Helos Majoris defended again from Tyranid Menace

In the Hadron Expanse, the closing months of 011.025.M42 brought renewed turmoil as the Tyranid threat continued to swell unchecked across the Rifts of Hecate. Most factions had already begun a hasty and disorganised withdrawal from the region, abandoning worlds to the shadow of Hive Fleet Poseidon. In this chaotic vacuum, the Imperium stood out as the only power still mounting coherent resistance.

The Defence of Heloris Majoris

The strategic bastion of Heloris Majoris, long a lynchpin of Imperial operations deep within the Rifts, once again found itself targeted by Tyranid bio-fleets probing for weakness. A fresh landing of xenos organisms made planetfall in an attempt to overwhelm the fortress-world’s outer defences.

However, this time the Imperium reacted with decisive speed. A rapid strike by the Space Wolves intercepted the Tyranid vanguard. The Sons of Russ tore into the alien swarms with characteristic ferocity, their counter-assault shattering the landing force before it could take root. Within hours, the bioforms were purged, and Heloris Majoris stood secure once more.

Strategic Dispute Within Imperial Command

Yet the defence of the world reignited long-standing divisions within Imperial High Command regarding the future of the campaign in the Expanse.

The Lord Sector Commander argued for a controlled withdrawal, abandoning exposed holdings and consolidating the Imperium’s strength at the critical choke point of the Hecate Gap. He insisted that worlds such as Haven and Ergura’s Fall could form a defensible redoubt should the Tyranids surge further outward.

General Maximus, by contrast, urged continued expansion and exploitation within the Rifts. He insisted that controlling worlds like Heloris Majoris provided not only valuable resources but strategic depth. His critics, however, suspected his motives. Rumours whispered through command chambers that Maximus sought personal glory more than sound military outcomes.

For now, Maximus’ argument prevailed. Heloris Majoris remained in Imperial hands, held through Space Wolf valour and political inertia—but the question of whether the Imperium should stand or fall back in the Expanse remained bitterly unresolved.

The Tyranid threat was growing, and every passing month narrowed the margin for error.

Xenos infestation worsens at Caitlen Station

The fighting across Caitlen Station escalated sharply in 11.025.M42, as multiple factions continued their attempts to secure or plunder the sprawling, half-derelict installation. What had begun as scattered skirmishes had by now become a full-scale free-for-all, with every major power in the Aleph Sector committing elite teams to gain even a sliver of control.

Kasrkin Insertion Efforts Collapse

The Imperium’s most significant commitment came in the form of several Kasrkin insertion teams, dispatched by General Van Dorn in a desperate attempt to stabilise the situation. However, these elite shock troops found themselves ambushed repeatedly across the fractured decks and drifting hab-moons of Caitlen.

One team was overrun by orks, whose ferocity and sheer weight of numbers smashed the Guardsmen before they could consolidate their landing zone. Another squad was intercepted by kroot mercenaries operating under the Federal–Tau Alliance. The kroot’s ambush tactics and unmatched close-quarters lethality shredded the Kasrkin before extraction could be attempted.

The worst blow came when yet another insertion team was destroyed by the Nemesis Claws, a warband of the Night Lords active throughout the station’s darkened hulls. The traitor marines cut down the storm-troopers with clinical brutality. Their bodies were never recovered.

By the end of the month, the entire Kasrkin operation was deemed an unmitigated disaster, with near-total losses and no territorial gains. It was a catastrophic waste of Imperial special-forces assets.

Tyranids Push Back the Federacy

Elsewhere, the Tyranid infestation—long entrenched within the station’s labyrinthine structure—erupted into renewed activity. Two separate engagements saw the bioforms overwhelming Votann Hearthkyn teams of the Federacy. The Votann had made modest early gains, but the sudden counter-surge of ravenous organisms forced them back, costing them both ground and personnel.

Despite inflicting heavy casualties on the xenos creatures, the Votann position became increasingly precarious.

Chaos and Tyranids Ascendant

By the end of 11.025.M42, a grim strategic picture had emerged:

• The Tyranids controlled large sections of the industrial belts and waste caverns, with minimal expenditure.
• The forces of Chaos—primarily the Night Lords and Death Guard—held the second-largest share of the station, having achieved their gains with ruthless efficiency.
• The Tau–Federal alliance had secured a foothold, but only after paying a steep price in troops and matériel.
• The remaining factions, from the Imperium to various xenos raiding forces, had failed to secure meaningful control of any major installation.

For the Imperium in particular, the outcome was disastrous. Elite troops had been sacrificed in failed insertions, and no strategic advantage had been achieved. The month ended with Caitlen Station more contested than ever—yet increasingly dominated by those who expended the least to claim it: the Tyranids and the servants of Chaos.

Mordecai offensives bolstered by Space Wolves

After a brief lull in frontline activity across Mordecai Primaris, the Imperium resumed its advance in the latter months of 025.M42, driving deeper into the shattered expanse of the planet’s northern hive cities. The oppressive heat of the long Mordecai summer had finally begun to break, and with it came renewed pressure from Segmentum Command for General Kutuzov to maintain operational momentum.

At the forefront of this renewed offensive were the Space Wolves, unleashed by Kutuzov to fracture the Chaos defensive line and create the necessary breach for the Imperial Guard to follow. Their assault was brutal and direct, cutting into plague-choked avenues and fortified hab-blocks with characteristic ferocity.

The Imperium’s sudden resurgence forced the Thousand Sons into a reluctant intervention. The sorcerous legion had long maintained their principal citadel deep within the northern hives, and its fall would represent a catastrophic loss for the Chaos forces on Mordecai Primaris. Thus, they moved to check the Wolves’ advance.

The Thousand Sons deployed their elite Scarab Occult Terminators, phalanxes of warp-armoured warriors whose inexorable advance had crushed many previous Imperial offensives. Their arrival threatened to halt the Space Wolves’ momentum entirely. Yet this time the blow fell not upon unprepared mortal troops but upon the Vlka Fenryka themselves.

The Space Wolves absorbed the initial psychic and bolter barrage with sheer tenacity, anchoring their line around their pack leaders and countering with devastating charges. What should have been a surgical counter-attack by the Scarab Occult turned into a grinding melee that failed to deliver the decisive breakthrough the Thousand Sons required.

Realising too late that the Imperium’s encircling manoeuvres were already in motion, the Thousand Sons were faced with a dire choice: continue the attack and risk the annihilation of their elite terminator formations, or abandon the field. The Thousand Sons withdrew under a shroud of sorcerous misdirection, preserving their forces but conceding valuable ground.

By the end of late 025.M42, the Imperium had driven significantly closer to the main Thousand Sons citadel, and the Chaos line in the northern hives was beginning to bend under the weight of sustained Imperial pressure. The long campaign for Mordecai Primaris was far from over, but the tide—slowly, inexorably—was beginning to seem indicate inevitable victory for the Imperium.

Caitlen Station: Imperium fightback

+++Excerpt from the Aleph Sector Strategic Annals, Vol. MMXLII Segmentum Obscurus Archive Record: 11.025M42+++

By 11.025M42, the Imperium could no longer disregard the escalating violence consuming the labyrinthine expanse of Caitlen Station. Long neglected and strategically vital, the station’s sudden eruption into a multi-faction battleground threatened to upset the already-fragile balance of power in the Aleph Sector. Recognising the looming danger of Chaos, xenos, or renegades securing the installation, General Van Dorn authorised an emergency deployment of Imperial insertion teams.

Krieg and the Ecclesiarchy Respond

In the absence of seasoned Astartes or elite kill-teams, Van Dorn assembled a makeshift force primarily composed of Krieg Grenadier squads, bolstered by a number of Ecclesiarchy Sanctifier teams—zealous warrior-clerics whose enthusiasm far exceeded their formal military training.

The Krieg detachment, operating with characteristic precision, made planetfall across the battered docking causeways of Caitlen Station’s outer rings. Their first major contact was with a splintered band of Necron constructs, likely tomb-theta maintenance drones left active from prior incursions. The Krieg forces executed a disciplined assault, neutralising the Necrons with methodical volleys of plasma and demolition charges. With the xenos threat pacified, they established a rudimentary forward command post—one of the first stable Imperial footholds on the station in years.

The Fate of the Sanctifiers

The Sanctifiers, dispatched on a parallel route to secure an adjoining cargo vault, met a less fortunate fate. Moving without the discipline or equipment of the Death Korps, the Ecclesiarchy-led force blundered into a hunting party of Kroot operating under the wider T’au Alliance presence.

The resulting clash was short, brutal, and chaotic. The Sanctifiers’ fervour was no match for Kroot pack tactics, and contact with the team was lost less than thirty minutes after their initial engagement. None returned. Imperial analysts grimly noted that Kroot dietary practices made their ultimate fate all too clear—the Sanctifiers were presumed killed and consumed.

Tyranid Infestation Persists

Even as Imperial forces attempted to regroup, the infestation that had plagued Caitlen Station for months continued to manifest. A small but elite team of Aeldari Corsairs, seeking to retrieve artefacts from a derelict armoury node, found itself ambushed by Tyranid bioforms lurking in the ventilation stacks. Although the Eldar cut down scores of the beasts with elegant precision, the swarm’s numbers were overwhelming. Vox-intercepts recorded their final moments—psionic static, splinter fire, and shrieks of chitin.

None of the Corsairs escaped.

Thus, by late 11.025M42, Caitlen Station had become an active warzone. The Imperium had secured a foothold, yet every corridor remained contested. Tyranids, Necrons, Kroot mercenaries, Chaos warbands, and more all stalked the shattered super-structure. The station’s fate—and the strategic future of the Aleph Sector—hung precariously in the balance.

Early gains for chaos at Caitlen Station

 +++Excerpt from the Chronicle of the Caitlen Reclamation, Segmentum Obscurus Archives, 025.M42+++

In the months of 10–11.025M42, the long-dormant void-colossus of Caitlen Station once again became the stage upon which the rival powers of the Aleph Sector declared their competing ambitions. Of these, the forces of Chaos were the first to make their intentions unmistakably clear. The arrival of several small but elite warbands—primarily elements of the Night Lords and Death Guard—marked the beginning of a renewed and methodical Chaos attempt to assert dominance over the fractured installation.

Night Lords Incursions

The Night Lords, ever preferring terror over subtlety, announced their presence with a vicious strike against a T’au scouting element. A lightly armed cadre of T’au Pathfinders, attempting to map one of the station’s derelict container warrens, was ambushed and eradicated. Despite the full application of T’au ranged discipline—markerlights, pulse volleys, and supporting drones—the VIII Legion warriors pressed through the fusillade with murderous purpose. The Pathfinders were annihilated in close combat, their final transmissions little more than screams and static.

Death Guard Advances

Elsewhere, a contingent of Leagues of Votann Hearthkyn, operating under Federacy sanction, attempted to probe deeper into the station’s lower armoury tiers. They encountered entrenched Death Guard elements, whose noxious resilience and inexorable advance quickly turned the engagement into a mire of attrition. The Votann, though well-equipped and disciplined, were eventually overrun, their position choked with corrosive fumes and plague-ridden munitions.

Tyranid Predation

At roughly the same time, General Van Dorn, seeking to reassess Imperial claims to the station, dispatched a small fireteam of Krieg Guardsmen. They progressed no further than the outer vent-shafts before the resident Tyranid infestation descended upon them. The Guardsmen fought with characteristic stoicism, but were swiftly overwhelmed and consumed. Their vox-logs ended abruptly, offering one more grim reminder that the biomass corruption of Caitlen Station remained very much alive.

Dark Eldar Misfortune

A separate Drukhari raiding party—believed to be a strike cell of Kabalite agents supported by Mandrake shadow-killers—attempted to exploit the chaos and plunder an abandoned weapons store. They instead crossed paths with a Night Lords kill-clade. The VIII Legion warriors surged into melee with savage delight, cutting down the Mandrakes before their shadow-tricks could avail them. The Drukhari force was destroyed almost to the last, their souls added to the terror-legion’s grim trophies.

Harlequins and the Votann

On the far side of Caitlen Station Primary, a Hearthkyn expeditionary team stumbled into an enclave of Aeldari Harlequins. Any attempt at diplomacy proved futile; the Harlequins dismissed the Votann with uncanny laughter and drew weapons in the same gesture. What followed was a bewildering whirlwind of motion. Even the formidable firepower of Votann auto-missile arrays could not pin down the capering xenos. A single Death Jester, dancing through the storm of rockets, accounted for multiple Hearthkyn casualties before the survivors disengaged.

By the end of 11.025M42, the status of Caitlen Station had deteriorated into a shadow war of unending skirmishes. No faction held clear control; all sought advantage. Yet the sudden, coordinated aggression of Chaos warbands had made one fact clear: Caitlen Station would soon become the next major battleground of the Aleph Sector’s ever-expanding wars.

Caitlen Station erupts in violence

By the latter half of 025.M42, as the wars of the Aleph Sector ground on without decisive resolution, the attention of many competing factions once more drifted toward the colossal void installation known as Caitlen Station. Once the pride of the Imperial Navy and the lynchpin of the strategic defence grid of the Zadoc Subsector, the station had—over decades of warfare, xenos incursion, and Imperial retreat—fallen far from its former glory. What had been a monumental fortress system had degraded into a lawless sprawl of shattered infrastructure, adrift in a system marred by neglect and predation.

Caitlen Station was never a single edifice but an immense conglomeration of void-facilities:

• Titanic drydocks capable of servicing battleships and grand cruisers.

• Vast container fields holding centuries' worth of matériel, much of it lost to record.

• Forgotten weapons vaults, some dating to the Great Crusade.

• An immense starfort, still half-functional despite millennia of piecemeal repairs.

These structures were spread across drifting planetoids, orbital rings, scattered platforms, and a dense mass of debris-fields that had once formed part of a coherent defence network.

In the wake of the Imperium's loss of much of the Zadoc Subsector, Caitlen Station had been abandoned to its fate, left to decay at the edge of civilised space. In the years that followed, it became a haven for scavengers, pirate enclaves, and warbands of every persuasion. By the time Imperial tacticians once again took an interest in 025.M42, the station was a morass of infestation and internecine violence. Tyranid bioforms, spawned from drifting spores and derelict bio-ships, nested in the internal superstructure; Ork freebootas prowled the docking caverns; and innumerable smaller bands—Traitor Astartes kill-clades, human renegades, and unknown xenos—vied for whatever spoils they could carve out.

Yet even in this state of ruin, Caitlen Station remained a prize too valuable to ignore. Its weapons caches contained relics of forgotten wars. Its hulked vessels could be stripped, reconstructed, or cannibalised. Its remaining infrastructure, if secured, offered unmatched strategic advantage.

Thus, across 025.M42, the factions of the Aleph Sector dispatched small, elite infiltration teams into the labyrinthine depths of the station and its outlying facilities. Each sought a different objective:

• The Imperium, hoping to reclaim or at least deny crucial matériel.

• The T’au, seeking technology or safe harbour for future expansions.

• The Orks, eager simply for loot and a good fight.

• The Chaos warbands, drawn by both opportunity and the echoes of ancient corruption.

• Rogue Traders, pirates, and mercenary groups, each with their own ambitions.

These expeditions rarely encountered one another directly, for the station’s immensity allowed teams to vanish into the dark between bulkheads. But their actions—sabotage, scavenging, purges, and skirmishes—echoed through the station’s fractured ecosystems, creating a shifting battlefield of deception and opportunity.

Though no faction would claim full control of Caitlen Station by year’s end, the conflicts of 025.M42 ensured it remained a site of vital strategic interest—and a nexus of future confrontation. For in the Aleph Sector, ruins are never truly abandoned, and the shadows of Caitlen Station still promise wealth, power, and death in equal measure.

Chaos consolidate forces around Calliden

In the closing months of 025.M42, the forces of Chaos enacted a deliberate and coordinated withdrawal from the Hadron Expanse, consolidating their strength in the more defensible fastnesses of the Perseus Deeps. This manoeuvre, long anticipated by Imperial strategos but executed with characteristic unpredictability, marked a significant shift in the strategic balance of the region.

On Calliden, recently ravaged by conflict on multiple fronts, the Death Guard began a systematic purge of lingering Necron resistance. These automaton legions, reawakening in scattered pockets across the planetary crust, were methodically hunted down and eradicated by the Plague Marines. The Death Guard’s implacable advance left behind fields of virulent corruption, denying the Necrons any opportunity to reconstitute their forces.

Simultaneously, the Night Lords conducted a brutal counter-operation against an Aeldari strike force that had descended upon the system. The Eldar, likely attempting to sabotage the Chaos withdrawal and disrupt whatever darker schemes lay beneath it, were met with surgical and sadistic precision. The VIII Legion remnants successfully repelled the xenos intervention, preserving the wider strategic plan of the Chaos coalition.

With their route secured, the Night Lords then turned their efforts toward delaying the relentless Tyranid swarms advancing through the Rifts of Hecate. Though far from a true stand, their brutal holding actions bought precious time. Amidst this carnage, the Night Lords orchestrated their escape through an unexpected and grotesque vector: the Nurgle plague world Fecus Major.

Witnesses—few who survived with mind intact—reported that Fecus Major itself translated into the Calliden system after an arcane warp-ritual of prodigious scale. The diseased planet’s sudden appearance unleashed waves of empyric contamination and reality distortion, providing the perfect screen for the Night Lords’ withdrawal while further unbalancing the already volatile region.

By year’s end, the forces of Chaos stood entrenched across the Perseus Deeps, strengthened by their grim successes. The Hadron Expanse, meanwhile, was left in a state of catastrophic ruin, with Imperial, xenos, and Tyranid forces struggling amidst worlds made desolate by war, plague, and warp-born abominations.

The long-term consequences of this manoeuvre remain unclear—yet all Imperial tacticae agree: the Deeps grow darker still.

Welcome to the Aleph Sector

 

Welcome to the Aleph Sector 40k (universe) campaign. This is a sector wide "pick up and play" campaign which is largely narrative, but now has a number of specific theatres to cater for different campaign styles.

Sweeping conflict between Chaos and the Imperium in the Perseus Deeps is an ongoing and apparently endless struggle between the warriors of the Emperor and their hated traitors. The campaign theatre supports all 40k universe games including 40k, Kill Team, Battlefleet Gothic, AI and Epic. The main "campaign system" allows players to simply find an opponent, play the game then record the results with the GM - this generates "points", which the overall faction commander (or the GM if there isn't one), can spend on territory, strategic raids, fortifications or anything else feasible within the campaign. The larger the game - the more points, but the better your faction is doing gives you a bonus to your win. The Perseus Deeps is the main theatre of war in the sector, as it is close to the Cicatrix Maledictum and is key to the control of the sector.

More information on the "system" can be found here (you don't need to know any of this at all, but the GM (Duncan) works with faction commanders to make best use of their wins, and acts as an advisor, warning against strategically "unwise" moves - though is often ignored!)

In the Perseus Deeps and Zadoc subsectors the Tau, Imperium, Necrons, Orks and Chaos forces are battling one another for control over the region as the Tau launch their Perseus and Zadoc expansion sphere campaigns.

Meanwhile in the Hadron Expanse, the Tyranids, Orks and Necrons are seeking to pour through the Hecate Gap - a passageway through a set of warp storms that once sealed them off from the rest of the sector - while the imperium, chaos and Tau forces try to stop them, and the eldar try to seal off the region once and for all.

The whole map is however "live" and players who want to get into the narrative can drive their own plots and perhaps even trigger the next major theatre of war. Any and all games from matched play to one off narratives can be played - its as much as you personally want to make of it.

More information 

The Imperium

The Forces of Chaos

The Tau & Federacy

The Orks

The Necrons

The Tyranids

The Aeldari and Drukhari

And if you want background - there is a ton on this blog to delve into. The campaign has been running now since 2001, and the blog since 2006. In this campaign - there really is only war...

For a "current state" of the campaign check back to this blog. Autumn 2025 starts here: The Aleph Sector

The Aleph Sector 10.025M42

 Strategic Summary: The Aleph Sector in 025.M42
Segmentum Ultima – A Study of the Wars of Attrition and Expansion

By 025.M42, the wars raging across the Aleph Sector had entered a new and bloody phase. The conflict spanned dozens of systems, from the blighted worlds of the Perseus Deeps to the war-ravaged nebulae of the Zadoc Subsector and the monstrous horrors of the Hadron Expanse. No single faction held the advantage; every victory came at a ruinous cost, and every advance drew a counterstroke from one of the many enemies vying for supremacy in the region.

The Mordecai Campaign – The Steady Hand of General Kutuzov

On Mordecai Primaris, General Kutuzov continued his slow but inexorable advance into the corrupted hive cities of the Chaos-held world. Drawing on the Imperium’s strategic and logistical superiority, Kutuzov’s campaign had achieved a series of deliberate, grinding gains, supported by the combined arms of the Imperial Guard, Adeptus Astartes, and Imperial Knights.

Despite these victories, the resistance from Nurgle’s followers, particularly the Death Guard, remained formidable. The plague-ridden defenders fought with the tenacity of the damned, contesting every street and ruin, forcing the Imperium into a campaign of attrition that sapped men and materiel. Even as the Imperium secured major objectives such as Hamen Spaceport, it was clear that the liberation of Mordecai would be neither swift nor bloodless.

The Perseus Deeps – Veers’ Crusade and the War Against the Necrons

To the galactic north of the Mordecai system, in the Perseus Deeps, General Veers’ Crusade pushed ahead in a separate but equally critical theatre. Having successfully secured Enaloth, Veers now turned his attention to the Necron-infested worlds of Gamordal and Gamador. There, his Imperial forces clashed with the ancient dynasties of the Necrontyr, their tombs slowly stirring to full wakefulness after aeons of slumber.

The battles across these desolate worlds were defined by sudden ambushes, attritional engagements, and the slow wearing down of both sides. The Tau Empire, meanwhile, advanced from the galactic east as part of their so-called Perseus Expansion Sphere, bringing them perilously close to Veers’ line of operations. While both empires sought to expand, their ambitions risked colliding in the near future—a confrontation that could decide the balance of power in the Deeps.

The Zadoc Subsector – Imperial Resurgence and Tau Setbacks

Further spinward, in the Zadoc Subsector, the Tau Empire suffered a string of reversals following their earlier dominance. Under the leadership of General Van Dorn, Imperial forces had rallied and were now conducting a determined counteroffensive. The Dark Angels, who had long defended their bastion-fortress on New Cerberex, broke out in force, reclaiming large swathes of territory and threatening to roll back the Tau occupation entirely.

Meanwhile, the Federal Alliance—including contingents from the Leagues of Votann—remained bogged down on Hylas, locked in protracted battles against the Imperium and the unpredictable Ork incursions that plagued the region. Around the Mabb Nebula, a patchwork of smaller conflicts, covert raids, and sabotage operations continued to destabilise every front, ensuring that even minor victories were paid for in blood

The Hadron Expanse – The Tyranid Menace of Hive Fleet Poseidon

Beyond the Perseus front, in the distant reaches of the Hadron Expanse, a far greater terror was unfolding. Hive Fleet Poseidon continued its relentless consumption of worlds within the Rifts of Hecate, reducing once-thriving planets to barren husks. Neither the Imperium, nor the Tau, nor even the forces of Chaos had been able to halt the xenos advance.

Each world consumed by the Tyranids added to the swarm’s strength, and despite growing alarm across the sector, few powers could spare the resources to respond. Appeals for reinforcements were made across the Aleph Sector, but the great powers were stretched thin—locked in too many wars to adequately face the extragalactic horror that now threatened them all.

Conclusion – A Sector on the Brink

By the end of 025.M42, the Aleph Sector stood at a knife’s edge. The Imperium had regained ground in the Perseus Deeps and the Zadoc Subsector, yet its enemies multiplied and evolved. The Tau Empire still held much of the galactic east, the Necrons stirred to full wakefulness, and the Tyranids devoured the Hadron Expanse unchecked.

As the Emperor’s armies dug in across dozens of worlds, the question remained whether the Imperium’s divided strength could withstand the gathering storm—or whether the sector would fall, consumed by war, xenos, and the long decay of endless conflict.

— Extract from the “Tactica Alepha: A Strategic Analysis of the 025.M42 Campaigns” compiled by the Office of Imperial Command, Aleph Sector.

The Battle of Gamma-Omega-2571D – The Hammers of the Emperor, 09.025.M42

In the aftermath of the disastrous failure of the Aleph Wardens Mechanised Regiment, General Kutuzov faced mounting pressure to regain momentum in the northern hive sprawl of Mordecai Primaris. The costly defeat at Gamma-Omega-2571D had left Imperial morale shaken, and the district remained a critical bastion of the Death Guard line. Unwilling to commit more Guard formations to what was becoming a meat grinder of attrition, Kutuzov turned to the Adeptus Astartes.

The Hammers of the Emperor, a Chapter famed for its unyielding determination and willingness to wage prolonged campaigns of urban annihilation, answered the call. In early 09.025.M42, the Chapter committed significant forces to a direct assault on Gamma-Omega-2571D, aiming to break the Chaos hold where the Guard had faltered.

The opening phase of the battle saw the Hammers make gains on their left flank, where their elite melee shock troops – heavily armoured assault brethren – cut a swathe through the diseased cultists and plague marines guarding the ruins. On the right flank, however, progress was far slower. The Death Guard, entrenched in collapsed hab-blocks and fortified manufactoria, resisted with their usual inhuman endurance, forcing the Astartes to clear every structure at enormous cost.

The battle reached its climax when a formation of Death Guard Terminators arrived in the centre of the battlefield. These bloated monstrosities of corrupted ceramite dominated the fighting, shrugging off bolter fire and cutting through squads of Space Marines in brutal hand-to-hand combat. The Hammers’ advance stalled under their relentless assault, and the engagement devolved into a grinding struggle of attrition.

Yet the Hammers of the Emperor proved as stubborn as their foes. Refusing to yield ground, they locked the Terminators in a vicious stalemate, their resilience and faith in the Emperor preventing the collapse of their line. By 04.09.025.M42, the wider strategic situation forced the Death Guard to withdraw; Kutuzov’s Guard regiments had begun pushing into the flanks of the Chaos salient, threatening to cut off the defenders entirely.

The battle was officially judged a tactical draw, yet for the Imperium it was enough. Though the cost in Astartes lives was grievous, the Death Guard had been forced to abandon Gamma-Omega-2571D, and Imperial forces now pressed into the shattered streets.

The victory, however, carried its own grim warning. Progress would be slow and punishing – every street, every hab, every room in the ruins would have to be seized from plague-ridden hands. The road ahead for Kutuzov’s campaign on Mordecai Primaris promised only more attrition, more sacrifice, and more blood paid for every crumbling sector of the hive sprawl.

The Failure at Gamma-Omega-2571D – Mordecai Primaris, 07.025.M42

By the high summer of 025.M42, the war on Mordecai Primaris had slowed to a grinding stalemate. The northern hemisphere of the daemon-tainted world endured the full force of its red dwarf sun, which hung in the skies for over sixteen hours a day, irradiating the surface and baking the already desolate wastelands in a merciless heat. Conditions were brutal, yet Imperial High Command pressed for continued advances, fearing that any pause would give Chaos time to reorganise and reinforce.

The most intense fighting during this period took place amidst the sprawling ruins of the northern hives, where shattered hab-blocks and collapsed manufactoria provided natural choke points and strongholds for the defenders. In 07.025.M42, General Kutuzov committed the Aleph Wardens Mechanised Regiment to spearhead an assault on the ruined district of Gamma-Omega-2571D, a key sector whose control would have opened up new approaches towards the hive sprawls further north.

The Aleph Wardens, veterans of numerous campaigns across the Aleph Sector, deployed in strength. Their Chimeras and Leman Russ tanks advanced under heavy covering fire, their armour shielding them from the intense heat and radiation. However, their progress soon ground to a halt. Waiting for them in the shattered cityscape were the Death Guard, entrenched in the ruins with their usual doggedness. The corrupted legionnaires showed no signs of fatigue under the blistering sun, their rotting ceramite plate impervious to both the climate and much of the Guard’s firepower.

Worse still were the Death Guard Terminators, whose relentless counter-attacks and brutal close-range firepower repeatedly shattered the Imperial spearheads. The terrain of Gamma-Omega-2571D favoured the traitor elite; narrow avenues and crumbling ruins denied the Wardens the manoeuvrability of their armour, forcing them into grinding, attritional combat for which they were ill-suited.

Despite repeated attempts, the Imperial mechanised formations could make no meaningful progress. Casualties mounted, with dozens of tanks destroyed in ambushes or bogged down and abandoned in the rubble. Infantry losses were even higher, whole companies reduced to nothing in close-quarter battles against plague-ridden warriors who simply refused to die.

By the closing days of 07.025.M42, the assault was called off. The Aleph Wardens had suffered crippling casualties, losing a substantial portion of both men and materiel, while the ruins of Gamma-Omega-2571D remained firmly in Chaos hands. The effort had achieved nothing, save to demonstrate once again the immovable resilience of the Death Guard when entrenched in their chosen ground.

For Kutuzov, the failure at Gamma-Omega was a sobering reminder: while momentum had been with the Imperium earlier in the year, the path to total victory on Mordecai would be long and costly. Every ruined sector, every ash-choked hive, would have to be paid for in the blood and armour of the Astra Militarum.

The Western Breakout – Tau Gains on Zadoc, 05–06.025.M42

After suffering a number of tactical setbacks in 04.025.M42, including the costly chaos offensives at Chettalo and the northern plains of Zadoc, the Tau Empire reassessed and reinforced its positions around its established bridgehead on the world’s central continent. The importance of Zadoc—once a loyal Imperial world, now a chaotic battleground of competing factions—meant the Tau were unwilling to relinquish their claim in what they had designated a key node in their Perseus Expansion Sphere.

In 05.025.M42, Commander Malkaor launched a bold and sweeping westward breakout from the Tau-held bridgehead, aiming to change the tempo of the campaign and seize the initiative. The offensive was meticulously planned and executed with typical Tau precision, incorporating Hunter Cadres supported by mobile armour and air assets. The Biordeosta region, a critical logistical hub for the traitor forces, fell after a short but intense engagement.

The offensive then rolled into the rugged Appenine highlands, a heavily fortified and naturally defensible region. Expecting a prolonged and grinding conflict, the Tau commanders were surprised when the resistance—composed largely of chaos cultists and scattered traitor PDF—collapsed under sustained drone strikes, pulse fire, and flanking manoeuvres by mobile stealth units.

This manoeuvre proved decisive. With the Appenine highlands lost, chaos forces in northern Zadoc found themselves isolated and in danger of encirclement. Recognising the untenable position, the Chaos commanders ordered a hasty evacuation of Andiselie, abandoning valuable materiel and infrastructure to avoid annihilation.

By 06.025.M42, the Tau Empire had gained control of the majority of the central continent of Zadoc, establishing a network of forward operating bases and expanding their sphere of influence westward and north. This campaign marked the first significant strategic reversal for the Chaos forces on Zadoc since their initial invasion, and morale among the traitor ranks visibly faltered.

The success of the western breakout significantly altered the balance of power on the world. With their forces now in a strong operational position, and the chaos front lines crumbling, the Tau appeared poised to complete the conquest of Zadoc before the end of 025.M42—if they could maintain momentum and avoid retaliation from either Chaos reinforcements or the ever-watchful Imperium.

The war for Zadoc had entered a new phase—one where Tau dominance was no longer theoretical, but material, visible in the fire-lit skies above burning hive spires.

Mordecai: Imperium take Hamen

Following the costly victory at Hamen Spaceport, General Kutuzov wasted no time in pressing the advantage. With the Imperium’s foothold in the hive sprawl secured and the supply lines running through the wastelands behind him stabilised, the next strategic target was clear: the city of Hamen Hive itself. Intelligence suggested that the hive was now heavily fortified and garrisoned by elite elements of the Emperor’s Children, the corrupted III Legion, whose cruelty and martial prowess had already bled several Guard regiments dry in earlier phases of the campaign.

Recognising the need for overwhelming force to breach such a formidable objective, Kutuzov petitioned for Adeptus Astartes support. The call was answered swiftly by the Space Wolves, long-time enemies of the Traitor Legions, whose ferocity and disdain for static warfare made them an ideal tool for the task.

The assault began in the final days of 05.025.M42, heralded by a coordinated drop pod and Thunderhawk strike into the upper spires and mid-hive levels of Hamen. The 13th Great Company, led by Wolf Lord Brynjolf Stormfang mounted on his thunderwolf Greyhowl, spearheaded the assault. In a characteristic show of Fenrisian savagery, Stormfang led his pack from the front, shrugging off fire that would have crippled lesser warriors, and personally slaying multiple noise marines in brutal hand-to-hand combat.

The impact of the Space Wolves’ assault was immediate and devastating. The Emperor’s Children, for all their twisted devotion to excess and sensation, found themselves completely unprepared for the sheer physicality and unrelenting aggression of their loyalist cousins. Demoralisation spread quickly through the traitor lines as entire units were routed, their cohesion shattered by the Space Wolves’ shock assault.

Despite stiff resistance in some hab-blocks and underhive zones, by the early days of 06.025.M42, Hamen Hive had been brought under Imperial control. The few remaining Chaos defenders were either driven into the wastes or slaughtered without quarter.

With Hamen Hive fallen, the strategic doctrine of the campaign began to crystallise. Kutuzov, now with the advantage of numbers and a steady stream of reinforcements, would direct the Adeptus Astartes to break the hardest, most entrenched targets—elite formations, command centres, and key fortresses—while the massive Guard formations under his command would follow up to consolidate territory, cleanse the wider sprawl, and push into the surrounding wastelands.

The campaign for Mordecai Primaris was far from over, but the fall of Hamen marked a turning point. Chaos resistance had proven resilient, but the momentum was now firmly with the Imperium, and the full weight of the Imperial war machine was only just beginning to roll forward.

Van Dorn recaptures Laurier

By the end of 05.025.M42, the war for New Cerberex had shifted decisively against the T’au Empire. Following the initial setbacks and surprise defeats inflicted by the T’au during their counteroffensive in early 025.M42, the Imperium had rallied, exploiting the momentum provided by the Dark Angels’ brutal breakout to the south and now bringing the full weight of their military machine to bear.

The most significant reversal came with the recapture of the city of Laurier, a vital northern settlement and strategic node that had previously fallen to the T’au in a lightning assault. Now, under the direct command of General Van Dorn, multiple newly arrived Astra Militarum regiments were deployed to the front lines. These included hardened veterans of the Cadian 143rd and the brutal siege specialists of the Vornheim 66th, bolstered by PDF auxiliaries and artillery detachments.

The assault on Laurier was relentless. Over the course of four days, the T’au Hunter Cadre defending the city fought with typical xenos precision, executing textbook withdrawal manoeuvres and fire-and-fade tactics. However, the sheer volume of Guardsmen, combined with armoured spearheads and sustained aerial and orbital support, eventually overwhelmed the T’au defences. The city’s evacuation route was cut off by Scion drop forces, and by the end of the engagement, the entire Hunter Cadre was annihilated—either slain in battle or hunted down in the ruins.

With Laurier retaken, the Imperium now held the entire southern and central belts of New Cerberex, forming a secure front line and allowing for more efficient deployment of reinforcements via drop landers and bulk landers. This territorial control was critical: within weeks, dozens of additional Guard regiments were expected to deploy, further tipping the strategic balance.

Compounding the T’au dilemma was their deteriorating space superiority. Though the T’au fleet in the region remained intact and technically capable of contesting orbit, its commanders remained conspicuously passive. Intelligence reports suggested the reason was clear: Imperial Navy battlegroups—backed by known Space Wolves and Dark Angels fleet assets—were prowling the Mabb Nebula. The threat of a sudden and catastrophic fleet engagement loomed over any T’au attempt to assert dominance in orbit.

The T’au high command on New Cerberex now found itself isolated, outnumbered, and increasingly outmanoeuvred. The dream of converting New Cerberex into a bastion of the Perseus Expansion Sphere was fading fast, and the question was no longer how much ground the T’au could take—but how much they could possibly hold.

The Vespae Encounter

As the relentless advance of Hive Fleet Poseidon continued unabated through the fragmented region known as the Rifts of Hecate in 05.025.M42, the long-ignored xenos menace began to draw the attention of the Aeldari. For millennia, the Vespae system—an isolated world held in secret by the craftworlds and their outlying allies—had been warded and watched, considered a quiet node in the ever-changing tapestry of fate. That assumption would not survive the month.

When auguries detected subtle disturbances in the biosphere and anomalous psychic echoes from Vespae’s surface, the Farseers of Alaitoc dispatched a swift reconnaissance force via the webway. Comprised of elite Aspect Warriors and guided by a seer council, the group was reinforced by the deathless might of a Wraithlord and a unit of Wraithguard—an indication of the seriousness with which the Craftworld viewed the threat.

Upon arrival, the Aeldari forces encountered the unmistakable spoor and psychic shadow of the Tyranid hive mind. The planet was not yet overrun, but vast mycetic spores had already seeded the wilds, and the leading edges of the swarm had begun to manifest. The ensuing battle was short and brutal. The Aspect Warriors were torn apart by monstrous bioforms, and the webway ingress was almost overrun in minutes. Only the Wraith units, their necrodermis bodies resisting the corrosive tides of biomass and acid, managed to retreat to the safety of the portal—battered, silent, and grievously damaged.

The survivors brought with them fragments of alien tissue and data impressions—enough for the Farseers to confirm their worst fears. The Tyranid swarm on Vespae bore the genetic hallmarks of Hive Fleet Poseidon. Somehow, impossibly, tendrils of the fleet had slipped through the Hecate Gap undetected, bypassing major Imperial and Chaos positions and establishing an advanced beachhead in a region thought to be secure.

The implications were dire. Vespae lay within an area the Aeldari had long deemed strategically vital. If Poseidon was already present beyond the Rifts, then the entire Hecate Gap could collapse in a matter of months, with the hive fleet potentially striking deep into the coreward sectors of the Hadron Expanse.

The Aeldari councils fell into urgent and bitter debate. Should they intervene directly to halt the spread? Or, more dangerously, should they reveal what they had learned to the crude and squabbling factions of the Mon-Keigh, risking their own secrecy in exchange for a broader coalition against the xenos tide?

For now, the Craftworlds remained silent. But the shadow of the Great Devourer had fallen upon Vespae—and perhaps far beyond.

The Battle of Nepheru – Gamador Campaign, 05.025.M42

As the Perseus Deeps campaign dragged into the height of 05.025.M42, the Tau Empire escalated its efforts to secure the strategic world of Gamador. With the Imperium’s Crusade under General Veers advancing steadily and threatening to undermine the Tau’s Perseus Expansion Sphere, the Ethereal Caste demanded a decisive victory. The target was the Necron-held city of Nepheru—an ancient and heavily fortified urban bastion deep within the desert wastes, reachable only from the tenuous Tau bridgehead established at Hasmaker.

The offensive was led by elements of the Dal’yth and Vior’la septs, combining highly mobile Hunter Cadres with precision orbital support. The strategy was clear: strike swiftly, bypass Necron strongpoints, and collapse their defensive network from the inside out. However, what followed was anything but swift.

The approach through the plains of Nepheru was immediately hampered by hidden monoliths, burrowing Canoptek constructs, and sudden counter-assaults by phased-in Necron units. Tau supply lines were harassed relentlessly, while Necron forces, displaying uncharacteristic tactical unpredictability, launched suicidal charges and teleportation ambushes.

As the fighting reached Nepheru’s outer walls, the campaign descended into a brutal and methodical grind. The Tau achieved numerous local victories, deploying Stormsurge units and Battlesuit Enclaves to devastating effect, but every advance was met with withering gauss fire and the uncanny resilience of Necron reanimation protocols. The sky turned to ash with the heat of plasma fire and the shimmer of shielding technology flickering under siege conditions.

After weeks of attrition, the Tau managed to breach Hasmaker and establish full control over its ancient industrial platforms. Yet the cost was enormous. Several cadres had to be withdrawn due to unsustainable losses. Crisis Suit commanders were lost in action, and even the elite Stealth Teams suffered disproportionately as Necron counter-adaptations blunted their technological edge.

Despite their tactical victory, the Tau were left bloodied, overstretched, and burdened with a pyrrhic gain. The capture of Hasmaker solidified their presence on Gamador, but the Necron grip on Nepheru itself remained unbroken.

The battle proved a grim reminder that the Gamador campaign would not be won by rapid manoeuvre or clean battles. It was a war of ancient attrition, fought in forgotten cities and silent tombs where even the Tau’s vaunted efficiency struggled against the timeless endurance of the Necron menace. And all the while, the shadow of the Crusade under General Veers loomed ever closer.

Rising Greenskin Momentum

Segmentum Ultima – Aleph Sector Archives

Compiled by the Ordo Xenos, Watch Station Altaris

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Background: Rising Greenskin Momentum

By 05.025M42, the Mabb Nebula had become a cauldron of conflict. The Imperium, Tau Empire, and Chaos warbands had turned the region into a patchwork of overlapping warzones. Amid this chaos, the Orks, long considered background noise in the wider struggle, began to stir with terrifying energy. Drawn by the sound of battle and scent of bloodshed, Waaagh! energy surged, and the greenskins began to unify under a loose network of warlords across the nebula.

Two worlds would bear the brunt of this resurgence: Bothorion and Fort Sparcos.

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The Fall of Bothorion: Tau Dislodged

The world of Bothorion, a hostile, Ork-infested planet deep within the Mabb Nebula, had long hosted a covert Tau outpost. For several years, Tau operatives of the Fire Caste had used it as a staging ground for a slow infiltration and eventual full invasion. Their hope had been to one day bring Bothorion into the T’au Empire, cleansed of its feral Ork infestation.

However, with major elements of the Tau military diverted to critical battles on New Cerberex and Hylas, the garrison on Bothorion was left dangerously understrength.

In 05.025M42, the Orks struck. An unexpected mass assault, led by a coalition of warbands loosely aligned under the banner of a rising Warlord known only as Big Mek Kradzuk, overwhelmed the Tau installations. Fire Warrior cadres were torn apart in savage assaults, stealth drones neutralised by sheer weight of numbers, and even Crisis Suits were dragged down and dismantled by mobs of enraged Orks.

Within a matter of days, the Tau presence on Bothorion was eradicated. The carefully prepared outpost was razed, and the Ork Waaagh! momentum grew as warbands began to look outward from their long-ignored world.

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Brutality on Fort Sparcos: Orks versus Chaos

Meanwhile, on Fort Sparcos, a world already buckling under the strain of a multi-faction war, the Orks launched another brutal offensive. Previously fragmented into roving bands, the greenskins had recently coalesced in response to incursions by the Death Guard. The Chaos forces had been attempting to seize strategic locations across the ruined fortress-world, including the vital spaceport complex.

In a shock counterattack, the Orks not only defended their territory but launched a devastating assault on the Chaos-held spaceport. What followed was a pitched battle of horrific attrition, as plague-infested Death Guard clashed with rampaging Orks in brutal close combat.

Despite the resilience of the Plague Marines and their unnatural endurance, the ferocity and sheer weight of Ork numbers proved too much. Several Death Guard squads were overrun and hacked to pieces, while a full detachment of plague marines was wiped out during a final charge by Nobz and a heavily modified Deff Dread mob.

By the end of the conflict, the spaceport was entirely under Ork control, and Chaos forces were driven into the labyrinthine ruins, harried at every turn by roaring greenskins.

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Strategic Outlook

The Ork resurgence in the Mabb Nebula represents a critical new threat to all factions operating in the region. Their success on Bothorion and Fort Sparcos demonstrates a growing degree of cohesion and purpose—hallmarks of a Waaagh! approaching critical mass.

For the Imperium, the T’au Empire, and the Chaos warbands, this development poses a grim dilemma: continue to bleed one another in internecine wars, or divert resources to stem the rising green tide. For now, however, the Orks rampage unchecked, fed by war, and driven by nothing but the joy of battle.

The Battle for Southrine Mines and Port Tersius

Segmentum Ultima – Aleph Sector Historical Archive

Entry: 05.025M42

Background: The Gamordal Campaign

By 05.025M42, the fighting between Veers’ Crusade and the Necrons on Gamordal had escalated significantly. This once-minor conflict zone had become a fulcrum of strategic interest for both sides, with the Imperial Crusade forces seeking to establish full planetary control and the Necron dynasties pursuing the reclamation of ancient holdings.

Two critical engagements marked this phase of the campaign—the desperate battle for the Southrine Mines, and the decisive strike at Port Tersius.

The Defence and Loss of the Southrine Mines

The Southrine Mines, located in the mineral-rich southern uplands of Gamordal, had become a key target for both sides. The Imperial defenders, comprising a detachment of House Brascion Knights, were tasked with holding the site against advancing Necron forces believed to originate from the dormant tomb complex beneath the Hasmakep Mountains.

The battle raged for several days as Necron constructs, led by Ophydian Destroyers and supported by Doomsday Arks, engaged in relentless assaults. The Imperial Knights, though vastly outnumbered, fought with honour and ferocity, holding the line through multiple breaches and executing devastating counter-charges.

However, the Necrons’ inexhaustible nature and phase-regenerative technology gradually ground down the Imperial line. By the end of the third day, the Knights were forced to withdraw, ceding control of the mines after suffering heavy losses, including the destruction of two Questoris-class engines.

The Custodes Breakout at Port Tersius

In contrast, the Adeptus Custodes, operating as part of a specialised detachment assigned to Veers’ Crusade, achieved a stunning success elsewhere on the planet. Having been held in reserve near the Imperial bridgehead, the Custodes initiated a rapid strike operation aimed at the coastal settlement of Port Tersius, a location of logistical importance and suspected Necron activity.

The operation, executed with typical Custodian precision, saw the Emperor’s chosen warriors deploying via grav-transport directly into the heart of the settlement. The Necron garrison, consisting primarily of Immortals and Canoptek constructs, was taken completely by surprise.

Within hours, the Custodes annihilated all opposition, employing pyroclastic spears, guardian blades, and superior martial skill to erase the xenos presence. Port Tersius was secured with minimal Imperial casualties, and its capture significantly expanded the Imperial zone of control on Gamordal.

The Southern Campaign on New Cerberex

Segmentum Ultima – Aleph Sector Historical Archive

Entry: 025M42.145

Background: The Escalation of War

As 025M42 progressed, the once-static conflict on New Cerberex erupted into a fully fledged campaign of movement and decisive engagements. The world, once a prosperous Imperial colony before its fall to the Tau Expansion, had become a focal point of strategic importance in the wider Zadoc Subsector War.

For many months, the Dark Angels, operating from their impregnable fortress on Mount Bone, had been conducting relentless raids into Tau territory. These culminated in a large-scale breakout operation in early 025M42, spearheaded by the First and Third Companies of the Chapter, aimed at shattering Tau control across the southern continent.

The Fall of the Southern Continent

The operation commenced with a thunderous assault upon the Angel Plateau, swiftly followed by the liberation of the city of Rideau. The Tau defenders, though initially holding the line with stoic resistance and formidable firepower, were unable to maintain their positions in the face of Astartes precision and brutality.

The Dark Angels moved with characteristic methodical ruthlessness, engaging in a rolling battle that saw one Tau cadre after another eradicated. Their focus was not merely territorial acquisition but the total destruction of enemy assets. By the end of the third week of operations, Tau forces on the southern continent had been completely routed, and the region was declared under Imperial control.

The Northern Surprise and the Loss of Laurier

In the wake of this success, General Van Dorn, coordinating the wider Imperial effort in the sector, landed several Imperial Guard regiments to consolidate the gains. These forces, including elements from the Cadian 143rd, were deployed in the north at Laurier, intended as a northern pressure point against the remaining Tau holdings.

However, the Tau had anticipated the Imperial strategy. Launching a swift and devastating counter-offensive, they struck the newly landed Imperial regiments before they could fully entrench, utilising battlesuit strike teams and orbital drone coordination to devastating effect.

The fighting at Laurier was brief but savage. Caught off-guard, the Guard regiments were nearly annihilated, and by 0505.025M42, the city had been retaken by the Tau, restoring part of their northern front.

The Battle for Albert

The Dark Angels, undeterred, launched a renewed offensive on 1205.025M42, this time targeting the city of Albert, a strategic node linking Tau defence lines across the central belt of the main continent. The Astartes struck with shock and awe, utilising teleportation strikes, Ravenwing outriders, and full-scale mechanised assaults.

The Tau defenders at Albert fought with grim determination, but the weight of the Astartes assault proved overwhelming. Resistance crumbled, and by 1505.025M42, the city of Albert was firmly in Imperial hands.

Conclusion and Strategic Outlook

With the southern continent of New Cerberex now securely under Imperial control, the Imperium had established a unified front from Rideau to Albert. However, the setbacks at Laurier underscored a bitter truth: the Tau remained a dangerous and adaptive enemy, capable of swift retaliation and asymmetric warfare.

Despite their victory, the Imperium still faced a daunting campaign to retake their former colony in full. The northern and eastern regions of the main continent remained under Tau control, and any future advance would likely require coordinated multi-theatre offensives, and careful management of increasingly strained supply lines.

Nevertheless, the victories of the Dark Angels and Van Dorn’s Guard had brought a critical shift in momentum. The reconquest of New Cerberex was no longer a dream—it had begun in earnest.

The Battle for Hamen Spaceport

Background

By mid 04.025M42, the Imperial campaign on Mordecai Primaris had advanced deep into the Hamen Hive Sprawl, a labyrinthine urban region on the northern edge of the Chaos-held territories. With the loyalist front now dangerously extended, General Kutuzov faced mounting logistical difficulties, political pressure from rival commanders, and a shifting enemy strategy.

The Chaos war machine was no longer merely the brutish madness of cultists and daemonhosts. The forces of Nurgle were increasingly asserting dominance within the warp-tainted command structure, and the emergence of the Legion of Eschar—a disciplined and heavily armed human force—had transformed the strategic landscape. With Imperial high command breathing down his neck, Kutuzov identified the Hamen Spaceport as a critical objective.

Its capture would provide an anchor for resupply and reinforcement, ensuring that Imperial vanguard elements pushing into Hamen could not be easily cut off. Recognising the significance of the task, Kutuzov elected to personally lead the assault, placing himself at the head of his elite formation: the Novgorod 1st Regiment.

The Battle

The fighting began with the Novgorod Guard advancing through shattered hab-blocks and manufactoria surrounding the spaceport, under cover of earth-shaking artillery barrages and supported by super-heavy tanks from the Mordian Armour Reserve. Morale among the troops surged with Kutuzov riding his signature white charger, visible to his men even as the hellish theatre erupted around them.

But the enemy was ready.

The Escharite Legion, demonstrating tactical proficiency rare among traitor human forces, had fortified the approaches to the spaceport with brutal efficiency. They fielded their own super-heavy vehicles, including corrupted Baneblades and traitor-pattern artillery, which rained death upon the Novgorod formations. In the dense ruins, Escharite assault troops charged Imperial positions with shocking tenacity, engaging in brutal melee combat and eviscerating squad after squad of loyalist infantry.

Despite suffering appalling losses, the Novgorod 1st did not break. Kutuzov's elite armour began a slow but deliberate counter-barrage, systematically neutralising the enemy's heavy vehicles, although the Escharite commanders showed a worrying level of restraint, often withdrawing their own armour before total annihilation.

For several days, the fighting devolved into a war of attrition. The shattered outer perimeter of the spaceport became a killing ground, each ruined building and corridor contested metre by metre.

It was only when Kutuzov himself led a decisive charge—his blade raised high, leading an armoured thrust into the Escharite rear—that the chaos lines faltered. Spearheading an assault on a key command node within the port complex, the Novgorod Guard succeeded in breaking the Escharite centre. The traitor forces, though disciplined, began to fracture under sustained pressure and retreated in disorder.

By the seventh day, the Imperium had taken the spaceport.

Aftermath

The capture of the Hamen Spaceport marked a major strategic victory for the Imperium. Supply lines were shortened, morale lifted, and the Imperium now held a vital staging ground for further operations into the Hive itself. Kutuzov had silenced his detractors—at least for now—with a daring and costly success.

Yet, the price had been steep.

Casualties on both sides numbered in the tens of thousands. Entire companies of the Novgorod Guard were obliterated, and much of the surrounding infrastructure lay in ruins. Worse still, the true capability of the Legion of Eschar had now been revealed—not as mere traitor remnants, but as a true mirror and mockery of the Imperial Guard, capable of matching the Emperor’s soldiers in firepower, organisation, and discipline.

General Kutuzov had forced open the gates to Hamen Hive—but at what cost? As the banners of the Imperium were raised above the smouldering wreck of the spaceport, the old general looked eastward, to the hive city itself—and the even greater trials that lay ahead.

The campaign on Mordecai Primaris was far from over, and it was now clear: the enemy would not be dislodged easily.

The Battle for Hamen Sprawl – 04.025M42

Mordecai Campaign Report – Ordo Militaris Dossier, Aleph Sector

In 04.025M42, the long and grinding war for Mordecai Primaris saw a renewed surge in momentum as General Kutuzov, supreme commander of Imperial forces in the theatre, received long-requested reinforcements from Sector Command. Among them marched the red-coated veterans of the Praetorian 42nd Regiment, a storied unit whose reputation had been forged in the blood of countless campaigns across the Aleph Sector.

Kutuzov deployed the Praetorians in the north, ordering them to advance through the Hamenia Wastes and seize a foothold in the Hive Sprawls of Hamen, an important logistical node and staging area for Chaos counter-offensives. The initial stages of the campaign met with minimal resistance, and the regiment’s disciplined advance seemed poised for a swift breakthrough.

The Legion of Eschar Emerges

However, as the Praetorians approached the outskirts of Hamen Sprawl, the nature of the enemy changed drastically. Instead of the expected cultist mobs or corrupted Astartes, the Legion of Eschar revealed itself—a disciplined, well-equipped, and tactically competent human army seemingly modelled on the structure of the Imperial Guard itself.

These traitor forces fielded armoured columns, including corrupted Leman Russ battle tanks, artillery pieces, and even a Chaos Knight, which tore into the initial waves of the loyalist infantry with brutal efficiency. The Praetorians, although caught off-guard by such an organised enemy, stood their ground with the typical stoicism and stubborn pride of their regiment.

A fierce battle ensued, with the Chaos Knight at the centre of the traitor advance. Imperial armoured divisions, supporting the Praetorians, eventually brought the behemoth down in a barrage of fire, its fall turning the tide of battle. The destruction of the Knight and the bulk of the Legion’s tank support allowed the Imperial forces to press forward.

Urban Warfare and Bitter Hand-to-Hand Fighting

The Praetorians were further surprised by the close-combat ferocity and tactical discipline of the Legion infantry. Well-drilled and unafraid to charge Imperial positions, these heretic soldiers forced brutal, room-by-room engagements in the ruins of Hamen. Nevertheless, the loyalist troops held key objectives long enough for their support elements to isolate and destroy the Legion’s remaining armour.

Outgunned and with their flanks compromised, the Legion of Eschar began a withdrawal, leaving the Imperial Guard in control of a key bridgehead within the sprawl, dangerously close to Hamen’s spaceport.

Strategic Implications

By 1404.025M42, the Imperium had not only secured its position in the Hive Sprawl but had also drawn closer to severing vital supply and reinforcement lines to Chaos forces in the region. However, the unexpected resistance posed by the Legion of Eschar marked a troubling development.

It was now clear to Kutuzov and Segmentum Command that the forces of Chaos on Mordecai Primaris were evolving. They were not solely reliant on corrupted Astartes and frenzied cultist mobs—organised, professional human armies had joined the enemy's ranks. The Legion of Eschar, possibly the remnants of once-loyal regiments turned traitor, represented a new and dangerous element in the Mordecai Campaign.

The war for Mordecai was far from over. But with the Praetorian 42nd's bloody victory, the Imperium had struck a firm blow—and raised serious questions about what other horrors lay entrenched in the heart of Chaos-held territory.