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Space Marines: Space Wolves

Escalation League 2008
Player Name: Soleman
Codex: Space Wolves

Report by Lord Inquisitor Rothman
Ordo Malleus
Date : 008M41

When it was learned that The Sons of the Warp had made itself manifest in the far reaches of the eastern fringe the an ancient Wolf Lord named Olaf Tryggvason stepped out of retirement and summoned what wolf brothers that would follow him to the galaxy’s far reaches. Wolf Lord Tryggvason had been maimed in a battle long ago by the daemon Epidemus. The Wolf Lord although ancient and serving only as an elder advisor to younger Wolflords vowed he would not rest with the Emperor until he had his revenge. Declaring his followers “Úlfhéðnar of Fenris” a Vengeance Company he requisitioned the ships he would need.

Fleet Composition: The Space Wolves Fleet Commander would not allow any Wolf Lord no matter how renown take a sizable portion of the space wolves fleet on some adventure across the galaxy. The Space Wolves are one of the main defenders of the “Eye of Terror” region.

Wolf Lord Tryggvason was assigned a single strike cruiser and a single squadron of Gladius class frigates. Tryggvason had managed to draw a little over 1300 Space Wolves of from many of the great companies to his quest along with a few Iron Priests and the vehicles that they could draw on. As long as he could keep his Vengeance Company out of major fleet actions this would be all that his Space wolves would need.

(Pictured here is a Wolf guard Battle leader leading one of the first scouting missions to locate The Sons of the Warp.)

Organization: The vengance company of Wolf Lord Tryggvason contained squads and commanders from across the twelve space wolves great companies. Although united as fellow Space Wolves and committed to assisting their wolf lord retribution on the diabolical Epidemus, the diffrent squads and commanders were not familiar with each other. Wolf Lord Tryggvason organized a small council of the most elder Space wolves to command for him and declared all other wolves would put aside all trophies of battle. They would all compete and be known for only their accomplishments as part of the vengeance company.

The first squads to sign up were the wilder elements of the space wolves, members of the wolf scouts. all veteran warriors who’s fierce independence has lead them into service long years behind enemy lines.

The scouts are armed with modified sniper rifles. There is an expectation to find the monstrous entities that make up The Sons of the Warp the modified sniper rifles are capable of wounding even the largest daemonic creature. Wolf scouts will be amongst the first troops to locate Epidemus’s presence. They will be required both to defend themselves and to call for regular combat forces.

The first forces summoned to battle by the wolf scouts patrols will inevitably be Grey Hunters. These seasoned Space Wolf warriors are the main combat forces available in the Vengeance Company. They are proficient combat troops who armed with the deadly bolt gun are tactically flexible in their battlefield roll. Often as pictured here they are brought to the battle often by RH1N0 or Razorback transport tanks.

Space Marine Scouts in other chapters such as the Extinction Angels or Dark Angels are the youngest marines who are still learning and earning their place among the battle companies. This is not so in the Space Wolves where each company recruits for itself its next generations. The Novice units among the Space Wolves are called Blood Claws. These young headstrong youth race somewhat recklessly into close combats attempting to earn the respect of their elder marines with their battlefield deeds. A number of squads of these young marines joined the Vengeance Company

Some of the Blood Claws make their way to the battle in armored transport vehicles, or they speed to combat on a sturdy Space marine Mark IV Combat Bike. Armed with an assortment of deadly close combat weapons these bike mounted Blood claws are usually the fastest to arrive on scene to the Wolf Scouts call. They are usually made up of the best Blood Claws that Wolf Lord Tryggvason can muster and only after doing battle with elements of The Sons of the Warp. Given the ability of The Sons of the Warp to appear near anywhere Wolf Lord Tryggvason was sure to include a number of these speedy units in the Vengeance Company.

Essex 5th Company

Escalation League 2008
Player Name: Dacius
Codex: Imperial Guard

The Imperial Guard are a real man’s army. There are no tricks, no overbearing changes to the rules and no super units or super characters. The soldiers are just the common men of today with a flashier gun and no government that cares if they live or die. Nobody fears a guardsman although our tanks often get a healthy bit of respect.

Week two Lieutenant Dacius played the Imperial Guard after coming to his senses and leaving the chaos scum far behind. The Cadian Doctrines were played to be specific.

All good guard armies Start with an Infantry Platoon and the “Essex 5th Company is no exception. A small command squad with a lieutenant and a couple of plasma gun armed guardsmen were rounded out with a field medic. Not the most powerful squad but they are mostly there for the leadership radius that the lieutenant has. This early relying on my command squads will be cheaper than getting a veteran sergeant for each squad.

Four units of infantry round out the platoon. They are all going to have to be general purpose so every squad will be equipped identically with the two most non specialized weapons there are. The powerful and versatile Missile and Grenade launchers. The blast markers should help out against the many Ork armies who dominated week one of the league while the high strength should help bust open a light vehicle or space marine’s armor.

Who knows maybe even the las guns will kill some enemies too.

Most of the missions require movement. You need to take objectives that lie scattered across no man’s land worse yet lie in the encampment guarded by the enemy.

Infantry squads and platoons can be trusted to shoot a lot and even hold their ground if there are plenty of reserves nearby. The Cadians however have Kasrkin Grenadiers. These are basically elite storm troopers but they don’t get to buy any of the storm troopers special deployment types. However Kasrkin Grenadiers are troops so they are still scoring units.

Dacius’ Kasrkin Grenadiers are strait from the box. So they get a flame thrower and a grenade launcher. These are not bad options, both are assault guns for a unit destined to be on the move.

And move they will. Dacius decided that the Kasrkin Grenadiers will move in style because they got the first tank of his army the humble chimera. This one apparently armed for some Ork killing because it has a hull heavy flamer to flush out close enemies from whatever cover they thought they had.

The Chimera with its impressive front armor and amphibious tracks should be quite strong the first few weeks when there will not be many enemy heavy weapons yet.

At 600 points Dacius scored 6 out of 12 possible points including taking the league’s leader to a draw. (Ending his winning streak!)

At 800 points it will be interesting to see what comes next now that the big tanks are allowed.

Angar’acks Blood Legion

Escalation League 2008
Player Name: Ironwarrior
Army Codex: Chaos Daemons

Report by Lord Inquisitor Rothman
Ordo Malleus
Date : 009M41

Angar’acks Blood Legion ravagers of Altar 7, Hive Tempora and perpetual menace in the regions surrounding the ork held Gog system and its dark chaos altars. Along with Aradian’s Fingers of Death they possess the most consistent ability to manifest in the worlds of the Emperor.

Angar’ack: When one looks at the leaders of the chaos forces one normally can point to a man who has betrayed his oath of eternal duty to his most glorious Emperor of mankind. They are the most contemptible villains who do not deserve our mercy or our understanding. Angar’ack was neither a traitor or a mortal man at any time. Angar’ack is a Bloodthirster of Khorne a physical manifestation of the chaos god’s will. Seen here he is armed with the Great sword “Infernus – The Sun Eater” a blade of basalt fused with the souls of eight inquisitors of the Ordo Malleus who had once banished him for a century’s time back to the warp.

Angar’ack Lieutenants: Even as fearsome as the greatest of Blood Thirsters can be the proper use of Daemon Hammer or the Blades of Phaedron can give Inquisitors of various levels of faith the ability to smite even these foul creatures.

Angar’ack is rarely so isolated he employs two favored lieutenants. First mounted here on a brass hided Juggernought is a herald of Khorne. On the rare occasions that Angar’ack can be dispatched on the field of battle it is this herald who leads the Blood Legion. The daemon is still unidentified and anointed scribes still search through the Grimoire of True Names for information on this fiend.

The slaughter brought about by the Blood Legion has drawn to it a champion daemon of the Skulltaker category. Once heralds of Khorne themselves they have taken additional oaths to their God of slaughter and been elevated to a status similar to the “Emperor Champion” of the Black Templar space marine chapter. These Daemon champions prowl the battlefield not for the random slaughter of hordes. (Which they still indulge in on the way to their targets.) They seek out instead the skulls of mightiest heroes in the opposing army. Space marine Captains, Inquisitors, Eldar Autarch and even Ork Warbosses are hunted by these champion daemons and challenged to single honorable combat. A force of grey knights dispatched to Gog has reported that the Skulltaker that accompanies the Blood Legion is of exceptional skill and martial ability.

Blood Legion Forces: Vast forces of Blood letter class daemons make the bulk of the Blood Legion forces.

The Bloodletters each carry a hellblade which is an extension to the daemon much like a mortal s limbs are an extension of the mortal. These deadly blades make a mochery of all mortal armor. Only faith serves as any protection against the blades. The Blood Legion most often fields them in packs of eight or sixteen. These numbers are held to be pleasing to the blood god. Little can stand in the way of the furious charge of a bloodletter pack Although protected by unholy auras they have little in the way of armor and are best cleansed by flame or massed fire.

Daemon Prince Rehnquist: The fight against the daemon can be a perilous one. Such was the case for the marines from the 3rd company of Silver Skulls space marines. Called upon to aid an imperial world that was in the grips of rebellion they found themselves trapped and assaulted by the Blood Legion for a full year’s time.

Initially successful at repelling the demons they found themselves cut off by unstable warp storms surrounding the planet they defended. Each Day brought with it a new assault and a small loss of their numbers. Rehnquist was the last of the Silver Skulls. He had been driven mad by the constant assault of the daemons yet he prevailed again and again against them even as his battle brothers had fallen. In the end he must have given himself up to the warp spawned rage around him. The blood god not only spared him but elevated the lost soul to immortal daemon prince. Now instead of fighting against the Blood Legion, he fights as one of their most fearsome.

War Engines of the Blood God: Dominated by foul creatures who wield only claw and blade one would be mistaken to believe that the Blood Legion is without some measure of fire support. Twin soul grinder class daemon engines spew forth dark energies that are as powerful at range as a main imperial battle tank. These are not merely some lumbering firebase that can be easily dispatched with krak grenade. Like a mighty dreadnought they fight with powerful close combat weaponry as well as cannons.

Goff Clan of Gog

Escalation League 2008
Player Name: Truedemon
Army Codex: Orkz

Report by Lord Inquisitor Rothman
Ordo Malleus
Date : 008M41

In researching the activities of Angar’acks Blood Legion and the Space wolf Vengeance company that set out in search of them my travels lead me to one of the first worlds that the Angar’acks Blood Legion made themselves manifest. It is a semi industrialized world that fell from Imperial to Ork dominance in the 35th millennium. The orks there renamed the world Gog. The remains of the original Space hulk which brought the orks to Gog still orbits the planet as a second moon.

In the Ensuing Millennia the orks of Gog have factionalized into three main war bands separated by vast areas of the Pangaea formation continent.

Goff Clan: One of the war bands to settle on Gog took residence in an area that was never fully claimed by imperial authorities. The areas still were inhabited by various chaos worshiping cults who were being rooted out of the area when the orks came. For the most part the orks have finished off the remaining cultists over the following millennia and have taken residence around their crumbling buildings and blasphemous icons. Daemon spawned powers still find it easy to manifest in these areas.

Warband Rivalry: The Goff clan’s position although fortunate to bring them the reoccurring brawl with daemonic entities left them far from the two other war bands. Although the Goff Clan will make the trek occasionally to clash with the two other war bands this is a rare occurrence.

Isolated as they are It has been Imperial policy to attempt a beach head in the Goff Clan region in order to avoid fighting multi front battles against the orks of Gog. The Goff Clan orks to date have the most experience in battle against servants of the Emperor. So far Imperial forces have been unable to make any lasting deployments into Goff Clan Lands.

The numerous encounters with the Emperor’s forces including multiple clashes with Imperial space marines have developed Goff Clan’s rocket manufacturing ability. These appear to be the favored squad based weaponry amongst the Goff clan.

Imperial forces have been warned away from attempting heavily vehicle based assaults on Goff Clan. The space marine forces that usually can be trusted to stand up reasonably well to ork assault troops are being phased out among the local Imperial planners in favor of the use of more infantry based Imperial Guard formations. My Own Storm Trooper forces should be adequate for whatever specialized missions that will be needed to conduct my research on Gog. Thankfully Inquisitional forces will not be expected to fully remove the ork forces for any sustained period of time.

CHAOS ACTIVITY: Chaos Space Marine forces of the Hell’s Inferno renegade force. have been sited in limited engagements with Goff Clan orks.

It is reported until this time that Goff Clan orks have defeated Chaos forces in all known battles. However the intensity and frequency of these clashes are increasing.

What the Renegade Chaos Space Marine forces are after in the area is unknown if these activities are related to the recent increased Demonic activity on Gog is unknown.

Given this recent turn of events a force of Grey Knight space marines are being dispatched to Gog. Their expertise in the combat of Chaos forces will be invaluable in getting to the bottom of what the chaos forces and the orks of Gog are fighting over.

Dead Nutz

Majorsob
Chaos Space Marines

Report by Lord Inquisitor Rothman =I=
Ordo Malleus
Date : 009M41

One can say it is the saddest of things when a chapter fails in its duty to the Emperor and succumbs to the lure of chaos. It is sadder still when those marines are lead astray by a charlatan and a liar. (liar more so than your average traitor.)

Such a thing happened to the Mortis Legumes chapter space marines based in the galactic south. This sad chain of events began when Arch-heretic Chapter Champion James Marcus raided the blasphemous weapon stock pike of the Fire Claws penitent space marine chapter. There Chapter Champion James Marcus stole from the Fire Hawks the “Fake Manreaper.”

Shortly after stealing the “Fake Manreaper” Arch-heretic Marcus lead a loyal cadre of the Mortis Legumes elite first company terminators in a bloody coup against the chapter master of the Mortis Legumes and the chapter Apothecaries. He then spread a contagious Tyrant Virus that even effected the sturdy space marines. Only those marines who swore unconditional loyalty to Arch-heretic Marcus now calling himself Lord Typhus. A full nine out of ten marines of the Mortis Legumes died instead of betraying their oaths. Yet that left the “Fake Lord Typhus” a battle hardened cadre of the most deadly and loyal warriors. He renamed his warriors from the Mortis Legumes to the war band “Dead Nutz”

A untrained observer could mistake the new renegades for warriors of the Death Guard Chaos Legion. However as an Inquisitor lord trained in recognizing the details of the true Plague marines I can assure you they are not. And not just because the real Lord Typhus has to much respect for himself to join any war band calling themselves “Dead Nutz”

To begin with the combat Doctrine of the renegades to closely mirrors that of their parent chapter the Mortis Legumes a chapter based in mobile shock warfare. The true Death Guard are a infantry army that rarely uses armored units or transports. The death guard are also saturated in the corrupting energies of the warp. Foul nurglings and Plague Bearer daemons accompany the Death Guard wherever they go. The dead Nutz have no such daemonic accompaniment. Instead the Dead Nutz employ a mobile infantry style warfare deploying from MkIIc Mars pattern RHINO transport vehicles. (True Death Guard forces that have RHINO transports utilize the MkIb pattern RHINO common during the Horus Heresy and earlier.)

The Dead Nutz combat style is rather close ranged employing only light man portable weapons such as Melta guns, plasma guns and flamers. All marines from the Dead Nutz are equally equipped for hand to hand and ranged combats carrying an assortment of pistols. rifles, close combat weapons, frag and krak grenades. The effects of the “Tyrant Virus” that they have been afflicted with make each marine physically tougher and more immune to the effects of painful even mortal blows than the standard space marine.

Lacking true heavy weaponry and distaining such static limitations of the weaponry in armored warfare the Dead Nutz often bring heavy support in the form of short ranged but armored Lucius pattern Vindicator siege tanks. The Vindicator tank provides a good mix of anti armor power and a wide kill radius useful against massed troop formations. Seen here the Dead Nutz have used an over sized bulldozer blade for use moving through dangerous terrain common in urban environments where the siege tank excels.

Daemon Prince Picornaviridae: Given the turning of the Space marine Chapter was orchestrated by Arch-heretic Marcus one would find it odd that the first of the Dead Nutz that found true favor by the chaos gods was not Arch-heretic Marcus but one of his First company terminators Picornaviridae. Warped by both the effects of the “Tyrant Virus” and the mutating power of chaos Picornaviridae bloated and swelled to monstrous proportions. Though no longer linked by mortal needs or camaraderie to the remains of his chapter he can still be seen accompanying them to most of their battles. It is hoped that a force of Grey Knights can be found to dispatch the beast before it can realize its true potential.

Greater Daemon : Herpesviridae The Dead Nutz renegade warband may not be seen fighting alongside daemons of “lesser” classifications but, they have recently stumbled upon ancient grimoires on the planet Gog that taught them the secrets of manifesting a greater daemon through the possession of one of their own. The use of ritual possession among the Dead Nutz is only a recent development that followed soon after the ascension of Picornaviridae to Daemon Prince status.

Although the Dead Nutz renegade warband has left the Gog System following the complete triumph of Tau forces in cleaning the world of both Chaos and Ork taint. The Warband remains a consistent threat to the Imperium. Requests currently go out to Loyal Space Marine chapters to augment my own Inquisitorial forces and rid the galaxy of this filth once and for all.

Crusader Hawks

Escalation League 2008
Player Name: Rangerdude
Codex: Space Marines

Report by Lord Inquisitor Rothman
Ordo Malleus
Date : 009M41

Many have heard of the Great Crusades, but few know of them all. Crusades go out all the time, each with a different goal. Some do not return. Most of the time, nobody finds out what happens to these lost Crusades. But once, we did.

One Crusade was sent out to fight the forces of Chaos in their own home…the Eye of Terror.

Many were the forces drawn upon to form this crusade: Imperial Guard, Sisters of Battle, Adeptus Mechanicus, and Adeptus Astartes of multiple Chapters. It was by far not the largest Crusade ever to be launched, but it was sizable. Their main goal was to cripple a suspected build up of Chaos forces that were preparing for a Black Crusade. They never made it.

Shortly after the disappearance of the Crusade, the forces of Chaos launched a Black Crusade of their own. A much larger Crusade was organized to fight of the Chaos forces. They were successful, but not without huge losses. The Administratum was concerned over the quantity of losses, with one whole Crusade missing, assumed lost, and a war having just been fought.

A thousand years after the loss of the Crusade, the Lords of Terra were preparing to ring the bell of souls for the members of the Crusade now assumed to be dead beyond a shadow of a doubt. While discussing their options though, a servant entered the chamber to announce a surprising development. The Crusade had returned.

Upon debriefings by the Lords of Terra and the Inquisition, it was determined that the Crusade had been caught in a system surrounded by Warp-storms. By their reckoning, they had only been gone for one Hundred years, the intricacies of warp travel once more becoming apparent. The system they had been caught in was held by chaos, and the Crusade tried to reclaim it. Their losses in the first year were astronomical. The Apothecaries of the various marine chapters were implanting new glands into anyone young enough to take them. This in effect boosted the effectiveness of the forces, even when the glands didn’t take full effect. Marine Thralls could fight better than normal guardsmen could.

When they were finally free of the warp storms, they had purged the chaos from the system, but not without severe losses. All that was left was the equivalent of a company of Marines. All chapter affiliations had been forgotten in the time lost. Upon their return, the Lords of Terra decided that these survivors would form the core of a new chapter of marines. Recruitment started immediately. The Crusader Hawks were born.

The Inquisition was unsure of this. The blending of gene-seeds that occurred during the lost times made them very nervous. It was unknown what traits would develop. There was also the concern of having spent so much time in direct contact with chaos. Yet, they could not detect any taint, and the loyalty of the survivors seemed, if anything, stronger. But, the Inquisition remained suspicious. Therefore, as soon as the Chapter reached fighting strength, they were sent into action…

Since then, the Crusader Hawks have been struggling to get to full strength, constantly fighting without the benefit of reserve companies. Because of this, the chapter has adopted a Great Company philosophy. There is no veteran company and there is no scout company. Each company maintains their own veterans, performs it’s own recruitment, and oversees it’s own equipment. As such, the companies can become larger than the 100 marines proscribed by the Codex Astartes. But, as there are only four great companies at this time, no one seems to complain.

Assignment to Gog System: By Inquisitorial mandate of the Ordo Hereticus the Crusader Hawks chapter was ordered far from the Eye of terror which has been instrumental in their tainted mixed heritage. The entire chapter was ordered out to the eastern fringe.

Once among the Imperium’s fighting resources one great company was requested for the most current attempt to take back the ork world Gog. It has languished in ork hands since the 35th millennium.

Initial fighting amongst the large main continent found the Crusader Hawks overwhelmed and outnumbered. Secure bases were over run as soon as they were set up. Fuel ammunition and rest could not be found as the orks hunted them among jungle and wasteland alike. However after the fourth week of the Gog Campaign there was a downturn in Ork fortunes. Fire Hawks as well as many others landed and established their secure base locations. It was as if an un expected force had distracted and disabled the ork forces. It was not revealed until much later that this was due to ork failures fighting a Tau force who had also made claims to the Emperor’s world.

Elite Forces: The Crusader hawks took this opportunity to land their most elite forces. Venerable Brother Albrecht was assembled and his fire power allowed for the landing of Sergeant Tomas’s Terminators assault terminators.

These terminators were equipped with the most modern equipment that the Grand company had. Improved version Macragge pattern Storm shield which the Ultramarines had tested against the claws of mighty Carnifex. They were transported by the Redeemer pattern Land Raider.

The Crusader Hawks made large advances into Ork held territory but found more and more of their travel harassed not by ork ambush but by Green skinned “Kroot Rangers” Imperial Doctrine demanded that they dealt with the ork forces first until Emergency orders were handed down after Tau threw off consecutive attacks from a sisters of battle force and two assaults by the Extinction Angels space marine chapter.

Captain of the company ordered all of his force into a full frontal attack on the Tau headquarters. He hoped to demoralize the Tau and eliminate their Priest like “Ethereal” The captain would lead an assault squad in a flank attack against tau forces while they were engaged by the full force of his company. Things did not go well however Venerable Brother Albrecht sustained damage that was irreparable while away from their chapter base and The Company Captain was wounded so severely he would be unable to lead further operations until months of extensive bionic surgeries could be performed at the Crusader Hawks Chapter fortress. The Crusader hawks could take solace that due to their and other brave Imperial warriors the orks had been driven from Gog. However the tau stain that claimed the world in the orks place was a bitter taste to the Crusader Hawks.

Space Marines: Blood Angels “Extinction Angels”

Escalation League 2008
Player Name: Lordnorton
Codex: Blood Angels

Report by Lord Inquisitor Johan Heinrich
Ordo Hereticus
Date : 008M41

HOME WORLD: The Space marine chapter of Extinction Angels hails from the planet Kendel 3 located in the far extent of the Sagittarius arm of the galaxy near the eastern fringe of the galaxy. Kendel 3 is a terra sized primitive world existing at a roughly feudal age technology level. The planetary population consists of competing feudal age factions divided into over a thousand petty kingdoms. Kendel 3 has a single moon which is inhospitable and in a cooling molten stage. The moon once home to a colony of exodite eldar underwent Exterminatus in the mid thirty fourth millennia.

The Extinction Angels maintain a single chapter fortress in a small island outside of the main continental areas. They recruit from the whole of the population. Among most kingdoms it is considered an honor to have one from the community chosen to become inducted into the space marines.

GENE SEED: Study of acquired Extinction Angels gene seed show it to be made of a hybrid mix of ancient gene stocks. Gene strains from no less than four notable chapters have been identified including Salamander, Black Templar, Raven Guard and Blood Angel chapter gene traits.

The Extinction Angels chapter was founded during early thirty eighth millennia to combat the emerging Tau empire and a cluster of Eldar Craft Worlds located and still within the Kendal system’s operational theater.

Organization: The Extinction Angels follow a fairly typical organizational pattern with a few notable exceptions.

First the chapter having only recently been established is smaller than most supporting only seven active companies when at peak numbers. This could be due to the chapters age and recruitment level or a tactical decision based the chapter only possessing seven functioning Strike cruisers to transport thise companies from place to place.

The next notable difference from a standard codex marine chapter is that it includes no reserve companies. Six out of the seven marine companies are battle companies. The last being a scout company responsible for the recruitment and training of new battle brothers.

The Chapters battle companies although less numerous are no less well equipped than an older Codex chapter. As seen in the images above they maintain fickle plasma technology and a supply of the most modern variants of armored tanks. The Tec Marines of the chapter possessing a wide comprehension of engine technology. They can often achieve more performance than a standardized codex vehicle.

One of the most notable divergences from standard codex doctrine is the addition of Death Scribes. These are fighting historian monks that accompany each of the company’s units except for scouts and bike units.

These scribes record each units deeds and accomplishments they write the chapter history of The Extinction Angels in tomes of human flesh written in the blood of the Death Scribes themselves.

The death scribes in battle band together as a single assault unit. As they fight or advance they chant the litanies of their chapter. Their battles are fought with example of uncommon valor and resistance to pain as they know each of their deeds must be an example to the units that they are normally assigned to. Sadly for such chapter heroes they along with the Extinction Angels’s chaplains serve to inspire the other marines and record their deeds but the deeds of the death scribes are never written into the chapter’s histories.

Space marine scouts as in other chapters represent the newest recruits who are still being trained in the ways of chapters arts of war.

The Extinction Angels’s scout force serves as a sort of special forces unit similar to the highly trained storm troopers in an Imperial guard force. During their period as a scout they learn a variety of weaponry both long ranged, support and close combat.

Scouts from the Extinction Angels often train longer before their first deployment and serve for a longer period of there career as a scout unit. Each of these scouts will be request acceptance to one of the battle company’s units as they believe their individual talents merit. Each scout must be approved of by the death scribe of the unit that they intend on serving with. Many scouts are rejected and find them selves serving longer in a scout unit before acceptance to one of the chapters battle companies.

Tau Empire

Escalation League 2008
Player Name: Catachan Colonel
Codex: Tau Empire

The Tau Empire has great models, impressive fire power, and I have a bunch of unpainted stuff that will be great to see all done in an apocalypse game some day.

People say i have to many blue armies so i decided to go with the brightest yellow possible. Its a color that really pops and when you are using it as a base instead of detail its amazingly easy to work with.

I am in luck in the league i am the only tau player so its unlikely anyone will gear their army towards me. However i need to be ready for both Nurgle marines and Ork hordes so i will need a balancing act.

The First Thing any Tau force requires is a unit of Fire Warriors. With a decent save, a gun with the best strength and range for any basic troop a full sized squad is the only place to start. I specially built a commander with a set of Tau binoculars with his gun resting behind him.

The league uses “Combat Patrol” rules for the first two weeks so no characters with three or more wounds are allowed. My Compulsory Tau Commander therefore is excluded from play for the first two weeks. This is ok it lets me buy more troops.

Since most missions are about claiming some sort of an objective i figured i better get a mobile set of fire warriors. Getting a transport is still to expensive at the 400 point level so i got a small squad and placed pulse carbines on them all.

The carbines sacrifice some range but with luck they can cause a couple units to go to ground.

I could only afford a small unit so the minimum 6 it was. They are mostly for taking objectives so hopefully I can keep them from being to much of a bullet magnet. Filling up this squad will probably be one of the first things on the agenda when we get more points.

With all the Orks and Space Marines around I would not be smart to ignore close combat entirely. The only fighters that the Tau Empire has are Kroot.

Kroot are a steal for their points and all come with a decent rifle. They may not shoot as good as my pulse rifle unit but they will be able to help out with respectable range and shot power.

Reviewing the new 5th edition rules the Kroot got a healthy dose stronger too. They have a 3+ cover as long as they find some trees. If they go to ground they are almost invulnerable. That’s not bad if i ever get an objective for them to stand on in some woods. They can try to outflank too. I have only tried that with stealth suits so far but I guess when big enough they could mess up someone from the flank. Cant take a Shaper yet so I got the minimum ten. They should add a little punch and have a lot of options to their placement.

All of this was already painted so I need to add some things that had yet to see paint. The Tau have a great and cheap heavy support unit of sniper drones. They should be strong enough to easily hurt any thing we are allowed so far. The leader has a marker light which means he can help other squads and all the squad members can fire at separate targets. They have the pinning rule too so for cheap this is a winning unit at the low point games.

The last of my points went to fresh paint as well. I painted my very first Piranha.

Its light but its also fast so i can zoom across to contest objectives in the last round.

I took a burst cannon because I don’t think there will be enough vehicles to warrant the Fusion Gun. It has just enough firepower to put a small hurt into things and maybe kill off the single model unit out there like an assassin or daemon host or single fiend of slaanesh.

There is my 400 point army. Still pondering how it grows in the 600 point week. We are still using “Combat Patrol” rules so i wont be getting a leader.

Dawnstrike Crusaders

Escalation League 2008
Player Name: Thatguyjames
Codex: Black Templars

It’s always been a notion in the back of my mind since day 1 to play the black templars, but a sour reception to the initial release of the current codex update kept me away for a long time. When information about 5th edition started showing up in the rumor mills, it seemed like the boys in black might have a fighting chance after all. It was then I knew it was time to start a crusade.

The backbone of any Templar force is a strong showing of crusader squads, massive potentially 20 man units that can soak up a lot of punishment and still be able to dish it out. With the new plastic scout models and a helmet or 20 from the chaos warrior sprues, I was able to construct a large number of neophytes (templar scouts) to match their big brothers.

The paint scheme came from a lack of enthusiasm about paint 100 black models. Dark paint jobs never score well in judged competition, and the dark/dull colors that GW has provided as canon clashes with the bright, almost ostentatious heraldry of the knights these marines were modeled after. Any illustrated history of medieval warfare in Europe is rife with every color under the sun flying from a hundred different banners of a hundred different knights. In a way, the Brettonians from Warhammer Fantasy served as a much closer example of what I was looking for in my army, though not quite as chaotic, as I wanted them all to look like they belonged to the same army..

Hellgate: London served as a powerful inspiration as well. Visions of futuristic knights in shining golden tech armor that glowed blue with power was too perfect of a fit not to draw from, thus the base color for the armor was born. Piping and eyes were replaced with the distinctive ice blue glow that really sets the boys apart from any other army, Templar or otherwise.

Assembling the Troops
So what do you do with 400 or 600 points of Templars? Beats me. I lost half of my games at lower points, games I’m hoping to make up at higher points, where my men can really shine. The lack of an ability to take the Emperor’s Champion due to the 2+ armor save restriction has perhaps been the most damaging to my army performance. With access to the vow “Accept Any Challenge, No Matter the Odds”, my army is just marines with pistols and chain swords. Some may call the vow a crutch, but in my opinion the Templars are just worthless without it. Especially with the release of the new Space Marine codex, where several new unit options threatened to overshadow the Templar close combat options completely, a Templar player needs everything he can lay his hands on.

As the games approach a more considerable points total, the Emperor’s Champion will therefore be the first HQ to make an appearance. It won’t be until considerably later that a Marshal or Chaplain might show up. The 600 point week taught me very quickly how important neophytes are to a units survivability, and they will be returning in spades. After that, just troops, troops, and more troops. Top end will see the infamous sword brethren and terminators hitting the table. Bring on the knights, it’s party time!