Ergura's Fall operations

In 02.023M42 the Imperium were in a reasonable position on both Haven and Ergura's Fall, though not the dominant faction on either world. On Ergura's Fall the local commander subordinate to General Maximus had been concentrating his efforts against the Tau, but recent reports of fighting between the necrons and forces of chaos presented the Imperium with a problem. Their positions on the world were overlooked by a large plateau to the south east, which if either the chaos forces or necrons gained control over, would threaten the Imperial sector on two fronts, potentially making control of the planet untenable.

To investigate this threat the Imperial commander sent an Imperial Guard patrol into the area of necron activity, hoping to find the xenos merely a dormant and reactive garrison force, but when the patrol advanced on some ancient ruins including the tell tale xenos monoliths, they were ambushed. Skorpekh destroyers advanced into a hastily prepared killing zone and were cut down, but the implacable advance of a phalanx of immortals escorting a cryptek proved impossible to stop. The imperial guard patrol was wiped out to a man.

The guard patrol did manage to get off a series of increasingly panicked communications before their demise however, and hearing the screams over the vox network, a task force of Adeptus Custodes homed in on the signal. By now the necron force had increased, and a lengthy engagement around a line of monoliths ensued. Neither side were able to overcome the other, but the Custodes were operating beyond their logistic supply limits and were forced to withdraw. the necrons too retreated to regroup.

Realising the necrons posed a significant force in the east, general Maximus demanded more troops be sent to deal with the threat. However, the crusade general was informed no astartes forces were available as they were committed to missions already, and that all the experienced Novgorod regiments were similarly tied down on the two theatres of operations. With reinforcements dribbling in over a very long supply line through the Hadron Expanse, Maximus only had a green force of Imperial Guard to commit to Ergura's Fall, the Librian 18th Mechanised division.

This was not a force Maximus wanted to use, as the Librians were still both of questionable loyalty to the Imperium following the world's loss to the Federacy, and the regiments in question were inexperienced even if they had the newest equipment available. Nevertheless it was all the general had, and Maximus just had to hope the necrons were a spent force.

They weren't. As the mechanised force rolled into necron territory they were confronted by a mass of xenos infantry. Rather optimistically the division commander ordered the Librians to engage, overwhelm the necrons and take their rear supply lines. These orders were not credible given the strength of the force that opposed them, although the Leman Russ battle tanks in particular proved effective against the necron force. The mechanised infantry faired far worse however, as the necrons piled into the imperial force engaging them at close range with combat weapons.

Gradually, despite taking moderate casualties, the imperial guard were themselves overwhelmed, and the Librians retreated in disorder. The nerons advanced onto the high plateau, putting the imperial garrison and main supply base on Ergura's Fall in serious danger.

Meanwhile in the northern hemisphere the forces of chaos had turned to deal with the tau on their western flank. Once again a small force of cultists were deployed to bait out an enemy reaction, and when the tau army arrived a horde of daemons was summoned in front of them. Bloody combat ensued and the tau Hunter Cadre and the xenos force was overwhelmed. The tau retreated and the chaos forces established a new perimeter, now controlling nearly a third of the sparsely populated territory on Ergura's Fall.