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http://i.imgur.com/uEuKXk5.png?2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9S24hgiisQY&feature=player_embedded Datafile unlocked… Memory core opened… Sequence begins… I do not understand. My brother captains often speak of glory, of honour, of becoming legends in their time. Sigismund and his Templar are the epitome of this, rushing into combat without worry or care. They have zeal, and that is enough for them. But it does not satisfy me. My father taught us many things, but above all, he taught us duty. Duty to our brothers. Duty to him. Duty to the Emperor. Duty to our Imperium. We are the foundation upon which the Imperium is built. We carry it upon our shoulders every single day. That is why we crusade. That is why we stand, when all others are dust. My brothers, my father. They are heroes. They are legends already, and they will be remembered throughout the annals of history. I am not. I simply do what is needed, and that is enough. It always shall be. I am a soldier among heroes, and I understand my burden. It has been mine since I first stepped foot in the Temple of Oaths aboard the Phalanx so many years ago. It has been renewed with every breath I take, every beat of my heart within my chest. It ceases only when I do, bloody and broken in the golden yellow of my Legion. It is the burden of duty. - Memoirs, by Heinrich Eilings, Shield-Commandant, 284th Storm Battalion, XXI Regiment,. VII Legion Astartes Sequence ends… Memory core closed… Datafile locked... VII Legion Organization CCLXXXIV Storm Battalion, XXI Regiment, VII Legion Within the Legiones Astartes there existed many variant lesser known formations and structures – the Armatures of the impeccable Third, the Steel Phalanges of the Iron Hands, the Dragoons of the early IV legion – that endured from the early days of the Legions. Significantly better known were the designate Battalions of the Imperial Fists: those of the Shield, the Lance, the Sword and the Storm. By far the most common of the battalion structures, the Storm Battalions were shock infantry formations, with a marked disposition for zone mortalis and urban warfare, with an abundance of squads configured as standard Tactical (Line) and Breacher units, representing a propensity for close order firefight units over other more specialized close-combat units. A standard structure for the Storm Battalion was a command group overseeing 3 Line Companies, roughly equitable to the standard Legion Company outlined in the Principia Belicosa, with further units relegated to a number of Auxiliary Detachments. The minutiae of the organization, as in many Legions, was relegated to the commander’s preference, and greatly varied from Battalion to Battalion, making it utterly difficult to pin down specific squad numbers for each detachment. The 284th Storm Battalion simply existed as one of many, but one whose particular ideals, exercised into tactical decision, fell close to the original structure. Within the battalion, it was typically viewed as foolhardy to go into battle with anything less than a boltgun, and whilst it was expected that each trooper of the Line companies would carry with them a sidearm and a combat blade for close quarter brawls, a company was expected to be universally equipped with the bolter as their primary weapon, with the exception of those assigned to specialized Support units and issued an alternative firearm instead. Peculiar to the 284th Storm Battalion’s rhetoric was the reference of individual Astartes as ‘soldiers,’ or often alternatively as ‘trooper.’ Whilst it is true that most Legions and their ideologies regarded the individual as lesser than the whole, it is rare that an Astartes would be referred to as a ‘soldier,’ rather than the more common ‘warrior’ or some variation thereof. The 284th placed a special emphasis on duty, and promoted this ideal as a greater purpose than anything else: glory, honor, or recognition. Duty to their Primarch, the Emperor, and most especially the Imperium was more important than any other motivation a trooper of the battalion might have, and it was frequently referred to as ‘the burden’ in many personal journals and memoirs recovered after the Siege of Terra. They prized fulfillment of their tasking over all else to a higher degree than most Astartes, and as such, suffered a high rate of casualties due to their refusal to abandon any incomplete mission, no matter how minor an impact on the war effort as a whole it might have. The precise structure of the Battalion reflected many of the standards of the Storm Battalions – Shield Commandant Heinrich Eilings and his Command Staff led, while the trinity of line companies formed the spine of the Battalion – each comprising approximately 120 Marines split among Veterans and Marines of the Line, while auxiliary detachments such as the Wallbreaker Terminator Elite and the Hunter Divisions formed its beating, unbreaking heart. By the time of the Siege of Terra the 284th was equipped with large stocks of Mk IV ‘Maximus’ pattern armor. This power armor pattern favored by the battalion for its advanced sensor suite was supplemented by other, older patterns and several prototype armor marks retrieved from Martian forges during the intense fighting there. Optimization and mixed armor types were extremely common, especially among the troopers of the Line companies, who often suffered higher than average damaged wargear during engagements as a result of the battalion’s preferred methods of warfare. It is these same tactical preferences for forlorn hopes and attrition warfare that wore away at the formation throughout the Siege and led to the ultimate termination of the 284th Storm Battalion as a functional fighting unit. http://i.imgur.com/OY4eT9k.jpg?1http://i.imgur.com/IcBn2ZR.jpg?1 [Pict-capture ZX/5793-37-00] Trooper Brannagh, I Grenadier, Company A (Line) http://i.imgur.com/iQs1TBu.jpg?1http://i.imgur.com/2vyh5Nz.jpg?1 [Pict-capture ZX/5793-37-01] Trooper Thawne, I Grenadier, Company A (Line) http://i.imgur.com/1TUf0hL.jpg?1http://i.imgur.com/Xkcf5ST.jpg?1 [Pict-capture ZX/5793-37-02] Trooper Kane, I Grenadier, Company A (Line) http://i.imgur.com/g5IenY2.jpg?1http://i.imgur.com/PwuVBP4.jpg?1 [Pict-capture ZX/5793-37-03] Trooper Lukas, I Grenadier, Company A (Line) http://i.imgur.com/gM5m9km.jpg?1http://i.imgur.com/fu4y0HR.jpg?1 [Pict-capture ZX/5793-37-04] Master Sergeant Arno Slade, I Grenadier, Company A (Line)