Argo Brigade

Argo Brigade
Founding	Lost to the Guard
Homeworld	Argos
Strength	7000 Guardsmen (per regiment)
Specialty	Counterinsurgency
Allegiance	Imperium
Colours	Azure, crimson, and charcoal.

An Imperial Guard regiment of brutally effective counterinsurgency operators who really, really enjoy crucifying dissidents, dissident sympathizers, and xenos upside down and/or sideways.

A Peacekeeper, an Auxillia, and Grenadier of the Argo Brigade.

Specialty

The Argo Brigade specializes in counter-insurgency operations, psychological warfare, and light reconnaissance tactics. They prefer anti-armor and flesh melting weapons. The regiment has the macabre tradition of crucifying captured xenos and traitors upside down or impaling several victims sideways upon massive metal pikes, which are well attended public events and do wonders for morale.

The Argo Brigade has several specialized duty positions within the unit, some familiar to the larger Astra Militarum, others wholly unique to the Argives. Standard infantry Guardsmen are known as Peacekeepers, the term relic of their time as a PDF. These Peacekeepers act both as standard fighting infantry and once a population is beginning to become appropriately pacified, assist the military police in returning the planet to Imperial control. As the Commissariat polices the guard, the Brigade Military Police work with intelligence guardsmen to police the populace and ensure that civilians still loyal to the Imperium remain that way under threat of torture and crucifixion, and seek to root out hidden rebels. When the tides have turned and the enemy has begun to be beat back, the Military Police will liason with the Adeptus Arbites to restore pacified areas and return them to the Imperial Control. A hybrid of Military Police, Cavalry Scouts, and Peacekeepers, Special Task Forces are small platoon sized elements within each combined Intelligence and Military Police Company. Afforded exemplary equipment, dedicated Valkyrie transports, and loose mission parameters, STFs operate outside the normal doctrinal restrictions of Peacekeepers to take out high value targets and vital infrastructure.

The Argive Brigadiers are known for their efficiency in mostly everything they do. Their ability to adopt different campaign strategies with various variables in mind is famous across the Imperium of Man. There are few scenario that they have not thought of or haven't prepared for. Their intelligence apparatus, psychological operations and strategic planners work closely when making plans for the upcoming campaign to maximize damage upon the enemy while minimizing loss of life and logistical support. However campaigns requiring long, pitched battles or ones against a foe that knows not fear has historically been the bane of the Brigade. Even some rebelions have been too much for the Brigade to quell in full, requiring an outright culling of the planet.

Their efficiency can be seen in their arranged public mass executions called Parades. Their main focus is to raise morale of the troops and make local population be more complient for the Brigade and Imperium of Men also demoralize enemies, but they also have secondary objective. For example these can be utilized to isolate certain areas to make "safe zones" for Brigade. These parades are often advertised events in which large swaths of the surrounding civilian populace (should any remain) are invited to an area such as a city square or mall with the promise of aide and succor. Often this also attracts covert traitors that wish to inflict harm upon the population and brigadiers, however the brigade will usually anticipate this and once the enemy shows their hand the unit will close off the parade grounds, turning into a killing field.

Once the enemy has been dealt with the true purpose of the parade is revealed; Peacekeepers roll out detainees and prisoners of war and begin to crucify them and impale them upon corpse pikes in a grand and grizzly ceremony.

History and Homeworld

A land of stark beauty, Argo is split by a great salt water sea that acts more as a great lake, most of the world's water residing in great subterranean aquifers. The sands that cover the majority of the planet are split by the equator, the sands around the equatorial belt are a deep azure, known to the Argives as the Dune Sea, while they take on a more golden hue until one reaches the frigid poles, where the sands are almost a blood red where the snow doesn't obscure them. Those areas are known as the Sea of Fire in the South and the Bloodtide in the northern regions. The waters of Argo are a glistening green. Along the great Kratoan Delta stands the great Sentinel of Argo, argent and stoic atop the sapphire sands.

At his sandaled feet lay a field of the red Argoan flower of many names. The greater Imperium knows them most commonly as Argoan Gorepoppies, a name earned not only through their red coloration but the mechanism of their bloom. Common on the coasts and deltas, the flower will grow upon any source of moisture, but will grow in a stunning red shade when slaked on blood -Unknown Argos Poet

The metropolitan desert world of Argo VII, the beating mercantile heart of the the Illius X System was a world rife with political subterfuge and underhanded maneuvering. So great were the sheer amount of political assassinations and proxy wars that the Administratum accidentally labeled the world as a Death World based on sheer regional death counts alone. Eventually, in an effort to appease the overly decadent upper class, the System Governor, Dantonius Validici LX, rallied the planetary governors under his banner and called to secede from the Imperium and to sell their AgriWorlds and Forge World to the highest bidder to purchase protection.

Before the mighty hammer of Imperial Wrath could be brought upon the system, the Steadfast arbiters of the Adeptus Arbites called into action the sole dissenting PDF, that of Argo VII itself. They did not need to appeal to any notion but their Emperor bound duty, and the Argoan PDF rallied to bring the planet to heel and the System Governor to his death. The PDF and the Arbites fought off nearly the entire planet and supplementary forces from across the system and even Dark Eldar and other Xenos mercenaries from across the subsector.

The Argoan PDF fought valiantly, but their losses were too great. Reduced to a single Brigade, the fighters were pressed into hiding were they formed a covert insurgency. Chemical Weapons and improvised explosives harried the planet for months to come, but their most potent weapon was their gruesome propaganda; the crucified bodies of opposition leaders and other fallen. Nailed to single boarded crucifixes upside down, suspended by their feet, their hands bound below their heads or nailed at the base of the boards, these eerie monuments bathed the cities with carmine Argoan Gorepoppies, the red flower in stark contrast to the distended corpses of the fallen.

Eventually the will to fight the lone Brigade was broken, and the sparse civilian resistance left flocked to the Brigade, following the trail of crosses and tombstone-like displays. Bolstered by loyal servants of the Imperium the Brigade felt no mercy, offered no respite, and left no survivors. Those that did not fight with them fought against them, and those that didn't fight did not fight for the Brigade. None were spared in the purging of the Hives, few were left alive in the great Phosphorous Flood of the Western Provinces, and all who surrendered in the Siege of the Validici Presidio were forced to crucify those that did not, the leaders and nobility stretched along the ferrocrete slabs torn from the System Governor's Palace and nailed to them, their bellies slashed and left to disgorge their contents. The endless waves of traitor guard were simply impaled in their formation ranks through their sides with great charnel pikes, then heaved into the air like victorious banners.

The surviving enemy were gathered into a long queue, stretching from the bloodied throne of Dantonius Validici LX and his chemically charred form (still alive to be saved for very last), to the pearlescent gates of the fabulous Presidio. There they were received by the grim detainees that made the wise choice to surrender to the merciless Brigade. The Lord Commissar would then issue one of two commands, dictating the prisoner's grim fate;

"UPSIDE DOWN!" "SIDEWAYS!"

The screams of the impalings and the wailing of those forced to commit them filled the air for three days, the Brigade working in shifts to oversee the workers who slaved tirelessly, the Lord Commissar himself only pausing his dirge of judgement for water and ration but never sleep.

On the dawning of the fourth day System Govenor Dantonius, dehydrated and dying but to his benefit still living, was dragged from his melting throne and brought before the remaining Lord Judge and was labeled Traitoris and sentenced to death. He was taken to the great balcony of his palace, and so all could see, nailed to the very walls of his monument to excess.

The other planets of Illius X were quelled, surrendering in their shock and horror in seeing what the Imperial force was willing to do to their own people, and perhaps lesser men would have accepted the victory. But the Argo Brigade are not lesser men. They took to the stars, and each Planetary Governor, every Hive lord, and every ranking Noble on the worlds that did not fight for their Emperor was set upon the slab, crucified before their people. Those that stood against them died in droves, their cities burned and their monuments destroyed.

Illius X was awash with blood and the choking fog of Argoan war. The victory of the lone brigade from the throne world Argo was complete and total. When the Inquisition responded a short few years later to the threats of confederacy they found the system marred by conquest. They questioned the loyal servants of the Imperium as to the status of the system, threats of Astartes response silently hung in the air.

To their shock, the fighters answered simply, "All is well. The Argo Brigade endures. For the Emperor."

Now the system is rife with grim labor and merciless justice. Many Regiments have been formed to meet Imperial Tithe in recompense for their crimes, but none can match the tactical acumen and psychological might of that of the storied of Argo's fighters, simply Known as the Argo Brigade. Small and efficient, the Brigade still dons dusty blue helms of the original Argo PDF, their rank and unit crest a furious red in honor of the dunes of Argo, still red with the solemn Gorepoppy fields.

Before the great Argoan Purge, Argo was a land as beautiful as it lavish, great palaces to the nobility embraced by shimmering golden dunes, crystalline river deltas feeding into cities grand and imperial, mighty highways that girdled the magnificent world.

To adamantium mined elsewhere in the system to vast array of trade contracts with several Rogue Trader Dynasties, the world of Argo was awash with wealth and luxury, which only enabled the nobilities games of court and courtship. Beyond the decadent palaces and sprawling cities of gold and silver, the armies of Argo where as much a status symbols as the famed Sentinel of Argo, a great statue of adamantium in the form of a mighty Terran hero, spear rested against a thick arm, hand sat upon a great circular Shield.

Though there was a well drilled PDF, the throne world had tithed a few dozen Armored Regiments, although they were simply as lip service to the greater Imperium.

The Argoan Armoured Regiments bore marvelous and esoteric armaments, from mighty Baneblades to steadfast Malcadors to the noble Macharius, which in those storied times was the most pedestrian vehicle amongst those honoured ranks.

Mere centuries after the brutality of the Heresy, the Magos of Vulcus Omega, the lavish forgeworld of the Illius X system, Kalimar Khan conspired to corrupt the System Govenor to leave the sundered Imperium. To his jubilation Dantonius Validici LX had already set in place his own seditious machinations.

What neither traitor had accounted for was the loyalists that would not accept such blind betrayal. While all have heard the tale of the ardent Brigade and their struggle against heresy, few outside of the Illius system acknowledge the loyalist warriors of the Vulcus Skitarii or the 7th Argoan Armoured Regiment, without both of which the Brigade would not have succeeded in their honourable campaign.

When the Argoan Purge began in earnest the Skitarii revolted against the Magos and the 7th Armoured, that most auspicious brotherhood, joined cannon and tread with the noble PDF. It was the Baneblades that watered the azure sands of the Erimos Desert with blood enough to grow a sea of Argoan Gorelilies. It was the Vanquishers that broke the supply lines of the Noble forces and drove back the traitor Armoured Regiments. 

But the lone regiment could not hope to withstand the full weight of the rest of the armoured regiments, and so their numbers fell direly. Those that remained until the twilight of the Purge became some of the most skilled and relentless tank crews in the history of the Sub-sector, renowned tank duelists and masters of armoured warfare.

Almost all the Baneblades fell victim to the overwhelming force applied against them, although they did not go quietly. The lone surviving Baneblade is a storied and legendary vehicle, seen rarely in military parades and even more rarely during times of dire need. When the Purge finally ended in the favor of the loyalists, the few remaining tanks were inducted into the Brigade as the 701st Armoured Regiment.

Now the regiment consists of mainly of Leman Russ Vanquishers, fit to slay other tanks, however there are a few honoured survivors of the Argoan Purge; a Companies worth of Macharius Vanquishers, a platoon of Leman Russ Destroyers, five Malcador Annihilators, and a singluar Malcador Infernus. These wizened veterans of the Argoan Purge rarely see combat, but when they are called upon there is little in the known galaxy that can survive their combined might.

Armory of the Brigade

The Gear of the Pacifier.

Standard kit

All infantry are equip with gas masks and re-breathers on account of all the toxic/poisonous gas they throw around. Basic infantry carry various gas grenades: choke, toxin, hallusinogen and scare grenades.

Special weapons

The backbone of the Argo Brigade used for both anti-armor attacks and also to melt the flesh of anyone who gets to upity, is the CHEM CANNON. Traditionally mounted on Bane Wolves it has been modified to be used by heavy gunner teams as well as mounted on Taurox. Meltas and flamers are also favored by the Brigade. They make use of mortars and missile launchers occasionally having Tiberius Pattern Anti-Armour rifles.

Tiberius Pattern Anti-Armour Rifle

The Tiberius Pattern Anti-Armour Rifle is a "man portable" stubber-like weapon. Bolt action and magazine fed, the meter and a half long weapon is meant to allow infantry Peacekeepers to combat enemy armor in the absence of Melta weaponry or allied armor. The rifle, nicknamed "the Bunkerbuster", is commonly issued to Recon scouts who may encounter armored resistance and therefore need to be prepared for such eventualities since the armaments on their vehicles are often not enough to combat heavy tanks and walkers such as Crisis Suits or monstrous creatures such as a Talos Pain Enginer as well as breaching lighter bunker walls.

Due to the weapon system's overwhelming weight and the weight of the large calibre rounds, the weapon platform is sparingly issued to standard Peacekeepers.

The Mole Launcher

Used by the Brigade when assaulting fortified position, the common tactic is begin chemical/gas barrages on the enemy position. Once the enemy has begun to bunker down, the Brigade's teams of Mole Launcher operators will all coordinate their first salvo to take target the foundation of the enemy position in order to collapse the enemy's locations.

This tactic, known as the Call & Cull is often used on enemy positions of medium to light fortification, i.e. small towns, forts, cities not designed for prolonged sieges. The mole launchers are not effective against particularly strong or highly developed bunkers.

However, part of the effectiveness of this tactic is that it benefits from the Brigade's careful and viciously patient style of warfare. Their methods of intel gathering, along with coin and insurgency tactics often provide their assualts with more than ample tactical information to best make their strikes as devastating as possible.

Nailer

The Nailer, a pistol finding its origins in traditional nail guns used in construction is carried as a side arm by the pacification squads to assist in mass crucifixion. It fires a modified bolt the size and shape of a railroad spike.

Armour and other machinery

Story of "the Olde Armour of Argo" shows what type of tanks Argo Brigade uses but there are few other things Brigade uses often.

Argo Brigade favors the use of APCs such as Chinera and Taurox. Their main battle tanks is formed from Hellhounds and Bane Wolves. There arent many Leman Russes but the few they have have been speficly designed to take out enemy armour.

Argo Brigade holds various pieces of artillery. Basilisks and Wyverns are commonlh used for larger campaings. Deathstrike and Manticore missile systems are used in strikes that need more precision. All the artilleries are equipped with high explosive shells and gas shells.

Regimental Uniforms

These are the standard uniform for troop type, largely divided by what battlefield purpose they serve. That said, among the many, many different Brigades of Argo, there are minor variations and idiosyncrasies dispersed among them, each building the character of its men. In spite of that, these are all the standards, found on almost all guardsmen.

   Flametroops have the standard uniform, but with a face guard plate bolted to the chest plate of their flak vest, and the gas mask features a visor as opposed to the goggle eyes. The fatigues are naturally flame retarded via sewn in asbestos.

   Melta troops, as well as heavy flamer and the rare plasma troop always wear the Heavy uniform to prevent damage to the user through excess heat.

   Tankers and artillerymen have the standard uniform sans flak vest.

   Intelligence and Military Police sport visor gas masks similar to the Flamer Troops in infantry units, in reference to Arbites that laid the groundwork for their place in the Brigade. Their flak vests match their fatigues with red shoulder guards and a dark body. The helmet assembly is blue as is traditional.

   Cav Scout uniforms, as well as the Special Task Force embedded in MP units lack any blue in their informs, and the red symbolizing the fields of Gorepoppy on Argo is limited as well. Due to their operations occurring mainly at night the uniform is the same dark camo present in most other fatigues. Cav scouts generally wear the standard helmet and flak vest of rank and file Peacekeepers (infantrymen) to keep a low weight when dismounted so they can return with haste to their vehicle should the need arise. Special Task Force soldiers wear the Heavy uniform due to their usual insertion via Valkyrie gun ships and the quick and surgical nature of their missions. Cav Scouts and Special Task Force soldiers also make great use of improvised and issued ghillie suits as well as other camo cloaks meant to blend in with un-urban environments or daytime operations 

   Engineers likewise have a standard uniform, save for extra equipment used in their projects such as construction tools and repair implements. EOD technicians wear the heavy uniform with a blast shield similar to flame troopers

   Argive Pilots wear jumpsuits in a similar camo pattern to the fatigues worn by Peacekeepers but with a blue back panel, with their flight helmets the same Brigadier Blue. Gloves are often red in a grim joke about the blood on their hands.

Organization structure of Argo Brigade

Organization

>>>>77th Argoan Peacekeeper Brigade (The Argo Brigade)

>>>177th Peacekeeper Battalion (221st/The Justicars)

>>Alpha Company (Aljernon's Ardent) Infantry >Six Platoons (Infantry, Mortar teams, medics, etc)

>>Bravo Company (Bia's Bastions) Infantry >Six Platoons

>>Charlie Company (Cairon's Chosen) Infantry >Six Platoons

>>Delta Company (Deimos's Defenders) Recon Cav Scouts and Air Cav >Six Platoons (Taurox, Bikes, Sentinels, Valkyries etc) 

>>Echo Company (Epiphron's Endurers) Military Intelligence+Military Police >Three Intel Platoons (Human Intelligence, PsyOps, Signals Intelligence) >Three MP Platoons (Canine+EOD+Police, Commissariat, Special task force) 

>>>277th Peacekeeper Battalion (The Punishers)

>>Alpha Company (Armageddon) Infantry >Six Platoons 

>>Bravo Company (Braves) Infantry >Six Platoons

>>Charlie Company (Crucifiers) Infantry >Six Platoons

>>Delta Company (Deathdealers) Recon Cav Scouts and Air Cav >Six Platoons 

>>Echo Company (Eviscerators) Military Intelligence+Military Police >Three Intel Platoons  >Three MP Platoons

>>>377th PK Bat (Wildcats)

>>Alpha Company (Alligators)

>>Bravo Company (Bulls)

>>Charlie Company (Cobras)

>>Delta Company (Dingos)

>>Echo Company (Eagles)

>>>477th PK Bat

>>Alpha Company

>>Bravo Company

>>Charlie Company

>>Delta Company

>>Echo Company

>>>501st Fires Battalion

>>Artillery Company (Horns of Argo) Basilisks

>> Heavy Mortar Company (Organs of Argo) Wyverns

>> Surface to Surface Missile (STSM) Company (Whispers of Argo) Deathstrikes and Manticores

>>>502nd Fires Battalion

>>Artillery Company

>>Heavy Mortar Company

>>STSM Company

>>>503rd Fires

>>Artillery Company

>>Heavy Mortar Company

>>STSM Company

>>>601st Engineers

>>Alpha Company (Engineers, in charge of mass crucifixtions) >Two platoons (Engineers, ogryns, nailers)

>>Bravo Company >One platoon (Military police)

>>>602nd Engies

>>Alpha Company

>>Bravo Company

>>>603rd Engies

>>Alpha Company

>>Bravo Company

>>>701st Armoured Regiment (Tanks and other Armored vehicles like Taurox)

>>Alpha Company (Hammers of Bross) >Two platoons (Leman Russ Vanquishers + one Baneblade

>>Bravo Company (Shields of Bross) > Five Platoons (Chimeras, Taurox, other APCs)

>>Charlie Company (Armour of Bross) > Five Platoons (Chimeras, Taurox, other APCs)

>>Delta Company (Fire of Bross) > Six platoons (Hellhounds and Bane Wolves)

The Crunch

Homeworld: Argo VII, Illius X System

Colors: Sky Blue armour with white accents with Charcoal fatigues with Carmine accents.

Specialty: COIN Operations, anti armor, mass "pacification"

Tactical info: Shock troops/light infantry with artillery support

Battlecry: "Nail 'em up!" also "Upside down! Sideways!"

Special Weapons: The Chem cannon and Nailer Pistol and various gas grenades

Favorite Pastime: Crucifixion

Champions: The Bross Family Line

Loyalty: Fanatical

Allies: Adeptus Mechanicus, Adeptus Arbites, the Ecclesiarchy

Enemies: Traitors and Xenos, especially Tau and Dark Eldar.

Modus Operandi: Rapid insertion into war zones with extreme target prioritization of enemy armor or mass concentrations of infantry. This is followed by mass executions and chemical bombardment to pacify local populations, as well as using the brigade intelligence apparatus and special police teams to keep the civilian population in check and route out further insurgency.

Only War Statblock

TBD

Writefaggotry

Some stories and tidbits coming out of the first thread, to be categorized later.

Mercy Duty

How Young Guardsmen are Made Into Brigadiers

The actual work of the mercy duty is to mentally prepare the soldiers towards their way of war. It's not surprising that many men may have difficulty getting used to such brutal and terrible warfare.

When the newer soldiers have mercy duty they go through the crucified in squads of 5 per unit. Their first time they will have to see if there are any crucified who are still alive. They are duty bound to execute any they see with a swift stab of the bayonets and keep count.

The second time the do their duty they will be given new rules. They are allowed to talk to the victims and are allowed to judge whether or no to use the bayonet to end an enemies suffering. 

The next time they will do the same except now they will only be able to use the bayonet on 10% of those they come across. Those they use the spear on, must first give their final testimony to the squad telling them their home, role in the forces of the enemy, if they have any family. 

Finally the squad will be assigned one last time to do their duty, but this time they can only use the bayonet once.

While this special duty may seem counterintuitive to such a brutal regiment it makes the soldiers understand that all of these crucified were still enemies of the IoM. 

Even those were cried and pleaded for mercy were still enemies who sought to destroy mankind's greatest edifice.

Indus' Fifth Compound

Story of Corpsman Indus

While resupplying on an Imperial world, the planet and Brigade came under attack by an Eldar raiding party of Craftworld Alaitoc for purposes arcane. During the attack, Corpsman Indus, who always had a bit of a mad scientist streak, flooded the corridors of the base with various compounds that he suspected were paralyzing to Eldar. Many defenders choked and died on his toxic substances, but his fifth compound changed the course of battle.

Just as the raiders prepared to extract the mon'keigh target as they had foretold, one of Indus' compounds hit upon the Eldar pain receptors, causing their bodies to be racked with seizures from the unending pain. The defenders were able to take quite a few living Eldar prisoners, paralyzed by the pain, for the Ordo Xenos.

Indus' Fifth Compound, as it is now called, is being studied on Eldar prisoners to determine just what makes it so effective.

Sergeant Bross

A Tale of Brigadiers at War

Dust swirled in the wartorn streets, the air filled with the shrill war cry of Valkyrie guns alight with fury, the soft crunch of heavy boots crumbling the rubble of what used to be homes and businesses. Tau propaganda hung from windows in tattered banners and shredded posters. Calling for surrender with false saccharine promises of a better life under their xenos oppression. Sergeant Bross curled his lip in disgust underneath his mask, corrosive fumes drifting about his boots like morning fog, the roaring engine of the immense Crassus transport crawling beside him drowning out all thoughts of xenocide. Well, not all. Even through his mask the stench of death filled his nostrils, that sickly sweet smell of corpses and the savory scent of auto weaponry.

His element proceeded before the Crassus, keen eyes on the ground to protect the precious cargo of their brethren from unseen attack, their black lifeless goggles scanning windows and rooftops, rifles held at a low ready. With little pretense a whistling crack from a nearby window, a sniper shot. The shot erupted Private Kraden's helmet in a shower of crimson and blue shrapnel. The squad called out the distance and direction of the shot in stern shouts, and began to encircle the transport for security. The massive doors of the Crassus groaned open and troops began to pour out and lay down fire while the heavy flamers of the vehicle belched flame into the building.

Return fire came not shortly after, the terrorists having sprinted to another adjacent building not engulfed in flame. The disembarking troops gave pursuit, falling into cover and bounding forward, the Flamer leading the way in a grim stride. A dangerous game, but nothing broke the will of inexperienced fighters like the sight of an Argoan Flametrooper. The Brigadiers surrounded the crumbling building, tossing in gas grenades and for those with shotguns or grenade launchers incendiary or nerve rounds. Auto Rifles, shotguns, las-rifles, even pulse rifles condemning their heresy were tossed from the windows and doors, as the insurgent scum fled from the building with their hands thrust skyward. Perhaps they expected mercy.

Flaming, chemically burned, shot, stabbed, the criminals were in pitiful condition. As they fled from battle like faithless curs they were greeted by steady volleys of las fire. Brigadier marksmanship ensured that they were not lethal wounds, no death in battle was not a right that cowards had. To die for one's cause was an honor that only true warriors could aspire to, even scum heretics. Lasfire met shins, splintering them, kneecaps, shredding them, and shoulders, splitting them. The dregs fell to the dirt, crying out in pain, for death, for their mothers who failed to instil faith and virtue in them, for their xenos slave lords, some even for the Emperor's mercy.

Wordlessly, Sergeant Bross's soldiers began to drag away the yet-living dead. It always pleased the grizzled soldier to see such ease with which his soldiers plied their craft after battle. Their movements were precise, practiced, and in some vague way religious, as if they were performing some ecclesiarchal rite.In many ways, it was, for in Justice there is no greater veneration of the Emperor. The medics made to the transport, no doubt to retrieve corpse-pikes and slabs, the singular thin sheets of light metal that the enemy would be pinned upon in lieu of true crucifixes. Sergeant Bross, stepped forth, placing a gloved hand on Corporal Daret's shoulder, "Don't waste slabs on these ones, just use the walls," He motioned to the flaming building, still alight with bless'd promethium, "We need to save up for Objective Lho, the city square should have more creeps." The medic nodded, "Roger that." Bross could feel the grim smile on the young medic's face as he motioned for his comrades to the charred walls.

"PLEASE, STOP! DON'T DO THIS! I'LL TELL YOU ANYTHING!" cried one of the wretches, as his flayed thigh gouted scarlet blood upon the dirt. Bross slung his rifle over his shoulder, and the trooper dragging the man by his crushed fingers stopped. Bross tore the man's fetid tunic and wrapped his dire wound painfully tight, earning him sour whimpers of pain. "Which of you had the sniper rifle?" the soldier asked smoothly, his gruff tones barely concealing seething fury. The vandal immediately nodded emphatically to one of their ragged number, the vagrant having lost his arm. The fireteam laughed at his eagerness, then laughed harder at the sniper's cries of protest and his cursing of his comrade at his immediate betrayal. Bross simply unsheathed his knifed secured to his breastplate and drove it through the snitch's temple, rewarding his compliance. Then he stalked over to the one armed sniper.

"That was a good shot there, killer," Bross said, unsecuring his gas mask from his helmet, letting it swing free from one side, acrid gas singeing his lungs and eliciting a cough. Bross cared little, cancer was already eating away at his lungs, it wouldn't be too much longer til fighting wasn't an option. He retrieved his pack of Lho sticks from underneath his armour, using his chin to open the pack and grabbing a loose stick with his lips, lighting it off his still hot barrel, "Shame about that arm, eh?" Bross inhaled deeply, the lho dulling his raging emotions, clearing his thoughts, they'd need to move quickly, it wasn't safe to indulge in business like this. The sniper just spat in his face. Bross politely retorted with a curt punch to his forehead, his knuckles rapping soundly off the bone. Bross took a deep drag before placing the stick in the creep's mouth, who began to puff gladly "I'll cut you deal, same deal I gave your friend over there. Talk and we won't put you to the cross or to the flame. Quick and clean. How's about it, slugger?" 

The man nodded tiredly, "What do you want, Imperial." Bross nodded, satisfied, the sound of distant mortar fire and panicked screams music to his ears. The battle was going well. "Tasha Square, you know it?" The rebel nodded. "Good, that's great man, you're doing great. Now what defenses are there, we know the Blueberries moved in last night, what do they got there for us?" The sniper sighed, tears welling in his eyes, the shock of capture compelling him to speak, "They're using it as a Hammerhead depot, there's Stealthers there too. Th-that's all I know, I swear. N-now just do whatever you will." Bross chuckled, taking the lho stick from the detainee and taking one last puff before putting it out on the haggard man's head, "Oh I will, fucker. Trust me, I will. Nail 'im up, let's get this show on the road." "YOU SWORE! WE HAD A DEAL!" Bross shook his head, putting back on his mask, "I lied, heretic."

The soldiers dragged the screaming victims to the still smouldering walls, taking nailers, a side arm that found its origins as an industrial nail gun but since the Argoan Revolution has found use in the Emperor's service as a short range weapon and an effective tool for making an example of dissidents. Bross enjoyed his profession, but the sizzling of flesh, the cracking of bone and concrete as nails were driven through bound feet and wall, the hopeless wailing of the damned...there was no glory in this, but crucifixion is far more than tradition, it is a necessary to quell future dissent. The hiss and crack of the Nailers ceased, the fools now hung by their feet, the spreading flames licking their toes. The soldiers took their combat knives and drug them across the exposed bellies of the inverted, intestines pushing out like grotesque blooms of some exotic and macabre fruit, ripe and wriggling. 

"Mount up boys, Bravo squad, you're up for walking, Alpha on me in the truck." The soldiers did as commanded and moved their fallen brother onto the transport, " Hurry the fuck up! We have to make objective and rendezvous with Charlie, those heretics won't pin themselves up!" The troops flooded into the transport, some popping off their masks to have a smoke, other checking their gear, some obviously falling fast asleep. The battlefield faded away within the confines of the Crassus as the doors closed them into the transport and the vehicle continued on to the nexus of violence. Sergeant Bross simply looked at the mangled corpse of his private, then joined his soldiers in rest as he closed his eyes, the sounds of roaring flame and hissing gas drowned out by the grumbling engine lulling him to sleep.

Extermination

A meeting between professionals

Middle Lieutenant Bie Lao of the 5th Hua Yuan Exterminators tapped his fingers absentmindedly to the beat of the music blaring through the internal comms of the Taurox Prime on the wide dashboard, bobbing his head as the convoy raced past the ruined landscape, rolling fogs of gas concealing fields and fields of ruined city. The 5th Exterminators had been deployed to assist in the retaking of Calidad 8 from the Tau Empire, who had used humans insurrectionists to gain a foothold in the planet. Due to the sheer size of the manufactorum planet and the spreading rebellion, the Munitorum saw fit to deploy a second regiment to augment the mission of the unit already planetside. Apparently they had things well in hand enough that calling upon an Astartes chapter would have been unnecessary and frankly wasteful, but the 5th was already passing through the system returning to Hua Yuan after purging a planet riddled with a Genestealer cult.

The unit in question was the 77th Argoan Peacekeeper Brigade, but everyone knew them simply as the Argo Brigade, because there wasn't any other in the known Imperium. Relentless, ruthless, and deadly, the small unit was already a quiet legend long before the Imperium had found Hua Yuan in all her festering glory. Small and well equipped, from what the young officer could tell the two units couldn't be any more different. While the Exterminators as a whole prefered to keep their operational tempo at a breakneck speed to deny the enemy time to react the Brigadiers had a patient and methodical approach to the enemy, rarely running missions back to back and almost always stopping to fortify claimed ground. Even in battle they seemed to have more in common with Necron than the Exterminators; the Exterminators sprint into enemy lines in a dazzling display of firepower and athletic coordination, disorienting and overwhelming the enemy.

The Argives by contrast would prefer to take cover and pelt the enemy with return fire while another element executes a swift flank. Such measures often produced more enemy casualties than confirmed kills, but after seeing them after combat...Bie Lao was convinced this was by design. Nothing separated the two units more than how they saw other humans. Sure, Gardeners by and large have tremendous pride in their homeland and tend to be a little brusque towards foreigners, but if you have good music and better drink you can buy the friendship with relative ease. The Argives on the other hand only really seemed to relax around their own number, even the non-Argive Brigadiers. Towards others they seemed...almost predatory, as if constantly looking for some hidden heresy to crucify you for. In the case of the Exterminators and their Xenon, they were all lucky that it was as close a secret as it is...

Perhaps that's what made the Lieutenant so uneasy around the Argives, not just because of their haughty attitudes or fine equipment, or even their excruciatingly boring approach to combat. It was the torture. It was almost like the Exterminator trophy hunting, Bie Lao thought as he stroked the gaunt skull fitted onto his shoulder, but it wasn't meant to show skill or status, it was to build fear. Fear and disgust. And it worked. The last thing Bie Lao wanted was to have to fight the Brigadiers and survive lest he end up upside down on a cross, or on his side with a spear lodged through his ribs. The convoy screeched to a halt as they neared a small traffic circle at the end of the dusty road. MLT Bie Lao, in the lead vehicle, hopped out of the garrish, trophy littered vehicle, hitting the ground with a hard thud. Awaiting him in the circle, where the Brigadiers.

The Brigadiers sat in their Taurox blocking the streets into the circle, the turrets of the light vehicles pointed down the roads leading to the circle, as the lieutenant jogged up to the halted brigadiers he saw that there were a few guns pointed his way, which made him none too comfortable. Only adding to his apprehension was their uniforms, which lacked any of the typical blue or red and instead were a uniform dark drab. As he neared the end of the street the vehicle at its mouth came to life with a purring engine. And a mounted weapon pointed straight at him. From the mounted turret came a single shout in Low Gothic, "Crimson!". The Lieutenant halted and shouted back, "Eagle!". He had been briefed the challenge and pass for the day over a secure vox channel in code briefed to him the day before, the verbal Vox cipher was meant to be changed weekly, if possible. Bie Lao pondered a unit such as large as any Hua Yuanese one utilizing so many security measures without something going wrong. He shuddered at the thought.

The Tauros pulled into the traffic circle, and one of the brigadiers dismounted from the vehicle, waving the convoy into into the circle. As the convoy rolled along the brigadier approached the lieutenant, "Captain Keterov, Delta Company Cav, 277th. Seems like you lot didn't die out there." Bie Lao, "Sorry to disappoint, Sir. Middle Lieutenant Bie Lao, 1st Company 505th." The Gardener offered his hand to the captain. It did not reciprocate. The Brigadier turned his back and walked back to his vehicle. "Your men better be good to go Lieutenant, we've been here far too long. You lot took your sweet fucking time." "We ran into some resistance, sir." "Is that an excuse, soldier? I thought the Exterminators were fighters." Bie Lao, grimaced, "No, sir." The Cav Scout regarded him with a soulless eye from his gas mask, "No that's not an excuse? Or no, you Exterminators aren't worth your collective weight in shit?'

Blue Grox Snowfall

A field report of a zealot

Mission entry of A. Black, Acolyte of the Holy Ordos:

Operation: Blue Grox Snowfall

"Having been attached to the Argo Brigade for well over 2 months now, I had found myself worrying about losing the trail of [redacted]. The regiment was, slow. The men and women of the regiment were consummate professionals, very capable and competent soldiers, utterly dedicated to the orders of the Emperor. However their way of waging war seems wanting to the untrained eye.

Since my attachment to the regiment they had gained all of 4 miles towards the target zone. While some would see such a slow pace as indicative of cowardice, soldiers simply trying to run out the clock before they need to be bloodied in the bathes of war, there was no fear in the Brigade. Rather the entire regiment takes a very methodical approach towards war.

The operations center of the regiment was well fortified and yet it seemed so very...impermanent? It was well established, yet it seemed as if at any moment the entire base could be dissassembled and the entire regiment could simply disappear into the ground.

It was only after a week had gone by that I had realized that the regiment had been very busy while they were supposedly holding still. Within the short time the Brigade had established this front, they had an extensive network of contacts, information sources, and locals.

The weeks have been punctuated by sporadic blooms of death in the distance, but no real action, until today.

The Cobi Mine Weighstation, the only supplied and viable node in the whole region between the Imperial front and the Heretical forces was considerable. Commanding a large space in the arid valley, it had been heavily supplied and fortified by the enemy. My early estimations calculated some considerable losses if the regiment was to stage an attack without any other support.

and yet they did stage an attack without any other imperial help.

Mission Entry of A. Black, Acolyte of the Holy Ordos, revisted:

The entire regiment geared up and set out to take the WeighStation. Upon approach of the target the plan began to form. The regiment got into position and then there was just waiting.

finally the whistling of the wind was interrupted by the sound of gun-fire and explosions. Partisans who had become aligned with the regiment staged an "attack" on the settlement outside of the Weighstation. From our vantage point and high power magnoculars it was clear that the attack was certainly a spectacle. It was more impressive to see just how many of the archenemy began to stream out from the Weighstation.

I began to worry. It was clear that I had underestimated the numbers holding the target.

But before I could voice my concern over how costly an assault would be, I heard the heavens scream. The Argo Brigade began it's attack. A series of salvos from the heavy artillery announced the arrival of the Argo Brigade.

The artillery was launching gas and chemical shells. The striking aspect though, was that the shells were designed with certain features that caused the air rushing past them to scream. It was quite a sound to hear.

Within minutes large clouds of sickly yellow smoke were visible with the naked eye from our far off position. Through my magnocular I could see many of the enemy troops now hurrying towards their makeshift bastion as scores of their comrades began to fall.

Then the bastion built on the Weighstation collapsed. The regiment had deployed a number of heavy weapons teams utilizing mole launchers across the valley to close but hidden positions within range of the target.

in the weeks before the assault the regiment had acquired in-depth knowledge of the entire settlement and facility. When the first salvo of mole launchers went off, they hit the weakest parts of the structural foundation.

> After that it became a slaughter. They called the tactic, the Cull and Call

See Also

TBD

Gallery

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  An emblem of the Argo Brigade featuring both a human and xeno crucifixion.

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  A Guardsman of the Argo Brigade rendered by the Bolter and Chainsword Guardsman painter.

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  A Guardsman of the Argo Brigade edited with gasmask.

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  A Guardsman and Officer of the Brigade in regimental kit.

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  A Peacekeeper and a Grenadier.

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  A patrolling Commissar detached to the brigade.

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  A Flametrooper; a Peacekeeper equipped with a flamer.

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  Brigadiers having fun experimenting with crucifixion.

External Links

First Thread: Creation, Ideas, Drawfaggotry, Writefaggotry: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/52865307/#p52919274

Getting things done: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/52921937/

Even more stuff: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/52962986/

Starting to look like something: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/52989751/