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Death Korps Grenadier - Weapons: The standard armament of the Death Korps Grenadier is the Type XIV Lasgun (heavy), referred to by troops as the turbo-discharge "Hellgun" or, more rarely, the "Hotshot" Lasgun. In effect, this weapon is an overpowered Lasgun that fires in the 28 megathule range and is linked to a high capacity power cell worn on the back. The heavy powerpack supplies enough power to keep the weapon firing up to 200 shots, depending upon the power setting and the weapon's condition. Hellguns require a lot of maintenance, and have a reputation as being unreliable in the field. Without proper maintenance, the weapon's rate of fire will start to drop off. Hellguns are not well liked by Grenadiers, as most prefer the standard and far more reliable Type XIV Lasgun, but regulations require Grenadiers to carry them, and the weapon's additional impact and damage is seen as compensation for all of its faults. Although the Hellgun does not have a bayonet lug, the Grenadier still carries a bayonet for use as a dagger in hand-to-hand combat.
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Death Korps Grenadier - Additional Equipment: As well as their primary armament, a Death Korps Grenadier also carries numerous anti-personnel and anti-tank grenades, which are vital when they become involved in close assaults against fortified enemy positions. The Grenadier's belt pouches contain spare respirator filters, ration packs and the Hellgun's maintenance kit. Because of their extra armour, Grenadiers cannot wear the standard regulator unit. Instead they wear the over-pressured Type V Respirator, where the regulator unit is inside a canister that is worn on the back. This unit serves exactly the same purpose as the standard rebreather, and contains the same filters and antidotes to environmental toxins.
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Death Korps Guardsman - Death Korps Guardsman: A Death Korps Guardsman is one of the standard enlisted infantrymen who comprise the Death Korps of Krieg Imperial Guard regiments. Each Death Korps soldier is fully trained to the standards expected for combat-readiness set down by the Imperium's Departmento Munitorum, with particular emphasis placed on hazardous-environment survival, endurance, and physical and mental resilience. Proficient in the use of all basic Imperial Guard weaponry types as well as grenades and explosives, a Death Korps soldier is also an expert at the rapid construction of effective trench works and static defences.They are also exemplary hand-to-hand combatants, with bayonet-drill being practiced from childhood. Accuracy is secondary in Death Korps weapons training to fire discipline, with the ability to maintain continuous fire en masse as part of an infantry formation considered to be of paramount importance. Death Korps Guardsmen have a tendency to be highly insular, unemotional and often taciturn to the point of silence outside of their duties.They also display a high degree of fatalism and an unusual morbidity of habit, such as carrying relics, ossuaries of bone or other memento-mori about their persons as a form of religious observance to honour those who have fallen in the service of the God-Emperor.
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Death Korps Guardsman - Recruit Selection and Training: Recruitment for the regiments of the Death Korps of Krieg is similar to that found on many other Imperial worlds throughout the galaxy that have become primary sources of new regiments for the Guard. Though their harsh training methods, combat doctrines and regimental organisation are not in themselves unique amongst the units of the Imperial Guard, the Death Korps regiments are both unorthodox and extreme in their application. Tested, selected and relentlessly trained almost from birth for their appointed role as Imperial Guardsmen, the rates of fatality and injury during training are high amongst Death Korps recruits.To ensure that only the toughest and best make it into a new Death Korps regiment, training is brutal and quickly weeds out the weak and unworthy, for fear and weakness are not tolerated. The minds and characters of the young prospective Guardsmen are purposefully broken and refashioned to be stronger, just as their bodies are trained to withstand hardship and endure suffering that would kill other men -- a task already begun by the mere fact of living a life on the blighted post-apocalyptic Death World of Krieg.Amongst the ruins of the radiation-blasted battlefields of Krieg, the training regiments march, dig trenches, clear minefields and fight mock battles against other cadets. Only those that endure are judged fit enough to take their honoured place as members of the Death Korps. As a result, Death Korps regiments maintain a standard of discipline and selflessness in combat that is unmatched by Imperial Guard units raised on other worlds.Gas masks are conventionally viewed as a second skin for the warriors of Krieg, as Death Korps soldiers are trained to permanently operate with them if required. Fear of failing the Imperium and one's comrades, and a ceaseless devotion to duty, honour and the God-Emperor are instilled in new recruits to make certain that they will stand their ground in combat under any situation. Mental conditioning is a key part of the training of new Death Korps troops so that they will be prepared for the myriad horrors to be found on the battlefields of the Milky Way.
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Death Korps Guardsman - Uniform: All Krieg Guardsmen wears the standard uniform common to the regiments raised on Krieg. Its most distinctive feature is the heavy greatcoat which is manufactured on Krieg from a hard-wearing thick cloth and produced in a variety of colours. The great coat provides limited protection, but is also heavily chemically impregnated against chemical and biological attack -- an unfortunate side effect of this being the pungent smell that the garment emits. The greatcoat is completely waterproof and very warm, a trait which is particularly useful when its wearer is deployed to colder climates.The greatcoat is double-breasted and includes brass buttons, a pair of which allows the coat's front to be turned back to allow for greater mobility in combat. Uniform cut and design is almost identical throughout the entire Death Korps but colours can vary from regiment to regiment and the officer ranks tend to have slightly more ornate uniforms than the rank and file.A Death Korps Guardsman also wears the standard issue Mark IX helmet made of Plasteel, which has an adjustable cradle for fit around the head, flaring to allow a good fit for the gasmask and which is ventilated via the top spine. This ventilation has an internal filter to keep out chemical or biological agents. There are many variants of the the standard Mark IX helmet issued to specialists and officers. The shoulder plates are Plasteel construction and buckle to the greatcoat. When fully equipped, a Krieg Guardsman is completely sealed against a contaminated environment by the layers of his uniform and his respirator unit.
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Death Korps Guardsman - Weapons: A Death Korps Guardsman's main weapon is his Lucius Pattern No. 98 Lasgun. This weapon is standard issue to Krieg regiments, and stockpiled in vast numbers in Krieg's armouries. The Lasgun also includes a bayonet lug which can be fitted with the standard issued 45 centimetre-long sword-bayonet.This heavy bladed, razor-sharp knife is a Watchmaster's only close combat weapon. A bayonet charge led by a Watchmaster seems to be more effective at driving the enemy away from a Death Korps regiment's fortified positions than even the use of their artillery and heavy weapons platoons. Watchmasters, like all Krieg Guardsmen, are also equipped with a single, standard issue No. 38 Frag Grenade, but additional grenades will be issued to squads before an attack against static enemy positions.
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Death Korps Guardsman - Additional Equipment: All Krieg Guardsmen are issued distinctive respirator units. The entire unit can be carried inside a leather satchel, which buckles onto the webbing's shoulder straps. Krieg Guardsmen are also issued leather webbing which includes carrying straps for their backpack, respirator filter unit and regulator, four ammunition pouches for Lasgun powerpacks, additional pouches for carrying other kit, such as weapons and respirator maintenance kits, replacement filters and biological or chemical weapon antidote vials.They are also issued a leather backpack which buckles to the webbing shoulder straps. It has additional straps to attach a bedroll, which also doubles as a waterproof shelter-half, and a dry-tin canister for storing perishable materials by sealing them against the environment. Finally, as all Krieg Guardsmen are expected to dig their regiment's trenchworks, they are also issued a small entrenching tool. As trench warfare is the Death Korps' preferred method of fighting, they must constantly dig new trenches, or repair and improve their current position in the line.Each Guardsman carries an entrenching tool in a carrying case which is worn on the belt and which also has loops for carrying the bayonet when not attached to the Lasgun. Larger tools such as mattocks and shovels will be issued when needed for heavier entrenchment work.
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Death Korps of Krieg - Death Korps of Krieg: The Death Korps of Krieg is the name given to all of the Astra Militarum regiments that originate from the devastated, post-atomic Death World of Krieg in the Segmentum Tempestus. They are most commonly deployed in the war zones of the Segmentum Tempestus and Segmentum Solar and are particularly skilled at attritional trench warfare, sieges of and assaults upon heavily fortified static positions and warfare in extreme environments known for their biological, chemical and radioactive hazards.Krieg was the site of a rebellion against the Imperium of Man over 1,500 standard years ago in the 40th Millennium and was bombarded with nuclear weapons followed by five hundred Terran years of grinding warfare between Loyalists and Traitors to purge the heretical rebels.After all those years of nuclear destruction and bitter trench warfare, Krieg was reduced to a scorched, radioactive husk of a world composed of dust and mud whose surviving people were forced to retreat into underground hive cities to survive the toxic planetary environment.The Death Korps of Krieg is a siege specialist Militarum Regimento of the Astra Militarum and the regiments raised on Krieg seek to repent for their people's former treachery against the Emperor by displaying a disturbing disregard for their own lives in combat. Death Korps troops excel at wars of attrition and defensive combat in particular.Grim, fatalistic and dour, selflessly wading into some of the most gruellinh and abhorrent war zones satuarated with radiation or other toxins -- or solar-decades-long sieges with sky-high casualty rates -- the men and women of Krieg are a breed apart. Almost all Imperial Guardsmen from Krieg, save vehicle crews, wear distinctive and highly advanced respirator units that filter out toxic and radioactive particulates. These are a relic of their world's poisoned legacy and a reminder of Krieg's eternal service to the needs of the Imperium.In 433.M40, the once-loyal Imperial world of Krieg declared independence and renounced the glory of the God-Emperor. At that moment, the world was changed forever. Colonel Jurten, commander of the 83rd Krieg Regiment of the Astra Militarum, gathered to him all those still loyal to the Imperium, and struck back against the rebellion, choosing to unleash the horror of atomic bombardment upon those who had forsaken the Emperor.After five hundred standard years of atomic fire, continent-spanning trench warfare, and thunderous artillery barrages, the attempted secession of Krieg was halted, but at great cost: Krieg had become a blasted, irradiated wasteland, barely inhabitable by Humans. The remaining population was forced to exist in the subterranean bunkers and tunnels that had spread across the planet during the war, and found that they could not walk upon the surface without protective equipment.Seeking to atone for the betrayal their world's government had committed, and with no other resources left to offer up in the Imperial Tithe, the people of Krieg set about providing the only thing they had left -- manpower. Hardened by generations of war in an atomic wasteland, the Krieg people were already well-prepared to be sent out into the galaxy as Imperial Guardsmen.Trained amongst the irradiated ruins of long-dead cities, equipped for the most hostile environments, and raised on sermons of self-sacrifice and penitence, the Krieg regiments have commonly been deployed -- often at their own request -- to some of the deadliest war zones, from the toxic ash wastes that surround many hive cities, to brutal wars of attrition and years-long sieges.The Krieg have gained a reputation for their grim attitude and uncompromising nature. Disdainful of retreat or surrender, and fighting without fear of death, the soldiers of Krieg seem to have no regard for their own lives. Indeed, the prevailing attitude amongst the Krieg is that they are little more than living weapons for the Emperor's will, faceless and infinitely replaceable behind their anonymous rebreather masks, and they hold self-sacrifice as the highest of ideals.In the wake of Krieg's history, its troops are consumed with a fervent cultural need to find atonement, and their cult of sacrifice has been shaped by an even greater disregard for the lives of individual soldiers than that espoused by most other Militarum Regimentos. Bred in underground facilities geared only for war, the regiments of Krieg take harsh training to extremes and their unfeeling attitude makes them ideal for siege and trench warfare. In battle, the sheer resilience and indefatigability of the Death Korps' inexhaustible soldiery grinds down their enemies, while their commanders merely send in the next wave, already firing.Few other regiments feel entirely comfortable alongside the Krieg, with morale issues often arising as a result. Commissars assigned to Krieg regiments are not required to maintain order and zeal, as is normally the case, but rather, to ease interaction between Krieg and non-Krieg regiments and actually work to curb the self-sacrificial tendencies of their charges.Given the depleted population of Krieg, it is a wonder that so many guardsmen can be produced, even with the entire world's remaining efforts devoted to that sole end. Vicious rumours continue to circle around the world's regiments, of unnatural methods used to bolster birth and recruitment rates, producing children artificially to ensure that there are always soldiers to give their lives for the Emperor's wars.To date, no investigations by the Adeptus Mechanicus have presented any evidence of this, but speculation continues nonetheless. It is also believed that the average age of a Krieg infantryman is believed to be considerably lower than on other worlds; some officials even insinuate that the bulk of these troops hide their juvenile traits behind their rebreather masks and that their soldiers haven't even reached physical maturity.
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Death Korps of Krieg - Before the Fall: Much of the early history of what was once the Hive World of Krieg in the Segmentum Tempestus is shrouded in rumour, allegory and dark myth. Its dreadful history of rebellion and treachery has been obscured and lost by the mists of time. This once-thriving Hive World was a trading and manufacturing centre that was populated by billions.Yet Krieg is now covered in a wilderness of ruined cities that span the poison-choked world. Bloated with wealth and corrupt with indolence, the former rulers of this world -- the Council of Autocrats -- was rife with petty vendetta and vice. This ruling oligarchy became increasingly insular and debauched over time.Their paranoia over an outside threat that could shatter their dictatorial rule caused them to sink vast resources into strengthening the defences of their hive cities, building private armies and further surrounding their world with an outward facing ring of steel.Worse, the Autocrats grew to resent the influence of the Imperial Administratum on "their" world and in particular the heavy tithes levied on them by the Departmento Munitorum, taking resources they protested were vital to their own defence. The citizens of Krieg were sadly ignorant of these slowly spiraling events and the terrible ruin the misrule of their leaders was about to bring down upon them.
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Death Korps of Krieg - Revolt: In 433.M40, the end came for Krieg in the form of the man who served as the High Autocrat of Krieg's largest hive city, the chairman of the world's Council of Autocrats and the de facto planetary governor (a man so hated that his name has been purged from all Imperial records by an Edict of Obliteration). The High Autocrat declared planetary-wide martial law and that Krieg was now independent of the Imperium of Man. He further renounced the Emperor of Mankind as his divine master and political overlord.Krieg was then immediately devoured by a civil war which erupted suddenly and violently between the heretical Traitors who supported the High Autocrat and those citizens of Krieg who remained firm Imperial Loyalists.After the rebels' initial attacks much of Krieg quickly fell to the Heretics, save for Hive Ferrograd, which remained under Loyalist control under the command of the now-infamous Colonel Jurten of the 83rd Krieg Regiment of the Astra Militarum.In response to the revolt, Colonel Jurten moved quickly to take control of the hive city from its vacillating rulers in a military coup. With the veteran colonel at its helm, Ferrograd rapidly became the rallying point for the remaining Loyalist factions. But the situation for the Loyalists was dire; the rebel forces numbered in the millions and Ferrograd was soon cut-off and besieged.The Loyalists were on their own; the planetary defences were under the Traitors' control, and those defences were strong enough that a full-scale fleet action would be required to breach them. Colonel Jurten had been informed in no uncertain terms by the Segmentum Command that an Imperial fleet on the scale necessary to invade Krieg would not be forthcoming. His orders were to resist with all means at his disposal, to engage the enemy, to punish their treachery and emerge victorious -- whatever the cost.So faced with the horrific odds stacked against him, Colonel Jurten came to the fateful decision that Krieg would either belong to the Emperor or to no one at all. Within a secret Adeptus Mechanicus storage facility located deep below Hive Ferrograd, Colonel Jurten, with his loyal Mechanicus ally, Archmagos Greel, moved to unlock the facility and to unleash the forbidden and ancient weapons within. While outside the siege ground on, within Ferrograd's walls the defenders laboured on a desperate plan.
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Death Korps of Krieg - The Purging: On the day of the Feast of the Emperor's Ascension, Jurten unleashed his long-planned counterattack using atomic weapons to enact a great cleansing of the planet's heretical population. The Traitors watched their augers helplessly as Jurten's ballistic missiles arced high into the planet's stratosphere before detonating in blooms of blinding light, and unleashing tonnes of lethal isotopes which blanketed the entire world in a deadly radioactive fallout.For days Krieg was engulfed in a sea of nuclear fire. Krieg's already tainted and marginal ecosystem collapsed, and as a result, untold billions died due to the raging fires blocking out the sun and the nuclear winter that followed. To future generations who would live with the terrible consequences of the atomic attack, Jurten's plan would come to be known as "the Purging."Krieg might have been transformed into a blasted wasteland, but the Purging had evened up the odds. The Loyalists had been well-prepared for the attack, while the Traitors suffered terribly. But the civil war dragged on, regardless. The survivors from Jurten's nuclear purge were forced to exist in underground bunkers or deep in the radioactive chem-wastes of the Hive World, as their descendants do to this day. To the Imperial authorities Krieg was a prize no longer worth saving, its fate a red mark in the ledgers of the Administratum.Krieg became a man-made Death World, trapped in the freezing grip of a radioactive nuclear winter. The bloody war of attrition continued to rage between the surviving Secessionist and Loyalist troops across a planet where every inch of ground was eventually littered with trenches, rusting razorwire and shell craters, in a deadly landscape where drifting, radioactive fallout ash shrouded the numberless bones of the unburied dead.A full accounting of those terrible centuries of civil war will never be known. Colonel Jurten finally perished, how, it is not recorded, but the descendants of those that followed him lived on, and became as fearless as they were callous. War would become all that they would ever know -- raised to fight from the cradle to the grave.The warriors that advanced great-coated and vapour-masked through the rad-wastes and blasted cities of Krieg would become known as the "Death Korps" -- existing only to endure the hellish planetary surface, in order to do their duty and to kill in the Emperor's name. The Loyalists slowly re-took their blasted world in the name of the Emperor over fifteen generations of terrible bloody attrition -- trench-by-trench and tunnel-by-tunnel -- with bayonet, brutality and when needed, atomic fire.After more than 500 standard years of the most nightmarish warfare imaginable and an incalculable price paid in Human life and suffering, Krieg belonged to the Death Korps. From this long civil conflict and the unique military and planetary culture it engendered was born the tradition of naming Astra Militarum regiments drawn from Krieg as the Death Korps. Krieg was finally returned fully to the Imperial fold in 949.M40.
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Death Korps of Krieg - Engine of War: Though Krieg was returned to Imperial rule with little fanfare or regard, the Departmento Munitorum took note. Krieg was in arrears, so a new tithe of troops for the Astra Militarum was placed upon it. The Munitorum adepts were surprised when the Krieg authorities offered them not one but twenty regiments for immediate deployment, all formed, trained and equipped, and each commander requested the most hazardous Imperial war zones available.During five standard centuries of warfare, the people of Krieg had not sat idle, as beneath the blasted exterior of their world entire subterranean cities had been founded, tens of thousands of kilometres of bunkers and passageways dug, and a vast underworld of industry and manufacture geared specifically to the production of arms and equipment, but most of all to the production of soldiers, soldiers who proved to be as implacable as the factory lines that armed them and as pitiless as their blasted radioactive world.Acting quickly, the Departmento Munitorum's need for soldiers was immediate. These new "Death Korps" regiments were inducted into the Astra Militarum, re-organised and issued with commissars before being sent straight into combat. The deployment of the regiments from the Death Korps of Krieg was immediately successful, despite the misgivings of some of the regiments they served alongside. In war zones that mirrored the horrific state of their homeworld, the Death Korps regiments proved superior in performance to other Imperial Guard Militarum Regimentos.On worlds that were radioactive wastes, chemical or biological toxin zones and polluted ash-worlds, Astra Militarum generals quickly capitalised on deploying the Death Korps. Stalemates were broken and advances achieved that otherwise would have required the massive expenditure of Penal Legion troops or the use of valuable elite forces such as the Adeptus Astartes.When Krieg's independence was eliminated and the world was taken directly under the authority of the Departmento Munitorum, the maximum tithe levels were enforced. Krieg's sole purpose was to turn out Death Korps soldiers as another world might mine ore or sow wheat. By the direct order of the High Lords of Terra nothing was to be allowed to interfere with this purpose.This has resulted in suspect practises being tolerated -- some, such as the eugenic policies designed to weed out mutations caused by Krieg's damaged, radioactive biosphere and universal conscription are continuations of policies once required during Krieg's centuries of civil war. It should be noted that Krieg raises an unusually large number of Astra Militarum regiments for such a devastated planet. This is attributed to the enforced use of the "Vitae Womb" birthing technique, which Krieg has been granted special dispensation to use as the result of their famous steel, determination and unswerving loyalty to the Emperor. Use of this technique is largely unknown outside of the Officio Medicae and is seen as dangerous and abhorrent by many Adeptus Mechanicus Magi Biologis.As it stands today, Krieg is a true War World: it has no industry or agriculture to offer to the Emperor, only its people -- giving up its descendants to fight in the Astra Militarum. Krieg's tithes are the maximum for the planet's population, raising tens of regiments every standard year where a comparably-sized world might be expected to tithe one regiment every solar decade.The rate of attrition and destruction among these regiments is likewise disproportionately high, as they are assigned to some of the most hazardous battlefields and dangerous worlds known to Mankind. Proving themselves extremely effective troops, the Death Korps has proved capable of achieving victories against the odds by dint of bloody sacrifice, endurance, aggression and unbreakable loyalty.But despite their glorious service record, Krieg units are not well-liked by Astra Militarum commanders who find these troops to be morose, taciturn, all too willing to accept high casualties (even amongst their commanders) and difficult to deal with by non-Krieg natives.But in the strife and unending state of war that exists in the grim darkness of the 41st Millennium, the Imperium of Man has dire need of such troops. The use and number of Death Korps regiments is on the rise, as are the resources being devoted to their creation by the Departmento Munitorum.
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Death Korps of Krieg - Spinward Front: It was never originally planned that regiments of the Death Korps would serve in the Spinward Front in the Calixis Sector, and they are only a very recent arrival. Instead, countless Death Korps regiments, comprising siege infantry, armour, and artillery, were being shipped from their homeworld of Krieg to Vraks Prime in the Scarus Sector, a world dominated by the forces of the Apostate Cardinal-Astra Xaphan.Countless millions of Krieg soldiers had already been shipped to Vraks to wage the early years of a siege campaign planned to last only a solar decade. However, due to reasons only known to the scribes of the Departmento Munitorum, many of these regiments from Krieg were diverted. Being located only a relatively short distance from Vraks, the Spinward Front received these diverted regiments, and in 816.M41, thirty Krieg regiments arrived on Kalf to receive orders.The majority deployed to Kulth, while others were dispatched to the bastions on Ashen, the Ork-dominated manufactoria of Asterion, the subterranean mines of Virbius, and the hostile duality of Janus, where the nights freeze and the days burn, to reinforce the conflicts already raging on those worlds.
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Death Korps of Krieg - Notable Campaigns: Siege of Vraks (813-830.M41) - The Siege of Vraks was an Imperial military campaign fought over the course of 17 standard years to retake the Imperial Armoury World of Vraks Prime from the heretical forces of Chaos led by the Apostate Cardinal-Astra Xaphan. Vraks was besieged by the forces of the Imperium of Man in 813.M41 by the 88th Siege Army, which was composed exclusively of Death Korps of Krieg regiments. The Krieg Guardsmen acquitted themselves well, fighting in many major engagements throughout the entirety of the campaign. At the conclusion of what became a 17-year-long campaign of attrition that required the deployment of 34 regiments of the Astra Militarum to re-take the planet for the Emperor of Mankind in 830.M41, 14 million Imperial Guardsmen had been slain and Vraks Prime's entire original population of 8 million souls had been consumed in the violence or exterminated after they fell to the corruption of Chaos. The world was then declared Perdita by the Inquisition.Castigation of Derondis (936-946.M41) - The Hive World of Derondis withheld its annual tithes and regiments of Krieg's Death Korps were deployed to act as the honour guard of the Departmento Munitorum investigation team. After the Imperial officials were hanged by the rebellious populace, the Krieg troops redeployed into the towering mountains that overlooked the primary hive city. Several artillery and siege companies began to bombard the city spires and the inhabitants were mercilessly gunned down as they tried to break out from the besieged city. After ten standard years of relentless shelling, the hive was reduced to naught but rubble and dust, two solar years after all signs of life from the hive had already ceased and five solar years after the hive had plaintively issued its unconditional surrender.Dask Campaign (Unknown Date.M41) - The 42nd, 81st, 103rd and 186th Death Korps Infantry Regiments participate in the eradication of a Nurgle-aligned mutant army on the word of Dask in the Segmentum Tempestus. This gruesome war of attrition would see the glorious death of Colonel 186 as he charged at the front of 400 men to retake a strategic hill. Although a success, all four regiments were severely depleted by the time their transport, the Memento Mori, arrived to ship them to another warzone.Loss of Hieronymous Theta (Unknown Date.M41) - En route onboard the Memento Mori, the Krieg regiments previously engaged in the Dask Campaign were diverted to respond to the emergency assistance request of the world of Hieronymous Theta. A young world, Hieronymous Theta had been preserved for its entire existence from the rampage of war, and was thus ill-prepared when its mutant population emerged from the deeps of its mines to ravage the lower levels of its principal hive city, Hieronymous City. The 42nd, 81st, 103rd and 186th Death Korps Infantry Regiments were still inbound when it was revealed that the world of Hieronymous Theta had, in fact, been established on a dormant Necron Tomb World that was slowly awakening. With four regiments of the best fighters the Imperial Guard had to offer inbound, authorities tasked the Krieg regiments to cordon off the city and destroy the Necron menace that lay below. The cordon was quickly established, trapping millions of civilians inside Hieronymous City, and at the mercy of the Necrons. Convinced that despite the Necron's self-repair protocols the Death Korps could win in a classic war of attrition, the 81st and 42nd regiments ended up suffering heavy losses; although they still succeeded in holding the line against the ever-growing Necron forces. Losses on the security perimeter were filled by local PDF-troops trained and equipped under the orders of Death Korps Watchmasters, whose harsh training regime was the cause of many desertions and subsequent executions. Whilst the Death Korp's commitment could not be questioned, their methods in dealing with their allies gradually envenomed the situation, culminating in the summary execution of Hieronymous Theta's Planetary Governor and General of the Planetary Defence Forces by the 186th Regiment's Colonel for having tried to parlay with the Necrons. Thanks to the insight of Commissar Costellin attached to this same regiment, a daring raid was mounted against the city's main generatorium; as it was believed that the Necrons were using it to aid in the awakening of their own tomb complex. Though the raid was a failure, the attack revealed the location of the Necron central command nexus. The Krieg regiments then converged on it in hope of annihilating the nexus with atomic devices. Penetrating in full force into Hieronymous City for the first time, the Krieg regiments were slowed down by guerilla actions of the local population that had turned Traitoris and had begun to venerate the Necrons as "Iron Gods." It was during parlay with one of these groups that the valiant Commissar Costellin -- who had survived the raid -- was shot. This caused a long enough delay for the Necrons to notice this incursion, and with the loss of nearly all of their heavy artillery forces, the Death Korps regiments withdrew and abandoned the planet to the hands of its new owners. The remains of the 42nd, 81st, 103rd and 186th Regiments were then shipped out to fight the Ork threat on the planet Djangalla.Orphean War (992.M41) - Located on the distant border of the Segmentum Tempestus, the Orpheus Sector is ravaged by an unknown enemy that would only later be identified as the baleful Maynarkh Dynasty of the xenos threat known as the Necrons. Following a 100-day long period of continuous losses during which half of the sector fell into enemy hands, inexplicably, the Necron advance stopped, leaving the Imperial Governor Calibron Laan enough time to amass considerable defences on the capital world of Amarah Prime. Amongst the last to arrive were the 17th and 60th Line Korps of the Death Korps of Krieg under the command of Marshal Karis Venner. With the Death Korps reputation preceding them, both Line Korps were deployed to Amarah Prime itself. In the ensuing Battle of Amarah Prime, the Death Korps were the only forces not only able to repel the Necron assault, but also to lead a successful counterassault that destroyed the principal tomb-complex materialising on the world. Despite this pyrrhic victory, the worlds of the Orpheus Sector had to be abandoned. What remained of the 17th and 60th Line Korps bravely fought in the following Orphean Salvation Campaign to ensure the Necrons did not spill into the neighbouring Eurydice Sector.Defence of Fecundia (992.M41) - When the strategic Forge World Fecundia came under threat by scouting elements of Hive Fleet Kraken, at least one Death Korps regiment was deployed as part of an Imperial task force and took a position in the wasteland. When the Hive Fleet arrived a Death Rider company rode to the rescue of Commissar Ciaphas Cain and his aide Ferik Jurgen, whose Aquila Lander had been shot down. Returning to base, they came across an apparently dead Mycetic Spore and moved to demolish it, but discovered to their cost that the Tyranids inside were merely hibernating. Fortunately for all concerned a Land Speeder piloted by a member of the Reclaimers Space Marine Chapter then arrived to provide air support and directed the Death Riders to link up with an Adeptus Mechanicus crawler.Taros Campaign (998.M41) - The Taros Campaign was an Imperial military campaign fought by the 4621st Imperial Guard Army and elements of the Adeptus Astartes to reclaim the arid Imperial Mining World of Taros from the T'au Empire and its Kroot and Human (Gue'vesa) allies of the Taros Planetary Defence Force in 998.M41. Elements from the 19th Krieg Armoured Regiment, under the command of Colonel Weidemark, were to take part later in the campaign as they were unavailable for the initial assault. Despite being part of the 4621st Army, this regiment never actually saw action on Taros. The campaign was ultimately unsuccessful for the Imperial forces due to the high amount of casualties taken and Taros remained in the possession of the T'au, who renamed it T'ros.Third War for Armageddon (998.M41) - On the day of the Feast of the Emperor's Ascension, fifty seven Terran years to the day after his first invasion of the planet, Ghazghkull Thraka returned to the strategically important Hive World of Armageddon at the head of an Ork WAAAGH! of unprecedented size, beginning the Third War for Armageddon. Hades Hive was destroyed utterly by the Ork Warlord's devastating bombardment of captured asteroids. The Death Korps of Krieg sent 5 regiments in support of the Imperial defence against the Greenskin tide. The Imperial forces only saved the beleaguered planet through their sheer stubbornness during its defence and the onset of the Season of Fire, which made military operations nearly impossible for both sides.Siege of Hive Tartarus - The regiments from Krieg were deployed to Hive Tartarus, which was beset on all sides by great waves of Orks pouring out of the Rok they had crashed into the surface of Armageddon to the north of the hive city. The regiments of the Death Korps were stationed in a vast network of trenches blocking the Ork advance into Hive Tartarus. They also made excellent progress in their efforts to reach the Rok itself. Having already earned a fearsome reputation with the Orks in the sector, these grim soldiers seemed to be determined to take down the Ork stronghold by themselves. However, without adequate reinforcements by the Adeptus Titanicus, the Death Korps of Krieg's regiments looked to be fighting a futile and costly war. Wearing their dark greatcoats and trademark gas masks, their sinister appearance reflected their uncompromising nature. The Death Korps soldiers did not fear dying and were more than willing to sacrifice their own lives for the greater good of the Korps. The first attack on Tartarus was led by the Ork Blackskull Tribe in overwhelming force. The 14th Jopal Indentured Squadron mounted a fierce resistance but the regiment's allied hive militias were routed and abandoned the Skeletus Factory Complex to the Greenskins. Soon its small arms workshops were producing ammunition for Sluggas and Shootas. The main Ork offensive against Hive Tartarus was then launched by Morfang's Big Mob of Gargants. Breaking through the front of the Astra Militarum position (known as Clain's Stronghold), they stormed into Tartarus pursued by a battlegroup of Titans from the Legio Metalica who engaged them before they could overwhelm the beleaguered defending Jopal Squadrons. Mobs of Morfang's Boyz swarmed over Clain's Stronghold in the Gargants' wake but were pinned down by the mortars and Heavy Bolters of the Death Korps of Krieg. Morfang's Gargants were making short work of the Legio Metalicas Reaver-class Titans but the odds were evened by the fire of the Ordinatus Golgotha from its eyrie on a hive city spire shuttle pad. Three Gargants were destroyed before Morfang withdrew his machines. The Legio Metalica could not pursue and so reinforced the Jopal line. The Death Korps of Krieg regiments counterattacked, unleashing timed mortar barrages that pinned the Orks down while Krieg infantry and armoured units burrowed deep into the Ork lines. Once in place the Death Korps redirected their mortar batteries, herding the Orks together. Well-supplied by Hive Tartarus' munitions factories, the Death Korps regiments fired non-stop. Disjointed and unable to act coherently, Morfang's Boyz were wiped out. Briefly it seemed as though Morfang's Gargants would be trapped as the gap closed, but the Red Wheelz raced to their aid and held long enough for Morfang's machines to escape. With Ork reserves fully committed, the Space Wolves of Harald Deathwolf's Great Company seized the opportunity to lead a breakout from Hemlock Cordon. The vanguard entered Tartarus after a four solar day march, and the siege was declared over.Tarsis Ultra (999.M41) - The 993rd Krieg Regiment was sent to aid in the defence of the world of Tarsis Ultra when a splinter fleet of Hive Fleet Leviathan was sighted in the sector. The regiment was under the command of Colonel Trymon Stagler, who met his death in the closing battle. When the order was given to abandon the trenches outside the capital city of Erebus, the 993rd Krieg volunteered to stay behind and give the Imperial forces enough time to pull back into the city.
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Death Korps of Krieg - Regiment Recruitment and Training: Recruitment for members of the regiments of the Death Korps of Krieg is similar to many other Imperial worlds throughout the Imperium and conscription depends on varying circumstances. Though their harsh training methods, combat doctrines and regimental organisation are not in themselves unique amongst the units of the Imperial Guard, the Death Korps regiments are both unorthodox and extreme in their application.Tested, selected and relentlessly trained almost from birth for their appointed role as Imperial Guardsmen, the rates of fatality and injury during training are high amongst Death Korps recruits. To ensure that only the toughest and best make it into the new regiment, training is brutal and quickly weeds out the weak and unworthy, for fear and weakness are not tolerated.The minds and characters of the young prospective Guardsmen are purposefully broken and remade stronger, just as their bodies are trained to withstand hardship and endure suffering that would kill other men -- a task already begun by the mere fact of living a life on blighted Krieg.Amongst the wreckage of the old radiation-blasted battlefields the training regiments march, dig trenches, clear minefields and fight mock battles against other cadets. Only those that endure are judged fit enough to take their place as members of the Death Korps.For this reason the regiment is able to maintain its famous standard of discipline and selflessness in combat. Gas masks are conventionally viewed as a second skin, as soldiers are trained to permanently operate with them if required.Fear of failing the Imperium and one's comrades, and a ceaseless devotion to duty, honour and the Emperor are instilled in new recruits to make certain that they will stand their ground in combat under any situation. Mental conditioning is the key part of their training so Death Korps troops are prepared for the myriad horrors to be found on the Imperial battlefield and beyond.
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Death Korps of Krieg - Regimental Combat Doctrine: During its great civil war, in order for Krieg's society to survive, it could not afford to sustain its weakest members. No sacrifice was considered too high a price to pay in the Emperor's service. This "Cult of Sacrifice" mindset continues to this day and it permeates every aspect of the Death Korps' combat doctrine and organisation. The character and tactical doctrine of the Krieg soldier was created by war.Having been raised only to fight, and having known nothing but constant battle, generations of troops came to see death in the name of the Emperor as their ultimate goal. This attitude remains even today, for Krieg guardsmen are always willing to die as a sacrifice to the God-Emperor.For Krieg commanders, battles are won by the merciless application of overwhelming force. Their combat doctrine dictates that any battle where their capacity to fight and willingness to die exceeds that of their enemy is a battle already won -- everything else is merely a matter of time and attrition.The Death Korps' faith in the God-Emperor is instilled in every soldier from an early age. These established patterns of worship serve to amplify the culture of willing sacrifice and militancy among the Krieg. The soldiers of Krieg are most famous for never flinching, even in the face of sudden death, and they see their deaths in war as a collective penance for the heresy of their ancestors so many years before. They are a dedicated trench and siege warfare force and perform best during wars of attrition.The Death Korps of Krieg regiments routinely volunteer for tours of service in the most dangerous war zones in the Imperium which means they have earned a fierce reputation across the galaxy. They excel in trench and siege warfare but have taken part in various different combat actions across many campaigns such as the Taros Campaign, the Third War for Armageddon, the Atria Wilderness Campaign and the Vorenz III Campaign to name but a few.They can be counted on over most other Imperial regiments to hold their ground and when advancing prefer a massive offensive over an extended front with a rolling barrage of artillery support. Many Krieg regiments are adept raiders of entrenched positions should a massed offensive be impractical or require the softening up of enemy positions before any such offensive can take place.The fact that the Death Korps of Krieg are known for unconditional loyalty and ruthlessness in prosecuting their wars mainly comes from the atomic purging that the 83rd Krieg Infantry under the command of Colonel Jurten inflicted on their own planet during the Krieg Civil War, an event that the Death Korps of Krieg in general and the 83rd Krieg Infantry Regiment in particular are deeply proud of.
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Death Korps of Krieg - Regimental Deployment: Regiments are raised on Krieg with great frequency. The form and composition of these regiments will differ according to the edicts of the Departmento Munitorum and the strategic needs of the moment. Krieg supplies the manpower and the Departmento Munitorum organises that manpower in various different types of regiments.Infantry regiments, mechanised infantry and armoured regiments are all known, but by far the most common use of Krieg's manpower is as siege regiments. The Death Korps' philosophy of total war reaches its ultimate expression within these regiments.But what makes Death Korps of Krieg regiments distinct is not their wargear, but their mentality. Regardless of their assigned role, they retain the Death Korps' strengths of discipline, extreme endurance, expertise in trench warfare and most notably their tolerance for high attrition rates and environmentally hazardous warzones.
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Death Korps of Krieg - Regimental Organisation: Krieg regiments operate under the standard and recognisable Astra Militarum command structure laid down by the Departmento Munitorum, with some minor local variation in insignia and designation, one example being that infantry sergeants are known by the title "watchmaster," whilst sergeants of the Death Rider companies are known as "ridemasters."Death Korps Officer - Death Korps Officers, right up to the level of regimental command, typically lead and fight from the front -- this is not so much a conscious decision as a simple expression of the Death Korps mentality, as every Krieg Guardsman expects to fight and die for his Emperor. To this end, officers commonly equip themselves for the front line with grenades, powerful sidearms and either a chainsword or Power Sword. Command squads wear their squad insignia (a "C" for command) on their right shoulder. Officer's helmets typically bear an ornate Imperial Aquila. Unlike many other Imperial Guard regiments that draw their troops from worlds with a long-standing militarised culture (such as the Mordians or Jantines for example), Krieg itself has no standing aristocracy or hereditary officer class. Instead its officers are drawn from the body of the rank and file. This means that the majority of the Death Korps officer cadre has been promoted through the ranks through a mixture of ability, seniority and often, by dint of simple survival. As veterans of the Death Korps' way of war, they have no regard for high casualties, which has led to morale problems where senior Krieg officers have been placed in charge of non-Krieg regiments in a wider theatre of war. It is also a noticeable feature of Krieg officer battledress that Krieg regiments do not issue medals or decorations as Krieg soldiers view such rewards as insignificant. Bravery is expected and commonplace, therefore Death Korps Guardsmen are not recognised with special rewards. It is also noteworthy that up to regimental command-level, Death Korps officers often favour the expediency of a numeral designation instead of their own name; as such the officers are referred to as Major Alpha (1st Company) or Major Gamma (3rd Company) and even Colonel 186 for the commander of the 186th Regiment.Death Korps Commissar - Commissars are present in Death Korps regiments as mandated by Departmento Munitorum regulations, being the only non-Krieg natives to serve in the Death Korps. Due to the relatively low rates of infraction and morale problems among Death Korps regiments they more often find themselves employed in reining in any excessive "zeal" on the part of the troops, and act as tactical advisors rather than enforcers of discipline. Commissars assigned to a Death Korps regiment are often well placed to become a voice of restraint for Death Korps officers, reinforcing the wider strategic goals of the war zone over the short-term victories through expenditure of troops and materiel that might be needed later. In theatres of war where Death Korps regiments must fight alongside other Imperial formations, commissars attached to Death Korps staff also find it prudent to act as the liaison between regimental commands where needed, as well as keeping a sharp eye that any acrimony between the Death Korps and other Imperial Guardsmen deployed to the same areas does not become a problem.Death Korps Grenadier - Death Korps Grenadiers form a strong and sizable elite force within the larger Death Korps. Grenadiers are chosen from the ranks of infantry squads, usually by their Watchmaster or a Commissar and recommended for appointment as a Grenadier. They are also drawn from veterans and survivors of decimated squads and platoons. This is not a promotion, as Grenadiers still carry the same rank, but they are regarded as having a seniority over rank and file Guardsmen by dint of their experience and veteran status. After serving with a Grenadier squad for a time, Krieg Guardsmen can then be returned to the infantry as a Watchmaster. Casualty rates amongst grenadiers are very high, and although service in the heavy infantry is regarded as a privilege, it is also seen as a duty. A Krieg soldier appointed to a Grenadier squad cannot refuse, and adopts the skull facemask as a symbol of accepting his fate. Statistically, eight out of ten Grenadiers are killed in action. The men behind the skull masks have accepted that they are essentially already dead.Death Korps Engineer - Like Death Korps Grenadiers, Death Korps Engineers are infantrymen who support Krieg campaigns in a specialist role. The Engineer Korps provides expert knowledge, specialising in subterranean warfare, digging shafts, tunnels and saps to undermine the enemy's strong points and launch surprise raids behind enemy lines. Krieg Engineer squads carry a lot of technical equipment as well as the standard equipment that is used by those of their profession. As well as soldiers, they are miners, digging forward from the frontlines with deep shafts to bypass enemy defences, set large explosive mines below positions or dig sap trenches. Saps are shallow tunnels which are dug to just below the surface, allowing a squad to blow an entrance to the surface and quickly assault an enemy position without crossing no-man's land. Engineers are also trained and authorised to use chemical weaponry. If required, they carry small gas canister grenades, which are used during assaults to shroud the enemy in highly corrosive gas. These are weapons of last resort, but have helped to give Krieg regiments their ruthless reputation.Death Korps Watchmaster - A Death Korps Watchmaster is the equivalent of a non-commissioned officer with the rank of sergeant in other Imperial Guard regiments. Infantry platoons form the bulk of the Death Korps siege regiments' manpower. Each siege regiment consists of five companies, which are broken down into ten infantry platoons and one heavy weapons platoon. Each company is led by a Death Korps captain who is assisted by one Veteran watchmaster. Each platoon consists of a command squad and up to six infantry squads. These squads are led by the watchmasters who act as squad leaders. The watchmaster is assisted by an appointed senior guardsman, usually the longest serving guardsman in the squad. Like their fellow guardsmen, watchmasters have been indoctrinated since birth in the martial traditions of the Korps. They are highly proficient with all the basic weapons of the Imperial Guard and most especially with the bayonet, and favour the bayonet charge in battle. They fearlessly lead their squads across "no-man's land" to storm enemy trenches and defences. Having no fear of death themselves, a watchmaster demands and expects nothing less from their troops.Death Korps Guardsman - Each Death Korps soldier is fully trained to the standards expected for combat-readiness set down by the Departmento Munitorum, with particular emphasis placed on hazardous-environment survival and endurance, and physical and mental resilience. Proficient in the use of all basic Imperial Guard weaponry types as well as the use of grenades and explosives, a Death Korps soldier is also proficient in rapid and skilled construction of trench works and defences. They are also exemplary hand-to-hand combatants, with bayonet-drill being practiced from childhood. Accuracy is secondary in Death Korps weapons training to fire discipline, with the ability to maintain continuous fire en masse as part of an infantry formation considered to be of paramount importance. Death Korps Guardsmen have a tendency to be highly insular, unemotional and often taciturn to the point of silence outside of their duties. They also display a high degree of fatalism and an unusual morbidity of habit, such as carrying relics, ossuaries of bone or other memento-mori about their persons as a form of religious observance to honour those who have fallen in the service of the God-Emperor.Death Rider - Superficially similar to the standard Rough Rider cavalry units found among numerous other Astra Militarum regiments from worlds where riding mounts are commonplace, the Death Riders of Krieg are one of the most justly famous of the unique formations found within the Krieg forces. The Death Riders of Krieg are also a direct result of Krieg's centuries-long civil war. Their most singular aspect is the nature of the Death Rider mounts -- the legendary Krieg Steed -- that is a highly adaptable form of the original Terran horse. This animal is now the product of extreme genetic engineering; tailored for strength, endurance and aggression, with numerous additional bio-sculpted organs that allow them to survive on the most polluted and toxic battlefields unscathed. Vat-grown on Krieg under the auspices of the Adeptus Mechanicus, the animals are further augmented with sub-dermal organic armour, osmotic lungs, and a fully integrated drug injection system rigged with a potent mixture of stimulants, pain-blockers and other palliatives. The end result is that the Krieg Steed is capable of incredible levels of endurance and environmental tolerance. The Death Riders form a special cadre within the Krieg regiments, and their inductees are chosen not only on the grounds of aptitude but also for independent thought and initiative. Many future Death Korps officers are drawn from the ranks of their survivors. Death Riders are equipped with a variety of sidearms and sabre-blades, in addition to the signature explosive-tipped lance found in similar units.Death Korps Quartermaster - Death Korps regiments feature a most unusual and unique position -- that of the Quartermasters. These individuals have replaced the battlefield medics found in most Imperial Guard regiments. Their role has its roots in Krieg's own war-torn past. In that merciless civil conflict the recovery of arms and wargear of the fallen was of paramount importance, and field medicine and battlefield triage was a luxury that could be seldom afforded for the more seriously wounded. So it was that in Krieg's civil war a soldier that could not be readily brought back to the fray or at least retreat under his own power was considered a liability and to such unfortunates the "blessings of the Emperor's Peace" was given -- an honourable field execution. This onerous task, along with the recovery of a soldier's equipment was the responsibility of the Quartermaster cadre and remains so to the present day. Quartermasters are chosen from the ranks of the Death Korps by selection during training, particularly for their faith in the God-Emperor as well as their mental aptitude and occasionally from individuals who have survived against the odds. These individuals are then given additional training in field medicine, basic tech-lore, and extensive indoctrination in the specific beliefs of Krieg's sect of the Imperial Cult.
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Death Korps of Krieg - Regiment Appearance: The Death Korps are similar to the Armageddon Steel Legion in the appearance of their uniform and equipment, but they make use of darker colors, and their masks usually have a skull motif.Of all the Militarum Regimentos of the Astra Militarum, they are the most grim and fatalistic, both in appearance and in spirit due to the 500 standard years of civil war in a nuclear wasteland that the inhabitants of their homeworld inflicted on themselves. Uniform cut and design is almost consistent throughout the entire Death Korps but colours can vary from regiment to regiment and the officer ranks tend to have slightly more ornate uniforms than the rank-and-file.Spiked helmets are famously worn by the troops of the Death Korps of Krieg; however this is in truth rarely the case in the field, but many Krieg troops maintain the tradition either with improvised spikes or, less commonly, older patterns of the spiked helmet that have survived and been passed down through families.
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Death Korps of Krieg - Wargear: The citizens of Krieg are gloomy but hard-working folk, and this is reflected in the weapons and equipment used by the Death Korps, which tends to be very utilitarian compared to that of other, flashier Imperial Guard regiments.Ultimately, however, the Death Korps' wargear stands up well in any fight and helps the troops of these regiments accomplish their mission.Lucius Pattern Lasgun - The standard issue lasgun in service with the regiments of Krieg is the Lucius Pattern Lasgun. Sometimes known as a Hellgun, this "hot-shot" weapon's power pack operates at a higher charge than many other more common patterns of the lasgun used by other Imperial Guard regiments. This gives the weapon more penetrating power, but drains the power pack after only 25 shots. The weapon is single shot only and has a slower recharge rate than many other lasguns, however it has been judged by Krieg commanders that the additional stopping power of the Lucius Pattern more than makes up for this. The barrel of the weapon is fitted with distinctive heat sink rings to help dissipate the enormous additional heat this high-powered lasweapon generates after sustained fire. The weapon's furniture (the stock and foregrip) are typically made of synthetic wood, although metal variants are known.6 Lasgun Charge Packs - Charge packs are powerful batteries used almost exclusively by Imperial laser weapons. The 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, a one-handed melee implement, is the ubiquitous back-up weapon for warriors all across the Imperium, be they lowly hive 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 Death Korps of Krieg 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 Death Korps as both a bayonet and a field tool.Death Korps of Krieg Imperial Guard UniformRespirator - A simple breathing mask that covers the nose and mouth or entire face, these offer much better protection than filtration plugs and are used by the troops of the Death Korps in toxic environments or during attacks by chemical or even biological weapons.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 & Water Canteen2 Solar Week's Rations1 box of Screamers (per Squad) - A Screamer is an automated proximity alarm that alerts its users to incoming dangers by setting off a horrendous noise. If its sensors detect an intruder, it sounds its alarm, which can be heard anywhere out to one kilometre. Doors, walls, and other barriers may reduce the alarm's sonic range.Blanket & 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.
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Death Korps of Krieg - Optional Wargear: Death Korps units prefer to use Meltaguns and Heavy Bolters as heavy weapons, but also have access to Mortars, Heavy Stubbers, Lascannons, Autocannons and Flamers.As with most Imperial Guardsmen, the Death Korps infantry's standard-issue individual weapon is the Lasgun and many also carry an additional Laspistol.The multi-purpose Combat Knife carried by all members of the Death Korps is a bayonet but also a field tool.
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Death Korps of Krieg - Infantry Regiments: 83rd Death Korps Infantry Regiment - The "inspirational founder" of the modern Death Korps, Krieg's 83rd Imperial Guard regiment was commanded by the legendary Colonel Jurten at the onset of the planet's civil war when he initiated the "Purging," the nuclear armageddon unleashed upon his homeworld that turned Krieg into a ravaged Death World, which later served to shape the character of its people forever.42nd Death Korps Infantry Regiment - Operating alongside its fellow regiments of the 81st, 103rd and 186th during the Dask Campaign, the 42nd was badly mauled on Hieronymous Theta trying to uphold a security cordon around the northern reaches of the planet’s capital of Hieronymous City. Suffering the loss of more than 1800 men, the already depleted regiment nevertheless victoriously held the line before being ordered to pull out. They were then redeployed to the world of Djangalla to fight against the Ork threat there.81st Death Korps Infantry Regiment - The 81st Infantry Regiment formed part of a quadrumvirate of regiments drawn from the Death Korps to fight during the Campaign on Dask and that was then deployed on Hieronymous Theta against an awakening Necron menace. Deployed at the East of Hieronymous City, the 81st Infantry Regiment would be the first regiment to suffer a real attack, although it successfully held the line against the advancing Necrons.103rd Death Korps Infantry Regiment - Having successfully participated in the Dask Campaign alongside the 186th regiment, the 103rd Death Korps Infantry Regiment was deployed on Hieronymous Theta where it formed the southern part of the military cordon established by the Death Korps regiment intended to seal in the Necrons within Hieronymous City. Never suffering any real attack in their sector, the 103rd despatched man of its heavier guns to other parts of the line which it subsequently lost when the Necrons counterattacked. As for the other regiments of the Death Korps on Hieronymous Theta, the 103rd Death Korp Infantry Regiment was pulled out to preserve its strength against the Orks on Djangalla.127th Death Korps Infantry Regiment - The Death Korps 127th Infantry Regiment was assigned to the reconquest of the world of Baran in 224.M41. The Exodites of this former Eldar Maiden World had been overrun 300 standard years earlier by the Orks of WAAAGH! Arbuttz. The 127th was granted the right of conquest of this world as they were the sole regiment assigned there.134th Death Korps Heavy Infantry Regiment - A highly decorated and experienced regiment, the 134th was originally assigned to the Chemarium Blockade force before being diverted to participate in the Orphean War. Under guidance of the Inquisition, the 134th destroyed several stasis-tombs that had not yet fully awakened within the Thamyris system. In preparation of its new duties, the regiment was brought back to full strength with survivors from other regiments of the Death Korps, the inquisitorial Conclave of Eurydice having formally petitioned for the 134th Heavy Infantry Regiment to be permanently assigned to the Ordo Xenos’ tactical reserve.138th Death Korps Mechanised Infantry Regiment - Commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Heinrich Voorscht, the Death Korps of Krieg 138th continues to fight in the Spinward Front, the Imperial warzone centered in the sub-sector of the Calixis Sector in the Segmentum Obscurus known as the Periphery. They are currently engaged on the world of Hervara against the Orks and the Secessionist forces of the Severan Dominate.186th Death Korps Infantry Regiment - Despatched alongside the 42nd, 81st and 103rd Death Korps Infantry Regiments to the outer rim of the Segmentum Tempestus to participate in the Dask Campaign against Nurgle-aligned cultist and mutants, the 186th was rerouted to the civilised world of Hieronymous Theta to assist local authorities in quelling a mutant uprising and civil unrest. Initially scheduled as a limited deployment, the attack of Hieronymous City -- the world’s principal Hive City -- by swarms of metallic beetles and the discovery of unusual xenos artefact within its mines soon led to the conclusion that a dormant Necron Tomb World had begun its awakening. This unprecedented opportunity to strike out at a still largely dormant Necron world was swiftly taken by the Krieg Regiments, which cordoned Hieronymous City in hope of confining the Necron threat to the city's limits and destroy it under their heavy guns. However, despite inflicting what was believed to be heavy casualties on the Necron War Host and a daring raid to destroy Hieronymous City’s generatoria -- which the Necrons used to power their reawakening -- the already depleted Krieg Regiments had to be withdrawn, relinquishing the planet and its population to the Necrons. With the remnants of the other Krieg regiments and reinforcements from Krieg, the 186th Regiment would go on to fight the emerging Ork menace on the nearby world of Djangalla. It is unclear if the 186th Infantry Regiment still operates as a distinct unit or as been merged with the survivors of the 42nd, 81st and 103rd to form a new regiment. However several incidents such as the execution of Hieronymous Theta’s planetary governor by the 186th regiment's commanding officer, the loss of the regimental commissar due to unclear circumstances, the punishing regime inflicted on local PDF recruits and use of lethal violence against rioting civilians have tarnished the regiment's reputation.993rd Death Korps Infantry Regiment - Commanded by Colonel Trymon Stagler, the 993rd Death Korps Infantry Regiment was deployed to Tarsis Ultra in 998.M41 to take part in the defence of this Imperial world from the encroachment of a tendril of Hive Fleet Leviathan.
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Death Korps of Krieg - Siege Regiments: 3rd Death Korps Siege Regiment - The Death Korps 3rd, 5th and 15th Siege Regiments were assigned to the 1st Line Korps, 88th Siege Army in 812.M41, which was assembled to take part in the notorious campaign known as the Siege of Vraks. Eventually, the 3rd Siege Regiment was withdrawn with the rest of the remaining units of the 1st Line Korps in 828.M41.5th Death Korps Siege Regiment15th Death Korps Siege Regiment17th/221st Death Korps Siege Regiment - The 17th/221st Death Korps Siege Regiment was constituted in the wake of the Orphean War in 996.M41 and resulted from the fusion of two depleted regiments. The new regiment was assigned to the defence of the chill world of Decapolis Terminus which was being stripped of its resources and evacuated in the cadre of the major realignment of Imperial positions in this region of space that has become known as the Orphean Salvation Campaign. For more than a standard year, the regiment repelled both Necron spearheads and incursions of Chaos-aligned warbands from the Chemarium System. Such were the regiment's efforts in securing these valuable resources that it was given the rare honour of forming the final rear-guard before the remaining population of Decapolis was given over to the Emperor's mercy.19th Death Korps Siege Regiment - The Death Korps 19th Siege Regiment was also assigned to the 88th Siege Army in 812.M41, which was assembled to take part in the notorious campaign known as the Siege of Vraks, but was subsequently destroyed during the intense fighting.101st Death Korps Siege Regiment - The Death Korps' 101st Siege Regiment was assigned to the 11th Assault Korps of the 88th Siege Army in 812.M41, taking part in the notorious campaign known as the Siege of Vraks. The 101st Siege Regiment remained with the 11th Assault Korps throughout the campaign on Vraks Prime and was eventually withdrawn when the planet was neutralised in 830.M41.143rd Death Korps Siege Regiment - The Death Korps 143rd, along with the 149th and 150th Siege Regiments, were assigned to the 12th Line Korps of the 88th Siege Army in 812.M41, taking part in the infamous campaign known as the Siege of Vraks. The 143rd Siege Regiment was the first Death Korps of Krieg regiment to land on Vraks. The 149th and 150th Siege Regiments were finally withdrawn when the Chaotic forces on the planet were neutralised in 830.M41.149th Death Korps Siege Regiment150th Death Korps Siege Regiment158th Death Korps Siege Regiment - The Death Korps 158th Siege Regiment was assigned to the 12th Line Korps, 88th Siege Army in 812.M41, taking part in the infamous campaign known as the Siege of Vraks. The 158th Siege Regiment was eventually disbanded during the fighting on Vraks, due to sustaining a high number of casualties, which rendered it incapable of being a cohesive and effective unit.179th Death Korps Siege Regiment - The Death Korps 179th Siege Regiment was assigned to the 12th Line Korps, 88th Siege Army in 812.M41, taking part in the infamous campaign known as the Siege of Vraks. The 179th Siege Regiment withdrew from the fighting on Vraks in 828.M41, along with the rest of the remaining units of the 8th Assault Korps.261st Death Korps Siege Regiment - The Death Korps 261st Siege Regiment was assigned to the 30th Line Korps, 88th Siege Army in 812.M41, taking part in the infamous campaign known as the Siege of Vraks. In 830.M41, under the command of Colonel Tyborc, the 261st Siege Regiment was assigned the suicidal mission of taking the main gates of the citadel of Vraks of the Apostate Cardinal Xaphan in the first assault. Attacking at three points along the walls after a massive artillery barrage, the 261st sent wave after wave of infantry companies. At the lower gates, remnants of five companies from the first attack wave succeeded in reaching the walls, only to be broken by a counter-attack of Chaos Space Marines and a number of Daemon Engines. Ultimately, the 261st Siege Regiment was destroyed in the fighting and the survivors were folded into three other Death Korps regiments of the 30th Line Korps (the 262nd, 263rd and 269th Siege Regiments). Colonel Tyborc was promoted to an esteemed position on the 88th Siege Army Staff and the assault was continued, carried out by the 269th Siege Regiment.262nd Death Korps Siege Regiment - The Death Korps 262nd, 263rd and 269th Siege Regiments were assigned to the 30th Line Korps, 88th Siege Army in 812.M41, during the infamous campaign known as the Siege of Vraks. The regiments served with the 30th Line Korps throughout the intense fighting on Vraks and were finally withdrawn from the planet when the Forces of Chaos occupying it were neutralised in 830.M41.263th Death Korps Siege Regiment269th Death Korps Siege Regiment268th Death Korps Siege Regiment - The Death Korps 268th Siege Regiment was assigned to the 30th Line Korps, 88th Siege Army in 812.M41, during the infamous campaign known as the Siege of Vraks. In 830.M41, the 269th Siege Regiment took over the final assault on the Citadel of Vraks after the first wave was decimated in two days of intense fighting. The 268th Siege Regiment was assigned to attack the Undercroft, hoping to gain access to the gates through the catacombs beneath the citadel. Over eight days of fighting saw the regiment utterly destroyed, with only negligible gains.291st Death Korps Siege Regiment - The Death Korps 291st, 308th, 309th and 310th Siege Regiments were assigned to the 34th Line Korps, 88th Siege Army in 812.M41, during the infamous campaign known as the Siege of Vraks. The regiments were with the 34th Line Korps throughout the intense fighting on Vraks and were finally withdrawn from the planet when the enemy was neutralised in 830.M41.308th Death Korps Siege Regiment309th Death Korps Siege Regiment310th Death Korps Siege Regiment468th Death Korps Siege Regiment - The Death Korps 468th, 469th and 470th Siege Regiments were assigned to the 46th Line Korps, 88th Siege Army in 812.M41, during the infamous campaign known as the Siege of Vraks. The 46th Line Korps was rotated into the fighting and attached to the 88th Siege Army late in the campaign.469th Death Korps Siege Regiment470th Death Korps Siege Regiment616th Death Korps Siege Regiment - Originally consisting of over thirty thousand warriors, the 616th Siege Regiment is a newly-raised regiment originally intended as reinforcement for the Siege of Vraks, but that was diverted to the Spinward Front. Since its arrival, this regiment has found itself engaged in some of the heaviest fighting, such as besieging Mek-Boss Dregrukk’s Stompa manufactoria on Asterion, or battles amongst the defenders on Kulth. Like many Krieg regiments, individual troopers tend to have little in the way of personal identity, often stripped of their sense of self during training, even removing their names in favour of a simple designation. This attitude often spreads even to the officers, with many simply known by the designation of their platoon, company or regiment. This is the case within the 616th, with its commanding officer known only as Colonel Six-Sixteen. Regarded by his peers in other regiments as being little more than a mouthpiece for the orders issued by more senior commanders, Colonel Six-Sixteen is a quiet, unassuming figure, seldom seen without his greatcoat and rebreather, whose leadership abilities are effective, if unimaginative. The nature of Krieg regiments is such that little more is necessary. For the most part, interregimental communications are handled by the 616th’s current senior Commissar, Anton Kraevan.
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Death Korps of Krieg - Siege Artillery Regiments: 3rd Siege Artillery Regiment - The Death Korps 3rd, 4th and 8th Siege Artillery Regiments were assigned to the 19th Bombardment Korps, 88th Siege Army in 812.M41, during the infamous campaign known as the Siege of Vraks. They were withdrawn from Vraks along with the rest of the remaining units of the 19th Bombardment Korps in 828.M41.4th Siege Artillery Regiment8th Siege Artillery Regiment19th Siege Artillery Regiment - The Death Korps 19th, 22nd and 23rd Siege Artillery Regiments were assigned to the 21st Bombardment Korps, 88th Siege Army in 812.M41, during the infamous campaign known as the Siege of Vraks. The regiments remained with the 21st Bombardment Korps throughout the fighting on Vraks Prime and were finally withdrawn when the enemy forces occupying the planet were neutralised in 830.M41.22nd Siege Artillery Regiment23rd Siege Artillery Regiment231st Siege Artillery Regiment - The Death Korps 231st Siege Artillery Regiment was assigned to the 8th Assault Korps, 88th Siege Army in 812.M41, during the infamous campaign known as the Siege of Vraks. The 231st remained with the 8th Assault Korps throughout the intense fighting on Vraks until it was finally withdrawn when the enemy forces occupying the planet were neutralised in 830.M41.497th Siege Artillery Regiment - The Death Korps 497th Siege Artillery Regiment was assigned to the 11th Assault Korps, 88th Siege Army in 812.M41, during the infamous campaign known as the Siege of Vraks. The 497th remained with the 11th Assault Korps throughout the fighting on Vraks and was finally withdrawn when the enemy forces occupying the planet were neutralised in 830.M41.
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Death Korps of Krieg - Mechanised Regiments: 23rd Mechanised Regiment - The Death Korps 23rd Mechanised Regiment took part in the Cleansing of Radnar Hive.
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Death Korps of Krieg - Armoured & Tank Regiments: 1st Armoured Regiment - The Death Korps 1st Armoured Regiment took part in the Atria Wilderness Campaign.2nd Armoured Regiment - The Death Korps 2nd Armoured Regiment took part in the notable Third War for Armageddon Imperial campaign against the massive Ork Waaagh! of Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka.11th Armoured Regiment - The 11th Armoured Regiment fought on Arcantis Quintus during the Orphean War and suffered heavy losses at the Battle of Hath Parallel.18th Armoured Regiment - The Death Korps 18th Armoured Regiment took part in the Barbarius Campaign. This regiment in known to contain Mars Pattern Chimeras armed with Multi-Lasers.19th Armoured Regiment - The Death Korps 19th Armoured Regiment took part in the Taros Campaign on the Imperial desert Mining World of Taros against the T'au Empire and its Kroot and Human (Gue'vesa) allies of the Taros Planetary Defence Force in 998.M41. The 19th was assigned to the 4621st Imperial Army, XI Corps. The XI Corps was ordered to assemble after the X Corps had departed and to act as the second wave for the invasion, in the event the campaign on Taros had collapsed before the 19th Armoured Regiment arrived.21st Armoured Regiment - The Death Korps 21st Armoured Regiment took part in the Vorenz III Campaign with a Thunderer Siege Tank in the command squadron of the 3rd Company.22nd Armoured Regiment - The Death Korps 22nd Armoured Regiment contains several companies comprised primarily of Leman Russ Battle Tanks.28th Armoured Regiment - The Death Korps 28th Armoured Regiment was a part of the Galan V Expedition Force.47th Armoured Regiment - The Death Korps 47th Armoured Regiment was part of the 3rd Armoured Korps of the Orphean Salvation taskforce and thus fought in the Orphean War. The regiment was entirely destroyed while counterattacking Necron Phalanxes on the world of Kaelogeddon in the Arcantis Cluster. The regiment's brave sacrifice during the Battle of the Outhal Depression allowed for the Imperial forces to encircle and defeat the Necron advance, the regiment's tanks even having to break formation and charge right into the Necron Phalanxes to evade aerial assaults, many tank crews detonating their fuel and ammunition reserves in a last act of spite against their aggressors.76th Armoured Regiment - The Death Korps 76th Armoured Regiment was a notable Armoured Regiment that contained a Leman Russ Vanquisher called Loyalty utilised by Commissar Konstantin Garrick.7th Tank Regiment - The Death Korps 7th Tank Regiment was assigned to the 8th Assault Korps, 88th Siege Army in 812.M41, during the infamous campaign known as the Siege of Vraks. The 7th Tank Regiment was withdrawn from Vraks along with the rest of the remaining units of the 8th Assault Korps in 828.M41.11th Tank Regiment - The Death Korps 11th Tank Regiment was assigned to the 8th Assault Korps, 88th Siege Army in 812.M41, during the infamous campaign known as the Siege of Vraks. The 11th Tank Regiment was transferred to the 11th Assault Korps when the rest of the 8th Assault Korps was transferred from the Vraks warzone in 828.M41.14th Tank Regiment - The Death Korps 14th Tank Regiment was assigned to the 8th Assault Korps, 88th Siege Army in 812.M41, during the infamous campaign known as the Siege of Vraks. The 14th Tank Regiment was withdrawn from Vraks along with the rest of the remaining units of the 8th Assault Korps in 828.M41.61st Tank Regiment - The Death Korps 61st and 66th Tank Regiments were assigned to the 11th Assault Korps, 88th Siege Army in 812.M41, during the infamous campaign known as the Siege of Vraks. These two regiments remained with the 11th Assault Korps throughout the fighting on Vraks Prime, until they were eventually withdrawn from the planet when it was neutralised in 830.M41.66th Tank Regiment111th Tank Regiment - The 111th Tank Regiment was attached to the 60th Line Korps under the overall command of Marshal Karis Venner, and fought in the Orphean War.
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Death Korps of Krieg - Heavy Tank Companies & Regiments: 1st Heavy Tank Company - The Death Korps 1st Heavy Tank Company, known as the "Emperor's Loyal Shield," fought in the Cleansing of Radnar.13th Heavy Tank Company - The Death Korps 13th Heavy Tank Company took part in the Galan V Expedition when it was attached to the Death Korps 28th Armoured Regiment.14th Heavy Tank Regiment - The 14th Heavy Tank Regiment was attached to the 60th Line Korps of Marshal Venner during the Orphean War and was part of the Korps' Assault Brigade during the Battle of Amarah.
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Death Korps of Krieg - Notable Guardsmen of the Death Korps of Krieg: Marshal Amim Kagori - Marshal Amim Kagori was a well-respected officer within the Death Korps of Krieg when he was called upon to resolve the disastrous downturn the Siege of Vraks had taken following the arrival of Chaos Space Marines warbands and, perhaps more importantly, Chaos Titans of the Legio Vulcanum. With the 88th Siege Army in full disarray and being forced to retreat on all fronts, Marshal Kagori was chosen by Segmentum Command to replace Lord Commander Zuelkhe. To prosecute the war, Kagori petitioned the Legio Astorum for help, which, alongside the new regiments of the 34th Line Korps, would turn the tides on Vraks. Taking the name of the "Kagori Offensive", the Imperial counter-attack reconquered their lost ground in a matter of months. With additional support from the Imperial Navy and the Adeptus Astartes of the Red Scorpions Chapter, Marshal Kagori would succeed where his predecessor had failed, eventually breaking through the citadel's inner defence lines. However, as reports of unnatural phenomena multiplied, Marshal Kagori was forced to relinquish command of the 88th Siege Army to Lord Inquisitor Hector Rex of the Ordo Malleus. With typical bravery, Amim Kagori petitioned the Lord Inquisitor for a battlefield command on Vraks, which he was quickly granted. His demotion to battlefield command would prove a boon for the Death Korps as the Marshal’s actions on Vraks would see him remembered as one of the greatest Imperial heroes of this campaign.Marshal Karis Venner, the Thrice-Martyred, the Castigator of Valtine - Marshal Venner was a legendary figure within the Death Korps, a senior officer of single determination which for many embodied the Death Korps' bloody determination and readiness to sacrifice all for the greater cause. Marshal Venner has the led 17th Line Korps for an unprecedented eleven years, during which he has always led from the front; personally leading the Korps’ assault brigades on the field of battle. Much of his trachea and lungs has been replaced by augmetics after Venner was heavily burned by an enemy Flamer during the Siege of Duraka Landing. Despite his wounds, Venner dragged his broken and bloodied figure back to Krieg lines and was saved. This was the first time he was officially listed as a casualty only to reappear almost miraculously, owing him the surname of the "Thrice-Martyred". During one particular campaign, Venner's command had been cut-off and was declared killed in action, only to be rediscovered three days later at the head of a ragged group of survivors, surrounded by the corpses of their enemy. This legend has made him very popular within those regiments that have served under him, but not so much within non-Krieg regiments that have been placed under his authority. Appointed Commander-in-chief of both the 17th and 60th Line Korps during the Orphean War, Marshal Venner distinguished himself at the Battle of Amarah Prime, where the Death Korps was one of a few Imperial formations not only able to resist, but also vanquish, their Necron foe.Colonel Tyborc - Colonel Tyborc's combat record perhaps best illustrates how promotions can affect a man's career within the Death Korps. More often than not, these promotions are earned on the front lines and by the simple fact of surviving where others have not. Tyborc's career truly begins in 814.M41 as simple Commander of the 261st Siege Regiment’s 9th Company, 30th Line Korps, during the Siege of Vraks. Tasked with the capture of an enemy stronghold, designated as Fort A-453, Commander Tyborc devised a complex plan which would let his troops advance in the wake of a well-coordinated artillery barrages, leaving the enemy little to no time to man his positions. Personally leading the assault, Tyborc succeeded in taking the enemy trenchline, upon which he sent a runner to the Krieg lines to ask for reinforcements. When the enemy decided to shell their own lines to bury the Kriegsmen within alive, the courageous Commander broke into the fort's underground shelters, leading a ragtag group of survivors from different platoons in a desperate three-day-long struggle before allied troops could reinforce their position. Severely injured and still carrying an empty Flamer taken from some fallen enemy, Commander Tyborc's victory opened the way for the 88th Siege Army's breakthrough of the Citadel's outer defence line. Having gained much honour at the Battle of Fort A-453 as it was soon called, the valiant Commander would continue to serve on Vraks. By the time of the final assault on Vraks' Citadel, Tyborc had risen to the rank of commanding officer of the 261st Siege Regiment. Having been selected to conduct an attack on the Citadel itself, Tyborc mercilessly assaulted the enemy until his regiment was no more. While the survivors were folded into other regiments, Colonel Tyborc himself was elevated into an esteemed position in the 88th Siege Army Command Staff.
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Death Korps of Krieg - Trivia: As with many Imperial Guard regiments, the Death Korps is based in part upon real-world militaries from Human history, similar in uniform, appearance and style to the Imperial German Army of World War I and the Wehrmacht of World War II.
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Death Korps of Krieg - Sources: Codex: Astra Militarum (6th Edition) (Digital Edition), "Regiments of Distinction - Death Korps of Krieg"Codex: Astra Militarum (9th Edition), pg. 27Codex: Imperial Guard (3rd Edition, 2nd Codex), pg. 28Codex: Imperial Guard (4th Edition), pg. 61Codex: Imperial Guard (5th Edition), pp. 21, 23, 27Epic: Swordwind CampaignImperial Armour Volume One (Second Edition) - Imperial Guard, pp. 84, 114, 258Imperial Armour Volume Three - The Taros CampaignImperial Armour Volume Five - The Siege of Vraks - Part One, pp. 12-35, 38-41, 44-53, 66-101, 125, 128, 130-144, 181, 187-189Imperial Armour Volume Six - The Siege of Vraks - Part Two, pp. 7, 14, 18-27, 34-48, 54-56, 58-59, 61-71, 75, 77-79, 83, 85, 93-111, 114Imperial Armour Volume Seven - The Siege of Vraks - Part Three, pp. 8-11, 16-19, 21, 26-28, 40-43, 44-45, 51, 53, 83-87, 110-111, 125-136, 208Imperial Armour Volume Twelve - The Fall of Orpheus, pg. 168-170, 183, 197, 225Only War: Core Rulebook (RPG), pp. 46-47Only War: Final Testament (RPG), pg. 15The Greater Good (Novel), by Sandy MitchellDead Men Walking (Novel) by Steve LyonsThird War for Armageddon Worldwide Campaign - Forces Disposition, Imperial Forces: Death Korps of Krieg
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Death Korps Officer - Death Korps Officer: A Death Korps Officer is an officer in one of the Imperial Guard regiments of the Death Korps of Krieg that hail from the devastated, post-apocalyptic Death World of Krieg in the Segmentum Tempestus. Death Korps Officers, right up to the level of regimental command, typically lead and fight from the front of their units. This is not so much a conscious decision as a simple expression of the Death Korps regiments' mentality, as every Krieg Guardsman expects to fight and die for his Emperor. To this end, officers of these regiments commonly equip themselves for service at the front line with grenades, powerful sidearms and either a Chainsword or Power Sword. Members of a Death Korps Command Squad in service to an officer wear their squad insignia (a "C" for command) on their right shoulder. Officer's helmets typically bear an ornate Imperial Aquila.Unlike many other Imperial Guard regiments that draw their troops from worlds with a long-standing militarised culture (such as the Mordians or Jantines), Krieg itself has no standing aristocracy or hereditary officer class. Instead, its officers are drawn from the body of the Krieg regiments' rank and file. This means that the majority of the Death Korps' officer cadre has been promoted through the ranks through a mixture of ability, seniority and often as a result of their simple survival. Staff officers and flag officers are usually seconded from other Imperial Guard regiments or from the Imperial noble classes that provide much of the Imperial Guard's upper echelons and these positions are often retained as hereditary entitlements. Krieg officers, who are dedicated to the Death Korps' narrow doctrine of attritional warfare, are generally considered incapable of performing the political and diplomatic roles required for the staff officers or commanding officer of an Imperial Guard army command.As veterans of the Death Korps' way of war, Death Korps Officers have no regard for high casualties, which has led to morale problems where senior Krieg officers have been placed in charge of non-Krieg Imperial Guard regiments across a wider theatre of operations. It is also a noticeable feature of the Death Korps' culture that Krieg regiments do not issue medals or decorations because Krieg soldiers view such rewards as insignificant and meaningless baubles. Bravery is expected and commonplace amongst the regiments of the Death Korps, and so Krieg Guardsmen neither expect nor respect special rewards for what they consider as their duty to the Emperor.
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Death Korps Officer - Uniform: For the most part, Krieg officers wear a standardised Death Korps uniform. The individuality that is displayed by the use of non-standard uniform appearance in other Imperial Guard regiments is not favoured in the Death Korps, whose indoctrination requires them to sublimate individuality to the greater purposes of the Imperial Guard and the Emperor. But the Departmento Munitorum's regulations governing the equipment of Imperial Guard regiments do require that officers distinguish themselves from the rank and file, the better to serve as figures of inspiration and authority on the battlefield. Hence, a regimental commander's uniform is usually of superior material and design, individually tailored for him or her. Their greatcoats are made of the finest grade Mukaali hide. A regimental commander will sometimes wear a breastplate that is issued to Death Riders, often polished to a gleaming shine for ceremonial duties. In practice it provides little in the way of additional protection. The officer's gorget is actually a small Conversion Field generator, worn for personal protection by high ranking officers and officials. These generators are often disguised as jewelry or other decoration. Krieg officers wear the standard Mark IX helmet, which often has further decoration added as befits an officer's rank, such as a golden Aquila crest or the winged skull Imperialis symbol of the Imperial Guard.Some officers prefer to wear the tall riding boots issued to Death Riders, which are regarded as being of higher quality and comfort than the low marching boots of the infantry. A regimental commander will sometimes retain them after serving with a Death Rider unit. A red sash is often worn for battlefield identification, and is also worn by a Krieg officer's security detachment. A Death Korps Officer's gas mask is a lightweight unit that lacks the large regulator that is standard for the common Krieg infantrymen, since it is only used for short exposures to the toxins of the battlefield. It is generally issued to Krieg staff officers who would otherwise spend the majority of their time inside sealed command bunkers.
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Death Korps Officer - Insignia: The regiments of the Death Korps of Krieg reject the awarding of medals for individual bravery, as this behaviour is simply expected from Death Korps Guardsmen, and all are indoctrinated to face the direst threats without regard for their own survival. It is not in the Death Korps' ethos to recognise individual achievements, and those born into the Korps do not seek such recognition. Their training requires them to become a faceless cog in the vast war-making machine of the Imperium's military forces. Service to the Korps and the Emperor are regarded as reward enough for their sacrifices, and so Death Korps officers do not wear the campaign badges and other distinctions of service common to most Imperial Guard officers.
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Death Korps Officer - Weapons: The weapons of a Death Korps Officer are carried as a matter of ritual and protocol rather than as practical accoutrements. Only in the direst of circumstances would a regiment's senior commanding officer actually be required to fight, although to have reached the esteemed rank of Colonel in the Death Korps such an officer would have already earned a wealth of frontline combat experience. Death Korps officers sometimes carry sabres, another relic of their days leading a Death Rider company. A Laspistol is usually carried as a weapon for personal defence. It is likely to be a standard issue weapon, no doubt kept in spotless condition by a regimental commander's aides, and well maintained, lacking the wear and tear of frontline service. Many officers will choose to carry other weapons as a matter of personal preference though these will be individual to the personality and circumstances of the officer.
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Death Korps Quartermaster - Death Korps Quartermaster: Death Korps Quartermasters are a unique cadre of commissioned officers specific to the Astra Militarum regiments of the Death Korps of Krieg who serve as an amalgam of battlefield medic, Administratum-clerk and Ecclesiarchy preacher within the ranks of the Death Korps. They are a remnant of Krieg's war-torn history and the hard choices its population had to make in order to survive. Like other specialist ranks such as Death Korps Officers or Death Riders, Quartermasters are selected during training for their unshakable faith in the God-Emperor, their dedication to the ideals of the Death Korps as embodied by the Cult of Sacrifice and their mental aptitudes to act swiftly and decisively under duress and see an action to its logical end. To fulfil these tasks, Quartermaster recruits are given additional training in low-level tech-lore, field medicine and a far more intensive indoctrination into the tenets of the Cult of Sacrifice they are charged to embody.
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Death Korps Quartermaster - History: As with many of the Korps’ specialists, the Quartermasters’ origins lie during the bloody civil war that had torn apart Krieg in the middle of the 41st Millennium, when loyalists and secessionists fought over the radioactive ruins of Krieg’s former Hive cities. In the blasted, winter-shrouded and irradiated wastes that now formed the surface, death came in multiple forms; some where obvious to the sight, an onrushing shell or a bayonet-wielding enemy, and other were far more subtle such as a torn enviro-suit or seal or the colourless and odourless clouds of toxic gases. With only very limited resources at their disposition, especially in terms of medical supplies, battlefield triage became essential to survival as a whole, the loyalists loathe to "waste" their precious supplies on soldiers with low chances of survival or which could not be readily returned to the battlefield. Wounded soldiers trapped in no man’s land or behind enemy lines were counted as fatalities unless they had the means to return to their lines on their own. It was the Quartermaster’s task to judge the severity of the soldier’s wound and if he should and would be treated. Those that were too hurt to be anything other than a liability for their unit and company would receive "the blessing of the Emperor's peace" - an honourable field execution. This explains why in stark contrast to the medical personnel of other regiments, Quartermasters are always armed, but the Quartermaster’s task does not end with the soldier’s demise.Even in death, a soldier carries valuable tools of equipment that can benefit his comrades or given to new recruits as part of their basic kit: everything useful from weapons and ammunition, to pieces of clothing such as the iconic greatcoat of the Death Korps or regimental-issued socks will be stripped form the dead Guardsman. This task often requires the Quartermaster to venture alone into no man’s land, retrieving from the dead what the living need to continue the fight. This has often led outsiders to compare the Quartermaster to scavenger or carrion-eaters - sometimes quite literally picking the dead clean. The redistribution of arms and ammunition still count amongst the Quartermaster’s principal duties as well as the ministration of emergency treatment to injured Guardsman. In the modern day Death Korps, the Quartermasters also serve as tactical observers and logistics experts, monitoring the expenditure of ammunition during the battle, calculating attrition rates or spotting enemy guns and strongpoints which they then report to the competent officer. Additionally, as an incarnation of the Death Korps Cult of Sacrifice, the Quartermasters are charged with the deliverance of final rites to those too seriously injured to fight on. Amongst the Guardsmen, it is held in general belief that the deathmask of a Quartermaster should be the last thing a dying trooper should see.
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Death Korps Quartermaster - Uniform: Like all within the Death Korps, the Quartermasters are issued with the standardised uniform of the Death Korps, which includes the distinctive longcoat for which the Death Korps is famed. Trousers and boots are also the same as those issued to the average Krieg Guardsman, which helps to distinguish the Quartermaster from regular officers which often favour the more comfortable boots issued to the Death Riders where many officers have served while most Quartermasters are drawn from the infantry platoons and companies. Quartermasters wear the same Mark IX helmet as the rank and file which is left unadorned, save for the addition of a facemask worn over their rebreather mask. Representing the struggle of Krieg during the civil war, this facemask is fashioned in the form of a leering human skull as to better serve as memento mori held in such high esteem within the Cult of Sacrifice. This skeletal motif is often continued on the Quartermasters’ Carapace breastplate in order to resemble a human ribcage. Some Quartermasters choose to complete this already most sinister appearance with a black cape, worn above their armour and coat. To those soldiers ministered to by a Quartermaster, it must seem as if death itself has come to pass judgement on them. However, some Quartermasters eschew the traditional trappings of their function as to better to blend in within the ranks of common soldiers, thus avoiding to become the prime target of the enemy snipers. In order to treat battlefield injuries, a Quartermaster carries a Medi-pack.
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Death Korps Quartermaster - Weapons: Being called upon to serve at the frontlines or even venture into 'no man’s land', a Quartermaster is usually well equipped to deal with unpleasant encounters. As a matter of tradition, a Quartermaster carries a sidearm, both for protection and in order to deliver the Emperor’s Peace to those under his care which are too wounded to fight on and beyond saving. This sidearm can take the form of a Bolt Pistol, although most use the far more common Laspistol. In the same order of thinking, most Quartermasters also carry a close combat weapon such as a Chainsword.
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Death Korps Quartermaster - Retinue: Particularly in the wake of greater offensives, the dead are so many that a single Quartermaster could never hope to sort through all the battlefield detritus alone or tend to all the wounded. Therefore, it is not unusal to see Quartermasters followed by a retinue of utility or medical Servitors.
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Death Korps Watchmaster - Death Korps Watchmaster: A Death Korps Watchmaster is the senior non-commissioned officer rank amongst the regiments of the Imperial Guard's Death Korps of Krieg. A Watchmaster is the equivalent of a non-commissioned officer with the rank of Sergeant in other Imperial Guard regiments. Within the Death Korps Death Rider squadrons, the equivalent rank is known as a Ridemaster. Watchmasters are the primary and most visible leaders for the enlisted troops of the Death Korps regiments. As veteran Guardsmen, Watchmasters are the leaders primarily responsible for executing their regiment's mission and for relentlessly training subordinate personnel so that they are prepared to execute their duties absent of fear and filled with unflinching faith in the Emperor of Mankind. Watchmaster training and education typically includes cultivation of leadership and management skills as well as service-specific combat training.Infantry platoons form the bulk of the Death Korps siege regiments' manpower. Each siege regiment consists of five companies, which are broken down into ten infantry platoons and one heavy weapons platoon. Each company is led by a Death Korps Officer with the rank of Captain who is assisted by one Veteran Watchmaster. Each platoon consists of a command squad and up to six infantry squads. These squads are each led by a Watchmaster who acts as the squad leader. The Watchmaster is assisted by an appointed senior Guardsman, usually the longest serving soldier in the squad. Like their fellow Guardsmen, Watchmasters have been indoctrinated since birth in the martial traditions of the Death Korps. They are highly proficient with all the basic weapons of the Imperial Guard and most especially with the bayonet, and favour the bayonet charge in battle. They fearlessly lead their squads across "no-man's land" to storm enemy trenches and defences. Having no fear of death himself, a Watchmaster demands and expects no less from his men.
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Death Korps Watchmaster - Uniform: Like their fellow enlisted Guardsmen, a Watchmaster wears the standard uniform common to the regiments raised on the Death World of Krieg. Its most distinctive feature is the heavy greatcoat which is manufactured on Krieg from a hard-wearing thick cloth and produced in a variety of colours. The great coat provides limited protection, but is also heavily chemically impregnated against chemical and biological attack -- an unfortunate side effect of this being the pungent smell that the garment emits. The greatcoat is completely waterproof and very warm, a trait which is particularly useful when its wearer is deployed to colder climates. The greatcoat is double-breasted and includes brass buttons, a pair of which allows the coat's front to be turned back to allow for greater mobility in combat. Uniform cut and design is almost identical throughout the entire Death Korps but colours can vary from regiment to regiment and the officer ranks tend to have slightly more ornate uniforms than the rank and file.A Watchmaster also wears the standard issue Mark IX helmet made of Plasteel, which has an adjustable cradle for fit around the head, flaring to allow a good fit for the gasmask and which is ventilated via the top spine. This ventilation has an internal filter to keep out chemical or biological agents. There are many variants of the the standard Mark IX helmet issued to specialists and officers. The shoulder plates are Plasteel construction and buckle to the greatcoat. A Watchmaster's shoulder plates are embossed with his rank insignia. When fully equipped, a Krieg Guardsman is completely sealed against a contaminated environment by the layers of his uniform and his respirator unit.
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Death Korps Watchmaster - Weapons: A Watchmaster's main weapon is his Lucius Pattern No. 98 Lasgun. This weapon is standard issue to Krieg regiments, and stockpiled in vast numbers in Krieg's armouries. The Lasgun also includes a bayonet lug which can be fitted with the standard issued 45 centimetre-long sword-bayonet. This heavy bladed, razor-sharp knife is a Watchmaster's only close combat weapon. A bayonet charge led by a Watchmaster seems to be more effective at driving the enemy away from a Death Korps regiment's fortified positions than even the use of their artillery and heavy weapons platoons. Watchmasters, like all Krieg Guardsmen, are also equipped with a single, standard issue No. 38 Frag Grenade, but additional grenades will be issued to squads before an attack against static enemy positions.
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Death Korps Watchmaster - Additional Equipment: All Krieg Guardsmen are issued distinctive respirator units. The entire unit can be carried inside a leather satchel, which buckles onto the webbing's shoulder straps. Krieg Guardsmen are also issued leather webbing which includes carrying straps for their backpack, respirator filter unit and regulator, four ammunition pouches for Lasgun powerpacks, additional pouches for carrying other kit, such as weapons and respirator maintenance kits, replacement filters and biological or chemical weapon antidote vials. They are also issued a leather backpack which buckles to the webbing shoulder straps. It has additional straps to attach a bedroll, which also doubles as a waterproof shelter-half, and a dry-tin canister for storing perishable materials by sealing them against the environment. Finally, as all Krieg Guardsmen are expected to dig their regiment's trenchworks, they are also issued a small entrenching tool. As trench warfare is the Death Korps' preferred method of fighting, they must constantly dig new trenches, or repair and improve their current position in the line. Each Guardsman carries an entrenching tool in a carrying case which is worn on the belt and which also has loops for carrying the bayonet when not attached to the Lasgun. Larger tools such as mattocks and shovels will be issued when needed for heavier entrenchment work.
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Death Oath - Death Oath: A Death Oath is one of the most severe punishments that can be meted out to a Battle-Brother of the Loyalist Space Marine Chapters by his superiors. If a Battle-Brother has been found severely wanting, he will be forced to take an oath of moment to either fulfill a superhuman task or die trying, exiled from his Chapter.Only if he manages to succeed at this suicidal task and survive will he be allowed to return to his Chapter, for he will be considered to have been absolved of his failures by the Emperor of Mankind Himself.
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Death Oath - History: The tradition of the Death Oath has been inherited from the ancient time of the Great Crusade, when both individual Space Marines and entire Space Marine Legions would take solemn oaths of moment to accomplish some glorious goal or die trying. Often, a dishonoured Space Marine would swear an oath of moment to accomplish a task considered nearly impossible even for a superhuman Astartes, and find redemption in death while trying to fulfill the oath. If by a miracle the Astartes managed to accomplish his heroic task, he would then be vindicated, and welcomed back amongst his Battle-Brothers as a hero.In the late 41st Millennium, a Death Oath is not often pronounced. Space Marines are indoctrinated and psycho-conditioned from the moment they are accepted as Aspirants into their Chapter that to fail the Emperor and their Primarch is the worst sin possible. Yet for all their fearlessness and prowess in battle, failure is not unknown to the Space Marines, and some events simply cannot be ignored or prayed away. The loss of a sacred Chapter relic, or unnecessary losses in battle are but two examples of failure for which a Space Marine will be called to account. In some instances, the Astartes' superior will impose a Death Oath upon the penitent Space Marine. However, the monastic existence of the Astartes, and their fanatic reverence for their Primarch progenitor sometimes calls for punishment even in victory, as was demonstrated by the Death Oath pronounced upon the Ultramarines' Captain Uriel Ventris after his victory over the Tyranids at Tarsis Ultra: to the Ultramarines, achieving victory while disregarding the Codex Astartes is a grievous sin.When the Death Oath is pronounced, the Battle-Brother will receive his task before the whole of the Chapter and then be cast out. For all intents and purposes, he is dead to his brothers and no longer exists. To receive a Death Oath is a harsh punishment for an Astartes, for he will then be truly alone in a hostile galaxy. Most Astartes who receive such a punishment die trying to fulfill their oath, but a few manage to miraculously succeed and are welcomed back to their Chapter as heroes after being tested for any corruption. A few others, unable to fulfill their objectives, either join the retinue of an Inquisitor or petition for service into the Deathwatch as a Deathwatch Black Shield, in order to give their death a measure of meaning. Sadly, some Astartes lose their sanity completely and turn Renegade, filled with nothing but hatred and contempt for the Imperium they were forced to leave.Despite their similarities, the Death Oath is not the same as the Warrior's Pilgrimage tradition: the former is an exile from a Space Marine's Chapter enforced as punishment, while the latter is a voluntary exile in order to atone for wrongdoing and eventually return to the Chapter if the quest proves successful. However, the two remain closely linked, since the situations that would prompt either to be enacted upon an Astartes are identical, and it is not unheard of for a Space Marine to request to be allowed to make a Warrior's Pilgrimage from his Chapter Master at the same time his fellows request that the punishment of exile be meted out upon him.
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Death Oath - The Sagyar Mazan: The people of Chogoris are possessed of great wisdom and capable of deep compassion, but these characteristics are tempered by a fierce and uncompromising sense of justice that can lead to acts of catastrophic failure being rewarded with death, delivered by the hand of a warrior's superior. Occasionally however, this punishment might be commuted to exile by a merciful leader sympathetic of mitigating circumstances. Amongst the White Scars Chapter, those exiled from their Brotherhood are known as penitents, or the Sagyar Mazan, and it is their fate to seek out an honourable death and in so doing, wash away any stain of dishonour.
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Death Oath - Notable Death Oaths: Captain Leonatos of the Blood Angels - Captain Leonatos lost the Blade Encarmine, a Chapter relic and Master-Crafted Power Sword that had once belonged to the first Chapter Master of the Blood Angels in battle against Orks. The Blood Angels' Chapter Master, Lord Commander Dante, and Chief Librarian Mephiston imposed a Death Oath on Leonatos and the remaining survivors of that fateful battle that required them to either retrieve the Blade Encarmine and bring it back to Baal in victory, or die in the trying.Captain Uriel Ventris and Sergeant Pasanius Lysane of the Ultramarines - While defending the planet of Tarsis Ultra against the Tyranids, Captain Ventris assumed command of a Deathwatch Kill-team after its leader was slain, and assisted Inquisitor Kryptman in capturing a Lictor and devising a genetic toxin from its genome with which they could kill the Tyranid Norn-Queen commanding the Hive Fleet that was assaulting that world. Ventris and his trusted companion Lysane then joined the Inquisitor and the Deathwatch Kill-team in the assault on the Norn-Queen, but in this way were considered by the Codex Astartes to have "deserted" their posts as leaders of the Ultramarines 4th Company during battle. Despite their victory, accusations of severe dereliction of duty were levelled against both Astartes by their fellows, and Chapter Master Marneus Calgar imposed on both a Death Oath to find and destroy the Daemonculaba his Chief Librarian Varro Tigurius had received disturbing visions about through the Empyrean.
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Death of a Silversmith (Short Story) - Death of a Silversmith (Short Story): Death of a Silversmith is the fifth short story published in the Horus Heresy that was not originally part of an anthology novel. It was first published as part of the event exclusive Games Day Anthology 2011/12 and was later released separately as an e-book. It is also included in the Shadows of Treachery anthology novel.
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Death of a Silversmith (Short Story) - Synopsis: In what should have been the pinnacle of his career, a lone Remembrancer meets an unfortunate end at the hands of the Luna Wolves. So close to the heart of the Warmaster's emerging powerbase, were the signs of Horus' fall apparent from the beginning, yet heeded by no one?
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Death of Dianixis - Death of Dianixis: The Death of Dianixis was a battle fought on an unknown date in the 41st Millennium between the forces of the Imperium and the Thousand Sons Heretic Astartes forced led by the Chaos Sorcerer Ahriman on the Cemetery World of Dianixis, who sought the skull of Lepidus, a hero of the 2nd Black Crusade buried there, for the arcane information inscribed upon it.
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Death of Dianixis - History: The Thousand Sons Chaos Sorcerer Ahriman had long sought the skull of Lepidus, a dead hero of the 2nd Black Crusade, for reasons that remain his own. The skull, dipped in silver and engraved with ten thousand words of detestation, lay in the polar shrine city on the Cemetery World of Dianaxis. A conspiracy to obtain the skull by guile had already failed, so Ahriman turned to more direct means.Since the end of the Scouring, countless billions have fought and died in the shadow of the Eye of Terror. For almost eight Terran millennia the remains of many of these honoured dead lay on Dianaxis. Heaps of charred bones, the serene bodies of Imperial martyrs, and the polished skulls of Space Marines all came to the mausoleum world.On the surface of Dianaxis, the plains of bones extended from shrine city to shrine city, and grew ever deeper with each passing standard year. The cities themselves were built from the skulls and bones of the most heroic Imperial dead. So sacred and revered was Dianaxis that a dozen Space Marine Chapters maintained honour guards and bastions on its surface. Star fortresses ringed its approaches, and millions of troops stood sentinel over the skulls of those who had died to hold the darkness in abeyance.Across the reaches of space, Ahriman burned worlds and sent souls shrieking into the Warp. As the murdered worlds spun into alignment with each other they created an arcane pattern in the stars with Dianaxis at its heart. As the great design locked into place, Dianaxis' sun was pulled from reality, leaving a howling wound in the sky of the mausoleum world.Blood and fire spread across the heavens. The bones of the dead howled the last thoughts of their lives, and rainbow-colored fire crawled across the ossuary towers. Daemons poured through the hole that had been the sun, tumbling onto the mausoleum world like falling stars. The Imperial defenders screamed as the children of Chaos ate their souls.Amidst the slaughter, Ahriman appeared outlined in lightning, ringed by sorcerers and Rubricae. Power rolled from the circle of sorcerers and they strode through the battle, killing the defenders and dissolving Daemons with arcane fire. Space Marine Chapter honour guards came against Ahriman, but were reduced to ashes and silent screams with a gesture.Fire Bane, the last Warlord-class Titan of the Legio Officium, strode to war from its shrine. The cry of its warhorns echoed across the damned world, and its weapons burnt a path towards Ahriman's circle. Drawing together the power of his fellow sorcerers, Ahriman forced the war machine to its knees, before pulling the core of its plasma reactor through its carapace.At last, Ahriman held the skull of Lepidus in his hand, as the battle between mortals and Daemons raged around him. Raising the skull to his eyes he found the one word he sought etched on the skull's surface. Letting the skull fall from his hand, he and his forces vanished, leaving the world of bones to the howls of Daemons and the cries of the dying.
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Death Ray - Death Ray: A Death Ray is a ferocious Necron weapon most commonly found as the primary weapon for Doom Scythes. The Death Ray is aptly named and rightly feared, for there is seldom a warning before the weapon strikes, for any sound it makes is lost under the unearthly wailing of the Doom Scythe's engines.A particularly alert foe might recognise the nimbus of energy building up around the focusing crystal, or the abrupt change in air pressure; but few recognise the significance in time. The nimbus pulses one final time and an irresistible beam of blinding white light bursts from the Doom Scythe's underside, vaporising infantry and tanks alike, leaving only charred and rutted terrain in its wake.A single Doom Scythe can carve its way through an entire armoured column so long as its Death Ray remains operational and a full squadron can reduce the sprawling spires of a hive city to fulminating slag in less than a solar hour. Mounted as part of an underslung turret on a Doom Scythe, a Death Ray fires a narrow beam of intense directed energy capable of passing through many enemy units and vehicles before the energy is dissipated, often vaporising whole battle lines with a single shot and leaving nothing but a line of ruin in its wake.
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Death Rider - Death Rider: The Death Riders of Krieg are a famous and unique formation within the Death Korps of Krieg. These specialised units are superficially similar to the standard Rough Rider cavalry units found amongst numerous other Astra Militarum regiments from worlds where animals used as mounts or for draught purposes are commonplace.The Death Riders of Krieg are one of the most justly famous of the unique formations found within the forces of the Imperial Guard's Death Korps of Krieg regiments. The Death Riders make use of highly adaptable mounts who are descended from the original Terran horse but have been gene-tailored over the millennia for strength, endurance and aggression.
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Death Rider - Krieg Steed: One of the most justly famous of the unique formations found within the forces of the Death Korps of Krieg are the Death Riders. Although superficially similar to Rough Rider cavalry units found among numerous other Astra Militarum regiments from worlds where riding mounts are commonplace, the Death Riders of Krieg are a direct result of Krieg's standard-centuries-long civil war.As the hugely destructive war raged across the face of Krieg, it became increasingly more difficult for the Loyalists and their traitorous enemies to field tanks and fighting vehicles. Supplies of parts and fuel quickly became scarce, the knowledge and manpower needed to pilot the vehicles and keep them operational dwindled as the war deaths mounted, and the very land itself became so blasted and broken that not even tracked vehicles could cross it with any ease. As vehicles succumbed to supply shortages, battle damage, and lack of crewmen, the loyalist Krieg turned to the ancient tactics of mounted cavalry to give them a competitive edge over their enemies. Breeding and genetically modifying the hardy local equines as warhorses and raising specially trained cavalry companies to ride them into battle, the loyalist forces unleashed these new mounted warriors on their unsuspecting foes with great results.For nearly three standard centuries the Death Riders have been a staple of first the Loyalist forces of Krieg and then, once the rebellion was finally quashed and Krieg was brought back into the Imperial fold, of the Death Korps. Despite the fact that the Death Korps is now equipped with Leman Russ Tanks, Chimeras in all of their variety, and sufficient fuel, parts, and ammunition, the Death Riders still make up an important part of Krieg's tithe to the Imperial Guard.Every bit as dour and fatalistic as their infantry brethren, the Death Riders are, if anything, more eager to sacrifice themselves for the God-Emperor and the greater good of His Imperium. Faceless and nameless like the rest of the Death Korps -- even their Krieg Steeds wear heavy armoured respirators over their eyes and mouths, obscuring their strange equine faces -- the Death Riders throw themselves and their mounts into the midst of their enemies without a thought, typically at the culmination of a thunderous charge with fixed hunting lances. The grim solace they take in riding down the God-Emperor's enemies, along with the typical Krieg martyrdom complex, makes the Death Riders a very effective and dangerous unit.Like their Attilan Rough Rider counterparts, the Death Riders are mounted on loyal steeds and used as fast attack units and scouting companies. However, whereas the Attilans use guerrilla tactics and lightning attacks to sow fear and confusion among their enemies, the heavy cavalry companies of the Death Riders use brute force and the strength of their mounts to carry the day. Their most singular aspect is the nature of the Death Riders' mounts -- the legendary Krieg Steed -- that is a highly adaptable form of the original Terran horse. This animal is now the product of extreme genetic engineering; tailored for strength, endurance and aggression, with numerous additional bio-sculpted organs that allow them to survive on the most polluted and toxic battlefields unscathed.Vat-grown on Krieg under the auspices of the Magi Biologis of the Adeptus Mechanicus, the animals are further augmented with sub-dermal organic armour, osmotic lungs, and a fully integrated drug injection system rigged with a potent mixture of stimulants, pain-blockers and other palliatives. The end result is that the Krieg Steed is capable of incredible levels of endurance and environmental tolerance. The Krieg Steed is also a weapon in its own right with its chemically enhanced aggression centres triggered at the rider's command, and virtually impossible to incapacitate short of massive bodily trauma.Masters of the cavalry charge, the Death Riders pelt across the shattered battlefields of the galaxy, trampling and impaling their enemies. With little ceremony, these stoic fanatics charge directly into enemy formations to lay waste with their lances, heavy sabres, and sidearms, while their mounts bite, kick, and gouge the enemy into a trampled, bloody pulp. Death Riders never retreat once they have committed to the charge, instead they fight on until their enemies are destroyed or they are destroyed to a man, and only the most strong-willed or highly respected officer can cause them to call off their frenzied attack.
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Death Rider - Death Rider Companies: The Death Riders form a special cadre within the regiments of the Death Korps of Krieg, and their inductees are chosen not only on the grounds of aptitude but also for independent thought and initiative. Many future Death Korps Officers are drawn from the ranks of the Death Riders' survivors.Death Riders are equipped with a variety of sidearms and sabre-blades, in addition to the signature, explosive-tipped lance found in similar Rough Rider units. Death Rider companies are used both for battlefield reconnaissance, replacing the Sentinel's traditional role in the Krieg siege regiments, and as shock-troops, using their speed and impact to smash through enemy lines. Death Riders are commonly used in the role of reserves held back to break counter-attacks, or to press a breakthrough themselves.The Death Riders have earned their savage reputation among other Astra Militarum regiments for their merciless pursuit of fleeing enemy troops; it is standard practice for Death Korps of Krieg infantry to hold a freshly captured position while the Death Riders run down any routed defenders.
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Death Rider - Uniform: The Death Riders wear the same standard issue uniforms as the Death Korps infantry, including the distinctive heavy greatcoat. The Mark IX helmet is the same, with the extra badge attached to the front, marking the soldier as a Death Rider. The riders are selected for aptitude during the Death Korps Guardsman's training on Krieg, and will have already undergone a rigorous series of exercises on the surface of Krieg before deployment to their war zone.As well as his uniform, a Death Rider wears an ornamental breastplate. This is a cumbersome item, worn as a matter of tradition rather than practicality and many units choose to discard the item, especially when on long-range patrols, in order to conserve weight. It is made of plasteel with a hardened chrome facing.The uniform is completed by the tall, hard-wearing riding boots. These boots are also popular with high-ranking Death Korps Officers, themselves often men who have served with Death Rider squadrons in the past, as they are regarded to be much more comfortable than the Death Korps infantry's low marching boots.
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Death Rider - Equipment: The Death Riders' role as a siege regiment's reconnaissance forces (as well as acting as second-wave shock troops during a breakthrough) means they must carry a lot of equipment. Death Rider squadrons can operate far ahead or on the flanks of the main Krieg forces, and so must be self-sufficient.Saddlebags carry rations and other important supplies such as chemical filters, along with bedrolls and spare ammunition.Death Riders commonly wear Type V respirator units, the same type issued to Death Korps Grenadiers, with the regulator units inside a canister and worn on the back.
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Death Rider - Hunting Lance: The Death Rider's primary weapon is his explosive Hunting Lance. This 3.5-metre-long weapon is constructed of a hollow lightweight metal shaft tipped with a spear point, which is also connected to the impact fuse of the weapon's shaped charge. This small explosive charge is constructed to direct the blast and fragmentation towards the target and away from the user. Once detonated, the user is left with only the shaft, which is then discarded. The lance also bears the squadron's pennant.In close quarters combat against a densely packed enemy, or in close confines, the lance is very unwieldy and all Death Riders carry at least one back-up weapon. After the initial "shock" impact of the charge has been expended, a rider will reach for his sabre.
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Death Rider - Sabre: The Death Rider sabre is a long, heavy-bladed, single-edged, curved sword used mainly for thrusting with the tip rather than slashing. The skewer-like 95 centimetre blade is designed to resist buckling in the impact of a thrust delivered at the charge. The blade ends in a sharp "spear" point and the bowl hand guard gives protection to the hand. The grip's design causes the blade to naturally align with the arm when the arm is extended, in position for a charge using the point.The rider's third weapon is often a Laspistol. Carried but rarely used, except as a weapon of last resort, the heavy pistol is difficult to aim and reload whilst mounted and generally thought to be ineffective as a ranged weapon.
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Death Rider - Death Rider Mount: The Death Rider's mount is a heavily genetically modified version of the original Terran horse that no longer resembles its ancient ancestor. Having been designed to endure far worse battlefield conditions than ever existed in Terran history, its physique is far stronger than a normal horse's, with its hind legs being able to clear trenches and power the creature through thick mud or over rubble. Its splayed feet are also better adapted to moving in difficult or nearly impassable terrain.The creature is almost hairless. It no longer has a tail, only the remaining stump, while its mane has almost entirely been bred out, leaving just short bristles which do not become tangles and require no maintenance. Its neck is longer than that of a Terran horse, with broader shoulder and girth.Psychologically these creatures are far more aggressive than their domestic Terran ancestors, with drug injectors being used to make the creature fearless in the face of an enemy. In battle the animal will charge directly into the foe's lines and will not be startled by weapons fire or explosions.Due to the Krieg Steed's unstable body chemistry, it has to be constantly monitored by its rider and stabilised with additional chemicals. This means the animal can sustain injuries that would kill lesser creatures, but leaves many of these mounts with horrible scars from previous wounds.A Krieg Steed is equipped with armour to protect its head and a respirator system to protect it from poison gases and toxic atmospheres. These animals are grown in vitaegenic cloning vats deep below the surface of Krieg, with their gestation carefully monitored by the Adeptus Mechanicus' Magi Biologus. Each creature is individually number-branded at the genetic level for identification purposes.
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Death Rider - Sources: Imperial Armour Volume Five - The Siege of Vraks - Part One, pp. 91, 135, 140Imperial Armour Volume Six - The Siege of Vraks - Part Two, pp. 24-26, 100-101Imperial Armour Volume Seven - The Siege of Vraks - Part Three, pg. 111Only War: Hammer of the Emperor (RPG), pp. 18-19, 139
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Death Shadows - Death Shadows: The Death Shadows was a Renegade Chapter of Chaos Space Marines who were once a Loyalist Chapter of Astartes known as the Lionguard before they were corrupted in the 37th Millennium during their participation in the Abyssal Crusade. They were known to specialise in the use of sabotage and terror tactics against their foes.In the 41st Millennium, the Death Shadows withdrew to the Fortress World of Sybari after a disastrous campaign against the Ultramarines. Whilst in the planning stages of a retaliatory strike against their hated Loyalist foes, a tendril of Hive Fleet Behemoth invaded the Sybari System and consumed the planet.The warband took a heavy toll on the aliens, but despite that, the Death Shadows were still annihilated within a solar hour.
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Death Shadows - Abyssal Crusade: The Death Shadows were a formally Loyalist Chapter known as the Lionguard. Following the Ecclesiarchal Purges of 321.M37, a dozen star systems were engulfed by Warp Storm Dionys, its echoes rippling along the spiral arms of the galaxy as it raged through the Empyrean.Records of mutation and Chaos Cultist activity quadrupled overnight. Worse yet, it was not only the citizens who were affected by the sudden influx of Chaos. Many of the Space Marine Chapters with homeworlds affected by the Warp storm found that the secret imperfections in their gene-seed were writ large upon their new recruits, giving rise to a wave of disturbing manifestations both physical and psychological. The Lionguard were one such Loyalist Chapter of the Adeptus Astartes that had been affected by these Warp storms.When the Ecclesiarchy heard of this sinister tum of events, Saint Basillius the Elder demanded that all those Chapters of the Adeptus Astartes whose homeworlds had been touched by the Warp storm be rendered unto his judgement. Such was the elder's influence with the High Lords of Terra that within a standard year this had come to pass. After a series of stringent tests and prognostications, hundreds of Chapters were deemed unaffected by the Warp storm.No less than thirty were found wanting. The Judged, as these fallen Chapters came to be known, volunteered for a redemptive penitent crusade. The most militant of their number demanded the right to purify their tainted flesh in the fires of battle, to make a noble end from tragic misfortune. To the surprise of his closest advisors, Saint Basillius agreed to this proposal. He saw it fitting to send the accused into the Eye of Terror, taking the fight for the Imperium's future to the Daemon Worlds inhabited by the Traitor Marines.A representative from each of the doomed Chapters held an emergency Council of Dismay to discuss the proposed Imperial Crusade. After scant solar hours of debate, they acquiesced to Basillius' demands, for they believed that martyrdom was preferable to an existence of suspicion and doubt.The last few solar days of 321.M37 saw a solemn procession of strike cruisers and battle barges pass through the Cadian Gate into the Eye of Terror, relay systems dormant and heraldic colours obscured by black mag-plates.One by one, the Chapters of The Judged disappeared into the iridescent dust nebulae that surrounded the Eye. As the massive Space Marine flotilla entered the Eye of Terror, they were set upon by an equally large Chaos warfleet. The resultant battle was so fierce that the ships of The Judged were forced to retreat and were scattered to the furthest corners of the Eye.The true account of what occurred within the Eye to the Lionguard Chapter is unknown, but most of the tales of the Chapters of The Judged ended in tragedy and sorrow. By the time they reemerged from the Eye many standard centuries later, the Lionguard were no more, for they had become the warband of Heretic Astartes known as the Death Shadows, wholly dedicated to Chaos Undivided.
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Death Shadows - Notable Campaigns: Sybari Slaughter (753.M41) - The Chaos Renegade warband known as the Death Shadows mustered at the world of Sybari in preparation for a secret strike against Ultramar. They were isolated when the Shadow in the Warp enveloped the system, and their warlord, the Sorcerer Malafor, was driven to insanity by the Tyranids' psychic presence. Leaderless and in the midst of preparing for an assault of their own, the Renegades were unprepared to defend Sybari from the swarm. Though they reaped a high tally in xenos dead, the entire warband was annihilated in less than a solar hour.Invasion of Ultramar (999.M41) - The Invasion of Ultramar occurred when a large Chaos warband known as the Bloodborn invaded the Ultramarines' Realm of Ultramar, headed by the Iron Warriors Warsmith Honsou and the Daemon Prince M'kar the Reborn, both servants of the Ruinous Powers who had sworn revenge against the Ultramarines for the past wrongs they believed had been done to them. This Chaos invasion occurred roughly concurrently with Abaddon the Despoiler's 13th Black Crusade in 999.M41, though the Bloodborn's invasion was not officially a part of the Black Crusade's forces. The Bloodborn were comprised of a large following of multiple Chaos warbands and rogue regiments comprised of both Planetary Defence Forces and Imperial Guardsmen. These throwaway troops were used as cannon fodder during the Bloodborn's initial assaults. The rest of the Bloodborn's elite forces were comprised of Chaos Space Marine warbands which included the Death Shadows, the Apostles of MinthRas, the Skulltakers and the Claws of Lorek. The Death Shadows were not a part of the Bloodborn themselves, and unlike the other Chaos warbands and Iron Warriors detachment, they were not often seen fighting alongside the Bloodborn's main forces. It appears to be that some members of the Death Shadows had indeed survived the Slaughter at Sybari or could have been operating some place else.
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Death Shadows - Notable Death Shadows: Malafor (KIA) - Sorcerer Malafor was the leader of the Death Shadows. During the Sybari Slaughter, Malafor's sanity was burned away through the signals of the Hive Mind's Shadow in the Warp. Malafor's life was then ended with that of his warband by the Tyranids.Loven Valstor - Loven Valstor is a Chaos Champion and a former member of the Death Shadows warband. During his early years he clashed repeatedly with his unit's commander whose cautious tactics limited Valstor's potential as a new Chaos Sorcerer. He was scouting the periphery of the Realm of Ultramar when Hive Fleet Behemoth fell upon the Death Shadows' base of operations. In the wake of this great disaster, Valstor lost contact with the rest of his warband. Rather than seek them out, he saw the opportunity to finally push the boundaries of his power and began to seek out those who could instruct him in the real secrets of the Warp. Although he has had contact with no other Death Shadows since the time of the First Tyrannic War, Valstor knows his warband is too strong and too subtle to have been entirely shattered. Somewhere they bide their time and will re-emerge. When that happens, Valstor intends to be ready; he will return bristling with the power of the Empyrean to claim his rightful place high in the Death Shadows' ranks. Valstor currently serves the Daemon Prince of Slaanesh known as Seiyr the Bereft within the fell area of the galaxy called the Screaming Vortex, one of two massive Warp storms which separate the Calixis Sector of the Imperium from the Koronus Expanse in the Segmentum Obscurus.
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Death Shadows - Chapter Colours: The Death Shadows wear dark blue power armour with black, hooded robes.
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Death Shadows - Chapter Badge: This Renegade Chapter has no known individual badge, but its Heretic Astartes wear the usual blasphemous Chaos icons and fetishes to denote their allegiance to the Dark Gods.
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Death Spectres - Death Spectres: The Death Spectres are a Loyalist Chapter of Space Marines of the 13th ("Dark") Founding. The Death Spectres are only the second Chapter of Astartes besides the Exorcists known to have been created in that unusual Founding and less is known of its creations than of any other Space Marine Founding. The Death Spectres are a rare Successor Chapter of the Raven Guard and share many of the same mutations found in that Chapter's gene-seed.Stationed beyond the bounds of the Imperium, the Death Spectres keep constant vigil. Even with the Great Rift yawning wide in the Era Indomitus, their thankless duty remains ensuring that the mysterious, deathless inhabitants of the Ghoul Stars such as the Necron Flayed Ones and the Cythor Fiends never again ascend to threaten the galaxy.The Death Spectres' homeworld is the Cemetery World of Occludus.During the 13th Black Crusade, the Death Spectres infiltrated the world of Lelithar to assist the Astra Militarum regiments seeking to retake that world from the forces of Chaos with stealth raids and hidden strikes.
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Death Spectres - Origins: Of the dark and terrible times known to later historitors as the Nova Terra Interregnum, when the Imperium fractured into warrior factions during the late 34th Millennium, there exist in what records remain from this era scattered and veiled references to a great threat arising from the Ghoul Stars known as the Pale Wasting.Much of the extant evidence relating to this threat has been censored or purposely destroyed, but there are contradictory indications which describe the nature of the threat as both a "star-spawned plague" that swept away scores of worlds and as "nightmare engines" slaughtering the populations of whole sectors.Those partial records which have been uncovered suggest that the threat was xenos in nature and that more than one Space Marine Chapter may have been completely destroyed in the course of the conflict. The xenos threat briefly mentioned in Imperial historical records might be the Thexian Elite of the Thexian Trade Empire, a biomorphic species few in number but strong in influence.They hail from the iron-oxidised worlds known as the Bloodmoons of Thex Prime, which are located in the region of space called the Ghoul Stars. These vile xenos are known to be masters of manipulation and have worked themselves into integral positions in the Borlac, Loxatl and Nicassar civilisations. Though Thexians are famously persuasive, when guile is not enough their battle form is quite horrifying to behold. Eleven Space Marine Chapters were lost in the final battles of what must have been a truly apocalyptic struggle.The chronicles of many Chapters who took part in this campaign as noted in other sources are curiously empty of any reference to this conflict, and it is quite possible that this ancient threat may also account for the unusually large number of formerly Human-inhabited Dead Worlds in the region.Following this lamentable period of history, the 13th Founding, also known as the "Dark Founding," occurred sometime between the 35th and 36th Millennia, and is one of the very rare Foundings of Space Marine Chapters that were not recorded in exact detail.Since the Horus Heresy, the Adeptus Terra has maintained a bank of original gene-seed tithed by every single Chapter ever created, with one notable exception: the 13th Founding. There are no reliable records that indicate how many Chapters were created during the Dark Founding or what became of them. Full disclosure of the exact details of this mysterious Founding may lie buried deep within the record office of the Adeptus Terra.The Death Spectres are one of two known Chapters to have been created during this unusual Founding. They were created as a Successor Chapter of the Raven Guard, sharing many of the same mutations and genetic flaws found in that venerable Chapter's gene-seed. Following their creation, the Death Spectres were stationed beyond the frontiers of the Imperium and charged by the High Lords of Terra to maintain a constant vigil to ensure that the inhabitants of the Ghoul Stars never again threatened the galaxy as they had in the Pale Wasting. The nature of the threat could not be overstated enough, and the containment of such a species as the Thexians was worthy of the attention of an entire Chapter of the Adeptus Astartes.When the newly created Chapter's first Megir (Chapter Master), Merrin Corcaedus, was swearing his oath of loyalty and service to the Emperor at the foot of the Golden Throne itself, he received a vision. Guided by this vision, Corcaedus led his Chapter to the world of Occludus and to the very spot where they raised Logopol, their future fortress-monastery. It was at this location that the Chapter would find the source of its destiny -- the Shariax.
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Death Spectres - Throne of Glass: When Megir Merrin Corcaedus first swore his oath of office before the Emperor and placed his blade at the foot of the Golden Throne, he received a vision from the Emperor Himself. This vision led him to the world of Occludus and the mysterious artefact known as the Shariax, the Throne of Glass.Little is known of its purpose and nothing of its origins. The Shariax is an archaic throne, contained in an ancient, secret dome, called the "Temple of Voices," deep beneath the planet's surface, and directly underneath the Chapter's fortress-monastery of Logopol.The Throne of Glass is where the Megir rules Occludus and the Chapter, but it is also where he will inevitably die. All Megir of the Death Spectres, upon taking that position within the Chapter, ascend the Throne of Glass the same day as they take their oaths of office. Upon sitting upon the Shariax, they never rise again, and only rarely communicate with the Chapter, and when they do, only with a few select members.Exactly what the Shariax does is vaguely hinted at. In return for immense power (power that can be felt even in the planet's orbit by psykers) the Throne of Glass slowly drains the life out of whoever sits in it, while also slowly petrifying them, eventually turning the Megir to stone. What this mysterious power is that the Megir is gifted with is unknown, except for the sheer scale of it.When the Megir turns even a portion of this power to some task, the implications are apparently staggering. The fact that it seems to be a psyker-based technology implies that one must be a psyker to use it, reinforced by the fact that when the Megir finally passes, the current Mesazar (Chief Librarian) of the Chapter takes his place, but the references are vague, and it may just be based on the fact that the Chapter's strongest warrior must be the new Megir, and thus it is he who must sit upon the Throne of Glass.Over the millennia, the Death Spectres have been preparing for the Cadash, which translates to "Living Chalice," someone of great significance who, upon taking their place upon the Shariax, will bring about the "Great Resurrection." The leadership of the Death Spectres has apparently been sowing the seeds of fate to bring about the Cadash's rise throughout the Chapter's history.
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Death Spectres - Notable Campaigns: Vern IV Offensive (140.M40) - In 140.M40 Vern IV was the scene of a conflict between the Death Spectres, the Drukhari Kabal of the Envenomed Thorn and the Void Dragons Aeldari Corsair warband.Macharian Crusade (392-399.M41) - The Death Spectres took part in the Macharian Crusade, which was a monumental, seven-year-long Imperial Crusade fought between 392.M41 and 399.M41, led by Lord Commander Solar Macharius, the Imperium's greatest Astra Militarum commander of all time and a recognised tactical and strategic genius on a par with the primarchs themselves. This crusade took place on the far western edge of the galaxy within the Segmentum Pacificus, reaching as far as the border of the galaxy with intergalactic space and even reaching into the unknown regions of the Halo Zone. The furthest extent of this crusade reached just beyond the edge of the Segmentum Pacificus, where not even the blessed light of the Astronomican could penetrate the dark void. Most Imperial savants agree that Macharius was the most successful and brilliant Imperial Warmaster since the Arch-traitor Horus. Nearly a thousand worlds were brought back into the Imperial fold in only seven standard years of fighting, yet upon his death the newly-won territories erupted into the civil war known as the Macharian Heresy as Macharius' various generals vied for control, fighting over the spoils as degenerate warlords.Achilus Crusade (777.M41 - ???) - The Death Spectres deployed forces in service to the Achilus Crusade to retake the Jericho Reach for the Imperium.Evacuation of the Xin-Cyn Research Station (Unknown Date.M41) - The world of Xin-Cyn was home to an Adeptus Mechanicus Research Station when it was attacked by a tendril of Hive Fleet Dagon. Two squads of Death Spectres Space Marines landed on Xin-Cyn and helped to evacuate the magi stationed there before retreating from the doomed planet.Lazar Blockade (857-859.M41) - Five Space Marine Chapters, including the Death Spectres, Howling Griffons and the Silver Skulls, blockaded the Lazar System to purge the Necrons from its planets in vengeance for the damage suffered by the Silver Skulls' 4th Company. The Space Marines overwhelmed and obliterated the main Tomb World, however secondary bases throughout the system suddenly came to life. Rather than withdraw, the Silver Skulls dug in for a grueling campaign. The nomadic Necron Overlord Anrakyr the Traveller arrived in the embattled Lazar System and immediately joined his forces to those defending against the Silver Skulls' and other Space Marines' onslaught. Necron victory was finally assured at the Battle of Dreadpeak, when Anrakyr's Pyrrhian Eternals spearheaded an assault on the Silver Skulls' downed battle barge Argent Hammer. Though the Space Marines battled hard against the veterans of Pyrrhia, their efforts were undone when Anrakyr seized control over the Battle Barge's still-functioning weapon batteries and turned their fury on the Imperial defenders. With their Chapter Master slain and their forces in disarray, the Silver Skulls were forced to withdraw their blockade of Lazar -- though they took great care to ensure that word of their defeat did not spread. His duty done, Anrakyr took ship and headed out into the galaxy once more to aid the Necron cause.Ghoul Stars Crusade (990-998.M41) - The Ghoul Stars Crusade was the very first Crusade launched by High Marshal Helbrecht in 990.M41 after he attained his rank as the Black Templars' new High Marshal. This was a dangerous decision as no Imperial expedition had ever returned from the desolate region of space known as the Ghoul Stars. The Black Templars were intent on finally vanquishing the hostile alien species known only as the "Cythor Fiends" of the Ghoul Stars. The battles were bloody but decisive, and after eight Terran years the xenos population was all but destroyed, and the Black Templars began to push in towards the aliens' homeworld, a gas giant designated 9836-18 Grave Core. Upon reaching the Cythor Fiends' core star systems, they were found to be eerily empty. 9836-18 Grave Core served as the capital world of the Cythor Fiends' civilisation. It is unknown by what name the planet was called by the Cythor Fiends. 9836-18 Grave Core is the Imperial designation, with the number signifying it was the eighteenth world conquered during the Ghoul Stars Crusade. Grave Core was a mid-sized gas giant which appeared blue from high orbit. Its atmosphere was toxic and extremely cold, unfit for most intelligent species. Grave Core was regarded by the Cythor Fiends as their primary homeworld in the region. The xenos had erected platforms in the world's atmosphere that supported their great crystal fortress-cities. The Astartes of the Death Spectres Chapter who accompanied the Black Templars in the Crusade hinted that they had once also assaulted Grave Core, just as the Black Templars now did, but had also found it deserted by the xenos. The Black Templars had expected the Cythor Fiends to make their last stand of the Ghoul Stars Crusade there, but the entire species had already apparently fled the planet. Furious, the Black Templars attempted to destroy the world by unleashing an Exterminatus action, but failed even at that as the world seemed to be able to resist any form of damage through unknown means. As an alternative, the Black Templars then destroyed the Cythor Fiends' orbital platforms and tried to ignite the world's atmosphere by bombarding it with their armada. This took an unnaturally long time, and the Death Spectres' Captain Naroosh remarked that whatever the Imperials did to the gas giant, it would not matter in the long run, as the Cythor Fiends always returned to reclaim the worlds of their realm. No trace of the aliens was ever found, but before a proper investigation could be launched, a desperate call for help came from the besieged Hive World of Armageddon. The Third War for Armageddon had begun, and no more time or effort could be reserved for the mystery of the Cythor Fiends.Hive Fleet Jormungandr (995.M41) - The tendrils of Hive Fleet Jormungandr began to brush against the northeastern boundaries of the Imperium. The Death Spectres and Honoured Sons Chapters led the Imperial counterattack against this arm of the Great Devourer.13th Black Crusade (ca. 999.M41) - The Death Spectres participated in the Siege of Lelithar and the defence of the Cadian Sector against the 13th Black Crusade. The Death Spectres fielded 6 companies against the forces of Chaos in this campaign.
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Death Spectres - Chapter Organisation: The Death Spectres Chapter appears to be a Chapter organised around the standard dictates of the Codex Astartes.The Death Spectres place a strong emphasis on Assault Marines and other close combat specialists, as was shown during a major assault undertaken by the Chapter during the 13th Black Crusade which involved some 600 Astartes equipped for a Jump Pack assault on a Traitor stronghold.
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Death Spectres - Specialist Ranks: The Death Spectres' order of battle contains several specialist formations and officer titles not present in other Space Marine Chapters which are derived from the language of the natives of Occludus:Megir - A title equivalent to the esteemed rank of Chapter Master in other Space Marine Chapters.Mesazar - A title equivalent to Chief Librarian of the Chapter (also the de facto master of the Chapter in the Megir's absence).Megron - A title equivalent in fellow Chapters to Master of the Flag, a position held by one of the Chapter's captains.Menrahir - The title given to the Death Spectres' equivalent in fellow Chapters of a Chapter Council. The word means "sage" in the native Occludian language.Terrorblade - A unique position within the ranks of the Death Spectres Chapter's Command Squad whose definition is not fully understood by outsiders. As it is uniquely named it can be assumed that the position is different than that of a standard Company Champion or some other title commonly used amongst other, more standard Chapters of the Adeptus Astartes.
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Death Spectres - War-Geists: The Veteran 1st Company of the Death Spectres is known as the "War-Geists." They are known to wield power scythes in melee combat.
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Death Spectres - Death Spectres Librarians: Like their fellow Astartes Chapters, the Death Spectres also maintain a Librarius of potent battle-psykers who are highly talented and trained to master the power of the Warp at the highest levels.Each Chapter selects its Librarians in its own way, either from its seed worlds, as it does with the bulk of its Initiates, or from the ranks of gifted psykers brought to the Scholastica Psykana.Most Chapters train and test chosen psykers following the ancient ways laid out in the Codex Astartes. The Chapter's Librarius, known as "The Order," possesses a size and power that is unique amongst Space Marine Chapters. The Mesazar (Chief Librarian) is known to command the Chapter in the absence of the Death Spectres' Megir (Chapter Master). There are some references in sources referring to the Death Spectres that claim the Megir is also always a psyker, who would then of course also be considered a member of the Chapter Librarius.The Death Spectres' Librarians appear to place great emphasis on reading the tides of fate and time, and appear to have an unparalleled mastery for changing the future they foresee. The Chapter's Mesazar are noted for being able to place prophetic notes in time itself, through their sheer power, enabling the Death Spectres to be in the appropriate place in the event certain eventualities come to pass, passing on information, and even psychic aid, if and when those eventualities actually occur. Through these techniques the Chapter Librarius seemingly alters the future to a degree that few Imperial organisations can dream of.Chapter aspirants (at least of those of the Librarius) are known to experience two deaths while trying to earn a place within the Chapter. The first death is experienced at around ten Terran years of age, when an aspirant first begins the gene-seed organ implantation process. The aspirant is injected with a lethal toxin, and remains dead until he revives on his own. Failure leads to oblivion. The second death takes place at the end of the aspirant's implantation process, when the neophyte takes his place amongst the Chapter as a full initiate. This death is much more intense, as the aspirant experiences death for solar hours rather than minutes. A third death can also sometimes take place, but this is only for members of the Librarius who wish to attain the rank of codicier, and greater power as a result.A deeply held belief within the Death Spectres Chapter is that of the "Black River," which is seen by aspirants of the Librarius during the ritual deaths they experience (it is unconfirmed if non-psyker aspirants experience this as well).Though their first death is for the shortest duration, it also is the greatest, as during the trial, one is assailed by the Black River's currents (which seem to symbolise fate and time) and the "forces" that are drawn to it and the person experiencing it (Chaos Daemons by another name). This first trial is an arduous one, as it is a task the aspirant has no experience in dealing with, and so failure is quite common.
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Death Spectres - Chapter Recruitment: The Death Spectres have an unsettling way of recruiting new aspirants into their Chapter. By the orders of the Megir, the Death Spectres seek out suitable Human-settled colonies far from the heart of the Imperium where they collect the best genetic specimens of women they can find.The women are taken to a suitable breeding world established near the Death Spectres' homeworld of Occludus. There, the women are expected to bear future generations of adolescent males who might prove capable of joining the ranks of the Death Spectres as neophytes.
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Death Spectres - Chapter Gene-Seed: Like their Raven Guard progenitors, the battle-brothers of this Chapter possess a minor mutation that causes the Melanochrome organ (which controls the amount of melanin in an Astartes' skin tone) to not function properly, leading to the development of albinism in Death Spectres Astartes.Differing Melanochrome gene-seed from Chapter to Chapter leads to variations in skin and hair colour, and in some Chapters all of the Space Marines may have identical colouration, such as is found in the albino warriors of the Death Spectres Chapter. Another aspect of the genetic flaws of their gene-seed is that it causes all members of the Chapter to possess glowing, blood-red eyes as well.Over time the Death Spectres have lost the use of two of the special organs produced by the basic Astartes genetic template: the Betcher's Gland, which allows a Space Marine to produce poisonous/acidic spittle, and the Mucranoid, which causes a Space Marine's body to secrete a waxy protein substance similar to mucus through his pores that seals his skin. Space Marines are normally cocooned in this way before they enter suspended animation, and the process can even protect them from the harshness of the vacuum and other extremes of temperature, particularly deeply frigid environments.
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Death Spectres - Chapter Beliefs: The existence of indigenous and often unique cult belief systems, martial philosophies and variations of the Cult Imperialis within the Adeptus Astartes is far from uncommon.To the Death Spectres, death is important to them in the nature and traditions of their Chapter. It is not important in the more morbid sense such as the way the Mortifactors Chapter celebrates it, but in a more sombre, respectful sense, such as the way the Star Phantoms embrace it.True to Imperial dogma, the Death Spectres hold as a central tenet of their beliefs, "that only those who die in battle will be reborn," and while they give little leeway or respite to the living, they deeply honour those who fall in the Emperor's service and hold the many martyrs of the Imperium and the dead of their Chapter with extreme reverence.Upon the death of a battle-brother of the Chapter, those Death Spectres whose bodies can be recovered are returned to Logopol on Occludus, and are mummified and then interred within the fortress-monastery's catacombs. Death Spectres find great comfort and peace in the quiet of the endless graveyards and tomb cities of their homeworld, which includes Logopol.Battle-brothers of the Chapter are also known to utilise a unique gesture, known as "The Masrahim"; the salute of skull and throne. This is done by placing the left hand, palm up, next to the abdomen, and then placing the right hand, in a close fist, in the palm of the left.
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Death Spectres - Notable Death Spectres: Megir Merrin Corcaedus - First Megir (Chapter Master) of the Death Spectres Chapter and former holder of the Force Sword Arquemann, the Chapter's most revered and ancient relic. It was this weapon that Merrin Corcaedus laid at the foot of the Golden Throne when he received the vision that led him to the world of Occludus and the remains of the Shariax.The Megir - Title of the Death Spectres' Chapter Master. Known as The First Spectre, Grandmaster of the Order, The Eye that Pierces the Veil. The name of the current Megir is unknown.Mesazar Athio Cordatus - Current Mesazar (Chief Librarian) of the Death Spectres Chapter and de facto Chapter Master. Mentor to Lyandro Karras.Captain Rohiam Elgrist - Captain of the Death Spectres' 3rd Company and current Megron (Master of the Flag) of the Chapter.Deathwatch Watch Captain Harsid - Seconded to the Deathwatch, Captain Harsid currently leads his own Kill-team in close collaboration with Inquisitor Talala Yazir of the Ordo Xenos. Since an Aeldari attack on the Dawnbreak Cluster, Harsid and the Inquisitor hunt for a series of dangerous xenos artefacts that they believe to have corrupted several high-ranking magi of the Adeptus Mechanicus and whose corruption could quickly spread to other Adeptus Mechanicus-aligned factions, such as the Iron Hands Chapter.Codicier Lyandro Karras - Lyandro Karras is a Death Spectres codicier currently seconded to the Ordo Xenos' Deathwatch. Karras, known as "Scholar" to his Kill-team, leads an elite squad of Astartes specialists. It was this squad that slew the Ork Warboss Balthazog Bluddwrekk.Sergeant Ischus Corvinnus - Brother-Sergeant of the Death Spectres who was seconded to the Inquisition along with remnants of the 68th Vostroyan Firstborn Regiment after they were devastated on Danik's World (circa. 767.M41). The fates of the Regiment and the Brother-Sergeant are unknown.
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Death Spectres - Chapter Relics: Arquemann - Arquemann is a relic Force Sword that belongs to the Death Spectres Chapter. The sword was once laid at the feet of the Emperor on the Golden Throne by the Chapter's first Megir (Chapter Master). Seconds after laying the sword down, the Megir received a vision of the Shariax -- the Glass Throne on Occludus. Little is known of its purpose and nothing is known of its origins. The first Megir then proceeded to build the Death Spectres Fortress-Monastery of Logopol directly above the cavern that contained the Glass Throne. The sword itself seems to have a psychic spirit bound to it. The sword's spirit will meld itself with the spirit of the wielder, making it even more deadly. The sword was initially owned by the first Megir of the Death Spectres, but after his ascension on the Glass Throne, he passed the sword on to the Mesazar (Chief Librarian) Athio Cordatus, who then passed the sword onto the Librarian Lyandro Karras when Karras was selected to join the Deathwatch. It is said that the bite of Arquemann is certain death whenever it glows with otherworldly energy. Arquemann is lethally sharp even without the power of the Immaterium running through it.Torch of the Vigil - The Torch of the Vigil is a master-crafted Astartes Heavy Flamer. Late in the 36th Millennium, a Deathwatch Kill-team was allied with a squad of Space Marines belonging to the Death Spectres Chapter in an action against a vile xenos species deep in what would one day become the Orpheus Salient of the Jericho Reach. Together, the two squads were able to eradicate the alien threat, but not before the sergeant of the Death Spectres, an honoured Veteran of the Chapter, was eviscerated by the vicious beasts. It was only by the actions of the members of the Kill-team that the sergeant's gene-seed was preserved and harvested and his ancient wargear recovered. As a reward for their aid, the Death Spectres presented the stewards of Watch Fortress Erioch with this mighty relic.
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Death Spectres - Chapter Fleet: Honoured Prophecy (Cobra-class Destroyer)
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Death Spectres - Chapter Colours: The Death Spectres primarily wear black power armour. The inset of the shoulder plates are white with black trim.The Aquila or Imperialis on the chest plate as well as the helmet are bone white.The white squad specialty symbol -- battleline, close support, fire support, Veteran or command -- is painted on the right shoulder plate.A black Low Gothic numeral is stenciled in the centre of the squad specialty symbol, which indicates squad number.The colour of the stripe on the right knee plate indicates which company a battle-brother belongs to.
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Death Spectres - Chapter Badge: The Death Spectres' Chapter badge is a large bone-white skull with a pair of crossed, ebon scythes directly behind it, centred on a field of white.
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Death Sphere - Death Sphere: A Death Sphere is a devastating Necron anti-matter weapon of mass destruction carried by Night Shroud bombers. A potent relic of the ancient and apocalyptic conflict known as the War in Heaven, a Death Sphere is a self-enclosed containment vessel carrying an anti-matter warhead capable of wiping from existence anything it encounters.Unlike the conventional bombing munitions of the younger starfaring species of the Milky Way Galaxy, the Death Spheres carried by a Night Shroud and its larger brethren are containment vessels that electromagnetically imprison the merest fragment of anti-matter.They are kept out of phase with the rest of the material universe until the sphere detonates, unleashing a wide annihilating energy blast of pure gamma radiation that is capable of destroying virtually anything within its radius.Anything lucky enough to survive the initial detonation is often left blinded and pinned; easy prey for advancing Necron forces that are soon to follow in the Night Shroud's wake.The true marvel of Necron science is not merely the caging of such destructive forces, however, but their precise control and the safety of their use, for should a Death Sphere be broken by hostile action, its energy harmlessly dissipates out of phase with reality instead of detonating in a likely cataclysmic wave of force upon contacting any form of normal matter.
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Death Spinner - Death Spinner: A Death Spinner is the standard weapon used by the Asuryani Aspect Warriors known as the Warp Spiders. They are deadly weapons that use mono-filament threads to rip through a target's body.The Death Spinner is a part of a whole family of Craftworld Aeldari weapons that use mono-filament technology. All these weapons, including the massive Doomweaver Cannon mounted on super-heavy Asuryani gravity tanks and the Harlequin's Kiss used by the Harlequins, work on the same principle: a liquid form of the psycho-reactive substance known as wraithbone is kept in stasis within the weapon's magazine.Once the weapon is activated, this substance will be forced by an electromagnetic propulsive field through an incredibly fine sift, and will solidify into a mass of threads, each one molecule thick, called mono-filaments which are razor sharp.This mass of threads, called a "spinner cloud," is then catapulted at the enemy with tremendous force. Being only one molecule in width, the filaments will have few difficulties in penetrating any armour through minute weaknesses in its molecular structure, and will wreak havoc on the body within, chopping it into a gory mess.A target within the cloud is sliced apart as the wires' own tension causes it to writhe and lash, cutting through not only exposed flesh but also seeking out gaps in any armour, where it uncoils within and liquefies the victim's innards.Often, the only remains from a Death Spinner attack is a pile of gore, utterly unrecognisable as the living being it was only moments before the attack. Even foes wearing Power Armour can thus be reduced to tiny pieces when enmeshed within these clouds of razor-wire.
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Death Storm Cannon - Death Storm Cannon: The Death Storm Cannon is a colossal, Titan-sized ranged combat weapon used by the Lord of Battles Daemon Engine. The Lord of Battles is the greatest of all Daemon Engines and is completely dedicated to the service of Khorne, the Chaos God of war and bloodshed. The Death Storm Cannon takes the form of a massive, multi-barrelled cannon similar in size to the Gatling Blaster used by Reaver-class Battle Titans and in appearance to the Hellstorm Cannon used by Warlord-class Battle Titans. The weapon fires heavy ballistic shells capable of destroying even some of the most heavily armoured vehicles. It is unknown if the Death Storm Cannon is used by any other Chaos units, such as Chaos Titans.
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Death Strike - Death Strike: The Death Strike is a Codex Astartes-compliant Loyalist Space Marine Chapter of unknown Founding that is a Successor Chapter of the Imperial Fists. The Chapter's fortress-monastery is located on its homeworld of Nihilas.This Chapter is one of several tied to the genetic legacy of Rogal Dorn that competes in the Feast of Blades.The Death Strike is very similar in appearance to the controversial Rainbow Warriors Chapter first revealed in the original 1st Edition Warhammer 40,000 rule book Rogue Trader. The main difference is that the Rainbow Warriors' Chapter badge is white, and their helmet stripe is multicoloured like a rainbow instead of being yellow.
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Death Strike - Notable Campaigns: Assault on Fort Moros (364.M39) - When the lynchpin bastion of Fort Moros fell to a Chaos-inspired rebellion, the 23rd Elysian Drop Troops Regiment was tasked with recapturing it. Deploying by Grav-Chute directly into the sprawling fortification, the Elysians discovered that the fort was the domain of madmen and fiends, and an immediate astro-telepathic call for aid had been transmitted. The 5th Company of the Death Strike Chapter answered the call, diverting from its current mission to relieve the beleaguered Drop Troops and crush the heart of the uprising.Verdan Wars (930.M41) - The Death Strike Chapter's 3rd Company was badly mauled fighting an overwhelming number of recidivists during the Verdan II Counter-strike. The 3rd Company was saved from total destruction when three more full-strength companies were deployed to relieve its beleaguered squads during the subsequent Verdan II Extraction. Having completed the extraction, the Chapter Master of the Death Strike Fleet ordered Verdan devastated from orbit, unleashing a mass yield orbital bombardment which left nothing living on the world below.Cleansing of the Ulik Sector (997.M41) - In 997.M41 a series of Exterminatus missions were carried out across the Ulik Sector by Space Marines of the Death Strike, the Flame Falcons and the Iron Hands Chapters. The Iron Hands performed a series of destructive missions on those worlds in the Ulik Sector not yet consumed by Hive Fleet Leviathan, in order to prevent the Tyranid Hive Mind from gaining momentum and further fuelling itself on precious bio-resources.13th Black Crusade (999.M41) - The Death Strike Chapter also participated in the 13th Black Crusade, where three companies of Death Strike Space Marines were lost during the fighting on Cadia against the forces of Chaos.
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Death Strike - Chapter Colours: The Death Strike Chapter primarily wears dark blue power armour. The Aquila or Imperialis on the chest is silver.The yellow, open-faced squad specialty symbol -- battleline, close support, fire support, Veteran or command -- is indicated on the right shoulder plate.The yellow High Gothic numeral on the right knee guard as well as the colour of the helmet stripe, indicate company number in accordance with the Codex Astartes -- i.e. white (1st Company), yellow (2nd Company), red (3rd Company), etc.
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Death Strike - Chapter Badge: The Death Strike's Chapter badge is a yellow, winged lightning bolt on a field of dark blue.
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Death Strike - Sources: Adeptus Astartes: Successor Chapters (Limited Release Booklet), pg. 34Codex: Space Marines (6th Edition), pg. 70Codex: Tyranids (5th Edition), pg. 29How to Paint Space Marines (2004), pg. 88Imperial Armour Volume Two - Space Marines and Forces of the Inquisition, pp. 52, 137, 150Imperial Armour Volume Two (Second Edition) - War Machines of the Adeptus Astartes, pp. 18, 22Insignium Astartes: The Uniforms and Regalia of the Space Marines, pg. 52Rogue Trader (1st Edition), pg. 168Legion of the Damned (Novel) by Rob Sanders, pg. 79
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Death Wardens - Death Wardens: The Death Wardens is a little-known Loyalist Successor Chapter of the Blood Angels Chapter, created during the Third Founding. This Chapter stands as stalwart guardians over an unnamed Shrine World located in the Eastern Fringe, having stood sentinel there since before the rise of the Ecclesiarchy.The inhabitants of this world are known for their dedicated worship of the angelic Primarch Sanguinius, who tread its surface during the Great Crusade. The Chapter ensures that the Ecclesiarchy does not attempt to change its ways to fall in line with the orthodoxy of the Imperial Cult.
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Death Wardens - Signus Campaign: The Death Wardens were created from the genetic lineage of the heroic Blood Angels during the Third Founding of the 31st Millennium. Their initial members were provided not only by the Blood Angels themselves but several Chapters of the Sanguinary Brotherhood, including the Angels Encarmine, Angels Numinous, Angels Sanguine, Blood Drinkers and the Flesh Tearers.The initial officer cadre was formed from several Space Marine officers taken from these various Chapters, consisting of a Chapter Master, his Sanguinary Guard, a Chief Librarian, Sanguiniary High Priest, High Chaplain, and a first captain. These officers were all veterans of the galaxy-wide conflict of the Horus Heresy and possessed knowledge about the forgotten Signus Campaign and where the Signus Cluster was located.That lamentable conflict saw the Blood Angels Legion deploy in its entirety at the behest of the Warmaster Horus. Unaware of his brother's perfidy, Sanguinius willingly complied and immediately set out for this volatile region of space. Unbeknownst to the Blood Angels, they were blindly walking into a deadly trap, for the Signus Cluster and its central world, Signus Prime, had fallen prey to agents of the Ruinous Powers and become a veritable Realm of Chaos -- a system of hellish Daemon Worlds under the rule of a Greater Daemon of Slaanesh known as Kyriss the Perverse.After his corruption by Chaos, Horus hated and feared Sanguinius more than any of his brother primarchs and wove many strategies to ensnare or slay him, though all ultimately failed. The Warmaster hoped to turn the Blood Angels' hidden genetic curses, later known as the Black Rage and the Red Thirst, against the IXth Legion in order to enthrall them to the Blood God Khorne and turn yet another Space Marine Legion to his cause.Ultimately, Horus' plan would fail and the Blood Angels would cleanse the Signus Cluster of its daemonic infestation, but a darkness would forever after stain the souls of the Blood Angels Legion. This terrible curse would continue to manifest in the centuries to come as the great Flaw that would afflict the Blood Angels and all of their Successor Chapters.
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Death Wardens - Aftermath: In the aftermath of the Signus Campaign, Sanguinius commanded that his sons excise all evidence that the IXth Legion had ever come to the Signus Cluster. The Blood Angels gathered up every battle-brother's corpse, every broken vehicle, every torn piece of armour or blunted sword. With that their work was nearly complete, save for the spent casings of a few bolt shells lying lost and buried in the sands. The Blood Angels would leave nothing behind in that blighted, murdered place. Not their ships, not their relics and not their precious dead.No one would return to the Signus Cluster. This command was etched into the IXth Legion's Book of Hours by the primarch's own hand. The Blood Angels would not build a monument or grave marker on Signus Prime, as they had on other planets where so much Astartes blood had been shed. The hundreds upon hundreds of honoured Blood Angels dead would be taken home to Baal to be buried on the slopes of Mount Seraph, the injured warships to Imperial stardocks for repair and re-armament.Warning buoys and automated beacons were deployed all about the trinary star system's perimeter, there to turn back any ships that might come that way in the years ahead. The Signus Cluster was declared Mortae Perpetua; "forever dead." It would be left lifeless and rotting until its suns burned cold, with nothing but the echoes of those who perished there to bear witness.
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Death Wardens - Forbidden Knowledge: By Death Wardens tradition, this forbidden knowledge became known only to the Chapter's command, except for the Master of the Forge, due to his dual-loyalty to the Omnissiah. In order to keep this knowledge hidden from outsiders and prying eyes, such as the Inquisition, it is not written down. Instead, following the death of one of these senior officers their body is ritualistically eaten by their successor, ensuring the secrets of this forgotten campaign remain hidden and are passed on to the next generation of officers.This ancient practice harkens back to the ancient days of the early Great Crusade when the old IXth Legion (then still known as the "Revenant Legion"), operating in the most extreme battlefield conditions, had been forced by necessity to adopt a number of practises that might otherwise be seen as monstrous. One among these, fostered by the nature of their design and the conditions under which they fought, was the consumption of fallen captains by their followers in order to preserve their hard-won skills and experience.As a mark of honour as well as practicality, it also became accepted that recruits took the names of those whose skills they absorbed, and lieutenants would assume the names of their captains. Such was the resemblance of each member of the IXth to their flawless brothers that most outsiders failed to notice this subtle brand of immortality.However, down the long millennia the Death Wardens have not always been able to retrieve the bodies of their fallen officers. Should the situation prove dire, and there are only a small number of commanding officers or even a lone survivor, the need to pass on this ancient knowledge becomes critical in the extreme. In such instances, the remaining survivors would have to allow themselves to be consumed by the newly-elected command cadre that would replace them.To alleviate such dire consequences, the Chapter has attempted to bypass such a high-risk procedure by imparting their forbidden knowledge to an aspirant, who was then ritually sacrificed to a new member of the Chapter command. However, each attempt has ended in abject failure. The Death Wardens' commanders are unsure why this drastic measure has not worked. Should the unthinkable occur and the entire command cadre be wiped out, a final failsafe has been put in place.The Chapter's Master of the Forge has been instructed to wake a specific Dreadnought that slumbers deep within the Death Wardens' fortress-monastery, which contains the body of their first Chapter Master. His partially devoured body, which somehow still clings to life, remains in eternal stasis within the Dreadnought's sarcophagus, until they are summoned. Upon being awakened, this Dreadnought will then share his knowledge of the Signus Campaign with the new Chapter command.
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Death Wardens - Chapter Colours: The Death Wardens' colour scheme is not listed in current Imperial records.
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Death Wardens - Chapter Badge: The Death Wardens' Chapter badge is not listed in current Imperial records.
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Death Wardens - Trivia: The Death Wardens were created by Games Workshop employee Wade Pryce, who hosts The Warhammer Community Podcast. His Chapter was showcased during the podcast's twelfth episode. Wade would later scrap this idea to create a different Successor Chapter of the Blood Angels called the Angels Erythrean.
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Death Wheel - Death Wheel: A Death Wheel is a rare Daemon Engine utilised by the forces of Chaos.During the 13th Black Crusade, the Defiler was a more common sight upon the battlefields of Cadia. But perhaps the most terrifying of Abaddon's daemonic constructions was the mighty Death Wheel. Standing as tall as a Warhound Scout Titan, these massive, tracked wheels are festooned with baroque spikes, guns and blades.Death Wheels were first encountered by the Cadian 8th Regiment of the Astra Militarum near Kasr Vasan when a large force of Black Legion armour accompanied by several Death Wheels forced the Cadians to disengage their pursuit of the traitorous Volscani Cataphracts.
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Death Wheel - Armament: The Death Wheel is massive, rising several stories above the battlefield, and covered in large deadly spikes and blades. Inside the Death Wheel is a gyroscope, allowing it to keep its balance without relying on sheer gravity alone. In addition to the spikes, the Death Wheel is equipped with a pair of large Battle Cannons as its main armament.It is a formidable weapon that can deal significant damage from a long distance against both vehicle and infantry targets. It is also equipped with a pair of deadly Reaper Autocannons on both sides, which are capable of a high rate of fire, and is highly effective as an anti-personnel weapon.
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