616th Vostroyan Mechanized Infantry, the Skunkheads

The Skunkheads are an Astra Militarum regiment of the Vostroyan Firstborn. The regiment was first founded in 232.M35. Well-known as much for their distinctive hats as their history of being eliminated to a man, a tragedy the regiment has weathered many times during its existence, the Skunkheads have grown used to deployments in the harshest conditions imaginable. During their time in the Vlaktes Sector, they were commanded by Colonel Culpan Toschenko.

Regimental Organization
During their deployment in the Vlaktes Sector, the Skunkheads were organized as a typical mechanized infantry regiment, consisting of ten companies of three platoons each, totaling around 1,000 combat-effective soldiers at full-strength. Each company and platoon was denoted both numerically and by color.

Each platoon had a dedicated support squadron of Chimera armored transports, and each company fielded a single "Sickle" squadron of Hellhounds, Devil Dogs, or Bane Wolves.

Outside of the regular command structure, the Skunkheads fielded specialist veterans. These were mostly Vostroyans, though after long years spent operating in the Mare, the regiment was forced to incorporate an influx of local warriors to keep up combat effectiveness. This is particularly notable considering the Vostroyan Firstborns' typical reluctance to work alongside "chevek"--or outsider--soldiery.

Noventum
Upon arrival in the sector, the 616th was deployed, along with the rest of Vostroyan Army Group A, into the defense of the Straits of Poana during the failed Imperial attempt to hold the gateway to the Ketamo Deep. The regiment spent most of this time facing down xenos and chaotic threats in the cragland region of Noventum. At the end of 11 post VCM.M41, the army group was extracted from the planet and ordered back into the Lothairian Marches, where it was attached to local subsector Militarum command.

The Razing of Hive World Vettoria
On its journey up-sector from the Ketamo Deep, Army Group A responded to a request for Militarum assistance against a Tyranid hive spar threatening the hive world Vettoria, in the lower Lothairian Marches. This effort was coordinated by sector inquisitorial representatives and was, on the whole, a failure. The world was lost inside a month.

The Steel-Walker War
Main article: Steel-Walker War

After the disaster at Vettoria, the rest of the Vostroyan army group was despatched to Karka's Sun to rearm on the forge world Oxidia. Since the army group had originally been sent to the Mare to support local Mechanicus interests on behalf of Vostroyan command, it was only right that they connect with the Oxidian representatives of the Anvil Conclave, the sector's primary Mechanicus leadership cadre. Before they could rearm, however, Oxidia, and the surrounding system, became embroiled in a war that would last the better part of a solar year.

In the opening stages of the Steel-Walker War, the sudden assault on the system’s outer reaches by the Necron cairn fleet left Imperial system command in shambles. It also resulted in the deaths of most of Army Group A’s command cadre, leaving operational command of the group in the hands of Colonel Toschenko. Toschenko led from the front during the crisis, using his 616th as a personal lynchpin unit, turning the tide against the Thokt emergence on Oxidia during the early war before rushing to Frostgrave to combat Sautekh and Thokt forces seeking to upturn noctlith deposits. The sight of Vostroyan troopers became a rallying cry to the beleaguered defenders of Karka’s Sun.

Restructuring
In the aftermath of the Steel-Walker War, the Vostroyan army group found itself severely reduced in size. Toschenko's efforts to save Karka's Sun became the stuff of local legend, but the destruction of Oxidia--an action undertaken to save the system from an awakening tomb world--led to a military tribunal in which Toschenko was lucky to escape with his life, much less his rank. Stuck at colonel rank, the Vostroyan army group was placed under the fresh command of Lord General Lucilius Bullert, a graduate of the Militarum Academia vun Amadacia and an altogether more trusted officer in the eyes of sector command.

For the 616th, this meant an even closer reliance on outside assistance.

Thus, the 616th was recalled from Karka's Sun and sent north, to the embattled Tectonian sector. where they participated in the defense of the Meaxi Cluster during the Anvil Worlds Invasion.