Legio Metallum Armaturum - Notable Campaigns: 4th Black Crusade (001.M34) - The 4th Black Crusade, also known as the El'Phanor War, was launched into Imperial space from the Eye of Terror by Abaddon the Despoiler in 001.M34. During this invasion, the forces of Chaos were on the verge of subsuming the Achilles Sub-sector. Within this region of space was an Adeptus Mechanicus enclave on the forge moon of Crucible, located in the Araken System. As the Legio Metallum Armaturm was on the verge of achieving full readiness, the Crucible Mechanicus realised that they were vulnerable, as the Chaos blockade had cut off the system from outside assistance. Realising the Titan Legion was vulnerable to falling into the hands of the Despoiler, who would surely have the captured Titans reconsecrated to the Dark Gods, the techno-magi devised the means to hide Crucible from Abaddon's forces. However, in their haste, their experiment to cloak the planet resulted in the unintentional creation of Warp Storm Araken, which consumed Crucible and the entirety of the Legio Metallum Armaturum.13th Black Crusade (999.M41) - As the 41st Millennium drew to a close, the forces of Chaos once again assailed the realm of Mankind. With the turbulent tides of the Immaterium and reality disturbed by the encroaching forces of the Archenemy, Warp Storm Araken finally abated, and the long-lost forge moon of Crucible was re-discovered. A joint Imperial task force comprised of the Iron Hands Chapter, led by Iron Father Anatolus Gdolkin, and their Adeptus Mechanicus allies was dispatched to journey to the newly re-discovered forge moon to see if they could find and retrieve the missing Titan Legion. However, they were not the only ones seeking this prize, as they were being pursued by a host of Word Bearers, led by the Dark Apostle Iscariot. When the Imperial task force finally arrived upon Crucible, Iron Father Gdolkin led the Skitarii forces under his command in the defence of the god-engines, while Magos Thule and his tech-adepts attempted to bring the Imperator-class Titan Deus Mortem back online. The much larger Word Bearers host wore down the Imperial defenders until only a handful of Iron Hands Astartes remained. The Iron Hands were forced to withdraw towards the docile Imperator Titan. This allowed the Word Bearers to advance and bring the other sleeping god-engines online. As time began to run out, Magos Thule attempted to interact with the Machine Spirit of Deus Mortem. However, Magos Thule's mind was inundated with a cascade of disturbing images as he learned of the terrible fate that had befallen the Titan Legion while they had remained exposed to the Immaterium over several millennia. The holy wards protecting the god-engines had broken down over such a long period of time, which allowed the insidious influence of the Warp to possess the sleeping war machines. Thule's mind was destroyed by this malevolent evil that inhabited Deus Mortem, which allowed the Dark Apostle to invade the Imperator Titan and begin to fight the Iron Hands in a vicious running battle. During the intense combat Iron Father Gdolkin managed to mortally wound Iscariot when the Dark Apostle confronted him, impaling the Heretic Astartes upon the Imperator Titan's command throne. This somehow merged the Dark Apostle's consciousness with the daemon-possessed Deus Mortem, allowing it to wake from its millennia-long slumber. As the newly awakened gestalt consciousness of the fallen Imperator Titan came to full operational status, it began to fire its powerful weapons upon the surviving Iron Hands Astartes, who escaped the mighty Titan's wrath and teleported to their vessel in orbit, the Ajax. There, Iron Father Gdolkin ordered an Exterminatus upon Crucible, to ensure the mutual destruction of the fallen Titan Legion and the Word Bearers host. Once their foes were eradicated, the Iron Hands took their leave and departed the system.