Adeptus Sororitas retake Burroneus

Following the decisive fleet battle in the space around Mordecai Secundus, supplies began to arrive on the surface within weeks, allowing Kutuzov to shore up his defences especially around the chaos salient that now existed with Festergax at its head. Soon, Kutuzov would go on the offensive, and the forces of chaos were very aware of this fact. Imperial intelligence picked up significant troop movements into the Festergax salient, and it was clear the Emerald Serpent believed this city, that had changed hands numerous times, would be the initial target of the Imperium's new offensive.

Knowing this, Kutuzov met with his generals and decided that Festergax would certainly not be the first priority. It was a key strategic position, but the troop movements made this an unpalletable first target for the renewed armies of the Imperium. Instead, Kutusov asked for options, and the Sisters of Battle proposed their own plan in the south to take one of the twin cities. Burroneus and Ur'Ghar stood like guardians of the southern passage between the Sarkar Traps and the Kuneus lava sea, acting as a bottleneck and keeping the imperial forces bottled up in the Sathugar plains. A strike here would hit the chaos forces while they were off balance, and potentially unlock the opportunity for a breakthrough to the south.

Kutuzov agreed to the plan and the Adeptus Sororitas charged the city of Burroneus on 1508.022M42, facing weaker opposition as the Death Guard had pulled back to Ur'Ghar. The Emerald Serpent quickly responded, using Astralis to redeploy rapidly, and a violent battle erupted on the narrow isthmus between Nazugral and the twin southern cities. In the centre the Sisters pushed their infantry supported by Immolators with dominions skirmishing on the flanks. It appeared the traitor forces underestimated the infantry push, as their terminators arrived not in the centre, but elsewhere to deal with the skirmishing forces, allowing the Sororitas infantry to push forward relatively unmolested. Eventually the Repentia squads moved into range to be able to unleash a devastating charge, overrunning the chaos centre and unhinging the defence of Burroneus. The city fell, and the Thousand Sons legion found their control of the warp severely hampered by the unshakeable faith of the Sisters of Battle. Frustrated, the Emerald Serpent withdrew to Ur'Ghar, leading to the recapture by the Imperium of the entire Sarkar Isthmus in the process.

Meanwhile the Iron Warriors were clashing with the Adeptus Mechanicus on the flanks of the Festergax Salient. Here the forces of chaos were launching continual skirmishes in order, they thought, to disrupt the Imperial major offensive. In actual fact, Kutuzov had no intention to launch an offensive here, but the spoiling attacks by the Iron Warriors were not particularly successful in any case. Both sides engaged in close quarter fighting, with stubborn resolve, but neither side were able to deal any real damage to one another.

Decisive fleet action at Mordecai

Prelude

For over two years the Imperial Fleet at Mordecai had been engaging in a standoff with chaos forces, unwilling to engage directly, fearing that a decisive confrontation might lead to total disaster for the Imperial invasion of the system. The chaos naval forces in the system were strong, backed up by a fleet base and the power of the daemon world Astralis, and the Imperium had been focussing on a "fleet in being" to similarly deter the traitor forces from launching their own decisive operation. By 07.022M42 both sides had amassed a significant fleet presence, and Kutuzov's army was struggling with supplies and reinforcements, as each shipment had to be escorted by one of Admiral Stark's battlegroups to run the gauntlet from the jump point to the inner biosphere. All this changed with the re-appointment of Admiral Jellicoe to overall sector fleet command.

With the change of leadership, the cautious standing orders of the previous Lord Admiral, the timid and decadent Bova Magnus, were torn up. Instead Jellicoe made a proclamation stating that any well planned and reasonable offensive actions by his subordinate admirals would have his full support. At Mordecai Admiral Stark saw this as both an endorsement of the aggressive stance he had advocated for, and also as a challenge to show his worth as a commander of His Imperial Majesty's finest warships. In mid 07.022M42 Stark and Gorshkov decided to initiate a showdown with the Emerald Serpent in the primary biosphere of the Mordecai system. To do this, Admiral Stark put together a large force of capital ships, led by his battleship Kirov, with no fewer than four retribution class vessels and nine other capital ships. Moving these into place in the region of Mordecai Secundus, the closest habitable planet to the Mordecai star, would force the chaos fleet to respond rather than yield their hard won logistical control over the battle on the ground.

Admiral Stark's prediction of the response by the chaos forces proved correct, as the Emerald Serpent duly appeared with ten capital ships, and one vessel the Imperium had suspected was in the possession of the chaos faction, but had never confirmed - a ship simply known as "planet killer". Although it was uncertain as to whether the vessel was equipped with the same devastating planet destroying weapon that gave the class of ship its name, the ship itself was massive, and bristling with other weaponry. Seeing the Emerald Serpent fleet bearing down on him, Stark issued his orders and the largest fleet action in the Mordecai campaign so far soon followed.

Line of Battle:

Imperial Grand Fleet (Admiral Stark)

Kirov (Flagship, Retribution class battleship)

Vanguard (Retribution class battleship)

Resolution (Retribution class battleship)

Bulwark (Jovian class battlecruiser)

Malinovka (Dominion class cruiser)

Narva (Gothic class cruiser)

Tsushima (Dominator class cruiser)

Tanenberg (Dominator class cruiser)

Implacable (Dominator class cruiser)

Repulse (Dominator class cruiser)

Basilisk (Dominator class cruiser)

Medusa (Dominator class cruiser)

Emerald Serpent (estimate)

Planet Killer, Despoiler class battleship, 10 cruisers

The Battle 

The chaos fleet formed up into a a line, attempting to bring the long range broadsides of the heavy chaos cruisers to bear on Stark's battlegroup, with the carriers (at least on Styx class and several devastations)on the right flank, with the planet killer and a Despoiler class battleship on the left. In between these the rest of the chaos fleet armed with heavy broadsides formed the van of the chaos fleet. Stark positioned his dominator class vessels, armed with nova cannons, towards the back, with his battleships deployed at 45 degrees so that if the Emerald Serpent rushed his nova cannons, they would inevitably have to face the full broadside of these mighty vessels. The imperial deployment now put the chaos fleet into a difficult position. If they charged, their "T" would be crossed. If they went for the retributions, they would be forced to face nova cannon fire for an extended period of time.

Throwing caution to the wind the chaos fleet decided to charge into the centre of the imperial fleet. The chaos vessels took heavy punishment from the retributions and the dominators as they attempted to get to within close range, with the planet killer taking much of the fire, and being knocked out of the battle. Accurate fire from the imperial fleet also caused a significant amount of damage, as the imperial cruisers targeted the bridges and communications structures of the chaos vessels. The effect was devastating. Once the chaos fleet had managed to close, they now had the chance to strike at close range, evening the battle, but the damage to their communications now rendered coordinated actions all but impossible, and the return fire from the chaos fleet was haphazard and sporadic.

Eventually the chaos fleet did manage to position their five carriers behind the imperial fleet, but without gunboat support this was too little too late. The carrier attacks did limited damage to the imperial formation, and inevitably Stark's ships swung round to bring their firepower to bear on the last remaining functional portion of the chaos fleet. The Emerald Serpent commander gave the order to disengage, and those who could, did, but plenty of the chaos cruisers did not receive the order, or had difficulty obeying, such was the chaos wrought by the imperial hits to their bridge areas and communications centres. Several chaos cruisers did not disengage, and were pummelled for target practice by the imperial vessels while their comrades fled the battle.

At the end of the battle the Imperium had lost two cruisers, reduced to hulks by the chaos fleet, but the Emerald Serpent had lost five, including their flagship. The result was a decisive victory for the Imperium, forcing the withdrawal of Emerald Serpent fleet units from the system, and ensuring Lord Tragean's vessels stayed within the protective envelope of the Mordecai Spacefort's powerful gun batteries. This yielded full control of the space around Mordecai Secundus to the Imperium, allowing reinforcements and supplies to flood in to Kutuzov's army for the first time in two years. Pleased with the result, Admiral Jellicoe sent his warm congratulations to Admirals Stark and Gorshkov, and the pendulum on Mordecai swung decisively in favour of the Imperium f Mankind.

Losses:

Chaos: 5 cruisers destroyed

Imperium: 2 cruisers destroyed

Rifts of Hecate activity

While the Imperium pulled back to the Hecate Gap, the other factions fighting in the Rifts continued to fight amongst themselves. The tyranids continued to move through space towards the Gap, while the necrons, furious at the sudden invasion by lesser races, decided to focus their efforts against the new chaos enclave that had been set up on the three worlds of Mendesum, Calthingum and Pyrrho Zeta. Seeing the latter as the most vulnerable system, the necrons launched their attack in late 07.022M42, taking the forces of chaos by surprise as they emerged from tomb complexes the worshippers of the dark gods had no awareness of.

The battle was brutal, and the chaos space marine force rapidly mustered to deal with the threat was woefully ill equipped to deal with the emerging necron army. Although they did manage to slay a high ranking necron noble, the battle was a defeat for chaos, and the necrons reclaimed several of their tomb complexes on the world, establishing a foothold to conceivably rid the Rifts of chaos forces.

Meanwhile, the eldar race were extremely concerned with events in the Rifts. Their overall goal, though concealed from the other races, was to ensure that the tyranids, necrons and orks that infested the region, did not find their way into the Hadron Expanse, and more specifically, the eldar were concerned if any one of these forces found their way into vulnerable webway nodes the eldar were aware of being in close proximity to the Hecate Gap. Should the fighting lead to any of the other races becoming aware of these effective "back doors" into the webway, the consequences would be dire for the eldar race.

Consequently, the dark eldar were also motivated to prevent this from happening, and willingly aided the Ynnari who orchestrated the campaign against their mutual enemies in the Rifts of Hecate. In late 07.022M42 eldar raids increased in intensity, as the Drukhari fell upon the forces of chaos at Mendesum, and the Ynnari attacked the orks at the critical system of Lodax.

The fighting at Lodax ended favourably for the Aedlari, as the superior Ynnari forces obliterated the orks on Lodax secundus, allowing the eldar force to occupy several critical areas of the planet and secure key webway nodes. On Mendesum however, things did not go according to plan, as the Drukhari were unaware of a recently refitted and heavily equipped phallanx of chaos knights on the planet. Heavy firepower and hard hitting close combat capability nullified the Drukhari speed and agility, and the dark eldar raiding force was severely mauled before escaping back to Commoragh.

Mordecai: Festergax Retaken

On Mordecai during 022M42 there was a growing pessimism in the imperial ranks. For months the forces of chaos had enjoyed superior logistical support thanks to their fleet base and the daemonworld of Astralis hanging overhead, and instead of one decisive push, the war of attrition had seen the territory the Imperium controlled slowly whittled away. For every imperial success, the ground gained was smaller, and every chaos victory claimed a little more of the hard won objectives Kutuzov's men had so far died in droves for.

Late 07.022M42 was no different, as a force of Thousand Sons supported by a powerful chaos knight launched a direct assault on the city of Festergax. The city was now little more than ruins, and it had changed hands many times over the course of the war. Kutuzov sent in his own Imperial Knights to defend the city, but the Thousand Sons had ample support, and gradually one by one the imperial war engines were toppled or blown apart. Unable to hold the chaos forces, Kutuzov was reluctantly forced to withdraw his administratum personnel from the city, which fell just a few days after the beginning of the chaos assault. There was no mass chaos breakthrough, but the tide was now firmly with the traitor forces. If something wasn't done about the imperial logistical situation and soon, the war on Mordecai Secundus would end in inevitable defeat for the Imperium.

Imperial Forces land at Haven

During 07.022M42 the Imperium stopped expanding into thr Rifts of Hecate. Much had changed in the sector in the preceding months, thanks to the intervention of the Inquisition. The sector commander had been replaced, and the new imperial high command felt that there was a real danger of imperial forces becoming overstretched. In reality the Imperium was already massively overstretched, with a major war against chaos at Mordecai swallowing nearly all new reinforcements that arrived in the sector, and with no stable route across the Cicatrix Maledictum, the "crusade" into the Rifts of Hecate now seemed little more than folly.

Crusade general Justinian Flavius Maximus saw his appointment to the Hadron Expanse for what it really was, a demotion, but the general took his responsibility seriously nonetheless. He had arrived in late 04.022M42 and ensured the bases at Ferrosiun and Helos Majoris were strong. However, he soon received a message from the Inquisition to begin falling back. Protesting at this, Maximus made a strong case for keeping the gains the Imperium had already made, and a compromise was agreed. Maximus would not immediately have to fall back, but in order to prevent the necrons, orks and tyranids which had been found in strength in the region, from swarming through the Hecate gap towards major imperial worlds in the sector, he would need to create and fortify imperial positions in the Gap itself.

There were two world that the Imperium would need to secure in order to control the Hecate Gap. At one end, the system of Ergura's fall, and at the Hadron Expanse end, the habitable world of Haven. Bases here would pave the way for a standing fleet presence, guarding the gap from hostile forces trying to break through.

General Maximus diverted his latest tranche of Novgorod reinforcements to an assault on Haven. Upon landing, the imperial troops had little time to rest or construct a base, as they soon found that the orks had already got their ahead of them. This was somewhat worrying, as if Haven ended up under greenskin control, it risked trapping the Maximus' forces in the Rifts and setting the scene for a new Waaagh! into the Hadron Expanse proper. The imperial landings had attracted the interest of the orks in any case, so a confrontation was inevitable. The Novgorod forces lined up with a large force of conscripts at their front, which were doomed from the start. The human shield tactic was successful however, as while the orks hacked apart the inexperienced infantry, the Imperial artillery had amble time to thin out the greenskin numbers. This allowed the Novgorod veteran infantry to mount a second wave assault, breaking the ork attack and securing time and space for the Administratum to start work on a new base. The first landings at Haven had been a success.

War on Mordecai Secundus update

 On Mordecai the long war continued into the summer of 022M42, with the forces of chaos launching a new attack  in the central sector. Led by the Thousand Sons traitor legion, the Emerald Serpent pushed forward on a broad front, overcoming the resistance from the Novgorod Guard and once again approaching the city of Festergax. This implacable advance was particularly aided by a phallanx of Scarab Occult Terminators which led the advance, seemingly impervious to imperial firepower. This assault force unhinged the imperial lines and forced the Imperium back once more to more defensible positions.

In the south however, the Imperium scored more success. Here the House of Eshar, a nurgle army loyal to the Plague Company of the same name, was engaged close to the city of Nazurgal. Both armies had significant support, including several super heavy tanks and a warhound titan, but the Novgorod Guard had the advantage in terms of heavy artillery. The imperial bombards, manticores and basilisks caused havoc and confusion in the chaos lines, crippling their ability to organise an effective defence. Despite heavy losses, the Novgorod force was able to take key objectives and moved steadily towards the chaos city on the Sarkar isthmus, now a shattered landscape of wreckage and shell craters.

Eldar attempt to dissuade the Imperium in the Rifts

While the Tyranids harassed the Imperium at Ferrosiun, the eldar continued to apply pressure to imperial forces in the Rifts of Hecate. The eldar, both Craftworld and Ynnari, were extremely keen to remove the Imperium from the Lodax system, as they feared the lesser races may get their hands on important necron artefacts. In addition, the eldar were attempting to encourage the Imperium to fall back, as per the Inquisition demand, so the attack by the Ynnari at Lodax was brutal and unforgiving.

The Ynnari made no attempt to secure ground or invade Lodax themselves. Instead they ambushed a lance of Knights from House Stroganoff, systematically destroying every war engine and shrugging off the heavy imperial firepower apparently by force of will, before disappearing back into the webway. With no heavy support, the Imperium abandoned Lodax II and began moves to withdraw from the system entirely.

Tyranid activity in the Rifts continues

By early 07.022M42 the Imperial forces in the Rifts of Hecate had received orders to stop their expansion and fall back on the Hecate Gap. The Inquisition were at the heart of this decision and had instructed the now Crusade general Justinian Flavius Maximus to establish strong bases on the worlds of Ergura's Fall and Haven, two uninhabited worlds that were essential for the Imperium to have control over the movement of forces - friendly and hostile - moving between the Rifts region and the Hadron Expanse proper.

Before this could be enacted however, a large force of tyranids arrives at Ferrosiun, while simultaneously a previously unnoticed genestealer cult amongst the indigenous population of the world rose up against the Imperial garrison. Maximus immediately took charge of the situation, but with his forces preparing to leave for the Gap, Imperial Guard and Astartes forces were in short supply. The defence of Ferrosiun would need to be undertaken by the Adeptus Mechanicus.

Against the cult, the Mechanicum forces of Metallica, aided by a freedblade knight of the Styrix pattern, were successful. The rebellion was crushed by the superior firepower of the Machine God and the immediate danger was lifted, though there was a significant amount of damage sustained to the Imperial infrastructure. Against the tyranids however, a similar force of Adeptus Mechanicus and allied Knight detachment, suffered badly at the hands of the larger tyranid monstrous creatures. The Imperium were forced to yield their positions to the xenos, and fall back to their inner defences that protected the main imperial base. Meanwhile the Imperial fleet searched for the Hive fleet as the appearance of a tyranid space presence would seriously jeopardise the mission to fortify the Hecate Gap.

Rifts of Hecate situation report

 

Boltarean secured by Tau

While the focus of the main factions in the Hadron Expanse remained fixed on events in the Rifts of Hecate, the tau had only deployed three of their five recently arrived Hunter Cadres to the Rifts. The remainder they now consolidated under the tau commander Malkaor, and took advantage of the focus elsewhere to pursue their main agenda, the Hadron Expansion Sphere. 

Having built up a significant force and colonised a number of systems alread, they now turned to finishing off the war at Boltarean. Striking without warning the tau used their logistical advantage to overwhelm the defences of Boltar Prime, and despite the intervention of the Thousand Sons, the fall of the world took less than a day. For some time the tau were worried that the daemonworld "Fecus Major" would intervene to help, but this did not happen. Instead the daemonworld and its attendant fleets simply vanished from the system. If the forces of Nurgle had an agenda in the Hadron Expanse it did not appear to include helping the Emerald Serpent.

Having secured Boltarean the next target was clear. The imperial system of Palantir, and from there, the rest of the Hadron Expanse would be added to the Tau empire.

Battles on Mezria VI

The situation on Mezria VI escalated rapidly as 06.022M42 began. As predicted, a stream of new spores began to rain down onto the planet, and the world itself began to experience earthquakes as the influence of the hive mind affected reality itself. Three major engagements followed, as the tyranids launched themselves at hastily prepared imperial positions. First, hive fleet Poseidon clashed with the Dark Angels, forcing the astartes into retreat, as another strain of the xenos launched a major assault on the main imperial lines.

Here the main fighting took place all along a front line that had been set by the local imperial commander. He had support from the Imperial Navy and the Adeptus Mechanicus, in the form od a warhound titan squadron. Initially the air support did well, mowing down hordes of xenos creatures, but the swarm kept coming. In a desperate attempt to hold the alien advance, the titans charged into the fray, only to be overwhelmed by the smaller creatures, which then ended up swarming all over the rear of the imperial lines. Their defences compromised, the imperial guard were obliged to retreat

The second line of imperial defences faired better, as yet another strain of tyranid genome sprung forward through the gap created by the first frontal assault. As these tyranids crashed into the imperial lines once more, the same story almost played out once again, were it not for the bravery and skill of the imperial rough riders. The venerable cavalry charged their foes at great speed, outflanking the xenos advance, crashing through alien artillery, swarms of smaller creatures and shrugged off concentrated fire from alien exocrines before reaching the rear of the tyranid assault. thus compromised, the tyranid offensive was stopped for the moment, but now the aliens controlled much of the world, and spores were continuing to rain down on the planet

Mordecai: Novgorod Guard retake Sathugar Mines

The response to the loss of the southern Sathugar mines on Mordecai Secundus was not long in coming. General Kutuzov met with his generals and they considered the strategic situation. Fully recapturing the lost ground would be almost impossible given the current logistics problems being faced by Kutuzov's armies, but a tactical victory could be achieved if the mining installations could be retaken.

With that objective in mind the Novogord Guard launched an attack on the weakest portion of the chaos defences, identified as the non-astartes elements of the nurgle aligned "House of Escher". this force, now defending the mines, comprised of a traitor guard formation, including large numbers of Leman Russ battle tanks and several super-heavy vehicles.

The Novgorod were similarly equipped, and the loyalist shadowswords scored an early victory by incapacitating the enemy super-heavy tank formation. On the imperial right flank, the forces of chaos advanced, and at one stage looked likely to overwhelm the Novgorod defenders who had taken positions in the mining facility at the outset of the battle, while on the left, the main thrust of Novgorod mechanised forces attempted to outflank the traitors. Both sides utilised air support, but anti air defences were unusually succesful in downing enemy aircraft.

The outflanking move was a success, as the fast moving chimeras overwhelmed the lightly defended chaos lines. In the centre and on the right flank however, the entire battle hinged on whether the Novgorod could hold onto their positions. As the battle continued, the House of Eschar launched ever more desperate attacks againts the dug in imperial infantry, culminating in a tank assault into the mining facilities themselves. This did not succeed however, and the stubbornness of the Novgorod guard broke the morale of the traitor guard, securing victory for the Imperium. By the end of the first week of 06.022M42 the Imperium had regained the Sathugar mines, achieving their limited objective as they searched for ways to redress the strategic imbalance.

Rifts of Hecate current strategic positions

 

Mordecai: Southern Sector chaos advance

In the Perseus Deeps the war for control of Mordecai Secundus showed no sign of any real change as 05.022M42. Both the Imperium and the forces of chaos were conducting their own secret missions in order to change the strategic situation in the Mordecai system, but by the beginning of 06.022M42 it was still chaos who held the slight advantage. This they put to good use as the Emerald Serpent launched a frontal assault against the Adeptus Mechanicus defending the Sathugar mines in the southern sector. The offensive was a decisive victory for the forces of chaos, as the Mechanicum withdrew rather than face annihilation. 

This allowed the Emerald Serpent to again control some facilities of the Sathugar mines, and link up the cities of Burroneus and Nazurgal via a land bridge north of the Sarkar Traps. This wasn't a breakthrough by any means, but it was progress for the forces of Chaos.

Tyranids take ground on Mezria VI and Garmenes

While the tau were fending off the imperial raid on Garmenes, the hive mind was making progress through the region. By now the various genetic strains were working together, and a fully fledged Hive fleet with at least three separate genetic lineages was now perceptible to any psyker in the region, heading roughly - and alarmingly - towards the Hecate Gap.

Mezria VI was the first to feel the full force of this newly formed hive fleet, as thousands of xenos creatures arrived via spore pods from outside the system. The Crimson Fists launched an attack into the heart of the alien horde but were driven off, losing their commander in the process. Bu the end of 05.022M42 the tyranids had established a larger presence on Mezria VI, and the Adeptus Mechanicus logicians warned of a stream of further reinforcements inbound to the planet.

The tau meanwhile had barely recovered from the imperial raid, when the expected tyranid spores began raining down on the planet. Depleted in defensive strength, the tau were unable to prevent the xenos creatures from establishing a foothold, and despite a vigorous counter attack, the tau were forced into retreat, with hive fleet Poseidon taking control of the deep forests of the planet. Here they would convert biomass into more creatures, and the tau would need a concerted eradication mission to defend their newly won foothold in the Rifts of Hecate.

Tau establish base at Garmenes

In 05.022M42 the Tau received significant reinforcements to their forces across the Hadron Expanse as the importance of the Rifts of Hecate became apparent. In addition to this, the Tau now felt the time was right too once again aggressively pursue their expansionist agenda in the Expanse, as the other factions that opposed them split their forces and focus across the sector.

The plan was drawn up and the Tau fleet escorted at least five Hunter Cadres into the Expanse. Three of these were assigned to the Rifts, and entered the Hecate Gap in mid 05.022M42, reaching their outpost on Garmenes late in the month. This new force was detected by the Imperium, and for the first time the Crusade Commander - general Maximus, perceived the Tau as a threat to the Imperial mission. As he readied his forces to strike agains the Tau base however, the Tau were already finding enemies on their doorstep.

Shortly after the arrival of these new forces the Tau detected xenos forces in the wilderness zones of Garmenes, and sent their troops out to deal with this threat. To their consternation, the xenos were found to be tyranid vanguard forces. The alien creatures were dealt with and the alien threat contained for now, but the Tau had reason to believe that a new wave of tyranids would be incoming, and spent considerable effort strengthening their air defences, something which would have almost immediate unintended benefits.

Just as the Tau had completed their defences against an expected tyranid invasion, general Maximus' strike force arrived. First, the Hammers of the Emperor launched an airborne assault against the Tau, straight into the airborne defences of the enemy. The result was a significant defeat, and the Hammers were obliged to withdraw. This was unfortunate for the Imperium, as the Deathwatch had also landed some distance away from the main Tau base, and now found themselves alone against their enemy. The Deathwatch fought stubbornly to hold their ground, and the battle inflicted heavy losses on both sides, including both commanding officers. However after several days of fighting, the Deathwatch too abandoned the world to the Tau. Battered but victorious, the Tau continued the construction of their base on Garmenes.

Chaos gods clash for control

Deep in the Hadron Expanse, in the Rifts of Hecate, the forces of chaos had established a strong presence by 06.022M42, but the chaos gods were not aligned in their plans. The House of Eschar, a faction of the Death Guard, had established a base on Calthingum, where they planned to develop new plagues and pestilences to further their expansion plans into the Aleph Sector proper. this was a slow and long running plan, but it was too slow and too predictable for the armies of Slaanesh.

And so in late 05.022M42 a small warband of Emperor's Children, accompanied by daemons of Slaanesh, raided the Death Guard intending to thwart the Lord of Decay's plans, and take over their facilities for their own usage. The assault did not start well however, as a keeper of secrets was quickly banished by accurate and determined firepower from the Death Guard war engines, and the inevitable charge by the forces of Slaanesh crumpled as it met an implacable wall of Death Guard plague marines. As the battle bogged down, the forces of nurgle called in their terminators, whose arrival behind the enemy army sealed their fate. The raid petered out and the House of Eschar continued their dogged progress to produce new plagues to unleash on their hated enemies.

Events escalate at Lodax

The Aeldari had so far tolerated the ork presence on Lodax II, judging that the curious and meddling Mon-Keigh posed the greater risk of disturbing the slumbering Necron tomb complexes. The greenskin menace wasn't a situation that could be ignored indefinitely though, and with the humans blocked from the largest Necron complexes by Eldar warhosts the Aeldari resolved to remove the Orks from Lodax II before the infestation got out of control.

Eldar rangers identified a large speed waaagh of ramshackle contraptions pulled by giant squigs lumbering across the desert, its path easily visible from the massive dust cloud it kicked up. Barely visible in the dust cloud was the massive form of an ork warboss of such prodigious size that the Eldar war council determined it must be the leader of all Orks on the planet, if not the entire rifts of Hecate. Assassinating him could cause the  complete collapse of the orks as an organised fighting force.

The aspect warriors of Kel Sandros lay in wait but their perfectly constructed ambush immediately went wrong as one of the grotz on the lumbering squig train got a bad case of “da feelz” and started blasting away randomly at a derelict building. Soon every grot on the train was also blazing away just so they could feel like they were part of the fun and the building, along with the Dire Avengers concealed within vanished in a hail of explosive munitions.

Without hesitation the Autarch ordered her aspect warriors to spring their trap. The entire warhost pivoting in well drilled unison and launched an all out attack at the flank of the squig train. Two of the lumbering beasts fell to the expertly focused onslaught and the grots riding the massive beasts were slaughtered as they spilled out onto the sands.

It was then that the lumbering behemoth of the ork warboss loomed out of the dust storm and fell upon the fire dragons, butchering them with its massive power claws. With their prey identified the sleek forms of the shining spears, held in reserve until this moment, launched forward and layed the brute low, only to find out too late that the foe they had killed was not a massive alpha warboss but actually a grot in a large mechanised suit.

With the ambush sprung prematurely the greenskins fought back and casualties began to mount amongst the Eldar who had been expecting a quick and clean victory. The Eldar fought back with equal savagery and the battle eventually began to swing in their favour. It was then, with victory in sight that disaster struck.

Riding high on a lumbering squig a grot weirdboy suddenly belched out a roiling wave of chaotic psychic energy which sparked about the Avatar of Khain. When it finally cleared the god of war had been transformed into a maddened squig which bounced out of control and launched itself at the autarch and gobbled him down whole.

Aghast at this turn of events the Eldar turned the full force of their fury on the remaining squig contraptions and destroyed them without mercy. Victory belonged to the Eldar and a sizeable greenskin force had been destroyed, but it wasn't the clean assassination of a high value target they had hoped for. The campaign against the orks would need to continue.

Back on Kel Sandros the greatest seers of the craftworld convened. It would take all of their combined psychic might to perform a ritual capable of transforming the Avatar of Khain back from its new squig form. Until then the creature would have to be kept in a pen and fed regular treats to keep it docile.

While the eldar were dealing with another incursion of necrons on Lodax II, the ancient xenos race turned up once more at Lodax Prime, keen to exact their revenge agains the Imperium that had brought ruin upon them. By now the necrons were so enraged they were less interested in strategic gain than they were bringing deth and misery, but General Maximus had predicted such necron pettiness, and hada asked the Dark Angels to deploy in the Lodax system to perform rapid reaction strikes. When the necrons emerged from the webway the astartes went into action, battling the Novokh Dynasty on the desolate plains of the world, well away from areas of strategic importance. The Dark Angels were victorious, and this incursion by necron forces was eventually defeated.

Necrons defeated at Lodax

Having defeated the Imperial forces on Lodax II the necrons were not done. Insulted by the vermin human species desecrating their tombs, the necrons launched their own punitive attack on the Adeptus Mechanicus on Lodax Prime, bypassing the planetary defences set up by the Imperium by their advanced knowledge of the webway. Particularly energised and accompanied by several echelons of the disturbing warriors known as "flayed ones", the necron force quickly overwhelmed the Mechanicum defenders, moving into close combat with alarming speed.

 

The flayed ones and Immortals of the necron army proved almost impossible to kill, and the imperial force would cut the enemy warriors down, only to see them reassemble and reanimate infront of their eyes. The Adeptus Mechanicus put up a strong defence, but were eventually obliged to retreat from their positions, abandoning their main base and excavations on Lodax Prime.

 

All was not lost however, as the Imperial Guard had by now deployed in force in the Lodax system. General Maximus ordered an immediate attack, sending in a complete regiment of Novgorod Guard into the path of the invading xenos army. The necrons charged the highly disciplined defence lines of the Novogorod, losing a great deal of soldiers in a frontal assault that was horrendously attritional. Eventually the necrons managed to grind their way through the front line infantry, even though their C'tan shard had been eliminated by an unlikely cavalry charge by roughriders. The necrons realised however, upon seeing the Novgorod second line still intact, that the continuation of the battle was pointless, and phased out, leaving Lodax Prime in Imperial hands.

 

On Lodax II, while the necrons had been taking punitive action against the Imperium, the Bloodfang tribe had been running amok, looting and pillaging the ancient tombs and piling in ever more greenskin warriors. The Ichortek Dynasty did try to intervene, but with several armies engaged against the Imperium they lacked support. After a brief confused battle the orks were victorious, and the ransacking of the tombs of Lodax II was complete. By the end of 05.022M42 the necrons would not control any ground on either world, and their ancient empire lay in ruins.

Rifts of Hecate roundup