A brief summary of the Horus Heresy if you’re coming in from Warhammer 40,000

What do you mean ‘Historical Science-Fiction’?

I want to get this covered first because you’ll find I use this phrase a lot. Or I’ll mix it up and call this game ‘Historical Fantasy’. The two are interchangeable but let’s go over that quickly here.
If you’ve played the Warhammer 40,000 tabletop game from GW, video games like Dawn of War and Space Marine, read some of the Black Library books or even just had a passing interest in 40k you will likely know what a Space Marine is. How the gene-enhanced super-soldiers of the far future fight in ‘Chapters’ of roughly 1,000 strong, that they’re the bulwark against the darkness of the 41st millennium or maybe even just a bunch of thieving magpies (looking at you Blood Ravens).
Warhammer 40,000. The 41st millennium. The ‘modern’ or current setting from Games Workshop. See the Horus Heresy has been part of the background setting for 40K since the early 1990’s (Casual’s note: damn I’m old), an event that happened in-universe 10,000 years ago and is the reason why the Imperium is in the dire state it’s in. So it’s a Historical part of that more popular game. A game with a setting that has you have to travel through literal hell to cross the galaxy, where Ancient Robots that fought in the first War in Heaven are waking up to re-conquer what used to be theirs and when the average life expectancy for a ‘regular’ Human in a war zone is measured in hours. A setting where GW has taken ideas from other sources, slapped a GrimDark(tm) sticker all over it and made something unique in the Science-Fiction genre.
The Horus Heresy. Historical part of Warhammer 40,000. Something that is absolutely Science-Fiction.
Historical Science-Fiction. Or Historical Fantasy.

Who was Horus?

Horus Lupercal. One of the 20 18 Primarchs created by the Emperor before he set out on the Great Crusade, a sweeping military campaign to reunite the lost fragments of humanity. Each designed to lead a Legion of super-soldiers, the aforementioned Space Marines, and each with there own traits that made them unique. Due to mysterious circumstances the defences of the Palace where the gestating forms of these beings was held was breached, the Primarchs scattered across the Galaxy by the whims of Chaos and the Emperor without the Generals he had created to lead each Legion. On to the Great Crusade we go with the Emperor leading these Legions out to conquer and picking up each Primarch one at a time until he had the full collection again.
Horus was the first to be found, if not the first to have been created (that’s the Lion). After being returned to Terra, he was schooled in the ways of war by his ‘father’ at the head of his Legion: The Luna Wolves. Time passes, the rest of his brother-Primarchs are discovered and brought into the Great Crusade, conquests happen and then we get to a little planet named Ullanor. There, after defeating a mighty Ork Waagh!, the Emperor named Horus as Warmaster to take his place at the head of the Crusade while he returned to Terra to work on some fancy secret project (which may or may not have had a shiny seat). Follow on a few years, the name change of his Legion to the ‘Sons of Horus’ and.. that’s where things are at when the Black Library series of books starts us off with ‘Horus Rising’.
I’d really recommend reading the Horus Heresy books from Black Library by the way, they will give a lot more context and fill in the gaps better than a very brief overview from reading the ramblings of a Casual can.
Still want the short version? Ok.
Horus has his point of view ‘changed’ at a place called Davin. Following that he joins with the Emperors Children, Death Guard and World Eaters and purges his own Legion of those that were considered Loyal to the Emperor. Word gets back to Terra, a force that combined the might seven Legions (the Iron Warriors, Night Lords, Alpha Legion, Word Bearers, Salamanders, Iron Hands and Raven Guard) was soon dispatched to bring Horus back to Terra to answer for his actions. Turns out that four of those Legions were actually loyal to Horus, the remaining three barely survive the ensuing ‘Drop Site Massacre’ and now history is being made. If you’re wondering it’s the latter three in that list.
Horus was the leader of this rebellion. A rebellion that started a decade long civil war that shattered the fledgling Imperium. An event that ‘historically’ would be called the Horus Heresy.

Why is it called a ‘Heresy’

In short, because 10,000 years (give or take) after that point the Imperium is no longer a place of science and reason but more of superstition and legend. What was originally a cult devoted to worshipping the Emperor of Mankind as a God has now become the defacto state religion of the Imperium of Man. The rebellion of the favoured son against Him? You can bet it’s deemed a Heretical act by the ‘faithful’.

Who fought in this Civil War

The big poster boys for the conflict was of course the Space Marine Legions. Brother against Brother, Legion against Legion in a fight for the future of the Galaxy. Other ‘Imperial’ forces were involved of course, from soldiers that made up the ranks of the Solar Auxilia, to the personal guard of the Emperor in the form of the Custodes, all the way up to Knight households and even the mighty war-machines of the Titan Legions. Each chose a side and fought against those that hours, days, or years before they would have called ally. Weapons and technological marvels were unleashed on a scale not seen since those dark days, and the current state of technology in 40k is linked to ust how much damage was wrought by this conflict, but that’s another discussion. The main point here is that if you’re coming in from a 40K background then the combatants in all this would neatly fall under ‘Armies of the Imperium’, some aligned to Horus and some aligned to the Emperor. Xenos? Most of those still around in 40K were keeping there head down and staying out the way, or doing there utmost to not be involved.

Sounds cool, where do I start if I want to play? or Read?

Reading is the easiest to answer. The Black Library has a fantastic range of books that takes a reader through the major points in the conflict. Horus Rising picks up before the incident at Davin and then we’re in for a roller-coaster of a ride until eventually landing at the Siege of Terra series of books that go into the climax of the conflict.
Collecting and playing is a little harder to answer right now. You can absolutely pick up some models from Games Workshop and Forge World yourself and do some painting but the honest answer is..wait a few months. Very recently (at time of writing this) GW announced the 2nd edition of the Horus Heresy. Check out the trailer below.

Pretty exciting right? But it makes it harder to say where to start learning the game when the previous edition is in it’s last few months and the new one isn’t with us just yet. Instead I’d highly recommend looking at shiny models and deciding which of them you like the look of the most.

In the future we’ll cover some of the major conflicts from Istvaan to Prospero (Casual’s note: where Magnus did nothing right) all the way to the Siege of the Palace itself and the climactic final battle where, spoiler warning, people die. We’re also going to cover introductions to the Legions, news, our own hobby activities and general musings on all things Horus Heresy related. Well not all things, I only have one pair of hands…
Until next time.