The purging of kadillus: Epic fail?

[Andersp90]

The most ****ty 40k novel I have ever read.

80 marines + 2 predators, razorbacks and rhinos takes on 80 orks holding some abandoned mine buildings = 2 dead marines and 5 too injured to keep fighting.

70 marines + 2 predators, razorbacks and rhinos takes on a few hundred orks holding some powerplant buildings = 30-40 marines die.

And that is pretty much the general theme of the book.

Am I the only one feeling like this after reading the purging of kadillus?

[Bitrider]

The most ****ty 40k novel I have ever read.

80 marines + 2 predators, razorbacks and rhinos takes on 80 orks holding some abandoned mine buildings = 2 dead marines and 5 too injured to keep fighting.

70 marines + 2 predators, razorbacks and rhinos takes on a few hundred orks holding some powerplant buildings = 30-40 marines die.

And that is pretty much the general theme of the book.

Am I the only one feeling like this after reading the purging of kadillus?

Sounds more in line with actual gameplay than previous 'Hollywood' marines from other novels. Only in books are SMs as good as the fluff makes them out to be.

[DesertOfZin]

The most ****ty 40k novel I have ever read.

Really? So you've not read Hunt for Voldorius then? I've read and enjoyed a lot of bad SF. Hunt For Voldorius is a step too far.

"Oh, look. Voldorius is over there. Oh, that's not Voldorius. Oh look, he's really over there!"

[Andersp90]

Really? So you've not read Hunt for Voldorius then? I've read and enjoyed a lot of bad SF. Hunt For Voldorius is a step too far.

"Oh, look. Voldorius is over there. Oh, that's not Voldorius. Oh look, he's really over there!"

Not yet. :)

- and not sure if I want to now. ^^


Sounds more in line with actual gameplay than previous 'Hollywood' marines from other novels. Only in books are SMs as good as the fluff makes them out to be.

TT and fluff are two very different things... If SM's (or eldar) were as beastly in TT as they are really ment to be (fluff), it would be too expensive to play orks/tyranids/IG etc. :)

We both know that it takes years of training to become a SM, and at the rate of wich they die in "the purging of kadillus", they simply wouldent be able to keep the chapter going (for more than half a year) = makes zero sense...

Mabye the Dark Angels are just made of jelly?

[Tyrendian]

yeah, Purging of Kadillus is among the worst BL novels... as is Hunt for Voldorius, or Savage Scars (both by Andy Hoare)

[AnEnemy]

Go read Battle for the Abyss. I assume you haven't if PoK is the worst BL book you've read. Still, Space Marines Battles novels are terrible aside from Battle for the Fang. I should have quit after Rynn's World, but nooooooo. I had to pick up Fall of Damnos and Gildar Rift too! Meh...Helsreach was ok I guess...still the worst BL novel Aaron Dembski Bowden's put out imo.

[Jmaximum]

I liked Helsreach.

Havent read the Purging of Kallidus, but I DID read the Hunt for Voldorus. It was a little underwhelming, however I do like that this is probably one of the VERY few chaos demons with a personality above and beyond the usual "I will do exactly what you expect me to do because I am a demon". Voldurus seemd to actually have humanistic personal foibles (I think he face palms a couple times, IIRC)

Battle of the Fang was just cool and unique, because all of the other fluff is either during the Heresy, or 10,000 years afterwards. BoF is pretty much a sequel to Prospero Burns, and I think it is the ONLY book in which we see a Primarch actively take part in a battle after the heresy.

[Katharon]

PoK was pretty good, but not great. So far "Battle For the Fang," "Helsreach," "Wrath of Iron" and "Legion of the Damned" have been the best Space Marine Battles books.

If you ever want to read a WH40K book that makes you hate WH40K for being grimdark, then read "Wrath of Iron." It warped me a bit.

[Jmaximum]

PoK was pretty good, but not great. So far "Battle For the Fang," "Helsreach," "Wrath of Iron" and "Legion of the Damned" have been the best Space Marine Battles books.

If you ever want to read a WH40K book that makes you hate WH40K for being grimdark, then read "Wrath of Iron." It warped me a bit.

Is 'Wrath of Iron' an Iron hands book, or Iron Warriors? I read all of the Iron Warriors stuff mixed in with, oddly, the Ultramarines omnibuses (omnibi?)

Legion of the Damned was indeed a very good read, I just wish they gave away a little more of who they used to be, or some means of communication with them other than just nightmares and visions. I really like


SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER













that the LoD dropods are coffins/sarcophagi, and that Sgt Centurius is mentioned. It also sounds like their 'base' is a cursed and/or missing starfort the size of Phallanx something.

[Katharon]

Is 'Wrath of Iron' an Iron hands book, or Iron Warriors? I read all of the Iron Warriors stuff mixed in with, oddly, the Ultramarines omnibuses (omnibi?)

It's an Iron Hands book. It just...man it makes me hate them, even if they are loyalist.

[Jmaximum]

It's an Iron Hands book. It just...man it makes me hate them, even if they are loyalist.



Well, from all of their fluff, seem like a bunch of impersonal D-bags.
But now I must read it.

[DrLove42]

Clearly no one here has read the Dawn of War trilogy....

[Katharon]

Clearly no one here has read the Dawn of War trilogy....

I've avoided it because of the fact that they produced a book purely to profit off popularity of the game. I don't like obvious money grabs. I prefer them to be more subtle and convince me that I'm using my money for something singular or unique after a fashion.

And...if you played all of the DoW games, why read the books?

[Aspire to Glory]

Well, from all of their fluff, seem like a bunch of impersonal D-bags.
But now I must read it.

The book was nice because it let you see multiple points of view of their dicketry. It all gets tied together in the end, and actually made me consider playing them. :)

[Jmaximum]

Clearly no one here has read the Dawn of War trilogy....



Sadly, I am reading it right now. About 150 to go or so. I am at the part where, laughably, the eldar harlequins perform their art on stage, and then have a Broadway-esque post-show discussion with each other.

We really need a good CS Goto meme.

[Clewz]

Really? So you've not read Hunt for Voldorius then? I've read and enjoyed a lot of bad SF. Hunt For Voldorius is a step too far.

"Oh, look. Voldorius is over there. Oh, that's not Voldorius. Oh look, he's really over there!"

The bit where the Alpha Legion champion shoots at the white scar captain at point blank range and fails to aim for the captains unhelmeted head made me face palm

[Jmaximum]

The bit where the Alpha Legion champion shoots at the white scar captain at point blank range and fails to aim for the captains unhelmeted head made me face palm

Is that in Hunt for Voldorius or Dawn of War?

[Clewz]

hunt for voldorius

[ElectricPaladin]

If you want to read a good one, check out the Blood Angels series. A lot of people don't like them, but personally I think they're quite good. The character's aren't exactly sympathetic, but the author does a good job of showing both how inhuman Space Marines are and how their humanity still sometimes shines through. Characters make mistakes, but nobody has to carry the stupid ball (so long as you remember how desperately the Space Marines want something to hope for, and believe that only a radical shift in their circumstances will give them that hope - if you forget that, some of the characters do some stupid things.).

[Jmaximum]

Is that Blood Angels book the one about the two brothers, and something supremely unique happens to one of them? (Don't want to give too much away, as I think I may have read it.)

[ElectricPaladin]

Is that Blood Angels book the one about the two brothers, and something supremely unique happens to one of them? (Don't want to give too much away, as I think I may have read it.)

It is an extremely... epic story.

This is the only coherent critique I have ever seen: that it's very epic and mythic and high adventure, to the point that it reads more like a fantasy novel than a pseudo-realistic military history. This is probably why I like it more than the Ciaphas Cain novels, and why I like the Cain novels more than anything else I've read in the Black Library. But, some people prefer dry military-history style Space Marine novels - it comes from our hobby's history, I guess - though I can't see the appeal.

[Cap'nSmurfs]

One of the things I like best about the 40k setting is that it lends itself to multiple interpretations. You can have your gritty military-fiction style stories, your epic fantasy quests with gods and daemons, your mystery stories, you name it.

[Nabterayl]

But, some people prefer dry military-history style Space Marine novels - it comes from our hobby's history, I guess - though I can't see the appeal.
Are there any good "dry military-history style Space Marine novels?" I'm not super well read in the Black Library, but I haven't heard of any.

[ElectricPaladin]

Are there any good "dry military-history style Space Marine novels?" I'm not super well read in the Black Library, but I haven't heard of any.

I don't think so, but I don't like anything in that genre. Some people are into that sort of thing.

[Katharon]

Are there any good "dry military-history style Space Marine novels?" I'm not super well read in the Black Library, but I haven't heard of any.

Tactica Imperialis or any of the Primers would be that sort of thing.

[nathaneal246]

Apart from Helsreach the entire SM Battles range is terrible, stopped reading them! Waste of time even printing them, concentrate of the more popular book series' IMO!

[Rev. Tiberius Jackhammer]

Are there any good "dry military-history style Space Marine novels?" I'm not super well read in the Black Library, but I haven't heard of any.The Imperial Armour books have that in spades! Try the Badab War set, Taros Campaign or the Vraks stuff.

[Vangrail]

I really liked wrath of iron and legion of the damned

[Katharon]

I really liked wrath of iron and legion of the damned

"Wrath of Iron" made me hate Iron Hands for a while...still do a little. ( -_-)

[GravesDisease]

Is the consensus that Rynn's World was that that bad? :( It's the book that got me back into the hobby after an 8 year break.

[AirHorse]

I think most of the 40k novels are alright, but it all depends on what you are expecting when you pick them up. Some of them offer a much deeper experience than others that's for sure :).

Ive enjoyed everything ive read so far(cant comment on rynns world though!) and some of them weren't literary masterpieces by any means, but I knew what I was reading and enjoyed them as nice straight forward reads as much as I enjoy the more complex and "better" written stuff for being much deeper and more immersive.

[Katharon]

Is the consensus that Rynn's World was that that bad? :( It's the book that got me back into the hobby after an 8 year break.

I honestly think it's a solid book. Not the best, but certainly not the worst. I'd say that "Hunt For Voldorius" holds that title.

[Xenith]

PoK is the only Black Library novel that I have never finished. I decided to put it down and do something better.

It was too military history for me. No characters that I was endeared to.

[Rodwonder]

I love Military History... The book is not that bad, I've read much worse.

[morninson]

Soul Drinkers for me the best SM novels by far. The rest are all 'yes my lord' and 'you will die by my honour' blah blah blah. Space Marines are so dull when it comes to dialogue. That's why I mostly stick to Gaunts Ghosts and Ciaphas Cain... and continue to inexplicably keep buying HH series books.

[Katharon]

Soul Drinkers for me the best SM novels by far. The rest are all 'yes my lord' and 'you will die by my honour' blah blah blah. Space Marines are so dull when it comes to dialogue. That's why I mostly stick to Gaunts Ghosts and Ciaphas Cain... and continue to inexplicably keep buying HH series books.

Light bulb...you got my creative juices flowing for another short story. Cheers mate.