What do you think?
Rate this book
Space Marine Battles #Novella
Spear of Macragge
With Captain Sicarius laid low and defeat looming, the Ultramarines rally behind Chief Librarian Tigurius to try and save the world of Damnos from the necrons. As the legendary tank commander Antaro Chronus engages the necrons in a massed armour battle on the plains of the deadly world, Tigurius and his followers make a desperate attempt to win the war once and for all.
Tanks, tanks and more tanks! The Ultramarines take to the field in an armoured column. Infested by Necrons, the world of Damnos's fate hangs in the balance. Against the prehistoric mechanoid menace stand Chief Librarian Tigurius and tank ace Sergeant Chronos.
Tanks, tanks and more tanks! The Ultramarines take to the field in an armoured column. Infested by Necrons, the world of Damnos's fate hangs in the balance. Against the prehistoric mechanoid menace stand Chief Librarian Tigurius and tank ace Sergeant Chronos.
Hardcover
First published September 6, 2013
2 people are currently reading
126 people want to read
About the author
Nick Kyme
280 books163 followersNick Kyme (b. 1977) writes mostly for Black Library. His credits include the popular Salamanders series and several audio dramas.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
May 18, 2020
love these occasional 40K Space Marine battles. Pure action! Combining the soldiers of the old Roman era with sci-fi and you get the Ultra-Marines. Seemingly fighting an unstoppable foe. Yet, these guys fight on! Tough as nails. Every once in a while I dip into the Warhammer 40K world and I enjoy it.
June 8, 2022
Quite fun.
February 23, 2025
A decent bit of bolter porn. A continuation of Fall of Damnos, wrapping up a few plot lines.
September 23, 2025
fun but always find mind control type stuff to be cheap and irritating
September 7, 2013
Set during the events of the previous novel, the book follows the tale of take commander Chronous as he takes the fight to the necrons. With Sicarius facing impending defeat, he engages the undying warriors in a massive armoured battle as Tigurius attempts to find a way for them to survive the Damnos Incident.
Following directly on from the conclusion of Fall of Damnos, Spear of Macragge slots into place extremely well with the book. Re-using many characters, taking place within mere hours of the last chapter and focusing upon the arrival of someone seen descending from a strike cruiser at that book’s conclusion, it’s an expansion which works extremely well. If anything it’s a justified reason to purchase this collection over the original, delivering a much more satisfying conclusion to events than the abrupt ending the book originally had. Winding down and addressing the final moments of the battle rather than having the story come to a screeching halt.
The only point which really separates this from the other book is the addition of Chronous, mentioned previously but unseen in the last novel. While more human and less acidic than Sicarius, he unfortunately remains a far less interesting character without the ambition or arrogance to cause friction with the others. Any interest in his character really comes from the battle against the necrons, managing to slow down their advance but not fully halt them through as much fault of his own as their own skills. Similar problems also arise with some returning characters, while the likes of Scipio do continue with the roles we saw last time their stories were largely finished. While including them does make the story feel far more whole, it’s hard to ignore the fact that this is an extension of the story rather than a truly natural progression.
The upside of the novella’s addition is the final sequences in Damnos’ remaining city and the battles which finally forced the Ultramarines to retreat from the planet. With so many elements having been left out of the fight and arriving at the last minute, it makes it fully clear just why they had to leave: They didn’t give up immediately and even after being pushed back as far as they could still tried one final time to achieve victory with what they had. The battles themselves are of a very different nature from the almost-all-infantry engagements of Fall of Damnos, instead placing a heavy emphasis upon vehicle related combat. As well as an armoured battalion led by Chronous, thunderhawk gunships and necron fliers are seen in the mix fighting and engaging one another as they attempt to finally wipe one another out. The sequences themselves lack some of the desperation of the previous battles but are still something to behold, showing the same degree of control and organisation Kyme had with the troops but with a very different style. They are ultimately what the majority of readers will be drawn to and the book does place heavy emphasis upon them, at an unfortunate cost.
Because of so much focus on the battles, a lot of the final moments feel rushed. Not given the same focus they deserved and instead shortened to make use of the page count they had left, something especially true during a certain delaying tactic Chronus is forced to make. Furthermore, irritatingly weak depiction of the marines come into play again. While this was fine with the necrons for obvious reasons, we get instances here like a space marine’s helm being crushed when colliding with a wall and one being killed by one or two bolter rounds. This isn’t to mention a very questionable take on techmarines which seems extremely at odds with what we know of their role within chapters and relationship with other marines.
Also, there are some very odd choices of vehicle names in this book. Many which are good and fit the chapter well but then you get others along the likes of The Ram, Thunderstorm and similar names. It can be quite distracting, especially when one tank is named Stormwarden among other things.
Ultimately Spear of Macragge succeeds in giving the story a better conclusion, if rushed in places, and more battles. If you likes what you saw in Fall of Damnos, chances are you’ll have fun with this one. Just expect a few more flaws here and there, but thankfully less monologue spewing necrons.
Following directly on from the conclusion of Fall of Damnos, Spear of Macragge slots into place extremely well with the book. Re-using many characters, taking place within mere hours of the last chapter and focusing upon the arrival of someone seen descending from a strike cruiser at that book’s conclusion, it’s an expansion which works extremely well. If anything it’s a justified reason to purchase this collection over the original, delivering a much more satisfying conclusion to events than the abrupt ending the book originally had. Winding down and addressing the final moments of the battle rather than having the story come to a screeching halt.
The only point which really separates this from the other book is the addition of Chronous, mentioned previously but unseen in the last novel. While more human and less acidic than Sicarius, he unfortunately remains a far less interesting character without the ambition or arrogance to cause friction with the others. Any interest in his character really comes from the battle against the necrons, managing to slow down their advance but not fully halt them through as much fault of his own as their own skills. Similar problems also arise with some returning characters, while the likes of Scipio do continue with the roles we saw last time their stories were largely finished. While including them does make the story feel far more whole, it’s hard to ignore the fact that this is an extension of the story rather than a truly natural progression.
The upside of the novella’s addition is the final sequences in Damnos’ remaining city and the battles which finally forced the Ultramarines to retreat from the planet. With so many elements having been left out of the fight and arriving at the last minute, it makes it fully clear just why they had to leave: They didn’t give up immediately and even after being pushed back as far as they could still tried one final time to achieve victory with what they had. The battles themselves are of a very different nature from the almost-all-infantry engagements of Fall of Damnos, instead placing a heavy emphasis upon vehicle related combat. As well as an armoured battalion led by Chronous, thunderhawk gunships and necron fliers are seen in the mix fighting and engaging one another as they attempt to finally wipe one another out. The sequences themselves lack some of the desperation of the previous battles but are still something to behold, showing the same degree of control and organisation Kyme had with the troops but with a very different style. They are ultimately what the majority of readers will be drawn to and the book does place heavy emphasis upon them, at an unfortunate cost.
Because of so much focus on the battles, a lot of the final moments feel rushed. Not given the same focus they deserved and instead shortened to make use of the page count they had left, something especially true during a certain delaying tactic Chronus is forced to make. Furthermore, irritatingly weak depiction of the marines come into play again. While this was fine with the necrons for obvious reasons, we get instances here like a space marine’s helm being crushed when colliding with a wall and one being killed by one or two bolter rounds. This isn’t to mention a very questionable take on techmarines which seems extremely at odds with what we know of their role within chapters and relationship with other marines.
Also, there are some very odd choices of vehicle names in this book. Many which are good and fit the chapter well but then you get others along the likes of The Ram, Thunderstorm and similar names. It can be quite distracting, especially when one tank is named Stormwarden among other things.
Ultimately Spear of Macragge succeeds in giving the story a better conclusion, if rushed in places, and more battles. If you likes what you saw in Fall of Damnos, chances are you’ll have fun with this one. Just expect a few more flaws here and there, but thankfully less monologue spewing necrons.
August 30, 2014
You can read the full review over at my blog (this was part of a double review with another novella):
http://sonsofcorax.wordpress.com/2014...
In contrast to Catechism of Hate, Nick Kyme’s approach in Spear of Macragge is altogether different. This time he works with an ensemble cast of the Ultramarines Second Company’s finest, and two of the Chapter’s greatest heroes, Chief Librarian Varro Tigurius and Commander Antaro Chronus. In fact, the novella is named for the latter, for he bears the title of Spear of Macragge as the Chapter’s foremost tank commander, and Tigurius is only around in cameos.
With Chronus, Tigurius and several of the Second Company’s great and vaunted, Spear of Macragge really is a great read. Nick Kyme’s action sequences with the Necrons are well-planned and thought-out, with Chronus also being characterized well. There was a teeny bit of confusion in my mind in that some of Chronus’ stratagems didn’t seem to reflect his work, but that passed quickly, because Nick wrote the tank battles as really involved scenes and he drew in all the different kind of Space Marine armour to give the story a realistic feel.
More often than not, Warhammer 40,000 stories focus on individuals and (largely) infantry battles. Armoured battles are usually rare, and I’d say that authors like William King and Guy Haley and John French have done much in recent times to change that around. Because the thing is that a Space Marine strike force isn’t just made up of the boots on the ground, it has air support and armour support as well. And when you focus on a character like Antaro Chronus, it is pretty much a given that the story is going to have some tank battles in it, and that they are going to be visceral and well-written in the main.
I’ve been a fan of Nick’s work for quite a while now, starting with Salamanders trilogy which I loved. He has recently done some Horus Heresy work as well, which is nice as well. With Spear of Macragge he gets a chance to (in some way) close the story of the Damnos Incident that he began in Fall of Damnos. I never got around to reading Fall of Damnos in full, something that I feel I need to correct now after reading this novella, because this was a fun read and also because I am in the mood to read some more Warhammer 40,000 after a rather lengthy period of staying away from it other than the occasional novel or short story or such.
With regards to the tank battles in this novella, and Antaro Chronus’ place in the story, I could say a lot honestly. The character’s brash and confident attitude appealed to me from the get go, because I knew that there was going to be a point when he would be humbled first, and I was waiting for that to happen. Only after he has been humbled, could the story really take off and become what I wanted it to be. Which it did.
Necrons versus Space Marines? It is a rather matched fight I’d say, and since Nick chose to focus on armoured battles, it gave me something much different from the norm to read about because usually all the stories focusing on Necrons as the antagonists focuses on the infantry action, and not on the armour battles. That’s where the true worth of the novella is.
Nick’s characterisation is also fairly good, and since he is dealing with an ensemble cast here, that was all the more important for me as a reader. It is certainly a challenge that Nick passes quite well, I dare say.
Rating: 9/10
http://sonsofcorax.wordpress.com/2014...
In contrast to Catechism of Hate, Nick Kyme’s approach in Spear of Macragge is altogether different. This time he works with an ensemble cast of the Ultramarines Second Company’s finest, and two of the Chapter’s greatest heroes, Chief Librarian Varro Tigurius and Commander Antaro Chronus. In fact, the novella is named for the latter, for he bears the title of Spear of Macragge as the Chapter’s foremost tank commander, and Tigurius is only around in cameos.
With Chronus, Tigurius and several of the Second Company’s great and vaunted, Spear of Macragge really is a great read. Nick Kyme’s action sequences with the Necrons are well-planned and thought-out, with Chronus also being characterized well. There was a teeny bit of confusion in my mind in that some of Chronus’ stratagems didn’t seem to reflect his work, but that passed quickly, because Nick wrote the tank battles as really involved scenes and he drew in all the different kind of Space Marine armour to give the story a realistic feel.
More often than not, Warhammer 40,000 stories focus on individuals and (largely) infantry battles. Armoured battles are usually rare, and I’d say that authors like William King and Guy Haley and John French have done much in recent times to change that around. Because the thing is that a Space Marine strike force isn’t just made up of the boots on the ground, it has air support and armour support as well. And when you focus on a character like Antaro Chronus, it is pretty much a given that the story is going to have some tank battles in it, and that they are going to be visceral and well-written in the main.
I’ve been a fan of Nick’s work for quite a while now, starting with Salamanders trilogy which I loved. He has recently done some Horus Heresy work as well, which is nice as well. With Spear of Macragge he gets a chance to (in some way) close the story of the Damnos Incident that he began in Fall of Damnos. I never got around to reading Fall of Damnos in full, something that I feel I need to correct now after reading this novella, because this was a fun read and also because I am in the mood to read some more Warhammer 40,000 after a rather lengthy period of staying away from it other than the occasional novel or short story or such.
With regards to the tank battles in this novella, and Antaro Chronus’ place in the story, I could say a lot honestly. The character’s brash and confident attitude appealed to me from the get go, because I knew that there was going to be a point when he would be humbled first, and I was waiting for that to happen. Only after he has been humbled, could the story really take off and become what I wanted it to be. Which it did.
Necrons versus Space Marines? It is a rather matched fight I’d say, and since Nick chose to focus on armoured battles, it gave me something much different from the norm to read about because usually all the stories focusing on Necrons as the antagonists focuses on the infantry action, and not on the armour battles. That’s where the true worth of the novella is.
Nick’s characterisation is also fairly good, and since he is dealing with an ensemble cast here, that was all the more important for me as a reader. It is certainly a challenge that Nick passes quite well, I dare say.
Rating: 9/10
October 1, 2025
As the title of the previous installment already suggests, the Imperium doesn’t have much hope in this battle. The tragic fall of the planet Damnos under the onslaught of an ancient race awakening after tens of thousands of years was depicted very well in this short, action-packed story. Compared to the previous book, I found it a more engaging read, filled with strong and suspenseful moments.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews