The Glailwroth Few, also known as the Lords-Violet or the Purple Caps, are the personal private fighting force of the Serafin Rogue Trader Dynasty.
They are highly trained and educated field troops adapted to the brutal confines of boarding actions and void conflicts of the Dynasty fleet. They are few and far between, an elite cadre of warriors sworn to protect the Dynasty and its interests. Here we’ll explore a bit of their history and the rules being used to represent them on the table top.
History of the Glailwroth Few
The noble houses of Doritas Prime in the Glailwroth system offer their first-born to the service of the Dynasty, but men are forbidden from being in high positions of governance (they are too aggressive and quick to resort to violence for level-headed empire-running) so the ranks of the House Guard are predominantly men. Despite this, the Glailwroth Few are amongst the best educated fighting force in the region, as Doritas Prime boasts some of the finest private Scholaria and training grounds that privilege can buy.
In the early days of the Dynasty, the Serafins were quick to capitalise on the weak logistics chain of officers coming into the region to bolster the ranks of the Imperial Guard, travelling in from almost a sector away from the capital world Tigguo Cobauc. One of the earliest and most profitable deals the Dynasty ever made was to rent highly educated and battle-hardened officers to the Astra Militarum. In later years, the Dynasty also opened its doors to other wealthy private individuals to study and train, which caused much consternation amongst the older Dynasty members.
As part of the agreement with the Imperial Guard, each Glailwroth officer has a minimum of five years practical combat experience, usually spent on board Dynasty void ships carrying out the footwork for the Warrant Holder. After those five years are up they are allowed to return home to their families and complete their Militarum training for whatever position they were being groomed for. Over this time, many of them develop a taste for the void, and submit official requests to stay on as part of the House Guard. These requests are theoretically handled by their commanding officers, but as the numbers of the Purple Caps dwindle from extensive campaigns, the Warrant Holder often knows those who has served with them long enough by name, and often hand-picks those to remain in their retinue.
Those who have their requests to stay granted paint a solid black line on their left shoulder pads to signify their allegiance to the void, and unless the Warrant Holder’s ship returns to Doritas Prime, they will never see their families again. These ‘Black Stripes’ are the implacable backbone of the Serafin Dynasty, and signify to everyone on board their vessel that they would rather die than dishonour the Dynasty or be found derelict in duty.
The doctrine of the Glailwroth Few has a mixed heritage. Some of it harks back to the traditional siege warfare teachings from Glailwroth’s early civil wars, where brutal building-to-building fighting was the norm for generations of young men and women. In more recent years, production of ultra-rare power weapons has brought them closer to the Adeptus Mechanicus (by accident or design), and with that strengthening of bonds came access to more advanced forms of warfare. With so much time spent in the void and around command consoles, scanning equipment and vox technology, it was a natural progression into adopting these forms of warfare into the Purple Caps’ teachings. Each regiment is adept at using highly advanced electro-vox technology in all theatres of war – making such individuals highly desirable amongst the Imperial Guard, who often do not have sufficient access to such technology to train officers to necessary field standards.
Stats and equipment
The stats and standard equipment for the Glailwroth Few are generated using the Only War regiment creation system. Out of the 12 Regiment Points available, 11 are spent.
Standard issue Glailwroth Few House Guard
| WS | BS | S | T | Ag | Int | Per | WP | Fel |
| 41 | 38 | 35 | 38 | 35 | 28 | 35 | 35 | 20 |
Movement: 3/6/9/18 Wounds: 11 Total Armour: (All 6) Total TB: 3
Skills: Awareness, Common Lore (Imperium, Imperial Navy, Serafin Dynasty, Administratum), Intimidate, Inquiry, Speak Language (Low Gothic, High Gothic), Tech Use
Talents: Basic weapon training (universal), Heavy weapon training (Bolt, Melta), Melee weapon training (universal), Pistol training (universal), Nerves of steel, Peer (Nobility), Resistance (Fear), Combat Master
Armour:Best Quality environment-sealed light carapace (6 all)
Weapons:
- Best Quality M36 lasgun (basic, 100m, s/3/-, 1D10+3 E, 0 Pen, 60 clip, Full, Never jams, 4kg), can do +2 dam and pen but uses 4 shots
- Laspistol (pistol, 30m, s/2/-, 1d10+2 E, 0 pen, 30 clip, Half, Reliable, 1.5kg)
- Mono-knife (melee/thrown 5m, 1D5 R, 2 pen, 1kg)
- Knife (melee/thrown 5m, 1D5 R, 1kg)
- 2 frag grenades (thrown, SBx3, s/-/-. 2D10 X, Blast(3), 0.5kg)
- 2 photon flash grenades (thrown, SBx3, s/-/-, Blast(10), 0.5kg, Ag+10 within 15 metres or blinded for no. of rounds = DoF)
Gear: 8 las charge packs, respirator, preysense goggles, annointed electronics toolkit, microbead, data-slate, four empty sandbags, entrenching tool, clip harness, field uniform, dress uniform, poor weather gear, sling bag, set of basic tools, mess kit, water canteen, blanket, sleep bag, rechargeable lamp pack, grooming kit, cognomen tags, uplifting primer, two weeks’ rations
Special:
- -10 to all Charm, Inquiry and Deceive against those who are not High Born, +10 to those high born or authority figures
- -20 to any tests to replenish numbers or equipment
Squad gear (every ten men): 2 auspex, 2 static generators, vox-caster, signal jammer
As Retinue: If using a member of the Glailwroth Few as a retinue member, you can use these retinue rules to create a unique individual. Use the statline as above in place of the standard stats and wounds of a retinue member, but choose a Skill that best befits the character. The Glailwroth few are trained as officers and tacticians as well as front line fighters, so an imposing captain might have Command +10, a warfare expert might have Scholastic Lore (Tactica Imperialis) +10 or a vox operator might have Secret Tongue (Military) +10.
Regiment creation
The following is the breakdown of how the Glailwroth Few are assembled using the Only War regiment creation system.
Origin – High Born – 3 points
- +3 to Intelligence and Weapon Skill
- Start with Common Lore (Administratum), Inquiry and Speak Language (High Gothic)
- -10 to all Charm, Inquiry and Deceive against those who are not High Born, +10 to those who are in high born or in authority.
- 10 extra Logistics
- Start with Peer (Nobility)
- -1 Wounds
Commanding Officer – Maverick – 2 points
- Start with Resistance (Fear)
Regiment type – Siege Infantry – 2 points
- +3 Toughness, -3 Intelligence
- Start with Tech-Use and Nerves of Steel
- Respirator
- Four empty sandbags
- Entrenching tool
- Two frag grenades
- Two photon flash grenades
Training doctrines – Close Quarters Battle- 5 points
- Compact Las Carbine with four charge packs
- Mono knife
- Light carapace armour
- Start with Combat master
Special Equipment doctrines – Electro-vox warfare – 4 points
- Data-slate
- Micro-bead
- Annointed electronics toolkit
- Two auspex/scanners per squad
- Two static generators per squad
- One vox-caster per squad
- One signal jammer per squad
Regimental drawbacks – The Few – +5 points
- -20 to any tests to replenish numbers
Standard regimental kit
30 points to spend, +2 from spare Regiment points, +10 from High Born, 42 total
- Best Quality M36 upgrade – 10 points
- Best Quality light carapace armour upgrade – 10
- Preysense goggles – 15 points
- Clip harness – 5 points
- One dress uniform – 2 points
