Force Analysis: Steel Legion 9th Army – Thunderbolts

Directly from the manufactorum to the battlefield, the 9th Army was well-equipped but hastily trained. @firstlegionminis

Force Analysis: Steel Legion 9th Army – The Thunderbolts

@firstlegionminis

'Strike fast and true, for the Emperor is watching.'

– Official motto of the 9th Army Group

9th Army Group Commissariat unit oversee the muster.
@grinnialvex

'Sure, I appreciate the shiny lasgun they gave me; but could we have had some training beyond pointing the end at the Greens and pulling the trigger?

– Disciplinary record extract: Tarek Vessman, 919th Regiment, overheard during field practice.

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Despite their hasty assembly and relative lack of experience, the Thunderbolts proved themselves to be a formidable force during Siege of Hades Hive and the broader war in the north. The 9th Army Group gained the nickname 'Thunderbolts' from Commissar Yarrick himself; the phrase coming from his praise of their rapid, powerful and creative attempts to relieve Hades Hive. The battle-won name quickly subsumed that ill-fitting nickname 'Angels of Acheron' given to the Regiment during its initial muster.

Amongst the last of the Army Groups able to be fully equipped as Mechanised forces, the 9th's regiments utilised their speed to good effect throughout the campaign, harrying ork lines and striking quickly when the opportunity arose. From unpromising beginnings, the Thunderbolts became known for their lightning-fast assaults and their willingness to fight to the death – though one might suggest that this willingness was as much due to the oversight of the regiment's Commissars than intrinsic bravery...

[Tactical assessment]

Imperial stratego-ikon

• Offensive capabilities acceptable

• Defensive capabilities considerable

• Mobility limited

• Numbers estimated at ca. 115,000 primary combatants; 70,000 secondary/support.

• Core of Mechanized Infantry Regiments

• Supported by a limited mix of Storm Trooper, Armour, Artillery, Recon, Engineer, and Hive Militia, most typically seconded to the Mechanized Infantry Regiments

• Precocious number of Commissariat agents.

• Threat level designation: Secondary

Late war: surviving infantry units of the 9th Army Group, 9th Regiment under Colonel Kerschlact, guard the manufactora where they were initialising raised in anticipation of heavy ork attacks.
@firstlegionminis

[Strategic Designation]  Imperial Guard 9th Army

[Theatre]  Armageddon Secondus

[Disposition]  The 9th Army Group was raised at Hive Acheron, with the express aim of retaking Hive Infernus from the Goff tribe. By the time it had been placed into the field, the strategic situation had significantly worsened, and the Army Group was deployed to assist in raising the siege of Hades hive.

[Notes]  The Imperial Guard's 9th Army Group was hastily assembled from the defenders of Hive Acheron in the period immediately after the fall of Infernus. The initial voluntary muster was disappointing, with the Hive's insular and mutually suspicious Great Houses releasing only small numbers of their workforce from their indentured labour – and even these only grudgingly. Only half a dozen standard Regiments – that is, with a nominal starting strength of 6,000 – were able to be mustered from these lower hive regions.

The shortfall was made up elsewhere. A small portion of the Army Group, the 92nd–97th Regiments, were freely recruited from public-spirited private citizens and freedmen from the mid-hive regions. Mostly bearing high-quality equipment procured privately, this group of Regiments came to feature heavily in propaganda as the 'Angels of Acheron'; held up as brave exemplars of Acheron's virtues. For a short period, this idealised group of clean-living, adventurous and brave defenders came to be associated with the Army Group.

The remainder of the army, however, evoked rather less romantic images. Some 110,000 men and women were conscripted from the Underhive and issued readily available war material intended for off-world use. Little more than a rabble, the conscripts were often in poor health, with dreadful discipline and training. While some had experience fighting in gangs, most of the established underhive groups evaded the draft through means fair and foul – and as a result the resulting Regiments were made up of the desperate and needy.

With Helsreach and Hades yet to come under siege, Von Strab and General Kurov ordered that the 9th Army Group be held in Acheron for further training. The command staff of the 9th Army Group, along with its regimental commanders, were drawn from a core of disciplined Steel Legionnaires that had returned from off-world deployments. Given the rate of conscription, hasty assembly and relative lack of experience, Kurov assigned a large number of Commissars and Priests to the Army Group to ensure discipline and morale – something in the realm of triple the normal assignation.

Commissar Einkov addressing the army parade in Totesthal Square, in the famour 'Thunderbolt' speech.
@firstlegionminis

The Commissars were to be held responsible for maintaining discipline and morale within the army; as well as ensuring that the soldiers obeyed their officers' orders and fought to the best of their ability. As a result, from unpromising beginnings, by the time the 9th Army Group moved into the field, it was adjudged 'highly motivated, its soldiers as fiercely loyal to the Emperor as the cream of the Steel Legion'.

Heavy bolter teams swept the battlefield on the lookout for orks.
@firstlegionminis

[Commanders]

Field Marshal C Stubbs

Then-Major C. Stubbs leading the rear-guard action on the battlefields of Hive Volcanus during the Sommerwar in Armageddon Prime, some fifteen years before Ghazghkull's invasion.
@firstlegionminis

Field Marshal C. Stubbs (for unclear reasons, his nominal is listed only as 'C'; even in official documentation) was a native of Armageddon Prime, born at Hive Volcanus. He joined the Steel Legion at a young age and rapidly ascended through the ranks to become a respected commander, leading the first incarnation of the 604th Regiment, 'Stubbs's Shocktroopers.' Well-schooled in the ways of the Collegia Tacticum, Stubbs served off-world in several minor engagements before returning to Armageddon with his regiment for rest and resupply.

The initial invasion of the Orks took place during this time. Stubbs gathered those few members of the 604th that could be recalled in time and led them in a fighting retreat through the depths of Hive Volcanus, assisting in the evacuation of citizens and command staff when the hive was finally overrun by orks of the Blood Axe tribe under Generul Taktikus. 

The evacuation saved his life, though the majority of the Regiment was butchered in isolated stands. Those few who made it to Armageddon Secundus stayed with Stubbs, and brought their knowledge, tactics, and experience to the Imperial forces here. Stubb's fury at Von Strab and High Command became infamous, and he was unoffically censured by the Commissariat, many of whom felt that Stubbs and other senior staff should have died defending Volcanus. 

In spite of this, Kurov extended Stubbs his personal protection, and – through delicate political manoeuvre, ensured that this talented and experienced officer was promoted to Field Marshal to lead the 9th Army as it was pressed into service. 

Stubbs' first act was to reconstitute a new 604th Regiment in memory of his lost soldiers; receiving official dispensation from the 6th Army Group to so number his 'Shocktroopers'.

Field Marshal Stubbs kept close counsel with his astropathic choir, which was semi-reliable at best for long range communication due to the ork psychic aura impacting Armageddon – particularly after the Siege of Helsreach.
@firstlegionminis

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Commissar-Lord Kiernan Holt

Holt observes the action in one of Hades' outlying settlements. He is pictured alongside Stormtrooper elites from the 903rd.
@firstlegionminis

A native of distant Ulap, rumour dogged Kiernan Holt that he was distantly-related to the Commissar Holt who served with distinction against the orks at Volistad, though that has never been substantiated. It is more likely that Kiernan took the surname Holt during his time in the Schola. As an orphan it is unlikely he ever knew his family.

Holt rose steadily and clinically through the ranks of the Commissariat, and had a reputation as a dispassionate and ruthless enforcer of discipline among the troops under his watchful gaze. Cruel but uncapricious, and always scrupulously fair, Commissar Lord Holt was a fitting primary amongst the military-political wing assigned to the Army Group. 

Prior to his transfer to the 9th, he had led the Imperial Guard to victory in two substantial combined engagements during off-world campaigns after assuming command due to what he saw a 'the dereliction of duty of the Army's Senior Officer corps'. 

9th Army Group forces take cover in the outskirts of Hades. Without direct oversight from one of their numerous Commissars, some Regiments of the 9th Army Group had a reputation for going to ground and waiting for orders – showing a regretable lack of initiative.
@firstlegionminis

Holt's assignment to Armageddon was no accident - the fulfillment of Armageddon’s tithe demanded the most skilled disciplinarians, and he arrived to assist in the collection of the tithe when the orks invaded.

Along with a sizeable contingent of Commissars and Cadet-Commissars from the Armageddon Schola Progenuim, Commissar Lord Holt made the request to be assigned to the 9th Army for two reasons. Firstly, Field-Marshal Stubbs remained under suspicion by the Commissariat, owing to 'his role in the fall of Volcanus', and it was privately suspected by those native to Armageddon Secundus that 'this upstart might do anything'. The second reason – and the explanation given to Imperial High Command – was the questionable background of the bulk of those recruited to the 9th Army Group Regiments. 

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[Insignia and appearance]

The 9th Army Group is a well-equipped fighting force, with weapons, ammunition, vehicles, and gear sourced fresh from Hive Acheron's famed Manufactora districts. However, the speed at which the army was constituted and pressed into action meant there was limited time for specialized insignias. As a result, the Regiments lacked the personalized touches that tended to flourish amongst the more experienced Steel Legion Army Regiments. Exceptions, of course, were known – especially amongst the 'Angels of Acheron' Regiments (the 92nd–97th) whose members mostly provided their own equipment, and thus as a rule had access to greater quality and even specific tailoring.

Despite official sanction, many – if not most – of the 9th Army Group Regiments fought while bearing the red on white Army Badge of the Steel Legion; much to the chagrin of the Fighting First.
@firstlegionminis

Sergeant-at-Arms R. Obliss, of 977th Regiment, 9th Army, is pictured above. He serves as the archetypical legionary of the 9th, equipped with the signature tan outercoat over black fatigues that makes up the Steel Legion's standard field uniform. Officially denoted by a black thunderbolt on yellow field, the 977th were amongst the regiments issued kit and equipment earmarked for off-world deployment – hence he sports the familiar red lightning bolt over white circle Steel Legion badge.

604th Regiment Armour specialised in fighting in built-up areas. Pictured here is the Leman Russ Feindselige Umgebung of the 900th, during the relief of Hades.
@firstlegionminis

Vehicles of the Army are likewise marked with appropriate numerals, while squads are marked with colours that match their transports. In the chaos of battle, the colour coding has saved more than one commander of the Thunderbolts by ensuring an accurate count of the troops.

Suspicion fell on Field-Marshal Stubbs regarding the slow uptake of the black on yellow field badge. It was suggested that Stubbs had deliberately – if unofficially – resisted the use of anything other than the red on white badge, owing to his attachment to his former Regiment, the 604th, who used the Steel Legions' unifying icon in the course of their service off-world.  Nothing came of the investigation into this apparent recalcitrance prior to Stubbs' death, and the issue has been filed.

95th Regiment squad of the 'Angels of Acheron', bearing the official black thunderbolt on yellow field – likely bought at their own expense. Note the anti-reflective flash goggles across the squad and additional armour on the central soldier – such equipment was far beyond standard military issue. Images such as these were used extensively in propaganda, but do not reflect the appearance of the Army Group as a whole.
@Grinnialvex

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