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.