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Arkos the Faithless - Summoning Chaos: In 822.M41, The Faithless' Chaos Sorcerers sent a psychic signal through the Warp to call forth their old allies to Vraks Prime. Lurking around the Eye of Terror, those forces that heard the call were drawn to the Imperial Armoury World like moths to a flame by the flickering psychic light that promised battle, slaughter and plunder in the name of the Dark Gods.Fortunately for the Imperial forces, the tides of the Warp did not favour the intentions of the Renegade forces on Vraks Prime. The Warp Storms that continually engulfed the star systems of the Eye of Terror at this time were fierce, raging without end and making interstellar navigation all but impossible.Most of the ancient Chaos warfleets that received The Faithless's psychic signal were comprised of raiding ships and their supporting troop transports. These vessels constantly skirted the Eye of Terror, emerging to launch bloody raids against Imperial colonies or poorly defended Imperial shipping convoys.Many splinter groups from these vengeful Traitor Legion warfleets heard The Faithless' clarion call to war, and began to make their way to the Vraks System. |
Arkos the Faithless - Treachery: The mighty Chaos Lord Zhufor of the Khornate warband of Chaos Space Marines called the Skulltakers was charged by his master Abaddon the Despoiler to run the campaign on Vraks Prime to his liking.Zhufor first began subjugating the various Chaos warbands and factions present on the world in an attempt to unify them under his leadership. All of the Chaos Space Marine warbands submitted, save for Arkos and The Faithless.The Faithless would not submit to Zhufor but in order to save his warband from being attacked by the Khornate Chaos Champion, Arkos cut a treacherous deal with Zhufor. Of all the Chaos Space Marine warband leaders present on Vraks Prime, Arkos alone held the trust of the Apostate Cardinal-Astra Xaphan, who was hidden away inside his nearly impregnable former Departmento Munitorum fortress, the Citadel.Arkos knew that the Apostate-Cardinal was already little more than a symbolic figurehead for the Chaos forces on the planet, and that Arkos had been really directing the war effort for years. Yet many of the Vraksian Renegades saw the Cardinal as their messiah, particularly since Xaphan had already proclaimed himself as such, and control over Xaphan was needed to fully motivate and command the forces of the Vrakisian Renegade Militia.Arkos agreed to allow Zhufor to capture Xaphan in return for Zhufor's guarantee that The Faithless could remain independent of his command. The treacherous pact was made, and Arkos proved true to his word.In secret, the Alpha Legion allowed Zhufor and his personal bodyguard of Chaos Terminators into the Cardinal's Palace within the Citadel. The palace became a charnel house, as Zhufor and his men slaughtered nearly everyone within.Xaphan was captured alive by Zhufor himself. He had played his part on Vraks but now Khorne had one final use for the Renegade Cardinal -- as a sacrifice. |
Arkos the Faithless - Last Stand of the Faithless: As the final Imperial siege of the Citadel ground on, the battle began to turn against the forces of Chaos with the arrival of the forces of the Ordo Malleus and another Space Marine Chapter. The Angels of Absolution had come at the behest of Supreme Grand Master Azrael of the Dark Angels, their force ferried to Vraks by the Battle Barge Liberatorii Delictum, the Strike Cruiser Repentant and their two escorts. The Angels of Absolution were a Chapter with close ties to their progenitors.At the supreme grand master's request, the Dark Angels' Interrogator-Chaplain Belphegor was attached to the strike force alongside the Angel of Absolution's Company Master (Captain) Yafnir. The strike force presented themselves before the Inquisitor Lord Hector Rex, the new commander of the Imperial forces on Vraks Prime, who permitted the strike force to make an attempt to capture the Traitor Arkos the Faithless after the Astartes of the Unforgiven had narrowly failed to capture him during their mission to Vraks nine standard years earlier.The Inquisitor had some misgivings, as he felt that an asset like a high-ranking Alpha Legion commander -- with all the sensitive intelligence he could reveal -- would best serve the Imperium by remaining in the hands of the Ordo Malleus. He feared that once captured by the notoriously independent and secretive Dark Angels, Arkos would vanish into the depths of The Rock and never be heard from again.With their explicit orders from the Supreme Grand Master of the Dark Angels and the Chapter Master of the Angels of Absolution, Interrogator-Chaplain Belphegor and Master Yafnir remained determined that if captured, Arkos must be returned to the Rock, otherwise Yafnir would be forced to withdraw his vessels and battle-brothers from the Vraks theatre.No Inquisitorial interference would be tolerated in pursuit of their mission. Eventually, Hector Rex relented and allowed the Unforgiven strike force free reign to plan and execute any operation they deemed necessary.Master Yafnir's battle-brothers launched a Drop Pod assault directly into the Citadel, then Belphegor and his Battle-Brothers descended upon the forces of the Archenemy in a lightning strike.Their target was the Basilica of St. Leonis, the heart of the Citadel. The Liberatorii Delictum and the Repentant began their own operation to find and destroy the Anarchy’s Heart, wherever it was hiding in the Vraks System.The Faithless were one of the last lines of defence for the forces of Chaos within the Citadel. Interrogator-Chaplain Belphegor led the Sternguard, the Veterans of the Dark Angels elite 1st Company, the Deathwing.It was they who intended to face down Arkos. Though the Chaos Lord's warband had been much reduced by the Long War, the potent Traitor Marine officer remained a dangerous opponent even for these vaunted Space Marines. The Angels of Absolution's squads spread out and began their search of the rubble, looking for any sign of the Arch-Traitor, but the Basilica was vast.The Loyalist Space Marines fought on, capturing as many of the The Faithless' Chaos Space Marines as they could. Even those Traitor Marines who had been grievously wounded were kept alive by the Angel of Absolution’s Apothecaries until they could reach The Rock for interrogation.Most of The Faithless died during the fierce fighting. Driven on by their master and the Interrogator-Chaplain, the Angels of Absolution hammered at the surviving Traitors and cut them down.In the midst of the battle, Master Yafnir finally found his target, surrounded by the last remaining Chaos Space Marines of his warband. Though sorely wounded, Arkos still grasped his Dark Blade in his armoured fist. A puncture in his chest plate seeped blood.Bellowing his defiance, Arkos cursed his enemies as the Angels of Absolution moved in, surrounding their dangerous foe, bolters levelled and ready for the order to attack. Arkos stood little chance. Trapped with nowhere to run, the Chaos Lord attacked the servants of the False Emperor in a rush.Master Yafnir and Arkos met one another in vicious close-combat. Master Yafnir was sorely wounded as the devious Arkos rammed his blade forwards and upwards as fast and deadly as a snake into Yafnir's face plate. Standing over the wounded and barely conscious Yafnir, the Chaos Lord killed any who attempted to rescue him.As Arkos stood over the bleeding Yafnir, Chaplain Belphegor finally arrived at the scene. The last two survivors of Arkos' warband flanked him, blood-spattered Chainswords in hand.The interrogator-chaplain ordered the Chaos Lord to yield, but he flatly refused. Raising his fell blade in challenge, the chaplain stepped forwards, and beside him came the Dark Angels Sternguard Veterans, ready to spring into action.The two champions met once again, for it was Belphegor's intervention at the Vraks starport that had saved the life of Supreme Grand Master Azrael from Arkos nine Terran years earlier. Arkos showed no sign that he recognised his old foe as he bellowed his defiance at Belphegor.The interrogator-chaplain immediately launched his attack, as the Angels of Absolution closed in about the two remaining survivors of Arkos' warband. Though Arkos fought fiercely, the Emperor was with the chaplain as the Dark Gods were driven from the Citadel.With a vicious blow from his Crozius Arcanum, Belphegor struck Arkos full in the face, staggering the Chaos Lord, and then the Chaplain slammed his crozius down, cracking Arkos' skull.The Chaos Lord sank to his knees, his tainted blood pouring down his neck and onto the floor. The interrogator-chaplain ordered his Sternguard Astartes to seize the vile Traitor, as he saw that both Arkos' surviving Traitor Marines had also been cut down.Though the strike force had succeeded in capturing Arkos, the victory had come at great cost. Master Yafnir died from his wounds, bleeding out before he could receive any kind of medical assistance.Their mission complete, the Angels of Absolution disengaged and withdrew, their prize in tow, to be handed over to the interrogator-chaplains of The Rock. The final fate of Arkos the Faithless remains uncertain. |
Arkos the Faithless - Destruction of the Anarchy's Heart: As expected, the final assault flushed the Anarchy's Heart from its hiding place. The war on the ground had been lost, and the Heretic Astartes aboard the ancient battleship desperately sought to rescue their master and their fellow battle-brothers.The Repentant's long-range augurs detected the energy spike as the Despoiler-class battleship powered up its engines. The Liberatorii Delictum immediately moved to intercept the Chaos vessel and the two colossal capital ships met in a duel of titanic firepower.The Liberatorii Delictum's Lance batteries made short work of the enemy vessel, as the Repentant and their escort vessels joined in, attacking the massive Chaos vessel's flank.The bombardment cannons of the Liberatorii Delictum hammered the Chaos battleship into burning debris as it was torn apart by internal explosions. The ancient Traitor battleship would never again threaten the Imperium's shipping lanes. |
Arkos the Faithless - Fate of Arkos: Following his victory, Interrogator-Chaplain Belphegor immediately withdrew from Vraks Prime, taking with him 15 surviving Alpha Legionaries of The Faithless warband as prisoners. It is unknown whether Arkos the Faithless was amongst their number, as neither the Dark Angels or the Angels of Absolution would disclose the truth of the matter.Master Yafnir's body was returned to his Chapter's Battle Barge for transport back to the Angels of Absolution's catacombs. Soon after embarkation, the Liberatorii Delictum vanished from the Vraks System, and no further communications to the other forces of the Imperium were received.At present, the whereabouts of Arkos the Faithless remain unknown, but the Ordo Malleus regards him as having been captured on Vraks.He is officially listed by the Inquisition as a prisoner of the Dark Angels. What secrets he has revealed to them, if any, have so far been retained by Grand Master Azrael's Inner Circle. |
Arkos the Faithless - Wargear: Power ArmourDaemonic giftsCombi-meltaDarkblade – A daemonic Power Sword of fell power that was gifted to Arkos by the Chaos Gods for his long, faithful service.Frag GrenadesKrak Grenades |
Arkron Crusade - Arkron Crusade: The Arkron Crusade was a Crusade Fleet launched by the Black Templars Chapter of Space Marines. Imperial records contain almost no information on why the Crusade was called, what its target and objectives were, or what it accomplished.The Black Templars are a fleet-based Chapter, their companies scattered across the galaxy into numerous "Crusades." Each Crusade is led by a Marshal, while a single High Marshal, essentially the Chapter Master, is responsible for the progress of all the current Crusades.Below is the order of battle of the Arkron Crusade, launched into the Ghoul Stars during the closing years of the 38th Millennium. A typical Black Templars Crusade, it numbered hundreds of battle-brothers, war machines and support elements, allowing it to campaign far beyond the Imperium's borders. Its order of battle is outlined below. |
Arkron Crusade - Arkron Crusade Order of Battle: Marshal's HouseholdMarshal Palin HarrosEmperor's ChampionChaplainsCrusade Banner BearerHousehold Banner BearerTechmarinesServitorsApothecariesSword BrethrenTerminatorsDreadnoughtsLand RaidersRhinosPredator AnnihilatorsPredator DestructorsHuntersStalkersWhirlwindsStormravensStormtalonsFighting Company Edessor, "The First Sons"Commanded by: Castellan EdessorBanner BearerTechmarinesApothecariesInitiatesNeophytesDreadnoughtsLand RaidersPredator DestructorsRazorbacksRhinosFighting Company Antora, "The Righteous Fist"Commanded by: Castellan AntoraBanner BearerTechmarinesApothecariesInitiatesNeophytesTerminatorsLand RaidersCenturion WarsuitsFighting Company Stenheir, "The Scythes of Retribution"Commanded by: Castellan StenheirBanner BearerTechmarinesApothecariesInitiatesNeophytesBikesScout BikesAttack BikesLand SpeedersJump PacksFighting Company Chalica, "The Hammer of Heldenhorst"Commanded by: Castellan ChalicaBanner BearerTechmarinesApothecariesInitiatesNeophytesVindicatorsLand RaidersPredator DestructorsPredator AnnihilatorsRhinos |
Arlatax-class Battle-Automata - Arlatax-class Battle-Automata: The Arlatax-class Battle-Automata is an ancient variant of the even older STC-derived Conqueror-class Robot. It was developed during the time of the Great Crusade in the late 30th Millennium on the distant Forge World of Xana II by this world's secretive and independent minded forge-wrights.Although the design supported many improvements in regard to the ancient Conqueror-class, the Arlatax-class Battle-Automata was never sanctioned for mass-production by the office of the Fabricator-General on Mars, which makes the Arlatax-class one of the rarest types of Imperial Robot in service.It is generally believed that the Martian Mechanicum used many of the advances of the Arlatax in their own designs for the later Domitar-class Battle-Automata, the most powerful Battle-Automata of that era. |
Arlatax-class Battle-Automata - History: Designed as a rapid-moving, heavy shock-assault unit, the Arlatax-class Battle-Automata was developed in the distant Segmentum Pacificus on the Forge World of Xana II. Despite its excellent performance in its intended role, the design was never approved for mass-production by the jealous Martian Mechanicum that still distrusted this enigmatic Forge World at the edge of the Imperium's domain.Some blamed idiosyncratic choices made in the conception of certain components of the Arlatax, although Martian political resistance and distrust of Xana II has also been advanced as an explanation for why the design was never officially approved by the Mechanicum.Whilst the Arlatax was introduced into the Skitarii and Taghmata forces of Xana itself, the lack of official sanction meant that repairing and refitting this class of Battle-Automata became inherently difficult for those with no direct ties to Xana II.However, the design was gifted to several outlying Forge Worlds, such as Atar-Median and Incaladion, where the pattern was produced independently throughout the later stages of the Great Crusade and the dark years of the Horus Heresy. Darker suspicions focused on the Arlatax 's Machine Spirit (artificial intelligence), which was particularly prone to greater than tolerable incidences of Malifica -- such as turning upon its creators.In preparation for its service to the Traitor cause during the Horus Heresy, Xana II manufactured a great reserve of Arlatax robots, the pattern devolving into ever more baroque and sinister sub-patterns as the Forge World turned into a fully-fledged Hell-Forge of the Dark Mechanicum. Throughout the Heresy, Atar-Median also produced a sanctified version of the Arlatax Pattern to fight alongside the Loyalists. |
Arlatax-class Battle-Automata - Wargear: Arlatax Pattern Power Claws with built-in light Autocannon - The Arlatax features two, long-bladed Power Claws that crackle with murderous energy that allow the Arlatax to easily rip apart heavy infantry and even armoured vehicles. The arm-housing of these Power Claws also incorporates a compact, light version of an Autocannon, which while it lacks damage and range in comparison to the more common version mounted on many Imperial vehicles, boasts a higher rate of fire.Plasma BlasterFrag GrenadesAtomantic Shielding - Certain Battle-Automata featured particularly powerful Atomantic reactor cores designed to energise defensive field generators built into the Battle-Automata's exterior armour plating, as well as power its combat systems.Jump PackArc Scourge (Optional upgrade) |
Armageddon-class Battlecruiser - Armageddon-class Battlecruiser: The Armageddon-class Battlecruiser was developed in an attempt to rapidly increase the number of battlecruisers available to the Imperial Navy.Almost without exception, Armageddon-class warships are built from the recovered hulls of crippled Imperial Lunar-class Cruisers, making them one of the easiest battlecruisers to construct, though many Imperial fleet commanders have proved unwilling to sacrifice large numbers of their main front-line cruiser to this conversion process. |
Armageddon-class Battlecruiser - History: The Armageddon-class is a relatively recent innovation within the Imperial Navy. They are constructed from the hulks of ruined Lunar-class Cruisers, upgunned, upgraded and recommissioned into battle anew.The Lunar-class is ubiquitous amongst all segmentum fleets, and frequently involved in shattering conflicts, so the opportunity to construct these battlecruisers arises often. Given their extensively redesigned power relays and enhanced weapon systems, they are more demanding in terms of manpower and resources than the Lunar-class, and so are rarely constructed from scratch, but hard-pressed battlefleets are quick to utilise them where they are available.When converting a Lunar-class Cruiser into an Armageddon-class Battlecruiser, power relays are re-routed from the starship's main plasma reactors to provide significantly increased range to its existing weapons batteries and Lances, and additional long-range Lance turret arrays are added to a reinforced dorsal spine.The result of this transfomation is a warship with a powerful medium-and-long-range punch, though at the cost of adding over three thousand more crewmen to man the new Lances and maintain the short-lived relays that power them.Given their large crews and the fact that Lunar-class hulls were never really designed to carry such heavy weaponry, Armageddons are surprisingly cramped and uncomfortable vessels for their size, making them poorly suited for long-term exploration, but few Rogue Traders can argue with the raw firepower they bring to bear if they are lucky enough to get their hands on such a powerful warship. |
Armageddon-class Battlecruiser - Notable Armageddon-class Battlecruisers: Ex Cathedra - The Ex Cathedra was the first Armageddon-class Battlecruiser to be created. Originally named the Orion as a Lunar-class Cruiser, the Orion was converted at the extensive St. Jowen's Dock in the Armageddon System when the decision was made to upgrade, rather than repair, the venerable ship after it had been badly damaged by Chaos raiders above the world of Pyran. The resulting Battlecruiser, renamed the Ex Cathedra, went on to distinguish itself in the Third War for Armageddon.Belicosa - The Belicosa participated in the Dark Marches Crusade that would lead to the foundation of the Orpheus Sector.Hammer of Light - The Hammer of Light fought and earned renown in the Third War for Armageddon.Thunderchild - The Thunderchild fought in the Third War for Armageddon. It was the first Imperial Navy warship destroyed by the Ork armada during the first major fleet action of that conflict, the Battle of Pelucidar.Unbreakable Might - Former flagship of Admiral Velkarrin of Battlefleet Hecuba, the Unbreakable Might was the leading vessel of the Ephisian Prosecution-Crusade led by the Inquisition to end the threat of a powerful Chaos Lord of the Alpha Legion only known as Phocron. |
Armageddon-class Battlecruiser - Dimensions: Hull: 5 kilometres long, 0.8 kilometres abeam at fins approximately.Mass: Approximately 30 megatonnes.Class Armageddon-class Battlecruiser.Crew: Approximately 98,500 crew.Acceleration: 2.5 gravities maximum sustainable acceleration. |
Armageddon - Armageddon: Armageddon is an Imperial Hive World and Industrial World located 10,000 light years to the galactic northeast of Terra in the Segmentum Solar. It was the site of several of the greatest conflicts ever fought by the Imperium, including the First War for Armageddon against Chaos, and the Second and Third Wars for Armageddon against the massive Ork WAAAGH! of the Warlord Ghazghkull Thraka.The world of Armageddon is the fourth in its star system of ten planets and is the industrial hub of both the Armageddon Sub-sector and the greater region of the surrounding Armageddon Sector. Many worlds within a several light-year radius of Armageddon rely on it for its large industrial output.Thousands of standard years of intense industrial activity has reduced the surface of Armageddon to barren wastelands and polluted oceans; Humans can only survive within the artificial environment of the world's hive cities (the massive arcology-like structures that stand several kilometres tall) and Imperial military facilities.Food must be imported from off-planet, and clean air and water are precious commodities. Due to the inhospitable environmental conditions that exist outside of the planet's hive cities, almost all regiments of the Astra Militarum's Armageddon Steel Legion are trained as mechanised infantry who operate from the relative safety of their vehicles.During the 13th Black Crusade of 999.M41, the Fortress World of Cadia was destroyed. With a good portion of the network of Necron-built Cadian Pylons that had long prevented the Eye of Terror from naturally expanding into the Cadian Gate lost with the fall of Cadia to the forces of Abaddon the Despoiler, that ancient Warp rift began to expand across the galaxy, opening the Despoiler's coveted Crimson Path to Terra and birthing the Great Rift.This great tear in reality, known also as the Cicatrix Maledictum in High Gothic, was a galaxy-wide Warp Storm that has rent the galaxy in half, spreading from the Eye of Terror to the Hadex Anomaly on the Eastern Fringe.Through the influx of the massive Warp energies unleashed at the Great Rift's birth, Armageddon has been transformed into a hellscape. Daemon armies dedicated to the service of Khorne and Tzeentch swept across battlefields no longer chained to the laws of reality.Luckily for the Imperial forces remaining on the world in the wake of the Third War for Armageddon (including twenty-five regiments of Astra Militarum and elements of nine Adeptus Astartes Chapters) and their Greenskin opponents (a variety of unknown klanz), the daemon legions were just as content to battle amongst themselves as to hunt down and eradicate the mortal survivors.Imperial reinforcements, led by elements of nine Astartes Chapters with the Salamanders in overall command, recently succeeded in halting a daemonic ritual that would have brought Angron, the Primarch of the World Eaters, back to the world that had defied him during the First War for Armageddon. |
Armageddon - Ullanor Crusade: The origins of this industrial Hive World have been lost to modern Imperial scholars. But in truth, the story of this vitally important Imperial world actually harkens back some ten millennia earlier, to the closing years of the Great Crusade, during the great campaign known as the Ullanor Crusade.A vast Imperial assault was launched against Ullanor Prime, the seat of the Ork Empire of the Overlord Urrlak Urruk, the largest such Greenskin empire ever encountered in Mankind's history to that time. The Crusade included the deployment of 100,000 Astartes from the Luna Wolves, White Scars and Ultramarines Legions, 8,000,000 Imperial Army troops, 100 Titans of the Legio Mortis and 600 starships of the Imperialis Armada and their support personnel. The Ullanor Crusade marked the high point of the Great Crusade's vast effort to reunite the scattered colony worlds of Humanity under the rule of the Emperor in the wake of the Age of Strife. Led by the superlative strategic mind of the Luna Wolves Legion's commander, the Primarch Horus Lupercal, the massive Ork Overlord was defeated and the Greenskin forces scattered.Following this monumental victory, a great Imperial triumph, remembered as the Triumph of Ullanor, was held for the participating forces. It was there that the Emperor of Mankind announced that He would no longer be leading the Great Crusade and intended to return to Terra. In His place to command the vast forces of Mankind he left the Primarch Horus. Horus was granted the newly-created rank of Imperial Warmaster and assumed command authority over all of his fellow Primarchs and every Expeditionary Fleet of the Great Crusade, sowing the seeds of dissension, pride and wounded feelings that would eventually fester and erupt into all-out civil war during the Horus Heresy. |
Armageddon - War of the Beast: Nearly 1,500 standard years later, in 544.M32, a massive Ork WAAAGH! led by a mysterious Warlord known only as The Beast rampaged across the Imperium, growing in size until it became the greatest Greenskin invasion that the galaxy had known to that date, eclipsing even the one defeated by Horus upon Ullanor Prime at the height of the Great Crusade. The Beast centred his empire upon the long-forgotten world of Ullanor Prime, which by that time had become heavily urbanised by the industrious Greenskins, who covered nearly the entire planet in surprisingly well-organised settlements.The seat of The Beast's empire was the Ork capital city of Gorkogrod, built within a massive temple-Gargant on the exact location where the Emperor and the Primarchs had gathered during the Triumph of Ullanor over a millennia earlier. It was The Beast's intent to use Ullanor Prime as the template to perfect the Ork's Attack Moon concept. Converting the entire planet into a mobile battlestation capable of teleporting itself through the multidimensional realm known only as "subspace," The Beast intended to use Ullanor Prime to destroy Terra itself, eliminating the home of the species that had long been the greatest enemy of the Greenskins.After the world of Ullanor Prime was identified as the original home of The Beast and his massive WAAAGH!, Vulkan, the immortal Perpetual and long-missing Primarch of the Salamanders Legion, led the First Invasion of Ullanor. Together, the Astartes Chapters of Rogal Dorn's lineage who comprised the Terra defence initiative known as the "Last Wall" invaded The Beast's capital world, focusing upon the capital city of Gorkogrod.At the battle's conclusion, Vulkan charged into The Beast's massive temple-Gargant, intent on facing the Ork Warlord alone. During their confrontation, Vulkan destroyed the temple-Gargant in a massive explosion, which seemed to obliterate both Vulkan and The Beast. This shattered the cohesion of The Beast's Greenskins, whose resistance collapsed in the wake of the defeat of their powerful Warlord. However, unknown to the Imperial forces, the Greenskin presence secretly endured on Ullanor Prime.A Second Invasion of Ullanor was eventually launched by the Imperium which included several battered Adeptus Astartes Chapters, the newly created Deathwatch, several Astra Militarum regiments, Frateris Templar, Skitarii and Legio Cybernetica cohorts, several Imperial Knight Houses, Inquisitorial Storm Troopers, a small cohort of the Sisters of Silence and a Warlord and Warhound Titan.During the second attack on the city of Gorkogrod, an elite assassination force comprised of several Astartes and other supporting Imperial forces discovered that there were in fact six "Beasts" -- each a "Prime-Ork," a Beast in their own right, and a commander of their own Greenskin "Legion," in mockery of the Emperor and His Primarchs and the ancient Space Marine Legions. When Koorland, the Lord Commander of the Imperium and the sole surviving member of the original Imperial Fists Chapter was killed, the Imperial forces were forced to flee with their fallen commander's body and withdraw from Ullanor.Not long after this defeat, Maximus Thane, the Chapter Master of the Fists Exemplar, led the final desperate Imperial campaign of the War of the Beast during the Third Invasion of Ullanor. The Imperial forces unleashed redirected asteroids as weapons of mass destruction to devastate the Ork-held planet. With the help of the Sisters of Silence and a captured Ork Weirdboy, the null effect of the anti-psyker Silent Sisters joined with the Weirdboy's powers and created a reverse-WAAAGH! effect that utterly devastated the Greenskin hordes of The Beast. During this final confrontation, The Beast was slain.After the War of the Beast concluded, Maximus Thane assumed command over the Imperial Fists. He was elected the new Lord Commander of the Imperium by the Senatorum Imperialis and ordered the Adeptus Mechanicus to enact an Exterminatus upon Ullanor Prime to erase its memory from history and prevent a new Beast from ever arising. However, the Adeptus Mechanicus was reluctant to carry out the order, as its Tech-priests knew that Ullanor was rich with unclaimed alien technology that had nearly brought the Imperium to its knees.For the servants of the Machine God, the acquisition of knowledge superseded all other considerations. Coveting Ullanor Prime and its xenos secrets for himself, Fabricator-General Kubik instead acted in direct contravention of the Lord Commander's orders. By reverse-engineering Ork "telyporta" technology that had been used to move the Ork Attack Moons through "subspace" during the recent conflict, the Adeptus Mechanicus was able to secretly teleport the entire world of Ullanor Prime through the Warp to a new location on the edge of the Segmentum Solar. The uninhabited star system where Ullanor was moved had already been marked for colonisation by the Imperium.The Fabricator-General reported back to the High Lords of Terra that the Ork World had been cast into the heart of the nearest blue supergiant star -- Ullanor was no more. The Fabricator-General then set out to have Ullanor Prime stripped to its core of useful xenos technology. No trace of the Orkish presence upon the world would be left to reveal the truth of the Mechanicus' deception if the planet was later explored or settled by the Imperium.Within only a few standard centuries, the world once known as Ullanor became a prime location for Human settlement due to its virgin status and strategic location in the Segmentum Solar. Once colonised, Ullanor eventually came to be known by a new name, one that would echo down the millennia and become a pivotal point of contention between the Greenskin races and Mankind -- Armageddon. |
Armageddon - First War for Armageddon: The First War for Armageddon is perhaps the least well-known of the conflicts fought on the world, and probably for good reason. Chaos Cultists worshipping the Chaos God Khorne initiated a rebellion against the world's Imperial government during a Warp storm they summoned. Soon, a great space hulk appeared over the planet, containing none other than Angron, the Daemon Prince of Khorne who had once been the primarch of the World Eaters Traitor Legion.The daemonic legions and Chaos Cultists quickly pushed the Imperial defenders back in an orgy of bloodshed, until help arrived in the form of the Space Wolves and the Grey Knights Space Marines. With the Space Wolves bolstering the planetary defences, the Grey Knights fought through to the center of the daemonic horde, eventually banishing Angron and his army from the material world back to Warpspace, leaving the cultists to be crushed by the Imperial counterattack.But one final tragedy was to strike the planet. In order to preserve the secret of the Daemon Primarch's existence, the entire population of Armageddon, as well as all the surviving soldiers, was rounded up, sterilized, and sentenced by the Ordo Malleus of the Inquisition to Imperial Adeptus Arbites work camps for the rest of their lives while a new population was brought to re-settle the planet. Logan Grimnar, the Great Wolf (Chapter Master) of the Space Wolves, has never forgiven the Inquisition for carrying out such a betrayal of the men and women who fought for their world against the hordes of Chaos. |
Armageddon - Second War for Armageddon: The second invasion of Armageddon was a massive force of Orks that arrived in 941.M41 led by the mighty Warboss Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka. The Imperial planetary governor, Overlord Herman von Strab, was completely unprepared for the attack, and his own pride and incompetence only made matters worse. Eventually, the defence of the planet was taken over by Commander Luis Dante of the Blood Angels Space Marines.During the war, a commissar named Sebastian Yarrick, attached to the Armageddon Steel Legion, had been exiled by Overlord von Strab to Hive Hades simply to prevent him from further annoying the planetary governor about preparing the world's defences. Yet Yarrick led a heroic defence of that hive city. He raised and commanded an effective militia force to supplement his Astra Militarum troops that eventually distracted Ghazghkull, infuriating him enough through the hive's resistance to the Ork onslaught to send more and more of his forces against Hades Hive, withdrawing them from other fronts. The battle for Hive Hades escalated to such proportions that Ghazghkull considered the fight a matter of personal pride, and took command of the Greenskin forces assaulting the hive city himself, blinding him to the other battles on the world, and allowing the Imperial defenders to make major strategic gains.Although the hive city eventually fell to the Orks, the distraction gave the Imperial forces enough time to mount a counterattack that finally broke the back of the Ork invasion force. Commissar Yarrick survived, and would clash with Ghazghkull again. Von Strab escaped from his jailers but his vehicle was discovered destroyed with the disgraced planetary governor missing, presumed to have been killed by the Greenskins. And yet, the Orks would come once more...In 1992, Games Workshop released Battle for Armageddon, a board game detailing the events of the Second Armageddon War. The events of that war also served as the background for the Warhammer 40,000 2nd Edition starter boxed set. |
Armageddon - Third War for Armageddon: Fifty-seven standard years to the day after his first attempt to conquer Armageddon, Ghazghkull Thraka led a second Ork WAAAGH! against the planet in 998.M41, unleashing the Third War for Armageddon. Commissar Yarrick and many of the heroes who had fought in defence of the planet before were called to battle again. The conflict ultimately ended in a stalemate, with neither side able to take full control of the world, though the cost in lives and treasure was immense. Armageddon will need many solar decades, if not centuries, to recover from the war.Although the Third War for Armageddon has ended (with the Imperium winning a narrow victory), fighting still continues on the planet. Ghazghkull has left the world behind, pursued by Commissar Yarrick's Astra Militarum forces, accompanied by High Marshal Helbrecht with a full Black Templars Crusade at his back. But Orks across the galaxy have come to regard Armageddon as a kind of Valhalla or sacred place for their kind, where they can always come to find a good fight, and the Imperium must still send more troops to battle to keep the planet in the Emperor's realm. |
Armageddon - After the Great Rift: For much of the 41st Millennium Armageddon has been a battleground. First invaded by the servants of Chaos commanded by the Daemon Primarch Angron during the First War for Armageddon, it was later the site of two massive wars between the Ork hordes of Ghazghkull Thraka and the forces of the Imperium during the Second and Third Wars for Armageddon. Although the infamous Greenskin warlord left during the Third War for Armageddon to establish what he called the "Great WAAAGH!," the Greenskin onslaught continued.Not even the great Warp storms unleashed by the birth of the Great Rift in 999.M41 could halt the fighting, but they did change its nature. During the period of the Noctis Aeterna, reinforcements were cut off for both sides, and those en route to the system were swept into oblivion. Those combatants who remained on Armageddon were forced to face not just each other, but oncoming waves of Daemons. At times, so desperate were the defenders that Ork and Humans fought alongside each other against the greater threat. Such temporary ceasefires never lasted long.By the time the beacon of the Astronomican burned bright once more and easy travel through the Immaterium was possible, an Imperial relief force arrived to find the landscape of Armageddon greatly changed. At the height of the Warp Storms, the daemonic forces of Tzeentch and Khorne had battled each other as part of their eternal competition in the Great Game.The Orks and Imperial defenders sought cover as titanic Greater Daemons duelled for supremacy. Fully half the planet was reshaped into a hellish landscape reminiscent of many Daemon Worlds – a nightmare born of the Warp merged with the ruins of a war-torn Hive World. The Imperial reinforcements, led by elements of nine Space Marine Chapters with the Salamanders in overall command, succeeded in halting a daemonic ritual that would have brought Angron, the Primarch of the World Eaters, back to the world that had defied him during the First War for Armageddon. |
Armageddon - Geography: There are three main landmasses on Armageddon. Most Human life is located on the main continent, which is split into two parts, Armageddon Prime and Armageddon Secundus, separated by the thick band of jungle known simply as the Equatorial Jungle. They each had their roles in the Wars for Armageddon but the majority of the fighting took place on the main continent.Most of the information presented here on Armageddon's geography will be limited to that provided by the areas given over to the fighting during the Third War for Armageddon. The bulk of the sub-continents of Armageddon Prime and Secundus are covered in ash wastes, the aftereffects of many millennia of industrial pollution. Several hive cities house the planet's human population and the industry of Armageddon; these include Tempestora, Death Mire and Volcanus on Armageddon Prime and Infernus, Hades, Acheron, Helsreach and Tartarus on Armageddon Secundus.To the north of Armageddon Prime and Secondus are the Fire Wastes, which are home to the mining and resource gathering industries that support the hive cities' factories. This is an extremely arid region, which has been strip-mined far beyond the point that it can maintain any living ecosystem.To the south of the main continent lies the ice-covered Deadlands. The polluted ice here is melted and heavily purified to provide a source of drinking water to the inhabitants of the Armageddon hive cities. |
Armageddon - The Fire Wastes: The Fire Wastes are located in the far north of Armageddon, where one would expect a cold region of the polar north, possibly indicating that it is not in fact the furthest northerly region on the planet and perhaps it is a region that crosses the equator of the world instead. Regardless of its position, it is the location of many of the ore mines that supply the main settled Armageddon regions with resources in order to create the industry and weapons the world needs to survive.The vast Sreya Rock Mountains cover most of the northern region of the Fire Wastes. They are burning, volcanic mountains where not a breath of air stirs. It is from here that the River Hesperos springs, which is dammed by the Quaalaback Spur Hydro-Electric Dam which provides power to the Fire Wastes' mining operations. The dam also splits the river into two. There is a pass through the Sreya Rock range, named the Koonanga Creek Canyon, which used to be a fast-flowing river but has since dried up and turned into a hot desert-like pass whose heat and other hazards can kill even the best prepared travelers.The Black Lung Tar Pits are another region of inhospitable terrain, although these pits have been mined for thousands of years and the ore is used in the industrial processes of the main Armageddon continent.Another river is the Serestus River which goes around the Black Lung Tar Pits and past the Serestus River Refinery and the Serestus River Mineral Storage Facility and exits into the Boiling Sea via the B'taani Bay Penal Colony.The sea itself also contains the Aderbein Oil Platform, vital for the functioning of the weapons manufacturers on the mainland. The main port is named the Fire Harbour and is home to hundreds of miles of docks and rigging equipment, designed to transport the minerals excavated and refined in the Fire Wastes to Armageddon.There is also another ore mine off of the main Fire Wastes map area, far to the east. There used to be an undersea pipeline just off of the map to the west, but that has since been destroyed when the other end of the pipeline was captured by the Orks. |
Armageddon - The Deadlands: The small frozen continent called the Deadlands is split into two areas, the Deadlands proper and the Netheria Peninsula. The entire continent is far enough to the south that it is completely covered by ice and as such is used primarily as a water creation and purification site. It was attacked with unexpectedly heavy forces by the Orks.The Deadlands are the westernmost of the two regions on the continent. It contains one of the two main water processing plants, and this is broken down into the St. Capilene Water Processing Plant and the minor Phaedra River Water Processing Plant. The water is then pumped through overland pipes to the Lemaire Channel Water Pumping Station which stores and then pumps water through the undersea pipes to both Hive Helsreach and Hive Tartarus. There is also the Dante's Canyon Oil Drilling Station which supplies oil to the south of main Armageddon continent.The Valdez Gamma Oil Platform also provides oil and is located off the north east coast of the Deadlands. Another oil producing site is the Yarrick Point Oil Drilling Station, located far to the west. Finally, there is the Zebra Ice Station Defense Fortress which protects the entire region from orbital attacks and provides a vital bastion of strength to the defenders of the region.There are two Ork Rok landing sites as well as an Ork submersible shipyard located to the north. These produce the huge Gigatankers that the Orks used to assault the hive cities on the south coast of Armageddon's main continent. |
Armageddon - Netheria Peninsula: The Netheria Peninsula is located far to the east of the main Deadlands region and contains the other major water producing site. It has four processing plants, named the Eagle River Water Processing Plant as it is situated on the polluted Eagle River, the Maigaard Rock Water Production Plant, the Resolute Bay Water Processing Plant, which technically purifies the water produced by the Maigaard Rock, and the Laertes Valley Water Processing Plant, which is situated in the Laertes River Valley.These feed into the Netheria Peninsula Water Pumping Station through overland pipes and then this water continues on using undersea pipelines to the main continent of Armageddon. There is also the Valdez Omega Oil Platform which provides oil to Armageddon, as well as the McCready Cape Research Facility which contains many captured Orks, sent there to be studied by Adeptus Mechanicus Tech-priests.To the north is Orkwik Airfield, a haven for Ork fighters in the south. Also, the S.S. Icerok is located close to Orkwik, a giant iceberg housing thousands of Orks that requires an engine big enough to move it across the ocean to assault Armageddon. There is also one Ork Rok Dropsite to the west.Finally, there is the Imperial Emplacement OC-1867 "Armageddon Annie" gun battery emplacement, which when coupled with Emplacement SSB-1776 "Lethal Lucy" near Hive Helsreach, serves to defend the south against orbital bombardments which could destroy the undersea pipelines. It also forms a bastion of defensive power, enough to hold the Orks back long enough for Imperial reinforcements to arrive. |
Armageddon - Armageddon Prime: Armageddon Prime is the western half of the main Armageddon continent, joined to Armageddon Secundus through the Equatorial Jungle. It has three large hive cities including Hive Tempestora, Hive Death Mire and Hive Volcanus, with the possibility of a fourth, long destroyed hive city in the Plains of Anthrand, which may possibly have been Hive Anthrand or Hive Blackfire. |
Armageddon - Hive Volcanus: The Hive Volcanus region is on the far western edge of Armageddon Prime. Its two most obvious features are the gigantic mountain ranges to the south and the many islands to the west. The Volcanus Mountains and Volcanus Ridge cover most of the southern half of the area and atop the largest mountain is the Volcanus Mountain Space Defence Fortress, which was overrun by Orks from the Rok dropsite to the east. The easiest path through the mountains is the Mannheim Gap, named after the Iron Skulls Titan Legion Princeps Kurtiz Mannheim, a hero of the Second War for Armageddon.Hive Volcanus itself occupies the central area of Armageddon Prime with its motorway leading to the Vulcan Bridge. In the west, on a number of the islands, is the Volcanus Archipelago Offshore Defences which patrol the rivers and waterways leading up to Volcanus Hive, also the Nemesis Island Penal Facility is located nearby, holding the worst criminals from the hives of Armageddon Prime. |
Armageddon - Hive Tempestora: The main feature of Hive Tempestora is the docks and pipelines from the Fire Wastes. There is also an Ork submersible graveyard, from which the Orks launched their attack on Tempestora and subsequently overran it. Also to the north is some Ash Wastelands created form the waste from the Tempestora East Factory Complex, the Morpheus Factory Complex and Khatrin Water Purification Plant, on the Morpehus River. There is one Ork Rok Dropsite located to the Southeast. Finally, the Morpheon Line of Imperial defenses faces inwards in order to contain the Orks within the hive and eventually launch an Imperial attack on Tempestora with the intention of taking it back. |
Armageddon - Hive Death Mire: Hive Death Mire is in the northern-central area of the region, and the most prominent features are the Equatorial Jungle in the southwest, the Hecate Mountains in the north and Death Ridge in the south, where the Orks can link with the Feral Orks from the Equatorial Jungle and launch assaults on the actual hive. There are two Ork Rok drop sites far to the west, the Phlegthon Bridge also to the west and River Insane tunnel in the centre of the region as well as a motorway running throughout. In the Hecate Mountains is the Eyes of the Emperor Observatory, watching over a vast area of Armageddon Prime for Ork troop movements, and which provides vital intelligence to Imperial forces.It was critical in the destruction of the Blackfire Tribe by observing Ork mobilisation in the Plains of Anthrand. Mire Anchorage is now one of the only deep water areas available for the gigantic Gigatankers to arrive with the loss of the Hive Helsreach ports and the heavy fighting around the Diabolus Cove, although it is badly infested by Orks. It is defended by the Storm Lords Space Marines Chapter and the Armageddon Ork Hunters. Finally, the vast Tempestor Victorum Line guards a large area from the Hecate Mountains to the Equatorial Jungle to protect the south and west flanks of Hive Death Mire. It takes its name from the two groups of Titans stationed there, Legio Tempestor and Legio Victorum, which have both pounded the Orks with unrelenting fire from the many bunkers and siege positions. |
Armageddon - Armageddon Secundus: Armageddon Secundus is the eastern half of the main Armageddon continent, joined to Armageddon Prime by the Equatorial Jungle. It has five large Hives including Hive Helsreach, Hive Infernus and Hades Hive, Hive Acheron and Hive Tartarus, although Hades Hive was destroyed in an orbital bombardment near the beginning of the Third War for Armageddon. |
Armageddon - Hive Helsreach: Hive Helsreach is dominated by the Hive itself as well as the Balboa Mountains to the east, overlooking Grendel's Lock, a huge dock which has been mostly overrun by the Orks. Further to the southeast is the Valdez Alpha Offshore Oil Platform, providing vital resources to the factories of Armageddon. To the south is the Valhaskan Arteries which pump water from the Deadlands into the southern hives.The Ironside Shipyards are also on the south coast where ships are built and repaired, but they were quickly overrun by the Orks. There is one Ork Rok Dropsite as well as Hels Highway and the Batraxian Barrier with the gigantic weapons battery called Lethal Lucy. Also, part of the Hemlock Cordon is located to the northeast, containing many Imperial forces after the fall of Hive Acheron. Also, to the northwest is the Stygies Bridge, crossing the River Stygies. |
Armageddon - Hive Infernus: The Hive Infernus region is dominated by two mountain ranges, the Pallidus Mountains and the Diablo Mountains, with Ork Mountain located at the peak of the Diablo Mountains. Hive Infernus is located at the centre of the region and is linked with the motorway and Stygies Bridge to the Hive Helsreach area. The Diablos Forge Complex, located to the east of the hive, saw the first action with the Orks and was the site of a battle between the Orks and the Titan Legio Crucius. Six Titans and eight Ork Gargents were destroyed, but in the process the battle practically destroyed the entire Forge Complex.Diabolus Cove has become the centre of Ork fighting to prevent resources from reaching the hive and as such many Gigatankers have been destroyed in the process. The Equatorial Jungle to the east is met by a large area of Ash Wastes from the nearby factories and is very close to the Krynnan Canal which allows ships to move between the Boiling Sea and Tempest Ocean without having to sail all around the western end of the main Armageddon landmass.To the south is the Infernus South Forge Complex which produces many Chimeras and a vast amount of ordnance for the defenders of Hive Infernus. The Stygian Bulwark is located to the east of the Infernus South Forge Complex and is there to protect it from the Orks hiding in the Pallidus Mountains, with huge areas of fortifications and bombardment points spread along its length. |
Armageddon - Hades Hive: Hades Hive is a blasted area, the entire hive city itself destroyed early on in the Third War for Armageddon by an orbital bombardment of asteroids in vengeance for the hive's victory over the Orks in the Second War for Armageddon, where Hades Hive was the lynch pin in defeating the Orks by holding up so many that their offensive stalled.To the southwest is the Diablo Mountains and Ork Mountain, to the east is the Eumendies Bridge that links to the main motorway and passes the Averneas Forge Complex, which produces vast amounts of vehicles and ordnance for the war effort. It was partially destroyed when shards broke off from the Ork asteroids when they bombarded the hive city.The Ork Rok Dropsite is located close to the motorway in the south and the majority of the area is covered in Ash Wastes from the nearby industry. In the northwest the Yarricks Hope Harbour is a centre of Imperial resistance but was largely destroyed, however, small attack craft can be launched from there to defend the pipelines across the Boiling Sea. |
Armageddon - Hive Acheron: Hive Acheron is far to the east of Armageddon Secundus, but is covered in vast areas of Ash Wastes from the Acheron East and West factories and the Euminidies Munitorum Factory Complex, with motorways leading to Hades Hive and Hive Tartarus. There are two Ork Rok Dropsites with the Acheron Hive in between both.To the south, the Hemlock River Tunnel runs under the Hemlock River and to the north was the Von Strab Memorial Arch, recently changed to the image of Herman von Strab throughout the whole arch. To the southwest is the Hemlock Cordon where escapees from Hive Acheron have set up their fortifications. The Hive has fallen to the Orks, but only through the treachery of Herman von Strab when he handed control over to them. |
Armageddon - Hive Tartarus: Hive Tartarus is in the southeast of Armageddon Secundus and the hive itself is at the centre, surrounded and besieged constantly with little hope of survival. The Tartarus West Factory, Hemlock Factory Complex and Skelitus Factory Complex contribute to the Ash Wastes to the east and one Ork Rok overlooks the entire area to the northeast. There is one motor way north to Hive Acheron and one pipeline south to the Deadlands to bring fresh water to the hive city.The Hemlock Cordon is also partially in this area, where survivors from Hive Acheron have gathered. Clain's Stronghold was formed when units of defenders marched to Hive Infernus but were quickly stopped by an Ork force and forced to build defenses in the area which are now constantly pounded by Ork artillery. |
Armageddon - Equatorial Jungle: The Equatorial Jungle is the region between Armageddon Secundus and Armageddon Prime and consists mainly of large forested areas. It is bridged by a long, straight motorway and leads to the Minos Bridge, which crosses the Minos River into Armageddon Secundus. The motorway also passes through Cerbera Base, the home of the unit of the Astra Militarum known as the Armageddon Ork Hunters, from which they launch their assaults on the Feral Orks within the jungle. These Orks were left over after the first Ork invasion during the Second War for Armageddon and have reverted to a feral state.There is also the ruins of the Wolf Outpost which was destroyed by its base commander activating the self-destruct mechanism when it was overrun by Orks. It flattened the surrounding forty Terran miles of jungle but also killed every single attacking Ork.To the north is Plateau Greenskin, the home to the largest concentration of Feral Orks. Due to its high position and difficult access routes, it has yet to be fully cleared of Greenskins. To the south of this plateau is an uninhabited region surrounding an ancient artifact of unknown origin, although it looks Necron in design. Anyone who goes near the object is driven insane and returns as a gibbering husk of their former self.Far to the south is Angron's Monolith, a Chaotic artefact that has diseased the surrounding area with its emanations of Warp power and is now off-limits. Somehow it has resisted all attempts at its destruction. It appears to be linked to the Warp, and may serve as a Warp portal for daemon assaults on realspace but its true purpose is unknown.Finally, to the far southeast are the Plague Marshes where other warbands of Feral Orks thrive. Unfortunately, hundreds of Imperial Guardsmen died of plague and disease caused by the giant insects that inhabit the area, preventing effective sweeps of the marshes even though each Guardsman serving in the area is given special antiviral drugs and antibiotics to counteract the pathogens. |
Armageddon - Phoenix Island: Phoenix Island is a large mining area similar to the Fire Wastes, in that it has a mine, refinery and storage facilities. It has two large docks as well as a spaceport used to house Space Marine Thunderhawks and Navis Imperialis Furies. The main mine is known as the Nadala Gorge Ore Mine and is vital for the operation of Armageddon. Ancient machinery works in toxic conditions as the mine has been in operation for thousands of Terran years.The ore is then shipped to the Valkyrie Bay Refinery which produces the chemicals and materials required for continuing the war on Armageddon. These are then shipped in turn to the Phoenix Island Mineral Storage Facility in the southeast of the island. The items are then shipped on to either the Jabiru Quay docks or the Ibis Reef Harbour for shipping to the rest of Armageddon.The spaceport present on Phoenix Island is named Victorinius and is home to many of the Aeronautica Imperialis' Thunderbolt and Fury fighter squadrons as well as serving as an Imperial stronghold against the Ork forces. To the northeast is the Heliopolis Bridge, a vital connection to the north and the Fire Wastes region. Unfortunately, Ork Roks landed directly in the path of this bridge and blockaded it, preventing Imperial land forces from accessing the island, completely cutting it off from reinforcement by land. |
Armageddon - Armageddon Pattern Technology: Armageddon is known to produce its own patterns of numerous weapons and vehicles such as the M40 Armageddon Pattern Autogun and the Armageddon Pattern Basilisk, Sentinel combat walker and Medusa. One of the defining characteristics of Armageddon Pattern vehicles is that they are environmentally sealed, a necessity for fighting on Armageddon and other Hive Worlds like it in order to protect a vehicle's occupants from the corrosive effects of those planets' polluted ash wastes. |
Armageddon - Sources: Battlefleet Gothic: Armada (Specialty Game), pg. 135Codex Adeptus Astartes - Space Marines (8th Edition), pp. 19, 34, 43, 45, 49, 106-107Codex: Armageddon (3rd Edition), pp. 1, 13-32Codex: Black Templars (4th Edition), pp. 20-21Codex: Chaos Space Marines (3rd Edition, 2nd Codex), pg. 8Codex: Grey Knights (5th Edition), pg. 13Codex Heretic Astartes - Chaos Space Marines (8th Edition), pp. 15, 109Codex: Imperial Guard (3rd Edition), pg. 24Codex: Orks (4th Edition), pg. 25Codex: Space Wolves (5th Edition), pp. 20-22Epic Armageddon Rulebook, pg. 61Warhammer 40,000: Apocalypse (6th Edition), pp. 307-308Warhammer 40,000: Rulebook (4th Edition) , pg. 34Warhammer 40,000: Rulebook (6th Edition), pp. 176, 193Warhammer 40,000: Rulebook (8th Edition), pp. 44, 48, 52, 56, 70, 73, 151, 167White Dwarf 278 (US), "Codicium Imperialis: The First War for Armageddon," by Graham McNeill and Andy HoareWhite Dwarf 151 (UK), "The Chaos Wars: The First Battle for Armageddon," by Jervis JohnsonAnnihilation Squad (Novel) by Gav ThorpeHelsreach (Novel) by Aaron Dembski-BowdenLast Chancers (Novel Series) by Gav ThorpeThe Emperor's Gift (Novel) by Aaron Dembski-Bowden, Chs. 19-22The Beheading (Novel) by Guy Haley, Chapters 5-6 (The Beast Arises Book 12)Third War for Armageddon Wordwide Campaign Map |
Armageddon (Voidship) - Armageddon (Voidship): The Armageddon is a strike cruiser of the Blood Ravens Chapter that was utilised during the First Aurelian Crusade in the Aurelian Sub-sector of the Korianis Sector. It embarked from the world of Calderis to battle an invading Ork WAAAGH!, conveying the Space Marine strike force commanded by Sergeant Aramus, the acting Blood Ravens Force Commander of Sub-sector Aurelia.The vessel made its way to both the Desert World of Typhon Primaris and the sub-sector's capital world of Meridian, to combat both Craftworld Aeldari raiders and a splinter of the Tyranid Hive Fleet Leviathan.During the final epic battle of Typhon Primaris, the Armageddon engaged Tyranid Hive Ships in orbit, while the Blood Ravens on the ground, led by both Sergeant Aramus and Captain Gabriel Angelos, launched a daring assault and successfully poisoned the Tyranids' capillary towers on Typhon, destroying the swarm's primary Hive Tyrant and severing the Tyranids' connection to the Hive Mind.Though ultimately the Armageddon was destroyed by the actions of the Tyranid Hive Ships, and with it many priceless Chapter relics, its sacrifice bought the Blood Ravens forces on Typhon's surface enough time to achieve their mission objective and save that world from the tender mercies of the Great Devourer. |
Armageddon Ork Hunters - Armageddon Ork Hunters: The Armageddon Ork Hunters are a specialised unit of Astra Militarum soldiers formed in the wake of the Second War for Armageddon after its end in 943.M41. They were created to conduct xenocidal campaigns throughout the equatorial jungles of the Hive World of Armageddon in an attempt to rid them of the Ork presence that had taken root there. Specialising in guerrilla tactics and jungle warfare, the Ork Hunters fight their feral enemy on their own terms, and have become extremely adept at their savage purpose. Their feral appearance and coarse manner has led to the Ork Hunters being regarded as little better than the Greenskin scum that they hunt and have earned them the enmity of many other Imperial Guard regiments stationed on Armageddon.Soldiers from the Ork Hunter regiments of Armageddon are savage warriors, and in their short history have already earned a fearsome reputation. Based in the Equatorial Jungle of their home planet, they frequently return to their fortified Cerbera Base with grisly trophies taken from the Orks they have slain -- teeth necklaces, skulls, Stikkbombs and bloodstained armour plates amongst them. In addition to their normal wargear, each Ork Hunter also carries his "scalper," a huge, machete-like weapon that can decapitate a xenos with a single blow.The feral appearance and coarse manner of the Ork Hunters has led to them being regarded as only slightly less savage than the Orks they hunt. This is not far from the truth, and on more than one occasion, the Ork Hunters have actually been forced to ally with the Greenskins against the hordes of Daemons that now inhabit the region of Armageddon where they are active in the wake of the opening of the Great Rift. Should the abominations of Chaos be defeated, any surviving Humans and Orks will invariably turn upon each other once more. |
Armageddon Ork Hunters - Regimental History: In 998.M41, the Third War for Armageddon began. This was a massive conflict between the Imperium of Man and the largest Ork WAAAGH! ever raised, led by the Greenskin Warlord Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka. The war was fought on the Hive World of Armageddon where Ghazghkull Thraka had launched his first attempt to seize the planet exactly 57 standard years before.In the years following the defeat of Ghazghkull Thraka during that Second War for Armageddon, the wounded Hive World began the long process of rebuilding its shattered hive cities and defences. The Ork horde had been destroyed, but due to the unique spore-based reproductive system of the Orkoid species, infestations of Greenskins continued to plague Imperial forces. In response to this reality, the head of the ruling military council of Armageddon, General Kurov, conducted several xenocidal campaigns using Imperial Guard troops to destroy such infestations throughout the equatorial jungles of Armageddon and the Ice World of Chosin.The forces involved in these battles suffered extremely high losses and many units were reduced to below a tenth of their operational strength. Rather than disperse these soldiers to other regiments, General Kurov decided to harness the valuable experience the survivors had gained and formed them into a number of specialised Ork hunting regiments. Soldiers from dozens of different planets, and with almost no common culture, were now merged into specialised Greenskin extermination regiments.The main area of operations for these units was in the depths of Armageddon's equatorial jungles where Orks continued to proliferate despite regular purges. These Feral Orks proved to be extremely adept at fighting within the jungle environment and frustratingly difficult to engage in a decisive battle. The Ork Hunter regiments therefore built Cerbera Base in the middle of the jungle, providing them with a forward staging area and extensive training facilities. The sweltering heat and brutal training regime soon earned the base the nickname of "Hell Town."Stationed in the centre of the jungle, the Ork Hunters launch missions into the equatorial jungles ("the Green," as the Ork Hunters termed it), fighting between the two continents of Armageddon Prime and Armageddon Secundus. In recent times, the Ork Hunter forces were bolstered considerably by three regiments of Catachan Jungle Fighters. Later on, reports indicated an intense rivalry had developed between the two factions of the Astra Militarum, but as the Feral Orks flooded the mountains and dense jungle, the Ork Hunters needed all the help the other regiments of the Imperial Guard could give them.The Ork Hunters have learned to fight the enemy on their own terms, and have become extremely good at their mission. Soldiers from the Ork Hunter regiments are savage warriors and in their short history have already earned themselves a fearsome reputation. Many Imperial Guard regiments were posted to Cerbera Base to learn from the Ork Hunters' instructor sergeants. It is well-known that the uncouth and savage nature of the Ork Hunters rankles with many of the more traditional Imperial Guard regiments, and the "Battle at Hell Town" marked the start of the enmity between the Ork Hunters and the regiments of the Pyran Dragoons. |
Armageddon Ork Hunters - Battle at Hell Town: When the Pyran Dragoons arrived at Cerbera Base to receive training in the hunting of Feral Orks still inhabiting the planet, the haughty Dragoons soon found themselves in conflict with the uncouth Armageddon Ork Hunters. The two regiments could not have been more diametrically opposed in their regimental cultures and approach to warfare and arguments between officers of the two opposing regiments were quite common.The situation further eroded when Colonel Pertinax, the commander of Cerbera Base, ordered the Dragoons to maintain perimeter positions that the Pyrans viewed as suicidally weak, and so they disobeyed the Ork Hunter commander and abandoned their positions. This withdrawal led to a massive Ork assault that the Ork Hunters were barely able to push back.It was said after the Battle of Hell Town that the argument between Pertinax and Dragoon Colonel Tannley-Drake could be clearly heard over the whole fortified camp until, finally, the Pyran challenged his counterpart to a duel. Accounts differ as to the outcome of the duel, but the Pyran Dragoons have always maintained that their colonel nobly scored first blood against the Ork Hunter, allowing the entire regiment to honourably retire to Hive Infernus for further orders. In the aftermath of this honour duel, the two regiments have remained bitter rivals. |
Armageddon Ork Hunters - Regimental Combat Doctrine: Armageddon Ork Hunters have adapted and trained so extensively that they have become masters of jungle warfare. Although they are not born to the jungle, and hence will never be the equal of soldiers such as the infamous Catachan Jungle Fighters, they have become highly skilled nonetheless. They are the only survivors of apocalyptic combat between their previous regiments and the Orks of the equatorial jungle, and every one of them is as skilled as they are tough.The Ork Hunters' training included a broad array of new techniques to learn and master such as demolition, escape and evasion, survival and intelligence work. The trainee soldiers of the Ork Hunters are expected to become experts in all the weapons and tactics used in the hunting of Orks and jungle warfare. Imperial Guardsmen who survive the training are rewarded with the badge of the Ork Hunters, a small metal pin with an Ork skull emblem. This became the Ork Hunters' regimental symbol and the source of their unofficial name, the "Skull-Takers."When the Ork Hunters were created, the psychological effect such constant contact, and close-quarters warfare, with the Orks would have upon the troops subjected to it was not calculated by General Kurov in his haste to combat the Orks in the equatorial jungles of Armageddon. Many of the Ork Hunter squads do not return to their base for solar weeks on end, and survive purely by utilising the resources of the jungle around them, immersing themselves in their war against the Orks. Occasionally, a squad of the Ork Hunters will return to Cerbera Base laden with grisly trophies of the many Orks that they have culled on their forays. These trophies often take the form of Ork tooth necklaces, skulls, scalps, and more mundane items like Ork glyphs and Stikkbombz.A worrying trend in the Ork Hunters' combat doctrine has been noted in recent times. It seems the Ork Hunters are not only adopting the Orkoid manner of war, but also many of their superstitions, codes of conduct and icons. At best, these soldiers have found that to destroy their enemy beyond doubt, they must understand them and adopt their combat doctrines. At worst, they are degenerating into the savage beasts they have given their lives to fight, a vile slight upon the honour of the Emperor's warriors. |
Armageddon Ork Hunters - Ork Hunter Firesweep Teams: The Ork Hunters of Armageddon have developed many different types of tactics since the Second War for Armageddon in an effort to rid the jungles of Armageddon Secundus of the many Feral Orks that infest the region. Lethal toxins have been developed and tested, as well as many traps designed purely to wipe out as many Orks as possible.At the forefront of the Ork Hunters' continuing war against their primitive enemy, though, are the elite Firesweep Teams, squads of the regiment's most skilled warriors. These Ork Hunters have been battle-hardened by standard years of fighting in the jungles. Armed with Flamer weapons, they can clear huge areas of the jungle of all Ork infestation within solar hours and in pitched battle their bravery gives them a keen advantage over any Ork hoping to hide within the dense undergrowth.A Firesweep Team consists of an Ork Hunter sergeant and two to four Ork Hunter Veterans. |
Armageddon Ork Hunters - Wargear: Armageddon Ork Hunters very rarely have a chance to return to Cerbera Base and replenish their ammunition, their patrols often lasting solar weeks on end. As a result, the Armageddon Ork Hunters commonly use captured Ork weaponry.Some of the strongest Ork Hunters have even been known to wield the crude axes of the Feral Orks in close combat. Various Imperial reports have postulated that the Armageddon Ork Hunters actually prefer Ork weapons for the sheer noise and chaos they can cause when an ambush is sprung.Shoota - A shoota is ballistic weapon utilised by the Orks that is chosen not for its efficiency but for the amount of noise it makes and the amount of damage it can do. The best shootas are deafening and deadly in equal measure. Like the slugga, shootas are not very accurate. Like their Ork counterparts, this suits the Ork Hunters just fine since they seem less interested in accuracy than in causing damage and raising a ruckus. The noise of a shoota gives the Ork Hunters a morale boast and can cause their Greenskin enemies to lose their morale and retreat from the overpowering noise of dozens of shootas.Slugga - Sluggas are large calibre sidearms that are the equivalent of a Space Marine Bolt Pistol. Like the shoota, sluggas are not very accurate. As far as the Ork Hunter wielding it is concerned, the effectiveness of a slugga is of little importance, as long as it is big and makes a loud noise when it fires.Choppa - Choppas are a general term given to any Ork close combat weapon, typically heavy swords and axes. There is little finesse to a choppa, as most are little more than sharpened pieces of scrap metal which have been roughly shaped into something resembling a sword or axe.Scalper - In addition to their normal wargear, every Ork Hunter also carries his "scalper," a huge, machete-like weapon that can be used to decapitate an Ork with one blow.Flak Vest - The most common type of armour in the Human-settled galaxy is Flak Armour, as it is standard issue to the countless millions of Imperial Guardsmen. Many layers of ablative and impact absorbent material go into making each suit, enough to deflect or negate most low-level attacks such as small arms, shrapnel, and proximity blasts. Solid hits from high-impact weapons can generally negate it, but given that it is relatively lightweight, cheap to produce, and dependable in most combat situations, many veterans keep using it even when offered better. Deployed in the steaming hot tropical Equatorial Jungle of Armageddon, most Ork Hunter warriors eschew the use of standard Imperial Guard Flak Armour, preferring to rely on their own mobility and instincts for protection in such dense, hostile terrain. The use of armour would also leave them at greater risk of dehydration, which in an alien jungle can be as deadly a killer as any living enemy.3 Frag Grenades - Frag Grenades use a combustible charge and special fillers of shrapnel fragments to fill a given circumfrence with deadly shrapnel, making this grenade a potent anti-personnel weapon. Imperial Frag Grenades are roughly the size of a clenched fist and covered with a heavily notched shell, both to increase the shrapnel produced and provide a more secure grip for throwing.2 Smoke Grenades - Smoke Grenade explosives release a dense smoke which only obscures basic eyesight and optical based systems. They do not block detection systems that use heat or other spectral bands outside of normal human eyesight, but are much more widely available and easier to construct.Imperial Guard Jungle Fighter UniformCamouflage PaintPoor Weather GearRucksackBasic ToolkitMess Kit & Water Canteen2 solar weeks' rationsStummer - The reverse of the automated alarm device known as a Screamer, Stummers generate sound waves to cancel out ambient sounds and noises made by moving personnel in a small area.Grapnel - Grapnels use a small launcher or gas-gun to fire a hooked or magnetic grapnel, connected to the launcher with a coiled 100 metre length of thin but strong line. Once the grapnel attaches to the desired spot such as a rooftop, a Guardsman can manually climb the line or activate a powered winch. Common sets can hold 150 kilograms, while the best can support 200 kilograms.Blanket & Sleep BagRechargeable Lamp-Pack - Sturdy and reliable, glow-globes illuminate many an Imperial paveway and cathedral. Most portable ones are roughly the size of a clenched fist and can shine strong, yellowish light a dozen or so metres in width, lasting roughly five hours before their power pack needs recharging or replacing.Dog TagsImperial Infantryman's Uplifting Primer - A staple piece of gear that Guardsmen are required to have on them at all times—this piece of kit is never to fall into the hands of the enemies of the Imperium. It details everything a Guardsman needs to know: principles and regulations of the Imperial Guard, issued arms, attire, apparatus and equipment, basic battlefield policy and Imperial Guard organisation and structure, elementary battlefield medical instructions, and a detailed guide on the foes of the Imperium. No Guardsman should ever be found without possession of a copy of the Uplifting Primer -- the punishment is severe. Though they are issued it, it is very doubtful whether any Ork Hunter actually maintains a copy on his person. |
Armageddon Ork Hunters - Notable Armageddon Ork Hunter Regiments: 3rd Armageddon Ork Hunters, "Pikers" - One of the Ork Hunters regiments raised in the wake of the Third War for Armageddon. |
Armageddon Ork Hunters - Notable Armageddon Ork Hunters: Colonel Pertinax - Pertinax was the commanding officer of Hell Town when the Pyran Dragoons arrived to receive training in the hunting of Feral Orks still inhabiting the planet. The two regiments could not be more diametrically opposed in culture and their approach to warfare and arguments between officers of the two opposing regiments were quite common. The situation further eroded when Colonel Pertinax ordered the Dragoons to maintain perimeter positions that the Pyrans' viewed as suicidally weak, and they refused the order, leading to a massive surprise attack of the Orks upon Hell Town that nearly succeeded in exterminatning the Imperials. It was said after the Battle of Hell Town that the argument between Pertinax and Dragoon Colonel Tannley-Drake could be clearly heard over the whole fortified camp until, finally, the Pyran challenged his counterpart to a duel. Accounts differ as to the outcome of the duel, but the Pyran Dragoons have always maintained that their colonel nobly scored first blood against the Ork Hunter, allowing the entire regiment to honourably retire to Infernus Hive for further orders.Corporal Ondy Scalber, "Good-Eye," - Corporal Ondy Scalber was a soldier of the Jopall Indentured Squadrons who quickly found himself assigned to the Armageddon Ork Hunters as a "skinbait" -- an uninformed, inexperienced trooper assigned to the Ork Hunters to undergo the arduous training in learning the field craft of jungle warfare and the art of Ork-hunting. In the process, Scalber earned his place amongst his Ork Hunter comrades, earning the nickname "Good-Eye" -- for being able to detect carefully concealed Orks in the jungle -- and quickly discovered that there were all sorts of ways to live and die, out in "the Green." |
Armageddon Sector - Armageddon Sector: The Armageddon Sector of the Milky Way Galaxy is a sector of the Imperium of Man that lies to the galactic northeast of Terra in the Segmentum Solar and was the site of several of the greatest conflicts ever fought by the Imperium of Man, including the Second and Third Wars for Armageddon against the massive Ork WAAAGH! of the Warlord Ghazghkull Thraka.The strategically vital Hive World of Armageddon is the fourth planet in its star system of ten planets and is the industrial hub of both the Armageddon Sub-sector and the greater region of the surrounding Armageddon Sector.Many worlds within a several light-year radius of Armageddon rely on it for its large industrial output. |
Armageddon Sector - Armageddon: The Armageddon Sector and in particular, the Hive World of Armageddon, have been torn apart by war. This important Imperial world is located 10,000 light years to the galactic northeast of Terra, at the centre of the Armageddon Sector.For millennia it has been one of the Imperium's industrial powerhouses, its vast weapon factories providing arms and materiel to the Astra Militarum for use in campaigns all over the galaxy. Its strategic importance and massive stockpiles of weapons have made it the target for several major invasions. |
Armageddon Sector - First War for Armageddon: The latest Ork invasion of Armageddon is not the first time that the planet has been attacked. More than five hundred standard years before Ghazghkull was born, Armageddon faced no less deadly a threat from an enemy of a very different nature – the forces of Chaos, during the First War for Armageddon.Following a rash of strange, inexplicable events, armed rebellion erupted in the huge hive cities that stud the surface of Armageddon. The revolts were quickly put down on the continent of Armageddon Secundus, but amongst the more scattered hives of the continent of Armageddon Prime they proved more difficult to eradicate.Busy containing the rebellion, the Planetary Defence Force was caught by surprise when the Space Hulk Devourer of Souls appeared in the Armageddon System. On board was an enormous Chaos army, led by the Daemon Primarch Angron. Chaos Space Marines from Angron's World Eaters Traitor Legion swept across the land, while at the same time Warp rifts flickered into existence and unleashed hordes of Daemons upon the beleaguered Imperial defenders.The subcontinent of Armageddon Prime fell swiftly to the Chaos army, and the survivors fell back and prepared to make a last ditch stand along the Rivers Styx and Chaeron. Unknown to Angron, several Great Companies of Space Wolves Space Marines led by the Great Wolf Logan Grimnar himself had arrived to bolster the Imperial defence.Titanic battles erupted all along the front as the forces of Chaos crashed into the Imperial line. It was at this moment that Logan played his trump card in the form of a full company of Grey Knights.Only the Grey Knights could deal with an entity as powerful as Angron, and after a desperate battle they were able to hurl his spirit back into the Warp. Without their leader, the Forces of Chaos were routed and Armageddon saved. |
Armageddon Sector - Second War for Armageddon: The Second War for Armageddon took place in 941.M41, when the Ork Warlord Ghazghkull Thraka invaded the planet at the head of a massive Ork WAAAGH! At the time Armageddon was ruled by Overlord Herman von Strab, memorably described as "the greatest waste of flesh and bone born in the last five hundred years."Von Strab's incompetence allowed Ghazghkull to conquer the subcontinent of Armageddon Prime even more easily than Angron had been able to in the First Armageddon War.Even worse, he neglected to defend the river lines where Angron had been halted in sufficient strength, allowing Ghazghkull to smash through the Imperial lines and onto the ash waste plains of Armageddon Secundus which lay beyond.Ork columns quickly overran Infernus Hive, and after bitter fighting Helsreach Hive fell to the Orks as well. The futile counterattacks ordered by Von Strab were smashed to pieces by the vastly superior Ork army. Only at Hades Hive were the Orks slowed down, as a desperate Imperial defence led by Commissar Yarrick did everything possible to stop the Orks from capturing the city.But even the legendary Commissar Sebastian Yarrick could not undo the harm inflicted by Von Strab, and as Ork forces advanced on Acheron and Tartarus hives it looked as if all of Armageddon must fall.It was at this darkest moment that salvation arrived in the form of the Ultramarines, Salamanders and Blood Angels Space Marine Chapters. The Space Marines crashed into the Orks, stemming the Greenskin tide and giving the Imperial defenders the time they needed to organise their forces.With von Strab replaced as overall commander by the incomparably more capable Commander Dante of the Blood Angels, the forces of the Imperium started to turn the table, and finally a massive orbital assault made by the entire Blood Angels Chapter broke the back of the Ork army and sent the survivors fleeing back into the thick Equatorial Jungles that separate the continents of Armageddon Prime and Secundus. |
Armageddon Sector - Third War for Armageddon: If the Imperium made one mistake in the aftermath of the Second Armageddon War, it was in assuming that Ghazghkull had been defeated. This was far from the truth. On the day of the Feast of the Emperor's Ascension, 998.M41, fifty-seven standard years to the day after the first Ork invasion, Ghazghkull's Greenskin hordes descended on the world of Armageddon once more.The Third War for Armageddon, the greatest of the Armageddon wars, had begun. This time the defenders of Armageddon were better prepared than they had been prior to the earlier invasions. Unfortunately for them, so was Ghazghkull.At the head of an Ork WAAAGH! many times larger than any the galaxy had ever seen before, Ghazghkull was able to smash aside the defending Imperial fleet and land his forces all across the surface of Armageddon.A battle of unprecedented ferocity erupted -- entire hive cities were destroyed by asteroids hurled at the surface from orbiting space hulks, the sulphur-yellow skies of Armageddon became interwoven with the twisting con-trails of thousands of aircraft battling for aerial supremacy, while on the ground, invading Ork hordes clashed with Astra Militarum armies.Such is the size and enormity of this latest war that neither side had been able to gain the upper hand. Hive cities had fallen and been recaptured, andmillions of Ork and Imperial warriors had died, but still the war continued with no end in sight. Armageddon was consumed by the greatest single planetary battle the galaxy had ever known.The end of the Third War for Armageddon is clouded in mystery. Ultimately the campaign was considered a narrow Imperial victory as the world remained largely under the control of the Imperium. Word later reached Yarrick from the Black Templars Crusade fleet in orbit of Armageddon that Ghazghkull had fled the world once the planet's Season of Fire had begun and bogged down the Orks' offensives, possibly in his command Space Hulk, The Perversion of Pain.With this news, Yarrick gathered together his own forces and gave chase alongside the Black Templars Crusader Fleet, as the Black Templars' High Marshal Helbrecht began a new Crusade to seek out and finally destroy Ghazghkull.In a daring covert operation by the 13th Penal Legion under the command of Colonel Schaeffer, the traitorous former Imperial Governor Herman von Strab was killed in the occupied Hive Acheron when he was tackled over the edge of a balcony by one Lieutenant Kage, both men falling to their deaths.Though the war is now considered officially over by the Adeptus Administratum, fighting still continues on the planet at present. Though Ghazghkull has left the world, pursued by Commissar Yarrick with a full Black Templars Crusade at his back, the remaining Orks have come to regard Armageddon as a kind of Greenskin Valhalla where they can always come to find a good fight.The Imperium must still send more troops into the stalemated battle to keep the planet in Imperial hands and prevent the seemingly permanent Greenskin infestation from becoming a major threat once more.The state of Armageddon and its surrounding star systems in the Armageddon Sector is currently dire. Billions of Imperial soldiers and citizens died in the latest war, and many of the hive cities of Armageddon lie in ruins.The damage done to the world by the Third War for Armageddon is some of the most devastating ever suffered by any people of the Imperium. Dozens of Imperial armies were decimated or destroyed altogether by the ferocious combat, and the damage done to the planet itself may take several standard centuries to repair.Most of the settled planets in the Armageddon System have been ravaged by Ork forces, and with Ghazghkull having fled into deep space, it is likely he will quickly rebuild his forces and carve out a new Ork empire for himself, unless the Black Templars and Yarrick prove able to stop him. |
Armageddon Sector - Armageddon Sub-sector: While the vast bulk of the fighting in the Third War for Armageddon inevitably took place within the Armageddon System, and more acutely around the planet of Armageddon itself, the outlying systems and even the more distant neighbouring sub-sectors played their own part in the conflict.The direct attack on Armageddon, for instance, had been preceded by solar decades of Ork pirate activity.Armageddon - Hive WorldArphista Penitens - Penal WorldBasquit - Agri-WorldChosin - Ice WorldGaval - Mining WorldGramaul - Gas GiantGranica - Agri-World (Conquered by Ork invasion.)Iandai - Ringed Gas GiantJopall - Agri-WorldKernbright - Uninhabited WorldKrourk - Mining WorldMannheim - Monitor StationMemphis E - Agri-WorldMinerva - Civilised World (Interdicted by Ork Pirates)Monglor - Mining World (Contested due to civil war between Loyalist and Secessionist forces)Namara - Gas GiantNoctan - Civilised WorldPan - Agri-WorldPelucidar - Feral WorldPyran - Civilised WorldRuis - Agri-World (Interdicted by Ork Pirates)Umbridge 144 - Agri-WorldVerity - Uninhabited WorldSemtexia - Mining WorldSt. Jowens Dock - Imperial Navy Void Facility |
Armageddon Sector - Desedna and Paleoth Sub-sectors: Desedna and Paleoth are actally two separate, but very closely linked, sub-sectors. Both are small, with few populated worlds, with their importance instead stemming from the Desedna Cloud which engulfs them both.The cloud, a complex and hazardous accumulation of asteroids and debris strung out by the gravity of competing nearby stars, is a constant source of concern for the Imperium, who have long feared it could provide an all-too-convenient base of operations for pirates in the sector.Cloud's Spire - Uninhabited WorldDesedna - Agri-WorldHorkins - Agri-WorldKonaeger - Civilised WorldLeyap - Penal WorldPaleoth - Civilised WorldRemembered - Uninhabited WorldStricken - Uninhabited WorldUX/237/DCS/37 - Uninhabited WorldUW/237/DCS/76 - Uninhabited World |
Armageddon Sector - Golgotha Sub-sector: The Golgotha Sub-sector lies directly to the galactic east of Armageddon, having served as the source of both of Ghazghkull's invasions of that world.Orks have ruled over many of the star systems in this sub-sector for centuries, but the disparate hordes were only united sector-wide by Ghazghkull in more recent times.Since then, his grip on the system has proven a constant thorn in the Imperium's side, isolating the few remaining Human-held worlds from one another to such a degree that most are essentially lost to the Imperium.Ghazghkull's power base covers what were once some of the most important systems in the sector, though his territory is also thought to include several star systems unknown to the Imperium which may have been Ork infested for millennia, making the true size of his empire ultimately inestimable.Deimos - Forge WorldDemiral - Agri-WorldEln - Mining WorldGolgan - Ork WorldGolgarus - Ork WorldGolgoth - Ork WorldIW/237/AS/93 - Ork WorldLost Hope - Ork WorldMelioch - Agri-WorldUlap - Civilised World |
Armageddon Sector - Justicar Sub-sector: The Justicar Sub-sector is widely believed to be one of the wealthiest regions in the entire Imperium, though the inevitable corruption attendant to this wealth makes this hard to gauge accurately.Even so, its high number of populated worlds, many of them home to ancient and powerful Imperial noble families, is one of the main reasons that the nearby Armageddon Sub-sector remains such a crucial point of control for the Imperium.Calenth - Civilised WorldCorun - Hive WorldDal - Civilised WorldDuvri - Civilised WorldKeynes - Mining WorldJusticar - Hive WorldNepulet - Agri-WorldRogan - Mining WorldSacrifice - Uninhabited World |
Armageddon Sector - Voss Sub-sector: The Voss Sub-sector has for many centuries been one of the key centres of production for the Astra Militarum and Imperial Navy in the sector.At one time, it housed the sector naval command, although this was later moved to the Armageddon System's St. Jowen's Dock void station following the Second Armageddon War.Dessos - Penal WorldEyueow - Uninhabited WorldFalchis - Civilised WorldMolnar - Hive WorldOgden's Rock - Mining WorldPraevoss - Civilised WorldPseuvoss - Civilised WorldVoyn's Reach - Hive WorldVoss - Forge WorldYarrs - Mining World |
Armageddon Steel Legion - Armageddon Steel Legion: The Armageddon Steel Legion is the Militarum Regimentum of the Astra Militarum that fights as mechanised infantry alongside Chimera armoured personnel carriers in defence of the strategically-located Imperial Hive World of Armageddon and its surrounding allied star systems of the Armageddon Sector.Armageddon, located in the Segmentum Solar, was a planet blighted and poisoned by millennia of heavy industrial output, though it was also a major manufacturing centre. In the 41st Millennium Armageddon became a constant battleground between the Imperial Guard's Steel Legion and the countless Ork hordes of the Warlord Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka. |
Armageddon Steel Legion - Regimental History: Regiments of the Astra Militarum vary widely from one world to the next. Civilisation, training, and technology levels are wildly varied from one culture to another within the Imperium of Man, resulting in forces mounted on horseback and carrying spears next to elite troops bearing advanced Grav-Chutes deploying from Valkyrie Assault Carriers.Within these parameters, large formations of mechanised infantry are very uncommon within the formations of the Imperial Guard. The reason for this rarity is that the resources required to equip and maintain vast numbers of armoured vehicles are difficult to acquire, even for such august personages as Imperial Commanders and planetary governors. Typically, gathering so many war machines also requires a pact or agreement with the Adeptus Mechanicus, for it is the Tech-priests and Enginseers of Mars who ensure that these vehicles can operate (and be repaired should they suffer damage) in the heat of battle.The most well-known and renowned of the rare few mechanised infantry regiments in the Imperium are those founded upon the Hive World of Armageddon. Whilst some Astra Militarum formations rely upon horses or other such conventional steeds, the Steel Legions of Armageddon ride into battle as mounted infantry within the hulls of their trusted Chimera armoured transports.The high numbers of Chimeras amongst the Steel Legion regiments is due to the highly industrialised nature of their homeworld. Armageddon is one of the foremost manufacturing planets for Chimeras and produces vast numbers of this vehicle for use across the Imperium of Man. So great is Armageddon's output of Chimeras that an extremely high proportion of regiments raised from that world are mechanised infantry. These highly mobile forces are skilled at rapidly redeploying convoys of vehicles to engage the enemy. Often, the Steel Legion's vehicles simply overrun the enemy's front lines, allowing their infantry to dismount and sweep the area clear of aggressors.The ash wastes of Armageddon are filled with corrosive toxins and industrial pollution. Were a man or woman to breathe the air outside of Armageddon's hive cities for any extended period their lungs would quickly rot. Despite this, Armageddon has a massive population and is capable of raising a large number of Astra Militarum regiments. Indeed, at the height of the Second War for Armageddon more regiments were being raised each standard year from the population of Armageddon than from any two other worlds in the entire Segmentum Solar combined. The people of Armageddon are therefore no strangers to warfare. They give no quarter and expect none in return.Perhaps the most renowned of Armageddon's soldiery are the Steel Legion mechanised infantry regiments. While it is difficult for most Imperial Commanders and planetary governors to obtain and maintain enough of the vehicles needed for such formations, Armageddon has produced hundreds of these swift-moving regiments. The extremely industrialised nature of Armageddon means that a far higher proportion of its regiments are mechanised infantry. It is for this reason that these mobile regiments were given their moniker "Steel Legion."All guardsmen within the Steel Legions wear protective clothing such as trench coats, gloves and visors so as to minimise the exposure to their world's polluted atmosphere. Most notably, every trooper carries a rebreather unit capable of filtering out the worst of the airborne poisons. The rebreathers of senior officers are often fashioned in the visage of a grinning skull in an attempt to unnerve the superstitious Orks that have ravaged their war-torn homeworld in recent years. The warriors of Armageddon reserve a particular hatred for the Greenskins, who in their lust for war have smashed whole hive cities asunder, and whose presence continues to plague the planet.Many of the Steel Legion troopers are drafted from amongst the crammed populations of Armageddon's massive hive cities, where only the ruthless survive the ceaseless and brutal gang wars. Many of the Armageddon underhive's most notorious gangs are conscripted directly into the Astra Militarum, without the need for any additional training -- their ruthless skills proving more than adequate.All regiments drawn from Armageddon reap the spoils of the planet's enormous manufactoria, which work ceaselessly to produce the vast quantities of armaments needed to equip so many guardsmen. The constant demand for more materiel has transformed Armageddon into an unequalled industrial behemoth. Not only are lasguns, vehicles and war machines produced at an incredible rate, but they are of exemplary quality, honed to perfection after millions of iterations.In the ongoing Third War for Armageddon, native regiments have been deployed in almost every major battle against the returning Greenskin hordes. None have been more gruelling than the siege at Hive Acheron, where Imperial forces, Orks and now Daemons are locked in a maelstrom of bloodshed and destruction as they fight for control of Armageddon's primary hive city. Millions from each side crowd the ash wastes around the planet's capital, supported by armoured columns as well as towering Gargants and Titans.An unending rain of explosive shells falls from on high, with the artillery targets shifting as control of the gun emplacements changes hands. Deep within Acheron itself, covert Kill-teams traverse the vast lattice of promethium pipes that riddles the hive, hoping to circumvent the enemy's defences.Hundreds of Armageddon infantry, armoured and artillery regiments have taken part in this perpetual siege, and their tenacity and expertise at fighting in the ash wastes has seen them fare better than many other Imperial forces. In fact, the mechanised regiments of the Steel Legion have had more Guardsmen survive their first solar hour of combat at Hive Acheron than any other of Armageddon's regiments. |
Armageddon Steel Legion - Cassell Rebellion: The Cassell Rebellion, also known as the "Six Hour Revolution" for its short duration, took place on the Agri-world of Cassell in 776.M36. Cassell was ruled by an Imperial cult called the Way of the Emperor's Flesh. The planetary governor, Supreme Pontiff Skalin, was known for possessing eccentric views but was otherwise regarded as loyal to the Imperium and reliable. However, rumours began to circulate that Skalin believed that his cult was the only true faith of the God-Emperor and the rest of the Imperium should be made to recognise this.When these rumours reached Colonel Kleist of the Armageddon 16th Steel Legion, which at that time was stationed on Cassell following exemplary service in the Lotharn Campaign, he petitioned the Administratum for permission to investigate the supreme pontiff. Before that authority could be received, Kleist's hand was forced when Skalin renounced the authority of the High Lords of Terra and called on all Cassellians to join a crusade to bring the Way of the Emperor's Flesh to the rest of the Emperor's domain.With his regiments already mobilised, Kleist was able to bring the rebellion under control before it could spread. Less than a solar hour after Skalin's announcement, 16th Steel Legion Chimeras were rolling out of the regiment's encampment and marching on the planetary capital, Port Cassell. The defenders of Port Cassell were ill-equipped to face an armoured assault, and the capital's main gate soon fell to the Loyalists.Kleist split his forces into two columns, with the smaller sent to capture the city's spaceport and communications centre, and the larger led by Kleist himself to assault the Divine Palace of the Supreme Pontiff. The Palace was guarded by the majority of Skalin's bodyguard and his only armoured vehicle, an ageing Leman Russ Tank. Nevertheless, the 16th Steel Legion quickly overwhelmed the defenders and captured the Pontiff. After less than six solar hours, the Cassell Rebellion was over before it could fully take root. |
Armageddon Steel Legion - Wars for Armageddon: The citizens of Armageddon are no strangers to brutal warfare. Their world has suffered greatly during the 41st Millennium at the hands of invaders throughout no less than three devastating wars launched by the enemies of Humanity. The Steel Legion played a major role in all of them. |
Armageddon Steel Legion - First War for Armageddon (444.M41): Few records exist of the event known as the First War for Armageddon, as much of it has been utterly purged by agents of the Inquisition. Fragments that remain describe a world gripped by a massive daemonic incursion. The foul Daemons of Chaos were defeated only at great cost by heroes such as the Great Wolf Logan Grimnar of the Space Wolves Chapter and his valiant Space Marines.Some whisper that the world and many surrounding star systems were purged in the aftermath of this invasion, and that the feared Daemonhunters of the Chamber Militant of the Inquisition's Ordo Malleus -- the Grey Knights -- were somehow involved. |
Armageddon Steel Legion - Second War for Armageddon (941.M41): Warboss Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka, quite possibly one of the most charismatic and dangerous Ork Warlords in the galaxy, led a massive WAAAGH! of Orks to invade Armageddon, starting the Second War for Armageddon in 941.M41. Warp Storms prevented Imperial reinforcements from reaching the embattled world, forcing Armageddon's defenders to fight alone against the Greenskin onslaught. Making things exceptionally worse for the defenders was the incredibly dangerous incompetence displayed by the planet's Imperial Commander, Overlord Herman von Strab.The war was costly, causing enormous casualties amongst the planet's population, and it was only due to the heroic efforts of the legendary Commissar Sebastian Yarrick at Hive Hades that the forces of Armageddon were able to hold the line. Fortunately, other valiant Imperial forces were eventually able to make planetfall and support Commissar Yarrick and the Steel Legions.Space Marines from the Blood Angels, Salamanders, and Ultramarines Chapters threw back the Orks in several engagements, and the Titans of the Legio Metallica fought bitterly with Ork Gargants across Armageddon's surface. In the end, the Warp distortions blocking access to Armageddon abated, and fresh Imperial reinforcements arrived to help secure the planet's warzones. Warboss Ghazghkull left Armageddon to gather his strength and plan a new invasion, vowing revenge against Commissar Yarrick. |
Armageddon Steel Legion - Third War for Armageddon (998.M41-Present): More than fifty standard years after the Second War for Armageddon, Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka launched a new onslaught against the planet, the Third War for Armageddon. This time, Ghazghkull had made alliances with other notable Orks, such as the fierce Nazdreg Ug Urdgrub and the diabolically clever Mekboy, Orkimedes. An enormous Ork fleet soon arrived in the Armageddon Sector, smashing into the heroic but hideously outnumbered warships comprising the Imperial Navy's Battlefleet Armageddon. While the Ork fleet arrived in the Armageddon System, Commissar Yarrick had taken command of the Imperial forces on Armageddon itself and hastily organised a plan to prepare for the coming invasion.The Imperium was not without its defenders -- Titan Legions, Space Marines, and the Sisters of Battle reinforced Armageddon's existing defences alongside the forces of the Imperial Guard. Ork Roks (hollowed-out asteroids with crude steering mechanisms) smashed into Armageddon's surface and disgorged massive hordes of Greenskins.Meanwhile, alien forces and heavy equipment -- including many Ork Gargants and other massive war machines -- arrived directly on the planet via the Orks' "tellyporta" technology.After the initial assault, the Third War for Armageddon bogged down into a large number of individual clashes between the Orks and the Imperials. Frustrated by the growing stalemate of the war, Ghazghull left the planet to seek other, greater battles, closely pursued by Commissar Yarrick. Battles still rage upon the surface of Armageddon between both sides, with no end in sight. |
Armageddon Steel Legion - Spinward Front: So far, Lord Marshal Ghanzorik has deployed Armageddon Steel Legion regiments into only a handful of warzones in the Spinward Front in the Periphery Sub-sector of the Calixis Sector in the Segmentum Obscurus. These regiments have mustered at the world of Cyclopea to assist with the tithe preparations there to muster new Imperial Guard forces, and from there they were sent to the Departmento Munitorum depot on Ganf Magna to assist with operations against the Feral Ork tribes plaguing that world.The Armageddon Steel Legion regiments operating on Ganf Magna recently received an unexpected benefit. Due to a bureaucratic error somewhere in the byzantine organisation of the Departmento Munitorum, a large number of Deathstrike Missile Launchers were mistakenly routed to the Steel Legion mustering areas on Ganf Magna. The Guardsmen from Armageddon have embraced this addition to their nominal strength and are relishing the opportunity to use such devastating weapons. |
Armageddon Steel Legion - Regimental Organisation: The Hive World of Armageddon, like most of its ilk, consists of huge ash wastes choked with toxic pollutants and corrosive chemicals. Some regions of the planet consist of jungles and oceans, but the pervasive effects of industrial pollution are inescapable outside of the world's great hive cities. Teeming with Humanity, Armageddon's hive cities are not simply manufacturing centres -- they are also packed with the crowded workers and overseers necessary to keep the massive industrial complex running.These conditions give rise to a seemingly endless series of savage gang wars that erupt regularly amongst the underclasses on Armageddon. Many recruits into the Steel Legions are taken directly from veterans of these brutal struggles for dominance of the underhive, as only the fiercest and most implacable gangers manage to survive and even thrive upon the carnage.The gangs of Armageddon are sometimes conscripted en masse into the Steel Legions, and it is said that most of these gangs require little to no additional training to be effective soldiers. In fact, some squads that were formerly gangers excel at inventive and cunning small-unit tactics on the battlefield. The Steel Legion is sometimes supported by conscripted platoons of Planetary Defence Force troops and Ratling sniper teams.The Guardsmen of the Steel Legion wear uniforms that include a mustard-yellow great coat, gas masks to protect themselves from Armageddon's toxic environment, and rounded helmets over black infantry fatigues. The guardsmen of the Steel Legion, in addition to their Lasguns, make use of Grenade Launchers and Missile Launchers as heavy weapons. Their regiments are supported not only by Chimeras, but also by Leman Russ Executioner main battle tanks. |
Armageddon Steel Legion - Training: The troopers of the Armageddon Steel Legion are particularly skilled in the arts of deploying mechanised infantry and have a special expertise at battling Orks. In addition, Guardsman from Armageddon make fine assault troops for fighting in urban and hive city environments as well as heavy industrial zones, chemical sumps, and other such toxic regions.Their equipment and experience with such acrid environments make them invaluable for trudging through all sorts of polluted or otherwise noxious wastelands, from underhives filled with the toxic residue of ancient atomic generators to ruin-filled swamps rife with hallucinogenic flora, quicksand, and near-invisible pockets of lethal gas. |
Armageddon Steel Legion - Wargear: So toxic are the ash wastes of Armageddon that a trooper breathing its air freely would feel their lungs begin to melt and rot away. It is for this reason that the Armageddon Steel Legions are heavily protected against toxic and polluted environments. Each Steel Legion guardsman wears a protective trenchcoat, gloves, and a visor to keep their exposure to the corrosive atmosphere at a minimum.Possibly the most iconic piece of wargear for the Steel Legion is the rebreather unit carried by every trooper. These units are capable of filtering out the worst effects of any airborne poisons and are the primary reason that many Steel Legion Guardsmen have survived doing battle upon the ash wastes. Senior officers have rebreathers that are often shaped into a mask similar to that of a grinning skull.The Guardsmen of the Steel Legion are not the only things protected from venomous environments within these regiments. Throughout the Steel Legions, all vehicles are fully enclosed and possess airtight seals to ward passengers from the foul and acidic atmosphere encountered by convoys traversing the ash wastes. The Steel Legion takes special care to protect their mighty banners, each one hung with trophies of honour and no small amount of Ork kill markers. These banners are coated with highly resistant materials in an attempt to preserve them from the wastelands' acidic decay.A standard Armageddon Steel Legion Guardsman will be outfitted with the following wargear:M36 Pattern Lasgun - Produced in a multitude of different styles and patterns, the Lasgun can be found in use on almost every world of the Imperium. The M36 Pattern is one of the most ubiquitous patterns of Lasgun in use by the Imperial Guard, and has long been the standard weapon issued to the troops of the Armageddon Steel Legion regiments.4 Lasgun Charge Packs - Charge packs are powerful batteries used almost exclusively by Imperial laser weapons. The cost of a charge pack varies depending on the class of the weapon. In all cases, it provides shots equal to the weapon's full clip value.Flak Armour - The most common type of armour used by Imperial Guard forces is Flak Armour, and it is standard-issue combat gear to the countless millions of Imperial Guardsmen who fight on the Emperor's behalf across the galaxy. Many layers of ablative and impact absorbent material go into making each suit, enough to deflect or negate most low-level attacks such as small arms, shrapnel, and proximity blasts. Solid hits from high impact weapons can generally negate it, but given that it is relatively lightweight, cheap to produce, and dependable in most combat situations, many veterans keep using it even when offered something better.Mono Knife - The Mono Knife is a one-handed melee implement that is the ubiquitous back-up weapon for warriors all across the Imperium, be they lowly hive city scum or the elite soldiers of a planetary governor. Some, such as the Catachan Fighting Knife, are designed for a specific purpose, whilst others are more generic in nature. The Mono Knives utilised by the Armageddon Steel Legion are specially fashioned blades with superfine edges that can easily cut through armour and never lose their edge. These knives are carried by all members of the Steel Legion as both a bayonet and a field tool.Armageddon Steel Legion Imperial Guard Uniform - The Armageddon Steel Legion uniform consists of a chemically-treated toxic-resistant trenchcoat, usually worn buckled along the chest, a helmet with special straps and lockplates for the Armageddon Pattern Rebreather that every guardsman is issued. Additionally, soldiers of the Steel Legion wear thick, toxic-resistant gloves and boots, a basic set of trousers and an undershirt. Unusually, the fabric and condition of these uniforms are quite standard, thanks to the standard resources. of their highly industrialised home world.Toxic-Resistant Trenchcoat - Each Guardsman of the Armageddon Steel Legions is equipped with a toxic-resistant trenchcoat, boots, and gloves. The specially-treated gear protects a Guardsmen from the most polluted or chemically toxic environments.Armageddon Pattern Rebreather - Designed to keep the wearer alive in even the most noxious atmosphere, this rebreather consists of a mask (often shaped like a skull for senior officers) connected by hose to a small air supply. A trooper wearing an Armageddon Pattern Rebreather is immune to the effects of gases and issues of air quality, and can even survive underwater at limited depths. The air canister lasts for two full hours before requiring replacement.4 Empty SandbagsM39 Entrenching Tool4 Frag Grenades - Frag Grenades use a combustible charge and special fillers of shrapnel fragments which make them potent anti-personnel weapons. Imperial Frag Grenades are roughly the size of a clenched fist and covered with a heavily notched shell, both to increase the shrapnel produced and provide a more secure grip for throwing.2 Photon Flash Grenades - Photon Flash Grenades detonate like a small star, blinding anyone nearby and bright enough to overload primitive vision protection systems. Anyone within 15 metres of a photon flash grenade when it detonates will be temporarily blinded.2 Smoke Grenades - Smoke grenades release a dense smoke which only obscures basic eyesight and optical based systems. They do not block detection systems that use heat or other spectral bands outside of normal human eyesight, but are much more widely available and easier to construct.Poor Weather GearRucksackBasic ToolkitMess Kit and Water Canteen2 week's RationsBlanket and Sleeping BagRechargeable Lamp Pack - Sturdy and reliable, glow-globes illuminate many an Imperial paveway and cathedral. Most portable ones are roughly the size of a clenched fist and can shine strong, yellowish light a dozen or so metres in width, lasting roughly five hours before their power pack needs recharging or replacing.Grooming KitDog TagsImperial Infantryman's Uplifting Primer - A standard-issue Imperial text that covers a vast variety of topics, this book is possessed by all members of the Imperial Guard as part of their standard-issue equipment. The Primer is a basic guide that details everything a Guardsman needs to know: principles and regulations of the Imperial Guard, issued arms, attire, apparatus, and equipment, basic battlefield policy and Imperial Guard organisation and structure, elementary battlefield medical instructions, and a detailed guide on the foes of the Imperium. No Guardsman should ever be found without possession of a copy of the Uplifting Primer for the punishment is severe. |
Armageddon Steel Legion - Notable Steel Legion Regiments: Armageddon Ash Wastes Militia - Fought in the Third War for ArmageddonArmageddon 9th Steel Legion - Fought in the Second War for Armageddon under Colonel Kerschlact.Armageddon 11th Steel Legion - Fought in the Second War for Armageddon.Armageddon 16th Steel Legion, "Tank Stormers" - In 776.M36 the 16th Armageddon Steel Legion Regiment put down a rebellion by a Chaos Cult called the Way of the Emperor's Flesh on the world of Cassell in less than 6 solar hours.Armageddon 47th Steel Legion - Served with distinction in the Third War for ArmageddonArmageddon 50th Steel Legion - Fought in the Second War for Armageddon.Armageddon 68th Steel Legion - One of the regiments that served in defence of Hive Helsreach during the Third War for Armageddon.Armageddon 69th Steel LegionArmageddon 81st Steel Legion - The 81st was a rare assault Legion. It fought in the Second War for Armageddon, where it was involved in a suicidal orbital landing to reclaim Hive Infernus. The survivors were later subordinated to the 9th Steel Legion.Armageddon 87th Steel Legion - Hydra Flak Tanks of this regiment were assigned to protect its 1st Company. It fought during the Hive Acheron assault in one of the Wars for Armageddon.Armageddon 91st Steel Legion - The 91st served at Helsreach during the Third War for Armageddon.Armageddon 93rd Steel Legion- The Armageddon 93rd Legion fought with distinction in the Third War for Armageddon at the Mannheim Gap.Armageddon 101st Steel Legion - The 101st acted as the command regiment at Helsreach during the Third War for Armageddon.Armageddon 116th Steel Legion - One of the many regiments that served in the defence of its homeworld during the Third War for Armageddon.Armageddon 121st Steel Legion - The 121st was an armoured regiment of the Steel Legion that served at Helsreach during the Third War for Armageddon.Armageddon 141st Steel Legion - The 141st Steel Legion fought in the defence of the hive city of Palonious during the Third War for Armageddon where they suffered heavy casualties. They were eventually reinforced by the Salamanders Chapter of the Space Marines. During the battle around the Eumenides Bridge the regiment was nearly destroyed by a large force of Orks of the Blackskulls Tribe as they migrated out of the Diablo Mountains. With the assistance of the Salamanders the bridge was saved and the Greenskins were pushed back towards the mountains. The remnants of the Regiment were then used to reinforce the 252nd Armageddon Steel Legion Regiment.Armageddon 199th Steel Legion - The 199th was an armoured regiment of the Steel Legion that served at Helsreach during the Third War for Armageddon.Armageddon 233rd Steel Legion - The 233rd was an armoured regiment of the Steel Legion that served at Helsreach during the Third War for Armageddon.Armageddon 238th Regiment - The famous Chimera which was later attached to Inquisitor Umbra Nox and after his death to Witch Hunter Skour fought in this regiment, having passed in this way through countless generations of Inquisitors.Armageddon 273rd Steel Legion, "Steel Vultures"- The 273rd was an armoured regiment of the Steel legion that fought at the Battle of Helsreach during the Third War for Armageddon.Armageddon 276th Steel Legion - The 276th Steel Legion fought in the ash wastes of Armageddon where, in 963.M41, the 3rd Company discovered the remains of a shattered Ork Gargant left over from the Second War for Armageddon. They secured it with the help of the regiment's 4th Company in the face of heavy counterattacks from the Ork tribes that had remained on Armageddon after the conclusion of the Second War.Armageddon 339th Steel Legion, "Iron Heads" - The 339th was an armoured regiment of the Steel Legion that earned the title "Iron Heads" during the battles for the tank forges of Hive Tempestora during the Third War for Armageddon. So massive was the factory that entire battles were fought within, with Leman Russ, Chimeras and Basilisks manoeuvring and firing as they would in the open expanses of Armageddon's ash wastes. At one point, the 339th held a front line demarcated by a long conveyor belt along which vital components for Leman Russ Battle Tanks trundled even as the battle raged all around. At the height of the battle, the entire regiment was mounted up in Chimeras that had just rolled off the production line and had not even had a coat of primer applied. The 339th then made a mechanised assault along the length of the factory, smashing through the Ork lines and pursuing the hated foe out into the polluted ash wastes of Armageddon Prime.Armageddon 703rd Steel Legion - The 703rd was a regiment of the Tempestus Scions that served in defence of Hive Helsreach during the Third War for Armageddon.Armageddon 808th Steel Legion - The Armageddon 808th Steel Legion is known for its aggressive and hard-charging officers, whose leadership style has earned the regiment a considerable reputation for trying unusual -- and often quite risky -- manoeuvres to approach the enemy by surprise or at great speed. This regiment first attracted attention during the Imperial Crusade into the Spinward Front of the Calixis Sector, when it became engaged in a bitter and violent battle against a group of Orks on the world of Ganf Magna. Despite the primitive weapons and equipment of the local Ork mobs, they won several victories over the 808th through surprisingly cunning use of terrain, stranding the regiment's transport vehicles in a series of narrow passes and overwhelming the Imperial soldiers within with their characteristic brutality. The 808th recovered from their losses and proved more successful in later engagements, swearing to avenge themselves upon the Greenskins by seeing every Ork expunged from Ganf Magna -- only to be redeployed shortly thereafter, their tempers still unquenched in the black blood of the Orks. The 808th recently saw action in a bizarre engagement on the planet of Sisk. Originally meant as a training exercise, a convoy of Steel Legion Chimeras was on patrol in the outer fringes of the northern continent when they encountered a band of rogue psykers and mutants led by a hulking figure in spiked power armour. The battle that followed was nightmarish -- dramatic seismic upheavals rendered many of the Chimeras useless, and the guardsmen were forced to dismount. The Armageddon troopers fought through the enemy's psychic projections, crossing trenches of living fire and enduring assaults by ambulatory slime. The mutants and the warband's commander inflicted severe casualties on the 808th, but the regiment's ability to withstand toxic environments enabled them to survive the onslaught and press on to claim a pyrrhic victory. Few other guardsmen could have accomplished such a feat, and the banner of the 808th received a blessing from Sisk's Ecclesiarchy high cleric in honour of their bravery.Armageddon 8th Heavy Tank Company - The Armageddon 8th Heavy Tank Company was a super-heavy tank company of the Astra Militarum raised on Armageddon that was equipped with Stormsword super-heavy main battle tanks and employed against the Orks during the Third War for Armageddon. |
Armageddon Steel Legion - Notable Armageddon Steel Legionaries: Major Pious Korren - Pious Korren is an officer in the Armageddon Steel Legion with the rank of major who became one of the most famous tank aces of the Third War for Armageddon in 998.M41. Known as the "Hero of Anthrand," Korren and his crew single-handedly destroyed an entire armoured column of Ork vehicles during the Battle of Anthrand Plain. Korren directs his crew from the top hatch of the main turret of the famed Shadowsword super-heavy main battle tank known as the Iron Saint.Colonel Kleist - Kleist was a colonel of the Armageddon Steel Legion who led Imperial forces to a victory during the Cassell Rebellion in less than six solar hours after deployment.Commissar Yarrick - A commissar who served with the Steel Legion and became one of the greatest Imperial heroes of the Second and Third Wars for Armageddon.Acting-Captain Haines - Haines was the commander of a company of the 47th Steel Legion.Major Istevus - Istevus served with the 141st Steel Legion.Commissar Vandenberg - Vandenberg was the regimental commissar of the 267th Steel Legion.Commissar Ali Ibn Sina - Ibn Sina served as the commissar of the 3rd Company of the 267th Steel Legion.Second Lieutenant Helgast - Helgast served as a platoon leader in 3rd Company of the 267th Steel Legion. |
Armageddon Steel Legion - Trivia: The guardsmen of the Armageddon Steel Legions require gas masks and thick, synthetic trenchcoats to protect them from their now toxic homeworld's atmosphere and thus have a uniform which is a composite of many different elements.Parts of the uniform are drawn from the British Army's infantry uniform in World War I (the coats are modelled on the British 1914 Utility Tunic and the gas masks are of the 1916 Box-Respirator type) and the German Paratroops (Fallschirmjäger) of World War II (particularly the Steel Legion's helmet design).This is contrasted with Steel Legion weapons, which are all much more technologically advanced and more portable than standard Imperial designs -- for example, their las rifles are 1/2 the size of the comparable Cadian Pattern weapons, and have folding wire stocks. |
Armageddon Steel Legion - Sources: Codex: Astra Militarum (6th Edition) (Digital Edition), "Regiments of Distinction - Armageddon Steel Legion"Codex: Astra Militarum (8th Edition), pg. 22Codex: Imperial Guard (3rd Edition, 1st Codex), rear coverCodex: Imperial Guard (3rd Edition, 2nd Codex), pg. 64Codex: Imperial Guard (3rd Edition, Revised Codex)Codex: Imperial Guard (5th Edition), pg. 19Epic Armageddon (Background Book), pp. 133, 135Imperial Armour Volume One - Imperial Guard and Imperial Navy, pp. 64, 108, 174Imperial Armour Volume Two Second Edition - War Machines of the Adeptus Astartes, pg. 226Only War: Hammer of the Emperor (RPG), pp. 8-11, 66White Dwarf 264 (UK), pg. 69White Dwarf 287 (UK), pp. 23-25White Dwarf 352 (UK), "Liber Apocalyptica - Titan Killer!" pg. 32-34, 36-37Helsreach (Novel) by Aaron Dembski-Bowden, Chs. 2, 3, 6, 9, 12, 13, 16, 20Third War for Armageddon Worldwide Campaign - Forces Disposition, Imperial Forces: Armageddon Steel Legion |
Armaglass - Armaglass: Armaglass, also spelled armaglas, is a transparent material similar to glass but far more resilient, capable of taking high levels of kinetic or directed energy damage without shattering. It is available for use by Imperial voidships, where it is often the substance from which the great cathedrum-style windows present on many Imperial spacecraft are constructed. |
Armand Titus - Armand Titus: Armand Titus was a Dreadnought Confessor and former Chaplain of the Howling Griffons Space Marine Chapter. He was interred within a Dreadnought after he was fatally poisoned by the warriors of a Drukhari Kabal.As a revered Dreadnought Confessor, Titus remained an inspiration to the rest of the Chapter. Titus was slain during the Badab War leading a desperate counterattack against an overwhelming force of Secessionist Executioners Astartes.The wreckage of Titus' Dreadnought was honoured by his enemies. It was surrounded by a ring of broken weapons and a shattered Executioners' standard placed in the war machine's lifeless grasp. |
Armand Titus - History: Chaplain Armand Titus stood as a living legend within the annals of the Howling Griffons Chapter. He had been entombed within a Dreadnought sarcophagus following the fatal poisoning of his body by the wicked blades and barbs of the Drukhari Kabal of the Crimson Libation during the Jorun Retaliation in 143.M41.Resurrected as a revered Dreadnought Confessor, Titus remained an inspiration to his Chapter, unwavering in his faith and a rock of conviction and righteous hate whose wisdom and spiritual teachings shaped generation after generation of Space Marines.The booming oratory shouted from his Vox-systems stoked the fires of wrath in the hearts of the Howling Griffons on thousands of battlefields during his seven-Terran-century tenure within his Dreadnought shell of adamantium and ceramite.The tragic irony of Titus' long career is that when he finally fell it was at the hands of other Space Marines. Awoken first from his slumber to do battle in the Caradryad Sector, he remained with the Howling Griffons strike force as it was redeployed to serve in the Badab War in mid-906.M41.The Howling Griffons were deployed to garrison the airless moons of the Khymara System and secure them from Secessionist control. At Khymara Elipsis they reoccupied a series of vital defence stations and listening posts on the edge of the Maelstrom Zone with the aim of rebuilding them as a staging post for a future Loyalist assault on the Badab Sector itself.Although their initial efforts were unopposed, this was a course of action that put the Howling Griffon's forces directly into the path of the oncoming Executioners Chapter, the bulk of which was en route to give battle against the Loyalists in payment of their Chapter's blood oath to Lufgt Huron of the Renegade Astral Claws Chapter.Titus and his brethren were caught by the surprise assault of the entire Executioners Chapter, and were systematically destroyed by the relentless onslaught of these Astartes from an unseen quarter. As the Howling Griffons' positions were being overrun and decimated on the airless dust moon, it fell to Dreadnought Confessor Titus to rally the beleaguered forces of his Chapter.Unafraid of the firestorm around him, with implacable zeal the venerable Chaplain Dreadnought led the desperate counterattack which bought his Chapter the chance to regroup and mount an effective fighting defence at the cost of his long life.After the Executioners had finally withdrawn from the battlefield, the surviving Howling Griffons found that their foe had honoured Titus' glorious sacrifice by laying out the wreck of his sarcophagus within a ring of broken weapons, placing one of their own shattered standards in the lifeless grasp of the fallen war machine.The death of the revered Dreadnought Confessor Titus struck a hammer-blow to the Howling Griffons' morale. With the Khymara System's defence platforms and listening stations destroyed, the Executioners had achieved their primary objective.They could have pressed their advantage and utterly destroyed the Howling Griffons' outpost but instead withdrew suddenly from the system, leaving the Howling Griffons garrison with more than 70 percent casualties. |
Armand Titus - Wargear: Dreadnought Close Combat Weapon with inbuilt Heavy Flamer or Storm BolterLascannon or Assault CannonExtra ArmourSmoke LauncherSearchlight |
Armaplas - Armaplas: Armaplas is a heat absorbing plastic and metal composite, used in the construction of Carapace Armour. |
Armed Freighter - Armed Freighter: An armed freighter is a commercial freighter voidship of the Imperial merchant fleets that has been outfitted with military-grade weapons batteries to help protect their crews and precious cargoes while operating in dangerous areas. This extra firepower comes at a price, however, as the freighter's cargo capacity is drastically reduced in order to make room for the new armament. Although armed freighters will never be mistaken for true Imperial warships, they have been known to lend support to outnumbered, isolated, or otherwise desperate fleets.The Imperium swarms with transport vessels. Millions of these civilian voidcraft plough the space lanes, ferrying pilgrims, ore, fuel, foodstuffs, weapons, materiel, machine parts and luxury goods to untold billions of eager consumers across the galaxy. |
Armed Freighter - Role: Often freighters of the Imperial merchant fleets operating in dangerous areas of the galaxy would install military-grade gun batteries and fire control systems operated by former warship crewmen. It sometimes even helped.Less common, but still not unknown, is for these freighters to actively engage in military duty, lending what little support they were capable of to an outnumbered or isolated Navis Imperialis battlefleet. |
Armenneus Valthex - Armenneus Valthex: Armenneus Valthex, also spelled Armanneus Valthex, and known as "The Alchemancer," was the Honoured Patriarch of the Forges and chief Techmarine of the Renegade Chapter of the Astral Claws.During the Badab War Valthex was Chapter Master Lufgt Huron's chief Armourer and most loyal servant. A formidable forge-wright and tech-smith, Valthex often fought as a field commander and served as the Chapter's chief siege engineer.During the final assault on Badab Primaris, it is believed that Valthex was the individual who carried away his fallen Chapter Master's body into the Maelstrom. He now serves in the same role as Master of the Forge for the Red Corsairs, the Astral Claws' piratical Heretic Astartes successors. |
Armenneus Valthex - History: Armenneus Valthex was an individual of great importance to the Astral Claws during the Badab War as Lufgt Huron's chief Armourer. Valthex's skills as a crafter of poisons and chemical weaponry were as infamous as his abilities as a forge-wright and tech-smith were famed. Possessing a singular intellect and driven curiosity, it was he that Lufgt Huron turned to in order to expand his Chapter's military might to keep pace with its increasing ranks.Even as a young recruit, Armenneus was singled out for his genius and skills as a polymath, and in his later career the Tech-magos of the Adeptus Mechanicus were known to have consulted him on certain matters pertaining to the deeper mysteries of Astartes technology as Valthex was widely regarded as one of the greatest living experts in the Imperium.During the Badab War, Valthex fought as a field commander and as the chief siege engineer for the Astral Claws, and it was believed that it was he that carried away his fallen lord's body into the Maelstrom after the apocalyptic final battle for the Palace of Thorns during the final assault on Badab Primaris.Valthex would later assist the Chief Apothecary Garreon and his apprentice Variel in saving Lufgt Huron's life through the addition of a wide array of cybernetic enhancements. This act earned these Astartes Huron's gratitude and left them largely immune to his later wrath when he became the Chaos Lord Huron Blackheart. |
Armenneus Valthex - Wargear: Artificer Armour - Artificer Armour is the name given to individualised and heavily modified suits of Power Armour of many different patterns provided only to Space Marines who have proven themselves worthy of the honour. Though Artificer Armour and Power Armour are similar in appearance, Artificer Armour is as far beyond standard Power Armour as Power Armour is beyond the Carapace Armour used by the soldiers of the Imperial Guard.Indynabula Array - Valthex was entrusted with an ancient relic known as the Indynabula Array, an artefact that had been handed down through the centuries as a symbol of the office of the Astral Claws' Honoured Patriarch of the Forges. Believed to predate the Chapter's Founding, this ancient machine was a servo-mechanical assistance system of insane complexity and wide-ranging ability which far superseded the standard systems carried by normal Techmarines. Not only was Valthex able to master this mysterious device, he was also able to further add to it a powerful Conversion Beamer of his own construction.Bolt Pistol - A Bolt Pistol is a smaller version of the Bolter in standard use by the Space Marines and other Imperial forces. It is a powerful sidearm that fires explosive kinetic rounds colloquially referred to as bolts.Frag Grenades - A Frag Grenade is the standard anti-personnel grenade commonly used by the military forces of the Imperium of Man, including the Astra Militarum and Adeptus Astartes. It produces a blast of shrapnel that can shred unarmoured infantry troops.Krak Grenades - The Krak Grenade is a type of explosive device used by the military forces of the Imperium of Man. Krak Grenades use a shaped explosive charge capable of punching holes in armoured targets such as vehicles or bunkers, and its charge can even rip armour plating apart. |
Armiger Autocannon - Armiger Autocannon: An Armiger Autocannon is a Knight-grade Imperial Autocannon used as the primary weapon of the Armiger Helverin. Wielded in place of the close-ranged armaments of the Armiger Warglaive, each Armiger Helverin bears a pair of these powerful Autocannons.Capable of firing hundreds of armour-piercing shells per solar minute, even a single such weapon can swiftly whittle down infantry ranks or shred lightly armoured vehicles. With Helverins mounting two of these formidable weapons each, and hunting in packs up to three Knights strong, their withering fusillades can rapidly break an army's flank or blunt the foe's assault well before it can hit home. |
Armiger Conversion Beam Cannon - Armiger Conversion Beam Cannon: An Armiger Conversion Beam Cannon is a Conversion Beamer weapon large and powerful enough to be utilised by Armiger Pattern Knights. Though among the most devastating of long-range weapons compatible with the Armiger's frame and reactor core, the firing of an Armiger Conversion Beam Cannon is a rare sight on the battlefield as most Knight Scions assigned to Armiger Knights show a distinct preference for close-range engagements. |
Armiger Helverin - Armiger Helverin: An Armiger Helverin is part of the lightest class of Imperial Knight combat walker, usually piloted by Nobles who are of lesser lineage than other Knight pilots. The Armiger Helverin is a fast-moving weapons platform designed to lay down blistering hails of heavy fire at range while running rings around the enemy's forces, in contrast to the role of its counterpart the Armiger Warglaive, which is intended for close-combat assaults. Nimbler than the primary Imperial Knight patterns, these engines of war carry heavy weaponry powerful enough to break a battle line. |
Armiger Helverin - Role: Though they are the lightest class of Imperial Knight regularly deployed on the battlefields of the 41st Millennium, each Knight Armiger is still an imposing war engine capable of butchering entire squads. They possess exceptional speed, able to outpace most battle tanks and transport vehicles when moving at a flat-out run, and react almost as quickly as a flesh-and-blood warrior. Moreover, to compensate for their comparatively smaller size, Armiger-class Knights typically hunt in packs of two or three.Unusually for Knights, Armigers are not fitted with a full Throne Mechanicum. Instead they are controlled using a more compact device known as a Helm Mechanicum. Placed upon the head and connected via pre-frontal sockets to the pilot's cerebrum, these machines do not require a full Becoming ritual in order for neural interfacing to be successful. For this reason, the prestige of piloting an Armiger is significantly less than that attached to sitting a fully-fledged Throne Mechanicum. This is compounded by the fact that, while Armigers can operate independently, it is traditional for their Helms Mechanicum to be neurally slaved to the command impulses of a larger Knight, rendering them subordinate. To accept such mental serfdom is to possess the rank of Bondsman, and while this is certainly no mark of dishonour, it is far from glorious among the Nobles of the Knight Worlds.For many Armiger pilots, the mental imperatives transmitted through their neural bonds can feel unnatural and invasive. It is common for new pilots to feel a sense of resentment or upset at having their desires and opinions directed remotely, while those without the requisite mental fortitude may even lose their grip on their sense of self. More than one Freeblade has been born from such feelings, the Armiger pilot rebelling and fleeing rather than enduring the mental dominance of another.It is for this reason that many Armiger pilots train at the side of a Knight Preceptor before assuming their duties alongside their bond-liege. The dutiful and heroic example set by the Knights Preceptor inspires Armiger pilots to accept their subservience to such obvious champions of the Imperium, and also plants within their minds a firm aspiration to do their duty and to live up to the example set for them.Even as the Knights Preceptor are conditioning the Armiger pilots, they are also busy assessing their abilities. Most Bondsmen begin piloting from the helm of an Armiger Warglaive, for its weapons and role are both relatively straightforward. Those who demonstrate a cool nerve and a marksman’s eye are soon recommended by the Knight Preceptor for promotion to an Armiger Helverin.It is for these reasons that the piloting of Armigers falls to those from the lower social strata of the Noble houses. Some give this duty to distant relatives and minor offshoots of more established bloodlines, or the surviving Knights of a house that has fallen upon hard times. Others elevate the finest common-born warriors from amongst their household guard or planetary militia forces, raising their families' standing from mere peasantry to valued and respected meritocracy.Still other Noble houses maintain specialist sub-orders of favoured retainers who are fated from birth to be Armiger pilots. Such is the case with House Griffith's Order of the Hound, who are inculcated with notions of faithful service and honourable submission to a Noble's will. These warriors are expert Armiger pilots who favour the close-quarters aggression of the Warglaive, and who stride into battle alongside their masters filled with dogged determination to do their betters proud. |
Armiger Helverin - Armament: In place of the close-ranged armaments of the Warglaive, each Armiger Helverin bears a pair of Armiger Autocannons. Capable of firing hundreds of armour piercing shells per solar minute, even a single such weapon can swiftly whittle down infantry ranks or shred lightly armoured vehicles. With Helverins mounting two of these formidable weapons each, and hunting in packs up to three Knights strong, their withering fusillades canrapidly break an army's flank or blunt the foe's assault well before it can hit home.Helverins also mount carapace weaponry in the same fashion as Warglaives. Many favour Heavy Stubbers for their simple application in adding to the Helverin's already formidable weight of fire. However, other Bondsmen will choose -- or have their betters choose for them -- to mount carapace Meltaguns on their Helverins, thus providing them with short-range punch should the enemy's armour or elite infantry move in too close. |
Armiger Helverin - Unit Composition: 1-3 Armiger Helverins |
Armiger Helverin - Wargear: 2 Armiger AutocannonsHeavy StubberMeltagun (Replacement for Heavy Stubber)Ion Shield |
Armiger Helverin - Adeptus Mechanicus Technical Specifications: The technical specifications of the Arimger Helverin have not yet been publicly released by the Adeptus Mechanicus. |
Armiger Helverin - Sources: Codex: Imperial Knights (8th Edition), pp. 23, 46, 58-59, 66, 91Warhammer Community - All Knights Great and Small |
Armiger Pattern Knights - Armiger Pattern Knights: Armiger Pattern Knights, also called Armiger-class Knights and known as War Dog-class Knights among the Questor Traitoris, are the lightest class of Imperial Knight in use by the Imperium of Man and the Adeptus Mechanicus, usually piloted by Nobles who are of lesser lineage than other Knight pilots.Armiger Knights are long-legged combat walkers designed to strike hard and fast at critical targets. Nimbler than the primary Imperial Knight patterns, these engines of war carry heavy weaponry powerful enough to break a battle line.The lighter Armiger-class Knights, akin to squires or a hunter's beaters, are piloted by minor Nobles or elevated household guards. Instead of sitting the full Throne Mechanicum, Armiger pilots don the Helm Mechanicus, a device that allows them to control their Knight but also neurally bonds them to a higher-ranking Noble.For all their lesser status, however, every Bondsman is a valued member of their household, and every Armiger is still a towering engine of destruction. Armigers typically fight in packs of two or more, and are employed to scout ahead, perform swift flank attacks, and drive the enemy from cover and into the guns of the larger Knights on the orders of their bond-liege.While the Standard Template Construct databases for some classes of Knight have been lost over the millennia, several remain in widespread use. Thus, while the mainstay of most Knight houses is the Questoris-class Knight chassis, heavy fire support is offered by the hulking Dominus-class engines, while scouting and raiding duties often fall to the lighter Armiger-class Knights.Most Knight armies consist of a core of Questoris Knights deployed in formations of three to five known as "lances," supported by walking batteries of Dominus Knights and preceded by fleet-footed packs of Armigers. Though some houses are famed for their specialist types of lance, or predispositions towards specific classes of Knight, these standard tactics have brought the Nobles victory for many thousands of Terran years. |
Armiger Pattern Knights - Role: Though they are the lightest class of Imperial Knight regularly deployed on the battlefields of the 41st Millennium, each Knight Armiger is still an imposing war engine capable of butchering entire squads. They possess exceptional speed, able to outpace most battle tanks and transport vehicles when moving at a flat-out run, and react almost as quickly as a flesh-and-blood warrior. Moreover, to compensate for their comparatively smaller size, Armiger-class Knights typically hunt in packs of two or three. In the case of Warglaives, this involves rapidly outflanking and encircling their quarry like wolves on the prowl, before closing in on a rune-transmitted signal to trap and slaughter the enemy.Unusually for Knights, Armigers are not fitted with a full Throne Mechanicum. Instead they are controlled using a more compact device known as a Helm Mechanicum. Placed upon the head and connected via pre-frontal sockets to the pilot's cerebrum, these machines do not require a full Becoming ritual in order for neural interfacing to be successful. For this reason, the prestige of piloting an Armiger is significantly less than that attached to sitting a fully-fledged Throne Mechanicum. This is compounded by the fact that, while Armigers can operate independently, it is traditional for their Helms Mechanicum to be neurally slaved to the command impulses of a larger Knight, rendering them subordinate. To accept such mental serfdom is to possess the rank of Bondsman, and while this is certainly no mark of dishonour, it is far from glorious among the Nobles of the Knight Worlds.For many Armiger pilots, the mental imperatives transmitted through their neural bonds can feel unnatural and invasive. It is common for new pilots to feel a sense of resentment or upset at having their desires and opinions directed remotely, while those without the requisite mental fortitude may even lose their grip on their sense of self. More than one Freeblade has been born from such feelings, the Armiger pilot rebelling and fleeing rather than enduring the mental dominance of another.It is for this reason that many Armiger pilots train at the side of a Knight Preceptor before assuming their duties alongside their bond-liege. The dutiful and heroic example set by the Knights Preceptor inspires Armiger pilots to accept their subservience to such obvious champions of the Imperium, and also plants within their minds a firm aspiration to do their duty and to live up to the example set for them.Even as the Knights Preceptor are conditioning the Armiger pilots, they are also busy assessing their abilities. Most Bondsmen begin piloting from the helm of a Warglaive, for its weapons and role are both relatively straightforward. Those who demonstrate a cool nerve and a marksman's eye are soon recommended by the Knight Preceptor for promotion from the Armiger Warglaive to an Armiger Helverin.It is for these reasons that the piloting of Armigers falls to those from the lower social strata of the Noble houses. Some give this duty to distant relatives and minor offshoots of more established bloodlines, or the surviving Knights of a house that has fallen upon hard times. Others elevate the finest common-born warriors from amongst their household guard or planetary militia forces, raising their families' standing from mere peasantry to valued and respected meritocracy.Still other Noble houses maintain specialist sub-orders of favoured retainers who are fated from birth to be Armiger pilots. Such is the case with House Griffith's Order of the Hound, who are inculcated with notions of faithful service and honourable submission to a Noble's will. These warriors are expert Armiger pilots who favour the close-quarters aggression of the Warglaive, and who stride into battle alongside their masters filled with dogged determination to do their betters proud. |
Armiger Pattern Knights - Types of Armiger Knights: Armiger HelverinArmiger WarglaiveWar DogWar Dog ExecutionerWar Dog StalkerWar Dog KarnivoreWar Dog BrigandWar Dog HuntsmanKnight Moirax |
Armiger Warglaive - Armiger Warglaive: An Armiger Warglaive is part of the lightest class of Imperial Knight combat walker, usually piloted by Nobles who are of lesser lineage than other Knight pilots. Warglaives are long-legged combat walkers designed to strike hard and fast at critical targets. Nimbler than the primary Imperial Knight patterns, these engines of war carry heavy weaponry powerful enough to break a battle line.The Armiger Warglaive in particular is known for the sheer punch it can bring to bear at close quarters. Sprinting into the fray at a shocking pace, it levels a lance-like beam of super-heated directed energy from its Thermal Spear that can reduce a rockcrete bunker wall to a pool of bubbling lava. Those met by the ensuring charge are struck with an expert sweep of the Armiger's Reaper Chain-cleaver, a saw-toothed weapon that mangles metal and gnaws flesh to ruin with each shuddering impact. |
Armiger Warglaive - Role: Though they are the lightest class of Imperial Knight regularly deployed on the battlefields of the 41st Millennium, each Knight Armiger is still an imposing war engine capable of butchering entire squads. They possess exceptional speed, able to outpace most battle tanks and transport vehicles when moving at a flat-out run, and react almost as quickly as a flesh-and-blood warrior. Moreover, to compensate for their comparatively smaller size, Armiger-class Knights typically hunt in packs of two or three. In the case of Warglaives, this involves rapidly outflanking and encircling their quarry like wolves on the prowl, before closing in on a rune-transmitted signal to trap and slaughter the enemy.Unusually for Knights, Armigers are not fitted with a full Throne Mechanicum. Instead they are controlled using a more compact device known as a Helm Mechanicum. Placed upon the head and connected via pre-frontal sockets to the pilot's cerebrum, these machines do not require a full Becoming ritual in order for neural interfacing to be successful. For this reason, the prestige of piloting an Armiger is significantly less than that attached to sitting a fully-fledged Throne Mechanicum. This is compounded by the fact that, while Armigers can operate independently, it is traditional for their Helms Mechanicum to be neurally slaved to the command impulses of a larger Knight, rendering them subordinate. To accept such mental serfdom is to possess the rank of Bondsman, and while this is certainly no mark of dishonour, it is far from glorious among the Nobles of the Knight Worlds.For many Armiger pilots, the mental imperatives transmitted through their neural bonds can feel unnatural and invasive. It is common for new pilots to feel a sense of resentment or upset at having their desires and opinions directed remotely, while those without the requisite mental fortitude may even lose their grip on their sense of self. More than one Freeblade has been born from such feelings, the Armiger pilot rebelling and fleeing rather than enduring the mental dominance of another.It is for this reason that many Armiger pilots train at the side of a Knight Preceptor before assuming their duties alongside their bond-liege. The dutiful and heroic example set by the Knights Preceptor inspires Armiger pilots to accept their subservience to such obvious champions of the Imperium, and also plants within their minds a firm aspiration to do their duty and to live up to the example set for them.Even as the Knights Preceptor are conditioning the Armiger pilots, they are also busy assessing their abilities. Most Bondsmen begin piloting from the helm of a Warglaive, for its weapons and role are both relatively straightforward. Those who demonstrate a cool nerve and a marksman's eye are soon recommended by the Knight Preceptor for promotion to an Armiger Helverin.It is for these reasons that the piloting of Armigers falls to those from the lower social strata of the Noble houses. Some give this duty to distant relatives and minor offshoots of more established bloodlines, or the surviving Knights of a house that has fallen upon hard times. Others elevate the finest common-born warriors from amongst their household guard or planetary militia forces, raising their families' standing from mere peasantry to valued and respected meritocracy.Still other Noble houses maintain specialist sub-orders of favoured retainers who are fated from birth to be Armiger pilots. Such is the case with House Griffith's Order of the Hound, who are inculcated with notions of faithful service and honourable submission to a Noble's will. These warriors are expert Armiger pilots who favour the close-quarters aggression of the Warglaive, and who stride into battle alongside their masters filled with dogged determination to do their betters proud. |
Armiger Warglaive - Armament: Nimble and responsive, Armiger Warglaives lope towards the enemy with purposeful strides. On one arm they wield fearsome Reaper Chain-cleavers, their adamantium teeth whirring, their actuator motors roaring. On the other arm they bear menacing Thermal Spears, bulky Melta Weapons that are essentially stripped down equivalents of the Knight Errant's Thermal Cannon. A single shot from such a weapon can vaporise even the most heavily protected combatant, melt through the wall of a bunker or reduce a battle tank to a molten wreck. Atop their carapace, each Warglaive also carries a Heavy Stubber for reaping infantry, or else a Meltagun that augments their already fearsome anti-armour capabilities. |
Armiger Warglaive - Unit Composition: 1-3 Armiger Warglaives |
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