My signed copy of the Imperial Armour IV: The Seige of Vraks arrived in the mail today, completing my set of these books.

It comes with an attractive box to hold the set, and I have already packed the two older books away into it. I have temporarily put down my other modelling projects to read it. I do enjoy this series, but as an amature student in history, I do find the descriptions of the tactics of the Death korps mildly upsetting. As siege-masters go they are a bit rubbish. In 11 years of conflict on Vraks they continue with the early WWI tactics of massed infantry assaults in light order drill against a well dug in fixed positions with modern rapid fire weaponry.
Why are they not using the tactics of late war WWI German or British formations, using infiltration tactics; small heavily armed units trained for independent thought and movement, supported by sharp heavy bombardments or box barrages? The German Operation Michael and the British 100 Days offensive which ended the war were so successful in their own rights, not because of exhaustion nor the part of one side or the other, nor because of new wonder weapons, but because of changes in the tactics employed.
The Men of Krieg appear doomed to repeat the mistakes of the first years of the 1914-18 war, clinging to outmoded doctrines of Napoleonic Heavy infantry tactics in the face of all evidence to the contrary. Seige Masters my A$$.

Still an entertaining book and a must buy for any aspiring Gene-Master of Krieg. Its comes with some interesting army lists. The one I may try is the Nurgle incursion. I have always liked the imagery of the shambling horde of the dead, supported by a few Nurgle Space Marines, and perhaps the occasional demon engine. I built 90 odd zombies some years ago but never really had a functioning list to use them with. With blight drones and Plague Ogryns in the mix all that has changed!