Crusade - Hadex

Points: 1500.

Mission: Open War deck.

A splinter crusade of Black Templars have decided that the existence of Primaris marines both within their own chapter and others, is an anathema and goes against the will of the Emperor himself. When this crusade descended upon the Rift Wardens recruitment world of Hadex, the chapter was forced to once again wage war upon their own brothers. Even when "loyalist" Black Templars arrived to halt their heretical brothers, the Rift Wardens still saw them as the enemy. There would be no peace, only war!

This initial engagement was a major conflict and was fought over a period of eleven days in the heart of the planet's capitol city. After a successful initial battle, the Rift Wardens pushed hard against the aggressors and managed to drive back the vanguard and occupy suitable defensive positions.

Over the next couple of days, the Rift Wardens were assaulted repeatedly by the Black Templars, held in place and unable to prevent them from bringing in further reinforcements from their own battle barges. After bitter fighting, however, the Rift Wardens managed to break out into the city streets. For days the fighting continued and the Black Templars fell back to regroup. Over the next two days the Rift Wardens pushed the enemy back into the outer districts. Because of this, the Rift Wardens received their own reinforcements, without much enemy opposition. The Rift Wardens were eventually stopped by significant Black Templar resistance although they did recapture some important territory.

The following day, the Black Templars attempted to encircle the Rift Wardens by applying pressure to their flanks. Unphased, the Rift Wardens successfully counter-attacked. On the Eastern flank, the Rift Wardens sought to break out of the encirclement, pushing into a manufactorum sector. The breakout was halted and the street fighting ground to a stalemate. On the Western flank, an offensive was launched with the objective of reaching the Black Templar command. This failed and the Rift Wardens took heavy casualties, especially in the South.

After nearly two weeks of heavy fighting in the streets, the Rift Wardens retained their position and were weathering the onslaught of incoming fire. However, it had allowed the enemy to gain a foothold on the surface and they controlled a large section of Hadex city.