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von Von Strab was an even worse military commander than he was a planetary governor: the poorly ordered forces he had at his disposal were quickly overrun and destroyed, and he adopted the tactic of small piecemeal attacks, which were quickly outflanked and destroyed. It was soon obvious that von Strab had underestimated the threat and cunning of the Orks.{{Cite this}}
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[[File:Strab.jpg|thumb|right|Herman von Strab{{Fn|3}}]]
'''Herman von Strab''' was the [[Planetary Governor|Overlord]] of Armageddon during the [[Second War for Armageddon]], during which conflict he became notorious for his disastrously inept leadership.{{Cite thisFn|4}}
[[Princeps|Princeps Prime]] [[Kurtiz Mannheim]] of the [[Iron Skulls (Titan Legion)|Iron Skulls Titan Legion]], who would eventually perish as a result of von Strab's orders, described the Overlord as ''"the greatest waste of flesh and bone born in the last five hundred years."''{{Cite thisFn|4}}
==Biography==
===Armageddon War===
His incompetence was seen right from the very beginning of the [[Second War for Armageddon|second war]]. He was given several warnings about the potential invasion: The [[Imperial Tarot]] gave the same reading of disaster, time after time; [[Navigators]] on incoming freighters warned of a massive warp storm brewing; and the Statue of the [[Emperor]] in [[Hive Helsreach]] wept bloody tears. von Von Strab ignored them all.{{Cite this}}
Then the [[space hulk]] appeared from the [[warp]] in the [[Armageddon]] system. Instead of sending ships to investigate the hulk, von Strab simply said that no piece of "cosmic flotsam" could threaten his ancestral world.{{Cite this}}
He did only the minimum he needed to do to satisfy appearances. He complied with the standard instructions in the [[Codex Ministorum]] and notified the [[Administratum]] of the sighting, but that was all. Only after the first [[Ork]]s landed did a distress signal go out, and von Strab then banished the sender of that message, [[Commissar]] [[Yarrick]], to [[Hades Hive]]. von Strab didn't wish to trouble the [[Imperium]] with this fight, as he was confident he could deal with the Orks himself.{{Cite this}}
One of the greatest failures for von Strab (and the worst blow to Armageddon) was the destruction of the [[Iron Skulls (Titan Legion)|Iron Skulls Titan Legion]] commanded by [[Princeps|Princeps Prime]] [[Kurtiz Mannheim]]. von Von Strab ordered the [[Titan Legion]] to battle the Orks unsupported and they were soon eradicated by the overwhelming Gargant forces. Earlier, when von Strab had relocated to [[Hive Tartarus]], Mannheim urged von Strab to prepare for invasion of [[Armageddon Secundus]], but he was ignored, proclaiming that the Orks would never breach the equatorial jungles. Two days later the Orks appeared in Armageddon SecudusSecundus, pouring from the jungles. Mannheim died when his Titan's reactor went critical, but not before he walked it to the centre of the Ork force and wiped out a huge swath of the greenskins.{{Cite this}}
von Strab had one last secret weapon, a stock of deadly [[virus bombs]] from when the planet was first colonised. When he tried to launch them, most failed due to their age, many missed their targets, some refused to lift off, and the potent virus had weakened with the passing of time. It rent giant holes in the Ork forces, but nothing close to what was needed. von Strab retired to his bunker to sulk and he was not seen for a long time.{{Cite this}}
Von Strab took little part in the actual fighting of the [[Third War for Armageddon]] but it is rumoured that the fall of [[Hive Acheron]] was mainly due to sabotage of power lines and Orks appearing from secret tunnel entrances. He soon emerged and revealed himself to the population with Ork brute squads ready to put down dissenters. He made as passionate speech to the people, asking them to rise up against the tyrants of the Imperium. He was welcomed back by much of the old nobility as a long-lost prince, ignoring that he had joined forces with the invaders.{{Cite this}}
Eventually, with the appearance of Imperial forces, a bloody civil war broke out between the loyalists and von Strab's supporters. The forces of von Strab were forced down into the underhives. von Von Strab was killed in a secret mission by the [[13th Penal Legion]], under the command of [[Colonel]] [[Schaeffer]].{{Fn|1}}{{Fn|2}}
==Quotes==
:''See'' [[Quotes Imperium#S|Quotes]]
==Related ArticlesSee aslo==
*[[List of Planetary Governors]]
*{{Endn|2}}: [[Codex: Orks (4th Edition)]],{{Cite this}}
*{{Endn|3}}: [[Battle for Armageddon (Game)|Battle for Armageddon Rulebook]], pg. 21
*{{Endn|4}}: [[Codex: Armageddon (3rd Edition)]], pg. 2
{{DEFAULTSORT:von Strab, Herman}}
