Crimson Fists - Notable Campaigns: The Scourging of Uralek Prime (Unknown Date.M31) - Uralek Prime was the scene of the Crimson Fists' first ever large-scale martial action as a Chapter. Though only partial records remain of the battle, it is known that Chapter Master Alexis Polux led a masterful campaign to liberate the Imperial colony on the world of Uralek Prime. The colonists had come under attack from several fast-moving tribes of Aeldari Exodites, who hit them again and again with remarkable ferocity. The xenos were determined to eradicate every last human on the face of the planet; the Crimson Fists were equally as determined that they would not succeed. During the early stages of the conflict, the Chapter's partially-recovered histories suggest that Polux relied heavily upon his orbital superiority, laying waste to great swathes of the lush forests that provided the Exodites with cover and facilitated their hit-and-run tactics. With his enemies flushed out into the open, Polux led a series of textbook drop assaults that saw the Exodite tribes smashed and scattered. Those xenos that broke through to the colony's defences found themselves faced by the superior firepower of Crimson Fists Devastator Squads and battle tanks, and were rapidly cut to pieces. Though the Space Marines' casualties were not insignificant, the Aeldari were utterly devastated and the colony on Uralek Prime freed to flourish into a world-spanning civilisation.War of the Beast (544-546.M32) - In the middle of the 32nd Millennium the Imperium came under threat from the largest Ork WAAAGH! ever encountered to that time. Led by a Warlord known only as The Beast, the Imperium -- still recovering from the Horus Heresy-- was plunged into a fight for survival once more. On Ardamantua, the Imperial Fists -- gene-sires of the Crimson Fists -- battled The Beast's colossal armies and were virtually wiped out. The last surviving Imperial Fist -- Captain Koorland -- enacted the Last Wall protocol, calling for the Successor Chapters of the Imperial Fists Legion to be reunited once more. The Crimson Fists joined the Black Templars, Fists Exemplar, Iron Knights and Excoriators in the defence of Terra as an Ork Attack Moon entered the Sol System. A huge assault was launched on the moon and the Ork onslaught was ultimately defeated. Following the successful defence of Terra, the Crimson Fists joined the Imperial Crusade to Ullanor, the planet where The Beast made its lair. Chapter Master Quesadra of the Crimson Fists was among the many warriors killed by The Beast during the fighting and though the leader of the Orks was supposedly slain by the returned Primarch Vulkan, the war with the Greenskins continued for several more Terran years. Koorland was killed during the war and with him the Imperial Fists Chapter died. The Crimson Fists -- alongside their fellow Successor Chapters -- donated a portion of their strength to rebuild their parent Chapter.Crusade of Righteous Liberation (Unknown Date.M36) - The Crusade of Righteous Liberation was the most legendary military campaign executed by the Crimson Fists in their history. The Crusade lasted for over three hundred Terran years before the Crimson Fists had given up their original role as a fleet-based Chapter and settled on their new homeworld of Rynn's World. This Crusade occurred during the Age of Apostasy when the Imperium was wracked by internal strife. In total, 84 worlds were reconquered by the Crimson Fists over the course of the Crusade. The Chapter's numbers dwindled as a result of attrition during the long campaign, because the Crimson Fists were unable to recruit new Initiates to replace their losses whilst on Crusade. Only 128 Crimson Fists were left at the successful conclusion of the Crusade, and forever after the Chapter's 1st Company has always been kept at 128 Astartes in memory of this time, and is always led by the Crimson Fists' Chapter Master. Known as the "Crusade Company," it is considered a bad omen if the Chapter goes to war without the 1st Company being at full strength.Thule Intervention (978.M39) - A conclave of Aeldari Farseers from the Iyanden Craftworld appeared without warning in the throne chamber of the High King of Thule. The inscrutable xenos issued the planetary ruler with simple demand -- the entire human population must depart Thule within the month or be ejected by force. Before the High King could answer, the Farseers vanished, but he soon decided to flee Thule and abandon his people to their fate rather than face the wrath of the Aeldari. A month later, a large Aeldari army arrived at Thule, only to find a deployment of Space Marines from the Crimson Fists Chapter arrayed in force against them. Finding themselves trapped, the Aeldari attempted to withdraw, the Crimson Fists inflicting heavy losses before the last of the xenos escaped.Chapter Dispute (819.M41) - A perceived slight caused the Mortifactors and Crimson Fists to come to blows. Only a personal intercession by the Ultramarines' Chapter Master Marneus Calgar ended the dispute before it escalated into open warfare. The matter was kept from the attention of the Adeptus Terra.Battle of the Steel Cross (853.M41) - During the decisive moments of the Battle of the Steel Cross, Captain Cortez single-handedly slew an Ork Warlord and his entire bodyguard. Cortez had managed to disarm the Ork leader with a twist of his torso after the Ork's sword had become embedded in Cortez' ribs.Hellabore Assault (867.M41) - Captain Alessio Cortez and the Crimson Fists' 4th Company battled the Eldar of Craftworld Iyanden on the world of Hellabore. Despite suffering grievous wounds, including a stab wound to one of his hearts, Cortez led the final assault that routed the Eldar from Hellabore.Vaxhallian Genocide (926.M41) - The Chaos Renegades known as The Purge chose the verdant Imperial world of Vaxhallia as their next victim. The planet's surface was soon riddled with consumptive disease and crippling famine. Over the course of a single solar month, The Purge engineered the destruction of no fewer than fourteen billion Imperial citizens. This atrocity did not long go unnoticed; Vaxhallia had served as an astropathic relay hub and a Fortress World, vital to the defence of the Herakles System. As a result, when the Imperium finally responded, it did so in grand style. The entire Hammers of Dorn, Fire Lords and Crimson Fists Chapters initiated the planetstrike, reinforced by twelve battle-groups of Cadian Shock Troopers and the Imperial Knights of House Raven. Soon Vaxhallia was a roiling caldera of war that drew in forces from across the sector. Vaxhallia's fate grew yet more dire when the plague ship Terminus Est arrived in orbit, disgorging hundreds of Plague Marines and countless millions of Plague Zombies onto the planet's surface. Typhus led this fresh assault and, with each day that passed, more of the Cadians succumbed to the Zombie Plague -- soon the Space Marines and Knights found themselves fighting alone against a tide of Traitors and walking dead. When a second Imperial battlefleet arrived, its commander deemed the world irretrievably lost and began preparations to evacuate the survivors and commence Exterminatus.The Toran VI Massacres (934.M41) - The Crimson Fists defeated the warband of Chaos Lord Sathash the Golden.Hunt for Haxan the Defiler (Unknown Date.M41) - Haxan was originally a captain of the Crimson Fists who turned against the Imperium during an Exterminatus action against the world of Hydra Secundus. Inquisitor Rabe had ordered the destruction of Hydra Secundus due to an uprising against the Imperium that in fact had never taken place. Instead, Rabe simply sought to obfuscate the crimes he had committed during his time on the world. That an Inquisitor could so callously send an entire world to its death on his own corrupt whim led Captain Haxan to lose faith in the Emperor and the Imperium of Man itself. Haxan slew the Inquisitor and the demi-company of Crimson Fists that he had commanded, knowing they would never turn against a member of the Holy Ordos. Deeply disillusioned, Haxan reasoned that it was, "better to serve the Darkness; Old Night hungers but it does not lie."  Haxan ultimately joined the Red Corsairs warband of Chaos Space Marines and rose to become a powerful Chaos Lord in their service known as "Haxan the Defiler." For the next 60 Terran years, Haxan preyed upon the Imperium, showing particular contempt for Shrine Worlds and the faithful of the Imperial Cult, for he could not countenance the worship of a God-Emperor who led a political system as unjust as the Imperium. His raids swept across the Serpentis Reach and deep into the Loki Sector. However, he finally fell into a trap set by the Crimson Fists, who had long sought to cleanse the stain of the dishonour created when Haxan had turned Traitor. The Crimson Fists arranged to secretly escort a target that they knew would draw Haxan's ire -- the grand cruiser Duchess of Hespera, which was transporting a high-ranking prelate of the Ecclesiarchy and 12,000 Imperial pilgrims to reconsecrate the cathedral on the world of Cereus Ultra. Haxan's flagship, the stolen Gothic-class Cruiser Scourge of the Faithless, was destroyed by the Crimson Fists Strike Cruiser Intractable commanded by Veteran Brother Fuentas in the Cereus System. Haxan himself was executed during the battle by Veteran Sergeant Sandor Galleas.Declates Crusade (Date Unknown.M41) - The Declates Crusade was a joint Imperial Crusade against the Ork WAAAGH! Gitzmott carried out by both the Crimson Fists and Black Templars Space Marine Chapters in the heavily-populated Declates System. As a symbol of solidarity against what seemed to be an innumerable foe, Astartes from both Chapters "exchanged" iconography and often fought in mixed squads. Black Templars painted their left hands red, and Crimson Fists painted a Templar Cross onto their right knee. This unusual gesture of unity helped establish a tight bond that steeled the resolve of the brave warriors involved in the ultimately successful cleansing of the system from the Greenskins' taint.The 104th Feast of Blades (949.M41) - The ravages of war dictated that only eight Chapters were in attendance at this ancient feast amongst the Successor Chapters of the Imperial Fists Legion, but the tradition was still observed. Supremacy was tied between the Imperial Fists and Crimson Fists Chapters when their nominated champions simultaneously rammed their swords through each other's primary heart in a closely fought duel.Battle of Rynn's World (989-990.M41) - The Battle of Rynn's World began in mid-989.M41 when the Ork Warlord Snagrod, the Arch-Arsonist of Charadon, united the warring Greenskin factions bordering the Loki Sector and launched the largest WAAAGH! the Peryton 163 Cluster had seen since the Great Crusade, attacking the isolated Imperial Agri-world of Badlanding. The Imperial defenders of Badlanding were utterly unprepared for the invasion, and within days the only major strongpoint of resistance was the capital city of Krugerport, where the remnants of the 18th Mordian, 24th Lammas and 49th Boros Imperial Guard Regiments, commanded by Commissar Alhaus Baldur, put up a bold, but ultimately doomed, defence. Confident that he had the world in his grasp, Snagrod put out incessant, ranting broadcasts, boasting that his next conquest would be Rynn's World, which lay only a few weeks Warp travel from Badlanding. Chapter Master Pedro Kantor responded immediately, despatching the 3rd Company under Captain Ashor Drakken to Badlanding to stall the Ork WAAAGH! and determine its strength. The Battle of Krugerport was a tragic defeat for the Crimson Fists who found WAAAGH! Snagrod to be far larger and more aggressive than any could have predicted. In the resulting defeat, the Crimson Fists suffered a loss of 56 Space Marines out of a detachment of 84; Captain Drakken was among the fallen. The handful of Space Marines that survived the battle were able to escape to bring valuable intelligence back to Rynn's World. Upon hearing of the size and strength of the Ork war host, Chapter Master Kantor ordered the immediate recall of all Chapter companies fighting away from Rynn's World, mobilised the Planetary Defense Force, and prepared for the inevitable invasion. When the WAAAGH! Snagrod hit Rynn's World, it was with a force unparalleled by any other Ork invasion save for the second Greenskin assault on the Hive World of Armageddon that would come 9 standard years later. As the Ork dropships and "Roks" fell through the night sky, the Chapter's automated defence systems responded, and all was well until a malfunctioning plasma missile from the Space Marines' surface-to-space defence system, in a trillion to one malfunction, impacted on the Crimson Fists' Fortress-Monastery. The errant missile scored an impressively accurate, if altogether unintentional, hit on the fortress-monastery's main Armoury. The arsenal, the fortress-monastery, the mountain, and an area half a mile wide were instantly atomised. The Chapter was almost obliterated in the ensuing holocaust. Only 16 Crimson Fists garrisoned in their fortress-monastery survived its destruction, including Pedro Kantor and Captain Alessio Cortez. These Astartes then traveled overland while protecting what civilians they could until they linked up with what remained of the Chapter in New Rynn City. There they held out against the Ork siege of the city. The siege of New Rynn City ground on for 18 months, but the Crimson Fists maintained their stoic defence of the beleaguered city until Imperial reinforcements which included 6 Space Marine Chapters finally arrived in 990.M41, 18 months after the invasion began, to drive the Orks from the world, although small pockets of Greenskins would remain to trouble the planet's reconstruction for years afterwards. These reinforcements arrived just in time, as the Orks had constructed a series of Gargant war machines that not even the Crimson Fists' heroism could have repelled. The Chapter's losses in the wake of the reclamation of Rynn's World proved most grievous, with the loss of 60% of the Chapter's battle-brothers.Zeist Campaign (999.M41) - The Zeist Campaign was a military conflict fought between the Imperium of Man and the T'au Empire in the Zeist Sector of the Ultima Segmentum. Taking place in 999.M41, during the T'au Empire's Third Sphere Expansion, it ran concurrently with Abaddon the Despoiler's 13th Black Crusade and the assault on Imperial space by the Tyranid Hive Fleet Leviathan. As the Imperium's military was heavily involved with preventing the breakout of the forces of Chaos from the Cadian Gate on the other side of Imperial space, the T'au took advantage of this distraction to rapidly expand their territory. Marneus Calgar despatched Captain Cato Sicarius and the 2nd Company to the Zeist sector where they would draw a line in space to halt the Tau advance. Word was also sent to all nearby Chapters, asking for aid in the coming campaign. Heeding the Lord of Macragge's summons, the Crimson Fists send fresh tactical squads to be placed under Sicarius' command. Putting aside all rivalries of Chapter and status to fight as brothers against a deserving foe, a formidable strike force of close to a dozen Space Marine Chapters assaulted the Tau occupied world of Augura. The T'au could not hope to prevail against such an assemblage of might. The fortresses of Augura were smashed asunder and its shipyards and weapons factories destroyed. This effectively ended the Tau expansion as their forces retreated to more secure territory in dismay. Though fully prepared to carry the assault into the Tau Empire and reclaim those worlds captured at the start of the campaign, it was not to be, for the might of the Adeptus Astartes was needed elsewhere.Death of Torkvar the Dread (Unknown Date.M41) - During the era of dark omens that preceded the opening of the Great Rift, the Khornate warlord Torkvar the Dread invaded the Laernoth System. Leading a brutal warband of Heretic Astartes known as the Gorehounds, Torkvar ripped through the Astra Militarum regiments defending the Industrial World of Laernoth IV and spread a blood madness that saw billions of its labourers degenerate into frenzied killers. Into this cauldron of carnage plunged a force of just thirty Crimson Fists, led by the tactically brilliant Captain Julius and provided with very specific mission parameters. Julius' entire force was made up of Veteran battle-brothers and specialist Techmarines, who swiftly went to ground amidst the madness engulfing Laernoth IV and put their plans in motion. Utilising a series of Kill-team strikes against key targets, the Crimson Fists steadily destabilised the thermal macro-reactors that governed the planet's continent-sized tank manufactorum. Though hunted constantly by their Khornate foes, the Crimson Fists fought only those battles they had to, ensuring that every blow they struck was a telling one. Six solar months after arriving on Laernoth IV, the surviving two-thirds of the Crimson Fists strike force were extracted via Stormraven gunship, fighting a last, furious battle as they made their escape. In their wake, Torkvar and his chosen champions were left crowing of the cowardice and weakness of the Imperial warriors. Their bragging was cut short, however, when the critically destabilised reactors detonated in a vicious chain reaction that scoured eighty-six percent of all life from the planet's surface. Only when the firestorms had died down did the Adeptus Mechanicus' reclamation force make planetfall, easily gunning down the last of the Chaos forces and reclaiming the subterranean riches of the planet for their own.Vengeance for Rynn's World (Unknown Date.M42) - Rejuvenated by the great influx of Primaris Space Marine battle-brothers in the wake of the Indomitus Crusade's arrival on their homeworld, the Crimson Fists declared a crusade of vengeance against the entire Ork race. As this news spread across the galaxy, several WAAAGH!s were diverted by their Warlords to meet the Crimson Fists in the hopes of a truly apocalyptic punch-up.War of Beasts (000.M41-015.M42) - Alongside their progenitors the Imperial Fists, the Crimson Fists sent five companies to aid the Imperial defence of the crucial Sentinel World of Vigilus from attacks by various xenos forces and the servants of Chaos who sought to seize this crucial terminus of the Nachmund Gauntlet connecting the Imperium Nihilus to the Imperium Sanctus. Pedro Kantor personally led the forces of the Crimson Fists to the beleaguered Sentinel World. Kantor and his Astartes proved instrumental in the defence of the Hyperia-Dirkden Fortwall and the Dirkden hivesprawl from the Genestealer Cult of the Pauper Princes.