Monday 16 May 2016

The Vlka Fenryka are not the only Legion deployed against the Thousand Sons in Inferno . . .

Yup. That is right. You heard me. Bet you didn't expect that did you. That's why you are here reading this. . . "I bet this is click bait," you are thinking now. . . You are wrong. . . 

So after the Seminar Kaelo had a word with Sir Alan of Bligh. . . . and after a lengthy talk he revealed something which totally shocked my brother. 

What would have happened if the Wolves had failed? Would Horus' plan have worked out the way he wanted it to? Obviously he knew the Wolves were mighty, but there was always the chance that they would not succeed in breaking the Thousand Sons. So he took measures. . . . they got Legio Mortis too after all . . . but they also got a few extra Legionnaires to bolster their efforts. 



. . . Horus sent a whole Company of the Sons of Horus to help the Prosecution of the Thousand Sons Campaign. . . 

So. Wow. Yeah I know. Who was sent there with the Vlka Fenryka to lead the Sons of Horus contingent? Was it a well known character? It was at the same time as the Betrayal at Isstvan III, so I don't believe so, but that doesn't mean it won't be. The Isstvan system is in the Galactic North, whilst Prospero is coreward east of Sol. It would take a while for a force from a Legion to travel from one side of the Galaxy to the other or even to the core. I'm also pretty sure the conflicts happened at the same time, so I don't think we will see the likes of Little Horus marching with the Wolves. 

Well I can tell you one thing. Alan Bligh is the king of Heresy. The decisions he makes are always absolutly logical and measured. Just speaking to Alan is incredible, the Horus Heresy has already been played out totally in his mind and just like a true historian, he has to break down the state of the Galaxy wide conflict at each stage (year and month) and make measured decisions as to where Legions are, what forces can possibly oppose them, and where needed add new forces into the mix to balance out inconsistencies. The Vlka Fenryka (with their small numbers) invading another Legion's Homeworld (with a whole Legion at home) as well as the Spire Guard etc always felt like one of those to me. 
So I am thoroughly happy about this twist and am so excited to see their role in the whole conflict. It is also worth baring in mind that the Horus Heresy Novel series are told from the perspective of Rememberencers and what they have gleamed from a conflict, recited over millennia, something which BL have said several times too). Now this also goes very well with the fluff of the Vlka Fenryka. Would they sing Sagas of the forces of the Arch Traitor assisting the VI Legion? Would their Skalds recite the stories of the how the Wolves fought beside the forces of Horus? . . . Or would it be "forgotten" from their history on purpose. 
. . . Heck it could just be that the term "the Wolves were unleashed" had two meanings that were lost in time . . .

Well played Mr Bligh. The Horus Heresy series is more incredible with you. 

Drake Seta

28 comments:

  1. Alan Bligh's a very, very clever man. I really can't see how anyone could do a better job of writing the Heresy books than him.

    Awesome stuff.

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  2. Wow. That's amazing!!! Having spoken to Mr Bligh at the weekender bout prospero. The wolves didn't go there in small numbers. It was full legion strength 80k+. As our conversation was mainly around the numbers of Vlka after the battle he said some where between 25 to 30k Vlka left accounting for fresh legionnaires that were due to be introduced from Fenris. I certainly echo your sentiment. He is an absolute genius when it comes to the heresy. Top top bloke. Awesome post. As always. Keep doing your thing Battle Bunnies. ����

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    1. Hey cheers Sam B. Thanks for sharing what you heard too! I was always under the impression that there were around 6000 Wolves (which once again makes no sense really the more you think about it).

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    2. Cool, so that is their size with the adjusted Legion scale. Did he happen to mention the Legion strength of the Thousand Sons?

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    3. My Pleasure Drake seta, glad to share any nuggets of info with you guys. @Nicolas- he just said the 1K sons were a small legion at about 50k -ish from what i can remember. Though it doesnt matter guys, in the heresy, EVERYONE dies lol and none of the legions are never the same again. Cant wait for slaughter at beta gammon and the Wolf cull, wolves may die, but we always win lol.

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    4. That is an interesting update Sam! I have always thought that 6000 wolves is far to low for a legion! As Emperors Children are meant to be very small but had way more than 6000! This would be a good change!

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  3. Sh*t me and Kaelo had the mad conversation with Alan Bligh, where I couldn't pronounce Taranis... Then he hit us with this stuff...

    I was there when Coventry burned...

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    1. Lol. Yeah I heard. Where did your conversation end with Taranis colour?

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    2. Alan thinks they are blue and white, but untill Mars happens, he can't say for sure.

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    3. They were blue in the BL Mechanicum book, but GW painted them red. So Alan is saying he hasn't got to them yet so he is not sure whether he is treating the BL mentioned scheme as an oversight or gospel yet?

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    4. He stated after the massacre of Knights at Magma City, the red scheme was given when the were reconstituted. This to me is a nice fluffy way of dealing with these contradictions.
      To be fair, this is all subject to change as he didn't have his road map notes. When Mars happens, expect them to be featured!

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  4. I'll be honest, not a fan of where this is heading purely because it makes other stories not make sense; i.e why wouldn't the Thousand Sons mention another Legion? Where did they disappear too when then the Alpha Legion, White Scars and Death Guard dhow up? Plus we already know the Wolves weren't alone. The Custodes and the Sisters of Silence were both there.

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    1. Hi Maeglin. Once again, the Novels are meant to all be from the perspective of Rememberencers. Maybe it has been deliberately forgotten? Maybe they were only involved in attacking the orbitals? Maybe they attacked one of Prospero's moons and were never with the Rout at Prospero? Lots of possibilities from what I see right now. The Vlka were long gone before the Death Guard and White Scars arrived.

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    2. We already know of two Thousand Sons legionnaries who were on Prospero post-invasion. Iskandar Khayon from "The Talon of Horus" who was found by Lheorvine Ukris and also Revuel Arveda who showed up when the World Eaters were picking through the ruins of Prospero where Kharn killed one of them.

      Iskandar was dying in the dust of Prospero already when Ukris shows up and there's no mention of Arveda or any other legions either.

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  5. This is a very interesting development! It makes a lot of sense, looking forward to seeing what book 7 brings in terms of fluff even more now!

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  6. Will the Legio Mortis be on Prospero or Arcadia only?

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    1. They will be where the plot needs them to be.

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    2. The magic of tele-Plot-ation!

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  7. the more artwork i see from the V'Fen i am seeing skins and skulls ... and the occasional wolf head ... for sure holding off on building mine till more stuff is released on them ...

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    1. They are apparently "Faceless killers" at this point. So we can expect more masks, less bare heads.
      Also if you see the transfers; as the Legion is still relatively young (hasn't had 10,000 years to change), it still follows much of the Legion Belicosa style organisation (to a degree), for example, as the transfers currently stand, you have the Legion badge on one side (no Great Companies yet like in 40k) and the other has stylised Tactical, Assault and Heavy Support iconography, stylised in knotwork.

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  8. I always imagined something like this would be the case. I imagined that all the legions present at Nikea would at least send a delegation along to demonstrate to the thousand sons that it was the judgement of everyone, not just thier oldest naysayers, and also to check the wolves follow the letter of the emperors word and don't go too far.
    Although obviously the sons of Horus could influence this last bit

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  9. Very interesting! And makes sense. But *which* Sons of Horus? Full traitors that Horus can rely on to get the job done? Or ones loyal to the Emperor, where Horus assumes they'll take out the Thousand Sons or die trying, or when Istvaan is revealed, the Wolves will do the job for him? I'm looking forward to finding out!

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  10. Hey, just to let you know, Forgeworld's timeline places Prospero at two years before Istvaan III, which is in accordance with A Thousand Sons, as the event is placed just after Horus' corruption at Davin, which was only a few months before.

    Also, as of the reprint of A Thousand Sons into its hardcover format, the numbers of the Sons at Prospero have been revised. Only ten thousand were there, while the majority of the Legion was either part of the scattered defense fleet or still actively participating in the Great Crusade to prevent the Thousand Sons for being censured in the same manner the Word Bearers were while they sat at Prospero for an entire year before Magnus blew up the Emperor's wards under the Palace. However, they are still a significant force as evidenced by the fact they could withstand an orbital bombardment and use the planetary defences to inflict major damage among Russ' fleet, damage the Space Wolves still feel three years later in Scars.

    Still, this is an interesting notion.

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    1. Hi Alex. I have 004 as Prospero and 005 as Isstvan III. So yeah, you are right. That could place a SoH character at the Prospero system compliance.

      Thanks for the Legionnaire count too. Looking forward to learning more over the next few months.

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  11. Awesome. My current army is SoH supported by Hand of Ruin (Legio Mortis Reaver) and I'm about to start Vlka Fenryka 😁

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  12. I'm curious if someone such as Aximand or Sedirae or even Loken led the SoH at Prospero. Especially since I only found out a few days ago that Propero was about a year before Istvaan.

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