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Hi all.

I was talking with some guys at my hobby center the other day, and we uncovered something strange that none of us could explain.

So i thought I would seek an answer with you, supreme guardians of the 40K lore.

AFAIK, the HH lasted 7 years. 7 years between the Istvaan massacres and the siege of Terra.

Leman Russ and his legion was sent to kick Magnus' magic a** a shortly before the HH begun.

The battle of prospero itself was remarkably short, IIRC. I can't remember any real figure, but it seems to me that it only lasted for a few days, weeks at most.

Yet, the SW came back to Terra only 7 years later, just after the end of the siege of Terra.

What did they do in the meantime? Did they fight another traitor legion? Did they chase the TS for 7 entire years all across the galaxy? Did they become lost in the warp for some time?

They probably fight all the way to Terra....

It is mentioned how the SW and DA legions met up and had to fight their way back to Terra. The Alpha Legion attempted to delay them in which they succeeded but they didn't manage to halt them.

A lot of stuff is set to change or be revealed. The Heresy books wont be ending any time soon, and we will get more details as to what the other chapters were doing for 7 years.

Yeah, we've definitely gotten an awesome look into just what the Dark Angels were up to after the Shield Worlds campaign and why they didn't ever make it to Terra.

Hint: It wasn't 'waiting to see who won'.
Do not click the spoiler unless you're really, really, really, really wanting to not have to read "The Age of Darkness" compilation.

And if you reply to this spoiler with a spoiler, add a few extra lines of blankness before posting your reply so it doesn't spoil it for anyone else.

So the SW joined forces with the DA at some point during the HH, and then tried to force their way back to Terra, while the traitor legions attempted to delay them?

Do we know exactly which traitor legions fought the wolf and the Lion? Because I can't imagine that the Alpha Legion managed to hold back two entire loyalist legions at their full strength for seven entire years, while being also engaged in other operations alongside Horus' forces.

The Alpha Legion was purely using delaying actions.
They attacked other planets forcinf Russ and the Lion the help them... well only Russ wanted to help AFAIK but he convinced the Lion to come with him.

Guerilla warfare is said to be able to hold up and delay 3x their number in proper use of their tactics.

Apply that to a Legion, then apply that to planetary systems and you see how the Alpha Legion was able to hold up and harry two Legions.

Laodamia wrote:Yet, the SW came back to Terra only 7 years later, just after the end of the siege of Terra.

What did they do in the meantime? Did they fight another traitor legion? Did they chase the TS for 7 entire years all across the galaxy? Did they become lost in the warp for some time?

Space travel does take time, even with the advances in space travel at the time of the Great Crusade, it would take a while to get from Prospero to Terra. Then add to all the traitor legionaires not at the siege that were tasked with holding up loyalist troops.

Tyr Grimtooth wrote:Guerilla warfare is said to be able to hold up and delay 3x their number in proper use of their tactics.

Apply that to a Legion, then apply that to planetary systems and you see how the Alpha Legion was able to hold up and harry two Legions.

Good point.

So I guess the Alpha Legion could have delayed those two legions, after all, they were the emperor's experts in subterfuge and guerrilla.

But however, at the time, these two legions had explicit orders from the Emperor himself to make best speed back to Terra, right? Why would they accept being delayed to help other planets?

Laodamia wrote:Why would they accept being delayed to help other planets?

Because Russ demanded it. The Lion wanted to blow past straight to Terra.