The Black Templars are a Second Founding Space Marine Chapter of the Imperial Fists.

These
Space Marines are as manly as the Manly Marines and as angry as the Angry Marines. They
make a hobby of dressing up as the Teutonic Knights and trolling the inquisition with their
larger-than-Codex-approved numbers. They're righteously angry for the Emperor, they're usually
close combat focussed and their idea of a charge is a giant zerg rush of a hundred angry
crusaders who won't hesitate to skullfuck the nearest alien/mutant/heretic with their powersword
just because they look funny. Although they don't need swords that much...

The Black Templars and their iconography are of the Teutonic Knights,

The Black Templars have their origins in the Great Crusade-Era Imperial Fists, in a group
originally known as the Templar Brethren. They wore all-black armor and had black crosses on
their right pauldron and shields, and were sworn to protect the Temple of Oaths (OK, the reality
is that Forge World wanted to justify including Black Templars into Horus Heresy. They're really
more Templar than Imperial Fist at this point already). Their commander and First Captain of the
Imperial Fists, Sigismund, started the tradition of the Emperor's Champion, in which a Templar
would challenge the enemy's champions to single combat. After the Heresy had ended and
Roboute Guilliman called for the Second Founding, Sigmisund took his Templar Brethren to
found the Black Templars.

They express their fury through burning heretical texts (as kindling for the actual heretics),
pwning mutants, and skull fucking aliens. But you might say, "Isn't that what every other Spess
Mehreen chapter does?" Well you'd be right, but they are the most pro-active about it,
celebrations on finishing one crusade involve declaring a new crusade, recruits are taken from all
the planets they've been on then sent to join the fighting so that they never have to slow down,
and they usually fight by zerg rushing their enemies with hundreds (and sometimes thousands) of
heavily power armoured super humans holding power weapons while screaming a litany of
curses at the top of their superhuman lungs. Also unlike other Chapters, they don't have scout
teams, as they think they're not righteously angry enough. Instead all new Neophytes (read:
meatshields) are given some crap and schooled in the field by a fully appointed Marine (called an
"Initiate").

The Black Templars are THE largest loyalist ("codex following") chapter, estimated to have
1000-6000 marines in their ranks. This is primarily because they're scattered through out the
galaxy so their approximate number is unknown. This means that their chapter alone could wipe
out the weeaboo communists if they were drawn together in one place. Of course this would
twist the nipples of the Inquisition and move the setting of 40k along, so don't expect it to happen
anytime soon (read: ever). Unfortunately they're unwilling to fight beside psykers except for
Grey Knights, they got all buddy-buddy with them fairly quickly, enough so that they willingly
shared the STCs for the Land Raider Crusader with them, mind-wipes not withstanding of
course. They are descended from the Imperial Fists, but obviously got more of Dorn's angry
splooge than his patient splooge. They sometimes get to wear cool Crusader helms, though they
aren't quite as awesome as the beakies' Corvus helms.
The new Space Marines codex has changed several things about the chapter. It now states they
worship the Emperor as a God like the larger Imperium and they have close ties with the
Ecclesiarchy. This also makes them good friends with the Sisters of Battle, whom they regularly
team up with and have several alliances with. Emperor pity the heretics who have to face both of
these groups of zealous nutters at once.

Alternatively, you could choose to ignore the fluff in the new codex that says that they worship
the Emperor, as it is wrong and demonstrates a clear Ward-like level of disregard for previous,
and better, fluff as it also says that out of all Astartes chapters, only the Black Templars worship
the Emperor. This contradicts several novels that say the chapters they revolve around worship
him. The first that come to mind are James Swallows series on the Blood Angels. THEN there's
the fact that Grimaldus, the Black Templars' High Chaplain (you know, guy who knows better
than anyone else what they believe), said that they DO NOT worship him in ADB's sequel to
Helsreach, Blood and Fire.

Shame the newer fluff decanonizes the old, but advancement is advancement.

Accomplishments[edit]

Taking back a hundred planets that were stolen by the blue space socialists after the Ultramarines
realized the Tyranids were heading their way and left.

Launching a 10,000 year crusade as part of their deal during the second founding. Although the
Horus Heresy novels have revealed that Sigismund didn't start this voluntarily, he was exiled by
Rogal Dorn, and a lot of their more notable traits - like their absolute hatred of psykers - stems
from Sigismund's butthurt over how he got exiled in the first place.

Killing an alien psyker and accidentally blowing out ten billion astropaths in the process, oops
just as planned.

Wiping out countless alien species and actually sparing one alien species that was worshipping
"The Voice of the Emperor" when they got there. They only destroyed their temples just in case
this voice wasn't talking about who they thought it was.

Successfully capturing Cypher! Then they were forced at gunpoint to hand him off to the Dark
Angels chapter where he almost immediately escapes.

The Second Siege of Terra! When some crazy ass High Lord of Terra named Goge Vandire
usurped all power in Imperium, thinking that he can do everything he wants, he wiped out some
Templar fortresses with orbital strikes and when they found out they got all righteous angry!
Assisting Sebastian Thor, the Templars gather around a thousand Crusaders and along with some
other chapters as well as the Martian techno-guard, and, with all fury, Black Templars wage a
frakkin second siege of Terra! (The insignificant detail they did get fought to a stalemate by the
bolter bitches until Big E.'s guardians told the lasses Vandire was a heretic tends to get glossed
over. IMPERATOR VULT!)
Organization[edit]

Since the Imperial Fists told Roboute Guilliman to go fuck himself and his Codex, the Black
Templars have an organization different from Codex Chapters. They organize themselves into
Fighting Companies, with much of it on the fly. Their ranks and positions include:

High Marshal: The Chapter Master of the Black Templars, who decides which crusades the
Black Templars will participate in, without bothering for an okay from the High Lords of Terra.
Helbrecht serves as the current High Marshal. Interestingly enough, in their original Codex the
High Marshal and regular Marshals typically do not go face to face with the enemy (to the point
where Helbrecht never actually touched down in the Third War for Armageddon, he stayed in
space dictating the orbital battle), Marshals and High Marshals prefer to stay back assessing the
battlefield and advising the various squads through their communicators about where they should
strike and shoot to make the most out of their troops.

Marshal: The commander of a crusade, a Marshal is equivalent to a Captain, they're the ones that
lead the individual crusades. When a crusade is called and there is no Marshal to lead it a
candidate is chosen from among the sword brethren and if the High Marshall thinks he is fit for
the task appointed Marshal. There has only ever been one case of a candidate being rejected by
the High Marshall. It is from the ranks of the Marshals that the new High Marshall is picked
should he fall in battle.

Emperor's Champion: Before an undertaking usually during battle preparations, one of the Black
Templars may have a vision granted by the Emperor. This knight will be declared by the
Chaplains to be the Emperor's Champion, as their founder Sigismund was ten millennia ago. He
will be given the Black Sword and the Armour of Faith, and serve as an inspiration to the rest of
the Crusading host. As with the first Emperor's Champion, Sigismund, it is the sole duty of those
who bear the title to seek out and challenge any enemy champion the crusading force meets in
battle. Things usually go badly if a crusade doesn't have an Emperor's Champion. If he is killed
before his mission is complete it is considered an ill omen indeed. It is unknown what happens to
the knight who is chosen after the completion of a crusade as none have been shown to survive
long enough for it to matter. Other chapters, most usually Imperial Fist's successors, occasionally
have an Emperor's Champion who serves a similar purpose but without the artifacts.

Castellan: The lieutenants of the Marshal, a temporary position chosen by the Marshals (one guy
cannot be everywhere) and who is a Castellan can vary depending on the current crusade or even
the current battle (pick who's best to lead the current fight). The Castellans lead the Fighting
Companies of a crusade, and they're also chosen from the Sword Brethren.

Sergeant: The only Codex rank the Black Templars employ. Also from the Sword Brethren
(notice a pattern, yet?).

Sword Brethren: Roughly analogous to Veterans in Codex Chapters, Sword Brethren are the
senior battle brothers of the Marshal. They also get to use Terminator armour.
Initiates: Rank and file battle-brothers. Marines (typically Neophytes) dying around them has a
beneficial effect on Initiates, making them run harder into enemy gunfire for reasons unknown
and oft-speculated upon.

Neophytes: While most Chapters have their neophytes serve in some sort of recon force, the
Black Templars have their new Space Marines join the crusade at the front lines and hit the
ground running. Given that this has worked for ten thousand years, they may be onto something.
Every Neophyte is assigned to an Initiate who is to train and tutor them. The Neophyte serves as
the apprentice to the Initiate, sort of like Jedi in Star Wars but the Neophyte gets smacked if they
even dare bitch about sand. They are also quite useful to Initiates to use as shields (literally) in
battle.

Chapter Strength[edit]

It's a lot like this, really.

Despite being a Codex Chapter (well, they're a Codex Chapter as of the newest Codex), they
basically just cherry pick whatever they want from it. In particular, they're exploiting a loophole
in the Codex Astartes that says a crusading Chapter can go above the limit of 1,000 Marines,
because they don't have a Fortress Monastery, a disastrous campaign or Warp mishap could
destroy the entire Chapter if not for this stipulation. The Black Templars, however, take this to
mean "have as many Marines as you want!"

However, it's not actually clear how many Marines they actually have. Some neckbeards (both
fanboys and bitter opponents) exaggerate the actual numbers, referring to them as legion strength
and/or believing that their numbers are figuratively without limit and end up with ridiculously
high guesses. Given the vagaries of in-universe time due to warp phenomena and the inevitable
depletion of assets due to the nature of their work, as well as the fact that they have shit record
keeping due to a complete lack of Librarians, the actual number of active templars would be in
constant flux.

In Blood and Fire, Grimaldus mentions that they typically have dozens of crusades going on at
any point in time; other sources tell us that the Black Templars as an entire Chapter actually
consist of a total of three "primary" crusade fleets from which all other fighting companies are
split from and deployed on their own "secondary" crusades when necessary. This coincides with
the original codex, which said that there were usually no more than three crusades at any given
time but that they can stretch themselves according to necessity, and states that in one
exceptional case there were up to fourteen crusades operating in the Segmentum Solar during the
Treachery of Dalmark.

If we were to base the numbers off the estimate in the back of the 4th edition Codex: Black
Templars, the deployment map totals greater than 6000 marines, with several of those crusades
routinely exceeding 500 marines. But when you factor in normal redeployment over the years
that number isn't very helpful as many of those crusades were finished by the time others arose.
When you consider it like that, many other chapters have deployed en masse over the years and
would also generate a similar deployment map. Furthermore, only a handful of crusades
numbered relatively close to one thousand, with only Armageddon passing it, with 1,232 Marines
total and even that number was questioned (?) by the author; for this campaign, High Marshall
Helbrecht was said to have mustered three crusades.

So we can either take it as written in the Order of Battle that the three crusades represent the
"normal" three crusades and hence the entire chapter, giving us an absolute minimum of over
1000 marines, or we can assume that the three crusades are not the primary crusades at all, which
still doesn't give us much of an indication of the chapter size, leaving us at square one.

To make things even more confusing, each crusade will be accompanied by a Black Sword and a
set of the Armour of Faith, to be used by the Emperor's Champion. The 4E codex said that every
crusade and fighting company would have its own champion, but the 6E Codex and the newer
novels changed this older fluff and said that there could only be a single Champion in the entire
chapter at any given time, and that only a handful arise every century. Plus, there are only ten
Black Swords in the Chapter and they are held by the Chaplains, just in case they find the
Champion within their crusade. This implies that there can only be ten crusades active at any one
time; hence, if the three crusades at Armageddon, taken to be around 1,232, are three-tenths of
the Chapter's overall size, the Black Templars have around 4,000 marines.

The old Codex also suggested somewhere between 5000-6000 "if certain accounts are to be
believed" which places a level of uncertainty on the number, and if you consider the above
statement would sound reasonable if you took Helbrecht at his word about the availability to
Black Templar soldiers and could easily show how the Administratum has been misled into
thinking the Templars are much larger than they actually are. A-D-B also suggested about 6000
in an offhand comment; therefore, it is currently our highest reasonable upper limit without
resorting to guesses.

However, the novel Eternal Crusader flat-out says that the whole Chapter could gather together
on the Eternal Crusader itself and barely tax the capabilities of the vessel, and that "the mere'"
200 marines of Helbrecht's crusade, which constituted one fifth of the Black Templars' total
forces, meant that the vessel was mostly empty, making them far more chapter sized. The book
also shows High Marshal Helbrecht purposefully exaggerating the size of his contingent at
Armageddon from 400 marines to 900 in order to gain overall command of the Astartes forces
that had arrived (many chapters had brought a lot more men than the Templars, and would have
had more right to overall command). Helbrecht would later leave Armageddon briefly to muster
"more" Black Templars (but only bringing the number up to what he promised), so it is easy to
see how the size of his contingent would be misleading to an outside observer.

The author of Eternal Crusader later acknowledged on his blog that the Black Templars could
have maintained extreme numbers in the past, but that the overall strength of the Chapter was
reduced to a thousand (more or less) as result of a corporate decision by GW, not just of the
codex authors. Heresy! Clarified in 8th edition that the Templars have several crusader fleets
each OVER a thousand marines! We're back baby!

It is perhaps best to repeat the Black Library's own take on the fluff: 40k is in the fucking dark
ages and everything written down could be a legend, propaganda, an event that happened, or a
rumor based on a real event. Any guess as to the number of marines in the Black Templars is just
that, a guess, and a book offers only the author's point of view, or what he wants you to think, or
he himself is a fabrications.

Correction! 8th Edition completely spits on Black Library's 7th ed retcon. Pg 76 of Imperial
Index 1 "Rather than maintaining a single home world from which they recruit and operate, the
Black Templars are a fleet-based Chapter. Refusing to adhere to the limit of one thousand active
Space Marines as demanded by the Codex Astartes, each Black Templars battle-fleet contains
thousands of warriors.". Guess the Templars ara back to being the 800lbs gorrilla of the
Imperium.

On Psykers[edit]

For most of their history the Black Templars didn't have any Librarians. This was generally
thought as a pretty simple fact, they hate all forms of witches. They even have a special rule call
"Abhor the Witch". That was until 6th edition when it was more explicitly stated that they had no
real compunction against Astropaths and Navigators, since they were the only people who knew
how to drive the massive crusading fleets. The major difference between their codex and 6E is
their opinion on other psykers: In previous works, it was made pretty clear that they wouldn't
suffer the witch no matter who they were, and as such literally couldn't ally with any other
psyker-using force except for the Grey Knights (and even then, it was AoC). Come the 6E Codex
however, suddenly all their hatred for every psyker was scaled back to merely just being a hatred
to all enemy psykers. Some may call this fluff-rape and all that in their neckbearded RAGE, but
others realize that setting up tons of restrictions would ultimately serve to cripple the Templars
and ultimately just kept things easier by just generalizing it. No better than having their own
codex again, but it's the closest possible alternative for the time being.

So it was changed. The Black Templars hatred is only towards alien and rogue psykers and that
they have great respect for the ones in the fleet. So why no Librarians? There are three theories in
the codex:

They still enforce the Edict of Nikaea.

A gene-seed defect.

They lost them during The Howling.

A small part of it likely has to do with their recruiting process. Since they recruit from the worlds
they Crusade on, and they spend a decent amount of time purging renegade psykers, there
probably aren't any psykers left for them to recruit and they're not likely to recruit Psykers found
by somebody else. It still doesn't explain why they've never had a recorded incident of latent
Psykers awakening once they've been recruited.

Meh, they probably just had the sense to realize that an Astartes throwing the same bolts of
lightning that a non-Astartes psyker can throw is an Astartes who's not ripping the enemy apart
with his holy junk. Leave it to sanctioned psykers amongst the other guy's forces.

Rather hilariously, the Black Templars are not even certain why they don't have Librarians;
because the Librarius usually maintains the records of the chapter, the Templars have allowed
their understanding of history to fall into decay. One probably imagines that any reports that do
get filed end up being thrown into a cupboard somewhere because the Templars are more
interested in punching heretics than punching holes in paperwork and collating.

Notable members[edit]

Sigismund: First Chapter Master/Soul brother who made the chapter when Dorn broke the
Legion up.

High Marshal Helbrecht: Their current Chapter Master. Gets fucked up by Imotekh the
Stormlord who proceeds to take his arm as a trophy. Helbrecht then manages to destroy his entire
fucking flagship as retaliation. Currently on a manhunt for Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka
alongside Commissar Yarrick Armageddon fighting the Ork forces, because the setting actually
got dialed BACK to before Ghazghkull had to flee the planet.

Chaplain Grimaldus: THE most badass Chaplain in the entire Godsdamn Imperium, with the
possible exception of Lemartes. He fought the biggest Ork WAAAGH in history on a very old
temple that had relics and artifacts that were sacred to the Imperium. The battle only ended after
the temple collapsed and buried every Ork and Marine under the rubble. But since Grimaldus
was too badass to die, he crawled out of the temple with a few relics he managed to save. And
besides the guy has the word grim in his fucking name! How can he not be badass? The main
caveat about his description is in his depiction in the book Helsreach, featuring Grimaldus'
service in Armageddon leading up to his title as "Hero of Helsreach", where we learn he is
equally skilled at tantrum-throwing/sulking, as he is kicking lots of ork ass. But to be fair, this
isn't the Grimaldus we know and love as first. Helsreach is about him manning up under constant
pressure, him finding he has to stop feeling like he has to be his old boss's bitch all the time and
learning to be the butch. He does manage to man up and becomes the badass we all know and
love (by the end of things, like, the very last second before a cathedral falls on him and knocks
him out and not a second sooner). Plus, he had the stones to do it all WITHOUT A ROSARIUS.

Tankred: He who endures. Also is partial to bitches.

High Marshall Ludoldus: A previous High Marshall notable for having led the Templars during
two Crusades that were separated by over 2000 years, specifically the Vinculus Crusade
(833.M41) and the Jerulas Crusade (645.M39). Considering that he was already High Marshall
by the time of Vinculus, one can only conclude that Ludoldus was FUCKING OLD... and totally
blows Dante out of the water as the guy even has old in his fucking name.
Castellan Draco: notable role in the Vinculus crusade, notably in killing Inquisitor Lord Vinculus
after he got possessed, but not after his own losses; that is, he got buried in rubble after lacing the
cult's massive fortress with explosives. For his valiant efforts, he got his lost parts replaced with
bionics, a relic suit of armour and Lord Vinculus' sword.

Marshal Magneric See Tankred above imagine if he was in command of his own crusade. Unlike
most dreadnoughts he still kept his name and rank and rarely slept which made him into a crazy
fanatic (and implied to be the source of the religious zeal) spends most of his days hunting his
old BFF Warsmith Kalkator until orks of The Beast showed up.

Daily Rituals of a Black Templar[edit]

Think Angry Marines but with less copious cursing.

03:50: Morning Call to Prayer: Initiates awaken their respective Neophytes from their
comfortable slumber on bare stone floors. This often involves buckets of ice water, vox-casters
playing hymns with the volume control knob broken off, or a power armor shod foot up the ass
depending on the Initiate in question. Complaints that this awakening occurred ten minutes prior
to scheduled reveille are met with readmistration of the waking aid.

04:00: Morning Prayer: Neophytes are berated for their perceived failings by their responsible
Initiates, who are in turn berated by the Sword Brethren, the Sword Brethren by the Castellans,
up to the Marshal who berates the entire Fleet then swears a solemn vow to an icon of the
Emperor that they will do better and prove themselves worthy by stabbing heretics in the throat
with their swords. Tactics may also be discussed and orders of battle issued, assuming they
involve rushing headlong at the enemy.

05:00: Morning Firing Rites: The Initiates school their apprentices on the art of shooting xenos
in the face while simultaneously swinging a chainsword. This shooting preferably occurs while
rushing across the active firing range in order to close with the target and hit it with the bolt
pistol if possible.

07:00: Morning Battle Practice: Initiates inform their neophytes that if they are done being
cowardly whelps they may now avail themselves of a sword with which to stab shit.

11:55: Milk and cookies break. Any neophytes stupid enough to drink milk or eat cookies in
front of their Initiate gets their meal pushed in their noses and eyeballs respectively. Things get
interesting if they dipped their cookies in their milk.

12:00: Midday Prayer: Neophytes are told how poorly they did during the morning exercises,
any sense of pride or joy is rooted out. The Marshal leads the Fleet in prayer and promises the
Emperor they will kill more things even more righteously this afternoon.

13:00: Midday Meal: The chapter serfs provide cold cuts for the Brothers' enjoyment. Lunchmeat
is usually collected by the serfs following each battle and stored in the ships' freezers. Naturally,
Neophytes do not get something to eat yet as the Initiates insult them for even assuming they get
to eat. The Neophytes soon learn that the Emperor has a sense of humor when the Initiates are
informed that only Sword Brethren on up are allowed to eat.

13:15: Tactical Indoctrination: Locations of the vital organs and blood vessels of xenos species
that may be encountered on the current Crusade and the weak spots of Daemons are reviewed,
occasionally an Initiate will cuff his Neophyte on the back of the head and reiterate "Yes that,
you stab that retard." Other tactics may also be discussed as long as they involve inserting blades
into things.

14:00: Afternoon Battle Practice: Initiates attempt to kill their Neophyte with a power sword. If
the Neophyte is not dead in four hours he passes muster.

18:00: Evening Firing Rites: Neophytes are instructed in how to operate heavy and specialty
weaponry dropped by their responsible Initiate when he abandons it so that he may swing his
sword with both hands to better kill shit or is eaten by a monstrous creature which he bravely
(read:stupidly) tried to skullfuck in CQC.

20:00: Evening Prayer: After short session of critique and berating, the Emperors' Champion
leads a sermon about how awesome the Emprah is and how much He wants them to
bifurcate/decapitate the current heretics/mutants/xenos they are fighting with power weapons.

21:00: Evening Meal: A feast is served by the chapter serfs. Alcohol and anything that has a
pleasant taste will not be consumed as the Emperor looks down on those that enjoy life. No
hamburger, no cheeseburgers, no french fries, no milkshakes, no potato chips; you will drink
water distilled from the Fleet's waste/reactor AND LIKE IT!

21:30: Night-fighting/zero-gravity exercises: Initiates instruct their charges on stabbing things by

the glow of a power sword and how to fight in a zero-gravity environment without jump packs
(stab foe, use corpse as a springboard to assault another foe, repeat).

23:15: Sharpen your shit you incompetent, the Emperor reserves great disdain for those that kill
heretics with dull blades.

23:45: Free time: The Initiate is free to challenge his Neophyte to a short duel. Wounds heal
better during sleep anyway.

00:00 Rest period: The Initiate sees his Neophyte off to bed, with one last punch to the face to
help him fall asleep. The Sword Brethren then punch the Initiates in the face before they retire
for rest period.

Note that this constitutes a day off for a Black Templar. A working day will involve 23 hours of
rushing monstrous creatures with melee weapons. Neophytes are expected to pull bullet sponge
duty so the Initiate is not distracted by little things like enemy gunfire (and that their spilled
blood will allow the Initiates to glide on the ground to their enemy faster) as seen here:

Black Templar Combat Training[edit]

Brother-Initiate Teuton McTemplar: "Neophyte, get your ass over here and hold my Lascannon
while I charge that Carnifex with my Power Fist!"

Neophyte Random'O'Germansoundingname: "But sir I have not yet earned my power armour
and a Lascannon weighs 100 kilos..."

Brother-Initiate Teuton McTemplar: "You are going to pick up that spotlight and burn some
fucking xenos, and you are going to like it!"

Note: It would be nice if this could happen, but in reality, you can only arm Neophytes with
shotguns or bolt pistols with CCWs, though you were able to arm an initiate with both a
Lascannon and a Power Fist in their original codex. Hilariously too you could go completely
overboard and have one marine armed with a Power fist, three bolt pistols (or two bolt pistols
and a bolter), a Chainsword, a Power Weapon, a Heavy Bolter, a Missile Launcher (or a Multi-
Melta), a Lascannon, and a Plasma Cannon ALL AT THE SAME TIME (though while funny is
still a terrible thing to put on the battlefield as he can still only fire one per turn, pistols
notwithstanding). Talk about a jack of all trades...

The Crimsons Fists are a second founding chapter of the Imperial Fists, formed by the younger
and more level-headed members. Noted for their crimson gauntlets, which were inspired by a
ritual with Rogal Dorn and an Imperial Fist successor Chapter Master having a manly handshake
with cut palms, signifying blood brotherhood between them. The name sounds more like a
particularly painful sex act of Slaanesh that ends in internal bleeding, but whatever, they're still
cool.

They got fucked over during an Ork invasion on Rynn's World, their home planet, when a stray
missile fired from their orbital defense grid struck their own fortress. The damn thing somehow
missed its original target, bypassed ALL of the fortress' void shields (we'll get to this freak
accident later), and hit the armory directly, not exploding until it was hundreds of meters
underground. The chances of this happening are about as likely as rolling 100 d20s and only
getting 1s on all of them. (If you're curious, the probability of that happening is one in
1.267651x10130. Seriously.)

But it's okay, because the Crimson Fists still managed to beat the Orks with only two-hundred
and twenty-eight marines, 100 of which were killed the actual number of marines that survived
their fortress monastery being destroyed isn't stated (Rynn's World mentions 16 including Pedro
Kantor and Alessio Cortez). Kantor had sent a significant force to New Rynn City to defend it
(because, you know, Crimson Fists aren't complete arseholes and will make time to defend the
civilians). All that's known is that after the Imperial fleet came to Rynn's World to screw up the
Orks there were only a couple of companies left. A Land Raider appropriately named Rynn's
Might somehow managed to skillfully pilot itself using only its machine spirit and take out a
good chunk of the invading Ork horde, including a warboss, with hellishly accurate weapon fire.
When it ran out of ammo, it then tried to run over the Orks and when its treads were clogged
with bodies and its doors smashed open, it was entered by Lootas seeking to take it, after which
it vented the reactor and killed them all with hot plasma. The Crimson Fists were able to recover
the Machine Spirit of Rynn's Might, and are now trying to find a new vehicle to house the
Machine Spirit. They probably need a Titan chassis to contain that much awesome.

Let's also not forget that there's a part from the Rynn's World novel where Captain Cortez saves a
mother and her kids, one of which is only a baby, from being murdered by Orks. Kantor is quite
displeased at this, knowing that there are very few Crimson Fists left and they could not afford to
take refugees along for the ride. However, he mentions they can tag along if they can keep up
with the Astartes. You know how that went. Eventually the mother fatigues and falters, falling to
her knees. The column of marines halt as their Chapter Master moves to the back, where the
reader is led to believe that he is about to kill her given his wrist-mounted Storm Bolter is very,
very close to her head. She pleads that her children were so heavy and she tried, and what does
Kantor do? Let me stress that he did not want her in the first place. What does he do? He replies
with, "You did well to bring them this far. It is time someone else carried you now." And then he
picks her up in his arms, along with her kids, and rejoins his Battle-Brothers. Do you see the
Ultrasmurfs doing such a doubly heartwarming and doubly awesome act of kindness? Of course
not *cough*FallofDamnos*cough* (Except this exact thing happened in "Honour to the Dead"
except mom dies and baby is rescued/recruited by Ultrasmurfs) then again, the whole point of the
book was the Fists learning to care about Rynn's World, and its people, as before that point they
just saw it as their base (they didn't even recruit from the place). This was due to the fact they
were a fleet-based chapter for most of their history and only received Rynn's World a thousand
years before the Orks invaded it. Meaning what Kantor did wasn't just being a cool guy, it was
character development, showing the Fists weren't just merely defending a world, they were
defending their home.

The Crimson Fists 1st Company is known as the Crusade Company and consists of 128 marines
after the Crimson Fists decided to get shit done during the Crusade of Righteous Retribution.
During the crusade, the Fists were unable to procure new recruits, and slowly suffered attrition
until they ended up with only 128 marines left. Sounds kind of pathetic until you realise that the
crusade lasted for over 300 years, meaning that the Fists lost fewer than 3 marines a year. It's
now considered a bad omen if they don't have a full strength Crusade Company.

It's also worth noticing that only 9 years after the Battle for Rynn's World, the Crimson Fists
were already sending forces to fight in the Zeist Campaign. Crimson Fists obviously do not fuck
around.

How the fuck did that missile incident happen?[edit]

It took the writers a few tries to make it plausible. First it was implied it was a standard missile
fired from an orbiting defensive platform, meaning it normally should have done NOTHING to
such a mighty stronghold beyond a small crater. They claimed the missile bypassed the void
shields entirely, hit a piece of mountainside that was really super-duper weak (and somehow the
Crimson Fists didn't know about it) and went deep down into the mountain. The missile
detonated the Crimson Fist's weapon stockpile, causing their chapter a lot of hurt.
This was fixed by Steve Parker; the missile was actually fired from one of the fortress's anti-ship
weapons bastions, and the void shields had to be dropped to fire them. It was also the type of anti
ship missile that formed a melta field over the warhead to bore through ship armor before
detonation, to make "tunneled through two hundred meters of solid rock" less stupid. Which is
why silos like that should be kept separate from the fortress, so you don't have to drop your
shields to fire. While this would expose the silos, you can have one missile each and hide dozens
of them far away from one another.

Nah, the Kaptin in charge of the ship told everyone that he would do this and it happened. Ork
don't gotta explain.

Pedro Kantor is the current Chapter Master of the Crimson Fists. As of the latest novel
(999.m41) that chapter is dangerously under-strength and has to campaign not to be folded into
other chapters, though one has to wonder why they're being targeted for this and not some other
sons of Dorn. As successors of the Imperial Fists they are experts in being tougher than your
average spess mahreen. Known also for surviving the downfall of the Crimson Fists fortress
monastery and managing to organize the survivors and take out the orks on Rynn's World, saving
little kids and women, and making an Ork Warboss run away from him. These achievements are
made all the more impressive by the glorious amount of Derp and FAIL that plagued the
chapter's resistance before he took charge.

He is bros for life with fellow crimsoner and the mighty Spaniard himself Alessio Cortez. While
currently Cortez is missing, presumed dead, Kantor thinks his bro has merely been kidnapped by
the Eldar (although how you kidnap a giant killing machine, especially one as insanely tough as
Cortez, is anyone's guess). Pedro would probably get along brilliantly with Ekene Dubaku given
their similar workloads and problems.

He also had his fluff messed up by the dark one. In one battle he was killing Orks near Rynn City
and was helped by the Eldar. However, when he went to talk to his rescuers, he was told "Thank
me not, for the next time we meet on the battlefield it is I who shall bear your blood", but I guess
that this was too awesome and grimdark for Matt Ward to handle.

Originally named Pedro Cantor, back in the days of Rogue Trader. Pete Cantor was the play
tester he was named after.

On the Tabletop[edit]
Pts WS BS S T W I A Ld Sv
Pedro Kantor: 185 6 5 4 4 4 5 4 10 2+/4++

Pedro Kantor isn't exceptional in any one area, but neither does he lag behind in any area. First
off we have his rules, ATSKNF and Chapter Tactics (Imperial Fists), independent character, Hold
the Line, and Oath of Rynn. He gives sternguard objective secured and everyone in his
detachment gets preferred enemy (Orks). Every friendly model within 12" of him gets an extra
attack, giving him great deathstar potential. His warlord trait gives him FNP for a bit of extra
durability, which is nice. He comes to the field with artificer armor, an iron halo, frag and krak
grenades, an orbital strike beacon, and a relic gun called "Dorn's Arrow" an assault 4 ap4 storm
bolter.

Pedro is a solid choice for what he brings, and he opens up a lot of fun tactical options. With the
extra wound and FNP he's a bit tougher than most characters, though his lack of Eternal Warrior
means you shouldn't be too ballsy with that. Honestly though, Pedro himself is pretty vanilla, it's
the tactical options he opens up that you take him for. For example think of Pedro in a full unit of
honor guard. You have two attacks base, an extra attack from 2 CCWs, one more attack from
their standard, and finally ONE MORE attack from Kantor's buff. You now have, on a charge,
fifty nine(!) strength 4 with an extra six power fist attacks for flavor. You can buff this further by
buying your guard relic blades and having a command squad nearby, adding +1 A and S,
bringing you to a grand total of SIXTY NINE STRENGTH 5 AP3 ATTACKS on the charge, in
case you need to kill an entire company of space marines in melee for some reason. Of course
this squad is going to cost you just shy of 1000 points and it's one of the biggest fire magnets in
the game, but it could be fun! If you're looking for something mildly less cheesy you can make
an unbound list of sternguard with lots of combigravs and meltas. They have objective secured,
so this can work quite well.

Alessio Cortez was the second mightiest Spaniard in space and the hardest known hero of the
Crimson Fists Space Marine Chapter. He was known as the Master of the Charge (the title is not
explained but we can take a guess) and the captain of the fourth company. Proof of his utter
manliness is given below, so view with awe, children.

His mini. And THAT POSE!

He was known for being prideful, stubborn, and almost impossible to actually kill. It was said he
had only two bones left in his body he hadn't broken at one time or another and images of him
show that at least his face was a patchwork of old scars and burn marks. He survived the disaster
on Rynn's world (of course, as if a minor nuclear explosion could off him). During a fight with
an Ork Warboss he had his right arm ripped off. Showing what he thought of that, he rammed a
krak grenade down its greeny throat as it roared its victory which promptly blew it up. He's a bit
too over the top stubborn though, as he reported to duty right afterwards to his Chapter Master,
Pedro Kantor, with his right arm gone and had to be ordered to have it seen to. I knew the
marines were mentally programmed to behave but not to the extent of losing logic (scratch that
we've seen plenty of evidence of that before!).

Not likely, protested Cortez. Im still in this. Im fine. No, Kantor boomed. You lost an
arm, Alessio. By the mercy of the Emperor alone, youre lucky you didnt lose your life. Cortez
gestured over Kantors shoulder. I havent lost an arm, brother. Its right over there. Actual
Quote from "Rynn's World" by Steve Parker

Other memorable victories include disarming an Ork warlord by twisting his torso while the
ork's sword was embedded in his chest, allowing him to end up killing the warlord and his
bodyguards; breaking an Eldar line of defence (not hard) despite having a stab through the heart
and a couple of heavy weapon hits; defending a breach for 21 hours of constant fighting; and
fighting a six week campaign without supplies, setting a new chapter record. Yep, it's confirmed
this man is nuts and sends shivers down your spine at the sheer balls he must have. Because it
wouldn't be 40k without the grimdark, the senior Crimson Fists worry greatly, not about the
stubborn maniac leading a company, but about the effect on morale when Cortez actually dies.
Cortez himself also worries because being the unkillable captain means he has to keep doing
crazy shit to maintain the reputation and the morale boost it gives his company, but he also
realises that he will die eventually and his death will crush his company.

He went missing in action battling some Eldar (it seems everyone goes missing battling Eldar...)
and his whereabouts are currently unknown although his old mate Kantor is convinced he is alive
somewhere.

Knowing the Eldar they probably did nick him to dump him on a planet somewhere to kill
something they wanted killed and couldn't be bothered doing it themselves. Failing that, maybe a
certain necron has collected him to add to his collection, or he was gifted to another chapter.
Eventually, he was in fact rescued by the Deathwatch, so now he's back home with his pals.

His model is seriously sweet with its huge fist raised just ready to do some pounding and many
non-crimson fist players have converted the model for use in their own marine armies; it would
be a shame after all to let such a dramatically posed model go to waste.

Let a man never stir on his road a step without his weapons of war; for unsure is the knowing
when need shall arise of a spear on the way without.
-Havamal

Summa pia gratia nostra conservando corpora et custodita, de gente fera Normannica nos
libera, quae nostra vastat, Deus, regna - Norman Latin prayer that roughly translating to
something akin to; "Oh highest, pious grace, free us, oh God, by preserving our bodies and
those in our keeping from the cruel Norse people who ravage our realms." Odinn knows why it's
here and not on the Warriors of Chaos page though.

The Vlka Fenryka (Internally called The Rout, known to the wider Imperium and most of the
fans as the Space Wolves) are a loyalist Chapter of Viking-inspired Space Marines. They're as
manly as the Angry Marines are angry. Big fans of wolves. Extremely Nordic, very melee
oriented, and often found drinking and feasting when not at war. Given that they're honor and
legacy obsessed Nordic melee powerhouses, one can draw many parallels between the Wolves
and Dwarfs and Warriors of Chaos from Warhammer Fantasy. The chapter is traditionally rivals
with the Thousand Sons, though one might see the Wolves as a direct loyalist counterpart for the
World Eaters, with whom they have a long standing history of conflict going as far back as
before the Heresy. Both legions have similar melee-oriented, berserk mindsets in combat, and
both Legions hate the Thousand sons (for different reasons), but where the World Eaters are
reckless and bloodthirsty, uncaring about discipline one battle begins, the wolves value
teamwork and honor as much as individual strength. The Wolves are basically unstoppable,
badass Vikings are second to none when it comes to melee, yet still somehow manage to retain
more versatility than most armies.

That said, they aren't all fun and bar-room games, as they have their unique flaws. Where the
Imperial Fists are dutiful and stubborn, and the Dark Angels are secretive and faithful, the
wolves are loud, boisterous, and often arrogant. They're almost exceptionally brutal with how
they used to go about purging heretics. As we see in Battle of the Fang and Ragnar Blackmane's
books, the Rout tended to kill everything within the general proximity of Heretics or Xenos,
regardless of innocence or guilt (this may be another nod to the Vikings, who would often try to
be as merciless and intimidating as possible in dealing with enemies, so as to make the next guys
think twice about fighting). However, this began to change by the time of Armageddon. Logan
Grimnar especially has moved the chapter in the direction of protecting the innocent. But when
they do so, they often disobey orders or sacrifice valuable alliances. It's arguable whether this
really saves more lives in the long run is debatable. Furthermore, there is no chapter more
shortsighted than the Space Wolves. During a battle with the Alpha Legion, the White Scars
hung them out to dry. A more reasonable chapter might decide to make fewer enemies, but fast-
forward to M41 and the Space Wolves are happily pissing in the cornflakes of the Iron Hands,
Ultramarines, Ecclesiarchy, and Inquisition. This bites them in the ass big-time during Warzone
Fenris, when the Dangles don't even hesitate to bombard Fenris and kill its people. The Wolves
also tend to be arrogant and sometimes hypocritical, as they enjoy ego-stroking tales and boastful
stories, espousing honor and glory, yet even when one of their heroes does something
horrifyingly dishonorable, they conveniently ignore his misdeed and just keep praising him.
Perhaps Chaplain Scarath of the Flesh Tearers put it best, saying, "How are the Wolves so self
righteous, forever acting without shame or remorse? How do you celebrate yourselves as heroes,
even when so much imperial blood is on your hands? How do you always, always believe you
are the only white in a galaxy shaded with grey? Are you all truly that blind?"

They're one of the more "controversial" chapters, because fans will circlejerk them to death
about how amazing the Chapter is, though the chapter's numerous detractors will rant endlessly
about how the Chapter are all furries. Much of this conflict comes from GW's dissonance
between the Vlka Fenryka of the books, and the Space Wolves of the tabletop game. The Vlka
Fenryka of the Black Library books are a chapter with many different tribal and historical
inspirations, drawing on Viking and Germanic culture along with their favorite totem and
symbol, the wolf. The Space Wolves of the tabletop game ride wolves into battle, adorn
themselves with wolves, name their gear and vehicles after wolves. Whereas the Space wolves
have an Old Wolf, and Wolf Lords, and Wolf Guard, and Live in the Fang, the chapter as
portrayed in the books (theoretically the same people) have a High King, and Jarls, and Thanes,
and Live in the Aett. The Wolves have many faces, it just depends which source you're looking
at. That said, this can partly be attributed to bad translations and cultural changes over 10,000
years.

Ultimately, what defines the Space Wolves isn't their predatory, barbaric instincts- it's how they
accept and use their savagery without being controlled by it or forgetting its downsides, pretty
hard to do in 40k for various reasons. Fenris is a world of constant warfare, where resources are
scarce, monsters are omnipresent, and other humans constantly threaten every potential Space
Wolf. Their initiation ritual involves implanting the candidate with the Canis Helix, then leaving
them out in the wild to fight their way back to the Fang. To become a son of Russ, one has to
make it back without giving in to their inner beast. They're fully aware of their own potential for
senseless violence, and choose to fight the biggest monsters and save the people of the Imperium
rather than giving in.

On a somewhat humorous note, GW is repping the Norse gods with the heroes of the chapter.
You have Logan Grimnar playing Odin, a grey-bearded ancient whose great age and wisdom
tempers the fury of his wrathful kin. Tyr the young wrathful warrior is played by Ragnar
Blackmane, the young king whose arm was chewed on by a thunder wolf during his right of
proving, a reference to the most famous story about Tyr. Finally you have Thor, the hammer-
throwing champion of Odin, and Loki, a clever schemer characterized by his sick sense of
humor. Someone more familiar with Norse mythology could probably point out even more.

The Rune Priests use Chooser of the Slain, psyber-ravens as spies, sentries and scouts, a
pretty clear reference to Odins ravens Hugin and Munin, which fly around the world and
whisper the news in Odins ear

Contents
[hide]

1 Brief History and Main Overview

2 Relationship with the Thousand Sons

o 2.1 Ragnar Blackmane

3 The Fate of Leman Russ

4 Organization

o 4.1 Hierarchy

o 4.2 Other Assets

5 Combat doctrine
 6 Civilians

7 Daily rituals of a Space Wolf

8 A Quick Word Out of Character

9 Gallery

10 See also

11 External Links

Brief History and Main Overview[edit]

Before Russ was discovered, the Wolves were a bunch of dicks. They were uncontrollable
bullies. They were developed in isolation along with the Salamanders and Alpha Legion, and
were considered a fractious and undisciplined force, to the degree of officers losing control of
their troops in the middle of a battle. To make matters worse, they often slaughtered civilians
who had no way of fighting back. Their geneseed was also extremely difficult to implant in
aspirants, often killing them.

Leman Russ was basically Viking Mowgli, being raised by wolves before he was captured (or
possibly chose to/was talked into joining them, fluff varies) by the humans of Fenris and became
adopted son to Jarl Thengir. When Thengir passed, Leman became Jarl by virtue of being the
biggest badass on Fenris. And that's saying something. Ol' Empy came along and said 'JOIN
ME!' in his typical dickish fashion. Leman then challenged him to three contests: drinking,
eating, and fighting (though goodness knows why they didn't do the fighting bit first. If your
fighters are drunk and stuffed, the fight will be less interesting). Leman showed up the Emperor
in the first two contests, supposedly eating an entire ox and drinking a dozen barrels of mead.
When the two of them fought, though, the Emperor was the victor, beating Russ fair and square.
When he finally woke up from his pummeling and liquor induced stupor, Leman recognized the
Emperor as a worthy master, and agreed to serve.

Leman very much remade his Legion. The Wolf King used a combination of myth-as-metaphor,
genuine superstition, and the influence of Fenrisian veterans to promote discipline and
obedience. He taught his warriors to control their bloodlust and kill who they had to rather than
butcher everything in sight. That said, the VIth Legion would cross any line and kill any traitor
for the Emprah. They fought to make the galaxy safe for humanity, but they were willing to
accept the loss of human life. After Yarant and the battle with the Alpha Legion, they started to
reevaluate this attitude. It was a process rather than a sudden snap, but they gradually focused
less on punishing oathbreakers and more on protecting innocents.

One further thing of note is that it is implied by an offhand comment of Russ's in the Horus
Heresy books that the two missing legions were destroyed or at least broken by the Space
Wolves, so if it is true then that brings their legion kill tally to three.
The Space Wolves are another example on how Games Workshop lusts after medieval
Scandinavian history and mythology. As if the Warriors of chaos weren't already enough of a tip
off to that. Given that they are the only Space Marines to have wolves, beards, wield axes, laugh
boisterously, and act like something more than sombre, grim assholes, and because they have
names like 'Ragnar' and 'Bjorn' they are instantly considered manlier than all other Spehss
Mehreens, including the Chaos ones.

The Space Wolves also have a complex relationship with religion. The people of Fenris had
several deities and considered the Fang to be a hall of immortals where the valorous dead went
even during the Great Crusade, which Big E overlooked because the results produced in the form
of the Space Wolves were worth it. After a Fenrisian warrior proves his mettle while a Wolf
Priest is watching, he gets taken to the Fang and given superhuman abilities and immortality, so
this is true, in an Obi-Wan Kenobi sort of way. After becoming a Space Marine, they take on a
more secular worldview, though superstition and storytelling remain. However, even though they
describe Russ as performing impossible feats or act like talismans will protect them, many of
their stories are in point of fact allegorical, and their superstitious beliefs are implied to be more
of a subconscious way of steeling themselves against the possibility of death. So at the end of the
day, your average Space Wolf (if such a thing is possible) believes that his necklace will ward off
bad luck and the runes on his armor will protect him from sorcery while saying that Russ
defeated the two-headed god of death and made him work for him, he's using the necklace to
make himself more willing to risk death, a belief in runes to help resist psychic powers, and
really saying that Russ harnessed the bloodlust of the VIth and gave it purpose. That said, he
probably believes that Russ literally wrestled Morkai into submission too.

Based on their characterization in Prospero Burns and Battle for the Fang, they hold little regard
for "mortals", but highly respect bravery in battle. On top of all that, they happen to have the
most compassionate and bro-tier Chapter Masters ever, Logan Grimnar. Logan is known for
being famously sympathetic to the common man of the Imperium, defending his mortal charges
with a passion beyond reason. This attitude has earned him a somewhat mixed reputation among
the upper echelons of the Imperium, because while Grimnar is much loved by the people of the
Imperium, he also has a bad habit of leading his chapter into conflict with other factions of the
Imperium when he deems it necessary.

If they were in a vidya game, they'd probably be voiced by Brian Blessed, or his royal
Cinemaness CHRISTOPHER LEE, may he glory and feast forever in Valhalla.

They also once managed to kill an entire VOID WHALE! (If a hideously malformed one) Scary
Badass Grampa Werewolf Viking FTW!

Spess Wohlfs, if not already obvious, draw upon a heavy Viking theme, an equally heavy
werewolf theme, and wolves in general. As such, the Space Wolves, Black Templars, White
Scars, World Eaters and Khornate Worshipers in general, are the few people to realize that they
all live in a fantasy universe with spaceships.

Another question that might come up if one thought about it is what happened to all of their extra
marines. Even between the Burning of Prospero, a brutal void battle with the Alpha Legion
straight afterwards and the rest of the Horus Heresy, the Wolves and their descendants were
reduced to a chapter strength of about 1200 marines by the 41st Millenium. Even with attrition
over the years, they should have been left with thousands of marines to split into different
chapters. The main school of thought is that the Wolves split into two chapters, the original
Space Wolves as well as the Wolf Brothers. While the Wolf Brothers would eventually be
disbanded due to genetic instability, it would still leave the Space Wolves several thousand
marines strong. It's thought that the rest of the Sons of Russ would eventually be brought down
to close to Codex Chapter strength by attrition, as their numbers were overcome by casualties,
the rise of the Mark of the Wulfen, and alcohol poisoning. Another hypothesis is that there would
be other chapters that would split off from the Wolves, albeit unofficially or by their origins
being proscribed for...whatever reason. However, if the Wolves were indeed left to be several
hundred strong after Guilliman got his reform on, it would mean that after Russ's disappearance,
the wolves were slowly dying out after their recruitment numbers dwindled to the dozens per
year. (Though the natural ratio of recruits-to-casualties probably reached an equilibrium point at
some point a few centuries afterwords, and has hovered right around that point for a long time.
Grimdark doesn't always mean Grimderp.)

In M32, a small but influential faction within the Rout started experimenting on the Canis Helix,
trying to make it less wolfy but preserve the general badassery of Russ' gene seed. This was
aimed at realising Russ' dream of Wolves descendants- the reformers saw their Chapter
becoming steadily more isolated, making it harder for them to defend the Imperium. Some even
claimed that the Imperium would start to question the Wolves' loyalties because of the wulfen
issue, putting their existence at risk. They faced lots of internal opposition, but the gene-splicing
began to pay off and the Legion's "apotheosis" was looming. Then Magnus heard about it and
attacked Fenris, leaving the Fang all but broken and the current Great Wolf dead, along with
most of the reformers. Magnus took a thrashing in the process, but finally had a comeback to all
Russ' "forever alone" jokes (fuck, even the Salamanders probably have successors these days).
As predicted, although the Wolves are still revered throughout much of the Imperium, they're
also mistrusted by its rulers and institutions. Inquisition tried pretty hard to bring them to heel
over the whole Armageddon fracas- it's a fair bet that they wouldn't have tried this if the Wolves
had a few successor Chapters to call on.. Oh, and their attack on the Fang did a similar amount of
damage to what Magnus managed.

And now, with a new Black Library novel inbound, it seems that the Wolves big secret is about
to get out, and now the Inquisition might just get them opening they were looking for...

Relationship with the Thousand Sons[edit]

Space Wolves have a talent for rage, and it is thought by some that they pride themselves with
the sheer number of enemies they have. But the Thousand Sons Chaos Legion is by and large
their greatest enemy, at least that's what they think. The fact is that the rivalry began when the
Space Wolves (with help from Custodians and Sisters of Silence) kicked the living shit out of the
Thousand Sons on their home planet, which is like having your country host the Olympics and
then getting last place in every event (much like Canada in the 1976 Summer Olympics and
again in the 1988 Winter Olympics). Before that, Leman Russ, Primarch of the Space Wolves,
broke the back of Magnus the Red, who is Primarch of the Thousand Sons. TO BE FAIR,
Magnus felt that he deserved it and therefore ordered his warriors to deactivate all planetary
defenses (he actually deactivated it himself and even killed one of his own captains to hide the
coming of the invasion fleet). If the Thousand Sons had their defenses active, the Wolf of the
Wolf Wolf Wolves probably would have had a much harder time of it. As it is, even with all the
backup the Wolves had, once they ran out of planetary defense forces in parade uniforms to
slaughter, and came across the Thousand Sons, the Wolves/Custodians/Sisters were slowed down
a little until Tzeench pulled the troll lever (though he might've been bolstering the Sons' powers
already, which the Ruinous Powers later did with Horus, and this was just a side effect) and the
Sons' greatest psykers started mutating and exploding like Tetsuo from Akira.

Considering the Emprah basically just asked for Leman Russ to give Magnus a ride to Earth, this
is more like your parents asking you to tell your younger sibling to come out of their room and
clean up the mess they made, only for you to go in there, shoot off both their legs, take a dump
on the floor and set the room on fire, chase them out into the streets, murder his best friends, and
then tell your parents that the brat suffered for not taking responsibility for the five or so school
books on the couch. Of course, Horus helped that all along, having already went full daddy
hate:he twisted Big big E's orders into "rape prospero, k tnx", being a loyal lapdog Russ just
rolled with it. Just as planned. Chief Custodian Valdor also urged Russ to curbstomp Magnus for
good, presumably because he was concerned what kind of damage Magnus could do in person,
given how much trouble he caused from millions of light-years away.

This set the tone for the rest of their unhealthy relationship. The Thousand Sons do something to
piss off the Space Wolves, usually some brilliant, convoluted plan, and the Space Wolves just
charge and beat the living shit out of them and laugh in their faces when they find out how much
work those Tzeentchies put into their plots. Sadly, this usually comes at a staggering toll in Space
Wolf lives. So grimdark. Oh, and the Thousand Son's usually accomplish some underlying secret
objective.

Many theories are abound as to why the Space Wolves hate the Thousand Sons and their sorcery
so much. The most popular amongst fa/tg/uys is that the Thousand Sons Primarch, Magnus,
being aware of Russ's bestiality, was always watching him from his magical lookout, riding up
and down his sorcerer's tower to observe Russ from every height and depth, intently channeling
the power of his one-eyed cyclops to pierce into Russ's most intimate chambers. Understandably,
this left Russ very (literally) butthurt indeed and eager for vengeance. Or because Magnus is a
NERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRD.

One theory disclosed to the Khan, admittedly from the probably-not-very-reliable source of a
shade of Magnus left behind on Prospero, suggests that there could be an even more sinister
reason for the hatred, suggesting that there is a dark reason why the Wolves put runes of
protection on every part of their wargear (other books suggest the Wolves place huge importance
on runes and symbolism).

Also while it may seem laughable that the axe dragging wolf-fucking barbarians continually
thwart the plans of the hyper-intelligent sorcerers, the wolves are actually probably the most
ideal chapter to fight them (except, perhaps, the Grey Knights, for obvious reasons). They have
the Canis Helix which causes them to wolf out rather than be corrupted by chaos, and the Rune
"Magic" that their Rune Priests use is literally the closest thing to sorcery used in the Imperium.
Add to that the fact that they have one of the most impressive fleets in the entire Imperium,
making them somewhat less worried about warp storms, and you have a group almost tailor-
made to resist the Thousand Sons.

Other people believe that Space Wolves are indeed a traitor legion and the Thousand Sons a loyal
one. Think a second about it. What are the benefits of the Mark of Khorne? Rage and
counterattack, exactly the same rules Blood Claws have. Why Russ destroyed completely
Prospero if Magnus was not defending himself and his only sin was warning the Emperor about
the Horus Heresy? Why Russ went to the Warp? To become a Daemon-Prince? Why they don't
recognized Guilliman as their spiritual leader? Why they don't follow the codex who has given
so much prosperity to the Imperium? What are those mutations wulfen have? Gifts of Chaos?
However, these people are idiots who don't read the lore and have bad grammar, so you shouldn't
listen to them.

Ragnar Blackmane[edit]

HERESY

Perhaps the best example can be found in The Space Wolf Omnibus, in which Ragnar Blackmane,
who is at that time a Bloodclaw (neophyte), not only fucks over a Sorcerer, but Magnus the Red
himself. The Sorcerer, Madox, is so pissed at being foiled by Ragnar that he bitches about it to
other Thousand Sons, who find this hilarious, and goes around making plots, which Ragnar
manages to fuck up nicely, thereby saving the galaxy. Ragnar even took the spear of his Primarch
and hurled it into the eye of Magnus the Red. Do note that this is as much canon as other BL
anti-fluff shit.

Because of this, the Blood Ravens forge a weapon named after Ragnar, who tells them to keep
their toys because he doesn't need it (though in all reality he had a suspicion that they were trying
to 'fence' their 'gift' by giving it to him to evade Imperial authorities).

He and his pack (and about 30 Militarum Tempestus Stormtroopers people somehow always
forget to mention) once fought off 40 odd genestealers in close combat. In the actual game and
fluff; fighting this many 'stealers in melee is a one way ticket to massive rending claw induced
ASSRAPE for anything short of a vehicle with AV 14 on it backside. Yet somehow he managed
to avoid being torn into gory paper thin pieces and come out on top (like this kind of thing is
really uncommon with book marines). He manages this without being a Mary Sue. Why?/How?
It's because he's a motherfucking Space Viking. Also they were helped by about forty Militarum
Tempestus Stormtroopers and two Inquisitors, so it wasn't quite as one sided as it sounds.

The Fate of Leman Russ[edit]

Of Leman Himself, you ask? Legends state that after a great feast, He said unto his warriors:

"Listen closely Brothers, for my time is short. . There shall come a time far from now when our
Chapter itself is dying, even as I am now dying, and our foes shall gather to destroy us. Then my
children, I shall listen for your call in whatever realm of death holds me, and come I shall, no
matter what the laws of life and death forbid. At the end I will be there. For the final battle. For
the Wolftime."

And so, Leman departed, with his closest retinue... No, not you Bjorn... Some say he searches for
a means to revive His God-Emperor.. But despite the efforts of the Great Hunt, Leman remains
beyond the reach of Man... Who knows what great feats of Heroism he undertakes....

. . . Oh, who the fuck are we kidding? Leman got lost in the Warp and became a Daemon
Primarch of Kho-

//Historitor 109.163.233.200 decommissioned by Inquisitorial decree.//

He was, in fact, turned into a small girl. (Holy shit! A change like that can only mean that
Magnus must have gotten revenge.) And if by that you think we mean, "Russ had a shitton of
bastard children everywhere and one was a mutant that could shapeshift" then yes; only because
Russ's kids turning into wolves is nothing new. Nobody really knows if this had happened before
he went to Warhammer Fantasy and made the Norscans or not, but since they aren't vikings out
of a shoujo anime, we can make a pretty good educated guess. Somehow, he found his way back
to the Dark Millenium, still stuck in the form of a small girl.

(But seriously, we have no idea. There HAVE been sporadic reports of sightings of the 13th great
Company with Russ leading them, for what that's worth. And Magnus has mentioned that he
knows exactly what happened to Russ, but it's not like he'd ever tell them.)

Actually he has entered Slaanesh's realm of eternal yiff, meaning we will never see him again.

Organization[edit]
The wolves taking on a Tyranid horde.

Since they only see the Codex Astartes as a source of toilet paper (when they bother to wipe), the
Space Wolves have roles and titles far different from the standard Space Marine chapters.
Additionally, while traditional chapters each hold ten ~100-strong companies, the Space Wolves
instead have 12 autonomous companies, each of which is in varying strength and since they
aren't bound by the Codex, each company may have more than 100 marines on hand (in fact, a
full list of the members of Grimnar's company gives them a strength of nearly 200). However,
the Space Wolf legion was never particularly numerous, pre-heresy, in the first place due to their
unstable gene-seed (The fact that Magnus the Red destroyed the long-sought cure to this during
his attack on Fenris for this didn't help, but it should be noted that it wasn't that big of a victory
for Magnus, as Bjorn made it quite clear he would have destroyed the project when he found out
about it). Thus while unbound by the Codex, Space Wolf companies are typically slow to
reinforce their numbers due to said unstable gene-seed.

With 12 independent Great Companies (each with their own fleets, logistics support etc), this
means that even if each Great Company had 100 brothers, they would outnumber a normal
codex-compliant Spess Mehreens chapters by at least 20%. This is corroborated by the latest 7E
codex which has rules for playing a Great Company on its own; consisting of eleven squads of
varying size.
However since each Great Company doesn't bother to limit themselves to 100 (some Space
Wolves great companies sometimes number over 300 brothers) it means that they outnumber
codex chapters by an even greater degree, so with that said, the Apocalypse formation for the
same thing has no hard limit on the number of Blood Claw squads that may be taken, so will
probably represent a good period of recruitment for the Chapter. Therefore the total numbers will
vary over time in response to casualties and recruitment rates but can reasonably reach
estimations of 3000 marines or more; several times the official codex strength at peak times. But
currently though, Logan Grimnar's own company is the largest in the chapter and it totals 200
exactly by 998.M41 (not counting the "Great Wolf" assets like Dreadnoughts & Priests) whilst
Ragnar Blackmane's is said to be second, also currently sitting at 162 marines.

Hierarchy[edit]

The different ranks and assignments for the Wolves are the following:

Great Wolf: The Chapter Master of the Space Wolves, the Great Wolf (also known as the
High King by people who want to tone down the overwolf (i.e. everyone)) is chosen from
among the Wolf Lords by virtue of having the most furry porn being the most badass of
an army of space vikings. The Great Wolf is effectively the First Captain of the Space
Wolves, commanding an elite Great Company that includes the members of the three
Priesthoods and the Chapter's Dreadnoughts. Logan Grimnar serves as the current Great
Wolf.

Wolf Lord: The Brother-Captains of a company in Codex Chapters (although more like a
watered-down vanilla chapter master), Wolf Lords (AKA the Jarls) lead their Great
Companies and charge the Iron Priests with maintenance of its motor pool and the Wolf
Priests with recruiting new Astartes.

Wolf Guard: A cross between Veterans and Honour Guard, Wolf Guards (Thanes) serve
as the body guard of the Wolf Lord and leading packs in battle, serving as the Space
Wolves version of a Brother-Sergeant. They also get Terminator armour. In Second
Edition they also got to take any weapons they liked and could be built from stock parts
with an Assault Cannon and Cyclone Missile Launcher. This led to many games being
won as Assault Force Dickhead rampaged across the table murdering everything.

Wolf Priest: Combining the role of Apothecary and Chaplain, the Wolf Priests do the
standard roles of preaching and medical duties, but are also charged with recruiting
Aspirants for their companies. Plus they have a secret role on the battlefield, trying to
prevent their battle-brothers from turning into Wulfen.

Iron Priest: The Iron Priests serve the role of Techmarines, overseeing the motorpool and
equipment of the companies they belong to.

Rune Priest: Taking the role of Librarians in Codex Chapters, Rune Priests are the
psykers of the Space Wolves. However, instead of seeing their powers as coming from
the Warp, they hold that their powers come from the world spirit of Fenris, and consult
 the runes in a means to divine the future. Trying to explain to the Rune Priests that they're
drawing power from the Warp, and that they cannot "draw their powers from Fenris"
while being half-Galaxy away from it will usually result in the non-Space Wolf getting a
month's stay in the Apothecarion. The ultimate irony of this is that they are, in reality,
Sorcerers, the very thing they denounced the Thousand Sons for being.

Wolf Scouts: Each Great Company will have members who shun their pack brothers and
are shunned in return, preferring the company of more somber individuals, Wolf Scouts
serve to scout out enemy positions and terrain. As opposed to the regular codex, Wolf
Scouts tend to be veterans of battle able to rein in their savage rage.

Lone Wolf: Space Wolves who are the last of their pack. The loss of their brethren drive
them to seek a glorious death in combat at the hands of some form a fell enemy. Think of
Dwarf Slayers only a few metres tall with powered armour and weapons of doom and
destruction. Often the only way out of the Lone Wolf lifestyle is managing to kill
something that the individual shouldn't have survived killing and being elevated into the
Wolf Guard.

Skyclaws: Skyclaws are the trouble makers among a Chapter of trouble makers, forced to
wear Jump Packs. The Space Wolves view Jump Packs as an insult, reasoning that if the
Emperor wanted them to fly, he would have given them wings. Snide comments
regarding Sanguinius result in a short game of tug-o-war involving the offending battle-
brother's beard.

Thunderwolf Cavalry: Space Wolves who function in a manner similar to a Bike Squad,
but instead of actual bikes, they use Thunderwolves, which can be the size of a small car.

Long Fangs: Taking the role of Devastators, Long Fangs are veterans who have grown
long in the fang. No pun here - Space Wolves' teeth actually lengthen as they age, as an
effect of a mutated Betcher's Gland.

Grey Hunter: Having the role of Tactical Marines, Grey Hunters are those Marines who
have survived long enough as Blood Claws to quell the worst of their ferocity and blood
lust (read: wear a helmet in battle). Their new found experience and control allows them
to shoot and fight better than their younger brethren.

Blood Claws: Neophyte Space Wolves who serve in the Assault Marine roles of Codex
Chapters.

Other Assets[edit]

The Space Wolves have an impressive number of other gadgets and gizmos going for them.

Not least the fact that the Fang (Aett) is one of the three most defended locations in the entire
Imperium (the other two being the Imperial Palace on Terra and the Keep Inviolate on Kolossi
the homeworld of House Raven) and is tall enough that entire battlefleets can dock with the
fortress.

Speaking of battlefleets; the Wolves themselves have a navy to rival most others, with eight
Battle Barges and more than thirty Strike Cruisers, which in terms of logistical support could
accommodate over 5400 fighting men. As well as this, they have TWO Star Forts and over forty
escort squadrons. To let you know how much firepower this counts as, some lesser known
chapters would consider themselves fortunate to have even a single battle-barge. Even the Grey
Knights have only four Barges and twelve strike cruisers, so basically when Fenris held off the
Grey Knights during the Months of Shame, they had plenty going for them. They used to have
even more ships, and a star-fort network that could put the infamous Iron Circle of Badab to
shame before the Thousand Sons attacked Fenris in M33.

They also have over one-hundred Dreadnoughts stored in stasis vaults within their fortress
depths, where/how they accumulated them is uncertain and considering that most other chapters
tend to have around two or three Dreadnoughts per company, they likely outnumber nearly
anyone else by a considerable margin. (For comparison, the Blood Angels have 35 dreadnoughts
listed in their rolls of battle) This can likely be traced to their viking tendencies to super pillage
everything they come across. I mean Logan's got a daemon axe so I'm just assuming they are just
ripping daemons out of chaos dreadnought hulls, slapping a new coat of paint, some wolf sigils
and motifs on and dropping their wounded brothers in and no one will ever know.

Not to mention the packs of feral wulfen that they can scrounge up... Yeah they might happen to
have a shit ton of unregistered mutated werewolf murder machines lying around as 'failed'
aspirants. That said, Fenris is far less populous than the likes of Macragge, and feral Wulfen are
basically wildlife, so this is a moot point.

Oh, and all the "actual" Fenrisian Wolves & Thunderwolves that the chapter can muster.

Combat doctrine[edit]
"The best way to defeat a Space Wolf is to wolf his wolf. You must be careful, though, because if
the Space Wolf wolfs your wolf first, then your wolf is wolfed."
Attributed to Wolf Rider Volk Wolfclaw, On the Weaknesses of the Space Wolf Doctrine.
"A good way to get into a state of pure wolfness, would be that you shall wolf the wolf until the
wolfing wolf wolfs. Then, when the wolf wolfs your wolfness, the wolves of the wild will wolf
your wolf up. Wolf!"
Attributed to Wolf Master Jonal Wolfhand, "The Call of the Nightblizzard".
"Wolf wolf wolf wolf wolfity wolf. Wolf wolf, wolfo wolfy wolf wolf wolf. Wolf? Wolf!"
Attributed to Wolf Lord Egil Ironwolf, On the Intricacies of Tactical Wolffare.

Jokes aside, the Space Wolves are rather unusual when it comes to organisation and tactics.
Contrary to what many fans will tell you, they do actually study the Codex Astartes's points on
combat, though they completely reject it from an organizational standpoint. In battle the warriors
of the Rout will usually work on their own initiative and experience, but at the same time, they
don't disrespect or ignore the lessons of the codex. Their battle strategies tend to be neglected in
favor of localized battlefield tactics. They keep to their wolf theme by working as a "pack", with
very "make it up as we go along" tactics. This doesn't bite them in the ass as much as it would
other space marine chapters, because they can "smell the plan" (I can't make this shit up). The
books try to base this off of how normal wolves coordinate hunts, with nonverbal cues being
premium. The idea is that the wolves can read the situation by smelling their pack member's
moods and thoughts, using natural pheromone cues (and a few added by the Canis Helix) to
anticipate the moods of those around them. This is actually why most wolves prefer to fight
without helmets: you can't smell anything in the sealed environment of closed power armor.

Civilians[edit]
Of all the inconsistently written aspects of the Chapter, this is by far the worst offender.
Sometimes, the Space Wolves are written as brutal and merciless, giving zero fucks about
collateral damage or civilian casualties. On the other hand, sometimes the Wolves put their lives
on the line to protect the innocent. This can induce Rage in just about any fan, because some
people get into the Space Wolves seeing them as heroes while others prefer their more savage,
bloodthirsty tendencies. The best fluff attempts to find a middle ground by presenting them as
violent and pragmatic, but disciplined during the Heresy and increasingly heroic over time. By
M41, the Wolves actively stop the Flesh Tearers from murdering Imperial civilians at Honour's
End, disobey orders to protect the settlers at Thressiax, and play chicken with the Inquisition to
save the people of Armageddon (this example is particularly notable, because the Wolves didn't
just attempt to save the civilians from the Inquisition, for the first few months of the conflict they
did so with passive resistance, defending civilian transports with the shields and hulls of their
own ships, never firing back, a noble stance that even the Ultramarines and Salamanders would
have had trouble upholding). This paints a picture of a Chapter that actually becomes MOAR
independent and heroic as the galaxy goes to shit around them. Then Warzone Fenris happened.
In it, the Wolves pretty much abandon their allies to focus on the Wulfen. While it's not AS bad
as the Dark Angels, it's out of character and frustrating. On the plus side, they send warriors to
Cadia and Maccrage in spite of the mauling the Thousand Sons hand them.

Daily rituals of a Space Wolf[edit]

13:00 - Wake Up with Hangover - The Space Wolf awakens from his booze-induced coma and
begins the day. Headaches abound. Aspirin is consumed by the ton.
13:10 - Morning Piss - The Space Wolf empties the alcohol that has accumulated in his
bladder(s) in the Sacred Alcohol Excretion Grounds.
13:11 - Morning Fart - The Space Wolf empties his intestines. Pissing without farting is like
going to a holy site without praying to the Emperor, which is heresy.
13:20 - Morning Piss Ends - The Space Wolves have finally finished urinating.
13:30 - Ritual Intake of Alcoholic Beverages - The Space Wolf now cracks open his first cold
one of the day. The first of many. Cheerios may be consumed as well.
13:45 - Firing Drills - The Space Wolf consumes another liter of alcohol before going out back
and shooting empty beer bottles with his bolter. This takes place far away from the Alcohol
Excretion Grounds, after that one time Brother Brynjolf accidentally lit his own piss on fire, and
ended up in sickbay until his beard grew back and he was thus fit to be seen in public again.
14:00 - Freeze your Gonads - The Space Wolf sheds his armor and most of his clothing to
wander around Asaheim for an hour.
15:00 - Feeding of the Land Raiders - Space Wolf observes a feast with his brothers in honour of
the chapter's revered battle machines. Blood Claws are still wandering around outside naked in
the snow.
15:30 - Boozing of the Land Raiders - No feast is complete without shittons of liquor. Ale and
beer are poured and scrubbed all over the most honoured of the chapter's war machines. Many
still have bullet holes, sometimes allowing beer to get into the exhaust ports and make for
kickass explosions later. Blood Claws are still wandering around outside naked in the snow.
16:00 - Wolf your Wolf - Grey Hunters and older Space Wolves take this time to play with their
favourite 4-legged companions. Blood Claws are still wandering around outside naked in the
snow.
16:30 - Save the Blood Claws - Blood Claws are brought in from the cold. Most are frozen blue
or black - and hungry for more.
17:00 - Evening feast - Eat. Drink. Start brawls. The usual non-warzone Space Wolf thing.
18:00 - Try to wake up Bjorn.
18:10 - Give up, try to find something fun on the Vox Saga.
19:00 - Night shitter break.
20:00 - Night firing drills - Much to the Iron Priest's dismay, the Space Wolves practice writing
their names in the snow with bolters. In runes. In the dark.
21:00 - Ritual Intake of Narcotics and Purging of Testicles - bitches and blow.
05:00 - Daily Rest - The Space Wolf passes out.

A Quick Word Out of Character[edit]

The true reason for all this, is that, we at /tg/, in our pathetic, low reaching mastery of comedy,
have seen how idiotic it is that every Goddamn Space Wolf codex unnecessarily uses the word;
'wolf' as a prefix or a suffix in every 3rd sentence (similar to the tyranid codex shoe-horning the
prefix bio- into every 3rd sentence). Since /tg/ is an easily angered monster, not unlike an Angry
Marine, we attempt to furiously link Space Wolves to furries (its really fucking annoying). As we
are as fucked up as Chaos Pretty Marines.

It has been established in the Horus Heresy series that the VI Legion don't employ the word Wolf
as much as they appear to. Wolf is readily apparent in their motifs, such as Leman Russ's titles as
"Wolf-King" and "Great Wolf", as well as the formal name of the Wolf Guard, but it's not as
overblown as it's made out to be. Apparently, whoever did the Fenrisian-to-Gothic translation
made a few errors. First off, they don't call themselves the Space Wolves. When speaking
formally, they refer to themselves as the Vlka Fenryka, which can be translated as "Wolves of
Fenris", since Fenrir is the name of a wolf in Norse myth this makes it awesome pretentious as
fuck. Not if you realise that a bunch of colonists landed on a planet, bred giant dogs from their
great, great, grand-children then thought "You know what's better than planet Unicorn? Planet
fucking Fenris") The term is more like "folk of Fenris" if Vlka is associated with the Germanic
'Volk.' However, if Vlka is translated as Slavic, then we get the "Wolves of Fenris." Hence, Dan
Abnett is using linguistics to reinforce his theme that the Space Wolves are misunderstood by the
rest of the Imperium - called the Space Wolves because of a mistranslated word. (So they are
actually called "Space People"?) ( would make sense since ragnar refered to them as "Star
warriors" in the William King novels and their Fenrisian "Kaerl" auxilaries call them "sky
warriors", but the lore from these novels has been left by the wayside so take that s you will).
When speaking informally, they refer to themselves as "the Rout", solidifying their purpose as
the Emperor's executioners/snowflakes. Additionally, the post of "Wolf-Lord" is also a
mistranslation, as they refer to their Company commanders as "Jarl". Finally, they don't call their
fortress-monastery the Fang, but rather the Aett, which can be literally translated as "clan
home".There's also this in-universe meme "there are no wolves on Fenris". At all. This was
started by one of the primarchs remarking that they should be called xenos, because they're
natives of an alien planet, and it quickly morphed into a joke. But it goes a little deeper than that,
presenting weird questions about where the whole wolf thing (and the actual wolves they
ride/cuddle) come from. Long story short, they are furry cousins yee haah! Seriously No, it
highlights that there are no wolves on Fenris, because there are no wolves on fenris. See
below....keep up dammit.

With regards to the Fenrisian wolves, the origin a little more freaky than expected: they're not
wolves, but descendants of human wolf mutants. Back when Fenris was first settled, the
colonists had the Canis helix added to help them adapt to the harsh environment by adding wolf
genes to their genetic-makeup. Unfortunately, it worked a little too well--the canix helix caused a
number of settlers to degrade into wolfmen and wolfwomen. Following this, they bred and
produced a new strain of wolf into the environment. So there are no wolves on Fenris. They're
just the descendants of human mutants. Which might explain why, post-Heresy, only Fenrisians
can become Space Wolves (assuming that's why the successor chapters couldn't handle Russ'
gene seed).

Of course, that means that the Space Wolves are wearing pelts made of human skin, but lets not
dwell on that - after all it's fairly common in the Imperiums to wear human skulls...
WolfyWolfWolf *BLAM*.

Blood Angels
From 1d4chan

"Man is neither angel nor beast, and the misfortune is that he who would act the angel acts the
beast."
Blaise Pascal

The Blood Angels were the 9th Space Marine Legion created by the Emperor. They are so
named because of their tendency to use blood as a central symbol of their particular warrior-
monk rituals, and because of their susceptibility to the Red Thirst, a wild bloodlust that arises in
them during battle. If he fails to control his Red Thirst, a Blood Angel may succumb to the Black
Rage (the Grimdarkest of Daddy Issues), after which he becomes a completely insane killing
machine with no regard for his own safety who will try to destroy the Emperor's foes even if all
he has left is a bloody stump of one leg. This has led to the Blood Angels being viewed as
basically vampires IN SPEHSS, and unfortunately as the Team Edward to the Space Wolves'
Team Jacob. If you are not already completely indignant, see the second image at the bottom of
the page for additional rage. We'll wait. ...Yeah, how much does that blow? Here's the good
news, though: that's pretty much the only thing that sucks (PUN) about the Blood Angels.
Everything else is awesome apart maybe from 'nipple' armour, but the rest is all cool, angelic and
bloody and all.

The cause of the Black Rage basically amounts to the most epic case of an absent-daddy
complex ever. Just with a high chance of being skullfuckingly angry/awesome at the same time.
You see, during the Horus Heresy, the Blood Angels' Primarch, Sanguinius, was slain by Horus
himself just before the Emperor destroyed Horus. This subsequently fucked up the mental
stability of all future generations of Blood Angels, and when one of them is overtaken by the
Black Rage, he literally believes he is Sanguinius and relives in vivid detail the final battle with
Horus and his traitor legions at the Battle of Terra.

Oh, and Hive Fleet Leviathan have been coming to devour their homeworld Baal for a few
editions while it is also being attacked by a Khornate army led by their ancient enemy, the
Bloodthirster Ka'bandha. 8th edition "progressed" the story with the attack and devastation of the
Baal system where the Blood Angels and almost all their successor chapters were ready to
receive them. Both moons were stripped of all life (yummy yummy radioactive wastes) and the
main planet was wrecked with trillions of bugs, with the last survivors awaiting their fate like
men in the ruins of the fortress monastery.

This is when the Great Rift opened up and cut Baal from the real space, yet the Tyranids on the
ground forgot about the synapse shenanigans and continued to enjoy their first winning campaign
since like forever. By the time the Warp was stable, all the bug-ships had vanished and
Ka'Bandha had wiped out everything on one of Baal's moons. Luckily for them (though both BA
and Tyranid players would disagree), they were bailed out just in time by Roboute Guilliman and
his fleet. They have since managed to rebuild, notwithstanding Baal's moons becoming lifeless
husks except for the one Ka'Bandha manifested on.

Contents
[hide]

1 History and Background Fluff

2 Combat Doctrine

3 Tools of the Trade

4 The Red Thirst, The Black Rage, and You!

o 4.1 Red Thirst

o 4.2 Black Rage

 5 Daily rituals of the Blood Angels

6 Notable Members of the Blood Angels

7 See Also

8 Gallery

History and Background Fluff[edit]

Welcome motherfuckers, have some blood. You'll be as pretty as us in no time.

The Blood Angels' Primarch was Sanguinius, who was best known for being a pretty Mutant, a
charismatic guy with a bad temper that made him look like Satan, and he was apparently a total
bro. Basically, to the Space Marine legions and the rest of the Primarchs, he was This Guy. They
all loved him. Even Horus, after he fell to Chaos, lamented that Sanguinius in particular was no
longer by his side. He also had a pair of huge, angel-like wings; no one is sure if this had
something to do with the radiation on Baal or if he just came out of his birthing pod like that, but
the citizens of Baal nearly killed him for it when he was found at the site now known as Angel's
Fall. (Emprah have mercy on anyone who uses the m-word around the Blood Angels, though.)
Many of the Blood Angels imitate the power and majesty of their beloved Primarch's wings by
focusing on jump pack assaults, so the Blood Angels and their successor chapters doctrinally see
a lot more Assault Squads than the typical Space Marine army. Their current Chapter Master is
Dante, the oldest non-Dreadnought-interred loyalist Space Marine in history.

They had a brotherly rivalry with the World Eaters (if only the Imperial Fists/Iron Warriors and
Ultramarines/Word Bearers could have managed that) which got pretty messy when the Horus
Heresy started. Also, they are one of the only chapters that can call on its successor chapters and
reasonably expect more than just a courtesy call back, even the ones that don't like them all that
much. The only other ones that we can find who can do that are the Dark Angels (for obvious
reasons ANY IDEA THAT THE DARK ANGELS AND THEIR SUCCESSORS ARE
CONNECTED IS FALSE THE DARK ANGELS ARE THE MOST LOYAL TO THE
IMPERIUM!), Imperial Fists and the Ultramarines. This is pretty justified for the Blood Angels,
as all Blood Angel descendants are united by the twin curses/blessings of Sanguinius. So you
mess with one of them too much, you might just get an entire legion attacking you. Or if it were
during the Time of Ending, you might get them to unite to defend their ancestral homeworld,
Baal.

A Marine putting the 'blood' in 'Blood Angel'.

The Blood Angels' themes and motifs are drawn from vampire and Faustian mythology as well
as some Catholic traditions. They commonly fly (with jump packs), are eternally youthful, drink
blood, and sleep in coffins. They are also noted for naturally living longer on average than the
Marines of any other chapter. When a Blood Angel dies, a Sanguinary Priest (what they call their
Apothecaries) extracts his gene-seed using a device called an exsanguinator. When it comes time
to implant it in an Initiate, the Initiate must receive it by drinking from a Blood Chalice
('insanguination'), which also contains the essence of Sanguinius. The story of Mephiston, the
Blood Angels' chief librarian, closely parallels the legend of Faust, a scholar who sells his soul to
the devil in return for great knowledge and power (hell, he's named after the manifestation of the
devil in the story, Mephistopheles or Mephisto). The names of their special characters and
vehicles have an Italian flavorDante, the Furioso Dreadnought, Brother Corbulo. Corbulo,
known as the chapter's High Sanguinary Priest, carries the Red Grail, which contains the blood
of Sanguinius himself. Also, do we have to point out that the word 'sanguis' literally means
'blood' in Latin? Well, there you go.
In times of dire need, they are aided by the Sanguinor, a guy who seems to be a Blood Angel in a
more literal sense. Maybe he's some psychic manifestation of the Chapter. Maybe he's a ghost of
Sanguinius. Nobody knows. The important thing is that he enjoys piledriving Bloodthirsters from
space, killing Eldar Avatars, and killing a bunch of Night Lords, saving Dante's life in the
process as it was otherwise a textbook suicide mission, a redemptive one, to be specific. In recent
Black Library tales he appeared to lead Blood Angels brethren in a heroic last stand against Hive
Fleet Leviathan, where the squad sergeant punched a hole in a Carnifex's chest after being
impaled, allowing the rest of his squad to live. He took off after that, but not after he managed to
renew the Astartes' faith in humanity.

Combat Doctrine[edit]

Helmets for the Blood Angels play a very important part in their chaptereasy color coding to
identify squad type and an incentive to keep your sexy face covered to prevent easily avoidable
death by helmetlessness.

The Blood Angels took the establishment of the Codex Astartes as official Space Marine doctrine
with notably less bitching than other chapters due to the death of their Primarch and the onset of
the Black Rage. They follow the strictures of the Codex as far as they see wisdom in it: the
chapter is comprised of a thousand Blood Angels and divided into ten companies, each of which
is headed by a captain. The First Company is comprised of veterans, and the Tenth Company is
comprised of Scouts and Neophytes who have not yet become full Marines. Obviously though,
none of the blood rituals and other weird shit is Codex-approved.

Like their brethren in the Raven Guard though, the Blood Angels have a natural predilection for
using jump packs and their own free will (as opposed to blindly following the Codex). Due to
their chapter's curse, they have had to tweak things a bit; once they complete their training as
Scouts, Blood Angels immediately go into Assault Squads rather than Devastator Squads, as the
Codex Astartes would have it, though not only because of these little scamps' brashness. The
constant close combat also allows Blood Angel officers to identify the noobs who can control
their Red Thirst as well as those who cannot, and thereafter keep tabs on the latter group.
Devastator Squads in the Blood Angels Chapter are reserved for Marines who have better control
of the Red Thirst than most, because heavy fire support isn't very useful when the people
providing it have psychopathic ADD.

The few Blood Angels that decide they don't like jumping like maniacs into swarms of enemies,
and instead prefer biking like maniacs into swarms of enemies, are regarded as some of the best
biker Marines in the Imperium, following closely behind the White Scars and the Dark Angels'
Ravenwing.

Tools of the Trade[edit]

Sanguinius proclaimed, "War is an art form," and the Blood Angels said, "Well, that sounds
absolutely fabulous. Get me some gold."

Blood Angels are known throughout the Imperium to be master artisans. Their long lifespans
allow them time to perfect whatever trade they set their mind too, whether they are crafting the
infamous, hand-sculpted artificer 'nipple' armour, bolters worth more than an Imperial hive city,
or even if they're simply painting vehicles and power armour. The philosophy behind this
practice is that you cannot hope to know the value of what you're fighting for if you cannot
understand its beauty.

Blood Angels are also known for their prevalent use of flamers and melta weapons. While they
don't employ them as plentifully as the Salamanders do, they are nearly as masterfully
constructed. The Sons of Sanguinius have taken a liking to the hand flamer, which gives them the
assault capability of a flamer, but leaves their sword arm free to use in close combat. Heavy
flamers can also be found in many of their Tactical Squads as an assault deterrent as well as on
the side sponsons of Baal Predators to compliment the Flamestorm Cannon, which ruins any
infantry unit's day.

They also reeeeeeally like the Inferno pistol. Nearly everyone has one, including the Chapter
Master.

The aforementioned Baal Predator is a unique tank manufactured by the Blood Angels. It is an
anti-infantry assault tank equipped with twin-linked assault cannons and heavy flamers that was
acquired in a pre-heresy campaign that nearly broke all their relationships with the Mechanicus.
Even to this day, things are still a bit touchy. Luckily, the Techmarines of the chapter quickly
reverse engineered the overcharged "Lucifer-class" engines onto nearly all their vehicles.

The Blood Angels' de facto relic weapons are called Glaive Encarmines'glaive' apparently
meaning 'sword' in this case rather than the halberd-type weapon it's associated with. They're
made out of a mono-filament metal called 'angel-steel' and are purportedly so perfectly crafted
that they never bend or warp. The secrets to their manufacture are jealously guarded by their
Artificers. This is represented by their master-crafted universal special rule. They come in two
flavors, a Carmine Sword or a Carmine Axe.

The Red Thirst, The Black Rage, and You![edit]

The Blood Angels and their successor chapters have a genetic defect in their gene-seed known
euphemistically as "The Flaw". It seems to have much more representation in the fluff than in the
crunch, but that's standard fare for a life-threatening, damnation-courting mutation that can pop
up at any time.

Red Thirst[edit]

You'll never see a Blood Angel go "Oh nooooes, a fleet of nice squishy flesh-bugs coming to
devour our system, we're doooomed...". Maybe because it's an excellent way to let loose for a bit.

The Red Thirst is what makes the Blood Angels space vampires, or Team Edward *BLAM*
PURGE THE UNCOMFORTABLE THEMATIC PARALLELS OF POPULAR
CULTURE!

The Red Thirst has been a part of being a Blood Angel since the Great Crusade. Sanguinius went
to great lengths to hide it from the Emperor for fear of being expunged from the Imperium,
although odds are that the Emperor already knew. He even introduced Chaplains to the Blood
Angels legions before the Edict of Nikaea, not just to monitor psykers, but to look out for
brothers who might be giving into their bloodlust.

In the lore the general effect is that the Red Thirst makes a Blood Angel an Angry Marine with a
thirst for actual goddamn blood. Thus most Blood Angel Chaplains require certification for anger
management therapy before they get the job. Their duty is to ensure that the assorted Marines are
not showing signs of bloodlust, and to throw them into a battle if they are so they can stave off
total madness a bit longer. However, all battle-brothers who suffer the effects of the Flaw long
enough will eventually become overrun with their rather literal thirst for vengeance, succumbing
to the Black Rage. After this, their lives will consist of utterly suicidal front-line charges to rip
and tear the enemy as much as possible, before they eventually receive an honorable death in
combat against the Emperor's foes. Those unlucky enough to survive to the end of the battle will
either be given the Emperor's Peace by Astorath, or imprisoned within the Tower of the Lost as a
hopeless, dribbling maniac until they are required on the field of battle once more.

Some chapters are more susceptible than others. The imaginatively named "Blood Drinkers" are
notorious amongst their allies for allegedly leaving exsanguinated corpses wherever they show
up. On the upside, Blood Drinkers are one of the few chapters who have tangible rules regarding
how they handle the Red Thirst: if they have recently sated themselves, they gain a boost to WS,
and suffer penalties to morale checks if they refrain from feeding.

On the tabletop, this has historically been changed in every single incarnation of the rules as GW
continually changed their minds over how the Thirst should be represented; in 7th edition, they
just give the flat bonus of Furious Charge to everything (including dreadnoughts); but if you get
a bunch of Blood Angels together in the correct FOC or formation, then they also get +1 to
Initiative when charging ( la old-school Furious Charge), which is a very strong advantage. In
6th edition, Red Thirst had the odd consequence of occasionally making a unit Fearless and
Furious Chargers if they give into the temptation, though independent characters had enough
control over themselves that they were mostly immune, with a few exceptions. Going further
back, into 3rd edition, the Red Thirst made a bit more sense and was something to actually be
wary of, as your units had a potential to lose control at the thought of blood and move out of
position towards the enemy. This really wasn't fun, especially if your Devastator Squads didn't
pull that critical round of shooting.

Black Rage[edit]

Note the ancient, unfathomable fury, and run away pissing yourself.

On the other hand, the Black Rage is the Red Thirst's angrier, more troublesome brother. You
know, the one who dresses in black all the time, and who shows up at random times to
complicate your life and embarrass your family. It's a terminal state in which the battle brother
has not only succumbed to the Red Thirst, but has had a total psychotic breakdown. Or if you're
feeling particularly poetic: it's the psychic scream of a dying demi-god that got stuck in his
progeny.

Battle-brothers who succumb to the Black Rage are overcome with visions of Blood Angel
battles during the Horus Heresy, and a few even imagine themselves to be Sanguinius battling
Horus on his battle barge. This of course has the unfortunate side effect of making them
completely lose touch with reality, fighting a battle that they can never ever win since the
outcome of the hallucinations has already occurred. On the plus side though, their disconnection
with what is going on around them turns them into immensely powerful warriors, since each and
every one of them believe in some way that they are Sanguinius.

Long story short, a Marine afflicted with the Black Rage will become even angrier than an Angry
Marine, and with even less self-control(which means they are effectively each Nightbringer
crossed with Commissar Fuklaw. If you happen to be in the same star system of one of these,
pray to the god emperor they don't sense you. If you don't happen to worship the God-Emperor,
silently hope your gods are OK with Suicide, because the alternative is too nightmarishly
gruesome for even GamesWorkshop to describe in sufficient detail). If this happens in a war
zone, they are quietly organized into small squads and their armor is painted black by a chaplain
before the worst of the hallucinations take over. If they aren't killed in battle or get off the leash
somehow, Astorath will come and execute them on the battlefield since no other Blood Angel has
the stomach (or outright skill) to kill his own battle brothers.

The Death Company is a group of Blood Angels on the battlefield who are afflicted by the Black
Rage. Every force of Blood Angels and their successor chapters has one, though some are more
susceptible than others, which makes those chapters' responses to the occurrence of Black Rage
quite varied. The Flesh Tearers and the renegade Knights of Blood chapters both have an
uncanny predilection for all-out, balls-to-the-wall assaulthoping to die in battle honorably
before the rage takes them. In the Knights of Blood's case, they fought with the zeal of the Black
Templars, the fury of the World Eaters, and the excess of the Marines Malevolent in such a
perfect way that they got kicked out of the cool kids club and branded renegades for their excess
collateral damage against allied forces. The Flesh Tearers very nearly joined that shit list, and
were only forgiven by the Blood Angels when Astorath personally intervened on their behalf,
citing that their brutality would be a necessity in the near future.

On the tabletop, this essentially allows you to bring a squad of Khorne Berserkers without the
Khorne, but with more customization options. You can also take several squads if Astorath has
shown up, as he always seems to know where and when his brothers will succumb.

As with the Red Thirst, GW keep changing the rules with these guys; nowadays you can
purchase units of Death Company as Elite choices for your army at a not-insignificant cost,
whilst in 6th they were Troops, but were so far down the path of being drooling lunatics that they
couldn't hold objectives, and you could only have one squad unless Astorath was watching. In
ancient times, it used to happen spontaneously for free, and you had to roll for squads at the start
of battle, potentially losing members of squads you already paid for to bulk up your Death
Company, which made fluff-sense. But at least you chose which model to take off, and sending a
veteran sergeant to the Death Company was the only way of giving power weapon/fists
(excluding the chaplain) to the squad. Losing a Termie or tooled-up honour guard made you cry
though...

UPDATE: As of the 6th edition rulebook, Blood Angels and Necrons are Desperate Allies. For
reference, Necrons can form the exact same alliance with the Black Templars. This implies that
the whole scenario with the Necrons and the 'Nids was part of the then-upcoming Necron fluff
change wherein the Necrons went from omnicidal kill bots to an actual empire capable of politics
and forming alliances

UPDATE ver 2.0: As of 7th edition the entire allies matrix was rewritten. ALL Imperium forces
are Come The Apocalypse with Necrons now.

Daily rituals of the Blood Angels[edit]

Dante pwns some noobs as Astorath and Mephiston look on.

04:00 - Reveille - The Blood Angels are roused from their coffins to start the day.
04:10 - Grooming - The Blood Angels take the time to comb their hair and brush their teeth.
Special attention is given to their fangs. Even more special attention is given to their long,
flowing, golden hair.
04:30 - Morning meal - A light meal is prepared by the chapter serfs for the Blood Angels.
Consuming a chapter serf is explicitly prohibited.
05:00 - Morning prayer.
06:00 - Morning firing rituals - The Blood Angels assemble for target practice. Due to an ancient
clerical error, the Blood Angels are in possession of an excessive amount of a heretical series of
books from the pre-Imperial days of Terra called the Twilight Saga, which they use for target
practice by the thousands.
07:00 - Battle practice - The Blood Angels begin practice in the battle cages. Frequently, the
Blood Angels will forgo their bolters for melee weapons. The usage of fangs in combat practice
is considered heresy. Using fangs to drink blood is extra Khornate heresy.
12:00 - Midday meal - The Blood Angels consume a light meal made for them by the chapter
serfs. The chapter serfs are still explicitly off the menu.
13:00 - Deep strike training - The Blood Angels practice their deep strike maneuvers. Pretending
to fly like a bat is heresy. Transforming into a bat or black mist to fly is extra Tzeentchian heresy.
16:00 - Evening firing rituals. During this time, several Blood Angels also practice the shooting
style of a legendary Terran gunslinger known as Nosferatu Alucard, a proto-Blood Angel who
was said to have slain thousands of daemons alone using only two blessed stub pistols.
16:55 - Milk and Cookies Break. Drinking blood instead of milk or dipping cookies in milk is
Strictly banned. Doing both is considered heresy.
17:00 - Staring contests - Dumbasses who want to challenge Chief Librarian Mephiston to a
menacing staring contest do so now. Usually it's just the neophytes who don't know any better.
17:15 - Round up - Staring contests end, and those who went mad while staring into Mephiston's
eyes must be tracked down in the fortress-monastery and culled.
17:30 - Evening prayer. Special attention is given to how fabulous Sanguinius was and why they
can't wait to tear the heretical Chaos faggots multiple new assholes (hint, it involves blood).
19:00 - Evening meal - A feast is prepared by the chapter serfs, usually of animals who were
killed during the deep strike training. The chapter serfs may be consumed depending on how
good the first two meals were. Using the Red Grail in drinking contests is explicitly prohibited
by order of the Sanguinary Priests.
20:00 - Free time - The Blood Angels are allowed a few hours of free time to do as they please.
Some reflect on their duty to the Emperor and the deeds of Sanguinius. Others play vidya games.
Some just pose moodily and bare-chested in front of a mirror. Still others will engage in artistic
activities. A GOOD vampire movie is often shown for the Blood Angels' entertainment.
00:00 - Rest - The Blood Angels retire to their coffins for the evening.

Notable Members of the Blood Angels[edit]

Sanguinius - Primarch. Snaps Bloodthirster spines over his knee and decapitates Keepers
of Secrets for the lulz.

Meros - Apothecary during the Horus Heresy. Sacrificed himself so that Sanguinius could
righteously fuck up a Keeper of Secrets

Dante - Current Chapter Master. Dude's mad old and prefers not to mention anything
about having a Necron's cell phone number.

Mephiston - Chief Librarian and resident rape train. Scariest motherfucker this side of the
Eye of Terror.

Corbulo - High Sanguinary Priest.

Astorath - Keeper of Sanctity and the dude who kills Death Company nutjobs when they
nutjob too hard.
 Lemartes - Chaplain and the Guardian of the Lost, and the only Blood Angel to hold the
Black Rage in check. Ranks #2 behind the Eversor Assassin as the most 40K thing in
40K.

Karlaen - 1st Company captain and total bro. Has a model thanks to 7E's Deathstorm
Box.

Donatos Aphael- 2nd company captain.

Erasmus Tycho - 3rd company captain. Proof that Your dudes has a reason to exist.

Moriar the Chosen - Matt Ward's excuse for making generic Death Company
Dreadnoughts a thing.

Rafen - Longest living Blood Angel mook in any of the Blood Angels book series.

Sanguinor - May or may not be Sanguinius reborn...or Azkaellon...or a warp entity

created by the longings of the Blood Angels...or all three together...DAMMIT! IT'S
COMPLICATED.

Acrion - Random captain that thought he could stand up to Abaddon during the 7th Black
Crusade. He couldn't.

Thalastian Jorus - Fuckawesome Reclusiarch that succeeded in standing up to Abaddon--

killed all his Honour Guard, thoroughly wrecked the Black Legion by utilizing guerrilla
tactics with the Death Company of all things AND became one of like 3 people in the
Imperium to go toe to toe with the despoiler and come out on top, gravely wounding
Abby before Thalastian was killed by the Black Legion.

Dark Angels
The best way of keeping a secret is to pretend there isn't one.

-Margaret Atwood

Got a secret, can you keep it? Swear this one you'll save! Better lock it in your pocket, taking
this one to the grave.

-The Pierces, Secret

The Dark Angels (also known as the "Dank Angels", "The Unforgiven") are amongst the most
accomplished and powerful Space Marine Chapters in the Imperium. Their grim determination
and relentless persecution of their foes are legendary, and their combat record tells a long tale of
selfless heroism. THEY ARE WELL KNOWN TO BE ONE OF THE MOST LOYAL OF ALL
SPACE MARINE CHAPTERS, *Ahem* So loyal in fact that even the Ultramarines shit their
power armor on sight of a Dark Angel and say "Loyalist battle brother, teach me your loyalist
ways!". Anyone who insists that the Dark Angels have never been the most loyal and treasured of
all space marine chapters, or mentions The Fallen (WHO TOTALLY DO NOT EXIST, WE
FUCKING SWEAR BY THE EMPEROR) shall be hunted down and beheaded for their Heresy!

Contents
[hide]

1 Litany of the Dark Angels: Space Hulk Deathwing

2 The Unforgiven

o 2.1 Gene-Seed

o 2.2 Battle Cry

3 History

o 3.1 Great Crusade

o 3.2 Horus Heresy

4 After the destruction of Caliban

5 The Legion with "Dark" in its name

o 5.1 LOYAL? Or Traitor?

6 Cool Shit

o 6.1 The Dark Angels Fleet

7 Daily rituals

8 Gallery

9 See Also

Litany of the Dark Angels: Space Hulk Deathwing[edit]

Heralds of the coming Doom, by cry of Raven, we are drawn.
This oath of war and vengeance, on blade of exalted iron sworn, with blood anointed
swords aloft, advance we, into Dreads dark shade.

Punishment divine unleashed with hate, a wrathful storm of bolt and blade.

Purge with plasma, fist, and shell, bring cleansing fires righteous breath.

For the Emperor, Knights of Caliban! The Lions anointed Angels of Death!

No forgiveness.

No retreat.

The Unforgiven[edit]
Their Primarch is Lion El'Jonson a.k.a The Lion. As a result, the Dark Angels are totally
AWESOME AND WITHOUT FAULT, their Primarch happening to be named after a
homosexual poet who wrote a poem called "The Dark Angel" and might've dated Oscar Wilde.
Oh, and their homeworld is called The Rock, A REFUGE FOR PEACE AND HARMONY
WHERE NOTHING SINISTER EVER HAPPENS(it's actually a mobile Space station that can
take out most of Battlefleet Solar on its own.). They're now the posterboys for both 6E and
Citadel's "new" line of paints. Fuck yeah, we guess? Russian fa/tg/uys believe that Dark Angels
are Jews for whatever reason (it's because ALL DA names are in Hebrew, silly). Interestingly,
they also employ retainers known as the Watchers in the Dark. These ADORABLE SWORD
HUGGING BEINGS ARE THE REINCARNATED SOULS OF FALLEN DARK ANGELS,
AND ARE TOTALLY NOT CHAOS FAMILIARS OF ANY KIND, THE DARK ANGELS
COULD NEVER POSSIBLY EMPLOY SUCH CREATURES FOR THEY ARE ABSOLUTELY
LOYAL.

By the way, THIS ARTICLE IS ABSOLUTELY TRUE AND IS NOT REWRITTEN IN

ANY WAY BY THE DARK ANGELS. ALL MESSAGES WRITTEN IN CAPS ARE THE
ABSOLUTE TRUTH ABOUT WHAT REALLY HAPPENED. THERE HAVE NEVER
EVER BEEN ANY TRAITORS WITHIN THE DARK ANGELS, AND THERE NEVER
WILL BECAUSE THEY ARE THE MOST LOYAL CHAPTER TO HAVE EVER
EXISTED. The 1st Legion and its successors are composed entirely of THE MOST LOYAL
AND STALWART SERVANTS OF THE EMPEROR. When dealing with the Dark Angels it is
important to bear in Mind that they are the very embodiment of the phrase the end justifies the
means and they will go to any lengths and do anything that they need to in order to accomplish
their goals.

The new Codex heavily implies that they may be at Legion strength as no-one knows just how
many worlds they recruit from or the number of recruits they actually have. The lack of
clarification on this matter and the suspiciously close cooperation between the Dark Angels and
their successor chapters hasn't gone unnoticed by the Inquisition, although their attempts at
exposing the Dark Angels' secrets haven't met with much success thus far. However, one reason
they and their successors work together so well is likely due to the fact that the pre-heresy Dark
Angels Legion was already assembled out of chapters. After the heresy, they merely needed to
give the chapters names instead of numbers and have the chapters adopt different heraldry and
colors; as such, the Dark Angels and their successor chapters might still be (functionally and
unofficially) a (more-or-less) cohesive Legion.

Their theme by HMKids,which SHOWS THEIR ABSOLUTE LOYALTY. If you have any
doubts regarding the Dark Angels ABSOLUTE LOYALTY then you should make your way
down this totally not in any way dark and ominous corridor towards room 42 where brother
Asmodai will be waiting to answer any questions you might have.

They have apparently also become the love-chapter of some of GW's writers, since they now
have the best motorcycle squads around (yes, apparently even better than the White Scars), the
"last" (they might have a ton of them or be making new ones!) jetbike in the Imperium, and
invulnerable "Chapter Serfs".

Gene-Seed[edit]
The Dark Angels, the flagbearers of grimdark gothic design.

Much like the Ultrasmurfs, the Dark Angels have some of the most stable gene-seeds of all the
progenitor chapters, with no significant mutations documented. Due to this and the fact that they
were the first Legion produced by the Emperor, they remain one of the most favorable ones to
use for founding successor chapters. Although, the High Lords are supposedly iffy about using
the DA's gene seed due to the rumors that all Dark Angel successors stay in one command
structure, with the Dark Angels still calling the shots, effectively all of their descendant chapters
still act as part of a legion. Never-the-less, because there's no official proof of this (and because
anyone who would dare present any factual evidence about this would be GRACEFULLY
DEBUNKED BY THE DARK ANGELS IN PRIVATE IN SUCH A WAY THAT THEY
WOULD BE COMPELLED TO TAKE A LONG, EXTENDED VACATION TO
REFLECT ON THEIR FOLLY), the Dark Angels are still allowed to found future chapters in
either case.
One of the Lions greatest legacys to his sons is his strategic genius a quality passed on to his
sons through the Chapters gene-seed. This trait manifests exponentially as a Dark Angel ascends
toward the rank of Company Master. Such officers can plan a campaign to the last detail, execute
faultless assaults, and assemble impenetrable defences instinctively. Central to this ability is the
deployment of the correct mix of squads, vehicles and support elements. To this end, the Dark
Angels form strike forces self-contained armies assembled to prosecute a specific campaign or
defeat a particular foe.

According to the Dataslate-Cypher-Lord of the Fallen at close ranges, Librarians from the
Unforgiven can pick up the unique psychic signatures of those who bear traces of their shared
Primarch. Even the most spliced or tainted gene-seed of Lion ElJonson emits a distinct signal
powerful enough to detect. Basically all you need to do is put a Dark Angels Librarian near a A
FELLOW DARK ANGEL PLAYING A MILLENIA-LONG GAME OF HIDE-AND-SEEK
and they might as well have a great big flashing neon light saying SON OF THE LION HERE
COME AND GET ME. (This has precedent in earlier fluff, such as the battle for Rynn's World,
where the death of 600 Crimson Fists nearly kills a nearby librarian)

Battle Cry[edit]

Unlike more warlike chapters like the Space Corgis or the Black Templars, who would go into
battle screaming on how they're going to skullfuck the enemies of man, the Dark Angels go into
battle in cold, efficient silence, almost similar to that of Angry Marine Terminators, who are so
enraged that they march into battle with stone hearts and steel faces. Infact their "Repent! For
tomorrow you die!" is less of a battle cry and more of a foreboding proclamation against their
real targets: Fallen Angels DAMNABLE TRAITORS FROM THE 9 TRAITOR LEGIONS
WHICH THE DARK ANGELS DO NOT ASSOCIATE WITH. This makes more sense, the
more you realize what the Chaplains do to the Dark Angels' greatest obsession: torture them
TEACH THEM TO BE LOYAL TO THE IMPERiIUM in the depths of The Rock, until they
repent.

History[edit]

Dark Angels Crusade/Hersey symbol

The original Dark Angels had black armour, back in the days of the Corvus pattern helmets.
Modern Dark Angels instead use a dark green colour, except for the Deathwing and Ravenwing
companies, which are composed entirely of bone-white Terminators and black Fast Attack units
respectively. They were introduced in the Deathwing expansion to 1st edition Space Hulk with a
spiffy background story by Bill King.

To paint your armour black was to show that you served the emperor directly in the same way
Sigismund did when he was chosen to serve as the first Emperor's Champion.

It could be that one of the reasons for swapping the black for the green was because they no
longer felt worthy of it. The Dark Angels are literally wearing their shame for all to see but no
one else knows it.

Due to a slight mutation in their gene-seed, the Dark Angels had a slight predisposition to be
emo, but other than that, they were cool.

Veterans wear robes and capes and such on the field of battle representing any number of
ritualistic ranks and titles that are mostly unknown to those outside of the Chapter but harken
back to the traditions of "The Order", plus they look pretty awesome.

Great Crusade[edit]

Dark Angels Lance Decurion

Luther, the Clint Eastwood of the 31st millennium

Numeration: the 1st Legion

Primogenitor: Lion El'Jonson

Cognomen: The First, Primaris Angelus Mortis (Honorific)

Observed strategic tendencies: Combined arms and multi-spectra warfare, Exterminatus and
purgation campaigns, extended independent void operations.

Noteworthy Domains: Caliban(home world), Terra, an unknown number of void outposts and
watch fortresses on the Imperiums fringes.

Allegiance: Fedelitas Tenebrae(Latin for shadows/darkness or to the/from, out of the

shadows/darkness; seeing as GW use dog-Latin, you could theoretically say that it could mean
something like 'Questionable' or Obscured Loyalty).

Not simply a Legion numbered "one", they were quite literally the First legion created by the
Emperor and in their earliest incarnation fought as the personal army of the Master of Mankind
in the dawning years of the Great Crusade. HH: Extermination tells us that as the prototype
Legion the Dark Angels served as the template for all the Legions that would follow after which
the Emperor decided to make the following legions more specialised and engineered their
development towards different roles, and as a standard by which these successors would be
measured (however they would eventually get supplanted by the empire-building Ultramarines
when times changed). So basically the Emperor simply intended the First Legion to sally forth
and "just be Space Marines".

That meant the Dark Angels had to figure out warfare all on their own, and the techniques they
developed would have entire Legions built upon those principles when they were raised later on.
By the time of the Heresy, there existed six specialised "Wings" or Hosts; each acted as an
independent formation that was both a part of the main body of the legion but also separate from
it at the same time. Each was dedicated to a different form of warfare, of which two survived into
the later 40k:

Ravenwing - Cavalry & Fast Attack. The Ravenwing protocol originated from the early Legiones
rapid moving search and destroy formations. These formations were revived and expanded upon
as they offered a form of rapid strike warfare that the Knights of Caliban both understood and
had perfected over many generations.They also act as the Firsts legions infiltration, information
gathering and espionage specialists (alpha legion says hi)Or do they? The mystery continues).

Deathwing - Veterans in Artificer Armour (later Terminator Armour). There is a special Deathwing
unit called the Secta Mortis.

Stormwing - Boarding Assault Marines. Possible void warfare specialists.

Dreadwing - Were apparently the 1st Legion's "dirty tricks department" with all sorts of secret
and very nasty gear that they really shouldn't have - really shocking stuff. The commander wields
a big axe. They are called in when you just want something gone and you really dont care about
the collateral damage. We have come. We are death.

despite the devastation caused by the Dreadwing upon Macragge Laurie J Goulding has
hinted that this was actually them showing restraint and you should see what they
COULD have used

Ironwing - Heavy emphasis on Battle tanks and mechanised infantry. Ironically Interestingly, the
Ironwing protocol was used as the template for the Iron Warriors and the Iron Hands when it
came time to raise those Legions, despite the fact they hadn't been named yet.

Firewing - Because as we (and every Ork in existence) all know putting flames onto something
automatically makes it better. (Why the actual fuck did they not call it the Flamewing? Firewing
sounds fucking stupid) WRONG-Fire refers to dakka, as aevery ork knows is better, they probably
provide fire support

The wings were originally organised into six hosts, collectively known as the hexagrammatron
and run across and through the normal Dark Angels structure of orders, chapters, and companies
(similar to how the DA company veterans work in 40k) and every Dark Angel from the lowest to
the highest is a member of one of the wings. They were made this way so they could fight in any
conceivable situation. Each of the wings/hosts is commanded by an officer known as a Voted-
Lieutenant and several Voted-Successors who are outside of the normal legion command
structure.

Holguin - Voted-Lieutenant of the Deathwing, wields a 9 ft greatsword (as of Angels of Caliban is

now in possession of the broken shards of the Lion Sword)

Farith Redloss - Voted-Lieutenant of the Dreadwing (takes out a World Eaters Leviathan
Dreadnaught with his axe)
 Griffayn The Spear-Cast - Voted-Lieutenant of the Firewing (For some reason his rank is held in
abeyance) *his legion rank is held in abeyance not his Firewing rank*

A Dark Angels membership to a particular wing seems to not only be based on their abilities but
also their personality, attitude and personal mind set; for example the Dreadwing are made up of
the most brutal, destructive and warmongering members of the Dark Angels whilst the
Ravenwing (if they are anything like their 40k counterparts) are made up of the most impulsive,
wild (by DA standards) and inquisitive members (being a speed freak helps). How they are
designated into each wing is unknown perhaps they are given extensive physiological
evaluations or maybe they just have some sort of harry potter style sorting hat.

(*"-You would do well in the deathwing brother." brother Arthus proudly made his way towards
the nearest table where he was greeted by wild applause.

Astelan reached forward to place the hat upon his head but before he could even get close it
screamed "-SLYTHERIN F***ING SLYTHERIN NOW GET AWAY FROM ME YOU SLIMY GIT")

The main body of the Legion seems to have been made up of at least 30 Orders(the 30th is the
highest mentioned so far) each with a grand master and a paladin(Champion) in command of
around 5000+ warriors split up into an yet unknown number of chapters each led by its own
Chapter Master.

Guilliman noted that there were also many secret orders and mysterious hierarchies within the
ranks of the Dark Angels; hierarchies of knowledge, trust and authority invisible to outsiders.
Alongside the Orders, secret Hosts and Wings there was also mention of Thrones and Powers,
whatever the hell they were. (Its very likely that these are named after the Nine Choirs of Angels
which consist of 1. Seraphim, 2. Cherubin, 3. Thrones 4. Domininations, 5. Virtues, 6. Powers. 7.
Principalities, 8. Archangels, 9. Angels, with the lowest "Angels" being the standard battle
brother)

It has been hinted that because of the Dark Angels highly traditional and sectarian nature it
made them immune to the intrusions of the warrior lodges and acted as a similar buffer to
infiltrations and manipulations from the likes of the Alpha Legion.
http://gavthorpe.co.uk/2015/09/23/more-dark-angels-secrets-revealed/

This is no longer "hinted" Luther laughed at Erebus's suggestion of the creation of a Dark Angel
warrior lodge

In this fashion, acting all on their own without support from the other legions that followed they
killed lots of Orks and other xenos scum for great justice and were the most successful Legion
during the early years of the Crusade.

Once the most numerous and powerful of the legions, their numbers would be depleted by
decades of savage warfare, particularly in the wars of the Rangdan Xenocides where their
numbers fell below 166,000 after they lost almost 50,000 marines preventing the destruction of
the entire northern imperium by an unknown menace from the outer darkness. The scars of these
battles would change them, as would their reunification with their Primarch and his adopted
world of Caliban. Unyielding, technologically capable, ruthless and insular the Dark Angels by
the time of the Hersey were once again a powerful and highly independent Legion used to
operating on its own to conduct large scale campaigns and compliance actions. When the Legion
was first reunited with their Primarch, the massive influx of warriors into the Legion following
the rediscovery of Caliban was able to provide the First with an additional 20,000 new Dark
Angels. However, this would not last as just before the Heresy started Luther, who had by then
decided Caliban should be free of what he saw as the Imperiums tyranny, began to starve the
legion of any new legionaries, armour, weapons and ammunition. He began by cancelling the
deployment of over 2000 new recruits to the Legion, he would then further speed up the process
in which new legionaries were being trained so by mid heresy there was around 30,000 new
Dark Angels on Caliban who were swearing oaths of fealty not to the Emperor but to Caliban
and the Order. (Not everyone was pleased with this especially those who had originated from
Terra)

Some time during the Crusade some planetary ruler insulted Leman Russ and he got all pissy
about it. Then Lion ended up killing the leader and Leman was like "Whatchu do that fo' fool?"
because he wanted to take the bitch-ass out. And Lion was like "fuck off, furry," despite his own
furtastic name and his dickish kill-stealing. Leman, never being good with words, reason, or
sobriety, megaton punched the Lion. The two of them fought for a day or two, an epic struggle
between cool-headed tactician and hot-blooded barbarian, douchebag and bro-tard. Then Leman
said "this is stupid" and started laughing... then the Lion knocked him out.

In true anime fashion, after Leman regained consciousness and was less-inebriated, the two
eventually became best buds and treated it as water under the bridge; their respective chapters
still carry on the friendly rivalry, a pair of champions engaging in sacred and non-fatal honour
duels whenever the Dark Angels and Space Corgis meet. One particular incident during the
Heresy had a member of the watch-pack that had been sent to keep an eye on Guilliman being
paired off against the Lion himself after the wolves pushed the issue. The Lion who had more
important things to do and wanted it over as quickly as possible stepped forward and nominated
himself, the fight (if thats what you want to call it) was as predictably hilarious as you would
imagine it would be. And a couple of light years away, the Tyranids eat a planet while two of the
most important Space Marine chapters waste time on this Nerf-chainsword-duel-honour-bullshit
because that's how they roll.

Horus Heresy[edit]

++Much of the history of the First Legion during the events of the Horus Heresy are largely
unknown to the Imperium at large, thus you will find that WHAT THE DARK ANGELS TELL YOU
HAPPENED IS THE TRUTH, BECAUSE THEY ARE THE MOST RELIABLE AND TRUSTWORTHY
WITNESSES IN THE ENTIRE IMPERIUM. ONLY THE GOD EMPEROR COULD POSSIBLY BE MORE
RELIABLE OF A SOURCE.++

During the Horus Heresy Lion El'Jonson rushed to come to the aid of the Emperor, fighting his
way through the Night Lords, Death Guard and traitor guard to reach Terra. Stopping off at
Macragge to kick Roboute Guilliman out of inaction and start actually paying attention to the
Horus Heresy. In fact, despite all of the mystery surrounding the intentions of the First Legion,
the Emperor still had complete faith in them. A discussion between Him and Malcador the
Sigillite during Graham McNeill's Vengeful Spirit proves that even the Emperor expected
Guilliman to procrastinate and start building his own Empire and they were somewhat relieved
when Russ told them that the Lion had intervened.

Despite all this he didn't make it to Terra in time because THEY RAN INTO WARP TROUBLES
AND WERE UNABLE TO REACH IT IN TIME. THEY CERTAINLY DID NOT FUCK
AROUND WITH KONRAD CURZE. Afterwards he returned home to Caliban only to find that
shit hit the fan when ONE OF THEIR NUMBER THREW A HUGE PLANET WIDE PARTY,
BUT ALL THE DARK ANGELS RAN OUT OF WINE AND WERE FORCED TO BLOW UP
THE PLANET TO FLASH-FERMENT SOME MORE. The Lion THEN WENT BACK TO HIS
STILL-INTACT FORTRESS AND HAD AN ARM WRESTLING CONTEST WITH THE MAN
RESPONSIBLE FOR THEIR LACK OF BREW. NATURALLY A PRIMARCH ARM
WRESTLING SOMEONE IS AMAZINGLY FATAL, SO HE DIED. When daybreak came
Caliban was nothing more than an asteroid field, a result of SOMEBODY LEAVING THE GAS
ON IN THE FORTRESS MONASTERY. When Dark Angel forces reclaimed the void shielded
remnants of their headquarters they found that THE LION WENT OUT FOR SOME SMOKES
HE'LL BE BACK IN A FEW MILLENIA. Oh, and the surviving Dark Angels painted their
armour green TO DEMONSTRATE THAT THEY ARE THE MOST LOYAL SPACE MARINE
CHAPTER EVER, AND A COLOUR CHANGE WAS THE PERFECT WAY TO SIGNIFY
THIS. This rather stressing turn of events caused one Dark Angel to comment "I hate Mondays".

Because Caliban was far away from many Imperial Worlds, the core leaders of the Dark Angels
known as the "Inner Circle" decided to cover up THE COMPLETELY RANDOM ACCIDENT
INVOLVING SOME FUCKTARD FIRING A FULL SALVO OF ORBITAL BOMBARDMENT
CANNONS ON THE PLANET and mask it as an freakish warp accident. The Imperium's not
exactly sure what happened to Caliban as anyone who investigates about this matter, even
Inquisitors ARE ENCOURAGED TO TAKE AN EXTENDED HOLIDAY WITH BEER AND
PRETZELS.

Ahem, to carry on where my predecessor left off after his COMPLETELY NATURAL AND IN
NO WAY SUSPICIOUS disappearance, the Dark Angels became the most obscure chapter in the
millennium following the Horus Heresy. Where as Imperial officials can try to order around
chapters like the Space Corgis and Black Templars, the Dark Angels can never be approached
because they can't be found 90% of the time. They are known for mysteriously appearing out of
nowhere to aid Imperial forces and disappear just as fast, even if the forces they were aiding
were still in need of their help. This has led to much complaint from Imperial commanders, who
are often understandably pissed off.

After the destruction of Caliban[edit]

Dark Angels arrive in style.

Ever since that fateful day ten thousand years ago, the Dark Angels have striven to prove to the
Emprah and their Primarch that they are still cool guys to hang around with, despite their earlier
Heresy HAVING THE FLASHIEST BITS OF ANY CHAPTER. To this end they have acquired
toys like plasma cannon jetbikes, more suits of Terminator Armour than most chapters can shake
their chainswords at, and a mini-Gitmo in a flying chunk of planet to torture the Fallen
ENEMIES OF THE EMPEROR FROM THE NINE TRAITOR LEGIONS, in order to prove that
they are still loyal, and to attempt to disprove the rumour that that they are flaming homosexuals.

Luther himself is kept within a special cell equipped with stasis fields (both to keep him from
escaping and to prevent him from dying of old age before some kind of confession can be
extracted from him). He's still barking mad from Chaos withdrawing its influence from him HIS
OVERWHELMING LOVE FOR THE EMPRAH! But his ramblings have occasionally assisted
the Dark Angels in apprehending the Fallen FINDING NEW WAYS TO IMPRESS CHICKS and
locating lost relics within the Rock. Recently, he's been claiming that the time for the Lion to
return and absolve the Chapter of its past SHOW HOW AWESOME THE DARK ANGELS ARE
is growing closer...

Unknown to the Dark Angels, Lion El'Jonson is alive and well- after his duel with Luther
TRIPPING OVER A POWER SWORD THAT LUTHER FORGOT TO PUT AWAY, the
Watchers in the Dark AFORMENTIONED LITTLE HUMANS IN CLOAKS brought him to a
hidden chamber in the depths of the Rock so he could be healed of his wounds. He has long since
healed now, and now all that is needed for the last loyal Primarch to return is for the Emperor to
give him the signal to do so.

Its important to bear in mind that the Dark Angels themselves do not have the whole story
regarding the Fallen and Caliban's destruction. When the legion first arrived back at Caliban
during the Scouring they would have been unaware of the events that had led up to Astelan
ordering the attack on the fleet. After the destruction of Caliban they would have found
themselves in a position where they had not only lost their Emperor and their Primarch but their
home world as well. The legion had been tarnished beyond repair by those that they had once
considered sworn brothers and worst of all they didnt know why. All they had left was the
Legion and so the assembled masters of the Dark Angels decided to cover up what had happened
in order to protect and preserve what was left of the once mighty First; they had been under the
impression that the Fallen had all been slain during the planet's destruction. Once the Fallen
began to reappear it would prove to be a decision that would eventually end up damning them
and all those that would follow. The present day Dark Angels are forced to shoulder the burdens
and consequences of those decisions made so long ago, that they themselves had taken no part in.
Where in other chapters the ascension into the higher ranks is a thing of justified pride and
honour within the Unforgiven it is a soul crushing experience as their delusions of honour and
false glory are systematically torn down around them as the chapters dark secrets are revealed to
them one by one.

The Dark Angels and their successors have spent the past 10,000 years hunting down and
interrogating the Fallen, slowly and painstakingly piecing together the pieces of an elaborate
jigsaw of lies and deceit. Who knew what and who was responsible for what all those millennia
ago, was this particular Fallen one of the architects of the betrayal or was he just an unwitting
pawn who was just following orders and if so then who gave that order. As they have slowly
filtered the lies from the truths and sifted through the many different contradicting Fallen
accounts the Dark Angels have uncovered many unsettling truths that had been unknown to them
before but still the masters of the Unforgiven are aware that they do not have the full story and
that there are still many dark revelations to come.

The Legion with "Dark" in its name[edit]

Their scouts are never to be underestimated. Also this is probably the best scout artwork so far. And it's
not new.

After the Horus Heresy, the remaining Legions were forced to split into chapters of around 1000
men according to Roboute Guilliman's brand new Codex Astartes and the Dark Angels followed
suit mostly because they had no Primarch to disagree; not that it mattered by this point anyway.

Where Rogal Dorn RAGED against the idea of splitting his legion, but eventually relented on the
threat of civil war, the Dark Angels quietly split themselves up but maintained in covert contact
with each other. Keeping the same chain of command as before, and mostly the same traditions
and expectations. Particularly with co-operation in the hunt for the Fallen Angels CHILLIN'
OUT MAXIN' RELAXIN' ALL COOL, but they also refer to each other as "brothers" in arms.
(Kaldor Draigo noted that the correct terminology for different chapter is "cousin" and resolved
to have a word with Azrael over it) and the Supreme Grand Master of The Rock is deferred to as
the highest authority on the secrets of the newly formed Inner Circle.

It transpires from Gav Thorpe's 2015 novel Unforgiven that the Inner Circle was in fact formed
decades AFTER the Second Founding when Cypher revealed himself at The Rock and made it
evident that survivors from Caliban would be dropping out of time and space who could reveal
the truth of what happened. So the Grand Masters of the Twelve Second Founding chapters held
a council and formed the Inner Circle to make sure their collective honour remained intact.
Previous to that we must have assumed that the descendants of the First Legion were just
relieved to have weathered the Horus Heresy and followed Guilliman's commands quietly.

Therefore the Dark Angels and their successors still function unofficially as a Legion, and this
gets the Inquisition and the High Lords of Terra particularly worried, though they can't prove
anything, since from the outside, each chapter has its own distinct chain of command and
adheres to codex requirements.

It's not quite known how large the collective Unforgiven actually is; Statistics indicate that the
Dark Angels successors make up around 15% of the total space marine chapters at large in the
Imperium, and while this does not seem like a massive amount (Ultramarines make up around
50%-66%, depending on which author you ask) that would still be around 150 chapters. Though
it is uncertain whether all of those chapters are actually aware of their history, given the Dark
Angels would presumably prefer to have as few people with the damning knowledge as possible.
Yet GW has never presented us with any Dark Angels successors who know of their heritage and
yet who are not part of the Unforgiven (the Astral Claws, Relictors and Star Phantoms are all
"maybes") so we can only assume that once you're in the club, you're in balls deep or you get
erased.

What is known is that the Unforgiven are not beyond drafting new chapters without official
sanction (like the Consecrators) or outright blackmailing the seal of approval out of the High
Lords (as with the Disciples of Caliban). These chapters are raised with specific purposes in
mind, and fill either supporting roles to the collective or are tasked with special missions that the
others aren't prepared for. The officers of the successors also hold unique ranks and titles in the
Inner Circle relevant to their Chapter's function or position within the Unforgiven.
Each chapter shares formations equivalent to the Deathwing and Ravenwing, meaning that the
collective Unforgiven have access to a whole bunch of surplus archeotech, or the means to
manufacture Terminator suits and fighter planes at a remarkable rate.

So far (and for ten thousand years) these indiscretions have passed as little more than quiet
rumours, since the Unforgiven go to extreme lengths to protect their honour, plus they mostly
keep to themselves so no-one knows what they're actually up to.

LOYAL? Or Traitor?[edit]

Due in no small part to Gav Thorpe's divisive novels, Angels of Darkness was intended to
display that their quest for redemption had made them sinister and brutal, not proof of them
being traitors as the wider audience and /tg/ often treats them as. This is because most people
took Astelan and his accusations leveled at the modern-day Chapter and the Lion as truth, never
taking into account his jealously of the Lion nor his skewed interpretation of events and logical
fallacies (something that Gav himself has tried to remind people of), as he thought the Lion to be
a traitor, and then opened fire on the fleet when they were in orbit of Caliban without any attempt
at negotiation or communication - in defense, the fleet returned fire, so Astelan drew the
perfectly logical and sound conclusion that the Lion had betrayed them. It doesn't seem to matter
as much as people think it does, however, as Gav himself said that it wasn't an objective view of
what happened on Caliban, but a character study on a member of the Fallen.

Admittedly, though, some of Astelan's theories do make just a little too much sense to be easily
dismissed, like his belief that the Dark Angels' paranoia and obsession with secrecy is just as
much an gene-inheritance from the Lion as it is a post-heresy development, something that
El'Jonson developed (or got tainted with) as an infant in the darkness of old Caliban. However,
Astelan's mind and his recollections of things are unreliable - not only he is a Fallen Angel, he is
trying to make others fall as well. We only have his word to take for it, not to mention he ended
up consorting with Typhus against the loyalist Dark Angels over the course of The Unforgiven.

Another factor that hasn't helped the First Legion's tainted reputation was the implication that the
Unforgiven would be destroyed in their entirety if their secret went out - skewing the Dark
Angels from ultra-loyalists trying their damnedest to reach some sort of absolution for their
wrongdoings and mistakes, into a bunch of cowardly extremists concerned only with self-
preservation. This confusion is the result of an attempt to raise the stakes; coupled with the
increasing plot emphasis on them abandoning their allies demonstrates prioritizing shock value at
the expense of any actual depth the Chapter might have once had. They are supposedly a
calculating, heavily coordinated group orchestrating a covert operation of monumental
proportions, yet they clumsily attract the attention of the very people they are trying to keep their
secrets from.

About the only positive thing that can be said about this is that it at least provokes discussion - as
it stands, it's simply lazy writing. The writers at GW could do a lot with what the Unforgiven
would be willing to do or what to sacrifice in the name of their hunt for the Fallen, but right now
it's demonstrative of just how threadbare DA fluff has become in recent years. As fun as it is to
hypothesize whether or not they're loyal or traitor, the truth probably lies more in the middle - at
least the Dark Angels themselves are more like the Soul Drinkers rather than full on Chaos
Marines, more devoted to Emps and humanity as a whole rather than the Imperium itself.

To add to what is said above or rather to clarify is that the First Legion (and later Chapter and
all their successors) are indeed Loyal and not Traitors. With the Lion having been quoted
"Loyalty is it's own reward." sort of kills the whole "they might be closet traitors". There is even
an example where the Dark Angels encounter a Consecrators Marine that had fallen to Nurgle.
When he was captured, the Loyalists explained that there would be no taking him back to the
Rock to be interrogated. They did not consider him "Fallen" since he was not deceived by Luther
who led astray the Angels on Caliban. This traitor was considered weak for allowing Chaos to
get to him and was promptly executed and his body left in the dust.

In conclusion, the sons of the Lion are ostensibly Loyal, albeit with a massive guilty conscience
that (unlike the White Scars who resolved their internal issues at the time and can look on it as
something shameful, but has no bearing on the modern descendants of the Legion) the
Unforgiven cannot let go of, because the sins of the past are not ancient history as long as these
Fallen Angels keep falling out of space and time to remind them of it. So, what might have begun
as something relatively innocuous, the Unforgiven continues to skirt the grey area; with each
abandoned battlefield or trusted ally silenced, adding to the burden of their collective guilt while
they enact the Hunt, to the point that the Hunt is now more shameful than the original crime.
Therefore rather than the shame fading with the passage of time it only becomes more imperative
for them to complete their task.

This is spelled out bluntly by Cypher himself in The Unforgiven. While every legion took part in
the Great Scouring, the Dark Angels did so in secret, never admitting to having traitors and
Horus sympathizers (Most Fallen were totally unaware of the Heresy, and as a result they either
fell to Chaos all of their own accord or were deceived) in their ranks like the other eight legions
did. Now in the 41st Millenium it's FAR too late to rectify this; the time for earning forgiveness
is long passed. However, perhaps the Dark Angels' true redemption is near, despite their long-
running record of questionable actions. The Iron Hands have been recovering from their fatalistic
attitude and their repressed emotions in the wake of the Gaudinian Heresy, perhaps the Dark
Angels can finally get past their shame, especially since the recent Horus Heresy books and other
lore have explicitly made the Lion's loyalties very clear, and with Leman Russ - The Great Wolf
by Christ Wraight showing that he knows about the Wulfen and never called his brother or his
legion out on it, despite their mutual grievances may show some interesting revelations to come.

Despite the Unforgiven being prepared to do anything and everything that they need to do in
order to keep their secrets hidden, Supreme Grand Master Azrael has stated that should the day
ever arrive when the Imperium discovers their dark history and turns its fury upon the sons of the
Lion then the Unforgiven will refuse to raise arms against the Imperium. Not one shot will be
fired or blade drawn in their own defence for although they are prepared to do some very shady
things in order to keep their secrets hidden they are still unprepared and unwilling to plunge the
Imperium into what would be assuredly a very costly civil war that the Imperium really cant
afford to fight. They will not be responsible for a second Horus Heresy, or a Badab 2.0. The
recent lore has really hammered home that, in spite of how suspicious and shady the Dark Angels
are, they have never been delusional. They know what they are doing is wrong, but they have a
ten-thousand-year promise to fulfill.

Cool Shit[edit]
As the very literal "First" Legion, they were equipped with gear that predated the pacts with
Mars, and were supposed to have inherited much of their equipment from the Old Night and the
armouries of ancient Terra, and were permitted to retain exclusive access to these items by the
Emperor's own command. Much of which was never seen in other Legions which were raised to
a standard template that followed afterward.

These included:

Fellglaives equipped with Warp Cannons instead of Volkite Carronade and Vindicators which
fired warp/vortex shells.

Land Raiders equipped with Anti-Grav engines instead of tank treads.

Stasis Missiles & Grenades

Molecular Acid Boltshells

Short ranged Plasma Repeater carbines.

Phosphex Incinerator cannons

A unique pattern of aircraft called a Swordstrike Interceptor

A unique type of super-heavy tank which acted as a mobile Void Shield generator called a
"Portcullis Mono-track"

Much of this gear would not see use in the 41st millennium (or the tabletop) and the chapter
adheres to a slightly more "codex-equivalent" loadout, probably because GW re-uses the same
space marine range for most chapters. Though it is strongly implied that the Rock still contains a
hoard of archeotech within its dungeons from the old days.

So far, all they've got to show for themselves is bikes with plasma-guns and cool pick-axes, some
sturdy but mediocre flyers, some minor Land Speeder variants and supposedly a disproportionate
number of Terminator suits (taking potential casualties into account they have to have over 200
of the fucking things!).

Here's hoping that GW/FW remembers that the Emperor sent these guys out on Crusade before
he sat down and actually made the other Legions, so they can get their act together and make
Dark Angels distinct.

The Dark Angels Fleet[edit]

Both forgeworld and the black library books have hinted quite a bit at the Dark Angels Legion
having had a very prominent void presence. They are noted to specialize in extended independent
void operations and the 1st Legions artificers were known to create the distinctive 'Paravane'
sub-type armour: "an idiosyncratic variant of the widely issued Mark II which was renowned for
its enhanced void endurance and systems." Though this never really gets mentioned in later 40k,
but there's no stopping you using the conversion kits to represent "Void Hardened" Armour in
Zone Mortalis games, if you ever play those. This would also explain why they would have a
crap ton of Terminator Armor.

Although they didnt have the largest fleet nor have the largest number of capital ships, those
honours belonged to other legions like the Imperial Fists and the Iron Warriors respectively. The
First may still have owned arguably one of the most powerful fleets among the legions at that
time, considering they used a whole bunch of weapon designs that were left over from the Dark
Age of Technology, plus having a large number of void fortresses that nobody else knew about.
During the Thramas campaign Sevatars reaction to seeing the full force of the First Legion's
fleet bearing down upon the Night Lords legion can be summed up as well we're fucked, time to
run away (place obligatory Monty Python joke here). Even when the Lion headed towards
Macragge leaving the largest part of his fleet in the hands of Corswain the fleet assets he took
with him were still described as being enough to casually wipe out the defences surrounding
Guilliman's home and then split the world in two.

Some of the fleet where armed with something similar to the Rift Cannons on the Dark Angels
40k Dark Talons but on a massive scale; such weapons would be devastating in a void combat
environment.

It makes sense that the Dark Angels fleet was on the larger size given that the majority of their
successor chapters are Fleet based (the fact that being fleet based means that they are harder to
keep track of and monitor is of course completely accidental and in no ways intended after all
what could they possibly have to hide right?) However, by the time of 40k and their diminished
status as a "Chapter". Discounting of The Rock itself, their fleet capabilities are certainly above
average when you compare raw numbers to other chapters (with 8 battle barges, 16 strike
cruisers and 21 rapid strike vessels they are twice the size of the Ultramarines fleet and almost
three times the size of the Blood Angels) but by no means overwhelming (the Space Wolves have
a lot more) and there has been little to no mention of their continued use of archeotech warships
and weapons even amongst their successors.

However, the Dark Angels do make almost exclusive use of the Hunter-Class Destroyer. Other
chapters have access to the template, but the Dark Angels prefer it because they don't like getting
their new fleet assets from the same sources as the Imperial Navy. So the Hunter is like a naval
Cobra Destroyer; acting as a small torpedo boat, but is a bit more maneuverable and armoured.

Despite this, unless you believe that the Unforgiven are purposefully concealing the fact that they
have a whole bunch of leftover cool shit, it seems like those glorious days of "Legion" are long
passed.
 In most Chapters all their aircraft from the sleek Stormhawk Interceptors to the hulking
Stormraven Gunships are piloted by the Techmarines of their Chapter's armoury. Most Chapters
can have anything between 20 and 40 Techmarines at any one time with the Dark Angels only
having around 22 Techmarines compared to the likes of the Blood Angels that have 35. The low
numbers of Techmarines within the Dark Angels can be put down to their distrust of their dual
loyalties; this would normally be a problem for most Chapters, the Dark Angels are somewhat
unusual amongst the Chapters of the Adeptus Astartes in that their unique aircraft the Nephilim
and the Dark Talon are not piloted by the Techmarines of their armoury. Instead, these agile
hunting craft are flown into battle by the expert operatives of the Dark Angels 2nd Company, the
Ravenwing - which gives them a whole (oversized) company that is capable of taking to the skies
if they are needed. From Death from the Skies most chapters can field at least two divisions
(24 to around 48 aircraft, but is dependent on the number of Techmarines the chapter can afford
to deploy) where the Dark Angels have their 22 Techmarines and the Ravenwing which alone can
field at least two Companies or six divisions (72 to around 144 aircraft dependent on the size
of the Ravenwing at the time)

Daily rituals[edit]
04:00-Morning Prayer: The Dark Angels are roused from their cells to begin prayer at the
leadership of the Interrogator-Chaplain. Prayer is extra long compared to most other Chapters
due to DARK ANGELS BEING SO LOYAL THAT THEY WANT TO SHOW THEIR
DEVOTION TO THE EMPEROR AND THE LION.
06:00-Morning Firing Rites: The Dark Angels take to the ranges to begin firing practice.
07:00-Battle Practice: The Dark Angels descend to the Battle Cages to practice in close-combat.
Members of the Ravenwing will practice with their bikes and land speeders, while members of
the Deathwing will practice counter-Fallen scenarios ENGAGEMENTS WITH THE ENEMIES
OF THE EMPEROR, WHICH MOST CERTAINLY DO NOT INCLUDE ANY OF THE SONS
OF LION EL'JONSON.
9:00-Torturin-*BLAM* CHOCOLATE MILK AND COOKIES BREAK .
12:00-Midday Meal: A light meal is prepared by the Chapter Serfs.
12:30-Tactical Indoctrination: The Dark Angels will engage in tactical briefings on opponents
they will be facing in the future. Members of the Inner Circle will determine targets such as
traitors from the First Legion THE NINE TRAITOR LEGIONS WHICH REBELLED
AGAINST THE EMPEROR, BECAUSE THERE ARE ONLY NINE TRAITOR LEGIONS.
At this point a battle-brother may visit the Apothecary, while Interrogator-Chaplains will
interrogate Fallen Angels they have been assigned to HERETICS WHO ARE AIDING THE
EMPEROR'S ENEMIES, ALL FROM DIFFERENT LEGIONS AND CHAPTERS.
14:00-Afternoon nap with dimmed lights and soft instrumental music playing in the background.
16:00-Evening Fire Rites: The Dark Angels take to the ranges to begin firing practice. They
usually use black-colored targets to better hone their skills at shooting Fallen Angels in the dark
FOUL TRAITORS WHO ARE NOT FROM THE FIRST LEGION WHO USE BLACK
ARMOR AND THE COVER OF DARKNESS LIKE COWARDS.
17:00-Evening Prayer: The Dark Angels assemble for prayer under the Interrogator-Chaplains,
who have just finished torturing Fallen Angels SHOWING THEIR UNDENIABLE DEVOTION
TO THE EMPEROR WHICH TAKES MANY FORMS.
Why is there a 3 hour break in the schedule? Would they be torturing the Fallen in that time?
WHAT FALLEN? THERE IS NO 3 HOUR BREAK, THAT'S HOW NUMBERS WORK ON
CALIBAN THE ROCK.

"Battle is the most magnificent competition in which a human being can indulge. It brings out all
that is best; it removes all that is base. All men are afraid in battle. The coward is the one who
lets his fear overcome his sense of duty. Duty is the essence of manhood."

"Wars may be fought with weapons, but they are won by men."
- George S. Patton

"Quantity has a quality all of its own"

- Atrributed to Joseph Stalin

"To each of us falls a task, and all the Emperor requires of us Guardsmen is that we stand the
line, and we die fighting. It is what we do best - we die standing."
- General Sturnn of the Imperial Guard

And his name struck fear into the hearts of men.

The Imperial Guard (officially titled the Astra Militarum as of 6th edition, cause fuck your
original name if GW can't trademark it), are the foot soldiers of the Imperium in Warhammer
40,000. They exist only to die gloriously in the Empra's name. Commissars (like Holt and
Ciaphas Cain), ensure they do so regularly, and any cowards or deserters tend to be summarily
executed. During the Great Crusade, the Emperor only intended for them to be auxilia for his
SPESS MEHRINES (and to man masses of tanks and artillery and air-support), since the average
Guardsman is only capable of drawing enemy fire and shining a flashlight at his enemies (much
more fortunate Guardsmen get to drive the tanks and other armored vehicles fielded by the IG,
which proceed to blow their enemies into little chunks from a very long ways away); but after
Horus' little tantrum and the breakup of the Legions, trillions upon trillions of humans were
drafted to make up for the difference, even if they're generally not expected to survive their first
combat action. Or training. Or just meeting their commissar for the first time. Even so, many
consider their dogged perseverance in the face of overwhelming odds to be what makes them so
balls-to-the-wall awesome.

Contents
[hide]

1 Overview

2 Play Style

3 Notable Figures of the Imperial Guard

4 Main Advantages of Fielding an Imperial Guard Army

5 Downsides to being a Guardsman Highly fanciful scenarios that most likely will not occur
during your glorious service as a Guardsman

6 Memorable Quotations

7 A Piece of Writing That Explains the Imperial Guard

8 The Imperial Guard's Anthems

9 Notable Imperial Guard Forces

10 Imperial Guard forces featured in Black Library novels

11 /tg/ Homebrew Guard Forces

12 See Also

13 Gallery

Overview[edit]
It is worth noting that in a universe where the majority of the other armies are:

Ancient Murdering Robots that destroy the laws of physics with their tech and don't die even if
they are nuked
 Genetically engineered killing machines

The evil twin brothers of the genetically engineered killing machines, with equally evil goatees

Clad in power armor

Extremely warlike genetically-engineered fungi able to grow bigger and stronger the more they
fight

Manipulative space elves in possession of hyper-advanced technology and psychic powers who
can jump around while making damn accurate shots like Quake players

The above-mentioned space elves' emo, bondage obsessed cousins who like to meet interesting
people, shoot them a little, then torture them for eternity

Highly-advanced space communists with battle mechs and god-like firepower

Mutant 10 foot tall space monsters with lots of teeth to devour you that come in such huge
swarms that you literally run out of ammo before your guns can chew through half of them

Daemons with a billion tentacles to rape you with

Reptilian/insectoid abominations that kill you and mutilate your body because they think its
"funny"

Skaven

Some combination of the above

"Welcome to the jungle, we've got fun and games!"

The foot soldiers of the Imperial Guard take to the field equipped with nothing more than the
40k equivalent of flak jackets, glorified laser pointers, a copy of the Imperial Infantryman's
Uplifting Primer (if they have not already used it for toilet paper.*BLAM* Note: it is highly
recommended that you do not use it as toilet paper, to prevent BLAMing) and a pair of Mars
pattern-forged titanium-plated balls. Please note that whilst the lasgun and flak armor (in essence
it's an oversized SAPI plate) are very good by modern standards, they're just flashlights and t-
shirts compared to the automatic mini-rocket launchers and power armor everyone else uses.
This means they have balls of steel (as in Duke Nukem would say, "Holy shit! I thought I had
balls of steel!").

Examples of Guardsmen going above and beyond this, demonstrating the possession of testicles
so massive they should be deployed in battle as a separate unit, are plentiful; Ollanius Pius is one
such Guardsman, standing up to fucking Horus himself (which unfortunately has been retconned.
Several times. *BLAM* HERESY! How dare you profane the memory of such a brave and
loyal guardsman!); the original Dawn of War features the Blood Ravens running into a pair of
Guardsmen who have held their position, without support, in the middle of a combined
Chaos/Ork/Eldar invasion, for more than a week; Dawn of War II has Guardsmen rescued in an
earlier mission returning in the finale to provide infantry support while the Blood Ravens launch
an attack on a fucking Tyranid hive. These same guardsmen (led by the ever awesome Sergeant
Merrick) SURVIVE the suicidal mission and fight on for TEN MORE YEARS against the
remnants of the Tyranids/Orks/Eldar, and a group totaling up to 72 still loyal IG in six separate
blob-groups on frozen over Aurelia during those same ten years manage to hold out against their
late fellows now in Papa Nurgle's arms who are supported by the remnants of the Black Legion
in the area, while just outside the new temple to Nurgle.

Although the average front line Guardsman is highly unlikely to survive his first deployment,
veteran soldiers are considered to be some of the manliest motherfuckers the Imperium has to
offer, putting even the fucking SPESS MEHRENS to a billion shames. One disturbing thing is
that if the tactics of the Imperial Guard were improved from WWI style warfare (overuse of
artillery and mass charges against machine guns and tanks) and updated to modern style warfare
(such as taking cover and using air/armor/support, which many elite regiments often are, theres
so much damn variety you can't really have good quality control.) the Imperial Guard could
become the most feared army in the Universe but NO that's not grimdark enough! And that's the
Tau's tactic. Although, do note that some commanders themselves shove off this fact and do
order their men to charge the enemy lines, with or without heavy armor/artillery support and
regardless of terrain.

Dan Abnett's work and their latest edition turned them into Gods of Mechanized War and yet,
they still suck compared to 8 feet tall Daemonic killing machines with chainaxes. To be fair,
though, that's much like comparing a sedan to a tank. I mean, how are you NOT supposed to
suck against things that will slice through meter thick steel armor like so much cheese?

It may sound harsh, but the cold, hard truth of the matter is that the lowest currency in the
Imperium is human life. For example, in the modern day a commander would be expected to
sacrifice expensive equipment (a cruise missile ain't cheap) to save even a single life, because in
the grim darkness of the far future, public outreach, civilian morale and "leave no man behind"
kind of ideals tend to screw up a already overtaxed bureaucratically fucked Munitorium
commanders justifiably believe it isn't worth the trouble . Instead, commanders do risk
assessment. They're not going to devote resources just to save one lowly grunt if they're gonna
lose a resource more expensive than what they're getting. Although to be fair, commanders who
make these decisions know the moral implications of what they're doing while the Imperium
treats this as a perfectly normal act.

"The meaning of victory is not to defeat your enemy but to destroy him, to eradicate him from living
memory, to leave no remnant of his endeavors, to crush utterly his every achievement and remove from
all record his every trace of existence. From that defeat no enemy can ever recover. That is the meaning
of victory."

A bit of maths, if you will. There are 32,380 Hive Worlds in the Imperium. The average
population of these worlds is around 200 billion each. We put these together and we get
6.476E15 (6,476,000,000,000,000 or 6.476 Quadrillion) people on Hive worlds ALONE.
Eventually there would be more human retard-babies than there would be soylens viridiens and
lasguns to come out of the Forge World assembly lines.

So now you see why humans are worth so little. But this also means that once they get their ass
in gear and onto the battlefield, they ALWAYS win, because they have all but unlimited
manpower and resources. Compare it to water bashing against rocks. Sure, a few gallons won't
do jack, but countless billions of tonnes crashing down on it WILL destroy it in a surprisingly
short amount of time. Apply actual tactics, as every regiment that isn't Kriegan does, and it
becomes even more effective (Do keep in mind, it's not like they commit trillions of troops to
one battle. The Imperium frequently has to withdraw, but it's like saying "We lost the battle, BUT
NOT THE WAR!").

In fact, it is point-blank stated numerous times that guardsmen are way cheaper than their
lasguns. Because, you know, there are far more Hive Worlds to produce humans than there are
Forge Worlds to produce lasguns. And to add more grimdark, Imperium lost a lot of forge worlds
and mining worlds during the Time of Ending, so there are even fewer lasguns and cardboard
jackets coming from assembly lines. The Death Korps of Krieg have a specific guy who runs
around battlefields shooting the wounded and collecting their gear (as well as blood and organs
to fix those who still can be saved to fight next day).
Think of the Red Army from the Hollywood movie Enemy at the Gates: Soviet Russia there had
a fuckton of soldiers to draw from, but many were not issued spare ammunition or even rifles,
and were expected to loot supplies off dead bodies. On an individual level the Germans had the
obvious advantage, but send in enough cannon fodder to keep them pinned inside they city, then
cut them off, and they eventually cracked. (Note: this is in fact a myth, Soviet war production
outpaced Germany's by far.)

But what the Imperium does have going for itself is the individual heroism of its protectors. The
Guard holds countless heroes, without whom the Imperium would have fallen ages ago. Notable
heroes of the Imperial Guard include: Ollanius Pius, Straken, Creed, Lord Solar Macharius,
Ciaphas Cain HERO OF THE IMPERIUM, Vance Motherfucking Stubbs, Yarrick, SLY
FUCKING MARBO, and countless others. These unique men and women inspire the masses
around them to truly heroic deeds, and through those deeds, ensure that the Imperium will never
falter.

Play Style[edit]

Men of the Brimlock Eleventh, fighting on Voor against Orks.

"You see, the Killbots have a preset kill limit. Knowing their weakness, I sent wave after wave of
my own men at them, until they reached their limit and shut down." - Zapp Brannigan, Twenty-
five Star General of the Imperial Guard.

The Imperial Guard are notorious for their SIGAOD methodology: Shooty Imperial Guard Army
Of Doom for the less than nerdy. The basic lasguns are downright pathetic, but can still be
effective if used en masse, and we mean en masse. The effect is a little like how cavemen
throwing rocks could still be a threat to fully armored knights. It only takes one lucky shot and
they don't stop shooting until they get lucky.

The IG has loads of vehicles. Loads of vehicles. They can take a whole squadron as a single Fast
Attack or Heavy Support slot, and most are fairly cheap and most pretty good for what you pay
for. There are 4 principle IG ground vehicles of note:

First is the Chimera, which is basically a troop transport with a turret. Its armor is fairly light and
it is not particularly fast, but it's cheap and the passengers can still shoot while inside. Bread and
butter, it's also used as the chassis for various other vehicles. At least it's more useful than the
Rhino.

The second is the iconic Leman Russ Battle Tank. It is in every way a solid, dependable, warhorse.
Everything from the optional heavy sponsons, to the BFG on the turret, to the completely
exposed engine in the rear. Apparently, they ran out of badass when they designed it.

Third is the Sentinel. It's a support walker that, while not generally as effective as the other big 3,
earns its place by virtue of utility. The sentinel can serve as a reliable escort that grants numbers
to vehicle armies and durable fire support to infantry lists. Versatile and a cheap way to add
single use missiles. Not impressive, but good when you need a little extra ______.

The last vehicle of note is the Basilisk. Apparently, some tech-priest decided to take a Chimera,
rip off the turret and troop compartment and replace it with the biggest piece of artillery he
could find. Unfortunately, there weren't any Titan legions nearby so he settled for the
Earthshaker cannon. The Earthshaker is far more powerful than even the BFG they stuck on the
Leman Russ and has ten times the range. No WH40k game has been played where a target has
been out of range of the Basilisk.

The four vehicles above are only a small selection of what the Guard has to offer, but they
provide pretty reliable workhorses of most builds and strategies. Most other vehicles are
specialized variants of the above, being largely situational units.

Let's not forget the Deathstrike Missile, which GW decided to give UNLIMITED RANGE.
Players have called up GW stores the next town over and told them that I'm dropping a
Deathstrike in the middle of whatever battle is closest, and they've accepted.

Also of note is 6th Edition's contribution of flyer units. The IG has the most non-apocalypse flyer
units in 40k, and while some of them are absolutely useless for anything but flavor, some of them
kick all kinds of ass. Triple twin-linked Lascannon, twin-linked Punisher Gatling cannons, or a
flying tank-busting mega-bolter kinds of ass to be specific. Rape from above.

In summary, the Imperial Guard wins by having firepower, cannon fodder, and lots of both,
transported in a massive variety of METAL BOXES.

Unfortunately for the Guard, though, the Imperial Navy has a bad habit of taking ships that were
designed to launch atmospheric craft in support of the Guard (such as Marauders) and instead
sticks void combat attack craft inside (such as Furies). The result of this is painfully obvious if
you're a Guardsman on the ground. Not to say they don't have air support, but that their air
support has a presence that is completely at odds with the number of atmospheric fighters and
bombers a ship can carry. The Navy literally fits whatever atmospheric fighters and bombers they
can into whatever excess space remains after putting their Furies and Starhawks into hangers
designed for holding countless Lightnings, Thunderbolts, Marauders, and Avengers, instead.
Grimdark? No, just uncooperative morons. Enter the Hydra. The only tank designed to take out
aircraft. That is BADASS. Screw the navy. Hell, some regiments have a Leman Russ for every
infantry squad! Do that with Thunderbolts or Lightnings in addition to the Russ and...yeah, epic-
stomp.

Notable Figures of the Imperial Guard[edit]

Who's "ded 'ard" NOW, you fat, grammatically challenged cucumber?!

Ciaphas Cain - HERO OF THE IMPERIUM (Charming Commissar in the Harry Flashman/Edmund
Blackadder tradition.)

Colonel-Commissar Ibram Gaunt - (Rambo + Sharpe + 40,000 king of awesome) Main protagonist
of Gaunt's Ghosts, and a REAL hero of the Imperium, unjustly doomed to lowly obscurity.

Commissar Yarrick - Old one-eye. Saviour of Armageddon, twice. Known for having an Ork Klaw
on his arm, having a personal Baneblade, and a bizarre relationship with the ork warlord
Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka.

Commissar Holt - Awesome cinematics are awesome, from Warhammer 40,000: Final Liberation.

Commissar Dan - "But Commissar Dan says we're on a blaze for glory run!" "Commissar Dan is a
maniac! Never listen to anything he says." Also canon thanks to FFG.

Commissar Fuklaw - Currently in service with the Angry Marines.

Commissar Raege - Currently trolling faggoty Space Marines.

General Sturnn - Manly damn old son of a bitch, from Dawn of War: Winter Assault. Struggles
with grammar because of the grit in his teeth.

Lord General Castor - Sporting a manly mustache and known for having a trophy room full of
Tyranid heads.

Ollanius Pius - The catalyst for the Emperor finally erasing Horus out of existence. (No longer
canon, which is BULLSHIT! Though he DOES still exist as a Saint of the IG. No worries, /tg/ is
keeping his story alive.)

Vance Motherfucking Stubbs - Another manly bastard, famous for "losing" a hundred
Baneblades.*BLAM*LIES AND CHAOS PROPAGANDA!!! There is nothing written
about the Baneblades being lost.

Colonel "I ate a Miral landshark for breakfast" Straken - Yet another manly fucker and another
solid contender for biggest balls in the Imperial Guard.

Knight Commander Pask - Rain man in 40k. An autistic Leman Russ tank ace that has destroyed
Titans and Gargants. With a Leman Russ. He somehow manages to wreck his tank in every battle,
always getting a new one and renaming it "hand of steel." He's managed to claw his way out of
hundreds of burning wrecks somehow.

Colonel Greiss - Straken's former commander and proof that the manliest fuckers the Imperial
Guard have aren't necessarily the biggest.
 Lord Castellan Usarkar E. Creed - Famous for outflanking enemies with Titans. Must have been
the work of some sort of tactical geniu-
CREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEED!!!

Merrick - Tough bastard who survived a Tyranid Invasion, a Chaos uprising, ten years of nonstop
combat, and putting a gun to his superior's head. Also fucking strong, since he can carry an
entire heavy weapons setup on his own.

Sly Marbo - ...by time you have read this... you are already dead... Gone, just like Creed's ability
to scout titans, because GW hates awesome things.

Doom Marine - because, why the hell not?

Engineseers - All of them. Want to repair your own tank, do you? HERE'S THE FUCKING MANUAL.
By the way, it's Heresy to do it yourself.

Lord Commander Solar Macharius - A Brilliant tactician who Gets Shit Done (in fluff) and the
most useless command choice from the Second Edition Codex: Imperial Guard who would
habitually screw up your entire battle plan since he rolled for his strategy rating on a D6 (which
decided who got the first turn) and 4-6 would stop you firing your army-fucking pre-battle
barrage. On a 6 you also had to put everything you had in reserve on the table. He also had no
model and the fluff gave no idea what he looked like. IMPROVED IN 3RD ED WHEN HE GOT
BETTER RULES AND A MODEL: Baseline stats are: WS D3+2, BS4, S3, T3, W4, I4, A D3+1, LD10

o Because he is slow in his old age, he has an initiative of 4, which is pretty bad, but he can
potentially have four attacks with a mastercrafted power weapon at a WS of 5. He's still
too wild of a character to use in a serious game, so save him for your fuck-around games,
or Apocalypse.

o In conclusion, he has a terrible crunch but have a ridiculously awesome fluff being as the
most successful Warmaster ever existed since the Great Crusade

Colonel Schaeffer - The most crazy, malicious, heinous and downright evil imperial guard officer
to ever exist. Most other officers are either incompetent when battlefield tactics are concerned
or egocentric to the point of believing nothing else around them has a pulse, ultimately resulting
in the average footslogger having such a brief lifespan. Colonel Schaeffer on the other hand,
intends to make those under his command suffer in the most grueling, painful and surprisingly
productive way possible.

Colonel Jurten - Nuked the living shit out of his own planet, 'cuz Krieg ain't belonging to no one
but the Big E. Then inhabited it solely with clones, mostly of himself.

Commander Kubrik Chenkov "Now see here comrade, is all for great glory of great Stalin
empero- ! , ! *BLAM* What happens when a soviet commander gets
transplanted into 40k. Known for being the most famous user of the "send in the next wave"
tactic, wherein a squad of 50 conscript guardsman are sent into a minefield to clear it by
triggering them and another 50 are sent in immediately when they all inevitably die. The biggest
 waste of flesh the Imperial Guard will likely ever see, he's only survived by dint of never running
out of soldiers, if he were to ever run out of men, he'd be executed as an incompetent. Emperor
help Chenkov's ass if he meets Ibram Gaunt, Ciaphas Cain or Vance Motherfuckin Stubbs as he
will most likely end up in the Penal Legions if they hear how much that idiot wastes his men like
autogun bullets. Heck its a surprise that no other Imperial Guard leader or commander above
Chenkov has shanked his ass yet.

Main Advantages of Fielding an Imperial Guard Army[edit]

Shit loads of men to throw around the battlefield

Sweet, sweet salty tears.

BASILISKS

BANEBLADES

MANTICORES

LEMAN RUSSES

*BLAM*

Titans acting as scouts.

Reasonable prices for vehicles.

 Tank Squadrons.

The first and best Flak Tank.

Loyal soldiers that can and will hold the line to the bitter end.

Commissar Yarrick

Cool looking models and plenty of variety to choose from.

Standard issue adamantium balls.

YOU COULD NOT POSSIBLY FORGET THAT YOUR GUYS FIELD THE BEST TANKS OF THE GAME,
RIGHT?

VANQUISHERS, FUCK YOU BLUE SKINNED PANZIES

Did we forget to mention that all units have standard issue balls of steel? Except for Yarrick. He
has adamantium balls. And that guy in the cardboard box. (No one has ever been able to confirm
what kind of balls he has (EXCEPT FOR YO MAMA! OOOOOH!) no one fucks with Sly is any form
of the word and lives to tell the tale)

Highly fanciful scenarios that most likely will not occur

during your glorious service as a Guardsman[edit]
While your local propaganda might say that being in the guard is the most honorable thing you
could ever get into, and it is! Here is a small list of things that will very likely never happen to
you and are entirely preventable with forethought, your trusty lasgun, and endless faith in the
Emperor:
Heroic last stands not included, but encouraged greatly.

You will die in the line of duty and no-one but your family and friends will remember you unless
you've done something that only a Space Marine could do in combat. Anyone can do it!

You're expendable in every sense of the word. Freedom isn't free and you're the currency that
pays for it!

Your Commissar might execute you to make your friends fight harder. You deserved it.

Your Commissar might execute your friends to make you fight harder. They deserved it.

Unless you're in a special forces division like the Kasrkin, you're really just a meatshield in large
scale assaults. A glorious, spiffy looking meatshield!

"See how great this is? Your very own laser gun!"

You can't even die when you want to. You don't want to be a quitter, do you?

You might be: mutilated, disemboweled, eaten alive, disassembled into your component atoms,
sacrificed to the Chaos Gods, left for dead, tortured for fun by xenos, mutants, heretics and
zealots, stuffed with shurikens and lasers better than yours, or blasted by Railgun rounds. But
you'll earn the eternal gratitude of the Emperor!

You will be sent into hopeless situations and your superiors expect you to fight without
retreating or showing cowardice. Just do it, no one likes a crybaby!
 You may be used as mine clearance. By being marched through the minefield. That's right boys,
you can teach those dastardly mines who's boss by blowing them up!

Even if after losing your entire regiment, watching your last-minute friends die horrendous
deaths, and generally do the most gruesome work to win the day; the minute Space Marines
come crashing down from the sky; They'll take all the credit for it, even if the marines
themselves attribute the win to you. They deserve it.

Those same Space Marines might bomb you and the civilians you're trying to save into mulch
because you're too weak to be worth rescuing. You deserve it, weakling.

You will be taken from your home planet and dropped on the other side of the universe to fight
in a war you didn't know existed. Think of the interesting people you'll meet, and then
subsequently possibly kill!

You will NEVER see your home planet again unless you are stationed there. In which case it is
likely under siege by yet another one of the Imperium's foes, and will likely remain so for the
remainder of your short life. Think of the interesting places you'll see, and then subsequently
blow up!

5 Million of you dying under a four hour assault by orks, is considered a flawless victory by
Segmentum Command (Then again that would likely be either a very large ork warband or a
WAAAGH!, so GOOD JOB!). Better than 5 million and one, am I right?

If you fight along side Grey Knights, you will be *BLAMMED*, or mindfucked and lobotomized,
after the battle in the interest of secrecy. Grey Knights don't exist, that's silly.

Hell, just fighting Chaos has a slight chance of you getting disposed off after the battle because
the Inquisitor investigating your regiment thinks that you may be a slight, bit, tad tainted. You
wouldn't want to spread that taint would you?

Even when your army are the only ones that still uses combined arms warfare, your army still
sucks, since it's routinely losing entire brigades(Complete with Armor vehicles and aircraft) to
any single bog-standard Space Marine and/or xeno mook. But not you! Your buddies and you can
definitely take 'em!

God forbid you dare complain. Fucking Commisars.

Memorable Quotations[edit]
- "The enemies of mankind may employ dark sciences or alien weapons beyond Humanity's ken,
but such deviance comes to naught in the face of honest human intolerance backed by a
sufficient number of guns."

-DRIVE ME CLOSER! I want to hit them with my sword! (originally a meme that started from a
picture of a Commissar standing up in a tank hatch brandishing his sword, the phrase became so
popular it is one of Commissar Lord Bernn's in campaign/skirmish/multiplayer lines when he
gets in a Chimera in Dawn of War II, Retribution)

- "When in doubt, throw more men at it."

- "Look at me. Look at me! This is home now, Trooper! This is the zone! It doesn't like you, but
by the Throne, it's where you are! The Emperor wants you, boy! Did no one ever tell you that?
The Emperor wants you to make his glory for him! And if you're scared, I'm terrified. The
archenemy is no playmate. You're going to see things, and be expected to do things your poor
mother would have a fit at. But the Emperor expects, and the Emperor protects, all of us, even
you. Especially you - I promise you that." - Colonel-Commissar Ibram Gaunt

- "That which I cannot crush with words alone, I shall crush with the tanks of the Imperial
Guard!"

- "You're a fearsome warrior! Act like it!" - General Castor

- "You don't die until I say so!"

- "Glory to the first man to die! CHARGE!!!"

- "Yes, you shall die when assaulting a well maintained fortress under a competent commander.
But at least strive to make your death useful." (Paraphrased)
- "We go beyond the emperor's light. To the darkest reaches in the galaxy. Good thing we brought
our flashlights!"

- "To each of us falls a task, and all the Emperor requires of us Guardsmen is that we stand the
line, and we die fighting. It is what we do best: We die standing." - General Sturnn, Dawn of
War: Winter Assault

- "All right men! TIME TO WAGE TO WAR!" - Sturnn

-"Remember, we have more numbers men!"-sergeant in skirmish/multiplayer line from Dawn of

War II Retribution

- "Let's see them fight ALL of us!" Guardsman, Dawn of War: Soulstorm

- "Infantry wins firefights, tanks win battles, artillery wins wars." - Tactica Imperialis

- "A Guardsman's LIFE is to die. My job has always been to send them where they CAN die. I'm
not afraid to spend men, but I never waste them!" - General Castor

-"Eldar suck they can't even save their mams never mind them selves" - some tank commander
from the 319th Catachan tank company

- "Your foe is well equipped, well-trained, battle-hardened. He believes his gods are on his side.
Let him believe what he will. We have the tanks on ours." - Colonel Joachim Pfeiff, Krieg 14th
Armoured Regiment

- "Okay, okay, you caught me, (gasp), oh but look who it is! It's the God Emperor (pointing to his
right)!!!" - Cornered Guardsman "The God Emperor!?" - Sororitas "You're all so STUPID!!!" -
Fleeing Guardsman

- "We'd offer a pension if we thought you needed it..." - Unknown Recruiting Officer.

- "When in mortal danger, when beset by doubt, run in little circles, wave your hands and shout."
- Parody of the Litany of Command. (More popular then you think)

- "LET ME PREACH HIS NAME!" - Priest

- "A good general does not lead an army to destruction just because he knows it will follow." -
The Tactica Imperialis

- "If at first you don't succeed, bring heavier firepower!"

- "LAST ONE TO DIE'S AN ELDAR!"

- "They just keep coming!" Heretic Stevos, counting troop ships.

- "GO GO GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

- "Did I give you permission to get shot soldier? Then don't let those motherfuckers shot you!"

- "Tanks! Where are the bloody taaaaaaaaaaaanks??????????"

- "Remember your training and you will make it back alive" - Unknown deceased Guardsman

A Piece of Writing That Explains the Imperial Guard[edit]

At the end of the day, though he's been ferried through hell on a ship that's ten thousand years old
to some godforsaken, war-torn rock; though he deployed from high orbit with nothing but a grav
chute; though he is one of ten million men and women snatched from his homeworld to fight a
war he barely understands; though he has been given a weapon that fires small suns and may
annihilate him as he fires because the knowledge of how it functions has been lost; though his
company is supported by tractor-tanks that run on anything you can burn; though he wages war
against a devouring hivemind, ravenous demons and hordes of hyper-advanced aliens with
strange technologies and sorceries he never dreamed existed; no one will remember his sacrifice,
there will be no records of his deeds, no glorious parades in his honor, and no remembrance of
his name. All he will earn is a shallow, unmarked grave on a forgotten world untold lightyears
from home.

Yet for all this thankless sacrifice a Guardsman is a man, just like you. He has no millennia-old
genetic engineering, no prophetic leader, no miracles of faith. He has his lasgun, his orders, and
those beside him. He is the Imperial Guard.

And he will hold the line.

Now in Manly Tear inducing audio format!

The Imperial Guard's Anthems[edit]

For more Imperial anthems, consult your Uplifting Primer. While the Ecclesiarchy and several, if
not all, Chapters of Space Marines look down upon the frivolities of music (unless said music is
sung in somberly in High Gothic and praises the Emperor) as distracting to any soldier in
carrying out his Divine Duty, the Imperial Guard still makes heavy use of marching themes and
anthems. Examples are given below:

Notable Imperial Guard Forces[edit]

Because GW was too lazy to create an original themed Imperial Guard army, they basically used
RL armies as a base for them, gave them a little touch of grimdark, assorted amounts of tempered
ceramite balls and placed them... IIIIIINNN SPAAAACE!
 Cadian Shock Troops: (now homeless) Generic occidental army/Colonial Marine clones...
IIIIIINNN SPAAAACE! FOR IMPERIUM AND EMPEROR! COME ON YOU APES, YOU WANNA LIVE
FOREVER? Shh! Who do you think we are? Chem-Dogs? Discipline, man! Discipline! You'll get the
Commissar riled!

Catachan Jungle Fighters: Vietnam War Americans (and Australians) ... IIIIIINNN SPAAAACE!
GOOD MORNING CATACHAN!

Tallarn Desert Raiders: The Taliban... IIIIIINNN SPAAAACE! !

Armageddon Steel Legion: Wehrmacht mechanized divisions... IIIIIINNN SPAAAACE! FR DEN

IMPERATOR, FEUER FREI!

Valhallan Ice Warriors: Great Patriotic War Red Army... IIIIIINNN SPAAAACE! !
! !

Mordian Iron Guard: Napoleonic Prussians (spiffing blue uniforms, iron hard discipline and
ranked fire)... IIIIIINNN SPAAAACE! GOTT KAISER MIT UNS!

Death Korps of Krieg: WWI's Western Front (both sides), made extra grimdark... IIIIIINNN
SPAAAACE!

Vostroyan Firstborn: Cossacks... IIIIIINNN SPAAAACE! YOU WILL NOT MAKE SUBJECTS OF
IMPERIAL SONS, FUCK YOUR MOTHER!

Elysian Drop Troops: French paratroopers... IIIIIINNN SPAAAACE! QUI OSE GAGNE! POUR
L'EMPEREUR! (Taros Campaign=Dien Bien Phu or Operation Market Garden)

Harakoni Warhawks: American paratroopers... IIIIIINNNN SPACE! GREEN LIGHT!!! LET'S GO!

Tanith First (And Only): Scots and Welsh... IIIIIINNN SPAAAACE! OFNI FI, OND DDILYNWCH!

Attilan Rough Riders: Mongols... IIIIIINNN SPAAAACE! (Yes, again)

Savlar Chem Dogs: Post-apocalyptic raiders (and a bit of the Vietnam War tunnel rats )... IIIIIINNN
SPAAAACE!

Drookian Fen Guard: Anglo-Scottish border reivers... IIIIIINNN SPAAAACE!

Praetorian Guard: Victorian British Army... IIIIIINNN SPAAAACE! PRAETORIANS NEVER YIELD!
(Ever seen Zulu? Like that)

Kanak Skull Takers: Cavemen (with some Apache)... IIIIIINNN SPAAAACE!

Phantine Air Corps: Battle of Britain RAF... IIIIIINNN SPAAAACE!

Phantine Skyborne: British SAS... IIIIIINNN SPAAAACE!

 Scintillan Fusiliers: 18th century French aristocrats... IIIIIINNN SPAAAACE!

Maccabian Janissaries: Ottoman Empire's Elite Corps... IIIIIINNN SPAAAACE!

With such a large and diverse collection of units in the Imperial Guard that puts even the Space
Marine armies to shame, you'd think that you'd have plenty of options for fielding an army,
right? Well, I've got some bad news for you: Realistically, you can only field Cadians and
Catachans in large numbers, as well as the Death Korps and Elysians if you're willing to pay
Forge World prices. As for everyone else? Either discontinued, or frequently out of stock, and
most of them are still in pewter, so good luck trying to get custom loadouts. Yes, some units like
the Attilans or Harakoni may seem too out there to have broad appeal, but you'd think at least the
Steel Legion would get more support, what with their intimate involvement in Armageddon, one
of 7th Edition's Warzone settings (or it could be a scam to make yo pay FW prices as their
models look pretty similar to death korps). Luckily, there are some people out there who have got
you covered.

Imperial Guard forces featured in Black Library

novels[edit]
The writers from Black Library have also created some armies for Black Library novels, and
while some of them only appear in one novel or short story they may be worth mentioned as a
great source of custom Imperial Guard armies:

Arkhan Confederates, Civil War American Regiments... IIIIIINNN SPAAAACE! Featured in the
extremely grimdark novel Fire Caste, their name seems to be a reference both to the state of
Arkansas and H.P. Lovecraft's haunted city of Arkham (also their homeplanet is Providence, so
yeah), they just came out of a civil war between loyalists and rebels, with their average troopers
getting the slang of "greybacks", their culture is akin to America's 19th century with a bit of
northern barbarian for some measure, while the Adeptus Mechanicus have enforced Mars
dogma Arkhan nobles still have a tendency to tweak and build their own machines as a form of
Omnissiah worship, which have resulted in jumpack sentinels and the Zouaves clockwork power-
armoured elite soldiers, which are capable to stand their ground against Tau battlesuits
(progress!), also their psykers usually come with a northern tribesman guardian who is tasked to
chop the psyker's head in case it gets perils of the warp.

/tg/ Homebrew Guard Forces[edit]

Here are some of the regiments spawned by /tg/.

Cendran Abolishers Pyromaniacs who eat the burnt flesh of their enemies.

Darmine Marshalls Elite sharpshooters supported by huge amounts of explosive collar-fitted

penal troopers.
 Onir_First_and_Foremost Heavy troopers who use an unholy amount of Valkyries and
flamethrowers

Ferdain Mustangs Cavalry regiment that use genetically tailored horses that are practically heavy
armour.

Sauristoni Ghostchasers Renowned scouts and trackers who are experts on Eldar.

1st Membranes A regiment made almost entirely of psykers from a black ship that crashed on a
forge world.

Arianius Divided Regiments Regiments are segregated along gender lines. Men are slicey women
are shooty.

Kandamii Crabhunters A regiment made up of Augmented soldiers who specialize in Oceanic and
Aerial warfare.

Terran Knights Elite regiments recruited exclusively from Terra. As a result they have some of the
best equipment in the Imperium.

2478th Penal Legion, "Hell Harlots" All-female penal legion close combat drop troops made up
entirely of the same religious prison gang.

Generian 99th Medium Infantry The original regiment of the All Guardsmen Party spawning
some of the most dangerous, heretical, yet pragmatic acolytes in the entire inquisition.

Hua Yuan Exterminators Tyranid hunters and Hive warfare Specialists that use unique 'Color And
Mayhem' tactics to disorient and daze in the cramped not!Honk Kong they're from. By far the
most fleshed out /tg/ regiment to date.

Franchfarran Legion: One of the stupidest ideas to come out of thinking about 40k. Beats the
Benveadig Militia though...

The Varkhese Legionnaires: Heroes of the Siege of Varkhat and the infamous mechanised force
used by the Mechanicus in it's recent terraforming endevours.

Argo Brigade: Regiment of brutally effective counterinsurgency operators who really, really enjoy
crucifying dissidents, dissident sympathizers, and xenosupside down and/or sideways.

See Also[edit]
Lasgun

Chem-chan

Sentinel
 Hellhound

Basilisk

Leman Russ Battle Tank

Baneblade

Commissar

Imperium

Tactics/Imperial Guard

Only War - The official Tabletop RPG of the Guard!

Kasrkin-chan

[1] - The Imperial Guard before they became the Astra Militarum of today, The awesome looking
SOLAR AUXILIA! Thank the Emperor for Forge World.

Regulations of the Imperial Guard Things The Imperial Guard Is No Longer Allowed To Do.

Take the Elysian Drop Troops, now add 50% more badass, now replace their normal
lasguns with hellguns and their flak jackets with carapace armor, and now make them all
STORMTROOPERS and you have the Harakoni Warhawks, one of the most elite guard
drop units in the galaxy.

All Warhawks hail from the Hive World of Harakon, where their massive Hive Worlds
have spires reaching into the upper atmosphere due to the world having a much lower
gravity threshold. In order to hunt on their homeworld they use grav-gliders to hunt in the
valleys below, this makes them excellent at high altitude jumps as well as judging air
currents on the way down. The Harakonis are very distinctive with their uniforms and
many a guardsmen can tell if a guardsman hails from harakon just from their distinctive
dialect of Low-Gothic. Many Imperial Commanders owe thanks to Harakonis attached to
their regiments, because their punch is much stronger than what a normal Elysian force
could use. However since Harakonis are in low numbers due to being stormtroopers (so
basically Imperium's special forces), they need to be at the right spot at the right time to
make a difference, but if they are, oh man, they will fuck shit up.

Unlike Elysians, Harakonis make full use of heavy weapons teams and Special weapon
squads which allows them to pack a MUCH stronger punch. However since the
Warhawks are a drop unit like the Elysians, they have no armored vehicles, this coupled
with the fact that they operate in low numbers as heavy infantry means that they need
support from other regiments in order for them to survive. Additionally, being armed with
 power-hungry hellguns and heavier weapons they run out of ammunitions pretty quickly,
and with their carapace armour they also tire quite fast and thus Harrakonis cannot be
used to capture and hold key objectives behind enemy lines (that's what Elysians are for,
after all), and are pretty much limited to be dropped on the front line. GW doesn't have
many instances with them fighting much in the 41st millennium for some reason.
Basically when you absolutely, positively, need to GET SHIT DONE and require the kind
of force that would be able to deal with threats such as heavy infantry, the Warhawks will
not disappoint.

The Warhawks are now more easily represented than ever - whereas the Elysians are
meant for airborne invasions, utilising their transportable-by-air vehicles and weaponry,
the Warhawks are small and elite insertion teams brimming with special weapons and
carapace armour. This makes them ideal candidates to be represented by the Tempus
Militarum list. While they have no models, they can easily be made by splicing together
some Cadian bits and greenstuff (as well as the grav-chutes from the Elysian line of
Forgeworld, if money is something you pick out of your arse on your foreign planet).

Leman Russ
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"I am the punishment of God...If you had not committed great sins, God would not have sent a
punishment like me upon you.
-Genghis Khan.

My hand is fire, my hair is rage, my pauldrons are justice and my cock is wolf. Prepare to die!

Leman Russ, not to be confused with the tank bearing his name, is the primarch of the Space
Wolves legion. A superhuman nordic king with a warrior's crude humor and a stubborn streak a
mile wide. He was such a hard headed son of a bitch, that he's survived extended fights with
 Angron, Magnus, The Lion, and even the Emperor himself. General all-around badass deserving
of much respect, but superstitious and flawed, with a serious problem valuing others' points of
view, even if he understood them. He's blonde underneath all the blood.

Contents

[hide]

1 Origins

2 GW origins

3 The Next Step

4 Russ and his Brothers

5 Post-Heresy

6 On The Tabletop

7 Leman Russ VS other Primarchs:

8 Gallery

9 See Also

Origins[edit]
When the Primarchs were lost, Leman's capsule landed on Fenris, a harsh planet of insane
violence that the Norse gods shit out after a three day meth fueled orgy with a tyranid hive fleet.
The locals there enjoy a life of fishing, drinking, sailing, fucking, pillaging and conquering other
tribes of people for the modest little islands they all have to live on. Granted, it's also usually a
very short life, because they're sharing the world with trolls, yetis, wolves the size of horses,
bears the size of a house, whales that kill for fun, and krakens, which are to a squid as a
Hierophant is to a Hormagaunt.

So it was that little baby Russ left his capsule in the polar mountain region of Asaheim. There,
some monstrous female wolf found him and said to herself "I WANT!". So Russ was raised by a
dire wolf In Spess. A few years pass, Russ growing up big and strong and hairy, having a grand
old time running around the mountains and killing the sheep and such of the humans there with
his wolf brothers. Eventually a king named Thengir heard of the Wolf-man, and decreed he be
captured and brought to his hall. The mist of ages (and retcons) have hidden the details of
Thengir's first meeting with Russ. Some stories would say that Russ was bound and gagged and
dragged into the hall of the King Thengir after his Wolf family was slain, others claim a hunting
party stumbled across his cave and kicked off a bloody melee in which a dozen hunters were
killed, along with Russ's mother, after which the hunters somehow convinced Russ to stand
down and come with them, a conversation that may or may not have included copious amounts
of alcohol and whores. Thengir took a wondrous interest in Russ and ordered he be educated. In
a short time, Russ was trash-talking every short bastard who dared look at him the wrong way,
and had become insanely good with weaponry. When Thengir finally died, all declared that
Leman of the Russ become the new high King.

GW origins[edit]
He was just an ordinary commander who came with two wolves, Freki and Geri. This is them.

http://www.solegends.com/citrt2/rt070121LemanRuss/Wd117p80070121SWCommanderLeman
Russx-01.htm

The Next Step[edit]

Russ conquered and took. He bartered and traded. He united the people of Asaheim under his
rule. Somehow, the Emprah heard of it and realized it all had to be the work of a Primarch. So
then he attended a royal banquet in the Hall of the Mountain Ki- I mean Leman Russ. The
Emprah, taking a leaf out of Odin's book, disguised himself as some old geezer, then waited until
the right moment to reveal his true identity. When he did Russ refused to bow down and
challenged him to several contests, he ate so much the Emprah was forced to back down. Russ
drank so much the Emprah was forced to back down. By now, the Emprah was fairly surprised at
finally being out-done by someone else, Russ gazed upon the Emperor and challenged him in
combat, and so did the Emprah raise his Power Glove into the air for all to see, and so did he
then bring it down on Leman Russ's head, knocking him the fuck out in one solid hit.

Of course fluff changes and a 1-hit KO wasn't very fulfilling, so the new lore arrived: After the
Emperor revealed himself Leman Russ skipped the eating and drinking contests and just
challenged the Emperor to a fight. For hours they dueled, which ended when the Emperor
punched Russ square in the face, presumably he was pissy the Leman was waving his cock in his
face by just straight up fighting him, (debatable as to whether or not he was in his full armour
and actually had his Power Fist at the time), and when Russ awoke, he laughed it off.
Presumably he did a lot better this time by virtue of not being drunk. Afterwards he ended up in
command of the one Space Marine legion that knows how to eat, drink, brawl and make war
upon any asshole that mocks their Thunderwolf.

Rumour has it that the Emp was so pleased with Russ' prowess, that he thereforth tasked him and
the Space Wolves to be his executioners and it seems Russ is the reason the 2nd and 11th
Legions no longer exist. So he has experience fucking up a Primarch, which is pretty goddamn
manly. (Not confirmed by any sources and is not more than passing conversation in one Black
Library novel, other than that, yeah totally definitely didn't kill the other legions. Also if you take
how he acted with Angron and Magnus, he totally hated his job of being the executioner...and
apparently thought Lorgar was a pretty cool guy).
(The novel "Betrayer" contradicts almost all of this. It has Russ taking it upon himself to school
the World Eaters without Emp's blessing as he was disgusted by their behavior, it has Angron
defeat Russ in single combat because only he was fighting to kill while Russ was trying to teach,
it then ends with the Space Wolves entirely outmaneuvering the Eaters and winning a tactical
victory by surrounding Angron. The Eaters believe they won due to a higher kill count and the
Wolves leave disappointed that their legion brothers were too retarded to see the lesson Russ was
teaching. Even Lorgar tells Angron that he was a complete tool on that night and would have
been killed)

Apart from that, Russ and his Space Wolves had a goddamn good time during the Great Crusade,
although it hasn't been written about so this is all we can guess. When that fag-ass Horus started
whining and crying, Leman Russ and his Legion were on their way to Prospero to bring Magnus
the Red to Terra for questioning. Horus intercepted the message and re-worded it to order Russ to
destroy Magnus and his Thousand Sons. Russ and the Space Wolves carried out a class-10
clusterfucking on Prospero (aided along a bit by Magnus himself lowering his planet's defenses
because he wanted to atone for his wrongdoings, but it merely cut to the inevitable chase). It
should have ended with the glorious finale where Leman Russ himself lifted Magnus the Red
over his shoulders and broke the sorcerer's back over his knee. But even so, the red bastard
managed to utter one single word of power and escaped through the fucking ground. Russ was so
enraged that he ordered the 13th company of Space Wolves to pursue the fleeing Thousand Sons
through their pansy-ass portals.

This said, winning the Battle of Prospero left a bitter taste in Russ' mouth and complicated things
for the Wolves in the long run. First of all, despite his reputation as the Emperor's Executioner,
fighting Magnus took a serious toll on Russ. He probably knew that it was a "fair fight" only
because Magnus was devastated and held back his power, with which he would have easily won,
being at least the third most powerful psyker humanity, and possibly the galaxy, had ever known.
Rumour has it, that during the battle between those two demigods Magnus, by psychic means,
laid his heart and mind bare to Russ, revealing that he knew not only every blow that was
coming from his brother, but everything that he had come to know, accepting his failure and his
fate, which was defeat.

This shook the Wolf King deeply, but Russ decided to carry on and try to make the best of a real
clusterfuck of a situation. (An Inquisitor once called it an "emo phase" in front of a Rune Priest,
and was fed balls-first to a Thunderwolf.) Not long after that, the news of the Drop Site Massacre
reached the Wolves; which was another blow for the Wolf King. In his own words, Russ felt he'd
been "in the wrong place, doing the wrong thing", wasting his time and men fighting an
eventually futile battle instead of standing with his brother Primarchs against the real threat. Just
to make things worse, the Alpha Legion turned up to batter the Wolves and prevent them to move
to Terra and help Big. E and (as cherry on top of an already really bad cake) the White Scars,
who'd been bro' with Magnus and had no idea why Russ' just decided to fuck them up royally
seemingly out of the blue, weren't going to help them after Prospero. But the Dark Angels of all
people aided the Wolves in fighting off the Alpha Legion, letting the Wolves damage their fleet
to an impressive degree. A plus here was that Bjorn the Fell-Handed came to his attention, setting
the young warrior on the path to ironclad badassness. This said, he went to Yarant to fight the
main Traitor advance and was badly injured, entering a coma and giving Bjorn command of the
Legion. He boughr Dorn and the Emperor more time, but didn't make it back to Terra until it was
too late.

Oh and Empy totally gave him a spear with every single member of his original legion depicted
fighting various gribbly xenos. Including Tyranids. Yup. Said spear was tossed into a certain
Daemon Primarchs single eye, thereby preventing him from manifesting in reality AND
resurrecting his legion. Russ totally hated this spear btw. At one point Russ tried to hit a moon
orbiting some planet (he was drunk, don't judge) and the spear was lost for months.

Russ and his Brothers[edit]

In many ways Russ can be best understood by looking at the clashes between him and his
brothers, butting heads with Angron, Magnus, and Lion El'Jonson over the years. All three of
them had much in common with Russ, and there was potential for great brotherhood there, but in
large part his lack of tact or understanding crushed whatever relationship might have been.

His fight with Angron was his attempt to teach his brother a lesson. Both of them were
penultimate warriors, both relied on their amazing athleticism and berzerker rages to triumph in
battle, both were known for losing their temper when challenged, but Russ saw weakness in his
brother's lack of strategy. Leman tried to just talk to the World Eater's primarch, but Angron was
so uncontrollably, incredibly, "calm down son," angry that he just attacked Russ. While Russ and
Angron were dueling, their retinues kicked off an open war, and in the battle that followed Russ
found himself defeated by Angron, but Angron was in turn outmaneuvered and surrounded by
the Space Wolves, thus proving Russ's lesson that warrior prowess isn't enough. That said, no
one learned anything. Angron thought himself the victor because he'd won the duel and his sons
had inflicted greater casualties than the wolves, but Russ thought himself the victor because he'd
proven his point and "educated" his brother. If Russ had paid more attention and thought things
through rather than just rushing forward to do things his way, he'd have used subtler methods of
persuasion to calm Angron, as Fulgrim and especially Lorgar had done in the past. Russ may
well have had an easier time of persuading Angron than either of them, given that he and Angron
had a similar sense of brutal honor and a great lust for war. But, ultimately, it didn't occur to Russ
to slow down and think it though, so he failed that day.

Russ really, really didn't get along with Magnus, even before the burning of Prospero. He hated
that his brother used sorcery and warpcraft, despite the fact that Russ's legion ALSO USED
PSYKERS. However, there is a subtle distinction; the Rune Priests of the Space Wolves use their
psychic abilities in a much more limited and controlled way than the Thousand Sons, and the
Rout never used Chaos familiars. They also believed that they were using the spirits of Fenris,
hence all the totems and runes. Nearly all fluff indicates that this is utter horseshit, the sort of
beliefs the Rout inherits from the Fenrisians. Russ' superstition led him to feud with Magnus, but
so did his concerns over the threat the XVth Legion posed to the Imperium and his frustration
with Magnus' tendency to abandon his allies in favor of investigating some psychic artifact or
slow down a conquest to avoid damaging some books. Russ never stopped to consider that
Magnus' understanding of the Warp might have been better than his, or that the things Magnus
preserved might have value for the humans Russ wanted to make the Galaxy safe for. Ridiculous
theories that Russ was a psyker aside, another significant source of the feud between Magnus and
Russ was The Crimson King's sheer arrogance. Leman Russ was rightly proud of his cunning
battle tactics and personal ferocity, and was fully aware that he grew up on a savage death world
where everything is constantly trying to kill you while Magnus had it comparatively easy on
Prospero. The Wolf King and his Legion, from the Wheel of Fire to the Rangdan Xenocides, had
proved its mettle, cunning, and devotion to the Emperor many times over, yet Magnus treated
him like a dumb hick and acted as though his psychic powers made him the greatest primarch. It
couldn't have helped matters that some of the threats the VIth had bested were psychic in nature.
Yet Magnus knew none of this; only the Emperor and the Space Wolves understood the extent of
the threats they had faced down. Russ never considered that Magnus had no knowledge of the
terrible secrets that only he had been entrusted with; he expected Magnus to take the word of an
"ignorant savage" that the abilities he defined himself by couldn't be trusted.

Perhaps most famous and most tragic of Russ's feuds was his strife with Lion El'Jonson. Both
men had very similar origins, but slight differences in their upbringings drove a wedge between
them. The Wolf and the Lion were both raised by the wild: both of their pods had crashed in
areas with no humans, and they had to learn to survive with no lessons from other men. Both
were eventually taken in when they were discovered by the men of their world, but that's where
their stories differ. Where Russ was raised in the friendly, bawdy brotherhood of Thengir's men,
the Lion was trained and educated in the somber fraternity of the knightly Order. While Russ had
been brawling and singing with his friends, leading great hunts to destroy monsters and enemy
tribes, the Lion was mastering discipline and embarking on solemn quests to destroy the Great
Beasts of the forest. The battle between the two came on the world of Dulan, where the VIth and
Ist legion were fighting together to slay a tyrant who'd insulted Russ's honor. At the beginning of
the conflict the two brothers had promised to work together, but as time went on the Lion grew
tired of his brother's insistence on utterly smashing every pocket of resistance rather than taking
a more efficient, direct method of ending the war. Eventually he just launched an assault on the
tyrant's palace, and beheaded the man before Russ could reach them. Naturally, Russ was
furious. Russ was an angry dickhead, the Lion was a snarky bastard, and before long blades were
drawn and the two were trying to kill each other in a violent battle. After a long and bloody fight
in which the two of them were beaten senseless and had fallen over the ramparts of the fortress to
the ground below, Russ started laughing at the ridiculousness of what they were doing. The Lion
asked if his brother would yield, a question that just confused Russ. The Lion thought this was a
duel? Russ had thought of the fight as a brawl between angry brothers, a quick spat that would
end with both of them beaten and bloodied, something they'd laugh about over a drinks years
later. The Lion however was taking it deadly serious, and while Russ was laughing, he struck a
final blow, shattering Russ's skull and ending the fight. Had Russ stopped to consider his
brother's mentality, or listened more closely to the Lion's words, he would have realized that the
Lion saw the conflict as something profoundly different from what Russ thought it was, taking
the matter of honour as something deadly serious. Again, Russ's lack of consideration was his
failing.

However, while certainly abrasive, arrogant, and brutal, Russ was also every bit as loyal as
Sanguinius or Dorn. The other thing Magnus, Angron, and the Lion have in common? They're all
assholes. The Lion arrogantly considered himself the best of all Primarchs, acted like he was
some prince-in-waiting and lorded it over his brothers, and Magnus arrogantly assumes he knows
best and blatantly favored psykers in his Legion. Angron is... self-explanatory. Bottom line, his
brothers all put their own feelings/goals before those of the Emperor. Not to say that Russ was
tactful, diplomatic, or understanding with these three - he certainly could have handled all of
these conflicts better - but Russ was never a dick just for the sake of being a dick- he was a dick
because someone had to keep his brothers in line.

His relationships with his brothers also highlight another one of his traits. Fans LOVE to call him
a hypocrite, and this isn't far off the mark. However, it's not quite on target either. To elaborate,
Russ criticized and physically attacked his brothers for traits he or his Legion also had. On closer
inspection, though, the way Russ dealt with his flaws was different from his brothers- and that's
the best justification for his behavior:

Russ and Angron both led Legions that were extremely violent, especially towards the
defenseless. But Russ taught his Legion to temper their bloodlust and fight to make the galaxy
safe for humans. Angron jammed the Butcher's Nails in the brains of the War Hounds and took
their discipline and brotherhood away from them. Arguments that Russ should have been more
tactful ignore that he was trying to deal with a Space Marine Legion of questionable loyalty that
could and had caused massive amounts of collateral damage. There's a time for caution; it's not
when rampaging supersoldiers are threatening the Imperium and its people.

As for Jonson, both Primarchs had an element of glory-seeking in their nature. Both were also
very stubborn and combative, with an animalistic side. However, Russ wasn't ruled by his pride
but his drive to serve the Emperor came from a different place: the Lion lectured Russ about
wasting time destroying the Emperor's enemies, when winning wars is all that matters.
(ironically a similar lesson that Russ tried to teach Angron), while Russ couldn't countenance
leaving any enemies alive. During a dispute between the Space Wolves and the Dark Angels over
a friendly fire incident, Russ personally apologized to the Lion in spite of the Dark Angels being
the ones who knowingly fired on the Rout. Russ put aside his lust for glory and victory to save
the lives of his men, then privately made it clear what would happen should the Dark Angels do
something similar again. By contrast, the Lion's honour was everything to him, that the Dark
Angels fired on the Rout because they had been fired on first (even after warnings were given)
and that the Lion seemed fully prepared to kill his brother in the brawl over kill stealing, because
Russ laid hands on him first. This distinction justifies Russ' initial hatred of Jonson though the
two did come to an understanding later; that the reason for the Lion breaking his promise on
Dulan was because Russ was putting off the final blow and allowing the battle to drag out,
costing lives, which was pretty much the lesson Jonson was trying to point out earlier. All
because Russ had wandered off the battle-plan to sort out the Wulfen issue within the 13th
Company, something that Russ later realised that the Lion already knew and had quietly
disposed of the evidence for his brother, even though he could have used the knowledge to
break the Space Wolves legion.

With Magnus, the accusations of hypocrisy carry more weight. Russ' attempts to cover up the
Curse of the Wulfen are uncomfortably similar to Magnus' treatment of the flesh change, and
both Legions did use psykers. However, the Rune Priests are much more cautious than the
sorcerers of the Thousand Sons. More importantly, the Space Wolves treat the Wulfen as a
curse- a failing. They don't glorify it or think it makes them better than the other Legions. The
Thousand Sons treat their psyker powers as a badge of superiority, taking any excuse to use
them. They revel in what makes them unique without considering its links with the flesh change.
 Russ did his best to control his secrets. Magnus was controlled by his secrets and saw them as
strengths.

TL;DR: Russ shared many failings with his brothers, but he was defined by his controlled
savagery. His bloodlust never overtook his discipline. His glory-seeking never overrode his sense
of responsibility. He made sure his sons worked against their curse rather than have them
embrace it. Is it any wonder that someone who worked so hard for control hated people who
thought they didn't need it? In this light, is it really hypocritical?

Post-Heresy[edit]
Although unable to return to aid the Imperium in the Battle for Terra, Russ and the Space Wolves
threw themselves headfirst into the post-heresy war efforts. Aside from spanking the traitors into
the Eye of Terror, he came up with the concept for the Adeptus Praeses. Though he'd told
Guilliman where he could shove his Codex, Russ liked the idea of successor chapters for the
Wolves. To him (or the little reformist movement within the Legion later, the fluff isn't totally
clear), they were a way of maintaining the Wolves' influence alongside that of Girlyman, Dorn
and the rest. Unfortunately the Wolves' gene-seed proved too unstable to set up any viable
successor chapters, and as a result while the Ultramarines, Imperial Fists and Dark Angels have
shedloads of descendants, the Wolves are the sole embodiment of Russ' strength and drive. This
hasn't helped their situation with Imperial institutions such as the Inquisition.

One-hundred years to the day after the Emperor's internment on the Golden Throne, during a
feast in the halls of the Space Wolves fortress, Russ climbed upon a table to give a speech. He
was stricken with a vision, and after standing there speechless for a few minutes, he fell to one
knee, issued hushed orders to his retinue, and left. He left his sons with their first Wolf Lord;
Bjorn the Fell Handed, and a message.

"In the end, I will be there. For the final battle. For dinner time."

And then the winds of change blew over the fluff once again. In the audio play Parting of Ways
we get a slightly different version of events. There was still an annual feast, though it wasn't just
to celebrate the day the Emperor got the snot beaten out of him by Horus, but also to
commemorate the space wolves that had died during the spring cleaning that followed the heresy,
plus the completion of the Fang - the giant fortress of the Space wolves. Also instead of a
hundred years, it was two hundred years since the siege of Terra, so unless Dorn was a really
slow learner and not very bright and it took him over a hundred years to assemble the golden
throne, that is a clear lore change. Then again, given how Perturabo thoroughly kicked Dorn's ass
in the iron cage, forcing papa smurf and the Ultrasmurfs to come and save Dorn's sorry ass, it's a
possibility that Dorn just wasn't very bright. It's also a possibility that the Emperor got the
Golden Throne from an old IKEA warehouse, which would explain why even a primarch would
have had trouble in figuring out how to put it together in less than a hundred years.

Also Russ wasn't about to hold a speech, instead he had at first partaken in the festivities but as
the party grew sullen, Russ retreated, sensing, as Bjorn put it, "a fell wind from beyond the
mountains, bleeding through the cracks of the fang". After clenching the table for a while, Russ
clambered to his feet on the table, screaming No More! The shout silenced the Space Wolves
in their brawling and made the flags of the smoke filled halls tremble, so Russ apparently also
had a gift for speech, plus he had a gift for getting instantly sober as Bjorn described his face
going from being ruddy flushed with mjod to looking like an ice specter. He then held a kickass
speech We come here to celebrate the allfather, we come here to remember his sacrifice and his
ascension from the world of the senses and his victory over my brother the traitor. We
remember the dead, who even now gather in the oververse, their blade sharp, their aim keen.
They are better than we are for they perished in the war to end all wars and their souls have
been purified! And what of us those left behind, wallowing in the drinks the fallen gods have left
us? We have grown fat, we have the beast within us, but is has never yet been mastered. Then
Russ grabbed his drinking horn and held it aloft and continued So let us celebrate my father's
ascension, let us remember what he was able to accomplish, let us remember what he built and
what he foresaw and then what he lost and how he failed. Do not mourn the fact that he no
longer walks among us, for the galaxy was too small to accommodate such a soul, he was of an
age of gods! And we are slumped in an age of mortals. The lights of the stars will fade, this
place will grow old and the ice will crack it. We will forget no matter how much the skalds tell
the old tales, what battles are left for us like the ones before? My fallen brothers are gone,
Malcador is gone, the leeches cluster around the golden throne and whisper of deeds done
before they were born as if it were they who achieved them. At this point Russ looked unsteady
on his feet and his eyes went glassy A doubt of all of this, one thing remains true we were not
on Terra, we were not there when the palace fell and that shame will pursue us for eternity.
Then Russ dropped his drinking horn on the board and then started to speak not to his warriors,
but to himself or to some presence that was unseen. It remains unfinished I have waited for
too long, building this mountain, squabbling with Guilliman, I will not grow old, feeble, limping
around a crumbling inheritance, I have an Oath to keep, there are beasts left to slay. At this
point Russ was fully immersed in his premonitions and he looked around the room, a smile
dancing on his fanged face, seeing things from either long ago or yet to come. Listen closely my
brothers, there shall come a time far from now, when the chapter itself is dying and our foes
shall gather to destroy us. Then, my sons, I shall listen for your call, in whatever realm holds
me and come I shall, no matter what the laws of life and death forbid. At the end, I will be
there. For the final battle. FOR THE WOLF TIME!

Then Russ gave the mustering signal and he and his retinue left, though as Bjorn made to follow
only to have Russ turn towards him saying a single sentence Not you. When Bjorn asked for
an explanation all Russ did was repeat the words Not you. Then he left.

It is theorized that Russ like Magnus had the gift of premonition and knew that Bjorn would be
needed in the years to come as the first Great Wolf, as it is heavily implied that if Bjorn hadn't
been persuaded to take the mantle of great wolf, the chapter itself would have fallen apart in the
absence of Russ.

More likely Russ just didn't want Bjorn's moodiness to poison what ever adventure he was on.

As to where Russ went and what happened to him there's a few theories given.
Russ sought the Lion out to make amends of their old feuding (if so they both forgot to tell both
their chapters about it).

That he fought in eternal combat with the resurrected cadaver of Horus (no that would be
Abaddon's task and he completely owned that clone of Horus).

That he searched for the tree of life to heal the Emperor's soul (if so it will be needed sorely
needed, as Abaddon blasted a remnant of the Emperor's soul, watching it decay in front of him).

That he is trapped within a hollow star and tormented by his old adversary Magnus (Since
Tzeentch was able to trap Sigmar in another dimension, trapping Russ in a hollow star and have
his star pupil Magnus use him as a punching bag makes as much sense as anything).

That he is actually searching for Magnus, to finish the last task given to him by the Emperor and
"arrest" his wayward brother.

That he passed beyond the bounds of space and time and now roams among the gods, ready to
return when needed accompanied by the fallen of his legion sundered in a paradise of warriors
(so basically he's in the Age of Sigmar at this point? somebody put him out of his misery, that's
not a paradise that's hell on earth).

That he's simply lost in the galactic fjord known as the Warp and has been playing drunken
pranks on daemonic villagers for 10,000 years.

/tg/ theorizes that Leman Russ may return as Horo (Implying Horo isn't just one of Leman's
many, many bastard children growing up on some shithole Feudal world).

Magnus actually know where is Russ now, but he don't tell it even to his trusted sorcerer lords.

The 13th company, and a figure bearing the likeness of Russ, was spotted during the 13th
crusade and the siege of the capital of cadia.

On The Tabletop[edit]
Pts WS BS S T W I A Ld Sv

Leman Russ: 455 9 6 6 6 6 7 6 10 2+/4++

An impressive stat-line, even by the insane
standards of Primarchs, is coupled with
unbelievably powerful wargear:

The Armour Elavagar starts as your bog-standard 2+/4++ which is increased to a 3++ against
flamer (in case that Marksmen Veteran with a Combi-flamer or Heavy Flamer rolled a 6
wounding you), melta, and plasma weapons, but the truly awesome bullshit part is that it
imposes -1 to hit on anyone in BtB with him, which is increased to a -2 after the first round of
combat - combined with his insane WS this means nothing save WS10 can hit him at better than
 5+ on the first turn (Fulgrim wishes his shiny armour was as reliable) and 6+ on the second.
Anything that can't Hit'n'Run is gonna be stuck in CC with Russ with little to no chance of hurting
him until he kills it. Do note however that it only works in BtB contact, so the models not directly
in contact with Russ would still hit him as usual (likely on 5+ due to his insane WS). Basically, he's
insanely tanky in protracted fights.

The Axe of Helwinter is a +2 master-crafted power axe with sunder and without unwieldy for
your vehicle-wrecking needs and putting some more guaranteed wounds on high toughness
opponents. Also useful for inflicting Instant Death on anything T4 or lower.

The Sword of Balenight is a Shredding AP2 power sword; oh wait, it also has Sever Life. If Russ'
prey suffers one or more wounds from the sword, roll a 2d6. If this result beats your target's
toughness, add 1d3 additional wounds.

o Thanks to vague wording, when you must make the test for Sever Life is a subject of
debate. Some say "suffering one or more wounds" means that the rule applies
immediately before saves are made. HOWEVER, the rule clearly states that Sever Life is
used only if the model "is not slain" by the initial attacks, and you HAVE to make your
save rolls in order to know if they are slain or not, so one can lawfully argue that
unsaved wounds are the real trigger. Keep calm and make it clear with your opponent
until a FAQ is released.

For ranged fights he has the Vulkan-remade bolter (mentioned to be regular one until Xzibit got
his hands on it) turned into a pistol for Primarch's hand, called Scornspitter which is assault 3
AP3 rending, but with pitiful 12" range. Of course if you aren't within 12", then you can't charge,
and if you can't charge you're running therefore even if it did have a greater than 12" range it
wouldn't be used anyway.

Meanwhile, his Sire of the Space Wolves gives him Night Vision, Counter-Attack, Preternatural
Senses, and Hunter's Gait: all Wolves get +1Ld and Russ gets to Howl once per game (letting
everyone in his detachment reroll run and charge for said turn). Breaker of Shields, Bringer of
Ruin gives weapon mastery (like Horus and Calgar). If he's Warlord, you can take Veteran
Tacticals (who may run/shoot bolters then charge instead of regular Vet tactics) and Varagyr
Terminators as troops.

On paper, Russ is like a very expensive torpedo that is only good at tying stuff in combat and
killing it, and adds only a bit to his army. However, the LD bonus, his ability to massively
increase your army's board-crossing ability, and take Veteran Tacs, who just may be the best
infantry in 30k, as compulsory troops combine to make him a reasonably strong force multiplier.
Unlike Angron he's tough enough to withstand ranged firepower for a while, while being much
more resistant to tarpitting than Perturabo or Vulkan. However, like Angron, he isn't very mobile
on his own, and as such will need a transport. However, Hunter's Gait mitigates this slightly, and
he could always just Outflank with Vets. Take him with the Pale Hunters, point him at the biggest
CC threat your enemy has, and if you're smart with Vet tactics and when you Howl your army
will be great.