The Sabbat Worlds Crusade novel analysis/discussion thread

[Connor MacLeod]

I've already read through Salvation's reach. Its interesting in some ways (And better than Sabbat MArtyr's depiction of combat, less insane at least.) but some implicatons can still be silly. For example the one interpretation I had of the 3 AU distance bit wsa that was firing range (not unlike implied in Ravenor) which may be missiles or something but is.. pretty damn fast, and silly, and they may have still been closing at that time. At say 8-12 hours we'd probably be talking accelerations on both sides (if we assume both sides roughly accelerated across ~1.5 AU to reach each other - chaos and Imperial ship performance is not THAT drastically different) being on the order of tens or hundreds of gees depending on how long you figure (I went with 8-12 hours as a guess for mine.) and combined closing velocities would be on the order of ~9-10% of c roughly (this would also imply weapons fire - particularily the projectiles, were traveling many many times faster than this, and gives a good indicator of ship durability as you'd probably have tank-sized shells smacking into starships at thousands of km/s.)

I hadn't picked up on the 10 minute to cross ~500,000 km bit, can you clarify (as in which page numbers, if you have the hardcover, where you derived the time from - I'm familiar with the distance bit.) Mind you in context with above that probably would mean they accelerated up to speed and slowed, or it may mean that the Chaos force broke out of the warp at high speed and decelerated the bulk of the distance, with the Imperial force only spending a very little amount of time accelerating. Closing distance at ~10 minutes between two fleets would be on the order of ~800 km/s. It would mean the Choas ships had to accelerate far more quickly (more like thousands of gees) and the Imperium only spent a very little bit of time accelerating (minutes tops, with however long spent turning about to engage, running to battle stations, etc.) and its unlikely you could waffle a full day out of that and velocities around thirty to fifty percent of light speed depending on time and accel.. again not as bad as Sabbat Martyr but like I said pretty silly.

I may have to revise those parts to make allowances for this lol.

[Connor MacLeod]

More ghostmaker Part 2 of 3.



Page 109

“We are created to inspire and uplift, to carry the spirit of battle forward, to maintain the sense of glory in the hearts of the Imperial warrior. But if that spirit falters, we are also here to punish.”
“Y-you sound like Gaunt…”
“Ibram Gaunt and I have much in common. A common purpose, a common function. Inspiration and punishment.”

Larkin talking to his angel again, this time referencing the role of Commisars in general (at least in this Crusade/region of space). And quite possibly angels. Note that 'inspiration' comes first.


PAge 110-111

“A lasgun. Workhorse of the Guard. Solid, dependable, tough. You can knock it, drop it, club with it, submerge it and it just keeps on going.”
The Angel took a step forward, looking at the gun he held out to her. “It’s not standard. Not a standard M-G pattern. Where’s the integral optics, the charge-setting slide? That barrel: it’s too long, too thin. And that flash suppressed.”
Larkin grinned and reached into his pack. “It’s the sniper variant. Same body, but stripped down. I did some of the work myself. I took out the integral optics because I use this.” He held up a bulky tube to show her for a moment, then slotted it into a bracket on the side of the gun case. He flipped covers off both ends of the tube and the device spread a faint red glow ahead of the gun.
“Night spotter. My own. I tooled the bracket to fit. I used to use it to spot for larisel in the woods back home.”
...
He slid his hands down the gun and tapped the barrel. “XC 52/3 strengthened barrel. Longer, and thinner than the standard. Good for about twenty shots.” He kicked the pack at his feet, which clinked. “I always carry two or three spares. They twist and pull out. You can switch them in about a minute if you know what you’re doing.”
“Why the strengthened barrel?”
“Increased range for a start, tighter accuracy, and because I use these…” Larkin pulled a powerpack from his kit and slammed it into place. “We call them ‘hotshots’. Overpowered energy clips, liquid metal batteries juiced to the limit. Bigger hits but fewer. Perfect for marksman work. And that’s why there’s no charge setting slider on my piece. One size fits all.”

Larkin and the Angel discuss lasweaponry. The salient details are:
Standard lasrifle (M-G pattern at least) has charge slide setting and 'integral' optics as standard. Certainly the drawings seem to suggest such and we often get mention of the Ghosts having scopes on their rifles.
We also get much more discussed on the long-las: the strengthened barrel that gives increased range and improved accuracy with the hotshot rounds. The hotshots are interesting because this is the 'old' definition, prior to the latter (Honour Guard onwards) hotshots which were single-unse (and rechargable), whereas these were 'greater power, but fewer hits' - usually twenty by most sources, which means that the barrel's lifespan matches the lifespan of the hotshot pack rather nicely, performance wise. Hotshots are also apparently inconsistent with charge sliders, although why that is I don't know.
Oh and a flash suppressor. For a laser gun.
Interesting is again Larkin's 'custom' scope - apparently in this region of space it is not common for IR/NVG scopes to be issued to snipers, although we know of plentry of examples where that isn't the case. (The amusing thing is later on is that Tanith is implied to be a rather low tech world and the ghosts themselves are seen as Barbarians. With Infrared hunting scopes.)



Page 112

You trust that scope to make the shot?” she whispered.
“I calibrated it myself. And yes, I trust the scope. Funny thing, but whatever goes on around me, whatever madness…”—and at that Larkin dared a glance round at the hovering presence at his shoulder—“I always see the truth through my scope. It shows me the world as it really is. Truth, not what my fethed up mind tells me is there.”

He's not just bullshitting either. We learn later that he does, indeed, see the 'truth' through that Scope. Much as we have seen with Mkoll and other ghosts (like Domor, Corbec, etc.) and was mentioned earlier in the book, the Ghosts seem to have supernatural perception when it comes ot what is and isn't there. One can argue that Larkin's 'truth' is simply a manifestation of this ability, applied through his scope. He believes that so strongly, that it is always true. Again such is the nature of the Warp that this is not only possible, but plausible.



Page 113

Nokad the Smiling was well over two metres tall, his frame heavy set and powerful.

Another 2 + metre tall human in this book



Page 114

On the canal lip, Nokad howled his inspirational verses to his men, arms uplifted, chainsword whirring.
There was a crack, a stab of light — and Nokad’s head vanished in a film of blood.

Larkin's hotshotted log-las basically obliterates human head. Single/double digit KJ, but thats probably an understatement since we know regular lasfire can do that. Unless hotshots are comparable to max-charge settings (maybe thats why no need of a charge slider?)


Page 115

The very last thing Larkin saw before Corbec wrenched him away was his fallen lasgun, with the peerless, scorched white cloth still wrapped around the barrel.

Seems ot suggest that the visititation was true, doesn't it? This won't be the first time, either. we'll have other 'miraculous' visitations, and there is much mysticism and 'miraculous' stuff that seems to surround the Crusade. I suppose its possible Larkin's subconscious manifested that cloth, but usually warp-generated matter fades away pretty rapidly without a warp connection. That tends to suggest it may have some element of reality to it, however that was brought off.



Page 117

Bragg’s hands were big and strong enough to crush skulls, but he moved almost meekly, as if afraid of his own strength — or afraid of what others might think him capable of.

Indication again of Bragg's incredible strength.



Page 119

Eighteen cargo transports, thirty-wheel monsters, coughing blue exhaust from their vertical pipe-stacks, ground down the red-rock pass in low gear.
..
..flanking the massive transports were the outriders, rushing through the dust on track-bikes and in armoured cars.

Relief convoy. Fucking huge cargo transports (We learn just how huge later), and the Guard escorts on bikes and armoued cars. The origin of the Guard vehicles isn't known. Either the guard has armoured vehicles or they were local vehicles requisitioned for thier use.



Page 122

The Imperial Guard closed in en masse to root out and eradicate all remnants of resistance, and the work to rebuild Caligula began. What resources were available — and despite everything Aurelian Hive was rich in storehouses — had to be redistributed. The convoy marked the first attempt to convey relief supplies to the stricken Hive Calphernia.

Guard involved in reconstruction and relief efforts.



Page 123

Outrider one roared ahead of the convoy, a track-bike driven by Corporal Meryn with Trooper Caffran manning the pintle-mounted twin autocannons in the rear.

The track bikes and their armament.



Page 123-124

Meryn heaved the cycle to a halt on a rise, the convoy a kilometre behind them..
..
Trooper Kelve drove one cycle with Merrt, one of Corbec’s favoured sharpshooters, in the rear cradle.
...
To their left, engine idling, was Ochrin and his gunner Hellat. To their right, five hundred metres distant, Mkendrick and his gunner Beris. A signal, waved from bike to bike, then they all flew forward into the dusty basin beyond, racing parallel to the track left by Meryn and Caffran. The huge convoy thundered in after them. Tailing it, and flanking the rear, came three more outriders: Fulke with Logris gunning, Mktea with Laymon at the weapons, and Tanhak with Grummed manning the cannons. Behind them, an Imperial Guard half-track driven by Wheln, with Abat and Brostin at the weapons stations, and another with long, double-tracks driven by Mkteeg with Rahan and Nehn crewing a missile launcher platform.

Positioning of Guard escorts and their complement. Again bikes and half tracks (armoured cars I gather) which seem to be Guard issue (or at least seconded/requisitioned for the Guard's use.) One half track seems to have various antipersonnel weapons, whislt the other is a rocket/missile platform. Bikes are packing autocannon. Ranges and distances, as previously noted are between 500-1000 m depending one xact group and team.


Page 124

..he wrapped his stealth cloak around his mouth and nose, pulling out the goggles he had been issued and also remembering to wipe zinc paste over his exposed skin. The paste, clagging and damp in a small circular tin, smelled bad, but the colonel-commissar had told them all to use it.
..
“Bragg to all Ghosts, remember to use your sun-paint. The zinc stuff. "

Guard issues some sort of sunblock to protect the fair skinned ghosts from extreme sun. also sun goggles.
In a further aside: This is Bragg's story. Bragg, like Corbec and Mkoll, tend to remain fairly 'same' throughout the series. BRagg is the strongman and gentle giant, the comedy relief ('try again, Bragg!' because of his tendency to miss) and something of an everpresent and reliable figure in the series. There's not really much for him to progress beyond, and we are shown his essential character here.



Page 125

There was soft, distant ping, a hollow, empty sound.
Hellat took the tin from Ochrin’s outstretched hand just as he realised Ochrin no longer had a face. Ochrin’s corpse flopped stiffly back off the saddle.
Hellat cried out in alarm, gripping the yokes of his pintle weapon and raining metal fury on the distant dunes.

We dont know how far away from the dunes he is, but its likely a stub round blowing away the face. Again lasfire and autoweapon sshould be at least comparable, and probably better.



Page 125

A second later a missile lifted his cycle into the air and blew Hellat and Ochrin’s corpses into pieces of cooked meat each no larger than a clenched fist.

Single missile blows apart two Ghosts. Figure at least a couple MJ, but probably more like closer to 10-20 MJ at least, given severity of burns and the extreme exposive effects.


Page 125

Meryn drove his cycle around in a wide arc, pulling to rejoin, puffing up a wide skim of dust. Caffran rattled round the gun mount and flickered off a curving row of tracer shells into the position marked by Hellat’s last assault. Ochrin and Hellat’s vehicle lay in a burning heap on a crisped sand-rise.

Range of 500-1000 m for Autocannons, recalling Meryn's range. The ambush is on the starboard side, recall from the previous analysis. Missile launchers seem to have similar range.
Aside: Meryn becomes another 'significant' character later on in the series, but right now I'll just note his name.


PAge 125

Mkendrick raced his bouncing bike in, screaming a Tanith warcry, and only when his gunner didn’t begin firing did he turn to find Beris hanging dead over the pintle mount, sunlight shining through a vast hole in his torso.

Again roughly half a km or so probably for range,( autocannon and later probably lasrifle). hole through torso pretty big. Given it punches all the way through we're probably talking at least 2-3 cm, probably more than that. 5-10 kj for a lasweapon at least, more if its bigger. It might be a stubber also, but that would be considerably powerful.


Page 126

He located his swaddled sniper gun, thrown clear out from the wreck
..
..sighted, snuggling a fresh power cell into the receiver.
..
He made his first shot. It went long. He adjusted his scope, as Larkin had taught him, breathed out, and made the second shot a clean kill. The enemy were turning in confusion when he made the next three shots in calm, cold series.

Suggesting Merrt's sniper gun (long las, probably?) isn't using the 'single use' hotshots. Merrt later on becomes a 'significant' character in the series, if a bit of a tragic one. Also like with every other example (and noted before) range for Merrt and others seems to be at least half a km, possibly a km or more.



Page 127

With one meaty, hairy-knuckled paw, Bragg lifted Tuvant off the cabin deck by his throat.

Bragg can lift a human one handed, and seemingly without effort.



Page 127

Milloom launched forward to crush the big man’s skull with five kilos of cold-stamped metal. Bragg broke stride lightly, impossibly lightly it seemed for such a great bulk. He caught the descending bar in one palm. There was an audible slap. Milloom gasped as the bar was pulled out of his hands.

Bragg again.



Page 126

Outside, laser and stub fire whined into the circled convoy.

Bandits using laser and stub weaponry. That means the damage done to the Ghosts is probably one or the other.



Page 128-129

Mktea’s gunner Laymon made one of his own before the upper part of his head was scythed off by a las shot at the mouth.

Lasbolt blowing away most of a head (from the mouth upwards). Single digit kj at least and probably double digit again if we factor in burns.


Page 129

Not one but two autocannons, the like of which were usually fixed to tripod or pintle mounts. Bragg had them lashed together, with a makeshift trigger array made out of a bent ration-pack fork so he could fire them as a pair. Long belt loops of ammunition played out from the gun-slots, leading back to a parcel of round-boxes.

Bragg's new heavy weapons. And you thought the heavy bolter was over the top. Basicall ya home made Reaper autocannon.



Page 130

He could see over three dozen bandits advancing over the dunes under cover of the foggy dust kicked up by the firefight. They were running low, heads down, hugging the contours of the ground. Merrt took aim at the nearest one.
..
The laser burst punched through the top of the bandit’s bowl-helmet, presented as it was by his head-down approach. The shot probably passed down through his skull, his neck and his torso, following the line of his spinal column, Merrt thought, as the figure dropped stone dead in a crumpled pile.

10-15 cm for neck, 15-20 cm for head, and probably a good 40-50 cm for tracking the spinal colum.. at least several cm in diameter too, although quite possibly 4, 5 or even 6 cm if its 'following' the spinal column, The Length/tdiameter ratio for that would certainly suggest 4-5 cm is possible, anyhow. Anyways, thats almost certainly at least double digit kj, as its quite similar performance wise to the Luke Campbell 'battle laser' described on atomic rockets here
And my own previous analysis here
Assuming it just penetrates the bowl helmet (assuming its something like a Brodie helmet from WW1, or similar) 1 mm of thickness penetration against armor stele requires some 5 kj per pulse and drill sa 2 cm diameter hole. If the helmet were 2-3 mm thick we're looking at 10-15 kj just to punch through the helmet, probably.
Punching through bone to follow the path of the spine even most of the way (50%) would probably require a good 50-100 kj alone as well, for a 2 cm diameter. Drilling a 5 cm diamter hole through flesh 60-80 cm depth would probably require 30-60 kj ignoring the bone. overall, we seem to be likely around mid to high double, low triple digit kj per shot, which is very consistent with the notion of a long-las 'hotshot' round, and the extreme penetration.
burn wounds through torso probably at least as significant. 400-1300 sq cm depending on exact parameters, and at 50-125 j per sq cm we're talking between 20-163 kj per shot.

PAge 131

A slight swing to the left, and another came into his sight, scurrying forward to gain new cover. A sigh. A squeeze. A slight recoil. The figure flipped back and fell still.

Lasgun has recoil (somehow, probably not photon recoil) and knocks a person on their butt. The latter may be the PEP-style 'pain laser' effect or explosive vaporization, the former may be from some venting 'coolant' gas or explosive reaction.



Page 131

He chewed down a handful of painkillers, and as the heady high smacked into his brain

Painkillers, like Corbec from his medical kit in First and Only. apparently many Ghost shave these (we see others do similar.)



Page 131

...so he set the drive in idle and clambered back into the turret bed to set up the stub-gun folded away in a deck-locker.

Probably a heavy stubber support weapon.



PAge 132

He pulled out his laspistol and shot the first one through the head, gutting the second and blowing a knee off the third.

Lastpistol blows out a knee. Single ot double digit kj again. 10-15 cm diameter 3rd degree burns on knee work out to 5-10 kj.



Page 133-134

The Maurader bombers came low over the ridge, annihilating the enemy with their belly-slung payloads.
..
Bragg hunkered next to him. Around them, sheets of incendiary bombs and phosphor fire scorched the hills. The Imperial fighter-bombers shattered the air as they went supersonic and crossed the low hills to pull around for another massacre run.

MArauder bombers going supersonic at low altitude.



Page 135

He held up a data-slate. “Friend of mine, Trooper Raglon… Comms-Officer Raglon, was monitoring your cipher traffic. I’ve got you here, tipping off your bandit friends as to the time, schedule, make-up and strength of this convoy. "

Apparently Raglon transmitted the data to Bragg's dataslate, becuase we don't see Raglon make an appearance at all during or after the battle.



Page 135

..Hewn Milloom tumbled off the walkway of the freight unit and was dead before his body snapped on the hard-packed desert twenty metres below.

The cargo carriers are 20 m tall. Superheavies.



Page 140

More shots came his way. Rawne had become used to the peculiar sound the impacts made in this place: a wet popping and a sizzle as superheated rounds punched into ice which melted around them and refroze. Blackened wounds, perfect circles, dotted the red ice sheet around him.

I already did the calcs before in the old thread, I doubt they've changed much. The only difference I'll not eis it tells us the rough magnitude of the firepower, as the 'heating' fo teh round probably comes from the friction against the barrel of the round getting propelled out, and thus tells us a rough magnitude of the KE probably in the bullet. That its equivalent to a powerful .50 cal mag round, or a .50 AMR round is not terribly suprising.



Page 140

He lay still, fumbling with his lasgun.
Ice crystals formed on the metal of the weapon..
...
He wriggled up and took a sight. The lens of the lasgun spotter was cracked and filmed with ice, ice which had formed from the moisture of his own eye.
..
..Trooper Malhoon had frozen his eyeball to his sight while spotting for targets on the ice floes. He could still hear the man’s screams as they had separated him from his weapon.
He fired a triple salvo blind...

Rawne's lasrifle has a scope/spotter..the aformentioend 'integral optics'. This tends to suggest they're meant for fairly long range work, as opposed to mere 'iron' sights' (greater than several hundred metres perhaps for assualt rifles?) Not definite, but that's just my guess.



Page 141

Rawne reached for his medi-pouch and pulled it open. He took the flesh clamps out and worked with them as the medic, Dorden, had instructed them all during Foundation Training. But the wire clamps were frozen..
..
It took him an age to extract a needle from the sterile paper packets...

Rawne's medical supplies (the personal ones.)



Page 141

He took the needle and tried to thread it. He’d have had more chance making a bull’s-eye on a target ten kilometres away with a wrong-sighted lasgun.

I doubt it could be taken literally in any possible context, but it would be nice if it could



Page 141

The ork was nearly three metres tall and almost as wide. Impossibly large muscles corded its shoulders and arms and stinking furs swaddled its bulk. Its head was huge, twice the size of a human’s..

Ork's physical dimensions, and size of the Ork head. As noted, orks are much bigger and tougher than humans.



Page 143

In the blink of an eye, he saw the ork explode, its mid-section disintegrating in a burst of light.
It fell, almost in two parts.

Gaunt's bolt pistol. Bisecting an ork is much more imrpessive than blowing out a human torso due to differences in size and toughness.


Page 144-145

...getting a fire lit with chemical blocks.
..
He moved over, pulling his own medi-pouch open. His clips were frozen too, but he warmed them over the chemical flame and then pinched the lips of Rawne’s thigh wound shut. He sprayed the area with antiseptic from the one-use flask. Rawne felt his limb go dead.
Then Gaunt warmed his numb fingers and threaded surgical cord into a fresh needle.
..
There were only four fuel-blocks left to feed the blaze and Gaunt was being careful.

Guard issue chemical blocks for starting fires. I'm guessing this is something like Hexamine fuel block/tablets.
Also gaunt's medical stuff, similar to Rawnes. there still is some sensation (pain) in the limb, cuz Gaunt has Rawne bite down on his knife hilt. Still better than nothing.
As an aside this is one of the more interesting stories in the book, as Rawne and Gaunt's relationship is one of the more complex, and one that goes through the most development over the course of the series. Rawne himself undergoes many changes, turning from the malcontent he starts out as - wanting to kill Gaunt - into someone quite dependable. And while he and Gaunt aren't exactly friends, they do reach an understanding of sorts at some point.



Page 145

He dropped some dehydrated food cubes into the bubbling pan and stirred them.Dry-powdered bean soup puffed and formed.

Compared to alot of Guard issue meals, this is quite good.



Page 148-149

From shelter, a scoop cut in the ice floor, they watched the vehicles pass five hundred metres away. Four big ork machines, black and pumping blacker smoke from crude combustion engines
..
They howled past, spraying up sheets of ice particles...
..
Sure enough, a roar reached them over the howling wind a minute or so later and the vehicles sped back past they way they had come, searching back over the ground to see what they had missed. One pulled away west and two more raced onwards. The fourth curved around in a spray of ice and moved towards them to search along the wall of the valley.
..
The ork half-sled slowed and one of the burly warriors jumped down, running alongside the vehicle, firing into caves along the valley wall. The other warrior traversed the heavy weapon of the trundling vehicle from side to side. Closer…
Gaunt turned to Rawne and nodded to his lasgun. “More range, better sight. Take the weapon’s operator.”
..
Rawne nodded and breathed hard on his sight to warm the lens.
..
He knew he was no marksman like Larkin or Elgith, but he was passable. Even so, he let the sled slip closer in before he felt confident of a shot. His only target, the silhouette of the vehicle behind the lights. Closer… almost on them. Rawne fired.

Implies perhaps that Rawne opened fire on a Ork from somewhere around 500 metres or so, give or take a hundred metres or so maybe.



Page 150

Rawne fired on full auto, his lasgun bucking as he carried it low against his side.

LAsgun again demonstrating some measure of recoil, at least on full auto.



Page 151

Nearly four hundred kilos of dead weight refused to budge.

Rather big for an Ork. Rawne and Gaunt both needed ot shift the corpse.



Page 152-153

A kilometre away, three dark shapes were kicking up ice-smoke as they raced after them. The orks, with their superior strength and experience of the snow machines, were making better speed in their pursuit.
..
Gaunt pushed the machine as fast as he thought he could control it.
..
Gaunt could barely control the machine as the drive wheels and slithering skids kissed ice again. Rawne had thought about firing back at the ork machines closing on them, but the bumpy ride had thrown him to the greasy deck and it was all he could do to cling on and lie flat.
..
The ork machines were a hundred metres behind them.

Considering they're leaking oil from previous damage taking the sled, it probably isn't too long since before they tried running, so we're looking at probably around a kilometre or so range implied for Rawne's lasrifle. Not beyond the capability of a Full-power rifle round (800-1000m for marksman rifles, for example.)




Page 154

Twelve huge explosions, each big enough to kill a tank. They split the world apart. But more particularly, they burst and shattered the ice. The steaming hydrocarbon sea, so close beneath, rushed up to plume and boil and froth in the air.

Tube charges again. If we figure they're akin to an anti-tank grenade, its rather hard to figure, as they clearly aren't shaped charge (unless some tube charges ARE shaped charges.) Rather, they'd be more like the old WW2 sticky bomb in operation. around 450-500 grams of nitro is equal to 600-750 grams of TNT (call it 650-700 grams) 2.7-2.94 MJ - round up to ~2.75-3 MJ for simplicity. At 50-150 shots per power pack (Eqvuialent to tube charge or anti-armour explosion, remember.) 18-55 kj per shot on the one end, 20-60 kj on the other.
This would also corroborat the earlier 1-2 MJ for 'tank armor' penetration I assessed in the Dreadnought example from the lasgun overload.



Page 164-165

“Then don’t, commissar. You know I’ll refuse it. I’m a medic first and a Ghost second. "
..
" I did it because I took an oath at the Medical College in Tanith Magna. You understand allegiances and oaths, commissar. Understand mine.”
“I understand the weight of the medical oath well enough.”
“And you’ve honoured it! Never asked me to break my vow on confidentiality over men with private problems… drink, pox, mind-troubles… you’ve always let me do as my oath bids. Let me now.”
..
“They’re not the Ghosts’ chief medic!” Gaunt spat the answer and then fell silent.
“A doctor is vowed to serve any injured. Oh, I swore to the Emperor, on the Founding Fields, to serve him and you and the Imperial Guard. But I’d already sworn to the Emperor to uphold life. Don’t make me break that vow.”
...
"Think of the Volpone wounded in there.”
Gaunt did. It didn’t change his mind much. “They would have had us butchered—”
“Don’t go to that place!” Dorden warned. “Hate has no place between allies. These are men, Troopers, valuable soldiers. They could live to fight again, to turn another conflict for the better."

This time the story is about Dorden. Dorden like Rawne is one of the Ghosts with whom Gaunt has a more complex relationship of sorts, both because of his medical background as well as his essentially (mostly) pacifist role. He sometimes uses guns, but he hates the things. Like all Ghosts, his view of Gaunt is complex, in that he likes and respects the man (and recognizes how lucky the Ghosts are to have someone as dedicated to them as Gaunt is) but he also hates the man for what he represents and what he puts the Ghosts through, as well as for taking them away from their planet.
Dorden also takes his responsibilities quite seriously, which is consistent throughout the series, and forms a key basis for the story here. The most interesting aspect of this passage is how it plays on the earlier hatred and distrust of the Volpone that Sturm created by trying to kill them earlier. Gaunt has, once more, forgotten himself and his role as commissar (indicating how things become very personal for him) and has to be reminded of his duties (as well as Dordens own.) by the medic.



PAge 171

"Whoever lived here were devout servants of the Imperium, working the land, raising their kin.”
..
Chaos had taken this world, Nacedon, two months gone, as part of their counter-punch to thwart Macaroth’s crusade. It hadn’t been occupied, or even corrupted from within. Nacedon, an agricultural world with three million Imperial colonists, had been violated and invaded in the space of three nights.
What kind of universe was it, Dorden wondered, where humans could struggle and break their backs and love their families and worship the Emperor and build for years, only to lose it all in a few hours?

The ghosts are fighting to save a Colony world of 3 million from Macaroth's recklessness (once again.) As we see yet again, the little dramatic touches of simple humanity, of faith and home and family and a humble life, add to the sense of tragedy engendered by a pointless, senseless war. That senselessness does not eclipse things, however, as there is still hope and resolve to fight and win and defeat the enemy, to make something out of that senselessness, to find meaning.




Page 172

Tremard started up, grabbing his scope from the sandbags. He fumbled with the focus ring, pulling the green-on-green night vision view into true. Mist — and other things in it. The twinkle he had seen. Moonlight flashing back from the staring reflective retina of hunting eyes.

Ghost with night vision goggles/binocs.


Page 173

Eight las guns against the encroaching dark, eight lasguns picking their targets through scope and skill, matching the hundreds of fire-points blasting back at them from the fens.

Again ghost lasrifles have scopes.



Page 174

A hundred or more warriors of Chaos were forcing their approach at the main gate, charging them, weapons blazing.
..
There was a double click, dry and solid, and then a whoosh of heat as the night lit up. Corbec winced. Trooper Brostin stood over him, raking the tops of the sandbags and the lane beyond with his flamer. The hurricane force of the flame gout cut the enemy away like dry grass.

Over a short period of time (seconds) Brostin's flamer torches over a hundred-plus Chaos warriors. Assuming something between third degree burns and actually igniting clothing/skin (50-125 j per square cm) we're talking a megajoule to several MJ per body, which means the flamer's (direct) damage infliction may very well be in the double, evne triple digit MJ range (not quite cremation level, but quite serious damage wise.)
Given the previous estimate of fuel usage from a flamer (call it a kilo or so per second) if we figure a couple kilos worth of fuel here we're talking easily tens of MJ per kg, which woudl be incredibly high burn efficiency for a flamer.


Page 174

Corbec and Tremard could see nothing but the light-blur of their guns.
..
..Tremard, a second too late in ducking, flew backwards, his left arm gone in a shredded waste of flesh below the shoulder, He fell on his back, screaming and writhing. His lasgun, with his left hand still holding the grip, sat miraculously on the parapet where he had rested it.

Possibly a las round, but again its hard to say as bolters are mentioned. Basically obliterates arm from wrist to shoulder. It could even be several rounds (or a burst of fire.) I'm guessing lasfire, as most bolt round stned ot have radial proximity damage, and blowing the arm apart like that in a single shot (or burst) should inflict damage on the side of the body too. Lasfire can obliterate arms like that with little or no serious collateral damage, however.




Page 176

..the three Guardsmen, firing single, aimed shots to preserve power on Corbec’s orders, dropped dozens into the slime pit of the ditch. Soon bodies blocked the fence holes as well as the missing boards had done.
...
A soldier of Chaos, cut down and presumed dead in the ditch, had crawled forward, and now loomed over the inner fence above the scrabbling Volpone. His chest had been blasted open, and blood and tissue dribbled from exposed ribs. His gas-hood was also gone, revealing the fanged snout and grey hide of his corrupted face.
..
He wrenched his lasgun out of the fire-slot and blasted down the gully, blowing the attacker out over the fence.

Dozens of Chaos troopers killed via single shot fire, but they evidently don't go down easily to single las-hits. Apparently their mutation/chaos taint grants them superhuman strength - or at least the ability to push themselves far beyond the limits of human tolerance for pain and injury. Either works well for the cannon fodder of the Chaos Gods. Two shots, however seem to do it.
You might also be able to get double digit kj for multiple shots if its fairly sizable.
Also the first las shot apparently blew out a fair bit of the chest... at least double, perhaps triple digit MJ. Almost certainly single shot. 50-100 kj would cover it for a single pulse (12-15 cm diameter 'hole'. If the lasgun is more like a 'shotgun' it could be less. the Atomic rockets 'laser' page mentions how for the price of a full power rifle cartrdige you could slice someone in half (around 10-20 kj maybe) if you space the shots a few cm apart (tearing along two spaced shots.) I'm guessing if it works between two spaced shots you might be able to do several 'spaced' shots akin to a shotgun blast and tear the tissues in between. Possibly if you get overlapping 'shots' within a few cm of each other (say in a grid, or a diamond) you might be able to tear much of the tissue in between, which might simulate the effect for less energy.
If we figure 3 spaced shots with 2 cm apiece and a 1-2 cm diameter per shot, that would easily be 7-10 cm area on a side for maybe 10 kj. If we figure 3 more layers like that, it could be as little as 30-40 kj, perhaps even less. I'm not sure it would work, or if you could do it as a 'barrage' (multi-shot burst in a millisecond) but its always possible.




Page 178

Other dark shapes were stirring in the filth at the bottom of the ditch. Vengo’s close call had been a warning. Even killing shots didn’t seem to finish all of these abominations. Many of those that they had cut down were far from dead, and now were crawling and clambering up to attack the inner fence.
..
He had a few tube-charges left, and he hefted three over the inner fence into the ditch with its half-seen stirrings.
The triple blast rocked them and pelted the inner flak-boards with liquid mud and liquefied organics.

Three tube charges pulverize 'dozens' of Cultists. assuming 8-12 cultists per charge, and that they're each at least equivalent ot a grenade (or several grenades) in effect, we're talking probably a good 8-12 MJ at least per charge. As noted before, that implies lasgun power packs are worth similar, and thus lasfire (50-150 shots) is worth between 50-160 kj per shot at least, 75-240 kj at 12 MJ.



Page 178

..hefting a misfiring Volpone heavy stubber he’d found leaning against the wall in the long hall. It had a drum of sixty rounds left in it...
..
Brostin settled in, getting to know the unfamiliar stubber. Its cyclic rate was poor and it jammed frequently, but when it fired, the thump and blast was satisfying. He shredded half a dozen shapes that loomed beyond the outer fence.

Volpone, like the Jantine in First and Only, or from Siege of Vraks and Necromunda, have man portable (single man)heavy stubbers Drum of at least 60 shots, and calibre isn't known. Can shred half a dozen bodies easily, however.


PAge 178

. Arrogantly, against Corbec’s orders, he had adjusted the power setting to full and was firing off searing orange blasts. But each one counted.

Again ghost lasrifles have veriable settings.



Page 183

"Here’s irony for you, Doc: this was a trophy world. A New Tanith. The master of this hall was a Parens Cloker, of the Imperial Guard, Hogskull Regiment. The Hogskulls won this world during the first advance into the Sabbat one hundred and ninety years ago Winning it, they were awarded settlement rights. Cloker was a corporal in the Guard, and he took his rights gladly. Settled here, made a family, raised swine in honour of the mascot beast of his old regiment. His kin have honoured that ever since.”
“Not for all. How many trophy worlds are there out there where the soldiers of the Guard have retired and lived out their days?”
“I don’t know. This is all too real. To fight for your lifetime, get the prize you wanted, and then this?”
...
“I was raised in Pryze. My family were wood workers there. I was born out of wedlock and so I took my father’s name, when I knew him. My mother now… I was a difficult birth.”
..
“She would have died if I hadn’t—”
“Thank you, Doctor Dorden.”
Dorden looked round at Corbec in wonder. “I delivered you? Feth! Fething feth! Am I that old?!”

Another aspect of the Ghosts stories is that Gaunt is trying to see the Tanith through so that they may claim a new world for their own. Thus fighting for a world that was already 'claimed' in such a fashion has special meaning (and horror) for Dorden, it underscores that 'galaxy is full of war' aspect 40K purports so often, and yet it gives him hope for the TAnith that they might achieve their goals. It demonstrates that even in a galaxy full of war, there is a chance, however brief, for a soldier to achieve peace and contentment. It gives the Ghosts hope they may reclaim what they lost, and a purpose to fight for. Again hope is a powerful motivating facotr and provides that sense of risk so important to play the potential of loss off of - something the Ghost series does quite well.
Corbec and Dorden also share a bit of back history and a bond, which is why Corbec fought for him against incredible odds. Again, its another 'human' touch that really adds to the greater story.



Page 188

The twenty kilometres of Oskray Island was only partly rock. It was, in point of fact, a cluster of islets, linked as one by the massive industrial fortification built up upon the shoulders of submarine mountains. Behind ocean-blocking walls of stone a hundred metres thick, pump structures, drill towers, flame-belching waste stacks and pylons rose against the sky. The primary target, the great refinery hive of Oskray Island One.

Size of an island-hive city, known for fuel production. Again hives are fucking huge, and well armored. This is also at least the second hive city mentioned in this novel, and we know there are at least one or two more in the region.


Page 188

. With fifty others, lasguns raised, he charged out of the hatch mouth, for a second, on the ramp, the dispersal deck noises were swamped by the greater volume of the thundering drop-ships all around.

The drop ship carries (at least) 50 ghosts, making it a platoon sized one.



Page 189-190

The man it belonged to was inverted in the water behind him, panicking, dying. Caffran kicked away, trying to rise and not breathe in to ease his emptied, screaming lungs. He saw men explode into the grey, dreamy world from above, fighting the water as they hit and sank. But that at least told him the surface was only a few metres away.
The man who had kicked him on his way down had become entangled with another by the slings of their lasguns. One of them fired his lasgun in desperation, twice, three times. The water boiled around each slicing minnow of orange light. Caffran’s ears throbbed as they heard the fizzing report of the underwater shots. One of the las-rounds punctured a drifting corpse nearby; another punched through the leg of a desperate swimmer next to Caffran. Blood fogged the water.

I've done calcs on this before, and not much would really change, except that we know from various sources that 'finger thick' beams are not as assumption as I previously assumed - we know from the 'Founding' omnibus short story they are finger thick, we know from the DoW novelization, Cadian Blood, 13th Legion, and a number of other sources that 'finger wide' is also quite reasonable, so no real point in dwelling on that. However, it is not neccesarily the 'conservative' estimate. One of the latter novels (Armour of Contempt or Only in Death) has 5mm las beam holes made in stuff. If 2-3 metres at 2 cm 630 grams of water is effected whilst closer to 942 grams at 3 m would be. Boiling would be somewhere around 200-250 kj per 'bolt', whilst at 3 m it would be 350-400 kj or so. Vaporization is around 1.4-2.4 MJ per 'shot' which is more in line with the old calcs, but assumes omre of a high energy 'heat' ray design, which it may or may not be.
If we go the other end of the spectrum, drilling a 5mm hole in the water would require 'only' around 40-60 grams of water be affected, which would be 16-24 KJ to 'boil', and 90-150 kj to 'vaporize'. still quite alot, but not quite as 'high' as last time. This might also be much more 'explsoive' in effect, so that might actualyl work better, as a 5mm spot size is more in line with blowing shit up explosively.
Assuming composition similar to flesh, it would be at least double digit kj to punch through several metres of water (5-10 kj for 2 cm diameter, 50 cm deep penetration, 4-6x that penetration for the actual value.) Heck if we take aspect ratio (for a real laser) into it its probably more like 60-80 kj per pulse (7-8 cm diameter hole) but that would not be a 'minnow' and the performance does not indicate a real laser anyhow (penetration for one thing is insane here.) so I'm betting its more towards less than 60 kj with 'narrow' beams', but if the distance increased the implied output would (EG if it were 5-6 m like I estimated before under similar assumptions.)
Note however that this still brings up the particle beam aspects, so its possible the yields could be lower with the sort of high penetration I assume (I'd assume several tens of kj per shot from this is likely, possibly more, but the need for anything greater could be offset by increased penetration, for example, rather than having to brute force 'drill' through the watter like a laser would.)
Overall we seem to have at leats single/double digit kj on the 'conservative' side for blasters, and at least double/triple digit kj for somethign closer to a heat ray, but that works out consistently yet agian. Note that we don't know exact settings here either, so even if we allow for 'higher' numbers it could very well be these are max power shots (and even if they aren't the higher numbers, its still possible we're dealing with max power.)


Page 190

Behind him, las-rounds punched up out of the water into the fog as other unfortunates lost their grip on everything but their triggers as they drowned.

Again lasfire has littel trouble passing through the water without being disrupted or 'blocked. That suggests exceptionally good penetration of the bolts - more like particle beams than lasers, really. Heck magically good particle beams at that. Indeed the ability to pass even through a few metres of water coherently suggests it can pass through many hundreds, even thousands of metres of air without being significantly degraded. It also suggests that the previous calcs were still conservative as the bolts would still have enough power to pass thorugh the water completely.


Page 190

It was his micro-bead intercom, crackling with staccato traffic, screeching into his ear-plug. Underwater, it had been the tinny whisper of ghosts.

micro bead survived underwater submersion intact.


Page 191

It was Domor, the squad’s sweeper. He was laden down with the heavy backpack of the sweeper unit and its long handled sensor-broom.
..
Domor’s metal-irised artificial implants shuttered and whined as they adjusted to look down at Caffran. The sweeper’s cybernetic implants looked like truncated binocular scopes crudely sutured into the scar tissue of his eye-sockets.

Domor. Shrapnel took his eyes in First and Only, so now he has augmetic eyes. These prove useful later on. Also his minesweeeper/sweeper unit, which actually seems to be more of an exotic sensor device (like in first and only) rather than just a simple mine detector.


Page 191

Bolt rounds and las-fire whipped and stitched the breakers around him, cutting down the Ghost beaching next to him.
...
The fire-storm fell amongst them and some dropped silently, or screaming, or in minced pieces.
...
“Nothing! Visibility is low! Heavy resistance from up there!” Domor pointed up into the spray-fog at something only his augmented vision could resolve, and then only barely.

Gunfire coming from above, upon the wall. quite accurate too, as its striking close to (or at) the Ghosts on the ground, including shredding or slicing them apart.



Page 191-192

He’d lost his shoulder on Fortis Binary, and his black tunic bulged over the cybernetic joint the medics had given him.
..
Varl cursed and struggled with his artificial shoulder.
Sea-water had soaked into the shoulder joint, shorting out servos and fusing linkages. His arm was dead and useless, but still the raw neural connections transmitted flickers of shorting electrical failure to his brain. Domor had been lucky. His ocular units had been sealed into his skull enough to prevent such damage… though Caffran wondered how long it would take the insidious touch of seawater corrosion to blind the man.
With Mkendrik’s help, Caffran stripped off Varl’s tunic and unscrewed the bolts on the small inspection plate in Varl’s metal shoulder blade. With the point of his Tanith dagger, Mkendrik prised out the flat battery cells revealed there, cutting the electrical relay which governed the limb. Varl sighed as his arm went dead and Caffran strapped it up, tight against the sergeant’s body. It was a desperate gesture. Without the booster relay of the cells, not only all neural control, but all life support would be cut from the organic parts of Varl’s repaired arm. He needed proper help, or within an hour or two his now-lifeless arm would begin to decay and perish.

Varl's shoulder augmetic. AS io noted in First and only, Varl basically had his shoulder blasted apart and totally (or almost completely) severed his arm from his body. The augmetic replaced the joint and shoulder blade, connecting the two. It also (reinforcing the 'nearly severed or severed' aspect) provides life support connection between the torso and upper arm. This provides us an interesting insight into the qualities and capabilities of some kinds of Guard augmetic. Varl's shoulder does provide some meausre of strenght enhancement (or at least he can hit marginally harder that it stings) but its not very enviromentally resilient or water resistant. The arm also provides (as noted before) the life support connections between severed limbs and operates on a battery.
Domor's augmetics are somewhat more resistant, but as we find out they too suffer from immersion. The Ghosts seem to have gotten augmetics that were more quality but less reliability/durability, not unlike STele from Ice Guard.



Page 193

A whinnying bolt round ricocheted off the top of the groyne’s solid woodwork and took Chilam straight in the face, exploding his head. He flew back onto the shingle, full length.

Bolt round richocet headsplodes Ghost. Added insult to injury as the poor man had his ear shot off by unknown means before, demonstrating things can always be worse.


Page 193

The vast white curtain wall of Oskray Island’s sea-defences rose ahead of them, almost a kilometre high. Apart from some stray scorch marks, it was unblemished. The Basilisks had been meant to flatten it and break through for the infantry.

Height of the wall, which gives a lower limit indicator of range of Chaos (Kith) gunfire against the Ghosts of about a kilometre or so. As I noted in the last analysis, this assumes the Ghosts are flush up to teh wall (which they aren't) but as we have no definite ideas yet as to how far away they might be, this is simply a lower limit.

Also Basilisks in unknown numbers meant to flatten wall km high and 100m thick. Assuming 70% empty space, 100 m thick, 1 km tall, and 600 m wide (At least) from before, and assuming 100 basilisks each with 20 shells (2000 shells) each shell woudl make a roughly 21.2 m radius crater (11 tons of TNT equivalent). Even assuming 100,000 shells (5000 basilisks, which seems excessive) thats a 10-12 m diameter crater, which is significant. (200-300 kg of TNT equivalent) At the very minimum, tens if not hundreds of kilos of TNT equivalent per shell, consistent with other examples (EG STorm of Iron, Wolf's Honour, etc.) whilst on the more generous end each one is TONS of tnt.


Page 193-194

A troop-ship, one of the great fat beetles, on fire from end to end, was coming in low, half-sidelong, nose down, spilling burning fuel and shreds of fuselage. It was huge, blocking out the sky, six hundred tonnes of dying metal keening in towards the beach over their heads. Its jaw-hatches were still closed.
..
The stricken troop-ship had slammed over them, coming to rest at the head of the beach where the last few seconds of its crash-flight had been broken by the fortified seawall of Oskray Island. The impact had blown the wall in. For six hundred metres, its immeasurably old and solid stone was fused and fractured. A blackened chasm had opened into the heart of the refinery.

600 ton dropship collides and obliterates wall. Calcs form before still probably apply, although I'm betting internal detonations accounted for most of it (tens of kilotons to crater wall like that to that width alone, not including melting) which suggests quite a bit about the fuel supply. at 1 km/s the impact woudlnt even be a fraction of that KE/momentum wise, and I kinda doubt the shuttle was moving THAT fast, which is contrary ot what I estimated before. Even assuming 100 MJ per kg and promethium, it would reuqire some 400 tons of fuel to create an explosion tha tbig. either it was a more volatile type of reactor (atomic/nuclear of the non-realistic type) or something like pyrum-petrol meltas (isomer?) or promethium really is that powerful


Page194

Enemy fire still strafed down from the wall, though it was thinner now such a chunk of the wall had gone
..
Stray las-shots winged down at them and stubber rounds rattled with a curious clack-clack sound off the stone facings to their left.

enemy from 300m or so to either side of the hole, and still 1 km down (At least) opening fire on Ghosts. Thats going to be at least 1200 m or so probably. Given several seconds for the shuttle to hit, even at a relatively slow 100-200 m/s subsonic velocity we'd be talking 200-300 (or twice) that range, which would probably up the weapons fire range to 1.5-2 km, which is possible for effective range, although the upper end of that scale would be pushing the limit of long/extreme fire (EG relatively low accuracy) unless they were speciically designed for accuracy like a long las.


Page 194-195

Ahead, one hundred meters down the v-shaped channel blasted by the crash, a dimness loomed.

Depth of the crack in the wall, at least.


Page 195

The fleet could have vaporised Oskray Island from orbit, but it was too valuable. That meant a land assault to retake it from the legions of Chaos.

They could have 'vaporize'd the island hive. Calcs probably don't matter, so could be the same, but lacking knowledge of duration and number of ships, not very helpful.


Page 195

..overthrow Imperial rule and seize the fuel-oil and promethium wells.

Oil and Promethium seem to be separate things.

[Connor MacLeod]

On Impulse I'm going to toss out the rest of Ghostmaker, and move on. I got tons of Ghosts novels to cover. Note this will acutally be two more updates, since I have to split the last one in half (too big ot post)


First half of the part 3 update (is that 3.5A? lol)
Page 196

Caffran often thought about Gaunt. Ibram Gaunt. He rolled the name in his mind, a name he would never dare voice aloud. The colonel, the commissar. A strange man, and Caffran’s feelings for him were strange too. He was the best, most caring, most charismatic leader Caffran could imagine. Caffran had seen, time and again, the way Gaunt looked after the Ghosts. Caffran had also seen enough of other regiments and their commanders and politicos to know how rare a thing that was.

Caffran is another ghost with mixed feelings about Gaunt, both in a weird love/hate sort of way. Like most of the characters in these stories his character changes over the course of the series, and his 'changes' are almost as significant as Rawne's, although they are more extrnal and less internal (as we will learn with Necropolis, when he meets Tona Criid.) Most of his 'internal' development comes in a sort of 'maturation'. He starts out the series as being young, not much older than Milo, but he matures and becomes solid, dependable, and confident. Next to Bragg, and Corbec and Mkoll, he's one of my favorites.


Page 197

Vulliam, two metres ahead of Caffran, was one of the first to break into the open. Stub rounds broke him messily into four.

Stub rounds again blowing apart a human in a burst. Whether regular or heavy we don't know, but lasfire might be able to do similar.


Page 197

Varl nodded, nursing his strapped arm.
His laspistol, the only weapon he could handle now, lay in his lap.

Varl, oddly, cannot use his lasrifle one handed, even though some ghosts have (of course some rifles have also shown recoil, so go figure. Presumably Varl's is one of the latter.)



Page 198

" You pull out, we shell, then we advance with heavy infantry.”
..
“The Volpone have just beached in legion strength. They have heavy armour and weapons. We will clear the way for their advance.”

Volpone 'heavy infantry'. Heavy infantry seems to mean heavy, durable armour, heavy weapons (including many stubbers and such), and large sizes (given Gilbear and his apes.) The Jantine heavy infantry were quite similar.



Page 200

A shell hit the wall and vaporised Gorley, as if he had never been there.

While vaporize might not be literal, given the aformentioned calcs for shells it quite possibly could be. If its not, we might figure 8-12 MJ to vaporize (explode), and probably several time sthat. Basilisk shell too.


Page 203-204

The tunnel was sealed fifty metres ahead by a vast metal hatchway. A thick ironwork seal surrounded a man-sized hatch closed with lever-latches and greased hydraulic hinges. The door and its frame were painted matt green with rust-proof paint, all except the clean steel inner rods of the extended hydraulics, which glittered with filmy brown oils.
..
Domor pulled the head of the sweeper broom out of the pack, removed the soft cloth bag it was wrapped in, and carried it to the wall with his set unit and his headphones. He plugged the headphones and the sweeper head into the unit and switched it on, listening patiently to the clicking returns in his ear-pieces as he moved the flat pad of the sweeper head across the metal door surround. Three or four times he stopped, went back to check, and then marked the green painted metal with a graphite cross, using a stick he kept in his bicep pocket.
...
The main internal lock for the hatch is buried inside the frame. Those crosses mark the threads of the gears.”
Caffran let Tokar do the honours. He put a point-blank las round through each of the crosses, leaving round puncture holes with sharp metal edges.
The latches and locks spun free easily now their mechanisms were ruined..

I'm not quite sure what they did, other than punching holes through certain bits of the locking mechanisms. I'm guessing they severed the screws, or something, which broke the locks. In any case, if we figure a 1-2 cm diameter hole at least 10-12 cm or so deep into the target we'd be talking 20-30 kj per bolt, roughly. (assume 20 pulses or so, 1-1.5 kj per pulse, 5mm spot sized, 10 microsecond delay and structural steel composition). If we go with 3-4 cm and 15-20 cm or so deep, we're talking an easy 100-200 kj burst.
On the other hand, if the hole diameter were closer to 5mm (as noted last time) through steel, the shots could be easily only a few kj (2.5-3 kj maybe at least) although Luke's notes have suggested you want pulse energies at least twice that as noted on the atomic rockets sidearms page, s we might get away with saying 5-6 kj (it would still be a slightly bigger hole, but not by much.. 6-7mm)
Either way, single/double digit kj seems likely for a 'blaster' style laser with high penetraiton.



PAge 205

Bude stumbled as a round hit him in the top of the left shoulder and exited through his right hip. Caffran knew he was dead, but he tried desperately to get to him nevertheless.

Again lasgun with considerable penetration through body 40-50 cm at leats, but if diagnolly if we figure 30-40 across shoulders we get between 50-64 cm across. AT least 5-10 kj (again similar to Luke Campbell style 'battle laser' type wound channel and penetration) and possibly several times that for both bigger hole and deeper penetration. And again if we figure 400-600 sq cm for burns (50-125 j per sq cm lets call it) thats 20-30 kj at least, to 50-75 kj.)

Page 205

There were dark shapes on a catwalk forty metres above and to the left of them. More zinging fire spat down through the clouds.
..
Mkendrik swivelled his flamer and vomited huge curls of fire up at the enemy position.

Flamer again demonstrates considerable range.. 40m here instead of 60 m before, but its roughly consistent with real life flamethrower ranges I'm aware of them reaching, although the WW2 flamethrowers like the M2 had rather short ranges (20-40m or so as from link before)


Page 208

Flames leapt from small lakes of petroleum and mineral gels

Petrolum and promethium seem different things again.


Page 209

Caffran opened Mkallun’s pack and took out a one-shot plastic injector of adrenaline, stamping it into Mkallun’s bare forearm.

Probably medical stuffs again. Adrenaline injector, one shot.



Page 210-211

“Sholen Skara is a monster. He worships death. He believes it to be the ultimate expression of the Chaotic will."
...
Now though, he understood why Ibram Gaunt, champion of human life and soldier of the divine Emperor, would so personally loathe the likes of the monster called Skara.
“He kills to serve Chaos. Any death serves him. "
...
“That is a way we have of winning. We can defeat him — and we can convince him he will be defeated and thus save us the bother of killing them all. If he thinks he is losing, he will begin to slaughter his own as a final hymn of defiance and worship.”

Oh dear, the Guard makes use of PSYCHOLOGY to defeat an enemy without totally annihilating them. Or rather, forcing them to surrender/annihilate themselves, but it comes to the same thing - preserving your own troops and assets without grinding the enemy down totally by attrition. Psychological warfare is, unsurprisingly, not unknown to the Guard and they will use it. The problem is, not every enemy is susceptible to it (a good many xenos races like Tyranids come to mind, and Chaos is always wonky there.), and even if they are driving them away does not guarantee they will stay away (Orks come to mind. Defeat for them means run away and come back stronger to try again, as is the case with Armageddon.) Some enemies the Guard has no choice but to attrition to death, because there is no other way to decisively defeat them.
Of course other races, like the tau and Eldar, are more sensitive to these sorts of tactics, nto being ravenous aliens or batshit insane religious nutjobs, so its equally true that there are cases when using attrition is not the best option (but they do it anyways.) Such is the nature of the Guard.


Page 219

Varl’s sharp tongue and speak-your-mind attitude had retarded his promotion chances early on..
..
Next to the ruthless command styles of Rawne and Feygor, and the intense military mindset of the likes of Mkoll and the commissar himself, Varl, like the beloved Colonel Corbec, injected a note of humanity and genial compassion into the Ghosts’ command structure. The men liked him: he told jokes as often as Corbec, and they were for the most part funnier and cruder; his prosthetic arm proved he was not shy of close fighting; and he could, in his own, informal, garrulous way, spin a fine, inspiring speech to rouse his squad if the need called for it.

Varl is squad sergenat now as a result of events in First and Only. Varl is another of those who becomes a 'long term' character, so he gets a fair bit of introduction here. He's basically another Corbec - the 'human' element to the Tanith, whereas others provide other aspects of character (Rawne is ruthless, Mkoll and Gaunt military, etc.)

Page 220

He wore his grey and gold twill breeches and black boots, but was stripped down to his undershirt. His body was a mass of well-nourished muscles and he stood two heads taller than Varl.
...
This aristocratic giant, with his hooded eyes and bullying manner, had at least six friends in the crowd, and all were as big as him. What the feth do they feed them on back home to raise such giants? Milo wondered.

Gilbear is 2 heads shorter than Varl, which suggests Varl is around 2 metres or so tall, give or take ten or twenty centimetres either way maybe (figure 15-25 cm head) given Gilbear is 2.5 m tall earlier in the book
The other Volpone are of similar height ot Gilbear, making them 'giants'. Milo's reaction seems to suggest such size is unusual (in the Guard at least), which is hardly surprising given Gilbear's monstrous height. Then again he should be used to Bragg...


Page 224

..slapping Milo across the back with his bionic arm. He had never got used to its strength and Milo nearly fell.

Implying Varl's arm might be significantly stronger than his natural one.


Page 225

Bragg pulled his vast bulk into the light behind his comrades, squinting in a relaxed way down at the five Bluebloods. He seemed to fill the corridor.
..

..the Bluebloods were too amazed at his size to notice.

Bragg is considerably taller than even the giant blue bloods, again suggestin he's probably close to 3 m tall. I'd guess at least a head taller, if not bulkier.


Page 225

Around the huge bulk of the orbiting hexathedral, a colossal towered platform designed as a mustering point for the invasion forces, great legions massed. Over a dozen huge troop-ships were already docked around the crenellated rim of the hexathedral’s skirt platform...
....
..tugs were easing another in now to join them. More were due.

Indication of the scale of operations on Monthax. At least thirteen troop transports (tens or hundreds of thousands of troops) and more to come. Plus escorts (frigates and battlecurisers and shit) also mentioned. Oh and a hexathedral towed here. They seem to place those suckers all over as staging points, I'm betting thats the same sort of hexathredral mentioned from Obidizion in Inferno Magazine, like in First and Only.



Page 226

..stepped down a short flight into the cool, echoing vastness of one of the Sanctity’s main tactical chapels, the Orrery. A vast circular dial was set flush in the centre of the chamber’s floor, thirty metres across and made of intricate, interlocking, moving parts of brass and gold, like a giant timepiece. As it whirred and cycled, the three dimensional globe of coloured light it projected upwards altered and spun, advancing data, chart runes, bars of information across the luminous surface.
Trim uniformed Guard officers, robed members of the Ecclesiarch and the Munitorium, Navy commanders in their Segmentum Pacificus deck dress, and the hooded deaconal staff of the hexathedral itself, prowled the edges of the great fight Orrery, consulting the data and conferring in small groups. Skeletal servitors, emaciated, wired into the machine banks via cables from their eyes, spines, mouths and hands, hunkered in booth-cribs, murmuring and chattering. Around the sides of the great chamber, under cloistered roofing, great chart tables were arranged at intervals, each showing different sections of Monthax. Staff groups stood around every table, engaged in more specific and detailed planning sessions. The air chimed with announcements and updates, some of these overlapping and chattering with data noise. The Orrery turned, whirring, and new details and deployments appeared.

What we might consider the main 'tactical' room (or one of them) of the Hexathredral, where all sorts of information (tactical and otherwise) gets processed in orbit. Mainly notable as being yet another part of the broader command and control structure of the Guard (at least in this conflict.) but its likely that orbital and ground based coordination is not unheard of, perhaps even routine.



Page 228

“I hear you’re taken up with a low-tech rabble now. Don’t you miss the Hyrkan discipline?”

The Tanith are referred to as 'low-tech rabble'. Which is amusing given (for example) LArkin's infrared scope lol.



Page 231

“I am Lilith. Inquisitor Lilith.”
Gaunt lowered the pistol and set it down on the side-table. “You have not requested my seal of office. You believe me then?”
“I know of you. Pardon, ma’am; there are few females holding your rank and duty.”

Lilith. We meet her again in Ravenor Rogue, which is technically supposed to be her 'earliest' in-universe depiction, but she showed up here first since this book was written long before the Ravenor one, go figure. As I note in Ravenor, that probably makes her some 300-400 years old or so, near as I make out. Despite having only a minor role in this story, she's more pivotal in the one to follow (the 'main' story of this novel, such as it is.)



Page 235-236

“Then I’ll be blunter. Sturm has initiated this process because he sees it as a way of bringing you and the Ghosts down. If Milo is corrupt and you do not distance yourself from him and act like a commissar, your life will be over — and Sturm will make sure the Ghosts are dismantled. He has already seeded the idea in Bulledin’s mind that if one Ghost is a witch, so might others be. The Tanith first would be taken, to a man, by the Inquisition and they would all suffer extreme investigation. Most would die. The rest would be cast aside as no longer fit to serve the Imperial Guard. I am bound by duty to investigate Sturm’s claim. I do not wish to be party to his vendetta against the Tanith, but I will become so if you do not act accommodatingly, willingly and honourably.”
“I see. Thank you for your candour.”
“Chaos is the greatest threat mankind faces, Gaunt. We cannot allow psychic power to exist within any untrained mind. If the boy is touched, he must be destroyed.”
“Not evaluated by the Black Ships… as you were?”
She looked at him with a sharp frown. “Not this time. The political situation is too delicate. If Milo is a witch, he must be put to death to appease all parties.”

Page 243

Early reports show the enemy have cm through — well, destroyed, in fact — a battalion-strength force of Kaylen Lancers.

IG battalions.


Page 244

"Upwards of sixty thousand men from various regiments are to be deployed against the enemy. Because of the peculiar, not to say perplexing orientation of their advance, we’ll catch them side on. The Ghosts will cover a salient about nine kilometres long.” Gaunt indicated their area of the new front on the chart, marking little runic symbols on the glass plate with his wax pencil.
..
"Thoth has demanded a main force assault, what the beloved and devout Chapterhouses like to call a meat-grinder. Rip into them along the flank and try, if nothing else, to break their column and isolate parts of it.”
..
“The Tanith aren’t heavy troops. Main force, without playing to our strengths? feth, that’ll get us all killed.”
“Correct, major.” Gaunt fixed the man with a tight stare. “Thoth has given the regimental commanders some discretion. Let’s remember the depth of ground cover and jungle out there. The Ghosts can still use their stealth and cunning to get close, get in amongst them if need be. I’ll not send you in en masse. The Ghosts will deploy in platoon sections, small scattered units designed to approach the foe unseen through the glades. I think that way we will give as good an account of ourselves as any massed charged of armoured infantry.”

Comment on Guard tactics on Monthanx, specifically the Tanith vs Heavy infantry. It really shows the variation in tactics and how the forces can fight, which is both good and bad (good in the sense they're diverse, bad in the sense that diversity can lead to confusion and complexity in getting them to cooperate/coordinate.) The Volpone represent heavy infantry in this context, suggesting that heavy armor (like carapace, or very tough flak) and heavy weaponry of various sorts (and possibly even vehicles, like the Jantine) mark them out for direct attacks - an ability to give and take damage and survive to get close to the enemy, basically. The Ghosts, lacking that heavy armour or weaponry, have to rely on mobility, cover, and stealth to achieve similar results. And whereas the heavy infantry may go 'en masse' (although as we saw with the Jantine in First and Only, that doesn't neccesarily mean mindless human wave charges not taking advantage of cover.) the Ghosts fight more dispersed.
Of course as we saw in First and Only on Fortis Binary (and later on in Straight Silver) the Guard/Munitorum can and will use infantry contrary to their specializations, which can lead to light infantry like the Ghosts (ill suited to direct attacks like this) being deployed in direct attacks (And suffering, accordingly.) Its probably lucky here that Thoth isn't like Dravere, and will give his regimental commanders latitutde to fight according to their strengths.



Page 246-247

The Old One’s mind was a fearfully powerful apparatus. As hundreds of thousands of life-lights slowly appeared and began to congregate on this place, it seemed to him as if whole constellations were forming and becoming real. And so many of those life-lights were dark and foul.
..
Already his mind had set things in motion. Already, he had shaken out his dreams and let his rich imagination drape across the place like a cloak. Simple deceits, such as would normally beguile the lesser brains of other races, had already been set in motion.
They would not be enough.

An indication of the psychic abilities of one long lived Eldar, possibly a seer/farseer of some kind. He can cast illusions that deceive/manipulate the perceptions of hundreds of thousands of individuals simultaneously, as well as draw those thoughts/perceptions from their minds.


Page 250

Corbec raised his gun to firing position, heard nine other safeties hum off. “For Tanith! For the Emperor! For us!” he bellowed.
Las-fire volleyed across the water of the lagoon and figures at the far end fell and started. Some dropped into the water, face down; others knelt for cover in the tree roots of the bank and returned fire. Laser shots echoed and returned across the water course. The lowest bolts cut furrows as they flew across the water. Others steamed as they hit the liquid or exploded sodden, decomposing bark.
Others hit flesh, or cut through armour, and figures tumbled down the far bank, sliding into the water or being arrested by root systems. Merrt made three priceless head shots before a stray return took him in the mouth and he dropped, face down and gurgling, into the ooze of the lagoon.

Assuming a 5mm to 2 cm diamter las 'beam' and a diameter to length ratio of 20-25, you get between 10 cm 'long' and 50 cm 'long' las pulses. a kj or two could probably cover the low end eaisly, and 10 kj or so could cover the far end if we just go 'blaster'. If its boiling or vaporizing, though, a couple grams at 5 mm, and 157 grams at the 'high' end. 800 or so joules to 66 kj for boiling, 5 kj to 393 kj for the high end for the 'furrows' If they hit the water, assuming 1-2 cm (5mm no point, since its 100-200 kj bolts ) you'd get 1.3 to 10.5 kj per bolt.
Later novels (STraight silver, Armour of contempt onw ards) indicate Merrt lost ihs jaw and part of his face needed augmetic replacement, suggesting the damage would blwo away part of the head, indicative of at least single digit kj again.


PAge 251

Las-fire spat across the glades at the First platoon. Lowen fell, cut through and smouldering.
Raglon went down too, a glancing burn to his cheek. Gaunt hauled the vox-caster man to his feet and threw him into cover behind a thick root branch.
..
..the comms-officer, dabbing the bloody, scorched weal along the side of his face with a medicine swab.

Effect of glancing and direct hit lasfire. I dont know what 'cut through' means - it could mean overpenetrated (which might suggest at least single digit kj, something akin to 5-10 kj like the battle lasers of Luke Campbell's design - see Atomic Rockets energy weapons sidearm page.) or it could mean sliced (which is another known effect of Sabbat Worlds weaponry at this point.)
The glancing hit is interesting in the sense it causes notable (Serious) burns, but still leaves some blood (or permits bleeding.) That suggests even glancing hits (or near hits which we also know can cause burns as per other guard-oriented novels.) can be debilitating in some fashion, especailly if they accumulate.

Page 252

He heard low, clipped voices crackle back and forth via helmet intercoms, speaking a language that he was thankful he could not understand.

Eldar aspect warriors using com links apparently. Or their analogue that doesn't involve psychic mindspeech.


Page 253

A las-round stung Lerod’s thigh. He knelt helplessly, then dropped to his belly in desperation, blasting up into the trees. His wild fire hit something — a weapon power-pack, perhaps — and a seething sheet of flame rushed out of the far creek bank, stripping and felling trees and tossing out two blackened bodies which cartwheeled in the air and fell into the creek bed.

An interesting commentary. A lasgun powerpack is intimated to, on detonation, be able to severely burn two human bodies. Based on ignition (or at least severe second or third degree burns, clal it between 30-50 j per sq cm and 125 j per square cm) we might figure a poweprack has at least 900 kj (assuming 15,000 sq cm per body at least.) to 1.5 MJ (for 3rd degree burns) to 3.75 MJ (for ignition.) If we figure more full body (might be closer to 20,000+ sq cm) you could get upwards of 5 MJ or more. Its very much indicative of the same roughly 'single to double digit kj' yields for lasweaponry we've gotten from such calcs based on powerpack capacity estimates (and others, based on effect.) In this case assuming between 50-150 shots we get between 6-18 kj per shot at least (900 kj powerpack) to upwards of 30-100 kj per shot (5 MJ powerpack.) which again hints more towards' double digit kj per shot.




Page 256-257

...he pulled his data-slate from the pocket of his leather coat and plugged the short lead into the socket at the base of the vox-link on Raglon’s back. Then he tapped his clearance into the small board of rune-marked keys, and main battle-data began to display on his slate, direct from General Thoth’s Leviathan command base.
Gaunt selected an overall tactical view so he and Corbec could take in the state of the battle.
The Tanith were shown as a thin, vulnerable line, static and held along the main watercourse. To either side of them, heavier regiments and armoured units were making greater headway, but these too were slow and foundering. The Volpone were pushing from the east, with massive artillery support, but the Trynai Sixth and Sixteenth were pinned down and slowly being slaughtered.
..
He wound the dial to bring up a specific display of the Ghosts’ struggling advance. All of the platoons were essentially halted and most engaged in heavy fire. Lerod’s unit was taking the brunt of it. Rawne’s, Gaunt noticed, had so far failed to engage.

Gaunt, through the squad/platoon/company vox, gets a tactical download to his data slate. Presumably conidtions dictate the physical connection, as we've noted wireless is possible (even with the ghosts. technically the vox pack is providing wireless, it just seems that Gaunt's slate has no wireless capability, as contrasted with the slates we've seen Cain and his subordinates use in the Ciaphas Cain novels.) In any case he gets information (from the Leviathan) on the dispositions of troops, the vairous breakdowns on forces (armoured, emechanised, etc.) and the state of the battles (including losses and successes.) What's more, the information can be isolated to specific forces - specific regiments and even down to (at least) specific platoons.


Page 259

Eon Kull the warlock spilled them out onto the flagstones. Slivers of bone, each inscribed with a rune of power.
..
The psycho-reactive runes gave him access to the unbridled power of the warp-spaces, acting as keys to open the locks of his powerful mind to the warp outside.
..
He had never attempted to channel such levels of power before.
No, that wasn’t true. In his youth, as he began upon the Witch Path, he had performed great feats, and then with fewer runes. He had added to his knowledge and technique over the centuries, but he was not young anymore. It took more out of him now to harness the power. In sympathy, the spirit stones inset on his rune-armour flickered, as did dozens of others ranged at the side of his throne. Waking from their eternal slumber at his bidding, the souls of other seers and warlocks, long flesh-dead, conjoined with him to guide him and strengthen his power.

The Warlock attempts another feat, greater than deceiving hundreds of thousands of minds via illusion - conjuring a psychic storm. We learn its at the limits of his power (beyond it actually, if not by much) but to be fair we also learn that both feats seem to be 'assisted' by the spirit stones of seers and warlocks he has on his armour (and his throne) so it may not be 'bare' power alone exactly. But its still a useful benchmark, even if broadly so.


Page 260

Blinding forks of lightning blinked downwards in a hundred places out of a heaven that had previously been clear and sultry blue. Stands of trees exploded under the electrical hammerblows. Several armoured vehicles in the Imperial vanguard were struck and destroyed. A Volpone Hellhound, struck by ball-lightning, went up like a torch as its huge fuel reserves were touched off. At another place, on a creek bed, fourteen basilisk self-propelled guns, their long barrels raised to the sky ready for bombardment, became lighting conductors. Electrocuted, the gun-crews danced and jerked, or melted onto the white-hot hulls for ten seconds before the combined munitions blew a square kilometre of the jungle into the sky in a column of superheated energy and debris.
The blast shook the hulking, hundred metre-high Imperial command Leviathan stationed sixteen kilometres back and threw the bridge crew to the deck. General Thoth leapt up as his multiple screens and main holographic display fizzled and went out. He yelled frantic orders into the darkness

The previous calcs for this incident seem to remain largely unchanged (Basilisk can be white hot without phase change, double or triple digit GJ for total combined lightning effects., etc.) basically, still 14 basilisks at their weight and assuming 1500K is around 350-400 GJ by my lights.
I am going to try redoing the 'square km' bit though. 280 shells assuming even spread would be 34 m radius 'area of effect' blast wise. If we figure per basilisks (total load) each Basilisk is 150 m radius. If we figure blast radius is 'kill zone' we can get something equilvant to a 155mm shell or thereabouts (see here) If we're going with concussion effects I'd expect tens of kg of TNT equivalent perhaps. For an etnire basisliks? maybe 1.3 tons.
Its also worth noting Raglon and Gaunt got the tac update from the Leviathan at least this far back.



Page 261

Corbec chased the stragglers, half-carrying Trooper Melk who had lost a knee.

How, we dont know. If it wsa a las shot, single digit kj maybe.



PAge 263-264

The storm, a spinning electrical disk of clouded black fury sixty kilometres in diameter, held its position unerringly above the battle front. Its power and force were so great, even the mighty cogitators of the hexathedral Sanctity, high in orbit, couldn’t compute its magnitude or penetrate the dome of blistering interference it created. Any Imperial forces that still had a measure of mobility, those that had not been swept away or mired, began to pull back to their lines, making what headway they could in the appalling conditions. Many units, most of them armour and heavy fighting vehicles, were cut off or swamped, helpless and detached from the main retreat.
No one, not even General Thoth’s chief tacticians, could begin to guess the state, response or position of the foe they were meant to be engaging.

Implied size of the storm (and engagement), which may include the aformentioned artillery Assuming the Leviathan is just on the edge of it, we might figure upwards of 40-45 km for the Guard artillery, perhaps even half that, depending on exact Chaos positions and bombardment. Upper limit of course woudl be the edge of the battle, or 60 km.
Also note the orbital detection/scanning proviidng support to ground forces.
Its also an indicator of the size of the wapr storm the Eldar warlock can create. The 'energy' of a thunderstorm can potentially reach (total) around hundreds or thousands of terajoules here which may give an indication of the maxed out-amped power of a really high end Warlock, although it must be noted he is not DIRECTLY manipulating this power, this is just what he pulls from the warp, and it is hard (impossible) to directly translate that into any other application.



Page 264

Many of the Imperial veterans and officers had seen psychic storms before, a favoured terror-weapon of the Chaotic foe. But this was not the same. There was no pestilential quality to it, no reek of unholy filth, no heaviness in the air that made skin crawl and bowels churn and minds spin into waking nightmares.
Just titanic fury. Almost pure, elemental power. A null. Yet, if they could read it, the warp was there.

The storm is not notable so much for its size or power, implying Chaos can achieve similar results through (unknown) psychic means, but the lack of taint is distinctive.

[Connor MacLeod]

second half of update 3 (3.5B? LOL) Next time we push onto Necropolis, then we break new Ghosts territory!

Page 264-265

The escort was thirty troopers from the Royal Volpone 50th, the Bluebloods. They wore the grey and gold body armour and low-brimmed bowl helmets of the Volpone, with wet-weather oilskins draped lankly over their torsos. Their shoulders and arms were massive with segmented carapace armour, and they were each armed with a matt-black hellgun fresh from the weapon shops of Leipaldo. Each man had a bright indigo Imperial Eagle stud pinned into his armaplas collar section, marking them all as from the Volpone Tenth Brigade, the elite veteran force.

Lead by Gilbear. The interesting thing is the implication that the armament and armour are notable of heavy infantry in general, (possibly including the hellguns, or maybe 'hotshot' lasguns? ) rather than being specific to the Tenth. I suppose that's up for debate, but it wouldnt be the first time its hinted that a whole regiment might be equipped thusly.

Besides like I said, in some cases hellguns and 'hotshot' lasguns are one in the same, and we know hotshot packs can be equipped to lasguns and given to standard troopers. We also know of heavy infantry that had high power/short ranged lasweapons (like the Balurians in Grey Knights) and certain 'modern' interpretations (5th-6th and FFG) of hellgun/hotshot lasguns certainly fall into that category, as well.


Page 265

They crossed a foaming waterbed, shallow, but fast running, where a dozen Chimeras of the Roane Deepers were struggling to dig themselves out.

Roane Deepers are at least partly mechanised (or produce mechanised regiments) - we meet them again in Necropolis as well.


Page 266

She pulled out her data-slate and reviewed it. It showed the positions of all the Imperial forces, each individual unit, as last recorded before the storm came down. A complex data-mosaic of thousands of individual components, one that would take a trained tactician hours to assess. But she had already located the one element which interested her: the Third platoon of the First-and-Only Tanith.

Lilith can acquire a tactical upload for her dataslate the same way Gaunt can (and similar from the Cain novels.) and it can contain data on thousands of individual 'components'. If we figure each component is a 'platoon' like the Tanith, that probably means there are tens of thousands of troopers involved at least (not surprising given the 60,000 mentioned earlier.)


Page 266

Six or more, most holding their weapons one-handed as they clung onto sagging saplings and outcrops of rock to keep themselves upright as they came down the incline.

Chaos troops firing lasguns one-handed.


Page 267

The muddy ridge which had previously sheltered him was hit by four separate bursts of enemy fire. Boiled mud spattered up in lazy splashes. The tumultuous rain washed the steam away immediately.

Lasfire again from chaos troops. Closest I can get to a boiling point for mud is 210 degrees (Celsius?) from here. Specific heat is mentioned here and density is around 1700-1800 kg*m^3 per here
210 C is 484K, and assuming a starting temp of around 300K we get a temp change of around 184K, for 462 kj per kg. Assuming a 1-2 cm diameter 'bolt' vaping mud, figure between 2 and 15 grams boiled.which works out to 924 J and 7 kj, respectively. Vaporization would probably pushi ti to single/double digit kj, if we knew the evaporation for mud (assuming something like water or melting for silicon, around 2 MJ per kg it would be 4 to 30 kj.)



Page 267

...an antique laspistol was hooked into its waistband. He pulled it out. It was longer, heavier and far more ornate than his simple, standard-pattern Guard pistol. The pear-shaped hand-grip was wrapped in fine chain and leather cord, and grotesque symbols were inlayed along the under-barrel furniture in pearl and silver. A yellow dot of light showed it was fully charged.

Differences between Guard and Chaos cultist laspistols.



Page 268

They opened fire. It was silent still, just that rumble like grinding teeth, but plumes of mud burst up from impacts around him, and scythed through the bole of a tree to his left, bringing the fifty metre tall trunk crashing down.

Chaos troopers again. We dont know if its a lasweapon or something else, but all we've seen in this particular engagement is lasweaponry We dont know how thick the boles are, or the tree, so we can't really calc it, although given the calcs for tree-shatteirng in TESB mid kj to high kj seems likely at least. Then again who knows how many shots to do it either.



Page 268

Mkoll ducked down and crept along the length of the fallen trunk as return fire cremated and split the section he had been using for cover. Digging his feet in again, he popped up once more, and shot another enemy through the side of the head.
..
He blasted with his twin guns again, exploding the shoulder of an attacker flanking him to the left. A las-round exploded the trunk in front of him and he reeled back into shelter, sucking at the new splinters of wood slivered into his forearms and fingers.

Return fire of unspecified quantity 'cremates' part of a tree Mkoll hides behind. Probably at least a quarter to half a metre in diameter, and 1-2 metres long. Assuming its ignited via flash burns (call it 125 j per sq cm) and the surface area of 2500- 10,000 sq cm you get between 312 kj and 1.25 MJ. If we figure 200 or so las shots (dozens or a fe hundred trooper smaybe) you get at least a few kj (2-6 kj per shot)
Punching a hole in the shoulder is probably single/double digit kj, not unlike VArl's injury from First and Only (simialr calcs, probably.. too lazy to calc it out again.)
Las rounds are also definitely explosive, as the splinter shrapnel indicates.



PAge 269-270

One managed to react fast enough to pull his trigger and Mkoll felt his neck recoil as something painfully hard and hot stung across his scalp. Blood streamed down his face. He wondered if he had been shot in the head, if his thoughts and motions were simply a nervous reaction carrying him forward past the point of death, his brain cooked backwards out of the exploded cup of his skull.
..
Then he stopped and holstered one of his guns, feeling his scalp with his freed hand. He fully expected to find a jagged edge of skull like a broken egg, but there was a just bloody gouge across the top of his head, and a section of his hair was crisped away. His cap had vanished. It had been a glancing wound. No doubt Rawne would have remarked upon the obstinate solidity of his skull.

Chaos lasfire again. The peculiar thing about this is that its more Mkoll 'imagining' the effects. We know lasfire can explode heads (or partly explode them) but the effects are not commonly described. This is consistent with other depictions ('Beneath the Flesh' with flesh tearers, or Black tide superheating brains, Various examples in Cain novels, etc.) and as a solider Mkoll should be familiar enough with the effects to imagine it with reaosnable accuracy.
Even if its not total headsplosion he anticipated the glancing hit doing severe damage (blowing a chunk out of the skull, etc.) so at the very least single digit kj eithre wya, and probably quite a bit more. 'cooking' the brain assuming scald burns (100 kj per kg maybe) would be maybe 150 kj, whislt inflicting flash burns on it (30-50 j per sq cm lets say) over most of its surface (50%, assume a 6 cm tall, 6 cm wide, 10 cm 'long' brain for 360 sq cm) yields 10.8 to 18 kj per bolt for thermal daamage.
A link here notes that 40 j per cubic cm is 10 degree raise in tissues If we figure 2-3x that to cook the brain (assume a brain 6-8 cm on a side) 200-500 sq cm, you get between 16 and 60 kj to 'cook'.
Effects again implied to be a combination of explosive and thermal, but still allow bleeding (to some extent, at least.) Presumably thi sis a lasrifle.


Page 271

Nearby, the clawing hand of a buried foe warrior jerked and clawed up from the thick mud. Mkoll fired into the mud until the hand stopped twitching.

Has to penetrate at least through probably a good metre or so of mud to reach target and kill it, even allowing for a narrow diameter punching through the mud (worse than water) should require at least several kj (if not more.) 5-10 KJ or more is not impossible here I'd wager.


Page 271-272

He ordered Trooper Mktea forward and took one of his tube-charges. Corbec watched in disbelief as Gaunt taped it to the base of a massive ginkgo trunk and primed the fuse.
..
The explosion cut the tree above the root and dropped its sixty metre mass across the boiling tide: a bridge of sorts.
One by one, the men crawled across. Corbec led them to prove it could be done, cursing as each handhold slipped and tore away from the sodden bark. Trooper Vowl lost his grip and dropped from the horizontal log.

Single tube charge bisects a tree trunk and topples it. ASsuming a 20-30 cm diameter trunk and similar height to 'blast' (and only in one direction) (wide enough to crawl .

As examples here mentions 700 mL of PLX which has a REF or 1.25 and a density of 1.13 grams per mL, which works out to nearly a kilo of TNT. here mentions removing a tree stump via a stick of dynamite (mind you ANFO is RE .8, so its less powerful than TNT) here is a quarter stick for blowing a stump. here mentions 100 lbs of explosive (sticks) amongst 37 trees (~2.5-3lbs per tree.) here is 2 pounds of 'hot shot' whatever that is.. judging by here its probably ammonium nitrate again.

This has an interesting rule of thumb for calcing.with soft woods ( W = D²/40) For the diameter I estimated (12") woudl be about 3 1/2 pounds for powder. If we figure half a metre (18" roughly) its closer to 8 pounds.

Overall half a kilo to a kilo of TNT equivaelnt seems orughly reasonable for The tree blasting, at least. Which fits with all the other estimates for tube charge yields, actually. (and lasgun powerpack capacity lol)


Page 273

Gilbear held his hand down to Corbec and pulled him to his feet. Their eyes locked as Gilbear brought him up. Gilbear had the advantage of a few centimetres in height, and his broad shoulders, encased in the bulky carapace segments, eclipsed Corbec’s shambling form, but the Tanith colonel had the benefit of sheer mass.

Corbec is only slightly shorter than the Space-Marine-esque Gilbear, and even bulkier, despite the Carapace. I swear the Crusade is being fought by giants


Page 278

He saw the storm, the magnitude of the storm. He cursed himself. He should have realised that he had been too weak to control such a conjuration. He had intended a storm, of course, as a diversion to cover his more subtle, complex illusions. But the stress had robbed him of consciousness, and he had lost control.
He had unleashed a warp-storm, a catastrophic force that now raged entirely beyond his ability to command, far from covering the humans and allow them in close enough for the illusions to work them to his cause, he had all but blasted them away.

The warp storm is beyond the elderly Warlock's control, although he had the power to call it up (even though it was at the limits of his power to do so.) Given his prior implications he might have been able to control it wheny ounger, but it does give an approximate idea of what an Eldar Warlock going all out is capable of doing. By contrast, Lilith believes Brin Milo might have caused it (or at least she tells Gaunt that) but she also belives he's an unsanctioned psyker - the sort Chaos likes to use, and they tend to be more powerful than Imperial Sanctioned Psykers because of that unrestricted usage.


Page 279

It was not possible. It was… some kind of madness.
He look up at the stormy sky, shuddered and hugged himself. All along, he had suspected the storm was not natural in origin. Now he knew it was playing with his mind.

One of the itneresting aspects of this story (about as close to a 'major' plotline this novel has really, even though it only encompasses the last quarter or so of the book) is that some of the Ghosts (Milo, Gaunt, and Mkoll) realize that the storm is messing with their minds. Again the Tanith (Gaunt aside being a different issue perhaps, given the 'hints' raised about him in First and Only and the Gaunt being singled out by the 'warp'.) seem to have exceptional perceptive powers that can sometimes even penetrate the influence of Chaos. Quite a valuable skill, actually. And it makes you wonder how many other warp-touched 'regiments' might be similar (The Cadians, for example, are often affected by their proximity to the Eye..)


Page 280

Sixty men, or thereabouts, half dedicated heavy infantry, ordered to guard her by the general, half the best stealth fighters in the Guard, led by their own charismatic commissar.

Lilith describing both Volpone (the heavy infantry) and the Tanith, as well as Gaunt. Again it seems to suggest that the Volpone's outfitting is perhaps not unusual for them, however we choose to interpret it, and despite being 'low tech' the Ghosts are considered amongst the best. And of course there's Gaunt's style of Commissarial leadership.



Page 282

Lilith called a halt, to get a fix on their position. She was just raising her data-slate when a searing light flashed and they were deafened.
Lightning had struck a tree twenty paces back, exploding it in a welter of wooden shrapnel. Two Bluebloods had been atomised by electrical arcs and another two, along with one of the Tanith, had been flayed alive by the wood chips.
..
.. returned her gaze to the slate. Gaunt was by her side. They compared data, pelting rain pattering off the screens of their respective devices.
“There’s your Third platoon,” she said.
“As you had it last fixed before the storm came down,” corrected Gaunt. “They were in the eye of the storm then, but can you get a true fix on their location now? Or on ours?”
Lilith cursed silently. Gaunt was right. They were cut off from orbital locator signals, and the storm was playing merry hell with all their finders and codiciers. All they had to work on was a memory or location and terrain.

Indicator of the power of the psychic storm again (at least MJ range, single/double if not triple, depending on 'atomised') and more on tha dataslate's 'tactical' features (at least Gaunt and Lilith's) They seem to rely on orbital tracking data as well as other data sources (finders and codiciers, whatever those mean. Sensors and locator beacons maybe?) but they do rely on multiple sources (all fucked up by the storm) transmitting data between each other to keep track of the Guard forces, at least at the platoon (and perhaps squad) level. It also seems to allow them to 'fix' their position, presumably by similar means (the troops accompanying her would logically be broadcasting as well as receiving just as the other forces are.)



Page 284

He shot him point blank and then rose, cutting the knees off the next foe who advanced with a double spit of las-fire from his guns.

laspistol shot severes leg at the knee. Again single.double digit kj range perhaps.. at least a few kj alone to sever bones. 3rd degre flash burns on each part of the leg would be 10 kj. Tens of kj to punch through the leg probably as a whole (assuming 10-12 cm diameter effect.



Page 284

Another shot kissed his flank and burned a scar that would never leave him.

Assuming a 2 cm wide, 20-25 cm long 'burn' scar and 3rd degre at least, we're talking 40-50 sq cm and 2-2.5 kj for what probably amounts to a glancing hit. The actual shot ought to be at least several times that output, easily.


Page 284

Las-shots scorched at his heels, exploding trees.
...
An enemy warrior loomed ahead of him and Mkoll blasted with one of his pistols, taking the head clean off.

Takng the head off, at least single digit kj. And las shots in unknown quantity exploding unknown trees to unknown degree. Explosive again.




Page 285

He killed left and right. Maximum firepower. Then he realised his captured laspistol was coughing inert gas.

Chaos laspistol involves gas in some form. Whether in the creation of the laser (lasing medium) or as a coolant, or what, we dont know. I'm guessng coolant though.



Page 285

More fire came his way, cutting the limbs of trees and bursting ripe fruit-flowers.

More (presumable) lasfire cutting through parts of trees and exploding shit.



Page 286

Capturing the lasgun, he turned, setting it to full auto and cutting down a wave of Chaos infantry as they pressed in on his heels.
He was still shooting, blindly into the night, his lasgun’s power cell almost exhausted and three dozen slain foe about him, when Corbec found him.

Mkoll's captured lasgun has at least 36 shots in it, probably several more to be 'almost exhausted.' and thats a lower limit, because the Chaos trooper he took it from had almost certainly been firing for some time before. If we figure it was at least 2/3 to half full (at least) we're talking 54-75 shots at LEAST. Quite possibly more.


Page 288

he detonation was like a slap in the face for Gaunt. His mind cleared, sober.
“Don’t play your mind tricks with me, inquisitor,” he snarled.
..
Lilith smiled solemnly and held up her hands. “Fair point I’m sorry, Gaunt. I’m used to making allies where I can’t find them, using my powers to twist wills to my purpose. I suppose it’s strange for me to have a willing comrade.”
“Such is the way of the inquisitor. And I thought the commissar’s path was lonely.”
She stared into his eyes and another smile lit her pale face. Gaunt wondered if this was another of her guiles, but it seemed genuine.
...
“We both want victory here. You’ll find me a much more able ally if I am in full command of my powers, rather then spellbound by you.”

Gaunt and Lilith. again Gaunt demonstrates he seems to be quite resilient to psychic suggestion and powers, at least as resilient as his Ghosts. This becomes a somewhat significant plot point later in the series as well, but I'll just comment on it here. The other interesting fact, for me, is Lilith's interactions. Once again we have a non-assholish Inquisitor who is actually likable, and perhaps a little lonely, her interactions with Gaunt and the ghosts are, in my mind, one of the high points of the story, as in a way this IS Lilith's story as much sa the ghosts, odd as that may seem. Part of me wonders if perhaps she and the eldar might serve a role later on, but xenos (Eldar or Orks or whatever) serve very little role in the Ghosts series overall.




Page 288-289

"This storm. it’s really hard for you, isn’t it?"

"I’m at my limit, Ibram. The warp is all around me, tugging at my mind. I’m sorry about before. Desperation."

Gaunt stepped towards her, ushering her towards Mkoll. "You said you liked to make allies where you couldn’t find them. Why so hard on Gilbear?"

She grinned. "He loves it. Are you kidding? A powerful woman ordering him around. He wants me so bad he’d die for me."

Now Gaunt grinned. "You’re a scary woman, Inquisitor Lilith."
..
"Just promise you won’t use such base tactics on me."

"I promise," she said. "I don’t think I need to." Gaunt suddenly became aware of how long he had been looking into her eyes. He broke the gaze.

Gaunt and Lilith make a cute couple, don't they? Again I always like those 'human' touches in the series, as it really enhances the times of tragedy and horror and general grimness that you get with 40K. Maybe its too 'real life intruding' for some, but the 'absurd grimdark pretending to be serious' never worked.





Page 293

"...may I remind you that we can’t even find this place? Our locators and auspex are screwed, my scouts can’t tell one direction from another, feth,"

The combined Tanith/Volpone force with Gaunt and Lilith are equipped with 'locators and auspex' - which I gather is for navigational purposes as well as collecting (and possibly relaying) tactical data (like in the slates before.)





Page 297

"Like coming home, you said," Gaunt reminded him.

Mkoll closed his eyes and saw Eiloni just ahead, beckoning him back to the farmstead. She was whispering promises of a hot supper, and of rowdy boys ready for one of their father’s fireside tales before bed.

"You have no idea, commissar."

Another of those 'small touches' I keep talking about. Its big in this story because many of the 'named' Ghosts are having memories of Tanith and their families and all the stuff they lost and left behind (part of the Eldar mind influencing stuff.) I find it touching and poignant for the normally unflappable Mkoll to be struck so deeply by something as simple as home and family, and that 'personal' touch relaly underscores the deeper tragedy of Tanith, and all the unresolved issues that plague the Ghosts (The resentment over Gaunt 'taking them away' for example.)






Page 299

Larkin was tuning the night-scope on his long gun, stabbing a slender target beam of porcelain blue light up at the roof.

Larkin's sniper scope emits a blue light. I suppose that could be a fancy targeting laser thingy, or maybe its part of some sort of 'emit light and bounce/absorb it' or maybe it gives it some fancy detection properties Perhaps analogus to an infrared flashlight (something like this.) although its clearly NOT infrared.






Page 301

..flickering star-rounds at the foe, slicing them to pieces, a thousand rounds in each tight burst. The stabilising gyros whirred as the great, ornate shrieker cannon bucked in his mesh-gloved hands.

The accelerator field shimmered around the muzzle base...

Shuriken (shriker?) cannon rate of fire. Given its not knocking the aspect warrior over and assuming there's no weird 'magic counterforce' shit going on, we might figure 70-90 kg*m/s momentum (or thereabouts) tops. Assuming 'hypervelocity (1500-3000 m/s) you'd get between 50 and 135 kj total, which would break down to about 50-135 kj per 'shuriken.'



Page 304

"Through my. my scope. It never lies. This big bastard Munnol and the rest! They’re not. not Tanith!"

Milo snatched the sniper gun out of Larkin’s wavering hands, and sighted it at Munnol, looking through the scope. The bead of the blue light beam kissed Munnol’s drab camo-cloak like a tiny spotlight. Milo looked through the scope viewer, seeing Munnol as a ghost of blues and shadows.
..
Through the scope, Milo saw Munnol as he swung slowly around, his eyes hooked and slanted in his cold pale face. A second more, and those eyes became the visor slits of a great sculpted helmet of gleaming white armour, backed by a towering crest of red feathers. Munnol’s grey fatigues became a tight suit of blue armour that locked majestically about his huge, powerful frame.

Again Larkin's magic 'laser/searchlight' scope. Again, whilst I believe that Larkin's 'magic truth seeing scope' still reflects the Ghosts having an innsate sort of 'perception', its also true that Brin's ability to use it and 'spot' the eldar deserves explanation. We know Brin was already having doubts about the whole situation and the nature of their 'allies', so its possible the 'perception' manifested in a way similar to larkins. Of course, given the odd 'blue light' scope itself, its possible it sees in ways that can pierce those illusions. Possibly even both.





Page 305

The powerful hellguns, supported by two grenade launchers and a plasma rifleman, ripped into the hindquarters of the guncrews’ position and cut them down.

Gilbear haughtily voxed his success as his men took over control of the enemy weapons, turning missile launchers and field artillery on the ranks of the chaos army beyond. The Volpone Tenth Elite were damn good, Gaunt had to admit. Rotation training on all combat disciplines meant that they could take a gun post and then man that gun as surely and deftly as if they were dedicated artillery troops.

Training and equipment of the Volpone 10th Brigade.





Page 306

Within five minutes of first contact, the Imperials had cut a wedge into the enemy rearguard, made up half a kilometre of ground...

Gilbear held the line as long as he could, but there came a point, mutually agreed between him and Gaunt over the vox-link, when the separation of the two small Imperial advances would become too great.

Implied range of perhaps half a km for micro beads, at least, and possibly small arms or weaponry of some kind (betwene Ghosts and Volpone at least. It implies that vox range (at least) migth be greater though.



Page 308

"I’m not Tanith, but the will inside me responded that way. Why aren’t I fighting for some great cause in my own life? Why have I been living and breathing Tanith in my waking dreams all this while?"

..
"Don’t you know it, Ibram? Tanith is your cause, no matter if you were born there or not. You’ve devoted your service and life to these men, to the memory of their world.

The fate of Tanith consumes you, as it does them, and though you’re not a true son of the forests, this magic plays on your deepest urges! You’re a Ghost, Ibram Gaunt, whether you know it or not! You’re not just their master, you’re one of them!"

Again Gaunt has become so devoted to 'saving' the Ghosts (so much so that in Rawne's story featuring the Orks, Rawne overhears him having nightmares over the loss of Tanith and his decision to pull the Ghosts out.) that he pretty much loses that 'commissarial' perspective and has effectively 'gone native'. That isn't a bad thing in gaunt's case, as that empathy is what makes him such a great Commissar.

It also suggests that the Eldar mind illusion works on perception/preconception and belief. That is if you believe something deeply enough, it can affect you as well even if you aren't 'native'.



Page 309

..Gilbear heard the call and screamed into the night as he emptied yet another power-pack out through the glowing muzzle of his hellgun. the Volpone took the rise, scattering enemy before them.

Implying a high ROF for hellguns, as it implies the powerpack is drained pretty rapidly.





Page 309-310

The tacticians would factor in charismatic leadership, tactical insight, luck. and still there was no mistake. Gaunt’s men should have been entirely slaughtered long before they reached the ruin.

But that was not the case. Gaunt drew his forces, without the loss of a single man, up to the walls of the ruin..
..
They slew, approximately, two-point-four thousand soldiers of the enemy.

Eventually, after a prolonged analytical study, the tacticians would decide that the only explanation could be that there were no enemy units on the field that day. It was all an illusion. Gaunt had mounted an assault through open, undefended ground. Only then did the computations and the statistics and the possibilities match up.

None of them could admit that this wasn’t the case. And so, perhaps the greatest and most spectacular success of Macaroth’s great Crusade, out-classed and out-numbered but still successful, was deleted from the Imperial Annals as a phantom engagement.

Such is the fate of true heroism.

Acceptable grimdark. We have the actual heroism, doing impossible feats to achieve victory and yet... noone will acknowledge that impressive feat. Its 'illogical', and the tacticians and shit (the bean counters and number crunchers of the Munitorum and administratum) believe it can't have happened, so they declare it impossible. How every Imperial.. things run contrary to your belief, so they clearly don't exist. This is how you do it in a non-sucky way.

As an aside the 'data analysis' would tend to suggest that they had some hard (electronic) data (sensors, etc.) to draw upon in drawing thees conclusions. They know the kill count against the enemy, know the Ghosts survived, etc. Whic may again play back to the 'tactical network' stuff I've mentioned throughout this. We aren't positive, but its quite likely.




Page 312

"Without the farseer, we can no longer conjure the pacts with the warp and close the Web. Dolthe will die as surely as Farseer Eon Kull."

She hugs Gaunt before she departs with the Eldar to seal the waygate. Again, there seemed to have been a developing relationship between the two. Again they seem to make a cute couple, and part of me hopes that Lilith might return before the end of the series, because there's a sort of Cain/Amberley aspect going on there




Page 314

Once the Way was shut, closely-targeted orbital bombardments incinerated the massed forces of the enemy.

The jungles of Monthax burned.

All indications are that it was a high orbit bombardment, in all probability, but use of orbital bombardment rather than conventional warfare (when possible) to defeat/destroy/rout the enemy. at a given range and with a given precision. And like in 'first and Only' it reflects that they won't alway sjust send the troops in needlessly. They generally have a 'reason' for it, even if the reason's logic is up for debate (EG Cuz dravere decided is still dumb lol.)






Page 314-315

"I think it was a good thing, though."
..
"The eldar trick. Good for us. Good for the Ghosts."
..
"I know how I feel. I’ve heard the men talking too. This was Tanith again for us, for you too, I think. Deep down I think we all hate the fact we never got a chance to fight for Tanith. Some are blatant about it. Men like. like Major Rawne. Others can understand why we had to leave, why you ordered us out. But they don’t like it."
..
"Just a mind trick maybe, but for a few hours there forty or so of us got to fight for Tanith, got to fight for our world, got the chance to do what we’d always been cheated out of. It felt good. Even now I know it was a lie, it still feels good. It. exorcised a few ghosts."

Gaunt smiled. The boy’s pun was awful, but he was right. The Ghosts of Tanith had laid their own ghosts to rest here. They would be stronger for it.

And so would he, he realised. They were his ghosts after all.

Gaunt’s Ghosts.

When you get down to it, this was ultimately the purpose of this last 'story' thread in Ghostmaker - we started with the origins of the Ghosts and the fate of Tanith, we learnt of the Ghosts through the eyes of invididual members of the regiment, and we've learned how they regard Gaunt - their saviour and the man who forced them to live when they wanted to die with their planet. We've learned how that past has shaped the regiment up to this point. And ultimately, we have the resolution. The battle of Monthax is the Ghost's catharsis, fufilling that deeply felt belief that they so resent Gaunt for denying them. However illusory it proved to be, it gave them that wish, and provided them the needed closure. Not for eveyone of course, but everyone for whom it really matters, and the rest of the regiment, utlimately, will benefit.

As an aside, the ending is very 'Sharpe/Bernard Cornwallish' so its understandable to see why people make those analogies here. But I happen to like Sharpe, so I like this ending.

[Zinegata]

The one thing I found a bit weird though was Gaunt mentioning how Lilith was one of the few female Inquisitors, when we do see quite a few of them and the Inquisition is one of the few institutions wherein females don't seem to be underrepresented.

Moreover, damn you Connor, shipping Lilith and Gaunt? What about poor Ana?

[Connor MacLeod]

The one thing I found a bit weird though was Gaunt mentioning how Lilith was one of the few female Inquisitors, when we do see quite a few of them and the Inquisition is one of the few institutions wherein females don't seem to be underrepresented.

Moreover, damn you Connor, shipping Lilith and Gaunt? What about poor Ana?

Its not 'shipping.' Abnett is clearly putting it in there. Abnett seems to like to keep those romantic options open (like the consequences of Necropolis revisiting him in Salvation's Reach) as a means of evolving Gaunt as a character. It doesnt mean it will go anywhere, but that's the thing about Abnett.. you dont know where he will take the characters next, and that's part of the charm of the series itself.

Gaunt's little romances may be another throwback to the Sharpe series (where every novel had Sharpe getting some sort of romantic involvement.) in a 40K context, but they also serve a role in humanizing his character - his essential humanity (despite his duty) is what makes him good in the 'inspirational' Commissar role, but also makes him pretty shitty as a 'disciplinarian' style Commissar. And it also creates alot of interpersonal entanglements for Abnett to play off of.

[Connor MacLeod]

Our next stop on the Gaunt's Ghosts bandwagon brings us back to the close of the 'Founding' cycle, our introduction to the Ghosts and the groundwork for the next stage of the stories. Of the three books in this sequence, Necropolis is my favorite because its the most straightforward and coherent, and its very much a 'war' story in a Richard Sharpe style. Chaos has overtaken Zoica on Verghast and turned them against their neighbours, and the Ghosts must fight against the hordes of cultists (and their enemies on their own side) to win through.

Necropolis is also the last book where I have 're-done' previous analysis (marking the last time I should have to do that. EVER) and is an ending in lots of other ways. AFter this, the Ghosts will no longer be purely Tanith - their losses here, coupled with the ones in the last two books, will necessitate incorporating Verghastite recruits to bolster their strength, and this ends up taking the Ghosts in a different direction in many ways - technically, thematically, and others. And it also marks, I think, the point where the "real" story begins, as such, although like with many books actions in prior stories can have impact in future books (in many ways.) THis is just another milestone in the evolution of the Ghosts as a regiment, as people, as a sort of family.

Oh and here's the old analyis thread for reference
This is another huge update (which after Honour Guard should start tapering off.. If I recall right) so instead four updates I'm going to break it down into two double updates. This is part one.

PAge 7

“It took close to eight months for the troop components to convene at Solypsis, thousands of mass-conveyance transports carrying many million Imperial Guardsmen. There were many delays, and many minor skirmishes to settle en route. "

There are 'thousands' of mass conveyance transports attached to the Crusade, seemingly dedicated to troop carrying. Whehter 'many million' is per transport or for all the trnasports (ignoring how vague it is) we can't be sure, but if the former, we're getting large transports with large transport capcity converying an implied billions of troops.


Page 10

In the firelit halls of Vervun Smeltery One — part of the primary ore processing district just west of the Spoil — rattling conveyers laden with unprocessed rock shuddered to a halt as automatic safeties locked down.
..
“It’s fifteen thousand cubits of lost production..."

If we knew what a cubit was this might be useful for production purposes. Well its a length but I dont think it helps much here

Page 11

“Don’t you read the news-picts?”
Vor shrugged. “Just the weather and the stadium results.”

Verhast television


Page 11

But the picts had been full of it these last few months: Zoica silent, Zoica ceasing to trade, Zoica raising its bulwarks and setting armaments up along its northern walls.

Time estimate between Zoica becoming hostile and the attack.



Page 14

Longshoreman Folik edged his dirty, juddering flatbed ferry, the Magnificat, out from the north shore and began the eight-minute crossing to the main wharves. The diesel motor coughed and spluttered.

Diesel engines on the ferry take eight minutes to cross the River Hass, which we learn later is 3 km long. Average speed of around 22.5 km/hr. Diesel is (probably) distinct from Promethium.



Page 15

Then she picked up her credit wand from the top of the rosewood credenza. Though the wand was a tool that gave her access to her personal expense account in the House Chass treasury, it was ornamental in design, a delicate lace fan which she flipped open and waved in front of her face as the built-in ioniser hummed.

Verghast - at least the wealthy of Verghats, seem quite fine with using electronic fund transfers and electronic banking in general.



Page 15

Gol sucked a mouthful of electrolyte fluid from his drinking pipe and refastened it to his collar.

Collar mounted electrolye fluid drinking pipe for miners on Verghast.



Page 16

The work face of Number Seventeen Deep Working was way below the conduits and mine-head wheels of the mighty ore district. Gol and Trug were sixteen hundred metres underground.

Depth of the Verghast mines. It probably tells us something abou tthe scale of Imperial mining operations, but not terribly surprising given how often we've known they literally strip the crust bare of resources (or an entire world.) And in real life terms this is hardly unknown, there are mines more than twice that deep in existence as I recall.



Page 16

Five hundred thousand troops all told, plus another 70,000 auxiliaries and armour crews, a mighty force that manned the Curtain Wall and the wall forts of Vervunhive.
..
When foundings were ordered for the Imperial Guard, Vervunhive raised them from its forty billion-plus population. The men of Vervun Primary were never touched or transferred.

Size of the Vervun (city) standing army. Oddly never conscripted, although whether that is by agreement or because the Crusade has had no need yet we don't know. Its not like the Imperium would hold back out of consideration for local sensibilities if they needed the troops. Although these troops are hardly 'veterans' either.
The curious thing is the 40 billion+ population. The idea of a hive city having that many people is not impossible per se, but rather the city is later mentioned as having 40 million 'in hive' (with more out hive) Which would seem to suggest its either an error (although that also may assume they only ever draw forces from the 'in-hive' population and never outhive, which seems an oddly arbitrary distinction) or its referring (without explicitly saying so) to the planet as a whole being tithed to the Guard through Vervunhive (which seems to be, for all intents and purposes, the 'main' hive of the world, and thus probably is the seat of governance.)
570,000 troops out of 40 million or so is one trooper for every 70 or 80 civilians, for that one city. IF we assume Verghast has 40 billion, we'd be looking at 500-600 million PDF forces easily (although it would also suggest either the other hives have larger militaries, or there are lots and lots of hives.)


Page 18

Gun crews were raising the trio of anti-air batteries into position, hydraulic pistons heaving the weapon mounts up from shuttered hardpoints in the tower top. Autoloader carriages were being wheeled out from the lift-heads. Other troops had taken up position in the netted stub-nests.

Wall defenses. Not the heaviest guns (We see those later.) Note the AA guns have the dreaded AUTOLOADERS.


Page 19-20

The senior commissar was Imperial Guard, seconded to watch over the Vervunhive standing army as a concession to its continued maintenance.
..
In place of his Imperial double-eagle pins, they wore the axe-rake symbol of the VPHC, the Vervun Primary Hive Commissariat, the disciplinary arm of the standing army. The Sondar nobility was keen on discipline. Some even said that the VPHC was almost a secret police force, acting beyond the reach of the Administratum, in the interests of the ruling house.

Verghast has its own local 'Commissar' analogue . Not the first time such has happened, Calixis had a similar example as I recall. Also, they have an observer/liaison attached.


Page 21-22

“Zoica mobilises against us, High One! A new Trade War is upon us! Orbital scans show this to be true!”
..
“See what the orbitals tell us! Months of silence from Zoica, signs of them preparing for war! Rumours, hearsay — why weren’t we told the truth?"

Vervunhive using orbital scans to monitor Zoica, and months of preparation again.



Page 25

...just before nightfall, about a half-hour after the klaxons had stopped yelping, the first shells fell, unexpected, hurled by long-range guns beyond the horizon.
Two fell short on the southern outer habs, kicking up plumes of wreckage from the worker homes.
...
Dug-in Zoica armour and artillery, hidden out in the burning grasslands, found their range. Shells began to drop into the hive itself.

same from last time, basically . Map implies a range of bombardment of at least tens of km (40-50 km at leats) Lost Soal's analysis here remains functionally the same as well. Although the nature of the artillery isn't known. My own scaling of the map (which can be found on Lexicanum here suggests the hive is around 30-35 km in diameter.. slightly longer than it is wider incidentally, but not by much. there's also at least nearly 20 km or so of 'outhab' visible on the map, but by Lost Soal's analysis we know its more than ~56 km away. With the aforementioned estimate we're talking 85-90 km artillery range.

Given the above distances and a 45 degree angle. implied velocity is at least 700-950 m/s for the shells launched by the artillery. Likewise 'armour' as well as atillery can bombard, suggesting the tanks can hit stationary targets at that range. If we assume something like a Russ, its elevation is much lower ~32 degrees or so IIRC) would be slightly faster, something like 750-1000+ m/s.
We know Basilisk Earthshakers can reach out to 100 km (Tactica Imperialis) and that implies 990 m/s at least, so its definitely within that magnitude, and we know from later sources that the wall guns include Earthshakers, so its not unreasonable. We also know the Zoicans have Earthshakers also as they bombard the hive with them later on also.



Page 25

. Several more bracketed the Vervun Primary barracks and atomised over a thousand troopers waiting for deployment.

Even assuming that 'atomize' only means about equalt oa grenade or several grenades, we're talking at least a couple hundred kilos of TNT equivalent minimum. Again we dont know what kinds of shells, but they're damn powerful artilley-wise.



Page 28

A glassmaker’s showrooms on the Mid-Spine Promenade took a direct hit and blew out, filling the air with whizzing splinters of lead-crystal and ceramite wall debris. Fifty house ordinary nobles and their retainers were shredded or burnt as they hurried in panic down the plush walkways.

Again direct hit from either a shell or rocket. Assuming 400 J per sq cm flash burns to 'shred' on the high end and 30 j per sq cm on the low end to 'burn' and figure 20,000 sq cm or so per person you're talking at least 30-50 MJ and upwars of 400 MJ, and thats likely only in one direction given context. Again not knowing the kind of shell or artillery complicates it but its powerful.



Page 29

Captain Daur traversed his guns and looked for an enemy. The grasslands were blank. Long-range weapons were reaching them, utterly beyond their power to resist.

Implies that the range of the AA/defensive guns (not the heaviest ones) may be line of sight and could reach out to the grasslands. Again tens of km easily, or 50+km by Soal's analysis.
Interesting thing about this is that its probably not indirect fire so we're probably talking at least 750-800 m/s for shells, and quite probably in excess of 1250-1750 m/s depending on exact elevation and range (5-10 degrees at 55 km roughly for the higher end estimate.)


Page 29

Three shells hit Hass West Fort in series. The first ignited the battery munitions. The second vaporised Corporal Bendace and sixteen other troopers.

If liteally vaporize we're talking a couple gigajoules. Even if its not you're exploding at least 17 troopers, which would be at least a good 4-5 kg of TNT, and probably several times that. Still powerful.



Page 29

Gnide’s corpse was lifted away from the carpet by the slack puppets. The desperate voice of Daur and hundreds of other field commanders bayed unheard from his vox-plug.

Vervunhive Marshal had some sort of micro bead like comm pickup. At least he didnt need some other guy to carry it for him.



Page 30-31

A vast, translucent umbrella of field-energy extended out from the great Shield Pylon in the central district and unfurled itself in a dome that reached down to anchor substations inside the Curtain Wall. Thousands of shells and missiles burst against it every minute, dimpling the cloudy energy and making it ripple and wobble like green gelatine.

Vervunhive's void shield. The implication is interesting in that IIRC, its not completely to the ground, but rather at least to the shield wall. Its 'possible' that the voids interact with and reinforce the wall itself (like powerfields do) since thse are clearly not 'warp-portal' style voids, but the 'older' interpretation.
Also thousands of shells and missiles each minute. If we figure between 5 kg and 300 kg average per shell/rocket and 2000 per min min thats around 34 per second and hundreds or thousands of kilos of TNT per second at a MINIMUM.



Page 31

Bright, brief flashes underlit the horizon smoke, hinting at the fierce armour battle taking place just out of sight. No communications had been received from General Vegolain’s armoured column for two hours.

Armour comms have a range of at least 50-90 km. Its also implied to be 'just out of sight' so the armour must be very close to the horizon (or implied to be so.)



Page 31

The population of the southern outer habs was in the order of nine million, plus another six million workers who dwelt in the main hive but travelled out to work the industrial district and the mines.

Vervunhive 'outhab' population - eg those outside the hive, which totals at least 15 million. This is just the southern habs, it doesnt include others (at least on the Northern side.)



Page 31

Some hid in cellars or underground storage bays and many died entombed in these places. Penetrator shells dug them out explosively like rats, opening the makeshift shelters to the sky. Others were sealed forever under thousands of tonnes of collapsed masonry.

Penetrator shells of some kidn can blow open cellars. We dont know what kind of penetrators so its hard to assess this . Assuming something on the order of 5-10 meters per side, and at least a couple metres thick (and silicon density) we might be talking double digit kj for a kinetic projectile, possibly several tens of kg of TNT for explosive. Thousands of tons of masonry would be approximately that, disregarding building materials above it (which we can't really do, but I doubt they build completely out of stone either.)



Page 31

One group of hab officials spent two hours trying to find the correct rune-code to let them into their assigned shelter and they were incinerated by a rocket before they could get the vault door open.
..
They sealed themselves in, twenty-three rank-privileged citizens of authority level three or less, in a bunker emplacement designed to shelter two hundred.

The latter is not indicative of the former directly, but more as a posible indication of the scale.
Assuming between 20-200 people get badly burned (figure half a mj to several MJ at least per person, tens or hundreds of MJ at least for thermal effects. If incineration means cremation we're talking single or double digit GJ EASILY.



Page 35-36

The tank roared and bounced over the trampled grass hillocks, heading north at full throttle, its turret reversed to spit shells into the firefields behind it, into the invisible enemy at its heels.
..
Scorching trails of rockets and shrieking shells tore overhead, heading for the hive.
..
He had forty-two tanks left out of the armoured column of more than four hundred and fifty that had left the Sondar Gate that afternoon.

Vervun tank can fire whilst moving. They are Leman Russ tanks, and its implied range is perhaps line of sight. given a ~4m height for a Russ, we're talking maybe 6-7 km potentially, assuming they're over the horizon. Enemy armour can also retaliate.



Page 36

Shells rained down amongst the retreating Vervun tanks. At least two blew out as munitions ignited, sending tank hulls end-over-end in fireballs, spraying track segments out like shattered teeth.
The driver was calling him over the intercom. “Ahead, sir!”
Kowle swivelled round. Vervunhive was in sight now, the great luminous blister of green energy flickering on the skyline like a giant mushroom cloud, glowing in the night. Kowle grabbed his scope and saw the blackened, burning mass of the outer habs fast approaching. A persistent rain of explosives was still dropping into them.

As noted, Vevunhive is probably at least 50 km or so away, but the vervunhive tanks are still getting bombarded, again the implication is 'line of sight' rnages or slightly beyond, suggesting perhaps 5-6 km (or 6-7 km) range.



Page 42

The balance between hive and Imperial authority had always been delicate in Vervunhive, indeed in all the nobilities of Verghast. It was rare for it to clash so profoundly and so visibly. Chass well knew the fundamental strategic import of Vervunhive and the other Verghast manufactory dues to the crusade, but still the magnitude of the intendant’s actions amazed him. The Administratum was the bureaucratic right hand of the Emperor himself, but it usually bowed to the will of the local planetary governor.

Again reflecting the Imperium's fundamentally 'hands off' approach to local governance by and large (more because it can't rather than it doesn't want to.) so long as the Imperium's interests are upheld. When they arne't, and this case qualifies, intervention occurs. It does suggest that for important/influential worlds, they can at least impose on or overrule the Adminsitrtum on the local level. (politics again.)



PAge 44

As soon as they had their backs to him, Worlin pulled the needle pistol from his robes and fired.
The first shot blew Menx’s spine out and he was flung face first into the cart, which broke under him and shattered. Troor turned and the decanter in his hand was shattered by the second shot. The third exploded his face and he dropped backwards onto the cart wreckage.
Worlin got up and, drink in hand, fired thirty more needles into the twisted corpses, just to be sure.

Once agian we get the Abnett-style 'does physical damage' sort of needlers rather than the 'stick with a dart and poison to kill' needler, much like the Glavian versions. Of course we get plenty like this throughout the fluff, so its hardly unique. Like the glavian versions, they also do considerable physical damage - comparable to lasweapons at the very least. Also implies a fairly high rate of fire to go along with the large ammo capacity implied.
As an aside: I'm not sure what role Worlin actually serves as a subplot, aside to be a murdering asshole that is, and to be greedy enough to risk the hive's safety.



Page 46

The bombardment continued, both day and night, for two and a half weeks.
...
The Shield held firm, but the southern outhabs and manufactories became a fire-blown wasteland, fifty kilometres square. Some shelling had also been deliberately ranged over the Shield, catastrophically wounding the unprotected northern districts and large sections of the Hass docklands.

Shield gets bombed by arty for 2/12 weeks. Assuming we hold to the 'thousands of shells per minute' from before we get at least some 50 million shells, if not hundreds of millions. Assuming between 10-100 kilos per shell at least the total bombardment to this point is 500 kilotons to 5 megatons of TNT equivalent.
Also a 'fifty kilometre square' area got levelled, which if we go 'square kilometers' means a 7x7 km region, whilst 'kilometre square' would be 50x50 km, which would mesh fairly well with Soal's estimates above.
Note as well that some shots range over the shield, which is what was described before, implying ranges closer to 80-90 km or so.



Page 47

Marshal Croe was a pale, white-haired giant, well over two metres tall.

The Ghosts series introduces us to yet another 'more than 2 metre tall' person. Damn they're all fucking giants out on the edge of Segmentum Pacificus.


Page 48

“I have seldom seen a military force of such scale. Eighty or ninety thousand armoured vehicles, thousands of gun batteries and an infantry force behind them of several million.”
..
During the Trade War, ninety years before, Vervunhive had faced a Zoican army of 900,000 and barely survived.
..
“But I am sure, by disposition alone, that at least five million troops were embarked in file behind the armour advance. And those were only the ones I could see.”
“Preposterous!” Vice Marshal Anko barked. “Vervunhive supports over forty million inhabs and from that we raise half a million troops! Zoica is a third our size! How could they conceivably field five or more million troops?”

Next: Breakdown of populations and troop compliments. Again Vervun gets half a million from a population of 40 million, suggesting 1 troop per 80 civilians. On the other hand Zoica could field 900,000 and has 1/3 that size (~13 million implied)
Zoica also fields at least 80-90 thousand vehicles which it presumably built in a matter of months, which gives us an idea of industrial capacity of Verghast (when it comes to vehicles) on the low end (1/3 the size of Verghast, suggesting Verghast has several times the industrial output.) It suggests that a hive world like Verghast could produce hundreds of thousands, evne millions of vehicles annually without much effort, and tens or hundreds of thousands of artillery platforms. Its also notable that the armour isn't the unsuual bit, its the infantry elements. If we figure 1 per 50-60 troopers and Verghast can field about lests say 40-100 million troops from its population. thats at least 8-20x vehicle complments in 'a few months' - millions of vehicles easily when they push, and thats from Zoica alone.
On top of that the 40 million of Vervunhive is 'in-hab' population rather than total, which is distinctive from the 15+ million 'out hab' That means Vervunhive's offiical population is somewhere on the order of 55 million at least, and probably more givne that that was only for one outhab area (the south) and the tohers probably would be of similar magnitude. This also tends to reinforce the earlier assessment that 'forty billion' was not an error, but probably the planet's population. Then again it also suggests Zoica's population could be far less (although the context implied is that it's from the in-hab population, which owuldn't contradict the idea that 'billion' actually meant 'million.') which is roughly 1 soldier for 15 civlialns. On the other hand, its also stated that 5+ millions out of 13 million or more is unheard of (at least on Verghast) suggesting that 1 in 3 is highly unusual. Of course, with the Munitorum's recruitment policies, its not impossible for them to do either.
Now with the number crap out of the way, we should note that the Zoicans have been turned utterly to this war of annihilation by Chaos, which just goes to show you how insidious chaos can be, when it comes to tactics. We've seen similar in other cases (like the Word Bearers trilogy) Chaos can given time and other factors, turn and corrupt worlds own native populations to their own ends, forming a ready made source of military (magic conscription, basically) There's also an element of horror to this, because those poor civilians are beng used/manipualted/sacrificed for private gain by the Chaos lord who turned them, and that also means the Imperials will be killing victims, not willing participants (at least not in all cases.) Its one of those things you don't immediately think about because the enemy has no face, but its utterly horrible when you do and makes the entire war more horrible for it.


PAge 48

Croe had requested orbital pictures prior to the meeting...
...
But the smoke patterns from the continued bombardment were blanketing the continent and nothing was discernible.

Verghast has orbital 'pictures' from somewhere. Whether its satellites, orbital stations/defense platforms, or both we don't know.




Page 49

“Ten regiments of auxiliaries are moving south to us from the Northern Foundry Collectives as we speak. Vannick Hive has promised us nine regiments within a week.”

REinforcements. We dont quite know where NorthCol is, but we learn about Vannick. Within a week implies less than 5-7 days.




Page 50

The Vervunhive Wall Artillery began firing just before noon on the eighth day. The massive silos opened their ceramite shutters and volleyed shells back into the salt-grass hinterland where the enemy forces were massing. The salvoes were answered with redoubled bombardment from the still-unseen foe.

The hive city's heaviest guns have the range (and preusmably power) to reach and damage artillery, again tens of km, upwards of 90+ km. Again depending on exact range and elevation velocity could be in excess of a km/s. May or may not include Earthshakers, as we know those are part of the wall guns.



Page 51

On the morning of the eleventh day, troop convoys began to thread down the motor routes north of the Hass. Twenty thousand men and nearly five thousand war machines sent out from the Northern Collectives to reinforce Vervunhive or, more particularly, the Hass crossing which protected them from the Zoican advance. Kicking dust, the troop carriers and tanks rumbled through the bombed outer habs and damaged manufactories, braving the bombardment that still fell across the river from far away.

Northcol arrives. 20K Mechanised and 5000 vehicles. If we figure at least 2000 APCs of unknown type that means 3000 vehicles of other kinds (at least some tanks, probably artillery as well.) Interesting that their forces (only a part of their total) is significantly greater than what Vervun has as far as armour goes. This also means it took the Northcol forces 6 days to arrive, onyl slightly less than VAnnick.




PAge 51-52

So far, nothing had been heard of the promised reinforcements from Vannick Hive, the great refinery collective three thousand kilometres away to the east. Vannick had undertaken to provide nine regiments, but thus far the only thing that had come from them was the continued fuel-oil supplies carried by the eastern pipeline.

Implying that perhaps the Vannick would have been heard from by now, or at least arrived. Assuming they drive straight through with no stops, and left right away with no preparation we can figure 5-7 days call it 120-160 hours at most you'd get between 17-25 km/hr which is quite consistent with Forge world speeds. If we figure at least a day of preparation an on top of that (call it 3-5 days) you get 25-42 km/hr, wjhich is still within possible Russ speeds.
At the very least, we're talking a possible driving/operational range on the order of thousands of km, which is as good (ro better) than that implied in other sources (EG Defixio.)
Also fuel-oil (not Promethium



Page 52-53

At dawn on the fourteenth day, lights were seen in the upper atmosphere. Flaring their braking jets, Imperial Guard dropships descended, diverted to the main lift-port at Kannak in the Northern Collective Hives.
...
The Royal Volpone 1st, 2nd and 4th deployed south from Kannak Port swiftly..
...
The 5th and 7th regiments of the Roane Deepers, under General Nash, arrived by rail later that afternoon, amid more pantomime celebrations. Vice Marshal Anko was there to greet Nash and brass bands pomped and trumpeted the arrival. Amid the jubilation, Nash was able to confirm that three full regiments of Narmenian Armour were off-loading from carriers at the Kannak Port landing fields and would be en route south by dawn.
..
The Tanith First-and-Only arrived by road, almost unnoticed, two nights later.

We don't know how far away NorthCol is. We might figure its roughly the same distance as Vannick but that's conjecture. If we figure they took around 6-12 hours to travel from NorthCol to Vervun via rail (assume 80-100 km/hr travel speed the distance would be at least 480 km, and upwards of 1200 km, which seems a reasonable lower end. Likewise, given the Tanith arrive in trucks from Northcol... and assuming a 50-60 km/hr speed at least and 48 hour nonstop travel its closer to 2400-2900 km.
In any case, the Narmenians see to arrive before the Tanith do, suggesting around a day or so of transit (24-36 hours lets call it.) 15-20 km/hr on the low end (480 km), whilst if we go with 1200 km we're talking 35-50 km/hr. Both are well within FW 'on road' speeds for a Russ hull/engine. If we figure its 3000 km or close to that we get closer to 80-125 km/hr on road. The low end is.. possible.. but I'm a bit skeptical they could pull 125 km/hr even on road. Not impossible mind (Codex Chaos seems to imply high end Russes can pull 70+ km/hr off road, so on road speeds close to that would be possible, and Narmenians are fairly high tear as armour regiments go.) At the very least they seem to be faster than the Tanith's transport trucks, which could suggest at least 40-50+ km/hr on road as routine.
On the other hand we get more clarification. Assuming the Northcol/Vervun armour was comparable to te Narmenians, we still know Vannick probably would have covered the range in 2 days or so. 3000 km in 48 hours would be ~63 km/hr, which is a bit higher than Forge world stats for a tank, but not implausible for 'on-road' tank speeds.
In any case the implied operational ranges for the tanks is agalin as good if not several times better than many modern tanks. Its certainly not like they're going to be less performance wise than Forge world stats (at least not by much) so there's nothing really lost by these calcs.



Page 53

More than eighty matt-black troop trucks rumbled down the NorthCol highway through the northern outhabs of Vervunhive. The canvas tilts had been removed and around thirty Tanith troopers rode in each...
...
The bouncing trucks — six-wheelers with large, snarling front grills and pop-eye headlamps — bore the quadruple chevron cab-marks of NorthCol Utility Transport Division Three.
..
A dozen outriders astride black-drab motorcycles ran along their flanks, and behind the main column came thirty more high-cabbed eight-wheelers laden with ammunition crates and regimental supplies, as well as the numerous cooks, armourers, mechanics, servitors and other attendant hangers-on that followed a Guard regiment on the move. These freighters were dull yellow, the livery of the Kannak Port Cargo Union, and netting was draped over their payloads. NorthCol soldiers in pale blue overalls and forage caps drove all the trucks, but the outriders were Tanith, in their distinctive dark battledress.

Tanith arrive using borrowed trucks and transports from NorthCol. Again indication of the Guard borrowing local transport to move their forces when needed. The interesting thing (aside from the trucks) is the regimental supplie snad support elements. It includes mechanics/armourers and servitors as well as other forces.


Page 54

From the tiny runes glowing on the setting dial, Milo noticed it was fixed to heat-see.
..
Milo squinted into the scope, resting the rubberised cup to his eye-socket. He saw radiance and bewildering crosshair markers of floating red.

Larkin's scope. its got 'heat see' functions, and seems to be electronic in nature. It can also overlay crosshair markers on distinctive target it seems, not unlike the targeter/autosesnes of Space Marines. And remember, the Ghosts were 'low tech' as a regiment



Page 56

Bragg shifted his position in the flat-bed uncomfortably. He was huge, bigger than any other two Ghosts put together.

Which, if taken literally, implies Bragg weighs perhaps at least 140-200 kg, assuming a 70-100 kg 'Ghost' for the larger ones. We know he's smaller than 300 kg per First and Only, though.



Page 59

The Magnificat was in mid-stream when the eastern sky lit up brightly. There was a sucking shudder, like a wind-rush over the water. The eastern horizon blazed with a midnight sun.
..
Gaunt raised his hand to shield his eyes from the glare as a heat-wash rolled down the river. He knew the blast-effects of a nuclear detonation when he saw it.

The nuke detonation. Assuming it simply 'level's the hive like it were a normal city of 10-15 km (ignoring the towers and other defenses) we'd be lookinat at least at a megaton, perhaps several. IT should be noted this is quite likely conservative, for one thing the blast is persistent enough for the blast/thermal effects to reach them (albeit harmlessly) at Vervun. That suggests blast/themral effects hundreds of km, if not sveral thousand in radius, and a persistant fireball lasting many minutes (perhaps tens of minutes) Hundreds or thousands of megatons easily implied by either or both, and if the hive effects included the 'outhab' regions as well as in-hab' (50-70 km at least, perhaps 100+ km with all the hab regions) would certainly be tens or hundreds of megatons by itself.
On the other hand, Verghast is quite a pleasant, inhabited planet, and the nuke still has to e man portable unless its magical. So there's a limit to how much devastation can be inflicted too. They're not destroying continents or nations, there's none of the other significant effects associcated with, for example, hundreds of gigatons in detonation. Quite possibly tens of gigatons would be hard to prove, so there are definite HARD limits to this by enviromental effects alone. There's also the possibility that the reactor contributed to the xplosion. recall that we know they can be set to blow up, after all, so that should not be discounted, although since the explosion would be of similar magnitude it prboably isn't dramatically weaker or it may not be a factor.
Still, even at 'merely' megatons thats impressively powerful as a weapon, and its man portable in some fashion (we get an implication later) and atomics are more primtiive compared to Imperial explosives tech (plasma, melta, and probably fusion) as well.

Page 60

The control auditorium was a chaotic mess. Munitorum clerks, regimental aides and other junior personnel hurried about, gabbling, panicking, relaying reports from the operators manning the main tactical cogitators banked around the lower level of the large, circular chamber.
..
Marshal Croe presided over the group at the chart table.

House Command, command and control center for this war


Page 61

“Zoica has levelled it. We have no idea how. They got inside the Shield somehow and used a nuclear device—”
..
General Sturm said. “We must consider this may not have been deliberate. I’ve known emplacements destroyed accidentally by the over-ambitious actions of those attacking. Perhaps Zoica meant to take the hive and struck… too hard.”
..
“Is there any other way of striking when you use atomics?”

There are several interesting things about this. One, simply lobbing an atomic at the hive does fuck all, which suggests at the very least it can withstand high kiloton to low megaton yields (and thats a very conservative estimate given other analysis of it) Secondly, Sturm's comments suggest that military attacks (or at least Guard conflicts) can at least ins ome cases involve nuclear-scale yields. Given Deathstrikes, orbitla bombardment and suhc this is not surprising at the very least, but Sturm's comments suggest it may not be all that unusual.
Also Verghast (or at least parts of it) have access to atomic/nuclear weapons.



Page 63

"The enemy has destroyed Vannick Hive deliberately. Can there be any other explanation for a nuclear event?”
“Suicide,” Grizmund said. “Overrun, overwhelmed, perhaps a last act of desperation in the face of a victorious foe. A detonation of the hive’s power plant.”

Verghast nukes (or Imperium- nukes in general, such as where they use them) can also be comparable to a 'self destruct' of a hive's powerplant (again suggesting perhaps at least megaton range.)



Page 66

Mkoll fell in step beside him and they moved through a commotion of men, trucks, diesel fumes and unloading work.

Diesel again, this time for trucks. again Promethium is not diesel.



Page 67

The commissar stalking towards him had nothing of Gaunt’s presence.
...
Corbec said nothing but simply took the cigar from his mouth and raised one eyebrow. He was a good twenty-five centimetres taller than the black-coated officer.

Corbec is taller than Gaunt, and only a bit shorter than Gilbear (Ghostmaker) which is 2.2 m and 2.5 m.. so we're talking another guy slightly over 2 m at least.



Page 73

Varl supervised the store detail, carrying more than his share thanks to the power of his artificial arm.

Again Varl's augmetic enhances his strength to some degree.



Page 73

There was no further movement. Caffran edged forward and noticed the edge of a crate that had been chewed away. The plastic-wrapped packets of dried biscuit inside had been invaded. Definitely rodents. There was a trail of crumbs and shreds of plastic seal.

Guard issue cookies, I'm gathering. Quite possibly they're corpse-starch free.



Page 79

Racine hesitated. His vox link was beeping. It would be a call from House Command, he was sure, asking for a progress report.

Vervun primary commander has his own vox link that seems to be fairly portable



Page 80

Thirty percent of the fuel imports from Vannick Hive, three whole pipelines, were under the direct control of Guild Worlin. He looked at the megalitre input figures on his data-slate, then made a few calculations as to how the market price per barrel would soar exponentially with each day of conflict.

Implications of fuel transport via pipleine approximately.. millions of litres over unspecified time (perhaps a day.) This is just for 3 pipes and its implied for more. In no way is this an accurate figure, just a more rough estimate.



Page 81

That air was still thick with the mingled reeks of thermite and fycelene, burning fuel and burned flesh.

Thermite as well as fycline used.



Page 82

His first sergeant, Grosslyn, had mined the roadways and other teams had dug tank-traps and dead-snares. Despite the shelling, they had also raised a three hundred-metre bulwark of earth, filled an advance ditch with iron stakes and railing sections, and sandbagged three stubbers and two flamers into positions along the Highway.

Presumably the bulkwar is 300 m wide, as I doubt they could build one 300 m tall



Page 84-85

He’d ordered them all to set weapons for single fire to preserve ammunition and power cells. Even the stubbers had been ordered only to fire if they had a target. In response to the Zoican assault, their return seemed meagre and frail.
Fencer got up to the nest top and raised his lasgun. Five hundred metres ahead, through the smoke and the rubble, he saw the first shapes of the enemy, troopers in heavy, ochre-coloured battledress, advancing in steady ranks.
Fencer began firing. Below, Kolea opened up too.
They took thirteen down between them in the first five minutes.

Range of gunfire against Zoicans at least 500 m for PDF small arms, heavy weapons, etc. 13 amongst 2 troopers in 5 minutes (300 seconds.) assuming that 1 shot per 6 seconds as per First and Only (ghosts single shot rate of fire) thats 50 shots per man (Kolea and Fencer) which means roughly 1 man down for every 7-8 shots. Whether that reflects hit accuracy, or just the number of hits to kill a Zoican we don't know. But it can reflect civilian/PDF capabilities over trained Guardsmen.



Page 85

Rockets flailed into the bulwark and blew a fifteen-metre section out. Corporal Tanik and three other troops were disintegrated.

unknown number of rockets blow out 15m section. IF we assume 2 overlaping 10 m sections that might be a couple hundred kilos per rocket, although that goes down if more. Disintegrating 3 troopers is at least single digit MJ, although flaying them (4th degree burns) over whole body would probably be closer to 30 or so MJ total. Call it double, triple digit MJ for rocket salvo.



Page 85

When Jada, the female worker next to him, was hit in the chest and dropped, screaming, Grosslyn turned to try and help her. A las-round from one of the dying Zoican assault troops impaled on the stakes took the back of his head off.

The Vervun trooper (Sergeant really,) Grosslyn probably is wearing a helmet and has back of head blown off. If unhelmeted, maybe single digit kj at least per bolt. with a helmet it probably can go up to high single/low double digit.



Page 85

Gannen and Calie held the west transit for two hours, taking out dozens of the enemy and at least one armoured vehicle which ruptured and blew out as the loom-girl raked it with armour-piercing stub rounds.
Gannen was torn apart by shrapnel from a rocket when the enemy pushed around to the left.
Calie kept firing, feeding her own gun until a tank round blew her, her stub gun and twenty metres of the defence bulwark into the sky.

ttripod mounted stub gunner takes down an armoured vehicle of unknown type with armour piercing stub (heavy stubber?) rounds of unknown calibre. Rocket tears apart a person, single digit MJ at least. Tank round blowing 20 m of bulkwar (assume diameter) apart could be (if rock) could be 1.4 tons if HE. if it was less (say ice) we might figure 400 kg. Note that that is not neccesarily accurate and should be taken as very approximate. Even if the actual value was 1/10th or 1/100th the actual value we're still talking an impressive amount of firepower in all probablity, tens of kg of TNT equivalent easily. Considering most tanks would have shells smaller than a howitzer (unless you go by certain examples like picture/diagram scalings lol) its damn impressive. If a kinetic projectile you might get some tens of MJ. Again, approximate, maybe within an order of magnitude, since the bulkwar isn't solid stone exactly, but.



Page 86

A las-round punctured Captain Olin Fencer’s body at the hip and exited through his opposite shoulder. As he fell, weeping, he clicked his lasgun to autofire and sprayed his massing killers with laser rounds.
His hand was still squeezing the trigger when the pack ran out.
By then, he was already dead.

It punches through diagnolly, and penetrates straight through. call it 60-70 cm or so penetration
call it 2-3 cm of penetration, we might figure 10-20 kj to penetrate roughly (as much or slightly better than Luke Campbell's 'battle laser' design, with 2.2 cm wound channel and 53 cm of penetration), with 3 cm of diameter would be closer to 30 (50 pulses at 600 j per pulse, 5mm spot size, 10 microsecond delay between pulses.)
Also full auto drains powerpack in a matter of seconds implied. However, we dont know how long exactly and how many shots remained, so its up for debate really, but its still interesting to note.



Page 88

.. a hateful storm of enemy shelling and missiles pounded in across it at the hive. A fair amount fell short into the habs, but a good percentage struck the Curtain Wall itself. Gaunt craned over for a moment, training his scope down the gentle slope of the Wall. Its adamantine surface was peppered and scarred like the face of a moon, as far as he could see. Every few seconds, batteries to either side of them on the Wall fired out, or the great siege guns in the emplacements below in the thickness of the Wall recoiled and volleyed again.
The vibration of the Wall continued.

Effect of enemy artillery on wall, as well as the hive's response and rate of fire.



Page 88-89

..pointing out to the very edge of the vast, outer-hab waste. “As we have been told, this is no longer the work of their long-range artillery out in the grasslands. This is ground assault from closer range — armour moving in through the outer habitations and factories.”
..
“You can see the flashes of tank cannons as they fire. Four, five kilometres out, in the very skirts of the outer habs. Their weapons are on full elevation for maximum range, so the muzzle-flashes are high and exposed. It is a simple matter of observing, counting, estimating.”

Range of Zoican tank weapons against the hive. Going by the map and their location (stated to be just west of the Sondar gate) that seems roughly accurate, although depending on exact positioning it coudl be a bit further away, six, maybe 7 kilometres or so, but I'm guessing Grizamund's number isn't quite that far off. Anyhow, given the implied 'response' rate for the guns above, we might figure several seconds between shots and such, implying muzzle velocities in excess of 1-1.2 km/s, possibly as high as 2-2.5 km/s, depending on how many seconds. Either way would be consistnet with known velocity estimates (hypervelocity from Honour guard for conqueror cannon, the 1-2 km in roughly a second or so from Gunheads, etc.)




Page 89

“At a first estimate, armour to the magnitude of twenty thousand pieces. Straight-form advance, with perhaps a forced salient to the east, near those tall cooling towers still standing. Innumerable rockets and mortars, harder to trace, but all mobile. Forty, maybe forty-five thousand.”
..
“We can presume other army strengths are moving round through the mining district, the mud flats, perhaps the eastern outer habs and the Hass East river junction too,”

Zoican armour strength. Probably reprensets minimum tank numbers but not including other units (motorised, mecahnized, etc.) More artillery platforms, but of all vareities. Mortars apparently have similar range to tanks (4-5 km here.) Mobile artillery at that.




Page 90

"If you watch the armour flashes as General Grizmund has suggested, they form a rough line, like a contour. Compare that to the fall of shells. The edge of the shortest falling shells — you can see that from the explosions and from the smoke fires — approximately matches that line, with a break of perhaps a kilometre and a half between armour and line of fire. That is the space we might expect the infantry advancing before the armour, to occupy.”
..
"..assuming they are not intent on slaughtering their own troops, and assuming the widest margin of error, that shows us a clear belt of infantry advance. Even single line abreast, I’d say we were welcoming over half a million down there."
..
“At least a million,” said Mkoll, suddenly.
...
“Lasguns, sir. So many lasguns firing over each other that their individual sounds have become one shrieking note. You’d need a… a feth of a lot of lasguns to make that sound.”

Troop numbers. given at least 5 million troops, we're talking perhaps 5-10x the armour and artillery described above perhaps, assuming ratios remain constant. Zoica again is fielding hundreds of thousands of vehicles easily, all built within a matter of months. The hive arguably would produce millions annually.



Page 90

Far away, round the curve of the massive Curtain Wall, past the Sondar and Veyveyr Gates and the ruin of the Ore Works, a great, black slope extended down out of the hive, two kilometres wide and five deep. It looked like a tide of tar. The Curtain Wall broke in a gap fourteen hundred metres wide to let it out.
“The Spoil,”

The spoil described and numerated.




Page 90

"The fifth division of my Regiment, the ‘Spoilers’, are dedicated to guarding that area: twenty thousand men. They take their work seriously. Besides, the Spoil itself is bloody treacherous: steep, unsafe, constantly slipping. It’s probably harder to get past than the Curtain Wall itself. "

20K troopers there, a single division of the Vervun Primary. If thats the ftfth division there are at least 4 other similar strength, which means 100,000 troops.


Page 90

Daur had no experience of the enemy, no knowledge of the way they expended and used their troops wholesale to gain their objectives. The soldiers of Vervunhive and the tactics they had evolved were too deeply focused upon the experience of fighting sane enemies.

Milo reflects on the tactics of Chaos, which are very much of the fanatical 'human wave' type. Whilst we cannot say that the Imperium never uses such tactics, or even that they rarely do, its also fair to say they use them far less often than Chaos or certain xenos enemies (Orks, Tyranids, etc.) do, simply because they can't compete with any of the above in that regard. And in Chaos' terms they don't really care about tactics or efficiency, they care more about blood and death and suffering and promoting chaos and destruction, and their champions care only about furthering their selfish ends. The millions of zoicans are simply tools in that regard, to be expended in whatever numbers to achieve it, and they've been twisted and brainwashed to care fo rnothing other than serving that goal. Again when you consider that months ago they must have been simple, loyal Imperial citizens, they're as much victims as nayone on Verghast, and that, I believe, is again the true horror.
Anyhow, the Crusade's tactics are quite distinct from Chaos, and generally better (and less sacrifice oriented) which is common t hroughout the series, and generally demonstrates how variable Guard tactics are.


Page 91

“The gates this side of the hive must be opened. I’ll gladly fight these bastards, no matter how many there are, but I need room for my machines to mobilise and manoeuvre. I’d rather do that out there in the habs than wait until they’re at the Wall.”

Narmenian tank philosohpy. Not very WW1. WW2 maybe



Page 93

On their heads were full-face composite helmets with flared, sneering features like blurred skulls and the crest of Ferrozoica inlayed on the brow.
..
Gol Kolea could hear the hollow crackle of their terse vox-signals barking back and forth.

Zoicans seem to have personal coms in their helmets. Not bad for cannon fodder.



Page 94

The concussion mine tore out a length of the corridor and obliterated the last trooper where he stood, tearing the one directly in front of him into pieces with fragments of shrapnel and shards of bone from his exploded comrade.

Concussion mine.. 4-8 MJ maybe? (4th degree burns)



Page 94

The remaining Zoican bastard switched to full auto and swung wild. His withering close-range shots punched right through a flak-board wall partition and blew the guts and thighs out of Machinesmith Vidor, who had been waiting to spring out from behind it.

full auto burst takes out upper legs and midsection with burst. Assuming 3rd 4th degree burns (50-400 j per sq cm) and a 30x30 cm area we're talking 45-360 kj per burst. If its on both sides or a larger area (40x40 cm for example gets us 80 kj to 640 kj) it could be high kw/low megawatt.



Page 102

The Curtain Wall and gates were already fully manned by the Vervun Primary troops, and now significant portions of the Volpone, Roane and NorthCol armies were brought in to reinforce them. The Tanith Ghosts were also deployed to the frontline..

Troop deployments. Important shortly.



Page 103

The gate itself, seventy metres wide and a hundred high, had been blockaded with wreckage, a lot of it burned-out rolling stock from the railhead.

Height of Veyveyr gate. Important later, as one of those spiders ends up blocking it (gives us idea on dimensions and such



Page 103

Bulwar at least was a combat veteran who had seen action during the years of rebellion wars in the NorthCol colonies on Verghast’s main satellite moon.
..
..the crackling power claw marked him out instantly as a command officer.

NorthCol officer has a power claw. also, the Verghast have inhabited moons.



Page 104

Nearly three quarters of a million fighting men were in position at the southern Curtain Wall of Vervunhive..

With 500,000 Vervun primary, 70,000 auxiliaries (about), 2000 Ghosts, and if we figure 1000per Narmenian (or perhaps total) thats 573 to 575 thousand troops total. If we figure 740,000 or so that leaves 165-167 thousand to split amongst the two regiments of Roane Deepers and the 3 Volpone regiments. on avreage thats around 33,000 per regiment or so, but more likely that the Volpone have more (Ghostmaker implied up to 50,000 remember) so if we figure around 40-50 thousand for the Volpone thats 120-150,000 for them, leaving 15-17 to 45-47 thousand for the Roane, or between 7 and 9 thousand to twenty two twenty four thousand per regiments. I'm inclining towards the lower limit actually givne known Volpone numbers, and even the lower limits are respectable (cadian regiments are that size.)




PAge 105

..spotters on the Wall near Sondar Gate sighted a small group of Zoican tanks moving along a transit track adjacent to the Southern Highway, two kilometres out. With hurried permission from House Command in the Main Spine, they addressed six missile batteries and a trio of earthshaker guns and opened fire.
..
The engagement lasted twelve minutes. No fire was returned from the enemy. ..

2 km engagement range against tanks. Implied zoicans have similar range.



Page 105

..Gaunt knew Croe should have been making such speeches daily for the last week. Croe had only spoken now on the advice of Commissar Kowle. Despite his dislike of the man, Gaunt saw that Kowle truly understood the political necessities of war. He was enormously capable. Kowle issued a directive that evening urging all commissarial officers, both the VPHC and the regular Guard, to tour the lines and raise the mood.

As much of a glory hound and jerk Kowle is, he's very good at the propoganda game, which again goes to show what a 'good' commissar (or even a competent one) pays attention to.



Page 106

It fell so suddenly. Its herald was a simultaneous salvo from thousands of tanks and self-propelled guns prowling forward through the outer-hab wastes less than a kilometre from the Wall. The roar shook the hive and the explosive display lit the night sky. For the first time, the enemy was firing up at the Curtain Wall, point-blank in armour terms, hitting wall-top ramparts and fracturing them apart. Precision mortar bombardments were landing on the wall-top itself, finding the vulnerable slit between Wall and Shield.
..
The defenders reeled, stunned. Hundreds were already dead or seriously injured and the ramparts were significantly damaged in dozens of places.

A simultaneous barrage at slightly less than a km implies that both tank and artillery have similar velocities and strike at roughly the same time, which makes sense if the opening barrage is so quick that noone has time to react or take cover. Again roughly km/s vleocities here, and 1 km is 'point blank' in armour terms.
Also there is gaps between the wall and shield that can be exploited.



Page 106-107

With its rocket towers, heavy guns, support-weapon emplacements, mortars and the thousands of individual troopers on the ramparts, that reply was monumental.
..
The Curtain Wall firepower decimated the Zoican forces now advancing towards the Wall-foot outside. Vervunhive laid down a killing field four hundred metres deep outside their Wall and obliterated tanks and men as they churned forward. It was later estimated that 40-50,000 Zoican troops and upwards of 6,000 fighting vehicles were lost to Vervunhive fire in the first hour of attack.

small arms, wall mounted weapons and heavy/support weapons open up on the Zoican assault. Given a wall height of ~200 m and a 400 m ro so 'killing field' the range is at least 448 m, but less than a km (as established above)

also zoican losses, which is a drop in the bucket really. Again reflecting that compared to Chaos, even the Krieg are sane and frugal in the attrition game.



Page 107

But the sheer numbers of the enemy were overwhelming, both physically and psychologically. No matter how many hundreds were killed, thousands more moved forward relentlessly to take their place, marching over the corpses of the slain. They were mindless and without fear in the face of the mass slaughter. Observing this from his trench position just inside Veyveyr Gate, Brin Milo reflected that this was precisely what he had been afraid of: the insane tactics of Chaos that Vervunhive’s war plans simply did not take into account.

Again Milo considers Chaos vs Imperial tactics, and how dramatically different they are, due to that whole 'insanity' thing. Imperials simply aren't always as attrition happy as Chaos is, despite what some intimate. They can't afford to be because they're nowhere near as good at it (or have the same goals) as their enemies. It really drives home the problems in facing Chaos as well, since it can create fanatical, well motivated troops simply via sufficient magic/torture/mind control/brainwashing. That's something Imperial troops can't easily match (even the Krieg can't fully, and they're the closest outside of Space Marines the Impreium has.)



Page 107

“You could fire a lasgun on full auto from the wall-top,” wrote General Xance of the NorthCol forces later, “and kill dozens, only to see the hole you’d made in their ranks close in the time it took to change power cells."

Again implication that lasguns have a very short rate of fire, matter of seconds, and implied capacity here of 'dozens', which likewise implies a very high rate of fire (assuming 5 seconds and around 40-60 shots, we're talking 8-12 rounds per second at least.. whilst 2-3 seocnds implies 15-30 rounds per second.)



Page 108

“Stay as you are! Keep up the address! We know they won’t break like a normal army, but you and I have faced this enemy before, Rawne. You know how to win this!”
“Kill them all, colonel-commissar?”
“Kill them all, Major Rawne!"

Again the whole 'chaos vs Imperial' tactics. This shows that some eneimes the Imperium face, they simply cannot force into a surrender or retreat. And in some cases even if they retreat that doesn't mean they will give up, they just rebuild nad come back. Chaos is like that, the Orks and Tyranids are like that too. In such a case, your only real choice to stop them permanantly IS to wipe them out, and that means attrition. Its easy to go all LOL ATTRITION WW1 SUXORS and forget the reasons why (which are not always good I admit, but there are some legitimate reasons all the same.)

[Connor MacLeod]

Part 2


Page 108-109

An armoured machine, three times the size of a main battle tank, was advancing towards the wall’s skirt, a huge derrick of armour-plated scaffolding growing out of its top.
“Siege engine!"
...
The monstrous siege engine reached the foot of the Wall and there was a shrieking sound as the metal tower scraped against the ceramite and stone facings. Gas-fired anchor ropes were shot into the Curtain Wall to hold the engine in place. Hydraulic feet extended beneath the armour skirts of the engine to steady it on the broken ground. With a wail of metal, the derrick tower began to telescope up, extending to match the height of the wall. Segmented armour, badged with the Zoican crest and other, less human insignias that made Rawne sick to see them, unfurled upwards to protect the rising throat of the siege tower.
..
Hydraulic arms wheezed out and gripped the buttress, steel claws biting into the ceramite. The tower-top was an armoured structure with heavy flamer mounts positioned either side of a hatch opening.
..
The flamers drenched the top of the Wall with liquid fire, swivelling to rake the defences back and forth. Forty Vervun Primary troopers and nine Ghosts were incinerated as they fled back from the engine.
In addition to the shrieking flamers, automatic grenade launchers on the tower-top whirred and began to lob explosives out like hail.

Chaos siege engines, clearly superheavies, possibly an enclosed Gorgon on stilts. In addition to the incendairy and explosive weapons, it carries thousands of troops, which is significant for a superheavy of its capability. Note the 'less human insignias' that make Rawne ill. Chaos sigils seem to be a potent psychological weapon, making the viewer ill, mad, or any number of other psychological or physical effects.


Page 109

Gyrd, a grizzled Ghost in his forties, swung in behind Bragg as the big man got the launcher settled on his shoulder. The older Ghost fed fresh rockets into the load-cylinders of the massive weapon.

Bragg is wielding a rocket launcher with multiple round capacity. Different from the Tread fethers that become standard in latter books, but then again Bragg was always a heavy weapons 'specialist' amongst specialists.


Page 110

Six more siege engines had crawled forward towards the Curtain Wall in the time it had taken Rawne to repel the first.

THat means 7 superheavy siege platform bug thingies. Again built in months which is considerable resources spent.



Page 110

.. torching everything and everyone on the emplacement before opening its hatch and disgorging wave after wave of Zoican heavy troopers.
..
.. thousands of Zoican storm troops.

Superheavies each carry thousands of storm troopers (heavy infantry)



Page 110

The regular Bluebloods wore the grey and gold body armour of their regiment, with the distinctive low-brimmed bowl helmets. The elite 10th had carapace armour, matt-black hellguns and bright indigo eagle studs pinned into their armaplas collar sections.

10th Brigade, it seems, are more distinctive from normal troops by their equipment and not just by being better. This means they're something akin to Grenadiers (Kasrkin) whislt the regular troops, whilst still heavy, probably don't wear carapace or pack hellguns. more's the pity But they may still have heavier armor and more powerful lasguns than normal troopers (like the Ghosts.) The Jantine certainly seemed to.

PAge 111

Here Roane Deepers were in position, hard-nosed shock troops in tan fatigues and netted helmets.

Shock troopers, implying their appearance may resemble Cadians. Although the helmet description makes me think of American infantry from World War 2.



Page 112

..a half-dozen tank-like vehicles, quickly dubbed the “flat-crabs” by the Vervun troopers because of their resemblance to the edible crustaceans farmed in the Hass Estuary. They were the size of four or five tanks together, covered in a shell-like carapace of overlapped armour like huge beetles or horseshoe molluscs. A single, super-heavy weapon extended up from their dorsal mounts and they drummed the Wall with fast-cycle fire that shattered masonry and adamantine blocks.
The flat-crabs were siege-crackers, massive weapons designed to break open even the strongest fortifications.

Flat crabs - yet more superheavy like platofrms, more like heavy siege tanks (upscaled Demolishers) or heavy artillery like Colossus. 4-5 tanks would imply between 150 -200 tons (For predators) to upwards of 240-300 tons (for russes)


Page 112-113

Then it was the turn of the spiders, the largest and most fearsome of the Zoican siege weapons. A hundred metres long from nose to tail and propelled by eight vast, clawed cartwheels set on cantilever arms extending from the main bodies of their armoured structures, the spiders ground out of the smoke and rumbled towards the Wall. Gun and rocket batteries on their backs blazed up at the defences of Vervunhive.
When they reached the Curtain Wall, the spiders didn’t stop. The wheel claws dug into the ceramite and raised the death machines up the face of the defence, climbing like insects up the sheer face of the massive Wall. Of all the siege engines deployed at Vervunhive, the Zoican spiders came closer to taking the hive than anything else that night. There were five of them.

And they have REALLY big superheavy - Leviathan, or titan sized constructs in all probability, Despite their wall climbing they must be much bigger than the others,, hundreds, perhaps thousans of tonnes.



Page 113

One was stopped by the VPHC Commissar Vokane, who got his troops to roll munitions from the launcher dumps to the Wall head and tip them over onto the rising beast, charges set for short fuse. The spider was blown off the wall and fell backwards, crushing hundreds of Zoican troops under it. It lay on its back and burned. Vokane and fifty-seven of his men didn’t live to cheer. The explosive backwash of the spider’s death engulfed them and burned them to bone scraps.

58 men having the flesh cremated off their bones, hundreds of MJ if not thousands apiece, meaning single to (more liekly) double digit GJ easily, and quite possibly 100 GJ or more for thermal effects alone, and that only blasts the tank off the wall, it doesn't even scratch the damn thing.
As I noted last time as well, this is indacitve of just how insane Imperial explosives technology can be. Man portable explosives hurled over the side by a platoon of troops, and it cremated all of them. Even allowing for each guy hefting 50 kg of explosives and 11.6 GJ at a minimum (200 MJ per guy) that would (at worst case) be EQUAL to TNT on a per kg basis, and there's plenty of reason to believe its much greater. Not to mention that its unlikely they're all hefting that much mass, that its an omnidirectional blast, and quite likely many times greater than I am estimateing, but hey its the thought that counts



Page 113

The second spider made it to Veyveyr Gate and began to claw at the barricades. Its mighty wheels sliced and crushed rail stock apart as it pulled itself in through the gate opening. Heavy artillery and NorthCol armour units met it with a pugnacious blitz of fire as it pushed its head through the gateway and they blew it apart. It settled sideways on its exploded wheels, half-blocking the entrance.

Implying its some 50 m tall/wide as I noted before.



Page 113

The remaining spider clawed its way over the Curtain Wall west of Hass West Fort. General Grizmund was waiting for it. As it scattered and burned the Wall defenders to left and right, Grizmund’s Narmenian tanks, assembled in the open places of the House Anko chem works, elevated and fired, blasting the vast thing backwards off the Curtain Wall. The force of the salvo took part of the inner wall down too, but it was considered worthwhile. The spider was destroyed.

We know later that the Narmenian tanks are 127 Russ, 27 Demolisher, and 42 light support tanks. I'll disregard the support tanks as its unlikely they'd contribute much 'anti tank' firepower so we figure between 127-154 tanks. The Demolishers though, based on the map, may not have the range to hit the Spiders (depending on source) so they may be excluded too. As far as we know the Narmenians do not significantly engage the enemy up to this point or after (getting imprisoned and all.) and so te numbers latter should be roughly comparable here. As noted before the Spiders are quite likely thousands, if not tens of thousands of tonnes given dimensions (even assuming that 99% of its mass was concentrated in a 30m long, 17 m wide, 1 m tall area, nevermind this is at least an order of magnitude less than the volume of the tank in merely two dimensions (and assuming the third held true, even thoug it probably is as tall or tallert han a Russ or Baneblade) we get over 1200 tons. If we go with someting Russ height (~4 metres) we're talkign around 5000 tons. Something Baneblade height is over 7000 tons. Then there is velocity. The thing is climbing up the side of the Curtain wall, and it reaches the top when it (and part of the Curtain wall) gets blasted away. Its hard to measure velocity because we don't realyl know how far it travels, how hard its hit, or how hard its clinging to the wall. We can make some guesses. Based on here

For a point of reference, 36 kN-s of momentum imparted to an 18-tonne FCS vehicle through its center of mass by a FOOB gun would endow it with 2 m/s of velocity. The kinetic energy of the vehicle would be 36 kJ, sufficient to raise the vehicle about 20 cm off the ground.

If the Narmenians hit the Spider in its upper body from below, they would likely impart enough force/momentum to tip the Spider backwards. It woudln't be 20 cm of course, as the FCS vehicle is larger and more massive, but presumably the math scales. So if the FCS were 2-2.5 m tall (low height being an advantage.) the momentum imparted would be 1/10-1/12 the height. If it doesn't 'tip' the vehicle over enough to knock it back or if its literally 'blasted' off rather than tipped off.. well it would be faster than above either way. So figure 2 m/s velocity imparted.
If we're talking a 1200 ton tank, each tank woudl have 15,600-19,000 kg*m/s for the projectile (equal to a 15-20 kg projectile at 1 km/s) At 5000 tons, its 65,000-78,700 kg*m/s, whilst at 7000 tons, 91,000-110,000 kg*m/s momentum. All are lower limits (although not neccesarily the lowest possible) and could be higher if mass is higher or velcoity grows.
Now all that said.. we dont realyl know the exact mechanism for blasting them off. It could be kinetic, explosive, or a combination of the two. I'm also not sure hwo to go about reliably calcing explosive effects based on knocking tanks around, that isn't overly involved (and thus confusing to people not me.) I suppose at 8 m/s velocity and a 8 kg mass of explosive (arbitrary number for example based on an assumtpion of 120mm shell filler) you'd have about 64,000 kg*m/s of momentum from the explosive and 256 MJ. Which is alot but (32 MJ per kg, nearly eight times conventional explosives) I suppose it could fit the example (127-154 shells with 8 kg of such explosive could conceivably blow it off, esp if the kinetic impact contributes.)
Alternately, If we use the blast that cremated over a platoon of troopers as a benchmark from before, and 10-12 GJ, we get each tank packing (on average) 65-130 MJ of firepower (based on previous example) Possibly higher. This example would assume HE generally.
Based on the map and the Anko chemical plant's stated location (where the Narmenians are stationed), its a good 4 to 5 km away to where the Spider is climbing up the wall, which is consistent with Grizmund's estimates earlier. Perhaps as much as 6 or 7 km for some tanks stationed further back than the edges. If we figure between 1-2 km/s baesd on that example (a matter of seconds - tops - to acheive the above feat) and at least a 20 kg shell or so thats 15-40,000 kg*m/s of momentum per shell, and 7.5-40 MJ of KE. 120-150 such shells would also be sufficient to achieve what I outlined bove, so its roughly consistent, it would seem.
Overall, I think its safe to say that in terms of raw power (if nothing else) the Russes are at least powerful to modern equivalents, and quite probably moreso. Not terribly surprising when you consider that that Spider has to be about the size and mass of a small naval destroyer

Page 120

Dorden was completely tranquil. His hold was an expert move, just a millimetre or two of pressure away from clamping the carotid arteries, just a centimetre away from dislocating the neck. Only a brilliant medic or an Imperial assassin could be that precise.
..
Dorden dug his thumb into a pressure point at the base of the man’s palm and the addict dropped his knife anyway.
...
Dorden increased his chokehold for a fraction of a second, enough for the man to black out, and then dropped him facedown onto an empty cot.

Despite being a doctor Dorden is an accomplished unarmed fighter, it would seem. Although we learned in First and Only he was also an accomplished shot as well. It's just he's also a doctor and hates taking life (any life.) that holds him back, I suppose. I guess if Curth's assessment can be taken as accurate it indicates what an Imperial Assassin can do (unarmed, at least. )



Page 122

" But there were two others, both in comas, critical. I… I was wondering why they had gunshot wounds?”
..
“Small calibre, maybe a needle gun. Easy to mistake it for shrapnel wounding.”
“It says ‘glass lacerations’ here. The station canopies all blew out and—”
“I know a needle-gun wound when I see it. And I’m seeing over a dozen shared between the two of them. They were shot at close range. I checked the records. Twelve others were brought in from the same site with identical wounds. But they were all dead on arrival.”

Comment on Abnett-style needlers. Again they cause physical trauma, although they do not seem to be toxic OR explosive (unlike the 'tradtional' needler or the Glavian type.) the 'small calibre' and analogy to shrapnel suggests fairly small and narrow/low mass (and probably sharp) rounds at extremely high velocity, not unlike flechette rounds. Shrapnel velcoities, depending on the round, can be as low as 3300-5000 fps (which I covered in the Salamander series thread, but other sources here and here imply multiple km/s, which could also work. The 'flechette' definition (like the steyr ACR) would suggest at least 1500 m/s, although we know shotgun flechettes (which are a groupl can be lower (a mere 700 m/s) which might fit better with the 'shrapnel' analaogy (lots of small shots.).
These weapons could also be similar to shotguns like from certain other 40K novels (first and only's naval armsmen had similar stub weaponry) or the amuptator rounds described in FFG.
Assuming a similar magnitude of injuries on all the others (14 total) you'd get around 80-90 shots in the needler. Going along with the previous estimate against the Guards - assuming that Worlin hadn't reloaded, you might get upwards of 110-120+ shots easily. It reminds me very much of the MGV-176 and American-180 - low calibre, high ROF rounds.


Page 124

“Welcome, honoured visitor, to the enclave of House Chass. Your use of a token emblem signifies you to be an invited and worthy guest. Please wait in the anteroom and refreshments will be sent while his lordship is informed of your arrival.”
The servitor’s voice was smooth and warm, and it issued from the air itself.
..
The third, a female servitor, her enhancement implants and plugs made of inlaid gold, carried a tray of refreshments on long, silver, jointed arms which supplemented her natural limbs.
She stopped before Gaunt. “Water, joiliq, berry wine, sweetmeats. Please help yourself, worthy guest. Or if nothing pleases you, tell me, and I will attend your special needs.”
..
Holding the salver with her extra arms, the female servitor gracefully poured Gaunt a shot of joiliq into a crystal glass and handed it to him.
He took it with a nod and the servitor withdrew to the side of the room.

House Chass servitor. Seems to be one of those more sophisticated, 'high end' ones which can be almost human (and probably blur the lines bewtween cyborg and servitor.) Definitely not a mere low end 'mono-task'. I think they're called multi-task or high function servitors, but I don't recall. In any case it shows the variation in perofrmance you can get from servitors (esp contrasted with the Sondar 'meat puppets'.)


Page 126

The terrace projected from the outer wall of the Main Spine and was covered by a dedicated refractor shield. They were about a kilometre up. Below, the vast sprawl of Vervunhive spread out to the distant bulk of the Curtain Wall. Above them rose the peak of the Spine, glossed in ice, overarched by the huge bowl of the crackling Shield.

Personal House Chass refractor field - at least over part of the estate - which probably provides supplementary protection to the larger Hive voids. One of the rare examples of theatre shield that isn't a void or a powerfield (most refractor fields are personal shielding after all.)


Page 126-127

The terrace was an ornamental cybernetic garden. Mechanical leaf-forms grew and sprouted in the ordered beds, and bionic vines self-replicated in zigzag patterns of branches to form a dwarf orchard. Metal bees and delicate paper-winged butterflies whirred through the silvery stems and iron branches. Oil-ripe fruit, black like sloes, swung from blossom-joints on the swaying mechanical-tree limbs.
..
.. slight marks of oil-sap on his cuffs and apron, moved down the rows of artificial plants, dead-heading brass-petalled flowerheads with a pair of laser secateurs and pruning back the sprays of aluminium roses.
..
“A private indulgence. House Chass built its success on servitors, cogitators and mechanical development. I make working machines for the Imperium. It pleases me to let them evolve in natural forms here, with no purpose other than their own life.”
..
..the girl stalked away between the wire-vines and the tin blooms.

'Mechanical' foliage. Its interesting both for tis odd, steampunkish 'cybernetic' aesthetic, but also for its weirdly 'quasi-organic' metallic nature. - its artificial/mechanical yet it has properties of living beings (self replicating.) One wonders if this is some exotic sort of servitor (plant based) or if it might be purely mechanical (controlled by machine spirit/cogitator, which is certainly implied.)
On another vein, I like it for its peculiar 'alienness' and just general weirdness. Its sort of like all the baroque adn brass and shit.. it just 'feels' Imperial. (And there is also something a bit ominous yet appropriately 'Imperial' in theme in mechanising somethign living and organic.. Chass suggests Gaunt finds it 'cold' which is not wholly inapprorpiate.)
Also House Chass is known for such technologies (servitors, cogitators, mechanical stuff) which suggests this is not exactly lost-tech or rare shit, but more of a hobby, so it can show what Imperial technology is capable of when it gets serious (and when logistics aren't an issue.)



Page 128-129

They moved through a grove of platinum trees heavy with brass oranges. Frills of wire-lace creepers were soldered to the burnished trunks. Beyond the grove, crossing iron lawns that creaked under their footsteps, they walked down a row of bushes with broad, inlaid leaves of soft bronze.
..
“Fractal topiary,” Chass said proudly. “Mathematical structures generated by the stem-forms of the cogitators planted here.”
..
Chass snorted, taking a cropping wand from his belt. He began to use it to shape the glowing, fractal hedges nearby.
..
Gaunt watched the noble trim the light-buds of the bush,...

Fractal topiary, more of teh seneitne tmechanical garden, whcih also seems to grow lighting of some kind. I also have to wonder where all the different metals and materials are supplied.



Page 129

Lord Chass reached into his waist-sack and pulled out a rose. It was perfect, made of steel, just budding and faintly edged with rust. The silver stem was stiff and aluminium thorns split out of it.

A steel rose for Gaunt. Very symbolic, if again a bit sterile.



Page 131

Visibility dropped to a few hundred metres. The torrential downpour made the Shield crackle and short in edgy, disturbing patterns.
..
It was cold, but at least the Shield high above was keeping the rain off.

The voids keep out rain but do not seem to alter climate or temperature otherwise.



Page 133

The “thing” he referred to was the gigantic wreck of the spider siege engine which the NorthCol batteries had brought down during the First Storm three days before. Its massive bulk, slumped across the gatemouth barricades, half blocked the entrance and had proved impossible to shift, despite the efforts of pioneer teams and sappers with dozers and heavy lifters.

Again reference to the Spider mechs being half as tall as the gate. It's also so heavy it cannot be easily shifted even with other machines, suggesting it is perhaps far more massive than the flat crabs and other superheavy siege devices (thousands of tons or more.)


Page 133

He had eleven heavy weapon teams tied in here at intervals behind flakboards and bagging. Six heavy stubbers on tripod mounts, two autoguns on bipods with ammo feeders sprawled on their bellies next to the gunners, and three missile launchers.

The heavy weapons deployed to support the Ghosts. We don't know explicitly whether these are Ghost only or if these were deployed in support by the other forces (EG vervuni) but the ghosts have auto/stub weapons later on (man portable autocannons) in their units, and the post-Verghast makeup incorporates all the weapons mentioned (autocannon/stubbers, rocket launchers known as 'tread fethers', and flamers. The flamers we knew about from previous novels and had been mentioned here, I just omitted that.) They don't use meltas at all that I've noticed in this book, so seem to have lost them (or traded them in) after Monthax. And whether they had these weapons prior to VEghast or acquired them on planet, we don't know.



Page 134

Larkin clacked a fresh, reinforced barrel into place and then stroked a film of gun-oil off the exchanger before sliding one of the hefty charge packs into its slot.
..
Corbec sat down beside Larkin and took a moment to check his own lasgun. Standard issue, with a skeleton metal stock, it was shorter and rougher than the sniper’s gun and lacked the polished nalwood grips and shoulder block.
..
“They only give sniper-pattern M-G’s to men who can shoot.”

Differences between the sniper lasgun and regular. Both seem to be M-G pattern, differing only in the attached components and modifications (scope, barrel, etc.) The 'exchanger' gets mentioned again (like in past books) although it seems to have somethign to do with the powerpack (perhaps converting the electricity to laser energy.) Oddly the skeleton stock was the main distinction I remember between Verghast and Tanith weapons, as I remember earlier Tanith novels all indicative of the nalwood grips not just special ones like Larkin's. Perhaps Corbec (like Mkoll in Ghostmakre) lost his original and had to get a replacement?



Page 134

He often forgot that they had men and positions up there, thousands of them, a hundred metres up, blessed with oversight and a commanding position of fire.

Suggesting at least some of the trooper weapons have line of sight range. What kind of weapons, who knows.



Page 134

The sound was utterly stolen by a marrow-pulping impact of shells and las-fire that bracketed the gatehouse and shook the wall. Billows of flame belched in over the ruined death machine and the barricade and swirled up above the railyard. Parts of the barricade, sections of rolling stock, fifty tonnes apiece, shredded and blew inwards.

I'd guess maybe an explsoive equivalent to 2-3 m diameter, several kg of TNT at least (2-5 kg maybe.) Although we dont know much beyond the shelling exactly.



Page 136

There was a vast detonation and a cheer went up all along the infantry lines. Sustained fire from three dozen NorthCol tanks had finally crippled the first flat-crab and blown it apart. The second, grinding through the gate, was blocked by the wreck.

3 dozen tanks to take down a flat-crab superheavy. Possible indicator of what similar-scale superheavies can endure. Baneblades would be of similar tonnage. On the other hand the gate is 70m wide, which suggests that the flat crabs are greater than 35 m across (40+m maybe) which is much wider than a Baneblade.



PAge 136

Corbec began to fire. The thin crack of his lasgun was quickly joined by the heavier whine of Larkin’s sniper weapon.

lasguns and long-las have distinctively different sounds, which seem to have something to di with the difference in focus and (probably) output.



PAge 137

Milo and Baffels never found out what Yarch was planning. A las-round entered his skull though his nose-bone, blowing out the back of his head. As he rose weightlessly and jerked back, two more lasrounds hit him, one through the throat and the other through the eye. He tumbled down the rubble.

Another Zoican las-round blows out the back of a head - single digit KJ at least. Interesting that he's *probably* dead and lifted up and back by the implied round. Possibly the explosive vaporization. If we figure a 10 cm 'distance' covered in a second and a 70 kg Ghost thats 7 kg*m/s of momentum. If we figure a 1500 m/s 'velocity' of exhaust (speed of sound in water) that would be around 5-6 kj roughly. 4.6 grams of matter 'vaporized' would be around 11.5 kj. So its roughly consistent.



PAge 137

A light-storm of las-fire drummed around them. A ricochet hit Fulch in the buttock and dropped him to his knees. MkFeyd tried to rise to the fire step, but las-fire walked along its edge, exploding the fore-grip of his weapon and taking off the tops of two fingers of his left hand. He fell back, cursing his luck and jetting the others with bright, red blood.
Milo started to bind MkFeyd’s fingers with strips of field bandage, keeping his head low. Baffels was trying to patch the oozing wound in Fulch’s hindquarters ..

Lasbolt ricochets adn causes a bleeding wound. They may not be literal 'lasers' and this is unliekly to be particle beam behaviour with 'ricochets' - i'm uncertain if lasers can ricochet (we know they can be reflected/redirected) which may point out their exotic nature. AS I've noted, the Ghosts novels seem to treat lasweapons more often as energy projectile guns (las 'rounds' so to speak.)
The other round blows apart the fore grip of a lasgun and takes away two fingers. Interesting that the lasweapon HAS a foregrip although its not unheard of in SMGs and carbines (close to the fore-stock). Assuming a 5-6 cm wide, 2 cm thick foregrip, (consistent with blowing two fingers off 5-6 cm diameter, 2 cm deep). Exploding the stock (assuming metal) might take 20 kj if steel, Severing the fingers (single pulse) might be 3-4 kj, 4-5 kj if its plastic (high density polyethelyne)


Page 138

..as a trooper nearby was cut in two.

We dont knwo the weapon. Possibly a lasgun. Although heavy stubbers and such have done that.



Page 138

Mochran was already dead, punctured apart by a series of stub-rounds that had perforated the shed wall.

Stubbers blowing apart bodies again (or rather cutting apart.) in unknown number of shots (1-2 second burst maybe.)



Page 139

The vast cannonade of explosions flipped the crab up and over on its rear end. Quick-thinking gunners in the NorthCol armour hit its exposed belly hard. One shell touched off its magazine and it vaporised in a colossal jet of fire that blew out the top of Veyveyr Gate itself.

exploding Flat crab 'vaporises' (240-300 tons if we assume a Russ) call it 1-2 TJ if literal vaporization. Several dozen tonnes if its a regular weapon, perhaps and iron composition.



PAge 139

He had sixteen men with him, including Larkin and Trooper Genx, who carried a bipod autocannon.

Ghosts having autocannon support, man portable (single trooper) rather than tripod or vehicle mounted.



Page 139

..but the streets seemed to funnel and corral the enemy fire, and las — and bolt-rounds ricocheted along them.

Again lasbolts ricocheting intact. Las-bullets!



Page 139

Fire walloped back at them and Corbec marvelled at the way the lasrounds kissed and followed the stone walls. Trooper Fanck dropped, his chest gone. Trooper Manik was hit in the groin and his screams echoed around them.

implied that a lasbolt is blowing the chest out, although we know bolt rounds do it too. double/triple digit kj maybe, if its lasgun.



Page 139

Genx opened fire and his heavy cannon made a distinctive “whuk-whuk-whuk” in the closed space. An enemy round took off his hand at the wrist and Corbec scooped up the autocannon and fired it himself. Genx, his stump instantly cauterised by the las-fire, got up without comment and began to feed his colonel’s weapon.

Autocannon again. removing the wrist (cauterized) is at least single digit kj. 5-10 kj for 3rd degre burns maybe on the stumps.



Page 140

Larkin took his targets as they came, blowing off heads or blowing out chests with the powerful kick of his sniper gun. The las-fire of the normal weapons was superhot but lacked stopping power.
Larkin blanched as men beside him hit enemy troops who kept going despite precise hits which had passed through them cleanly. Only Larkin’s sniper gun and Corbec’s autocannon were actually dropping the foe first time so they wouldn’t get up again.

'Superhot, but lacking stopping power' is interesting. We know they can partially blow out skulls and blow off limbs, and inflict severe burns (sometimes cauterising) but they don't seem to make the huge holes that a long las hotshot pack does. I suspevct this means that the lasguns create deep penetrating but relatively narrower holes, with significant thermal damage on top of it. Long Las have more 'stopping power' by virtue of making much bigger explosive effects. Of course given we have examples in the novel of non-Ghost lasguns that arne't long las impleid to do that to heads (either traitor or Guard, like the Vitrian lasguns on max power removing a Space Marine's head.) this may refer mainly to Ghost lasweapons and indicate power/lethality varies by regiment/planet of origin. It may also reflect some regiments using different powerpacks (either hotshot or overcharge.) This 'deep penetrating but narrow wound diameter' type weapon may also reflect the lasweapons that often slice or cut apart their victims (which we see in various novels, including the Ghosts ones.)
Long las also blowing apart heads (completely) and blowing out chests. Double/triple digit kj maybe? (20-30 cm diameter at 400 j per sq cm its 100-280 kj per shot if by flash burns, which is roughly consistent with grenade level damage and single pulse 'pulse' laser blasters.)


Page 140

Two regiments of Vervun Primary Mechanised and a Volpone battlegroup were also directed to support Veyveyr..

Implies both Volvone and Vervun PDF have mechanised.



PAge 141

One group of Vervun motor-troops riding half-tracks with Hydra batteries mounted on the flatbeds were trapped in a side transit rout. In their agitation, they mistook a unit of Volpone Chimeras advancing behind them for an enemy force.
..
The Hydra batteries opened fire, briefly, until the mistake was discovered. By then, thirteen Volpone troops were dead.

Hydra guns can inflict at least some damage (penetrateion) of Chimera armour, although over unspecified time frame/volume fo fire. also hydras on half tracks part of a group of motorised infantry the Vervun also use. And confirmation of course of Volvone mechanised.



page 141

Vervun Primary, House Command and the VHPC had communication protocols and designated channels which worked efficiently during peace time or practice drills, but which were incapable of handling the sudden spikes in vox-traffic that accompanied heavy fighting. Worse still, the House Command vox-system, modelled on Imperial standard, used the same channel bands as the Imperial Guard and the NorthCol. Within an hour of the assault starting, it was virtually impossible for any unit commander to talk long range to his troops or for any order signals from House Command to reach the ground. It was even impossible to vox House Command for clarification. Only short-range vox-links between troops and officers in the field ground were still functioning. Some commanders tried to switch channels, hoping their men would have the same idea, but there was little chance of officers and men guessing the same new channel simultaneously.

Flaws in the command and control setup of Vervunhive. This underscores some of the key problems the Guards can sometimes run into - namely the lack of standardization. That is they have certain kinds of standardization potentially, but there's no way to guarnatee that it might work out ideally. The sheer diversity of number of worlds, the differences in training and fighting doctrine and styles, and even culture can lead to all these fundamental differences, and the difference between the way Verghast does things and the way the Guard does creates these problems and frictions. The fact that local politics has also hampered things doesn't help.
Its actually kind of ironic in a way, because in a Galaxy of WAR peace can actually be a detriment. If a culture remains peaceful and untouched by war (and we've seen plenty of those in different novels) they can grow lax or complacent, and when disaster does strike (Chaos cults, alien invasion, or whatever.) it can leave them ill prepared to properly defend thmselves. And it can create problems (as it does here) when you get soldiers who ARE used to fighting.


Page 142

Corday adroitly used his short-range micro-beads to relay the new channel setting from man to man through the field. Unfortunately, he had chosen a channel that was crippled by interference from the Shield harmonics.

Micro bead channels (At last some) can be blocked by proximity to voids.



PAge 142

Gaunt, who had been at Hass West when the storm began, immediately headed for Veyveyr with Daur and a platoon of Tanith.
..
The fifty Tanith Ghosts had assembled on the road beside the trucks.

The Ghosts are still using fifty-man platoons. This will change post Necropolis, presumably as a result of the inclusion of Vervun troopers to bolster the Ghosts.



Page 143

He pulled a chart-plate out of a thigh-pouch and deftly cycled through the map-patterns until he found the area they were in.
With a stylus, he worked out a possible route.

Chart plate written on with stylus.



PAge 144

He took a look eastwards at the dank slopes of the Spoil. Enemy shelling still whooshed down into it and he could see the sparks of las-fire exchanged up and down the ore-slag. The Spoilers were engaging hostiles coming up the Spoil. He hoped the Zoicans would continue their push up at the well-defended Spoilers. If they turned west, they would flow in on his meagre force from the rear and—

Corbec is at Veyveryr gate. The interesting thing is that given the earlier assessment of distances, we could be talking multi-km ranges for lasweapons. We dont know of course where the Spoilers are (or where the enemy are, for that matter.) but its sort of unlikely that the enemy managed to get most of the way up the spoil unengaged, too.


Page 145

With his one good hand, Genx indicated they had about three thousand rounds left for the autocannon, in loops around his body or in the panniers of ammo-drums he had collected. About two minutes’ sustained fire, Corbec thought.

3000 rounds of autocannon fire is 2 minutes of autocannon fire or 25 rounds per second. Probably suggestive of a full calibre round, although given Corbec's size (nearly 2.5 m tall) we might figure he could manage more powreful (perhaps even .50 cal). Bullets must not be too heavy to carry all that, even with advanced cartridges.



Page 145

A bolt-round slammed into the stone beside him and glanced off, hitting him in the thigh.
Corbec tumbled down with the impact and tried to claw the smouldering shell-case fragments out of his tunic pants. The cloth was punctured and there was blood. He found the round had been spent on impact with the stone and just the case had spun off into him, peppering his leg with dozens of metal scraps.

Bolt rounds seem to have fragmenation rather than explosive here. OR they arne't very explosive.



Page 146

Domor probed the smoke cover ahead with the optic implants he had acquired after an injury on Menazoid Epsilon.
The focus rings hummed and whirred around the blank lenses. “I read heat — lots of it. A flamer, pouring it on.”

Domor has infrared optics.



Page 147

. Venar had an autocannon and several cans of ammo still strapped to his load-bearing harness, so Milo gave him point to clear the way.

Again, the Ghosts seem to have picked up autocannons at this point in the story. No meltas anymore, however.



Page 148

He saw Filain scoot out from between wagons and then duck back into cover as las-fire scooped up the gravel and stone around him. One shot severed a piece of track and the metal section broke with an almost musical chime.

Assuming a 4 inch 'penetration' to sever the rail, 11 lbs of gelignite as per Mike's explosives page here for rule of thumb . Thats 5 kg, which is equal to 2.85 of tnt. Its possible, but maybe excesive. If we assume 1-2 inches 'only. we get 2.8 lbs for 2 inches and .7 lbs for one inch. whch is 1.28 kg and .32 kg of gelignite respectivley, which works out to .73 kg .183 kg of TNT. Figure a couple hundred kj for the luke campbell 'blaster' calculator. Must be a powerful lasweapon. Possibly not even a rifle, or perhaps a long-las?



Page 148

... he could see feet. Armoured, heavy booted feet in distinctive ochre armour.

Zoicans have leg/feet armour.



Page 149

Milo fired a burst upwards, punching three las-rounds through the aluminium siding of the wagon and the Zoican behind. The ochre-armoured figure convulsed and toppled clumsily out of the wagon. He landed next to the cowering Baffels, who automatically turned and shot the corpse through the head, point-blank.

Impyling a 3 round burst from Milo's lasgun, and it takes 4 rounds to definitely put down an armoured Zoican.

Page 149

Rhys rose, a las-round just missing his head, and lobbed a grenade over the wagon so that it fell neatly on the Zoican side of the rolling stock and vaporised them. A cracked Zoican helmet, split across the sneering, emotionless sculpture of the face, tumbled through the air and bounced near to his feet. He thought about taking it as a trophy until he realised there was the best part of a head left in it.

Multiple Zoican, possibly as many as a dozen 'vaporized' by a single grenade, thats at least worth a stick of dynamite or several, and potentially many times more powerful than real life grenades. It probaly isnt literal vaporizatation though like I assumed before, unless everything BUT that hlemet and part of the head was But its still insanely powerful all the same.


PAge 150

Wheln was sprawled in the open between siding tracks, his left leg below the knee a ruin of blood, bone and tattered cloth.

May be las fire or hard rounds. Either way single or double digit kj.



Page 150

There was a bark of cannon fire, and the two Zoicans on the truck top came apart and fell.

solid rounds taking apart people as well.



Page 150

Milo hooked a grenade over a brake cable and pulled the pin...
..
The grenade detonated and the force cannoned the freed truck, all eighteen tonnes of it, down the trackway, crushing the Zoicans sheltering at the far end between it and the next wagon on the rail. The entire length of rolling stock slammed and rattled into itself.

Again grenades seem to be insanely powerful. If we figure that grenade was full of oh, 1 kg of TNT and the 'cannoning' was a mere 1.5 m/s of speed (for example) the blast would be extremely hypervelocity to impart enough momentum I'd think.. Its quite possible this was not a 'standard' chemical/high explosive charge on that basis either as the energy content would be considerable.



PAge 150

.. the boy struggled to tie off Wheln’s ruined limb and stop him bleeding out.

Whatever he was hit with didn;t cauterise.


Page 152

Corbec crossed, firing still, towards the wound-peppered wall of an outbuilding, glad he had jammed all the energy clips he could find into his jacket pockets that dawn.

Corbec is carrying extra clips above the standard. Its interesting to konw that they may (unoficially) carry more than the standard (at least 2-3 probably) although this would clearly indicate that some fire power esitmates baesd on total number of shots (for all powerpacks) carried would be lower, although it would not be much more than several times lower (no more than 3-4x probably, since its unlikely they carry more than a couple dozen even if that. 10 or so would probably be more likely. For contrast here notes that at around 9-10 kg a trooper could carry nearly 3 dozen 5.56mm Nato clips at 300 grams apiece. going by FFG they are 400 grams per power pack which would be 22-25 packs. And at upwards of 200-300 shots per pack potentially that is literally an order of magnitude more ammo at a minimum!)


Page 152

Dremmond swung around, his spurting fire twisting like a whip. A dozen Zoicans crumpled, armour burning and melting off them. Some became torches that stumbled a few paces before they fell.

Flamer immolates 12 or 15 Zoicans depending on interpretation. 2.5 MJ 30-40 MJ maybe? Not including inefficiencies.



Page 152

Without his hand, he couldn’t handle a lasrifle, although there were several fallen nearby..

You can't use a lasrifle singlehanded this time.



Page 153

The Ghost next to Fols dropped wordlessly, his jaw vaporised.

Since it may not be literal vaporization figure single digit kj or so. Same as Merrt's calcs maybe.




Page 153

He turned, killed three. A welter of las-shots cut his men apart and splashed the wall they had just been using for cover with their blood. Fols lost a knee, an eye, an elbow and a fourth shot tore through his belly.

Zoican fire. LAsfire 'tearing apart' men. although without knowinghow many men or shots or enemy firing we can;t estimate it, Lasfire presumaly takes out (Severs?) the limbs. single digit kj maybe.



PAge 153

..other emblems that stung the eyes and nauseated the gut: the runes and badges of the Chaos pestilence that had overwhelmed them.
Some of the Zoicans had loudhailers wired and bolted to their helmet fronts and were broadcasting abominable hymns of filth and whining prayers of destruction.

Again Zoican psychological warfare, using chaos symbols and language. PArt of their ability to manipulate and corrupt humans to their way as well as to intimdate and terrify others.



Page 154

A rocket cremated Trooper Feax and threw Larkin into the air.

A rocket of some kind, high MJ/low GJ, but thats all we can say.



PAge 154

A Zoican was right on top of him, glaring down out of that fearsome mask-visor..
..
He slammed the brute back over into the rubble and pushed his blade in, trying to find a space between the ochre armour plating.
It went in, just below the neck seal of the battle-suit. Foul-smelling blood began to spurt out over Larkin’s arm and hand, and it stung like acid.
...
.. Larkin’s frantic efforts ripped the Zoican’s helmet off.
..
.. the face of the enemy, square on, naked, shorn of armour or mask or visor.

Zoican battledress and armour apparently its full body with rigid plates. The neck seal suggests that it can be sealed the helmets are full faced.

[Simon_Jester]

Oh and a flash suppressor. For a laser gun. :

Suppressing sidescatter from the beam optics? Still not very helpful.

Suggesting Merrt's sniper gun (long las, probably?) isn't using the 'single use' hotshots. Merrt later on becomes a 'significant' character in the series, if a bit of a tragic one. Also like with every other example (and noted before) range for Merrt and others seems to be at least half a km, possibly a km or more.

500 meters is perfectly normal range for sharpshooters armed with modern rifles. 1000 meters or more is pretty good; 1500 is well into extraordinary territory.

Again lasfire has littel trouble passing through the water without being disrupted or 'blocked. That suggests exceptionally good penetration of the bolts - more like particle beams than lasers, really. Heck magically good particle beams at that. Indeed the ability to pass even through a few metres of water coherently suggests it can pass through many hundreds, even thousands of metres of air without being significantly degraded. It also suggests that the previous calcs were still conservative as the bolts would still have enough power to pass thorugh the water completely.

In practice this shouldn't work- it's not that coherence is a problem, it's that seawater isn't that transparent.

Varl nodded, nursing his strapped arm.
His laspistol, the only weapon he could handle now, lay in his lap.

Varl, oddly, cannot use his lasrifle one handed, even though some ghosts have (of course some rifles have also shown recoil, so go figure. Presumably Varl's is one of the latter.)

Recoil may not be the problem; length and weight may be. Depending on the model of rifle, the center of mass may not be close enough to the trigger for you to hold it precisely in one hand and shoot accurately.

Page 200

A shell hit the wall and vaporised Gorley, as if he had never been there.

While vaporize might not be literal, given the aformentioned calcs for shells it quite possibly could be. If its not, we might figure 8-12 MJ to vaporize (explode), and probably several time sthat. Basilisk shell too.

Artillery shells don't do that normally; basically, they just don't deliver the bulk of their energy by heat.

The other Volpone are of similar height ot Gilbear, making them 'giants'. Milo's reaction seems to suggest such size is unusual (in the Guard at least), which is hardly surprising given Gilbear's monstrous height. Then again he should be used to Bragg...

Yes, but Bragg is a fluke.

Personally, I think the problem is that Dan Abnett, being an Englishman and all, sucks at the metric system. He hears "two meters" and thinks "six feet," when it's actually more like "six foot eight." The Space Marines, for instance, really shouldn't be more than 250 to 300 centimeters high, if nothing else because they have to be able to move around inside buildings which are built for human beings, in armor that adds noticeably to their height. Even 300 is pushing it for that purpose.

Gaunt, through the squad/platoon/company vox, gets a tactical download to his data slate. Presumably conidtions dictate the physical connection, as we've noted wireless is possible (even with the ghosts. technically the vox pack is providing wireless, it just seems that Gaunt's slate has no wireless capability, as contrasted with the slates we've seen Cain and his subordinates use in the Ciaphas Cain novels.) In any case he gets information (from the Leviathan) on the dispositions of troops, the vairous breakdowns on forces (armoured, emechanised, etc.) and the state of the battles (including losses and successes.) What's more, the information can be isolated to specific forces - specific regiments and even down to (at least) specific platoons.

This is doable today.

One note: on a battlefield for commanders there are real advantages to wired data transmission. It's inherently faster, more secure, and a lot harder to interfere with a coax cable than with a microwave signal. In an environment where enemy electronic warfare is causing (literal?) chaos, or where they might be listening or have even planted some kind of bugs to snoop on your activities, it is good to minimize those risks.

The more powerful transmitter of a company vox set, combined with encryption modules built into the set, might be a good deal more secure.

[Simon_Jester]

Wall defenses. Not the heaviest guns (We see those later.) Note the AA guns have the dreaded AUTOLOADERS.

Could you expand on that?

I mean, automatic loading systems are common on all sorts of modern artillery, wherever there's enough space and weight capacity to accomodate them. On a fixed wall mount that's an obvious feature.

Penetrator shells of some kidn can blow open cellars. We dont know what kind of penetrators so its hard to assess this . Assuming something on the order of 5-10 meters per side, and at least a couple metres thick (and silicon density) we might be talking double digit kj for a kinetic projectile, possibly several tens of kg of TNT for explosive. Thousands of tons of masonry would be approximately that, disregarding building materials above it (which we can't really do, but I doubt they build completely out of stone either.)

This is not a simple case. Part of point of concrete penetrator fuzed shells (random example here) is that by exploding inside a reinforced structure, they cause damage that weakens the structure and causes it to collapse under its own weight.

Implying that perhaps the Vannick would have been heard from by now, or at least arrived. Assuming they drive straight through with no stops, and left right away with no preparation we can figure 5-7 days call it 120-160 hours at most you'd get between 17-25 km/hr which is quite consistent with Forge world speeds. If we figure at least a day of preparation an on top of that (call it 3-5 days) you get 25-42 km/hr, wjhich is still within possible Russ speeds.
At the very least, we're talking a possible driving/operational range on the order of thousands of km, which is as good (ro better) than that implied in other sources (EG Defixio.)

Tanks normally aren't designed to drive that far. The extreme operational range could be explained by a few things. One is the Leman Russ being heavily overbuilt, with very rugged engine and drive train. There are reasons to want that if you're not fixated on optimum performance, because the Imperium has chronic problems maintaining its own heavy equipment. Something that is very unlikely to break down before your next chance to take it to the Mechanicus for a tuneup has its selling points.

The other is that the Vannick troops would take some other means of conveyance to get within a few hundred kilometers of Vervunhive (by rail or ship) and then dismount to travel overland in their own fighting vehicles. That's how people would normally do it in real life.

Tanith arrive using borrowed trucks and transports from NorthCol. Again indication of the Guard borrowing local transport to move their forces when needed. The interesting thing (aside from the trucks) is the regimental supplie snad support elements. It includes mechanics/armourers and servitors as well as other forces.

Also, suggests that the First-and-Only numbers about 2400 to 2500 men at the start of the battle for Vervunhive...


Page 59

The Magnificat was in mid-stream when the eastern sky lit up brightly. There was a sucking shudder, like a wind-rush over the water. The eastern horizon blazed with a midnight sun.

The nuke detonation. Assuming it simply 'level's the hive like it were a normal city of 10-15 km (ignoring the towers and other defenses) we'd be lookinat at least at a megaton, perhaps several. IT should be noted this is quite likely conservative, for one thing the blast is persistent enough for the blast/thermal effects to reach them (albeit harmlessly) at Vervun...[/quote]Since you didn't mention this, the nuclear attack went off at Vannick Hive, 3000 kilometers away, for a nuclear device smuggled into the city and blown up underneath its shields.

For reference, a 50-60 megaton bomb can (did) crack windows 900 kilometers away (hell, due to a fluke of atmospherics, Tsar Bomba broke windows in Norway, but that doesn't count). I am also seeing indications that the flash was visible from something like 2500 kilometers away.

So the weapon that was used to destroy Vannick probably was in the... I don't know, 25-100 megaton range, which would quite effectively rip the guts out of even a heavily built hive of many millions. It's possible that the effects of a nuclear bomb on one side of the hive might be 'muffled' a bit by the sheer amount of construction it'd have to vaporize and blast its way through, but not by much.

A groundburst like that would send out a huge killing fallout plume too, for what it's worth.

Maybe some buildings on the other side of the hive survived the blast. Even so, it would mean Vannick- a city-state with a population in the tens of millions before the blast- was in no shape to do offer noticeable resistance to a Zoican army. Let alone help anyone else to do so. Which is the point.

Note that by nature, a fifty megaton nuclear bomb would have to weigh several tons (this is not optional, it's just a fact about how nuclear fusion works), which suggests the Zoicans would have to smuggle the thing in on a truck bed. This would hardly be beyond their capabilities; there are no doubt a LOT of trucks going into Vannick. Especially if the demolition charge was planted well ahead of time.

It also implies that the device would not have been a reliable way to kill Vannick Hive if initiated from outside the shields; otherwise they would have tossed the thing in on a ballistic missile from hundreds of kilometers away. [wait, you covered that later]

Final note: I don't think this actually proves the bomb was 'nuclear' in that it runs on fission-initiated fusion. A sufficiently large "plasma/melta bomb" or whatever would do the same job. Release multimillion degree heat and energies on the order of a hundred million billion joules in one place and the resulting stratosphere-piercing mushroom cloud comes with the territory.

Verghast nukes (or Imperium- nukes in general, such as where they use them) can also be comparable to a 'self destruct' of a hive's powerplant (again suggesting perhaps at least megaton range.)

I suspect that even in story this is considered unlikely. While Vannick may not be as tough as Vervunhive, they could at least put up enough of a fight to alert Vervunhive that they were under attack before being so completely overrun that they have to blow themselves up.

Mkoll fell in step beside him and they moved through a commotion of men, trucks, diesel fumes and unloading work.

Diesel again, this time for trucks. again Promethium is not diesel.

Or it is, and people still use the word "diesel" anyway.

Analogy: we sometimes talk about "fuel oil." We sometimes talk about "diesel." This does not imply that diesel is not fuel oil. By convention diesel is lighter than the 'heavy fuel oil' burned in boilers, it's an intermediate step between gasoline/kerosene and the heavy grades of fuel oil. But broadly speaking diesel is a subspecies of fuel oil.

Considering most tanks would have shells smaller than a howitzer (unless you go by certain examples like picture/diagram scalings lol) its damn impressive...

Tanks have routinely been armed with low-velocity howitzer barrels in the past, whenever someone thought enemy infantry and fortifications were a bigger threat than enemy tanks. The Zoicans might easily have designed dedicated howitzer-tanks to assault the dug in fortifications of Vervunhive. The prewar Verghast militaries might easily have exactly the same kind of equipment (since all hives must foresee the need to fight enemy hives).

The Guard might have them too- arguably the "battle cannon" default weapon on the Leman Russ should be a howitzer-type weapon for a number of reasons I could go into later. And only a relative minority of tanks should be armed with dedicated antitank weapons like the Vanquisher cannon or some of the energy weapon variants.

Just because historical tanks of the post-WWII era mostly mount high velocity guns optimized for antitank work doesn't mean that should remain true indefinitely. Or under weird conditions.

Page 104

Nearly three quarters of a million fighting men were in position at the southern Curtain Wall of Vervunhive..

With 500,000 Vervun primary, 70,000 auxiliaries (about), 2000 Ghosts, and if we figure 1000per Narmenian (or perhaps total) thats 573 to 575 thousand troops total. If we figure 740,000 or so that leaves 165-167 thousand to split amongst the two regiments of Roane Deepers and the 3 Volpone regiments. on avreage thats around 33,000 per regiment or so, but more likely that the Volpone have more (Ghostmaker implied up to 50,000 remember) so if we figure around 40-50 thousand for the Volpone thats 120-150,000 for them, leaving 15-17 to 45-47 thousand for the Roane, or between 7 and 9 thousand to twenty two twenty four thousand per regiments. I'm inclining towards the lower limit actually givne known Volpone numbers, and even the lower limits are respectable (cadian regiments are that size.)

Where did you get those numbers for the auxiliaries? I'd expect rather more of them.

[Connor MacLeod]

Suppressing sidescatter from the beam optics? Still not very helpful.

I'll reserve comment on 'laser oddity' for below in the ocean bit.

500 meters is perfectly normal range for sharpshooters armed with modern rifles. 1000 meters or more is pretty good; 1500 is well into extraordinary territory.

1-1.5 km seems to be typical for 'long range' shooting with Ghost lasweapons, which echoes 'Legion' where you had lascarbines (what the Ghosts are noted to carry post Necropolis) with an accurate lethal range of 900m. Later ghost novels mention Larkin having hit/killed targets at upwards of 4 km occasionally, which I liken to the 'world record' sniper type events - eg something uncommon but well within capabilities.

The Ghosts 'average' engagement ranges against human opponents seems to be aruond 300-500m (Which again we'll see at various points throughout the series) with again lascarbines, which are actually shorter ranged (60-75% if you go by FFG stats) than lasrifles.

It also doesn't help that the IG fluff tends to be a bit odd when it comes ot 'marksman' and 'sniper' (esp FFG's stuff, but also the Ghosts) as they use the two interchangably. In some cases we get what might be Designated Marksmen, but often its just lumped in with 'sniper.'

In practice this shouldn't work- it's not that coherence is a problem, it's that seawater isn't that transparent.

One of the constant oddities in the Ghosts novels, esp the latter ones, is how progressively less 'laser like' lasguns acutally become. More 'lazer bullets', One of the latter novels (armour of contempt) features a scene where a lasgun fires on a tank as a distraction measure from a few hundred metres away. Gaunt is able to see the flashes of the firing BEFORE the bolts track and hit. Subsonic lasers, yo.

So bizarre penetration of water is not going to bother me in the least. Indeed, given the nature of many kinds of lasgun wounds I suspect they have many qualities akin to particle beams (deeply penetrating, whereas most 'realistic' lasers don't penetrate all that deeply and hence have to 'drill' into their targets to do lethal damage.) The ability of lasfire to do explosive damage whilst also leaving flash burns (or the charring/cauterization effects occasionally) is also worth some oddities insofar as my familiarity with RL lasers goes.

Recoil may not be the problem; length and weight may be. Depending on the model of rifle, the center of mass may not be close enough to the trigger for you to hold it precisely in one hand and shoot accurately.

That could work in some cases with lasweapons, but carbines (What the Ghosts evidently use, and recently confirmed by Only War) which are considerably more compact and lightweight than regular lasrifles (and in game rules carbines are actually easier to fire one handed than regular lasrifles.)

Artillery shells don't do that normally; basically, they just don't deliver the bulk of their energy by heat.

Any sort of weapon that the Imperium uses and involves chemical energy can be weird in some bizarre form or another. Flamers can cremate people despite running on chemical fuels (nevermind flamers or plasma weapons which for all intents and purposes by some depictions ARE flamethrowers), and many cases of grenades and other munitions actually inflict severe burns as well as the shrapnel/blast damage. Possibly a peculiarity of the weapons design or the technology of the grenade.

Yes, but Bragg is a fluke.

He's a fluke amongst the Tanith, but he's not neccesarily all that unusual. Most IG novels feature a Bragg type who is designed to heft and carry heavy weapons without the aid fo antoher person like it was a machine gun (from heavy bolters to autocannons. There's a Catachan who does that even in the guard Codex.) There are Feral regiments that make Catachans look puny (Canak skulltakers for example, rumored to have some ogryn genetics in their heritage.) And of course there is Necromunda with the goliaths (people who can wield heavy stubbers and meltas one handed.) or your average heavy (meant to carry most heavy weapons. Even the female heavies of the Escher.)

Personally, I think the problem is that Dan Abnett, being an Englishman and all, sucks at the metric system. He hears "two meters" and thinks "six feet," when it's actually more like "six foot eight." The Space Marines, for instance, really shouldn't be more than 250 to 300 centimeters high, if nothing else because they have to be able to move around inside buildings which are built for human beings, in armor that adds noticeably to their height. Even 300 is pushing it for that purpose.

40K has the same weird obsession with very tall people that it has with many of them being from planets with heavier gravity than earth. And Goliaths, Ogryns, and similar quite eaisly outdo Space Marines in the height department lol. Given the evident lack of health problems from this I can either only imagine genetic engineering (which is bizarre enough in 40K to make human-descended CENTAURS nevermind the odd stuff) or its just a product of mutation of some kind. 40K's gene pool where humanity is concerned is not nearly as pure as it wants to pretend it is.

Anyhow, 3m is the tallest I've seen for space marines anyhow and not everyone can agree ont hat. A fair number peg them at 'only' 2m, and 2.5 seems to be the compromise.

This is doable today.

One note: on a battlefield for commanders there are real advantages to wired data transmission. It's inherently faster, more secure, and a lot harder to interfere with a coax cable than with a microwave signal. In an environment where enemy electronic warfare is causing (literal?) chaos, or where they might be listening or have even planted some kind of bugs to snoop on your activities, it is good to minimize those risks.

The more powerful transmitter of a company vox set, combined with encryption modules built into the set, might be a good deal more secure.

Yeah I know. But like with every IG related novel I deal with, its worth noting these things because many people adopt a purely (and highly selective) 'codex' view of the Guard - which means its all basically WW1/WW2 'ATTRITION' style stuff and noen of the other neat things get treated as other than abberations. Heck the idea that Russes might have 'targeters' or 'sensors' of any kind has often been treated as abberation due to Imperial Armour. Given how often you get 'modern military vs fictional' with the guard, you have to start out from lowered expectations because thats what people will throw at you.

Could you expand on that?

I mean, automatic loading systems are common on all sorts of modern artillery, wherever there's enough space and weight capacity to accomodate them. On a fixed wall mount that's an obvious feature.

I'm taking some jabs at some of the sillier arguments I've encountered over the years, sort of like my recurring use of 'diesel fusion' as a term for anything 'fucking weird' power generation wise (Esp when it comes to Promethium definitions.) I've had people argue that the concept of 40K using autoloaders in any way shape or form is 'inappropriate' to the theme of the setting for the Imperium. That is, its all human muscle power, people running on treadmills or hauling on chains to move and load shit, etc. Because you know life is cheap everything is brute force blah blah...

Its much like with me constantly noting how 'impressive' the data transmission capabilities can sometimes be, because of the way people think/assume about this stuff. And its nto even the critics always. I wasnt kidding when people try to brush off calc inconsistencies (Esp for big yields) as RULE OF COOL.

This is not a simple case. Part of point of concrete penetrator fuzed shells (random example here) is that by exploding inside a reinforced structure, they cause damage that weakens the structure and causes it to collapse under its own weight.

Well as I said we dont knwo what kind of penetrator, so my number is pretty much just a guesstimate (at best.) I do those sometimes.

Tanks normally aren't designed to drive that far. The extreme operational range could be explained by a few things. One is the Leman Russ being heavily overbuilt, with very rugged engine and drive train. There are reasons to want that if you're not fixated on optimum performance, because the Imperium has chronic problems maintaining its own heavy equipment. Something that is very unlikely to break down before your next chance to take it to the Mechanicus for a tuneup has its selling points.

Not all that unusual really. As I noted there's a 'Let the Galaxy Burn' short story called 'Defixio' where a Salvar Chem dog Leman Russ (meaning it was salvaged, probably not top quality, etc.) was able to run 1500 km easily without fear of running out of fuel (and for all we know it was 3 days of constant travel.) That's consistent with the FW calcs for speed, and given the 'variety' I've gotten for Russ speeds in various sources I'm guessing there's a tradeoff between performance and efficiency/endurance. EG they accept lower performance ratings (Forge world calcs) for long distance stuff, but if the situation requires it they may tinker with the engines for better performance (at greater fuel consumption.)

And actually, the logistics and maintenance nightmares the Guard faces is one of the reasons why these things are probably stupidly powerful. The Baneblade for example has a barrel that lasted for (IIRC) 20K firings, which according to Sea Skimmer as much higher than real life barrel life (esp for high performance rounds.) Say what you will about the Russ but it is stupidly durable, rugged, and reliable (and heck thats even THEMATICALLY APPROPRIATE unlike autoloaders)

The other is that the Vannick troops would take some other means of conveyance to get within a few hundred kilometers of Vervunhive (by rail or ship) and then dismount to travel overland in their own fighting vehicles. That's how people would normally do it in real life.

Could be but I wouldn't see much point to it. Securing and preparing the tanks would be bound to take alot of time and effort, especially 'out in the field' - taking them off the transporters, moving them (And the transporters) into the city (under siege, no less), etc. Its not exactly a situation where dawdling or taking your time is desirable.



Page 59

Since you didn't mention this, the nuclear attack went off at Vannick Hive, 3000 kilometers away, for a nuclear device smuggled into the city and blown up underneath its shields.

For reference, a 50-60 megaton bomb can (did) crack windows 900 kilometers away (hell, due to a fluke of atmospherics, Tsar Bomba broke windows in Norway, but that doesn't count). I am also seeing indications that the flash was visible from something like 2500 kilometers away.

So the weapon that was used to destroy Vannick probably was in the... I don't know, 25-100 megaton range, which would quite effectively rip the guts out of even a heavily built hive of many millions. It's possible that the effects of a nuclear bomb on one side of the hive might be 'muffled' a bit by the sheer amount of construction it'd have to vaporize and blast its way through, but not by much.

A groundburst like that would send out a huge killing fallout plume too, for what it's worth.

Maybe some buildings on the other side of the hive survived the blast. Even so, it would mean Vannick- a city-state with a population in the tens of millions before the blast- was in no shape to do offer noticeable resistance to a Zoican army. Let alone help anyone else to do so. Which is the point.

Note that by nature, a fifty megaton nuclear bomb would have to weigh several tons (this is not optional, it's just a fact about how nuclear fusion works), which suggests the Zoicans would have to smuggle the thing in on a truck bed. This would hardly be beyond their capabilities; there are no doubt a LOT of trucks going into Vannick. Especially if the demolition charge was planted well ahead of time.

It also implies that the device would not have been a reliable way to kill Vannick Hive if initiated from outside the shields; otherwise they would have tossed the thing in on a ballistic missile from hundreds of kilometers away. [wait, you covered that later]

I still have my older, more generous calcs for the detonation from my first Necropolis analysis. I just decided to deliberately see how low I could lowball it without getting too absurd ad a bookend for that, because like many calcs I've done it tends to generate some screaming of one sort or another at some point.

Final note: I don't think this actually proves the bomb was 'nuclear' in that it runs on fission-initiated fusion. A sufficiently large "plasma/melta bomb" or whatever would do the same job. Release multimillion degree heat and energies on the order of a hundred million billion joules in one place and the resulting stratosphere-piercing mushroom cloud comes with the territory.

40K has a long history of using/misusing nuclear and atomic in bizarre ways, like tying it with geothermal power (only outdone by the plaent that had 'naturally occuring' nuclear fuels reacting or something or other from the HH short stories.) At this point its basically 'it could be nukes, it could be pseudo-nukes in the Dune sense.' I've seen both examples plenty of times.

The most absurd one was the lost dataslate for Dark heresy. a 1 kg man portable fission grenade called the 'catacylsmus device.' And that was based on technology deemed too inefficient and outdated for Imperial standards lol.

I suspect that even in story this is considered unlikely. While Vannick may not be as tough as Vervunhive, they could at least put up enough of a fight to alert Vervunhive that they were under attack before being so completely overrun that they have to blow themselves up.

Could be, but unless I can definitively prove it one way or another it covers my ass better to make allowances for either possibility. Heck thats one factor in the calcs I never considered - we dont know the nature of the powerplant or how volatile it is, and that could have contributed to the explosion too.

Or it is, and people still use the word "diesel" anyway.

Analogy: we sometimes talk about "fuel oil." We sometimes talk about "diesel." This does not imply that diesel is not fuel oil. By convention diesel is lighter than the 'heavy fuel oil' burned in boilers, it's an intermediate step between gasoline/kerosene and the heavy grades of fuel oil. But broadly speaking diesel is a subspecies of fuel oil.

Could be, but Promethium is so many things as it is already it wouldn't make much of a difference. In some novels its space oil, in others its space coal, and in others its space hydrogen (up to and including being used as a fuel source on starships. One of the latter Ghosts novels has people shovelling promehtium fuel into burners even lol.)

Tanks have routinely been armed with low-velocity howitzer barrels in the past, whenever someone thought enemy infantry and fortifications were a bigger threat than enemy tanks. The Zoicans might easily have designed dedicated howitzer-tanks to assault the dug in fortifications of Vervunhive. The prewar Verghast militaries might easily have exactly the same kind of equipment (since all hives must foresee the need to fight enemy hives).

The Guard might have them too- arguably the "battle cannon" default weapon on the Leman Russ should be a howitzer-type weapon for a number of reasons I could go into later. And only a relative minority of tanks should be armed with dedicated antitank weapons like the Vanquisher cannon or some of the energy weapon variants.

Just because historical tanks of the post-WWII era mostly mount high velocity guns optimized for antitank work doesn't mean that should remain true indefinitely. Or under weird conditions.

Which you could argue on the basis of the tank diagrams. The Russ on the basis of a number of sources has a 120mm tank gun. On the other hand we dont know the nature of the tank anyhow, and there is the thunderer siege tank and demolisherm which it migth be in this case.

Where did you get those numbers for the auxiliaries? I'd expect rather more of them.

The quote is in the first part of the analysis, one of the page 16 quotes. WE dont know what 'auxiliaries' really means though, as they get mentioned as 'auxliaries and armour crew' which could mean they fire and maintain the guns (including the wall-mounted artillery and AA Defences) for example.

[Connor MacLeod]

Decided I'd wrap up Necropolis with two updates. Part 1 first.

Page 155

Kowle was singing an Imperial hymn at the top of his lungs and firing with a storm bolter.

storm bolter equipped commissar.



Page 155

Kowle moved his units aside to allow Bulwar’s armour to finish the job and block the gate, though not before the commissar had posed for propaganda shots that were quickly relayed across the entire public-address system of the hive: ..

Public TV and propoganda.



Page 156

" I want a transcript of all vox-traffic,”

They keep vox transcripts.



PAge 157

“I have a reputation, Modile,” Gaunt said, “a reputation as a fair, honest man who treats his soldiers well and supports them in the face of darkness. Potentially, that reputation makes me soft. It seems I understand failure and forgive it.
“Some, like Kowle, believe me to be a weak commissar, not prepared to take the action my rank demands. Not prepared to enforce field discipline where I see it failing.”
..
“I am an Imperial commissar. I will enflame the weak, support the wavering, guide the lost. I will be all things to all men who need me. But I will also punish without hesitation the incompetent, the cowardly and the treasonous.”
..
“Commissar Gaunt. Do not speak further. You have cost lives this day.”
...
Gaunt took his bolt pistol from his holster. “For courtesy, choose: a firing squad of your own men or a summary execution.”
Modile stammered, lost control of his bowels and turned to run.
Gaunt shot him through the head.
“Have it your own way,” he said sadly.

In previous novels I noted Gaunt seems to have lost 'touch' with his Commissarial nature due to his association with the Ghosts (indeed, the whole 'Lilith and Gaunt' substory confirms that - Gaunt identifies with the Ghosts so much that he shared their memories during the little Eldar illusion thingy.) And while Gaunt still holds to his virtues (even Corbec notes he's a Commissar to the bone), it is still true that his objectivity has been corrupted. Indeed, I half suspect the reason he shot Modile was because he got his troops killed needlessly just as much as the others. Even if Gaunt doesn't admit it.
So this is an interesting scene in the sense Gaunt reaffirms his Commissarial role, but at the same time demonstrates he doesn't LIKE doing it. Whether that was always true (and I suspect it didn't.) or whether this is again a result of his leading the Ghosts is, of course, another matter. Part of these events may in fact explain why Hark gets assigned to the TAnith in Honour Guard - even the Tanith Commissar needs a Commisar to watch him, so to speak.



Page 159

..industrial areas that had been levelled on that first day before the Shield lit up. Shattered rockcrete buildings flanked the lips of craters twenty metres across or more

20 metre craters. If that is in stone, that's 1.4 tons of TNT. What kind of shell does it (or if its a single shell) we again don't know.



PAge 161

The blade was a compact chain-form: a thick, decorated grip with an extending blade of steel fifteen centimetres long. A flick of the rubberised stud on the index-finger ridge activated an internal power-cell that made the blade-edge vibrate so fast it looked still. But, gak, could it cut!
She touched the stud and the blade purred.

Chain knife. The interesting thing is that chain weapons here seem to be a sort of 'vibro' weapon rather than a chainsaw. It could be that perhaps chain weapons also include vibro-blade like weapons as well as the chainsaw type. I hope so, at least, because 'vibro' weapons actually make more sense than chainblades.
Then again its just a vibro blade and 'chian form' doesnt mean its related to chain weapons lol.


Page 162

The second had cartons of stoppered metal tubes. Hoping they might be food-paste, she squeezed a coil of black matter out into her palm and licked it.

Camo paint lol. Of course we've heard of food paste (the Space wolves had it too, at least in the Ragnar novels.)



Page 162

Ear-pieces with wires and plugs. Powercells. Rolls of gauze in paper wraps that smelled of disinfectant.

extra micro beads, I gather.



Page 162

..foil-packs of freeze-dried buckwheat porridge.
..
Then she found chemical blocks for firelighting and a pile went into her bag. Next, metal beakers.
..
..corn crackers in long, plastic tubes, soya bars in vacuum-packets. She pushed a dozen or more into her bag and bladed one open, cramming the soft, wet food into her mouth and gulping it down, brine dribbling down her chin and pattering on the floor.
..
Nutrient packs for first aid. Tins of soup that heated themselves when the foil strip was pulled out. Jars of air-dried vegetables in oil. Small, flat cans of preserved fish. Cartons of heat-treated milk.

It seems the Tanith guard rations are a cut above what alot of infantry might have to deal with. It almost sounds appetizing. I'm guessing the soya bars are the 'soft wet' brine-covered stuff. Anyhow at least its not Corpse starch.



PAge 162

The sudden crack and flash of a lasweapon made her jump out of her boots. A carrion-dog went racing past her, yelping and trailing a burned hind leg.

Possibly a laspistol, as Caffran is carrying one and he probably did it. Figure a 3 cm wide, 5 cm long 'burn' and call it 3rd degree, we'd be talking 750 joules. Intresting for the obvious lack of explsoive effect.



PAge 163

The blade purred in her hand and she sliced it upwards.
Caffran saw the vibro-blade coming and threw himself aside..

Again vibro-blade.


PAge 165

..as well as three flasks of sterilised water, a field-dressing kit, a pack of one-shot antibiotic jabs, some net-wrapped dry sausage…..

More Guard equipment.



Page 181

All of the Spoilers present, including Ormon, carried long-barrelled autoguns with scopes dedicated to sniping. Their faces were striped with bars of black camo-paint.

The Spoilers. Long barreld sniper autoguns, which I take to be the projectile version of long-las.



Page 181

Domor took Mkoll’s scope, set it up on a tripod stand in the shadow of a window and linked his mechanical eyes to the sight. He could now see further and clearer than anyone in the fortification.

Tanith scopes apparently are electronic, and Domor's augmetics can link up to them to enhance performance. A useful function.



Page 183

Level Sub-40 was almost a kilometre underground, deep in the foundation structure of the Main Spine. An armoured lift cage with grilled sides transported Gaunt down the last three hundred metres, lowering him into an underworld of dark, damp stone, stale air and caged sodium lamps.

Underground below the Vergahst extends at least a kilometre. Other faiclities may go as deep or deeper (bunkers are certainly mentioned.) Interesting, as this is usually underhive territory in other places (EG Necromunda.) Although Verghast is hardly a 'traditional' hive world either.



PAge 187

“I will not allow the VPHC to conduct any hearing.”
..
“Imperial Commissariat edict 4378b states that any activity concerning the discipline of Imperial Guardsmen must be conducted by the Imperial Commissariat itself. Not by planetary bodies. It is not Tarrian’s responsibility. It should not be a matter for the VPHC.”
“And you will enforce this ruling?”
“If I have to. I am the ranking Imperial commissar on Verghast.”
“The interpretation of law will be murderous. Any conflicts between Imperial and Planetary rules will be argued over and over. Do not pursue this, Gaunt.”

Local vs Imperial politics clash again. Again power is rarely absolute in the Imperium, evne for those who supposedly hold unlimited power. The Guard in theory has authority over the local forces in military matters, and yet poltiics necessitates a more equitable and diplomatic relationship by and large. Whiltse we know Guard commanders can declare martial law (EG the Cain novels) that is an extreme step, and givne the political resistance and arrogance of the Vervunhive upper tiers, it probably would face even greater resistance were Gaunt or others try to (assuming Sturm or Kowle didn't object as well.)
And yet that very arrogance is oftne displayed in this novel, even from the beginning (Salvador Sondar resenting the Administratum calling for aid, for example) and is an active detriment to the successful prosecution of the campaign from the beginning, and continues to be an obstacle even towards the end. Such is the nature of Imperial (and allied) politics.



Page 188

He nodded and a servitor opened a vox-channel. A chatter of almost unintelligible noise rolled from the speaker.
“Vox-central has washed the signal clean. The name repeats on all band-widths as a voice pattern and also as machine code, arithmetical sequence and compressed pict-representation.” Sturm fell silent. He reached for a cup of caffeine on the edge of the chart table, his hand trembling.
“A blanket broadcast. They certainly want us to know,”

Interesting given how it seems to incorproate not just audio signals, but also machien code (what we may now consider to be 'scrapcode') and visual data (compressed pic stuff.) Not only does that indicate that the Imperial forces have means of picking that up, but the mobile Chaos army has means of broadcasting on all of those.



Page 189

“The Heritor was one of Archon Nadzybar’s foremost lieutenants, a warlord in his own right, personally commanding a force of over a million. He was one of the chief commanders Nadzybar gathered in his great retinue to form the vast enemy force which overran the Sabbat Worlds, Emperor damn him. Despite the notoriety of the other warlords — filth like Sholen Skara, Nokad the Blighted, Anakwanar Sek, Qux of the Eyeless — Heritor Asphodel remains the most notorious. His sworn aim, both before and after Archon Nadzybar co-opted him into the pact, was to ‘inherit’ Imperium world after Imperium world and return them to what he saw as the ‘true state’ of Chaos. His ruthlessness is immeasurable, his brutality staggering and the charismatic force of his personality as a leader cannot be underestimated. And with the possible exception of Sek, he is probably the most tactically brilliant of all Nadzybar’s commanders.”

I consider this passage interesting becuase up to this point, it is the most detailed and coherent description of the nature of the enemy the Sabbat Worlds Crusade has been facing. By the previous two novels alone it seems just like more disorganized rabble, whereas here we get indications there was a coherent, unified enemy. Sek becomes prominent later on, Nokad and Skara were in Ghostmaker, but we've never heard about the Archon til now or anything like that Qux was mentioned in the SWC book but his fate is as of yet uknown.
What's more, it underlies the nature of the opposition in terms of their capabilities - what makes them dangerous isn't just that they are chaos, but they often are charismatic and intelligent, having many and varied ways of pulling off their schemes and amassing forces. Even worse, they worship chaos in their own, insidious ways. They're not your run of the mill psychos or berserkers or Chaos Space MArines. They are Leaders of Chaos more in the vein of Abbadon and Huron, cunning, skilled, and powerful.



Page 192

He ordered Bragg up to the wall-line and spotted for him as Bragg loaded rocket grenades into his shoulder launcher.

Bragg using a rocket-grenade launcher this time. Seems to be multi-shot as well.


'
Page 192

Two Bluebloods of the elite 10th Brigade stood guard at the gas-curtained entrance. They were giants in their carapace battledress, the grey and gold of their segmented armaplas and fatigues spotless and austere. Each carried a gleaming black hellgun with a sawn-off pump-gun attached to the bayonet lug under the main barrel.

Blueblood weaporny. The under-side weapon isn't specified, but may be a grenade launcher as we discover latter. Or perhaps some sort of shotgun or similar.



Page 194

Willard had a metallic implant— in his case, the fingers and palm of his right hand.

Augmetic palm and fingers. JUST LIKE CAIN.



Page 195

House Rodyin’s fortunes were built on food sources and their harvester-machines grazed the great pastoral uplands north of the Hass, gathering grain for the vast granaries in the dock district.

Verghast has agriculture, suggesting its not nearly as densley populated as other 'hive worlds.



Page 198

The Spoil-head manufactory around him was quiet and dark, but he was aware of the Vervun sniper Lotin crouched behind rubble further down the second-storey room.
Ten minutes before, Larkin had sensed movement down on the Spoil.
..
The Zoicans were advancing up the Spoil.
..
He signalled his intelligence to Mkoll over the vox link, using only half a dozen code words.
Mkoll ordered the Tanith snipers to address and fire when they had a target. A second later, Ormon delivered the same command to his own men.
..
Larkin saw movement again, clearly in the foggy, green glow of his scope.
..
The stinging red pulse whipped down the ore slope and a black-clad figure was thrown up and backwards.
..
He heard Lotin complain over the vox-link. He’d missed.
..
Lotin fired again. His whoop of success was quickly cut short by a perfectly aimed las-round from the Spoil below. The Zoicans had been watching for a repeat flash.
Lotin toppled back and slumped into the rubble scree on the floor, his face gone.

Again the implied range is that the Imperials and Zoicans exchange fire up/down the Spoil, implying multi-km ranges. Some of the Vervuni also have lasweapons and microbeads - at least amongst the spoilers, who are noted as something of elites (although they also use long barreled autoweapons). One of whom (as we see) gets headshotted and his face bown away. Hard to calc exactly, but if we figure 15-20 cm for th face and 125-400 j per sq cm for serious burns we have 200-400 sq cm which is at least 25-50 kj per shot, and upwards of 80-160 kj per shot potentially, from an unknown lasweapon.



Page 202-203

“Advocate Cornelius Pater of the Administratum Judiciary. Your request for legal assistance was received this night and Intendant Banefail directed me to attend you with all urgency.”
..

“Just so,” Pater said, brushing off the correction and returning his gaze to the slate. “It may come to court. Tarrian has a miserable record of dragging cases through all the due processes, even if he is bound to lose. To him, there’s some satisfaction in prolonging the agony.”
..
"Tricky. But the edict is well-precedented. A brief hearing, perhaps at dawn tomorrow, and we should be able to pull the rug out from under the VPHC Pater looked up at Gaunt. “I’ll derive satisfaction from that. The VPHC have deemed themselves above Imperial Law for many years. It’s been nigh on impossible to practise clean law in the hive. With your prestige involved, we can win.”

Makes sense for the Administratum to keep legal help well informed and proficient in dealing with local matters on hand, such as when a conflict between local and Imperial interests crops up (like in this precise example.) It highlights again that the Imperium is not ruled by absolutes - despite theoretically being superior to local matters in all cases, sometimes they can't just use the hammer to bash their way to their objective and may have to be more subtle or actually work within the system. In such cases, a judicirary like this guy can help.
I should note this is also similar to the conflicts the Calixian version of a 'commissariat' has created.


Page 205

The defenders couldn’t fight this. Varl tried to vox House Command or Tanith control, but the energy flare of the bombardment had scrambled the communication bands.

Energy flare from arillery bombardment (presumably against shields) screws with the vox.



PAge 206

A shot hit the Vervun Primary trooper nearest to Meryn and exploded his spiked helmet.
There was a flash and some vast cutting beam drawn up outside the Wall swept over them. Meryn saw it and threw himself flat as the inexorable beam raked the parapet at chest height, vaporising the hurrying line of Vervun troopers in a murderous sequence. They simply vanished in turn, obliterated, leaving nothing but clouds of steam and the occasional smouldering boot behind.
The beam swept right over the prone Tanith Corporal, searing the back of his breeches, jacket and head-hair right off. He winced at the low throb of superficial burns, but he was startled to be alive.

Beam weapon 'vaporizes' around a score of Vervun infantry. If literal we might be talking at least gigajoule range. If not, double, perhaps triple digit MJ (to merely 'explode')
We dont know what explodes the helmet.



PAge 206

Enemy shelling and beam-fire were punching clean through the Wall and the fort structure now and blasting into the edges of the worker habs. The Shield, ignited above them, mocked the scene. What good was an energy screen when the enemy was blasting through ceramite and adamantium?

Apparently the shield didn't extend completely to the ground through the wall, so weapons sufficiently powerful to penetrate (or knock down) the shields weren't blocked by it.



Page 207

As if on cue, one of his spotters reported movement on the Vannick Highway, twenty kilometres north-east. Nash used his magnoculars on heat-see and gazed out at the shimmering, green phantoms of tanks and armoured vehicles, thousands of them, roaming towards Ontabi in a spearhead formation.
“I have contacts! Repeat, I have contacts! At least a thousand mechanised armour units advancing down the Vannick Highway and the surrounding hinterlands! They’ll be on top of Hass East in under an hour!"

Infrared mode on magnoculars again, first of all. Then the Zoican armour (unknown types) is spotted some 20 km away and takes 'less than an hour' on and off road to arrive, subjeectively Possibly half an hour passes, as Gaunt notes when they've rescued Grizmund and he gets a tac update.
At the very least it suggests 20 km/hr, although it can certainly imply faster speeds at half an hour (40 km/hr off road) or thereabouves. 20 km/h is a good lower offroad limit for most tanks (fits established calcs) and 40 km hr on road isn't impossible, although 40 km/hr off road woudl be quite a bit better than usual (But still not impossible, especialyl by certain assumptions.)



Page 211

.. Tarrian as he pulled his autopistol from its holster. Gilbear dropped him with a shot to the chest. Tarrian’s body exploded out through the back of the wooden seating.

Hellgun shot sends human body blated through wooden seat.


Page 213

Windows blew out all across the hive. The ambient temperature dropped by six whole degrees as the insulation of the energy dome vanished and the cold of the Verghast night swept in.

I guess I was wrong and the shield did provide some sort of insulation Temperature wise, that might correspond to an energy of a couple megatons being 'lost' when the shield fades.



Page 213

..blazing the sacred sword into life, raging out orders to both the men around him and those unseen on the wall-top via his microbead link.

MArshal Croe has a micro-bead.



Page 215

Rudrec tucked the satchel inside the body of his flak-mail hauberk.

Flak-mail.



PAge 215

He put his ducal seal in his coat pocket, pushed the heavy code-signet ring onto his gloved finger, and slid a compact, single-shot bolt pistol with inlaid grips into his gown’s inner sleeve.

single shot bolt pistol.


Page 216

The shelling and the dreadful cutting beams searing Hass East scored a hole a hundred metres wide where the Curtain Wall and the Ontabi Gate had once stood, and as the beams redirected towards the inner habs and the upper stretches of the Curtain, ..

Beam weapons drill holes 100 m wide straight through walls. We don't know the actual diameter (Except such beams could vaporize people) so lets say several metres across, and maybe a good 10-20 metres thick at least (possibly 100m or more, if we try to scale by the map whcih I am not going to). ASsuming granite and the laser death ray (5 cm spot size, 300 50 MJ pulses, and 10 ms delay between shots) you get around 15 GJ for the beam for 20 m penetration and ~2m or so damage diameter. That would be 50 such shots over an unknown timeframe, If melting we'd be easily looking at 5-10 TJ total for an unspecified period of time.
Of course we could just figure it burned a hole 100 m wide in all directions too, and punched through regardless, and that would be even more insane. For a 100m wide crater (single shot) we'd get at least a good couple hundred tons of TNT equivalent to punch through the wall alone, assuming it was explosive. Melting or vaping through would e even more insane (kiloton range easily.)
Either way its implied to be an impressively powerful - superheavy or titan scale beam weapon.



Page 216-217

Long-range shells — some two thousand kilos apiece, launched from railcars drawn up on hasty, makeshift trackways out in the southern grasslands — whistled and whooped as they dropped on the Commercia and the mercantile suburbs. Barter-houses blew out, their rich canopies igniting in sheets of flame as hot as the heart of a star. Shockwaves crumpled others and the massive shells dug vast craters in the rockcrete footing of the hive. Hundreds of thousands of refugees were still pressing to leave the commercial spaces. Most died in the firestorms or were instantly obliterated by the shelling. Some of the craters were five hundred metres across.

Heavy multi-ton shells blowing out craters upwards of 500 m diamter, firestorms, and flames 'as hot as a star', implying something nuclear or nuclear like (plasma, melta, etc.) 2 ton shells, not unlike the artillery at Fortis Binary, and still some tens of km away, again not unlike Schwerer gustav in performance. 500 m diameter craters would, assuming siilicon be some 20-60 kilotons at least (probably) to blow out, depending on parameters (Where it deontates, how deeply it penetrates before detonating, etc.) Thats 10 tons per kg, which is rather low by nuke efficiencies but good by certain analoges (EG plasma or melta, which could be likened to the hafnium bombs purported to be made from Nuclear isomers.



Page 218

He smoothed the front of his white dress uniform, adjusted the waist buckle under the girth of his belly and pulled out his autopistol.
He shot the table eight times for disobedience, then changed clips..
..
Anko shot Langana through the left eye and emptied the rest of his third clip into the mouth of one of the servitors, blowing the upper part of its head away.

7 autopistol rounds to blow top of Servitor's head away. Assuming KE equal to a 9 mm parabellum, we're talking 2800-3500 J equivalent, which might again give us a good benchmark for lasweapons which do similar effects with a single shot.


Page 219

A brace of Earthshaker shells struck the great Basilica of the Ecclesiarchy east of the Commercia.
The two-thousand-year-old edifice — which had stood firm through the Settlement Wars, the Colonial Uprising, the Piidestro/Gavunda power struggle and countless bouts of civil unrest and rioting — shattered like glass. The roof was thrown outwards by the multiple blasts and millions of slate tiles showered the area for kilometres around, whizzing down like blades.
Stone walls, two metres thick, were levelled in the deluge of fire, flying buttresses sundering and bursting apart. Precious relics almost as old as the Imperium itself were consumed along with the priesthood. The streets outside were awash with rivers of molten lead from the roof and the windows.

sicne I'm lazy I'll use Saint Peter's as my benchmark. given the description above its reasonably apt.If we figure a 150m per side, 130 m tall basilica, it would mass some half a million tons (550,000 to be exact.) If we're lazy and compare that to a similarly masesd asteroid in the ADC, we'd get a 75-80 m asteroid needing 70-90 tons of TNT to blast. Which is alot for HE shelsl, but note that a 150 m diameter crater would be something like 600 tons to blast
There's also comparing the shell barrage to a nuke and figuring a 75 m blast radius. At that, the effects should be comparable to 100-1000 kg of TNT. Not as insane, but still pretty powerful. On the other hand I get it being equal to 120mm mortar here According to here a 120mm mortar might have 4.2 KG of explosive, which I've located for US mortars as Composition B which is 1.35, so thats closer to 5.7 kg of TNT (and would create a crater of roughly that diameter, radius wise it would be ~24 kg of TNT) Whether a 120mm mortar could do that I dont know, but we DO know the lower end of Earthshakers (old IA) was 125mm so its not impossible. I imagine which of them is more right depends on the nature of the shells (HE or something exotic), but conservatism and general concern I might get things wrong always lean me towards the second one
Astly we might try demolitions, the rule of thumb formula on Mike's explosives page is L=0.1d^2 (L - charge in lbs of gelignite, D- diameter in feet.) Should get about half a kilo or 2/3 a kilo of TNT equivalent roughly, at least. For that blast radius we're probably figuring some 150 charges or so placed end to end, which works out to 75-90 kg of TNT estimated, asusmkingit only blows out the lowest levels. Even if 1/3 of that is needed, we're still talkign each shell being equal to 12-15 kg of TNT apiece at LEAST, and I AM lowballing it considering the others suggest more powerful.
Of course Earthshakers are as variable in everything else including calibre, and some (esp some variants like in Fifteen hours) can get quite large/powerful, so aside from saying 'Earthshaker' this doesn't help much.





Page 222

Tarrian was dead, his rib-cage blasted open like a burned-out ship’s hull.

Hellgun bolt blows out human chest/torso enough to expose rib-cage. We can figure triple digit kj more than likely.


Page 223

Captain Daur stood nearby, his face alarmingly pale. He held out a data-slate. “I used the stockade’s codifier link to access House Command. I thought you’d want an update and…"
...
Gaunt took the slate and read it, thumbing the cursor rune to scroll the illuminated data. He could barely believe what he was seeing. The information was already a half-hour old. The Shield was down. Massive assaults and shelling had punished the hive. Zoican forces were already inside the Curtain Wall.

Daur downloads/acquires tac updates into a dataslate to provide Gaunt. So long as a connection is available presumably others can also.

Also the information indicates half an hour or so has passed since the shield came down


Page 224

Along the ore-work emplacements at the top of the Spoil, Mkoll’s marksmen and Ormon’s Spoilers held the slag slopes with relentless expertise.

Again implying multi-km ranges (at least for snipers) when it comes to assaulting the Slope.


Page 224-225

.. he saw Feygor spin back and drop nearby. A las-round had hit him in the neck.
..
Lesp fought with the struggling Feygor, clamping wet dressings around the scorched and melted flesh of his neck and trying to clear an airway.
“His trachea is fused! Feth! Help me hold him!”
..
The las-hit had cauterised the wound, so there was precious little blood, but the heat had melted the larynx and the windpipe into a gristly knot and Feygor was suffocating.
..
Lesp threw the small, plastic-handled scalpel away in disgust and pulled out his long, silver Tanith knife. He stuck it into Feygor’s throat under the blackened mass of the scorched wound and opened a slot in the windpipe big enough to feed a chest-tube down.

Feygor gets a lasround to the neck and has his throat burnt bad. The simple way to calc is 3rd-4th degree burns (less than flaying) - call it 50-200 j per sq cm for this case. Assuming a 10x10 cm area, thats 5-20 kj at least to burn, and I'm wagering close to the higher end.
More complex is to do it by volume for the heat ray. This however is more problematic in that we dont know the exact volume of tissue burnt. The trachea and windpipe are some 2-3 inches inside the throat near as I can tell, and a lasbolt is typically an inch or so in diameter at least, so we might figure its either that, or that its roughly hemispherical in effect. IF we go roughly hempsiherical we get close to 25-90 grams of tissue 'burnt'. If we go with 'lasgun with' burn, we gt roughly 20-30 grams at least. If we assume its as wide as the tracha (2-3 inches) you get between 75 and 264 grams roughly. If the bolt passes through the throat whilst cooking the Trachea/larynx together, we get several times that figure (depending on depth and asusmed diameter.)
For the sake of argument I assum ethe flehs gets cooked somewhere between scalding (3rd degree burns) and boiling., although catuerziation as noted could be higher than this, I don't anticipate it being much higher than I've previously estimated (and its an OoM estimate anyhow so the variance shoudl fall within that. For 25 grams you get 100-120 kj per kg, which might be 'only' 2-3 kj to 7.5 kj on the low end. to 9-27 kj on the other end. 264 grams would yield 25 to 80 kj roughly per shot. I'm more inclined to think, for heat ray, double digit, perhaps triple digit if its deeper penetrating, although high kj wouldn't be totally impossible if its relatively shallow burns or narrow area of effect.
Overall this is an interesting calc not so much for the numbers, but because we have a blatant, purely thermal lasbolt effect that isn't blowing apart Feygor's neck or blowing out his skull. Unless he took a glancing hit (possible, but unknown) it cannot have been very explosive (despite other shots that have blwon out necks, the backs. tops or fronts of heads, blwon off limbs, etc.) and it cauterises instead of leaving bleeding. Like the previous 'superhot but lacking stopping power' it reflects a great deal of variation in how lasguns operate an inflict damage, even within a particular battle or series. In this case its obvious thermal instead of mechanical effects, which hearkens back to my older 'heat ray' cauterization clacs than my latter approaches.



PAge 227

Then Zoican tanks began to arrive, trundling up through the blasted arterial roads adjoining the Square of Marshals. They were light, fast machines built for infantry support, ochre-drab and covered with netting, with turrets set back on the main hull, mounting pairs of small-calibre cannons. Bray had thoughtfully removed all the rocket grenades and launchers from the billet stockpile...
..
..the slipways off the arterials were ablaze with crackling tank hulls by the time heavier armour units — massive main battle-tanks and super-heavy self-propelled guns— began to roll and clank up into the chem-district.

Zoican tanks of difering types, plus superheavy artillery (SPGs) Also the Tanith using rocket-grenades and launhcer.s Probably a reference ot the tread-fethers.

PAge 228

Trygg made a sound like a scalded cat and fell, severed at the waist. Ochre-armoured stormtroops flooded into the ruin below Caffran, firing wildly.

Probably a lasweapon. As I noted already, lasweapons seem to operate in highly variable modes or styles, even within the course of a battle. Figure similar in yield to previous examples of this (like in First and Only) double digit kj at least maybe, over however many shots.

Page 228

Caffran rolled away, firing his loaded rocket launcher. The rocket hit the Zoican in the gut, lifted him twenty metres into the air and blew him apart.

Assuming the guy is lifted at least a few m/s enough to ilft a heavy (80+ kg) trooper into the air. WE dont know if the Zoicans are wearing flak or carapace (except its plated armour) but its an indicator of what they can resist impact/kinetic wise. ASsuming its something similar to an RPG-7 here we get 2-5 kg at 115 m/s which is 230-575 kg*m/s. A LAW rocket, by contrast is 145 m/s but only 1.8 kg which is 261 kg*m/s. KE is between 13-33 kj for the RPG-7 and 19 kj for the LAW. The AT-4 mentioned here has a 290 m/s velocity and the same rocket weight. which is 522 kg*m/s and 76 kj.
Considering you only needa bout a grenade's worth of TNT to blow a person apart as well, and the filler for the AT-4 is 440 grams (and a HEAT round at that), the LAW about a third of a kilo, whilst the RPG-7 (depending on hEAt or HE) can be from 200 to a kg and a hlaf. If we assume HE and it is between 200-500 grams, the grenade must have absorbed at least half again (or severla times) the force of the blast in all probability. So whatever the Zoican armour is, its quite durable, especially for Chaos troopers (not known for having high tier equipment.) At least as good as any Guard medium/heavy infantry in all probability.



Page 231

“I need schematics of the upper Spine. Anything you can get.”
Ban Daur nodded and began to resource data via his slate.

Again data acquisition from the slate, although this time it seems to be implied to be wireless, unless he's accessing it through some port in the lift.



Page 232-233

A las-round hit Lord Chass in the left knee and dropped him face down onto the carpet.
..
They fired again, blowing chunks off the jardinière and hitting Chass in the foot and shin of his already wounded leg. He fired his single-shot piece and the heavy round took the youth’s head off.
..
A sudden burst of autogun fire licked down the atrium and tore the puppets to pieces, leaving nothing but a few shreds of flesh trailing from the wires.
Four men came down the hall from the main entrance.

Chass's single shot bolt pistol headsplodes a servitor. Chass gets hit in the leg 3 times by lasfire (dealt with later.) and a short burst of autogun fire from 4 troopers shreds a human body. Assuming some sort of fragmenting bullet we'd be talking probably some 130 or more rounds at intermediate calibre (.223 NATO) here going by the widest point and we ignore the limbs and assume a 50cm tall, 40cm wide torso 6.8mm SPC does better, as do the full power rifle rounds (.30-06 and 7.62mm NATO at least.) which looks to be in the 10-15 cm 'diameter' range for the permanant cavity (largest dimension) 7.62MM NATO or .30-30 might cover it, as might 6.8 SPC, although .30-06 is probably stretching it (more bullets than you need) its not impossible. So either a powerful intermediate (or a very highly fragmenting one) or a lower end full calibre catriedge (which is consistent with Siege of Vraks.)
By contrast, a ~10-20 kj lasbolt (only a couple pulses total to allow for lethal penetration, aspect ratio sucks ass) would equate roughly to the simialr wound diameters implied above for permanant cavity. (~8-9 cm diameter roughly) which is between .223 and .762 MM Nato performance wise.



Page 234

His voice was faint. Gaunt looked at the wounds that mauled the nobleman’s leg.
..
Isak had applied a tourniquet high up on the thigh, but his robes were soaked with blood.

State of the leg. Not blown apart, but mauled, and not cauterized.



Page 234

Gilbear looked across and tapped the grenade launcher mounted under his hellgun’s barrel with a predatory grin. “Permission?”
“Given!” said Gaunt. “Tell your men in there to duck and cover!” he told Isak and the bodyguard snarled through his microbead.
Gilbear and one of his point men bellowed the Volpone battle-pledge at the tops of their lungs as they launched grenade after grenade in through the arch. The launcher mechanisms thumped and clacked as they pumped them.
..
The place was a ruin. Dismembered or support-severed servitors littered the wooden wreckage. One puppet, which had been standing on a now-collapsed balcony, swung above their heads like a corpse in a gibbet.

The Chass lifeguards have microbeads (suggesting again they are utilized ot some degree even if at least by private armies on VErghast) and the volpone 10th use under-slung grenade launchers that are multi-shot. Possibly the pump-guns mentioned before.
We dont know how many grenades were fired (or how many servitors there were) but they were pretty thoroughly blown apart, suggesting again that grenades in 40K are at least as powerful and probably moreos than modern equivalents.



Page 236

The servitor came into the room through a doorway concealed by muslin drapes. Sondar’s macabre fascination with his meat-toys was infamous in the noble houses, and many efforts had been made to curtail his surgical whims and clone-farming over the years.

Sondar had access to cloning tech on Verghast, although it was considered deviancy



Page 236

The insanity of the warp was in it: eighteen hundred kilos of scarred meat and gristle, bigger than a Hyrkan antlerdon, a jigsaw of human parts fused into the carcass of a wild auroch from the grasslands. Limbs twisted and writhed around it, some human with grasping hands, some animal, some wet, glistening pseudopods like the muscular feet of giant molluscs.

Mutnat servitor/daemon thingy.



Page 237

the other Volpone fired wildly.
...
A cloned human arm was blown right off and lay twitching on the ground.

Volpone (probably hellgun) shot blows off a cloned human arm. single digit kj at least.



PAge 237

A screaming Volpone was hoisted into the air and shaken violently to death, impaled through the chest on one of the horns. Another was crushed under the meat-beast’s bulk, leaving a trampled mess of blood, bone and broken armour pressed into the carpet.

Carapace armour (I assume) used by Volpone can't stand up to the weight/pressure of being crushed onder nearly 2 tons of mutatn flesh, nor can it survive being rammed by that much momentum in a charge (albeit on a horn.) Gives indications of resistance to high mass/high momentum type attacks (contrast with Zoican storm trooper) Probably in both cases we're talking at least thousands of kg*m/s worth of momentum easily, although how much is up for debate. Probabl not TOO high, as the beast is clearly not running at (for example) automobile speeds, so I'd wager its accurate to within an OoM at least as far as momentum goes.



Page 239

Kowle was apparently fumbling with the dead Blueblood’s equipment belts.
..
He faced the rushing beast with his arms held out. He was clutching a canvas web of grenades. The meat-beast bit his arms off at the elbows and Kowle tumbled backwards, blood jetting from the stumps. He didn’t make a sound.
The creature convulsed, retched and exploded from within. Its massive torso blew out in a rush of flame and body matter. A spinning section of rib, thrown out by the blast, stuck quivering into the wall near Gaunt like a spear. Flames gouted out of the huge mouth.
The beast collapsed onto the floor, pulling feed lines and wires out of the ceiling. The pool of stinking fluid spreading beneath it began to burn the carpet away.
With Gilbear behind him, Gaunt crossed to the carcass. “We need a flamer. We need to burn this abomination as soon as possible.”

Assuming the Volpone carried 10-20 grenades in real life, it woudl be at least as good, as modern grenades (Baesd on presumably blowing apart a person) although it could be up to several times better or more based on this example, depending how many are on the belt and such.

[Connor MacLeod]

Final update for Necropolis

Page 240

“Said… you… didn’t have the balls,” Kowle said, his voice so weak it was barely audible.
Gaunt had no words for him.
“Envy you…”
“What?” Gaunt asked, bending closer.
“Balhaut… you were there at the victory, with the warmaster. I envy you. I would have given… everything to share in that…”
“Pius, you—”
“Shut up, Gaunt… not interested in… anything you have to say to me. You took my honour away, you… ruined me. I hope the Emperor… will forgive you for robbing Terra of a… great leader like me…”
Gaunt shook his head. He reached into his pocket and pulled out Kowle’s rank studs and cap badge. Carefully and deferentially, he pinned them back in place. Kowle seemed to notice what Gaunt was doing, though his eyes were wide and dilated, and the blood was now merely trickling from his ghastly stumps.
“Goodbye, commissar. You gave your best.”
Gaunt saluted, a sharp, smart gesture he hadn’t made in a long time.
Kowle smiled, barely, then died.

Abnett has a gift for writing characters who are much more complex than many other 40K writers I find, although its really more of a case by case or novel by novel basis because other writers sometimes pull it off (Death of Antagonis or Legion of the Damned, for example are good Space Marine characters. And of course ADB and oftne McNeill.) but Abnett seems to do it more consistently, at least when it comes to human characters. Its one of the lingering aspects of the Ghosts series or his Eisenhorn stuff. Here we have Kowle, who was an opponent much like the Vervun upper echelons were, but who was, even in Gaunt's estimation, very much a Commissar, even if some of his beliefs and ideals differed dramatically from Gaunt's. And in the end he upheld those ideals even at the cost of his own life. Harsh as his approach may have been, ambitious too, but he was willing to do what was needed to defeat the enemy, and even Gaunt can recognize that. Its what makes this one of the more powerful moments in the book - a moment of realization and redemption, and an indication that even your opponents can have their good qualities.




Page 244

Six Zoicans lay dead behind the rear wall of the mill. The trio descended on them and stripped them of las-cells. Each corpse had six or seven as well as musette bags filled with stick grenades.

Ammo clips carried by the Zoicans. Probably a lower limit.



Page 246

Vervun Primary troops with long-barrelled lasguns were moving in to join the defence.

Again VErvun Spoilers are carrying lasguns as well as autoguns designed for sniper work.



Page 248

Another sliced at him with a boarding hatchet and Varl punched his head off with one blow from his metal arm.

Varl's augmetic arm takes the head off of a Zoican with a single punch.



Page 249

Wind-carried ash washed back across the stone terrace of the Commercia where the Narmenian tanks were drawn up: one hundred and main battle tanks of the Leman Russ pattern, with twenty-seven Demolishers and forty-two light support tanks. Their engines revved, filling the air with blue exhaust smoke and thunder.

Presumably this is the sum total of the Narmenian forces deployed to Verghast, although whether it comprises a full regiment or just the remannts of one we dont know. The Narmenians really haven't engaged the enemy seriously yet or taken severe losses (due to being imprisoned and all that early in) so presumably that's the bulk of the force. IA1 implies that the Narmenian regiments have 100+ Russ tanks. We know that armoued companies tend to be 12-24 tanks apiece, so depending on the number of companties tha tcould work out. (40 or so tanks per regiemnt, plus a couple platoons/companies of light support and demolisher.) Or it may be that the Demolishers and Light support tanks are separate regiments.



Page 249

Grizmund pulled his command officers into a huddle and flipped out the hololithic display of a data-slate. A three-dimensional light-map of the Commercia and adjacent districts billowed into the sooty air.

Dataslate with holographic capabilities.



Page 249

His voice was relayed by vox/pict drones to all the Narmenian crews.

Vox pict drones used by Narmenians. Whether borrowed from Vervunhive or organic to them we don't know.



Page 249

At the end of it, the tank crews, more than a thousand men, cheered and yelled.

Narmenian troop strength. If you figure 4 men per tanks above thats around 784 men, leaving 216 extra.



Page 249

he Grace of the Throne, a long-chassis Russ variant with a hundred and ten-centimetre main weapon.

Grizmund's tank. I'm assuming 110cm is an error, and means 110mm main weapon, which indicates Russ battle cannons can be variable (as other sources indicate 120mm smoothbore.)



Page 250

..Gaunt appropriated a Ministorum baptistry on Level Mid-36 as a new command centre. Under Daur’s supervision, workteams cleared the pews and consecration tables and brought in codifiers and vox-systems liberated from dozens of houses ordinary on that level. Gaunt himself hefted a sheet of flakboard onto the top of the richly decorated font to make a desk. He began to pile up his data-slates and printouts.
..
aunt viewed the data-slates, seeing the depth of the destruction. He made note marks on a paper chart of the hive.
Daur brought him the latest reports. Xance was dead; Nash too. Sturm had vanished.

Backup HQ setup for the Guard forces defending Vervunhive. Probably not as good as the dedicated stuff, but easy to set up still.


PAge 251

All senior ranks, both local and off-world, were dead or missing. Only Grizmund held a rank higher than Gaunt and armour was always subservient to an infantry command.

Interesting how Infantry supersedes Armour in the Guard. wonder why that is? Perhaps it indicates how infantry is the backbone of the Guard, and needs support from the specialists to succeed?



Page 252

Gaunt raised his hand. “I am confident the Administratum will provide whatever they can, whatever is in their means. I trust the astropaths have been maintaining contact with the warmaster?”

Implying constant astropathic contact (or near constant) over multiple light years.



Page 252-253

“I need you to deny the approaches to Croe Gate and Ontabi Gate. From what I can see here, the main vehicular invasion is pouring in that way.”
“Agreed. But there are tank squadrons coming up through Sondar Gate too.”
..
A servitor brought Gaunt more data feeds from the newly engaged codifiers set up in the baptistry. Gaunt looked through them, his gaze stopped by a report relayed in from Varl.
..
Gaunt spent the next ten minutes voxing tactical instructions to dozens of individual troop units throughout the hive. He was unable to reach Varl or any unit north of the Main Spine. As he worked, servitors and staff officers tracked the substance and matter of his battle-plan on a hololithic chart of the city, overlaying it with any data they received from the ground.

Again more ad-hoc command and control in the wake of Gaunt taking command.



PAge 256-257

“Remember how we studied the warmaster’s career? The keynote was always Slaydo’s singularity of purpose — that he could look at a theatre and plan it in his head, hold the whole situation in his mind. That was military brilliance. I think we’re seeing its like again.”
“He served with Slaydo, didn’t he?”
“Yes. His record speaks for itself.”
“But as an infantry officer.” Petro frowned. “Gaunt’s reputation’s never been for overall battlefield command, not on this scale.”
“I don’t think he’s ever had the chance to show it before — a commissar, a troop commander, always following the lead of higher ranks. He’s never had an opportunity like this before. Besides… I think it may be because he’s got everything to prove.”
“What the gak do you mean, Ban?”
“The high commanders are dead… or, like Sturm, disgraced. Fate and his own actions have put Gaunt in command, and I think he’s determined to prove he should have been there all along.”

Gaunt's style likened to the Warmaster. For me this was a very 'Sharpe-ish' moment, because one of the aspects of the Sharpe series was that when given a chance to shine, Sharpe was always a brilliant leader even for 'just a soldier', but the more noble/political elements of the Guard kept him suppressed. So this bit (and a few others in the book) once again reinforce that Sharpe-like quality to the series, even though the parallels aren't that direct.



PAge 259

The huge shapes of Zoican storm-tanks, long-barrelled and heavily armoured, were scything in towards the station and the surrounding habs. Others, including fast-moving light assault tanks and squat, super-heavy flamer platforms..

Zoiocan tank forces.. again they include superheavies which makes you wonder at the sheer industrial insanity of the regiment.



Page 260

He’d sent his sentinel recon units and foot-troop spotter units forward towards Croe Gate as he composed his tank brigade in the Commercia. The spotters couldn’t fix the position of the moving Zoican armour, but they could assess its force and direction. Grizmund had compiled the data..

we dont quite know what 'collected the data' entails in this case, but Grizmund is making use of sentinels and foot troops for recon, which probably come from th eother 200 or so remaining potential troops of the regiment.



Page 260

Grizmund truly understood the power of armoured vehicles, not just the physical power, but the psychological strength. If a tank was a threatening thing then a tank moving fast, and firing accurately and repeatedly, was a nightmare. The tank strike was his forte and he only admitted into the Narmenian cadre drivers who could handle thirty-plus tonnes of armour at speed, and gunners and layers who could fire fast, repeatedly and make kills each time.

Grizmund's Narmenian tactics and doctrine. The interesting bit is how it emphasizes mobility and psychology in equal measure, and the fact that you have Russes that might be 'thirty plus' tonnes rathre than sixty or so.



Page 260

In the command chair of The Grace of the Throne, Grizmund watched the picts on his auspex slate wink and flash as they marked hits on the glowing target runes.
..
Fresh brass-stamped shells clanked down into the greased loading rack from the magazine over the aft wheels, and the layer primed them and shunted them forward to the gunner, who was hunting through the glowing green viewer of his scope. Every few seconds, the layer eased the muzzle recoil brake and the main gun fired with a retort that shook the tank and welled smoke into the turret, smoke quickly sucked out through the louvres of the outlets.

Inside Grizmund's command tank. Auspex slate (at least for command vehicle) Gunner seems to have a scope of some kind (Targeter? electronic sight of some kind) also the layer fires once every few seconds, and the shells (including casings) are light enough for a person to handle. so we're not talking super dense shells or ammo or anything.
Also note the recoil brake, which is defined here and helps to tell us the Imperium knows about recoil compensation/dissipation mechanisms, although we dont know the recoil path/stroke/etc.



PAge 261

Operation Dercius threw forty fast-moving Narmenian heavy tanks down through fg/567 and cut through the neck of the Zoican column spread. Grizmund’s forces had killed or crippled seventy-two enemy vehicles by the time they doubled back, swinging around without breaking speed to re-engage the shattered Zoican armour from the other side. By then, the Zoican armour was milling and fracturing in confusion.
Now came the part that required true skill, a manoeuvre Grizmund had dubbed The Scissors’. As his tanks came around to re-engage, another fifty under Brigadier Nachin charged the enemy from the other side, from the direction of Grizmund’s original strike. A textbook disaster in the hands of less able commanders, but at the turn, Grizmund’s forces had begun to send identifying vox beacons to distinguish them from the enemy, and Nachin’s forces did the same. The rule was anything caught between their charges that didn’t broadcast the correct beacon was a target. Grizmund had used this tactic nine times before and never lost a tank to his own fire.

Grizmund's tactics against the enemy. Again it emphasizes how some Guard armoured regiments may recognize the value of mobility as well as exploiting it. What's more, they use IFF beacons/codes in targeting, suggesting that they're relying as much on sensors as they may be on eyes (or possibly just sensors period.)


Page 261

Grizmund and Nachin’s speeding tanks passed through each other’s ranks, some vehicles missing others at full speed by only a hull’s span.
..
By four o’clock, the Zoicans had lost nearly two hundred tanks and armoured battle-hulks. The Narmenians had lost only two.

Precision of Narmenian maneuvering and their kill counts. 100:1 is damn insane really, even allowing for them to be 'merely' Chaos troops.



Page 262

The NorthCol armour lacked the genius of leadership or the combat-experienced skill that shone in the Narmenians. Major Clodel, commanding the NorthCol units, had done little more than grind his tanks into a slugfest with the Zoican armour ..
..
But now a blistering, static tank-war raged through the southern skirts, and there was no possibility of driving the invaders back and out or of sealing the gates.

The opposite end of the Narmenian tank perspective. He's not bad per se, and not exactly Guard (NorthCol) but it shows how variable the tactics can be.




Page 263

Gaunt thought of Oktar, Dercius, Slaydo and his father, the men who had moulded his life and brought him to this, equipping him, each in their own way, with the skills he now used. He missed them all, missed their confidences and strength. Oktar had trained him, and Gaunt had been at the great commissar-general’s side when he had passed, wracked with ork poison on Gylatus Decimus, over twenty years before. Slaydo, the peerless warmaster — Gaunt had been at his deathbed too, on Balhaut after the finest victory of all. Gaunt’s father had died far away when he was still a child. And Dercius — bad, old Uncle Dercius; Gaunt had killed him.
But each, in their own way, had made him. Oktar had taught him command and discipline; Dercius: ruthlessness and confidence; Slaydo: the merits of command and the selflessness of Imperial service. And his father? What he had gleaned from his father was more difficult to identify. What a father leaves to his child is always the most indefinable quality.

Gaunt ponders the father figures who have, up to this point, shaped his life. The interesting thing for me is how he includes Dercius in this group. As I postulated in First and Only, even though Gaunt hated and killed the man to avenge his father, I suspect Gaunt actually still loved/cared for the man. Which makes sense, because love and hate are two sides of the same coin, essentially. And here, Gaunt can admit Dercius had a positive impact on his life, reinforcing that the Ghost series does not always make simple black/white decisions when it comes to the human characters (at least the non-Chaos ones.) Even ones who do bad things - like Dercius, or Gilbear of the Volpone - can have redeeming, positive qualities about them.
This also shows that despite the Commisarial side, Gaunt is still capable of being human, and thats always important to get past the caricature shit of the Codexes.



Page 265

“Vervunhive is a democratic legislative. The High Lord is voted in by his noble peers. It is written in the sacred acts of constitution that absolute power should never be allowed to rest with any one individual who could not be unseated by the Legislature should it become necessary.”

Democratic in the sense that only the noble Houses hold a vote (not unlike the way the Athenians voted, IIRC.)


Page 266-267

Gaunt studied the amulet. It was a system-slayer and, from what the girl said, quite the most powerful and formidable example of its kind he had ever heard of. In the time of Heironymo, House Sondar had specialised in codifier systems and sentient cogitators, and they had enjoyed long-term trade partnerships and research pacts with the tech-mages of the Adeptus Mechanicus. This was the masterpiece: in the event of anyone achieving total technological mastery of Vervunhive, the activation of this amulet would annihilate the command and control systems, erase all data and function programs, corrupt all codifiers and lobotomise all cogitators.

Interesting bit of Imperial tech. Basically a 40k cyber attack, designed to destroy and decapitate computerize dcommand and control, which (according to gaunt) would cripple any tyrant. It perhaps tells you how reliant on technology and computers even the basic military (or government) command and control is, at least where Hives are concerned. Pretty nasty, really.



Page 268-269

“A common soldier messing with a high-born lady?” She smiled. “Even if that mattered once, it doesn’t now. This war has made us all equals.”
They kissed again, neither resisting. For a while, their passion was all that mattered to either of them. Two human souls, intimate and wordless, shutting the apocalypse out.

We get another small, brief touch of the humanity, separate from teh war, and affirming that even in the Grim Darkness of the Future, there is more to life than just war. Even in the middle of war. This is actually a very prevalent theme in this book - showing myriad glimpses of a war that involve more than just the war. The suffering and destruction and death inflicted upon the civilians and their dwellings. The disruption of peace. But also the fact that in such adveristy humans can rise to the occasion and become courageous and even heroic.. whilst others may become riven with hate and become monsters. People don't stop being people because of a war, but war also breaks allt he boundaries and restrictions a society imposes. Much like with Gaunt and Merity Chass, the divisions cease ot matter and people become just.. people.
We see this also with civilian and soldier (like Caffran and Tona, one of my favorite subplots) we see it between soldier and soldier (the Volpone and Tanith coming to a tacit understanding.) and so on and so forth.
As another aside, this is another of those 'Sharpe-ish' moments, because the series often had some (Brief) romantic interlude like this.



Page 270

“So they aren’t yours? I thought you looked too young.”
Tona swung round to him, her face hard. “They’re all I have! Gak you! You won’t take them from me, and neither will these bastards!”
She swung up and fired her gun, killing one, two, three…

Caffran and Tona. I fucking love this scene. The entire subplot to summarize is that Tona inherits these kids early in the war, as their mother gets killed, and she takes it upon herself to look out for them and protect them. She meets Caffran when she's filching from the Guard stroes, and he takes pity and helps her out. so they end up spending the war together, and it culminates in this. Its such a simple scene, a simple gester - a woman fighitng fiercly to protect children - children not even her own - and determined not to let anyone or anything get in her way. There's something deep and powerful in that, even amidst all the tragedy. And that (as well as this subplot developing in the series) is why I like it so much. A simple scene with deep, and powerful meaning, much like Gaunt and Merity seeking comfort and intimacy in each other's arms even in the midst of devastation.



Page 271-273

The Hass was almost three kilometres wide, icy cold and plagued with strong currents.
..
Zoican motorised brigades were sweeping in along the far shore from the pipelines and the Hiraldi road, pincering round to deny the escape route.
..
The ferries returned to the south docks, many under fire from Zoican forces on the north side, and tied up.
..
The Zoicans began to fire across the river into the tightly packed refugees. Despite the wholesale killing, it was a matter of hours before the civilian masses began to draw back into the hive.
..
Sporadic enemy fire from across the Mass stippled the waters around them and smacked off the hull. Parts of the docks were ablaze now. Folik expected a rocket or mortar to blow them out of the water at any moment. He fetched another bottle from the wheelhouse and a las-round punched straight through the cabin window and out the other side over his shoulder as he stooped to reach into the steerage locker.

Implied range of Zoican weaponry against the target. We dont know all the kinds, but we might figure some heavy weapons (stubber/autocannon) possibly multilasers, and it seems mortars and rockets are believed to. The las-round also suggests lasguns may have the range to injure or kill targets - but not necesarily the accuracy. In that case it woudl be more like point vs Area target with assault rifles - in that it can hit and injure/kill someone in a group at that range, but it couldn't accurately hit a single target (at least not regular lasweapons.) 'Accurate' range would be about half that, and that would be consistent with other depictions elsewhere (such as 900m lascarbines.)
I'll also note that, map wise, some locations are 3-4 km long (slightly longer) but others are closer to 5-6, so the ranges may be variable



PAg 273-274

Through his scope, he saw a colossal shape crawling through the suburb ruins fifteen kilometres south of the fort. Another death machine, he thought instinctively.
But this was different — larger, slower. A huge pyramid structure, five hundred metres high at the apex, its mechanical sides painted Zoican ochre and decorated with vast, obscene symbols of Chaos. It moved, as far as he could see, on dozens of fat, wide-gauge caterpillar units that crushed everything in its path. A gouged trail half a kilometre wide scored through the habs in its wake. Its flanks bristled with weapon turrets and emplacements, and huge, brass speaker-horns on its summit...

The Chaos command base appears. And its a giant pyramid the size of a small starship (or aircraft carrier.) In fact it probably rivals those 'Land Carriers' from Double Eagle for size and industrial investment. assuming 90% empty space and made of iron it would be some 33 million TONS. If we figure a ~2 m thick 'hull' it would be 'only' 11 million tons. Even assuming it was made of some weird plastic-density material or shit it would be well over half a million to several million tons, even with a hull only half a metre thick. Its big, its an insane investment of resources for one hive in a matter of months and its fucking impressive.



PAge 274

"Understood, Hass West. Can you supply visuals?”
“Pict-links are down, Command. You’ll just have to take my word for it.”

Vervunhiver troopers (or their Guard aliles) have pict-linkes to provide visusals to command center.



Page 274-275

He was about to estimate they could hold on another hour at the most.
The estimate would have been inaccurate by fifty-nine and a half minutes.
..
The vast Zoican vehicle shuddered and then retched huge, searing beams of plasma energy at Hass West Fort: cutting beams, like the ones that had dissected Ontabi Gate, but larger still and far more powerful, energy weapons of a scale usually seen in the fleet engagements of naval flagships. The roar was deafening, sending out a shockwave that was felt kilometres away.
Hass West Fort and the gate it protected were obliterated. Cargin, Anglon and all the remaining defenders were disintegrated in one blinding instant. As the cutting beams faded, rocket and gunnery platforms all across the pyramid opened fire and piled destruction on the ruins. The air stank with ozone and static and fycelene. For half a kilometre in each direction, the Curtain Wall collapsed.

Superbases heavy plasma guns (starship scale implied) and artillery have a range of 15 km at least. Implied travel speed of 15 km/hr for superpyramid, whcih given its size is damn impressive.
The plasma guns are hard to calcs (except being more powerful by unknown margin than previous beams, whcih made 100 m wide holes and may be high ton/low kiloton range) or what kinds of 'starship' guns they are (except they're seen in naval engagements, which means they may be fired AT starships or used defensively against ordnance or attack craft.) They seem to have noticable recoil if slight. If we figure say 1 cm/s recoil for a 500,000 ton supervehicle thats still 5,000,000 kg*m/s of recoil. We dont knwo beam velocity (its a plasma weapon not a massless) but if we use a 500-1000 km/s velocity estimate like from Ghostmaker its worth at least several TJ of KE. If we go with 'naval' definitions of plasma velocity (like from BFG, at least 20,000 km/s) it would be 50 TJ.
Either way it implies starship guns are (individually or per mount/turret) kiloton range at least. It has to be noted that if these guns are anti-starship its hard to justify teraton or even gigaton range (except maybe very low gigaton) based on the example, so this would be a refutation of such yields



Page 275-276

Over the years they had spent campaigning together, Gaunt had seen Oktar leave many tearful women behind as he moved on to the next warzone.
“Don’t get involved, Ibram, not with anything. If you don’t care, you won’t care, and that makes the hardest parts of this army life that much easier. Do what you must, take what you need and move on. Never look back, never regret and never remember.”
Gaunt buttoned his shirt. He realised, perhaps for the first time, that he had broken with Oktar’s advice a long time since. When he had met the Tanith and had brought them as Ghosts from the deathfires of their world, he had started to care. He decided he didn’t see it as a weakness. In that one thing, old Oktar had been wrong. Caring for the Ghosts, for the cause, for the fight, or for anyone, made him what he was. Without those reasons, without an emotional investment, he would have walked away or put a gun-muzzle in his mouth years before.

Gaunt seems to admit to himself that his association with the Ghosts has diluted his Commissarial nature by making him more 'human' and vulnerable to human things. What's more Gaunt acknowledges it was necessary to him, because (as we learn in the last two books) he is haunted by his decisions regarding the Tanith, and his charge of the Ghosts is a significant influence in his life. It is nice that he doesn't view it as a weakness, though not very commissarial I suppose
In another way we can see perhaps one reason why Commissars like Cain or Gaunt (or Oktar) are relatively rare. It can be hard to balance between upholding morale and duty within a regiment by any means necessary (or punishing failure) and caring about those you're responsible for, and thus easy to tip one way or the other if one isn't careful, which can perhaps explain why so many commissars are perceived to be gun happy executioners.



Page 277

Gaunt tried not to look at him and the festoon of data-plugs stapled into his translucent scalp. The astropath lifted a bionically augmented, wasted limb and pointed to data runes flashing across the instrumentation.

The Astropath apparently has some sort of augmetics which function like an exoskeleton.



Page 278

"This chatter: could it be the control signal of the Zoican forces? An addictive broadcast that maintains the Heritor’s hold over his zealots?”
“It is certainly patterned and hypnotic. I find myself reluctant to listen to it for any length of time. It is a Chaos pulse. Though we can’t — daren’t — interpret its meaning, the flow of the enemy troops and armour seems to match its rhythmic fluctuations.”

Speculation on the means by which the Heritor controls the Zoicans. THe insidious thing is, you can't try to listen to it or decode it to gain valuable intel, because it will corrupt you as well. Nasty sort of psych warfare, that.



Page 281

A fireteam of ten Volpone advanced down the side street, led by Colonel Gilbear.
...
“Not going in without the Bluebloods, I hope, colonel-commissar?” Gilbear said archly.
“I wouldn’t dream of it, colonel,” Gaunt replied. “I’m glad you got my message and gladder still you found your way here."
..
"The Bluebloods may be bastards, but I feel I have reached an understanding with them. "

Whilst far from friends, the mutual respect and camaradirie we saw beginning to grow between the Volpone and Tanith in Ghostmaker has solidified by the end of Necropolis. Even Gaunt and Gilbear respect and are comfortable with each other mostly, even if they don't like each other very much. Again, war breaks all boundaries and makes everyone equal, we see.
Also the Volpone operate in fireteams like the Ghosts, although 10 men would be a squad technically


PAge 288-289

He realised the vast machine, still a kilometre distant, was vibrating the earth itself with its weight and motivation.
...
Its awesome spinal weapon, the cutting beams, howled vast energies above and past them at some target in the main hive.
..
A second later there was a pop of pressure, a wall of dissipating heat and the stink of plasma.
..
It had been like standing too near a star for a millisecond. Their eyes ached and the energised stench burned their sinuses.

They were about a kilomtre away and several hundred metres above the beam, and it still felt uncomfortably hot. The duration was very short too, which gives you an indication of its potential firepower and mode of operation.



Page 290-291

Bragg drew his Tanith blade, punched it into the Spike’s plating to provide a firm anchor point, and caught them as they tumbled past. He captured Dremmond by the harness of his flamer, and Dremmond held tight to Haller. By then, they had barrelled into Muril — one of the scratch company loom girls — too, and Haller held on to her. Secured by one meaty fist around the hilt of his knife, Bragg supported three dangling humans.

“Feth!” he grunted, his arm shaking under the weight. “Get a grip! Get a grip! I can’t hold on much longer!”

One Bragg's knife - at least with Bragg's arm behnd it, cna drive a tanith knife into armor plate and anchor itself, which again shows how fucking sharp those things are. Secondly, Bragg, one handed- supports the weight of three full human beings (albeit not for very long) showing again how bloody strong he is.
Oh and if that wasn't enough, he's also carrying both an autocannon and a missile launcher.



Page 292

“I’m working with the idea it takes a while for the batteries to recharge. We’ve got eight minutes to get inside.”

If we figure the recharge is comparable in magnitude to what is driving the monster vehicle. If we figure a power/weight ratio of 25 hp per ton (like a M1 Abrams) and its 500,000 tons at least we're talking 12.5 million HP - 9.4 GW. Over eight minutes that would result in a 4.5 TJ discharge. Again implied kiloton ranged guns.




PAge 293

Three Zoican soldiers in full battledress charged up onto the cageway, blasting at him. Gaunt lost his footing and fell, the las-shots screaming over his head. The shots blew apart the torso of the Volpone leaping in behind him and threw his corpse back and outwards so it fell away down the slope of the hull.

If we figure a 3-10 shot burst per zoican and ignore the fact the volpone is in carapace, depending on how you define 'blow apart' torso we could be talking at least 15-20 cm diameter wound which can easily be tens of kj per pulse at least, if not hundreds. The main thing is that Volpone 10th Brigade as we know from the previous book are all damn huge people (2+ m tall) so that means more chest to blast apart, and the carapace adds to it. Grenade lke damage again would be double/triple digit kj, and by 3rd or 4th degree burns (50-400 j per sq cm) and figuring a 40-50 cm x80-100 cm torso (again remembering extreme height) its between 160 kj and 2 MJ. The low end might get you (Say) 5 kj at least, but that would just be comparateively mild burns and no explosive effects. Whilst on the other end you at least get flesh blasted from bone, and fits the 'tens or hundreds of kj' per shot evaluation.



Page 295

A team of Zoican heavy troopers in segmented ochre body armour greeted them in the accessway as they entered, firing up the sloping tunnel from cover at the far end. One of the scratches, a man whose name Gaunt would never know, was sliced apart by the initial shots. His blood sprayed...
..
Another of the scratches fell, ripped open by the mauling heavy weapons the enemy had trained on them.

We dont know the weapons or how many shots, but it implies they're using heavy lasweapons, unless they're all packing heavy weapons like heavy stubbers or autocannon. They also apparently have rigid/plated body armour, which sounds alot like what the volpone pack.



Page 295

A Ghost nearby, Lonner, collapsed with the back of his neck blown out.

Single digit kj maybe?



Page 296

He squeezed the trigger grip and billows of white-hot flame sheeted down the tunnel, incinerating the Zoican heavies. The scourging flame bubbled the paint off the walls and the twitching bone-runes began to shriek.
..
Bragg reached the position the enemy had been holding and he stepped over the black, fused corpses.
..
.. a half-burned Zoican soldier threw himself at the scratch officer. The blackened thing, its ceramite armour part-melted into its flesh by Dremmond’s flames..

Flamer. Figuring 11-15 kg for flak or carapace (assume silicon composition to reflect 'ceramic' and thus 'melting') would be between 20-30 MJ per person. igniting or badly burning is at least 125 J per sq cm per Zoican, which is a couple MJ by itself. If we knew how many corpses and how long the flamer burst was, we could probably calc it better, but the implications seem pretty impressive even on the conservative end.



Page 297-298

las-round hit him in the arm and spun him to the deck. Domor, right behind him, knelt over the injured scout and sprayed las-fire down at the hidden shooter, calling for a medic. Beside him, Vinya, one of the loom-girls, rebounded off the wall as a brace of las-shots caught her in the belly.
..
The las-shot had exploded MkVenner’s left elbow and disintegrated his biceps.
..
She was twisted like a broken puppet, her chin forced into her chest where she lay with the back of her head against the wall. Blood oozed out of her in a wide pool. The wound itself had self-cauterised in charred, knotty lumps, but the damage had shredded her insides, and she was bleeding out rapidly.
..
“Pressure: here and here. Hold it tight. No, tight like you mean it!”
..
..his hands damping hard on her ruined organs.
..
“Major trauma,”

Effects of lasfire again. Single shot flays away elbow and biceps and presumably close to leaving bone If we figure 10-15 cmx10cm wound roughly and just 3rd degree burns (50 J per sq cm to 400 j per sq cm) its 5-7.5 kj per shot. If we figure flaying its 40-60 kj per shot, mostly thermal effects at that.
The other one is a bit messier. If we figure a 15-20 cm area shredded and similar assumptions above you get between 175-315 sq cm which is 8-9 kj for both shots (or 4-4.5 kj per shot) to 63 kj per shot. Overall we might guess at single/double digit kj per shot for combined thermal/mechanical effects. Implied wound diameter is that the insides were shredded nastiyl and at least some of the organs are ruined/punctured (several cm sized holes or hand sized orughly) which suggests at least maybe 5-10 kj by itself.




Page 300

“Through the blast shields, sir,” Mkoll announced.
..
“Rawne! Tube charges here!"
..
Cover and clear!” yelled Rawne, hastening from the bundle of tube charges he had glued to the shield hatch.
The channelled blast tore the doors inwards like paper. Whatever else you could say about him, Rawne knew explosives. There was barely a shockwave on the Imperial side of the hatch.

Tube charges used as shape charge to blast through door. If we figure a half metre to metre thick door and iron and use the aformeentioned 'rule of thumb' for iron in Mike's explosives page we get between 120-484 lbs of gelignite which is between 30-125 kg equivaelnt. we dont know how many charges Rawne is using of course, and this assumes I'm not overestimating, but if we figure 30 charges thats 1-4 kg per charge. Even if I'm off by an OOM we're talking about grenade/dynamite stick level performance at least for Tube charges. The fact they can be 'shaped' is pretty neat also.



Page 303

Gaunt’s troopers could see for themselves the horror that had disturbed Larkin so at Veyveyr Gate. It wasn’t the implants fused and sutured into their eyes, ears and scalps, linking their senses and brain patterns to the insidious chatter. It was the fact that they were men and women of all ages: hab workers, parents, guilders, older children, the elderly. The entirety of Zoica’s population had mobilised for war, just as Gaunt had assessed. The bald proof was overwhelmingly tragic. With blank expressions, somehow even more lifeless than Sondar’s servitor puppets, the people of Ferrozoica threw themselves at the attackers.

The Poor Zoicans. Turned into little more than meat puppet servitors for the ambitions of some Chaos fuckwit. Millions of adults - and children - who are really nothing more than victims of Chaos turned towards the slaughter of more innocents all to promote death and pain and fear and hate and destruction, the things that Chaos feeds on. Small wonder Gaunt and others resist the way they do.
Apparently Asphodel's control requires those implants to work fully, so its not just chaos mind control, although that works as well (CF word bearers novels.)




Page 304

t was thin but powerful and much taller than him, dressed in form-fitting, glossy-black armour and a hooded cape of chainmail. The visage under the hood-lip was feral and non-human, like the snarling skull of a great wolf-hound with the skin scraped off. It clutched a sabre-bladed powersword in its metal-gloved hands.
..
It was one of the Dark-watch, the elite retinue of Chaos champions who had been gifted to the warlord, Asphodel, as his personal bodyguard. The thing flickered again, employing its monstrous, innate control of the warp to shift its location around him.

Darkwatch, mutated Chaos Champions with chaos-tainted weapons and the ability to teleport.




Page 305

He should be dead already.
But something kept him alive. Partly his elevated battle-edge, partly his determination, but also, he was sure, Heironymo’s sword. It seemed to smell the shifting creatures and forewarn him — by a tingle — of their impossible movements.
Their shifting was localised, as if they were moving in and out of corporeal reality. Every time they became solid to strike, the sword twitched in his grip, moving him to block.

Which implies that the sword may have a sentience of its own. Its not impossible - the technology of Verghast and Sondar - the slayer amulet, the cybernetic garden, shit like that - all point to a high level of technology, and if they can craft that they could also probably craft some sort of sentient 'sword' with the ability to antiicpate or detect the warp technologically. Or perhaps its implanted with a psychically attuned organic element (machine spirit.)
Alternately, the belief in the sanctity of the sword is so strong it gives it a sort of sentience of its own, behaving like a consecreated/sacred weapon and providing such senses to Gaunt. Of course its also possible Gaunt is such a Tanith at heart now he has an estrasensory capability himself.




PAge 306

A spray of autocannon split the air above him. Bragg had made it to the edge of the platform and was blasting at the Darkwatcher on full auto. The thing shuddered under the impacts, flickering in and out of real-space, ..
..
Kolea and Mkoll were there too..
..
..A second later, Neskon, Haller, Flinn, Banda and a Volpone called Tonsk had also reached the edge of the platform. Sustained fire from all of them drove the raging Chaos-thing backwards — and targeted the other two that had manifested in the last few moments. Bragg’s unrelenting fire-cone gradually disintegrated the red-bladed Darkwatcher, which advanced on him, despite the colossal wash of bullets, before finally exploding a few flicker-steps from him.

Combined firepower from Bragg and scores of Imperial troopers needed to put down the Darkwatch.




PAge 306

The Spike, with its supporting armoured legions, had exploded in through the Curtain Wall just east of Sondar Gate, and the war machine’s vast batteries, presumably recrewed after Gaunt’s entry assault, targeted and demolished the Shield Pylon in a blaze of fire.

Based on the map, range-wise we're probably talking around 15-20 km again for the doom beam weapons.



Page 308

He saw an immense, metal-gloved hand reach out and beckon to him. He saw the shivering flame-light throw into relief a long, smooth armour-cowl split by narrow eye-slits. The cowl fanned up and out into massive, hooked steeples of polished horn.
Heritor Asphodel, Chaos warlord, daemon-thing, fuelled by his dark gods in the Warp, standing fully six metres tall, lunged at the human worms who strove to defeat him. He made no sound. Darkness, which he seemed to wear and pull around him like a great cloak, sucked through the air as it moved with him.

The Heritor. It seems some of the Chaos Champions of the Archon have become Daemon Princes of a sort. Or at least high high tier champions who look like daemons.



PAge 308

Domor’s lasgun exploded in his hands, blowing him up, back and off the platform.

Another exploding lasgun. Domor's injuries are described later, so I won't calc it now. sufficed to say it blasts him away with significant momentum, which suggests fairly energetic if not explosive (comparable to grenade going off, perhaps?



Page 309

Macaroth had made best speed for Verghast, arriving after twenty-seven days of urgent transit through the warp.
The hazy sky was full of metal and looked like it should fall. The awesome power of the Imperium was there for every Verghastite to see: ten thousand ships, some the size of cities, some bloated like ornate oceanic turtles, some slender and serrated like airborne cathedrals.

Speed of Macaroth's arrival (even over hundreds of LY we're talking only a few thousand c tops, more like hundreds of c.) and the scope of his forces amassed and deployed here. suggests that the Crusade itself has many tens of thousands of starships of all kinds.



Page 310

Macaroth unleashed his might on the planet below: six million Guardsmen, half a million tanks, squads drawn from three chapters of the Adeptus Astartes, two Titan Legions. Troop dropships, bulk machine-lifters and shuttles dropped in a swarm on the Hass valley.

Macaroth deploys his forces.



Page 310

Narmenian and NorthCol tank brigades chased down and annihilated Zoican motorised units..
..
Guard infantry, co-ordinated by Colonel Corbec, Colonel Bulwar and Major Otte, utilising every troop-carrying machine they could raise, hunted out and slaughtered the fleeing troop elements..
..
..the Zoicans had been driven back six hundred kilometres into the plains,..

Implied range of IG vehicles, both local and standard patterns.

[Connor MacLeod]

And we come to Honour Guard the 'tank warfare' entry into the Gaunt's Ghosts series. Honour Guard marks the beginning of 'The Saint' sequenece (Abnett seems to divide each omnibus up by 'sequence'. The first three books I covered were 'The founding', the next four books are 'The Saint', the next four books after that are 'The Lost' and the current sequence (two so far) is 'The Victory.' This is where things definitely start to take a turn, series wise. WE get more into character/event 'arc's that carry from book to book (Such as Caffran/Tona and Kolea wrt to Dalin and Yoncy.) We finally get to see the Ghosts and Verghastite components of the Guard interacting - first at odds and then working together over the course of the books. We also begin to say goodbye to major characters, and introduced to some real villains (in the form of Elijah Cuu.) And the Path of the Ghosts series and their role in the larger Crusade itself (as well as the politics of said Crusade, particularily pertaining to Gaunt) takes off from here as well. Oh and we meet the Blood Pact in this arc.

There are also changes in a technical sense. The way the lasguns are depicted gradually changes as well. Tona loses her chainknife after this and gets straight silver. The Ghosts settle into their more familiar pattern of operation - autocannons, flamers, tread fethers, long-las, etc. become their standard armaments. And we are introduced to the single-use hotshots. They make ample use of tube charges. They change their regimental structure - a larger number of smaller platoons. They even seem to get body armour at last. Stylistically, thematically, and technically, we get a major shift from what we had in the Ghosts series to what it has now become. In some ways its good (better story and characters, I think.) but in others it can be odd (the laser bullets thing drives me batty, as you will discover.)

Now, this book in particular. Honour Guard is one of the 'good' books. It is easily as good as Necropolis or Sabbat Martyr. It has a solid plot, lots of character development (for Gaunt and others.) and it forces them to deal with issues both within the regiment (the friction between the two components) and without (the politics of the Crusade, the enemy, etc.) The basic premise is, Gaunt suffers a defeat (through no fault of his own, but rather shitty orders) and is given command of a 'honour guard' to redeem himself: to recover the relics of the Saint before the world is abandoned to an impending Chaos invasion. Gaunt must cope with his failure (both in a personal and professional sense.) even as the regiment fragments under his lack of guidance. This 'journey' from failure to despaire and back to resolve is really what drives the book, more than the action really, and it is the way the story is woven and paced that gives it its strength.

We also get the first glimpse of some of the underlying themes of this sequence - that the Ghosts (and Gaunt) have a special, higher purpose (something alluded too from the first book.) and that certain ghosts are considered 'special'. This will be a recurring element through this sequence and even to varying degree in the others. We also get introduced to Viktor Hark and Zweil, A Commissar attached to Gaunt's troupe (and a mixed bag as a character) and a characterful (possibly crazy) priest of the Saint. We also meet Sanian, although her role in the series only becomes evident towards the end. Overall its a good start to this arc, and an enjoyable read.

Oh and plenty of tech bits, especially tanks. Much of Gaunt's convoy is made up of PArdus units, and that gives us some interesting (and contested) calcs to go with. Including the infamous 'shove tank sideways' and 'recoil force' quotes, which should be interesting lol.

Three parts, and I dont think I'll do them all at once. at least, not yet.

Part 1


Page 8

This phase of reconquest lasted almost two whole years, and featured a bravura, multi-point invasion scheme devised by Macaroth himself. Simultaneous Imperial assaults were launched against nineteen key planets, including three of the notorious fortress-worlds, shaking the dug-in resolve of the numerically superior but less well-orchestrated enemy.
...
If successful, this phase of assault would virtually guarantee an overall Imperial victory for the campaign. If it failed, his whole crusade force, an armed host over a billion strong, might well be entirely overrun.

We dont know if a billion is the Guard totals (both on offense and garrisoning worlds), or if its just those forces assaulting the next stage of his campaign. Even if only 10-1% of those forces were devoted ot assault, that's better than 10-100 million troopers, and thats more than half a million to several millions per planet on average, easily. And Chaos, naturally outnumbers them, but is inferior in coordination (at least for the moment.)


Page 10

One jerked and fell, halfway across. His body would remain, sprawled and unmourned in the open, for at least another hour.

Implied duration of the engagement.


Page 11

The new Vervunhive recruits wore the same matt-black fatigues and body armour as the Tanith, but their colouring and demeanour stood them apart.
As did their newly stamped, metal-stocked lasguns and the special silver axe-rake studs they wore on their collars.

Again Tanith have body armour, but we also get comparisons and contrasts between Tanith and Verghasite. The 'pins' they wear are one difference (between Tanith and Verghast components of the regiment) and apparently their lasguns differ (at least as far as equipment goes. Physically they're obviously different.) I presume the 'metal stock' is supposed to contrast between the 'nalwood stock' some ghosts have, but we saw in Necropolis that Corbec had a metal stocked one as well.


Page 12

Lillo saw Derin buckle and fall as las-fire cut through him.
He paused and tried to help. The Tanith trooper’s chest was a bloody mess and he was convulsing so hard it was impossible for Lillo to get a good grip on him.

Lasfire cuts 'through' one of the Ghosts. At least a few kj probably to overpenetrate through the body (assuming it hits nothign serious like bone or makes a particularly large hole larger than a few cm) does not cauterize. 'chest being a mess' may imply the hole is larger however, so the output could (of course) be greater. Also note the lack of cauterization, which as we know inconsistently applies in these books.

Page 12

He had led Vervunhive to victory out of the surest defeat ten months past.

ten months since Necropolis




Page 16

Kings were two a penny on Hagia: a feudal world, controlled by city-states in the name of the hallowed God-Emperor, and every town had a king

Feudal world that is also a shrineworld. Rather sophisticated one at that.




Page 17

The microbead intercom system worn by all Guardsmen was being blocked and distorted by the high buildings all around.

Microbeads used by 'all' Guardsmen and high buildings (probably stone) interfere iwth transmisison. earlier assessments, Gaunt has to use dedicated vox equipment (EG Raglon) to communicate with Corbec and others, suggesting a situational range limit of 4 km or less (so the vox can punch through to that range, at least.)



Page 17-18

A drizzle of las-blasts rocked the old sandstone water-tub, scattering chips of stone. Corbec ducked again.
...
Corbec had his head buried against the base of the water-tub. He could smell damp stone.
..
He felt the warm stone shudder against his cheek as las-rounds hit the other side.

Las shots rocking noticably (but not significantly) a stone trough big enough for him to hide behind. Given Corbec is well over two metres tall we're probably talking 2-2.5 metres long, at least a metre tall (He can crouch behind it without his head sticking up) and perhaps at least half a metre or so wide. We dont know how thick it is but I'll go with 5 cm each side. figure about 700-800 kg at that. We dont know how significantly its rocking, maybe half a cm or so per hit (fifth of an inch,) would be 3.5-4 kg*m/s per hit If its 1 cm we're talkign twice that. Assuming just one hit, and a exhaust velocity of 400 m/s (supersonic) you get 700 j. If its 2 km/s you get 3-4 kj.

Pure estimate as far as number wise, since we dont know all the above dimensions, how significantly it is shifted, or even how many shots it takes to shift, but it does suggest at least equilvaent (energy wise) to full power round per shot. THe scene is more indicative of lasfire creating significant momentum effects via explosive vaporization, which hints at the damage mechanism.




Page 18

A single lasround whipped past, exploding against the wall behind him. It would have taken his head off if he hadn't moved.

Single maybe double digit kj to do that.



Page 18

...checked his lasrifle. The curved magazine of the wooden-stocked weapon was two-thirds dry, so he pulled it out and snapped in a fresh one. The right-hand thigh pocket of his body armour was heavy with half-used dips. He always changed up to full-load when there was a chance. The half-spent were there at hand for dug-in resistance. He’d known more than one trooper who’d died when his cell had drained out in the middle of a firelight, when there was no time to reload.

First, corbec has gotten a wooden stock weapon again (somehow). Secondly Ghost practice when it comes to ammo and firefights. Or at leats for Corbec, which probably amounts to the same thing given he trains. He's also using a curved magazine (which suggests larger than usual ammo capacity, prerhaps even twice as much as normal.) Going by rechargable volume calcs (1-1.25 kj per cubic cm) Call it 25x10x5 cm we get 1250 cubic cm is ~1.6 MJ for the pack. Assuming 50-150 shots per pack you get 10-32 kj per shot.

Also Coebec has the two magazines he exchanges, at leats another fully charged, and perhaps another two or more half charged in his armour pocket (which I take refers to the webbing mentioned later.) which suggests at least 5-6 clips, possibly more.





Page 18

The dull snap of the Infardi weapons was intermingled with the higher, piercing reports of Imperial guns.

Imperial lasguns differ from Infardi (chaos) weapons by tone. Like with the long las in previous novels (EG Necropolis) we know this also means differences in performance, so it could suggest Imperial lasguns perform differently from enemy ones.



Page 18

He lifted his head above the edge of the tub. When he didn’t get it shot off

Again implied single digit, maybe double digit kj at least for lasfire.




Page 19

Sergeant Gol Kolea was an ex-miner who’d fought through the Vervunhive war...
..
He was a driven, quiet giant, almost the size of Corbec himself.

Kolea is nearly the size of Corbec, who himself is taller than Gaunt and Gilbear (more than 2 metres tall). Yet another 'bigger than 2m' tall person in the Tanith




Page 22

Rilke was a superb sniper, second only to the regimental marksmanship champion Larkin. He had a long-pattern needle-las.

Long las again refered to as 'needle-las' which I suspect refers to the focal point/spot size of the beam (or how focused it is.) In a laser that probably means it can be more explosive in effect. Depending on how you figure lasgun spot sizes going, it could be easily less than several cm or 5 mm (which we learn about later.) 2mm or so would be appropriate for 'needle' if the reference was meant literally in any way.



Page 22

Each of them, like Corbec and Kolea, wore twenty kilos of matt-black composite body armour over their fatigues and under their camo cloaks. Most of that weight came from the modular webbing pouches filled with ammo, lamp-packs, sheathed blades, waterproof microbead sets, coiled climbing rope, rolls of surgical tape, ferro-plastic binders, Founding-issue Imperial texts, door-spikes, flashbombs, and all the rest of the standard-issue Imperial Guard kit.

Tanith guard kit. Binders (for taking prisoners), Door spikes (presumably to wedge them shut or perhaps to open them) waterproof microbeads, rope/tape, flashbombs (flashbangs?) oh and the knives (Plural?) Armour (which is another indicator of said armour) is also equipped with webbing pouches to carry all this shit.

What is interesting is that the kit actually makes up the majority of the equipment they carry, suggesting the body armour weighs under 10 kg, perhaps much less. Given that its much lighter than Guard flak mentioned in the uplifting primer (full body) it may either not be full coverage (depending on its design/nature) and/or less protective. It might for example just be a flak coat and vest, which by FFG terms is only 5 kg (and woudl mean 3/4 of the kit is non-armour stuff.) Also would fit with the 'In remembrance' short story when bragg outfitted a civilian with a ballistic vest. I also wonder (and suspect) the armor may not include the 'rigid' components we know form later novels. Hard to say really, but the earlier stuff seems to imply the more soft/flexible type of flak with the rigid bits being optional (like in the Uplifting Primer.)

It might also suggest an upper limit on powerpack numbers if we knew how much of that was represented in the kit (or if it is) but its not a huge issue probably, the usual 4-6 powerpacks at 400 grams (FFG implied '10% of weapon mass' figure would be no more than a couple kg, so carrying twice that amount would not be too difficult, I imagine.






Page 23

Apart from “Try Again” Bragg, he and Kolea were the biggest men in the Tanith First. Neither Leyr and Yael topped out over two metres.

Again Kolea and Corbec are over two metres. Although Gaunt is taller too... and both are almost 8 feet tall So there's plenty of wiggle room height wise, and even being 'under' 2 metres would still mean incredibly tall fuckers.




Page 26

..Salamander command vehicle. A line of flamer tanks and tubby siege gun platforms was bottling up behind him.
..
Behind the light armour came Trojans and other tractor units hauling heavy munitions and stowed field artillery, then Tanith pushing handcarts liberated from the weavers’ barns. The carts were laden with ammunition boxes and tanks of promethium for the flamers.

Pardus 'light armour.' The hand cards are for the Ghosts.



Page 29-30

Major Rawne still hadn’t sorted his head out about the women. There were a fair number of them, Verghastites who had elected to join the Ghosts during the Act of Consolation.
They could fight — feth!—he knew that much.
..
But still they were women. Rawne had tried to speak to Gaunt about it, but the colonel-commissar had droned on about various illustrious mixed or all female units in Guard history blah blah blah and Rawne had pretty much blanked him out.
..
Women in the regiment put a strain on them all. Cracks were already showing. There had been a few minor brawls on the troop ships: Verghastite men protecting the “honour” of their women; men falling out over women; women fighting off men…

Rawne proves to be rather amusing when it comes to the inclusion of Verghasite women to the Ghost ranks. Most of the Ghosts actually had this problem even back in Honour Guard before they were part of the regiment. Its one of a number of divisions plaguing the Ghosts as they settle down from the amalgamation.

Although like with the Cain novel, his complaints have some merit. Mixed regiments can have some obvious problems when it comes to sex and interperosnal relationships, and as Rawne considers with Tona and Caffran (although I didn't mention it) Children (although Tona's are adopted.) Its doubtful that even the munitorum would make a pregnant female serve in the trench (in theory at least. You can never underestimate the idiocy of the Munitorum in such matters.) But in the end its more Tanith bias speaking out.




Page 31

Caffran and Criid slung their lasrifles over their shoulders, drew their blunt-nosed laspistols ..

Some Ghosts, at least, carry laspistols for close quarters work it seems. This may be standard issue, as we see other Ghosts later using them as well.




Page 32

...Criid unslung her lasrifle and took something out of her pocket. It was the pin-mount of a brooch or a medal, the surface polished into a mirror. She hooked it over the muzzle of her weapon and pushed it into the room ahead of her. A turn of the wrist and the mirror slowly revealed the other side of the doorway.

- Tona Criid uses a sort of spotting mirror that can be mounted on the muzzle of her weapon.



Page 34

Criid pulled out her chain-dagger, a gang-marked legacy of her low-life Vervunhive days.

Apparently the Verghastites aren't all using 'Straight Silver' the way the Tanith do. Criid for example has her chian/vibro weapon thingy from Necropolis. I guess chainswords can include vibroblades



Page 35

But Rawne and Criid had begun to open fire with their lasguns..
..
An Infardi with a bayonet charged Rawne, screaming, and Rawne blew his legs and belly out, but the momentum of the charge threw the body into the major and knocked him down.

Rawne's lasfire (full auto?) blows out legs and belly 'out'. ASsuming 20-25cm diameter area (300-500 sq cm) affected and 400 j per sq cm we get between 120-200 kj for the barrage. Assuming 1-2 seconds we're talking between 60 and 200 kw.



Page 39

Nearby in the crowd, someone burst in a puff of cooked blood.

An Infardi(Ershul) gunman with a lasrifle. I dont know exactly what 'burst' is supposed to mean, but if we assume the chest area blasted and at least 3rd degree burns (30 cm diameter area) thats at least 35 kj. If we figure the chest shredded or whatever it might be upwards of 282 kj, over however many shots absorbed.


PAge 40
[quoteClutching his laspistol two-handed, Daur fired and put three shots through the gunman’s torso.[/quote]

Daur's laspistol can inflict lethal wounds. Possibly a few kj depending on how deep it penetrates. But he has a laspistol as well as a lasrifle, just as Caffran and Tona did.




PAge 41

The heaviest fire seemed to be coming from a large building on the left side of the colonnade which Daur believed was a municipal census hall.

“Left two hundred metres,” Daur barked into his link

“I see it!” Mkoll replied from the other side of the colonnade.
...
Daur ran again, reaching the next obelisk plinth on the left side.
..
Daur fired back, hastily, dragging his lasrifle off his shoulder. Lillo and Nessa reached his position around the same time and joined his fire.
..
The crossfire was intense, but they were a good twenty metres closer to the census hall than Mkoll’s fireteam.

This may or may not indicate Daur is firing ~180m with a laspistol. Alot of it depends on how you figure that next to last passage went.. did he fire first and then drag his lasrifle off, or did he drag his lasrifle off and then fire? It could go either way, really. Also again the Ghosts use fireteams




Page 43

According to Sergeant Varl, Brostin’s skill with fire came from his background as a firewatcher in Tanith Magna. Gaunt could believe this. It wasn’t what Trooper Larkin said, though. Larkin said Brostin was an ex-convict with a ten-year sentence for arson.

More inclined to believe Larkin than Varl in this case, and an arsonist is just the sort of person you want using a flamer in combat. lol




Page 45

Daur’s gunfire blew two of the Infardi over onto their backs.

We dont know if its the knockback from explosive vaporization effects or similar, or perhaps involuntary twitches or perhaps something like a PEP style pain laser (like I've alluded to before.) WE know pain lasers can cause knockdowns after all. But we also know in other cases they have considerable momentum

Assuming its not a PEP style effect, assume they're knocked back half a metre conservatively. figure 40 kg*m/s worth of momeutm to do that. Assuming 1500 m/s exhaust velocity for the blast (equal to speed of sound in water/flesh) thats about 30 kj per shot, and would represent about 26.7 grams of flesh being vaporized, which might come out to about 40-45 or so by itself. Which basically just points to double digit kj but there ya go. If it were a bit bigger, say 80-120 kg*m/s (say a metre and a half) and we figured slightly faster 'explosive' velocity (say 2000 m/s) you get between 80-120 KJ of KE, and between 40-60 grams of flesh vaporized which is between 90 and 150 kj maybe. That said, we dont know if its a single shot or a full auto burst or what, but we could ay its within a second or two tops.





Page 48-49

His heart was beating so fast now, it hurt. His chest hurt.
...

The pain in his chest was quite real now. He gasped. It was all down one side, down the left, across his ribs.
..
Blood, scratches and bruises covered his flesh. He tried to move and pain felled him back. The left side of his ribcage was a mass of purple tissue swelling around a long laser burn.
..
And then pain. A las-shot from almost point-blank range from an Infardi playing dead in the rubble.

Subjectively, it seems Corbec's chest pains and injury come from the las-hit he takes, which causes massive bruising (internal damage perhaps?) as well as the las scar as a secondary effect. I can't measure the internal damage, but I can guess at the scar. We know from previous novels Corbec is nearly 2.5 metres tall, and certainly in excess of 2 m tall. Assuming a 1.8 m tall 'average' and a 25 cm wide torso, corbec's would be cloer to 30-35 cm across roughly. Assuming a 2-3 cm wide burn we're talking between 60-105 sq cm at least. If we figure 50-100 j per sq cm, thats 3 to 10.5 kj at least.





Page 50

Something came into the room, something the shape, perhaps, of a large man, if a man can be clothed in a whisper. It was something like a large, upright patch of heat haze, fogging and distorting the air, humming like the low throb of a drowsy hornet’s nest.
Corbec stared at the shape. He could smell the way it blistered reality around itself, smell that cold hard scent of the warp. The shape was simultaneously translucent and solid: vapour-frail but as hard as Imperator armour. The more Corbec looked, the more he saw in the haze. Tiny shapes, twinkling, seething, moving and humming like a billion insects.

With another sigh, the refractor shield disengaged and dissolved, revealing a large figure wrapped in green silk robes. The compact generator pack for the body-shield swung from a belt harness.

- Pater Sin, leader of the Infardi/Ershul, has a personal refractor shield. Opaque (mostly) and I wonder if the 'scent of the warp' is meant to reflect Pater Sin's corrupted nature, or it is an indication about the nature of the shields?

Also a hint at the durability, whatever Imperator armor is (power armor of some kind?)




Page 50

Well over two metres, built of corded muscle, with skin, where it showed past the rich emerald silk, decorated with the filthy tattoos of the Infardi cult.

Pater Sin smiled down at Colm Corbec.

Yet another giant human.




Page 53

The Tanith were, to a man, tattooed. Mostly these were ritual or family marks. It was part of the culture. Dorden had one himself. But the only Verghastite volunteers with tattoos were gangers and slum-habbers wearing their allegiances and clan-marks. Now almost all of them wanted a mark — an axe-rake, a Tanith symbol, an Imperial aquila.

If you didn’t have a mark, the sentiment went you weren’t no Ghost.

Another indiactor of the Tanith/Verghast divide within the regiment. The old, veteran ghosts and the new recruits. Like with the women, the differences create a divide of sorts. It doesn't seem to be compromising their effectiveness, but it does inhibit camaraderie nonetheless.




Page 54

The lips of Lord General Lugo’s three-dimensional holographic image moved out of sync with his utterance. Lugo was speaking via vox-pictor from Imperial Base Command at Ansipar City, six hundred and forty kilometres south-west of the Doctrinopolis, and atmospherics were causing a communications lag.
..
Gaunt and the other officers present in the gloomy command tractor waited while the lag coped with the reply. Seated in harness restraints to the rear, astropaths mumbled and muttered.

Command tractor. Has hololithic capability and its own astropaths. Range of the vox transmission is at least 640 km for the equipment.



Page 55

“We’re shelling the Citadel with mortars,” Szabo began, his hands in the patch-pockets of his mustard drab jacket.
..
Herodas cut in. “That’s true. We’re getting medium firepower close to the Citadel. "

They're using mortar artillery to attack the citadel. What kind of mortars, we don't know. Based on the map and the fact they're beyond the old city at this point (in the norther part), I'd figure the mortars have an upper limit range of maybe 10-20 km based on the mpa, although that's not definite.





Page 56

Lugo was new blood, one of the “New Minted” generals Warmaster Macaroth had brought with him when he superseded Slaydo and took command of the Sabbat Worlds Crusade almost six sidereal years before. Some, like the great Urienz, had proved themselves just as able as the Slaydo favourites they replaced. Others had proved only that they were book-learned tacticians with years of campaign in the war-libraries of Terra and none at the front line. Lord General Lugo was desperate to prove himself, Gaunt knew.
..
The liberation of Hagia was to have been given to Lord Militant General Bulledin, which was why Gaunt had gladly approved his Ghosts for the action. But at the last minute, presumably after much petitioning behind the scenes by Lugo’s faithful, Macaroth had replaced Bulledin and put Lugo in charge.

Crusade politics fucking up the command structure, again. It shows again how things like this can have an impact at the sharp end - proficient and experieinced commanders sidelined by untrained politicals wanting to gain prestige, such as this Lugo. Its noted he's fucked up at least twice before, and is desparate to show he's worthwhile lest he be cast aside by Macaroth. And now he's breathing down Gaunt's neck.

Another aspect of this which has been mentioned before is Gaunt's old associations with Slaydo put him on bad terms with Macaroth, Slaydo's successor. Again more Crusade politics fucking up the effective prosecution of the war.

One of his fuckups was at a place called Kakariad that had hives. Another hive world in the Sabbat Worlds region.



Page 57

Gaunt walked to the hatch and climbed down out of the massive armoured mobile command centre. The tractor, a barn-sized hull of armoured metal on four massive track sections..

The mobile command centor tractor from the outside. Not a Leviathan, but better than nothing.





Page 62-63

..the Pardus armour was unleashed.

Led by Colonel Furst aboard the legendary Shadow Sword super-heavy tank Castigatus, a storm-shoal of fifty Leman Russ Conquerors, thirty-eight Thunderer siege tanks and ten Stygies-pattern Vanquishers slammed into the southern lip of the Old Town.

The PArdus regiment. Probably not the whole regiment, as we know they have at least one Destroyer Tank hunter, and they also apparently have an Executioner (plasma tank) as well as the various light support stuff (hellhounds, Hydras, etc.) plus Trojans and such



Page 63

Long-range bombardment from Basilisk units and Earthshaker platforms out in the marshes south of the city perimeter fell for twenty minutes until the tank squadrons were poised at the limits of the Old Town district.

Given the estimated size of the city based on the map (40-50 km) and the Earthshakers are bombarding the Old City we're easily looking at least half the city bombarded at a lower limit (20-30 km or so, including the probable size of Old Town) as we know the Citadel and Old town are in the norther part of the city. Upwards of 50+ km away quite possibly.



PAge 63

The fire splash of the tank wave rippled through the Old Town all the way up to the base of the Citadel. Twenty thousand homes and businesses burned or were flattened by shelling.
..
The Ayatani Scholam and the subsidiaries of the esholi were destroyed, and their brick litter toppled into the holy riever. The ancient stones of the Indehar Sholaan Sabbat Bridge were hurled a hundred and fifty metres into the air.

The Pardus armour ploughed on..

Implied intiial devastation of the bombardment. Honestly, I'm not really sure how to measure it, except that it seems significant since its destroying bridges as well. also, they're bombarding all the way to the citadel, which is significant later on.




Page 65

Four of them grabbed Corbec and dragged him up with them. Pain flared through his torso, but he bit his lip.

Corbec seems to be more hurt than previously indicated.



page 66

Above, not more than two kilometres away, rose the Citadel. It was the closest Corbec had been to the building.
..
Sin’s men must have taken him and Yael a good way north through the Old Town.

- Corbec's current position (taken there by the Infardi/Ershul) is slightly less than 2 kilometres from the Citadel. The Pardus are bombarding at LEAST across this distancee, and quite probably a bit more. Heck, the Thunderer siege tanks have to reach out that far at least, since hte Conqueror cannon is (supposedly) longer ranged than the Demolisher (If we go by game stats its twice as far, whilst the Russ is like ~3x the range of the Demolisher. Of course this is also against static targets (EG accuracy isn't as important) but still its nice to know how far the range geos, esp since they are still trying to keep it confined to a specific area.



PAge 68

Corbec grabbed his lasrifle, and managed to roll with it and fire off a pair of shots as the first Infardi got up again.
..
Corbec’s shots went through his chest and tossed him over on to his back.

Another guy kknocked on his ass. Same assumptions as last time probably apply, except this time its a pair of shots. If its from kinetic effect and we figure 20-40 kg*m/s for the shots combined to 'toss' him on his back, and around 1500-2000 m/s for exhaust velocity thats between 15 and 40 kj for both shots, or 7.5-20 kj per shot for KE. Call it 12-27 grams of flesh vaporized by both shots, or 27-60 kj roughly, which works out to between 13.5-30 kj per shot.




Page 71

Trooper Cuu. Lijah Cuu. Something of a legend already in the regiment. Just under two metres, slim, corded with muscle. Lean with a face like a bad lie. That’s how Corbec had described him.

Cuu had been a ganger in Vervunhive before the war.

Lijah Cuu. One of the Verghastites, and something of a problem case throughout the series as we learn. About the closest (so far) that the series comes to an Obadiah Hakeswill, to pull another 'Sharpe' reference out. He's also yet another giant/near-giant at 'almost' two metres tall.




Page 71

Trooper Domor had lost his eyes on Menazoid Epsilon and augmentic surgeons had rebuilt his face around a pair of military gauge optic sensors.

...

He knew that Domor's implants could read heat and movement through stone walls and brick facades.

Domor's implants are apparently military quality, which suggests they're not unusual (or that military grade eyewear/optics have heat/motion detection. ) And they also work through walls, which is useful. Even more damn useful when you consider Domor can connect them to scopes and shit.





Page 74

Corbec put a single round into the Infardi’s chest and threw him back out of sight.

“You messed with the wrong man, you bastards!” he yelled. “You should have finished me when you had the chance! I’m gonna take the head off anyone who comes through that door!”

- Corbec threatens to "take the head" off of anyone with his lasgun if they charge him (Infardi/Ershul, that is.) If it is true it might be single or double digit kj.

Also another bolt causes knockback. RAther than calc it out (again) figure its maybe at least close to double digit kj at least.




PAge 75

Corbec’s shot didn’t kill him but it went through his arm.

A couple kj maybe to punch through the arm. Can't be too wide a hole as it doesn't sever the limb or cut bone.




Page 75

Now a lasgun came around the doorframe, held out blind and firing. Two shots hit the desk hard enough to jerk it back against him.

Two bolts manage to move a fairly sizable desk (Corbec could use it as cover). While I could probably calc it its unlikely to be significantly more than previous estimates and we dont even know dimensions. Although its likely to weigh more than a person. Really it just indicates that lasbolts in the Ghosts novels seem to pack not-inconsiderable knockdown momentum.





Page 76

Dorden felt his pulse racing. He felt exposed, and more, he felt elated. To be part of this. Killing was misery and war was a bestial waste, but glory and valour… they were something else. Pleasures so intense and so fundamentally contiguous with the horrors he abominated, they made him feel guilty to cherish them. At times like this, he understood why mankind made war, and why it celebrated its warriors above all others. At times like this he could understand Gaunt himself. To see well-trained men like Kolea’s squad take down a significantly larger force with discipline, skill and daring….

Which is a pretty apt description of what a Ghosts 'WAr' novel is basically about. There's a combined feeling of horror and enjoyment because of all the action, but also because that action can have horrible, brutal consequences. Like we saw with Necropolis. You get this also with good sci fi like Legend of the Galactic Heroes or Gundam really, and to me its the sign of a good, well balanced story. Fighting and killing shoudl not be without cost, personally or emotionally, and in the Ghosts novels there is always cost of osme kind, at some point. And even the 'heroes' aren't immune from it.

I think the interesting thing in this case is Dorden's reaction. He refuses to carry a weapon because he is a doctor, yet we know from First and Only and Nevcropolis he is an accomplished shooter and unarmed combat guy. He can kill, but he usually chooses not to. And yet.. he can be affected by the duality of war like anyone else, and it makes him feel conflicted. War is a complex human endeavour, and the impact it can have is equally complex.




Page 79

Sixteen square kilometres of the city, the areas of Old Town flanking the noble plateau, were on fire and dead. Scout recons estimated what little numbers the Infardi could still muster had fled north, out of the city and into the rainwoods of the hinterland.

Consequences of the Narmenian assault. Thunderer siege tanks carry 18 rounds (and there are 38 of them), Conquroers carry 49 (2450) and Vanquishers carry 28 (and there are 10 of those.)


Generally speaking with 16 square km and assuming aruond 4900 shells we're talking a ~32.5m diameter blast radius, approximately. Assuming firepower scales linearly to volume as far as diameter goes, the Thunderer shells would create a ~91m blast radius, while the VAnquisher (assuming it used HE rounds) would be ~57 m in radius. A standard russ (if here) would be 40m radius. Depending on how you interpret things (like with the Earrthshakers in Necropolis) you could get several tens of kg if the blast radius were compared to nuke-like effects for conqueror (maybe between 100 kg and 1 ton of TNT or so for thunderer equivalents.) Russ/VAnquisher would be somehwere between 100-10 kg or so.) On the other hand as I noted before as well this tends to point to mor econservative estimates of blast radius and such and a Conqueorr by that would compare to a 105mm howitzer, with a Russ and Vanquisher only slightly better HE wise. Thunderers would be equal to a 120mm howitzer, which seems a bit low givne their comparison to demolisher rounds, but meh. Its meant to be a more conserative compariosn than what I assumed precisely to bracket the range of possibilities.

As another aside depending on how you lay out the 'square kilometres' Conqueror and Thunderer ranges can be upwards of 3 to perhaps as many as 8 km, or more if you figure old town was lined out in a single line 1x16 km. We know its at least 2 km from the previous comment of Corbec's distance from the Citadel, and its probably longer since he had to travel some distance through Old otwn by his own estimation, so 3-4 km seems likely at least. This is the same ranges for the mortars, but again we dont know what kinds of mortars, and in any case the nature of the target must be kept in mind (we're not talking a moving enemy target after all.)



Page 87

No one wanted to confront an ill-disposed Imperial commissar. But now he was worried about Gaunt himself. He’d never been a drinker. He’d always had such great composure and confidence. Like all commissars, he had been created to inspire and uplift.

Note the words. 'Inspire and uplift'. Like ALL Commissars. That isn't to say they don't punish and execute as well, but the intention from the beginning was, and still is, by and large, to inspire, manipulate and trick into doing their duty, resorting to threats and intimidation if nothing else worked.

As another aside this scene involves seeing Gaunt at his nadir. He's failed, Chaos destroyed part of the city by a trap (to be discussed later) and its all to be blamed on him. He'll lose his command (at the very least). Gaunt as a result has been drinking and become surly - the opposite of the man we've learned about in the first three books, because this is his first failure.

One of the key themes in the novel is Gaunt facing that failure, coming to terms with it, and making amends, as we discover. The Ghosts have been remade, and are in the process of being reforged, and Gaunt must be reforged along with them.




Page 91

The four ornithopter gunships flying escort thundered overhead, tearing the air with the beating chop of their massive rotors. They were painted ash-grey with a leopard pattern of khaki blotches. Rawne admired their power, and the bulbous gun turrets on their chins and the ends of their elongated tails.

Lord General Lugo’s aircraft was a massive delta wing with a spherical glass cockpit at the prow. It was matt silver with beige jag-stripes and yellow chevrons on the wingtips alongside the Imperial aquila.

Its shadow fell across the honour guard as it paused in mid-air and the giant jet turbines slowly cranked around in their gimbal mounts from a horizontal position. With jets now flaring downwards, the huge transport descended, whirling up dust and extending delicate landing struts from cavities in the underwing.

- the Imperium employes ornithopters as gunships, at least on this planet. Who they belong to is another matter of course. Also, Lugo's transport has rotating wings for VTOL capability. we know Imperial fighters (from Double Eagle) have vectored thrust and shit, but this is interesting nonetheless.





Page 92

At his heels, two battle-armoured troopers in red and black from the Imperial Crusade staff marched in escort, hellguns raised.

General's bodyguards. It seems the Crusade staff has thier own dedicated force of unknown composition and origin for protection.



Page 93

A signal?” echoed Colonel Furst.

“Oh yes. The adepts of the Astropathicus have confirmed it as such… it’s generating a significant psychic pulse with an interstellar range.”
...
..she gestured to the flickering blaze on top of the Citadel plateau. “That phenomenon is an operating instrument of the warp. An astropathic beacon."

Chaos created a km wide warp beacon that simulates astropathic beacons of an unspecified size with interstellar range. At least 10 LY by comparison to a single astropath.



Page 93

The site was significant of course. “Sacred ground.”

“Of course. The warp-magic of their ritual required the desecration of one of our shrines.”

“That was why they removed all the relics and icons?”

“Yes. And then withdrew to wait for the Brevian Centennials to move in and act as the blood sacrifice to set it off. This Pater Sin clearly planned this contingency well in advance when it looked like his forces would be ousted.”

Chaos has rituals to create at least short ranged warp beacons that can draw their own forces. Naturally it involves descrating Imperial stuff, and blood sacrifice. It also shows how clever the Chaos Leaders can be when it comes to shit like this, once agian.



Page 94

We have detected an enemy fleet massing and moving through the immaterium towards us,” said Lord General Lugo.
“Already?” queried Gaunt.
“This summons is clearly something they don’t intend to ignore or be slow about responding to.”
..
“What is the scale of the enemy response?”
Blamire shrugged, rubbing her gloved hands together uncomfortably. “If it is even a quarter the size we estimate, the combined liberation force here will be obliterated. Without question.”

- the Imperium was able to detect a massive (hundreds if not thousands strong) fleet of Chaos ships 21 days away from their planet. Presumably this was astropathic detection. Also note, that the Chaos fleet was able to detect the destruction of the citadel (a low level nuclear range event in terms of energy - the citadel was at least a km across when obliterated) from a like distance (the destruction was a warp beacon of a sort.)



Page 95

“Even if the Warmaster was able to assist us here — and I assure you, he is not — the nearest Imperial contingents of any useful size are six weeks distant. The arch-enemy’s fleet is twenty-one days away.”

Imperial forces are 6 weeks away, the chaos forces are slightly less than 3 weeks. We dont know quite how far away the relative forces are, except they're maybe 10 LY away at least, if we figure 10-100 LY the Chaos fleet would travel at 170-1700c and the Imperial fleet half that.




Page 98

"Your Tanith regiment, in full strength. I’ve arranged for a Pardus tank company to travel with you as escort."

Gaunt will have the Ghosts plus a Pardus company.



Page 98

Hark looked back, meeting Gaunt’s eyes for the first time. “For the purposes of discipline, naturally. You’re broken, Gaunt. Your command judgment is suspect."
..
Hark raised his glass. “Your command status has always been thought of as strange, Gaunt. A colonel is a colonel and a commissar is a commissar. Many have wondered how you could perform both those duties effectively when the primary rationale of a commissar is to keep a check on the unit’s commander. For a while. Crusade command has been considering appointing a commissar to the Tanith First to operate in conjunction with you. Events here have made it a necessity.”

As noted before, Gaunt's associations with the Tanith have technically 'tainted' his role as a Commissar. In Necropolis even he admits he broke Otkar's rules and got too close and started caring, Clearly some on the Crusade staff either took note or anticipated this, and so we are introduced to Viktor Hark, who becomes the Tanith's official commissar as Gaunt is the commander.

Hark also represnets another part of Gaunt's essential reforging, as we will see. Indeed his role and relations with the Ghosts will evolve both in this book and others, because like everyone else he has a role to play.




Page 100-101

The convoy was almost three kilometres long from nose to tail: the entire Ghost regiment, carried in a line of fifty-eight long-body trucks: twenty Pardus mainline battle tanks, fifteen munition Chimeras and four Hydra tractors, two Trojans, eight scout Salamanders and three Salamander command variants. Their dust plume could be seen for miles and the throaty rumble of their collective turbines rolled around the shallow hills of the rainwoods. A handful of motorcycle outriders buzzed around their skirts, and in their midst travelled eight supply trucks laden with provisions and spares and two heavy fuel tankers. The tankers would get them to Bhavnager, two or three days away, where local fuel supplies would replenish them.

First: this reflects the aformentioend 'Pardus' company. 20 Main tanks (mostly Conqeurors probably) and fifteen Chimeras with ammo and a number of scout and command vehicles. That probably means there are at least 2-3 companies, probably more. Oh and 4 hydras.

There are also the Ghosts in borrowed trucks (making them motorised here) and each truck evidently carries around 43 troopers (or 40 carried, and perhaps 3 in the cab driving or such.) You have a number of motorcycles as outriders and scouts, and there are two heavy fuel tankers and eight supply trucks (for the Ghosts, presumably.)

Bhavnager is by the map at hte front an estimated 400 km or so away, I gather. which is 'two or three days away' Nonstop that is 8-12 km/hr roughly, which really isn't fast by any measure (even Forgewrold russes off road would be faster.) So there are either more considerations (stops and such) or the accompanying vehicles are so sluggish that they slow down the rest of the convoy. IT could be the tankers. Of course I'm assuming they would also want to go flat out because they're on a deadline, but that isn't neccesarily feasible or wise for long distance journeys and evidence later suggests they weren't going all out from the start either. It also assumes non-stop journeys and we dont know the delays or stops they planned on along the way either.

Likewise they need a pair of tankers for fuel to reach the location. That is odd given we know that Russes can reach out to 800-1500 km by a number of sources (Death ro Glory, Defixio short story, etc.) Either the PArdus Russes are considerably shorter ranged (increased performance as a trade-off perhaps?) or the fuel is needed for the supply trucks and troop carriers, which is also possible.

Also the Honour Guard's vehicles (or at least some/most of them) have turbines of some kind as engines. I dont know if this is the 'standard' vehicle engine - I suspect not given Forge world's IA stuff mentions the Multifuel as being V12 which seems to be distinct from turbines. It could be tha tthe reduced range complements the increased performance of the engines (Just a guess.)



Page 101

He had twenty-five hundred infantry in his retinue, and the force of a mid-strength armour brigade.

Size of Gaunt's forces. If the Tanith are between 1500 and 2000, we might figure there are 500-1000 Verghast recruits. Probably closer to the higher end
suggesting that the Verghast elements numbered somewherea round a thousand or so.



Page 101

His head ached. The previous night he’d retired alone to his chambers in the Universitariat and drunk himself to sleep over a stack of route maps.
..
The likelihood was the Tanith First would simply cease to be once he had gone.

There was no prospect for renewal. The troopers would be transferred away into other regiments, perhaps as recon specialists, and that would be that.

His looming demise meant the demise of his beloved Tanith regiment too.

Gaunt continues his alcoholic binge in the wake of his failure and eventual fate. It is important to note that it isn't just that he's taking the failure hard, or even the loss of his command, but its that without him, the Ghosts - as a whole - will cease to be. We've spent three books discussing and showing how Gaunt's identity and personality - and that of the Ghosts themselves have melded and been shaped by one another, and the depth to which Gaunt identifies with the Ghosts has a significant emotional impact. Losing the Ghosts would literally be like losing a part of his body.

What's more, there are all those promises/vows he's made to himself and them that would go unfufilled if he were removed from command, and Gaunt is by nature a man who takes his promises and honor (and duty) seriously. So its actually more the personal, self-perceived failures that afflict him more than whatever shit Lugo (or Macaroth) might dump on him. The drinking continues through much of the novel, as does trying to cope with this impending loss. Indeed, in later novels we'll see this theme pop up in other ways (His Last Command, he actually does 'lose' the Ghosts due to his commando mission in Traitor general.)




Page 102

..she had become the de facto mother of two orphaned children. They now accompanied the Tanith First war machine as part of the sizeable and extended throng of camp followers. Many of that group, the cooks and mechanics and munition crew, were travelling with them, but many had been left behind for the evacuation. Children, wives, whores, musicians, entertainers, tailors, peddlers, panders. There was no place for them on this stripped-down mission.

The 'hangers on' of the Ghosts.. basically a roving settlement of amily/friends/serviceproviders, and it seems that each regiment will have its own 'camp followers' to do support and such, exchanging services for pay (provided from the Ghosts own pay one imagines.) I expect they deal (officially or unofficially) with locals or the Munitorum, which leads to a sort of ad-hoc system of economics. Reminds me a bi of the Orks and their 'mobile ecosystem', but its also indactive of that 'theory vs practice' aspect where lots of unofficial solutions to various problems is applied in the Guard.




Page 102-103

Tona took out the double-faced pendant she wore around her neck and looked wistfully at the faces of her children, preserved in holoportraits and set in plastic. Yoncy and Dalin. The babe in arms and the fretful young boy.
..
They were as close to an actual family unit as it was possible to get in the Imperial Guard.

Tona has 'holoportraits' of her kids set into a pendant. Interesting as a technical bit but I'm also noting again that the whole 'family' thing she and Caffran set up is one of the more touching subplots to the Ghosts stories. I mean they managed to assemble something like a family even amidst the war (something caffran even states. Caffran being called 'Papa Caff'.)

As an aside, this is the same scene where Gol Kolea learns his kids (the ones Tona is taking care of, as Kolea's wife was killed early in the assault on Vervunhive) are still alive, beginning yet a new subplot.



PAge 104

Sergeant Mkoll ran ahead of the main convoy in one of the scout Salamanders with troopers Mkvenner and Bonin and the driver.
..
They dashed down the tree-lined road at close to sixty kph, waking out a fan tail of pink dust behind them off the dry earth surface.

Salmander scouts carry 3 Tanith scouts,a nd travel down the road at 60 kph.



Page 104-105

Mkoll had taken their conservative estimates of speed and mileage and revised them down. Both Herodas and Elthan were imagining a trip of five or six days to travel the three hundred or so kilometres to the Shrine-hold, roads permitting. Mkoll was looking at seven at least, maybe eight

It seems there are lots of factors affecting travel speed than I initially assumed so the speed estimates should not be taken as per-vehicle absolutes, but more estimates of 'convoy speeds' which itself is useful because it can tell us how fast such large groups can travel. Its probably pretty silly to assume every vehicle can travel as fast (or far) as a Russ flat out

Also the distance is apparently closer to 300 or so km than 400 km, at least to Bhavanger. Go figure.

Anyhow, intiial estimates over 300 km is 2-2.5 km/hr, which I suggest has to be off because that's basically a jogging/running pace lol. And its probably even slower by Mkoll's estimates. Of cours since they end up going through forest and up mountain that may constitute the bulk of the time as well.




Page 106-107

“The road is very clear. We come down now this month from the high pastures. They say the war is over. We come down in the hope that the markets will be open again.”
..
They were afraid of the war. The war in the cities. But we have heard the war is over and many people will come out of the woods now it is safe.”
..
He had already suspected that a good proportion of the rural population might have fled into the wilderness at the start of the occupation.

Its interesting as an indication that whilst war may touch some parts of the world, not every place will be subjected to it, not unlike real life really. GALAXY OF WAR and all that

The case was actually true on Vervunhive when you think about it, that conflict, as devastating as it was, was still fairly localized.



Page 108

“Just outside a village called Shamiam. I’m going ahead as far as Mukret. "
..
"What’s your ETA at Mukret?”

“Another two to three hours, over.” Mukret was a medium-sized settlement on the river where they had planned to make their first overnight stop.

It would seem they expected to make 340-440 km or so within a 12 hour period, which is about 28-36 kph. Reasonable on road speeds for a Russ, even if its a few kph faster than a Conqueror is supposed to be capable of on the high end. On the toher hand as I noted we learn they aren't quite going all out either.

On the other hand we figure 20-40 km from Shamiam to Mukret, which is 7-20 km/hr for the Salamanders in this case.



Page 108

“And about an hour ahead of you, there’s a big herd of livestock moving contra your flow. "
..
The driver throttled the Salamander’s turbine and pointed her nose up the brown mud-cake of the highway.

A good fifteen kilometres back down the Tembarong Road, the honour guard convoy slowed and came to a halt.

Salamander scout has turbines again too. Also note that the Scouts are 15 km ahead of the convoy, and it takes about an hour to cross that distance, suggesting a convoy speed of 15 km/hr in this instance. Its probably more reliable in this case.



Page 109

Feygor nodded and relayed the glib order to the fifty or so men in the transport cargo area.

Trucks carry fifty guys it seems.



Page 112

The red-crested forkbills were fine enough, but they were an easy target because of their white plumage and size. The spider-rats were better creepy eight-limbed mammals the size of Larkin’s hand that jinked up and down the tree trunks in skittering stop-start trajectories so fast they made a sport out of it.

- LArkin is targeting "spider-rats" which are as large as his hand, but smaller than the fork-bills. This probably means the fork-bills are head sized targets or slightly larger (probably a bit larger, given that Larkin meant to use them to feed part or most of the Tanith to supplement their rations, and only snagged six.)




Page 112

Cuu folded his lean limbs down next to Larkin. Larkin thought of himself as thin and small amongst the Ghosts but Cuu was smaller. There was, however, a suggestion of the most formidable energy in his wiry frame.

Wait what? Cuu is just under two metres tall, yet he's shorter than most of the Ghosts (including Larkin?) Fucking mad to consider most of them must be around 2 m or so tall. They're fucking giants over in segmentum Pacificus



Page 113

“I’m betting they could be good in the pot. Bulk up standard rations, a few of them.”
..
“Three, this is Larks. Cuu and I are going off the track to nab a few waterbirds for eating."

They're going to hunt the Forkbills for food supplement.


Page 113

The trick wasn't to hit it. The trick was to knock its head off. A las-round would explode a forkbill into feathers and mush if it hit the body, like taking a man out by jamming a tube-charge down his waistband. Shot the inedible head off and you'd have a ready-to-pluck carcass.
..

There was a slight flash and virtually no noise. The forkbill, no with nothing but a scorched ring of feathers where its head should have joined on, dropped off into the shallow water.

Long las hunting. If we figure a 2-3 cm diameter neck (including bones) or so and a few kj would probably cover it (5-10) although there's the overpenetration. Figure 50 j per sq cm for 3rd degree burns at neck area 15-20 sq cm whcih is 750-1000 J.

Now, blowing it apart is much nastier, but how big a bird? Bigger than a hand (spider rats) probably by a considerable margin. Call it 20-30 cm across, maybe half that in diameter? At least tens, perhaps hundreds of kj, depending on extent of pulverization and exact bird size, assuming you blow it apart totally lengthwise. Assuming oyu just blow it apart enough to tear it in half (10 cm diameter) it would be much lower, only 20-25 kj (Whereas lengthwise would eaisly be several times greater at least.)

If we figure you scale the 'tube charge down pants' to bird size, the difference by mass would be aorund 30-40x, whilst by volume it might be 50-100 times. If we figure around a fifth to a quarter kilo of TNT to blow apart a person you might get between 5-8 grams of TNT for one end, whilst the other is 2-2.5 grams to 4-5 grams. By flash burns at 200-300 sq cm per one side we might get 80-120 kj (twice that if both sides.)

There is the question of what rounds Larkin uses for this. Probably not hot shots, since Larkin says in STraight silver a hot shot would pulverize anything smaller than a deer and there is no way in hell these things ar that size, meaning they'd be massive overkill. What's more you owuldn't waste your specialist rounds on game. And then of course there is the 'multi shot' thing later, but I'll address that then.




PAge 114

In short order, Larkin pinked off five more. He and Cuu sloshed out to gather them up, hooking them by the webbed feet into their belts.

Six total. If we figure for Rawne's platoon of fifty men (or maybe just his company) and a quarter kilo of meat per person thats roughly 2 kilos per bird. We certainly know Larkin and Cuu can carry 3 each on their belt, suggestng they probably weigh less than 3-5 kilos. We also know ducks and loons (or other similar birds like gulls and such) cna weigh a few kg (although some loons might weigh up to twice that) so its roughly consistent. A few kg would correspond to a bird of around head size, maybe 20-30+ cm across.

[Connor MacLeod]

Part 2 of Honour Guard. Even more tankage than last time, although the update cuts out midway in one of the battles. *shrugs*

Page 114

He fired suddenly and a forkbill exploded in a mass of white feathers and blood.

...

Three more forkbills detonated off their perches.

...
..Cuu swung the long-las round quick fare and destroyed two more birds.
..
He’d switched the long-las to rapid fire and when he pulled the trigger, pulse after pulse whined into the canopy.
...
...Cuu's wildfire blasted and crisped half a dozen spider-rats off the surrounding tree trunks. Not a shot wasted or went wide. Skittering targets even he'd have to think twice about hitting were reduced to seared, blood-leaking impacts on the trees.

- Note Larkin's long-las (in this setting) holds at least eighteen shots. Curiously, Larkin's long-las (unlike those described in the uplifting primer and ghostmaker) is capable of auto-fire. This would also tend to reinforce the 'low-volt' vs 'hot shot' as hot shots are (by Traitor general) single shot generally, if we assume continuity between older and newer novels.

the hand-sized (10-15 cm across) rats blown/burt by full auto on long las. figure 1/4-1/5th that in width (2-4 cm) 20-60 sq cm At 3rd degree burns you're looking at least at 2-6 kj, blowing apart flash burns (4th degree 400 j per sq cm) is 8-24 kj per side, or 16-48 kj per shot. 5-10 kj at least to 'bisect', 20-30 kj at least to blow apart more messily (lengthwise, rather than diameter.)

Also: This starts the beginning of another subplot between Cuu and Larkin, one of the darker ones of this part of the Ghosts series.



Page 120

“One to convoy elements,” Gaunt said into his vox on the all-channel band. “Drop your speed and pull over to the extreme left. We’ve got livestock on the road. Show courtesy and pass well clear of them.”

The drivers and crews snapped back responses over the link.

Given the approximately 3 km separation and Gaunt's position at the front, (And the fact 'vox-link' in this book also refers to micro-beads) that suggests the range of Gaunt's micro bead. Given that they're up to 10 km in His Last Command and up to 5 km in 'Rebel Winter' its hardly implausible.





Page 122

Gaunt's bolt round hit him point-blank in the right cheek and disintegrated his head in a puff of liquidised tissue.

Gaunt's bolter headsplodes.



Page 123

Another big chelon, hit dead centre by a tank shell, exploded wholesale and a big, stinking cloud of blood mist and intestinal gas billowed down the convoy.

We learn Chelon (females) are 2 tonnes at least, and thats 1/3 the mass of the males, which means 2-6 tonnes. Assuming it detonates on impact (little to no penetration) and a grenade/sick of TNT can blow up a human being we might figure 7-15 kg at least if female, and 3x that if male. Given that Conqueorr rounds are rather lighter than Russ shell, its not implausible for HE. Again 'at least as good, possibly better' tahn RL examples.



Page 123

The first third of the honour guard convoy was under hard assault, jammed and slowed to such an extent by the herd that the trailing portion of the convoy, straggled back to a more than four kilometre spread now, couldn’t move up to successfully support.

Which suggests effective range limits on lasrifles and other support weapons (and quite likely the tank and other vehicle weapons like autocannon and Conqueorr cannon.) Of course with tank guns there's the risk of randomly slinging HE and AP rounds into a melee too

This may also refflect increased vox ranges too over what I initially estimated.




PAge 124

Major Kleopas tried to turn his Conqueror, but a massive chelon, bucking and hooting, slammed into his bull-bars and shunted the entire tank around. For a full five seconds, the tank’s racing tracks dragged at thin air as the weight of the bull chelon drove its nose into the road.
Then the tracks grabbed purchase again. Kleopas’ tank lurched forward.
...
“Screw you! Full power! Ram it!” Kleopas barked down at his driver.

The Conqueror battle tank, named Heart of Destruction according to the hand-painted hull logo, scrambled sideways in a vast spray of dust and then drove its bulldozer blade into the legs of the big bull chelon. Kleopas’ tank maimed the animal and rammed it off the highway, though the Conqueror dented its hull plating against the chelon’s shell in the process.

- One of the Conqueror taks is rammed by a Chelon, knocked fully around and lifted into the air for a few seconds. It rams back against this, the struggle merely denting the hull playing of the tank (And that after prolonged contact, only.) I suppose its an indication of Russ durability, although whether its impressive or not I suppose is matter of opinion. Certainly shoving around a 60 ton tank is not trivial, especially when it decides to shove back.



Page 126

She had none of the Commissar’s trained skill with an assault las, nor as much as Trooper Lesp..

Assault lasrifles, I presume. Of course in Guns of Tanith they're carbines, but it suggests lasrifles might have similar variance the way real life ones do (intermediate, full power, etc.)


PAge 126-127

“You didn’t scream when they grabbed you.”
..
“And that’s good — why?”
“Waste of energy, of dignity. If they’d killed you, they’d have taken no satisfaction in it.”
..
“Never give the enemy anything, Ana. They take what they take and that’s more than enough as it is.”
“Live by that do you?”
...

“Yes,” he replied, as if he was surprised she should ask. Sensing that, she felt surprised too. At herself, for her own stupidity. It was obvious and she’d known it all along if she’d but recognised it.

That was Gaunt’s way. Gaunt the Imperial hero. Give nothing. Never. Ever. Never let your guard down, never allow the enemy the slightest edge. Stay firm and die hard. Nothing else would do.
It wasn’t just the commissar in him. It was the warrior, Curth realised. It was Gaunt’s fundamental philosophy. It had brought him here and would carry him on to whatever death, kind or cruel, the fates had in store for him. It made him what he was: the relentless soldier, the celebrated leader, the terrifying slayer.

She felt unbearably sad for him and in awe of him all in the same moment.

Ana Curth had heard about the disgrace awaiting Gaunt at the end of this mission. That made her saddest of all. She realised he was going to be absolutely true to his duty and his calling right to the end, no matter the shadow of dishonour hanging over him. He would not falter.
Gaunt would be Gaunt until death claimed him.

And its true. Thats the fundamental Gaunt, the one that has been shattered, driven to despair and drink, and that must be reforged in the process of this Honour Guard. Gaunt is a fighter, its that determination to 'never give in' that drove him to save the Tanith (refusing to give them what he could deny them.) and why he continues to save and protect them to the limits of his power, and why he resists Chaos with every rfibre of his being. Part of it of course is just being a Commissar, but also part of it is just integral to his nature, as Ana notes. He is no more capable of giving in, deep down, than he is of not breathing.

And its significnat I think that Ana can be surprised and saddened by this, becuase its quite tragic as a character trait. No respite, no peace, no relenting ever. You have to be firm and inflexible, if not for yourself than others. Its kind of poignant that someone can feel pity for someone like a Commisar, I think.



Page 127 -

Herodas looked down and saw the horror of blown-out meat and bone shards that was all that remained of his own leg joint.

- damage caused by a "hard slug" (IE bullet.) but presumably las fire could do it, although the leg clearly hasn't been severed. It wouldnt be more than single digit kj probably in any csae but its still interesting.



Page 128

It was a third the size of the big bulls, but still weighed in at over two tonnes.

Again female (or small male) Chelons are severla tons, and the large ones are triple that.


Page 128

A thin beam of hot red energy stabbed across the road and hit the hurling brute with such force it was blown sideways off its feet. The shot disintegrated a huge hole in the Chelon and left it a smouldering husk, dripping fatty mush.

Effect of Hark's plasma pistol. By recoil alone (2 tonnes) its got to be vaporizing at least a kilo to a kilo and a half of flesh (call it 1500-2000 m/s escape velocity.) call it 2-4 MJ at least for vaping issues, and 1-2 MJ for the KE imparted by momentum. If we figure fairlly large flash burns over the side - call it half a metre to a metre diameter (2000-8000 sq cm) even at third degree burns you'd be talking 100-400 kj, and again could get to single digit MJ if the flash burns are worse (200 j per sq cm is 400 kj to 1.6 MJ for example.)



Page 128

"Then he [Hark] spun round abruptly, brought up his weapon, and cremated an Infardi who had risen from the roadside weeds with a rifle."

Again, Hark's plasma pistol. If we figure its just badly burnt, we can figure half a MJ (for third degree burns to one side of the Infardi) to several MJ easily (for more severe burns, esp on both sides. Perhaps even double digit MJ) Cremation (which is explicitly stated, and we have no reason to think otherwise) is hundreds of MJ to several GJ depending on size and efficiency of the effect.


Page 129

Twenty-two Pardus dead, fifteen Ghosts, six Munitorium crewmen. Six Ghosts and three Pardus severely injured and over eighty light wounds sustained by various personnel.
Listening to the roll call of deaths and injuries on his microbead, Gaunt strode back to his vehicle..

Again suggestive of multi-km comm bead ranges.


PAge 132

The candid honesty of the response struck Gaunt. For the first time, he felt something other than venom towards Commissar Viktor Hark. To be part of the Imperial Guard was to be part of a complex system of obedience, loyalty and service. More often than not, that system forced men into obligations and decisions they’d otherwise not choose to make. Gaunt had butted up against the system all his career. Was he now seeing that mirrored in another? Or was Hark just dangerously persuasive?
The latter notion seemed likely. Charisma was one of the chief tools of a good commissar, and Hark seemed to have it in spades. To say the right thing at the right time for the right effect. Was he just playing with Gaunt?

An interesting moment. Hark and Gaunt seem to have some sort of rapport, but Gaunt doesn't trust it, knowing Commissarial nature as he does. Its interesting obth because of the story - indicating that the Guard is much more complex (politically and emotionally/culturally) that you can't really afford to simplify people down to just a good/bad dynamic (although some do), and also interesting because of the heavily psychologicla/charisma role given to 'Good' Commissars from Gaunt's own thoughts. Again its not intimidation but inspiration that seems to be their primary goal - or rather manipulation. Not that that's better than fear, because manipulation means using all tools at your disposal and can be horrific in its own way given the outcomes one aims for.


Page 133

“From tomorrow, we run a spearhead under your command. Hard armour, fast moving.”

Again indicating that Gaunt hasn't been pushing the pace as hard as he could, but he clearly is pushing harder now.


Page 134

He and Mkoll sidestepped as Tanith troopers backed across their path carrying ammo boxes and folded mortars for the perimeter defence

The Ghosts apparently have man portable mortars for artillery support.



Page 134

Hark had already stated he had studied the Tanith records. He had to know how psychologically important Brin was to the Ghosts. To Gaunt.

Again traits of a Good commissar. Note again people like Gaunt and Ciaphas Cain are 'good' commisars precisely by these traits.


Page 135

...chasing back down the Tembarong Road towards the Doctrinopolis, the lone troop track thundered through the night.
Milo had ridden in the cab for the first part of the overnight journey..

Again call it 150-200 km, in under 12 hours we're talking maybe 12.5-17 km/hr at least for the truck. Given they'r carrying wounded they probably can't go flat out even on the roads.


Page 135-137

Milo was afraid Herodas wasn’t going to make it back to the Doctrinopolis, despite Medic Curth’s ministrations. He’d lost so much blood.
“Don’t you go dying on me, sir,” he growled at the supine officer.
“I won’t, I swear it,” Herodas murmured.
..
Milo wanted to keep him talking. About anything, any old nonsense. He was worried what might happen if Herodas fell asleep.
..
...Milo lied, his eyes now hot with angry tears.
...
“My name is Lucan Herodas. I don’t feel like being a ‘sir’ anymore. Call me by my name.”
“I will, Lucan.”
Herodas nodded slowly. “Tell me what you see now, Milo.”
“I see the city gates. I see the roofs and towers. I see the temples glowing like starflies in the dark.”
Lucan Herodas didn’t reply.
..
Ten minutes later, the truck drew up in the yard of the western city infirmary.
By then, Herodas was dead.

Another tragic scene I think that really drives home that 'horror of war' thing on a personal level. Milo is trying to save a guy by keeping him awake, keeping him talking.. yet the poor guy dies just as they arrive at help, which sort of rendered Milos efforts worthless. And he was crying for the man too.. that whole 'soldiers crying' thing that reminds me of 'In Remembrance' so well when Larkin did so. Its hard to be all gung ho about battle and kililng the enemy when you have to face scenes like this. A good military story should have upsides and downsides, to reflect the horror and tragedy as well as what positive aspects can be drawn from it.



PAge 136

“Sergeant Varl in my mob, he’s got an augmetic shoulder. The latest fething bionics!”

Suggesting at least when it comes to augmetics, some sort of tech progression occurs.


Page 144

" I’ve been dreaming about my father, back home on lost Tanith.”
..
" It’s like… there’s a meaning to be had. Like… Oh, I dunno…”
..
“Like someone’s trying to tell you something?” Daur whispered softly. “Something important? Something that has to be done?"
..
"Gak, I don’t think I’m dreaming much at all. But a feeling… like I should be doing something.”

Daur (and Dorden) have been having dreams as well, which I think is significant. It goes back to First and Only and Gaunt's encounter with the psyker witch, because we have all sorts of supernatural shit coming down on the Ghosts. This won't be the first time either, this entire ark is about such things, foreshadowing and foretelling events. ITs always one of the interetsing things to me about the Ghosts because things like prophecies and premonitions and dream visions have a reality about them, and that (to me) add something to the setting that regular sci fi may not always have, and adds a bit of an 'epic' feeling I haven't felt in 40K novels since the earlier days of stuff like the Inquisiton War or 'Eye of Terror' or the BFG Rennie novels.


Page 151

“Derin! How’s the chest?”
...
..there was no sign of injury about him [Derian],. but his arms moved stiffly. Corbec knew a whole lot of suturing and bandages lay under his black Tanith field jacket.

Derin got sliced by lasfire early in the novel during the Doctrinopolis assault (though we dont know the extent of injuries.) Assuming half his chest and side badly burnt (2nd degree burns) and a couple dozne shots call it 900-1000 sq cm which is 27-30 kj at least - single digit kj per shot at least, just by burns. Punching holes through would be at least a couple more kj, probably.


Page 152-153

An ancient, battered Chimera rumbled into the warehouse. Its turbines coughed and rasped as they shut down. It was the oldest and worst kept piece of Munitorium armour Milo had ever seen, and that included the junk piles that had been given to the honour guard convoy.
“Best I could do,” he said. “It was one from the motorpool they’re going to abandon in the
evacuation.”

There are evidently worse quality transports in the Munitorum motor pool, especially if they were willing to actually abandon it (so much for 'all vehicles are rare and precious and important'.)
Later they describe it as a 'gamma class' transport, indicating that they're rated.


Page 153

Or the theft report of a class gamma transport Chimera from the Munitorium motorpool.

Gamma class. Again there are different qualities of vehicle - not all are the same. Gamma class seems to be 'expendable' class.


Page 155

..Nusera Crossing where the holy river twisted across it. North of the crossing, the river’s course snaked up to the headwaters in the hills, one hundred and fifty kilometres away.

Distance to the Crossing


PAge 155

The second day of the mission dawned soft and bright, with the lowland plains of the river valley dressed in thick white fogs. The scout spearhead under Mkoll left Mukret through the early fogs, travelling at a moderate rate because of the reduced visibility.

One factor evidently affecting travel speeds.


Page 155

Gaunt and Kleopas had assembled three scout Salamanders carrying a dozen Ghost troopers between them, two Conqueror tanks and one of the two Destroyer tank hunters in the Pardus complement. The main taskforce set out from Mukret an hour behind them.

An hour ahead of the main convoy again, and the PArdus company has two Destroyers, not one.


Page 155-156

Gaunt’s intention was to reach the farming community of Bhavnager by the second night. This meant a run of nearly ninety-five kilometres, on decent roads. But already the mists were slowing their progress.

95 km in about 36 hours. The map suggests perhaps slightly more than 100 km. On the other hand the 'second night' bit may refer to the second day of the mission rather than two days of travel, which would imply under 12 hours to travel 95-100 km (which makes more sense, really.)


Page 156-157

"Some of my kind are up there.” He pointed a gnarled finger at the sky, and Gaunt realised he meant space itself, space beyond Hagia.
“They travel the stars?”
“Indeed. They pace out the route of her Great Crusade, her war pilgrimage to Harkalon, her wide circuit of return. It can take a lifetime, longer than a lifetime. Few make the entire circuit and return to Hagia.”

Some of the Haigian priesthood apparently travel throughout the SAbbat Worlds. How they travel (on what kinds of ships) we don't know, but its apparently a fairly reliable route whatever it is, if dangerous.

Page 157

Mkoll was checking in. The spearhead had just forded the holy river at Nusera and was making good speed to Limata.

If we figure about an hour or so passing as indicated on the previous page (155) they are again travelling at around 60 kph on road Which would include the Destroyer and the Pardus tanks actually This isn't unreasonable as the page before this was mostly covered by Gaunt's ruminations on the situation and his goals and a lengthy discussion with Ayatani zweil, the new character to be introduced.


Page 158

“What can you tell about me?”
“You are burdened… hence the numerous annotations in the Devotional Creeds… and burdened by responsibility and the demands of office in particular… these three selections in the Epistles of Duty show that you seek answers, or perhaps ways of fighting internal daemons… that is plain from the number of paper strips you’ve used to mark the pages of the Doctrines and Revelations. You appreciate battle and courage… the Annals of War, here… and you are sentimental when it comes to fine devotional poetry…”

Here we see the new character, Ayatani Zweil analyze Gaunt by his reading material. Pretty accurate assessment going b what we've seen of the man in previous novels. Anyhow, Zweil is a fundamental part of Gaunt rebuilding himself, the counselor/advisor and catalyst for his change. Its at this point where he starts dragging himself up out of drinking and despair and starts to become the man he was, if not move beyond that.



Page 159

Half an hour later, they reached the crossing at Nusera.

Assuming an hour and a half or two hours total over the same distance, they're travelling at maybe 30-40 kph on road now.


PAge 159

Limata was another dead town. Mkoll’s spearhead reached it just before eleven thirty.

If they left Murket around 6-7 am, we're talking between 4 1/2 to 5 1/2 hours to travel some 120-130 km or so maybe. Average speed of 24 km/hr on road at that, although they aren't travelling flat out, and we again dont know what stops they may have made.



Page 159

The other broke north-west into the highlands and the steaming tracts of the rainwoods. Forty-plus kilometres in that direction lay Bhavnager.

Distance from Limata to Bhavnager.



Page 162-163

The Wrath of Pardua traversed its turret and blew a house apart with a single shell. Its partner began shelling the right flank of the town’s main drag. Stilt houses disintegrated or combusted. The sponson-mounted flamers on both Conquerors rippled through the close-packed buildings and turned them into torched ruins.

Conqeuror tank firepower. Note the sponsons.



Page 163

Well over a day behind them, Corbec’s thrown-together team rolled past the site of the ambush

I'm not sure if 'hem' is the scouting spearhead or the Convoy. If the former, they're maybe 150-200 km away, and the latter maybe 100-150 km or so, which is a bout a day, not including the convoy's own speed (15-20 km/hr maybe?) Also whether day means 12 or 24 hours.



Page 163

The Chimera’s turbine was overheating anyway..

Corbec's troop carrier has a turbine too.



Page 168

Nessa was strapped up with a healing las-wound in her belly, Bragg’s shoulder was useless, Daur and Derin had chest wounds that slowed them down badly...

Again laswounds. They were either penetrating but narrow or mostly thermal, since the injuries do not show the Ghosts having lost limbs or organs. Single digit kj, maybe low double digit.



Page 168-169

The Recon Spear had made excellent time, and word on the vox was that the main convoy was only seventy minutes behind them.
..
The vehicles of the Recon Spear were out of sight beyond the road turn, but he must have heard their engines.

- The convoy is seventy minutes behind them, and going by the map the turn must be a few km (3-5 km or so?) from the 'turn' it probably refers to



PAge 169

Once the road came out of the fruit groves it was open and unprotected for over fifteen hundred metres right down to the edge of the town. Trees had been felled and brush cleared.

Distance form the tree line/fruit groves to the edge of town. Its clearly off road, and it was cleared as a sightline/kill zone.


Page 169-170

Had he sent a signal already or was he waiting to see what came around the bend?
..
Mkoll checked the corpse and found an old autorifle but no vox set. Tucked into a hand-dug hole in the side of the culvert was a round mirror. Simple but effective signalling, perhaps to another invisible spotter down the road.

Infardi/ERshul trooper had no vox, but Mkoll clearly felt a single person man portable vox with a range of 1.5 km or more was possible.


PAge 171

“We’ll have the whole bloody convoy bunching up behind us in less than an hour,”
..
There was a faint, distant bang, muffled by the dead air of the hot afternoon. A second later, a whooping shriek came down out of the sky.
"Incoming!" Sirus yelled. "All the men broke for cover."
With a roar, the shell hit the roadline twenty-five metres short of them and blew a screen of trees out onto the track. After a moment, two more exploded in the trees to their left, hurtling earth and flames into the cloudless blue.

- the Convoy will be arriving in less than an hour now (at least eleven minutes since spotting the ambush. Minimal time spent on conversation, at least five-six minutes going back and forth between the convoy. (at least another 300-400 meters down to the convoy from the edge, but probably more, given the map. By the mpa I'd go 3-5 km.)
IF it were direct fire we'd probably be talking a few seconds to strike, which would be at least a 1-1.5 km/s, possibly several km/s. But its not likely anywhere near the upper end, possibly not lower. Its not direct fire since shells come down. Likewise, the fact they hear the bang kilometers away suggests it takes a number of seconds for the noise to reach their distance. Indeed, the fact the round hits shortly after the bang reaches suggests its transonic or slightly subsonic velocity wise.



Page 171

Farant’s Conqueror suddenly came apart in a huge fireball. The explosion was so fierce the Shockwave punched Mkoll off his feet. Splintered armour shards rained down.
..
The blazing remains of the Pardus tank filled the centre of the road, turret disintegrated, bodywork fused and twisted, tread segments disengaged and scattered.

Conqueror destroyed by artillery. We dont know what the weapon was, as it could be from the shell, the tank's ammo or both.



Page 173-174

Heedless of the 105mm shells tearing into the highway and trees around him, Sirus confronted the Infardi armour head-on. The Wrath of Pardua sped forward with a clank of treads and fired its main gun. The hypervelocity round hit the nearest of the two enemy vehicles, exploding into the rear mantlet of its turret with such forcec the entire turret mount spun round through two hundreds and ten degrees. The tank clearly retained motive power, because it continued to churn along the road, but its traverse system was crippled and the turret and weapon swung around slackly with the motion.
The Wrath fired again, mere seconds before a shell from the second tank glanced lengthways along its starboard flank. The hit buckled and tore its track guards and then fragmented off into the trees.
The Wrath’s second shot had missed.

First, the Pardus tanks have track guards. Secondly, the Pardus tank rounds are 'hypervelocity.' depending on defition, it could mean several kilometres per second (like with EM guns), but it may also refer to much lower. The lowest I've known is 1 km/s or so, or 1.5 km/s. based on the following:
Engineering definition of hypervelocity
search for 'hypervelocity leads to the 1000 m/s or so velocity with same wording, but more military.

Faster is seen here, here, and here as examples of HV being 1,500-1,600 m/s. That isn't an upper limit either, the FCS pamphlet there describes hypervelocity as 2 km/s. And there is the Hypervelocity anti tank missile here. Oh and this one which is 2.5 km/s or greater.


That said more than 2 km/s (if even that) is hard to justify with a solid propellant gun and cased ammo (not impossible, just hard.) Unless they use sabots or some sort of sub-calibre ammo (possible, but not common, given what Vanquishers are suposed to be afterall.) Further analysis more in depth will have to wait for some tank discussion.

The round also knocks a turret around 210 degrees in an implied matter of seconds (duration between two shots is probably no more than a few seconds, as good or better than the Narmenians.) Given the turret and barrel of a Conqueror are at least 3 or so m long (radius) and probably at least a bit longer we'd be talking 12-15m distance covered in seconds, implying a velocity of a few m/s at least (3-4 m/s.) A 105mm gun weighs, IIRC around 1200-1500 kg total, not including turret. Imperial turrets are generally small, but they must be larger given all the stuff they can usually hold (crew, gun and brakes, ammo, etc. The model turret would never allow the gun to be loaded and fired as well as the tank commander, nevermind the loader being able to load) For the sake of argument we can figure a Russes' turret is maybe 1/4 or 1/5 the mass of a M1 Abrams (The onyl one I can find turret mass for around 22 tons.) call it 5-6 tonnes maybe, call it 6-10 tons total. That means the round has a momentum of around 10-12,000 kg*m/s at least, and more likely 15-24,000 kg*m/s. If we figure a 1-2 km/s shell the shell might mass anywhere from 8-10 kg to 12-20 kg. Let's say 10-15 kg for a full calibre shell. At least 5 MJ for the shell, maybe 30 MJ on the other end (2 km/s and 15 kg shell.)
Also enemy tanks are 105mm.



Page 174

The disarmed Infardi machine was closing to less than forty metres now, and its hull-mounted lascannon began to spit bolts of blue light at Sirius' conqueror.
..
With furious las-fire from the injured tank now splashing off the Wrath of Pardua's front casing, Sirus ordered his layer to address the other tank coming around the first.

- Pardus tanks take multiple sustained hits from the Infardi hull-mounted lascannon, no significant damage noted.


Page 174

The other enemy tank was trying to pull around its wounded colleague for a clearer shot knocking down a row of saplings and small acestus trees as it hauled half its bulk off the highway and through the verge underbrush.
..
Re-laying the gun took a vital second. In that time, the second tank fired again and hit the Wrath squarely. The impact was enough to lurch all sixty-two tonnes of armoured machine several metres sideways. But it didn't penetrate the twenty centimetre-thick armour skin. Inside, the crew were dazed and they'd lost most of the forward scopes."

This is one of a number of quotes I've discussed amply over the years since I've started this stuff. The initial assumption was that within a second the tank gets shoved 2-3 metres to one side. Which is technically reasonable, but runs into a not so minor problem of recoil for the tank. For a solid propellant gun the recoil would probably be at least 50% greater for the firing gun (because propellant as well as projectile) and it not only risks shoving the tank around when firing, but quite possibly flipping it over (gun angle, mounting, and such.) Gets even worse as some people have claculated its even higher than I assumed (see here) for Winston Blake's assessment.

I've tried coming up with lots of rationalizations for this. One of the more obvious ones were 'hyper velocotiy' rocket assisted ammo or something similar like LOSAT and similar projects. That might work but I've been told it also rqeuires guidance to make work effectively at longer ranges (rockets being not very accurate.) so even though we know bolters work it could be only a short range solution even if it were possible. And a rocket would be bigger than a conventional shell as well. Another, more viable possibility is that its the result of some sort of shaped charge/krak muntiion - either HEAT or Explosively formed penetrator or osmething like that. That could work, although it rquires taking 'impact' less directly. There's also the possibility its a HE round, but thats even harder to rationalize and even 40K tanks generally are resistant to HE (as mentioned in a number of sources, even though others do suggest HE is carried as standard.) It would also mean a ludicrously powreful munition in all probability, but I find it comparatively easier to swallow a ludicrous shape charge than I do a KE round.

Still, rationalizing this as a KE round could be done. If they have to deploy some sort of spade or rakes to anchor them in position before firing (like artillery) they could maybe pull it off, and would be consistent with the slow ROF and stationary targeting. There are proposed techniques for reducing recoil (Rarefraction Wave Gun, Fire out of Battery) which can help degrade recoil, but their utility and success rate is up for debate and in any case would proably be too sohpisticated for this example.

It would still require significantly advanced (even magical) ammo performance, as you wouldn't want much propellant involved. This would require significantly more efficient propellant, advanced concepts like Electrothermal-chemical or Liquid propellant (the latter mayb,e the former probably not.), or ltieral magic (Chaos magic might be involved in powering the gun up and recoil handling, for all we know.) If you could cut propellant recoil down to 20-30% fo what the projectile generates (rather than 50% I estimated) it woudl help tremendously.

Another not so trivial problem is that implication-wise, the round would have to be both very heavy and have (for solid propellant guns) extreme speed. At 120,000 kg*m/s, we're talking equivalent of a 40-50 kg round moving at between 2-3 km/s. That's rather hard to justify for many sanely designed rounds (but not impossible, if its a sufficiently large, dense enough round.) technically with a 105mm round with a small point (mostly cylinder) and solid DU/Tungsten, you could justify up to 70 kg if the length were 4x the diameter, but you'd need a superhuman (or mutant) to lift the thing, and the number of rounds carried would be correspondingly limited (Esp for propellant requirements to propel ti at the 1.7 km/s it requires. Such speeds IRL only are achieved with sabots usually.) Again its not an insurmountable problem, but it can put some hefty limits on what we derive from this as a KE round.

It is possible we can fudge the recoil limtits even without advanced techniques based on information here its possible for a tank to impart 2 m/s velocity via recoil to the mass and only have it lifted off the ground some (although that 'some' is still a problem in some ways, such as the strain on the frame, the risk of flipping over, and problmes it imposes with aiming and accuracy.) so we could at least justify the low end literal interpretation. And if the tank is somehwat heavier than a Russ (despite being defined as a 'medium' tank, thta can help substantially fudging the issue. It is also encouraging (At least as far as applying this to Imperial tanks) that proposed tanks have had a ogorkiewicz ratio in excess of 900 tons per ton (momentum per ton of vehicle) and some significantly (up to 1500-2000 n-s per ton, albeit with some hefty recoil handling princples. discussed here Amusingly some of them are for 105mm... go figure.)

Other arguments have postulated that the tank may have been assisted by gravity going downhill, but that doesn't work in light of the fact the city is mentioned later to be at the bottom of an incline, and the tanks (facing the city) would be heading down, and the enemy going up. If anything, knocking it back would be harder because of the incline, but I suspect its very slight one so it won't matter much (esp for sideways motion.) Weather is another issue (mud and rain affecting traction) but its not raining and hasn't by any indicatio of the novel rained within the past day or so, so if there is rain or mud its not likely to be significant.

Overall at the very least we can say the AT70 rounds are powerful by modern standards simply by the fact they can shove a tank's mass around (however you rationalize it.) which is something, to my knowledge, modern tank rounds don't do. And it must be said there are plenty of other considerations - the recoil is still immense and that can impose limits that can be bad. No fire on the move for one (and if they have to brace for recoil that lengthens the time they stay in place, which can be a disadvantage.) insanely powerful rounds tend to be bigger/heavier (larger calibers or more propellant) which cuts into ammo numbers. Barrel erosion can be an issue too - more powerful higher velocity rounds will increase barrel wear, sometimes quite significantly. Chaos wouldn't care about these things, or care about overpowering their guns (whatever the risk) but the same wouldn't be true of AdMech-ruled Imperials. Its quite possible to argue the Imperium does not have (or owuld not normally use) guns even remotely this powerful due to wear and tear, or risks, or unacceptable tradeoffs/side effects. It actually helps more if you don't take the quote TOO literally, but that always opens up the issue of 'how' literally to take it too, and that impacts the calcs.. I'm also quite in favor of the flexibility of the 'shaped charge' excuse, especially if you take the more ludicrous numbers.

I would also note that the actual value of this quote in other cases is not absolute. You cannot just simply compare force/momentum/KE of one round to another and declare it better. APFSDS rounds may very well have lower mass or KE/momentum than this round, yet because of the deisgn of the round (sub calibre dart as opposed to full calibre bullet) it retains KE better and concentrates it more effectively on a smaller area, improving penetration. Indeed, what calcs I've bothered trying to do suggest modern KEP's would be as effective as the above round as a full-sized round simply due to that difference (in other words, equal penetration with a smaller round and less effort. But we know the Imperium likes brute force anyhow..)

As far as the 'side hit in one case, forward another' - The tank probably hit it at an angle or ffrom the side since it tried ot pull around the damaged tank and came around from the side, whilst the aformeentioned first tank is firing ahead, hence the sideways lurching.

For the sake of argument if we figure its a 40 kg round and around 120,000 kg*m/s (3 km/s velocity, which is technically possible for some designs not of EM gun nature) you get 180 MJ of KE. Which is alot.. but again depending entirley on interpretation and usage this can mean 'powerful gun' or 'powerful but inefficient' gun.

Page 174

A devastating lance of laser fire raked past the Wrath and cut through the assaulting vehicle below th eturret. Internally stored munitions went off and the tank exploded with such forcee that the main body and track assemblies cartwheeled over in a blistering fireball. The blast wake and shrapnel cleared a semicircle of woodland twenty metres in radius.

Destroyer tank hunter punches through armor and destroys target. Explosion from internal stores, but I won't calc it here since it woudl be like the similar case in necropolis but probably less impressive (and full of assumpton anyhow.) At least many times more destructive than lascannon, but probably much less than a turbolaser (certainly less than a volcano cannon.)



Page 175

From his machine’s tactical auspex, he counted at least ten good-size targets moving up towards their position from Bhavnager.
...
The Grey Venger stood its ground and walloped two more incandescent blasts down the road at targets Mkoll couldn’t see. Probably just discouragement tactics, he thought.
..
The Wrath of Pardua reversed hard and swung around to follow the Salamanders, traversing its turret to the rear to cover their backs. Then, as it too began bravura discouragement shelling, the Venger came about and trundled after them all so fast its hull rocked and rose nose up on its well-sprung torsion bar traction.

- Mkoll's salamander evidently has a tactical auspex. Ten more targets are heading towards them from Bhavanger, giving a range of at least 2-5 km. The Wrath turns its turret to the rear to engage in discouragement fire agianst those vehicles (MBTs) moving towards their position. The conqueorr and Destroyer both engage targets at an implied range of at least several km, although accuracy is not stated.



Page 175-176

.. the Recon Spear waited to rendezvous with the main honour guard strength at waymark 00.58, a west-facing escarpment of grass pasture fifteen kilometres south of Bhavnager.

The recon force made 15 km in far less than an hour, and in fact the Honour Gaurd must be travelling at least that fast, probably faster, so we're talking convoy speeds again.



Page 177

..a Destroyer would have been his machine of choice. As far as fifty-plus tonnes of rattling armoured power could be said to be stealthy, it was a silent predator.

Mass of a Destroyer tank hunter. Also the convoy arrives at this point.



Page 178

"Urdeshi-made tanks, type AT70s," said LeGuin, "Indifferent performance and slow on the fire rate. 105-mil guns as standard. They're common here in this subsector and favoured by the arch-enemy."
..
“They’ve been cranking them out of the manufactories on Urdesh ever since the foe took that world,”

The Urdeshi tank probably represent local tank designs, even though Urdesh is labeled as a 'forge world'. Note the quotes as URdesh (like ORestes and Fortis binary) seem an odd sort of forge world different from the sovereign domains we're more used to (guard regiments are raised from them and they have PDFs, for example.) Its also possible AT70/Reaver is the name the Imperium gave to Chaos made tank variants, given the poor quality. Given that Chaos has a single world capable of mass producing enough tanks to match (or even outnumber) Imperial crusade forces, that says something about construction rates.
Either way it reflects that there are different designs than the 'STC standard' stuff, although usage by the Guard will be much less random given the potential logistics problems. either way it shows that vehicles are not neccesarily as uncommon as thought. Oh, and again the 105mm guns.



Page 179

"The Reaver model by the look of the ones I saw," LeGuin went on. "Promethium guzzlers with cheap armour, and loose in the rear on a turn. Our Conquerors outclass them.
...
"From the hammering we got on the road, I'd say they had a minimum of five self-propelled guns too." said Sirus.
...
"They continued to shell the roadway for quite a time after we pulled back. I bet that's because they didn't know we'd gone. They had an efficient string of spotters and lookouts, but my guess is their onboard scanners are very much lower spec than ours. No auspex. No landscape readers. Until they or their spotters actually see us, they're blind. We, on the other hand..."

Comments on the quality of the tanks and Artillery/SPG they must have. Lower tech all around it seems (less efficient engines for example), less sophisticated scanners (but still having them in some form, just not Auspex or auspex grade and no landscape readers. Which gives us a good idea of PArdus-standard tank sensor gear.)
The interesting thing about the whole auspex issue is the last bit.. the enemy needs spotters to find the enemy (or line of sight) whereas the Imperials can use auspex for direct or indirect firing.



Page 180

Venger and Jester bellied down at the edge of the trees overlooking Bhavnager as the main assault force swooped in past them, the Heart of Destruction leading the way.

Again range of the Destroyers seems to be at least 1.5-2 km or so.



Page 180

..plus seven model N20 halftracks mounting 70-mil anti-tank cannons.

half-tracks and their armament.



PAge 181

The Imperial Hydras, dug-in and locked out, sprayed their drizzle of rapid fire over the town from the tree-line. TWo thousand Ghosts fanned out over the open approach in the wake of Kleopas's charging armoured cavalry. Already, small arms fire was cracking at them from the town edge.

- the Hydras are spraying the town with weapons fire from the "tree line" (at elast 1.5 km, probably closer to 2+ km given the reach into the town.) Presumably the dedicated MBTs (Conquerors, etc.) would be at least as good in direct conflict as the Hydras. Given the flat trajectory and what other 'autocannons' are capable of, 700-900 m/s at least should be likely here for the hydra's guns.
Also, the Ghosts are advancing behind the tanks towards the town from the tree-line, and are alreay under fire at 1.5 km from Infardi. May or may not be accurate fire, but is consistent with the 900m 'range' for carbines from Legion, as well as the FFG lasgun stats. Even if that was 'area target' effective range, the point target range (precision hit, if we use the M-16 as a baseline) would be around 2/3 (60-70%), which is 900-1000 m.



Page 181

The Tank fight began in earnest. Kleopas's squadron was formed in a trialing V with the Heart of Destruction at the tip. They [Pardus] had the slight advantage of incline in the cleared ground between the fruit groves and the town edge and were making better than thirty kph. The enemy mass, in no ordered formation, churned up the slope to meet them, kicking rock chips and dry soil out behind them as their tracks dug in.
In the command seat of the Heart, Kleopas checked the readings of his auspex, glowing pale yellow in the half-light of the locked down turret, against the eyeball view through his primsatic up-scope.
...
"Lay on and fire at will."
The Conqueror phlaanx began to fire. A dozen main weapons blasting and then blasting again. Bright balls of gas-flame flashed from their muzzles and discharge smoke streamed back from their muzzle brakes, fuming in long white trails of slipstream over their hulls.

- Pardus Executioner (plasma) tank Strife is slower and slightly trailing behind the left hand side of the Pardus formation. This is interesting because as mentioned above, their off-road speed is "better than thirty kph" - they are clearly off, road and according to Imperial Armour, the Executioner normally has an off-road of 18 kph. Evideently the Pardus tanks have much better engines (or are less heavily governed) than other tanks. Heck even off road at 30 kph the Conquerors are faster by a good 6 km/hr than its off road speeds. By comparison, the Conqueor's on road speed in this case would be 42-57 km/hr, and if we use the Executioner as a benchmakr, their top offroad speed owuld be closer to 40 km/hr. It may even be a bit faster due to the incline.
Also, shortly after starting to move, both Pardus and Ershul/Infardy tanks begin to engage one another, implying a range in excess of 1-1.5 km or so. Oh and auspex again.



Page 181

A halftrack lurched lengthways as a round from the Conqueror Man of Steel punched through its crew bay and shredded it like a mess tin hit by a las-shot.

Most WW2 half tracks I am aware of range from 5-9 typically, with a number being heavier (11-15 tonnes or so) whilst a couple were lighter unloaded (3.5 tons unloaded, although 5 tons fully loaded.) Aassuming it lurches at least at 1-2 m/s, we're talking 5000-18,000 kg*m/s momentum implied. Not much really, but its a lower limit as the round overpenetrates like fuck (only transferring part of the total momentum.) also.



Page 181-182

The main weapons of the AT70s were longer and slimmer than the hefty muzzles of the Imperial Conquerors. Their blasts made higher, shrieking roars and sparked star-shaped gas-burns from the flash-retarders at the ends of their barrels. Shells rained down across the Imperial charge.

Differences between AT70 and Conqueror guns. I dont know what calibre this implies for the Conqueror. We know its supposed to fire smaller (smaller calibre?) shells than the Main Russ, but they are (in this case at least) lighter than 105mm. Of course given how everything is a 'range' of values, including claibres, its likely that the same is true of the Conqueror. We could figure, for example, that the Conqueror is perhaps between 105mm (or even smaller. 90mm maybe?) and 120mm, whilst the Battle cannon could be 120mm+ (140,150 who knows.) Although we know of Russes that are 110mm as well, so there may be overlap, just as we know from a number of cases that regular battle cannon (and Vanquisher cannon) are 120mm.

Alternately its possible the Conquerors are 110-115mm or something intermediate like that.





Page 182

LeGuin had it right. Examples of old, sub-Imperial standard technology, the Reavers lacked any auspex guidance or laser rangefinding. IT was also clear they had no gyro stabilisers. Once the Conqueror guns were aimed they damn well stayed aim-locked thanks to inertial dampers, no matter how much bouncing and lurching the tank was experiencing. That meant the Conquerors could shoot and move simultaneously without any appreicable loss of target lock. The AT70s fired by eye and any movement or jarring required immediate aim revision.

Again Chaos tanks (which may or may not reflect 'local' variations rathe rthan Chaos-specific designs to the region.) are inferior in various ways. Imperial tanks by contrast clearly can have (at least for decent Pardus-standard vehicles) auspex or laser rangefinders for targeting purposes, as well as gyro-stabilization and/or inertial dampers. Whether the two are the same or separate but related systems we don't know, but they seem involved with stabilizion against whatver forces the tank may experience. It may or may not be AG - we know suspensors (from FFG) can 'stabilize' and that might work here, but whethert they work the way we normally think of IDs working I don't know.

Long ago I also used to think ID could allow ludicrous recoils. It won't. The IDs might smooth out and uniformly accelerate the tank when it fires (which is an advantage) but it will still have that momentum, which requires some sort of bracing or counterforce to deal with, and which is a separate system.




Page 182

The enemy was chcuking hundreds of kilos of munitions up the slope at them, but most of it was going wide or overshooting. They were not designed for efficient mobile shooting.

- the Infarid tanks (27 now) are chucking "hundreds of kilos" of munitions up at the Pardus. Thus far there had been only a single exchange of fire. Mention as well that the Infardi captain should have had them stay still and fire for better accuracy. If we figure 200 kg thats aorund 7-8 kg for the shell, perhaps for the explosive yield.



Page 182

Even so, more by luck than judgement, the enemy scored hits. The Conqueror known as Mighty Smiter was hit simultaneously by two rounds from different adversaries, exploded and slewed to an ugly halt,..

Conqueror killed by two simultanoeus 105mm hits from different opponents, which was deemed more 'lucky' than skill it seems and that under normal circumstances 105mm would not penetrate.. Also indicative that in 40K tank combat you either beat your enemies armour by brute force (repeated shots), or by precision hits (lucky hits.) This may be one factor dictating the seeminlgy 'short' tank ranges in some cases (at least compared to modern tanks.) Of course in modern warfare, western tanks often face enemies who are inferior to them, which isn't neccesarily the case in the Imperium.
Anyhow, another is crippled by a trakc hit but continues to fire.


PAge 182 & 183

When it fired, the breech of the main gun hurtled back into the turret space with one hundred and ninety tonnes of recoil force. The novice loaders and gun layers at Pardus boot camp quickly trained themselves to be alert and nimble. As the breech slammed back, a battered metal slide funnelled the red-hot spent shell case into the cartridge hopper and the loader swung round with a fresh shell from the water-jacketted magazine thumping it into place with the ball of his palm.

This, along with the 'several metres sideways' quote I already discussed form some of the lengthiest and most complex analysis (revised and re revised over a period of years literally) I've ever done, and even now I'm not 100% sure I've figured it out. Its an ongoing process, and probably will always be. Go figure.

Anyhow, to save space I'll add this to the end with the quote in a separate post, cuz its so goddamn long otherwise, and I already have several 'long' replies in this one.





Page 183

The layer consulted the rangefinder and the crosswind sensor, and obeyed Woll's auspex-guided instructions. Woll always kept one eye on the target reticule displayed on his up-scope
..
.. the layer repeated, jerking the recoil brake. The gun roared.
.

The Conquerors have rangefinders and crosswind sensors (probably amongst others) - basically auspex targeting for gunnery.

Also 'recoil brake' on the gun, indicating that the Pardus tanks do use some sort of recoil-absorption/dissipation mechanism like most tanks do (Although we dont know the kind or the properties.)



Page 183

The Conqueror's time-honoured torsion-bar suspension systems and high power to weight ratio meant they were more nimble than most of the adversaries they encountered, whether super-heavy monsters or lacklustre mediums like the ones the Infardi were fielding.

Comment on Conqueror suspension systems, engines and their greater agility/mobility. This may suggest they are also more agile (Typically) than other Russes too. Also, the AT70s are 'medium' tanks, which suggests they're probably smaller than Leman Russes, Macharius and Malcadors, etc. That still leaves quite a bit of wiggle room, as Russes can get ot upwards of 70 tons or so (at least with demolishers) and these are lower tech variants.


Page 183-184

The Conquerors were about to meet the enemy head-on. Kleopas had three choices: stop dead and fight it out standing, break through the enemy line and turn to finish the job, or separate and pincer.

A stand-up fight was a worst case option. It would allow the Reavers to play to their strengths.
Breakthrough was psychologically strong, but it meant reversing the playing field, and the Pardus would then be fighting back up hill, risking their own infantry coming in behind.

Comment on Pardus tank tactics. Like the Narmenians, they have an understanding of the importance of both mobility and psychology in armoured warfare, especially against a numerically superior but technologically inferior opponent (sound familiar?)




Page 184

Gearboxes and differentials grinding, the tanks of Kleopas's wing rotated almost on a point, spraying up loose earth, and presented at the hindquaters of the enemy line. All Leman Russ pattern tanks, like the Conquerors, delivered deliciously low ground pressure through their track arrangement, and possessed fine regenerative steering. These almost balletic turns were a trademark move

More on Russ mobility and design, although this time its not exclusive to the Conquerors. Implies fairly high mobility, at least for the high end Russ designs.

Also of note another AT70 kills another Pardus, as well as an N20's 70mm gun.




Page 185

Woll counted nine Usurper-pattern self-propelled guns firing from positions behind the AT70 front. The boxy Usurpers carried howitzers, crude but efficient copies of Imperial Earthshakers, slanting forward out of their gun pulpits.

That probably was the SPG's firing on the tanks earlier on when Mkoll did his scouting, meaning that the round that destroyed a Conqueror was an Earthshaker. What kind we don't know, but possibly the odl IA1 'low end' type or worse (Crude, remember) which had a velocity of 425 m/s and 12.5 cm calibre, as opposed to the 812 m/s, 132mm calibres in the revised version. Also probably local designs or chaos adaptations.





PAge 185

The Ghosts had formed in position at the edge of the tree-line, behind the four rattlign Hydra batteries, and had been watching in awe and admiration for the last ten minutes as the tank fight boiled across the approach field below.

Gaunts forces are still 1500 m back, which reinforces my earlier assesment re: the range of small arms fire. Also the Hydras have at least comparable range, once again.



Page 186

She pulled open her field kit, running forward between the plumes of fire kicked up by falling shells and heavy las-fire

Presumably the lasfire is from the infantry, but it may be tank fire. If the former, it still indicates they're being fired upon from between over a km and a km and a half away by lasguns.






Page 187

From Waymark 07.07, the side thrust began their assault. They congregated a kilometre to the east of Bhavnager at an outlying farm. Even from this distance, the thunder of the main assault four kilometers away was shaking the ground.

...

..gold light radiated from teh bulbous stupa of the temple a kilometre away.

- Rawne's side thrust is one kilometre away from Bhavanger. The main assault is four kilometres away from them at this point.




Page 187

The six Conquerors roared out of their holding position and charged across the open fields and meadows towards the eastern edge of the town.
...
..the Pardus machines began firing, their shots hammering at the looming temple and its precincts.

Almost immediately, four AT70 tanks appeared around the northern side of the temple Two...

Conquroers open fire at least a kilometre or so (km and a half, since they may be firing some distance into the town.) The fire gains an 'almost immediate' responce, hinting again at about a km/s muzzle velocity (at least) for Conqueorr shells (Again which is consistent with one definition of hypervelocity)

[Connor MacLeod]

Now, back to the infamous 'recoil force' calc, which has doomed me in the past, at least with this one out I can hopefully lay all the big tnak ones to rest, although I doubt it will settle anything (when does it ever for me? lol)

PAge 182 & 183

When it fired, the breech of the main gun hurtled back into the turret space with one hundred and ninety tonnes of recoil force. The novice loaders and gun layers at Pardus boot camp quickly trained themselves to be alert and nimble. As the breech slammed back, a battered metal slide funnelled the red-hot spent shell case into the cartridge hopper and the loader swung round with a fresh shell from the water-jacketted magazine thumping it into place with the ball of his palm.

Anyhow, lets get this out of the way. My first 'battleship grade' gun is bullshit. It was back then, and it still is. It was based on a completely unsustainable, and frankly stupid, assumption that the recoil acted over a single second. Guns never operate that slowly. We're talking milliseconds. Secondly, the recoil at the front of the gun is alot greater than at the rear. I've made this mistake and so have others, but its an important one to note. And I always ignored propellant, which is a HUGE contributor to the recoil. Overal lthose three factors alone (nevermidn anything else I might neglect or forget) lead to different and far less extreme conclusions. So no more GJ,battleship-recoil conqueror cannons. Just doesn't work.

Past revisions have focused on trying to compare the recoil force of tanks. EG for example, 140mm future guns have a recoil force somewhere on the order of 1200 kn (based on here) and modern tanks fit at something like 500-600 kn for western MBTs, although propsoed designs have worked on reducing that by a factor of 40-50% easily.) This is a somewhat btter comparison, but it assumes certain consistencies between Imperial and modern tank design which may, frankly, not apply. The Imperium's tech base is too varaible. What's more a lower recoil forces is actually desirable, since it reduces strain on the gun and makes it more accurate.

That doesn't mean the quote is entirely useless, it just rqeuires alot more context and/or assumptions to get something out of it. To obtain figures about recoil force, we need to know something about how the recoil actually works. Given 'variable' in the Imperium, its quite possible for the gun to simply be anchored to the turret and have no recoil absorption mechanisms like modern tanks do. Ther'es evidence to suggest that Pardus (and others, like NArmenians) have them, so it may help in this case, but even then knowing the details matter. When the gun fires, the recoil pushes a certain mass back at a certain velocity, and the tank has hydraulics that help cope with the recoil. Likewise, the recoiling mass is allowed to move backwards a certain distance along a osrt of track. The longer the path, the more time the gun has to counteract said recoil which translates to less force. A heavier gun mount can help too (although that has tradeoffs, since you're effectively making your tank and turret heavier...) Other things, like RAVEN and FOOB may help, but that's really conjectural (on top of conjectures already.) Anyhow, modern tanks tend to favor long recoil paths and managing the propellant in various ways (muzzle brakes and such) which help to reduce recoil force. I'm still oversimplifying the whole process quite a bit, and that can be dangerous, but just keep in mind I'm giving a layman's explanation to explain why this is so complex and where the iimplications for the Conqueror gun lead.

More detailed analysis will have to wait for another update (or anothe time, I've been working on 'tank gun' analysis shit for quite awhile) but sufficed to say there may be two possible ways to get 'examples' of what the gun might be capable of.

The first is more of a straight comparison. We know that a M1 Abrams generates 1.25 million pounds of force (~5.56 million newtons as per here) when it fires the shell (6 milliseconds acceleration, same link.) IT also has a recoil force of ~550 thousand newtons) Which means that the difference between front and back force wise is a factor of 10, roughly. If we assume similar design broadly to the Abrams when it comes to recoil and firing (although shorter barrel length and probably different ammo) we can assume that the Conqueror generates 18.6 million newtons of force. Note, however that it has a much smaller barrel, 2.42 m which is 1/2 to 1/3 the length of an existing barrel, so KE wise it probably balances out (36 MJ total energy vs 45 MJ.. and thats total potential energy, ignoring inefficiencies, distinction between propellant temp and velocity and the projectile, etc.) IF we assume similar duration (making allowances for the difference in barrel length you get a moementum of ~33,000 kg*m/s combined for the Abrams, while the Conqueror has 37,200-55,800 kg*m/s depending on how long you think it goes out its shorter barrel (again assuming 1/2 to 1/3 as long)

The slightly more complex way is via recoil energy. We know that a modern recoil path for a tank gun is around .3 m and a 120mm masses some 2 tons (the recoiling part, anyhow) With 550,000 newtons of recoil force, (recoil energy given in other link) we get some 166 kj, which corresponds to a 13 m/s recoil velocity for a 2 ton mass. Its 26,000 kg*m/s which is approximate to the recoil forward, so its probably close somewhere (these numbers aren't absolute of course, but within several times of the true value works here.) I figure the Conqueor has maybe a .2 M recoil path which is 372 kj. If we figure a 3-3.5 ton recoiling mass you'd get between 14-16 m/s recoil velocity (again approximate. which is between 42,000 and 56,000 kg*m/s of combined recoil. (same ratio stuff here.)

(Addendum: We learn in the novel 'Baneblade' that Regular russes recoil back into the tank about a third of a metre, which gives us an idea of the recoil path we can use.)

Now this leads to an intresting conundrm. If the recoil path is short the recoil energy is low (which means low momentum)... but the force is considerably greater on te gun, as it has such a short period of time to act on it. But if the recoil path is long, that can also mean... more recoil energy, and more moentum, and a powerful gun. Which seems desirable, but the same problems I had with the 'shove tank sideways' apply here too (which is why I won't go into them) so you really don't want it TOO powerful. But the recoil force can lead to ludicrous calcs too. But the long and short of it is that we can infer possibly either super strong materials (short or no recoil path), or ludicrously powreful guns (long recoil path.) The former is petty simple, the latter still complicated.

As I said before, recoil is a combination of the projectile mass (and velocity) plus propellant mass and velocity. This is another place where we need to know more about the gun and shit to actually derive conclusions. In this case, its the ratio of propellant to projectile. Its quite possible to argue the gun is quite inefficient - that you generate a shit ton of recoil that is mostly propellant for example.. If we assume propellant is half the overall momentum that means projectiles could be between 18,000 kg*m/s to 28,000 kg*m/s. Thats equal to a 15-20 kg shell moving at around 1000-2000 m/s roughly. Now all that said comparing this to modern ammunition is again complex (you can't just throw KE and force/monetum together, the shape, composition and calibre or sub-calibre of the round matter.) There is also the fact that we don't really know the ratios between propellant and projectile by the quote itself - you could just as easily argue the recoil is 60-70% propellant, and the gun is just really inefficient, for example.

If we want to be lazy and not get into too technical... we can conjecture that the Conquoer gun is close in performance to a hypothetical 140-150mm anti tank gun (which as per previously mentioned links has around 1200 kn of recoil force). Its not anywhere near the original 'battleship' scale, and heck its not even comparable to the 'shove tank sideways' calc, but being close to twice (or more) as powerful as modern guns is nothing to sneeze at either, especiall for a mere 'Conqueorr' cannon.

We also get indicators of the firing method and approach of PArdus Conquerors. Cased ammo and an implied fast ROF, again probably as fast as the Narmenians.

[Connor MacLeod]

Last Honour Guard update


Page 188

But then,a s it bounced up over a tilled field, a tungsten-cored tank round hit the Klara squarely, penetrating the turret mantle and puncturing down through the basket. LeTaw lost his right arm and his gunlayer was instantly liquidised. The incandescent shell pierced the water jackets of the Klara's magazine and didn't explode.

...

The interior of the turret was painted with a slick film of gore, the only remaining physical trace of his layer.

Infardi tanks using 'tungsten cored' ammo for I gather AP shells. Which may explain penetration. Recall that the Infardi tanks are 'inferior' sub-Imperial tech, suggesting that whatever the Imperials use for anti-tank stuff, its much better (CE or KE wise.) Possibly sabots (I'll discuss this later.)

Round penetrates turret armor and still has enough energy to punch through gun magazine and obliterate Gunner (single digit MJ maybe?) by impact alone. Also the gun magazines have water jackets, presumably for temperature control and protection against fire. Unfortunately here, it leads to the Conqueor's crew getting horribly electrocuted - horrors of war again.



Page 189

Lieutenant Hellier, commanding the Steel Storm, realised his inertial dampers were damaged and that his auspex must consequently be out.

He shut the electronic systems down and began to aim through the reticule of the up-scope. He called out lay numbers to his aimer and was about to make a confident kill when the tank exploded, flipped over and broke apart.

Hit by a minefield, indicates perhaps the kind of damage needed to penetrate even just the under armor and destroy the tank, although it could be the flipping and blowing apart is internal explosions too.

Also note that the conqueroro has mention again of Inertial dampers and auspex, which are both referred to as 'electronics' systems.



Page 189

The Ghosts began firing at the edge of the town with lasrifles, and with the heavier infantry support wepaons they had brought up: Four heavy stubbers and three missile launchers, plus the heavy bolters and the autocannons hull-mounted on the Salamanders.

The sweeper squads were miserably exposed, working their delicate magic as tank rounds and small arms fire whooshed around them.

Engaging range across minefield and edge of town with small arms and support weapons. Note that the Ghosts are using both missile launchers (Tread fethers?) and heavy stubbers both for antipersnnel use, an artifact of their Verghast conflict and an indicator of the post Verghast regimental changes (no meltas for example.)



Page 190

In a shell-dug foxhole near to Rawne's Salamander, Criid, Caffran and Mkillian prepped one fo the foot support missile launchers, known as "tread fethers" in the regimental slang. It was a hsoulder tube oh khaki-painted metal with a fore-scope, a trigger brace and a fluted venturi at the back end to vent the recoil exhaust.

Heavy support weapons like this weren't commonly deployed by the stealth-specialist Ghosts; in fact Bragg was often the only trooper carrying one.

..

Caffran shouldered the tube and aimed via the crude wire crosshairs at the AT70 that had duelled with the late, lamented steel storm. Like many Ghosts, Caffran had become familiar with tread-fethers during the street-to-street war at Vervunhive.
..
..she kissed the armed rocket-grenade Mkillian handed to her. She slammed it into the launcher pipe.

Tread-fether missile launchers. Basically RPG launchers, but ones which can use anti-tank or anti armour it seems. Very simple and unsohpisticated, particularily the targeting. Also like the stubbers seems to be an artefact of the Zoican War. Mentioned to be comparatively rare for the Ghosts, but they carry plent of them regardless (for antipersonnel and anti armour) and we see them quite frequently form thsi point onwards.

First shot glances off AT70 armour, second punches through.




Page 191

“I saw it for definite,” Trooper Cuu told Rawne excitedly, tapping his lasgun’s scope. “Larks got the officer, dead as dead.”

At a distance of over three hundred metres, Larkin had put a hot-shot las round through the sighting grille of the pulpit armour on one of the Usurpers and killed the artillery officer in charge.

...

One of the unit's flamer troopers, Neskon was reduced to firing his laspistol, his flame-gun pretty much redundant in these mid- to long-range conditions.

Implying a laspistol has a range of several hundred (200-300?) metres, which is defined as 'mid to long range' conditions, at least for the Ghosts small arms (presumably just the small arms) and also the approximate range of the Tread fethers. It may reflect the laspistol is, in some cases, less a handgun and more a PDW/compact SMG in all but name, which can often have ranges similar to above. Flamers, obviously, are useless at these ranges.

I should not ethat, range wise, the Lasrifles the ghosts use (and possibly Verghasites) are mentioned later s being 'lascarbine' which we knwo from FFG have a 60-75% (depending on source) of the range of lasrifles Of course if the laspistol has a possible range out to here, its probably closer to 'mid' than to 'long' anyhow.

Also Cuu's lasgun has a scope.



page 192

..ever since the final fight for Veyveyr Gate, he’d spoken through a voicebox deformed and twisted with las-burn scar tissue.
..
Domor, of course, had the advantage of his heat-reading augmetic eyes to back up the sweeper brooms.

- Domor's augmetic eyes are "heat reading" that helps him in minesweeping. Alos, Feygor's voicebox and 'scars' from lasburns, suggesting he had fairly severe (third/fourth) degree burns, and over a fair portion of his neck (3-4 inches in diameter, at least? That'd be a good 3-4 kj at least for 3rd degree burns on thermal effects.)

Also, the minesweepers clear a thirty metre long path through the mines, (at least that much range to the Infardi side.




Page 193

Twenish fired quick double-shots . If the first didn't kill, it at least found range and drew his aim to his target for the second. From three of these paired shots, he made tow excellent kills, including an Infardi priest rousing his men to combat. But to Larkin, it seemed like wasted effort. He knew about the double-shot method, and also was aware that many guard regiments taught the approach as standard. In his opinion, it gave the enemy too much warning, no matter how quickly you adjsuted for the second squeeze.

Verghast sniper. Has his own long lase, with a night scope (like Larkin, spresumably) and fires double shots. Its up for debate whether or not he's using hotshots, although I'll note once again later novels mention hot shots as one use, and in context of this story its unlikely they may not be. I'll leave it up for debate as to whether they are or not.

Also the double-shot method (with hotshots no less) seems to be Guard sniper double standard, at least in this part of space.




Page 193 -

A swathe of autogun fire rippled across the position of the sweepers and the intruder team and every one threw themselves down,. The remaining member of Burone's team was shredded, and Burone himself was hit in the hip. As they all got up again, Banda was the first to realize that Twenish was dead; hammered into the soil in his prone position by the stitching fire that had raked over them.

autogun fire rips back at the Ghosts from about 270-370 metres (depending on which range number you use). One of the Ghosts is "shredded" by the fire, although how many bullets and what calibre we don't know. but if full auto autogun fire can do it so can lasguns. If we figure 'shredding' as 4th degree 'flaying' burns across the chest 30-40 cm by 50 cm thats 600-800 kj at least. If we figure 30 shots to do it (autogun capacity as an upper limit - we know lasguns can carry more but this isn't a lasweapon) we're talking 20-27 kj per shot at least. IF we figure 400 J over the full body thats more like 4 MJ which is some 130 kj per shot. If the autogun is 20 rounds, we have 30-40 kj per shot, and 200 kj per shot for the other end.



Page 139

..she had wanted to specialise in marksmanship on joining the Ghosts. As it was, there was a strict limit on numbers for that specialisation and she’d been denied..

Sniper is a specialization in the Tanith regiment and there is a limit on how many snipers there can be at any one time. Given Banda's implication that many of the female Verghasites are good shots (and we've known other Tanith who were good shots and not snipers) it may suggest that even if there are limited 'official' sniper numbers, there coudl be more marksman than the limit indicates. Possibly thats the difference between sniper and marksman in the Guard?



Page 194

She took aim. The stock, molded for Twenish’s longer reach, was awkward for her, but she persisted. This was a long-las, gak it!
..

An Infardi artillery officer running from one Usurper to the other crossed her sighting reticule, and she blew his head off.
...

Banda smiled, and took an Infardi gunman off the balustrade of the temple at four hundred metres.

Long las snipes at 400m and blows head off trooper. Again whether its a 'later' type of hotshot, a regular pack (low-volt) or a 'old' style hotshot (multi shot) we don't know, and any of the above could potentially blow off a head (even regular lasgun bolts have in these novels.)

Also the range issue suggests the range might be closer to 400 m (in some cases) instead of 300m mentioned before. Figure the actual engagement range for weapons here falls between the two and is still aruond 400m (latter novels suggest longer ranges: His last command implied 500m for example. And we know from other novels like Legion that carbines had up to 900 m ranges.)



Page 195

..Gaunt advanced through the promethium smoke and the fyceline discharge.

Guessing the Fyceline is from the tank cannon propellant. Fyceline is a componetn in explosives (or an explosive in other cases), a propellant, and a fuel additive in block form (at least per the Munitorum manual) which can be used as alcohol. In other words its as magical as promethium.

Many powerful propelalnts IRL incorporate HE materials as part of their makeup to enhance performance, which would suggest Fycline leads to some very powerful propellants, potentially.
I've also heard its quite possible by messing around with variations on technology (explosive/reactive metals, etc.) which might improve even propellant technologies beyond what we know. So this could be incidental proof that 40K has some pretty sophisitcated propellants (at least for high tier regiments.)




Page 195

Woll’s Old Strontium knocked out three N20 anti-tankers during this phase of close armour, and hit a Usurper before it could train its huge tank-killing weapon down to fire.

Usurper howitzers described as 'tank killing.' How and why we dont know.



PAge 198

Seena and Arilla formed, respectively, the gunner and loader of a heavy stubber team.
..
Somehow it looked wrong for the frailer, shorter girl to always be the one lugging the hollow plasteel yoke laden with ammo hoppers. But they were an excellent team. Their matt-black stubber was packed into the lip of the foxhole tightly to prevent the tripod skating out during sustained fire.
Those old-pattern stubbers could buck like a riled auroch. Seena was squirting out tight bursts, interspersing them with longer salvoes that she sluiced from side to side on the gunstand’s oiled gimbal.

The Ghosts post-Verghast heavy stubbers and their teams. We dont know the exact calibre really, as tripod isn't helpful (And used on all of them) although the fact its probably heavy, cannot be used apart from the tripod, and has hellacious recoil suggests medium or heavy machien gun analogues.




Page 200

. More than twenty Infardi weapons had fired on them and then, incredibly, dozens of green-clad warriors had charged out brandishing cleavers, pikes and rifle bayonets.
..
Bonin sprayed his lasgun on full auto, draining out the powercell swiftly but harvesting the opposition. Jajjo was carrying the loaded tread-fether and decided not to waste the stopping power.
Yelling “Ease!” he shouldered the tube and fired the anti-tank round into the face of the building the Infardi had charged out of. The back-blast took out several of the skirmishers and collapsed a section of the wall. Then Jajjo tossed his tube aside and leapt into the close fighting, his silver blade in his hand.

His powercell depleted, Bonin joined in the hand to hand too, dubbing with his gunstock.

Tread fether blasts out a wall of unkonwn composition big enough for at least several men to walk through (several metres idameter perhaps) Also Bonin fires on full auto and rapidly drains the powerpack -context (between the Tred Fether firing and hitting) of seconds. Implies fairly high rates of fire again given a 60-100+ shot powerpack.






Page 201

They found the Infardi troop leader sprawled unconcsious amid the blast damage. His personal force shield had been overwhelmed by the rocket blast, and the portable generator pack lay shattered nearby.

Tread fether rocket vs personal shield. Rocket blast hit the wall, presumably a shaped charge, and that would hav emuffled the blast some (probably saving the guy.) Implication is that a Tread-fether RPG could take out such a personal shield, however powerful those are.





Page 203

A horizontal column of light, as thick as Meryns own thigh, raked down the narrow street from the rear. IT was so bright its afterimage seared Meryn's retinas for minutes afterwards.

The AT70 blew up.

Its turret and main gun, spinning like a child’s discarded rattle, separated from the hull in the fireball and demolished the upper storey of a house. The hull itself split open like a roasting nalnut shell in a campfire and showered flames and metal fragments everywhere.

Destroyer tnak hunter again. We know the beam is thick as a thigh, suggesting 10-15 cm, and it easilly penetrates tank armour (15-20 cm easily) without probelm. assuming armor steel a single pulse would be several MJ at least, easily, and several pulses easily to penetrate tank armour. If we figure 40-50 pulses at least and 1-2 MJ, the beam would be at least 40-100 MJ.




Page 204

He pulled open a fire-control lever and aimed up the coaxial bolter.

..the armoured pair pulverised the outclassed foot troops.

- Pardus coaxial heavy bolter pulverizes three fire teams of Infardi troops in unknown number of shots. The Infardi tanks also use coaixial bolters.





Page 204

Kleopas auspex suddenly showed two fast-moving blips. A pair of Urdeshi-made light tanks, SteG 4s, each bouncing along on three pairs of massive tyres, sped into the square, headlamps blazing. Their tiny turrets mounted only stick-like 40-mil cannons, but if they had tungsten-cored ammo, or discarding sabots, they might still hurt the hefty Imperial machines.

40mm rounds, at least using tungsten core and/or saboted rounds can threaten Russes. Whether by luck or precision (aiming for weak points or thin armour on the sides or rear) we don't know. By most 40mm guns I know of (most of hwich seem to be Bofors 40mm) you get hundreds of kj per shot even with subcalibre ammo, but whether that applies here is anyone's guess.

Presumably like the AT70s the SteGs are local (or Chaos built) variants inferior to Imperial stnadard, whcih may mean that the use of saboted or tungsten core ammo is 'older' than whatever the Imperial standard is. (Note that 'sabot' can mean alot of things and configurations that are nothing like modern tank Kinetic energy penetratros. Early sabots were un finned stuff that was more akin to .50 SLAP, which could be what we have here.) Also auspex on the Conquerors again.




Page 208

Three hundred tonnes of super-heavy tank, a captured, corrupted Imperial machine. It trundled casually out from behind the depot, its massive turret weapon rising.
..
His auspex picked up the behemoth a second before it fired and obliterated the Conqueror Tread Softly.

Woll layed in and fired, but his tank round barely made a dent on the massive machine’s hull.

- the Infardi have a Baneblade. Where the fuck they got a baneblade on a feudal shrineworld I have no fucking clue, but they have a fucking Baneblade. Talk about a game-changer. Baneblade battle cannon also obliterates Conqueroor in single shot. Conqueorr cannon does fuck all to the Baneblade.

And unsurprisingly, auspex picks up the baneblade.



PAge 208-209

“This is the Emperor’s work! Stand true or face his wrath at my hand!” Hark was suddenly jerked backwards as Gaunt seized his wrist tightly and spoiled the threatened aim of his plasma pistol.

“I punish the Ghosts. Me. Not you. Besides, it’s a fething Baneblade, you moron. I’d be running too. Now, help me.”

Gaunt asserts himself in the most humerous way possible to Hark. We see something of the Old Gaunt surfacing, at least when his Ghosts are threatened.





PAge 210

Sensing the Wrath by auspex, the Baneblade had begun to turn.
..
Sirius loaded augur shells, armour busters, into his breech, and punched two penetrating holes in the massive enemy tank’s mantlet. Few Pardus tank commanders carried augur shells as a matter of course, because few ever expected to meet something genuinely tougher than themselves.

- Augur shells can penetrate the armour of a Baneblade. The curious thing is these do not in the least seem to be the 'augur' shells mentioned in IA 1 (which ware more like HESH) rounds which do not punch holes in things, but rather some sort of armor piercing/Shaped charge muntion of some kind, especially against stuff much bigger and tougher than a MBT. They also seem to be more common than the IA1 'Augurs', so we might be having several differnet kind of augur rounds now. Hardly surprising as this is consistent with the Imperial standard.

Of course what Pardus commanders carry aside from Augur rounds (hi density core ammo, sabots, or Shaped charge/krak or something similar) we don't know.




Page 210

Now the trick was to target the holes made by the augurs and blow the enemy out from the inside with a hi-ex tank round.

Sirius was laughing in victory as he was incinerated.

Whilst we dont know what 'incinerated means. we again get comments made by the augurs and chucking a HE through the hole(s).



Page 210-211

Ignoring his auspex and sighting only by eye, referring to his rangefinder and crosswind indicator, Woll punched a hi-ex shell through one of the profound holes Sirus had made in the Baneblade's armour.

Targeting sensors again on Conquerors.


Page 223-224

“The point is… whatever our lord general’s failings… the spawn of Chaos is never predictable, never logical. You can’t out-think them. To try would be madness. You can only prepare for any event. My clumsy examples were meant to illustrate that. If I failed at all at the Doctrinopolis, it was that I didn’t cover every possibility.”
..

"A misguided expectation on the part of Lugo that the enemy will behave like an Imperial army. He thinks it will hold the cities until it is beaten. It will not. He thinks that only defeated remnants will flee after the battle. Not true again. I believe that the Infardi gave up the cities when they realised we had the upper hand, and purposefully backed up their main strengths into the outlying territories."
..
“That’s what made Slaydo Slaydo… or Solon Solon… the ability to listen. I fear that’s lacking from the crusade’s senior ranks now, even lacking in Macaroth."

Gaunt shares a story from his Slaydo days where they invade and drive a chaos force out of a hive.. only to have them return in strength (3x greater numbers) - in reality they'd abandoned the city to come back and invade (unlike Imperial forces.) Whilst another time Chaos failed to fight as efficiently as the Imperials predicted (not utilizing terrain or forces to maximum effect.) and were annihilated. Chaos again, is unpredictable. Like most Imperial enemies, unpredictability can be a huge drawback in planning/preparing to fight them, and it can often make coping with them efficiently difficult. Especially given the limitations and problems of the Imperial system, warp travel, etc.

Even when it comes to relatively 'predictable' human enemmies like heretics and rebels, the sheer number and variety of worlds can make succesfully predicting/anticipating/adapting to every possible circumstance impossible. And the same is even worse with xenos, given their numbers and diversity throughout the galaxy. Modern forces have it rather easy, by contrast (in knowing what the enemy is, how they fight, what they are capable of, etc.) and it makes it comparatively much easier to prepare for such wars.



Page 228

Mkoll kept checking the chart-slates to make sure they weren’t off course.
..
“I know, and the locator co-ordinates are right."

Map slates and 40K GPS. Presumably from starships in orbit. For navigational purposes.




Page 228

Rawne kept one eye on the auspex. Both he and Mkoll knew considerable elements of Infardi had fled north into these woodlands after the battle, but no trace whatever had been found of them on the track.

- again Rawne and Mkoll's Salamander is noted to be equipped with an auspex.




Page 229

Even Lillo, who happened to be in the crewbay of the lead Salamander and therefore had an auspex to refer to, could find no target. The auspex gave back nothing except a flat reading off the hot, dense mass of foliage.

Again auspex, although its indicated here the auspex seems to be at least (or mostly) thermal sensor.



Page 230

The four, long-barreled autocannons of its anti-aircraft mount swivelled around and blasted simultaneous streams of illuminator rounds into the woodlands at head height, cropping trees, shredding bushes, pulverising ferns, liquidising foliage. A stinking mist of vaporised plant matter and aspirated sap filled the trackway, making the troops choke and retch.

After thirty seconds' auto-fire, the Hydra ceased. Apart from the dirzzzle of canopy moisture, the collapse of destroyed plants and the clicking of the Hydra's autoloader as it cycled, there was silence.

...

Point-blank, against a soft target of vegetation, it had cut a clearing in the rainwood fifty metres deep and thirty across.
..
The partially disintegrated remains of two Infardi lay amid the green destruction.

Hydra cannon in action. Six hundred rounds a Minute means 300 rounds in a 50x30m area that means each shell would decimate approximately 5 square metres, which is a couple metres diameter perhaps, although that assumes its explosive effects decimating I suppose.

If we assume ;'disintegrated' means pulverized we might figure a couple MJ apiece eaisly for that 300 round barrage.




Page 231

The cabin fans and recirculators in the Chimera weren’t working either, so it was like going on a long journey in an oven.

These chimeras apparently have fans/recirculators for cooling inside. Useful.





PAge 233

Shockingly loud, a lasrifle fired right behind them, the echo of the snap-roar rolling across the wide river. Bragg reeled round and saw Nessa crouched in a braced position on the bank, her long-las resting across a twist of roots. She fired again, out across the water.

...

He saw green shapes in the rushes over the rifer. There were silent flashes of light and suddenly las rounds were skipping like well-thrown stones in the water around him.

...

"Infardi! Infardi on the far shore! " Derin was yelling into his link.

Las-fight across a river between two banks. WE don't knwo for sure the exact distance (Except that its roughly within visual range) and the map would imply about a kilometre or so range potentially if we scaled by it, but theres no way to know how accurate the map is.)



Page 233

Bragg snatched the autocannon from Greer and ran back to the bank, locking in a drum-mag.
..
Bragg opened fire. His initial burst chopped into the river in a row of tall splashes. He adjusted his aim and began to reap through the rush stands, chopping them down, exposing and killing three or four green-clad figures.

- Bragg unleashes his autocannon on the Infardi on the other side of the river. Similar range to the lasguns here, even in Bragg's hands.



Page 233

Derin was now firing on auto with his assault las in support of Nessa’s hot-shots. Enemy rounds cut through the trunk and branches of the old trees above them with a peculiar, brittle sound.

'Assault las' again.. implying a lasgun version of an assault rifle. Also may be carbine, since we know the Ghosts use those as well.



PAge 240

One hundred and five years later, she had made the return journey, borne on a palanquin by eight Space Marines of the Adeptus Astartes White Scars chapter.
..
One hundred inhabited systems along the edge of the Segmentum Pacificus. The Sabbat Worlds. A pan-planet civilisation.

Saint Sabbat lived for over 104 years, probably more since she'd have to have been at least a teenager when she started her Crusade.

Also the Sabbat Worlds region described as a 'pan planet' civilization. Later its implied it may be a sector (or at least sector sized, possibly larger, multi-sector polity.) If its multi sector then its interesting (and unsuual) for the interconnectivity between multiple sectors.



Page 243

A few minutes before it began, a trooper on watch saw what he thought were contacts on the wide-band auspex. By the time he’d called up Gaunt and Kleopas, the snow had closed in and the sensor was blind.

But for the short time it lasted, it had looked like contacts. A mass of vehicles, moving north across the plateau behind them, twenty kilometres away

- 'wide band' Auspex is noted to have a detection range of at least twenty kilometres against large groups of vehicles. And blocked by snow. We dont know the origin of the auspex (vehicle or man portable) but its effective eitehr way and they're probably similar. We do learn later on they have portable auspex units though.



Page 243

Heater units were put to work and chemical fires lit.

The Ghosts have heaters and chemical fires (probably the blocks again.)



Page 250

Outer perimeter south has spotted movement on their auspex. Major movement. An armoured column of over a hundred vehicles moving this way."

"Gak!" How far?"

"Twenty Kilometers."

"And... I have to ask.. Not ours by any chance?"

Again auspex range of 20 km, and they can identify friendly and unfriendly targets by it. Probably vehicle auxpex, but it may be man portable.



Page 252

The convoy moved ahead at less than ten kph, churning and sliding as it groped for a track that was no longer identifiable.

Convoy speed upslope in severe winter conditions (20-30 cm of snow maybe and poor visibility for example.)



PAge 252

Thermal kit and mittens had been brought as standard. The Munitorium had not underestimated the chill or the altitude, but the biggest boon to all the Ghosts was their trademark camo-cape which now served each man as a cold weather poncho.

Implication that camo-cloaks may be insulating, and may even mask against thermal sensors as a side effect.



Page 252

There was still no visual contact with the chasing enemy, and nothing on the auspex, though Rawne and Kleopas agreed that extreme cold made the sensor systems slow to function. It was also possible that the snow cover was bouncing signals wildly, cheating and disguising the auspex returns.

- Extreme cold makes the auspex systems slow to function. Snow cover also cold bounce the signals wildly, cheating and dissipating auspex returns.



Page 253

The SteGs, their big wheels wrapped in chains, were firing their light 40-mil weapons.

Hypervelocity tank rounds whistled over the command Salamander.

Gaunt heard the deeper crump of the 105-mil Reavers and the even deeper, less frequent thunder of the big Usurpers.

SteG guns are HV too, suggesting 1-2 km/s once again. Autocannons on the Imperial side are probably at least as good. Reavers may or may not be, but I'd guess they're better than Usurpers at least.

Anyhow if we figure 1 kg shell at 1-2 km/s we get btween 500 kj and 2 MJ for the gun per shot (non sabot) and a momentum between 1000-2000 kg*m/s.




page 254 -

An AT70 made a hit on the Say Your Prayers, but the shot was stopped by the Conqueror’s heavy armour.
The Heart of Destruction and the Lion of Pardua fired almost simultaneously. The Heart overshot but the Lion struck a SteG squarely and blew it over in the air.

Conqueror's heaviest armor easily stops 105mm AT70 round. SteG blown aside/upwards/flipped by Conqueorr round. Its wheeled rather than tracked I'm guessing maybe 10 tons given its light armament (possibly lighter than the half tracks for all we know.) Quite possibly given the flipping several times better than the Half track examples - certainly not worse - as far as recoil/momentum of impact goes.



Page 254

The sky, mountainside, and ground suddenly exchanged places. Gaunt found himself tumbling over and over in the snow, winded.

A round from the SteG had hit the side of the Salamander, jerking it over hard. It had righted itself, but not before Gaunt had been thrown clear. The wounded Salamander chugged to a halt, a sitting duck.

SteG round has enough momentum to tip a salamander. A 30 ton tank tipped up on one track probably would mean at least a 1-2 m/s velocity based on the FCS recoil example from before, which says 2 m/s can lift a 18 ton vehicle 20 cm n the air. Figure momentum is then 30-60,000 kg*m/s. That, however is ludicrously excesisve, so we might attribute it more to Gaunt losing his balance from a combination of the round knocking the vehicle partly off balance whilst it movd (it chugged to a halt after all only after Gaunt got knocked out.) Even so, even if the tank was shifted by a 10th of a metre, or a quarter metre, you're still talkign the round imparting 3000-7500 kg*m/s, which for a small round needs considerable velocity given that the shell probably isn't more than a few kg at most (although the higher end WOUDL necessitate much bigger rounds. We might postulate as high as 5 kg or so for an ultra dense full calibre round, for example. at 1-2 km/s the KE of the above moemntum would be 1.5-8 MJ per shot, which is insanely impressive for a 40mm gun.

I suppose its possible ti was a HE round or something, but given Salamanders are open topped and Gaunt was merely knocked off that would seem debatable (blast and shrapnel and such.)




Page 254

The speeding SteG closed on the Salamander for the kill. Gaunt could see Hark standing up in the crewbay, firing his plasma pistol desperately at the attacking vehicle.

- aforementioned SteG is resistant to Hark's plasma pistol fire.




Page 258

According to the last reliable auspex reading, an enormous enemy force was half a day behind them.

- Auspex reading here indicates the Infardi forces are "half a day" behind Gaunt's honour guard. Assuming the "less than ten kph" speed mentioned earlier held constant, they could be up to 120 km away. Not likely, though, so its probably more a fraction of this (30-40 km probably.) Depending on how oyu define 'day' it oculd be 6 or 12 hours.



Page 264-265

Zweil shook his head. “I think that’s where you keep going wrong, my boy. Half the time you read the scriptures hunting for absolute literal sense, the other half you try too hard to decipher hidden meanings! Textual interpretation indeed! You need balance You need to understand the fundamental equilibrium of faith as it matters to us. If you expect the ayatani to devoutly and strictly keep the customs and relics and traditions of the beati alive then you must equally expect us to treat the instruction of her scriptures with absolute conviction.”

“It is written,” Gaunt began thoughtfully, “that if the remains of Saint Sabbat are ever taken from Hagia, if they are ever removed by accident or design, the entire Sabbat Worlds will fall to Chaos forever.”

“What’s not clear about that?”

“It’s an open prophecy! A colourful myth designed to intensify devotion and worship! It couldn’t actually happen!”

“No?” Zweil gazed out across the Sacred Hills. “Why not? You believe in the saint, in her works, in her incorruptible sanctity. Your belief in her and all she represents shines from you. It brought you here. So why wouldn’t you believe in her deathbed prophecy?” Gaunt shrugged. “Because it’s too… insane! Too big, too far-fetched! Too unlikely…”

It''s kind of amusing that Gaunt, after being witness to everything he has, has a hard time believing in shit lke this, even though it should be entirely possible and reasonable to expect due to the Warp. I mean its not like he's ignorant of psykers and the warp, after all. And Zweil sounds way more reasonable than most priests I could think of. Its one reason I like him.

This also marks a turning point in this novel for Gaunt, where he decides to make a choice and take a stand.



Page 265

"Do you know better than the sector’s most venerated martyr? Does Lugo or the Warmaster? Will you risk losing everything, a thousand inhabited systems, forever, just to find out?"

- mention of losing "a thousand inhabited systems" possibly the scale of the Sabbat Worlds itself. And also a hint that the Sabbat Worlds might be a sector. This would be a bit bigger than the 'hundred worlds' mentioned last time.. maybe its 100 major inhabited and 1000 minor?



Page 269

...lay the saint’s Imperator armour, painted blue and white. It showed the marks of ancient damage, blackened holes and grooves, jagged dents where the paint had been scraped off. The marks of the nine martyring wounds. There was something odd about it. Gaunt realised it was… small. It had been purpose-built for a body smaller than the average male Space Marine.
..
She had wanted no stasis field or power suspension, but still she was intact after six thousand years. Her features had sunk, her flesh had desiccated, and her skin was dark and polished. Around her skull there were traces of fine hair. Gaunt could see the rings on her mummified fingers, the medallion of the Imperial eagle clasped in her hands across her bosom. The blue of her gown had almost entirely faded, and the dry husks of ancient flowers lay around her on the velvet padding of the bier.

The Saint and he rarmour. Seems like she has Astartes armour in miniature. I'm also not sure if a body would still be alive in this enviroment (mummified it looks) without aid, but there ya go. Also mention of stasis fields and 'power suspension' as preservation tech.



PAge 273

“On Formal Prime, in the first few months of the crusade, I fought alongside Slaydo in a fierce action to take the hive towers. It was one of the first big successes of the crusade."
..
" He was one hundred and fifty years old by then, and those years had not been kind.
He told us he was afraid of dying before finishing his work. Afraid of not living long enough to oversee the full and final liberation of the beati’s worlds."
..
".. the only way he could achieve immortality and finish his duty to the saint, was through us. He called for an oath. A blood oath. "
..
"One by one we clasped his bleeding hand and swore. On our lives, Rawne, on our very lives. We would finish his work. We would pursue this crusade to its end. And we would damn well protect the saint against any who would harm her!”
..
“Lugo’s making you break your pact.”

Gaunt's resons for his actions and his perceived failure were deeper than previously suspected, motivations that run deeper than just the Ghosts. Its the Ghosts AND the Crusade driving him. This gets into alot of that 'destiny' stuff wrapped up in the Ghosts and Gaunt I suspect. One of the things about Slaydo was it was hinted at in the SWC book that he knew ahead of time he would fall at Balhaut. Its quite likely that whatever divine force was guiding him has guided his chosen successors like Gaunt as well. There has certianly been plenty of that here, after all. And Gaunt is a man that takes his oaths seriously, as we have seen.

As an aside this is stuff he's telling to Rawne - the guy who doesn't like him, who is also telling him to basically grow the fuck up and be responsible. Be the old Gaunt (which he said he hated but also respected, instead of this current Gaunt.) It also reflects that peculiar relationship the two are developing. Rawne still dislikes Gaunt, may even want to kill him (Even Hark notes this) but there is an understanding between the two. It matters to Rawne that gaunt not be an alcoholic wreck, despite that dislike.

Oh and Slaydo lived to be at least 150, and still vigorous as a fighter. Also they liberated another hive world. Between the several hives mentioned in Ghostmaker and Verghast, and the previous one mentioned in this novel, thats up to five hive worlds in the Sabbat Worlds region at least.



Page 277

They had a chemical heater puffing away in the base of the dug-out, but it was still bitterly cold. Bonin was watching the portable auspex unit while Larkin hunted the flurrying darkness with the night scope of his long-las. Lillo chaffed his hands, waiting by the tripod-mounted autocannon.
..
Illuminated in ghostly green, he could see blurs of light on the pass below.
..
..staring at the auspex screen. Bright yellow sigils wobbled around the contour lines of the holo-map. The tactical counter had identified at least three hundred contacts, but the number was rising as they watched.

Portable auspex which also has holo-map and tactical counter. Chemical heater (fire?) for preserving against the Cold. Larkin using his night scope (green glow.) Oh and a tripod mounted autocannon. The ghosts have those too.



Page 283

Gaunt saw the first couple of enemy officers. Just energised blurs moving amongst their troops, each one protected in the shimmering orb of a refractor shield. Nothing short of a point-blank tank round could touch them.

- Enemy officers sheathed in the orb of a "refractor shield" that is resistant to anything up to a tank round it seems. Odd given the effects of an anti-tank rocket blew it out, unless this is meant to convey that Tread Fether rockets are as powerful as literal (kinetc?) tank rounds (or the AP ones at least) despite being smaller. Or maybe they're different shields.)

Later, Ershul troops were using it for cover.


Page 283

Memmo tumbled, headshot, gone, and Mkillian dropped a second later, hit in the thigh and hip.

We dont know what removes the head (or if it did, the phrasing is odd) but if small arms or lasfire single to double digit kj. The wound in the second man's example implies small arms is possible.




Page 283-284

..nvisible in his ball of shield energy against which the Imperial las-fire twinkled harmlessly. Using him as mobile cover, the Ershul foot troops were pounding at the Ghosts.
..
“Caffran! Tube him!” Gaunt yelled.

“It won’t breach the shield, sir!”
..
Caffran hurled a tube-charge, spinning it end over end. It bounced in the thick snowpack right at the Infardi officer’s feet and went off brightly.

The blasts didn’t hurt the Ershul officer, but it effectively blew the ground out from under him and he fell..
..
Power sword met refractor shield. The shield was a model manufactured by Chaos-polluted Mechanicus factories on the occupied forgeworld Ermune. It was powerful and effective. The power sword was so old, no one knew its original place of manufacture. It popped the shield like a needle lancing a blister.

Tube charges won't breach refractor shield (suggesting that Tread Fethers are also stronger than them, assuming the shield before is as powerful as a shield now.) Gaunt's sword, however, can, which suggests either power swords (or at least Gaunt's power sword) has special properties, or it packs comparable power to a tank round/tread fether/better than a tube charge. Or it does in a more compact form, at least.

Also mention of a nother forge world. With Orestes (Titanicus), Urdesh, and Fortis Binary, we're talking 4 forge worlds in the Sabbat Worlds region too.



PAge 284

Two shells dropped inside the wall and one hit the wall itself, blowing out a ten-metre chunk.

SPG (Usurper?) Shell hits wall and creates (I gather) a 10m crater. Figure a couple hundred kilos of TNT equivalent assuming a roughly hemispherical crater.


Page 285

..another tank round hit the Lion, and blew it apart, exploding several dozen Infardi with it. Killing the Imperial armour seemed to be all the enemy cared about.

Implying that a tank round has enough power (explosive or otherwise) to pulverize several dozen humans - as a side effect. tens of MJ easily, perhaps, unless thats from the tank blowing apart.





Page 286

Infardi troops rushed in from the left, weapons blazing. In the savage short-range firelight that followed, first Oral and then Sangul were killed by massive torso injuries. Dorro managed to get Baen and Cocoer into cover and then he was hit in the jaw with such destructive force his head was virtually twisted off.

We dont knwo what kind of torso injuries again or what kind of guns caused it, but in a 'short range' firefight we might assume lasfire or solid slug rounds. If we figure 20-30 cm diameter and at least 3rd degree wounds (call it 50-100 j per sq cm) we're talking between 15.7-70 kj per person at least, but we dont know how long to do it either. If its 400 j per sq cm (4th degree burns) it goes up to 125-280 kj. single digit kj if we assume a full powerpack (50-100 shots) to cause such injuries.

'virtually twisted off' by the force may suggest a solid slug (or a lasbolt imparting considerable momentum with its passage through his jaw/head.) it can effectively be blowing the head apart/off, which is again at least single digit/double digit kj per shot.






Page 287

The blackened wrekcage of a Munitorium torop truck fifty metres ahead splintered and rolled as something big pushed it aside.
..
The output of a powerful beam weapon ripped into the front of the SteG and a rash of pressurised flame blew out the side panels. It bounced to a halt, streaming smoke.
..
..Commissar Hark yelled to Rawne and his soldiers as he fired again into the midst of a charging Infardi platoon. They half carried and half dragged Gutes, Cocoer and Baen back the twenty metres to the nearest snow-work cover.

Hark's plasma pistol blasts a SteG from 70 metres or so away.



Page 287

As a commissar, even an unpopular, unwelcome one, it was his foremost duty to rally, to inspire the men and to quell just that kind of talk.

Even unpopular Commissars are supposed to be inspirational.



Page 288

Vehicle engines stalled. Vox signals went berserk in whoops of interference and swarms of static. Many troopers wrenched their microbead ear-plugs out, wincing. Vox-officer Raglon’s ears were bleeding by the time he’d managed to pull off his headset. Wild static charge filled the air, crackling off weapons, making hair stand on end.

Side effect of warp storm activity, which itself is a side effect of an approaching Chaos fleet.



PAge 288-289

“I have consulted the monastery’s sensitives and psyker-adepts,” said ayatani-ayt Cortona. “It is a warp storm, a flux of the empyrean. It is affecting all space near Hagia.”
..
“The arch-enemy’s fleet,” replied Cortona.
..
“But that’s not due to reach us for another five days.”
“I don’t believe it has. But a fleet of that size, moving through the aether, would create a massive disturbance, like the bow wave of a great ship, pushing the eddies and swirls of the warp ahead of it.”
“And that bow wave has just broken over Hagia? I see.”

Assuming a 10 LY detection range, that meanst hey're 10 LY away (guess at astropathic detection range for a single astropath.) and still five days away. That would be 730c



Page 290

“Look, commissar… for whatever it’s worth, I have no doubts as to your courage, loyally or ability. You’ve fought well all the way along. You’ve tried to do your duty, even if I haven’t liked it. It took, I have to admit, a feth of a lot of guts to stand up in that room and try and take command off me.”
..
"I want you to know that you’ll receive no negative report from me… if and when I ever get to make one No matter what kind of report you choose to make. I bear you no ill will. I’ve always taken my duty to the Emperor fething seriously. Completely fething seriously. How could I possibly resent another man doing the same?”

“I… thank you for your civility and frankness. I wish things could have been… and could yet be… different between us. It would have been a pleasure to serve with you and the First-and-Only without this cloud of resentment hanging over me.”

HArk earlier confronted Gaunt and warned/pleaded even that he not defy Lugo's orders and defend the shrine rather than recovering the relics, because he knew it would end Gaunt's Career. He admits to not being Gaunt's enemy or hating him (despite what Gaunt thought) and actually admiring the man. The Honour Guard was to be a way for Gaunt to either redeem himself with Lugo, or to at least end his career respectfully (and was Hark's doing at that.) Gaunt since then, and since resolving himself, seems to have mellowed out towards Hark as well, a rather dramatic shift in mood. Another turning point for Gaunt in the story now that he's resolved all the aforementioned issues, and Hark actually becomes likable.





Page 305

They're a mess, but I've got pulses on both. Thank the Emperor the maniac wasn't packing a las.

according to Dorden, lasweapons are considerably more deadly than hard-slug weapons (Greer, the "maniac", was packing an autopistol that he used to shoot Bragg and another Ghost several times repeatedly. Bragg at least thee or four times. Or at the very least, they do additional damage that slugthrowers don't.


Page 310-311

“It was a psychic test pattern. The activation signature of an ancient device that I believe is buried under the shrine.”
..
“The Adeptus Mechanicus constructed this place to house the saint. I believe they laced the entire rock underneath us with dormant psyker technology the power — and purpose — of which we can only guess at. Was I the only one who got that from the psychic wave? It seemed quite clear.”

“Technology to do what?” sneered Cortona.

“To protect the beati. In the event of a true catastrophe, like this influx of the warp. To safeguard her final prophecy.”
..
"Why did we not know of it then?” asked another Shrinehold priest.
..
“Six thousand years is a long time,” said Corbec. “Time enough to forget. Time enough to turn facts into myths.”
..

"Why does it manifest now?” asked Cortona.

“Because we came. Her Infardi. Gathered together in her sepulchre, we triggered the mechanism.”

Gaunt and the rest discover their salvation in a literal Deus Ex Machina. While its contrived in one way, I have to say it makes sense because its not something that leads to instawin ('Sabbat Martyr') which plays a fundamental role in what this story is leading up to both dramatically and thematically. Likewise, the battle with the Infardi really isn't the major point I suspect, its that Gaunt has recovered and reforged himself by the end, and this is really the culmination of that reforging. He's going to snatch victory from defeat once again and erase his prior failure. It isn't strength of arms or military skill that will win this victory, it is an act of faith and sacrifice (giving of yourself for the benefit of others not just symbolically but literally.) that defeats the enemy and saves the world, which is in line with that whole 'faith' based aspect of this book and the larger arc, for the most part.

In a technological manner you have to wonder hwo the machine taps warp energy. On the surface one generally assumes it would require psykers of some kind, leading to this odd (yet strangely appropriate) idea that there are huge numbers of psykers in gestalt being maintaned and utilized by said doom machine below the planet, kept alive (ins ome form) for over half the Imperium's existence. Its also possible its tied to warp drive/Void shield/gellar field technologies which are (at least by some sources) all inter-related stuff, and which may be utilised/manipulated in exotic ways to tap and release the warp as we describe. Despite its effects in killing off the chaos infestation, that may have merely been a side effect of some other purpose (dissipating warp storms, for example.)

As I speculate below one also has to wonder how/if the device is sentient, since the Ghosts and such have clearly been directed here. (Discussed below.) Anyhow, I suspect they're wrong why it was triggered. It wasn't the 'pilgrims' (Corbec and co, Gaunt, etc.) showing up, it was Sanian. I suspect it responded more to Sanian than anything, foreshadowing her role in Sabbat Martyr as the reborn saint.




Page 313

“Whoever does this will die,” he said. “I know.”
“The psychic burst told me that. It needs a sacrifice. A martyr.”
..
“Sabbat’s martyr.”

Apparnetly the visions that Corbec and co. had, as well as Gaunt (who had a Sabbat Martyr experiene himself) lead to the device being discovered as the solution to the Ershul problem. What's
Interesting is that this may suggest an origin for the dreams and the whole 'Sabbat Martyr' thing which was referenced earlier in the book, but then again, how is the device 'aware' in that fashion and to know it would need all this stuff? Is the device sentient, or possessing sentient aspects (EG Psykers wired in or some other organic component like some machine spirits?) Or is it truly spiritual visions that lead them to discover the machine and informed them how to use it? It could really be argued either way, because we know visions and spiritual visitation is a big aspect of the Ghosts series overall, even back as far as book one ('The Warp knows you, Gaunt' or however that went.)

I'm also curious why the device needed a sacrifice to work. Its either symbolic or it is part of the mechanism (similar to what the Golden throne requires to sustain Big E.) It sounds alot like the blood sacrifice shit Chaos practices, but there is an important distinction that differs this from other shit (like the Sacrifice short story, or the Ward GK shit implied.) There's a choice involved - willingly sacrificing oneself is not the same as being forced to be sacrificed against it. The former is part of Imperial dogma, and whilst one can argue the fine detials of whether brainwashing and manipulation 'forces', its still a distinction setting them apart from Chaos, at least in this case.



Page 315

An Ershul officer, another swirling ball of shield energy, loomed ahead of him. He’d killed three of its kind so far.
..
“For the saint! For the Ghosts! For Gaunt!” he bellowed at the top of his voice.
He fired his plasma pistol and the shield exploded.

- Hark's plasma pistol explodes an Infardi officer's shield. Again depending on how you interpret things, this can mean Hark's plasma pistol is as powerful as Gaunt's sword, or a tube charge (or more powerful really), or a Tread Fether, or a tank round. Which suggests its at least equal in power (explosively) to a grenade or stick of dynamite, whilst on the other end it woudl be worth several kg to several tens of kg of TNT (depending on how one defines tank round.) Of course its also equally possible to argue one or more of those (except the tube charge) is also equal to Hark's plasma pistol, which leads to rockets and tank shells cremating people

Story wise the way they play out the whole 'activating Deus Ex Machina' is cool


Page 317-318

From deep inside its planetary core, obeying ancient instructions, the mechanisms of the saint came alive. Vast psychic amplifiers woke and broadcast their signal. For just an instant.

An instant enough to send abject fear into the souls of the Chaos spawn infesting the planet.

An instant enough to cremate the minds of Ershul hosts choking up across the promontory.

An instant enough to blow back the warp storm with such force that the advancing fleet was tumbled aside.

An instant enough to show Tolin Dorden his smiling son again, to show Colm Corbec one last glimpse of his father, to show Ban Daur a final vision of the old woman with the shockingly white hair in the refugee crowd.
..
Beyond them, littered across the snows of the promontory, lay the fused and charred skeletons of nine thousand Chaos-touched humans and the blackened wrecks of over five hundred war machines.

[/quote][/quote]

Psychic Deus Ex Machina kicks in, incinerates thousands of Cultists (gigajoule to terajoule?) as a side effect to blasting apart the Warp storm and throwing away the Chaos fleet. What's more, it triggers visions which are consistent with what each Ghost experienced spiritually, which again links them to that and makes you wonder about the naturea nd function of the device and its capabilities.

The interesting thing is that like with the Spear of Telesto from the Blood Angels novels, the effect only hurts the blatantly chaotic, it leaves Imperial vehicles, structures, personnel, etc. untouched.

[Connor MacLeod]

Next up, Guns of Tanith. This is something of a letdown compared to Honour Guard or Necropolis. Its not bad per se, since in some ways it marks the start of a significant change in the course of the series in certain ways. Its not as 'heroic' as the previous novels because some pretty bad shit happens, esp at the end. I think thats one reason why it feels so different from the last two - those definitely ended on a 'heroic victory' high, whereas this one is more what you'd expect from 40K's 'bleak and twisted' future. Although in a way thats kinda what makes the book interesting, because it IS something different, and the way in which it happens marks out just why the Ghosts series is quite good - it isn't afraid to change things in a dramatic way, things always don't turn out great even when you win, and not even major characters are safe.

The Premise is that the Ghosts invade Phantine (the regiment that shows up later in 'Double Eagle') to push out Chaos in the face of logistical problems. Get their assses handed to them, and then go on an infiltration mission to re-take the city. This is pretty much the 'paratrooper' angle of the book the way the last one was 'tank stuff' and the next will be 'trench warfare.' Also a throwback to the old Epic 'jump troop' designs for the Guard (when they still had tons of AG tech.)

Subplot with Cuu and Larkin also really takes off now, and another (twist) development in the Criid-Kolea plot.


Page 7

“The key target worlds were the promethium-rich planets of Gigar, Aondrift Nova, Anaximander and Mirridon, the forge world Urdesh, Tanzina IV and Ariadne with their solid fuel reserves, and the vapour mills of Rydol and Phantine…”

I dont know if the vapour mills ar epromethium, or if the solid fuels are.. but its all fuel and all important in some way or another.



Page 10

Tanith silver, straight, thirty centimetres long, hovering in front of his face.

I'm not sure if thats just the blade or the whole knife, but its a foot long with at least an 8-12" blade (depending on interpretation.) Much smaller than the 'cubit short swords' of the previous novels, but its still a freaking bowie knife/sword bayonet



Page 10

Behind Hark, harmless low-pulse las-fire flashed in the gloom.

Either they're laswepaons or powerpacks specifically designed for training, or its a special low (harmless) setting. Or a flashlight joke. The interesting thing, apparently, is that the beams are just as visible regardless of the lethality (or lack thereof.)



Page 15

Drizzles of low-pulse fire twinkled in the darkness below. Larkin stepped up under the arch, holding the tunic tail of the man in front.

Again, lasguns can be set for a low-energy charge that does little harm (for training purposes) but looks real.



Page 15

Larkin sighted. The night scope gave him vision, showed him the world as green, phantom swirl. The enemy gun flashes were hot little spikes of light that left afterimages on the viewfinder.

Larkin's long las scope again.



Page 17

"This here is a standard pattern mark III lascarbine, stamped out by the armourors of Tanith Magna, God Emperor rest their oily fingers."
...
" Real Tanith nal-wood, the genuine article. And the metalwork, all buffed down to reduce shine. See?”

Here the ghost weapons are identified as lascarbines for the first time. In the prior book they were also called assault las. Which suggest they may be less powerful and shorter ranged (but more compact) than full lasrifles.



Page 17

"That's a size three power port. Takes size three power cells. They can be short, long, sickle-pattern, box-form, or drum, but they have to be size three or they won't fit. Size three. Thirty mil with a back-slant lock.

...

"You've issued my company with size fives. Size fives, you see? They're thirty-four mil and flat-fronted. You can tell they're not threes just by looking at the size of them, but if you’re in any doubt, the fething great ‘5’ stencilled on the side is a handy guide.”

Differences between different powerpack sizes. It could just be the difference between a carbine and a rifle, for example, or it may reflect fundamental differences in weapons design or role - we know laspistol are type two, and there are hotshots. It shows that even amongst the 'standardization' the Guard supposedly embraces there's an ungodly amount of 'variety'.




Page 17-18

The clerk picked up the dip and looked at it.

“We were instructed to issue ammunition. Eight hundred boxes. Standard pattern.”

“Standard size three,” said Varl patiently. “That’s standard size five.”

“Standard pattern, they said. I’ve got the docket.”

“I’m sure you have. And the Tanith First-and-Only have got boxes and boxes of ammo that they can’t use.”

“It said standard pattern.”

Varl sighed. “Everything’s standard pattern! This is the Imperial fething Guard! Standard pattern boots, standard pattern mess-tins, standard pattern bodybags! I’m a standard pattern infantryman and you’re a standard pattern no-neck, and any minute now my standard pattern fist is going to smack your nose bone back into your very sub-standard pattern brain!”

Munioturm intransigence and bueacracy at its finest. It again reflects that the definiton of 'standard' in the Imperium tech base is far from absolute, and 'standard' often appiles onyl in the loosest sense. Diverging tech bases, interpretations of technology and any number of factors dictate it, just as those same vairables prevent widespread micromanagement of botht he civilian/adminsitrative and military aspects of the Imperium. Heck, even if you limited the differencs just to construction techniques and materials and power source (two known kinds of 'variation') you can still get widely diverging performances at least in some way (power/durability, efficiency, etc.)



Page 18-19

“You’re saying the blessed and hallowed Munitorium has no ammunition for the entire Tanith regiment?” asked Kolea.
..
"Round up the other squad leaders and run an inventory. I want to know just how much viable ammunition we’ve got left. Account for all of it. Don’t let any of the men stash stuff in socks or musette bags. Pool it all and we’ll distribute it evenly.”

The ghosts are short on ammo and have to scavenge. The acutal reason why is interesting to speculate on. It could be that the power packs they are using are simply worn out. Even rechargable batteries hav ea finite lifespan - after a certian number of recharges they become unreliable. On the other hand, if las powerpacks are like any battery I've known, they would last for many recharges (dozens, perhaps hundreds) and it strikes me as odd that the Ghosts would need to replace so many at the same time. Not impossible, but odd nonetheless.

Alternately, the powerpacks may be non-rechargable and thus are, for intents of this story, just like any other sort of ammo (expendable and not replacable easily.) There are advantages to this - non rechargable packs are per unit cheaper than rechargable (at least if you don't factor the recharging aspect in.), they can generally store more energy, and they last longer. And it wouldnt be the first novel where lasgun powerpacks were discarded once used up. Heck, as far as I can tell, you can have 'liquid metal' batteries that are rechargable and non-rechargable.




Page 19

There was still a lot of rivalry between the two camps. The Tanith resented the new intake, and the Verghastites resented that resentment. In truth, they were slowly fusing now. The regiment had endured the fight for the shrineworld of Hagia a few months before and, as is ever the case with war, comradeship and a common goal had alloyed the Tanith and Verghast elements into one strong company.

But still, Verghastites and Tanith were breeds apart. There were so many little differences.

comment again on the divisions/differences that still exist between Tanith and Verghasite Ghosts, some of the rough edges are gone post Hagia, but there's stil a ways to go. Oh and the separate pins. Axe rake for VErghasites, dagger for Tanith.



Page 20

“The skull was backed by three daggers originally. One for each of the original founded regiments. The Tanith First the Tanith Second and the Tanith Third. Only the Tanith First made it off the home world.”

Given the others included armour and artillery and not neccesarily troops (or two wer einfantry and one armour) the pin suggests they were raised/trained and deisgned to fight together as a part of a single, larger unit. Which is interesting, and can offset some of the disadvantages of 'regimental' specialization I suppose (at least if the world can raise a variety of different reigments it can.)




Page 22-23

Cirenholm, like all the habitations still viable on Phantine, was built into the peaks of a mountain range that rose dramatically above the lethal atmospheric oceans of pollution covering the planet.
..
It had a population of two hundred and three thousand.

- the population of Cirenholm on Phantine is 203,000, built on mountains or abandoned cities to avoid the pollution. Its implied later that the cities are periodically abandoned so that new habitats can be built to stay above the pollution. So, in a way its like any other hive city just with certain key differences.



Page 23

"Cirenholm is not a fortress" said Van Voytz. "None of the cities on Phantine are. It was not built to withstand war. If it was simply a matter of crushing the enemy here, we'd be doing it from orbit, and not waisting the time of the Imperial Guard. But... and I think this is worthy of repetition... our mission here is to recapture the vapour mills. The Crusade desperately needs the fuel-gasses and liquid chemicals this world produces."

"So we are forced into an infantry asasult. and in infantry terms, Cirenholm is a fotress. Docking and hangar facilitis are under the lips of the domes and well protected, so there is no viable landing zone."
..
He took out a hard-light pointer..

Comments on the difficulties facint the Guard in taking the place. Like Fortis Binary and certain other locales, the strategic and industrial importance of the world, especially to the Crusade, prevent it from employing orbital bombardment to defeat the threat. Taking it (relatively) intact means infantry assault - the hard way. Its not surprising really that orbital bombardment or naval intervention of any kind is preferrable to infantry assault, as the former requires fewer ships and resources, much less of an investment of time and logistics and manpower, and generally would be quicker to respond. Heck its been often said that the Navy is the first line of defense against invasion. and evne a small starships manpower (at least by FFG terms) would be sufficient to help quell small uprisings, especially with orbital/aerial support.

Also hard-light pointer. Maybe lasguns are hardlight weapons



Page 23

"Long range scans indicate that weather conditions will be optimal tomorrow night, captain."

use of (naval) sensor scans to determine weather and to forecast it.



Page 24

Jagdea was the chief officer of the Phantine Fighter Corps.

Phantine fighter corps. As per double Eagle we know the Phantine were noted for producing fighter regiments for the Guard, which was unusual. I wonder if that stemmed from the needs of the Crusade and overrode the normal Guard/Navy segregation. We know many PDF worlds retain air and space forces as well as ground forces, but I imagine the Navy generally exerts control over the air forces as being part of the 'space' forces (political reasons or whatever.) Although the air forces seem to be something of a gray area, as the Phantine demonstrate, becuase the Guard sometimes exerts control there (whether its gunships, aeronautica fighters, etc.)



Page 24

The Blood Part was the backbone of the Chaos forces in this sub-sector, the personal retinue of the infamous warlord Urlock Gaur.

They were good, so the reports said. The Ghosts had yet to face them. Most of the opposition the Tanith had met so far had been extreme fanatics. The Infardi, the Zoicans, the Shriven, the Kith. Chaos zealots, demented by their foul beliefs, who had taken up weapons. But the Blood Part was composed of soldiers, a fraternal military cult, every one of them sworn to Gaur’s service in a grisly ritual that involved cutting their palms against the jagged edges of his ancient Space Marine armour.

They were well-drilled, obedient efficient by Chaos standards, blindly devoted to both their dark daemon-gods and their twisted warrior creed.

The Blood PAct described. Nemesis of the Ghosts for this novel and much of the future novels. The Chaos counterpart to the Guard elites (or the Guard itself.) and proof that Chaos isn't always full of irrational untrained fanatics. - Urlock Gaur, leader of the Blood Pact, is noted here to wear Space Marine armour, although whether he is a Space MArine or not I don't know yet.

It's interesting that the Zoicans are different form the Blood Pact, as in the Necropolis novel they were depicted as being well trained and skilled warriors.




PAge 25

He was the field commander of the Seventh Urdeshi Storm-troop, a regiment of nine thousand men.
..
The Urdeshi were the main strength of the Imperial war on Phantine, if only numerically, and Gaunt knew it. Numbering little more than three thousand, his Ghosts were very much light support.

Storm troops. Whether that is the same as storm troopers, or just another way to refer to a GRenadier regiment, I don't know, but they may or may not be equipped like Storm troops/Grenadiers (up for debate.) They outnumber the ghosts, who are light support to the Stormies. Also the Ghosts have a bit more than 3K, which is interesting because in the previous novel they had only 2500 (and that was before losses.) They either had more wounded than I thought prior to the Honour Guard's deployment or they have picked up more Verghasites along the way or something.



Page 25

Urdesh, the famous forge world, had fallen to the archenemy several years before. Gaunt’s men had already fought the products of the captured weapon shops and tank factories on Hagia. The Urdeshi regiments, eight of them, were famously good shock troops, and, like the Tanith, were dispossessed.

Urdesh is a 'forge world' - which we have learend from the Sabbat Worlds Crusade book. Except its one of those odd forge worlds like Fortis Binary, and Orestes, in that it has its own non-skitarii PDF, raises infantry tithes to the guard, and so on. Such worlds in fact remind me more of Vostroya than a true 'forge owrld', although given how veriable most 40K definitions are, it wouldnt be surprising if one could deem Vostroya a forge world in some cases.


Page 26

"Major Fazalur’s Phantine Skyborne will lead that one in, supported by Urdeshi storm-troops.”
..
He wore the quilted cream tunic of the local army.
..
But the Phantine Skyborne numbered less than six hundred.

- Phantine Skyborn.. air drop troops. PHantine doesn't produce just aircraft regiments. THe question is hether 'local army' means PDF, or if they're the Guard draft. Also the numbers. Is that total numbers, or is that the remnants after fighting against the Blood pact for an unspecified time? It could also be the remanants for this particular city. With a population of 200,000, they can't exactly support huge numbers of troops either, so it probably wouldn't be THAt much smaller.




Page 26

“Let’s collapse the force screen now and bring in some refreshments. "

- the Briefing Room with command officers assembled for discussion is Force-screened.. either against invasion or intrusion by spy devices, its implied since they kept it up during the briefing.



Page 27

Phantine had been an industrial world for fifteen centuries, and now it was largely inhospitable to human kind. Unchecked resource mining and rapacious petrochemical overproduction had ruined the surface and created a lethal blanket of air pollution five kilometres deep.

Only the highest places remained. Spire-like mountains, or the uppermost tips of long-dead hives. These spires and tips protruded from the corrosive gas seas and formed remote islands where mankind might just continue the habitation of the world its greed had killed.
..
And the only reason for those precarious habitations was so that mankind could continue to plunder the chemical resources of Phantine

Its not clear whether they've tapped out the resources or not, but guessing that since they still plunder the resources.. probably not. The nature of such aren't known but it seems to mostly be related to fossil fuels and such.

Phantine also used to be a hive world (may still be, at least technically) but the pollution seems to have forced the population to abandon the hives except for the uppermost levels and other mountain cities. Which may suggest it has (or had) a significant population, although whether they survived evac or died in the poisonous atmosphere w don't know. The hives are at least 5 km tall too but far
smaller than 10 km (just the tips are visible.)



Page 28

He’d abstained from alcohol with an almost puritanical conviction since the dark days on Hagia several months before.
..
Cornered and frustrated, and tormented by an over-keen sense of responsibility invested in him by his mentors Slaydo and Oktar, Gaunt had come closer to personal failure than at any time in his career. He’d drunk hard, shamefully, and allowed his men to suffer.
..
He missed the old Gaunt the commander who would kick back and drink the night away with his men as hard as he’d fight for them the next day. Corbec understood Gaunt’s caution, and had no wish to see his beloved commander turned back into a raging, drunken malcontent. But he missed the comradely Gaunt. There was a distance between them now.

Corbec reflects on the events of Hagia. Gaunt of course came through ('by the grace of the Emperor and the Saint' as Corbec thinks of it), which wsa pretty much that 'reforging' I talked about. And part of that 'reforging' is that Gaunt has changed as a result of his experiences. Its tempered him, but at the same time those changes have put a barrier between him and Corbec. The new Gaunt is in some ways a much harder man than the one we knew in the first three books, more fanatical. That is both good and bad, since there was much to admire about the Old Gaunt. But one imagines that for a man driven by duty and obligation as Gaunt is, personal sacrifices like 'comradeship' must be made.




Page 29

They looked out and saw the vast shape of the drogue escorting them, a kilometre long dirigible painted silver on the belly and white on the top. It had a ribbed, hardwood frame and extended out at the front in a fluked ram the size of a giant nalwood. They could see the eight motor nacelles along its belly beating the air with their huge props. Beyond it, in the suddenly gleaming light, they could see the next drogue in formation.
Floating islands, armed and armoured, each carrying upwards of four thousand men.

Phantine version of troop carriers.




PAge 32-33

The six Marauder fighter-bombers of Halo Flight were set in a herring-bone pattern down the length of the deck in greasy locking cradles. Three faced port, three faced starboard, all of them raked at a forty-five degree angle from the rear.
..
The flight crews, half a dozen for each forty tonne beast, ran down the centre line of the deck and climbed into their designated aircraft.
..
The deck doors opened. Shutters peeled back along both sides of the deck, and hydraulic doors yawned underneath the cradles.
..
The huge warplanes tilted as their cradles tipped and disengaged, sliding them out of the deck space, dropping them like stones. Three dropped out to port, the other three to starboard. The huge drogue barely trembled as it released the weight.

They fell for a second into the blackness and then fired their engines, belching thrust pulling hard G’s as they took lift and climbed away from the airship.

Marauder bombers. Forgeworld stats of course Given that Viltry shows up in Double Eagle, I wonder if the Phantine produce bomber as well as fighter regiments?

Also the bombers launch from the Drogues. Much like in Double Eagle, the notable things about the aeronautica is their ability to launch without the need of large runways (unlike modern fighters.) This may be partly due to the vectored thrust capability or it may be antigrav, or possibly a bit of both.




Page 34

Another thirty minutes and it would be her turn.
..
Cirenholm was about fifty minutes' flying time from the dispersal field at a comfortable cruising speed, but Halo flight was pushing their tolerances.

...

To his side and just below, his navigator Gammil was hunched over his station, studying the hololithic charts by the lights of a hooded spotlamp.


...

Viltry's sensors showed the first hard returns of the Cirenholm promontory. Nothing by eye.


..

"Two minutes" Viltry announced.

...

Viltry kept glancing at the locator. An enemy cloud-fiikghter now would be disastrous.

...

Something blurry crept across the sweeping display. An interceptor? Pray to the God Emperor it was just a falling ice cloud, echoing on their sensor patterns.

2 minutes at top speed maybe, 50 minutes at 'cruising' speed. By modern planes 'cruise' speed can mean anything from 50-60% of max speed to 80-90% of top speed. which is 900-1000 kph possibly to 1400-1600 kph. If we figure by 'pushing tolerances' they're at max speed they're covering 60 km. 50 minutes would be 1500 kph by that assumption.

The Drogues seem to take slightly more than half that time (30 minutes) so they're average speed is between 540-960 kph.

Maruader senseors have an implied range of perhaps 50-60 km or so, or definitely tens of km anyhow. Also hololithic charts.



Page 35

Behind them, colossal clouds of feathery nickel filaments bloomed out in the air, blinding the already half-blind sensors of Cirenholm.

- Marauders deploy a cloud of sensor-distorting chaff to blind the sensors of Cirenholm (the target)



Page 35

They were all buttoned up and beginning to sweat. Lasguns were cinched tight across their chests. Gloves were going on. Each trooper had a balaclava and a rubberised gas-hood ready to pull on, his beret tucked away.

The Ghosts seem equipped (like Gaunt) with clothing, but they're also wearing some sort of fully-sealed outfit that protects them from the poisonous/caustic atmospheric pollution on Phantine. I wonder if they wear the balaclava over the masks? Or under? Could go either way.



Page 35-36

Gaunt indicated the autocannon and tripod that Bragg was to carry down the rope.
..
Caill was Bragg’s ammo-humper. He had drum magazines strung over both shoulders.

- Bragg is carrying a tripod-mounted autocannon. This time he also has a loader at last. 2 ammo drums are capable of being carried (comfortably) by a normal person.




Page 36

He made his way over, passing Doc Dorden and Surgeon Ana Curth, who were inoculating every trooper in turn with altitude sickness shots - acetazolamide, their systems more than used to it since the Holy Depths of Hagia - together with counter-toxin boosters and an anti air-sickness drug.
..
Dorden was tossing spent drug vials into a plastic tray “You had a shot yet, colonel?” he asked Gaunt, fitting a fresh glass bulb into the metal frame of his pneumatic needle.

Giving the Ghosts pre-battle inoculations against altitude/airsickness, toxins and such. Also the injectors seem not to be swapped between uses, which strikes me as rather.. unhygenic. But then again there's a bit of a time deadline in this attack, and knowing the guard resources migth be stretched on needles for all we know.





Page 37

They stood around Sergeant Mkoll in an impassive circle. Bonin, Mkvenner, Doyl, Caober, Baen, Hwlan, Mkeller, Vahgnar, Leyr and the others. Not necessarily the best fighters in the regiment but the reason for its reputation. Stealth. Special operations. And, so far, all Tanith-born. No Verghastite recruit had yet displayed enough raw ability to join Mkoll’s elite scouts

Tanith clearly have other standards for 'elite' than simply being good fighters (compared with Storm troopers or Grenadiers of other regiments.) Its interesting that they're elites, but the snipers (which are a specialization as per Honour Guard.) aren't.




Page 37-38

"The lord general refused the idea of giving anyone under command rank the city plans, but I’m breaking that.”

Gaunt handed out tissue-thin copies of the schematics to the scouts.

“Feth knows why he doesn’t want you to see this. Probably doesn’t want troopers acting with initiative over and above command. Well, I do. Here’s the thing. This won’t be a fight where command can sit and shout orders. This isn’t a battlefield. We’re going into a complex structure full of hostiles"
..
"That means on-the-hoof guidance. That means scouting and recon. That means decision making on the ground. "
...

“I don’t believe in luck. Well… I do, as it goes. But I don’t count on it. I believe in tight combat practice and intelligent war. I believe we make our own luck in this heathen galaxy. And I believe that means using you men to the limit. If any of you… I mean, any of you… voxes an order or instruction, I’ll make sure it’s followed."
..
"What we take tonight, we take the Ghost way. The Tanith way. "

First, An interesting comment on Ghost tactics, and how it often differs from the Guard standard. Or at least the battlefield standard. It highlights the peculiar double-edged sword that is the Guard approach. It isn't that the commander here (Van Voytz) is an idiot - indeed he's a recurring commander and rather likable - but he clearly represents a diffrent mindset when it comes to fighting wars, and that can be as bad as putting an actual idiot in charge. And that is part of the drawback of the Guard's ad-hoc structure and recruitment - its quite possible to get troops of different specializations under an officer who is trained to fight/think one way, and may not understand or be inclined to take advantage of those specializations because they're foreign to his own training. I suppose trying to draw from the Munitorum is meant ot offset that, but the political/bureaucratic nature of the Munitorum brings its own problems.

In this case, its Van Voytz fighting the 'battlefield' way rather than the 'Ghost' (and possibly by extent, light infantry in general) way. That isn't to say this is ALWAYS the case of course, because not all military commanders are the same or share the same experiences, but its a risk nonetheless because the quality and capabilities of officers are in essence a crap shoot. But it also explains why the Guard can be so variable when it comes to the way they fight however insane it seems (EG Fortis Binary and Aexe Cardinal, where you have light infantry in a trench war.) We've also seen examples where the Tanith or other infantry forces weren't familiar with the way other forces operated (EG the Pardus and Narmenian armour in honour Guard and Necropolis.)

On the plus side, it does show that the Guard does not always fight the same way, and there is as much room for personal initiative/independence, which we've also seen in other cases like with the Catachans, Tallarn, anyone who pilots Sentinels, etc.




Page 38

He saw Seena and Arilla, the gun-girls from Verghast, carrying the light support stubber between them.
..
He saw the snipers: Larkin, Nessa, Banda, Rilke, Ment… each one marked out amid the slowly moving files by the awkwardly bagged long-lasrifles they carried.

Two people to carry a 'light support' stubber. Also the Long-las seem to be large/bulky enough to be distinctive amidst a crowd, suggesting their length is considerably greater than the upper body/torso and hed of the sniper (cloes to or over a metre long?)



Page 40

“The saint herself, the beati, told me… you must trust Bonin.”

Ayatani Zweil, now the Ghosts Chaplain. And apparently a bit of a seer or a conduit for foretelling, which brings back interesting echoes of what happened in First and Only. Again much of this 'arc' of the Ghost series involves supernatural events like fortellings, dreams, and visitations and the like.

I should note that its possible this is a trait of all Ayatani from Hagia. One of the priests in Honour Guard gave 'Milo' a prophecy supposedly (which this book reminded me of) and I hadn't commented on it because I didnt think it was serious. This passage tends to suggest otherwise


Page 40-41

Sixty drop-ships; heavy, trans-atmospheric shuttles with a large door hatch in each flank.
...
.. each one of the drop-ships had been wearing the colour pattern of the Phantine Skyborne. Now each one was drabbed down with an anti-reflective pitch.

Fifty drop-troopers were appointed to each transport, two squads of twenty-five per ship.

The Skyborne regiment (PDF or Guard) have their own drop ships, not unlike the way the Elysians in some earlier fluff were noted to. So it seems at least, when you have local variants, you can equip your guardsmen with drop ships or shuttles. Of course we've known Garrison regiments who requisitioned such from local PDF, so maybe that's not all that surprising.

Said dropships are also platoon-sized roughly, although the 25-squad division is interesting, as its not normal. Of course the Ghosts use 'fire teams', and if those are anything like in the Cain novels (5 man teams) you could reconstitute squads into larger formations by fire team. Given they also have corporals that probably explains it.



Page 41

..but there was a report that the cross wind had picked up a little in the last thirty minutes. That would make transit rough and roping out harder, and it would clear away more quickly the sensor-foxing chaff that Halo Flight had spread earlier on.

Mention fo the sensor-distorting chaff laid down as ap relude to the assautl, and that thirty minutes have passed (once again.)



Page 41-42

..Hark was still very unhappy about the disastrous ammunition situation. After rationing out all the size threes held by the regiment and scouring the Munitorium stores of all the drogues, the Ghosts had a grand total of three clips per trooper. Due to a mis-relayed order, the taskforce Munitoria had stocked with size fives, the type used by both the Urdeshi and the Phantine. There had not been time to send back to Hessenville for extras, and no way of rearming the Tanith with alternative weapons.

3 clips per Ghosts is considered 'rationed' and 'disastrous', indicating that they gneerally carry far more than that (6 or more clips, probably more I'd say 25-30% of normal ammo loadout woudl be disastorus, but thats just me ), which is interesting given that many normal loadouts per the uplifting primer are 4 clips per trooper. Again 'variable'.

Given the Munitourm manual says that troopers must maintain at least 500 shots on hand at all times, this would say 160-170 shots per clip if not more. On the other hand, if they're breaking that regulation (by no choice of their own) we're looking at 'only' 120-180 shots, depending on clip capacity you go with. Hundreds of shots isnt impossible given what we learn in later novels and given the potential ROF of some of their weapons.

It also seems that the logistical problem was more an oversight - two of the three forces involved used the same kind of clip, after all. I wonder why there were no spare lasguns that use type 5? another logistical fuckup? That seems kinda iffy, as lasguns are supposed to be ubiquitous as fuck. Even if they were PDF grade lasweapons they should be available.

Then again, the logistical problem with the powerpacks seems to be local - that is, they have powerpacks for the Ghosts on Phantine, but the Munitorum failed to bring any with onto the Drogues for this mission, and the current situation/conditions prevent any sort of resupply. Which woudl also, coincdentally, explain why thy can't provide 'alternative' weapons. It makes sense, given that even with the huge drogues, weight must be a concern.


Page 43

The ship rattled and vibrated sporadically, and the pilot and his servitor co-pilot murmured to each other over the vox.

..

Zhyte studied the sensor plate, looking at the milky display of formation ships, scared of seeing something else.

The drop ships have servitor assisted piloting and sensors. Also like the Phantine aircraft, they deploy from the Drogues without the need of large runways or anything.


Page 43

The three Lightnings of the Imperial Phantine Air Defence banked sharply and swept in alongside the dispersal drogue Boreas.

Phantine Air defence, EG PDF.



Page 44

He glanced down at Gammil, and his navigator checked the scanner carefully before shaking his head.

Again marauder bomber scanners.



Page 45

His controle console lit up and alarms blared. Viltry realised he was target locked.

..

The target lock alarm sang out again.

They can detect target locks.



Page 45

Viltry hauled on the squad and fired the burners, slamming the Marauder back up and out of its evasive plummet. He tore off his breather mask and vomited as the extreme G forces pumped his guts empty.

Marauders have afterburners it seems, meaning they more like a B-1B bomber or a Tupolev T160.
Not sure if we can calc accel based on motion sickness (which I presume is why he's vomiting) though, except it must be a lot for a military pilot to throw up (you'd think they'd be used to it normally.)



PAge 48

Zhyte took his own gas-hood out of its pouch, shook it out and fitted it over his head, adjusting it so the plastic eyeslits sat squarely and the cap didn’t foul his vox-set He squeezed shut the popper studs that anchored its skirts to his shoulders and zipped the seal.
Now he was more blind than ever, shrouded in a treated canvas cone that stifled him and amplified the sounds of his own breathing.

The Gas masks seem to be 'treated canvas' although treated how we don't know. They apparently can be sealed to the uniform (or armor) of what the Colonel is wearing. Again seems (subjectively) to be self sealing.



Page 49

Drunkenly, his neck sore, he looked up and saw the faint shape of the inflator’s spherical sac, from which he hung.
..
He checked his altimeter, the one sewn into the cuff of his flight suit. He was a good two thousand metres below operational altitude, almost at the envelope of the toxic atmospheric layer. His inflator must have fired automatically, the pressure switch triggered by his fall.
..
Parachutes were pointless on Phantine. There was nowhere to drop to except corrosive death in the low altitude depths, the Scald, as it was known. Flyers wore bailing rigs that inflated globular blimps from gas bottles that would, unpunctured, keep them drifting above the lethal atmospheric levels of the Scald until rescue.

Because of the poisonous cloud layer below, the Phantine ejection system is basically a giant balloon thingy that manages to keep them aloft. I wonder if it might use suspensors or something similar, because I'm pretty sure a ballon wouldn't keep you aloft normally unless its a huge balloon.
Also an altimeter in the flight suit. Given the 5 km thickness of the doomcloud we're probably talking an 'operational altitude' of 7 km or so.



PAge 49

...they could have a quick death in the Scald’s poison acid-gases below.

The nature of the pollution's lethality. So, like most hive worlds really



PAge 49- 50

But there was still a chance he’d get picked up. All he had to do was activate his distress beacon. A toggle pull would do it.
..
Short range ship-to-ship vox chatter was safe, but powerful,ranged transmissions like the amplified vox-blink of his distress beacon might ruin that surprise.

Vox-based distress beacons, that are powerful and long ranged. At least compared to 'short range' vox (which if compared toa micro bead, may mean a range greater than 1-10 km.



Page 50

The three Lightnings dumped their empty fuel tanks and rose above the drop-ship flocks. They were running on internal tanks now, which meant they had just another sixteen minutes of range left… less if they were called to burn hard into combat.

The Lightnings have 16 minutes of 'range', which I presume means before they have to return to refuel, without extended tanks. Hard to really judge definite excpet as a lower limit on combat endurance, since we dont know how much fuel (or how far they travelled) to use it up or other parameters.



Page 51

Mkoll was at the head of the second squad, ready to lead the scout fireteam in.

Again the Ghosts are using fireteams, this time for the scouts. And again its implied squad and fireteam may be synonymous, at least in some cases. It does seem sometimes that the Ghosts have a more flexible definition of 'fire team', and they make them up as needed.



Page 53

She had a target lock on a spinning cloud-fighter and the guns squealed as she let rip.

...

Jagdea inverted and, pulling two Gees, flipped round onto the cloud-fighter's tail.

Fighters getting target lock (with guns) and also pulling at least 2 gees.



Page 54

Jagdea hung on her wingtip and dropped, hunting visually and instrumentally for targets. She powered down through the drop ship fleet, her target finder pinging ever more rapidly as she bottomed out...

Using both eyeball and sensors for tracking targets.



Page 55

He saw a drop-ship pummelled by tube-shot rockets, saw it burn as it tilted sideways..

It explodes, although we dont know how many rockets to take down a drop ship.



Page 55

A trooper to Zhyte’s left had lost his gas-hood in the descent. He was choking and frothing, yellow blisters breaking the skin around his lips and eyes.

Which is why they need the hoods.



Page 56

The man immediately right of him was suddenly hit twice and went tumlbling back. A second defence position had opened up, raking 50-cal autocannon fire into the unrpotected trhong of the landing troops.

Calibre of an autocannon. Seems autocannon and heavy stubber may overlap, although its equally possible to argue that 'stubber' now means 'less than .50 cal' than compared to what it was tradtiionally assumed. Except that we know about those 25mm stubbers from Annihilation Squad. LOL.

Whatever armour the Urdeshi ae wearing, it doesn't seem particularily resilient to .50 cal weaponry either.



Page 56

Over the vox came a curt report announcing that both Corbec and Mkoll’s squads were on the balcony too, about a hundred metres away.

Comm bead range of at least 100 m. A contact with VArl may imply 200m, but the positioning of 'east' and 'behind' in the source isnt obvious or easily defined.





Page 58

And there were at least four multi-barrel autocannon nests firing out of windows further up the dome’s surface.

- the Blood Pact are using four "multi-barreled autocannon" nests. Possibly the .50 cal ones, although that's not definite. We dont know the number of barrels or rate of fire, or if its rotary/gatling or just like q multi-barrel mount (quad guns, whatever) the volume of firepower would be insane.

It also seems to be I'd guess man portable.



Page 58

Feygor moved down the waiting squad with an open musette bag, getting every man to toss in one of his tube charges. When it was satisfyingly full, it was passed back up the line to Rawne at the door.

..

The satchel landed right in the midst of the ground troopers firing up from the balcony. Rawne could see it clearly. When it went off, it spewed out a doughnut-shaped fireball that ripped fifty metres in every direction.

10 tube charges create a 'fireball' that blasted 50 m in radius. This is.. unlikely, as a tube charge that powerful would be like a freaking FAE We're talking hundreds of tons of TNT. nevermind 'donut shaped' explosion.

A more liekly explnaation is you had 10 separate explosions over a 100 m radius forming a 'donut' shape. If each explosion formed a part of the donut, we might be looking at 10m diameter total, which seems more plausible. but it would still be over a ton of TNT apiece. Possible (esp givne 'vaporization' calcs attached to them or grenades.) but iffy.

If we figure 'fireball' is actually blast effects.. the combined total is 1 ton of tnt for 10 charges.. which works out to ~100 kg apiece. Better, but still quite a bit. So if we go 'donut' again.. we get around 100-1000 grams of TNT.. which is probably more likely the magnitude. A bit lower possibly, but not impossible as its within grenade/stick of dynamite range.



Page 60

The Blood Pact weren’t enflamed zealots. They were professional military, soldiers sworn to the badges of Chaos. He could tell from the tight, well-orchestrated resistance alone that he was dealing with trained warrior

Again differences between Blood Pact and other troops, it seems, can be chalked up to the fact they're 'professional military' at least by Varl's estimation. We might infer this to mean that its less about individual quality and more about coordination, combined arms, and unity/cohesion, which would set them apart from most chaos forces. Mind you, I'm still wondering how this sets them apart from (for example) the Zoicans, but the others mentioned (Infardi, Shriven, Kith, etc.) you can sort of see the difference.



Page 61

Las-fire and solid rounds spat past him.
..
Varl peered out and took a hit to his shoulder that toppled him back. He writhed back into cover, patting out the smouldering hole in his uniform. His augmetic shoulder, heavy and metallic, had absorbed the shot.

Varl's shoulder is resistant to gunfire. We dont know if its las or solid shot, and we dont know how powerful, but its still interesting.



Page 62

And each was in charge of a section that was considered by all to be fine, solid and second-string.
There was nothing formal about the distinction. It was just a given that a handful of platoons formed the regimental elite: Mkoll’s scouts, Rawne’s merciless band, Corbec’s dedicated unit, Bray’s tightly-drilled, tightly-disciplined squad and the determined, courageous mob schooled by Soric. They were the best, the “front five” as they were often called. Kolea and Varl both yearned to elevate their own squads into that illustrious upper echelon. It was all fine and dandy to be regarded as part of the solid, dependable backbone.

comments on the nature of 'elite' fores in the Ghosts. Its nothing formalized (again like Storm troopers or perhaps Grenadiers) its just informal, and seems to be organized largely around the person doing the leading. EG Mkoll's scouts, Rawen's bunch, etc. It's interesting too that Soric's bunch is considered such, since they're recent arrivals and from a civilian background at that. It could be because they learned to be courageous (or rahter fanatical, as in using suicide bombers against Zoican tanks) that make them elite. Varl and Kolea are second tier, the 'backbone'.

Its also interesting that again the snipers aren't ever included in this. Is it because they're specialists/support troops (like the stubber teams) and don't apply due ot the difference of organizationa nd deployment, or some other reason?

As an aside, thsi entire passage is meant to reflect Kolea developing somewhat of a death wish as a result of learning his kids were alive in Criid and CAffran's care. Rather curious that they wouldn't recognize their dad or have run across him (although not impossible) and in any event Kolea has decided that aside from Curth, noone should know. His rationalization in the book is that it is 'better' this way as in Criid and Caffran they have a stable family, and that it 'freed' him to be a better soldier (nothing holding him back.) It comes across more as an attempt to rationalize the loss, but we'll see how long that lasts, as this is another 'subplot' that carries throughout the novels.



PAge 64

They wore old but well maintained suits of armour-plated canvas dyed a dark red, drapes of ammo-belts and munition pouches secured on black nylon webbing, and crimson steel bowl helmets with sneering, hook-nosed blast-visors. Chaos insignia glinted on their sleeves and chests.
..
Two Blood Pact troopers staggered into the main hall, their red uniforms ablaze, the armour plating falling out of the burning canvas of their sleeves.

Blood pact kit. The interesting thing is that the 'armour plated canvas' sounds like it its makeshift armor, but that the plates are sewn/quilted into pockets between two pieces of canvas (hence 'falling out' when the canvas is aflame.

Also of course they have their helmets and grotesques (the masks they wear). For some reason I remember hearing about the helmets' weight but it eludes me now. damn.




PAge 64

Raflon made a surprisingly good shot that burst the skull of a Blood Pact trooper who was turning out of cover from behind a doorpost.

Rather impressive, especially considering that they've got the helmets and grotesques as well. eitehr he was lucky and hit a gap, or he penetrated mask (helmet). Even if it just penetreates, I'd expect at least a couple kj to drill a sizble hole through helmet or mask, on top of what would blow the head apart.. And if it blows the mask/helmet apart with the head? Even greater. So high single digit perhaps to low double digit, at least.




Page 65

Bragg was alongside them now, firing his autocannon from the hip, his feeder Caill fighting to keep up the supply of fresh drum mags.

- Bragg is firing the tripod-mounted autocannon be brought from the hip..



PAge 69

..a roll of cable, a metal reinforced climbing line much narrower in gauge than the drop rope, a standard issue part of every Guardsman’s kit.

Drop rope.




Page 70

..Haller and Domor were consulting pocket compass and viewers,

Navigational tools.




PAge 71

Zhyte crawled on his knees and elbows over to Singis, who was logging the situation on a data-slate as his vox-officer Gerrishon whispered information from the other units.

I'm not sure if he's just recording the information he hears about, or if its actuall some sort of data-sharing like we've seen in previous novels or the Cain books.



Page 74

“Mic, sir?”
“No, plug me in.”
Beltayn wound a small cable from his heavy, high-gain vox-pack and pushed the jack into a socket on the side of Gaunt’s hood. Gaunt’s headset micro-bead now had the added power of Beltayn’s unit.

An interesting alternative to using the handsets on backpack vox. Also the gas masks apparently can allow such linkups without compromising their integrity or interfering with the function of the beads. This could be the hard-line version of the wireless 'datanets/tac nets' described in other novels (like the Cain ones.) where oyu have micro beads linked up to a single vox caster for boosted range (Relay).



Page 75

Gaunt waved a hand and Beltayn passed him the chart slate.
..
And from the look of Beltayn’s log, deeper than any Imperial force. They were almost into the main habs inside the secondary dome. Excluding casualties, Gaunt had perhaps seventy-five men almost a kilometre inside the city.[/qutoe]

I dont know if Gaunt is just checking location son map or has some sort of beacon he's tracking, but again they're keeping track of locations and data. Also that the 'boosted' micorbead linked ot the backpack vox can reach a kilometre, suggesting in these indoor conditions the vox has much less range.




Page 76-77
[quot]e]
On Menazoid Epsilon, he had walked away without a scratch when a concussion round vapourised the three men in the fox-hole with him.

Without knowing kind of the shell, its at least single/double digit MJ.. possibly hundreds/thousands of MJ for literal vaporization lol.



Page 77

On Verghast, he had been part of Gaunt’s and Kolea’s team in the assault on the Heritor’s Spike. During the boarding, he had lost his grip and fallen off. He should have died. Even Gaunt, who’d seen him fall, presumed him lost, and was stunned to find out he had survived.

There were sixteen vertebrae in his back made of composite steel, and an augmetic socket on his pelvis. But he was alive. Lucky.

Bonin purportedly died in Necropolis, but then showed up (alive) in Honour Guard. I dont know if Abnett intended this deliberately or if it was an explanation for an error, but its amusing nonetheless. Also augmetic spine and pelvis.




Page 79

Banda had fired, loosing one of the sniper-vairant long-las's overpowered "hot shot" rounds. One of the firing enemy was thrown back against the wall as if he'd been strruck by a wrecking ball.

hotshot round. Seems to have way more considerable kinetic impact/explosive force than regular lasfire.



PAge 79

A sapling just behind him ruptured at head height and siwhsed back and forth from the recoil like a metronome arm.

Blood pact las round. Not sure how to calc it really




PAge 83-84

It was some kind of equipment box, scorched with soot and burned out. Rawne could see melted cables and broken valves inside.
..
“It’s a generator cell for a void shield.”
..
“I was a garrison officer on the Hass West Fort, sir. Part of my daily duty was to test start the voids on the battery nests.”

- Generator cell for a void shield. Needs to be carried by severla men, set up, and deployed. Also Daur identifies it, suggesting its similar to the void shield setup at Vervunhive. Rather, it sa 'kind' of void shield, as it is neither powered by a plasma reactor (requirement for starship and titan voids) nor is it a miniature warp rift (as we learn.) Might be 'voids' are general purpose term for any sort of defensive shield of a certain type, but hard to say.



Page 84

Hark drew his blade. It was a standard issue, broad-bladed dress dagger, a pugio with a gold aquila crest. He was the only man in the regiment who didn’t have a silver Tanith warknife.

Hark's knife. The curious thing about this is that in the previous book, Tona Criid didn't have straight silver, she had a chain knife. She must have lost it at some point on Hagia.



Page 85

He borrowed Criid’s lasrifle and the small, polished brooch mount she kept in her pocket. It was her little trademark...
...
The brooch-mount had been polished to a mirror, and it was a canny tool for seeing round corners without risking a headshot. Rawne knew that several Ghosts had copied Criid’s idea, realising how useful such a thing was for room to room clearance. Scout Caober used a shaving mirror.

Ghosts have adopted Tona's little mirror trick.



PAge 85-86

“Cables, there, inside the jamb,”
..
“The door’s rigged with a void shield,” Daur told them. “It’s not active yet, but it’s charged.”
“You know because?”
“Smell of ozone.”
“So they’re intending to block our advance in this section with shields
..
“You ever been standing in a void field when it was activated, major?”
“No.”
“It was a rhetorical question. The field edge would cut you in half.”

- Standing in the path of a void shield will cut a person in half. Also, charged voids scent of ozone. Also the voids seem to be rigged by surroudning the shield with emittors.

[Connor MacLeod]

Another Guns of Tanith update. Been sorta slacking off here. I don't feel like starting any new ones even though I have a few (the Priest of Mars novel, the Dark Eldar novels are lying around, and there is the Tome of Excess or Only War I could delve into as well as IA12) and I'm in no mood to start 6th edition anytime soon (lol) and there's still tons of the Ghosts and related stuff to cover.

Anyhow, onwards with da update:


Page 87

His company — with the exception of the spearhead — had penetrated about two-thirds of a kilometre into the dome and had all come up against prepared shield emplacements, no matter what level they were on.

- the Ghosts have come up against a series of "prepared shiedl emplacements" blocking access/exit routes, basically barricading in or blocking off the Ghosts from passage (Advance or retreat or manouvering)




Page 90

The Vox-man's facee was tranquil, as if he was sleeping. But there was a blackened hole in his forehead.

"God emperor!" Zhyte howled and turned. A las-round hit him in the shoulder and slammed him to the floor.

Laser shots spluttered along the walls, ,shattering ancient holo-plate portraits out of their frames.

..

He saw three of his advance guard topple as they ran. Mists of blood sprayed out of them. One was hit so hard his left leg burst and came spinning off.

Blood PAct Lasfire. The first case implies that his head may have been blown out (or at least part of it was blown out the back, making a nasty hole) but we can't be sure. At least isngle digit kj. In the second case a las bolt hits the shoulder and knocks the Colonel to the floor.

WE dont know what blows off the leg in the last example, but its strongly implied to be lasfire. AGain at least single perhaps double digit kj (assuming a 12x12 cm leg you could expect 8-15 kj at least for the burns.



PAge 90

His carcass had been messily eviscerated by side-long las-fire, and ropes of steaming entrails spilled out of it like the tentacles of some beached cephalopod.

Urdeshi recon-man. Penetrating sideway (from torso to torso) might suggest 30-50 cm of penetration, which would be 6-10 kj maybe at least, more if its a sizable wound. But whats more is that it literally slices the man open, at least partly. Not cutting him in half, but opening him up so his guts spill out, which implies either multiple raking shots or a single sweeping/cutting effect.





Page 91

[quopte]
He hit one, then another, then a third, swiping each one off his feet with the satisfying punch of a solid las-hit.[/quote]

Lasfire single shots demonstrating knockdown effects. Either form kinetic effect or 'pain laser' effect, depending on your interpretaiton



Page 91

Zhyte could see nothing but a mob of charging Blood Pact troopers, cahnting and howling as they came on, firing, guns at belly height.

He saw his men, littering the marble floor of the hallway. Zofer, on his back, jaw-less. Vocane, doubled-up and hugging the belly wound that had killed him. Reyuri, legs in tatters, groping at the air. Gofforallo, just upper body and thighs attached by a smouldering spine. Hedrien, stapled to the wall by a broken bayonet through the chest. Jeorjul, without a face or a left foot, his gun still firing in spasming hands. He saw a man he couldn't recognize because his head had been vapourised. Another that was just pieces of meat and bone wrapped in burning shreds of puzzle-camo.

We dont know for sure what wepaosn fire did it, or how much, but the only weapon observed being used or mentioned is lasweapons, and the only heavy weapons described are on the Urdeshi side. Blowing of fa jaw (we know lasfire doing that) in a single hit would be at least single kj. Same for cutting off/blowing off legs possibly, although that might take multiple shots. removing face or foot
is similar to blowing off part of the head (like the jaw.)

The curious one is the 'smouldering spine' connecting torso and upper thighs. The smouldering bit owuld imply some partly thermal weapon, but we dont know if it was lasfire or what. Likely yes, but probably not a single shot. A barrage might do that, and its implied also removed limbs (lower legs at the knee, arms at the shoulder, and the head), which might be single/double digit kj apiece. Blowing the torso paart midsection would be maybe 30x30cm, and at 400 j per sq cm on both sides would be 720 kj It could be dozens or hundreds of shots, but that would yield single to double digit kj per shot too.



Page 91-92

..saw Bothris and Manahide manning the .50 cal cannon, raking the enemy with tracer tire.
..
His support weapon pitch.
..
Zhyte could see the furious flashes of the .50’s barrel. The lancing tracers.

The Urdeshi are using a .50 cal support cannon.




Page 92

Zhyte looked back in time to see the void shield engage across the doorway, chopping Manahide and Bothris in two, along with their .50, which exploded. It wa quite amazing. A boiling fog of blood and atomised metal. Men falling aparrt, torsos and skulls cut vertically like scientific cross-sections. He saw smoothly severed white bone, sectioned brains, ,light coming in through Manahide's open mouth as the front of his face and body spilled forward on the other side of the shield.

Two sliced portions of human meat slumped back next to him, their edges curled and sizzling form the void field.

Void shields slicing people (and the support weapon) in half. Thermal effects from the cutting. This actually makes me think they might be powerfields.


Page 92-93

Zhyte looked up and saw Belthini trapped on the other side of the shield, his image distorted and blurred by the energy. He was shouting, desperate, hammering his fists. No sound came through.

Belthini was hit from behind by about six or seven las-rounds. Blood sprayed up the shield and he fell against it, sliding down like a man sliding down a pane of glass.

Again 'voids' behaving like a solid wall, they distort light. And also apparently no thermal effect from simply touching them (or friction) or shocking effects. They migh tnot be powerfields (or maybe just a kind of powerfield. This may suggest thought hat the 'shearing' effect is from some sort of friction of the edge contacting matter, rather than the barrier radiating/emitting heat innately.



Page 93-94

His [Domor's] augmetic eyes whirred and adjusted to reduce the light glare from the mill stacks ahead. The tips of the chimney's showed as flaring yellow, the stacks themselves as orange. The figures of the men were red shadows and beyond them the night cooled into shapes of blue, purple, and black.
..
Amber heat glowed far below down the shaft. Domor’s energy sensitive vision adjusted again.

Domor's augmetics from his POV and their adjusting to detect various forms of energy, it would seem.


Page 96

The shield effects distorted vox-links badly.

Voids (or whatever they are) disrupt vox signals.


Page 97

The trooper next to Colonel Colm Corbec turned to speak and then fell silent forever as a tracer round blew his head off.

What weapon did it, we dont know. Possibly lasweapon.




Page 98

Corbec fired his las-pistol up at the gallery. He had six clips — size twos - left for the handgun and that was his only arm now he’d given his last rifle pack to Orrin. There had been a plentiful supply of size two pistol format in the drogue’s stores. But few of the regular men carried pistols.

Rather odd, given so many Ghosts in the previous novels (Tona and Caffran, for example) had laspitsols. As did Daur. I sorta assumed it was standard. Anyhow, laspistols seem to be a different power cell themselves also, and they were plentiful.

Also six clips of laspistol ammo is a lower limit, he carries more probably. I'd assume he had far more, and that lasweapons owuld be similarily plentiful normally. Again 7-8+ packs per trooper.



Page 98

There was a blast of serious firepower from his left. Surch and Loell had managed to get the light support .30 onto its brass stand and were firing. Their peals of tracers chased along the upper levels and several dismembered red figures tumbled down into the air shaft along with sections of stonework.

Told of the shortage of standard rifle packs before lift-off, Corbec had wisely assigned troopers Cown and Irvinn to hump extra boxes of .30 shells for the support weapon. At least his land-hammer had some life in it yet.

- the Ghosts are using a .30 calibre support wepaon, which seems to be standard for the Ghosts (possibly the heavy stubber.) Its also considered 'serious firepower' by Ghosts standards, suggesting their lasrifles are less powerful than the support weapon (whether on a per shot basis or combined we dont know.) and calc wise it could go either way...



Page 98

A tripod-mounted plasma weapon was Corbec's best guess. He saw two of his men blown into flakes of ash by it.

Plasma cannon cremates two Ghosts. half a gigajoule to several GJ at least.



Page 99

"the gakking discharge from it... so bright.. just about blinding me through the scope every time ti fires. Screwing the scope's photoreceptors..."

A "power scope" on a Verghasite's sniper weapon. Again seems rather sophisticated.



Page 99

The plasma weapon fired again, blowing a hole out of the lower gallery and sending Trooper Litz into the hereafter, incinerated.

Given the power before, this probably menas cremation.



Page 99

The hot-shot round blew the head off one of the Blood Pact gunners and he dropped out of sight.

Hotshot headsplosion. Single if not double digit kj at least.



PAge 101

Mkvenner swung his lasgun and decapitated the first enemy on him with the bayonet,

Again it speaks to the strength - and sharpness - of Tanith that they can do shit like this. Decapitation isn't really as easy as its sometimes made to be in movies and shit - which is why traditionally they needed heavy executioners swords and axes in the hope of doing it cleanly (forlorn hope at that, as I've read in history. Many executions were quite messy and painful requiring multiple swings to decapitate. Heck the guillotine was invented as supposedly being a scientific and humane way of decapitating humans, which goes to show you just how difficult it might be.)



Page 102

Mkoll had once told Corbec that Mkvenner had been trained in the martial tradition of cwlwhl, the allegedly lost fighting art of the Tanith wood-warriors. Corbec hadn’t believed it. The wood-warriors were a myth, even by Tanith’s misty standards.

But as he gazed at Mkvenner then, Corbec could believe it. Mkvenner was so fast, so steady, so direct. Every hit counted. Every swing, every strike, every counter-spin, every stab. The wood-warriors of ancient Tanith lore had fought in the old feudal days, using only spear-staves tipped with single edged silver blades. They had united Tanith and overthrown the Huhlhwch Dynasty, paving the way for the modern democratic Tanith city-states.

Mkvenner seemed to Corbec like a figure from the fireside tales of his childhood. The Nalsheen, the wood-warriors, the fighters of legend, masters of cwlwhl.

Beginning a new sort of subplot. Mkvenner seems to be some sort of Tanith superhero or super-warrior with l33t combat skills. also Tanith was democratic before it was demolished.



PAge 105

Obel opened a drawer in the paymaster’s brass desk, a raised mechanical lectern, with cable-sockets that showed it had once needed a cybernetic link to an authorised official in order to operate.

Monetary security measures.



PAge 107

.. Bragg, who nodded reassuringly over the heavy barrel of his .50..

Bragg's autocannon is .50 cal it seems.



Page 111

..Vadim flew into view, diving frantically headlong, firing his lasrifle behind him with one hand.

- Lasgun being fired one-handed.



Page 111

The Verghastite started firing on semi-auto, squirting back quick bursts of fire at the figures emerging from the airlock.
..

Semi-auto. In 40K terms this always seems to translate as 'burst fire' mode, or at least some intermediate fire setting between 'fully automatic' and 'single shot', anyhow. Presumably



Page 116

The shield was still intact. They’d brought down the entire frontice of the doorway, frame and all, with the combined tube charges and det-sticks of the entire platoon and still the energy screen fizzled at them, untroubled.

Considering we must be talking about scores, perhaps hunderds of tube charges, its probably equal to at least that many grenade equivalents at a minimum. Possibly more.



Page 116

He consulted his data-slate chart, as Beltayn hurried to import updated troop positions from his vox-linked auspex. IT was tight. Too tight. The Ghosts were hemmed in by the enemy, and they were slowlyy being squeezed to death against the shield line.

Using an auspex linked to the vox to provide updated troop positions. Which again suggests the sort of datalinking stuff we've seen in earlier books and other novels, and I speculated on earlier.



Page 118

“All I figure is this shield system must be running off the city power supply. It must be sucking up a feth of a lot of juice to stay this coherent.”
..
Even if the shields hadn't been blocking their vox-broadcasts...

Shields blocking comms again, and indication that the shields are drawing power from the city. Which means that the 'portable' units were just really generators/projectors, linked into the city's own power grid. That limits their utility in a larger context battle-wise, but in an well-established position with a sizable power source it can be of great utility - enhancing protections of part of a city for example.



Page 119

Lossa was caught in the forehead by a las-round, stumbled blindly holding his head, and then had his legs shot out from under him by two Blood Part at close range.

Those enemy soldiers both died quickly as successive rounds from Gaunt's bolt pistol burst their torsos.

Two las shots either knock down/cripple/remove the legs of a Tanith trooper. Single digit kj maybe? Also Gaunt's bolt pistol ruptures torso.



Page 119

The blue-glow of the blade glimmered in the air and was followed by a sharp stench of burnt blood.
..
Gaunt recoiled, the power-blade deflecting a las-round...

- Gaunt's power sword "burns" Blood pact trooper's blood, and deflects las rounds. The lasround deflecting may be that aformentioned 'predicitve' quality ascribed to the weapon at the end of Necropolis.


PAge 122

“There’s serious void shield activity in the dome, and it’s blocking the signals. Micro-beads are down. Are you getting through on your main vox?”
“Negative. We’re using a captured system. Must have enough power to beat the interference.”

Communications can punch through void shield interference if its powerful enough. Suggests that at least not all forms of comm ransmisisons aren't totally blocked.



Page 125

Bonin had been considering a desperate ploy of connecting all the power cells they had and forcing an overload. In the light of Milo’s more subtle idea, he put the notion of an improvised bomb to the back of his mind.

Forced overload again. Preusmably without lasguns.



Page 126

" The mill is a gas generator. It produces billions of litres of gas energy under extreme pressure."
..
“It’s an ancient system, working under millions… I don’t know… billions of tonnes of pressure. Blow it up, shoot it up, shut it down… whatever… it’s likely that the system will simply explode without expert control. And if this vapour mill explodes… well, I don’t think there’ll be a Cirenholm left for the taking.”

Implications about the city gas mill and its output (both in terms of power, fuel, whatever.)



Page 128

One was Widden, whose body was struck so hard by .50 fire it was deformed completely

Effect of .50 cal fire.



Page 129

Hark fired again. They were going to be killed. One by one, with the shield at their backs.

Hark apparently didnt try his plasma gun on the shields, so they can presumably block that as well.



PAge 129

The wound in his chest was sucking badly, and bloody foam was bubbling around the seared entry hole.

What I guess to be lasfire, presumably a single bolt, gives Soric a sucking chest wound, so there is some bleeding despite the evident burns. Penetrating that deeply requires at least a few kj for the bolt, but if the burns are along the channel we could figure 50-90 sq cm. At 30-50 J per sq cm that would be etween 1.5 and 4.5 kj.



PAge 131

"Worse than dead. Fighter Command give us those tablets in case we have to ditch behind enemy lines. The Blood Pact don’t take prisoners, you know.”

Phantine pilots are given suicide pills if they are behind enemy lines, becuase of the 'no prisoners' thing. Noone wants to be taken by Chaos, understandably, which is a major factor in dictating how one wages war.



Page 135

"However, the crucial gains that enabled the victory were achieved not by mass assault, but by the stealthy application of highly trained, highly disciplined individuals who were sensibly trusted with an unusual degree of command autonomy, and who used their polished covert skills to disable the enemy defences more completely than ten thousand slogging infantry units could ever have managed. It’s just a shame we didn’t plan it that way.”

Implying tha tthe Guard (or at least Van Voytz an Biota) would have planned it that way had they thought of it.



Page 136

Pairs of tiny, fast moving Lightnings crossed between them, making repeated low passes over the city. Gunships, weapon-mounted variants of the drops that had brought them to Cirenholm, slunk along beside the vast drogues in escort.

Some of the PHantine dropships are configured as gunships, which makes sense and is pretty cool, given their implied size/carrying capacity.



Page 140

I’ll do everything I can to balance out the Verghastite/Tanith mix. Positive discrimination if necessary. But I won’t risk damaging the combat core by advancing those who aren’t ready or good enough.”
..
"The Verghast need to know you value them as much as the Tanith, Ibram. Really, they do. What will destroy them is the idea they’re latecomers who can’t make the grade. They feel like second-class elements of this regiment. That’s not good.”

The Verghast-Tanith divide continues to be a potential problem. A serious one, s Gaunt and Hark are discussing here. Basically to sum it up the Verghast still feel like they're inferior ot the Tanith (because its their regiment, their name on it, they don't contribute anything except some female snipers whilst the Ghosts are present everywhere including the elite scouts, etc.) and Hark is concerned this will destroy the regiment's morale. It is a good example of how Commissars are again concerned not just with making sure everyone fights, but genrally keeping them in good order psychologically as well. That psychological element is a major yet understated aspect of Commissars.



Page 141

..four splendid bodyguard troopers with blue-black tunics, hellguns and gold braid around the brims of their shakos.

Another general with hellgun armed bodyguards.



Page 141-142

“You and your covert experts. He quite pulled a fast one, didn’t he, Biota?”

“He seems to have done, lord general,” Biota replied mildly.

“Making us do a rethink, Gaunt. A radical rethink. Ouranberg awaits, Gaunt, and your work here has prompted us to make a hasty reappraisal of combat policy. Hasn’t it, Biota?”

“It has, lord general.”

Van Voytz and Biota realize what Gaunt did, and realize it was instrumental to victory. Instead of being angry at being circumvented that way, he's actually learning from those mistakes and actions, which shows why I said he's not all bad before. Unlike, say, Lugo.



Page 142

It was only when she was back in her place, in the little parlour of her terraced hab, that she’d cried. She realised how much she missed her husband, and she was haunted by what the arch-enemy had undoubtedly done to him.

Hab wife with three children, now widowed. Its a small two page scene, but its pretty horrible for that whole 'horror of war aftermath' thing. Things don't magically become better once you defeat the enemy, and life does not return to the way it was The scars can last a long time after that, and some never heal.

What actually makes this scene worse, however, is that the poor woman gets brutally murdered by someone with a tanith knife. As it turns out, its Cuu, but the discovery of this is not immediate. Its another subplot, but its a good one s it shows that the 'Glorious Imperial Guard' has plenty of dark sides to it to, much of it stemming from the way in which it raises troops. Much like with the Last Chancers novels, we've seen that some pretty horrible, even criminal, types may end up in the Guard. some, like Brostin - a probable arsonist - may flourish and contriubte positivley. Others, like Cuu, only serve to demonstrate that there are those in the Imperium who can be as brutal and horrible as the enemies they may face.

Later the commissariat gets involved, which tells us murder (and rape it seems) are frowned on in the Guard. Bad business for keeping relations with local populations and civilians and all that.


Page 145

Dorden, Curth and the other medics were moving through the billets, chamber by chamber, doing the routine post combat fitness checks.
...
"Take these. Basic vitamins and minerals, plus a hefty antibiotic boost. New air, new germ pool. And sealed and recirculated, which is worse. WE don' t want you all coming down with some native flu that your systems have no defence against. And we don't know what the scum brought her with them either.

"The powder?"

"Dust your clothes and your boots. The Blood PAct had lice and now they're gone, the lices are looking for new lodgings."

Dorden hands out some important medical stuff to Milo, which shows again that the Guard (and Munitorum) pay attention to important things like sending humans into an enviorment they aren't acclimated to when it comes to disease and shit. In the old fluff (esp 1st edition) humans were given broad-spectrum immunizations to most nasty stuff the Imperial planets know about and are exposed to, I suppose it might be something like that.

Also the Ghosts are subjected to routine post-combat physicals to test fitness and stuff. Probably also hwen they do all the other shit like immunization, assigning the health related stuff, etc.



Page 145

"Nour had a las-burn that was going septic.”

Indication that sepsis/infection is a major long term risk of lasburns/wounds, which may be one reason why they could be more dangerous than rifles (which simply poke holes in you. Then again bullets can sometimes leave fragments or a bullet buried in you which can lead to infection, but lasfire is more consistent than bullets in most wounding mechanisms.)

Surprisingly (for me at least) Sepsis is a major concern with burn injuries even in real life today, because burn injruies can suppress the immune system.


PAge 146

.. Criid had joined the Ghosts as standard infantry. Her kids came along, cared for during times of action by the Ghosts’ straggling entourage of cooks, armourers, quartermasters, barbers, cobblers, musicians, traders, camp followers and other children. Every Guard regiment had its baggage train of non-combatants, and the Ghosts’ now numbered over three hundred. Regiments accreted non-combatant hangers-on like an equine collected flies.

The nonmilitary 'followers' fo the Ghosts. Basically others living off the Ghosts by providing neccessary services (up to and including the prostitutes) but also various other roles. It can include family members sa well, but its not explicitly mentioned here unless thats what 'family' means. Its also implied this is fairly routine for all reigments (at least in this part of space) and it may be toelrated by the Munitorum as a useful (unofficial) way of taking care of basic necessities without the Munitorum having to expend any effort.


Amusingly they refer to Caffran and Criid as the ghosts 'love story' and noone interferes. How sweet





Page 150

..Another, his face sewn together, produced chronometers, nightscopes and contraband micro-beads.

Yet another, limbless and moving thanks to a spider-armed augmetic chassis...

- Trader/hawker selling "Chronometers, nightscopes and contraband micro-beads" There's lots of sellers here.. one had black market 'size three' cells, others were selling drugs and liquor, or providing gambling. One (an armourer?) was sharpening knives. There were musicians and fire eaters, cooks providing hot meals (on chemical stoves.) And still more had candy, or porn slates (probably explaining where Jurgen got his), and exotic weapons.

The electronics gear is intresting too, since it suggests micro beads, Night vision scopes, and shit may not be totally rare.

The spider-armed 'augmetic chassis' is interesting. reminds me of the witch from Malleus eisenhorn blasted back with his bolt pistol. Oh and there is mention of credits again.




Page 159

“A drogue arrived from Hessenville this morning with twenty thousand size three clips in its hold.”

- Twenty thousand type 3 clips arrive. This is considered sufficient ammo to resupply the Ghosts adequately. With ~2500-3000 troopers, thats around 6-8 clips apiece. Plus the 3 extra.. 9-11 clips total, which fits pretty well with the implications throughout this book.

Also Zweil and Gaunt discuss the Verghast/Tanith divide. Gaunt here displays a certain favouritism which is obvious, in electing Rawne over Daur as his second (whilst Corbec may die.) Zweil warns him much the same way Hark did - don't make the Verghast feel second-class and maintain a balance. Gaunt is resisting this, however, so it seems Gaunt may be more than a little blind where the Ghosts are concerned (unsurprisingly.)



PAge 161

“Local, civil law enforcement and the task force Commissariate have jurisdiction, of course. But this is also squarely a regimental matter. A matter for us."
..
"The Tanith First are a remarkably well-behaved group of soldiers, you know. Sure, we get to deal with brawling and drinking, a few feuds and thefts, but nothing compared to some units I’ve served with. Summary execution for capital offences is almost routine in other regiments. Murder, manslaughter, rape. The Guard is full of killers and many of them can’t help themselves. Dammit, you know that! Strict, rapid discipline is the only way to maintain control."

Gaunt and Hark argue over the arrest of Caffran for the habwife's murder. This is interesting insight into the way the Guard is run and overseen by the Commissariat, more in the political and judicial side of things, and it.. actually makes them and the Munitorum seem decent. Not that I think ther'es altruism in them trying to forbid rape and murder and shit like that, but it can hurt relations with local worlds they may interact with (or defend) if the offworlders are breaking laws and terrorizing the populace. counter-productive and all that. So making them capital offenses is a good deterrent.

It also reflects again that 'Dark side' to the Guard I mentioned earlier, an official note to the personal face put on such dark acts, and of course symbolized in this arc by one Lijah Cuu. It reflects the variable nature and source of troops - they don't always get professional troops and they can't always control or dictate the quality they get, so the discipline can be important to keep the darker/baser impulses of some in line. Put that way, it actually makes sense.

It could also be the whole 'killers' angle reflects the terrible toll that bieng in the Guard inflicts on soldiers, which is something that has been discussed before as well. Humans are not by nature killers, they have to be trained/conditioned into it, and it can have horrible, horrible consequences to do so. So the idea that some become so dysfuncitonal that they may kill even innocents can hardly be surprising. That isn't what Cuu is, of course, but the idea that it can and does happen is.. suitably tragic. And like in real life sometimes (all too often, at least the way it seems to me) those who suffer this way never get the help they need and deserve for such a sacrifice.

Its interesting that in such matters the Commissars work with local law enforcement in such matters, though, as it does paint the Commissars as sort of being the military police of the Guard, rather than just political officers, motivators/manipulators, and executioners.


Page 164

“I can offer standard medicae confidentiality, Varl, providing it doesn’t conflict with Guard security issues."

An interesting if unsurprising loophole Basically summed up Varl tells Dorden that Kolea may be suicidal, what they call a 'reunion round.' - taking insane risks hoping that he gets killed in battle. Varl feels this makes him a risk to himself and others.





page 165 -166

He’d been stripped down to his black vest and fatigue pants. His boot laces and belt had been removed.
..

The Commissariate guards closed the heavy door, threw the bolts and ignited the shield.

- CAffran in custody of the Commissariat. Interstinfgly enough, they took away his belt and boot laces. (which, IIRC in the Last Chancers novels, they didnt when they locked Kage up.) The cell itself is shielded, and their are Commisariate guards.



Page 171

An Imperial transport speeder still wearing its invasion camouflage skimmed Gaunt over the lake.

...

The speeder slowed and ran up the little beach in front of the manse in a wash of spray.
...

The speeder crossed a lawn and some low box hedges and settled on the arc of mica-shingled dirveway outside the manse.
..
Two staff limos were pulling away from the front steps, and speeder bikes and other Imperial transports sat parked under wet trees.

Imperial speeders including speeder bikes. Probably just officer vehicles although the camo suggests they may have other uses. Indicative yet again that the Guard does have at least some limited access to antigrav vehicles, even if it doesn't use them extensively.


Page 172

Lamps glowed from wall-brackets and autonomous glow-globes circled and hovered around him like fire-flies. At the end of the room, under the big windows, was a recently unpacked tactical desk. Its power cables snaked off and were plugged into floor sockets

Antigrav light sources and a tactical desk which seems to be part desk and part computer/display system. They mention a holo display later, which Voytz was going to use to show Gaunt his mission.



Page 173

He couldn’t imagine the sort of power that could order the Imperial Munitorium to fast ship a person’s private book collection to him in a war zone. Come to that, he couldn’t imagine the sort of power that would enable one to own a first edition of The Spheres of Longing.

Power of an Imperial general, at least for personal whims




Page 175-176

"This man… Caffran is it? He’s a dog soldier. A common trooper. The case against him is las-proof. You have more important things to be devoting your time to.”

“With respect, lord, I haven’t. I stand where I stand today because of the common dog soldiers. I would not be me without their efforts. And so I make sure I look after every last one of them.”

Van Voytz frowned. “Well, shame on me—”

“Sir, I didn’t mean—”

Van Voytz waved his hand. “I’m hardly offended, Gaunt. Actually, it’s refreshing to hear an officer remember the basics of good command. The Imperial Guard is nothing without the Imperial Guardsmen. No one should get so high and mighty they forget that. Your personal code of honour is unusually robust. I just hope…”

Gaunt and Van Voytz. Voytz demonstrates here he's an officer far above Lugo or even Dravere. Once again he doesn't take offense at people correcting his errors. Indeed, he's a prime example of what a 'Good' IG officer is, and his comments suggest that Gaunt's viewpoint is not all that unusual (indeed it seems to be considered 'the basics of good command', even if Voytz's comments suggest he's not used to hearing it.) They're a different calibre of officer, a contrast ot the Lugos and Draveres which shows just how convoluted (and variable) the Crusade staff is.

That said Voytz echoes an argument many (including HArk) have voiced - that Gaunt's an officer and such petty matters as Caffran are beneath him. Indeed its his tanith obsession (which we've discussed before) which drives him here, and is leading towards future problems with that Tanith/Verghast division.

Oh and Voyt'z hope is that Gaunt's code won't get him killed, because as he notes it often gets people like that killed.



Page 176

“Your dual role is a problem, though. Say the word and I’ll transfer you out of the Commissariate. You’ll be Brigadier Gaunt… no, let’s not mess around, shall we? You’ll be Lieutenant-General Gaunt, sectioned to me, Guard and Guard alone. A full Imperial Guard officer with commissars at your beck and call.”

Guard Generals seem to have some power over Commissars, and Voytz has the power to take Gaunt out of hte Commissariat. Interesting.


Page 179

“Imperial crown, local issue… purposely defaced on both head and reverse."

'crowns'. Seems to be a local currency, or rather a local variant, suggesting crowns might be used in other places. Possibly another name for credits or Throne gelt.



Page 186

..Commissar Del Mar strode in. He was a lean man of advanced years, white-haired and reliant on augmetic limb reinforcements, but he was still striking and imposing. A good hand-span taller than Gaunt,..

Del Mar seems to be a commissar somehwere between the Gaunts and Oktars, and the mindless fanatics that are the opposite of Gaunt. Probably a reflection of his rank an dthe fact that most officers of rank have to become political at least to some degree, and that can moderate anyone.

And obviously he's yet another of those 'bigger than two metre' people who keep cropping up, as Gaunt is over two metres and this guy is taller still (perhaps nearly Corbec tall). Although he's the first in this book we meet



Page 187

“Do you know how many individuals I’ve had shot since we arrived, Gaunt?”

“A half-dozen. That would be the average for a taskforce this size.”

“Thirty-four. True, twenty of those were enemy prisoners who we were done with interrogating. But I’ve been forced to put to death seven deserters, four rapists and three murderers. Most of them Urdeshi, but a few Phantine too. I expect that kind of statistic. We command killers, Gaunt —violent, dangerous men who have been trained to kill. Some snap and desert, some attempt to slake their violent appetites on the civilian population, and some just snap. Let me tell you about the murderers. One, a Phantine private, wounded, went berserk and killed two orderlies and a nurse in the tertiary hospital. With a gurney. I can’t begin to imagine how you kill someone with a gurney, but I guess it took a great deal of rage. The second, an Urdeshi flame-trooper, decided to ignite a public dining house in secondary and toasted four members of Cirenholm’s citizenry who had every right to believe the danger was now past. The other, another Urdeshi, shot a fellow trooper during an argument over a bed-roll. My justice was swift and certain, as the honourable tradition of the Commissariate dictates and Imperial law demands. Summary execution. I’m not a callous man, Gaunt.”

“I didn’t presume you were, commissar. Neither am I. As a sworn agent of the Commissariate, I do not hesitate to dispense justice as it is needed.”

We know there are at least 10K or so troops present so 6 men out of 10K means one serious malcontent for every 1600-1700 troopers. Nearly one per Tanith regiment (which is Cuu, again.) I dont know how that stacks up to real life, but its alot lower than I'd expect.

Also Del Mar gives Gaunt the same speech Hark and van Voytz did. Beneath his station, Imperial Guardsmen are killers, discipline is neccesary, etc. I like this passage though because Del Mar articulates his reasons in a manner that makes sense and has purpose. he's not some stereotype acting out to some predictable formula - he's a man with a hard, terrible task, trying to do what he feels is best and that sometimes means doing harsh and brutal things.

I also like the implication by Del Mar that what the Guard does to people and what it subjects them too is in a way horrible and has horrible consequences, reinforcing my earlier statements and underlying that whole 'war is horror' aspect from a new angle, but ther'es an added horror when you consider their 'solution' to these problems is summary execution.. well the term 'dog soldier' seems to take on an horribly literal meaning.



Page 192

Tall, tall order. Skyborne training was six months. "

Time for training in the Phantine Skyborne.


Page 193

Babbist opened the crate and lifted something out for them all to see. It was a compact but heavy metal backpack with a fearsome harness that included thigh loops, and a hinged arm with amoulded handgrip on the left side. The backpack sprouted two blunt, antler-like horns from the shoulders that ended in fist-sized metal balls. It was painted matte-green.
"What we have here, friends and neighbours," said Babbist, patting the old, worn unit. "is a classic type five infantry jump pack. Accept no imitations. Formal spec, for those that need it, is Type Five Icarus-Pattern Personal descent unit with dual M12 gravity nullers and a variable-vent compressor fan for attitude control."
..
"Manufactured on Lucius forge world," Babbist continued, "its the standard Guard variant of the Assault jump pack. Smaller and lighter, not to mention more compact, than the heavy jobs used by the Adeptus Astartes. The Marines, ,Emperor bless 'em, need heavier duty babies to hold them in th eair. BEsdies which, we're not gods. We wouldn't be able to stand up with one of the Astartes packs yoked to us."

'assault' jump pack. I suspect this is a throwback to the old 40K fluff when you had Imperial Guardmsen who would be 'tactical' 'assault' and 'devastator'. similar to the Spac eMarine divisions. Assault Guardsmen had two lasweapons and a jump pack and behaved much like their Astartes counterparts. Its 'guard standard' marking it yet another piece of AG tech that still seems to be floating around the Guard.

One imagines that the Phantine havea cess to and use these quite a bit, as they're training the Ghosts in on them.



Page 194

"The Type five weighs about sixty kilos" Babbist said.

Weight of said jump pack. quite heavy really.


PAge 195

"That's sixty kilos dormant." Babbist added. He reached over and pulled down the pack's hinged control arm. It now stuck out at waist height on Larkin's left side, the joystick handgrip extending vertically in exactly the right place for his left hand to grasp it comfortably. The handgrip was a finger-moulded black sleeve of rubber set ona coallar of milled metla with a fat red button sticking out from its top.

"Lets try it active", said Babbist. He lifted a small plate marked with a purity seal on the right flank of the pack and thre two rocker siwthces. Immediately the pack began to whine and throb, as if turbine power was building up inside it.

...

He softly depressed the red button.

...

"The weight's gone. I can't feel it any more."

That's because the antigrav units-" Babbist indicated the two metal balls that projected out above Larkin's shoulders on their blunt antlers. "Are taking the weight. The red button determines grav lift, people. I'm just touching it and its taking the weight of the pack. A tad more-"

...

He had risen twenty centimetres of the ground and hung there, feet dangling.

Babbist kept hold of the handgrip. "Its touch sensitive. Depressing it just a little, like this, gives Larkin hover. If he was, say, dropping at terminal velocity, he'd probably need to depress it by two thirds for the same effect."

"So he could jump from a drop, press that red button, and hover?" Milo asked.

"Yes. And pushing the button all the way gives lift," Said Babbist. He squeezed the button and Larin rose again.

"Its a subtle thing. You'll get the hang of how much thumb pressure works... deceleration, hover, lift. There'll be time to practicse. The other aspect of the pack is direction. There's a powerful compressor fan inside there"

Our jump pack in action. In many ways it occupies a middle ground it seems between Assault marine jump packs and the grav chutes used by Storm troopers and drop commandos. It is less compact than a grav chute, but has more power and control, even a limited lfight capability, whilst on the other hand it isn't quite as intuitive or 'agile' as an Astartes jump pack. It gives something of a mobility advantage, I suppose, but its still just (for the most part) a more complicated sort of grav chute.

Ont he other hand the abilit to provide lift and negate weight is an asset, though it would be a hinderance in combat.

[Connor MacLeod]

Delayed update: Guns of Tanith Then we move on to Straight Silver, which should be short (one or two updates depending on my mood) and Sabbat Martyr, which would be slightly larger. Then they generally get smaller, the biggest being Titanicus. Not sure where I'll fit the others in.

Anyhow, last update here.






Page 196

"Whether you're pressing the red button or not, angling the handgrip will direct the internal fan via these ducts. In other words, you point the handgrip, like a joystick, whiuchever way you want to go, and the compressor fan will give you the appropriate thrust."


...

"The combination of controls means that you can jumpf rom a ship, control your rate of descent and manoeuvre yourself onto the target."

...

"How often do they fail?" Banda asked.

"Virtually never." said Babbist.

Flight controls and reliability of jump packs.



Page 206-207

Twenty human figures were floating and bobbing up in the rafters of the hangar.

One saw him, turned and swooped down.
..
The man executed a decent turn and landed neatly on his feet, taking a few scurrying steps forward to slow himself. Gaunt recognised him as Lieutenant Kersherin.

Keeping his left hand on the jump-pack’s control arm, the Skyborne specialist threw a neat salute.
..
Kersherin said a few words into his micro-bead and the floating figures began to descend. The three other Phantines made perfect, experienced landings. The Ghosts mostly made hesitant groundfall..

Jump packs in action. They can float, and they seem (subjectivley) reasonably agile, even if not up to Assualt Marine standards. And again the Skyborne seem to be well trained in their use, suggesting they employ them. Also the Skyborne lieutenant has his own micro bead.



Page 207-208

"The strength of resistance will depend on the morale and spirit of the Blood Pact and their allied units. At the moment, that’s very high. Unbreakably high, perhaps."
..
"The enemy forces at Ouranberg are personally commanded by the Chaos General Sagittar Slaith, one of Warlord Urlock Gaur’s most trusted lieutenants. His foul charismatic brand of leadership inspires almost invincible devotion and loyalty from his troops. If we move against a dug-in force under his command, the cost will be high, punishing. Even if the assault is successful, it will be a bloodbath. But if Slaith is removed from the equation, we face a much more vulnerable foe.” Gaunt paused. “The purpose of Operation Larisel is to locate Slaith and eliminate him in advance of the invasion. To decapitate the enemy forces and break their spirit right at the start of the main military advance.”

In other words, to assasinate the enemy commander. Let it not be said that the Guard does not consider all options. In a way its quite sensible, as many of the Chaos forces in the Sabbat Worlds are very much cults of personality and depend upon charisma for their success. Thus psychology can be a crucial weapon in that fight (One extreme example being Sholen Skara from Ghostmaker.). Whilst its debatable whether you can force them into surrender or flight (and even if you could force them to flee you risk them returning at a later date.) demoralizing them can have a huge impact in the sucess of any fight, as a demoralized foe will be less determined to fight back. Plus, with the whole nature of the Warp, you can expect that psychological effects are amplified - a force that believes it is defeated, or believes it can win, will probably gain some added effet from that belief via the warp.

Again this demonstrates yet another example tha tthe Guard is aware of the benefits of psychology in warfare - its just its not something oyu can reliably apply to every enemy you face.




Page 208

Gaunt lifted a bulky weapon from the crate. It was an autorifle, almost a small cannon, with a heavy gauge barrel and a folding skeleton stock. He slapped a fat drum magazine into the slot behind the gnurled metal of the foregrip.

"This is a U90 assault cannon. Old, but powerful. Fires .45 calibre solid rounds at semi and full auto. Kicks like a bastard. The drum-pattern clip hold forty rounds. I've borrowed these four from the Urdeshi. They're manufactured on their home world. Not a terribly good weapon and prone to fouling, but with plenty of stoppinng power and the best trade off of power against weight we cound manage.

U90 assault cannon and its specs. Urdeshi issue, and it seems the storm troops carry them as standard, indicating that stubbers and autocannon and the occasional shotgun/autogun are not the only solid projectile weapons the Guard may routinely employ. One issued per four-person infiltration team



PAge 209

"The drums marked with a yellow cross carry standard shells.” He took another out of the crate and held it up. “The ones with the red cross are drummed with explosive AP shells. We think these old solid-slug chuckers, firing armour piercing, will be your best chance against the loxatl

Meaning the assault cannons may be automatic shotguns, or SMGs, for all intents and purposes. Nasty. Sort of like a tommygun firing bolt rounds I think. lol.




Page 209

Since the afternoon of the 215th, the strike wings had been flying sorties north of Cirenholm to wrest air superiority from the Ouranberg squadrons, and now long-range night raids had begun on the city itself.

...

The effect of the bombing raids was difficult to judge. In three nights of missions over thee hundred thousand tonnes of explosives were dropped on Ouranberg at a cost of four Marauders.

100,000 tons per night on average, and a little over 8,000 tons per hour. We dont know if this is explosive yield or explosive mass dropped, but its amazing either way. Carrying the analysis further than this isn't possible either, since the Phantine (as we learn) use a wide variety of bombers.



Page 209

Unless scrambled to meet a detected raid, which were few and far between, the Lightnings went up in four-ship patrols, hunting enemy traffic as directed by Sky command Cirenholm's modar, astrotachographic, and long range auspex arrays.

Detection systems of Sky Command. I dont know what the fuck modar is, some sort of 40K radar analogue I'd guess. I'm guessing astrotachographic is something to deal with astropaths or telepathy in general.,



Page 210

Flight Lieutenant Larice Asch.

Like Jagdea and Viltry, she makes an appearance in Double Eagle. Admrial Ornoff seems to be a local Phantine officer, so not all Navy people are Admirals.



Page 211

Along one wall, rack-carts with thick, meaty tyres carried fresh-painted bombs and missiles destined for underwing mounting.

Air ot air or air to ground missiles? We don't know.



Page 212

Pollo had been a nobleman's bodyguard back on Verghast, a trained warrior of House Anko. Expensive neural implants, paid for by his lord, gave him a reaction time significantly shorter than that of unaugmented humans. With a graceful sweep that combined instinct and immaculate training, he drew an autopistol from his thigh pocket and returned fire, placing his body without thinking between the assailants and his comrades.

An interesting modification. Considering how often hive worlds, private armies, mercs, and the like can be plundered for troops, that means its quite possible for Guardsmen to be augmetic or otherwise enhanced even BEFORE they enter the Guard.


Page 216-217

“Are you biased?” Zweil asked impertinently.
“What?”
“Biased? Towards the Tanith? It’s often thought you are. You favour the Tanith over the Verghastites.”
“I do not!”
Zweil shrugged. “It’s just the way it seems sometimes. To the Vervunhivers especially. You value them, appreciate them, even like some of them, men like Daur. But you always look to the Tanith first.”
“They’ve been with me longer.”
“No excuse. Are the Verghastite second-class members of this regiment?”
“No!” Gaunt slammed down his glass and got up. “No, they are not.”
“Then stop making it seem as if they are. Quickly, before the Tanith First comes apart at the seams and splits down the middle.”

The long and short of it is, Gaunt IS biased, and he didn't evne realize it. We've established before that he is deeply, emotionally invested in the Tanith, and because of what he's been through with them, the promises he's made to himself, etc. that bias is deep and strongly reinforced. HE doesn't have those connections with the Verghasites that he has with the Tanith, and its clearly affecting him. Others can see it, but he can't, and doesn't want to think he might be.

To Gaunt's credit, he realizes it, realizes the danger it creates, and rectifies it, but the irony is that his attempt to do the good, honourable thing (code of Honour Van Voytz mentioned and all) does get someone killed, just not him. In effect, his attempt to do right unintentionally leads to more tragedy.



PAge 221

“We all want escape. Escape from poverty, fear, death, pain. Escape from whatever we hate about life. And we all have our ways. The Ghosts who drink to drown the terrors of war. The ones who gamble. The ones who have a superstition for every thing they do.” As she was speaking, she slid a packet of lho-sticks out of her jacket pocket and lit one. “Me, it’s bad old poetry, a park bench in pretend sunlight, and these damn things.” She took a drag. She’d given up years before after her promotion to surgeon. The old habit had crept up on her again those last few months. “And I like a glass of sacra now and then. Feth, I escape in all sorts of ways, don’t I?”
..
“You, though,” she went on. “Well, there’s no escape, is there? Drink, narcotics… they must only make it worse. The hell of having your kids so near and yet so far away. For you, it must seem like there’s only one escape. An escape from life itself.”

Curth talking to Kolea, in context about his 'reunion round' and the fate of his kids and how he's dealing with it. The whole concept of 'escape' is an interesting one, because its something not just applicalbe to 40K, but also to real life. It seems human nature that we find outlets or 'escapes' for the things we feel, think, or whatever. Especially when they're hard to cope with. It can be hobbies, drink and drugs, exercise, or anything. The way we deal with problems in life, basically, is different for everyone, but we still deal with them.

In this caes, the way in which the Ghosts cope with the stress and dangers of their life (recall in 'In Remembrance' the sculptor asking Milo how he coped with the fear) is the key thing. Its easy to laugh, judge, or criticize the way they may cope, but its worth remembering they are as human as anyone else, put into horrible situations, and in those situations you go for any means neccessary to cope and survive. Thats part of that whole 'tragedy of war' thing. Especially in context of Kolea, who doesnt seem to be able to find any escape other than death (and doesn't even realize it.)

Kolea promises to tell Caff and Tona about it when he gets better, although things won't work out quite that way by the end.



Page 227

" But I want you to learn from this. I will not break Imperial law. Better that Caffran had gone to execution innocent than lie to get him off. Commissars are often thought of as devious, Viktor. That reputation is justified. They are political animals who use all the tricks of politics to achieve their goals. That is not my way. And I will never sanction it in any man in my command. You could make an exemplary officer, Hark. My oh-so naive idea of an exemplary officer, anyway. Don’t stoop to those methods again, or I will drum you out of this company and the Commissariate. "

Gaunt lecturing Hark, because Hark did a sneaky thing to get Caffran off (because it mattered to Gaunt, and both Gaunt and Zweil were convinced he was innocent.) Its really unfair of Gaunt, I think, because Commissars are more often like Hark than they are like Gaunt - heck he's even more of an aberration than Cain is if he's this honest. ITs kinda funny given in Necropolis he admits to being a 'political' animal too, but I guess his experiences on Hagia have hardened him into a sort of fanatic. That inflexibility can create problems, especially given the (unintentional) results of upholding his 'code of honour'.

Hark goes on to intimate Gaunt is naive behind his back, and I agree with Hark. Gaunt is naive, and I suspect thats a big point of the story, as well as the fact there are no easy choices, and each can have conseequnces. Gaunt's honour or removing a potential killer, being honest, or saving a life? They're not things you can solve with nice, neat little platitudes or simple choices - they require deep thought and even personal sacrifice, because life is not neat and it often asks hard choices of us.



Page 229

Scald-storms rose, cyclonically in the cloud oceans north of Cirenholm. Jarring, superheated belts of fire, dozens of kilometers long, crackled up into the ihgher reaches of the sky...

...

Air visibility and esnsor ranges were cut to less than five kilometres.

...

The storms had been predicted by the Navy' s long range auspex, and the twitching senses of the taskforce astropaths.

Potential indicator of detection ranges, both for auspex (of various sorts) and of astropaths (as weather vanes lol)



Page 230

The night raid of the 224th would approach Ouranberg from the south-east covering a distance to the target of about three hundred and forty kilometres. They would use the prevailing jet streams of the Reaches to maximise speed, hugging the ultra-violet void where the troposphere became the stratosphere.

Height of the transit. Its hard to know where exactly (esp on PHantine) this is, as it may not correspond to earth exactly but it might suggests 10+ km up. considering the flight ceiling of most 40K fighters its not a huge issue though.



Page 230

Including the fighter escort of Imperial Navy Lightnings and Thunderbolts, the raiding force numbered some six hundred aircraft. Thirty matt-gray Marauders of the Phantine Air Corps took the role of pathfinders, pressing ahead clear of the main formation to light up the target with illumination-mines and incendiary payloads. Six minutes behind them came a mass wave of over three hundred heavy bombers. Most of these were lumbering, six-engine Magogs, painted an unreflective black. The Magog was a prop-driven, atmospheric type that had been in service for centuries, but whe wave also included two dozen Behemoths, the awesome and ancient giants of Phantine Bomber Command.

Scope of the Phantine air assault. Seems like they're pulling out all the stops, firepower wise. Makes me wonder if they used the Magogs/Behemoths in earlire campaigns (like the 300 kiloton bombing over 3 nights earlier.)



PAge 230

"Following the first wave came a second pack of Marauders, from either Imperial Navy or Urdeshi regimental squadrons. The green mottle-camo of the former distinguished them from the silver-belly/beige-top tow tone of the latter. All seventy of them were laden with fuel-air explosive payloads.

The third wave numbered almost two hundred craft. More Magogs, as well as twenty Urdeshi Marauder Destroyers and thirty Phantine Shrikes.

The Urdeshi have their own Marauder bombers. Either like the Phantine, they raise specialist air regiments, or these are units attached to the existing Urdeshi regiments as a matter of course. In Ghosts novels either is possible, but it shows how the Guard can technically have its own organic air support, at least in certain cases. Also they are using FAEs.




Page 230

More Magogs, as well as twenty Urdeshi Marauder Destroyers and thirty Phantine Shrikes.
These destroyers, and the elderly, hook-winged, single-engined Shrike jets, were specialist dive bombers that would finish the raid by carrying out pinpoint low-levle runs into a target zone that, by then, should have been grievously punished.

More Urdeshi and Phantine craft.



Page 231

In place of regulation underwear, they had been issued silk-lined, ,rubberised body gloves that acted both as insulation against the extreme cold and a seal against the corrosive atmosphere. Over that went the black Tanith tunic, breeches and webbing, and over that a zip-up leather jump-smock that came down to the hips and was laced with chain-mail. Light equipment that would normally have been carried in a kit bag or backpack was distributed into the uniform pockets of the tunic and the webbing pouches and the smock closed up tightly over the top. Gloves and boots were then pulled on, ,and gaiters buckled around the wrists and boot-tops to form a tight seal.

By then, the Ghosts were already sweating in the hot and abnormally heavy gear. They raised their arms as light belts-and braces of outer webbing were fitetd. These had pouches at the hips for additional kit items, and secure loops for lamp packs, flares, a rope-coil, a short-nose laspistol, a saw-edged cutting knife, and the Tanith blade. Their camo-cloaks were tightly wound with a scrim-net around a pack of tube charges and grenades, and stuffed into a musette bag that was lashed horizontally from teh front of the outer webbing across the groin,. Medi-packs, bag rations and power cells for the lasrifles and pistols were loaded into the trooper's thigh pouches.

..described as 'modified Tanith uniforms.' The chianmail bits are interesting as is the self-sealed bit.




Page 231-232

...Milo, Cocoer, Meryn and Varl had the U90 cannons. The solid ammunition took up a lot more space, so while the four of them carried spare cells in their thigh pouches for the other team members’ guns, every member of the squad was strung with a bandolier of drum magazines. For the drop, the four U90’s had slim, twenty-five round clips fitted and wrapped into place with adhesive tape. The higher capacity drum-mags they all carried in their bandoliers were too bulky to jump with. The cannons, like the lasrifles, had their muzzles plugged with wax stoppers to prevent them fouling on impact.

AS noted before one man per four man team has the U90 assault cannons. They carry 40 round drumps and 25 round clips. And both lasrifles and cannons need to be plugged. The interesting thing is that its implied the lasweapon ammo (at least for the U90) is alot bulkier than lasweapon ammo.





PAge 232

The helmets were black steel with integral visors. Inside, they had a leather liner-cap that buckled in place around the chin. A canvas frill around the bottom fo the helmet tucked inside the smock collar and sealed with a zip. A pressurized air bottle, ,which hooked to the chest webbing, would feed oxygen into the helmet cavity during the jump,

Drop helmets. Not unlike Elysians, although they dont have the fancy auspex or data displays.




Page 233

What had been the payload officers pict-plate had been swiched on in each of the Marauders, filling the darkness of each cabin with a chilly grreen glow, and displaying a detailed modar picture of the raid formation.

The drop troops are using a speicial stripped down marauders, almost all the guns and bombs taken out, and the six man crew down to two. Marauders in this case are equipped with modar and a viewing plate used for bombing (Targeting and shit.)



Page 234

Varl looked closer, ,trying to focus through the visor's eyeplates. He realised each foggy band of modar returns was actually made up of hundreds of individual dots, each one accompanied by a graphic number.

"Every craft has an identifying transponder." Unterrio explained. "It helps us pick uup bandits quicker. Time was, enemy cloud-hunters woudl slip in amongst the bomber shoals and bide their time, moving within the formation, choosing their kills. Now, if you don't display a code, you're fair game."

Modar again, tied into the visor's eyeplate, and picking up the transponders. I wonder if this means modar and vox might be related? Also the benefit of transponders in picking out the bad guys, presumably for gunners on the bomber.



Page 235

It was as if the air really didn't want you to forget you were eight kilometres up thanks only to its charitable physics.

Suggests a probable altitude for the bomber fleet. Useful later on I suspect. I'm not sure if its 'eight km from the surface' or '8 km from the scald' or what.


Page 238

Above and around the bomber shoal, the fighters danced with the enemy in a furious dog-fight guided mostly by modar. Already, the ground batteries had opened up in full force. Floral patterns of flak decorated the air. Rockets launched upwards. Hydra batteries zippered the air with traer rounds.

Page 237

The shoal’s luck lasted until they were almost in sight of Ouranberg. About ten kilometres out, the scald-storm suddenly collapsed and faded, sinking its fires into the lower stratum and leaving the air bare and empty.

The Ouranberg defences picked them up almost immediately. The fighters were on them about two minutes later.
..
“The pathfinders just lit up the target,” the pilot announced. “Five minutes. Go to stand by.”

Maruaders are 10 km out, cross that distance in ~7 minutes. Figuters cross it (parallel to the enemy) in under two. they're travelling at at least 300 km/hr, whilst the implied speed for the Marauders is a mere 85 kph.



PAge 238

The first main wave came over the vast bulk of Ouranberg...
..
Above and around the bomber shoal, the fighters danced with the enemy in a furious dog-fight guided mostly by modar. Already, the ground batteries had opened up in full force. Floral patterns of flak decorated the air. Rockets lashed upwards. Hydra batteries zippered the air with tracer rounds.

Air defences and modar-guided fighters. The upper limit on AAA range is maybe 2-3 km, assuming that the city is just ab it over 5 km above the ground, and the bmber formations are 8 km up from the ground. If its 8 km from the city, its obviously much higher, but could be argued either way. Curiously the Hydras seem to be distinct from the flak guns.



Page 238

A Behemoth, hit in the wing-base by a rocket, dipped slowly towards the city, on fire, and struck the Beta dome edge, causing an explosion that sent flame out more than five hundred metrres.

If we take that as an indicator of fireball size (I'm not sure it oculd be though), it could give an indication of firepower, although without knowingother aspects (fuel, etc) and mass we can't be 100% positive. It also depends on if the 500 m is radius or diameter. If radius it might mean up to a megaton 'explosion' (whatever is involved in that.) whilst diameter would mean the explosion is 'only' a few hundred kilotons total. And if its not a 'fireball'.. then the calcs wouldn't be much use, obviously



PAge 239

Larisel 1, Varl’s mob, was to drop onto the main vapour mills, with Larisel 4, under Mkoll’s command, dropping on the mill worker hab-domes to the north-west Adare’s unit, Larisel 3, was going after the secondary vapour mills, and Larisel 2, under Meryn’s control, was jumping on Beta dome.

Landing sites. Important shortly.



PAge 239

The first wave of Magogs had hammered Beta dome. Patterns of throbbing fire pulsed below: pin-points or clusters.

Bombing runs on the city. That might imply that some of the strikes are pinpoint rather than just carpet bombing.




Page 240-241

Larisel 1 was two minutes short of its DZ, juddering through flak, when the engines finally failed.
...

A Marauder, about a kilometre and a half away, ,turning south in a loop. It had to be Mkoll's bird, Larisel 4, making its pass on the mining habs.

The plane is shot down/destroyed, this gives us a rough idea of the range. 1.5 km at least (rpboably) although being 2 minutes away from DZ even at speeds I initially estimated (85 km/hr) would suggest close to 3 km again at least (plus altitude, if its 1.5-2 km ) 3-4 km or so range implied.



Page 244

“Sergeant Varl, on the vox, as we were coming in?”

Milo had. A brief, incomplete, dreadful message-burst. Mkoll’s craft had gone up short of its drop point.

Given the distances on the map and the implied drop zones of each unit specified before, we're talking a good 2-3 km range for comms. And this is micro beads, not backpack vox - the latter were specifically stated to be too bulky to carry



Page 245

Then he gently tried his vox-link. They’d picked up Varl’s strangled message whilst still in the air. Now they were down, the hard structures of Ouranberg were blocking anything but short-range transmission.
...
..there was going to be no contact between teams once the mission was underway. A full-gain vox-caster would have weighed one of them down unnecessarily. Besides, it wasn’t impossible that the enemy was scanning for vox-calls on the known Imperial wavelengths.

Again implies mutliple km ranges for micro beads if it weren't for the city blocking the transmissions, and they don't have larger vox sets to boost the signla power through. And in any case monitoring is a risk.



PAge 246

Doyl took out a compact cutting torch, said the prayer of ignition, lit its small energy blade and sliced into the lock.

Based on the 'energy blade' I'm guessing its either a compact sort of lascutter, or mayb a meltacutter.



Page 247

He taped one of the six miniature circuit-breakers he carried in his tool-roll to the hatch frame, and secured its leads to either side of the lock. He waited until the little green rune on its casing lit up, indicating that the hatch’s alarm circuit was now looping via the breaker, and then cut through the lock-tongue with his cutting torch.

- the scouts are carrying circuit breakers to allow them to circument and silence alarms while the door is breached.



Page 250

..three Blood Pact troopers in full hostile environment armour appeared..

Fully enclosed, hostile enviroment body armour




PAge 251
[quiote]
The two on the roof glanced around for a second, puzzled, and in that time a single, fierce las-shot exploded the head of the nearest [Blood Pact[/quote]

Hotshot round headsplodes a masked, helmeted Blood Pact trooper. Double digit kj is likely at LEAST.


PAge 257

Blood Pact personnel, armed with pain-goads and synapse disrupters,..
..
Some of them, stripped down to black leather bib-overalls and iron masks, restrained leashed packs of snarling cyber-mastiffs with sweat-slick, corded arms and shouted abuse at stragglers.
.

Blood pact with 'nonlethal' weaponry of various sorts, and cyber mastiffs.



PAge 257

On Gigar, the slavers had worked the captive locals, night and day, for eight weeks, setting their canines on twenty individuals every time one slackened or collapsed. At the end of eight weeks, the wells of Gigar had produced enough promethium to fuel sixty Blood Part motorised regiments for a year.

Just for shits and giggles I'll use this and this as my baseline, figure its accurate to within an order of magnitude. If we figure 100-200 vehicles in the regiment (troops plus support) call it between 200-300 litres per vehicle per day thats 438 million to 1.3 billion litres every 8 weeks at a ruinous (fatal) pace. Imperials would produce less of course, but its a rough estimate anyhoww.. billions to tens of billions annually.

It also mentions that they may lace the food of the slaves with drugs and stimulants to keep them working 24 hours, which probably shows how they can pull such ruinous paces. its not like the Chaos forces in this region have all that much concern for the sanctity of life.


Page 263

Cardinale threw back his cloak disguise and wheeled around, firing his lasrifle on full auto at the bounding hate-dogs.

He blew three of them apart, two in mid-air. The fourth, a two hundred pound cyber-mastiff., bareld into him and smashed him to the floor.

Its an interesting question to assume what 'blow apart' means. One obvious interpreetation is 'explode' like a grenade or bolt round, but its equally possible it means that the raking fire just ripped them apart (raking fire). Or maybe the bodies are intact, and they just ruptured.

'Blow apart' grenade like is pretty simple. At the very least its equal to around 400-500 kj to 800-1000 kj or so, for a short barrage. WE dont know how long exactly the fire lasts (several seconds perhaps) but he also blew three apart, which suggests 1-3 MJ per powerpack (as he doesn't run dry before blowing three away.) It might even be slightly more than a grenade or two - Cyber mastiffs (The hate dogs) are pretty large and bulky, and augmetic (possibly robotic) so assuming its a servitor is rather coservative to say the least (robot dogs don't eat, and the hate dogs are explicitly mentioned to feed on living beings.)

Slightly more complicated - 90 kilo cyber mastiffs would have roughly the same volume as a human (slightly different dimensions, of course) call it ~1 metre by 30 cm by 35 cm roughly.

Ignoring length lets go with diameter. Figure 1/3 a pack (20-30 shots or so) - 115-175 sq cm - 10 to 15 cm diameter craters, roughly.. I call it 100-200 kj per shot more or less. Which for 60-100 shot packs is between 6 MJ and a whopping 20 MJ per pack. That seems.. excessive but still possible. Of course if its simply blasting holes through one side, rather than straight through the calcs could be reduced by half or even more, depending on how 'deep' one figures. (500-100)

If we figure a barrage of 20-30 shots across the midsection to bisect, (punching through) it depends on if it is lengthwise or width or diagnol. Assuming width each shot would need to make a hole around 1-2 cm in diameter 2.5-5 kj per shot to simply bisect width-wise. If its length wise, it gets more complicated 3-5 cm diameter (at least) per bolt.,. which is 15-32 kj per shot roughly.

We could also figure each bolt is equal to a full powered rifle round 308 winchester is a good choice.. the permanant cavity inside is a good 10-15 cm diameter overall, and 4 kj to cause. 16-35 such shots to 'blow apart' a mastiff by my aforementioned estimates... which is 64-140 kj per dog.

There is also always lfash burns to consider. If we figure the dog had betwene 50-400 j per sq cm, over at least a 35-35 cm area, (1225 sq cm) thats between 61 and 490 kj. 4th degree flaying burns would also possibly cover 'rupture', although note its possible that more than just one side took burns also, so these could be several times higher (flaying on both sides for example.)




Page 264

One [Blood Pact] had a support cannon on a bipod, and a slaver ran beside him, feeding belts of ammunition. The jagged muzzle flashes of the cannon illuminated the gun's brutal work like a strobe light. Each flare froze a snapshot of lurching figures, slaves falling, knocked off their feet, crashing into one another.

Possibly an autocannon, we don't really know.



Page 264

Adare's chest exploded and he was slammed back against the wall with enough force to splinter bone. Hundreds of tiny, secondary impacts simultaneously peppered the stonework.

Loxatl Flechette blaster. Like an overpowerd shotgun really. If we figure each flechette was similar to something between a shotgun flechette of (583 m/s and .52 grams) and a STeyr ACR in performance (1450 m/s and a .66 grams) 88 to 693 J per flechette, which works out to at least 17.6-138.6 kj per burst. .3 kg*m/s to .957 kg*m/s momentum per shot as well.



PAge 266

Twice they stopped while Unterrio tried patching his data-slate into a city-system terminal, but it was futile. Slaith’s forces had corrupted the Imperial database and flooded it with incompatible, unreadable sequences.

- Tanith infiltrators attempt to use a data-slate to patch into the city-system computer terminal to obtain data. So its like a computer more in that regard, it seems.



Page 269

Then shots. The metal of the door around the latch deformed and burst under the impact of several las-rounds. The bolt still held.

Whoever was on the outside now opened fire directly at the door, punching six molten holes. Penetrating the door metal had robbed the las-rounds of most of thier power, but they still had enough force to wind Varl and smash him off the bench.

Lasbolts punching through door. We dont know how thick it is, but we can make guesses. Assuming 3-5 cm thick (1-2 inches about) and iron, and assuming between .5 cm and 2 cm diameter 'holes' .. we can calc it one of two ways.

One is melting. If we assume it melts through, a 5 mm diameter hole 3 cm deep would require some 5.6 kj at least to melt, whilst a 2 cm diamter hole would be nearly 150 kj.

The second way is simply drilling through assuming a 'blaster' type lasweapon on the Laser Death Ray page. 1 kj would easily punch a 5mm (slightly more really) hole, an inch deep through the hole, whilst 10-12 kj would punch a 2 cm diameter, 5 cm deep hole through iron.



Page 269

He got up, aimed his U90 at the door and opened fire, bracing against the recoil.
His weapon was loaded with a clip of standard .45 calibre rounds. Striking the metal door, they dented its surface wildly, but few penetrated. An answering storm of fire punished the door from the other side.

Varl popped the yellow-tagged drum out of his weapon, replaced it with a red, racked back the bolt, and blitzed the door with explosive armour piercing rounds. They went through the door like it was made of wet paper. The surrounding wall too. The explosive bullets blew bricks and metal shreds out into the corridor.

Effect of U90 on door. Not sure I can calc it here, but its way more devastaitng than the .45 slugs.
By further extension, the lasfire is more devastating than .45 slugs, but less so than the Hi-Ex rounds, although again calcing that its hard to be sure. If we figure it caused something like this in las terms that would be about 5 kj (Half the Luke Campbell 'Battle rifle' laser in terms of penetration, but same wound diameter.) to match the .45, but the lasbolt would be far more devastating.


Page 271

No one asked Meryn what he’d done. Everyone knew. Everyone knew it was absolutely paramount to maintain the mission’s secrecy for as long as possible. It was a necessary evil. Just like shooting the rescue crews. A necessary evil.

Larkin didn’t like it much at all. “Necessary evil” seemed to him to be one of those too-clever phrases men used to excuse wrongs. And there was quite enough unnecessary evil in the fething galaxy without deliberately adding to it.

From this point on Meryn, a 'regular' in the series, becomes more of a cold, nsaty sort. Larkin compares him to Rawne, but he catually becomes worse whilst Rawne improves over time. This is menat to show how Meryn is becoming colder and crueler. Not exactly a Cuu of course, but still capable of horrific things because of war. Its especially unsettling given both Hark and Del Mar's comments about the nature of the Guard being 'killers', because when you get down to it this is what they were precisely describing. Nothing heroic or wonderful about this.

Larkin also comments the worst thing is how cold and emotionless Meryn was about it. Again quite different from Cuu, but still horrible all the same.



PAge 272

The face on the screen was entirely hairless: bald, shaven, lacking even eyebrows and lashes. His ears were grossly distended by the weight and number of the studs and rings that pierced them. They looked like a lizard’s frill. Slaith’s teeth were chrome triangles, like the tips of daggers. Three huge and old diagonal scars marked each cheek, ritual cuts made to seal his pact with Urlock Gaur. He wore a white fur cloak over a spiked suit of maroon power-armour. His eyes were pupil-less white slits.

- Sagittar Slaith, minion of Urlock Gaur. Given that description I have to wonder if he's a Chaos Space Marine or something.



Page 279

"Feth! He's respiring on both lungs! How is that possible?"

Implying that perhaps Soric had had both lungs damaged. That would be a bigger hole (4-5 cm diameter maybe? to threaten both lungs, probably punched through the sternum as well. We're talking double digit kj quite likely for all of that (10-12 kj maybe?) If we figure 15 cm deep and 4 cm diameter it would be 188 sq cm. 30-50 j per sq cm would be 5.7 kj, whilst 3rd degree would be 9.4 kj.

Another thing about this scene is it sets up anothre subplot. Soric is clearly a psyker, or at least a latent psyker and has had his powers awakened. He has precognitive abilities, and it seems he can heal, and this thread will carry through to the rest of this arc.



PAge 290

Nessa's long-las roared.

The second alien mercenary was ripped off the wall by the hot-shot and smashed, convulsing, into the doorframe.

Loxatl hit by hotshot. Does fuck all, except the knockdown.



Page 290

He opened fire, lurched back for a moment by the U90's almost unmanagable recoil.

The hi-ex AP rounds blew the lizard thing apart and hosed the wall with its unwholesome blood. Its smoking carcass fell off the wall and slammed into the floor.

...

Milo emptied the rest of the drum mag into the second Loxatl, pulping its head and chest.

Hi Ex again vs Loxatl. I'm guessing eaisly 30 or so rounds to pulp the lizard thing. At least grenade lvel damage (200-230 grams of TNT total call it) which again works out to maybe 6-7 grams of TNT per person at least. Pulping head and chest of the other ought to be simialr (fiugre 20-25 grams to do both... at least a couple grams of TNT per bullet should be likely.)



Page 292

But the traffic was slowing, and armoured Blood Pact airspeeders with rotating orange lamps were forcing all vehicles down to raod level so that they could be channeled through a check station.

Blood Pact airspeeders. And apparently the other Phantine vehicles are speeders of some sorts as well.



PAge 294 -

The air-truck screamed across the route towards the tenements as shouts, sirens and shots rang out after it. Heavy fire from an air speeder stitched plumes of debris from the road surface as it tried to track them.

The blood pact airspeeders aren't just armoured, but armed. Presumably comandeered form the Phantine. The air truck is civialin, being used by the Ghosts. Who says antigrav vehicles aren't used?



Page 295
[quiote]
He fired the U90 and created a ripplign blister of overlapping explosions that blew the ground floor facade in.

They went through the hole.

Almost.

Varl had barely ducked in again when an overhang of brick caught hte speeding machine and ripped the entire cover frame off.[/quote]

Dont quit eknow how to calc this, but Varl's U90 with Hi-Ex rounds has enough puhc to blast a hole in a tenemant wall big enough for the air truck to pass through. Assuming 2-3 m diameter and a full clip of 40 shots we're talking 3-5 m burst total. Thats roughly equal to .3-.6 M holes which per the destruction page needs some 113 grams of gelignite, which is about 60% that of TNT and comes out to around 64 grams of TNT. as an OOM estimate we can figure each U90 shell is equal approximately to 6-60 grams of TNT roughly. Which is actually quite powerful, sort of a poor man's bolter



Page 296

For a second, he thought it was a grenade, but then he realised it was a synapse mine.

- Synapse mine. Thrown devie that knocks out the Tanith unconscious.



Page 298
[qupte]
Curth's medi-pack was fully prepped, but she was struggling with the body armour Gaunt had issued.
“You’ve got the buckles misaligned,”
..

...looking like a patient half-escaped from a strait jacket.
...
She flexed her arms and padded the plated front of her armour vest.[/quote]

Ghosts (and Curth included) wearing body armour. Flak vest or perhaps a jacket, seems the ghosts don't wear this scale of armour as routine and are only issued it in certain cases. It may be though that their armour is usualyl lighter and flexible.



Page 301

There was zero wind, but the range was long. Larkin adjusted his sights, and wished he had been given the opportunity for a test round.

For some odd reason Larkin is worried about wind with lasgun fire



PAge 301-302

A hot-shot round sang out over the concourse and smashed into Slaith.
..
He saw Slaith getting back to his feet beside the cauldron.
“Feth! He’s got a personal shield!”
..
Larkin fired, and Slaith was slammed over onto his back. At the same moment, a second hot-shot stabbed in from the munitorum and clipped the edge of the caudlron. Then a third hit Slaith on the ground.

...

Larkin fired again, hitting Slaith cleanly. But the warlord got up, assisted by his men. His personal shield had held.

Slaith's personal shield takes 4-5 hotshot long-las hits and is unharmed. Also Larkin fires multiple shots on his las pack, without having to switch obviously. Guess we're still going with 'multi-shot' hotshot packs

Its kind of odd to think why the shielded, power armored Warlord get sknocked down. Its not from momentum of the bolt itself (recoil and al that), it oculd be some weird interaction of the shield and bolt, but we really can't calc that, except to say it must be knocking a 100+ kg person flat on his ass every time.




PAge 302

A pin-point las-round of extraordinary accuracy had severed the chain between them.
..
Jagdea struggled forward and grabbed another of the fallen enemy weapons. She started to shoot away the chains confining the other prisoners.

Probably Larkin in the first case. In any event lasfire severs through chains of unknown thickness/dimensions. Guessing at least single digit kj maybe.and they must be making a hole at least a few mm wide. If we figure a 5 mm 1 cm bolt, at least 1-2 KJ.



Page 303

..shooting a charging slaver through the head and shattering his iron visor.

from a Blood Pact lasrifle. Fiugure a 5cm diameter to 'shatter' and it woudl be easily tens of kj for a single shot. IF we figure a 3-10 round 'burst' each woudl be doing 2-3 cm area of effect which would be 5-16 kj per pulse. Nevermind punching through the head (probably exploding it.)




PAge 304

What he saw was six tube charges wired together on a timer.

...

The detonation took the roof off the state room. Slaith's personal shield managed to hold for 1.34 seconds before it was overwhelmed by the blast force. Saggitar Slaith was still screaming with rage as he vaporised.

6 tube charges 'vaporize' Slaith. If we figure 4th degree burns and 10,000 sq cm surface area at least thats 4 MJ for half the blast. 8 MJ total. It could be 2 or even 3 times that., which means a tube charge is between 1.34-4 MJ or so roughly. And as noted before, lasgun powerpacks are roughly equal to a tube charge - with 50-150 shots per pack, you get 9-27 kj per shot for 1.34 MJ, and 27-80 kj for 4 MJ packs)

Another curiosity - HE blasts take far less than a second to occur, yet the shield resists for more than a second. How could that happen? Its not like you can say a tube charge is a nuke or something, and yet the fireball persisted. Either there are different kinds of tube charge (different payloads) or the shield has some weird absorb/dissipation mechanism, and the time defined how long it took to overload, and turn on Slaith.



Page 304-305

In the pale, violet light of dawn, cloumns of dense black smoke and spirallying fireballs crowned the city, and the air streamed with las-fire, tracer shells and streaking rockets.

..

Preceded by diving packs of Shrikes, the main force of drogues and troop barges assaulted hte Imperial landing platform and the expanse of Pavia Fields behind it, setting down thousands of Imperial Guardsmen under withering fire from the fortifications of Ourangate and the Alpha dome emplacements. The gun turrets of the barges chattered and flashed as they hovered in, their gate-ramps crashing down to disgorge charging troops or the clanking Chimeras and Manticores of the Urdeshi seventh Armoured.

...

Urdeshi units took the landing platform after a brutal series of firefights and horrific hand to hand encounters. The Ghosts of Tanith, led to the west by Major RAwne and to the east by Captain Daur, pincered the Blood PAct ground forces defending the Avenue of the Polyandrons, and opened the way to Ourangate itself.

Deployment of forces. At least 9 drogue's worth of infantry, 36,000. Plus the armoured barges carrying trops and vehicles. The Urdeshi seem to have armoured vehicles as well as airships. Damn impressive. The defences (at least heavy anti-ship defenses) against the Gate are 3 km or so. Armoured vehicles may possibly be engaging at these ranges as well.



PAge 305

The drogue Skyro, supported by Marauder gunships, manoeuvred in over Beta dome and roped Phantine and Urdeshi troops down onto the main vapour mill.

- mention of "Marauder gunships" - possiblyt some sort of variant? (A VTOL aircraft perhaps like a harrier?) Maybe its the Destroyer variant.

Also air-deployed forces both Urdeshi and Phantine.



Page 305

But Imperial victory was pretty much guaranteed from the moment that word of Slaith’s death began to spread through the enemy forces. The Blood Pact kept fighting, and in many ways became more savage. They were lost, and that made them suicidally vengeful.

Slaith’s demise certainly did not rob them of their courage. But their coordination and discipline were gone. Without Slaith, they were like a brain-dead body, still twitching with involuntary responses.

The main advantage of assasinating Slaith was that it deprived the Blood Pact of an organized and central authority. Without which they degenreate into something more akin to what we expect from Khornates. Not unlike what may happen to tau without an Etheral handy But it does once again show just how much 'cult of personality' plays a role in the ability of Chaos forces involved in fighting against the Imperials.


PAge 308

The aliens [loxatl] were using some kind of heavy fragmentation mortar, perhaps a larger-scale verison of their signature flechette blasters.

Loxatl artillery.



Page 310-311 Spoiler

Cuu plunged his straight silver into Bragg’s heart.
Bragg’s eyes widened. His lips gasped for a second, like a fish.
Cuu wrenched the dagger out and leaned forward so his mouth was right next to the dying Tanith’s ear. “Just so’s you know… it was me. I did her. And it was beautiful. She fought oh how she fought. Not like you, you big dumbo.”
Bragg suddenly lurched up and swung the autocannon around by the barrel like a club. If it had connected with the lean Verghastite it would surely have crippled him. But Cuu had jerked out of the way.
“Try again, Bragg,” he said, and stabbed the blade down again. And again. And again.

A not so nice ending for this Ghosts novel. It also marks the first time that a major character has been killed - and certainly not the last. The first time I read it, I hated it, because I liked Bragg and it was horrible having him die. On a second reading.. I still hate it, but thats the good part about it. I'm not supposed to like it. Its meant ot convey how horrible and brutal things can be. Not every story is a happy ending. I mean just a bit before Kolea was put into a coma saving Criid, so we were already hit with one horrible fact, and now this.

What really drives it home though is that this is a direct consequence of Gaunt's actions. Even though he didnt know it, saving Cuu permitted Cuu to gain his revenge and kill Bragg. So Gaunt saved two of his Ghosts only to lose another to the killer.. who had actually done the crime. And yet its not really Gaunt's fault, because he felt he had to uphold his honour and protect his men - Tanith and Verghasite both. That's the tragedy - even the best of intentions can sitll lead to horrible things being done. Its not a nice, neat black or white issue, because it can be argued both ways, and its only something that we, with hindsight can judge on, but we're not right in judging Gaunt because he couldn't know better given the circumstances.

Its a horrible ending, yes.. but it does perfectly cap the whole idea of this book - trying to resolve the divisions between the Tanith, making hard, difficult choices in a horrible situation, there being no perfect right or wrong answers.. and sometimes horrible things happening no matter what we may do to stop it.

[Connor MacLeod]

So next up STraight Silver. Kinda the low point of the Ghosts novels to this point, and in this particular cycle. Basically the Guard are thrown into Trench Warfare, very little of significance happens, and a bit of foreshadowing, thats all. Enjoy the trench warfare, Feygor turning feral (and dragging others along with him), and an interesting vriation on Trench Warfare (with shields) and why the Ghosts/Crusade forces hate it.


This will be a small update in the sense that I'm 'only' doing two updates, and they are comparatively smaller than the huge ones I used to do up to now. lol.



Page 10

The seller, swathed in a transparent slicker, was hand-folding the fractal blooms into their metal cups. The glittering mathematical petals crackled as deft, expert hands collapsed them.

Fractal blooms make a reappearance.



Page 13

. Foremost it must be seen that the concentration of artillery attacks along the Peinforq Line, and also in the Naeme Valley, has much harassed the progress of the enemy’s infantry dispositions in that region. Observer estimates place a mortality figure of nine thousand on said enemy dispositions, with particular losses taken around Bassin-on-Naeme on the nights of 187-189. Munition expenditure in that period is given as forty-eight thousand nine hundred and eleven 0.12 medium explosive shells, nine thousand and forty-six 0.90 incendiary shells, two thousand three hundred and seventy-nine 0.50 heavy shells and—”

Munitions usage in the course of several days of shelling. I'm guessing that .12, .90, and .50 refer to fractions of a metre (IE .12 is 120mm)




Page 19

He wore the standard issue kit of a Tanith soldier: cross-laced black boots, black fatigue trousers and blouse over standard issue vest and shorts, with webbing - which supported his field pouches and a plump musette bag - and lightweight, matt-grey cloth armour. A tight, black buckle-under helmet made of ceramite swung from his waist belt beside his warknife. On his collar he wore the skull and dagger crest of the Tanith First and around his shoulders was draped a camo cloak, the signature item of the Tanith regiment, the so-called "Ghosts".

A heavy pack was slung from his back. His standard pattern Mark III lasrifle, its stock and furniture made of nalwood, as were all Tanith-stamped lasguns, hung on a fylon sling over his shoulder.

TAnith gear. Ninja coloured outfits, plus 'cloth' armour (flexible stuff) and also a ceramite helmet. Oh and the lasrifle (which was a lascarbine in the last novel.)



PAge 21

"The brigade is here to bolster their forces and show Shadik how war really works.”

One of the recurring ideas in this book is that the planet's way of waging war (which invoels trench warfare) is outdated by Guard standards, at least within this region (something that will require elabroation later on.



Page 23

Everyone had been fond of Try Again Bragg.
..
..everyone missed him. He’d seemed to be one of the regiment’s permanent features, immovable, like bedrock. His death had robbed them all of something. Confidence perhaps. Even the most gung-ho Ghosts had stopped believing they would live forever.

Last novel Bragg was brutally killed by Cuu. I think this is a relevant passage not so much for the recap, but because it shows why I think Abnett killed him off - it really 'shakes up' things in the series when you have someone as big and strong as Bragg taken down by someone like Cuu. It wasn't a stand up fight, it was sneaky ambush and cold blooded murder. And the ide that someone as strong and seemingly invulnerable as Bragg could be killed, as the passage states, makes anyone feel vulnerable. And it makes the reader feel like the characters are vulnerable. As we discover this becomes a common element to the series, and a rather distinctive one, I feel.




Page 23
[quoteLarkin’s Tanith warknife, its straight silver blade thirty centimetres long.[/quote]

- again its mentioned a Tanith Warknife (as many cases, in other novels) is 30 centimeters long.




Page 26

"When do I see data-slates? Tacticals? Charts of disposition?"

Gaunt asks his liason for information. Presumably "tacticals" refer to tactical hololiths. And this planet, despite being fairly backwards in some ways, still have them. We'll discover they have a delightfully variable tech base, which is quite in keeping with the nature of 40K.




Page 29

Despite the fact the surgeon had been required to rebuild her pelvis, she had recovered a fething sight quicker than he had.

Muril the sniper had her pelvis rebuilt.



Page 29

I’m old, Corbec told himself. Recovery takes longer for a man of my distinguished years.
...
Muril paid Corbec attention all right, but he was rather afraid he knew that look. The look a girl would give her father.

Another aspect to this book (Although it started in previous books) - Corbec isn't getting any younger. He's taken serious injuries two books in a row, almost died in the last one (if not for Soric.) and now he's feeling that age. He's not the Corbec we started out the series with, much as Gaunt is not the same Gaunt from the start of the series. He's feeling his age, and war is a young man's game. When you factor in how Bragg's death in the last book stripped away that illusion of invincibility for the characters, it can be easy to believe characters like Corbec may be living on borrowed time. That adds some tension to the story, really.




PAge 30

Murtan Feygor had got his throat shot away during the fight for Vervunhive, and his every word came flat and monotone through a speech enhancer sewn into his larynx.

Implying perhaps that Feygor's throat may have been partly blasted away and not just badly melted like I previously assumed. Probably still mostly thermal, with only a bit of mechanical damage thrown in (single digit kj maybe.)




Page 31

Dug-in war, isn’t it, Murt? Drawn out, old. It’ll be trenches, you mark my words. Fething field fortifications. We’ll spend our time either labouring with nine seventies like common navvies or ducking for cover in some other bastard’s latrine.”

“I hear you,” said Feygor with disgust. “Fething trenches. Fething nine-seventies.”
..
“Trenches,” Rawne muttered blackly. “It’ll be just like Fortis Binary again.”
“Fortis fething Binary,” Feygor echoed.

- Rawne and Feygor offer their comments on the trench warfare utilized on this planet. It's not positive (mention of Fortis Binary, where trench warfare was also present.) They apparently don't like it, and also don't get itno it very often. This (again) tends to suggest its not very common at least in the Ghosts' neck of the woods, or at least that its not the 'favored' way of waging war. (as we've seen in previous books, there are always those fools who will try it regardless.)




Page 31

A nine-seventy referred to the Imperial Guard’s standard issue entrenching tool: a heavy, compact multi-purpose pick that could be stowed by detaching the helve from the head. Its official name was the “Imperial Implement (General Field Fortification) Pattern 970”. Every Ghost wore one in a button-down leather sheath on the back of his webbing.

IG issue shovel May also be a weapon in some novels.




Page 37

"As I understand it there's a strtch of territory thirty kilometres wide and a thousand kilometres long that has remained disputed for forty years."

...

"I take it you'll be using the Tanith to their strength as stealth infiltrators?"

Buzzel looked confused. "I understood you were front-line troops. That's where you're being sent. The front line."

Distances involved (potential indicator for arty ranges), and again an indicator of the differences in the way war on this planet is waged vs how the Guard (or at least the Ghosts) wage it.




Page 38

"..find Mkoll and tell him to move a recon team forward to the line. I want a detailed intelligence capture before we proceed.”
..
“My Ghosts will fight to the last: harder, braver and stronger than any soldiers you have ever seen. But I will not see them wasted in the meatgrinder of a slow trench war. They have skills, and I’ll have them use those skills.”

Gaunt's assessment again indicats that attrition or trench warfare isn't generally approved of, at least in this Crusade and region. Unless you're Dravere, of course. We also learn that Gaunt (and by extension the Guard) places value on having relevant information handy for decision making.



Page 38

Towns and villages were scruffy and neglected, windows shuttered and boarded. Some had earthworks or pales raised aruond their eastern fringes, one in five had the steel mast of a shield generator rising from its midst.

Shield generators are pretty widespread in this novel. as I noted there is an interesting variation in tech base - they have MIUs and shields and other similar stuff, yet they also fight trench warfare with bolt action rifles or much in the way of body armor.



Page 41

Behind it came a staggering file of artillery tractors towing 0.12 feldkannone pieces.

again probably 120mm cannon/artillery.



Page 43

The fabric of their uniforms was of a type he didn't recognise. It looked comfortable and strong, possibly synthetic. They carried powerful-looking rifles that didn't seem to have any sort of ejection ports for spent cartridges. could they be energy weapons? Fevrierson had never seen a lasgun close up, and they made him feel ashamed of his long, heavy bolt-action autorifle. The off-worlders also had tech items like power scopes and ear-bead comm-links. Individual trooper comm-links! They were truly from another place, like the characters in the demiscuto sicence-romance digests his borther used to buy from the newsvendor.

Comparison of Guard issue equipment to the locals. The notable things for me are the 'power scopes' (implied to be standard gear) alongside the comms and the implied comparison that a lasgun is as good (or better) thana bolt action rifle. Whether this is performance wise (firepower, etc.) or just other issues, we dont know, but gauging the reaction makes it seem like the officer feels a lasgun would be better. It could even be issues like ammo capacity and rate of fire - a big advantage over a lasgun could be that its not so much more powerful per shot, but its sustained rate of fire is so much greater that it effectively puts out more firepower. And givne the implied rates of fire in the ghosts novels (tens of shots per second potentially, hundreds of shot capacity per powerpack) they'd be amazingly effective close quarters weapons.




Page 44

"What are those bird things?" asked Caober.

"Struthids," said Fevrierson.

...

"They don't have reins," said Mkoll. "Do they control with their feet?"

...

"They're psicavalry." said Fevrierson. "They need both hands to operate the carbines in a charge, so each man has a puppeteer, linking him to his steed."

"An implant? Augmetic?"

"I dont know those words. A puppeteer's a little machine. They put them in the men's heads surgically. The struthid have one grafted in to match. It creates a brain link and lets the man drive the bird."

Augmeticized mounts aren't unusual for rough riders, but MIU-controlled ones are. What's more, its effectively wireless. As I said, the tech levels on this world are pretty variable, but I acutally thought it was rather coola nd useful all told. Even if they are riding the 40K equivalent of Chocobos.



Page 45

Strings of electrical lights ran down the carefully revetted walls and Mkoll coudl smell the ozone of shield generators. Armoured vehicles and trucks moved down the working line, and when one appeared, they had to stand to in lay-bys cut into the trench wall to allow them past.

More shield generators and technological variation. They also have armoued vehicles and trucks of various sorts.



Page 46

The blockhouse was a series of armoured rooms buried deep in the ground off the reserve mainway. It had folding shutters and gas curtains at the entrance.

Inside, it was warm and damp and busy. There was a chart room, and a vox-annex where a row of signallers chattered into bulky old-style field sets.

Sheafs of thick vox-line cables ran out along the entrance hall and away through loopholes. Inside the main entrance, sweating, ruddy-faced runners sat on a bench, waiting to be sent out again.

Command center. They have rudimentary vox of some kind.




Page 48-49

Some Tanith said Mkvenner had been trained in the old martial ways of cwlwhl, the fighting art of the Nalsheen, legendary warriors who had maintained law during Tanith’s troubled feudal days. Mkoll always quashed those rumours, mainly because they were true and he knew how close Mkvenner guarded his background.

Reference to Martial arts superstar Mkvenner and his Nalsheen ways.



Page 50

In the deep pits and weapon-dens behind the line’s spinal trenches, large calibre howitzers and mortars hurled munitions up into the gathering dusk. Elevated feldkannone and rocketshargen joined them.
..
He’d never seen a bombardment on this scale before. Not even at Vervunhive.

Implies that events on this planet are more insane bombardment wise than in Necropolis. Considering the size of the shells and level of devastation there, that's saying something, especialyl for what is s upposed to be a technologically (and doctrinally) backward world.



PAge 52

Mkoll felt ultrasonic knocking and then smelled ozone as shields ignited along the Allied command line. In the semi-darkness, he could see the translucent white umrebellas of energy flickering over the main reserves. Still more enemy ordnance hammered down, splashing off the shields in great, deflected air blasts. In one place, a shield fizzled as it was struck and died out.

Mkoll was no artillery expert, but he knew the power and range of the enemy guns must be at least on par with Imperial super-siege pieces. The front line, this "Peinforq Line", had clearly been arranged to permit sustained artillery actions across ranges of five or six kilometres. The shells coming in had probably traveled more like fifteen or twenty.

'Super siege' stuff (presumably bombards and colossus and similar) would be implied to have a 15-20 km range, although it probably isn't limited to that as that's roughly Basilisk range as well. Typical arillery for the Aexegarians, which as we know includes 120mm stuff. It woudl be intresting if the 5-6 km stuff was the range for the 120mm artillery and similar, as we might posit similar cannon ranges for Guard 'direct fire' artillery (or near-direct anyhow.)

Also super heavy artillery vs the theatre shields. The theatre shielding is rather useful for trench warfare, and perhaps one of the few things to make it not quite so insane as it might otherwise be. We dont know how big or powerful the superheavy shells are, sadly. If we go by Mkoll's comments earlier, however, they could be comparable (or betteR) than shells that made craters tens or hundreds of metres across. The latter were rail drawn cannons like the Schwerer Gustav. And there was similar on Fortis Binary (basically multi-ton shells with huge yields.)




PAge 53

Enemy rounds whipped in low over the lip of the parapet. Two more men collapsed off the step, one spun right around by the impact.

Which might imply some fairly considerable momentum behind the rifle rounds, possibly .50 cal, but we can't be sure, and I'm hesitant to compltely ascribe the knockdown to impact.


Page 54

One man was yanked up out of the mob by the force of an enfilading shot to the neck, his body cartwheeling over on top of the others.

This one seems more likely as an indicator of high-powered bolt-action rifle rounds (.50 cal or more perhaps) although again I don't totally rely on that, but it would also be hard to argue 'cartwheeling' in any other way (at the very least he has to be lifted up and away from wherever he is.)




Page 54

He felt a rifle round thump into his chest armour, and others pass close by into the earthen wall, but he kept firing.

Mkoll gets hit by a rifle slug. Given the tech levels on both sides, it seems quite likely its bolt action rifle slugs at that.

Chest armour is also interesting, as we're told earlier they had 'cloth armour' but we knwo from previous (and later) books that they also have plated armor (or at least plate inserts.) nothing indicates the scouts were wearing such here, but it can't be ruled out either.

bolt action, if its comparable to real life bolt action rifles in military service, would be a full power catridge at least in the 7-8mm range. Although larger have been known (it could be .50 cal, the enemy rifles display some fairly insane knockdown power implied, although Mkoll isn't exactly knocked down either.) In any case, even by itself the bolt action ones can get pretty damn powerful for military rounds (anywhere from 3 kj or so for 9-10 gram bullets at around 800 m/s to something more on the order of This. Even allowing for that, and the Ghosts wearing fairly light armour (by infantry standardS) its damn impressive. Modern armour can quite easily match (or exceed) that performance with rigid plates (ESAPI cna provide NIJ level 4 protection against AP rounds, whilst this may only indicate probably Level 3 7.62MM NATO) But at the very least, it is considerably heavier (especially, as noted, since this is LIGHT infantry armour at best.) Of course if its the 'soft' part (as implied in Storm of Iron as well) this is CONSIDERABLY more impressive.

Another interesitng thing to consider is whether or not a comparison could be made to lasfire. We know from some sources that a lasbolt is similar in effect to 'a bullet or small shell' and that lasfire can work by mechanical damage effects and have an impact. By various source such as the Laser Death ray Antipersonnel laser page, or the penetration figures given for various las weapons in the atomic rockets energy sidearms page pertaining to lasers, or this SFconsim post pertaining to lasers, we can infer that most weapon penetration will (at least at close ranges) closely equate to comparable firearms. Thus, for the Ghosts armor to resist a presuambly full calibre, bolt aciton rifle round (WW1 weapon after all) we're talking about lasfire (of some setting) being at least capable to if not better than that penetration (and likely damage) wise. Which when you think about it meshse with the Siege of Vraks definition of autoguns too Indeed given the implied penetration of real life lasers (an inch or more in the more extreme cases even for armor steel) we're talking about flak resisting lasfire being quite impressive. Esp as the last link implies it could stop or resist a flechette round comparable (in performance) to said blaster style las-bolt.



Page 55

Mkoll fired his rifle and shot out the throat of the grenadier with the autopistol.

Lasbolt takes out throat of enemy trooper. AT least single digit kj.



Page 56

A stick bomb came tumbling end over end across the traverse. Almost too fast to see, Mkvenner caught it in mid-air and slung it back. The blast curled smoke out round the end of the traverse.

Mkvenners super-Nalsheen powers kick in.



PAge 57

Mkvenner undid a hoop of stiff but malleable wire form around his waist, straightened it, and pushed it out ahead of him until the tip just poked over the back edge of the fire trench. The wire had a strand of fibre optic cable wrapped around it. The tip was a tiny optical cell and at Mkvenner's end was a little pin-plug that he attached to his scope. Gently, he moved the wire around and studied the poor resolution images the ceell was sending back down the calbe to his scope's eyepiece.

In the last book we're told many of the Tanith (at least the Scouts) have copied Tona Crii's 'gun mirror' idea in various ways, and this seems to be Mkvenners. Which is rather interesting and useful, and one has to wonder where he got the optical cell. I also wonder if the scope is binocs, or if its his lasrifle. Given he's mentioned to be holding a lasrifle (they all are) its quite possible it plugged into his rifle scope (possibly clarifying what the 'powered scopes' were from before.)
That said, it can still go either way.


Page 57

They drew out their pistols and warknives. Mkoll and Caober had standard pattern laspistols and Mkvenner had a .38 calibre auto with a twelve shot clip that he’d acquired on Nacedon.

Implying laspistols might be equal to at least a .38 caliber automatic (or autopistol.) As a firearm comparison we might figure it matches up to this or this at least.




Page 58

Then he ripped the det-tape off the tube-charge and hurled it down into the corner of the traverse.

The blast threw the shredded form of one of the raiders right up out of the fire trench. His burning corpse bounced over the parapet and rolled into no-man’s land.

Tube charge effect. by the ingition implied it might be at least a few MJ (125 j per sq cm flash burns to ignite flammables, omnidirectional effects.)



PAge 58-59

Mkvenner ignored the rifle rounds whizzing past him and strode towards them, firing his pistol. The first and second raiders lurched backwards as if they’d been pole-axed. The third slumped on his face. The fourth was straggling with a jammed bolt when Mkvenner’s shot snapped his head round and blew out his cheek.

Mkvenner's handgun in action. Again laspistols ought to be comparable. Presumably the last round punched straight through the face. Call it ~10-12 cm at 1.5 cm diamter.. 1.5-2 kj maybe at least if it were a lasround doing it.




Page 61

..along with two companies of Krassians and a motorised battalion of Seqgewehr coming up from Seronne

The Aexegarians have motorised battalions.



Page 63

In the inner cloister, a rank of despatch riders waited on humming motorcycles. Sheafs of telegraph and vox-cable trunked out of windows and noodled up into the dish arrays anchored to the rooves. A shield mast attached to a portable generator dominated the quadrangle, the grass beneath it brown and dead from radiation.

Shield gnerator at staff headquarters as well as other equipment (dish arrays - wireless communication) as wel as telepgrahp.




Page 65

Glow globes floated beneath the rafters, illuminating a central area busy with technicians, aides and officers. Portable codifiers and high-gain vox casters had been uncrated and set up on trestles.
...
A pair of hooded acolytes from the Adeptus Mechanicus were blessing the servitors that were being installed at the new Imperial vox-units.

Inteiror of staff headquarters/command center. While we arne't absolutely certain it seems like this is Imperial stuff and not local.




Page 67-68

“This is the front line?”
“Yes.”
“My men are light infantry, specialising in covert action. It’s a waste to put them there.”
..
"How can I effect optimal command if I only get to see the specific vicinity? How can I appreciate the battle as a whole ?"

...
“I want a copy of the field charts,” said Gaunt.
..
Gaunt held up the flimsy field map. “Because this shows only my immediate position.”

“Your point?”

“How can I effect optimal command if I only get to see the specific vicinity? How can I appreciate the battle as a whole?
...

Gaunt slid the map and the data slate into his coat and put his gloves and cap back on. "I can't believe that in this day and age you're still fighting wars like this," he said. "Have you never read Macharius? Solon? Slaydo?"

Gaunt's commentary again on tactics on this planet vs tactics of the Guard. Like I said, they don't seem to find it very 'modern' compared to what they're used to fighting (although again Fortis Binary proves its nothing they haven't faced before.) We also get mention again of the importance of informationa nd intel for planning.




PAge 70

Mkoll starrted to take off his webbing and jacket, but it clearly hurt him to lift his arms, so Dorden helped him strip down to the waist. The bruise across the pale flesh of his chest was ugly and black"

...

"Rifle round. Took it last night. Didnt notice it at the time. Adrenalin, I suppose. Been hurting like a fether since dawn, though."

Dorden tutted and sprayed Mkoll's wound with counterseptic. By his side, Foskin clucked in amazement. He'd been folding Mkoll's clothes and kit. He held up a mangled large-calibre round. "Your chest armour stopped this." he said. "It was buried in your breast-guard."

Dorden looks over Mkoll. He seems bruised but otherwise uninjured. Again its a rifle round of unkonwn size/calibre (but presumably full calibre bolt action, at least.) and his armour stopped it . The question is, of course, was it rigid or flexible armor? As noted it could be argued either way depending on references. Going within the context of the nvoel its 'cloth armor', whilst we know in previous (and latter) novels they have rigid elements they can incorporate. Certainly Foskin is inspecting 'clothes and kit' and it doesnt seem to suggest rigid plates, but it can't be ruled out either. We might conservatively assume the plates were involved (or at least some rigid or semi rigid element), but otherwise it was 'cloth' that stopped it, which is damn impressive. Again the rifle round mangled/flattened suggests it was not an armor piercing round, so we might be talking NIJ type 3 protection. Again, even if thats with plates, the fact that the armour is probably rather light (non full body) and designed for light infantry is rather impressive.

It salso possible, atlernatively, that the sections were padded or layered (otherwise thicker than nromal) and not just 'cloth'. Likewise it could be that the flak had some mesh like 'going rigid' quality - the Munitorum manual (and a few other sources) have hinted at such, after all.




Page 74-75

"Colonel Ankre displayed to me a real ignorance of modern warfare methods. He's blinkered, clinging to outmoded and discredited principles and strategies. Indeed, this whole war-"
...
"Then I'd say this war would have bene over thirty years ago if the Alliance had for one moment overhauled their martial philosohpies. You're fighting this like a pre-firearm campaign, like something from the days of antiquity. The use of infantry and cavalry, the dependence on cannon, the expenditure of manpower. And, forgive me, the reliance on the nobility for command personnel."

Comment on 40k 'modern' warfare methods. This coudl be defined as 'modern' in the context of the Crusade and the region it was taught in, or any number of things. Its worth noting, as always, that standardization is very loose at best, and what is 'modern' one place may be different another. Alot of it we learn throughout the book is based on the readings and teachings of others (Solon, Slaydo, Macharius, etc.) and its in the nature of the Tactica Imperialis to offer multiple insights but emphasize no single particular approach, letting the officers draw their own conclusions. Which again is that 'double edged' sword thing, so it should be taken as an example of what the Guard is capabile of tactically/doctirnally/operationally rather than an absolute dictation about how they always fight war. Because as we've seen so oftne, other people will fight the Guard different ways, and some of them are downright stupid.

but overall the mixed-tech 'trench warfare' aspect indicates this is (by Gaunt and some Guard thinking) outdated. In particular are the 'infantry and cavalry' as well as the direct fire cannon and 'manpower' expenditure. We know the guard is attritional, but I'm guessing the way Gaunt speaks of it is a more careful attirtional.. losses are inevitable but you try to minimaize them as much as possible as troops are a resource as any other war asset (ammo, etc.) I'm also guessing that 'infantry' means they're used to take and hold ground behind the armour and other vehicles (IFVs/APCs, any gunships or air support that might be present, etc.) rather than using infantry as a primary striking arm. And likewise, the manner in which cavalry (rough riders) is used is considered outdated - we know they have and use them, so one expects they are meant to be used as scouts and infiltrators/skirmishers or behind the liens guerillas, not frontline combatants.




PAge 75

"There is a concept that we in the Guard hold true. Total war. The prosecution of an enemy that takes no account of national boundaries or political strucutre. War with a single, unswerving objective, to defeat the foe. War that never stays still but is constantly looking for new opportunities. True to such a concept, the Imperial Guard has triumped over the enemies of the Emperor in all theatres. We advance, both physically and mentally. You have stagnated, intellecutlaly, as truly and deeply as your front line."

Gaunt discusses Guard doctrine. We might call this 'attritional' in a sense, but its baiscally the idea that they have few enemies with whom they can force into a defeat without destruction. Certain races, like the Eldar or Tau, this might be plausible with, but others like Orks, Tyranids, and Chaos it is less viable, because they don't operate by the same logic/standards that the Imperium does. Indeed, driving them off or forcing a surrender/retreat could be viewd only as a temporary solution, as the threat still exists and gives it time to grow in strength until it can strike again. We've seen this as being precisely the case with both Orks and Tyranids, and against such enemies, annihilation is the onyl sure way of defeating them. (and sometimes, not even then.)

The other interesting part is that Gaunt's description isn't like the hidebound 'codex' depiction of the Guard, which is bound to garner objections from some. To which I'll say, 'the Guard is variable' - there is no one set 'way' in which the Guard fights, except in very broad, ambiguous terms. The Guard is made up of a wide variety of troops and forces with varying doctrines and approaches to warfare, and its impossible to 'standardize' it in any one coherent form. But overall I take this to be an example of the 'better' approaches to Guard warfare, which complements the 'less than optimsitc' ones we get (like, say, Fortis Binary.) Niether is inherently the 'truth', but both represent what is certainly possible.

its also true that a certain amount of flexiblity and initiativ eis required for the Guard to function at all, as that lack of standardization or centralized control means they cannot always rely on having adequate resources/troops/logistics with which to wage war. That sort of enforces a 'make do' attitude, which is the core of that recurring theme of 'theory vs practice' in the Imperum I constantly push. Its quite possible for the Imperium to say one thing as 'standard', and yet have other things done instead.


Page 76

"Shadik is not a bellicose neighbour state to be bested on the field and then invited over for diplomatic reparations. It is a cancer, a spreading evil of Chaos that will not, ever, play by the old rules. It will grind you down, invade you and consume you.”

Again Chaos is unpredictable, undiplomatic and essentially unreasonable. There is no fight to a surrender, no quarter. You fight to destroy it, or it destroys/consumes you. Its small wonder why Gaunt goes all TOTAL WAR, is it?



PAge 76

Gaunt pulled out the scrappy map Ankre had given him. "I think I speak for every Imperial officer when I say that we need an overall perspective. How can I press any advantages I might make if I have no clear idea of the bigger picture?

"Ankre told me you were after general charts. The idea appalled him. Our way of warmaking revolves around individual commanders performing their appointed tasks and leaving the concerns of general strategey to the staff chiefs."

"That's like fighting blindfolded, or at least fighting with just a narrow view through a little slit."

Again Gaunt stresses the importance of information to the Guard (or Tanith at least) approach to making war.



Page 79

Each station represented about a kilometre of fire trench, broken in twenty metre intervals by traverses. They had a dugout bunker with a field telephone and vox, but the Ghosts’ personal vox-links had made that obsolete most of the time.

Impiles half a km to a km of vox range for micro beads here.



PAge 80

The mortars were squat, bule-metal machines called feldwerfers, and used compressed gas to fire the three kilo shells pneumatically.

...

Interspersed with the mortars were Favell pattern spring guns, a heavy little catapult engine that looked to Criid like some kind of pipe organ. IT took two men to operate the double windlass and crank back the long throwing arm to the cock-stop. When the trigger lanyard was pulled, the cluster of massive springs in the main body of the weapon slammed the arm up and lobbed grenades or ball bombs out over the fire trench and into the battlefield.

Hartwing assured Criid that the Favell could send a grenade over two hundred and fifty metres.

Aexegarian artillery, 3 kilo mortar shells (6-8 pounder roughly?) and some sort of motorized catapult that throws grenades. Again variable tech levels and all that.




Page 83

He was motionless, peering through a stereoscope rigged to peek out over the parapet.

Stereoscope. used for spotting from trenches.



Page 83

He was a short, square-set Vervunhiver with a boxer’s splayed nose, ex-Vervun Primary, and a hell of a shot. A shoe-in for sniper specialisation in fact, had it not been for his grievous lack of patience. He worried, he fidgeted. A sniper he was not.

Again there are many sniper-wannabes in the regiment who don't match up to the standards, and are probably 'merely' marksmen. It implies that a good chunk of the Tanith are probably skilled shots, even without a long-las



PAge 86

Piet Gutes woke up some nights, sit-up-straight awake, with the last fire-flash of Tanith fading in his mind’s eye. That final, shuddering cough of flame and light that signalled the death of the world that’d raised him. It had been just a little thing, a wink in the night He’d witnessed it from the obs ports of the troop ship. Just a tiny, silent flash.

How could that have been Tanith dying, he often wondered. The mantle splitting. The oceans evaporating. The continents sliding into each other and disintegrating. The grreat nalwood forests licking into cinders in a wall of white heat. The core, cut loose, erupting and boiling out into the vaccuum. Piet gutes supposed that anything, even the most important and profound event in his life or anyone's life, would seem like nothing more than a tiny, silent flash if you saw it from far enough away.

One trooper contemplates the destruction of Tanith. We dont know if this is waht actually happened, if he's imagining it, or if he heard about it/read about it/asked about it or otherwise obtained knowledge later on, but its possible the assessment is accurate. Or he may just be imagining based on what he heard about Chaos (or the Imperial) fleets doing to planets in other cases.

In any event, blasting through crust and mantle and demolishing continents like that implies gigaton/teraton range detonations at least (probably individually, at least for blasting through crusts.) Ocean vaporization is more straightforward - if we assume 1.4e21 kg like EArth, vaping the oceans would require at least 3.5-4e 27 J at least. Given the implied duration of the bombardment (within a day/night, implying a 12 hour or less period) we're talking an average, sustained firepower of ~e22-e23 watts for the Chaos fleet. Now, we dont know the SIZE of the fleet, but its unlikely to be greater than hundreds of ships, as thousands tends to be rather rare even in this crusade (cf Gothic war.) If we figure between 10-1000 the firepower is between e19-e20 watts and e21-e22 watts average per ship. Heck even if it WERE 10,000+ warships, we're still talking around e18 watts more than likely.

Now that said, with the aforementioned caveats, we dont quite know how it was done., Implied conventional firepower but its never impossible that it was something else, like cyclonics.



Page 87

He’d left Bragg to run for fresh ammo, and by the time he’d got back, Bragg was done. Three loxatl flechette rounds at close range, that’s what Gutes had heard. Like he’d eaten a tube-charge. So much mess they’d been hard pushed to find enough to bury, and Bragg had been a big guy.

We know Bragg was killed by Cuu, and it seems the guy pulverized poor Bragg's body with a tube charge (and we though tthe murder was bad enough, now its desecration of the corpse to cover up the crime.) Piece of work that asshole.

Now all that siad we get some techy bits. First off, Loxatl flechette guns behave much like explosives (in this case, comparable to a grenade or stick of dynamite - hundreds of kj at least to several MJ of KE), literally blasting a target (even one as big as Bragg) apart. Whether from number (Shrapnel blast) or because the flechettes themselves are explosive we don't know but it could go either way Secondly, Straight Silver knife wounds (maybe 3-5 cm across?) represent the laceration/incisions made by Loxatl flechettes, meaning they're large, sharp and nasty.

Now, we also know that a tube cahrge can pulverize someone as big as Bragg. We know Bragg is much bigger/heavier than most ghosts, in excess of 2.5 m (but shorter than 3 m) tall, from most novels including Ghostmaker, and we know from First and Only he's less than 300 kilos. So if we figure between 150-200 kilos at least (2-3x mass of a 'normal' man) but less than 250-300 kilos, and compare the effect to a single grenade, we get at least 2-4x normal explosive force, possibly twice that depending on whether grenade is buried or simply against the target. That means at least 1.5-2 MJ, to upwards of 8+ MJ.

If we go by 'flash burn/fragmentation' bragg is over 20,000 sq cm at least, which works out to around 1-2 MJ for 3rd degree burns, 2.5-5 MJ for serious (immolation of flammables) burns, and 8-16 MJ at least for 4th degree (which flays flehs from body via steam explosion.)

And in line iwth all the other tube charge analysis I do, and the fact we learn with Merrt's cursed lasgun that a tube charge is equal to a las powerpack, we get anywhere from 10 kj to 320 kj per shot depending on capacity and number of shots (usual 50-150 shots assumption in my case.)



Page 89

Every sniper calibrated their scopes. It was a given. An adjustment to the milled ring on the back-sight, a moment to let the sighting scanner read your retina and set up the hairs, but Larkin played around more. He tweaked off the inspection cover and overrode the reader, calibrating his weapon to nuances of windspeed and shot-drop that were too subtle for the scope to set automatically.
...
Larkin was the best shot in the regiment, and Gutes wasn't about to tell him his job, even if tinkering with military tech was strictly forbidden. That was the province of the tech-priests, who guarded their secrets jealously. If Larkin had to be a heretic to shoot so well, that was fine with Gutes.

Sniper scopes seem to become more sophisticated with every novel. Recall that this is supposed to be Larkins own personal one, that he brought from TAnith (a 'low tech' world in Ghostmaker.) yet its more advanced than what alot of Guardsmen deal with. Either he's replaced his old scope (doubtful) or it was always this advanced all along.

The self-correcting aspect of the scope is interesting, but I wonder why he has to worry about windspeed or shot drop when it comes to lasguns. I mean they shoot.. lasers. right? Of course the ghosts novels seem to have gotten away from that, and more a 'LAZER BULLETs' thing, and its still up in the air if some/all/most lasweapons are actually lasers, so we can't really blame Abnett for that. Maybe they're hardlight bullets

Oh and like many Guardsmen, Larkin tinkers with his kit even though thats technically forbidden by the coggies and the Munitorum. Shows at least a working knowledge of machines and shit, if not in depth understanding of the hows and whys (but then again how many in real life can say the same?)



Page 92

The shell hit the back wall of the firebay and went off, kicking mud and slime and pieces of flakboard fifty metres into the air. A twenty-pounder at the very least.
..
Loglas was reeling back from the concussive force of the blast when the flying fin hit him in the face.

Shrapnel from a 20 pounder (3.3 inch/84mm) gun. 50m implied shrapnel range. If that wasn't just a lucky hit (and hard to judge really) and from the implied blast it might be between 100-155mm depending on how one defines the 'radius' (blast, kill, casualty, etc.) From this we might figure between 100-120mm, although its also fair to say its not substnatially different from 81mm. Also its approximate, as its at 'least' twenty pounder.



Page 93

He repeated the cry three times before there was an ominous click which announced that the e-mag pulse of the enemy guns had killed the vox-signal.

Interesting that EMP is generated by the enemy bombardment. I suppose it might e possible if its intense enough (or maybe it snon nuclear EMP) but this might also speak to the nature of the munitions themselves. Not that they're using high yield nukes or something (EG pasting them with kilotons), because it coudl be sub-kiloton nukes as well (which exist, and depending on approach could be made very low-yield and compact.)



Page 93

Ten shells a second, heavy gauge from the deep super-siege batteries, and smaller howitzer rounds from the Shadik front. In a space of two minutes, the air was full of mud fog and the atomised steam of debris over a stretch of fifteen kilometres. The ground was quaking.

Implied rate of fire for the shells. 2 minutes alone is 1200 shells. If its all across a 15 km line we're talking 12.5m diameter, whilst if its spread out over say, a 15 x 15 km grid we're talking hundreds of metres diameter easily. given the variety of ammo it could go either way. I dont think, blast wise, it would be different significantly from modern artillery (unless we go with ;'atomised steam' blanketing a 15 km area, but that would imply a heavily thermal weapon) but it can go either way and we dont know the actual distribution of shells either. Again this calc might be illuminating, although if fragmentation radius we might figure upwards of 155mm at least for some. But thast average (all shells equal), assumes no overlap) and other factors as well.




Page 97

Now there were more, and they were running for the line. Some moved in groups, carrying makeshift storm-shields made of overlapped flakboard. Criid slammed off five shots at one shield, but it didn’t slow down. It was just six metres from the parapet when a spray of fluid fire washed across it and turned it into a squealing mass of flames and thrashing human torches.

Lubba fired again, hosing the immediate vicinity with his flamer.

The other side uses mobile cover. At least if they're going to make an assault, they try to minimize the risks of getting shot. At least until the flamer gets involved. We dont know how many are beihnd the barrier of course, but it implies they're immolaated, at least a few MJ per person.



Page 99

Then a pistol banged, its noise muffled by the close-packed bodies. Rawne saw Melwid fall, clutching his belly. He felt a dull ache in his own midriff.

Rawne and another Ghost get shot in the gut. This either implies that the body armor's anti-ballistic properties are only for the upper body, that Rawne isnt wearing the same kind of armour Mkoll is, or the rifle round Mkoll took wasn't full calibre. Given the possibilities, the first one seems quite likely (consider Cadian armour). Heck it could be two different components (it could be the lower body is protected by more flexible but less protective stuff.)



Page 101

Corbec peered into the scope, adjusting the setting ring, waiting a second as the optic scanner read his retina and uatomatically recalibrated for his eyesight.,
...
He looked to his right. Just five hundred metres south, at 294 and 293, he could see a hellish trenchfight tearing through the positions occupied by Rawne and Domor.
...

..again no more than half a kilometre away, the defences held by their Krassian allies were swamped with raiders.
....
Muril deftly calibrated her gunsight back to her own requirement sand sat back on the step...

Sniper scopes again, this time form a Verghast. Again automatically self-correcting, and it seems that anyone can use them or be adapted to it. Also mention again of ditsances along the trench, which is half a km to a km for vox



Page 103

..along with Surch and Loell’s .30 support.

Ghosts with their .30 cal support weapons again.

[Connor MacLeod]

PAge 103

He'd been using a battered artillery scope borrowed from the mortar teams to keep a watch round the blind end of the traverse.

Artillery scope.



PAge 104

He was still getting used to the augmetic bicep and collarbone he’d won at Cirenholm.

From a blood pact short sword, to be precise. Yet more augmetics. Seems they can replace anything on the fly in this Crusade.



Page 105

Slaughtered Krassian troopers, dead Shadik raiders, all twisted and wrapped under and over each other in an orgiastic celebration of feral murder. Smoke plumes drifted out from some las-punctures where uniform fabric had started to burn.

we diont know how big the puncutres are, except that they aren't craters, they have a thermal component, and they can ignite flammables. In flash burn terms thats 125 j per sq cm.



Page 105

In others, grenades had rendered bodies down105 into abattoir chunks, and scorched the earth walls black with soot.

Grenades, and not just tube charges, blasting apart human bodies, although we dont know hwo many and how close and whatnot.



Page 106

Blood, cordite, offal, sweat, fyceline,

Cordite and fycline used as propellants.



Page 109

A fourth returned fire with a compact sub-autogun, a little bull-nosed slugger with a hooked magazine obviously designed with trench-war in mind.

The burst of small-calibre bullets ripped into the support palings of the trench gabion behind Corbec, showering out splinters.

- Shadik trooper using a "compact sub-autogun" Which might mean a SMG or it could just mean a carbine, given the calibre. although 9mm can be small calibre, I'd imagine its something more like .22 or .223. Although there ARE .22 cal SMGs

In any case it shows they have at least some automatic weaponry, although presumably not as good as lasrifles.



Page 110

Cown tried to dart across to them, but jerked back when rifle rounds and what seemed to be buckshot came stinging up the munitions track.

Shotguns as wella s rifle rounds.



Page 112

..Corbec knew a scatter-shot hit like that was gangrene waiting to happen, even if the enemy hadn’t treated their lead with bacterials as he’d known to be the tactics amongst the arch-enemy.

Sillo had been hit in the left thigh with such force it had shredded his trouser-leg off, broken his belt, and gouged the flesh so deeply Corbec had seen yellow fat and bone.

Effect of Shadik shotguns. And being chaos, they disease/toxify their ammo of course.




Page 114-115

He should never have become an officer. Never. Not even a sergeant, let alone XO of the Tanith regiment. Sure, he had the presence and the charisma, so he was told. He was a personality, and the men rallied round him. That was what Gaunt had seen in him, first time they’d met. Must’ve been. And Corbec was happy to serve.

But there it was. Gaunt had made him colonel. He’d not asked for it. He’d not chased for it. He wasn’t a career man, like Daur or, Emperor protect them all, Rawne. He had no ambition.
..
He led from the front. Just so. He was never happier than when he was at the very workface of fighting, confronting the practicals.

Corbec's nature, which is an interesting contrast ot the age. It also gets mention of his wounds earlier, how he's accumulated many (Menazoid Epsilon, Hagia, and recently Phantine). He's a leader of sorts, but not an officer. He's good at the whole inspiration and charisma thing, getting soldiers to trust and follow and even obey him, but he doesn't like (or do good at) the rest of what an officer is supposed to do (especially the bad bits.) Which sets him apart from people like Rawne and Gaunt, and it is a big reason why the poor guy keeps getting wounded. Its in his nature, and that is, in the end, goign to lead to tragedy.

Another interesting aspect to this is that, I think, Rawne is probably the most 'Sharpe-like' of all the Ghosts, both in his attitude, how others regard him, and in the way he is ambitious (particularily for one coming 'from the ranks' such as it were.) Although he's not completely Sharpe like, he seems to have gotten the lion's share of the 'nasty' side, whilst others (like Charisma, leading from the front, etc. got distributed to gaunt and Corbec and a few others.)




PAge 117

Sometimes, Soric saw better with his good eye closed. It was just one of those things. He didn’t think much of it. His eye was dead, and so he reckoned it saw things only the dead could see. It had a vantage his good eye didn’t.
..
He’d talked about the dreams, and now Gaunt and Dorden and that sweet girl Ana Curth regarded him with mistrust. He should never have told them about his great-grandmother.

Grandam had possessed the sight.
..
Now Agun could, being the seventh son of a seventh son, as Grandam had always assured him.
..
Passage so close under death’s black wing and out the other side, that marked a man. That woke him up. That opened his senses.

Development of Soric's awakened psychic powers in Guns of Tanith. He 'see's stuff, denies its psychic and it seems to be centered aruodn his missing eye. He also write snotes to himself without realizing it.

The interesting thing is twofold, the schizophrenic/unconscious way his mind reacts with the note writing, and the fact that the powers evolve not just from a near-deth experience (his soul close to release to the warp?) or that 7th son of 7th son stuff (belief?), its that its centered around his missing eye. Makes you wonder if (for example) a psyker missing an arm might develop grater TK abilities as compensation, for example.

Anyhow Soric's time is running out, arc wise.



Page 119

I don’t know about you, Agun, but I’m shaking fit to drop. Man like you must have some hard stuff hereabouts.”
“Oh,” said Soric. He rattled round on the shelf. “Forgive my inhospitality, commissar.”

Hark is a commissar but he likes his drink and food.





Page 121-122

Every ten, twenty minutes he wandered outside and watched the flickering lights and puffing smogs of the distant battle.
..
At around 14.00, he went to eat at one of the pensions, and got a curious look from the matronly owner when he ordered scrambled eggs. Only when it arrived did he remember that he’d already taken lunch — scrambled eggs — just an hour before.

It started a bit just after lunch for the troopers, so we might figure 2 hours or so tops. At 10 shells per second and around an hour or two (45 minutes implied for storming, where shells might not be fired) we get between 36,000 and 72,000.





Page 122

Pollo had been bodyguard for a noble house back on Verghast, and his nerves were augmented by extravagantly expensive neural enhancers, so his fingers split and spread the cards faster than the eye could follow.

Pollo, introduced last book, is some former Hive bodyguard with superhuman augmetic reflexes. Useful trait in a soldier, even a conscripted upper class one.

Amusingly Mkvenner as we noted is nearly that fast, as we saw in the preivious trench fight the scouts got involved in. I'm beginning to suspect the Nalsheen stuff may be subject to that whole 'supernatural taint due to proximity of warp' that seems to infect all of the Ghosts as discussed in prior books.




Page 123 -124

He found Trooper Merrt practising his aim against old bottles ranged on the crossbeams of the end wall.
..
“Just gn… gn… practising. I’ve set it to gn… gn… low-charge.” He looked a little shame-faced, though it was hard to tell. Merrt’s jaw and one side of his face were crude metal implants, poorly disguised by a flesh-coloured mask.
..
His speech was distorted by the rebuilt portions of his head. Merit seemed to gnaw the words out. He stammered a lot, thanks to that ugly replacement jaw.
..

There had been plenty of scorch marks on the end wall, but precious few broken bottles.

Merrt is the start of another of those ongoing 'subplots' which actually lasts awhile, although it technically started in Ghostmaker. We get again mention of the injuries he took and how extensive they are, which goes back to m calcs way back in Ghostmaker (and whihc I won't repeat.)

Also low charge shots can break bottles (do some mechanical damage) although translating this into firepower is hard. It does show variable settings though.




Page 126

Unofficially, the rumour was that Meryn had ordered, or performed, some excessively brutal actions during Operation Larisel. Certainly Larkin and Mkvenner were tight-lipped about him. Meryn had been zealous to achieve his Larisel mission targets and prove himself for promotion.

And he was. Like with Cuu, Meryn's descent into badness (not evil, just badness) seems designed to highlight the harsh, brutal and generally horrible side to the Guard. They're not all gaunts and Koleas and Braggs and Corbecs after all. What's more, evne Mkvenner, who has some positive bits, isn't being judgemental about that brutality (which involved gunning down and otherwise killing civilians for 'operational security.') Its a more complex, nuanced approach to the characters totally in keeping with 40K - no 'black or white', just lots and lots of grays.




Page 127

On Fortis Binary, he [Varl] had taken an upper torso wound that had resulted in serious augmetic work to his shoulder, collarbone and upper arm.

Varl's injuries. Again it higlights how his shoulder was basically disintegrated (or had to be) since his upper arm, shoulder AND collarbone had to be reworked. Indeed we're still talking a good 10-15 cm radius affected, and much of that is bone. we can be talking a good 50-100 kj per shot at least based on pulverizing bone like that, which emphasizes the 'lasfire as tens of kj' esitimate. More if its a wider area of effect. and it doesint include the drilling into flesh either (or flaying it away - if we figure 4th degree burns even over a 5 cm area on both sides of the shoulder, we're talking a good 15-20 kj for the shot alone.)




Page 128

..a spent brass case from a .30. The bird lunged and cracked the case in two with its scissoring beak.

Juvenile Struthid. and the .30 cals are cased ammo.




Page 130-131

His sleeve was pinned to the doorpost by a Tanith warknife.
..
“I start chucking a few more warknives. Someone give me some straight silver.”
Daur blinked. An extraordinary thing happened. There was a ripple of thuds, and a semi-circle of Tanith blades appeared around Varl’s feet, tips buried in the wood, thrown without hesitation and with complete accuracy from the crowd.

Varl bent down and plucked out one of the still vibrating blades.

He tossed it up in the air without even looking at it, and caught it again by the grip.

Varl and the other Ghosts, obviously, are accomplished knife throwers. Considering how freaking big those knives are, that's even more impressive.




Page 136-137

“I am Imperial Commissar Gaunt,” he said. “I am known to be a fair man, until I am pushed. You’ve just pushed me.”

Gaunt lowered his weapon and shot two of the Aexegarians dead where they stood. The rest fled.
For good measure, Gaunt sighted and shot down one of the escapees too.
..
“No one does that to my medicae core,” he said.
Curth looked at him in frank fear. She’d never seen him like this.
“I’m a commissar,” he said to her. “I don’t think you realise what a commissar is, Ana. Get used to it.”
..
..angry at the way Gaunt had just demonstrated the bleak side of Imperial Guard discipline. Dorden had vowed never to kill. He’d broken that vow once, on Menazoid Epsilon, in order to save Gaunt’s life. Now he saw Gaunt take life wantonly, in the name of iron discipline.

Gaunt demonstrates he can still be the hardass commissar if he needs to be, which (with Dorden and Curths' reactions) just goes to show how different Gaunt is form the perceived 'norm' of Commissars. And just in case we forgot 40K had grim or dark stuff in it.

Its also a indicator of Gaunt's utter protectiveness and dedication to the Ghosts (which we've seen numerous times before.) He will literally do anything for them, even executing/terrorizing other allies.




Page 139

In truth, few Guard COs bothered to inform next of kin, though a handful of regiments were famous for the scrupulous way they did it.
...
Gaunt remembered the old days, when Oktar had charged him with composing the LIA notices for the families of the Hyrkan dead. After Balhaut, it had taken him the best part of a week.

Lines of communication in some forms for the Guard (mail and other correspondence at least) is kept open at least in some cases. We've seen this in at least one Guard codex (3rd), the Brimlock dragoons in Imperial Glory, the Valhallans in the Cain novels, etc.




PAge 139

From the list, he realised that the Ghosts’ strength had dropped to less than one hundred platoons for the first time since Verghast. He felt his anger returning. War consumed manpower. That was one of the first things they drummed into you at the commissariate.

- Gaunt mentiones that his combat strength has dropped below 100 platoons. Apparently the Tanith go for larger numbers of smaller units. Since they're around 3000 or less by now, we're talking maybe 20-30 man platoons. And talking 100-300 man platoons we're easily talking 10-30 companies.

It also reflects how the structure of the Tanith has changed since the first couple novels, where platoons were 50 men. It could be just an out of universe change like any number Abnett seems to have made over time, but in universe we could explain it as resturcutring post Necropolis with the Acts of Consolation.





Page 143

Further south down the Naeme Valley, the 47th and 46th sectors were brutalised by twelve straight hours of heavy bombardment.

Assuming that the 10 shell/second rate held we're up to 432,000 shells.




Page 144-145

...Gaunt knew that Dorden was still angry with him about the discipline killings. He had a right to be, in Gaunt’s opinion. Gaunt had been in a dazed rage the afternoon before, weary with the pointless losses he’d witnessed at station 289. He’d just snapped.

As an Imperial commissar, Gaunt was unusual, quite apart from the fact that he held command rank. Commissars were universally feared. They were the Guard’s instruments of discipline and control, the lash that kept the soldiery in line and drove them forward. They were there to drum the tenets of the Imperial creed into the minds of the enlisted men, and then give them stark, regular reminders of that truth. Summary execution, even for minor violations, was acceptable stock-in-trade for a commissar. The great Yarrick himself had once said that it was a commissar’s job to be a figure of greater fear and threat to an Imperial Guardsman than any enemy.

That was not Gaunt’s way. Experience had shown him that morale was better served by encouragement and trust than by an unpredictable temper and a pistol. He’d had a good example in the form of his mentor, the late Delane Oktar. Oktar’s philosophy of morale had been based on trust and tolerance too. There had been times when a firm hand had been called for, a few more when action had worked better than words.

But Gaunt prided himself on his fairness, and knew that he was able to count men like Dorden as friends because of it. At the field hospital, he’d acted just like a typical commissar. Dorden hadn’t said anything, but Gaunt had seen the disappointment in his eyes.

Gaunt reflects on the executions he did. I think its worth noting that this is perfect evidence that Gaunt is a rather piss poor commissar and has lost perspective (which we've addressed before numerous times) due to his Ghosts obsession. In a way he never was, which we've seen in his interactions between him and Hark (Honour Guard and Guns of Tanith), but its only grown over time. He's too honest, too honroable, too straightforward, and can only act the threatening hardass when the Tanith are at threat, which just shows his objectivity is shot to hell. Heck its saying something that Ciaphas Cain is a better commissar than Gaunt (or rather, Gaunt is great at the inspiration and leadership, but horrible at everything else a Commissar must do.) But the fact he has lost control (over his precious Ghosts) is perhaps the most start indicator that he's lost the compusure and perspective a Commissar needs. He literally cannot be objective when it comes to the Ghosts.

In alot of ways, when you contrast him with (for example) Hark, you see Gaunt is really just playing at being a Commissar. and a big part of this book seems to be to show that Gaunt's Commissarial role has decayed whilst his 'officer' role has grown. And the two are headed towards an inevitable conflict, as Gaunt's dedication/obsession with the Ghosts (as an officer) will clash with his duty to the Emperor (As a Commissar, at least as he sees it), and his tension with Dorden over this conflict will resurface later again.

As a final aside we get some of Gaunt's insight into the less... charismatic and more terrifying aspects of the Commissar. The Dark side, as it were. Yet another indicator how Gaunt is not a good Commissar.


Page 145

There was no point setting the blame on fatigue. Fatigue implied weakness, and a commissar could never be weak. He realised it was more a matter of futility. He’d come into the Aexe war with reservations, and each step of the way to the front had confirmed his fears. War was not senseless of itself. Faced with the immortal obscenity of Chaos, humankind had a true cause to rally around and fight for. There was a greater good, a purpose, even here on Aexe.

It was the manner of this war that was senseless. The dismissive contempt with which the Alliance threw men and materiel at the enemy. The antique thinking that believed brute strength was the main determining factor behind victory. It made Gaunt angry to see this, angrier still to have the First caught up in it. The afternoon before, he’d been smothered by the futility, and it had worked its ministry on him.

Again this also reflects Gaunts transition out of being a commissar and into an actual officer. By this point his commissarial status is more habit and inertia than anything.

The whole 'nature of war' thing is interesting too. Gaunt's views parallel my own. Gaunt is less frustrated by war itself (which he sees as inevitable so long as threats to humanity exist, which is true) but rather the manner in which the war is conducted. ITs very much a point of view thing. for us in real life, war is rather senseless, as its conducted more for political (or economic) reasons rather than as a matter of survival (As a race, a culture, or a political entity.) In 40K, war is a harsh necessity. so it is not without sense, evne if it can still be horrible and tragic.

We might also see more naitvete in Gaunt, because what he describes as the Aexe Cardinal approach to warfare can be (at least in some parts of the galaxy) actually be considered to be the Imperail approach to warfare (attrition and mass/brute force.) We can in this see Gaunt's bias towards Slaydo, who was a bit of a mentor (as were others of Slaydo's ilk) and that needs to be borne in mind when it comes to judging how the Imperium wages warfare. After all, Aexe CArdinal is technically an 'Imperial' world as well, and if it contributed troops in this state they probbaly would wage war much like this in the galaxy too.



Page 145

Many believed that the Imperium was so vast in scale, so huge in scope, that the actions of one man could not affect it. That wasn’t true. If everyone thought that way, the Imperium would simply collapse in upon itself overnight Each and every human soul determined their part of Imperial culture. That was the only thing the Emperor asked of a man. Be true to yourself, and all those myriad tiny contributions would combine to build a culture that could endure until the stars went out.

This is true, in two different ways. In one way its obvious, the Imperium is so huge and sprawling and decentralized that it takes huge numbers of individual (uncoordinated) efforts to have any real impact. But on the other, more metaphysical level, it takes the mass belief of humanity to have an impact - faith in the Emperor, faith in humanity, etc.

I think it also underlies the fundamental optimism of Gaunt, his belief/hope in something greater/better than simply surviving.



Page 148

He wished he'd brought his compass, or his locator, or even his auspex....

Gaunt and his adjutant are lost, and hence navigational tools (he has a personal auspex that can fill that role.) Presumably locator is 'space GPS'




Page 150

She hurned her head towards him. It was the fluid neck-swivel of a human who had been habituated to helmet-display targeting sensors.

The lady in question was former Sororitas, so given that Gaunt recognized the nature, and it didn't surprise him, we can probably assume that's what Sororitas use.



Page 150-152

"But the boy, he’s the crux.”
“You seem to be speaking in riddles, sister.”
“I know. It must be very distressing. There are so many things I can’t say. It would ruin everything if I did. And it’s really too important, so that mustn’t happen. Was there a boy? Very young? The youngest of all?”
“My previous adjutant was a boy,” said Gaunt, suddenly very unsettled. “His name was Milo. He’s a trooper now.”
“Ah,” she said, nodding. “It gets it wrong sometimes.”
“What does?” asked Gaunt.
“The tarot.”
“How can you read cards when you can’t see?” Beltayn asked warily.
..
“I don’t,” she said. “It reads me."
...
“It will be hard,” she confided.
“What will?”
“Herodor,” she replied.
“Herodor?” The only Herodor Gaunt knew of was a tactically insignificant colony world some distance to coreward. He shrugged.
“I’ve been allowed to pass on a few things,” she said. “There is harm throughout. But the greatest harm, ultimately, is within. Within your body.”
..
"The harm is in two parts. Two dangers, one truly evil, one misunderstood. The latter holds the key. It’s important you remember that, because you commissars are terribly trigger happy. I think that’s it. Oh, there is something else. Let your sharpest eye show you the truth. That’s it. Your sharpest eye. Well, that about does it. I hope I’ve made myself clear.”

Ah, more supernatural foreshadowing. I'd say of the arc this is the biggest one, and its highlighting whats to come next, so its the penultimate really. As established prior, the Ghosts and Gaunt have a 'destiny' of sorts when it comes to this Crusade, and the forces of the Warp (good and ill) seem to be taking an active role.

I also think the interesting here is the words the woman says. She's not allowed to reveal everything, or even be explicit in what she is and why she's here. Its all riddles and hints, whcih sounds very much like a 'free will' sort of paradox to me. Her nature will be discussed later. It also speaks of the tarot, although whether that is true or just an excuse we don't know.



Page 153

"I really shouldn’t say this. I’m stepping way beyond my role… but when you see her, commend me to her. Please. I miss her.”

An interesting comment with implications. The interesting thing will be with relation to Saint Sabbat and Sanian (who we meet in the next book, believed to be the reincarnation of the Saint.) which would suggest that the Saint's spirit might inhabit Sanian's body. A sort of beingn possession in other words. Given all we know in other sources (Especially the 'REalms of Chaos' stuff) this is entirely plausible.



Page 154

..the highway was thick with munition trains and troop carriers. Northbound, they caught the end of a convoy of Guard Thunderers and light armour moving up to Gibsgatte.

Probably all Guard stuff then.



PAge 157

A tiny servitor drone circled the table, clipping and lighting cigars.

I wonder how tiny, and what sort of organic components they use for it. Anyhow it seems to have at least some discrimination ability between 'targets'

PAge 154

They saw slow formations of Alliance tri-planes buzzing east towards the front, and once or twice the glint of Imperial air support banging in supersonically, taking a new kind of war to this lingering, old-fashioned theatre

Differnece in air power. Again supersonic.


Page 160

He remembered some of the staff dinners when Imperial commanders had hurled abuse at each other across the table and then sat laughing over the port. There was no such frankness here. There was simply a culture of martial formality that stifled any hope of victory.
..
“I see the old political skills of the commissar haven’t left you.”

'Political officer' isn't just a term. It requires (agai) psychology and knowledge of those the Commissar deals with - politics, culture, etc. A properly skilled Commissar can wage a battle with words as well as with blades or gun.


Page 160

"My Lord Warmaster Macaroth himself made it clear we were here to support the Alliance, not take command from them. Our hands are tied.”

Politics constraining the Guard (Again) not unlike at Vervunhive. They're dependent upon their allies for victory so they can't run roughshod over them (yet). Thats why Van Voytz just can't take over.


Page 160-161

"If we had supreme command here, I’d gladly take the Alliance and shake it by the scruff until it worked properly. Worked like a modem army. God-Emperor, a full Guard army employed here purposefully could turn Shadik back in a month.”
..
“The Alliance won’t admit they are fighting a modem foe,” said Biota quietly. “They will not accept that the Shadik Republic has changed, been corrupted,"
..
"I had hoped that the Alliance might learn things from the Guard... new ways of fighting... things like fluid field orders and unit-level decision making...."

"you've been reading your Slaydo," said Gaunt with a smile.

Further elaboration on the whole 'Modern way the Guard does war' and doctrine stuff. Again we get the indicator that the philosophy/belief Gaunt espouses seems to be less a generally uniform approach to Guard Warfare (because there isn't one) but rather a more regional one (Macharius and Slaydo, both operational within this segmentum on the fringes of space, in other words.) Its quite differnet from the Imperial armour approach, the codex shit,a nd such, but it just shows the way the Guard is 'variable' - they don't choose to emphasize one particular approach, they just give alot of possibilities and let the guy in charge decide, for good or bad. CReating a sort of 'doctrinal culture' for such military theory and practice is thus very much dependent upon the local beliefs, practices and politics, and those can be neither generalized nor prredicted. The Guard can be as Gaunt describes it.. or it can be as Dravere did it at Fortis Binary. Good and bad. Theory and Practice.

Another interesting speculation is tha tbetween the Ghosts novels and the Cain novels, we get the impression that the fringes of Imperial space (the frontiers) tend to be more... militant and sane in their approach to warfare than they do closer to the core regions of Terra and Segmentum Solar. It may relfect their distance from the centres of power and authority (less micromanaging and bureacuracy), or the fact they're out on the fringes where threats may be more present and dangeorus, where warp travel can be more unreliable and risky, and logistics/tech base may not be as consistent or effective.

There is also discussion that the Aexegarians simply refuse, out of pride, to adapt their tactics when the Shadik do or even admit that the Shadik have. They have a long 'tradition' of military victory and refuse to consider they might be defeated. True, its not 'Guard proper' by Gaunt's view, but we've seen plenty of examples of worlds where that thinking IS prevalent and translates into the Guard. Its that whole 'variable' thing again



Page 163-164

"I think the car’s been stolen.”
“Stolen?”

“It’s not where we parked it.”

Keys are missing too. The old 'Sister' provided the car, and the reasons it vanishes will be explained later.



Page 173-174

Some small animal, probably a grazer. He sat on a rock for a moment, exchanging his hot-shot ammunition clip for a low-volt pack.
..
"A hot-shot'll mince anything smaller than a deer. We wanna eat. We don't wanna paint hte scenery with liquid animal"

Larkin describing why you dont use hot-shot rounds hunting (using the "low volt" instead.)

Implied power of a hot-shot round. 'smaller' than a deer could mean literally anything really.(including young deer) and the concept of deer itself could be pretty variable (and make calcing this some thing up for.. debate.) And whilst I could probably spend huge amounts of time justifying a partiuclar interpretation there probably isn't much point. Sufficed to say, if we say a 'deer' and figure the White tailed (most common in North America for exmaple) Masses can range form 60-130 kg (50-150 kg fo rmule deer, which seem to be fairly common.) That could be roughly worth one or maybe two grenades worth (compared to what pulverizes a human body) at least. If we figure 20 cm 'tall' at the chest and 100 cm long for our hypothetical deer, its 4000 sq cm for both sides of hte body (ignoring neck and legs) and at 400 j per sq cm we get 1.6 MJ.

That's purely an example of course, but I think we could possibly say that the yields could range from anything to hundreds of kj to perhaps megajoules depending on where you place sizes, destructive effects, and so on.

It also indicates hotshots are the more 'explosive' rounds. as opposed to regular lasweapons. It also means that as a rule, hotshots are overkill on most people (headsploding them)




Page 174

It seemed odd for her to be carrying a standard Mark III carbine.

Muril is carrying a carbine. Mark 3 is called such. Of course it could be the Ghosts use both rifles and carbines, and they're just vaariations of the same pattern.



Page 174

Standard kit order for troopers was the ceramite helmet for line duties, and a choice of black beret or forage cap otherwise. Unless you were a scout, or a trainee scout like Muril. Then you got to wear the wool cap for all duties. It didn’t obstruct movement or vision like a helmet...
..
Whatever standard kit order said about headwear, the First was extraordinarily lax about it. Many went bare-headed. Berets were common under fire. He’d once heard Corbec tell Hark that more Ghosts had used their hard-bowls as buckets than had worn them in combat.

Ghost headwear, as well sa why we rarely/never see them wearing helmets. Probably suggests they have rigid plated armour (like we saw in Guns of Tanith or other books) but hhardly ever use it (explaining the cloth armour and this book.)



Page 175 -

He waited for the scope to lock. The read-out lit up in his eye. Target-fix. Four hundred and seventy-two metres. The back of Feygor's head. Coast. Target-fix. Four seventy-nine and a half. Brostin's promethium tanks. Coast.

Four eighty-one. TArget-fix. Lijah Cuu. Side of the skull. Adjusted for cross-wind. Tracking.

...

The target-fix rune was flashing steady now.

Through Larkin's scope. Again very electronic, very sophisitcated. And for some reason crosswind a concern with laser beams.



Page 179

Brostin hand-cranked the feeder reservoir of his flamer’s broom, and clicked the lighter flint. There was a wet cough, and then a hiss as the flamer came to life. Brostin had it turned right down, so that just a cone of blue-heat sizzled around the nozzle. The hiss of the burner filled the air.
..
Brostin edged his way over to Feygor, using the barely-lit flamer like a lamp.

- flamers are adjustable in terms of the size/intensity of their flames (small enough to serve as an impromptu hand torch, at least.) I wonder if they hav ea 'blowtorch' mode like Ork Burnas?


Page 179-180

..Feygor and shot it.
He hit it in the belly and there was a loud burst of fur and dust.
...
Sawdust dribbled from its shot-open gut.
..
Raised on its hind legs, three metres tall, covered in black fur and sporting teeth the length of his fingers.
..
“Some kind of ursa,” said Feygor, truculently punching it in the chest. It was hollow.

Feygor fires his lasgun, and the above is the effect on a stuffed, bearlike animal called a Behj.

Not sure how to calc it since its hollow but still..


Page 189

Through missing floorboards, they could see another Shadik up in the remains of the second floor, crouching at a tripod-mounted spotter scope and gazing out over the wasteland to the west.

Tripod mounted spotter (probably a telescope) and Criid underneath the floor the spotter is on.



Page 192

Costin wailed as a rifle round exploded his hand and the bottle it was holding. A second later, and another shot tore open his tunic across the right shoulder.
..
Azayda leapt forward, desperate to quieten Costin, and a third round burst the Verghastite's head like a ripe fruit.

Shadik rifle, bolt action. Probably a full power round (but still not necessarily .50 cal, but still perhaps much more powreful than 7.62MM NATO for example)..s omething like this could cover it I think (.308 Winchester.)

Also rifle removing hand.

this would confirm the idea that lasguns can be comparable to bolt action, full power rifles, I think, both by the effects and the other stuff. It also provides clarification about what kind of round might have hit Mkoll earlier, I think.



PAge 193

Her shot punched through the floorboard from below and severed the right shin of the spotter.

As established previously, Criid is beneath the trooper, so she's basically firing upwards (even if at an angle) through floorboards of unknown thickness.. and still managing to sever the shin/leg of a Shadik trooper. Possibly armored, but we dont know. The interesting thign is the severing probably is at an angle, rather than perpendicular to the body (if Tona was firing on a level with the trooper, for example) so the 'penetration' is probably a bit deeper than we are used to. Probably at least 10-12 cm diameter to sever leg or thereabouts, and possibly up to 12-15 cm depth at least to penetrate. On top of the boards (at least several cm if not several inches thick, maybe?) 2-3 kj at least to severe the bones. Tens of kj easily to sever the leg probably (depending on extent severed), probably at least a couple kilojoules to punch through wood planking as well.




Page 193

Cooking pots, boxes of ammo for a .45 cannon set up in a broken window, cans of processed meat, a field telephone.

Shadik equipment. .45 caliber cannon (support weapon?) of some kind.



Page 203

And by a blast of las fire..

...

The stuffed behj was lying on its back in front of Feygor, its head shot off. Sawdust drifted down in the air.

blowing a bear-sized object's head off, except its hollow for stuffing, and I'm not usre if it has a skull or not. single, maybe double digit kj, although I add that tenatively.



Page 208

“In an ideal galaxy, we’d all go. The way we were meant to. But thanks to Murtan Feygor, this isn’t an ideal galaxy. So we improvise. That’s what we’re good at, after all. "

Feygor is another one of those negative elements to the Guard (Earlier there was another drunk, Costin, who got his platoon shot up, Will talk about that later.) Feygor, Cuu, and Brostin and a few others are slacking off, drunk and disorderly, and Feygor's in command so noone can do anything about it.




Page 208

"Signal when you can."

"not a lot of range on these micro-beads. No more than a league or two in these woods."

'League' is not terribly precise as it can vary from country to country, as little as 1.5-2 km (Depending on some interpetations up to 10-11 km in tohers. So we could see micro beads as being 1.5 km or 22+ km at least. If we go with the 'English' definition or the Roman one we get 3 miles (or nautical miles) which can be 4.8-5.6 km, or slightly less than 5 to nearly 12 km range, or 2.2-4.4 km for the Roman League.

Interesting is the implication (depending on context) that the range outside the woods could be more.



Page 213

Cavalry and light foot elements were pushed through to overtake the raiders then continue on for a counter-attack. They were supplemented by armour.

Alliance armour was in the main ponderous, primitive, rhomboidal tanks with heavy roof or sponson guns. These sluggish giants rumbled their way out into the Pocket. They were menacing, but had not achieved much success in anything but psychological terms since their first employment twelve years earlier. However, on this day, five Imperial Guard Thunderers, spared from the action at Gibsgatte, led them out. By evening, they had made a memorable dent in the Shadik lines. It was the first demonstration of modem armour superiority witnessed on Aexe Cardinal.

Aexgarian assault, which reminds me a ton of Vraks (supposedly 'primitive' by Guard standards again.) The tanks described remind me of Land Raiders or Malcadors. By contrast the Imperial 'thunderere's are more modern vehicles (which is basically a non Turreted demolisher) and speaks poorly of the Aexgarian tanks in general. Not sure what to make of the Thunderers (which is basically an ad hoc design as I recall) being described as modern warfare either



Page 221-222

Respirator masks clamped on, they extended into the soupy veil of the drifting gas, which wrapped the landscape with a tobacco-yellow stain.
..
A bland glow of daylight bathed them through the toxin clouds...
..
The chemical attack had changed the ground, baking the mud so dry it had begun to crack.

The Ghosts advance inside a chemical cloud attack using it as cover. They're wearing masks and gloves, so their uniforms and shit seem to be fully enclosed/protected against at least biological and chemical attacks.



Page 235

“I wish I had pictures of them,” Gutes said. “There was no time, when I signed up. It was last minute. We agreed she’d send some on via the Munitorium. She promised me a care package. Letters.”
“They didn’t suffer, Piet,” Rerval said.
“No, I know that. Just a little flash and Tanith was dead. Bang, goodnight.
..
“I always thought,” Gutes said, “that she’d be the one getting the letter. My daughter, I mean. The one that comes in the vellum envelope. The one that says blah blah blah regret to inform you that your father, etc.”

Again its implied Tanith died q uickly, but that is really beside the point. The Munitorum also exchanges mail to and from troopers (and their familes/relatives.) - at least insofar as is possible with the warp involved - and will inform of a death (assuming the soldier dies before his family. Again the warp.)

But what is notable here is that the person involved is old (as old as Larkin or Corbec, perhaps older) and he mentions he's tired. Tired of war. Trying to escape it. He's got no family, no home nothing to look forward to or look back on, nothing ot remember his family by. He drinks and carouses to try and escape the war. This is a different perspective on the Ghosts - many of the ones we've seen are consummate and eager warriors, the ones who face danger and fear and conquer ir to achieve their objectives. We've seen the dark side in Meryn and Feygor and Cuu. But this is... the side that is tired of war. The exhausted, the hopeless. Its really a telling part of the seires that Abnett continues to introduce us to new facets of the larger war, both in the context of the regiment and in the region at large. It really gives you a sense of scope, perspective and egen tragedy.



Page 240

Nine men dead. Six injured. Three more sick with gas-related injuries caused by tears in their kit. Seventeen platoon was a mess.
...
..he’d ended up with less then fifty per cent of his platoon alive or able-bodied.

- eighteen casualties consittues "little over half" a Tanith platoon. Implies 30 people maybe per platoon.



Page 242

Then had come the girl, the little girl from Fichua..
..
She didn’t seem much, just a child in a hoop skirt and bodice. But her voice…
She sang three songs. They were funny and saucy and patriotic. The last was a ditty Golke had heard the men singing from time to time. An ironic piece about doing your bit in which the soldier assured his superiors he was willing to fight, but expressed the wish to do so somewhere safe. The chorus went something like “I want to find a place to fight, anywhere but here.”
The crowd had gone mad. The little Fichuan girl had repeated the song as an encore. Flowers had been tossed onto the stage.
..
He understood why the men, sentimental fools the lot of them, like all soldiers off-duty, loved it so. It was catchy and bright and funny. It voiced their secret desires. It let them laugh away their dearest and most hidden wishes.

Another of those 'little touches' that keep getting to me in this series. That contrast between hope and despair, laughter and joy, fear and courage. It brings to mind Ana Curth's comments to Kolea in Guns of Tanith about how soldiers embrace different escapes from war, trying to cope with it. These soldiers, part of a cutlure of war spanning decades are still finding some sort of joy in life however briefly, to push away the fear that they might die tomorrow, or the next day, or next week. Again to me there's something significant in that symbolism.


Page 246-247

"I will not stand by and let you do this! Where the feth is your humanity? I respected you, Gaunt! I'd have followed you to the ends of the worlds, because you weren't like the others! That shit at the triage station… that I understood! I hated you for it, but I forgave you! But not this."
..
"He told me about it. He's traumatised. Remorseful. Suicidal, probably"

"Suicide is no option. His laxity caused the death of several Ghosts."
..
"Go on. I'm defying your orders. If Costin deserves the bullet for breaking your orders, so do I. So, shoot me. Or have everyone know you as an inconstent leader…
one rule for one, another for another"
..
"But if you choose to take a stand on this, I will shoot you. It is my duty. My duty to the Guard, to the Warmaster and to the God-Emperor of Mankind. I cannot make exceptions."
..
"We are mirrors, Tolin, you and me. Mirrors of war. I break them. You put them back together. For every gramme of your soul that wishes war would end, mine matches it tenfold. But until the killing ends, I won't back down from my duty. Don't make the next round I fire be the one that kills Tolin Dorden."
..
"You really would shoot me," Dorden marvelled softly, "wouldn't you?"

"Yes."
..
You've just undermined me in front of my men. You've just weakened my authority. I'm glad to the bottom
of my heart that I couldn't shoot you, because of our friendship. But I hope you're ready to cope with the consequences.'

"There won't be any consequences, Ibram," Dorden said.

"Oh yes, there will," said Gaunt. "Oh, most certainly there will."

Dorden and Gaunt come to a head in this rather lengthy (but still abbrevaited) passage, and Dorden wins out. This ultimately proves Gaunt isn't a good commissar - he's not even the Commissar he might have been once. balancing the two duties assigned to him has compromised him, and his attachment to the Ghosts is ultimately what ruined him.

It's interesting because unlike the previous situation, Gaunt is confronted with shooting his own regiment - he's faced with actually BEING a Commissar in its truest sense, which runs up against that sense of duty/obligation and those ties to the Tanith. Maybe, maybe he could have shot Costin (the one who fucked up by drinking on the job), but he couldn't shoot Dorden.

And I imagine there will be consequences. This being the Ghosts series, there are consequences for every major action like this, and backign down has hurt Gaunt, even if Dorden doesn't realize it. In a way its Dorden's own ignorance, his humanity, and his pacifism that will lead to this.



Page 248

But it was bad. There wasn't a trooper in die First who'd take a gun to Doc Dorden. The idea was criminal. Time would tell what Gaunt's loss of face would lead to.

The stand-off had shown Gaunt was human. Ironically, that wasn't necessarily a good thing. Even more ironically, most of the First probably knew it already.

Mkoll watching the fight. His assessment basically echoes (and confirms) my own, and that there will be consequences to Dorden's intervention. The last bit was interesting, because while they probably knew, it was never actually acknowledged. But now its out in the open, and it can't really be.. ignored.



Page 250

"An opportunity for the Verghastite element of the First to shine. Arcuda… round up every man you can find who
used to be a miner or an ore worker."

Gaunt intends to take an underground tunnel into Shadik territory, but the opening needs to be cleared of debris, and he thinks the Verghast can be of help here. It shows that perhaps the Verghast element can be a boon not just in the 'guerilla' style scratch company warfare they fought in Necropolis, but also in tunnel and pioneer work in certain ways, which adds to their capabilities in a certain respect.



Page 254

Domor adjusted his optics to night-vision mode.

Which may be thermal, or it may actually be some low light NVG mode.



Page 256

It sounded like a distant hammering at first, then rose in volume and tempo undl they could actually feel the earth around them
vibrating. Gaunt calculated there was between eight and twelve mettes of solid earth above their heads, but still everything jarred.
..
It wasn't hard to imagine what would happen if a heavy shell scored a direct hit above them.
..
The tunnel could cave or collapse. They'd already seen it had done that further back.

Comments on the possibility of shell destructive effects/penetration, although its not 'penetrate depth and detonate' and we dont know exactly how deep it penetrates. but it could collapse says alot. We dont know the kinds of shells either, however other than 'heavy shell.'


Page 263

He personified the emotion-led failing of the Alliance top brass, a failing that had prolonged this war by decades. As with all efforts of such scale, his failing went unnoticed in the general scheme of things.

This is hardly alien in the Imperium. Heck as I noted, this planet is technically part of the Imperium - meaning it can raise troops and provide officers and shit to the Guard, so it technically IS part of the Guard's reprotoire of military doctrine. It may not be the way the Crusade ITSELF is generally conducted (recall Dravere), and it may not be the best approach, but can and does happen. Fuck a great deal of this novel sounds just like the shit that happens in Vraks, only less silly.



Pagge 264

..a brigade of Mittel Aexe dragoons, the Seventh Ghrennes or “Steeplers”, did likewise, and then tried to spike the guns and destroy their munitions. Ninety-three men were incinerated when a high explosive dump was enthusiastically flamed, blowing a hole in the earth two hundred metres in diameter. The rest of them, along with a fair number of Wyverns, subsequently died in the clouds of toxic gas that spewed from storage pits ruptured by the main blast.

- Shadik ammo dump blown, incinerated 93 men and made a 200 meter diameter crater.

Explosion of ammo dump creates crater 200 m in diameter and 'incinerates' 93 men. The incienration could just mean anything from tens to hundreds of MJ for badly burnt, to tens or hundreds of gigajoules for 'cremation. Given a 200 m crater might be upwards of several kilotons yield total, the latter is not at all improbable, but it also depends on how many shells (and the type). Its even possible the yield is less (Crater made from multiple smaller detonations.)



Page 268

"And given the range on the beads, they can’t be more than a few kilometres away. "

Implied range of a 'few' km. again we dont know what 'few' is, but 2-3 km is a reasonable assessment. It would certainly suggest that 'league or two' is more conservatively defined, at least.


Page 270

“The circuit from Rerval’s vox. You took it, didn’t you? I’ve seen the way you mess with tech-kit. You’re the only person apart from Rerval who’s got the skills.”

As we saw with him fiddling iwth his scope, Larkin has some gift with technoloy (which includes electronics it seems.) Whether this is an acquired skill (or possibly taught) to all, is another question, but it carries over into other fields. The vox operators too, it seems get some training and knowledge in such. One assumes that other specialities may have some limited, rudimentary knowledge that also pertains to their specialties.


Page 275

The overcharged sniper round zapped off up the length of the garden and blew out the head of one Blood Pact trooper in a sideways spray of blood, tissue, and metal. his almost headless body toppled over inot the ferns.

..
Another head shot. The Blood Part trooper flew off his feet, his legs kicking slackly up into the air as he cartwheeled.

hotshot headsplosions, with considerable knockdown/momentum. Also penetrates the fuck out of the blood pact helmets (and blows them apart) so its probably considerably greater power-wise.



Page 279

He turned to grin triumphantly at Feygor and a las-round hit the side of his head.
Jajjo ducked down to help him, but Rerval was getting up without assistance.
..
From the corner of his mouth back to his jaw-line, his cheek was flopped open and blood was streaming out down his neck. Rerval fired one more shot, then reached up and felt the rip in his face.
..
The amount of blood pouring out of Rerval’s torn face was extraordinary.

seems to have struck him more a graze - no burns or cauterization, lots of bleeding, and a torn cheek. No exploded skull either.



Page 280

Larkin reloaded again and took aim.
..
Bang!
The Blood Pact trooper fell. Larkin reloaded.

Seems we start here with the single-use hotshots, although they don't explicitly call them that.



Page 285

He adjusted his data-slate and took a compass bearing. At least now he had accomplished something. The precise location of the siege guns was known to them.

Dataslate with compass and seemingly locator/GPS info.





PAge 286

Even dormant, the massive guns and their riveted steel cars looked invincible. Oil and condensation dripped from their huge shock-absorber pylons and clung in glittering droplets to the taut wires of the warping winches. The shells alone were taller than a man.

- The Shadik "super siege" guns are all rail portable artillery, and ifre shells "taller than a man".
That corresponds to maybe 16" shell or an 18" shell. That would correspond orughly to the range of the 'super guns' They would be smaller than the Schwerer Gustav shells though, which are nearly twice the height of a man.

It also impiles the Imperium has some guns of similar scale 'super siege' pieces,as Mkoll called it earlier.


Page 289

Gaunt was right in the middle of it. His boltgun howled and blew an enemy infantryman apart.

Grenade level damage approximately, although how many shots it takes I have no idea. Probably less than a second's worth of fire or so.


Page 289

Golke blasted with his revolver until it was empty, and then grabbed up a Shadik submachine-gun that had fallen on the gravel of the track bed.

Aexegarian weapons extend to submachine guns and revolvers.



Page 297

The first intruders into the garden, moving clumsily in the heavy rain

Raining heavy. Useful for a possible calc later.



Page 301

Full auto las-fire tore across the lawn, making trails of steam in the downpour. Three blood Pacters fell immediately, then a fourth.

In the porch doorway, Peterik stood, blasting furiously with Rerval’s lasgun. Full auto.

Lasrifle on full auto fired by Aexegarian trooper (who isnt familiar with such.) How many shots hit and how many (if any) missed, but it implies at least 3-4 rounds per second, although it implies a fraction of a second with the 'immediately' so it could be several times greater even allowing for perfect accuracy.

Lasfire also vaporizes rain, although we dont know how heavy it ism what the temp and moisture is so its hard to measure (or the distance) Doesn't seem to affect its lethality, at least over short ranges.


Page 306-307

Colm Corbec jumped down from the eight-wheeler APC he’d been riding in and called out to the unit groups ahead.
..
To his left, light tanks and clanking sentinels of the Krassian Armoured ploughed up the valley through the trees, lending fire support to the First fire-teams Corbec had sent in ahead of him.

Odds are the APCs are Imperial, if the other armour is. Example of non-Chimera personnel carrier, although the type and origin are up for debate (it could be STC or standard Guard issue, or a variant froma local world requisitioend for the Guard use.) And light tanks



Page 309

Lijah Cuu sat on an old bench at the side of the front lawn and watched it all.
He licked the blood from the straight silver of his warknife and slid it away into its scabbard.

Makes him seem more feral doesn't it? Cuu kills Muril in this one as she tries to save Larkin, which is an important step in that Larkin has been deprived of two friends/allies by Cuu, and has yet another reason to get revenge. This is also the second murder in as many novels, and he's still gunning for Larkin. I suspect this is important thematically as it shows Larkin is on his own, but that he must also 'step up' to the plate so to speak, in order to face his enemy. This isn't the Larkin we meet in Ghostmaker, running and hiding and generally insane. Larkin has grown since then, and as Gaunt and others have been tempered by their experiences so has he, and it is up to him to face Cuu (and in a sense his own fear).



Page 314

“As to the question you asked me, I have researched the Imperial records and found a mention of an Adeptus Sororitas warrior named Elinor Zaker. She was a key member of Saint Sabbat’s retinue during the original crusade, and died on Herodor six thousand years ago.”

[/quote]

Can't have been, since the Age of Apostasy/Reign of Blood was in M36 supposedly, although the Age has been noted to start in M35. It could be either a mistake or some time/space fuckery (indeed the boo boo was addressed in the Sabbat Worlds Crusade guidbook much along those lines, or perhaps suggesting that the Daughters or some faction thereof had been in the region during Sabbat's time.)

Sororitas inconsistency aside, it foretells the events of Sabbat Martyr in that 'supernatural' fashion I allude to. Dead woman, who provided them with a Ghost Car (heh.) and providing some warnings and shit. Forces converge on Herodor, which will be the topic of the next book in the series.

[Connor MacLeod]

Ah, the end of the second Gaunt's Ghosts Cycle, Sabbat Martyr. All told its a better cap to the series than the following cycle (In my opinion) although whether you consider it as good as Honour Guard is, I think, a matter of opinion. I've come to think that its hard to 'gauge' each particular novel in an objective sense because they tend to be very different from each other, both in the style of war as well as events happening.. so like/dislike is more a matter of personal taste more than anything. But each one is good in its own way, by and large, and the worst Ghost novel is merely average (such is Dan Abnett's writing, again, in my opinion.) because you can always find at least one if not more things to like about it (EG Legion was still good in some ways with its characters even if the story was less than ideal to me.)

Straight silver ended with a sort of 'cliffhanger' where the Ghosts were dispatched to meet up with the 'Saint', only to discover its someone they met earlier in the series. This causes doubts about her veracity (and whether she is a propoganda figurehead for the Crusade) and provides the main drive for the character-based elements of the story: The interaction between the Ghosts (Gaunt especially) and the Saint. This is set against the backdrop of another 'do or die' situation much as we saw in Necropolis or Honour Guard - the Ghosts and outnumbered Imperial forces facing off against vastly superior Chaos forces, and somehow finding a way to succeed. And in this book we get a resolution of a number of subplots (Kolea and Cuu in particular), we say goodbye to some more friends (in various ways) and the Ghosts face another transition (A big one in fact, as we discover in Traitor General.)

And Chaos of course discovers the existence of this Saint, and dispatches forces dedicated to her eradication.

This will *probably* be three updates or so, so I'm not going to infodump it all at once.


Page 11

The intelligence had been placed on a pedestal near the centre of the crypt. It had been teased from the fused synapses of an expended seer gestalt and kept in its latent thought-form to preserve its accuracy. This glowing engram was a ribbon of light circling in a figure-of-eight path around a doughy lump of vat-farmed cerebral tissue, on which it had been anchored onto to give it focus.

Some sort of Chaos divination thingy. Psyker gestalt, apparently vat-grown brain tissue. Chaos apparently doesnt mind cloning psykers, something the Imperium (generally) does not. Quite possibly because there may be side effects that the Imperium worries about.



Page 12

“I have examined this every way I know, testing for invention and falsehood. This is not a lie. This is a manifest truth from the sentiences of the immaterium.”
..
“While it might appear that this is a great blow to us, I believe this is rather our perfect moment of triumph, and the feeble godlings of human order have given it to us themselves."

Innokenti, ARchenemy warlord, has various means of confirming the warp foretellings - whether its multiple means of divination or what, we don't know. It is also curious/interesting that he refers to human 'gods' in plural, as if they were like the Orks, or the Eldar (a pantheon of some kind.) This could be an early reference to stuff like the 'gods of order' mentioned in the REalms of Chaos stuff (countering the Chaos gods) or it may even reflect the gestalt nature of the God Emperor, or the 'Star child' (or whatever you want to call it.) It may even be the Primarchs for all we know (or at least those that are dead.) Hell maybe Innokenti is mad



Page 12

He had specifically requested nine for, according to Him, nine was a significant number.

Nine is a significant number ot Innokenti. we'll learn more as time passes If one recall from Honour Guard (I dont rmember if I specifically pointed it out) but we also learn in this book that Saint Sabbat took nine wounds. So the number has ritual significance to the warp (and both sides.)



Page 12

The hinterdeck was a subsidiary landing platform, reserved for the Magister’s personal use. It jutted out like a shelf high above the long, gothic vault, fifteen hectares square, that formed the primary flight deck for the colossal flagship’s fighter screen. The squadrons had been ramped out to secure storage during the voyage. The echoing space below was empty now except for rows of energy bowsers, electric munition trains, and the launch cradles hanging like open crab claws from the high roof. Yellow lights winked in series along the runways scribed into the battered floor.

Some sort of starship carrier and the size of its deck. 1.5 km at least, possibly the same on the other side too. And its just a subsidary carrier deck, implying the ship in question is fucking huge.



Page 19

He’d just heard a sound that he hadn’t heard in twenty years, not since he’d handed back his standard issue mark IV, put his cap pins and badge away in a dresser drawer, and used his Guard-muster pay-out as deposit on a nice little parcel of cropland in the agri-collective west of the primary hive of Khan II.

Guardsmen mustred out, paid for his service (which he used to buy farmland.) There are worse retirements.



PAge 19

Their helmet mics were turned up full, but it was still nigh on impossible to hear one another over the din.

Micro bead perhaps? Anyhow this is the Civitas Beati regiment, which seems to be something local but not a PDF



Page 19-21

But as Udol rode a lurching carrier down the Guild Slope,..
..
“Fixing it now, major!” answered his signals officer, dropping back inside the carrier’s rusty top hatch to man the tactical station.

“It is the aqueduct, sir!” the signalman called back a moment later.
..
Udol slithered down inside the hull and cranked his bare-metal rocker seat around so he could look over the signalman’s shoulder at the screen.

“What does tac logis have?”

“Nothing on that, major. They’re directing us forward to the Ironhall zone."
..
The driver dropped the gears down to the lowest ratio and began to roll the carrier through the nearest arch span onto the obsidae. Almost at once they were crushing tent structures and lean-tos under their heavy, solid wheels.
..
The side hatches on all three troop carriers rattled open and the troops dismounted, fifteen from each.

CBR vehicles, wheeled APCs that carry fifteen men and appear ot have some sort of tactical plot (and guidance.)



PAge 21

..Udol paused long enough for Inkerz to strap the compact accelerant tank to his back and connect the hose, then he took off, pushing to the head of his men. He raised his armour-sleeved left arm, squeezed the stirrup built into the palm of the glove, and scorched off a little rippling halo of flame into the air so they could pick him out in the crush.

Personal flamer of some kind, we learn the reasons why later. Seems more compact/less bulky than the Ghosts versions, and its carried by an officer.




page 22

The trooper beside him suddenly jumped back, as if in surprise. Then he did it again and fell on his back.

Shot through the torso, twice. Udol didn’t even have to look.

Las bolts penetrating 'thorugh' trooper, with significant knockback. single digit kj at least, although the kickback implies more.



Page 22

He barked a hasty warning into his vox. The men around him scattered into cover.
...

The troopers around him began to open up with their carbines.

“Inkerz!” Udol voxed.

- Civitas Beati Regiment, some sort of elite local force, have their own personal voxes. They're also armed with carbines. I'm not sure if they're Guard, but they're not PDF.



Page 22

Another man, caught in the open, was knocked over by a laser bolt that broke both his legs.

Laser bolts demonstrating CONSIDERABLE physical force. I'm not sure how it broke them both without severing the limbs but its damn impressive either way. Penetrating through two legs in a single shot at least 30 cm of flesh, probably worth a good 5-10 kj at least. Unless it just knocked him down and the legs broke from the fall or something.



Page 23

Udol dropped to one knee, raised his left arm straight and clenched the stirrup grip. A long spear of incandescent flame leapt from the torch-vent behind the knuckles of his glove and broke around their torsos. Both staggered, ablaze, screaming. The flames cooked off the powercells in the nearest one's webbing and blew him apart, shredding his arms and torso right off his collapsing legs in a searing flash. The explosion felled his companion, who lay writhing and burning on the ground.

Personal flamer in action. The interesitng thing is how the body blows apart from its power packs ignited. We dont know how many packs of course. Consevatively its at least probably frag grenade level (920 kj) and since its a blood pact trooper (known for copying the Guard) we might figure 4-6 powerpacks at least. That would be between 150-225 kj per pack (although probably twice that given that only half the energy at most will hit the target, so call it 300-450 kj. If we go by 4th degree' flash burns' thats at least 4 MJ, possibly 8, which would translate to 8-16 MJ for all the powerpacks.

Hundreds of kilojoules to megajoules per pack seems likely, as a result which implies at least single/double digit kj per shot, or more depending on how large the capacity and how many shots you figure.



Page 24

The stalk-tanks came on, scuttling like arachnids. Each had six piston-geared legs that supported the low-slung body casings. Udol could see the drivers in the underslung bubbles beneath the tails. On each raised head section, dual mini-turrets rotated and began to fire.

The blistering shots came in constant, rippling waves as the barrels of the double pulse lasers in each mini-turret pumped, recoiled and fired again with brutal, mechanised rhythm. Udol saw Beresi cut in two, and three other troopers lifted off the ground by the overpressure of impact blasts. Detonations threw pumice and obsidian chips into the air.

Stalk tanks. Chaos light infantry.. sort of part servitor/dreadnought and part Defiler thingy. Some sort of multi-laser like weapon. The notable thing is how it seems to be highly explosive ' detonations' and 'overpressure' from the impacts. Also capable of slicing people in two.



Page 27

...Leger, taking Gaunt daintily by the shoulders and kissing him on the cheeks. He had to stand on tiptoe to do this

Given how tall Gaunt is, he must be at or around two metres or a bit smaller to reach Gaunt's feet on tiptoes.



Page 29-30

He was a senior officer, and also an imposing figure. Shaven-headed, with dark olive skin and amber eyes, he wore the ceremonial battledress of the city regiment: gleaming brown leather embossed with gold-wire detailing. His left arm and chest were covered with polished, segmented armour plating and, on his back, under the fold of the scarlet sash, his accelerant tank was locked in place.
...

"On this world, water is power, and the enemy of water —flame — is a privilege exercised only by the high-born warrior class. Do you require more of an explanation?"

Citvitas Beati trooper. Seems to wear at least half plate as well as the weird flamers, which are only usable for the aristocratic warriors (As signs of status.) This also means the Ghosts don't get flamers here.



Page 31

Zweil huffed but allowed Gaunt to lead him out of the way as Obel and Garond manhandled a crate of rockets out onto the docking terrace with an anti-grav hoist..

Anti grav for cargo haulling. some kind of suspensor mayhap.



Page 32

"But the divinations cannot lie. Every Ecclesiarchy church in the sub-sector has been sent signs and prophesies. And you… you have more reason to trust than any living being on this world.”

As I noted before in Honour Guard and such, the Ayatanis and the BEati' sparticular sect seem big on divination and prophecy, and seem to have a gift for fortelling (or at least the Sabbat speaks through them quite a bit.)

Also mention of 'subsector'. This could imply the Sabbat Worlds is a subsector, although as I'v ementioned before its actual nature/size is rather vague.




Page 34

Udol looked up and froze. Thrusters flaring and sunlight glinting off its hull, a drop-ship was coming in right on top of them. A second was dropped down not five hundred metres away, and there were two more besides, falling like giant beetles out of the sky.
...
They were standard pattern Imperial Guard landers. Bug-nosed, bulk-made delivery ships. The Imperial Guard.
...
Udol felt the ground shake as the first drop-ship zeroed, bouncing hard on its hydraulic landing struts. Men leapt out of the drop-ship's opening hatches. Men in black fatigues and body armour. Men wrapped in camouflage capes. Guardsmen.

IG dropships. 4 of them deploy into the hot-zone quite fast. Platoon size as we learn, and they're not armed.


Page 36

Corbec’s impromptu relief force, four platoons strong..
..
“Do you know how counter-regs it is to drop troop landers into the path of an assault?”
..
"Do you know how effective it is to drop-assault an ongoing ground attack?"

4 platoons, 4 drop ships. So the ships carry several squads each. Also its officially against 'regs' to deploy that way, but unofficially it seems to be done so because of how effective it is (although at the risk of damaging the drop ship. Stalk tanks fire on one but do no serious damage to it, but something heavier could have crippled or destroyed it.)


Page 37

It was a sprawling place the main population centre on Herodor. Three slab-like hive towers of white ashlar stood like bodyguards around a higher, older, darker central steeple, encircled by sloping skirts of lower level habs, manufactories, transitways and brick viaducts. To the west lay the tinted domes of the many agriponic farms that fed the city, farms that were themselves kept alive by the hot mineral springs on which the city had been founded.

Civitas Beati of Herodor. Seems to be 'technically' a hive world, although they don't call it such. Note the agricponic.


Page 39-40

There was a shield system, generated by pylon stations around the city limits which, along with main sequence masts on the roofs of the hive towers, could raise a coherent energy field like a carnival marquee above the city. But the shield system had been designed to ward off dust storms and glass blizzards, not munitions.

low level shielding good against elements, shit against weapons.


Page 40

Stronger shield generators, for a start. Mobile artillery batteries, and some real armour. Reinforcements, naturally.

Gaunts proposed defenses for CB. Apparently you can haul in generators (and install them) for greater defense, which one presumes is not unlike the mobile shit we saw in Guns of Tanith. Or at least fairly man portable/modular.
Also mobile artillery.


page 41-42

“And you think that main force is inbound?”
Gaunt laughed darkly at Rawne’s question. “Find me someone in this sector who doesn’t know what’s happening here! If you were the enemy—”
..
“You said the pilgrim ships were confusing things,”
..
“More ships arriving all the time,” Gaunt said. “Some have come from beyond the subsector.”
..
“The whole cluster and beyond knows what’s happening here on Herodor, so you can bet the enemy does too. I can’t begin to imagine why the information was released publicly.”

Again reference to the Sabbat Worlds as possibly being a sector (or at least sector sized) and also a subsector. Given the implied size of trillions in the Sabbat Worlds crusade, we could be looking at quadrillions or tens of quadrillions of folk in the Imperium if the SWC was considered 'average' as (sub)sectors go, but again we don't know the actual size.



Page 46

The Saint, at the head of her flotsam cavalcade of an army, a host made up of colonial regiments, armed pilgrim retinues, a commandery of the Sisters Militant later to form the Order of Our Martyred Lady, and an echelon of the now extinct Astartes Chapter the Brazen Skulls, had bested and driven off a Chaos force at Grace Gorge..

Again the Sisters of battle weren't 'technically' active at that time, although as noted in the SWC guide the Daughters may have been active in this region. Or it could be time and space mojo.


Page 48-49

"I had a vision on Aexe Cardinal that this would come to pass. A woman six millennia dead told me to find you here.”
“Really?” she said, as if thinking for a moment. “That is good. That is as I intended it to be.”
...
“You intended that? That vision of the sororitas? You created that chapel in the woods out of nothing?”
“Of course, Ibram.”
“I believed that. It was real. Beltayn and I, we were totally convinced by it. We felt… touched by a strangeness beyond our power to explain.”
..
“You don’t believe.”
Gaunt took a step back and shook his head, laughing out loud. “I wanted to. Oh, believe me, I wanted to. Five months in a transit ship, waiting to see the truth? I’ve longed for this moment since Slaydo first explained the mysteries of Sabbat to me. I expected all sorts of things… truth, lies, fantasies. But not you, Sanian.”
...
“Oh, Ibram. Of course I am Sanian. My flesh is, at least. I needed a vessel, and she was the right one She was a sweet girl and she gave her flesh to me I look like Sanian. I sound like her. But I am not her. I am Sabbat. The girl from the hills of Hagia, reborn into this fragile body.”

Gaunt learns that the Saint is sanian, the girl from Honour Guard. Which also disillusions him. One of the kind of shocking things in this book is that it starts out with Gaunt in a state of extreme pessimism, and we learn that he thinks deep down this was all a trick by Lugo and his ilk, a ploy with a fabricated Saint to stir up morale and revitalize the Crusade... and to resurrect Lugo's career. Hence, he coms to Hagia (unlike the Ghosts, including Zweil, who are fervently celebrating the news) expecting a fabircation. Its actually interesting, because underlying all this for Gaunt is that same sorts of emotions Gaunt has been grappling with ever since Honour Guard. In these last four books Gaunt has had to face himself more deeply than he has before, examine his beliefs, his goals, his standards.. and his position int he Crusade and within the Ghosts. Now, he's faced with a test of his own faith.. its clear he wants to believe - needs to believe in something - and the Saint is something fundamental to his being because it was so fundamental to Slaydo (which is something that ties in very deeply with his sense of duty and honour as well.) And having that faith played with by the likes of Lugo is.. abhorrent to Gaunt. He would rather expect a phony than hold out hope for the truth and have those hopes dashed, it seems.

What is actually the case at this point is.. complicated. I do think Sanian is a vessel for the Saint (or at least one of several), and she demonstrates that without a dobut later. And we know form STraight Silver she will be there. But.. the nature of that apeprance is up for debate. I still hold oout that like I described in STraight Silver, she seems to employ a sort of 'possssion', albeit one less harmful than what daemons use, and the Sanian/sAint's comments describe something to that effect. But with the whole uncertainty thing at this time, we cna't be sure. And there is Sabbatine to consider.


Page 50

She patted the equipment satchel slung over her shoulder. "I brought the bio-scanner."

Gaunt was going ot run a scan on the 'Saint' What he expected to prove I dont know, since I'm pretty sure you can't scan for holiness.



Page 52

"The locals add about twelve thousand to the numbers, along with medium armour, and the lord general’s landing force has about a thousand more, plus light armour and some special weapons units.”

Local forces defenses and equipment.



Page 52-53

he wide room, with shuttered windows on two sides, was busy with regiment personnel, working with members of the Regiment Civitas Beati and tech-adepts from the regular Herodian PDF to set up main-caster vox stations, tactical superimpositionals and relay nodes. Power cables and data-flexes snaked across the floor. Technicians were wiring up the portable comm-desks and holo-chart tables.

Command center and various equipment inside it.



Page 53

Before he sat down, Daur configured and activated the portable confidence screen that would generate electroference patterns to keep the meeting private.

Detection/eavesdropping countermeasures.



Page 55

"It speaks volumes! The woman they met identified herself, and later they discovered she had died here on Herodor six thousand years ago!”
..
“It’s enough. Enough proof by anyone’s standards. The Saint told you to come here and serve her! How dare you deny her now!”

Gaunt tells his command staff (and allies) that he doesn't believe the Saint is real, which angers Zweil, provoking the above reactions. Its interesting that we're talking 'proof' on what is essentially a faith based matter. Now granted the warp is real and gods are real and can have a tangible impact on reality, but that doesn't preclude the necessity of faith and belief - indeed such is neccessary to influence the warp. The consensus on the whole saint/fraud thing seems to volley bakc and forth throughout the book, with Gaunt starting out as an unbeliever, then later changing his mind. And there's lots more going on thta complicate it further, which is actually one of the big/interesting draws in teh book as it raises all sorts of questions.




Page 58-59

Above, in the night sky, stars twinkled that were not stars. Those indistinct pinpricks of light were the hundreds — possibly thousands — of pilgrim ships that had swarmed to Herodor.

Hundreds/thousands of pilgrim ships alone in this single planet. Given the crew sizes in FFG books we could be talking tens of thousands per ship, leading to millions - tnes of millions on Herodor.


Page 59

Just for the hell of it, he shouldered his long-las and panned the scope around. Through the enhanced and magnifying viewfinder, he spot-picked locations in the fuzzy cold of the obsidae beyond the camp.

Larkins scope - magnifications, thermal, night vision. Remember this is his personal scope, not Guard issue.


Page 60

Alphant affirmed with another quick nod, and then gently opened his robe so she could see what his hands were doing at all times. He pulled out his sheaf of certificates.
DaFelbe, Criid’s number two, a tall, thin, earnest young man, hurried forward and examined Alphant’s papers with a handheld verity-reader.

Document scanner, for verification of identity and suchlike.


Page 61

The tenth platoon scout hurried up.

Each platoon has its own scout just as it has its own sniper (as we discover) . 100 scouts and 100 snipers total.



Page 63

The old man had a handcart loaded with crudely painted plaster busts of the Saint, undoubtedly copied cheaply and in bulk using a fabric replicator..
..
Criid looked at the plaster effigy.

a 'fabric replicator' that can make plaster effigies. AT first I was thinking 'fabric= cloth' but I think it means 'fabircator-replicator'.. which sounds like it can duplicate things (mass production). Sort of like a ST replicator or 3d printer maybe, or at least some sort of automated mass production.


Page 65

"At least a dozen shooters. Light or standard las," he called out once he'd assessed the pattern. "But they've got something heavier. A grunt cannon or even some kind of plasma cooker."
That was what was doing the real harm. Potent firepower, auto-cycle, indiscriminate. Dozens of pilgrims were already dead. The heavy had so much kick, it brought down another of the hapless stylites by chopping dean through the pillar he was standing on.

'light' and 'standard' las. Heavy weapon of some kind, may be plasma, or projectile. It can punch through a pillar. If we assume the pillar is stone half a metre wide (wide enough for a person to stand on) - figur tens or hundreds of grams of TNT equivalent at least.


Page 65

"Can you knock it out?" Obel yelled.
Larkin studied the play of las-bolts in the air, watching for the fat, dull red ones. About two hundred metres north and east.

Implies perhaps that the heavy weapon is a las weapon rather than plasma or projectile.


page 66-67

The street beyond resolved in the cold, green shimmer of his night scope. He had to tweak the visual gain down because the las-flashes swooping his way were testing the limits of the radiance contrast.
Better. A hot spot. Very hot. A superheated muzzle, something big. He looked again, identifying three shadows working a heavy cannon on a tripod behind a parked motor truck forty metres away. More hot spots, smaller, cooler. Men with lasrifles. One in a doorway, another behind a row of fuel drums, another low against a side wall.

Larkins infrared scope again. Can see through objects.



Page 67

He reached back and opened his musette bag, pulling a handful of powerclips out and selecting a standard low volt cell. He did it all by touch, reading the difference between the upright and diagonal crosses of tape he'd marked the sides with. He'd have preferred to go with a hot-shot for maximum power, but there were too many targets. A hot-shot was a one-use cell and he didn't have the time to keep changing between hits.

Hot shot vs low volt again, as we saw in Straight Silver. Hot shots are mentioned as one-use explicitly this time, although it was only implied in the last book. Basically the Ghosts equivalent of a single shot, bolt action sniper rifle.



Page 67

Larkin ejected the low volt and slammed a hot-shot home. Each blast of the cannon had many times more power than the long-las, even with a hot-shot in the pipe, and it was cycling them out at a rate of five a second.

comparison betwen hot-shotted long las and the projectile cannon. Without knowing 'many times' its hard to be precise. Also rate of fire, which is rather low for a projectile weapon but may be high for energy weapons.


Page 68

The hot-shot made a growling howl and the stock banged back against the permanent bruise on Larkin's right shoulder. It hurt. It always did. He liked the pain because he always associated it with a kill-shot.
The gunner's head vaporised and he pitched forward over the cannon. Sudden silence. Larkin could see the gunner's two teammates scrambling to pull him aside as the Tanith sniper locked another hot-shot in place.
Power-cell pack, one metre left of the tripod stand, feed cable attached...
Shoulder smack.
The cell pack exploded with the force of several grenades and tossed the whole cannon, tripod and all, into the air, along with all three figures, lifting balletically in a bright bloom of fire.
The tripod carriage bounced twice, making hard, metal clangs. The bodies didn't bounce.
...
"Feth me, Larks!" said Unkin, surveying the sniper's handiwork as he got into a covering position at the next corner, near to where the destruction of the cannon had made a burning crater in the roadway. "You don't mess about!"

Hot shot 'vaporizes' head. If literal we're talking double digit MJ, if figurative.. who knows. single or double digit kj maybe? Depends on how extensively it pulverizes and how penetrating it is probably.
Its interesting that the rifle has 'kick'- possibly the cooling mechanism or some interaction in the weapon, although how and why we dont know. Out of universe I suspect this is Abnett making lasguns more like projectile weapons - lazer bullets and all that. Also, power pack of unkonwn size detonates with the 'force' of several grenades, and creates a crater big enough to encompass cannon and firer, and the tripod.




Page 69

.. but there the enemy had been the well-equipped but drone-like Zoicans. The Blood Pact were a different thing altogether. They knew how to fight the streets. They were as skilled as the Ghosts and more disciplined than any Chaos force she’d ever encountered.

Difference between Zoicans and Blood Pact.



Page 79

She was right in front of the tank, both hands raised like an arbites officer controlling road traffic. The tank stopped as if puzzled. The main turret turned, lowering the massive cannon, like a cyclops eye-stalk, to stare at her.
Bonin came out of the smoke alongside the tank and hurled the tube-charges. They bounced along the hind-part of the hull, and came to rest under the lip of the turret's aft cowling.
Milo dived headlong and brought the girl down hard, smashing her aside just as the main tank weapon fired.
And the tube-charges detonated.

Tube charges (multiple) used to take out a tank. We dont know how many (except that Bonin could carry them all and throw them, suggesting fewer than 10-20) Milo saves a girl.. who is named Sabbatine, and whom Milo 'recognizes' and thinks there's something special about. LAter, we find he thinks its the Saint (or an incarnation of her.)



Page 80

..light tanks and self-propelled guns of the Regiment Civitas Beati powered past, moving up to the front line, along with Salamanders and light cannon-platforms from Lugo’s landing force.

More on the local and Imperial forces. The light cannon platforms (Rapiers?) are interesting.


Page 81

But the girl, nearby, curled up by a broken kerb, was not. The blast of the tank round, which had dug the ground up beneath both of them and hurled them into the air, had landed her hard. Her neck was broken and she was dead.
..
He got up and knew, long before he actually saw her body, that something awful had just happened. Something huge, something dark, something more than all the waste and death and slaughter around them.
Something unholy.

Tube charges demolish tank and tannks hell puts a huge (several metre) crater in the ground.
The woman, Sabbatine, is dead, and Milo feels its horrible. Again implying this may have been Sabbat (or at least a vessel of Sabbat.)

Page 82

Dull booms and roars, pent in by the acoustic lid formed by the city shield, rolled back to their ears
....
According to the now frenetic reports of Civitas tac logis, over a thousand hostiles, with supporting armour, were assaulting the city.

Apparently the shield can hold in sound, even if it can't resist projectiles. Also the Tac-logis must have sensors to be able to report on enemy dispositions. Unless they're getting detials form scouts via vox.


Page 83

There were twelve transporters, all identical grey, long-bodied Munitorum vehicles, and they were only making any headway through the crowds at all because of the three Chimera heavies from the lord general’s life company that were leading them through.

Munitorum issue troop transports. Whether wheeled or tracked we dont know. Also the life Guards, Lugo's personal bodyguard. They have armour, troops, Chimeras, etc.



Page 83-84

.. the Astronomer’s Platform, that bastion of Herodian science and learning. It was up there, in the ancient observatories that had been operating permanently for over two thousand years, that Cazalon had devised and written his treatise on non-baryonic matter and Hazmun Zeng, three centuries later, had doggedly completed his Theory of Gravitation in the face of fierce Inquisitorial displeasure.
..
..where Zeng had made such a staggering contribution to Imperial science, filling notebooks with mirror-script to fool the watching eyes of the Inquisition.

Imperila 'science' that progresses iwthout Admech help and despite the Inquisition (or at least the fanatic portion of it.) Theory of gravitation and also study of 'non-baryonic' matter. The last is interesting as I suspect it is meant to imply 'warp' matter but it can imply othe things too (like neutrinos and black holes.)


Page 84

A major called Pento from the Regiment Civitas Beati was in charge of the Herodian portion, two platoons of Civitas Beati elite and five of regular Herodian PDF.

Which implies that the CBR/RCB is an elite formation similar to but separate from the PDF. Not Guard.


Page 85

Hark could kindle a rousing speech like the best of them when necessary, but this seemed like overkill. Just as Gaunt sometimes allowed himself to play genial soft fiddle to Hark’s brimstone, so now Hark felt it was his time to be more sympathetic.

Sounds like a sort of Commissarial 'good cop/bad cop' sort of thing. It would make a bit of sense for the Commissariat to use differnet kinds of approaches simultaenously, appropriately manipulative. Maybe that's why some are like Gaunt or Cain, others are more like.. depicted in the Codexes.


Page 89

..Meryn had become such a hardboiled bastard of late. He was openly ambitious in all the wrong ways, and there were dirty rumours that during the insurgency mission on Phantine, he’d exposed a cruel, almost psychotic side to his character. It was said he’d murdered civilians.

Meryn again reflects the 'bad side' of the Guard. The interesting thing is, its a different sort of Bad from Lijah Cuu, partly because he's an officer, but also because he's not sociopathic killer like Cuu. Its more ambition and callousness, which in its way is just as bad. Its kind of funny too, because while they ascribe the change to Rawne, and while Rawen has never been a nice guy (and even criminal) I've never thought of him as being the same as Rawne. Indeed, Rawne seems to be changing/thawing out, which sets a more extreme contrast with Meryn. Its like one starts out good and becomes bad, while the other starts out bad and becomes good.
Meryn's nature is an ongoing plot point.


Page 94

Most of the Tanith scouts had their own signature trick for looking round blind corners. Leyr's was a sweet little pocket periscope, a precision brass instrument that he'd picked up on Aexe Cardinal.
...
The periscope was powerful but small enough to slip into the chart-pocket of his fatigues.

Scout tricks for spotting round corners. Again seems to be a trick learned from Tona.


Page 94

Fifty metres down the rubble-strewn main street, a stalk-tank sat in the centre of the roadway.....
"Forty, maybe fifty," Leyr replied, looking again. Too far for even the strongest of them to throw a tube-charge. "We better think of something quick," he added. "There are troops moving up."

Limit on throwing range of Tube charges. The interesting thing is this suggests tube charges are much heavier than a grenade, as a real life hand grenade can be thrown up to 40 metres. Possibly significantly more explosive than a grenade as a result.


Page 95

Banda, the platoon’s sniper..

As I alluded to before, each platoon has its own sniper, just as it has its own scout.



Page 96

twenty-nine vehicles of the archenemy’s main force were driving south, countered by twelve Civitas Beati light tanks, and six Vanquishers from Lugo’s life company.

More of the Civitas/Herodor vehicles supported by Guard stuff. Lugo's 'life company' seems quite well equipped.


Page 101

“I thought she was the Saint.”
..
“I knew the Saint was with us. I could feel it Like on Hagia, you know?”
Corbec nodded. He knew the feeling. It had got into his soul on Hagia and never really left.
..
“She was there. I saw this girl and I just knew.”
..
“She died. She saved the children and then she died. It wasn’t meant to happen. I can feel it wasn’t. It wasn’t meant to happen like that What will we do without her?”

Milo talking to Corbec. He believes Sabbatine (the girl) was the Saint and she 'died' in the midst of the battle, and that it wasn't supposed to happen. Something had gone wrong. Exactly what and how and why isn't clear (obviously) but its intereting nonetheless, especially in context of Sanian and what we learn about her. As I said before, is it possible the Saint has multiple vessels?


Page 102

The heretic warrior was clad in heavy fatigue battledress coloured a dark, patchy russet, with steel-plated boots and iron armour strapped around his thighs, shoulders and belly. His face, under the red bowl-helmet, was visored by a black metal mask, an iron grotesque shaped into a snarling, hooknosed, feral face.

Blood Pact 'storm warrior'.. presumably an assault elite.



PAge 102

Gaunt met him head on. His scything, energised blade, the power sword of Heironymo Sondar, glowed like a sliver of ice as it deflected two of the storm-warrior's laser bolts up into the blackened roof.

Gaunt using his magic super duper power sword to deflect lasfire. Again.


Page 106

..but Vanette unshipped his laspistol and slid it across the rockcrete to Gaunt. Gaunt sheathed his sword and ducked down by the buckled rear wheel, taking shots at the main advance. By the counter display on the pistol's butt, he had about thirty shots left before the cell expired.
Thirty shots. That was the measure of life left to him.

Ghost laspistol carries at least 30 shots.


Page 108

She wore a suit of intricately-worked golden battle armour so fine and form-fitting that it had been clearly fashioned for her by master metallurgists. Pieces of polished chelon shell had been set into the bodice and wide pauldrons. Imperial eagles formed the couters at the elbows and the poleyns at the knees, and the same symbol was also etched in repeated ribbons down the thigh plates and along the vambraces. Her left hand was covered with a gilded glove that had silver eagle claws extending from the fingertips. Her right hand was bare. Beneath the dazzling golden plate, she wore a suit of tightly-wound black mail, each link formed in the shape of an islumbine bloom. A white skirt, long and flowing and fixed with purity seals and prayer streamers, billowed from her waist. The heavy golden gorget rose up high to her chin, but her head was uncovered. She’d cut her hair short, sheared it off crudely in fact, so it fell in a glossy black bowl over her pale head. Her eyes were green, as green as an infardi’s silk, as green as the rainwoods of Hagia.
The Beati looked down at Gaunt. A halo of light surrounded her, so fierce and bright it made her seem almost translucent. Nine cyber-skull drones hovered around her in the radiant glow, forming a circle behind her head, their eyes lit, their miniature weapon pods armed.

The Saint Reborn appears. Gaunt is without a doubt now. I wonder if she's wearing power armour? It is interesting that the implications make her seem akin ot the Emperor (claw on one hand, other can hold a sword.)



Page 113-114

Gaunt looked at the Saint as Raglon pulled away, laughing. She seemed to be staring directly at him.
..
“She won’t stop looking at me.” [Rawne speaking]
“It’s me she’s looking at,” Feygor said. “Not you. Why would she look at you?”
...
Milo nodded. “Yes, I suppose so. She’s amazing. She seems to be looking right at me.”
“At you? At me, more like. Right at me.”
..
Larkin stared. It was like he had her in his crosshairs and she had him the same.

She seems to be staring - simultaneously, at all the Ghosts. Mystery upon mystery. Again I love the whole supernatural/mysticism aspect of this book, and the way they're playing it up. The ghosts have always been big on 'destiny' and the whole 'forces of the warp at work' behind the scene, it feels like a throwback to earlier versions of 40K, and gives the whole series a sense of the epic that often is lacking in modern stuff (eg stuff like Inquisition War, Eye of Terror, etc.) Indeed the big theme in this story seems to be faith and belief and how it affects people (not just Gaunt), and it is as a result a culmination of this particular arc started in Honour Guard (which started out on questions of faith, duty, etc.)



Page 121

“Astropathic signals from the reinforcement fleet, just received."
..
"Our replenishment will be here tomorrow at dawn, warp permitting. Nine Munitorum packets laden with munitions and medical supplies, three regiments of Khan Heavy Ground, and an Ardelean tank company out of San Velabo. Word is there's a Fleet Mechanicus pioneer ship inbound too, carrying a batch of mid-range plasma reactors to beef up the city shield. Plus five warships and a fighter carrier from the Segmentum battlefleet."
"What about enemy movements?”
Hark shrugged. “Nothing. The balloon went up on Khan VI last night, according to transmits. Their far-listening stations thought they’d locked up an incoming warfleet heading our way. Turned out to be a flotilla of pilgrim ships from the Hagia system.”

Gaunt and Hark discuss astropathic tac updates. its implied Hark received these in a matter of hours over unknown distances, and it indicates that the Crusade has set up some means of detection and tracking for warp activity - epsecially of the enemy.
Also the clarification of the forces deployed to support Heroor. Also 'mid range' plasma reactors to bolster the shield. Despite gaunt's thoughts about needing beefier shield generators, it seems that a bigger power source is all that is needed ot make them munition-resistant. It also implies somewhat modular plasma reactors, at that.

[Connor MacLeod]

Next update for Sabbat Martyr. And part one of one of the more bizarre 40K space battles I've ever tried figuring out (Salvation's Reach was better in that regard.)

Page 129-130

“Be better! Be better now!” Kolea cried out.
He looked up suddenly. On the far side of the pool, a figure had appeared, indistinct in the smoking steam.
“Make him better!” Kolea demanded, trying to keep Mkvenner’s limp body above the water level.
“Make him better!”
..
The three bodies in the water were now submerged, one of them pressing hands down on the backs of the others’ heads to dunk them.
Or drown them. Or baptise them.
..
The figures surfaced in a rush of bubbles and spray. Kolea. Mkvenner.
And her.
..
The Beati, dad only in a white shift, smiled at him, wiping away the water that dripped down her face from the fringes of her bowl-cut hair.
“The water heals, Ibram,” she said.
..
Mkvenner was laughing heartily, as if at some enormous cosmic joke. A man in his condition surely shouldn’t be able to laugh so violently. Unless…
“I told you,” said Kolea, splashing up to the foot of the steps and clambering up beside Mkvenner. “Didn’t I tell you? Heals everything. That’s the thing about this place, it—”

The Saint heals Kolea and Mkvenner. WE could play this up and I could go all hyptohetical, but for all intents and purposes it does seem to be a miracle. Or possibly psychic in nature. As I've said before the line between psychic and miracle/magic is rather thin in my mind. It also convinces Gaunt, more or less.



Page 132-133

“Ayatani Zweil made me conversant with the etiquette concerning such events. I made haste to summon the senior ayatani, the provosts of the Ecclesiarchy, and the first officiary, so that the miracles could be corroborated and documented, and entered into the holy record."
..
"Ayatani Zweil told me that being a site of proven miracles would greatly increase Herodor’s significance as a sacred place This made it a matter for the Imperial Church. All Imperial subjects are legally obliged to inform the Ecclesiarchy of wonders and portents. And of course, it adds provenance to the authenticity of the Beati herself.”

Unsurprisingly, the Ecclesiarchy makes a habit out of documenting such activities. It is its stock and trade (and source of power) after all. So everything is to be reported, and investigated. And it obviously has benefits, since places of 'portent' iwll draw pilgrims (and their faith and money, which increases the wealth and power of the Ecclesiarchy.)



Page 135

She stared at him. "Gol, I've scanned your skull with the infra-ometer and the mag resonator. There's no change. Your brain is still as damaged as before. There's been no real reconstruction, just basic tissue healing. There is absolutely no way you should be... cogent again like this."

'mag resonator' and 'infra-ometer' medical equipment, up to and including brain stuff. I find this passage interesting for the 'miracle' implications as well sa the fact it wasn't simply healing. One has to wonder what this says about 40K humanity - could the mind/personality not simply reside in the brain? Or did the Saint place those memories someplace else? Its not impossible given the nature of the warp and all that (although one wonders why a 'miracle' couldn't regenreate his brain... who knows.)
either way its an intriguing mystery.



PAge 137

"We fight the archenemy because we believe in the Holy Truths. Terrible things happen, unnatural things, warp-magic things, and we accept them because we believe. Now a good thing happens and you think we should question it?”
Dorden frowned. “No, put like that.”

Mkvenner explains his attitude towards his own miraculous healing. I think its an interesting thing because this being 40K and all, you often get a very 'prgamatic' approach to things. Not everyone is a frothing at the mouth zealot, or a firm believer. Belief, true belief - like you get from the Sororitas, is actually quite rare and precious... and powerful. You can get all kinds of 'belief' in 40K, but its the rare kind, the deep down, unquestioning kind - the kind Gaunt seeks/craves and was afraid he wouldn't - that is the most significant. And it is that kind of faith that is at the core of this book, and indeed the larger arc.



Page 137-138

“Corroboration must be had and witnessed, and testimony recorded so that these miracles may be written into the holy record.”
..
“Well, a wonder has happened here that has profound significance for the Church of Man. We must investigate it and document it so we can understand fully what it means. The God-Emperor has spoken to us, and we need to find out what it is He has said.”

More on the whole 'investigation/documentation' of miracles



Page 139-140

“A bullet in the head. That’s what I’ll get. They don’t even have to prove anything. If anyone thinks, or even thinks they think, that I’m touched by the warp, I’ll be executed. No hesitation.”
..
“Wouldn’t he? It’s his job. It’s the duty of every one of us. If I found out one of my boys was touched, I’d do them myself. No question. I’m not an idiot. You don’t take chances with gak like that.”
...
“No, no… nothing like that. I did get a feeling every now and then. A sense of premonition. But look at it this way. I was a kid, following men round into war zones. Shit was likely to happen at any moment Bombardments. Raids. Sneak attacks. I mean, probability law alone means I got it right a lot of the time. I was scared and jumpy. When I jumped, the men listened. When I jumped and they listened and something happened… well, bingo. As far as they were concerned, I was a lucky charm who had a sixth sense for danger. You know troopers, chief. They’re a superstitious lot.”
..
“There were times,” Milo said, through a mouthful, “there were times when it seemed real. I know Gaunt was worried. He didn’t know what to do. If I did have a touch about me, he knew he’d have no choice but to execute me. "

Soric and Milo talking about Soric's 'premonitions' Soric is rightly afraid that if others find out he'll be executed (or perhaps enslaved) and his precog tells him to talk ot Brin. This is heading towards endgame for Soric's story, begun in Guns of Tanith. His powers are growing obviously, but they're becoming obvious too. Already Meryn has figured it out and (as we discover) warning Hark, so Soric's fate depends on who he tells and who he trusts.
Also we learn that to some extent Brin's 'special' ness from the early books was partly faked, but there was ane lement of truth to it. I suspect that ties into his 'special' status where the Saint is concerned.



Page 142

"Nine are coming. Stop gakking around and be a man. Milo can be trusted, but he’s lying. He IS special. Don’t tell him. Don’t scare him. The clock’s reached midnight."

Soric's sixth sense again. I actually suspect now this may be why Sabbatine sacrificed herself or died - to protect Milo. Its never explicitly stated in the book why that happened or any real details about it, but we know she protected Milo from the tank at the cost of her own life.
That does leave an interesting question - if Sabbatine was the Saint, but Sanian wasn’ at that time, does that mean the Saint’s... essence.. was trasnferred upon death from Sabbatine to Sanian (hence why Sanian was a ‘fraud’ one moment and then genuine the next.) OR could both be vessels simultaneously?
Hark is also onto Soric and threatens Milo if he witholds info.
.


Page 143-144

There was a low hum as the gravitic assemblies in the massive ship’s underbelly cycled and flat-banded mag waves to compensate for the ship’s orbital drift.

‘antigrav’ on starships for maintianing orbit seems to be magnetic or electormagnetic in nature.



Page 144-145

...auntering over to the main pilot well where the helm servitors sat in recessed floor sockets.
..
Ensign Valdeemer took the data-slate from the waiting deck servitor..
...
To his left, where the edge of the bridge deck dropped away, the dozens of helm servitors, tech-priests and astropath navigators were arranged in descending tiers...

- the Naval frigate Naverre and the battleship Omnia Vincit both apparently make exntesive use of servitors even aboard the bridge (such as operating the helm.)
There are also "astropath navigators", which one presumes is a backup for the actual navigator, or just astropaths that assist the Navigator. Or perhaps guiding the ship in realspace.



Page 145-146

One day, it would be him sitting up there in that magnificent throne, bio-linked to the ship’s systems, commanding the power of a god in the Emperor’s name.
..
It was hard to tell where the fleet captain's gilded throne ended and his own body began. He was encased in golden armour, intricately wrought and etched, and his armour engaged directly with the throne so he formed a solid, engraved structure. His hands and arms were fused into the arms of the seat, and the back of his head, in its skullcap of gold, was locked against the throne's high back.
Esquine's hands were set palm-down on the arms of the throne, and only his gold-jacketed fingers moved, dancing like a pianist's. At their bidding, multi-jointed servo arms raised and lowered in front of the fleet captain's eyes, presenting pict-plates, larger actuality screens, and data-slates. The fleet captain held them up, sometimes four or more at a time, overlaying, comparing, transferring data from one to another with a blink, interlocking and compressing information into tight holographic spheres that floated around the throne.
..
The gold tracery of circuitry was woven into his ears, his cheekbones and the skin of his forehead from the edges of the skullcap, giving his flesh a jaundiced tinge. His mouth was invisible behind the grille of a vox-caster that rose from his gilded chest plate like a breathing mask.

Captain of the Omnis Vincit. Like with Titans and many other Imperial warships (Erwin Ramas from BFG novels being an obvious example) the captain is wired into the ship in a symbiotic relationship. Can at least absorb four data sources at once in an instant.



Page 146

"From the astropathicae," Valdeemer went on. "They have detected an advance perturbation in the Empyrean, warp modulus eleven two nine nine seven, at a point —"
"Nine AU out from Herodor. I can read, ensign. A standard Imperial arrival vector."

Warp translation distance for an Imperial convoy. Its predicted by the apparent distortions it creates. It could be that the 'bow wave' of warp transit is pushing against the warp/realspace interface and creating the disturbance. Nine AU is a standard warp translation distance, at least by this source.



Page 147

"Display the warp perturbation, if you will."
Velosade cracked his ringers, and a dimple of mauve light appeared in the lower hemisphere of the actuality globe.
"Reduce scale and give me tactical," said Esquine.
The actuality sphere flickered, dissolved and reformed, slightly wider and sparer in detail. Valdeemer recognised immediately they were looking at a 3D verisim of the entire inner system. There, the bright fuzz of the local star, there Herodor, and the other four inner planets, the bright band of the asteroid belt. The mauve dimple lay outside this inner group, as far from Herodor as Herodor was from its star.
"Overlay tactical!" Velosade ordered.
A geometric grid graphic flowed into the sphere, graphing its dimensions, and the disposition of Esquine's vessels —along with the myriad pilgrim and merchant ships —appeared as slowly drifting, numbered light-points.

ACtuality sphere showing the various elements of the system and aspects of it (ships present, celetsial bodies, etc. whether its based on old or current data, we don't know.
Herodor is alos 9 AU from its star, meaning that the translation point is acutally 18 AU away. If we were talking about a more Sol-type star, then, the warp translation point would be 17 AU from the planet (just a few AU short of Uranus in the solar system.)



Page 148

"Astropathicae report parameters verified. Perturbation reads at warp modulus eleven two nine nine seven, nine AU out. Tracking cogents. Concordance estimated at ninety-three minutes."

Estimated time til the projected warp emergence of starships, Tha tmeans they're a little over an hour and a half away.



Page 148

Valdeemer knew the commander was using the word “fleet” ironically.
..
Three frigates, a cruiser, a ship of the line, and fleet tender vessels — not too shabby as far as a flotilla detail went, but badly under strength in terms of fleet engagements.

Size of a flotilla vs size of a ‘fleet’



Page 149

Its vast engines cycling up to one tenth power, the frigate Berengaria moved away from Herodor, prowling forward into the interplanetary gulf. Though only classified as a light cruiser, it was massive by any standards of measure: a long, fortified, angular vessel, its barbed hull dull green. Frigates of the Berengaria's pattern were fast and well-armed, the blade-edge of any serious Navy group.
“We have broken orbit and are advancing to the advised modulus,”

The frigate breaks oribt at 10% power (and possibly stays at that, we dont know) which I might guess is 'standard' sustained power, but is also simultaneously described as a 'light cruiser' sa well as a frigate. Its possible the classificaitons overlap, as old 'cruiser' classifications were like 2-3 km, instead of the 4-5 they are by FFG terms.
Now, 8-9 AU in 93 minutes is some 7-8 thousand gravities and an average speed of 215,000 km/s. That is.. possible but very borderline, and unfortunately it assumes the ship does nothing to slow down. ASsuming a half accel/half decel journey, we're probably talking more like tens of thousands of gees. and closer to 80-90% of the speed of
light.

It goes without saying this is probably not 'normal' acceleration by most standards. Nevermind the contradictions with other sources (like Space Fleet's top speed, or the FFG materials), but it is flat out impossible for any plausible realspace engine that I am aware of. I've never been able to balance the thrust and mass of the ship (or fuel) and the energy requirements without (at best case) having the ship run out of fuel at the end of the trip (which could mean its either impossible or I'm not doing something right - either is plausible.) so I'm VERY leery of accepting these as 'standard' engine outputs. And even if they were acceptable, the power outputs would be insane to say the least.

On the other hand this isn't the only case by far we've heard of feats like this or had similarily insane accels (Nemesis comes to mind immediately) so it may not be easily dismissed as an outlier either. Even more this may represent only ONE TENTh the max thrust of the frigate!
There are several possibilities. We know for example they use Antigrav/mag waves to stay aloft. They may be able to use these to help propel the ship along (and even provide greater thrust than the engines) when planetary masses are available (sort of a short-ranged 'reactionless' boost.) Combining that with the conventional engine thrust could explain it.

The second possibility is to use the 'mass reduction' tech from EYe of Terror, which we know most starships (at least most ships of that era) purportedly used. We dont knwo if it can or is used in space - only for lifting off - and we don't really know how it works (it may not really boost acceleration for all we know.) but its possible. As I've repeated many times before, mass lightening tech does not necesariyl work the way most assume it does (eg not literally reducing mass - the same qualities are applied to suspensors after all.) - since we know so little about it there is very little ew can conjecture. However, since it exists, we may infer that it reduces mass to increase accel, not unlike starships in the Andromeda universe or Mass Effect (which IIRC is more ilke some antigravty handwave). This MIGHT have a side benefit of explaining the comparatively 'low' masses of starships, although 6 megatons (for a frigate) at tens of thousands of gees would lead to a fairly impressive energy output for thrust even with low 'exhaust' velocities (gigatons to teratons per second output, easily.)

A third possibiilty exists. Either the distance or the timeframe is wrong, or possibly both. We know (for example) the warp emergence point is the same distance as herodor is from the sun. HErodor, whilst a cold world, is still eminently habitable by and large by appearnaces so we might infer its as little as 1 AU away, and that would be more like a couple thousand gees and a top realspace velocity of .18% of c, which is still alot accel wise but not nearly so crazy (maybe he missspoke and meant point eight or nine AU, although the CAptaiun -plugged into the sensors- would know any error.) More likely the timeframe is off, as the time was only an 'estimate' and nothing is ever certain with warp travel - that is a given fact. That said, its unlikely the timeframe is more than a day or two at most, given the context of the story - you couldn't fudge those factors by much more without changing significant details of the story or other implications. If this were the case, we can easily drop accelerations down to a more 'sane' (relatively speaking) hundreds of gees (depending on exact timeframe being assumed.. as little as 100-200 gees for 12 hours.) and between 10 and 20% of c roughly max speed. Heck even if we assume 'weeks') although even if we fudge things for several days its possible to get single digit gees and nearly 2% of c, although thats pushing it, IMHO.

Fourth, its also possible that the frigate simply did not get close to the emergence point in the alloted time. This only helps a little, unles we want to think it onlly got within a few AU of it (and then engaged in combat) and it doesn't help with the fighters as we learn later. On the other hand this fact could merge with any of the others to 'fudge' the result quite easily as well, although it won't help a.) the fighters or b.) the combat ranges.



PAge 149-150

Tiny specks of light darted from the flanks of the Berengaria. The specks raced ahead of the massive warship, catching the backscattered light of the distant sun as they fanned out into a cloud like dust-flies at twilight.
They were Lightning-pattern fighters, swift and deadly one-man craft, spat out of the frigate's launch decks by mag-catapult. In wide formation, they spread out before their mighty parent craft.
..
"Concordance in forty-two minutes and counting," vox-link from the frigate reported.

Frigate to fighter comms - interesting that the frigate (or light cruiser) even has fighters - usually those are only capital ship scale things. . Time to the 'modulus' the fighters are released perhaps some 42 minutes (or more) from the destination. This might actually imply the fighters (at least - which would assume they scooted quite a bit ahead of the frigate instead of moving in close formation with it) take less time than the starship does to reach the target - 51 minutes or less. I won't bother recalcing the things above as they're still insane, but it does indicate less time involved.



Page 150

A detail of Navy armsmen was waiting for Zebbs in the prep-chamber of the mid-starboard air-gate. The colonel was pulling on his armour-jacket as he entered. The detail stood to attention, bulky in their emerald green armour suits, their combat shotcannons held ready, their faces hidden behind tinted visors.

Naval Armsmen weapons and armour.



Page 152

Imperial ships. Three Munitorum conveyances, then a Navy frigate, then four more heavy transporters.
...
The fighter screen broke around him, spreading wide and zipping like tiny silver reef fish along the lengths of the ponderous new arrivals. The vox-channels were suddenly busy with hailing signals.
..
"The perturbation is not dissipating, captain,"
...
...they were expecting something in the order of sixteen ships, and the actuality sphere showed only eight newcomer vessels. A fleet disposition emerging from warp space often came through in several waves.

So far a frigate, 4 heavy transports, and 3 munitorum conveyances have arrived, greeted the berengaria (suggesting they'r ewithin comms range.) They move towards Herodor. Also the perturbation is still present. Note as well that the implied detection (FTL) of all the vessels arrival, or at least the implied FLT (Seconds or a few minutes implied in detection, whilst 8-9 AU is actually more like over a light hour away.)
Note as well that they are coming in 'waves', which means that the arrivals are not simultaneous or constant. It could give more wiggle room in the Berengaria's accel calcs, although it does nothing for the fighters as I've noted
Also note the fighters are not moving at insane speeds.



Page 153-154

Epsin saw the deformed slugs bounce onto the deck plating and roll.
..
The enemy appeared. Three… then four, five… man-shadows hefting short-pattern autoguns..

Short pattern autogun (submachien gun? Carbine) using hollowpoint or mushrooming ammo of some kind.



Page 155

A half-size holoform image of Wysmark appeared like a pale red phantom in front of the fleet captain's throne, projected up from the holo-emitters in the strategium's decking.
...
There was a slight time-lag delay before Wysmark's image nodded and smiled at the fleet captain's remark.

holographic communications. Range between Navarre and Omnis Vincit is a bit over a light second implied.


Page 156-157

"Concordance now in two minutes," the vox-link rasped.
"Thank you, Berengaria," responded Shumlen, tilting slightly in the tight embrace of his grav-seat as he brought the Lightning round in a tight turn. "Flight leader to screen elements, form on me for a second pass. More traffic inbound."
The pilots of the squadron chattered back in confirmation and the Lightning flight like a flock of racing birds, turned as one and made course towards the calculated real-space entry point about seven hundred and fifty kilometres ahead.
There was nothing to see The starfield at this speed was a striated blur, and the warp perturbation that preceded a reentry was visible only on instruments.
Shumlen checked his scope, and saw the swirling dimple of colour on the low-res screen swell and flutter.

Two minutes to arrival. The fighters have arrived, and seemingly slowed down (given the 750 km distance estimated.) and also seem to be making multiple passes. Implied time of 91 minutes at least, and the fighters (if not the frigate itself) have slowed down by now, again implying insnae accelerations for both. Same statements as made before apply.



Page 157

For the second time in less than an hour, space tore open. The reality fissure leapt and crackled like a luminous cephalopod, lashing tendrils of warp energy into real space that twisted out, fizzled and faded. Non-baryonic light flared brilliantly through the tear, backlighting the arriving ships. Monumental silhouettes, they were shot forward into real space.
They did not slow down. They were moving at cruise speed. Attack speed.
Shumlen blinked. The arriving ships were just dots against the glare-spot ahead of his squadron, but his pattern recognition systems began to hoot and warble

'second time' is the arrival of the Chaos fleet. Note the 'non-baryonic' light, which echoes the previous 'baryonic' statmeent and dircectly relates it to the warp stuff (EG exotic matter shit.) which means that the Imperium has at least some kinds of 'non-baryonic' sensors, since they can detect the tear and warp/realspace interfaces like that.
They are moving at 'cruise/attack' speed, which is important to note, as is the implication that the fighters and such are close to the emergence point (although how close we don't know, except that they're far far off.. thousands or
tens of thousands of kms at least.)

The last interesting part is the 'second time in less than an hour' It was noted already this is only part of a larger force, and that it may take time for it all to arrive. We could figure upwards of two, two and a half hours for the Berengaria to reach that destination, potentially. Possibly less, but the timings (half an hour for the Navarre's boarding action to be fought, etc.) imply not much less than that. By 'less insane' I mean we're only in the realm of thousands of gees again not the tens of thousands or more. It would still have problems (and there are the fighters to deal with again) but its still better than nothing, and it at leats shows the timeframe is somewhat variable. Not to mention that we're talking about relativity being a factor here and that has to be accounted for also.



Page 157-158

Sodak gazed at the flickering images on the actuality sphere. "Increase magnification. Get me a clearer picture." At the current resolution, the holographic display was overlaying tag cursors and disposition icons. Code numbers were jumping and blinking.
"Tenfold mag aye!" said the ensign.
The tactical image enlarged rapidly. It looked like three enemy ships, possibly four, but the overlay icon of the fighter screen was making it hard to read the details.
"Take out the fighter icon," snapped Sodak, and an aide cancelled the overlay image of the Berengaria's attack squadron.
Four ships. One of them very large. And they were moving. Point seven five light at least, cutting straight towards Herodor.
"Enginarium," said Sodak. "Flank speed, please. Reactor output to ninety per cent. Last ready call for weapons."

Implication of course is that the chaos ships are far beyond visual range in any orientation (Tens of thousands of km easily) Given that the Berengaria is some distance from the fighters (for whom the targets themselves were dots) that is not surprising.

Flank speed is 90% power. Suggests that whatever power level the Berengaria was moving at, it may not have been indeed moving at full power (although it doesnt mean 10%.)

We might infer also that anything less than 90% engine power is 'combat' speed or emergency speed (with a 10% safety margin, say.) Thus 'normal' operations is significantly less, possibly as low as 10%. As I've noted later with the Omnis Vincit, this could suggest interesting things re: FFG accel. If, for example 10% power (or say 20%) was 'normal' operational level, and 90% power is combat levels, we might figure actual accels betwene 'max sustained' (non combat) accel and max 'combat' accel is 4.5-9x different. Thus a 6 gee (or so) frigate accel as listed in FFG might actually be 27-54 gees at 'combat' power levels. One may wonder why they would bother with such distinctions, but there is of course the non-trivial problems of fuel consumption, power dissipation, wear and tear, and so on. Ships have to be maintained, have to resupply, etc. and conserving those resources where possible (and preserving the condition of the hardware) is hardly a trivial issue. It could be 'flank' speed/combat speeds are actually less efficient (consume more power) than non-combat performing levels do. ITs a sci fi nerd groupthink idea that everything has to be done at MAXIMUM POWER simply because its the quickest/fastest away, and neglects any other considerations (which is silly. I should know having done it tons of times before myself!)

And the last part.. the 'point seven five light' which implies .75c at least. If that is the speed the Chaos ships are moving it it carries certain implications. Recall for example it was specified as 'attack' speed, which may suggest it launches projectiles at at least this speed (or at least stuff will be fired and hit at this speed, and hit the ship at that speed.) If the Chaos ships have kinetic projectiles of any kind (railguns, macro cannon, mass drivers, etc.) and assuming a 10-100 ton projectile, you'd get between 4.6e20 and 4.6e21 J and 3.4e12 (or e13) kg*m/s momentum per projectile. Which is alot. And given the implied distances and durations involved (targets being at least a few seconds away, if not more) we might get half a million or more km (hundreds of thousands of km at least), to millions of km away for combat ranges. The implied accleerations involved (decelerating to slower speeds in a matter of hours tops) would imply high accelerations unless we're talking the better part of a day.

Now, that said... there are some hefty problems with the above. Recall for example that the fighters were (at least at one point) 750 km from the convergence.) The fighters also can not be zipping around the ship at relativistic speeds to strafe it (nevermind the fuel and power issue, the pilot is supposed to feel the gees at least partly recall.) There's also the time dilation issues with relativity and the gunnery/timing issues (not impossible to reconcile, but definitely an issue) and the implied accelerations by the combat dynamic (esp with the fighters) would imply similar problematic accelerations as we got with the Berengaria (which may require similar solutions.) Its not irreconcilable of course, but its not clear cut either or without problems - like the rest of the combat scene, really Mind you even if .75 light isn't indicative of relativstic combat by alternate inteprretations (or dismissal as outlier, as much as I dislike outliers) it does not rule out high speeds.. its possible for thousands/tens of thousands of km/s implied too, from the 'beyond visual range' stuff. In some ways the incident is EASIER to reconcile that way, I think.



Page 158

"Hostiles, sir," said Velosade "Four marks. We believe three cruisers and a capital ship."
"Hold position."
"Berengaria is engaging."
"Hold position," Esquine repeated.
"Signal from the Glory of Cadia, sir," Valdeemer called out. "Requesting permission to come about in support of the Berengaria."
"Denied. I want them here, in line with us. Get that order confirmed."

This may imply realtime/near realtime detection, given events are supposedly nine AU away or more, but its not definite. They could be simply picking up 'old' data, given the interpretation, but its not clear. (Honestly, alot about this scene isn't lcear and its a real pain in the butt to reconcile in lots of ways.) Maybe we could argue that they're using psychic scrying as the ftl detection if that's the case.



Page 159

The Berengaria's fighter screen had met the ships head on, so as to minimise the angles of fire available to the enemy gunners, but even so Shumlen had already lost about thirty ships to the massive anti-fighter barrage.

At leats thirty fighters in the frigates fighter wing. Large frigates can be carriers it seems.



Page 160

The deck rocked beneath him slightly. Streaks of light from the lances and main batteries spat into the darkness.
"Main batteries have fired. Lances have fired. Torpedoes are running."
On the augur-scope, blips of light crackled around the dark bulk of the approaching Incarnadine.
"Damage?"
"Their shields have held, captain," said the master of ordnance.
"Second cycle, fire!"
Berengaria trembled again.
"Third cycle, fire!"
"Torpedoes have reached target, captain."

Recoil from launching the attacks (weapons fire - lances and batteries and torpedoes) imparts some slight recoil - this is forward firing weapons - suggests some main weapons batteries can orient to fire forward (possibly from broadside position.) If we figure 'slightly' is a quarter of a metre per second thats 1.5e9 kg*m/s. If all the weapons are massless (lasers and lances) and thats reasonable given that they seem to strike at roughly the same time, it would be ~100 megatons per second. IF they are projectiles that could be... more interesting (considerable velocity implied for the projectiles, a fair fraction of the velocity the lances would have, in fact. Given we know the battle is at least BVR anyhow, this still means at least thousands to tens of thousands of km/s in all probability.)
Implies that the torpedeos strike in the time it takes to fire 3 salvos. If we figure at least a second or two for lance fire (call it 300,000 km) and figure about 30-60 second delay between salvos - 90-180 seconds) you get between 1600-3300 km/s torpedo velocity. That would at least explain why shielding seems to block the torpedoes anyhow. Assuming between 100-2000 ton torpedoes we get 1e17 J per torpedo at least, to 1e19 J for the high end.
Anyhow...No damage to the Chaos vessel from the bombardment from any attack.


Page 161

"Maintain course. All forward batteries and lances to sustain firing cycles at the primary target Torpedoes too, if you please. As the Revenant passes us and presents, I want sustained fire on it from the flank batteries."
"Aye, captain," replied Yarden, swiftly moving to task his gunnery officers and their servitor crews.
..
"Signal the fleet captain and verify his instructions. Does he want us to maintain assault?"
The bridge suddenly lurched hard, and damage klaxons beeped wildly.
"The Incarnadine has begun firing on us, sir. Minor shield damage."
The ensign had barely finished when the ship shook again. Several crewmen were thrown off their feet, and the wail of the klaxons got louder. Sodak could see from the main console that they'd been hit hard on the upper hull. Moderate damage, hull punctures, interdeck fires...
"Auxiliary power to the shields!" he cried.

Batteries and lances have 'sustained fire cycles' This frigate also has distinct fore and broadside batteries and is providing power to all of them. Ship fire again from forward takes a very short time (Seconds), and the impacts are violent enough to throw people around.

Frigate also has auxiliary power - presumably backup reactors. Also note that the gunnery officers have 'servitor crews' for fire control and apparently gun handling, so we're probably talking about one of those vessles that is not purely human-crewed when it comes to weapons. That would help offset some of the problems with the 'relativistic' combat implied above.


Page 163

The massive enemy warship was right on them now, so close Sodak could actually see it as a dot through the glasteel windows of the bridge.
"Keep us true! Keep us face on!" he shouted at the helm officers. The frigate's strongest hull armour was concentrated around the prow. He didn't want to expose the flanks. Moreover, he wanted to maintain as small a target as possible.

Given the estimated size of Chaos vessels, we're probably talking at least thousands if not tens of thousands of km away, and this is only at this point, suggesting they were much further away during the intiial battle. Also the frigate has stronger armour on the prow (and narrower profile


Page 163

The Incarnadine fired on them again. Sodak didn't have time to even register the salvo on the augur scope.
The Berengaria pitched wildly. Parts of the upper hull splintered away in a spray of micro-fragments.

Cruiser fire strikes again, imparting considerable (but hard to estimate) momentum to the ship by the impacts. We don't know the types of weapons, but it takes a second or less. Thousands of km/s at least, more probably tens of thousands of km/s. That said we can't calc the effects because we dont know if its momentum, explosive vaporization, or whatever.


Page 166-167

"You were completely aware that she was a fake… a troubled, delusional girl who believed she was the incarnation of Sabbat and played the part reasonably well. You saw the currency in this, and backed her claim, for the good of Imperial morale… and to advance your own interests.”
..
"When Sanian — and don’t ask me to explain this, for it defies rational explanation — when Sanian became the real thing after all. She is the Beati, she is truly everything she believed herself to be, everything you pretended she was. A miraculous being in the strictest sense of the term. And that changed things. You have no idea what to do. You can’t manipulate her any more."

Lugo is revealed as trying to use a fake Saint to bolster his career.. and how it backfired on him.



Page 167

" Even before Sanian truly manifested as the Beati last night, the ripples of that happening were spreading through this sector and beyond. Signs, portents, auguries. You’ve heard them all, and put them down to hysteria amongst the faithful, I’m sure. But they are more than that. Every psyker in the sector — ours and theirs — must have felt as much. The cosmos is turning for a purpose, lord general, and this is one of those rare occasions when we can hear its machinery whirring and see its handiwork.”

The Beati’s ‘manifestation’ would be detectable by psykers. This agian makes me wonder if Sabbatine’s death and Sanian’s ‘manifesting’ might be what is ‘detected’. Also indications again that the Sabbat Worlds region is a sector (twice really.)



page 172

He'd just pulled a turn so tight the G-force had all but crushed him and blinded him for about fifteen seconds. He blinked hard to get his squeezed eyeballs to refocus.

Apparently the Lightning either has no AG, he has one of those suspensor suits we know about from other novels (Warriors of Ultramar, etc.) or the inertial damping is less than perfect (it only dampens some/most of it.)



Page 173

Typical air-boy, Shumlen thought. Liebholtz was a great pilot, truly gifted, but he'd come out of planetary airforce, like so many pilots. He still thought in terms of up and down, right and left.
No such things. Any true void-fighter knew that. And Shumlen was a true void-fighter. Oh yeah, this close to a planet or super-massive ships there was a marginal grav-element to allow for, but that was just part of the game. To void-fight, you had to think in three dimensions at once.

Difference between aeronautica and void fighter pilots. Also there is a ‘grav element’ close in to really big ships. I suspect its not so much that the ship has enough mass to do that, but because its own AG field extends from the hull and exerts influences. We saw something similar in ‘Know No Fear’ after all as well.
It could also explain how the fighters could dogfight close to the battleship even while the battleship (supposedly) was moving at fractions of lightspeed.


Page 174

His cannon shuddered.
It blew out like a flower, the fuselage peeling away into silver shreds. He saw the pilot vaporise as he tried to eject.

if the pilot literally vaporizes? Triple digit MJ to single digit GJ at least. It could simply be exploding though (which might be ‘only’ single/double digit MJ of course.) We dont know what kind of cannon though, either.


Page 175

Even so, ninety-six armsmen, who had spent the last half hour fighting for the very life of the Navarre...

At least half an hour passing between the Navarre being boarded and it breaking free to join the Imperial fleet.


PAge 176

The Navarre lurched as its main lances fired. The beams, on full load, cut through the Solstice's flank plating and opened its inner decks to space All two thousand metres of it crumpled like metal foil and tore apart A moment later, its reactors went up. Where the Solstice had been, only a white hot blast radius remained.

Solstice is a frigate. The Navarre’s lances provided some (slight?) recoil as they fired (at full power) on an unshielded, 2 kilometre long frigate. If we figure a 6 megaton starship at 6 gees, we’d probably be talking at least single, double digit GJ with the accel. If the engines don’t fire.. and a quarter gee ‘acceleration’ its a bit over 100 megatons. Obviously if the accel is involved, or if the mass is higher, the yields could be greater.


Page 176-177

Wysmark, without looking, had already produced the compact auto-mag anchored under the master console. He pointed it down at Kreff and fired...
...
The first shot smashed Kreff s pelvis. The second broke three ribs and ruptured a lung. The third pulped Kreff s right ear and spanked off the deck plating.
...
He raised his service pistol in a shaking hand and shot Wysmark in the side of the head.
..
The impact of the round rocked him. The left side of his skull burst outwards, and bloody tissue dripped onto his braided collar.

Naval slugthrowers in action. Again presumably lasweapons could do the same (single digit kj at least?)



PAge 177

The side batteries of the Omnia Vindt lit up and stayed lit. The Navarre's shields soaked up the merciless bombardment for several seconds, swirling and coruscating like molten glass. Then they began to buckle and fail. The Navarre heeled over, its hull shredding and burning. Its gravitic assemblies shut down and it started to fall, stern-first, into the gravity well of the planet. A vast internal explosion disintegrated it before it hit the atmosphere.

Frigate shielding endures several seconds of battleship fire.



Page 185

The heavy cruiser was a third again as big as the gold-laced enemy ship.
..
The Laudate Divinitus fired a full volley of lances and torpedoes. The Revenant gunned away, shields flaring flat white.
...
The Revenant dipped low into the thin reaches of the upper atmosphere, and began to disgorge drop-pods and landing craft. Hundreds of them.

One of hte rare Imperial heavy cruisers, 1/3 again larger than a regular cruiser. Heavy cruiser shielding blocks torpedoes it seems. Also, cruiser deploys drop pods and landing craft in assault.



Page 186

And met him like a cliff face. His tiny craft burst and flared for a second as it was run down against the massive prow of the battleship. The Incarnadine didn’t even feel it.

Lightning impacts against Battleship at unknown speed. Does fuck all. If the ship is still travelling at near-c (or anything near it) the impact could be quite powerful. If at .75c for example, a 10 ton Lightning would impact with 4.6e20 J of KE, and have 3e12 kg*m/s of momentum. But even if it was at say, 10 km/s the momentum would still be significant (and 500 GJ of KE)



Page 188-189

Even combined, the Tanith, life company, Regiment Civitas and Herodian PDF had nothing like enough numbers to cordon the entire perimeter of the sprawling city. First Officiary Leger had even seconded the city arbites and the local civic militia forces to bolster the military presence, and still that left them lacking in numerical resources.
The Imperial forces would loiter in the city centre, from which point any part of the city extent was as near as any other, and wait to see what direction the ground assault came from. Then they would respond fast, using transports, and channel their efforts in that particular area.
It was impossible to tell where the first wave of assault would come from. Gaunt had been through too many assaults from orbit — as assaulter and assaulted both — to think otherwise. There were so many variables.
From the data, Gaunt had seen, there were at least four archenemy warships up above them. Unopposed, their combined firepower could raze the Civitas down to the bedrock: streets, habs, hive-towers, even the armoured shelters underground. If the enemy decided not to bother with the complexity and effort of a ground assault and simply went for the kill, this war would be over before it started.

Lengthy discussion of Imperial and Chaso tactics in this battle. Normally Chaos might just flatten the city from orbit (down ‘to the bedrock’ including belwoground facilities, which could be quite deep going by other sources.) But since they want the SAint, that means ground attack and invasion, which is more complex.
Gaunt further notes that the big advantage of orbital attack is that it makes predicting the direction and origin of the attack difficult - high ground is like that. As a result rathe than defending the city as a whole they’ll hold back and use transport (MOBILITY!) to respond to specific attacks.



Page 189

Hundreds more Like a shower of meteorites, they rained down from high orbit overhead,

Chaos ships in high orbit, dropping pods.


Page 191

He routed power away from the huge firestorm on deck eight.
..
He shut down reactor two, which was red-lining and clearly damaged, and kicked in auxiliary power from the redundant reactor in the Omnia Vincit's belly.
....
"Damage is contained. I've got a lance back on line. We're painfully weak, but I'd like to divert all power from the engines to the shields."
..
“The Incarnadine is flanking us to port, sir, and returning full and sustained broadsides. Shields at thirty-five per cent.”

Damage control. Includes routing power from I presume firefighting systems, and divrting power from engines to shields (which can take the full output. If shields can one assumes the weapons can.) Also the battleship had a backup reactor for ‘auxiliariy’ power. They also restore power to a lance, bypass some damaged cogitator nodes, close of internal bulkheads and blast doors and vent oxygen to put out fires.

[Connor MacLeod]

final update for Sabbat MArtyr

Page 192-193

The Incarnadine's constant scan-sweeps of the Omnia Vincit showed that it was dead in the water, its combined reactor power channelled from engines to shields. Massively protected, it was still a sitting target.
The Harm's Way, sitting off to bow-starboard of the Imperial warship, began to concentrate its lance blasts at the weak points of shielding, at the hasty overlap that barely covered the torpedo wound which had blown the fifth dorsal shield away and crippled the fleet captain.
...
The third [Chaos fighter], accelerating to hypersonic, made it in down the main launch deck, strafing as it went, and banked right into the munitions loading bay. There, just before it catastrophically ran out of flying space, it dumped its payload into the sub-deck autoloader shafts that lifted munitions up to the earner deck from the armoured heart of the Omnia Vincit.

First, shield power transferred from enginest o shields - can't move, but maximum protection. But it still has weak points in the shield based on how the sections overlap and provide coverage. Each Arc presumably has at least 5 separate shields (meaning 30 separate shield 'layers/arcs' total.)

Hypersonic chaos fighter collides with interior of deck (blows up) along with its payload, setting off munitions. Apparently it can also accelerate to hypersonic and (briefly) travel along the deck in a short period of time (seconds) implying the battleship's hanger is really freaking huge (kilometres long easily.)




Page 193

Valdeemer desperately converted three per cent of shield power back to the engines and pushed the battleship out from between the vicing archenemy ships.
...
A three per cent drop on shield power wasn't much, but the Harm's Way, waiting at the bow like a jackal on a kill, didn't hesitate. It cycled up full load power from its main reactors and fired its lances at the overlay weakness.

Reallocated 3% power from shields to engines, which is considered a considrable boost to acclereation. Even if we assume its a few metres per second (and by the scene I'm betting its MUCH more acceleration to significantly move a batlteship during a battle), we'd probably be talking a good 68-102 m/s^2 implied acceleration at max power for a battleship at least.. If we figure a Battleship has around 1 gee accel of sustained accel by FFG terms, we might be talking 7-10 gees at 'max power', which means that 'normal' sustained would be 1/7th to 1/10th max power. That actually meshes with the 'tenth power' of the Berengaria earlier, oddly neough.
Also 3% drop in shield power is a considerable weakness in defense (overlay weakness - probably means the way the shielding is allocated/spread in a given arc.) against a cruiser with max power lances. Also the impliaction that full powre lances involve considerable output (near total?) from the main reactors.


Page 194

The mighty Incarnadine and the frigate Harm’s Way drew in tight alongside the Revenant, and began to disgorge the drop-pods and landers of the assault force. What had been hundreds became thousands. Troop pods banged down like tracer bullets. Drop-ships swam away from the carrier decks and began to bank down towards the surface. Heavy landers uncoupled and entered descent mode.

- The chaos troops deploy from drop pods and landers. Again this is from high orbit as noted before.



Page 194

At the rear end of the Incarnadine's belly, an armoured iris valve slunked open and a small object fired out. Tiny, it had its own integral void shield, and shot like a missile down through the Herodian atmosphere.
...
His impact cratered the obsidae for five hundred metres in all directions and kicked out a shockwave flash so hard and bright the Imperials thought for a moment that the archenemy had decided to fire from orbit after all.
He had been very precise about his landing site. The force of his landing drove him down through the planet's crust and into the deep-seated darkness of the aquifer itself.

Drop pod stirke, confused for an orbital strike. suggests hundreds of kilotons at least, whatever kind of attack it is (single shot either way, so a broadside would be considerably more powerful even if we assume this were a max-power shot.)



Page 195

It had only been a twenty minute ride down from the Incamadine’s carrier bays to the surface, but they’d got bored and hungry.

20 minutes from high orbit to ground. Figure 35,000 km, average velocity of ~29-30 km/s. Assuming half accel/half deceel, at least 9-10 gees of acceleration, no fewer than 5 gees in either case.


Page 197

”The city-shield must be down already,”
..
“'Not necessarily,” Gaunt replied. “It's only a climate shield. A surface bomber like that, with its forward screens maxed up...”

Implying that (Chaos) attack craft have shields, and that shields are a factor in penetrating shielding (at least weak shielding.) May help explain why attack craft (and perhaps even torpedoes) can bypass shields. It does suggest that the ‘penetration’ aspect may not be absolute - one infers that the protection/durability of the ordnance/craft and the velocity (perhaps mass too?) are factors.



Page 198-199

Imperial numbers in the Civitas Beati hovered just under the seventeen thousand mark, provided militia and arbites units were figured in. But the Imperials had only something in the order of one hundred and eighty armoured machines, of which seventy were unarmed carriers. No air cover. No artillery apart from some light Regiment Civitas field pieces.
..
Out on the obsidaes, tac logis calculated, over half a million men and a hundred thousand fighting machines waited to mount the second wave. And the count was rising with every incoming wave.

Imperial vs chaso numbers.


Page 199-200

Unopposed as they now were, the archenemy warships far above them could have ended the war quickly with aerial bombardment. Instead, the enemy had opted for the gross effort and huge cost of a ground assault. He knew what that meant.
They wanted the Beati.
Poorly protected and underdefended as it was, the Civitas Beati was still large, and taking it a street at a time would be a bloody, painfully expensive task for any army. The archenemy was only undertaking it because of the prize. Indeed, the archenemy had only come to Herodor, only bothered with the place at all, because of that prize. The enemy commander wanted the Saint. A body, at least… but a prisoner, that would be the greatest trophy. So an annihilating orbital bombardment was out of the question. No tangible proof of the Beati’s presence would be left.

Gaunt again notes that orbital bombardment could easily solve this if they were just in for demolishing, but they want the Saint. Its a psychological victory, and that requirement dictates something more complex, costly, and generally less efficient. The war on Herodor is all about psychology, and both factions have their figurehead/leader, the loss of which (and the victory of the other) which can be decisive. One can argue over the judgement itself (and whether it makes sense), but the fact is that both Imperium and Chaos in this Crusade employ ground combat only when they perceive some sort of gain (either to preserve valuable real estate/minimize the desturction - one hopes at least - or to capture a vital target/adversary, or even for political reasons.)



Page 201-202

Surch and Loell were set up on the west side of the street, Melyr and Caill on the east. The two .50 cannons had a tight, interlocking field of fire, and preyed on the scattering ground troops mercilessly. Red-armoured bodies tumbled, sprawled, flew backwards, flew apart.
..
..the .50 teams dismantled their support weapons and hastened out of their positions.

The Ghosts seem to be using exclusively .50 cal support weapons for its heavy weapon teams this time. We get repeated mentions of such teams (seems at least one per platoon, which means 100 such teams at least.)



Page 205

Rather than wasting time attempting to hold badly provisioned outer streets, Biagi’s plan had identified and described the various junctions and street-meets where ambush and defence would work most effectively. It was pragmatic in that it gave ground to an invading enemy until good advantage could be had in defence, but it was thorough.
..
Gaunt’s own trick to complement GAR 3, based on years of experience, was to keep his forces tightly engaged with the leading edge of the enemy advance The invasive force was like an arm reaching blindly around an obstacle Every time it came forward, the Ghosts grabbed it by the fingers and severed it at the wrist. By staying close to that leading edge, they discouraged air-cover attacks.

More on the nature of the Guard tactics. It actually reminds me of the Tau in some ways - knowledge of terrain is important, luring the enemy forward (bait) into a position where you can obliterate it, etc.


PAge 206

Hurling specialist AT shells, the three Imperial tanks got down to business, their first three or four salvoes turning the Blood Pact's well-ordered chase advance into a bloody riot. The Wild One crippled one of the big AT83s with its first shot and killed it with its second. The AT83 Brigands, larger than their more primitive cousins the 70s, were, on paper, the Urdeshi forge world's equivalent of the Leman Russ. They had auspex guidance, weapon stabilisers and torsion bar suspension. They were the Blood Pact's best battle machines, not counting the very few ancient super-heavies they had inherited from defeated Guard units.

Blood pact vs Imperial tanks. The local forge world (the Urdeshi models) can come close to matching Russ standard (Sensors, stabilizers, etc.) but they need a bigger tank to do it with



Page 207

Another hit the Demands With Menaces on the turret destroying its vox-mast, pintle mount and laser range-finder, and killing the assistant gunner with explosive spalling.
..
Corbec saw the top-hatch pop and the commander emerge, oblivious to the danger, to verify aim with a handscope now his range-finder was junked.
He knew his job. The Demands rolled to a halt and jolted hard as it fired, jerking plumes of accumulated white dust off its surfaces and hull grooves like sifted flour. The sound of the hypervelocity AT shell was just a crisp, flat clap in the augmented air. The AT70 made a much fuller and more satisfying sound as it exploded.

Vanquishres with laser rangefinder (and using hand scopes when the rangefinder is damaged.) and firing hypervelocity shells. It almost certainly means much faster than 1-1.5 km/s for the Conqueoror cannons from Honour Guard. I’m betting its safe to say they’re well into the 2-3 km/s range. IF we have 120mm smoothbore its probably a 4-7 kg penetrator (if we assume discarding sabot) which is at least 8 MJ to 31.5 MJ. If its larger bore (say 140-150mm or more) and sub calibre we might be looking at a 10-15 kg penetrator (at least), which would be 20 to 68 MJ.



Page 209

A las-round had gone through Guthrie's left thigh. It had cauterised itself, but he'd lost a good chunk of meat and it was so clean-through you could see daylight from the other side.
Corbec took out his field dressings and started to patch Guthrie's leg, smacking a one-shot needle-vial of morphia into the flesh above his hip first.

Las round penetrates thigh. Probably at least a few KJ to drill through, seems to blow out part of the thigh (opposite end it penetrates I imagine) but not severing or otherwise damaging the bone.) If we figure at least 50-125 j per sq cm for the wound and a 1-2 cm wound diameter across maybe 15 cm we get between 45 and 95 sq cm which is 2.3-11.9 kj per shot for the burns.
Also needle vial of painkiller, which seems to be another standard part of Guard field medikit (individual trooper kits, that is.)



Page 209

He started to turn. A las-round. In flight, at full velocity, passing so close beside his face that he felt its stinging heat He smelt the sheath of ozone fuming off it.
If he hadn't turned his head at the sound of Milo's warning, it would have hit him squarely between ear and eye.

LAZER BULLET. I just quoted it because its rather obvious proof (again) that Abnett likes treating lasguns as shooting energy projectiels rather than actually being beam weapons.



Page 210

Corbec was on his face on the walkway. His makeshift ploy with the launcher had ignored one crucial detail. The revetment had been right behind him when he fired and the huge exhaust kick of the tube had had nowhere to vent. The force had thrown Corbec forward five metres like a hammer blow. He'd made an even bigger balls-up of using a tread fether than Kazel had done a few hours before.

Recoil fo properly-un-vented rocket exhaust. Corbec is a rather big fellow (100-150 kg probably, given he’s supposed to be a good 2.5 m tall or so) and if he’s thrown back five metres we might figure at least 1-2 m/s./ Call it 100-300 kg*m/s for the rocket mayhap. Probably higher, as even an RPG-7 has something like 2-5 kg projectile at 100+ m/s, but this would suggest Tread Fethers are at lest within that magnitude of performance (ballistically, at least.)


Page 214

The honest simplicity of it almost brought a tear to Soric's eye. Milo had told him they'd called him that too. That was the truth of things. In this dark galaxy, superstitious soldiers didn't set up a hue and cry for the execution of their touched ones. They regarded them as lucky charms, touchstones, fate-wards against the entirely luck-free doom that awaited all of Imperial culture.

Soric's platoon regard him sas "lucky" rather than warp touched, as long as he does good things. This is interesting in that it shows how the mindset of 40K humans affect their attitudes about the warp and those contacting it (Saints like Sabbat, who is rather obviously a psyker or something similar, si another example.) ITs a rather big part in this story. The Saint is viewed as ‘miraculous’ for her wonderful powers, and totally not corrupt, and yet Soric, whose actions prove instrumental in the victory, is ostracised and tormented for being a filthy psyker. Not by everyone - Gaunt, Dorden, Milo and Soric’s platoon still treat him well even if they know bu tothers (like Meryn’s bunch) beat him savagely.
Its quite liekly that many regiments hve such "lucky" charms which are in reality folk with minor (harmless?) psychic potential. So long as it sconfiend, it probably escapes notice (like wyrds in Necromunda and other games.)



PAge 215

“Jamming, most like. Heavy-grade electroference.”
Gaunt had feared as much. The invaders were adding to their advantages by muzzling the Imperial comms and chain of command. They were probably fething up their own vox-links too, but no doubt the Blood Pact was relying on psykers to coordinate their forces.

The Blood pact are practicing EW, jamming transmissions.


PAge 217

Gaunt had, for obvious reasons, a basic faith in the Guard being the backbone of the Imperium's fighting power. He had a healthy respect for the Astartes, for the Titan Legions, for the armoured regiments and the Navy, but the basic fething infantry was, in his book, the four square basis of victory. That's the way he'd been taught, after all, by his father, by Oktar, by Slaydo... even by Dercius. But right then, like never before, he longed for a squadron of Furies, or Lightnings, or anything air-mobile with a good rate of climb and armour-penetrator ammunition. Those landers were so vulnerable. One well led squadron could exterminate a huge chunk of the enemy strength in transit before it had even made surface-touch.

Gaunt’s assessment of the Imperium’ s military. I suspect in context he’s talking about the ‘Guard’ as infantry, as he treats the armour forces as separate as the other arms.
Also the value of airmobile assets in a proper assault/defense, and ‘armour penetrator’ ammo.



Page 218

...Banda swung round from the window and aimed her long-las at him. The target light from her scope glowed on his solar plexus.

Targeting beams again for scopes.



Page 220

They had been bolted tight and secure by their departing owners. Mkeller las-knifed the padlock on the manufactory’s outer door.

Las knife to cut through padlock. whether an actual ‘knife’ or just a continous-mode lasweapon we dont know. Or maybe a pared down lascutter?


PAge 226

“May I?” Kolea asked. Nessa handed him her long-las.
He spotted down, letting the auto-settings of the scope adjust to his eyeball.
The stalk-tank wasn't standard. It was lacking weapon pods and fore-turrets. Instead, its underslung body compartments were fat and distended, like a swollen belly. Within the gross, glassteel bubble, Kolea could see a human figure in front of the driver. The figure was leaning back, twitching and spasming. Hundreds of plug-wires snaked from its body into the guts of the tank's body assembly.
“Psyker,” he said, handing the long-las back to Nessa.
“Psyk-weapon?” Hwlan asked.
“No,' said Kolea. “I reckon it's that... and things like it... that are fething up our comm-links.”
...
The hot-shot round ruptured the belly-bubble and blew the psyker's head and shoulders into meat shrapnel.

long las scopes again are self-adjusting (auto settings). We also dicover the source of the jamming. Which Nessa’s hotshot promptly headsplodes (along with a good part of the upper torso). Definitely almost certainly double digit kj. If we figure 3rd or so degree burns on remaining upper torso (40x25 cm roughly = 1000 sq cm) and 50-125 j per sq cm) you get between 50-125 kj at least for the burns.



Page 229

..behind the squat Demolisher mount and beside the main weapon. Her sword scythed in her hand.
The massive main barrel severed, the cut length of it crashing onto the hull before rolling off onto the ground.
..
The Beati swung her sword up, grabbed the hilt with both hands and plunged it down, blade-first, between her well-planted feet, deep into the body of the tank’s main hull.
It slewed to a stop. She had pin-pointed and executed the driver.

Its worth noting that the Saint here also killed a Baneblade tank, singelhandedly, although by ‘kill’ I mean she leapt up, used her powersword to slice through the armour and shit, and basically tube charge the interior. That means the Demolisher barrel is perhaps less than a metre (probably lesS) in diameter, and that the Baneblade’s armour is less than a metre or two thick (maybe half a metre or so, as it has to penetrate at least 15-20 cm to kill a body.)


PAge 230

And she’d just killed a super-heavy tank outright in single combat.
Corbec suddenly felt awkward and pathetic.
“Nothing like the feats of valour you’ve performed in your time, Colm,” she said to him, as if reading his thoughts.

She probably can.



PAge 230-231

”You see?” she said. “You see? Without you, I am nothing. The Emperor, blessed be His divine grace, has given me strength and speed and power beyond the scope of man. But I can't fight the enemy alone. Alone, I will be overwhelmed. To live, and to be victorious, I rely on you... on you, Milo, and you Colm, on the brave men and women of the Imperial Guard, on all my fellow warriors... a fact that Milo has just demonstrated very clearly.”
..
“All of us, together, on the journey into night. I may be something… something… I don’t know what. A figurehead, at least. A rallying point. A leader. But I am nothing without you. A leader is nothing if she has no one to lead.”
..
“This is not about me,” she said. “This is about all of us. Imperial souls, banding together to see off the dark.”

Sanian takes after Slaydo and Gaunt in their military philosophies. Showing she is truly a warrior saint. Again psychology plays such a huge role in this novel on both sides in so many ways.



Page 234

He — and every other man of Tanith — had assumed that every last part of their world was dead, except for them and the stuff they’d taken off world with them. But here was a piece of Tanith that had survived, spared from the fires. How many other small relics remained, in woodshops and carpenter’s stores across the sector?

Corbec runs across nalwood in a woodworker’s shop, and in the process discovers a bit of his past, his lost world, and perhaps discovers a reason to fight - his world is gone, but parts of it still remain. Even if the Ghosts fade away, there will be legacies of the world to mark it. Its kind of staggering to consider how many other worlds like that it must be true of.
Corbec also reflects that gaunt believes Herodor is bound to the ghosts by Fate, a confluence of events leading to this battle.
Also implication yet again about the Sabbat World region being a sector.



PAge 235

Occasionally, he retuned to the enemy channel. It was meant to be encrypted, but their tech-mages had broken the Imperial cryptography in the first few hours of the assault. Saul spoke Low Gothic fluently. He found it useful to understand the chatter of the weak souls he preyed on. When, in the middle part of the day, his forces had launched their jamming weapons, he'd been frustrated to lose the Imperial signal.
It was back on again now. This pleased him, even though it meant the enemy must have taken out at least a few of the specialist psyker vehicles.

Mention of the psyker jammers agian, and techpriests code cracking.



Page 236

By nightfall, he had reached the junction of Principal VI and Brazen Street. He knew this from his chart-slate. The tech mages in the first wave had almost literally ripped detailed street plans and schematics from the Civitas's tac logis data banks, which were protected by laughably crude protection programs. The information flowed from the tech-mages on the surface back to the warships, where it was collated and transmitted back down to any one with the appropriate field gear. That meant officers, squad leaders, tank chiefs and Saul. A constantly updating, constantly refining picture of the city was made available to him on his hand-held.

Chaos techpriests hacked into the (poorly guarded) Herodor computer networks, siphoned off useful data, which is relayed to orbit, and thence relayed it to military forces on the ground, including Saul’s chart (data?) slate. Again indication of the relay of useful data, this time by Blood PAct. The Guard can do the same, as we know the Pact employ Guard tactics and gear.


Page 238

Saul fired up his scope. It whirred and blinked, then the image resolved. In green and black, light-boosted, high res.
..
He adjusted the scope’s glare setting.

Blood Pact sniper’s scope. Seems to be low light/night vision, but not infrared like Larkins’s.



Page 242

Skarwael finished his artistry. His boline, double-bladed, each edge mono-molecular sharp, punched into Lamm's teetering, choking form.

Mandrake has a mono-edge blade.

Page 244

Hark felt sad about it. Soric was a good man and the Verghastite Ghosts loved him. But that didn’t hide the truth that Soric was too lethal to live.
..
That was a commissar’s job. In simple terms. In black and white. That was the duty. And Hark was nothing if not a slave to duty.

Hark contemplates his duty. Hark, unlike Gaunt, is still a good commissar in many ways, and that makes his eventual actions more tragic and even horrible, especially because it is just that - duty. He doesnt take joy from this, and I do believe it pains him, but he genuinely believes it neccessary. The dark side of the Commissar’s role, once again.

Page 248

Filthy proclamations of warp-texts were flooding the vox channels, or being broadcast from the speakers of advancing armour at high volume.
The fallen prayer horn, Gorgonaught, was set back...
...
..obscenity was blasted, often the amplified screams of Imperial troops, citizens or pilgrims captured during the first phase.
...
..those soldiers whose mettle broke under the psychological torment.
..
..Imperial troopers fought and died with tears in their eyes, driven to anguish by the sputtering, hissing sounds of evil incarnate.

More psychology, this time on the Chaos side to demoralize and destabilize the Imperial forces. Forced life company commissars to execute people, which in a way is just doing Chaos’ work for them.


PAge 251

Sin soothed them with his low, sweet moaning, and lulled them into a calm, trance state by repeated use of their ritual command words.

Sin has child psykers that he’s using for his assasination effort. It seems that the poor psykers were controlled/brainwashed by Chaos (or Sin) into their roles, by command words.



Page 256

...she turned his dirty face towards the altar and pressed the middle three fingers of her right hand against his brow.
In a second, a single wonderful second of glass-cold clarity, his headache cleared and he saw everything.
Everything.
“You know it all now.”

The Saint imparts knowledge to Milo.


Page 257

The tagger points of his scope now blinked on empty space. Just a second before, he'd had a near-perfect shot. The broken lancet window looking into the Chapel of Faltornus, five hundred metres, negligible cross-wind... no adjustment he couldn't make.
...
Saul was confident one of his custom rounds would penetrate the boy's body and waste the Beati too, but he didn't want to risk it.

TAgger points on Saul’s (The Blood PAct sniper’s) scope. He doesnt seem to use hotshots the way the Ghost snipers do, but some sort of custom las-ammo, which has considerable overpenetration evne from half a km off.
Also lasfire affected by wind. again.


Page 257

Six hundred plus metres west, Hlaine Larkin raised his aim and sighed. He could have sworn he'd seen something at that hab window. A shooter lining up.

Larkin targeting Saul (for a shot presumably) from 600 m off.



PAge 258

There was a crack-whine, a distant echo, and for one glorious moment Saul thought he'd fired.
...
Exploded by a hot-shot round, Saul's head came away entirely. His corpse, smoking at the neck, fell back into the hab.

Hotshot headsplosion. AT least 100 j per sq cm for the neck. IF we figure 15x15 cm thats at least 28 kj for the stump, and probably the same for the neck (or at least the opposite stump.)


Page 263

The only thing that had remained had been his ruthless streak of hate. His killer instinct. The part of his character that made others eternally wary of him, the part of his character that made sure Ibram Gaunt never quite turned his back.
The very, very worst part of him.

the worst part of Rawne. The funny thing is, its not really the whole part of him. He’s no Cuu, a murderer, nor is he a Meryn a cold blooded bastard. That Murderous nature, that coldness is one part of him, but he’s in command of it and can suppress it at need. That is really the fundamental difference for RAwne, and the reason (I suspect) why he can seem still human and even noble, despite his darker nature. And why he has potential to improve.



Page 264

Sabbat stood her ground, her power sword whirling, ricocheting las-rounds off in all directions.

Like Gaunt, sAbbat can deflect lasfire.



Page 264-265

The twins were the most potent psykers in the sector. They were alpha level. Between them, their combined minds packed more power than all the astropaths and psykers on Herodor, Imperial and foe alike. His children. The children of Sin.

Again implies Sabbat Worlds is a sector, and that the psykers on Herodor are all less than two alpha level combined (but presumably more than one, or else Sin would have said only one, rather than both together.) If we assume Herodor was a typical world we might be figuring scores or even hundres of astropaths easily, which gives you an idea of their psychic power.
This is also interesting in light of Sin’s control over them via the aformentioned ‘command words’. Chaos it seems can exert some control over alpha levels - or at least juvenile ones.
The alpha twins can make entire squads kill each other, or hide Sin and themselves from detection by other troops.


Page 266

...Skarwael reappeared on the other side of them. A glinting splinter pistol came up...
..
Energy-charged filaments of toxic crystal spat from the barrel, and Grohowski doubled over, explosively gutted.

Mandrake splitner pistol, I think. Does considerable physical damage although we dont know how many shots. Also the splinters are ‘energy-charged.’ whatever that means.



Page 267

And his laspistol.
He opened fire on the monstrous shadow, but it had vanished. With a baffled gurgle, Landis fell on his back, shot apart by his commander's blasts.

Unknown number of las shots - presumably a second or two) blow apart the ‘explosively gutted’ body from before. Even if a few hundred kj does that, over fewyer than 10 shots thats double digit kj per shot easily for a laspistol.



PAge 272-273

“Sister Elinor,” Gaunt said. “We meet again.”
..
“The divine powers allow me only to advise. But things have become more perilous since I last spoke to you. Forces and elements that the tarot did not foresee have entered the mechanism. To counterbalance this, I have been permitted to speak to you again.”
“You've been trying to make contact. I apologise for ignoring the signs. I've been busy.” He paused. “Permitted by who?”
She turned her head towards him. It was the fluid neck-swivel of a human who had been habituated to helmet-display target sensors. Just like at their first meeting,
..
“The divine powers. Their name may not be uttered for it is too bright.”
...
“The mechanism is delicate —”
...
“I've had enough of the vagueness and the enigmatic crap!” Gaunt snapped. “Tell me! Just tell me! If you can help me win, help me win! If not, why the feth did you ever draw me into this nonsense in the first place?”
...
“You drew yourself in when you served the Beati on Hagia. You drew yourself in when you spared Brin Milo from the flames of Tanith. You drew yourself in when you listened to Warmaster Slaydo retell the struggles of the Age of Sabbat and swore your blood oath to finish his work. You drew yourself in long before you were even born, before your ancestors were born, for you and your Ghosts are a small part of a manifest destiny so great in dimension that from here, even at this high point of it, we cannot see the beginning or the end.”

Our Sororitas seer makes another apperance, less vague than before. tHe notable thing is that like with Innokenti, she seems to be an agent of higher powers, but leaves as many questions as she answers. The big question of course is, who is she an agent for? The God Emperor perhaps, but why not just say that. It also sounds like she speaks of plural, which echos Innokenti’s ‘godlings of human order’ at the beginning of the book. Multiple human deities/warp powers working (perhaps with the Emperor?) to oppose Chaos?
The whole ‘emchanisms are delicate’ and the need for secrecy and revealing only so much is another curious detail, and the whole symbol of balance and shit. WE dont know why this is the case, yet there is clearly a balance of sorts that has to be maintained, limiting the amount of information or aid that may be provided. This seems odd, as the Chaos Gods have never hesitated to act more directly (by their own power, or by daemonic agents.) so why the forces of order should be less so inclined is curious. Perhaps the ‘mechanism’ is some structure of order and law that they represesnt or manifest, but one with a fragile balance. Disrupt it too much, and things might fall apart. This could, furthermore, even be a reflection of the warp akin to the Eldar concept of the ‘skein’ - lots of variables, lots of possibilities mean that the ‘balance’ of the future is delicate.. the path to be taken and navigated, and that the wrong words, or actions could disrupt that path/pattern. The fact the Saint hints to gaunt that the scope of events encompasses a time-frame far beyond Gaunt’s own birt and existence (or that of his parents, etc.) would seem to suggest that.


Page 277

A robed astropath and two bullish men in long grey leather coats stood by the cell door. The grey men, clutching power-goads, were officer-handlers from the life company’s sanctioned psyker cadre. Wire-grilled augmetic damper units were sutured into their ears and eye-sockets.

Security precuations against Soric. He turned himself into Gaunt and warned him about Innokenti’s assassins, which meant he was arrested as a unsanctioned psyker. Beaten by Meryn and imprisoned, even though he’s done nothing more than help. Soric only wants to help, and yet the fear and paranoid aand hatred of the common Imperial citizen (or at least some of them) means he’s to be mistreated and enslaved. Small wonder Soric was afraid to approach Gaunt, despite what Milo insisted.
It’s also very symbolic in context with the novel’s name. ‘Sabbat Martyr’. Soric is sacrificing his freedom and other things - by revealing his true nature in order to save the saint.
It was a bit amusing to watch Gaunt punch Meryn over Soric though. Oh and the ‘psyker cadre’ in the life company has its own handlers specially modified to deal with psykers.




Page 281

“Think, Biagi! I told you this war was symbolic! All that matters, all that your world is worth, is the life or death of the Beati. We have to find these killers and kill them before they win this outright.”

Again the war on Herodor is highly symbolic and psychological. Chaos wants to kill the symbol of the Crusade, and the Imperium wants to deny that. That conflict is why the fight occurs. In alot of ways its much like Honour Guard in this respect, providing a bookend to that book by having the Ghosts and Imperial Guard defending the Saint’s honour and symbolism against Chaos (who seeks to destroy it.) In honour guard they defended her past, whilst in this book its her present and future they guard.



Page 287

There was a blurt of las-fire on auto. Mkvenner was up on one knee, blasting. The twins slammed back against the wall together, and slid down, leaving sticky swipes of blood behind them.

lasfire imparts considerable momentum again, but doesnt blow apart


PAge 288

Corbec jammed the tube into the yawning mouth as Sin bit down. His razor teeth clamped solidly into the tube's metal casing.
...
“That's for Yael, feth-face!” Corbec yelled as he threw himself flat.
The tube-charge anchored in Pater Sin's teeth detonated.
Spattered in Sin's vaporised remains, Corbec rose. He hurried over to Mkvenner, who'd been thrown flat by the blast.

Tube charge ‘vaporizes’ Pater Sin. Which in this case I take to mean ‘blows up’ rather than vaporizes. Obviously one grenade at least, but probably several. Sin is described as ‘well over’ two metres tall, which means he’s probably bulkier than normal humans given his description. If we go by 4th degree ‘flaying’ wounds, we’re probably talking 4-8 MJ at least for the charge.
Obviously this points ot double/triple digit kj per shot for lasweapons as I’ve noted before.



PAge 289-290

The first two flechette rounds hit the wall behind Feygor making deep holes haloed by hundreds of lesser micro-impacts. The third atomised Dunik's head and shoulders in a bloody vapour.
..
Each impact was actually a thousand razor barbs hitting simultaneously.
..
His mangled body had been thrown five metres backwards, as hard and fast as if a speeding truck had run into it.

Loxatl flechette blasters. Again .3 kg*m/s momentum and 88 j for a shotgun style flechette, and .96 kg*m/s to 700 j per shot. AT 1000 shots we’re talking 88-700 kj, and 960-


PAge 294

You were good, Skarwael conceded. A pleasure to hunt, a pleasure to test my skill against. But you are no match for a mandrake.
...
...Skarwael dragged the cloth through the bars and sniffed it. A cloak, an empty cloak, made of some camouflage material. He turned and saw the rifle aimed at him.
'You're good,' said Mkoll grudgingly.
The single las-round hit the mandrake between the eyes.

Mkoll is a better stealther/hunter than a Dark Eldar mandrake.



Page 295

Waves of archenemy units, most of them motorised..

Chaos using signficiant motorised units.



Page 298

His hull was rank and filthy from his passage through the deep places under the Civitas. His weapon limbs swung up and started to fire. A heavy bolter cannon and a plasma gun.
...
Kilosh was incinerated by a plasma beam.
...
Biagi ran to help him, firing his service pistol into the pool. A bolt round hit him in the chest and threw his ruptured corpse back across the chamber, knocking several people over as they tried to flee.

Chaos Dreadnought weapons in action. I dont know what incinerat means, but single digit MJ at least, to hundreds/thousands to cremate.
Bolt round from Chaos bolter has considerable momentum.



Page 299

...he pulled a stick grenade and rolled it across the flagstones. It came to rest between Karess's massive foot-claws.
The blast blew the upper part of the pool steps into fragments. It barely damaged Karess, but it pitched him off his feet The brute machine crashed backwards into the pool...

Stick grenade does fuck all to dreadnought. Implies that a lasweapon force-overload is much more powerful than a greande.

Page 301

“Innokenti could have won the war outright for Chaos with one merciless thrust up through the Khan flank. We did not have the forces available to stop him. But it occurred to me we could distract him entirely and make him waste vital time on a pointless invasion of a worthless world.”
“You… you used yourself as bait?”
“You said yourself, I’m too valuable. To us and the archenemy. Innokenti could not ignore me.”
..
“This was received via the astropaths a few minutes before we sealed the hive gates.”

Macaroth has taken Morlond, allowing his forces to be redeployed to defend the Khan Group against other chaos forces. The Saint has basically out-psyched the Warlord by luring him into a pointless engagement with the bulk of his forces, again demonstrating that this novel is all about the psychology.
Its worth noting in detail that the idea that two leaders are such fundamental lynchpins for their opposite sides may seem a bit silly, but one has to remember that faith and belief and emotion and action all resonate in the Warp, and in sufficient quantities, can have tangible, widespread results. Part of tapping into that effect is through belief, propoganda, faith and all that other fun stuff.



Page 307

Gaunt signalled, and his infantry strength emerged from around the sides of the huge public space, firing as it came The first fifty seconds were a blistering massacre The concourse lit up as bright as day with the las-weapon discharge. Hundreds of Blood Part and Retinue troopers were cut down or blown apart.

50 seconds of fire from the Ghosts (2000-3000) obliterates and kills several hundred blood pact (some cut down some blown apart.) If we figure 50-70 were blown apart, thats at least 50-70 MJ, although if its flaying 4-8 MJ per trooper, which is hundreds of MJ easily. If we figure 50 seocnds owrht of fire (10-15 thousand seconds total), we’d be tlaking 3-5 kj per second at least,.



Page 309

The Magister, more vile and wretched than anything Gaunt could have imagined, was locked sword to sword with the Beati.
Every blow they exchanged, every strike, crashed like thunder. Sparks flew. Shockwaves from the meeting blades threw men around them — friend and foe alike — off their feet Hideous corposant writhed and seared around the Magister. Cold green fire, in the form of a great eagle with its wings unfurled, lit up the Saint.

Saint vs Magister. All very symbolic, echoing Horus vs Big E, extreme power (shockwaves from blows) and all tahat. SAnian once again shows he is te eagle by manifesting a giant acquilae. Symbolism and psychology, once more.

Page 312

The enemy had gone, in rapid retreat, their morale broken as much by the death of their overlord as by the victory of the Beati.

They regroup, but it shows how the Archenemy forces in the Sabbat Worlds are driven by cults of personality and charisma, but you can’t psych them out permanantly or force a surrender. Obliteration is the only solution.


Page 315

Twenty metres back down the hall, face down in a pool of blood, Colm Corbec lay dead.

Died defending the Saint. This marks the second major ‘character’ death in the series, after Bragg, and like Bragg, it is someone who is charismatic, and likeable, and hs been with the series a long time. It was rather shocking, and horrible.. and thats what its meant to be, but in a different way than Bragg’s. A different sort of seneslessness.. the Saint was saved, yet Corbec died in the process. Quite possibly another ‘Sabbat Martyr’. Its symbolic as all fuck too because throughout this ‘arc’, Corbec has taken injuries - severe injuries, almost to deying - from his ‘lead from the front’ philosophy. The odds finally caught up wiht him.
This also marks a major transition in the series, ad things become different after this, quite different. Corbec was symbolic of the ‘old’ ghosts, even with the VErghast.. and his departure from the scene marks that new transition.



Page 317

Freed from their obligations at Morlond and the front, large segments of the Crusade force were loosed to defend the Khan flank. The details of those actions is recorded in other works. It is sufficient to point out that had the Magister’s warhost not been so detained with the business of Herodor, the entire Khan Group would most likely have fallen, and the Crusade efforts been lost.

Reiteration that the Saint’s bait had averted an otherwise certain disaster.
Also, it indicates that the Ghosts novels are told from the perspective of a historical documentary. Various bits throughout the novel reinforce this. Useful for that whole analysis/suspension of disbelief stuff.


Page 318

“His name is Agun Soric,” said the man standing beside him.
“Evaluation?”
“Psyker, level beta.”

Soric’s psyker levels, indicating he’s been taken by the Inquisition and black ships. Like with Corbec’s death, this is a sign of transition in the reigment (and series) yet again. One of the old cornerstones has been taken away, and taken away in a surprising yet horrible fashion. As noted, Soric like Corbec seems to be a Sabbat Martyr, but I think Soric is the primary one because his actions were (like Vamberfeld’s in Honour Guard) instrumental in the victory.. and that victory required a deliberate self sacrifice. Instead of life, it was of freedom and quite probably humanity.
And given how poorly he has already been treated, his fear, and how horribly he is being treated now (slave, property.. nonhuman.) .. Soric’s fate is arguably worse, more horrific, than the death of Corbec. Corbec arguably died in service to a greater good, so as bad as it was it still meant something. Soric was key to victory, but instead of gaining recognition and honor, he gets slavery and mistreatment and ridicule. That’s horrible on so many levels.
I think the worst part, for me, is that Hark is the one who delivers him, because its his duty (whatever he may feel about Soric) and in the end, he receives one last ‘message’ that begs Hark to save him.


Page 318-319

Corbec stepped into the pungent, dry air of the woodshop, and ran his hand down a length of mature timber. Not nalwood, but good.
This Wyze He was all on his own, without any assistance. Not the way Corbec’s father would have run it. He needed a hand.
Corbec rolled up his sleeves. He knew this work. He liked it. He’d stay awhile and help out.

As horrible as Corbec dying, and Soric’s removal was.. this is.. oddly appropriate. we revisit Corbec in that woodshop, and we learn that prior to the last battle, his death.. he claimed that ‘bit of home’ I discussed before by doing something from his past. Which I can imagine made him quite happy, and peaceful. We learn at the very end that Gaunt has paid the same woodworker to make Corbec a nalwood casket (which is what Corbec helped the guy make.. for other troopers. Very symbolic in a way, that.)