Battle of Helhold Hollow - Vigilus Wastelands

Points: 1000.

Mission: Cleanse The Land.

Secondary Objectives: Bring It Down, Engage On All Fronts and Retrieve Nephilim Data.

Opponent's Secondary Objectives: Grind Them Down, Ruthless Tyranny and Storm of Darkness.

Late in the day, the forces of House Vextrix marched eastwards towards Hyperia Hivesprawl, the seat of power for the Imperial forces on Vigilus. A smaller maniple attacked from the south with a force of Black Legion traitor marines  protecting their flanks. On the second day, fighting occurred as the Knights encountered heavy Astra Militarum resistance. That morning they encountered outrider forces of the Ultramarines. Seizing the opportunity House Vextrix and their Black Legion allies attacked the Ultramarines and Militarum forces, pushing them back to the walls of Hyperia. Overnight, those forces fell back into the city and took up defensive positions. House Vextrix began to spread out to assault multiple sections of the shield wall.

The Imperial defenders began to redeploy to combat this threat. This prevented the enemy from using their vast firepower to undermine the walls piecemeal and was perhaps instrumental in holding off the enemy attack. The Vextrix operations had however split their forces up in smaller maniples which could, in theory, be more easily dealt with. Navy spotter aircraft observed more heretic Knight forces advancing north and spotted a suitable gap in their lines. Given the potential threat arrayed against them, a ceasefire was put in place between the Rift Wardens and the Adepta Sororitas, who had been fighting among themselves in parts of the city. Marneus Calgar put an immediate stop to the fighting and redeployed the Rift Wardens to an area of wasteland known as Helhold Hollow. Here they duty was to slow down if not stop the Vextrix advance. 

The traitor Knights of House Vextrix quickly adapted their strategies with the arrival of the Rift Wardens in their path. A small maniple attacked ahead of the advancing army and pinned them in place. The rest advanced over the next three days with some stopping to engage the space marines and the rest moving in on Hyperia Hivesprawl. The inability of the Rift Wardens to hold the Knight advance caused some anger among the Militarum commanders on the city walls, who had expected them to be delayed much longer. The Rift Wardens did succeed in initially bringing down seven Knights but the force arrayed against them was much more significant and beyond their means to handle.

Vextrix reinforcements arrived on the fourth day and this forced the Rift Wardens to withdraw back towards the Hivesprawl. As more and more Chaos Knights crossed into Helhold Hollow, chapter master Arthurus contacted Hyperia to report that the enemy presence was too much to contain and that they would be returning to hold defend the city. Arthurus still had hopes of bringing down more of the enemy but continued Vextrix reinforcements  made this impossible. Hundreds of traitor war machines were on the move.

On day six, Thunderhawks were dispatched to bring the survivors back to Hyperia. Six hundred battle brothers made it back safely but many more lay where they fell in the sands of Helhold Hollow. However, the arrival of those six hundred bolstered the walls of Hyperia Hivesprawl enough that the initial attack was repulsed. It was a costly battle for the chapter however.