The Albrechtspire Freikorps, a History

     In the dark days of the Horus Heresy, one of the last remaining worlds brought under Imperial compliance just prior to Horus’ treacherous betrayal was the forest shrouded deathworld of Sigma-Gamma-599, known ever after in Imperial records, and to the natives of that world, as Svartalfheim. A glistening paradise of green forests, mountain vistas, and woodland lakes and rivers, it is also rife with numerous wild beasts of a voracious variety. Giant “dire wolves”roam in packs among the mountains, able to tear apart entire squads of Guardsmen if they catch them unawares. Lone ghoulish creatures known as “Vitigos” prowl the forests at night seeking lone travelers to devour whole, whilst Eldar Exodite clans live in hidden communities, shielded from prying eyes by their unknown xenotech, whilst on cold moonlit nights, when the Blutmond is red and full, strange craft slip silently through the sky and descend upon isolated villages taking entire communities off into the darkness to be slaves forevermore. Such a world bred the stubborn and defiant Alfheimer. For they do not fear what the forest hides nor what the night brings. When the Heresy came to Svartalfheim, her children stood in ordered ranks, brave soldiers standing against the tide of darkness as traitor marines of the Night Lords rained down from the skies and smote the Albrechtspire with fire and bolter. Many died that terrible night but when dawn came, the hive city still stood, her sons and daughters defiantly holding out in the Elector’s Palace led by the Elector himself, even as the Night Lords raised up grisly trophies of their slaughter the night before, women and children crucified in a great and terrible forest of the slain throughout the hive atop every rooftop visible to the defenders.

      But with the dawn came death for the traitors, as beams of light lanced down from the heavens and sent the Night Lords running for their dropships. The Imperial Navy had arrived. Though unrecorded in Imperial records, the Eldar where whispered to have come out of their hidden cities and aided the stricken hive defenders. When the dust settled, the Grand Elector, Otto the Strong, pledged his entire world to aid in lifting the Siege of Holy Terra, and so raised as many regiments as the hive could spare and set off for the stars. Warp storms caused him to be late to the siege by a century, and arrive off course by several thousand lightyears. Seeing a world beleaguered by an Ork Waaagh, he set about freeing it and after crushing the Ork invasion was proclaimed a blessed liberator by the world of Signus 9. When he  returned home he issued a decree creating the “Friekorps” or “Free Corps” of the Albrechtspire. Ever since, the men of the hive have seen themselves as liberators and bearers of swift justice to the enemies of the Emperor.

     The finest drilled of all the soldaten of the Freikorps, the Leibgrenadiers are the elite bodyguards of the Grand Elector of the Albrechtspire, Planetary Governor for Svartalfheim. Normally kept close to the Elector’s palace in the upper hive, it is not unusual for them to be deployed on battlefields far from home.

Freikorps Leibgrenadier carrying a flamer. Alongside him is a Heavy Weapons team of the Schützen branch of the Freikorps, whilst behind them are soldaten of the Landwehr.

      They are on a par with grenadiers of most other worlds, with an espirit d’corps that some would say is quite strong. They fight for the God Emperor and the Elector. Drawn primarily from the nobility of the upper hive of the Albrechtspire, the Leibgrenadiers are the bane of Xenos and other enemies of Man across the galaxy. Like all “Alfheimers” they have a particular hatred of Eldar, since so many of their legends and early history of Svartalfheim are rife with conflict from both Dark Eldar and Exodites. The recent pact with the Ynnari not withstanding, most Alfheimers would rather die fist fighting an Ork than work with the Eldar. Recently several Leibgrenadier squads have been recruited by agents of the Emperor’s Most Holy Inquisition to hunt down a growing Genestealer cult in the underhive. The Leibgrenadiers Regiment won acclaim most recently in the face of an Ork Waaagh that nearly devasted the southern side of Svartalfheim and were on the walls defending the Albrechtspire from the fiercest of the Ork attacks, with the Grand Elector, August Fritz II, leading the defense. The subsequent liberation of the spaceport and devastated settlements in the Höllenloch Province is the stuff of legends amongst the humble huntsmen and guildwerkers of the planet. Though it exists on paper as a regiment, the Leibgrenadiers are split into individual companies that are paired with Schutzen and Landwehr regiments to provide a much needed edge on the battlefield. They also provide the "Life Guard" to the Elector when he is present in the field.

       The quality of the Freikorps can roughly be divided into three ranks: the Leibgrenadiers who are the elite troops, the Schutzen who comprise the bulk of the Freikorps, and finally the poorly trained and equipped Landwehr, who are more akin to bog standard PDF troops than a true Guardsman. Nevertheless, the Landwehr can still be deployed at the Elector’s whim and the will of the Adeptus Administratum to far off battlezones from which they rarely often return.

       The Schutzen are uniformed similar to the Leibgrenadiers but with less armor and poorer quality equipment. The standard lasgun and flak armor giving them a common bond with their fellow Guardsmen from worlds across the Imperium. What separates these men from their fellow Guard counterparts is their sheer ferocity and disciplined drill tactics. Each man is expected to hold the line for the honor of the the Freikorps and his regiment. To panic and flee the enemy (provided one survived a summary execution by the Commisariat) is a disgrace to the entire family of the coward who shirks his duty to the “Gott Kaiser” (as the Emperor is known on Svartalfheim). Though they are not stupid in this regard and are also well enough accustomed to fighting Eldar in the heavily forested deathworld they call home. They will fight a moving battle when need be and the armored companies of the Freikorps are second to none in the art of the “Blitzkrieg”. Even Knight Commander Pask once said that of all the armored units he’d ever choose to be at the side of his Cadians in a desperate battle, he’d be sure to have the Freikorps at the spear tip. Artillery is another strong suit of the Freikorps, with many folk songs and tall tales of the life of an artilleryman. The Elector has such a good rapport with the Mechanicus that the Freikorps has no shortage of Basilisks for its operations. “When it rains it shells.” is a common expression amongst Alfheimers on the battlefront.

      Finally we come to the least well equipped of the Freikorps, the Landwehr. Originally this was Svartalfheim’s Planetary Defense Force, but the recent developments in the Indomitus Crusade have forced the Elector to deploy them as frontline garrison troops, and sometimes even alongside the Linieninfanterie as reinforcements. Though the men and women of the Landwehr are humble hunters and villagers from the numerous small settlements scattered amongst the dark and brooding Himmelwald, they fight with conviction and faith in the Gott Kaiser. In these dark times they have become very adept at guerrilla warfare, most having honed their fighting skills fighting off Drukari raiders and the ever present Exodites who to them are the “fairy folk” that live in enchanted castles behind invisible barriers. Many superstitions abound amongst the Landwehr about these malign Xenos and they will often shoot one on sight. Though once they couldn't always be counted on to hold the line, they do make excellent scouts and sharpshooters despite their often complete lack of traditional battlefield discipline. That all changed when the Grand Elector formally "adopted" them into the Freikorps as frontline troops. Now with years of battlefield experience behind them, the Landwehr form a valuable auxiliary force to the Schutzen line regiments and often exceed them in iron discipline.