Equip-Legality14

The Commissar equips as a discipline officer, not a line trooper. He may arm himself with a bolt or plasma pistol and a power sword or chainsword — an officer's weapons, fit for the man who executes cowards — and takes flak beneath a refractor field for the invulnerable protection his rank warrants. Frag and krak grenades round out his kit. He carries no basic, special or heavy weapon: his work is the fear he spreads, not the volume of his fire.

The Company Commander takes the full officer's armoury. He may pair a laspistol or bolt pistol with a chainsword, power sword or power fist, and shields himself with flak and a refractor field. As the hub of the command-net he may add a vox-caster to extend his command range, the Regimental Standard to steady the ranks, or the Master Vox-array to relay an Order across the field. Frag and krak grenades complete the loadout. He fields no basic, special or heavy weapon — his weapon is the Order.

The Conscript equips as the raw levy he is. He is issued a lasgun and nothing heavier — no autogun, no special or heavy weapon — with a laspistol and bayonet the only alternatives to hand. His light flak comes with the body, and he may be handed a frag grenade. The barest kit in the gang, matching the barest training: a rifle to fire, a line to hold, and a body soon replaced.

The Enginseer equips as a Mechanicus specialist rather than a fighter. His servo-arm is part of him, and he carries a laspistol and flak besides. His true purchases are companions and sight: a servo-skull to relay vision, or the Munitorum Servitor that attends him alone as no other Regiment can field. A frag grenade rounds him out. He takes no line weapon — he mends the gang's guns, he does not add to them.

The Guardsman equips as the standard line trooper. He chooses a lasgun or autogun as his basic weapon, with a laspistol and a bayonet to fall back on and flak for protection. Frag and krak grenades are his to carry. He has no access to special or heavy weapons — those belong to the troopers and teams built around them — but within the rank and file his kit is the whole of what a soldier needs: a rifle, a blade, and armour enough to hold the line.

The Heavy-Weapons Team equips for one purpose: the gun. From the shared heavy list it may take a heavy bolter, autocannon, lascannon, missile launcher, heavy stubber, mortar or heavy flamer — a single crew-served weapon that defines the platform — with only flak for protection. It carries no pistol, no basic weapon, no blade and no grenades; the crew exist to serve the gun and nothing else, and stand or fall with it.

The High-Command Leader equips as the general he is. He carries a bolt pistol and a power sword or chainsword, and rides behind flak and a refractor field of the finest grade. He may bear the Regimental Standard to steady the whole corps or the Master Vox-array to carry his Orders across the field, and takes frag and krak grenades besides. Like every officer he fields no line weapon — the army-wide Order is his weapon, and it reaches further than any gun.

The Lieutenant equips as a fighting junior officer. He may carry a laspistol or take up a lasgun with the men, and pairs it with a chainsword, power sword or bayonet. Flak protects him, a refractor field if one can be spared, and a vox-caster widens the range of the single Order he issues. Frag and krak grenades finish his kit. He is the officer who fights in the line as well as commands it, armed to do both.

The Master Vox-Operator equips light, because his burden is the array. A laspistol and bayonet are his only weapons, flak his only armour, and a frag grenade his only ordnance. What matters is carried on his back: the Master Vox that relays an Order beyond sight, and a vox-caster to widen an officer's command range. He is built to keep the net alive, not to add to the gang's fire.

The Ministorum Priest equips as a zealot, not a soldier. He carries a laspistol or autopistol and an eviscerator-class chainsword or a power sword — a preacher's weapons, meant to lead a charge rather than hold a firing line. Frag and krak grenades are his to throw. He wears only his robes and takes no line weapon, trusting his safety to faith and the fervour he kindles in the men around him.

The Ogryn equips for brute work. It takes either a ripper-gun, which fires and clubs both, or a bullgryn maul behind a slabshield that walls off an approach — one loadout or the other, never a subtle choice. Its plate is part of the body, and it may be handed a frag grenade. It carries nothing an ordinary trooper would recognise as a soldier's kit: a big gun or a big club, and the strength to make either enough.

The Regimental Medic equips as a specialist of recovery. A laspistol, bayonet and flak are the whole of his fighting kit; his real equipment is the narthecium that keeps a wounded line alive and the augmetics that offset a veteran's lasting injury. A frag grenade rounds him out. He takes no line weapon — the ranks he keeps filled are worth more than any shot he could add.

The Special-Weapons Trooper equips around a single special weapon: a flamer, meltagun, plasma gun or grenade launcher, the tool that gives him his name and his purpose. A laspistol and bayonet back it up, flak protects him, and frag and krak grenades ride along. He takes no basic or heavy weapon — one specialist gun in the hands of an ordinary soldier is the whole of the trade, and the target it unlocks is worth the trooper built around it.

The Veteran Guardsman equips as the elite line demands. He may carry a lasgun or boltgun and, unlike the common trooper, reach for a special weapon of his own — meltagun, plasma gun or grenade launcher — with a chainsword for close work. Carapace plate replaces flak, and magnoculars let him read the field. Frag and krak grenades complete him. His broader access is the mark of the veteran: the soldier the Regiment trusts with heavier tools and harder ground.