Iron Hands - Notable Campaigns: Battle of Rust (Compliance of 02-34) (807.M30) - The third large-scale engagement of the Xth Legion (yet unnamed as the Iron Hands) -- the invasion of the planet designated 02-34 (or the "Battle of Rust" as it would be commonly known to Imperial military historians) -- showed the Xth Legion's particular martial gifts for what they were, and would do so with empathic force. Planet 02-34, or "Rust" to give its colloquial name, was an arid-waste world, rich in pyro-chemical deposits, oxide deserts and the corroded remnants of vast, long-dead cities. The Orks of the powerful and expanding "Krooked-Klaw" empire of Wardog Kulo, spanned more than sixty inhabited star systems to the galactic north-east of Seraphina, making Rust a slave-mining colony comprising millions of Orks and a vast, shifting population of short-lived Human slaves harvested in inter-stellar raids. Scouted out by Rogue Trader Hedrik Zuckerman and identified as a primary target of the early Great Crusade, it was into this alien domain that the combined forces of the Legions, with the Emperor at their head, slammed with devastating force in 807.M30 in what was, at that early stage, the most widespread mass offensive. Under the generalship of their then-Legion commander, Lord Commander Amadeus DuCaine, the Xth Legion formulated a plan of attack which owed much to the feared and pitiless battle-craft of Old Albia; a tactic known as the Hammer and the Storm. After days of continuous fighting, though they had not lost the will to fight, the Orks of Rust simply ran out of blood and machinery to spend. At the end of the battle, the Xth Legion had suffered less than a fifth of its number in fatalities; a far lower figure than might have been expected. Rust was hailed as a great triumph also on account of how little had been sacrificed to attain it.The Fall of the Lords of Gardinaal (Unknown Date.M30) - During the Great Crusade there were many Human worlds, indeed in some cases petty interstellar empires, who resisted the Imperial Truth through fear, fanaticism or arrogance, and of these some number possessed considerable might of arms, enough to give even the Expeditionary Fleets of the Great Crusade pause. One such was the Gardinaal; a solar empire at the edge of the Dominion of Storms to the galactic east. Comprising eleven inhabited worlds, grown strong on industrial power retained through the Age of Strife and a warlike military aristocracy, it was deemed an ideal prize well-worthy of inclusion intact for the Imperium. In particular, Gardinaal's extensive and well-equipped armed forces would make ideal inductees into the ranks of the Imperial Army. As such, negotiations for the inclusion of Gardinaal in the Imperium were deemed the first course of action, and a full delegation with an honour guard drawn from the Thousand Sons Legion was sent to meet with the lords of the pocket empire. At first, the talks proved promising, but soon degenerated when the Lords of Gardinaal's position became laboured and obstructive, believed to be an attempt to forestall an invasion while the Gardinaal covertly readied itself for war. When the Thousand Sons detachment detected a psychic attempt to subvert the Imperial emissaries, they intervened, slaughtering the Gardinaal delegation, enabling the Imperial Expedition to flee, bringing news of the treacherous attack to the Imperium. The nearby 413th Expeditionary Fleet, under the command of Master Ulan Cicerus and his XVth Chapter of the Ultramarines Legion, a strong Imperial Army core of Marnean Armsmen and Serranic Peltasts and a demi-legio of the Titan Legio Atarus were dispatched. Initially, the Imperial forces overcame the defences of Gardinaal's outer worlds and established a blockade in space. The Ultramarines' attempt to take Gardinaal Prime with minimal collateral loss would prove disastrous, as the Gardinaal utilised powerful STC weaponry and vehicles never before seen by Imperial forces. The Ultramarines and Titans were hurled back and forced to retreat off-planet rather than fight on with no possibility of victory. Nearly half of the demi-legio was lost and the Ultramarines' casualties were just as severe, but worse, over 500,000 troops of the Imperial Army lay dead or dying on Gardinaal Prime. Repulsed and bled dry, the 413th Expedition was unable to launch another assault. Breaking from the Warp to answer the Ultramarines call for aid, at the head of a new war-host, Ferrus Manus led an armada comprised of both the Iron Hands and the Emperor's Children Legions. The Emperor's Children contingent led a diversionary attack, sowing panic and death across the world but leaving its infrastructure intact. Descending at the height of the diversionary attacks, the Iron Hands divided the task of taking Gardinaal Prime's main industrialised zones between the Iron Hands Clans. The assault of the Xth Legion was relentless and tireless, a battle fought across a thousand engagements spread over an entire world. With their domains fallen about them, the Lords of Gardinaal offered unconditional surrender to the Imperium. Ferrus Manus refused and the Iron Hands led the final attack on the capital city. The Ultramarines, desperate to reclaim their honour from their earlier defeat, requested the honour of crossing the breach into the enemy citadel. The Gorgon acquiesced to the Ultramarines' request, but the price the warriors of the XIIIth Legion paid was high, for the defenders' counterattack was powerful, sparing none of their remaining might. When the last of the Lords of Gardinaal had paid for their intransigence, Ferrus Manus spoke, his orders not a death sentence of a world, but of its reprieve: "It is done." The Iron Hands fleet left the Gardinaal System shortly afterwards, its other inhabited worlds pleased to surrender unconditionally to the Imperium's mercy. Though initially faced with famine and hardship, Gardinaal soon proved a valuable addition to the Imperium and a model of Imperial Compliance.Castigation of Terentius (Unknown Date.M30) - When the forces of the Great Crusade first entered the Ordoni Cluster, they encountered the formidable warlord Vatale Gerron Terentius. Observing the forces arrayed against him, Terentius was forced to take the path of survival and surrendered to the Imperium. For the next five decades he rose in power and reputation, conquering worlds around the Halo Stars in the name of the Emperor. At the height of his powers, he had the ear of Malcador the Sigillite and the countenance of several Primarchs. When he finally turned against the Imperium, many were shocked. He began a contra-Crusade to conquer already-Compliant worlds to add to his pocket empire. The Imperium responded by sending Horus and his Luna Wolves Legion to not only break the Renegade but to demonstrate to any others who harboured similar ideas within the Imperial forces the inevitability of a betrayer's defeat. Large support from the Iron Hands, Night Lords and the Alpha Legion, joined the might of the Luna Wolves. At the height of the campaign, Horus himself, with a cadre of 50 elite Justaerin Terminators, teleported aboard the bridge of Terentius' flagship, where the Commander slew the unrepentant traitor with his Talon. Soon the rebel forces were fragmented, driven by tales of culled worlds. The Night Lords decimated every world within Terentius' rebel empire. The power of the Iron Hands and elements of the Ordo Reductor were brought to bear on every structure on Terentius' bastion worlds. Soon the rebels of his realm were slaughtered, their cities smashed to dust, and his homeworld's very air laced with toxins. Once the castigation was complete, Horus sent the gold-dipped skull of Terentius to Terra with the ironic warning carried on the lips of the messenger who bore it, "So perish all traitors".Diasporex Persecution (ca. 001.M31) - During the latter part of the Great Crusade, the Iron Hands encountered a nomadic, fleet-based civilisation composed of both Humans and xenos known as the Diasporex. The Iron Hands shared the Imperial Truth of the Emperor of Mankind and offered the Human members of the Diasporex the opportunity to separate from their alien allies and to join the newly forged Imperium, but they declined the Astartes' offer. Their offer rejected, the Iron Hands passed judgement, and in the following months the Iron Hands fleet attempted to annihilate the Diasporex, but they proved to be highly skilled and experienced in the realm of naval warfare, and managed to easily evade crucial battles and even to severely damage the Iron Hands' Strike Cruiser Ferrum. The Emperor's Children of the 28th Expeditionary Fleet were called in as reinforcements, and so, a joint Imperial strike force composed of both the Iron Hands and forces from the Emperor's Children Legion launched an all-out assault against the willful Diasporex. Though the Diasporex knew that a powerful fleet of warships was hunting them and sought their destruction, they refused to leave the sector and move on to someplace safer. The Iron Hands' scout ships soon discovered the truth -- the Diasporex used hidden solar collector arrays to collect fuel for their vessels from a nearby star. This was the reason why the Diasporex remained within the sector. Attacking these vital fuel stations, the two Imperial Expeditionary Fleets drew the Diasporex fleet out into open battle as the Human-alien alliance sought to avoid utter annihilation at the Imperials' hands. During the massive naval battle that ensued Fulgrim's personal gunship, the Firebird, came under heavy attack and soon found itself in trouble. Rushing to his brother's side, Ferrus Manus' flagship, the Battle Barge Fist of Iron, came rushing to the rescue of his beleaguered brother. To restore his wounded pride, Fulgrim led a brief shipboarding action where the Emperor's Children wreaked bloody havoc on the troops of the Diasporex. But ultimate victory was robbed from him when the enemy ship's bridge was taken by one of his subordinate commanders. For months thereafter, Fulgrim would resent The Gorgon's actions, unable to truly understand the altruism of Ferrus' deed and the loss of life his selfless act had incurred on his Legion. Under the malignant influence of the Daemon-possessed Laer blade that he wore at all times, Fulgrim could only see self-aggrandisement in his brother's action, instead of the the heroic deed it had truly been. Ferrus' critical comments, the wounding darts that Fulgrim believed were meant to undermine him, were in actuality only jests designed to puncture Fulgrim's self-importance and restore his humility. What Fulgrim perceived as Ferrus' prideful boasts and rash actions had been deeds of courage that he spitefully dismissed as the influence of Chaos began to claim the Phoenician's soul.Compliance of 154-4 (Ibsen/Caldera) (ca. 001.M31) - Shortly after the Emperor quit the Great Crusade following the triumph of the Ullanor Crusade, the Iron Hands Legion took part in a joint pacification of the Eldar-controlled world designated One-Five-Four-Four alongside the Death Guard and Salamanders Legions. Charged with bringing the desert regions of the planet into Imperial Compliance, the campaign did not bode well for the Imperial forces as they were hindered by the inhospitable terrain and the fluid battle tactics of the xenos that took a savage toll on Ferrus Manus' forces, placing him well behind schedule in purging the world. The Primarch was especially troubled by the weakness and infirmity that seemed to surround him, especially in regards to the Imperial Army forces that could not seem to overcome the harsh desert conditions of the cursed planet, proving the Iron Hands mantra that "the flesh is weak." Determined not to lose face in front of his brother Primarchs Mortarion of the Death Guard and Vulkan of the Salamanders, Ferrus decided to abandon the Imperial Army regiments if they were unable to keep up with his Space Marines. The Primarch sent one of his sons, Bion Henricos, to liaise with the regiment's colonel, and informed him of the Primarch's intentions. Henricos felt a surprising twinge of remorse as he did so. Meanwhile, for reasons the Primarch could not explain, he was continuously troubled by disturbing dreams. He was also disturbed by the possibility that Eldar witchcraft might be causing his Astartes to under perform. The Primarch confessed as much to his First Captain Gabriel Santor, but he did not reveal his personal feelings that the sooner the campaign came to a successful conclusion and the Xth Legion left the benighted planet, the better he would feel. Unbeknownst to Ferrus Manus, two Eldar discussed his fate. One of them decided to intervene, to ensure that Ferrus Manus walked along the more positive of the two possible paths leading to his future. The other Eldar warned against such interference, warning his companion that "Stone cannot bend, it can only break." The Iron Hands pushed on into the deep desert and arrived at a suspicious valley. For reasons that he cannot explain, the Primarch felt that this area was important somehow, but he was loath to investigate it further without a Scout force. His Legion currently lacked this important resource, and so, Brother Henricos suggested to the Primarch that it would be beneficial if they awaited the arrival of the errant Imperial Army forces. They possessed the necessary units to perform such a mission, and by using their scouts in such a way, this would help make the regiment feel that they were playing a valued role in the current campaign. But unfortunately, Henricos' suggestions were disregarded by his superior. Unwilling to wait any longer, the Primarch ordered the Iron Hands to descend into the valley. As soon as the bulk of their forces reached the floor of the valley, a mysterious darkness engulfed them, followed by severe inclement weather. Eldar warriors lay in wait and quickly ambushed the disoriented Mon-keigh warriors in close-quarter battle. They also employed a mysterious weapon that overrode the Iron Hands' bionics, blinding those with bionic eyes and overriding and controlling bionic hands that turned their weapons upon their fellow Battle-Brothers or themselves. The Iron Hands assault force was only saved by the timely arrival of Bion Henricos' rearguard force, who took out the Eldar Warlocks responsible for the malefic psychic attack. The Eldar were forced to retreat, leaving the Iron Hands to recover. But things soon take a drastic turn when it was noticed that Ferrus Manus was missing. Ferrus found himself within a cavern where he was assaulted by a barrage of prescient visions and perceptions of death -- of his Legion, his Astartes and even himself. He also saw metaphorical representations of his fellow Primarch brothers and was perplexed by feelings of betrayal that were engendered when he gazed upon a statue of his closest brother Fulgrim. During this entire ordeal, Ferrus felt as if he was being pursued by a malevolent serpentine entity. Irritated by such sorcerous parlour tricks, the Primarch pressed onward and explored the caverns further. Meanwhile, First Captain Santor detailed 50 Morlock Terminators to help assist him in his search for the Xth Legion's missing Primarch, and he assigned command of the Legion to Shadrak Meduson to continue on with the Iron Hands' original mission. Meduson and the Imperial Army units were eventually able to locate the Eldar enemy's node complex that they had sought to destroy. In the meantime, Santor's force discovered signs that Ferrus Manus had somehow vanished. The initial assault by the Iron Hands strike force was temporarily halted by a powerful protective energy field that stymied their efforts as well as a powerful Eldar defence force that managed to halt the fierce and taciturn Iron Hands for quite some time. First Captain Santor eventually arrived and helped to coordinate a plan of attack. Within the cavernous depths, Ferrus Manus continued to explore until he was suddenly attacked by the serpentine creature that had been following him. The massive silver wyrm proved to be a vicious and deadly foe, and nearly slew the Primarch several times. During the ensuing battle, the Primarch was distracted by a sense of déjà vu and a vague sense of prophetic vision concerning the words Angel Exterminatus, which appeared in his mind unbidden. Concocting a counter-attack against the massive creature, Ferrus was inspired by the memory of his brother Vulkan and managed to wound the serpent, forcing it to retreat. Elsewhere, the two Eldar responsible for sharing these visions with Ferrus Manus lamented their allowance of an aspect of Chaos to encroach into their demesne when they kidnapped the Primarch. On the surface, Santor put his assault plan into action. At first, the combined-arms assault went well as the Iron Hands managed to penetrate the energy field, until the strange sorcery that afflicted their bionics earlier somehow returned, forcing them to make a tactical withdrawal. Brother Henricos once again made an unusual request and offered to volunteer to lead a detachment of Imperial Army troops into the breached area of the shield and eliminate the Eldar threat. But in order to do so, Henricos detached his only augmetic -- his bionic hand -- the symbol of the Xth Legion. At first the senior Iron Hands were hostile to this audacious plan, for it went against their credo that the flesh is always weaker than the machine, but seeing no other option they reluctantly acquiesced to their subordinate's plan. Meanwhile, Ferrus Manus continued on his strange psychic journey, eventually reaching a bizarrely constructed, ancient throne with a rotting corpse sitting upon it. Coiled around it was the great serpentine wyrm that he had encountered earlier. The Iron Hands Primarch came to believe that this must be the spirit of Asirnoth, the dread wyrm of Medusa, that he had slain long ago. Wrestling with the massive creature, he was shocked by its sudden transformation as the wyrm shapeshifts into the all-too familiar form of Fulgrim, which informed the Primarch that he is not Asirnoth. Angrily, Ferrus slew the corrupted half-Primarch/serpentine beast, before tearing the corpse-king from its throne, opening a concealed doorway behind it. The Primarch then confronted his Eldar kidnappers and demanded his release, brushing aside their claims that they were merely trying to forewarn him against a likely future. Frightened for their lives, the Eldar granted the Primarch leave. On the surface, things were not going well, as Bion Henricos' non-augmented force of mortal Imperial Army troops took massive casualties and he was sorely wounded in the process. But despite these setbacks, Henricos' force struck a solid blow against their Eldar attackers. Before they were about to be wiped out, the Primarch appeared out of nowhere from beneath subsurface caverns and helped turn the tide of the battle. With the arrival of Santor and his heavy reinforcements, the Iron Hands quickly carried the day. As a sign of respect, the surviving Imperial Army troops were inducted as the first members of the Iron Hands mortal Auxilia forces; the Chainveil -- the adopted Sons of Medusa. They stood as a resolute reminder to the Xth Legion that not all flesh is weak. When asked about his recent whereabouts, Ferrus Manus refused to answer questions about his experience, claiming that nothing of importance occurred. In response to vox hails from his brother Vulkan, Ferrus Manus then lead his Iron Hands into the jungle regions of the planet. In another place entirely, the two Eldar rued their failure, but took solace in knowing that even if the Primarch known as The Gorgon should fall, there was still another that would suit their purposes. With the population fighting the Imperial forces at every turn, and unwillingly to accept the Imperial Truth, Vulkan was left with no other choice and ordered Ibsen and its irredeemably corrupted population cleansed by flame. He renamed the scoured, Nocturne-like Dead World that remained, be renamed Caldera. The world was now ready to receive new Human colonists and to be exploited for the benefit of the Imperium.Drop Site Massacre of Isstvan V (556006.M31) - The early battle of the Horus Heresy that would become known as the Drop Site Massacre of Isstvan V was a disaster of unimaginable proportions for the Xth Legion. Fuelled by anger and a sense of betrayal after Fulgrim revealed the Traitors' plans to overthrow the Emperor under the leadership of the Warmaster Horus, Ferrus Manus urged Corax of the Raven Guard Legion and Vulkan of the Salamanders Legion to launch the attack on the Traitors at Istvaan V before the other four Loyalist Legions assigned to the assault had arrived. So it was that the Raven Guard and Salamanders joined with the Iron Hands and assaulted the bloodied and diminished World Eaters, Emperor's Children, Sons of Horus and Death Guard on the desolate plains of Istvaan V. The Traitors had been greatly reduced in strength due to the fighting on Isstvan III with the Loyalist members of their own Legions but it still proved a tough and gruelling battle, with less than three Legions pitted against four. The Loyalists' attack plan ultimately relied on the reinforcements provided by the second wave of Loyalist Legions assigned to bring Horus to heel, which included the Night Lords, Word Bearers, Iron Warriors and the Alpha Legion. The Iron Hands' elite Morlock Terminators, led by Ferrus Manus, formed the centre of the Loyalists' assault as the Primarch of the Xth Legion sought out his fallen brother Fulgrim. Finally the forces of the Emperor's Children and the Morlocks came together in a riot of bloodshed and death. The Morlocks' superior armour and experience gave them an advantage over the rank and file Astartes of the Emperor's Children, but they were greatly outnumbered. While Ferrus Manus and Fulgrim clashed in a final confrontation, the Morlocks were slowly cut down, one by one. In the end, Fulgrim lost his soul to a powerful daemon of Slaanesh that inhabited the daemonsword he had claimed from the xenos world of Laeran after he beheaded his former brother Ferrus Manus. The daemon took possession of Fulgrim's body, defiling the head of the fallen Iron Hands Primarch and delivering it to Horus after the battle in a box -- though the Warmaster was disgusted by the gift and vowed to drive the daemon from Fulgrims body once the Emperor had been overthrown and he no longer needed the aid of the Ruinous Powers. The fractured Iron Hands Legion, reduced to a shadow of its former strength, reeled from the monstrous blow dealt to them. Terrible scars were left upon the Legion's collective soul, and many among their number remained in denial about the death of their Primarch.Assault on Iydris (006-007.M31) - In the wake of the terrible slaughter of Loyalists at the Drop Site Massacre on Istvaan V, a small fleet of Astartes from the ravaged Iron Hands and Raven Guard Legions managed to flee off-world. Among these vessels was the Sisypheum, a Strike Cruiser commanded by the mortally wounded Iron Hands Captain Ulrach Branthan. Determined to continue to strike against the Traitor Legions wherever and whenever they could, the crew of the Sisypheum eventually manged to intercept the encoded communications of the Traitors and learned that the Traitor Primarchs Fulgrim and Perturabo were leading their Emperor's Children and Iron Warriors Traitor Legions, respectively, into the Warp rift later named the Eye of Terror by Perturabo in search of an unknown Aeldari weapon known as the Angel Exterminatus which could decisively tip the balance of the Horus Heresy in favour of the Traitors. The Iron Hands eventually assembled a small fleet of similar Loyalist survivors of the Drop Site Massacre and made their way into the Eye of Terror to stop the Traitors from acquiring this weapon. Once within the Eye, Fulgrim led the combined Traitor Legion forces to the ancient Aeldari Crone World of Iydris, into the citadel known as Amon ny-shak Kaelis where the Angel Exterminatus was supposedly located. The Traitors were forced to repel countless attacks by the ancient Aeldari defence systems and by attacks from Aeldari constructs animated by the countless dead Aeldari souls of the Crone World. In truth, the entire quest for the Angel Exterminatus had been a ruse perpetrated upon Perturabo and the Iron Warriors by Fulgrim and the Emperor's Children. Fulgrim, now a Champion of the Chaos God of Pleasure, Slaanesh, sought apotheosis to become a Daemon Prince of the Prince of Chaos. But he needed the power provided by the life force of a Primarch and the sacred energies of a place like an Aeldari Crone World that was sacred to Slaanesh to complete his ascension to daemonhood. Fulgrim had given to Perturabo a cloak, to which was affixed a skull-shaped pin carrying a relic known as a maugetar stone. As long as Perturabo was within the confines of the Aeldari citadel the stone slowly absorbed his life force and fed these energies to Fulgrim. Once Perturabo discovered his brother's perfidy, the Iron Warriors launched an assault upon the Emperor's Children, and a three-way battle soon developed as the Iron Hands from the Sisypheum and its small flotilla of Loyalists entered the fray against both Traitor forces, unaware of what was truly happening. In the course of the combat that followed, Perturabo slew Fulgrim's mortal body with the great warhammer Forgebreaker, which ironically had originally been forged by Fulgrim for Ferrus Manus. But this action represented only the final component in Fulgrim's ritual of apotheosis, and his body remade itself into the twisted, serpentine form of a Slaaneshi Daemon Prince. Fulgrim became the first of the Traitor Primarchs to ascend to daemonhood, but he would not be the last. His goal achieved, Fulgrim teleported his Emperor's Children away from Iydris and the Crone World began to collapse as the potent life forces of the dead that had long sustained it were drained away by Fulgrim's ascension. The Iron Hands and Perturabo's Iron Warriors successfully fled the crumbling planet, though Perturabo escaped by taking his fleet deeper into the black hole that lay at the centre of the Eye of Terror. For the first time, one of the Traitor Legions had turned on another, a situation that was to become all too common as the Dark Gods of Chaos tightened their grip on Horus' followers.The Destruction of Bodt (008.M31) - The World Eaters' fief world and Legiones Astartes training ground on Bodt was attacked by Iron-Father Autek Mor, of the Iron Hands' infamous Morragul Clan, and an allied independent Loyalist force. After a savage battle, Mor was believed to have entered the subterranean macro-vaults of the city of Tredecimmia before scouring every trace of life from the surface. Bodt's supply line of initiate recruits to the World Eaters Legion was permanently severed.Burning Grave of Ohmn-Mat (008.M31) - The Forge World of Ohmn-Mat in the Ultima Segmentum fell into a state of civil war as its Synod Magos were split in their support for Loyalist and Traitor causes, drawing in contingents of Sons of Horus Dark Compliance forces and Iron Hands Istvaan survivors as the conflict escalated. Ohmn-Mat was destroyed in the conflagration and its fires still rage to this day.Battle of Tallarn (010-011.M31) - To this day the largest tank battle ever conducted in Imperial history remains the Battle of Tallarn. During the Horus Heresy, the Iron Warriors Traitor Legion launched a massive assault on the world of Tallarn. To soften up the Loyalist resistance, the Iron Warriors virus-bombed the former Agri-world, and the Life-Eater virus turned the once lush and productive breadbasket world into a wasteland of endless desert in short order. The few surviving Imperial citizens emerged from underground shelters to oppose the Iron Warriors' attack and soon reinforcements landed on the Desert World for both sides. Elements from the Iron Hands and Imperial Fists Legions arrived to oppose the invasion but the now-hazardous environment forced both sides to fight within the environment-sealed confines of their battle tanks. Both the Loyalists and Traitors committed armoured fighting vehicles of all sizes and configurations to the conflict in numbers never before and never after seen in a single battle. The resulting fight was fierce and merciless with both sides taking horrendous casualties. Eventually the Iron Warriors were forced from the planet by the Loyalist counter-attack. In the aftermath of the fighting, over a million wrecked tanks littered the surface of Tallarn, rusting in the endless dunes and wasting sands of the devastated planet. The ruination of Tallarn is a slight against the Imperium the Iron Hands and Imperial Fists have never forgotten. It was not until many centuries later that the people of Tallarn learned to their horror why the Iron Warriors had invaded their world -- they had come seeking the Cursus of Alganar, an ancient Chaotic artefact that acted as a gateway into the Realm of Chaos within the Warp.Great Scouring (ca. 014-Unknown Date.M31) - The Great Scouring was the Imperium of Man's great counter-offensive against the Traitor Legions. It began immediately after the end of the Horus Heresy following the death of the Warmaster Horus and the failure of his Siege of the Imperial Palace during the Battle of Terra in the early decades of the 31st Millennium. It succeeded in driving the Forces of Chaos from Imperial space into a permanent refuge in the Warp rift known as the Eye of Terror.Moirae Schism (ca. M35) - The Adeptus Mechanicus was torn apart by conflict and internal division during the time of internal religious strife known as the Moirae Schism. The Adeptus Astartes were not immune to such conflicts; the Iron Hands, due to their close connection to the Mechanicus, were most severely affected. The result of the religious discord was the separation of a part of the Chapter and the unexpected birth of the Sons of Medusa Chapter from the banished Astartes.Logic Occluded (550.M37) - The Heretic forces of the Occlusiad, servants of the deranged Archmagos who calls himself the Blind King, plunged a whole Segmentum into war. Despite doctrinal wranglings within the Iron Council, Clan Company Raukaan was led into battle against the Blind King's forces time and again. Fighting under the leadership of Iron Father Daarmos, the warriors of Clan Company Raukaan won several notable victories including the Conflagration of Gold and the Bonehouse Massacre.A Kinetic Puzzle (756.M39) - Big Mek Rokgrabba invaded the Industrial World of Euthanatos. His asteroid fortresses disgorged so many Orks that the planet's defenders were swiftly overwhelmed. Rokgrabba, something of a force field "ekspert", reinforced the primary industrial complex of Thansus with a giant hemispherical energy shield. As the year wound on and the Imperial Guard counter-attack gatherd force, even the heavy artillery of the Brimlock Dragoons proved unable to penetrate Rokgrabba's invention. The situation grew increasingly desperate as the Big Mek turned Thansus' assembly lines to the creation of Killa Kans, Deff Dreads and Stompas. At their wits' end, the Dragoons petitioned for aid from nearby Medusa. The Iron Hands of Clan Kaargul responded in force. Their Iron Fathers analysed the vid-feeds of the war thus far, observing that although artillery fire and even speeding vehicles were repelled by Rokgrabba's wall of force, individual warriors were able to stride through the shield at will. A Siegebreaker Cohort was deployed, walking under heavy fire through the city's outskirts to the heart of the industrial complex. As predicted, they passed through the hemisphere shield as if it were no more hindrance than a light breeze -- though the field repelled objects with a high kinetic energy, it allowed those with a slow, deliberate pace to pass straight through. The Iron Hands followed the Siegebreaker Cohort's lead, walking through the Ork defences and bringing the greenskins to battle en masse. The power source of the energy shield was captured and destroyed in short order, and Euthanatos was reclaimed within the week.A Disastrous Choice (921.M40) - Clan Raukaan was defending the Myrmidia System from WAAAGH! Skullsmasha when they received a distress call from the freighter Endymion, which revealed the Emperor's Children's presence. In response, Iron Father Daarmos led Clan Raukaan in pursuit, but the distress call was a trap, and the worshippers of the Daemon known as the Sapphire King decimated Daarmos' force amid the bone jungles of the Death World of Skarvus.Death of the Witching Moon (013.M41) - The Forge Moon of Keziah, in the strategically vital Agathon System, fell into an unnatural eclipse, its population was driven to murder and madness in an endless night of horror. The dread forces of The Tenebrae and the Company of Misery reigned as dark kings amid the nightmare, and the baleful light of the "Witching Moon" that Keziah had become spread calamity and warp-tainted phenomena wherever it now fell, threatening the entire star system. The first Imperial attacks by the Astra Militarum, squadrons from Battlefleet Ultima and the Inquisition were hurled back in tatters by the madness of the black light and the warp-fuelled savagery of the defenders. It was only by the unexpected arrival of the Charnel Guard Chapter, accompanied by a sacred band of Adepta Sororitas Order of the Black Sepulchre bearing the holy relic known as the Book of Tears before them, that the imminent loss of tens of billions of lives on Agathon Prime was prevented, and the insanity-inducing radiance of the Witching Moon was held back. The Charnel Guard led a fresh assault as further Adeptus Astartes, including the Iron Hands, Storm Lords and Angels Porphyr, and Adeptus Mechanicus reinforcements arrived, fighting a brutal battle of tank and gunship clashes across the soaring metal canyons which razed the moon's surface and chamber-by-chamber Zone Mortalis actions to purge Keziah of the shadow that had befallen it. The Chaos Astartes inflicted fearful losses on their besiegers before they were driven into the deeper darkness of the Warp. In the wake of their retreat, all life was purged from Keziah before it was given back to the hands of the Machine Cult for tech-exorcism and eventual reclamation.Cost of Victory (123.M41) - Several squads from Clan Company Raukaan, fighting under the leadership of Iron Captain Graevaar, crushed a band of Dark Eldar slavers who had been striking at the vital Agri-worlds of the Hundhar Cluster. Several hundred agri-labourers were killed during the fighting; the Iron Hands, accused of using the civilians to bait an ambush, explained afterwards that this was simply the most expedient course of action.A Reasonable Massacre (187.M41) - On the planet Dyronos, an armoured spearhead from Clan Raukaan was the first to break through the battle-lines of the Iron Warriors Warsmith Lhon'Shul. Confronted with a sprawling prison facility, the Iron Hands found that the Warsmith's warriors had been mentally reconditioning captured Imperial Guard forces, turning the broken soldiers into fanatical Chaos Cultists. Rather than countenancing any risk of taint, the Iron Hands systematically exterminated every living thing in the facility, Traitors and captive Loyalists alike. Despite the towering cost in potentially innocent lives, Clan Raukaan's actions were lauded by Inquisitors of the Ordo Malleus assigned to the war zone.The Weirdwaaagh! (249.M41) - A massive Ork WAAAGH! descended upon the Forge World of Columnus. The Iron Hands assisted the planet's defenders, Clan Company Raukaan eventually proving instrumental in the defeat of the Weirdwaagh! However, in the war's aftermath questions arose in the Iron Council regarding Iron Father Kristos' questionable conduct.The Godsforge (272.M41) - Battling a Thousand Sons Traitor warband amidst the ornately embellished caverns of the relic world of Dorloth II, a strikeforce of warriors from Clan Companies Raukaan, Garrsak and Dorrvok stumbled across a mighty secret. In a series of cavernous underground chambers they found a long lost forge complex, a relic of the earliest days of the Mechanicum. Though the Chapter turned their discovery over to the Martian Priesthood soon enough, they retained several artefacts for their own use, including the Mindforge Stave and the Gorgon's Chain.Obsession's Snare (460.M41) - A vast host of Iron Hands descended upon the Gaudinia System. Iron Father Kristos had assumed the mantle of war leader and had assembled more than eight hundred Iron Hands under his control. This was the greatest deployment of the Chapter for centuries, and was accompanied by the majority of the Iron Council. Clan Company Raukaan once again took the lead in a massive planetary assault upon Gaudinia Prime and so was at the heart of the abominable trap that was there unleashed. A Daemonic entity known only as the Sapphire King, spawned from the psychic bow wave of Ferrus Manus' death on Istvaan V, had long fed on the repressed emotions of the soul-scarred Iron Hands. It basked in their chained desperation, bound to their fate by the emotions they felt but would not express. The Daemon bedevilled them across the centuries, offering opportunities for damnation disguised as steps away from the weakness they so feared. The Sapphire King judged the Iron Hands ripe to fall and set its trap in motion. Each Iron Hand carried within his heart a rancid seed, a bomb of repressed passions that could erupt to destroy him at any moment. The Daemon would simply provide the spark to light the flame and watch the Chapter burn upon a pyre of their own emotions. As the Daemonic entity was confronted by the Clan Companies Raukaan and Sorrgol in their entirety on Gaudinia Prime, Iron Father Kristos was corrupted, both body and soul. Everywhere, the adherents of Kristos (known as Kristosians) were overcome by the twisted perfection of strange flesh engines -- the harder they attempted to repress their urges with logic, the faster they succumbed. Howling Daemons of Slaanesh burst forth from tears in reality, and set themselves upon the beleaguered Iron Hands. With them came warriors of the Emperor's Children. Amid the madness, the bejewelled Daemon itself strode forth to confront the Iron Hands. At that moment, Iron Father Kardan Stronos was struck by the revelation that by cutting off their emotions, his Battle-Brothers were only causing themselves to fall to the corrupting influence of Chaos. Their only chance to save themselves was not by cutting themselves off from their emotions, but by embracing them, and shackling them to their iron will. Activating his Vox, Stronos barked commands to the forces around him, ordering them to release their anger, lest their foes destroy them with it. The Battle-Brothers disengaged their inhibitor protocols and loosed furious battle cries. As the emotional floodgates burst open, the Sapphire King shrieked its rage as the repressed energies that had fuelled its spell were vented like steam from a boiler. Freed from the debilitating Warp-craft, the surviving Iron Hands gave vent to their revulsion, blasting the Daemons apart in rains of ectoplasmic filth or tearing them limb from shimmering limb. With a fury they had never before allowed themselves to display, the Iron Hands made short work of their Chaotic foes. The Sapphire King was utterly destroyed and the remaining Emperor's Children were swiftly blasted into bloodied ruin. To ensure the destruction of the surviving machine-spawn, the Iron Hands launched a massive orbital bombardment, ensuring the Daemon Engines' destruction.Of Angels and Iron (587.M41) - At the Battle of Yawlen's Chasm, Master of the Forge Feirros led warriors from Clan Raukaan into battle alongside a contingent of Blood Angels. The methodical, logically applied fire patterns of the Iron Hands combined with the noble heroics of the Blood Angels to crush a large force of Night Lords Chaos Space Marines. In the battle's wake the two Chapters exchanged solemn vows of support and allegiance.Damocles Gulf Crusade (742.M41) - In 742.M41 the Imperium launched what became known as the Damocles Gulf Crusade against the newly arisen xenos threat of the Tau race. The Crusade was launched into the Lithesh Sector that stretched between the Damocles Gulf and the Perdus Rift Anomaly in the Eastern Fringes of the galaxy. The Crusade was tasked with repulsing a number of Tau incursions into the sub-sectors of the area and with pushing the xenos back to their homeworld where they would be purged from existence. To accomplish this, the vanguard of the Crusade was formed around twelve capital ships of the Imperial Navy and five Crusade Companies of the Adeptus Astartes including elements from the Ultramarines, Scythes of the Emperor, White Scars and Iron Hands Chapters. Rounding out the Crusade's fighting strength were 19 regiments of the Imperial Guard, 7 of which were raised from the Ecclesiarchy world of Brimlock. The Crusade was to receive significant reinforcements after establishing a foothold in Tau space. The conflict essentially ended in a stalemate, as the Imperium was forced to conclude its military offensive on the Tau Sept World of Dal'yth early to deal with the encroaching Tyranid threat of Hive Fleet Behemoth while the Tau sought to open diplomatic negotiations with the Imperium. The Tau forces sensibly realised that getting in the way of an Imperial withdrawal from their space would serve no purpose and they allowed the Crusade's forces to withdraw unopposed. In this way, the first major engagement between the Tau xenos and the Imperium came to its conclusion. Though the objective of the Damocles Gulf Crusade had failed, the Astartes and other Imperial forces learned valuable lessons from this Crusade that would later see use in other conflicts against the Tau on Nimbosa and Medusa V.In the Shadows of Giants (751.M41) - The Forge World of Estaban II was invaded by the myriad forces of Chaos. There the Iron Hands fought once again alongside the mighty engines of Legio Tempestor, whose respect the clan company earned during the grim days of the Occlusiad. Between them, the Iron Hands and Titans won a mighty victory over a hellforged horde of Daemon Engines.The Siege of Hammerspire (779.M41) - Following a decade-long siege, the reportedly indestructible fortress of Hammerspire was finally breached by Iron Hands Assault Centurions and the defenders slain to a man -- a full two standard years after the Renegades declared their total and unconditional surrender.The Defence of Paratheon City (802.M41) - The World Eaters' Champion Varlag the Butcher challenged the Iron Father Kardan Stronos to personal combat during the defence of Paratheon City. Whilst Stronos calculated the most efficient way to slay his opponent was to shoot him through the head, he instead answered Varlag's blood-flecked bellows with an enraged battle-cry of his own before hacking the Traitor's head off with a single blow from the Axe of Medusa.An Honour Refused (810.M41) - The Iron Hands were one of nine Space Marine Chapters that liberated the Kelldar System from the clutches of WAAAGH! Gorzod. After their crushing victory, a celebratory feast was held by the Governor of Kelldar Prime to honour the sacrifice and heroism of the Adeptus Astartes. All of the Chapters attended the feast except the Iron Hands, who publicly refused to sit at the same table as warriors from the Raven Guard.Purge of the Contqual Sub-sector (812.M41) - The Iron Hands have long been renowned and feared as a wrathful and merciless Chapter. Many would-be Heretics and Traitors have thrown down their arms and renewed their faith in the Emperor rather than face the fury of the Iron Hands. The Purge of Contqual Sub-Sector was a sterling example of the consequences of inciting the retribution of the sons of Ferrus Manus as they concluded the campaign with a swiftness and fury that has long been a hallmark of the Iron Hands. As far as Imperial scholars can determine, the taint of the Contqual Sub-sector began late in the year 812.M41 when the Contqual High Governor fell easy prey to the corruption of the Chaos God of Pleasure, Slaanesh. From the High Governor's court the taint spread quickly and within a single month the entire Sub-sector seethed with the corruption of Chaos. The cleansing of Contqual was tasked to the Iron Hands who have always burned with hatred for Chaos in all its myriad forms since the disaster on Istvaan V. The Iron Hands stormed into the Contqual Sub-sector with a speed akin to chained lightning, seizing several planets before resistance could even be organised by the region's Forces of Chaos. In short order, the Iron Hands of Clan Raukaan, under the command of Lord Clan Commander Arven Rauth, moved against the focal point of the Chaotic taint in Contqual, the Hive World of Shardenus, where the world's large body of Chaos Cultists, making use of forbidden sorcerous rituals, had torn a hole straight through the space-time continuum and into the Warp. From this horrific Warp portal streamed all manner of daemonic monsters to pollute the realm of the Emperor. Though massively outnumbered and sustaining significant losses, the Iron Hands cut through the Heretics and their daemons like an ebon-armoured storm. The world was brought to heel in short order with the rest of the Sub-sector falling to the fury of the Iron Hands with equal speed, the citizens of many worlds turning on their tainted masters and pleading with the Iron Hands for mercy. But the sons of Ferus Manus are not known for their forgiveness and the Chapter fell on the worlds of the Sub-sector with a cleansing wrath, executing one in every three civilians in a great and bloody purge, which the Chapter intended to serve as a righteous punishment for allowing the taint of Chaos to sweep over the worlds of the Contqual Sub-Sector. Just a few weeks after their arrival, the Iron Hands departed, leaving a Sub-sector that would become one of the most devoted of all those in the Imperium to the God-Emperor in their wake. For none of the survivors of the Iron Hands' purge doubted the cold retribution they would face should their faith waver ever again.War of Vengeance (883.M41) - In the wake of the Saint Cyllia Massacres, the Iron Hands commited several hundred battle tanks to the destruction of the Renegade Adamant Fury Titan Legion. Their Land Raiders proved vital during the Battle of Planus Steppes, protecting the flanks of the Cadian 423rd Armoured Regiment and accounting for the destruction of no less than four Renegade Titans.Crusade of Steel (900.M41) - Led by Iron Father Kardan Stronos, a mighty force of Iron Hands and Brazen Claws attacked a Necron dynasty on the planet Shemnoch. While Stronos lead Clan Garrsak in a headlong assault against the Necrons' leader, Clan Company Raukaan faced the wrath of a Transcendent C'tan. Set loose by the Necrons in an act of desperation, this burning star-god scythed through the Iron Hands' ranks, hurling tanks through the air like toys and blasting Battle-Brothers to ash. It was finally brought low when Venerable Furnous coordinated the clan company's Dreadnoughts into a single unstoppable wave and charged the raging god. Though several of the Chapter's most ancient and venerated heroes fell, in the end the C'tan's blazing form was torn apart in a blaze of cosmic energies, leaving the victorious warriors of Clan Raukaan bloodied but unbowed.Battle of Tarrvorn (928.M41) - Techmarine Aviren fought for six solar days through the jungles of Tarrvorn, slaying a dozen Ork patrols to recover the battle-damaged Land Raider Ferrum Maximal.Iron Ascension (935.M41) - Iron Captain Bannus was seriously wounded by the Drukhari when Clan Company Kaargul was ambushed on the industrial world of Kaladrone. Iron Father Blantar deemed the Captain's loss an unacceptable blow to the strength of the Iron Hands and mounted a brutal counter-attack to rescue him. Despite sustaining horrific damage, Blantar and the survivors of Clan Company Kaargul endured the Dark Eldar's weapons and returned to Medusa with Bannus' shattered body, interring him within the armoured sarcophagus of a Dreadnought.A Rising Threat (945.M41) - The Iron Council noted an alarming increase in Ork attacks throughout the galaxy. Each Calculum Rationale performed in response to these Ork attacks cogitated the need for an increasingly heavy-handed response. There were mutters among the Iron Fathers that -- should this pattern continue -- the Orks may have soon become a logically untenable foe for the Iron Hands to face.A Calculated Insult (963.M41) - The Iron Hands and the Space Wolves came to blows during the Battle for Fellcore Moon after Iron Captain Telavech's logical critique of Ragnar Blackmane's impetuous performance was taken as a scathing insult.A Stolen Tithe (963.M41) - Several of the Iron Hands' most commonly tithed recruiting worlds descended into anarchy and uproar. Their Planetary Governors claimed that the Iron Hands had been taking vast, unsustainable tithes of their populace, stealing them away in the dead of night. Efforts were made by the people of these worlds to resist recruitment, drawing the Iron Hands' wrath and leading to several brief and brutally one-sided wars. Only after the smoke cleared did the truth emerge. Bands of grotesquely-warped Eldar pirates had in fact been responsible for the mass abductions, stealing the planets' peoples away into yawning portals. Chaplain Shulgaar assembled a strikeforce from Raukaan's ranks and successfully intercepted the next raid, punishing the xenos for their brazen temerity. The damage had already been done, however, and the Iron Hands' recruitment rate droped by almost a quarter over the next standard decade.Might of Medusa (982.M41) - A splinter of Hive Fleet Leviathan was detected making for the Forge World of Grammachus Beta. Echoing their picket duties of so many millennia before, Clan Raukaan headed up a sizeable force of Iron Hands who raced to the planet's defence. Though the fighting was fierce, the Forge World was once again saved by the efforts of the Iron Hands, this time without undue loss of innocent lives.The Adacore Extermination (984.M41) - Venerable Brother Bannus led a strike force of twenty Iron Hands Dreadnoughts to scour the Mining World of Adacore after excavations had awakened the Necron war-cell of Overlord Kepakh of the Nihilakh Dynasty.Cleansing of the Ulik Sector (997.M41) - In 997.M41 a series of Exterminatus missions were carried out across the Ulik Sector by Space Marines of the Death Strike, the Flame Falcons and the Iron Hands Chapters. The Iron Hands performed a series of destructive missions on those worlds in the Ulik Sector not yet consumed by Hive Fleet Leviathan, in order to prevent the Tyranid Hive Mind from gaining momentum and further fuelling itself on precious bio-resources.13th Black Crusade (ca. 999.M41) - When the forces of Abaddon the Despoiler spilled forth from the Cadian Gate in ca. 999.M41 to launch his 13th Black Crusade, the Iron Hands knew that Medusa faced imminent invasion due to their close proximity to the Eye of Terror, and so the Chapter scrambled to prepare their defences. While it is known that two of the Clan Companies were deployed elsewhere in the defence of the region, the greater strength of the Chapter was used in the defence of their homeworld. The largest battle in the defence of Medusa came when all 10 of the gargantuan tracked fortresses of the Clan Companies faced the invading Traitor Guardsmen of the Haradni 13th Heavy Armoured Regiment. The plains of Medusa played host to one of the largest armored clashes the galaxy has seen since the infamous Battle of Tallarn during the Horus Heresy, when over 10,000 Traitor tanks stormed towards the waiting Iron Hands. The ensuing battle raged for five days and five nights, as the Traitors closed within firing range of the Iron Hands mobile fortresses. When the Iron Hands opened fire, it is said that over a hundred tanks were destroyed in the first volley, for each clan company commanded firepower equal to a Centurio Ordinatus of the Adeptus Mechanicus. On the fifth day, at the height of the battle, the Traitors broke through the Iron Hands' lines, and an armoured company of Traitors outflanked one of the Chapter's mobile fortresses and fired shell after shell into it at nearly point blank range. The Iron Hands responded by launching a furious counter-attack spearheaded by Assault Squads armed with Melta Bombs leaping from the crenelated towers of the mobile fortress to land atop the enemy tanks. Though many Astartes lost their lives in the attack, shot down by pintle-mounted weapons or ground beneath the enemy vehicles' armoured tracks, their counter-attack was successful in disabling or destroying the majority of the Traitor armour and sending the rest into a disorderly retreat. It was then that the Iron Hands launched an armoured assault of their own, as whole formations of Predator Annihilator tanks disgorged from the mobile fortresses to run down and destroy the Heretic tanks with ravening beams of Lascannon fire. The Iron Hands managed to secure Medusa by the midpoint of the campaign and were able to deploy several Clan Companies to the defence of the Cadian System and an Iron Hands naval task force was dispatched to reinforce the naval world of Vigilatum.Second Relief of Mordian (Iron Crusade) (Unknown Date.M42) - As Imperial forces withdrew from the Stygius Sector during the Invasion of the Stygius Sector, the Iron Hands refused to retreat and instead gathered on Mordian, itself under siege from Chaos forces. Alongside a mere dozen or so regiments of the Mordian Iron Guard, the Iron Hands sought to reforge themselves and purge the weakness they had displayed earlier in the campaign. During the siege the Iron Hands were joined by allies enraged by the defeatism of the Imperial forces, among them the Brazen Claws, Fire Lords, Silver Skulls, Sons of Medusa, and Iron Lords in what became known as the "Iron Crusade." They arrived on Mordian to find the planet terrorised by a Night Lords warband under the command of Ahrak Deathshriek and his Raptor hordes. Deathshriek planned to use the terror his Heretic Astartes created in the Mordian population to power a Chaos ritual that would plunge the entire world into the Warp. The Iron Hands and their allies struck with customary bluntness, emerging without warning from the Warp and engaging the Traitor fleet in orbit and launching a Drop Pod assault on Mordian's capital. Clan Avernii under [[[Captain|Iron Captain]] Caanok Var led the charge and Deathshriek drove his Chaos Cultists into the Iron Hands' guns. One by one, the remaining Iron Hands Clan Companies joined the battle and Deathshriek was wounded in single combat by Var. Even as the Iron Hands' drop zone came under fresh assault from the Benedictian Guard and the Cult of the Whispered Word, Renegade warlords from across the sector united in their realisation that the Iron Hands could be wholly destroyed. With the Loyalist assault faltering, Deathshriek claimed victory as he led his fleet against the Iron Hands in space, outnumbering their warships three to one. It was at this point that the Iron Hands Successor Chapters arrived. Deathshriek's armada was caught in disarray by the Loyalist reinforcements and crushed. The newly-arrived Loyalist warships rained obliteration below on the Mordian populace. The orbital bombardment seemed indiscriminate, but nothing could have been further from the truth. The tactical doctrine known as "Hammer and the Storm" had been pursued planetside as well as in the trackless void, the Iron Hands' assault calculated to stir the Renegades and Traitors into reckless deeds. What had seemed a faltering Loyalist advance had merely paused while the Iron Hands Techmarines laboured to erect void shields and reinforce the capital city's surviving bunkers. Thus the Iron Hands and those portions of the Mordian populace they deemed worthy of survival endured the orbital firestorm. Their foes, caught in the open and drunk on the prospect of their imminent victory, were not so fortunate. In a little over one solar hour's bombardment, the Chaos hold on Mordian was broken for the second time. Eventually other Imperial reinforcements arrived from Cypra Mundi and the Iron Crusade was able to not only push the Chaos forces off Mordian, but to counterattack Chaos garrisons on nearby worlds.  The Iron Hands' governing Iron Council then unleashed a second phase of the campaign, with a plan to scour the surviving worlds of the Mordian System of their Chaos presence and wrest the refineries and orbital shipyards of the neighbouring Kharvos System from Chaos. At present, the campaign is ongoing.Invasion of Medusa (Unknown Date.M42) - Alongside warbands of The Cleaved, The Purge and several other Nurglite Renegade forces, Typhus leads the Death Guard's 1st Plague Company in a shocking raid against the Iron Hands' Chapter planet, Medusa. The Iron Hands' clans drive off their attackers, but not before terrible damage is done, leaving regions of the planet as cursed quarantine zones.