The Land Raider first entered service during the Great Crusade at the dawning of the Age of the Imperium. The vehicle's formidable combination of weaponry and armour, and its ability to carry the shock troops of the Great Crusade through the most perilous environments were the deciding factors in countless struggles to liberate Mankind from the tyranny of the Age of Strife. With this awesome war machine at their command, Imperial forces conquered world after world until the Emperor's Imperium of Man bestrode the galaxy. Such was the demand for the Land Raider during the Great Crusade that an entire Forge World was founded just to manufacture them. Anvilus IX supplied thousands upon thousands of the vehicles to Mankind's forces, but the Great Crusade ended in disaster as the Warmaster Horus