They are coming...

A new campaign and a new planet, as Four Horsemen Comics and Games hosts the Second Battle of Ogrys V... 


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Imperial Historia Strategicus

Security Level: Omega Gold

Date: 896.M41

Location: Ultima Segmentum, Dynathi Sector, Torrelli Sub-Sector, Ogrys System, Ogrys V

Author: Inquisitor Sevren Fordring, with eyewitness supplements

Subject: 2nd Battle for Ogrys V

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Chapter 1

The rubble on Ogrys V had scarcely cooled before the Imperium was presented with a second difficulty to overcome. As discussed in the previous chapter, the 1st Battle of Ogrys V ended disastrously for the Imperium when the Eldar Craftworld Alaitoc launched a surprise attack on the planet and proceeded to systematically devastate it and its defenders. Presumably this was in retaliation for the Idharae Massacre, carried out in 852.M41 by the Invaders Chapter of Space Marines, in which the Invaders utterly destroyed the Idharae Craftworld. Still understrength from the severe losses incurred in this action and with most of their Battle Companies deployed far from Ogrys V, the Invaders were forced to abandon their Chapter Planet along with most of their equipment, gene seed, and relics.

This presented the Imperium with a grave problem. For whatever reason, Craftworld Alaitoc conducted limited ground operations in its attack, deploying troops only to trap and slaughter groups of Invaders on the planet's surface. Orbital bombardment sufficed for other centers of opposition. Although civilian casualties were estimated at 2 out of 5 billion, much of the planet's infrastructure was left intact. Abandoning the planet was deemed unacceptable; putting aside the remaining 3 billion Imperial citizens, as a Chapter Planet, Ogrys V possessed vast stocks of weaponry and war material, as well as the Forge facilities to produce more. Even more worrying were the contents of the Fortress Monastery vaults: in their thousands of years of battle, the Invaders had claimed numerous Xenos and Chaos artifiacts as trophies of victory, and as a Marine Chapter relatively free from the constraints of the Inquisition, had collected much forbidden lore in its Librarium. Leaving the planet undefended would have been an invitation to disaster and heresy across the entire sector.

Unfortunately it took the Imperium nearly a year to cobble together a force sufficient to contain and defend Ogrys V. Even then all might have been well, had not the Imperial defenses of nearby St. Feorla's World buckled under a combined force of Xenos and Chaos attackers. Seeing easy prey in the ruins of Ogrys V, these warbands left that ravaged planet and arrived just in time to meet the relief fleet as it exited the Warp. The disjointed fleet actions and planetary landings set the tone for the rest of the campaign...

-Testimony of Lieutenant Rostov, helmsman of the Galleon class troop transport Faithful Traveler

I was on the bridge when we exited the Warp about an AU out from Ogrys V. We were out of formation, nearly half an AU behind the rest of our squadron, due to an unexpected Warp eddy about an hour before transitioning back to realspace. That's probably the only reason we survived. As I was putting in a heading for geostationary orbit, our sensors picked up weapon discharges near the rest of the squadron; the explosions registered on our screens a few seconds later. The entire squadron was blown apart, destroyer screen and all, before they could even raise their void shields. We only got a brief glimpse of the vessel that did it, a battleship-sized bronze crescent that had no match in our records. We thought we were dead for sure... but then we picked up three Eldar ships on an intercept course for whatever that thing was, and it started moving away from us. Captain Doenetz ordered me to start an evasive pattern and tried to hail the rest of the fleet; it was then that we realized it was like this all over. The entire fleet had come out of the Warp in small clusters across the system, and were fighting running battles against at least five separate forces. At that point, I thought the situation couldn't possibly get any worse. I was wrong...