Sadly although the Ullanor Crusade was pivotal to the creation of Horus as Warmaster there remains frustratingly few details on the event. Small glimpses are afforded by a small selection of excerpts from various books.

The Ullanor sector was ruled over by Ork Overlord Urlakk Urg. The central foundation of his empire were a dozen planets, inhabited by humans, which had been conquered and enslaved by the Ork.

Horus employed the use of the now famous 'Speartip' tactic to destroy the Ork Empire by removing its head.

The White Scars and Ultramarines, supported by Imperial Army (and no doubt other units too, such as the Titans of the Mechanicum,etc) attacked the outer planets of the system. This was naturally a decoy, which served its purpose well. Many Ork Armadas rushed to prevent the attacks on the outer planets, leaving the central planet dangerously vulnerable and exposed.

The Luna Wolves fleet headed straight for this central world and more specifically for Urlakk's fotress-palace.

The attack force on the core-planet of the Ullanor system consisted of the entire Luna Wolves Legion, over 2 million Army soldiers, one hundred Titans of the Mechanicum (this included titans from Legio Mortis). All of whom were later joined by all the slaves freed from the Orks' labour camps). This force was according to Horus, led by the Emperor himself; but we do not know yet what role he played in this action.

Little is known regarding the actual makeup of the Ork forces. However we are told that they outnumbered the crusaders five to one. 'However ignoring the green-skin masses,...the commander [Horus] struck directly at the Over­lord and his command coterie, leaving the enemy headless and without direction.' (Horus Rising Page 19) In addition there were Ogre/Ogryn warriors in the Ork Army.

The attack took place by drop pod, with heavy shuttles deploying vehicles to the battle zone. This force attacked the perimeter defences. Horus then teleported to the base of Urlakk's great central tower, accompanied by all of the Terminators from the 1st Company of the Luna Wolves.

Whilst most of the Terminators held off the green horde,which was rushing back to the tower to save its master, Horus fought his way up to the pinnacle of the great tower, accompanied by only 10 Terminators who were members of the Justaerin.

At the summit of the tower was a vast chamber where Horus found the Ork Overlord surrounded by 40 of the biggest Orks from his Empire. Horus immediately stormed into battle, utilising the twin lightning claws of his armour, to rip apart the enemy. The Terminators were unwillingly to fire into this melee, lest they hit their beloved Primarch. The Terminators therefore immediately fell upon the Orks with their close-combat weapons.

Eventually Horus hacked his way through the Overlord's bodyguard, untill he came face to face with Urg. Despite the fact that Urg was an immense,towering brute, Horus managed to cripple the Ork in the following duel. Horus then held aloft the Ork Overlord above his head and carried him to the battlements of the Tower. Horus then threw screaming, the broken body of the Ork Overlord down to the ground.

When Horus returned to the Chamber he found all the Terminators and Orks dead......apart from one. The sole survivor he found was none other than the gore-drenched Captain of the First Company, Abaddon. He was surrounded by a pile of broken Ork bodies.

Loken's reflections on the battle of Ullanor itself provide some useful descriptive detail of the battle. Especially as it covers the battle being waged outside of the mighty fortress:

(Horus Rising Page 19)

The ork force collapsed at the death of its leader,with the remaining part of the battle becoming a massacre, as the Orks found themselves trapped between the two forces of the Luna Wolves (the Terminators at the base of the great central Tower and those who had breached the perimeter walls).

This battle which took place on the planet of Ullanor itself, saw the destruction of Vulkas Tor; a titan from Legio Mortis. (False Gods Page 23)

The remainder of the Ullanor Sector was subdued and returned to Imperial rule within the year, as the Ork Empire had fragmented upon hearing of it's masters death.

I have edited the above article with new information.

The names of the Legions which attacked the outlying planets of the Ullanor system are now included (the White Scars and the Ultramarines).

Also I've added the exact composition of the force which attacked the Ullanor core world.

Furthermore Horus led a Justaerin Speartip in the action itself.

Interestingly the Emperor also seems to have been present at the attack on the Ullanor core-world. Horus remarks that his entire force was led by the Emperor. However unfortunately we are not told what role the Emperor played in the actual combat which followed. (All amended details have been taken from False Gods P.92)

Im sure I remember reading a quote somewhere that the Emporer had fought side by side with his Primarch sons, and it was the last instance that he did so?

There is also that drawing of the emporer, which I believe was later ret-conned as being from Ullanor (although again this is from memory, I cannot remember exactly where I read it, and the possiblity remains it is completely made up by my imagination!)

here is that great drawing by Adrian Smith (thought it might fit in nicely with the report) - sorry about poor quality.

Thats right.

The Great Triumph of Ullanor, which was celebrated after the successful compliance of the Ullanor System, was mainly a three-fold ceremony.

It celebrated the Triumph over the greenskin; it saw the coronation of Horus as Warmaster; and it included a ceremony to say farewell to the Emperor as he left the Great Crusade in order to return to his palace on Terra.

Can't remember exactly where it is stated, and maybe I am completely wrong, but didn't the Emperor fight against the Ork first but was wounded and Horus had to join him to save his life ?

Or was this another campaign ?

I'm so glad that I'm not alone on this one!

I've been wracking my brains going mad over this as I remember exactly the same detail; but have been totally unable to either remember where I read it, or find the quote since.

So if you have any ideas it would certainly be a huge help. I'm fairly certain that it wasn't somthing that took place at Ullanor though. But if you do find the quote then please let me know!

I'm sure it was Ullanor, but maybe not the main battle..I'll check HR and FG for facts on this one ;)

I'm pretty sure I can remember the same thing as well.. (although I have a tendency to think of things which sound good and then regard them as something which must have heppened!)

I think that's mentioned in Horus Rising.

I've found the extract !

It's from the Index Astartes of the Luna Wolves. But it is indeed not Ullanor we're talking about here.

The battle for Gorro happened right at the start of the Great Crusade, when Horus was the only Primarch found to date.

Hope this helps for clarification :)

hey, thanks guys this is really helping, keep it up

Glad that the threads helping Zac08. :D Oh and welcome to the forum!

I've added some more additional information about Ullanor campaign to my main post. All the new information is in bold type so that you can find it easily.

Have just thought that I could do a pinned thread on the Triumph of Ullanor itself as well; if you think that that would be useful as well?

Brother-Captain Basilus:

Thankyou! You have saved my sanity!

I think the 'howling ogre foes' is a term used to desribe the orcs (which are rather ogreish in appearnce!), rather than an indication of the orcs having ogryns within their forces.

Good point Pacific, that was what I thought, too.

Interesting.

If it were indeed Orks that was inferred by this excerpt then I would have expected the word 'greenskin' being used to describe the foes rather than 'ogre.'

For me the word ogre is just too specific, to describe anything other than exactly what it says.

Furthermore the mention of Ogres all ties in with the older background and army lists for the Orks, which can be found in Waaagh!The Orks, Freebooterz and 'Ere we Go: in which Ork armies could include Ogryn warriors.

Erm..

One explanation is a simple descriptive phrase, the other requires knowledge of a 1st edition RT expansion book...

Vespa you are starting to sound worryingly like HAL from 2001. Don't worry, we won't unplug you :P

Orks do have a very ogre-ish look to them...

Strange that I always thought they had a very Orc-ish look about them :lol:

As Vespasian said, Ogryns used to be associated with Ork armies way back when. Remember also that this is during the Great Crusade so it's likely that at least a few Ogryn planets fall under Ork-ish control, and seeing as Ogryns are bigger and stronger than your average Ork, they would be respected by the green skins.

Not entirely sure if the quote means that Ogryns were present, or if 'howling Ogre foes' relates to the cruel and barbarous nature of the Orks.

No. Its obvious its just a literary expression - stop making more of this than is needed, just because Vespasian finds it impossible to admit that he might be wrong about something :D

Hey Pacific is Ogre a literary expression for Ork, in the same way that 'black powder bursts' is a literary expression for intercontinental ballistic missile? :P

Ok! I give up Its not my thread anyway! I know when I'm not wanted! *sniff*

You just made a grown space dwarf cry

I'll keep this up then: 'ogreish foe' is indeed just a literary expression, for not having to write 'ork' or 'greenskin' again.

Do we have any ideas what an army or campaign badge for the Ullanor campaign might look like??

It may, or may not, be an emblem showing a duck fighting a mole.

Or this lovely thin women that Pacific likes to chase through several threads :lol:

edit: sorry, seriously, I don't know..I don't think there's any official fluff on that.