Chapter Summaries

Lorgar, Fulgrim, and Mortarion led their forces through the Deathmarks while Lin Fan’s protection dice helped the Imperium troops survive. After breaking through the metal wall, Fulgrim and Lorgar encountered former Legionaries serving Tzeentch, and Lorgar ordered his warriors to put the Possessed to rest while accepting the blame.

• Lorgar and Fulgrim inspired their troops as they fought the Deathmarks, while Mortarion advanced the Death Guard behind a steady shield wall.
• Tzeentch sent elite Orks, Chaos Space Marines, Possessed, and Noise Marines to reinforce the battle as Lin Fan rolled protection dice for the allied forces.
• A protection roll saved a commissar from a neurodisruptor beam, which the soldiers took as a miracle and which drove them to charge the Deathmarks.
• The Emperor’s Children and Word Bearers destroyed the Deathmarks and advanced beyond the metal wall toward mountains defended by anti-aircraft guns.
• Fulgrim recognized Noise Marines beneath the mountains, while Lorgar saw his former sons among Tzeentch’s Possessed and began to weep.
• When a Word Bearer asked what to do, Lorgar told him to let the Possessed rest and took the blame upon himself.

Fulgrim and Lorgar led the assault on Tzeentch’s mountain stronghold while Corax arrived with an elite Raven Guard squad to reinforce them. As the battle stalled against sorcerous foes and Ork-backed Noise Marines, Corax prepared to help Lorgar break the deadlock.

• Fulgrim told Lorgar that the Emperor’s Children and Word Bearers would storm the altars and anti-air batteries, while Mortarion offered to take the fight over.
• The Emperor ordered the Legions to spread out after breaking through the mountains, where Enchanted Warriors’ crystal armor and sorcerous fire slowed the Imperium’s advance.
• Lorgar fought his former followers and endured the pain of destroying the Enchanted Warriors, while Tzeentch taunted him and spoke with Lin Fan.
• Fulgrim found that Orks and Noise Marines had blocked a mountain pass with a stage whose sound waves shattered incoming shells.
• Corax arrived with Raven Guard reinforcements, let them act according to their own ideas, and then decided to use his Warp essence to help Lorgar break the deadlock.

Corax sent Colvin and the Raven Guards to hunt down the forces besieging the Imperium, then joined them in aiding Fulgrim against the Orks and Noise Marines. Fulgrim reached the stage and attacked the Noise Marines’ leader, enduring a devastating sonic blast as he swung his sword.

• Corax praised Colvin, stroked his head, and ordered him to lead the Raven Guards into battle.
• Corax unleashed the Raven Guards on the enchanted warriors, clearing the sorcery from the mountains before turning to help Fulgrim.
• Fulgrim coordinated with Corax’s Raven Guards as they eliminated Ork Sniper Machine Gun squads and helped him reach the stage.
• Fulgrim and his loyal Emperor’s Children charged the Noise Marines while the Orks remained absorbed in their performance.
• Fulgrim identified the Noise Marines’ leader and struck at his mirror helmet, enduring the leader’s focused sonic attack.

Tzeentch used a false image of Ferrus Manus to make Fulgrim relive the guilt of killing his brother, but the real Ferrus arrived and helped him recover. As the brothers returned to battle together, Jaghatai privately schemed to bring Guilliman and Yvraine together.

• Tzeentch transformed a Noise Marine's helmet into Ferrus Manus's face, causing Fulgrim to collapse in terror and guilt.
• Lin Fan failed to raise Fulgrim's morale with a die roll while Tzeentch secretly recorded the battle and studied the game-piece rules.
• Ferrus emerged through a fiery portal and comforted Fulgrim, calling him by his private nickname, Fumeifeng.
• Ferrus embraced Fulgrim, accepted his apology, crushed the false head, and fought alongside him again.
• Jaghatai avoided Guilliman's questions and privately mused about arranging a moment for Guilliman and Yvraine to fight together.

The Primarchs prepared to break through the Ork defenses, and Mortarion proposed using a plague he claimed to have developed through numerology. After an Ork Kommando warned that the Orks were growing tired of waiting and strengthening their defenses, the Primarchs went to inspect Mortarion’s research facility.

• Lin Fan watched Tzeentch arrange a defensive line of Degraded troops while the attack paused and Corax infiltrated enemy positions.
• Mortarion proposed using his plague to open a passage through the mountains, insisting that his numerology was science rather than sorcery.
• The Primarchs waited as the troops recovered and Corax continued his sabotage operations.
• Raven Guard sentries captured an Ork Kommando, who said the Orks wanted to fight the Primarchs rather than each other and were tired of waiting.
• Fulgrim and the other Primarchs visited Mortarion’s research facility to see how his plague work was progressing.

Mortarion’s plague dissolved the mountain range while Tzeentch tried to exploit Lin Fan’s strange rules to defend the Orks. The Imperial forces assembled across the newly cleared battlefield, and the artillery bombardment began the war.

• Mortarion showed his brothers jars of a plague that would silently dissolve the mountains, though he warned that its toxicity was difficult to control.
• The Imperial troops withdrew from their unfinished positions as the Death Guard’s shells erased the mountain range without explosions or smoke.
• Tzeentch ordered the Orks to fire an ultra-long-range cannon at an indestructible metal wall, then tried replacing shields with sandbags and metal plates against the Silent King’s forces.
• The mountain range became flat ground, allowing the Imperial armies to spread out and prepare to advance on the Ork lines.
• After the Emperor and Oedmeir discussed the prospect of facing a degraded Horus, Perturabo and Ferrus Manus opened the war with heavy artillery, and the Orks answered with a Waaagh.

Jaghatai led the White Scars in a lightning assault through the Ork defenses while Astra Militarum forces and Space Marines attacked the front line. The Orks rallied with armored vehicles and Speed Freeks as Jaghatai’s riders continued their charge.

• Jaghatai led the White Scars on anti-gravity bikes through the bombarded Ork defenses, racing over trenches and walls.
• Space Marines with jump packs landed on the walls while Astra Militarum tanks and soldiers advanced behind them.
• The Orks counterattacked with armored tanks and Killa Kans, having improved their vehicles’ armor and reduced their smoke.
• Lin Fan watched Jaghatai ride Perturabo’s mechanical warhorse as the White Scars destroyed Ork factories, armories, and troops.
• Jaghatai killed a heavily armored Ork with a swift strike, and his riders raced onward through the enemy ranks.
• Ork Speed Freeks sped toward Jaghatai’s force, running over fellow Orks who tried to hitch a ride.

Jaghatai Khan led the White Scars away from the pursuing Speed Freeks, then risked his life to rescue a wounded gunner. Driven into despair by the Orks’ Shokk Rifles, he awakened his true speed and escaped with the gunner, leaving the Speed Freeks to pursue them into a prepared trap.

• Jaghatai judged that the White Scars could not fight the Speed Freeks head-on and ordered the riders to keep moving as Ork vehicles teleported ahead of them.
• Jaghatai turned back to rescue a badly wounded White Scars gunner after a Roarboost Engine explosion left him stranded.
• The Speed Freeks teleported again and shot Jaghatai with Shokk Rifles, tearing Warp rifts through his body.
• Jaghatai recalled his deepest despair, awakened his true nature, and moved fast enough to evade the Orks and reach the gunner.
• Jaghatai carried the gunner out of the encirclement, then recognized markings that showed the White Scars and Raven Guard had prepared a trap in the canyon.

Jaghatai discovered that Aurora’s alpha agents had disguised themselves as Orks and secretly helped set an ambush against the Speed Freeks. The agents proposed drawing a larger Waaagh! force from the Oil Pit into the trap, and Jaghatai agreed to hear their plan.

• Jaghatai entered the destroyed Ork Titan factory and saw the Speed Freeks’ convoy being torn apart by ten rogue racers.
• Jaghatai killed the surviving Orks who could still fight and met the ten racers’ drivers, who revealed themselves as Aurora’s alpha agents.
• Jaghatai recalled how Aurora’s Warp essence let the agents hide their identities and combine their Gene-seed with infiltrator augmentations.
• Jaghatai objected that the agents had disrupted the planned hunt with the Raven Guard, but one agent apologized.
• An agent suggested luring more Waaagh! Orks from the Oil Pit into the ambush, and Jaghatai asked whether they could draw them there.

Big Mek Miser sent a towing convoy to recover the Speed Freeks’ vehicles near Big Mek Brain Lump’s ruined factory, hoping to claim their Roarboost Engines. When his gravity towing cannon pulled the factory rubble into a sphere, a pitch-black shadow burst into the sky.

• Big Mek Miser berated his Mekboys over their debts and raised one boy’s loan interest after he complained about the camp’s troubles.
• Orks disguised as Alpharius agents told Big Mek Miser that their convoy had crashed near Big Mek Brain Lump’s factory.
• Big Mek Miser gathered an armed towing convoy and went to the crash site, intending to recover the valuable Roarboost Engines.
• Big Mek Miser ordered his boys to fire a gravity towing cannon into the factory ruins despite their fear of the black thing.
• The cannon collapsed the factory into a huge garbage sphere, and a pitch-black shadow shot into the sky.

Corax and Jaghatai tricked Miser the Big Mek into believing their apparent destruction, then used the Orks’ recovery efforts to lure them into a devastating ambush. Elsewhere, Lion El'Jonson considered how the Dark Angels’ secrecy and his plan had turned the Fallen Angels into a chaotic group.

• Corax and Jaghatai staged an explosion that convinced Miser the Big Mek that Corax had been killed by the gravity drag cannon.
• Miser the Big Mek led his Orks into the factory to recover the cannon and seven Roarboost Engine sports cars.
• Disguised alpha agents planted bombs and killed Miser the Big Mek while the Raven Guard and White Scars crushed the Orks in an ambush.
• The alpha agents impersonated Miser the Big Mek's subordinates and lured other indebted Big Meks toward the factory, which Corax and Jaghatai used as a trap.
• Lion El'Jonson commanded the Dark Angels and the returned Fallen Angels in a major assault and reflected on how his plan had become a catastrophe.
• Lion El'Jonson traced the Fallen Angels’ disorder to the First Legion’s complicated structure and overlapping Inner Circle secrecy.

The chapter explained the Dark Angels' secretive Inner Circle and recounted how tensions between Lion El'Jonson and Luther helped set the stage for Caliban's rebellion. Luther discovered that Chaos had deeply corrupted Caliban and concluded that Lion El'Jonson and The Emperor intended to abandon the planet to destruction.

• Two Dark Angels suspected each other of probing the Chapter's secrets, opened fire, and died, after which Azrael buried the incident under the secrecy regulations.
• Lin Fan described how distrust between Terran-born and Caliban-born Space Marines, along with resentment toward Imperial exploitation, divided the Dark Angels.
• Luther discovered a Chaos nuclear bomb intended for Lion El'Jonson and dismantled it after briefly considering letting it explode.
• Lion El'Jonson transferred Luther and his followers to Caliban to train recruits, but Luther regarded the assignment as a rejection and resented the planet's industrial transformation.
• Luther found that Chaos had corrupted Caliban and believed Lion El'Jonson and The Emperor were concealing the danger until the planet had been drained of its value.

Lion El'Jonson's return to Caliban ended in the planet's destruction and the scattering of its warriors through the Maelstrom. After awakening in the present, he reunited the surviving factions but could not immediately mend the divisions caused by the Dark Angels' persecution.

• Luther's growing Chaos corruption led Lion El'Jonson to order Caliban bombarded and confront him, but Lion was gravely wounded and the planet shattered into the Maelstrom.
• Before more warriors vanished into the Maelstrom, Lion appointed a new Lord Cypher and ordered his sons to prevent the visions of the future from coming to pass.
• The Dark Angels who remained concealed the rebellion by forming the Inner Circle, while warriors cast into other timelines were mistaken for Fallen Angels and tortured during interrogations.
• After Lion awakened, the Dark Angels divided into Azrael's followers, Cypher's Fallen Angels, and Zabriel's persecuted warriors; Lion personally executed the true traitors and urged the groups to cooperate.
• Azrael and Cypher acknowledged Lion's request, but Zabriel still resented Azrael for the years of persecution.

Lion El'Jonson assigned the reluctant Azmodai to accompany Cypher while Roboute Guilliman reviewed a proposed battlefield advantage that turned out to be extendable stilts for the Skitarii. Guilliman rejected the device and faced the uneven quality of the Imperium's gathered forces as the battle approached.

• Lion El'Jonson ordered Azmodai to accompany Cypher, and Azmodai obeyed after recalling how Lion had crushed his black rosary and beaten him into silence.
• Lion El'Jonson contacted Roboute Guilliman to ask whether he had finished deploying his forces.
• Guilliman questioned a Tech-Priest's proposed way to break the stalemate and learned it was a set of extendable stilts for Skitarii.
• The Tech-Priest defended the stilts by claiming they had increased combat efficiency by 45% against primitive wildlife on Dos 198-4.
• Guilliman dismissed the Tech-Priest and reflected on the wildly uneven units summoned from across the Imperium.

Guilliman coordinated Imperial forces across an immense battlefield while Sanguinius and Lion El'Jonson joined the fighting. Sergeant Wood's position was overwhelmed by Degraded forces until distant explosions struck the attackers, leaving his fate uncertain.

• Guilliman assigned regiments to reinforce the ruined wall, encircle the Ironwo Factory District, and assault the Degraded barracks zone.
• Sanguinius reported that he was unharmed after destroying sixteen Ork Titans, and Guilliman sent Lion El'Jonson into battle.
• Sergeant Wood called for support as hundreds of thousands of Degraded soldiers and armored vehicles besieged his small position.
• Wood and his soldiers fought back with heavy weapons and grenades, but enemy fire suppressed them and threatened to overrun their defenses.
• Bolts of light struck the Degraded attackers and exploded before they reached Wood's position.

Mar and Lanya helped Wood’s position survive the Degraded Ones, but Mar was badly wounded and Lanya used her psychic power to save him. Nearby, Lion El'Jonson saw Mar and Lanya embrace and left in disbelief.

• Mar led a human and Aeldari rapid-response force through a Webway portal, while Lanya covered him with her sniper rifle.
• Several hundred T'au battlesuits arrived and helped the Imperium forces defeat the Degraded Ones.
• Degraded leeches burst through a collapsed pit and surrounded Mar’s assault squad, but Lanya and the troopers fought them off.
• Lanya discovered a leech inside Mar and used her psychic power, at great personal cost, to save him.
• Lion El'Jonson watched Mar embrace Lanya and called the sight heretical before leading Zabriel and the other Dark Angels onward.

Tzeentch tried to turn the tide against the Imperium by deploying railgun-equipped Degraded Ones, and the Raven Guard ambush led by Colvin went disastrously wrong. As Colvin lay wounded under fire, Konrad Curze arrived at his side.

• Tzeentch learned that dice rolls could influence battles and ordered Degraded Ones factories to produce Hammerheads and XV-series battlesuits equipped with railguns.
• Colvin led the Raven Guard in an ambush on an Ork convoy carrying Degraded Ones, using smoke and stealth to destroy its shield generator.
• Hundreds of Degraded battlesuits burst from a sealed battery box and surrounded Colvin and his squad.
• A railgun shell struck Colvin, pulverizing his shoulder and knocking him down as the Raven Guard struggled to protect him.
• Konrad Curze arrived alone at Colvin's side.

Lin Fan used movement rules to reposition Konrad Curze and the Raven Guard while Tzeentch tried to learn the limits of the tabletop rules. Tzeentch’s failed attempt left her furious and wary of how many advantages Lin Fan had kept hidden.

• Tzeentch used a dice roll to make an electromagnetic shell hit Konrad Curze, but he suffered only a nosebleed and slaughtered the Degraded Battlesuits.
• Lin Fan moved Konrad Curze across the battlefield by pinching his piece, briefly stopping time as he did so.
• Tzeentch tried to move a unit tens of thousands of kilometers, but the attempt failed because it exceeded the unit’s movement limit.
• Lin Fan repositioned Colvin and the Raven Guard by different distances, leaving Tzeentch to struggle with the movement rules.

Lin Fan toyed with Tzeentch while she struggled to learn the game’s rules, and Curze rescued Colvin before leaving him with a threatening warning. Corax and Jaghatai reunited with their allies in a new war zone, where Dorn and Perturabo were already arguing over the assault plan.

• Lin Fan taunted Tzeentch as she calculated unit movement limits and tried to learn the game’s rules.
• Curze finished killing the Orks and Degraded Ones, then cherished the stuffed doll the God-Emperor had made for him.
• Corax arrived to find Curze holding Colvin; Curze licked Colvin’s face, released him, and warned that he would collect the life Colvin owed him.
• Corax reassured Colvin, and Jaghatai urged them to leave for the war zone where Dorn and Perturabo were waiting.
• Several days later, Corax and Jaghatai reached the assembled Imperial forces and found Perturabo angrily arguing with Dorn about the battle plan.

Rogal Dorn and Perturabo argued over how to assault a battlefield shaped by Tzeentch into a brutal echo of the Siege of Terra. Jaghatai proposed that Mortarion lead the initial advance with support from the White Scars and Raven Guard, and the Death Guard entered the radiance to face the Imperial Palace filled with Degraded Ones.

• Rogal Dorn explained that the armies were nearing a rendezvous with the Necrontyr, but Tzeentch had filled the next war zone with material from other timelines and a vision of the Siege of Terra.
• Perturabo insisted the Iron Warriors should lead the assault, while Rogal Dorn warned that the defenses had changed and called for a coordinated attack.
• Mortarion described the strain on the advancing forces, and Jaghatai proposed that Mortarion and the Death Guard test the enemy while the Iron Warriors and Imperial Fists covered the flanks.
• Rogal Dorn and Perturabo accepted Jaghatai's plan, and Jaghatai and Corax offered the White Scars and Raven Guard as support for Mortarion.
• Mortarion welcomed the supporting forces, and the Death Guard advanced into the radiance to find the Imperial Palace filled with Degraded Ones.