The battle for the Garmon Cluster is one of the pivotal campaigns of the Horus Heresy, and soon you’ll be able to fight its apocalyptic battles in epic scale when The Great Slaughter – the first campaign expansion for Legions Imperialis – goes up for pre-order on Saturday.
The Warmaster’s assault on the star cluster is the precursor to the Siege of Terra, so today we’re looking at the history of Beta-Garmon and why both Loyalists and Traitors were willing to throw entire Legions into the meat grinder.
To understand why both sides are fighting so hard over the Garmon Cluster, it’s important to know the significance of warp routes in the Age of Darkness.
Stable currents through the empyrean were vital for moving massive armies and logistical trains through the galaxy with any sort of regularity, as the time-twisting nature of the warp was lessened. Major routes were the lifelines along which Imperial forces travelled during the Great Crusade, and with humanity’s domain spread so wide, any hope of getting timely support across the galaxy needed to make use of the most stable and reliable currents.
The Garmon Cluster lay almost exactly halfway through the Via Solaris – also known as the Palatine Way – and connected Terra with the majority of its conquests in the galactic north and east. It was the only significant terminal where Horus could mass his armies before the final push to Terra, so the question was never whether he would attack. It was when.
Even before Horus’ armada bore down on Beta-Garmon, war had wracked the Garmon cluster for years. Shortly following the Drop Site Massacre, traitorous lords backed by the Emperor’s Children had covertly seized control of the ruling council and corrupted its leadership to serve Horus, leading to a rebellion by loyal commanders and escalating reinforcements from both sides.
A large contingent of Imperial Fists liberated the ousted Palatine-lady Irriane Vail and reinforced Nyrcon City – the heart of the cluster – before calling all available reinforcements to muster as soon as possible. In return, Horus dispatched a full tenth of his forces, numbering over 10,000 ships, with simple orders to either capture or ruin the Beta-Garmon system so his path to Terra was clear.
Disorganised Traitor forces rapidly spread out in search of personal glory and the joy of slaughter, though the core of the armada stayed true to its orders. Seeking to recapture Nyrcon City, they landed on the remote expanses of Beta-Garmon II not covered by the immense star-fort known as The Anvil and advanced half-way across the planet meeting resistance at every step.
The assaults that followed devolved into grinding battles of attrition that decimated Loyalist and Traitor armies alike, while Alpha Legion infiltrators stoked fear and mistrust among the human defenders of the planet’s cities. One attack was repelled at great cost, but a second found purchase within the city’s walls, and soon the Titans of Legio Astorum charged into the fray to meet the Traitors of Legio Mortis.
Without the city’s defences to shield them, and over a hundred Titans arrayed on the field, the Loyalists knew that only victory would guarantee their survival. And so, supported by squadrons of Land Raiders and Spartan Assault Tanks packed with troops, Legio Astorum strode into the outskirts of Nyrcon City to fight their foes head-on.
As dusk fell, only a handful of Titans stood operational as the forces savagely tore into each other at short range. The last Loyalist Titan fell as the sun set – vaporising a Traitor Reaver as it limped on its final vestiges of power – and soon only a few squadrons of Space Marine tanks remained to oppose the few survivors of Legio Mortis. The battlefield was choked with the smoking corpses of mighty god-engines, and never again would so many Titans be destroyed in such a short period of time.
The final victory for Horus was a hollow one, but it succeeded in clearing a path to the fateful Siege of Terra, and his final confrontation with the Emperor. If you fancy a chance to change history, and turn the Warmaster’s blade at the last moment, you can fight through your own campaign for Beta-Garmon when The Great Slaughter goes up for pre-order this Saturday. It works very nicely as a companion piece for the forthcoming supplement for your larger-scale games set in the Horus Heresy: Campaigns of the Age of Darkness – The Battle for Beta-Garmon is set during the same conflict, allowing players to zero in on key battles. This book will also be out soon.