After years of war, tens of thousands of Tau vehicles were worn out or badly damaged, requiring a pause in the campaign to seize the ork-held Al’gel System.

“I believe in the Greater Good. Its tenents offer us a galaxy of hope and peace. But to achieve these noble goals, generations of Tau will suffer. Never more so then when fighting the Be’gel. These beasts love only war, and they are a curse to fight.”

“How many of my fine Fire Warriors have died in this campaign? I wish we could simply bomb every world in the Al’gel System until every Be’gel is dead. I’d rather conquer a dead world than lose one more life fighting this enemy.”—Commander Bloodsword, ground commander of Tau forces in the Al’tel System.

* * *

Excerpt of “The Complete History of the Al’gel Campaign,” the conquest of Al’gel II (744-747.M41)

[Dates and terminology converted to Low Gothic for ease of reading.]

Fatigue and respite

After eight years of fighting, the momentous and bloody military campaign for Al’gel 1 and Al’gel II was officially announced in mid-744.M41.

The announcement was not cause for celebration. More than half a million highly trained and motivated Fire Warriors were dead or wounded, and those who still lived were beyond exhaustion.  What’s more, despite extensive psychological conditioning during their training, more than 100,000 survivors were showing signs of extreme emotional duress.

The military infrastructure of the Tau fighting force also was under strain. Tens of thousands of vehicles had been used long past their expected service life, and the logistical demands of the campaign often had overwhelmed the ability of the Earth Caste to ensure adequate ammunition, spare parts, and replacement vehicles.

It was widely recognized that the Tau campaign might well have collapsed had the battle for the inner planets lasted another year.

Combat fatigue was another major reason that the Tau military campaign stalled for nearly two years.

As a result, Commander Bloodsword, overall commander of ground forces, had little choice but to order a pause in the campaign for the rest of the Al’gel System and allow for rest of his troops, reinforcements, and resupply.

All senior officers were silently relieved. To continue the campaign to yet another of the system’s ork-held planets, even though less populated, was a task that even the most aggressive of commanders was not ready to face without a respite.

This pause in the campaign was expected to last only six months. But reality proved otherwise. For one, the unique nature of ork reproduction required the Tau army to conduct continuous search-and-destroy missions against isolated ork survivors, hunt down precursor organisms (grots, snotlings, squigs), and burn fungal patches in wilderness areas before they spawned a new generation of ork warriors.

The more challenging problem, however, was logistical. For reasons not explained at the time, even to Commander Bloodsword, the Tau Ethereals were slow to provide the reinforcements and new equipment necessary for further campaigning.. Only 100,000 Fire Warriors arrived over the course of the next year and, instead of replacing the entire army’s worn and unreliable vehicles, the Tau High Command sent only a third of the replacements needed.

Instead, large supplies of spare parts were sent, with the obvious but unspoken message that Bloodsword’s forces would need to refurbish and “make due” with whatever old vehicles could be put back in service.

This was not a good sign.

Ork Freebooterz regularly attempted to bring Tau warships to battle. In every fight, the greenskins lost tactically. But, strategically, battle damage to Tau vessels slowly eroded the combat effectiveness of Tau naval forces

Naval battles dominate 745.M41

As Commander Bloodsword struggled to prepare his ground forces for the  next stage of conquest, Admiral Lightning found himself defending the inner planets of the system against increasingly aggressive and more numerous ork warships.

At the end of 744.M41, for example, a flotilla commanded by an ork Freebooter named Kaptin’ Doomsmacka surprised a Tau patrol group that was passing close to the system’s asteroid belt between Al’gel II and III.

The battle was brief: One Kill Kroozer was left a hulk and the ork escorts were destroyed. Tau casualties consisted of the loss of the Rau’kin, an orca-class gunship that was boarded and overrun by the greenskins before the gunship’s captain made the ultimate sacrifice and activated the ship’s self-destruct mechanism.

Admiral Lightning

The surviving ork warships retreated.

More than a dozen small naval actions followed throughout 745.M41, with the Tau Navy consistently claiming victory. Still, several Tau warships suffered sufficient damage that required them to leave the system for repair—gradually reducing Admiral Lightning’s roster of serviceable ships.

Reinforcements were urgently requested but, by this point, the Ethereal leadership council denied such pleas, responding regretfully that the Gue’la (human) empire had launched a major attack on Tau-controlled worlds on the far side of the Damocles Gulf, and this war zone had priority in terms of logistical and naval support.

Admiral Lightning would just have to make due with his existing force and, as was expected of Commander Broadsword, the conquest of the Al’gel System would have to continue with the resources at hand.

Click here to read Part 2 of this “historical” update.

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The Corvus Cluster is a Warhammer 40K blog documenting our hobby adventures in the fantastical sci-fi universe of Games Workshop.