Battle of Granicus

The **Battle of Granicus** was a Imperial defensive campaign that occurred in 999.M41 and was fought against the encroaching menace of the Tyranid Hive Fleet Granicus, an offshoot of a tendril of the infamous Hive Fleet Leviathan, which was eradicated earlier at Tarsis Ultra. This battle was an immense undertaking, spearheaded by the majority of the proud and fierce Ash Scorpions Space Marine Chapter which committed eight whole companies to the conflict.

## History

The Hive Fleet was first identified by the telltale signs of Tyranid Activity on  Several Worlds in the Ultima Segmentum and by 999.M41, it was determined that a small but significant Hive Fleet was headed for the Granicus System. Lord Commander Corvo was given overall Command of the Imperial Forces and decided to make his stand on the agri-world of Granicus V. Granicus V was an almost perfect world to fight the Tyranids as it possessed just one major city with high walls surrounded by flat open spaces that gave the Tyranids no cover or places to hide. When the Hive Fleet appeared on the edge of the system the Imperial Navy forces were waiting and immediately engaged the Tyranids in a great void battle.

The massive hive ships were the main target and two of the three bio-ships were destroyed before the Imperial forces pulled back to enable the Hive Fleet to move further in-system. This was done because there were no worlds between it, and Granicus V, and so there was no chance for the Tyranids to recover their losses. Lord Corvo was well aware of the tactics used at Tarsis Ultra and repeated them at Granicus. The Tyranids were allowed to fire mycetic spores at the world while the orbital lasers remained silent, but allowed the torpedo silos to fire at will. With the fighting now raging on the surface, the Imperial Navy attacked again in order to draw the Hive Ships screen back into orbit, just as had been done at Tarsis Ultra, but the Tyranid Forces did not follow what had happened at Tarsis Ultra, and the screening forces remained in position, but it was a futile effort as there were just not enough Tyranid ships to defend from orbit and from the surface lasers. Finally the last hive ship was destroyed, sending the Tyranid forces into panic as their synaptic-gestalt link to the Hive Mind was severed. After that, the campaign became a simple 'mopping up' operation. With the fighting over, the study of the many corpses of Tyranid bioforms confirmed that they were indeed a part of Hive Fleet Leviathan and not a new fleet. How this splinter managed to escape the destruction at Tarsis Ultra is unknown for certain, currant thinking is that 1 or more Hive Ships broke away from the main fleet before it faced the sons of Guilliman and following the battle it continued north, preying on isolated systems. By the time it had come within strike range of the Granicus system it had grown considerably, but for the fortuitous defeat of 2 of its hive ships in the opening battle it may have been able to overun the defences. The Imperium was also fortunate that hive fleet was destroyed at the granicus, before it came within range of the twin hive worlds of mexes, home to trillions of people, had the fleet been able to harvest this massive source of biomass the destruction it could have wrought would have been staggering

## Battle of Granicus Order of Battle

### Adeptus Astartes

* **Ash Scorpions** - (8 Companies) ~ 1 Battle Barge, 6 Strike Cruisers, 13 Escorts

### Astra Militarum Regiments

* **Valhallan Ice Warriors** - (2 Under-Strength Regiments - About 3,000 Personnel - 200 Vehicles)

### Local Planetary Defence Forces

* **Planetary Defence Force** - Granicus Home Guard (7 Companies - About 4000 Personnel)

### Imperial Navy

* **Imperial Navy** - 1 Mars Class Battlecruiser, 1 Front-Line Cruiser Squadron, 2 Light Cruiser Squadrons, 2 Escort Squadrons

### Xenos

* Hive Fleet Leviathan ~ 3 Hive Ships (Trillions of Organisms)