Scout lance

A scout lance was a basic formation of the Imperial Army. Lances differed from standard Imperial squads by only numbering five soldiers; four scouts led by a sergeant. The reason for the different organization was due to two factors; the cost of training a scout offset against their high mortality rate, and the heritage of most scouts, who were from planets with strong mounted warrior traditions such as knights or cavalry. The Imperial Army culled the traditions and doctrines of the native cultures and included them in the organization of the lance, prime among which was the notion of looking after ones own mount. As such, scout troopers were trained to service and repair their own vehicles, eliminating the need for support personnel for the mobile unit.

Lances often employed repulsorcraft of Aratech or Mobquet design. Most lances utilized one-man speeder bikes with one scout per bike, but some squads deployed a single one-man bike and a pair of two-man vehicles.