Kalidar War - Kostoval Rout: On 3.267.397.M41, three solar days after having set foot on Kalidar, the Imperial troops launched their first counterattack. As some of the battlegroup's regiments were still transitioning planetside, this first engagement was a limited operation involving only the battlegroup's most mobile elements.Their designated target was the Urta Mine Complex, a heavy-duty refinery for Lorelei crystals harvested in the Kostoval Flats. Located near Hive Modulus, the besieged Urta Mine Complex marked the furthest point of the enemy's advance. For two solar months, the Orks had laid siege to it, fighting running battles -- both on the surface and underground -- with the miners and Imperial troops detached to support them.With one of Kalidar's fierce sandstorms sweeping in, Captain-General Iskhandrian chose to use the weather to mask the tell-tale dust-clouds of a heavily mechanised advance. The battle plan was simple: advance under cover of the storm and surprise the Ork-held siege lines from two directions at once.Designated Formations Alpha and Beta, each salient of the Imperial attack was compromised of two full companies of Leman Russ Tanks drawn from the 42nd Paragonian Regiment -- one of the newly raised formations -- as well as embarked infantry from the Atraxian Regiments and the Savlar Chem-Dogs. Each formation would further benefit from the support of the Baneblades and other tanks of the super-heavy tank companies, with the 7th Paragonian part of Formation Beta and the 18th Atraxian allotted to Formation Alpha.Despite Kalidar's difficult atmospheric conditions which played havoc with the Astra Militarum's long and short-range communications, the Imperial troops were able to keep their formations together while advancing through the sandstorm. Adopting the standard Tactica Imperium formation known as "Solon's Axe," the armoured elements of both formations climbed the last dune separating them from the Ork trenches and launched their attack.While Formation Alpha plunged deep into the Ork-lines, Formation Beta almost immediately ran into trouble at the southern end of the line. Instead of dug-in bands of Orks trading fire with the beleaguered defenders, they found thousands of Greenskins arrayed in crisp battle lines and shouting their war-chants. Here and there, the greater forms of Deff Dreads and Killa Kans could be seen, hemmed in between mobs of Ork Boyz and eagerly snapping their Power Klaws at the onrushing Imperials. Brightly coloured Battlewagons and other armoured units were also part of the Greenskin horde.Undeterred by this sight, the Imperial formations rushed on, utilising the lull in the storm for maximum effect. The Leman Russ tanks opened up with their Battle Cannons, quickly joined by the Baneblades and their heavier Mega Battle Cannons. Just as they were to enter effective range with their hull-mounted Heavy Bolters, the sandstorm surged forward, catching up with the Imperial advance.As visibility degraded, the keen eyes of the commander of the Leman Russ Indomitable Fury, Lieutenant Colaron Artem Lo Bannick, saw how hidden trap doors and blankets were thrown open, Ork Tankbustaz suddenly appearing on the formation's flanks. The Imperial tanks had run into an ambush!As the first Rokkitz began to take their toll upon the battle tanks, the main horde surged forward. Oblivious to the members of their mobs mowed down by the tanks' Heavy Bolters or crushed beneath the rolling tracks, the Orks launched themselves at the Imperial tanks, climbing on top of their hulls and trying to break in with their Stikkbombz or Tankbusta Bombz.Even as the Leman Russes churned forward, ploughing through the enemy lines, towering figures soon emerged from the sandstorm, the fat-bellied figures of Ork Stompaz. No less then seven of the Titan-grade walkers were advancing on the Imperial formation, their heavy artillery-pieces taking a serious toll on the Imperial tanks.The super-heavy tanks of the 7th Paragonian replied in kind, the combined fire of the company's two Baneblades, Mars Triumphant and Artemen Ultrus, causing one of the Stompaz to explode. With casualties increasing, Beta's advance had stalled, whereas Alpha's attack proceeded according to plan. Soon Beta's infantry support was calling for a retreat, leaving the tanks unsupported against the walkers and the infantry.A general withdrawal was called soon after. The remains of the 42nd Paragonian Armour, now under the command of Lieutenant Bannick, and the yet unscathed 7th Paragonian Super-Heavy covered the retreat. The company's only Shadowsword, Lux Imperator, transformed one more Stompa into molten slag through a well-aimed shot of its Volcano Cannon.Mars Triumphant and Artemen Ultrus continued to work hand in hand, concentrating their fire on a one-armed Stompa which had lost his gigantic close-combat weapon and was now coming at them, its gatling gun hammering Mars Trumphant’s thick armour plating before it was brought down. With three Stompaz destroyed in short order, doubtlessly intimidated by that display of power, the Orks' enthusiasm to press on was diminished, giving the survivors of Beta's main line time to regroup.Adopting a single line, the survivors of 2nd and 3rd Company stopped to steady their aim, still shooting at the enemy. On the left, Formation Alpha had diverted their course to aid its overwhelmed counterpart. Herded by 4th and 5th Companies' guns, the Atraxian 18th and Alpha's infantry support cut down the Orks as wheat before the scythe. Ork Nobz tried to gather their Boyz around them and lead a charge, but the fire-discipline of the Astra Militarum ensured that none of these charges succeeded.As the battle was about to turn in the Imperium's favour, an even larger shape emerged from the bellowing sandstorm. Dwarfing even the Stompaz before it, a gigantic Ork Gargant stepped out of the storm, a palpable sense of malevolence preceding it. Its arms bristling with all kind of weaponry, this Gargant carried two great globes on ridged conducting rods high upon its back, weird energies playing about them and the super-heavy walker's grotesque faceplate.From the sense of unease that befell the Imperial troops it soon became clear that the gargantuan warmachine carried a psyker within, a powerful Weirdboy, or even one of the dreaded "Warpheadz." Quickly recuperating from the shock of having to face a Titan, Honoured Captain Hannick, the commanding officer of the 7th Paragonian Super-Heavy Company, ordered all his tanks to fire at the monstrosity.Mars Triumphant, Artemen Ultrus and Hannick's own tank, the Hellhammer Ostrakhan's Rebirth, fired their main weaponry as well as their hull-mounted Demolisher Cannons at the new opponent, but nothing managed to penetrate the defensive shield psychically generated around its ugly form. The Gargant's huge jaw was gradually lowered, a strange cannon protruding from it like an obscene tongue. Following 7th Company's lead, all of the Leman Russ tanks redirected their fire upon the Gargant, their shells vanishing in guts of flame and green lightning as they impacted the Gargant's psychic shield.With a blinding lightning flash, Lux Imperator unleashed the power of its Titan-killing Volcano Cannon, but even the Shadowsword failed to bring the Gargant's shields down. Weathering the storm, the Gargant deployed its main weapon, its tongue-cannon vomiting a braided spout of green Warp-energy. Everything the green lightning struck vanished, men, Chimeras and Leman Russes alike.Mars Triumphant was strafed by the blast, lurching to the side as if it had been kicked by a gargantuan monster, half of its systems shorting out. As the more mundane of the Gargant's weapons began to fire, the coordinated retreat soon became a rout, Imperial troops fleeing before the invincible giant slaughtering them.Where others fled, the 7th Paragonian Super Heavy Tank Company held their ground. With the Gargant's shield inviolable, the super-heavy tanks concentrated their fire on the Gargant's support walkers, felling one more Stompa while the Shadowsword's main cannon -- the Imperials' only true Titan-killing weapon -- recharged. Lux Imperator fired a second time, but still the enemy shield held. Having quite literally drawn the Gargant's malevolent gaze upon itself, the Shadowsword became the next target of the Gargant's tongue-cannon, the green lightning turning sand to glass before hitting Lux Imperator head-on, destroying it in a viridian flash.With the loss of Lux Imperator, all hopes of victory were lost. Without psykers of their own and unable to contact the Imperial Navy in low orbit to unleash a planetary bombardment, both Imperial formations quickly retreated. A rearguard was assembled to die on the Orks' guns and buy their comrades time to fall back into the protective confines of the storm and escape the Gargant's devastating weaponry.Six Chimeras and their complement of troops as well as three battered Leman Russ tanks of the 2nd Company of the 42nd Regiment were chosen to make the sacrifice. Loath to expend the lives of good men, Honoured Lieutenant Cortein of the Baneblade Mars Triumphant had his tank retreat slowly with its front facing the enemy, covering the rearguard for as long as he could.The enemy Titan was focused on trading shots with the remaining super-heavy tank, not paying attention to the doomed troops on its left. Some survivors of the rout joined the rearguard, hoping to escape the hell they had waded into, but the commanding sergeant was adamant that his orders were not to retreat.Out of the sandstorm emerged a lone figure in the purple uniform of a Paragonian officer: Lieutenant Bannick. Taking control of the rearguard by dint of his rank, Lieutenant Bannick countermanded his superiors' orders, telling the troops under his command to ready for departure. Without further delay, the Lieutenant clambered aboard one of the Leman Russes, and ordered his new squadron to load armour-piercing shells.The Lieutenant's keen eyes had noticed that the force field that protected the enemy Gargant seemed to be extremely limited. Even in close proximity to the Titan, the Stompa's own shields did not flare up when they should have interacted with those of the Gargant, meaning the larger walker was not protected from interaction with its smaller companion. It was the Lieutenant's hope that by targeting and disabling the smaller walker, the Stompa would collapse onto the Gargant's foot or in its path and cause a collision that would stop the Gargant from pursuing the retreating Imperial formations.Biding his time, Lieutenant Bannick carefully coordinated his squadron's fire and the las-beams and shells found their mark. As the head of the Stompa exploded, the big walker toppled to the left, its wreckage falling right in front of the Gargant's colossal foot. When the Gargant's armoured skirt caught upon the wreckage of the Stompa, the Ork Titan was unable to move, forcing the murderous walker to stop in its tracks. Pinned fast, the furious Gargant continued to fire its weapons, but to no avail. The retreating Imperials were soon out of reach, and vanished into the billowing clouds of the sandstorm.