Spear of Ultramar

The Horus Heresy

By: David Annandale

Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble

A Horus Heresy Audio Novella

The Iron Warriors desperately try to hold off the Ultramarines before they can reach Terra and potentially turn the tide of the siege. Guilliman sees through the trap but has no choice but to face it head-on and attempt to eliminate his adversaries as quickly as possible – every hour saved could be crucial.

LISTEN TO IT BECAUSE

The full truth of why the Ultramarines failed to reach Terra in time for the siege is revealed. Listen to this novella and discover just how determined the Iron Warriors were to stop the Avenging Son…

THE STORY

The Siege of Terra looms, and the fate of the galaxy balances on a razor's edge. Roboute Guilliman leads the immense fleet of the Ultramarines in a race towards the Throneworld, and such is the power he commands that he could turn the tide of the war in the loyalists' favour. As determined as Guilliman is to reach Terra, Horus is as resolute in delaying his brother primarch until it is too late. Guilliman's path through the Ruinstorm crosses through the Charchera system, and here, Warsmith Khrossus and a lone company of Iron Warriors have been given a fateful mission. At all costs, they must hold back the Ultramarines. Guilliman foresees the coming ambush, but he has no choice but to plunge into it, and so begins a desperate struggle where the passage of every second could mark the difference between survival or extinction for the Imperium.

Written by David Annandale. Narrated by Jonathan Keeble. Runtime 3 hours and 25 minutes approx.

©2025 Games Workshop Limited (P)2025 Games Workshop Limited

Only the 4th's enemies a victory from nothing.

It changes very little if they had destroyed at maximum 2 dozen ships and thousands worth of Ultramarines. It is disappointing that unlikely victories are only afforded to the ones fighting the IVth Legion. I fully appreciate that there was no way for the Iron Warrior's to have done significant delays, only that the damage rhey did was worth.

I am also perfectly fine if there was no delay at all if it costed Gulliman a disproportionate amount of troops to what he faced. But of course, plot armor is only allowed to the Ultramarines, loyalists, and the specific traitors who don't deserve it.

Having your cake and eating it too.

Exceptional performance as always by Keeble, but the plot itself is nonsense. In no way does this book properly answer the question it offers you. How did the Iron Warriors delay Guilliman from reaching Terra? They didn't.

SPOILER BELOW

The battle lasts what, a day? The Ultramarine losses are so negligible as to be inconsequential. Considering that the Iron Warriors are playing for time, this is an especially grievous loss for them, but the author tries to frame it as anything but. The Iron Warriors get to spring their traps and they get to be interesting and clever. Buuuuuut, the Ultramarines get to evade those traps with virtually no cost, and overcome in almost every circumstance practically immediately. This is as close to Ultramarine glazing as I've ever seen in a Horus Heresy story and I pray we don't see it again.

I actually have updated this after a few hours of thinking. By failing in its core premise to show the Ultramarines actually losing time, this book is largely pointless.