Secutarii Peltast

A Secutarii Peltast is a warrior of the Legiones Secutarii who specialises in dealing focussed, overwhelming and devastating amounts of firepower. Whereas their brethren, the Secutarii Hoplites, form the anvil upon which the Collegia Titanica's enemies are broken, the Peltasts are the hammer that strikes those that would lurk in the shadows to ambush the God-engines of the Titan Legions or use their speed to close quickly with their target.

Amongst the forces of the Adeptus Mechanicus, the Secutarii Peltasts enjoy an enviable reputation for excellence and tenacity, and are rightly considered the best mortal troops a Magos can call upon.

Role[]

Whereas Secutarii Hoplites are deployed defensively, the Secutarii Peltasts fill the offensive role in the Titan-Guard. The Peltasts' greatest strength comes from their access to rare and precious weapons not readily seen in the arsenals of the Imperium of Mankind, for a Peltast's signature weapon is its Galvanic Caster, a versatile and immensely powerful weapon that can be equipped with different kind of ammunition to fulfill specific roles on the battlefield. Like other Tech-Guard, a new Peltast is either recruited from military cultures in service to the Adeptus Mechanicus or fully vat-grown from an equally suitable stock.

The Peltasts' principal tactic is the focussed delivery of firepower to saturate targeted areas and clear them of the enemy presence. The marksmanship of the Peltast is such that even cover can not save those troops that would try to hide from a Titan's guns in gorges, crevasses or other natural terrain. On the battlefield, a Peltast's main role is the enemy's destruction, to prevent the Titan-Guard and the Titans themselves from being swarmed by large masses of enemy infantry and vehicles that are difficult for a Titan to target individually.

If one of the mighty God-engines of the Collegia Titanica falls in battle, it is the sworn duty of the Peltasts to reach, encircle and defend the mighty war engine and rescue its valuable crew until the Secutarii Hoplites arrive and truly secure the site. In this task Peltasts consider their own life a meagre price to pay and their fervour is such that most of them will gladly offer their life in exchange for the Titan's safeguarding and recovery. Such are the Peltasts' expertise in these type of operations that they are generally considered as the best choice for commando operations, defence extremis and battlefield reclamations by the Mechanicus' Tech-priests Dominus. In fact, their reputation is such that many Magi of the ancient Taghmata Mechanicus and other branches of the Mechanicum went to great lengths to secure the service of Peltast phalanxes.

Unit Composition[]

9-19 Secutarii Peltasts
1 Peltast Alpha

Wargear[]

Galvanic Caster - A Galvanic Caster is similar to a Combi-Weapon that combines two weapon systems in one. The Galvanic Caster's main weapon system is a so-called flechette burster, an electro-galvanic solid-projectile weapon that fires laser-guided, razor-edged, metallic flechettes not so different from the mono-molecular discs used by Eldar Shuriken Weapons. Despite their low velocity when leaving the muzzle, these flechettes are inherently deadly, because the Peltasts prefer to shoot concentrated, rapid-fire bursts rather than single projectiles. Upgraded with a high-intensity capacitor that compresses the galvanic charge, a Galvanic Caster is able to fire so-called Kinetic Hammershots, armour-piercing rounds that are fired at supersonic speed and are capable of piercing even Astartes Power Armour. The Galvanic Caster also features a secondary weapon system known as an Ignis Blaze. This canister shot explodes into dense storms of thick, multi-spectrum particles and electromagnetic radiation that occludes both sight organs and Augur scans, utterly blinding the enemy.
Kyropatris Field Generator - Access to the Kyropatris Field Generator is perhaps what most readily distinguishes a Secutarii from a Skitarii. The Kyropatris Field Generator is a portable device that may be mistaken as a backpack at first glance, when it is in fact a cybernetic implant entirely fused with the Hoplite's ribcage and abdomen. Unlike many other portable defensive shield devices of the Adeptus Mechanicus, the Kyropatris Field Generator is tuned to others of its kind so that in close proximity to each other, two such devices will mutually reinforce each other using constructive harmonics. Used in significant number, the Kyropatris generators of a unit of Secutarii projects an invisible force shield capable of stopping or diverting even heavy weapon fire.
Secutarii War-plate - A Secutarii's battle armour is cybernetically grafted as a second skin to his flesh.

Alternative Weaponry[]

Radium Carbine
Arc Rifle

The Peltast Alpha may also be equipped with:

Power Weapon (Any Type)
Arc Maul
Radium Pistol
Arc Pistol
Volkite Serpenta
Refractor Field
Omnispex
Shattersphere Grenades
Augury Scanner

Sources[]

The Horus Heresy - Book Seven: Inferno (Forge World Series) by Alan Bligh, pp. 287, 290