Cadian 81st Armoured

The Cadian 81st Armoured Regiment, known informally as "Rolling Thunder", are a veteran Tank regiment that form part of the 18th Army Group "Exolon". They are commonly known for their (now deceased) commander, Colonel Vinneman, whom embodied the regiment fiercely, and their actions on Golgotha, as part of "Operation Thunderstorm".

Campaign on Palmeros
The 81st Armoured Regiment's earliest confirmed combat was on the planet of Palmeros. There, the regiment fought against the Ork forces of Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka. During the campaign, all of the regiment's 10 Companies took heavy casualties during the fighting, and were among the last regiments to withdraw before the planet was destroyed by Thraka's asteroid fleet. The 81st's last recorded operation on Palmeros was a secret, Zenith Eyes Only classified operation to Ghotenz, an anarchy controlled city far from the 81st's base. Three tanks of the regiment's 10th Company (also known as "The Gunheads"), under Sergeant Oskar Wulfe, escorted a Chimera carrying three Adeptas Soritas agents to extract a life-saving bone marrow sample to save a valuable Imperial General and boost to morale of the Imperial soldiers extracted from Palmeros. As the group entered Lugo's Ditch, Wulfe's Leman Russ, Last Rites, suddenly stopped. The tank of Sergeant Strieber, Steelhearted, carried on and hit a mine, wrecking the tank treads and immobilising the vehicle. An Ork force then ambushed the force, but the surviving tanks, Last Rites, the Soritas' Chimera and Champion of Cebera, the tank of Sergeant Kohl, broke out or the ambush, leaving Strieber behind as a decoy. However, Kohl's tank had taken heavy hits, and turned back to delay the Orks. Arriving in Ghotenz, Last Rites and the Soritas' Chimera arrived at the church, delivering false messages to the people in the city to give them hope in their last hours. After the bone marrow was extracted, the two tanks proceeded back to the 81st's base, but the crew of Last Rites were forced to abandon their tank to use the faster Chimera. The crew and Soritas boarded the final transport off-world, and the Regiment proceeded towards Planet G., where Operation Thunderstorm was waiting

Operation Thunderstorm
Operation Thunderstorm was a mission to extract the lost Fortress of Arrogance from the planet of Golgotha, where it had lain since the last Golgothan War, where Commissar Yarrick had been captured and then released for the Third War of Armageddon. The regiment's deployment went well, but Ork AA fire scattered the 10th Company, "Gossfried's Gunheads", into the desert, with their dropship crash-landing in the desert. As the operation proceeded, the regiment secured the outpost at Karavassa, eliminating the Orks alongside the rest of the 10th Armoured Division. Meanwhile, the Gunheads linked up with 6 companies of the 98th Regiment under Colonel Stromm, losing one tank in the process. The two forces merged strengh, and proceeded to try and regroup with the task force. As they did so, a large Ork force drove them into a sandstorm, and another tank was lost after it drove over a cliff in the blind conditions. However, close after that, the force reached the outpost at Balkar, and regrouped with the rest of the Army Group.

Proceeding through Red Gorge, the 81st Armoured division launched a hasty attack on a large Ork fortification. Colonel Vinemman's personal Shadowsword was used to destroy the gates, but Ork fighter-bombers took out the super-heavy before it could escape. Command of the regiment fell to Captain Immrich, whom led the regiment in an operation to create a gap in the Ork lines to allow the Army Group to press into the Ishwar mountains. However, as Exolon reached the reported location of the Fortress of Arrogance, the tank was no longer there, and so the regiment proceeded towards a large Ork camp, passing through Dar Laq in the process. Upon arriving at the Ork camp, a fierce apocalyptic battle ensued, with the 81st playing a key role in destroying Ork tanks and artillery. However, an Ork Squiggoth then caused havoc with the regiment's battle plan, but Captain Immrich drew the Squiggoth into the Ork lines, creating an orgy of destruction, and after a tense battle, a Leman Russ Vanquisher shot pierced the heart of the Squiggoth, bringing it down and killing it.

Pushing into the Ork camp, the 81st's tanks came under heavy fire from Ork ambushers and a super-heavy, later found out to be the Fortress of Arrogance. Exolon's commander, General DeViers, ordered no-one to fire upon the Fortress of Arrogance, but a missed shot by the gunner of the tank Last Rites II caused Major General Bergen to order all tanks to fire upon the Fortress, with a final shot killing the Ork Warboss commanding it. However, the battle had taken a fierce toll on the regiment. Of 100 tanks at the start of Operation Thunderstorm, less then 10 remained, including Last Rites II, commanded by Sergeant Wulfe, and Captain Immrich's tank, Firemane.