Intense battles on Ares

Having lost Ares City on 0702.013M42, General Vasilevsky immediately organised a powerful counter attack. This time two Librian regiments supported by Praetorians and two massive war titans, one reaver and one warhound, moved against the now ruined city on 0902.013M42. At first their progress was unimpeded, and the massed infantry of the imperial guard, supported by tanks and artillery, made good progress into the hab zones around the city. Then without warning, an enormous eldar warhost appeared from the city centre, attacking out of the haze and smog which now almost permanantly hung over the heart of the settlement.

Reports from front line units were initially discounted, as they contained frantic pleas for aid and descrptions of eldar formations far larger than was believed possible. Various enemy titan sightings were assumed to be different units describing the same war engine, but as the fighting continued it became clear that the imperial attack was facing no fewer than five eldar titans, including three of the largest phantom class war machines.

Vasilevsky was determined not to retreat, and threw in his reserves. On the right flank of the imperial advance the open ground was telling, and despite heavy shelling of the enemy positions, superior firepower and the aid of a phantom titan overwhelmed the librian infantry and armoured formations, and after taking heavy casualties the imperial forces began to retreat.

On the imperial left wing Vasilevsky had more success. One by one the enemy titans were taken down, but at heavy cost. The warhound was the most fortunate unit on the battlefield, somehow destroying a much larger phantom titan in close combat without suffering any damage. The reaver titan was less lucky, being almost completely gutted by shot after shot from the eldar lines. Rarely seen eldar "knights" were also present, though these suffered badly at the hands of the reaver titan before it was crippled. By the end of over six hours fighting the imperium had established dominance on the left flank of the battle.

The one remaining eldar titan was still a concern however, as the collapse of the imperial right wing allowed the monstrous war engine to break through the imperial frontal positions to the more vulnerable artillery units to the rear of Vasilevsky's lines. However a lucky shot from the basilisks prevented it firing accurately, and without enough firepower to break the imperial army, the titan retreated.

By the end of the day both sides had fought each other to a standstill. The eldar had suffered crippling casualties, but Vasilevsky's army was in no fit state to pursue the eldar. The imperium had lost half its infantry, had a reaver titan crippled and lost all of its tanks. The remaining imperial forces dug in where they stood, some three miles further forward than when the attack had started and waited for the next battle...