The Battle of Tallarn was a major conflict of the Horus Heresy, which saw the desolation of the Imperial world of Tallarn, and the birth of the famed Tallarn Desert Raiders regiments of the Imperial Guard. It was one of several planets that came under attack by the Iron Warriors after they had joined Horus in his rebellion against the Emperor.
After being abandoned by their Emperor's Children allies within the Eye of Terror, the Iron Warriors managed to leave, but the events of their escape dramatically altered the perceptions of their navigators. Once arriving at Tallarn, Perturabo was made aware of the Black Oculus hidden beneath the planet, and he immediately drew up plans to invade and secure the Cursus.
Initially, Perturabo destroyed all orbital and surface defense installations before virus bombing the surface, and he believed that he had obliterated the defenders. However, many tank regiments were hidden in shelters beneath the surface scattered across the planet, and they ventured into the poisonous world to attack those Iron Warriors who had landed. This led to a protracted battle that initially went in the Iron Warriors' favor until loyalist reinforcements arrived. Eventually, the Iron Warriors were able to capture, with the secret aid of the Alpha Legion agents, the shelter beneath the Sapphire City and use it as a secure staging ground upon the surface.
The Iron Warriors flooded the planet with troops and tanks, and their expected easy victory instead turned into a protracted war at a great cost to both sides of the conflict. Through the actions of the emissary of the Warmaster Argonis, the Alpha Legion agents, and Imperial Infocyte agent Iaeo, the Iron Warriors search for the Black Oculus was exposed, and they were forced to withdraw from the planet. Although the planet's surface was destroyed and many resources were lost in the defense, the battle was regarded as an important Imperial victory during the Horus Heresy.
History
Prelude
Following Fulgrim's ascension to daemonhood, the Emperor's Children abandoned the Iron Warriors upon the crone world Iydris within the Eye of Terror. Perturabo knew that a black hole would claim the planet, so he led his surviving men back to their ships. Once in orbit aboard the Iron Blood, he watched the end of the planet; it turned from pristine to black, and all structures were ruined by earthquakes. The planet was previously able to resist the power of the warp, but Fulgrim's actions made that impossible to continue. Although most capital ships were able to escape the black hole, smaller vessels were not. However, even the larger vessels were being dragged towards the black hole, and the navigators were unable to find the path that first brought them to the planet.[9]
Perturabo watched the destruction, coming to terms with the new fact that he could trust no one but Horus and all the others would betray them. Forrix requested orders from his primarch, and Perturabo responded that they would only move forward, not back; as Fulgrim had revealed that they would eventually met again, the Iron Warriors would survive the journey.[9] Although the the Iron Warriors were able to escape the Eye of Terror, the events of their escape dramatically altered the perceptions of their navigators, including that of the Navigator Prime of the Iron Blood. The singularity, a black star, revealed to them the chaos gods and altered the physics within the ships, causing panic and necessitated that the navigators be placed into an artificial sleep. The Iron Warriors emerged into the hole, and by sheer luck or fate would emerge in the Tallarn System.[10]
Meanwhile on unsuspecting Tallarn, billions of citizens lived in relative peace. The world had once been a key hub of the Great Crusade. Though it now was largely a backwater, the massive infrastructure to sustain the Crusade still existed. This included vast underground armories, factories, and vehicle storage as well as a complex network of subterranean shelters and bunkers.[12a]
The Death of Tallarn
The Battle for Tallarn began in 32610.M31 when an Iron Warriors fleet of over a thousand spaceships screamed out of the Warp well past the Mandeville Point and dangerously close to Tallarn’s neighboring gas giant Marad. This was only made possible due to the dark powers behind the traitor escape from the Eye of Terror. The close translation to realspace nonetheless caused mass chaos and accidents amongst the Traitor fleet, though some of these mishaps were from Iron Warriors commanders using the opportunity to settle old vendettas with each other. Order was quickly restored when Perturabo’s flagship, the Iron Blood appeared, though itself quickly tore through the Purity of Fire[4a]. Due to the close proximity of their jump, Tallarn had little warning or time to prepare for what was about to befall them.[12b]
The first shot came from the Hammerfall, a nova shell that destroyed the northern orbital defense station above the plains of Kadir and the northern capital city of Ormas. The remainder of the orbital defense network was able to destroy some Iron Warrior ships before they were obliterated. An Imperial Fist strike vessel Light of Inwit attempted to flee the planet after being unable to warn Marshal Lycus on the surface of the attack, but was destroyed. The same fate befell any surface weapon installations the Iron Warriors discovered.[4a]
With its orbital defenses long having since been neglected, Tallarn stood little change of fighting off the Iron Warriors assault. Its paltry few patrol ships and defense stations were quickly torn apart by the opening shots of the Iron Warriors vanguard flotillas. Only the 71st “Cinder Born” Solar Auxilia cohort aboard Tallarn’s equatorial defense stations were able to offer the attackers any real challenge. As the Iron Warriors fleet took positions above Tallarn, emergency broadcasts were sent to the planet’s population to make for the world’s many underground shelters. However, this was too little too late, and the majority of the billions of Tallarn could not hope to be protected in the insufficient existing shelter network anyway.[12b]
At a single command by Perturabo, the Iron Warriors fleet over Tallarn loosed thousands of Virus Bombs. Within seconds of the first airborne detonations, all organic life on Tallarn began to be consumed by the Life-Eater Virus. Most of Tallarn’s population died in its crowded streets and highways attempting to reach shelter.[12b] Ten million people died in ten minutes, and the entire surface population was dead within the hour.[4a] As billions died in agony Tallarn’s once luscious jungles and savannahs dissolved into seething rot and its oceans were transformed into foetid decomposing sludge. Within the hour, Tallarn’s entire biosphere was dead and replaced with a dead landscape doused with banks of caustic fog. Unlike the virus bomb unleashed on Isstvan III, the miasma was not flammable. Instead, it was designed by the Iron Warriors Lyssatra to poison the planet for thousands of years to come.[12b]
While the vast majority of Tallarn died, nearly a billion people had managed to reach its underground shelter network. This included a strength equaling dozens of Imperial Army Regiments as well as Governor-Militant Dellasarius, who maintained order the best they could amidst the packed crowds of increasingly desperate, dirty, and hungry survivors. Inside their shelters they found a vast arsenal of weapons, vehicles, and supplies originally intended for the Great Crusade, and set about training the survivors for resistance. After 7 weeks the Imperials conducted their first reconnaissance mission to determine the situation on the surface.[12b] Yet when the Iron Warriors launched their attack, the resistance they encountered was fierce and unrelenting. The few survivors emerged and refused to concede the planet.[1]
Meanwhile the Iron Warriors also set about occupying the rest of the Tallarn System. Larankon was used as an anchorage for the Iron Warriors fleet. Kizurra was the site of a massive slave labor mining operation. The docks at Marad were annihilated and its infrastructure seized by the Selucid Thorakite. Lastly, Pilgrim’s Rest Astropathic choir was destroyed to prevent the loyalists for sending out requests for help.[12a]
Defence
Seeking the Black Oculus buried on the planet, Perturabo then gave orders to his Legion. The majority of the Iron Warriors would remain in orbit to recover and repair from the events on Iydris while specific hosts probed Tallarn in search of surviving enemy defenses and the location of the Black Oculus which he codenamed the “Cursus”. Withdrawing into his workshop aboard the Iron Blood, Perturabo ordered that he would not be disturbed until the Crusus was discovered and appointed Forrix as acting commander in his stead. The remaining Iron Warriors commanders rushed to the surface, knowing that to fail their Primarch was death. Such was the devastation to Tallarn and the lingering effect of the life eater virus that even Terminators could only withstand open air for a brief period. As a result, the Iron Warriors utilized biological warfare-sealed armored vehicles deployed from gunships. The focus of their landings took place at Crescent Province, which held the core of Tallarn’s shelter network at the Khedive Plateau. It soon gained a new name: The Northern Desolation.[12b]
Many tank regiments were kept in mostly-empty underground shelters, including one beneath the Sapphire City that had over ten complexes beneath it. One of those complex housed two regiments, the Jurnian 701st and the Chalcisorian 1002nd Mechanised, and gear from old campaigns. They were mostly left alone for three years without orders even though they heard that the Horus Heresy was taking place, and they kept busy practicing and drilling. After the bombs hit, tanks began to perform reconnaissance missions on the surface, risking the poisonous atmosphere.[4a]
Alpha Legion operative Jalen regularly met with Akil Sulan, commander over much of the Sapphire City, and after one such meeting an important dataslate was stolen from Sulan's person immediately before the Iron Warrior's attack. After the attack, Akil became a scout for the Imperial forces, and on one such mission his unit ran into some of the first Iron Warrior tanks among the ruins of the Sapphire City, destroying the traitors. The Iron Warriors spent weeks on the surface following the bombardment; as they believed there were no survivors, they were taken by surprise when they started suffering losses. This provoked the Iron Warriors to send more equipment to the surface, and many of those in the shelters said that it would be best to hide in place and wait until the Iron Warriors left.[4a]
Soon after, the Tallarn natives spread the idea of "Ithak-ja": vengeance, the call to volunteer in defence of their planet. They were taught how to use the Imperial tanks, and they filled the ranks of the defenders' army. This allowed the Imperials to last until others came to their aid.[4b]
Iron Warriors commander Garsenn was appointed to oversee the subjugation of the Northern Desolation and discovering the Cursus. For the next two months, patrol sections trawled through the devastated ruins of Tallarn probing for Perturabo’s prize and encountering virtually no resistance. The tense situation and competition between Iron Warriors caused several inter-legion engagements as the Northern Desolation was divided up by territorial beasts. Eight weeks after the viral bombardment, the Iron Warriors began to detect augur and vox signals emanating from a handful of Tallarn’s dead cities.[12b]
The response saw Garsenn’s own 32nd Armour Echelon consisting of Predator and Kratos tanks move in towards the Sapphire City, at first easily sweeping past sparse amounts of Imperial Army Aurox APC’s and Aethon walkers. However, it was then that the Iron Warriors fell into an ambush by Solar Auxilia “Tallarn Reborn” Leman Russ Vanquishers, Executionerss, and Annihilators. Of the 6 Iron Warriors patrol sections that entered the kill-zone, all but one were badly mauled and forced to retreat. As they retreated, they fell into another ambush of Tarantula batteries that had been erected in their rear. Garsenn himself met his end when his own command vehicle was destroyed by in an attack by Valdors, Malcadors, and the Stormblade ‘’Ignifera’’ under 71st Solar Auxilia Cohort Marshal Jasira Sannoval. Rather than die at the hands of the enemy he ordered nearby Iron Warriors artillery batteries to unleash an indiscriminate bombardment, killing himself as well as his attackers. By the time the engagement was over 1,000 Traitor vehicles had been destroyed in 2 hours. The loyalists had taken equal losses, but this was overshadowed by the fact that they had bloodied the nose of their executioners.[12b]
61 days after the arrival of the Iron Warriors two survivors from the underground shelters named Kulok and Gatt encountered the Astropath Halakime. Believed to be the last living Astropath in the entire System, when Governor Dellasarius heard of this he desperately dispatched a force to retrieve the Psyker. Solar Auxilia alongside the last survivor of the ‘’Light of Inwit’’ Lyscus were able to reach the group and dispatch a message for reinforcements just as Iron Warriors Terminators arrived to murder all within their bunker.[12c][13] The first reinforcement came from the Lesson of Ages, which the Iron Warriors thought was a trade or transport ship. The ship repeatedly broadcast "traitor-death" as it drove straight into the Iron Warrior fleet. Soon after, the Lament of Caliban, Beastslayer, and many others arrived for the purpose of waging war upon the Iron Warriors.[4b]
While Imperial reinforcements came in sufficient numbers to deny the Iron Warriors a swift victory, they were made up of different units and legion strike forces, hampering the loyalist war effort. Admiral Phoroc seized control over the north and supplied the Cobalack shelter while Legio Gryphonicus landed on the Khedive Plains. Eventually, thousands of tanks filled the vast shelters, including the one beneath the Sapphire City, which even housed thousands of members of the White Scars.[4b]
Meanwhile, the Iron Warriors landed a fresh wave of reinforcements on Tallarn in the form of Dark Mechanicum Legio Cybernetica and Selucid Thorakite Traitor Imperial Army. These fell into more loyalist ambushes, but as losses mounted the defenders of Tallarn grew increasingly desperate. To try and weed out loyalist defenders the Iron Warriors reduced Tallarn’s dead cities and above-ground fortresses with air, artillery, and orbital bombardment. The Iron Warriors deployed more sophisticated tanks in the form of Land Raiders and Spartans to disgorge Terminators and trap pockets of resistance. As days turned into weeks, it became clear that the loyalists were doomed without reinforcement as the Tallarn defenders were pushed back to their shelters. However while most on Tallarn thought no reprieve would come, 93 days after the Iron Warriors arrival the first loyalist reinforcements arrived in the Tallarn System in the form of . [1b]
Upon arriving in the shelter beneath the Sapphire City, Akil was taken by force to meet with Jalen and other Alpha Legion agents. Akil threatened Jalen, but Jalen revealed that they had nothing to do with the Iron Warriors attack. Instead, they planned to take the planet without bloodshed. Jalen made Akil a bargain: he would protect Akil's daughters, who he said still lived, and, in return, Akil would allow infiltrators to pass behind the imperial lines. The Imperials soon left the shelter in force to meet the Iron Warrior attack in the city above, which resulted in a massive battle with many casualties on both sides. Eventually, the actions of Akil and at least eight others who survived the battle, and others who did not, allowed Iron Warrior tanks to slip behind the defenders' lines and end the battle. After the Iron Warriors took the shelter and established a base on the surface, Alpha Legion assets discussed among themselves the certainty that Horus would send an emissary to intervene.[4b]
Fall of the Sapphire City
Loyalist vessels began to pour into the Tallarn System gradually, approaching at hundreds of different vectors and drawn from many different hosts. They all attempted to run the Iron Warriors blockade and deliver reinforcements. While they endured heavy losses, many more were able to evade traitor patrols and unload fresh troops and supplies. In the Northern Desolation, Marshal Sannoval was able to rendezvous with 6 Freeblade Knights and their Armiger vassals. Dubbed the "Empyrean Coursers", they cut apart an Iron Warriors Predator convoy as they announced their arrival. Soon elements of the Legio Gryphonicus landed at the Khedive Plateau under Princeps Yasue Koenen arrived alongside White Scars under. Using these fresh reinforcements as a spearhead, Solar Auxilia in the Northern Desolation were able to launch a fresh counterattack that began to force the Iron Warriors to withdraw.[1c] Several maniples of the Legio Astorum,[14] led by Princeps Kowley,[15a] also arrived at Tallarn to aid their old Legio Gryphonicus allies.[14]
It was then that Perturabo emerged from his seclusion with declaration that the Crusus was in the Northern Desolation. He organized a new effort to take the region, and at 596010.M31 the Iron Warriors fleet divided itself into a score of spherical formations. Sweeping aside whatever loyalist ships were present in low orbit, they unleashed a vicious orbital bombardment then landed Iron Warriors forces directly upon the Sapphire City including Titans of the Legio Krytos. Under Warsmith Cyrus Strux, nearly 21,000 Iron Warriors, 1.1 million auxiliaries, 56,000 Taghmata Omnissiah, 63 Knights, and 24 Titans took part in the massive assault. Facing them were 2 million Imperial Army troops, 780,000 Solar Auxilia, 4,000 White Scars, 2,000 Iron Hands, 7,000 Imperial Fists, 37,000 Taghmata Omnissiah, 98 Knights, and 9 Titans. Unlike the Iron Warriors, the loyalists fell under a variety of commanders and this would hamper their efforts.[12c]
As soon as the Iron Warriors bombardment ceased, the loyalists emerged from their shelters to take defensive positions. However, communication was difficult and haphazard, and in the face of the Legio Krytos’ Titan assault order amongst the loyalist regular Army troops broke down. In the Titans wake came Traitor Solar Auxilia of the Galibed Oathsworn, which traded blows with their loyalist cousins. Despite the mass use of Super-Heavy tanks, the traitors were beaten back by the Sapphire Ghosts Solar Auxilia regiment but were then immediately set upon by Iron Warriors Sicaran tanks and Dreadnoughts. The Sapphire Ghosts sacrificed themselves, but were able to buy enough time for loyalist tanks to organize and arrive. The White Scars then launched a large Assault Marine and gunship attack as tens of thousands of new loyalist tanks surged from their shelters and established a 40km-long defensive line. What followed was a massive tank and artillery battle in the northern districts of the Sapphire City.[12d]
After a huge artillery duel, the Iron Warriors and Traitor Army tanks under Warsmith Strux surged forward. Dividing their forces into several wedges, each Iron Warriors armored spearthrust struck at a different point in the loyalist line. The central assault consisted of 7 Fellblades commanded by Strux himself. The massed Fellblade attack was able to penetrate the loyalist tank line and reach the Omik-North Shelter as the Legio Krytos and Dark Mechanicum Taghmata led by the Warmaster Titan Typhoeus continued their southwards advance in the face of heavy loyalist tank fire and rapid White Scars light armor “death by a thousand cuts” assaults. Along the whole line a hundred individual battles broke out as the traitors were able to insert forces via Termites into the lowest levels of the Rho-West Shelter and coming into conflict with Marshal Sannoval’s defending 71st Solar Auxilia Cohort. As loyalist units fell back to regroup, they came under fire from their own allies due to mass confusion and many formerly loyal units revealing their true Alpha Legion allegiance. One by one, sections of the loyalist line began to die.[12e]
As the loyalist central line collapsed, traitor forces poured through the gap as Titans guns of the Legio Krytos silenced whatever resistance remained in the south. The Iron Warriors used Spartans and Mastodons to ferry troops across Tallarn’s putrid seabed, delivering troops to the southern districts of the Sapphire City and destroying the few loyalist super-heavy tanks left resisting the Legio Krytos. The traitors now fell upon the remaining shelters and loyalist bastions all over the city in conjunction with subterranean assaults. Deep underground, desperate battles erupted as ad hoc militia troops attempted to fend off Iron Warriors Breacher assaults. Soon enough only the Omikron-South Shelter was not on the verge of falling due to the skillful defense by the 71st Cohort both above and below ground. Marshal Sannoval dispatched an order for any remaining loyalist contingents to retreat to the Sigma-South, Pi-East, and Xi-South shelters. The 71st Cohort would wage a delaying action to allow for the loyalists to flee to these shelters. As the 71st left their shelter to commit to this act, they rigged their to explode with unused ammunition.[12e]
By now, the entirety of the southern city was in the hands of the Legio Krytos while in the north loyalists were beginning to regroup thanks to aid of White Scars armor. Outside of these few forces, no other major loyalist formations successfully escaped the city proper. Warsmith Strux had taken the Sapphire City as loyalists withdrew back to their remaining shelters a thousand kilometers east, escorted by White Scars Predators and Sabres. As the Traitor Selucid Thorakites pursued, they were met by Imperial Fists and Legio Gryphonicus Titans and pushed back. Loyalist Titans alongside Iron Hands armour from the Rachab Fortress were able to repulse a Traitor pursuit attack by House Caesarean.[12e] Meanwhile, a massive traitor assault on the less significant city of Rogsburg[15a] resulted in an Imperial defeat,[15b] with the Legio Astorum and Space Wolves defending it[15a] suffering significant losses.[15b]
World Death
As the traitors consolidated their prize in the Sapphire City, the loyalists regrouped at the Sapphire Basin, Khedive Plateau, and Kadir Plains around the Rachab Fortress. Their trek was difficult and many vehicles, troops, and supplies were left behind in the toxic wasteland. Worse still, rust-mist had now developed from Tallarn’s ruined landscape which threatened to consume all vehicles caught within it. Tallarn’s sun had begun to come out once more, but this did little to improve the loyalist situation as the Iron Warriors organized reconnaissance groups to search out the remaining enemy.[12f]
197 days, 10 hours, and 17 minutes into the battle, 3 recon squads of the Imperial Fists (Command Squad Gamus, Theophon and Arcad) infiltrated the macro-transporter Eagle's Talon and caused it to crash during a major battle taking place on the southern continent. The battle, if won by either side, would have allowed for a decisive victory for the whole battle, and the macro-transport would have brought reinforcements for the Iron Warrior's forces. The ship's destruction caused a blast over three hundred kilometres in diameter, with winds over 100km an hour, and spread nuclear fallout across an already destroyed world. All of the Imperial Fists were lost.[7] Six days later, the winds died enough to allow daylight to begin returning. Warsmith Koparnos of the Iron Warriors managed to survive the blast in his Rhino but had to find new shelter due to the poisons on the surface infiltrating his systems. Venturing out, he managed to work his way to the Warlord Titan Ostentio Contritio, enter it, and restart the systems. After tricking the paralyzed Imperial princeps, he managed to bind her to the titan and rig a new system of controls before he ventured out to battle any other survivors of the blast.[8]
Emissary of Horus Arrives
The Sons of Horus emissary, Argonis, was dispatched by Maloghurst on behalf of Horus, and he travelled on the storm eagle Sickle Blade. He was accompanied by Prophesius the astropath and Sota-Nul of the Dark Mechanicum, and he sought audience with Perturabo on the Iron Blood to demand why he invaded Tallarn. Perturabo, after revealing his irritation, stated that Tallarn was a valuable route to Terra. Argonis was dismissed, but he did not trust the primarch's word and contacted the Alpha Legion to investigate. After 12 days, the Alpha Legion agent and psyker, Jalen, posed as a serf and met with Argonis. Jalen stated that he did not know why the Iron Warriors were present at Tallarn, but he admitted that the Alpha Legion was on the planet before they arrived. Argonis leaves for the Sightless Warren, not trusting the Alpha Legion forces. During this time, Imperial Infocyte agent Iaeo, of Clade Vanus, follows Argonis and the Alpha Legion agents, interfering when she can to set Horus's forces against each other.[5a]
The Imperial forces tried to assault the Iron Warrior stronghold, the Sightless Warren, three times. The Sightless Warren was once the shelter beneath the Sapphire City, but it was transformed with a network of tunnels that connected it with other shelters that the Iron Warriors captured. It was massive in size and extended to the Crescent Ocean. The third assault failed like the others, with orbital bombardments unable to penetrate the shelter. The Iron Warriors tried to destroy the crushed Imperial assault force, but the Imperial grand cruiser Memloch sacrificed itself to fend off orbital attacks. Following the attack, Imperial forces experienced more setbacks: 400 war machines were inexplicably lost from Cobalack Shelter, the Cassildian Mountains bunker fell due to atmospheric contamination, and the newly arrived Legio Krytos was able to land Titans and Knights from House Caesarean onto the southern hemisphere.[5a]
When the battle turned into a protracted conflict, both the Traitors and the Imperium poured war material to their respective allies on Tallarn, neither willing to admit defeat. The Imperial Fists and Iron Hands dispatched forces to the planet, and their Predators proved instrumental in combating traitor tanks.[3] Over a million armoured vehicles fought across the desert, which stands as the largest tank confrontation in Imperial history. The Tallarns learned quickly that they could not match the Traitor Marines in open combat, so they became proficient at hit-and-run strikes and flanking maneuvers, eventually wearing down the Iron Warriors and routing them from the planet.[1] An Imperial counter-attack, led mostly by recent Ultramarine reinforcements from space,[15c] targeted Rogsburg[16] and succeeded in retaking the city,[15c]. However this was only after several attacks[16] and after the Legio Mortis[15c] and a contingent of traitor Thousand Sons[16] had inflicted heavy losses on the loyalists.[15c][16]
Golden Fleet Arrives
Following the failed third assault on the Sightless Warren, a massive storm covered the land and began to change everything. The Tallarn named the new land "Yathan," which means "land of lost pilgrims." After the change, the Golden Fleet arrived, being led by the Eagle Claw. The fleet was led by Rogue Trader Sangrea and once travelled ahead of the Great Crusade. It was made up of mercenaries and ships gained through conquest, including the Sacristan Geneo-het warriors, Knights of House Klaze and 300 Ultramarines. The fleet arrived back in Tallarn 10 years after it left the planet to explore the Morai Veil. Once entering the system the Golden Fleet sent word to the Iron Warrior ships that they were allies to Horus before taking them by surprise. Upon reaching the planet, the Golden Fleet refused any messages from the Imperials and instead launched attacks on any attempt to land supplies and troops upon the surface. Battlecruisers with nova cannons were brought forward, running down fueling ships and set the sky on fire with their attack, an act that would later be known as "The Inferno Tide." With that, the Golden fleet left, leaving the planet free from orbital interference.[5b]
Perturabo sent the Contemptor Dreadnought Hrend with the corrupted navigator Hes-Thal and a strike force to search for the Black Occulus on the surface of the planet. At the same time, Argonis was getting nowhere in the Sightless Warren, and he called upon Volk, Iron Warrior Commander of Core Reach One, the Sightless Warren, who he served with before at Carmeline and Reddus Cluster. The interview was cut short without any new information being retrieved when the surface above the shelter began to be bombarded in preparation for an attack. Argonis broke from the Iron Warrior's guards and made his way to the data stacks of the shelter where Sota-Nul discovered the name Black Oculus. The group made their way to a new location Sota-Nul found, and Argonis was forced to kill an Iron Warrior. At their destination, they found many bound and sedated navigators. Reviving one, she explained their transformation within the Eye of Terror and the gateway of the Black Oculus. Upon leaving the chamber, alarms went off and the group was soon captured and imprisoned.[5b]
Final Assault
Governor Militant Dellasarius kept the forces united and pushed them to attack. Forces on both sides continued to pour into the system, and the battle was ultimately a stalemate. His strategy the "the depth of cutting edge," the belief that one great attack could overwhelm the Iron Warriors and drive them from the planet.[5a] However, Dellasarius was killed right after the Inferno Tide ceased; after traveling with a convoy from the Rachab to the Crescent Shelter, an assassin fired on his baneblade from one of the company's Vanquishers as they approached the Khedive Plaines.[5b] The forces were fractured until General Gorn seized command and said that their only strategy to victory is to attack. Eventually, the Imperial forces launched an all out strike at the Khedive Plains, drawing Iron Warriors out of the Sightless Warrens for an all out battle. The battle began with a fight in space, with Iron Warrior positions above the Sightless Warren smashed by long-range torpedo strikes and followed by a massive attack by Strike Force Indomitable. This gave them time to launch a strike on the service before a counter attack could be made.[5c]
It was revealed by the work of Alpha Legion spies, including their operative Jalen, that Perturabo invaded Tallarn in search of the Black Oculus to gain some unknown advantage over his brothers. In space, the Alpha Legion freed Horus's emissary, Argonis, in order to force Perturabo to stop his pursuit of power. Argonis killed the Alpha Legion operatives because they were keeping secrets then demanded audience with Perturabo aboard the Iron Blood. At the same time Hrend discovered that the Black Oculus was a portal that would allow the Iron Warriors to make a pact with daemons and gain power. Perturabo had told the dreadnought that the portal was also called the Cursus of Alganar, and that it existed long before humanity. Asking what the object would do, Hrend was told that it would transform the Iron Warriors and grant them power to destroy any who oppose them. Hrend found the location gate, but he was joined by Alpha Legionares, of which Hrend and his fellows were able to kill but left only Hrend barely surviving. He ordered his servitors to kill his navigator, and used them as a dig team, tunneling to the Black Oculus and meeting with a daemon at the gate.[5c]
Once Argonis was admitted to the primarch's presence, Argonis fruitlessly demanded that the Iron Warriors abandon their campaign before being forced to released the bindings upon the altered astropath Prophesius, a metatron. Once unbound, warp smoke filtered out of the astropath's body and manifested as Horus, who threatened and chastised the wayward Iron Warriors. Horus ordered Perturabo to kneel before him then withdraw from the Tallarn campaign. Hrend failed in his mission; he did not give into the daemon's temptation. Instead, he set himself to self-destruct, and the Black Oculus was buried from sight. Iaeo used the last of her strength to ensure that no transmissions from the location made their way to others to protect the site from discovery.[5c]
Aftermath
Following the conflict, designated Governor-Militant Susada Syn travelled across the planet in the last Titan. He was accompanied by Kalikgol of the White Scars and General Gorn. When the poisonous clouds pulled back, they were able to witness a massive amount of destroyed tanks and machinery of all kinds strewn across the Khedive, left from the final battle that took place.[6] For their part, the Iron Warriors experienced heavy losses and Perturabo was forced to enact a mass recruitment program to replace their casualties.[11]
The Battle left a lasting impression on Imperial history; Tallarn has remained a barren desert since the time of the Heresy, and its people have remained hardy and pragmatic. The Imperial Guard Regiments recruited from Tallarn are known as the Desert Raiders, and are masters of desert warfare and lightning-strike raids, as well as some of the finest tank experts in the Guard.[1]
The size of the tank confrontation was not rivalled in Imperial history until 876.M41, when the Imperial Guard confronted the traitorous Adamant Fury Titan Legion.[2]
See also
Sources
- 1: Codex: Imperial Guard (5th Edition), pg. 17
- 2: Warhammer 40,000 Rulebook (6th Edition), pg. 173
- 3: Index Astartes: Predators — Chapter Organisation
- 4: Tallarn: Executioner (Novella):
- 5: Tallarn: Ironclad (Novel):
- 6: Tallarn: Witness (Short Story)
- 7: The Eagle's Talon (Audio Drama)
- 8: Iron Corpses (Audio Drama)
- 9: Angel Exterminatus (Novel), Chapter 27
- 10: Black Oculus (Short Story)
- 11: Campaigns of the Age of Darkness: The Siege of Cthonia, pg. 9
- 12: Legions Imperialis: The Devastation of Tallarn
- 13: Tallarn: Siren (Short Story)
- 14: Adeptus Titanicus: Titandeath, pg. 20
- 15: Firepower Issue 1
- 16: White Dwarf 120 (UK), pg. 12 - Epic Battles: War Machines
- 17: Legions Imperialis Rulebook (2023), pg. 24
| Battles of the Horus Heresy | |
|---|---|
| 005-006.M31 | Battle of Isstvan III • First Battle of Prospero • War Within the Webway • Battle of the Somnus Citadel • Unrest on Caliban • Schism of Mars • Battle of Diamat • Drop Site Massacre • Battle of the Rangda System • First Battle of Paramar • Manachean War • Signus Campaign • Treachery at Advex-Mors • Siege of Cthonia • Battle for Felweather Keep |
| 007-008.M31 | Battle of Phall • Devouring of Antarras • Battle of Ravendelve • Ruin of Maerdan • Battle of the Alaxxes Nebula • Pale Stars Campaign • Breaking of the Perfect Fortress • Silencing of Galanta • Chondax Campaign • Second Battle of Prospero • First Siege of Hydra Cordatus • Battle of the Furious Abyss • Battle of Calth • Battle of Armatura • Betrayal at Ithraca • Death of Canopus • Shadow Crusade • Crusade of Iron • Doom of Bormina • Defence of Tyros • Defence of the Three Planets • Battle of Ulixis • Ambush at Espandor • Battle of Aquila Atoll • Battle of Drooth II • Percepton Campaign • Battle of Iydris • Thramas Crusade • Fall of Baztel III • Battle of Vannaheim • Second Battle of Paramar • Battle of Constanix II • Mezoan Campaign • Battle of Bodt • Battle of Dwell • Erellian Subjugation • Siege of Baal |
| 009-010.M31 | Battle of Molech • Breaking of Anvillus • Xana Incursion • Carnage of Morox • Sangraal Campaign • Battle of Arissak • Battle of Perditus • Battle of Sotha • Drussen Atrocity • Scouring of Gilden's Star • Battle of Nyrcon • Battle of Tallarn • Cataclysm of Iron • Battle of Nocturne • War of Drakes • Battle of Pluto • Siege of Inwit • Burning of Ohmn-Mat • Bitter War |
| 011-012.M31 | Sacking of Sarcosa-Omikron • Reaving of the Xibana Reaches • Lorin Alpha Campaign • Subjugation of Tyrinth • Malagant Conflict • Battle of the Kalium Gate • Battle of Catallus • Axandrian Incident • Battle of the Haddon System • Jarrazr Incursion • Battle of Tralsak • Tarren Suppression • Balthor Sigma Intervention • Battle of Absolom • Scouring of the Ollanz Cluster • War for Xythera • Battle of Zepath • Second Battle of Zaramund • Battle of Anuari • Battle of Pyrrhan • Second Battle of Davin • Argolian Massacres • Battle of Trisolian • Battle of Yarant • Battle of Krade • Battle of Deluge • Battle of Heta-Gladius • Battle of the Aragna Chain • Battle of Kalleth • Battle of the Diavanos System • Battle of Desperation |
| 013-014.M31 | Battle of Beta-Garmon • War for Agarops • Defence of Ryza • Battle of Thagria • Passage of Angels • Thassos Incident • Battle of Zhao-Arkhad • Serpent's Coil • Blight of Horstax • Siege of Barbarus • Foricaan Campaign • Battle of Vezdell • Burning of Vrexor • Dawn of Desolation • Death of Chemos • Battle of Luth Tyre • Ydursk Incident • Fall of Tenzebar • Solar War • Raid on Luna • Siege of Terra • Great Scouring |
