Index Astartes: The Iron Tigers

[Walter Payton]

I recently decided to try to make a chapter for each of the major warring powers in World War I: Germany, France, Russia (who will be Bolsheviks in Space) and England.

 

Following the advice on an earlier ideas thread, the first instalement, the Germans, were given the name Iron Tigers. The impression I want the reader to get is of a young, ambitious, and arrogant chapter, led by a possibly mentally unstable and definitely arrogant leader. I decided to depart from the usual epic mien of GW IAs and write in a dryer, pseudo-historical style given the pseudo-historical themes.

 

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“Kaiser Mit Uns!” – Index Astartes: The Iron Tigers

 

“’Orders of the day: It is my Royal and Imperial command, as a Representative and Plenipotentiary of His most Imperial Majesty the Emperor of Mankind and Monarch of All the Planets, that you concentrate your energies, for the immediate present, upon a single purpose and that is that you exercise all your skill and all the valour of my Space Marines to first exterminate the treacherous Aliens and walk over the Tau’s contemptible little army.’ - Headquarters, Battle-barge Kaiser” – Chapter Master Luitpold’s orders of the day at the outbreak of the War of the Arcturusand Bight

 

“The Lamps are Going Out All Over the Imperium” - Founding

 

“As the Imperium enters its eleventh millennium, we face challenges not seen since the Horus Heresy. The Tyranid, the Tau, Cadia half fallen. The lamps are going out all over the galaxy. I doubt we shall see them go on again in our lifetime.” High Lord Fallodon, on the eve of M42

 

The Iron Tigers, a chapter born into the 26th Founding, are born into an Imperium full of troubles. The Imperium is beset, the Tyranids scratching at the walls, the Orks gnawing at the foundations and Chaos pounding on the doors. Now, more then ever, the Imperium needs its Astartes. The Iron Tigers are one of the raw, young chapters called into being as the Imperium enters this crucial point in its history.

 

The Iron Tigers have been founded as a check on Tau expansion in the Galactic South, as the Imperium begins to take note of this latest threat. Utilizing the geneseed of the Ultramarines, the nucleus of the Chapter was formed by a cadre of veterans under the command of Captain Wilhelminus of the Novamarines, who was noted for his desire to return to the great ages of High Imperialism and his rabid hatred of aliens. Thus it was that the chapter left the muster fields of Mars, and, granted fleet assets and a small tech-priesthood, set out into the galaxy.

 

Since then the proud Tigers have carved out a fearsome reputation for themselves, coming into conflict with many powerful alien Empires and making enemies across the Imperium. But they care not; to them, their star is in the ascendant, and the pettiness of lesser men cannot possible bring it down…

 

“Not Left nor Right but Forward” – Early Years

 

“Once I have chosen a course, I must look not left nor right but forward” – Chapter Master Wilhelminus

 

Captain Wilheminus’s personal motto was “Nihil Sine Imperator,” “Nothing without the Emperor,” translated from the original High Gothic. Indeed, in the earliest years it seemed that it was indeed true, as he modelled the chapter into a formidable fighting force. His inclusive recruitment processes meant that the chapter, despite its lack of a homeworld, soon grew to twice its original number. The chapter earned much glory at the space Battle of Piett’s World and gained its first battle honour interdicting Tau colonists as they tried to flee the planet.

 

Despite the success Wilheminus was restless; he was no man’s fool. He knew the precarious state of affairs in many quarters of the Imperium and thus set out to forge his chapter into a mighty power in the space of a few short years. The luxury of time was denied him, and so he declared that he would use “Iron and Blood,” instead. “In a few years time,” he declared to the chapter upon their fifth anniversary, “the name of the Iron Tigers shall be as renowned as that of the Space Wolves or Ultramarines and mothers will name their children for our heroes.” In order to do this, he cruised the length of the Imperium in his warfleet, finding the most terrible wars and throwing the chapter headlong into them, on the grounds that the chapter would emerge stronger. “The Iron Tigers shall have their place in His sight,” he was fond of telling his commanders.

 

His first attempt to gain the Emperor’s necrotic notice was when the Eldar declared the Virke sector the sole property of themselves. Imperial Guard forces sent to the system were wiped out. Wilhelminus had found his first out of the three dread wars that were to shape the chapter. He threw his nascent chapter into the thick of battle against a superior and well-disciplined foe.

 

Imperial historiography still debates the reasons for the chapter’s victory. Certainly the Eldar had a huge advantage in men and weapons, especially in space. But whatever the reason, the Iron Tigers emerged triumphant. They had re-conquered the system in the teeth of enemy fire and suffered a surprisingly low number of casualties. “With such ardour,” Inquisitor Palfir said afterwards, “a long and distinguished career cannot be far away.” After the chapter’s artillery units destroyed an Eldar infantry regiment at the Battle of Duebbol, Wilhelminus declared the Iron Tigers a “hero-chapter,” and subsequent generations of the Iron Tigers have always used that title. Its use beyond the walls of the chapter’s fortress monastery is intermittent at best.

 

Despite taking 20% percent casualties during the Virke War, Wilhelminus wasn’t finished. He took his chapter into another war against a band of Chaos Space Marines looting around Sadowa’s World. He won another decisive victory, this time reducing the total of Space Marines he has begun with to 50% of its original number. The chapter was now in real danger of being ended before it had begun, but Wilhelminus insisted on taking the fledgling and struggling chapter into a final war. This war is remembered by the chapter as their greatest victory, and in many ways it was, though some historian’s have since cast doubt on some of the grander details.

 

Wilhelminus desired a final, grandest victory to truly forge his chapter. He decided to go to war against the enemy that embodied the antithesis of the authoritarian, conservative Imperium. By deliberately stoking border tensions and generally making mischief, he manipulated the Iron Tigers into war against the égalitarian Empire of the Tau, encircling part of the Third Sphere Expansion at Sedan’s World, a pre-spaceflight system on the very edge of the Imperium. Within several months, he had annexed several regions of the Tau Empire to his rule and destroyed a small Tau Colony. The Iron Tigers, now a hard core of veterans, took Sedan’s World for their own.

 

“The Importunance of this Straw” – The Straw War

 

"I expect the local Arbites to shoot at least a hundred.” – Chapter Master Luitpold of the Iron Tigers, during a minor bread riot on Hydraphur

 

The next few years were a time of great prosperity and great sadness for the chapter. New recruits from the perpetual wars of Sedan’s World brought the chapter, who by the end of the Tau-Tigers War were a mere 50% of their starting strength, up to the mandated Codex level, and a great fortress monastery, Der Garrisondom, raised in the Northern coasts of the largest continent. On the other hand, Wilhelminus slipped into senility, though he managed to nominate a successor, a young, proud, thrusting and somewhat eccentric Captain by the name of Luitpold.

 

Luitpold was a fascinating figure from a biographical perspective. Small for an Astartes, and with a bionic left arm that was the result of a Plaguebearer of Nurgle in one of the minor wars of the Iron Tigers, he was famed for his pride and his pomposity as much as his splendid battle-rages. His first act as chapter master was to first call in every one of the chapter’s (few) favours and spend nearly all of its raw materials reserves irritating the Imperial Navy by ordering the construction of a large chapter fleet. Then he decided, during the Battle of the Mountain of Light, to tell Inquisitor Alighieri and a Captain of Grey Knights that they were mad. After that, he used poison gas against a Tyranid invasion at the Battle of Tabun, resulting in the deaths of thousands of Imperial Guardsmen and the defenceless civilians they had been sheltering. “What price victory?” he asked the shocked planetary governor afterwards, before depositing the severed head of the Tyranid Hive Tyrant in the poor man’s lap, breaking both his legs.

 

Despite his eccentricities and his (many) brutalities, under his leadership the chapter progressed from strength to strength, replacing their grievous losses from the previous war and setting up a steady recruitment stream. However, Luitpold decided, in the words of Inquisitor Alighieri, to “capture fething Tau all by himself.” Thus, the Iron Tigers launched several raids into Tau territory, burning colonies and generally making a nuisance of themselves. Eventually, the Tau decided enough was enough. After a Tau warship was destroyed by piratical Eldar, they had the casus belli they needed. The chapter are currently fighting a static war against the collectivist xenos on the edges of the Tau territory. Millions of Imperial Guardsmen and hundreds of ships are currently engaged by land, space and air. Interrogator Virgil, aide to the aforementioned Alighieri, declared that “ten million lives and twelve hundred ships will not debate the importunance of this straw,” thus christening the conflict: The “Straw War.”

 

"Hatched from a Cannon Ball" – Homeworld

 

“Sedan’s World was hatched from a cannon ball,” – Captain Korsika of the Aigles de l’Homme Chapter

 

It is certainly true to say that a chapter is defined by its homeworld; From the dark hives of Deliverance come the Raven Guard, from the corsair-tribes of Mundus Planus come the White Scars, and from organised, paranoid, precise and ancient Sedan’s World come the Steel Guards.

 

Whilst any Imperial Naval textbook will credit the “discovery,” of Sedan’s World to one Astropath-General Siegfried Sedan, of Imperial Reconnaissance Task Force Rho 345, part of the 45th Expeditionary Force, like most such “discoveries,” the man who named it (somewhat vaingloriously) was by no means the first human to set foot there.

 

Admittedly, it is conjecture, but it seems logical to assume that, during the Dark Age of Technology, Sedan’s World was an advanced outpost of Humanity. Ruins found on the worlds indicate that it formed an observation point for the study of the regions beyond the Galactic Rim. During the technological regression of the Age of Strife, Sedan’s World, like many others, regressed to a pre-firearms state.

 

Fortunately for the Imperial scholar, Sedanites have kept extensive records. We know, for instance, that the planet was wracked by almost constant wars and arms races for almost its entire history. When the Imperium came to Sedan’s World, the Sedanites, like many others, initially fought against it. Despite their great bravery, fighting lasrifles with blackpowder muskets left the outcome of the war in little doubt. However, just before the Sedanites were to agree to an armistice, events millions of miles away on Istvaan IV meant that the Imperial forces were hastily redeployed. King Frederick, who led the coalition of warring states against the “Sky-Invaders,” was hailed as a hero; to the Sedanites, the enemy had clearly fled due to their own prowess. Luckily for them, the Heresy largely passed them by and thus they were never disabused of their notion.

 

The newfound peace of Sedan’s World was not to last, and the planet of M42 is largely the same as it was in M32. The planet is split into four landmasses. One of these landmasses, Mittelarx, has a society that has advanced to a level of reasonable technological proficiency; with blackpowder weapons and wooden sailing ships capable of around the world journeys. The other continents are home to scattered tribes, many of whom are subjects of the great colonial empires of Mittelarx. The constantly shifting web of alliances on Mittlerarx means that at least four of the states are guaranteed to be at war with each other at any given time. It is from the conscript levies of the rival monarchs that the chapter selects its recruits; the drummer boy who finds himself taking up a man's musket, the powder-monkey aboard a ship-of-the-line who finds himself amongst an enemy boarding party or the child torn from his mother's arms by the recuitment sergeant; all can find their way into the ranks of the Tigers.

[Ace Debonair]

I recently decided to try to make a chapter for each of the major warring powers in World War I: Germany, France, Russia (who will be Bolsheviks in Space) and England.

 

Sounds like fun. Are any of them going to be traitors, or are they all loyalists?

 

I decided to depart from the usual epic mien of GW IAs and write in a dryer, pseudo-historical style given the pseudo-historical themes.

It's a unique stance, certainly. I'll admit it's more difficult to evaluate than the usual format because I don't know which bits should go where. :lol:

 

For instance, a reader would have to assume strict following of the Codex organisation since it's not brought up in the IA article, and I honestly don't know where you'd sneak a line in stating that or highlighting any differences.

 

Wilhelminus desired a final, grandest victory to truly forge his chapter. He decided to go to war against the enemy that embodied the antithesis of the authoritarian, conservative Wilhelminus.

A sentence that starts and ends with the same word is probably a sentence that needs revising.

It doesn't quite roll off the tongue.

 

It is from the conscript levies of the rival monarchs that the chapter selects its recruits.

 

Do the monarchs recruit children into their armies?

Or do you mean the recruits come from the families of said levies?

 

“I teach you the Overman! Your humanity, your compassion, is something that can, will, shall, [/i]must, be overcome! What have you done to overcome it? – Chaplain von Totenschädel

This has left me a bit bewildered, to be honest.

You could probably get a decent-sized segment explaining this, actually, and use that to sneak in their views on the Codex and perhaps emphasize their zealous nature in combat.

 

 

I quite like the Chapter up to now, all told.

Certainly they've got a lot of personality. Brash, maybe even foolhardy, arrogant and a bit unhinged - but effective and not shy about taking on challenges.

 

Good stuff!

[Walter Payton]

I recently decided to try to make a chapter for each of the major warring powers in World War I: Germany, France, Russia (who will be Bolsheviks in Space) and England.

 

Sounds like fun. Are any of them going to be traitors, or are they all loyalists?

 

The Russians will be non-Chaos renegades, but still very anti-Imperium. I am thinking of a having a faction of the chapter who wished to be loyalist renegades and a chapter who campaign for the overthrow of the Imperium to mirror the Menshevik/Bolshevik divide. Obviously, the non-loyalists win, so as to mirror history and avoid epic rules breakage.

 

I decided to depart from the usual epic mien of GW IAs and write in a dryer, pseudo-historical style given the pseudo-historical themes.

It's a unique stance, certainly. I'll admit it's more difficult to evaluate than the usual format because I don't know which bits should go where. :lol:

 

For instance, a reader would have to assume strict following of the Codex organisation since it's not brought up in the IA article, and I honestly don't know where you'd sneak a line in stating that or highlighting any differences.

 

It is unfinished; their organisation will be elaborated upon and expanded.

 

Wilhelminus desired a final, grandest victory to truly forge his chapter. He decided to go to war against the enemy that embodied the antithesis of the authoritarian, conservative Wilhelminus.

A sentence that starts and ends with the same word is probably a sentence that needs revising.

It doesn't quite roll off the tongue.

 

God, how did I miss that? Thanks for pointing that out.

 

It is from the conscript levies of the rival monarchs that the chapter selects its recruits.

 

Do the monarchs recruit children into their armies?

Or do you mean the recruits come from the families of said levies?

 

The former. I envisage the rival states enlisting child sodiers as drummer boys, midshipmen and such in the final, bloodiest stages of their wars; i.e, when both sides are nearly exhaustred. Will clarify

 

“I teach you the Overman! Your humanity, your compassion, is something that can, will, shall, [/i]must, be overcome! What have you done to overcome it? – Chaplain von Totenschädel

This has left me a bit bewildered, to be honest.

You could probably get a decent-sized segment explaining this, actually, and use that to sneak in their views on the Codex and perhaps emphasize their zealous nature in combat.

 

Yeah, it seemed like a good idea to paraphrase it at the time. It is from Nietzche, who I a studying for my philosophy exam. His whole "ubermensch," thing sort of fits the Astartes, but I could put in a whole other section, you're right.

 

I quite like the Chapter up to now, all told.

Certainly they've got a lot of personality. Brash, maybe even foolhardy, arrogant and a bit unhinged - but effective and not shy about taking on challenges.

 

Good stuff!

 

 

Overall, thanks for the comment and criticism! Will revise and streamline.

[Walter Payton]

Edited. C n C welcome!

[Machine God]

Nice and crazy, like it.

 

Just one think the battle for Medusa V hasn't happened yet in 5th Edition.

 

The Present and Straw War.

[Ace Debonair]

It is from the conscript levies of the rival monarchs that the chapter selects its recruits; the drummer boy who finds himself taking up a man's musket, the powder-monkey aboard a ship-of-the-line who finds himself amongst an enemy boarding party or the child torn from his mother's by the recuitment sergeant; all can find their way into the ranks of the Tigers.

I think there's a missing word there. :)

 

I kind of hope there is, anyway, because while that sounds vague it sounds really painful. :)

 

 

Other than that, I don't see any mistakes or glaring faults or any of that business.

Good stuff!

[Walter Payton]

It is from the conscript levies of the rival monarchs that the chapter selects its recruits; the drummer boy who finds himself taking up a man's musket, the powder-monkey aboard a ship-of-the-line who finds himself amongst an enemy boarding party or the child torn from his mother's by the recuitment sergeant; all can find their way into the ranks of the Tigers.

I think there's a missing word there. :)

 

I kind of hope there is, anyway, because while that sounds vague it sounds really painful. :P

 

 

Other than that, I don't see any mistakes or glaring faults or any of that business.

Good stuff!

 

Oo-err.

 

Will change.

 

Thanks Scion of Ferrus, will change.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Well, the Chapter certainly has CHARACTER, though not necessarily a positive one. Good job- love the motto "Nothing without the Emperor."

 

May I assume the Iron Tigers are based on WW1 Germany? If so, are the French and British Chapters also loyalists, Soul Drinker-esque renegades who hate the Tigers with passion, or Chaos renegades who REALLY hate the Tigers as the embodiment of all they hate about the Imperium?

[Octavulg]

Tau’s contemptible little army.’ - Headquarters, Battle-barge Kaiser”

 

Good quote. However, I have two objections.

 

First, the Tau are nothing as compared to the flower of the British Army.

 

Second, Kaiser? Too blatant, dude.

 

“As the Imperium enters its eleventh millennium, we face challenges not seen since the Horus Heresy. The Tyranid, the Tau, Cadia half fallen. The lamps are going out all over the galaxy. I doubt we shall see them go on again in our lifetime.” High Lord Fallodon, on the eve of M42

 

Don't redundatize the section headings. Stick with plainer headings and let the quotes do the floweriness.

 

The Iron Tigers have been founded as a check on Tau expansion in the Galactic South, as the Imperium begins to take note of this latest threat.

 

So they're 27th founding?

 

Utilizing the geneseed of the Ultramarines, the nucleus of the Chapter was formed by a cadre of veterans under the command of Captain Wilhelminus of the Novamarines, who was noted for his desire to return to the great ages of High Imperialism and his rabid hatred of aliens. Thus it was that the chapter left the muster fields of Mars, and, granted fleet assets and a small tech-priesthood, set out into the galaxy.

 

I'd just go with Wilhelm.

 

* * *

 

You're waxing a little loquacious at times. Might be worth thinking about pulling it back a bit.

 

Pretty solid, but I think you need to get into the Chapter's actual personality at some point.

[Walter Payton]

Tau’s contemptible little army.’ - Headquarters, Battle-barge Kaiser”

 

Good quote. However, I have two objections.

 

First, the Tau are nothing as compared to the flower of the British Army.

 

Second, Kaiser? Too blatant, dude.

 

Would Prinzregent Luitpold or Markgraf be better? I envisioned their battle barges being named after the Koenig class of Dreadnought battleships (Koenig, Prinzregent Luitpold, Markgraf, Grosser Kurfuerst)

 

“As the Imperium enters its eleventh millennium, we face challenges not seen since the Horus Heresy. The Tyranid, the Tau, Cadia half fallen. The lamps are going out all over the galaxy. I doubt we shall see them go on again in our lifetime.” High Lord Fallodon, on the eve of M42

 

Don't redundatize the section headings. Stick with plainer headings and let the quotes do the floweriness.

 

Will do.

 

The Iron Tigers have been founded as a check on Tau expansion in the Galactic South, as the Imperium begins to take note of this latest threat.

 

So they're 27th founding?

 

Should have said so.

 

Utilizing the geneseed of the Ultramarines, the nucleus of the Chapter was formed by a cadre of veterans under the command of Captain Wilhelminus of the Novamarines, who was noted for his desire to return to the great ages of High Imperialism and his rabid hatred of aliens. Thus it was that the chapter left the muster fields of Mars, and, granted fleet assets and a small tech-priesthood, set out into the galaxy.

 

I'd just go with Wilhelm.

 

How about Friedrich or Hohenstaufen? Wilhelm seems too obvious.

 

You're waxing a little loquacious at times. Might be worth thinking about pulling it back a bit.

 

Noted.

 

Pretty solid, but I think you need to get into the Chapter's actual personality at some point.

 

Okay.

[Octavulg]

Would Prinzregent Luitpold or Markgraf be better? I envisioned their battle barges being named after the Koenig class of Dreadnought battleships (Koenig, Prinzregent Luitpold, Markgraf, Grosser Kurfuerst)

 

The problem is that they're too Germanic. Titles, at least, should be in Gothic.

 

How about Friedrich or Hohenstaufen? Wilhelm seems too obvious.

 

Wilhelm is a little less subtle but balances that out by actually looking like a relatively normal name, IMO.

 

Okay.

 

More than that. :devil:

[Walter Payton]

Would Prinzregent Luitpold or Markgraf be better? I envisioned their battle barges being named after the Koenig class of Dreadnought battleships (Koenig, Prinzregent Luitpold, Markgraf, Grosser Kurfuerst)

 

The problem is that they're too Germanic. Titles, at least, should be in Gothic.

 

Okay, I'll translate them: Margrave, Prince Regent, Monarch, Great Elector.

 

How about Friedrich or Hohenstaufen? Wilhelm seems too obvious.

 

Wilhelm is a little less subtle but balances that out by actually looking like a relatively normal name, IMO.

 

Frederick?

 

Okay.

 

More than that. :lol:

 

Any tips?

[Octavulg]

Okay, I'll translate them: Margrave, Prince Regent, Monarch, Great Elector.

 

Shiny. Prince Regent Luitpold is a perfectly good Imperial battleship name.

 

Frederick?

 

Could work, but makes me think Freddy. Friedrich?

 

Names in 40K should always be a little esoteric - but not too esoteric.

 

Any tips?

 

Not yet.