital ships (15 of them and 15 navigators) but even the escorts have navigators.. well you get the idea.




PAge 73
”Ensure full power to the weapons.” He seized his helm from his belt and lowered it over his head. “Maintain full speed.”
Implying perhaps the weapons run off capacitors or batteries, which could allow engines and weapons to run at full (to limited extents)



Page 73
Void battles were strange and varied things. Most were settled over unimaginably vast distances and conducted via the statistical feeds of locator machines, neither captain ever setting eyes on his opponent. Some lasted for months, with ships dropping in and out of the warp in a drawn-out attempt to gain positional advantage. Some were brutally simple – a rammed hull cracking apart in a destructive orgy of engine detonation, an overloaded shield generator causing a cascade of ruinous chain reactions. The variables to consider were immense, the variety inexhaustible.
Which was why Jorundur enjoyed it. No motive cogitator had the imagination, the flair, to take on void war. It was left to flesh-and-blood captains, men and women who knew the tolerances of their ships like they knew the limits of their own bodies, souls who could eke out the last gramme of power and aggression while the universe exploded in fire and blood around them.
Comments on the vagaries of void battles. That it can be beyond visual range (thousands of km at least, more likely tens of thousands of kms especially for multi-mile capital ships) is hardly surprising, but it does encompass the sheer variation that can exist in 40K ship combat. Some are long and drawn out affairs over vast ranges (the times and ranges alone which can vary dramatically) whilst some are close knife-fight slugfests that can include such tactics as ramming.
The most surprising thing, of course is the months long duels involving ships on both sides hopping in and out of the warp to gain advantage - we know from Rogue Trader that emergency warp translations (to avoid weapons fire) are possible, and we know that entry/exit points can be variable depending on navigator skill and warp conditions, but it stands to reason that depending on the size of the 'calm' or stable region in or around a system and or the paths that may cross through it, navigating around the system and entering/exiting at various points could, in fact, be possible.

We also learn that shields can be somewhat volatile for one reason or another, and their explosions or overloading might contribute to damage.
Oddly, for whatever reason, the Space Wolf pilot considers it a duel of 'flesh and blood' even though technically computers (machien spirits) contribute as much or more (to running the ship nevermind other shit) - call it human arrogance and perhaps faith based effects (the warp and such.)



Page 74-75
three-dimensional matrix flickered into life above them, glowing in lines of red and gold, dominated by the globe of Ras Shakeh. It showed the position of the Undrider closing fast on the planet. Another signal emerged from the far side of the world, moving directly towards them to intercept.
...
”A destroyer”
..
“Its weapons are powering up.”
Jorundur scrutinised the flickering image rotating before him. The bridge around him ran with shouts and orders as weapon systems were brought online and the void shields raised.
...
The outline of the destroyer was… odd. Its guns looked misshapen. It might have been Idolater-class, but if so then something bizarre had happened to its hull. The Undrider was probably faster, but his hunch was that it was weaker and packed less of a punch.
..
“Maintain speed and course. Prepare for drop to nadir on my mark, ten thousand kilometres.”
Bjargborn scurried to comply. Warning lights strobed across the picter array, warning of energy spikes out in the void.
“Lance strike!” shouted a kaerl from the sensoria station.
“Too far away,” breathed Jorundur. “They’re too–”
Space ahead of them exploded into a blaze of harsh, caustic light. The Undrider slammed to port-zenith, sending unsecured crew members tumbling across the marble floor. Klaxons blared out, and the combat lumens flickered twice before resuming.
Arrival towards planet, and they run across a chaos destroyer. Take into context above that BVR combat is generally implied to be the rule in such contexts, so although it implies perhaps 10,000 km range for the destroyer and less, the range isn't actually defined, and whilst they are close to the planet, orbital distances for both converging ships can eaisly encompass thousands or tens of thousands of km, nevermind the distance across the planet itself, so it could be 'merely' tens of thousands of kilometres, and that would fit better with known 'typical' combat ranges, especially for escorts.
Even if it were just 10K km, that doesn't neccesarily mean anything, as ranges are not absolute and can depend on any number of factors (EW and conditions in space, closing speeds, quality and nature of targeting systems - if any -, the nature of the weaponry and the target, etc.) Even within specific weapons classes ranges can be highly variable.
We also learn that its a supposed idolator destroyer and is apparently larger and more powerful than the frigate, although that's largely implied. The differences could be in design (trading firepower/durability for mobility for example.) It may not be an idolator though, given (as mentioned later) its a Imperial starship design, so it may have been misidentified.
Also note either they dodge a near miss, or it pushes them off course.


Page 75
"Evasive action!" ordered Bjargborn.
"Do not dare," threatened Jorundur. "In closer."
Gunnlaugur, still on his feet, looked at him sharply. "Closer?"
"We can’t hit it back at this range," snapped Jorundur. "All we’ve got is speed."
Again, peculiarly, this would suggest this particular escort has far shorter ranged guns than other sources (BFG, etc.) would imply even for escorts. It's hardly the first novel to imply ranges shorter than 10,000 km, of course (and there is still that fudge factor I mentioned above)



Page 75
”Scrape the planet’s edge, find us some more speed.”
The Undrider plunged towards the world below, and the huge orb began to fill the real space viewers. As it did so another energy beam scythed past, missing the crenelated spine of the frigate by less than a kilometre. The growl of the engines swelled to a howling whine and the deck trembled beneath their feet.
..
Proximity indicators rattled down in front of him, tracking the shrinking gap between the two ships. They were still too far out, and the enemy had the range on them.
...
“Open fire, master,” he ordered.
“We don’t have–”
“Open fire or lose your teeth.”
The Undrider’s forward lance sent a shard of sun-white light arcing into the void. Banks of lascannons opened up all along the prow, briefly flaring up against the dark before disappearing in a hail of scattered beams.
The barrage caused no damage, but the enemy adjusted trajectory, just by a fraction, enough to postpone the next volley. By then the Undrider’s course across the fringes of Ras Shakeh’s atmosphere was hurling it onwards even faster. Continents blurred by underneath them in smudges of red and black.
A few seconds more…
The enemy barrage hammered in again. The destroyer opened up with ship-to-ship las-fire and the Undrider took hits all along its exposed starboard flanks, making the shielding buck, flex and crackle.
“Losing voids!” shouted a kaerl from the cogitator banks, seconds before a hard bang made the chamber shake.
An implied 'seconds' long transit around a planet close to the edge (implying perhaps tens or hundreds of km/s travel speed) to bring them about and into range of the target. It also implies perhaps gravity assist ('gain more speed') would suggest low accelerations likewise, at least in this particular combat scenario and conditions. Given both ships seem to be close in around the planet (or its orbits) we're talking a few tens of thousands of kms at best for the Space wolf frigate's range (and possibly less). although the enemy starship seems to be in range.

Why this is despite the ships being roughly similar in class (escorts, and destroyers tend not to be massively larger than frigates, even small ones) and having similar armaments is interesting to speculate - maybe different 'caliber' of lascannon? The allusions to range having an impact on the damage the guns do could mesh with this (and the kinetic effects) to tell us that 'effective' range based on focal point of the las shots is the issue (EG the Destroyer lascannons can focus their firepower onto a smaller point at a much greater distance, hence are able to score damage more effectively at a longer range than the lascannons on the Space Wolf frigate.) although damage vs distance may also reflect fire rates and accuracy ('sweeping' the shots to ensure as many pulses as possible in the beam hit the ship. This would also explain why speed is able to help reduce damage)

Note the Space Wolf frigate, as well as the enemy destroyer, both mount lances, presumably fixed, prow mountings. If there is a difference in firepower (and range) it presumably is due to differences in size, or its not including the lance armament.



Page 76
He caught sight of the enemy in the realview portals then – a bruise-black, bulbous destroyer, swinging in closer for another pass. Its forward lance was already blazing white, ready for the next spike. The telltale glitter of void shields shimmered across its outline, still intact.
A fresh salvo scythed out from the Undrider’s cannons. The crews had a good aim – as the glare faded Jorundur saw a swathe of hits across the enemy underside. Something blew up under the dagger-sharp prow, knocking the lance up out of position and sending a splash-pattern of static across the ship’s shields.
..
The Undrider shot upwards, sheering a little and trailing debris, still fast enough to evade most of the hail of las-fire aimed at it. The engines laboured, sending stuttering impacts vibrating through the bulkheads and gantries. Biting detonations along the hull tipped it over several degrees but didn’t slow it.
For less than a second it passed right beside the enemy, close enough to see its glistening, tumorous hide through the crystal of the realviewers. Banks of lascannons snapped out in unison, hurling a thicket of deadly neon-bright spears across the gap. The return barrage was just as vicious – two walls of heat and light slamming through and past one another, cracking into the swimming energy of the void shields, bursting through and boring down to the metal below.
Explosions crashed out all along the length of the Undrider, punctuated by the scream and snap of expiring void generators. The whole ship reeled as las-beams carved into overheated conduits and burned through metre-thick plate. The engines coughed and flared, beating erratically as if having a sudden coronary.
The two ships are now within visual range. Given that we're talking probalby a km if not a mile long ship we'd almost certainly be talking hundreds if not thousands of kilometres (and that ignores magnitifcation), which again puts the range thing into context. We again get ealobration on the armament of both ships - it seems to be entirely laser based (laser lances included), with no projectile, plasma, or missile weapons.

The effects of the weaponry is clearly explosive on impact, although whtehr its explosive vaporization or secondary explosions (if not both) we don't know, but the effects are violent enough to knock ships physically aside (Several degrees) - that could be considerable acceleration, given the internal effects.

Also note the reference to the armor being 'metre thick' plate. Either the frigate's armour is really thin by starship standards (less than the 'metres' thick', it encompasses multiple layers of meter-thick plates, or the armoring scheme of the ship encompasses something other than simply slapping the thickest layers on the outside of the ship - it could be certain portions of the ship are more heavily armored on the outer hull than others, or it may be the ship relies more on internal armor belts coverying key areas (akin to WW1 era 'protected' cruiserss vs 'armoured' cruisers.) or it may reflect damage mitigation rathre than resistance (compartmentlaization and redundancy.) It may even reflect the emphasis on speed rather than fighting ability (Sacrificing volume and mass for high accel.)




Page 76
Bjargborn, who’d nearly been knocked out of his throne by the repeated impacts, scrambled for data.
...
Gunnlaugur braced himself against the steepling deck, compensating for malfunctioning grav generators.
Grav generators malfunction yet no imminent fears of acceleration. This would suggest accel towards the lower end of the scale more than upper (in line with the FFG stats, in that respect) Weapons fire also imparts significant enough momentum to throw unsecured crewers around bodily (with risk of harm.)


Page 78
The Undrider was, in all but one respect, a substandard vessel, something that he should have been ashamed to go to war in.
..
On the far side of the doorway was a yawning chamber the size of the Thunderhawk hangar.
..
In the centre of the chamber was a slingshot launch mechanism – two hundred metres of track-lined tunnel heading straight out into the void, softly illuminated by a heart-red glow.
Escort is at least 200 m long, but more probably several times that given that engines and prow would not be factored into the 'track tunnel' (engines would be at least another third or half the length of the rest o fthe ship, as would probably the prow.) If that is width, the length would probably be closer to 800-1000m long at least, possibly twice that if the hangar is half the width of the ship.



Page 78-79
A Caestus Assault Ram was a common sight on Adeptus Astartes capital ships, rarer on escort-class vessels like the Undrider. Unlike the versatile Thunderhawk gunships, which were almost three times as large, a Caestus was built around a single operational principle. Its twin hulls were heavily armoured and reinforced with plates of ceramite, ridged and braced to absorb enormous impacts. Its chunky thrusters had afterburners designed to hurl it into blistering straight-line speeds. Its weapon complement – twin-linked heavy bolters, wing-mounted missile launchers, magna-melta heat cannon – all faced ahead, concentrating their destructive power into a single point.
A Caestus, launched into the void and carrying its full complement of ten Space Marines, could survive a direct hit at full speed with the unshielded hull of any battle cruiser in the Imperium.
Caestus described, and its ability ot survive ramming into a ship's hull at high speed (kilometres or tens of km/s perhaps) It is also described as 1/3 the size of a Thunderhawk, so we might guess maybe 40 tonnes and maybe tank sized (call it 5-6 m diameter at least)


Page 80
The sun-hot magna-melta was the last weapon to fire, just as the destroyer’s bulk overshadowed them, racing up out of the void like a cliff-face of adamantium. For all his conditioning, Gunnlaugur couldn’t resist gritting his teeth together, clenching his jaws tight as the hull hurtled in close.
The smash was colossal. The Caestus blazed into a raging core of melting, boiling metal. For a microsecond it plunged straight through the magma, barging aside disintegrating columns and armour plate. Then it rammed square against a solid bracing rib and reared upwards. Momentum dragged it onwards, scraping and tearing through chunks of steel and adamantium, boring away into the reeling heart of the destroyer’s wounded flank.
Assuming at least 2-10 m thick hull and 5-6 m per side and iron composition the Caestus would melt at least 394 to 2,834 tons of iron which is between 473 and 3.4 TJ at least. Note, however this is also delivered in a microsecond, which is likely going to be quite.. explosive all told. Equivalent to literally (at least) a hundred to a thousand tons of TNT probably, so the destructive effects should be worse, and that doesnt include the impact (another hundreds or thousands of gigajoules of KE, nevermind the momentum... depending on relative and closing velociies of the Caestus and the Destroyer.)



Page 83
Jorundur staggered, keeping his feet with difficulty. The mortals around him did less well. Those strapped into their chairs were flung viciously against their bonds. Those who were unsecured were hurled from one wall to the other, landing with the crack and snap of broken bones.
Again effects of laser fire on ship seems to hit with enough violence/force to knock people around physically - a gee or more of acceleration I'd guess, at least.




Page 86
They had lost much, those once-humans.
..
But they had gained much, too. Their rotten muscles were strong. Their addled flesh sliced without bleeding, closing up on wounds instantly. They gurgled and murmured as they came, immune to fear, immune to pain, lost in a universe of syrupy infection. They had forgotten what it was like to yearn for health and cleanliness, for all that remained was the sticky embrace of plague.
Durability of Chaos minions. Its worth remembering that their gifts give them considerably greater physical capabilities (resilience, strength, fanaticism, etc.) which can make them dangerous opponents than one migh tassume mere humans to be. In the case of nurgleites for example it can be increased toughness, but all worshippers have exhibited different traits of some kind or another.



PAge 87
Baldr and Hafloí used their bolters, backing up Olgeir’s volleys with pinpoint strikes that burst skulls, punched chests, spilled mottled guts.
Blah blah typicl bolter stuff.



Page 88
"How many of these things," he asked, his breath getting short, "does it take to run a ship?"
Ingvar nodded grimly.
Thousands. Tens of thousands.
Thousands to tens of thousands to run a destroyer.


Page 91
On an Imperial frigate, a bridge that size could have accommodated over two hundred crew members.
Bridges can have huge crews too it seems.



Page 92
Las-fire flickered from its forward array, too inaccurate to cause much more damage, but with increasing intensity.
Again accuracy and range seem to influence damage


Page 92
Enginseers working down in the weapons levels had somehow managed to dredge up a semblance of a working weapons grid. He had no idea how: he’d heard Bjargborn over the comm talking about re-routing the output from the lance mechanism to burned-out lascannon coils under the warp core, which had meant precisely nothing to him.
Like in Sword/Firestorm frigates, lascannon and lances seem to tie into the same generating/relays. A bit of redundancy


Page 92
The odds of even hitting the destroyer’s lance were low, but if they somehow managed it, an infinitesimal risk existed that they would do more than just knock out the weapon itself. A starship lance was a huge repository of volatile energies – a direct hit might cause an overload, sending mutually reinforcing explosions rushing back up into the vessel’s innards and destroying the whole thing.
Apparently lances have a risk of blowing up and damaging starships, or destroying them in the case of escorts. Which perhaps is understandable - the power relays and capacitors/conduits, batteries, and such, like the reactors and magazines, deal with considerable magnitudes of energy and require efforts to contain them safely. Breach those containment efforts, and that energy has to go somewhere. This could also reflect a big reason why escorts are considerably more fragile than true capital ships - they lack the mass and internal volume to compartmentalize or design to mitigate/minimize the dangers of such volatility, especially since many lances on escorts are huge, fixed-axis weapons to begin with (whereas on cruisers and battleships they are typically turrets.)




Page 93
Jorundur watched as the makeshift array opened up, stabbing a tight cluster of las-fire aft towards the closing destroyer. For an instant the barrage blazed brilliantly, a nanosecond’s worth of hard, clear energy, then it was gone.
Implied pulse lasers operating in nanosecond durations.



Page 95
The sensation did him good. He could lose himself in his battle-anger. The doubts and trials of the past few weeks meant nothing in the heat of combat; all that existed for him then was his fury, unleashed on the flood.
Implying the trip was a few weeks inside the ship. If it was two months in realspace, that implies a 3-4x difference in time between the two.



Page 96
The pistons in his power armour geared up, responding to his physical and mental cues. He gripped his thunder hammer two-handed, feeling the shaft vibrate as the lightning-crowned head whined up to full power.
He launched himself into the air, propelled by his enormous strength and boosted by his armour.
Power armor using pistons rather than fibre bundles.



Page 98
The Undrider was broken, impaled by a scything column of energy. Whole sections of hull peeled free, shearing clear of the stricken core and rolling slowly planetwards. A fuel tank breached, causing a fireball to roar through the containment cages and sweep through the lower decks, raging thirstily as it destroyed ammo dumps and power storage cells.
Some of the crew had made it into saviour pods, jettisoning free of the dying ship even as the lance-strike burned through it. The cloud of tiny vessels – little more than teardrop-shaped caskets of adamantium – burned their way into Ras Shakeh’s atmosphere, lighting up like torches as they spiralled down to the surface.
Death of the ship.. note the ammo dumps and power storage cells, which may suggest the lasers run off capacitors/batteries rather than the reactor, perhaps. Also escape pods.


Page 99
Then the command chamber had collapsed around him, bursting into a sun-hot cloud of flying crystal shards and powdered marble.
'Sun hot' crystal debris from the bridge. Some high temp resisting materials it would seem.



Page 99
His armour absorbed much of the impact, but he didn’t go unscathed. The servos in his right leg-plate buckled, and he crushed his left wrist against something heavy as he landed, twenty metres away from where he had been standing.
Space MArine and power armour durability, and servos in the armor.



Page 101
It was hard to believe that the ship had once been designed by the hand of man. Once, many thousands of years ago, it would have been a creation of iron and adamantium, proudly bearing the insignias of the Imperial Navy on its golden prow and commanded by mortal officers bearing the sacred aquila on their breasts.
The odd thing is that it was identified as probably an Idolator class or similar. If it was, it wouldn't be an Imperial design. So ti seems it was a mis-identification and another vessel.


Page 104
"No orbital defences," he said. "One ship couldn’t have taken them down. There must have been others."
Jorundur looked sceptical. "Then why aren’t they still here?"
"They did what they came for – landed forces, then moved on. We saw empty depots on the destroyer. It stayed behind. A sentry, perhaps, overlooking the planetary assault."
This suggests a number of things. First, as a rule, orbital defenses are typically much stronger than a single escort, although this should hardly be surprising. Secondly, (significant) orbital support is not neccesarily a guarantee in ground conflict, it seems to depend greatly on the context and situation. This can be a drawback if enemy reinforcements arrive with starship support (or an invasion) but ship assets can be limited (say across a subsector or sector-wide conflict) and it may not be feasilbe to keep capital ships stationed there. This may be, in fact, one reason why sublight ships or starforts/stations of various types may be towed into the system, if they are not already present.


Page 104
Gunnlaugur scrutinised the auspex feeds. Their resolution wasn’t enough to make out much detail, but the damage on the surface was hard to miss.
"There’s fighting down there," he said "Movement. I can see it. If we’re getting no readings, then they’re being jammed."
Chaos sensor jamming, and from the ground at that.



Page 111
Why, she had wondered, did the Emperor, the omnipotent Master of Mankind, permit such terror to exist in the universe? He must have been capable of destroying it, just as he had once destroyed the heresy of his greatest son.
The error of that thinking had led to castigation fairly swiftly. Canoness Reich, her first superior in the Order, had been unequivocal.
..
"A life of comfort? What d’you think would become of us then?"
..
"We’d become fat. We’d become corrupt. Conflict keeps us lean, fit, pure, the way we were meant to be."
Bajola had been more easily cowed then. Reich had been a formidable woman.
"He orders the universe as it should be. Welcome the test, child. Welcome the knowledge that the void harbours terror. Without terror, there are no heroes."
It had been easy to say, and easy to believe. Now, watching the sun rise over a doomed world, waiting for the ranks of terror to close on the last city, the aphorism felt hollow.
Bajola was not so easily cowed now. She was capable of making her own mind up.
Well, there are worse excuses for why Random Omnipotent Deity doesn't act Omnipotent. And in a perverse sort of way I can see the logic. Nevermind the whole 'galaxy of war' grimdark stuff, but consider the Warp. Thoughts and emotions influence it, and in turn the warp influences reality. Think to the Fall of the Eldar, or the Dark Age of Technology. Peace, prosperity and technology and 'logic'... and both societies fell. Whereas the militant, xenophobic, and theocratic Imperium endures. Humanity struggles to survive in the face of adversity, and that adversity - that test - pushes humanity to excel. It pushes it to believe in the God Emperor, to unify and to work together for the common good. Its perhaps not the best of unifying elements, but humans are not tau, or Orks, or Tyranids, and it can b hard unifying them otherwise. It is not unlike the beliefs of the Inquisitorial Recongregators and more extreme Istvaanians in that regard.

The point about needing darkness and terror to promote heroes is also a good point, and for much the same reason. Despite all the grimdark, you really can't have horror or bealkness unless you have something to sacrifice - that being hope. And to have hope, you have to have something tangible to believe in. And that is heroes. Which is a rather important element to recall, given the Space Woles showing up later (I shall dwell on this more shortly.)

Bajola, incidentally, sems to be the Sororitas analogue to Ingvar (in the sense they both share a sort of background and 'stand out from their brethern' appeal due to their pasts.) I think this little monologue is interesting for displaying that even though the Sororitas are more internally 'unified' in belief than the Ecclesiarchy proper are (and virtually incorruptible, dedicated, pure, etc.) that doesn't mean they all think the same way, believe the same way, etc. The Sororitats ar ea galaxy-spanning faction, and like most elements of the Imperium (including its religion) the specifics can vary from planet to planet and region to region. Why should the sisters be any different? I mean even with the Progenium upbringing and choosing, recruits will by very nature come from a myriad of diffrent backgrounds, age brackets, educations, etc. And all those factors will still shape their thinking to some degree unless they litterally wipe their minds and start fresh. Thus, you can still have a sort of 'radical vs puritan' division going on with the Sisters, although their standards of such are going to be far different than what, say, an Inquisitor would have (because they're still totally dedicated to the Emperor, fanatical, pure, etc. But the way in which those things manifest, and in which people balance that with their other natures, can vary. Because humans are good at overlooking such inconsistencies of 'logic.'



Page 113
The canoness was a clipped, severe figure. Her silver hair, cut into a sheer razor-bob, framed a hard-edged face made old by a lifetime of devotion. Her lips were thin and her flesh was roughened from both the sun and age. De Chatelaine scorned cosmetic treatment and so looked every year of her one hundred and forty-two winters. For all that, her movements gave away her essential vigour. She could still fight, and Bajola knew her will was as starkly unbending as ever.
Juvenat, it seems, does not require you to LOOK younger per se in order to be physically fitter or younger or to have a longer lifespan, it would seem. It does make a kind of sense - keeping yourself mentally and physically fit despite age can give the benefit of that experience whilst retaining the ability to think and fight and command.



Page 114
" I fear not many. But recall this: a single warrior of the Adeptus Astartes is worth a hundred Guardsmen. In the cause of morale, his value is even higher. They will kill at a rate that even our Celestians cannot match."
[/quote]
The canonness even seems to take this as a fact based on her personal experience. I think it san amusing passage because of the implications. I mean even if you said worth a thousand Guardsmen, in practical terms its still easy to overwhelm an entire Chapter of Space MArines with a single army (or even a regiment.) acting in concert (remember there are literally millions of Guardsmen, and even more PDF, per Astartes as per the 5th edition fluff.)

So in reality the Space Marines are not really 'practical' in terms of efficient warfare - this is not to say they are ineffective - they are quite effective - but the price paid for that effectiveness is not neccesarily commensurate with the cost - consider the utility of more speicalist Guard units (Ogryn for example, in terms of hand to hand ability), or the augmetic or implants (gland warriors, skitarii, etc.) or even just battle servitors. All of which presumably cost less, have less stringent recruitment requirements and have a lower mortality rate, and generally are more easily replaced.

But as I noted already, there is more to 40K than just statistics and numbers and cost/benefit analysis, shocking as it may seem. The Space Marines aren't just badass super soldiers. They are living embodiments of the Emperor - a tangible, distant connection to his past and his reality. They are his avatars and his champions, and they remind humans that the Emperor exists, and that he protects. So, as the canoness says, their symbolic/morale/psychic value far outweighs any physical/material utility they have. They are the heroes spoken of before against that terror, they inspire, terrorize, and lead the lesser troops, and that sort of force multiplier (especially in terms of the belief and the warp) can be literally incalculable. It is because of the way they fight, and their reputation, and the belief behind them, that they can conquer planets or star systems despite seemingly low numbers. Whether as tools of terror or inspiration, they are one of the biggest psychological tools in the Imperium's arsenal.
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Connor MacLeod
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Re: Space Wolf series thread

Post by Connor MacLeod »

Part 2

Page 114
"But our service has been with the Adulators, who are steeped in our ways and are on close terms with the holy orders of the Ecclesiarchy. These are the Wolves. I have heard… things."
De Chatelaine’s expression softened a little.
"So have I," she said. "Who has not? But these are the instruments the Emperor chooses to make available to us, and so, by necessity, they are the right ones."
Bajola sometimes found de Chatelaine’s ramrod faith touching, almost juvenile. To admit that, though, even to herself, was dangerous.
..
"You were of the Famulous before you joined us," said de Chatelaine. "The diplomats. I take it you have retained some of those skills. We will need them."
One, the Adulators would seem to have been at least closely tied to the churhc if not one of those religious chapters like the Black Templars.

Two, it seems possible for the Sororitas to 'jump' orders, it would seem.. eg from Famulous to Battle Sisters. IIRC we had a Battle sister who served as hospillater in Warriors of Ultramar, so this isn't the first time. Such 'cross training' can have obvious advantages in bringing skills to one faction that wouldn't otherwise be present (the non-militant orders get veteran warriors, the militant orders get diplomats, surgeons, etc.)

We also get further examples of Bajola being a 'freethinker' amongst the Sororitas I know some wouldn't like this depiction as finding it 'un-Soritas' like, but I would point out Faith manifests in myriad forms, and the Imperial Cult is more diverse than many (and more internally conflicted as a result.) Having them express even greater diversity of thought/belief than what real life religions do would hardly be surprising, or inconsistent.



Page 118
"The Adulators withdrew their defensive presence from here six months ago. By that time the cover they offered us was little more than token. We frequently went for months with no significant strike force within range. I was unhappy with the situation, as was the Chapter Master, but it became apparent that no easy resolution existed. The Ras subsector contains over thirty-nine inhabited worlds and has a population in excess of ninety billion souls, so merits more than cursory attention. But the Adulators have many concerns..."
..
"You will be aware of plans to use this subsector as a staging post for a new crusade into lost space." she went on. "When I first learned of the proposals, I knew the process of organising such an undertaking would last decades. Nonetheless, the idea put us on the stellar cartograph, so to speak, and gave me leverage in my quest for more permanent defensive arrangements. Ancient pacts between the Ras subsector and the Fenrisian zone of protection were uncovered. I was informed by my scholiasts that the treaties had no current validity. I responded that anything was worth a try."
Several details pertaining to the scope of and the politics of the Imperium. First the scope of the Ras subsector. 39 worlds, ninety billion people total. Average population would be around a couple billion per world. Which is not exactly *small*, but when you consider that a single 'old style' hive world like Necromunda or armageddon can number in excess of a hundred billion, it seems not quite so huge. If the subsector has any hive worlds, they are likely the the 'minor' hives, or proto hives, or the ones that arent industrial shitholes but have smaller populations (like Verghats, or hydraphur, or Thracian primrais, or any of the FFG type 'hive worlds.')

Its also quite likely, given the context, this subsector is relavitely new, given the canoness' statements about it as a staging point for a future Crusade, and may be still in the process of development. Nonetheless the implication is tha tits a significant region in terms of territory and resources. We know from Dark Heresy that there are tens of thousands of subsectors in the Imperium (and thousands of sectors, which meshes with that). Using this as a 'standard' subsector benchmark and around 25-30 thousand subsectors (close to a million worlds) you'd get well into the quadrillion range for population, easily.

Secondly, the Ras subsector is a region that was formally under the protection of the Adulators chapter until recently, and in the past in the Space wolve's 'Zone of protection' - which is basically the same protectorate stuff mentioned in other fluff as well as hinted at since 5th edition in various ways. As I've speculated in the past, this is likely reflecting an 'intermediate' level of organization, as each Chapter is a node encompassing and watching over surrounding sectors/regions within a segmentum, but not neccesarily interfering with affairs at those levels (hence why it is unofficial - there would be no formal 'Imperial' governance at such a level, although there may be informal communication and coordination between sectors at that scale as a result - trade, diplomacy, military aid, etc. The Jericho Reach crusade, for example, involved collaboration of multiple nearby Sectors, for example.)




Page 119
" It was a large fleet, and our defences were so paltry and undermanned that we stood no chance. We quickly lost what orbital grids we possessed. We prepared our cities for bombardment, assuming that destruction was what they wished for. It was not so. They landed forces – we do not know how many – and the majority of the fleet moved on. The ship you encountered was the only one they left behind. As we speak, dozens more are no doubt ravaging the rest of the subsector."
Scope of the invasion force and the scope of the subsector conflict (dozens of ships assaulting.) It was also implied that if their orbital defenses hadn't been undermanned/paltry they might have stood off the attack, suggesting 'typical' orbital defenses might be equivalent to dozens of starships of escort size at least.



Page 120-122
"We retrieved this material six weeks ago," explained de Chatelaine. "It was taken by a defender of the ore-processing plant at Jedaj, five hundred kilometres south of here. I am not sure why he took it, nor why it survived. Perhaps he wanted a record of what had happened, or perhaps the enemy wished us to see what they are capable of."
..
As she finished speaking, the footage crackled into life. It was shaky and motion-blurred, as if the images had been shot from a helmet-mounted picter. The first pictures were dark and grainy, indicating night-vision enhancement.
..
A few seconds afterwards, an audio track kicked in: a man’s breathing, heavy and panicked. The picter-view leapt around wildly as he moved his head.
..
The man with the helmet-picter was running, making the picture shake and jerk. Others ran with him, all in Shakeh Guard uniforms, all carrying lasguns two-handed.
..
The Guardsman’s frenzied litany collapsed into a jerking, frothing shriek. Blood splashed across the picter’s lens, coating the image with a splash of red. It shook violently, rocked back and forth by its bearer’s spasms.
Guardsman with a helmet mounted picter, that has night vision capability. HE may or may not be the only one carrying it, but one might imagine he might also be able to observe the images he's taking.



Page 126
The sigil of the Wounded Heart was prominent on the larger edifices, hanging limp on unmoving banners. A few landing stages were dotted amid the tight-packed buildings, ringed by defence lasers and servitor bays. Vuokho sat on one of them, still leaking smoke, still looking barely functional.
The upper city was protected at its perimeter by a winding circuit of high, thick walls. Defence towers studded the battlements at fifty metre intervals, each one bristling with lascannon turrets and swivelling missile launchers. Only one gateway broke the enclosure of those walls – the Ighala Gate, a blunt bastion of adamantium and granite that hunkered darkly to the west of the Halicon’s bulk. The Gate was a mini-citadel all on its own, dank, angular and forbidding. Just like the towers on either side of it, weapons clustered all over it. Some of the bigger guns looked like recent additions, cannibalised from overrun installations and bolted into place for the attack they all knew was coming.
Scope of the Sororitas fort's defenses.



Page 127
"Thirty thousand regular Guardsmen. A few thousand armed militia. Less than a hundred Battle Sisters. A few dozen tanks and walkers. One crippled Thunderhawk. And us."
Remaining defenders of the planet, at least at this locale and that have been recalled thus far. its implied there might have been other mobile assets beyond the fort still that may not have bene lost.



Page 129
The Undrider, with its thousands of loyal souls on board, had been lost.
crew of the small Space wolf frigate.


Page 130-131
"You’re saying I was wrong."
Ingvar shook his head. "No. You are vaerangi. But it was my duty to point out alternatives."
Gunnlaugur looked at him with furrowed brows. The language Ingvar was using, the tone of it, it was all unsettling.
He wouldn’t raise his voice. He wouldn’t fight him.
"You’ve changed," he said again.
"You say it like it’s something to be feared."
...
Ingvar’s grey eyes were unmoving. "I would die for Járnhamar," he said, his voice intense. "I always would have. You know this."
...
"But I learned so much," Ingvar said. His eyes flickered strangely, as if his attention were elsewhere. "I thought that I would learn nothing, but I was wrong. We think of ourselves as the bravest, the fastest, the strongest. We laugh at the others. We’re wrong. We blunt our own weapons. There are other ways. Some are better."
Gunnlaugur listened with disbelief. "Better? That it? Better than the savages from the ice-world who bred you?"
"You’re not listening," Ingvar snarled. Another spark of anger flickered across his face. "Your mind is closed. It has always been closed."
Inter-pack tension is a big part of the book, as the long-term outsider returns from the Deathwatch and needs to integrate/find his place. The packmates (except the newbie) are both glad and unsettled by his return, and the leader (as we see here) has doubts and (perhaps fears) of challenge.

But that's only part of the of the equation here, really. Ingvar, the outsider, has expanded his horizons and learned new ideas, new ways, and that both confuses and threatens the leader becuase its stuff that he isn't familiar with. The comforting certanties of the Fenrisian clash with the 'new' ideas Ingvar has intenralized, and that only exacerbates the inter-pack tensions because even though he's a former pack mate, he doesn't 'act' the way Gunnlaugur remembers. He literally does not 'recognize' this Ingvar.

The intransigence and stubbornness, even the insularity, of the Space Wolves seems to be a major theme here - that they have downsides as well as upsides to their nature. Its fair ot note that we've often seen the upsides more often in Bill King's stuff (although Ragnar was a bit of an 'outsider' too, and a contrast to the more conventioanl Wolf mentality - cf Wolfblade) and it is fair to not that the Space Wolves flaws create numerous problems for them - their traning methods leading to unneccesary attrition amongst Blood Claws, the clashes it causes with the other factions of the Imperum (the Inquisition, the Sororitas, etc.) and so on. We saw this as well in both Battle of the Fang and Emperor's Gift, in fact.



Page 134
"Or maybe I’ll be right here with you, in the cockpit, running the battle cannon."
..
"f you can keep your aim while the gunship’s being shot to shards and the air’s burning and your dying crew’s screaming in your ear and you’ve got blood running down your chest and arms, then I’ll be impressed."
..
He patted Vuokho’s chassis.
"This thing has taken down Titans," he said proudly. "Titans. Don’t tell me how to look after it. I’ll work on it, even if I have to rewire those servitors myself."
Thunderhawk with battle cannon (or presumably turbo laser) can take out titans. Given its roughly starfighter sized/massed, and can carry warheads as well as the Big fucking gun, its not surprising. This does imply its 'battle cannon' is perhaps superheavy level/starfighter level (in terms of velocity, firepower, etc.)
Of course some thunderbolts could carry 'battle cannon' too :P



Page 137
Lack of sleep had exacerbated it. A Space Marine could go for days without sleep, using his catalepsean node to prolong that even further. That didn’t mean that it was comfortable. Given enough time the symptoms of sleep deprivation kicked in just as they did with mortals. Fuzziness, heaviness in the limbs, slower reaction times, poor judgement.
Even space marines, eventually suffer from lack of sleep. Their enhancements and implants can allow them to delay it and prolong their performance, but there is an inevitable limit to all this, like with most things.


Page 141
People went about their business as they must have done before war had come, but their tight, febrile movements betrayed their anxiety. Ingvar had seen such things often on other worlds and in other battlegrounds. Humans would maintain a familiar rhythm for as long as they possibly could, pottering around, concerning themselves with trivialities while the forces of Hel crouched just over the horizon. The pretence could only ever be half successful – they all knew their world was about to change – but then what else were they supposed to do? Food still needed to be prepared, water needed to be fetched, clothes needed to be laundered.
..
One by one the people received a blessing from them and were sent away. Ingvar watched them bow before the clerics, their heads bobbing low over the ground. They had the sign of the aquila waved over them and a few words of High Gothic muttered. Then they went away, a look of quiet satisfaction on their otherwise haunted faces.
Which is a pretty apt way of highlighting the 'horrors of war' aspect of 40K in a fashion - life doesn't just stop because cultists/xenos/traitors aer banging on the gates, and that continuity provides a sort of solace (as much as the faith does) to the people. Its interesting that in this part of the story the Space Wolves contrast as figures of terror (rather than awe) whereas the Ecclesiarchy (Sisters and the priests) are figures of comfort and support. Its kind of different form what we get in other Wolf novels, but its understandable given the context.

It also reminds my imagination that for all the gunfire and action and shooting of bad guys, there is always another dimension to war and conflict - that there are refugees and casualties and fear and terror and hate and horror for those innocents caught up in it. Sure, this is fiction, but just because its someone writing about war does not mean it has to create less of a horrific feeling than a real war. War should not be clean or nice or sanitized. It shoudl be brutal, dirty, and make us revel in the best and worst of humanity, because it often involves both. And I find that the best war stories involve elements of both as well (something that a number of baen novels, I think, often miss out on by contrast.)


Page 144
"I left Fenris before Gunnlaugur took over from him. It was a long time before I came back."
"How long?"
Ingvar smiled wryly, calculating. "Nine weeks ago."
Which would imply that the distance was either in realspace (the two months), or that the time in transit and the time in realspace was roughly equivalent (EG little or no dilation either way.)



Page 145
"‘I was trained by the Ordo Famulous," she said. "I accompanied Hereticus Inquisitors on high-level missions and arbitrated in the disputes of planetary governors. If you’re interested, I speak twenty-nine dialects natively, six hundred more via lex-implants. I learned to read the state of a man’s soul through a single gesture. Once you read a man’s soul, you control him. At least, that was what the Inquisition taught me."
Comment on th enative language speaking abilities (and augmetically enhanced) of a Famulous. We dont know if this is good, poor, or average, but its an interesting benchmark. It also suggests why the novel keeps representing them as diplomats, because diplomacy would be a key part of their duties. Whilst they most often serve as managers and facilitators for nobility (and generally watching over them, managing finances, marriage, giving advice, etc.) their positions and knowledge would make them valuable intermediaries - not just with the aristocracies within the Imperium, but with various organs of the Imperium itself. Hardly a surprise then, the Inquisition would find such individuals useful.



Page 145
"Why did I join them? It was not enough, in the end, to spend my days talking. I felt that I was wasting myself. I saw the effects of wars but never participated in them. I was a mouthpiece for others, never speaking for myself."
..
She looked back up at him. An edge of defiance danced around the edge of her expression.
"I was advised against the transfer," she said. "They told me I wasn’t right for the Militant Orders. But there are ways of getting what you want if you try hard enough, even in the Adepta Sororitas."
"So I see,’ said Ingvar. ‘And you never regretted it?"
The defiance in Bajola’s face faded, replaced by a more familiar resignation.
..
"I regret that it will soon be put to the sword, and that so many will die. If I had stayed in the Ordo Famulous my life would have been easier, and probably longer."
Then she flashed a smile at him again – a knowing smile, one that spoke of a capacity for mirth that had not yet been extinguished.
"But do I regret standing on my own two feet and learning to fire a bolter?" she asked. "No, not at all. Turns out I’m good at it."
In that instant, in those few words, Ingvar felt he knew all he needed to know about Uwe Bajola. It was hard not be impressed, given the circumstances.
"That makes two of us, then," he said.
This scene is a nice contrast between Ingvar and Gunnlaugur's earlier fight, and a reflection of how similar the two characters are. They are, in a way, both outsiders within their organizations - they think differently and that sets them apart, but it also forges a sort of understanding between them. Their experiences have taught them that the galaxy is far more complex than their bretheren (on either side) believe, but it also sets them apart and even makes them lonely. its a different reflection on the differences between the Wolves and other organizations in terms of custom and belief, and the tensions it can create.

This is also another good example of me liking Bajola's character, because she represents something different that goes against that 'mindless bloodthirsty Sororitas fanatic' caricature that seems to pervade so much of their depictions (of which I have lamented before.) She may have her doubts, or not share the same unquestioning, rigid faith of her sisters, but she has her own unswerving dedication and desire to do as she must. One can relate to that feeling that one is 'missing out' on something in life, or perhaps being empty because one simply talks rather than acts, and so her desire to move from Famulous to Battle Sister may be something we understand.



Page 154-155
Sister Honorata was thrown back as the subject exploded. The fat woman’s foul body, riddled with its diseases and unnatural tumours, blasted apart with horrifying speed and force. Bile-laced flames cascaded up and over the walls around her, shattering brickwork, cracking metal, hurling masonry in all directions. The streetscape briefly became a blizzard of debris and fractured rockcrete.
It took a few moments for the carnage to clear. Smoke billowed up from the blast-centre, fed by smouldering piles of rubble. Puddles of blood boiled and bubbled amid the destruction. The power plant wall remained intact, though only barely. A gouge ran across its length, exposing metal shielding within.
..
She hefted her flamer in bruised hands and advanced carefully towards the charred crater-edge.
Chaos suicide bomber, Nurgle style. I dont quite know what death and disease has to do with human bombs (heat released from chemical reactions stemming from accelerated decay, or something maybe?) but its rather unsurprising and underhanded, for Nurgle. Probably at least many times a grenade's yield, judging by the effects, also seems vaguely Tyranid-ish in that its thermal/blast effects as well as 'magically destructive acid/toxin' effects on top of it.



Page 155
Her eyes narrowed. She blink-activated her helm’s zoom-lens.
Sororitas Armor has a magnify function.



Page 156
"Fought the plague-damned before, Sister?" he asked.
Bajola shook her head.
"They carry weapons other than cleavers," Ingvar said. "The contagion spreads. They’ll plant seeds of sickness here, hoping they’ll take root. They’ll pump toxins into the air and poison your water. They’ll recruit the slack-minded with whispered promises in the dark. They’ll reduce this place to infighting and disease before they come in sight of your walls." He reached for his helm. "I’ve seen it before. This is where the battle starts."
Comments on Nurglite tactics with regards to psychology. In this regard, we learned that they allowed others (troops, refugees, etc.) to get away - except that they were plague carriers and carried it inside the city. Under various guises they infected others (one of the bomb drones mentioned above was ministered to by another infected, for example.) It takes advantage of human weakness to infiltrate and corrupt/weaken the defenders. And much as those who had been conquered in other cities added to the Plague armies, the infiltrators act in the Nurglite's interests as well, albeit in different ways.

The interesting thing about this is - even if they manage to purge the corrupted, unless the corruption or infestation is visibly seen, it can create resentment and discord within the city (we learn later, as the Sisters purge the contaminated with flame - the only sure way to stop the infection from spreading) so even in a victory cleansing the infection it can still do damage to morale or psychology.



Page 160
He brought holdbítr down savagely, fast as ever, watching the monomolecular edge whistle towards its prey’s spine…
…and miss.
Unbelievably, the plague-ravaged man leapt clear at the last moment, scrambling away from the blade. The killing-edge snicked his robes, slicing free a scrap of dirty fabric, but didn’t cut into flesh.
Presumably a unpowered edge or it may just be a sword - I forget - either way its monoedged.


Page 166
Burning the infected was the only way to limit the damage. Keeping the flesh intact created foul cradles for the blowflies and maggots that spread the sickness. The Sisters worked methodically through the city’s many districts, dragging those with signs of infection from their habs and administering the Emperor’s Mercy. Civilians looked on sullenly, only partially aware of the dangers posed by the plague-carriers in their midst, resentful of the savage measures taken to keep the healthy intact. Rumours filtered up to the Halicon of riots in the poorer quarters, of families sheltering mutants in cellars and under floors, and fighting to keep them hidden from the burn-teams.
They were only rumours, but this was just the beginning. All knew it would get worse.
As I noted previously, even when they purege the infection, the psychological damage can already be done, and starting to undermine the defenders if not get them to collaborate in further weakening (wittingly or unwittingly, such as by exploiting human nature.)


Page 170
"Callia, at your service, lord," she said. She proffered a regulation food-tin, vacuum-packed with protein extracts. "The canoness sent me. She thought you might have need of sustenance."
Jorundur looked at the tin doubtfully. He could smell its bland contents through the metal. He briefly remembered the supplies that had been destroyed with the Undrider – raw meats of Fenris, blood-heavy and slick with fat; whole vats of mjod, frothing in the cold and as thick as bile.
Imperial cuisine, as contrasted with Space Wolf/Fenrisian fare. At least its not Corpse starch.



Page 172
"I cannot laugh. These are my people. A month ago we were ministering to them. We told them a new dawn was coming, the start of a crusade. Even when the plague takes them I mourn that so many must die. I wonder at the way you Wolves delight in slaughter.’
Jorundur shrugged. ‘Don’t expect us to be like you,’ he said. ‘We were made this way. That’s why you wanted us here, was it not?"
A month since the calamity started onplanet, if we believe this. This might suggest actually that for whatever reason, more time passed in the warp than realspace at least from the perspective of the planet.

This also marks the start of another one of those Sister/Wolf interactions I rather like. A more humorous one actually, not unlike what happened in Battle of the Fang with the Dreadnoughts.


Page 172-173
"You speak plainly, Sister. I like that. I’ll return the compliment. Until I got here I thought you were all stuck-up bitches, wearing a pale mockery of our sacred armour and pretending to fight like we do. I thought you were pious and arrogant."
Callia suppressed a smile. "Stuck-up bitches," she said, amused. "That’s… candid."
Jorundur shrugged. "I try to be. And don’t be surprised – our memories are long. Fenris has been attacked by your kind more than once."
...
"You may have forgotten, but we have not. We tell sagas of it. We sing of how we sent your priests home, their robes stripped from their backs and their warships breaking open around them."
Callia sighed. "I’m sure you do," she said. "But then you are a warlike people. Fenris has been attacked by the Inquisition too. You make enemies easily, it seems."
"We make no enemies but Traitors and xenos. If others choose to get in our way, that’s their business."
..
Callia looked amused again.
"I’m not some prim schola maid," she said. "But thank you: I had not expected such concern for my sensibilities. Especially as we are all such – what were the words you used? – stuck-up bitches."
Jorundur laughed out loud, hacking up phlegm from his dry throat and coughing on it. He clapped Callia hard on the shoulder, and the slap of unguarded flesh against power armour made his palm sting.
"I like you!" he exclaimed. "Blood of Russ, has the galaxy no end of wonder?"
And this is another one of those scenes I like. Not only for the similarities to Battle of the Fang I mentioned, but also because its a positive attempt at rapport building and it also plays against stereotypes. Indeed, that seems to be what the entire scene is about - the preconceptions of both sides blinding them to the qualities of the individuals. I like the fact that Callia, just as I like Bajola and de Chatelaine. They AREN'T the prissy stereotypes the wolf alluded to - they are people, they have differnet approaches to faith, different attitudes, etc. it reflects the fundamentlly varied (sometimes too much) and diverse nature of the Imperium, which is itself part of the depiction of humanity 40K provides (for good or ill, its like herding cats.) I know some would object to certain depictions of the Sororitas not fitting a certain 'ideal', but I revel in the diversity. Which admittedly is a bit ironic given my initial distaste for Wraight's depiction of the wolves and my dislike of Prospero Burns, I admit :P



Page 174
"The canoness has restored partial mid-range auspex scans" Gunnlaugur was saying. "We have readings coming at us from all directions. The city is at the centre of a closing circle. Numbers are hard to estimate."
..
"De Chatelaine thinks most of their troops are defenders who’ve succumbed and then mutated. That’s why this thing’s happened so fast. Every city they’ve taken has swollen their ranks. They conquer, they get stronger"
..
"The armies have fractured as they near the city. Discipline is weak on the fringes, and one armoured column has come too far up the defiles to the south. That’s the one we’ll take"
..
"What are we talking about? Mortals? Plague-bearers?"
"Both. Perhaps more."
...
"De Chatelaine picked up strange readings, ones they couldn’t decipher. Something… interesting travels in that column."
Detection abilities of the Sisters mid-range auspex. The distance is probably a matter of at least tens of kilometres in context, perhaps hundreds (far enough for a Space Wolf to run at least an hour or two, at least, and we know from other novels how fast Astartes including Space Wolves can run.)

We also get mention of the 'recruitment' aspect of infection and plague for Nurglites.. as with the Word Bearers in the invasion of Boros, the ability to employ their horrifically peculiar recruitment approaches somewhat simplify the logistics of Chaos invasions, which can be a non-trivial advantage.




Page 181-182
They would bring their engines of war with them, each one laden with long-forbidden biological weaponry and marked with the ruinous symbols of dark gods.
Since its Nurglite, you know its going to involv ebioweapons.



Page 182
Hjec Aleja was gripped by foreboding. The smell of death was everywhere. Civilians, Guardsmen and Ecclesiarchy officials all suspected one another, hurrying to report every observed flesh-sore, overheard cough or suspected rash. It made for a wild, drum-tight air of interlocking suspicion.
A consequence of the Nurglite infiltration and a sign of the weakening trust/unity, which again shows that even when you defeat the infection the aftermath can still linger.



Page 182
Shakeh Guardsmen manned all those entrances, huddling around tripod-mounted lascannons and squat-throated mortars.
guard tripod weapons.



Page 186
The troops in the front ranks were lightly armed. They were mortal, with poorly-fitted carapace armour pieces bolted over civilian uniforms. Some went helmless, exposing bald, grey-skinned scalps to the atmosphere. Others wore heavy iron gas masks. Pale green illuminations swam behind their visors, glowing in the dark like bobbing corpse-lights. They came in loose bands, walking unguardedly and swinging their weapons. The squads were small – twenty, thirty troops.
Nurglite troops. The carapace likely enhances their already supernatural constitutions (think aboard the plague ship earlier), and apparently their armor includes visors for those who wear masks or helmets.

they're also large squads. Whether that is simply an artifact of their conversion, or a remnant of PDF/Guard training peculiar to this planet/region, we don't know. They also mention battalions of hundreds, though.
'


Page 192
Gunnlaugur crashed into a knot of milling troops, hurling half a dozen of them into the air with a single blistering sweep of skulbrotsjór. Their broken bodies thudded back to earth before they’d even had time to cry out.
Strength of a Space Wolf, power of a thunder hammer, or possibly both.



Page 192
The thunder hammer became heavy with strips of gore, the flesh cooking into frazzled slivers on its sparking disruptor.
Powerfields seem to be thermal (partly) in this novel :P


PAge 192
He towered above them, his heavy power armour making him twice the bulk and heft of even the largest of them.
Implying that a Power Armoured space marine might be upwards of several hundred kilos. Rather light by such standards, but not impossible.



Page 194
He grabbed the frame and hauled himself up. Inside, the chem-tanker’s crew were hard-wired into fleshy command thrones. Eight of them sat in a cramped space stuffed with throbbing, pulsing mountains of semi-tissue and pseudo-machinery. Tentacles ran from rheumy glands, interfacing with thickets of dirty metal cables. Fluids gurgled in translucent sacs, filtered through pinned-open bodies and sent churning down long tubes into the innards of the vast machine.
Nurglite tank crews wired into their machinery. You have to wonder if these were corrupted native troops or they had come from offworld, either is possible, but the odds are betting on the latter, given the quasi-organic nature. Although who knows maybe it is MIU tanks :P


Page 198
"You do not know the tenth of it. There are inquisitors who would gladly see your world virus-bombed into poisonous slush if they could only find a way to do it. Other Chapter Masters, too. And, yes, the Ecclesiarchy harbours some with no love for your brethren. That is no secret: our forces have clashed before, they may do so again."
We learn again the scope of the Space Wolves ability to make enemies amongst other institutions, including other Chapters. Given what we learn later, this isn't just idle commentary, its foreshadowing, and perhaps Bajola (The speaker again) giving warning. More on this later.



PAge 199
"The Imperium we both serve and love is built on secrets. We use them to clothe ourselves, to wall ourselves in, and I swore vows never to disclose the secrets I was given to guard. I swore never to reveal the identity of those who conferred such privilege on me, nor those whom I was charged with protecting. Those vows were not lightly made. The secrecy that binds me is as sacred to me as your sword is to you."
Bajola again speaking, not only showing the similarities she and Ingvar possess, but also reflecting on the essential nature of hte Imperium. Its existence is made up of secrets - the desire for and fear of knowledge, because it is both power and threat, advantage and weakness. And again, like with the previous passage, this has a hint of foreshadowing to it, not just flavour text.


Page 200
The disparity in their sizes was almost comical: his bulk, augmented by thicker plate and heavy pelts, dwarfed her slender frame.
This is interesting as a comparison, given that the latest SoB codex rates Sister armor as being as protective as Astartes plate. Even though it is lighter and thinner plates (both in the artwork and described here, it really is less bulky and we know the Sisters armour lacks the same degree of enhancement as Space Marine armour, not to mention the Astartes' own enhancements.) This suggests the difference is perhaps qualitative, which is interesting given that the Sororitas are more numerous in the galaxy.


Page 201
..he took delight in the action of the bolt pistol as it tore up body-armour and ripped through vehicle plate.
Suggesting Astartes bolt pistol rounds can penetrate vehicle plating of some kind. Presumably armoured vehicles (like an APC or similar, at least.)



Page 204
As the Blood Claw closed in on him, cracking a dozen rounds against its fist-thick battle-plate..
Bolt pistol carries at least a dozen rounds, and Death Guard armor (post Nurgle) is described (vaguely) as 'fist thick')



PAge 209
His body ached. Soon he would be entering his fifth day without sleep. He’d noticed his reactions slowing, just a little, probably imperceptibly to mortal senses but clear enough to him.
Space Wolves cna go five days without rest. Whether this factors in the catalepsean node or not is up for debate, but we know as mentioned in this thread Space marines have apparently gone for upwards of 328 hours without rest.



Page 224
"There are weapons, Fjolnir, things you would not believe. There are devices so powerful that even to speak of them outside the Deathwatch is to earn execution. Only Callimachus could have been trusted to give the order to use them. He would have done his duty even if it meant tearing out the heart of his own primarch. Could I have done it? I do not know. But he did. He gave the order, and we used those things on our own kind, burning them into atoms so that the Great Devourer would not be able to feed on their corpses."


PAge 227
The Guardsmen wore full-face gas masks and sealed carapace armour.
The Shakeh Guardsmen's body armor. They don't always seem to wear it, but they are now.



Page 228
Twenty thousand Guardsmen were on the outer perimeter, almost all stationed along the walls or in the defence towers. Sixty Battle Sisters stood with them in ten-strong squads to stiffen their resistance. A reserve line of ten thousand Guard and militia, plus the few mechanised units they possessed, were posted within the terraces of the lower city in staggered detachments. Six Sisters were billeted in the cathedral with Palatine Bajola, with the remainder of the Sororitas contingent up in the Halicon, together with the final five thousand Guard troops, ready to oversee the withdrawal to the citadel should they be forced into a last stand at the summit.
Disposition of forces again.


Page 229
De Chatelaine lifted her helm and looked out again at what faced them. The enemy had dug in several kilometres out, far beyond the range of the guns on the perimeter wall. Her helm-lenses zoomed in as she squinted into the hot light.
Weapons include some sort of solid shot cannon, heavy bolters, and lascannon, 'several kilometres' is beyond the range of the guns, although how much is 'several' and this exact distance we don't know, except that its less than line of sight to the horizon (at least from the walls of the Fort, which can be considerable distances.) And unless 'Several' is a large number, this would oddly suggest they have very little in the way of significant artillery (EG no Earth shakers on either side.)


Page 229
The troops wore a motley collection of armour – rusting iron plates, looted Guard uniforms, strangely warped and merged creations of bolted metal and stretched sinew.
Guard uniforms apparently count as 'armour' in some contexts. Of course given Mordian jackets, armoured Greatcoats (like the Valhallans) and such.. its certainly not impossible.



PAge 235
Dozens of Shakeh-liveried troops milled around at the base of the fortifications, hauling materiel or barking orders to one another.
..
Hafloí could smell the sweat of the workers even though their sealed armour and rebreathers. They would be sweltering in their chem-resistant outfits.
Again sealed armour and rebreathers for the Guardsmen. Apparently the armour is carapace plating affixed to some chem resistant suit or uniform (as its still identifable as Shakeh livery.)



Page 236
They were such crushing, blunt instruments. Each individual among them was capable of slaying hundreds of lesser troops. They had passed so far beyond the capabilities of mortality that they were more like living tanks than lone soldiers.
Which is a bit amusing and ironic given Terminators and Dreadnoughts, but eh.



Page 238
Gunnlaugur snorted in amusement. "We haven’t started on them yet."
"But you yourself do not believe it."
"Oh, I do," said Gunnlaugur, at last injecting some resolve into his deep voice. "We all believe. That is what makes us who we are."
He held up his gauntlet and turned it in the sunlight. The grey ceramite was criss-crossed with scratches, scorches, gouges, chips and bloodstains.
"These are just tools," he said. Then he tapped his finger against his chest, just over the angular markings on his breastplate. "This is what makes us Fenryka. We believe. If any one of my pack wavered in that, even the closest of my battle-brothers, I would disown him. When the urge comes on us, when we enter the fight, none of us doubts. Not for a second. That is Russ’s legacy."
He clenched his fist before lowering it.
"Some things are eternal," he said. "When this thing starts, I will enter battle in the full certainty that I will crush them utterly."
De Chatelaine laughed. She wasn’t sure whether that was because his words inspired her or because they were ludicrous. In any case, it felt good to release some small portion of the tension she had carried with her for so long.
"And you would say the same even if this Typhus were here?" she asked.
Gunnlaugur nodded. "I would. And you would see then what contradictory creatures we are."
De Chatelaine inclined her head amusedly.
So the Space Wolves ultimate advantage is.. UNFAILING OPTIMISM! And although I'm presenting it a bit facetiously, this is to me a totally awesome concept, and I think this is what finally tipped me in favour of Chris Wraight. I mean, if there's something I've expounded on ad nauseum before, its my enthusiasm for the sorts of 40K stories which deal with faith, hope, and even optimism. You can't have despair without something to balance it out, to risk losing - otherwise it would be silly pointless grimdark. I commented earlier on flaws in the Space wolves as outlined in the book: They can be stubborn, feral-seeming, bloodthirsty, arrogant, and blindly tradition minded. Some call them fatalist. But on some level every aspect of that fuels directly into this key quality - call it hope, conviction, optimism, but its what they possess, and what they give to others ultimately. Its a throwback I suppose to that Viking paradigm, but they feel - know - they are heroes (Which we might say what Space Marines are mant to be) and they act the part with total belief. Hope and optimsim are perhaps one of the rarest qualities in 40K, and valued when they show their face.

But even more than that, I feel this is appropriate because of how they act. Their joy in life, their joy in war, their joking. Their deep-knit brotherhood. Those are all manifestations of that, and they are things that again are a throwback to that much-beloved Bill King depiction of Space Wolves (the bond between Ragnar and his claw mates, and then between Ragnar and the Wolfblade.) Hope, perhaps, is the grandest theme of this book, both its drawbacks and its advantages. No matter how grim or dire it is, the Wolves won't give up, won't accept defeat, and will not, ever, yield to Chaos.

I also suppose on some level this also appeals to that childish, idealistic 'being a champion' idea the knight and paladin coming to the rescue and always saving the day, but there's nothing wrong with that either, I think And hey, if it works on multiple levels, all the better! :P

Also I think Wraight isn't doing half bad on the banter either. Its not the classic 'Wolfblade' level I came to love form Bill King, but we can't be won over all at once :P


Page 240
Dozens of them emerged out of the preternatural fog, then dozens more.
..
"They’re coming within range of the wall guns," he said. "So slow. This’ll be a slaughter."
..
The enemy host picked up some speed, stumbling from a limping stagger into a half-paced jog. They never launched into battle-cries, just kept up the eerie, incessant chanting.
..
The wall batteries opened up. The stone beneath Váltyr’s feet trembled as serried lascannons, heavy bolters, sabre platforms and mortar launchers unleashed their contents. Blinding spears of energy lanced out from the city’s edge, shooting clear of the smoke-choked discharge of missile launchers and heavy ordnance.
We don't exactly know how long they ran, except it was still early day, and the people weren't standing there for hours. Even if it was just a few km, the enemy would have to run for an hour (and these are the plague-ridden, not the fastest of Chaos minions as this book takes pains to explain to us.) so we could expect at least a km- km and a half range for the guns, if not more. More likely they were just outside of accurate range and then moved into it after some short time.. so call it closer to 2 km or so, although I'd wager its not much more than three (except maybe for the lascannon.) 2-3 km or so would match roughly with the mortars as well.


Page 241
More volleys followed, loosed in a steady rain of destruction, tearing through the oncoming horde and miring its advance into a bloody, dust-swirled morass.
Hundreds died in those opening seconds. They just kept marching through it, swinging their scrawny arms even as they staggered into the heart of the maelstrom. Not one of them turned back, not one of them hesitated.
..
He had seen men used callously on battlefields by the Imperium in the past, but the rank slaughter in front of him went far beyond that. There was malice in it, a casual destruction ordained by powers that loathed humanity and delighted in its degradation.
..
For all that, the tactic was not mindless. The lascannons had to pause between barrages to allow the power units to be recycled. Bolter turrets needed reloading, mortar arrays took time to replenish. The crews worked quickly, getting their weapons firing again as soon as they could, but the tiny gaps created opportunities.
First, implied rate of fire for lascannons is perhaps one a second, or one every few seconds. Secondly, we get a view of Nurglite tactics. Like many of humanity's enemies, they're far better at attrition.. Slow they may be, but their numbers and toughness compensate (and death benefits Nurgle anyhow, so its a net win either way.) the mutation and fanaticism as noted before give huge advnatages that cannot be denied. It also reflects how differnet a Chaos mindset is to humanity, however repellent the Wolves find it, and the dangers in thinking of them in human terms.


PAge 242
Insects swarmed up from the plains and began to plague the battlement level of the walls. They clustered around the air intakes of the Guards’ chem-suits, buzzing furiously as their swollen abdomens jammed in the mechanisms. Gun crews began to leave their stations, choking, slapping and clawing at their gas masks. The intensity of the defensive barrage fell away.
use of vermin as a distraction/psychological tactic. Also the Guard chem-suits (again note that this is probably the 'sealed' carapace') has air intakes, although they don't seem to be just on the respirator either.


Page 247
From below, down at street level in the lower city, a chorus of screaming started up, punctuated by the wet rattle of bolter-fire.
"They’ve teleported behind us,"
The Death Guard invade via teleportation. What is interesting is that we know there are no starships in orbit (The only one remaining had been destroyed long ago), and they can't have teleported in from hundreds of kilometres away (you'd think they'd have done it by now otherwise.) So it must have been employed by the army during the assault (getting in close to the walls.) Which suggests something mobile and fairly compact, by teleport terms.



Page 263
"Do you not guess what is happening here? This is the beginning, the first stirrings of the plague that will consume the galaxy. You cannot stop it now. It starts here, and on a hundred other worlds, but it will all end in Cadia. All that remains for you is the slow death that follows the sickness. You have all been sick for too long. Let us end the agony."
More forshadowing, or a reference to the 13th Black Crusade? I honestly am not sure.


Page 274-275
"Hjortur’s name was stored in there. On a list. A kill-list. A list of those to be killed."
..
"Hjortur was killed by greenskins," said Ingvar gently.
"No," said Bajola, smiling again. "No, he wasn’t. He was killed by the Fulcrum."
..
The golden mask of the Emperor stared back down at him. Its face was cherubic, surrounded by a spiked halo. The expression on the mask was oddly mournful.
"Their mark has been here all along," said Bajola. Wincing from the pain, she reached down to her weapon belt and withdrew a small golden bauble. She pressed it into Ingvar’s hand. When he looked down at it, he saw a miniature facsimile of the golden mask – a thumb-sized cherub-face ringed with spikes.
..
"You are the thinker among them, the one who has learned to doubt. You, out of all your brutal brothers, might understand that some wars never show themselves."
..
"More of you will die," she said. "They are coming for you now, and they will never stop. They will never tire, never forget. You will not even know you are being hunted. Killed by greenskins, lost in the warp, turned to darkness – those are the stories that will find their way back to Fenris. You make too many enemies, Space Wolf."
PLOT TWIST! And a major one at that. Seems that the Wolve's tendency to make enemies has created some problems for them from shadowy enemies (The sort they're ill equipped to face or defeat, by and large.) I have to admit this is another thing that has caught my interest to see what happens in the next book in the series. It's interesting to speculate - is it a faction in the Ecclesiarchy? Inquisition? Possibly both? The connection of the Sorortias could go either way or prove a link to both, and hints in the story point either way (or possibly both ways.) Shadowy, unbidden deaths and independent action smacks of the Inquisition, but the Ecclesiarchy has the resources (and motivation) to want to do this to the Wolves as well.

I also had to admit I was sad to see Bajola turn out this way. She wasn't the ideally pious sister, but I liked her, and it shocked me a bit that she might be an 'agent' like this. Although that shouldn't shock me, since it only highlights the diversity in the Sorortias (They can hold even other peoples agents, which is totally in keeping with how the Imperium works.)



Page 280
For all their skill, though, for all their strength, Váltyr’s judgement had been right: Thorslax was a foe beyond them. His body had been ruined and changed by the slow arts of the Eye, fused with his living armour and shot through with the undiluted virulence of the Plaguefather. His hearts beat with the slow, grinding rhythm of millennia and his blood coursed with the slurry of infinite mutation. No mortal weapon, no matter how skillfully wielded, could break through the aegis of foulness that swept around him, knitting together his rotten thews and animating his disease-riddled organs.
He was an avatar of the plague, suffused with all its poisons and its delights, as indomitable as mortality, as invincible as the dragging entropy that wearied all living things.
Plague Marine Champion is more than a match for 3 Grey Hunters (one who sould probably be a Long Fang anyhow, one a Wolf Guard with a Thunder Hammer, and one who is Haegr's little brother.) and a Wolf blademaster already dead at the creature's hands. It shows ow some high end CSM really are more powerful because of their patrons than even Space Marines.



Page 286
Then Vuokho’s spine-mounted battle cannon boomed out, hurling a withering barrage of shells deep into the heart of the enemy ranks. As they exploded in a rolling pall of conflagration the gunship’s bolters opened up, bursting earth and splintering flesh. The barrage only lasted seconds, but a Thunderhawk could unleash a frightening amount of ordnance in that time. The entire vanguard of the enemy disappeared under a rolling cloudbank of shattering armour and flying shrapnel.
Okay, context. The Blood Claw steals the crippled thunderhawk (flown by the old space wolf in the pack) and basically nosedives it into the Chaos forces leading the charge to defeat them. Now in technical terms the battle cannon firing multiple times (and probably anti-tank at that) is interesting, firepower and rate of fire wise (tank level firepower at least, I'd guess, although in what form who the fuck knows.) But really, this is just a hilarious turning point for the war worthy of those King novels I continually compare him to. The brash blood claw who was supposed to follow orders decides to go off and be impulsive (deliberately.. that scene itself was hilarious for its uttery boyishness) but we have the blood claw getting harangued by the old Space Wolf for stealing (and wrecking) HIS thunder hawk, and raging how he is going to kill him.. and that rage propelling him towards the enemy. I mean how can it not appeal to me? Its just another point winning me over to Wraight's writing. I think at this point I'm well past surrendering. I want to read more.


Page 291
Forks of vivid lightning shot out, slamming into dausvjer with the force of a storm-front hitting and sending stark white streaks of light wheeling across the walls.
Ingvar skidded backwards, expending all his strength just to keep his blade in the way. The rune-sword absorbed the inflow of ether-twisted matter, but keeping it in place was crushingly hard. Ingvar felt sweat burst out across his body, his legs bracing, his arms burning.
Apparently the runes that those Fenrisians put on some of their weapons aren't just decorative or to play to the Space Viking fetish: they really can blunt or absorb at least some of the effect of warp-based attacks. I wonder the methods by which they pull that off, exactly.



Page 296
De Chatelaine bowed. "This is your victory, Space Wolf," she said. "I should have trusted the hand of providence. You were our deliverance."
Gunnlaugur shook his head. "You commanded this." He smiled under his belligerent helm. "You may yet get the crusade you dreamed of."
..
"A few days are worth having," said Gunnlaugur. "The Imperium will answer your calls in time, and our task is to remain alive until then. We have made a start."
De Chatelaine inclined her head in apology. "Forgive me," she said. "I learned to suppress my optimism. Perhaps I shall have to unlearn that again." She laughed. The sound was weary but clear. "Learning from a savage. That such things are possible."
And my use of the word 'optimism' was in fact quite literal. Hope and wonder - possibility -are pretty much the key theme to this story. The heroic last stand of comrades in arms who forge deep bonds (even across decades or centuries of distrust) in the fires of war. Very Viking, very heroic, and as I said very appealing ot me. The character interactions (and well written Sororitas and Space Wolves) drew me in but its the ideas i keep espousing that get me animated. Gotta love it.


Page 306
"I told the Palatine we were both of the blood of Asaheim," he said. "I am not sure I meant it then. Now I do."
..
For the first time in a long while he looked at Ingvar’s face and saw no challenge there, real or imagined. A future presented itself: their twin animal spirits, as lethal as any in the galaxy, working in tandem, no bitterness dividing them.
And the two quarrelling Wolves make peace in the aftermath of victory, providing us with a meaning for our book title as well as binding it to that theme of optimism and hope.




Page 309
Which it had: the room was a single node within Clandestine Station U-6743, operating under the auspices of the sub-adjutant proximal command group Theta-Lode-Frier, one of several thousand outposts placed at the disposal of Deathwatch kill-teams and scattered throughout the galaxy.
Number of outposts (unspecificed type - they could be watch stations or watch fortresses or both or anything else.) thorughout the Galaxy for the Deathwatch.


Page 309
.. had already received their skull pendant, the mark of their service during the incident in the Dalakkar Belt in which forty-six billion souls had died.
Given the context of events that huant Ingvar, I'm guessing it was maybe a planetary system or even just a planet that had been invaded by the Tyranids and subsequently Exterminatus'ed. Maybe we'll learn more later, but the implication is that many poor people died to deny the Tyranids biomass.


Page 310-311
When he had joined Onyx, a mortal lifetime ago, Ingvar would have resisted bowing his head to anyone, let alone a Space Marine of another Chapter. Now such inhibitions had melted away.
..
Like all of them he had become an amalgam, a lethal mix of different martial orders. At times that made him feel stronger than he had ever felt; at times it felt like he had lost his soul.
..
“I grieve to lose your friendship. When we first met I thought you nothing better than a barbarian. Now I know you have a warrior’s heart and a scholar’s mind. I learned a lesson from you, Ingvar, one I will take back to Macragge.”
..
“If they did, we would be honour-bound to say nothing. I would look on you with haughty eyes, and you would snarl at me with contempt, and our brothers would approve.”
“Because they are ignorant.”
“Because they are pure.”
[/quote]
This is a nice contrast to the previous peacemaking between the packmates, showing the flip side of Invgar’s history and those differences we’ve seen throughout the book, as well as highlighting how people who serve in the Deathwatch have to be different from even other Space Marines (concepts we’ve seen in the RPG as well as Steve Parker’s novel) They have different perspectives that set them apart, they don’t think the same (which creates a divided tension in Ingvar, obviously.) The friendship between the ultramarine (Callimachus) and Ingvar is strong here, displaying the mutual respect and trust they have learned, as wlel as the different ways of thinking, fighting, etc. they have learned from one antoher. I like that too, although its a more solemn sort of ending (although in its own way it plays into that conviction/optimism of the wolves.. even for Ingvar.) I mostly quoted it just to show the differences of thought in the Deathwatch and how Space Marines can be different even from the stereotypes of their Chapters (and the costs it may entail.)
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