Lycannon and House Eagleclaw move westward

With the space around Mordecai Secundus firmly under imperial control general Kutuzov’s army no longer had to worry about interference from space, and the newly landed Lycannon Guard and the knights of house Eagleclaw began their advance.

Rather than tackle the heavily defended chaos lines to the south and east, Kutuzov ordered his army to move westward then south, in order to encircle the Emerald Serpent forces imperial intelligence suggested were deployed on the heights to the south west. If the Emerald Serpent could be dealt an early blow, the cohesion of the chaos defence may be compromised. In any event, a move west and south would greatly expand the area of Kutuzov’s control and firmly establish the invasion.

The first forces to contest the combined imperial force were Death Guard, but these were swept aside by the ferocity of the Lycannon attack and the overwhelming firepower of house Eagleclaw. However, as the imperial army pivoted south resistance became stiffer, as nurgle forces known as the Host of Eschar put up a solid defence which saw the Lycannon bog down. Suffering heavy casualties, the imperial guard were forced to rely on the heavy firepower of their knight support, but even these suffered casualties at the hands of a dogged defence. Only the Dominus class knight, an asset the Death Guard could not match in terms of firepower, saves the imperial advance. The failure of the nurgle forces to deal with this mighty war engine ensured the chaos defences were eventually cracked open, and by 1011.019M42 the chaos defenders north west of Kutuzov’s Landing zone were in danger of being encircled.