The Board Is Set

[Marshal Loss]

I hope we get to see Angron and Sanguinius actually fight

 

his fingers moving to the King of Nothing. He thrust it directly towards the Angel defending the Emperor's home squares...He turned the top card. The picture resolved upon its surface showed a mountain of bodies with a hound at its top, muzzle red with their blood. 'Massacre,' snapped Malcador.

 

Might just be Angron declaring the start of the siege though.

 

Could be an homage to Angron and Sangunius' face off in Bill King's short:

 

 

This was a war where there could be no honourable peace. It was destroy or be destroyed. For a moment all was silence, then Angron strode forth. In his brazen voice he demanded that the loyalists surrender. He told them that their cause was hopeless, as they faced a foe which could not be defeated. They were cut off, outnumbered, and defending a ruler too weak to be worthy of their loyalty. In that moment the men on the walls felt their resolve weaken. Looking at the transformed face of the Primarch who had once been one of the Emperor's finest warriors, they saw an invincible, relentless foe backed by a numberless horde and all the daemonic might of Chaos.

 

There was a clamour on the walls as Sanguinius and the Blood Angels arrived. Standing on the wall, the angel-winged Primarch glared on Angron with angry contempt. For long moments their gazes locked, each Primarch seemed to be measuring the other, searching for chinks in the armour, for any sign of weakness and lack of resolve. Who knows what they saw there? Perhaps they communicated telepathically, brother Primarch to brother Primarch. The truth will never be known. Eventually Angron turned and walked back to his lines. He told his troops that there would be no surrender; they should kill everyone they found within the palace. No stone should be left upon stone

[1ncarnadine]

Possible revelations:

- The Alpha Legion were playing the odds, and one of the twins was working against the traitors from the start (backs up "Alpharius was loyal" theory)

- If Dorn had been sent to Isstvan he would have (somehow) turned it in the loyalists favour, but the Alpha Legion would have committed entirely to Horus and taken Terra

 

I think it's interesting that neither the blue nor red twin was mentioned as being removed from the board. But it was probably a conscious decision by Gav to not mention it and keep the mystery alive.

 

 

I hope we get to see Angron and Sanguinius actually fight

 

his fingers moving to the King of Nothing. He thrust it directly towards the Angel defending the Emperor's home squares...He turned the top card. The picture resolved upon its surface showed a mountain of bodies with a hound at its top, muzzle red with their blood. 'Massacre,' snapped Malcador.

 

Might just be Angron declaring the start of the siege though.

 

Could be an homage to Angron and Sangunius' face off in Bill King's short:

 

 

This was a war where there could be no honourable peace. It was destroy or be destroyed. For a moment all was silence, then Angron strode forth. In his brazen voice he demanded that the loyalists surrender. He told them that their cause was hopeless, as they faced a foe which could not be defeated. They were cut off, outnumbered, and defending a ruler too weak to be worthy of their loyalty. In that moment the men on the walls felt their resolve weaken. Looking at the transformed face of the Primarch who had once been one of the Emperor's finest warriors, they saw an invincible, relentless foe backed by a numberless horde and all the daemonic might of Chaos.

 

There was a clamour on the walls as Sanguinius and the Blood Angels arrived. Standing on the wall, the angel-winged Primarch glared on Angron with angry contempt. For long moments their gazes locked, each Primarch seemed to be measuring the other, searching for chinks in the armour, for any sign of weakness and lack of resolve. Who knows what they saw there? Perhaps they communicated telepathically, brother Primarch to brother Primarch. The truth will never be known. Eventually Angron turned and walked back to his lines. He told his troops that there would be no surrender; they should kill everyone they found within the palace. No stone should be left upon stone

 

 

Oh, dang, nice grab. It was in either The First Heretic or Aurelian, but didn't Lorgar or Argel Tal see visions of a red, winged daemon-Astartes fighting Sanguinius over the walls? Maybe it was Angron the whole time?

 

The hound atop a mountain of bodies could be Khârn, too. He breaks through the walls by climbing over a pile of his dead brothers... as far as we know right now

[Moonreaper666]

Reminds me of Yu-gi oh and other card games

[Marshal Rohr]

Reminds me of Yu-gi oh and other card games

 

Tarot reminds you of Yu-gi-oh?

[Mellow]

I quite liked this one.

[Loesh]

 

Reminds me of Yu-gi oh and other card games

 

Tarot reminds you of Yu-gi-oh?

 

Basically the same thing when you think about it.

[Lord_Caerolion]

I've now got a mental image of when the Emperor teleports onto Horus' battlebarge, Horus shouting "You just activated my trap card!"

Edited December 26, 2017 by Lord_Caerolion

[Tymell]

I particularly liked this bit from the story:

 

Several of Revelation's pieces were now surrounded, with only one avenue of escape. Malcador indicated an angle from Revelation's home spaces, where the Invincible Bastion was held in reserve, having been returned there in the opening turns.

 

'I do not understand why you never play that move.' The Regent pointed to a position behind the Lord of Hearts that would see his capital piece trapped against its own companions.

The Emperor then moves the Invincible Bastion (Rogal Dorn) up to the Lord of Hearts (Horus). Malcador turns the next card and it reveals a Hydra. Both of the Twin pieces (Alpharius and Omegon) turn red, joining the Warmaster, where before one was on each side. Malcador then sees he can move one into the vacated spot where the Bastion was (Terra) and win.

 

This seems to indicate that the Emperor didn't send Rogal Dorn after Horus because if he had, the Alpha Legion would've turned completely and taken Terra?

 

Anywho, I liked this one quite a bit. I loved the concept and lot of specific moments, like the above, or Revelation's change of attitude later on and what it might mean. A lot of the dialogue is good and it walks that nice line of revealing some things while leaving you room to ponder. Also

 

Revelation, while trying to rile up Malcador, saying he was never tested by the Powers because they never wanted him. Again, unclear how much that might be true or not, but that was a nice barb I thought.

 

One or two moments did feel a little stiff, like the prose could have had more impact if it had been a bit more subtle, but for the most part this was a nice little coupling with Now Peals Midnight in showing different figures on Terra bracing for the coming storm.

Edited December 28, 2017 by Tymell

[Marshal Rohr]

I don’t think the Emperor was being honest about the powers never wanting Malcador because that was part of his big hype speech to get Malcador’s head in the game.

[Gaugamela]

I really liked this, because we finally got to see another depiction of the Emperor where he's sadenned that Mortarion is corrupted, and that taunts Malcador by saying how Horus was led to believe that the Emperor didn't care about him.

It's nice to finally read something about the Emperor where he's not portrayed like a sociopath without any capacity to even empathize with his followers.

[ShadowSwordmaster]

It's possible that the Emperor knew about what the Alpha Legion was going to do? It seems that he might have some knowledge about the subject.