Editing The Justicars (section)

==Doctrine==

The doctrine of the nascent XIII legion could be simply categorised as conventional; the legion began its history as a small, specialised force designed to track down and eliminate enemy psykers. However, in the closing days of the Unification Wars, it became clear many of the line legions would require time to recover their depleted strength, while the young XIII legion were in relatively good order. And with a healthy stockpile of stable geneseed ready to be implanted, the Emperor ordered the XIII to begin preparations to adapt to a new front line role while the other legions rebuilt.
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The legions reunification with their primarch would bring about significant changes to this conventionality. Having participated in an insurgency on his homeworld, Uriel understood there was more to war than blades and bullets, and learned to see beyond the battle when planning strategies. He installed a doctrine that revolved around the principle of denial and control; the legion would seek to seize or destroy their opponents ability to wage war itself before finishing them off.
To achieve this aim, 4 themes were made paramount to the Justicar doctrine: 


:* '''Deception'''<br/>

Misleading and confusing the enemy causes them to operate upon a false perception of reality and thus makes them vulnerable to the Justicars own strategies. 
Information warfare, psychological operation, and counter-intelligence all serve to further this theme, making the 13th an unpredictable and frustrating foe to face.

:* '''Coordination'''<br/>

Coordination is employed by the Thirteenth to magnify the effects of their strategies upon their enemies. Strong lines of communication form the keystone to this theme and form a backbone for the legions forces. Intelligence networks and reconnaissance forces bolster and utilise these communication lines to ensure Compliance Groups coordinate their strategies with devastating effect on the enemy. 

:* '''Flexibility'''<br/>

The critical elements in war are speed and adaptability; the ability to move and make decisions faster than the enemy. The Mechanicum feud forced the legion to adapt to overcome their supply shortcomings by substituting equipment for ruthless training, and building flexibility into their organisation. Thus the Justicars segment their forces into groups who operate autonomously, merging and segmenting as required.
Combined with coordination this serves to make the Justicars elusive and unstoppable by infusing their forces with the spirit of the campaign, giving them a clear objective to accomplish, and then letting them run. This has lead to the Thirteenths forces possessing an extraordinary strategic agility, often making their Compliance Groups seem like much larger forces than they actually are.

:* '''Mobility'''<br/>

The use of mobility to undermine the enemy has long been a central theme of warfare. While not as fast or mobile as some legions or simply lacking the equipment, the Justicars solve their shortcomings by using mobility itself as a weapon. Aware they have to pick their battles carefully, the legion will withdraw from a confrontation with the enemy with no remorse. This often draws enemy forces into rash pursuits which the Justicars are only too happy to indulge. Once opportunity presents itself, the Thirteenths forces will mount their counter-offensives and flanking manoeuvres on the now over-extended enemy with striking effect.


These themes enabled the legion to prosecute their campaigns with an impressive economy of effort, expending the least effort for the most gain. 
The legion became increasingly reliant on these methods as the Great Crusade wore on, and they mastered them as much out of necessity as desire.<br/> As the Great Crusade advanced however, the legion Compliance Groups found themselves transitioning from front-line forces into a specialist role hunting down witches across the Imperium. This transition cost the legion many battle honours, but they never complained, such was the cost of duty.
Post-Heresy, these strategies persist, having been simply augmented by the sorcerous powers and mutations imparted on the legion and their auxiliaries by Tzeentch.