In 07.012M42 the Perseus Deeps once again proved to be the most active theatre of war in the Aleph Sector, despite Alexander's crusade in the Rim Worlds and the ever increasing threat to the Zadoc subsector posed by hive fleet Nemesis.
The Tau were eager to consolidate their Empire, worried by the twin threats of the Imperium and the Necrons Empire, now known as the Harakhty Dynasty, but found themselves raided by the forces of chaos from the neighbouring system of Carnage. The Tau had plans to invade Carnage, something which wasn't a well kept secret, and so raids on their military build up became increasingly common in 07.012M42, as the chaos forces, lead by the Conquerers of Gorgoroth, attempted to postpone the inevitable while the Tau constructed a new massive starbase in the Parataea system.
On the ground commander Moonshine took charge of defensive operations, and his changes to the defensive tactics of the Tau Empire had significant positive effects, enabling the Tau to more effectively deal with small chaos forces landed in secret, by fortifying each key position. In addution Moonshine's ideas proved equally suited to the war against the Necrons on Parataea, as the Tau were able to penetrate the dark side of the planet, uncovering many previously unknown Necron strongpoints which were then eradicated. The Necrons launched a co-ordinated counter attack once the Tau intentions became clear, but once again the temporary fortifications erected by the Tau proved decisive in protecting them from the worst the Necrons threw at them. By the end of the month the Necrons had been cleared from 95% of the planet's surface, and the starbase was almost complete.
Elsewhere in the Perseus Deeps the Necrons ruthlessly pursued their campaign of expansion. On Gamordal the Necrons unleashed a massive new offensive, overwhelming the Librians & Prozans at Kerash Opticia and Southrine in a series of costly battles which saw the total destruction of the defenders. The Imperial forces were unprepared for the Necron attack and suffered badly, with Southrine and its mines taken within days of the offensive. Despite utilising the Prozan Air Cavalry, the Necrons controlled they skies, shooting down any Valkyrie or Vulture which attempted to enter the battle. The Librians suffered as well, losing their tanks and equipment, retreating in disarray to Gamordal, which by 0108.012M42 looked at risk of being cut off. On Corticant, General Veers began plans to reinforce the planet, which now looked at risk of falling to the Harakhty Dynasty.
On Calliden the implacable advance of the Necrons continued, with the cities of Hextrac and Durin falling after the Claws of Lorek were massacred in a major set piece battle in the plains between the two cities. As soon as the news reached the chaos cities of the disaster in the plains, many of the defenders fled, retreating to Iron Warriors held cities in the north, hoping the barren wastes of the Caldar plateau would protect them from the advancing metal warriors. With almost half the planet taken, the Necrons decided it was time to offer terms to the battered servants of chaos...
With the Necrons advancing on Gamordal and Calliden, the eldar campaign was in a shambles. Sentinel had been taken but the Calliden adventure had been a disaster. Mindful of the difficulty in attacking a major world, the eldar next targeted Carnage, a smaller world than Calliden, as the next in their line of conquest. The initial attacks went well, with the Conquerers of Gorgoroth defeated on the ground and a bridghead established. Only time would tell if the eldar could take the planet before the necrons turned their attention to it, while the domain of chaos shrunk ever smaller.
Following the disastrous initial invasion of New Sparta by the Imperium, General Alexander was keen to try again with minimal delay. It was clear that the forces of Chaos in the Rim Worlds had been underestimated, but on 2007.012M42 Alexander heard he was to be granted double the forces to support his campaign in the Zadoc subsector. Encouraged by this the General summoned his Colonels and put together a plan to reinvade New Sparta.
This time the Astarted weren't invited. Alexander would do it all himself, with Guard forces, and allow the Space Wolves to take the blame for the first invasion. With this in mind the Prozan 8th and Librian 14th Regiments were chosen to lead the initial attack on the Chaos world, which had been substantially fortified since it fell to chaos four years earlier.
The Prozan and Librian Guard regiments landed on New Sparta at night in an uninhabited rocky wilderness. An entire base camp with defensive walls was set up within ten hours, large enough to accomodate a landing strip and hangers for an entire naval air wing. The ten thousand troops of the Librian regiment then moved out, leaving a small defensive force and the Prozan 8th behind at "Camp Alexander".
At first progress was good with negligible resistance, until the Librian forward elements reached a set of pre-prepared fortifications barring their way to the main hinterland of the world. After a brief reconnaissance it became clear that only a small force of Lorek's traitor marines held the fortifications, and that a full frontal assault should overwhelm them. To Colonel Barker in charge of the operation, it looked like a trap, but one he was prepared to spring...
As the Librians advanced on the defenders the air crackled and buzzed with unearthly energies, and Barker's hunch was very quickly proved correct, as the Claws of Lorek were suddenly reinforced by a surging horde of daemons, led by no fewer than three monstrous daemonic entities, which quickly moved to strike at the Librian's left flank.
Within minutes of the daemons appearing the Librian assault all but halted. The daemons mainly attacked the Librian left wing, and here they obliterated Leman Russ and massacred infantry squads who had scrambled in vain to take up defensive positions. Barker himself was cut down by a towering daemonic entity, and after several hours of fierce fighting the Librian nerve was beginning to crack.
Fortunatley before his untimely demise the Librian Colonel has sent for assistance. The forces of Chaos had shown their hand and now the Prozan Cavalry were sent in to finish them. Minutes later the scream of jets was heard over the battlefield as Valkyries, Vendettas and Vultures joined the fray. At the same time the Librian's reserve of mechanised infantry and hellhound tanks was thrown in to try to turn the Chaos flank, and the combined firepower of the Imperial tanks and aircraft was awesome to behold.
The larger daemons were dealt with first, sent back to the immaterium by concentrated plasma and lascannon fire. Then The smaller daemons felt the full firepower of the Prozan airborne cavalry, before the transport aircraft dropped off their infantry to secure vital objectives.
As evening approached the Imperial line had held, and a breach in the Chaos defences had been made and was now being exploited by the remaining Librian armour units. With the daemon threat largely lifted, the Claws of Lorek now started to suffer withering fire from the Imperial Guard on the ground, and before night fell they had abandonned their defensive line and fallen back to the next one. The Imperial advance had succeeded and Alexander had broken out of his bridgehead. The Prozan's lost a number of aircraft and the Librians a fair few tanks, but together the infantry had held firm in the face of a terrifying enemy and secured a foothold on New Sparta.
The war on Calliden continued into late 07.012M42 with the Necrons continuing their advance north. On 2007.M42 the Iron Warriors continued their offensive against the Eldar, pushing the front line back so that the Eldar controlled and ever decreasing pocket of land. By 2207.012M42 the Eldar realised that they would be unable to hold the Iron Warriors without committing thousands of troops, something they were not willing to sacrifice just yet, and abandonned the world, at least for now. The Iron Warriors had seen of the Eldar threat and now turned south west to face the Necrons.
Unfortunately for the Iron Warriors, while they were busy mopping up the Eldar, the Necrons chose to launch their new offensive hundreds of miles west, against the section of the line held by the Conquerers of Gorgoroth. Very quickly the human forces were overwhelmed by the alien advance and the traitor legions of Gorgoroth were required to counter attack to hold the line. The counter attack was however a disaster which saw entire units of traitor astartes wiped out, and their equipment turned into molten slag. Seeing this panic swept up and down the human lines and a section of the front fifty miles long simply collapsed, allowing the Necrons to exploit through the gap, trapping some 300,000 traitor guardsmen in the process.
Upon hearing the news of the collapse in the west, the Iron Warriors quickly moved to establish a new defensive line extending from Hextrac and Durin. This they achieved, stabilising and shortening the line to only a few hundred miles long. However, as the Iron Warriors began fortifying their new defences, it became abundantly clear to the beseiged citizens of Velorur that they were to be sacrificed. After a period of resistance to put on a show, the Necrons easily took the city, their fourth since the campaign began. The region of Midland had fallen and now the north of Calliden and the Caldar plateau lay wide open should the Hextrac-During line be breached.
Tyranid activity in the Perseus Deeps increased in the second half of 07.012M42, as it became clearer that 010M42 and 011M42's event on Enaloth may have been a precursor to a full splinter fleet rather than a rogue tendril. On 1807.012M42 the Tau colony of Parius reported alien activity, and the Hunter Cadre sent to investigate was badly mauled while trying to clear one of their settlements of the Tyranid menace. The Tau were forced to pull back and surrender the settlement to Nemesis, at least for the time being, until maximum force could be brought to bear.
Meanwhile a similar sized encounter was going on on the Necron world of Enaloth. After protracted fighting with the Necrons ont he predominantly barren world, the Tyranids eventually withdrew, even though they had bested the Necrons in the combat. It almost seemd to Imperial analyticae that Nemesis had no real interest in existing Necron Worlds, but was a direct competitor in resources regarding the rest of the worlds in the Perseus Deeps. Nemesis appeared to understand that the Necron Empire, or Harakhty Dynasty, was intent on dominating the Deeps and enslaving its population to its will, while the Tyranids were themselves intent on harvesting the natural resources of the region. These objectives being clearly incompatible, were apparently leading to Nemesis deliberately attempting to reduce the Necrons' war making assets. In other words Nemesis was participating in grand strategy.
My lord,
As you requested here is a summary of our current strategic position in the Aleph Sector.
The Aleph Sector, divided into the Aleph, Vastrid, Zadoc and Valitane subsectors contains within it vast areas which are not designated to belong to a particlar subsector, such as the Aurelis Deeps region and the Perseus Deeps. In this summary I shall only consider the two theatres of war which are currently active, those of the Perseus Deeps and the Zadoc subsector.
The Imperium currently only has one loyal major world in the Aleph subsector, the rest being held by the rebellious Federacy, and while re-conquest of this region is desirable, it is not of the highest priority. Similarly actions in the Vastrid sector are minimal, while the Valitane subsector remains at peace. The Vastrid sector has seen greater security following the successful crusade against chaos and as such I recommend we keep strategic asset concentrations as they are. A single rapid reaction battlegroup should suffice, led by one battleship and containing no more than ten Imperial Guard regiments, although General Pollack will probably ask for far more resources.
The Zadoc Subsector
Primary Threats: Nemesis, Tau, Orks
Following the loss of Tarsis Major to the Tau we have seen nothing but reversals in this subsector. Betor has been consumed by the Tyranid menace and Alphe is now infested. This has lead to a 75% reduction in the import of foodstuffs on Zadoc itself. While Libria is marginally self sufficient in food, Zadoc, the subsector capital, is not. There have been a number of food riots and the average consumption of calories per day has shrunk to 1500 per person. Tyranteous has responded, exporting 135% of its normal yield, but we urgently need to open a new route for the import of staple foods, or I fear the population of Zadoc may look elsewhere for deliverance. Already chaos cults have been uncovered and there is a growing federacy leaning within the political elite. This may need intervention, but our forces are not strong enough to face the enemies within as well as those without.
The Tau continue to threaten expansion into the Zadoc subsector, but their strength has been spent in their Tarsis and Melberg campaigns, and their bases in the Perseus Deeps have come under threat from the Necrons. I do not forsee a new campaign in the Zadoc subsector by the Tau in the near future, but the loss of the Mabb Nebula would almost certainly see them attempt to wrestle Tyranteous from our grasp, with the obvious dire consequences for Zadoc and to a lesser extent Libria.
The Orks have been stirring of late in the Vork Ork Expanse, and the risk of a new Waagh! is increased. This would likely see aggressive ork actions in the Mabb Nebula and even threaten Zadoc and Tyranteous. Nemesis meanwhile continues to menace at the fringes of the region, and I fear that without decisive action to eliminate the core hive fleet, their projected paths will diverge - one laying waste to much of the Mabb Nebula, the other scouring the Rim World before passing into the Perseus Deeps. We must make a stand against the foul aliens soon.
I recommend the increase of General Alexander's forces to two full battlegroups. The first is already at Alexander's disposal. The second should be pulled from General Veers, as I will explain in my analysis of the situation of the Perseus Deeps. I have also concluded that General Alexander's priorities are correct. We should strike first in the Rim Worlds then join up with Veers in an assault against chaos at Grimlock. This would open a second reliable route into the subsector free from Tau blockade, greatly easing the food shortages on Zadoc. In addition many of the Rim Worlds themselves are fit to be developed into agri-worlds. Since the Tau are as yet weak and the orks only stirring, Alexander has a window of opportunity to clear the Rim Worlds. Then his force can be redeployed to clear the orks and Tau from the Shadow Worlds in the Mabb Nebula. In time this will isolate Tarsis Major and make possible a new campaign there, thos analyticae suggest this may take a number of years.
The Perseus Deeps
Primary Threats: Necrons, Chaos, Eldar
The Perseus Deeps crusade has achieved much, and the strength of the chaos threat to the Vastrid subsector is now minimal. However the further prosecution of the crusade against chaos now seems detrimental to our overall short and medium term aims (much to General Veers' disapproval!). The threat of the emerging Necron Empire is of primary concern, as is the strange new campaign of the Eldar, who have already taken Sentinel and seem intent on taking a number of worlds in the Deeps. As yet (to no great surprise from me) our colleagues in the Inquisition have failed to discern the eldar motives, but it is of no consequence in my analysis of the Imperial strategic position in the region.
I recommend that the gains of Veers' crusade be reinforced with at least one hundred more Imperial Guard regiments. The Astartes are already providing a much needed rapid reaction force, and it is my recommendation that we fortify our hard won gains in the Deeps but at the same time strip Veers of one naval battlegroup, with our naval colleagues' consent, to deploy to the Zadoc subsector as explained above. It is critical that we fight for every inch of ground on Gamador and Ares, though their loss would not be catastrophic. Above all we must not lose Bastien and Parthenope, lest the Vastrid subsector come under renewed threat from an alien menace. I have neglected to consider the Federacy and Tau as a credible threat in the Deeps. The Federacy have shown no expansionist vigour and the Tau are as much under threat from the Necron advance as we are. If they should offer an alliance in the Deeps against the Necrons, we should accept. The Necrons are a far greater threat, and once they are eliminated, the Tau will be a trifling matter by comparison.
I hope you find this summary useful. I look forward to our meeting next week.
Yours,
Drevin Lourd
Imperial Chief of Staff, Aleph Sector
Attache to Lord General Thaddeus Roover
While General Veers remained on the defensive in the Perseus Deeps, General Alexander was keen to go on the attack with his newly reinforced battlegroup. His invasion of Rhesius was going well, and the general was looking for new targets to assault, keen to clear the Rim Worlds of chaos presence before moving on to his cherished aim, the invasion of Grimlock. After this, Veers could continue the struggle against chaos and Alexander would move on to the Mabb Nebula, clearing the Orks and Tau settlements there and then finally allowing a renewed camapign against the Tau held Tarsis Major.
If Alexander remained in charge of the battlegroup which achieved all this, his heroic status as a mighty Imperial warlord would be secured, but as of 07.012M42 Alexander hadn't as yet managed to achieve his first objective. In addition he hadn't accounted for the renewed vigour of Hive Fleet Nemesis in the Zadoc subsector, but as yet this was of little concern. The war on Betor was dragging on and the minor splinter fleet which had obliterated chaos forces on Typhon were insignificant in Alexander's eyes. Even the loss of Betor, which had by now caused food shortages on Zadoc itself, was a minor inconvenience to the General, who above all wanted his own share of the glory.
To achieve his first objective, Alexander called a war council which included his regimental colonels and a Space marine captain of the Space Wolves chapter. Within hours the council had their plan, and Clinton-Baker's naval battlegroup began to move out of the Rhesius system en route to the new target of New Sparta.
The Prozan cavalry and a few units of Space Wolves were given the task of assaulting the capital of Rhesius, Simius. This they began on 1207.012M42, against determined Anticross resistance. The Imperial forces were then stunned to find themselves fighting Tau units, who had apparently arrived unseen by the Imperial navy, and deployed an entire hunter cadre to aid the forces of chaos. The cadre was deterined to be one reporting to the Tau commander Moonshine, and Imperial intelligence correctly determined the Tau plans. Clearly the Tau understood that after the Rim Worlds, an assault on the Shadow Worlds would follow. In addition the Imperial domination of the Rim Worlds and Grimlock would allow them to completely blockade Tarsis Major, putting the entire Aleph expansion sphere under threat. While the Tau had no love for the forces of Chaos, their occupation of the Rim Worlds had been little more than an annoyance, and the Tau ethereals reasoned that it was better to fight the Imperium on chaos held territory rather than wait until the fight came to them.
Even with this reinforcement, the forces of chaos were unable to stop the irresistable advance of the Prozan Cavalry. The guard regiment worked well with the Space Wolves, and after a day of heavy fighting, Simius had been cleared, the remaining Anticross survivors melting into the vast hinterlands of the world. Their Tau allies were less fortunate. Despite losing comparatively few troops in the actual fighting, most of the Tau were captured by the Imperium, only to be put to death for consorting with the great enemy. A lucky few made it back to waiting Mantas to be evacuated from Rhesius, leaving Tau command to question their new strategy.
While Rhesius was taken, the invasion of New Sparta was an abject failure which enraged the Imperial general. Imperial spies had failed to notice that the Tau were not the only ally the forces of chaos had managed to recruit. On Rhesius the Claws of Lorek were ably aided by a large horde of ork mercenaries, and no sooner had the Imperium landed than they were subject to a vicious and bloody counter attack, led by ork warbikes. The bikes in particular caused carnage in the Space Wolf ranks, before obliterating the guardsmen who had landed with them. Despite a spirited counter attack from Librian veterans, who managed somehow to gun down a charging daemon prince, and an effective if rather late flank attack from elite space wolf units, on 1807.012M42 it became clear that the imperial perimeter was compromised, and Alexander reluctantly ordered a withdrawl, his dreams of lasting glory at least temporarily put on hold.
Following the successful capture of Sentinel in 05.012M42, the eldar forces in the Perseus Deeps had been occupied fighting necron forces and chaos on Calliden, so when the invasion of Ares came in 07.012M42 the Imperium were terribly underprepared. The settlement of Hephath station, so recently devastated by the fighting which liberated the world from chaos, fell quickly, and General Veers was forced once again to defend one of his newly won worlds from a new alien threat.
Within days of the invasion the local PDF, as well as a regiment of Librian Guard, on garisson duty on the small world, were reinforced by a company of Space Wolves acting as a rapid reaction force. The Space Wolves, supported by the Librian regiment, launched a frontal assault on Hephath station on 1407.012M42 and soon encountered strong resistance from eldar forces, including those of the Rillietan faction. The eldar counter attacked swiftly, collapsing the Librian right flank while the Space Wolves encountered heavy and withering fire from carefully placed war walkers. In a matter of hours the Imperial attack was in disarray, and the guard regiments pulled back to the capital. The Space Wolves fought on for some time, but realised the attack had failed and withdrew to the central plains of Ares from where they could launch new lightning assaults as needed.
By 1807.012M42 the eldar were firmly entrenched in the north of the habitable region of Ares, and Veers began fortifying the neighbouring cites of Ares city and Caeralon. All offensive plans in the Perseus Deeps were cancelled as the Imperium tried desperately to hold on to their hard won gains in the crusade against chaos, in the face of rising Xenos threats.
While the eldar made gains on Ares, another setback on Calliden brought their whole campaign on the major chaos world into question. The eldar needed to secure the world, along with many others, for reasons which the other races of the galaxy were not yet aware, and would fight tenaciously to do so. However on 1507.012M42 a combined assault by the Claws of Lorek and a summoned daemonhost resulted in heavy and protracted fighting in the Eldar occupied Midland region of the planet. The Claws and their allies raced along the western coastal strip, clearing the eldar away from the sea of Tarsh, and pushed the invaders back hundreds of miles from around the city of Durin. By 1807.012M42 after almost constant battles, the chaos forces had blugeoned their way to within fifty miles of the besieged city of Velorur, and the eldar territorial gains had been reduced to a shrinking pocket on the Velur isthmus. Now the strength and power of the eldar was being seriously questioned. Did they have the resources and manpower to sustain a campaign on two fronts on a heavily populated major world?
By early 07.012M42 General Alexander had managed to build up the forces of his battlegroup to go on the offensive in the Zadoc subsector. Alexander was acutely aware of the scrutiny he was now under from his superiors and the Commisariat. At his disposal Alexander had the naval battlegroup of Commodore Clinton-Baker, led by the powerful Oberon class battleship Royal Sovereign. His ground forces had swelled to include twelve Librian regiments, five Prozan regiments, several specialised reserve companies and the aid of at least two Space Marine companies from the Dark Angels and Ultramarines chapters.
Although this force sounded formidable, Alexander was still forced to fight a war on many fronts and two main theatres. He knew this wasn't something he could do simultaneously. His naval forces would have to be concentrated to achieve overwhelming force, and even then a concerted attack from his enemies may overwhelm Clinton-Baker's battlegroup.
In the Mabb nebula Imperial forces were fighting hard to maintain their bridgehead on Va Doran, but wider strategy made the Rim worlds a higher priority. By striking the last vestige of the Chaos Empire, Caitlen Station would be relieved of its constant watch against Moonface and his allies, and Grimlock could be invaded. If Grimlock could be taken, the Zadoc subsector would be cleared of the Chaos threat, and General Veers would be able to re-start his campaign in the Perseus Deeps, as the remaining Chaos strongholds in the region would be totally isolated. In the Mabb Nebula defeat of the Tau and Orks was desirable, but would take more careful planning and thought. For now the Imperial forces on Va Doran would have to wait to be resupplied.
Imperial strategists determined that Rhesius would make the ideal base of operations. The hot and mainly desert covered world was once a home for pirates and outlaws, before its invasion by the Tau in 008M42. That occupation itself only lasted three months, before the Night Lords established their dominance and set up a Chaos worshipping government. However, since the decline of the Chaos Empire's power, Imperial intelligence estmated that the belligerent forces on the world had dwindled to perhaps a company or two of Traitor Marines and less than a regiment of planetary defeders. As a Chaos world, there remained the danger of summoned daemons, and as Alexander's battlegroup approach, there was a heated discussion over what to do with Imperial regiments should they be exposed to the denizens of the warp.
The battleplan for the invasion was simple and centred around the two major settlements that the half a million strong population of Rhesius clustered around. The capital Simius, and the second city McCak, were situated close to the equator near tropical oases, the only sources of water on the otherwise barren world. In addition, Alexander knew that to take the world quickly, he would need to neutralise the threat from the defence lasers which covered the twin cities.
The Ultramarines chapter were sent in just ahead of the main force, peeling away from the fleet and speeding towards their target. The Astartes warriors landed on 0507.012M42 and began a lightning assault against the Rhesius defence lasers. The Conquerers of Gorgoroth reacted swiftly, counter attcking using their highly mobile elite marines, but the Ultramarines were able to block their advance. Vicious fighting erupted, but the defence lasers were destroyed, allowing Alexander's main battleforce to deploy and set up a defended perimeter between the major cities.
The next phase of the invasion saw a double advance. Intelligence identified that the major enemy force concentrations were situated in the city of McCak, so Alexander sned the bulk of his invasion force, the Librian 86th and the Dark Angels, towards this objective. Meanwhile the Prozan Cavalry were detailed to launch a lightning assault against the capital, as the defenders there seemed to consist of a few thousand poorly equipped cultists.
The assault on McCak started well, but the expected counter assault happened as the Imperium reached the ruins of the original Rhesius Tau base. Forces of the Anticross and the Claws of Lorek attacked in a wide front, advancing towards the Imperial forces across the jungle terrain. The Chaos forces however lacked significant long range firepower, and the Dark Angels and Librian forces worked together to maximise their effectiveness. The Imperial Guard forces were able to outflank the Claws of Lorek while the Dark Angels fought a vicious action in the centre of the front line. Meanwhile on the left flank Anticross forces wiped out the thinly spread Librians, but this had been the intention all along. The Anticross, despite the utilisation of the corruptig power of the warp, were unable to redeploy their forces quickly, and massed battle cannon fire from Librian Leman Russ battle tanks caused carnage in their ranks.
By 0707.012M42 Alexander's invasion force had captured the city of McCak with fairly light casualties, while decimating their enemy. Unfortunately in Simius the Prozan Cavalry were suddenly surprised by the summoning of a daemonic host, as Alexander had feared. The battle centred on an important icon of Chaos which the Imperium had identified was the reason so many daemons could be summoned so easily, but despite repeated attacks the Prozans were unable to wrestle the arcane device from the Chaos forces defending the city. Even so the Prozan's fought tenaciously and the majority of the daemonic forces were obliterated. However the Prozan's lost a large number of men and most of their airborne equipment, and the assault on the capital was called off. Alexander surrounded the city and began preparations for a second assault, hoping the failure of the Prozan attack wouldn't allow time for Admiral Thok or the Catechism fleet to intervene on Rhesius.
The war on Calliden continued into 07.012M42 with vicious fighting on the Necron and Eldar fronts. On 0307.012M42 the Iron Warriors launched a concerted offensive against the Eldar incursion in the Midland region between the cities of Hextrac and Durin, driving towards the easternmost city in order to lift the seige it had endured for over a month. As usual the most powerful Chaos faction inflicted heavy losses on the Eldar and their line buckled under the relentless pressure. After a week the line had retreated almost a hundred miles and the siege of Durin had been lifted.
Meanwhile in the south the Necrons finally made contact with the Eldar blocking their advance into the Chaos heartlands of Calliden. The Necron invaders had surrounded the major Chaos city of Velorur, and in doing so reached the Eldar sector of the front in Midland. Before long the two forces clashed, but the Necrons proved to be stronger, gradually easing their way into the Midland region and reducing the Eldar perimeter.
On 1007.012M42 the Rillietan faction of the Eldar realised they needed to become involved to prevent the Eldar pocket on Calliden disappearing altogether. Calliden was still vital to the Eldar strategic plan, and loss of the planet to Necrons was just as bad to it remaining in Chaos hands. The Rillietan chose to attack the forces of Chaos in the north, outflanking the strong Iron Warriors force and assaulting the weaker flanks of the recent Chaos advance, defended by the Conquerers of Gorgoroth.
The Conquerers suffered badly to the Rillietan lightning assault, and suffered serious casualties. By 1207.012M42 the Chaos forces had retreated to shorten their defence lines, and the Rillietan had once again expanded the Eldar bridgehead on the world. They still hadn't managed to take any of the major settlements on Calliden, but the Eldar were now effectively the filling in a Chaos-Necron sandwich.
In the middle of 012M42 the tendrils of Nemesis reached ever further into the Zadoc subsector. Before too long Imperial intelligence identified at least two splinters of the main hive fleets, making different tracks through the region. The first made its presence known in the Rim Worlds as the minor agricultural world of Typhon, which had belonged to the Catechism since 008M42.
Since the disappearance of Moonface, Typhon had served merely as a garrison world for the many factions of Chaos, as well as a source of food for the Chaos armies. When the Tyranids attacked on 0207.012M42 the first meaningful resistance they encountered was from the Conquerers of Gorgoroth, but Nemesis had little difficulty in sweeping the Chaos legionaries aside and pushing on to the central facilities of Typhon.
Although a relatively moderate invasion, the Tyranids stills warmed across the surface of the planet, massacring inhabitants and sampling the local flora and fauna for genetic complexity. Nemesis had clearly identified that the Rim worlds were rich in biomass, both amount and complexity, and yet were relatively lightly defended in comparison to the major worlds of the subsector. To the cool unemotional logic of the hive mind, the Rim Worlds represented a profitable enterprise, so long as no side sent major reinforcements. In addition it seemed as though the Hive Mind had sensed the weakness of the Chaos empire, and chosen their moment to strike with careful consideration for the strategic situation. This highly intelligent behaviour was concealed from all but the most senior members of the Inquisition, as assigning so much sentience to the alien threat was heresy. Better that the masses regarded the Tyranids as mindless monsters to be slaughtered.
On Typhon, after the inital spectacular gains, the Claws of Lorek did manage to check the Tyranid advance and deal a heavy blow to the invading forces. Fighting stubbornly and even mounting a counter attack, the outnumbered traitor marines mobilised the local population, and fought tooth and nail for every farm and installation. By 1207.012M42 the invasion had stalled, but the capital Rim World Prime had fallen, and all but a few facilites had been overrun by the alien hordes.
The second splinter fleet made its way into the Mabb nebula, attacking the Orks on fort Sparcos. The Orks would have been utterly unprepared for the Tyranid invasion, had the Rillietan not stirred them up in a lightning assault just days before. Even so, the ferocity of the Tyranid assault took its toll on the Orks and in just a few days the greenskins had lost thousands of troops and much of their equipment. The remaining Ork forces turned tail and fled for the fortifications which ringed the Imperial fort itself, and prepared themselves for the next battle.
The concerns raised by Tau analysts on increasing levels activity by the forces of Chaos proved well founded. In what was clearly intended to be a quick in and out raid Traitor Marines attacked a small outpost on Paratea. The Tau's surveillance network was quick to detect their incursion and a Hunter Cadre was deployed to the target site before the Marines could complete their raid and withdraw. In a brief but brutal fire fight the Chaos forces suffered heavy losses and the remainder withdrew. Conscious of the increasing number of threats developing in the region the Tau began work on a second major fleet base to shore up their holdings in the region.
Ever since the destruction of the Imperial beachhead at Run'al 5 the Tau had held back from further major actions, instead content to take a steady toll on Imperial forces and wait for their supplies to become critically low. However, when Shadowstrike received intelligence from his fleet in orbit that an armoured column was making its way unsupported through the valleys beneath Mesme Tol the opportunity to inflict major losses was too good to pass up.
As the armoured column entered the outskirts of a destroyed settlement the Tau struck. Their ambush was perfectly timed and most of the Librian's APCs were destroyed in the opening salvo. Most would have retreated before such heavy losses, but the Librian Guard displayed suicidal bravery by continuing to press onwards. The Tau maintained their hail of fire and one by one the Imperial tanks detonated as hyper-velocity rounds punched through their armour as if it were paper.
As soon as they received the distress call from the armoured column a formation of Prozan Cavalry was dispatched in an attempt to save the company. When the Tau air cover picked them up on their scanners the ambushers retreated, their job done. The Librian company had been almost totally annihilated for near no loss to the tau, but their bravery and stubborn resistance had prevented a major Tau breakthrough. The Librian commander was posthumously awarded the Imperial Cross for his valour and resolve.
Although the Tau had halted their expansion plans for the time being they continued to keep a wary eye on emerging threats throughout the Aleph Sector. The sharp increase in activity by the Catechism indicated that the debased Chaos worshippers might be stirring from their long dormancy and Tau Intelligence was concerned that they might threaten the security of the Empire's new holdings in the Zadoc subsector. Anxious to acquire more information a small task force was dispatched to monitor the heart of Chaos activity at Grimlock.
It was simple bad luck that the monitoring station was discovered having only been in place for a few days. The operation was supposed to have been a covert one and the lone Fire Caste cadre deployed to the planet was insufficient to protect the installation from a major attack. The Tau began an immediate evacuation but the Catechism responded quickly and the Tau soon found themselves fighting for their very survival. Despite putting up a spirited defence they could not hope to hold back the Chaos forces for long. Although most of their personnel were evacuated much of their equipment had to be abandoned as Traitor Marines overran the base.
Any further ground missions were considered too risky, the Tau would have to monitor the Catechism from space from now on.
Meanwhile the Dark Eldar continued their raids, this time venturing further afield and attacking Catechism installations on the base of Aornis. Aornis had been fought over many times by Imperial, Tau and Chaos forces between 008M42 and 009M42, but the base's defences had been scaled back after years of "peaceful" Chaos rule, and with increasing demands for men and equipment elsewhere in the sector.
Never-the-less the Catechism were still deployed in force on Aornis when the Dark Eldar attacked. However the forces of Chaos were unable to match the speed and firepower of the pinpoint raid, and the Dark Eldar departed after causing significant damage and collecting a profitable catch of slaves to take back to Commorragh.
Since the Tarsis Major campaign of 008-011M42 the Orks had not been all that aggressive in the Zadoc subsector despite having a large number of bases and a large populated world in Kallack. After the fall of Warlords Nazghat and Thrugnik after the abortive invasion Tarsis, the Orks had, for the most part, gone back to fighting with themselves and leaving the Tau and Imperium to argue over their holdings in the Mabb nebula.
Despite redeploying Battlegroup Alexander to the Mabb Nebula in 012M42, Lord General Roover had ordered his subordinate to focus his efforts against the Tau, believing the Orks to be quiescant. Then in 06.012M42, signs began to appear that the Orks were beginning to stir once more.
The Imperial Navy reported a higher incidence of pirate raids, and the sudden proliferation from the Ork Roks in the Bothorion and Kallack systems following routine observation patrols. The Orks were gearing up for war and making no attempt at subterfuge. However the Imperial intelligence gathered couldn't guess where the Orks were going to head, and had no information as to whether a new Ork warlord had risen to pre-eminance in Ork society.
The first real impacts of the growing Ork bellicosity were felt on Fort Sparcos, where the Prozan Cavalry had recently deployed to the hard won Imperial bridghead on the world. Alexander intended to retake the fort itself - at some point - so he could outflank the Tau bases on Hylas and Memnon. However he failed to take the Ork threat seriously, and in mid 06.012M42 all contact was lost with Imperial forces on Fort Sparcos. Despite reacting quickly to the Ork attack when it came, the Prozans were annihilated, and Alexander lost nearly a tenth of his fighting force in one fell swoop.
More attacks were to follow. While the Tau fleet was led a merry dance around the Nebula by Ork pirates, the world of Va'Doran, an active warzone between the Imperium and the Tau, came under attack from Ork aircraft dropping from a fleet which had arrived several days earlier. The Tau air cadre scrambled units to face the Ork threat, but found themselves out manouevred, out gunned and out fought, resulting in the loss of over a third of the Tau atmospheric aircraft strength. The Orks didn't press this attack however, and for now the Imperium and Tau forces in the Mabb Nebula were left trying to fathom what on earth was going on in the Zadoc subsector. At the same time, more worrying news from the Vork Ork Expanse suggested a massive buildup underway. A new Waagh was predicted to occur within the next five standard Terran years...
During late 05.012M42, the eldar were once again in action. Following their combined victory over the Imperium and Chaos on Sentinel, the small world of Skera now became the focus of their attention. As they had on Calliden and Blight, the eldar sent a small force, this time of eldar corsairs, to test the defences of the world, and do as much damage as possible, in order to pave the way for the full invasion.
The eldar corsairs used the intact webway to navigate to the former tau colony on 2805.012M42. They found the world completely changed, with the necrons having turned it into a small fortress, parading day and night before their overlords in the newly raised tomb cities. Before long the eldar corsairs were spotted, and the necrons turned on the raiders with savage ferocity. Using alien war engines and phalanxes of automaton warriors, the necrons savaged the eldar corsairs, who quickly withdrew to their webway portal. Skera would take a serious invasion to shift the defenders, and on 0106.012M42 an enormous energy spike signalled the activation of a new powerful necron starbase in the Perseus Deeps.
General Pollack regained the initiative on Gabriel's World in late 05.012M42 with another attack by the Prozan Cavalry. By now the Orks in the north and south had linked up, following the defeats of the Imperial Guard and Red Angels earlier in the month. The Salamanders had held the line in front of Gabriel's Landing, and now the Ork horde was vulnerable, out in the open rather than hiding in the mountainous regions of the planet.
To take advantage of the confusion wrought by the Salamanders, Pollack ordered in the Prozan Cavalry once again, and in the more favourable terrain the Vendettas and Valkyries of the Imperial Guard were able to inflict significant damage on the Ork Warbands in the plains in front of Gabriel's landing, forcing the greenskins to once again flee to the more easily defensible hills. Of note was the appearance of yet another Ork warband known to the Aleph sector, bringing the number of discreet groups of Orks on Gabriel's World to three. Pollack was ordered to finish the job on Gabriel's World before it became the focus for a new Waagh!
Although much of its strength was engaged in its ongoing consumption of Alphe or still travelling through the black depths of the void Nemesis continued to send probe fleets ahead of its main tendrils in search of vulnerable worlds. One such probe made its way into the Perseus Deeps and released spores into the atmosphere of Gamador. The Necrons responded immediately and deployed forces to the landing sites with the intention of exterminating the invading Tyranids before they could gain a foothold.
The speed and ferocity that had proved so effective against the forces of the Imperium failed to make much of an impact on the implacable Necrons. Some isolated swarms did break through the hail of fire and succeed in eliminating pockets of Necrons but the Tyranids were quickly cleansed from the planets surface. The probe fleet found that the Necrons were widespread throughout the Perseus Deeps.
The Hive Mind processed this information and determined that the barren tomb worlds of the Necrons were too well defended to justify such slim pickings.
During the latter half of 05.012M42 General Pollack was unable to make headway against the Orks. On 1705.012M42 a sudden surprise attack out of the southern mountainous region, taking the Red Angel company stationed at the southern extreme of Imperial control by surprise. As usual the Red Angels lacked significant vehicle support, which was the primary reason why Pollack requested the Astartes act as sentries, and as the day wore on the massed horde of Greenskins began to overwhelm the Astartes positions. The Red Angels were only saved by the sudden onset of darkness and the planet's ionizing radiation, which made continuing the advance impossible.
During the night the Red Angels withdrew. As the morning of 1805.012M42 began the extent of the greenskin assault became apparent. The low hills where the mountains reached the plains were overrun with Orks and their equipment, and the army created huge plumes of smoke and dust around it. From the city of Gabriel's landing the entire Ork horde then came into view as the mass of aliens poured onto the plain, supported by Stompas and hundreds of crude tanks.
Fortunately Pollack had an ample reserve force to deal with such an attack. Finally the orks had shown their hand and appeared on terrain favourable to his forces, although the size of the ork force caused more than a few raised eyebrows.
Pollack could call on the help of two companies of Salamanders, several Guard regiments and three precious titans from the Legio Crucius, and in the ensuing battle the actions of the Reaver and two Warhound companions were critical.
The ork horde charged forward on a broad front, entering the outskirts of Gabriel's Landing on 1905.012M42. Pollack decided to send the Salamanders out in front to blunt the Ork attack, while keeping his Guard in reserve. Supported by the titans, the veteran space marines performed well, but were almost overwhelmed by the savagery of the ork attack. In the end superior firepower from the titans (if not superior accuracy from the Reaver) turned the tide, thinning out the ork mobs and allowing the Salamanders to break them up. Gabriel's Landing had been saved, but with Da Verminator's forces joining those native to the Vastrid subsector, Pollack now had a war to fight.
Alarming news reached General Ritchie at his Sentinel HQ on 1605.012M42 as both his own scouts in the Librian 87th and the Space Wolves reported sighting mighty Eldar warmachines which could only be titans. This could only mean the Eldar were preparing a major offensive, and Ritchie gathered a council of war with the Colonels of his Librian and Praetorian regiments, the Space Wolves and the Red Angels, who still managed to field a company despite recent losses.
The strategic position was poor, with the main Eldar force apparently massing between the spaceport and the main Sentinel compound. If left unchecked, a determined Eldar thrust would be able to force its way through the gap and bisect Imperial forces. The loss of Sentinel would then be inevitable without significant reinforcement, and General Veers on Corticant was not at liberty to provide such rescue.
The senior staff on Sentinel discussed battle plans, initially favouring the plan put forward by the Colonel of the Librian 19th Armoured regiment. This plan would see the bulk of the Imperial tanks, supported by three super heavy vehicles, plugging the vulnerable plain and launching an all out charge on their enemy. Then the Space Wolves would drop behind the Eldar and take the spaceport. It was a high risk strategy which put the Librians at risk of having their tanks decimated, but the Imperial Colonel was adamant it would work.
In the end however General Ritchie baulked at such a risk. The titans tipped his decision in favour of a rolling defence. The Space Wolves would still drop in behind enemy lines to capture the vital spaceport, but the new plan was centred around a robust defence of the Imperial compound by the Praetorians. The Librians would be held mostly in reserve to hit the Eldar on the counter attack as they committed their forces.
On 1905.012M42 the final showdown for Sentinel began. As the Eldar appeared through the mist it was obvious the reports had been right, as the warhost was supported by two Revenant titans, which stalked over the battlefield like angry gods. As expected the Praetorians took heavy punishment, but Ritchie still had his reserves and the Space Wolves were waiting in orbit for the opportunity to strike.
As the day wore on, the Praetorians took more and more punishment from the Eldar, a situation not helped by the sudden appearance of the Shattered Silence kabal of Dark Eldar. Throughout the battle Eldar and Dark Eldar fliers dominated the skies, and Ritchie's army suffered greatly from a lack of anti-aircraft fire or air support. Gritting his teeth and with a scowl on his face, Ritchie called on the Librians to advance and take the Eldar in the flank.
Before the command could be obeyed, the Imperium was thrown off balance by a sudden flanking manouevre by the Eldar themselves. Wraithguard and Wraithlords suddenly appeared behind the Librian lines, wiping out much of the lead armoured elements and one of the super heavy tanks. Furious, Ritchie committed the first wave of his reserves. At first this was successful, as armoured fist squads quickly dealt with the Eldar flanking force. The two Shadowsword super heavy tanks however were totally outclassed by the Eldar titans and super heavy Lynx skimmers. Both succumbed to withering firepower before they could do much damage to the titans in return.
As night approached it was clear the Imperial forces were in trouble. The Praetorian defences at the Imperial Compound had collapsed, and Eldar were swarming all over the shattered ruins. In desparation Ritchie sent in his remaining reserves to help the hard pressed Praetorians, but his Hellhounds and Leman Russ were quickly annihilated by the fury of the Revenant's guns. The rest were torn apart by the Shattered Silence, whose sadistic killers were now butchering the guard squads as they tumbled from their ruined transports. The Praetorians died where they stood in disciplined ranks, and the colonel of the Librian 87th was cut down as he fled from single combat with a Dark Eldar lord.
Late in the day the Space Wolves enacted their part of the plan, successfully taking one of their two objectives. However it was far too little, too late. The Imperial guard had been annihilated, and the two titans now stalked the battlefield unchallenged. Ritchie's plan had utterly failed, and Sentinel had been lost. As his time ran out he blamed his own troops, his equipment, and the superiority of the enemy forces, but deep down he knew it was his plan. He should have been bolder and less intimidated by the titans, and it was a mistake which had cost the lives of thousands of his men, and his own. As the Eldar approached the Imperial HQ and the Space Wolves evacuated for the last time, Ritchie knew how he would die as he heard the sound of jackboots approach calmly behind him. The commissar had arrived.
As 05.012M42 progressed, the Necron advance didn't slow, and the alien warriors pushed ever deeper into Chaos held territory. More refugees fled to the supposed safety of the cities in the east, and Lucius and Velorur soon became swamped by terrified people, many of whom were accidentally freed slaves, set free by their masters once they themselves had moved north and east. Many were less fortunate, slaughtered out of hand by their overlords to prevent their use by the advancing Necrons.
Once again the Iron Warriors tried to bolster the defences of the Chaos forces in southern Calliden, but they were hampered by the factional nature of the world's government, as well as the eldar invasion in the Midland region. Even so, the Iron Warriors made a determined stand at Lucius, once again without success, and the city was quickly surrounded and taken. Much of the Chaos force was however evacuated to Seguinius, an island off the southern continent, thanks to the Iron Warriors stubborn resistance.
By 2005.012M42 the Iron Warriors had been forced back to the narrowest part of the landmass connecting Midland to Tarsh, following another heavy defeat in the plains in front of Velorur. Here the forces of Chaos were given a respite as the Necrons consolidated their gains and made plans for a renewed offensive. If the Necrons were to be held it would have to be here, before they took the whole of the south.
In early 05.012M42 the on-off war in the Vastrid sector once again erupted into life as General Pollack was keen to make progress in the Radeon Cluster. The cluster contained several key worlds which if held by the enemy, would provide them with a convenient "back door" to the vital worlds of Vastrid and Gateway.
The arrival of the Prozan Regiments in the sector provided Pollack with the fresh forces he needed to retake the initiative, particularly on the contested system of Gabriel's World. For months the planet had been locked in a stagnating war, with the Imperium controlling the lion's share of the habitable zones, while orks continued to infest the more rugged terrain to the north and south of the equatorial zone. More problematic was the Shattered Silence kabal, who had established a base in the cave system of Hadrada, only 100km from the main Imperial settlement.
Pollack decided to turn north and to defeat both his enemies in a simultaneous offensive. The Librian Guard he had were sent in to contain and destroy the Dark Eldar, while the Orks would face the wrath of the airborne Prozan Cavalry. The assault was a moderate affair, but important to Pollack. He yearned for a larger role in the campaign and hoped one day to take over from General Veers in the Perseus Deeps, a hope ignited by Veers' failure to keep up the momentum of the Crusade.
The Librians engaged the Shattered Silence in the ruins of an old settlement around the mouth of the cave system, before hellhound tanks could get their murderous muzzles into the caves themselves. The Dark Eldar attacked in a tight formation, driving a hole in the Librian line and threatening to split the advance in two. However the Librian armour was a difficult nut to crack, and concentrated fire from hellhounds and Leman Russ ensured that the Dark Eldar, despite their initial success, were unable to push the Imperials back. They came very close to a total defeat, but just as it seemed the Librians would mop them up, the aliens withdrew into the caves. Sometime later penal squads were sent in to investigate, finding no trace of the xenos. Clearly the Shattered Silence had decided against maintaining a presence on the world, now that Pollack had reinforced.
The attack against the Orks went less well. The Prozans flew into battle as heroically as ever, but the Orks responded by charging out of their defended positions towards the flying tanks. This ought to have sealed their doom, but the presence of a deranged mekboy quickly explained why much of the firepower launched against the greenskins seemed to have no effect. The Mek's kustom forcefield protected enough of the Orks for the Waagh! to take hold, and those Valkyries and Vendettas unfortunate enough to be shot down had their crews and passengers savagely butchered. The remaining Prozan troops eventually abandonned the attack after several hours of dogged fighting, allowing the Orks to occupy territory a little closer to the Imperial settlements. Pollack would need more than one regiment of Prozans to root out the greenskin filth and claim the world as pacified in the name of the Emperor.
While the Imperium was fighting on Gabriel's world, the Shattered Silence were once again trying to remove the Necron force from Drift in order to secure it as a base of operations. They had tried before and failed, and on 0805.012M42 they tried again, using the reinforcements from Gabriel's World to launch a major assault against the main Necron tomb complex. Once again they were defeated, as the Necrons implacably defended their stronghold. The irony was that the necrons weren't even particularly interested in the Vastrid subsector, as their major axis of advance was still centred on the Perseus Deeps and would be for some time. Perhaps defeating the Dark Eldar and scuppering their plans merely appealled to whatever was left of the Necron sense of humour.
As 05.012M42 began Veer's had been optimistic. Although Gamador had been invaded by the Necrons, he finally had the forces to deal with them, while on Sentinel, the forces of Chaos had been vanquished and the Eldar had suffered defeats. Now he tasked General Ritchie with the final drive to rid Sentinel of the Xenos, while on Gamador he asked the Prozans to deal with the Necron threat.
Unfortunately the Prozan cavalry had never faced the Necron xenos before, and their attack from Port Secundus ended in disaster. The Valkyries of the regiment were easily swatted from the sky by the Necron weaponry, and the infantry stood no chance against the aliens. After just three hours of fighting the Prozan assault had been all but annihilated, and the Necrons moved swiftly to capitalise on their victory, overrunning Port Secundus, leaving Port Tertius as the only remaining servicable spaceport.
Veers received further bad news from Sentinel only a day later. While Ritchie was planning his next move the Rillietan Eldar somehow managed to get past the Imperial sentry points during the hours of darkness, and as dawn broke, launched a devastating assault on the south of the space port complex. The Librian Mechanised regiment was caught completely by surprise, and losses were horrific. Despite losing almost all their vehicles in practically the opening volley, the Colonel of the XXX regiment led his men in an heroic, if vain fight back, personally charging a mighty ELdar wraithlord.
The initial losses had been too severe however, and the regiment was all but wiped out. In response Ritchie had no option but to abandon the south of the Space port complex once more, once again cutting off precious supplies from his army.
The bitter fighting on Calliden continued as 05.012M42 began, as the Necrons continued their seemingly unstoppable offensive. With the failure of their daemonic plans, the lords of Bellatrix were deposed in spectacular style by the sorcerer's of the city, their golden palace reduced to glowing slag by the force of psychic energy thrown against it. With their leaders removed, the populace of Bellatrix called for aid, and the Iron Warriors, desparate to maintain their supply bases on Calliden, reacted swiftly.
The traitor marines counter-attacked the Necrons south of the Neck, covering hundreds of miles to the west in a few days as the Necron resistance was found to be much lighter than expected. Then, on 0405.012M42, the aliens attacked again, from the east. Unknown to the Iron Warriors the Necrons had bypassed Bellatrix then swept south, behind the main Iron Warriors' force. Realising too late, the chaos legion turned and faced their enemy, desparate to break through the noose which was now bwing tightened around their position. After a week of brutal fighting there was barely anything left of the Iron Warriors' force, and the defenders of the rapidly shrinking Tarsh pocket seemed more doomed with every passing hour. With the Iron Warriors' counter attack smashed to pieces, the Necrons faced little resistance as they moved into Bellatrix, finding much of the city deserted as its citizens had mostly fled before the alien onslaught.
Further north the Eldar continued to expand their bridgehead, finally reaching the sea of Tarsh on 0605.012M42, and laying the three cities of ?,? and ? under seige. The Eldar battered the re-equipped Covenant of Damnation forces on the plains of the Neck, leaving a swathe of scorched earth, littered with burning vehicles and equipment. Although the Eldar had been unable, or unwilling, to take any major city, their deployment now lay directly across the Necron advance and put all the Chaos forces of the south in dire peril.
The Chaos world of Carnage came under sustained attack between 0605.012M42 and 1505.012M42, as Dark Eldar raiders suddenly appeared out of previously unkown warp gates, destroying installations and taking hundreds of indentured workers captive. These appeared to be the usual raids and not related to the Eldar or the Rillietan, but if the Dark Eldar were looking for an easy target, they had underestimated the defences of Carnage, a lesson which they soon learnt when the Iron Warriors and two full regiments of the Covenant of Damnation moved in to put an end to the orgy of destruction.
The Iron Warriors ruthlessly annihilated the Dark Eldar, before the Covenant of Damnation forces mopped up the rest. Presumably the Kabal carrying out the raid had failed to gather sufficient intelligence on their target, as Carnage had been substantially reinforced from Grimlock and Mordecai, as the Iron Warriors attempted to fortify all the worlds under chaos control, reacting to the invasion of Calliden and assuming, probably correctly, that the other worlds they controlled would be on the Necron target list. Whatever the reason, the Dark Eldar suffered a horrible setback, and the raids soon stopped.
Imperial command on Va'Doran were quick to capitalise on the advances made by the Librians. Lifting off from their drop zone, wings of Valkyries and Vendettas carried their payload of drop troops from the Prozan Cavalry to secure the remainder of Mesme Tol. Supported by air strikes from Vulture gunships the Prozans were successful in pushing the Tau out of the strategically important central hills. The Tau cadres in the region seemed to lack significant anti aircraft capability and were ill equipped to deal with the highly mobile Prozans. Rather than throw away lives stubbornly holding on to empty hillsides in the face of merciless air strikes the Tau withdrew until the air war could be fought on a more favourable basis.
Shadowstrike was concerned with the direction the war was heading. The expansion of Imperial forces from their original beachhead made a quick resolution more and more unlikely. The appearance of Librians and Prozans amongst the Imperial forces on Va'Doran showed that the invasion could no longer be attributed to “rogue elements” within the Imperium. Hatheks words were exposed for the lies they were.
To regain control of the campaign the Tau needed to assert dominance in the air. With his fleet now secure in orbit and patrolling the space around Va'Doran Shadowstrike began deploying wings of Mantas, Barracudas and Remoras to the planet's surface. Shadowstrike himself then transferred to the planet along with an elite cadre of hand picked black ops specialists and staged a daring raid on the Imperial landing zone.
The operation was a high risk venture but it was already too late to abort when lead elements of the strike force identified the bulky, 8' tall forms of Space Marines defending the landing zone rather than guardsmen. Although taken by surprise the Marines of the Red Angels reacted with clinical precision, advancing into the hail of shots and sniper fire to seek out their elusive foes. Their targeting sensors found it hard to find solutions against the Tau's stealth technology but eventually they identified the bulky forms of XV88 Broadsides hidden amongst the trees. Powering up from where it had lurked in the blackness of space a strike cruiser made a flyby of the planet, teleporting in elements of the Red Angel's 1st Company before the Tau fleet could react.
The Tau attack hung by a thread but the terminators and teleported into the heart of the Tau positions and faced attack from every quarter. No sooner had they dealt with one ambush than they would face attack from another direction. One by one the veterans of the 1st fell before the repeated ambushes until only the captain and chaplain were left. Their last video transmission showed the hazy form of a new and even more advanced stealth suite variant levelling the bulky form of fusion guns towards them.
Having suffered heavy casualties and finding their rear positions overrun by Kroot the Red Angels retreated and abandoned the landing fields and their vital supply dumps to the Tau.
Following the initial invasion of Calliden the Necrons wasted little time in consolidating their bridgehead and taking the fight to the enemy. Between 2804.012M42 and 0205.012M42 the Necrons advanced more than two hundred miles along the northern shore or Tarsh, destroying settlements and installations and enslaving the population in order to accelerate their war effort. The populace was also fleeing ahead of the Necron invasion, flooding into the city of Bellatrix where they received little sympathy. The defenders of Calliden were completely unable to meet the disciplined military forces of the Necrons on equal terms and the refugees merely made a coherent defence even more problematic.
For centuries Calliden had been a world gone over to the Powers of the Warp. All the Chaos gods were worshipped and the entire society was chaotic, decentralised and anarchic. The Catechism had been able to stiffen resistance somewhat, but even the followers of Moonface found it difficult to exert any control over the petty warbands which passed for the defence force. These were prone to fight each other as much as the enemy.
Eventually the four leaders of Bellatrix, known as the Paragons of the Four, one for each major chaos god, hatched a plan to thwart the Necrons. A huge counter attack was arranged, led by the daemonic hosts of their other worldly patrons. For such a host to be summoned a huge sacrifice of human life was needed, but this solved the refugee problem at a stroke, so to the Paragons the plan had no drawbacks.
The daemonic host fell upon the Necrons on 0205.012M42, breifly giving the invaders pause for thought, but the implacable advance could not be held up. Ancient weaponry and organised military might easily overcame the slavering monsters sent against them, and by 0405.012M42 the gates of Bellatrix itself had been reached.
The war on Calliden had by then become even more complex. Unknown to all but themselves, the Eldar were also watching Calliden. Their plans called for the invasion of that world and the removal of Chaos forces, at least at some point, but the Necron invasion ensured that Calliden moved to the top of the Eldar priority list. They simply could not allow the world to fall into the hands of their most hated enemy. On 0305.012M42 a large force of Eldar troops, in the same livery as those encountered on Sentinel, appeared out of the webway in the lowland region known as the Neck. The eldar objectives were clearly the cities of Hextrac, Durin and Velorur, as by taking these Calliden would be bisected, and the Eldar would lay across the path of the Necron advance.
The Eldar took the forces of Chaos by surprise, but the Iron Warriors soon arrived and slowed the Eldar advance. In a spate of bitter and bloody battles the Eldar slowly gained the upper hand against their enemy, expanding their bridgehead but unable to reach the eastern shore of the the sea of Tarsh. The Iron Warriors' strength was sorely sapped however, and unless the diverse and often hostile forces on Calliden could be brought together by a charismatic leader, the ancient races would soon be left fighting each other over a the ruins of Calliden's chaotic civilisation.
On 2704.012M42 General Ritchie launched another major offensive against his enemies on Sentinel. Ritchie knew that for his forces to survive he needed the spaceport to allow supplies to get to his troops. Food, amunition and spare parts were all running low, and none of these vital commodities could be manufactured on Sentinel itself. The planet was mostly barren, except for a few sparse patches of scrubland and tangled trees, and the planet had never been colonised for its natural resources. Its very name described what it was, a waystation between sectors, which the Imperium had planned to use as a naval base, but never got round to it. In the end Sentinel had become a rather lawless trading post, home to some half a million Imperial citizens, and as many outlaws.
The fall of Sentinel to Chaos had changed everything for the inhabitants of Sentinel, but since its recapture, and subsequent re-invasion in the device affair, the Imperium was not about to let the world fall into alien hands again. Ritchie was given an urgent message in 04.012M42 by his commander, General Veers, to "get on with it" and finish the war on Sentinel once and for all.
By the end of 04.012M42 General Ritchie had not recieved any new reinforcements for his renewed offensive, but he could still call two Librian mechanised regiments, a regiment of Cerberex Guard and a fresh unit of Prozans, a highly mobile force which thus far Ritchie had held in reserve. Despite the fact the Space Wolves and their brother Astartes had left Sentinel to apply their rapid strike capability elsewhere, the Imperial General was confident of his plan to attack both his enemies simultaneously, using his fastest and most heavily armoured units as an armoured speartip.
Resting the Cerberex regiments, Ritchie finally gave the orders for the Prozan Cavalry to prepare for their attack, their target the forces of Chaos, now supported by the Iron Warriors once again, who stubbornly refused to quit the planet. Meanwhile the Librian XXth mechanised regiment would swing west to cover the Prozan's flank, directing their attack against the Eldar occupying the vital highlands overlooking the spaceport itself.
The Librians launched their assault in the early morning and soon found themselves up against a highly mobile and well equipped foe. The eldar employed fast vehicles and mighty Wraithlord constructs, but the Librian commander seized the initiative, launching a full out attack as soon as his scouts came into contact with the aliens. A furious battle erupted as the Eldar desperately tried to counter attack, but although they caused casualties and many chimeras and Leman Russ battle cannons were lost to the fearsome D-Cannons employed by the larger walkers, the sacrifice was worth it. As the battle raged the colonel of the regiment personally led an outflanking manouevre which cut the eldar supply lines, forcing their retreat.
As soon as Ritchie received word that the Librian attack was going to plan, the Prozans were released to destroy the Iron Warriors holding the far end of the Spaceport compound. As expected the Iron Warriors fought hard, but found it difficult to land telling blows on their enemy. The Prozans fought just as doggedly, and once again the Prozans demonstrated fearlessness in the face of the enemy, with officers leading the charge into battle once the infantry had dismounted from their Valkyries. In the face of overwhelming firepower and an enemy which was not afraid to engage in close combat, the Iron Warriors scattered into the vast wasteland region which covers much of Sentinel. By the end of 04.012M42 the Sentinel Spaceport had been secured once more and freight landers could once again arrive without the threat of being destroyed on approach, delivering much needed supplies to Ritchie's jubilant army.
