Blood Angels - Legion Strength: By the last years of the Great Crusade, the Blood Angels were among, if not themselves, the preeminent Legion of the Imperial Host. In the years after Sanguinius had taken charge of the Legion he had achieved its revitalisation, a change so complete that few soon remembered the Revenant Legion of old.Once the half-forgotten rearguard of the Great Crusade, now it stood at the forefront of every advance, and those who had once scorned it now sang its praises in every court of the Emperor's far-flung domain. It was a fearsome fighting force, a breaker of empires and an ender of worlds, and unshakeable in its loyalty to the Emperor. It was the strong foundation upon which the Imperium was being built, and while it still stood, that empire would not fall.At any time, the Legion numbered near 120,000 warriors, accounting for casualties, made up of to 300 individual companies, one of the largest Legions in operation at that time, with perhaps only the vast throngs of the Ultramarines and Iron Warriors on record as overmatching this strength.Each of these Hosts comprised a force predisposed towards assault and orbital drop operations, with a large proportion of its infantry equipped for close-quarters combat, and its vehicles primarily rigged for high speed strikes and breakthrough operations. With few defensive assets in comparison to more rounded Legions, they were at a disadvantage if committed to a large-scale conflict without operational initiative, but with the Great Crusade at its apex, such a situation seemed at the time unthinkable.This force was spread across the galaxy in a number of separate Hosts, each engaged in large scale operations, as well as custodial forces at each of the Legion's main bases and redoubts -- these being at the worlds of Baal, Saiph and Canopus.Of these bases, Baal was the largest, for while the second moon remained sacrosanct for the native Blood, the empty rad-scoured world it circled above was transformed by the Mechanicum of the Forge World Anvillus at the invitation of Sanguinius himself. There, where no unmodified person could tread, the Tech-adepts built a manufacturing site the envy of many smaller Forge Worlds, supplying much of the munitions and technical needs of the IXth Legion. Baal, as the homeworld of Sanguinius, warranted a large standing guard, a duty mainly fulfilled by the Crimson Paladins, though at least one company could normally be found at refit.Canopus also served as a manufacturing centre, though of lesser size and sophistication, producing vast quantities of shells and other simple munitions to feed the hungry cannon of the Legion. It was a common stopping point for troops bound outwards for the Great Crusade's frontlines, and many units were to be found at rest there.Saiph was the smallest of the Legion's permanent outposts, serving only as a source of recruits from among the world's endlessly warring tribes, and warranted but a single squad of Crimson Paladins as custodians.The Legion's fleet assets were similarly impressive, boasting over 300 capital class warships, many of them Heavy Cruisers or even Battleships of various classes. Many of these voidcraft were outfitted to serve as orbital assault craft, mounting either banks of heavy linear cannon for use as bombardment weapons, launch rails for swarms of Drop Pods or vast hangar bays from which the large Stormbird or Thunderhawk dropships could operate.