I'm re-reading the Horus Heresy in preparation to start the sub-series Siege of Terra, and this is my review of Heralds of the Siege , book 52 in the series. Heralds of the Siege is an anthology, consisting of several short stories, and I'm going to review each one. The Ember Wolves is the fourth short story in the book, written by Rob Sanders, and it's basically BattleTech in the best of ways.
This story is basically Adeptus Titanicus.
A lot.
There almost may as well not be characters in it. You're reading about Titans, mostly, and you have to keep track of them, and it actually gets a little confusing if you're not used to the different kinds of Titans. Luckily the author uses "loyalist" a lot when talking about the target Titan (this story is from the point of view of a traitor Titan), so that helps.
I've got a whole fleet of BattleTech miniatures for Mechaforce and CORE Mech Warfare, and I've played the BattleTech video game, and I've read some BattleTech fiction. I was a fan of Evangelion, and I've liked the idea of big battle robots ever since Voltron.
Predictably, I really like Titans in Warhammer.
This story really delves into the physical mechanics of waging war in a walking shooting skyscraper. It goes into the atmospheric conditions, the terrain, man-made structures, weapons, and strategy, and it all sounds well-researched and true to life. I mean, true to life if big battle robots were a real thing. I would believe they were, though, after reading this story.
I think this story is almost better than seeing big robots on screen, or at least as good. Battles on screen can go pretty quickly, and they necessarily direct your attention to specific actions and parts of each robot. This story does that some, too, but reading about it rather than seeing it means you can fill in other details even when you're being told about exactly one aspect of a Titan.
This was a great story about a Titan battle.
Of course, it's not just about the Titans of the Dark Mechanicum ambushing a loyalist Titan. It's also about the people.
This one's told from the perspective of the Dark Mechanicum. These are traitors to the Imperium. And they're really engaging and you really want them to succeed.
Deep down, though, there's a hidden message I think. Chaos can't succeed, at least not in the way it wants, because chaos is chaotic, not orderly. And sure enough, just when things are looking good, chaos gets in the way and ensures that the heroes of the story don't get exactly what they want.
Good story. Big robots, big weapons, lots of crumbling buildings and explosions. I imagine this'll be my go-to story when I need to get motivated to play a mech wargame.
All images in this post copyright Games Workshop.