What do you think?
Rate this book
The Horus Heresy #Audio Drama
Iron Corpses
The ravaged world of Tallarn plays host to the greatest armoured conflict in the history of mankind. The bitter and vengeful Iron Warriors led entire divisions of tanks and war machines across the befouled plains, until the macro-transporter Eagle’s Talon plunged to the surface and ended a million lives in a heartbeat. Stranded upon some unnamed, toxic battlefield that now resembles nothing more than a graveyard of Titans, Warsmith Koparnos knows that he has precious little time left – will he find salvation amidst the dead god-machines, or quickly succumb to violent madness?
A Chaos Space Marine hijacks a Titan! This is a race for survival where a Chaos Space Marine’s only hope is in the heart of a dying war machine. Seriously.
Narrated by Sean Barrett
Performed by Saul Reichlin, Annie Aldington
Directed by Samuel Gunn
Music by Simon Slater
Produced by Heavy Entertainment
Running Time 39 Minutes 47 seconds
A Chaos Space Marine hijacks a Titan! This is a race for survival where a Chaos Space Marine’s only hope is in the heart of a dying war machine. Seriously.
Narrated by Sean Barrett
Performed by Saul Reichlin, Annie Aldington
Directed by Samuel Gunn
Music by Simon Slater
Produced by Heavy Entertainment
Running Time 39 Minutes 47 seconds
MP3
First published February 16, 2015
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
March 3, 2017
An awesome sequel to John French's The Eagle's Talon.
After the macro-transporter ship "Eagle's Talon" smashed on Tallarn's surface ending millions of lives and leaving a toxic radioactive devastation behind, slowly dying Warsmith Koparnos finds out an opportunity for survival and vengeance in the shape of a pulse-paralyzed imperial Titan and its blind crew...
A very grimdark short tale about survival and betrayal, David Annandale is really becoming one of my most favourite Black Library authors ever.
May 15, 2024
May 2024 Read using the Horus Heresy Omnibus Project Reading Order Omnibus XX Shadows of the Warmaster IV The Dead and the Dying (https://www.heresyomnibus.com/omnibus...) as part of my Oath of Moment to complete the Horus Heresy series and extras.
After some perspective changes from previous reads/ listens with the context of this ridiculous endeavour, it's interesting to see the stories that I instantly loved and still fervently do, of which this is certainly one!
On the annhilated surface of Tallarn, a sole surviving Astartes of a colossal confrontation between an armoured column and Titans drags himself from the wreckage and exposes his compromised ceramite shell to the deadly atmosphere in search of a way to endure in a most unlikely corner...
I am being spoilt by the amount of French and Annandale I've been getting recently and I feel bad that it is effecting my reading and reviewing of other authors who don't plug into what I love about this series and don't quite have the warped imagination and gorgeous prose I so adore.
This is such a bleakly beautiful awful and ugly tale of enduring against the odds and by sheer force of will. I feel every agonising step and horrifying means this soul suffers through. It doesn't matter that he is ostensibly one of the 'badly guys', in this story he transcends even his transhumanity to become an excoriated being of pure survival.
The horrors of war, the nightmare of a virus bomb and god machine ravaged former paradise, and the ordeal--the true suffering and trial by literal nuclear fire are all rendered with harrowing beauty.
There's a reason I can read a brilliant bit of Titan fighting like The Ember Wolves and feel it's so close to full marks, but not just over the line, when there's works like this and the truly magical manifestations of the narrative depths beyond action and/ or the mind-melting concepts and breathtakingly visceral prose of Annandale's The Spear of Ultramar and Ruinstorm, and French's Ordo Sinister and Tallarn stories. There's a richness and a true understanding of the ridiculousness and seriousness of the grimdark these authors wield with such finesse. I love it!
This could make a wonderful short animation, but it would lose some of that Annandale magick.
I honestly can't get enough of these so very intimate and viscerally personal and focused vignettes and stories, and if they are as good as this I'll happily be readying the Heresy til I'm in the grave.
Through the Horus Heresy Omnibus Project and my own additions, I have currently read 45 Horus Heresy novels (inc. 1 repeat and 7 anthologies), 24 novellas (inc. 2 repeats), 136 short stories/ audio dramas (inc. 10+ repeats), as well as the Macragge's Honour graphic novel, all 17 Primarchs novels, 4 Primarchs short stories/ audio dramas, 3 Characters novels, and 2 Warhammer 40K further reading novels and 1 short story...this run, as well as writing 1 short story myself.
I couldn't be more appreciative of the phenomenal work of the Horus Heresy Omnibus Project, which has made this ridiculous endeavour all the better and has inspired me to create and collate a collection of Horus Heresy and Warhammer 40,000 documents and checklists (http://tiny.cc/im00yz). There are now too many items to list here, but there is a contents and explainer document here (http://tiny.cc/nj00yz).
***
Initial Review
After so many years and collections the number of Horus Heresy audio dramas I haven't heard at least once is rapidly dwindling, but this was one I knew absolutely nothing about before going in and I absolutely loved it.
Tallarn is a theatre I'm not too familiar with, but inferring from this there was a big war between the Iron Warriors and at least Mechanicum/ Legio Titanicus with the IV Legion taking the day, only for the Loyalists to virus bomb the battlefield, including their own survivors? That seems to be the perspective of one battered Warsmith who makes a desperate march hoping to do something before he dies a horrible death of disease.
I really enjoy these small focus stories that make for wonderful audio dramas and would make spectacular short films. The impossible nightmare situation, the horror of the battlefield and ashes of victory, and the indomitable will to survive are visceral and consuming. The vast majority is just inside the head one dying Astartes deteriorating by the moment but determined to keep on keeping on.
Sean Barrett's tense, terse, almost breathless narration is utterly perfect for this.
One other aspect I really appreciated about this story is that it is from a Traitor Extremis perspective, but it doesn't treat the Warsmith as an explicit baddie, until something towards the end. This is great to see because the Loyalist and Traitor Legions, and even the Space Marine Chapters and Chaos Space Marines 'are not so different you and I'. There is a zeal and relish that's actually more honest, if not better with the Traitors as the Imperium--they are both utterly awful and cause untold unnecessary and totally unjustifiable suffering and death--but everything is always from the Imperium's perspective, so they are painted as good. Sometimes even otherwise great Black Library authors forget this fact... There is only war. It is grimdark and everything is awful. It's only individual actions and situations that can contain any goodness and light.
I really had a cracking time with this and there are some incredible moments I'll mention in spoilers below. It definitely is more of a mood/ survival piece that adds a little colour to the end of a battle, so it isn't essential listening. However, I absolutely do recommend it, especially if you enjoy Riddick and that one great Star Wars fan film about the Rebel pilot shot down and left behind on Hoth. This is one where it seeks apparent tour mileage may vary.
***SPOILERS***
This fucking dude almost kills himself with radiation to nuke the virus, so much so that it's revealed Space Marines excrete a weird snot pus bubble from their pores to protect them from dangerous atmospheres!
The reveal of allegiances was always going to be the case, but I was not expecting the double Titan dreadnought mode and I love to see the utter wildness of machine spirits as the WTF entities they are!
After some perspective changes from previous reads/ listens with the context of this ridiculous endeavour, it's interesting to see the stories that I instantly loved and still fervently do, of which this is certainly one!
On the annhilated surface of Tallarn, a sole surviving Astartes of a colossal confrontation between an armoured column and Titans drags himself from the wreckage and exposes his compromised ceramite shell to the deadly atmosphere in search of a way to endure in a most unlikely corner...
I am being spoilt by the amount of French and Annandale I've been getting recently and I feel bad that it is effecting my reading and reviewing of other authors who don't plug into what I love about this series and don't quite have the warped imagination and gorgeous prose I so adore.
This is such a bleakly beautiful awful and ugly tale of enduring against the odds and by sheer force of will. I feel every agonising step and horrifying means this soul suffers through. It doesn't matter that he is ostensibly one of the 'badly guys', in this story he transcends even his transhumanity to become an excoriated being of pure survival.
The horrors of war, the nightmare of a virus bomb and god machine ravaged former paradise, and the ordeal--the true suffering and trial by literal nuclear fire are all rendered with harrowing beauty.
There's a reason I can read a brilliant bit of Titan fighting like The Ember Wolves and feel it's so close to full marks, but not just over the line, when there's works like this and the truly magical manifestations of the narrative depths beyond action and/ or the mind-melting concepts and breathtakingly visceral prose of Annandale's The Spear of Ultramar and Ruinstorm, and French's Ordo Sinister and Tallarn stories. There's a richness and a true understanding of the ridiculousness and seriousness of the grimdark these authors wield with such finesse. I love it!
This could make a wonderful short animation, but it would lose some of that Annandale magick.
I honestly can't get enough of these so very intimate and viscerally personal and focused vignettes and stories, and if they are as good as this I'll happily be readying the Heresy til I'm in the grave.
Through the Horus Heresy Omnibus Project and my own additions, I have currently read 45 Horus Heresy novels (inc. 1 repeat and 7 anthologies), 24 novellas (inc. 2 repeats), 136 short stories/ audio dramas (inc. 10+ repeats), as well as the Macragge's Honour graphic novel, all 17 Primarchs novels, 4 Primarchs short stories/ audio dramas, 3 Characters novels, and 2 Warhammer 40K further reading novels and 1 short story...this run, as well as writing 1 short story myself.
I couldn't be more appreciative of the phenomenal work of the Horus Heresy Omnibus Project, which has made this ridiculous endeavour all the better and has inspired me to create and collate a collection of Horus Heresy and Warhammer 40,000 documents and checklists (http://tiny.cc/im00yz). There are now too many items to list here, but there is a contents and explainer document here (http://tiny.cc/nj00yz).
***
Initial Review
After so many years and collections the number of Horus Heresy audio dramas I haven't heard at least once is rapidly dwindling, but this was one I knew absolutely nothing about before going in and I absolutely loved it.
Tallarn is a theatre I'm not too familiar with, but inferring from this there was a big war between the Iron Warriors and at least Mechanicum/ Legio Titanicus with the IV Legion taking the day, only for the Loyalists to virus bomb the battlefield, including their own survivors? That seems to be the perspective of one battered Warsmith who makes a desperate march hoping to do something before he dies a horrible death of disease.
I really enjoy these small focus stories that make for wonderful audio dramas and would make spectacular short films. The impossible nightmare situation, the horror of the battlefield and ashes of victory, and the indomitable will to survive are visceral and consuming. The vast majority is just inside the head one dying Astartes deteriorating by the moment but determined to keep on keeping on.
Sean Barrett's tense, terse, almost breathless narration is utterly perfect for this.
One other aspect I really appreciated about this story is that it is from a Traitor Extremis perspective, but it doesn't treat the Warsmith as an explicit baddie, until something towards the end. This is great to see because the Loyalist and Traitor Legions, and even the Space Marine Chapters and Chaos Space Marines 'are not so different you and I'. There is a zeal and relish that's actually more honest, if not better with the Traitors as the Imperium--they are both utterly awful and cause untold unnecessary and totally unjustifiable suffering and death--but everything is always from the Imperium's perspective, so they are painted as good. Sometimes even otherwise great Black Library authors forget this fact... There is only war. It is grimdark and everything is awful. It's only individual actions and situations that can contain any goodness and light.
I really had a cracking time with this and there are some incredible moments I'll mention in spoilers below. It definitely is more of a mood/ survival piece that adds a little colour to the end of a battle, so it isn't essential listening. However, I absolutely do recommend it, especially if you enjoy Riddick and that one great Star Wars fan film about the Rebel pilot shot down and left behind on Hoth. This is one where it seeks apparent tour mileage may vary.
***SPOILERS***
This fucking dude almost kills himself with radiation to nuke the virus, so much so that it's revealed Space Marines excrete a weird snot pus bubble from their pores to protect them from dangerous atmospheres!
The reveal of allegiances was always going to be the case, but I was not expecting the double Titan dreadnought mode and I love to see the utter wildness of machine spirits as the WTF entities they are!
December 16, 2020
Iron Corpses is done from the perspective of the Iron Warriors Chaos marines and give us an insight into how they regard their treasonous behaviour! At the same time we get to see the lengths that they are willing to go to and what they are capable of! Warsmith Koparnos more than lives up to their reputation and the lengths he is willing to go to corrupt the loyal Titan and the Adept inside are brutally and brilliantly done! You will be kept guessing throughout as to the outcome and at the same time is really rams home what they are capable of and how they regard their enemy! Iron Corpses also delves into what the Iron Warriors consider just and this attitude is soaked in blood and brilliantly portrayed showing us how corrupted they are and what they consider just!
Iron Corpses has top notch production values! the presentation rally works as brilliantly presented drama that feels like a brilliant play that marries up perfectly with the storyline that is epic from the start! You energy and feel of things right from the start is brilliantly portrayed with the grit and weapons fire all up there!
Iron Corpses will keep you on your toes and guessing rom the start! Iron Corpses is full of daring do, insight and cunning, world building, bloody conflict, adventure and action! Brilliant Crisp High Five and Highly Recommended!
Iron Corpses has top notch production values! the presentation rally works as brilliantly presented drama that feels like a brilliant play that marries up perfectly with the storyline that is epic from the start! You energy and feel of things right from the start is brilliantly portrayed with the grit and weapons fire all up there!
Iron Corpses will keep you on your toes and guessing rom the start! Iron Corpses is full of daring do, insight and cunning, world building, bloody conflict, adventure and action! Brilliant Crisp High Five and Highly Recommended!
March 25, 2016
God damn now THAT was an audio drama!
David Annandale is quickly rising through the ranks for me personally, with one fantastic read(or listen) after another!
I find that he does the more subtle stories extreme justice. This wasn't a smash down, drag out gunfight for Tallarn. This was one warriors quest for life and vengeance, and damn was it a good one!
I have always loved the Iron Warriors. Since first getting into the setting and reading Graham McNeill's Iron Warriors Omnibus. I have always admired their tenacity, their endurance and will. They will keep fighting against all odds, and that is just what we saw here.
One warrior, against impossible odds, struggles to survive Tallarn, and the fall of the Eagle's Talon. Shit was amazing, and that little twist at the end(which I did see coming, but is no less great for it) was phenomenal.
If you read this Mr. Annandale, I thought you did a damn good job capturing the real spirit of the Iron Warriors.
Iron Within! Iron Without!
David Annandale is quickly rising through the ranks for me personally, with one fantastic read(or listen) after another!
I find that he does the more subtle stories extreme justice. This wasn't a smash down, drag out gunfight for Tallarn. This was one warriors quest for life and vengeance, and damn was it a good one!
I have always loved the Iron Warriors. Since first getting into the setting and reading Graham McNeill's Iron Warriors Omnibus. I have always admired their tenacity, their endurance and will. They will keep fighting against all odds, and that is just what we saw here.
One warrior, against impossible odds, struggles to survive Tallarn, and the fall of the Eagle's Talon. Shit was amazing, and that little twist at the end(which I did see coming, but is no less great for it) was phenomenal.
If you read this Mr. Annandale, I thought you did a damn good job capturing the real spirit of the Iron Warriors.
Iron Within! Iron Without!
June 9, 2022
Pretty dark story about an Iron Warriors Warsmith corrupting a titan.
To be honest, it's hard for me to take the Iron Warriors seriously because of how utterly petulant Perturabo is, and some of that same "it's all everyone else's fault" attitude leaks into our protagonist here as well, which made me roll my eyes. But the atmosphere and heavy feel of the story is on point, can't deny that.
To be honest, it's hard for me to take the Iron Warriors seriously because of how utterly petulant Perturabo is, and some of that same "it's all everyone else's fault" attitude leaks into our protagonist here as well, which made me roll my eyes. But the atmosphere and heavy feel of the story is on point, can't deny that.
May 18, 2020
I love it when the HH takes a traitor perspective. This Audio Drama, unlike many of the others, doesn't focus on a point of major action, but instead the aftermath of one. It's interesting and unique and well worth the listen.
April 2, 2025
3.5 Stars
Iron Warrior perspective in the aftermath of the war on Tallarn. Focused on the journey of an Iron Warrior Astartes taking over a loyalist Titan
Desperation for survival cloud the judgements of trust and lead to untimely demise. Another pretty succinct vignette
Iron Warrior perspective in the aftermath of the war on Tallarn. Focused on the journey of an Iron Warrior Astartes taking over a loyalist Titan
Desperation for survival cloud the judgements of trust and lead to untimely demise. Another pretty succinct vignette
November 7, 2019
Not a bad short audio drama.
June 16, 2022
One of my favourite audio dramas in the Black Library.
If you are an Iron Warrior guy, you HAVE to listen to this.
If you are an Iron Warrior guy, you HAVE to listen to this.
November 16, 2022
Iron within, iron without.
February 1, 2024
Really good use of the audio drama format. Amazing atmosphere. I don't understand what the Iron Warrior was hoping to accomplish but maybe that's the point?
August 18, 2024
It's OK. Bit short. Dialog is what makes a book, and it's rather limited in this.
April 12, 2026
Very cool and gritty short story. Titan, viruses, radiation, astartes, mechanicus.
July 31, 2025
Tallarn was the site of one of the largest Titan/Tank battles in the Heresy. The death toll was unimaginable as the God-Machines strode to war. Now their metal corpses litter the planet’s surface.
A lone surviving Iron Warrior strides along this bleak environment, exposed to an environment that is slowly killing, with little to no resources. He is bitter and angry that he should die here, so close to the end, alone on a battlefield. He is resentful of the Emperor and is looking for one last act of defiance.
This is a brutal and grim story, very atmospheric and full of character. There is an ugliness to the soul of the protagonist, as he looks to hurt the Loyalists one last time. But the nature of the story is so intimate, I can’t help but admire his stubbornness, his refusal to give up and die. He keeps going, his will is iron, and he will have revenge on the False Emperor.
A lone surviving Iron Warrior strides along this bleak environment, exposed to an environment that is slowly killing, with little to no resources. He is bitter and angry that he should die here, so close to the end, alone on a battlefield. He is resentful of the Emperor and is looking for one last act of defiance.
This is a brutal and grim story, very atmospheric and full of character. There is an ugliness to the soul of the protagonist, as he looks to hurt the Loyalists one last time. But the nature of the story is so intimate, I can’t help but admire his stubbornness, his refusal to give up and die. He keeps going, his will is iron, and he will have revenge on the False Emperor.
May 24, 2017
A bit of a continuation to The Eagle's Talon by John French. Picking up just after the titanic detonation of when the eagles talon crashed on the southern continent of Tallarn and following a lone Iron warrior warsmith fighting against the radiated, toxic, poluted and viral atmosphere of the aftermath.
The only survivor of his squad and maybe the only survivor for several miles he must find a way to cleanse himself of the deadly virus, and then, if he survives, find a way to continue the war against the false emperor.
The pacing is nice, I like the voice actors. They really do a sterling job on this one. I would probably have rated it five stars if it wasn't for one tiny detail at the very end, literaly the last minute.
The only survivor of his squad and maybe the only survivor for several miles he must find a way to cleanse himself of the deadly virus, and then, if he survives, find a way to continue the war against the false emperor.
The pacing is nice, I like the voice actors. They really do a sterling job on this one. I would probably have rated it five stars if it wasn't for one tiny detail at the very end, literaly the last minute.
February 21, 2015
In conjunction with The Eagle’s Talon by John French, David Annandale’s Iron Corpses continues the tale of the Battle of Tallarn in audio format, either as an MP3 or as part of the upcoming joint audio CD. This follows on directly from The Eagle’s Talon, as a lone Iron Warrior strikes out through the blasted devastation created when the troop transport hit the surface of Tallarn. Having survived through sheer chance, Warsmith Koparnos knows he is slowly dying on the virus- and radiation-scarred surface, but sees an opportunity for both survival and vengeance in the shape of an intact Titan.
Read the rest of the review at https://trackofwords.wordpress.com/20...
Read the rest of the review at https://trackofwords.wordpress.com/20...
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews