The Eldar Campaign

Following the successful capture of Sentinel in 05.012M42, the eldar forces in the Perseus Deeps had been occupied fighting necron forces and chaos on Calliden, so when the invasion of Ares came in 07.012M42 the Imperium were terribly underprepared. The settlement of Hephath station, so recently devastated by the fighting which liberated the world from chaos, fell quickly, and General Veers was forced once again to defend one of his newly won worlds from a new alien threat.

Within days of the invasion the local PDF, as well as a regiment of Librian Guard, on garisson duty on the small world, were reinforced by a company of Space Wolves acting as a rapid reaction force. The Space Wolves, supported by the Librian regiment, launched a frontal assault on Hephath station on 1407.012M42 and soon encountered strong resistance from eldar forces, including those of the Rillietan faction. The eldar counter attacked swiftly, collapsing the Librian right flank while the Space Wolves encountered heavy and withering fire from carefully placed war walkers. In a matter of hours the Imperial attack was in disarray, and the guard regiments pulled back to the capital. The Space Wolves fought on for some time, but realised the attack had failed and withdrew to the central plains of Ares from where they could launch new lightning assaults as needed.

By 1807.012M42 the eldar were firmly entrenched in the north of the habitable region of Ares, and Veers began fortifying the neighbouring cites of Ares city and Caeralon. All offensive plans in the Perseus Deeps were cancelled as the Imperium tried desperately to hold on to their hard won gains in the crusade against chaos, in the face of rising Xenos threats.

While the eldar made gains on Ares, another setback on Calliden brought their whole campaign on the major chaos world into question. The eldar needed to secure the world, along with many others, for reasons which the other races of the galaxy were not yet aware, and would fight tenaciously to do so. However on 1507.012M42 a combined assault by the Claws of Lorek and a summoned daemonhost resulted in heavy and protracted fighting in the Eldar occupied Midland region of the planet. The Claws and their allies raced along the western coastal strip, clearing the eldar away from the sea of Tarsh, and pushed the invaders back hundreds of miles from around the city of Durin. By 1807.012M42 after almost constant battles, the chaos forces had blugeoned their way to within fifty miles of the besieged city of Velorur, and the eldar territorial gains had been reduced to a shrinking pocket on the Velur isthmus. Now the strength and power of the eldar was being seriously questioned. Did they have the resources and manpower to sustain a campaign on two fronts on a heavily populated major world?