Rifts of Hecate update

In late 04.022M42 despite the emerging threat from the Tyranids, the other factions in the Rifts of Hecate continued to pursue their aims against one another. On Mendesum, the forces of chaos continued to build up their forces despite the unwanted attention from several raids. First the Drukhari attempted an opportunistic raid on chaos forces, but the Thousand Sons intervened, leading to an attritional battle the dark eldar most certainly did not desire. Utilising their almost invulnerable terminator forces, the battle saw both sides lose their commanding officer, before the Drukhari decided the raid was no longer worth the losses, and abandoned the endeavour.

Later on, the forces of the Imperium arrived. This was in fact an error. The Imperium were now under the unified command of newly appointed Crusade General Justinian Flavius Maximus, but the commanders of the astartes, mechanicum and Guard forces already engaged in the Rifts of Hecate had not accurately updated the General on the situation on the ground, and Maximus was still adhering to the old and now out of date battle plans. He sent in a regiment of Guard to establish control over what he believed to be a system with a small population of humans, completely oblivious to the fact the chaos forces had already been establishing their own bases there. The result was predictable as an Iron Warriors force quickly intercepted the imperial arrivals, massacring their infantry and forcing their armoured units to withdraw unsupported. The Iron Warriors almost had their sorcerer assassinated, but he escaped gravely injured.

Another failure caused by the lack of communication in the Imperial high command saw an Adeptus Mechanicus Explorator fleet land on Garmenes almost totally unsupported by other imperial elements. The Tau, who had been building their own base on the world, reacted swiftly, unleashing a storm of accurate fire on the Mechanicum forces, and inflicting severe losses. Later analysis of the encounter suggested the Adeptus Mechanicus might have used a different strategy and established a foothold on the planet, but in the heat of the sudden unexpected battle, this option only came to light in hindsight. For now, the two imperial disasters woke General Maximus up to the disjointed and fractious nature of imperial forces in the Rifts of Hecate, and he ordered all new forces to Ferrosiun where he set up his HQ. The first order of the day was to establish the deployments of Imperial forces and create a Crusade war council. Then he would gather intelligence and draw up a battle plan for systematically gaining control over the worlds of the region.