With Imperial Navy reinforcements bolstering the defence of the Cadian Gate, Abaddon has unveiled the next phase of his plan to bring the region to its knees. The Word Bearers Legion, led by the Dark Apostle and arch blasphemer Erebus, has enacted a terrible ritual upon the worlds it has captured, sacrificing the lives of innocents by the million.

The raw stuff of the Warp has been unleashed, pouring through the rents in the thin skein of reality created by their incantations, and calling up vast Warp storms across the region. Many outlying sectors such as Scelus and Caliban are now engulfed in raging tempests, some simply cut off from aid, others reduced to shifting realms of madness as the denizens of the Empyrean run riot across entire worlds. Ibrium is amongst the worst affected worlds; where once proud Ecclesiarchy Cathedrals stood, now blasphemous monuments to the powers of the Warp proclaim the dominion of Chaos. Across the sector, where kilometre-high Hive cities once pieced the clouds, now gargantuan charnel houses dominate worlds forever lost to Man.

Kharn the Betrayer himself has been unleashed upon Tabor in the Agripinaa sector, his berserker army wallowing in the blood of his victims. The cursed hulk Lysander has been vomited from the warp near the Imperial world of Gudrun, sending thousands mad with its mere proximity. Daemons are spilling into existence all across the Nemesis Tessera system, systematically destroying, debasing and defiling everything they find. The Cathedral of Chaos Ascendant upon Belial IV is nearly complete, and the Cadian sector is ravaged by warp storms so severe combatants must fight in the midst of crackling storms of raw Chaos energy. Chaos has fought back with renewed ferocity.

With so many sectors now cut-off, the war has escalated by a degree of magnitude in those areas still accessible to both sides. The fighting in such areas as the Cadian Sector, Scarus Sector and Agripinaa has reached an unprecedented level, with millions throwing themselves upon the crucible of utter and total war, to save the Cadian Gate from falling irrecoverably into the clutches of the Ruinous Powers. In an amazing twist of fate, the Imperial reinforcements from Battlefleet Solar arrive many weeks earlier than expected, for the tides of the Warp are never predictable. The Thirteenth company add their feral might to the battle for the Chaos-infested streets of Kasr Holn, and the Duke Lurstophan braves the warp storms to bring aid to the besieged Cadia. Under the bruised and crackling skies of his homeworld, Ursakar Creed, Lord Castellan of Cadia has launched a major counterassault from the heart of the Imperial forces, and the White Scars of the Adeptus Astartes engage the Chaos forces across the Cadian sector. Not a single man is spared, and the death tolls spiral ever upward.

There is Only War
The Cadian system stands upon the very brink of damnation- Vigilatum and Solar Mariatus all but broken upon the wheel of Abaddon's insatiable assault. Imperial forces, for so long fighting the strategic war, are losing the tactical battle across every world. That the Despoiler's assault on the Cadian Gate took the defences by storm is evident by the apocalyptic scale of the Imperium's losses, but questions are being asked at the highest of levels regarding the seeming inability of Imperium commanders to coordinate their actions. The identity of Abaddon's key strategic advisors and most trusted lieutenants- the so-called 'Triad' - is being sought as a matter of urgency. In recent days, agents under the auspices of the Ordo Malleus have won vital information, many at the cost of their own lives. Meantime Imperial defences are totally overwhelmed by the coordinated attacks, no force able to contribute reinforcements to any other warzones to stem the unholy tide of Chaos. With the Warp Storms now raging across the region, and the focus of the war falling upon Cadia itself, if the Imperium is to emerge victorious, a united command and a determined counter attack is all that may save billions of lives.

Agripinaa
The Agripinaa sector has taken a fearful battering in the latest phase of the Despoiler's invasion, with the forces of Chaos making gains on most of the worlds on that warzone. The system of Malin's Reach has suffered particularly horrifying defeats at the hands of the crazed mutants of the horde known as the Stigmatus Covenant. Should these deviants gain total control of the worlds of Malin's Reach, they may be lost for ever, for these scum are notorious for their desecration of all that is pure and holy in the realms of Man.

Tyranids
Recent reports from the Belis Corona fronts indicate a large number of Tyranid splinter fleets attacking worlds in that sector. Adeptus Mechanicus investigators have been despatched to ascertain the origins of these deadly xenos, and Deathwatch kill teams are being assembled from a number of Space Marine Chapters in the region.

The Voice Silenced
For weeks the heretic known as 'The Voice' has transmitted his blasphemous rantings across the vox-nets of the region, but with Warp storms rising across the warzones his transmissions have mysteriously ceased. The heretic's last transmission challenged the Dark Angels to defend the ruins of Caliban, and a further broadcast, claiming the Dark Angels were in fact in league with the Forces of Disorder was traced to a company of Night Lords Traitor Space Marines. An Ordo Malleus Kill team was dispatched, but upon reaching the site of the broadcast, found the Sons of the Lion had arrived before them, only the broken bodies of the Night Lords remaining to tell of the Dark Angels' wrath.

The following event cards were played in Week 5. If you have an event card and are unsure how to play it, contact your country representative. (Info should be with your card)

The Harvester of Souls
This card affects the Belial IV sub-sector in favor of the Forces of Order.
The Phoenix Lord Maugan Ra addresses the forces at the Belial IV sub-sector, where many Eldar warhosts have gathered to take back their Crone Worlds. His inspiring presence, bolstered in no small part by an Avatar of the Bloody-Handed God, drives the Eldar into a fury of battlelust that is then unleashed across the Crone Worlds. With such legendary figures in their midst they will fight until their enemies are annihilated or the last of their number is dead.

Solar Flares
This card affects the planets of the Cadia system in favor of Both Sides.
The increase in Warp Flare activity has an effect on all the stars in proximity to the Eye of Terror. Solar flares begin to occur in a dangerously unpredictable fashion presenting a hazard to shipping and communications.

The Talismans of Vaul
This card affects Macharia planet in favor of the Forces of Order.
Abaddon has deployed every weapon at his disposal in order to take Cadia, including the legendary Blackstone Fortresses. These massive space stations, known as the Talismans of Vaul to the Eldar, attract the graceful spacecraft of the ancient alien race in unprecedented numbers, falling on these outlying sections of the Chaos fleet to the exclusion of all else.

Death From Above
This card affects the Belis Corona system in favor of the Forces of Order.
A battlegroup of the Imperial Navy breaks through a picket line of Chaos Vessels to bombard their forces assembling on Laurentix. Orbital strikes hammer the Chaos forces and destroy whole swathes of traitors and war machines.

Ambush
This card affects the Belis Corona system in favor of the Forces of Disorder.
Imperial ships, despatched from their forward bases in Segmentum Solar travel through the Warp to arrive at the jump point at Bairsten Prime. By use of fell sorcery Abaddon has been forewarned of this and laid a trap for the Imperial vessels, crippling a great many before they can escape to Belis Corona.

The Silver Fox
This card affects Cadia, Xersia, and Demios Binary in favor of the Forces of Order.
Admiral Quarren, rallying his forces at Demios Binary, leads the battered Imperial Navy from his flagship, Gathalamor, taking the fight to the enemy once more. Using a brilliant series of feints and false pushes, the admiral is able to disperse elements of the Chaos fleets before engaging and destroying them piecemeal.

Taking Skulls for Khorne
In the Agripinaa sector, a terror millennia old has been unleashed. A killer that knows no mercy. This force is known throughout the Imperium as Kharn the Betrayer!

5 Minutes to Evac
Dispatched to inspect the site of a once Chaos-infested planet within the fringes of the Eye of Terror, a small detachment of Daemonhunters must determine whether the almost-forgotten world is habitable again.

Navigate the Storm
Chaos fleets have found a way to use the Warp Rifts to their advantage...

The Horror Below

Big Guns Never Tire