Iron Rangers

"Please understand. I know you wish to fight us. Consider our words. Should you decide on your futility, we shall not fall to your planet as formations of men and steel. We shall descend as wrathful ghosts in the night. To attack us is to strike at smoke and shadows. You will fail, and you will fall. And I know how. Your defenses will be systematically reduced to rubble. Your officers shall be woken in the night to our knives in their throats. Your peacekeepers shall be murdered by those they once stood to defend. Your palaces shall be torn asunder by those who once built them. But you will see none of it, for you shall be the first to know that our creed speaks true."

Iron Rangers
Battle Cry	"No one is beyond our reach."
Number	XX
Founding	First Founding
Chapter Master	Cellweirwyr
Primarch	Rogerius Merrill
Homeworld	Profi Tiroedd
Strength	85,000 (estimated)
Specialty	Asymmetrical Warfare and assassination
Allegiance	Chaos Undivided
Colours	Green, Brown, and Black

Summary of Legion XX

Numeration: XX

Primogenitor: Rogerius Merrill

Cognomen (Prior): None. Merrill believed it a disservice to those that came before him to rename the legion.

Observed Strategic Tendencies: Asymmetrical Warfare and Assassination

Legion Combat Doctrine

The Iron Rangers are pragmatists. They don't need to use a direct and costly assault when a sneaky assassination would get the job done. They are taught to work alone or in small groups, often using guerrilla tactics, or supplementing other forces. Utilizing these strategies, they have outfought much larger well equipped foes.

Pre-Heresy Tactics

Before falling to Chaos, the Iron Rangers preferred diplomacy over force. When force was required, they would often merely launch small strikes against individual leaders that opposed them, to reduce collateral damage and make transitions more or less peaceful. When possible, they would use methods harder to trace back to themselves (poison, utilizing local weaponry to make it look like an in-house job). When they were required to be fielded in larger campaigns, they rarely attacked in full. They had a threefold plan for working in Campaigns.

Their Tactical Squads (and some Captains/Command Squads) would split into small teams to bolster and assist whatever allied regular human forces were available, in the form of additional training, better equipment, strategic/tactical advisors, additional, specialized firepower, and the morale boost of fighting next to Space Marines. Their scouts would deploy to set up Observation Posts and various Rally Points and Forward Operating Bases, whilst their Jetbikes, Skimmers, Assault Marines, and Air Power would be delivering hit-and-run missions against enemy Supply and Communications lines, Supply/Equipment Depots/Caches, destroying key strategic and defensive assets, and assassinations of High Value Leaders.

As a result, in most campaigns the credit went to whatever forces they were allied with, which left them seeming to be the weakest of the Legions, rather than being credited as one of the most subtle and inspired strategic thinkers.

Legion Command Structure

Due to the fractal nature of the Iron Rangers' fighting methods, a much more detailed Chain of Command was required. All Chapters are commanded by an Elder. Each Chapter is broken down into roughly 1,000 man fighting units, called Tribes, led by a Grandfather. Each Tribe is divided into 10 Troupes, each led by an Uncle. Troupes are then split into 3 Raids, led by a Huntsman. Raids are split into several 11-man units, roughly equivalent to a squad, called Hunts. Though the leadership of a hunt has no official title, it is considered a slightly higher rank than an average Space Marine Sergeant. Hunts are divided into 2 5-man Teams. Teams consist of one leader, with two individual pairings.

The reason behind such an extensive command structure is ease of use. As opposed to one Company Commander managing 10 squads, he can simply manage 3 Raids. He issues orders to the Huntsmen, who follow his orders in a manner they see necessary, often delegating some authority to leaders of the Hunts, and so on down the line.

The exception to this rule is the Milwyr Cŵyn and the XI Chapter (Recruits). The Milwyr Cŵyn are led by their Elder, Cellweirwyr, and all considered roughly equal in rank to an Uncle. They are rotated during campaigns to keep the number of units being actively used to a minimum. The rank issued is to both allow them to utilize assets from other Chapters as well as to remind them of their responsibilities, as they are largely left to perform their rotations themselves, only communicating with Cellweirwyr or the Primarch only during a crisis or if they cannot perform in a rotation (example: combat losses).

Legion Colours and Heraldry