Vanguard Veteran - Vanguard Veteran: A Vanguard Veteran, usually serving as part of a Vanguard Veteran Squad, is a Firstborn Veteran Space Marine of the elite 1st Company in Codex Astartes-compliant Chapters who specialises in close combat.Every member of the 1st Company is proficient in all manner of close assault weaponry. They carve apart their victims with humming Power Weapons, tear them asunder with mighty Power Fists, and gun them down with Bolt and Plasma Pistols.These 1st Company combatants attack suddenly and without warning, drawing upon their centuries of battlefield experience to know precisely where to strike. War engines shudder to a halt, wracked with fiery explosions; elite warriors are overrun, outfought in blistering split-second duels.These elite warriors stand as a living exemplar of the ideals and purpose of their Chapter. Often referred to as a captain's "Iron Fist," Vanguard Veterans are constantly in motion. Even as the last foe falls, the Vanguard Veterans are already charging towards their next victims, for their heroic duty is never done.A Vanguard Veteran Squad is formed from those Space Marines of the Chapter's Veteran 1st Company who have completely immersed themselves in the art of close-quarters combat. Most of them have served lengthy rotations in the Chapters' Assault Squads prior to their promotion, and their skills with chainsword and Combat Knife have been honed and tested in the crucible of bloody melee on a thousand war-torn worlds.It is said that, were a Vanguard Veteran armed only with his fists and his wits, he would still best dozens of foes, and when armed with the Bolt Pistol and chainsword of his trade, the same Veteran could face ten times that number and emerge victorious. With the vaunted weaponry of the Chapter's Armoury at their disposal, Vanguard Veterans take to the fray armed and ready to reap like a bloody whirlwind through entire armies.These weapons are each ancient and revered heirlooms. It is an enormous privilege for a Space Marine to wield such an instrument of destruction in battle.It is of little surprise, therefore, that a Vanguard Veteran fights all the harder with such weapons in hand, not merely to survive the deadly cut and thrust of combat, but to honour both his battle gear's Machine Spirits and the memories of every Adeptus Astartes hero who wielded the same relics in past wars.Whilst they can be deployed at the forefront of an assault, most Chapters employ their Vanguard Veterans as rapid-response forces, using Jump Packs or Rhinos to reposition and apply crucial pressure to an already over-taxed enemy defence, or to reinforce overmatched allies. Vanguard Veterans are famed for arriving at the time and place where their onslaught can make the most difference to a battle.Vanguard Veterans use speed itself as a weapon, to strike at the foe wherever he least expects; this was the way of war for jump troops in the ancient days of the Space Marine Legions, and it still serves well today.Such duty is arduous and never-ending, and Vanguard Veteran Squads are often referred to as a Captain's "iron fist." They are constantly in motion: as soon as one foe is annihilated, fresh orders dispatch the Vanguard Veterans to another corner of the battlefield, there to apply their murderous skill in the Emperor's name.