By late 05.015M42 General Launceston's loyalist forces were in disarray. In the north they had lost Berdysian Point and the crusade were pushing west into Pardle. By 2005.015M42 the crusade had landed thousands of troops to support this front, and fresh units were joining the front line every day, while the loyalists struggled to redeploy.
On 2105.015M42 a sustained offensive was launched by the crusade to capture the mountains to the west of Pardle, then to swing north, cutting of the loyalists in Pardle Bay. The operation was a success as the Mechanicum led the assault. The mountainous region, defended by the Novogorod Guard, proved a difficult nut to crack however, as the loyalists were as ever willing to accept casualties in order to slow down the crusade offensive.
At one point it looked as if the loyalists might hold off the Mechanicum long enough to keep the road to Pardle Bay open, but in the end the superior firepower of the crusade force just managed to force a passage to the sea. Now Pardle Bay was surrounded, with no way to resupply it.
In the south, the weakening of the loyalist defence lines against the alliance had predictable consequences. On 2205.015M42 the alliance, led by the Iron Warriors, launched a new offensive against the depleted Lycaon Guard units on the Varras isthmus. The offensive lasted three days, and in that time the alliance closed to within shelling distance of the loyalist capital Newhall, where a general panic set in. Launceston was forced to move his command to a mobile leviathan further north.
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