Red Hunters

The Red Hunters are a Loyalist Space Marine Chapter of unknown origins and Founding that has strong ties to the Inquisition. The Red Hunters Chapter has a long history of putting themselves at the service of the Inquisition. The entire Chapter has been known to serve under an Inquisitor Lord on occasion.

Chapter History
What little is known about the Red Hunters Chapter suggests that they may have been founded immediately following the Horus Heresy, and were intended to hunt down and eliminate the Traitor Legions. So strong is the link between this Chapter and the three great Inquisitorial orders that rumour was that they had been founded at the request of the Inquisitorial representative on Terra, and that there was a secret pact between the Inquisition and the Chapter for mutual support. The Red Hunters most famous exploits came during the Siege of Vraks, an Imperial Armoury World that was seized by the Forces of Chaos under the control of the Apostate Cardinal Xaphan in 812.M41 and was liberated by the Imperial Guard with aid from the Inquisition and numerous Chapters of the Adeptus Astartes in 830.M41.

Notable Campaigns

 * Siege of Vraks (812-830.M41) - The Siege of Vraks saw the deployment of a significant force of Red Hunters centred on the 3rd Company to aid the Imperial Guard Regiments deployed to retake that Armoury World from the Forces of Chaos led by the heretical Cardinal Xaphan. The Red Hunters force was never deployed as a single unit and instead individual squads of Red Hunter Astartes were divided amongst a group of Ordo Malleus Inquisitors to act as an elite cadre of shock troops to aid the reconquest of Vraks. Hence, Red Hunter squads and vehicles could be found at many places all along the front lines of the campaign, and Red Hunters were present at most of the major battles fought during the eighteen-year-long siege. The Red Hunters saw extensive action during the final stages of the Siege of Vraks, primarily in the climactic Imperial offensive against the remaining bastion of Chaotic forces on the world in the great fortress known as the Citadel. A particularly dark day for the Chapter during the campaign saw roughly 150 Red Hunters Battle-Brothers perform an ill fated Drop Pod assault on the Citadel's Armoury Gate, which led to the fortress' Undercroft. Unfortunately they were beset by a Chaos Reaver-class Battle Titan of the Traitor Legio Vulcanum and hordes of Traitor soldiers. Despite attempts by the 269th Death Korps Siege Regiment's efforts to breach the gate and provide an escape route for the Red Hunters trapped in the "Death Pit" before the Armoury Gate, the entire force was wiped out to the last Astartes. The Red Hunters saw action once again alongside Lord Inquisitor Hector Rex, fellow Astartes of the elite Grey Knights Chapter, and the Krieg Grenadiers of the 150th and 158th Death Korps Regiments. This engagement would be more successful than the assault on the Armoury Gate and successfully breached the Citadel's Cardinal Gate and banished the Bloodthirster Greater Daemon An'ggrath summoned by the Apostate Cardinal Xaphan back to the Warp. During the final offensive against the Citadel, Red Hunters Terminator Squads proved instrumental in assisting the Krieg Death Korps engineers' efforts to clear the Citadel's Undercroft of the remainign and most powerful of Xaphan's renegade troops. The 3rd Squad of the Red Hunters' 1st Company, Squad Zokura, achieved a ratio of 97:1 kills during this operation.

Chapter Organisation
Although still a Chapter of Space Marines that look to the Codex Astartes for its organisation and spiritual guidance, the Chapter makes their squads available for rapid responses to Inquisitorial calls for assistance. Often times, an honour guard of Red Hunters squads are called forward to the frontlines to provide personal protection to high ranking Inquisitor Lords.

Chapter Colours
The Red Hunters' Power Armour is painted red with golden trim on the shoulder plates and silver Aquila. The eyes of a Red Hunter's helmet are green. According to the Insignium Astartes the Red Hunters originally denoted what Company a battle-brother belonged to by the colour of the trim on the shoulder plates. With the later release of Forge World's Imperial Armour Magazine Vol. 7, the illustrations of the Red Hunters show that they now all wear golden trim on their shoulder pads. Squad number/type is designated on the right shoulder pad whilst the left shoulder pad has the Chapter's iconography prominently displayed. The left knee pad shows the Company number, designated by a roman numeral.

Chapter Badge
Uniquely amongst Chapters of the Adeptus Astartes, the Red Hunters Chapter bear the Inquisitorial 'I' in black upon its badge, placed on the center of a white skull.

Gallery
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