Battle of Hellmace

Armorial of the Gray Hussars Chapter.

The **Battle of Hellmace** was an Imperial excoration campaign that was a part of the much wider Indomitus Crusade carried out by the Gray Hussars Space Marine Chapter and their Imperial allies against the Reapers of Blood Chaos Warband upon the besieged Imperial world of Hellmace.

## Background

Hellmace was a civilized world of no particular importance that strafed the edges of the Saras Sector and the Great Rift, exposed to the advancing tide of Chaos. The *Reapers of Blood,* World Eaters warband that fought the Gray Hussars in the Bretz System in 882.M41 came for revenge by advancing upon a system in the Saras Sector to draw out the Gray Hussars. Lord Kitur lead his forces slaughtering all upon the planet of Hellmace one city at a time to give the Gray Hussars time to reinforce the local defenses. Grand Master Devilin von Bruh lead the Second and Third Divisions along with the Fleet of Divine Fury, The Shield-Order and the 119th Mechanized Regiment of the Death Korp of Krieg to annihilate the World Eater Warband with nearly half the chapter. The Gray Hussars chose their battle in the planetary capital of Tuld. Several Million planetary defense soldiers dug in around the city behind the lines of the Death Korp. The Gray Hussars prepared for the battle. Lord Kitur lead his World Eaters along with crazed bloodthirsty cultists upon the city.

Slaughtering the local towns to the Blood God. Summoning many Blood-Thirsters and Flesh-Hounds they blustered their ranks by the thousands. The Veterans of the *Death Korp* lead the defenses the masters of trench warfare smashing against the waves of cultists without breaking ranks. The Gray Hussars joined in the melee, Grand Master Devilin von Bruh lead in the Shield-Order while the Second and Third Divisions prepared a counter-attack to surround them from the rear. The Shield-Order marched in a phalanx formation upon the World Eaters. The Chaos Astartes fought the seasoned Veterans of the Shield-Order with faith and fury crashing upon one another. After several hours of mindless slaughter millions of Guardsman, hundreds of Chaos Astartes and dozens of the Veterans of the Shield-Order lay dead, Grand Master Devilin von Bruh confronted Lord Kitur in single combat to see who was the superior. The Second and Third Divisions started their counter-attack breaking behind the warbands lines. The Armor of the Gray Hussars carved through the cultists with brutal efficiency. The warband managed to use the dead souls to summon more daemons, slowing the assault to a grind.

The duel of the leaders was said to last for hours between the Grand Master and Chaos Lord, ending with a chain axe bisecting Grand Master Devilin von Bruh. The Lord-Knight of the Second Division, Riley von Gergan, pushed forth encountering Lord Kitur standing over his Grand Master's corpse. Charging the chaos lord with one swipe of his powersword, the Chaos Lord was decapitated, the daemon possessing the Chaos Lord exploding in a burst of warp energy. The Daemons were banished and the warband was disorganized and slaughtered by the *Death Korp,* Planetary Defense Forces and Gray Hussars. Lord-Knight Riley von Gergan was voted in unanimously as the Grand Master of the Gray Hussars, with no other challengers for the position.