Libria V: Crusade inch forward

While the crusade were unable to reinforce Libria III given the alliance blockade, they were still able to send forces into and resupply Libria V. Orbiting further out, Libria V was beyond the patrol radius of the alliance fleet, which was limited to operations within the inner biosphere. Given Libria V was under the control of loyalist and crusade forces anyway, this was of little concern to the alliance.

On 2203.016M42 the recently reinforced crusade mechanicus forces broke the recent "detente" between the loyalists and crusade forces, driving into loyalist held territory. Vorushko wanted to ensure that the loyalists did not think that after a while the Xenos threat would take precidence and she would be forced to accept the loyalists position, or worse, a compromise. This was a point of principle and authority, and one Vorushko would never let go.

The attack was launched against Lycaon Guard lines, and once again the guard units proved resilient and stubborn against their enemy, but the technological edge enjoyed by the mechanicus forces ensured that after a hard fight, the loyalists were forced to yield ground to the crusade. It was a token gesture however and no major breakthrough was achieved.

Aethor: Vlokarion raid succeeds, but is costly

With the eldar & dark eldar making significant gains on the planet of Aethor, and the imperial defences in disarray, the leader of one kabal, Vlokarian continued to funnel forces across the webway to support the eldar effort. In actual fact the support for the cause of the Disciples of Y'Nead was incidental. The primary reason was to continue exploiting the human population, and as another raiding party arrived on Aethor they had no reason to believe that this raid would be any different from any other.

Unfortunately for Vlokarion's forces the imperium had, but 2003.016M42, reorganised their defences, and the highly organised and disciplined Lycaon Guard had arrived from Bastien to reinforce the defenders. The dark eldar attacked with little regard for their foe, and were suprised by the withering return fire and stubbornness of their enemy, who refused to withdraw. Very soon the dark eldar were taking significant casualties, and only the intervention of senior kabal commanders prevented a rout. Eventually the superior firepower of the xenos forced the Lycaon Guard to retreat in good order, allowing Vlokarion's forces to round up a reasonable haul of "subjects". However, the cost had been high and Vlokarion began to reconsider the Aethor expedition.

Minos: Dark Angels break the seige

Following a series of panicked and incomplete reports from the front lines warning of a new warband of Emperor's Children running rampant and reinforcing Stah'ls Iron Warriors, Imperial Commanders on Minos issued a request for aid from the Adeptus Astartes. The request fell largely on deaf ears with most of the Space Marine Chapters in the sector busy prosecuting the civil war on Libria. The Dark Angels however held the conflict there in contempt, seeing it as a petty internal political dispute within the Inquisition that served only to weaken the Imperium and sap its strength. Resolved to protect the Imperium from its external enemies and intrigued by reports of a terrible Chaos warlord of unmatched martial prowess a task force of the Dark Angel's 4th Company was immediately mobilised.

Easily locating the Chaos warband from the trail of destruction it left the Dark Angels deployed from their orbiting Strike Cruiser, the Dark Dominion. A ferocious running battle ensued as the two highly mobile Marine formations launched a series of exquisitely orchestrated lightening attacks and counter attacks. It was a deadly duel and neither side was able to best the other as each strike they made was deftly countered in turn. The conflict eventually ended in stalemate. With no possibility of a decisive advantage for either side both commanders elected to withdraw.

Although they had failed in their goal to kill or capture the Chaos commander the ferocity of the Dark Angel's assault was sufficient to halt the Emperor's Children's rampage and force them from the front lines. For the time being at least the Imperial forces on Minos had the advantage and the time they needed to re-organise and launch their own counter attack.

Libria System: Crusade Mechanicus fleet forced to abandon mission to Libria III

Following on from the successful exploitation of the Hadron Expanse by the imperial task force, the adeptus mechanicus found itself with a number of valuable tech hauls from the unexplored region, which included several hulks of old warships. Inquisitor Natalia Vorushko was keen to ensure that the Magi who oversaw the acquisition of the archeotech from the task force was aligned to her Crusade in Libria. This she managed by adeptly ensuring that her faction were in the ascendency at the Hadron jump point in the system of Brimlock, where the task force returned on 1803.016M42. Inquisitor Huron, although disappointed that the disagreement between Vorushko and Hathek was still going on, was obliged to turn over the items of value to the adeptus mechanicus representative Vorushko had made sure was waiting for him.

In exchange for this valuable prize, the adeptus mechanicus agreed to Vorushko's request to break the seige of Libria III. Since late 016M42 the inner system and jump points of the Libria system had been controlled entirely by the alliance. The Federal fleet and the Iron Warrior fleet of Apollo had locked down access to the inner systems leaving Vorushko unable to launch orbital strikes. Even the fast moving vessels of the Minotaurs and Apocalypse Riders had been unable to penetrate the defence screen since Apollo had changed the way patrols were conducted. Libria I, II and III were effectively cut off.

By mid 03.016M42 the Iron Warriors fleet had left the system to be replaced by admiral Swiftstar's tau. The federal fleet had also left, as it had formed the vanguard of the voyage to the Hadron Expanse and not yet returned. Now was a chance to strike at the weakened alliance defence, but Vorushko's crusade was in no position to do so. The astartes had few vessels, and the Crusade fleet under Cornellius and rear Admiral Fernando was undergoing repairs and trying to re-organise at Caitlen Station - which had effectively fallen to Crusade control without a shot being fired.

With no fleet to exploit what would surely be a transient weakness in the alliance defence, Vorushko requested that a mechanicus fleet break the siege. Such a fleet was already available and had been in the area for months, but until now, direct confrontation with the alliance on behalf had been avoided in favour of conducting augur scans of the Mab Nebula.

On 2203.015M42 the Adeptus Mechanicus crusade fleet arrived in the Libria system from an unexpected anlge, using their advanced technology to warp directly into the inner system. Taken by surprise Swiftstar hastily assembled his fleet to face the intruders in the solar flare region of the Librian system.

Throughout the engagement both sides were plagued by poor communications from the radiation constantly streaming from the Librian sun. It was difficult for both sides to coordinate ship movements and targets, and often captains had to attempt to guess their admiral's wishes. This reduced the effectiveness of tau ordnance strikes with torpedoes and manta bombers, but critically affected the coordinated use of the mechanicus nova cannon, which fired at escort vessels for much of the engagement.

Swiftstar formed his infamous "box" formation and faced the mechanicus head on, while the crusade fleet simply accepted the challenge and sailed towards the tau. A vicious close firefight erupted, destroying one mechanicum light cruiser and crippling two more, forcing them to flee the battle. then the Mechanicus fleet managed to utilise a lull in the storm of radioactive particles to coordinate a devastating strike on the tau custodian class battleship "Vigilence". the vessel took the full force of the imperial fleet, and within minutes of being fired upon the tau vessel exploded as her plasma drive containment failed, killing admiral Swiftstar.

Hungry for revenge the tau uncharacteristically closed still further, swarming their mantas around the two dominator class cruisers at the back of the mechanicus formation, reducing both to hulks before one blew up in a spectacular display of pyrotechnics. The mechanium fleet was able to heavily damage a protecter class vessel before both sides lost contact in the mass of swirling plasma, but despite killing the tau admiral and destroying their flagship, the mechanicum fleet had taken more damage, having only an undamaged battleship and two badly damaged light cruisers following the battle. Unable to loosen the alliance grip on the core systems of Libria, the mechanicum fleet disengaged and headed for Caitlen station to repair and refit.

Libria III: Skyfall smashes Crusade lines in Cartasia

With the Crusade forces throttled by the continued blockade of the inner Librian systems, the alliance took the opportunity to put pressure on the crusade forces already on the planet. In mid 03.016M42 commander skyfall, utilising the very pinnacle of tau battlesuit technology, launched a major offensive against the crusade forces defending Cartasia. Mostly fanatical ad hoc guard units much of the open ground was quickly yielded - as planned - to the xenos. Thousands of ill equipped but expendable fanatics died but bought enough time for the forces of Vorushko to respond.

To defend Regina and Grisk, the Sky Lords were deployed to counter attack. Utilising Knights and heavily armoured land raiders, the astartes drove straight for the enemy. Skyfall's cadres however were prepared for such an attack and laid down a withering hail of fire which quickly destroyed much of the astartes armour and then began chewing up the marines themselves. Still the Sky Lords maintained the pressure, and managed to fend off a rather half hearted and costly envelopment attempt by stealth suits, but the main front line action turned into a massacre as the ghost keels dealt with the Imperial Knight blocking the road to Grisk and the elite terminators were simply erased by high energy weaponry.

Meanwhile on the western flank of Skyfall's attack the battle was even more decisive. Here even the best equipment of the adeptus mechanicus was swept aside by the technologically superior tau force, and by 2203.016M42 the crusade had lost control of Regina, Parth and Grisk as well as the important industrial heartland of Cartasia. In two weeks the crusade had suffered a major setback and were retreating to Cartal. Outnumbered, out of supply and definitely outgunned, the future of the Crusade itself began to look in doubt.

Three forces sent expeditions into the Hadron Expanse while the warp routes remained viable, in order to reconoitre as much as possible, exploit any resources and return to the Aleph Sector. For the Imperium, the Crusade and Loyalist forces managed to ignore their differences over Libria long enough to build a formidable task force. Lead by Inquisitor Huron, who had remained neutral in the argument between Vorushko and Hathek, the imperium gathered together a large fleet of warships, including elements of Admiral Pendragon's and Admiral Enkvist's fleets, and with the reappearance of Admiral Hector to Aleph sector operations.

Added to this were several regiments of Novgorod Guard, who continued to flood in to the sector via Brimlock in an impressive display of seemingly inexhaustible manpower. Backing this up, the Adeptus Mechanicus, crucially interested in finding STC components and space hulks in the Hadron Expanse, added their own forces to the expedition.

The alliance, short on manpower and extended on all fronts, supplied a much smaller force. Only one federal battlegroup took part and this was undersized, and the only ground forces sent were a few hunter cadres from Skyfall's Aleph Expansion sphere. For chaos, despite being entrenched in wars or internecine conflicts, the ruinous powers managed to assemble a warfleet under Admiral Thok, and several thousand Iron Warriors. In addition, always looking for profit, the Dark Eldar kabal of the shattered silence also sent its own force from Commoragh.

The exploration of the Hadron expanse continued for around a terran month, with the Imperial forces out of Brimlock dominating much of the available systems. Skirmishes on the ground were largely few and far between, but there were two major engagements of note. In one, the Mechanicum met the bulk of Skyfall's entire force, and a large full scale battle took place. After hours of hard fighting it was the tau who were narrowly defeated, and this early set back seriously impacted the alliance's cause, despite the federal fleet defeating admiral Pendragon. Following that engagement it became clear the imperium outnumbered alliance forces but at least 3-1, and the alliance moved their operations further to the galactic south, effectively yielding much of the expanse to the imperium.

At the same time, the middle of the expanse was being contested by the forces of chaos and the imperium, with Stahl gaining victory over the Novgorod Guard in one system, but losing to the Mechanicum in another. The too and fro of engagements culminated in a large set piece space battle, which put much of the imperial fleet under Hector and Enkvist against mad admiral Thok and his pirate dark eldar allies.

The space battle itself was decisive, with the dark eldar seen off and Thok's fleet badly damaged. Although Thok once again escaped in his crippled "planet killer", the victory gave the imperium domination over the northern expanse, and despite being defeated on the ground by Skyfall's cadres and the dark eldar of the shattered silence, it was the control of the space lanes which decided the Hadron expedition. By 1803.016M42 the warp storms were closing in once more, and all sides prepared to leave the area. The mechanicum had retrieved several key artefacts and space hulks, while the forces of chaos had seen little gain for their efforts. The alliance had profited from their small expedition but knew there was nothing in the southern Hadron Expanse which would aid them in their many wars, and the imperial success bolstered the imperial will to resist on several fronts.

Sector Summary and the Hadron Expanse

While the Crusade, Alliance and Loyalists continued to battle for the Libria system, in 03.016M42 an opportunity presented itself in the dark unknown void of the Hadron Expanse. To the eastern edge of the Aleph sector a vast area of Wilderness space, largely unexplored by the Imperium, became navigable for a brief time due to the unfathomable nature of the warp. There was limited time to exploit this potential resource however, and all the races immediately prepared expeditionary forces to the area to see what riches they could plunder before the warp closed in once more.

The Hadron Expanse had remained unexplored throughout the duration of the imperium. Warp storms, unpredictable in nature boiled their way across the region, preventing any kind of warp travel into our out of the region. Occasionally someone would claim to have penetrated the veil, the area of systems on the edge of the expanse marking the de facto limit of navigable space, but few were believed.

The webway certainly had access to the Expanse, but the eldar guarded it jealously and never informed the tau of their knowledge during their time on the alliance. Worshippers of chaos sometimes managed to make successful jumps into the area, but this relied too much on the fickle nature of Tzeentch, and reliable travel was all but impossible.

The great becalming started in late 015M42, with the warp storms of the Hadron Expanse temporarily moving away, to be replaced with a calm quiescent empyrean. It wouldn't last, the Expanse would be open for a few months at the very most, perhaps a year, but then the storms would close in again. Immediately Inquisitor Vorushko readied an expedition to the area, keen to take advantage of anything to further the Crusade's hold on the Libria system. The tau, federacy and loyalists too prepared forces and fleets to begin the exploitation of the Hadron Expanse.

Libria IV: Hard city fighting takes its toll

Following months of heavy fighting the Imperium, despite losses, had still not been defeated on Libria IV and still controlled much of the sprawling capital city of Porthaven. In late 02.016M42 commander Skyfall led another operation to break the imperial resistance in Porthaven. This time the tau drove straight for the Water Plant to the west of the recently captured Imperial HQ complex, but the defenders were prepared and waiting for such a predictable move.

The Lycaon Guard were in the forefront of the fighting and gave a good account of themselves. Experienced in fighting the tau and Skyfall's heavy use of battlesuits, the imperial defenders would not budge from their positions, and Skyfall wuickly found himself bogged down in street fighting. Unable to use their technical superiority against the humans, the tau withdrew back to their lines after several days of unsuccessful probing actions. The front quietened down, with neither side exactly sure how to proceed.

Aethor: Dark Eldar continue onslaught

As 02.016M42 progressed the eldar and dark eldar forces on Aethor continued their advance on the capital of the small colony. Obviously more than a raid, the attack by the Xenos was led by dark eldar forces, who launched a concerted assault against Lunar Guard positions in the hills around the Aethor centre of governance. The results were predictable, with the fast moving Xenos forces quickly outflanking and engaging in deadly close quarters fighting with the imperial defenders. Unable to flexibly redeploy, the Lunar Guard forces in the hills were annihilated, and by 0103.016M42 the defenders in Aethor itself found themselves surrounded by the alien foe.

The fourth battle of Minos

Order of Battle

Imperial Fleet of Admiral Enkvist
• Leipzig – Emperor Class Battleship commandeered by Admiral Enkvist
• Sevastapol – Mars Class Cruiser (Crippled)
• Port Arthur – Dictator Class Cruiser (Hulked)
• Seelow Heights – Dictator Class Cruiser
• Malinovka – Gothic Class Cruiser (Hulked)
• 5 Cobras (4 destroyed)
The Iron Warrior Fleet of Warlord Diodotus
• Sword of Charybdis - Devastation Class Cruiser commanded by Warlord Diodotus
• Shield of Charybdis – Devastation Class Cruiser
• Iron Eternal – Carnage Class Cruiser
• Strength Eternal – Carnage Class Cruiser (crippled)
• Eternal Will– Carnage Class Cruiser
• Sword of Olympia – Archeron Class Cruiser
• Sword of Olympia – Archeron Class Cruiser
• 2 Idolators (1 destroyed)
The Battle

The Iron Warriors fleet, having spent several weeks in de facto control of Minos' inner system, discovered Admiral Enkvist was once again planning attacking in system. Warlord Diodotus, lieutenant of Warsmith Stahl had no intention of allowing Enkvist to take the initiative and made her own plan to attack the Imperial staging point at the systems edge. At 17:50 local time the now repaired fleets of the Iron Warriors and Admiral Enkvist engaged.

Unfortunately for Imperial fleet, the Malinovka and her Cobra escorts were separated from the main fleet and ambushed. The main Imperial fleet attempted to support with long range fire and along with the Cobra's Torpedoes succeeded in crippling the Strength Eternal who disengaged. In return, massed weapons batteries and Lances reduced the Malinovka to a hulk, and destroyed all but one of the Cobras who were forced to disengage. Expecting the Ghost of Rofocale to ambush as it had done in previous engagements most of the Imperial ships crews hesitated in their work and as a result the fleets ordinance was slow to reload. Over the next hour the two fleets exchanged long ranged fire, with fast moving Imperial assault boats managing to inflict significant damage on both the Eternal Will and the Shield of Charybdis. All Iron Warrior ships had taken on hundreds of additional slave crews from the populace of Minos, and so all damage was quickly repaired.

Despite the Spears of Olympia's bridge being destroyed, the Iron Warrior fleet crossed the T of the Imperial Fleet and brought their massive broadsides to bear. Over the next 30 minutes, the Iron Warriors concentrated their fire, first crippling the Sevastapol and then destroying the Port Arthur. The Captain of the Seelow Heights, being completely surrounded dived into the gas clouds and disengaged. Admiral Enkvist, having lost most of his fleet knew he had suffered a devastating defeat, the only option was to ensure no Imperial vessels fell into enemy hands. Over the final hours of the engagement the Iron Warriors attempted to manoeuvre into a favourable firing position, however Enkvist managed to evade the enemy fleet and fled the Minos system with the flaming hulks of the Malinovka and Port Arthur in tow.

The impact of Admiral Enkvist's fleet being driven from the Minos system was terrible for the Imperial ground forces. Without the Imperial ships harrying the fleet, the Iron Warriors were free to bombard the Imperial defences on Minos with impunity, reducing them to dust. Only the final fortress within the capital remained, but without further reinforcements, Minos was doomed.

Carnage in Minos

The war on Minos had been quiet for a number of weeks, The Iron Warriors taking the opportunity to resupply, while the Imperial forces fortifyied their positions. This lull came to an end when Lunar Guard spotter teams reported civilians led by soldiers massing near Imperial lines. The Lunar guard armoured reserves reinforced their artillery emplacements and a tense stand off ensued. At noon, 2002.016M42 the stand off came to an abrupt end when armed civilians poured from their defensive positions and makeshift artillery opened fire. The Lunar Guard returned fire against the soldiers, now known to be called the “Agema”. The Agema lost their only anti-armour weaponry; the Rapier destroyers, but the renegades continued pouring artillery fire into the Lunar Guard positions, slowly taking their toll. To their credit the Lunar Guard managed to momentarily rout the inexperienced Agema commander leading the largest mob of rebels, and the far more veteran Lunar Guard commander never ceased crisp, precise orders that aided the Imperial attack. However the sheer number of rebels took their toll and once the Mutant forest tribemen joined the fray the Guard in the ruins were torn apart. From here the rebels had the upper hand and the battle soon became a slaughter, the Agema and civilian renegades sparing no one. The loss of the Lunar Guard artillery meant Iron Warrior forces were able to press forward unhindered and in the coming days controlled more than half the utilised areas of the planet.

Perseus Deeps: Eldar raid Aethor

While the war continued in the Libria sytem things were far quieter in the Perseus Deeps. The Necron empire had apparently returned to slumber, and the war on Minos between Stahl and the Novgorod regiments had ground to a halt. The eldar however, released from their alliance commitments, now continued their other agenda within the Deeps.

Aethor was the next target of the Disciples of Y'nead, and aided by their dark eldar kin the xenos descended in force on the Imperial colony on 1002.016M42. The government of Aethor immediately sent an astropathic request for aid, which was picked up by the Ultramarines. The astartes force were just getting into position to contain the eldar incursion when another unexpected set of would be rescuers turned up. A force of Iron Warriors, loyal to Apollo and the Federacy, announced their intention to lend a hand in Aethor's defence.

The ultramarines had little experience with the Libria campaign, and had become aware that without help the eldar would certainly overrun Aethor anyway. In the past the Federacy had professed to be part of the Imperium, and it took little time for them to decide to allow the Iron Warriors to aid in the defence of the world. The Iron Warriors for their part were equally dissatisfied with the situation. They had hoped to come to the rescue of Aethor and thus add the world to the Federacy by the back door. In fact this particular element of Federal forces had been patrolling the Deeps for some time assessing the defensive capabilities of various worlds. The Aethor attack had seemed like an opportunity, but the arrival of the Ultramarines was unfortunate.

In the event however the allied space marine force soon found itself in deep trouble, as the extent of the eldar/dark eldar incursion became evident. This was no raid, but an invasion. Attacking in force and with their most elite forces, the Disciples of Y'nead and the dark eldar kabal aiding them very nearly slaughtered the Iron Warriors and Ultramarines, and by 2002.015M42 almost one third of the colony had been overrun by the aliens. Questions of control and acquisition of another imperial world would have to be put on hold as the Iron Warriors found themselves embroiled in a war with their former allies.

Libria IV: Winter campaign sees Tau close in on victory

As 015M42 became 016M42 the prevailing situation in the Libria system remained unchanged. In space, the Crusade fleet vied for supremacy with the Loyalists, but the Iron Warriors maintained their stranglehold over the immediate area above Libria IV. The alliance control of the planet's atmosphere made a coordinated counter attack by the Imperium almost impossible, but the tightly packed buildings of Porthaven meant that short of levelling the planetary capital, the alliance were obliged to fight for the city one street at a time.

In late 015M42 commander Skyfall continued to put the pressure on the Imperium. Having taken the Imperial HQ, the tau moved from their stronghold in the East Commercia district towards the central Commercia Zone, knowing that Westbury Junction amd the Factorum district, critical to the continued defence of Libria IV, would lay beyond. As part of the alliance "wide front" strategy, Skyfall was careful not to accept too many losses, and by the end of 015M42 the southern road into Porthaven has become the no mans land between the imperium to the west and the tau to the east.

The main casualties in the defence of East Commercia were the Lycaon Guard, the Lunar Guard and Imperial Fists. Overall Skyfall's casualties were moderate, and once again reliance on technology over man power (namely experimental Riptides) ensured the attrition rate for the tau was kept to acceptable levels. Casualties among the guard were predictably high, but both the Lycaon and Lunar regiments remained a fighting force on Porthaven.

Further North, the Imperial Fists and Lunar Guard were supported by a large Mechanicum contingent in the defence of the Perlinary region of the city. The mechanicum were the first to feel the renewed alliance advance in early 016M42, as Windgather's forces advanced ahead of Apollo, striking to the west of Mossley slums. The mechanicum were forced to give ground, but the apparent lack of coordination between Windgather and Apollo's Iron Warriors just behind allowed the Imperial Fists to take advantage of the situation.

Without warning the Imperial Fists, supported by the Lunar Guard, launched a strike on Mossley slums. thinking Windgather would inform him, Apollo was entirely taken by surprise to the assault, and the first minutes of the attack rendered his positions untenable. Although Apollo was able to stop a general collapse of the alliance defence and only cede the slums to Imperial control, the defeat put the northern arm of the alliance advance at risk of encirclement.

Imperial intelligence also became aware in the early part of 016M42 of possible dissent within the alliance camp. By now the eldar had left the alliance completely, but some continued to fight for Windgather himself. When asked to let these forces go, Windgather refused, and it was even suspected that Skyfall, who had been sent in to enforce the edict of the alliance council, was met with force by Windgather and forced to withdraw. However Windgather's forces were significant, and a key element to the alliance success. Despite these altercations the alliance remained a cohesive force, at least for now, but the cracks were beginning to show.

HYLAS: Finlay and Desmond liberated

Following the success in the south of Hylas, as 015M42 drew to a close General Van Dorn decided to commit his reserves to the battlefront in order, he hoped, to secure both Finlay and Desmond. With these two settlements the imperium would have commanding control over the entrance to West Hallen, ensuring the settlements north of Eden's trench would be difficult for the orks to retake. To do this Van Dorn sent in his Librian units, which had been rested somewhat on Hylas and re-equiped with newer, better armoured units.

The Librians moved into positions near Desmond and Finlay which they knew would be provocative for the orks. Sure enough the sight of the Librian armoured units on the hills and bluffs around Finlay, as well as key intersections leading to Desmond, prodiced a predictable response from the Orks of Von Bismork. Attacking in heavily armoured battlewagons the greenskins were a tough proposition, but the Librians had prepared for the attack, and a hail of anti tank weaponry destroyed or immobilised enough greenskin vehicles to take the momentum out of the assault.

As the hours wore on although the orks started forcing the librians to take significant losses, it was clear that there was no hope of the orks breaking through the librian lines. Rather than withdraw and limit the damage, Von Bismork's boyz kept attacking, ultimately ensuring that the task of following up into the two cities was even easier for the imperium.

Some of the greenkins had some sense however, and the battle wasn't a total rout. Although Finlay and Desmond fell, the imperial forces were unable to exploit their victory as much as they would like, and now Van Dorn faced the prospect of attacking across the broad plain of Beng, where outflanking moves and fast flowing battles had been the signature of the early greenskin invasion.

Minos: Stahl's new tactic

Minos had been at war for months, and while the tide was turning on the ground, the orbital blockade and scant resources meant food shortages among both the nomadic tribesmen and those living in the few towns were becoming more common. In the last weeks of 015M42 rioting broke out in one of the largest of Minos' towns involving hundreds of civilians who had succeeded in capturing several members of the Administratum. The Adeptus Sororitas were closest available military force and sent troops to put down the rioting and rescue the Administratum officials. Entering the town in the early hours of the morning the Sororitas came under fire from a captured Arbites Chimera. This was a prelude however as seconds later both the Immolator and Penitent Engine were struck with improvised explosives lobbed high above the town, quickly followed with an Earthshaker cannon fire from a cannibalised cannon, Fresh explosions wrecked the Sisters' Rhino transport and shattered the legs of the Penitent Engine.

Clearly this was not a food riot but an ambush. The Cannoness spotted an officer in an unfamiliar uniform who was clearly commanding the rioters, supported by unfamiliar soldiers. She immediately ordered that all haste be made to cut the head off the snake. This proved disastrous for the sisters as while many rioters were untrained civilians whose fire was wildly inaccurate, more than half had clearly been trained in military tactics. The Sisters were quickly surrounded and putting down a food riot had become a desperate last stand. With bolter and flamer the sisters took twice their own number down before falling; the last sister killed defending the Administratum officials they almost successfully rescued.

The Cannoness' last reports of the traitor human army forced Imperial Command to stall their advance and even cede a small amount of ground while they shored their defences against further attacks from this new and insidious threat.

Battles in the Minos system

Prelude

Following the Imperium's defeat in the battle for the Libria system and Stahl's presence there some had began to wonder whether the Warsmith was preparing to quit his war upon Minos. The loss of Collingwood's fleet at Libria was a continued concern as it left the space lanes to Federacy territory heavily weakened. Imperial command still wondered what could have truly enticed the current apparent master of Chaos forces into an alliance with the Federacy, however temporary.

In the subsequent week the Inquisition's spies within the Federacy, as few as they were, received reports of visions and nightmares from many members of the populace, terrified of a beast of night hunting them; pockets of hysteria breaking out in some smaller towns on Hartak and Aleph. However as soon as these nightmares began they ceased and life returned to normal. Two weeks later, similar reports surfaced upon Parthenope. The Astropaths were the worst affected, screaming incoherently of the “ghost of night” coming for them. Again, just like Aleph and Hartak, these reports ceased after a day. A third time the reports of nightmares and beasts returned, this time being so persistent that the news reached the desks of the Imperial Commanders in the region. The nightmares continued for days, leading to Guardsmen complaining of acute insomnia, and others simply refusing to sleep for fear of the beast that awaited them. Again the worst affected were Psykers; even the Navigators of local patrol, not so far needed in significant numbers, reported a “maw” in the Warp that was slowly moving towards Minos. Despite increasing Psychic static, the Astropaths sent word to Bastien requesting additional fleet support to investigate. Naval Command feared the appearance of a Tyranid tendril or even a Chaos Space Hulk and so Admiral Jellicoe despatched two of their fleets to protect the system. This move was not universally welcomed, many scoffing at the Navy jumping at ghosts particularly when there was such a dire situation on Libria and any possibility of a Hive fleet would have to pass through the now very heavily defended Bastien space. Nevertheless, the fleets of Admirals Enkvist and Somerville arrived in the the Minos system 0512.015M42 with Enkvist's Fleet heading to the Sun and the source of the Warp anomaly and Somerville remaining in orbit of Minos.

Enkvist had been attached to Jellicoe after the catastrophic losses suffered by Collingwood and Pendragon, as Kar Duniash finally realised that the Aleph sector was not a sideshow, but a real warzone. Even then Jellicoe had to use all his efforts of persuasion with the naval lords, and it took him several days to get the reinforcements he needed. Jellicoe was also able to explain the situation with the "crusade fleet", although Kar Duniash was unwilling to take sides in an inquisitorail conflict.

The First battle of Minos

In the early morning of 1612.015M42 Enkvist's fleet passed the orbit of the Minos System's closest planet, detecting strange sensor readings as they did so. Enkvist, a practical man, believed this anomaly to be an enemy fleet and not some apparition or Bioship, so he ordered a concentrated sensor sweep of the area closest but in safe proximity to the Sun, paying particular attention to cold spots. By the Emperor's grace Enkvist was rewarded by spotting the enemy fleet of Warsmith Stahl, powered down and drifting towards Minos, apparently having come into the system from the far side to evade detection. Admiral Enkvist hatched a daring plan; as the Chaos fleet was spread out of order, he believed he could close upon them and attack before they had the chance to close into formation. This involved the tactic of circling on minimum power dangerously close to the Sun's outer Corona. However, despite the dangers, Enkvist carried out his plan and was rewarded by catching the Chaos fleet out of position.

At a little past 15:00 local system time, the Chaos fleet sighted its Imperial counterpart and, realising their plan had failed, activated full power and prepared for battle. Unfortunately for Stahl, the cruisers Iron Eternal, Strength Eternal and the Unbreakable Litany were split from his battleship Stahl's Vengeance, and faced the fleet of Enkvist alone. As Stahl's Vengeance, the Pride of Charybdis and Escorts rushed towards the Imperial fleet. The Unbreakable Litany scored first blood, destroying one of Enkvist's many Cobra escorts but was crippled in return. Enkvist, ordering fire upon the Iron Eternal, succeeded in crippling his a second vessel only minutes after the Unbreakable Litany. Then, at a little past 15:36 ethereal howls and screams echoed throughout every ship in the Imperial fleet; warning sirens blaring of a close proximity Warp translation. Fleet-wide reports of boarding actions were shouted at Enkvist, false reports of fire and magazine discharges, along with screams of beasts in the corridors of all ships in Enkvist's tight fleet formation. The Ghost of Rofocale had appeared off the Kirov's Port side and amidst the chaos caused by its appearance both the Iron Eternal and Unbreakable Litany were able to disengage.

Still recovering from the appearance of the Rofocale, Enkvist barely caught the distress call from the Poltora coming under heavy fire from the Chaos fleet, which was quickly crippled with concentrated lance and weapons battery fire. What had seemed like the perfect trap had been thrown seemingly into disarray by the demonic presence of the Rofocale who further compounded matters when the Narva refused to fire at the more distant Strength Eternal, instead firing its lance batteries at the incorporeal Rofocale. Sensing blood, the Ghost of Rofocale fully left the Empyream to fire into the crippled Poltora. Enkvist, fully aware that the demon ship was crippling his fleet but could not be fired upon due to its position, ordered the Captain of the Kursk to ram the Daemon ship to end it once and for all. However this was not to be the heroic end for the Captain as the Daemon ship managed to twist in space and the Kursk only succeeding in clipping the vessel although the bold move allowed Enkvist's fleet to place themselves beyond the daemon ship's crippling influence.

The Imperial fleet continued trading shots with the Strength Eternal until the other half of Stahl's fleet entered effective weapons range. At a little after 16:45 Stahl's Vengeance, the Iconoclast's escorts and the Pride of Charybdis opened upon the Imperial fleet, reducing the Petrova to a broken hulk with a devastating bomber run. The appearance of Stahl's flagship allowed the wounded Ghost of Rofocale to drop back into the Warp and the Strength Eternal to disengage. For the next two hours the fleet of Enkvist would take pot shots at the Chaos fleet with neither able to draw a bead upon the other, all the while the Ghost of Rofocale appearing and disappearing. Finally, Stahl, believing he had done enough damage to prevent pursuit, disengaged and rendezvoused with his fleet in dead space to make their next move.

The Second battle of Minos

The second battle for Minos occurred two days later in orbit above Minos itself. Rear admiral Somerville, having received warning from Admiral Enkvist, first detected the Iron Warriors when heading on in-system patrol. Somerville, aware of the enemy fleet's capabilities, was keenly aware of its superior range and sought to boldly close the gap as quickly as possible and bring his superior, but short ranged lance batteries to bear. At 18:09 the first salvoes of the Stahl's fleet fired, damaging Wyvern. In return Somerville launched a full spread of torpedoes into the oncoming path of Iron and Strength Eternal who were flanked by the carrier Pride of Charybdis. While Strength Eternal suffered minor damage from the oncoming torpedoes the Pride of Charybdis, intending to use its superior turrets to destroy most the torpedoes, moved into the path of the the remaining salvoes to protect Iron Eternal. This proved to be a terrible error, with the torpedoes tearing through its stern and crippling the vessel. At this point the Ghost of Rofocale broke from the warp, unleashing terror upon the torpedo crews of the Wyvern and Minotaur. Despite the torpedo spread, the main fleet moved to the Imperial fleet's starboard, save for Stahl's Vengeance who forged ahead into the teeth of of Somerville's fleet. At 18:35 a fleet-wide order from Stahl was broadcast to lock onto the Imperial fleet, with Stahl's Vengeance moving abeam of the both the Wyvern and the Falcon and opening all lance batteries. Concentrating his Prow weapons' batteries upon the smaller Falcon, Stahl smashed through the Falcon's prow lance battery and crippled her. The Unbreakable Litany led the fusillade against the Wyvern, and the combined fire from both the Litany and the rest of the fleet left the Wyvern crippled. This left the Unbreakable Litany in the sights of Somerville and most of the remaining Imperial Fleet who launched torpedoes, bombers and fired their lances with every ship available tearing through the chaos vessel's superstructure reducing it to a broken hulk that drifted and crashed into a large asteroid.

The Iron Warriors dismissed the Unbreakable Litany as an acceptable loss and continued their attack run upon the Imperials. First to suffer was the already crippled Falcon, which was torn apart by the predatory Ghost of Rofocale. Meanwhile the fleet were focussed on destroying the recently arrived Cobra squadron and Firestorm Escorts who, without the support of the larger imperial capital ships, were picked apart in short order. With the escorts destroyed, Somerville concluded that their attack had failed to stop the Iron Warriors and resolved to disengage at 19:59, leaving the space around Minos and the broken ships in the hands of the Iron Warriors. This was not as dire a situation as first appeared as Enkvist was repairing and within days able to take the fight to the Iron Warriors once again.

Third Battle for Minos

One week after the first battle for the Minos system, Admiral Enkvist of the Imperial fleet had facilitated enough repairs of his fleet to engage the Iron Warriors' fleet once again. The Iron Warriors themselves had not been idle, reinforcing their position with more ships from out of the system. This time Admiral Enkvist had neither time nor patience for careful ambushes and made all haste for Minos' biosphere. Stahl and his Desolator battleship were dropping reinforcements onto Minos and so delegated the role of command to Diodotus, commander of the carrier 'Sword of Charybdis'.

Battle commenced at 14:00 with the Iron Warrior fleet coming to starboard to avoid the closing Imperial fleet. A little over 30 minutes later the Nova cannon fire crippled the Iron Eternal which, having barely been rendered to working order, was crippled once again and forced to disengage. Having learned from their previous engagements, the Iron Warriors deployed massed fighter waves to intercept the impressive number of torpedoes heading towards their ships. The Idolators' escorts, ranging ahead of the main fleet, destroyed their Cobra counterpart, and the rest of the fleet began opening salvoes at battleship Kirov. The Nova cannons fired their salvoes again however this time the crews of the Chaos fleet were ready and braced against the cannons. In return, Diodotus and the Iron Warrior fleet focussed their fire upon the Kirov, destroying the shield generators and tearing the superstructure apart, crippling it and forcing Enkvist himself to disengage at 15:10.

Despite Admiral Enkvist's retreat, the Imperial fleet continued their attack, determined to break the traitors, focussing their fire upon one ship the Eternal Will. The ship was set ablaze, and after crews were unable to control the blaze, was reduced to a drifting hulk. The Imperial Fleet and Iron Warriors fleet both stubbornly refused to break from each other, however the damage was slowly favouring the Iron Warriors, with the Khal Kangal being reduced to a hulk and the Tsushima being crippled with a severely damaged engine. In a gambit to rescue the situation, the Falchion escorts used their superior agility to attack the Sword of Olympia at close range with an impressive spread of torpedoes and weapons fire. However, surprisingly effective turret fire bracing on the green crew of the Sword meant that the Falchions were unable to cripple the lance ship. In return the Iron Warrior fleet, having no other viable targets in range, focussed their fire upon the Falchions, destroying them. In the hours following the Ghost of Rofocale continued to shadow the Imperial fleet who, seeing the closing vengeful Iron Warrior fleet and the materialising Ghost, elected to disengage and leave the day to the Iron Warriors.

Iron Warriors Fleet
Stahl's Vengeance – Desolator Class Battleship (Warmaster)
Strength Eternal – Carnage class cruiser
Iron Eternal – Carnage class cruiser (Crippled in 1st and 2nd battle)
Pride of Charybdis – Styx class cruiser (Crippled in 2nd battle)
Unbreakable Litany – Hades class cruiser (Crippled in 1st battle, destroyed in 2nd battle)
Ghost of Rofocale – Murder class cruiser (Daemon Ship)
Two Iconoclasts Escorts

Iron Warriors reinforcements
Eternal Will – Carnage class cruiser
Sword of Charybdis – Devastation class cruiser
Shield of Charybdis – Devastation class cruiser
Sword of Olympia – Acheron class cruiser

Imperial Fleet of Admiral Enkvist
Kirov – Retribution class Battleship (Enkvist)
Kursk – Dominator class cruiser (crippled)
Poltava – Dominator class cruiser (Destroyed)
Narva – Gothic class cruiser
Boridino – Dictator class cruiser

Imperial Fleet of Admiral Somerville
Minotaur – Gothic class cruiser (Admiral)
Wyvern – Gothic class cruiser (Destroyed)
Harpy – Dictator class cruiser
Siren – Dictator class cruiser
Sparrow – Dauntless class Light cruiser
Raven – Dauntless class Light cruiser
Falcon – Dauntless class Light cruiser (Destroyed)

Zadoc: Alliance offensive lands on Ascobabria

Despite receiving less attention than the Libria campaign the war on Zadoc was still continuing, with the alliance slowly grinding down the forces of chaos. Since the departure of Warsmith Stahl and the disappearance of the Arch Cleric, the chaos armies had become fractured and disparate, with only pockets of traitor astartes support. this had allowed the alliance, particularly the tau, to downgrade their commitment to the war on Zadoc, secure in the knowledge that eventual victory was all but assured anyway.

Increasingly the Zadoc alliance forces saw major participation by ex-imperial guard formations, chiefly Librian, Zadocian, and Tyranteousean, but with elements of Novgorod and Lycaon Guard as well. These units had been integrated into the alliance army by federal representatives to fight alongside the tau for the "greater good".

By late 11.015M42 an agreement had been reached about the future of Zadoc and more importantly the subsector as a whole. In return for Libria joining the federacy, the tau would get the rest of the subsector, although there would be significant self rule on Zadoc overseen by federal officials. this agreement cemented the tau-Federacy alliance, at least for the time being.

The close alliance and working partnership between federal and tau forces allowed the tau a lower commitment on Zadoc, but by late 11.015M42 the alliance had still managed to advance to the shores of Ascobabria. Now only the Gontina Sea stood between the alliance and the chaos heartland. The plan was to take the Ascobarbrian landmass before isolating the heavily fortified and virtually impregnable Iron Warriors citadel of Gerzonne.

The assault on Ascobabria was a complete success. led by Skyfall's capable commanders and supported by numerous "Gue'vesa" human formations, the highly mechanised and well equipped alliance force stormed the shoreline south of Sartignay. The defenders attempted a counter assault but this failed, despite the summoning of daemonic entities. The alliance had established a bridgehead on Ascobabria and their final victory was in sight.

Hylas: Old warzone flares into life

After almost six months of near inactivity the war on Hylas became an active warzone once again. General Van Dorn had received much sought after reinforcement in late 09.015M42 and by late 10.015M42 he was ready to go on the offensive. Fresh Novgorod Guard regiments and the Adeptus Sororitas of the Crimson Veil Order prepared to move forward in the south, while the northern front was held on the defensive, the Voscians deployed here along with small units of Imperial Fists to bolster the guard regiments shoudl anything untoward happen.

The first assault went as planned as on 1810.015M42 large formations of Novgorod Guard assaulted the remaining ork fortress south of Brockley. Experienced ork fighters by now and supported by a knight war engine, the Novogorod army smashed apart Von Bismork's defending forces and razed the ork fortress to the ground. The risk to Brockley had been removed and the second phase of the operation could begin, an advance on Desmond in the south.

Before Van Dorn could exploit the Novgorod success however, news reached him of a new greenskin offensive in the north. Well equipped orks loyal to Na'Porkleon and ork Warboss Kogh, delighted to be in a "shootin war" once again were carening across the West Coast plains annihilating anything which got in their way. Within hours the Volscians, unused to fighting the orks, had been smashed apart, and the Imperial Fists were desperately trying to hold the line by plugging gaps.

It was a straegy doomed to failure. The elite forces of the astartes were simply overwhelmed by the number of ork boyz, lootas and trukks the greenskins threw into the offensive. Within days the Imperial Fists had withdrawn completely, leaving the Volscian guard to fend for themselves. Van Dorn knew this was an untenable position and he withdrew what forces he could to the Shifting Isles defence line in front of Sarina. North Eton was left to the orks, as well as the thousands of imperial guardsmen now trapped in West Coast.

Having gone over to the defensive in the north Van Dorn pressed ahead in the south, and managed to secure further support from the Minotaurs chapter of space marines. On Hylas, the Minotaurs had no issue with Van Dorn's loyalty to Vorushko or Hathek, and so here, deep in the Mabb nebula the imperium acted as one. Not finding an ork fleet in orbit the Minotaurs were able to strike into the heart of the battle between the Order of the Crimson Veil and the greenskins in the suburbs of Desmond.

They arrived in time to throw the orks off balance, and despite taking moderate casualties the elite imperial forces were eventually able to mop up any greenskin resistance by 2911.015M42, returning the outskirts Desmond to imperial control. The orks still controlled Finlay and the centre of Desmond however, and Van Dorn now planned a new offensive to take these settlements to turn the tide of the war on Hylas.

Libria V: Mechanicum sweep into Timberhill

With the failure of the crusade fleet to drive off the loyalists, the space around Libria V became safe enough for loaylist forces to begin landing reinforcements. There would be a significant time delay however before the imperial guard regiments would be deployable in the field, and this gave the crusade forces on the ground the initiative for at least two weeks. Immediately the crusade armies pressed the loyalists hard on Libria V, especially on the northern front, as they tried to take as much ground as possible prior to the arrival of fresh loyalist troops.

The target for the attack was the cold tundra plains to the north of the capital, Louxin city, with the crusade mechanicum leading the advance. Less prone to the cold and icy weather conditions the mechanicum were deemed ideal for the push south. Defending the northern front the Volscian guard regiments found it difficult to counter the superior crusade technology, and by the end of 11.015M42 the loyalist forces had been forced back to within 50km of the capital itself.

Dark Eldar raids resume

Alliance relations with the eldar and dark eldar had already become strained in recent months. With the disappearance of the Rillietan the dark eldar found themselves less and less bound to the cause of their kin and the rewards from their actions on Libria were becoming smaller and smaller given the risks and costs. The kabals involved in the "aleph sector venture" soon found their standing falling in Commoragh as rival kabals scorned them for dancing to the eldar tune.

The Shattered Silence had already withdrawn from the venture and decided to prove their wisdom by an orchestrated raid on Apollo's fleet in the Librian system. Because of their previous involvement in the alliance they had easy access to the system, but if the dark eldar had expected the Iron Warriors to be taken by surprise by their raid they were in for a shock.

Apollo, ever the contingency planner, was well aware of the waverings of the untrustworthy aliens and kept his fleet on alert at all times. The resulting raid was severely damaging for the dark eldar as the massed alliance gun batteries put up a storm of defensive fire. The Shattered Silence broke off the action after less than an hour realising the venture was no longer profitable.

Meanwhile in the Perseus Deeps another dark eldar kabal raided the Disciples of Y'nead on Sentinel. Neither side had been actively involved in the alliance and it showed that the two factions worked together only when it suited them. The raid was a success and very profitable for the dark eldar led by Vlokarian, and the kabal decided to continue their venture in the sector, but with no alliances. In the alliance itself the federacy along with Apollo's Iron Warriors made it clear that the eldar and their dark kin were no longer welcome at alliance meetings.