On the far right flank of the Blood Angels advance during the battle at Signus Prime is where Sanguinius is thought to have gathered his artillery, those of his cannon and foot-borne heavy weapons that could not keep pace with the main advance. Massing enough firepower to obliterate any force of arms caught in the open, or to crack and splinter the walls of even the grandest fortresses, for though the Blood Angels were most famous for their audacious drop assaults, they were not unfamiliar with the brutal application of?overwhelming firepower. As with any of?the Legions, the IXth kept an artillery train of?substantial size, though it could not match that of the more specialised Legions, such as the Iron Warriors or the Death Guard, and it included examples of every style of self-propelled gun and artillery piece in common use by the armies of the Imperium, as well as several more unique guns.

人們認(rèn)為在西格納斯主星戰(zhàn)役當(dāng)中，圣吉列斯在圣血天使軍團(tuán)前進(jìn)的最右翼集中了軍團(tuán)的炮兵部隊，軍團(tuán)的火炮和重武器步兵無法跟上主力部隊的前進(jìn)步伐。無論是聚集足夠的火力來消滅任何暴露在外的敵軍部隊，還是為了轟開和炸碎哪怕最為堅固的要塞的外墻，雖然圣血天使最為著名的是他們大膽的空降突襲作戰(zhàn)，但他們也同樣熟悉對于壓倒性火力的殘酷運用。和所有軍團(tuán)一樣，第九軍團(tuán)保有一支規(guī)模龐大的炮兵部隊，雖然這支炮兵部隊并不能與那些更為深諳此道的軍團(tuán)——比如鋼鐵勇士和死亡守衛(wèi)的炮兵相匹敵，但它擁有帝國軍隊常用的各種樣式的自行火炮和炮兵單位，以及多種更為獨一無二的火炮。

Such vehicles could not operate alone, requiring vast quantities of ammunition, fuel and other supplies in order to function at full combat efficiency. Worse, they proved easily vulnerable to close range assault by the enemy and standard Divisio Militaris doctrine demanded a force of screening infantry for such units. As such they went to war in the company of a small army of conveyors and ammunition-barques, and proceeded by a dedicated force of skirmishers and scouts. At the battle for Signus Prime, there were Rhino armoured transports in number to match the heavier artillery vehicles as well as a number of Mastodon and Stegodon super-heavy transports.

但這些炮兵載具無法獨自行動，它們需要大量的彈藥、燃料和其他補給來充分發(fā)揮自己的戰(zhàn)斗力。更糟的是，它們被證明極易遭受到敵軍近距離突擊的進(jìn)攻，帝國軍戰(zhàn)術(shù)信條也要求為此類單位配備一支由經(jīng)過篩選的步兵組成的（反步兵）部隊。因此，陪同炮兵進(jìn)入戰(zhàn)場的還有一支由運輸機(jī)和彈藥運輸車組成的小規(guī)模部隊，外加一支由散兵和偵察兵組成的專門部隊。在西格納斯主星戰(zhàn)役中，圣血天使軍團(tuán)部署的犀牛裝甲運輸車的數(shù)量與重型火炮載具數(shù)量相當(dāng)，他們還部署了大量猛犸象和劍齒象超重型運兵車。

In sector Gamma-oio of the battlefield on Signus Prime, all of these vehicles, both the artillery and its support, were thrown into a crucible for which they had not been designed. The ability of?their foe to appear at point-blank ranges left them at a severe disadvantage; indeed many of the largest cannon were overrun and destroyed before they could fire even a single shot. Here the escorts and close support guns stood at the fore, seeding a co-ordinated pattern of?close range blasts and synchronised small arms volleys that held the foe at bay for a time. Had it not been for the near-inexhaustible numbers of the enemy that fell upon them, the outcome of the battle might well have been far different.

在西格納斯主星戰(zhàn)場的Gamma-oio戰(zhàn)區(qū)，所有的這些載具——炮兵單位及其支援載具被丟入了一場嚴(yán)峻殘酷的戰(zhàn)爭中，而且它們并非是為應(yīng)對這種戰(zhàn)場而被設(shè)計出的。他們的敵人擁有出現(xiàn)在近戰(zhàn)攻擊攻擊范圍的能力（機(jī)仆：意思應(yīng)該就是惡魔可以通過傳送之類的手段直接閃現(xiàn)到載具面前，迫使載具和乘員直接和惡魔們開始近戰(zhàn)，炮兵單位在有機(jī)會開炮之前就被惡魔的近戰(zhàn)攻擊摧毀了），這讓使圣血天使的炮兵部隊處于嚴(yán)重的劣勢。事實上，許多最大的火炮都被敵軍攻占了，他們在被摧毀之前甚至沒能開火哪怕一次。在這場戰(zhàn)斗中，火炮護(hù)衛(wèi)隊和近距離支援炮站堅守在了最前線，他們采取將近距離爆炸和同步輕武器齊射相協(xié)調(diào)的戰(zhàn)術(shù)（機(jī)仆：放在在40k時代，大概就類似幾個ba提著破片炮炸惡魔的同時還有一群tsm領(lǐng)著爆彈槍齊射），這使敵人一度陷入困境。倘若他們沒有遭到近乎無窮無盡的敵人的進(jìn)攻，這場戰(zhàn)斗的結(jié)果可能會大不相同。