What battle do you think of?

[Valkyrion]

If I were to ask you to name Horus Heresy battles along the following lines;

 

Primarch Duel 

Hero-centric (e.g, a battle based around a Khârn, or Sigismund or Rylanor - doesn't have to be positive either)

Titans and/or Titanic Vehicles

Glorious defeat/pyrrhic victory

Small scale (e.g Kill Team on the tabletop)*

Skirmish scale (e.g combat patrol on the tabletop)*

Just a massive battle as represented by epic.

 

*I know these are 40k game systems, but Zone Mortalis or abstract thought allows for them)

 

What famous battles do you think of?

 

[No Foes Remain]

Primarch Duel, it has to be Ferrus and Fulgrim. Legacy of the Great Crusade vs the Potent of Chaos to Come. No pulling blows, no holding back just one brother unleashing his anger and rage against the one he loved and trusted the most who thought he was weak enough to turn against the Imperium and the Emperor. And it all ends in the first visable Primarch death, and a sign of things to come.

 

Titans has to be Beta Gammon, same for Glorious defeat/pyrrhic victory. Nothing held back, ala Ferrus and Fulgrim, Titans fighting in line against their own kind with vulnerable Astartes and even more vulnerable Imperial Army struggling to put up some sort of fight under the feet of the gods of war. In the end, it's both a Glorius Defeat and Pyrrhic Victory for both sides. The Loyalists claim both as they not only lost the system, the key and easiest way to get to the Sol System, as well as a large number of Titans, Astartes and Army forces which all could have helped and held the line even for a few more hours at Terra. But they also claimed a vast number of the Traitor's Titans as well as their own Astartes and Army elements and forced the Traitors to fight a war on the Loyalist's terms. Sure they were defensive, but they forced the Traitor's hands in having to lay siege to the worlds within the system.

 

Both Small and Skirmish has to be the Underground War at Calth. The smaller tunnels didn't have room for large tanks and ranks of astartes, not only that but neither side had much access to these after the Battle for Calth and had to use their materials and forces wisely. It's a WW1 analogue except neither side has easy access to recruits or fresh forces, so the stalemate continues and smaller forces break open the gaps for slightly larger ones to push through.

 

Massive Battle, Siege of Terran not included? Tallarn or Isstvan V. Both are big names within the Horus Heresy and are probably as well known as the Heresy itself and their names speak for themselves really.

[MARK0SIAN]

Primarch Duel - Ferrus Vs Fulgrim (with an honourable mention for Jaghatai Vs Mortarion)

 

Herocentric - The Saturnine ambush. Lots of senior characters on both sides in that battle and several of them are even killed in it. 
 

Titans - Beta Garmon 

 

Glorious Defeat - Koriel Zeth using the self destruct of her city and taking down some enemy titans.

 

Small scale - The execution force sent to assassinate Horus (if that counts as a battle)

 

Skirmish scale - There’s a lot that fit this for me. Some of Shadrak Meduson’s fights, the Calth campaign, the flight of the Eisenstein and some of the actions involving the Knights Errant so I can’t really pick one.

[BadgersinHills]

Primarch Duel: Ferrus vs Fulgrim.

Hero-centric (e.g, a battle based around a Khârn, or Sigismund or Rylanor - doesn't have to be positive either): Qin Xa vs Eidolon.

Titans and/or Titanic Vehicles: Beta-Garmon.

Glorious defeat/pyrrhic victory: The Siege of Terra in general.

Small scale (e.g Kill Team on the tabletop): The ambush at Dwell from Little Horus.

Skirmish scale (e.g combat patrol on the tabletop): The Underworld War.

Just a massive battle as represented by epic: The Khan sallying out to Lion's Gate spaceport. 

[calgar101]

This has changed with the series, my answers would be different if it was based solely on the old Index Astartes articles 

 

Primarch duel - Khan v Mortarion

Hero centric - Istvaan 3 last stand of Tarvitz et al

Glorious defeat/pyrrhic victory - Dantioch and the siege in Iron within

Small scale - Dwell and the White Scar's kill teams

Skirmish scale - battle of Aramtura

Massive battle - Siege itself 

 

[Kommisar_K]

Primarch Duel - Dorn vs Alpharius. On my mind a lot lately, probably due to not having read the actual book and, of course, Alpha Legion shenanigans.

Hero-centric - Flight of the Eisenstein count? 

Titans - Beta-garmmon

Glorious defeat/Pyrrhic victory - Terra, & also some parts of Mars (Magma City, right?).

Smol - hard to say... Some of Flight of the Eisenstein comes to mind. Also kinda background thing but I like the assassination attempt on Fulgrim by Shattered Legions forces before his ascension 

Skirmish - Calth & the Istvanns aftermath 

Epic - So many! Prolly Istvann V (Salamander bias).

[Razorblade]

Primarch Duel: Istvaan V 

Hero-centric: Kalium-Gate (Love how it shows Eidolon as both extremely competent and delusionally overconfident)

Titans: Beta-Garmon 

Pyrrhic Victory: Istvaan III 

Small Scale/Skirmish: Calth 

Epic: Molech. Great assymetry between the very Astartes focussed Traitors and the mostly human defenders.

[Blissful Brushes]

Fulgrim/Feras

Hero - Armatura (Khan’s perspective throughout was really cool)

Phyrric - Isstvan III

Small scale - Aoenid Thiel, Calth, Censure. Very compelling character 

Titan/Epic - Mechanicum