Battles of “Hell” begin

The harsh landscape of the world was unforgiving and cruel. Despite the advanced technologies and divinations of the various races, many of the forces found themselves without all of the supplies they had originally intended to bring. Whether due to the freak storms that dashed aircraft from the Sky, or freak Warp anomalies that shunted reality and dislocated items and units, all the factions vying for victory upon this world came to the same conclusion: supplies must be gathered and resources collected if we are to survive on this Hellish world.

As the Jade Fangs of the Thousand Sons prepared one of their profane rituals to summon forth equipment and units from the aether, they were ambushed by a patrol of Space Marines bearing the markings of the Hammers of the Emperor. With little chance to safely disconnect themselves from the ritual, the marines attacked without mercy and cut down the traitor legion where it stood.

Elsewhere across the main continent of Hell, other forces of the Imperium fought bloody battles with the relentless tides of Mor'khaten's Will. Upon finding a hidden tomb complex entrance using their auspex from the Dark Age of Technology, the warriors of the Dark Angel’s 5th company engaged in a running battle as plundered the entrance to the tomb for secrets. Whatever their true agenda was, it was near impossible to tell, the Astartes seemed pleased with results.

Where the newly awakened Necrons of Mor'khaten's Will were found to be easy pickings for the Dark Angels, the same could not be said for the already reanimated Necrons of The Forbidden Archives, when they met the Ynnari in a chance encounter. The Rhana Dandra forces of the Aeldari were caught by surprise when their foe, thought eons dead re-emerged. Though a close battle was wages between the two forces, the sheer unwillingness to lay dead prevented the Ynnari from continuing the fight and withdrew to safer ground.

Perhaps the most startling of engagements within the initial conflict of LV-426 was between the Splinter Fleet of Hive Fleet R’Lyeh and the Genestealer Cult of The Four-Wheeled Emperor. Though to an outsider, these forces would appear to be cut from the same cloth, the actions that each faction took could not be further from the truth. With a ferocity that bordered on the maniacal, the two tyranid factions stuck each other until only the forces of Genestealer Cult remained. Their bloodlust sated for the moment; they began the gruelling task of tearing into the biomass of the dead tyranids.

The last engagement during the first few hours of the Crusade was made when the Grey Knights known as The Precision were slogging through the quagmire of one of the planets many swaps. So focused on hunting the foul legions of the warp, that they were caught unaware as the raiders of Blast-Pit Brides descended. Unleashing razor-sharp blades and using cruel instruments of death, the Drukhari Wyches were unimpeded by the quagmire as they danced from tree to tree, cutting at the blessed forces of the Imperium. Only when their lust for pain had been sated, did the Drukhari forces withdraw, leaving behind bloody ruins that were once noble Astartes.

Whilst many factions fought furiously to survive, the Emperors Children known as The Last Gasp came across no other competing forces. Whether this was the will of Slaanesh, or some more insidious influence, it was impossible to tell…