Your Plan Was Flawed (Grimdark WIP with Spoilers) (Patreon)

Hello!

The Dorn diorama is here!  For each Primarch diorama, I try to make something that highlights an important part of their career.  So I was sorely tempted to have the Praetorian beat the absolute shit out of Fulgrim during the Siege of Terra because I'll take ever opportunity to drag that slithering meme through the mud.  Yet at the end of the day, that fight was pretty inconsequential since Fulgrim had all the cheat codes on and I've already taken a jab at Mr. Perfect this month.  But there was one event that arguably had a pretty major effect during the Horus Heresy and that was with his engagement with the Alpha Legion before the Siege of Terra.

So if you followed my stuff from the last Grimdark Month, you might have noticed Alpharius/Omegon and their Legion like to do all sorts of sneaky spy stuff.  Whether they admit it or not, the Alpha Legion have a certain smugness when dealing with outsiders because they are the best poker players among the Legions.  Yes, the 20th Legion are the best at misdirection and have an almost pathalogical need to play mind games with everybody they come across.  This is reflected in their interaction with Dorn one time, when three of the Alpha Legion decided to play the Grimdark version of 'Where's Waldo' with him.

This is where readers get to see an interesting insight about Dorn.  The 7th Legion Primarch is famously unimpressed with the Alpha Legion.  But it's not just because of their 'underhandedness' as many believe but because Dorn knows their playbook inside and out.  He even tells Alpharius straight to his face that his tricks don't work on him and that he knew which of the three was the real Alphrius before stepping into the room.  Plus Dorn gave pointers to Alpharius on improving the Alpha Legion approach which I thought was hilarious.

Many think Dorn is dull and unimaginative but those naysayers also seem to forget that he spends his time with Malcador almost 24/7.  You know, the Grandmaster of Assassins who actually taught Alpharius everything he knows?  So yes, just because the Praetorian doesn't like their tricks doesn't mean he hasn't devised a way to counter all of them.  Butting heads with the most conniving man in the galaxy (i.e. Grimdark Machiavelli) will rub off on you one way or the other.  Of course Alpharius brushes off Dorn's advice, thinking that a talking brick couldn't possibly teach the Alpha Legion anything.  And they probably had the same mindset going into the Horus Heresy when Omegon (or Alpharius depending on which conspiracy theory you buy into) along with the Alpha Legion are doing all their 4D chess moves in the Sol System.

Long story short, the Alpha Legion performs acts of murder and sabotage on a number of planets to distract the defenders from their ultimate goal.  That turned out to be Pluto which is the lynchpin of the Loyalists' surveillance network within the Sol System.  And it really looked like the Alpha Legion had managed to bamboozle everyone as usual.  But then the Phalanx shows up with a gravity well slingshot maneuver and Dorn gets the jump on the Alpha Legion 😲 (that's a tactical genius move that Creed would be proud of).  And at the climax of the battle, Alpharius was prepared to impale Dorn with the Pale Spear but the Praeorian anticipates the strike, taking it on his shoulder to pin Alpharius in place.  Then Dorn grabs the spear, slices through Omegon's wrists, impales him with his own spear then caves his skull in with Storm's Teeth. 😱

Which means that Dorn is the only Loyalist to get a confirmed Primarch kill during the Horus Heresy or as I like to call it, the Great Fratricide Jamboree.  The Alpha Legion don't have to eat humble pie very often but on this occasion they were left choking and gagging as they stumbled out of the Sol System.

The best part of it all?  Dorn doesn't even bother telling anyone.  He doesn't brag about it to Malcador or the Talons of the Emperor.  He just treats it as part of his job as Praetorian of Terra.  Yeah, leave the bragging to Fulgrim.  Oh wait, he can't because Mr. Perfect is too busy choking own his own blood from that aforementioned beatdown. 😈

So in case anybody is wondering, that Imperial Fist isn't just some random Space Marine I added to the diorama.  He is Archamus, captain of Dorn's Huscarl honour guard and the last of the original Imperial Fists.  His last moments were trying to defend Dorn as was his duty and is one of the finest Imperial Fists to serve the Praetorian.

Got some alternate skins for Dorn and the Legion of the Damned as well because at this point, it's practically a requirement for Grimdark stuff.  Added a more humorous version of Creed as well.

The Fantasy poll is still up.  I'll give a breakdown of next month's release after the final results are in.  Stay tuned!