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With the Space Marine Kill Teams rules firmed up (link goes to the last version I posted, though a few minor tweaks are described in multiple replies), it's time to expand. One of my favorite events in the setting, and one that has a definite focus on the Adeptus Astartes, is the Badab War (coincidentally, one of my favorite Chapters, the Exorcists, took part in that campaign). So here's my initial stab at Chapter Honours and skills for the various Chapters that participated in the Badab War. For the most part, I took the 6th edition Chapter Tactics that Forge World provided for these Chapters, and I adapted them to Shadow War: Armageddon. For Chapters that have identified Legion lineage, I used the skill progression from those Chapters as a baseline, though I tried to apply some tweaks here and there in order to introduce some (very minor) differences. A few of the Chapters simply use their predecessors' Chapter Honours (e.g., the Novamarines are among the Primogenitors, so I reasoned that they follow the Ultramarines rules exactly). Others are very close to their predecessor, but have minor adjustments to Chapter Honours or skills or both. And some were very distinct (e.g., the Executioners are almost nothing like the Imperial Fists). Page 1 (introduction and timeline) Hidden Content Page 2 (skills - Astral Claws, Carcharadons Astra, Executioners, Exorcists, Fire Angels) Hidden Content Page 3 (skills - Fire Hawks, Howling Griffons, Lamenters, Mantis Warriors, Marines Errant, Minotaurs, Novamarines, Raptors) Hidden Content Page 4 (skills - Red Scorpions, Sons of Medusa, Star Phantoms) Hidden Content Page 5 (Chapter Honours - Astral Claws (includes rules for Tyrant's Legion kill teams)) Hidden Content Page 6 (Chapter Honours - Carcharadons Astra, Executioners, Exorcists, Fire Angels) Hidden Content Page 7 (Chapter Honours - Fire Hawks, Howling Griffons, Lamenters, Mantis Warriors, Marines Errant, Minotaurs) Hidden Content Page 8 (Chapter Honours - Novamarines, Raptors, Red Scorpions, Sons of Medusa) Hidden Content Page 9 (Chapter Honours - Star Phantoms) Hidden Content I've tried to keep balance on par with the main Space Marines Kill Team rules, but I'll need other eyes to help me with that. I have an idea that these rules might include campaign rules, at the very least a series of scenarios to play out shadow wars (i.e., squad/team level skirmish battles) within the setting of the Badab War. These might potentially include a modification of the Shadow War: Armageddon campaign rules (though that might be nothing more than changing "Promethium caches" to "victory points" or "campaign points" or somesuch. That's way down the road, though. For now, the focus is getting these rules accurate and balanced. Any input is appreciated.

This is an effort to bring reasonable rules for power armoured Space Marines (aside from the Grey Knights and Chaos Space Marines) to Shadow War: Armageddon. The baseline is pretty easy - take the Chaos Space Marines rules (available here) to start. Remove the Chaos Cultist and replace it with a Space Marine Scout (found in the Shadow War: Armageddon rulebook - you've probably seen the images online by now if you don't have your own copy). This is just the bog standard Scout, not the Sergeant. Remove the Chaos Space Marine Special Rules and Using a Chaos Space Marines Kill Team bits. These will be replaced (see below). Retain the Chaos Space Marine Weapon and Equipment Lists, but replace the Inferno Bolts with Hellfire bolts and Toxic bolts (from the Space Marine Scout Weapon and Equipment Lists, they'll retain the restrictions shown therein) and remove the Blight Grenades. Remove the Chaos Cultists Weapon and Equipment Lists And then it gets a little more challenging. The first real challenge, and the piece that really is the focus of discussion here, is differentiating the Chapters. You've probably already seen the skills progressions charts, and there's no reason to change those (except to use the so-called First Founding Chapter names). We'll have to expand that list to cover down on all nine of the loyalist "First Founding" Chapters, though. Skills progression really doesn't look sufficient, though, especially considering the fact that every faction in the game has special rules of some sort. Something to differentiate the Chapters seems appropriate, but it needs to be reasonable. For the most part, the Chapter Tactics might be a decent starting place. We'd have to take a long hard look at the Blood Angels, Dark Angels, and Space Wolves in order to distill their codex special rules into something appropriately representative and balanced with the other Chapters. Ignoring that last bit, let's evaluate whether or not the existing Chapter Tactics are suitable. Or is there some other mechanism that would work? Ultimately, the results should allow for adequate representation of how each Chapter is different and remain balanced (with the Chaos Space Marines Special Rules serving as our measure of balance). We might even expand beyond the mainstream Chapters and consider those that are covered in various Forge World Imperial Armour books, but that should come after we finish the main hurdle. My gut feeling is that, if the Space Marine Scout is retained as the "recruit" option, the Using a Space Marine Kill Team will simply be a variation on the Chaos Space Marine version, allowing a Scout to be upgraded to a trooper. This might get a bit complicated, though, so we'll save that for after we hash out the Chapter differentiation (i.e., Space Marine Special Rules). Once we get past this bit, we'll discuss whether or not each Chapter might have a few unique items to choose from when selecting their weapons and equipment. Something else I've wrestled with is whether or not to expand the weapons and equipment. That should probably be saved for later, and should really be an expansion to all of the factions, with the baseline rules having limited options. For example, Chaos Space Marines could easily do with a power maul or some sonic weapons (for those followers of Slaanesh ). I have suspicions on this part, so we'll keep the list simple for now. And we'll also look at special operatives. For now, the baseline looks like adapting the Chaos Space Marines options and offering an Assault Marine, a Terminator, and something else (Techmarine? Librarian? Apothecary? Company Champion? we'll discuss and see). Once all of that is done, we'll move to the Deathwatch. For now, though, I'd like to focus on the really difficult element of the Space Marines Special Rules and Using a Space Marines Kill Team. So the question for now (ignore all of the other stuff I said we'll get around to, but keep it in the back of your mind for now): Do the Chapter Tactics provided in Codex: Space Marines provide a good starting point for the Space Marines Special Rules? Responses should be driven by two factors: Accurate representation of Chapters Balance with Chaos Space Marines Special Rules (as well as other factions)