War of the Beast - First Battle of Ullanor: With the Primarch at their forefront, the massive Imperial coalition set upon their path towards Ullanor Prime in order to halt the greenskin menace. The Imperial force was comprised of several Space Marine Chapters, including the Chapters of the "Last Wall", the Blood Angels, Dark Angels, Space Wolves and the Ultramarines. A sizable detachment of several Astra Militarum regiments (made up of Lucifer Blacks, Granite Myrmidons, Jupiter Storms and Orion Watch, alongside several others) as well as a sizable Mechanicus force of the Legio Skitarii, Legio Cybernetica, House Taranis Imperial Knights and Titans of the Legio Ultima. Though the Primarch was the nominal commander of this formidable Imperial force, he secluded himself aboard the Fists Exemplar's Battle Barge, Alcazar Remembered, the acting Imperial command ship, offering little advice. The burden of command eventually fell to Lord Commander Koorland and Magos Dominus Gerg Zhokuv, to oversee the overall strategy of the upcoming campaign. The Imperials were able to deduce (at great cost) through a communion of several Librarians (which caused several to go insane and turn upon their fellow battle-brothers, due to the sheer power of the WAAAGH!) that the location of The Beast's lair lay within a "capital" on Ullanor Prime.Together, the Imperial force invaded The Beast's capital world, and assaulted the city of Gorkogrod, fighting alongside the Primarch. Within the center of the capital city, lay the temple-palace of The Beast, located on the exact spot where the Emperor and the Primarchs had assembled 1,500 years earlier during the Triumph of Ullanor. Meanwhile, Grand Master of Assassins Vangorich deployed the Venenum Assassin Esad Wire, known also as the "Beast Krule", to Ullanor Prime on a secret mission to find and eliminate The Beast.Much to their surprise, the Imperial forces found the planet heavily colonised and covered almost completely in ramshackle, but surprisingly organised Ork urban settlements. Due to the protection of an immense energy shield and the advent of a multitude of surface-to-orbit missile batteries, orbital bombardment by the Imperial fleet was largely ineffective, forcing them to launch their ground forces directly into the jaws of the greenskin tide. As the initial assault commenced, an Ork electromagnetic weapon decimated the first wave of Mechanicus ships. All the Imperial commanders were concerned by the seemingly disorganised and weak resistance displayed, thus far, by the Orks. As the Imperial ground forces pushed their way towards the outer defences of the capital city, it was here that The Beast unleashed his first real resistance. As the surface of the planet itself moved, it soon became clear the Orks had turned Ullanor into an "Attack Planet", akin to their Attack Moons that had been plaguing the Imperium throughout the galaxy.Utilising the terrain to their advantage, the Orks drew the Imperial forces into deadly urban-kill zones, inflicting horrendous casualties on the Imperial attackers. Showing an unusual display of tenacity and discipline, the Orks made the Imperial forces pay for every inch of land they took, especially through their use of exotic weapons that were both psychic and gravitic in nature. To make matters worse, a seemingly endless tide of Gargants appeared and began to exchange fire with the Imperial's Battle Titans. As the battle continued, casualties mounted, with the Astra Militarum regiments rapidly approached nearly 50% casualties, while one in every three Astartes were lost during the Imperial force's drive on the capital city. Despite suffering severe attrition, it was only through the direct intervention of Primarch Vulkan himself, along with the sheer determination of the Imperial forces on the ground, that they were able to slowly advance forwards.Meanwhile, Esad Wire, the Imperial Assassin managed to infiltrate the immense temple of Gork and Mork located in the center of the massive Ork capital, which was believed to be The Beast's lair. Once he was inside the Assassin found tens of thousands of Warboss-sized Mega Armoured orks, accompanied by a Mega Gargant that was held in reserve. Esad Wire realised he would never be able to get close enough to The Beast with such a massive force arrayed against him. He also realised that he needed to warn the Imperial forces of the impending trap. Esad Wire commandeered an Ork flyer and managed to reach the Imperial's lines, informing them of the Orks' trap. Apprised of the situation, Lord Commander Koorland ordered that their forces would instead strike at the Ork's supply depots. With the Primarch's approval, Koorland put his plan into action. As the Orks were already experiencing food shortages, they had already began to turn on their own, eating Gretchin, human slaves and even, each other. The Imperials believed that by putting the Orks remaining food storehouses in jeopardy, they would be able to draw The Beast and his elite guard out into the open.The attack on the Orks' food supplies fulfilled their intended purpose, as the center of Gorkogrod shook as it spat forth waves of massive geenskins and Gargants. The Imperial forces were able to withstand the Ork onslaught, thanks in part to a hastily constructed Ordinatus assembled from the wreckage of a Capitol Imperialis and a massive Plasma Accelerator from a downed Imperial vessel. As the Imperial forces continued to fight their way towards the massive temple, the Orks revealed their final surprise - the temple itself was, in fact, a Mega Gargant beyond normal classification! Emitting powerful psychic WAAAGH! energy from its large artificial "eyes", the massive Ork walker rained fiery death down upon the Imperial forces.In a desperate last stand, Vulkan led the remaining 3,000 Astartes in a final, suicidal airborne assault against the Ork superweapon, in the vain hope of reaching The Beast and finally slaying the fell creature once and for all. Penetrating the temple-Gargant's outer hull, the Imperial forces encountered Ork Stompas defending within. The Astartes forces continued their inexorable advance, slaughtering every greenskin they encountered, until they reached a large central chamber. Here, they came upon a large power generator and a massive ten metre-high metal idol of a mighty Ork. It was only when the statue began to move that the Space Marines realised that they faced no mere idol, but The Beast itself, clad entirely in a massive suit of mega armour.After both the Crimson Fists and Ultramarines Chapter Masters, Quesadra and Odaenathus, were quickly killed by The Beast, the Blood Angels Captain Valefor attempted to attack the creature, but was swatted away like an insect. No such creature had been encountered since the time of the Great Crusade. The massive Ork was a foe beyond any mortal's understanding and no mere Astartes could face such a nightmarish creature. Therefore, it fell to Vulkan to confront the massive greenskin alone. Koorland finally came to the understanding that the Primarch intended to sacrifice himself in order to slay the creature. Therefore, the Lord Commander respect the Primarch's wishes and ordered a tactical withdrawal. High Marshal Bohemond once again objected to following Koorland's leadership when he ordered the Astartes to evacuate and let Vulkan face The Beast alone. Enraged by the High Marshal's callous disregard, he struck Bohemond to the ground. Chastised, the High Marshal remained on the ground, shamed before his fellow Scions of Dorn, until he eventually evacuated with all the rest.During the epic final encounter with The Beast, the massive Ork Warboss revealed that it could speak perfect Gothic. The fell creature gloated that it had brought Humanity to its knees and that it would be its final doom. The Salamanders Primarch tackled the gargantuan creature and both of the combatants tumbled into the temple-Gargant's power generator. Vulkan was inundated by a massive influx of WAAAGH! energy, but instead of being utterly consumed by it, like so many others, the Primarch reached into the reserves of his own primal and savage essence, becoming one with the influx of Ork energy and launched one final attack, slamming his warhammer, Doomtremor, into the face of The Beast and detonating the power generator. This caused a chain reaction that destroyed the temple-Gargant in a massive explosion, which seemingly obliterated both Vulkan and The Beast. With the apparent death of The Beast, the morale of the Orks was shattered and all greenskin resistance on Ullanor crumbled. The badly mauled Imperial Crusade force limped back to Terra. When they finally reached orbit over the Imperial Throneworld, an Orkish chant could be heard broadcasting across all Imperial frequencies, repeating, "I am Slaughter! I am Slaughter! I am Slaughter!"