Gaunt is a blend of political and military, a colonel of a regiment, but also a Commisar, a political officer whose job is to ensure loyalty to the undying God-Emperor who sits at the centre of humanity’s empire in this grim-dark future. Every settled planet in the Imperium of Man is subject to the Imperial tithe: as many able-bodied men as that planet can provide to feed the meat grinder of The Emperor's wars. And the way he walks around, capturing the essence of the Tanith first-and-only, makes all 'Necropolis' worth reading. The answer is, the average Ork Boy is the height of a man (though they stoop), but they can range from about 5 foot to about 30 feet (the Ork warlord known as The Beast of Beasts). The first is Double Eagle, focusing on the Phantine Air Corps introduced in The Guns of Tanith and set in the same immediate timeframe as Sabbat Martyr.

This omnibus edition of the second sequence of Gaunt's Ghosts novels follows the story of the Tanith First-and-Only regiment (nicknamed the Ghosts) and their charismatic commissar, Ibram Gaunt.There are 3 novels (and 3 independent short stories) here - and like I would do for anything else, I put it away on my shelf for a while in-between each novel and read something totally different. However, the machine was corrupted by Chaos and Commissar Gaunt destroyed it, despite the psychic puppetry of the Inquisitor, who died after his "instrument" – Imperial Agent Fereyd, the man into whom Heldane had extended his consciousness – was explosively killed.

The beginning of each chapter opens with an extract from Commissar Viktor Hark's field journal, which is written in a font which resembles handwriting. The protagonist is Colonel-Commissar Ibram Gaunt, one of the few political commissars of the Imperium to be officially awarded command of a regiment.

Van Voytz and Count Golke – the Alliance/Imperial liaison – negotiate with Alliance Command and agree to a compromise: one half of the Tanith First is sent to the northern Montorq forests to scout the area, while the other is redeployed to the Seiberq Pocket – the most dangerous section of the war zone – where they are tasked with infiltrating the Shadik lines and destroying the enemy's newly developed siege guns. His Last Command introduces troopers from the 81st Belladon, several of whom become key characters in the series. Ghostmaker is a collection of short stories originally printed in the short fiction magazine Inferno!

But these stories (and going on to educate myself with endless in-depth, 90 minute lore videos on Youtube) really impressed upon me the dark, hopeless, terrifying tragedy of it all. With countless fanatical soldiers and foul warp-beings standing between the rescue team and their target, Gaunt and his men must not only fight for their lives, but also resist the corruption of Chaos that threatens to overwhelm them. But we also see humanity and camaraderie, we see how groups can learn and benefit from each other under the right people. They learn that Ferrozoica, whom Vervunhive had fought in the Trade War ninety years before, had silenced communications with its neighbours in recent months and began arming. Ibram Gaunt is a deeply developed character, and at any time, a dozen or so Ghosts are major characters.

Only 1200 copies were printed for the release date in September 2008, but it has since been included in the Sabbat Worlds anthology, a background book of short stories, edited by Dan Abnett.

Now, their leader Ibram Gaunt must evade the treacherous scheming of rival regiments and the lethal firepower of the enemy if he is to win through and lead his Ghosts to victory. To a point that the battle and the reason for it are quite secoundary facing the history of these brave soldiers and how they came to be.In the Chaos-infested Sabbat Worlds, the massed ranks of the Imperial Guard stand shoulder to shoulder as they counter an invasion by heretical forces.