Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

So while the imperium was slapping itself with the heresy stick (Horus Heresy) what were the Eldar, Dark Eldar and Orks doing at this time ? Given the sheer destruction caused in the war, did Orks play any part in the heresy (they like a good scrap after all)? And with Horus being the madman he was, did he ever use xenos in any compacity in his war effort ?

The eldar were busy with their own little creation eating them.
The DE were partying on like it was 29,999.
Orks were fighting - because it's what they do. "They fight, they fight. Fight fight fight, fight fight fight, the orky and orky show."
Tau were still climbing trees or something.

Orks were a big part of the Heresy, the battle on Ullanor after which the Big E announced he was headed home for a rest and put Horus in command was against the biggest Ork force seen before or since.

Eldar also are mentioned, there's stuff in Fulgrim and Know No Fear about marines fighting Eldar, and Eldrad crops up a couple of times in the novels.

Dark Eldar used to raid Nocturne a lot while Vulkan was growing up there.

Tau were evolving, Tyranids weren't here yet and Necrons were asleep, but lots of other minor races are fought and destroyed through the great crusade.

I don't think Horus used Xenos stuff, he was more about Chaos, but some legions did; the Dark Angels had a lot of esoteric equipment and their ship drives are hinted to be alien in design, the Alpha Legion used anything and everything that they felt would benefit them, and Alpharius' spear is definitely Xenos (I think Necron), even Guilleman used some weird alien teleporter/communication device in his Imperium Secundus.

ImAGeek wrote:
Orks were a big part of the Heresy, the battle on Ullanor after which the Big E announced he was headed home for a rest and put Horus in command was against the biggest Ork force seen before or since.

Eldar also are mentioned, there's stuff in Fulgrim and Know No Fear about marines fighting Eldar, and Eldrad crops up a couple of times in the novels.

Dark Eldar used to raid Nocturne a lot while Vulkan was growing up there.

Tau were evolving, Tyranids weren't here yet and Necrons were asleep, but lots of other minor races are fought and destroyed through the great crusade.

I don't think Horus used Xenos stuff, he was more about Chaos, but some legions did; the Dark Angels had a lot of esoteric equipment and their ship drives are hinted to be alien in design, the Alpha Legion used anything and everything that they felt would benefit them, and Alpharius' spear is definitely Xenos (I think Necron), even Guilleman used some weird alien teleporter/communication device in his Imperium Secundus.

The Eldar led by Eldrad tried warning Fulgrim of Horus' treachery, Sadly they approached the wrong man.

Trazyn the Collector might have been active during that time. He claims he knew Roboute and he potentially has some items in his collection from that era (including possibly Vulkan, hilariously enough depending on how you interpret a White Dwarf article, apparently. Would explain why he loves trolling the Salamanders so much)

Most Necrons were asleep during that time but not all of them were (those necron guards that worked to keep Necrontyr culture alive, for example) but I dunno how much GW/BL considers that with the exception of Trazyn.

Orks were an object of conquest of the crusade. There were several ork empires that spanned many star systems and were being destroyed in before the heresy.
During and immidiately after the heresy the orks probably rolled back a lot of IoM gains

DE were active before the Heresy, raiding all sorts of worlds for all sorts of things. During the crusade, they probably limited their raiding a bit as they like soft targets.
During and immidiately after the heresy they probably fell on the IoM in great numbers, raping and pillaging while the forces of mankind were busy with bigger fish.

Eldar had a mixed reaction. Sometimes the object of conquest in the crusade but also sometimes an ally in bringing order back to the galaxy. They tried to prevent the heresy. During the heresy they probably had their farseers see what if anythign they could do and otherwise just kept their heads down.

Tau were inventing the wheel and learning how to start fires during the HH. All accounts point to them being successful

Necrons were just waking up. I mean they are still just waking up, but back then there would have been very few of them indeed. A few tombs worlds were probably destroyed without much of a fight while others stayed dormant and were colonized

Tyranids had not arrived in number

Daemons were daemons. They came out of the warp during the HH and nearly conqured terra along with Horus