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Deathwatch: Ignition #1-11
Deathwatch: Ignition
Tales of eleven heroes of the Deathwatch, collected together as they are gathered to form the kill-team that will face monstrous aliens in a brand new mission.
As Chaplain Ortan Cassius becomes entangled in the insidious Ghosar Enigma, he turns to the legends of the Deathwatch to find the most worthy of his brethren. The Space Marines that will go on to form Kill Team Cassius have faced diverse and deadly challenges at every turn – each has his own story, each harbours his own resentment of the foe, and each has his own method of ensuring its ultimate destruction.
These eleven short stories have previously been available digitally as separate products:
One Bullet by Ben Counter
Bad Blood by Steve Lyons
Flesh of the Angel by Ben Counter
Redblade by Robbie MacNiven
Deadhenge by Justin D. Hill
First to Hunt by Chris Dows
City of Ruin by Ian St Martin
The Silence by Steve Lyons
The Walker in Fire by Peter Fehervari
The Known Unknown by Mark Clapham
Cepheus by Braden Campbell
As Chaplain Ortan Cassius becomes entangled in the insidious Ghosar Enigma, he turns to the legends of the Deathwatch to find the most worthy of his brethren. The Space Marines that will go on to form Kill Team Cassius have faced diverse and deadly challenges at every turn – each has his own story, each harbours his own resentment of the foe, and each has his own method of ensuring its ultimate destruction.
These eleven short stories have previously been available digitally as separate products:
One Bullet by Ben Counter
Bad Blood by Steve Lyons
Flesh of the Angel by Ben Counter
Redblade by Robbie MacNiven
Deadhenge by Justin D. Hill
First to Hunt by Chris Dows
City of Ruin by Ian St Martin
The Silence by Steve Lyons
The Walker in Fire by Peter Fehervari
The Known Unknown by Mark Clapham
Cepheus by Braden Campbell
432 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 27, 2016
About the author
Ben Counter
170 books221 followersBen Counter, as well as making several contributions to Inferno magazine, has written the Soul Drinkers and Grey Knights series and two Horus Heresy novels for the Black Library. He is an ancient history graduate and avid miniature painter with a bronze demon under his belt.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
October 24, 2017
My initial troubled impressions gave way to a very enjoyable second half that was worth the price of admission.
Deathwatch Ignition was one of those books I stopped reading for several months due to a lackluster opening. However, I am happy to report that the better short stories appeared to mostly be in the latter half of the book which made this book a worth while read in the end.
Ignition is a collection of 11 short stories with each story featuring a new Space Marine character that tends to be either an origin or a coming of age style story.
Highlights include:
-First to Hunt by Chris Dows, an excellent White Scar tale that is both fun and thrilling.
-The Silence by Steve Lyons, an excellent (Maybe even one of the best) Raven Guard stealth adventure story that really highlights proper stealth tactics beyond the author saying "He moved quietly despite his massive bulk."
-The Known Unknown by Mark Clapham, an interesting Blood Raven tale with twists and turns aboard an abandoned and sinister space vessel.
-The Walk in Fire by Peter Fehervari, a dark story of a brooding Astarte of the Salamander's chapter as he adventures into a seemingly abandoned city.
Honorable mentions go to: City of Ruin, Flesh of the Angel & Cepheus; with the latter sadly ending on a cliff hanger that I dont think that we will ever get a proper conclusion for...
Sadly for me at least, I found the stories that I have omitted from my above list to be uncompelling, though that may be just my personal taste, maybe you (Yes you!) will have to read them for yourself to see if you disagree; as I think the rest of this book is worth your time, as a few of the above stories by themselves are FANTASTIC!!!
A 4 out of 5.
Deathwatch Ignition was one of those books I stopped reading for several months due to a lackluster opening. However, I am happy to report that the better short stories appeared to mostly be in the latter half of the book which made this book a worth while read in the end.
Ignition is a collection of 11 short stories with each story featuring a new Space Marine character that tends to be either an origin or a coming of age style story.
Highlights include:
-First to Hunt by Chris Dows, an excellent White Scar tale that is both fun and thrilling.
-The Silence by Steve Lyons, an excellent (Maybe even one of the best) Raven Guard stealth adventure story that really highlights proper stealth tactics beyond the author saying "He moved quietly despite his massive bulk."
-The Known Unknown by Mark Clapham, an interesting Blood Raven tale with twists and turns aboard an abandoned and sinister space vessel.
-The Walk in Fire by Peter Fehervari, a dark story of a brooding Astarte of the Salamander's chapter as he adventures into a seemingly abandoned city.
Honorable mentions go to: City of Ruin, Flesh of the Angel & Cepheus; with the latter sadly ending on a cliff hanger that I dont think that we will ever get a proper conclusion for...
Sadly for me at least, I found the stories that I have omitted from my above list to be uncompelling, though that may be just my personal taste, maybe you (Yes you!) will have to read them for yourself to see if you disagree; as I think the rest of this book is worth your time, as a few of the above stories by themselves are FANTASTIC!!!
A 4 out of 5.
April 11, 2018
Short story collection of Chaplain Cassius and the members of his Death Watch Kill Team. Good xenos burning background tales, I can not wait to read some full novels. Check it out.
May 9, 2025
This collection of short stories has quite a slow start and can be somewhat samey as you go through essentially a selection of character introductions. That said, it picks up from about a third of the way through and does have some interesting elements. The last story in particular has enough mystery and intrigue to leave you wanting more and lifts this from 3 stars to 4.
June 10, 2019
Nice collection of Deathwatch short stories.
March 26, 2020
I really enjoyed this collection of Deathwatch short stories. If you like 40k books you will like this one more than likely.
May 25, 2016
Perhaps nothing extraordinary but a collection of stories that fit together better then anticipated and what a way to make you want to buy a boardgame.
However a few remarks. First of all even though the variety in settings and plot was fun to read, it still does come down to orcs, eldar and genestealers. I would have loved some necrons or why not even some of the more obscure xenos in the 40k lore such as the Rak'Gol or the Slaugth? Second I do like the selection of characters but do we really need two ultramarines and a bloodraven? I get that the Bloodravens are popular and well known but I can't shake the feeling he is a bit out of place among all these first founding chapters nor do I see the need to include two ultramarines if either of these had been a blackwing (a deadwatch space marine who has abandoned his potentially renegade or traitor chapter) that would have made this an even better selection of what the deadwatch is all about.
Either way a nice collectors item and it made me interested in the boardgame. So give it a go
However a few remarks. First of all even though the variety in settings and plot was fun to read, it still does come down to orcs, eldar and genestealers. I would have loved some necrons or why not even some of the more obscure xenos in the 40k lore such as the Rak'Gol or the Slaugth? Second I do like the selection of characters but do we really need two ultramarines and a bloodraven? I get that the Bloodravens are popular and well known but I can't shake the feeling he is a bit out of place among all these first founding chapters nor do I see the need to include two ultramarines if either of these had been a blackwing (a deadwatch space marine who has abandoned his potentially renegade or traitor chapter) that would have made this an even better selection of what the deadwatch is all about.
Either way a nice collectors item and it made me interested in the boardgame. So give it a go
May 23, 2017
An excellent short story collection.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews