Synopsis & Analysis
(because they are inseparable in this case)
Mont'ka is the second release in the Warzone Damocles Campaign. This review concerns the storyline, and not the campaign maps or missions associated with it.
A note about the titles of these books: In Codex Supplement: Farsight Enclaves, Farsight and Shadowsun study together under General Puretide. Shadowsun follows the war doctrine of "patient hunter" or Kauyon. She relies heavily on deception, stealth, and misdirection to lure her opponents into over-extending their lines and falling into her carefully laid traps. Farsight prefers the "killing blow" or Mont'ka doctrine where victory comes from hitting the enemy hard in one decisive and definitive battle thereby destroying his ability and will to fight.
The Imperium has reinforced its forces in the Damocles Crusade on a massive scale. Astra Militarum, Adeptus Sororitas, Imperial Knights, Adeptus Mechanicus, and the Officio Assassinorum have all descended on the Dovar system to purge the alien menace. Shadowsun's forces are vastly outnumbered and on the verge of defeat when thousands of red-clad battlesuits drop from the sky and deliver the killing blow to the attacking Cadian forces. The Cadians are routed, Shadowsun's forces are saved, and Farsight shows his true loyalties to the Tau Empire once again. Aun'Va is not pleased, and the two get into a pissing contest. As it turns out, Farsight's is bigger.After a challenging duel, Darkstrider manages to kill the Vindicare sniper sent for Farsight, and Farsight manages to kill an Eversor in a crazy battle. Shadowsun is seriously wounded by the Callidus assigned to her, but manages to slice her in half with one of her fusion blasters. This bit was all-in-all fairly well written. It was more personal than most of the Kauyon half. And even though it was still written in third person, the drama in the struggle was foreshadowed in such a way that there was tension. That alone made it readable.
This book closes with Agrellan and the surrounding space being dirty-bombed by the Adeptus Mechanicus leaving the new sept world virtually unusable to its new masters. The massive build-up of Imperium forces is now in full retreat, the Cadian foot-sloggers are mostly left to die as the Imperial Fleet departs, and the Tau are left with a hollow victory. We all knew from previous Codex fluff that the Imperium retreated from the Damocles Crusade to deal with a greater threat (nids at 6:00) but I have always wondered why the Imperium never came back to retake these lost worlds once that greater threat had been dealt with.
This dirty-bomb twist (that was never mentioned before) explains it in a convoluted way, after all, why would the Imperium want this system now? Mystery solved, and that is what an expanded story should do, resolve a few unanswered questions, and create a few more. Questions like, which leader is going to die?
It was leaked in a comment/rumor on Faeit 212 that one of the Tau leaders would not survive the Damocles war. As there were only three there, Farsight, Shadowsun, and Aun'Va, my bet was that space pope would get the rope. After all, Shadowsun and Farsight are virtually irreplaceable in both the storyline and in the game. I have NEVER seen anyone use Aun'Va. Like many Tau enthusiasts I have the model, but will likely never use him for anything other than the centerpiece of my Ethereals shelf in my display cabinet.
All the web-trolls bet against and blasted Shadowsun calling her Mary Sue, and blah blah blah. She was their favorite to die because they're just haters devoid of rational thought. And they are typically wrong, and I wanted them to know it. We knew that Aun'Va would be the one, and I posted that along with my reasons. But it didn't matter. Trolls are incapable of reason. I was correct.
At any rate, Aun'Va is dead. This fact is concealed and a look-alike is installed to give a report back to the Tau homeworlds -for the Greater Good. Maybe this is why they call him the Master of the Undying Spirit... This is where I think the story actually shines. All along we get the whole culture plot that the Tau are communal, kinda Marxist in their ideology, open to other races serving in their military so long as they drink the blue kool-aid and are basically willing to give all for the greater good -like the Tau. This calls up images of Soviet Russia or North Korea.
Many western observers speculated that Kim Jong Il had died several months before his actual demise, and that the North Korean central military power had used a look-alike to shore up public support through a crisis with the South until he could "officially die" and be replaced at a more convenient time.
The great leader croaking while in conflict with their southern neighbor whould have made the regime look weak, and that simply would not do. The Tau seem to do the same thing.
Aun'Vas death in the war with the Imperium might have caused the rank and file to question the validity and high price of the war. So like the communist dictatorship they seem to be modeled after, the Tau covered up his death.
And I loved it.
The book closes with Farsight returning to the Enclaves before he is arrested and put on trial. Shadowsun, "Aun'Va,"and the remaining Tau forces in the region are trying to figure out how to return home. And Space Pope's model is still available in the GW webstore. All is right again in the Empire.
This one I give a 10. Not because it was necessarily more readable than the first book, but because it made a significant contribution to Tau fluff. It filled many unanswered holes in their story, and opened several new ones. It also left open the door to another campaign between Farsight's Tau and the Tyranids.
I play Tau.