#battle for beta-garmon

[titanomancy]

[LOYAL SCREAMING]

[barrycoganart]

Solaria Marches.

Though nearly wiped out during the gruelling and bitter battles of the Horus Heresy from the much-contested Beta-Garmon, to the crumbling walls of the Imperial Palace of Terra. Legio Solaria lived and rebuilt to continue its service in the name of the Imperium. Here one of its Warlord Titans hunts for enemy engines of all to enact its revenge upon days gone by. Enjoy!

[farsight-the-char]

Big Things, No Kill Team though.

ToW Orcs and Goblins stuff, including Big Box for the Boyz.

Solar Auxilia release, along with The Battle for Beta Garmon book.

Lord of Excess release for 40k's Emperor's Children Black Library book. (most important thing of this week's stuff).

Loremasters looks at the Croneseer (neat), Masterclass looks at Lighting.

Adepticon on Wednesday for me, Thursday for most of you.

[imperialinquisition]

The minds of mortals are not born to conceive of what we have seen, nor are their frail bodies born to endure what we have been forced to withstand. And yet, we bear witness; and yet, we stand.

We were the avatars of the god-engine; we were the lords of engine-war; we were the hand of Titandeath.

These words we recount so they might last as long as the stars still burn and the heavens still turn. We carve them into stone as once did the most primitive of ur-men, for they knew no other means of preserving the knowledge gleaned in their own fleeting lives.

Not long ago we might have committed such accounts to the purest of the sacred crystal data-stacks, certain that our Temples of All-Knowledge would stand for all time. But the age through which we have endured, the sights we have borne witness to, have dispelled such hubris. Now, we know only stone endures - the sacred matter from which all machines and all machine-servants are come. Knowledge is knowledge, irrespective of the medium on which it is recorded.

And thus we preserve the memory of a thousand god-engines bestriding the sulphur wastes of Taral III; of deserts turned to plains of glass during the Scouring of Ollanz; of Princeps Koval’s end at Morokai. We commit to stone the memory of the Imperial Hunters at the Second Battle of Paramar; the Firebrands at Istvaan V; the War Griffins at Tallarn; the Tempestus at Mars; the Nova Guard at Beta-Garmon. And when the time comes, we shall relate the calamitous events of Terra, and the devastation that followed thereafter during the Scouring.

We, who have heard the war sirens of entire Orders whose names are now consigned to history, grow few. Yet the song of war rings in our ears and we pray it shall echo down the ages for all time. These things we commit to the annals of our epoch, that those who come after us might propagate our knowledge and thus ensure our immortality, even should the sacred processes cease and the great reactors gutter and grow cold. Even now, the once-roaring data-looms fall silent and ancient cogitation stacks slow. A new age of ignorance is upon us, and it is our sacred duty to hold darkness and data-death at bay while we are still able...

This oath we give in blood and deed. The gods of war shall walk, and death shall follow with us.

- Preface to the Adeptus Titanicus Rulebook

[ask-valerian-40k]

Legio Krytos (God Breakers) 

a Traitor Titan Legion of the Dark Mechanicum that repudiated its oaths to the Emperor of Mankind and followed the Warmaster Horus into the service of the Ruinous Powers during the Horus Heresy.

The Legio Krytos is known to have participated in both the infamous Battle of Tallarn and the Battle of Beta-Garmon. Even before the outbreak of the Heresy, this notorious Titan Legion were known to be excessive in their pursuit of achieving Imperial Compliance and possessed a love for overkill.

The God Breakers were also known for making extensive use of Earthbreaker Missiles -- specialised weapons that were designed to burrow into the ground before detonating, tearing the terrain apart in showers of broken earth. These weapons were used extensively by the Legio Krytos to bring down fortifications, but they also proved effective in slowing the advance of enemy maniples.

Perhaps as a result of these preferences in waging war, they tended to work closely with the siege-breaking Iron Warriors Legion.

[space-outlaw-jin]

THE STORY Horus’s armada gathers, and he has defeated all enemies sent against him, even the Emperor’s own executioner. One barrier remains before he can strike for Terra and lay waste to the Emperor’s dream. The Beta-Garmon system occupies the most direct and only viable route to the Solar System and Terra. To break it, Horus assembles a war host of incredible proportions and Titans in untold numbers. To lose here is to lose the war and Horus has no intention of turning back. But the Imperium understands the importance of Beta-Garmon too. A massive army is arrayed, comprised of near numberless Army cohorts and a mustering of Titans to challenge even the martial might of the Warmaster. Titans fight against Titans as the God-Machines of Loyalists and Traitors alike go to war. This conflict will be like no other before it, a world-ending battle that will determine the next phase of the war

[asktheadeptus]

Mastodon

The Mastodon Heavy Assault Transport, or simply Mastodon, is a super-heavy assault transport that was utilised by the Legiones Astartes during the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy. The Mastodon was one of the heaviest assault transports ever used by the Space Marine Legions, and was reserved for use against only the most heavily fortified of enemy positions. At several times the size of a Land Raider, the Mastodon was a truly formidable war machine, capable of ferrying up to forty Space Marines, or twenty Marines and two Dreadnoughts through the most perilous of battlefields and protecting them from the most powerful of enemy weapons, including Titans. Although Mastodons were used by nearly every Legion, they were used sparingly during the later Great Crusade as deploying them was a major operation in itself, being mostly deployed during long protracted siege operations where one or more entire Legions had amassed to destroy a foe that no other was capable of engaging. As the Horus Heresy ground ever onward the Mastodon saw an increase in its deployment rate, as both sides of the conflict committed every last weapon and vehicle to utterly destroy their hated foe.

Combat Role

The primary combat role of the Mastodon was the safe delivery of its Astartes passengers directly into the enemy defenses, and usually used to breach fortified walls or structures using its forwards firing Siege Melta Array and heavy armoured prow. The Mastodon's forwards Siege Melta Array could create a breach through even the thickest of enemy walls, few fortifications could withstand this fearsome weapon. Once the Mastodon creates a breach powerful interior servos fire the assault doors open, smashing aside debris and unfortunate enemies and allowing the Space Marines within to press directly into the heart of the enemy's position. Once the Space Marines begin to cross through the breach the rear ramp lowers, allowing more squads to funnel through the Mastodon and into the enemy stronghold all the while being protected by the Mastodon's heavy armour and weaponry as the Mastodon itself acts as an armoured breach tunnel.

Construction

The Mastodon is designed as the ultimate siege transport, carrying a large group of infantry straight up to the enemy's walls, breaching said walls, and protecting the infantry as they pour through the vehicle and into the interior of the enemy fortress or stronghold. The interior and exterior of the Mastodon is heavily armoured, with an armoured shell acting the interior tunnel portion of the vehicle and armoured ceramite plating protecting the exterior from enemy fire. The inside is subdivided into different sections with armoured bulkheads that protect the different areas from fire and damage, opening to allow infantry to progress through. The vehicle's upper deck is where the driver and crew are stationed, with hatches and portholes allowing officers to direct the battle around them. The entire vehicle can be sealed closed in case the enemy makes use of chemical or viral weaponry. The reinforced interior shell and thick exterior armour can protect the vehicle so well that even when suffering from catastrophic damage the vehicle may simply be reduced to a nearly indestructible wreck of twisted metal, acting as a small bunker that can protect those who need shelter from the storm of battle outside.

Known Campaigns

The following is a list of known campaigns that Mastodons were used in:

Kharaatan Campaign - The Salamanders Legion used nearly 150 Mastodons during the Kharaatan Campaign to transport the entirety of their forces on the ground, approximately 6000 Space Marines.

Signus Campaign - At least one Mastodon was used by the Blood Angels Legion during the Signus Campaign, this single Mastodon was used to carry Blood Angels across the battlefield to the Chaos Temple known as the Cathedral of the Mark. This Mastodon was torn apart and eventually abandoned when it became trapped in massive thorns near the temple.

Thramas Crusade - The Iron Hands Legion used at least eight Mastodon's against the Death GuardLegion. Death Guard Grave Wardens eventually captured the eight known Mastodons.

Xana Incursion - Loyalist World Eaters under the command of Endryd Haar repainted at least one Mastodon in the livery of the Sons of Horus to deceive the Dark Mechanicum Magi of Xana.

Notable Mastodons

The following is a list of notable Mastodons:

The Ios Est, a World Eaters Mastodon cunningly repainted in the livery of the Sons of Horus

Ios Est - The Ios Est was a near enigmatic Mastodon believed to have come from the World Eaters Legion, possibly belonging to World Eaters Loyalists under the command of Endryd Haar. During the Xana Incursion a Mastodon codified as the Iso Est bore the livery of the Sons of Horus Legion and was used to deceive and attack the Dark Mechanicum at Xana. The vehicle was believed to have been destroyed on Xana V as being unmasked when the World Eaters launched their suprise attack against the isolated Forge World. The Ios Ests ultimate fate is unknown, although unconfirmed reports describe a Mastodon, its armour scoured to bare metal, in service with the irregular forces commanded by Endryd Haar during the battles for Beta-Garmon and even during the Siege of Terra. This is however unlikely, but many things from the Age of Darkness are unknown, lost in mystery.

Source: http://warhammer40k.wikia.com

[bonesingerofyme-loc]

Titandeath

A summary

Spoilers within

The Titandeath was the largest engagements of Imperial Titans to date on Beta Garmon II in which hundreds and hundreds of Titans engages in what was practically infantry warfare on a legendary scale. Imperators duelling Imperators, dozens of warlords, thousands of Knights.

Titandeath, by Guy Haley, is about the Battle of Beta Garmon.

It takes a 1/4 of the book to actually have a Titan duel, and it is very short. It’s also small scale, practically a skirmish.

It takes 3/4 of the book to actually get to the titular ‘Titandeath’.

And do you know what happens?

We watch as the massive landing of the Titans happens. Legions walk. 

And then it hard cuts to the Blood Angels and is like ‘so the battle has been raging for hours, and here is Sanguinius killing an Imperator’. Then it hard cuts again to days later, for a brief skirmish between 6-7 Titans. Then it hard cuts again to a week later when the battle IS FUCKING OVER.

WHAT THE FUCK, HALEY?

WHERE IS THE TITANDEATH?

This book really reminds me of Legion, in that it was a very good book and stands well on it’s own as an interesting exploration of an a chunk of Imperial Culture, in tihs case a Titan Legio (the Imperial Hunters) but also that it was 100% not what I wanted it to be. I would’ve read a standalone ‘Imperial Hunters’ novel or a ‘Legio First’ novel about them, but the book was fucking called TITANDEATH. TITAN. DEATH. 

And the entire fucking event was skipped over. Mechanicum had bigger and more intense engine battles than this book, and the titan Legios in that book were like the tertiary plot!

Holy shit I am disappointed.

[agripinaafalls]

History of the Agripinaa Covenant

006-008.M31: On Istvaan V, the Second Tetrad of House Gramnus is lost fighting alongside the Legio Atarus maniple deployed against the traitors. Word of the Drop Site Massacre reaches Atar-Median quickly, and at the Second Battle of Paramar the Agripinaa Covenant had its first full taste of battle against the Traitor forces.

008-011.M31: During the Dispute of Iron across the Segmentum Pacificus, the Agripinaa Covenant is involved in heavy fighting to break some of the best-defended Traitor strongholds. Depleted heavily by the defenses of the Iron Warriors and Dark Mechanicum, the Covenant is led to raid nearby loyalist worlds for resources-the identity of these raiders is lost to the confusion of the Heresy. Fearful of Imperial retalition, Archmagos Reductor Calath begins communicating with the Warmaster.

011.M31: The Battle of Carystus Prime. Fighting over relics buried on Carystus Prime leads to some of the most intense fighting to date in the Heresy, surpassed only by the Titandeath at Beta-Garmon. Early in the battle, the Agripinaa Covenant defects to the Traitors’ cause, yielding a narrow victory for the Traitors. Upon seeing how some Traitor factions had changed under the influence of Chaos, many in the Agripinaa Covenant sought for a way to return to the Imperial flock.

011-014.M31: Prompted by agents of the Sigillite, Archmagos Calath is assassinated in battle, his augmented body crushed by the gauntlet of Lord Adept Julius Gramnus’ Knight Paladin. The Agripinaa Covenant is re-sworn, to root out Traitors from their places of refuge. Joining with the advancing Ultramarines legion, the Ordo Reductor forces harry the traitors before the battle of Terra.

014-020.M31: During the Scouring, the Agripinaa Covenant was again instrumental in breaking many Traitor strongholds alongside the Blood Angels legion. During the push towards the Eye of Terror, they discovered the world of Agripinaa. Realizing there would be a limit to how far the Chaos forces could be pushed back, Agripinaa was made into a Forge World, with the Spiritus Machina, the Covenant’s War Ark, sunk permanently into the planet’s icy surface. Though never dissolved, the raiding forays sent from Agripinaa into the Eye of Terror are but a shadow of its namesake’s strength.

[titanomancy]

Seek atonement through violence.

[titanomancy]

The Titan Owners Club (no relation) recently ran Walk UK 2018, described by some as the biggest gathering of engines since Beta-Garmon. It was no doubt a riotous time with many beautifully painted Titans in attendance, most of which you can see on their blog; but this heretical devil caught my eye in particular.

That’s the emplaced turbolaser from the Primus Redoubt Realm of Battle tile occupying the carapace slot and I’ve gotta say, I like it a lot. I’ve wondered for some time how it would look on a Reaver’s back. The answer is, pretty good.