Imperium surround Praxis city

With the Grey Knights having secured Konev’s right flank the planned imperial push could begin in the centre of the imperial lines between the cities of Menthoteph and Praxis. Konev had identified a weakness between the are known as old town and Grishtar Gate. Here the chaos line was only 30km deep, with the imperium on either side. Even better for the imperium it wasn’t the elite chaos forces holding the line, but the orks who had been bribed into service by the chaos pact, as the combined force on Hexis was now known as. 

The Last of Sycorax, despite having taken severe casualties in the first battles for the planet, had been reinforced. Now they were in the front line again as their regiments and super heavy vehicles lead the push against Russtoof’s green tide. 

The orks however were far from a pushover. A determined counter attack by the greenskins’ warlord almost broke through the imperial lines, killing the Sycorax colonel and threatening the whole advance. Eventually however the giant alien was pulled down, breaking the ork horde, and by 2911.018M42 the imperial advance was underway again. The orks, their leader dead, scattered, allowing Konev’s regiments to link up at the Haknur plateau, encircling the city of Praxis. 

General Konev had surrounded the chaos and alliance forces, but the noose had not yet tightened around either. The chaos pact in particular still had supplies shipped in to the centre of Praxis via Stahl’s device, while shipments were still made to the chaos zones in the wilderness, despite the attempts of Barham’s fleet to cordon off the system. Despite the success of the guard push, in reality Konev knew the encirclement now put the imperial forces at risk, as only 20k separated the two chaos forces. 

Meanwhile in the north the Cult of the Emperor, or Imperial Cult, often just called the Ecclesiarchy, launched their own offensive against the chaos forces near the centre of Praxis. This rag tag fanatical force mostly kept to itself, except for occasional firebrand speeches or public self flagellation and was totally uncommanded and out of the control of General Konev. Their assault was deemed advantageous however, as they blasted a path for the imperium into the heart of Praxis itself, defeating a rather surprised Death Guard patrol. At the imperial HQ however, many began to question this mysterious cult.