The forces of chaos, having dealt a significant blow to the Alliance before the end of 018M42, now turned their attention to the imperium. Konev expected an assault towards the centre of Praxis to retake the device chamber, but instead of driving straight into Konev’s prepared positions, Stahl’s commander of his Centre Front, Bezhok, instead planned an attack on Konev’s first army, driving towards the imperial HQ itself, and intended to drive a wedge between the Menthoteph and Praxis.
In order to avoid censure should the attack fail, Bezhok allowed the attack to be led by the Emerald Serpent. The offensive began with a fast moving assault led by the knights of the Aether Striders, supported by the traitor Darrantine Guard.
Realising the risk of a breakthrough, General Inanovich, commanding 1st army, ordered house Stroganoff to intercept the chaos knights now rampaging across the old town region of Hexis while he drew up plans for a counter offensive. Savage fighting erupted amongst the ruins, but House Stroganoff found the going difficult against the combined forces of the Aether Striders and Darrantine Guard. The commanding knight Errant of the imperial force charged the outflanking enemy Gallant, only to be torn apart after its initial attack failed to deal any damage to its opponent. Worse for the loyalist knights, they were still in the process of refitting and rearming after a previous clash with the Emerald Serpent, and some weaponry on the giant war machines failed at the critical moment, notably their flamer weaponry. In addition, the Darrantine provided the chaos forces with much needed aerial support in the form of Valkyrie gunships. These fast and agile attack craft were easily able to evade the lumbering imperial engines, and cause carnage amongst the supporting Novgorod infantry.
With the Aether Striders defeating House Stroganoff and the Novgorod units taking exceptionally high casualties, Ivanovoch requested that his army be allowed to withdraw. Konev agreed, and the general of first army pulled the imperial line back some 50km, straightening it and shortening supply lines to Konev’s HQ and supply base. Bezhok, pleased with the Advance, ordered a halt to the offensive on 0501.019M42, before the Emerald Serpent overextended and lost all their gains to an imperial counter offensive. The Iron Warrior was not about to let the success of the chaos faction go to their heads.
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