Minos: Carnage on the front lines

The seemingly unstoppable Iron Warriors had now taken overall control of Minos and the Novgorod Guard were in rout. In early 05.15M42 Imperial Command, desperate to save the Minos spaceport, created a desolate no mans land in front of them to stall the rapidly advancing enemy. As before the Iron Warriors advanced through the night, which by this point the Novgorod were expecting. Stahl wanted war on Minos done with, and the lackeys of the corpse god dead. The Novgorod intended to delay the Iron Warriors long enough until Minos could be reinforced. The result was the bloodiest battle for Minos yet.

The Imperial defenders, comprised of survivors and now veterans of the war of Minos were well aware of the threats they faced. The Medusa artillery crews opened the firing on the forces of chaos and, equipped with night vision equipment, executed the cursed Daemon Prince in a single shot. The Iron Warriors meanwhile advanced on regardless once again into the teeth of the Novgorod guns. With every step the withering firepower and artillery of the Novgorod took their toll, first Rhinos, then spawn, and finally the Maulerfiends. The traitor astartes themselves simply continued advancing through the bombardment, butchering any guardsmen in reach, a score dying for each Legionaire.

By midday the ground was no longer visible beneath wrecked daemon engines, tanks, corpses and blood. The Iron Warriors had suffered greatly for their part, but just after 14:00 Imperial Command lost contact with the Novogord Commander in the field, his last vox message simply incoherent screaming before being cut. The death of the Novgorod Commander brought the opportunity that the traitor forces had been waiting for, as one after another the Novgorod started to break against the implacable Iron Warriors. A little after 15:37 reports came across the supply lines that the Iron Warriors forces had broken.

The Novgorod guard had succeeded in bloodying the Iron Warriors, fighting them to near exhaustion, but failing to stop them. This hard battle had enraged the traitors, who had taken to butchering any and all that supported the Novgorod in any form, and many who had not. Stahl in the coming days further reinforced the Iron Warriors and prepared for the final push in the war of Minos. Imperial command fell into complete panic, sending out desperate distress signals for help, but with the Imperium so thinly stretched, there was little hope of any response to their pleas for aid.