Tonight’s 40k History: The Battle of Phall

The Battle of Phall was a major void engagement that took place following the start of the Horus Heresy in the early 31st Millennium with the Istvaan III Atrocity, between the entirety of the Iron Warriors Legion’s fleet and a formidable Imperial Fists Legion Retribution Fleet. At the command of the Warmaster Horus, Perturabo, Primarch of the Iron Warriors Legion, was sent to halt an encroaching Imperial Fists fleet that had originally been sent to Istvaan III by Rogal Dorn to reinforce the beleaguered Loyalists trapped on that world. The Traitors could not allow such a strong complement of Astartes to infiltrate their controlled area of space, for they would’ve seriously disrupted preparations for the Traitors’ attack on Terra. Commanding the entirety of his Legion’s war fleet, Perturabo led his warships in a sudden and devastating attack upon the Imperial Fists fleet in the nearby Phall System where the Loyalists had massed. Ultimately Perturabo failed in his attempt to annihilate the entirety of the Loyalist fleet, due to the vigilance and foresight of Captain Alexis Polux, the commander of the Imperial Fists Retribution Fleet, who had kept the warships under his command at a high state of combat-readiness. Though they sustained significant damage, Captain Polux was able to launch a successful counterattack against the Iron Warriors’ fleet and inflict significant damage as well as destroy or disable multiple capital ships. When the Retribution Fleet’s Astropaths finally managed to make contact with Terra, they received a direct order from Rogal Dorn recalling the Retribution Fleet to Terra to prepare the defences of the Imperial Palace. Launching a bold counter-strike, the Imperial Fists drove off the embattled Traitor fleet and managed to break orbit and manoeuvre to their jump points, where they entered the Warp and made for Terra to prepare for the Traitors’ coming assault upon the homeworld of Mankind.