Seeking redemption together

[Gul Tekar]

Greetings.

 

So, like many of you, I am eagerly awaiting my chance to spend more than my disposable income can afford on shiny new models. In the meantime, I am wondering who I could justify taking as allies considering the Dark Angels' institutionalized paranoia.

 

I am doing this more because I want to diversify my army than because I think we need something to patch up weaknesses, especially with a new codex (hopefully) less than a month away. Because I don't have the time or money to start a whole new army, I want to make a small allied detachment to take with my Deathwing. Further, because I really like the theme and fluff of the Dark Angels, I don't want any allies that don't match the fluff (which, unfortunately disqualifies my second favorite army: the Tau). I also don't really want to use any other space marine army because if I did that, I might as well have stuck with Dark Angels for the whole force.

 

With this in mind, I was thinking that Imperial Guard would be the best choice, but even then it would be strained by the Dark Angels' inherent distrust of anyone not of their own. Then someone pointed out to me that the Death Korps of Krieg have a nearly Dark Angelic passion for redemption. To quote the Forgeworld description, "For almost ten thousand years, manpower has been Krieg’s tithe to the Imperium; regiments of Death Korps who willingly march into the very worst environments and deploy into the most forlorn attacks, forever seeking to atone for the treachery of their ancient forbears with their flesh and blood."

 

While I don't think the Dark Angels would particularly care about the hopes of mere guardsmen, it seems reasonable that the Unforgiven might be more willing to work with regiments that have this attitude of fanatical obedience to authority. The troopers of Krieg seem like the perfect support for the hunters of the fallen because they wouldn't ask why they were there and no one would be surprised if none of them returned.

 

So, that is my reasoning for wanting to use a few units of Death Korps of Krieg as allies. I'm hoping that my brothers might remark on the likely hood of the Dark Angels having this sort of attitude towards the soldiers of Krieg. Its also possible that I have missed some important fluff regarding the Death Korps, if so, I crave enlightenment.

[Erren]

Greetings.

 

So, like many of you, I am eagerly awaiting my chance to spend more than my disposable income can afford on shiny new models. In the meantime, I am wondering who I could justify taking as allies considering the Dark Angels' institutionalized paranoia.

 

I am doing this more because I want to diversify my army than because I think we need something to patch up weaknesses, especially with a new codex (hopefully) less than a month away. Because I don't have the time or money to start a whole new army, I want to make a small allied detachment to take with my Deathwing. Further, because I really like the theme and fluff of the Dark Angels, I don't want any allies that don't match the fluff (which, unfortunately disqualifies my second favorite army: the Tau). I also don't really want to use any other space marine army because if I did that, I might as well have stuck with Dark Angels for the whole force.

 

With this in mind, I was thinking that Imperial Guard would be the best choice, but even then it would be strained by the Dark Angels' inherent distrust of anyone not of their own. Then someone pointed out to me that the Death Korps of Krieg have a nearly Dark Angelic passion for redemption. To quote the Forgeworld description, "For almost ten thousand years, manpower has been Krieg’s tithe to the Imperium; regiments of Death Korps who willingly march into the very worst environments and deploy into the most forlorn attacks, forever seeking to atone for the treachery of their ancient forbears with their flesh and blood."

 

While I don't think the Dark Angels would particularly care about the hopes of mere guardsmen, it seems reasonable that the Unforgiven might be more willing to work with regiments that have this attitude of fanatical obedience to authority. The troopers of Krieg seem like the perfect support for the hunters of the fallen because they wouldn't ask why they were there and no one would be surprised if none of them returned.

 

So, that is my reasoning for wanting to use a few units of Death Korps of Krieg as allies. I'm hoping that my brothers might remark on the likely hood of the Dark Angels having this sort of attitude towards the soldiers of Krieg. Its also possible that I have missed some important fluff regarding the Death Korps, if so, I crave enlightenment.

 

 

Imperial Armour 5: The Siege of Vraks Part 1 actually does have the Dark Angels with the Death Korps of Krieg. Well, kinda. As I recall, the Lord Commander in charge of retaking Vraks puts out a call for help to any nearby Space Marine chapters because the DKK isn't making progress as fast as they're supposed to. Dark Angels hear the call for help and have some other intelligence that there's an Alpha Legion warrior there that they'd like to interrogate. So the Dark Angels land on Vraks with a strike force equal to about 4 companies (and includes Azrael). They don't actually communicate with any Imperial forces at all - they launch their own assault against a starport that's supplying the enemy with reinforcements, take it out, and leave.

 

That being said, I'm already working on DKK allies for my DA army, too.

[Adeptus-Alaska]

I have always taken the Korps as allies. I honestly believe our legion would at least sympathize with the humans' quest for redemtion.

[Gul Tekar]

I actually just had another idea.

 

As further protection against the possibility of the outsiders learning more than is safe, each squad could be joined by a space marine minder. These could be normal models painted in bone armor to represent members initiated into the deepest secrets of the Dark Angels. They could be counts as commissars for the purpose of gameplay.

[Chaplain Haladriel]

I love the DKoK, their models and their fluff. If there was any regiment within the IG that the DA would fight alongside, it would be the Death Korps. As mentioned they fought alongside during the Siege of Vraks, and much later in the campaign (Imperial Armour 7-Sige of Vraks Part 3 Page 76) the Angels of Absolution chapter at the behest of Azrael participated in the campaign. I dont think the DA would see much use for a "minder" within the ranks of the DKoK. If one reads their (DKoK) fluff, they are taciturn, solemn and morose. Speaking very little with any outsiders, this is true of the DA as well, so fluff/narrative wise either force would speak very little to each other. The idea of a commissar (arguably to most devout adherent's to the Imperial Creed) being let in on anything the DA were up to, I think isnt very plausible.

 

The problem I forsee you having is that as an army DKoK rely heavily on siege artillery and heavy weapons, so if you have the points to spare go for it, I think it might be tough to fit an effective force of allies in while limiting their cost in points. Just a thought. I would be really interested in seeing what you do regardless. I have a few DKoK models myself so you might inspire me o field them alongside my beloved DA, though I have never used them (IG) in a game.

[Gul Tekar]

My thought on the commissars was that they would actually be DA veterans making sure that the soldiers didn't learn anything they shouldn't. I really only like this idea because it would give me an excuse to mix some veteran models in with the guardsmen (using the commissar's statline and abilities for gameplay). I think you are right that the DA would see this as a waste of a space marine though. Another idea I just had was to use a veteran as a counts as Lord Commissar, which would allow me to use my idea (I'm perhaps a little too attached to it) but also minimize the wastage of marines.

 

I have to admit that I would probably not use the DKoK to their full potential. As you said, having a bunch of artillery is very costly, and I have a lot of terminators that I want to use as well. I'm mainly doing this because I love the models and I want to diversify my force a bit. Besides, I really like the idea of some of their specialized squads like the engineers and the quad launcher. If I wanted to play this army to its full potential I'd probably have to reverse the sizes of the components and make it a DA contingent backing a DKoK company.

[Chaplain Haladriel]

My thought on the commissars was that they would actually be DA veterans making sure that the soldiers didn't learn anything they shouldn't. I really only like this idea because it would give me an excuse to mix some veteran models in with the guardsmen (using the commissar's statline and abilities for gameplay). I think you are right that the DA would see this as a waste of a space marine though. Another idea I just had was to use a veteran as a counts as Lord Commissar, which would allow me to use my idea (I'm perhaps a little too attached to it) but also minimize the wastage of marines.

 

I have to admit that I would probably not use the DKoK to their full potential. As you said, having a bunch of artillery is very costly, and I have a lot of terminators that I want to use as well. I'm mainly doing this because I love the models and I want to diversify my force a bit. Besides, I really like the idea of some of their specialized squads like the engineers and the quad launcher. If I wanted to play this army to its full potential I'd probably have to reverse the sizes of the components and make it a DA contingent backing a DKoK company.

 

Yeah I quite like the Commissar models as well. You could always go Commissar Lord with 2 squads of Grenadier's or Engineer's with mole launchers and maybe take a Medusa or a Thudd Gun? Agreed about having to switch the components sizes to make it effective. Have you read Siege of Vraks (Imperial Armour 5-7 by FW)? IMO probably the best of their IA books. Talks alot about DA and DKoK and the Angels of Absolution, definately worth a read if you like both these armies.

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[Onisuzume]

Tactics wise, they're on the opposite ends of the spectrum, though.

The DKoK favours long siege/trench warfares of attrition, mostly, while the DA prefer quick surgical strikes.

[MadMek83]

Tactics wise, they're on the opposite ends of the spectrum, though.

The DKoK favours long siege/trench warfares of attrition, mostly, while the DA prefer quick surgical strikes.

 

True and in that terms Imperial Fists would be better for DKoK but Fluff wise... You can almost see DKoK bombard enemy into ruins and then DA's sweep to clean rubble of any surviving enemy.