Goonhammer Reviews: Iron Warriors Reign of Iron - The Lore and Story

We leave the pirate-infested seas of the Maelstrom and move to the galactic Northwest to what remains the Cadian Gate. From deep within the Eye of Terror, the calculations have at long last finally computed. Perturabo, Primarch of the Iron Warriors, is setting his plans into motion. So what are his plans? Who are his key minions? And who can stop him?

Let’s find out!

Before we continue, we’d like to thank Games Workshop for providing us with a preview copy of the book for review purposes.

The Fall of Cadia and the Eye of Terror

The book starts off with a broad overview of the Traitor Legions of Chaos, before narrowing it's focus to the Iron Warriors. It does this through a discussion of the Fall of Cadia and the Eye of Terror.

Within the Eye of Terror many of the Traitor Legions have forged new homeworlds. The Word Bearers, following the destruction of the Infidus Imperator during the Horus Heresy, have taken a world the survivors of that doomed warship fled to as their new homeworld Sicarus. This world has skies of "fire and blood," and is the dark mirror of an Imperial Shrine World. The two largest dread temple complexes on the planet are the Basilica of the Word (which is the biggest and where the Dark Council that rules the Word Bearers meet) and the Templum Inficio (where Lorgar is meditating). The only place on the planet free of construction is the Corpse Plains, where the bodies of Dark Apostles are buried. Word Bearers who have screwed up are forced to wander the Corpse Plains until they are driven mad by the tortured spirits floating around.

The Night Lords have the world of Narakyr, which was located deep within the Eye of Terror but forced into realspace after the Fall of Cadia. The planet is ruled by the Flensemaster Xavrik from his fortress the Vylespar. There, flayed prisoners are kept alive by malign magicks and used as banners. The "ramshackle city" of Skadrik Landing (a former Kin vessel) is where the mortal populace lives, and it is a wretched hive of scum and villainy. The Night Lords use this as a recruiting ground, and generally use the planet as kind of a flying Pirate Ship.

The Black Legion maintains its primary shipyard and staging base in the Pyris Nebula, on the shattered world of Basitar. It is a world of many a dark quest for those from outside the Black Legion, with trials of unimaginable cruelty and deprivation in order to reach the center. If they pass these trials (defeating Daemonic Champions, obtaining cursed relics, killing loved ones, and kicking puppies), they get to join the Black Legion.

Following the Fall of Cadia and the destruction of the Necron Noctlith Pylons on the surface, the last barrier holding the Eye of Terror in check collapsed, and the Warp rift expanded to split the galaxy in twain. The Cicatrix Maledictum was the greatest known Warp storm in the history of the Imperium (eclipsing that of the Ruinstorm), and incorporated the Eye of Terror into it.

The Cadian Gate, the one area of Realspace leading into or out of the Eye of Terror, was swamped by the Warp.

Many bastions within the Cadian sphere were swallowed whole, and others shattered beyond repair. We get a listing of the various star systems within the Cadian Gate: Cadia itself, Agripinna, Belis Corona, Gudrun, and Chinchare. And these worlds were besieged: Abaddon dispatched Lord Iordax Quan to pacify the Cadian System, while the Night Lords rampaged through the Sentinel Worlds, flaying entire planetary populations. The Thousand Sons and Death Guard infected and changed many other worlds.

It's in this section of the book that we have communiques from the various Traitor Legions. We see a Night Lord's note, which is written in flowing script and purple-y prose about how Utolian was butchered. This contrasts with the blunt warnings of the Iron Warriors or the gleeful prose of the Emperor's Children. The missives from the Word Bearers are suitably baroque and grotesquely gothic.

The Iron Warriors, Since the Scouring

We don't know what the Fourth Legion was really doing during the Scouring yet, bar Sebastis IV. During the Siege of Terra, Perturabo and most of the Iron Warriors left Terra out of disgust and annoyance with Horus's use of Daemons. The Scouring series, of which one book has been released, will prominently feature the Iron Warriors. All we have in the currently existing lore is a reference from Guilliman to Perturabo’s ill-fated “Empire of Iron”. What we do know is that after crushing the Imperial Fists in the Iron Cage at Sebastis IV, Perturabo ascended to Daemonhood and the Iron Warriors retreated into the Eye of Terror.

Iron Warriors 30k HH Sockbert

The Iron Warriors have taken the world of Medrengard as their new homeworld following the Siege (and presumably, the destruction) of Olympia. The world of the Dead Sky, Black Sun is covered in factories and fortresses. These fortresses are massive, many serving as their own spaceports. Perturabo's fortress is the biggest and scariest citadel, called the Kolasikon, which arises "from an onyx isle amidst a lake of molten lava." Into this tower pours information scoured through all manner of artifice, magic, and intelligence. The wastes of the world feature "all manner of monstrous creatures and tortured constructs" that haunt the wilds as a result of the Iron Warriors' macabre experimentations, formed of twisted flesh and metal and wracked with spiritual and physical pain.

The Fourth Legion, as an organized body, remains comparatively intact even in the 41st Millennium. They still use the Grand Company organization, though some Grand Companies are larger than others. The children in the Warzones they capture are taken to Medrengard for induction into the Legion following "a series of physical and psychological ordeals designed to push them to their limits and determine their suitability". They still have relatively stable gene-seed, though they are not above raiding Imperial facilities to obtain more of it. They acknowledge, but do not formally worship, the Chaos Gods. Given their post-Heresy resupply situation, they tend to prefer to make use of the Lost and the Damned (cultists, prisoners of war, or Traitor Guard) for activities such as minefield clearing, human wave attacks, and otherwise trying to swarm the enemy.

For the intervening ten thousand years, during Abaddon's Black Crusades, the Apostacy of Blood, the Marcharian Crusade, and more, Perturabo has been observing, calculating, and running simulations. He has previously been content to let his sons run roughshod over the galaxy: While some of his Warsmith Sons have struck out on their own, such as Warsmith Czagra (who was given an Ark of Omen by Abaddon, which he is currently joyriding through Imperium Nihilus and fighting Blood Angels and Tyranids), Warsmith Baldarun (currently waging war on the Greater Thurian Leageue), Warsmith Barbian Falk (waging the Siege of Hydra Cordantus in order to ascend to Daemonhood).

Perturabo Primarch Iron Warriors 30k HH Credit: Magos Sockbert

Now, with the Fall of Cadia, the final variable has been analyzed and the equation solved. Pacts have been made with Vashtorr the Arkifane and the Alpha Legion for crucial Imperial codes and Inquisitorial cyphers. It is time for the Lord of Iron’s plans to unfold.

Perturabo's personality remains unchanged from the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy: He's still a resentful jerk. But ever since his ascension to Daemon Prince, his personal toxicity is comparable to "the open heart of an atomic reactor." When he deigns to speak (and apparently, mortals have both heard him and survived to tell the tale!), one can hear an apocalyptic battle in progress.

Perturabo views the Imperium itself as a single galactic fortress, and accordingly he treats entire systems as mere chips in a crumbling wall. He views the fall of Cadia as the first meaningful breach in the Imperium's outer walls, and his forces are attacking precisely calculated weak points in order to widen the breach. He disagrees with Abaddon's plans to swiftly move towards Terra; such a plan at this juncture would be doomed to failure. Instead, Perturabo plans to build his own fortress empire in realspace in order to serve as an expanding base in which to eventually conquer the Imperium. "He envisions entire systems quarried to rubble to build ramparts so immense they stretch through the veil of the warp itself to span the colossal gulfs between the stars". The Noclith menhirs that the Iron Warriors raise will corrupt the space within Perturabo's control so that Daemon Princes and Primarchs may walk freely amongst them. Eventually, this empire will expand to the heliopause of the Sol System, and Perturabo's victory will be complete.

Who Is Kravek Morne?

Credit: Robert "TheChirurgeon" Jones

Kravek Morne, the Architect of Ruin is the villain protagonist of Reign of Iron, where he rules as the Warsmith of the 17th Grand Company.

He is almost 2,000 years old, and has been a Warsmith for 75% of that time. He wears a suit of modified Cataphractii Terminator Armor called the Iron Mantle, fitted with additional systems and weaponized mechatendrils. He has obtained an archaeotech power pack to form the basis of his homemade thunder hammer, the Last Argument. Morne is not subtle, but he is no Khornate brute; he is gifted in siegecraft, both defending and attacking, and within that gift is also unbridled aggression. Perturabo has tasked Morne with the conquest of Forge World Agripinna.

Forge World Agripinaa

Stygies VIII and Agripinaa Skitarii - Credit Beanith

But even as the Iron Warriors make their move, the Imperium is not sitting idly by. The Forge World of Agripinaa, long the source of Cadia's weapons, continues to consume entire worlds to forge weapons of war. While the system is supposed to have a Hive World, the entire population has been drafted to serve in Agripinaa's forges or impressed into the Skitarii Legions. Many refugees from Cadia have found a home within the Agripinaa system, because they need more workers, Skitarii (for those who agree to work for Agripinaa), and Kataphrons (for those who don't agree to work for Agripinaa).

Leading Agripinaa's battleclades is Thulia Ghuld, Archamgos Terminus, the Securitor of Olympus. As a member of the Ordo Reductor, she worships the Omnissiah as the Avatar of Destruction and is very good at destroying things. She replaced every organic part of her body possible and replaced it with a war machine: weapons, armor, strategic analysis backups.

Source: Warhammer Community

Belisarius Cawl thinks she's bloodthirsty psychopath. Ghuld does not really dispute this characterization, she simply believes it's necessary to be a bloodthirsty psychopath. The Skitarii love her, and the Martian Priesthood is not thrilled with this. They are also not thrilled with the fact that "she has an unfortunate habit of blowing up parts of other Tech-Magos' domains while conducting weapons tests, and then flatly refusing to apologize or make reparations while citing the holy nature of her works." However, the Fabricator General entrusts her with Martian armies and technology as long as she leaves Mars and goes fight the foes of the Omnissiah.

We also get a couple of pages discussing Knights Destrider and the Bellatus class; "surely amongst the swiftest and most graceful". House Taranis has a renowned lance of three Destriders, piloted by the triplet daughters of Archduchess Soletia.

The War for Forge World Agripinaa

"The time has come. We have borne insults and suffered fools for long enough. I have laid my plans for the Infinite Citadel, perfected the rituals and drawn out the schema. Nothing now can stop it's raising"

-Perturabo

Dispatched to Agripinaa, Warsmith Morne was granted command of two other Grand Companies, some lances of Chaos Knights, oodles of Traitor Guard (my favorite of which is the 9th Neverguard), a "functionally inexhaustible" amount of untrained mortal schmucks, and 20 Titans. Perturabo also noted that he had struck a deal with Vashtorr the Arkifane to help Morne out, as long as he did not have to break his deal with Abaddon.

Accordingly, Vashtorr did not help Morne out in his first major battle: Conquering Cadia. Abaddon had entrusted the pillaging of the planet to Iordax Quan, a Son of Horus and veteran of the Siege of Terra. That did not stop Warsmith Morne from conquering Cadia out from under the Warmaster. Morne sent his mortal cannon fodder to clog Quan's guns, and Quan responded by calling forth a warp storm at the Iron Warriors. Morne had secreted several ships into the system earlier, and snuck several squads of Iron Warriors Havocs onto dread Cadia. They were able to hunt down and slaughter the Black Legionaries. Eventually Morne boarded Quan's fortress and smashed his head off with his Thunderhammer, claiming Cadia for the Black Legion.

Fresh off his victory over the Black Legion, Morne and his armies waltzed over to the Neo-Cadian stronghold of Toros Tertium. Toros Tertium had survived invasions from the World Eaters and Alpha Legions, and even now Ursula Creed had arrived to lead the reconstituted and refitted Cadian 8th in their defense of the world. Creed and Tertium's Governor sent out a call for aid, and then Warsmith Morne began his siege. Morne did not need to win the siege, just keep the Cadians busy.

Lord Castellan Ursala Creed. Credit: Scott Horras "Heresy"

The Cadian 8th were legends and led by a legendary commander, but the Iron Warriors had numbers and they were still Astartes with significant experience, and they quickly took control of the Tertium's orbital fortresses. But Creed's surface defenses smashed the Iron Warriors orbital assets and initial ground beachheads, and thus earned her Morne's grudging respect. The Iron Warriors kept coming, threatening to overwhelm the Neo-Cadians. The planetary citadels were under direct threat, and Traitor Titans were landing. All seemed lost, until Morne realized another wall stood before him: the Sons of Rogal Dorn, clad in both yellow and black. Darnath Lysander had arrived to drop the hammer on Morne. Morne's goals of besieging Tertium were accomplished, so he bailed and left another lesser Warsmith in charge of the siege.

Black Templars vs Iron Warriors. Credit: SRM and Kriegsie

Morne then arrived in the sector closest to Agripiniaa. With profane rituals and mass sacrifice, he was able to receive blessings from the Chaos Gods to shut down the Warp tides to Agripiniaa, preventing them from receiving resupply or leaving to go fight alongside the Imperium elsewhere. Meanwhile, Perturabo had sent Morne reinforcements based out of two Grand Companies and more mortal schmucks. With this host, Morne began besieging three outlying systems that would cut Agripiniaa off.

However, Archmagos Ghuld was prepared. In addition to her mighty hosts of Skitarri, Imperial warships both Naval and Astartes arrived in system, led by Iron Father Caanok Var. Thuld made her own calculations, and took a huge chunk of the Agripiniaa defense to counterattack one of the outlying worlds Morne was besieging. This would keep Agripiniaa's supply lines open or draw Morne's invasion forces. An apocalyptic battle had begun on Olaedros Delphos!

Eventually, Morne and Thuld met in single combat in the shadow of clashing Titans. Thuld was the pinnacle of cybernetic warfare, but Morne was a Warsmith of the Iron Warriors with some of the mightiest wargear in the galaxy. He would have slaim the Archmagos Terminus, but the Archmagos Terminus has something that an Iron Warrior does not have or understand:

A friend! Caanok Var and his veterans came to Thuld's defense, letting her escape for repairs. Everyone else realized that one of the dueling Imperial Titans from Legio Invigilata was about to go boom, and so ran away. Morne and his Land Raider survived, and he will see the siege completed. On all fronts - Cadia, Toros Tertium, and Agripinaa - the plans of Perturabo proceed, though the Agripinaa Siege remained "fluid".

There is only one person in the galaxy who is aware as to just how dangerous Perturabo’s plans are: Eldrad Ulthran. Casting his runes, Eldrad foresees a cataclysm that the universe cannot afford. It will be up to him and Craftworld Ulthewe to stop the Iron Warriors, and the cost will be bloody.

Eldrad Ulthran in an Imperial ruin

Eldrad Ulthran by Corrode

Final Thoughts

I have more than a few thoughts on this relatively short book.

First, to a major extent "Reign of Iron" feels like an adaptation of Graham McNeill's seminal 40K novel "Storm of Iron". Kravek Morne feels like a combination of the two main Iron Warriors characters, Forrix the Terminator Captain with the personality of Honsu, an ambitious post-Heresy Iron Warriors captain. Perturabo serves a similar purpose to the greater-scope villain of "Storm of Iron", Warsmith Barbian Falk: he has a plan, and the Iron Warriors Captains only have guesses as to what he's doing.
This book does not continue the Ordo Astartes plot from the previous books. I will note that the Adepticon 2026 Preview introduced a new character, Inquisitor Kroyle, who may be the mysterious Inquisitor K from the previous books.
The battles in this book seem tailor-made for an Apocalypse Battle between Norman and Rob (Iron Warriors and Chaos Knights) versus Pendulin and Condit (Mechanicus and Iron Hands), but given the quality of the Apocalypse rules this seems like a battle that will live in imagination and not the actual tabletop.

Photo Credit: Kevin Stillman. Hard Work Credit: Craig Sniffen, J.D. Reynolds, Andrew Haywood. Expression Credit: John Condit, Ryan Collins

My favorite part of the book is the missives and communiques from the Traitor Legions after the Fall of Cadia. They’re all differently written, reflecting the differing personalities and goals of the Traitor Legions of Chaos. My reaction upon reading them was to ask Rob how to use Flawless Blades in a Night Lords army. He says as Chosen or Possessed.

Next stop on our galactic tour: Armageddon!

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Tags: Iron Warriors | lore review | The Lore Explainer | reign of iron