# Space Marines Battles: Calgar's Siege by Paul Kearney



## Lord of the Night (Nov 18, 2009)

Black Library & Warhammer Digital - Calgar's Siege



Black Library said:


> Marneus Augustus Calgar is the Lord of Ultramar, one of the greatest realms of the Imperium. As Chapter Master of the Ultramarines, he leads one of the most prestigious and powerful Space Marine Chapters devoted to the defence of Mankind. In him, the blood of the Primarch Guilliman runs still. When Calgar receives a summons to the world of Zalidar he is unaware, as are the world's inhabitants, that it is under attack by the Ork Warlord Brug. When his vessel is shot down, Calgar and his Honour Guard must trek across Zalidar's jungle through ork-held territory to reach the city of Zalathras. A terrible siege ensues against a vast greenskin horde. Only Calgar can hope to prevail against such odds in a brutal conflict that gives rise to a legend that will last for eternity...





Black Library said:


> One of Marneus Calgar's many feats from the Space Marines Codex involves holding a gate single-handed against a horde of orks. For the first time, get the whole story…


This story sounded great before I read the second quote, but I didn't realize it was about that famous incident. One of the most known feat of Marneus Calgar, second only to when he murdered an Avatar single-handedly. Might just be picking this one up on release day.


LotN


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## Lord Mephiston (Sep 16, 2010)

And in other great news, our Lord and Saviour Matt Ward has returned to Games Workshop. So hopefully we can get to see Warhammer 40k: The End Times soon, followed by Warhammer : The Age Of The Emperor. 

Who doesnt wanna see the 40k version of what GW's WarhammerBall:Z turns out to be like, eh ?


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## Lord of the Night (Nov 18, 2009)

Lord Mephiston said:


> And in other great news, our Lord and Saviour Matt Ward has returned to Games Workshop. So hopefully we can get to see Warhammer 40k: The End Times soon, followed by Warhammer : The Age Of The Emperor.
> 
> Who doesnt wanna see the 40k version of what GW's WarhammerBall:Z turns out to be like, eh ?


A bit off-topic there, but fine.

The return of Matt Ward is a terrible thing yes, but fortunately 40k is popular and profitable enough that an End Times supplement would be a bad thing as it would end that profit stream. Fantasy was squatted because it wasn't selling as well anymore, while 40k is still the flagship product.

What GW have said they are going to do is take 40k from two minutes to midnight to midnight. The moment when everybody can say, yeah the apocalypse is here. And that's when it stops. It won't go any further than that.


LotN


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## Brother Lucian (Apr 22, 2011)

How many pages is this story?


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## Lord of the Night (Nov 18, 2009)

Brother Lucian said:


> How many pages is this story?


Good question, we don't know yet.


LotN


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## Brother Lucian (Apr 22, 2011)

Had a thought and looked on amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Calgars-Sieg...qid=1470497931&sr=1-1&keywords=calgar's+siege
*Paperback:* 352 pages

That suprises me greatly. I might just pick up this now.


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## Brother Lucian (Apr 22, 2011)

Picked up Calgar's Siege out of boredom. Its definitely a full lenght novel, and Im about halfway through it.

So far I rate it a round 7.0 Good characterizations of Calgar and his motivations and getting into his head, as well some interesting non marine supporting characters.

But..


So far the battle against the orks seems quite forgettable, a mere footnote compared to far more interesting fights such as on the Death of Integrity. It is really the ultramarines that is carrying the book, and they come off as unique beings and not just card board cutouts. And for the orks, their leader had a passage in the beginning, and it quite grated on me that they did not speak in the typically broken ork speech, but crisp and clean. I think he forgot something there. 


Will update again when I finish it.

edit 2: Finished it


Got to see Calgar holding the gate against the orks at the final part of the siege as his gambit to to end the newly formed waagh played out. 
I revise my verdict to 6.5. A barely passable read for getting deeper into the ultramarines. The orks themselves are utterly generic and not developed further than the blurb on the starting pages.. Though the orks produce one single unexpected suprise event for the defenders, but the defenders quickly deal with it. 
But ultimately I feel this book wont be remembered, theres far more epic and interesting space marine battles books. Though I felt entertained enough to not feel I wasted my money on this book, as previously stated, the ultramarines are carrying it.


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