Battle of Nyrcon
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The Battle of Nyrcon[4], also known as the First Battle of Nyrcon,[2c] was a battle of the Horus Heresy fought on Beta-Garmon II in 010.M31.[2b][4] It was part of the Beta-Garmon campaign.[2b]
Background
Beta-Garmon II was the capital world of the Beta-Garmon Cluster, and home to massive fortress-cities. The greatest of these was Nyrcon, the command and control centre of the entire Cluster.[2a]
In 006.M31, the Alpha Legion launched a campaign of assassination and sabotage in the Beta-Garmon Star Cluster, allowing a combined force of Emperor's Children and Legio Mortis Reaper Maniple elements to conquer Beta-Garmon II, including Nyrcon. Most of the Beta-Garmon Star Cluster was subsequently occupied by Traitors or fell into infighting.[2b]
Imperial reconquest of Beta-Garmon II
In 780010.M31 Rogal Dorn ordered a large counter-offensive in the Beta-Garmon Cluster. A sizable detachment of Imperial Fists and Salamanders was sent to engage the Emperor's Children garrison at Nyrcon City on Beta-Garmon II while 40 Solar Auxilia Regiments supported by the newly raised Garmonite-Theta Battalions laid siege to the other equatorial fortress cities of the rest of the world.[1][2b][4] The loyalist force also included Legio Astorum Titans.[4]
After the Imperial forces had landed on Beta-Garmon II, they were able to penetrate Nyrcon City's outer defenses. However, void battles between loyalist and traitor ships were still ongoing in the orbit, and the city's Emperor's Children garrison supported by allied Alpha Legion units launched a counter-attack. This assault threatened to throw the loyalists out of Nyrcon, and was only halted when the loyalists dug in and engaged their opponents in attritional warfare. At this point, a vessel unknown to both parties intervened. This was the Ebon Drake, flagship of a loyalist warband called the Disciples of the Flames. The ship moved through traitor transport ships and disgorged a swarm of gunships and drop craft to Beta-Garmon II's surface before withdrawing to the system's edge.[3a]
As both sides were unsure about the allegiance of the new arrivals, the Disciples of the Flames quickly attacked and overran Alpha Legion artillery and support units at the Traitor flank. As soon as he had exited his transport, the Disciples' leader Cassian Dracos ordered his forces to keeping pushing. Being supported by heavy armor, the loyalist warband drove the Traitors before them and advanced deeper into the city. The Imperial Fists Castellan Lyrmund Thall exploited this unexpected development, ordering his own troops to support the attack as well as drive further wedges into the disordered Traitor lines. However, his attempts to contact the Disciples' command were ignored, save for a "curt acknowledgement" by ex-Iron Warrior Nârik Dreygur. To Thall's dismay, the loyalist warband also kept advancing, ignoring the need to consolidate gains or to scout ahead.[3a]
Thall ultimately ordered his own troops to stop their advance, leaving the Disciples to continue their assault without more support.[3a] As the Dracos' forces moved deeper into southern Nyrcon, the Alpha Legion responded by deploying Effrit Disruption Cadres to harry the loyalists, first eliminating the Disciples' scouts and then repeatedly attacking their foes from a distance. Despite these hit-and-run attacks, Dracos ordered the advance to continue until the loyalist force reached Nyrcon's industrial mag-rail terminus. There, the loyalsts had to split up, funnelled along the rail lines, allowing the Alpha Legion to spring a trap and strike the weakened Disciples in force.[3a][3b] Though the traitors' first assault destroyed many loyalist vehicles, the Disciples endured the onslaught, rallied and pushed forward, dislodying Alpha Legion teams. Over the course of hours of combat, the different loyalist contingents secured and fortified a number engine-sheds. Regardless, they were in a precious situation, and their strength gradually depleted by repeated attacks, seemingly coordinated by an ornate Traitor Dreadnought. Dracos' attempts to challenge the enemy leader failed, as the Alpha Legion Dreadnought quickly withdrew every time Dracos stepped forward.[3a]
Finally, Dracos was informed by his lieutnant Xiaphas Jurr that the Disciples' ammunition was running out. Seeing that they had to break out or be annihilated, Dracos gave the order to the different Disciple contingents to move into a large maintenance entrance through which they could access the mag-rail tunnels beneath the city. As the Alpha Legion forces realized that they foes could escape, they launched another full attack. The reatreat of the Disciples of the Flame thus became desperate and extremely costly, with many loyalists killed. Without Dracos as guiding figure, they would have been destroyed. As he and his followers arrived at the maintenance entrance, they had been reduced to just 500 men. He ordered the survivors to quzickly move into the tunnels, including his wounded lieutnants Jurr and Dreygur, while he held back the Alpha Legion pursuers. As he did so, his enemies also revealed their deception: There had not been one Traitor Dreadnought, but two identical ones. The Alpha Legion Contemptor Pattern Dreadnoughts now both attacked, seeking to kill Dracos; as they approached, however, one Dreadnought shut down, affected by Dracos' unnatural aura. This gave the leader of the Disciples the opportunity to first duel the one Alpha Legion Dreadnought which still moved, destroying him. Heavily damaged, Dracos then broke one of the tunnels' main pillars, collapsing its ceiling on the stunned Traitor Dreadnought and preveting the Alpha Legion from continuing the chase. Thus saved, the Disciples continued their advance toward their unknown objective through the underground mag-rail tunnels.[3a]
Ultimately, after a hard fought battle at Nycron City on Beta-Garmon II, the traitors were driven out.[1][2b]
Aftermath
While Dorn's offensive succeeded in returning most of the Beta-Garmon Cluster to loyalist hands, within a year the first of a series of traitor counter-attack began with the goal of retaking it so it could be used as a stepping stone for a push on Terra.[1]
In the later stages of the Beta-Garmon campaign, Beta-Garmon II was again invaded by Traitors. In course of this invasion and the resulting Second Battle of Nyrcon, the planet was devastated and its cities reduced to ruins, though the Traitors ultimately emerged victorious.[2b][2c]
Order of battle
Imperial
Traitor
Sources
- 1: The Horus Heresy Book Six - Retribution, pg. 31
- 2: Adeptus Titanicus: Titandeath:
- 3: Warhammer Community: Horus Heresy Exemplary Battles – Scorch the Heads of the Hydra With Faith and Flame (Posted on 22/11/2022) - PDF (Last accessed on 22 November 2022)
- 4: Adeptus Titanicus: The Horus Heresy Rulebook, pg. 16 - Selected Notable Engine-wars of the Age of Darkness: The Battle of Nyrcon
