Ultramarines follows a 12-man squad of Ultramarines as they are sent to respond to a distress call from an Imperial shrine that’s guarded by a different legion of space marine, the Imperial Fists. The squad is predominantly rookie-based and are looking for combat so that they can join the list of veterans in the Ultramarines. Soon some realize there is something wrong about this mission as they start running into the forces of Chaos that surround and, in some cases, infest the Imperial holy ground…

A Thousand Sons brought one of the more interesting legions of the Adeptus Astartes into the light. It also detailed their fall from grace, simply because they wanted to do right by the Emperor by sending a warning regarding Horus’s treasonous plan. It also showed the start of the Space Wolves sacking Prospero, the home planet of the sorcerer-soldier legion.

The book Prospero Burns has a lot to do with the fall of Prospero, as you might gather from the title. This time, though, while developing the Space Wolves legion, there’s a new perspective on the events of revolving around the rivalry between the Space Wolves and Thousand Sons legions.

The release of the first Warhammer 40,000 feature-length straight-to-DVD movie, simply titled Ultramarines, is coming up. To be more precise, the movie’s worldwide release, according to the film’s website, will be November 29, 2010.

This book not only holds the line holds the line set by the rest of Warhammer 40,000 fiction but actually advances it, as the Ghosts are so prone to do on a mission. Read on to find out how and why…

Fans of the Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000 universes have heard about rumors of a Warhammer 40,000 movie for years. Soon, we may have something to look at if plans come to pass.

Now it seems there might be a straight-to-DVD motion-capture film titled Ultramarines.

The first sign of hope was when London-based production company Codex Pictures got the rights to the movie a few years ago. It was further solidified into an eventuality as it acquired Dan Abnett, veteran writer to the Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000 battlefields, as the screenwriter. The company also reported on the movie’s site that Martyn Pick would be the might-be movie’s director.

In a weird way the books came across as more hard hitting than some of the video games that have been released, like Warhammer 40,000: Fire Warrior or early Warhammer 40k PC games.

The action was a lot more hectic. The characters were more realistic. There also happened to be a lot more honesty in the books than in early Warhammer games and Fire Warrior. Through the development of the story you’re witnessing the history that is merely mentioned in the games. You are seeing the heroes and villains of the galactic civil war that grew from Warmaster Horus’s decision to betray the God-Emperor.

Click through for a recap of the Horus Heresy novels…

Title: The Horus Heresy: LegionAuthor: Dan AbnettPublisher: The Black LibraryRelease Date: April 2008Price: $7.99Rating: Two thumbs up, 90/100, A-, **** out of five.Pros: Dan Abnett returns to the series. Character development and description is incredible. Storyline movesCons: Due to the nature of the Legion the book follows, it can get a bit confusing. It also starts off a bit slow.Overall: Dan Abnett has returned and in some ways improved his game for the series. This is something for anyone who enjoys sci-fi.

With the seventh book of The Horus Heresy, Dan Abnett returned to the series. Abnett upped the ante with Legion.

Click through for the full review…

Title: The Horus Heresy: False GodsAuthor: Graham McNeillPublisher: The Black LibraryRelease Date: 2006Price: $7.99Rating: One thumb up and one down, 79/100, C+, ** 1/2 out of five.Pros: Incredible writing, great story, memorable characters are built up more, hard-hitting descriptionCons: Same problem most sequels have. Too much attention to smaller details and it occasionally blocks out the story. Also inconsistently deals with characters.Overall: It’s full of flaws but for a sequel it’s worth the money.

With False Gods, Graham McNeil has written a great second installment to the Horus Heresy series that tries too hard to outshine Dan Abnett’s Horus Rising.

Click through for the full review…

Title: The Horus Heresy: Horus RisingAuthor: Dan AbnettPublisher: The Black LibraryRelease Date: 2006Price: $7.99 (Borders price)Rating: Two thumbs up, 100/100, A+, ***** out of five.Pros: Incredible writing, great story, memorable characters, hard-hitting description with Tolkien-esque attention to detail.Cons: It can be a little hard to follow in terms of the topics brought up. If you don’t understand British English, it will take some time to get used to the writing style.Overall: More than worth the price and avoids the pulpy nature of Science Fiction

The Horus Heresy is a Warhammer 40000 licensed book series that takes place 10,000 years before standard franchise, illustrating the events that lead up to the perpetual war. The series is up to eight books, one of which has been released this month (August 2008) with a ninth to be released in December 2008. Horus Rising, written by Dan Abnett, is the first of eight books that detail the rise and fall of Horus and his faithful legions of genetically engineered Space Marines…