Assault on the Haslem line finale

Major Verrox grimly surveyed the situation in front of him.  His defense line was thread bare at this point with another wave of Stygian forces about to engulf him.  Over the vox he heard similar reports at other sectors of the defense line.  The Stygians were punching through.  He began ordering the general withdrawal selecting a few squads to act as a rear guard.  Those units staying behind began to pour fire onto the oncoming stygian infantry.  It was weak fire and only a few of the foe fell to it.  The Guardians began retreating from the bloodletters throwing grenades at the daemons before rushing back to take up new firing positions behind the defensive line.  To the astartes if they were forced to retreat it would be by throne a fighting retreat at least.

Major Nagash saw the Imperials attempting to withdraw and franticly began calling out orders.  it would be easier for the Stygian units in the hills behind the Imperial lines to pick off huge sections of the imperial army if the retreat could be turned into a route.  Artillery fire began to fall on the Imperial position even as his troops surged forward to storm the line.

The Stygian forces charged the line slamming into the few units left behind as a rear guard.  The Stygians came in with bayonets fixed firing from the hip.  The mall number of Imperial troops were quickly hacked apart. Even the flesh hound reinforced by stygian warriors made quick work of the imperial squad that had stymied it's rampage for so long.

With the line breached the first of the Stygian infantry squads made ready to advance only to be met by a hail of bolter fire.  The Guardians chapter true to their name formed up a new rear guard between the advancing stygians and the retreating guardsmen. Their fire forcing the stygians to shelter in the trenches.  Major Nagash cursed as he watched.  The artillery ha already begun to displace and it would take another fifteen minutes until they would be reloaded and sighted in on the imperials.  They had defeated the Imperials and forced them to retreat, however the battlefield was heaped with Stygian dead, and it was a retreat not a route.  Still cursing Nagash tried to organize the pursuit.  It would be mostly up to the units in the foothills as part of Operation Nesting Asps to turn the Imperial retreat to the Hive city into a route.

Special thanks again go out to Chris Edstrom (pictured below) whose invaluable help made this battle report possible.