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Obsus Prima Uprising

Obsus Prima Uprising
Date ???.M41[1]
Location Obsus Prima[1]
Outcome Pyrrhic Imperial victory[1]
Combatants
Imperium[1] Chaos[1]
Commanders
Commander Vassky[1]
Commander Zuminov[1]
Unknown
Strength
Vostroyan 39th Armoured Regiment[1] Cultists
Iron Warriors
Knights of Blood[1]
Casualties
Heavy[1] Unknown

The Obsus Prima Uprising was a campaign waged by the Imperium on the Industrial World of Obsus Prima in M41.[1]


Overview

The planet Obsus Prima was largely left to its own devices despite the usual warning signs - a proliferation of dark cults and growing acceptance of mutation. Several Inquisitors had visited the planet, but had not seen fit to take any action. Under normal circumstances, the slightest hint of corruption would justify many within the Inquisition to err on the side of caution and conduct some kind of brutal purge, suggesting that supernatural powers of persuasion were employed.[1]

Around that time, the Eye of Terror once more threatened to burst forth with new horrors, and neighbouring sectors were exposed to the plots and treacheries of their age-old foe. While the attentions of logistars, Inquisitors and the whole of the Adeptus Terra were focused elsewhere, sedition stirred on Obsus Prima, aided by disasters in surrounding sectors drawing reinforcements away from the world. Grand-Marshal Durov of Vostroya and his army group had left to answer distress calls from the Finial Sector, when, on Obsus Prima, Manufactorum workers rose up against their oppressive conditions. The Planetary Defence Force was called upon to suppress the growing unrest, but they themselves were divided into Imperial loyalists and those who supported the workers. Within months there was open rebellion, and civil war followed. The population pulled itself apart and anarchy ruled.[1]

With the defence forces shattered, it was not long before the revels held every major spaceport, orbital station and comm-tower on Obsus Prima. The lone loyalist holdout was the planet's primary plasma reactor – a vast walled complex that dominated the world’s largest island – which was still in the hands of the Adeptus Mechanicus. The loyalists, however, were vastly outnumbered. The only Imperial force that could reach Obsus Prima in any reasonable amount of time was the Vostroyan 39th armoured regiment — whose transport craft, by chance, had left the Warp early due to a technical problem. Amongst the regiment's assets was the Baneblade Hammer of Vostroya, which proved decisive in the battle to come.[1]

It was not easy getting past the cordon of orbital stations, or landing on the island’s makeshift air dock – but the loyalists welcomed them, cheered in particular by the sight of the immense super-heavy tank. The Vostroyans split up, positioning their battle tanks as defensive bulwarks at each of the three main entrances to the island: the Blacksea docks, the Northgate, and the Ascension Gate. Within days, the rebels attacked the complex, staging a landing using converted industrial waste barges and beginning an artillery bombardment. Although a reactor and not a fortress, the Mechanicus complex was ringed with defensive batteries and weapons emplacements. Soon enough, battles raged around the few major entrances into the complex: the fortified gates where the Vostroyan tanks awaited. There, rebels landed flotillas of craft filled with thousands of cultists and traitorous soldiers. Hammer of Vostroya proved its worth in the defence, overmatching the cultist forces while not sustaining any significant damage in return for days on end.[1]

The stalemate would not last, however, as it was revealed that Chaos Space Marines were active on Obsus Prima. A force of Iron Warriors arrived at the Blacksea docks, using Daemon Engines, Helbrutes and Vindicators to batter down the defences. The Hammer of Vostroya was forced to redeploy to meet this new threat, but was unable to prevent the Iron Warriors breaching the defenders' bulwarks.[1]

Meanwhile, at the Northgate, the slaughter of the cultists continued until they were reinforced by another warband of Chaos Marines: the Knights of Blood. They were drawn to slaughter and with them came a Lord of Skulls - a great Daemon Engine of Khorne. After seeing that his battle cannons were having little impact, Commander Vassky ordered his Leman Russ squadron to retreat.[1]

The Vostroyans staged a fighting retreat through the complex, setting ambushes and conducting countercharges. All the time they were pursued by the Lord of Skulls. The surviving tanks of the Vostroyan 39th eventually reunited before the reactor’s citadel. Hammer of Vostroya once again led the last, desperate defence. As the streams of the lost and damned filled the plaza before them, each commander gave the others a last salute before sealing their hatches. Such was the fury of the tanks' firepower that many of the cultists turned to flee rather than face them, only to be slaughtered by the Chaos Marines.[1]

The tide of attackers pressed onwards, and one by one the Vostroyan tanks began to fall. At this point, the Lord of Skulls reached the Imperial battle lines and engaged in a duel with the Vostroyan Baneblade. Hammer of Vostroya managed to land a number of solid hits and even disabled its rotary cannon but was unable to prevent it from closing and using its great cleaver to hack apart the tank's hull. Finally, the cleaver’s blade penetrated the tank's power plant, triggering a colossal explosion which cracked the nearby reactor and poisoned the air for thousands of miles.[1]

Long after the battle, amidst the massive craters, Tech-Priests retrieved as many fragments of the super-heavy tank as they could find, for both vehicle and crew deserved to be honoured as heroes of the Imperium.[1]

See Also

Sources