Libria III: Crusade under pressure

By late 04.015M42 the Crusade was facing severe challenges and for each success there seemed to be a reverse for Vorushko's forces. On 1604.015M42 Launceston's loyalist Librian's continued the offensive from the Varas Isthmus, crossing the Riker sea by ship and landing on the coast of Cartasia, knowing the Crusade's smaller numbers and multiple front lines would make an immediate counter attack difficult. In fact the Librian forces were well inland before encountering resistance, and once again the war of attrition favoured the more numerous loyalist forces. the Adeptus Sororitas and Vannaheim guard inflicted heavy casualties on the Librian forces in an attempt to get them to wothdraw to the coast, but the Librians held fast, eventually forcing an exhausted crusade army to retreat towards Regina anaAegon in the south.

Meanwhile in the north, the alliance were pushing south as commander Shadowstrike and the Iron Warriors' mechanicum allies began a crushing offensive against the Vannaheim units. With her astartes forces busy elsewhere, the Vannaheim guard were put under increasing pressure, and gradually more and more captured Librian equipment - and even men - had to be forced into use by the crusade. The result was a tired and battered Vannaheim and Sororitas force facing a refreshed, sharp and well equipped alliance army. It ended in annihilation after two days of fighting, with simple logistics preventing the alliance sweeping into all of Cartasia. However by 2604.015M42 the crusade had lost control of most of Cartasia to either the loyalists or the alliance.

Further south the crusade made gains. The Minotaurs launched yet another airborne offensive, this time against the elite, but numerically small, cadre of commander Skyfall. Casualties were high on both sides, but the end result saw Skyfall retreat from the city and Vorushko restored to her capital. Further south, the Shattered Silence were pursued all the way to their webway portal by the Apocalypse Riders, allowing Quattria to be taken back on the south coast. Her empire was shrinking in terms of square miles, but at least Vorushko had taken back two important cities on the Cartasian Continent.