-Excerpt of the heretical 'Treaties with the Xenos'-
One example of Imperial commanders looking to shore up their positions can be found in the records of the Hazeroth abyss incursion. The Admiral of the fleet based at Synford requested a fleet of Astartes [Ref. Blood Angels fleet dispositions 23-22.26Alpha-Epislon] to push towards the incursion and take them away from his base of operations. The Emperors Angels were judicious in their persecution of the Emperors foes, securing Threnos and pushing on to secure Cyprian's Gate. While this is sound strategy, using the Blood Angels as the shock troops they are, it also allows the Imperial Admiral free reign to secure his grip over Synford and manoeuvre politically to secure himself. With little-to-no military progress, he dispatched envoys to invite the Tau to expand out secure the imperials western sector, thus shoring up a buffer of Xenos who would not destroy the worlds they claimed. This foresight and diplomacy is questionable at best, and it is only the authority of one such as a High Admiral who could even consider such overtures. The successes of this strategy are not relevant to the lessons within, only the consideration of when it is worthwhile to open diplomatic channels with the Xenos, and how to be in a position to maximise the benefit. Thus we can see that the aim was to remove the staunch Imperial forces who would never countenance such a move, while using them to their full potential, and create the room to negotiate without hinderance.
So this is round 2 of 6. The attacks are shown above. Tau have sprung into action, pushing for Clove and Stygian Prime, Our imperial player is MIA, but the Marines are still waging their crusade for the imperials into Cyperian's gate. Chaos are pushing on all fronts, trying to take Mara, Idumea and Heterodyne (the attack to the bloodfell system is a cartographers error). Meanwhile the orks are trying not to get boxed in, by taking Samson IV from the chaos. If this attack goes well, it could mean the Chaos empire becomes scattered and potential targets open up for a lot of mayhem. The nids are still trying to progress to Malice to get out of their cul-de-sac.
The games are being played this Thursday, and then it is a bit up in the air if we have round 3 in Dec or Jan, so might be a little bit of time before the next round, so we'll be aiming to make this one a good one!