Aeldari maintain presence at Tarlius

In the aftermath of the battle for Tarlius II the Eldar now controlled an enclave of territory in the planet's equatorial region. Frustrated by the meddling Xenos' intervention Stahl vowed to crush the pocket with fire and blood.

To this end he dispatched his most brutal instruments, frothing beserkers of the World Eaters who screamed benefactions to the God of blood and skulls, and alongside them uncountable multitudes of cultists, scum and corrupted humanity.

Constrained by the dense maze of the industrial zone that blocked their approach the attack began to break up, the mechanised World Eaters pulling away from the thronging mass of humanity that accompanied them. As their mechanised column emerged into sunlit open ground the lead transports instantly exploded in showers of wreckage under a meticulously prepared crossfire of lethal missiles and laser beams.

Their rage no longer held in check the Beserkers disembarked from their transports and ran screaming towards the Aeldari positions which were focused around an ancient Imperial bunker on a commanding hilltop. Rapidly closing the ground Khorne's favourites began tearing their way through the thin screens of aspect warriors that were all that stood between them and the bunker.

Not trusting in the World Eater's brutally direct method of war alone Stahl unleashed his second wave. Holes were ripped into the fabric of real space and obliterators emerged onto the flank of the Aeldari's position, their heavy weaponry spitting death.

For all the assaults fierce brutality all was proceeding as the Eldar had forseen. At a signal from their Autarch yet more warrior aspects plummeted from the skys or emerged from secret entrances to the webway. In seconds the attack on the bunker was completely surrounded, its beserk warriors gunned down mercilessly at point blank range. On the open field the obliterators found themselves ambushed and pinned down by swift moving grav vehicles and the bounding, graceful forms of Banshees who channelled all of their hatred for the servants of She Who Thirsts into their paralysing screams. Only a single warrior made it to the bunker, hacking down the Autarch leading the warhost with all of his hatred and rage before being annihilated by the vengeful xenos that surrounded him. Leaderless and seeing that all was lost the cultists scattered back into the dense maze of piping of the industrial complex. 

Despite the obvious opportunity presented to them by the failure of the attack the Aeldari made no move to exploit it. They seemed content to control the ground they already had, seeing no purpose in throwing precious lives away in the grinding trench warfare favoured by the Iron Warriors and Imperium. This planet was worthless to them. For now it was sufficient that the Aeldari presence here pushed the conflict towards a stalemate and denied any side full control of a world that was strategically critical to them both.