Sabbat Worlds Crusade

This article, Sabbat Worlds Crusade, is still under construction. The author, Algrim Whitefang, apologizes for the inconvenience.

"It seems the High Lords of Terra approve of the work we've done together. We've been given our Crusade...The Sabbat Worlds!" -- Warmaster Slaydo, after the Khulan Campaign

The Sabbat Worlds Crusade was an Imperial Crusade fought over the course of 21 standard years between 755.M41 and 776.M41 to retake the Sabbat Worlds Sector located at the rimward edge of the Segmentum Pacificus from the heretical Forces of Chaos. This Crusade was one of the largest and most significant Imperial military operations undertaken in recent history and ultimately ended in the reconquest of the sector by the armed forces of the Imperium of Man.

The Sabbat Worlds
Situated along a rimward portion of the Segmentum Pacificus, the region now known as the Sabbat Worlds Sector was first annexed for Imperial colonisation in the 35th Millennium. This often volatile region of space is composed of over 100 inhabited star systems, subdivided into a number of discrete territories or Sub-sectors, most notably the Newfound Trailing, the Khan Group, the Cabal Systems, the Carcaradon Cluster and the Erinyes Group.It is rumoured that the Blood Pact, a highly organised Chaos warrior-cult devoted to the Blood God Khorne, originally came from a star system in this sector. First annexed for Imperial colonisation in the 35th Millennium, the name Sabbat refers to the area's original redeemer, Saint Sabbat, a young girl who received a vision from the Emperor of Mankind to lead a Crusade to bring the region into the Imperium during a Crusade that lasted for 105 standard years and began in 500.M35.

By the 37th Millennium Mankind was well-established throughout the region, with an estimated population of roughly five trillion and a thriving local economic infrastructure. However, due to its exposure to the eternal threats of the outer dark along the galactic rim, control of the Sabat Worlds was ever disputed with the Forces of Chaos and various xenos. Throughout the 38th Millennium, the region suffered a series of brutal wars and conflicts with the barbaric Chaos-worshipping human tribes of the so-called Sanguinary Worlds, located further rimwards of the spinward extent of the Sabbat Worlds, and the area soon became known as a "troublesome province" to the Administratum. However, during the first centuries of the 41st Millennium, the situation altered drastically. A charismatic, brutal warlord known as an "Archon" rallied the tribes of the Sanguinary Worlds to war, and a series of assaults began from galactic trailward into the region. The assault was thought at first to be a return to the minor Chaotic conflicts of the 38th Millennium in the region, but in the years following 600.M41, it became impossible to ignore the true threat presented by Chaos Undivided. The Ruinous Powers had decided to take the whole region away from the Imperium and launched a series of devastating attacks into the sector, conquering and destroying everything in their path. The ultimate goal of the Forces of Chaos in the sector was to drive out the Imperium and reestablish their mastery over the worlds they had been driven from by Saint Sabbat and her original Imperial Crusade in the 35th Millennium.

These Sabbat Incursions were just one of a half-dozen major Chaotic invasions suffered by the Imperial star systems of the Segmentum Pacificus during this period. The Imperial defence of the Sabbat Worlds proved valiant but ultimately unequal to the task, though it should be noted that the Imperium was simultaneously fighting eight other significant campaigns throughout Imperial-controlled space during this period. To consolidate their lines of defence, the Segmentum Pacificus High Command had to make bitter decisions, sacrificing certain portions of Imperial space in order to enhance the Imperium's best chance to resist the Chaotic onslaught. Severely underestimating the Archon's forces, the High Command tried to do what they thought best for the Sabbat Worlds. But ultimately, the meager Imperial defence was not enough and the sector was conquered wholsesale by the servants of the Ruinous Powers, returning the Sabbat Worlds to their heretical roots.

The Sabbat Worlds were swiftly reconquered and occupied by the Archon's forces, although many Imperial worlds in the region continued to resist as isolated outposts of the Emperor's light in a vast sea of apostasy and heresy. Some managed to hold out for decades, whilst others managed to do so for more than a Terran century. Unfortunately, by 740.M41, the Sabbat Worlds could no longer be considered to be under Imperial governance, as this "troublesome province" was reclassified by the Administratum as an "unstable/hazardous" region of space. In 741.M41, the Civitas Imperialis was officially suspended in the region by the Administratum and the sector's Lord Governor was moved to a neighbouring sector for his own safety. The Sabbat Worlds were from this point forward regarded as entirely lost to the Imperium, having become dominions of Chaos.

Impending War
Following the disastrous loss of the Sabbat Worlds in 741, there were many suggestions to send an military expedition to liberate the besieged sector. This idea was especially championed by the exiled Lord Governor, but those within the high echelon of the military had little or no enthusiasm for such an investiture of time, expense and materials. All, except for Lord Militant Slaydo. The very capable Imperial commander was already a noted and experienced commander, owing his fame to the string of several stunning victories during the successful Khulan Wars (752-754.M41). A tactical genius, Slaydo capitalised on his popularity within the rank and file of the Imperial Guard and petitioned the High Lords of Terra for the honour of leading the crusade to liberate the Sabbat Worlds.

As a Lord Militant, Slaydo actively sought to lead the Crusade, petitioning the High Lords directly during the Khulan campaign. He had supported the action as early as 732, as he felt a strong passion for the liberation of the hard won territories that had been so poorly discarded. Many of his senior commanders and aides related that Slaydo believed this to be an Imperial crime. In 755, the High Lords declared him Warmaster, and charged him with the sacred duty of carrying out this monumental undertaking. Slaydo's subsequent elevation to this esteemed position was the envy of his fellow Lords Militant, which were quickly tempered by the realisation of the task that had been set before Slaydo. The Warmaster's only overriding fear was that at his advanced age (150 years old), he would not live to see the eventual victorious completion of such a massive campaign.

Consolidation of Imperial Forces (755.M41)
Warmaster Slaydo and his senior staff commanders spent nearly the entire year planning at Khulan for the opening phase of advance into the Sabbat Worlds. The vast Imperial armada began to assemble and stage at Khulan, Khulan Outreach, San Sargo, Kazin II, Arvinx Cardinal and the Bethan Halo. The Warmaster compiled an impressive Imperial force comprised of almost a billion Imperial Guardsmen, along with massive retinues of armour and atillery, 6 Chapters of Adeptus Astartes, and Titan Legions from the Collegia Titanica provided by the Adeptus Mechanicus. The Warmaster studied and rejected over 30 attack plans until he found a scheme that would favour the Imperial military strength the most. All options were weighed and considered until this final scheme was decided upon. Codnamed 'Redrake', Warmaster Slaydo sent the signal to advance on the 266th day of 755.

Operation Redrake (755-756.M41)
Slaydo believed that in order to launch a successful crusade into the Sabbat Worlds his massive mobilisation of Imperial forces would have to take the fight to several fronts from the outset of hostilities in order for the Crusade to prosper. The best solution for initial advancement required a mobile fleet to accomplish fourfold objectives: first, to secure a 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 counterattack on his fleet; fourthly, to provide a quick and, in his words, 'showy' victory to maintain allied morale.

Already, his enemies had shown signs of preparation on their part. Redrake would involve simultaneous invasions of the Newfound Trailing Group, Onscard and Long Halent, and a fourth fleet division striking all the way to the core of the system at Indrid. These muli-assaults, the Warmaster hoped, would partition the Chaos forces and confuse their response and any immediate counter-strategy. Slaydo selected Lords Militant Hummel and Delayni to lead the attack on Onscard, Generals Dravere and Akkensor for Long Halent, Lord Militant Cybon for Indrid and Slaydo himself, would lead the assault on Formal Prime. Despite the massive size of his Imperial expeditionary fleet, the attacks were conducted as lightning strikes as they engaged directly from retranslation from Warp Space. Long Halent fell immediately, due to the modest numbers of hostile force which the Imperials easily overwhelmed. Less than three weeks later, Onscard was also taken. There was some bitter pockets of resistance in the outlying cities, but these were extinguished by the start of 756.

The assault on Formal Prime, however, proved to be the first substantive opposition for the new Warmaster and would give the Imperial forces their first taste of how bloody the Crusade would become. The complexity of the terrain and the fanaticism of the opposition would prove to be a hindrance in the Warmaster's stated objective of securing the planet within six weeks. The initial assault went well, but then progress began to founder as the zealot followers of the Archenemy made the Imperials pay dearly for their overconfidence, as the attrition rate for the Imperial Guardsman climbed to untenable levels. Nearly 200 hundred soldiers died for every metre taken. With casualties mounting and the assault grinding down into its eleventh week, Slaydo knew his reputation was at stake, as was the overall morale of the Crusade. The impasse was finally broken by the deployment of the White Scars Space Marines who purged the hive of the heretics.

Lord Militant Cybon also faced staunch opposition as rapid reinforcements was brought in from Melsar and Taliscant. Fighting a war on two fronts, Cybon executed a brilliant feint withdrawal that drew in the forces of the Archenemy onto his ranged batteries at Colquis, utilising orbital bombardment at the expense of ground troops. But despite this setbacks, Operation Redrake had succeeded in achieving its goals. Now the way was open for the next phase of the Crusade, Slaydo dubbed these follow up assaults as Operation 'Newfound'.

Bloody Path To Balhaut (756-764.M41)
The opposition of the Forces of Chaos within the Sabbat Worlds had, so far, proven to be more difficult and intense than the high echelon of commanders of the Crusade had originally envisioned. Tactical records showed that the Warmaster revised his estimated liberation date for Balhaut at least 37 times as the Crusade bogged down due to fierce organised resistance, throwing off the Warmaster's calculated schedule time and again. These difficulties were compounded by three factors: firstly, the bodies of enemy population dug into various world sites, armoured against attack and prepared for resistance. These populations sometimes numbered in the millions, and were often under the leadership of a sacred charismatic, sometimes a Magister (lieutenant); secondly, there were the counter-assault forces sent by the Archon to meet the Imperial push, in the form of raider fleets and military convoys. These raider fleets were highly mobile and able to concentrate their attacks on the Imperial forwar echelon. Within the last two months of 756 alone, 8 significant fleet engagements occurred; thirdly, there were smaller raiding forces - referred to as mobile opportunists - that plagued Crusade deployments by running raids and guerrilla assaults on supply lines and relay depots.

Ashek II (756-757.M41)
The second phase of the Crusade, known as Operation Newfound, focused its priorities on the liberation of the Newfound Trailing Group. Just before the initial phase of Newfound took place, the Crusade focused on liberating the towering hives of Ashek II. The prosecution of Ashek II began early in 756, but the scale of the fighting increased in 757. Their task of liberating the planet was extremely difficult by the fact that they faced the notorious and brilliant Heritor Asphodel, one of the most tactically gifted Magisters serving the Archon. Asphodel showed a predilection for deploying grotesque war machines (dubbed 'woe machines'). Some speculate that somewhere in the Magister's past, he may have had some connection to a Forge World or even to the Cult Mechanicus itself. It soon became painfully clear to the Imperial commanders the futility of sending Imperial waves of infantry troops against Asphodel's woe machines. Petitioned for heavier support, Slaydo responded by providing 3 brigades of armour from the Mershan 45th and 2nd Narmenian Heavy. Significant gains were only made later when nearly a full strength squadron of Battle Titans arrived to support the assault. This was the first significant deployment of Adeptus Mechanicus war engines in the Crusade. Led by the ancient Imperator-class Titan Imperious Corporalis, the mighty war machines subsequent engagements lasted three months. In the end, Asphodel's woe machines were destroyed and the defeated Magister fled Ashek II.

Ambold Eleven (756.M41)
Initially, Ambold Eleven had been an opening phase target of the Crusade, but at the final hour had been rejected by Warmaster Slaydo. Ambold Eleven became instead a target for the second phase, Operation Newfound, and the assault began in the middle of 756. A swift and brutal flee action commenced and Imperial forces decimated the orbital forts above the planet and destroyed enemy shipping at both high and low anchor. This allowed for Imperial troop forces to execute an overnight drop into strategic enemy strongholds. The forces of the Archenemy were well-entrenched, driving back the Imperial Guardsmen during successive actions. Approximately 9,500 Guardsmen were killed trying to breach the sturdy concentric walls defending these citadels. Suffering atrocious losses, the main portion of the Imperial ground forces became entrapped between a deadly crossfire. Space Marines of the Iron Snakes, en route to Sverren, answered the frantic signals, voluntarily diverted and made a drop-pod assault on the targeted cities to relieve the desperate and beleaguered Imperial Guard forces. The proud warriors of Ithaka put two hives to the sword as 29,000 of the Archenemy troopers were slaughtered, with only the loss of 81 Iron Snakes. A week later, the last targeted hive fell as the Iron Snakes stormed the walls and executed the Archenemy leaders by crucifixion. The commander of the Imperial Guard forces was subsequently executed by the Commissariat for gross leadership errors.

Sverren (757-758.M41)
Sverren was a key world strategically central to the region known as the Holy Visage, and was in the remit of Operation Newfound. Once again, the brutal campaign to liberate this world was mired by circumstance and the tenacity of the Archenemy's forces. Commanded by Lord Militant Humel and General Bulledin, Imperial Guard legions invaded in 757, routing the gathering hostile forces and killing Magister Kuvelo in the initial assault. But circumstances quickly changed when the weather turned bad and Imperial ground forces were forced to dig in, bogging down the assault. The forces of the Archenemy were able to regroup and attempted to repulse the Imperial forces. General Bulledin braved the inclement weather, pushing his battalions toward the city of Rammery. Encircling the city, it soon fell after a short siege. Lord Militant Humel focused his efforts on the city of Colchis, and after a six-week aerial campaign, eventually won air superiority on Sverren. Nefr City proved to be much more difficult to subdue, as Bulledin lost 3,000 soldiers for the gain of only two kilometres of land. Offering his resignation to Warmaster Slaydo for his failure, it was refused. Slaydo sent back a despatch which read, 'Do it again.' The General took his orders from the Warmaster to heart, and finally, on the 241st day of 758.M41, Bulledin's forces and a single Warlord-class Titan (Victrix Impassionata), overran the walls of Nefr City. Storming the Upper Palace, the Magister's second, Pater Bucher, was killed while resisting capture.

Fornax Aleph (757-759.M41)
The world of Fornax Aleph proved to be a troublesome campaign from the very beginning, highlighting the difficulties faced by the Imperial forces when encountering a world that had been affected by Chaos in the most unnerving and inexplicable ways. This formal Imperial world had been established by long-range fleet recon to be a bastion of the enemy by 757. Heavy fighting was expected as Fornax Aleph appeared to contain formidable hive cities and a possible fleet reserve. Under the command of General Jater Elbeth, a large ground force composed of 7 Imperial Guard regiments of infantry troops and 2 armoured brigades, prepared for the assault on the enemy stronghold. Their forces would be further reinforced by the Iron Snakes Space Marine Chapter.

The initial assault was delayed twice due to strong warp-storm activity, the second which forced the Iron Snakes into a four-month holding pattern. General Elbeth's invasion fleet also suffered from the warp-storms, scattering his invasion fleet as they arrived at Fornax Aleph. Unfortunately for Elbeth, only one-third of his fleet arrived unmolested and of the promised Astartes support, there was no sign. The General cautiously moved his fleet to an out-system translation point to hold until their reinforcements arrived, or, in the event of an attack, translate into warp-space at the first sign of trouble.

Not wanting to waste the opportunity, on the 303rd day of 757, the General ordered one of his Frigates to make a pass of the planet and assess enemy strength and disposition. The frigate reported, to the astonishment of the Elbeth's tactical staff, they had encountered no resistance as the orbital yards were entirely empty. Furthermore, they detected no activity on the planet's surface; no electromagnetic activity, no power or industry, no motion whatsoever. According to orbital auspex scans the great hive cities of Fornax Aleph were totally empty and dead. The following day, the General took advantage of the situation and landing a spearhead force in advance of the reinforcements. There was no resistance as Elbeth's forces soon discovered that the world was entirely bereft of life. Plague was initially suspected or some other unknown mortality, but there was no signs of either bodies or burial pits.

Appraising Warmaster Slaydo of the situation, Elbeth sent extensive reports on the strange occurrence. Fornax Aleph was, for all intents and purposes, a vacant world. Its population had simply disappeared without a trace and without explanation. The reports continued back and forth between the General and the Warmaster, until on the first day of 758, when transmissions from Elbeth's liberation force ceased. Arriving eighty days later, due to severe warp-storm delays, the Iron Snakes reported to the Warmaster that there were no Imperial forces on Fornax Aleph at all. The Iron Snakes scoured the planet for any signs of the General and his men, and their battle barges searched the nearby in-system. Whatever inexplicable fate had befallen the people of Fornax Aleph had now overtaken Elbeth and his liberation force as well. The Warmaster signaled to the Astartes to withdraw their forces before a similar fate befell them too, but on the 130th day of 757, circumstances changed dramatically.

A previously undetected comet or meteor struck the planet in the polar regions causing great natural disasters. The Iron Snakes hunkered down and rode out the devastation, but the impact brought with it, dire portents. Hordes of daemons came forth, pouring out of the devastated northern ice shelf and congregating around the hive cities. The world of Fornax Aleph was infested by these creatures of Chaos. Led by Brother Captain Cules, the Iron Snakes assault force (300 battle-brothers strong) were besieged by the uncounted multitude of infernal creatures. In the first month of 759, General Elbeth's delayed portions the assault force finally arrived in-system and immediately deployed in support of the Astartes on the planet's surface. But the valiant Iron Snakes had already destroyed the daemonic army, emerging victorious. A viable explanation for the disappearance of Fornax Aleph's population has never been made, though some suggest that there may have been a connection with the warp-storm activity in-system at the time. The Imperium eventually re-colonised the vacant planet, repopulating its massive, empty hives. There have been no further reports of strange disappearances or other significant activity, though there are still reports of unexplained screams of anguish in the dead of night.

Cociaminus (760-773.M41)
Cociaminus was one of the more problematic worlds encountered during the Newfound Trailing. Dubbed as the 'world that refused to die', Cociaminus collectively cost more Imperial lives that it lost fighting on the notorious Fortress World of Morlond. It has been estimated that over 8 million Imperial Guardsmen perished fighting for the liberation for the planet. At the beginning of the campaign, the Imperial forces made an auspicious start. A series of assaults were made under the command of General Kelso and General Forgues. Famous for his trust in armour, Kelso directed the main thrust of the assault, winning three hive cities (Harshen, Bolliquen and Nazeth) in a 6 month period. Employing armoured forces against the Archenemy, two significant tank battles took place, eventually winning the outer hab of Harshen. Despite these Imperial triumphs the war on Cociaminus ground down to a tediously slow pace. The world was finally taken in 762 after an extensive and punishing ground war. But the world's future was a troubled one as fleeing forces of the Archenemy retook the planet twice. After three more long and bitterly contested campaigns were fought there, Imperial domination finally occurred in 773.

Second Battle of Sverren (760-761.M41)
Operation Newfound continued to experience significant impediments. Pockmarks of resistance continued to hamper the crusade's efforts. To compound matter further, in 760, a fierce and bloody counter-strike ripped into the Imperial's midline. Led by Archon Nadzybar himself, the world of Sverren fell to the forces of the Archenemy. For only the second time in five years, the world found itself the site of major warfare. General Bulledin soon found himself in command of the Imperial Forces on Sverren, as he had experience fighting in the land war on the contested planet two years earlier. His fierce determination was instrumental in preserving the declining morale of Imperial forces, as he refused to let the cursed world bedevil him twice. When relief convoys arrived in 761, they soon determined that the beleaguered General had been fighting a war on two fronts, resisting both Magister Sholen Skara and the hosts of Archon Nadzybar himself. The Archenemy forces were eventually driven to the tropical jungles of the Southern Continent. The forces of the Archenemy were finally broken after 16 intense months of fighting. They soon fell into disarray as the momentum of their counter-strike was spent. The Archon and Magister Skara began a lengthy retreat to their final destiny on Balhaut.

Final Advance - Balhaut (763-765.M41)
The Warmaster grew impatient, as the second phase of the crusade took longer to accomplish than he had foreseen. Balhaut had been Slaydo's prized objective since the Crusade's inception. He knew the liberation of this world would prove to be both tactically and psychologically important. Despite the constant persuasion of Lord Militants Cybon and Dravere to alter their plans in regards to Balhaut, Slaydo refused to consider any alternative plans proposed by them. He would not compromise his original tactical plans to take Balhaut, as he knew it to be a key world, and to oust the Archon and his forces from the planet would deliver a serious blow to the Archenemy forces. By ignoring Balhaut, and turning rimward to annex the sparsely defended Nubila Reach and the Belt of Uristes, Slaydo believed that by doing so would leave their Crusade force dangerously exposed along their coreward flank. In many regards, Slaydo's conduct in the Sabbat Worlds Crusade, emulated the figure of St. Sabbat beati's original campaign in the sector.

Fabian Ruse (764-765.M41)
Still in retreat from Sverrin, Archon Nadzybar began to call upon his Magisters and warlords to help formulate a large unified host against the Imperial Crusade. The Archon intended to draw the Imperial forces towards the world of Fabia, where he hoped to annihilate the Crusade in one fell swoop. Being a master of subterfuge, Slaydo recognised the Archon's attempts to draw his forces to Fabia, and ordered a series of false fleet dispositions and troop movements along various trade routes in order to suggest that he had fallen for the Archon's ruse and taken the bait. Suspecting that Archenemy spies existed within the ranks of the Crusade, he also began to disseminate disinformation into intelligence traffic and Munitorum orders, adding credibility to his deception. Gathering his forces for an assault on Fabia, the Archon manoeuvred his forces into a gross mistake. In 765, the Archenemy forces were brought to Balhaut to be rearmed and resupply. They were caught totally by surprise as the Imperial Crusade assaulted the planet.

Operation Hell Storm - Balhaut (765.M41)
The assault on Balhaut would, in the future, remain a shining example of a planned military action that went according to plan and brought about the desired victory. Slaydo constructed his assault plan, code-named Hell Storm around the following key principes: firstly, to achieve orbital superiority by fleet assault and to cause as much gross damage to enemy shipping as possible; secondly, use sustained orbital bombardment of key surface regions; thirdly, use a rapid and covered landing of primary planetary assault forces; fourthly, use a rapid and covered landing of secondary planetary assault phases in reinforcement, contingent on the outcome of earlier phases.

Slaydo organised the fleet assault into four waves. The first 'spearhead' wave was comprised of rapid attack warships under Admiral Kristor. They arrived in-system 16 hours before the initial start of hostilities, translating into real-space on the far side of the local star. His warships than utilised the radiating mass of the star to conceal his fleet formations from the Archenemy's planetary detector grids. The second wave was composed of troopships - mass conveyance vessels and heavy orbital assaulters under the command of Vice Admiral Gharnhorst. They arrived in-system 5 hours later, holding position within the sugar and hydrocarbon clouds beyond the system edge. These two waves endeavoured to get on station in readiness without detection. The warp ripples caused by the gathering Archenemy fleet in-system also served to make their own translation and mass-displacement patterns.

The third wave was the primary assault warships under the command of Admiral Shaever. They translated directly into the inner system zone at the beginning of the attack, leading the assault on the high and low anchor stations and orbital batteries. After Shaever's signal of engagement, Admiral Kristor's forces struck hard and fast against the great orbital dock facilities of Balhaut Highstation and Hallidan Threshold. Gharnhorst's third wave then began its move in-system, coming in from behind the massing warships, preparing for the surface assault. Commanded by Vice Admiral Sanloque, the fourth wave then arrived out-system, carrying the mass reinforcement divisions. By the end of hour twenty-one, after the initiation of hostilities, orbital superiority had been achieved. Planetary bombardment then commenced against the key surface targets.

By hour thirty-three, the planetary drop began in earnest, with Imperial Guard forces delivered to the surface, with an attrition rate of only 32 percent lost during the landings. North of the Oligarchy, the percentage ran as high as 58 percent. By hour fourty-four, intense ground fighting ignited in the vast hive cities of Balhaut. Balopolis was one such city that saw extraordinary levels of fighting which resulted in numerous casualties amongst the senior ranks of Guard officers. General Currel initially command the forces at Balopolis, finding himself in a brutal confrontation with the Kith, commanded by Magister Sholen Skara. Currel was severely injured soon after hour fourty-eight, forcing him to withdraw, and his replacement General Korsen was killed around hour fifty-three of the assault, and his replacement Marshal Bernz was killed around hour fifty-eight. With General Delanyi unable to get through to take command, Curell's command fell, by default, to the senior surviving officer amongst his staff, Commander Macaroth. When word reached Warmaster Slaydo of the dire circumstances that had befallen Curell's forces at Balopolis, he sent an immediate dispatch, promoting Macaroth to the brevet rank of Marshal.

The Warmaster elected to command the assault on the Oligarchy himself. His landing force, the second largest single Imperial army fielded after Lord Militant Cybon's, cutting a bloody path into the heart of the enemy. Slaydo faced intense opposition from the hosts of four Magisters, including the infamous Heritor Asphodel, and the murderous cult army of the Archon himself. The Warmaster's final assault on the Oligarchy raged for ten consecutive days. The sustained orbital bombardment had reduced the terrain into so much rubble, and a series of severe storms turned the entire area into an expanse of mud lakes. Several thousand Imperial Guardsmen perished in these deplorable conditions, sucked down into the slurry of mud or slaughtered by the Archon's forces when they became mired.

On day five, the first breakthrough for the Imperial forces came in the form of Astartes from the White Scars Space Marine Chapter. They broke through the defence line at the Hallow Wall and routed the forces of Magister Khul Kolesh. The Magister was slain during a subsequent gun battle. On day seven, squads of Astartes from the Silver Guard under Chapter Master Veegum broke through the outer line of the Emancipatory, where they faced stiff opposition from Chaos Dreadnoughts and Magister Asphodel's woe machines. This deadlock was eventually broken by a massed Imperial armour support involving multiple armoured brigades. Chapter Master Veegum then led the Silver Guard through, taking the Emancipatory in two hours and stormed the Monastery of St. Kiodrus with the aid of three Imperial Guard regiments. The Jantine Patricians and elements of the Mordian Iron Guard 11th took the precinct of the Oligarchy.

On day nine, Slaydo drove his left flank into the resolute Oligarchy Gate, which was commanded by Captain Allentis of the Silver Guard, but was devastated by the murderous woe engines. The Hyrkan 8th was the first to reach the Oligarchy Gate and breach the enemy buttress fields and blow the gateway wide open. This breakthrough was swiftly supported by the Astartes of the Silver Guard, another Imperial Guard regiment and four armoured divisions. Following an intense assault by the Hyrkan forces the Tower of the Plutarch fell later that day. Slaydo himself finally entered the inner precincts, at the head of 8 regiments and his personal bodyguard force, prepared to face Archon Nadzybar.

The Death of Slaydo - Balhaut (765.M41)
"I am done, and yet I am undone." ~attr. Warmaster Slaydo, upon his deathbed. As Warmaster Slaydo pressed his final advance on the Palace of the Oligarchy, he received word of Marshal Macaroth's success at Balopolis. The young officer had turned Balopolis from rout to unexpected Imperial victory. The Warmaster was reported as being 'struck mute with great admiration'. The price for taking the cursed planet had become all too evident to the embittered Warmaster. The weight of the Crusade weighed heavily upon Slaydo. Some officers reported later that he seemed to be 'weary and fatalistic'. Taking up his powersword, the Warmaster personally led the first attack wave against the Palace of the Oligarchy. The firefights that took place within the confines of the palace were brutal to the extreme. It was at this point that the Warmaster may have been seriously wounded, either by a blade or projectile puncture to the stomach, but it was not evident until the medicae discovered the mortal wound when the Warmaster was on his deathbed.

At hour eighteen of the tenth day, Slaydo's command force encountered the Archon and his elite bodyguard on the Western Palisade. The Warmaster and the vile Archon soon joined in furiously intense single combat. Depending on sources, the fight lasted between 6 and 11 minutes, where Slaydo took two mortal wounds that he somehow managed to push past, maintaining the initiative, before delivering a lethal blow to the Archon. The Archon fell back, dying and his cult followers stormed the Pallisade to retrieve their fallen leader and carry him away to safety. Imperial Guard units valiantly defended their fallen Warmaster, putting many cultists to their deaths. Slaydo was found, close to death, lying on the marble floor of the West Atrium. He was far beyond any medical help as his grievous wounds appeared to be fatal. The Warmaster's own bodyguard stormed the Pallisade and slaughtered any Archenemy forces they came across. Archon Nadzybar's corpse was later discovered amongst a heap of massacred bodies near a fallen pallenquin. Slaydo's men had indiscriminately cut down the fleeing cultists, and only afterwards established the identity of their burden.

What Price, Victory? Aftermath of Balhaut Campaign (765.M41)
Warmaster Slaydo managed to live long enough to see the victory at Balhaut completed, although the pacification efforts would continue for a considerable amount of time. His premonition about himself not living to see the successful completion of the Crusade had proved accurate, though many witnesses report that he died contently, resigned to his inevitable fate to die on Balhaut as if fully expecting it. It was noted that Slaydo's primary anxiety lie, not in his foretold fate, but of that of his eventual successor. The Warmaster recognised that there would more than likely be infighting amongst the Lords Militant. He knew the Crusade could not afford to be riven with internal dispute and that it would take a strong leader to capitalise on a great victory. Slaydo's body was laid to rest with full honours on Balhaut, housed in a large mausoleum known as The Honorarium. As for forces of the Archenemy, fortunately most of the Archon's brutal Magisters perished during the vicious fighting on Balhaut, though there were some lamentable exceptions. Most notably, Magisters Sholen Skara and Heritor Asphodel who would pose future threats to the Crusade forces. Skara and a large contingent of his Kith followers managed to successfully escape the purging fires on Balhaut. his fate was unknown several years after Nadzybar's death at the hands of Warmaster Slaydo. The Heritor managed to evade Imperial ground forces and succeeding in escaping his fate. His ultimate fate would be unknown for a few years until he later revealed himself on the Hive World of Verghast. Apart from the forces that had fled Balhaut, many more Archenemy forces that had been en route to reinforce the beleaguered forces of the Archon, diverted or withdrew when word reached them of the disastrous defeat. The inner quadrants of the Newfound Trailing suffered terribly as many worlds in the region were either sacked or outright destroyed. Almost as many worlds were caught up in the aftermath of the enemy retreat. A list of these worlds that endured this plight include Sapiencia, Verghast, Aexe Cardinal, Lamicia, Erasmaus, Unida and Cociaminus. Eventually, many of these worlds would be reconquered and saved from their unendurable suffering and hardships, though not before man Imperial lives had been either corrupted or lost.

Warmaster Macaroth (765.M41)
The dying Slaydo appointed the young Marshal Macaroth to be his successor as Warmaster. This appointment by the dying Warmaster brooked no argument from the Lords Militant, but Cybon, Dravere and others were incensed at Slaydo's decision, regarding the newly appointed Warmaster as too young and too junior. A period of bitter political infighting ensued, but Macaroth managed to cling to his rightful position as the newly appointed senior-commander of the Crusade. By refusing to be cowed by the more-senior officers, Macaroth displayed early on that he possessed the talent to outplay his rivals politically and that he had the ideal temperament for the role. In the decade since the Balhaut campaign, Warmaster Macaroth became to be regarded as one of the foremost military commanders of his time, standing upon the shoulders of his noble predecessor and using this solid gains as a spark of inspiration. Perhaps this is what Slaydo had recognised in the young commander when deciding on a suitable successor. Macaroth would continue to display, from the very beginning of his warmastery, his brilliant military tactics, intuitive intellect, instincts, and willingness to take risks, especially with his extraordinary prosecution of the Cabal Salient campaign.

Cabal Salient (765-773.M41)
Just like his noble predecessor, the young Warmaster fixed on a primary objective that would take a considerable length of time to achieve. But, unlike Slaydo, Macaroth's objective was not merely one world but a greater portion of a planetary system - the Cabal Systems. The Warmaster's commitment of Imperial forces to such a monumental undertaking was considered too ambitious and impossible to achieve by his detractors. Macaroth took heavy criticism from his peers for not consolidating Imperial forces after their victory on Balhaut, but there is numerous evidence to support that consolidation of forces was his primary aim. The young Warmaster just chose to do so in a different way than how Slaydo might have done it. Macaroth did not wish to waste valuable time and manpower cleansing the remnants of the scattered components of the enemy, but rather strike at their centre. The Warmaster knew that by ordering a bold thrust forward they could capitalise on the weakness of enemy's hasty withdrawal, thereby taking the initiative away from the Archenemy instead of labouriously trying to tie up loose ends. This would set the Archenemy forces on their heels, effectively making it impossible for them to gather at one point and consolidate their forces. Macaroth hoped to drive right into the heart of the enemy by orchestrating a bold thrust that none of the scattered enemy forces could predict nor rally against. Intuitively, he knew that by being unpredictable he would be able to strike at the head of the enemy and effectively end their stranglehold on the system. Therefore, Macaroth ordered the Crusade to drive across two major system groups to the threshold of the Cabal Systems to achieve this bold new objective.

The Crusade began their massive spinward advance at the close of 765 onwards, invading and liberating worlds across the the Newfound Trailing Group, with separate actions taking place as far rimward as Nonimax and the Menazoid Clasp, and as far coreward as Nacedon. Nonimax would be one of the first planets to be assaulted under Macaroth's leadership. The prosecution of this campaign under the Warmaster's brilliant leadership enabled to the deployed Guard units to achieve reconquest in only six weeks. Another success came on the world of Grimoyr, where the preliminary stages of fighting had begun a year prior to Balhaut and ground down to virtual halt. Macaroth handed the command of the theatre to the brilliant but later disgraced Lord General Noches Sturm. Commanding the Royal Volpone 50th Imperial Regiment, Lord General Sturm quickly delivered an accomplished victory within a single week.

Macaroth used mobility as his primary strategy, rapidly deploying battlefield troops of regimental strength onto each target world, and then moving them on to the next target world with all speed as soon as the target world was firmly under control of second echelon occupying forces. These hit-and-run tactics enabled the most experienced and effective battlefield veterans within the Crusade to move swiftly from one theatre to the next. Between 765 and 769, it was not an uncommon occurrence for Imperial Guard units to have seen combat on eight or more worlds. This vigorous four-year advance saw the liberation of multiple worlds: Presarius, Sapiencia, Monthax, Prince Oberrnid, Voltemand, Albrecht and Fortis Binary. The most notable of these liberations took place on the world of Presarius by the indomitable Iron Snakes Chapter, adding another victory tally already won during the Crusade. The Iron Snakes acquitted themselves well by forcing battle with a partly mechanised mutant under-class in the tectonic foundries under the main hives. Cut off twice from Imperial lines of supply by enemy action and eventually exhausting their ammunition supply, the Iron Snakes resorted to vicious hand-to-hand fighting against their foes. This battle for nine days, resulting in nearly all the mutants being annihilated, with only the loss of 39 battle-brothers. Chapter Master Veegum of the Silver Guard honoured the courage and fortitude shown by the Iron Snakes by having his own Marines bow, bareheaded, to the valiant Iron Snakes upon their return.

Disaster at Parthenope (767.M41)
Inevitably, other actions did not fair so well for the Imperial forces of the Crusade, most notably the disaster of the fiercely contested world of Parthenope. One of Archon Nadzybar's most notorious Magisters, Qux of the Eyeless, was the architect of this crushing defeat. After the flight from Balhaut, Qux had re-consolidated his forces upon the contested world of Parthenope. The Imperial force sent General Onator, commanding 20 divisions, to resecure the world. Magister Qux ordered a feint, his forces appearing to collapse under the initial assault. Coaxing the Imperial troops into an advance across the Caterad Highlands, the Magister's forces then encircled and outflanked the General's troops. Onator was beset from all sides, and attempted to withdraw his forces. The ultimate fate that befell Onator and his remaining men has been suppressed by the Inquisition for morale reasons. Emboldened by this bloody triumph, Magister Qux sent out his warships and pursued to destruction the components of the Crusade fleet that had brought the hapless General and his allies to Parthenope. This was the third largest single fleet engagement of the campaign to date, resulting in a total victory for the Forces of Chaos, and created the vast Antioch debris field, a sad memorial to the fallible human weakness of hubris.

New Archon & the Blood Pact (771.M41)
Initially, the Imperial forces had achieved several victories in 770, but by 771 the whole push into the Cabal Systems came to a halt as the Crusade encountered not only stiff resistance, but hostile counter-strikes from Archenemy forces. Inevitably, despite infighting, the Archenemy host eventually selected a new Archon from amongst their malefic host - Archon Urlock Gaur. Unfortunately the rise of this new Chaos overlord coincided with the Crusade advance into the Cabal Systems. The new Archon injected a motivational impetus and drive into the Archenemy forces. Gifted in strategy, Archon Gaur was able to centralise his tactics and properly orchestrate his forces efforts against the encroaching Crusade forces. The new Archon proved to be a formidable opponent; robust and savage, and unimaginatively brutal in his tactics and approach to warfare. The impetus of the Archon Gaur's strength was the supremely able fighting force known as the Blood Pact, whose methodology was ultimately modeled on that of the Imperial Guard itself. As the Archon's strength had grown, his influence quickly spread to other worlds with his bodyguard force spearheading his conquering armies. From these vassal worlds their numbers were recruited and the bodyguard grew, becoming an army in its own right. This was how the Blood Pact was spawned.

The first notice given of Urlock Gaur to Imperial forces was when he led a series of lightning raids along the coreward fringe of the Khan Group in the middle of 771. Within the Cabal System itself, more strenuous resistance was encountered, along with the first reports of the emerging forces of the Blood Pact. A more profound attack took place less than a month later. The Imperial forces initially believed that the forces of the enemy were being led by a particularly militant Magister, but it soon became painfully clear that they were dealing with someone who was far more dangerous and deadly. This unidentified leader had the ability to call upon vast reserves of Archenemy troops, and mobilise other, potent Magisters under his command. There was no doubt, however, by 772 that Urlock Gaur was the new Archon of the Archenemy forces. Within a drastically short period, three key dangers had manifested, haunting Macaroth's carefully laid plans: the new Archon had risen to unify the enemy, he had mounted a wounding counter-strike against the Crusade fleet's flank, and the overstretched flank was woefully exposed. Macaroth's overreaching push had left the Crusade painfully vulnerable on three sides, which the new Archon attempted to exploit to the fullest. [[Category:S]]