Commissar Yarrick
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Commissar Sebastian Yarrick is a fictional character from the tabletop miniature wargame Warhammer 40,000. To the people of the world Armageddon he is a hero, saving the world not once, but twice from the Ork Warlord Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka.
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[edit] Early life
Like most Imperial Commissars, Yarrick was taken from his parents at birth to be raised and indoctrinated by the Schola Progenium. He learned the Ork language while fighting them on V'run. Since that time, he has extensively studied the Ork mind, and is considered one of the Imperium's leading experts on Orks.
His years with the Imperial Guard were eventful ones, serving in over a dozen warzones and with regiments from Necromunda, Luther McInytre, and Armageddon. His final assignment before retirement was to run the recruitment program for the rebuilding of the 4th Armageddon Regiment.
[edit] The Second Armageddon War
Fulfilling his duties on Armageddon during the Second War for Armageddon, Yarrick rose to fame defending Hades Hive from the Ork Waaagh!. He had been exiled to the Hive after conflicts with the planet's governor, Herman von Strab, a move said by some to be von Strab's only beneficial decision during the whole war.
While the forces of Armageddon were devastated by both the savage Ork advance and von Strab's sheer inability to command, the forces at Hades Hive were able to halt the Orks, stopped by the well ordered defences hastily erected under Yarrick's order. Even so, the initial Ork attack, led by WarBoss Ugulhard would have succeeded if not for Commissar Yarrick's presence.
[edit] WarBoss Ugulhard
During the first assault on Hades Hive, the Ork WarBoss drove the bulk of his forces towards Yarrick's position, and was able to engage the elderly Commissar in single combat. Ugulhard fought Yarrick, who stood his ground bravely despite being weak from the fight combined with his advanced age. This resulted in the warboss using his Power Klaw to sever Yarrick's right arm at the elbow. The Warlord's victory was cut short, however, as Yarrick, fighting the pain and shock like no mortal man, swung his Powersword and severed the Ork's head.
Yarrick was said to have picked up and brandished the Ork WarBoss's Power Klaw, inspiring fear in the Orks and prompting the Imperial defenders to surge forward and leap upon the aliens. Battlefield legend has it that only after the Ork assault was routed from Hades Hive did Yarrick "allow himself the luxury of passing out."
News of this incident spread like wildfire amongst the Orks, and wherever Yarrick fought, the aliens would flee in terror. Yarrick exploited this to the full, having Ugulhard's Klaw modified to suit him as a prosthetic limb. He had a pulse laser eye bio-implanted, playing on the Orks' superstition that he had an 'evil eye', and could kill an ork with a single glance. If the orks said he had an evil eye then an evil eye he would have.
[edit] The Siege of Hades Hive
For six months following the first assault, the defenders of Hades Hive held out against further attacks. Although recollections of the siege vary, it was almost unanimously considered that Yarrick was the man who made it all possible; he was the one who held the defenders together, the one who brought them back from the brink of defeat countless times, and the one whose belief gave others the strength to go on.
The time he bought at Hades Hive, tying up a vast portion of the Ork Waaagh! and distracting Ghazghkull himself from his ultimate goal, made all the difference, allowing time for the reinforcing Imperial Guard and Space Marines to muster and launch a counter attack.
Yarrick was one of the few survivors of the final battle for Hades Hive, and it took many months for him to recover from the injuries he sustained during that final assault. He accepted nominal retirement, along with a training post on Armageddon. However, the knowledge that an Ork like Ghazghkull was still at large proved too much of a distraction, and only months later he reported back for active duty, vowing that he would not rest until Ghazghkull was hunted down and killed.
[edit] Golgotha
The tables were turned on Yarrick during the battle for the planet Golgotha. Ghazghkull devastated the Squats with such ferocity that even the Commissar himself could not stand against it. Yarrick was defeated and captured by Ghazghkull, who later released him, saying "Like ye humies need food, we orks needz good enemies." Yarrick left the planet, but soon returned with a force from the Adeptus Mechanicus and the massive Ordinatus Golgotha, and routed the Orks from the world. Ghazghkull again escaped to fight another day.
[edit] The Third Armageddon War
Fifty seven years to the day of the previous invasion, Ghazghkull led another Ork Waaagh! to Armageddon, this time the largest Waaagh! ever known in the history of the Imperium. Yarrick, following the trail of his nemesis, returned to Armageddon, and was granted supreme command over all Imperial forces stationed to fight the aliens. A distress call was sent to High Marshal Helbrecht of the Black Templars Space Marine chapter, who rerouted his crusade and two others to bear down three whole crusades onto the Ork Waaagh! forces.
During what came to be known as the Third War for Armageddon, billions lost their lives in a gruelling war of attrition. This period also saw the Marine chaplain Grimaldus elevated to "Hero of Helsreach" after a two month conflict ended with the Marine's fortified basilica collapsing, killing all but Grimaldus who climbed from the rubble a day later.
Ghazghkull was repulsed by the Imperium through acts of nearly-impossible bravery, the Helsreach battle being just one of many. Templar's High Marshal Helbrecht gave chase to Ghazghkull's battle barge flagship, vowing to defeat the warlord once and for all. Yarrick requested permission to join the High Marshal's crusade fleet, a highly unorthodox request for an Imperial Guardsman to travel with Marines, yet such was Helbrecht's regard for Yarrick that his request was allowed.
It should be noted that this is the most current status of Yarrick's storyline (See Black Templar's Codex) and no further information has been written/released, leaving him currently alongside High Marshal Helbrecht aboard his battleship, presumably searching for Ghazghkull.
[edit] In Game Terms
Commissar Yarrick's first appearance as a character was in the Battle for Armageddon boardgame, based around the events of the Second War for Armageddon, featured opposite Ghazghkull. Inspired by the game's backstory, Jervis Johnson wrote up special rules for the two characters' use in Warhammer 40,000 and Epic (game).
The most recent incarnation of the rules for Commissar Yarrick are available in Warhammer 40,000 Codex: Imperial Guard (Chambers, Haines and Hoare, 2003), the second Imperial Guard Codex for the third edition of Warhammer 40,000. The rules have received only minor modifications to make the character compliant with new rules and game structures since Johnson wrote the first rules for the second edition of the game. The character of Yarrick is portrayed at a point immediately prior to the Third War for Armageddon, and has so far received two separate & clearly different miniatures.
In the Warhammer 40,000 supplement 'Apocalypse' Yarrick makes an appearance as a special legendary unit, in command of a powerful Baneblade battle tank named the 'Fortress of Arrogance'.
Commissar Yarrick also makes an appearance in Dawn of Steel, a mod for Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War which features the Armageddon Steel Legion, although in the most recent release for the Dark Crusade expansion, he has been renamed and represented more generically as a "Legendary Commander".
[edit] References
- Chambers, Andy; Johnson, Jervis, and Thorpe, Gav (2000). Warhammer 40,000 Codex: Armageddon, 1st Edition, Nottingham: Games Workshop. ISBN 1-84154-045-5.
- Chambers, Andy; Haines, Pete, and Hoare, Andy (2003). Warhammer 40,000 Codex: Imperial Guard, 4th Edition, Nottingham: Games Workshop. ISBN 1-84154-410-8.
- "Best of Enemies" (September 2000). White Dwarf: Australian Edition (249). ISSN 0265-8712.
- "Defence of Missile Silo 51" (December 1999). White Dwarf: Australian Edition (240). ISSN 0265-8712.
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