Gaunt's Ghosts: The Warmaster

[Phoebus]

Vesper,

 

Yes, the Sons of Sek do show up, though it's a limited cameo, all things considered. They are portrayed much as they were in Salvation's Reach.

 

Regarding Sek. ...

 

... he is never shown but he is the subject of several important conversations. Macaroth considers him to be the true threat to the Crusade. The gambit of Salvation's Reach forced a rift between him and the Archon; based on his tactics on Urdesh, both Macaroth and his Lords Militant believe he is becoming increasingly rash and desperate. It's safe to say, however, that he's at least as canny as the Warmaster believes him to be.

 

Urdesh is shown to be a grind of a war, one where neither side wants to destroy the invaluable manufacturing capabilities of the various Forges.

 

Macaroth is committed to winning there, to breaking Sek on this battlefield, which will free his forces to take on the Archon. He has brought himself and the Crusade's headquarters to Urdesh in large part to force an increasingly desperate Sek to commit to a decisive battle. Gaunt introduces an idea that neither Macaroth or his Lords Militant had considered: that, far from falling for that gambit, it is Sek himself who has laid that trap for them, luring them to Urdesh to fight a war on his terms.

[Donkey Kong]

Concerning Sek

 

I think this is the first time that it's speculated Sek belongs to the Dark Mechanicus.

[Urauloth]

So, uh. Do we have a timeframe for part 2 of this book yet?

[OPTIMVSCHRISTVS]

Just finished this morning- loved it, definitely one of Dan Abnett's better works- my only regret is that this release snuck up on me so I didn't have time to re-read the entire series as I'd planned to.

 

My one qualm is with the ".40 cal cannons" on the light tanks (and .30 cal machineguns that can apparently destroy tanks) toward the end that can flip over trucks and blow craters in the ground, but that's pure nitpicking on my part.

[cheywood]

Just finished this morning- loved it, definitely one of Dan Abnett's better works- my only regret is that this release snuck up on me so I didn't have time to re-read the entire series as I'd planned to.

 

My one qualm is with the ".40 cal cannons" on the light tanks (and .30 cal machineguns that can apparently destroy tanks) toward the end that can flip over trucks and blow craters in the ground, but that's pure nitpicking on my part.

My guess is he means 40mm cannons for the tanks. That means the guns are roughly the same size as those found in some early WWII-era tanks. Probably an error someone should've caught though.

[1ncarnadine]

Concerning Sek

 

I think this is the first time that it's speculated Sek belongs to the Dark Mechanicus.

 

I know they mention Heritor Asphodel as being such:

 

“Asphodel, the insane genius,’ mused Laksheema. ‘Very probably a corrupted adept of the Mechanicum, possibly immensely old, ­sharing Mechanicum perverted secrets with the enemy.'

'That supposition is probably not cobalt-rated, ma’am,’ ”said Grae.

‘The drone hasn’t blocked it,’ she replied, glancing at the cyberskull hovering nearby. ‘However, if I had said, in addition, that Asphodel is reckoned to be–”

 

Excerpt From: Dan Abnett. “The Warmaster.” iBooks. 

 

So much teasing right there. Earlier they imply that there may be multiple Heritors. Maybe she was going to suggest that Asphodel himself is not actually dead?

[OPTIMVSCHRISTVS]

 

Just finished this morning- loved it, definitely one of Dan Abnett's better works- my only regret is that this release snuck up on me so I didn't have time to re-read the entire series as I'd planned to.

 

My one qualm is with the ".40 cal cannons" on the light tanks (and .30 cal machineguns that can apparently destroy tanks) toward the end that can flip over trucks and blow craters in the ground, but that's pure nitpicking on my part.

My guess is he means 40mm cannons for the tanks. That means the guns are roughly the same size as those found in some early WWII-era tanks. Probably an error someone should've caught though.

 

That's what I assumed as well- or at least, that's how I was trying to picture the scene in my head.

 

 

 

Concerning Sek

 

I think this is the first time that it's speculated Sek belongs to the Dark Mechanicus.

 

I know they mention Heritor Asphodel as being such:

 

“Asphodel, the insane genius,’ mused Laksheema. ‘Very probably a corrupted adept of the Mechanicum, possibly immensely old, ­sharing Mechanicum perverted secrets with the enemy.'

'That supposition is probably not cobalt-rated, ma’am,’ ”said Grae.

‘The drone hasn’t blocked it,’ she replied, glancing at the cyberskull hovering nearby. ‘However, if I had said, in addition, that Asphodel is reckoned to be–”

 

Excerpt From: Dan Abnett. “The Warmaster.” iBooks. 

 

So much teasing right there. Earlier they imply that there may be multiple Heritors. Maybe she was going to suggest that Asphodel himself is not actually dead?

 

In one of the short stories, I distinctly recall them making note of it being a big deal that Asphodel was actually going out and inventing new technology instead of digging up ancient designs- I suspect that's what they were referring to.

[1ncarnadine]

In one of the short stories, I distinctly recall them making note of it being a big deal that Asphodel was actually going out and inventing new technology instead of digging up ancient designs- I suspect that's what they were referring to.

 

Ohhhhh yeah. It was a short by David Annandale IIRC? I mostly remember that the Heritor very specifically doesn't invent Daemon engines, but is playing around with AI.

[Noserenda]

Goddamn it, this book is so good, (Though i wish id re read the last few to recall who everyone is... I mean surviviors from the first few series have been read and re-read a few times but newer recruits are fuzzy) but i ripped through it mostly on a hellish train journey this weekend (Spoilers, British rail is still bloody useless at weather) and now i have to wait years for the next one because Abnett hates us and cant write self contained books any more, or end books. 

But its so gooooood...

[Donkey Kong]

 

Concerning Sek

 

I think this is the first time that it's speculated Sek belongs to the Dark Mechanicus.

 

I know they mention Heritor Asphodel as being such:

 

“Asphodel, the insane genius,’ mused Laksheema. ‘Very probably a corrupted adept of the Mechanicum, possibly immensely old, ­sharing Mechanicum perverted secrets with the enemy.'

'That supposition is probably not cobalt-rated, ma’am,’ ”said Grae.

‘The drone hasn’t blocked it,’ she replied, glancing at the cyberskull hovering nearby. ‘However, if I had said, in addition, that Asphodel is reckoned to be–”

 

Excerpt From: Dan Abnett. “The Warmaster.” iBooks. 

 

So much teasing right there. Earlier they imply that there may be multiple Heritors. Maybe she was going to suggest that Asphodel himself is not actually dead?

 

 

Ah. My mistake then, I misremembered the names.

 

So, uh. Do we have a timeframe for part 2 of this book yet?

 

and now i have to wait years for the next one because Abnett hates us and cant write self contained books any more, or end books. 

 

Abnett's said he's already started writing The Anarch, so I think we should expect it some time in 2018. Not exactly another six year gap.

 

On the subject of time,

I was thinking more about the time skip in The Warmaster, and I still can't wrap my head around why Abnett decided it was a good decision. The only characters I can think of that it would have a meaningful impact on aren't in the book, Sabbat and Milo. Milo leaves with Sabbat at the end of Sabbat Martyr. We know from the excerpts from History of the Later Imperial Crusades, Sabbat Martyr takes place in 773.M41 and Salvation's Reach in 781.M41. That's an 8 year difference, no time warp shenanigans needed (and this is me just assuming that Milo's still alive). I don't get it. The generals don't change (a few tertiary characters get promoted like Grizmund, but he gets a sentence or two at most). There's no surprise new Warmaster (it's still Macaroth) or surprise new Anarch (it's still Gaur). You don't just push your timeline forwards ten years for no reason. What do you think Abnett is planning here? Or was it really all just a cheeky little reference to the fact that it's been six years since the last one?

 

Also, I don't know if this is derailing and please ignore me if it is, but a lot of people in this thread are saying that The Warmaster is one of the better Gaunt's Ghosts books, and I'm not seeing it. Now, I admit I haven't reread the series in a while, and I may very well be remembering the books better than they were, but is it really? There were moments that I enjoyed, but that's about it, and ranking them in my head I'm putting The Warmaster near the bottom maybe a step above Straight Silver, and I can't describe how much I disliked Straight Silver with its dumb plot, dumber side plots, and nothing to show for any of it. It's nowhere near the top with Only in Death (followed in no particular order by), His Last Command (after the chapters reconciling Traitor General), Necropolis, and Sabbat Martyr. Can someone tell me if I'm missing something?

[Urauloth]

 

In one of the short stories, I distinctly recall them making note of it being a big deal that Asphodel was actually going out and inventing new technology instead of digging up ancient designs- I suspect that's what they were referring to.

 

Ohhhhh yeah. It was a short by David Annandale IIRC? I mostly remember that the Heritor very specifically doesn't invent Daemon engines, but is playing around with AI.

 

 

Matthew Farrer. The Inheritor King, in the Sabbat Crusade anthology (The Headstone and The Hammerstone Kings, in the Sabbat Worlds Anthology, is closely related and also extremely good. I'm rereading both of these right now, since the subject came up...)

 

And that's correct, Asphodel was obsessed with the Silica Animus, the absolute worst tech-heresy. That probably has something to do with what Laksheema mentioned about him that was vermillion-rated, but it could also have been some other horrid secret about him - whatever it was, it was speculation, after all. It might just have been a nod to Farrer's work, but it could just as easily have been setting us up for something important in the next book, who knows.

[Phoebus]

KingHongKong,

 

Enjoyment is always going to be up to the individual. That's not to say you're wrong for not liking Warmaster, of course, and I'll grant you that a lot of readers might be very favorable toward it because of long-term anticipation (though that can also lead to brutal expectations). Speaking for myself, I'm currently re-reading Guns of Tanith. I think Warmaster is better than all entries to this point save for Necropolis. Time will tell as I go through the rest of the series again, but I feel like I'll feel the same with Straight Silver, His Last Command, and probably Blood Pact, too (with that last one being a novel I enjoyed just fine). Basically, I feel comfortable placing Warmaster in the top half of the series, quality-wise, and am tempted to say I'll end up rating it higher still by virtue of the fact that the Victory story arc is pushing the narrative to ambitious degrees.

[The Doctor Of War]

I'm almost finished with the book, but my reading has been stalled by an almost Bragg level event in the book. Dan Abnett really knows how to kick me in the feels.

[DukeLeto69]

KHK - as Phoebus says, it ultimately all comes down to personal taste. I receive my copy of The Warmaster in the post today so cannot yet comment on where it fits in terms of my favourites.

 

However, I did reread the entire GG and related Sabbat Crusade books over the summer in anticipation. I read them all back-to-back and chronologically (ie. I inserted Double Eagle and Titanicus) and I find it interesting that my two favourite books tend to be two that others often cite as being among the weaker books...

 

Traitor General and Blood Pact.

 

I love both of those books and IMHO they are the two best in the series. A lot of people get animated about TG because of the whole Chaos Space Marine thing but for me the strength of TG is that Abnett does not do what is expected in terms of the characters etc.

 

I agree with most that Necropolis is top tier also but personally prefer Only In Death.

 

You then cite His Last Command as one of your favs but for me that is one of the books I like least (it isn't bad).

 

I have also never got the criticism people aim at Straight Silver. I thought that was pretty solid in every way!

 

So all a question of personal taste. What I will say though is reading all the books back-to-back was a totally immersive experience and one that highlighted something very clearly to me. Abnett has got better and better over the years as a writer both in terms of style and character. Some may argue that the plots are of variable quality (ie some of the earlier books may arguably have better plots) but you can distinctly see/feel Abnett improving and maturing as a writer across the series.

[Donkey Kong]

Thanks Phoebus, Leto

 

However, I did reread the entire GG and related Sabbat Crusade books over the summer in anticipation.

 

Sounds like a project I'll have to do some time soon.

 

I'm not sure what I was expecting going into The Warmaster, but I guess I didn't get it.

And I still don't have a clue what Abnett plans on doing with ten extra years or Felyx's Mulan ruse.

[cheywood]

At least for me *The Warmaster* was incredible not because of the overall quality of the narrative, which suffers a little due to the reliance on *Anarch* for resolution, but for the 'oh my god did that just really happen' and the 'I've been waiting years to see this' moments. Those chapters drove me towards the finish.

Abnett did a really good sprinkling them throughout instead of dumping them on the Ghosts right when they arrived on Urdesh. Saving the frontlines, with Brin and the Saint, might feel like a bit of a let-down, but it also illustrates just how massive the war is on Urdesh (and how removed from it command staff seems to be). Not to mention it sets up *Anarch* perfectly. It's a minor plot point but I'm quite excited to see how Gaunt's Scions do fighting alongside the Ghosts.

 

The way it's been written over so many years limits its impact up front, but I think when it's concluded the *Victory Arc* will be viewed as perhaps the best arc, or at least the most cohesive, in the series.

[The Doctor Of War]

Finished the book tonight, and really enjoyed it.

The deaths of several leading characters came out of the blue, i honest never thought Ezrah would be killed off and it has echoes of Bragg's death at the hands of Cuu. The cliffhanger over the fate of Mkoll also leaves me desperately anticipating, and also dreading, The Anarch.

[Urauloth]

I really get why Straight Silver is one of the least popular GG books, but I'm always confused by people not liking Blood Pact, which is hands-down my favourite book in the series. I really love the way Abnett writes Chaos, though, so maybe that has something to do with it.

 

Anyway, I finished The Warmaster, and I liked it, I thought it was worth the wait. I wasn't just being flippant about Anarch being "part 2", though - while I understand this arc is a 4-book whole, this absolutely feels like "Urdesh pt.I". That's not a bad thing, but it's something to be aware of going in, I think. It's far and away the least self-contained book so far, seeing as how a lot of its big plot threads are cliffhangers.

 

Anyway, I'm not sure how much the pre-Urdesh part of the book has been discussed, but that's way up there with my favourite battles in the whole series. I'm generally starved for good ship-related content in 40k novels. (Props to the related short Killbox for establishing that the Armaduke has enormous heat sinks, which has finally ameliorated my years-long disgruntlement over that one description of a ship running its conduits onto the outside of the hull to cool them via contact with space)

 

Since a lot of 30/40k void warfare focusses on enormous flying cathedrals filled with Astartes and bristling with macro-weapons, it's great to see a desperate boarding action fought on a barely spaceworthy ship that should have been decommissioned, and the beastman-esque reavers who man the Chaos ships in the Sabbat worlds are great; more world-building, more detail on how the forces of the Archon operate, and more Chaos content from one of the best writers of such in the business.

 

I know a lot of people are dissatisfied with the time skip, but I really liked the way it was revealed by Eadwide. I'm sure it's going to be a big deal in the next book, too, because the saint (who, as others have already noted, is one of the characters likely to be most affected by it) won't be on Urdesh as a background detail.

[DukeLeto69]

Just finished The Warmaster and... Whoah! Not going to post any spoilers as others have already (glad I avoided them) but I will say... Virtually nobody in the GG series has plot armour! There are a few things Abnett did with this book that just made me go "no way you cannot be serious, how can you you awful feth!"

 

Personally I thought it was a great book not one of the best (see above) but certainly top half of the list. It does suffer from being very clearly the first half of a tight duology (yes it is part of a quadrilogy arc but the other two were a bit more self contained than this so I think Anarch is clearly going to be Urdesh part 2).

 

Not saying I am clever or anything but also worked out what he intends to do (I might be wrong) in Anarch (in terms of main plot and one sub plot) and if I am right then again "Dan Abnett you glorious feth, how can you, that is just so awful for character XXXXX!"

 

So nice to have GG back. Hope Anarch is less than a years wait seeing as Abnett is already writing it.

[DukeLeto69]

I finished listening to The Warmaster last night. I solidly enjoyed about a third of it, mostly from the beginning, the end, and the high command politicking in between. But the rest of it really dragged for me and at the moment I think The Victory is the worst Ghosts Arc. After reading Blood Pact and Salvation's Reach, I though Gaunt's Ghosts would have been better ending with Only in Death, which I consider to be the series high note. The Warmaster hasn't changed my opinion. I'm hoping The Anarch proves me wrong, but I'm not holding my breath either.

 

I wouldn't recommend The Warmaster, but if you've read the series this far and can pick it up for cheap, it's okay, and it isn't the worst four dollars I've ever spent.

 

 

So here I am, 14 Chapters into Salvations Reach, enjoying the absolute hell out it and wondering why I have never touched this series before... wait, I'm a notoriously slow reader and have very little spare time! Regardless though I have just added The Founding Omnibus to my Christmas wish list, you're never too old for a Christmas list after all! I'm somehow going to make time to get up to speed on this series and hope that the back stories are all given the Audio treatment at some point soon.

 

If you prefer YouTube videos,

has an ongoing series on the Sabbat Worlds Crusade. So far he's covered the background books, FIrst and Only, and Ghostmaker. If you want to start from the very beginning, I'd recommend skipping to Necropolis (third book) and working from there. I'll second your wish for getting the rest of the series on audible.

 

I'm a sad little panda no one made a spoiltastic post about the novel :(.

 

I'll try to oblige.

After the events of Salvation's Reach, a warp translation accident propels the ship forward ten years. The Ghosts's ship is intercepted and boarded by archenemy soldiers attempting to salvage the wreckage. For reasons unknown, the ship the borders launched from is destroyed by another, larger archenemy ship, and the borders retreat. It's speculated later that the larger ship was ordered to destroy the smaller ship so that the relics reclaimed from the reach (principle among them are the so called "Eagle Stones," xenos tablets that most notably fell in an aquila pattern after exiting the warp and attempted to compel Kolea to return them to Sek) wouldn't be destroyed, and the Ghosts's ship is allowed to make its way to Urdesh.

 

On Urdesh, Warmaster Macaroth, Saint Sabbat, and some significant number of generals, are locked in battle with the archenemy warlord Anakwanar Sek. Macaroth declares Urdesh, a forge world, too valuable to simply destroy from orbit, even though a number of generals want to. Characters speculate whether Sek is baiting Macaroth, Macaroth is baiting Sek, if Sek is a genius or insane, or if Macaroth has been driven mad studying Sek's insanity or if he's simply burnt out after acting as Warmaster for the past 26 years.

 

We learn that after Gaunt was presumed deceased after his ship was lost in the warp, he was posthumously promoted to Lord Commander Militant, and is now awarded his new rank and assigned an entourage of tempestus scions that he's not too fond of. Gaunt is welcomed into the high command inner circle, where we learn that Macaroth hasn't been communicating with his generals, and a number of generals want to oust Macaroth through a vote of no confidence. But, they haven't had a candidate to replace him until now, and Gaunt is asked to be their figurehead.

 

Gaunt goes to speak to Macaroth before accepting his role in replacing him. Gaunt finds Macaroth and explains why the generals are upset with him and their plans to replace him. Macaroth is convinced to come and speak with the general staff and dedicates himself to winning the war on Urdesh instead of burying himself in a library of military history. Macaroth names Gaunt his vice Warmaster, to succeed the Warmaster if he dies and to serve as an emissary between Macaroth and his generals.

 

I'd call that the core plot. Side plots are more concerned with the Ghosts setting up camp on Urdesh in territory where enemy combatants can infiltrate snipers and attack soldiers and retinue. Tona Criid is promoted to captain. Yoncy Criid has episodes of precognition. Felyx Chass's bodyguard and Gaunt's mistress Maddalena is killed in one of those attacks and Felyx arranges for her funeral service. Dalin learns that Felyx is a woman in disguise and that she's pretending to be a boy so that her mother can rule Vervunhive in "his" stead. Merrin, Wilder, Blenner, and a Verghastite I can't remember come up with a new scheme to extort money from Felyx after they learn how expensive the funeral service was. They attempt to corner Felyx in a shower, everything goes wrong, Felyx gets knocked out, Ezra intervenes to save Felyx, Merrin shoots Ezra in the back, Blenner executes Wilder and the Verghastite to cover for Merrin and himself, and now everyone knows Felyx's secret. Inquisitors take Gol Kolea in for questioning after his experience hearing voices from the Eagle Stones. Rawne is promoted to colonel and leads the Tanith into battle. Mkoll discovered where the enemy is attempting to flank from through the ruins of old ships and is implied to die in a glorious last stand that ends with the enemy in full retreat. This also isn't the first time that Mkoll has been presumed dead, so if he comes back in The Anarch I won't be surprised.

 

Things I liked.

• Space Marines. The space marines were my favorite part of Salvation's Reach as well, with the exception of needing to be ordered to retreat. I'm still not sure what their plan was then, but it was dumb. Their counter bordering action in The Warmaster was fun.
• Descriptions of the ship in disrepair with twisted hallways and shoddy gravity were evocative and inspired.
• The Inquisition gets portrayed competently. They're professional instead of thuggish. They're always a step ahead (Mabbon, the Eagle Stones, and Kolea).
• High Command Politicking. With the exception of Van Voytz throwing a punch at Gaunt, at the end, it's all professional and well conducted. There's no surprise coup or betrayal or sabotage. I'm glad this makes up the core plot. Macaroth, for what little we saw of him, is a fun character.

Things I didn't like

• Low ammunition. This isn't the first time that Abnett's used this in the Ghosts series to raise tension. In The Guns of Tanith at least we got a joke out of it. It didn't add anything then, it doesn't add anything now, and nothing changes because of it. There's no foolhardy, heroic, "we're out of ammo, fix straight silver." The only character that picks up an enemy weapon is Ezra after he busts his crossbow over a boarder's head. All we get are filler lines about not wasting rounds. This is besides the point that one of the key reasons we're told the guard uses lasguns is because rechargeable batteries are infinitely easier on logistics than bullets. But, the ghosts also use .30 cal machine guns, so what do I know?
• Time skip. Why is this here? Best case scenario, if nothing else were changed, the time skip would have been a cute little wink and nod acknowledging that it's been six years since Salvation's Reach was published. Instead we get a ten year time skip that changes nothing for no reason. If the regimental retinue hadn't come along to Salvation's Reach, there could have been a heartfelt reunion. If we'd met Sabbat and Milo again, that could have been interesting too. There is no payoff here.
• Felyx Chass. Felyx is a terrible character, and the Mulan conspiracy to hide her gender so that Merity Chass can rule Vervunhive in her "son's" stead makes Felyx even worse, because now she makes even less sense. Felyx knows that her only path to ruling Vervunhive is by becoming a war hero. She should have been introduced as a fit, capable, charismatic glory hound in Salvation's Reach. She should want to be in the vanguard. Instead, she's kept away from the war, coddled, weak, petulant, and incompetent.
• Gaunt hasn't demonstrated that he's capable of high command. Phoebus already said it, but if this is the direction Abnett wanted to take with Gaunt, then Gaunt should have been promoted to general as far back as His Last Command or The Armour of Contempt. Moving him from Colonel to Lord Commander Militant feels like a massive leap. The rank Colonel-Commissar has been dumb since First and Only and it's been a point of contention in multiple books. I don't know why Lord Commander Militant-Commissar isn't also a big deal.

regarding Gaunt's promotion I agree it does seem a bit too much of a leap in one go but I disagree regarding foreshadowing and previous hints. We have known for ages that Slaydo considered him a potential successor.

 

The time shift is interesting. I think (just a guess) that Abnett was also struggling with the concept of Gaunt going from Colonel-Commissar to Lord Militant Commander in a single leap but then happened upon an idea to kill two birds with one stone...

 

1. A cheeky out of universe nod to the delays between Salvations Reach and The Warmaster.

2. Having Gaunt receive his promotion posthumously as they all thought he had been dead for 10 years and they say themselves it would undermine the original intention to rescind the promotion once they find he is actually alive (plus it fits with the plot regarding Warmaster Macaroth)

 

Personally I don't like the time shift being 10 years, it is too tidy! Six years (which matches the 2011-2017 gap) would have worked better for me.

 

As for the ammunition, yes arguably a slightly tired trope except that this was already set up in Salvations Reach and the Ghosts and Bad Shadows short story, so to suddenly have a tonne of ammunition would ignore what went before!

[Chiwie]

Any Sons of Sek screentime ? How are they portrayed ?

 

Do we also get some new info on Sek himself ?

 

How goes the war on Urdesh ?

IIRC,

 

Just some tidbits of how the infighting plot is panning out and the stuff surrounding Yoncy. War on Urdesh is a stalemate at the moment that has the crusade's upper leadership second guessing the Warmaster. Ghost's fight the SoS at the end of the book, nothing major other than their use of AT-70s and spider tanks.

[Donkey Kong]

regarding Gaunt's promotion I agree it does seem a bit too much of a leap in one go but I disagree regarding foreshadowing and previous hints. We have known for ages that Slaydo considered him a potential successor.

The time shift is interesting. I think (just a guess) that Abnett was also struggling with the concept of Gaunt going from Colonel-Commissar to Lord Militant Commander in a single leap but then happened upon an idea to kill two birds with one stone...

 

1. A cheeky out of universe nod to the delays between Salvations Reach and The Warmaster.

2. Having Gaunt receive his promotion posthumously as they all thought he had been dead for 10 years and they say themselves it would undermine the original intention to rescind the promotion once they find he is actually alive (plus it fits with the plot regarding Warmaster Macaroth)

 

Personally I don't like the time shift being 10 years, it is too tidy! Six years (which matches the 2011-2017 gap) would have worked better for me.

 

As for the ammunition, yes arguably a slightly tired trope except that this was already set up in Salvations Reach and the Ghosts and Bad Shadows short story, so to suddenly have a tonne of ammunition would ignore what went before!

 

 

Do we know that Slaydo considered Gaunt a potential successor? I know he was in Slaydo's inner circle, but successor (side note, considering Macaroth booted Gaunt from the inner circle, the Warmaster also slighted him making that "not political enemies" point in Gaunt's favor odd)? When Slaydo awards Gaunt his guard rank before First and Only, he's only made a colonel. I suppose it gets muddied considering Tanith was supposed to raise the Tanith First, Second, and Third regiments, and if we're following real world numbers and if Gaunt was supposed to command them all, then he'd be in charge of a division or upwards of 15,000 soldiers. But, then why not make him a short-medium General then (and yes, I know I'm criticizing a decision made almost twenty years ago now)?

 

My complaint isn't that Gaunt got the rank, my complaint is that he's never had the opportunity to demonstrate the ability to use it. Gaunt has led thousands of men, possibly tens of thousands of men. The Warmaster is leading hundreds of millions if not billions of men. Again, if Abnett wanted to take the story in this direction, he should have promoted Gaunt to general before the end of the last arc around His Last Command or The Armour of Contempt (Gaunt could have been in overall command of the Gereon invasion, and then there'd be precedent for his place in high command), and he had the opportunity to promote Gaunt as far back as Necropolis (I don't recall exactly, but did Gaunt have some command over defending the city near the end?). If Abnett didn't realize it then, he had the opportunity to do it at the start of this arc in Blood Pact when the Ghosts are getting R&R on Balhaut. I also didn't like the well earned rest angle Abnett was going for in The Warmaster. We already got a beach episode in Blood Pact.

 

It's not even that the low ammunition trope is tired, it's that it's never used to any effect. At no point does anybody say, "Battery's empty, fix bayonets" or start scrounging enemy weapons in earnest. Mkoll uses a wrench or a fire axe or a crowbar or something to that effect from a tool kit in the beginning, but it was a setup for him to dual wield close combat weapons and strike an anime pose finishing with arms crossed and a neat X sliced into an unlucky boarder. Ezrah grabs an enemy gun but again only after beating somebody over the head with his crossbow and busting it in the process. He also got it working again later, which felt cheap. But, maybe I'm overestimating whatever symbolism would connect Ezrah's broken bow and his subsequent death later on.

 

I'm interested in hearing what you think is going to happen in The Anarch. I'm banking on rf,ed.

[The_son_of_Dorn]

Forgive me of my ignorance but is GG set in the 30k universe? I don't know why but I thought it was 40k.

[cheywood]

Forgive me of my ignorance but is GG set in the 30k universe? I don't know why but I thought it was 40k.

It's 40k, but in the past of 40k. It's set in the mid to late 700's of M41 (if I'm remembering right) whereas the setting's currently roughly 400 years past that point. It's pretty standard for Abnett. His Inquisition works are all set a few hundred years before Gaunt's Ghosts for instance. Provides a convenient way of telling a conclusive story without having to worry about what's going on in the setting at large. Not sure if that was Abnett's decision or GW editorial policy back in the late 90's and early 2000's. It's a relatively more recent change to explore the core of the setting instead of creating stories on the comparative margins of the universe I think.

[Phoebus]

The Gaunt's Ghosts series starts around 765.M41, though the prequel stories stretch back to the 750s.

 

KingHongKong,

 

Other characters reference that Gaunt wasn't just in Slaydo's inner circle, but that he was thought to be considered for succession. You are correct, however, that it's suspect for a Warmaster in charge of as many as thirty Army Groups (easily millions of Guardsmen) to consider someone their successor when they haven't even held command. It's likely that Abnett, who was a younger, less experienced author then, just didn't have as good a grasp of higher-echelon military structures back then. The Tanith Regiments may very well have been a first step in grooming Gaunt for future endeavors. It's still jarring, however, that this concept has been bounced around a few times before Warmaster without any serious discussion as to whether or not Gaunt has been held back.