Secutarii Hoplite

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A Secutarii Hoplite is a footsoldier of the Legiones Secutarii, those independent armies of Skitarii Tech-Guards bound in service to the Titan Legions of the Collegia Titanica. In marked contrast to their kin of the Peltast-brethren, Hoplites are equipped defensively to withstand large scale infantry assault and keep the Titans from getting swarmed. Their tenacity in this mission is almost legendary, each and every one of these cybernetically augmented warriors seeing it as its oath-bound duty to give his life to safeguard the God-engine their are charged with protecting. On the battlefield, large Phalanxes of Secutarii Hoplites can be frequently seen to hold fast at the feet of the Titans, a thin line of metal-cased bodies holding back a screaching tide of enemies, like meagre dams holding back the fury of a stormy sea, and yet their discipline and resilience is such hat the Hoplites often emerge victorious from these combats.

Combat Role

The Hoplites are the principal battlefield formation of the Secutarii and the backbone of their strength. Designed specifically as a defensive force capable of fighting on the most violent and hazardous of battlefields, their main task is to keep the Titan God-engnes from getting bogged down by lesser enemies or getting swarmed by enemy infantry and infiltrators. Especially in large numbers, the disciplined ranks of a Secutarii Hoplite Phalanx are counted amongst the most resolte and durable troops of Mankind's armies. Their equipement is designed to improve their durability, the combination of Mag-inverter Shields and Kyropatris Field Generators making them one of the best protected infantry units in the known galaxy, surpassed perhaps only by Adeptus Astartes Terminators. Surgically implated into a Hoplite's body, the Kryopatris Field Generator uses the proximity of same devices to reinforce its own defensive capabilities, and the crackling energy barriers created by the interlocking waves of a Phalanx's shield generators can even stop heavy weapons fire before it reaches the Hoplites. Further amplified by their unique shields, the Secutarii Hoplites are able to withstand phenomenal amounts of enemy firepower and still endure.

In counter-attack, the Secutarii Hoplites are equally deadly, their Arc Lances allowing them to bathe the battlefield in murderous torrents of artificial lightning, blast at the foe at close range or punch through its body in hand-to-hand combat where their servo-powered limbs and clinical training will often give them the upper hand. Their cogitator-assisted brains allow them to keep contact with their own officers and download specific battlefield or hazard protocols which allow for a great tactical polyvalence and fluidity of command. Be it as dispersed lines of skirmishers acting as escorts for the Titan-engines or densely packed advancing Phalanxes, a Hoplite is a deadly opponent that will always respond remarkably well to orders and will know how to handle himself in combat. While their preferred way of fighting is on foot, some squads are known to have been fielded as mechanised infantry with the Hoplite Phalanx embarking onboard a Triaros Armoured Conveyor for greater speed and mobility.

Unit Composition

• 9-19 Secutarii Hoplites
• 1 Hoplite Alpha

Wargear

• Arc Lance -
• Mag-inverter Shield -
• Kyropatris Field Generator - Acces to the Kyropatris Field Generator is perhaps what most readily distinguishes a Secutarii from a Skitarii. The Kyropatris Field Generator is a portable device that may be mistaken as a backpack at first glance, when it is in fact a cybernetic implant entirely fused with the Hoplite's ribcage and abdomen. Unlike many other portable shield defices of the Adeptus Mechanicus, the Kyropatris Field Generator is tuned to other of its kind so that in close proximity to each other, two such devices will mutually reinforce each other. Used in significant number, the Kyropatris generate an invisible force shield capale of stopping or diverting even heavy weapon fire.
• Secutarii war-plate

Sources

• The Horus Heresy - Book Seven : Inferno (Forge World Series) by Alan Bligh, pg. 291