The Horus Heresy was once nothing more than a single sentence in Chapter Approved, The Book of the Astronomicon*. Written in 1988, this tiny kernel of information intrigued readers: who was Horus, and what caused him to betray the Emperor? Well…
From this tiny seed an immense saga was outlined in Realm of Chaos – Slaves to Darkness** which then quickly grew, expanding into short stories in White Dwarf, longer fiction, and eventually more than 60 novels and dozens more stories, fleshing out a civil war that had the whole galaxy in flames. This epic conflict that pitted brother against brother even spawned a whole game, Warhammer: The Horus Heresy.
During the first edition of this game, nine luxurious and leatherbound “Black Books'' were released, acting as a historical account and gaming supplement. The first was Betrayal, which was accompanied by the first large primarch miniature – Angron.
Although the first Primarch models were released at Epic scale for 1992’s Space Marine game, Angron was the first to arrive for the Horus Heresy Character Series. This range eventually grew to contain all 18 Primarchs, from Lion El’Johnson to Alpharius, and then to other dramatis personae from the Horus Heresy like Nathaniel Garro and Sevatar.
Sculpted in resin and running at a furious sprint, his twin chainaxes Gorechild and Gorefather in hand, the Red Angel stood above two unlucky World Eaters while trampling over a third marine from the Death Guard.
Although his Armour of Mars is of Nucerian design and irregular in the Legions, much of the work on Angron went on to inform the design of future miniatures, which took a gritty and battle-worn aesthetic to suit the incredible scale of the bloodshed.
All four daemon Primarchs were first featured in Space Marine: Epic Battles in the Age of Heresy, albeit in smaller forms that bear little resemblance to their modern versions.
Later, with the recent World Eaters release for Warhammer 40,000, Angron returned in glory – transfigured into the Daemon Primarch of Khorne.
Despite his daemonic appearance, the new miniature is full of nods to his original Horus Heresy form, with armour elements repeated with the sense of brutal physicality associated with this avatar of Khorne’s wrath.***
* Observant readers can still find this exact early mention printed on the back of the Age of Darkness Rulebook.
** Which is available in reprinted form to Warhammer World visitors.
*** Check out our interview with the designer of Angron for more insights.