Imperial Guard - Thargadd's Thumpers collaboration project, part III

Thargadd's Thumpers are complete! I have to say that doing this collaborative project with Colonel Scipio has been a joy - it was a really fun project to work on and has inspired me to do a whole series of fluff posts for the various units in the army (kind of a Codex: Mordian 7th). So, here goes:

Thargadd's Thumpers - Mercenary Ogryns

The Ogryn Mercenary unit known as "Thargadd's Thumpers" has been instrumental in a number of the Mordian 7th battle plans, and boasted an impressive kill tally far in excess of commonly held expectations. It is suggested that the large number of abhumans fielded by the Mordian 7th regiment and the surprising successes they enjoyed may point to the benefits of including them in wider numbers throughout the guard, but many Imperial commanders still feel that the use of abhumans is somehow distasteful and look down on commanders who use them. At the conclusion of the Flotis campaign, Thargadd and his surviving followers were posted to the 122/7th (Pioneer) Company, Second Battalion of the Palladian Guard under somewhat mysterious circumstances.

 

Sergeant Ogryn Thargadd served with considerable distinction in the Flotis campaign, destroying an Ork Dreadnought single-handed in close combat during the Battle of Blood Hill. It is said that Commissar Arden designed their banner personally in recognition of this valor. With Ogryns not being known for their fastidious nature, the banner has taken a beating during the campaign but Thargadd takes pride in it nonetheless.

 

The Twins, Horkk and Harkk enjoy a bit of sibling rivalry as brothers and keep a constant running tally of "enemies smooshed" in an effort to outdo one another. The fact that they have difficulty counting past six doesn't seem to dull their enthusiasm however.

 

Grogg and Narkk round out the unit. Grogg is the units "Keeper of tha Booze" and is entrusted with the rotgut the Ogryns are given as part of their pay. Woe betide the person who gets between Grogg and his booze. Narkk is the sharpshooter of the unit, having actually hit what he has aimed at slightly more than half of the time, and he likes to boast about his prowess.


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Quartermaster Antius was bored. He'd been checking and rechecking manifests for days, following a foul-up by the Munitorum. It appeared that dozens of transport containers has been mis-routed on the muster world they'd recently left, and it was only now, while they were in transit through the Warp, that the scope of the problem was being discovered. He resignedly moved down the row of containers to where he had left off the previous shift.

Narkk was bored. They'd been cooped up in this transport container for longer than usual, and while they were pleased to find pallet upon pallet of rations (most of which had been enthusiastically consumed) after three days even the Ogryns thought it was getting a bit whiffy. Horkk and Harkk were bickering over who had cultivated the biggest lice and Grogg was grumbling irritably about his booze ration running low.  "Hey boss, when ya think they's gonna let us get back ter fightin'?" he asked. Sergeant Thargadd pondered this, idly picking his teeth with the point of an eldar shuriken the medicae had dug out of his chest in an earlier action. "Dunno. It's been good ter have a bit of a layabout but it's time to thump some skulls..." He went back to rapping his knuckles on the bulkhead door.

"Container M7 157/182514. Great, another one that's not ours. At least it's flagged as being rations." Antius deftly unlocked the container and lugged the door open, suddenly gagging at the noxious stench that was released. "Throne, these rations have definitely gone bad..." He gasped as a shadow loomed out of the container at him. Suddenly finding himself lifted from his feet by the front of his tunic he gazed into the largest, ugliest face he'd ever seen. A half-metal skull with a green bionic eye glared balefully at him and a blast of rancid breath from behind slabs of crooked yellowed teeth made him gag."Where's our booze ration? Yer think we can just sit in the dark and eat with nuthin ter wash it down with? It's been three days an' yer better see to it or my boys an I are gonna get reeeal ugly!"

It looked like it wasn't going to be a boring shift after all...

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Thanks for reading - I hope you all have a great holiday!