Warhammer+ is on its way soon – in fact, it launches on Wednesday the 25th of August – and one of the many exclusive features of the unmissable subscription service is the Battle Report series, which will see some of the most seismic battles in the long history of Warhammer 40,000 and Warhammer Age of Sigmar played out as epic, narrative-driven games.
That got us thinking about some of the mighty clashes that could potentially be showcased in the Battle Report series. If any of these had gone a different way, the galaxy would be a very different place.
The First Tyrannic War, The Battle of Macragge
When the full might of Hive Fleet Behemoth descended upon the realm of Ultramar, the Ultramarines Chapter faced the greatest threat to its survival since the sudden, treacherous attack of the Word Bearers Legion some ten millennia earlier. Though the First Tyrannic War would ultimately be won in a costly space battle by the combined efforts of Battlefleet Tempestus and the formidable warships of the Ultramarines, a massive invasion of Macragge took place that saw the Chapter suffer such grievous losses that it took them many years to recover.
Key Battle: The Battle of Cold Steel Ridge
In a battle that saw the first emergence of the Tyranid leader-beast that would later become known as the Swarmlord, the Tyranids began fighting in a manner never before seen, employing cunning strategies, and even playing dead to catch the Ultramarines off guard. After being challenged to personal combat by the unstoppable Hive Tyrant – duelling being a notion previously thought beyond the comprehension of Tyranids – Marneus Calgar himself was cut down, and only the timely intervention of his Honour Guard saw him survive the encounter. See? Not even Lord Macragge wins every battle!
In the battle’s aftermath, Master of Sanctity Ortan Cassius, who in the past had spent many years among the Deathwatch, petitioned his Chapter Master to form a specialist branch of Tyranid hunters to help consolidate what they had learned from the conflict. Calgar consented, and the Codex Astartes itself was officially amended (shock horror!) to include a divergent fighting formation known as the Tyrannic War Veterans.Even if you ignore the fact that were it not defeated at the Battle of Macragge, Hive Fleet Behemoth would have wrought untold devastation upon the 500 Worlds of Ultramar and beyond into the wider Ultima Segmentum, it was serious enough for the Ultramarines to actually change the Codex Astartes. Let that sink in for a moment…
The Battle of Rynn’s World
When the huge Ork Waaagh! crashed into Rynn’s World, the home world of the Crimson Fists, few could have imagined that the vast majority of the Chapter’s strength would be lost before the invaders even made planetfall. A misfiring planetary defence missile veered off course to crash into the arsenal of the Crimson Fists fortress-monastery, Arx Tyrannus. The resulting detonation levelled the fortress, killing many hundreds of the Chapter’s warriors and leaving only a fraction of their original number to face the fury of the Orks.
Key Battle: The Battle of Steel Cross
A crucial turning point in the conflict saw Chapter Master Pedro Kantor and Captain Alessio Cortez of the 4th Company rally their surviving battle-brothers and hold the line against the main thrust of the invading Ork army, led by their Warboss Urzog Mag Kull.
At the battle’s height, the Warboss severed Cortez’s arm with his choppa before running the Captain through. But rather than succumbing to his injuries, the stoic Captain disarmed his opponent by sharply twisting his torso, then punched a primed krak grenade into its mouth to blow the Warboss’ head clean off. Not the most conventional way to win a duel, but definitely an effective one!
Had the Battle of Steel Cross been lost, the Crimson Fists would undoubtedly have been annihilated and consigned to the annals of Imperial history. Countless more Imperial worlds in the Ultima Segmentum would likely have fallen to Hive Fleet Leviathan and the T’au Empire’s Third Sphere Expansion. With their strength restored through Primaris reinforcements by the order of Roboute Guilliman himself, the Crimson Fists lived on to play a pivotal role in fighting against the mounting xenos aggression in the region.
The Second Siege of Terra, The Battle of Lion’s Gate
When the Cicatrix Maledictum tore open across the galaxy, dimming the searing psychic light of the Astronomicon, warp storms swept across the stars, leaving no world safe from the newly invigorated forces of Chaos. Seeking to prove his dominance over his infernal brothers, Khorne unleashed no less than 88 of his daemonic legions to assail the cradle of Humanity itself, Holy Terra. Awkward.
Key Battle: The Battle of Lion’s Gate
As the Khornate hordes slaughtered their way towards the Imperial Palace, Captain-General Trajann Valoris mustered as many of the Custodian Guard as could be spared – some 4,000 in total – along with a detachment of the Daemon-hunting Grey Knights, and made a stand at Lion’s Gate. Despite this gathering of might, the Daemons nonetheless reaped a terrible toll, and only the sudden arrival of the resurrected Primarch Roboute Guilliman, Sisters of Silence from Luna, and the first Primaris Marines saw Khorne’s legions finally driven back.
This ferocious assault on Holy Terra was far too close for comfort, so Roboute Guilliman’s first decree as newly appointed Lord Commander of the Imperium was to reevaluate how the birth world of Humanity could be better defended to ensure that such an attack could never happen again, for all could have been lost.
So, there you have it – three apocalyptic conflicts and three game-changing battles, and we’ve barely even scratched the surface. For starters, we didn’t even mention any of the three wars for Armageddon, nor the Fall of Cadia, for that matter. But how cool would it be to see epic showdowns such as these played out on Battle Report on Warhammer+? Pretty awesome, we reckon.
What’s more, we want YOU to tell us which legendary battles from Warhammer 40,000 and Warhammer Age of Sigmar you’d like to see realised on Battle Report – whispered rumour has it that some galaxy-defining battles didn’t even feature Space Marines!* Send your suggestions to whtv-inbox@gwplc.com, and let us know what recommendations you’ve submitted on our Warhammer 40,000 Facebook page too. And if you haven’t already done so, make sure you sign up for our special Warhammer+ newsletter for all the latest information.
* To be honest we really wanted to get some awesome Space Marines art together for this one, including the last stand that launched countless Crimson Fists armies.