The Sacristan Engineers of the Sacrosanct Chambers hail from the Ordinatus Conclave – sometimes known as the Conclave of the Thunderbolt for the devastating effect it can have on battle.
Pack-hunting creatures from the realm of Azyr, Gryph-hounds are noble beasts who detest corruption. Their sharp senses pierce deception as easily as their beaks and claws shred the flesh of the unfaithful.
Warlock Bombardiers are those engineers who develop a particular penchant for weapons that deliver explosive death from extreme range. Their alchemical armaments cause utter devastation wherever they strike home.
Deathmasters are the greatest assassins of the Clans Eshin, trained in the shadowy arts of stealth and contracted to slay those whom influential skaven deem too dangerous to live. Armed with poisoned ‘weeping blades’ and toxin-laced throwing stars, these supernaturally dextrous killers have slain kings and warlords beyond count.
The eagle-eyed Knight-Judicator is an officer of Angelos Conclaves who wields the terrifying terminus greatbow, a gargantuan weapon that can fell the mightiest of foes from far across the battlefield.
The Knight-Relictor is a sombre guardian of the sepulchral Temple of Ages. In battle these macabre-looking warriors chant prayers to the God-King in order to invoke his divine might to smite their opponents and energise their allies.
With Allied bombing and ground campaigns hampering Japanese industry the Emperor’s soldiers learnt to use whatever materials were at hand to face the enemy, as firearms and ammunition became ever more scarce. This would see Japanese soldiers sacrificing themselves with grenades, a courageous last ‘banzai’ charge with swords drawn, or using sharpened lengths of bamboo as makeshift spears.
Japanese paratroopers – Teishin Shudan (raiding group) – proved highly effective in the early years of the war. German successes with paratroops during 1940 encouraged the Japanese to develop their airborne arm as a constituent part of the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force (IJAAF).
Fanatical loyalty and iron discipline were the core of the Imperial Japanese Army ethos, and although it didn’t have the same level of heavy weaponry and vehicles as their Allied opponents they were well supported by the likes of the Type 92 medium machine gun and Type 97 medium mortar.
The Type 95 Ha-Go light tank was most numerous armoured fighting vehicle fielded by the Japanese during WWII. It also saw action versus the Soviet Union at Khalkhyn Gol in 1939 and during the Sino-Japanese war of 1937-45. It saw action in both Imperial Army and Special Naval Landing Force forces.
With over 2,100 units made, the Type 97 Chi-Ha medium tank was the second most produced Japanese medium tank of World War II, after the smaller Type 95 Ha-Go. It saw extensive action in the Second Sino Japanese War, the Battles of Khalkhin Gol against the Soviet Union, and throughout World War II.