So I got my hands on Crucible of Retribution. I'm not sure what to say, but...well, there wasn't much. They did have some new awesome Titan Legions and Knight Houses in the book. I was particularly taken in by House Moritain, because they have such awesome lore. I mean, scholar-Knights! That's pretty much the same as my Thousand Sons! I also like their Seneschal Traits, which were pretty awesome even if they are a little suitational. No matter, I'll try them out here and there. My Imperial Knights are pretty much samurai Knights, heh, so we'll do the whole Zen and Bushido culture in Imperial Knights, and I think House Moritain's lore captures that perfectly too. Well, when I have the chance, I'll try them out. I'm still waiting for the Knight Styrix, so that I can add a banner of them to my Knight Lance. I haven't given up on playing a Knight Household Army, which I will support with a single Titan reinforcement.
The Legio Trait and Legio Specific Wargear of Legio Ignatum (Fire Wasps) appeal to me too. I'm considering using those instead of making my own Titan Legion Traits from Defense of Ryza, but we'll see. Legio Draconis (Dark Dragons) might be better off having their own individuality, but I can't really think of any of the Legio Traits in Defense of Ryza that appeals to me, other than Elite Magos. We'll see, I guess. I also like Legio Damicium, their Legio Trait and refusal to bow against all odds are awesome. Also helps that they are from Urdesh. I know Urdesh was reconquered by the Imperium and is now a Loyalist world, but did they ever rebuild Legio Damicium? It'll be sad if the Unbroken Lords remain forever broken. Legio Tempestus (Storm Lords) was rebuilt and is now a Loyalist Titan Legion (see Dan Abnett's Titanicus for more details - they relocated to Orestes after the Horus Heresy and took part in the Sabbat Worlds Crusade). But...man, I didn't think Urdesh fell to Chaos during the Heresy.
Speaking of which, the story of Crucible of Retribution chronicles the war in the Belt of Iron. So on one side, you have the Loyalist Forge World: Atar-Median - the homeworld of Legio Atarus (Firebrands), Graia - the homeworld of Legio Astraman (Morning Stars) and Arachnus - the homeworld of Legio Venator (Iron Spiders). Well...Arachnus fell to anarchy and broke away as a Blackshield after a calamitous civil war, but we'll get into that later. Reinforcing them is Legio Ignatum (Fire Wasps), one of the Triad Ferrum Morgulus of Mars. Standing against them are the three Traitor Forge Worlds: Valia-Maximal - the homeworld of Legio Laniaskara (Impalers), Kalibrax - the homeworld of Legio Kulisaetai (Gatekeepers), and Urdesh - the homeworld of Legio Damicium (Unbroken Lords). Eventually, Arachnus will betray the Imperium and become a Blackshield world, and the traitor elements of Legio Venator rename themselves to Legio Tritonis (Dark Tide). There is also the Protectorate of Unsubdued Steel, a Blackshield faction, though I have no idea what happened to them eventually.
When the Horus Heresy struck, there was a Cold War of sorts, only for it to erupt into open war when a fleet of Iron Warriors warped in to help Legio Kulisaetai and the Mechanicum Taghmata forces of Kalibrax to conquer Atar-Median. Obviously they weren't going to take that lying down, so they launched a preemptive strike before Kalibrax and their Iron Warrior allies could finish their preparations, securing a swift victory.
Unfortunately, the three traitor Forge Worlds wouldn't just sit back and watch. They launched an invasion and basically conquered five out of seven systems in the Belt of Iron, thus triggering the Cataclysm of Iron. Needless to say, Atar-Median and Graia, along with the Loyalist elements of Legio Venator, fought back and reconquered the systems, driving the Traitors out. The Traitors refused to go down without a fight and resorted to scorched earth tactics, often nuking or virus-bombing the holdings they were driven out of, turning entire planets into radioactive or toxic wastelands. Ugh. That sucks.
In any event, Valia-Maximal, bearing a grudge against Graia, sought to conquer Graia and its empire. Meanwhile, the remnants of Legio Venator, assisted by Legio Atarus and the forces of Atar-Median returned to take back Arachnus and its moons from the Blackshield traitors who prematurely declared their independence. Before that, they joined up with Legio Ignatum to bring Urdesh to heel and ended up annihilating Legio Damicium, breaking the Unbroken Lords. While recapturing Arachnus and subjugating Urdesh, Graia was somewhat forced to fend for itself, but they managed to fight back and attempted to conquer a line of bastion planets standing between them and Valia-Maximal. They failed most of their attempts, only succeeding once. As for Kalibrax, the oppressed had enough, and insurgents revolted, throwing a massive fleet that overwhelmed their orbital defenses and even allowed them to capture the orbital defence platforms. Without Titan Legions to support them, they contented themselves with blockading Kalibrax and awaiting reinforcemens, which would eventually come during the Great Scouring. As for Graia, they suddenly found their route of conquest opened up when the Traitor forces mysteriously disappeared. Invading the line of planets all the way until Valia-Maximal, they found that the Traitors were all...gone. Weird. No one knows what happened to them.
Oh, and there's Jerulas Station, which nobody knows what happened to it either. It got invaded by either a Blackshield force or xenos, for when Urdesh sent a research team down to investigate, two-thirds of their fleet got blown up. Ouch.
So it ends in an Imperium victory, but as always, it's a pyrrhic one. Because grimdark. At this point, it's hard to take the whole grimdark, pyrrhic victories seriously because that's all that happens. It's becoming pretty predictable and grinding at this rate. But okay. Still several mysteries and loose ends that never got tied up, like what happened to Valia-Maximal? Where did they all disappear to? What about the Protectorate of Unsubdued Steel? Did they get reconquered by the Imperium? And who's ruling over Jerulas Station right now? Lots of questions, no answers. Oh, well. I guess we'll find out in the 41st Millennium.
For now, I'll just await my banner of Knight Stryrix...and eventually Knight Atrapos. Speaking of which, House Col'Khak is pretty cool too, being founded on Atar-Planitia, sort of a sister world to Atar-Median. So they are subordinated to Legio Atarus and the Forge World of Atar-Median (seconded to the Mechanicum Taghmata forces there). Cool!
Speaking of which, is there really a difference between Skitarii and the Taghmata Omnissiah? I'm starting to think Taghmata is an umbrella term that basically emcompasses the Skitarii as well...like, why on Holy Terra/Mars would they separate the Skitarii from the Taghmata? That makes no sense. Even the Legio Cybernetica is part of the Taghmata. Do we still use Taghmata for the 41st Millennium, or do we just call them Adeptus Mechanicus Battle Congregations and Maniples? Ugh. As much as I love the rich lore of both the Horus Heresy and Warhammer 40,000 proper (as in properly in the 41st Millennium), sometimes they make things overly complicated.
...anyway, I'll go play with my Knights now. I think.
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