Orphean War

The Orphean War was is an ongoing war between the Imperium and the Necrons of the Maynarkh Dynasty, in the Orpheaus sector, the events of which were detailed in Imperial Armour 12: The Fall of Orpheaus

In 991.M41 after years of studying the Imperium the Maynarkh Dynasty attacked the Orpheaus sector in force. The populations of four planets were completely exterminated before anyone knew what was going on. An alarm was finally raised at the inquisitorial fortress in the sector, and Imperial forces in the sector were finally mobilized however they still had no idea just what the hell was attacking them. Of course this wouldn't be the Imperium without some useless bureaucrat fucking things up, as the sector's governor ordered most of the garrisons from the rest of the sectors worlds be committed to the sector capital of Amarath. The fact that thats just where he himself happened to be had nothing to do with it of course. Because you know leaving countless people defenseless to be killed by the billions always comes second after self preservation.

Then surprisingly nothing happened. Just as fast as the Necrons started they inexplicably stopped. Months passed without any sighting of the enemy. Then without warning an overpowering signal of screams, mad whispers in an unknown language, and the phrase "Maynarkh comes" were broadcast sector wide and it was discovered that the Angels Revenant's homeworld, which Imperial Forces had lost contact with during the first wave of attacks had been vaporized. The attacks resumed after this, and thanks to the governor's ingenious strategy of stockpiling all the troops and ships to protect his useless ass, the Necrons took planet after planet until they controlled half the damn sector. OOPS. Then something unexpected happened.

Rather then continuing their assault the Necron advance unexpectedly halted again, allowing Imperial reinforcements to arrive and the capital sector to be reinforced. As it turned out the governor sacrificing the lives of countless people, stockpiling all the sectors forces around one location had actually created a very intimidating strong point. In all around 19 million Imperial Guard, an extra 2 million Death Korps Guardsmen, countless more PDF troops, hundreds of Imperial Navy ships and three space marine chapters, including the entirety of the Minotaurs were in system to defend that one planet, with another Space Marine chapter en route to join the fun.

The Necrons began their assault on Amarah by using their technology on the world's sun, causing solar flares that incinerated the day-time half of the planet, followed after by their fleet destroying the defense stations in orbit and landing their forces. To kick off the ground campaign they then bombed the world's largest hive city New Vassburg out of existence with their fliers.

The guard fought back hard, moving into superior tactical positions they were able to decimate the necron forces with tanks, artillery, and massed infantry fire. This worked for a while however as it turns out you can in fact kick too much ass, as the sustained fire needed to keep the Necrons at bay stretched their ammo supply too thin and wore down their weapons. As this became evident canoptek constructs flanked the guard, massacring them and destroying their vehicles. The guard hastily tried to counter attack but were cut down(one guardsmen did survive but he was executed for cowardice soon after).

After that the Death Corp guardsmen decided to show the other guys how it was done. Taking position in the plains, they used the ruins and underground tunnels to their advantage, drawing the necron warriors into bottlenecks while keeping them from bringing their air or range support to bear. Despite this their commander knew they'd eventually be destroyed and decided to go out in style, ordering all 200,000 men under his command to charge right into the Necron ranks, while ordering all his available support to focus fire to destroy the one monolith the Necrons had deployed. In the end they were successful in destroying the monolith and fought to the last man, thus proving they were worthy of the adamantine powerballs they had.

Meanwhile in space the Imperial navy led by the Minotaurs attacked the enemy fleet. Despite heavy casualties the Minotaurs were able to get close enough to board one of the the Necron's tomb ships, depositing terminators who also suffered heavy casualties to place a beacon allowing more terminators, chapter master Moloc, and a pair of dreadnoughts to teleport inside. The Minotaurs then proceeded to rampage their way to the command deck where Moloc fought the Overlord head on. He finally beat the mechanical bastard when he stabbed him through the back, but only after he had already torn everyone who crossed his path in half, and wrecked a dreadnought. The two were then sucked into space through a hull breach before one of the Minotaur's battle barges rammed itself into the Tomb ship forcing it to withdraw and causing the rest of the necron fleet to retreat, beaming up all the necrons that were on the ground.

In the end the Imperial Forces were victorious, however there wasn't much to celebrate since the planet had been largely destroyed. The remaining Imperial forces were evacuated and regrouped on two other another planet having lost more then half their forces while the remaining citizens were left to fend for themselves on the scorched graveyard that used to be their world. The war is still being fought however its become a hopeless stalemate, with the few remaining survivors now cut off from aid, while the necrons continue to launch smaller attacks on them to probe their lines. Meanwhile during all the fighting one of the the neighboring sectors fell to chaos forces who now attack both sides. Imperial command is weighing its options but the only feasible way to reclaim the sector would be a huge crusade sized force which would take around thirty years to organize. Given that they're likely to lose whats left of their real estate in that time, a lot of the strategists suggest that its looking more and more economic to just exterminatus the whole damn sector.