The Mailed Fist lore

Welcome, everyone! We're back to Sir Tanaka's lore lessons on the Horus Heresy. Yes, I may be a pilot in the Questoris Familia, but that doesn't mean we can't explore the history and vehicles of the Legiones Astartes! I mean, I already cover the history, vehicles and automata of the Imperialis Auxilia and Mechanicum, so it's not too much of a stretch! And besides, I love super-heavy vehicles!

That's what we're covering today. The latest Journal Tactica, the Mailed Fist: Legiones Astartes Super-heavy Tanks. So let's dive in!

So basically, we begin with the introduction of Standard Template Constructs and how vital these were to supplying the burgeoning Imperial Army and Legiones Astartes with weapons and vehicles. Of these, the ubiquitous Baneblade and Malcador tanks manufactured from these STCs were first used by Legion warriors, who tried crewing them but found them lacking in flexibility and effectiveness.

The Emperor turned to Archmagos Agrinoss Krown, a senior magos within the Macrotek order, who belonged to the Forge World of Phaeton. They became head of a conclave of Magi from across the Imperium to develop new advanced super-heavy tanks for the Legiones Astartes, using the highest quality systems, weapons, materials and techniques. Four other Forge Worlds joined in, and they eventually came up with three different prototypes. The Fabricator General chose one of the prototypes, which eventually became the Fellblade Super-heavy Battle Tank.

Based on the Baneblade STC, the Fellblade's armor was constructed with reinforced metalplas alloy, which was half the thickness of the Baneblade's plating, but similarly resilient while reducing the overall weight. The Fellblade is powered by an atomantic arc-reactor, an advanced generator used by the Legiones Astartes (you'll remember that the Contemptor Dreadnought uses this).

Obviously, the secrets of the atomantic reactor's construction and maintenance are closely guarded secrets of the Mechanicum, which explains why we don't see many of them in the 41st Millennium. Speaking of closely guarded secrets, Krown's eventual allegiance remains unknown. Apparently, what they did during the Horus Heresy, after inventing the Fellblade and Glaive, wasn't recorded, and Krown was lost to history. Oh, well.

The Fellblade's twin accelerator cannnon is developed from technology originating from the Forge World of Tigrus, the accelerator weaponry using a vacuum-based system reliant on an overpressure mechanism to propel heavy shells. This allowed for significantly smaller propellant charges, so more of the shell is composed of the primary payload. It's also very stable and extremely accurate. The complex munitions loading mechanism allowed for rapid shell selection, switching between high explosives and armor penetrative rounds instantly. Apparently, the twin barrels can also fire independently and alternately, which increases rate of fire, or simultaneously for more firepower.

The Glaive was another of the prototypes created as part of the Fellblade project - probably one of the prototypes above, but was initially rejected because its volkite weaponry required signficant maintenance, too large and unwieldy, as well as too difficult to repair. However, the Salamanders, Iron Warriors, Dark Angels and several other Legions were interested in a variant vehicle to the Fellblade that specialized in anti-infantry (hence the full name, Glaive Super-heavy Special Weapons Tank). So Magos Arginoss Krown got to work once more and modified the existing Fellblade they created.

Using the same metalplas alloy armor as the Fellblade, he ditched the demolisher cannon, instead giving the space originally set aside for solid-shot ammunition to emergency capacitors and additional cooling systems. The upper cupola hatches for the commander and gunner were removed because of the dangerously high levels of radiation and heat levels found above the turret, and instead, the sponson and prow gunner gets his own cupola forward in the hull. His commander and fellow primary gunner, however, have to rely solely on external targeting cameras and scopes for target acquisition.

The volkite carronade's design originated on Mars during the Age of Strife, but its replication required an astronomical expenditure of resources, such as materials in high demand. The volkite carronade works by building energy charge within large capacitators situated at the rear of the turret before unleashing this energty as a direct beam. The gunnery crew can traverse the turret, elevate or depress the weapon barrel, allowing them to sweep through whole ranks of enemy troops, though this will result in a longer recharge cycle and more maintenance. Yikes.

In addition to deflagration, volkite carronades can even incinerate power armor, lighter vehicles and speeder units. The Glaive was deployed first against the apex xenos codified as the Catachi Diabolum, then fielded in large numbers against Ork empires (I suspect Ullanor is one great example).

The Falchion Super-heavy Tank Destroyer, in contrast to the Fellblade and Glaive, is based on the Shadowsword instead of the Baneblade. Apparently, the earliest Falchions use the same volcano cannons as Shadowswords, so you can still use your old conversions if you want. However, with a new plastic model inbound, the Falchions are now armed with a neutron-wave cannon, thanks to the discovery of its STC later during the Great Crusade.

With complexity of the volcano cannon and the rarity of materials required to maintain it (though that never seemed to be a problem for the Imperial Army, who can field entire squadrons of Shadowswords in sufficient numbers to threaten Titan Legions), the Legiones Asrtartes diteched the good old volcano cannon with the neutron-wave cannon. Like the Shadowsword, the Valdor and the Sicaran Venator, they ditched the turret and placed the immense neutron-wave cannon and its capacitors low in the hull. This made him more stable.

Made of the same metaplas alloy armor plating used for the Fellblade, this made Falchions lighter and more mobile, and more maneuverable. Like the Glaive, the sponson gunner has a cupola upfront, but unlike the Glaive, the commander's cupola remains, though they end up being subject to the venting of excess energy from the tank's primary weapon, which has a lot of heat and radiation. The Iron Warriors and Iron Hands didn't care, though. Typical.

The neutron-wave cannon has two vast capacitors at the base of twin barrels, and it fires alternating pulses of neutrons through twin beams, bombarding the target with disrupting energy and ceeating electro-magnetic shock pulses to disable electrical systems if the target survives. It's also devastating against biological targets like Hierophants and other Bio-Titans. The drawback, of course, is the feedback shock of exotic radiation, which resulted in crews having notably reduced lifespans and regular augmetic reconstruction.

They also talk about the ubiquitous Rhino chassis and its flexibility, the Rhino STC having been developed independently during the dark millennia of Old Night, but used to mount lots of armaments and leading to plenty of prototypes. The Whirlwind is one such prototype, created by the Salamanders at Taral III, which we'll see below. Anyway, passenger seating is replaced with ammunition storage and gunnery station, and the original STC being used as a base made it easy to maintain.

The Whirlwind missile launcher can hold up to 8 missiles, each capable of being fitted with a variety of warheads, such as high-explosive and incendiary, but also including missiles with graviton field generators, phosphex, chemical or viral payloads. The Death Guard, especially, love the latter...or shall we say, such payloads went viral with the Death Guard?

There's also a cute detail that mentions how reloading is generally conducted by the gunner or dedicated servitor, but the Whirlwind missile launcher requires the crew to disembark from the vehicle to manually load missiles into launch tubes, which can be very trisky during battle. The Iron warriors and Night Lords don't care and used the gunnery role within Whirlwind squadrons as punishment details. Typical.

Oh, and the Whirlwind also has a complex targeting and guidance system, collating data provided by external reconnaissance sources, orbital scans or the driver's helm-feed.

Now, the actual battles.

The First Battle of Paramar V

The Alpha Legion attacked Paramar V, which is defended by the Loyalist Iron Warriors of the 77th Grand Battalion. Instead of waiting for a siege, the Loyalist Iron Warriors dispatched the Khalekaorus, an armored company of renown in the IVth Legion. Warsmith Kyr Vhalen asked the Khalekaorus to take advantage of the situation, when Legio Gryphonicus was distracting Legio Fureans, to attack the Traitor Mechanicum command and control stations of the Taghmata Satarael. The commander of the Khalekaorus is Decurion Arn Vorsk, who has his own Falchion. Cool.

Long story short (go buy the Journal Tactica if you want to read the full story), the Iron Warriors plus automata demi-cohort from Legio Gryphonicus ambushed an Alpha Legion armored squadrons, destroyed most of them and forced them to withdraw. Once the Alpha Legion retreated, the Iron Warriors made for Taghmata Satarael, who was defended by their supporting Knights of House Perdaxia and House Rajha, as well as battle-automata, Thallaxii and Autokratorii.

The Iron Warriors and their Legio Gryphonicus Automata allies are able to destroy much of Taghmata Satarael. For some reason, Inar Satarael decides to send his Knights forward, asking them to continue to siege the fortress where the rest of the Loyalist Iron Warriors were - the rest of the 77th Grand Battalion, I mean. So if you're wondering why most of the Taghmata Satarael was destroyed and what happened to the Knights, yeah...that's what happened. Anyway, the volkite beams from the Khalekaorus formation (presumably their Glaives) ignited a bunch of promethium pipelines and triggered a devastating sequence of explosions across the battlefield.

Whoops.

The survivors of the Khalekaorus were forced to retreat, wgile Archmagos Satarael sent pursuers after them to wipe them out, though he was aware they would all be annihilated by the sheer firepower of the super-heavy tanks of the Khalekaorus. Unsurprisingly, that's exactly what happened. Vorsk then saw the Loyalist fortress go up in smoke or something akin to that (must be the Knights of House Perdaxia and House Rajha tearing open the fortress and massacring the 77th Grand Battalion inside), and swore vengeance against the Traitors. Also, there's a mention of how the Alpha Legion mysteriously disappeared. I wonder where they went.

The Battalion of the Alrathan Ridge

The Traitors assaulted Portresh, and the Ultramarines were reinforcing their Dark Angels allies engaged with the Sons of Horus. During that battle, the Fellblade, Triumph's Hand, commanded by Decurion Salan Mur was disabled because its left track was shattered by concentrated autocannon fire. So they get left behind, by the rest of the contingent while the crew attempted repair. Fortunately, a reconnaissance squad under Sergeant Attla remained with the tank to keep them informed of any enemy movement.

A Traitor armored column showed up, and Decurion Mur's Triumph's Hand made its last stand.

Long story short, Sons of Horus throw tanks and Dreadnoughts at the Fellblade Triumph's Hand, most of the crew save Mur himself and his turret gunner are slain, and the Dark Angels show up with their own Falchion tanks when all hope seems lost. Decurion Mur and his gunnera re recovered by Sergeant Attla's squad in the aftermath, and despite the combined efforts of Ist and XIIIth Legion Techmarines, they couldn't salvage Triumph's Hand, unfortunately. Poor guy is left as a wreck on Portresh.

The Purging of Taral III

Remember the Whirlwind info above? This is their origin story. Salamanders's badly damaged vessel, the Blade of Fire, tumbled into the system after the beating at the Dropsite Massacre at Isstvan V, and they take the chance to wreak vengeance upon the Word Bearers garrisoned there. The Salamanders 87th Company was once an armored company, but Captain Vareon - the commander - had lost most of his strike tanks. All he had left were eight squadrons of Predators, six Vindicators and ten squadrons of Scorpius missile tanks.

Unfortunately, their vengeful assault stalled because the armored company wasn't suited for urban warfare. Traitor Militia and Word Bearers made use of hab-blocks and structures to ambush their vehicles with anti-tank weaponry, and Vaeron basically lost 5 Vindicators, with the last one badly damaged. Yikes.

So what do the Salamanders do? Well, it turns out the Blade of Fire contained a large number of prototype Helios-pattern missile launcher systems in transport crates and conveniently stockpiled with compatible missiles. So Vaeron had an ephiphany, and got his Techmarines to swap the Scorpius's missile launchers with Helios missile launchers. Nice.

That, my friends, is the birth of the Whirlwind. Pre-loaded with incendiary and high-explosive munitions, they basically demolished the structures and hab-blocks swarming with Traitor Militia and even Word Bearers, burying the poor guys under tons of rubble. Oh, and they flattened the entire city district. Awesome.

Having won the day, Vaeron then handed over Taral III to the Imperial Army and Solar Auxilia of the relief force from the 689th Expeditionary Fleet before returning to Nocturne.

More little details

The Isstvan V Dropsite Massacre is mentioned. Go watch the cinematic trailer. Cool mention: Salamanders have lots of super-heavies, which they used to batter the entrenched Death Guard, while the Iron Hands name their super-heavy formations Subjugator battalions. The Iron Warriors also deploy a lot of Fellblades, Falchions and Glaives, while Word Bearers field squadrons of Fellblades. Interestingly, it's the Alpha Legion who favor massed Glaives.

The Loyalist titans of Legio Bellatus deploy to the mining world of Askos, deceived by the Night Lords and lured into the mountains where their super-heavy tanks could ambush the Titans and hide in the terrain to avoid retaliation. Of course, the Night Lords win. Ouch.

On the other hand, the World Eaters attack the Ultramarines recruitment world of Lannishar, only to be annihilated in the open grasslands by the newly formed 562nd Super-heavy Armored Company. In a single engagement. Whereas the Ultramarines only lost a single vehicle. Talk about burn.

There's also mention of Tallarn, where the Iron Warriors assault the Sapphire City and drive the Loyalists out. Traitor Knights from House Caesarean pursue heavily damaged Legio Gryphonicus Titans, but an armored contingent from the Iron Hands Clan Brannsar - comprising of Cerberus and Falchion super-heavy tanks - intervene. Unfortunately, the Loyalist super-heavy tanks are overrun, but they are able to buy enough time for the Titans to escape while slaying a significant number of enemy Knights before they are destroyed.

During the Loyalist push to retake Beta-Garmon III, the Iron Hands 19th Reserve Chapter deploy a vast armored force in a counter-assault, punching through the encircling 138th Cohort of Cthonian Headhunters, and forming a cordon around the Ferrum Tower, which has a vast relic-cannon. The Iron Hands use both this relic-cannon and their super-heavy tanks' armaments to bombard their foe.

The Death Guard assault Boro IV in the Boros system, their Falchions and Fellblades destroying the defenses of the Mechanicum facility and allowing them to plunder the datacores within. To add insult to injury, the XIVth Legion then nuked the site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.

And...that's it! Next, I'll cover the Leviathan missions!

Journal Tactica Skitarii The Steel Hand of Mars lore

As usual, now that I've gotten my hands on a copy of the Journal Tactica: Skitarii: The Steel Hand of Mars, I'll be summarizing the lore in detail. That's what we're here for - the lore!

The journal tactica opens with the difference between the Skitarii's oaths and the Legiones Astartes - unlike the Space Marines, the Skitarii are sworn to safeguard and recover technological relics. Unlike most armies, who either served the Emperor or the Warmaster, the Skitarii only answer to the Fabricator General of Mars, though who they acknowledge as the Fabricator General is often up to debate. Their mission is to explore the galaxy, recover valuable technological relics, and bring them back to either the vast halls of Olympus Mons or the vaults of Phobos.

Divided into Conclaves, each Skitarii Conclave is dedicated to a specific aspect of the technological spectrum that formed the Mechanicum's core beliefs, e.g. atomantic power, plasma technology, or even xenos relics. Each Skitarii Battle-Pilgrym begins as a human thrall tithed from a forge-fane across the forge worlds in the Imperium, wherever the conclaves land and need to recruit as required. They undergo the Flesh-shriving, which augments their bodies with the augmetic armor known as Corpus Skitarii, which includes the locomotive prothestics and allow them to survive toxic environments. Their memories are also overwritten by engrams and they're subjected to hypno-indoctrinated training to turn amateurs into veterans, and also allowing the Marshal's memories to download into his successor.

They're more like light infantry who move at incredible speeds across any terrain (thanks to those long legs) and packing heavy firepower, which markedly differs from the attritional warfare that marked the doctrines of the Solar Auxilia and Legiones Astartes.

The Skitarii convlaves' origins date long before the formation of the Cult Mechanicum, the corpus-skitarii's augmetics based on adaptations used by ancient migrant scavenger clans that once roamed Mars. Back then, Mars was haunted by ferocious cy-carnivora and other technological abominations, so these wanderers survived by outrunning them, quite literally. They also recovered ancient technological artifacts, which helped in laying the foundation of the modern Mechanicum, and in honor of their service, they were inducted into the personal service of the first Fabricator General. Over time, they would grow into a mighty force wielded by the Fabricator General, organized into conclaves - small self-sufficient armies capable of operating far from Mars for extended periods of time with limited support. However, Skitarii are not Tech-priests, and so they are not trained in handling, operating, repairing or replicating tech-arcana. Separate from the Cult Mechanicus, they cannot control or use the relics they recovered, and instead simply bring them back to the vaults of Phobos.

During the Horus Heresy, there are about 30 conclaves. All the conclaves are supposed to be under the command of the Arch-Ordinator, the princpal ruler of the collected Skitarii Conclaves and answerable only to the Fabricator General of Mars. The Skitarii Conclaves are defined within the Imperial record as the "Ancient standing armies of elite cybernetically and geneically engineered troops originating on Mars and principally loyal to theoffice of the Fabricator General." They are bound by specific Clade Parameters that govern their coded doctrines in battle, which is the sub-faction rule that gives us Line, Vanguard or better Deflagrate.

Each standard Conclave is divided into 16 individual Themata (the Skitarii equivalent of regiment), which are further subdivided into 22 Lochos (I assume battalions? They seem too big for company). Each Lochos is further subdivided into 12 corpus of Skitarii (squads), and these are commanded by a Skitarii Marshal while consisting of 16 Sktarii Battle-Pilgryms. They are supported by Armored Contingents that include Conveyor and Venator units held at the themata level and assigned to the commanding Marshal, as well as Bonepicker Hosts.

So basically, one Lochos, which is composed of 12 corpus of 16 Skitarii Battle-Pilgryms, contains approximately 192 Skitarii Battle-Pilgryms. I haven't even countered the Skitarii Marshals yet. A single Themata, made up of 22 Lochos, would bring that number up to 4,224 warriors. Since one Conclave comprises of 16 Themata, that means a single Conclave can muster up to 67,584 warriors. That's a lot! Given that there are about 30 Conclaves during the Horus Heresy, that would mean we have around 2,027,520 Skitarii Battle-Pilgryms. A significant force that outnumbers the Legiones Astartes, to be sure, but still very few when compared to the billions of Solar Auxilia and trillions of Imperial Army soldiers.

The clade paraneters are the following:

Incursus Clade (Ad membra fenax): Aggressive response against an enemy.

Excipio Clade (Acquisitor et cognitio): Acquisition of technological relics.

Speculor Clade (Occulus omnisior): Spies and scouts.

Vigilus Clade (Contra cladem): Protection, defense and custody of the vaults of the Mechanicum.

So we have Loyalist Skitarii and Traitor Skitarii. How did that happen when they're supposed to loyal to the Fabricator General? Well, as mentioned in the Loremasters post I did the other day, the engrammatic commandments are "The Skitarii serve the Fabricator General, the Fabricator General serves the Mechanicum." When Kelbor-Hal ordered the slaughter of perceived enemy Magi and the destruction of their forge-fanes, carrying out the Death of Innocence, they realized that Kelbor-Hal no longer served the Mechanicum, having forfeited his position as Fabricator General by his treachery. Logic dictates that their loyalty passes to his successor, Zagreus Kane. A full third of the Skitarii Conclaves have reassigned their loyalty to Zagreus Kane - the Fabricator General in exile, and through him, the cause of the Emperor.

The Traitor Skitarii are those who remain loyal to Kelbor-Hal, and because of the Loyalists who reassigned their loyalty to Zagreus Kane, he seeks to retain their loyalty by infecting then with scrap-code. This warps their engrammatic coding and prevents them from betraying Kelbor-Hal and the Traitors, and they become more erratic and prone to macabre displays, anointing their corpus-skitarii with blood of the slain. They are deployed by Kelbor-Hal ti reciver artifacts and relics of Old Night for Horus, to use against the Imperium.

The Skitarii Battle-Pilgrym Marshal is selected from the most compatible and veteran ordinators within a conclave, leading the warriors of a battle pilgrimage and acting as both field commander and representative of the Fabricator General's authority. This allows them access to sanctified relic-arms, including the auctorit scepter. The bulk of the nomadic contingents of the Skitarii Battle-Pilgryms are organized as conclaves, each war formation led by an ordinator, who is the equivalent of a sergeant.

Skitarii are warriors dedicated to combat, so they can't do other roles like repair and engineering. They can only perform the most basic of maintenance on the wargear forged for them, and they are dependent on the aid of forge worlds, an ancient and intended limitation on their power to keep them bound to the service and protection of the Mechanicum.

The Bonepicker Host is also known as the hosts of Ostologoi, hordes of numberless individuals who salvage armaments and armor from battlefields. Vultarax stratos-automata are employed primarily in a scout-surveyor role, retrofitted with additional auspex scanning arrays to search for relics while serving as mobile fire support to provide cover and suppress enemy forces.

Thankfully, the Skitarii Ordinator has the authority of the Fabricator General, so they can request the assistance of any magos of the Mechanicum to supply them with arms, munitions and support, as well as access to the forge world's factorum, warriors (e.g. Legio Cybernetica automata) and arsenals, but in a diplomatic manner that provides the service of their warriors in exchange...as long as it aligns with their retrieval mission or scouring xenos raucers, of course. The wandering Skitarii are able to accumulate a wide variety of transports and tanks, some incorporated into their ranks permanently and others on loan from the Magi. These include the Triaros Armored Conveyor, Krios battle tanks, Krios Venator tank destroyers and Karacnos assault tank.

The Triaros is a heavy transport found on every Forge World and its combination of heavy armor, potent weapons and a built-in flare shield allows it to serve as the mainstay transport of the Skitarii's infantry conclaves. Their familiarity across the Mechanicum also ensures that repairs and replacements can be easily conducted during campaigns. The Skitarii also makes use of the long-range phosphex mortars fired from the Karacnos, which is protected by heavy frontal armor and layers of defensive energy shields.

The compact Krios tank is protected by layers of energy fields rather than simple bulk armor and powered by a fusion ppower plant capable of accelerating it to incredible speeds. For the Skitarii, it serves as a rapid response and flanking unit that can outpace most other armor and outgun lesser units. Its systems are too complex for simple servitors or cybernetica cortexes, and so a Tech adept is integrated into the chassis to pilot it. The Krios Venator trades the lightning cannon of the more common Krios for a pulsar-fusil, a dedicated anti-armor weapon. Combining speed and firepower, the Skitarii uses the Krios Venator to intercept heavy armor.

The Journal Tactica also includes three battles detailing the involvement of the Skitarii. The first is the battle fot Vault Tharsis Deca-nine, where the Imperial Fists under a Space Marine Vigilator named Korben Talar clashed against the Skitarii of Conclave Speculor-Gamma-Mu. Two Imperial Fists Thunderhawks were taken out by anti-aircraft fire over the city of Mondus Gamma, but while their Captain is killed, Korben Talar took command of the survivors to fortify Vault Tharsis Deca-nine against the 600 warriors of Skitarii Conclave Speculor-Gamma-Mu.

At first, the Skitrarii wiped out the Castellax battle-automata and servitor-turrets guarding the vault, only for the Imperial Fists to show up and assault them. The Skitarii are forced into a retreat, but they have numbers on their side. Though the Inwit Imperial Fists fortify the place, using Castellax wreckage as a barricade, the sheer numbers of the Skitarii eventually overwhelm the stalwart Imperial Fists, and even Korben Talar is slain by the Skitarii Marshal, Speculor/4/11/θ/Tharsis. They are about to recover the dreadful weapon within the vault to unleash it upon Horus's enemies, but Talar has left one last gift to them - melta bombs. Unfortunately, Speculor/4/11/θ/Tharsis and the Skitarii only know how to fight, so they don't know how to defuse the melta bombs, and while Speculor/4/11/θ/Tharsis stays behind, the other Skitarii are forced to retreat. The melta bombs blow, burying both Speculor/4/11/θ/Tharsis and technological relic/dread weapon under tons of broken rock.

The survivors of Conclave Speculor-Gamma-Mu elect a new Marshal, then lop back out to the wastes to seek other lost vaults.

The second battle is the Loyalty Paradox, where the Skitarii warriors of Conclave Incursus-Lambda-Psi infiltrate Phobos to claim its relics in the moon's vaults. There's a reference to Order 66 from Star Wars, but as General Order Omega-99, which basically is an encoded binaric transmission to Skitarii to forewarn them of the Death of Innocence. It is here where the Skitarii no longer acknowledge Kelbor-Hal as the Fabricator General, especially Incursus-Lambda-Psi.

After entering Phobos, they massacre the Tech-thralls, then overwhelm the automata and simple servitor defenses protecting Phobos's fortifications. They eventually run into significant resistance in the form of Conclave Vigilus-Alpha-Omega, their fellow Skitarii querying them. Incursus-Lambda-Psi appeals to them by claiming that Kelbor-Hal has forfeited the role of Fabricator General and no longer serves the Mechanicum, the logic stipulating that Zagreus Kane is the Fabricator General now. Unfortunately, even if that logic holds, Kane has not issued any order to them to open the vaults of Phobos, so Vigilus-Alpha-Omega is unable to comply.

After the debate, they end up shooting each other. Ouch. This is the first Skitarii versus Skitarii action ever. Vigilus holds the advantages of superior numbers and prepared positions, and so the Incursus warriors are wiped out. However, it turns out that the main assault by Incursus-Lambda-Psi is a mere diversion. While Vigilus-Alpha-Omega annihilates the Incursus warriors in their last stand in Reliquary Vault 19-C, a much smaller, elite force has infiltrated an ancient tertiary vault and retrieved the sarcophagus of the first Fabricator General. They carry off the sarcophagus to their ships and set course for Terra, for Zagreus Kane and the court of the Emperor, aware that this relic is a symbol of authority for the true Fabricator General.

In the Coronid Deeps, the Sons of Horus landed on the isolated world of Cambrae to steal a relic buried beneath the obliterated ancienty city of Mithras, which survived Old Night. However, Blackshields allied to the Forge World Mezoa - the Disciples of the Flames - show up and attack the Sons of Horus. A Skitarii Conclave, Expurgis-Zeta-Phi, loyal to Mezoa and by extension Zagreus Kane and the Emperor, also appear to assist the Disciples of the Flames.

Though the Sons of Horus are elite and wear power armor, the Skitarii outnumber them, and overwhelm them with sheer numbers. The Praetor leading the Sons of Horus manage to counterattack, only for the Skitarii's Karacnos to show up and bombard the surviving Sons of Horus, annihilating them. The Skitarii then recover the technological relic underneath Mithras, leaving the Sons of Horus stragglers to the vengeful Disciples of the Flames, who engaged in an inefficient activity known as...hunting them for sport?

By the way, this relic is the Rhadamanthus, or The Judgement of the Dead, a black metal sphere 3 meters across and studdded with coolant hoses and ewreathed in a haze of steam. What does it do? Is it a weapon? No idea. One thing is for sure, it's a bloody macguffin, and an excuse for Loyalist Skitarii and Blackshield allies to fight Traitor Legiones Astartes. That's all I can say.

We also have a few notable events. The Death of Innocence should be familiar to everyone by now, but the Skitarii-focused narrative reveals that a third of the conclaves stayed loyal to Zagreus Kane, but are hunted down and destroyed. Fortunately, they are able to survive and either escape off-world in commandeered ships or continue a guerilla resistance in the MArtian wastes. A few conclaves arrive on Terra, following the heels of the Imperial Fists who evacuated Zagreus Kane, swearing their loyalty to him and dispatched to aid Loyalists in distant warzones.

The Word Bearers stupidly attack the Iron Hands' homeworld of Medusa after Ferrus Manus's death, landing several allied conclaves of Skitarii to raid the Keys of Hel. Though they succeed, it is a pryrhic victory for the Traitors, for they lost many of their forces to claim a small number of dangerous relics in Ferrus Manus's vaults, and this ends up galvanizing the previously disarrayed Iron Hands into launching the War of Bitter Iron.

On the other side, the World Easters and their Dark Mechanicum allies from Sarum assault the nine hollow worlds of Lastrati, a distant outpost of the Lucian Mechanicum. Four conclaves of Skitarii, pledged to Zagreus Kane, including Conclave Vigilus-Gamma-Phi and Conclave Incursus-Lambda-Psi (same one as the conclave who assault Phobos above) stand alongside Legio Astorum. Angron (in his Daemon form) and his flagship, the Conqueror, show up to land a ground assault, and the World Eaters basically slaughter the Loyalists in the system. Ouch.

Apparently, the Loyalist Skitarii Conclave Vindicor-Kappa-Delta goes missing when traveling to the forbidden world of Rangda for unknown reasons.

Cyraxus gets a mention here (man, I wish Fires of Cyraxus is a thing). Loyalist Skitarii conclaves in the Ultima Segmentum begin stockpiling recovered techno-relics on the remote forge enclave of Cyraxus. Starting as a research station within the Dominion of Storms, Cyraxus became one of the largest armories in the Segmentum by the final years of the Horus Heresy, but its location was llost after the battle for Honorium.

The end of the Mechhanicum and official appointment of Zagreus Kane of the new Adeptus Mechanicus, raises concerns regarding the loyalty of Skitarii serving the Loyalist cause, because they're afraid they might not welcome the change.

Phobos is raided by a coalition of Loyalist Skitarii Conclaves during the Siege of Terra. Having learned their lessons last time when Incursus-Lambda-Psi attacked, the fortress moon's defenses have been improved, including Traitor Skitarii, who have been transformed by Kelbor-Hal into warped and twisted creatures. The Loyalists fight fervently to cleanse the moon, but what they expected to be a temporary victory becomes permanent because Horus is slain by the Emperor shortly after. Unfortunately, they discover that many of Phobos's relics have long since been removed by the Traitors and transported to distant strongholds.

If there's one thing that annoys me, it's the whole nonsensical "the vast majority remain loyal to Kelbor-Hal" and "most of the Loyalist Skitarii (aligned to Zagreus Kane) are hunted down and destroyed." Like, they keep hammering us with how few Loyalist Skitarii there are, with most annihilated, and almost all Skitarii being Traitor (Kelbor-Hal aligned), but then you have a bunch of accounts of Loyalist Skitarii. I get the Phobos one, but the Cambrae/Mezoa Skitarii, four conclaves showing up on Lastrati, an entire Loyalist conclave going missing on Rangda, Cyraxus, and a coalition of Loyalist Skitarii Conclaves during the Siege of Terra? Does that sound like "hunted down and destroyed" and a "mere handful" of Loyalist Skitarii to you? Where are all these Loyalist Skitarii Conclaves coming from? Does Zagreus Kane have some secret lab on Terra where he keeps churning out entire Skitarii Conclaves to send all over the Imperium or something? Something's not adding up.

It would be much better to simply state that most of the Loyalist Skitarii Conclaves are able to escape the Death of Innocence on Mars, and/or that Kane and other Loyalist Forge Worlds are able to rebuild and replenish the ranks of Loyalist Skitarii Conclaves. Otherwise, the overwhelmingly Loyalist accounts of Skitarii don't add up. I get it. In "modern" 40K, Skitarii are Loyalist. We don't have a Dark Mechanicum codex with Chaos Skitarii yet. If you see Skitarii on the tabletop, you know they are Imperium and Loyalist. That translates somehow into Horus Heresy...but if you think about it, you need to maintain consistency. Not claim "Loyalist Skitarii" are almost wiped out, with a mere handful remaining, but somehow you have plenty of them crawling out of the Imperial woodwork, ready to defend Loyalist worlds and serving Zagreus Kane's cause.

My head canon is that Zane has a secret manufactorum on Terra where he is able to replenish the ranks of his Loyalist Skitarii Conclaves, which is what occurs in Aaron Dembski-Bowden's Master of Mankind. That's why you have Skitarii in that novel, helping to fight the War in the Webway. That's the only thing that makes sense to me, and I will stand by this head canon. Oh, and that Loyalist Forge Worlds are active in helping reinforce and training new Skitarii. Perhaps this is what leads to the current status quo in 40K - so instead of Skitarii being the Fabricator General's personal army, they're now garrisoned across Forge Worlds because of the state of events when Zagreus Kane is in exile in Terra, and he has to rely on the myriad Forge Worlds to train and replenish Skitarii for him. So this continues into modern 40K, which leads to modern Forge Worlds all maintaining their own Skitarii Corps. It's a tradition that started with Zagreus Kane and the necessities of the Horus Heresy. Now everything makes sense!

The Rise of the Salamanders Lore

Okay, okay. I think the joke is getting old. But I refuse to see the Salamanders fall to ruin, and they survive. Maybe The Resurrection of the Salamanders? Since that's, y'know, Vulkan's thing. He's a Perpetual, in case you don't know that.

Anyway, lore time. As promised, I'll cover the story in the latest Journal Strategia: The Ruin of the Salamanders. God-Emperor, I hate saying that. If there's any Legion who doesn't deserve to fall to ruin, it's our Salamanders bros. Sigh.

This Journal Strrategia covers the fall of the Salamanders on Isstvan V. The Dropsite Massacre is such a colossal event that it cannot be covered in one or two books (we already have the Journal Tactica: The Isstvan V Dropsite Massacre Part One, which means more parts are incoming, and more expansions. The Dropsite Massacre is such a massive event that changed the galaxy in Warhammer 40,000 (or Warhammer: The Horus Heresy) forever, that it can be broken up to several segments. The Ruin of the Salamanders, in particular, focuses only on the Salamanders Legion and their role, as well as their tragic demise. Still, as the book insists, they didn't die, but will be reforged and rise again, and that Horus would regret not being able to slay them. Despite being a Shattered Legion, they would return, tempered and stronger than ever, to bite the Traitors in the ass.

The Isstvan system, though on the far fringes of the Imperium's galactic territory, is much like our Sol system in that it has 9 planets and a yellow sun. After the massacre on Isstvan III, the fifth planet - despite being a barren world filled with volcanoes and freezing basalt deserts - was selected by Horus Lupercal and the Traitor Legions to establish a fortress, including void shields that can withstand orbital bombardment, and lots of trenches (too bad the Death Korps of Krieg haven't materialized as an army yet).

The Warmaster planned to lure the Loyalists into the Urgall Depression at the foot of a volcano and surrounded by sheer cliffs, where he can trap them in a killing ground. This is broken into three sectors: the Umbral Sector in the north defended by Angron's World Eaters, the Malleus Sector in the center under the protection of Fulgrim's Emperor's Children, and the Ignis Sector in the south guarded by the Death Guard.

The Salamanders would take charge of the Ignis Sector (Ferrus Manus's Iron Hands force their way into the Malleus Sector while Corvus Corax's Raven Guard attacked the Umbral Sector), Vulkan favoring massed heavy infantry assault. He didn't have Titan support, unfortunately. Rather, Vulkan brought 83,000 legionaries, which included the Saturnine Excubitor Cadre - a significant force of Saturnine Terminators and Saturnine Dreadnoughts, I think numbering over a hundred of them! They are led by Bul'an Kothe, previously a member of the now defunct Librarius, and obviously his psychic talents helped him master the use of the Saturnine Terminator suit. Wouldn't be surprised if the majority of the Saturnine Terminators are equipped by former Librarians of the Legions. That would explain where all the Librarians went after the Edict of Nikaea. Cassian Dracos, the first master of the Salamanders, led a phalanx of Dreadnoughts, named "Claws of the Dragon." Then there's the Dragon's Crest detachments, which feature veteran infantry riding in Land Raiders (nust be the new MKII dudes carrying disintegrator weapons). We also have Nocturne's Thunder, which is a super-heavy tank formation composed of Vindicator siege tanks supported by Ascalon super-heavy tanks. You know, the new super-heavy tanks armed with Inferno cannons, the gigantic flamethrower usually mounted on Warhound Titans. And what they're selling in Legions Imperialis alongside this expansion.

Got to feature the new, shiny toys in the latest expansion, am I right?

Forge Lord Arik Xergoth is in command of the Salamander's armored assets and substantial super-heavy tank formations.

Anyway, we also have the Solar Auxilia - the 484th Cohort of the Proximan Sacramentii, an infantry-heavy veteran force who just fought Orks in the Great Crusade, and the 486th Cohort, a fresh cohort that is predominantly armored, and fielded a number of Foehammer formations (Leman Russ and Stormhammer tanks). They are commanded by Phera Ikaeron, the youngest of the three marshal primes of the Proximan chorts. Oh, the Salamanders also always made use of significant levies of bound-auxilia, which once again emphasizes their close bonds with mortals, and they trusted the Proximan Sacramentii to shield their flanks during the approach. They amounted to over 125,000 men. There's an interesting tidbit about the Martian Mechanicum, where the Lords of Mars have forbidden any of their troops from joining the Retribution Fleet. However, many Archmagi went against that order, with Archmagos Koros Kadorikus from the often besieged Forge World of Yarath-maximal pledging his loyalty to the Salamanders and White Scars Legions for helping him defend his home from Orks. They comprised of 3,000 automata and arrmored vehicles of exotic patterns favored by the Mechanicum,

The Traitors are an interesting bunch, with 90,0000 Death Guard warriors, 150 from the Sons of Horus, 170,000 Solar Auxilia soldiers from the Barbaran Ambaxtoi and Death's Heralds, and a single maniple from Legio Mortis. They will later be joined by 60,000 Word Bearers, 35,000 Iron Warriors. 1,300 Night Lords and 20,000 Solar Auxilia soldiers from the Selucid Thorakites. Unlike the Loyalists, who sought to lessen the Imperium's reliance on the Legiones Asrtartes, the Traitors intended to return the Astartes to the apex of glory and make the Space Marine Legions great again (deja vu, anyone? I'm not kidding, it was literally written here: "...to make the Legions as great as they had once been during the Great Crusade"). Hence, the mortals were mostly relegated to support or reserves or even sacrificial distractions.

While the Barbaran Ambaxtoi served as the Death Guard's operational reserves, the Selucid Thorakites were thrown straight into the fighting as sacrificial lambs to deplete the Loyalists' munitions. As such, they were lightly equipped, with few armored vehicles or heavy weapons. The few well-equipped Olympians were heavily armed Veletarii who served as slavemasters, known as Infames. The Thorakite commander, Marshal Dace, was punished by Perturabo, who basically told him that he was not to survive the battle, because of his actions on Olympia. On the other hand, Lord Commander Deridos and his Ambaxtoi avoided most of the fighting because Mortarion preferred his Death Guard to fight instead. The Mechanicum, like the Loyalists, participated little in the battle, wtih most of them remaining in support roles to the rear of the engagement.

Perturabo fielded the Broken Fang formations, which were under his less favored commanders and comprised of expendable auxilia and infantry, as well as Obliteration Centuries, which are formations of super-heavy tanks (Kratos and Fellblade squadrons). Under him was the Praetor Ked Rordram, known as The Shorn. But what captured my attention was the small contingent of Night Lords deployed along the hills to wipe out any stragglers and prevent anyone from escaping. These were the remnants of the old Terran comapnies, commanded by the Terran Praetor Morthax.

The original plan was for the Loyalists to send a first wave, establish a beachhead, and prioritized speed over preparation to supposedly catch Horus unaware. There's no mention of the Saturnine Contingency here - you can refer to The Forges of Saturn for that. But there's a brief mention of the Saturnine Terminators and Dreadnoughts depleting the Dies Irae's void shields before it was driven back by massed fire from super-heavy tanks. Mortarion showed up, but the Death Guard were eventually driven back by the Salamanders and Proximian Sacramentii, and the Loyalists expected to push further when the second wave showed up. The Iron Warriors and their drop pods, the Night Lords along the hills, and Word Bearers, as well as Alpha Legion.

Then the Traitors revealed their true colors and stabbed the Salamanders in the back.

The poor Salamanders were massacred, but though hundreds, even thousands fell, they fought back. The Salamanders' Hel-Drakes also showed up and sold their lives to buy their brothers time, and Forge Lord Xergoh's Nocturne Thunder broke through the Word Bearers for a slight reprieve.

There's a brief mention of the fate of the other Legions. The Iron Hands were surrounded on all sides by Traitors and cut down, while the Raven Guard were butchered by the Wotd Bearers and World Eaters, but unlike the stoic Iron Hands, the Raven Guard broke into smaller formations and escaped the encirclement. Most died, though. The Night Lords prowled the Urgall Depression, ensuring no Loyalists escaped.

In the Ignis Sector, though, the Night Lords overlooking the Salamanders' position were older Terran companies, known as the "Night's Children" drawn from Earth's sunken prisons. They took up position in the path of the Proximan Sacramentii. I really like Praetor Monthax - unlike the other Traitors, he seemed like a man of honor. Instead of hiding and skulking around like the other Traitors, he met the Proximan Sacramentii Solar Auxilia in the open and fought them fairly. Well, as fairly as he could under the circumstances of betrayal. Tragically, he was a man who had server the Emepror loyally for almost two hundred years, and the order to commit the gravest of treason didn't sit well with him. So he decided to die in the most epic way possible. He basically stood on the ridgeline, in the open and unarmed, and let the Proximan Sacramentii shoot him to death - they fired a thousand lasrifles into the poor guy, and as he fell, he was satisfied in the knowledge that his record remained unblemished - he had raised no weapon against the Empror's own.

His men silently attacked, giving little thought to defense, and while they killed a lot of the Solar Auxilia, the veteran Night's Children allowed themselves to be annihilated by the Veletarii and armored tanks of the Proximan Sacramentii, grateful for a clean death in the face of the sin of betrayal in the Urgall Depression.

That was...epic.

The Salamanders broke through the Word Bearers' line, harried and pursued by the Traitors, and Xergoh's armored companies found corpses where their reserves should be, for the Alpha Legion had sabotaged and assassinated them. Their munitions were depleted, and though they did their best to preserve ammunition by clubbing and smacking the poor Thorakites to death, the mortal Solar Auxilia forcibly sent by Perturabo and Iron Warriors to try and dwindle the Salamanders' strength, the XVIIIth Legion eventually were blasted by the fresh IVth Legion. The Saturnine Terminators and Dreadnoughts, and armored formations, did their best to survive the onslaught from the Iron Warriors, spending the last of their ammunition in defiance.

The Sacramentii and a few hundred Salamanders and Raven Guard end up congregating and fighting along the Urgall Depression, and there's this really cool scene where they ambushed Night Lords and crushed the overconfident Sons of Horus mechanized columns, only to seize and plunder their tanks and munitions. When the Night Lords approached a phalanx of tanks bearing the heraldry of Horus, mistakenly believing them to be allies, the Sacramentii opened fire, using their pilfered tanks to annihilate the Night Lords. Hah!

The Loyalists managed to reach the landing zone, where they requisitioned the landing craft left by the Traitors. However, there weren't enough landing craft for all the survivors, which comprised of several thousand warriors and armored vehicles. Marshal Prime Ikaeron made a decision, marshaling the Solar Auxilia to make one last stand against the Traitors so that the Salamanders and Raven Guard could escape, because she knew the Imperium needed every legionary it could get.

Back in the "Crucible" - a section of the Urgall Depression where the Salamanders still fought in - the Iron Warriors turned it into a battle of attrition because the few Salamanders can't hold out against the more numerous Iron Warriors despite their superior technology. The Saturnine Excubitors held on well, but they were losing irreplacable warriors and armor by the second, with the last of the Saturnine Dreadnoughts falling in combat with a full talon of Iron Warriors Contemptor Dreadnoughts.

Then Xergoh and his troops saw the mushroom cloud. Apparently, Horus or Perturabo decided to nuke Vulkan.

Understandably, the Salamanders began to waver...but the Solar Auxilia came to save the day! The Proximan Sacramentii, arriving in pilfered Kratos tanks that served as makeshift carriers for Sacramentii infantry, and the Sacramentii Foehammer squadrons, smashed into the Iron Warriors lines and pulverized them under tracks or blasted them at pointblank range. This allowed Xergoh and his super-heavy tanks to break through, spending the last of their shells and munitions on the Iron Warriors' lines. They then fled the Urgall Depression, with the Iron Warriors in hot pursuit. Praetor Rordram knew that Pertarubo will literally kill him for his failure, and he desperately ordered and all-out assault to pursue the Salamanders and Sacramentii.

However, the last of the Saturnine Excubitor Cadre, commanded by Centurion Tunayh of the Cindered, stepped into the breach made by Nocturne's Thunder, and held back the Iron Warriors like the Giga-chads they are. The rest of the Salamanders retreated, even as the Saturnine Excubitor Cadre fell in their heroic last stand, but the Proximan soldiers threw themselves at the Iron Warriors, their courage and selflessness buying more time for the legionaries to escape. Heroes, every one of them. We salute both the Saturnine guys and the Solar Auxilia.

The Salamanders Legion lived.

The sacrifice of so many selfless heroes meant that Xergoh's Nocturne Thunder and the bulk of his forces escaped. A few thousand Salamanders survived and escaped, to continue the fighting as Shattered Legions. Across Isstvan V, not just Forge Lord Xergoh, but also other commands had survived, and in orbit, many ships blasted free from Horus's clutches. Despite the horrific massacre, the survival of these warriors was a victory in itself, one that would pave the way for a larger, eventual victory for the Loyalists.

The Salamanders survived, and would return, reforged, tempered and stronger than ever, determined to make Horus bleed for his betrayal. The Warmaster would regret that he had not slain them in Isstvan V, instead allowing a wounded foe to return to bite him. As for the Salamanders, their tale continued and their Legion endured, and I expect to see them return in Shattered Legions supplements or other expansions. Maybe?

The Forges of Saturn

I have in my hands the Journal Tactica: The Forges of Saturn. Unlike most people, who will probably focus on the rules, my interest lies primarily in the lore. I'll run through the rules briefly, but honestly, there's not much to say. You can take a Saturnine Centurion for 150 points, and he comes stock with a teleporter, plasma bombard and a single disruption fist. He cannot double up on fists, nor can he take an axe or hammer. Instead, you're free to double up on plasma bombards or twin heavy disintegrators, or mix and match ranged weapons. Or take one fist with either. Up to you.

The lore is because Saturnine Centurions are drawn chiefly from support companies or armistos consularis, coveted for their marksmanship and aptitude with advanced weapon systems. So you want them staying back and firing from a distance with that pinpoint accuracy.

Saturnine Terminator command squad starts with 2 (I think I can actually assemble one!), with the option to go all melee with their WS5. In other words, double disruption fists for twice the fun, or a fist with a ranged weapon, or you can take a fist and a war axe/concussion hammer. No axe/hammer with ranged weapon, though. Boo. Oh, they can take a plasma blaster on one of their fists, which is nice. No doubling up on particle shredders or plasma blasters, rules as written, though...is that intentional? Anyway, these guys are your bodyguards who can wield the monstrous melee weaponry of Saturnine plate with a blademaster's skill.

Then you have the daemon-possessed Saturnine Terminators, named the Phraetus Anointed Conclave. No, you still have the legionary clad in Saturnine armor plate, but they just replace advanced components of their armor with containment systems to house a bound daemon. Stats wise, this does nothing, aside from giving them WS5 and the options to take the same melee options as the Saturnine command squad (see above). Only exception is that they don't get access to plasma blasters.

Why take them, then? Well, they have Warpfire Mantle, which is a cool "daemonic" ability that allows the wearer to retaliate against shooting enemies - but you must first pass at least one armor or invulnerable save - by forcing them to make a Toughness check. Fail it, and you take D3 automatic wounds with Damage 1 and AP2. No saves allowed. Mortal wounds, basically. Cool?

My Thousand Sons get a new Osiraean Prosperine Arcana, which costs 10 points and gives us Psychometry and Machine Empathy. Only for Saturnine units and Walkers, with Psychometry, we can reduce our Overload by -1, even to 0 if it's just Overload (1)! Nice. Machine Empathy heals a single wound, but obviously can't bring dead models back to life. Neat.

Anyway, lore time!

We begin with the Phoebian Accord, which is an agreement between the Emperor and the secretive Tech-Enclaves of Phoebe to keep them independent from Mars and placing them under His direct protection. In exchange, the Phoebian Tech-Enclaves pay a tithe directly to the Imperial Household, delivering and maintaining the functionality of armaments and armor specified by the Emperor. Specifically...you guess it, the Saturnine armor,

Issued to the Space Marine Legions shortly after Terra's Unification Wars ended, Saturnine armor design was derived from the Dark Age of Technology, for protective suits intended for working inside plasma reactors. Unlike Martian tech-canon, the Tech-Enclaves were the only ones able to create new technological marvels based on such ancient data, and they set about crafting Saturnine Terminator armor.

Characterized by immense domed pauldrons that house shield generators, Saturnine Terminator armor is nearly impervious to shell and shot, innately resistant to energy weapons because of exotic rare materials, and has hermetic sealing that shields its wearer from radiation. It also boasts a highly efficient yet compact reactor that generates surplus energy that can be stored to power sophisticated weapons supplied by the Phoebians as party of the Saturnine panoply. So that's where all those disintegrator weapons came from...

Wait, nope. Instead, the Phoebian arsenal, which was helped by the Emperor, consists of plasma bombardment weapons, particle shredders and power-wreathed melee weapons of gigantic proportion. No mention of disintegrator weapons? Huh?

Anyway, Saturnine Terminator armor placed far greater cognitive demand on the wearer, owing to the intricate neural uplink that connected to the black carapace, so Space Marines required some degree of cybertheurgic resonance like latent/suppressed psychic potential to unlock its full potential. Saturnine Terminator armor had nothing in common with standard equipment supplied to the Legions, so Martian Tech-Priests can't maintain and repair them. Instead, these duties fall to Phoebian attaches of each Legion force.

The poor Phoebian Tech-Enclaves were also obligated to completely disclose all their future technological discoveries to the Emperor.

To sum it all up, basically, Saturnine Terminator armor is awesome, and I'm not going to repeat how the Journal Tactica pretty much brags about how valuable an asset it is, resilient to heavy firepower and...uh, you can just buy the book if you're interested in what kind of xenos weaponry fails against it, or how commanders make use of Saturnine-clad warriors. I'm sure you can guess.

The limited numbers of Phoebian Tech-Wrights - the only ones capable of repairing and refitting Saturnine Terminator armor - meant the Legions were increasingly unable to maintain their growing stocks of damaged or inoperable armor as the Great Crusade wore on. Yikes. The attrition sees the reduction of once vast numbers of Saturnine armors to very few. For example, unlike Horus Lupercal who was able to oversee the deployment of a considerable number of operable Saturnine Terminator armor, by the time Corvus Corax was found, the Raven Guard had few, if any, remaining operable Saturnine Terminator armors. Oh, well.

By the time of the Horus Heresy, the usage of Saturnine Terminator armor and the role of their Phoebian attendants within Legion battle forces have declined, overshadowed by easier to produce and maintain Cataphractii and Tartaros Terminator armor. Fortunately for our beloved heavy shoulder pauldron armors, Vulkan, Primarch of the Salamanders, has a personal interest in restoring, constructing and maintaining them without relying on the Phoebian Forges.

Needless to say, he succeeded.

With the assistance of the Pyre Wardens, a unique sub-sect of the Salamanders' Legion Forge tasked with the ongoing trial and development of experimental wargear, he produces prototypes. The Pyre Wardens are also outfitted with the prototypes, and Vulkan commanded them to flee during the Dropsite Massacre - the Hearthfire crew is mentioned here, a nod to Gav Thorpe's Deeds Endure, the short story with the illustration that led to Saturnine Terminator armor being popularized in the fandom.

Before Horus revealed his betrayal during his voyage to the Isstvan system, Vulkan announced to everyone his Legion's success. Through subtle alterations and substitutions to its construction, the Salamanders have rendered Saturnine Terminator armor into a form that can be repaired and fabricated anew by the Martian Mechanicum and their Forge Worlds, and Legion Techmarines. The Legions are now able to retrofit their archived stocks of Saturnine plate for battle, supplement them with freshly fashioned armors, and even deploy a revived form of the towering Saturnine Dreadnought, a prototype of the early Great Crusade that was never mass produced. Vulkan generously distributed the schema, bestowing it to every Legion except the Thousand Sons (ouch!).

We have a cool list of what each and every Legion did with their Saturnine armor.

Dark Angels apparently have an unsurpassed cache of original Phoebian issued Saturnine plate, thanks to them being the 1st Legion and having access to all sorts of relics, and even during the Horus Heresy, they are still capable of fielding Saturnine armor. Most of which are wielded by the Dreadwing's Naufragia Terminators during the Thramas Crusade against the Night Lords.

The White Scars support the Librarius project, and alongside the Thousand Sons, help with the early prototyping of Vulkan's Saturnine endeavor, and this gives them access to a reasonable stock of Saturnine Terminator armor during the early years of the Horus Heresy. However, the Chondax Engagement and warpstorms delay their usage until after the Second Battle of Prospero.

The Space Wolves are reluctant to use Saturnine armor because the technology is associated with psychic practice, albeit suppressed. However, after the Thousand Sons mauled them at Prospero, they have no choice but to grab every advantage they can, including Saturnine Terminators and Dreadnoughts. These are accompanied by Speakers of the Dead and shadowed by the term "Draugr," which implies the poor Space Wolves wearing those armors do not have their minds shielded from warp horrors of the Great Crusade.

The Imperial Fists store most of their Saturnine armors in the Temple of Oaths on the Phalanx and almost all are seconded to the Retribution Fleet by Rogal Dorn, who wants to reexamine their combat capabilities when a full fabrication batch of Vulkan's renewed schema was ordered from the Legion's Forge to reinforce the defenses of the Sol System.

Blood Angel garrisons upon Baal and Canopus, unable to contact the bulk of their Legion because of the Signus tragedy, initiate a trial of new Saturnine wargear, the Saturnine "Colossi" of Baal enacting a stalwart defense of their home world during the Horus Heresy. Sanguinius and the majority of his Legion end up in Ultramar during the whole Imperium Secundus debacle, and they are outfitted with fresh Saturnine armors from the forges of Roboute Guilliman's realm. However, the survivors of Signus, upon interfacing with Saturnine plate, reawaken the darkness of that baleful conflict.

The Iron Hands viewed Saturnine plate as an erratic relic rendered obsolete by the myriad patterns of Dreadnought and automata in their arsenal. But apparently, they have been conducting research and experiments of their own?

Among the Ultramarines, the veterans of the Evocatii Chapters have the most experience wielding Saturnine plate, and they wore freshly forged Saturnine armor enabled by Vulkan's schema to fight the Shadow Crusade descending upon Ultramar. Roboute Guilliman also orders the surviving Phoebian-issued Saturnine armor refitted and used for the anticipated Ghaslakh Crusade, though they would instead be deployed in revenge for the Calth atrocity.

Obviously, the Salamanders - the poster boys for Horus Heresy 3rd edition - possess the most new pattern Saturnine wargear among the Legions at the start of the conflict, most dispatched with Vulkan to Isstvan V. Unfortunately, the entire complement would be lost during the Dropsite Massacre. Fortunately, the Pyre Warden artificer  cohorts retain early prototypes and the Legion's Forge on Prometheus have already begun fabricating successive batches of Saturnine wargear, first employed by the Unscarred garrison in Nocturne's defense before being used to spearhead the Scouring of the Pale Stars.

Unsurprisingly, the Raven Guard eschewed Saturnine plate because they favor mobility and subtlety over lumbering power, with the exception of the Deliverers. They have amassed a significant complement of Saturnine Terminators by the time Corvus Corax is discovered, but much was lost at Gate Forty-Two or dispatched in nomad predation fleets into the outer darkness. Fortunately, those that remained see their suits restored in the aftermath of the Dropsite Massacre, and the Deliverers also take pride in liberating caches of newly produced Saturnine plate from their Traitor foes.

Emperor's Children revere Saturnine plate, relegating their dwindling stock to a predominantly ceremonial role. With Vulkan's gift, the apothecaries modify their Saturnine plates to increasingly debased extremes to further the Legionary-armor interface when fielding them.

Perturabo, bitter as always, is initially reluctant to field Vulkan's Saturnine armors because he is jealous at his brother's success. And also, because the bastard believes it is a waste to arm "line warriors" with such valuable assets. However, having prized Saturnine plate's capabilities, he tasks his sons with devising new forms while fabricating a host of new Saturnine armors that he modifies into brutal new forms.

Fractured, the Night Lords have various responses, with several warlords requesting the Legion's Forge fabricate the new armor, others only wanting to steal Terminator and Dreadnought armors from other Legions as trophies, while a few spurn them entirely. One Night Lords commander enlists the Dark Mechanicum Forge World of Ulan Huda to fabricate a company's worth of fresh Saturnine plate.

The World Eaters originally avoided Saturnine plate because of deleterious interactions between its unique interface systems and the Butcher's Nails' cranial implants, and so they had no intention of fabricating Vulkan's revised schema. But a twisted cult emerged, its members exulting in the resilience demonstrated by those who don Saturnine plate despite it amplifying the Nails' effect. These morons...ahem, dudes are called Indurate, often taking pride in claiming their armors from slain foes, though fresh-wrought Saturnine plate is assigned to specialist Inductii cadres who have yet to succumb to the Nails' bite.

The Death Guard highly value their dwindling Phoebian-issue Saturnine plate during the Great Crusade, and they happily fabricate Vulkan's renewed pattern...only for most of it to go to Calas Typhon's company. Typhon is canny enough to conceal the armor's association with psyarkana from Mortarion so he can facilitate their wider distribution across the Legion without the filthy hypocrite throwing a fit.

Unfortunately for us Thousand Sons, when Vulkan circulates his reworked Saturnine schema, Prospero had already been razed and our forge-holdings stricken from the directory by which fabrication imprints are allocated to the Legions. Fortunately, the Thousand Sons had participated in the earliest development stages of Vulkan's project, and Legion elements shielded from the Burning of Prospero will later deliver an array of prototype Saturnine wargear to our scattered brothers, having mastered new psychic disciplines attuned to Saturnine use.

The Sons of Horus do not have Saturnine wargear at Isstvan because they do not have access to early reproductions of the design. Nevertheless, Horus Lupercal appropriates resources to furnish his Legion ensure various Traitor Mechanicum elements and an expanded Legion Forge are able to provide his Legion with several companies' worth of Saturnine suits by the early stages of the Horus Heresy. The majority is mustered under Justaerin captain Falkus Kibre.

At first, the Word Bearers don't really care much about Vulkan's renewed Saturnine designs because they prefer daemonology, warp-craft and more profane methods of augmenting their warriors. This changes when the Phraetus and their corrupted Saturnine panoply emerge, and they become more widespread.

Apparently, the Alpha Legion might have been fielding Saturnine armor long before the other Legions because...they're the Alpha Legion. No, I don't get it either...

The Dawn of the Age of Darkness

By this point, I'm exhausted, so I'll just summarize everything...

Vulkan restores Saturnine armor, being the genius he is, and distributes the schema to everyone. Then he's sent along with the Retribution Fleet to take the head of Horus Lupercal when the latter reveals his betrayal at Isstvan III. Vulkan is hoping that only his sons are replete with the might of Saturnine Terminator plate and Saturnine Dreadnought chassis, and that the Traitors don't have time to mass produce them...yet. He plans to deploy them into the Urgall Depression.

The Saturnine Provision is a contingency he formulates because he is skeptical about Ferrus Manus's reckless assault on Isstvan V, his newly forged Saturnine assets showing up in the Urgall Depression to outmatch Horus's assembled armies. Instead of deploying them initially, Vulkan holds his Saturnine assets back in orbital reserve, within teleportarium chambers aboard the Salamanders' fleet's vessels, such as the Fire Ark and Laecertii, ready to teleport.

The battle goes as you might as expect, and then the Saturnine Terminators teleport onto the battlefield after so many of their brothers have been slain in the Urgall Depression (this is making me depressed). Joined by Saturnine Dreadnoughts, who lumber from the landing site and require a longer period of preparation once planetside, they are reinforced further by the conveyor-arks of Legio Atarus and House Col'khak. Awesome. We're gonna smash the Traitors!

The Death Guard basically died.

Unfortunately, Dies Irae of Legio Mortis, shows up and the tide turns against the Loyalists. Long story short, while scores of Loyalist troops are erased - along with Traitors because Chaos don't care about friendly fire - a company of Saturnine Terminators move into close range to poke at Dies Irae in an attempt to collapse its void shields. They are countered by Eschatae, a Warhound Titan, and not even Saturnine Terminators and Dreadnoughts can stand up to a Titan. So they get obliterated. Mostly.

Raven Guard Storm Eagle, Herros, to the rescue! A bunch of Assault Marines jump on the Warhound Titan and bring Eschatae down, at the costs fo their lives and the poor gunship (which crashed). The surviving Salamanders Saturnine Terminators then focus their firepower on Dies Irae to drive its void shields to critical levels, and when pummeled by the Salamanders super-heavy tanks from a distance, the Imperator Titan is forced to retreat. Bye, Legio Mortis!

The Salamanders attempt to fall back and regroup around Vukan, but they are annihilated by atomic fire, launched from Iron Warriors. Night Lords and Alpha Legion then swept through the area in the wake of the bombardment. Damn Traitors. DAMN IT!

The Kolarne-Distal Incident

I won't lie, this is what interested me the most. Along with the new Prosperine Arcana. I mean, Thousand Sons, man. This is what I am. Anyway, I was wondering why the Thousand Sons would get into a conflict with the White Scars, their closest allies. Magnus and Jaghatai Khan have always been bros, there's no way the Thousand Sons would attack the White Scars. Right?

Right. Turns out, it was the other way around.

Despite being a genius, Vulkan still needs help in restoring the Saturnine technology, and he seeks it from the Thousand Sons because we're the preeminent experts in psy-tech. The unique interface systems designed by Phoebian technology are similar to psy-resonance devices discovered by the Imperium and understanding them is crucial to maintaining and fabricating Saturnine wargear beyond the tech-enclaves of Phoebe. Vulkan thus reaches out to the Thousand Sons, known experts in psyarkana, despite the Edict of Nikaea forbidding us from employing psychic powers. Ouch. So Vulkan has to be discrete, because he doesn't want our Legion to be scrutinized further due to our association with sorcery.

The outermost star system of the Kolarne Circle, Kolarne-Distal is located near the Maelstrom in the Ultima Segmentum, a pocket of calm in the raging realm of the warp. During the height of the Libarius project, the White Scars and Thousand Sons establish a joint research outpost at the system's border to analyze the Maelstrom's currents and serve as a repository and locus of study for psyarkana, including the relics of Kolarne-Distal.

This Spiracle Station retains its mission of study in the aftermath of the Edict of Nikaea, unaffiliated with the Librarius project and now a hermitage fo sorcerer-wrights who no longer have any place in the Imperium they once served. Fortunately, Vulkan gives us a place and sends a Pyre Warden artificer order's vessel to provide the garrison of Spiracle Station the initial prototypes of his attempt to redevelop Saturnine Terminator armor.

For two years, the Thousand Sons and White Scars work on restoring Saturnine wargear, maintaining contact with the Salamanders on their progress, but they are cut off from the Imperium when Magnus accidentally broke the Webway in Holy Terra, and a warpstorm swallows Kolarne-Distal whole. Fortunately, the system remains untouched despite the surrounding systems being devastated.

Unable to communicate with the wider Imperium and discovering that any attempts to leave the system will prove fatal, the Thousand Sons and White Scars have nothing better to do but continue restoring Saturnine armor, and they succeed. The Ruinstorm then blows away the Maelstrom, connecting Spiracle Station to the rest of the galaxy again. Yay! However, their first contact is with a strike cruiser, Endless Path, and its White Scar crew going insane and accusing the Thousand Sons of treachery. Even though we harbor them and allow them to dock, they immediately draw their weapons and try to kill the confused Thousand Sons.

Okay, he did tell the Stormseer Nikudaar and the Numerologist Okhafor an account of the Horus Heresy, the burning of Propsero and the condemnation fo Magnus and the Thousand Sons before he decides to go all psychotic murder on us. Nikudaar and the White Scars in Spiracle Station remain on our side and end up killing the crazed captain. The rest of the White Scars crew from the Endless Path end up going berserk and try killing both Thousand Sons and their White Scars brethren on Spiracle Station alike.

36 White Scars and 21 Thousand Sons versus three times that number of White Scars legionaries. Guess who won? Well, the guys with Saturnine armor, of course. Needless to say, the White Scars-Thousand Sons allied Saturnine force annihilates the insane White Scars attempting to murder them, and the White Scars garrison pretty much takes the Endless Path and leaves the system in search of their Primarch, Jaghatai Khan. Meanwhile, the Thousand Sons board Paroxysm, which is a XVth Legion vessel, and go their separate ways, in search of surviving Thousand Sons.

Being bros, they split the Saturnine armor and psyarkana stored in the vaults of Spiracle Station among themselves, abandoning the outpost, and sharing the fruits of their labor. And that's how the Thousand Sons get our Saturnine armor. Yay?

Oh, by the way, the crazed captain and his crazy crew? Before arriving at Spiracle Station, they came from the Prospero system, right after civil strife in the Vth Legion instigated by none other than the Brotherhood of the Dawn Sky, which they belong to.

The War of Bitter Iron

Iron Hands versus Word Bearers, basically. For some reason, the Iron Hands outnumber the Word Bearers (huh?) as the former launches a vengeful crusade toward the latter's home world of Colchis. Anyway, this specific account is the Sundering of Milhand, a diminished Forge World who has lost much of its military prowess after its small Titan Legio - Legio Ablutum (Cleansing Flame) - became Blackshields, and they were pretty much raided by Word Bearers and the Legio Mordaxis.

Interestingly, the Iron Hands fleet also has a super "kingship" of their own to rival the Word Bearers' Abyssal-class ships - a shard of Medusa's shattered orbital ring granted locomotion named Memorius. It's slow, though...so pretty much the whole story takes place before it arrives in orbit of Milhand and ends the poor Forge World with its colossal firepower.

Despite its diminished stature, Milhand is still vital in the Word Bearers' efforts and their defense of Colchis system due to the armor, munitions, equipment and weaponry they manufacture and supply. By the time the Iron Hands arrive, the Word Bearers are pretty much scrambling to get as much munitions, armor, equipment and supplies as they can off-world, for the larger war-effort. Obviously, the Iron Hands intend to stop them, and perhaps requisition a good chunk of those war materiel for themselves.

Long story short, the Iron Hands deploy in force, their superior numbers overwhelming Word Bearers defenses and overrunning them. Cataphractii and Gorgon Terminators are dispatched into the forge complex and fight their way through automata, servitors and even the machinery of the forge-complex itself. While the surface battle go well for the Iron Hands, their Contemptor Dreadnoughts and a single Saturnine Dreadnought pretty much making mincemeat out of the poor Word Bearers left behind to defend a shrinking cordon - and despite this cool scene where they merge the void shields of their Stormbirds together to make a last stand - the Saturnine Dreadnought pretty much obliterates their protection with his graviton pulverizer and inversion beamer. Nice.

The Cataphractii and Gorgon Terminators, on the other hand, don't fare as well. They stumble upon the cursed platform where daemon-infused Saturnine plate is being manufactured and anointed, and a bunch of Phraetus Anointed Conclave teleport in and begin slaughtering them. Despite outnumbering them two against one, the Iron Hands Terminators are wiped out, in exchange for only a single fallen Phraetus Anointed.

Similarly, twelve Phraetus Anointed teleport into the Word Bearers' defense to save them from the Iron Hands Breachers, tanks and walkers, but they got absolutely butchered. The Iron Hands Saturnine Dreadnought destroyed four of them while the Contemptor Dreadnoughts crushed two. With half their number slain, the remaining Phraetus Anointed basically beat it out of there via daemonic teleportation or whatever. The rest of the Word Bearers attempt to flee, but most are cut down by the sheer firepower the Iron Hands bring to bear, including anti-air fire from Deredeo Dreadnoughts.

Memorius proceeds to wreck whatever Word Bearer ships that remain in orbit, and Milhand now falls into the hands of the Iron Hands. Yes, that is on purpose. Ahem, anyway, the Iron Hands claim bloody salvage from the fallen Phraetus and Word Bearers, and they end up creating their own distorted Saturnine armor, known as Helwrought. Huh, okay.

The Bloody Toll of the Saturnine Renewal

The Solemn March sees the Ultramarines Saturnine Terminator squad Alepho march to the aid of Highborn Wardens and Evocatii battalions in the Decalian District in the world of Armatura, braving all sorts of firepower from Fire Raptors or ambushes, only to find them all massacred. Sad, grimdark.

The Siege of Baal is about the Saturnine Terminators of the Colossi standing guard over Baal, the 3,000 strong garrison supplemented by many times their number of bonded Solar Auxilia Cohort troops, such as Saiphan Elevatii, Gilded Sentinels and the Fusiliers of Canopus. Oh, and alongside sheltered Shattered Legions. They protect Baal from Traitor attacks after the perceived tragedy of Signus, saving hundreds of Legionaries and thousands of Solar Auxilia. Chads, every one of them.

During the Crucible of Nuceria, the Indurate Terminators employ Saturnine plate in mass against the elite cadres of Invictus Suzerains as Guilliman engages Angron. After the Ulramarines withdraw, they are suddenly attacked by fellow World Eaters, keen to claim the Saturnine suits as their own.

When the Inwit Cluster is attacked by Traitors, the world of Terros IV resist Emperor's Children raiders, with Bilatt Svenor of the Inwit Empire's Void Salvage Guild organizing a stalwart resistance from the world's hardy hive gangers and rig-hands. Fortunately, just when supplies and morale are running low, Imperial Fists Saturnine Terminators teleport into Terros IV and kick the Emperor's Children off the planet in style, allowing them to resume supply of promethium to the Loyalists.

As previously mentioned, Perturabo is initially reluctant to fabricate Saturnine armor because he thinks it's a waste for his line warriors, but he changes his bitter mind when he witnesses the endurance of Saturnine Terminators and Dreadnought chassis in Isstvan V. Mass manufacturing them, he deploys them during the Siege of Inwit, now having access to company-strength formations of Saturnine Terminators supported by many Dreadnoughts. These are known as Tekathikos, the Mountain Breakers.

This leads to the Imperial Fists in the Inwit Cluster specially designing hunter-killers with specialist weaponry to prioritize the destruction of Tekathikos before all others.