Today I've been given permission to publish parts of the conversation that are dedicated to the Horus Heresy. Its great to discuss, and by all means this is a perfect Monday topic to get out and talk about.
via " must remain anonymous source"
Did some follow up on the Forgeworld Horus Heresy stuff now that it's the work week.
It may not be Luna Wolves / Dark Angels in the first book. There is a push for DA from one camp, to tie it in with something else going on in October.
There is another camp that wants to to keep things chronologically accurate as chapters did in fact "trickle in" to the campaign as the fighting escalated.
This means that we might see it start at Istvaan III instead of V, thus meaning the first book would only need the rules for Sons of Horus, Emperor's Children, World Eaters and Death Guard (as it begins with infighting?).
This goes against the other rumor though. First that the Forgeworld Books start after A Galaxy in Flame (which concludes with Istvaan III), and that there would be no rules for "loyalist" variant of these chapters, but it could mean that as the campaign progresses, new wargear or daemonic upgrades become available book by book
Now, with that said, taking a look at the Heresy time-line:
11. Fallen Angels: deceit and betrayal Fallen Angels continues the Dark Angels tale begun in Descent of Angels, beginning about 50 years before the Heresy but forwarding, in the book's opening chapters, to just about the time of the Heresy's beginning.
The novel tells two stories: one concerns the effort of Primarch Lion El'Jonson and a small group of Dark Angels to deny a forge world (a planet devoted to manufacturing, especially of weapons) to Horus' forces; the other is the story of Luther (Lion El'Jonson's second), Zahariel El'Zurias (by now a full Space Marine), and a Dark Angels contingent sent back to Caliban. They get involved in the fight against a growing insurgency that seeks to free the planet from under the Imperium's thumb.
While the 7 Legions are en route to Istvaan 5 (Iron Hands, Salamanders, Raven Guard, Iron Warriors, Alpha Legion, Night Lords, Word Bearers) a battle does take place between the Dark Angels and the Sons of Horus to deny Horus a pair of siege engines he had commissioned decades earlier.
This lends some credit to Sons of Horus / DA first, as it seems to be (time-wise) the first, non interchapter Traitor vs. Loyalist battle, and would feature the two core books that were just released by GW (Black Legion, Dark Angels).
I was told that the book series starts after Istvaan III (which is where Horus removes the remaining loyalist portions of the 4 core legions, Sons of Horus, Emperor's Children, World Eaters and Death Guard), but not specifically when.
This means that the next chronological option available is a small-scale battle where the Sons of Horus fought the Dark Angels for control of a Forgeworld with vital technology Horus wanted for the inevitable siege of Terra.
On Saturday, I was told "Luna Wolves vs. Dark Angels" right off the bat by
I look at that and say "Yeah, that makes sense. Time-line it fits, as it's one of the first fights in the heresy and even comes before Istvaan 5."
It also fits, marketing wise (which I have nothing to do with) because of the releases for both Chaos Space Marines (who are primarily the Black Legion/Sons of Horus) and Dark Angels.
You see a congruency between their releases, the starter box, and now a Forgeworld Supplement. It drives sales in the right direction. People who might not have done a new Chaos Space Mairne or Dark Angel army, might want to do Pre-heresy variants. Either way, both GW and FW sell models, and they feed off the other's success.
The Drop Site Massacre (IstvaanV) is the other option, but it is a huge event. It includes 11 Legions total (Sons of Horus, World Eaters, Emperor's Children, Death Guard vs. Iron Hands, Salamanders, Raven Guard + the surprise traitor twist of the Alpha Legion, Night Lords, Iron Warriors and Word Bearers). It's also important to note that the Iron Warriors at this battle, had the technology Horus was after when he fought the Dark Angels. The Lion mistakenly gives it to Perturabo after securing it to "ensure it does not fall into Horus' hands." Near the end of Fallen Angels, they also make reference to the "7 dispatched Legions heading to the Istvaan system to deal with Horus." So this could be treated as a footnote, but seems like a waste of what would have otherwise been an entire book (Sons of Horus vs. Dark Angels).
Ultimately, Istvaan V would be a huge undertaking, and would take several books to detail, but it would make for a dramatic place to start.
As a side note, I could also see my source being wrong about starting after Istvaan III and instead them starting AT istvaan III. This is because it would allow them to make rules for 4 legions, and essentially "get 8," because you'd have both Loyalist and Traitor options. It would make it a bit easier than something like Istvaan where there is 11 factions who would need 7 detailed in book 1 to represent the first conflict, and then 4 in book 2 to present rules for the actual massacre.
If you look at what they'd need to produce rules for, time-line wise:
Istvaan III book - Covers 4 Legions (Sons of Horus, Emperor's Children, World Eaters, Death Guard) [Covers both loyalist and traitor]
Istvaan V book 1 - Initial Traitors are already covered in previous book; Now just add 3 new factions (Iron Hands, Salamanders, Raven Guard)
Istvaan V book 2 - Initial Traitors and Loyalists are already covered; Now just add 4 reinforcing Traitors (Word Bearers, Alpha Legion, Iron Warriors, Night Lords)
Istvaan V book 2 - Initial Traitors and Loyalists are already covered; Now just add 4 reinforcing Traitors (Word Bearers, Alpha Legion, Iron Warriors, Night Lords)
If they did it this way, there's a natural progression of introducing the Legions, if they start with DA vs. Luna Wolves, when they get to Istvaan it's 3 traitors and 3 loyalists they still need to cover in the first book, which is a lot to ask, or it means they're splitting Istvaan into 3 books (but the reality is that there isn't really enough material to cover to split the opening of Istvaan into 2 books, it would already be a stretch to be 2 books for the whole thing if not for the fact that there were just so many different participants. In terms of the chronological series of battles, it's not that many they're just really large scale).
All I can confirm as fact is that it's multiple books, congruent to IA series, will take roughly a year and a half to complete, and will only have special characters and upgrade packages as models, no complete kits outside of those that are already available.
Anything else, and what I put above is just speculation to corroborate what I was told. But since it was something said to me, not something I myself witnessed, I can't give it the same "100% guarenteed (at least at this time) stamp" that I would like to.
