The Dvergyr Conflict

The Dvergyr Conflict was a series of skirmishes and territorial clashes between the military forces of the Imperium and the Dvergyr Unified Worlds in the galactic center over the course of they year 844.M30. After 6 months spent attempting to negotiate peaceful integration into the Imperium, imperial diplomats changed tack and issued more aggressive requests to the abhuman star empire. As a result, the Dvergyr began strengthening worlds that lay on the edges of their territory, much to the growing displeasure of the primarchs and Imperial military commanders.

Deciding that enough time had been wasted by the stubborn abhumans, The Emperor tasked the primarch Varkas with helming  a show of force by unleashing 2 full legions of astartes against the western borders of the Dvergyr territories with elements of 3 others. The Outriders led the campaign while accompanied with elements of the Imperial Hammers, Death Hounds, Desolators and the full strength of the Gorewalkers.

The Fighting lasted barely 2 months, with the Desolators burning several Dvergyr Cityholds out of existance with excessive use of orbital weapons, even exposing the border stronghold world of Khalthiod to swathes of nuclear fire when the defences refused to break. The Imperial Hammers broke appart resilient defences with newly gifted siege engines from the primarch of the 14th legion, cracking open even the most stubborn defences with enough time. The 11th and 18th legions fought side by side for the entire conflict, with the 11th being the only legion capable of standing shoulder to shoulder with the gorewalkers in the excessive melee Dvergyr tunnel fighting forced them into, only just able to keep the 18th legion under control. It was during the Dvergyr conflict that the MK2 'Iron' Subpattern of armour was introduced due to demands from both the 11th and 18th, with a higher demand for frontal protection in the confines below the surface of Dvergyr Cityholds. Though doing their best, the 11th failed to fully restrain the warlust of the 18th legion and on several occasions the gorewalkers committed acts of genocide on a number of smaller dvergyr holds, leaving the Dvergyr people to both fear and hate the legion for nearly a century to follow.

The 19th legion led by Varkas Almahraqa led a vast number of interference actions and supply route raids to stop the Dvergyr from reinforcing their worlds, Varkas refused to micromanage the legions under his command but gave general instructions of advance and deployment to his forces, committing them only into places that would cause the greatest shock to the Dvergyr military. Within 2 months of shocking defeat at the hands of the legions, the Dvergyr finally agreed to a ceasefire and reopened negotiation with Imperial diplomats.