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| - In the Grey Knights, the Purgation Squads fill the traditional heavy weapons role normally carried out by Devastator Squads. Like a Devastator Squad, a Purgation Squad carries heavy weapons into battle and targets powerful enemy adversaries, emplacements, and war machines. In most Chapters, duty in a Devastator Squad is seen as an excellent opportunity for a new Initiate to experience the sights and sounds of a battlefield. Not so in the Grey Knights. Unlike Devastators, the members of a Purgation Squad are entrusted with weapons far more valuable and specialised than those more commonly brought to war by the Adeptus Astartes. These include weapons specially designed to fight daemonic and psychic foes such as Psycannons and Incinerators, a form of Heavy Flamer that makes use of sanctified
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| abstract
| - In the Grey Knights, the Purgation Squads fill the traditional heavy weapons role normally carried out by Devastator Squads. Like a Devastator Squad, a Purgation Squad carries heavy weapons into battle and targets powerful enemy adversaries, emplacements, and war machines. In most Chapters, duty in a Devastator Squad is seen as an excellent opportunity for a new Initiate to experience the sights and sounds of a battlefield. Not so in the Grey Knights. Unlike Devastators, the members of a Purgation Squad are entrusted with weapons far more valuable and specialised than those more commonly brought to war by the Adeptus Astartes. These include weapons specially designed to fight daemonic and psychic foes such as Psycannons and Incinerators, a form of Heavy Flamer that makes use of sanctified Promethium, which a Purgation Squad member must know how to use to their greatest effect. They must have both a deep knowledge of daemonic foes as well as an intimate understanding of their weapons’ capabilities and limitations. Therefore, the members of a Purgation Squad must, if anything, have displayed an ability and resolve beyond that of their peers. A Grey Knight must prove both his worthiness and his skill at arms before he is honoured with the right to carry such potent weaponry. Furthermore, whilst Devastators will normally advance behind the main assault, seeking out suitable locations from which to unleash covering fire, Purgation Squads are required to keep pace with the main attack, all the while picking out suitable targets for their weaponry. The Grey Knights appreciate that precision fire support can swing the fortunes of war, and so a Battle-Brother who earns a place in a Purgation Squad will not only have shown his steadfastness, but will also have proven himself to be the master of a keen eye and a steady hand. Yet sometimes a keen eye is not enough. Fate often ensures that the Grey Knights go to battle greatly outnumbered, and warriors outnumbered are prone to being overwhelmed whilst their attention is elsewhere. So it is that those Battle-Brothers who serve in a Purgation Squad hone their minds to see through the roiling energies of the otherworldly Warp, to perceive the foe and guide their shots upon him, regardless of what might lie in between. This astral vision allows a Purgation Squad to attempt seemingly impossible shots, bending the path of projectiles and even energy beams around corners, between trees and around fortifications mid-flight. Many an enemy has met a swift and bloody end whilst believing himself shielded by a rockcrete wall or the burnt-out hull of a tank. So it is that Purgation Squads are commonly seen as the truest expression of the Emperor's Will, for their onslaught cannot be stayed by earthly protections. Once his duties are established, it is rare for a member of a Purgation Squad to see service elsewhere in the Chapter. A ranged battle stance, once mastered, is not easily set aside for blade upon blade tactics -- indeed, those Grand Masters and Brother-Captains who once served in Purgation Squads are easily indentified, as they continue to wield a Psycannon or Psilencer -- the weapon that long ago became as much a part of their being as their own right arm. Those Grey Knights officers who do eventually set aside their heavy weapon for a Storm Bolter can be ranked amongst the finest shots in the Imperium, for the skill of a Purgator is one that never truly fades.
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