Iron Guard

Imperial Guard

by Mark Clapham

The 114th Mordian Iron Guard, pride of their world, renowned for their heroic actions at the Siege of Defure, are deployed to the mining world of Belmos VII, unaware that a terrible affliction plagues the local populace. As the Guardsmen attempt to track down the source of the corruption, panic spreads and the brave men of Mordian soon find themselves surrounded by enemies, both from within the Belmosian population and from without...

Genres: 40k, Science Fiction, Fiction

416 pages, Paperback

First published September 26, 2013

Reviews

[Paulo "paper books only" · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have to say this book was a disappointing read for me. First of all it starts great. We are introduced to 3 characters who were enemies when leaving in the hive\slums. They never left their floor but constantly fight one another. I thought that this book would be like Enemies turn to friends kind of scenario or being Warhammer it could be enemies turn into bitter enemies and destroying within themselves but alas it was not. WE are introduced to that and we no longer have any development on that story or phrases regarding their life now in the Imperial Guard. We are quickly introduced now a couple of months\years into the future where this specific IG are going to stop some unrest in a vital world (Which one is not?). After pacification, where we get some glimpses how Mordian work (quite literally the same as anyone else) and this is something I felt the author didn't brought up enough. What makes Mordian different besides their clothes? Nothing. there are some instances some Lt or Sergeant screaming about it BUT that's it. These could be typical regiment and you wouldn't know the difference. Generic IG. The story then moves to another planet, moon where there are disturbances in the local supply and our IG discover some humans that behave quite animalistic (is that a word) at night. Other humans must take refuge. It could easily turn into a horror novel. But nah. Then the last part of the novel where a new opponent arises and explains the reason. By the cover I thought IG vs Nurgle but nah. I won't explain so I won't deter much of people reading the book but it was not good. The last battle was good and the last 50/60 pages are worth reading. IT's a shame the rest of the book is a slog. I liked how the author dealt with the battle between two main protagonists (the lords of two factions) like a cinematic scene like in the avengers and the bystanders thinking what a heck are we doing nothing if we could shoot the bad guy and be done? "Nah you stop this scene". But he is crazy (the good main protagonist) "You can't tell him that he is crazy. or you will be shot." it's not that he is not crazy you just can't tell ... There is a part where the other main character things about the futility of all and the lives lost due to the actions of general, lords and such.. quite bluntly. In the end I felt that the book was ok but it drag a lot and didn't touch stuff I Wanted to see tackled on. 50/100

[Zaphied · Rating 4 out of 5]

You think you begin to have a sense of how a story will turn out. Turns out you were wrong. This is how I felt with this 40k novel. I was so sure there was to be a different Enemy of Mankind in store for the Guard. And it did this while keeping up the feel of a battle report.

[Replicasex · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great ideas, mediocre execution. Still a fun entry in horror 40k.

[Michael T Bradley · Rating 3 out of 5]

This reminded me a lot of King's first Space Wolves book, as far as pacing goes. Kind of. Here it's like, we follow Hool from being a civilian who gets press ganged into the Guard, then a couple of smaller skirmishes, then one of the missions takes up over half the novel. So it's not exactly the same, but it's where my mind went. It's one of the things I love about 40K fiction: if a story doesn't want to follow conventional structure, that's fine. No one cares.

This also made me think of Dawn of War, and the fact that I didn't finish that (and should ...), because we have all sorts of baddies (from the POV of our squad of guardsmen). Somewhere around halfway through the book we find out who's behind everything that's going on on ... Belmos III (? - I think that's the name of the place where most of the action takes place), and suddenly a whole different type of story kicks in. I sort of preferred the story without that faction's presence more, but just a smidge.

Clapham does a good job juggling a bunch of characters, though I'll admit a few did start to blur together for me by the end. But never in a way that made it a confusing read.

A pleasant diversion.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining and keeps you interested til the end with a few twists

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting guardsman novel, I liked the way the character "Hool" ended up becoming similar to someone that he didn't understand initially.

[Ulzeta · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite fun.

[Adrian Dumitru · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked it !

[David Ledeboer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Warhammer 40k Imperial Guard novels are one of my guilty pleasures and Iron Guard by Mark Clapham didn’t disappoint. The novel is structured around the Unbreakable Mordian 114th, and in particular, newly initiated guardsman Fernand Hool along with those closest around him.

For the 114th battle on Elisenda was simple enough: eliminate the rebel never ending and production cannot be stopped. However, simple and routine evolves rapidly when Major Geiss is appointed a strike force and tasked with investigating an unknown situation on the mining planet, Belmos VII. Belmos VII, appearing dead and abandoned upon initial contact is anything but, and the strike force is quickly under duress when day turns to night.

Hool, Sergeant Polk, and Lieutenant Smoker provide your core group, and you couldn’t ask for a more unbreakable trio to cover your backside. The relationship existing between Polk and Hool isn’t anything new to Imperial Guard novels. (At the beginning of the book Polk is the reason for Hool joining the guard, a solid introduction lending Polk a watchdog role.) also I enjoyed the slow-played transition of Hool and his character advancement throughout the novel, especially upon conclusion. He was always a solid shot and stand-up guardsman, now he is both something more and perhaps something less.

Without giving too much away, Major Geiss tries fervently to dig to the bottom of what’s behind the malaise affecting the citizen population on Belmos VII and their “change in demeanor” during the night. Let’s just say it is something of Xenos in origin and most of the 114th strike force won’t live to see it through to the fiery conclusion.

I loved the collage of forces crashing together at the end and especially the raising battle field hidden deep beneath the surface. Clapham did a fantastic job with the introduction of one other main character and I hope to see more of his and the Iron Guard’s interaction in further developed Guard novels, but I’m not holding my breath. I’ll get straight to the point, Iron Guard was a brilliant and excellent introductory novel by Mark Clapham. You can be assured I would be overjoyed at reading a follow-up. But so far most of the Imperial Guard novels have been simple stepping stones for other Black Library author and sadly, those novels have become stand-alone pieces as their authors whisk away to other more vaunted works with “Space Marines” and such. So it is with a heavy hand that I am afraid that I may have turned the final pages on the 114th Iron Guard, Hool, and Smoker, most likely never to read of their exploits again.

[Marius I · Rating 4 out of 5]

Iron Guard is definitely one of the better 40k novels featuring the Imperial Guard. In terms of plot, it is your standard, run of the mill story about a group of soldiers finding themselves in an unknown environment facing and unknown enemy. All the typical cliches are present: the rough and mysterious lieutenant, the taciturn commissar, the fight against a superior enemy, even a deux ex machina appearance of an inquisitor. BUT the thing is, M. Clapham delivers it all superbly. Somehow he manages to take all these overused elements in the 40k universe and deliver a thrilling story that will at times have you at the edge of your seat. He manages to create some likable multidimensional characters (as far as 40k fiction goes at least) and uses plot twists to great effect. The fighting is described in a very natural, accurate style, lacking the over the top descriptions that sometimes get tiresome in other 40k novels. The description of battlefield strategies and tactics is interesting and exciting, without appearing to copy a WWII documentary.

Overall an excellent read, mixing suspense with the gritty action we all expect in 40k in a thoroughly enjoyable novel.

[Michael Alexander · Rating 3 out of 5]

First of all, my copy of this book was missing about 30 pages. It skipped from page 192 to 225. I'm not sure if this is common, or if I just got unlucky.
That out of the way, this was one of the better Imperial Guard books that I've read. The start was rather slow with the Imperial Guard facing off against some rather generic zombie-like enemies. I admit I was rather disappointed at first, there are so many great villains in the Warhammer universe and these were not interesting at all.
The last 100 pages or so of the book change everything, introducing a new character and the real foe that made the book quite a bit more enjoyable.

[Robert McCarroll · Rating 3 out of 5]

While the overall tale was well done, and entertaining enough that the handful of errors were insufficient to make me stop reading. That said, everytime a lasgun recoiled, I did too. It is a pet peeve mistake to have a laser-based weapon generate enough kickback to be felt by the user. This was less of an issue than the desu ex inquisitor who showed up just to allow the author to deliver a pat anti-war diatribe in a book whose universe's tagline ends with "There is only war". This was an out of joint intrusion into the enjoyment of escapist fiction.

Still, those two flaws aside, it managed to be an entertaining yarn regardless.

[Nicolas Quattromani · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a decent book overall. I found the quality of the prose to be somewhat less than impressive, with poor word choice abounding, but at least the plot was riveting and the characters were likeable, if not particularly well-developed. Certainly, it was interesting to see the exploits of the Mordian Iron Guard (my favorite Imperial Guard regiment) as they investigated a mysterious outbreak on a remote mining world. The middle of the book felt fairly slow. However, the ending was actually very well done, my only qualm with it being a minor case of deus ex machina.

[Adeptus Fringilla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent story about the 114th Mordian Guard setting out to rescue a planet and encountering many threats. Well crafted and told and full of epic battles.

[peter eells · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent

A great story encapsulating the Warhammer 40K Multiverse, Mordians, Xenos, Infected, it's all there in an exciting story.
Looking forward to more from this author.

[Dave · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad story and deals with a regiment that sees little attention in the Black Library stories. Sadly i'm not sure it does much to differentiate them much from the other regiments despite quite a bit of effort at the start to go into detail and some back history of the main character you follow. The story attempts to cover a lot of ground incorporating pacification of a rebellious world, "plague", Inquisition and finally Dark Eldar by the 114th Mordian who are seemingly blessed with incredibly bad luck. Unfortunately i found it came across more of trying to get more cool things in than doing the Iron Guard justice. The first two aspects of the story i think would have served the author just as well. The final commentary on the state of the Imperium and thought processes which i found interesting as a result of meeting the DE and Inquisition seemed hurried and somewhat forced. Perhaps if this was the true goal then either dealing with this exclusively or perhaps separating the book into two stories would have been much better. Lastly I feel some additional editing could have been done. Badly constructed sentances or reuse of similar descriptors dropped the quality of writing in a few places and i found it distracting. Overall an interesting story but not something i'd read again.