The Battle for Hive Markgraaf

Black Library Advent Calendar 2017 #15

by Justin D. Hill

A Warhammer 40,000 story

Survivors of a dead world, the troopers of the Cadian 101st regiment defend Hive Markgraaf, bringing death to traitors in the name of the planet they lost.

THE STORY
The Cadian 101st regiment wage war in the depths of Hive Markgraaf. Trooper Minka, wracked by doubts and fears about the future of her regiment and her people, grits her teeth and gets on with the job of defeating the heretics who haunt the hive city. Mounting a dangerous assault into the darkest reaches of the ancient structure, they prepare to defend the planet in its darkest hour – as they failed to do with Cadia.

Genres: Short Stories, Science Fiction

24 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 15, 2017

About the author

Justin is a long-time Astra Militarum player with a trophy cabinet of painting and gaming awards. He now leads his Imperial Fists into the hell of the Horus Heresy.

Reviews

[Michael Dodd · Rating 3 out of 5]

A tale of the Cadian 101st, what’s left of them at least, this picks up after the events of Cadia Stands, so beware a few spoilers. Called in to help retake an embattled hive from the heretics besieging its heights, the Cadians make an unorthodox insertion but soon find themselves ground down by waves of devolved enemies.

Similarly to Cadia Stands this does a great job of demonstrating why Cadians are renowned as the best of the best. There’s a lot to like here, but it ends on a strange note, a sort-of cliffhanger that feels like we’ve reached the midway point of the story and just stopped. It’s good…but where’s the rest?

Read the full review at https://www.trackofwords.com/2017/12/...

[Heather Cawte · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m very new to Warhammer 40K, but I’m finding myself gripped by the Justin D Hill stories. This is the first story I’ve read about Minka Lesk - I know it follows on from a novel, but I can live with spoilers!

So much gets packed into this story, and I found myself actually holding my breath at one point. I need to know what happens next....

[Benjamin Ho · Rating 3 out of 5]

Where’s the rest of it?!

So much solid exposition, great details about the characters dynamic relationships, the disgusting things (trying not to spoil it) gnawing at the Guardsmen, even the setting was phenomenally written. AND YOU END IT ON A CLIFFHANGER LIKE THAT? Gotta say I’m pretty disappointed :/

[Andrew Alvis · Rating 4 out of 5]

A decent grimdark story set after the fall of Cadia. The last act ramped things up a bit so I was interested to see where they led to, however they ended quite abruptly so I'll be curious to see where it leads to.

[Urgewyrm · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful tale of Cadians diving into a sewer to fight heretics. It's evocative, gross and in true 40k fashion, completely grim with that slight bit of personal hope so it's not entirely bleak.

[T R Alexander · Rating 4 out of 5]

This short story is part of the Minka Lesk series and sees the Cadian Trooper and her regiment attempt to infiltrate the titular Hive City. I haven’t read any of the other stories or novels that star Minka, so I cannot say where it fits within the series, but after reading this I am defiantly going to read them at some point as she seems like an interesting character. As for the story itself, I found it very enjoyable. Minka seems like a good character and the action was very entertaining. The story also does a nice job at conveying the terror that regular Guardsmen would feel when facing a Chaos Space Marine in battle. Overall this was a very good story.