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Battle of the Agripinaa System

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Battle of the Agripinaa System
Conflict 13th Black Crusade
Date 999.M41 - present
Location Agripinaa System
Combatants
Imperium Forces of Chaos
Commanders
Sanguinary High Priest Numitor[3]
Admiral d'Armitage[4d]
General Isaia Bendikt‎‎[4d]
General Gruber(KIA)[4d]
Princeps Icandra (defected)[5]
Kossolax[1b][3]
Strength
See order of battle See order of battle
Casualties
Heavy Heavy

The Battle of the Agripinaa System was a major conflict which began during the 13th Black Crusade, as a massive Chaos force led by Kossolax invaded the Agripinaa System, most importantly the heavily fortified Forge World of Agripinaa.[1b] Though the Imperials eventually repelled Kossolax's main invasion force,[2] the battle in the Agripinaa System continued as Chaos contingents would repeatedly return for fresh attacks.[6]

Prelude

Agripinaa is one of the most important Imperial bastions at the Cadian Gate, crucial in supplying the area's defenders.[1b][8d] In fact, Agripinaa was even bold enough to sent its forces for counter-attacks into the Eye of Terror.[3a]

As a result, the planet was singled out by Abaddon as an important target. Agripinaa was attacked by Chaos forces during several Black Crusade, and in the period leading up to the 13th Black Crusade the forces of Chaos sent infiltrators and plagues to weaken its defenses.[1b] At the same time, Chaos forces attacked across the Agripinaa Sector, disrupting supply lines and wekening the Imperium's hold on the region. After a series of major Imperial defeats, much of the Agripinaa Sector was ravaged by Death Guard forces under Typhus, and countless words invaded by Chaos warbands.[8a][8b]

As the sector surrounding it was overrun, the Chaos forces in the Agripinaa System sprang into action. Large outbreaks of plague zombies erupted, rogue tech-priests destroyed critical systems, and full-scale civil war broke out across Agripinaa.[1b] The Warp Ghosts were reportedly also sighted in the system.[8c]

Battle

By the time Kossolax's great fleet arrived at Agripinaa, one third of the planet's command ziggurats had already fallen into infighting, while great dockards and naval defenses were crippled by Chaos Cult uprisings. The other planets in the Agripinaa System were also thrown into anarchy by rebellions and attacks. Regardless, the local Imperial Navy and Basilikon Astra contingents, supported by fleet elements belonging to at least a dozen Space Marine Chapters attempted to muster a defense against Kossolax's force.[1b] A murderous void battle erupted, but the Chaos forces were eventually able to break through and land on Agripinaa.[1c] Even as the ship-to-ship combat still raged and the orbital defenses were far from silenced, Kossolax was eager to make landfall, gambling that a swift strike would inflict more damage, even if the Imperials shot down great numbers of his landing craft.[1d] On the ground, Kossolax's legions were confronted not just by Adeptus Mechanicus, but also a large contingent of Blood Angels led by the Sanguinary High Priest Numitor.[2]

The battle of Agripinaa raged for an extended period of time, leaving much of the system's infrastructure destroyed. At least three Ramilles Class Star-fort and countless warships were annihilated.[4a] The appearance of the Great Rift after Cadia's destruction worsened the situation even further. Though some Chaos contingents abandoned the battle at this point, believing that the Chaos Gods had signalled new tasks for them,[1a] the Great Rift resulted warp storms engulfing Agripinaa. Daemons began walking on the world, and Dark Mechanicum forces (including Legio Mortis and House Vextrix) inflicted heavy losses on the loyalist Adeptus Mechanicus forces. As desperation spread among the defenders, some defenders broke. House Viti led by Princeps Icandra largely turned traitor; those who refused to agree with this course of action were infected with scrap-code by Icandra or killed.[5]

Eventually, however, Imperial reinforcements came to aid the Agripinaa System. A portion of the Imperial defenders of Cadia, displaced by the Great Rift, arrived on four transport ships. Led by General Gruber, these Imperials mostly belonged to the Cadian Shock Troopers.[4a] Before they could make contact with the remaining Imperials on Agripinaa, however, the Cadians were ambushed by the Sons of Malice and forced to make a stand on Morten's Quay's ice mining moon, Faith's Anchorage.[4b][4c] The Battle of Faith's Anchorage was hard-fought, and eventually attracted further Chaos contingents, until the Cadians were reinforced when more survivors from Cadia, led by Admiral d'Armitage, arrived at the system. Together with a Space Wolves force, the Cadians inflicted a major defeat on the Chaos forces.[4d]

After their success at Faith's Anchorage, the Cadians and other arriving Imperials helped to gradually retake the Agripinaa System.[4d] As his position on Agripinaa deteriorated, Kossolax ordered his berzerkers to fall upon the local civilians and the allied cultist hordes. The massacre that ensued was enough to summon a mighty Bloodthirster who dealt heavy losses to the Blood Angels and their Death Company. Although they managed to overcome the daemon and drive the World Eaters from the planet, Kossolax was not slain. Seeking vengeance, Numitor vowed that he would hunt him down, no matter the cost.[2] After the Agripinaa System had been mostly retaken by the Imperium, the Cadians claimed system's seventh planet, Chaeros, as their own, renaming it to "New Cadia".[4d]

Before long, however, the Chaos invaders in the Agripinaa System were also reinforced. As a result, the fighting for the Agripinaa System continued. In the following years, Agripinaa itself was besieged by Chaos contingents over a dozen times.[6] One of these attacks involved the Sensorians who captured several maniples of loyalist Skitarii before retreating.[7] Agripinaa responded to the constant clashes by greatly increasing the recruitment of Skitarii and battle servitors, many of them harvested from Imperial refugee fleets which actually tried to seek shelter in the system.[6]

Order of battle

Imperium

Chaos

Sources