And in the Warp, something smiled...

On the feral world of Davin, Imperial Warmaster Horus was possessed by a creature from the Warp. He has turned against the Imperium of Humanity, and so have the thousands of bio-engineered super-warriors who follow him. War rages across the galaxy in between the loyalists and the rebels. The Emperor's palace on Terra is besieged. Rebellion and civil war flare up on millions of worlds. Brother fights brother, and Marine fights Marine. The greatest warriors Humanity has ever known turned against each other.

So back to epic scale Space Marine and my Horus Heresy project. Today, pre-mutation and freshly rebelled, we have the Sons of Horus - the Warmaster's own chapter of Space Marines.

To ensure that I'll have a variety of different Chapters represented on the table. I've started off with fairly small contingents. The Sons of Horus so far consist of a Tactical Company and a Land Raider Company. Hopefully as time goes on and I pick up some more bargains on ebay, they'll be reinforced with some of the more exotic troop types.

The background for the Horus Heresy has been rewritten several times and I've decided to cobble together a version mainly based on the details given in the Adeptus Titanicus and Space Marine 1st ed rule books, with additional detail pinched from later updates to the story.

A potted history of the Sons of Horus...

The XVIth Legion was once known as the Luna Wolves, in recognition of their ruthless pacification of Luna in the late 30th Millennium. They were renowned for swift and sudden assaults and the threat of the Emperor's Wolves was often enough to resolve many conflicts.

Horus Lupercal was the first of the Primarchs to be found by the Emperor after they were scattered as infants across the galaxy by the Ruinous Powers. Said to have been found on the harsh feral world of Cthonia, Horus thrived and learnt the ways of the brutal tech-barbarians that scratched a living there. Brought back to Earth, he spent many years as the only Primarch and first of the Emperor's sons. He grew close to the Emperor in this time and was given command of the Luna Wolves, leading them to many victories in the Great Crusade, founding much of the Imperium he would later throw into chaos.

The Luna Wolves would have an exemplary reputation among the other Space Marine Legions thanks to Horus' brilliant generalship and charisma. He was highly regarded by the other Primarchs and often regarded as a ruler unparalleled except by the Emperor himself. Ultimately the Emperor bestowed the title of Warmaster on Horus and gave him command of the Great Crusade. As an honour the Luna Wolves were to be renamed the Sons of Horus, although Horus declined at first, not wishing to cause dissension by setting himself above his brother Primarchs.

This was where the rot set in however. Troubled by the Emperor's withdrawal to Earth and the secrecy it was surrounded by, Horus, along with a small group of other Primarchs, increasingly came to doubt in the Emperor's leadership. It was on Davin that Horus finally fell to Chaos. Depending on which version of events is to be believed, Horus fell under the sway of the Chaos Powers and was possessed by  a Daemon during a ceremony of initiation into one of the native Warrior Lodges - a practice that Imperial doctrine had thought to be a potent recruitment tool. Some records hold Lorgar, Primarch of the Word Bearers to have been responsible for Horus' fall. Resentful of the Emperor's lack of acceptance of his devotion and dissemination of the religious cult of Emperor worship, Lorgar had long given himself up to the Ruinous Powers. Using the Davin Warrior Lodges as a mask for a Chaos Cult, Lorgar corrupted Horus and set in train the events that would lead to the Horus Heresy.

Horus' charisma turned to hubris and he renounced his oath to the Emperor and he used the Warrior Lodges, secretive fraternities of fellow warriors, to subvert the officers of his legion. At the same time he sought to turn his brother Primarchs to his cause. Angron of the World Eaters, Fulgrimm of the Emperor's Children and Mortarion of the Death Guard were among the first of many.

The marines of his Legion were as proud and hubristic as their Primarch and the great majority were quick to renounce their oaths to the Emperor. They were to be at the heart of Horus' campaign against the Emperor and fought in the siege of the Emperor's Palace on Terra. Of course with Horus' death at the hands of the Emperor, they were the first to retreat to the Eye of Terror, devastated by the leader they had been so fiercely loyal to.

Next up - my first Traitor Titan Legion, the Death's Heads...