Libria III: Cenaur taken by Crusade

For many months the front lines on Libria III had remained fairly static, as the crusade focussed on crushing the loyalists, then turned to defence on Libria I. Vorushko could not afford to mount any offensives on the most important world of all, as the three sides in the Librian war continued to jockey for the other four planets. By early 11.016M42 the loyalists had secured Libria II, the crusade had Libria V, Libria IV had all but fallen to the alliance and the crusade battled the loyalists on Libria I. On Libria III, the alliance and the crusade faced each other on many fronts, with typically up to a hundred miles of no-mans-land between them.

On 0511.016M42 however the crusade mechanicus forces near Cenaur took the initiative. Without informing Vorushko the mechanicus force in the Cenaur Hills noted that the tau defences of the city had been whittled down to an absolute minimum. Now only a few of Skyfall's cadres remained, and the crusade mechanicus, led by five powerful Knights, led the chardge into the city. Skyfall's tau forces were ill-prepared to face this kind of superiority in war machines, and despite putting up a robust defence, the tau forces soon realised they faced annihilation if they remained. The alliance moved back to the Barrel mountains allowing Vorushko's forces to capture the imperial city. Overall however the strategic initiative remained the same, with neither side in a dominant position on Libria III.