On the jungle world of Monthax, Colonel-Commissar Ibram Gaunt and his Tanith First and Only await the order to advance into the sweltering wilderness and drive the alien eldar from the Imperial planet. As battle approaches, Gaunt walks the lines, raising his men's spirits and rememberin their greatest battles and heroic acts - and the tragedies that have dogged Gaunt's Ghosts from the day of their founding on lost Tanith; The day that Gaunt became known as the Ghostmaker.