Send in the Cavalry!!

The earliest settlers of the Emperor’s forces on the planets of the Hoth system encountered the alien creatures known as tauntauns.  As the system was explored and each of the planets was assessed for usefulness to the Imperium, explorers remarked about the unusual existence of these creatures on each of the 4 planets in the Hoth system.  They lived on the temperate planets of Dyhoth and Trihoth, the scorching desert planet of Monhoth, and even the frozen wasteland of Tetrahoth.  After careful study by the most experienced xenobiologists under the watchful eye of the Inquisition it was determined that the creatures were not intelligent and did not possess interplanetary travel and could not threaten the Imperium; however they did conclude that Its existence on all the planets suggested that some other alien life form had once settled these planets and brought the tauntauns with them as perhaps beasts of burden or livestock but whatever had cared for these creatures had died long ago. 

The Administrarium had deemed these animals passivus utillis because of their adaptability and their potential use to the Imperium.  However, the settlers saw the tauntaun as a loathsome alien menace that grew fat on overgrazing the pastures set aside for the livestock of the settlers and the healthy equine stock used by the regiments that formed the forerunners of the 11-38^th THeX.  On the planets of Dyhoth and Trihoth they were exterminated despite the Administarium specific orders to the contrary.

Only on Tetrahoth did the settlers respect the marvelous gift of the tauntaun.  Not only did the tauntauns survive but they thrived where other animal species could not as they were able to eat the wild cave fungus that grew by the geothermal vents in the system of caverns sewn through the planet. They were used as livestock at first then as beasts of burden and eventually they were trained and used as the mounts for the scouting parties that patrol the ravenous tundra of the planet of fire and ice.  During the first Intra-Hoth War they proved their superiority in battle by disabling vehicles and harassing the flanks of the infantry regiments of the renegade forces.

To be assigned to the cavalry in the 11-38 THeX corps is to be given a great freedom and a perilous duty.  The squads of tauntaun cavalry are used as scouts and vehicle harriers where they could be separated from the main force for months at a time and cause significant damage to the enemy.  While separated they are free to conduct their responsibilities as they please but when they act as part of the main force they armed with one of the most deadly weapons in the THeXian arsenal.  They are given the harrowing plasma infusion lance.

The plasma infusion lance kills on contact by injecting a concentrated burst of plasma directly into the armor of the target.  As the armor melts away so does the lance as it dissolves into the fleshy innards of the target.  Unfortunately, the riders and mounts are sometimes affected by the plasma reaction for the rider has merely a fraction of a second to release the lance before the radiation and heat overcome them and as such casualty rates among cavalry acting as infantry support can be quite high. 

As the 11-38^th Tetrahoth Expeditionary Corps strikes out from the Hoth system to reestablish contact with the Imperium there is a healthy compliment of the versatile and uniquely Hothian creature, the tauntaun.

They are my new favorite squad.  It sucks that they are a fast attack choice because they compete with the snowspeeders which are cool and actually functional.  If they were elites I would probably run 3 max sized squads.  I mentioned I was a little disappointed before, but I take that back now seeing them all mounted up and ready for retribution against the Black Templars that maliciously slaughtered our people. 

The wake of destruction we leave behind.

The hunt is on...

Running won't help!

A pitiful last stand for a helpless despoiler of Tetrahoth's icy husk.

Die Space Marine, DIE!!

Yes, those are Ethan's Space Marines. He decided try them out and I had been holding out on the Assault on Black Reach set for a while now and figured why not. He started with the few space marines from the Macragge set that I hadn't turned into mutilated Templars.  He decided on the Salamanders because he liked the way the BRB described them being "born of darkness and fire" and that fact that their primarch Vulcan is still alive somewhere.  His first few models look way better than the ones I painted starting off and I was in my late teens when I started.  Limiting him to one model every couple of days has him taking his time, which I think is helping with the quality.