General Kutuzov made his final push to finish the campaign on Mordecai Tersius in early 08.019M42. The Imperial Fists, eager to make up for their defeat just weeks earlier, prepared to assault the capital, now garrisoned by strong Death Guard forces, while the imperial guard under Kutuzov assaulted the Iron Warriors forces still in the hinterlands.
The astartes assault centred around the key objective of the power generator in the centre of Slaydon. The battle was grim work, as the Imperial Fists, unable to outflank the Host of Eschar forces, had to engage the enemy in a frontal assault against their elite forces. The fighting was brutal, as the Fists found themselves beset by hordes of Poxwalkers, blight drones and the dread weapons of the Death Guard, all the while being bombarded by the chaos tainted artillery.
The loyalists gained the upper hand simply by engaging in a war of attrition against their brethren. Although many space marines fell there were more Primaris marines to take their place, and the firepower of the Fists’ dreadnought and Repulsor Executioner thinned our the pox ridden swarms before ripping into the plague marines themselves. Finally the battle ended when the nurgle daemon prince Gavinus was banished, and the lords of Contagion were brought down in savage hand to hand combat. The Imperium had secured Slaydon, now Kutuzov just had to prevent the Iron Warriors from counter attacking.
The battle on the plains was fought at a much larger scale than the battle for Slaydon. Thousands fought in the scrubland and ruins surrounding the capital as Stahl’s men tried desperately to break through the imperial lines and retake the capital. However the Novgorod, having fought the Iron Warriors on Minos and Tarlius we’re not about to break easily. Using massed artillery to harass the enemy command units, the imperial army managed to disrupt the chaos assaults, although were forced to accept heavy casualties in the process. By 0408.019M42 it was clear to Stahl that while his army could not be beaten in the field, neither could it break through to the capital and spaceport.
Retreating from the imperial lines overnight, the Iron warriors successfully disengaged from the battle, and Kutuzov expected the mopping up phase of the campaign to begin the next day. However, as dawn broke on the shattered agri-world the chaos army was nowhere to be found. Once again Stahl has used the chaos tainted device to open a portal and escape with his armies. Thousands of chaos warriors had retreated in good order, and were now readying themselves for the inevitable imperial assault on Mordecai Secundus. Stahl meanwhile had other plans.
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