DIY: The Bloody Shields

[ArdezFurioso]

Origins - The Bloody Shields were created near the end of the 21st Founding from the Geneseed of the Primarch Sanguinius. The Bloody Shields were originally formed to fight the Orks in the Segmentum Ultima sector. After nearly five millennia without noteworthy achievement compared to other chapters the Bloody Shields gained renown as experts in Tau conflict. Although the chapter did not see the Tau until M41.752, they would enjoy overwhelming victory after M41.761 on several occasions.

M41.753 - While in transit to the Hive world of Galais to give trials for new recruits the 3rd fleet, composed of the 4th and 6th Companies, was ambushed by the Tau and two ships were destroyed at the outset of the battle. While one tore itself apart from the extreme pressure changes and chemical reactions taking place throughout the ship, the other ship named The Hidden Razor became essentially dead in space when the the command bridge was destroyed. While the battle raged the Razor became trapped in the orbit of an unknown feudal world and crashed to the surface. The Hidden Razor was one of the two armoury ships with the fleet. After the battle, squads were deployed to see what could be salvaged from the wrecked ship.

Upon arriving location where the ship skidded to a halt a peculiar sight was found. Several hundred men and women of the population whose city was just crushed were fighting over the remains of the ship with the hope of riches and glory. After viewing the spectacle for near half an hour Captain Rynd of the 4th Company slaughtered those he thought unworthy and claimed the surviving young men for the Bloody Shields. After hearing of the occurence Chapter Master Jeor decided to claim the planet as the Chapter Homeworld and established the Fortress Monastary in M41.755 and every five years since thousands from the population gathered to witness the recruiting trials in the massive open air stadium constructed at the command of Chapter Master.

Homeworld - Although the planet had no name in the Imperium Archives it quickly gained the nickname "Lost Paradise" by those who saw it. While the planet was in a feudal era of development it was sparsely populated and the largest city only held near 79,000 people, the former 9th largest city of 23,000 was mostly crushed by The Hidden Razor during the final stages of landing.

The planet is not well explored with nearly 42% of it covered with barren desert and nearly 36% contained the long strips of oceans that ran along the few tectonic plates that existed. The remainder was mostly lush jungle growth with a small portion of the farthest pole from the scorching sun holding a mild temperate zone that was home to a majority of the populace.

Gene-Seed - The Geneseed used for The Bloody Shields is a mutated version from an early Blood Angel founding that was tampered with in an attempt to 'improve' the marine chapters formed during the 21st founding. While the Geneseed created has an extremely high rate of successful acceptance for the men selected, the chapter does not contain any trace of Death Company members or squads. What is known is that The Bloody Shields suffer from an unusually high 'Killed in Action' rate. It is rumored that a Bloody Shield Marine succumbing to the Black Rage goes through an unbearable level of agony and pain. There are unconfirmed reports of several well meaning marines granting their battle brother mercy at the end of a particularly ferocious battle.

Battle-Cries

For Sanguinius! For Dante! For The Shield!

Death is in the Wind!

We Shall Not Die This Day!

Chapter Symbol - A white kite shield with the Blood Drop symbol in a dark red color.

Colour Scheme

Darkish Orange and Blood Red for the battle company trim.

Company Organization - Because of the high acceptance rate of the mutated Geneseed two companies were set aside for training rather than the standard one company. Without Death Company to absorb damage from opponents the higher rate of death means they have many spots available to be filled. Without two companies for training the first 700 years of the chapter consisted of nine severely understrength companies and one company with nearly 150 members and growing, many of whom were not well trained with so many marines without proper mentors.

1st Company - Veteran Company - 10 Assault Terminators, 20 Terminators, Honour Guards, Several Land Raiders, Razorbacks, Furioso Dreadnoughts & Drop Pods.

2nd Company - Battle Company - 4 Tactical Squads, 4 Assault Squads, 1 Devastator Squad, Attack Bikes & Razorbacks

3rd Company - Battle Company - 4 Tactical Squads, 4 Assault Squads, 1 Devastator Squad, Attack Bikes & Razorbacks

4th Company - Battle Company - 4 Tactical Squads, 4 Assault Squads, Attack Bikes, Razorbacks, 2 Vindicators

5th Company - Battle Company - 4 Tactical Squads, 4 Assault Squads, Attack Bikes, Razorbacks, 2 Vindicators

6th Company - Reserve Company - 5 Tactical Squads, 5 Assault Squads, Dreadnoughts, Razorbacks, & Attack Bikes

7th Company - Reserve Company - 10 Assault Squads, Dreadnoughts, Bikes & Razorbacks

8th Company - Reserve Company - 6 Tactical Squads, 2 Assault Squads, 2 Devastator Squads, Bikes, Dreadnoughts, 4 Vindicators

9th Company - Training Company - Scouts, Bikes

10th Company - Training Company - Scouts, Bikes

Fleet Organization

Pre M41.755

1st Fleet(Recruitment & Command Ships) - Fortress-Monastary(Flying), Companies 1, 2, 7 & 9

2nd Fleet(Recruitment & Defense Ships) - Forgeship, Companies 3, 5, 8 & 9

3rd Fleet(Recruitment, Tactical Strike & Offensive Branch) - 2 Strike Cruisers, Battle Barge Herald of the Shield , Companies 4 & 6

Post M41.755

1st Fleet(Recruitment & Tactical Strike) - Companies 1 & 2

2nd Fleet(Tactical Strike & Defense) - Comapnies 4 & 6

3rd Fleet(Defense) - Companies 7 & 8

4th Fleet(Recruitment & Training) - Companies 9 & 10

Battle Tactics

While developing an anti-Tau doctrine shortly after development of the Fortress-Monastary on "Lost Paradise" The Bloody Shields made wide use of the razorbacks and assault squads at their disposal. While keeping a majority of the mechanized units at ranged combat with the Tau vehicles, the numerous assault squads would descend behind the enemy once the opponent left themselves in a careless position. It was later found that this doctrine was also extremely effective against the Orks that still roamed the Segmentum Ultima. With an extensive use of Hunter-Killer Missiles mounted on relatively weak razorbacks along with the addition of Twin-Linked Lascannons they are able to match the ranged effectiveness of the Tau and annihilate them rapidly.

Infiltration and heavy infantry are generally avoided by The Bloody Shields in combat. The scouting forces were primarily taken advantage of with the use of Bikes. In general flying and hovering units were kept out of the force structure to provide more room for a much needed supply of replacement Razorbacks and Dreadnoughts.

Beliefs

While not adhering to the Imperium religion strictly, The Bloody Shields honor Commander Dante, Sanguinius, and the Razorback as Paragons of Duty and Valor. In both cases the paragon represents determination and self sacrifice, especially in the case of the razorbacks and the glorious fight against the Tau. It is not unheard of for certain squads and companies to begin revering other paragons for varying traits that grant glory and victory.

This is my first attempt at my own chapter. Please be as critical as possible. I plan on adding more of a backstory if everything up to now is acceptable. Thanks for your time!

[Sun Grilled Bacon]

The chapter is very similar to my own WIP chapter... (but ah well, great minds must think alike :P)

 

Other than that,

 

Don't tamper with gene-seed:

 

Don’t tamper or mix gene-seeds

Gene-seed is the legacy of the Primarchs, created by the Emperor to create his superior warriors. The Imperium is backwards, unable to understand the complexity of gene-seed. To attempt to improve gene-seed is to attempt to do better than the Emperor, the greatest of heresies. There is the Dark (13th) and Cursed (21st) founding which allow some leeway with gene-seeds, but still it is never the greatest idea. GW did do this with the Relictors, but they are an exception not the rule.

 

Also, I don't really think that they would honour Dante on the same level as Sanguinius. Sure Dante is a great commander, but he's no Primarch. Your chapter could hold Dante in high regard, but not equal to the respect given to Sanguinius or the Emperor (if you get what I'm trying to say).

 

And one more thing, the colours of the chapter invokes more images of the Imperial Fists than the Blood Angels, maybe invert the colours?

 

I'm quite new on this forum, but I hope my opinions on this will help ^_^