An Alpha Legion Headhunter Kill-Team taking out vital targets
The Headhunter Kill-Teams were an elite formation exclusively utilised by the Alpha Legion during the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy eras during the 30th and 31st Millennia. The histories of the Great Crusade record that it was the Alpha Legion that conceived of the deployment of Legion Seeker Squads, a unit configuration that spread to the other Legions as the Great Crusade expanded outwards. The Legion did not halt at Seeker squads however, and had since fielded a further refinement of the concept in the form of Headhunter Kill-teams. Known variously as Headhunters or "Effrit" (although this latter term may also have referred to the act of assassination, and the sowing of destruction and chaos behind enemy lines mid-battle, as well as a particular unit type), their preference for high-impact strikes carried out by small, elite infantry units was evidenced by the fact that both Destroyer squads (who suffered none of the opprobrium found in some Legions to those so assigned), as well as specialised Alpha Legion sabotage operatives who were also classified as "Effrit" in some accounts, were treated as a respected veteran cadre within the Legion.
These supremely skilled infiltrators specialised in creating conditions of all-consuming chaos among the enemy's ranks, sowing confusion by eliminating key officers, positions and assets. In doing so, the Headhunters brought about a tipping point in a battle or an entire campaign, the fulcrum upon which the fate of worlds was balanced. Headhunter Kill-teams were made up of the most skilled infiltrators and assassins in the Alpha Legion, and fielded at the direct command of a senior commander. They had access to some of the most prized wargear their Legion could provide, including special ammunition conceived specifically to penetrate armour up to and including Legiones Astartes battle plate. In the ranks of a Legion already renowned for its ability to infiltrate, misdirect and assassinate, the Headhunter Kill Teams were nigh unsurpassed and were their deeds were known beyond their Legion and feared the galaxy over. More than likely, the Alpha Legion Traitor Legion still maintains this elite formation in the modern 41st Millennium.
Unit Composition
- 4-9 Headhunters
- 1 Headhunter Prime
Wargear
- Power Armour
- Bolt Pistol
- Bolter with Banestrike Ammunition
- Power Dagger
- Krak Grenades
- Venom Spheres
Optional Wargear
- Combi-Bolter with Banestrike Ammunition
- Heavy Bolter with Suspensor Web and Banestrike Ammunition
Optional Wargear (Headhunter Prime Only)
Dedicated Transport
- Rhino Armoured Personnel Carrier
- Dreadclaw Drop Pod
Sources
- The Horus Heresy - Book Three: Extermination (Imperial Armour), pp. 88, 260