Marines Ascendant

[Redempter Sanguine]

So, ever since I got into Warhammer (around 3rd edition) I've had varying amounts of difficulty figuring out if I wanted to play Blood Angels or Dark Angels (thanks Angels of Death Codex!).  I've gone back and forth, and have on several occasions completely repainted my entire army!  I love the fluff, the history, and the uniqueness of both armies, and while they both have very different play styles, I enjoy both of them equally!  So, with the uptick in allies, it got the wheels in my brain turning (yet again) on how I could incorporate 2 armies that I truly enjoy into one, and I came up with what I think is a rather odd, but intriguing idea...

 

-Marines Ascendant-

 

In the years after the Heresy, and with the amount of rebuilding that would need to take place, home worlds with which to cultivate their gene seed and establish successor chapters was low.  And so it came to pass that the twin worlds of Romulus and Remus (just throwing ideas out, may not be final names) were visited by the Dark Angels and Blood Angels, respectively.  After some serious debate that on more than one occasion came to blows over who would have the rights to establish their lines, they made a compromise:  they would share the wealth, so to speak.  The Blood Angels would claim Remus, and forever more would it be a training world for the airborne Sons of Sanguinius.  Romulus would go to the Dark angels, where the Unforgiven could train and hone their abilities in relative safety and away from prying eyes.

 

On numerous occasions, though, due to their obvious closeness, the armies of the Knights Ascendant (Dark Angels successor) and the Angels Ascendant (Blood Angels successor) would hold training drills, focusing their effectiveness not only as individual armies, but as a collective.

 

Brief overview of both armies:

 

Both armies place most of their faith into standard troops, using very little armor and transports (due to their distance from any of the major production worlds).  This is not to say that they do not have their own contingents of Dreadnoughts, transports, tanks and the like, they just field them less often than other chapters.  Both follow strict adherence to a code of laws and upbringing, very similar to that of the order of the Templar.

 

Knights Ascendant follow the standard Dark Angels doctrine, and maintain a small contingent of both the Deathwing and Ravenwing (renamed Steelwing and Nightwing, respectively).  They have a very strict no-fly policy (except for a few Nightwing vehicles, naturally) as the skies are the domain of their brother chapter.  They rely heavily on their plasma weapons, and have honed their use almost to an art form.

 

Angels Ascendant adhere to the training policies of the Blood Angels, with an over-emphasis on airborne combat.  They abhor being tied to the ground and as such, only those battle-brothers fortunate (or unfortunate, depending on who you ask) that pilot the army's limited amount of bikes, Furioso dreadnoughts, and Baal Predators, do not charge into battle without a jump pack strapped to their backs.  Even those of the Death Company are so infused with their training that they will refuse to go into battle without their jump packs on.

 

More to come as I think it through, but thoughts?

Comments and criticism both welcome!

[TDF]

Romulus would go to the Dark angels, where the Unforgiven could train and hone their abilities in relative safety and away from prying eyes.

I'm not sure they're away from prying eyes if they share the system with another Chapter, and from a different Legion at that!

They abhor being tied to the ground and as such, only those battle-brothers fortunate (or unfortunate, depending on who you ask) that pilot the army's limited amount of bikes, Furioso dreadnoughts, and Baal Predators, do not charge into battle without a jump pack strapped to their backs.

So even the tactical and devastator squads have jump packs? How does that work with heavy weapons, or do they just go without? What about scouts? Or terminators?

[Redempter Sanguine]

 

Romulus would go to the Dark angels, where the Unforgiven could train and hone their abilities in relative safety and away from prying eyes.

I'm not sure they're away from prying eyes if they share the system with another Chapter, and from a different Legion at that!

>They abhor being tied to the ground and as such, only those battle-brothers fortunate (or unfortunate, depending on who you ask) that pilot the army's limited amount of bikes, Furioso dreadnoughts, and Baal Predators, do not charge into battle without a jump pack strapped to their backs.

So even the tactical and devastator squads have jump packs? How does that work with heavy weapons, or do they just go without? What about scouts? Or terminators?

 

They have a mutual agreement with each other to not pry into the training and efforts of their brother chapters, but I agree that it would be tough.  Possibly twin systems?  I know I'm kind of reaching, but it needs to fit the story (story trumps rules lol!)

 

As far as tactical and devastator squads, they simply don't employ them.  It's part of their training (and it's in their blood), that they have to be constantly advancing on the foe.  The thought of being stuck in one place, or slowly advancing towards the enemy, just doesn't make sense to them!

[JeffTibbetts]

This army would be even easier to do now with detachments from different allied forces. I think it's interesting but it might be hard to make that origin not corny. I think the greater the distance  between the two the better. Two seperate chapters (I'm not digging the similar names) with their own traditions that are friendly and have allied so often that they have come to be almost symbiotic. As the DA guys fight with the BA guys, they realize more and more clearly that they complement each other well. I can see the BA not bothering to field their own devastators, and the DA skipping assault troops to an extent. It's kinda cool. I just think fluff-wise they can't be two sides of the same coin. They've gotta be different. 

[Lysimachus]

The problem I see is that if they spend that amount of time working together, eventually the Knights are going to see members of the Angels losing it to the Black Rage. Equally the Angels are going to wonder what's going on when the Knights suddenly go all secretive or even push off somewhere else in the middle of battle.

 

This is exacerbated by the fact that they appear to be quite old? (you don't mention which Founding but you do say 'after the Heresy'?) At some point, probably numerous times in such a vast length of time, someone's going to say 'Hey, what in hell's up with that?'

[Quozzo]

Changing the Origin entirely to be more cannonical might be in order?

 

I was thinking if a DA successor was founded they would be trained by a cadre sent from the DA, they would be told about the Fallen and their eternal shame but on one training mission, one the marines went crazy, took out a squad of bad guys by his own and kept on saying he was Sanguinius and wants to kill Horus! As it turned out the AdMech made a mistake (or did they?) and the gene-seed used was from the Blood Angels, who after being told about the Fallen and trained in the tactics used by the DA, the marines still suffer from the Red Thirst, the Black Rage and as a consequence prefer close quarters combat.

 

As both chapters conform to the Codex as close as possible they share similar tactics whilst having a deathwing, death company, ravenwing and hunt the fallen. Just a thought.

[JeffTibbetts]

Hahahaha! I'm not sure how everyone else will feel about it but I love the idea of a chapter with a serious identity crisis... "Yo, Zeke... Is it just me or do those scouts all have blonde hair?" 

[Quozzo]

I thought I would throw it out there, as the alternative are two chapters that are more closely affiliated than any chapter is with their progenitors/parents.

[Gripharius]

 

how I could incorporate 2 armies that I truly enjoy into one

 

It looks like you still have 2 armies.  Is that what you want, or are you trying to truly blend them into 1 army?

[Redempter Sanguine]

 

how I could incorporate 2 armies that I truly enjoy into one

 

It looks like you still have 2 armies.  Is that what you want, or are you trying to truly blend them into 1 army?

I am actually looking to keep them as two separate armies, as they would not always be fielded together.  There isn't a specific rhyme or reason to it, was just trying to get some ideas together for a background as to why they would be so willing to help (other than being brother at arms!).

[Gripharius]

 

was just trying to get some ideas together for a background as to why they would be so willing to help

 

To me, its difficult to image two entire Chapters becoming used to working together because of passive external forces (i.e., location, other circumstances).  Chapters are independent fighting units that pretty much have their tactics drilled into them at the cellular level.  Their single-minded devotion to their way of fighting is one of their biggest strengths. 

 

Say the Aurora Chapter drives an armored column at a foe that specializes in fighting armored columns, and Aurora starts getting its ass kicked.  They don't pull back and start strapping on jump packs.  They definitely don't call in the Raven Guard to go sneak behind the lines and do their thing.  No, they call in more armor and then even more armor.  They fight harder, and then fight even harder.  They would relish the opportunity to prove that, even if they foe was the best in the galaxy at fighting armor, the Aurora Chapter is still such badasses that they destroyed them anyway.

 

I think it would take a major impact to change that mindset.  Perhaps a war against a common foe, with both Chapters fighting in their own styles and both Chapters being decimated.  EVentually, after getting shredded by the bad guys, they are forced to work together because they have no alternative.  Only then, at the hour of their most dire need, do they realize the strength of their two Chapters working in concert.  They realize once they combined their efforts and coordinated their strategies, just the decimated remnants of the two Chapters were able to accomplish what the two full strength Chapters could not do when working individually. 

 

Make them see that that the tactics of the Knights Ascendant when expertly coordinated with the tactics of the Angels Ascendant form a force that is stronger even than just the two Chapters working side-by-side. 

 

If you want to really tie them together, then have the two command squads, as their Chapters are being decimated, learn each others' secrets.  Maybe the foes they fight are Chaos Space Marines led by a Fallen, and during the fight the Black Rage breaks out.  I'd keepthis at the very top echelon of the Chapters, and have them swear oaths of secrecy and fealty to one another, binding the two Chapters together forever. 

That might be too much, now that I think about it, but even just hinting at the Chapters seeing each other's true selves in the dark hours before their impending doom, leading them to bind themselves together... that could work. 

 

Okay, I'm rambling now.  Just some thoughts.

[NightrawenII]

So, ever since I got into Warhammer (around 3rd edition) I've had varying amounts of difficulty figuring out if I wanted to play Blood Angels or Dark Angels (thanks Angels of Death Codex!).  I've gone back and forth, and have on several occasions completely repainted my entire army!

Did you tried flip a coin?

 

Joking aside, you can just make a crusade:

*Only the High Lords of Terra were able to declare a Crusade that could be any campaign from being a long, large-scale war involving many Space Marine Chapters

or could be a short conflict that is resolved in a single battle with only a handful of troops. Crusades is one means of drawing contingents from several Space Marine Chapters and binding them together to fight an enemy. This serves as a way of not committing entire Chapters or involving the ponderous resources of the Imperial Guard. They can be declared against heretic Lords or even rebellious planetary governments that had turned against the Imperium due to their own selfish reasons. Crusades are also able to be launched against alien planets or newly discovered worlds that lay beyond the Emperor's light.*

 

 

~ NightrawenII