Battle of Ecnomus III

Guardsmen taking cover during the final days of the battle.

"*We will hold the line, as we have always done, there is no other option!*"
— Unknown Steelborne Officer
The **Battle of Ecnomus III** was a massive Imperial defensive campaign conducted by a large Imperial coalition in the valiance defence of the vitally important hive world of Econmus III, against the onslaught of an invading tendril of an unknown Tyranid Hive Fleet.

## History

There is no foe more foul, more despised, more savage apart from the servants of the Ruinous powers than the xenos race known as the Tyranids. They are a pervasive, animalistic enemy with no goal other than the consumption of all living things in the galaxy. This cannot, will not be allowed to occur. On the Hive World of Ecnomus III it didn't, thanks to a coalition of Imperial Forces consisting of guardsmen of the Macharian Steelborne, the Titans of Legio Fulminata, the Battle Brothers of the Imperial Sentinels Chapter, and a contingent of vessels from Battlefleet Macharia.

### Prelude

When word reached Sector command of a Splinter Hive Fleet approaching Ecnomus III there was a brief panic to say the least. However once order was restored it became apparent only one force would be in a position to arrive before the battle, the Macharian Steelborne’s 41st Army Group. So the command was given for the unit to redeploy and hopefully bolsters the PDF garrison enough that the enemy would be held at bay at least until a relief force could be assembled.

When the 41st arrived on the planet the Commanding officer, Antonis Tripellis, was less than impressed with the local troops and held no delusions of victory without the relief force. So the Sons and Daughters of Macharia set to work, fortifying, training, stocking supplies, etcetera. The planetary defense forces were undermanned, undertrained, and woefully unprepared for battle against such an unforgiving enemy. But progress was made.

In preparation for the inevitable every street was turned into a killzone, every hab block a strongpoint, and every spire a nest for anti-aircraft batteries. Every able-bodied man was armed to fight, every woman was assigned to either work in the factories or to assist the Chirurgeons as nurses, and every child was set to work carrying messages, food, water, and ammunition to those who needed it. The enemy would send everything it had against the Hive World, so every citizen would need to meet them in kind.

At sector command the General Staff were not idle either, recalling forces from completed campaigns in other parts of the galaxy, raising new regiments, dispatching requests for aid to the Adeptus Mechanicus and Adeptus Astartes.

### First Contact

Despite their preparations the defenders of Ecnomus III were still blindsided by the scale and devastation of the initial attack. The Naval Defense Monitors barely scratched the enemy's void forces before they were torn apart, taken likewise off guard. Surface-to-Orbit missile silos and gun batteries sang, but it seemed that for every landing craft consumed in righteous fire twenty more made it to the planet below. Hive Garran was annihilated on the fourth day of the battle, the 103rd Mechanized Regiment that was garrisoned there along with the PDF and populace were slaughtered wholesale. Hives Crona and Inelens suffered massive casualties to stave off the enemy but held fast nonetheless. But Hives Anetin, Iyreas, and Iarith were relatively unscathed, facing and defeating only probing attacks.

General Tripellis then enacted the first phase of his counterattack, with the 57th Armored, 86th Mechanized, 98th Mechanized, and 34th Super Heavy Tank Regiments striking the enemy forces outside Crona. Now it was the turn for the Tyranids to be surprised and cut down.