Battle of Issajur

Battle of Issajur The Space Wolves battle Daemons on Issajur Date ???.M41 Location Issajur Outcome Imperial victory Combatants Space Wolves Chaos Commanders Wolf Lord Harald Deathwolf Canis Wolfborn Hallfrid Mordant Hex Strength Great Company Rubricae Tzeentchian Daemons Casualties Unknown Unknown

The Battle of Issajur was a battle between the Space Wolves and Forces of Chaos in M41.^[1]

Overview

In the final years of the 41st Millennium, Mordant Hex reappeared after years of hiding and once again came to blows with the Wolf Lord Harald Deathwolf. Ever since Harald had prevented Hex’s schemes within the cathedrals of Ak-Hirbat, the sorcerer had been haunting the Wolf Lord for years. Hex had appeared to oppose Harald’s missions, or to aid the Space Wolves’ enemies, only to vanish before Deathwolf could kill him in battle.^[1]

Mordant Hex had boarded a vast space station above Issajur, a planet ravaged by incessant ice storms. The sorcerer and his cadre of Thousand Sons Space Marines slaughtered the crew on board and made sacrifices of many hundreds of people. Hex proceeded to conduct a spell upon the severed heads of several crewmembers until, in death, they began to incant a message of his devising. These heads Hex then placed aboard a vacant vessel, which he sent into the star system surrounding Fenris. Upon discovery by Wolf Scouts, the corpse-heads repeated his sinister message to the Space Wolves, causing a stir within the Fang. Realising this was a trap, Harald Deathwolf relished the chance to kill Hex once and for all, and the Wolf Lord mustered his Great Company. From their battle barge, Harald’s great packs of Thunderwolves and Fenrisian Wolves piled into the space station and began to hunt the Traitor Marines. However, most of these Rubricae proved to be illusory tricks, and the true Thousand Sons began to vacate the superstructure.^[1]

A series of sorcerous explosions saw the space station break up above the atmosphere of Issajur – with the Deathwolves on board. Harald’s battle-brothers retreated back to their Battle Barge with moments to spare. The space station shattered entirely, showering Issajur with its burning debris. As the Battle Barge peeled away from the explosion, it launched a strike at the Thousand Sons attack craft, and the two ships corkscrewed down to Issajur. From the ruins of the space station came a colossal, ghostly gateway to the Warp, which fell onto the planet and coalesced. Thousands of daemons of Tzeentch surged across the ice and among them was a Lord of Change. Harald took his loyal Thunderwolf Cavalry to chase down Mordant Hex, whose forces began to flee towards the daemon gate, while Canis Wolfborn led the attack against the Daemons.^[1]

The firepower of the Thousand Sons allowed Mordant Hex to escape back into the Warp. After slaughtering the remaining traitors in fury, Harald and his hunt-brothers returned to their fallen spacecraft, where the Lord of Change was wreaking havoc upon the rest of the Deathwolves. In this glorious charge Harald Deathwolf banished the Greater Daemon. The Wolf Lord’s last act was to bid the Rune Priest Hallfrid to draw upon his otherworldly powers. The psyker stirred the elements into a violent storm – one so powerful that it lifted the wrecked Thousand Sons attack craft and hurled it into the Warpgate. The resulting explosion rocked the planet, and stemmed the tide of Daemons on Issajur.^[1]

Sources

• 1: Codex: Space Wolves (7th Edition) - Hunters of Fenris