Hexis: Airborne operations destroy chaos base

General Konev on Hexis still lacked the resources to coordinate a major offensive on Hexis, as his armies regrouped from the sudden and horrific appearance of large Tyranid forces on the world that had cut his armies in two. In order to prevent the chaos forces from taking advantage of the imperial setback, Konev pushed forward with his bombing campaign against the chaos HQ and the Ork airfields protecting it. 

The first phase of the operation saw the imperial navy fighters take to the air to bait out the Ork fighters. This tactic was successful, and the air over the southern wastes of Hexis soon became streaked with contrails as the two sides clashed in furious aerial battles. 

The imperial pilots soon gained the upper hand, as experience and skill counted over numbers and aggression. During mid 10.019M42 the Ork fighter cover was cleared from the skies of Hexis, and on 1910.019M42 Konev sent in the bombers. 

The bombing mission, led by marauder destroyers and escorted by thunderbolts soon ran into furious Ork opposition, and this time the imperial fighters were caught escorting the slower bombers. The nimble Ork fighters dealt with the thunderbolts, but the marauders got through to attack their targets. The chaos base was wrecked and one of the Ork airstrips was knocked out of action, although the imperial bombers had difficulty hitting their targets and accuracy was poor. The remaining bombers limped back to Konev’s air bases. The raid had been costly, but the damage had been done.

Bree retaken by Federacy

The war in the Hadron Expanse between the Alliance and the imperium continued as 10.019M42 progressed. The armies at Palantir had still received no official reinforcement from the overall commander of the Hadron Expanse, as the war on Hexis and defence of the Crusade world of Awarath took precedence. 

The Alliance once again sent in House Chardonnay, who had become champions of the little people of Hobbiton, attempting to secure them a free future. The knights landed on Bree, which had reduced in its defences, ironically in order to launch an invasion of Dale some weeks earlier. The Hammers of the Emperor chapter immediately responded in force, but were savagely attacked by the enemy war engines. Charging into the astartes lines the knights caused almost as much damage at the point of their demise as they did fighting. The Hammers soon realised they could not sustain such casualties and abandoned Bree. Now only Dale remained in imperial hands.

Chaos counter raids at Tarlius

The assault on Mordecai Secundus was less successful. Due to fears of a counter attack the Imperial Fists returned to Tarlius 2 and began to besiege the Iron Warriors fortress. There they found yet another force of the Emerald Serpent. The Iron Warriors base was more than just a mighty citadel, as deep within the forces of chaos had installed their own chaos tainted device, allowing them to transfer troops directly from other worlds onto the battlefield of Tarlius. After defeating this latest army, the Fists began to construct mighty siege world around the massive chaos bastion. Taking the citadel would be a difficult undertaking, and the imperium were taking no chances. 

The withdrawal of the Imperial Fists had a serious knock on impact. The Cadian regiments dropped as part of Operation Sledgehammer on Mordecai Secundus had no way of knowing the enemy strength. Instead of a lightly defended world, arch heretek Cybixx had begun to make the world his second forge after Vandrax, and the Cadian were swiftly massacred on their landing grounds. The landing was quickly abandoned and the survivors were hurriedly withdrawn.

Imperium take Tarlius I

The assault on Tarlius I proceeded on schedule and as planned, with the Hammers of the Emperor landing directly at the defence laser installation that protected the space port from large scale attack. Imperial guard and other slow landers would be soft targets for the chaos defences, so the astartes struck first in order to eliminate the threat. 

The loyalist space marines managed to land unopposed then travel over land in an armoured column reaching the defence lasers some hours later. Resistance here was strong, as the Aether Striders and forces of nurgle put up a stubborn defence. The fighting was brutal, and in the end neither side were able to claim victory. However late on 1910.019M42 the imperial fleet drew into range of the planet. Fighting outside the void shields of the space port meant annihilation, so the chaos forces reluctantly withdrew, leaving the all important laser cannons in the hands of the imperium. 

Following this development, Bessas ordered in the main attack. Waves of Lycannon guard and House Eagleclaw Knights dropped just outside the range of the chaos defence lines then moved in for the all important assault on the space port. Once again the imperium had the strategic advantage, but had to dislodge the enemy from their positions behind the void shields. 

The imperial force faced stiff resistance from Cybixx’s traitor mechanicum, but the loyalists gradually pushed the enemy back, taking key objectives early in the battle. Eventually, by 2110.019M42 the chaos forces had retreated to beyond the cover of their void shields, and the imperial navy mopped up the stragglers with a devastating show of firepower. Tarlius I had been captured. Now Stahl’s fortress remained the only chaos stronghold left in the system.

Operation Sledgehammer

Following the capture of Tarlius II the Imperium has reached a new high point in their campaign in the system. Never before had they managed to restrict the forces of chaos to the innermost system, and overall commander Martin Bessas was eager to strike at the last remaining system and its all important space port. 

In order to split the chaos defences, and with agreement from Titus Luthor himself, a joint operation in the Foramen and Perseus Deeps was drawn up. At Tarlius, the Hammers of the Emperor would target and take out the chaos ground defences, while the Lycannon Guard and House Eagleclaw would launch an all out assault on the space port, effectively taking out all resistance on the planet. 

The Imperial Fists and the Cadian 9th would then simultaneously strike at Mordecai. This attack - on Mordecai Secundus, was preceded by a bombardment from space and a fleet movement, shadowed by the forces of chaos, and effectively preventing the chaos fleets from interfering at Tarlius. Operation Sledgehanmer began on 1810.019M42.

West Tarlius cleared by Hammers of the Emperor

The last phase of warfare in the Western Hemisphere of Tarlius II was conducted by the Hammers of the Emperor, who took on the responsibility of clearing forces loyal to Cybixx from their prepared positions. 

The astartes scouts managed to get close to Cybixx’s lines to monitor their enemy, before the Hammers launched their attack with a narrow armoured thrust. The mechanicum defenders quickly took out the astartes heavy tank support, but this gave the imperial devastator units time to deploy from rhinos and unleash devastating volleys of fire into the enemy robot constructions. 

Meanwhile the Hammers’ scouts dealt with Cybixx’s hover bike “constructions”, before the heretic forces unleashed their Onager Dunecrawlers into the heart of the Hammers’ lines. The astartes veterans responded, and a melee developed which overwhelmed the mechanicum walkers. 

Having broken the main enemy counter attack, the Hammers managed to finally claim their objectives, so that the following imperial guard could exploit the breach and shatter the remaining chaos resistance in western Tarlius. Both sides took significant casualties, and the commanders on both sides were killed, with the Arch Magus being annihilated by lascannon fire after the tank he was hiding behind blew up.

Some claimed this was Cybixx himself, but reports of his certain demise had been reported before, only for him to return at another location, sometimes light years away. As the chaos forces in western Tarlius were crushed, the loyalist mechanicum began to wonder whether Cybixx had strayed into the forbidden dark heresy of mind bio transference.

Imperial make gains on Tarlius II

Martin Bessas, commander of Imperial forces in the Foramen Interdictum was keen to continue recent advances in the Tarlius system. Avoiding the difficult task of unloading entire Imperial Guard armies and risking a chaos fleet intervention, Bessas relied on his elite forces to crush the chaos forces on the barren wastelands of Tarlius II, a world that had seen unimaginable horrors already in the previous years of fighting in the Foramen. The Iron Warriors had still not shown their hand, but rather than assault their fortress directly, Bessas agreed with his council of war that the other chaos forces should be dealt with first, in order to isolate Stahl's men in their citadel.

To this end the knights of House Corvus began the sweep west from the astartes bridgeheads, crossing the plains of Tarlius and hunting out areas of resistance. One industrial area, of the few that were scattered across the otherwise worthless planet, was clearly of strategic importance, and the knights were charged with capturing vital supply caches which would cripple the ability of the traitor forces to conduct effective coordinated operations against the imperium.

The knights did not know the exact location of the supply dumps, but began their move on the industrial area confident that their firepower would overwhelm their enemy. As the Death Guard appeared, along with a large number of heretical daemon engines, the mighty Castellan war engine opened fire. Unfortunately, its targeting systems seemed to malfunction, as the impact of the knight's initial volley was next to negligible, although one rocket did manage to land a damaging salvo on one of the enemy war engines.

In response, the Death Guard advanced, but they too suffered a number of equipment malfunctions, as their blight grenades appeared ineffective against even the smaller knights fielded by the Imperium. The Imperium however had the crucial stroke of luck which meant the engagement would end with victory for House Corvus. Their attack had - completely by chance - attacked from the direction of the main chaos supply caches, and the devotees of nurgle had hardly been able to react to the attack before finding that their supplies had been captured by the enemy. Facing the might of three helverins and a fully functional Castellan, it was always going to be unlikely that the chaos force would be able to recapture the cache without being obliterated by the Dominus class knight.

Eventually House Corvus made good their malfunctioning ordnance, and the Death Guard took horrendous casualties as they tried in vain to dislodge the enemy war engines. After hours of hard fighting the remaining traitor forces quietly withdrew, allowing the Knights to secure a haul of promethium and ammunition which crippled the traitor forces' ability to defend the eastern plains of Tarlius II.

The Knights reported their engagement to Bessas and the war council, but on finding that House Corvus had not annihilated the nurgle force and it was now retreating across the western hemisphere along with daemon engines, the Grey Knights took matters into their own hands. Dropping to the west of the retreating enemy host, the expert daemon hunters ambushed the nurgle force and utterly destroyed it, punching a giant hole in the already stretched chaos defences. The remaining chaos forces on Tarlius II retreated to settlements and low hills in the west, where Arch Heretik Cybixx had prepared a defence line, or tried to get to the protection of the Iron Warriors' citadel which dominated the flat plains in the equatorial region. The remaining stragglers were mopped up by astartes patrols. The war on Tarlius had certainly now swung in favour of the Imperium.

Tyranid and Genestealer uprising on Hexis

For months the Imperium had been dealing with a "minor" alien infestation on their northern flank on Hexis, but in reality the expeditions into the wastes north of Menthoteph had barely scratched the surface of the reality of the growing hive mind on the planet. Bolstered and reinforced by an emerging Genestealer cult, dedicated to the worship of their god "R'Lyeh", the tyranids were now ready to put into action the second phase of their alien plan.

On 1410.019M42 a massive tyranid force surged out of the wastelands and immediately overwhelmed the Imperial Guard picketing force on General Konev's northern positions, while genestealer cults conducted spoiling raids across the Imperial lines. In one of these raids, an Adeptus Mechanicus patrol was overwhelmed near to the Nuclear Artillery, and critically the artillery was briefly overrun by the cult. Konev was now unable to turn the artillery on the attacking Xenos, and he appealed to the astartes for help in containing the offensive. The Ashen Sons chapter, a successor to the Salamanders, responded, and to the north of Menthoteph a critical engagement took place. For hours hive fleet R'Lyeh sent wave after wave of bio constructs and alien infantry against the space marines, and eventually the numbers told. Before Konev was able to set up a coherent defense line, the astartes defence had collapsed, and the Xenos were swarming across the plains to the east of Praxis.

Konev had no choice but to withdraw his forces in order to re-establish control and coordination. Gradually the tyranid advance ran out of momentum, but by the end of 1910.019M42 the imperial forces on Hexis had been cut in two. Konev's 1st army was now separated and cut off from Andreyivich's 3rd army in the south east, and the nuclear artillery had been lost. On the eastern outskirts of Praxis, the tyranids had reached the chaos lines, and the situation on Hexis had now become extremely confused.

Ork Air Force defeated on Hexis

Returning to the air once more, the imperial navy thunderbolts flew several sorties over the Haknur plateau in mid 10.019M42, in order to gather more intelligence, but also to deal with the emergent threat of the Ork air waagh that had now joined the forces of chaos. Given the distance of the new Ork air bases and chaos headquarters, Konev had been drawing up plans for a bombing campaign against these enemy installations, but first he needed to establish air superiority. 

Several of the sorties drew a blank, but eventually the orks were baited into fighting. This was an error, as Konev had made sure his most experienced navy pilots would be sent against the naive orks, and in the twisting air battles that followed, the orks found themselves at a disadvantage over and over again. Even when the orks did get clean shots at the imperial fighters, their shots were wild, or the rugged frames of the imperial craft simply shrugged off the impacts of heavy bolter fire. 

By the end of 1410.019M42 the air campaign was going well. Since this new phase began, no imperial losses had been incurred, although some craft had been damaged, while the orks had been cleared from the sky each time they engaged. However, this was only a prelude to the real objective, the bombing of the enemy bases.

Corticant: imperium probe eldar defences

Many months had passed since the Imperium and eldar forces clashed on Corticant, the world on which the very device holding the Foramen Interdictum open was in place. The eldar still held the device chamber and much of the planet was under the control of the Xenos. Instead of a standing army however, any attempt to move into the Aledari controlled zones was met swiftly by xenos attacks, and General Veers, starved of resources as the focus shifted to the Foramen itself and the war in the Hadron Expanse, was unable to conduct any meaningful offensives to change the situation.

In mid 019M42 the Hammers of the Emperor, now fully re-equipped and deployed at near chapter strength in the Aleph Sector, sent a company to Corticant. They knew they did not have the numbers to immediately take control of all eldar held territory, but they agreed with Veers that a series of engagements could gradually eat away at the eldar zones, forcing the aliens to decide just how much they wanted control of the device chamber. The eldar had not tampered with the device nor removed it, and it was unclear how hard they would fight to retain possession of it.

The Hammers launched patrols along the Iron Road towards the abandoned town of Ironhaven, finding the wreckage of imperial equipment and buildings from previous engagements. At Ironhaven the eldar attacked. A mix of craftworld and harlequin forces faced the astartes, and the fighting was intense. However the eldar suffered at the hands of the emperor's finest and their initial attacking force was wiped out. The Hammers themselves took casualties, including their commander, but as the space marines prepared for a second wave, they received intelligence that eldar forces following up were now retreating back across the Arid Plateau. Clearly the Aeldari had decided that the Imperium could have Ironhaven, at least for now, but would the xenos forces become more resolute as Veers and his new supporting marines moved ever closer to the Device Chamber?

Hexis Current Positions

• Greghaz is cut off in Menthoteph as the Orks are pushed out by Imperial scouts and Tau kill teams
• Chaos Pact base is rebuilt in the east after successful air raids and Death Guard skirmishes
• R'lyeh remains a threat in the Imperial north east

Air war over Hexis

Having received intelligence that the chaos forces were constructing a new base of operations on the Haknur plateau, general Konev was desperate to receive accurate information as to the nature and strength of any new installations. The mechanicum had failed to infiltrate the chaos lines, having been massacred by the Death Guard, so Konev turned to the navy. 

The imperial navy were confident they could overfly the chaos base and gather information, as they were unable to penetrate chaos shielding and heavy cloud from their ships in space. They didn’t expect any serious opposition in the skies over Hexis, as no significant chaos Air Force had thus far been encountered. However as small squadrons of Thunderbolt fighters began missions to overfly the plateau, swarms of Ork Dakkajet fighters rose up to meet them, shocking the imperium with their speed and eagerness to engage their opponents. 

The first two missions to overfly the chaos lines met with disaster as the Thunderbolts were shot down by the reckless Ork fighters. Many Ork aircraft were shot down in turn, but there were always more. Eventually one squadron got through and sent back images to Konev. In the ruins of an old city on the Haknur plateau, the chaos base had been built anew, with fortifications and, to the concern of imperial high command, a fully operational Ork airfield. The chaos forces lacked air cover, but the orks it seemed were quite content to fight for the forces of chaos, so long as they were given a chance to fight an enemy.

Astartes take back ground at Palantir

With the defeat of Federal forces on Bree, the Hammers of the Emperor decided to go on the offensive in the Palantir system, despite the lack of strategic assets available to the imperium in the Hadron Expanse. Their target was Dale, and extremely sparsely populated world of farmers with little in the way of natural resources, but strategically significant in controlling the system.  Palantir’s jewel was Hobbiton, but the imperium lacked the strength to retake a world of a hundred million. The astartes however feigned an invasion of the major world, and this display of strength forced the alliance to concentrate on its defence, leaving Dale wide open. 

The Hammers easily took control of the critical locations on the world, but the alliance reacted quickly, sending in the highly mobile tau to remove the invaders. There was no front line as such, instead the two sides fought a series of running mobile battles across the rolling landscape of Dale in the first week of 10.019M42, but the astartes refused to play into their enemies hands, maintaining a defensive posture around the planet’s key locations. 

Eventually the tau were forced to conduct a frontal assault on the Hammers’ positions, and this suited the space marines force. Lacking their own fleet support, the alliance were unable to bring to bear overwhelming force, as they were still unsure whether the invasion of Dale was the main invasion or a diversion. The tau were defeated at a small settlement which passed as the capital of the world. The alliance made no immediate move to reinforce this difficult position, and continued to fortify Hobbiton until they could establish the strength of imperial assets in the Palantir system.

Skirmishes continue on Hexis

The front lines on Hexis had gone quiet following the recent imperial advance, at least from a strategic perspective, but all sides continued to conduct smaller scale operations as 0410.019M42 began. 

The largest engagement occurred in the blasted wastelands south of the ruins of Menthoteph as a squad of Ashen Suns astartes - new to the sector - began a sweep into the no mans land between the imperial and chaos front lines. South of Menthoteph, the orks - allied to chaos - still remained, and the space marines soon ran into mobs of roving greenskins. The orks weren’t alone however, as it soon became apparent that other creatures were lurking amongst the ruins. With lightning speed the xenos attacked, horrific hybrid creatures part Tyranid part human. Clearly the genetics of hive fleet R’lyeh had now mixed with those of man, producing a genestealer cult which the Ashen Suns had now discovered. In truth, for months the stream of deserters on both sides of the front line had been seduced by their new deity - R’lyeh - and now the Tyranids had found a more insidious way to spread their tendrils across the battered world. 

The genestealers were quickly dealt with, caught in the crossfire between the space marines and orks, but the marines in particular struggled to hit their marks, and once the genestealers had withdrawn, they entered into a protracted and ineffective firefight with the greenskins. Then the tau struck. 

The appearance of alliance forces on the battlefield was a surprise, as the imperium had mistakenly believed that all tau and eldar forces had withdrawn with the federacy, but in reality small teams of tau and eldar had remained behind, intent on harassing their enemies and causing destruction out of proportion to their force commitment to Hexis - a world the alliance no longer had interest in. 

The tau attack swiftly dealt with the orks, clearing them from the field, before turning their attention to the remaining imperial forces. The astartes found themselves no match for the xenos special forces, much to the despair of their commander, and despite taking down the tau crisis suit, the tau forced the astartes in turn to retreat northward. 

The tau didn’t remain in place however. Satisfied at the disruption caused, the alliance force left, and the Grey Knights found no trace of the enemy as they followed up behind the Ashen Suns. Penetrating deeper, and cutting off a portion of the chaos forces near the old fort, the Ordo Malleus astartes did come into contact with a small team of heretic mechanicum, blasting them apart and securing general Konev’s southern front.

Further west, imperial intelligence suggested that the chaos forces were rebuilding their bases on the Haknur plateau, out of range of Konev’s nuclear artillery. Concerned at these reports, the mechanicum sent a force in order to investigate. However, the Death Guard responsed robustly to the infiltration by imperial forces, wiping out the scouting group. General Konev would have to find other methods to find out the extent of the new base being constructed by the enemy.

Campaign Introduction 019M42

Grey Knights expand base on Tarlius II

Following their successful defeat of the Eldar on Tarlius II, the Grey Knights consolidated their position, sending out patrols in the immediate vicinity while waiting for the imperial guard to take over their positions. These patrols quickly identified a large chaos force approaching. Clearly the enemy had become aware of the imperial presence on Tarlius II and were taking action to prevent them getting established. 

The veteran astartes were more than prepared for the assault however, and rather than the Iron Warriors the imperial bridgehead found itself under attack from the Emerald Serpent. This turned out to be favourable for the imperium however, as the daemonic creatures summoned by the tzeentch sorcerers were the preferred enemy of the Ordos Malleus space marines. Relishing their opportunity to banish the enemy from beyond, the Grey Knights charged into combat. The daemons were no match for their hated opponents and the attack on the heights around the now defunct webway portal was quickly repulsed. 

The imperium now had a secure foothold on Tarlius II, but as the dropships of guard landed in the uplands, ahead of them they now faced hundreds of miles of desolate plains, before having to face the highly fortified city that was the main base of the Iron Warriors. This settlement and it’s even more formidable central keep would need to be brought low before the war in the system could be brought to a close.

Emerald Serpent recover artefact from Cybixx

Ahriman stared across the flat plains ahead of him. He knew the task ahead of him meant conflict with an ally, but tzeentch himself had ordained this path. Here on Calliden he would retrieve the necron gateway, which arch Heretek Cybixx had refused to hand over despite the generous terms the sorcerer lord had offered. No matter. If force were necessary then so be it. The thousand sons and his daemonic allies would make short work of the Mechanicum. If only the foolish Imperial Knightly Houses hadn’t interfered at Hexis. Now the corpse worshippers knew his plans and understood the threat. Ahriman smiled. They would not thwart him, not with his patron god and even Magnus himself giving approval for once. The planet of the sorcerers would be summoned to the Aleph Sector, and the total victory of chaos would be complete just as soon as all the elements came together. The chaos sorcerer lord consulted his list of items required for the summoning ritual, an esoteric assortment not easily collected. One step at a time...

The battle between Cybixx’s mechanicum and Ahriman’s daemonic and traitor astartes force was a bitter slug fest. Cybixx was angry at Ahriman’s demands for a valuable xenos artefact, and the chaos sorcerer had no business interfering in his plans. Cybixx needed all the alien technology he could lay his hands on if his new project was to come to fruition, and he found it illogical that the Emerald Serpent would want to obstruct his endeavours. 

The fighting was costly, and although Cybixx’s constructs banished a horde of plaguebearers summoned to Ahriman’s cause, the chaos sorcerer was not put off. The two sides fought each other to a standstill, but eventually tzeentch trickery outsmarted the traitor mechanicum logic, and Ahriman got his prize. The Emerald Serpent were now one step closer to fulfilling their arcane plot.

Expedition returns to Blackstone Fortress

Lucius Valcetti gazed out at the dark shape of the space station, its lightless exterior made visible only by its sharp contrast to the maddening riot of colour all around. Roiling eddies of technicolour light surged about them in colossal storm fronts light years across. Such treacherous currents were more than capable of ripping a ship apart, yet the area around the station itself was becalmed, as if the storm served to protect it. Known as the Rifts of Hectate this area of space had long been avoided by travellers. Situated beyond the unexplored depths of the Hadron Expanse its remoteness was almost as much a disincentive to explorers as the mortal peril of the storm itself.

It had been a joint Federal – Tau science expedition that had first uncovered the existence of the station. Keen to develop a better understanding of such phenomena the eager scientists had fired a series of autonomous probes into the chaotic tumult. Most had been ripped to shreds but one, guided by fate or simply random chance, had made its way to the heart of the storm where it broadcast a steady stream of sensor data and imaging.

The existence of the alien construct and the raging warp storms that surrounded it defied rational explanation and lay far outside the Tau and Federacy's limited understanding. Reluctantly they had turned to the Eldar, hoping that their ancient understanding of the immaterium could supply the answers they sought. In this they had been only partially satisfied. The Eldar had recognised the construct as an artefact dating back to the war in heaven, known to the Imperium as a Blackstone Fortress. As to its purpose and how it generated and fuelled the surrounding storm they were as baffled as the Tau and Federacy, although they did not care to admit it. The crazed maelstrom resisting any attempt at psychic scrying and it seemed to cast no shadow on the paths of the future, its influence noticeable only as a void of possibilities that should have existed.

The Alliance powers had agreed to mount a joint expedition to the construct, each sending representatives to oversee their interests. Lucius wasn't sure how he felt about the silent, forbidding Eldar Ranger chosen as Kel Sandros' representative, although he had to admit that without her guidance the Vanguard would never have made it intact through the fury of the storm. His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of gunfire and explosions over the open vox channel. It seemed the station was not as uninhabited as had been presumed. Garbled reports of hostile contacts filtered through as the landing party fell back to the assault boats.

This turn of events was not entirely unexpected, large vessels such as this invariably became home to an assortment of scum, outlaws and hostile xenos no matter how remote or formidable their defences. Lucius decided he would lead the first expedition himself. This station would give up its secrets to him, and quite possibly make him a very rich and influential man indeed.

It was over 2 years since the first expedition had penetrated the interior of the mysterious blackstone fortress. Rogue Trader and privateer Lucius Valcetti had been forced to withdraw his team after finding the interior infested with outlaws and chaos filth. On returning to Federal space he had lobbied the Federal government for the resources and funding to mount a properly resourced expedition into the Rifts of Hectate, complete with auxiliary support vessels, scientific specialists and a complement of armed mercenaries. After finally completing the long and tortuous journey through the Foramen Ancilla and the chaos, ork and necron infested space beyond they had finally returned to station, codenamed Pandora to maintain operational security. Despite losing 2 supply ships to the raging lightening storm surrounding the station they managed to set up base camp and docking facilities within the deserted outer reaches up the xenos construct.

Somewhat familiar with what to expect from his previous visit Lucius Valcetti decided to lead the the first expedition into the interior himself, accompanied by Kel Sandros' brooding emissary, a kroot tracker and the hulking form of a bodyguard robot supplied by their federal backers. At first resistance was within expected parameters but the situation rapidly deteriorated as fresh hostiles swarmed to the area, attracted by the sound of gunfire and explosions. The kroot tracker was almost disembowelled by a  hissing xenos monstrosity that leapt out from the shadows and Lucius himself was mortally wounded as corrupted deserters from the Imperial Guard swarmed over him from a passageway. Assault cannon blazing the bodyguard robot assigned to him executed its primary directive and strode into the fray to recover Lucius' bleeding body and carry him to safety.

The expedition had been a disaster. Two of their members had been seriously injured  and confined to a medicae facility for weeks and they had made no headway in penetrating the stations secrets. The limited haul of archeotech they had come away with looked like junk at first glance. It was only on closer inspection that it turned out to contain an ancient relic from the fall of the Eldar along with and an Empyrean Chronometer that was beyond priceless. Convinced of the haul of knowledge and ancient artefacts to be found deeper within the station the Alliance's representatives in the expedition were resolved to unlock the secrets of this place or die trying.

Aleph Sector: Current Warzones

Welcome to the Aleph Sector

For the "how to join in" see this here

Lying in the Ultima Segmentum, straddling the Foramen Interdictum near the Eastern Fringe, the Aleph Sector is a critical location close to the Tau Empire and Ultramar. It is 019M42, and the Imperium is beset by enemies on all sides.

For millennia the Aleph Sector was but a backwater in Imperial affairs. Before the coming of the great rift the High Lords of Terra barely gave the sector a thought, allowing an entire subsector to secede from the Imperium and ally itself to the Tau Empire. But with the coming of the Cicatrix, all that changed… 

The Aleph Sector today stands astride the Cicatrix Maledictum, and thanks to the arcane energies of the Necron artefacts know only as “devices”, there is not only a path through the raging warp rift, but four. These pathways through the Maw, known as “Foramen”, are hotly contested by the major powers of the galaxy, for they provide access from one side to the other in relative safety. One is controlled by the Alliance, another two by chaos. Only at the Foramen Majoris does the Imperium have a foothold allowing its forces to travel into the Imperium Nihilis. Should this fall, mankind’s empire east of the Cicatrix would surely fall into ruin… 

The Imperium of Mankind

The Imperium of Mankind is led by Secto Commander Titus Luthor, with his regiments of mostly Novgorod guard and the help of several astartes chapters, notably the Grey Knights and Imperial Fists. However it is the Inquisition who stand between the light and the darkness, and although they have not always seen eye to eye, it is the inquisitor lords who hold the destiny of the Imperium in their hands. However, only Lord Hathek’s whereabouts are known, as both Inquistors Huron and Vorushko have gone missing…

The Forces of Chaos

The forces of damnation are active in the Aleph Sector, although not always united. The Iron Warriors seek to re-establish their dominion in the Perseus Deeps, while the Emerald Serpent, led by the Thousand Sons, seek more impenetrable goals. In recent years, the Arch Magus Dominus Cybixx, once thought to be a loyal member of the Mechanicum, has turned to the dark gods as well, lending his vast forces and expertise to the Ruinous Powers, and plunging the Imperium into dire peril.

The Alliance

The “Alliance” is made up of three factions, who do not always act in unison. The strongest members of the pact are the Tau Empire, seeking to extend their holdings in the sector, and the Federacy, a human secessionist empire spanning an entire subsector following the return of Admiral Haskell – a man who was caught on the wrong side of the heresy but was cast adrift for ten long millennia in the warp. Upon his return he sought to return the sector to the Imperial Truth, renouncing the worship of the Emperor as a deity. Although the secession from the Imperium was successful, it is the Federacy’s alliance with the Tau that has prevented the Imperium from retaking their lost worlds, at least for now.

The Eldar, led by the Craftworld of Kel Sandros, have their own plans, but their main goal is to rid the galaxy of psychic taint. To this end, the establishment of the Tau as the preeminent power, defeating chaos and the Imperium would be the first step in their long and complex plan to reestablish the Aeldari as the masters of the galaxy. 

Xenos Threats

Xenos are an ever present threat in the Aleph Sector. And the most dangerous are the Necrons, the Orks and the Tyranids.

The Orks are present across the sector, but have so far not rallied around one leader for long enough to pose a significant threat.

The Necrons awoke before the coming of the Cicatrix, and began to rebuild their lost empire in the Perseus Deeps. However, since then their fortunes have faded, as many worlds have succumbed to rehibernation, for reasons as yet unknown.

The Tyranid menace has threatened the sector a number of times. Hive Fleet Nemesis ravaged scores of worlds, but has now apparently been lost in the voids of space. However, a new Hive fleet has been discovered on Hexis, and R’lyeh is an emergent threat.

Now is the time to make your mark in the Aleph Sector. The fate of the galaxy lies in your  hands!

Traitor Mechanicum defeat Von Bismork

Archheretek Cybixx had not been seen in person since the defeats on Mordecai Tersius and his whereabouts were still uncertain. His forces had been encountered on a number of worlds, but it came as somewhat of a surprise to imperial intelligence when the former loyalist Archmagos turned up at Goreen. 

Instead of launching an attack on the strong imperial defences however, the traitor mechanicum assaulted the remaining orks in the hills surrounding the imperial base on Goreen Prime. The orks has been pushed back into the wilderness zones of the planet many months previously, and the imperial commander had not felt it pressing to expend resources chasing the orks down. Now that seemed to be an error, as Cybixx’s forces smashed the orks - thought to be a remnant of Von Bismork’s troubled warband - and completed the eradication of the greenskins in the Goreen system. 

Now the imperial commander had a real problem. Instead of ill equipped ork forces, the traitors began setting up a strong base camp in the mountains overlooking the primary space port. Alarmed, the imperial forces requested aid from General Percival - overall commander in the Hadron Expanse. Percival had his own issues however, as his forces were already stretched defending Palantir from the Alliance, and supporting Konev at Hexis. The imperium began to become deeply concerned with Cybixx’s motives.

Grey Knights secure foothold on Tarlius II

The Grey Knights continued to plan with the imperial forces for the capture of the chaos stronghold worlds in the Tarlius system in order to complete the final subjugation of Mordecai. This would secure the Foramen Majoris for the Imperium and allow Paradorn and Cybixx’s heretic forge at Vandrax to be more easily overwhelmed. 

One sticking point with the plans to eradicate chaos at Tarlius was the eldar presence. Centred around a webway portal in the barren plains of the eastern hemisphere, so far the forces of chaos had been unable to locate the portal, and any moves in that direction were ambushed and destroyed by eldar forces. 

The Grey Knights has experience with the aliens however, using their contacts in the Ordo Xenos. Using a cloaked strike cruiser the astartes dropped directly onto the Xenos artefact and began preparing the necessary mechanicum rites to close down the entry to the webway. 

As soon as they had begun, a rapid response materialised from the eldar faction known as the Sisters of Quartz. The lithe eldar attacked with shocking speed and grace the like of which the Grey Knights could not hope you match. However, experience and superior strategy overcame the agility and otherworldliness of the aeldari warriors, as the astartes had been expecting the response. 

The eldar were quickly defeated by the Ordo Malleus marines, and the webway portal was eliminated. Now the imperium had established a presence on Tarlius II, but only a tenuous one.

Legio Dominus make sweeping advance on Hexis

For months the war on Hexis had been quiescent with neither side making any serious moves to remove the other from the face of the now ravaged and radioactive landscape that was now the hell around the capital city of Praxis. However General Konev, recognising the potential strategic benefit of controlling the northern end of the Foramen Ignotum, was not about to give up an go home.

Having dealt with - or so he felt - the Tyranid threat on his northern flank, Konev petitioned for more resources from imperial high command. Sector commander Titus Luthor was loathed time invest more efforts at Hexis however. Already the alliance were chipping away at imperial gains in the Hadron Expanse, and the main focus of imperial efforts was now at Mordecai and the Foramen Interdictum. No imperial guard help would be forthcoming.

Konev was not to be disappointed entirely however, as in 09.019M42 the titans of Legio Dominus and their attendant knights arrived, responding to Konev’s appeals for aid, and immediately set about planning an offensive.

The titans and knights would be ineffective in the compact ruins of Praxis, so it was agreed Legio Dominus would strike out from the east, attempting to surround chaos forces in Menthoteph and cut off their supply lines. Then, if the ground could be held, Konev would be able to conduct later offensives against the city and its device chanber from three sides.

The initial assault went as planned. The eastern chaos flank was only weakly defended, Stahl’s iron warriors having mostly departed and the remaining troops not wishing to spend too long in the radioactive wastelands south of the ruined cities. However as Menthoteph was surrounded, the Emerald Serpent reacted.

Deploying their own titans and moving forward in strength, the Aether Striders traitor household met their loyalist counterparts on the southern plains known as the great ash wastes. The set piece battle raged for many hours, with the main thrust of the Emerald Serpent coming on the imperial left flank, where ruins of an old settlement impeded the ability of House Corvus’ helverins to lay down withering fire.

On the imperial right, the combined efforts of a Castellan, Warhound and Helverin squadron decimated the traitor forces, knocking out knight after knight with only minimal damage in return. On the left however, the imperial force suffered as the Emerald Serpebt deployed their lords discordant and a Khytan in close combat, duelling with a Knight Errant and its supporting Armiger Warglaives.

The battle in the ruins was intense, and the imperial knights were never going to defeat the chaos force opposing them. However they fought valiantly, the knight Errant doggedly refusing to yield, and its eventual sacrifice was well worth it for Konev’s force, as the combat in the ruins significantly and fatally delayed the Emerald Serpent counter attack.

By the time the ruins had been wrestled from the stubborn imperial forces, the Legio Dominus titans had arrived. After a brief Titan duel, the Aether Striders realised their position was untenable and withdrew to the west, allowing general Konev to consolidate his position and dig in just kilometres from the ashen ruin that had once been Stahl’s HQ.

By late 09.019M42 the front line had stabilised, seeing the imperial armies capturing hundreds of miles of territory. It was however just blasted wasteland, and despite the victory and the improvement of the imperial strategic position, the forces of chaos still retained control over the device chamber and much of the ruined city of Praxis.

Imperium halt Alliance at Palantir

Following the invasion of the Palantir System in 08.019M42 the Imperium were expectinmg the Alliance's next move in the system. Unable to send a large fleet to contest the invasion from space, the Imperium turned to its elite forces, appealing to any astartes that could defend the innermost world of Bree from the alliance forces, led by the fearsome might of the Knightly House of Chardonnay.

 

Loyal to the federal forgeworld of Vornax, the Knightly house had shown no sign of fulfilling its oaths to the Emperor and continued to prosecute the war on behalf of the alliance. Claiming that the Imperial Truth had been abandoned by fanatics after the heresy, House Chardonnay maintained as did the Federacy, that their way was more in line with the Emperor's wishes than the acts of the Imperium of Mankind.

 

Political ideology was no longer debated however, as the Imperium had long since declared the Federal worlds Excommunicate Traitoris, and on 2808.019M42 House Chardonnay's powerful war engines deployed on Bree. The sparsely populated world could not put up a fight, but the Grey Knights and Hammers of the Emperor soon arrived to stop the Knights from simply overrunning the last Imperial holding in the system.

 

Battles raged for the next few days, with the Imperial forces taking severe casualties from the traitor knights. Both the leaders of the allied astartes chapters were killed, and the war engines proved difficult to bring down. However by 0409.019M42 the force realised that if it were to maintain control of Hobbiton and Dale, it could not sustain losses such as they were, and the invasion of Bree was postponed.

 

The Imperium had won an important victory, even if the strategic position was still very poor in the Hadron Expanse. Expecting a counter attack, the astartes oversaw the construction of significant defences, and requested additional garrison forces from General Percival.

Hammers of the Emperor raid Mordecai Primaris

With Mordecai Tersius retaken and this time properly secured, General Kutuzov pondered his options. Despite this success the forces he had under his command were largely exhausted, and there was no immediate possibility to invade the primary world - Morecai Primaris.

 

The Grey Knights and Imperial Fists made the most of this respite, engaging in training scenarios which proved that their newly arrived equipment was both effective and reliable, whilst showing that the Grey Knights themselves had tactical weaknesses they needed to address. Meanwhile the Novgorod Guard re-equipped and rested, but other than refitting, the problems with invading Mordecai Primaris were a lot deeper.

 

The astartes had previously destroyed the main spaceport and missile silos, but the planet still had other defences, as well as a nearby fleet base which would always need close blockade in any invasion. In order to even have a hope of a successful landfall, the planet would need months of "reduction", missions designed to reduce and eliminate key defensive capabilities of the world.

 

The Hammers of the Emperor chapter launched a raid with the destruction of artillery batteries in mind, landing in the deserts of the world and advancing on the chaos bases just after dawn. They had been detected however, and Cybixx himself had decided to intervene to counter assault the loyalist astartes. The main battle centred around a rise in the ground which led to the main transmitter of the void shields protecting the chaos positions. Both sides rushed this location, suffering horrendous casualties for both the imperial and chaos forces. Eventually the astartes withdrew, their mission unsuccessful, but the damage to Cybbixx's forces had been significant, and the arch heretek himself had been put out of action in the fighting.

 

The Hammers' assault had not achieved it's main objective, but in the end the capability of the chaos forces to defend had been reduced, thanks to the heavy casualties. The astartes knew however that raids would need to be more surgical in future. Kutuzov was still no nearer to setting a date for the invasion.

Emerald Serpent raid Dnatha

On 1608.019M42 the authorities at Dnatha were sent into a panic as warships from the Emerald Serpent appeared in the system. The target world was put on high alert, but General Percival, commander of imperial forces in the Hadron Expanse was initially unconcerned. The forces did not seem strong enough to take the world, but the reason for the raid remained a mystery to the Imperial forces. 

However, Percival was under pressure to respond to the threat, and dispatched House Corvus to interrupt the raid and protect the citizens of The system. The imperial knight household arrived swiftly and identified chaos forces roaming around in the northern hemisphere of the largest world. 

House Corvus launched an attack on the chaos forces, finding the enemy equipped with knights, while nurgle daemons swarmed around their titanic feet. The imperial knights’ initial firepower lacked accuracy, and though damaged, the chaos knight that took the brunt of the imperial ordnance remained standing. Despite this poor show of accuracy, the imperial force began to take down the three enemy war engines, but the time it took allowed the nurgle daemons to swarm over the centre of the battlefield. Having lost all their knights however, the chaos force was eventually surrounded and cut down, although House Corvus had their knight Errant put out of action in the process. 

After this initial engagement, the remaining Emerald Serpent forces abandoned the world, allowing House Corvus and General Percival to claim success. However, the imperial forces remained unaware that the delayed success against the chaos forces had allowed the Serpent to complete their mission, and what looked like a victory for the imperium was actually a defeat. 

White Scars launch cleanse mission on Hexis

On Hexis, by the end of 08.019M42 the raids by the tyranid xenos had not abated, and unable to launch an offensive against either the tyranids or chaos thanks to a strangulation of supplies, the White Scars chapter, en route to the Eastern Fringe, diverted from their planned course long enough to launch an assault on Hive Fleet R'lyeh, who by 2008.019M42 were threatening to break out of the ruinous wastelands and pose a severe threat to general Konev's already stretched forces.

 

The White Scars found the going tough in the barren ruinous landscape north of Menthoteph, but their bikes and bolter discipline were ideally suited to fight the initial swarms of genestealers. However, the larger beasts proved more difficult to take down, and the astartes lost many brothers in putting the aliens to the sword. By 2208.019M42 the White Scars withdrew, bloodied but satisfied the Xenos would not be in a position to threaten Konev's front lines for several weeks at least.

 

Questions remained as to the wisdom of retaining an Imperial presence on Hexis, without equipping it with the forces required to cleanse both the Tyranids and the chaos forces. However, while the ruinous powers faced a significant enemy on Hexis, they were unable to fully make use of the Foramen Ignotum, and total collapse of Imperial rule in the Hadron Expanse was kept at bay.

 

The end on Mordecai Tersius. At least for now

General Kutuzov made his final push to finish the campaign on Mordecai Tersius in early 08.019M42. The Imperial Fists, eager to make up for their defeat just weeks earlier, prepared to assault the capital, now garrisoned by strong Death Guard forces, while the imperial guard under Kutuzov assaulted the Iron Warriors forces still in the hinterlands. 

The astartes assault centred around the key objective of the power generator in the centre of Slaydon. The battle was grim work, as the Imperial Fists, unable to outflank the Host of Eschar forces, had to engage the enemy in a frontal assault against their elite forces. The fighting was brutal, as the Fists found themselves beset by hordes of Poxwalkers, blight drones and the dread weapons of the Death Guard, all the while being bombarded by the chaos tainted artillery. 

The loyalists gained the upper hand simply by engaging in a war of attrition against their brethren. Although many space marines fell there were more Primaris marines to take their place, and the firepower of the Fists’ dreadnought and Repulsor Executioner thinned our the pox ridden swarms before ripping into the plague marines themselves. Finally the battle ended when the nurgle daemon prince Gavinus was banished, and the lords of Contagion were brought down in savage hand to hand combat. The Imperium had secured Slaydon, now Kutuzov just had to prevent the Iron Warriors from counter attacking. 

The battle on the plains was fought at a much larger scale than the battle for Slaydon. Thousands fought in the scrubland and ruins surrounding the capital as Stahl’s men tried desperately to break through the imperial lines and retake the capital. However the Novgorod, having fought the Iron Warriors on Minos and Tarlius we’re not about to break easily. Using massed artillery to harass the enemy command units, the imperial army managed to disrupt the chaos assaults, although were forced to accept heavy casualties in the process. By 0408.019M42 it was clear to Stahl that while his army could not be beaten in the field, neither could it break through to the capital and spaceport. 

Retreating from the imperial lines overnight, the Iron warriors successfully disengaged from the battle, and Kutuzov expected the mopping up phase of the campaign to begin the next day. However, as dawn broke on the shattered agri-world the chaos army was nowhere to be found. Once again Stahl has used the chaos tainted device to open a portal and escape with his armies. Thousands of chaos warriors had retreated in good order, and were now readying themselves for the inevitable imperial assault on Mordecai Secundus. Stahl meanwhile had other plans.  

Palantir invaded by alliance

The alliance had taken their time to organise their next assault in the Hadron Expanse, however on 0108.019M42 the combined forces of the Federacy arrived in the Palantir system. 

Lord Percival, Commander of all armies in the Hadron Expanse, had not expected an attack on Palantir, instead concentrating forces at Dnatha and Arawath. This meant the defenders on Hobbiton were caught off guard, and the planet was quickly overrun. The garrison on Dale had time to raise the alarm, but the only force able to respond were the Grey Knights company in the Expanse. 

The astartes immediately attempted to rescue the citizens of Dale, to stop the Federacy from consolidating their hold on the system. However they soon encountered a new Knightly House, identified as House Chardonnay, fighting in the ranks of the federal force. Declaring themselves loyal to Vornax, a minor forgeworld in the sector which had turned against the emperor. The Grey Knights soon found themselves in bitter fighting as the war engines loped towards their positions. Although the astartes initially held out, blunting the federal advance, they had little answer to the overwhelming firepower that House Chardonnay had. 

On 0408.019M42 the planet was abandoned, leaving the abhumans of Palantir once again under the domination of the Imperium’s enemies. 

Emerald Serpent counter attack at Slaydon

Following Kutuzov's advance, the imperial army was exhausted. However the imperial forces were keen to finish the chaos forces before they were able to launch a counter attack. This proved impossible, as the forces of tzeentch, led by Ahriman and manifesting a daemonic shard of Magnus the Red, launched an assault from the hills straight at the heart of Slaydon.

The Imperium reacted swiftly, sending in the Imperial Fists to defend the heart of the city. Unfortunately the Emerald Serpent had the initiative and the momentum, and no sooner had the astartes taken up their defensive positions, the thousand sons attacked.

Magnus immediately charged, flying over the Fists' defensive screen and unhinging the Fists' normally stalwart defence. With the space marines dealing with the daemonic incursion, the rest of the Emerald Serpent were able to move into the city relatively unmolested. Magnus, or at least one of his shards, was eventually banished back to the warp, but the strategic position for the Imperium had become critical. The remaining Imperial Fists fell back in good order to the Spaceport, which was successfully defended from the chaos forces.

Kutuzov received the news of the defeat with his usual sigh. Disappointed with the loss of the capital, the Imperial general realised that the war had been extended, but the overall position on Mordecai Tersius still heavily favoured the Imperium. The chaos forces were still unable to effectively reinforce their positions, and the imperial armies were now advancing on two fronts.

Kutuzov’s grand offensive takes Slaydon

Having taken a great deal of territory off the chaos armies on Mordecai Tersius, general Kutuzov was keen to keep the momentum going and take the enemy’s final stronghold of Slaydon itself. Taking the capital and space port would seal the remaining chaos armies’ fate and bring the war on the planet to an end. 

Despite having limited time to prepare, the Novgorod armies drew up an assault plan for the attack on the capital city. Although the operation was hastily planned, this also meant the forces of chaos had no time to dig in, and the forces defending the city were made up of Death Guard forces of the Host of Eschar, rather than the elite forces of Stahl or the Emerald Serpent. 

Kutuzov’s plan was brutally simple. Send in wave after wave of Novgorod Guard until the defences were breached, then exploit any gaps in the chaos lines with fast moving cavalry formations. The imperial general was however concerned to find out that the Nurgle defenders were better equipped than expected. Not only were Death Guard astartes present, but the Host of Eschar now fielded a large number of dreaded plagueburst crawlers. 

The imperial army launched their attack on 2707.019M42, and were forced into hellish close quarter fighting. Company after company of Novgorod Guard were cut down, many units melting and bubbling into biological goo as the gifts of nurgle were visited on the loyalists. For hours the chaos lines refused to break, and Kutuzov began to fear that he would run out of men before the city could be taken, or that the plague host would hold on long enough for reinforcements to arrive, undoing the imperial strategy. 

The imperial general finally committed his cavalry, even though the chaos defences has not been breached, but they had little impact on the battle. As the light of the agri-world’s day began to dim, it was the Host of Eschar who succumbed to the brutal war of attrition. With only isolated Plagueburst crawlers remaining and their poxwalker screen eliminated, the nurgle force no longer had the firepower to hold back the human tide washing into the city. The remaining chaos forces abandoned Slaydon, and on 3007.019M42 a relieved general Kutuzov reported the city secured for the Imperium. 

Grey Knights called in to deal with Tyranids

Very little had happened on the Hexis front for months as neither the Imperium nor the forces of chaos made any attempt to go on the offensive. Morale on both sides slumped, but general Konev still had to deal with the tyranid threat to his rear. By 07.019M42 with no end to the war and the hellish conditions taking their toll on his troops, he officially requested astartes support to deal with the frequent raids conducted by the alien xenos who now infested the hills to the north east of the imperial zone on Hexis.

The astartes who responded were none other than the Grey Knights, once again aided by the legendary Kaldor Draigo, who now had such a habit of turning up in the Aleph Sector, few knew his story or even suspected he was anything other than the chapter master of the astartes chapter.

The Grey Knights immediately assaulted the suspected tyranid nest north east of Praxis and Menthoteph, dealing swiftly with a horde of genestealers which appeared first to defend their territory. The firepower of the xenos took its toll, destroying one of the Grey Knights' land raiders. but the astartes managed to get into close assault, fighting the aliens in brutal hand to hand combat. Draigo led from the front, slaying the alien beasts and exhorting his men to follow his example. By the end of 2707.019M42 one nest of the aliens had been dealt with, but there were more.

Thunderbolt: Southern Push

In the south the Imperial Fists and House Eagleclaw moved towards the chaos front lines. Their objective was to move quickly east across the Vaylin plains north of lake Peri, with the intention of cutting off the chaos armies in the south. 

The chaos force opposing them however comprised of unexpected forces. While the traitors fielded a number of knights, presumably supplied by Cybixx, the traitor astartes were not the Host of Eschar, Iron warriors, nor marines associated with the Emerald Serpent. In fact the marines had never been encountered in the sector. Apparently “Red Corsairs” but in the clear livery of the Alpha Legion, the Imperial Fists hardened their resolve to defeat these new enemies. 

The push in the south did not start well. The Imperial Fists Typhon heavy tank quickly came under heavy assault from the chaos lines, as a heretical fellblade made its presence felt. On the chaos right, the alpha legion, equipped with rhinos, quickly made a move towards the imperial left flank, taking key objectives. With the traitor war dogs covering the chaos advance, the imperium were initially in deep trouble. The Typhon had been destroyed and on the Imperial right flank House Eagleclaw was under intense pressure from the traitor knights. The imperium had only made small gains all along the front and defeat here risked the entire imperial positions on the west portion of Mordecai Tersius. 

The Imperial Fists now advanced on foot, converging on the centre of the battle. The Alpha Legion were surrounded and crushed in brutal hand to hand fighting, stabilising the front line, but the Fellblade remained a potent force. The knight duel on the imperial right saw the loss of knights on both sides, but the imperial war engines failed to make headway towards the Helverins. By the end of the first day the risk of imperial collapse had been halted, but the southern push had barely penetrated a few tens of kilometres into the chaos defences, and after grinding their way to Lake Peri, the southern assault was called off. 

Thunderbolt: Northern Strike

In the north of Mordecai Tersius Kutuzov has amassed the most men, as this front would face the combined might of the Iron Warriors and Cybixx. The Grey Knights also planned to drop directly into the thick of the fighting, anxious to break the chaos front line and eliminate as many of Stahl’s daemon engines as possible. 

The Novgorod push made good ground, finding Mt. Harender and the Industria complex already vacated by Cybixx. The heretic tech priest having already found what he needed. The area was weakly defenced by cultists, but further south the Iron Warriors put up stiffer resistance. As the battle became more intense near to the planets secondary food processing plants, Stahl’s forces unleashed their daemon engines. 

On cue, the Grey Knights appeared. The guard forces were relieved at their appearance as the Iron warriors were threatening to overwhelm them. Attacking in tight formation, the astartes broke the chaos defence lines and Kutuzov’s forces streamed through the breach. By 0807.019M42 the front line had been pushed south several hundred kilometres. The offensive had met its objectives in the north but now the imperium were forced to slow and halt while their logistics train caught up. On the Vaylin plains the Iron warriors dug in, awaiting Kutuzov’s next move. 

Kutuzov launches operation Thunderbolt

The next move for Kutuzov was to go onto the offensive. The imperium, despite being pushed back in the north had been building up significant forces and had secured the support of two astartes chapters. Once again the Grey Knights and Imperial Fists had agreed to lend their support to the upcoming imperial offensive. 

Kutuzov now had the strength to launch a massive offensive in the north and south at the same side. Operation Thunderbolt would consist of two thrusts. The northern push would consist of a corps of Novgorod Guard supported by the Grey Knights. In the south, Kutuzov amassed several regiments of Lycannon Guard, with House Eagleclaw and the Imperial Fists. These forces began moving towards the chaos lines from their start positions on 0407.019M42. 

In the south, the Lycannon Guard regiments moved north east, towards the Chemical Plants near the Scorched Lands. Here the imperial forces met the Host of Eschar for the first time in months, but the experienced Lycannon force took positions on an escarpment overlooking the chaos forces and poured fire down into them. Despite their legendary resilience, the plague marines were unable to withstand the hail of fire coming from imperial positions. 

The daemon prince of nurgle launched a revenge assault against the Lycannon tank lines, but even this was shrugged off by the elite guardsmen. The chemical plants were retaken early on 0507.019M42, allowing the main assault to begin. 

Mordecai Tersius: Cybixx charges north

Having secured his flank in the early skirmishes on the plains north of the Vaylin mountains Cybixx began his main assault on Mt. Harender. The ruined city would need to be secured before he moved north to capture the Mechanicum Industria. For this operation the arch magos threw in his elite constructs as well as his regular Mechanicum troops. 

The initial resistance comprised of Librian infantry garrisoning the city. These units were rapidly swept away before the traitors’ advance with almost 100% casualties. Infantry alone were no match for the weapons of the Arch heretek. 

Colonel Dempsey rapidly threw in his armoured reserves as it became clear this was a major attack, but the Leman Rudd elements arrived peacemeal and the inexperienced tank crews struggled to hit their targets. The artillery were more effective, but were unable to stop the Ironstriders’ assault, nor meaningfully damage Cybixx’s robot constructs or heavy tank elements. 

The ironstriders were joined by more elite forces teleporting into the battle, and together they crashed into the imperial artillery. The subsequent melee resulted in many of the Mechanicum walkers piercing the imperial artillery with their lances, catastrophically detonating their stored ammunition. The resulting series of explosion wiped out the imperial guns but took a terrible toll on the assaulting forces, totally eliminating some of Cybixx’s best troops and weakening the attack. Dempsey’s hellhounds then arrived, obliterating the remaining walkers with their Prometheum flame cannons. The chaos light infantry also suffered at the hands of the flame tanks, but the dreadnought construct, code named “Telemon” by the imperial forces made short work of them. Cybixx eventually lost his heavy tanks to the remaining imperium Leman Russ, but this too succumbed to the Telemon. 

Cybixx’s forces had taken moderate casualties, but not quite enough to stop the advanced. Dempsey meanwhile had lost all his armoured units and was powerless to stop the chaos advance. Kutuzov ordered his armies north to prevent being encircled, and by 0607.019M42 the Magos Dominus had secured the Mechanicum complex and began harvesting its dark secrets. 

Mordecai Tersius: Encounter battles hold off Librian tanks

After the defeat of Cybixx on the broad plains south of Mt. Harender, the Arch Dominus made swift plans to retake the territory. Of interest to the heretical tech priest was the Mechanicum Industria - a plant on Mordecai Tersius which had long been in the service of the dark gods. The Factorium had fallen to the imperium along with the rest of the planet in early 019M43, but the loyalists had not had time to uncover its secrets. Cybixx decided he needed to retake the complex urgently, and push the corpse worshippers back as far north as possible. 

General Kutuzov had reinforced the front line following operation supercharge, but the Knights of Eagleclaw needed repair and refit. Similarly the Novgorod regiments were pulled out of the line for resupply, leaving the imperial general no option other than to deploy the Librian regiments to the sector of the front. 

Regarded as unreliable following their home planet’s fall to the alliance, the Librians were nonetheless well equipped and keen to prove their loyalty to the imperium. Adopting new symbols for their army and denouncing their homeland as traitors, new blood had entered the ranks of the Librian regiments, chiefly made up of other dispossessed men from conquered worlds. 

The Librians fielded one division on Mordecai. The 4th and 7th armoured regiments were deployed in the north while the 16th garrisoned Danythe. Colonel Dempsey was in command at the northern front and had deployed his main force of infantry in the ruins of Mt. Harender, with his main armoured force acting as a mobile reserve. Closer to the front line itself Dempsey had multiple units patrolling the vast green spaces which made up the agri-world’s landscape. 

Cybixx planned a straightforward assault. The traitor did not have access to many of his knights, but one was sent with a scouting force to probe the loyalist defences. Once a weakness was found the rest of his army would push through, on to Harender and beyond, threatening to encircle the imperial force and obliging it to withdraw. 

Cybixx began his offensive with wide ranging patrols across the plains, one of which ran headlong into a Librian patrol. A skirmish quickly developed with the Mechanicum initially making gains and forcing the Librian force back. This led Cybixx to order his main attack, but the frontier battle almost went very wrong. The Librians rallied after early setbacks, knocking out the enemy knight and wiping out the ironstrider outriders with well placed leman Russ firepower. The imperial force almost regained the ground they had lost and came very close to upsetting Cybixx’s main assault before it began. However the traitor Mechanicum just held on, enabling the main thrust to begin at Mt. Harender.