Core Worlds Campaign

Core Worlds campaign
Date	998.M30
Scale	Sector-wide
Theatre	Chelob Hold Sector
Status	Decisive Imperial Victory
Belligerents
Imperium of Mankind	Core Worlds Confederation
Commanders and Leaders
Gaspard Lumey and Uriel Starikov	various Core Lords
Strength
over 100,000 Space Marines, 1.5 million Imperial Army, significant Imperial Navy support	estimated between 4 million and 12 million ground forces, limited space presence
Losses
9,842 Space Marines (6,106 Winged Victory, 3,736 Children of Armok), roughly 140,000 Imperial Army	tens of billions
Outcome

Lumey opened the attack with a horrifying fleet bombardment of Kazara, the de facto capital world of the Confederation and then sent his men to the surface to annihilate the battered defenders. What resistance remained on Kazara was swept aside in three bloody days. On receiving news of Lumey's attack, several Core Worlds, including Kazara's old rival, Chelob Hold, immediately offered unconditional surrender to the Children of Armok. With their enemies reeling, the Primarchs pressed the initiative. The Void Angels split into three task forces, led by Gaspard Lumey and his trusted lieutenants Fabrice Diallo and Augustin Carron, while the Children of Armok, mainly committed elsewhere in the galaxy, dispatched small fleets to the weakest worlds. Lumey's force hunted down the remains of the Core Worlds fleet, capturing two great factory ships with audacious boarding actions. Diallo's men went into the tunnels of the Mining World of Lzoro, overwhelming the defenders in a bloody hand-to-hand struggle. Carron waged a lightning war down the Varrian Reach, seizing ten worlds in as many days. Each victory brought new offers of surrender as the remaining Core Lords began to see the inevitability of their fate. Yet their hopes of leniency were dashed. Lumey insisted on the execution of the surrendering aristocrats and a heavy tithe upon the newly conquered worlds. It is thought that Starikov actually talked down his imperious brother from even harsher terms, though it is hard to imagine what further punishment could have been levelled on the defeated.