Legio Solaria - Notable Campaigns: First Battle of Paramar (ca. 673.006.M31) - The world of Paramar V was the scene of several fierce battles during the Horus Heresy, amongst which the Traitor assault on the Station 3 spaceport was perhaps the most bloody. The forces of Chaos, supported by the Tiger Eyes Traitor Titan Legion, strode into the deserted spaceport expecting little resistance. They were surprised to meet the Titans of the Fire Wasps, Firebrands and Imperial Hunters along with Loyalist support troops and armour. After a swift and violent battle, the Traitors were routed, and eventually expelled from Paramar entirely.Thramas Crusade (007-009.M31) - During the Horus Heresy the Warmaster Horus sent the Night Haunter and his Night Lords Legion on a campaign of genocide against the Imperial strongholds of Heroldar and Thramas in the Aegis Sub-sector of the Eastern Fringes, thus protecting Horus' flank and delaying the Dark Angels Legion from reinforcing the Loyalists. As both sides were enhanced by detachments of god-engines, including from the Legio Solaria, this bitterly contested campaign would drag on for nearly three standard years.Battle of Crucible (ca. 008.M31) - Six reinforced chapters of the Night Lords, perhaps 12,000 warriors in all, dropped on the surface of Crucible alongside 50,000 auxillia and 18 Titans of the Legio Victorum I. Only a fraction of these forces would escape the surface intact, and of those that escaped many would not be able to fight free of the system. For the conscripts and Abhuman troops, whose bulk landers were woefully incapable of rapid exfiltration under combat conditions, almost none survived. Most perished in battle or whilst attempting to flee the Dark Angels' counter-attack, with less than 5,000 leaving the system alive, and most of these being reserve troops not yet deployed from their landing craft. Of the Legio Victorum I, the "Foe Slayers," none of the Titans deployed into combat would leave Crucible, several falling to concentrated fire from Loyalist ordinatus platforms and the others to the Titans of the Legio Solaria. The princeps of the Imperial Hunters rushed headlong into combat, taking serious damage in their determination to reach and engage the Traitor Titans, their zeal ensuring that none of the Traitors left the surface alive. The Night Lords fared better than their allies, their drop craft well capable of retrieving them even under heavy fire, and with some elite formations even able to evacuate by means of teleportarium chambers on the orbiting ships. Even so, one-in-three of those committed to the battle would not return, with particularly heavy casualties among the Atramentar and the retinue of Barbatos as they struggled to shield their primarch as he was convinced to withdraw. When added to the casualties incurred on other battlefields that would collapse in the wake of the defeat on Crucible, the defection of the White Scars and the arrival of new troops from Tigrus, the campaign in Thramas underwent a dramatic shift. Where once the Traitors had dominated the battles through sheer numbers, now they found themselves on the receiving end of this same disparity.Second Battle of Paramar V (011.M31) - The strategic Mechanicum provender world of Paramar V fell to the Warmaster Horus' hosts led by the Alpha Legion and the Dark Mechanicum in one of the opening moves of the Horus Heresy. Several Terran years later, a mixed force of Loyalists consisting of the Legio Atarus (Firebrands), Legio Ignatum (Fire Wasps), Legio Solaria (Imperial Hunters), with ground assault units from the Blood Angels and White Scars Legions, clashed with the defending Traitors. The Traitor forces were comprised of god-engines drawn from the Legio Fureans (Tiger Eyes) and Legio Mortis (Death's Heads) Titan Legions that were rearming and resupplying in the system after several Terran years of intensive campaigning, as well as extensive elements of the Sons of Horus and Word Bearers Legions. The Loyalists conducted a series of diversionary attacks across the Paramar System in order to draw troops away from their true target, before conducting a full scale planetstrike against Paramar V's primary spaceport, the Paramar Nexus. They captured it intact and then pressed outwards to begin the destruction of the mass-provender silos containing wargear and vehicles that sprawled across the plateau beyond. It was soon revealed, however, that the Traitors had seen through the ploy and prepared a huge counterattack force. Though they inflicted heavy damage on the provender silos before the Traitor counterattack hit home, the vast majority of the Loyalist invasion forces was surrounded and destroyed without mercy. The Paramar System would remain in Traitor hands for the rest of the Horus Heresy. The servants of Chaos would only be dislodged from the system following the Third Battle of Paramar in 019.M31 during the vengeance campaigns of the Great Scouring.Battle of Beta-Garmon, "The Titandeath" (006-013.M31) - The Legio Solaria took part in the long and savage Beta-Garmon campaign. The campaign included hundreds of war zones across dozens of worlds. Even before the greater armies of the Warmaster Horus reached the star cluster in 012.M31, the battle lines had long since been drawn, and fighting had been going on for many Terran years. It was a cauldron of battle that would consume millions of lives before its end and see the demise of entire Titan Legions, earning this campaign the dire moniker of the "Titandeath." The Beta-Garmon Cluster, also known as the gateway to the Throneworld of Terra, was the last hurdle that Horus' forces had to overcome before they reached the Imperium's capital world. Heavily fortified by the Loyalists, Beta-Garmon would become one of the greatest and bloodiest battles of the Horus Heresy, as well as one of the longest-lasting.Imperial Muster at Beta-Garmon (012-013.M31) - For reasons only understood later in the war, the Ruinstorm that had been invoked by Lorgar, primarch of the Word Bearers, several standard years earlier during the Battle of Calth, began to abate across vast swathes of the galaxy. Loyalist high commanders were able to utilise the potent astropathic relay at Beta-Garmon to contact and recall formerly lost or stranded forces from across the war-torn reaches of the northern Imperium. The Imperial Muster at Beta-Garmon rapidly escalated into the largest gathering of Loyalist might since the early years of the war, a concentration of forces so mighty that the Traitors had to respond in kind. The resulting clash of arms would become known as the Great Slaughter, a theatre of war of such scale that it would encompass the "Titandeath" and the Sea of Fire campaigns, each major campaigns in their own right. By its end, both sides were so badly bled that their only remaining option for ultimate victory was to force a final, decisive confrontation. As history related, the final battle would be fought at Terra, but only after the weighty butcher's bill of the Great Slaughter was paid in full.Delta-Garmon Beachhead (317.012.M31) - With the Imperial armies and fleets spread out across the cluster, Horus unleashes the full measure of his Titan Legions against key targets. On Delta-Garmon II and Theta-Garmon V, sieges that lasted standard years were brought to a sudden and brutal tipping point. Titans of the Legio Mortis led the way against the harvest domes of Delta-Garmon II, the airless wastes growing thick with the twisted wreckage of Loyalist tanks. On Theta-Garmon V, the Legio Fureans and the Legio Vulpa maniples marched across the great Garmonite shipyards, their guns tearing open the fortress docks and leaving clouds of frozen corpses in their wake. Only the swift arrival of the Legio Astraman and Legio Solaria maniples prevented both systems falling completely into the Warmaster's hands, though both Loyalist Legios find themselves hard-pressed by the vast number of enemies arrayed against them.On the Edge of the Void (012-013.M31)Hive War on Beta-Garmon (643.012-013.M31) - While Beta-Garmon II had all but fallen to the Traitors, Beta-Garmon III remained loyal to the Imperium, though its hives were under constant assault by the Sons of Horus and Iron Warriors siege battalions, Legio Defensor Titans mustered around its hives, defending against ground assault, while other Legios patrolled the storm-covered wastes repelling battlegroups sent across the void from Beta-Garmon II. On the shores of the Chymist's Sea, Imperial Hunters Titans opposed landings by neuro-slave armies of captured Gamonite soldiers, the Loyalists forced to annihilate their former allies and drive their formations into the caustic ocean.The Needle Breaks (012-013.M31) - In the closing days of the Titandeath campaign, Traitor forces sought to silence the Carthega Telepathica on Beta-Garmon III. The Battle of Diviner's Needle was one of the Imperium's last attempts to halt the Warmaster Horus' inexorable advance on Terra. While the Imperial commanders were focused upon the war raging in Nyrcon City, and the unfolding fate of Caldera Primus, the Warmaster sent his veteran Titans to destroy his true objective -- the Carthega Telepathica, Beta·Garmon's link to Terra. Only a handful of damaged Loyalist Titans and battered Knight banners defended the spire, the greater measure of the Legios drawn away to defend Beta-Garmon II. Though conventional forces and fortifications covered the slopes leading up to the Needle, these were as nothing to the Legio Mortis maniples and the maniples of other Traitor Legios that followed in their wake. On the treacherous mountain top the two sides met, the boiling storm clouds rolling around the peak and concealing everything below it. The Traitors used this to their advantage, emerging from the clouds at different points to divide the already weakened Loyalist defences. To even the odds arrayed against them, the Legio Solaria, Legio Astraman, Legio Atarus and many other Loyalist Titans made their stand on the spurs of mountain ridges, where only individual god-engines could face each other at a time. All the while, the astropathic choirs of the Diviner's Needle cried out for aid, until the mountain top became flooded with psychic screaming. Some Loyalist maniples and Knight banners would find their way to the battle before the end, their craft smashing through the blockading battlefleets around Beta-Garmon III and making reckless landings on the mountain's slopes, their Titans and Knights smashing their way out of the tangled wreckage of their landing craft to join the fray. In the end, however, the defences of the Diviner's Needle were broken by the Legio Mortis and their allies, and the spire itself was brought down amid a screech of twisted metal and the piteous wails of the astropaths within.Siege of Terra (014.M31) - During the Siege of Terra the Legio Solaria was stationed inside the walls of the Imperial Palace. They later ventured out of the Helios Gate with the Primarch Sanguinius in order to allow Imperial Army conscripts manning the outer siegeworks to flee inside. During the fighting, Legio Solaria Titans destroyed a Plague Tower of Nurgle.Scouring of Catenanda (ca. 014.M31)Battle of Edessa (014.M31)Battle of Elp (014.M31)Battle of Jantamer (014.M31)Defence of Khania (Unknown Date.M41) - Threatened by the advance of the Tyranids, the Industrial World of Khania called for help from the wider Imperium. First to respond were the tank crews of the 66th Kataran Spears, whose homeworld -- Katara -- lay in the plotted path of the Tyranid hive fleet. They were joined by no less than two battlegroups of the Collegia Titanica, Demi-legio Syagrius of the Imperial Hunters, and Demi-legio Barzahn of the Legio Pallidus Mor. Through political connections, overall command of the Imperial forces was given to Marshal Adrel Syagrius of the Imperial Hunters rather than to Marshal Barzahn, a fact the Legio Pallidus Mor would soon come to regret. The Tyranids forced a landing on Khania, quickly consuming the biomass of the northern hemisphere, which was less populated and had therefore also been left more vulnerable. Both Demi-legios deployed side-by-side at Hive Gelon, Khania's capital city. The combined strength of the Legio Pallidus Mor and the Imperial Hunters proved too much to overcome, even though the Imperial Hunters' recklessness almost cost them dearly: the enemy horde was led by a towering Bio-Titan, a Hierophant. Having detected it first, Marshal Syagrius claimed the target as his own and led his venerable Warlord-class Titan, the Augustus Secutor, towards the enemy. Although he wounded the beast quite quickly during their duel, Syagrius underestimated his opponent's swiftness and ferocity. The great Hierophant inflicted great damage on the Augustus Secutor before the Gloria Vastator, another Legio Pallidus Mor Warlord Titan, came at it, guns blazing. The incoming fire led the Hierophant to switch its attention to the oncoming Gloria Vastator, a fatal error when Syagrius and the Augustus Secutor used its distraction to place the kill-shot. While he had survived, Marshal Syagrius never quite forgave Princeps Senioris Krezoc for interrupting his duel. Believing the Tyranids beaten, this mark on his honour wounded Syagrius' pride, a feeling completely alien to the crews of the Legio Pallidus Mor. Fortunately for Marshal Syagrius, the Tyranids returned with even greater force when a second splinter-fleet attacked Khania. This time, Marshal Syagrius chose to divide his Titans and deploy them separately: whilst the demi-Legio of the Pallidus Mor and the full strength of the Kataran Spears would stay at Hive Gelon, the Imperial Hunters -- true to their name -- would hunt down the enemy's Bio-Titans, thus allowing Syagrius to wash the slight to his honour in the enemy's blood. Marshal Barzahn tried to reason with his younger counterpart, but Syagrius was deaf to the Marshal's warnings and strategic assessments. Whilst he was tracking a large reading of biosignals on his Auspex, Syagrius led the Imperial Hunters further and further away from Hive Gelon, ignoring Marshal Barzahn's warning that he was chasing ghosts, for while the Legio Pallidus Mor was deeply embroiled in the fighting at Hive Gelon, the Imperial Hunters only encountered a few broods of Carnifexes, but no Bio-Titans. Too late did Syagrius realise that he was being baited by the Hive Mind. Far outside the range of the Titan's sensors, the Tyranids had started to dig large burrows to attack from under the defenders' very feet. The issued warning came too late for the Legio Pallidus Mor, as the first Mawlocs left their tunnels and threw themselves at the Leman Russ Tanks of the 66th Kataran Lancers. Worse yet, no less than six Bio-Titans tore themselves free of the ground. In the first solar seconds of the renewed Tyranid assault, the Legio Pallidus Mor lost two of its Warhounds as the Carnifexes rushed the smaller Titans' feet and legs and immobilised them long enough for two of the Hierophants to destroy them. The Bio-Titans soon turned their attention to the Imperial Titans, two of them closing in on Marshal Barzahn's God-engine, the Ferrum Salvator. Even as the Gloria Vastator struck its own opponent down, annihilating it with twin strikes from its Quake and Volcano Cannons, one of the Hierophants circled behind Ferrum Salvator and pierced its backplate-armour with its adamantium-hard claw. As the towering Warlord Titan crashed to the ground, the Hierophant fired its Bio-Cannons, signing the death warrant of Marshal Barzahn. While Gloria Vastator avenged the Marshal, the Imperial Hunters finally returned from their long and futile hunt, and with their help the Tyranids were routed for the second time. Khania had been saved.Doom of Katara (Unknown Date.M41) - With the war on Khania resolved, tension flared between the Imperial Hunters and the Legio Pallidus Mor, as Princeps Senioris Krezoc of the Pallidus Mors proclaimed that Sygarius' lack of foresight had led to the death of her commanding officer. Both Legios would have happily departed Khania separately if news had not reached them that the homeworld of the Kataran Spears in the neighboring Sevasmos System was being overrun by Chaos Cultists. The urgent message from Katara also told of a great force of enemy Titans having landed near Katara's capital city of Creontiades. As this aggression could not be allowed to stand, the Imperial Hunters and the Legio Pallidus Mors boarded their Titan-barques and set course for Katara. With no one to challenge his rank, Marshal Syagrius took command of the operation. Again, Syagrius chose to separate his forces and first secure Katara's two remaining main cities, deploying the demi-Legio of the Pallidus Mor at Deicoon, whilst the Imperial Hunters landed at Therimachus. The still unidentified enemy had remained at Creontiades and the Imperial landing went unopposed. Considering her orders gave her sufficient leeway to do so, Princeps Senioris Krezoc took her demi-Legio and the 66th Kataran Spears to the Kazani Bridge, the sole link between Creontiades and the mainland. By then, the enemy was on the move and both Titan-formations met on the Kazani Bridge. The identity of their opponents was quickly confirmed as belonging to the Traitor Titan Legion of the Iron Skulls, with whom the Legio Pallidus Mor had clashed repeatedly in the past. With the bridge acting as a funnel, the Iron Skulls were incapable of bringing their superior numbers -- at least a full Titan Legion -- to bear. The Battle of the Kazani Bridge concluded with the Legio Pallidus Mor having claimed first blood and destroying the bridge, thus trapping the Iron Skulls and their Chaos Cultists in Creontiades. Yet that was not the end of the campaign. Through blasphemous sorcery, the Archenemy rebuilt the Kazani Bridge and crossed it unopposed, the Legio Pallidus Mor detachment being itself trapped in Deicoon by a surprise attack of the Khorne-worshipping cultists who had wormed their way into the lower levels of Deicoon. The main strength of the Iron Skulls marched on Therimachus. With the city itself untenable, Marshal Syagrius chose to meet the enemy in the hills before the last free city of Katara, his Titans acting as a mobile rampart against the Iron Skulls' advance. Shortly before battle was joined, a priority vox-cast reached the Marshal from Deicoon: the attack on the city had been blunted and what remained of the Pallidus Mor were ready to march. Knowing full well that these reinforcements would never arrive in time, Marshal Syagrius ordered the Pallidus Mor to avenge their death and retake Therimachus whilst the doomed Imperial Hunters exacted a heavy toll on the enemy. Marshal Syagrius was killed on the very first solar day of the Battle of Therimachus, but several Titans of his demi-Legio survived the three horrible days before the Legio Pallidus Mor had crossed the continent and joined the fray. Though both demi-Legions were virtually annihilated, the Iron Skulls were vanquished and their plans for Katara thwarted. Unfortunately, due to the incompetence of its leaders and the level of corruption discovered, Katara was transformed into a Penal World, while the Kataran Spears were disbanded and the survivors confined to forced labour camps by the Inquisition.