Tanith First-and-Only - Tanith First-and-Only: The Astra Militarum regiment known as the Tanith First-and-Only, officially called the Tanith 1st Regiment but better known as "Gaunt's Ghosts," was raised from the heavily forested Frontier World of Tanith in the Sabbat Worlds Sector. The regiment is primarily deployed to campaigns in the Segmentum Pacificus and the Segmentum Solar and is known to be highly skilled at infiltration missions and to be home to some of the greatest marksmen in the Astra Militarum.The regiment has been heavily engaged in the combat to retake the Sabbat Worlds from the forces of Chaos during the Sabbat Worlds Crusade. The regiment's nickname originally came about as a result of the name of their commanding officer, Colonel-Commissar Ibram Gaunt, and the disenfranchised status of the original Tanith soldiers after their homeworld was destroyed.It has proved to be a nickname of some further application, as the Verghastite personnel influx into the regiment also considered themselves "ghosts" due to the destruction of their home city, and the regiment as a whole is noted for its stealth and reconnaissance abilities being almost uncanny in nature.The Forest World of Tanith was destroyed shortly after the initial founding of the planet's first three Astra Militarum regiments. The only survivors to escape the attack, the Tanith 1st, carry with them the wilderness skills learnt on their homeworld, making them a superb light infantry regiment.The guardsmen of the Tanith First and Only wear distinctive Camo Cloaks and are renowned for their expertise in both scouting and reconnaissance-in-force missions. In addition to their normal equipment, each guardsman is armed with a "straight silver" war-knife, unique to the Tanith Regiment. Despite their limited numbers, the courageous if uncultured soldiers of the First and Only have been instrumental in multiple battles throughout the Sabbat Worlds Crusade. Led by the inspirational Colonel-Commissar Ibram Gaunt, and drawing new recruits from the worlds they fight to liberate and defend, the reputation of "Gaunt's Ghosts" continues to grow with each passing deployment.If the Imperial Guard is the so-called "Hammer of the Emperor," the famed regiment known as "Gaunt's Ghosts" finds more in common with the medical scalpel: small, fragile, but incredibly deadly when employed correctly. Its founding coincides with the complete destruction of the heavily forested world of Tanith, and this single regiment and its troops contain the last living memories and traces of their world.Highly skilled in special operations, the Tanith First-and-Only display exemplary small-unit tactics, brilliant leadership, precise marksmanship, and uncanny stealth skills. All of these abilities were integral to their many achievements during their time of service as part of the Sabbat Worlds Crusade, a hard-fought effort to reclaim the worlds in the Segmentum Pacificus that bear that Imperial saint's name from the forces of Chaos.Whether dispatched on unsanctioned missions comprising a handful of their more veteran soldiers or stalking along vast war fronts in their thousands, the men and women of the Tanith 1st are expert shots and deadly hand-to-hand combatants. Many are known to sport spiral tattoos and the wild appearance of their soldiers and officers -- coupled with the lack of an enforced uniform -- has led many to dismiss them as a worldless, undisciplined rabble. Those who know them better are grateful for their presence in any war zone.Until the events that forged the Tanith First-and-Only, the Forest World of Tanith most notably exported the exceptional "nalwood," and otherwise went unnoticed amongst the numberless planets of the Imperium. Colonel-Commissar Gaunt arrived to take charge of his troops just in time for disaster to strike Tanith. A splinter Chaos warfleet, fleeing from an Imperial victory, descended upon Tanith. Faced with a horrible choice of deploying his unseasoned troops in a hopeless defence of their homeworld or salvaging what he could, Gaunt chose to withdraw, and the new regiment escaped with just enough time to watch the Chaos warships utterly annihilate their planet from orbit.Despite the trauma of losing their entire homeworld, the Tanith very quickly saw their first action on the fields of war. The Tanith were tested on brutal battlefields on Blackshard, Becephalon, Fortis Binary, and other worlds in the Sabbat Worlds Sector. Each time, they acquitted themselves well despite terrible foes and staggering odds, using their specialist skills to pull victories from the jaws of apparent defeat on numerous occasions. Alongside their successes, the Ghosts' behaviour managed to earn them a number of enemies amongst the other Imperial forces of the Sabbat Worlds Crusade, including the Volpone Bluebloods and Jantine Patricians.The Ghosts negotiated these trials and tribulations, facing threats internal and external, and continued to survive to serve the God-Emperor thanks to their incredible stealth skills and the heroism of leadership figures such as Colonel-Commissar Ibram Gaunt, Colonel Colm Corbec, and Major Elim Rawne.Of their many engagements during the Sabbat Worlds Crusade, those on the worlds of Menazoid Episilon and Verghast stand in particular note in the Ghosts' battle records. On the former, the regiment contended with a plot devised by a rogue Inquisitor and a Lord General to seize control of the crusade, facing a corrupted horror from the Age of Technology in the process. On Verghast, the Tanith helped defend the manufactoria of Vervunhive, and in the wake of the battle, drew a large group of reinforcements from the ruined hive city.Later in the campaign, the Tanith First-and-Only received more external recruits, this time from the Belladon 81st Reconnaissance Regiment, which had also suffered losses that put it beneath optimal strength. Over time, the three elements grew into a single, cohesive regiment not in spite of their diversity, but because of it.Over the course of the crusade, the Tanith would again and again play a pivotal role in thwarting conspiracies, vanquishing foul servants of Chaos, and safeguarding the Imperium of Man. From planet to planet and from victory to narrow victory, the Tanith First-and-Only's history travels a long, blood-soaked path of service and sacrifice alongside the Sabbat Worlds Crusade.