The Crusaders

The Crusaders
Battle Cry	Strike and Break Through!
Number	VI
Founding	First Founding
Successors of	N/A
Successor Chapters	Crusaders Obscurus, Crusaders Pacificus, Crusaders Tempestuous, Aurorans, Nova Defenders, Thousand Swords, Ultima Crusaders
Primarch	Thomas Gaudin
Homeworld	Sturmundrang
Strength	115,000 at start of Heresy
Specialty	Mobile Frontline Combat
Allegiance	Imperium of Man
Colours	Gunmetal Grey

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Summary of Legion VI

Numeration: The 6th Legion

Primogenitor: Thomas Gaudin

Cognomen (Prior): None official, unofficially known as ‘The Emperor’s Sledgehammer’ or 'Left-behind' pre-Primarch and ‘The Barbs’ afterwards.

Observed Strategic Tendencies: Combined Arms Warfare, Armoured Assault, Mechanized Infantry Assault, Maneuverer Warfare

Noteworthy Domains: Terra, Sturmundrang and the Solar Domains

Alliegence: Fidelitas Totalis

"The battlefront disappeared, and with it the illusion that there had ever been a battlefront. For this was no war of occupation, but a war of quick penetration and obliteration, a war where it was won before the enemy even knew they were in a war.”

Unnamed Remembrancer attached to the X Legion, on the battle tactics of the Crusaders

Once the hard-charging armoured spearhead of the Great Crusade, the Crusaders Chapter of the 41st millennium is a pale shadow of the glory they once had, still operating as a fast, mobile strikeforce to attack any who would threaten the Emperor’s domain. They are the template for the mobile chapter doctrine named after them; their systems, traditions, and organisation adopted and modified by successors from many other Legions. The chapter today is an aggressive and bold force that retains the unstoppable drive of their Primarch to continue the Great Crusade and avenge the treacheries committed by the Traitor Legions.

History of the Crusaders

‘The armored thunderbolt of Unification’ is how the Sixth Legion was described by a remembrancer during the Crusade, and this was a perfect moniker for their way of war after they were reunited with their Primarch. They were a fast-moving force of mechanized infantry that used Blitzkrieg tactics to swiftly defeat foes, bringing words into the Imperium as fast as possible with the least possible damage to infrastructure so those worlds would be able to feed further expansion. Devoted to the spread of humanity and the cause of the Emperor, they believed that for the crusade to succeed, any sacrifice would have to be made, and honor came from victory, not from how the victory was won. Their record was exemplary but not stainless, and they came in for some criticism about how their relentless pace did not bring many clean or smooth compliances. Still the Legion’s belief in itself and its mission was undimmed until the Heresy, where the Crusaders would be broken in the defense of Terra and left disillusioned and distraught. Gaudin would break up the Legion under pressure from Gaspard Lumey and give his sons a new purpose: to continue the work the Emperor had started and never end the Crusade started by the Emperor. So the Crusaders are now a mobile strike force spread out across the stars, endlessly fighting all who would threaten the Emperor’s domain.

Beginnings

When the sacred bands were united under Hektor’s command, the sixth had only recently entered service, among the last to emerge from the Emperor's gene-labs. Their gene-seed, while pure, was also slow to bond with an aspirant, meaning that they took nearly twice as long to become fully-fledged space marines. They had been drawn largely from across the planet, all from well-known martial cultures such as the Skandi and the Urallians. They became known for their use of swift-moving short-ranged rhino-mounted mobile strikes, often doing drive-byes from their Rhino transports. Several Rhinos were lost by the VI squad as they were destroyed in reckless strikes on enemy positions, and other Sacred Bands decried them for their waste of resources and their cavalier attitude.

One of their greatest triumphs came during the Battle of Aedassa, an enclave of Religious extremists guarding an ancient shrine who were bitterly opposed to the Emperor. Their elite Guard, known as the 'Canons of the Sepulcher' were armed with powerful Plasma Bladed Greatswords and fought with little regard for death. The Sacred Bands found their passage to the shrine blocked. However the VI Squad correctly deduced that with all the Canons out fighting the Sacred Band, the shrine itself was unguarded. Slipping away, the squad 'commandeered' a Land Raider and a copious amount of incendiary explosives with it drove a full day and a night around behind the shrine, slipping undetected past checkpoint after checkpoint. The rest of the Sacred Band believed the VIth had been captured or killed, and were surprised when in the third day of fighting, and finally having fought to within sight of the shrine it went up in flames before them. At that moment the Canons were seized by dread and their morale broke, with the Sacred Band cutting them down as they attempted to flee. Hektor himself investigated the shrine to find the VI squad slumped up beside the heavily damaged hulk of their Land Raider, not a single one unwounded. That Land Raider would be recovered and repaired and become the first permanent combat vehicle of the Legion, going on to see service on countless battlefields throughout the Crusade.

By the end of the Campaign they had gone through the Merica conflict with only a single casualty, the unfortunate Walter Blum and Hektor praised their courage and conviction, pressing for the squad to be quickly raised to Legion strength after the close of the Unification Wars.

'Left-Behind’

As the Crusade set out beyond the light of Sol, the VI Legion was now at chapter strength, and swiftly entered the line alongside their brothers. In these first glorious campaigns the X Legion did not show and particular specialties, such as the mass-warfare of the Wolves of Dawn, the armoured thrusts of the Steel Wing or the rapid assaults of the Emerald Doom. They in fact became infamous for how unremarkable they were, as if they were the perfect exemplar of the standard Legion organization as laid out by the Principa Belicosa. Infantry assaults with armoured support was the norm, their campaigns measured affairs that did not win worlds quickly or efficiently, but did not leave them smoking ruins either. They showed a certain flair for technological ability, and were in high demand by the Mechanicum to assist them in pacifying recalcitrant Forgeworlds and Knight Worlds including the pacification of Dieseleum, a Forgeworld that rejected the primacy of Mars. But the slow speed of their gene-seed bonding meant that casualties could only be slowly replaced, and the Legion because highly casualty-conscious as a result. Larger campaigns often crippled the Sixth Legion’s combat abilities for years, and their battle-roll of honours remained very small compared to their peers. This bred a sense that the Legion was an underdog, struggling against both the foe and their own brothers, who they felt looked down upon them.

One thing that became noted of the early Legion was that once oathed to a battle, they would push on regardless, determined to secure victory at any cost. This meant that some campaigns would grind on for many months and the legion would suffer unnecessary casualties in finally pressing a win. The Legion's victories were often far between and no matter what, the price was always high. The Legion became known as ‘The Emperor’s Sledgehammer’ for they were a blunt, unwieldy instrument that bashed worlds into the Imperium, slowly but surely and with a great deal of effort. The Gene-Seed issues meant the increased casualties of the growing battles began to bite, with the Legion dropping below 50,000 Marines after the First Ruavu Grun Xenocide, where that first wave of Extragalactic Invaders ravaged the northern Solar Segmentum and four Legions were diverted to destroy them. The VI Legion were far from the forefront of the Great Crusade, and while the V Legion gained the nomenclature Tag-along, the VI were known as Left-behind.

The Legion might have eventually ground itself to nothing had this trend continued, but it was very timely that their Father was to be found early into the Great Crusade in the Sol Segmentum, and he would completely remake the Legion in his own image and thus save it.

A father found, a Legion reforged

Thomas Gaudin had come to manhood fighting battles on the polluted surface of Sturmundrang, leading mighty armies of armoured vehicles in rapid, high-speed strikes to swiftly end wars with the minimum bloodshed. He was already planning to create his own empire in the stars when the Imperium found him, and he was completely sold on the Emperor’s vision for a united Galaxy. The Legion he found however was not the rapier he desired, and so mustering his Legion he met with the survivors of the Sacred Band and told them of his vision of a Legion rebuilt to spearhead the Great Crusade, one that by its very way of warfare be spared heavy casualties and be able to swiftly bring worlds into the fold. Swayed by his words, the Sacred Band helped him spread his wish across the Legion, so when he began to remake it few voices were raised in protest, most notably Sacred Band member Elias Selig. What Gaudin did was remake the Legion to a greater extent than almost any other Primarch. Large infantry formations were broken up, Chapters made to be self-sufficient and mobile armored warfare with mechanized infantry with fast armor support the Legion’s doctrine. For nearly three years the Legion was out of the Crusade as thousands from Sturmundrang swelled the Legion’s ranks, Gaudin's own gentic material fixed the issue of slow growth of gene-seed and Gaudin retrained the Terrans to follow his vision of warfare. When the Legion departed Sturmundrang, it was a Legion transformed.

Before the Legion left, Gaudin mustered the entire Legion, over 60,000 Marines, and together they swore a mighty oath. They would be the great drivers of the Crusade, they would make up for their earlier tardiness by reclaiming more worlds than any other Legion, a tall order at the time but a challenge the Legion was willing to take. They would be the true inheritors of the Emperor’s Great Crusade, his Crusaders. Thus the legion became the Crusaders, the visual embodiment of the Emperor’s dream. Almost immediately they were pitched into the forefront of the Crusade at Keskastine, but now they excelled. Gaudin’s Mobile Warfare tactics allowed them to strike swiftly and throw their enemies off balance, cutting their armies to pieces and swiftly forcing them to surrender. Fast spearheads of Rhinos and Predators were let loose in the enemy’s rear areas, spreading panic and confusion. Carefully placed orbital bombardments and air strikes on both military and civilian targets helped to spread panic and break the enemies will to fight, though many thousands of innocent bystanders would die in these actions. Thus began a worrying trend for the Crusaders to use morally dubious actions to hasten the end of hostilities.

After the first few Campaigns, Gaudin began to divide his Legion, sending detachments off to spearhead advances in areas where the crusade had bogged down. Soon most of the Legion was spread out across the stars, operating far from their Father’s eye. Gaudin was pleased to see his sons bringing in more and more worlds for the Emperor and encouraged their autonomy, seeing his legion more as a number of separate expeditionary forces and not as a united whole. He himself along with his elite veterans moved from Crusader fleet to Crusader fleet, joining them for a hard-fought campaign only to move on to the next one. Like the Legion itself, the Primarch was restless and could never stay in one place for long.

Their relentless drive was not without cost though. The Crusaders are known to have moved swiftly on from planet to planet the moment that their enemies surrendered, leaving others to mop up any final pockets of resistance and establish garrisons on the conquered worlds. Many worlds flared up after the Crusaders had moved on, requiring others to complete their pacification. Several Primarchs complained that Gaudin’s zeal blinded him to the true needs of the Crusade, that worlds needed to be pacified and safely brought into the Imperial fold, not just conquered. But the sheer number of new worlds the Crusaders brought into the fold, among the top three Legions of the entire Crusade (The other two being the Wolves of Dawn and Winged Victory) silenced most of his critics, and the Emperor’s unwavering support of him also helped ease tensions.

The Crusaders saw service alongside many of their Brother Legions though not to the degree of other Legions mainly due to the Crusaders preferring to be pressing the boundaries wherever possible instead of being stuck in long slugging-matches. Though when they did serve as part of multi-Legion forces, their swift actions often ensured that victories could be won far in advance of campaign projections. The Legion never sought to antagonize any of their fellows by their actions, though when pressed too hard honor duels were arranged. Gaudin is known to have laughed off suggestions of tensions with the Winged Victory after they conquered a thousand sectors in a year and began to try and rival the Crusaders for number of worlds added to the Imperium. “We need a challenger to spur us onward. If all my brothers can show the drive of Lumey, this Crusade will be over quickly,” He is reported to have said, though rumours of darker sayings still linger.

Gaudin came to Ullanor to find the battle already over, much to his dismay. His own 35th Expeditionary Fleet had been in the vicinity of Desperation on the very furthest fringe of the Crusade, netting dozens of the distant and disparate worlds in that region. However at the triumph there he was honored highly by the Emperor, and asked to return to Terra along with his Legion as a ‘guard of honor’ separate from the position Alexandri had been granted as the Emperor's Praetorian. Privately he was deeply discomforted by this. His only desire was to prosecute the Crusade, and if his legion was recalled to Terra it could easily miss out on the Great Crusade. Gaudin had never considered what the future for his Legion beyond the crusade would be, and he now feared that his Legion could easily be censured and destroyed if it was stuck on Terra. However he could not speak out against his Father, and so he ordered as much of the Legion as possible to break from their campaigns and muster on Terra, the first time the entire Legion would be mustered together since they left Sturmundrang.

Heresy and the breaking of a Legion

Gaudin himself had only barely arrived on Terra when news of the Warmaster’s fall reached him. Shocked beyond measure, it took him a few days to process this, and when he had done so his usual jovial nature was gone and he was a mountain of anger, his booming voice rolling with thunder. He desired more than anything else to take his Legion off and strike back against the traitor, but his was the only Legion in the Solar System, and he could not leave Terra unguarded. However Mars had fallen into bitter civil war, the Fabricator General besieged in the great forge of Olympus Mons by renegade Magos loyal to Hektor. Here was a war he could fight, and so leaving two chapters on Terra as guards, he led his Legion to Mars to break the Siege and destroy the Traitor Mechanicum. For over five years the Legion ground itself down on the red deserts of Mars, fighting first the Mechanicum, and later on infiltrated Iron Rangers and Justicars. Eventually the Legion was forced to withdraw with the arrival of Hektor Himself and his mighty Warhost, ready to bring war to Terra itself.

The Legion’s scattering meant that many elements, ranging from Company to Chapter sized were unable to reach Terra and join their Primarch in the defence of Sol. Instead they linked up with whatever loyalists were in the vicinity and as per their ways took the fight to the enemy. A force of no less than eight whole Chapters under the famous Severin Hahn would come to Zhuko V and take part in the tank battle there, the biggest Tank Battle in all human History. There they would face those of the Crusaders who had turned on the Emperor and sided with the Warmaster at the Battle of Bitter Iron. Other Crusader forces fought alongside the Thunder Kings, War Scribes and Steel Marshalls as they struggled valiantly against Hektor’s might. Some of these forces were destroyed and vanished from the pages of history, their stories never to be told. Others earned new Battle Honours, though not ones with the same glory as those won in the Great Crusade. For this was a New Crusade, a crusade against Hektor and the nightmares he had sided with.

The Scouring and the birth of the new Crusaders

The War for Mars and the Siege of Terra together left the Crusaders nearly broken. Barely a fifth of the Legion was still combat capable, and Gaudin was deeply shaken by what he had experienced, his usual bombast gone. Piece by piece the other elements of the Legion that had been scattered by the winds of War came together, until for the first time since their Primarch had reunited with them the Legion was one, though only half their strength before the Heresy. He and his legion threw themselves into the Scouring with the same vigour they once had shown to the Great Crusade but now they were grim and dour.

With the last of the traitors driven into the Eye, the scouring was over. The combined Legion now stood at just over 40,000 Marines, a shadow of what it had been before the schism. Shortly after this came Gaspard Lumey’s reforms to the Astartes, which came as a nasty shock to the Crusaders. Gaudin found himself opposed to the idea, arguing that it diluted the fighting power of the Legions to such an extent that they would be unable to properly prosecute any wars they would be required to fight, for though the traitors had been driven into the eye there were hundreds of other threats out there that had come to the fore during the Heresy, such as the Orks, Eldar, Hrud, Turtagon, Plefukur and others which were ravaging the frontiers of Imperial space.

As one by one his brothers sided with Lumey, Gaudin found himself ever-more isolated, and finally he was forced to cave in. He split his Legion into seven separate Chapters, each fleet-based for maximum mobility. The five main ones were each tied to a specific Segmentum that they would defend, while the Mechanist Warriors and Thousand Swords were free to fight wherever they chose.

Gaudin deliberately removed himself from the command structure of any chapter, with the first Chapter Master of the Crusaders themselves being Thomas Caevael or ‘Young Thomas’ as he became known. Gaudin continued as he had done before the Heresy, moving from chapter to chapter to provide support and advice, though never interfering in the command of any of them. The Chapters could go for decades without seeing him, and those of the Sacred Band noted his growing distance from his sons. It was rumoured that before he vanished, Vardhana had told Gaudin when his time would be up, and that time was approaching fast.

Gaudin’s final battle was over Xersia in the Cadian Sector. After Cadia itself fell before the Chaos tide, the combined fleets of the Crusaders and Crusaders Obscuras rallied over Xersia, only to once again come under assault. Gaudin himself ordered both fleets to withdraw as his last command, before leading the massive Gloriana Class Battleship Hohenstetchen alone against the combined traitor forces. The last sighting of him was on the command bridge, swearing profuse oaths at the traitor forces to face him man-to man. Most believe he was killed there and his ship lost, but the Crusaders believe that he survived and entered the Eye of Terror to continue the fight against his traitorous brethren and at the end he will return for a new Great Crusade.

The loss of Gaudin, while a blow for morale, did not impede the successors in any way, thanks to Gaudin’s foresight of removing himself utterly from the chain of command. The many branches of the Crusaders continued their mission to move and fight any threat to the safety and stability of the Imperium, a ‘fire brigade’ that would move from hot-spot to hot-spot and take out enemy threats before they could grow to threaten the wider Imperium.

Unit Organisation and Structure within the Legion

Like all the Legions, the Xth started out with the standard Terran Pattern of Legion organization, though with a bias towards massed infantry and armoured formations only equalled by the VIIIth. However it wasn’t very long into the Crusade when their Primarch was found, and he would re-create the Legion from top to bottom along the lines of flexibility and a combined arms approach to warfare that would leave it by the time of the Heresy very different from its brother Legions. Though the basic structure of the Chapter, Battalion and Company remained, they were completely restructured by Gaudin. Every Chapter was organized as a completely self-sufficient formation capable of prosecuting campaigns entirely independently. When multiple Chapters were deployed to a single warzone, each was treated as a separate entity. This allowed the Legion to spread itself out and separate formations could be found in almost every segmentum, pushing the boundaries of the Imperium.

Within the chapters, each battalion were heavily reinforced and became the main battle formation of the Legion, each itself designed to operate alone. One of the most notable changes within the Legion was the decline in the use of large sized squads. Twenty Man Squads, the building block of almost every other Legion could only fit into the larger Spartan Transports, which were always in short supply within the Legion due to battlefield losses. Rhinos and Land Raiders fitted with Lucifer pattern Engines were foremost in use and as a result ten man squads grew to dominate Legion formations save only in exceptional circumstances. To further the flexibility of these mechanized squads, they often carried special and heavy weapons with them instead of relying on Tactical Support and Heavy Support squads, a precursor to the all arms tactical squads of the post-Heresy era. Along with the lack of larger squads was a corresponding lack in specialized formations that were not effective in mobile warfare. Breacher Siege Squads were rare within the Legion due to their disdain for urban conflict, and Assault Squads were also in the minority, principally employed as the vanguard for the main mechanized assaults. Like most Legions the Crusaders maintained a Destroyer cadre, though they were mainly used with Jump Packs in advance of the armoured thrusts.

Legion Command Hierarchy

Thomas Gaudin was the undisputed lord and master of his Legion. His men adored him, and would gladly follow him into the most hellish warzones at his command. Beneath the Primarch, the foremost member of the Legion was the Hochmeister, who was the First Chapter Master and the Primarch’s chosen champion and representative. At the time of the Heresy, the Hochmeister was Anton Kantner, formerly the Head of the X Legion’s Sacred Band. The Chapter Master equivalent was the Ordensmarschall, each tasked with the command of a single Chapter formation and usually a single Expeditionary Fleet as well. An Ordensmarschall was expected to be an expert in Logistics as well, as they could not expect help from the wider Legion and would have to conquer worlds and keep their forces supplied on their own. Given the diffuse nature of the Legion, it was very rare for multiple Ordensmarschalls to be present in a single campaign, and when they did the overall commander was chosen based on seniority.

Beneath them were the Battalion-Level Commanders known as Komturs, who orchestrated the bulk of the operational tactics and were the main formation commanders. Beneath the Komtur was the Captains of the Mechanized Line Companies and Armoured Companies of the Legion, which operated together and thus were required to exhibit a large degree of co-operation and co-ordination between them. Inter-Company rivalries were almost unheard of in the Crusaders, with smooth bonds of comradeship between the various captains greatly aiding the effectiveness of the combined arms armoured warfare that so characterized the Legion. Merit was the foremost judge of competency in command for the Legion, and all promotions within the Legion were based on the martial record and ability of the prospective commanders.

The Legion also had an unusual method of squad command. Sergeants were not a fixed rank as in other Legions, rather each squad elected their own squad sergeant before each campaign, and that sergeant would step down after the campaign. This ensured that only those fit for it would have that level of command, and those who failed at the task could swiftly be returned to the ranks and a new leader chosen. While this made lower-level politicking unavoidable, it also ensured that those who truly proved themselves and were elected time and time again to the same rank would become eligible for rising to higher ranks, thus reinforcing the meritocracy system of command the Legion had in place.

Legion Tactics

Once they became the Crusaders, their tactics changed drastically. No longer a Legion of slow-moving mixed assault formations, the new Crusaders were an army of rapid mechanized assaults. Using Land Raiders and tanks on the ground and Thunderhawks and Fire Raptors in the air, they used speed, shock and surprise to break through enemy lines. Once this has been achieved, mobile forces raced deeper into enemy territory, disrupting the rear areas and threatening the front lines with encirclement.

The infantry tactics of the Crusaders are to continuously gain ground and to push the enemy back. They are known for their use of massed Land Raiders or Rhinos, each containing 10 marines, forming a single "troop". Each company would comprise at least ten troops if not more. The Land Raider would advance towards an enemy position supported by artillery or gunship fire. Once it has reached its objective, the Land Raider will disgorge the Space Marines and fight alongside them. As this is happening, other Land Raiders will continue on to their own objectives in a leap frog tactic. This allows the Crusaders to cover tremendous amounts of ground and completed multiple objective simultaneously. Once a "troop" completes its objective it will return to the Land Raider and move on to other objectives. This maintains a very rapid and disorientating assault

If the enemy does not give ground or manages a counter-attack, a Crusaders troops is perfectly capable of digging in their heels and calling in support. The same rapid manoeuvres that deliver attacking troops can also bring up reserves, or fire support via artillery or Thunderhawks. The Crusaders are a fast-moving, multi-pronged spear. Their tactics, and the difficulty to dislodge them from any position, has earned the Legion an unofficial nickname; "The Barbs."

Legion Equipment

The Crusaders were largely re-equipped by Gaudin after he came to the Legion, and this radically changed what weaponry the Legion relied upon. Gaudin's first requirement was for enough transports to ensure the entire Legion could be mounted up for mobile actions, and reserves of armoured vehicles from Mars, Voss and Phaeton were diverted to fill the gap. The Legion's newfound focus on armored warfare also saw heavy support squads become rarer as armored vehicles like Predators filled in the gap. Consequently more Tactical support squads entered the ranks of the Legion, offering more portable firepower to augment the swift armored strikes.

Cataphractii Armour was also largely phased out, save for the elite Crusader Aedassan Canons and some higher-ranking officers. Tartaros Armour was in high demand for its enhanced mobility, and Tartaros squads in Land Raiders were often used as the tip of the spear for heavy assaults.

The Crusaders were never among the most numerous of the Legions, with the most conservative estimate of the Legion around the time of the Heresy giving them around 115,000 line Astartes, with a considerable armored reserve, second only to the Mastodontii Legion, though while the Mastodontii favored heavier vehicles like the Fellblade and Typhon, the Crusaders preferred faster vehicles such as the Predator and Sicaran, whose design Gaudin it is said had a hand in. The Crusaders also used a specially modified pattern of Rhino fitted with ‘Lucifer’ pattern engines to increase its speed, vital for the type of warfare the Legion espoused.

Legion Doctrine

For the Crusaders, victory was everything. If dirty tricks were required to secure Victory, then so be it. The mobile armored warfare Gaudin had experienced and adopted on Sturmundrang was tailor-made for winning swift and decisive victories and would become the hallmark of the Legion's war-Doctrine. Attacking forces used spearheads made up of concentrated formations of armored and mechanized infantry with close air support. These formations would use short, fast, powerful attacks that with a combination of speed, shock and close-in firepower would break enemy defensive lines. Once broken these formations would use speed and surprise to encircle them, avoiding head-on collisions with the main body of the enemy. By doing this, the enemy armies would be left unbalanced and respond to the continuously changing front line. Once cut-off, the enemy armies could be reduced by the Imperial Army or aerial and orbital attack while the Crusaders forces pressed ever onwards towards vital political and industrial areas, crippling the enemies will to fight.

Thomas Gaudin offered a logical and well thought out alternative to the military organization of Gaspard Lumey presented in the Institutorum Astartes, based on his decentralized legion structure and the smaller, more flexible squads his legion had pioneered. The Crusaders accepted much of the Institorum, but made a change in the chain of command of the Chapter. They included the new "Lieutenant" rank, given command over two squads of five marines, which form a single "troop". Due to their strength, hardiness, and ability to swiftly respond to any rising threat, the Crusaders have taken the role of a mobile response and peacekeeping force. Sending fleets out to patrol their section of the galaxy, they also keep a sizable force planet side to mobilize as a quick reaction force or to reinforce other Legions if needed.

Support Formations

Apothecarion

The Gene-Seed issues of the Legion in its early days demanded a lot from the Legion's apothecaries, who had the burden of recovering as much gene-seed intact as possible whenever possible. With the coming of the Primarch the primacy of the Apothecarion was reduced as Gaudin's focus on swift armored warfare reduced casualties but required more from the Techmarines of the Armorium.

Armorium

Even before the coming of the Primarch the VI Legion was known for having an unusually large Techmarine Corps, mainly due to the Legion willingly attaching itself to Mechanicum Taghmata formations when requested, such as at Dieseleium, one of the most bloody battles of the Pre-Primarch Legion. Post-Unification Gaudin encouraged and even expanded upon this, sending large numbers of Marines to Mars, and willingly taking part in the reduction of Neutros Scrayaer under the command of the Fabricator General himself. The Techmarines of the Crusaders were known for their unusual degree of respect for the beliefs of the Mechanicum, their willingness to make repairs under fire and a cavalier disregard for the wellbeing of their armored charges, much to the disgust of other Legions.

Castra

Though Gaudin held little stock with fortifications, often speaking the ancient wisdom 'The army that remains in its forts is beaten'. Though Sacred Band member Gabriel Bain supervised the creation of a number of fortified Motor-Pools on worlds ceded to the Legion as sources of recruits. These were not true fortifications but could in an emergency be used as such, and would become important during the Heresy, as both the Crusaders and the Traitors sought to obtain their valuable contents for the war effort.

Librarus

Gaudin was a pragmatic commander who after seeing the Eyes of the Emperor and Black Augurs in action encouraged the growth of the Legion's Librarius. Telepathy was the discipline of choice for the Legion, a way of sending orders swiftly and securely to troops as well as speeding up combat interrogations for battlefield intelligence.

Specialist Troops

Aedassan Canons

As part of the sweeping changes instituted by Gaudin during his reformation of the Legion, an elite bodyguard unit was formed in honor of their newly-found lord. Though Gaudin had never needed a bodyguard and did not desire one, he knew his gene-sons wished to honor him, and so after a personal plea from members of the Sacred Band, he acquiesced to their creation. He named them after one of the first great triumphs of the Sacred Band on Terra, the Battle of Aedassa and the elite troops known as Canons they had overcome there. The Aedassan Canons became known as the 'Death and Glory Boys', who were always struggling to keep up with their relentless Primarch. To be a Canon was to be in the very heart of the enemy confronting the deadliest foes imaginable, and many did not survive long in the maelstrom of battle Gaudin led them into. But the Canons saw themselves as bright stars that shone briefly but brilliantly. Gaudin developed a deep respect for the Canons, though he rarely showed any sign of it. The Canons were one of the few units within the Legion to continue to use Cataphractii Pattern Terminator Armour, modifying it by overcharging the power source to increase the speed while retaining the enhanced armor protection. This heavily taxed the armor's power supply so it could only be used in short bursts to charge or disengage from the enemy, but it allowed for a thunderous charge, the sheer momentum smashing enemy troops asunder.

Sturmtruppen

A modification of the standard Breachers, Sturmtruppen used smaller versions of the Standard Breacher Shield and replaced their Bolters with rapid-fire Grenade Launchers and back-up Power Axes. They relied on enhanced mobility to make up for the reduced protection. The brainchild of Rook North, they were trained in both ground combat and boarding actions, launching swift and decisive strikes to break through enemy defenses.

Panzergreift

The Panzergreift are a force of mobile heavy gunners created to allow for mobile anti-tank fire support. Using a modified Lascannon with a Suspensor Web, they would be in the first wave, quickly identifying and neutralizing enemy heavy armor and strongpoints that could hold up the advance. being in the very thick of it, Panzergreift had a reputation for suicidal bravery and heavy casualties, yet there were plenty of heavy weapon troopers who were willing to take up the mantle of the Panzergreift.

Fleet

The Crusaders were never a Legion with a great deal of expertise in void-warfare. For the Legion, a ship was a tool, a means of moving men and material from world to world and providing firepower from orbit to smash enemy ground targets asunder. The battleships, cruisers, frigates and gunships of the Crusaders were thus used principally as transports and fire support, breaking through weak points in enemy fleets to deposit their cargo on the planetary surface and then remaining on station to provide thunder from heaven as the situation demanded.

The Legion had very few heavy Warships, though those they did have, such as the Infernus-class Battleships Koenigsraum and Graeffenberg were famous as mighty engines that would break a hole so the Legion could push through deploy onworld. Their flagship was the mighty Gloriana Class battleship Hohenstetchen, named after a mythical king of Sturmundrang who ruled before the atmosphere had gone toxic. The Hohenstetchen had a number of its gun batteries removed in order to add additional generators for its mighty Macro-Lances, one volley of which would overload all the shields and cripple the hull of a Retribution-class Battleship. The Hohenstetchen was the ultimate linebreaker and time and again it would punch a hole through even the mightiest void defenses. It would be lost in the First Dark Crusade with all hands.

Allies and Auxilia

Techno-feudal auxilia, typical of those deployed by the Crusaders

Thomas Gaudin often employed Auxilia to perform roles that his own Space Marines were less interested in. The Crusaders tended to favour heavy infantry regiments, and if these formations rarely proved themselves as an "anvil" to the Marines' hammer, they were still a valuable addition in the field. Given the dispersed nature of the Crusaders forces, there was an astonishing variation in the types of Imperial Army forces that served alongside the Legion.

Thomas Gaudin visited Ardito in 878.M30 to inspect its troops. Impressed by what he found, he ordered that half of the Ardito Highwatch regiments be attached to his Legion. Although the Highwatch struggle in the open country favoured by the Crusaders, their skills in rough country often helped to screen the Astartes' flanks.

Culture

Before the coming of their Primarch, the VI Legion were known as a dour and serious lot who fought with little joy. Their bloody-minded stubbornness meant that when committed to battle, they would fight for as long as necessary until victory was won, even if this meant the legion got sucked into quagmires that left them behind as other Legions pressed onwards. The Left-behind Legion was the name they gained as a result of this. One of Gaudin’s gifts to the Legion was to imbue in it a sense of purpose, that their purpose was as the representation of the Great Crusade. Other Legions might represent different facets of the Great Crusade, with the Emerald Doom the spread of the Imperial Truth and the War Scribes the return of Knowledge lost to Old Night, but the Crusaders would represent the Crusade as a whole, the Emperor’s ambition to rule the Galaxy given form. The Crusaders would never be left behind again; they would always be at the very forefront of the Great Crusade. This gave the Legion a strong sense of belief in themselves and their mission.

This belief gave the Crusaders a very competitive mindset. If another Legion was further out then they were, then they had to catch up and even press out beyond them. While this was an internalized struggle that meant the Crusaders rarely came to blows with other Legions, their competitiveness was noted by many others as the Crusade went on. The Legion put a great deal of prestige on their outriders and pathfinders who would keep them on the forefront of expanding Imperial space, and many famous Rogue Traders served with the Crusaders, acting as the eyes and ears of their ever-moving fleets.

This drive also had a darker side effect. To the Crusaders, Victory was worth almost any price, save that of attrition, a legacy of the time before the Primarch when casualties could not be easily replaced. While there was never an official policy regarding using war crimes and atrocities to shorten conflicts, there are many documented cases of such events happening under the Crusader’s watch. Massacres of refugees, terror-bombing campaigns, orbital strikes on civilian targets, all were at one point or another used by the Crusaders to shorten campaigns and bring about swift victories.

Homeworld

Thomas Gaudin's homeworld was the brutal Death World Sturmundrang. Ancient weapons and pollution had scoured the skies and soil of this populous planet, making its atmosphere lethal to an unprotected man. But these atrocities did not end the planet's wars, as the bloodshed of centuries called down to each new generation. Only the Primarch was able to end the violence of Sturmundrang, through conquest. The fierce sons of this scarred world made superb recruits to the Crusaders, taking especially well to the implant of the Black Carapace.

After the breaking of the Legion, Sturmundrang continued to be the principal source of recruits for the chapter, though in time it was lessened as other worlds including Terra, Harkon, Rhanna and other worlds in Segmentum Solar also contributed recruits for the Chapter. However the main fleet base for the Legion remained over Sturmundrang, and the character of the planet never left the Chapter.

Notable Crusaders

Leon Heldt was serving as Gaudin's page when the Emperor came to Sturmundrang. Still young enough to be inducted into the Adeptus Astartes, Heldt graduated as a fine Space Marine. Despite many offers of promotion to command, his highest aspiration was to serve as the Primarch's bodyguard. Heldt laid down in life for Gaudin and the Emperor during the fateful assault on Hektor's flagship.

Thomas Caevael another son of Sturmundrang and one of Gaudin's key Lieutenants, Caevael was one of the first independent commanders of the Legion, when his tenth Chapter was sent off to join with the Thunder Kings in their prosecution of the Tarav Empire. He proved to be one of the brightest of the new generation of marines brought in from Sturmundrang and swiftly rose through the ranks, possessing a sharp insight and charisma in spades which allowed him to gain the trust of almost anyone. By the time of the Heresy he commanded the second largest force of Crusaders after the Primarch's own fleet, ten thousand Marines of the 91st Expeditionary Fleet which was operating in the southern Ultima Segmentum. His forces returned to Terra before the betrayal and he would be at the forefront of the fighting both on Mars and on Terra, and be one of the Marines who went with Gaudin onto Hektor's Flagship, where he saw firsthand the broken body of the Emperor. Caevael became the first Chapter Master of the Crusaders after the breaking of the Legion. He is remembered as Young Thomas by the Legion, and the Katzbalger he wielded is a sacred relic of the Chapter.

Olaf Gunther was a Terran recruit from Skandermark and among the very first intake of Marines to Mars to become Techmarines. Smart, gregarious and open-minded, he excelled, forming lifelong friendships with members of the Mechanicum and other high-ranking Techmarines from the second and eighth Legions. He would be a major influence of the decision to send troops to Dieseleum and other major operations alongside the Lords of Mars. Gunther met his end on Terra, supporting a detachment of Knights of Accolon trying to hold back an advance of Titans of the Fire Wasps.

The Sacred Band: Sixth Squad

The ten most promising warriors of what would become the Sixth Legion were first led into battle by Hektor Cincinnatus as part of his Sacred Band. The Sacred Band's Sixth Squad would all make significant contributions to the history and traditions of the Crusaders, and together their influence is second only to that of Thomas Gaudin.

Anton Kantner led Sixth Squad during the battles of the Merican Hives. Kantner took pride in always accomplishing his tasks ahead of schedule, and was seen as a bit of a maverick, especially after he and the rest of sixth squad stole a Land Raider to launch a surprise flanking manoeuvre ahead of the main advance of the Sacred Band during the battle of the Black Hills. Although this zeal sometimes offended other members of the Sacred Band, it also established the Sixth Legion's tradition of letting nothing slow, let alone stop, their advance. After Thomas Gaudin was rediscovered, Kantner laid down his command against some ill-feeling. His competence and humility would be recognised with a place as the Legion's Hochmeister, the Primarch's second-in-command and leading the main siege-breaking efforts during the long Battle of Mars during the Heresy. He stood by his Primarch's side at the boarding of the Bucephalus, wielding his Zweihander to great effect. After the breaking of the Legion he was expected to become the first Master of the Crusaders, but Gaudin decided that only a sons of Sturmundrang would be given that role. Kantner however did not consider himself slighted, and instead threw himself into the task of building the Ultima Crusaders Chapter as their first commander. He would eventually fall before a Vetrovnak assault on the northern fringes of Ultima in M33, the last of the Sacred Band still alive.

Erik Faas was a much-feared commander. His weapon of choice in the Merican Hive campaign was the flamer, and it was well-suited to his temperament. Though Faas could be jovial and kind to his men, he is best-remembered for his declaration to the Legion at the start of the Great Crusade, Do not be swayed by the false virtues of compassion or mercy. No carelessness, driven by warm feelings, should dissuade you from utter loyalty to the cause of Mankind. We go to the stars to destroy the Alien, the mutant, and all who would endanger the human race! A number of the darker crimes committed by the Legion were attributed to his command. He was known for deploying Destroyers more than any other Crusaders commander, with a particularly large cadre of them under his command. Faas was chosen by Thomas Gaudin to lead the Crusaders Obscurus Chapter that would have to face the brunt of Traitor forces from the Eye, and he instilled them with his fierce spirit and hatred for all who would oppose the Imperium. He was first in line when the First Dark Crusade happened, and fell in battle there though not before sending hundreds of traitors to Death's embrace.

Max Toten was one of the best-known of the Crusaders outside of their Primarch. Toten's tall, bearded figure stood out among his peers, and his great voice and charisma could rally the forces of the Imperium like few others. He served closely with several other Primarchs, and was willing to listen to their council unlike his stubborn father, to the point where even Gaspard Lumey praised him for his tact, a rare commodity among the Crusaders. Though not the most skilled general of Gaudin's inner council and the one who had the most disagreements with his Primarch (where his own booming voice mixed with that of his Primarch deafened everyone within earshot), he was regularly entrusted with critical commands because of the effect he had on morale Thankfully for the Crusaders, Toten was humble enough to take advice from better planners. Max Toten's final battle was the massive naval engagement at the beginning of the Traitors' attack on the Solar System. He volunteered to take command of the point ship in the Imperial forces, the mighty Crusaders Infernus-class battleship Koenigsraum, understanding that this duty was a death sentence. Though Toten and his command were lost early in the engagement, his selfless courage would continue to inspire the Crusaders through the dark days of the Siege of Terra. He is venerated as a saint in many parts of the Imperium. Void-farers, especially sailors in the Imperial Navy, often carry medals bearing a likeness of "Saint Max" to invoke his protection. Toten was posthumously honoured as the first Chapter Master of the Crusaders Tempestus.

Gabriel Bain was initially groomed for duty as an Apothecary in the embryonic Legion, but his combat and leadership skills improved much more quickly than his peers. A sober and stiff-mannered Marine, his cool demeanour masked a tendency for daring in both personal combat and command. Bain was Sixth Squad's point-man throughout the Pacification of the Merican Hives, and tanks under his command would reprise the role during many of The Crusader's armored actions. He became known as the ‘Spear of Sturmundrang’, a skilled tank driver and commander, who contributed to some of The Crusaders finest hours – especially the armoured thrust at Grudno. Yet it was his role behind the scenes that truly defined this warrior's role. He was a firm convert to the decentralized nature of the Crusaders, where every expeditionary fleet would be an entity unto itself and he worked tirelessly to plan and establish The Crusader's network of motor-pool fortresses throughout the interior of the Imperium, as well as negotiating deals with several Forgeworlds to supply those worlds so that there would always be a stockpile for the Crusaders to swiftly re-arm with. Drag's achievement allowed the Legion, and later their association of Successor Chapters, to rapidly rearm and redeploy across the Galaxy to confront the Imperium's direst foes. His forces were yet another group of Crusaders that failed to link up with the main body of the Legion when it was ordered to Terra, and he would fight the traitors all across Segmentums Obscuras and Pacificus, ending up on Rosskar where his forces fought until relieved by the Steel Marshalls. In the Second Founding he was assigned to lead the Crusaders Pacificus, a sign of how seriously Thomas Gaudin took the threat of the resurgent Harakien Eldar Empire as well as a recognition of the reputation he had built during his fighting in that region during the Heresy.

Severin Hahn A highly skilled warrior with a flair for bladework, Severin Hahn was the first Legion Champion of the X Legion. He spent much time with the Steel Marshalls, and learned the arts of dueling and swordplay from them and became close to Primarch Roman Albrecht. Much of his service would be leading armored forces alongside the Marshalls, acting as the hammer to their anvil. Though highly regarded outside the Legion, within it he was also seen as somewhat quaint with his ideals of honor and chivalry, including the Pacification of several feudal worlds where Hahn bested a chosen champion as a proxy for open warfare, which was seen by others within the Crusaders as not a sufficient enough lesson to truly pacify them. This noble warrior met his end on the blasted plains of Zhuko V, slain by the traitor Primarch Tollund Ötztal in single combat.

Elias Selig. Selig was a competent but uninspired warrior during the Unification Wars and fought with distinction throughout the Great Crusade, ever at the fore-front of the Imperium's armies. However his greatest moment could come with Hektor's betrayal. When the Heresy began, Selig's 83rd Battalion was caught on the far edge of the vast Ultima Segmentum. Taking stock of the reports of treachery and atrocity, the Crusader determined that his task was to tie down as many Traitor troops as possible. Targeting Bunyoro, a strategically-located world that Selig had helped pacify, the 83rd made a rapid insertion and managed to prevent it falling into traitor hands, thus leaving most of the Northern Ultima Segmentum safely for the Emperor. Following this and several other swift actions, the 83rd arrived in the Atalantos Worlds to link up with the War Scribes, who were even then bracing for the Burning Crusade. Arelex Orannis was grateful for the addition of the three Chapters of Crusaders who made up the 83rd, who would fight under his command for the duration of the Burning Crusade. Though this heroic commander would fall in the course of this bitter campaign, his memory and tactics would be preserved by the Askaris Chapter and his name would be given to to one of the great Fortresses of the War Scribes in the Atalantos Worlds.

Walter Blum was the Sixth Legion's first combat casualty. A promising, gregarious warrior inducted into the Sacred Band as a candidate for high command, he was struck down in the bitter fight for Atl'Ntar Hive. Even thousands of years later, his name is well-remembered and is awarded to any aspirant who meets an honorable death in training.

Lucas Braun is officially forgotten and his name stricken from all but the most secure records, though he was highly regarded by Hektor during the Unification Wars and a major presence in the War Councils of the Crusaders. He protested the dramatic reorganization of the Legion under Gaudin, and remained close to Hektor. He was turned by the many Traitors in the Sacred Band and attempted to spread corruption through the Legion, turning the three Chapters of the 154th Expeditionary Fleet to the service of Hektor. He would lead them on a rampage throughout the Segmentum Tempestus before arriving on Zhuko V by the order of the Warmaster to reinforce the traitor Tank forces fighting the climatic battle there. There he met his Sacred Band brother Severin Hahn and his loyalist Crusaders at the Battle of Bitter Iron, one of the most brutal battles of the entire Heresy where loyalist and traitor Crusaders destroyed each other. Hahn would slay him there, and Braun would only be remembered as "the Serpent" in the legends of the Crusaders and their Successor Chapters.

Marcus Drag is the second of the Crusader’s Sacred Band traitors, and like Braun his records have been removed save from the deepest vaults of knowledge on Terra and Sturmundrang. He was a naysmith who constantly questioned his brothers and their maverick nature, believing that only by working as part of the whole could the VI Squad truly benefit the Sacred Band as a whole. When the Legion grew big enough, he was given his own command and left the bulk of the Legion, becoming part of the 'Alizarin' fleet, the forces of Rogue Trader Carl Alizarin. Drag was not present when his Primarch was found, and only met him later after the Legion's reformation. Drag was known to dislike the new direction, believing that flesh was superior to steel and the only way to win battles. But he could not stand against his Primarch, and reluctantly bowed before him. Once again he was given a new command and sent forth into the stars to conquer as he would, free from the constraints of the rest of the Legion. His 234th Expeditionary Fleet had a large percentage of Terrans who did not sit comfortably with their Brash Primarch and his swift, brutal and incomplete methods of conquest. They would continue to take worlds slowly, methodically and, for them at least, correctly. Drag always maintained close ties with the other Sacred Band members beyond his Legion, and when Hektor rose the standard of rebellion Drag answered the call. His fleet was diverted to block the passage of the Void Angels as they struck towards Terra, and though the Void Angels never discussed what happened, it is known the Drag and his entire force was destroyed trying to keep the Angels at bay.

Rook North was an exemplary warrior. He was also something of a blowhard, composing and performing many fine songs - about his own heroic exploits. His bragging did not endear him to his peers, and his ties to Hektor, second only to Braun meant that when the Heresy did break out he was suspected of traitor sympathies. However the Crusaders prize results more than personality and North certainly got his results. He would fight in every great campaign of the Legion, from its origins in the Merican Hives to the pyrrhic victory at the Siege of Terra. Unlike his peers, North was particularly able in void combat, setting up specialist Sturmtruppen squads for boarding actions. The expertise and heavy equipment of these troops would be invaluable in the brutal slugging match of the Siege of Terra. For all of his skill, North's unpopularity saw him passed over for command of a Second Founding Chapter. He would eventually be dispatched to guard an ancient relic in the far Galactic South-East as the Master of the Nova Defenders Chapter.

Geneseed and Successors

Prior to the rediscovery of their Primarch, the Geneseed of the Legion was noted for its unusually slow maturation.

Thomas Gaudin had resisted the Institutorum Astartes reforms, feeling that the Imperium needed the unitary commands of the Legions in order to resist external threats, also noting that his Legion’s highly decentralized structure meant it did not need any further dividing. Although he was particularly anxious about a resurgence of the Traitors, Gaudin also noted that the Astartes would face many Xenos invaders, including the Harakien Eldar Empire and the ever-present Orks. He was eventually forced to back down, though as it turned out the dividing of the Legion was more de-facto then most of the other Legions, which had never been as divided as the Crusaders were. The first Chapter would retain the Crusaders name and remain in the Segmentum Solar with Sturmundrang is its principal recruiting ground. Four more Chapters were assigned to watch the remaining segmenta and named accordingly: the Crusaders Obscurus, Crusaders Pacificus, Crusaders Tempestus, and the Ultima Crusaders. These five senior Chapters were all fleet-based so they could swiftly move from trouble-spot to trouble-spot and serve as reserve forces while coordinating the efforts of the remaining Second Founding Chapters of the Crusaders.

Notable Successors

• Thomas Gaudin established the Aurorans in the Second Founding as a tempered, range-focused chapter that could adapt itself to any situation.
• The Nova Defenders were a Third Founding Chapter tasked with defending an ancient technological facility at the edge of the Ultima Segmentum.
• During the Second Founding, the fiercest members of the Crusaders were gathered together in the Thousand Swords
• The Sons of Ragnarok were part of the 13th Founding to guard the Armageddon Sector. From the planet of Pyran they have steadfastly fought the Orks that endlessly raid and ravage the sector.

Colours of Notable Crusaders Successors

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  Nova Defenders

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  Thousand Swords