Recaps

Konrad Curze urged Nostramo’s oppressed people to seize their freedom and judge their rulers themselves. The broadcast sparked an uprising in which crowds stormed noble estates and hanged former masters and their accomplices.

• Konrad Curze announced that the people of Nostramo were not born slaves and called on them to take food, destroy debt records, and punish those who had oppressed them.
• The broadcast ended, and after three heartbeats the people began battering down gates across the City.
• Crowds stormed a mining oligarch’s manor, overcame its guards, and seized the oligarch and other members of the ruling class.
• The rebels dragged former masters, bodyguards, butlers, and overseers into the streets as crowds chanted, “Hang them!”
• People tied more than a thousand ropes around the necks of those they blamed for their suffering and pushed them from balconies and makeshift gallows.

Nostramo’s oppressed masses rallied behind Konrad Curze and joined the assault on the aristocracy’s last stronghold. With Lorgar directing the Word Bearers and Hercules leading the breach, the Iron Curtain Fortress began to fall.

• Nostramo’s people gathered beneath the signal tower and chanted Curze’s name and calls for justice.
• Lorgar ordered the Word Bearers to support local insurgents in eliminating the nobles’ final stronghold, the Iron Curtain Fortress.
• The insurgents pressured the fortress perimeter while elite Word Bearers used heavy weapons to breach its defenses.
• Curze hunted defenders through the darkened fortress corridors, silently disabling gun positions and killing enemies.
• Hercules led the frontal assault, breaking through barriers with his Power Sword and causing the noble soldiers to flee.
• The insurgents and Word Bearers charged through the breach as the fortress’s defenses collapsed.

Konrad Curze began rebuilding Nostramo through safer mining, new administration, and restored public services while Lorgar Aurelian watched from a distance. A warship bearing an unfamiliar desert banner arrived, and Saladin, Lord of the Second Legion, greeted Lorgar.

• Lorgar Aurelian left Nostramo's day-to-day affairs to Konrad Curze and kept the Word Bearers stationed in orbit and at outlying bases.
• Curze selected insurgents as candidates for the Night Lords' gene-seed and planned to have the Word Bearers hold them until his Legion fleet arrived.
• Curze ordered safer, more productive adamantium mining and arranged for part of the additional output to go to the Word Bearers as strategic cooperation supplies.
• Curze established grassroots nominations for planetary administrators and told the first twenty-seven Archons to balance Imperial taxes against the people's survival.
• A huge warship bearing a desert banner arrived over Nostramo, and Saladin introduced himself to Lorgar as the Lord of the Second Legion.

Saladin met Lorgar and questioned what would hold humanity together after the Great Crusade ended, then invited him to discuss history and philosophy. He asked Lorgar to bring his forces north to help fight an organized Rangdan attack, leaving Lorgar doubtful that the trouble was minor.

• Lorgar met Saladin in person, and the two exchanged greetings before discussing the Word Bearers and the Great Crusade.
• Lorgar described the Crusade as humanity’s glorious rebirth under the Emperor.
• Saladin asked what would unite humanity after its external enemies were defeated and warned that the Imperium’s weapon might turn against its own people.
• Saladin praised Lorgar’s approach and invited him to a future conversation about history, philosophy, and humanity.
• Saladin told Lorgar that Rangdan Xenos had attacked outpost worlds and a detached fleet in a northern star cluster, and asked him to send forces to help.
• After Saladin departed, Lorgar repeated that the Rangdan situation was hardly a little trouble.

Vice Admiral Vietnas led an Imperial fleet into the Dawn Star System to investigate a missing task force, only to find its wreckage and fall into a Rangdan ambush. The Imperial fleet was surrounded and devastated by concealed attacks as Rangdan warships closed in.

• Vice Admiral Vietnas brought the Imperial fleet out of the Warp at the missing task force’s last known coordinates in the Dawn Star System.
• Vietnas and his commanders discovered the task force’s ships had been annihilated, with no survivors or distress signals.
• Hostile signals appeared around the Imperial fleet, and Vietnas ordered the ships to disperse, raise shields, and fire at will.
• Purple-green energy bolts erupted from Imperial wrecks, overwhelmed a Lunar-class Cruiser’s shields, and destroyed it from within.
• Vietnas saw Rangdan warships emerge from the darkness and slowly surround his fleet.

Sergeant Lecky and the 48th Army arrived on a crowded landing pad and were ordered to deploy to Norman Cathedral, their new fortified home. After a long transport ride, they reached the enormous cathedral and began moving inside to find their bunks.

• Lecky led his platoon into the 48th Army formation as hundreds of thousands of troops assembled on the landing pad.
• Lieutenant General William Stimmerman ordered the 48th Army to board transports bound for Norman Cathedral.
• During the journey, Narville told the soldiers that nearly nine million militia troops were waiting to deploy and that their regiment would live in a church.
• Lecky and his platoon arrived at Norman Cathedral and saw its immense fortress-like structure.
• Doram ordered the troops to find their company bunks and gave them instructions about the mess and military police.
• Lecky called his platoon to follow him through the cathedral's huge door into a vast hall filled with rows of iron bunk beds.

Sergeant Leki and his friends learned that several Imperial Fleets had gone silent and Space Marine Legions were being deployed, but no one knew what threat they faced. Back at Norman Cathedral, Leki and the other soldiers watched the Orbit Star Fortress burn and heard the alarm announce the enemy’s arrival.

• Leki, Werner, and Corporal Holtz left Norman Cathedral to trade supplies and gather information from nearby troops.
• Leki met Staff Sergeant Ansia of the Vernas Defense Force, who said three Imperial expeditionary Fleets had gone silent and Space Marine Legions were assembling.
• Ansia reported that his major had told the troops to prepare their wills and check their weapons, but he did not know who or what they would fight.
• Leki and his friends returned to the crowded barracks, where Leki noticed an ominous glow spreading across the night sky.
• Leki and Doram saw the Orbit Star Fortress burning and breaking apart above the planet.
• The soldiers in Norman Cathedral watched the destruction as an alarm sounded and announced the enemy’s arrival.

After the Rangdan fleet destroyed the Imperial Star Fortress, orbital bombardment devastated the planet’s defenses while Leki and the 48th Colchis Auxiliary Army survived near Norman Cathedral. Lieutenant General Sturmerman rallied the scattered survivors to fortify the cathedral, leaving them braced for the enemy’s landing.

• Doram roused the soldiers as Sturmerman discovered the enemy fleet had overwhelmed the Imperial navy and was sending landing craft toward the Star Fortress.
• The Star Fortress garrison self-destructed, and its exploding wreckage rained down across the planet while Sturmerman’s guards forced him into the cathedral shelter.
• A Rangdan orbital strike erased the Vernas Regiment’s base, and the enemy retaliated against Imperial anti-aircraft guns with precise purple energy blasts.
• Sturmerman returned to command and ordered surviving units to rally at Norman Cathedral, rebuild defenses, and prepare to intercept landing pods.
• Leki reloaded his Lasgun as Doram lamented their losses, and the chaplain urged the survivors to prepare for battle.

Sturmerman’s forces faced an immense army of mind-controlled Imperial citizens and friendly troops, alongside armored vehicles and monstrous Bio-Beasts. The defenders fought back, but breaches spread across the Defense Line and casualties mounted.

• Sturmerman identified the approaching people as mind-controlled weapons and ordered his troops to fire without hesitation.
• Imperial artillery and infantry devastated the puppet army, while captured Leman Russ Tanks returned fire against the Defense Line.
• Leki and the Colchis Auxiliary Army held their positions as Bio-Beasts descended and attacked the defenders.
• Nine Leman Russ Tanks wounded a charging Bio-Beast, and infantry fire helped buy the crews time to reload.
• Smaller Bio-Beasts and puppet infantry breached the eastern Defense Line and began close-quarters fighting in the trenches.
• Tank crews killed one Bio-Beast with concentrated fire, but multiple sections remained in danger as friendly units suffered heavy losses.

A Worm Man emerged behind the Defense Line and spread its worm infection through the soldiers, shrugging off gunfire and explosives as it advanced toward the command post. Colchis troops and Imperial forces finally drove it into an artillery crater and burned it to ash, though the survivors were left shaken.

• A Worm Man appeared on the supposedly safe rear flank, disintegrated a Vernas Regiment soldier, and resisted the soldiers’ gunfire and grenades.
• The Worm Man transformed a Communications Trooper and a Colchis soldier into more worm creatures, spreading panic as its offspring attacked the defense line.
• A reinforced platoon of Colchis veterans used explosives and heavy weapons to delay the Worm Men while the largest creature advanced toward the command post.
• A Malcador-pattern Hellhound and infantry flamethrower squads arrived, then poured sustained fire onto the Worm Men.
• The flame troops herded the largest Worm Man into an artillery crater and burned it for four minutes until only ash remained.

After the enemy assault stalled, Lieutenant General Sturmerman ordered Doram’s regiment to retake Hill A-7. Leki joined the charge against the xenos, and after Captain Modos was killed, Chaplain Gordo led the soldiers forward.

• Lieutenant General Sturmerman ordered a counterattack and assigned Doram’s regiment to lead the assault.
• Doram’s regiment advanced toward Hill A-7, where Leki and Captain Modos spotted xenos reinforcing their positions.
• Leki charged through enemy fire as the soldiers and tanks attacked the ridge.
• Captain Modos pulled Leki from a shell crater and rallied the troops, but a blue beam killed him.
• Chaplain Gordo took command and charged toward the ridge, and Leki followed with his rifle.

Colchis soldiers assaulted the xenos defenses on the Slope before Hill A-7, fighting through wire and trenches in a brutal close-quarters battle. Leki killed a charging xenos with a point-blank Lasgun shot, then snapped out of his shock when a fellow soldier urged him forward.

• Leki advanced behind a Chimera as Colchis soldiers endured heavy fire and crossed the first wire obstacle over a fallen comrade.
• A young soldier charged the xenos position with a grenade-laden Aquila standard, blowing open a breach at the cost of his life.
• Colchis soldiers fixed bayonets and entered the trenches, where they fought the xenos with rifles, tools, knives, and shotguns.
• Leki entered a communication trench and killed a xenos at point-blank range after it lunged at him.
• Leki froze beside the smoking corpse until a fellow Colchis soldier struck his shoulder and shouted for him to keep moving.

Chaplain Gordo led the soldiers into the xenos Fortress, where they fought through its deadly corridors. Leki survived a close-quarters attack by killing a xenos with a jagged fragment, while the fighting inside the Fortress remained chaotic.

• Chaplain Gordo charged through the hatch, killing three xenos and leading the soldiers into the Fortress.
• The soldiers advanced through the Fortress’s winding passages, clearing rooms under fire and using Flamers to destroy a fortified xenos position.
• Leki stabbed a xenos with his bayonet, but another knocked him to the floor and pinned him down.
• Leki headbutted the xenos, threw it off, and beat it to death with a jagged fragment.

White Scars led by Ding Xiu arrived at the Norman Defense Zone, where he ordered the Imperium forces to evacuate the planet within seventy-two hours and redeploy to Xana. As Doram hurried to inform General Sturmerman, Ding Xiu prepared his squad to secure the evacuation route.

• White Scars Drop Pods landed near the battered position, and Ding Xiu introduced himself to Doram as commander of the 15th Tactical Squad.
• Ding Xiu told Doram that higher command had ordered the 48th Colchis Auxiliary Army and other reachable Imperium units to abandon the planet.
• Ding Xiu ordered the forces to evacuate within seventy-two hours, prioritize the severely wounded, and leave equipment that could not be repaired quickly.
• Doram drove toward Norman Cathedral to deliver the evacuation order to General Sturmerman.
• Ding Xiu ordered his squad to establish a perimeter and kill anyone who interfered with the evacuation.

Ding Xiu and the White Scars fought off mind-controlled Mortals being sent to delay their withdrawal, shifting from a defensive line to mobile attacks. Ding Xiu mounted a Hover Bike and charged into the crowd to disrupt its formation and create openings for his warriors.

• Ding Xiu identified the approaching mind-controlled Mortals and ordered his squad to prepare to engage.
• Ding Xiu cut down the first attackers, then ordered the White Scars to fire on the advancing crowd.
• Ding Xiu redirected his warriors into paired and triangular mobile formations to avoid being pinned in static defence.
• Ding Xiu used his Scimitar to guard the anchor point while the White Scars split the advancing tide into localized kill zones.
• Ding Xiu mounted a White Scars Hover Bike and charged through the Mortals, disrupting their formation and drawing their attention.

Lion El'Jonson assessed the Rangdan blockade and the devastated Imperial forces in the Northern Star Cluster. He ordered the assembled Imperial fleets to attack Satus Point and break through the blockade.

• Corswain reported that the Rangdan and their vassals had blockaded the Northern Star Cluster, destroyed or cut off more than twenty Imperial expeditionary fleets, and isolated scattered ground troops.
• Lion El'Jonson declared that the Dark Angels would hold most of the front and said he did not need other Legions to fight the Rangdan.
• Corswain told Lion El'Jonson that Lorgar had not committed his main forces, though some Word Bearers detachments would join peripheral operations.
• Lion El'Jonson ordered all assembled Imperial fleets to enter combat readiness, form an attack formation around the Unyielding Truth, and strike Satus Point to break the Rangdan blockade.

Lorgar decided to commit a Word Bearers force to the inevitable war against the Rangdan and assigned command responsibilities for the expedition. The chapter ended with Seras, Atlas, and Anastasia preparing to join Lorgar at the Rangdan Blockade Line while Rockefeller continued the eastern advance.

• Lorgar asked how many Word Bearers could be spared for mobile operations, and Evans reported that fifty thousand warriors were available, most of them inexperienced recruits.
• Lorgar ordered twenty-five thousand warriors detached for the Rangdan campaign: twenty thousand recruits and five thousand veterans and noncommissioned officers.
• Lorgar placed Rockefeller in command of the remaining expeditionary fleet and ordered him to continue into the Eastern Star Cluster.
• Lorgar ordered Seras and Atlas to accompany him to the Northern Star Cluster.
• Anastasia volunteered to join the operation, and Lorgar approved her participation aboard his flagship.
• Lorgar ordered preparations for the force to depart within seventy-two hours for the Rangdan Blockade Line.

Sergeant Leki Emil arrived on Forge World Shina with the battered remnants of the 48th Army of Colchis as its defenders prepared for the Rangdan Xenos invasion. Awed by Shina’s Titans and gathered forces, he followed his unit toward reorganization and its assigned defensive sector.

• Leki Emil disembarked at Furnace-7 and followed orders to join the 48th Army of Colchis as it moved to reorganize.
• Lieutenant General William Stimmerman rallied the battered soldiers and led them toward their assigned defensive sectors.
• Leki saw Raven Guard and White Scars forces gathered under Chapter Master Korolia’s command.
• Leki glimpsed Shina’s orbital defenses, Imperial Navy ships, and towering Warlord Titans.
• Master Sergeant Doram urged Leki to keep moving, and Leki followed the column as Shina prepared to face the Rangdan Xenos.

Lorgar learned that Mortarion and the Death Guard would join the Rangdan campaign, prompting him to consider killing Calas Typhon before he could become Typhus. Perturabo then confirmed that the Iron Warriors would also join the operation, leaving Lorgar to anticipate a larger and more useful coalition.

• Lorgar received confirmation that Mortarion and the Death Guard would bring their main force to the Rangdan battle.
• Lorgar considered secretly eliminating Calas Typhon to prevent his future betrayal and corruption of the Death Guard.
• Perturabo contacted Lorgar from a battlefield and said he would finish his current campaign within seventy-two hours.
• Perturabo promised to lead the Iron Warriors to the Northern Star Cluster rendezvous and asked Lorgar to reserve fleet docking interfaces.
• Lorgar welcomed the added strength and considered the Rangdan war an opportunity to eliminate Typhon, gain territory, and build his reputation.

Lorgar encountered Angron studying military and xenos texts, then questioned Anastasia about the Rangdan and her abilities. Anastasia demonstrated that she could silently deconstruct a teapot, but Lorgar left without learning the limits or full nature of her powers.

• Lorgar met Angron carrying library books and learned that Khârn was hauling the rest of Angron’s reading pile.
• Lorgar visited Anastasia in the ecological garden to ask whether she knew anything about the Rangdan Xenos.
• Anastasia said her database had no useful records of the Rangdan and that much of her knowledge was outdated.
• Lorgar asked Anastasia to explain her abilities, and she demonstrated by reducing a teapot to undetectable particles.
• Anastasia gave vague answers about her powers’ principles and limits, so Lorgar ended the conversation and left the garden.

Lorgar tested Hercules against a combat simulation based on one-thousandth of his own data, and the simulated Primarch defeated him almost instantly. Hercules was taken to the Medical Area for treatment, while his comrades questioned what Lorgar’s “one-thousandth” really meant.

• Lorgar activated a special combat simulation after Hercules confidently described his close-combat training.
• Hercules charged the simulated Lorgar, who dodged his Power Sword and struck his exposed shoulder, sending him flying and leaving him incapacitated.
• Lorgar shut down the simulation, ordered the data recorded, and told a Legion serf to notify the Apothecary.
• Perseus, Theseus, and Argos carried Hercules to the Medical Area, where the Apothecary placed him in a Medical Stasis Pod.
• Theseus wondered whether Lorgar understood “one-thousandth” differently after Argos saw the simulation’s list of fractures.

The Rangdan Fleet launched a massive assault on Shina’s defense ring, forcing Imperial Navy ships and the defense batteries to fight back. The Hammer of God array destroyed several Rangdan capital ships, but an even larger wave emerged from the Warp.

• The Rangdan Fleet emerged from the Warp and attacked the Imperial Navy and Shina’s defense ring with beams and massed projectiles.
• Imperial warships opened fire, intercepting many incoming shells, while Rangdan beams destroyed two Lunar-class cruisers.
• The Rangdan vanguard pressed forward despite losses, and more enemy ships continued to emerge from the Warp.
• The defense-line commander ordered the Hammer of God array to fire Antimatter-Catalyzed Shells at the densest enemy formation.
• The superheavy batteries annihilated five or six Rangdan capital ships and crippled others, but larger Rangdan warships appeared beyond the blast zone.

Rangdan fire crippled the Seventh Gun Position’s shield generators, leaving the sector exposed as enemy ships prepared another salvo. With other Imperial forces unable to help, the badly damaged cruiser Mountains answered the call for emergency support.

• As the Seventh Gun Position reloaded its massive gun, Rangdan battleships targeted its shield generator array with Warp-charged Lightning.
• The attack destroyed generator G-7 and overloaded G-6 and G-8, dropping the sector’s shield strength to 47%.
• The Tech-Sage and repair crews rushed to isolate the damage and restore the shields while Rangdan ships prepared another attack.
• The Fabricator-General called for emergency fire support, but nearby Imperial Warships could not reach the sector in time.
• Captain Consgett of the crippled Mountains announced himself over the public comms channel.

Captain Consgett ordered the Mountains to divert all power to its engines and make a suicidal ram against a Rangdan warship to buy time for the Seventh Gun Position. The Mountains detonated its reactor inside the crippled enemy ship, destroying it in a chain of explosions that lit Shina’s orbital defense ring.

• Captain Consgett ordered the Mountains to shut down nonessential systems and divert all remaining power to its engines.
• Consgett drove the damaged Mountains toward the Rangdan vanguard, disrupting the enemy ships targeting the Seventh Gun Position.
• The Mountains rammed a Rangdan warship, penetrating its armor before becoming lodged inside its hull.
• A final reactor overload detonated the Mountains and sent destructive energy through the Rangdan warship.
• The Rangdan warship erupted in a chain of explosions, forming a vast nebula that illuminated Shina’s orbital defense ring.

Chapter Master Korolia monitored the failing orbital defenses and learned that Worm Men were converting workers beneath the factory. Lorne ambushed one of the creatures to reveal himself, then vanished into the shadows as the Worm Men struggled to react.

• Korolia assessed the battle above the factory and considered where to deploy the Raven Guard and White Scars.
• Carlyle reported Worm Men attacking workers in the abandoned cooling conduits, and Korolia ordered continued surveillance as Lorne and Gale squads moved to contain them.
• Lorne struck a Worm Man with his Lightning Claws, destroying some worms but failing to stop the creature from regenerating.
• Lorne withdrew into the shadows, leaving the three Worm Men alarmed and uncertain.