In the earliest days of the Great Crusade, before the Nails spread through the whole Legion, the Legion Tactical Squad of the XII fought with a discipline that would later seem impossible, steady, competent, and no more prone to savagery than any other Legion's line. Those days did not last. As Angron's implants were carved into more and more of his sons, the tactical squads changed with them, holding formation for shorter spans and breaking into the charge sooner, until the pretence of a firing line became little more than a starting position for the slaughter. By the Heresy a World Eaters tactical squad was a contradiction barely held together, bolters raised and ready, but every warrior behind them straining toward the moment he could throw the gun aside and reach for the chainaxe. Their sergeants did not so much command as choose the instant to let go.
Troops · Infantry
Legion Tactical Squad
The Horus HeresyOnce a disciplined firing line, the Legion's Tactical Squads became a contradiction barely held together, bolters raised but every warrior straining toward the chainaxe.