The Forgotten Fourth

4th Brigade Command staff
@derek_harde

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Force Analysis: Imperial Guard 4th Rough Rider Brigade –The Forgotten Fourth

@inquisitor_pariah

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Osric and Dolphi, the crew, had long since lapsed into a comfortable silence. The tauros bumped and leaped from dune to dune, rocking Dolphos in the gun-cradle. Behind them were more than a thousand Sentinel walkers – a mixture of scout and heavier armoured varieties – plus squadrons of ready-trained mechanised soldiers eager to engage the enemy. 

The two Tauros crew members did not share the greenhorn's energy. They'd faced the orks at the Palidus line; and bore the scars to prove it. Tired as she was, eyes fatigued by hours scouring the haze, Dolphi grimly continued sighting down the multilaser. She was determined that this time, she'd shoot first.

Close Quarters! A grenadier sergeant fends off a Goff Skarboy during a skirmish on the Plutus river valley; Armageddon Secundus
@inquisitor_pariah

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Army Groups and Rough Rider Brigades

Fourth/Fifth Brigade Army Group badge
Dalekcheese/@m43.field.tunic

'Sine Mora'

– Official Motto of the Fourth Rough Rider Brigade; more often rendered 'Sine Mortis' amongst the troopers themselves.

Steel Legion nomenclature is drawn from the long military history of the planet, and – like much of the Imperium – its nomenclature betrays the age and rigidity of the Imperial system. Perhaps once the Rough Riders were a true cavalry force, as suggested by their horse-riding icon.

Archaeological records hint that equids were indeed brought by the settlers – and while this may seem quaint to modern ears, this is a common occurrence even today for new Imperial colonies. Once gene-edited to be better accommodated to the local atmosphere, horse-forms and pseudoequids are invaluable to colonies. Bred to be sturdy and rugged, and requiring no fuel beyond local fodder, they can act as packhorses to carry supplies as well as being used for personnel transport – and harnessing for use as farm machinery.

113th Squadron barrel through Goff defences at Helspoint.
@windycitywarlord_studios

No horses now prowl the tainted wastes of Armageddon – at least, none that would be possible for humans to ride. Today, the bulk of Armageddon's Rough Rider Brigades are instead a hybrid force made up of flying columns of scout vehicles and mechanised infantry much like those found in the Steel Legion Regiments. Notably, however, all three Rough Rider Brigades that were active at the start of the invasion maintained a few squadrons of gene-bred Armageddon stockequids, which were nominally on active duty.

Prior to the invasion, the equid squadrons were preserved for specialist duties or parades. Such was the pressure put on the Steel Legion in the first six months of the war, however, that Command was forced to deploy even these forces to bolster the stretched defences after the fall of the Palidus Line. 

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Steel Legion Recon Rover – callsign Tango – engages an Ork thrust southeast of the Palidus Line. The driver’s personal defense weapon, presumably a trophy weapon, is in the centre of the pict.
@inquisitor_pariah

The Rough Rider Brigades that faced the orks were tough and reliable, and surprisingly varied in their composition. The Brigades as a whole had a reputation for creativity – 'eccentricity', in the eyes of more conservative observers – and individual Brigades also had long traditions that tied into particular families, tribes or hives. 

The culture of the Rough Rider Brigades of Armageddon was thus quite distinct from the Steel Legion Army Groups and Armoured Tank Divisions, and also from each other. 

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[Tactical assessment] 

Imperial stratego-ikon

• Offensive capabilities acceptable(2)
• Defensive capabilities acceptable(2)
• Mobility appreciable(3)
• Numbers estimated at ca. 28,000 primary combatants; 56,000 secondary/support.
• Notes – tendency towards lighter forces; lacking integrated artillery support and all save cavalry tanks. Of these, a substantial number were exotic imports. (e.g. 27 Voss-pattern Siegfried tanks; 12 Golgotha-licensed SteG-4 cavalry tankettes), brought in at ruinous personal cost by successive generations of Brigade Command – perhaps part of a Regimental tradition.
• Threat level designation: Tertiary

The Pig, pictured alongside a recon jeep, was a wheeled artillery tow pressed into service as an APC during the second war for Armageddon. It was unique to the Hawker hab-manufactora on the outskirts of Acheron, and so better-represented amongst the 'Forgotten Fourth' than in other Rough Rider Brigades.
@inquisitor_pariah

[Strategic Designation] – Rough Riders 4th Brigade

[Theatre] – Armageddon Secundus

[Disposition] – The 'Forgotten Fourth' were not officially raised in defence of Armageddon Secudus until after Commander Dante's assumption of the reins of command. Prior to this, the Regiments that made up the Brigade were scattered across the various hives, involved in isolated manoeuvres and training in the ash waste desert north of Acheron.

[Notes]

Many amongst Armageddon's ruling class held honorary or practical commands within various Rough Rider Brigades – and the Fourth was unfortunate to be next in line to the Second Brigade, which had a direct connection with Governor Herman Von Strab himself. 

As a young man, Von Strab had briefly served amongst the Second, and as a result showered them with favours and continued to exert his influence upon the Brigade even after his ascension to Imperial Commander and Planetary Governor. The Fourth were to suffer from depredations as a result – with Von Strab directly transferring requisitioned vehicles and soldiery intended for the Fourth to his favoured Second Brigade.

The Fourth Brigade was not officially recognised until after Von Strab's absconsion; and so its efforts in protecting the wastelands north of the Plutus were regarded as part of of the 8th Army Group and Acheron Hive Defence.

Unlike the First and Second Brigades, the Fourth was not a standing army, and so its commander – the famous 'Dark Eye' Marshal Iomedes – had little chance nor political wherewithal to prevent the supplies being drawn away.

With official material being withdrawn, Iomedes turned to his own resources and began a private drive within his home hive of Acheron to recruit soldiers and fund the re-creation and support of the historical Brigade, which had not been active in more than half-a-dozen generations. 

The brigade was thus initially reformed independently of Steel Legion command, mid-war, at its nominal home base, Acheron Hive. Alongside fresh-faced youngsters, leftovers and conscripts those with no military experience, the Brigade was swelled by a motley collection of survivors of the Palidus line – some from the shattered First Rough Rider Brigade and Fourth Army Groups, others from the action in the Diablo Front west of Hades.

Initially shadowing the newly-raised Eighth Army Group, the Brigade did not received an official designation or recognition until late in the first year of the war – leading to its troops jovially referring to themselves as 'the Forgotten Fourth'.

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Amongst the new Army Groups sanctioned by Commander Dante personally, the irregular force was finally granted recognition as the 'Armageddon 4th Reconnaissance Brigade', or Fourth Recon.

@windycitywarlord_studios

Lacking the Chimera transports it had on paper, the adaptable Fourth Recon used a motley mix of scrounged and requisitioned PDF or even civilian transports to move the bulk of its infantry dismounts. 

These were provided by an attached battalion of Grenadiers whose equipment was funded directly from the estates – and deep armoury – of Grand Marshal Iomedes himself, creating a core of well-trained, well-equipped troops, many of whom were survivors of the so-called Scratch Armies of Armageddon Prime. Likewise, a Light Armour battalion was attached to the Fourth shortly after its founding after becoming separated from its parent tank army. 

Like the other infantry of the Bridge, Forgotten Fourth Grenadiers carried the official designation of 'trooper', despite only nominally being cavalry.
@inquisitor_pariah

After the First Tank Division was lost as a strategically meaningful force in the fighting north of Mount Diablo – against the ork force designated Bad Moons Nobz 1: 'Kaptin Flash's Ardnutz' – the orphaned  force, originally intended to replenish the First Tank Division, were transferred to the Forgotten Fourth by direct order of General Kurov, who saw the value in Marshal Iomedes' initiative, and his command's make-do-and-mend spirit.

It was nevertheless always a thinly-supported force, its irregular nature and complexity of its supply chain meaning it was frequently overlooked and rarely receiving preferment for reinforcements from Steel Legion command. 

Denuded of manpower, the Fourth spent the bulk of its war harrying orks in eastern Armageddon Secundus. Eventually, after conflict with a column of Goffs marching on Acheron, it was harried by Evil Suns outriders and forced to carrying out a fighting retreat to Hades Hive. The Brigade disappeared in the subsequent fighting in the hive itself.

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[Commanders] – Grand Marshal Bastian Iomedes

Not all was well amongst the irregular force. An eccentric but talented commander, Iomedes had an eye for history that was overly-influential on his decisions. Generally liked by the men and women of Acheron hive, Iomedes' inspired but occasionally erratic command style was not always to the taste of subsequent forces assigned to him.

Famously, two battalions of hurriedly-raised cavalry immediately deserted after the first conflict with the Goffs of Luggub's Droppas south of Plutus. This was later recorded as a black mark against the Marshal, who had made a rare error of judgement in sending the forcibly-impressed ash waste nomads ahead of his regulars, with no supervision. The resulting disorderly battle was unnecessarily bloody. Iomedes was also dismissive of any need for the men and women of his command to adapt, expecting them to serve immediately. 

As a result, many were unable to acclimatise to fighting under the open sky – particularly those drawn from hive guild levies. Their agoraphobia proved deleterious, and it is a mark against the distant Iomedes that he made no allowances.

He was remembered as a brave, capable, but flawed commander.

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[Insignia and appearance]

Forgotten Fourth cavalry
@death_of_a_rubricist

As a result of its peculiar beginnings, the Brigade was notably highly visually varied, with many distinct and unusual vehicles and groupings. It is thus difficult to briefly summarise its insignia beyond general notes applicable to any Steel Legion force. Orange markings were certainly used, as this was a common 'lucky' colour amongst the denizens of Acheron Hive, but these had little official recongition.

In addition to the black double-thunderbolt on green field Brigade badge, the Forgotten Fourth's banner bore an official icon of an ursid – though as few understood what a bear was, many took the logo to be a representation of an ork. 

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