Tuesday 7 June 2011

SCIENCE FICTION REVIEW: Warhammer 40K: Space Marine Battle 6: Battle of the Fang - Chris Wraight

Release Date: 09/06/11

SYNOPSIS:

It is M32, a thousand years after the Horus Heresy. The Scouring is over and the Imperium at the height of its post-Crusade power. When Magnus the Red is tracked down to Gangava Prime, the Space Wolves hasten to engage the daemon primarch. Even as Great Wolf Harek Ironhelm closes on his ancient enemy, the Fang on the Space Wolves home world is besieged by a massive force of Thousand Sons. A desperate battle ensues as the skeleton forces of Wolf Lord Asvald Greylock attempt to hold back the attacking hosts before the last of his meagre defences gives in. Though a single Scout ship survives to summon Great Wolf Harek Ironhelm back to Fenris, none of the defenders truly realise the full scale the horror that awaits them, nor what the Battle for the Fang will cost them all.


REVIEW:

OK, if I had to pick one chapter of mankind’s Astarte’s to follow I’d have to select the Space Wolves (sorry Graham) as I love their brutality as well as Norse heritage. They have great characters and with their heroes it was only matter of time before they’d step into their own during one of the massive sieges of the Space Marine Battle series. Here you get an almost Gemmellesque scenario as Dros Delnoch is replaced with the Fang and the Marines own home planet as the forces of the Thousand Son’s attacks Fenris.

Its beautifully written, with the brutality of every inch of bloody ground ingraining its own memory upon the landscape. Add to this great author description, cracking prose and characters that the reader will care about and it’s going to be a hard one for the Wolves to not only swallow but will cause more than a few mournful howls from the commanders of their troops on the war game battle tables around the world. A real gem of an addition and perhaps my favourite Space Marine Battle title to date.

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