Editing Horus Heresy

[[File:zbrothers.jpg|200px|thumb|right|It was pretty much ''this''.]]

One of the single biggest events in [[Warhammer 40,000]] fluff, second only to the giant orgy of the [[Eldar]] that created a [[Slaanesh|Chaos God of pleasure and decadence]]. This is when nine [[Space Marine]] primarchs rebelled against the [[Emprah]], along with numerous Imperial Army forces, under the banner of [[Horus]] who was worshiping [[Chaos]]. The battle eventually waged onto Holy Terra in a great siege of Grimdark proportions where it was virtually impossible for both parties to win this way and so was settled when Horus and the Emprah had a duel to the death (because seriously, when you have millions of men, marines and daemons battling for the domination of the galaxy, they TOTALLY will stop just because their general is dead).

The Emperor won against Horus but was fucked up to the point where he had to be permanently attached to a life-support machine known as the "Golden Throne" just to survive. In his absence, logic within the Imperium gradually decreased and thus, eventually turned into the [[Grimdark]] empire it is today. And it was already pretty damn grimdark. 

== [[Warhammer 40,000]] Fluff ==

The Horus Heresy screwed almost everyone's plans (Except the Chaos Gods' of course, but they always win) and changed the flavour of the Imperium's Grimdark from Stalinist Soviet "if you breathe a word about religion, we rape you with knives" to Catholic Inquisition "if you breathe a word about the wrong religion we rape you with knives".

== The Board Game ==

First published in 1993 by [[Game Designer's Workshop]], it was the Emprah versus his [[Horus|evil bastard of a son]] in the scorched earth of Terra. Units include [[Titan#Warhammer_40k|titans]] and [[Chaos spawn]]. '''*GLARBLBLBLBLBLBL*'''


The more recent edition (2010) is published by [[Fantasy Flight Games]]. Also a two-player [[wargame|war]] [[board game|game]], it includes over 100 sculpted minifigs, sculpted buildings, and even Horus and the Emprah themselves are units on the board. It also adds more territory, as the fight can be pushed back onto the [[heresy|traitor's]] flagship ''Vengeful Spirit''. Combat is less [[dice|dice-y]] and more card-y.
(Not to be confused with the lame Horus Heresy card game, who's only saving grace was the awesome card art that would appear in the Horus Heresy artbooks anyway)

== The Book Series ==

For the last few years, [[Black Library]] has been publishing novels that explore the events of the Horus Heresy, looking at the rivalries among the [[Primarchs]] and exploring just why everything went down the tubes. The novels are by a selection of different authors, which is a total pain if you like to organise your books alphabetically by author. Generally all the books in the series are damned good, especially the first three. Mmmmm, Dan Abnett...

== The Tabletop Wargame ==

[[Forge World]] is producing a new line of books and models (''in addition to'' [[Imperial Armour]] and [[Warhammer Forge]]) to allow players to fight battles from the Horus Heresy in [[Warhammer 40,000]].  This includes rules and models for the [[Primarchs]] (both pre- and post-fall, for the Traitors) as well as ancient vehicles.  No [[xenos]], unfortunately. Presumably this came about because GW felt that they just weren't making quite enough money from die-hard marine/chaos players and figured they could literally buy a dump-truck full of gold plated cocaine each if they made a version of the game that requires only Forge World minis AND thousands upon thousands of them. Still worth it, though.

=== Betrayal ===

Forge World starts big, as their first book covers the battles on Isstvan III, in which [[Horus]] sent the remaining loyalist elements of the [[Sons of Horus]], [[Emperor's Children]], [[Death Guard]], and [[World Eaters]] to the surface, ostensibly to rout the anti-Imperial resistance that had taken hold in the capital city, and then fired [[Exterminatus]] torpedoes (of the life-eater variety) onto the city to wipe them out.

Unfortunately for Horus, not everything went as planned; not only did one of the Death Guard's frigates escape to [[Terra]] with word of Horus's betrayal, but loyalist elements on the ships were able to disrupt the bombardment and warn the loyalists on the ground that it was coming.  Between the disruption, the warning, and good old-fashioned [[Space Marine]] toughness, only a third or so of the landed force had actually died.  Horus would have fired another bombardment, but [[Angron]] and his traitor World Eaters jumped the gun and made planetfall; the other traitors were left with no choice but to deploy themselves and destroy the remaining loyalists personally.

''Betrayal'' contains a [[Great Crusade]] Legion army list (for which we have a [[Warhammer 40,000/Tactics/Space Marines/Legion List‎|tactica]]), and rules for special characters and units from the [[Sons of Horus]], [[Death Guard]], [[Emperor's Children]], and [[World Eaters]] Legions, including their [[Primarch]]s (even [[Fulgrim]], who was not actually at the battle) and major characters from the book series.

== See Also ==

* [[Alternate Heresy]], for a discussion of other possible outcomes of the (not necessarily Horus) Heresy.

== External Links ==
* [http://geekdo.com/boardgame/3170/horus-heresy Horus Heresy (1993)] at BoardGameGeek
* [http://geekdo.com/boardgame/63543/horus-heresy Horus Heresy (2010)] at BoardGameGeek

[[Category:Board Games]][[Category:Warhammer 40,000]][[Category:Wargames]]