The Forge Fathers: My First IA

[Cryptix]

Index Astartes


The Forge Fathers Space Marines Chapter

Brother Tymon, Captain of the 2nd Company

 

Origins

The Forge Fathers are a Salamanders successor chapter created in the 13th founding. Not much is known of their history before 500.M36. The chapter began with 1.567 suits of power armor, 58 suits of Terminator armor, and 256 suits of Carapace armor. Their first recorded contact with Imperial forces was in 516.M36, when the Mechanicus Explorator ship Glory of the Omnissiah came to Meredius to pick up the latest harvest of the drills. They were surprised to find Space Marines escorting the convoy who brought the metals, and this information was soon spread via astropath to Terra. Soon, a passing ship carrying a member of the Adeptus Terra confirmed this information, as the Forge Fathers entered the Imperial databases. A few years later, the Forge Fathers participated in a Crusade into the Veiled Regions with the Dark Sons in 524.M36 to eliminate orks in anticipation of WAAAGH! Redclaw Headbanga. In this crusade did the Forge Fathers find their purpose, as their chapter single-handedly killed millions of orks, and they began training future recruits in the purging of Xenos almost exclusively.

 

Famous Heroes
Aeson Remes
The first Chapter Master of the Forge Fathers was Lord Aeson Remes, a Salamanders 1st Company Veteran Terminator. At the time of his appointment, Lord Remes was actually assigned to the Deathwatch at the time of being called back to Terra, and arrived covered in Eldar gore and the skull of a Farseer at his belt. He was chosen for his exemplary command while in pressured situations even for a space marine, the most famous of which was when he managed to fell Warboss Skullmasha by way of inciting a war between them and a local chaos warband, allowing Exterminatus to be called on them both from orbit while their battleships were pre-occupied fighting each other. Remes trained the new recruits personally, until they had a full chapter after 150 years. The maiden battle of the Forge Fathers was on their future home planet of Meredius, where an uprising had taken place due to the large gap between the poor and the rich aristocracy. The Forge Fathers became famous in the Graecus system because after the battle, when the governor came out of the Bunker he and the rest of the aristocracy were hiding in, Remes took one look at the sheer luxury represented in the man and took off his head. This was only the beginning of a organized purging of the old government, as the Space Marine's took over and installed their own governor, the first of which was the old champion of the people in the revolution Eric Clyne, as well as a Senate of the 10 Captains who provided advice, watched the governor's behavior, and uproot him if needed. Remes ruled for decades from 366.M36 to 567.M36. He fell when an encounter with Ork Warboss Boomhead Jagawaga left him mortally wounded, and he died surrounded by his beloved brothers.

Home World/Homeworld
Meredius, or "the middle" is a death world, with much of its northern hemisphere covered with volcanoes and much of the southern hemisphere covered by glaciers. The Meredians live in the thin hospitable band around the equator, hence the name. The reason why Meredius has people living on it is because it is one of the of the largest non-Forge World resource planets in Segmentum Pacificus due to the sheer amounts of iron and exotic minerals buried slightly below the world's crust.

Combat Doctrine
The Forge Fathers specialized in combating Xenos, particularly those who rely on numbers such as Orks. They do this using their iconic Meredius-pattern power-halberds, a fusion of the power axe with the power lance with built in flamers made from an STC found by the planet and given to the Mechanicum in exchange for sole production rights. In addition, The Forge Fathers frequently use a large amount of flamers, due to their particular effectiveness against Ork mobs, and later Tyranid swarms. They make use of special "Monster Hunter" Terminator kill squads that deal with certain immense threats such as Wraithknights or Stompas. Their unique combat style is fought defensively, with shield-carrying Terminators up front dealing with large threats, lighter and more mobile Tactical and Devastator squads providing fire support, Scout squads performing reconnaissance ahead of the lines, and Fast Tanks and Flyers performing flanking maneuvers.

Organization/Organisation
The Forge Fathers are largely codex-compliant, although they have two devastator reserve companies rather than an assault company and devastator company. This was implemented because the Forge Fathers' reflexes are simply too slow for the precision controls of a jump pack; it would be too risky and could waste valuable battle brothers to meaningless deaths.

Culture
The Forge Fathers believe in ancestor worship, believing that those who have fought honorably will be taken by the Emperor's side and given peace watching over their former brothers. As such, Dreadnoughts are considered an affront to their beliefs, and a battle brother will more likely die then allow himself to be interred in one. This practice originated from Battle Brother Darrian Regas, the chapter's first Chief Librarian. Upon the planet Darul V, home of a Warp Invasion, Regas lay there dying. Before his "death" he looked into the Immaterium and saw the souls of all his dead brothers in the Warp. He saw them floating towards a massive golden light, and when he looked closely he thought he saw Aeson Remes in the light. Later on, he asked to be interred in a dreadnought so he could share his experiences, and he began the Cult of the Ancients. 25 Hours later, Regas had joined his Emperor with the help of an apothecary. The Forge Fathers are firm believers in the Promethean Cult, especially its writings about loyalty and its death rituals.

 

Though not an official part of their religion, many Forge Fathers practice the art of the precision blow, cutting off their enemy at the head; both figuratively in taking out the enemy command as soon as possible and literally in taking the heads of fearsome opponents they have defeated and adding it to their armor. Finally, it is considered tradition that before a brother may be considered for a position as Captain, he must serve at least 50 years in the Deathwatch, following the example of Remes.

Gene-seed/Geneseed
The Forge Fathers, similar to their brother chapters, have dark skin, though lighter than most Salamanders due to the fewer amounts of radiation on Meredius. Also, the Forge Fathers have over-active Ossmodulas and Bioscopeas, leading to them being larger than normal, even for space marine, and incredibly strong. This makes them have even slower reaction speeds then normal, making them only slightly above that of a normal human whilst in Terminator Armor.

Battle-cry/Battlecry/Chapter Motto
"Out of the Fire, into the Forge!"

USING A FORGE FATHERS ARMY IN WARHAMMER 40,000

Duue to their chapter beliefs, Forge Fathers may only field 1 Dreadnought per Detachment.

Any Sternguard squad may be upgraded to Flameguard, gaining +1 STR and Furious charge in exchange for being Bulky at +5 points a model.

Any model capable of taking a Thunder Hammer may take a Meredius-pattern Power Halberd instead at the same cost, which counts as a power lance on the charge and a power axe any other time with the Two-handed and Sweeping Attack rules, and also in the Shooting phase, it can be fired as a flamer.

A Terminator squad may be upgraded to a Monster Hunter kill squad, gaining Monster Hunter, Furious Charge, and +1 WS/BS for +15 points a model. This squad is automatically upgraded to have Thunder Hammers and Melta Guns at no extra cost, and may not replace these weapons.

[Erasus]

Hello!

Well done for posting your first IA, nice work

Now I'm go throw a few things at you, some stuff I liked, some stuff I was confused by and some stuff that in my own opinion doesn't work as well as it could.

 

Ok! So I like the idea of the Chapter Master coming while he was away from his own Chapter. Is there a reason why he was chosen?

 

I also like the colour scheme, although I would recommend keeping the Aquila gold and the eye lenses anything but green, it'll make him look more 'real' in my opinion. I like the green and black possibly referencing the Salamanders.

 

Right so some questions,

In the IA you said Remes rules as Chapter Master on Meredius between M36-M38, that's 2,000 years. Ignoring the centuries Remes would've acquired to get to a 1st Company Veteran, this places him twice the age of the official longest livest marine (without crazy circumstances). Commander Dante of the Blood Angels is only just over 1,000 years old. Wasn't sure if this was a typo?

 

Power halberds. So there's some exclusive power halberds used by the Chapter. However other chapters use halberds, the White Scars, Grey Knights and Dark Angel's Deathwing being the biggest examples. My question is whether this is a particular type of halberd or something?

 

Finally, some problems. These will be bigger than the others purely because I want to talk out the reason I feel there is a problem, justifying myself.

 

Meredius. Ok so Space Marines taking over a planet and working alongside a government. No issue. There's no real reason there needs to be a governor, the Chapter Master could do it, but it's fine that's not a problem. The problem comes in when it turns out there's two minor Knight Houses already living there.

Firstly the strict honour code of the Houses would've made the Knights fight the Governor, so the Forge Fathers weren't really needed.

Second this effectively means the Forge Fathers can't rule that world. The Knights wouldn't allow it, the Mechanicus wouldn't allow it and other Knight Worlds wouldn't allow it. It's an insult to the Knights. It's like space marines taking over a Forge World.

I would suggest moving the Knight Houses to another world in the system, or the next sector. They have ties to the world because they like the resources the world offers. As long as this trade continues then the Space Marines won't get in the way. However this is an alliance, the Houses are not governed by the Fathers.

Also, I would tone down how resourceful this world is, being the most resource rich planet in the Segmentum is a massive deal. Tone it down to the biggest in the sector. This is my recommendation.

 

Tyranids, so according to the Imperium the first Nid sightings were in M41, the Inquistion has some records stretching as far back as M35.

Now your chapter was founded between M35-M36, which means they have virtually no chance for Remes to have faced a Hive Tyrant. The first Hive Fleet level incursion was well into M36, after your Chapter. And the only big M35 Nid encounter was the Tiamet quarantine, which didn't involve a Hive Fleet, just localised life forms.

The Swarmlord couldn't have defeated Remes either, as he first appeared in the Milky Way in M41 at the head of Behemoth. The Swarmlord is a backup monster to the huge main Hive Fleets, he wasn't used in the smaller incursions before Behemoth.

Overall the Forge Fathers wouldn't have had the chance to specialise against Nids, having only 1 chance to fight a Hive Fleet before the Ultramarines did.

Now Remes cant claim a Tyrant skull, he wouldn't live long enough to see one. But another hero can. Like I said in M36 there was Hive Fleet Ouroboris. The Forge Fathers can ally with the Space Wolves and take on this Fleet, claiming trophies and such. However they won't be able to develop a speciality against Tyranids, this wasn't as big as Behemoth and can't warrant specialists.

 

Overall a good IA, just needs a few tweaks and it'll be really strong. I'm looking forward to seeing where you take it.

[Cryptix]

Changes made:

- Reign of Remes changed to a much more reasonable 200 years. Stupid 40k dating system.
- Any mentions of Tyranids changed to Eldar.

- The two Knight Houses moved to the moons. 

- Power halberds changed to having TL Flamers in them.

 

Also, just putting this hex here so I remember: #109410

[Doctor Perils]

Grumble grumble, just spent twice as long on this because of a stupid page return... forgive me if I seem a bit blunt :)

 

On the whole, this is a really good start. I do however think I should mention some things:

• The origins section should speak about the origins of the chapter, not its first master's actions. Place most of Remes' shenanigans in a new "heroes of the chapter" section
• The chapter is of the dark founding, so you should be a bit light on details of their early history: because of this, you should compensate by focusing more on later history. You should also use the origins section to expand on how people believe they are of Salamanders descent (officially, there are no confirmed descendents of the Salamanders), on how they started their ancestor worship (cool btw :tu:), and how they started on their defensive bent.
• Beware of the scale of the galaxy and even segmenta: in my mind, only creations by GW should ever attain a status where they are well known, even throughout a segmentum. As such, scale down the chapter's fame to a sector, as well as the effectiveness of Meridius.
• As Erasus said, no Knights can ever fall under a Space Marine chapter's (political) jurisdiction: not only are they too proud of their independence, the chapter would be seen as a potential threat by the Inquisition. As generally a whole system will fall under a chapter's jurisdiction, I'd move them to a whole new stellar system.
  • Note that not being under their political jurisdiction doesn't mean they can't be subordinate during a military campaing. It does however mean they won't accept the Forge Fathers' mediation attempts.
  • Also, Freeblades and Houses are two distinct entities, and I believe mutually exclusive, as Freeblades are lone Knights that leave (or are forced out of) their Houses. They are solo (or very small groups perhaps)!
• Power Halberds are cool. Because of that, they are already quite present in 40k. If I were you, I'd give your halberds a specific designation (Meridius-Pattern perhaps), as it will make them more distinct. You might also want to explain how only the very best members of the chapter get access to it, because at the moment it sounds like the whole battle doctrine resolves around them.
• How are the Monster Hunters kitted out? I imagine they'll be using thunder hammers, but in that case how different will they be from Lysander's Apocalypse formation or Horus Heresy Firedrakes?
• Sorry to be blunt on this, but your battle doctrine seems far from unique. However, that's a good thing: you want your chapter to have it's own identity, but you don't want it sticking out like a sore thumb (like the Space Wolves are becoming). Also, it doesn't necessarily sound all that defensive: flamers and halberds have short range, so it's probably going to be important to move up into the enemy's face. That doesn't mean you can't find a way to make it work, you just need to expand a bit more on it.
• It's often important to have a very good reason for deviations from the codex Astartes (written by one of the greatest tactical geniuses of the last 10 millenia). Also, a defensive doctrine doesn't mean that you shouldn't (or don't need) have an assault company: the Imperial Fists play more defensively in the fluff, but they've got an assault company! (Once again, I'm sure there are good ways to make it work, but more details are needed)
• The ancestor worship is cool :) Now how about a mention of what they think of the Promethian Creed? With a name like the Forge Fathers, I'd imagine it's right up their alley, but they might see it differently still from the Salamanders?
  • Also, Remes seems big on decapitation: could this enter your chapter's culture?
• Don't talk about dark skin as a "defect" :P Some can take offense, but also, it's a bit confusing at the moment: say right from the start that they have dark skin, like the Salamanders (then add that it is lighter).
• If they are stronger then the norm, I'd recommend you gave them some other form of genetic problem as well, otherwise it sounds like "my marines are better then others". The Salamanders have slower reflexes because of the planet they come from for instance.
• Make your sternguard+ truly bulky, or simply say they cannot embark on a Rhino. It'll be less confusing.
• Add the two handed special rule to the halberd, and add some points too (for the flamer)
• I'd probably restrict the Monster hunters to thunder hammer armed assault terminators.

[Servant of Dante]

Hello!

Well done for posting your first IA, nice work

Now I'm go throw a few things at you, some stuff I liked, some stuff I was confused by and some stuff that in my own opinion doesn't work as well as it could.

 

Ok! So I like the idea of the Chapter Master coming while he was away from his own Chapter. Is there a reason why he was chosen?

 

I also like the colour scheme, although I would recommend keeping the Aquila gold and the eye lenses anything but green, it'll make him look more 'real' in my opinion. I like the green and black possibly referencing the Salamanders.

 

Right so some questions,

In the IA you said Remes rules as Chapter Master on Meredius between M36-M38, that's 2,000 years. Ignoring the centuries Remes would've acquired to get to a 1st Company Veteran, this places him twice the age of the official longest livest marine (without crazy circumstances). Commander Dante of the Blood Angels is only just over 1,000 years old. Wasn't sure if this was a typo?

 

Power halberds. So there's some exclusive power halberds used by the Chapter. However other chapters use halberds, the White Scars, Grey Knights and Dark Angel's Deathwing being the biggest examples. My question is whether this is a particular type of halberd or something?

 

Finally, some problems. These will be bigger than the others purely because I want to talk out the reason I feel there is a problem, justifying myself.

 

Meredius. Ok so Space Marines taking over a planet and working alongside a government. No issue. There's no real reason there needs to be a governor, the Chapter Master could do it, but it's fine that's not a problem. The problem comes in when it turns out there's two minor Knight Houses already living there.

Firstly the strict honour code of the Houses would've made the Knights fight the Governor, so the Forge Fathers weren't really needed.

Second this effectively means the Forge Fathers can't rule that world. The Knights wouldn't allow it, the Mechanicus wouldn't allow it and other Knight Worlds wouldn't allow it. It's an insult to the Knights. It's like space marines taking over a Forge World.

I would suggest moving the Knight Houses to another world in the system, or the next sector. They have ties to the world because they like the resources the world offers. As long as this trade continues then the Space Marines won't get in the way. However this is an alliance, the Houses are not governed by the Fathers.

Also, I would tone down how resourceful this world is, being the most resource rich planet in the Segmentum is a massive deal. Tone it down to the biggest in the sector. This is my recommendation.

 

Tyranids, so according to the Imperium the first Nid sightings were in M41, the Inquistion has some records stretching as far back as M35.

Now your chapter was founded between M35-M36, which means they have virtually no chance for Remes to have faced a Hive Tyrant. The first Hive Fleet level incursion was well into M36, after your Chapter. And the only big M35 Nid encounter was the Tiamet quarantine, which didn't involve a Hive Fleet, just localised life forms.

The Swarmlord couldn't have defeated Remes either, as he first appeared in the Milky Way in M41 at the head of Behemoth. The Swarmlord is a backup monster to the huge main Hive Fleets, he wasn't used in the smaller incursions before Behemoth.

Overall the Forge Fathers wouldn't have had the chance to specialise against Nids, having only 1 chance to fight a Hive Fleet before the Ultramarines did.

Now Remes cant claim a Tyrant skull, he wouldn't live long enough to see one. But another hero can. Like I said in M36 there was Hive Fleet Ouroboris. The Forge Fathers can ally with the Space Wolves and take on this Fleet, claiming trophies and such. However they won't be able to develop a speciality against Tyranids, this wasn't as big as Behemoth and can't warrant specialists.

 

Overall a good IA, just needs a few tweaks and it'll be really strong. I'm looking forward to seeing where you take it.

Dante has been Chapter Master for just over 1000 years. I would assume he was decades if not centuries old by that point.

[Doctor Perils]

 

Dante has been Chapter Master for just over 1000 years. I would assume he was decades if not centuries old by that point.

 

But Dante is of course the exception in terms of age: no other Blood Angel has come close to attaining that age (excluding Dreads of course), and Blood Angels are said to be exceptionnally long lived, even for Space Marines.

The thing is, Cryptix had originally said his first chapter master ruled for 2000 years...

[Cryptix]

It was a mistake! I mixed up millenia and centuries.

[Cryptix]

Things on the to-do list:
-Customize Tymon's armor to include a CSM and a Tyranid head - DONE
-Add the 1st Captain Xeus Acheron to the heroes
-Implement their first known battle - DONE
-Do the origins part (I keep putting it off...) - DONE (Somehow...)

[Erasus]

Well, do you want some help with the origins and fluff?

 

The changes you've made are good, they're more believable and far better than what was there before.

 

I noticed the change to the colour scheme, it looks much stronger and less like a two-tone colouring book.

 

Could you elaborate a little on the industrial nature of Meredius? I was initially against this, thinking death worlds and hive worlds don't really mix but I remembered Nocturne, the tribes collecting gems after the volcanic activity to sell to the AdMech. So I'm curious if by "industrial" you mean rich in resources or as in it is riddled with manufactora?

Basically, it is another Nocturne? Or Armageddon?

 

Do you not like Assault squads?

I get it if you don't, just don't mention them. However, and this has absolutely zero intention to change your IA, but I personally feel Assaults are extremely useful for hordes like orks. Their maneouvreability means they can quickly react, especially in tight places like the streets of a Hive, and they can use their mobility to lead off parts of the horde, breaking it down into smaller mobs. Being ambushed by melee specialists who appear out of nowhere is always disadvantageous to the enemy. Like I said just my opinion.

On that note, maybe the slow reactions of the Fathers mean they are not great at melee? Not a bulletproof excuse but it's a start . . .

 

Just to clarify the Librarian Darrian Regas saw the souls of his brothers heading to the Emperor and thought "we all need to do that when we die, no need to drag it out in a Dreadnought" so he decided to stay so he could tell the others of what he saw and what he now believed.

Did he stay as a Dreadnought for long or did he ask for the Emperor's Peace after explaining himself?

 

How about the Forge Fathers actually took part in the Ouroboris Crusade against the, then unidentified, Tyranids? I've suggested this before, I means it's not a proper Hive Fleet or anything but it's something?

 

I like the Forge Fathers. Keep em coming

[Doctor Perils]

Some pretty good changes on the whole :tu:

 

I notice that you still didn't put a points value on the halberd :P also, I wonder if it would be best to make it be just a normal flamer, if not a hand flamer instead of a twin-linked flamer? But I think this can be a nice fluffy weapon, it would be great to see one modelled up :)

 

On another note, I think that the monster hunters would be better off with a combi-melta or something like that rather then heavy flamers: heavy flamers once more sound like a horde hunting device (albeit stronger hordes), not like a monster hunting device. Since these are house rules, you could perhaps even see if your opponents would accept a multi-melta? It would be a fluffy choice for Salamanders successors, and I don't think it's ever really been done?

[Cryptix]

@Erasus

Yes, I actually did get my inspiration from reading about Nocturne. Guess I should have worded that differently.

Also, you got it right on the spot. I personally HATE painting assault squads, the nooks of their jump packs are a pain in the . Although you did give me an idea: their reflexes are so slow that using Jump Packs is far more dangerous than normal.

And the story of Regas is incomplete. Stinking copy/paste...

@Lord Thørn

It technically does have a points value Thorn (can I call you thorn?).

"Any model capable of taking a power weapon..."

Though I do admit I probably should have attached "at the same point cost."

Also, on the Heavy Flamers I thought for some reason I was in HH and they became STR 6. My bad, being changed to melta-guns.

[Doctor Perils]

My point is that your power halberd is worth waaay more points then a simple power weapon. It is essentially a power axe + a power lance + some kind of flamer + sweeping attack...

[Cryptix]

You're right. Changed to instead of a thunder-hammer

[Frater Cula]

Hi, Cryptix!

Thanks for posting your IA.  I love the work you've put into it, especially in the images.  

Are you familiar with GIMP?  It's a free image editor, and it's got some more features than Microsoft Paint or the like.  (Inkscape is another good free graphics program.)  If you used one of those programs, tools like "paths" could probably help you get much cleaner lines that are much closer to what you want.

In Origins, do you want to mention which WAAAGH is coming?  It seems like most people will specify, eg., "The planet was lost to WAAAGH [Name of Warboss]."  Again, you can also name the Warboss who killed Remes.  Naming Warbosses is a great place to be a little silly, and inject some humour into the history.

Also, you may want to rephrase "first known contact with Imperial forces" to something like "oldest recorded contact with Imperial forces".  Technically, we know that their founding was earlier, so the Explorator contact wasn't the first.  (But the founding has no extant records.)

Finding a working STC is a huge deal!  The only chapter I know of who has done that is the Blood Angels, and they're famous all across the universe.  So if your chapter found one, that's definitely a historical moment worth exploring.  If you ever feel like you want to have a story to go in a sidebar with a lot of detail, you might want to look at that one.

I'd suggest breaking Culture into at least two paragraphs: the first regarding ancestor worship, and the second about decapitation.  Also, I personally would reorganize the ancestor worship side to start with Regas's story and then state what the chapter believes, but that's just my opinion.

Regarding Regas's death: he might also just be able to die if they deactivated his dreadnought sarcophagus's life-support systems.  I'm not sure if you're going for an assisted-suicide vibe, but if you're not, you could just say they unplugged him.  

Also, what do they do with the unused Dreadnought bodies they have?  Give them back to the Mechanicus?  Give them to other chapters, when the other chapters' warriors die alongside the Forge Fathers in battle?

I think the first sentence in the Gene-seed may need clearing up ("to due the less radiation").

Now, regarding the custom rules:

I'd suggest you replace "Flameguard can't go in a Rhino" with "Flameguard are Bulky", which also restricts them from riding in Razorbacks.  You could even make them Very Bulky (3 spots in a transport), or just say they can't take dedicated transports (drop pods are usually ideal for Sternguard, anyway).  Finally, I'd recommend you change "25 points a squad" to "+5 points per model", so it scales with squad size.

For the Power Halberd: I'd recommend you change "and also having a Flamer inside" to "In the Shooting phase, it can be fired as a flamer."  This uses more standard language; but more importantly, it takes away the Wall of Death Overwatch ability.  I think giving a Vanguard Veteran squad 5D3 Wall of Death hits would just be too powerful; but using them in shooting might be reasonable.  As Thorn said, you might want to consider hand flamer rather than flamer, but you'd need a real rules guy to make the right call.  If you want to adjust the price, you can say "Any unit which can take items from the Melee Weapons section of Codex: Space Marines can take a Power Halberd for [30] points", etc.

The Monster Hunter squad sounds really fun!  Again, I'd reword the points cost to "+15 points per model".  They'll be a bullet magnet, for sure!  But I think you've got the cost in the right ballpark.