Armageddon Steel Legion
The Armageddon Steel Legion are the Imperial Guard Regiments native to the Hive World of Armageddon.
True to its name, Armageddon has been the site of three massive battles in the history of the Imperium, most recently a pair of invasions by the Ork Warboss Ghazghkull Thraka. As a result, the armies of Armageddon are very skilled in fighting Orks.
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Contents
Organization
The Steel Legion operates mainly on Armageddon and the planets of its surrounding system. They operate primarily against Orks, as they have gained experience fighting against them during the Third War for Armageddon.[Needs Citation]
Regimental Structure
Each regiment raised on Armageddon is composed of twelve companies, typically a mix of infantry, armour, artillery and mechanised infantry. Infantry and mechanised infantry companies consist of a command section, a fire support platoon with 10 heavy weapons teams, and three infantry platoons of 50 soldiers each, including 5 heavy weapons teams. At full strength a company would have 175 soldiers, though casualties suffered during battle will quickly reduce this.[2a] Tank and artillery companies consist of a command vehicle and three squadrons or batteries of three vehicles each.[2a] Super-heavy tank companies are composed of three super-heavy vehicles.[2b]
Additional units can also be attached to a company to function as part of their organic structure. These include a fire support platoon, an infantry platoon, a tank squadron, a Hellhound squadron, a Griffon battery, a Hydra flak tank, and/or a two-man Sniper or Ogryn team. Normal practice limits companies to three such attachments, and never more than one of each type.[2b]
Additional support units can be attached to regiments on an as-needed basis, normally restricted a maximum of two support formations per company.[2b] These attached units can include Rough Rider and Storm Trooper platoons, the latter often riding in four Valkyries per platoon; three-vehicle Hydra flak batteries and four-vehicle Sentinel squadrons; four-craft Vulture Gunship squadrons; and even Deathstrike Missile batteries, with two Deathstrike Missile Launchers per battery.[2b]
Recruitment & Training
The Armageddon Steel Legion are recruited from the planet Armageddon and are trained under standard Imperial Guard methods.[Needs Citation]
Battle Style
The Steel Legion regiments are primarily Mechanized Infantry, and Armageddon produces many armoured fighting vehicles for the Imperium, such as Chimera APCs. This allows them to launch rapid attacks in which the Chimeras overrun enemy lines before the infantry disembarks to finish them off. Regiments are sometimes supported by Conscript Platoons and Ratling snipers.[Needs Citation]
The mechanized regiments of the Steel legion are extremely mobile and can be shifted within the shortest time to the front or to support a threatened front section.[Needs Citation]
Equipment
Guardsmen of the Steel Legion wear a uniform of mustard yellow greatcoat, heavy boots and gloves, gas-masks and rounded bowl helmets over black fatigues. This is however only the most commonly seen uniform and uniform presumably varies slightly between regiments as with all Imperial Guard.[Needs Citation]
The Armageddon Steel Legion make use of Grenade Launchers and Missile Launchers. The preferred armoured vehicles are Leman Russ Battle Tanks, with Vanquishers serving as command vehicles, though they are known to include a few Leman Russ Executioners.[5a] Artillery is usually Basilisks, Bombards and Manticores, while super-heavy vehicles are typically Baneblades and Shadowswords.[2a]
Notable Regiments
Infantry
Regiment | Notes |
Ash Wastes Militia | Known to have fought in the Third War for Armageddon |
9th | Fought in the Second War for Armageddon under Colonel Kerschlact.[9] |
11th | Fought in the Second War for Armageddon.[9] |
16th | Known as the 'Tank-Stormers' for their lightning-fast attack patterns.[10] Famous for putting down the Cassell Rebellion in less than six hours.[9] |
47th | One of the many regiments that served in the Third War for Armageddon.[1] |
50th | Fought in the Second War for Armageddon.[9] |
68th | Third War for Armageddon - One of the regiments that served in defense of Hive Helsreach.[8f] |
69th | [Needs Citation] |
81st | An Assault Legion. Fought in the Second War for Armageddon, where they were involved in a suicidal orbital landing to reclaim Hive Infernus. The survivors were subordinated to the 9th Steel Legion.[9] |
87th | Hydra Flak Tanks of this Regiment were assigned to protect the 1st Company. It is fought during the Hive Acheron attack in one of the wars for Armageddon.[5c] |
91st | Third War for Armageddon - One of the regiments that served in defense of Hive Helsreach.[8d] |
93rd | The 93rd Steel Legion is known to have taken part in the Third War for Armageddon, fighting at the Mannheim Gap.[6] |
101st | Third War for Armageddon - The regiment that served in defense of Hive Helsreach.[8a] |
116th | Third War for Armageddon - One of the many regiments that served in the defence of Armageddon.[2c] |
141st | Template:Lex-De
Third War for Armageddon - The 141st fought in the defence of Palonious where they suffered heavy casualties. They were eventually reinforced by the Salamanders chapter of the Adeptus Astartes. During the battle around the Eumenides bridge the regiment was all but destroyed by a large body of Orks from the Blackskulls tribe as they migrated out of the Diablo mountain range. With the assistance of the Salamanders the bridge was saved and the Orks pushed back to the mountains. The remnants of the regiment were used to reinforce the 252nd Regiment.[3] |
276th | Template:Lex-De
Third War for Armageddon - The 276th fought in the ash wastes where, in 963.M41, the Third company discovered the remains of a shattered Ork Gargant from the Second War for Armageddon and secured it with the help of Fourth company in the face of heavy Ork counterattacks.[4] |
703rd | Third War for Armageddon - One of the storm-trooper regiments that served in defense of Hive Helsreach.[8g] |
808th | Serving on the Spinward Front[11] |
Armoured
Regiment | Notes |
8th Super Heavy Tank Company | The Armageddon 8th Superheavy Tank Company is a Super Heavy Tank Company of the Imperial Guard founded on Armageddon. This company was originally equipped with Stormsword superheavy tanks, one of which was the ninth of the company.[5b] |
121st | Third War for Armageddon - One of the armoured regiments that served in defense of Hive Helsreach.[8b] |
199th | Third War for Armageddon - One of the armoured regiments that served in defense of Hive Helsreach.[8e] |
233rd | Third War for Armageddon - One of the armoured regiments that served in defense of Hive Helsreach.[8h] |
273rd | Third War for Armageddon - One of the armoured regiments that served in defense of Hive Helsreach. Nick-named the 'Steel Vultures'.[8c] |
339th "Iron Heads" | Third War for Armageddon - The 339th earned its title "Iron Heads" during the battle for the tank forges of Hive Tempestora during the war. So massive was the factory that the entire tank battle was fought within. At one point the 339th held a line demarcated by a long conveyor belt against an Ork attack and the assembly line continued to function despite the pitched battle that took place around it. At the height of the battle the entire regiment was mounted in Chimeras that had just rolled off the assembly line. The 339th then made a mechanized assault along the length of the factory, smashing through the Orks.[7] |
Notable Members
- Fulkerin - Armageddon Steel Legion Guardsman
- Commissar Yarrick - Commissar of the Armageddon Steel Legion, Second and Third War for Armageddon hero.
- Kleist - Colonel
- Major Pious Korren - Tank ace
- Acting-Captain Haines, 47th Steel Legion
- Major Istevus, 141st Steel Legion
- Commissar Vandenberg - Regimental commissar, 267th Steel Legion
- Commissar Ali Ibn Sina of 3rd Company, 267th Steel Legion
- Second Lieutenant Helgast of 3rd Company, 267th Steel Legion
Notable Campaigns
- First War for Armageddon
- Second War for Armageddon
- Spinward Front
- Cassell Rebellion
- Battle of Golgotha
- Third War for Armageddon
Quotes
Miniatures Range
Commissar from Armageddon
- SLSgt2.jpg
- SLLasgun1.jpg
- SLLasgun2.jpg
- SLLasgun3.jpg
- SLLasgun4.jpg
- SLLasgun6.jpg
See also
Sources
- 1: White Dwarf#264 (UK), pg. 69
- 2: Epic Armageddon Rulebook
- 2a: pg. 133
- 2b: pg. 135
- 2c: [Needs Citation]
- 3: http://www.specialist-games.com/assets/scenariocross.pdf Specialist Games Cross Roads scenario (source is no longer active)
- 4: http://www.specialist-games.com/assets/aviwarband.pdf Avicenna's Warband (source is no longer active)
- 5: Imperial Armour Volume 1
- 6: Codex: Imperial Guard (3rd Edition, 2nd Codex), pg. 64
- 7: Codex: Imperial Guard (5th Edition), pg. 19
- 8: Helsreach (Novel) by Aaron Dembski-Bowden
- 9: White Dwarf 287 (UK), pgs.23-25
- 10: Apocalypse (2013) (E-Book), pg. 306
- 11: Only War: Hammer of the Emperor, pg. 11
Uncited