A Pre-Heresy Salamanders Pyroclast Legionary
The Pyroclasts were a specialised formation, akin to a Legion Destroyer Squad, utilised by the Salamanders Space Marine Legion during the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy in the 30th and 31st Millennia.
This uniquely armed elite formation carried prototype and highly adaptable flame-projector weapons into battle, bringing utter destruction to their enemies with cleansing, purifying flames. It is unknown if the Salamanders Chapter still utilises this specialised formation within its Chapter organisation in the 41st Millennium.
History[]
A Salamanders Pyroclast Warden during the Great Crusade.
The dreaded Pyroclasts were the burning fury of the Salamanders Legion given material form. The Salamanders shunned conventional Legion Destroyer units, save for a small cadre retained for xenocide operations, due to the training and unclean nature of the weapons they wielded. The primarch Vulkan created the Pyroclasts to fulfil the role of bringers of utter destruction instead, creating for them advanced and extremely powerful thermal/incendiary weapons of his own devising.
The Pyroclasts embodied the Promethean mantra that destruction and renewal should be sought through the purification wrought by cleansing fire. To the Salamanders fire is more than merely a weapon; it has an almost mystical function and truth, and embodies both purifying destruction and the potential for rebirth and redemption. But for renewal to occur, what has gone before must be wiped away; purified by fire. It is this last concept that the Pyroclasts embodied, and in battle they were relentless and remorseless, and where they were unleashed there could be no possibility of mercy or reprieve from their fire.
Unit Composition[]
- 4-9 Pyroclasts
Dedicated Transport[]
Wargear[]
A Salamanders Pyroclast clad in his Mantle of Ash Artificer Armour, wielding a deadly Pyroclast Flame Projector.
- Artificer Armour - The finely wrought artificer plate (known as the Mantle of Ash) worn by the Pyroclasts was fashioned with flecks of obsidax crystal from the volcanoes of Nocturne, and draped with the hides of the Damen-salamanders who dwelled in their fiery depths.
- Pyroclast Flame Projector - The unique and complex Flamer Weapons wielded by the Pyroclasts are a type of design created by Primarch Vulkan himself, and are both more elegant and far more potent than the standard flamer that was wielded by the Space Marine Legions. They could be used to incinerate a swathe of targets in the manner of a standard flamer, but could also focus their jet into searing cutting arcs, difficult to aim, but able to slice through the most durable of armours.
Optional Wargear[]
Optional Wargear (Warden Only)[]
Sources[]
- The Horus Heresy Book Two: Massacre (Forge World Series) by Alan Bligh, pp. 120, 247-248
- The Horus Heresy Book Four: Extermination (Forge World Series) by Alan Bligh, pg. 162
Gallery[]
