So... For the heck of it I went through and, based on Hena's little bit of fluff there, wrote a little more significant history... Hope you folks like it.
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Steel Panthers
The Steel Panthers are a Second Founding chapter, successor chapter to the mighty Iron Hands.
In the wake of the Heresy and the Second Founding, the Steel Panthers found themselves without a home world. With a single Battle Barge and a handful of Strike Cruisers at their command the newly formed Chapter set out to claim a world for their Chapter Fortress. For more then a century they sought a world they could claim as their own, before coming to the Telgar system. Deep near the galactic core, Telgar VI was an ancient hive-world, and the solar system was rich in rare minerals. Telgar VI had another item of great importance to the Adeptus Mechanicus specifically: A fully functional Standard Template Construction assembly system, capable of replicating anything if given proper design specifications.
The Adeptus Mechanicus considers such a system to be a holy relic, something they would dearly like to claim as their own. The local Governor Militant of the system, however, refused to allow them to take the device, claiming that it was intricate to their survival as a functional planet. With the arrival of the Steel Panthers he saw his chance. Coming to the Chapter Master of the new chapter he offered their system as the home base for the chapter, on the grounds that they would receive the Space Marines' protection against the attempts by the Adeptus Mechanicus. The Chapter Master agreed, and so Telgar became the home-system of the Steel Panthers. Taking the first moon of Telgar VI and building a great chapel monastery, they claimed the system as their own.
At first the Steel Panthers were much like the Iron Hands, using large numbers of Dreadnoughts and highly trained Techmarines to field their forces. This changed during an Ork incursion into the system. The orks attacked Telgar VI, much of its surface already a toxic desert, as well as besetting the moon and the Chapel Monastery of the Steel Panthers. The moon, lacking an atmosphere, was the most brutal battleground. Orks clad in Mega-Armor, Kanz and Dreadnoughts clashed with the Space Marines. Many of the Space Marines and Terminators were lost during this war. Most of the Dreadnoughts from the chapter were commited to protecting the moon from the insane orks. Though they defeated and eventually repelled the orks, most of the ancient warriors and terminators of the chapter were lost. Their armor and ancient forms irrevocably destroyed. On the planet below the Orks fought across the great radioactive deserts, and many more of the foot-troops of the chapter were claimed. Only the mighty Land Raiders and long-range firepower of the Whirlwinds won out the war. Finally they purged the orks completely from the world. Lacking any jungles or similar areas to hide in, the orks were eventually forced from the planet completely.
The Steel Panthers lost many of their chapter's terminators and dreadnoughts, as well as much of their tactical marines. WIth the help of Telgar VI they managed to rebuild the tanks, destroyed in the war, and more. Forces bolstered by many tanks, they abandoned most of the traditional Space Marine tactics of infantry and drop pods. Fielding very small units of Terminators for direct point-to-point ambushes and massive tank columns to grind their enemies under their tracks. This allowed the relatively depleted chapter to rebuild its power much faster then would normally be possible. With a mere two space marines doing the job of five or ten others, these tactics were retained even after the chapter rebuilt to full size. With the support of the Hive World below they built a large fleet of Thunderhawk Transports to move their vehicles, as well as the few infantry they still field. Now a full sized chapter, mounting many Land Raiders, as well as the vaunted and incredibly rare Land Raider Prometheus, and the long-range support of the Land Raider Helios they now fight alongside the sides of the other Chapters, providing much needed tank support.
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