Do Death Company Marines remain in their company?

[Brother Crimson]

About death company. From what I understand, as they fall into the black rage the chaplains of each company takes care of the fallen brothers into death company units.

 

Does those units stays in the company ?

 

Are they still considered part of the “100” men per company ?

 

Thank you, it is just to help me plan my battle company ( probably 5th)

[Ekfud]

Fair question - I’ve always assumed the battle companies replace them from the reserves (as its generally a one way transfer to dc). Of course that may not exactly be same-day delivery if papa Dante has declared war on multiple planets at the same time.

 

Game wise - everyone seems to be holding off too many purchases/builds for a few more weeks until the ba codex arrives. Never know what might morph in company structure with the edit.

 

Eg - I’ve got 16 dc assembled and magnetised but have been holding off priming just in case I need to rework some plastic.

 

And...

 

Link in signature to my wip 5th co blog *shameless plug...* if it’s any help for ideas :-)

[Jolemai]

Death Company are already "lost". They are outside of the official numbers iirc, an auxiliary arm if you will.

 

(My apologies but I have no source to back that up right now, it's just what I remember. )

[Panzer]

Death Company are already "lost". They are outside of the official numbers iirc, an auxiliary arm if you will.

 

(My apologies but I have no source to back that up right now, it's just what I remember. )

That's how I remember it as well.

Death Company are considered lost and either get executed after the battle or put into the tower, but they aren't part of the original company anymore.

[Brother Tyler]

In the short term, a Death Company Space Marine remains part of his assigned* company, though this will depend upon the composition of the detachment engaged in the fight.

 

The Death Company isn't part of the company, but remains as an auxiliary and ad hoc part of the overall detachment. This was one element of the 3rd edition rules that was characterful - squads losing battle-brothers to the Death Company before the battle (the random nature of this was problematic, admittedly, but the overall mechanic was definitely true to the lore).

 

The way it generally goes down is that a Space Marine will suffer the throes of his genetic curse before a battle. In a single company-sized detachment, there won't be other companies available for reassignment of the battle-brother or for a replacement. So all of those that join the Death Company are collected into a single unit and the parent squads either go into battle under-strength or battle-brothers are shuffled around to fill holes (though this creates other issues, so the commanders do this only when it is tactically sound).

 

So let's say that Task Force Amagliostro is about to go into battle with heretic rebel scum on Tantos VII. TF Amagliostro is led by Captain Amagliostro of the 4th Company. The 4th (Battle) Company has been augmented with a squad of Vanguard Veterans, a demi-squad of Scouts, and a Tactical squad from the 7th Company. Before the battle, the following battle-brothers of the detachment succumb to their curse and are reassigned to the Death Company:

• 1x Vanguard Veteran
• 1x battle-brother from the Honour Guard
• 2x battle-brothers from the 3rd (Tactical) squad
• 1x battle-brother from the 5th (Tactical) squad
• 1x battle-brother from the 6th (Tactical) squad
• 2x battle-brothers from the 8th (Assault) squad
• 1x battle-brother from the 9th (Devastator) squad
• 1x battle-brother from the 3rd (Tactical) squad of the 7th (Reserve Tactical) Company
• Sergeant Donatiel of the Scout demi-squad

All of those battle-brothers now become the Death Company, which remains part of TF Amagliostro. Captain Amagliostro can reorganize the remaining squads if he needs to and has the time to do so, but there's an even chance that he won't, simply employing his forces with several squads now under-strength and adding a sizeable Death Company into the mix (potentially having to adapt his battle plan to accommodate a Chaplain that has to babysit a bunch of madmen instead of whatever it was that he was going to do).

 

In a larger, multi-company detachment, there may be an opportunity to realign squads and/or to fill holes left by those lost to the Death Company, but this doesn't necessarily happen (for whatever reasons there may be that apply at the time).

 

After the battle/deployment, it is pretty much as everyone above has indicated. In my example, the survivors of TF Amagliostro Death Company may be allowed to remain alive, perhaps in stasis (except when they need to turn them loose in battle) until the TF returns to Baal or joins up with other elements of the Chapter.

 

 

 

* "Assigned" here allows for company-sized detachments that include attachments from other companies, such as the 1st, 10th, or reserve companies that have assigned squads to the detachment (a standard Adeptus Astartes practice which I've illustrated in my example).

[Xenith]

As with everything, it depends on what you prefer.

 

As per above, when a model joins the death company, it is now in the death company, and not whatever company it was in previously.

 

The battle company or whatever may then have an attachment of death company, in the same way that they would have an attachment of first or tenth company marines, as per BT's example above.

 

What happens to the death company depends on the nature of the captain and mission. Some will put them into battle immediately. Some will put them into stasis for return to Baal, or Astorath may be around. 

[Brother Crimson]

Thank you, so it is more a question of timings and how much time the strike force has to prepare. I guess I’ll put them as auxiliary just to get an excuse to fill Astorath :)