Battle of Prospero - Ground Assault: Shortly after the orbital bombardment began, the Imperial invaders arrived by the thousands -- wave after wave of drop-ships, assault boats and gunships sped inbound to the planet's surface. Behind them came bulkier cargo transports bearing armoured vehicles and artillery pieces. The Kine-Shields of the Raptora Cult could not protect Tizca from the attack, but their cover was no longer needed. The bombardment from orbit had ceased, and squadrons of Stormbird gunships led the charge, skimming low over the water towards Tizca’s port. Hundreds of Imperial craft flew over the churning seas, leaving foaming breakers in their wake. The idea that any enemy could reach the surface of Prospero to launch an assault had been discounted, and as a consequence, there were no Prosperine antiaircraft batteries to meet the oncoming invaders. The route into Tizca was wide open.The first gunship to land, an enormous Stormbird with steel-grey sides and the image of twin wolves painted on its blunt prow smashed into the eastern quarter of the capital that was known as Old Tizca, blasting its way in with a salvo of missiles and a blast of cannon fire. Landing skids deployed at the last second, and the aircraft came down hard in the wreckage. No sooner had it set down than the assault ramps dropped and Leman Russ himself set foot on Prospero, the first invader ever to do so. He roared to the skies, and the devastation wrought by his fleet above was pleasing to him. Two enormous Fenrisian Wolves howled at his sides, and a score of his most powerful Astartes fought their way into the port.As the Space Wolves drew first blood, Prospero’s military responded. The citizen militias of Tizca rose in defence of their city, gathering what arms they could and taking up firing positions on rooftops and at windows. No one was fool enough to think they would be anything more than irritants to the Space Wolves, but to let the invaders simply walk into Tizca without a fight was as abhorrent as it was unthinkable.The Skyguard Air Command launched every squadron of their two-man skimmers from their hangars to the south. These disc-like anti-gravitic aircraft were armed with Heat Lances and Missile Pods, and the sky above the city became a frantic mess of gunfire, streaking missiles, explosions and dogfights as the two forces duelled for supremacy.The Imperial Army regiments of the Prosperine Spireguard attempted to bear the brunt of the Astartes' assault, meeting the barbarian warriors of the Space Wolves bravely but futilely on the field of battle. The Spireguard, already on high alert after the commencement of the orbital bombardment, moved out en masse under the guidance of the Thousand Sons’ Corvidae Cult. Ordered to defend Tizca, they did not falter from that order despite the overwhelming odds arrayed against them.Elements of the 15th Prosperine Assault Infantry, under Captain Sokhem Vithara, occupied the upper slopes of Old Tizca, anchoring their defence between the fire-wreathed pyramid of the Pyrae Cult, the Skelmis Tholus, which lay a kilometre to the west of their position and the Corvidae Cult's own pyramid. Vithara set up his command post in the vestibule of the Kretis Gallery, the oldest repository of artwork and sculpture on Prospero.In the southwest quadrant of the city, the Prospero Assault Pioneers rallied what little was left of their soldiers after the avalanches caused by the orbital shelling swallowed three of their barracks. The northern Palatine Guard deployed on the edges of the burning port, occupying high parapets that overlooked the libraries and art galleries of the Nephrate District. Their commander, Katon Aphea, was the heir apparent to one of Prospero’s oldest families, a young and gifted officer with great potential. He anchored his defence on the Caphiera Tholus and positioned his troops with a tactical acumen that would have been lauded at any of the Imperial Army's officer scholam.Leman Russ and his Space Wolves overran Aphea’s position in less than two minutes. Tizca burned as dawn's light crept over the horizon. Yet, though the Space Wolves had struck an overwhelming blow, they had yet to face the city’s true defenders. The Thousand Sons deployed, and suddenly the fight took on a very different character.