The Word Bearers take advantage of the situation attacking the unprepared Ultramarines. But they didn’t take into account Primarch Guilliman!
Via our good friends at Lexicanum
At the outbreak of the Horus Heresy, Guilliman and the Ultramarines were tricked by Horus, who sent them to the Veridian system while Horus carried out his treasonous plot. When the treachery was revealed, the Ultramarines were poorly placed to react to it.
While the Ultramarines mustered their forces at Calth, in Ultramar, they were attacked by the Word Bearers and the Legion took heavy losses. However, the Word Bearers had overlooked two major points: the unbreakable fighting spirit of the Ultramarines, and the brilliance of Guilliman’s command.
An attempt by Lorgar to assassinate Guilliman with a Daemon who attacked the bridge of his flagship, forcing Guilliman to be sucked into space and fight several Word Bearers without a helmet. Guilliman was eventually able to reboard his ship, and promised to hunt down and kill Lorgar for the betrayal. At the climax of the battle Guilliman ripped out one of the two hearts of Kor Phaeron, the Word Bearers commander at Calth, after he had tried to tempt Guilliman to join the Forces of Chaos.
Meanwhile Angron of the World Eaters and Lorgar of the Word Bearers had launched the Shadow Crusade on isolated worlds in Ultramar. Their plan was to destroy as much of Ultramar as they could while the Ultramarines were occupied on Calth. After the victory at Calth, Gulliman, presumably under the guidance of his newly reinstated Librarians, traveled to an isolated Warp jump point on the outer fringes of Ultramar. There he encountered Sanguinius of the Blood Angels who has just recently finished his war in the Signus cluster. The Navigators of the Blood Angels had been ordered to find the closest stable Warp zone, which many assumed would be Terra. Instead fate brought them to Ultramar.
With the addition of the Blood Angels to his forces, Gulliman pronounced they could finally begin countering the Shadow Crusade. After Calth, Guilliman pursued Lorgar, who had since allied with Angron, to the world of Nuceria. There, the Ultramarines engaged both the World Eaters and Word Bearers while Guilliman himself battled Lorgar, finding the once-weaker Word Bearers Primarch to be surprisingly capable in combat. The situation for Guilliman got worse when Angron arrived, battering Guilliman with a furious assault and eventually defeating the Lord of Macragge. However as Angron was about to land the final blow, Ultramarines were able to arrive and safely retrieve their Primarch.
As a result of being cut off by the Ruinstorm created by the traitorous Word Bearers, Guilliman feared the Imperium lost and created a second empire, Imperium Secundus, as a contingency. Many loyalist brothers were brought to Macragge thanks to the activation of the xenos device known as the Pharos. Not wanting to appear vain and power-hungry like his brother Horus, Guilliman refused to declare himself Emperor of Imperium Secundus, instead initially trying to convince Lion El’Jonson to take the position despite being distrustful of the Dark Angels Primarch’s motives.
While organizing the creation of Imperium Secundus Guilliman survived an assassin attempt by an Alpha Legion squad disguised as Aeonid Thiel and other Ultramarines. Later when Konrad Curze was let loose upon Macragge, Guilliman and the Lion battled the Night Lords Primarch together but were led into a trap. Instead of being cornered, Curze detonated charges and brought the entire structure down upon their heads. Guilliman and the Lion survived thanks to Barabas Dantioch activating the Pharos, which teleported the duo to Sotha. The Lion and Guilliman then made their way back to Macragge, where the Blood Angels had now arrived. Guilliman decided to name the reluctant Sanguinius the Regent of Imperium Secundus.
However Guilliman frequently clashed with his distrustful and taciturn brother Lion El’Jonson over policy. Obsessed with hunting for Konrad Curze on Macragge, the Lion insisted that the Night Haunter was behind rebellions plaguing the world and demanded martial law be instituted. After a suicide bombing hit an Astartes convoy on Macragge, the Dark Angels were deployed by the Lion to establish martial law without Guilliman’s express permission. Guilliman and the Lion again came to disagreement over the rebellion in the Illyrium region of Macragge, with the Dark Angels primarch wishing to use weapons of mass destruction to flush them out as he suspected Curze was hiding there. Ultimately the Lion led the attack into Illyrium, and Curze was captured. At Guilliman’s insistence, he was given a public trial. During the trial, Curze accused the Lion of ordering secret orbital attacks against the rebellion which enraged the Dark Angels Primarch and nearly led to him slaying Curze in the court. Guilliman and Sanguinius dismissed the Lion from Imperium Secundus as response, but later the Lion reappeared and asked to be Curze’s jailer instead.
Ultimately, Guilliman was able to set course for Holy Terra. Travelling at maximum speed, his Legion was only hours away along with several other Legions. This ultimately decided the Imperium‘s fate when Horus was forced to gamble by letting the Emperor teleport onto his Battle Barge.
Find out more about Roboute Guilliman
About the Author: Rob Baer
Rob Baer
Job Title: Managing Editor
Founded Spikey Bits in 2009
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About Rob Baer: Founder, Publisher, & Managing Editor of Spikey Bits, the leading tabletop gaming news website focused on the hobby side of wargaming and miniatures.
Rob also co-founded and currently hosts the Long War Podcast, which has over 350 episodes and focuses on tabletop miniatures gaming, specializing in Warhammer 40k. and spent six years writing for Bell of Lost Souls.
Every year, along with his co-hosts, he helps host the Long War 40k Doubles Tournament at Adepticon and the Long War 40k Doubles at Las Vegas Open, which attracts over 350 players from around the world.
Rob has won many Warhammer 40k Tournaments over the years, including multiple first-place finishes in Warhammer 40k Grand Tournaments over the years and even winning 1st place at the Adepticon 40k Team Tournament.
With over 30 years of experience in retail and distribution, Rob knows all the products and exactly which ones are the best. As a member of GAMA (Game Manufacturers Association), he advocates for gaming stores and manufacturers in these difficult times, always looking for the next big thing to feature for the miniatures hobby, helping everyone to provide the value consumers want.
While he’s played every edition of Warhammer 40k and Warhammer Fantasy (since 5th Edition) and has been hobbying on miniatures since the 1980s, Titans of all sizes will always be his favorite! It’s even rumored that his hobby vault rivals the Solemnance Galleries, containing rulebooks filled with lore from editions long past, ancient packs of black-bordered Magic Cards, and models made of both pewter and resin.
