Sabbat Worlds Crusade - Ground Assault Phase: The land war was now ready to commence, and even though the air was clear for a full-scale orbital drop assault, the Astra Militarum was once again resistant to the general. Carnhide understood their reluctance, and instead of ordering them to attack, he showed intuitive understanding that the answer to his problems lay with the forces of the Adeptus Mechanicus and their mighty war machines -- the Titans.Carefully formed by Warmaster Slaydo at the inception of the crusade, the Mechanicus had entered into cooperative pacts for the tentative use of their war machines. Though invaluable, the Mechanicus was an organisation that was prone to act autonomously, with a reluctance to be commanded by a crusade general.The priests of Mars continued to show their displeasure with the progress of the crusade, enduring the hardships that it entailed longer than led to expect by the former Warmaster. They grew increasingly dissatisfied with having to provide ever-greater quantities of their war machines. Macaroth had done little to appease the Mechanicus, and their forces assigned to the Second Front resented not being a part of the primary campaign.Carnhide possessed a reserve of over 130 Titans in his taskforce (the majority being the smaller, Scout-grade Warhound-class Titans), and he knew that these war machines of the Mechanicus could break the Archenemy's ground defences, opening the way for the Astra Militarum and its armour.Spending solar hours in carefully orchestrated talks with the senior adepts of the Mechanicus assigned to the crusade, Carnhide reasoned that the Warmaster sought triumph and glory, and those units that exhibited the most courage and zeal would more than likely be summoned by Macaroth to the front lines where the true glory lay.Carnhide promised the Mechanicus that if he garnered their full support he would send directly to the Warmaster reports of the ground assault on Lyubov being led by Mechanicus forces.The very next day the Mechanicus led the assault on three target zones: Srady Bay, Balk Cliff Hive and Zinc Hill. Long-range orbital bombardment and carpet-bombing preceded the Titan landings.Instead of dropping in and then advancing on the target the Titans landed and radiated from the landing zone. At Zinc Hill and Sradhive, large areas of territory were cleared in this way.Twenty-three solar hours after the successful Titan operation deployment the Astra Militarum forces mobilised en masse in a full-scale drop assault composed of 2.6 million troops in the first wave. The Imperial Guard targeted the three main zones that the Titans had already cleared of the defences of Archenemy forces.A fourth drop force, composed predominantly comprised of regiments of Carnelian Light Foot, targetted Kazenburg hive, successfully wrested control of the automatic defences and swiftly brought it back into use by Imperial occupation forces. Though it was the second largest hive city on the planet, the Guard force managed to take Kazenburg the fastest and most easily, with the least collateral damage.Zinc Hill was another matter entirely, as it soon proved to be the toughest of the targets to conquer. Being the most resistant to the Mechanicus' Titan assault, they still retained some air cover, using it to their advantage. Advancing under armour support, the second wave of Astra Militarum troops advanced upon the subsidiary hive city. As the Imperial forces attempted to storm the western wall of the main hive a massive battle erupted.The Archenemy deployed many bizarre engines of destruction, shredding both troops and body armour with thereto unknown mechanised heavy mortars that spat high-velocity razor chaff. Fortunately, these weapons proved to not be durable as they were soon destroyed by the Guard's field batteries and their sustained heavy bombardments.It took three solar days of constant warfare to finally breach the western wall. Invading the outer ring of the hive city, the Astra Militarum force soon encountered a concealed and dug-in enemy force and their nightmarish ditch-work of trenches and foxholes. Vicious trench warfare ensued for another two solar days until the Imperial Titan Vainglory Tumultus was brought in to clear the way.The ground forces sustained a high number of casualties. Chaotic street fighting soon ensued, as the Astra Militarum were continuously harangued by poorly armed Chaos Cult zealots. Carnhide wisely rendered command in the field to those officers on the ground who would be able to make split-second decisions to deal with the fluctuating threat as the situation dictated.After further investigation, it was revealed that the difficulties faced by Imperial forces were due to the fact that Araek Etogaur had made his base of operations at Zinc Hill.The Archenemy forces had acted accordingly, making this site one of ritual importance, defending it with fanatical vigour. Etogaur may have been present at the time of the Imperial invasion, and the vigorous defence put up by Archenemy forces was used to bide him time to escape and flee to Lyubovhive.