L-IV-3529
| First Grand Company |
L-IV-3529
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 The Breakers | |||
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Legio IV |
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Legio Name: |
The Iron Warriors Legion | ||
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Designation: |
L-IV-3529 | ||
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Cognomen: |
First Grand Company | ||
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Structure
The First Grand Company has always been an elite formation within the IV Legio. Like all Iron Warriors formations, it often relies heavily on Stor-Bezashk artillery detachments to soften a target before a massed assault into breaches created by the siege guns. The First Grand Company relies heavily on Breacher Squads and Cataphractii Terminators to carry such breaches, and casualties are invariably high, even for such well-armoured warriors.
First Captain Forrix is a logistical genius, always managing the effective deployment of his war assets in record time, and ensuring that landing zones and artillery positions are well defended against any attack from land or air.
When artillery support is not available, the First Grand Company relies on armoured assaults to carry the day. A mix of Spartan Assault Tanks and Land Raiders force their own breaches in enemy fortifications, disgorging waves of Iron Warriors Terminators into the midst of enemy defences, allowing them to slay with bloody abandon. Forrix has also been known to ride the Assault Ram Belligerence into battle, using its armoured prow and magna-melta to destroy any and all opposition.
When the First Grand Company finds itself deploying from orbit, Warsmith Forrix relies heavily on his ships' teleportaria to rapidly deploy Terminators into the heart of enemy battlegroups, enabling them to establish a beachhead from which to launch assaults at enemy command positions and munitions depots.
Accompanied regularly by the Lord of Iron himself, the First Grand Company rightly prides itself on being one of the few formations Perturabo trusts sufficiently to lead into battle.
The Great Crusade
As with the Horus Heresy that followed, Forrix and the First Grand Company were at the forefront of the IV Legio's expansions into the Galaxy. Forcing compliance through bloody siege work and unrelenting logistical command of the battlefield, the First Grand Company was a major force for the Imperium's expansion.
The Horus Heresy
The First Grand Company's allegiance to Perturabo was a foregone conclusion. Forrix was serving as Triarch to the Lord of Iron, and the Grand Company Itself had spent so long serving directly with their father that to do anything other than submit to his decision to side with Horus was unthinkable.
When Horus Struck at the Drop-Site Massacre, Forrix was present amongst the traitor forces, directing the deployment of the Iron Warriors and the destruction of the Loyalists.
Forrix and the First Grand Company would go on to be present for nearly every major engagement the Iron Warriors deployed to for the duration of the Horus Heresy. Warsmith Forrix was primarily responsible for orchestrating the Battle of Phall, and was present to provide tactical support to the Primarch Perturabo during the virus-bombing and subsequent ground war which devastated Tallarn. Forrix and the First Grand Company were also present for the first Siege of Hydra Cordatus, and accompanied Perturabo into the Eye of Terror alongside the Emperor's Children, sharing in the horrors which followed.
At the conclusion of the Horus Heresy, it was Forrix and his logistical genius which saw the Iron Warriors retreat from Terra in good order, preserving enough men and material to enable the trap at the Iron Cage, where the Iron Warriors decimated the Imperial Fists Legion before being driven off by the Ultramarines.
The Baylonian Insurrection
The First Grand Company translated into the Oteal sector with the initial wave of Traitor ships to provide orbital support while the majority of its warriors were spread across the Traitor fleet to assist with naval security. Cerberus Cohort, travelling with the Iron Warriors, was deployed to the surface to assist with combat operations there.
When Archmagos Thexeus was recorded as killed in action, Forrix recalled the First from their fleet-defence duties and moved to deploy them to the surface, absorbing the war-assets of the now-defunct Cerberus Cohort into his own forces. The Automata of Cerberus Cohort served well as an anvil to the hammer-strikes of the Iron Warriors' massed terminator-assaults, forcing Forrix's foes to either turn and face the Cataphractii of his Grand Company, or try to break through the implacable line of battle-automata before them. It was a tactic which worked to brutal effectiveness against many foes, including the Raven guard and the Iron Hands.
Shortly after the First Grand Company's deployment, however, the automata of Cerberus Cohort were remotely activated and escaped, slaughtering their way through the Iron Warriors encampment as they did so. The Warmsiths and Praevians deployed suspected a Loyalist hack most likely spearheaded by the Iron Hands.
When the Baylonian Synod made its move against the Loyalists and Traitors who invaded the Oteal system, the First Grand Company found itself unable to participate. Thexeus' intimate familiarity with Forrix's battle-plans and communications networks resulted in Forrix's ships suffering from massive blackouts throughout the initial phase of the Synod's attacks. Although they would be constantly plagued by such blackouts for the remainder of the Insurrection, the First Grand Company would return to combat effectiveness in short order, ready to take the fight to the Synod wherever possible, especially the traitor Archmagos Thexeus.
Ashes of Pyre
During the closing actions of the Traitor assault on the Oteal System, the First Grand Company redeployed to Port Pyre for re-armament and re-supply. Joined by several newly-forged units of the phenomenally powerful Iron Circle Battle-Automata, the Company reoriented itself to fight a defensive action.
Separate to the First Grand Company's command structure, yet closely linked to it for the early phases of the Pyre campaign, Arcanist Pujal Tisir was often found wandering the battlefield in search of esoteric artefacts and icons of power, often escorted by a unit of his own Iron Circle. Tisir's time spent training with the Thousand Sons on Prospero during the Great Crusade gave him deep insight into the arcane, and he would apply this knowledge to deadly effect against the invading Loyalists.
Also stationed at Port Pyre were the nomadic triad of Knight Freeblades known as the Angels of Xyranis. Bound to the Primarch Perturabo by a mixture of honour and fear, the Angels of Xyranis pilot truly ancient Lucius-Pattern Knights, their brutally hard-edged profile striking fear into the hearts of the mortals they drive before them on the battlefield.
The Angels of Xyranis and Arcanist Tisir would regularly deploy alongside the First Grand Company in the Pyre system, their presence proved crucial when the Loyalists fleet tore through the Traitor rearguard on Metam V and drove directly towards the Traitor stronghold.
Post-Hersy
Warmsith Forrix would go on to lead Iron Warriors into battle many times in the centuries that followed the Horus Heresy, fighting notable actions against the Death Guard Daemon Prince Torrasque and various Imperial forces in and around the Eye of Terror. Forrix retained his gift for battlefield logistics, ensuring that the Iron Warriors under his command deployed rapidly, efficiently, and into well-fortified positions pre-prepared by legions of slaves.
Eventually the First Grand Company dissolved into various warbands led by champions, although Forrix still maintained a position of power within the Legion. By the time of the XIII Black Crusade in 999.M41, Forrix had become so bitter and jaded by millennia of fighting the Long War that war was something he applied himself to only because he knew nothing else.
During the second Siege of Hydra Cordatus, Forrix was slain by a Warhound Scout Titan during the Iron Warriors' final push against the Citadel, obliterated in a hail of Vulkan Mega-Bolter fire.
Combat Reports for L-IV-3529
Campaigns
| Baylonian Insurrection | |||||
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PreludeEven before the shocking actions of Istvaan filtered through to the Australis Ultima ..→ | ||||
| The Tomb of Galahad | |||||
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Prelude to WarSometime before the Heresy erupted throughout the Imperium, Crusade Fleet ..→ | ||||
Battles
| Battle Name | Date | Planet | Battle Outcome | Battle Summary |
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| Baylonian Insurrection~Act 5 | 350.008.M31 | System Wide | Traitor |
Attempting to reconsolidate their position on Dur-Kazit the Traitors forces launches a series of offensives in an effort to retake the entire planet and maintain their control. While somewhat ..→ |
| The Second Golloch War~The Taking of Sevastopol Station | 249.009.M31 | Sevastopol Station | Traitor |
April - Covenant of Fire Sevastopol Station is the collective name for a system of docking stations, defense platforms, and weapon batteries defending Mandeville point TK-421, better known as ..→ |
| The Tomb of Galahad~ACT of Heresy |
As the final salvos from the Traitors fleet crippled the remaining Loyalists cruisers covering the main forces retreat the hooded Watcher began to move. Sliding past the lifeless bodies of hundreds ..→ |
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