Warhammer: In the Name of Ashes.

The war never stops, the war continues.

To apply this most famous statement in the Warhammer world, in the next week, the Empire and Chaos staged a desperate battle between offense and defense with the [-]-square-kilometer battlefield in the capital of Ophelia as the core.

The attacking side of the war is from the Alpha Legion.

In the early days of the war, this defector from the Chaos War Gang unexpectedly wiped out the empire's fleet in the galaxy, firmly occupying the dominance of the war and its absolute firepower superiority;

But they failed to take full advantage of this advantage.

It doesn't matter if you have nothing to fear, or you don't care about it.

After the Alpha Legion gained space control, it failed to completely destroy the anti-aircraft firepower of the Holy City in a short period of time.

They are only relying on the advantage of troop deployment on the track, constantly pulling the ground defense, trying to find loopholes in it.

This is very much in line with the characteristics of the Alpha Legion. The advantage of overemphasizing intelligence stealing and infiltration operations is that they are invincible in small-scale battles;

The downside is just like what you see in front of you. When encountering the enemy's heavily defended fortress, no commander dares to bear the loss of forcing the advance.

On the other hand, the imperial army on the defensive side is completely different. As a recognized defense master, the Imperial Fist's concept and inheritance of defensive operations have not been lost in the warband era.

Hornthorn bet that the other party would not dare to set fire to the holy city, so that the holy relics would be completely lost.

Therefore, relying on the fire barrier above the Holy City, while maintaining the defensive deployment of the contracted troops, he used the two Astartes companies as mobile forces, and struggled to resist the penetration of the Alphas' ground while maneuvering and tossing.

This is undoubtedly a good deal for the empire, because what the defenders of Ophelia lack most now is time.

Every second of delay in the context of the loss of air supremacy is the hope of a comeback for the victory of the war.

But this kind of delay is a completely unacceptable result for the Alphas.

Occupying such a favorable battlefield situation, after a week of dragging, only a few mortal lives could be reaped.

What a disgrace!

A bitter argument erupted among the fleets in space, and with the Alpha Front Commander executed for incompetence, the Chaos offensive was radically altered in the days that followed.

Hornthorne was unaware of the change of rights in the enemy's camp, much less of its consequences;

But just from the fact that they felt the increasingly fierce offensive from the Alpha Legion, regardless of damage, Hohnthorne knew that the most difficult moment was coming.

After changing the commander, the Alpha Legion has changed from its previous style, no longer trying to find loopholes in mobile warfare, and no longer trying to use infiltration operations as an unchanging standard.

Relying on twice the number of Astartes on the empire's side, they began to advance directly to the holy city's defensive positions under the tactical strikes above the orbit and the constant bombardment of fighter planes in the atmosphere.

The bloody battle started in the hilly area 30 kilometers north of the city of grace:

The fleet of fighter planes from above the orbit used a saturation bombing of the position of the 22nd Infantry Regiment of the Defense Army, and a surprise attack by an entire Astartes company equipped with 30 deathclaws, as the first battle to announce the start of this battle. one shot.

This is undoubtedly a powerful blow, especially in terms of the firepower preparation and troop intensity projected by the enemy commander;

Not to mention that the target he chose was just an ordinary motorized infantry regiment of the Defense Army.

But the fog of war is so charming, and information isolation always inadvertently brings surprises to both sides of the war:
There was no problem with the enemy's choice, but on the eve of the war, the city defense command transferred the 22nd Infantry Regiment, which was originally stationed here, due to logistical problems;
Instead of occupying this defense zone, it was the 31st Motorized Rifle Regiment of the Defense Forces.

Infantry Regiment, Motorized Infantry Regiment.The regiment-level units in the two defense armies are supposed to be of different types, but in terms of strength, they cannot compare with the regular Star Border Army;
For Astartes at the company level, there is no difference.

But this motorized infantry regiment is an exception.Because the predecessor of him happened to be the Star Militia Army.

The reason why the city defense command transferred it here is because it, together with the 32nd and 33rd Motorized Infantry Regiments stationed behind, and the 91st and 92nd Motorized Armored Regiments at the rear to support the position in this direction, happened to be the time they came from the Star Realm. The complete establishment of the army before it retreated to the second line-the Imperial Armored Regiment.

Regardless of how this active heavy armored regiment was classified as the second-line in the world of the imperial state religion, how many magical operations did the military command bought by the state religion have;

Speaking of this battle alone, they really did give the Alphas a great surprise...

At 0 o'clock, the first fleet in orbit left the fleet, and 15 minutes later broke through the atmosphere and appeared on time at the head of the 31st Motorized Infantry Regiment.

The fleet in orbit began to lower its height, using the angle of the planet itself to bypass the concentrated fire of anti-ship weapons, and clear the air defense array here one by one.

Swarms of space fighters carried hundreds of aerial bombs and released them to ground troops thousands of meters away.

The detection array on the ground discovered the anomaly here at the first time, and deployed reinforcements here in time.

All the remaining aviation units in the holy city were also dispatched, but despite the desperate interception regardless of casualties, they still couldn't stop the space fighters with absolute numerical superiority from diving and strafing the ground.

Gunpowder smoke and flames filled the 31st Motorized Infantry Regiment's front and back 3 kilometers in depth. After the aftereffect observation was completed, the enemy above the track believed that the ground troops had lost their ability to resist, and began the first wave of airborne strikes.

However, they miscalculated. When this group of renegade Astartes companies appeared in the sky above the 31st Motorized Infantry Regiment in an airborne pod, the regimental armored air defense forces on the ground suddenly launched a counterattack.

The Alphas, who were under ground anti-aircraft firepower, had no choice but to adjust the landing point of the airdrop pod to the periphery of the motorized infantry regiment's position.

Even though the orbital bombing came soon after, the regiment's air defense company was instantly wiped out in the ensuing artillery fire.But it is undeniable that these Astartes who fell from the sky have already lost the best timing for tactical entry.

The enemy who failed to achieve their tactical goals immediately changed their tactics. They no longer tried to directly break through the position of the 31st Motorized Infantry Regiment. Instead, they began to build defenses on the spot with the help of the previously lurking troops to provide ground-air transportation. Create opportunities through the field.

This is undoubtedly a test for the 31st Motorized Infantry Regiment:

The Chimera personnel carrier can also be used as a fixed firepower point under the cover of fortifications;

But if attacked actively, the thin armor of the personnel carrier will not stand up to the heavy weapons of the Astartes.

But they have no choice, because if they wait any longer, the enemy's firepower will only get stronger and stronger.

In the next 20 minutes, the 31st Motorized Infantry Regiment launched at least three waves of attacks on the enemy's positions under the personal organization of the regiment leader.

However, these attacks failed under the precise strikes of the Astartes.

The war continued to drag on, and the weak empire could only watch as the enemy's transport boat descended from orbit.

Even if the Fist of the Empire and the Ultramarines finally reach the frontal battlefield, they can only sit back and watch the completion of the enemy's landing field under the resistance of the Alpha Legion supported by heavy armor.

A large number of mortal rebels began to airborne under the cover of rail artillery fire. Although the soldiers of the empire continued to march forward, they could not stop the enemy's footsteps.

The frontal battle began to heat up, and behind the enemy's position, armored forces could already be seen gathering.

At this point in the war, the battle between the enemy and the enemy has entered a situation that Hohenthorne least wants to see.

He couldn't just sit back and watch his precious troops be wasted here. With the support of the armored regiment that arrived from the rear, he could only use a counter-charge tactical action to win the main force a chance to retreat while the enemy's armored troops were not on the scene. Draw an end to this battle...