Imperium of Man

The Crusade intends to rapidly conquer the Jericho Reach to use it as a staging area for other Crusades to capture the Eastern Fringe and potentially begin an offensive against the Tau Empire. The cataylst for the Crusade was the discovery of an active Warp gate in Segmentum Obscurus which had a quick and easy path to the Jericho Reach. When word of this new discovery reached the High Lords of Terra, a Crusade was approved to take advantage of this Warp route. The Crusades original commander was Lord General Militant Tiber Achilus (to which the Crusade was named after), but after a Gellar Field failure on his Grand Cruiser resulted in the ship being lost to the Warp, Lord General Militant Tetrarchus assumed command.

The Crusade is taking place over three salients: designated Canis, Acheros, and Orpheus. The general Imperial strategy is to Canis Salient drive towards the core of Jericho Reach and crush native resistance while Acheros and Orpheus Salients move swiftly through uninhabited rim worlds, encircling the core and disrupting Tau activities in the area. Early on, the Crusade enjoyed rapid success, taking several worlds from heretic and rebel forces.

In Orpheus Salient the Crusade was the most successful initially under the command of General Curas, bringing sixty systems under its control against secessionist forces and petty rebel empires. However this success was short lived, as Tyranid Hive Fleet Dagon moved into the area and annihilated a large portion of the Salients Crusading forces. Most of the leadership was shattered and at least 50% of troops in the area were lost. At least nine worlds have been overrun by Tyranids in Orpheus Salient.


In Acheros Salient, the Crusade is bogged down in bloody fighting against Chaos forces, including warbands of Chaos Space Marines. The Chaos Marines organized a massive, well-organized counterattack consisting of Space Hulks and Cruiser-class vessels. The Acheros salient fleet, dispersed across the area in twenty sub-groups, were isolated and destroyed while poorly protected troop convoys were hunted down and ravaged. Only the skill of Imperial Navy fleet commanders and Space Marine forces prevented a sudden and savage loss of the entire salient, organizing an ordered withdrawal. At least 160,000 troops were lost in the Chaos offensive in six weeks of savage fighting, the majority of which were Guardsmen who were killed when their transport ships were destroyed.

In Cellebos Salient, a bloody war of attrition is taking place against heretic and secessionist forces. Control for key worlds such as Khazant and Vanity has swung back and forth several times. In addition, Space Marine and Imperial Guard forces began to clash with Tau Cadre's dispatched from the Sept of Velk'Han.