The Scouring (Series)

[DukeLeto69]

On 1/31/2026 at 9:05 AM, Nagashsnee said:

Would you love me if i was a worm Horus?

That was meant to be “turned into a sandworm” of course but your post is funnier!

[Lord Marshal]

Article talking about the Scouring timeline, as well as a snippet of their internal (?) one:

 

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Here are a few extracts from our Scouring master timeline – it’s unlikely that all of these events will appear in either novel or gaming book form, but they give a hint of things to come.

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Timeline of The Scouring

Mid 014.M31 
The Siege of Terra concludes and the Traitor retreat begins. 

 

Late 014.M31 
The Battle of Luna 

 

Early to mid 015.M31 
The Liberation of Mars 

 

Late 015.M31 
The last of the Traitor forces are purged from the Solar System and its immediate vicinity, including Mars. 

 

Early 016.M31 
After securing Sol and reorganising the weary remnants of the loyalist Legions, a bitter and vengeful Rogal Dorn declares they must “scour” the traitors from the face of the galaxy, in what many come to see as a dismal echo of the Great Crusade. 

 

Early-mid 016.M31 
The Battle of Avellorn 

 

Mid 016.M31 
The Battle of Gamma-Horgan 
Traitors fleeing Terra take Gamma-Horgan with help from turncoat local forces, before pursuing Terran forces, reinforced by others from Kado and Aquitaine, drive them off towards Vanaheim.

 

Early 017.M31 
The Underworld War finally ends, and the conflict on Calth is declared to be over. 
The Scouring of Molech 

 

Mid 017.M31 
The Battle of Seraphina 
The Ariggata Culling 

 

Late 017.M31 
The Second Battle of Vanaheim 
Scattered Traitors muster around Vanaheim and attempt to re-take the world, but are defeated and driven towards Yarant. 

 

Mid 018.M31 
Operation Carthage – The Scouring of Isstvan V 

 

Early 019.M31 
The Doom of Valhalla 

 

Mid 019.M31 
The Iron Cage 
Perturabo ascends to Daemonhood before returning to Olympia to establish his 'Iron Empire'. 
The two years-long Siege of Olympia begins. 

 

Late 019.M31 
The Third Battle of Paramar

 

 

Edited March 12 by Lord Marshal

[Felix Antipodes]

Interesting that they make no mention of the Fall of Caliban, the Battle of Eskrador (where Guilliman is alleged to have killed Alpharius/Omegron, or The Iron Cage; all of which where supposed to have happened in 014.M31.  

I was expecting the Iron Cage to be shifted closer to the 2nd Founding (021.M31) as that makes more sense wrt Dorn’s mindset.  I’m also not surprised that they are downplaying Eskrador, now that the Alpha Legion is a much bigger player in W40K nowadays.

That leaves the Fall of Caliban, which I don’t see any reason to delay five years unless they have plans that will require the Lion’s presence.  We will have to see where they plan to go I guess.

Several of the battles mentioned in their timeline are unfamiliar to me.  I will have to jump onto Lexicanum and see if they are old lore or new additions.

[wecanhaveallthree]

>the scouring of molech

 

In the midst of it's so over, I found there was, within me, an invincible we're so back.

 

>turncoat loyal forces

 

lmao why, did the teams autobalance or something? 'we won! time to change sides!'

 

I am actually 110% OK with numerous worlds seeing their chance to leave the Imperium, however.

 

>the scouring isstvaan v

 

DROPSIT3 MASSACR3

 

 

 

[darkhorse0607]

11 minutes ago, wecanhaveallthree said:

I am actually 110% OK with numerous worlds seeing their chance to leave the Imperium, however.

 

 

Honestly, a local planet/group that sees what the Imperium is turning into and says "nah, y'all keep that" and tries to leave could be really interesting

 

Another Istvaan 5 adventure is not one of the things I thought I would see, especially over something more established like Caliban or Eskrador. 

 

"it’s unlikely that all of these events will appear in either novel or gaming book form, but they give a hint of things to come."

 

This is an interesting line. It's not like GW to expectation manage like that. Sure, they give a rough number of novels like they did with Dawn of Fire, but not really like "you could see this, maybe, maybe not"

 

and then at the bottom

 

"Aside from more novels set in the Horus Heresy, of course – just because the main events are concluded doesn't mean there aren’t plenty more stories to tell!"

 

Nothing says building hype for the new series like saying don't worry, the old series is here too. I am not against it by any means, just kind of weird

[Alpharius902]

Regarding the Scouring timeline itself:

• Avellorn got taken by the Iron Warriors during the Heresy, so I imagine they're serving as the first main foe the Imperium needs to beat back
• Gamma-Horgan is probably a campaign book. Kado already showed up in a PDF Titanicus campaign (Mechanicum & Ordo Sinister vs Dark Mechanicum), and Aquitane is Chemos' home sector, so I'd imagine there's some III Legion shenanigans to be had
• I'm also exceptionally interested in Molech, would definitely be cool if the Red Angel returns
• Seraphina, I imagine, is a Russ-focused narrative (that's where he gained the Dionysian Spear), might be a 'sequel' to Wolfsbane in that regard
• Arrigata Culling is interesting - presumably there's been an Ultramarines garrison stationed here for the duration of the war, so I imagine it's some traitor force moving in to kill them all
• The phrasing regarding Vanaheim is odd - The Iron Warriors conquered the world during the Heresy proper, so it's a bit unclear exactly why they need to "re-take it" when it's been traitor territory for six years by 017.M31
• Operation Carthage/Retaking of Isstvan V is cool to see (initially popped up in White Dwarf 104), I'm assuming it's going to be Ultramarines (one of their constituent chapters was deemed the Desert Lions, named after the chapter from WD) and Mechanicus vs the remnants of Iron Warriors and World Eaters that remained on the planet to harrow loyalists
• The Doom of Valhalla is interesting. Valhalla, prior to becoming an iceball, was effectively a paradise until it was hit by a rogue comet. I'd imagine this is being retconned/explained as one force or another deciding to effectively destroy the planet to deny it to the other side
• The Iron Cage is self-explanatory (Imperial Fists & Ultramarines vs Iron Warriors), I'd imagine the only changes would be increasing some numbers since sacrificing a "mere" 400 Fists in the face of the size of the legions is a bit paltry
• Third Battle of Paramar V, given that only the first conflict was covered in the Black Books, imagine will be relegated to background knowledge (Sons of Horus, Word Bearers, Legios Mortis & Fureans vs whatever the Imperium throws at them)

As an aside:

• Regarding Caliban, I'd imagine it's still occurring at the time from the FW Black Books [016.M31], given that the timelines from there and Russ' Primarch book still line up - after the declaration of the "Scouring" proper, he goes to Caliban to recover/gain reinforcements for the upcoming campaign, but, well, Luther has other plans and the Lion is lost to the greater Imperium. It's just probably not mentioned to keep up "some" suspense

[Karhedron]

1 hour ago, Alpharius902 said:

• Avellorn got taken by the Iron Warriors during the Heresy, so I imagine they're serving as the first main foe the Imperium needs to beat back

 

This makes sense since they are the largest intact traitor Legion at this point and Perturabo has not yet ascended. Omegon has not been seen since the start of the Solar War and the AL were implied to already be fragmenting along with the NLs. The Legions with ascended Primarchs seem to have largely broken up due to lack of leadership.

[DarkChaplain]

Quote

Here are a few extracts from our Scouring master timeline – it’s unlikely that all of these events will appear in either novel or gaming book form, but they give a hint of things to come.

 

To quote Sir Ian McKellen

 

You have exactly one job, GW/BL. Do it. Instead, you're threatening us with axing already.

 

Also fantastic BL Celebration entry with no actual details on book 2. I'm already so tired of this nonsense, and the series has only just started last year...

[Lorehunter]

36 minutes ago, DarkChaplain said:

 

To quote Sir Ian McKellen

 

You have exactly one job, GW/BL. Do it. Instead, you're threatening us with axing already.

 

Also fantastic BL Celebration entry with no actual details on book 2. I'm already so tired of this nonsense, and the series has only just started last year...

Ahh, that's the line you mentioned in the other thread. I don't see that as axing anything, with respect that seems a bit of a cynical read. 

[LSM]

On 3/12/2026 at 11:37 AM, Felix Antipodes said:

...the Battle of Eskrador (where Guilliman is alleged to have killed Alpharius/Omegron...

...I’m also not surprised that they are downplaying Eskrador, now that the Alpha Legion is a much bigger player in W40K nowadays...

 

As far as I'm aware, the Battle of Eskrador comes from the Index Astartes: Alpha Legion article (January, 2003). It is not given a year there; is it elsewhere dated to 014.M31?

 

The Index Astartes articles were the first great push to explore the Horus Heresy setting, and created many of the moments that we love today. But they also contain quite a bit of material that has been retconned or changed. 

 

One thing that didn't exist is the whole Unremembered Empire/Ruinstorm plotline; and the original Battle of Calth was the final battle in Kor Phaeron's campaign against the Ultramarines (after which the defenders of Ultramar managed to push the Word Bearers into the Maelstrom). No hint is given of Omegon, and no mention is made of Alpharius confronting (and falling to) Dorn at Hydra.

 

In this telling of the Horus Heresy, Guilliman himself was on crusade far to the galactic south with the bulk of his Legion, and only even became aware of the Horus Heresy when the Traitors were already at Terra. The Ultramarines were still racing towards Earth (after Horus had been defeated) when they ran into Alpha Legion forces at Eskrador.

 

If the battle is still canon (and in something resembling its original telling), then it should have already happened before Ashes of the Imperium.

 

Edited March 26 by LSM

[Karhedron]

You are right that Eskrador first appeared in the IA Alpha Legion article. One important thing to mention is that even then, it was listed as questionable as the Ultramarines themselves apparently had no record of it occurring. Thus the implication from the outset was that Eskrador was AL propaganda designed to make people think Alpharius was dead.

[Felix Antipodes]

Finally!  There is life in the corpse at last!  French is a good choice for continuing the series, being a long time collaborator wth Wraight.  Time for a re-read of Ashes…

 

Edited 13 hours ago by Felix Antipodes
Added Images

[Nagashsnee]

While i am glad we have news of the series, and i know about doing what i am about to do about books based on their covers....i am worried.

 

In the HH Mechanicum serves as the only...well mechanicum focussed book, sure others featured them to varioys degress, but out of the 50 HH books, only 1 was a Mechanicum book. Dark Mech got nothing. Mechanicum served as introducing, setting up and springboarding the faction as a actual faction rather then just Marine tech support roles they serve in most novels. You get to meet and know the mechanicum and while marines appear in it, they served the supporting roles.  After that it was 40 odd books of the ocassional cameo for dark mech, and mostly Land or Titan stuff for loaylist mech. With short stories serving as the only mechanicum focussed content.  

 

I had always expected the reclaimation of mars to be the Mechanicum of the scouring series, the one shining chance for the faction to take centre stage before the non stop marine train tramples everything in its path. This hope increasing in importance after the HH mini game got around to FINALLY dropping its own Mars centric book only to have marines take centre stage there (heaven forbid we get a mechanicum special character or new units in the martian civil war book, or for the matter actual martians). 

 

The character series refuses to pretend the mechanicum exists ( one day Kelbor, one day), and the primarch mania ensures the fanbase will shout down any attemps for non marine focussed scouring content. The reclaimation of mars, the reckoning of the binary succession and the establishment of a indepedent adeptus titanicus with the wider loaylist forge worlds (most of who will be present in sol with the relief fleets) and the flight of the dark mechanicum into the galaxy is the only event big enough to claw the focus off power armor if only for one book.

 

But this cover.... Going back to Mechanicum its cover features a single tech priest as the focus of the artwork, he stands alone surounded by flames and war, in the distance a forge city looms, he is not shooting or running or shouting. He is gazing into the distance, is he loaylist? Traitor? Happy? Sad? None of that matters, the cover is a showcase of the book and its plot. War is coming to Mars, and all will have to choose a side or find themshelves surounded by conflict standing all alone. 

 

Now we came to Wrath of Terra, its SPACE MARINES, grey ones, and red ones, and of course in the central focus of the cover what else could it ever be anymore even in 30k BLUE ONES!!! (Buy your calgar today kids). Much like the mini source book the dark mech is there as antogonists for the marines to fight, no actual characters or martians of course, automata! The ones from Legionis Imperialis (remember that exists!).

 

All i can say as a Mechanicum/Mechanicus player is...i am worried...and not at all hyped nor excited.  Maybe they will at least get the Mechanicus characters titles right this time? Maybe the cover is just marketing to trick marines into buying a Mech book? Maybe i am being doomy and gloomy for nothing? I hope so, and you know what they say about hope in warhammer...

 

EDIT: Just realised, on the actual cover (not the full artwork) you cant even see any Dark Mechanicum or the forge entrance, its just Marines screaming with explosions and some kind of city in the backround.  This could be taking place anywhere,  and the super generic title solidifies this. Its like they went out of their way to counter Mechanicums cover. 

Edited 8 hours ago by Nagashsnee

[Griefbringer]

Nagashsnee, besides the cover you might want to check the actual announcement on Warhammer Community:

 

https://www.warhammer-community.com/en-gb/articles/n1s11hao/the-next-scouring-book-revealed-wrath-of-terra/

 

Besides the cover artwork (shown above), it contains the regular brief blurb about the book, but also moderately lenghty interview with the author discussing about the themes of the books. The interview starts by discussing the situation in Mars, with the Dark Mechanicum still in charge, and then moves to discuss marine-related issues.

[wecanhaveallthree]

I know it's almost par for the course to be negative about these things, but I do echo your concerns. The blurb doesn't mention, say, Zagreus Kane, Fabricator-General, or, say, Arkhan Land, the most prominent AdMech character remaining (and who meets his ultimate fate on Mars, supposedly, though I have a strong suspicion he's going to get Cawl'd). No mention of the AdMech completely screwing the pooch in Master of Mankind, either! Indeed:

 

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As the war heads towards the Martian cauldron of ruin, an Ultramarine fights to secure the future of the Imperium, a defeated Iron Warrior seeks sanctuary among the wasteland beyond the light of Sol, and a Blood Angel fights for salvation in the shadow of his father's death.

 

No suggestion of Kelbor-Hal or Sota-Nul, either, or the Guardian (my bugbear). 

 

EDIT: Reading the WarCom post above, it does tickle me that French is like 'my favourite three moments? primarchs, space marines and more space marines'. If that doesn't rather set the tone, I don't know what does.

Edited 6 hours ago by wecanhaveallthree
edit off some steam, bennett

[Nagashsnee]

45 minutes ago, Griefbringer said:

Nagashsnee, besides the cover you might want to check the actual announcement on Warhammer Community:

 

https://www.warhammer-community.com/en-gb/articles/n1s11hao/the-next-scouring-book-revealed-wrath-of-terra/

 

Besides the cover artwork (shown above), it contains the regular brief blurb about the book, but also moderately lenghty interview with the author discussing about the themes of the books. The interview starts by discussing the situation in Mars, with the Dark Mechanicum still in charge, and then moves to discuss marine-related issues.

Do i tho? My hopium suppliew are low, they cant take another hit.

 

 

40 minutes ago, wecanhaveallthree said:

Reading the WarCom post above, it does tickle me that French is like 'my favourite three moments? primarchs, space marines and more space marines'. If that doesn't rather set the tone, I don't know what does.

Hopium at critical levels. 

 

I think i am just going to wait and read the book. And its either going to make the scouring for me, or be the final scouring book i buy. The reddit memes have made me afraid to read the author interview. Funny tho.

[Bloodwraith]

Do you think we could ever get them to close out what happened to the Alpha Legion "Sleeper Legion" in Stasis below the Palace/if and what activation code was used? Maybe we could also get some resolution on John Grammaticus and Ingo Pech?

[Karhedron]

22 minutes ago, Bloodwraith said:

Do you think we could ever get them to close out what happened to the Alpha Legion "Sleeper Legion" in Stasis below the Palace/if and what activation code was used? Maybe we could also get some resolution on John Grammaticus and Ingo Pech?

 

It has been suggested that these will surface again in the third volume of Abnett's Bequin trilogy. Certainly there is a lot of speculation that the character Deathrow is really Pech (although I really hope he turns out to be Omegon).