Structure of the Steel Legion
Heroes of Armageddon: The Steel Legion
He who lives for nothing is nothing. He who dies for the Emperor is a hero.
+ Thought for the day +
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| General Kurov standing atop the head of one of from the Gargants – tentatively identified as Kankrasha of Kaptin Zuggluk’s Krusha Mob – destroyed in the Hive Infernus Siege. This shot proved a fortunate propaganda coup, but was hardly reflective of the Steel Legion's performance in the early part of the war. @the_steel_legion |
Structure of the Steel Legion
While the Guard are well-trained and equipped in human terms, often their main advantage is overwhelming numbers. In general, they are not a nimble or easily-manoeuvred force on a strategic scale.
In the case of the Armageddon Campaign, both the initiative and numbers were with the invaders. The only advantages the Imperials held were knowledge of the terrain and logistics – and as General Kurov famously pointed out:
'A sword will win you a duel; but an accurate timepiece will win you a war.'
Even before the orks attacked the Palidus line, Kurov was in close consultation with the planetary and regional governments to retrieve the situation, stabilise the front and push back the invaders.
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| Critical logistics: Armageddon Border Defence Militiamen receive a convoy with vital supplies from the Hive Cities of Armageddon Secundus, 942.M41 @helleslager |
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Ever a devout man, General Kurov proposed organising the Steel Legion Regiments into twenty Army Groups, as outlined here. Twenty is regarded as a particularly holy number across much of the Imperium, for reasons perhaps best left forgotten, and Kurov did not lightly dismiss the morale-boosting effects of its use – even if in practice there were far too few active Regiments ready to form these Army Groups at the start of the war.
Of these 20, not all would see active service during the active campaign, though all were present in honorific form. Many were rendered combat-inefficient and destroyed in the brutal warfare with the orks, but where possible, Kurov insisted that the Army Groups would be reformed from survivors, even as their Regiments were combined.
This grinding, continual recycling of soldiers was a martial necessity – but inevitably it resulted in degradation in quality as highly-trained, equipped and motivated elites destined for service in the Imperial Guard proper were replaced with optimistic but inexperienced Planetary Defence Regiments, and eventually by surly and badly-supplied conscripts little different in quality from the Hive Gang militias desperately being rounded up and forced to defend their homes.
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| Kill Team made up of individuals drawn from one of the 13th 'Scratch-Regiments'. @death_of_a_rubricist |
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1st through 3rd: The Tithed Regiments
The 1st through 3rd Army Groups included the cream of the Steel Legion Regiments, and were regarded as the planetary elite. Destined for, or already veterans of, extra-planetary warfare as part of the Imperial Guard, these Regiments provided Kurov with versatile, dependable and proven soldiery. The General's initial intention was to seed these evenly through the Army Groups so that their experience and example could be passed on to the broader bulk of the defenders – Kurov's so-called 'Rod Of Steel' strategy.
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| Steel Legion Guardsmen resisting Saharduin incursion in the Ultima Segmentum – such battle-proven warriors were a valuable resource to Armageddon. @death_of_a_rubricist |
Unfortunately for Kurov, Von Strab had insisted that these Regiments were to be preserved for the Imperial Tithe. Kurov's hands were thus tied by the recalcitrant Imperial Governor, and his initial plan had to be scrapped. Instead of spreading these Regiments as he has hoped, he was instead forced to group them, salvaging only enough savvy officers and veterans to train the 2nd and 3rd Army Groups.
The organisation of the Army Groups offers another insight into the practical realities of warfare. At the prompting of General Sorocold – later to command the 12th – the Steel Legion Army Groups were intended to group Regiments by number. All in Army group 9, for example, would have the 9 prefix: the 9th, 91st, 906th and so forth – but this proved impractical from the start as existing Regiments demurred the blurring of their proud traditions.
As a result, the numbering concept was only partly taken up by the 1st seven Army Groups, and while it did apply later on, by this point the recombination of shattered Regiments made the principle largely moot, with Regiments being seconded from Army Group to Army Group, or even having their numbers duplicated.
Regimental numbering within Army Groups was thus largely arbitrary, though some – notably the 7th Army Group – did observe the concept fairly closely. This resulted in some egregious Regimental numbering to avoid internal contradictions and confusion, with regimental idents such as the 7-7th Engineers or 7/1st Mechanised being assigned to avoid confusion with the existing 7th, 77th, 71st and 701st.
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1st Army Group – The Fighting First
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| 1st Army Group – Tithed DalekCheese/@m43.field.tunic |
Detailed more fully in this article, Regiments of the Fighting First are readily-identifiable by their red thunderbolt on white field. This device is common to all extra-planetary Steel Legion Regiments – much as Cadian Regiments can all be identified by the Cadian Gate sigil, even if individual Cadian Regiments vary their banners and standards.
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| 1st Army Veterans @the_steel_legion |
Made up of 59 Regiments, the Army Group was envisaged by Kurov as an exemplar to others – if he was to be denied their use in the field, then they would serve as symbol and example of Steel Legion grit and skill to the planetary populace. General Kurov himself was in nominal command of the Army Group.
For this reason, legends and deeds from Armageddon's long military history were attributed to the Regiments that made up the Army Group, some fairly and some rather more tenuously. Individuals from the 'Fighting First' also toured Armageddon Secundus in attempts to raise morale and boost recruitment rates.
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| The First had access to a number of vehicle patterns and approaches unavailable to other Army Groups – and as a result were uniquely well-served for versatility. @firstlegionminis; background by @m43.field.tunic/dalek cheese |
Despite – and perhaps indirectly because of – Von Strab's desires, the Fighting First were heavily involved in the fighting around Hive Infernus after the Palidus Line fell, and suffered terrible casualties. As the Army Group waned in strength and was temporarily (though not officially) retired to rearm and regroup, Kurov was able to make good on his initial plan, and sent many of the experienced soldiers to coach and train the backline Regiments already being formed.
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| First Army soldier manning a heavy bolter, crewed by a 14th Army Reservist – perhaps being trained by the former, perhaps simply filling in for a fallen comrade. Note the non-official ork glyph device scrawled on the gunner's helmet, which lends credence to this individual being a genuine veteran, rather than simply the recipient of a mothballed coat. @death_of_a_rubricist |
As the battle for Armageddon raged on and lines of supply became stretched, the red thunderbolt on white field device was also pressed into service for other forces. This was simply because there were many warehouses of existing uniforms intended for off-world use – uniforms that were hurriedly issued to Reservists and Impressed soldiers alike during the late war.
As a result, the red thunderbolt on white field icon lost some of its lustre as a mark of privilege, and instead became one of desperation and defiance. It is thus owing to the terrible privations of warfar that so many pict-captures of the conflict show the device originally reserved for the 1st army Group being utilised by other Regiments.
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2nd Army Group – Second-Rates (unoffic.)
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| 2nd Army Group – Tithed DalekCheese/@m43.field.tunic |
Marked with a black thunderbolt device on a red field, the Army Group was otherwise similarly well-equipped and trained to the 1st Army, and likewise contained some of the Planetary Defence Force's best soldiers.
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| 2nd Army Soldier of the 21st mechanised Regiment 'Amber's Gamblers'. @death_of_a_rubricist |
Like the 1st, the group was made up of Tithed Regiments, but had nowhere near as many with direct experience of fighting off-world. Of course, this had the benefit of making the Army Group exceptionally well-disciplined and familiar with the terrain – for the PDF and proto-Guard Regiments that made it up had spent long years training across the wastelands of the four continents of Armageddon.
The Army Group included a number of non-standard or specialist Regiments – far more than in the picture-book Fighting First – but owing to the the hurried way in which the Army Groups were assembled, this was without any great underlying intent. The 2nd Army Group thus included a remarkably wide range of uniform and weapon variations that were not tolerated in the 1st, and the Group started the war with a rather anti-authoritarian reputation amongst the top brass – a perhaps unfair assessment, as the Regiments that made it up were highly capable specialists, and included a high proportion of Tithed forces.
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| 2nd Army Group – Steel Legion. Variants on the details of the thunderbolt device were common; the colours providing coherency and clarity. @ork.bot |
Many of the 2nd Army chafed at being included in the so-called 'Second-Rates' rather than being issued the familiar red thunderbolt on white field of the Imperial Guard Steel Legions. Obliteration or obfuscation of the Army Group sigil was common, as shown in the example above, where the Regiment's own white skull on black field device has been displayed covering the Army Group's icon on the sleeve.
Note that this Regiment is also bearing heat-baffling specialist kit, indicating their former deployment in the northern Fire Wastes, training for extraplanetary hostile environs. The 2nd Army Group included numerous such Regiments or specialist companies, along with those well-versed in the polar chill of the Deadlands.
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| 2nd Army Baneblade, as indicated by the black bar flanked by red bars. @johnpaints |
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3rd Army Group
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| 3rd Army Group – Tithed DalekCheese/@m43.field.tunic |
The 3rd Army Group was marked out by an inversion of the off-world Steel Legion device – and thus bore a white thunderbolt on a red field (this was a standardisation of a common variant used by, amongst others, the 327th Regiment, confusingly assigned to the 1st Army Group). Fatefully, the Army Group was mustered near Hades Hive in the shadow of the Diablo Mountains and east of the Diabolus River, in a combined muster with the 1st Tank Brigade, that was made up of the Steel Legion's most powerful armoured forces.
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| 3rd Army, 39th Regiment of Foot. @death_of_a_rubricist |
Initially overshadowed by the 1st Tank Brigade, which General Leichenberg unabashedly favoured, and then caught up in the mythic events of the Siege of Hades Hive, the 3rd Army Group itself is little-detailed, but was involved in some of the most crucial parts of the war – perhaps most notably the defence of Hades itself, alongside the 'Old Man', Commissar Sebastian Yarrick.
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| Armageddon supports a large and diverse population; the 3rd drew recruits from across the world. @death_of_a_rubricist |
The Regiments that made up the 3rd Army Group have – fairly or otherwise – gone down in history as embodying the uncomplicated human spirit of Armageddon. Lacking the fanfare of the 1st or the adaptability of the 2nd, the 3rd Army Group was often overlooked, but stands as an example of what a man or women with a lasrifle and a home to defence can do.
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| Not expecting to fight alongside each other, the Tithed Army Groups frequently bore overlapping or identical symbols – this 3rd Army Group Command Chimera shows a common 'white front/red rear/black text' format simplified marking. It is easy to see the potential for confusion with the other Tithed Army Groups. @225thsteellegion |
In truth, this romanticised image belies the advantages that the 3rd had over later Army Groups. While they were all but sidelined by their armour-loving overall commander, they had a corpus of extremely experienced and capable officers leading hardened and well-trained soldiery. The 3rd Army Group, as one might expect of Regiments intended for off-world service, were adept in all forms of warfare from entrenched defence to mobile armoured assault – and this they were able to take their baptism of fire in their stride, even if it being on their homeworld was an unwelcome surprise.
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| Leichenberg's stratego-ikon ordering demonstrates the contempt with which he held all non-Armoured forces. Also notable in this pict-capture is Hades Hive, along with the exiled Commissar Yarrick. |
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4th–7th – Untithed, or 'Marlen's Men'
The 4th to 7th Armies were collectively known as the Untithed, and were made up of hurriedly-recalled Planetary Defence Force soldiers alongside barely-qualified recruits. With Von Strab and the Hive Governors unwilling to sanction the deployment of armour and vehicles intended for off-world export, the Untithed were in the unhappy position of being Steel Legion forces lacking in both transport and armoured support.
Of those able to be gathered, the bulk were moved to the Palidus Line, with General Marlen taking overall command of the 4th through to the 7th Army groups; numbering around three-quarters of a million men and women across 130 or so Regiments.
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4th Army Group – 'Chaeron Charmers' – and 5th Army Group
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| 4th–5th Army Groups – Untithed DalekCheese/@m43.field.tunic |
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| Ensign Ricci Trova, 4th Army, 41st Regiment. Note the helmet graffiti, marking her as a survivor of the Bad Moon assaults across the Chaeron. @death_of_a_rubricist |
The example above shows the black thunderbolt on green field – and notably you'll see it's worn as a temporary armband, rather than as a permanent sewn-on patch. This is emblematic of the hurried and often chaotic deployment of the 4th and 5th; and shows the extent to which General Kurov was forced into half-measures to ensure General Marlen had at least some of the forces which he had requested.
The speed with which the Untithed were placed into the line is obvious from the example soldier here. While supposedly equipped in the same way as the Tithed forces, her rolled sleeves and ruched shoulders suggest an ill-fitting protective overcoat, ill-suited to the realities of warfare on Armageddon. Trova is also armed with a Victoria-pattern las-rifle, a rear-line training firearm intended for ceremonial use rather than active duty.
Given the strength of Waa-Ghazghkull and the element of surprise, it is unsurprising that the 4th and 5th Army Groups survived for so short a time as an meaningful and organised element of the defence of Armageddon. They were overwhelmed in short order by the Bad Moon tribe, but a number of Regiments escaped to fight another day, and these survivors gradually became associated with good luck by the superstitious men and women of the planet.
As the Armies were reconvened and recreated some six months later, the reformed 4th and 5th Armies would take on the Army nickname of the 'Chaeron Charmers' – and under this name they proved to be both effective and resourceful in the field.
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6th Army Group – 'Firesweep' – and 7th Army Group – 'High-and-Dries'
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| 6th–7th Army Groups – Untithed DalekCheese/@m43.field.tunic |
Marked out by a white thunderbolt on a green field, the Regiments that would become known as the Firesweep and High-and-Dries were stationed south of the Palidus mountains, on the eastern banks of the Styx River. Initially collectively referred to as the Stygians, the nickname fell out of use early on as the Army Groups' individual characters became apparent.
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| A 7th Army veteran pauses to reload. @death_of_a_rubricist |
In comparison with the rest of 'Marlen's Men', the Untithed 6th and 7th benefitted from a crucial extra two weeks of preparation, as they were largely made up of Planetary Defence Forces already barracked in or near Helsreach and Infernus. With less travel time to the front and better supply lines, the 6th and 7th were able to dig in more successfully. The Styx was also inherently slightly more defensible than the Chaeron, and as the result the Evil Suns tribe were unable to match the immediate success of their Bad Moon rivals and allies.
Despite this, the overwhelming numbers and strength of the orks, and the lack of armour and equipment available to the 6th and 7th made the result inevitable, and both the Army Groups were destroyed as strategic concerns, as detailed here. Many of the survivors of the 6th were in the unenviable position of being stranded behind enemy lines as the impatient Evil Suns swept past to the broad, flat wastelands to the west of Infernus. While the 6th Army Group as a whole was successfully reconvened later in the war, pockets of the original Regiments fought a guerilla war for the entirety of the campaign – improvising and adapting on the fly.
When such forces were able to be recovered or make their way back to friendly positions, they were often all but unrecognisable, and their exploits led to their legends of the 'Armageddon Ork Hunters'.
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| 7th Army Group Guardsman @death_of_a_rubricist |
The High-and-Dries was a barely-tolerated regimental nickname that suggests the black humour of the soldiers that made up the 7th Army Group. Taking their name from their unique position as the only one of Marlen's Army Group to weather the initial assault, the Army Group's tenuous 'victory' proved short-lived as the Evil Suns ork tribe used their speed to surround and cut off the Army Group.
While the Regiments that made it up – notably including the 7-7th Engineers – attempted to break out on a number of occasions, the sallies proved increasingly bloody and unrewarding, and the casualties only mounted up. Eventually, the Army Group was deemed non-combat viable. The individual Regiments – often now down to mere hundreds – ceased to attempt to create an ordered path of retreat, and instead were ordered to 'improvise and adapt'.
This ill-chosen piece of strategic shorthand became infamous across the 7th Army Group as a euphemism for abandonment, and those that were able to escape the Evil Suns blockade never forgave their superiors.
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| Variations on the 6th/7th Army icon. The inversion of the white and green was a common change – though despite the more imaginative reportage, did not indicate any particular event or quality of the bearer. @death_of_a_rubricist |
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| Disposition of the 1st, 2nd, 6th and 7th Armies at the start of the invasion. |
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8th–14th – Reservists
With both the Tithed and Untithed Regiments of the Planetary Defence Force mobilised, any further Army Groups were perforce made up of Reservists and new recruits. With no prior history or traditions, these newly-raised Regiments were collectively fielded under an entirely new sigil: the black thunderbolt on a yellow field.
Kurov and high command had intended the gold field to symbolise growing crops and renewal, but such imagery was lost on the hive-dwelling denizens of Armageddon. To them, it came to symbolise merely the oppressive heat of the local sun and the dusty, dead surface of the unfamiliar wastelands.
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| 8th–14th Army Groups – Reservists DalekCheese/@m43.field.tunic |
While these Army Groups existed on paper, they were not physically raised until the import of the situation truly began to bite, some six months after the fall of the Palidus Line. Various Hives and factory-regions sponsored these Army Groups, contributing full Regiments, men or materiel as they could. For some – like those in distant Tartarus – the raising seemed a fun distraction, while for the denizens of Hive Infernus, on the new front line, such contributions quickly became a life or death situation.
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| Rifleman Emeka, Armageddon Steel Legion 121st Volunteer Reserve Regiment, 1st Company, 4th Platoon – Siege of Hades Hive, MIA: presumed dead @6pluspainting |
These Regiments were considerably more varied than those of the 1st–7th, and their quality was markedly lower. While individual Regiments were often very close to the level required of the Imperial Guard, these were the exception rather than the rule, and where they did occur, they were frequently let down by poor morale, lower-quality equipment, or simply ill-prepared supply lines contributed by other Regiments in the group.
This was not universal. The 12th for example, were disciplined and reliable as the Untithed, as a result of being raised in Hades under General Sorocold and the eyes of Yarrick – and only suffered in comparision to the senior Army Groups simply through being considerably fewer in number.
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| Detail of 121st Regiment patch @6pluspainting |
Frequently formed from patriotic volunteers and the youth of the more salubrious hive regions, these Regiments proved surprisingly popular, and their destruction at the hands of the orks contributed to the waning morale of the increasingly frightened and hungry populace.
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| Unnamed 11th Army volunteer; Fall of Infernus. @death_of_a_rubricist |
While tactical competence amongst such forces was frequently lacking, these Army Groups did not necessarily lack for quality, and there are dozens of examples of highly-skilful and effective Regimental actions from these Army Groups. Conversely, many were let down by simple lack of training or unfit recruits, while others were hampered by poor-quality equipment – this was notably the case of the 11th Army Group, raised almost purely from the inhabitants of Hive Infernus.
Infernus had been virtually stripped of its stores of war materiel to arm the 6th for the Palidus line, so even on a war-footing, it was hard-pressed to get sufficient equipment to the many thousands who stepped forward to help defend their homes. Many were asked to provide their own equipment – hence the decorated blanket on the example above – and shortfalls in PDF-quality equipment meant that the soldiers of the front line often had to make do with poor-quality substitutions.
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| Hazard-striping on the respirator pack, red industrial glare-goggles and a reserve-band marked lasrifle show the pressures Infernus was under to supply its forces. This soldier is also wearing a fright-mask decoration on his rebreather – such personalisation was officially prohibited, but unremarkable in context. @death_of_a_rubricist |
Insofar as these Army Groups had individual character known to the PDF as a whole, they were usually associated closely with a particular hive or region from which they were raised. The 9th, for example, was first amongst the Reserve Armies despite being raised in distant Tartarus simply because that was where Von Strab had made his seat of government following the fall of Armageddon Prime. They therefore carried a not-entirely justified reputation as 'duty-shirking Tartarines' , simply owing to their geographical point of origin.
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| 8th Army Group Sentinels; part of the 88th Mechanised Regiment, stride through Acheron – note variant shield-shaped field and simplified bar-as-bolt. @88th.mechanized |
In summary, the 8th–14th Reservists were still effective Field Armies. While lack of training or shortfalls in equipment meant that few lived up to the standards of the senior Army Groups on the offence, they frequently proved extremely difficult for the orks to shift on the defence owing to home-field advantage.
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| 11th Army Group – 1102nd Regiment @death_of_a_rubricist |
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15th–20th – Impressed
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| 15th–20th Army Groups – Impressed DalekCheese/@m43.field.tunic |
Last and most definitely least were the Impressed. Not fielded until late in the war, the 15th–20th Army Groups were the Imperial defenders' last throw of the dice. With their manufacturing capabilities in ruins and little but hatred for the invaders to sustain them, the final Steel Legion Regiments marched under a stark black thunderbolt on white field icon – as much owing to the prioritisation of chemicals for shells rather than pigments as anything else.
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| Recruiting model for the 18th Army Group @death_of_a_rubricist |
The pictured figure – used for propaganda in recruitment for the 18th Army – is disingenuous. Few of the Regiments that emerged at this stage of the war were able to boast a full uniform and set of equipment even close to those of the Untithed Armies, let alone the 1st–3rd. These Army Groups were almost universally made up of conscripts, criminals or those otherwise rejected earlier in the war as unfit for duty. Youth or old age were no deterrent for the desperate recruiting sergeants, who were often deputised to bring in recruits by force if necessary.
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| The truth of the matter – the red triangle was used to mark those deemed likely to desert as a visual shorthand for the Commissariat, who grew increasingly brutal as the orks advanced. Its presence in official propaganda showed quite how desperate the situation had become for supplies. @death_of_a_rubricist |
Beyond official sanction, little distinguished these forces from the militarised hive gang militias that had sprung up under what local government survived in the ruins factory-complexes and lost hives, and the two frequently crossed over as they were fed into the ork advance, desperately trying to hold back the tide with their lives.
They frequently included lost elements of other Army Groups – orphan Regiments, Companies or occasionally lone individuals, all of whom added to the individual character of the straitened Steel Legion. Such a practise led to the famous 'Scratch-Regiments' and their xenocidal Kill Teams – the nearest thing to an elite force that the Impressed could muster.
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| Pictured amongst the ruins of Hades Hive during the reclamation, the black-on-white sigil of the Impressed is clear on this chimera. Note the improvised track-armour and retro-fitted heavy bolter – presumably a late war adaptation. @tentacle_shogun |
Vehicles, where they were available, were frequently shipped off the supply lines directly into combat – often missing parts deemed essential mere months earlier. The combination of low-grade equipment, lack of formal training and rock-bottom morale meant that these armies were deemed little more than speed-bumps for the orks – but they were nevertheless essential to the eventual pyrrhic victory of the Imperial forces.
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| Here, the workhorse of the Steel Legion, the Chimera, is missing the integrated gundeck – its passengers presumably firing through the holes left by its absence. @shotgun_miniatures |
While they had been envisaged at the start of the war, these Army Groups only took part in the later parts of the campaign, where they were often used as garrisons for the ruins being retaken by the senior Army Groups and the Adeptus Astartes.
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| One of the few still-airworthy Valkyries the 17th were able to deploy during the defence of Hemlock Factory-Complex. @88th.mechanized |
Such duties were far from safe havens – the orks were as cunning as they were spiteful, and such garrison forces frequently found themselves under attack from remnant greenskins forces, right up until the apparent death of Ghazghkull Thraka.
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A call to action
This article is intended to make it easier to get involved, by offering inspiration and ideas. As you'll have read, there's no real restrictions on these markings – your individual Regiment or Company can be considered part of any Army Group that you please.With that said, if you'd like to use the ideas and markings here, do feel free – they're here to allow you to interact and build friendly rivalries with other Steel Legion and Ork hobbyists. Remember that creativity is king – just use the tag #ashesofarmageddon on Instagram, and consider joining the Discord channel for further discussion and ideas – or to request articles about specific topics.A final note: don't worry if your chosen Army is destroyed at the strategic level: Army Groups can be recreated as resources allow, and in any case, strategic loss doesn't mean annihilation – there are stories to be written of wily survivors!
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| @death_of_a_rubricist |
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