Helljumpers - A Space Marine Chapter

[Grey Knight Aquilus]

Right, anyways, this is the first thread that I have started on the B&C, so please show mercy :)

 

Chapter Name: Helljumpers

Gene-seed: Dark Angels [don't know if this is a good choice >.<]

Homeworld: Reach, Epsilon Eridani System

Battle-cry: "Feet First Into Hell!" or "Death From Above"

Chapter Strength: ~1000

Current Colours: Black armour, urban camouflage on thigh, elbow and lower arm armour, light blue eyepieces.

Symbol: Flaming skull over a Space Marine Drop-pod

 

BASIC BACKGROUND

A Chapter that has been largely ignored, due to the Imperium’s focus on the exploits of the larger, more famous Space Marine chapters, yet their history can be traced back to before the Horus Heresy. The chapter was named after the local Planetary Defence Force on Reach, which itself was part of a much older army that existed since M02.

Ancient, incomplete records show that there were humans that had colonised Reach in the 2nd millennium, but the world was destroyed for some unknown reason. However, the planet has since been renewed, and is currently classified as a Fortress World, with a small population of approximately 6,000,000 inhabitants. The chapter also has a comparatively large space fleet for its chapter strength.

The chapter was created after the Horus Heresy during the 3rd Founding, from the gene-seed of the Dark Angels Legion, and have inherited their predecessors’ adherence to tradition and honour.

The Helljumpers are not a chapter that strictly adheres to the Codex Astartes, and merely see it as a basic guideline to organise an army and instead, follows a Code of Honour that governs their combat style. This is the reason why there is a large abundance of Assault Marines as opposed to Tactical Marines or Devastator Marines. They also dislike using vehicles to fight the enemy, as they view them as dishonourable, and would much prefer to kill their enemies in the frenzy of close combat.

 

COMBAT DOCTRINE

The Helljumpers make use of Drop-pod Assaults to strike at the enemy quickly, and Thunderhawk gunships are also utilised to drop Assault Marines and Vanguard Veterans into battle. These two methods of deploying troops have led to their current battle-cries. Their assault is often assisted by their scouts, who infiltrate the planet before the main assault to gather intelligence on the strength and movements of enemy forces. Helljumpers will engage the enemy in close combat, if they are not ordered to provide covering fire with their ranged weapons, but when they are ordered to perform an all-out attack, all units will seek to fight the enemy face-to-face. It is for this reason that all Helljumpers have a blade of some sort with them, whether it be a power sword, chainsword or just a combat knife.

 

That's about all I have thought of so far (hopefully some of you will notice the inspiration from which my chapter is created)

[Captain Juan Juarez]

I /facepalm only because I'm not a fan of drawing from other seperate IP's when creating a Chapter.

 

/facepalm.

[Shinzaren]

Where to start. First off, you didn't get inspired by Halo, you copy and pasted. Reach as a planet? Helljumpers as a name? Feet First Into Hell? Perhaps a little subtlety here? You are far too blatant about wanting to be ODST from Halo.

 

 

A Chapter that has been largely ignored, due to the Imperium’s focus on the exploits of the larger, more famous Space Marine chapters, yet their history can be traced back to before the Horus Heresy

 

Chapters are of uniform size, perhaps you should say Older, more famous Space Marine Chapters. Going back to the Horus Heresy usually isn't the best idea, as it implies your chapter would have the political clout of one of the Chapters of Legend.

 

The chapter was named after the local Planetary Defence Force on Reach, which itself was part of a much older army that existed since M02.

 

You're really pushing to tie your chapter to the Halo universe, which really breaks my suspension of disbelief. As player of both games, I see what you are trying to do, and I don't believe it as a reader. Also, marines don't take PDF names as their own. They get their own names.

 

The Helljumpers are not a chapter that strictly adheres to the Codex Astartes, and merely see it as a basic guideline to organise an army and instead, follows a Code of Honour that governs their combat style. This is the reason why there is a large abundance of Assault Marines as opposed to Tactical Marines or Devastator Marines. They also dislike using vehicles to fight the enemy, as they view them as dishonourable, and would much prefer to kill their enemies in the frenzy of close combat.

 

This paragraph is silly. Honor is a not a way of fighting. Honor is a governing set of rules that dictate your responses to situations. Honorable chapters could and would follow the Codex. Tactical and Devastator Marines are not only important, they are largely necessary, since assault marines cannot handle every type of enemy. With no Devastators and no vehicles, you are going to massacred by any enemy that fields anti-infantry vehicles. Not using vehicles because of a very misplaced sense of honor is just stupid and unreasonable, and no chapter would follow this.

 

The Helljumpers make use of Drop-pod Assaults to strike at the enemy quickly, and Thunderhawk gunships are also utilised to drop Assault Marines and Vanguard Veterans into battle. These two methods of deploying troops have led to their current battle-cries. Their assault is often assisted by their scouts, who infiltrate the planet before the main assault to gather intelligence on the strength and movements of enemy forces. Helljumpers will engage the enemy in close combat, if they are not ordered to provide covering fire with their ranged weapons, but when they are ordered to perform an all-out attack, all units will seek to fight the enemy face-to-face. It is for this reason that all Helljumpers have a blade of some sort with them, whether it be a power sword, chainsword or just a combat knife.

 

So, they only use Assault and Vanguard Vets, and somehow they provide covering fire? With their pistols? Trying to justify stealing the Halo ODST motto is pointless, as it should never have been used in the first place. Why do they use scouts to infiltrate? Doesn't go against their code of honor? The same code that prohibits vehicles? All marines carry some form of close combat weapon, your chapter is not special or unique in this regard.

 

In closing, this whole thing reeks of copying Halo to a 'T'. As a reader, I have no involvement or belief that this is a real chapter. These are my thoughts, and I'm sorry if they are little harsh or critical, I just think its a terrible idea to copy this much. Inspiration is good, plagiarism is bad. I think it needs a rework, and definitely needs more subtlety.

[Leonaides]

being honest - you were doing ok right up until the basic background, where things started going rather ploin-shaped very quickly.

 

A Chapter that has been largely ignored, due to the Imperium’s focus on the exploits of the larger, more famous Space Marine chapters, yet their history can be traced back to before the Horus Heresy.

 

No. That would make them one of the original Legions. There are no chapters before the heresy (except as an administrative/fighting subdivision of the Legions). Also, your chpater is at approximate full strength, so the only larger chapters are likely to be BT's and possibly SW's... Everyone else is roughly the same. And marine chapters are far too valuable, rare and important to be ignored.

 

The chapter was named after the local Planetary Defence Force on Reach, which itself was part of a much older army that existed since M02.

 

How do you know this? Suddenly you have the best preserved records of the early human colonisation? And the same army has existed for 38,000 years? 4 times longer than the Imperium? I'd drop this bit entirely.

 

Ancient, incomplete records show that there were humans that had colonised Reach in the 2nd millennium, but the world was destroyed for some unknown reason.

 

So, tell me again how these records survived the destruction of the planet and 38,000 years?

 

However, the planet has since been renewed, and is currently classified as a Fortress World, with a small population of approximately 6,000,000 inhabitants.

 

6 Million people? Is that all? Thats less than a Hive... remove the number entirely - it can only cause problems, just leave it at "has a small population."

 

The chapter also has a comparatively large space fleet for its chapter strength.

 

This bit's fine, but I'd remove the " for its chapter strength" as youre chapter is about the same strength as any other chapter might be, just say they have relatively numerous fleet assets or something.

 

The chapter was created after the Horus Heresy during the 3rd Founding, from the gene-seed of the Dark Angels Legion, and have inherited their predecessors’ adherence to tradition and honour.

 

Interesting that a 3rd founding DA chapter doesnt have anything to do with the Fallen - especially as the DA's seem to have taken great pains to make sure all the other descendant chapters know an dhelp in the hunt...

 

The Helljumpers are not a chapter that strictly adheres to the Codex Astartes, and merely see it as a basic guideline to organise an army and instead, follows a Code of Honour that governs their combat style.

 

Erm - IF's have a very rigid code of honour, and they still follow the Codex, as do BA's, CF's, Ultras, etc...

 

This is the reason why there is a large abundance of Assault Marines as opposed to Tactical Marines or Devastator Marines.

 

See above - what makes your guys different? Especially consider BA's here - they put great honour on being a member of a close combat unit, yet still have 6 tac, 2 assault and 2 dev in a battle company.

 

They also dislike using vehicles to fight the enemy, as they view them as dishonourable, and would much prefer to kill their enemies in the frenzy of close combat.

 

Few honour codes have anything at all to do with vehicles - I suspect you meant to say ranged weaponry here? Unless you want to be able to use devs? In which case it seems a bit forced. Again, using the example of BA's and SW's, and BT's, why are your guys different? Its not because your chapter are more honourable, or more CC orientated than any of them, so what is it?

 

Happily enough, the only real problem I can see straight of with your combat doctrine section is this:

 

"It is for this reason that all Helljumpers have a blade of some sort with them, whether it be a power sword, chainsword or just a combat knife."

 

Which is just plain wrong. Every marine carries some sort of CC weapon. All marines have a mono-molecular edged combat knife as part of their standard kit, as a backup weapon if nothing else. Or is there something specific about it being a blade? Do they put a paticular premium on Power Swords over Power Axes, for example? Are they a sign of rank?

[The 13th Goat]

Let me point you in a direction that will help you here:

 

Chapter D.I.Y: How to write a credible back story.

[Grey Knight Aquilus]

Well then, i suppose i may have used the halo references a bit too much >.< (so i suppose a big DIY chapter no-no is to draw your entire chapter from a different universe, so maybe a huge revision of the entire chapter then... Therefore i will simplify everything and develop on the basic ideas later on.

 

New name: Soul Reapers

Homeworld: Fleet-based

Geneseed: Dark Angels (still going to stick with this, maybe add something about hunting the Fallen then)

Chapter Strength: ~1000

 

BASIC BACKGROUND:

-A Chapter of the 3rd founding from the geneseed of the Dark Angels chapter

-Fleet-based

-Draws recruits from across the galaxy

-12 companies with 8 squads each

--1st and 2nd companies are veteran companies

--3rd to 6th companies are battle companies

--7th and 8th companies are tactical companies

--9th company is the assault company

--10th company is the devastator company

--11th and 12th companies are scout companies

--Within each battle company there are 4 tactical squads, 2 assault squads and 2 devastator squads

-There are 12 company captains who, with the chapter master, the chief librarian and [highest ranked] chaplain (if there is one, not enitrely sure) form a council that governs the actions of the chapter.

 

COMBAT DOCTRINE:

The Soul Reapers begin their invasions with several scout squads infiltrating the planet to gather information on enemy forces, then relaying new-found information to the main assault force waiting outside the star system. Once the period of scouting and planning ends, the assault force starts landing their units onto the planet, using drop-pods and thunderhawk gunships.

During combat, thunderhawks fly overhead to provide real-time information on enemy movements to the commander of the assault force, who then uses this information to direct the actions of each unit.

 

Hopefully this revision will seem more rooted in the 41st millenium, please criticise

[Espada Azul]

Well, it's pretty much just basic information, so there's not really much to criticize, but I have a few questions with what you have so far.

 

a.) What is the reason for the unorthodox Organization of the Chapter? Was there something that happened in the Chapter's history that made it diverge from the 'basic' 10-man 10-squad per Company structure of the Codex Astartes? What is the reason for having two Companies worth of Veterans, for example, as well as Scout-Initiates?

 

b.) Thunderhawk Gunships don't linger over battlefields to provide real-time battlefield info ala modern-day unmanned spy planes, as it's not the role they were meant to play. They're built to get the men and vehicles on-planet, provide some fire support, then return to the Strike Cruiser, where they then stay ready to extract the brothers on the ground when required. Plus, I'd think they'd be priority targets for any enemy commander.

 

Also, the internal vox network used by the Chapter is probably enough to relay required battlefield info to the concerned parties.

[Grey Knight Aquilus]

about the 12 companies, the 1st and 2nd companies are the veteran companies, numbering approximately 160 marines (80 each), and the 11th and 12th companies are the scout companies numbering the same. The way i see it is that the chapter has a large number of marines that they deem 'veteran' for the 1st and 2nd companies. For the scout companies, the chapter fleet entered a region of space with many potential recruits, and they decided to expand the scout company to accomodate them (off the top of my head, will probably need revision :P) So in the end, still within the standard force strength of most chapters, ~1000

 

I never realised that thunderhawks wouldn't play a support role in that way, i figured that perhaps the force commander could call in airstrikes, and perhaps some battlefield overwatch... Is there any imperial flyer that would provide this role then?

[Espada Azul]

Thunderhawks can provide a support role, but seeing as they're flying transports it's not their primary duty (refer to the Imperial Armor books). Also, they're HUGE targets, and not something a Chapter can afford to lose to AA-fire.

[Grey Knight Aquilus]

i suppose losing a thunderhawk is something that will disgrace the chapter then, and so the whole thunderhawk-providing-aerial-recon thing won't fit in the the 40k universe too well?

[Espada Azul]

As I mentioned, a Thunderhawk Gunship is primarily a troop carrier (it can carry thirty Marines, or half that number in Terminator-armored battle-brothers), though it is mentioned in Battlefleet Gothic that they also serve as a space fighter. Take note that it is not a role it particularly excels in, as it's in no way as maneuverable as its Imperial Navy counterparts.

 

Also, I think you're forgetting one fact: if a Thunderhawk gets shot down, at least three squads lose their ride back to the Strike Cruiser, nevermind the fact that it's one less craft to carry fighting vehicles on and off the planet. It's a robust craft, granted, but it is not invulnerable.

[Grey Knight Aquilus]

Then thunderhawks are: drop troops, shoot a way out, go back to battle barge, wait, collect troops, go back to battle barge: right?

I was thinking, if marines use drop-pods to enter a battle, then do they use thunderhawks to get back? and are the drop-pods reused...? or do the forges of the chapter make new ones?

[Espada Azul]

There are actually five roles a Thunderhawk can fill during a mission: Troop Insertion, Close Air Support, Saturation Bombing, Long-Range Bombing, and Starship Interception. However, the payload and weapon load out for each role differs -- for example, Troop Carriers will only be armed with the default lascannons and heavy bolters and will not carry any missiles or bombs. They CAN be reconfigured after dropping off their cargo, but only after returning to the Strike Cruiser/Battle Barge.

 

We don't really know what happens to the drop pods after a campaign. Many here assume that collected by the Chapter once their mission is over and are then reused, but an equal amount think that they're just abandoned, and the Armory just makes replacements for the discarded pods. I'd imagine a well-supplied Chapter would do the latter, but one strapped for resources would have to do the former.

[Grey Knight Aquilus]

so, in theory, the chapter could have thunderhawks with several different load-outs for a mission, meaning that some thunderhawks provide transport, while others focus on aerial support. So could thunderhawks performing a bombing run gather real-time images of the battlefield as it flies past?

[Espada Azul]

Hmm, interesting point, and Imperial Armour does mention that a Thunderhawk's independent nav equipment does relay information to a Space Marine strike force's command cadre, but I still think it's a role that the Gunship isn't well-suited for. It's like using an Abrams for duties that are more suited to jeeps.

[Grey Knight Aquilus]

so, does the Adeptus Astartes have any dedicated recon flyer in their vast arsenal? or is it a STC that is to be found?

[Espada Azul]

Sadly, nope, Space Marines don't have any aircraft of that nature. For most Chapters the Thunderhawk is their primary workhorse -- hence I mentioned the different known mission configurations for the craft, which if you have noticed by now does not include Recon. All information-gathering is done prior to the actual mission (archival research) combined with the info scouts or dedicated squads that made initial landings relay back to the Force Commander. A Force Commander will still coordinate somewhat with other Imperial Forces on-ground to maximize their deployment, but that's basically the extent of it; unless it's a massive and long-term campaign like Armageddon or Cadia, your typical Space Marine strike force will drop in, accomplish mission requirements, then leave.

[Grey Knight Aquilus]

It would be nice if there was some sort of recon flyer, but we must stick with established canon now :P

[Shinzaren]

You are reducing the specialness and the elite nature of veterans by having so many. Normal chapters have roughly 100 veterans/1st company members. This ensure competition to earn this right is extremely fierce, and only the best are chosen. Your chapter has 320 "veterans", which, in my eyes, diminishes their elite status. You're basically saying that nearly 1/3 of your chapter is Elites, equal to the 1st company of another chapter. Not only that, but your armory holds enough rare and powerful weapons to arm 320 Veterans in whatever fashion they chose. For a 1st Founding Chapter, maybe, but for a successor?

 

How did they find so many recruits? A rare combination of predisposition, natural ability, and the unique genetics that accept Space Marine gene-seed mean that recruits are always a little hard to come by; save for chapters like the Black Templars, who recruit from EVERYWHERE, and the Space Wolves, whose entire planet literally kills each other for the chance, and so there is no shortage of recruits. How did you find so many that only fit the physical profile, but also accept the conditioning and the gene-seed? And even if you found so many, why the divergence from Codex? People die in wars, newbies especially. Why wouldn't they just operate one large scout company under the assumption that deaths are going to happen, and the weak are going to be herded out. By and large, the Codex is a relatively sacred text, and most chapters don't break from it without significant reason. Your logic of having so many scouts and veterans doesn't make sense to me.

 

I know the difficulty of justifying a break in Codex, I suffered the same issues with my DIY chapter. My response was to kill off like half the chapter, and then have them learn new tactics. Organization wise though, they still follow Codex as best they can, since by and large, it worked in the past, it works now, and it will most likely work into the future.

[RagingGriffon]

Recon flyers are usually done by the super fast Imperial Guard flyers... I can't remember their names off hand (at work right now).

 

I wouldn't get too twisted around aerial recon. It is what I do for a living... just stick to the WH40k universe. It makes it easier :P

[Ferrata]

The idea behind Imperium military thinking (or, Guilliman's codex) is that everyone has a job to do and that is all they can do. You need to work together to be able to compete in the battlefield well. Space Marines are the elite crack troops that drop down from the heavens, kill everyone and leave before the enemy has gotten off the toilet. They don't need re-con planes, nor air support (often), or heavy artillary or heavy tanks or vast numbers. That is down to the Imperial Guard in some fashion. It might be annoying at times, but that is how the Imperium operates.

[Grey Knight Aquilus]

@shinzaren

Actually there are 160 veterans, as each company has 80 marines. The veterans are separated into the 1st and 2nd companies, where the vets of the 1st company are more experienced than the 2nd. The chapter is a fleet-based chapter and therefore recruit from many different worlds. Anyways thats my reasoning for the unorthodox structuring.

[Grey Knight Aquilus]

@Ferrata

Thanks for that, i forgot about the whole "Sword/Hammer/Shield/Scalpel of the Emperor" thing where each faction of the Imperium has different parts, so yeah.

 

Just to clarify Chapter Organisation:

12 Companies

 

1st + 2nd company veterans (1st are more experienced)

3rd to 6th battle companies (4 tactical marine squads, 2 assault squads, 2 devastator squads)

7th +8th tactical companies (all tactical marines)

9th assault company (all assault marines)

10th devastator company (all devastators)

11th + 12th scout companies

 

12 company captains + chapter master + chief librarian + head chaplain + master of the forge forms the council that dictates the chapter's actions

[Leonaides]

So what you're saying is that actually the second company arent actually veterans then? There's no half-way house. Even the guys in the line companies might easily have a few hundred years of combat experience behind them and not be considered "Veterans". There is a distinct difference between veteran and Veteran.

[Grey Knight Aquilus]

Both company's veterans have terminator honours, and both may use terminator armour. The 2nd company is made up of veterans from the battle companies, while the 1st company is made up of veterans from the 2nd company who have performed some heroic deed.

That's how see it anyways, unless my idea completely contradicts established canon >.<