The Rangers of Vitria (militarum)

[Witherking17]

Homeworld: Vitria — a scorched, irradiated frontier world on the edge of Imperial control.

Overview

The Rangers of Vitria are the Imperium’s long arm of vengeance on the ash-swept deserts of their dying world. Born of desperation, forged by radiation and war, these warriors have become something between scout, soldier, and executioner.

Where the Death Korps of Krieg seek glory through attrition and sacrifice, the Rangers of Vitria survive through grit, precision, and isolation. They are not a massed army. They are a dispersed, relentless presence—operating in ragged patrols across the blackened badlands, hunting fugitives, heretics, and xeno-scum who thought Vitria's vast nothingness could hide them.

 

 

Uniform & Gear

Clad in scorched brown dusters and blackened leathers, the Rangers wear wide-brimmed, worn-in hats to keep the desert sun—or the radioactive storms—out of their eyes. Armor plating is scavenged, retrofitted, or gifted by the Mechanicus in barter for services rendered.

They wield:

• Galvanic Carbines: Long-barreled energy weapons modified for dusty conditions, excellent at ranged skirmishes.
   

• Bolt Revolvers: Heavy-caliber, six-shot pistols firing micro-rocket rounds; brutal at close range.
   

• Mechanicus Pistols: Esoteric, sometimes unreliable, but capable of unique effects—plasma arcs, taser jolts, or firebursts.
   

Many wear rebreathers or half-masks—either for the radiation, or simply to keep the desert out of their lungs.

 

 

Mounts & Travel

The Rangers are nomads. With no real command center, they operate in mobile camps or taken bunkers hidden beneath the sand. They travel in small groups, riding:

• Desert-bred Horses: Genetically modified to withstand radiation, with augmented lungs and skin.
   

• Domesticated Xeno-Beasts: Including multi-limbed lizards, armored insectoids, or thick-skinned grazers that can go days without water.
   

Their camps are temporary—popped-up machine nests or lean-tos built from the bones of dead vehicles and forgotten tech. Fires are kept low. Noise is kept lower. They move like ghosts.

 

 

Enemies

The Rangers’ eternal quarry:

• Dusk Tribes: Tribal remnants of Vitria’s native population—mutated, irradiated, and hostile to the Imperium. They strike from the deep dunes, wielding crude energy weapons and psyker-rituals.
   

• Imperial Outlaws: Deserters, heretics, rogue psykers, and worse—all of whom thought Vitria a place to disappear.
   

• Indigenous Beasts: Massive burrowers, bone-scaled predators, psychic mirage serpents—whatever survived Vitria’s fall is still fighting for dominance.

 

 

Culture & Beliefs

They believe in the Vow—a silent code passed from Ranger to Ranger: “To protect the Imperium from those who think the desert hides sin.”

Rangers aren’t loud. They don’t salute. They tip their hats, mutter affirmations, and pass judgment with a trigger pull.

They bury their own, often where they fall, and mark graves with crude metal badges.

Some have minor Mechanicus implants—simple cogitator links or optical lenses—but full augmentation is rare. They view the machine with respect, not worship.

 

Notable Ranger Orders

• The Black Dust Company – Specialize in psyker-hunts and operate near irradiated ghost towns.
   

 

• The 13th Spur – Known for breaking into Dusk Tribe strongholds and burning them out with flamers and rad grenades.
   

 

• Iron Hoof Patrol – Xeno-mount specialists, operating on the fringes where even other Rangers won’t go.

 

• Iron Law- bounty hunter/merc specialist rangers. They make the best dollar due to traveling across the galaxy, being top notch hired guns for the imperium, mostly to the mechanicus when they want someone dead.

 

• Radiant Bane Patrol- specialized for the harshest of radiation on the planet, they go out to the least protected locations to find the harshest targets.

 

• Bunker Raid Posse- 5 man squads that raids bunkers, abandoned or not, for targets, mostly outlaws and heretics.

 

 

Lore

 

Late 41st Millenium (M41)

 

After the Horus Heresy many outlaws and heretics went across the galaxy, some found themselves at Vitria. The Imperium of Man would create such a militia known as; the Rangers of Vitria. The Mechanicus would aid them, supplying them with weapons and genetically altered mounts, such as horses or xeno-beats to ride on the irritated planet. Truly though, it was the fall of Cadia that sparked their creation.

 

The Vigilus Campaign Aftermath (998-999 M41)

 

Being tasked to hunt down whatever outlaws, heretics, or xenos crawl around on Vigilus they hunted. When the guns fell silent and the shattered Imperial armies on Vigilus retreated or regrouped, the battlefield became a poisoned graveyard. Supply chains were shattered, order was fragile, and the Great Rift’s shadow loomed large. Amidst this devastation, a new force emerged; an unknown, ragged band of desert hunters riding out of the wasteland. The Rangers of Vitria had arrived. An imperial guard sergeant asked a Ranger Sergeant why they came so late, the Ranger Sergeant responded to him explaining they had been cut off by the Rift and overwhelmed by their own world’s radiation storms and xeno attacks, the Rangers had been forced to fight a brutal war of survival on Vitria itself. Only when the worst threats on their homeworld temporarily subsided could they mount a desperate, last-ditch expedition to Vigilus. The imperial guard sergeant wrote that they came with no fanfare, no banners, no grand armies, only small patrols and mounted scouts, hardened by endless desert trials and equipped with Mechanicus scavenged tech. A mechanicus cult leader wrote, “The Rangers’ purpose was clear: to reclaim the lawless zones left behind after the war’s devastation. Their arrival was like a cold wind cutting through the chaos. They hunted warlords and cult leaders who had taken control of ruined districts. They tracked down mutant gangs preying on the weak. They enforced the Emperor’s will with ruthless precision where regular Imperial forces could no longer reach.”
 

Imperial commanders and surviving regiments viewed the Rangers with a mix of relief and suspicion. They were strangers, no official records of their deployment existed, no command structure acknowledged them. Yet their results were undeniable. Entire rogue elements were purged; outposts re-secured. The Rangers moved fast and vanished like ghosts, leaving behind only scorched ground and whispered warnings.

 

 In the ruins of Vigilus, stories spread of the “Dead Men of Vitria”, cloaked riders with unflinching eyes and blackened leather, whose justice was swift and final. Some whispered that they were the last hope for the Imperium on the fringe, others feared them as harsh arbiters who might one day judge even loyal Imperial forces.

 

Ranger Patrol – Elite Infantry Unit (Astra Militarum Custom Datasheet)

 

 

Power Level: 5

Points: 100 (for 5 Rangers)

Battlefield Role: Elites

 

Unit Composition

• 4 Rangers
   

• 1 Ranger Sergeant
   

Can include up to 5 additional Rangers (20 pts/model).

 

Wargear

Each Ranger is equipped with:

• Galvanic Carbine (Rapid Fire 1, 30", S4, AP-1, D1)
   

• Bolt Revolver (Pistol 1, 12", S5, AP-2, D2)
   

• Frag & Krak Grenades
   

Rebreather Masks (See Abilities)

 

• Combat Knife
   

The Sergeant may replace his bolt revolver with a Mechanicus Pistol:

• Pistol 1, 12", S5, AP-2, D1, each hit roll of 6 causes 2 hits instead of 1.

Options

• Up to 2 Rangers may replace their Galvanic Carbine with one of the following:
   

  • Flamer (free)
     

  • Longshot Las-rifle (Heavy 1, 36", S4, AP-3, D2, ignores cover) (+5 pts)
     

  • Rad-Grenade Launcher (Assault D3, 24", S3, AP-1, D1, targets hit subtract -1 Toughness until end of turn) (+5 pts)
     

• The Sergeant may take a Power Weapon (+5 pts)

 

Faction Stratagem: Vitria’s Vow – 1CP

Use at the start of the Shooting phase.
Select a Ranger Patrol unit that did not move this turn. Until end of phase, all their Bolt Revolver and Galvanic Carbine attacks gain +1 to wound against Characters and Infantry.

Edited 3 hours ago by Witherking17
I didn't finish