Dark angel and Fallen armour during the fall

[Brother Turok]

So everyone is up in arms about the correct armour that the fallen and dark angels would have had during the fall. I know the HH books aren't law or anything, but in the first and second book the legion goes out during the great crusade. I would assume they would have been in MKII crusade armour at this time. At the end of book one the rest of the legion got sent back with Luthor and was out of the crusade forever (I know, it was so sad). From here on out all they did was train and produce updated weapons and armour.

 

So here's my take on everything:

 

I think that the Lion's half of the legion would have been equipped with MK II, MK III, or possibly even MK IV armour by the time they returned to Caliban. I am assuming MK III or MK IV since I believe teminator armour was in use. Since the Heresy started and the great crusade was at an end, MK IV armour would have been coming into play. Luther's half was getting outfitted with newer weapons and armour so they should have been in the 'rare' MK IV armour.

 

Forgeworld says about MK IV:

 

This pattern of power armour was developed towards the end of the Great Crusade, using advanced technologies recovered by Astartes forces from scattered Forge Worlds across the Imperium. Despite being intended as the pinnacle of power armour technology, and containing many advanced systems, MkIV armour remains a valued rarity among most Chapters...

 

So am I correct in the timeline by thinking that all the fallen would be in MK IV armour, and the Lion's legion would be in MK III to MK IV armour? I assume MK V wasn't out yet since the Heresy just started and MK V was created during the heresy to late in the heresy.

 

What's everyone's take on this point of view?

[Hyperion]

I'm pretty sure the Lion returned to Caliban after the Siege of Terra ended. When he arrived at Terra too late (according to Astelan he was waiting to see who won) he then headed back to Caliban to resupply, and his ships were fired on by the planetary defences. In his wrath he bombarded the planet until it was destroyed.

 

Therefore you're looking at late Heresy for the armour marks, not late Crusade. Mk6 armour was widely available to the defenders of Terra, so was probably not available in large amounts to the 'late' legions until afterwards, so the Lion's forces were probably in Mk5 and earlier. However, it's also doubtful that Caliban would have received details of Mk6, so they were probably in Mk5 too. But... the artwork shows beakies (which is probably a throw back to Rogue Trader).

 

Short answer - we don't yet know. Personally I really like beakies painted in the original RT colour scheme (as Fallen) so rule of cool says it's ok. If you want to use a load of earlier armour marks, then that should be ok too.

[Reyner]

You can always claim that some marines preferred their older sets of armour over the later stuff (Terrans could have more attachment to it harking back to the glory days of the Unification).

[WarSpirit]

Forgeworld says about MK IV:

 

This pattern of power armour was developed towards the end of the Great Crusade, using advanced technologies recovered by Astartes forces from scattered Forge Worlds across the Imperium. Despite being intended as the pinnacle of power armour technology, and containing many advanced systems, MkIV armour remains a valued rarity among most Chapters...

 

 

You have to read the sentence correctly, it says that MKIV armour are currently valued rarity among most chapter. It doesn't mean that it was rare during the crusade/heresy.

 

MKV was a result of the heresy, with ressources being scarce and not being able to get replacement armours. So i would think that Lions forces would have MKIV-MKV armours, with some remnants of MKII-MKIII. MKIII was for ship boarding actions, so it was never widespread.