Word Bearers - Pre-Heresy: The Word Bearers followed much of the structure of the Legiones Astartes during their earliest incarnation. Warriors belonged to squads, squads to companies and companies to Chapters. This functional structure remained largely unchanged from when the Legion was the Imperial Heralds until their own treachery on Istvaan V. The rediscovery of their Primarch and the influx of recruits from Colchis did little to change the Legion's basic structure, rather it added layers of organisation. This second layer of organisation was concerned, not with the makeup of units on the battlefield, but with the ideology of those units. The Word Bearers employed all the squad configurations seen across other Space Marine Legions, with a tendency towards keeping the size of all units high. While other Legions might be content with or even favour units of only a handful of warriors, the Word Bearers would typically keep its line units at a much higher strength. Squads of twenty were common across all companies and Chapters, and typically took a tactical configuration. These squads formed the core of the XVIIth Legion and the keystone of its philosophy of war: the aggressive advance of warriors in force.Squads in turn belonged to companies, usually a hundred Astartes strong though sometimes larger or smaller depending on the nature of their tactical role. The Word Bearers had a tendency to dedicate companies to a particular combat specialty, designating companies as assault companies, line breaker companies, reconnaissance companies, and so on. These companies would often deploy in combination, again showing the Word Bearers' favour for massed forces and sledgehammer actions. Companies were grouped together into Chapters of between 500 and 3,000 warriors. Each Chapter bore a name and sigil based on the constellations of Colchis: The Serrated Suns, The Osseus Throne, The Crescent Moon, The Weeping Hand, The Coiled Lash, The Exalted Gate, The Twisting Rune, The Scold's Bridle, The Night's Chalice -- each were found within the Legion's ranks. These large formations were often the building blocks for Word Bearers campaigns. Most Word Bearers Great Crusade Expeditionary Fleets consisted of at least one full Chapter, and the largest might comprise several.Although their methods of war were often workmanlike in application, the Word Bearers always displayed a taste for the symbolic act. War was not just a process, it was a message, and so the Word Bearers would often include notes of the spectacular into their campaigns to make a point. A number of unique formations in their order of battle echo this tendency. As an example, the Chapter of the Broken Scythe consisted of armoured artillery, siege tanks and mounted Flamer squads. Their roles was to level cities and strongholds in a single attack and leave nothing but scorched rubble. Also of note are the warriors of the Ashen Circle. Descending from the sky on Jump Packs, they were the destroyers of false gods, ashen angels sent to reduce libraries and shrines to cinders with Flamer and, where a truly lasting destruction was required, Phosphex. Attached to Chapters but standing as a circle apart, only the most dedicated Astartes of the Legion could enter their ranks. Many Word Bearers passed through their ranks before ascending to the role of Chaplain.It is worth nothing that throughout their history, the XVIIth Legion made extensive use of bonded mortal auxiliaries comprised of religious fanatics (the precursor to the present era's Frateris Militia often utilised by the Adeptus Ministorum). In the days when the Unification Wars were blurring into the Great Crusade, the XVIIth Legion would often recruit bands of militant followers from those they had conquered. This practice continued throughout the Great Crusade, and these formations were often as much mobs as they were military formations, but again their presence in many campaigns added to the XVIIth Legion's ability to apply overwhelming force to an enemy.