THE BADAB WAR: The Complete Story in 25 mins! - 40k Archives

The Badab War is a complex tale - a civil war that spirals out of control and pulls in loads of different Astartes Chapters and Space Marine Strike Forces. In this video, I go through the story as it's presented in Warhammer 40,000: Imperial Armour, along with maps and illustrations to help us keep track of it!
Support the channel on Patreon for early access vids and other PERKS:
Patreon ► / arbitorian
Get your discount HOBBY FIX (and buy me toys in the process!!)
Firestorm Games ► www.firestormgames.co.uk/?aff...
Elsewhere on the internet:
Twitter ► / arbitorian
Instagram ► / arbitorian
Copyright: Unless noted in the video, all images © Games Workshop 1987-2022. Title music is 'Black Rainbows' by Karl Casey @WhiteBatAudio
#warhammer40k #40klore #tabletopgaming #tabletopgames #40karchives #warhammer #wargaming #roguetrader #badab #badabwar #oldhammer

[@siremilcrane]

One of my favorite lore snippets from the Badab war is when the inquisition tried to sideline the Salamanders from the final stages of the campaign, but the salamanders basically told them "We're a first founding chapter, piss off" and that was that

[@MrManfhis]

"Don't make me call my primarch"

[@ginganutjob]

Inquisition knows to not fuck with the first founding, lost wars to them several times. Even the Ultramarines have threatened inquisitors with war if they didn't back down and they're nerds

[@justinbruck9602]

I find the involvement of the Firehawks really funny since they disappear into the warp sometime after this, effectively leaving the Mantis Warriors protectorate completely abandoned post Badab war. Great job Imperium, yah really nailed that one.

[@tomfordgunningham465]

I like how there having a war and then a waaaaghhh just shows up

[@ArbitorIan]

Yeah, it's one of the interesting complications. As far as the Secessionists are concerned, even though there might be a load of Chapters coming to kill them, their job is STILL to protect the Maelstrom Zone.

[@Oldf0x]

W A A A A A G H !

[@thatlonewolfguy2878]

Orks were probably just like "OY WE WANTZ IN ON DA BIG FOIGHT! WAAAAAAAAAAAAGGHHH!"

[@area609joe2]

Wahhhh u talking bou?

[@pmc1727]

No one expects the Spanish Waaagh

[@bananaheals]

It's criminal how few subs you have. You're stuff is leagues better than other channels with over 100k subs

[@szymondabrowski6464]

He just started, he will get there

[@Marcicity]

Yep, the most popular ones really suck now, nothing but useless collabs, "here are my favourite other youtubers, I'm totally not advertising for them", low effort viewer painting feedback videos, videos about buying life size space marines where the crappy content is I think literally less than half the video with the rest being ads or patron crap and so forth.

[@Marcicity]

16 minutes of not content vs 8 minutes and 30 seconds of actual content for that midwinter minis one... I know its free content, but I'd prefer to not have my time wasted like that.

[@matdorey5578]

Just found this channel and I agree! Great content. I’m subbed.

[@lukemclellan2141]

I'm pleased to find someone go through the lore, quickly, concisely and with a natural n voice. Not interested in the storytelling types.

[@pendantblade6361]

Appreciate how chaos doesn't appear after all is settled. Damntl that's a lot of astartes.

[@ArbitorIan]

Yeah, essentially he turns to chaos BECAUSE of the war. I mean, unless the Tiger Claws are all Chaosified to start with.

[@MKmaki6094]

@@ArbitorIan Dag nabbin Alpha Legionnaires!

[@mapleflag6518]

@@ArbitorIan I prefer Huron becoming a space pirate.

[@jonsin7671]

well the astral claw did become the red corsairs

[@zephyranthes7856]

Huron was honestly the biggest loss the imperium incurred in the badab war. All that politicking at the back, as well as being assigned to keep hell at bay in the front will break any unnappreciated warrior/commander. Just look at Perty, carrying the heresy on his back, and Huron himself, being one of the most reasonable and capable Chaos warlords to ever exist.

[@Hjalmaror]

This is quickly becoming one of my favourite 40k channels. And don't worry Ian, you have far more to give with your graphics and your well done editing rather then those who're droning on over artwork ☺️

[@wiggy5209]

This isn't really much different, one is comprehensive, one is a base understanding ... One is meant for watching,one is meant for listening Only other difference is the dude plastering his face into the vid ..

[@charlieelding5909]

Good recap! There’s a couple bits you missed that I think add to the awesomeness of this story: 1. The end of the Tiger Claws came as they were reabsorbed into the Astral Claws. The Astral Claws withheld gene-seed. Both led to the Chapter ballooning until their numbers were almost equal to all the Loyalist Chapters set against them, which was partially why they were such a threat. They also used to harvest gene seed from enemies (as with the Salamanders) to create new Marines. 2. After Huron and his 200-300 survivors fled they ended up in the Maelstrom, which they’d spent centuries fighting against. They fell to Chaos and became the feared Red Corsairs of Huron Blackheart.

[@Powaup]

Wow Chaos finally got to Huron in the end

[@Lazrael32]

@@Powaup he was almost there by the end. feeling completely betrayed by the imperium and the emperor. that's why his fall is the best most believable one in 40k.

[@byro_]

Now I don't have to sit through days worth of "Slide shows" just to learn about the Badab war, listening to a certain individual drone over artwork while I fight to stay awake. This is truly a well-edited, concise, and easy-to-follow telling of the conflict. You have earned yourself a subscriber. Might I humbly ask for a similar video on the Siege of Vraks?

[@nostear8261]

It’s great when painting to listen to Arch but just sitting and watching? Why torture yourself?

[@Justin_Anvil]

@@nostear8261 no doubt, why torture ourselves over so much boring lore!!

[@proudsaiyanprince2651]

@@Justin_Anvil…then why engage in the hobby?

[@Justin_Anvil]

@@proudsaiyanprince2651 i was being drippingly sarcastic😊 to the first comment ….it probably sounded better in my head then written. I enjoy the slide shows as well as the animation; I’m a auditory person, so the voices and subject matter are more important to me then what’s on KZbin.

[@SynapsEase]

These just get better and better, it feels like you could have been doing this for years. I hope to see many more :)

[@ArbitorIan]

Thanks Aodhan!

[@kexxrulz]

Oh I love this visualization! The map really does help make it more easy to understand who's involved and doing what.

[@Powaup]

1000% agree the map helps tremendously

[@turkishdude983]

This is probably one of The most refreshing, and informative Warhammer 40k lore videos I have ever seen. The editing and visuals were a fantastic edition that sets it apart from all the glorified slide shows we usually get. Fantastic work pal!

[@mcstammer1755]

I do much prefer listening to you do lore, you’re not obnoxious and you don’t swear every 5 minutes to try and make humour, you’re straight to the point, I love it

[@TheGCRust]

A great summary. In depth where it needs to be, but doesnt bog itself down in minutiae like some WW2 documentary.

[@hewitttribe5536]

Honestly! Like I don't want to sift through like 3, 2 and a half hour videos just to find out who does what

[@dominichoward4833]

You are easily the best 40k KZbin by a wide margin... keep up the good work

[@davebowman9000]

Love the map you used! It gives such a better idea of how things were devolping as the War went on!

[@miramanga3694]

So mad you didn't get me to be the disembodied voice at the beginning! Another great viddy

[@ArbitorIan]

Oh I totally should have done that.

[@vernonjennings5921]

Fantastic video. Thanks for sharing!

[@danielbarter7872]

First time visiting your channel and really impressed. Great presentation style and the map/editing for this helped loads understanding the sectors and movement/withdrawals of the different chapters. Always loved the badab narrative and have always wanted a small force of Carchardons to play out some scenarios :) Keep up the great work!

[@gr8tbigtreehugger]

Thanks for this insightful video!

[@adrianmillard6598]

Superb quality, informative and entertaining. Thank you.

[@benjaminmay7707]

Another excellent video dude! This format would work really well for other major conflicts such as Armageddon or the Gothic War.

[@ArbitorIan]

Yeah, I think there's a base level of detail they need for it to work. Even in this one, I had to connect the dots quite a lot to make sense of where chapters were operating. Something like Vraks or even the Sabbat Crusade might have enough info out there. Not sure if Armageddon does??

[@MrZauberelefant]

@@ArbitorIan but...both wars had a lot of maps, major engagements and forces present covered?

[@omip168]

All your videos are top notch dude, thanks so much for making them.

[@Rookie40K]

Fantastic summary! I appreciate the work you put into this and sharing it for everyone to enjoy.

[@WoffBoot]

Great summary of a brilliant piece of lore. Hope your channel grows - it's good stuff.

[@danspencer1281]

This channel is great. I am working through your vids. I am sure the views and subs will come in due course. You do actually deserve them.

[@cornlepop1078]

I absolutely adored this, thank you

[@xe2594]

This is brilliant and so well done with the images

[@kindermord]

Good shooting Tex. That was excellent. I really enjoyed the companion video on how the conflict has changed in the game.

[@gabrielwalton4097]

Another really well made video, the battlemap showing troop movements was a brilliant idea, it worked really well!

[@allenthinkingpositively6271]

Great video! The badab war is my favorite 40k campaign and you did a bang up job!!

[@liamroche1295]

Just found your channel. Love how you present content.

[@therisingsuun]

Ian, you’ve got probably the perfect channel. The aesthetics, the intro, the background. All fantastic. Covering stuff well and concisely. With topics that haven’t been rehashed a million times. Cheers.

[@Tarumarugan]

I gotta say this is a good channel. I really like the atmospheric channels with epic music set to sweeping murals of giant battles, but sometimes it’s nice to just see someone who enjoys what they’re talking about, explaining it in a straightforward and succinct manner.

[@bendavy1816]

Great video, you are rapidly becoming my favourite GW channel.

[@theapostatejack8648]

That was a really well presented and visualized account.

[@Alex-re3qm]

Easily my favoirte Warhammer 40k Lore video and I'm rewatch them from loads of creators constantly PLEASE do more videos like this!

[@bradleycollings8176]

Randomly popped up, haven't played in years but lore talk pleases me. Subscription earned, great style.

[@gimlym6641]

Both the only 40K channel I subscribe to, and the only one with content I'd actually rewatch.

[@alexwalker8082]

This was genuinely fantastic, and incredibly engaging with the visualisations. I knew very little concrete about the Astral Claws and Badab prior, so it was great to see the escalation culminating in the inevitable tragedy of the Imperium turning on its own.

[@blahyoubleep]

Damn another good video! Nice job dude!

[@ThatJakers]

I’ve been in love with the Mantis Warriors, Lamentors, and Red Corsairs for years after reading the “On the Trail of a Tyrant” article series in white dwarf. Seeing all those chapters working together to make up for their hasty and desperate actions was inspiring. Seeing an army of multiple chapters on the ground together (before I had ever heard of Deathwatch) was such a cool concept for me.

[@dalgafaik966]

Great video. I really like the Badab War lore, so this is fantastic. Thank you!

[@christiansmith9306]

Out of all the lore tellers, I am subbed to many, you stand out for me. You tell the origins of the fluff. Subbed to you now.

[@theaggrokrag]

for real, this 40k content is some of the best I've seen. This is honestly the content I truly crave as a newbie to the story. well done sir.

[@marcwittkowski5146]

Great summary/ timeline of a tragic and really fascinating story.

[@AnthonySmith-gr8pf]

Love your videos! Good to have ppl out there that want to take the time to actually explain the important points of WH 40k history. Most only make mentions and allusions to these events. I know me enough to know that if I had the time and money, this would be all I would do. Your channel and a few other channels save me a bunch of time and money. Keep up the good work!

[@necrospoon]

I love your choice of '80s music. I love the shade you threw it you know who. After watching a few videos I already know about everything you're talking about after reading 200 plus novels. But F it, you deserve my sub.

[@joebest-rotheray493]

Great lore vids dude!

[@jonfisher4106]

Lovely stuff! Perfectly pitched

[@jelst]

this is THE most underated channel and THE most underated badab war video, HOLY SHIT it's good.

[@slavaukraini1991]

Best 40k channel on youtube, keep it up

[@adiebland9220]

Your voice is addictive, supported by haunting music, thank you for all your work, it is greatly appreciated.

[@tortenkopfminiatures7668]

Thanks for this relateable and concise roundup. I play a Howling Griffons army myself and always felt I should know a bit more about the Badab War, but never got around to reading up on it.

[@Dracobyte]

Great lore video as always!!

[@vincentrangel5655]

My good man.... smoking a phat blunt 🌲and listening to recap videos is amazing 🤘👌

[@ragnarokivae6136]

One of the best story's of the whole 40k universe! And Huron and his corsairs are some of the coolest CSM by far. I hope they will play a bigger role in the future of 40k

[@dopaminedrip]

I'm an absolute 40k snob and this content is spot on, thank you

[@spawnsen823]

Watched the intro for the 5th time or so right now. Love your humor, editing and I've seen maybe six-sevenish videos. Never heard or watched any WH40k content. _You_ make your videos great. Keep 'em comin mate! Guess I'll buy a WH book for my dad. Ya, I should do this. Any suggestions? €: Nevermind, Horus Heresy sounds like a good start.

[@simonkrummel5407]

Impressive work!

[@haelww1]

I would like this video twice if I could.

[@OmegaLittleBob]

See, a conflict like this is why it made sense to split the Legions into Chapters. If this conflict had involved even just 3 of the old legions, it would have shattered the Imperium once and for all.

[@Inquisdrknss]

Great video

[@peterixon8708]

Have to agree with William Harris below; Ian you do great work. You are seriously under-appreciated, but thanks for persevering mate.

[@WebsterMk4]

Your videos are easy to watch and follow (i tend to zone in and out of pther content creators) but im not intelligent enough of a lifeform to understand why. Thanks for sharing your stellar work 👍🏻

[@jacekdolinski7526]

Thank you for all of your work. Let Emperor bless you with energy to continue all the work. You are landing in my Top5 W40K Lore channels. Dune is just on plus (my first love since second game landed on my Amiga600).

Your retelling of the Badab War convinced me that it would make for a great series or movie that could easily interest people who are not from the WH40k fandom 😀. Thanks for your efforts !

[@asfdfdsaasfdafsd]

Great stuff.

[@Oldf0x]

Smashing vid Ian. I'm just re-entering 40k (after the 2nd ed starter box :O] ) and this is giving my model assembly sessions so much more atmosphere!

[@ArbitorIan]

Woop! I had that starter box. I really want an all-cardboard Dreadmob but they're quite hard to find nowadays!

[@frankpavelec2609]

This is very interesting information. I would like to get into 30k some time but it is costly. But the story is really fantastic. Great channel

[@glenipolus9731]

more this kind of videos pls. with maps and all

[@Lupercalia-6319]

We need more war map videos of 40k battles and more coverage over the battles in 30k but I love your channel

[@mbp1652]

Nicely done. I'll follow you

[@ThePrinceOfSpace413]

I love all the visuals ^_^

[@moschops2002]

This all kicked off when I was a teenager, and I painted all my plastic Marines (RTB01) as Minotaurs, but back then they were yellow & red stripes, not the retcon colours you have in the vid. Fast forward a few years, and I'm working for GW in the stores, and still painting Minotaurs, despite the tide of UM, BA, and DA miniatures coming out. I relented a few years later, and went for Imperial Fists.

[@edmundwhite9864]

Great videos! I love the Dickens reference with 'Inquisitor Jarndyce': the Badab War as Bleak House, anyone?

[@chaosisbaeos]

This is leagues better then most 40k videos out there. Possibly even leutin09 tier videos! Well done mate, can't wait to see this channel grow!

[@doctorbrown5957]

I like them both. I really enjoy my long in depth background videos, but sometimes I just want to know in 20 mins or less lol, especially for bigger conflicts. Arch does an awesome job at what he does but sometimes I don't want to watch a 20 Part Playlist where each video is 45mins+

[@arioalbertozulini381]

Did he actually diss Leutin at the beginning of the video?

[@eversobritish1335]

@@arioalbertozulini381 no it’s a diss at Arch

[@LukePrice007]

Love your work you should be working for GW on this stuff its exceptionally put together and articulated

[@usachev2010]

Immediately liked and subscribed upon seeing *your actual army

[@livingthepct1224]

This is motivating me to get back into my Marines I haven't touched in 15 years :p good stuff, sir

[@WarzoneMorloc]

Outstanding.

[@n.henzler50]

Way back when I ran my Black Crusade game, I had a story arc involving the hunt for "the lost treasure of Huron Blackheart." I had the players' Chaos Lord boss speak of Huron with some amount of reverence as he dumped exposition for them. Then I pulled the classic Scooby Doo "confederate bank notes" plot twist when they finally found the treasure. That might have ended the whole thing on a sour note.

[@eater_of_garbage_]

"The real treasure is friendship"

[@adrians2190]

You deserve sooooooooooox10^15 many more subscribers

[@ArbitorIan]

I agree! GET SHARING! (THANKS!)

[@thesmilyguyguy9799]

@@ArbitorIan abhumsns?

[@marcjohnson5991]

The intro is enough for a like. The rest of the content is excellent, just like your other content

[@greyt00th]

How does this video have only ~1k views?! Fantastic and entertaining, thanks.

[@ArbitorIan]

Thanks! Probably because I've only been on KZbin for six weeks, but feel free to share if you like it! :)

[@GUTHAY]

Great vid, really informative and more importantly, very watchable! Been playing 40k since rogue trader (my original space wolves were stone grey not blue!) but I've always loved the back round and lore, presented like this is a great way to experience all that 40k depth! 1 new subscriber!

[@Ivanlmao322]

This is some of the best 40k videos ive ever watched but i do wonder are you gonna make some videos about the lord of the rings because when i watch youre videos i get this middle-earth vibe.

[@dekai7992]

Amazing summary, very well done. Any chance you could give the Gothic War a similar treatment? Or the Macharian Crusade?

[@iandoddsblah]

For a future one, can you do a similar thing for the Fall of Cadia? All the sources (the campaign books, Cadia Stands etc) seem pretty disperate and it'd be cool to see it all pulled together with the perspectives of Creed, Cawl, Abandon, the Necrons etc.. and the boots on the ground Cadians! There also seems to be some gaps with mentions of the Blood Angels being there in the Devastation of Baal book and the 500,000 troops mustered and sent out in the Emperor's Legion book..but this not really seeming to fit in the timeline.

[@ArbitorIan]

That sounds like a really good idea for a video but also one I'm gonna have to do a lot of reading to tell properly. It's on the list! The nice thing about this one is that there are only two books to decode!!

[@lobsterharmony]

This is easily my favourite fluff of 40k, and i really like your summaries. I wish there was more interest in this campaign in Sweden, so i could motigare uselt to finish my Minotaurs.

[@ArbitorIan]

Thanks! I've been toying with the idea of doing it as a series of one-day or weekend events rather than a long campaign. I think that might be a more reliable way of keeping up momentum. The campaign is already split into phases - do a phase per day!

[@lobsterharmony]

@@ArbitorIan that sounds like a great way to do the campaign. If you do is love to see some form of yt-videos about that. Your tale of gamers-thing is looking great already, cant wait for more from that.

[@djinnglebells241]

12:00 I suspect the betrayal at Greif to be the Inquisition. The Red Scorpions are their lapdogs, and knowing how the Inquisition treat resources, I wouldn't be at all surprised to find one of them didn't much care if Ortis and the other dude died as long as they got Blackheart.

[@ethanchoate9566]

7:45 9:02 12:34 [they tried all they could] 15:50 [that was the spine braker] *lementer's disappear* No good deed goes unpunished

[@NotDr.Evil137]

Poor yellow Bois 😢

[@wisersamson9000]

I'm surprised you don't use more screen shots from battlefleet Gothic armada 2, that game has AMAZING models for ships of nearly every semi major faction: space marines with like 10 chapter options for colors, imperial navy, mechanicus with multiple forge worlds, orks with multiple waaaagggsss, chaos with all 4 gods, renegade navy with multiple faction liverys, Eldar with multiple craftworlds, necron with different tomb worlds( I think that's what they are called?), taught with different whatever their factions are called (this includes support and auxiliary ships from other factions they are allies with). It's honestly kinda crazy how much of the world they represented in a game with no ground forces.

[@JFRiley]

I’m two years behind but great job!

[@Armageddon2077]

Ian can you do this but for 'The Damocles Gulf Crusade' please? Just as I don't know much about it

[@paulobrien6978]

And people said George Lucas was mad when he made the prequel backstory a war fought over taxation of trade routes! 😂 Great video!

[@NotDr.Evil137]

Now normally I find the Mechanicus to be nerds, but the Magos of Angstrom has got to be one of my favorites 😂 Not caring who did it, just straight up goes BINARY BALLISTIC on both sides to where even the Inquisition is grinding teeth.

[@jakethadley]

I think things felt more balanced when I got into 40k (early-ish in 3rd edition), and there were certainly far less options and special rules back then. Heck, they were able to include an army list for every faction in the rulebook! I know it slowly changed over time as codexes were released, but I do remember it being easier to at least undestand what the various components of your opponent's army could do, so you could wok out how to avoid or counter them; these days I don't know how anyone can keep track of all the options and weapons and stratagems and whatever. There's now so many varieties of boltgun or cannon or meltagun and so on, whereas back then you often had just pistol, rifle and heavy versions (and often not even that many variants). Of course, this may just be nostalgia and poor memory!

[@TheHappyMerlin]

I'm a simple man, I see content involving The Lamenters and I up vote

[@jonbaxter2254]

40k has the coolest chapter names, holy shit