Legio Vulpa - Notable Campaigns: Schism of Mars (005-006.M31) - Kelbor-Hal, the fabricator-general of Mars, declared Mars' secession from the Imperium and rejection of the Emperor in a planet-wide betrayal co-aligned to that of the Warmaster Horus at Isstvan III. The Traitor Dark Mechanicum scoured the surface of the Red Palnet of those still loyalt to Terra, plunging the world into bitter civil war that would see the extinction of several ancient Titan Legios and dozens of Knight Houses. The Legio Vulpa took the opportunity to turn their ire upon their hated rivals from the Legio Honorum, whom they long harboured resentment and jealousy -- both of their enviable record of achievements and victories, as well as solar decades' worth of disputes involving ancient territorial rights along the borders of the Lunae Palus and Arcadia regions. As hostilities erupted across the Red Planet, what had previously been confined to heated debate erupted into outright warfare as Princeps Senioris Ulriche of the Death Stalkers unleashed his engines upon the fortress of Grand Master Maxen Vledig's Deathbolts. The Legio Honorum had been invited back to Mars to reaffirm the vows they had once taken and show solidarity with the Fabricator-General. The invitation of the Grand Master and a delegation of senior Princeps and Moderatii had not been a cordial invitation, but a calculated one. Caught by surprise, the Deathbolts lost nineteen engines in the first hour of battle, before withdrawing into the frozen wastes of the Mare Boreum and seeking refuge in the dune fields of Olympia Undae. Their calls for reinforcement went unanswered, for all of Mars was tearing itself apart as the plague of war spread across the planet in a raging firestorm.Isstvan III Atrocity (ca. 007.M31) - The campaign known in later times as the Isstvan III Atrocity began when the Imperial planetary governor of Isstvan III, Vardus Praal, had been corrupted by the Chaos God Slaanesh whose cultists had long been active on that world. In 205.M31, Praal declared his world to be independent from the Imperium of Man. Unaware of the change in Horus' loyalties following his corruption by the Chaos Gods on the world of Davin, the Council of Terra charged the Warmaster with the retaking of that world, primarily its capital, the Choral City. When the Imperium finally gathered its forces, the Sons of Horus, Death Guard, Emperor's Children and the World Eaters Legions arrived in the Isstvan System, mustering in orbit above the doomed planet. Under the guise of putting down the rebellion against Imperial Compliance, Horus hatched the plan by which he would destroy all the remaining Loyalist elements of the Legions under his command. He purposely gathered those Astartes who were not loyal to him and used them in the assault on the non-Compliant world. With elements of the Legio Mortis, the Legio Audax and the Legio Vulpa Titan Legion in support, the invasion of Istvaan III then began in earnest. The Legio Vulpa undoubtedly played a part in the campaign, but sadly none of its exploits are currently present in Imperial records.Battle of Molech (009.M31) - Molech was a Knight World ruled over by House Devine ever since the Emperor Himself led an expedition to bring it into the fledgling Imperium and left a significant garrison there. The planet thrived under the rule of Devine, the populace of its capital city of Lupercalia never knowing the true reason why the Emperor had taken it upon Himself to lead the force that claimed it. Unfortunately for the citizens of Molech, the traitor Horus knew exactly what lay beneath the city that had been name in his honour -- a Warp Gate which, it was said, had allowed the Emperor to convene with the Ruinous Powers themselves. When Loyalist forces became aware of the Traitor fleet's approach, they mustered at Molech. As well as a trio of Titan Legions -- Legio Gryphonicus, Legio Crucius, and Legio Fortidus -- there were elements of each of the Imperium's fighting forces, including nearly a dozen Knight Houses which owed fealty to Devine. The Traitor force was equally impressive, featuring no fewer than four Titan Legions: the Legio Vulpa, Legio Interfector, Legio Vulcanum I, and the infamous Legio Mortis. As the Warmaster unleashed a massive coordinated assault, the planet's defenders were thrown into disarray when the Plasma Reactor of an Imperator-class Titan was destroyed. Thousands of Loyalists were immolated in a blinding flash as a miniature sun erupted from the Titan's core to leave a smoking crater half a Terran mile wide. In the wake of the catastrophic blast, the spearhead of Traitor Titans marched through the gap in the Imperial lines. At the height of the battle, House Devine revealed its true allegiance to the Warmaster, its treachery unveiled at a pivotal moment, heralding a slaughter from which only a handful of Loyalists escaped. Caught between the treacherous Knights of House Devine and Horus' rampant forces, the shattered remnants of Molech's defenders were slaughtered without mercy. They were totally defeated, so brutally that only one in a hundred of the troops of the Imperial Army survived the campaign. After his passage through the portal into the Realm of Chaos, Horus won the full blessing of the Ruinous Powers as their champion. His drive on Terra seemed unstoppable.Battle of Beta-Garmon, "The Titandeath" (006-013.M31) - The Legio Vulpa took part in the long and savage Beta-Garmon campaign, which included hundreds of war zones across dozens of worlds. Even before the greater armies of the Warmaster Horus reached the star cluster, 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 Legio Vulpa fought against the Loyalist forces in the Beta Garmon System as part of the preparation for the Traitors' final assault on Terra. The Legion fought primarily on Beta-Garmon III and Theta-Garmon V, and was supported by the Knights of House Devine, House Hyboras, House Ioeden and House Niagma. During this conflict, eight princeps of the Legio were possessed by Daemons and placed within Warlord-class Titans under the command of the Dark Mechanicum Magos Ardim Protos and the Word Bearers Dark Apostle Vorrjuk Kraal. These represented the first known Banelord Titans.Hammer of the Legion (317.012.M31) - With the Imperial armies and fleets spread out across the cluster, Horus unleashed the full measure of his Titan Legions against key targets. On Delta-Garmon II and Theta-Garmon V, sieges that had lasted for Terran 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 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 Legio Astorum and Legio Solaria maniples prevented both star systems falling completely into the Warmaster's hands, though both Loyalist Legions find themselves hard-pressed by the vast number of enemy Titan Legions arrayed against them.Second Battle of Nycron City (403.012.M31) - The war finally came to Beta-Garmon II in full force. Having bled the Loyalists in the outer systems, the Warmaster unleashed his maniples of Death's Heads, Tiger Eyes and Death Stalkers into the wastes surrounding Nycron City, while his fleet attacked the planet from above and hundreds of Traitor Imperialis Auxilia regiments stormed the hive cities themselves. In what would become known as the Second Battle of Nycron, the Titans broke through the hundred-kilometre defences of the PanCrypta Dust Clans, Solar Auxilia and Nemesis Brigades. Warp Runners maniples led the Loyalist Titans to make a stand in the shadows of Nycron's gate, but ultimately fell, opening the way for the Traitors to flood into the city. With the city under their control, the Traitors moved swiftly to conquer or destroy the rest of Beta-Garmon II.Hive War on Beta-Garmon III (643.012.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, Legio Solaria Titans opposed landings by neuro-slave armies of captured Garmonite soliders, the Loyalists forced to annihilate their former allies and drive their formations into the caustic ocean.The Needle Breaks (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, Horus sent his veteran Titans to destroy his true objective -- the Carthega Telepathica, Beta-Garmon's asto-telepathic 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, including the Legio Vulpa, 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 Vulpa 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) - The Siege of Terra was the final battle of the Horus Heresy waged upon the surface of the Imperial Throneworld itself against the overwhelming forces of the Warmaster Horus. The Legio Vulpa were one of several Traitor Titan Legions that took part in the intense fighting that determined the fate of the Imperium of Man and all of Humanity.Burning of the Hive City13th Black Crusade (ca. 999.M41) - The Titans of the Legio Vulpa were among the forces of Chaos that participated in Abaddon the Despoiler's 13th Black Crusade.