A decade of War
Year 1 - The Rebellion Begins
The rebellion on the planet Telos began on the 136th day of the 962nd year of the 41st millennium. Simultaneous insurrections started on all 8 of the major cities and many of the smaller settlements, it is not known how the various cults involved coordinated this given their general fractious behaviour, it may be that there is an previous unrecognised overall command of the chaos forces or that the stars had aligned to put idea’s into the heads of all of the insane cultists at the same time, it may be best for the sanity of the reader that we not know.
With hindsight it was obvious what was happening on the planet. Various minor incidents had occurred over the previous years, cult membership had increased at all levels of society and increased tensions between the Mechanicus and general imperial civilisation all pointed at a possible insurrection. There had even been serious terrorist activity such as the destruction of the Arbites precinct in Babel less than a year before the rebellion occurred. However, in fact even several months after several cities had fallen to the great enemy many in power still failed to recognise that a major rebellion was occurring. This is part linked to the poor communication between the various hives but may also point to further infiltration of the organs of imperial society by chaos agents. To understand the effects of the rebellion on the planet it may be best to break down the initial stages of the conflict city by city.
New Valhalla
The true size of the rebellion in the planetary capital may never be known. The only fact fully known is that a sorcerous attack killed the planetary governor Lord Odinson and the heads of many of the noble houses while they were in council, psychic feedback then killed the majority of the cities Astropaths while driving many of those sensitive to such things insane. At the same time more conventional sabotage destroyied the only warp capable ship in system and damaging the space station at the far end of the city’s space elevator, effectively blocking much of the planet off from the various in system bases and the greater imperium. Each nobel house blamed the others for these actions and their PDF units started fighting in the streets. Whether any of the noble houses had truly turned to Chaos or whether they just took the opportunity to settle old scores is unknown. However, over the coming months numerous contenders would declare themselves planetary governor although none had the actual support required to control the planet. This prevented the organisation of the fight against the chaos forces on the planet and prevented aid being requested from the Imperium. The only individual in the city who might have settled the feud between the houses, Inquisitor Spiden took his retinue into the under hive shortly after the original attack in order to investigate its source and would not be seen for over a year.
Katham
The corruption in Katham appears to have started from the top down, the city governor and many of the noble houses proved to be rotten to the core. There was no outside rebellion to overthrow the imperium’s rule instead Governor Riddle simply openly declared his loyalty to the dark gods. The common people of Katham however proved to be true to the Emperor and quickly turned against their rulers now that their true colours had been revealed. When the rulers turned the PDF against their own people many of the troops proved loyal to him on terra and refused turning their weapons against their traitorous colleagues. Unfortunately although smaller in number the traitor PDF controlled the heavier weapons and more defendable sections of the city and the battle for Katham would prove to be long and hard indeed. The only force capable of breaking the deadlock, the Mechanicus, turned their back on both Chaos and the Emperor closing off their sections of the city and declaring themselves neutral in the conflict.
Gotham
As almost a reverse to Katham the rulers of Gotham never left the Emperor’s light but many of the lower orders turned to the forces of darkness. In particular many criminal gangs listened to the siren song of the dark gods and turned traitor. However, their activities had already been noticed by the PDF and Arbites in the city so when they tried to rise up they were quickly crushed. Within only a few days the majority of the traitors had been wiped out although small pockets of rebellion would cause problems for many years to come, striking from within which their fellows struck from without.
Aquatica
The people of Aquatica would turn out to be the most loyal on the planet or maybe as the city produced less weapons than the others it was less of a target, but for whatever reason the rebellion in Aquatica was the smallest although some of the best targeted. Rather than large scale riots as in Gotham in Aquatica small teams of saboteurs attacked many important parts of the city, causing large scale blackouts and killing most of the governors family although governor Nemo herself survived. Many of the PDF armouries were destroyed and traitor PDF units would run amok for over a week, however, the situation was soon stabilised.
Vaga
Vaga had long been the religious capital of Telos and the forces of Chaos attempted to destabilise the city by a suicide bombing on the great cathedral of the founding, the most holy site on the planet. However, the dark god underestimated the power of the faithful, and of the emperor, many of the bombs proved to be duds and others were smothered by the bodies of the faithful preventing any of the important officials targeted from being killed. The traitors within the city were soon uncovered by the Frater Militant and their bodies destroyed in great purifying pyres which continued to burn for over a month.
Shogun
Shoguns turn to Chaos seems to have been almost complete. Like Katham the governor, Lord Kensi, turned his back on the light of the emperor and declared his loyalty to the dark gods. Unlike Katham as far as is known there were no great riots by the people against his rule. Instead it appears that the entire city went mad together. The few that remained loyal such as the Adaptus Arbitus personal were trapped within their bunkers and were swiftly overwhelmed by the crazed masses.
Narnia
What became of Narnia is a matter of much debate. What is known for certain is that the whole city was destroyed when the vast promethium stockpiled beneath the city were detonated, however, what caused this is unknown. Was it the work of a traitor bid by the dark gods to remove a city of loyalists from the planet or was it a true martyr who destroyed a home that had already turned to darkness or was it even perhaps an accident? Only the Emperor knows for certain.
Babel
Like Katham Babel was split in its corruption some of the noble houses turned to the dark gods and some remained true to the emperor. The governor was killed early on by the renegade rogue trader Tristan and her entourage leading to several days of fighting between the various groups before the forces of evil gained the upper hand. The mechanicus presence in the city held out for a while but was eventually overcome leaving the city fully in the grip of chaos.
Once the initial rebellions were dealt with it became clear to the authorities in the cities still loyal to the Imperium that several of their neighbours had turned to the dark gods. Katham and Shogun’s defection had been quite open with the governors broadcasting their new loyalty over the, admittedly unreliable, planetary communication network. It was also becoming clear from more gabled reports that Babel had also turned. Unfortunately, new Valhalla was still a shambles with different houses vying for power and several individuals declaring themselves planetary governor robbing the loyalists of any central leadership. The first cities to prepare a response were Vaga and Aquatica; the two cities quickly allied and agreed to send their combined militaries against Shogun which they considered the greatest threat. Vaga still caught in a religious frenzy and with a traditional rivalry with Shogun put together a mostly voluntary force strengthened by some PDF units whereas Aquatica began to form up its relatively small but professional military. Due to Aquatica’s position the majority of its forces had to pass the great Gean span, the massive bridge linking the underwater city with the shore. While undertaking this passage the column came under attack by aircraft from Babel. Due to atmospheric conditions on Telos aircraft are highly unstable so this type of attack was a huge surprise to Aqauatica and much of their military was destroyed along with the bridge itself although none of the attackers survived to make it back to their home city. This one strike took the city out of the war for several years and proved to be a major boon to the chaos forces. It is not known if the attack was coordinated between the chaos held cities as they would show little cooperation and in some cases enmity in the following years. It may be been that Babel believed itself to be Aquatica’s target rather than Shogun.
Undeterred by the loss of its ally the poorly equipped Vaga forces marched on lead by Cardinal Thockt and took several months to reach the foothills of the mountain range Shogun was positioned it. During the journey the army took steady losses from ork and native raids as well as disease and the environment. However, the survivors believed their crusade to be holy and were still in good spirit. The first major battle between Vaga and Shogun forces in the foothills was an outstanding success for he much larger Vaga forces with the enemy being driven back almost without a fight. However, once in the mountains the Vagan military found that further Shogun forces were waiting for them dug into various points in the peaks and they suffered further casualties from ambushes and traps. In this way the Chaos forces slowly whittled away the larger Vaga force with little loss of themselves. In total it took over four months for the Vagan forces to reach the city of Shogun itself. They were woefully prepared for what they found, the city, always fortified, had become a huge bunker its walls festooned with cannons and launchers. The brave Vagans, charged this behemoth only to find the area around the city covered by mine fields, tank traps and razor wire. Trapped the Vagan forces died in droves including the Cardinal himself, only a small remnant of the original force lead by a Captain Payne made its way out of the killing fields pursued by the victorious Shogun forces. It would be many more months before the survivors returned home.
Meanwhile the forces of chaos struck half a planet away. The military of Babel, freed from a possible attack from Aquatica, with New Valhalla without a leader and Vaga busy with Shogun moved against their nearest enemy, the city of Gotham. A large military force marched through the mountains and caught the city by surprise. Gotham’s PDF attempted to drive back the invaders but were forced back into the city by the better organised attacker. Although not as well defended as Shogun the walls of Gotham were still thick and contained many weapons, the initial probing attacks made by Babel were driven off fairly easily. There were strange reports from the front lines of enemy troops wearing Imperial Guard uniforms, troops which were reported being killed but appearing later, at the time they were considered to be mistakes but with hindsight this could be seen as the first appearance of the chaos force later known as the dead. Babel’s walls withstood the first attacks although it’s still disorganised troop served less well and casualties quickly rose. It did not seem like the city could hold out long against the Chaos force, however, Gotham was eventually saved via intervention from an unexpected source, New Valhalla.
New Valhalla was still in crisis with different houses still fighting for control of the city and the position of planetary governor. However, one noble seemed to realise that there in fighting would doom the planet, Baldur Odinson. Baldur was the nephew of the previous planetary governor and as such has a good claim to the planets throne but had held himself above the petty squabbles of the other nobles. When he heard that Gotham was under attack he took almost the entirely of his houses military forces and headed into the battle. At the time this plan seemed foolish, other houses would take this opportunity to take his holdings, if he returned he would have nothing left. However, Baldur’s willingness to put aside himself for the good of the planet shamed the other nobles and his holdings remained secure. House Odinson’s forces made good time and reached Gotham in a month, just in time to interrupt a major assault on the city, unwilling to fight a battle on two fronts the Babel forces withdrew and Baldur was hailed the saviour of Gotham, although the situation would be short lived. Shamed in this way lord Smyth the current protender to the throne stepped down and gave his support to Baldur. Upon returning to the city Baldur convened a full planetary council, the first since the crisis had started and requested to be declared planetary governor. The majority of the nobility agreed and he was soon coroneted. His first act as supreme ruler of the planet was to summon the few remaining astropaths and request aid from the greater imperium. Aid which would be slow coming.
For the rest of the year fighting continued in Katham, the majority of the population continued to fight for the emperor but the majority of the military had turned making each battle a bloodbath for the poorly armed and equiped civilains. In addition there was no single central command for the loyalist forces with various charasmatic individuals rising to lead loyalist forces before being killed by the traitors. There were glimpses of hope as a loyalist squad managed to infiltrate the governor’s palace and kill him, however, he was quickly replaced by another of the corrupt nobility, Gregor Ivonavitch beleived by some to have been the power behind the throne all along and the fighting did not cease with a whole sub city being destroyed in retaliation causing the death of thousands. Near the end of the year the newly unified New Valhalla started to send military forces, led by Lord Smyth as penatence for his easlier actions, to aid and consolidate the loyalist forces which slowly started to turn the tide although victory would be a long time coming and there were dark days ahead.
Force Breakdown
1 - Vaga PDF
Commanding officer - Cardenal Augustus Thockt
6th Vaga PDF - "House Thockt" Reconnissance
8th Vaga PDF - "House Gafling" Line Infantry
16th Vaga PDF - "House Statburg" Light Infantry
Frater Militas - "True Believers" approximately 5 regiments of Infantry
2 - Aquatica PDF
Commanding officer - General Troy Tempest
1st Aquatica PDF - "House Nemo" Armour
2nd Aquatica PDF - "House Nemo" Reconissance
4th Aquatica PDF - "House Tempest" Mechanised
6th Aquatica PDF - "House Thockt" Hunter Killer
10th Aquatica PDF - "House Tempest" Artillary
12th Aquatica PDF - "House Leaper" Light Infantry
3 - Odinson House Guard
Commanding Officer - Lord Baldur Odinson
1st Odinson Guard - Armour
2nd Odinson Guard - Mechanised
3rd Odinson Guard - Mechanised
4 - New Valahlla PDF
Commanding Officer - Lord Jackson Smyth
2nd New Valhalla PDF - "House Smyth" Armour
4th New Valhalla PDF - "House Odinson" Hunter Killer
5th New Valhalla PDF - "House Smyth" Mechanised
8th New Valhalla PDF - "House Davidson" Line Infantry
16th New Valhala PDF - "House Akbar" Artillary
5 - Vaga PDF
Commanding officer - Captain Alexander Payne
6th Vaga PDF - "House Thockt" Reconissance (2 companies)
16th Vaga PDF - "House Statburg" Line Infantry (1 company)
Frater Militas - "True Believers" approximately 2 regiments of Infantry
Time line
M41.962.136 Simultaneous rebellions break out in all of the major cities on Telos Governor of Babel assassinated. Planetary Governor is assassinated along with the heads of several major noble houses. Governors of Shogun and Katham declare independence in the name of the dark gods. Wide spread rioting in Gotham and Katham Rogue sections of the PDF run amok in Aquatica Attempted assassination of Ecclesiarchy and nobles at a religious ceremony in Vaga stopped by valiant members of the faithful. Narnia is destroyed as several of its plasma reactors go critical igniting the cities massive promethium stock piles. The explosion is seen from Orbit and debris hits Shogun over 100 miles away.
M41.962.138 The destroyer indefatigable is destroyed in orbit by sabotage damaging station prime attached to the space elevator linked to New Valhalla.
M41.962.139 Rioting in Gotham supressed by Adaptus Arbites PDF forces ordered to stop riots in Katham instead join the rioters against their fellows Ignisous Dee declares himself planetary governor, but gains little support from other noble houses Fighting among noble houses in Babel
M41.962.143 Order restored in Aquatica and Gotham Ignisous Dee assassinated in New Valhalla
M41.962.153 Babel falls to Chaos, Tristan named governor Anastasia Thockt declares herself planetary governor Sif Skarsgard declares herself planetary governor Limited fighting between noble houses in new Valhalla
M41.962.166 Adaptus Arbitus precinct in Shogun destroyed by Chaos forces, city fully under chaos control. House to house fighting between PDF units in Katham, Mechanicus forces lock down their parts of the city. Jackson Smyth declares himself planetary governor
M41.962.167 Anastasia Thockt assassinated Fredrick Thockt declares himself planetary Governor
M41.962.173 Vaga declares a holy war against Shogun and starts arming for war
M41.962.174 Aquatica allies with Vaga and starts preparing its troops. Sif Skarsgard assassinated
M41.962.180 An air strike from Babel destroys the major bridge linking Aquatica to the mainland destroying 40% of the cities military and cutting it off from the rest of the planet. All aircraft destroyed before returning to base.
M41.962.185 A column of Vaga PDF forces leave the city and head for Shogun
M41.962.190 Babel PDF forces spotted converging on Gotham
M41.962.192 After a brief battle Gotham PDF forces pull back to the city itself.
M41.962.195 Babel forces surround Gotham and start to shell the outer levels of the hive. The first appearance of the force later known as the dead.
M41.962.210 Entirety of house Odinson forces leave New Valhalla and head towards Gotham.
M41.962.212 Babel forces attempt to assault walls of Gotham, both sides suffer light casualties
M41.962.225 Governor of Katham assassinated by loyalists, fighting continues
M41.962.226 First conflict between Vaga and Shogun forces in the foothill, Shogun forces driven back
M41.962.232 Second assault on Gotham, defenders suffer heavy casualties but attackers pushed back.
M41.962.240 Odinson column reaches Gotham, limited fighting against Babel PDF.
M41.962.242 Babel forces pull back in good order from Gotham, siege is lifted. Fredrick Thockt stands down as planetary governor.
M41.962.250 Significant fighting between Vaga and Shogun, Vaga forces ambushed in mountains and suffer heavy casualties. Survivors push on.
M41.962.265 Surviving Vaga forces reach Shogun and come under heavy fire from the cities defences
M41.962.267 Vaga forces routed from Shogun and surviving forces pursued by fresh enemy forces
M41.962.282 Jackson Smyth stands down as planarity governor
M41.962.283 Baldor Odinson announces himself planetary governor for the first time a governor has the support of the majority of the nobility.
M41.962.284 Official request for aid made to the imperium
M41.962.291 New Valhallan convoy heads to Katham
M41.962.325 New Valhallan convoy arrives at Katham, fighting between traitor and loyalist factions escalate. Street to street fighting.
Year 2 - The Second Seige of Gotham
The assault on Katham would continue for the whole of the year. The loyalists in the city were reinforced by troops streaming in from New Valhalla slowly started to push back the traitor’s one strong point at a time although each sub city was only taken at a high cost in loyalist blood. The high temple of Katham was recaptured by the loyalists during this year and the governor’s palace was besieged, trapping Govenour Ivonavitch. The Machanicus contingent in the city continued to remain neutral despite General Smyth's best efforts to expain the stupidity of their possition.
Meanwhile with New Valhalla throwing its strength against Katham Gotham was left relatively undefended and spent its time rebuilding the defences and armies damaged by Babel in the previous year. This was prophetic as the forces of Babel returned, this time Gotham did not even try to drive off the attackers and its forces manned its defences from the start. In turn Babel's forces instead of trying to assault the city dug in for an extended siege. Once it was aware of what was happening New Valhalla tried to break the siege sending a reinfrcement column led by the Govenours sister, however, they were easily driven off by the Babel forces and much of the force was captured including its leader, a major victory for the traitor forces. After a sustained bombardment of several months the Babel forces assaulted the walls of Gotham and managed to break through, however, after several days of close combat the cities PDF rallied by General Gordon managed to crush the beachhead although at a heavy cost. The retreating Babel forces took as many captives as they could and although the siege continued the enemy forces lost interest in those within the city being more interested in their new slaves.
The Vaga forces that had left to attack Shogun finally returned to their home. The survivors were a fraction of their original number and had been pursued by Shogun forces. The Shogunagtes displayed the bodies of many of the fallen enemies before the defenders horrified eyes including the much abused body of the Cardonal, hoping to break the defenders spirits. However, like the Vaga forces had been the Shogunates were in turn unprepared for the defences of their enemy’s city and were driven off. The traitor forces retreated in good order and started to prepare defences outside of the sight of the city. By the time PDF forces led by the cities military commander General Mendez were raised to pursue them they were well entrenched and the Vaga forces were unable to dislodge them. The Vaga forces were in turned forced to fortify their positions and a series of trenches and bunkers started to form up throughout the newly cleared jungles. Both sides pushed reinforcements into the area but it was Shogun which struck first attempting to break through their enemy’s lines. The battle of Flendgers fields, named after the farming area it took place in would be the bloodiest in the war to date with over a hundred thousand injured or dead and led to no overall gain for each side. As would be seen in the coming years the two opponents were too well matched for one to triumph over the other and they both fell back to their defensive lines.
For the first time the rebellion on Telos turned to an attack against the greater imperium. An imperial convoy transited in system to collect a tithe of military vehicles and unaware of the rebellion they set course for Telos. To their surprise they were attacked by system ships that had been captured by Chaos forces. Although not strong enough to hurt true war ships the surprise of their attack allowed them to get close to the transports the navy was protecting and crash into them destroying the transport K175 and damaging K176 and K458. The attackers were quickly destroyed by the escort but having seen evidence of the treachery and unsure how deep it went the captain of the lead destroyer decided to turn back and return to the rest of the imperium with the information of what had occurred.
Unknown to the majority of the combatants the first of the reinforcements from the imperium arrived on Telos itself in the middle of the year. Landing from a scout ship two squads of the emperors space marines from the Cerberus chapter arrived in the city of Aquatica. Deciding their numbers were too small to make a serious difference in open combat the marines left the city their rhino transports carrying them under the inland sea itself. There they made their way to Shogun and assassinated governor Kensi without ever being detected by the chaos forces there in. Unfortuanly their decapitation strike seemed to have little effect on the cities war effort. It has been hoped that as in many previous cases the death of the Chaos lord would lead to his underlings fighting for position allowing the loyalist forces to take advantage of the confusion. However, in the case the demon creature Arachnae had recently arrived in the city stepped into command of Shogun forces with only a few days of the assassination. It was with Arachnae's influence that the structure of the Shogun forces started to move from the traditional PDF regimental system to the warband based structure seen later. After completing their mission the marines returned to orbit and left the system transmitting a report to the imperium on the situation on the planet. Some of their brothers would return several years later.
It was nearly the end of the year before the request for aid from Telos reached the higher echelons of the sector military. Although Telos was an important world for weapon production it was also a young world and there were, as always, numerous other requests for aid throughout the sector, an ork crusade, a Hrund migration was taking place at the spinward edge of the sector, several worlds had rebelled near the Tartarus nebula and the war against the Tropric was entering its 7th decade. Thus aid for Telos was considered of tertiary importance. The only individual in high command who believed that support should be given to Telos was the retired Lord general Augustus Jagger. General Jagger was now entering his fourth century, had taken part in the original campaign to capture Telos and recognised its importance. He had spent the last century running the officer training school on the planet Bathsheba, this had left him much influence with the younger generation of officers but his style of command before his retirement (he had tended to promote based on skill rather than political reasoning) lead to the active enmity of much of high command. Jagger and his cadets started to draw up plans for reinforcing Telos although it would be several years before they were enacted.
Force Breakdown
1 - Vaga PDF
Commanding Officer - General Susan Mendez
1st Vaga PDF - "House Thockt" Armour
2nd Vaga PDF - "House Thockt" Line Infantry
4th Vaga PDF - "House Mendez" Line Infantry
10th Vaga PDF - "House Gathling" Light Infantry
12th Vaga PDF - "House Smythe" Armour
13th Vaga PDF - "House Smythe" Seige Infantry
15th Vaga PDF - "House Stratborg" Mechanised
18th Vaga PDF - "House Odinson" Artillary
22nd Vaga PDF - "House Hawkswill" Artillary
Mechanicus Enginseers - Aproximately 2 regiments
Frater Millitant - Aproximately 2 regiments
2 - New Valhalla PDF"
Commanding Officer - Lord Jackson Smyth
1st New Valhalla PDF - "House Odinson" Armour
2nd New Valhalla PDF - "House Smyth" Armour
4th New Valhalla PDF - "House Odinson" Hunter Killer
8th New Valhalla PDF - "House Davidson" Line Infantry
9th New Valhalla PDF - "House Davidson" Line Infantry
16th New Valhalla PDF - "House Akbar" Artillary
18th New Valhalla PDF - "House Baker" Mechanised
Mechanicus Enginseers - Aproximately 1 regiment
3 - New Valhalla PDF"
Commanding Officer - Colonel Freda Odinson
3rd New Valhalla PDF - "House Odinson" Mechanised
22nd New Valhalla PDF - "House Davidson" Hunter Killer
27th New Valhalla PDF - "House Thockt" Mechanised
Time line
M41.963.020 Babel forces arrive at Gotham, second siege starts.
M41.963.036 Surviving Vaga forces start to trickle back to their home, less than one in ten of the original force survive.
M41.963.060 New Valhallan forces attempted to break the siege of Gotham, quickly reposed by Babel forces, they withdraw with heavy losses.
M41.963.111 First Shogun forces start to attack Vaga
M41.963.112 Imperial convey transits into system on a scheduled tithe collection mission.
M41.963.120 Convoy attacked by rebel system patrol craft 1 mass conveyer destroyed and 2 damaged by suicide attacks before enemies were destroyed by the escort ships Excalibur and Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi. Captain Sinclair of the Excalibur decided to leave the system to bring word of the treachery to the imperium rather than risk more losses.
M41.963.134 Vaga counterattack and city defences pushes back Shogun forces, they pull back and start to dig in.
M41.963.152 Vaga forces attempt to dislodge Shoguns forces but are driven back by enemy reinforcements.
M41.963.160 Attempt to drive back Shogun forces by Vaga troops stopped by fortifications. Vaga forces dig in.
M41.963.180 Two squads of space marines from the Cerberus chapter make landing at Aquatica under the command of Veteran Sergeant Merklin
M41.963.221 Loyalists liberate the cathedral of the martyrs in Katham
M41.963.248 Major assault by chaos forces on Gotham, causes a beachhead within the city walls.
M41.963.250 Counterattack by Gotham PDF dislodges Chaos beachhead after heavy losses to the defenders.
M41.963.265 Governor of Shogun assassinated by Space Marine Sniper
M41.963.274 Arachanae becomes leader of Shogun forces.
M41.963.278 Battle of Flengers farm, Shogun forces attempt to penetrate Vaga defences, both sides heavily reinforce. After 2 days Shogun forces pull back to their own trench line. Estimated losses of approximately 100K on each side. Largest battle to date.
M41.963.310 Word of Telos’s fate first reaches sector command, due to the number of active warzones in the sector at that time it gains little attention on the retired Lord General Augustus Jagger champions the deployment of imperial forces immediately.
M41.963.325 Attempt by New Valhalla forces to break the siege of Gotham driven off and attackers are scattered.
Year 3 - Katham Falls
The battle for Katham continued for most of the year with the New Valhalla reinforcements allowing the loyalist forces to continue to put pressure on the traitor strong points overwhelming them one by one. The Governors palace fell after a bloody struggle but unfortunately its corrupt owner managed to escape justice escapinf via sourcerous means to control the fight from another strong point. It began to look like the chaos taint would be eradicated from the city before the end of the year and plans were made by General Smyth to move forces to Gotham to relieve the siege there. However, these plans turned out to be premature when a massive chaos assault including units from Shogun struck and loyalists were thrown back in confusion throughout the city. Among the chaos forces was a unit of regiment strength in Imperial guard uniform. Thus unit would later be identified by Imperial Intelligence as the 27th Drookian Fen Guard. A unit struck from the guards rolls for heresy. It soon became clear that the members of this unit were no longer human, once killed they would fade away at first light and reborn on the battlefield to serve their dark masters again. Thus this unit came to be known as the dead. These unnatural soldiers along with other reinforcements and an increase in Sourcerous and demonic attacks almost forced the loyalists out of the city before reinforcements could be summoned and a counter attack formed to halt the assault. However, the Imperial position soon became untenable again and the remaining units were forced to retreat back towards New Valhalla leaving the city fully in chaos hands. The chaos forces then turned on the until now neutral Mechanicus forces in the city showing the folly of their treachery.
In the greater Imperium Lord General Jagger continued to make plans for the retaking for Telos from the chaos forces. Using his influence he began to secretly arrange for regiments from all over the sector to be sent to Besheba. In many cases these were decimated regiments that would normally be folded into less damaged units and thus disappear from the roster, now instead they would be sent to his training camp. In a few cases more whole units were sent to Besheba under the guise of providing their officers with advance training. This manoeuvring would ensure that if permission was given Jagger would have the core of an army to retake Telos with and that his force could set off quickly. However, his original proposal made to sector command was flat out refused for requiring to many resources given the other conflicts currently taking place in the sector. It was at this point that Tech Lord Abacus of the Adaptus Mechanicus contacted Jagger asking for an alliance in order to protect the Mechanicus holdings on Telos. The Tech lord offered three reinforced regiments of tech guard and a demi legion of titans from the forge world Wayland as well as political support in making further requests from sector command. Although somewhat suspicion of his allies motives Jagger accepted the offer and started to prepare a second proposal including these forces.
Like Katham the battle for Gotham continued throughout the year. The Babel forces carrying out the siege continued to show little interest in trying to break into the city for much of the time instead pursuing various ‘pleasures’ on the enemy captured during the last assault. This time allowed the Gotham position to be secured and strengthed although the long seige started to drain the cities resources with food rationing being introduced and slowely tightened. However, once the Babel forces started to run out of play things they once again started a massive attack which pierced the city’s defences leading to the chaos forces spilling out into the manifactorium areas of the city. With no choice General Gordon was forced to give the order to demolish and burn sections on their own city to deny them to the enemy. The Babel forces were eventually driven back, but only with a loss of 10% of the cities population and 40% of its industrial production, although much of the food suplies and production facilities were saved.
The stalemate in the Vaga front carried on for half of the year, both side continued to build up their reserves and strengthened their defences. General Mendez attempted a number of flanking maneuverers which only led to both sides lengthening their trenches from the Polar Regions to the sea of green. However, this lead to Vaga stretching its forces to thin and probing attacks by various Shogun warbands allowed them to locate the weak points in Vaga's lines. Showing unusual co-ordiniation for a chaos force the enemy, including their leader Arachnae seen on the front lines for the first time, were soon hammering at these points and broke through the loyalist lines causing many front line units to be surrounded and cut off. However, the secondary lines behind the main trench system mostly populated by green troops and exhausted line units retired from the front held for several week giving time for General Mendez the main Vaga force to retreat back to the city. However, Shogun’s units had too much momentum to be fully stopped and they soon broke through again slaughtering the defending units as they went. For the second time Shogun forces attacked Vaga directly but once again they were surprised by the cities defences and a timely counterattack by the units which had made it back from the trenches managed to push the attackers back again.
By the end of the third year of the war things looked bad for the loyalists, Katham had fallen, Gotham was still under siege and was weakening, Vaga had been directly attacked and the majority of Aquatica forces were still cut off from the fighting. However, the capital still stood and the wheels of the imperial military were starting to turn to move the imperial guard into action.
Force Breakdown
"1 - New Valhalla PDF"
Commanding Officer - Lord Jackson Smyth
1st New Valhalla PDF - "House Odinson" Armour (2 companies)
2nd New Valhalla PDF - "House Smyth" Armour (1 company)
9th New Valhalla PDF - "House Davidson" Line Infantry (3 companies)
18th New Valhalla PDF - "House Baker" Mechanised
Mechanicus Enginseers - Aproximately 1 regiment
"2 - Vaga PDF"
Commanding Officer - General Susan Mendez
1st Vaga PDF - "House Thockt" Armour
2nd Vaga PDF - "House Thockt" Line Infantry
4th Vaga PDF - "House Mendez" Line Infantry
6th Vaga PDF - "House Thockt" Reconnissance
10th Vaga PDF - "House Gathling" Light Infantry
12th Vaga PDF - "House Smythe" Armour
13th Vaga PDF - "House Smythe" Seige Infantry
14th Vaga PDF - "House Stratborg" Artillary
15th Vaga PDF - "House Stratborg" Mechanised
18th Vaga PDF - "House Odinson" Artillary
20th Vaga PDF - "House Hawkswill" Line Infantry
22nd Vaga PDF - "House Hawkswill" Artillary
50th Vaga PDF - "House Sharpe" Seige Infantry
Mechanicus Enginseers - Aproximately 2 regiments
Frater Millitant - Aproximately 4 regiments
"3 - Vaga PDF"
Commanding Officer - General Susan Mendez
2nd Vaga PDF - "House Thockt" Line Infantry (3 companies)
4th Vaga PDF - "House Mendez" Line Infantry (1 company)
6th Vaga PDF - "House Thockt" Recconnissance
12th Vaga PDF - "House Smythe" Armour (2 companies)
13th Vaga PDF - "House Smythe" Seige Infantry (2 companies)
15th Vaga PDF - "House Stratborg" Mechanised
18th Vaga PDF - "House Odinson" Artillary (1 company)
20th Vaga PDF - "House Hawkswill" Line Infantry
22nd Vaga PDF - "House Hawkswill" Artillary (3 companies)
Mechanicus Enginseers - Aproximately 1 regiment
Frater Millitant - Aproximately 2 regiments
Time Line
M41.964.001 Loyalist forces capture the governor’s palace in Katham. Governor flees.
M41.964.002 Lord General Jagger starts to draw together a number of understrength regiments from throughout the sector which will eventually become the core of the liberation force.
M41.964.105 Vaga forces attempt to breach Shogun defences at many places, become bogged down in no man’s land and forces to retreat with heavy losses.
M41.964.142 A massive chaos counter attack in Katham spearheaded by the Dead retakes the governor’s palace and much of the mechanius factory area.
M41.964.156 Lord General Jagger put forward plans to retake Telos to sector command, they are quickly rejected.
M41.964.181 Loyalist forces driven out of all but a few strong holds in Katham
M41.964.190 Shogun forces launch probing attacks on Vaga lines
M41.964.198 Tech lord Abacus meets with Lord General Jagger and offers mechanicus support in the form of four full regiments of skitarai and a demi legion of Titans as well as political support.
M41.964.203 Chaos forces breach Vaga lines and reinforcements poor through breach; many Vaga units are surrounded and cut off.
M41.964.210 Major assault on Gotham, chaos forces breach city walls and enter city manafactorium areas.
M41.964.216 Vaga forces abandon main trench lines and retreat towards their city, secondary defence’s lines hold up enemy forces.
M41.964.213 Defenders of Gotham burn sectors of the manafactorium down to prevent chaos advance. Chaos forces retreat from the city but fire spreads to the loyalist areas killing thousands of civilians.
M41. 964.247 Secondary defences of Vaga lines breached by Shogun forces, almost all defenders killed.
M41.964.252 Reinforcements from New Valhalla stabilise situation in Katham, loyalist forces retake some ground.
M41.964.252 Shogun forces reach the walls of Vaga and prepare for a siege.
M41.964.320 Chaos assault in Katham drives all loyalist forces from the city. Counter attack from Vaga temporarily drive Shogun forces from siege lines.
Year 4 - Day of the Liberator
Lord General Jagger submitted his second plan for the liberation of Telos in this year and this time thanks to his mechanicum support it was quickly accepted and given the name task force Adamantium after the major export of Telos. However, it was expected that it would take several years for the men and materials needed to become available. It was them that Jagger revealed that he had already begun to gather the forces needed for the first wave of his plan and that the remainder would be available before the end of the year, with a second larger wave to assemble later and provide reinforcements. He did not reveal that although the over forty regiments he had on paper looked impressive in reality less than one in 5 regiments was at full strength, most consisted of only a single company and some were of a platoon or less. However, the majority of the force were veteran troops and the General beleived that this would more than counter the small size of the force.
For the first time since the conflict began Aquatica was in a position fight against the forces of darkness. Govenour Tempest had decided that rebuilding the bridge to the shore would leave the city open to the same type of attack as has originally cut it off and cost the lives of so much of the cities PDF so instead it had spent the past several year building massive submersible transport vehicles while turning its remaining resources into building up its military. Thus to the surprise of the chaos forces Aquatica was able to produce two large armies and transport them to the shore without being detected. One army under the command of General Tempest moved north to try and relieve the siege of Vaga and one west lead by the Govenours cousin Marina Nemo to help the New Valhallan forces.
For the first time in the war New Valhalla itself was attacked by forces persuing the units retreating from Katham. The attack itself was half hearted and was easily easily driven off by the cities defences it however caused an out of proportion panic amoung the population of the city and the Arbites were required to return order to the city. It is suspenced that Sourcery might have been involved, possibly from remaining chaos forces within the city but there is no evidence of this. Once Aquatica reinforcements arrived an army was formed from them and the remaining New Valhalla forces to strike back at Katham. The two forces were poorly integrated and although General Smyth was given overall command of the force, General Tempest maintained control of the Aquatica contingent which made up the majority of the force. This new army easily entered the city as previous fighting had destroyed most of the walls and defences and appeared almost deserted with large sections levelled. However, once most of the army had entered the city chaos forces appeared from inside and under the ruins and ambushed the loyalists. The attack was thrown into chaos not helped by the lack of experience shown by the Aquatica forces and the poor comunicaton between Aqautica and New Valhalla forces. Many units were lost before order could be restored and a general withdraw was ordered. By the end of the year only a few beachheads were still held within the city.
Shogun forces attacked Vaga several times during the year, breaching the walls in several places and only being driven out at high cost to the defenders infurating General Mendez. The first attempt by Aquatican forces to break the enemy lines was unsuccessful mostly due to the inexperience of the Aquaitican forces and their lack of coordination. General Mendez demanded control of the Aquatican contingent and fearing further losses without overall co-ordination General Tempest agreed. Learning from their mistakes the next attempt to relieve the Vaga forces was more successful and for a time it appeared that the Shogun army would be crushed between the walls of Vaga and the Aquatican army, however, a force of the dead managed to punch through the Aquatican lines and allow the Shogun forces to escape. They returned to the previous trench lines and attempted to fortify them again, however, the victorious loyalist army was too quick and caught them before they could fully dig in and they were forced back once again towards their home city.
Gotham had now been under siege for two years and was near collapse, an attack near the beginning of the year was repulsed but the PDF was exhausted, ammunition was low with most of the wall guns now useless and much of the population starving. The Babel forces apparently board of the siege made their first serious attempt to breach the city; a massive artillery bombardment collapsed the military command centre killing both the governor and the senior military personnel including General Gordon the overall theatre commander. The PDF collapsed in chaos and the Babel forces entered the city easily enslaving and slaughter the population. At this dark time the individual known as the Liberator arose, it is not known who he was, some say he was the emperor himself or a saint but suddenly he seemed to be everywhere in the city, rallying the remnants of the PDF and civilians almost single handedly driving of the Chaos forces and personally killing several chaos commanders who entered the city. Re invigorated the people of Gotham rose up and drove out the invaders, however, the siege force remained outside the city and when the defenders attempted to rush them they were cut down by their tens of thousands. It is whispered that the Liberator died in one of these attacks as he has not been seen since but most believe that he still lives and has continued to aid his people in secret. The Babel forces continued to attack the city; however, the liberator actions give time for the small nobel house of Wayne to peice togehter as coallition of houses and for the House leader Thomas Wayne to be made governor Wayne and for the PDF to regroup under the command of Colonel (later General) Dent.
1 - Aquatica PDF
Commanding officer - General Marina Nemo
1st Aquatica PDF - "House Nemo" Armour
4th Aquatica PDF - "House Nemo" Mechanised
6th Aquatica PDF - "House Thockt" Hunter Killer
7th Aquatica PDF - "House Curry" Artillary
10th Aquatica PDF - "House Curry" Artillary
12th Aquatica PDF - "House Thockt" Light Infantry
2 - Aquatica PDF
Commanding officer - General Ariel Tempest
2nd Aquatica PDF - "House Nemo" Reconissance
5th Aquatica PDF - "House Tempest" Armour
8th Aquatica PDF - "House Curry" Line Infantry
13th Aquatica PDF - "House Thockt" Artillary
15th Aquatica PDF - "House Obsidian" Mechanised
18th Aquatica PDF - "House Knight" Line Infantry
3 - Telos / Aquatica PDF
Commanding Officer - General Susan Mendez
2nd Vaga PDF - "House Thockt" Line Infantry
5th Vaga PDF - "House Thockt" Seige Infantry
6th Vaga PDF - "House Thockt" Reconnissance
15th Vaga PDF - "House Stratborg" Mechanised
20th Vaga PDF - "House Hawkswill" Line Infantry
22nd Vaga PDF - "House Hawkswill" Artillary
26th Vaga PDF - "House Thig" Mechanised
2nd Aquatica PDF - "House Nemo" Reconissance
13th Aquatica PDF - "House Thockt" Artillary
15th Aquatica PDF - "House Obsidian" Mechanised
4 - New Valhalla / Aquatica PDF
Commanding Officer - Lord Jackson Smyth
2nd New Valhalla PDF - "House Smyth" Armour
9th New Valhalla PDF - "House Davidson" Line Infantry
18th New Valhalla PDF - "House Baker" Mechanised
1st Aquatica PDF - "House Nemo" Armour
6th Aquatica PDF - "House Thockt" Hunter Killer
7th Aquatica PDF - "House Curry" Artillary
10th Aquatica PDF - "House Curry" Mechanised
12th Aquatica PDF - "House Thockt" Light Infantry
Time Line
M41.965.001 Chaos forces reach New Valhalla but are held off by City defences
M41.965.026 Shogun reinforcements force Vaga forces to retreat back into the city itself. Vaga is shelled by Shogun gun emplacements
M41.965.037 Chaos forces assault New Valhalla but are driven back with major losses
M41.965.051 Counter attack by New Valhalla drive chaos forces away from the city but take significant losses preventing them from hunting down the fleeing enemy.
M41.965.060 Lord General Jagger puts updated plans to retake Telos to sector command
M41.965.072 Aquatican forces successfully cross ocean in submersible carriers, over the following months several regiments of troops and equipment will leave the city.
M41.965.086 Shogun forces assault Vaga and gain entrance to city with heavy losses
M41.965.088 Counter attack by Vaga forces drive enemy from the city but are unable to break siege lines.
M41.965.102 Chaos assault on Gotham, after several days of hand to hand fighting they are driven off but defenders left exhausted.
M41.965.136 Sector command approves plans to retake Telos; Lord General Jagger is placed in charge of Task force Adamantium.
M41.965.123 Chaos assault on Gotham, main walls breached and defenders scattered.
M41.965.128 Chaos forces assault Vaga and enter city but are quickly driven back by defenders.
M41.965.130 Governor Azarel and General Gordon killed by Chaos forces in Gotham, chaos forces drive deep into the city.
M41.965.132 The individual known as the liberator rallies civilians in Gotham
M41.965.134 Civilian army lead by the liberator drive chaos forces from Gotham, The liberator kills warlord Skratch and Targ the Unclean in hand to hand combat.
M41.965.136 Civilian forces attempt to attack siege lines at Gotham are driven back with heavy losses, Liberator disappears.
M41.965.154 New Valhallan and Aquatican forces attack Katham city defences prove ineffective and loyalist forces enter the city.
M41.965.168 Loyalist forces in Katham ambushed by Chaos troops including large numbers of the dead. Loyalists are driven out of the city with heavy losses.
M41.965.175 Aquatican forces try to break the siege of Vaga but are driven off. Loyalists retreat in good order.
M41.965.180 Attempt by imperial forces to assault Katham is driven back.
M41.965.201 Aquatican forces surround Shogun forces and attack them in a coordinated action with the defenders of Vaga.
M41.965.205 Shogun forces abandon siege lines and managed to break through Aquatican forces to flee trap, they leave most of the heavy equipment behind.
M41.965.214 First land and space sections of Task force Adamantium start to arrive at staging grounds on Bathsheba.
M41.965.245 Further attempt to retake Katham by imperial forces is driven back but a foothold in the city is retained.
M41.965.278 Gotham forces attempt to break siege but driven back with heavy casualties.
M41.965.301 All units of the first wave of task force Adamantium arrive at staging points.
M41.965.320 Aquatican and Vaga forces catch up with Shogun forces attempting to dig in; defences are quickly overrun and Shogun forces driven back into the mountains.
M41.965.364 Babel forces attempt to assault Gotham but repulsed by defences.
Year 5 - The task force arrives
The Vaga forces pursuing the fleeing Shogun forces were stopped only by the appearance of the entire regiment of the dead lead by Arachnae herself which held back their righteous fury for long enough for the Shogun forces to dig in. Unable to penetrate the new defences the Vaga troops were once again forced to dig in again and the conflict returned to the trench warfare it had been in previous years with multiple unsuccessful attacks from both sides. The stalemate was broken near the end of the year when a massive Shogun assault managed to penetrate the line and started to loop around to attack the surviving Vaga forces. However, Aquatica reinforcements lead by Colonel Tempest force marched for several days and managed to arrive in time to stem the breakthrough, forcing the Shogun forces back before too much damage could be done.
The loyalists lead by General Smyth managed to build on the beachheads they obtained in Katham last year and slowly pushed back the traitors. Their efforts were aided by the forces of the dead disappearing from the city overnight overnight, having been pulled out to act against the Vagan attack. The chaos forces were pushed from fortress after fortress both the hard fought for temple and the governors palace were again reclaimed, the latter being almost levelled although, at a high cost. By the end of the year the only traitor strong points remaining were in the former Mechanium areas of the city. It is beleived that the city govenour was killed at some point in these assults although no body was recovered. From this point the Chaos defence fragmented as over all command was broken. General Smyth had originally hoped to complete control of the city by the end of this year but was disapointed as his reinforcements were redirected in a further attempt to releive the seige of Gotham.
A further chaos assault breached the, by now patchy, walls surrounding Gotham and invaded a large chunk of the city. This time the city was saved by a diversionary attack from New Valhalla, led by General Thockt which attacked the rear officer and professional classes of the Babel army, leading the slave force assulting the city without command and allowing the PDF to counter attack. However, once the Babel forces reacted they managed to throw fresh slave forces at the New Valhalla detachment, outnumbered the New Valhalla troops retreated in good order and continued to harass the Babel forces although they were little more than a nuisance. Later in the year the continued artillery barrage from the Babel guns causes the top layers of the hive to collapse, the chaos forces took advantage of this to use a huge number of jump pack troops to enter the city from above. It is suspected although not known for certain that these forces were mercinaries, possibly a falled Imperial Guard Drop troop regiment brought in from offworld in some way, the presence of a number of Chaos Space Marines in the attack cupport this idea. Although many of their packs failed a large number of enemy troops still made it into the city. However, the artillary attack had left that part of the hive a waren of innumerable twisty passages many of them dangerous or blocked. The survivors of the originally artillery strike had had just enough time to adapt to this situation and had quickly learnt the new layout of their once homes. These brave PDF and citivens and carried out numerous ambushes of the invaders who were quickly forced to retreat. Many more of the attackers would be killed as their packs failed while they tried to evacuate the hive.
The first phase of Lord General Jaggers plan was to gain full space superiority in the Telos system to prevent any of his transport ships being attacked. This phase started when a small fleet containing two cruisers, the mighty shout and Reightous indignation, a carrier, the Lady of Pain, along with their escorts translated into the system. They would spend the next three months dealing with any chaos controlled system ship or orbital habitat, a task they carried out without loss. A contact was made with a presumably chaos held transport ship but it managed to flee the system before the Lady of Pain's fighters could be catch and destroy it. By the time the Imperial Guard troop transports arrive the system was once again in Imperiums hands. After their initial sweep the space superiority fleet split with the carrier moving out system to meet and escort the transports, and the cruisers taking up high orbit around Telos. Unfortunately, the amount of orbital support they could provide was limited by the conditions on the planet and the functional anti star ship weaponry in the chaos held cities. In order for the task force to safely land its troops on the planet it was decided to repair space station prime on the opposite end of the space elevator to New Valhalla which had been abandoned since chaos sabotage in the initial rebellion. The Machanicum enginseer’s of the task force made short work of repairing the station and by the end of the year troops were being landed on the planet by the elevator. Jagger himself was one of the first on the planet and by the end of the year he had taken up the roll of supreme commander of the military on the planet, although future events would show this control was tenuous.
Force Breakdown
1 - New Valhalla / Aquatica PDF
Commanding Officer - Lord Jackson Smyth
2nd New Valhalla PDF - "House Smyth" Armour
18th New Valhalla PDF - "House Baker" Mechanised
22nd New Valhalla PDF - "House Davidson" Hunter Killer
1st Aquatica PDF - "House Nemo" Armour
6th Aquatica PDF - "House Thockt" Hunter Killer
7th Aquatica PDF - "House Curry" Artillary
12th Aquatica PDF - "House Thockt" Light Infantry
2 - Vaga / Aquatica PDF
Commanding Officer - General Susan Mendez
1st Vaga PDF - "House Thockt" Armour
2nd Vaga PDF - "House Thockt" Line Infantry
6th Vaga PDF - "House Thockt" Mechanised
15th Vaga PDF - "House Stratborg" Mechanised
20th Vaga PDF - "House Hawkswill" Line Infantry
26th Vaga PDF - "House Thig" Mechanised
32nd Vaga PDF - "House Mendez" Seige Infantry
33rd Vaga PDF - "House Mendez" Seige Infantry
2nd Aquatica PDF - "House Nemo" Reconissance
13th Aquatica PDF - "House Thockt" Artillary
3 - Aquatica PDF
Commanding Officer - Colonel Arthur Tempest
20th Aquatica PDF - "House Tempest" - Armour
25th Aquatica PDF - "House Curry" - Line Infantry
27th Aquatica PDF - "House Knight" - Line Infantry
4 - New Valhalla PDF
Commanding officer - General Mohammed Thokt
30th New Valhalla PDF - "House Thockt" Mechanised
31st New Valhalla PDF - "House Thockt" Hunter Killer
32nd New Valhalla PDF - "House Thockt" Mechanised
37th New Valhalla PDF - "House Hartnell" Artillary
Time Line
M41.966.007
Initial space superiority elements of Task force Adamantium, Cruisers Mighty shout and reightours indignation, carrier Lady of Pain and escorts, enter the warp bound for Telos.
M41.966.021 Aquatican and Vaga forces continue to pursue Shogun forces into mountains but progress is slow.
M41.966.052 All contact with units of the dead in Katham is lost.
M41.966.060 Massive assault by Dead forces strikes Vaga forces stopping their advance and forcing a retreat.
M41.966.073 Task force Adamantium transports and fleet support elements enter the warp for telos
M41.966.080 Vaga and Aquatica forces dig in at the edge of the mountains containing Shogun.
M41.966.099 Chaos forces assault Gotham, walls are breached and some lower levels overrun.
M41.966.127 space superiority elements of Task force Adamantium arrive in telos system.
M41.966.131 New Valhallan reinforcements attach siege lines at Gotham attacking forces drawn from the city to drive off attack.
M41.966.132 Beachhead in Katham is enlarged, traitor forces pushed back out of habitation areas.
M41.966.137 Counter attack from Gotham drive chaos forces from the city, many levels are calapsed to kill the enemy within them.
M41.966.145 Shogun forces assault Vaga fortifications but are thrown back and start to fortify themselves.
M41.966.203 Transport elements of Task force Adamantium arrive in system.
M41.966.223 Space superiority elements of Task force Adamantium finish clearing traitor system ships and space habitats from the system.
M41.966.251 Aquatica forces attempt to breach Shogun lines but driven back.
M41.966.268 Massive artilary attack on Gotham begins
M41.966.279 Space superiority elements of Task force Adamantium move into orbit around around telos, limited orbital support provided to ground forces from this point on.
M41.966.282 Trator forces in Katham flee governor mansion and fortify Mechanicum areas.
M41.966.298 Top 40 floors of Gotham calapse killing over a million.
M41.966.304 Transport elements of Task force Adamantium take orbit around Telos
M41.966.307 Mechanicus engineers start work on repairing prime space station.
M41.966.310 Shogun forces breach Vaga lines and begin to encircle defenders. Babel forces attempt to enter Gotham via damaged upper levels, massive hand to hand fighting between loyalist and traitor forces.
M41.966.312 Loyalist assault in Katham repulsed by traitors both sides take heavy casulalties.
M41.966.315 Aquatica reinforcements block off Shogun assault troops preventing destruction of Vaga forces and strengething defensive lines.
M41.966.325 Prime space station repaired to operational status.
M41.966.327 First elements of Task force arrive on planet
M41.966.329 Lord General Jagger arrives on planet
M41.966.342 Last of chaos forces driven from the upper levels of Gotham, loyalist forces only suffer mild losses.
M41.966.356 Lord General Jagger made commander in chief of loyalist military.
Year 6 - Poor Communication Kills
Although he had just been made commander in chief of Telos’s military Lord General Jagger recognised the fragility of his position. His forces arrival had increased moral but he still needed a quick victory in order to cement his position. However, upon his arrival there was an immediate blow to his position, Tech Lord Abacus unalatrually decided to take the Mechanicus part of the task force and use it to protect the various Mechanicus bases around the planet. Lord General Jagger attempted to countermand these orders but the Techguard commanders refused to listen and the guard forces sent to force the matter were fired upon. For a tense night to looked like the task force itself would all in civil war. Eventually, cooler heads prevaled and an agreement was made that Abacus could lead his tech guard away with the Enginseers and Titan's would remain under Jagger's command as it would take a year for them to be brought to the planets surface and made ready to walk anyway. Once this matter was dealt with Jagger decided he needed to make a decisive attack straight away. There were two possible objectives, Katham and Gotham as the Vaga front lines would take too long for his forces to reach. Katham appeared the easier target, the chaos forces had been pushed back over the past few years but he feared it might be considered too weak a target and not provide the moral boost he wanted. Gotham had been under siege for several years and looked like it might fall making it the more logical objective but it was feared that it might be too tough a nut to crack leading to his forces being forced into a drawn out fight there were not yet ready for. In the end Jagger decided, uncharacteristically that fortune favoured the bold and to try to attack both targets at once. A decision he would come to regret.
The plan was that the majority of his forces under the command of his General Ubonga would attack Katham and quickly break the chaos forces there. A smaller army headed by Jagger's second general Munter would head to Gotham with PDF reinforcements and try to break the siege there. Once Katham fell the guard would reinforce the Gotham forces and drive away the Babel units freeing the city. However, poor communication and logistics would dog both operations. Communications between the guard and PDF units headed by General Smyth in Katham were negligible and many attacks failed due to lack of support leading the attackers to be cut down in large numbers. Once it was seen that no quick victory was going to be possible the surviving guard were redirected to Gotham leaving the PDF to continue to tie down the chaos forces in the city but without the strength to finish the job infurating General Smyth.
The initial attacks on the Babel forces around Gotham went better with the siege lines being broken in several placed. However, once again communications were poor and the Gotham defenders often shelled the Imperial Guard forces not recognising them as loyalists. Once reinforcement arrived from Katham the guard were able to break the siege entirely and drive off the Babel forces, the victorious Geneal Munter ordered his forces to pursued the fleeting Babel units. However, this turned out to be a trick, once the loyalists were strung out in persuit the Babel forced turned and reinforced by fresh forces ambushed the guard scattering them. Once again poor communication prevented the loyalists from quickly regrouping and lead to heavy casualties inlcuding general Umbonga. It would be several months before the surviving units would reform for another attack. Meanwhile the Babel forces returned to shelling Gotham as if nothing had happened.
Lord General Jagger was furious at these disasters and blaming the PDF had General Smyth removed from his command and started to institute a large scale reorganisation of his forces. Most PDF units on Telos were raised and run by specific noble houses, which led to highly variable troop quality and poor communication between units. Jagger planned to remove control of the PDF from the nobles and to merge the units together into a single fighting force organically linked to the Imperial Guard. The nobles were outraged both by the loss of their control over the planets military forces and by the treatment of one of the planets highest ranking milirary officers. Most units refused to carry out the orders and some even opened fire on guard units. There was even an attempt on Jaggers life, it was not until the Planetary governor pledged his support to Jagger, reorganised his own house guard and appointed General Smyth as a leasion between the PDF and Guard that the fighting died down. It would be over a year before the reorganisation was completed.
The battle between the combined Vaga/Aquatica and Shogun forces once again ground down into a bloody stalemate with two lines of trenches either side of no man’s land. Both General Menzes and Arcahnae tried many feints and tricks to gain an advantage over their oponent but none were very successful and most of the year was spent digging in and reinforcing ready for a big attack next year.
Hoping to draw Babel forces from the Gotham lines Lord General Jagger ordered the Aquatica forces to open a second front. This angered the Aquatica military leader General Knight who did not think the time was right but with little choice ordered a lightning strike lead by Colonel Julia Tempest a juniour oficer and distant relative of the Govenour. To Knight's suprise the colonels force performed well above expectation moving undetected towards the city of Babel for several months and attacked the city itself, although they did not do much damage, they did score an important phycological vidtory and drew out significant forces that chased them back towards the cost. The brave Aquatican forces managed to stay just ahead of their pursuers and lead them into an ambush by further Aquaitican forces hastely organised by General Knight scattering the Babel forces and leaving the way open for a further offensive.
1 - 2nd Guard army
Commanding Officer - General Zezne Ubonga
127th Cadian - Line Infantry
1945th Terran - Light Infantry
6th Leeta - Line Infantry
12th Calth - Line Infantry
5th Flotte - Line Infantry
1st Kanak Skull Takers - Light Infantry
134th Kreig - Seige Infantry
2nd Utica IV - Line Infantry
45th Vardan Rifles - Light Infantry
52nd Valhallan - Artillary
478th Necromunda - Artillary
1st Carthagian Gundogs - Armour
56th Mordian Iron Guard - Armour
2 - New Valhalla / Aquatica PDF
Commanding Officer - Lord Jackson Smyth
2nd New Valhalla PDF - "House Smyth" Armour
22nd New Valhalla PDF - "House Davidson" Hunter Killer
1st Aquatica PDF - "House Nemo" Armour
6th Aquatica PDF - "House Thockt" Hunter Killer
7th Aquatica PDF - "House Curry" Artillary
3 - 2nd Guard army
Commanding Officer - General Zezne Ubonga
127th Cadian - Line Infantry
1945th Terran - Light Infantry
5th Flotte - Line Infantry
1st Kanak Skull Takers - Light Infantry
134th Kreig - Seige Infantry
52nd Valhallan - Artillary
478th Necromunda - Artillary
1st Carthagian Gundogs - Armour
56th Mordian Iron Guard - Armour
4 - 1st Guard army
Commanding Officer - General Gerard Munter
87th Zoon heavies - Hunter Killer
6th Morbidia - Line Infantry
1489th Penal legion - Line Infantry
1972th Penal legion - Seige Infantry
4th Bethsheba Volunteers - Mechanised
12th Phonosar Recon - Mechanised
3rd Bethsheba Volunteers - Armour
3rd Volog - Armour
5 - Vaga / Aquatica PDF
Commanding Officer - General Susan Mendez
2nd Vaga PDF - "House Thockt" Line Infantry
6th Vaga PDF - "House Thockt" Reconissance
20th Vaga PDF - "House Hawkswill" Line Infantry
33rd Vaga PDF - "House Mendez" Seige Infantry
42nd Vaga PDF - "House Thockt" Artillary
43rd Vaga PDF - "House Hawkswill" Hunter Killer
44th Vaga PDF - "House Mendez" Artillary
50th Vaga PDF - "House Sharpe" Seige Infantry
51st Vaga PDF - "House Mendez" Line Infantry
2nd Aquatica PDF - "House Nemo" Reconissance
13th Aquatica PDF - "House Thockt" Artillary
20th Aquatica PDF - "House Tempest" - Armour
25th Aquatica PDF - "House Curry" - Line Infantry
27th Aquatica PDF - "House Knight" - Line Infantry
6 - Aquatica PDF
Commanding officer - General Ingrid Knight
33rd Aquatica PDF - "House Knight" Armour
34th Aquatica PDF - "House Tempest" Reconissance
52nd Aquatica PDF - "House Tempest" Hunter Killer
53rd Aquatica PDF - "House Curry" Mechanised
7 - Aquatica PDF
Commanding officer - Colonel Julia Tempest
32nd Aquatica - "House Tempest" Mechanised
33rd Aquatica - "House Tempest" Mechanised
8 - Aquatica PDF
Commanding officer - Colonel Julia Tempest
32nd Aquatica - "House Tempest" Mechanised
33rd Aquatica - "House Tempest" Mechanised
Time Line
M41.967.069
Chaos forces in Katham pushed back to a number of fortified areas.
M41.967.101 Aquatica and Vaga forces attempt to breach Shogun lines but despite some local successes enemy lines hold and attackers forced back. M41.967.120 Probing attacks by Babel forces around Gotham.
M41.967.134 Combined PDF and Imperial guard columns leave New Valhalla for Katham and Gotham.
M41.967.172 Relief column arrives as Katham and attempts to drive remaining chaos forces from the city. Poor cooperation between noble house and Imperial guard forces hampers assaults and Imperial forces are driven back with significant losses.
M41.967.189 Assault on Siege lines at Gotham by imperial guard and PDF. Lack of communication between Gotham and Imperial guard forces lead to the defenders attacking the reinforcements. M41.967.192 Chaos forces driven away from Gotham, loyalists pursue.
M41.967.194 Retreat of chaos forces a ruse; pursuing forces are ambushed by fresh chaos forces and driven back.
M41.967.196 Chaos forces recommence siege of Gotham.
M41.967.207 Lord General Jagger orders significant restructure of imperial forces to provide a single chain of command and to remove noble houses from control of PDF forces.
M41.967.208 Noble houses protest changes to military structure, some limited fighting between PDF and Imperial Guard forces.
M41.967.210 Massive assaults by fresh troops from Aquatica against Shogun forces, significant losses on both sides but overall little movement.
M41.967.220 Planetary governor appeals for calm in New Valhalla and pledges support to Lord General Jagger. Fighting between PDF and Guard forces starts to die down.
M41.967.260 Light armoured forces from Aquatica strike a the city of Babel, significant damage done but loyalists quickly driven off. With Babel forces in pursuit.
M41.967.290 Attempt to breach several chaos strongholds in Katham result heavy losses to loyalist forces.
M41.967.320 Aquatica reinforcements ambush Babel forces pursuing strike force and scatter them.
Year 7 - Katham Burns
The stalemate on the Vaga front remained for most of the year. Shogun made a desperate attack near the beginning of the year breaking through a few weak spots but the Vaga defences were just too strong and the Chaos forces quickly had to retreat. However, General Mendez did not take advantage of this momentum fearing it was a trap and chose to wait until she had truly overwhelming forces before making her own assault.
The Gotham front was likewise quiet for most of the year. The Babel forces seiging the city were reduced in number with much of the officer and practical caste presumably moved to help the drive off the Aquatica attack on the far side of their city and only made a few half-hearted assaults were made on the surrounded city although as by this time much of the city had been damaged and the populus were starving they came close to succeeding anyway. Near the end of the year the forces that had pacified Katham and reinforcements from New Valhalla prepared to try and liberate the city.
Aquatica, now having been forced to start up a third front against Bable moved a fresh army to the east to mount a massive attack on Babel. After the original rushed deployment it took General Knight several months to get the men and vehicles of the army formed up. This unfortunately gave time for Babel to withdraw units from Gotham and form a new army to counter the Aquatica troops. The two forces met in land at an area called fiddlers green and after several days of intense and mobile fighting the green Aquatica forces were driven back to the shores of the inland sea by the more experienced although numerically lesser Babel forces. The Babel forces spent significant time captuing any scattered Aquatican units which gave the majority of the Aquatica force time to attempted to dig in at the coast. However, again the more experienced Babel forces pushed hard at these positions and many fell, for a time it looked like the loyalist forces would be driven into the sea. However, General Knight brought forth her secret weapon, Aquatica had converted much of its merchant navy to military service as well as building specific battleships and the heavy guns of these behamoths were brought to bear on the chaos forces driving them back and allowing further Aquatica reinforcement to be brought in and the beachhead secured.
Finally a decisive attack was made on Katham and for the first time Titans were used on combat. Against protests from Govenour Odinson Rather than attempting to liberate the chaos held areas of the city each fortress was just smashed to the ground by the metal gods under the command of Adept Macintosh. By the end of the year there were no more significant chaos holdings in the city, however, less than 10% of the original structure of and population of the hive remained. To most intents and purposes the city had been destroyed.
1 - 3rd Telos liberation army
Commanding Officer - General Susan Mendez
9th Telos PDF - Hunter Killer
10th Telos PDF - Mechanised
14th Telos PDF - Light Infantry
16th Telos PDF - Artillary
17th Telos PDF - Hunter Killer
18th Telos PDF - Artillary
19th Telos PDF - Seige Infantry
21st Telos PDF - Seige Infantry
22nd Telos PDF - Armour
23th Telos PDF - Hunter Killer
25th Telos PDF - Seige Infantry
27th Telos PDF - Line Infantry
2 - 4th Telos liberation army
Commanding officer - General Ingrid Knight
29th Telos PDF - Line Infantry
30th Telos PDF - Naval
31st Telos PDF - Naval
34th Telos PDF - Reconisance
36th Telos PDF - Line Infantry
37th Telos PDF - Armour
38th Telos PDF - Mechanised
40th Telos PDF - Mechanised
3 - 1st and 2nd Liberation force
Commanding Officer - General Gerard Munter
127th Cadian - Line Infantry
1945th Terran - Light Infantry
5th Flotte - Line Infantry
134th Kreig - Seige Infantry
52nd Valhallan - Artillary
478th Necromunda - Artillary
56th Mordian Iron Guard - Armour
87th Zoon heavies - Hunter Killer
6th Morbidia - Line Infantry
1972th Penal legion - Seige Infantry
4th Bethsheba Volunteers - Mechanised
12th Phonosar Recon - Mechanised
3rd Bethsheba Volunteers - Armour
3rd Volog - Armour
1st Telos PDF - Armour
2nd Telos PDF - Line Infantry
3rd Telos PDF - Mechanised
6th Telos PDF - Armour
7th Telos PDF - Artillary
4th Shire - Specialist (Ratling)
Iron beasts - Specialist (Titans)
4 - 1st and 2nd Liberation force
Commanding Officer - General Gerard Munter
127th Cadian - Line Infantry
134th Kreig - Seige Infantry
52nd Valhallan - Artillary
56th Mordian Iron Guard - Armour
87th Zoon heavies - Hunter Killer
6th Morbidia - Line Infantry
1972th Penal legion - Seige Infantry
4th Bethsheba Volunteers - Mechanised
12th Phonosar Recon - Mechanised
3rd Bethsheba Volunteers - Armour
3rd Volog - Armour
1st Telos PDF - Armour
3rd Telos PDF - Mechanised
7th Telos PDF - Artillary
4th Shire - Specialist (Ratling)
Iron beasts - Specialist (Titans)
Time Line
M41.968.010 Shogun forces attempt to break through Vaga lines, line buckle but do not fully break; chaos forces are exhausted and have to retreat to original lines.
M41.968.100 Military reorganisation by Imperial forces complete.
M41.968.148 Aquatica army forms up on eastern shore for a push towards Babel
M41.968.205 Last of first wave of task force units arrive on planet
M41.968.253 Major imperial attack on the chaos forces in Katham, for the first time Titans are used in combat.
M41.968.269 Last Chaos holding in Katham is crushed; however, little of the city remains intact.
M41.968.285 Battle of Fiddler Green massive conflict between Babel and Aquatica forces
M41.968.290 Despite inflicting heavy losses on Babel Aquatica is unable to break enemy lines and is pushed back towards the coast.
M41.968.302 Imperial forces from Katham and New Valhalla begin to prepare for a push against the Chaos forces besieging Gotham.
M41.968.302 Half a company of Space Marines of the Cerberus chapter arrive at Vaga
M41.968.343 Aquatica forces finally stop Babel advance and dig in not far from the shore.
Year 8 - Gotham Saved
During this year the second wave of guard forces arrived on Telos and Lord General Jagger quickly sent his fresh reinforcements to the various war fronts. The most obvious was Gotham which was nearest to the staging point of new Valhalla; over half of the new troops were sent to finally break the siege of the city along with the Titans of the Mechanicus. This overwhelming wave, commanded by General Starling of the second wave, genernal Munter having returned to New Valhalla to act as General Jagger's aside, quickly broke through the Babel forces. However, the traitors were aware of the assault and rather than attempt to stand against the attack they began a slow retreat trying to cause as much damage to the larger force as possible while withdrawing their own forces. Often the choas forces would sacrifice their slave contingents to allow the more important officers to escape tying up loyalist units. The frustrated imperial forces followed the fleeing chaos forces and were surprised by the massive minefield which the chaos forces left behind them, the warlord titan Silver Puma leading the chase was crippled when its legs were blown off and many tanks and troops were destroyed. The advance was reduced to a snail’s pace as sappers were deployed to clear the vast field allowing the Babel forces to retreat and regroup.
The space marines of the Cerberus chapter pre-empted General Knights plans for an attack on the Vaga forces by driving deep into the enemy forcing their PDF allies to start their attack over a month early. The suprise of the attack broke the Shogun lines in a few hours. The Chaos troops fled and were close to being overrun by the victorious loyalists until their stretched supply lines started to fray slowing the advance. The loyalists were finally halted when the full force of the dead came into play. Regardless of casualties, which would return a day later, they threw themselves into battle and managed to delay tempoarily halt the imperial advance. This gave time for the Shogun forces to settle into a network of bunkers they had built in the foothills. Unwilling to once again be bogged down in trench warfare General Knight ordered the PDF to forus their strength at only a few key bunkers and push their forces through the gaps while keeping enough forces behind to pin down the enemy in the remaining fortifications. This tactic allowed the army to push forward by tied up many troops and left the imperial suply lines vulnerable to raids from the remaining bunkers.
Meanwhile, Aquatica continued to reinforce and dig in on the shore of the inland sea. The Babel forces made several attempts to dislodge them but were driven back by their defences and sea power. With no other option open to them the Babel forces started to dig in themselves and tried to contain the enemy forces and prepare for the inevitable attempt to break out.
1 - 3rd Telos liberation army
Commanding Officer - General Susan Mendez
9th Telos PDF - Hunter Killer
10th Telos PDF - Mechanised
14th Telos PDF - Light Infantry
16th Telos PDF - Artillary
17th Telos PDF - Hunter Killer
18th Telos PDF - Artillary
21st Telos PDF - Seige Infantry
22nd Telos PDF - Armour
25th Telos PDF - Seige Infantry
28th Telos PDF - Mechanised
37th Telos PDF - Armour
Cerberus Chapter - Specialist (Adaptus Astarties) (4 squads)
2 - 4th Telos liberation army
Commanding officer - General Ingrid Knight
29th Telos PDF - Line Infantry
30th Telos PDF - Naval
31st Telos PDF - Naval
36th Telos PDF - Line Infantry
37th Telos PDF - Armour
40th Telos PDF - Mechanised
42nd Telos PDF - Armour
43rd Telos PDF - Artillary
44th Telos PDF - Mechanised
62nd Telos PDF - Seige Infantry
3 - 1st Liberation force
Commanding Officer - General Herman Starling
56th Mordian Iron Guard - Armour
6th Morbidia - Infantry
1972th Penal legion - Seige Infantry
4th Bethsheba Volunteers - Mechanised
3rd Bethsheba Volunteers - Armour
1st Telos - Armour
3rd Telos - Mechanised
7th Telos - Artillary
4th Shire - Specialist (Ratling)
Iron beasts - Specialist (Titans)
2nd Men of Harlech - Line Infantry
992nd Cadian - Line Infantry
278th Penal Legion - Seige Infantry
24th Armageddon - Mechanised
5th Bethsheban - Mechanised
16th Sheban - Artillary
1254th Cadian - Armour
14th Sheban Techseers - Specialist (engineers)
Time Line
M41.969.100
Second wave of task force transits into system
M41.969.126 Vaga forces now reinforced by Guard and Marine units begin a massive push against Shogun lines. Lines break within hours and enemy forces begin a rout
M41.969.127 The dead hold back Vaga attack and temporarily force loyalist forces back
M41.969.134 Dead forced overwhelmed, however, other Shogun forces rally and begin an organised fighting retreat from Vaga.
M41.969.156 Seige of Gotham broken up overwhelming wave of Imperial reinforcements Babel forces withdraw in good order.
M41.969.161 Imperial pursuit of Babel forces halted by vast mine field left in the enemies wake.
M41.969.195 Imperial advance of Shogun halted by strong defensive lines
M41.969.206 Babel forces attempt to dislodge Aquatica forces from their strongpoints, traitor forces pushed back with heavy losses and dig in.
M41.969.320 Vaga forces bypass shogun defensive bunkers and advance into the foothills below the city.
Year 9 - A Slow Advance
The year began with Babel forces deciding to try to dislodge the Aquatica forces but driving north and trying to flank the dug in forces. This might have succeeded if not for the reinforcement column of Guard of the Second Wave lead by General Summerfield. The General pushed he forces hard and they arrived in time to flank the chaos forces driving them back and breaking the Babel defences. General Knights fortified Aquatica force then pushed forward with all their forces striking the Babel forces with their full strength. This escalated into one of the larger battles of the war, after several days of fighting the Babel forces broke and scattered closely perused by the victorious Aquatica and Guard forces.
The Vaga forces having by passed the Shogun defences pushed deeper into the mountains surrounding the Chaos held city. The advancing armour suffered many attacks from small group of enemy troops and its supply lines were frequently cut by forces from the surviving bunkers but General Mendez continued to push on her exhaused forces even if only at a snail’s pace. By the end of the year the loyalist had reached the enemy city itself but were too weakened to be able to assault it instead they were forced back by the city defences and began to dig in awaiting reinforcements.
General Starlings forces were finally able to clear a path through the extensive mine field left by the fleeing Babel forces after several months effort. The loyalist army pushed forward and quickly connected with the outer lines of enemy defenders. After several days of rolling combat the chaos force broke and was driven back to its home city. However, the loyalist force was left exhausted and had to stop awaiting supplies and reinforcements.
1 - 3rd Telos liberation army
Commanding Officer - General Susan Mendez
9th Telos PDF - Hunter Killer
14th Telos PDF - Light Infantry
16th Telos PDF - Artillary
17th Telos PDF - Hunter Killer
21st Telos PDF - Seige Infantry
28th Telos PDF - Mechanised
Cerberus Chapter - Specialist (Adaptus Astarties) (4 squads)
2 - 1st Liberation force
Commanding Officer - General Herman Starling
4th Bethsheba Volunteers - Mechanised
3rd Telos - Mechanised
7th Telos - Artillary
4th Shire - Specialist (Ratling)
Iron beasts - Specialist (Titans)
992nd Cadian - Line Infantry
5th Bethsheban - Mechanised
16th Sheban - Artillary
14th Sheban Techseers - Specialist (engineers)
3 - 4th/5th Liberation Force
Commanding officer - General Ingrid Knight
29th Telos PDF - Line Infantry
37th Telos PDF - Armour
40th Telos PDF - Mechanised
43rd Telos PDF - Artillary
62nd Telos PDF - Seige Infantry
23nd Kreig - Seige Infantry
277th Penal Legion - Line Infantry
3rd Tallarian Raiders - Hunter Killer
15th Sheban - Artillary
502nd Neccromundan - Armour
1st Grotwang - Specialist (ogron)
4 - 5th Liberation Force
Commanding Officer - General Amanda Summerfield
23nd Kreig - Seige Infantry
276th Penal Legion - Light Infantry
277th Penal Legion - Line Infantry
3rd Tallarian Raiders - Hunter Killer
15th Sheban - Artillary
502nd Neccromundan - Armour
1st Grotwang - Specialist (ogron)
Time Line
M41.970.089
Babel forces attempt to flank Aquatica forces but driven off by imperial guard reinforcements.
M41.970.127 Vaga forces ambushed by Shogun forces in the mountain. Ambushers are driven off by Imperial advance slowed to a crawl due to traps and attacks on their supply lines.
M41.970.114 Aquatica forces leave bunkers and move inland towards Babel, only light enemy resistance.
M41.970.210 Mines now fully cleared, imperial forces moved west from Gotham towards Babel M41.970.287 Aqauatica forces pushed back by Babel forces but quickly regroup and press onwards against attackers who retreat in good order.
M41.970.305 Imperial forces approach within sight of Shogun before being pushed back by its defences, loyalists dig in awaiting reinforcement.
M41.970.349 Battle of Hardnose Peak, Babel forces attempt to drive back New Valhalla and Gotham forces after several days hard fighting Babel forces are driven off but Imperial advance is halted as they stop to reinforce.
M41.970.365 Battle of Darkgreen fields, Aquatica forces face a large Babel army, after heavy losses on both sides the Babel forces break and flee, the victorious loyalist pursue.
Year 10 - The Final Push
Time Line
M41.971.001
Campaign Starts.