Editing Helios Angels (section)

==Tactics==
[[File:Heliotaroi.jpg|200px|thumb|A terminator from Hektor's elite guard, the ''Chrysaspides''.]]
''Hektor understood the most fundamental truth of warfare. He who dared - the spoils!''

'''-Maranthos Egille, the Silver Spear'''


Hektor's peculiar military genius was his eye for terrain. He had an intuition for surveying any battlefield - be it a seemingly featureless desert, a foreboding mountain range, or the void of space. Picking out the focus-point or "place of decision" was his specialty. Battle-plans were then developed intuitively, but a typical pattern was to use the Space Marines' firepower to shape the enemy deployment before a devastating assault was launched by the Legion's elite formations. Each commander had their own modification to this principle. Sebastion Rex used fortification to change the terrain itself. Maranthos Egille would lead from the tip of a lancing assault with bikes to disrupt his foes to make them more easy to decimate. Daedalus Appius cycled out soldiers from the frontline to the rear, allowing them to rest and be healed until redeployment. 

This style of warfare came readily to the Primarch's gene-sons, but others found the method to be startling. Hektor came to play on this, privately studying cartographic data ahead of allied conferences then feigning a nonchalant manner as he greeted outsiders and pretended to look at the lay of the land for the first time. The Primarch would then appear to concentrate intensely for a few moments, before stabbing out a finger and declaring, "There! That is where the battle will be won!" Often times this was followed by a surge of approval, as Hektor proved time and time again his declarations correct.

In pursuit of their model battle, the First Legion developed several elite formations. Most common were the Agema that accompanied her Strategoi and Phalangiarchs. These were veteran soldiers, often trusted with Terminator armour and relied upon to carry the day on countless battlefields. Although the precise talents of the Agema varied depending on the inclination of their commanding officer, it was typical for these hardened soldiers to be outstanding melee fighters.

Above the regular Agema formations were the '''Chrysaspides''', or "Golden Shields" as they were called in Low Gothic. These were Hektor's hand-picked bodyguards, led by his life-long friend '''Hephaestion Horatius'''. They were veteran warriors, chosen for their skill-at-arms, fearlessness and their combat record. Honoured with golden Terminator armour, they were often seen as kin to the Emperor's own Custodes. The Chrysaspides' customised armour was further augmented with systems that generated and discharged bursts of blinding light to incapacitate nearby foes. 

Their equipment, morale, and tremendous battle-skill made their charges almost irresistible. Almost as important as their crack troops were the First Legion's artillery, romantically named the '''Lithoboloi''' in line with Hektor's reverence of Sekander. Sebastion Rex was the only notable exception, naming his artillerists the Iacobī after his chief artillery commander Yakobus. The First fielded a wide profusion of artillery vehicles, including customized super-heavies with awesome firepower. Their ability to move their guns was almost as impressive as the earth-shattering effect of the weapons.