Event · M31

Battle of Yarant

The Battle of Yarant, also known as the Wolf Cull, was a Horus Heresy engagement in 012.M31 in which Leman Russ’s wounded Space Wolves were besieged by traitor forces under First Captain Ezekyle Abaddon. It was fought in the Yarant system of Segmentum Solar. Maps and published battle accounts place the principal fighting on Yarant III, although some charts designate the same world Yarant II. The engagement is among the gravest episodes of the Space Wolves’ Heresy theatre, leaving Russ’s Legion nearly destroyed. After narrowly avoiding destruction at the Alaxxes Nebula, Russ had reached Terra, then left again to strike Horus, and was wounded by the Warmaster at the Battle of Trisolian. With Russ comatose, Abaddon pursued the depleted Space Wolves to Yarant and besieged them with a combined traitor force of Sons of Horus, Alpha Legion, World Eaters, Thousand Sons and traitor Imperial Army. Driven from orbit, remnants of the Space Wolves fleet fled to the outer reaches of the system. The composition of the traitor host beyond Abaddon’s command, the strength of the forces on each side, and the exact tactical course of the siege are not fully established, and accounts differ on finer detail. Corvus Corax, having assembled the remains of the Raven Guard, learned of the Wolves’ plight through a vision reported by Marcus Valerius and brought his Legion into the Yarant system. Linking with fleet remnants under Bjorn, Corax broke the traitor blockade and reached the besieged Space Wolves on Yarant III. There he found Russ, who briefly awoke to greet him and to give Bjorn the Spear of Russ. The Space Wolves at first refused retreat; Corax and Bjorn began a suicidal charge, then Corax changed course and persuaded Bjorn to evacuate. The Loyalists left Yarant; Russ remained unconscious and healed later on Deliverance. A closely related entry, the Stand at Yarant, records Space Wolves companies holding ground against sustained pressure and is not reliably reconciled with every detail of this account. Yarant should not be confused with an earlier Crusade-era episode at the same world in which the IX Legion, later the Blood Angels, received a censure for eating prisoners beneath the walls; that episode is a distinct event separated from the Wolf Cull by the course of the Great Crusade.

See where Battle of Yarant occurred on the galactic map during the Horus Heresy.

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