The Dark Angels, a more comprehensive fan version

[jaxom]

That's a perfect concept for the loyalist viewpoint!

[jaxom]

3:00 PM BST update for Warhammer Fest is new Dark Angels models!

 

https://www.warhammer-community.com/2019/05/10/warhammer-fest-uk-2019-live-bloggw-homepage-post-3fw-homepage-post-1/

[carlisimo]

I’m impressed by the models they showed off. The Leviathan is easily the best legion-specific Leviathan so far. The Contemptor arguably takes things a little too far, with the giant angel and the candles on top, but the segmented armor pieces and the trim are very nice. The leg pose isn’t great, at least from that angle.

 

The Praetors are lovely sculpts but much more knightly (Calibanite?) than I expected. FW said at the event and at previous Weekenders that book 9 would focus on the Terran aspect of the legion, which to me means more Unification War-era dirty weapons and less adornment. I didn’t even expect them to get volkite weapons, but that’s a tough call (on the one hand, they’re early Crusade weapons and therefore a good fit; on the other hand, they’re Martian and therefore not a good fit).

 

Just ignore the cat ears on the Terminator and Leviathan.

[jaxom]

I think the praetors may lean that way from feedback on the infantry upgrades. I completely agree about the dreadnoughts. I hadn't heard about the Terran focus which is interesting as everything else so far has been couched in latter-crusade era terms. I'm tentatively hopeful either way.

[jaxom]

Last post in this thread, because Thramas is coming sooner rather than later at this point. Also, as an aside, I can confirm that I imagine my version of the native tongue of Caliban is something like a tonal language heinous love-child of Welsh and Suomi.

 

The Armouries of Caliban

 

The Knights of The Order were inheritors of thousands of years of martial science. Techniques and practices were tested against the horrors of the forest; survivors of each hunt and bloody defense of the mountain keeps passing along what worked to their successors. Weapons and armour where not static; the success of Humanity waxed and waned and with it the available materials for forging. The fusion cells used in their powered armour was irreplaceable and, before the Order united all the knights, orders would wage war over them. The greatest items of an order's armoury required items only gathered from the Middling Woods or deeper into the forest and from some of the most dangerous beasts. Settlements and keeps thus had a wide variety of weapons they developed over the millenia of Old Night; each well maintained by the artificer caste for a day when it may be needed to handle a specific beast or in a desperate defense when all must take up arms.

 

Many of the most promising artificer journeymen made the journey to Terra with the Lion. While he learned of the Imperium's history, military, and the Great Crusade, they were given to the care of the Ural forge clans sworn to the Emperor's personal service. The secrets learned were brought back to Caliban and the fledgling forge-ring being built to support the legion. Weapons and armours crafted from the remains of the mightiest beasts were as great as any Mechanicum-crafted item, but lesser works of artifice were augmented with this new knowledge. The armaments produced by the forge-ring were meant for bulk deployment: boltguns, power armour, drop pods, Rhinos, ammunition, power cells, and other items expected to see hard use and need replacing often. Keep workshops were left the domain of those master crafters not attached to fleet elements.

 

The mixing of the Order and the First Legion into the Dark Angels saw a greater degree of standardization among weapons and armours. This increased exponentially as the legion recovered from the Rangdan Xenocides and grew in size. Knights's single-bolt firing lances were completely replaced with more advanced rapid-firing bolters or plasma and volkite weaponry. The crude chainswords favored by a minority of knights were replaced by those appropriate for transhuman size and strength. Similarly, relic portions of the human-sized Calibanite power armour was added to individual suits of MkII and Mk III power armour. Certain weapons, commonly used in the Lion's campaign against the Great Beasts, were taken to the stars to be used against the horrid xenos still infesting Mankind's manifest domain.

 

Corvus Hammer - The knightly mace of Caliban resembles a warhammer. Meant to be used in the saddle, one side is a flat in order to concuss and confuse a beast while the other side is sharp pick to crack open armour and expose weakness. The heads were commonly crafted from the metallic tusks of the forest boar and the hafts exceptionally well balanced. Legion examples often were made from hyper-dense metals found in dwarf systems.

 

Mace of Truth - More accurately translated as beacon of truth, these maces were wielded in two hands by a keep's most venerated knights. Only master artisans knew the how to make the alloy necessary to maintain the strength of the weapon's head while being hollow. The head was filled the incense, the primary ingredient of which was the ashes of an honest man. The smoke produced was said to focus the mind and repel the influences of fey forest beasts. Astartes physiology lets these weapons be wielded one-handed. As Traitor forces began to rely more on the Empyrean the Dark Angels took these weapons up in greater numbers than any other time of the Great Crusade.  

 

Flail of the United - These Mace of Truth variants were made in commemoration of the first three knightly orders who came together to form the foundation of the Order. Each head of the flail represented one of the orders. The Dark Angels used them primarily for ceremonial purposes during the Great Crusade.

 

The sword held a unique place in Calibanite culture because it was simultaneously synonymous with knighthood while being the least used weapon in a knight's armoury. The sword represented justice, the conquering of Humanity's more base impulses, and formation of civilization. The double edged sword was a constant reminder of the role of the knights in upholding justice and the caste system which allowed Caliban to survive Old Night. Thus it was the weapon of punishing oathbreakers, bandits, and those who would upset the careful order of Humanity. The reconciliation of the First with their Primarch did not see a major change in the preferred arms of the Terran veterans, but mores of Caliban had an impact on the Caliban members of the legion. The Lion and his fellows saw the Emperor as the rightful lord of all Humanity. Planets fostering human life were expected to pay obeisance and take their place within the circles of the Imperium. To do otherwise was bring all to risk and, much like with caste rebellions or fallen orders on Caliban, they must be put to the sword. Thus, compliance actions against human civilizations were called sword compliances (in contrast to a hunt compliance) by the Caliban-born members of the Dark Angels.

Sword Compliances

 

Calibanite War Blade - Broad bladed swords made of the same alloy as a Mace of Truth or the most advanced form of Calibanite power armour, these weapons were intended for one thing: killing oathbreakers. Swords made poor weapons hunting beasts, but knights carried one as a side arm. However, in dedicated warfare against fallen orders, the war blade was meant to cleave through power armour. Calibanite war blades were often awarded to legion officers who regularly led sword compliances against technologically advanced civilizations