The 22nd Gryphonne Rifles

The 22nd Gryphonne Rifles

The battle is over, but the war rages on. Our drums of war will pound forever, until our enemies are no more...

  - Commander Kearns, Commander Senioris Aeternum, the 22nd Gryphonne Rifles.

 

Introduction

In this article I want to discuss my attempt at a custom Imperial Guard regiment. A lot of people have these so I'm not breaking new ground here, but I really wanted to tie my Adeptus Titanicus War Griffons into a 40K army somehow. Enter my own custom Imperial Guard regiment, the 22nd Gryphonne Rifles. First I'll throw some fluff around about them, introduce their uniforms, and give a bit of a breakdown on how I came up with the colour scheme based on the fluff. Enjoy!

Background

The 22nd Gryphonne Rifles are an Imperial Guard regiment borne of the former Forge World of Gryphonne IV. During the first battle of Paramar IV the Legio Gryphonicus were deployed to defend the Loyalist planet of Paramar. The Titans faced swathes of Dark Mechanicum, and during this time discovered even their agile Warhound titans were vulnerable to flanking from traitor Skitarii. The Princeps-Master of the Legio Gryphonicus Chartain Baldur, ordered a deployment of ground troops to counter the threat and tie up the traitors until the Titans could re-group.

Waiting in orbit above the planet, various regiments of Cadians, Catachans, and primarily Guard regiments from Gryphonne IV were dropped from orbit to the Landing Zone Secundus where the Titan machines were stationed in defence. Command of the regiments was handed over to the Princeps Senioris of the Titan maniple, whose Voxcast messages directed the regiments to engage the Dark Mechanicum on the Plain of Fire and prevent any further hassle to the Titans. 

After successfully pushing back the Dark Mechanicum, and after suffering horrendous casualties in the process, the remaining regiments fell back as the God Machines of the War Griffins and the Tiger Eyes fired their war sirens and moved to engage each other.

While the battle on the Plain of Fire continued, Titan casualties mounted. Orders from the Princeps Senioris were to stay back and hold the defences of the landing site, but so enamoured with the God machines and in pure desperation the surviving regiments marched out to join the Titans in battle. Heavy bolter fire made eardrums bleed, volcano cannon blasts left craters the size of cities as the battle swung in the Warmaster's favour.

Information from the databanks on Holy Terra is unclear as to what happened after Paramar IV. An informal entry in the personal log of the Princeps Senioris Picaud Calixtinus of the War Griffons described the evacuation of the titans and the Imperial guard regiments:

Paramar IV is no longer ours. Those poor bastards. The crews of the Leman Russ screamed down the voxcaster to get as many out as they could. We only had enough in our void shields to protect the machine. The tanks gave cover as squad after squad scrambled through craters and barbed wire to get back to the landing site. The smoke was too much after that. I couldn't do anything else to help. I relayed what I could to the battle cruisers waiting in orbit about expected numbers of casualties and how many we're evacuating. It looks like there's a Guard officer co-ordinating the evacuation of his troops. I can't tell his platoon or squad numbers. Everything is either burning or melted. If we get out, I'll find him...

That officer was Company Commander Kearns of the Gryphonne Rifles. His company had been deployed to Paramar IV soon after the War Griffons departed for the Warp, unsure of what his role in this was to be...

Proceeding the battle, the survivors of Paramar IV were transported back to Gryphonne IV on the Imperial Cruiser 'Parthenus'. Onboard the ship were Princeps and guardsmen alike. During the trip a meeting occurred between high command of the Collegia Titanica and the regimental commanders of the surviving Imperial guard companies.

Thus the Parthenus Agreement was signed. The Collegia Titanica had noticed how effective the Imperial Guard were when operating alongside the War Griffons. The remaining companies would be amalgamated into the new 'Gryphonne Rifles' in nominae officialis, under the command of the newly promoted Princeps Master Calixtinus.

The Imperial cruiser Parthenus would now and forever accompany the War Griffons on campaign. The Gryphonne Rifles consider the Parthenus as their forge planet, their name a homage to their forge world and to the great Titans they serve.

Uniforms and Heraldry

Below is the uniform and colours of the 22nd Gryphonne Rifles. The symbolism is described below.

The Gryphonne Rifles live in awe of the machine gods they fight along side. To show their appreciation and loyalty to the Legio Gryphonicus, the colours of their uniforms and armour were updated to match the blue of the Warlord Titans tilt shields, and the yellow of the large carapace shield plates used by the various classes of Titans. Under the Parthenus Agreement the Adeptus Mechanicus demanded a show of allegiance to Mars for allowing this unconventional partnership to proceed. Thus, the weapons of the Gryphonne Rifles were agreed to be coloured in red to pay homage to the forges of Mars. The right shoulder pad of each guardsmen bears a blue wing and abstract head of a bird, much like the heraldry used on the larger titans.

I've painted two example miniatures of a regular guardsman and an officer. The bases are not done:

Real life background

I've wanted to tie my War Griffons titan legion into a 40K army for a while now, and coming up with this bit of fluff allowed me to do that. I also wanted to make up my own piece of the 40K universe that was mine and this is a first step into doing just that. I took the name of Commander Kearns from the drummer of death metal band Bolt Thrower's Martin Kearns who passed away suddenly a few years ago. I wanted to do that as a sign of respect to the man for his talents on the kit and to give him his own character in the 40K universe.

Conclusion

I hope you've enjoyed this article. I've enjoyed coming up with the background of them, and it's nice to have a small bit of something that I can build on. I plan on finishing the other 8 guardsmen in the squad, and then I have a Titan Battlegroup for Adeptus Titanicus that I want to build and paint in the War Griffons scheme. Next on the blog I'll try and discuss a bit more about their heraldry and their fighting style.

Cheers, and happy hobbying!