New DIY chapter ideas

[Valkyrion]

Name: Don't know. Thinking along the lines of Death/Dread/Doom/Crypt/Scourge - Knights/Guards/Lords or similar

 

Homeworld: Don't know, somewhere around Octavius/Octarius sector

 

Fortress Monastery: Underground with various bastions and fortresses above ground. A grim place with ossuaries, crypts, reliquaries and so on

 

Colours: Dark green (like Raptors rather than Dark Angels) with a Black and ochre 1st company (which will have a different name)

 

Founding: 20's. Somewhere between 1000 and 2000 years old (subject to change)

 

Reason for founding: Rise of the Ork empire in Octarius. Have been fighting orks since their inception.

 

Geneseed: Dorn, possibly, as their SusAn membrane is even more defective, leading ultimately to every marine falling into a catatonic coma like state called the Nightmare (subject to change). Not quite the black rage, more like narcolepsy...

 

Combat style: Savage, close combat, possibly using Blood Angels codex - they collect the skulls of their enemies and of their brothers upon death which are kept in the fortress monastery. High ranking members of the chapter who fall to the Nightmare are kept alive in the fortress monastery, others are decapitated and their skulls kept in a separate chamber.

 

Organisation: Understrength, high rate of recruitment. An idea of mine is to have them leading an ill conceived attack against Octarius itself resulting in many many deaths, leading to 2 or 3 scout companies at the expense of the reserve companies. No marine has ever lived beyond a certain age (~200 years) due to their geneseed flaw, and as such the 1st Company comprises only marines above a certain age. The 1st company then performs do or die missions as no marine wishes to succumb to the flaw, preferring to die in battle. Because of this the marines repaint/get given their armour. (if using Codex BA, non terminator 1st company marines would be Death Company rules)

1st Company probably numbering around 50, the entire chapter about 300 full marines plus an almost equal number of scouts. Slightly deficient on armour, heavy use of Chaplains, Librarians, Apothecaries and other such specialists (another codex BA reason)

 

Other: Very insular even when compared to other marine chapters. Have never fought alongside another SM chapter. Their homeworld is within easy reach of several other imperial worlds from which they recruit.

As of 999.M41 their homeworld is under attack from three enemies; Orks, Tyranids and Eldar (as per the snippets of information found in various sources - leviathan is in octarius, the eldar are killing imperial worlds to stop the tyranids feeding, orks are there for the fight)

 

 

I want them very macarbe, heavy use of skull iconography. Not sure on the chapter symbol yet - if using Codex BA I might plump for their symbol to minimise confusion when playing. Failing that, Silver Skulls or something.

 

Any thoughts/criticisms/good things? I know there are some experts on here, and I'm open to the harshest of words...

 

Cheers!

[Phlegon]

I can't really come up with any constructive names off the top of my head, however, I am wondering what is the purpose for keeping the skulls of the battle brothers who have fallen to the "Nightmare" seperate from brothers who just die in combat. I'm sorry if this seams like a stupid question its just I'm overly curious about that aspect.

[Thor Lokiago]

Crypt Lords would work with their whole skull crypt theme. As for a home world, just make up a name. This is the easiest part because it doesn't actually have to reflect the chapter if you dont want it to. Or you could check out a map of the Segmentum with all the space marine chapters and find one a little ways away, as they dont interact with any other chapters. However, I would also think that if they're always succumbing to their defect, maybe they should be fleet based. Granted you're only going to have maybe 3 ships tops, but it makes it easier to get to recruits, and the number of worlds you can draw from is endless. It also makes it that much easier to explain why you dont interact with other marines. You almost sound like a lot of your aspects mirror the Legion of the Damned. aybe you can get a couple good ideas here.

 

http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Legion_of_the_Damned

 

I look foreward to seeing what you decide in the end.

[Odsox]

Combat style: Savage, close combat, possibly using Blood Angels codex - they collect the skulls of their enemies and of their brothers upon death which are kept in the fortress monastery. High ranking members of the chapter who fall to the Nightmare are kept alive in the fortress monastery, others are decapitated and their skulls kept in a separate chamber.

 

SKULLS FOR THE SKULL THRONE!

 

Oh, wait, hang on.

 

Ahem. Sounds interesting so far! If I were you I'd expand on their nature and character, and maybe decrease the frequency of marines falling into the Nightmare (I wondered where I'd heard that capitalised name before - it's Sarpedon's trick, isn't it!) a bit. If it was that common then surely their battle capability is going to severely limited comopared to a full Chapter. Mind you, that sense of striving harder might appeal to people.

 

And, like everyone who reads these IAs, I want to see a bit of fluff, a Chapter badge and colourscheme! ;)

 

Od.

[Valkyrion]

I can't really come up with any constructive names off the top of my head, however, I am wondering what is the purpose for keeping the skulls of the battle brothers who have fallen to the "Nightmare" seperate from brothers who just die in combat. I'm sorry if this seams like a stupid question its just I'm overly curious about that aspect.

 

 

All the skulls are kept whenever anyone dies. All the skulls will be kept together. I don't know why I wrote that...I think I might have meant 'the skulls will be kept separate from the high ranking marines who are kept alive' meaning you have one chamber dedicated to the still living chapter heroes, and another lined with the skulls of all the dead marines.

 

I don't know how stasis works really. The only example I can think of is Guilliman. I don't know if stasis technology is difficult to reproduce or not. I might scrap the keeping of some marines alive idea and just kill all of them.

I suppose you could keep a marine alive for hundreds of years if he isn't seeing any combat, but even his muscles would start to atrophy after centuries of unuse, no?

 

 

I don't want them to be fleet based really.

I have (to my mind anyway) a fairly cool idea about their fortress monastery and how they come to end up under attack from three different alien races which wouldn't sit as well in space.

I could easily have a company or two away from the planet though.

If they are one of (say) six imperial planets in a system, there will always be plenty of recruits. The system itself would be well defended as they are always under attack from the Octarian orks.

 

As for not interacting - it's just situational and circumstance. They've been very busy in their own system/sector and haven't ventured beyond that ever. Other marines have had little cause to come to their system. The galaxy is a big place.

But because of the lack of interaction they may get away with doing things a little bit more...unseemly. I'm sure an Ordo Malleus inquisitor would have something to say about the hoarding of skulls, for example.

 

Somewhere between the anger of the Flesh Tearers, the weirdness of the Mortifactors, and the appearance of the Legion of the Damned is where I want my chapter to sit.

 

Cheers.

 

 

edit for odsox's reply:

 

I know, it does sound very Khorney.

 

Sarpedons power is the Hell.

 

The nightmare thing - many of the criticisms of IA's I've seen has been the lack of a defining feature about the chapter. They are XX chapter painted a different colour.

I wanted something that was fatal to the chapter, something else they have to deal with.

The frequency of the thing doesn't really matter, this is my 'black rage'. It could strike any marine at any time, from a marine to a captain.

I might make it so that scouts don't succumb to it - only when all the implants have been implanted and had time to mature - hence the increased scout numbers. Scouts would play a very prominant role in the chapter.

[Captain Lucas Raziel]

falling into a catatonic coma like state called the Nightmare

 

what about calling them Avenged Sevenfold? :P

 

no, seriously though, you need the go through things. firstly, colors. so Emerald, Obsidian etc. then, do any animals strike you as nightmarish things, Vipers for example?

from this, you could get Obsidian Vipers. i know its crap, but its just a guide line.

 

hope this helps, looking forward to see the IA

[Valkyrion]

A possible extention to the theme...

 

How about the marines who succumb to the nightmare/flaw end up in the warp - psychically, I mean. Their mind is able to travel to places that no one else can; back in time, for example, or the home of the Chaos Gods.

 

Then I could have their bodies being possessed, willingly, by a daemon in return for the flaw to be stopped (see Magnus and Thousand Sons) - the daemon aids the chapter against the Orks and Tyranids and the chapter turns renegade due to some unbelieveable truth (which would likely be an untruth, the machinations of daemons etc), they leave their home and begin their mission to reveal said truth.

 

Too convoluted?

 

BTW, I think I'm settled on The Dread Lords as a name, but may scrap the green colour scheme in favour of the black and ochre.

[The Normish]

A possible extention to the theme...

 

How about the marines who succumb to the nightmare/flaw end up in the warp - psychically, I mean. Their mind is able to travel to places that no one else can; back in time, for example, or the home of the Chaos Gods.

 

Then I could have their bodies being possessed, willingly, by a daemon in return for the flaw to be stopped (see Magnus and Thousand Sons) - the daemon aids the chapter against the Orks and Tyranids and the chapter turns renegade due to some unbelieveable truth (which would likely be an untruth, the machinations of daemons etc), they leave their home and begin their mission to reveal said truth.

 

Too convoluted?

 

BTW, I think I'm settled on The Dread Lords as a name, but may scrap the green colour scheme in favour of the black and ochre.

Hmm. Seems a little far-fetched to me, making them too special. I think the comatose Nightmare state is fine.

[Valkyrion]

Having slept on it, I agree. It's too much.

 

I'll flesh out what I've got a bit later for perusal.

[Valkyrion]

Sorry for the double post but I've come across a bit of fluff vs codex conflict.

 

I want them to be of Imperial Fist geneseed due to the defective SusAn membrane, but I want to use Codex Blood Angels to represent their more assault orientated nature. (that and I already have a Codex SM army)

This basically means I want them to resemble a codex chapter as closely as possible with the exception of using the Death Company as the first company. I like the BA dex for their sanguinary priests and chaplain elite slots which will fit in well with my fledgling fluff.

 

Should I impose a self prohibition on Stormravens, Furioso's, Baal predators and Sanguinary guard? - these are not codex units and AFAIK, only BA successors use Baal Predators and so on. As far as modelling goes, my Death Company are going to use the actual DC models, and a few other marines will have a few BA ornamentation, but I'm not going to use any wings and I might use a smattering of the new FW Iron Armour as a hand me down from the IF's.

Sadly my scout companies are going to suffer from a lack of transports and hellfire rounds.

 

I'm going to use a counts as Astorath, Corbulo and (possibly) Tycho and Seth.

[Shadey]

Other: Very insular even when compared to other marine chapters. Have never fought alongside another SM chapter. Their homeworld is within easy reach of several other imperial worlds from which they recruit.

As of 999.M41 their homeworld is under attack from three enemies; Orks, Tyranids and Eldar (as per the snippets of information found in various sources - leviathan is in octarius, the eldar are killing imperial worlds to stop the tyranids feeding, orks are there for the fight)

 

Maybe realising thier weakness they like to manipulate their enemies into fighting each other. That may be more of an eldar thing so not really good to use against them but orks and nids sure, just don't copy Inquisitor Kryptman too much.

 

I would also like to see your scout company fleshed out. As you said they should be rather prominent and they have a lot of recruits (300) and would see a lot of action against the orks. I imagine sniper assassinations, sabotage etc.

[The Normish]

Sorry for the double post but I've come across a bit of fluff vs codex conflict.

 

I want them to be of Imperial Fist geneseed due to the defective SusAn membrane, but I want to use Codex Blood Angels to represent their more assault orientated nature. (that and I already have a Codex SM army)

This basically means I want them to resemble a codex chapter as closely as possible with the exception of using the Death Company as the first company. I like the BA dex for their sanguinary priests and chaplain elite slots which will fit in well with my fledgling fluff.

 

Should I impose a self prohibition on Stormravens, Furioso's, Baal predators and Sanguinary guard? - these are not codex units and AFAIK, only BA successors use Baal Predators and so on. As far as modelling goes, my Death Company are going to use the actual DC models, and a few other marines will have a few BA ornamentation, but I'm not going to use any wings and I might use a smattering of the new FW Iron Armour as a hand me down from the IF's.

Sadly my scout companies are going to suffer from a lack of transports and hellfire rounds.

 

I'm going to use a counts as Astorath, Corbulo and (possibly) Tycho and Seth.

I don't see a problem with that, but you may be missing out on some of the Codex's strengths. Howeve rif it's a fluff-based army you want, then it seems good.

[Valkyrion]

A bit of history I've been working on for your critique. I've decided on the Angels Penitent now.

 

History:

The Angels Penitent began life as the Guardians of Dorn, a chapter of the 24th Founding of Imperial Fist stock. They were charged with the defence of the Serenity system of the Octarius sector from the predations of the ever growing Ork empire of Octarius.

 

Chapter Master Madir led the Guardians of Dorn on a series of successful raids into many Ork territories, including the Ork worlds of Orrok and Keltor and for two hundred years the Serenity system suffered not a single Ork attack as the Guardians of Dorn stymied the growing Ork horde on dozens of worlds.

 

Were the Guardians of Dorn not space marines, above the foibles of lesser men, they might have been accused of complacency and arrogance when Madir lead an ill conceived attack against Octarius itself.

The single continent of Octarius teemed with millions of orks and despite his experience and tactical expertise, Madir misjudged the infighting and constant civil war reported by his scouts as a weakness to be exploited, that despite their limited numbers, the Guardians could destroy this fractious, if innumerable, alien horde and end the threat to the Octarius system once and for all.

 

Scores of drop pods thundered into the Octarius earth and from them poured hundreds of space marines, bolter and flamer cutting down thousands of orks within minutes as landing sites were cleared for heavy armour deployment. As soon as the last thunderhawk returned to the strike cruiser, a sound like thunder signalled the orks arrival as they flooded the Guardians position. Several thousand more orks died under the Guardians sustained fire, but it soon became apparent that there were more Orks than bolter rounds and the fighting soon descended into a bloody melee.

Reports from the Battle Barge ‘Oroborous’ indicated that an ork fleet had come from nowhere and already three strike cruisers had been destroyed. A bombardment from space was out of the question and the Guardians swiftly found themselves alone in a one sided war of attrition.

 

The fractious tribes had united under the banner of a single Ork known as Nashrok and though they didn’t know it, the orks throwing themselves at the Guardians gun line were simply cannon fodder.

Stompas and Gargants selectively chose the Guardians heavy armour and by the time Nashrok reached the Guardians lines almost forty Land Raiders and Predators lay in ruins.

Nashrok and his nobs tore into the Guardians lines, heading straight for Madir. An insultingly brief melee resulted in the chapter master lying limbless on the ground, his physiology attempting to stem the flow of blood.

Instinctively the Orks ceased their attack, killing only those Guardians who insisted in taking the fight to the death, and Nashrak’s climbed aboard one of the gargants. Throught the mighty machines speakers his voice boomed ‘Hur, hur, hur. Dat was fun. Get yer dead, get stronga and come back again.’

 

With that, the orks retreated. In a little over twelve hours, the Overfiend of Octarius had virtually annihilated an entire chapter. Of the seven hundred marines who went to Octarius, less than ninety returned.

[Valkyrion]

1st try at uploading pictures...the green guy is battle brother, the black guy 1st company.

 

http://i34.tinypic.com/n3ltp1.jpg

 

and

 

http://i35.tinypic.com/2aq3ko.jpg

[Shinzaren]

Why the radically different schemes? They don't even look like part of the same army?

[Grey Hunter Ydalir]

I have to echo Shinzaren here.

 

Even that chapters that have seperately coloured companies (set point, Dark Angels) are still not so wildly different from one another.

 

The Dark Angels are dark green, black and bleached bone. Their first company (Deathwing) is bleached bone and the Ravenwing are black, just as they used to be pre-heresy and are still related to the new scheme. The fact that they are called the Ravenwing and Deathwing to be used with their respective colour schemes for the Dark Angels also helps tie everything together.

 

What is the reason your chapter isn't coloured as one cohesive fighting force?