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 JamesY wrote:
The battle for terra went on for years. It was massive mate.

Err...I'm sure it only lasted something like fifty-odd days. I could be wrong but I don't think I am.

Da Biggest fight yu sey? whi'z tha'z eazey! 'Ere, lemee count 'em:

Da Biggest: Dat fight in da sky! 'dem necron boyz sure 'now how ta fight. We waz made fer dat fight, an nuthin stoppin' us eva' since!

Da Runna' up: Slaaneeeesh in da warp gettin' up an' about! Not lots of werd about that one. All 'em elda' boyz wen' runnin' an' we waz fighin' daemonz fer ewa afta' dat. Best fight' I tell ya!

Not dat bad: Da 'umies did sum' konkuring whiz zat emperah fella'. 'Den they'z all starta' fightin' amongzt themself! Funny ta see!

Dunno, kinda big fight: Da 'umies did anothza olda' kontkuest. wi'z 'em mekboyz an' titanz an' whatnot. not as fun as da 'ummies todah' wi'z dem spesh marine boyz an' whatnot'.

Bestest fight: Da 'nidz are fightin' us, it'z da bestest fight in agez!

Dere's been a bunch o' more good fights', lemme count som':
Dat' spikey edgie Abaddon fella' fightin' da imperium boyz 13 timez!
A 'hoole lots'a 'nids goin' againzt dem smerf marinez.
'Dat... aleks- whut's 'is name... Makari guy doin' da bestest Imperia' konkuest'!
Som' big necron ball goin' in spesh blowin' up all da things.
All 'em imerpia' boyz fightin' themself. they'z like ta do that. whiz de Thor boy, the assasinz, da sista's and such.

Oy! I mighta' forgotn som' fings an I almos' forgots tha bestest fight o' 'em all. Iz o' couse da profet o' gork n' mork, Ghazhkul 'Imself! Da biggest an' da strongest o' 'em all! Waagh! I gotsa go' fight somtfin now', all this talk iz makin' me fighty!

The battle for Terra could not have conceivably lasted for years, we all know warp travel is slow across large distances but it would not have taken years for the wolves, surfs and dark angels to get there. Also, if it lasted for years, Horus would have had years to destroy the emperor, the palace etc etc, and in terms of comparing force strength, the imperium had but a skeleton crew defending in comparison to the amount of forces Horus could throw at them.

endlesswaltz123 wrote:
The battle for Terra could not have conceivably lasted for years, we all know warp travel is slow across large distances but it would not have taken years for the wolves, surfs and dark angels to get there. Also, if it lasted for years, Horus would have had years to destroy the emperor, the palace etc etc, and in terms of comparing force strength, the imperium had but a skeleton crew defending in comparison to the amount of forces Horus could throw at them.

While this is accurate according to current fluff, The BL has a habit of Retconning the fluff, so I would not be surprised if the Siege of Holy Terra was changed significantly when the book series reaches that point.

Battle of Terra was months not years, but months of the biggest armies armed with most powerful weapons and gear man kind had vs the strongest fortress built at that time.

Ity was massive. But not the longest

There was an old White dwarf, the one dealing with the first cityfight expansion. In it you had the entire battle for terra written down, step by step. I don't think it gave any real timeframe, nevertheless time is a huge factor. Since reinforcments are comming Horus must win as quickly as possible or he will be sandwitched and inevitably lose. He only lowers his Shields as a desperate gamble because he's out of time. The Sons of horus never actually saw any action during the battle for terra, he held them in reserve through the entire thing.

Now I'm sure this is going to get retconned and re-written but I got the feeling the whole thing passed rather swiftly. Never felt that it was a matter of years or indeed even months.