Minos: Stahl closes on victory

After the victory of the Dark Angels, the Imperial defenders of Minos were further bolstered by the arrival of the Ultramarines, reportedly led by Chief Librarian Varro Tigurius. While only a small strike force, they were accompanied by an Imperial Knight Household, all vowing the break the accursed traitors. Despite the Iron Warriors being on the defensive, their artillery train remained fully functional, led by a brutal member of the Stor-Bezashk brotherhood, the death of whome would almost certainly mean the Iron Warriors having to abandon their positions. Stahl was keen to ensure this did not happen as his forces took up positions against the enemy.

At a little after midday, the Ultramarines were deployed alongside an armoured company of Imperial Guard; the plan to split the Iron Warriors between the advancing forces and the drop pod assault. The Iron Warriors were initially caught on the back foot and the Imperial forces advanced unmolested, while Tigurius came in from orbit, but freak atmospheric conditionsthrew the drop pod into a wild spin crashing and killing near half the Ultramarines within.

While the Imperial Knight blazed into the Charybdis Agema Rapier teams inflicting moderate casualties, Tigurius attacked the Earthshaker emplacements commanded by the Stor-Bezashk, but the dug in Agema proved tough to crack. The Imperial artillery strikes proved ineffective against the heavily dug in traitors, who suffered only light damage to their war machines.

Rather than split their assault forces the Iron Warriors surged en masse towards the Imperial lines, while their dead eyed slave workers swarmed Tigurius and his men. Clearly afflicted with the Warp Plague, a gift of despair from Nurgle, hundreds of hands dragged the last two bodyguards down. With no choice but to retreat, Tigurius fled. Alarmingly his own bodyguard, now dead eyed and foaming at the mouth rose to block his path as hundreds of infected slaves dragged him down.

The Maulerfiends attacked the Imperial Knight and after dodging several blows crushed its power plant, destroying both it and the Knight. The armoured company desperately poured fired into the advancing Iron Warriors, but daemonic energies and terrain prevented any meaningful casualties. While spawn were killed through concentrated fire, all Imperial vehicles and men were torn apart with claw and shell. By 16:00 2304.016M42 not a single Guardsman or Ultramarine was left alive of the assault force.

The loss of an armoured company defending Minos’ capital meant the Iron Warriors were quickly able to breach the walls and pour into the city. PDF troops rapidly deserted their post as they, along with civilians fled to Minos’ Governor Palace, where the only remaining Imperial forces on the planet remained.