IL XVI - Stalking Leopards

[TrajantheGreat]

The Stalking Leopards

 

Numeration: The XVIth Legion

 

Primogenitor: Kubwa-Chui-Khalfani

 

Cognomen (Prior): Hunting Shadows

 

Observed Strategic Tendencies: Stealth Operations, Hunting and Tracking

 

Noteworthy Domains: Nyumbani (Primary), Vekros, A number of Jungle Worlds with exclusive Tithing Rights

 

Allegiance: Fidelitas Constantus

 

Symbol and Colours:

The Stalking Leopards are often garbed in a mixture of green and brown, with various foliage-like patterns sketched into their armor. Higher ranks often have more gold and red upon their armor, and it is with great pride that they can still hide in plain sight with even these bright colors. Various symbols or ornaments such as bones, beads, and feathers are added based on preferences. The leopards will change their armor based on ceremonies or differing environments, such as tundra, industrial, or desert areas. Because of their willingness to discard any symbol or garb, they have gained a reputation as a practical legion. The symbol of the legion as a whole is three jagged claw marks commonly placed on the vambraces of a battle brothers armor, though it is noted that the Primarchs personal honor guard have a snarling leopards head upon their breastplate, this is likely a mark of honor.

 

Battlecry:

Silence, except for a bestial roar when going in for the kill in some cases. When victory is assured the legionnaires will surround their victims, thump their spears, and bellow a rhythmic tribal war chant until moving in for the kill.

 

Inscription:

Various big cat species and basic African culture, primarily Swahili for language and ornamentation.

 

[TrajantheGreat]

Stalking Leopards Reconnaissance Marine

[TrajantheGreat]

Stalking Leopards Armorial with Legion iconography

[TrajantheGreat]

Kubwa-Chui-Khalfani, the Spotted King. Primarch of the Stalking Leopards

[TrajantheGreat]

Blind Vultures/Shamba la Kipofu

An elite sect of dedicated sharpshooters among the legion; the Blind Vultures are considered one of the most adept marksmen units in the legion, able to kill a target several leagues away with the utmost precision. No wind, rain, mist, snow, or even smoke will falter their aim; and they’ve been known to wait for months before taking the shot, always waiting for the right moment, adjusting positions only when necessary. Their leader is in fact the best marksman in the entire legion, besides Chui himself; but what makes this even more amazing is the fact he’s blind and has never missed a shot. Their leader Msia is a relatively experienced Astartes who was blinded by a xenos weapon, he is an extremely adept marksman even compared to the other vultures. Because of his lack of sight his rifle has no scope and his helmet lacks a visor.

 

Leaping Hyenas/Kuruka Hyenas

Because of the significant scouting capabilities of almost every legionary in the XVI legion; a subgroup of elite assassin scouts was formed. Known as the Hyenas that Leap or the Leaping Hyenas, these marines travel farther beyond enemy lines then any of their other brothers or advancing imperial forces. Once embedded in enemy territory these scouts will commence operations of terror, assassination, infrastructure destruction, and shock assaults/ambushes against enemy troops, convoys, and supply depots. They have even been known to leap out of nowhere to eviscerate enemy commanders while surrounded by hostile forces, easily crushing the morale of their opponents. Their armour colours are often a preferred drab green and black, though white and red are not unheard of. Their stealth abilities are second to none, with imperial cloaking tech only augmenting their abilities. Armaments include cloaking tech, jump packs, combat knives, unique stealth guns, and the signature power/lightning claws of these elite units. Their leader is a young but ferocious Astartes named Kali.

[Darkcommander]

Stalking Leopards - Ngurumo Nyekundu Tank Destroyer

 

 

Introduction

True to their nature the XVIth Legion's ambush tactics were refined over the many years of the Great Crusade. the Ngurumo Nyekundu or 'Red Thunder' in Low Gothic, was a point of pride for the legion, boasting some of the highest tank-on-tank kill rates of any other. Through a mixture of high-ground sniping positions, and well camouflaged ambush positions they can tear entire squadrons to pieces before the smoke from the first shot has settled. As a variant of the tried and tested predator tank it is an Armistos-Conul's dream thanks to it's shared design and simplicity, leading to their proliferate use. Though capable of limited close-range artillery support thanks to it's high elevation angle, it's reputation as a tank hunter is legendary. Often marked with dozens of stripes, each representing a vehicle-kill, crews keep tally of all who have fallen to their cannons.

 

Design

Created around the ever-popular Predator platform, the Ngurumo Nyenkundu adds it's name to the venerated list of variants created over the millennia. Not changed so drastically as to barely resemble it's progenitor, the Red Thunder appears thinner at first glance. Majorly due to the removal of the sponson weapons on each side, a keen eye will notice that the side armour is

thinner, giving a sleeker view as it consists of a single sheet of armour with little metalwork. Though the extra armour plating may entice other legion commanders, it is mostly unused within the Stalking Leopards, as it would slow down the vehicle by a noticeable margin.

 

Armament

Limiting itself to it's main cannon and a storm bolter, the Machwro Pattern Cannon is the powerhouse that allows the Red Thunder to earn it's name. A product of the forge world of Machwro Yanaisha, this cannon was developed from the vanquisher cannon used by the Imperial Army. The singular, oversized barrel is akin to weaponry normally found on a small Knight-titan, but has been fashioned into the main armament for the Ngurumo. Taking up almost the entirety of the turret itself with it's loading mechanisms and support machinery, it can accurately and rapidly fire off a salvo of rounds thanks to it's five pre-loaded, rotary chambers. In fact it is normal practice for Leopards Tank Commanders to fire off all the weapon's rounds before immediately moving and retargeting an enemy. Using the natural pause to reload. This way they can reposition to avoid return fire while keeping the enemy wondering where they're being shot from.

As an advantage, all the normal space normally given over to the sponsons and their ammunition is instead utilised to house more of the large gun's rounds as well as several sighting and targeting systems. Extra internal ammunition storage has also been added, kept in several blowout racks due to their size and volatility. The unused space, now houses a much stronger turret, with actuators and hydro-pumps able to allow the gunner to make the minute changes needed when targeting at extreme ranges.

Ammunition for the Machwro may been seen as limited by others as the rifling limits what can and can't be loaded but this is seen as a perfectly reasonable trade off in the face of the extra accuracy and velocity gained from the hydro-chromatic inner coating. Mainly using a type of anti-tank around and a high explosive round, much like it's progenitor design in the Vanquisher.

Where it differs however is that each anti-tank round is a large, near- solid armour piercing shot, capped with several layers of armour-piercing plating and a singular small generator implanted within the base of the round. This generator is activated when the round has travelled a set distance after being fired, vibrating the armour-piercing metal layers in such a way that when they come into contact and pass through any dense material. The micro-shockwaves disrupt the atoms of the material, loosening them to allow it to pass through far easier, sending ripples through the metal that can tear gouges into armour plating.

It was noted that as the rounds struck enemy engines they would sometimes manage to resonate with the inherent frequency of the armour, resulting in an intense screech. This soon evolved into a joke amongst the Leopards tank crews, claiming that the enemy vehicles were 'singing to their death' often leading to gambling amongst rival crews to see who could make an enemy sing first, or sing the loudest.

Initially using the traditional Vanquisher style dart-rounds the Stalking Leopards would learn from the harsh campaign against the Megarachnids of 140-20 that there were many ways to pierce armour. Indeed they wouldn't just learn, but directly take from the aliens. As it turned out the armoured hides and scything blades of the voracious xenos contained a number of exotic materials that would be used to coat the head of the new anti-tank rounds in layers of armour.

Thanks to this new evolution in materials and armour-penetration, the Machwro and it's anti-tank rounds have even been known to damage the monolithic forms of xenos titans, blowing out chunks of armour and controls. Though it is oft-boasted amongst the Legion's tank-crews that they have scored a hit on a titan, there have only ever been a handful of confirmed cases of this and even fewer with the golden claw symbol of a titan-kill painted on their hulls.

Second to the anti-tank rounds, and carried in much smaller numbers are the high-explosive rounds. Kept relatively simple in nature they are large blocks of explosive charge made to take out lightly armoured infantry and exposed defensive positions with relative ease. These however are saved for the Ngurumo Nyekundu's secondary mission role as a light artillery piece. Able to raise the main gun thanks to the numerous supports and hydraulics in the turret, the cannon can lob shells to even further distances than it's normal anti-tank counterparts.

A significant issue in the vehicle's ability arises however, in the form of targeting. While the targeting systems for direct line-of-sight are substantial, the ability to calculate and accurately fire indirectly are sorely lacking. Without help from localised infantry with a target designator and uplink to the tank, it is seen as a waste of ammunition to even attempt fire missions. Even when a crew does have access to a marine feeding them targeting information, it limited in it's ability, but not misused.

Not large enough to cause the damage necessary to dislodge fortified bunkers like heavier artillery pieces, the Red Thunder is used to provide pinpoint accurate fire instead. Able to distract an enemy frontline by destroying communications lines or take out one small part of their frontline, they can distract an enemy long enough to allow Stalking Leopard infiltrators to exploit the diverted attention and gaps to carry out flanking manoeuvres or further ambushes. While not recommended for extensive use as an artillery piece, the extra strategic scope given to the vehicle is a threat that should never be take lightly.

 

Defences

Thanks to the overwhelming focus on both firepower and manoeuvrability the consequent downside was an extreme reduction in the standard armour afforded to standard predator tanks. The sides and rear of the vehicle have had the thickness of their metals reduced to just half of what it was before. Normally this would be unacceptable as one of the major elements of Astartes equipment is it's durability, but this weakness has been remedied in a number of ways.

What protection is offered on the sides and rear is optimised by the use of a single solid plate with no connective joints or imperfections to act as weak spots for enemies to exploit. As with most Imperial and Legiones Astartes vehicles the option of adding additional armour plating is available, usually layering it on top as spaced armour. Even this is seen as unfavourable by XVIth Legion commanders however, as the lost speed could mean the difference between life and death.

A more conventional method of increasing survivability has been to change the frontal armour plates of the tank itself. Retaining the original armour thickness on the front of the predator, this is the side most often seen by enemies when they recover from the initial salvo of rounds lancing into their formations.

While the armour itself is strong, it was changed so that the angle of the upper and lower glacis plates were far shallower, improving the likelihood that any hit against their surfaces would ricochet instead of penetrating. Indeed this would be proven true as the number of stories of Ngurumo Nyenkundu crews managing to avoid disaster as an enemy shot ricocheted grew with the the ongoing crusade. It must be noted that while this particular method did nothing to fend off energy-based anti-tank weapons, it was deemed effective enough to be adopted regardless.

The final defensive measure, as with many Stalking Leopard units, lies in obfuscation. The use of smoke launchers on vehicles is by no means new and it's defensive capabilities were not overlooked in this case. Carrying not just one, but two sets of smoke launchers, each set is capable of covering the front and sides with a thick, but quickly-dispersing cloud of smoke. This lack of permanence is in part to allow the gunner of the tank the ability to very quickly re-engage with an enemy as the tank lines up another shot.

To be able to use this several times is particularly handy in conjunction with the Stalking Leopards strategic tendencies, with some crews going as far as to modify their smoke systems to only let off a short burst to conserve them during protracted engagements.

 

Miscellaneous

Compared to the might of the Machwro Cannon and it's ammunition, the targeting system may seem simple but is no less a vital part to allow the tank to perform as one of the Astartes best tank hunting vehicles.

Directly mounted onto the side of the turret itself a range of visual feeds are captured and fed to the crew within. Split between the gunner and the commander, the feed can switch through night vision, prey-sense, range-finding and magnetic detection systems to hunt down any hint of the enemy passively.

To help in the long-ranged sniping done the gunner also has access to a specialised pinpoint auspex that can be activated from his console. Specifically tailored for long-range combat the auspex fires a narrow beam wherever the gun is pointed, from here small movements, electromagnetic energy signatures, heat and exhaust identifying cogitations help locate any enemy that may be attempting to hide within the nearby area. Though this does provide an advantage, even able to detect the specific armour density and weak spots on another tank, the auspex is very obvious when being used. While not visually noticeable, the beam of electromagnetic energy it pulses out can very easily be spotted by augurs and auto-senses of any kind, drawing a line straight to the tank itself. For this reason it is used sparingly or when concealment has been abandoned all together.

Having already mentioned the robust system of supports and hydraulics used to help keep the Machwro Cannon stable, the auto-stabilisation system is a formidable thing to work reliably under such stress. Though it may be capable of keeping the cannon roughly on target even during it's five-round bursts, this system has specifically been designed to support the gun, rather than the vehicle.

Able to handle the immense recoil of the cannon firing, the tank suspension itself is nowhere near strong enough to allow the weapon to fire on the move. Perhaps with a target at closer ranges a gunner may have an increased chance of hitting while moving, they might have a chance but the tank as a whole has been built to 'move, stop, shoot' in that order. While this is a noticeable disadvantage it does take into account the extreme ranges or ambush tactics normally used that allow a Red Thunder tank destroyers to complete it's work according to legionary tactics.

Starting as a trick used by tank commanders, the final element to be noted is a small, secondary plasma generator housed inside the tank's rear. Originally implemented by a tank commander linking his and his crew's power packs up to the tank's electrical systems, this generator supplements the regular engine while engaging in ambush tactics. Used as a stealth tactics, the tank to moves into position, shutting down it's combustion engines. From here it powers the remaining electrical systems from the small plasma generator. Using such a smaller power ource lets the tank avoid detection either by exhaust smoke or heat signature as it is housed within it's own metal casing.. This tactic does unfortunately mean that should the vehicle need to move the main engine must be started up, leaving the vehicle vulnerable for slightly longer than it would otherwise be. When used in conjunction with the Legion's ambush tactics however, it proves a easy decision to make to tear an unsuspecting enemy to shreds.

 

Technical Specifications

Type: Tank Destroyer, Light Artillery

Vehicle Name: Ngurumo Nyekundu ('Red Thunder')

World of Origin: Machwro Yanaisha

Known Patterns: N/A

Crew: 1 Driver, 1 Gunner, 1 Commander

Powerplant: Quad MkIV Adaptable Thermic Combustor Reactor, Secondary Plasma Pack

Weight: 44 tonnes

Length: 6.6m

Height: 4.6m

Width: 5.8m

Range: Unknown

Max Speed:

On Road: 78km/h (48mph)

Off Road: 57km/h (35mph)

Main Armament: Machwro Pattern Cannon

Secondary Armament: Storm Bolter (Optional)

Main Ammunition: 56 Anti-Tank Rounds, 12 High-Explosive Rounds

Secondary Ammunition: 400 rounds

Armour:

Hull: 100mm

Superstructure: 135mm

 

Notable Ngurumo Nyekundu Tank Destroyers

Kuumwa Na Afya – Of the Rakka Dagro Tribe

All Seeing Eye – Of the Orbikos Tribe

Helical Fang – Of the Wafal'Jitu Tribe

Wawindaji Wa Moto – Of the Orbikos Tribe

[Darkcommander]

Stalking Leopards – Kivuli Kali Power Armour

 

Introduction

A secretive creation amongst brothers, Kivuli Kali was created out of necessity thanks to the Stalking Leopards' gene-seed. Understanding the nature of this problem and happy to help his brother, Tenzin had would help provide a solution.

 

History

In the late days of the Great Crusade, above one of the innumerable worlds burning under Imperial conquest, an unusually shrouded meeting took place between the Primarchs of the XVIth and VIIth legions. It would be within the inner sanctum aboard Kucha Za Nyumbani that the Great Leopard would seek the council of his brother. Informing him of the existence of the Mnyama and their need for armour after the failings of the Martian armour they were using. The normally stoic Tenzin would be concerned at the revelation, after all his own legion had very little failings in terms of genetics, but after extensive time spent with the varied marines of the Soul Forgers and their Lord, he quickly acclimated, agreeing to help his brother in a time of need.

From this room a project force was drafted and began it's work in earnest. Deep inside a blacksite on an unnamed dead world the Sect of Prosperity would observe and test a dozen members of the Mnyama marines, taking all manner of measurements and readings of their physiology. Though it was noted that marines early into the mutation process would frequently devolve into animalistic tendencies, sometimes even losing the ability to speak, if they weathered this process they could occasionally regain their previous minds over time as the mutations advanced.

Not entirely confident of their work in isolation and after some discussion, The Horned Lord himself, Alianaktuk was asked to provide help, bringing the expertise of varied marine physiology to the project. This help came in the form of Apothecary-Lieutenant Cadmus, a direct disciple of the Legion's pre-eminent Apothicarus program.

With a gathering of technical and biological expertise the outcome was inevitable as the project ground ahead. Though there were complications due to the extremely varied nature of the mutations present, a solution could be found to fit nearly all scenarios. Within two standard Terran years the results would speak for themselves as the dozen Mnyama were presented before their primarch.

 

Design

What was presented before Kubwa-Chui was a simple but effective alteration to stock Mk4 power armour, using the advanced methods of it's design and repurposing them to great effect.

The armour was lighter thanks to the outright removal of several pieces of armour, along with the reduction in size of the typical marine pauldrons. The forearms, upper-arms and lower legs had been removed entirely, seen as impediments that got in the way of the various mutations common amongst the Mnyama. Instead these exposed areas mainly consisted of muscle-fibre bundles. Normally hidden underneath the ceramite plating, the individual strands could now easily be moved and repositioned around the musculature of the marine, even reducing their number if they had mutated beyond their need.

Much the same as the arms, the legs mainly consisted of muscle fibre bundles, and a singular exoskeletal-brace running down the side of the leg. The common mutation of digitigrade legs among their number having outgrown the normal configuration, the heavy singular plate was seen as an easy trade-off for the dexterity and speed gained as a result.

As the mutation progressed it did not leave the faces of the astartes untouched, stretching them into short snouts, curving ears and sharpening senses well beyond even a transhuman's means. Though thought was given to the idea of discarding helms all-together, it was decided that a compromise be made. Keeping the targeting capabilities of the armour's auto-senses, as well as it's communication links, the helmet was untouched save for the vox-grille. This was instead removed, letting the Mnyama still use it's many functions in all but the most mutated examples. Though this left the marines exposed to chemical elements and useless in the void, the XVIth were adamant about their usefulness as infiltrators and shock troops, able to weather any storm. To help them in this endeavour the armour itself had several weapons built into it's design as a standard. Though mounted armaments were usually up to the individual choice of the marine, the Mnyama response to the initially-suggested set was too great to ignore. Both gloves of the armour have been reinforced, allowing the implantation of a power field generator, fed by cables linking to the chest armour. Each of the slightly enlarged fingers has been honed down to a short but wicked edge, which, when combined with the power field act as a smaller version of a lightning claw. These bladed fingers match those of the mutated Stalking Leopards very accurately, with some of the more cognizant members noting how it felt like a second skin. This has been mirrored on the feet of the armour as well, replacing the typical armoured boot with a set of 4 shortened talons covered in a power field. With both these in place, a Mnyama armoured in a set of Kivuli Kali moves in and through battlefields with ease, blending into surroundings and striking with wild abandon, slicing foes limb from limb.

A 'one size fits all' solution to the problem of armouring such singular transhumans, the various pieces can be adjusted and added onto or taken away from thanks to the nature of Mk4 armour itself. Able to be added onto and replaced with ease. This would serve the Stalking Leopards well, even acting as inspiration for later legionary changes, but it would forever be stained by a black mark as it's creators sought to forge their own path as the 31^st Millennium came to an end.