Pray an SRC ia) mal aes ms Nee rye eS ere rer aaa Pal ne ¢ Hermidan Elandi Rs ces an ail iad cts Sec TEs SSS 5, ETTHE SABBAT WORLDS CRUSADE E FIRST TWENTY :OMPILED BY ANTONID BIOTA, A ADVISOR 4 THE FRONT ITie Author Dan Abnett Cover Dave Kendall Mlustrations and Graphics John Blanche, Pete Borlace, Le Christopher, Dan Drane, Wayne England, Mark Harr Ralph Horsley, Sta Jennett, Dave Kendall, Nuala Kinrade, Karl Kopinski, Glenn More, Karl Richardson, Shaun Thomas and Tier A Black Library Publication Graphic Design and Layout Darius Hinks Producer Mare Gascoigne Thanks Pete Borlace, Christian Dunn, Glenn Mo Vinee ted works, eames, coraces, {GW Prodi code 6008018 tions and ag eee 1000 crags ave eho 8, TM andor © Games Workshop LA TOON Te OYE TBAA1E240.2 ISBN 10: V441B240-6 epee ea Saree erat Sobo2008, venaby ropstored in he UK ae oer cours {QW Prcuct code 60040181 003 ‘ound ne worl Argh evorvea Satie Powoaraiy meves ‘Bloc Lary publican, Pet published in the Kn 2008 by eaulny of NASA Landat Proje! Sconce Ofie and USGS BL Publishing Games Workshop Lt, Wilow Roa, Hesingham EROS Oata Cen NG? 205, UK Find out moro sent te Black Liar a: wn blacklbran.com, iS came ering 20 ai eae anammer a wie games wrkshop com, Ateratvely, cal ou ‘Back Lira the Black Library ogo, Black Flame, BL Pubeshing, marr hotinas on OT16 816 40000 (UK) or 1-800 304-GAME Games Vioushop, the Games Workshop lego, Amagedsion, (US) Pred ine UKpe tla al Se e's 5 pi p< ae Pac: Lmactiry ot edlieice "9 tie oe if we ® Domitilla BO tae i) Wat (ees a STL a folie rN @ Eskarne tli t racy Sey osc # CaligulaBathaut ‘The material actions and achievements of a man’s lif. time will never match the ambition of his dreams, but a ‘man must sill allow himself to dream of the most dar ing and audacious goals. If he sets modest limits to his reains, he hobbles the prospects of what he will achieve in life, before he has even begun to live.” ~ Warmaster Slaydo, feom his journals ‘ost honoured sirs, salutations. 1 is my eon spicuous honour to have been charged by the lords militant of the Crusade Armies, and most especially hy our esteemed Warmaster, to render this account of the actions of the glorious Sabbat World Crusade for your appraisal. This book is intended to perform three principal functions. OF the first, itis to deseribe and disseet in some detail the tactical specifies of the endeavour, 90 that the key phases might be available for study by command cadre students, historians and the Departmento Taeticae Imperialis, Individual studies nave previously been produced (cf. Bamol: Thee Initial Battles of the Sabbat Campaign, Emmony and Saliern: Bathau Deseribed, Kerondys: Systematic Warfare in the Khan Group etal), but this official record is the first to place the entirety ofthe first teo decades of the conflict in strategic context (Of the second, and the most worthy purpose, itis to make an account of the courage and sacrifice of the fighting men and women who have given theit lives in the campaign so far; 90 that thei efforts and heroism in the name of the Golden ‘Throne might receive due recognition Of the third, i is that of justification, In the yeu preceding the start of the Crusade, many notable vo were raised in opposition to the action. It w considered too vast and costly an expedition to mou At Staff level, it was popularly held that the Sab Worlds were best written off and abandoned, Now decades into the war, despite the progress and th extraordinary victories accomplished, such opinions: heard again. The war drags on, itis said, and ‘cost grows ever higher. There is no end in sight. Bet for the Imperium to ent its losses and finish with business now before itis bled dy. As I write these words, in 775.M41, I can only ¥ ture that such attitudes are either heresy, o€ the opiniag cof the uninformed. Yes, the war has raged fora full te ty years, and yes, there is still much 10 accompli Some estimate that the campaign is yet barely hal done, But with this account, I aim to demonstrat th successful prosecution of the Sabbat Crusade is vi luctically, materially and psychologically. As Slaj wrote: “Only the most formidable challenges are wi the striving’. T also hope to make clear that if Imperium cuts its losses now, the conseg dances willl disastrous Trust therefor, srs that you will eview this ac with the keen minds of scholars, hungry to lear, the clear heads of wise men, eager to judge fairly Your servant, Antonia Biota Senior Staff Tactician Departmento Tuctioae Imperialis*Se tested by many archive records, the region kknossn as the Sabbat Worlds was first annexed for imperial colonisation in M35, Situated along, 4 rimward portion of the Segmentum Pacificus (see chart), the region is composed of over one hundred inhabited systems, subdivided into a number of diserete territories, most notably the Newfound ‘Trailing, the Khan Group, the Cabsll Systems, the Carearadon Cluster Brinyes Group. The name Sabbat” refers to the original redeemer, St Sabbat heat of Hagia By M37, the re Imperial holding, with an estimated human population of five willion and a thriving infrastructure of trade and industry. But it was ever a disputed region, exposed as it was along its rimward flank to the outer dark. The ‘troublesome Sabbat Worlds became known as a aan throughout M38 suffered a series of province’, age border wars with the Archenemy uibe-armies inhabiting the rimands of it called Sanguinary Worlds situated inward extents the first centuries of MA, the tion altered dramatically: Rising up under a charismat Archon Sanguinary Worlds launched a grievous series of tail However, dain jc warlord, ot the Archenemy tribes of the ward attacks into the region, conquering and destroying, AA first, it was th as they wen veh that this masked a of MB, but in ofthe threat retum tothe periodic b the years following 600.MA1., the full seal vas finally recognised. The forces ofthe r nous powers intended no less than to relake the entite region, re= establishing mastery ofthe worlds they had been driven vat of by St Sabbat in M33, The defence of the Sabbat Worlds at this time valiant but, it is safe to say in hind task. The Sabl 1 Tncursions — “remigrations’ as some ribal analysts have called them — were just one of ons suffered by the «half-dozen major Chaos inves - fally stretched (it should be noted that the Imperium was simultancously fighting eight other signifieant war fronts throughout its territories, most particularly at the Cadian Gi were made at High Command level to determine the ‘and Abrosis). Bitter strate best disposition of resistance, and certain areas were saerificed in order to consolidate Fines of defence. Ibis evident from military archives that it had not heen High Commands inital i to give up the Sabbat Worlds wholesale, but the stike-reach of the Archon's hhost was severely underestimated Sporadic reconquest and eceupation of the Sabbat Worlds by the Archenemy of Mankind followed swifly, and although many Imperial worlds in the region con= ‘some holding out for decades, some by TAO.MAL, th tinued to resist for more than a century Sabbat Worlds could no longer be considered to be under so-called troublesome Inpe al governance, ‘The provinee’ was reclassified “unstableyhazardous’, and when, in 741, the Civit pended in the region Inperialis was officially sus- nd the court of the regional Lord Governor removed from Khan Nobilis to Bardolfus in the neighbouring sector for safety, the Sabbat Worlds were regarded as lost Opening Gambits, 754 — 756 (eft) cartographicae ¢ the locality of Sabbat Worlds at Page fiveDRE TT vuvy SALteBirth of a Saint (Above) Trctienl Officer Antoni Biota (Top right) flower at the ‘of Sabbat's original cermsade — (Limperial Museu, Khan Nobili) (Right) Piet es host wareraft an ng a shrine to aint Sabbat on Leonides, cirea 743. Historically, much of Are efforts ia a teem to hav fn marks Sabbat Lege right There are no miracles, There are only men. ~ St Sabbat, Ep ry little can rationally explain how a simple peasant gil could have managed to rally such forces about her in a common cause. Described as a small but beautiful female with sen eyes and shor, black hair, Sabbat was evidently a holy and sanc= tified instrument of the divine God-Emperor. Inher teachings, we find a voice of simplicity and graceful ing. and back- J. In her achievements, we find a record to shame wisdom that quite belies her upbring ‘many lords militant. At the height of her powers, she counted at her side Lond Kiodrus, the ily beatified. She was counselled by the bril Tiant strategist Faltornus, who devised al plans of I sn, and also many other notables on Veh, General Rufus Bannek and sat field commander, who was alo prine camps including Lord the martial philosopher Demarchese. Her crusading host included warriors of the Astartes Chapters Brazen Sha {defunet) andl the White Sears, » command of sis- Its the archived mention of the sisters militant that dlom of Sabbat's origins, The Saint's Crusade took place almost a thousand years before the Age of Apostasy and the tise of th tured that, far from being a bumble shepherd gid, she was a devotee of the Dat Adepta Sorortas, but many have eonjec ters of the Emperor who had nehow travelled across half the galaxy from San Leor i the Crusade, Were the Daughters of the Emperor active outside San Leor prior to the time of ¥ ice? Certainly, relic evidence suggests her command of si ters militant had some apparent connection with the Onder of Our Martyred Lady, and itis even possible they ‘could have formed the basis of that order: However, the true nature of the connection, if any, remains firmly in the realm of Iimperial myth, The Saint's Great Crusade endured for one hundred and five years until her martyrdom on Harkalon, where she sulfered the Nine Holy Wounds, Warriors of the White Sears brought hes body back to Hagia, where it was interred at the Holy Shrinehold G time of her martyr tsading continued after her death, but even atthe m, the re already eonsid- cred functioning Imperial terstory. Full-seale coloniss- tion of the Newfound Trailing and Khan group areas began during her lifetime. The Imhava or ‘roaming’ Ayatani of her priesthood continue to travel, where possible, the route of her ia to Harkalon and back. Crusade fom HiThe Dream of Reconquest- —————~ i The Sabbat Worl the High Lords of Terra approve ofthe work er. We've been given our Crus ~ Warmaster Slaydo, after Khulan of an expedition to liberate the Sabbat was mooted many times in the years fol 7A, an was especially championed by the no enthusiasm could be exiled lord govemox, but litle found forthe idea amongst the high echelon military, who considered it too great an investment of time, effort and materials. All, that is except for Lord Militant Slaydo, ee Although already @ noted and experienced com andes, Slaydo owed his real fame — and consequent fence — to the Khulan Wa in (752-754), where he italised both on his command genius and his huge pop- larity with the rank and file ofthe Inperial Guate High Lonls of Terra declared him Warmaster in 753, and charged him to undertake the liberation of the Sabbat Worlds Any envy felt by Slaydo’s fellow lors militant at his elevation was tempered by the nature of the task that had been him. Many believed it would doom his But it became apparent that Sl ly sought hip of the Crusade, petitioning the for the Kula Hand Form Prim work A Treatiseeee High Lords divectly during the Khulan campaign. It merged that Slayco had long felt a particular duty to sonduct the Liberation. Even as a Tord militant in the Ninth Division Pacifieus, he had suppotted the action and, as early as 732, he had drawn up A Reasoned Iyproach to the Recangquest ofthe Sabbat Territories for consideration by High Command. Many of his senior commanders and aides have related stories of Slaydo’s fundamental passion for the cause of the Saint. He believed it to be an Imperial crime that her hard won. territories had been so poorly discarded. Such a vast undertaking certainly required the lewlership of someone with vast passion and command Tir Dream of Reconqaest Inrilliance. Moreover, it required faith, and it is clear that Slayelo not only held a great personal faith to the legacy of Saint Sabbat beati, but was also eapable of transmitting that fie to his officers and men. Marshal ‘Just asthe inflamed by the God-Emperor six Blackwood wrote peasant giel was to rise up and fight, so the old man is inflamed by her Close sources report that Slaydo had only one over- riding fear: At nearly one hundred and fifty years old, he was troubled that he would not live to see the vie rious completion of such massive campaign. He would be proved vight (lef) Devsit of cexswor ‘Liberata’, pee the Crusade, 755. Hise elevenThe Crusade Carter. ——— [bee Name ore erenxaL.Goo-EMrtH0K oF MANKIND, VIGILANT ‘wn PROTECTIVE, WHO WATCHES ovER THF Estar oF HUMANTY, ONE ‘OW Ts 12340 Day oF rE YEAR 755.MAL, rs Hct Loos Or Temes, ALL ACREEMENY HERERYPRocLA SLAYDO TO me GRATED WI HE once or aman. Waring AND isnt ate riers —f J] scat rum a accoure sur nc omer rie woven or | ALL MYKIND. SONS OFT DaPRWUAL MAKE SqLOTE. Forni, tears roc wen ie sap WaRasren crancro wnt AL EXPEDTION TO UNDERTAKE A CHUSADE OF LIRERATION MAKING H85 "owar#s oF commar mae Samuar Wos.ns oF tne Seevescrum Paces ‘rmes ie GoLDen Tatons, a0 UNIMON REASTARLBH HELE ‘orm Clas TarERiALI OVER SAI REION FOR ALL FUTURE IMS ‘Foro, 11s GuanceD THAT ALL LORDS MILITANT, COMERS, AND TREONS OF RAN, A180 CONMANEERS OF ths Hoty Maesr’s nar . [| FLEETS AND MASTERS OF THE GLORIOUS CHAPTERS, ATTEND UPON THIS ORDA SATION AND PROVIDE, WITHOUT HESTATON, ALL ASSSIANGTO THe AACE (oF ri: Warnasti AS Mity WoutD 70 Goo-urenom HIN OR i 50 HENS TE NsTRUMENT AND PRony oF THE GOLDEN Tong Mann uso WI OUR Sea. ATS HOU, Hage tueteehe Warmaster and his senior staff commanders, z with a great body of tacticians, spent months at Khulan plannin phase tured by pict recorder into the Sabbat A number of option ‘rosie ead of Ages. Notive the Breakspear, onsidered until the final scheme, code-named uke, was decide All the while, the vast ammada of war began to assemble at high anchor st ing posts at Khulan, Khulan Outreach, San Sary Karin Il, Arvinx Cardinal and the Bethan Halo, On th (ah) Ths of 755, Slaydlo sent the signal to advance ete Cee (Boom — lef) Warmaster’s fiOperation Redrake (Abore) The infamous Serrian _Redrake Herpatus rabicundus Slaydo"s ad je predator ‘whieh, sikes, lightning fast after i (Right) of the fourteen Operation Redrake offered what Slaydo believed was the best solution to the problems of initial advance, Though an awesome farce in its own right the Crusade feet was mobile, and entering an extremely well held ‘enemy sector where the foe was extensively provi- sioned and dug in To begin a Crusade in these terms is like taking a breaking hammer to a solid sal’ Slaydo wrote, His objectives were fourfold: first to secure « foothold in the Sabbat Worlds that could be developed; second, to catch the Archenemy unawares; thirdly, to diffuse any enemy response away from a concentrated counteral- tack om his fleet; fourthly, to provide a quick and, in his words, ‘showy’ victory to maintain allied morale. Foremoxt, Slaydo knew his Crusade would not pros: per unless it could take the fight to several fronts from the outset of hostilities. Are! had shown signs of prepa recon had detected at the very least pants af S gathering musten Redrake involved an intrusive simul- taneous invasion of the Newfound Trailing Group, ane hhe chose to focus upon Formal Prime, Onseard and Long Halent, with a fourth fleet division striking far to the enemy dispositions ion, as spies and long-range laydo’s ————a ccoreward at Indrid, "This divided assault, he hoped. nd confuse would partition the Archenemy response ny immediate eounter strates, Slaydo himself led the assault on Formal Prime, selecting the Lords Militant Hummel and Delayni for ard, Generals Draveve and Akkensor snd Lord Mi Between them, they commanded almost the attack on © for Long Halent, tant Cybon for India a billion with massive retinues of Adept Astartes complemented the Guard force, along with Tita Imperial Guardsmen, armour and artillery, Six Chapters of the legions provided by the Adeptus Mechanicus, with whom Slayele had brokered a cooperative pact Despite the size of mobilisation, the attacks were conducted as lightning strikes, with the Imperial forces engaging almost directly from retranslation. Long Halent fell nmediately, cue for the most part to an Imperial miscalculation of the enemy numbers there. More modest than originally believed, the hostile forces were quickly overwhelmed Less than three weeks later, Onseard was also taken. yet on ini Alter a brief fleet engage ‘approach, the fight for Onscard centred on the capital eity Ferwen, where enem resistance was focused. \ major artillery battle, lasting three days, broke the city open and allowed the Imperial Guard to storm the walls. Some bitter pockets of resistance lingered in the outlying. cities of Tenash and Bruleans, but these were extin: guished by the start of 756.Operation Redrake Kage fifteenFormat Prime (Right) Sangeet Hive, Formal Prime. Auspes Lage sicteen formal Prime — with its warren-like depths of ancient hives and mouldering sub-stacks ~ gave Slaydo his first substantive opposition, and alse his fist taste of how bloody the Crusacle would become. ‘The Warmaster had estimated that Formal Prime would take six weoks to overcome, but he reckoned without two important facts: the complenity of the ter- rain and the fanaticism of the opposition, Se. ‘The initial assault went well: indeed, the speed ofthe “orbit-to-soil deployment of the Crusade regiments (2.6 hours) remains a record in the proud annals of the Guard, But then progress began to founder: Dug into the tundersinks of the ancient, rotting hives on Formal Prime, the enemy forces were led by the so-called “Charismites’, the zealot devotees of Magister Shebol Red-Hand, who orchestrated fieree resistance. At oneee slage, two hundred Imperial Guardsman were dying for every metre taken As the assault entered is eleventh week, with easu= mper OF the jeted unxler Operation Redrake, Formal akies mounting, Slaydo fell into a foul four words t Prime was the largest, most populous, and most impor tant, Por those very reasons, Slayco had led the attack ly: His reputation was at stake, as wis the overall morale of the Crusade. He had not expected rious threat so early on in the cam- there perso wither to he under paign. "We have barely begun,” he railed at his senior sla. Show me men who know how to fight!* ‘The impasse was only broken by Slaydo’s deploy- nent of the White Soars of the Adeptus Astartes, who purged the hive andl erucified the Ch Inulevard approaches of the Formal Prime hives. stites along the Lin Militant Cybon's assault on Indrid ~ the ‘count wunch’ of Operation Redrake — began well, but unloved as rapid reinforcement was brought in from, Melsar and Talisea Caught on two fronts, Cybon poved himself to be worthy of the command Slaydo «feint withdrawal that led placed on him, and exceu sianicant portions of the enemy collective onto his ranged batteries at Colquis, Then began a lon in land war that lasted well into 756, which was eon Juded when Cybon, not for the last time, utilised “orbital bombareiment at Marshal Blackwood, serving under Cybon, protested the use of orbit weapons. “T expense of ground trvops fut Slaydo's ms CCybon is reported as replying. Though nol stated open lysis thought this clash led to Blackwood's transfer to the Ashek theatre By the second half of 756, Operation Redrake had suoceeded in its aims, despite setbacks, and the mood —_ 1 till high, The way’ was open for of the conquerors the follow up assaults, a phase Slaydo dubbed Newfound, Serious opposition tothe Crusade encroach ment was gathering at Gotthron Cociaminus, Formax Aleph, Ambold Eleven, Ashek I, Lucius, Hesketh, Melsar and Taliseant. But Slaydo saw these objectives simply as a ‘glitering pathway” that would lead him to his real goal, the stronghold world of Balhaut tering pathway that would take him the best pat of a decade to walk. Formal Prime (ep) loft) Cybow's fleet of thei bombs Indrid. forces, ‘This ft order headgear favoured by se Page seventeenThe Magisters —~ | ee Prime gave the Crusade leadership its elimpse of the Are q ture. Previously the coalition and clans, allied under the ‘Archon’, or chie clled far mote along the lines of heretical eu stnetare Operation Red ly disabused the Imperials ‘of that notion. Though undoubtedly « confederation driven by principles of blasphemous cult zealotry, the Archenemy was far mote disciplined and e hoped to fin compromised by its chain of command in absolute authority of the Archon could not hope to effectively ore tach a mass of resistance seat tered ever It became apparent that the Archon had devolved power to a number of powerfal ‘Magisters’, ot regions in his name. Most of these Magisters were the ‘charismatic hub of their own private eult or tribal force, forces: Shebol Red-Hand, Heritor Asphodel, Sholen Skara, Enok Tnnokenti, Rusheck Vakkim, Anakwanar Sek, Qux of the E harenidy and Nokad the Blighted. More would be revealed as the Cru M ways, and commanded utter allegiance from his cult progressed, Each 1 expressed his depravity in individual, vileThe Archon ——— (Right) Reliquary from Sardis Mons on Lon Halen in 759. The tombehest wax sealed within an was the formal burial of Nadaybar’s predeces: sor, pouibly 2 blood relative he overlord of the Archenemy forces, or Are identified as a powerful sect-leader bar. Little is known of this creature's ori- kground, nor is it properly understood how he eame to pre-eminence over the other Magisters. It is, yossible his authority was based on clan ritual and hereditary power: Certainly, as far as can be made out, Nadzybar had been in command of the Archenemy forees in the Sabbat Worlds since at least 634, and itis ble his rule and influence predates even tha Nadyhar may even have been the warlord to first rally the ruinous powers into relaking the Sabbat Worlds though this would suggest an unnaturally extended fen Ca Se ae Tigi twenty —Ey een @ Farkas te Ales g PY <7 @ Hisk Payer! ee Paver seem Sea er FS ve oad eD far in) ri fy Circm sitio tk cr Cs) @ Prince Obermid ; a a Peed el reek agrt } a a Paes) Saner acy Puase Two ‘THE BLoopy ParH To BALHAUT,The Bloody Path B Bathaat, 756 — 764 {is hard to tell if Warmaster Slaydo fully appreci- ated the struggle Operation Newfound would entail when he set it in motion. Certainly, he was aware that opposition was going to be intense, but from his luetical records we can see that he revised his estimat- fed liberation date for Balhaut thirty-seven times between 756 and 761, suggesting that hard slog was slowing down his caleulated schedule time and time ‘Slaydo's command was instinetive and fluid. He deft ly overlapped one operational phase with another so that no gaps or vulnerabilities in his battle line could be exploited. Newfound sprung immediately from its prequel, Redrake, launching a blistering fan of assaults from the footholds Redrake into the Newfound Tai had established, Opposition 0 the often complex line of Imperial advance came in thee forms, Fitst, there were the bod- ies of enemy population dug into various world sites, armoured against altack and prepared for resistance. ‘These populations — some of them millions strong — were often under the leadership of a sacred charismat- je, sometimes a Magister. Secondly, there were the ‘counter-assault forces sent by the Archon to meet the Imperial push. These, in the form of raider fleets and military convoys, were highly mobile and able to cone ceentrate their attacks on the Imperial front echelon, often denying them the clarity and freedom to mount attacks on target worlds, In the last two months of 756 alone between Gotthrone, Hisk and Halina, Thindly there were t ight significant fleet engagements took place nobile opportunist. Smaller in number, these rai ng Forces were often composed of forces or force-units in retreat from Redrake victories at Long H Onseardl and Formal Prime, as well as ele~ at had abandoned worlds in the face of Imperial advance. The least structured and ordered of the enemy types, the opportunist factions plagued the izha) feed! from the ae ST) Te aa POTEAU Lage twonty-tia Crusudle deployment by running raids and guersill assaults on supply lines and relay depots. At Hesketh an opportunist squadton raided the high anchor dispersal point, destroying three ships of the Tine, including the medium eruiser Lord Falchion. Lon Militant Delayni was subsequently given the job of rooting out these groups of raider opportunists, many of which appeared to he operating behind the line of Imperial advance. Taking good advice from the Navy commanders working with him, Delayni fared wel, ini Halen i 60, he had located and annihilated guorlla squadrons at tially obliterating a raider group off Lon 757, and then two more at Gotthrone in 758. By Venaudy, and destroyed the notorious raider leader Pater Burbethol during a series of actions at Urs,ef $$$ $$ Wie Bloody Pith Ih Bathant, 756 — 764 ~ ASHEK I~ ‘he wring hives of Ashek II w fies kal to one of the most notable Magisters ce oceupied by the aantered inthe early years of the Crusade. Heritor Asus, so named because of his sworn intention to Soke all Imperial worlds in the name of Chaos, was shape the most tactically gifted Magister serving the Antun, rivalled only by the notorious and brilliant Anshwanar Sek, Beyond his talent for strategy, Aphore also delighted eit of gmtesque war n the exeation and employ nachines (woe machines’, ‘many of which i is believed he designed! himself. Some uthories (ef Blowmane: Arts of War, Esperon and Culeth: On the Practises of the Archenemy) speculate that somewhere in Asphodel’s background there was some connection to a forge world or even to the Cul Mechanicus itsel. The posecation of Ashek Hl hae begun early in 756, when Jat the seale of the Maral Blackwood was transferred in from Indrid to luke command of the Guard forces. Alm ighting increased in 1 at once, Blackwood recognised the futility of sending infantry wanes apis! Asphowel’s woe mac ilicamt armour reinforcements. In Blackwood wrote: “The scale of the tine Slaydof bis jouna, in eneny woe machines is almost un vy (of them) extraordinary: great flywheels fixed with Dlad uel forenushing, insecloid crawlers breathing flame . sciseoring jams, vast wheels designed finm draconian snouts, They are the mechanisms of xn insane torturer made real and magnified to giant pro bt inthe tons The [mperial Guard is many thin fd, it is only flesh and bone and blood, and these Anschines) are fashioned simply to stip and rend and Fresh those mortal substances quite utter.” Tine brigades of armours, including the Mer 45h al the 2nd Narmenian Heavy (under Colon Mazien), were provide, but real gains were only made when nearly fll strength squadron of Titans arrived to support the assault, This was the first significant deployment ofthe Adepius Mechanicus war engines in the Crisaie, Though Slayda had spent a great deal of a 4 a i iY & os eres time and energy coopting the Adeptus into th force, the priesthood of Mars hael been reluctant to field the machines they had supplied, suggesting archly to Slaydo that the monstrous Titans should remain in a ‘support role, pending serious misadventure”. This alt- tude aggrieved Slayda (T have Titans to use,’ he is reported as saying, ‘so Jet me damn well use them. A sword is of no valle until it is drawn), It is believed that Slaydo, with his trademark cun- ning, goaded the Adeptus in deployment by making. sure they were routinely copied on al intelligence fie from Ashek Il, including Colonel Mazzen’s sugges tion that Heritor Asphodel was somehow connected to the Cult Mechanieus. Dismayed by the inference, the Adeptus deployed immediately, anxious to either prove the conjecture false or wipe out such a blasphemous, Tink. Led by the monumental and ancient Emperor Titan Imperious Corporalis, the war machines of Mans engaged the Heritor’s murlerous “toys of woe and fatal~ ity’. The subsequent battle lasted three months, and afterwards more Guardsmen required psychiattie sup port to cope with the stress trauma eaused by the sheer seale of the machine combat they had witnessed than actually needed medical treatment for wounds. The term “burning ladders to hell, now commonly used to describe the fiery destruction of any tall hive city, was coined by Marshal Blackwood while he observed the conflagration consuming several of Ashek. IP's monumental sky-steeple In defeat, Heritor Asphodel fled Ashek Il. His unique brand of spite would not be encountered again until Balhaut ‘Bverywhere we looked, giant metal gods duelled with giant metal daemons. The very ground gasped at the teeight of them, the very shy shook. We were like ants under their feet. As tiny as ants. Of no move expletive excised] consequence than ants.” ~ Trooper first class Kel Greydi. Echo Company, Pragar 6th, after Ashek I (eft) Recon pict show- ing the crater formed by the dest Warlord Titan Majesti Indomitabilis, lost fll hands when its ler magazine ‘was penetrated by rock= 1 attack. (efi) Co Nern ead the charge throush the Western Defile, High Hive, Ashek IL I Mazzen’s n Heavies Page twenty-threeAmbold Eleven — “1 for one, was bloody glad to see the Snakes power in. Beauifial bastards, they are. 1 owe them my life and my soul.” ~ Major Goff Kurtane, 9th Radial Sarpoy (Support Weapons) Ll eit a ee neste eecrcd ais iy ‘opening phase targets. Its strategic trailing edge of the Sabbat Worlds had be ly championed by Lord Militant General. Hechtor Dravere, who favoured what was known asthe ‘Mi nportance on the Line Assault” theory, which had the hacking of a elique wand cadre stall. As la amongst the om ‘as a week before commencement, Ambold Eleven was still on th (Right) Pellory Civitas, Ambold Eleven, as recorded by the Taetieae Note the entrie wall defences that ereated the dead a ‘of erosfire mown as “Begulis’s Polly” (Below) In flare setivty 1s the photo- sphere of the Ambold system's local tar, possible to see the ashes of three archenemy warships, | Page leenly-four oe table, but at the final hour Slayd scheme, and formalised the Opening Phase Aequisiie Plan (OPAP 176/1) that became known as Operation Redrake (4.9). Thus, Ambold Eleven heeame instead a target forthe second phase, Operation Newfound, and the assaul began in the middle of 756. A swift and bratal fe! wetion com nated the at both hi and low anchor, allowing twoop forces under Genenl Dilen Belfy 10 execute an ovemight drop from oti into the enemy strongholds of Pelbury Civitas, Upper Ganff and Amboldus Hive. Three waves of troop attack eon days 201 lug. in at these overated the nanded by Admiral Karslae dev “orbital forts and destroyed enemy shippin were driven back by the Archenemy bet and 288 of that year. The enemy fore locations were not especially well supplied ot hya fumiiable, but they benefited massively from the study concentric wall defences of the Ambold citadel Nine and a half thousand Guardsmen were lost trying 10 Braeh those walls. Telly himself was killed in a mortar attack, His sub vnlinate, Colonel Begulin of the Sarpy Regiments, atenpied to consolidate the losses, bat foolishly ma aga! to trap the main portion of his forees at Pelhury Civitas between the third and fourth wall lines, Frantic Signals were sent. Warriors of the Iron Snakes Chapter ath Adopt Astartes, en route to Sverren, voluntari ssault on the Ambold Eleven tar cities to relieve the pinned and desperate Guard forces. Their atiack was timely and, witnesses extraordinary. Hecdless of their own safety, the Space Marines of proud Ithuka came in via drop-pods and put Pelbury Civitas and Ai tho slaughtered, with a loss of only eight Iron Snakes, vi olds Hive wo the sword ‘Twenty-nine id Archenemy torious feat that Upper Ganff fell a week later: Under the Brother Captain Pheus, the Iron Snakes stoned the still celebrated jn song and story wall ring and executed the Archenemy leaders by eu rifractute Colonel Begulin was subsequently executed by the Commissariat for his gross leadership erro HECHTOR An old school, traditionalist commander, Dravere was for a long time the most heavi« ly decorated and commended officer in the Segmentum Pacificus. In a long career prior to the Sabbat Crusade, he had taken many tictories, usually with the aid of his favoured Guard regiment, the Jantine Patricians. Charas a rigid thinker, who deserved only a few of the medals he wore, Dravere is easy miss, but itis worth remembering that, as a of men, he won Parfelis from 30, subjugated the Frateris Uprising om Skolnik westrated the Balance Wars in the Kartheope System (0-743. and was one af the first com- jerised as a blowhard and to diss corks in for and survive the manders to encow tyranid menace. Dravere’s main failing was his stiffness and lack of motility in command. He was fan infamous waster of men (he once claimed he could choke the Eye of Terror if hhe had enough men to march into it), and his superior attitude made him few friends in High Command. Participating, though only in support, during the Klulan Campaign, Dravere fully expected to rise to Warmaster, and eas dismayed to see Slaydo ‘appointed. The two men were never friends, though Slaydo had sense enough to treat Dravere with apparent respect. It is under- stood that Slaydo rejected Ambold Eleven fas a primary assault target simply becanse Dravore championed it, and in that alone the fallibility of great men. Slaydo did not want to garnish Dracere with nd fy credit for the opening amen, Ambold Eleven simply did not fit neatly into the long cherished plan of attack he had drawn up in his A Reasoned Approach To DRAVERE 732. It is perhaps significant that Slaydo charged Dravere (along with General Akkensor) with the “easy” win at Long Halent during Redrake Selfpromoting and notoriously ambitious, Dravere needled Slaydo right up to the lat- 65, and then politically bon, for ter’s death fought other contenders, such as C3 promotion to Warmaster in Slaydo’s place. He was famously unsuccessful. A bitter man, Dravere was killed in action during the assault on Menazoid Epsilon, less than eight months after Slaydo's death, in late 76: — Ambold Eleven (Abo issued to his 6 Atubold B ) Merit crests Karslac and afterThe First Bullle of focus of ass Srerren ‘ike them birds. They bring down the fire ~ Trooper Mel Androvy, 345th Karusar, of the air assault, trategically central to the region known as the Holy Visage (60 named for its apparent simu: to the fave of Saint Sabbat beati when lacru viewed from coreward at a distance of 19.3 par- it nmanded sees/resolved), Sverten was a key world in the ‘of Ope by Lord Militant Hom ed at Candlemas, 757, and routed the hostile forces on Newfound. Guard legions ¢ General Bulledin invad: Oe EE gathered under Magister Kuyelo, who perished dur ing the initial assault. However: the assault stymied and was forced to dig cing wartiors of in because of bad weather. The the Archenemy were able to regroup and attempt « repulse of the Imperial forces, concentrating th efforts on Neffr City and the pier towns of Calchis ‘and Rammery. Braving the winter storms and heavy rain, Bulledin pushed his battalions south and then west aeross the Vovof tundra, and encircled Rammery, which fell 1. Humel focused on Colchis, and after a short sieg Lage tuontyosi— of ie First Battle of Sverven tyentally von air superiority after a six-week aeri al eampaign (Humel was to become famous for his habit of favouring air power, most significantly at Bothis in 773.M41 qx.) Nef Cty was a harder nut to crack, During eight veeks of assault, into the summer of 758, Bulledin hut three thousand men for the gain of two kilome fies Faced with stich a failure, the noble Bulledin offered his resignation to Slaydo. It was refused. ‘Do it again, back as a despatch, Bulledin did s0, On the 241s day of 758, backed by a single Warlord Titan (Vietrix Impassionata) loaned by the Cult Mechanicus, Bulledin's forees overran the walls of Neffr City and stormed the Upper Palace, Pater Bucher, the Magister's second, died resisting eap- laydo se (Left), Thunderbolts Hage twenty-seven(bore) ominously abandon fence batteries 0 Forma Aleph, (Rizhu) Pie kes la ssoault drop Fornax Aleph, of a Hage twenty-eight ‘of the early Crusade, By 757, long-range fleet recon had established Fomax Aleph to be an enemy bastion with significant hive cities and what appeared to be fleet Heavy fighting was expected i and Slaydo die ved an invasion foree of the Guard under Ge al Jater Elbeth, to prepare for assault Elheth’s resource of nine regiments, two of which were reed by the at Ambeld armour brigades, was to be further rein Iron Snakes, fresh from their interventi the previous yes ‘The assault was delayed! tice because of warpstorm setivity, the second outbeeak of whieh foreed the Iron Shake battle barges into a foae-month hol wg paltern at Albina Beacon. Elbeth's invasion fleet suffered warpestorm perturbation and was scattered, AS a result ax Aleph with only a thied of his Elheth arrived at For ‘complement, and with no sign of the promised Astartes support Elbeth, a cautious man of great tactieal wit (EMeth was considered one of Slaydo’s ‘rising stars’ and, had he lived, would have undoubtedly risen to the rank of ial lord militant and enjoyed full army command), Iycand rightly, aborted his assault run, realising that he was too poorly supplied with men and munitions to take an entire world. He moved his care and prepared to hold there ships to an out- system translation point, until reinforcements arrived or in the event of altack, translate out to safety. However, Elbeth decided not ty waste the opportuni= ty of being so close tothe target world, and directed the Rapid Pursuit Fiigate Ziegler to u pass through the Fornax Aleph inner system to assess devtake an intnider ny strength and disposition, 303 day of 757. To the balfle stall, the Ziegler es No orbital defence batteries fired on il, no The operation took lace om the nt of beth's tact sountered zero resistance The Zingler reported the high-anchor points and orbital yards to be entirely ships were launched to engage ‘emply of ships ether military or commercial. ih magnetic activity on the world’s surface. No vox sub- rho power or industey, no motion. The great hives of Foray Aleph read as empty and dead. re, it found no trace whatsoever of electe aw. No fault coukl be identified in either the Ziegler's Findings oF its auspex systems. The Following day, the comuiser Claudia, Elbeth's flagship, repeated the run. entival results were obtained, Not only was there 00 an life in Fornax Aleph’s hives, the hiner lands and countryside were sign of hu also empty, quashing the notion that the inhabitants had fled the cities for the safety of the rural interior beth decid Confronted with this baffling evidene fed to take advantag advance of the reinfo nd land spearhead force in vements, A woek after t ntrud- eployed his units: to full regiments of Waawbach Heavy Infantry (the 34th and the 52nd Fighting Felids’) and the Vitrian 10th Armoured Brigade. a total of siteen thousand men and eight bun- The assault, by drop an! Tier, was made at night ‘and bracketed the centsal hive of Chysoomn. Elbeth led his forees in person. ‘There was no resistance, Elbeth’s forces found a world entirely devoid of life, The great hives were empty, as if the vast population had! vanished in an q finished games of tegicide in street parlours. There was instant, Half eaten meals were found on hab tables, h tno poner, but it was easly restored by a team of 1 sects. Elbeth initially suspected plague ar some other Great Mortality, but there were no bodies or burial pts no sign of steu zle oF disaster. The population of Fornax Aleph had simply disappeared, without explanation Elbeth fortified his position in preparation for rein- forcement, Tt is evident from his log that he was unnerved, and a sense of haunted discomfort setled on his men, even the ondinarily stoic Vitrians. Most chill- ily of all, odld, anguished se thioughout the hives, often at th dead of night, No source or origin for the sereams was ever found, Elbeth sent extensive reports haek to Slaydo, appraising the Warmaster of what he called “the fearful abs have uncovered’. On the frst day of 758, transmissions from Elbeth’s liberation force ceased, Dela Fornax Aleph eighty days later Thiee hundred sd by the warp-storms, the Iron Snakes arrived strong, they made planet-drop immediately, under the command of Brother Captain Cules. ‘The uunraffled demeanour of the proud Iron Snakes was orally markedly absent from their brief initial signal “To Slayeo, Warmaster. My lord, there is no one here at ll Firmax Aleph was as empty as Elbeth had found it Distressingly, there was now ne sign of Elbeth liberation foree either: His ships had vanished from orbit, and there was no sign of the landed units, apart from two drop pods that were washed up on the beach at Sydronal, Whatever mysterious fate had hefallen the population of Formas Aleph had now overtaken Elheth’s men too. The ton Snakes spent a month scouring the planet for clues, and their baitle barges searched the nearby stem. No sign of Elbeth, or his sizeable force, was discovered, save for a single Vitrian tank, a Leman = se —if ye Tass Conqueror that was found eighty storeys up on the suf of a hab stack in Chysoom, All the vox headsets wre missing, apart from the last thirty centimetres of ran plugged! into the outlets. The ends of the cords had Jeon severed und somehow fused. No sign of the erew sed human hand was found, stil gripping the dew of the battle barges detected what appeared to be the Claudia in fatal orbit around n.The ship, whatever it was, succumbed Iy iit Tis only proper to suggest that the Iron Snakes were tmeitlal by the situation. Slaydo signalled them to witha before a similar nameless fate befell them too, baton the 130th agin, dramatically truck Fornax Aleph in the po ay of 757, circumstances chan, A comet or mete The impact was catastrophic, and many great natural liasiers followed, including the collapse of the Shei and the erupt of a voleanie chai inthe southern hemisphere. The Tron Snakes rode out be Bat the imp station, and the nuclear winter that followed had bought with ia more shocking toussquence. Hordes of daemons, or ‘daemon-things’ the empty planet, pouring out of the blasted north to eon rand the hives A ghastly, Furious war then began, with the lron Snakes besieged by the infernal beasts. Fora fuller account of this, the reader is directed to Fe wiek’s masterful Long Night of the Archives of the wool 4591 month of 759, the delayed portions of Dacmony and al Chapter of hh In the fir Elbeth’s assault force Renowned a, eunlex 3345.6, rived in-system and deployed in suppor of the Tron Snakes, but by then the valiant Marines had destroyed the daemonie enemy and emerged vietorious. This “long battle through the end: less night, as Cules called it, had eost th Formas Al of the Iron Snakes had now won the hud been cleansed. The hervie fortitude famous vietories in the rly Crusade, though ho would be eclipsed by their later efforts at Pre No viable explanation for the Fornas Aleph ‘vanish- ings’ has ever been made. Certainly. as vatious sources have suggested (ef. Feswick, Busbucek, Kerondys eal), on disturb the influence of the warp ce allicting ould not be discounted. ALthe time of writ- Ramax Aleph has been gars by the Imperium for fifteen years, and program of re underway to repopulate the empty hives. No further or any other i though reports of unexplained screams in the dead of night continue to this day, Ss CTU Ce am TIER A nar Miph wor flask of humorous (lef) Chy Forma Aleph. From Initial anspex cane te ZieglerCoviaminus (igh) ceute the second of the ive tank battles A. dec rtside Har Page thirty Geer ae eel Ke ‘of the mst problematic targets in the Newfound Tiling Some sources estimate it has collectively cost -more Imperial lives to take and retake Cociaminus over the years than were lest in the siege of Morlond, the notorious Foctzess World, This is entively probable. Only the archives of the Holy Munitorum can assess the losses fll, boat itis reasonable conjectune that, between 760 and fight ‘ver eight million Imperial Guardsmen perished 1 forthe planet. The start had been auspicious. A wing of Slaydo’s Operation Newfound dubbed the ‘second front” reached Cociaminus in 760, and a series of assaults were made under the command of General Kelso and General Forges (the latter replaced alter two months by Lord Militant Vicliss following an argument betwoen argues and the Warmaster). Kelso, famous for his tust in armour dite ted the main thrust of the assault, winning three hive cities (Harshen, Bolligen anel Naveth) in a six-month period. He Aleployed the Narmenian 1st Arm (later General) Grizmund in « punishment of the outer sd, under Colonel Lord Militant Viehres was eertainly one of the most senior officers to die during Operation Newfound. An old friend and stalwart ally of Slaydo, Viehres was sent to iaminus to depose General Forgues, iehose behaviour had become increasingly erratic. Contemporary sources ileseribe Vichres as ‘solid and ‘reliable’, from which it might be supposed that he was not an especially gifted tactical commander, b this evaluation does not do the m: Viehres had a particular talent for leader- ship that might be regarded as a ‘common touch’, and was regularly to be found at the front line, dealing with officers first hand ‘and mixing with the regular infantry. This very visible leadership style made him «@ popular figure, though it may also ‘account for his demise. Advancing to Santries Point at Nazeth to co-ordinate troop disposition, Viehres was supplied with erronvous intelligence reports suggesting that the highway at Sabre Bridge was elear for safe passage. Viehres and forty-seven ‘mon int his retinue, were killed in an armour ambush, The souree of the misleading intel- ligence was never established, though it is possible it was a devious triek of misinfor- ‘mation orchestrated by the enemy. Viehres teas buried with full honours at the Imperial eredi LL -~ a hale of Hansen where resistance wos suongeat To si: nilleant tank bales tok place on te dine seas outside Harchen, and Crnmund wen his pur ad aad the ep ation that would take him on ola ay Despite such tiumphs, the war oc Caciaminas was tediously: sluggish round wat, the world was finally taken in 762, By then, Viehnes had been Killed (during. the infamous Sabce Bridge debacle), bul, despite the cost, another line of advance had been created towards the allimportant Balla Coc Balan, it was retaken twice by th and three further & and bites, were fought there, the last one ending, in fier an extensive and punishing ninus’ future was ww be troubled Fallowing fleeing forces of the Archer npaigns, exch one long LORD MILITANT VICHRES Temple at Harshen, though his tomb reas later and most disgracefully defiled and robbed by Archenemy forces in 766.—— — Coriuminas (Left) Copy of oneThe Second Battl toxic, th caused the deaths 1,671 Guardsmen Second Sverren erm walled cities he to weaken the sip of he bitter and protracted warfare on Cociaminus | was just one of the significant impediments weathered by Operation Newfound. Outhteaks ‘and Lucius distempe avated the 4 speed! of reinforvement delivery to the front , and Eeo's Hope was rendered unviable as a aging world between 758 and 759 due 4 pectedly severe drought and famine. Then, in 760, just as Slaydo wa inning to believe that Newfound was at last winning him enough ground to strike at B led by haut, a fierwe and bloody counter Bienes indey et lara through the territory midline. Sverren, which had been assault ripped in Imperial hands since 758, was overrun, For the sec ‘ond time in five years, the planet found itself the site of major warfare This time, the fighting was focused in the tropical Souther Continent, General Bulledin, whose experi- ence of the land war on Sverren two ye hardly been good, found himself charged with the com. mand of the Imperial Forces. His orders were to “deny the enemy advantage’ and hold Sverron's key fuel depots until relief forees could reach him, Perhaps reminded of his earlier struggles with the Sverren theatre, Bulledin orchestrated a bold and sue cessful resistance. “This place will not belabour me twice” he weote in his journals, His determination may vital in preserving the morale ofthe Imperial forves, In 761, when the relief convoys arrived, it w tand the hosts of Arehon resisting both Ma 1, commanding atrocious brethren the Kith, Nadzybar himself, The Archenemy forces were drive back to the jungle-walled cities of the Southern hey stood firm in the face of Continent, where attack AMier sixteen months the Archenemy strengths we broken, and they fell into disarray, the momentum «f their counter-strike spent, Skara and the Archon began Valens 160, to the final kismet on Balhaut itself