Greetings everyone I would like to begin todays discussion on resource of sorts. That provides not only sourced information but also where to find this info. As I and everyone here are quite tired of having info sparsed to us, and not being given direct sourced documentation.
The first of this series, is on the First War of Armaggedon. While the information is very sparse. I believe it tells a very interesting narrative, and remains one of the more interesting 40k stories that power capped Angron in a more flavorful way and interesting way. As the current 40k writing has lended itself to be almost dragon ball z in terms of destruction.
I wanted to post this for first, as a source for people to use and a discussion about the wars of Armaggedon and specifically the First War. Instead of it being book quotes we have white dwarfs and websites to draw inspiration from. I hope people enjoy this and can discuss this war! I always felt the Wars of Armaggedon are Quintessential 40k and where 40k really rocks in telling really gripping narratives. I wish more wars were like those of Armageddon. As we've gotten very amazing stories from them including my next series, those of the Second War of Armageddon. The First War of Armageddon
The War-torn world of Armageddon has known the tread of invaders many times, most recently in the form of the Ork Warlord Ghazghkull Thraka's second invasion. However, Ghazghkull was not the first or even the greatest threat to Armageddon. Five hundred years before the ork warlord was even born, the taint of Chaos came to Armageddon. Trouble had been brewing for sometime, with riots and civil unrest spreading through the planet's main continental mass.
On Armageddon Secendus, the revolts were quickly suppressed, but those on Armageddon Prime proved to be more difficult to eradicate. Imperial Reinforcements could not easily reach Armageddon due to the presence of the Mid-Calvius CVII Warp storm. As the fighting continued, a vast space hulk appeared in orbit.
With the arrival of this space hulk, the rebels on armageddon were revealed as a cultists of the Ruinous Powers. To make matters worse, the great space hulk contained the Daemon Primarch Angron... (White Dwarf 203 Index Astartes : Terminators)
Now there are many versions of this story, but this the one from White Dwarf 303.The story of the First War of Armaggedon is one of the most ill-remembered stories in 40k, but one of the most documented. With the Imperial forces on Armageddon besieged by a massive chaos force.And strangely this is led by Daemon Primarch Angron,
It is unsure what fateful instances or treacherous motives trigger a full-scale attack by the vile forces of Chaos. One theory purported by some Imperial scholars is that, mercifully infrequently, the powers of Chaos set aside their rivalries and join together in a common cause, usually war with the followers of the Emperor of mankind - their most hated enemy. Such unholy amalgamations of hatred, greed, bloodlust and corruption are a melting pot of doom and as such these coalitions are uncaring as to where they vent their fury, leaving the location to the fickle currents of the Eye of Terror. The Chaos horde, which fell upon Armageddon with such ferocity, was such a case in point. A series of unnatural and unexplained events led to open, armed rebellion in a handful of hive cities, rebellions which were swiftly put down in the region of Armageddon Secundus, as the hives were geographically close. In the Armageddon Primus region however the hives were more widely spread thus hampering the loyalist forces attempts to restore imperial rule of law. Their attention consumed by the insurrection wracking their cities, the Imperial forces were caught completely by surprise when the Chaos ship, Devourer of Stars, appeared in the heart of the Armageddon sub-sector. Aboard the vast space craft a huge Chaos army led by Angron, Daemon Primarch of the World Eaters Space Marines who accompanied him on this monstrous vessel along with hordes of dark, twisted daemonic creatures which swept across the lands of Armageddon. The subtle, yet deadly tendrils of Chaos were quickly felt as the Imperial forces once again faced rebellion as fully half of their number defected to Chaos, the few remaining loyalist defenders being efficiently routed from Armageddon Prime. The all but defeated remnants of the Imperial defence forces fell back through the thick equatorial jungle, eventually joining forces with scattered pockets of survivors from Armageddon Secundus. This collection of troops regrouped and prepared to make a last stand along the banks of the rivers Styx and Chaeron. (First War of Armaggedon Website (https://web.archive.org/web/20031005004348/http://www.armageddon3.com:80/English/History/history_1st.html) )
Angron's forces were stalled by the Space Wolves and the Imperial forces, whom had deployed enmass to defend the World. And they grounded his forces to a halt. Yet Logan Grimnar knew that he was far outmatched, and sent word to Titan. The wolf ship arrived barely alive and was thundered and destroyed by the automated defenses of Titan. Tearing the vessel apart. Arrival on titan was not permited. Yet the lone wolf alive had a message about a daemon on Armaggedon.
To rally the Grey Knights was a pretty big task as it was made clear in Emperor's gift the chapter was spread out. While some might be unaware, but Titan is very rarely garrisoned enmass by the Grey Knights, the chapter itself is almost always spread across the galaxy, and there was no way that the entire chapter could gather. In a vision the Prognosticar of the grey knights (The Equalivent of a Farseer of the Greyknights), saw the vision of Angron, and confirmed the wolves warning. (Emperors Gift) Brother Captain Taremar Aurellian and the Grand Master of Titan (who is forbidden to leave it, as there must always be a Grand Master on titan) gathered One Hundred and Nine Grey Knights. Taremar Aurellian had become somewhat of a legend amongst the grey knights, he was given a prophecy one that would set him on a collision course with a dark son of the emperor. Taremar had originally been slated to join the Mortifactors, yet it was the Prognosticars of the Grey Knights seeing his potential and pureness arrived in a blaze of light then slaughtering the entire contingent of space marines to gather their prize, the younger Taremar. (White Dwarf 279 Codicium Imperialis - First War of Armaggedon )
Much of this is covered in the Grey Knights book : Emperor's Gift by Aaron Dembski-Bowden. This war in particular is interesting due to the fact that is was a tie in for the first Terminator Model Redux's in 2005, and for the Daemon Hunters Codex. The makeshift brotherhood gathered in full terminator armor and wargear. They as one teleported upon the ground of Armaggedon, a hundred knights versus the great Daemon Primarch Angron. Surrounding him was his bodyguard, Twelve Bloodthirsters.
The grey knights and daemons made battle, fighting as the grey knights were slaughtered and slaughtered in kind each of the blood thirsters. Yet it was a single grey knight, Hyperion whom charged the Daemon Primarch with his squad and broke the great blade. Buying enough time for the Brother Captain Taremar Aurellian, now incensed and given the powers of his brothers all the grey knights psychic power poured into him, becaming a beacon of light upon the battlefield.
Taremar banished Angron with his strike of his blade, banishing the Daemon Primarch back into the wrap. Yet Taremar died in the process. The war did not end here, yet it was that the grey knights part in it was, the chaos forces fell apart. And the wolves took advantage of the scene helping to secure the surviving greyknights to safety. Out of the one hundred and nine deployed, only thirteen Grey Knights survived the battle. Four Months later the war was over, the Grey Knights wounded yet their task complete. Yet... our story doesn't end here. The most interesting part about the first war, isn't the first war. But the After Effects. The Months of Shame. Which many often discuss far more than the actual war of Armaggedon as they kind of go hand in hand. The Months of Shame
Kysnaros, Inquisitor Lord of the Ordo Malleus ordered the deaths of every single mortal involved in the war of Armaggedon. The reason? For having seen the Daemon Primarch, Angron. Every single human, those who weren't important enough on the surface of Armageddon was to be sent to work camps and worked to death.
Logan upon hearing this decided to throw his fleet in the way of the inquisition forces so they couldn't fire at the imperial guard forces evacuating the planet. As the inquisition saw that armed military combatants could be corrupted by Chaos as was the sight of seeing a Daemon Primarch. The wolves smuggled people off the planets, putting their own battle barge in the way to prevent the inquisition from firing upon the escapees.... The Cold war between the two imperial forces had begun.
The Wolves smuggled entire sections of the population across entire planets, throwing them into trade lanes on random ships, and imperial veterans whom had survived were scattered across the entire galaxy Yet many worlds that the survivors went to the Inquisition destroyed, exterminating entire planets in their search for the armaggedonites, but it became impossible to track down. Dissension grew amongst the ranks of the Inquisition, Kysnaros was failing to contain the spread of the survivors. Some within it saw the tasks of tracking down all the survivors as an impossible task. And couldn't risk outright destroying more world.
The Imperial Inquisition turned their attention to the Space Wolves the main culprits of their woes, and knew they had a target to blame. The Wolves had learned of the destruction of many imperial worlds. Yet it was the wolves and their honorable ways had led to more deaths. No one was winning this. Yet the wolves were ready to meditate with the Inquisition, by invitation a of Grandmaster of the Grey Knights. They met with the inquisition forces. And then... The Inquisition fired upon the peaceful delegation of Wolves, destroying four of their ships and crippling the capital ship of the Wolves. The wolves teleported aboard the Inquisition ship and Logan screamed who gave the order, the Grandmaster not willing to sacrifice Kysnaros said he did. Logan took his head, and screamed out to the inquisitor. And began to teleport away, but the grey knights had purposefully let them teleport aboard and blocked the teleport with their psychic abilities.
The wolves angered fired their storm bolters at the gathered grey knights and jumped away as the Kysnaros had no idea how to respond without dying himself. Letting Logan Grimnar and his wolves go. And the wolves at that point were at full war with the Inquisition and Imperial forces.
The next few months.... Boiling out to heavy casualties between the Grey Knights and Space wolves, and even the inquisition forces taking the brunt of the damage. The Wolves barred their teeth and bit down. They attacked the inquisition while also suffering casualties themselves... The cold war had erupted into a full on war.
While interesting the war itself or 'months of shame' as the grey knights called it, were not entirely happy fighting a First Legion.
The Battle of Fenris
It all came to a final attack upon Fenris itself, the Inqusition had brought an entire Sector Fleet, the grey knights and the Red Hunters Space Marine chapter. Two members of the Inqusition, Hyperion a Grey Knight and a Fenrisian Inquisitor by the name of Jarlsdottyr were representatives. Inqusitior Kysnaros wanted to give the wolves an ultimatum: submit perform a penitent crusade or face their destruction. Yet curiously they found only a single Strike Cruiser above the Fang. The inqusitior assumed that the wolves had been bled dry. They arrived on the ground near the Fang, and were greeted by none other than Bjorn the Fellhanded, one of the most ancient dreadnoughts in the imperium. Which cause Jarlsdottyr to start praying, and even the grey knights pause. He made clear, "The Wolves would not surrender."
Pissing Kysnaros the hell off as he saw the entire space wolf fleet appear in orbit. To put it into prespective the Wolves have the largest fleet out of all the space marine chapters. They unlike others never broke down their fleet, they kept their good stuff. The inqusitior had angered the wolves greatly by entering fenris, and demanding their surrender, and the Inquisitor pissed off the entire Wolf Chapter by firing at fenris... The Wolves attacked slamming their ships into the Imperial Fleet, casualities on both sides mounting, until Kysnaro's main flagship's shields were torn down by the Wolves Fleet. Logan Grimnar as the shields were depleted teleported aboard the ship and went about systematically wiping out the Grey Knights, all those aboard the flagship until they entered the command bridge with Hyperion, the Inqusitior Lord Kysnaros, and Jarlsdottyr. The Wolves had penetrated the entire fleet just to kill Kysnaros and Logan Grimnar killed the Inquisitor.
Yet the battle had turned into a bloodbath for both sides. Then a teleporter erupted, in a glow a massive form appeared standing on the command bridge, it was Bjorn the Fellhanded. Pleading with the Great Wolf to cease his campaign, and that the vengeance had been exacted with the death of Kysnaros. The Great Wolf agreed and the inquisition led by the Grey Knight Hyperion who had become well known by the wolves as the Bladebreaker, and Jarlsdottyr led the negotation and the Wolves were allowed to live, and remember the war of armaggedon and namely... The Grey Knights. As a reminder to never stand up against the Inquisition. Hyperion for his deeds in the months of shame was banished to never enter Fenris's System ever again.
The inquisition fleet and the wolves departed without any further fighting. Yet Logan Grimnar would remember, he would remember the dishonor the inquisition had stooped too. The Grey Knights and the Segementum Solar's administratum saw the wolves as a menance. Yet it was hyperion, while he left the fenris system watched psychically as the great Bjorn was put back into stasis.
All sides had lost considerably forces, the wolves had lost entire relics, ships dating back to the times of the Great Crusade, and many Astartes. It was both chapters that had suffered the most, the Grey Knights most considerably had lost two entire brotherhoods, from both the first war of armaggedon and the months of shame. Leading to the grey knights being considerably under strength. Hyperion now the last of the prognosticators. Notes to everyone Yet all in this, I respect the space wolves, they both right and wrong. They should've know better yet, it was the inquisition that pulled the trigger. The needless destruction of many imperial worlds, the attack on fenris, is laid at the feet of more than just the Inquisitor Lord. Logan Grimnar and by extension the entire inqusition's after attacks on both the wolves and the imperium is incredibly sloppy.
They could've contained this! Yet, they didn't and it caused more woe and rampant destruction. Entire shrine worlds, hiveworlds devastated by the imperiums own guns. This book Emperor's Gift remains one of my favorite stories in 40k, a tragic yet heroic tale, and one of the more interesting battles of the Imperium where neither side really 'won'.
In my eyes, after the dreadful way the Space Wolves were shown to be, as these horrific butchers in the horus heresy. The wolves were in a strange way redeemed by the Months of Shame, in the preheresy the wolves would never risk their lives for innocent people, or those they fought besides. The Wolves in 40k had become an honorable type. As this was on the sharp heels of Burning of Propsero and a Thousand Sons, this made me like the Wolves and respect the Grey Knights.
I highly recommend reading Emperors Gift. And this will mark the first venture I make into documenting the entirety of the Wars of Armaggedon as I came into contact with an entire wide collection of my Uncle's White Dwarves, I found I have the Eye of Terror Campaign booklets, the Entire Third war of Armaggedon campaign White Dwarf, and almost all of the Index Astartes for the First Founding Legions and many other chapters.
I hope you enjoyed the read, and would love to hear some corrections on my side, along with any interesting tidbits you took away about the war.
Sources : Emperors Gift by Aaron DB White Dwarf 275 White Dwarf 203 The Armaggedon Website : https://web.archive.org/web/20031005004348/http://www.armageddon3.com:80/English/History/history_1st.html
