Forces of the Emperor

[ No filterAgents of the EmperorAgents onlyLegio CustodesSisters of SilenceDivisio AssassinorumImperial ArmyImperial Army onlySolar Auxilia ]

Unique Sub-type

Among the warriors and war machines of the Horus Heresy there are many whose names are known throughout the galaxy. Such heroes, prototypes and icons are rare, and though their power can tip any battle in their favour, they can only be in one place at a time.

• An army may not include more than a single instance of a unit with this Sub-type. For example, if Unit A and Unit B both have the Unique Sub-type then a single army could include one of Unit A and one of Unit B, but no more than one of either unit.
• A model or unit composed entirely of models with the Unique Sub-type may not select any options other than those included on its Army List Profile (this includes Legion specific Wargear for models with the Legiones Astartes (X) special rule).

Skirmish Sub-type

Intended to scout enemy positions and screen the advance of heavier units. Skirmishers rely on speed and use of cover to survive rather than heavy armour, rarely faring well when pitted in open battle against true shock infantry.

• A unit that includes only models with the Skirmish Sub-type has a unit coherency range of 3" rather than 2".
• A unit that includes only models with the Skirmish Sub-type increases all Cover Saves granted by terrain by one (i.e., from 6+ to 5+). This only increases existing Cover Saves and does not grant one when in terrain that does not normally grant a Cover Save. This rule cannot increase a Cover Save to better than 2+.

Bombard Sub-type

Certain vehicles are designed to mount one or more large and cumbersome weapons, most often long ranged artillery cannon. Such vehicles are large and heavy enough, or designed with specialised systems to stabilise them whilst they are moving, to allow for the continuous firing of their primary weapons.

• When a model with the Vehicle Unit Type and Bombard Sub-type moves at Combat Speed it may fire any number of Ordnance weapons and may also fire any non-Ordnance weapons normally, ignoring the restrictions of Combat Speed. However, when moving at Cruising Speed it may only fire a single Defensive weapon.

Reinforced Sub-type

The mightiest armoured vehicles of the Horus Heresy featured multiple back-up systems, armoured internal bulwarks and reinforced armour plating. These imposing defences allowed these vehicles to shrug off anything but the most catastrophic damage and survive where lesser vehicles would be crippled and left impotent by enemy fire.

• A model with the Reinforced Sub-type ignores the effects of any Crew Shaken result on the Vehicle Damage table.
• A model with the Reinforced Sub-type does not have to make Snap Shots due to the effects of the Crew Stunned result on the Vehicle Damage table (but still cannot move or pivot until the end of its next turn).

Assassin Sub-type

Lone operatives trained for a single purpose, assassins are not soldiers or warriors in the conventional sense and rarely operate within traditional doctrines. On the field of battle they care only for the destruction of their target, and give no thought to those that struggle around them, whether friend or foe.

• Models with the Assassin Sub-type ignore all movement penalties when moving or Charging through terrain of any kind and automatically pass all Dangerous Terrain tests they are called upon to make.
• Models with the Independent Character special rule may not join a unit composed only of models with the Assassin Sub-type.
• Models with the Assassin Sub-type may not Embark on any model with the Transport Sub-type.
• Models with the Assassin Sub-type may never be selected as an army’s Warlord.

Automated Artillery Sub-type

Most artillery requires a well-trained crew to operate with any efficiency on the field of battle, but some rare types are equipped with simple cogitator arrays that allow for limited remote fire protocols. Such devices fall far short of true automata and are not capable of true decision making, but can be used as simple sentries – set to open fire on anything that does not broadcast a set ident code.

• A unit that includes one or more models with the Automated Artillery Sub-type may not Run, declare or otherwise make Charge moves, or make Reactions.
• A unit that includes one or more models with the Automated Artillery Sub-type may not make Sweeping Advances and if targeted by a Sweeping Advance automatically fails without rolling any dice and is destroyed.
• A unit that includes one or more models with this Unit Sub-type may never hold or deny an Objective.

Close-order Sub-type

Some warriors are drilled to fight in closely packed ranks, seeking to maximise the firepower available to them rather than disperse to avoid enemy fire. Such warriors are most often issued weaponry that relies on such tactics and prove quite formidable upon the battlefield when properly employed by their commanders.

• A unit that includes only models with the Close-order Sub-type has a Unit Coherency range of 1" rather than 2".
• A unit that includes any models with the Close-order Sub-type may not Run and when making a Movement during a Reaction based on its Initiative Characteristic, reduces the distance moved by -1.
• A unit that includes only models with the Close-order Sub-type may move up to half its Movement Characteristic and make Shooting Attacks using weapons with the Heavy type as if they had remained stationary. Such a unit may also declare a Charge in the same turn they make Shooting Attacks with Heavy or Rapid Fire weapons.

Anathema Sub-type

The anathema, or psychic blanks, are individuals whose very presence stills the churning of the ætheric plane and silences the powers of psykers. Those unskilled in the channelling of the Warp find them chilling, while psykers and Daemons are repelled by their aura, an ability that certain factions of the Imperium have sought to put to use on the battlefield.

• A unit that includes at least one model with the Anathema Sub-type may not be directly targeted by any Psychic Power or use any Psychic Power or make attacks with a Psychic Weapon. Psychic Powers whose effects would otherwise be applied to a unit that includes at least one model with the Anathema Sub-type (due to area of effect, scattering or other rules) have no effect, but are not cancelled and may continue to affect other units.
• A model with the Anathema Sub-type that is allocated Wounds caused by a Psychic Weapon (which is any weapon granted to a unit or model by a Psychic Discipline) will always fail to Wound without any dice being rolled and any special rules attached to that Psychic Weapon will not trigger. Any Wounds allocated to a model with the Anathema Unit Sub-type caused by a Force Weapon gain no benefit from the Force special rule, but are otherwise resolved as normal. These effects do not apply to a model with the Transport Sub-type that has models with the Anathema Sub-type Embarked within, unless the model with the Transport Sub-type also has the Anathema Sub-type.
• All models that do not have the Anathema Sub-type, but are part of a unit that includes one or more models with the Anathema Sub-type, suffer a penalty of -2 to their Leadership Characteristic. Any unit with at least one model within 6" of a model with the Anathema Sub-type suffers a penalty of -1 to the Leadership of all models in that unit that do not also have the Anathema Sub-type, or -2 if that unit includes one or more models with the Corrupted Unit Sub-type. Note that these two penalties are not cumulative; they apply only the most severe penalty. However, they do stack with other special rules that modify Leadership (such as Fear (X))In addition, the Leadership Characteristic of a model with the Anathema Unit Sub-type can only be used for a Leadership test or Morale check if all models in that unit have the Anathema Unit Sub-type.
• A unit that is Embarked on a Vehicle, Fortification or Building suffers no penalties to its Leadership Characteristic due to the Anathema Sub-type. However, units with the Stubborn special rule do suffer penalties to their Leadership from the effects of this Sub-type (note that this only applies to the Stubborn special rule, and other special rules that ignore penalties to Leadership ignore the effects of the Anathema Sub-type).

Mechanised Unit Sub-type

Some armoured combat units lack the bulk of true combat vehicles, and operate as light attack or scout platforms. These units mirror the agility of infantry units, but boast the endurance that only a machine can demonstrate.

• Successful Wounds caused by attacks with the Poisoned (X) or Fleshbane special rules must be re-rolled against models with the Mechanised Unit Sub-type.
• Failed To Wound rolls, made for weapons with the Armourbane (X) special rule, and against a unit that includes any models with this Unit Sub-type must be re-rolled.
• A model with the Mechanised Unit Sub-type may attack with all weapons it has when making a Shooting Attack, including as part of a Reaction.
• A model with the Mechanised Unit Sub-type may attack with Heavy and Ordnance weapons while counting as stationary even if it has moved in the preceding Movement phase, and may declare Charges as normal regardless of any Shooting Attacks made in the same turn.
• A model with the Mechanised Unit Sub-type is affected by the Haywire, Detonation and Battlesmith (X) special rules as if it had the Dreadnought Unit Type.
• No model that does not also have the Mechanised Unit Sub-type may join a unit that includes one or more models with the Mechanised Unit Sub-type.

Auxilia Artillerists

Well-practised in the employment of artillery to its most deadly effect, these grim and hard-hearted warriors know best how to place each shot from their guns.

Bitter Duty

Some warriors are marked by the dire weaponry they bear or the grim tactics in which they are trained. These dour cohorts are shunned by their brethren, whether out of respect for their burden or from fear of their rage.

Breaching (X)

Some weapons are capable of breaching armour with a terrifying ease, whether by specially designed munitions, careful targeting or sheer brute power.

Brutal (X)

Some weapons strike with such force that they cause terrible wounds that can lay low even the most formidable combatant.

Cerebral Pacifiers

These complex augmetic systems interfere with those mysterious sections of the brain that regulate and respond to the æther and the powers of the psyker. Normally, they are used to render rogue psykers impotent and safe for transport – however, the Seekers of the Silent Sisterhood also use them to pacify their beasts and inure them to the dread aura.

Containment Breach

Some of the more powerful reactors in use by the vehicles of the Imperium are so potent as to cause terrible damage to those nearby should they be breached by enemy fire. Yet, the engines of war they feed are so vital that such risks are considered worthwhile.

Crushing Weight

While the impact of any war machine can cripple an ordinary warrior, some vehicles are so massive that they can crush infantry like ants. Such engines of destruction can even cripple lesser vehicles, serving as battering rams of unequalled effectiveness when called upon.

Death Frenzy

Some warriors seek only the death of the enemy, no matter the price that must be paid in blood. For some this is a duty that means more than life itself, while others are driven to such fury by crude augmetics or combat drugs.

Demolition Vehicle

These vehicles are not intended for frontline combat, but rather as demolition tools to bring down buildings or fortifications that have stymied the advance of friendly forces. In the most extreme of situations they can be employed as weapons, but are vulnerable to counter-fire from the enemy.

Detonation

A carefully placed explosive charge can easily doom even the most heavily armoured vehicle, but are difficult to attach accurately in the heat of combat.

Divisio Aeronautica Air Superiority

Employed to cover the advance of the infantry below, the aircraft of the Divisio Aeronautica are masters of the interception and destruction of enemy aircraft and airborne xenos beasts.

Entangle (X)

Some weapons are designed to debilitate their targets as much as they are to kill them. Victims are left helpless once it takes effect, forcing their comrades to drag them onward or be left at the mercy of their enemies.

Ex Oblivio

The most potent psychic nulls can focus their aura to inflict a moment of crippling weakness and terror upon those in their proximity. They have managed through training and discipline to harness and focus the emptiness within and wield it as a weapon against the enemies of the Emperor, though the cost for such an exertion can be fatal.

Feedback

Some weapons emit projectiles or energy beams of such terrible potency that, if fired, they can have terrible consequences for those that dare unleash their power. Whether due to energy surges in coherent energy beams, or failure in the arming systems of shells or warheads, a failure to properly arm the weapon and fully penetrate the enemy’s armour can cause lethal feedback.

Independent Fire Control

Whether by means of advanced targeting cogitators or by merit of numerous crew, each tasked with manning a separate gun, some armoured vehicles are capable of targeting numerous foes simultaneously. The hail of fire such vehicles can project far outweighs the lack of focus in their volleys.

Independent Operator

Some warriors do not fight in organised ranks or clear hierarchies, but instead choose to fight alone and separate from their comrades. Sheer ferocity drives some, others wield weapons so dangerous or intricate that it requires solitude for them to be effective, and the rarest simply refuse to follow military discipline any longer than they must.

The most common transport vehicles are those dedicated to carrying the infantry that form the core of Mankind’s armies. Such bulk transports lack the specialised equipment to accommodate more unique warriors.

Legio Custodes

The Custodes were the finest warriors known to the Imperium, faster and stronger than even the super-human warriors of the Legiones Astartes and outfitted from the secret arsenals of the Emperor himself. They were deployed to the field of battle only in the face of the most dire threats or to accompany the grandest heroes and pay witness to the most important of triumphs. They were the heroes of their age, renowned for their courage and feared more than any other by the foes of Mankind.

• All models with this special rule gain +1 Attacks when locked in combat with a Nemesis Unit.
• A unit composed entirely of models with this special rule gains an additional bonus of +1 to all Charge rolls made when all targets of the Charge are Nemesis Units.
• When rolling to Hit while Engaged with a Nemesis unit, a model with this special rule will never need to roll better than 4+ to score a Hit – unless the Nemesis unit is composed entirely of models with the Primarch Unit Type, or the attacking model is in a Challenge with a model that has the Primarch Unit Type.

• The unit includes one or more models with at least one of the following Unit Types or Unit Sub-types:
  
  - Primarch, Dreadnought, Monstrous, Reinforced, Bombard, Daemon, Corrupted, Super-heavy, Unique or Knight.
• The majority of models in the unit have a value of 5 or more in any one of the following Characteristics:
  
  - Weapon Skill, Ballistic Skill, Wounds or Initiative.
• The unit includes an enemy Warlord.

Lightning Blows (X)

Some warriors fight with such speed and precision that they are capable of landing a series of blows like lightning, before their opponent can even react. There are few that can withstand such a barrage of attacks, and those warriors that have mastered this technique are rightfully feared on the battlefield.

Whether pledged to the Emperor himself as the rightful leader of Mankind or to the dream of the Imperium that he intended to create, some warriors swore to fight and die for the Loyalist cause and no other.

Marked for Death

Trained to identify and slaughter specific targets, certain cadres of warriors make an art of stalking and assassination. These warriors are singular in their focus, and, when unleashed upon the foe, are a decree of certain death.

Master of Automata

Some warriors are trained to operate alongside the towering automata of the Mechanicum, well accustomed to the limitations of those war machines and how to best fight at their side.

Measured Strike

Striking with careful precision, some warriors place their emphasis on exacting skill over a flurry of wild strikes.

Medicae Support

The Solar Auxilia maintain cadres of trained medicae, assigning them to those units that will stand at the forefront of the battle. Though lacking the advanced equipment of the Space Marine apothecaries, these healers are no less dedicated to the protection of their brethren in even the most deadly firefight.

Psy-shock

Some weapons are created to distort and fracture ætheric space, their detonations causing panic attacks and confusion in the un-attuned – but to those trained to channel the power of the Warp they can trigger a spontaneous and uncontrolled manifestation of power that is often fatal to the psyker and those around them.

Reach (X)

Some weapons rely not on the speed of their wielder, but on their sheer length or cunning design to inflict harm upon the foe before they can react.

Reactor Blast

Certain powerful reactors, when destroyed, erupt in a devastating blast capable of destroying other engines of war.

Reaping Blow (X)

Only when outnumbered in the press of the melee, can these weapons be wielded to the greatest effect.

Sentry Protocols

Lacking the complexity of true automata, these units are set to open fire on any unit that approaches them without broadcasting the correct ident-code. Given the crude systems that guide their fire, they are not as deadly as true artillery but can serve as adequate sentry units for rear echelon supply caches and facilities.

The Shadow of Death

The Divisio Assassinorum deploys Assassins from specific Clades with the goal of eliminating specific individuals within certain war zones. The specific reasons for these pin-point strikes are often unclear. It is speculated that those behind the veil of the Assassinorum rely on superlative intelligence networks to determine that these eliminations are not in censure of acts already carried out, but as a pre-emptive strike to prevent what the Divisio has decided to be ‘unhelpful’ to the greater goals of the Great Crusade.

Solar Auxilia Command Tank

Some officers among the ranks of the Solar Auxilia are trained to lead from the turret of a command tank, co-ordinating the advance of the armoured might of their cohort.

Sudden Strike (X)

Some warriors are skilled in the swift and deadly arts of guerilla warfare, relying on ambush and surprise to take their opponents unaware. These warriors are deadly on the attack, but must press this advantage to overcome more heavily equipped foes.

Tercio

The warriors of the Solar Auxilia fight in small detachments known as Tercio – groups of three that operate in close formation to cover each other and provide overlapping fields of fire as they advance inexorably across the field of battle.

Transport Bay

Some of the largest transport vehicles are specially designed to carry both infantry and engines of war into battle, allowing versatile battle groups to be deployed to the battlefield at once. These rare war machines are often restricted to the most elite of an army, and used to tackle the most perilous of missions.

Void Shields (X)

Some vehicles are equipped with almost impenetrable shields of energy, relics from ancient times known as void shields.

Arae-shrike

Ancient devices of the Dark Age of Technology which twist and distort electromagnetic signals, these counter-intelligence devices are considered blasphemous in principle and arcane function by the Mechanicum, and persist only in the hands of the Emperor’s retinue. By the use of malifica-djinn and hostile blight-code, they pervert the data-readouts of unshielded cogitators and telemetry plotters with lying reports and malign falsehood, and what they cannot deceive, they simply blind and deafen with a shrieking multi-frequency cacophony.

Artificer Armour

Forged by the master craftsmen of the Mechanicum, these superior variations of power armour are often highly embellished with ciphers of strength and durability, while some of wildly differing designs are far older than the present age and owe their origins to the forgotten zenith of human technological might.

Atomantic Deflector

Powered by the vast glut of energy from its atomantic heart, many advanced war machines entered the field of battle veiled in a protective shroud of energy that could deflect or disperse las bolts and kinetic munitions. Yet, such was the power channelled through this little-understood device that, in death, these engines of war would erupt in fiery ruin, a danger to both friend and foe.

Augury Scanner

This energy scanning device has the effect of alerting the user to the concealed presence or imminent arrival of enemy troops in the vicinity.

• Enemy models cannot be deployed using the Infiltrate special rule within 18" of a model with an augury scanner.
• A unit that includes at least one model with an augury scanner ignores the 24" limit to line of sight when making Shooting Attacks while the Night Fighting rules are in effect.
• When any enemy unit is deployed to the battlefield from Reserves, a unit that includes at least one model with an augury scanner may make the Interceptor Advanced Reaction without expending a point of the Reactive player’s Reaction Allotment. This does not allow the unit to make more than one Reaction per Phase, but does allow the controlling player to exceed the normal three Reactions limit in a given Phase.

Auto-medicus

A complex cogitator and tool set that allows trained combat medics to diagnose and treat all but the most debilitating combat injuries and keep the warriors of the Solar Auxilia in battle as long as possible.

Auxilia Vexilla

Most units within a given Tercio or cohort will bear a vexilla into battle, a reminder of their battle history as well as a sign by which they can be tracked through the chaos of battle by their superiors.

Cohorts Vexilla

Each cohort bears a standard, known as the Cohorts vexilla, granted to them at the founding of the cohort and listing all the triumphs they have fought in over the long years of the Great Crusade. The warriors of the cohort will suffer no foe to dishonour their standard, holding fast even in the face of the most terrible foes.

Auric Battleplate

Designed for the commanders of the Legio Custodes, these impressive armour suits are as much works of art as they are formidable bulwarks against the weapons of the enemy.

Auric Demi-plate

A lighter version of the Custodes armour, designed for maximum manoeuvrability and minimal bulk, allowing those clades of the Custodes that rely more on speed for their protection to make the best use of their unique wargear.

Auric Warplate

Forged in the secret armouries of the Legio Custodes, somewhere within the labyrinthine halls of the Imperial Archives, these suits of powered armour are supreme marvels of science and technology. Far superior to the standardised power armour used by the Legiones Astartes, this warplate is proof against small arms and incorporates a series of field generators that can repel even heavy ordnance. Moreover, the custom-fitted plating and artfully worked servo harness allow the Custodes to fully exploit their gene-forged physique on the battlefield.

Aquilon Pattern Terminator Armour

This is a variant of Terminator armour uniquely designed to operate in conjunction with the physiology of the Legio Custodes. Its origins lie with the Cataphractii suits of the Space Marine Legions, but with far greater power capacity and customised neuro-fibre uplinks, it is said, redesigned by the mind of the Emperor himself for his elite forces.

Cognis-signum

The cognis-signum is an advanced array of sensory devices, cogitator-assisted communications and telemetry arrays. Installed into a purpose-modified Leman Russ Battle Tank, these enable the wearer to co-ordinate battlefield data with blinding speed.

Command Vox

These complex vox arrays allow command units of the Solar Auxilia to communicate with either individual units or entire Tercio, coordinating the actions of hundreds of warriors with ease. Lesser vox interlinks are tied directly to such units, and if the command vox is eliminated by enemy action then the entire network is thrown into chaos.

Vox Interlock

Dedicated vox relays, these units allow a direct link between a field unit and its immediate command section. While lacking in the versatility of more complex vox units, and prone to disruption by enemy action, these communication devices are robust and easily operated by troopers from worlds whose knowledge of technology is limited.

Compression Tanks

Designed to compress promethium before it is expelled by a flame weapon, these tanks allow a far greater volume of propellant to be emitted in a short space of time by such weapons. The resulting conflagration is far more deadly than that of an unmodified flame weapon, but restrictive in the cost of its deployment, and so only the more elite formations of the Imperial Army and other institutions make widespread use of them.

Custodes Gyrfalcon Jetbike

More heavily armed and armoured than the standard Scimitar pattern of jetbikes, the overpowered thrusters of these huge jetbikes could not be controlled by lesser troops. Only the warriors of the Legio Custodes are capable of handling these vehicles and resisting the forces applied as they manoeuvre.

Cyber-familiar

Utilised by adepts of the Mechanicum, cyber-familiar is a term that encompasses a variety of semi-autonomous devices such as servo-skulls, mek-spiders and other smaller drone units and lesser haemonculites tied into the direct neural control of their operator. These minion-drones are an extension of their master’s will and provide them with a host of additional senses and capabilities.

Detcon Unit

These short range vox transmitters are hard-coded to the frequency used by a cohort’s Cyclops units, and are used both to direct those units’ movement and to initiate the detonation sequence.

Distort Field

This sophisticated field technology cloaks the wearer, distorting both visual and auditory emissions by means of a low intensity energy field. It is amongst the most sophisticated stealth technology available to warriors of the Imperium, but lacks the defensive power of other power field units.

Dozer Blade

Ranging from simple slabs of steel crudely attached to a vehicle’s hull, to the artfully fitted and specially designed blades borne by the Legiones Astartes, dozer blades for the clearance of mines and other obstacles are a common feature of many armoured vehicles.

Eclipse Shield

These energy fields are designed to absorb and reflect incoming kinetic and energy strikes, a powerful defence that few weapons can penetrate. The only flaw of these ancient and inscrutable devices is the huge power drain they exert and the rarity of their construction.

Erinyes Jetbike

Smaller than other examples of Imperial jetbike technology, and stripped of armour to facilitate maximum speed and agility, the Erinyes is employed almost exclusively as a scout machine. Rarer even than other jetbikes in common use, only the Silent Sisterhood is known to field the Erinyes in any numbers.

Excrutia Armatus

This complex array of restraints and excruciation tools is among the most recognisable symbols of the Chamber of Judgement. The sight of its gruesome implements displayed by the Silent Judges is a promise of retribution to the enemies of the Emperor, a slow and terrible end in the pain halls of the Silent Sisterhood. In the face of such a dire promise of retribution lesser foes are struck by terror and hesitate in the face of the Silent Sisterhood’s onslaught.

Flare Shield

Another of the Mechanicum’s specialised systems that only their high adepts truly understand, a flare shield is a directional electromagnetic flux field generator rumoured by some to be a product of Dark Age technology from a source best left forgotten.

Gravis Praesidium Shield

Combining both a series of energy fields and a formidable barrier of reinforced plasteel and ceramite, the Gravis Praesidium presents a near impenetrable shield against attacks. Such is its sheer size and weight that no normal warrior could make use of it, only the armoured shell of a Dreadnought can carry such a device into battle.

Grenades

Small hand-held explosives have been a feature of warfare for millennia, with a near-infinite variety in use by both human and xenos armies. Even within the Imperium there are innumerable patterns and designs, all intended to perform similar tasks. The Divisio Militaris orders such devices into broad categories to ease the burden of supply and distribution.

Frag Grenades

This class of grenade contains only a small explosive charge, and is intended primarily to disorientate and distract the foe while closing on a fixed position.

Krak Grenades

This class of grenade encompasses a variety of shaped charges, plasma detonators and crude bombs, all intended to disable armoured vehicles.

Psyk-out Grenades

Psyk-out grenades are produced using an extremely rare substance of uncertain origin. Upon detonation, each grenade scatters a dense cloud of psi-refractive particles across the target area, stunning and disorienting those sensitive to energies of the aetheric domain.

Magisterium Vexilla

The icons and standards borne by the Legio Custodes represent the inviolable and nigh-omnipotent authority of the Emperor; a seal of ultimate sanction and the might of Mankind, and known as the Magisterium. Their mere presence on the battlefield is enough to fill those loyal with resolute zeal and wrack those who face his wrath with fear and dread. Moreover, these banners and icons are also technological artefacts containing vox relay systems and subsonic inducers, augmenting their battlefield role far beyond the merely symbolic.

Narthecium

A complex dispenser of medical unguents and serums intended to keep even the most horrifically injured warriors combatcapable. These often take the form of small pistols or servoarm mounted pressure-syringes.

Nuncio-vox

A nuncio-vox is a beacon and communications array that allows constant co-ordination with other elements of an army – be they in a neighbouring region or in orbit high overhead. This allows precision reinforcements to be deployed nearby and strikes to be targeted with deadly accuracy.

Panoply of the Assassin

Each individual Assassin is issued with a standardised set of equipment, including a combat blade and an array of grenades, and is supplemented with the varied specialised equipment of each Assassinorum Clade. The basis of this standardised equipment is the synthetic body glove suit that Assassins of all Clades wear during combat operations. In addition to environmental protection, temperature regulation and chroma-syncronisation with the surroundings to aid concealment, the suit incorporates a neuro-linked system of responsive fibre bundles. Capable of stretching and contracting to enhance the wearer’s musculature and dynamically rearranging its molecular structure to temporarily form a hyper-hardened carapace, these suits dissipate and reabsorb the energy of kinetic shocks, allowing the wearer to free-fall from great heights and deflect shell impacts and shrapnel without harm. Combined with the rigorous battle training and combat conditioning that each Assassin undergoes, the result is an operative that can far exceed the capabilities of a mortal human on the battlefield.

Praesidium Shield

Ornate precursors to the later storm shields, the Praesidium shields of the Legio Custodes are forged from all but indestructible layered ceramite and resilient alloys reinforced with inbuilt field generators.

Ramjet Diffraction Grid

Using similar technology to the flare shield, this system channels the plasma heat and radiated waste of a vehicle’s powerful engines into a scattering super-heated plasma field, leaving a fiery, comet-like trail in the vehicle’s wake.

Refractor Fields & Iron Halos

These devices are defensive field generators designed for personal protection. They encompass the wearer in an energy field or force barrier which serves to refract or deflect impacts and energy discharges. Although powerful, these fields are limited by the need for the wearer to move and the prodigious power consumption of the generator, which leaves vulnerabilities a canny opponent can exploit.

Searchlights

Mounted illum-beacons or simple electric torches, many vehicles mount some kind of portable light to aid in target identification and destruction in darkness and poor weather.

Smoke Launchers

Many armoured fighting vehicles bear simple grenade systems rigged to distribute smoke upon being triggered, granting the vehicle a brief and passing cover that can prove crucial in the worst of situations. Such devices are of most use in slow moving engagements, as a vehicle at maximum speed will quickly disperse or outrun its own smoke shield.

Spectra Cloaks

These cloaks conceal sophisticated field generator technology that allows the wearer to blur and shift to adapt to its surroundings or simply bleed shadow at will, concealing them from sight should they wish and making them things of darkness rather than substance when viewed from a distance.

Spectra Distort Shield

The suite of arcane technologies known as the spectra distort shield is designed to conceal large war machines from the foe. By means understood by only a few even among the Mechanicum, it renders a war machine almost silent, its hull either shaded a pitch black, bleeding shadow into its environment, or distorting its image into an oil-sheen mirage, it is not for nothing that the Sisters of Silence have entered the mythology of many worlds as dark spirits or sinister ‘angels’ sent to cleanse the worlds they cull of the witch taint.

Tarsus Buckler

These small shields do not offer much protection on their own, but the complex energy fields lodged within serve to diffract and weaken radiation and energy bolts directed at the wielder. These fields are directional and relatively small, and must be angled precisely to affect incoming strikes – a feat that only the Legio Custodes can easily accomplish.

Teleport Transponder Array

Some commanders of the Legio Custodes carry command devices for linked transponder arrays that allow them and their chosen retinue to teleport directly into combat. Such devices are rare and issued only to trusted commanders assigned to key battles.

Venatari Jump Harness

While it shares some similarities with the more common jump packs used by Imperial warriors, the jump harness relies not on the brute force of rocket engines, but on a complex array of null-grav generators and precision thrusters. These complex systems allow the Venatari to cover more ground and with greater precision than other assault troops.

Void Armour, Reinforced Void Armour & Heavy Void Armour

Designed to allow warriors to operate in some of the harshest conditions possible, void armour provides both a high degree of protection and a limited life support capacity. Primarily based around a series of interlocking plates and enhanced with a servo motor armature to allow a normal human to bear the weight of the armour, void armour is a significant improvement over the more common flak armour issued to regular Imperial Army troopers.

Voidscale Cloak

The voidscale cloaks are similar in design to voidsheen cloaks, but utilising a denser and more efficient vitrious mesh. The larger refractive scales it utilises are capable of deflecting far greater kinetic force and absorbing even the most destructive forms of radiation.

Voidsheen Cloak

The voidsheen cloaks worn by the elite of the Silent Sisterhood are made from micro-vitrious mesh designed to diffract and absorb energy.

Vratine Armour

When a Sister-aspirant takes her final oaths of duty and says the last words she will ever utter aloud in her lifetime, she is given her panoply of war: the Vratine armour – literally ‘the armour of the oath’. It is a sub-pattern of technologically advanced battlegear which shares design elements with both the power armour of the Legiones Astartes and the silicate-mesh of Selenite void-mail, though unlike either of those famed armours, it is not —at least without additional gearing— fully environmentally sealed or designed for extended operations. It does however provide formidable protection from ballistic impacts and directed energy weapons, and is tailored and forged uniquely to its intended wearer to allow for their complete freedom of movement and to augment their reaction speed.