The Battle of Blackthunder Mesa

Black Library Advent Calendar 2018 #15

by Phil Kelly

Advent Calendar 2018: Day Fifteen

Defending a T'au Empire training facility from a column of Imperial tanks, Commander Bravestorm may have to turn to new technologies and a new way of war to claim victory.

READ IT BECAUSE

It's the origin of a hero – and an infamous technology used by the Farsight Enclaves, in a tie-in to Phil Kelly's Commander Farsight series.

THE STORY

On the T'au Empire sept world of Dal'yth, the warriors of the Fire Caste fight a losing battle against the human Imperium. With the gue'la, as the t'au call them, willing to throw seemingly endless manpower into the meatgrinder of war, the Greater Good has no solution. But Commander Farsight might… In the training facility of Dal'ryu, an experimental weapon heralds a new way of war, championed by Farsight – and with a force of Imperial tanks closing on the facility, Commander Bravestorm may just have to use this ""Onager Gauntlet"" if he is to claim victory.

Genres: Science Fiction, 40k, Short Stories, Military Science Fiction, Fiction

30 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 15, 2018

About the author

Phil Kelly (born 1977) is the Creative Lead for 'Warhammer: Age of Sigmar' in the Games Workshop design studio.

He has written over 60 gaming books in the last twenty years.

He has also written several Warhammer 40,000, Age of Sigmar and Warhammer Horror books and audio dramas for Black Library.



Librarian Note: there is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Michael Dodd · Rating 4 out of 5]

On the embattled world of Dal’yth Prime, the T’au forces are being pushed back by endless numbers of Imperial tanks, but Commander Bravestorm is determined to strike a telling blow before withdrawing. With a new weapon at his disposal – the Onager Gauntlet – he has a tool to do just that, but its use seems to go against the T’au’s very ethos.

It definitely benefits from a bit of background knowledge to the T'au, with which it opens up into an interesting (albeit relatively brief) exploration of how the Fire Caste think, and the differences between the T'au and Imperial ways of war. It’s probably not for everyone, but existing T’au fans should find plenty of interest here.

Read the full review at https://www.trackofwords.com/2018/12/...

[Urgewyrm · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this story. I can't tell you why, exactly, without ruining the whole bit. It's simply a great story about how the T'au are guilty of everything they accuse the other species of being. At the same time, they have no idea of how to actually survive in the really real world of 40k.

Hint : It's not by trying to be like the Imperium. Play to your strengths. Yes, they were in a bad situation but the second things go sideways, you can see where the plan was utterly doomed from the jump....because they didn't understand who they were fighting, how they fight and how to fight like them.

I'm saying to much. Go read the story. It's worth it.

[Vigneswara Prabhu · Rating 3 out of 5]

This whole short story can be summarized as 'As per the Imperium, friendly fire is not even a thing'. Which a bunch of naive tau commanders learn, the hard way, by being on the other side of a warlord titan. Which, if you ask anyone familiar with the setting, is not a good thing.

There is not much of a story here, rather a snippet, a couple of scenes from an ongoing, losing battle. That's it.

[Dawie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This short could have been been included in the Blades of Damocles novel seeing as it shifted between the Tau and Ultramarines perspective sp often. The short shows us that the Imperium have no trouble with friendly fire if it means they take out the enemy as well. Bravestorm of the Tau experiences this first hand and his story continues in Blades of Damocles along with Farsight amd Shadowsun.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read as part of Advent Calendar 2018.

[Станислав · Rating 3 out of 5]

Вообще непонятно что Тау могут против титана.

[Benjamin Ho · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bravestorm becomes the very thing he…dreads

Title says it all. Great short read and I can’t wait to pick up the next Tau tale. For the Greater Good!

[T R Alexander · Rating 3 out of 5]

This short story is essentially the origin story for Commander Bravestorm, one of the eight heroes of the Farsight Enclaves. Taking place during the Damocles Gulf Crusade, the plot of the story shouldn’t be much of a surprise for anyone with knowledge of the character (Bravestorm and his team field test the onager gauntlets only to get caught in an Imperial counter attack) but it is told very well with some nice action scenes and some great characterisation for the various members of Bravestorm’s team that makes them some of the most likable T’au that I have read about.

The version of the short story I read also included a preview of the novel Farsight: Crisis of Faith, which seemed quite interesting.