Libria III 06.015M42

Libria III: Minotaurs retake Cartal

Following their success against the Loyalists in the north, the crusade forces were soon planning an assault against the alliance. With the federal fleet no longer a constant menace the forces loyal to Inquisitor Vorushko knew that the allied armies were at their most vulnerable as once again the strike cruisers of the Minotaurs and Sky Lords could be brought into play to deliver devastating aerial assaults.

A key part of this strategy was the non-intervention of the imperial fleet now in control of space around the planet. So far the imperial fleet under Jellicoe had largely remained neutral in the loyalist/crusade conflict, following the disastrous encounter between admirals Doenitz and Pendragon. In any case the imperial fleet around Libria III was under strict instruction not to interfere with crusade actions against the alliance, although the position of the fleet involving crusade attacks on Launceston's army was less than clear. Vorushko decided not to push the imperial admiral for the time being.

The Minotaurs launched an orbital strike against the Iron Warriors holding Cartal on 1506.015M42, having informed the imperial fleet their intention to attack the alliance. Unimpeded the astartes forces landed a devastatingly accurate wave of drop pods in the forested area just to the north of the city, cutting across the alliance supply lines. In the initial drop much of the Iron Warriors' armour was destroyed, and despite a hail of counter fire somehow the Minotaurs survived. Having failed to dislodge the space marine force behind their lines and now facing a broad frontal assault from other crusade units, Apollo decided to give up the truly ruined landscape of the capital of Cartasia on 1706.015M42.

Blood Martyrs massacred at Breaklen

Having taken the Grabell Highlands in late 05.015M42, it was obvious that Breaklen would be the next target for the crusade in the north. The city itself, home to nearly ten million in the extended urban sprawl, sat on a flat plain between the highlands to the south east, the Fulmar mountains to the west and the rolling hills of bennia to the north. The Varrus Isthmus, and the alliance armies, lay to the south west.

The Crusade had already secured the northern and southern arms of the Grabell Highlands, already cutting Breaklen off from the city of Pardle bay. The southern arm of the mountain chain, with peaks above 7000m, was the more rugged terrain, but the northern arm dominated the northeastern approaches to the city itself, with sumits of 4000m less than 100km from the city centre. The crusade's forces were concentrated in the Pardle gap, an area of lower terrain and many mountain passes, and the strategically important road to Grisk.

Launceston counted himself fortunate however. The axis of attack was obvious, as any attack from the southern highlands would have to cross the breaklen plain, a vast stretch of open farmland, which would be easy to defend against utilising the imperial artillery. An attack from the northern highlands would require significant redeployment into the mountainous terrain, across the Pardle gap, while orbital strikes were currently not an option, with pendragon's fleet remaining in orbit. Added to this a company of Blood Martyrs space marines, and the Knights of Cyprarcaea, an Adeptus Mechanicus & knight world in the Valitane subsector, had recently arrived to aid the loyalist cause, while Inquisitor Hathek remained on Vastrid in an attempt to direct more resources to help.

Breaklen represented the last major city held by Launceston's forces. Losing Breaklen would mean losing the region of Bennia, and leave the loyalists in control of largely barren wasteland and smaller settlements. The Blood Martyrs and the Knights immediately took position to defend the city from attack which on 0806.015M42 duly materialised.

The assault on Breaklen did indeed come from the Pardle Gap, lead by the Sisters of Battle and the "Knights of the crusade", a detachment of imperial knights who appeared to owe their allegiance directly to the ecclesiarchy. In support, indentured Vannaheim, Librian and even Lycaon "converts" swelled Vorushko's army, who advanced on a broad front towards the city. Initially the loyalist defence plan went well, as the astartes were able to pick the timing of the main engagement, simply waiting for the enemy to come into range then launching their armoured counter offensive. The initial shots from the loyalist counter attack were less than impressive, but the response from the crusade was crippling and immediate.

Melta equipped short ranged sororitas squads weathered heavy fire from the Cyprarcaean knights before unleashing devastating and accurate fire on the giant war engines. Within minutes the Knight units assigned to the defence of breaklen had been reduced to wreckage, while the crusade behemoths continued to close with the defenders. Worse followed as the Blood Martyrs' counter assault was quickly battered by combined guard and sororitas firepower. However it was the crusade knights which made all the difference. Equipped with fearsome power claws the knights were able to simply pick up and hurl the Blood Martyrs' vehicles, while shrugging off intense melta, lascannon and multimelta fire. One knight is known to have hurled and destroyed a land raider, a predator annihilator and a whirlwind in the space of a few minutes, crushing space marines with debris and critically confusing the Blood Martyrs' assault.

Apparently paralysed by the overwhelming enemy force, the Blood Martyrs' assault collapsed. Most of the astartes were simply slain, but many fell back, some even shamefully running from the combat. The sight of adeptus astartes fleeing the battle broke the imperial will to fight, and by 1006.015M42 the loyalists were in full rout. Thousands died in the open ground to the north of Breaklen as they tried to flee, and an entire Librian army group was annahilated. General Launceston barely escaped from the debacle, and although a new defence line was set up to the north of the Grabell Highlands between the mountains and the sea, bu 1306.015M42 the region of Benia and the Fulmar mountains had simply been surrendered to the crusade. It was a black day in the Blood Martyrs' history and a severe setback for the loyalists on Libria III.

Libria III: Alliance retake West Cartasia

The loss of the Dark Eldar from the alliance didn't seem to make much difference to the ongoing ground campaign on Libria III as 06.015M42 began. Although the loyalists were now in control of the space around the planet they were unable to turn that to their advantage, as the alliance still had a huge advantage in terms of atmospheric craft. With only one carrier following the destruction of Sir Bedeviere, the imperial navy simply couldn't compete. Orbital bombardments were helpful, but the imperial fleet had to both conserve ammunition in case they were attacked from space, and bombardments tended to lead to the ultimate destruction of settlements rather than their liberation, so were used only in the direst of situations. For the most part the imperial navies resources were spent ensuring supplies reached the beleagured General Launceston. They were no help whatsoever to the crusade, who Pendragon's fleet largely ignored.

The alliance launched their next offensive on 0105.015M42, moving a powerful tau force, led by commander Skyfall and his experimental riptide wing into the plains of West Cartasia. Here the land was generally flat, and the defending crusade forces were unable to match the alliance in raw firepower. The initial; assault quickly took the urban area of Krichten and swept the small inquisition indentured guard forces out of the area.

True to the crusade tactical doctrine, once the tau had committed their troops the elite counter attack followed. The Sky Lords mounted an armoured spearhead into the centre of the tau defence, supported by an Adeptus Mechanicus Knight. Initially the tau had severe problems countering the mechanicus war engine, and several precious riptides were simply ripped apart by the mechanicus leviathan. the sky lords too had initial success, their armour largely protecting them from the withering fire. However the battle turned in the city of Krichten itself, as the core of Skyfall's troops desperately tried to defend key positions from the onrushing astartes.

In the middle of the thickest fighting, a riptide finally managed to wreck the Sky Lord's command land raider, forcing the terminators inside to advance on foot. Not only did this slow the marines down, but the entire tau line was now able to open up on the infantry. Despite their advanced ancient armour the terminators were cut down by sheer weight of fire and prevented from reaching the tau lines. This was a significant setback for the astartes force, who now found their flanks beginning to buckle under tau pressure. The Knight continued to wreak havoc, but there was only one. Eventually the remaining Sky Lords, accompanied by the Knight, were forced to turn back to the coast, leaving Krichten and West Cartasia in the hands of the tau. A weakness in the riptide wing had been identified, but more territory had been lost to the xenos invaders.

Libria III Current

Libria III: Dark eldar mercenaries show their hand

While Pendragon's fleet was conducting its surprise attack on the federacy at Libria III, Admiral Somerville was left behind to patrol the jump point and protect the rest of the imperial fleet from being ambushed itself. His force was centred around the fast battleship Lion, sister to the experimental Tiger which had blown up so spectacularly against admiral Thok.

Tiger led a battlegroup which included an apocalypse class cruiser and a dictator, as well as escort support. While on patrol, Somerville encountered anomalous sensor readings on a number of occasions, and on 3005.015M42 moved to investigate. Proceeding with caution the rear admiral was not surprised to find the strange readings materialise into four dark eldar cruisers, which closed with the imperial battlegroup at speed.

The ensuing engagement was indecisive. The dark eldar vessels found it difficult to penetrate the imperial armour and shielding, and Lion's speed and long range gunnery quickly crippled three of the xenos cruisers. At the same time the aliens found that while the imperial cruisers were almost immune to their attacks, the sword class frigates appeared vulnerable. Somerville lost all five of his escorts in the battle, but was able to group his cruisers together for mutual protection. The dark eldar declined the offer of battle and withdrew to lick their wounds.

Meanwhile on the ground with the federal fleet driven off, the alliance looked to their mobile eldar allies to carry the fight to the enemy, using the webway to quickly deploy overwhleming force. A previously unutilised dark eldar kabal were seen in the vanguard of the new alliance offensive in the Cartal mountains. This extra force proved decisive and once again the crusade armies were driven out of the highlands and back to their narrow coastal strip, with the adeptus sororitas taking the brunt of the casualties.

In Comorragh meanwhile, the archon of the Shattered Silence, which had provided much of the dark eldar support to the alliance was beginning to consider his position in the venture. His kabal had gained much wealth and power from the arrangement, but now increasing demands were being made of his mercenary force, and with other kabals now competing for alliance "contracts", the ability of the Shattered Silence to negotiate high prices for their services was being undermined. With immediate effect the Shattered Silence declared they would no longer provide forces for alliance needs, depriving the alliance of one of their most flexible formations.

Libria III: Pendragon ambushes the federal fleet

For months the federal fleet had been carrying out an effective blockade of the Libria system. Since the defeat of the imperial fleet in the outer reaches, the federacy had kept up a significant presence in the Libria system Initially their goals were far reaching, including supporting troops on the ground, keeping supply lines open and preventing enemy forces from reaching the theatre on Libria III.

This remit was almost impossible to fulfil. The federal fleet had been largely succesful in keeping supply lines open, but without tau support their force wasn't large enough to be everywhere at once, and the crusade in particular were able to continuously resupply their own forces using their fast moving astartes warships and conduct orbital strikes.

To counter the crusade specifically in 05.015M42 the federal admiral moved his ships much closer to Libria III itself. His force consisted of the battleship Haskell, heavt cruisers Pride of Tallax, Peacemaker and Liberator, as well as the dauntless class cruisers Romulus and Remus, with support from four firestorm frigates.

This new deployment prevented the crusade orbital strike capability and enabled the crusade to move forward with their ground campaign, but the close blockade of Libria III put the federal fleet at risk. The battlegroup was now stationary around the planet, and deprived of its scouts which would warn against attack. To mitigate against this the federacy began to build defences around Libria III, converting two vessels into defence monitors and laying minefields.

These defences were far from complete when the loyalist fleet, led by Admiral Pendragon, launched an attack against the federacy. Admiral Jellicoe approved the plan submitted by his junior admiral, and detached an additional force to supplement Pendragon's fleet.

The imperial force arrived in the Libria system in late 05.015M42 and remained undetected as it moved in system. Rear admiral Somerville's supplementary force led by Lion was detatched to patrol the area of the jump point, while Pendragon's fleet, led by the battleship Sir Gallahad and the grand cruiser Sir Bors, moved towards Libria III itself.

As the imperial flotilla approached the planet, Pendragon ordered silent running, and the imperial battlegroup was able to close to deadly range before being detected by the federal warships, which were mostly in orbit around the world. This ran significant risks as the imperial ships were running on 30% shield power, and an ambush would have been catastrophic. Fortunately the federal force remained in orbit, unaware and unprepared for what was about to happen.

The initial salvo from Pendragon's ships was the first the Federacy knew of the loyalist presence in the system. This could have been devastating, but poor fire discipline from the loyalist ships meant that the defence monitor Emancipation took much of the intial fire, reducing her quickly to a wreck. In reply the federal fleet scored immediate hits, with the vast majority of the alliance vessels reacting quickly to the appearance of an enemy battlegroup in their midst. The exception was Peacemaker, and the dominator class vessel failed to move, her guns staying silent and she soon became an easy target for the imperial vessels.

The federal admiral was immediately able to cross the imperial "T" with his fast moving firestorms supported by Romulus and Remus manoeuvring into position broadside on to the advancing enemy vessels. To counter this, Pendragon ordered his dictators to rush ahead, launching a devastating torpedo and bomber attack which saw two firestorms wrecked, Remus hulked and Romulus crippled.

The initial action had been a success for the imperium, but the dictator class vessels Sir Percival and Sir Bedeviere now took the full firepower of the federal battlegroup, with Sir Bedeviere destroyed in minutes, her plasma reactor detonating showering the immediate area with debris. Sir Percival managed to escape the fusilade, but the grand cruiser Sir Bors was badly damaged by nova cannon fire.

In retaliation the imperial dominator class cruisers switched their fire to the enemy flagship Haskell, and accurate nova cannon fire caused crippling damage to the federal battleship, while Peacemaker, still inactive, became a sitting target for the loyalist fleet as they passed her by. Twenty minutes into the engagement Peacemaker was put out of action, her power generators knocked out, and she took no part in the battle.

The advantage was now strongly with the imperial admiral, and the federal battlegroup began to turn to port, forming a line parallel to the imperial vessels but travelling in the opposite direction. As they passed down the starboard side of the approaching imperial battle line, a bombing wave from Pride of Tallax wrecked Sir Bors, who had failed to get herself out of the battle line following heavy damage. Even with this success, with Peacemaker lost, Haskell badly damaged and his fast squadron eliminated, the federal admiral knew he was in an impossible tactical position. After a few more exchanges, during which Liberator was crippled, the federal fleet disengaged en masse, leaving the imperial fleet in control of the planet.

Pendragon realised too late that his enemy had disappeared, and lacking escorts, he was unable to relocated the enemy vessels. Peacemaker was captured, but the hulk of Romulus was taken in tow by the federal fleet, and the rest of the battered battlegroup was able to escape. The victory was widely hailed in loyalist circles, and provided a much needed morale boost to General Launceston's beleagured forces on Libria III, but given the tactical situation and the risks taken, Admiral Pendragon was left with the question "why didn't you get the lot?"

LOSSES Loyalists: Grand cruiser & cruiser destroyed
Federacy: cruiser & light cruiser destroyed, 3 escorts. Battleship & 2 cruisers crippled

Order of Battle:
Federal Fleet
Haskell (crippled)
Pride of Tallax
Liberator (crippled)
Peacemaker (hulked - captured)
Romulus (crippled)
Remus (hulked - escaped)
4 Firestorms (2 destroyed)

Imperial Fleet
Sir Gallahad
Sir Bors (Hulked)
Sir Bedeviere (hulked)
Sir Percival
Sir Tristran
Sir Robin

Libria III: Alliance push ahead

As 05.015M42 drew to a close the alliance continued to make gains on Libria III. In the south of Cartasia the Iron Warriors reversed the crusade's recent successes, taking the ruined city of Cartal back from VOrushko's army before she had even had time to reclaim her former seat of power. By now the Federal fleet had been recalled to close orbit, preventing further crusade intervention from space, and the alliance's domination of space and the air sooned reaped dividends.

Further north the offensive up the Varras isthmus continued, with the Shattered SIlence kabal emerging from a previously unknown webway portal in the flank of Launceston's loyalist army. The Space WOlves responded supported by loyalist mechanicum skitarii, but the dark eldar pulverised them as they moved into position. By 2605.015M42 Launceston's capital had fallen, and the alliance continued to push forward.

Minos: Imperium holds on

On Minos the brutal fighting had taken its toll on both sides by the end of 05.015M42. However it was the imperial army which was better able to absorb these kinds of losses, as the iron warriors were an elite force of ancient super humans . The simply couldn't afford to suffer the attritional losses the same way the Novgorod could. With no hope of immediate re supply the imperial commanders simply had to dig in and await what was coming for them.

The next assault on the imperial lines came on 2205.015M42. Rather than expend his precious elite forces or even his limited mortal human units, Warsmith Stahl consented to a plan put forward to him by one of his allies, a tzeentch sorcerer who Stahl despised. The sorcerer proposed utilising the power of the warp to defeat the common foe, and while the Iron Warriors' leader detested the denizens of the empyrean, he was not above using them as tools to meet an end. In fact many of his war engines were powered by the shackled spirits of warp entities, so the plan was approved.

The daemonic hordes were duly summoned in front of the lines of Novgorod soldiers, and they threw themselves wholeheartedly into the fight, capreing gleefully at the opportunity to wreak havoc in the mortal realm. Once again the imperial forces took heavy casualties and were inexorably forced to give ground, but despite the ferocity of the daemonic onslaught, the lines held long enough for the imperium to weather the storm, and before very long the unnatural army began crumbling, its tether to the physical plane slowly dissolving.

The operation had caused carnage, but the line had not been broken. Stahl made his displeasure clear to the tzeetch sorcerer, who was summarily dismembered in front of the ranks of his loyal followers, but the warsmith knew the casualties inflicted had been useful and his own forces had not been diminished. The fall of Minos was only a matter of time so long as the corpse god's followers failed to send any reinforcements to the beleagured Novgorod defenders.

Libria: Loyalist collapse

By late 05.015M42 General Launceston's loyalist forces were in disarray. In the north they had lost Berdysian Point and the crusade were pushing west into Pardle. By 2005.015M42 the crusade had landed thousands of troops to support this front, and fresh units were joining the front line every day, while the loyalists struggled to redeploy.

On 2105.015M42 a sustained offensive was launched by the crusade to capture the mountains to the west of Pardle, then to swing north, cutting of the loyalists in Pardle Bay. The operation was a success as the Mechanicum led the assault. The mountainous region, defended by the Novogorod Guard, proved a difficult nut to crack however, as the loyalists were as ever willing to accept casualties in order to slow down the crusade offensive.

At one point it looked as if the loyalists might hold off the Mechanicum long enough to keep the road to Pardle Bay open, but in the end the superior firepower of the crusade force just managed to force a passage to the sea. Now Pardle Bay was surrounded, with no way to resupply it.

In the south, the weakening of the loyalist defence lines against the alliance had predictable consequences. On 2205.015M42 the alliance, led by the Iron Warriors, launched a new offensive against the depleted Lycaon Guard units on the Varras isthmus. The offensive lasted three days, and in that time the alliance closed to within shelling distance of the loyalist capital Newhall, where a general panic set in. Launceston was forced to move his command to a mobile leviathan further north.

Libria III: Crusade make gains

Having secured a new bridgehead in the north and taken the pressure on the crusade held terriroty in Cartasia, the crusade immediately capitalised on their victories. In the north the loyalists were still struggling to respond to the new front, and Vorushko's army were taking advantage of the lack of alliance presence in orbit by shuttling troops from one area to the other by astqartes and mechanicum vessels in low orbit. The alliance, though posessing air superiority over the loyalists, were unwilling to throw their air force into the assault against the crusade, particularly where the troop movements were from Cartasia to the loyalist front. In hindsight this may have been a mistake.

The Apocalypse Riders delivered the next savage blow to General Launceston's cause when they ambushed a force of Lunar guard near Grable. The loyalists hadn't expected the crusade to be able to cross the Pardle Bay so quickly, and were taken by surprise. In the battle the astartes were able to delay the Lunar Guard's armoured forces long enough to drive a mobile force into the loyalist artillery, neutralising their firepower. The Lunar Guard commander was killed, crushed under the weight of a Rhino's tracks, which further disrupted the loyalists ability to respond, Defeated, the loyalists pulled back. Now the crusade had two cities in the north and the loyalists were in serious difficulties.

In the south the Sisters of Battle and their indentured Librian, Vannaheim and now Lycaon Guard units continued their drive against the alliance. The crusade army had swelled to include a number of ex-imperial guard and PDF forces, but unlike the loyalists, these guard forces were never allowed to act independently, and always had astartes or sororitas leadership. Vorushko (and her forces) did not trust guard forces from bitter experience of defeat.

The crusade met stiff resistance from the alliance as they pushed north. Bitter fighting in the Cartal mountains raged for days around between the crusade army and a force of Iron Warriors supported by the Shattered Silence. A confused and at times violent engagement, eventually the crusade secured the higher peaks in the Cartal mountains and were able to shell the city of Cartal, Vorushko's previous capital. Realising this wasn't the place to make a stand, the alliance withdrew, allowing Inquisitor Vorushko to reclaim her now ruined capital.

Libria III: Crusade comeback

With the alliance and loyalist forces having failed to finish off the crusade on Libria III and with their access to highly mobile elite formations, it wasn't long before Inquisitor Vorushko's forces re-established themselves on the most important world of the Libria system. First, the Sisters of Battle loyal to Vorushko launched a new offensive at the head of a substantial imperial army against the alliance in Cartasia. With their main forces tied up in Varras fighting the loyalists, the alliance could only call upon a handful of non-Librian units, although these were quickly reinforced by the eldar and dark eldar. The Shattered Silence put up a surprisingly hard fight for alien mercenaries, but eventually the numbers and equipment available to the crusade began to tell, and West Cartasia and the city of Quattria were retaken.

Her base secrure, Vorushko now launched a new offensive against the loyalists, reasoning that although the alliance were the main enemy, she needed to break the loyalist cause. Only then could the imperium be united in its purpose. With this in mind the Minotaurs were called in to launch an assault from orbit. Using their fast escorts and strike cruisers to evade the patrolling federal fleet, the astartes delivered a strike from the skies with unparalleled violence. The defenders were totally unprepared for this opening of a new front, as the blow had come at the settlement of Berdysian Point in the north of Libria III.

General Launceston quickly deployed two regiments of Lycaon Guard to the area, aware that if the Minotaurs were even just delayed in establishing a defensible perimeter, the crusade would not be able to establish a beachhead on the new front. The result was a massacre. The Lycaon guard regiments were systematically annihilated by the Minotaurs and Berdysian Point became the new base of operations for the crusade in the north.

Ork counter attack on Hylas

By mid 05.015M42 the imperial army under general Van Dorn had made sweeping gains on Hylas, and some even allowed themselves to believe that the war, which had already been raging for years, would be over soon, perhaps within months. Van Dorn and imperial command however never believed the orks were finished. Time and time again the greenskins had come back from defeats and retaken all their losses. In the west, Von Bismork was planning just such an attack.

The objective for the greenskin warlord was simple. Inflict a crushing defeat on the imperium, take back as much land as possible and kill as many humans as he could. It was hardly surprising therefore when the attack came against the imperial left flank, close to the Hylas plateau. This section of the imperial line was held by the Novgorod guard, and this gave Von Bismork the opportunity he needed. The guard forces were the least well equipped of Van Dorn's army, and the mainly infantry based force presented the orks with the chance of slaughter they craved.

The ork attack was well organised and brutal, proving VOn Bismork had lost none of his control over the greenskin forces on Hylas. Gradually, despite characteristic stubborn resistance, the Novgorod forces were worn down and forced to give ground. Within a week this forced Van Dorn to retreat into West Coast, yielding ground to the greenskins and bringing an end to the string of imperial victories on Hylas.

Arch Cleric emerges in the Vastrid subsector

Many months after the Arch Cleric's apparent disappearance from the sector, the former leader of all chaos in the Aleph sector re-emerged once more, this time in the Enceladus subsector. Apparently having given up on his conquest of Zadoc, the Arch Cleric now led a significant attack on the orks on the minor world of Gorlag. The greenskins, nominally loyal to the now pre-eminent ork warboss in the sector, were taken by surprise and after a bloody battle resoundingly defeated. Few orks were left alive on Gorlag and the world passed into chaos control, while the imperium and others tried to make sense of the Arch Cleric's motives.

Minos: Carnage on the front lines

The seemingly unstoppable Iron Warriors had now taken overall control of Minos and the Novgorod Guard were in rout. In early 05.15M42 Imperial Command, desperate to save the Minos spaceport, created a desolate no mans land in front of them to stall the rapidly advancing enemy. As before the Iron Warriors advanced through the night, which by this point the Novgorod were expecting. Stahl wanted war on Minos done with, and the lackeys of the corpse god dead. The Novgorod intended to delay the Iron Warriors long enough until Minos could be reinforced. The result was the bloodiest battle for Minos yet.

The Imperial defenders, comprised of survivors and now veterans of the war of Minos were well aware of the threats they faced. The Medusa artillery crews opened the firing on the forces of chaos and, equipped with night vision equipment, executed the cursed Daemon Prince in a single shot. The Iron Warriors meanwhile advanced on regardless once again into the teeth of the Novgorod guns. With every step the withering firepower and artillery of the Novgorod took their toll, first Rhinos, then spawn, and finally the Maulerfiends. The traitor astartes themselves simply continued advancing through the bombardment, butchering any guardsmen in reach, a score dying for each Legionaire.

By midday the ground was no longer visible beneath wrecked daemon engines, tanks, corpses and blood. The Iron Warriors had suffered greatly for their part, but just after 14:00 Imperial Command lost contact with the Novogord Commander in the field, his last vox message simply incoherent screaming before being cut. The death of the Novgorod Commander brought the opportunity that the traitor forces had been waiting for, as one after another the Novgorod started to break against the implacable Iron Warriors. A little after 15:37 reports came across the supply lines that the Iron Warriors forces had broken.

The Novgorod guard had succeeded in bloodying the Iron Warriors, fighting them to near exhaustion, but failing to stop them. This hard battle had enraged the traitors, who had taken to butchering any and all that supported the Novgorod in any form, and many who had not. Stahl in the coming days further reinforced the Iron Warriors and prepared for the final push in the war of Minos. Imperial command fell into complete panic, sending out desperate distress signals for help, but with the Imperium so thinly stretched, there was little hope of any response to their pleas for aid.

Libria III: Loyalist invasion fails

One week after their attempted invasion of Quattria on the south coast of Cartasia, general Launceston's loyalist forces tried again to remove the last of the crusade forces from Libria III. This time the Novgorod regiments were backed up by several regiments of Lycaon Guard, and the whole force was landed successfuly on Farran Isle with no opposition from either the alliance or the crusade. However it was the invasion of the mainland which would face significant opposition.

The attack proper saw the Novgorod guard landed to the west of Quattria while the Lycaon guard moved in from the east. Here the loyalist met a significant force of mechanicum troops loyal to Vorushko, but after a bloody encounter the Lycaon forces made progress, achieving their objectives by the end of the first day.

To the west, the Novgorod guard had a tougher challenge, facing the elite forces of the Apocalypse Riders. These astartes forces quickly decimated the vanguard of the imperial force, and before long the loyalist left flank had collapsed into a general rout. Frustrated general Launceston was once again left with no option other to withdraw Farran, despite the Lycaon suggestion to dig in and make another assault on Quattria later. The crusade had held on once again, and dislodging them from LIbria III by the loyalists seemed further away than ever.

Zadoc: Calogne retaken by chaos

Following the success of Rahvan Malkaor in the north of Zadoc, the forces of chaos were quick to strike back against the tau. Probing for weaknesses the loose chaos alliance found that in the south only Skyfall's experimental cadres stood between them and the city of Calogne. Skyfall's troops were extremely well equipped, sporting the latest in Riptide technology, but in terms of numbers, the tau were outnumbered at least five to one by the chaos army. And these numbers were about to dramatically increase.

The chaos attack started with the human cultists. Ill equipped and lacking much in the way of tactical cohesion the cultists were easily dealt with by the tau, but soon after the engagement started a host of daemons suddenly materialised, transforming the battlefield into a seething mass of daemonic energy. Quickly the Riptides of Skyfall were deployed to meet this threat, but although the larger entities proved no match for the tau weaponry, Skyfall's army was soon overwhelmed by the smaller daemons. Taking heavy casualties the tau commander ordered an organised withdrawal before the precious Riptides were damaged. Calogne was surrendered to the chaos to prevent a rout.

Hylas: Mechanicum forge ahead

Following successful interventians by the Minotaurs and others, much of the north of Hylas had been returned to imperial control by the beginning of 05.015M42. However in the east Von Bismork still held territory which was uncomfortable close to Brockley and Collingwood.

Having taken the pressure off the north, and with significant reinforcement from the Adeptus Mechanicus, the army under Van Dorn now planned a modest mission to reduce the threat to these two key imperial cities. Attacking swiftyl, the Mechanicum were in the vanguard of the attack, and their weaponry devastated the greenskin lines. With the Imperial Guard following up, the greenskins were rolled back along the length of the front, and by 0505.015M42 the danger to the imperial cities had been lifted and Desmond was in extreme artillery range for the first time in years. The imperium now hoped to defeat the orks on Hylas within the terran year.

Libria III current

Libria III: Crusade cling on to toehold

Novgorod Guards vs Sisters (No vanaheim) 5-5 draw. Novgorod artillery inflicted heavy casualties on the sisters, forcing them to abort their attempt at a mechanised counter attack. Novgorod guardsmen also took heavy casualties when trying to press their advantage, and were only driven off when the Crusade gained aerial superiority and started to strafe the massed ranks of Guardsmen. Resulted in an inconclusive stalemate.

By early 05.015M42 the situation in southern Cartasia was dire for the crusade. Many of Inquisitor Vorushko's aides were counselling withdrawal. However the inquisitor lord was resolute. Withdrawal was not to be considered while the crusade still had adequate forces to pursue the campaign. And resources she had. It was the loyalists however who attacked from the sea and attempted to remove the crusade. Attacking Aegon from the sea the Novgorod guard launched a massive assault supported by a devastating artillery barrage. This inflicted heavy casualties but the Sisters of Battle defending the coast held firm.

Unable to counter attack with their mechanised forces the crusade called for air support. Waves of avenger strike craft appeared overhead and bombed the loyalists positions mercilessly. Unable to respond to the aerial threat, the Novgorod forces found it impossible to breakout of their beachhead, and on 0605.015M42 General Launceston called off the assault. The crusade held on for now.