The Liberation of Fuschal~Phase 4
Contents
Battle Details
Date Commenced: 373.010.M31
Date Concluded:
Outcome: Ongoing
Sub-Sector: Kaerimon Sub-Sector
System: Fuschal System
Location: Empusa
Forces involved in the Battle:
Loyalists Involved In The ConflictArmy:I-ARMY-3407 Army:I-ARMY-3438 Army:I-ARMY-3548 Army:I-ARMY-3620 Army:L-VII-2023
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Traitors Involved In The ConflictArmy:I-ARMY-3365 Army:I-ARMY-3548 Army:L-VIII-0498 Army:A-MECH-6429
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Battle Summary
The Empusan Front
Simultaneous with the attack on Fuschal proper, a splinter of the Liberation Fleet launched their own attack on the Death World of Empusa. At the suggestion of the Archmagos Tylas 7-Rheen, these warships approached Empusa from above the system’s ecliptic, using the fierce electromagnetic storms that crowned the planet to mask their approach.
This allowed them to fall without warning on the ships left to guard the planet, and rout them utterly. From there, they could land troops on the deadly mining world. Unlike the waterworld of Fuschal, there was nothing to prevent deployment of heavy armour, or superheavy walkers, and both would prove invaluable in the assault on the traitor-held mining cities. Even subterranean assault vehicles would have their place over the coming days.
That is not to say, however, that Empusa did not present its own unique problems as a theatre of war - the planet had been named after a mythical monster that devoured the unwary, and the native flora of the world was certainly deadly. Infantry, in particular, risked their lives if forced from their transports.
The Screaming Jungle
Infantry, bikes and open-topped vehicles take d6 Poison(4) hits if they move through soft cover, thickets, or swamps. Enclosed vehicles, flyers, and skimmers are immune. Any game played on the surface of Empusa, beyond the city walls, should have as many patches of undergrowth and groves of carnivorous plant growth as possible.
The Mining Cities of Empusa
For obvious reasons, most of the population and industry of the world operated underground. Surface installations - including the spaceports from which the mineral wealth of Empusa was shipped to other systems - were protected from encroachment by sheer walls and incendiary weapons.
These fortifications all count as Impassable terrain, providing 4+ cover from the battlements, and provide the Torrent trait to flamer weapons.
1) Lokis Traum: The most extensive mining city on the planet, chiefly extracting and processing rare earth metals and significant quantities of adamantite. The horizontal shafts were extended in recent decades, and further yet to meet the Warmaster’s demands. At the time of the Liberation, they impinged upon the promethium fields of Ladoqu, and mining in the eastern sector had become far more dangerous. Subsidence and collapse of mining galleries had exposed the underground facilities to promethium seepage, dangerous flora from the surface, and infiltration by Loyalist forces.
2) Rennberg Demeyne: A conglomerate of Shungite-Fullerene mines, that had succeeded in extracting portions of palladium and ruthenium as well. In heavy use for decades, but estimates of the remaining fullerene deposits predicted only five more years of profitable mining. The miners of the Demeyne were amongst the first to openly support the Warmaster’s cause, hoping to better their lives with a change of overall command.
3) The Mannerheim Triangle: South of the original staging site on the Haelthheim plateau, red coal had been mined for over 460 years. In Late M30 large quantities of red mercury were found beneath the established facilities, and extraction and processing of that even more dangerous mineral began. Prior to the Heresy, feuds between workers of the many facilities kept the local Arbites almost constantly busy, but the capitulation of Empusa to the Archtraitor put a company of Night Lords in control of Mannerheim mining sites, and anything that disrupted production became suicidal.
4) The LechMich Quadrant, a volcanic uplift area in Empusa’s Southern Equatorial Zone. The Quadrant largely comprises of a plateau littered with gas and hot water vents, much like the Phlegraean Fields on the throneworld of Terra. The mining of the rare metals tantalum and tungsten, needed for the production of ceramite, is concentrated around the mining complex of A Marché - dubbed by the derogatory ‘AmArsch’ by the inhabitants, for the hazardous conditions and the short lifespan of miners.
Due to the volatile geology, defense of the quadrant proved difficult, as auspex readings are usually troublesome to decipher. Further, defensive measures like booby traps were rarely employed, as they tended to go off prematurely. Both these features played well to the strengths of the assigned Loyalist forces, as at least half the Astartes were drawn from Raven Guard and Salamander survivors of Isstvan.
Skirmish Reports
Skirmishes Added
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Battle Pictures
