Pallas Grav-Attack Squadron

Pallas Grav-Attack Squadrons were specialised squads of the ancient Legio Custodes, the elite bodyguard of the Emperor of Mankind, that utilised highly-manoeuvrable Pallas Grav-Attack hunter-killer vehicle during the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy eras during the 30th and 31st Millennia. The Legio Custodes relied on Pallas grav-attack's superior agility to inflict devastating hit-and-run assaults on the enemy or to hunt down fleeing targets. In addition, these abilities allowed the Pallas Grav-Attack Squadrons to be used as reconnaissance units or as skirmishing forces large enough to pin or delay the enemy in place as the main bulk of the Legio Custodes detachments were deployed.

Role
Designed as a high manoeuvrability hunter-killer, the Pallas pattern grave-attack squadrons provided the Legio Custodes with a rapid strike capacity greater than that which could be afforded by the use of ground troops alone. The Pallas was designed, it is reported, to incorporate advanced manoeuvring and autonomous response systems recovered by the great Techno-Archaeologist Arkhan Land, the Pallas pattern grav-attack was one of the most recent designs entered service with the Legio Custodes prior to the Burning of Prospero. Clearly based based upon the adavanced repulsor-lift technology pioneered by the Coronus Grav-Carrier and Caladius Grav-Tank, it was smaller than either, a single-seat high-speed attack skimmer analogous in role to the Land Speeders of the Legiones Astartes.

Designed as a high manoeuvrability hunter-killer, the Pallas pattern grav-attack squadrons provided the Legio Custodes with a greater rapid strike capacity than could be afforded by the use of ground troops alone. In this it replaced standard pattern skimmers as well as larger war machines such as the ancient Jocasta pattern grav-attacks, themselves relics of the Unification Wars, and considerably smaller Hermes pattern grav-sleds, which while highly agile and swift, offered little in the way of combat survivability. In addition to their relative durability and extreme turn of speed, the Pallas' rounded abilities allowed the grav-attack to also be used as reconnaissance units or as skirmishing forces in larger assault groups to pin or delay the enemy in place as the main bulk of the Legio rallied to meet a threat either in direct confrontation or ambush.

The Pallas was also very powerfully armed for a vehicle of its size, with its standard configuration carrying cycle linked Archanus pattern blaze cannon, a highly flexible las weapon able to unleash rapid individual pulses of fire or concentrate into a single blast-beam, allowing it to serve ably as both an anti-infantry and anti-armour device. Rarer variants do however exist, including those equipped with extremely powerful Adrathic Disintegration Beam Weapons.

Unit Composition

 * 1-3 Pallas Grav-Attack Vehicles

Wargear

 * Twin-Linked Arachnus Blaze Cannon
 * Flare Shield
 * Machine Spirit

Optional Wargear
A Pallas Grav-Attack may take any of the following upgrades:
 * Searchlight
 * Extra Armour

Any Pallas Grav-Attack may exchange its twin-linked Arachnus Blaze Cannon for the following:
 * Twin-Linked Adrathic Devastator

Gallery
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