Heralds of Devastation A DA Successor Chapter

[Grotsmasha]

First and foremost, a shout-out to Brother Arkley for putting in the hard yards on the Primaris Template, which inspired my our efforts, and rekindled the flame for my DIY Chapter. I did have a crack at them once previously using CHS's Tru-Scale models, but only got one squad before all of their legal troubles, and Tru Scale-marines became unavailable.

Here's the Fluff i wrote for them for one of the Brotherhood oh Angels challenges,

Hidden Content

CHAPTER NAME:- The Heralds of Devastation

GENE-SEED:- Angels of Absolution

FOUNDING:- 23RD “SENTINAL” FOUNDING [M.37]

CHAPTER MASTER:- Grand Master Amon Decius

CHAPTER WORLD:- Tenebrye [DESTROYED]

FORTRESS MONASTERY:- Location Unknown

SPECIALITY:- Rapid Deployment, Close Quarters Assault

BATTLE CRY:- “Make them bleed!!!”

CURRENT STRENGTH:- Over strength, Full Chapter deployed in Damocles Gulf

KNOWN DESCENDANTS:- None Known

ORIGINS

The Heralds of Devastation are officially counted among the Chapters of the
23rd, or Sentinel Founding of the late 37th Millennium, a fact that has been
questioned several times by Imperial historians and Administratum Adepts. The

inconsistency stems from official Fire Hawk combat records listing the Heralds

participation and engagements in the turmoil of the Age of Apostasy more than

1000 years prior, leading to several claims that the Heralds belong to the Cursed 21st
Founding, their constant bad luck lends credence to these claims. When
questioned on the matter by Administratum Adepts for clarification, the Grand
Master of the time replied, “It does not matter how long we have fought the
enemies of mankind, it only matters that we still do”.

As a Successor Chapter of the Angels of Absolution, The
Heralds of Devastation also share in the belief that the actions of the Dark
Angels at the Fall of Caliban, leading to its destruction, have absolved them
of their guilt and that their responsibilities lie in finding and punishing
those responsible, those known to the Unforgiven Chapters as The Fallen.



HOMEWORLD

The Heralds of Devastation homeworld, Tenebrye V, was once a death-world equal
to Catachan, or Caliban of old. The Tenebrye system, located beyond the Exodite
worlds of the Eastern Fringe, contained just one gas giant world with six
orbiting moons. Tenebrye III the largest or the moons was the systems primary
planet and The Imperium’s seat of power, a Hive-world with a population in the billions
that closely matched ancient Terra for it’s size and lunar cycle. Tenebrye II
being the only other habitable planet, was a farm world, renown for its quality
and variety of meats. The Heralds chose the uninhabited fifth moon of the
system, a vicious death-world, to be their home and training grounds.

In the year of 759.M38, the Tenebrye system was besieged by a massive Ork
Waaagh!!!, estimated to have numbered in the billions, as it advanced from beyond

known space. With all three of the chapters Battle Companies, two full Reserve Companies

and more than half of the elite First and Second Companies deployed elsewhere in the

galaxy, Grand Master Naarion sent out a desperate plea for aid to any and every Imperial force
within astropathic range. The system fell quickly, the Heralds were
insurmountably outnumbered, the space battle lost before it began, all of The
Heralds potent and powerful warships were elsewhere in the galaxy. The
remaining companies were split between their homeworld and the two other
habited worlds of Tenebrye II and III and prepared to sell their lives dearly.
The massive Ork Waaagh!!!! steam rolled through the system, every man, woman
and child was slaughtered, not a single soul survived.

Due to the fickle nature of the warp, the plea for aid did not reach the rest
of the chapter for almost 200 years (912.M38). Calling on bonds of friendship
and trust, earned in the Age of Apostasy, Master Baelthan of the Veteran 1st
Company returned to Tenebrye V and its surrounding systems with all remaining
Heralds and three full companies from the Fire Hawks chapter. In a crusade
lasting 89 years that reduced the Heralds of Devastation's numbers to less than
250 marines, the Orks were removed entirely from all surrounding systems, not a
single spore remained. With their homeworld once again in their care, The
Heralds of Devastation set about the arduous task of rebuilding the chapter
under Grand Master Baelthan's command.

It was in the year of 749.M41, that disaster befell the Tenebrye system, again.
This time there would be no reclaiming their home world, or system. Both were
wiped from existence by a new threat to the galaxy, the Tyranid Hive Fleet
later designated Behemoth. The Heralds of Devastation were almost wiped from
history for a second time, struggling to fight an unknown enemy. Making an
unpopular decision, Grand Master Decius, the third Grand Master in as many
weeks, commanded the remaining 147 marines to cut and run for Macragge and warn
the Imperium at large. Again, betrayed by the warp, The Heralds of Devastation
did not arrive until the Ultramarines had already won Macragge and defeated
Behemoth.

Since the second loss of their homeworld The Heralds of Devastation have become
a fleet-based Chapter. They constantly patrol the Imperium's border along the
Eastern Fringe, particularly the Damocles Gulf, as in their experience it is
where they are needed most. They are in almost constant warfare with the Tau,
ranging from small skirmishes to all out conflicts.

TRAINING AND RECRUITMENT

The methods of recruitment and training used by The Heralds of Devastation are
a closely guarded secret, known to none besides Supreme Grand Master Azrael,
Lord of the Unforgiven Chapters, and perhaps Ezekial, Keeper of Secrets. The
practice of Replicae is a hidden and disliked technology most of the Imperium
would like forgotten. Rather than clone the complexity of a fully mature space
marine, The Heralds of Devastation clone human male children. The Heralds have
several facilities located on or near Imperial Death Worlds along the Eastern
Fringe where clones are vat-grown to a comparable age of 5yrs Terran standard.
From the moment they are 'born' they are trained to be space marines, by space
marines in the most arduous of conditions, on the most terrifying worlds The
Heralds can find. They are psycho-indoctrinated into the Chapters history and
beliefs, they are trained to fight in both armed and unarmed combat. They
endure 5yrs of arduous and perilous, life threatening training and chapter
education before they are ready for the implantation process to begin. Although
clones of even beginnings, many fail and as little as 10% proceed to the
implantation stage. All clones are known by a number designation until
graduation from the Scout Company, when they gain the right to wear Power
Armour, they given the right to choose for themselves a name from the Chapter’s
Book of Heroes.

Stemming from this unique training and recruitment practice, is two significant
deviances from the organisation and beliefs of their parent chapter, The Dark
Angels. The first concerns when a marine first learns of The Unforgiven's
shame. Due to the early age, and much stronger indoctrination, it is at the
rank of Sergeant that a marine first learns about the Legions legacy and his
role in restoring the Chapter’s honour. The second is due to the desire to keep
their recruitment process secret, none are permitted to show their face to any
outside the chapter, only the Grand Master holds the right to do so. To this
end all marines deploy with a full-face ballistic mask should combat
necessitate or force the removal of their helm.

CURRENT DEPLOYMENT

The Heralds of Devastation currently have all 10 companies
fully deployed in the Damocles Gulf against the Third Sphere Expansion of the
Tau Empire. Having lost their home world twice to vile xenos, The Heralds of
Devastation harbour as special hatred of all xenos, and actively seek for opportunities
to engage in mass assaults where they can bring their full numbers to bare.

Battle Honours: Short descriptions of famous battles and outcomes in chapter
history


CHAPTER ORGINISATION

1^st Company, The Hunters

Numbers: Unknown, in excess of 150+ marines

Company Command: Master Garveal, Interrogator-Chaplain Fariel, Epistolary Ashamed,

Chief Apothecarion Martaine, Master of the Forge Caster,Chapter Champion Harvard

and Chapter Standard Bearer Pillius.

2^nd Primaris Battle Company

Numbers per Company: 5 Intercessor Squads, 2 Inceptor Squads, 1 Helblaster Squad, 2 Aggressor Squads.

Battle Company Command: Master, Chaplain, Librarian, Apothecary, Techmarine, Company Champion

and Company Standard Bearer.

3^rd – 6^th Battle Companies

Numbers per Company: 5 Tactical Squads, 3 Assault Squads, 2 Devastation Squads.

Battle Company Command: Master, Chaplain, Librarian, Apothecary, Techmarine, Company Champion

and Company Standard Bearer.

7^th – 9^th Reserve Companies:

Numbers: 7^th Co. 10 Tactical Squads, 8^th Co. 10 Assault Squads, 9^th Co. 10 Devastator Squads.

Reserve Company Command: Master, Chaplain, Apothecary and Company Standard Bearer.

10^th Scout Company:

Numbers: 200+ Initiates currently deployed or in training.

Scout Company Command: Master, Chaplain and 3x Apothecaries.

FLEET ASSETS

The Heralds of Devastation maintain a modest fleet of 2 Battle Barges, 6 Strike Cruisers

and 5 Escort class ships. The Flagship of Grand Master Decius is the INVIOLATE RAGE,

a Dark Angels vessel lost in the turmoil of the Horus Heresy. In 510.M39 The Heralds of

Devastation were tasked with an archeotech reclamation mission for the Mechanicum of

Mars. The initial scans of the Space Hulk THE INEVITABLE DOOM revealed, although

severely damaged, the INVIOLATE RAGE was salvageable and upon completion of their

duty to the Mechanicum, it was prised from the hull of the space hulk. It took 49 years for

the Techmarine of the chapters Armoury to restore it to its former glory, and ready for combat
deployment. Deep within the holds of the INVIOLATE RAGE a priceless discovery was made

during the repairs, a cache of ancient armour marks and a functional Comtemptor
class dreadnought chassis.


CHAPTER LIVERY

The Chapter's symbol is that of a mushroom cloud, an ancient Terran symbol of devastation

The Heralds of Devastation's Livery varies little from it's parent Legion, The Dark Angels, the

one distinct variation is the company badge. Rather than worn on the knee, it is displayed

boldly upon the entire lower left greave with the squad designation placed on the opposite knee.

Below we see Company Master Variel of the 4th Battle Company,and Veteran Bathos of the 1st Company, The Hunters,

Here we see Brother Mattius, a Tactical marine of the 2nd Company, and 5th squad and a Scout of the 10th Company.

COMBAT DOCTRINE

The Heralds of Devastation make use of both the Deathwing and Ravenwing
formations, but not as two companies but one, The Hunters. This tradition
started after the reclamation of their original homeworld, when Grand Master
Baelthan chose his successors to the 1st and 2nd companies.

In a situation that has never repeated itself, the cloning
process created twins, two clones within the one vat. Why the Apothecarion
allowed this anomaly to continue is unknown, but had they been terminated, two
of the chapter’s greatest warriors would never have existed. The two true brothers
could not have been more different, which made them unique in an army of
clones. The first, larger than most, Brother Vespire was very deliberate in his
movements and decisions, when his course of action was decided, none could
stand in his path. His brother, Thorin, quick to decide, quick to act, had a
natural ability to choose the best options to maximise success, with what
seemed like little thought. It was during the crusade of 912.M38 to reclaim
their home system that Master Baelthan had the opportunity to witness Vespire
of the 1st and Thorin of the 2nd working their squads together in several joint
missions. There was total cohesion, it seemed as each knew the others thoughts
and would react to each other’s developing situations, typically resulting in
victories where defeat was almost certain. Upon the conclusion of the campaign,
Grand Master Baelthan named Vespire and Thorin both to be his successors, and
reformed the decimated 1^st and 2nd companies into one new company
named The Hunters.

Due to the chapter’s history of annihilation at the hands of
first the Orks, and then the Tyranids, they have developed a propensity to
engage at close quarters wherever possible. To this end, it has become common
practice among the Battle Companies of the Chapter to equip a third Assault
squad in preference over a sixth Tactical squad, quite often Company Command
will also deploy with Jump packs to further facilitate the assault capabilities
of the Company. The Heralds of Devastation have quite rightly earned a fearsome
reputation amongst the Tau Fire Warriors of the Damocles Gulf, who are struggling
to develop a consistent counter tactic the rapid and vicious assaults mounted
by the Heralds of Devastation.

NOTABLE ENGAGEMENTS

The Heralds of Devastation have a long and proud history of defending Mankind from it's enemies.

811.M37 The 7th Black Crusade of Warmaster Abaddon

The Heralds win a decisive navel battle against the Black Legion, denying them

access to the Forge World of Sanctia.

573.M38 The Defence of Antecanis

The Word Bearers are fought to a grinding holt on the Hive-World or Antecanis,

preventing their plans to open a hell-gate in the slums of Hive Primaris.

759.M38 The First Defence of Tenebrye

The Heralds of Devastation's homeworld is beset by an Ork Warghhh!!! of unsurmountable

numbers, theirs and the surrounding systems are lost to the Ork horde.

912.M38 Conquest of Tenebrye

The Crusade to reclaim their home system is a hard fought battle, shoulder to shoilder with

allies from the Fire Hawks chapter. The conquest is successful after 89 years of combat.

519.M39 The Hundred Planet Rebellion

Several Unforgiven Chapters battle for a decade to clear swathe of planets in the

Veiled Region of the Mad prophet Alaric the Subverter and his cultist uprisings.

743.M40 The Storm of Perdition

The Heralds of Devastation discover a Alpha Legion plot on one of their training worlds,

with reinforcments from the Angels of Vengeance the Alpha Legion are routed out

and the training planet spared Exterminatus.

435.M41 The Macharian Heresy

Once again the Heralds of Devastation encounter an Alpha Legion cult, this time whilst on the trail

of Cypher, the most infamous of The Fallen. Whilst attempting to capture Cypher, The Heralds of

Devastation prevent the Alpha Legion from releasing a Zombie Plague.

749.M41 Beheamoth

The Heralds of Devastation lose their homeworld to xenos for the seond time, this time

permanently. Their Chapter keep and many valuable relics are lost.

997.M41 Third Sphere Expansion

The Tau cross the Damocles Gulf, beginning a campaign of conquest. The entire Heralds of

Devastation Chapter redeploys exclusively to the Damocles Crusade.

I will be editting the above to ammend the 2nd Co. into a Primaris Company, and as such, they will be the focus of this thread.

I don't have the time or money to hit these guys full force, straight away, but have eBay'd the Captain, and two Lieutenants for $45 AU posted.

Cheers,

Jono

Edited December 30, 2019 by Grotsmasha

[Chaplain Raeven]

Great stuff Grotsmasha. The fluff was very enjoyable and I love your choice of colour, purple isn't used that often. I'll be keeping an eye on you.

[Darkn3ssF4lls]

Hmm, I sense a fall to slaneesh happening soon. 

 

Look forward to seeing your stuff brother :)

[Knight of the Raven]

Commenting only on the fluff because I'm still nonplussed about Primaris.

 

I like the name Heralds of Devastation. The last word is pretty similar to ruin, and yet it implies Imperium more than Chaos to me when Heralds of Ruin pretty much says the latter for me.

 

I like the chapter badge too. These Dark Angels successors certainly don't beat around the bush.

 

I wouldn't call Tenebrye II the only other habitable planet (well, technically, moon) beside Tenebrye III if the fifth moon is a death world; it's still habitable, however barely.

 

I suggest calling the Conquest of Tenebrye the Reconquest.

[Grotsmasha]

Cheers lads, and good points on the fluff. I'd definitely needs a revision.

 

Fun side fact, originally it was the Skrillax system until a certain artist became popular with whom I have no interest in.

[Grotsmasha]

The two Lieutenants sat on my desk for a week or more, as I was lacking inspiration for conversions, but once the Ancient arrived, switch was flipped for me and I built these three in about 45mins combined.

Cheers,

Jono

[Brother Worsey]

Just a thought - you could use the GotC chapter badge decal sheet here on B&C for the left leg. Not sure how much of a job to change the black background on the decal sheet to green (if it is easy, let me know how) but that would probably work as you can then paint round the decal with the green for the leg armor - might be a slightly different shade of green but would at least blend together easier than black! I've used the std badge for my Guardians and it looks pretty good once you paint round the edges of the decal sheet, the smallest size badge would probably fit.

[Grotsmasha]

That would probably work, I was just going to cut the wings from my plethora of DA chapter badges and make my own crossed swords.

[Grotsmasha]

Herfe's my first Lieutenant, completed for The Paladin Challenge, and Covenant of Calliban

Hidden Content

[Grotsmasha]

And now for my Gravis Captain,

Hidden Content

The pics have revealed a few missed details, and tidying opportunities, but for now, he is done as I need to finish my August Challenge mini.

Cheers,

Jono

[Chaplain Raeven]

Nice work, great choice of colours. I have soft spot for purple, even though I usually fail to make it work.

 

Are you taking the pictures with flash or frontal lighting? I have the feeling your shading gets washed out on photo.

[Grotsmasha]

Sooooo, it's been a while, yeah?

Time to blow the dust from this thread and update you all. This year, over i n the WIP Forum, I'm once again running the 12 Months of Hobby Challenge, but this year I've created a Campaign to go along with the Challenge. The narrative of that Campaign, and it's conclusion, will inform the new history of the Heralds of Devastation post the appearance of the Cicatrix Maledictum. For my part within the Challenge I will be focusing on a Strike Force of Unforgiven Chapters to discover the Fate of the Heralds. This means I'll be painting multiple Chapters throughout the year, including some new Heralds.

First step for the Heralds will be to update their scheme. The problem, you see, I mixed paints willy-nilly for the models above and haven't been able to consistently recreate the colour, so I'll be coming up with a new method that is easily repeatable as a first step. I have some failed 3d Prints that I'll be using to sort that out.

Since my Primary Force is the Guardians of the Covenant (due to ETL, and how simple they are to paint ) my first pledge for the 2020 Challenge is for 5x GotC Reivers.

As my primary source for models is the Warhammer 40,000 Conquest subscription, I already have quite a backlog of models to choose from. So I got started, and begun assembling that backlog to allow me greater choice month by month in the Campaign.

I am unsure yet which Chapters these will end up being, but having recently completed an Angel of Absolution tester (The AoA are the Heralds parent Chapter), I'm pretty tempted to start there.

For November I've chosen to paint an Angel of Absolution, one of the Dark Angel Successor Chapters, I was inspired by the planned narrative I've been working on for the 2020 Challenge. I was on such a roll I got started before posting, and went the whole nine yards and finished him up in just 4.5hrs.

Primer on, ready to go,

30mins in,

1.5hrs in,

and finished at 4hrs,