"Thirteen times shall the Traitor King go forth. In the End Times the iron fortress shall be cast down. Its walls breached and its Gate forced open. Those that dwell beyond shall spill through it. The air shall burn and the ground shall melt, The Daemon shall lie down with the machine, Brother shall slay brother with fire and sword. And the sky-wound shall pour its malice forth. The Eye shall stare unblinking at its prize, and the Traitor King shall cross the bridge of stars. He shall return to finish the Warmonger's red work, Upon holy soil shall the fate of man be decided."

— The Liber Malefact

The Eye of Terror Campaign (3rd Edition) was used by Games Workshop as the setting for their 2003 worldwide Warhammer 40,000 campaign. The campaign itself represented Abaddon the Despoiler's 13th Black Crusade against the Imperium of Man in 999.M41, which was focused primarily on the attempt by the united Forces of Chaos to break through the Cadian Gate.

These events were ultimately retconned in the 2017 Gathering Storm sourcebooks for the 7th Edition of Warhammer 40,000 to produce a new outcome for the 13th Black Crusade that comported with the new background story that led to the birth of the Great Rift.





Contents show]

The Concept

In concept, the Eye of Terror campaign was created to be a monstrous strategy game with an unguessable number of players. By posting results from their tabletop games on the Eye of Terror website, players could make infinitesimal moves' on the Eye of Terror map, choosing where to make a difference in the overall picture. The big question was always whether the players themselves could organise their efforts in ways to make a difference to the overall map. In the Armageddon Worldwide Campaign the games played virtually cancelled each other out because there was no room for strategies. The campaign was fought at a tactical level and across the thousands of games played overall army balance meant that there was seldom more than a 10% swing in either direction. Interestingly the Imperial fleet was the real star of that campaign, consistently outperforming the Orks.

So, the idea for Eye of Terror was to draw up a map and rules where tactical games allowed strategic moves. Because the individual moves would be tiny on such a vast scale (Whole worlds at war with millions fighting) it would mean that the overall strategy would be generated by the players' decisions en masse. To facilitate this Games Workshop created war rooms on the websites for the two sides' players to communicate and work on their strategies. They made up a set of event cards to distribute to individual players to allow them to make a difference in the fighting and create narrative ideas. Games Workshop also coordinated with the indefatigable GW Events and Retail Staff members so they could create an event packed with battles all over the globe. They met with clubs and talked about what was coming up in White Dwarf Magazine, at gaming conventions and on the net. They finalised the mechanics of the campaign for the website and then awaited the big day.

Campaign Events

Games Workshop felt it was important to introduce some pre-programmed events into the campaign which would give it a sense of unfolding drama and engage the players throughout its duration. These allowed them to sketch out a broad framework of themes for the course of the campaign in narrative terms. So, over eight weeks the campaign moved from a period of insurrections, raids and sabotage up to a devastating full-scale Chaos invasion, the commitment of Imperial reinforcements, intervention of the Eldar and on to a final, suitably apocalyptic showdown with warp storms cutting off access to all but the key strategic areas. In addition to the programmed events there were wild cards too. Some of these were dictated by the turn of events within the campaign. For example Games Workshop decided that the loss of Imperial control on certain worlds might ultimately lead to their destruction -- the Imperials invoking Exterminatus in order to stop the Chaos taint spreading further. Within this broader framework we then used the player event cards to flesh out individual acts of bravery or infamy, random chance and cruel fate.

Execution

Within the first day it was clear that this campaign was going to bigger than anticipated (many within Games Workshop guessed at Armageddon +50%. They were far off the mark). The initial inroads of Chaos were disappointing to say the least. Over the first week their efforts were rebuffed and in some sectors the forces of Order went over to the offensive, lightening their grip on a few out-of-the-way systems. Over the following pages you can find accounts of the course of the campaign in all the individual warzones. Many recall vividly the wails of dismay in the Disorder war room that first week. Secretly, creators of the campaign, such as Andy Chambers, blamed himself in some measure as he'd used the planet of Nemesis Tessera as an example of being easy to influence in several presentations. The hordes of Chaos duly showed up there and got smacked down in no uncertain terms. What Games Workshop had dreaded -- an easy victory for the more numerous players of the forces of Order -- was in the offing.

By the second week there was a change in the wind. The Imperium continued to secure its control in some places but in the major sectors Chaos attacks were starting to take their toll. After the virtual stasis of the initial week the daily shifts were frightening to behold. Instead of concentrating their results in slugging matches with their Imperial opponents the Chaos players had begun to batter at worlds for a day and then move on, leaving their foes to pick up the pieces. Using just this tactic the forces of Disorder succeeded in capturing the prison planet of St. Josmane's Hope. An Imperial counter-attack developed but proved hopeless, the forces of Order had been caught flat-tooted and couldn't muster the strength they needed to make progress.

On the internal Eye of Terror web group Games Workshop contemplated the situation. From a background perspective they felt the Imperium would sacrifice the planet rather than lose it to the forces of Disorder, it would also mark the victory of the Chaos players, so that come what may, they had made a milestone mark (unplanned as it was) in the narrative of the Eye of Terror campaign. So it was one Friday night that Games Workshop gave the order to destroy St. Josmane's Hope, a fictional world in a giant fictional game with no actual pieces.

Factions

It emerged that the players had got organised. The forces of Disorder had formed several factions advised by strategists from different think tanks, most notably the Triad and the Planet Killer group. Repeated efforts by the forces of Order to form a coherent strategy failed to get the same results. Until the last weeks of the campaign the forces of Order stayed one jump behind and unable to respond to the spreading tide of Disorder. To Games Workshop's delight the Tyranids and Orks each worked as discrete factions and hammered at their own chosen targets, Belis Corona and Scarus.

A side effect of this was that the Tau were left to their own devices and expanded steadily through the whole campaign. Some within Games Workshop had believed that doing battle with the Tau would absorb more of the Ork and Tyranid players' attentions during a campaign mostly about the Imperium and Eldar against Chaos. Likewise, the Dark Eldar, Dark Angels and even individual Chaos legions worked together for common goals, often pursuing their own agenda in defiance of any overall plan. It was a joy to behold.

All too quickly the end was in sight. With two weeks to go the forces of Order finally gained some cohesion and started fighting back more effectively. Whereas many of the Imperium's victories had been used to maintain their superiority on a sector and system level, they were getting murdered on the planets. With a united command structure they managed to pull back from the brink and stop the continual erosion of their positions they had suffered for weeks.

At the last the combined efforts of the forces of Order kept Abaddon from his ultimate goal of controlling the Cadian System but, in the process, the Cadian Gate had been ravaged. Many bastions had fallen to the forces of Chaos and may never be recovered. The warp storms surrounding the Eye have expanded to engulf whole systems. The fighting on others could continue for decades to come. With the worlds captured the forces of Disorder are now positioned to launch attacks into more Imperial worlds. The Cadian Gate may not be open to the forces of Chaos, but their minions are over the walls in unprecedented numbers.

The campaign has been massive in scale and a wonderful example of what can be achieved today. Less than a decade earlier, Jervis Johnson ran Ichar IV, Games Workshop's first mega-campaign which used results from across the globe to determine its results. The Eye of Terror set a new record for sheer "bigness" and, as with its predecessors, would form a cornerstone of the background of the Warhammer 40,000 universe in the years to come. For all those who have taken part and made it possible Games Workshop extended both heartfelt gratitude and congratulations on making something so truly gargantuan possible.

A Campaign Codex for the 3rd Edition of the Warhammer 40,000 tabletop game was released by Games Workshop, containing background information on the Eye of Terror and the events leading up to the 13th Black Crusade. Four new supplemental army lists were presented; the Space Wolves Thirteenth Company, the Cadian Shock Troops, the Lost and the Damned, and the Craftworld Ulthwé Strike Force. The Codex also marked the first appearance of Ursarkar E. Creed as a playable special character.

Outcome

The campaign ran for eight weeks, in which more than 40,000 players registered to submit over a quarter of a million games results to the campaign website. The conclusion of the campaign resulted in a minor victory for Chaos. The line was held in many places but on the strategic level the Disorder players were considered to have consistently out-fought and out-maneuvered their opponents, and held over half of Cadia itself. The Forces of Chaos made slow but somewhat steady progress on many fronts, yet could not claim a decisive victory, especially when a "backstage" plan to gain a foothold in the Eldar Webway system turned into a complete and total failure. In addition, Abaddon suffered severe losses to his fleet in the Crusade, which allowed the forces of Order to bottle up the Chaos forces on Cadia itself, preventing them from launching a full invasion of the Imperium.

The campaign was hard-fought and senior Games Workshop executives have commented that the events of the campaign will provide a foundation for the rich background lore of the Warhammer 40,000 universe for years to come.

Forces of Order

Senior Command

Chapters of the Adeptus Astartes

Companies

Adepta Sororitas

Orders Majoris

Orders Minoris

Order of the Divine Lamentation

Order of the Ermine Mantle - 3 Missions

- 3 Missions Order of the Maurdlin Countenance

Order of the Silver Lily

Order of the Sublime Adoration

Order of the Wounded Heart - 1 Commandery

Imperial Guard

Notable Regiments

Individual Regiments

Ordo Malleus

Inquisitorial Task Forces - CLASSIFIED

- Grey Knights - CLASSIFIED

- Inquisitorial Storm Troopers Nemesis Tesera - estimated 38 Companies Ocularis Terribus War Zone - CLASSIFIED



Departmento Munitorum

Engineer Corps - 18

- 18 Siege Auxilia Corps - 28 Counter-siege batteries

Officio Assassinorum

Agents - CLASSIFIED

Templars Psykologis

Disruption Squads - 37

- 37 Augur Teams - 6

Imperial Navy

Battlefleets

Battlefleet Cadia - 12 Battleships, 12 Cruiser Squadrons, 21 Escort Squadrons

- 12 Battleships, 12 Cruiser Squadrons, 21 Escort Squadrons Battlefleet Corona - 7 Battleships, 13 Cruiser Squadrons, 17 Escort Squadrons

- 7 Battleships, 13 Cruiser Squadrons, 17 Escort Squadrons Battlefleet Gothic

Battlefleet Scarus - 5 Battleships, 9 Cruiser Squadrons, 13 Escort Squadrons

- 5 Battleships, 9 Cruiser Squadrons, 13 Escort Squadrons Battlefleet Solar

Battlegroup Nemesis

Battle Group Imperatis

Bakka Sector Task Force

Vessels of Note

Estimated Fleet Assets

Front Line Battle Groups - 21

- 21 Rear Echelon Battle Groups - 36

- 36 Independent Strike Groups - 4

- 4 Space Marine Battle-Barges - estimated 21+

- estimated 21+ Space Marine Strike Cruisers - estimated 150+

- estimated 150+ Space Marine Escort Squadrons - estimated 200+

Adeptus Mechanicus

Collegia Titanica

Knights

Other Mechanicus Assets

Centurio Ordinatus - 4 Ordinatus

- 4 Ordinatus Skitarii - 87 Regiments

Forces of Disorder

Senior Command

Chaos Space Marine Legions

Renegade Chaos Space Marine Warbands

Major Traitor Guard Units

5th Columnus - Presence confirmed - Belis Corona

- Presence confirmed - Belis Corona 666th Regiment of Foot - Confirmed presence - Cadia

- Confirmed presence - Cadia Discilan Apostates - Unconfirmed

- Unconfirmed Haradni 13th

Jenen Ironclads - Major presence - Kromat System

- Major presence - Kromat System Sentrek Freemen

The Traitor 9th - Significant presence - Kantrael System

- Significant presence - Kantrael System Ubridius Light Infantry - Major presence - Cadian Sector

- Major presence - Cadian Sector Volscani Cataphracts - Active - Cadia

Estimated Mutant Hordes

The Anointed of Aq'si - 6 attacks confirmed - Belisar System

- 6 attacks confirmed - Belisar System The Shyis'slaa - Linked to cult uprisings - Albitern System

- Linked to cult uprisings - Albitern System The Stigmatus Convenant - Significant presence - Mackan System

- Significant presence - Mackan System The Unsanctified - Unconfirmed involvement - Bar-el System

Traitor Titan Legions

Chaos Fleet

Battlefleets

The Grand Fleet of Abaddon the Despoiler - 7 Battleships, 13 Heavy Cruisers, est. 23 Cruiser Squadrons, est. 30 Escort Squadrons

- 7 Battleships, 13 Heavy Cruisers, est. 23 Cruiser Squadrons, est. 30 Escort Squadrons The Grand Fleet of Kossolax the Foresworn - 1 Battleship, 3 Cruiser Squadrons, 8 Escort Squadrons

- 1 Battleship, 3 Cruiser Squadrons, 8 Escort Squadrons The Plague Fleet of Typhus - Terminus Est, 2 Battleships, 3 Heavy Cruisers, 5 Cruiser Squadrons, est. 12 Escort Squadrons

Notable Vessels

Fleet Assets

Battlefleets - est. 38

- est. 38 Blackstone Fortresses - 2

- 2 "Wolf Pack" Squadrons - est. 19

Other Forces

Major Characters

Abaddon the Despoiler

Though Abaddon's final goal of smashing through the Cadian Gate was ultimately unsuccessful, the advances made by his forces have gained him much more than was initially imagined. His retinue of Chosen, led by Devram Korda, the Tyrant of Sarora, returned to his side in the closing days of the war, bringing with him two individuals who had journeyed to the centre of the Eye of Terror. Together with the sorcerer Ygethmor the Deceiver, they presented Abaddon with the Heart of Chaos, a power that Zaraphiston, sorcerer of the Despoiler, had long claimed could not exist. It is known that Ygethmor now stands at Abaddon's right hand, while the tale of Zaraphiston remains a mystery.

Ahriman

Ahriman himself ripped open the walls of the Webway with information torn from the mind of Inquisitor Czevak. His plan to breach the fastness of the Black Library came dangerously close to fruition, but the combined forces of the mysterious Harlequins and the Ulthwé Strike Force held him from its gates. In a daring move, the Harlequinade of the Red Masque freed Inquisitor Czevak, though what they have since done with him is, at present, unknown: it is believed by Imperial Astropaths that he may be incarcerated by the Eldar within the Webway. Though his ultimate goal was thwarted, Ahriman's star has since risen in its ascendancy with his Daemonic Primarch, so perhaps some other, unguessable objective was achieved that remains to come to light.

Ursarkar E. Creed

No man, no Space Marine, fought harder to save Cadia. Although each Castellum levelled cut him deep, the faith of Ursarkar Creed was unshakeable. His victories could not easily be counted but the numbers of the Arch-enemy did not lessen whereas each defeat drained his strength. Creed was forced first to give ground to preserve his forces and then to abandon his favoured mobile defensive tactics in favour of defending fortified lines. His friend, Jarran Kell, was wounded defending him from yet another Chaos Champion eager to make a name and Creed was fatigued to the point of collapse when finally the momentum of the Chaos forces ran out. Cadia stood, but only just. The greatest fortress-world of the Imperium had been reduced to a blasted husk. It may have been a time of despair, but Creed sent out a message that was eventually relayed to every Cadian regiment wherever it was:

"Soldiers. I speak to you to tell you to keep faith with the God-Emperor. We have a sacred duty greater than any of us. We are Cadians, we bar the gate to hell; if it is breached, we will seal it. Wherever you are, recruit. Recruit and train. Seek out pious men and bring them under your colours. While the Shock Troops march toward Cadia hope remains. Know that we will never cease to fight while our world lies desecrated and burned. March on my soldiers, march on, till we are together again, tomorrow, on Cadia."

Maugan Ra

The immortal Phoenix Lord Maugan Ra took a vital role in deciding the fate of the Eldar over the course of the Thirteenth Black Crusade. Responsible for the creation of the Ulthwé Strike Forces, Maughan Ra and the elite Black Guardians fought across every sector by cunning use of the Webway. He ultimately led the Eldar to victory even in the heart of the Eye of Terror and, after repelling Dark Eldar raids on Xersia, fought alongside Creed against Abaddon's the Basilica Dufaux. It is believed by many Farseers that the reappearance of the shadowy Craftworld of Altansar and its ghost-like inhabitants was purely due to the iron determination of the Phoenix Lord to locate and redeem his once-lost brethren.

Logan Grimnar

A council of representatives from those chapters opposing Abaddon's Thirteenth Black Crusade elected the irascible Great Wolf of the Space Wolves Chapter as their nominal lead. His leadership in the campaign proved a decisive factor in many engagements, and he even ordered a Great Company under his command to stand beside a company of Dark Angels at Kasr Sonnen. The two forces putting aside their deep, mutual resentment to rout a force many times their own size. The incident proved that the two forces united presented a force many times more powerful than the sum of its parts, yet few believe the two chapters will be able to put aside their differences for good.

Typhus

Striding through the blackened ruins of the ravaged worlds of the Imperium, crushing the bones of the slain beneath his Terminator Armour and spreading the vilest afflictions of Nurgle, Typhus was the embodiment of terror, a cursed thing too terrible to name. His ship, the Terminus Est, and its supporting plague fleet were one of the largest Chaos battle groups remaining active throughout the war and allowed Typhus to terrorise warzone after warzone. It was on Ulthor in the Agripinaa System, that Typhus unleashed his greatest sorceries, exhibiting the favour in which he is held by Nurgle. The once verdant Agri-World was twisted and corrupted. The taint of the Herald devolved whatever life it found, rendering it down into a formless sea of putrescence trial wailed in unending torment. Seeing his handiwork Typhus took the nascent daemonworld for his own; a stronghold beyond the Gate from which he could bring terror to the Imperium at his leisure.

Cypher

The mysterious leader of me Fallen. Cypher has been hunted by the Dark Angels and their Successor Chapters for ten thousand years. Though it is not known whether Cypher was encountered directly during the war, unconfirmed reports suggest trial the chapter's Interrogator-Chaplains captured as many as eight Fallen during the battles around the Caliban system, more than have been captured in such a short period in many thousands of years. Further reports link Cypher to the mysterious Voice Of the Emperor, who, it is rumoured, was captured by the Dark Angels during the fighting, but whose cell was found empty upon the prison ships' return to the Tower of Angels.

Azrael

Azrael, the Supreme Grand Master of the Dark Angels was a notable absentee at the council of Chapter Masters met elected Grimnar their head. Azrael led the Dark Angels, and the so-called Unforgiven Chapters, according to his own inscrutable strategy. The only time he is known to have stood beside other Imperial forces was when he led a company of Dark Angels upon Xersia, where he joined with Lord Castellan Creed and his Cadian 8th to repel a force of Black Legionnaires from the world's High Basilica. Though the Despoiler succeeded in his sacrilegious mission to desecrate the high altar as part of some dedication to the Ruinous Powers that would guarantee the success of the Thirteenth Black Crusade. Azrael was instrumental in repelling the invaders, for a time at least.

Eldrad Ulthran

The Farseer Eldrad Ulthran, most gifted Eldar prophet found that the twisting forests of possibilities through which he walked at will were denied to him, blinding his exceptional scrying abilities. His one certainty was that darkness stood ready to engulf him and possibly even his homeworld. At the formation of the Ulthwé Strike Forces, Eldrad divided many parts of his consciousness into shimmering Waystones and, after many weeks of guiding his troops through the Webway, he was exhausted and spent when he was last seen by the Eldar of Ulthwé. He appointed a controversial member of the Seer Council as his successor before departing with his Warlock bodyguard on a desperate last quest, to rescue the soul of one of the legendary Talismans of Vaul before it turned the surface of Cadia into a boiling, incandescent sea.

Sources