With a new edition of Warhammer: The Horus Heresy coming soon, seasoned fans of the Warhammer hobby have been waxing nostalgic. If you’ve joined more recently, you might be curious why it’s such a big deal – so today we’re going to take you on a journey through the evolution of this venerable game setting.
The Early Days
You’d be forgiven for thinking that the Horus Heresy has been a part of the lore of the 41st Millennium since the beginning… but that’s not quite right. When the first edition of Warhammer 40,000 arrived in the late 80s, there was no mention of Horus and his Heresy – unless you count an oblique reference to an ancient civil war.
The galaxy’s messiest breakup didn’t get its name until 1988, with the first edition of Adeptus Titanicus.
Back then, this game of giant-scale battles with small-scale miniatures was a bit of a risk to produce. It would be an easier pill to swallow if it only needed one set of models. In that case, both sides needed to be human-piloted Titans – so the writers got to work on a simple concept that could explain it all, and the idea for a civil war was born.
Even then, the Horus Heresy was hardly more than a name. It wasn’t until the concepts of Chaos were laid out in the two Realm of Chaos books that the Horus Heresy was properly revisited, cementing many of the concepts you still see today.
Slaves to Darkness named Horus as the Warmaster, laid out the treachery of Isstvan, and even explained how he fell prey to an insidious cult on Davin, while The Lost and the Damned introduced even more now-famous Traitors, such as the Night Lords and Iron Warriors. Though many of the details have changed, these books became a treasure trove of ideas that background writers and Black Library authors would continue to mine for concepts* decades later.
The Emperor vs Horus
There’s one image of the Horus Heresy that has captured the imagination of countless fans over the years – the showdown between Horus and the Emperor, with Sanguinius lying dead at the Warmaster’s feet.
This iconic scene has been rendered several times by artists, and no wonder! It encapsulates the very core of the Horus Heresy – a bitter clash between superhuman warriors, surrounded by the casualties of war. Readers of a certain vintage will certainly recognise this diorama, created by the inimitable Mike McVey, which was inspired by the original black-and-white piece by Adrian Smith.
You can still find this tragic scene in the Exhibition Halls at Warhammer World, and it’s well worth a look next time you’re about. If you’ve been following along with the Siege of Terra series, you’ll surely be looking forward to reading about this climactic moment soon…
Another oft-forgotten aspect of that fateful showdown was the presence of a human named Ollanius Pius. In early versions of the story, this mere mortal saved the Emperor from a disastrous blow that would have changed the course of the fight – and galactic history. Well into the second edition of the game, his image would appear in artwork of the Astra Militarum, who worshipped him as a saint.
Through long years, many hobbyists, authors, and artists would put their own spin on the Horus Heresy setting. Notably, a couple of short stories by William King, entitled Assault on Holy Terra** and Aboard Horus’ Battlebarge solidified a few more of the facts we know today. It became a sort of creation myth for the Warhammer 40,000 universe, obscured by the mists of time… until a series of novels codified it.
The Books
While the Horus Heresy had existed for years as a key aspect of the Warhammer 40,000 background, much of it was shrouded in mystery and supposition. Black Library decided to change all that, with an absolutely epic series of novels that continues to this very day.
Beginning with the novel Horus Rising*** way back in 2006, readers began to get a taste of what the Great Crusade, the early Legiones Astartes, and especially the Primarchs were all about. Here, we saw the 18 Legions in a light we never could in the background material of a source book. Here, they came to life.
The popularity of the Horus Heresy series is undeniable – and after over 50 volumes, it’s still going strong. The characters and events explored in those pages had such a strong pull on people’s hearts, they wanted to recreate them on the tabletop.
The Horus Heresy Game
The first books that contained rules to play games set in the 31st Millennium – at least, at a scale Warhammer 40,000 players would be familiar with – started coming out in 2012, with The Horus Heresy: Betrayal.
The affectionately-named ‘black books’ offered a wealth of thoroughly detailed lore, relayed in a pseudo-historical style as an anonymous remembrancer scraped through wartorn records, censored archives, and bitter memories – including maps, after-action reports, and guides to the livery, tactics, and culture of the Legions.
The books also included rules based on the (then-current) seventh edition of Warhammer 40,000 – and officially became a fully separate game in 2017, continuing its tradition of absolutely stunning supplements stuffed with incredible illustrations, riveting campaign details, and beautiful examples of the models.
The Models
Of course, you need miniatures to play a miniatures game, right? Forge World has been populating the battlefields of the Horus Heresy for many years now, with models for all 18 Primarchs, special units for each Legion, and armies unique to the Age of Darkness, such as the Ordo Reductor of the Cult Mechanicum and the human heroes of the Solar Auxilia – all lovingly rendered as resin models.
In addition, there have been two previous boxed games which both added plastic models to the range, covering a variety of characters, power armour marks, and patterns of Terminator armour, and even a plastic Contemptor Dreadnought – though the new Contemptor will have more poses, more guns, and more contempt.
If you’re looking to start up an army to dominate the 31st Millennium – or expand your forces already fighting in the Horus Heresy – more of the range will be made available in plastic than ever before. Plus, there are resin upgrade kits to give you all the Legion flavour you’re looking for – with more on the way.
The second edition of Warhammer: Horus Heresy, along with the epic Age of Darkness boxed set, make this an excellent time to get into the game – whether you’ve been a fan for a long time, or just can’t resist all those stunning new models. Need yet another reason to get hyped up? Feast your eyes on that cinematic trailer…
Head over to the Warhammer: The Horus Heresy website to find out which Legion fits you best, sign up for email updates, and see what’s in the Age of Darkness boxed set – or you can learn how to paint your favourite Legion on the Citadel Colour site. Keep a watchful eye right here on Warhammer Community for loads more news each week.
* And even book titles for both the Horus Heresy and Siege of Terra.
** Featuring this iconic opening line – “On the thirteenth of Secundus, the bombardment began.”
*** “I was there, the day Horus slew the Emperor” is another excellent way to kick off a story.