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Cleansing Flame - Legion Badge: The badge of the Cleansing Flame is unknown.
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Cleansing of Hive Thetus - Cleansing of Hive Thetus: The Cleansing of Hive Thetus was a miltary campaign against a Tyranid Genestealer Cult discovered by the Imperial Inquisition to exist upon the Hive World of Nevaria II and ultimately successfully purged from existence by the Black Templars Chapter of Space Marines. The Black Templars were called upon to aid in the extermination of a small-but-dangerous heretical cult on the Hive World of Nevaria II. This menace was investigated by an agent of the Inquisition's Ordo Hereticus working within the overpopulated levels of Hive Thetus, a Nevarian hive city. Soon, this agent discovered the towering spyres of Thetus held a more sinister secret than anyone had at first suspected. A powerful and malevolent influence was behind the spread of the cult's influence.Further investigation, along with a very costly covert strike by a Kill-team of the Ordo Xenos' Deathwatch Space Marines, uncovered a powerful Tyranid Genestealer Broodlord at work. The creature had somehow managed to infiltrate and infect the minds of a large portion of Hive Thetus' population without anyone knowing. Years of breeding the Genestealers' foul xenos DNA into the human population of the hive city, as was their standard modus operandi when preparing a world for the eventual consumption of all of its biomass by a Tyranid Hive Fleet, had produced multiple hybrid Genestealers who were an abomination to the purity of the human form and a grave threat to the life of every still-pure man, woman and child on Nevaria II. It became obvious that Hive Thetus was becoming a staging ground for a dreaded Tyranid Hive Fleet invasion. The hive city had to be purged if the rest of the world was to have even an opportunity to avoid an Inquisitorial Exterminatus order. The Black Templars stepped up to the challenge of returning the Emperor's Light to Hive Thetus with their usual righteous zeal.The Broodlord and its foul kin managed to anchor themselves deep within the hive's blackened depths. The removal of this taint would take some considerable time and effort on the Black Templars' part. The labyrinth of tunnels, accessways, ducts, and forgotten settlements in Thetus' underhive proved to be a deadly and unique battlefield. It was here that the Black Templars fought terrifying battles in cramped corridors against the Tyranid menace. Slowly and at great cost, each sector of the hive city was cleared from the bottom up. Hive Thetus, and the entire world of Nevaria II with it, was saved from the purging fire of the Exterminatus only due to the singular efforts of the Black Templars.
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Cleansing of the Sin of Damnation - Cleansing of the Sin of Damnation: The Cleansing of the Sin of Damnation was an Imperial military campaign carried out by the Blood Angels Space Marine Chapter in 589.M41, which cleansed the massive Space Hulk Sin of Damnation of a large Genestealer infestation.Six standard centuries earlier, the Blood Angels had deployed in their entirety to cleanse an unknown Space Hulk in the Secoris System, but unfortunately, they encountered heavier than expected resistance from tens of thousands of Genestealers. Tragically, only fifty Astartes, including future Blood Angels Lord Commanders Kadeus and Dante, would manage to escape the Hulk and survive the massacre.Six Terran centuries later, a Space Hulk named the Sin of Damnation by the Chapter dropped out of the Warp dangerously close to the Blood Angels' homeworld of Baal. Strike Force Raphael moved to intercept the Hulk, deploying squads of 1st Company Terminators via Boarding Torpedoes. A vicious battle erupted throughout kilometres of tangled corridors, chambers and ducts as the Blood Angels battled furiously against the Hulk's Genestealer infestation. A force of 80 1st Company Terminators, under the command of Captain Michaelus Raphael, eradicated a force of more than 40,000 Genestealers, cleansing the Sin of Damnation and plundering its secrets in the Imperium's name.
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Cleansing of the Sin of Damnation - Disaster at Secoris: In the year 996.M40, an Imperial Navy patrol passing through the Secoris System detected a large Space Hulk drifting in-system, drawn by the star's gravitational pull. The fourth world of the Secoris System was a populous Hive World, inhabited by more than fifty billion people. It was a hub of commercial and military activity and the threat posed by the closing Space Hulk was immense. Wary of boarding the vessel with his crews, the commodore commanding the flotilla sent an astropathic message to the nearby fortress-monastery of the Blood Angels on Baal. The Chapter responded in full, led by Lord Commander Sangallo, and within three solar weeks, the full might of the Blood Angels had come to Secoris.The sheer size of the Space Hulk and its proximity to busy trade routes through the system precluded any kind of systematic bombardment -- debris would pose a serious threat to navigation. Instead Lord Commander Sangallo led a full-scale boarding action. The initial stage of the boarding went with little problem, but soon the Blood Angels encountered growing resistance as they attempted to take possession of functioning engine rooms and control chambers. Within thirty solar minutes, Genestealers were rousing from their hibernation in great numbers and Sangallo committed his reserves to bolster the defensive perimeter around the boarding site, leading the reinforcements himself.Unable to secure their objectives, the Blood Angels diverted their attention to the inner areas of the ship, seeking the dormant Genestealers. Their attack only served to hasten the awakening process and soon thousands of Genestealers had encircled the advancing Space Marines. Under the covering fire of the 1st Company Terminators, Sangallo tried to extricate his surrounded squads and was eventually forced to send forward the Blood Angels protecting the landing zone to provide a safe "corridor" back to the boarding craft.The Genestealers attack relented for a short while and it seemed as if the Blood Angels would be able to withdraw in good order and re-establish their beachhead. However, the calm was short-lived, as the Genestealers had noted the Space Marines' tactics and now attacked to separate them from the ammunition and support personnel at the boarding site. The battle descended into anarchy as some squads attempted to break through to their objective while others fell back towards the Boarding Torpedoes. Divided, the Blood Angels were picked off, squad by squad, swamped by the overwhelming numbers of their foes.The battle ended when Sangallo had no choice but to order a general retreat. Though kill estimates put the enemies slain at close to 12,000, there seemed an unstoppable tide of the creatures. Of the entire Chapter, only fifty Space Marines, including Captains Dante and Kadeus survived. Kadeus would go on to take Sangallo's place as Lord Commander and lead his Chapter back from the brink of extinction. The action had been a catastrophe for the Chapter. The shame of defeat would last far longer than the losses inflicted.
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Cleansing of the Sin of Damnation - Redemption: Perhaps it was fate, the will of the Emperor or the machinations of the Chaos Gods, that the Blood Angels were contacted by the Rogue Trader Borrak Vorra, Captain of the Windrush, a little more than six hundred standard years after the disaster at Secoris. By cosmic coincidence, the Rogue Trader had dropped out of Warpspace almost on top of a gigantic Space Hulk only a few light years from the Blood Angels' home system of Baal. When word came of the new Space Hulk the Blood Angels seized the opportunity to redeem their past failure. Under the leadership of Captain Michaelus Raphael of the 1st Company, the Blood Angels sent a task force to intercept and investigate the vessel.Dubbed the Sin of Damnation by the Blood Angels, the Space Hulk was large, made from the wrecks of nearly a dozen different vessels. Scans performed by the Windrush crew revealed there were high concentrations of alien lifesigns aboard and Captain Raphael treated the entire vessel as hostile territory, suspecting a large Genestealer presence.Strike Cruisers of the Blood Angels transporting the 1st Company and supporting troops broke Warp close to the Sin of Damnation and launched Boarding Torpedoes. While the Assault Craft blazed through the æther, scanners bathed the vessel with low-power multi-spectral analysis, to provide overall layout data and identify the concentrations of the dormant aliens. Stronger scanners risked alerting the hibernating Genestealers before the Terminators were aboard, so Captain Raphael deployed autonomous reconnaissance devices known as Cyber-Altered Task units, each teleported to a strategic point aboard the Space Hulk to collect vital information.The scans showed that the majority of the Space Hulk was powerless and lifeless, exposed to the open vacuum of space. The bulk of its vast, chaotic architecture served no function at all. Inside was a seemingly random labyrinth of empty mess rooms, access corridors, dormitories, loading bays, storage chambers, command decks, maintenance bays and other facilities. The haphazard maze was criss-crossed by energy lines, power relays, pipes, cables, communication trunks, venting ducts and other crawlspaces. It would have taken Terran years to clear every last nook and cranny.Raphael's Strike Cruiser orbited the Space Hulk at a safe distance, their bombardment cannons and torpedoes primed to reduce the Sin of Damnation to atoms at the first sign that the Genestealers were escaping or that the mission was failing. Every warrior was under immense pressure that day; it was a matter of honour that the Blood Angels scoured the Genestealer threat from the Space Hulk and allowed archeotechnologists and other Tech-priests to conduct a full survey of the ancient vessels that comprised it. Anything else would only serve to further crush the Chapter's self-regard, stripping them of all respect and authority. For the sake of the Chapter, Captain Raphael and his warriors could not afford to fail.
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Cleansing of the Sin of Damnation - Boarding the Space Hulk: Closer analysis of the life scan data showed a huge concentration of Genestealers in the cargo hold of an ancient merchantman. Though it was impossible to get anything like an accurate number, due to the low level of the scan and the dormant metabolisms of the aliens, Captain Raphael's technicians informed him that there were at least 40,000 Genestealers aboard, probably more. Any other commander might have baulked at such odds, but not Raphael. He was a Space Marine of the Blood Angels and the pride of his Chapter rested entirely on his shoulders. He gave the order for the Boarding Torpedoes to complete their final approach. The battle would begin very soon.With painful memories of the Blood Angels' defeat at Secoris, it was decided to commit only the Chapter's Terminators against the enemies aboard the Sin of Damnation. Over long centuries, the 1st Company had been rebuilt and Terminator Armour repaired and constructed. Roughly 80 warriors in total were involved in the fighting, under the command of Captain Raphael, the company commander.The majority of these Space Marines were organised into five-man squads. With information scarce, Raphael deployed his warriors using Boarding Torpedoes, rather than putting his trust in the vagaries of teleporter technology. Huge missile-like boarding craft blasted through the ether, punching through the outer hull of the Space Hulk. The Space Marines disembarked from their Assault Craft and swiftly established guard positions against counterattack.With the breach made, a perimeter was established inside while Techmarines and other support personnel could be moved aboard the Space Hulk. This base of operations would be essential to the Blood Angels' success, providing ammunition and ongoing repairs to the Space Marines as they pressed outwards from the landing site.In order to retain command overview, Captain Raphael remained on board the Strike Cruiser Angel's Sword. From there he was able to pass on strategic objectives to the squads in the Space Hulk, leaving individual missions to the initiative, training and experience of the squad Sergeants. By removing himself from direct fighting, Captain Raphael was able to maintain a degree of strategic oversight that was lacking in the Blood Angels' encounter at Secoris, ensuring that the Space Marines and their support resources were effectively deployed in a hazardous and ever-changing battle.
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Cleansing of the Sin of Damnation - Cleanse and Purge: While establishing a beachhead to defend their Boarding Torpedoes, the Blood Angels detected a bank of functioning lifeboats aboard one of the ships that comprised the Hulk. It was a priority that these were rendered inoperable, before any Genestealers could use them to exit the Space Hulk and evade destruction. Though the orbiting the Strike Cruisers had weapons trained on the Hulk to eliminate any escaping craft, such fire would disrupt the Space Marines' operations and was not 100% assured.The large bank of escape pods was controlled by a central release mechanism located in a control chamber a short distance away. None of the saviour craft were capable of launching until a system override was released on the main controls. Squad Lorenzo was tasked with the mission of destroying the controls completely, in order to prevent the lifeboats ever launching. The control chamber was several hundred metres from the established perimeter and it was Captain Raphael's expectation that Squad Lorenzo would suffer heavy casualties. Such was the importance of containing the Genestealer infestation the commander judged this a price worth paying, even at this early stage of the battle.With Lexmechanics studying the layout of the Space Hulk and the early movements of Genestealers, Captain Raphael was able to predict the route of the alien attack with some accuracy. The first Genestealer assault was likely to come from the main hibernating cluster, located less than a kilometre from the landing zone. It was imperative that the Space Marines maintained the momentum of their assault rather than be pushed onto the defensive at the very outset.The expected attack route forced the Genestealers to pass through a key junction where the hulls of two starships had been compressed together. Sergeant Gideon and his squad were despatched to cover the junction and kill all aliens attempting to pass. The first Genestealer assault was effectively countered and the Space Marines were able to expand their perimeter to a position from which they could attack the dormant Genestealers.As the Space Marines moved into position, the C.A.T. unit closest to the Genestealer concentration had completed its scan of the enemy. However, the sheer density of the Space Hulk's structure prevented the Automaton from transmitting this data and it moved erratically along the corridors as it sought a suitable transmission location. Outside the embattled perimeter, Sergeants Lorenzo and Gideon were in a position to manually retrieve the faulty C.A.T. unit. The two squads converged on the C.A.T. unit's last known position from opposite directions and linked up once it had been recovered. Meanwhile, the bulk of the Blood Angels force pressed out from the landing zone, sweeping aside the alien resistance. Organised and determined, the Space Marines advanced their position by several hundred metres, whilst the Genestealer response was haphazard and ill-coordinated.With the C.A.T. reclaimed, Squads Lorenzo and Gideon turned back towards the main Space Marine defensive line. Casualties in all sectors had been low and Captain Raphael continued to rotate squads between the primary cordon and reserve to ensure that the Techmarines could affect repairs to damaged armour and re-supply the squads on the firing line.With the second wave of attacks staved off, Captain Raphael ordered his squads onto the offensive. However, even as the Genestealer attacks lessened in their intesity, a small number of aliens managed to break through the perimeter via an undetected route. Two Techmarines isolated from the other support squads went missing in action. Their Power Armour continued to transmit functioning lifesigns and Captain Raphael quickly organised a rescue response. It was unthinkable that the sacred gene-seed of the Blood Angels should fall into the hands of the Genestealers. With the majority of the force committed to securing the hibernation zone, Raphael once again looked to Squads Gideon and Lorenzo to locate the missing Techmarines. Though Squad Lorenzo located the missing Astartes, they were both sorely wounded, their armour stripped away in many places as blood trickled from large gaping slashes across their bodies. It was too late to salvage their gene-seed, as both had been infected by the Genestealers and the viability of their gene-seed was negative. They were granted the Emperor's Peace by the Blood Angels Terminators' Storm Bolters.Meanwhile, the data from the retrieved C.A.T. unit showed that the support systems of the merchant ship where the majority of Genestealers were located were serviced from a a single pumping station located near the aft of the vessel. Test releases of toxin gas brought from the Strike Cruisers had demonstrated that it was possible to poison the Genestealers. However, the concentration required was almost one hundred times higher than the fatal dosage for humans. The Blood Angels needed to secure the pumping station in order to flood the merchant ship with gas, and at the same time prevent the Genestealers from escaping once the toxin was unleashed. It was Captain Raphael's intent that a diversionary attack by Lorenzo and Gideon's squads would lure away the majority of the wakened Genestealers. If the enemy could be tricked into thinking a secondary concentration was the Blood Angels' target, the way would be open for the main force to advance against minimal resistance.During the attack on the secondary Genestealer infestation, contact was lost with the members of Squad Lorenzo. Lifesigns transmitters showed that they had not been killed, while sensorium data revealed that they were in their previous defensive positions but unmoving. As Captain Raphael absorbed this turn of events, he received new information, this time from Librarian Calistarius. Though it remained unclear how Squad Lorenzo had been incapacitated, the effect on the Space Marines' strategic situation was dire. Lorenzo and his warriors had taken a heavy toll on the Genestealer reinforcements but several hundred had survived to threaten the flank of the main attack. Brother Calistarius raced to link up with the outermost Assault Squad, led by Sergeant Leodinus. As the young Lexicanium fought his way towards Squad Lorenzo's last known position, his prescient abilities detected the unmistakable signs of some sort of alien psychic attack that was the cause for Lorenzo's disappearance. Notifying Captain Raphael of his suspicions, Calistarius was then ordered to link up with Squad Leodinus instead, but by the time he arrived, only one Battle-Brother remained alive. The two Blood Angels then proceeded to the last known location of Squad Lorenzo. Squad Gideon completed the purging of their assigned cluster, and also proceeded to move onwards to rendezvous at Lorenzo's position.
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Cleansing of the Sin of Damnation - The Artefact: When the Blood Angels finally arrived, Sergeant Lorenzo and his warriors confirmed that they had indeed been subjected to some form of psychic attack by the Genestealers. The exact nature of the threat was indeterminate, but the need to rejoin the main attack was pressing. However, Brother Calistarius detected a strange presence less than a kilometre away, unconnected to the Genestealers. Not wishing to deprive Captain Raphael of all their warriors, Lorenzo and Gideon agreed to split, with the former accompanying the Librarian to investigate this new phenomenon while Gideon returned to the main force. Following the psychic trail, Calistarius and his companions discovered an ancient Blood Angels Battle Barge that had been lost in the Warp nearly nine thousand Terran years earlier. Chapter history attested that the Wrath of Baal had been carrying an important artefact of the Blood Angels from Terra shortly after the Siege of the Imperial Palace had ended. Lorenzo and Calistarius were determined to locate this treasure and retrieve it from the clutches of the Genestealers.Within the Chapel vault of the Wrath of Baal, the Space Marines discovered a golden grail, one of the famed Blood Chalices; an artefact of the times before the Horus Heresy. It was stained with the blood of their Primarch and psychic link with Sanguinius coursed through the Blood Angels' veins. Once recovered, the Blood Angels had to fight their way out of the chapel towards the bulk of the main force. Sergeant Lorenzo and Brother Goriel disappeared during the fighting, leaving the squad two warriors down and leaderless. Brother Calistarius took direct command. The main force had been battling hard to contain the Genestealers within the hull of the merchantman, though a few would inevitably escape the cordon. It was imperative that all squads were on hand for the final attack.Brother Calistarius led the remnants of Squads Lorenzo and Leonidas from the Wrath of Baal, back towards the main force of the 1st Company. They encountered scattered pockets of Genestealers and moved swiftly to rejoin their comrades. However, such was the treacherous nature of the Space Hulk's layout that the shortest route forced them to break through the corridors of a vessel whose emergency doors had closed. As the Space Marines cut their way through the bulkheads, enemy lifesigns closed in on their position. Though they were barely one hundred metres from the rest of the 1st Company, the Space Marines returning from the Wrath of Baal faced two formidable obstacles.The first was a winding network of corridors and rooms sealed by locked bulkheads. The second was a gathering number of Genestealers that had been attempting to circumvent the cordon set up around the pumping station. Although the artefact had been returned, the Space Marines were still isolated. With the main force unable to break out of their pocket to help Brother Calistarius and his warriors, the Space Marines were left to make their own way through the maze. Squad Gideon had not rejoined the main force, and their Sergeant despatched his warriors to find a path through to their isolated brethren. Having split up to find the most direct route, both squads were in a poor defensive position to respond when the Genestealers located them and began to close in for the kill.
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Cleansing of the Sin of Damnation - On the Defensive: Though suffering increasing casualties, the Blood Angels Space Marines had fought hard and the majority of emerging Genestealers were contained within the hold of the merchant ship. Techmarines had jury-rigged large vats of the toxin gas to the atmospheric control systems at the pumping station. Captain Raphael expected a strong response once the gas started pumping and had arranged two lines of defence between the aliens and the means of their demise. The first was a cordon of squads directly around the hold; the second comprised the survivors of Squads Gideon and Lorenzo, who protected the pumping station directly.The mess of hastily connected pipes and ducts in the pumping station was unstable. To ensure that they remained operational, the Space Marines defending the control chamber were ordered not to fire heavy weapons into or out of the pump room for fear of damaging the toxin vats. With a thrum of power generators, the pumping station was activated. The Techmarines withdrew from the line of battle and the Space Marines prepared for the inevitable assault. In the hold below, the deadly gas began to sweep through the ventilation shafts. The Genestealers' lair was a spacious artificial cavern and it would take some time for the toxin to build up to deadly concentration. Detecting the encroaching gas, the Genestealers began to wake more swiftly, roused from their biostasis by the threat. Soon, more than a thousand aliens were bursting from the ship's holds towards the Space Marines.
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Cleansing of the Sin of Damnation - Pitfall: While the remaining Blood Angels fought a desperate battle against the neverending hordes of attacking Genestealers, the toxin attack proved to be a success, and all but a few hundred Genestealers had been eradicated. The surviving Space Marine squads swept the Genestealer lair for the remaining aliens and fanned out into nearby sectors to hunt down those that had escaped before the gas was released. Sergeant Lorenzo had reappeared after fighting his way back alone from the Wrath of Baal. He reported encountering a different kind of Genestealer, larger and faster than the others.Between the psychic sense of Brother Calistarius and a deep probe scan from the orbiting Strike Cruisers, the Blood Angels were able to locate two more creatures like the one that had attacked Lorenzo. Raphael ordered Lorenzo and Calistarius to take tissue samples from these aliens for future analysis, and then destroy them before they awoke. Sergeant Lorenzo pulled together an ad hoc squad from the most battle-ready survivors of the fighting. The squad was issued with portable power field generators to aid them in their mission. These could be used to close off doors and passages for a short space of time, ensuring that their prey would not escape. What Lorenzo did not know at the time was that the creature he had followed through the underbelly of the Hulk was now stalking him.Lorenzo was successful in destroying two dormant Broodlords, as the Blood Angels had dubbed the Genestealer leaders. During the encounter, Brother Zael sacrificed himself to save the Sergeant and the active Broodlord was driven off, believed dead. Isolated from the main force, the survivors of the mission were now at the heart of a rapidly converging circle of Genestealers intent upon destroying those that had slain their leaders. There was no chance of relief squads from the main Blood Angels force reaching Lorenzo and his comrades in time. Following the readings on their sensorium, the Space Marines fought their way towards the exit.Their objective was a service shaft that led out onto the surface of the Space Hulk from where they could be extracted by gunship. The tissue samples carried by Lorenzo were an important source of information about the Genestealers and needed to be returned at all costs. A few dozen metres from their escape, the Space Marines came across a collapsed deck. Under increasing attacks from the Genestealers, they had to negotiate their way across the wreckage and reach the external duct. To make matters more difficult, the Broodlord Lorenzo thought destroyed was anything but dead, and intent on tearing apart the enemies that had destroyed its brethren.In the end, it was only through the sacrifice of his fellow Battle-Brothers that Brother Calistarius was able to fight his way to the Hulk's surface and signal command from an extraction by Thunderhawk gunship. He successfully obtained both the genetic sample and the ancient Chapter relic, but only at the expense of his brothers' lives. This small force of eighty 1st Company Terminators managed to eradicate a much larger force of more than 40,000 Genestealers, cleansing the Sin of Damnation and enabling its secrets to be plundered in the Imperium's name. But more importantly, they had avenged a long-standing stain to their Chapter's honour.
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Clearance Incinerator - Clearance Incinerator: A Clearance Incinerator is a massive, multi-chambered Imperial Heavy Flamer that is able to turn a landslide of rock to molten slurry. Though originally designed to be used to assist mining guild operations, the Clearance Incinerator has been repurposed as a potent weapon by the hybrids of the Genestealer Cults. It is usually deployed as a primary weapon on Goliath Rockgrinders.
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Cleaved, The - Cleaved, The: The Cleaved are a warband of Chaos Space Marines of unknown origin who serve the Plague God Nurgle.These mysterious warriors first appeared during the insurrection on the world of Magma Codelian. The Loyalist Guardsmen of the Astra Militarum's 334th Iridian Regiment had pushed their way into the rebellious planetary governor's palace after a sustained bombardment.The regiment's Primaris Psykers realised too late that the architecture of the governor's keep was actually a gigantic summoning circle. Amongst the choking fumes, the insurrectionists conjured reinforcements; not Daemons, but Chaos Space Marines with strange, oil-like blood oozing from the joints in their armour.Though the new arrivals were massively outnumbered, the power armoured warriors exhibited an incredibly high pain threshold, fighting on through mortal wounds to eventually repel the Iridians' attack and secure the planet for the insurrectionists.
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Cleaved, The - Notable Campaigns: Against the Dark Angels (891.M39) - The Cleaved appeared out of a newly materialised space hulk. Battling the Dark Angels who responded to the Heretic Astartes' emergence into realspace, the Loyalist Astartes emerged victorious when their Assault Squads, emerging behind a trio of Dreadnoughts, got close enough to set off cyclonic charges in the space hulk's engine room.Cholercaust Blood Crusade (Unknown Date.M41) - The Cleaved joined the massive Khornate force known as the Cholercaust which followed the path of the Keeler Comet and brought war and ruin to the worlds in its path. The Cholercaust Blood Crusade was finally stopped by a small coalition of Imperial forces on the Cemetery World of Certus-Minor. The Cleaved and other Traitor Marines took to the field under the command of Lord Umbragg of the World Eaters and participated in the final attack on Obsequa City. The Cholercauset suffered a total defeat and all in its ranks were slain, including the Thunder Barons. It is unknown if the entire warband took part in the Blood Crusade, and whether or not Cleaved remnants still exist elsewhere.Invasion of Medusa (Unknown Date.M42) - Alongside warbands of The Cleaved, The Purge and several other Nurglite Renegade forces, Typhus led the Death Guard's 1st Plague Company in a shocking raid against the Iron Hands' Chapter Planet, Medusa. The Iron Hands' clan companies drive off their attackers, but not before terrible damage is done, leaving regions of the planet as cursed quarantine zones.
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Cleaved, The - Warband Colours: The Cleaved wear pale, flesh-coloured power armour that seems to have a strange, oil-like substance constantly oozing from the joints of the armour like black blood. What remains of the Chaos Space Marines within their sealed armour, or how they have been mutated to release such a discharge, none can say.
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Cleaved, The - Warband Badge: The Cleaved warband's badge is a pair of ebon-coloured, crossed battle-axes centered on a field of pale, dirty white. They also wear the usual heretical Chaos icons and fetishes dedicated to the Plague God. This usually takes the form of a Mark of Nurgle.
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Cleaved, The - Sources: Codex: Chaos Space Marines (4th Edition), pg. 68Codex: Chaos Space Marines (6th Edition), pg. 16Codex: Dark Angels (6th Edition), pp. 36-38Codex Heretic Astartes - Chaos Space Marines (8th Edition) (Revised Codex), pg. 51Codex Heretic Astartes - Chaos Space Marines (8th Edition), pg. 51, 110Codex Heretic Astartes - Death Guard (8th Edition), pg. 22, "The Gorgon's Lair"White Dwarf 333 (UK), "Battle Report - The Karis Cephalon Incursion," pp. 49, 51The Legion of the Damned (Novel) by Rob Sanders
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Cloaking Array - Cloaking Array: The Cloaking Array was an archeotech device deployed by some Imperial and Traitor forces during the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy eras. This relic generated a highly-localised refraction field that distorted light and many other forms of electromagnetic radiation in such a way as to render the bearer invisible to the naked eye and most forms of machine sensor.
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Cloaking Array - History: The Great Crusade came in the wake of the Age of Strife, a long and terrible era during which Mankind unleashed and was laid low by weapons of star-razing destructive power and genocidal scope, many born during the preceding Age of Technology.When the Emperor's crusading forces pushed back the darkness that had fallen upon the worlds of Mankind, evidence of the ancient and terrible artefacts were found and studied by the tech-savants of the Mechanicum, who coveted them greatly.Occasionally, one of these examples of ancient archaeotech would be recovered and taken up by the heroes of the Great Crusade itself, becoming a potent relic, its name and legend as widespread and celebrated as the Crusaders who bore it into battle.As the Great Crusade continued ever onwards, multiple examples of some types of relic were encountered and great effort was committed to cataloguing their class, understanding their nature and replicating their function. Often the Mechanicum could fathom the basic technology underpinning a relic, but could not create a functioning copy.Nonetheless, the effort to decode the ancient technological foundation of such artefacts continued, with other discoveries made in the process expanding the canon of the Machine God exponentially.
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Cloners' Guilds - Cloners' Guilds: The Cloners' Guilds are Guilds of the Leagues of Votann. The Cloners' Guilds oversee the birth of new Kin in their hold's crucibles. They often encourage the inclusion of particularly useful cloneskeins in the genetic makeup of newborn Kin while they are gestating.
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Cloneskeins - Cloneskeins: The cloneskeins are advantageous, genetically-engineered, hereditary mutations that exist within the gene pool of the Kin of the Leagues of Votann. To the Kin, cloneskeins are always badges of valuable ability, either bequeathed by the ineffable Ancestor Cores or encouraged by the Cloners' Guilds during gestation.The cloneskeins were originally introduced into Kin genomes by the First Ancestors to help ensure their race's survival within the hazardous conditions of the galactic core. Most cloneskeins are intended to make their recipients better able to work or defend themselves.The rarest cloneskeins are those that grant their recipients psychoactive abilities similar to those of true psykers, like the Grimnyr who interface with the Votann and the Embyr who protect a Kin hold's artificial wombs, its crucibles.
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Cloneskeins - History: Though they are a race of Abhuman clones, this does not mean that each Kin is exactly physically identical or that the Kin suffer from the common defects which can result from a lack of genetic diversity. The First Ancestors who were responsible many Terran millennia ago for shaping Kin society to deal with the environmental rigours of life in the galactic core engineered a series of stable mutations and unusual phenotypical expressions into their people's genomes which they named "cloneskeins."In practical terms, these alterations provide the Kin with physiological enhancements over the Human baseline such as denser muscular and skeletal systems to provide greater physical strength and more endurance in the face of trauma. Their bodies are capable of higher red and white blood cell production to ensure the Kin possess more efficient respiratory systems that enhance their capacity for rigorous work and an immune system that is more effective at combating the effects of ionising radiation common to the galactic core.There are many cloneskeins that were intended to provide specific physical benefits to those Kin that possess them. These include enhanced reaction times beyond those available to baseline Kin, the ability to see into the infrared and other electromagnetic spectra beyond visible light, increased resistance to extremes of temperature, gravity or ionising radiation, and many other enhancements that aid navigating the turbulent environments of the core.Such genetic alterations also manifest in the phenotypes of those Kin who bear them, again giving the lie to the idea that just because the Kin are all clones, they are also all identical. Such expressions include an unusual colour of the skin or eyes by Human standards, altered subdermal layers displaying various craggy surfaces or ridges on the cranium or elsewhere on the body, unusual odours and similar cosmetic changes. These differences do not breed prejudice or other forms of discrimination among the Kin, who view them as the marks of valuable abilities and enhancements to the capability of the Kin to work or defend themselves that they were intended to be.Alterations were also made to the Kin's mental acuity and psyches through unknown means, such that they are far less able to make use of the powers of the Immaterium -- or be affected by its unnatural denizens. Even those Kin who carry the psychoactive cloneskein are not literal psykers in the true sense of the word as Humans would understand it. Like a shuttered lantern whose aperture has been opened a little wider, the souls of these psychoactive Kin shine just brightly enough to mesh with barrier-tech that makes use of the energies of the Immaterium, such as Ancestral Warding Staves and armoured crests that can project psyker-like abilities.The Kin's physical and mental hardening has made them much less prone to the physical mutations brought on by exposure to the energies of Chaos, and possession by Daemons or a Kin's corruption by Chaos are also blessedly extremely rare.The Kin are highly resistant to the exercise of any powers upon them that draw upon the energies of the Warp. The downside, or some might claim the advantage, of this psychic hardening is the lack of true psykers among the Kin, for whom that mutation simply does not exist. Additionally, such psychic alterations also seem to have contributed to the conservative, stoic and deeply stubborn nature of most Kin.In place of the psyker mutation, the First Ancestors provided the Kin with a specialised cloneskein that expresses itself among the Grimnyr, the Living Ancestors who serve as the Kin's primary link with the wisdom of the Votann and are the closest analogue that these highly secular people have to priests. These bearers of the psychoactive cloneskein are the only ones able to activate the advanced barrier technologies that the Leagues do possess to allow limited interactions with the Warp.
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Close Support Squad - Close Support Squad: A Close Support Squad is a tactical designation applied to Space Marine combat squads. Close support squads are the clenched fist, the killing blow of an Astartes formation, and represent its melee and heavy assault units.A well-coordinated and perfectly timed close combat assault can break the back of any foe, cracking open their lines and sending the survivors fleeing. Such decisive strikes are the responsibility of these swift, aggressive, hard-hitting warriors.The designation began to be used in the wake of the reforms made to the Codex Astartes and the Adeptus Astartes themselves in the Era Indomitus after the resurrection of the Primarch Roboute Guilliman and the introduction of the Primaris Space Marines.
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Close Support Squad - Types: Space Marine squads that are designated as Close Support Squads include:Assault SquadAssault Intercessor SquadJump Pack Intercessor SquadInceptor SquadReiver SquadIncursor SquadBike SquadCenturion Assault SquadOutrider Squad
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Clotted Scrolls - Clotted Scrolls: The Clotted Scrolls is a legendary tome and artefact of Chaos said to have been penned by the Primarch Angron of the World Eaters Traitor Legion before he was consumed by the increasing berzerker rages of his later life.The Raptor Chaos Lord Haarken Worldclaimer of the Black Legion has claimed to have read it.
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Cluster Rocket System - Cluster Rocket System: A Cluster Rocket System is a T'au weapon system consisting of a pair of massive rocket pods programmed to fire dozens of Drone-assisted warheads in optimised saturation patterns, maintaining a rate and density of fire sufficient to destroy entire mobs of Orks or swarms of Tyranid weapon beasts.The explosions it generates carpet a target zone, hurling bodies into the air and atomising screaming foes by the score. It is currently only deployed on the KV128 Stormsurge Ballistic Suit.
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Coalition - Coalition: A coalition, or shan'al in the T'au Lexicon, is the largest unit of military organisation deployed by the T'au Empire. This formation is comprised of the four commands that together comprise all the members of the four T'au castes present in a given location, who are drawn together into a strategic organisation referred to as a "coalition," effectively the size of an Astra Militarum army or army group. A coalition is presided over by a specially assigned Ethereal council.Thus, a coalition will consist of all T'au and alien auxiliary forces on a given world or within a particular star system, though it can also refer to an expeditionary fleet comprising members of all four castes, such as the Farsight Expedition led by Commander Farsight that founded the Farsight Enclaves over two Terran centuries ago.
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Cobra-class Destroyer - Cobra-class Destroyer: The Cobra-class Destroyer is a quick and versatile Imperial escort ship and torpedo boat that makes up a significant portion of the Imperial Navy's Battlefleet Obscurus. The Cobra is a valuable addition to any combat fleet, as armed with massive anti-warship torpedoes, squadrons of Cobras are agile enough to dart into fleet engagements, launch spreads of ordnance, then flee -- hopefully before their larger adversaries can hit them with a massed broadside.However, the Cobra's greatest asset is its speed and maneuverability, enabling it to catch the small, fast vessels favoured by pirates, as was most famously illustrated by Captain Walker's Skargul Patrol which destroyed 17 pirate vessels in the twelve solar months prior to the outbreak of the Gothic War.Indeed, the Cobra-class Destroyer is one of the smallest Warp-capable starships in the Imperial fleet, and also one of the fastest. It fills multiple roles in the Imperial Navy, as its demonstrated combination of speed and firepower makes the Cobra a popular choice for scouting, patrolling, raiding, and escort duties.Although no voidship could be said to be mass-produced in the Imperium of the 41st Millennium, the Cobra is one of the simplest to build, with a well-equipped orbital shipyard able to construct one in only several Terran years. This makes them popular with Rogue Traders who are relatively destitute. Many Rogue Traders who do so retrofit a Cobra to remove their massive torpedo bays, however, to create space for cargo or other weapons.
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Cobra-class Destroyer - Notable Cobra-class Destroyer Squadrons: The Widowmakers - Officially known as the 24th Destroyer Squadron, the Widowmakers fought in the Gothic War. The squadron is notable for its ships' weapons batteries having been replaced with experimental long-range scanners.The Skargul Patrol - The Skargul Patrol fought in the Gothic War. It is best known for destroying no less than seventeen pirate vessels in the twelve months leading up to the Gothic War and for chasing down and destroying the notorious Eldar Eclipse-class Cruiser Stardeath in the Graildark Nebula during the conflict.Omna Squadron - Omna Squadron fought in the Taros Campaign. It was assigned to convoy-protection duty after the T'au Lar'shi'vre-class Cruiser Io'Tar destroyed a troop convoy carrying an entire Imperial Guard Regiment, the 8th Brimlock Dragoons.Omni Squadron - Omni Squadron, consisting of three Cobra-class Destroyers, was part of Patrol Group Farsight when it responded to a distress call from a colony on Merida in the Yuctan System in 666.M40. When Aries Squadron, consisting of three Sword-class Frigates attacked a Necron raider, what is believed to have been a Scythe-class Harvest Ship destroyed Aries Squadron and crippled one ship of Omni Squadron. Captain Stauffen, commander of the eponymous Dauntless-class Light Cruiser Farsight, recognised that the only way for his remaining vessels to escape the Necron assault was to run. The remainder of Omni Squadron was ordered back to Yuctan Station. When a Necron weapon caused the control and targeting systems on the Farsight to fail, Captain Stauffen ordered the vessel's plasma reactors to be overloaded. This was an attempt to give the remaining ships of Omni Squadron time to escape. The plasma reactors of the Farsight were overloaded and Destroyer ON37452 was the only survivor of the Farsight's squadron. Captain Stauffen's sacrifice successfully allowed the remaining vessels of his patrol group to return to Yuctan Station.Vanguard Squadron - Vanguard Squadron fought during the Gothic War. At the Battle of Helia IV, Vanguard Squadron performed a daring flanking manoeuvre, using the damaged Murder-class Cruiser Pagan Voyager as cover to bypass the Chaos battle line, and strike at the vulnerable troop transports sheltering behind. Alas for the Imperium, Vanguard Squadron was mercilessly pounced upon by Doomfire bomber squadrons and destroyed as they tried to disengage from their successful attack run on the transports.Emperor's Hand - The Emperor's Hand was an escort squadron that comprised a portion of Battlefleet Corribra.Exalted in Belief - The Exalted in Belief Squadron was comprised of Cobra-class Destroyers that served in the Battlefleet Corribra.
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Cobra-class Destroyer - Dimensions: Hull - 1.5 kilometres long, 0.3 kilometres abeam at finsClass - Cobra-class DestroyerMass - 5.7 megatonsCrew - 15,000 crew, approximateAcceleration - 7.6 gravities max. sustainable acceleration
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Cobra - Cobra: The Cobra is a Craftworld Aeldari super-heavy grav-tank that supports the craftworlds' heavy armour assaults. This huge vehicle can unleash potent firepower, and is broadly comparable to the Astra Militarum's super-heavy tanks.The Cobra is an Engine of Vaul, the name for an Aeldari super-heavy armoured vehicle, much like its counterpart, the Scorpion, but re-armed with a large Distortion Cannon (D-Cannon). This weapon is also known as a "Warp Cannon" or "Vortex Cannon." There are two versions of the Cobra. Type I has a turret-mounted D-Cannon, while the Type II has a fixed, forward firing D-Cannon.The Cobra is designed to find and destroy enemy war machines, as their protective force fields are little defence against the D-Cannon's heinous directed Warp energies.As with all Aeldari vehicles, crew numbers on the Cobra are kept to a minimum. The dwindling civilisation of the Craftworld Aeldari means they must rely upon sophisticated technology and the wraithbone construction of their vehicles, freeing more warriors from vehicle crewmen duties to fill the ranks of Guardian and Aspect Warriors squads.
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Cobra - Technical Information: The Cobra is built upon the same chassis and utilizes the same anti-gravitic motors as found on the Scorpion, giving it similar speed, mobility and protective qualities, including the use of an Aeldari Titan-grade Holo-field.The number of crew of the vehicle is kept to a minimum (a pilot and gunner), so that more Craftworld Aeldari can be freed up to perform other battlefield duties. The biggest difference between the Scorpion and Cobra is the Cobra's armament, a single massive hull-mounted Distortion Cannon, or "D-Cannon." A direct hit from the D-Cannon will tear apart whole sections of even the largest Imperial Titan, dragging machine and crew screaming into the nightmarish hell that is the Warp.Even void shields provide no defensive barrier against this massive Vortex Weapon. The only consolation for enemies on the receiving end of this weapon is that the D-Cannon does not have the same range as the Pulsars found on the Scorpion, and in comparison to its sibling grav-tank the Cobra loses some versatility in exchange for its heavier firepower.Besides their primary weapon, all Cobras also mount a backup secondary weapon, usually either a Bright Lance, Eldar Missile Launcher, Scatter Laser, Shuriken Cannon or Starcannon. Cobras can also upgraded to be equipped with Star Engines and/or Vectored Engines.
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Cobra - Ordo Xenos Departmento Analyticus Record: Technical InformationLength18.43 metresHeight6.8 metresWingspan10.31 metresEstimated Weight70 tonnesBarrel Length10.31 metresArmour12-15 millimetres material unknownCombat Speed60 kliometres per hourEstimated Max Speed280 kilometres per hourCrew1 driver, 1 gunnerMain ArmamentDistortion CannonMain AmmunitionEstimated 1,000 shots. Unconfirmed.
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Cobra - Sources: Imperial Armour - Apocalypse (2008), pg. 56Imperial Armour - Apocalypse (2013), pg. 93Imperial Armour II - Ork, Eldar & Dark Eldar Vehicles for Warhammer 40,000, pg. 16Imperial Armour Volume Eleven - The Doom of Mymeara, pg. 196Epic Swordwind Part 1 - Eldar Forces, pg. 23Forge World - Eldar Cobra Type II Super-Heavy Grav TankForge World Eldar Super Heavy Vehicles
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Cocijo - Cocijo: Cocijo is an Imperial Desert World found within the Orpheus Salient of the Jericho Reach.Once a verdant Agri-world, the now arid planet has become crucial to the salient's supply chain, in no small part due to its extensive aquifers and substantial reserves of metallic ore.
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Cocijo - History: Cocijo was a surprise for the Achilus Crusade. Ancient charts identified the planet as a lush and verdant world. Administratum records showed it to be part of a populous star system, with ample agricultural capabilities that provided for several of the ancient Jericho Sector's Hive Worlds.Instead, the crusade found an arid world, with only a sparse, primitive population that had diverged too far from the Human standard for the Inquisition's taste.The Inquisition branded those few descendants of the ancient settlers as mutants. The crusade cleansed the planet of the majority of these reviled creatures. The remainder were designated for use as slaves or assigned duties with Penal Legions. A few of these loathsome beings may yet survive in Cocijo's extensive wastelands.There was no obvious cause for the world's ecological collapse, and the surviving descendants were in no condition to explain it. Background radiation was within normal limits. There were almost no ruins for the expected cities, with very few exceptions; the locations were nothing more than flat, barren plains. An apocalyptic event had clearly happened, but the Imperium has been completely unable to identify its cause.Extensive cartographic analyses of the planet's surface were even performed to verify that it was the same planet. Once the mutants were eliminated, settlers were brought in from the overcrowded Hive Worlds of the Calixis Sector.With the aid of the Adeptus Mechanicus, the settlers began water mining initiatives as an effort to improve the planet for colonisation and future agriculture. These initiatives met with early success, as extensive aquifers were discovered. Within a few solar months, the colonists established surface lakes, which were used as reservoirs for their small towns.As construction began on the frontier towns, the troubles began. Equipment failures suddenly became endemic. Repeated scans of the planet's atmosphere showed changes in the ionic background, and astropaths began to complain about the instabilities in the Immaterium.Hundreds of water miners died in freak accidents, as earthquakes, sinkholes, and volcanoes suddenly appeared from places that were believed to be stable.As Mechanicus experts analysed these changes, archaeologists came to examine the sparse records of the planet's lost civilisation. The few remains that could be found amount to records that are fragmentary at best. Worse yet, the colony used an archaic derivation of Low Gothic as their primary language.Researchers' analysis hints that the planet's surface water abruptly vanished over a matter of solar days. After that, rioting and panic triggered the planet's collapse in a matter of weeks. A few of the fragmentary records seem to suggest that spirits took away the water and punished the natives for daring to dwell on this planet.However, there has been no evidence to corroborate these stories, and even some of the stories are in dispute. Many simply dismiss them as legends, but others have begun to wonder if the water reserves and the new problems are signs of things to come.It is certain that the crusade needs to make this planet habitable if they can. If the water mining can be stabilised, this would be a tremendous reserve for the Orpheus Salient.Preliminary scans also indicate that there may be substantial reserves of useful ores within the planet's crust. The combination of these metals and the water could make Cocijo a crucial factor in shortening the crusade's supply lines.The disappearances and the accidents have substantially damaged morale among the planet's colonists. Many are demanding transit off-world. Riots have already occurred, and some are even threatening rebellion as rabble-rousers openly speak heresy.The salient's resources are stretched thinly. Imperial military units have not been allocated to deal with this uprising, and it may be some time before anything can be reassigned. It is possible that patience might provide its own solution, but it is also possible that the colony could self-destruct if no actions are taken.
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Codex - Codex: A Codex is a publication of Games Workshop that details the units and models each army in the Warhammer 40,000 tabletop miniatures game can use when playing a game.The name is based on the Codex Astartes, the tome written by Roboute Guilliman, the Ultramarines Primarch, detailing how a Space Marine Chapter should be organized.Codices follow the same edition publication history as the Warhammer 40,000 tabletop game itself.
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Codex - 1st Edition: The 1st Edition of the game, published in 1987, is referred to as Rogue Trader. Game designer Rick Priestly created the original rules set (based on the contemporary 2nd Edition of Warhammer Fantasy) alongside the Warhammer 40,000 universe.The game play of Rogue Trader was heavily oriented toward role-playing rather than strict tabletop wargaming. This original version came as a very detailed, though rather jumbled, rulebook, which made it most suitable for fighting small skirmishes. Much of the composition of the units was determined randomly, by rolling dice.A few elements of the setting (Bolters, Lasguns, Frag Grenades, Terminator Armour) can be seen in a set of earlier wargaming rules called Laserburn (produced by the now defunct company Tabletop Games) written by Bryan Ansell.These rules were later expanded by both Ansell and Richard Halliwell (both of whom ended up working for Games Workshop), although the rules were not a precursor to Rogue Trader. Soon the Games Workshop hobby magazine, White Dwarf, started making army lists and devising strategies for people to use in these Rogue Trader games.New models were released by Games Workshop for the line and the many people who had always enjoyed Warhammer Fantasy were now thrilled at the idea of Warhammer 40,000 as a tabletop wargame, which was essentially a dark science fiction or more properly a dark science fantasy setting with many of the same tropes and elements as its dark fantasy counterpart.
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Codex - 2nd Edition: The 2nd Edition of Warhammer 40,000 was released in 1993 as part of Games Workshop's strategy to appeal to a younger fanbase and greatly expanded the number of factions and armies that could now be played. The release of this edition was marked by the production of a boxed starter set containing Ork and Space Marine models with dice and a rules book.The animating idea behind this edition of the game was to provide more opportunities for players to participate in larger battles. Also special characters were introduced to replace the older concept of battlefield heroes (the earlier edition only had three generic "heroic" profiles for each army: champion, minor and major hero).New rules were also provided for the use of psychic powers which were essentially the equivalent of the magical system deployed in Warhammer Fantasy. True codexes as they later became known to fans of the game were still not available for these early editions, but the army lists and background information for Warhammer 40,000 printed in White Dwarf became far more deeply detailed.Later in the edition's publication run, beginning in 1993, Games Workshop introduced the first codices for each of the playable faction's armies, though they were far smaller and contained a great deal less fictional background information (what fans refer to as "fluff") than the codices of later editions.The 2nd Edition was substantially more colourful and the new codices reflected this fact. More detailed information, such as background and organisation, was included, adding more depth and details to the Warhammer 40,000 universe.The following codices were released for the 2nd Edition:Codex: Tyranids (1993)Codex: Orks (1994)Codex: Space Wolves (1994)Codex: Eldar (1994)Codex: Ultramarines (1995)Codex: Imperial Guard (1995)Codex: Angels of Death (1996)Codex: Chaos (1996)Codex: Sisters of Battle (1997)Codex: Assassins (1997)
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Codex - 2nd Edition Campaigns and Expansions: Storm of VengeanceBattles (1995)
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Codex - 3rd Edition: The 3rd Edition of Warhammer 40,000 was released in 1998 and like the 2nd Edition, concentrated on streamlining the rules for larger battles. The rulebook was available alone, or as a boxed set with miniatures of Space Marines and the newly-introduced Dark Eldar.The 3rd Edition soon introduced codices for each of the major factions in the game, releasing revised editions of each of these codices between 2003 and 2004. Towards the end of the 3rd Edition, four new army codices were introduced: races of the Necrons and the T'au and two armies of the Inquisition: the Ordo Malleus (called Daemonhunters), and the Ordo Hereticus (called Witchhunters); elements of the latter two armies had appeared before in supplementary material (such as Realm of Chaos and 2nd Edition's Codex: Sisters of Battle).At the end of the 3rd Edition, these Inquisition armies were re-released with all-new artwork and army lists. The release of the Tau coincided with a rise in popularity for the game in the United States.The following codices were released for the 3rd Edition:Codex: Space Marines (1998)Codex: Blood Angels (1998)Codex: Dark Eldar (1998)Codex: Dark Angels (1999)Codex: Chaos Space Marines (1999)Codex: Imperial Guard (1999)Codex: Assassins (1999)Codex: Orks (1999)Codex: Eldar (1999)Codex: Space Wolves (April 2000)Codex: Tyranids (2001)Codex: Catachans (2001)Codex: Craftworld Eldar (2001)Codex: Tau (2001)Codex: Daemonhunters (March 2003)Codex: Necrons (July 2002)Codex: Witch Hunters (2003)
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Codex - 3rd Edition Revised Codexes: Codex: Dark Angels (Revised) (1999)Codex: Chaos Space Marines (2nd Codex) (2002)Codex: Imperial Guard (2nd Codex) (2003)Codex: Dark Eldar (Revised) (November 2003)
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Codex - 3rd Edition Campaigns and Expansions: Codex: Armageddon (2000)Codex: Cityfight (2001)Codex: Eye of Terror (2003)
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Codex - 4th Edition: The 4th Edition of the game was released in late 2004 and the Revised 3rd Edition codices were used until the release of the 4th Edition codices between 2005 and 2008. This edition did not feature as many major changes as the prior editions, and was "backwards compatible" with each army's 3rd Edition codex.The 4th Edition was released in three forms: the first was a standalone hardcover version, with additional information on painting, scenery building, and background information about the Warhammer 40,000 universe. The second was a boxed set, called Battle for Macragge, which included a compact softcover version of the rules, scenery, dice, templates, and Space Marines and Tyranid miniatures.The third was a limited Collector's Edition. Battle for Macragge was a "game in a box," targeted primarily at beginners. Battle for Macragge was based on the Tyranid invasion of the Ultramarines' homeworld, Macragge, during the First Tyrannic War. An expansion to this was released called The Battle Rages On!, which featured new scenarios and units, like the Tyranid Warrior.The following Codices were released for the 4th Edition:Codex: Space Marines (2005)Codex: Tyranids (2005)Codex: Catachans (2005, Free PDF download)Codex: Black Templars (November 2005)Codex: Tau Empire (March 2006)Codex: Eldar (November 2006)Codex: Chaos Daemons (May 2008)Codex: Chaos Space Marines (September 2007)Codex: Dark Angels (March 2007)Codex: Blood Angels (2007, published in White Dwarf 329 and 330 (US))Codex: Orks (January 2008)
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Codex - 4th Edition Campaigns and Expansions: Cities of Death (2006)Apocalypse (2007)
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Codex - 5th Edition: The 5th Edition of Warhammer 40,000 was released in the summer of 2008. While there are some differences between the 4th and 5th Editions, the general rule set shares numerous similarities. Codex books designed prior to the 5th Edition are still compatible, with only some changes to how those armies function.The replacement for the previous edition's Battle for Macragge starter set was called Assault on Black Reach, which featured a pocket-sized rulebook (containing the full ruleset but omitting the background and hobby sections of the full-sized rulebook), and starter Ork and Space Marine armies.Each army contained an HQ choice, either an Ork Warboss or a Space Marine Captain. The following Codices were released for the 5th Edition:Codex: Space Marines (October 2008)Codex: Imperial Guard (May 2009)Codex: Space Wolves (October 2009)Codex: Tyranids (January 2010)Codex: Blood Angels (April 2010)Codex: Dark Eldar (August 2010)Codex: Grey Knights (April 2011)Codex: Sisters of Battle (2011, published in White Dwarf 380 and 381 (US))Codex: Necrons (November 2011)
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Codex - 5th Edition Campaigns and Expansions: Apocalypse Reload (2008)Planetstrike (2009)Planetary Empires (2009)Battle Missions (2010)Spearhead (June 2010, published in White Dwarf 366 (UK))
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Codex - 6th Edition: The 6th Edition of Warhammer 40,000 was released in June 2012. The replacement for the previous edition's Assault on Black Reach starter set was called Dark Vengeance.The following codices were released for the 6th Edition:Codex: Chaos Space Marines (October 2012)Codex: Dark Angels (January 2013)Codex: Chaos Daemons (March 2013)Codex: Tau Empire (April 2013)Codex: Eldar (June 2013)Codex: Space Marines (September 2013)Codex: Adepta Sororitas (October 2013)Codex: Inquisition (November 2013)Codex: Tyranids (January 2014)Codex: Legion of the Damned (February 2014)Codex: Imperial Knights (March 2014)Codex: Militarum Tempestus (March 2014)Codex: Astra Militarum (April 2014)
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Codex - 6th Edition Codex Supplements: Iyanden - A Codex: Eldar Supplement (June 2013)Farsight Enclaves - A Codex: Tau Empire Supplement (July 2013)Codex: Black Legion - A Codex: Chaos Space Marines Supplement (August 2013)Sentinels of Terra - A Codex: Space Marines Supplement (October 2013)Clan Raukaan - A Codex: Space Marines Supplement (November 2013)Crimson Slaughter - A Codex: Chaos Space Marines Supplement (March 2014)
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Codex - 6th Edition Campaigns and Expansions: Death from the Skies (February 2013)Apocalypse (June 2013)Apocalypse: War Zone Damnos (September 2013)Crusade of Fire (November 2013)Escalation (December 2013)Stronghold Assault (December 2013)
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Codex - 7th Edition: 7th Edition was released in May 2014. The following codices were released for 7th Edition:Codex: Orks (June 2014)Codex: Grey Knights (August 2014)Codex: Space Wolves (August 2014)Codex: Dark Eldar (October 2014)Codex Adeptus Astartes - Blood Angels (December 2014)Codex: Necrons (January 2015)Codex: Harlequins (February 2015)Codex: Khorne Daemonkin (March 2015)Codex Adeptus Mechanicus - Skitarii (April 2015)Codex Eldar - Craftworlds (April 2015)Codex: Imperial Knights (May 2015)Codex Adeptus Mechanicus - Cult Mechanicus (May 2015)Codex Adeptus Astartes - Space Marines (June 2015)Codex Adeptus Astartes - Dark Angels (June 2015)Codex: Tau Empire (October 2015)Codex Chaos Daemons - Daemonic Incursion Edition (May 2016)Codex Adeptus Astartes - Deathwatch (August 2016)Codex: Genestealer Cults (September 2016)Codex: Imperial Agents (December 2016)Codex: Adeptus Custodes (March 2017)Codex: Sisters of Silence (March 2017)
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Codex - 7th Edition Codex Supplements: Waaagh! Ghazghkull - A Codex: Orks Supplement (June 2014)Champions of Fenris - A Codex: Space Wolves Supplement (August 2014)Haemonculus Covens - A Codex: Dark Eldar Supplement (October 2014)Cadia - A Codex: Astra Militarum Supplement (January 2016)Flesh Tearers - A Codex: Blood Angels Supplement (January 2016)White Scars - A Codex: Space Marines Supplement (January 2016)Raven Guard - A Codex: Space Marines Supplement (January 2016)Angels of Death - A Codex: Space Marines Supplement (April 2016)Codex Supplement: Traitor Legions (December 2016)
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Codex - 7th Edition Campaigns and Expansions: Apocalypse War Zone: Pandorax (October 2013)Apocalypse War Zone: Damocles (March 2014)Warhammer 40,000 Companion - Altar of War (May 2014)Apocalypse War Zone: Valedor (May 2014)Sanctus Reach: The Red Waaagh! (July 2014)Shield of Baal: Leviathan (November 2014)Shield of Baal: Exterminatus (December 2014)War Zone Damocles: Operation Shadowtalon (October 2015)War Zone Damocles: Burning Dawn (October 2015)War Zone Damocles: Kauyon (October 2015)War Zone Damocles: Mont'ka (November 2015)War Zone Fenris: Curse of the Wulfen (February 2016)Death from the Skies (May 2016)Black Crusade - Traitor's Hate (September 2016)Black Crusade - Angel's Blade (September 2016)War Zone Fenris: Wrath of Magnus (November 2016)Planetary Onslaught (2016)Gathering Storm - Part I - Fall of Cadia (January 2017)Gathering Storm - Part II - Fracture of Biel-Tan (February 2017)Gathering Storm - Part III - Rise of the Primarch (March 2017)
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Codex - 8th Edition: 8th Edition was released in June 2017. The following codices were released for 8th Edition:
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Codex - 8th Edition Indexes: Index: Imperium 1 (June 2017)Index: Imperium 2 (June 2017)Index: Chaos (June 2017)Index: Xenos 1 (June 2017)Index: Xenos 2 (June 2017)
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Codex - 8th Edition Codices: Codex Adeptus Astartes - Space Marines (July 2017)Codex Heretic Astartes - Chaos Space Marines (August 2017)Codex Adeptus Astartes - Grey Knights (August 2017)Codex Heretic Astartes - Death Guard (September 2017)Codex: Adeptus Mechanicus (September 2017)Codex: Astra Militarum (October 2017)Codex: Craftworlds (October 2017)Codex: Tyranids (November 2017)Codex Adeptus Astartes - Blood Angels (December 2017)Codex Adeptus Astartes - Dark Angels (December 2017)Codex: Chaos Daemons (January 2018)Codex: Adeptus Custodes (January 2018)Codex Heretic Astartes - Thousand Sons (February 2018)Codex: T'au Empire (March 2018)Codex: Necrons (March 2018)Codex: Drukhari (March 2018)Codex Adeptus Astartes - Deathwatch (May 2018)Codex: Harlequins (May 2018)Codex: Imperial Knights (June 2018)Codex Adeptus Astartes - Space Wolves (August 2018)Codex: Gellerpox Infected (September 2018)Codex: Elucidian Starstriders (September 2018)Codex: Orks (November 2018)Codex: Genestealer Cults (February 2019)Codex Heretic Astartes - Chaos Space Marines (Revised Codex) (March 2019)Codex: Chaos Knights (July 2019)Codex: Space Marines (Revised Codex) (August 2019)
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Codex Astartes - Codex Astartes: The Codex Astartes is a great and sacred tome of military organisation, strategy and tactics written by Roboute Guilliman, the primarch of the Ultramarines Space Marine Legion. It outlines Guilliman's ideal for the moral behaviour, order of battle and tactical doctrine of a Space Marine Chapter. Its primary purpose was to restructure the Imperium of Man's most potent military forces to prevent another civil war like the Horus Heresy.While not all Space Marine Chapters in the Imperium adhere to the Codex's dictates with the same rigidity as the Ultramarines, most obey the spirit of the Codex if not the actual letter. A Space Marine Chapter that generally follows the guidelines of the Codex Astartes is referred to as a "Codex-compliant Chapter."With the threat of the Traitor Legions held at bay in the wake of the Great Scouring in the early 31st Millennium, Roboute Guilliman turned to ensuring that such a catastrophic intra-species war could never happen again, distilling his formidable wisdom into the mighty tome known as the Codex Astartes.This text became a major part of his legacy and the cornerstone upon which the future of the Adeptus Astartes would be based. No complete copies of his original text is known to exist although the majority of his tome has survived and is available to all Space Marines, if not committed to memory.Though for all its multitudinous topics, the most lasting and contentious decree of the Codex Astartes was that the existing Space Marine Legions be broken up and reorganised into smaller, one-thousand-warrior organisations known as Chapters. Though many of his brother primarchs initially railed against Guilliman's decree as the lord commander of the Imperium and Imperial Regent, almost all eventually accepted the necessity of reorganisation for the security of the Imperium.Upon the Codex's implementation, in an event that would become known as the Second Founding, each of the original First Founding Space Marine Legions became a conclave of Chapters, one of which would bear the name of its forebear Legion as well as its heraldry, homeworld, and would retain some level of political primacy amongst its peers. The rest would take new names, heraldry, and homeworlds or fortress-monasteries, and stretch themselves across the Imperium.The Codex Astartes stated that each Chapter would be only one thousand battle-brothers strong and look to its own recruitment, training and wargear. Never again would one individual be able to command the awesome, terrifying power of an entire Space Marine Legion.Over the millennia, there have been many subsequent Foundings of Space Marine Chapters. Those Chapters that adhere rigidly to Guilliman's teachings are sometimes referred to as "Codex Chapters." These Space Marines pride themselves on following the tenets within the hallowed pages of the Codex Astartes and applying its principles of warcraft and devotion to the Emperor.
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Codex Astartes - History: In the early 31st Millennium, in the wake of the calamity that was the Horus Heresy, the foundations of the Imperium of Man were reformed to make such a tragedy less likely in the future. The first High Lords of Terra, under the direction of the Lord Commander of the Imperium and Imperial Regent Roboute Guilliman, the primarch of the Ultramarines Legion, established the structure by which the Adeptus Terra operated, and described the feudal responsibilities and duties of the planetary lords.One of the most important accomplishments was the reorganisation of the Imperium's fighting forces. This was undertaken almost single-handedly by Guilliman, who with characteristic speed and efficiency codified the structures of the newly-created Astra Militarum, the Navis Imperialis, and the Adeptus Astartes.Of all of Guilliman's works from this time, the most influential is the Codex Astartes, the great prescriptive tome that lays down the basic organisational and tactical rules for the Space Marine Chapters.The initial inspiration for Guilliman's Codex Astartes came from Sergeant Aeonid Thiel, an Ultramarines veteran of the Underworld War of the Battle of Calth during the Heresy, who was present on Calth during that conflict against the treacherous Word Bearers.In the aftermath of the initial battle on the surface of Calth, when the fight devolved into a series of grinding assaults between small Astartes units surviving in the subterranean holds of that world after the poisoning of its sun, Thiel founded small, independent task-force squads called the Red Marked, which were made up of surviving Ultramarines. The Red Marked were responsible for rooting out and eliminating the forces of the Traitor Marine warbands that were hiding on Calth and the other ruined worlds of the Realm of Ultramar.During the meeting between the Ultramarines primarch and Thiel on one of Macragge's space stations in which Thiel reported his experiences, after listening to Thiel's report Guilliman tore apart the documents upon which had been writing his old tactical doctrines and made his message clear: the Ultramarines would no longer be a "horde under a warlord" that followed their primarch but "hundreds of thousands of individual Legionaries each in support of the other."Thus was the vision for a series of smaller Space Marine units that could operate as rapid-strike planetary assault forces conceived, an idea that would eventually be fully realised later in the doctrines of the Codex Astartes.Following the end of the Horus Heresy and the Great Scouring and the retreat of most of the Traitor Legions into the Eye of Terror, the Codex decreed that the nine remaining Loyalist Space Marine Legions would be divided into 1,000-warrior Chapters, the Chapter Masters of which would be directly beholden to the Emperor Himself and no other, not even the primarchs of their original founding Legions (save in the case of the single Chapter that would remain under each primarch's control and retain its Legion's original name). No one person in the Imperium could ever again control the transhuman might of an entire Legion of 100,000 or more Space Marines.The Horus Heresy had revealed previously unknown genetic weaknesses in the gene-seed of the primarchs and the Space Marines among the original 20 First Founding Space Marine Legions, weaknesses that left the Legions in question greatly exposed to corruption by the Ruinous Powers of Chaos.This risk was exacerbated by the rapid nature of Space Marine recruitment during the centuries between the start of the Great Crusade in ca. 798.M30 and the outbreak of the Horus Heresy itself in the early 31st Millennium. With the Imperium of Man expanding so quickly across the galaxy during the Great Crusade, the need for fresh recruits in the Space Marine Legions was great. So much so that some Legions had not been as particular in their gene-seed screening practices and recruit selection processes as they should have been.The first objective of Roboute Guilliman in writing the Codex Astartes was to both recognise and purge these weaknesses. As a result, the Codex Astartes decreed that Space Marines would forever more be created and trained slowly. The genetic banks used to create Astartes organ implants would be carefully monitored and scrutinised for any defects. Cultivated organs would be subject to the most stringent tests of purity. Young initiates would undergo trials of suitability before they were accepted, and only those of the very sternest character would be chosen.As a final safeguard, Guilliman tasked the Adeptus Terra on Terra with setting up and maintaining genetic banks to produce and store tithes of Space Marine gene-seed. These banks were to provide all new gene-seed for subsequent Foundings of Space Marine Chapters.To prevent cross-contamination, the genetic stock of each First Founding Legion was isolated whilst that of the Traitor Legions was placed under a time-locked stasis seal, though at the time many believed they had been destroyed.By taking direct control of these genetic tithes, the Adeptus Terra could ultimately control the Space Marines, thus ensuring that normal Humans and not the transhuman Astartes remained the true rulers of the Imperium. They alone had and have the power to destroy or create Space Marine armies at will.The Codex outlined a new, more measured process for Space Marine selection and recruitment and insisted that each newly-created Successor Chapter would tithe 5% of its genetic material to the Adeptus Terra and the Adeptus Mechanicus for testing and monitoring. It also decreed that only the Emperor Himself, through the auspices of the High Lords of Terra, would ever again be able to order the creation of a new Space Marine Chapter.All gene-seed would be subjected to the greatest genetic scrutiny before being used in the creation of new Space Marine implants. To maintain firm genetic control over the Space Marine gene-seed lines and prevent the emergence of potentially dangerous mutations or hybrids, the Codex rebuked the practice of sharing gene-seed between different Chapters. From then on, each Chapter would have to rely solely on the gene-seed produced in the bodies of its own Space Marines.The Codex also further defined the accepted tactical doctrine, Chapter organisation, order of battle, and recruitment practices for a Space Marine Chapter. It explained the different battlefield roles assigned to each squad of Space Marines in a Chapter, originally defining them as Tactical, Assault or Devastator Squads and assigning different equipment and purpose to each (see the excerpts below). These roles were later revised after Guilliman's resurrection in the Era Indomitus and broadened, to include both Firstborn and Primaris Marine units categorised as battleline, close support, fire support, Veteran and command.There were many other topics covered in the original Codex and all of them displayed Guilliman's formidable intelligence and hard-won wisdom. Most of the old Legions were divided into fewer than five Chapters following the horrific losses they had suffered during the Horus Heresy, but the Ultramarines, being by far the largest of the Legions, were divided many times.The exact number of new Chapters created from the Ultramarines is uncertain: the number listed in the oldest known copy of the Codex Astartes (the so-called Apocrypha of Skaros) gives the total as 24, but does not name them all.These Chapters would consist of ten companies of 100 Space Marines each. The breaking of the remaining nine Loyalist Legions into multiple Space Marine Chapters is known to Imperial historitors as the Second Founding, which occurred in ca. 021.M31, seven standard years after the death of Horus.As a result of the Second Founding, the Ultramarines' gene-seed became the favoured genetic stock of most subsequent Foundings. The new Chapters created from the Ultramarines are often referred to as the "Primogenitors," or "first-born." All of the Primogenitor Chapters venerate Roboute Guilliman as their founding father and patron.Only one of the original Space Marine Legions, the Space Wolves, has never been broken down into the ten companies decreed in the Codex Astartes. The Space Wolves continue to organise their forces into thirteen "Great Companies," different in organisation to those specified by the Codex.Note that the oldest copy of the Codex, the Apocrypha of Skaros, refutes the commonly-held belief that the Space Wolves have never been broken down into separate Chapters, stating that two Second Founding Chapters were created from the Space Wolves (Index Astartes I, pg. 13). However, the Space Marine Codex (5th Edition) lists only one Second Founding successor to the Space Wolves: the Wolf Brothers, who were disbanded at an unknown time because of extreme gene-seed corruption and mutation. Only in the Ultima Founding would new Chapters of Primaris Space Marines finally be raised using the gene-seed of Leman Russ.The Codex Astartes further defines the tactical roles, equipment specifications, and uniform identification markings of the Space Marines. With the passage of many Terran centuries, some Chapters have strayed from the strict letter of the Codex, introducing unique variations on its teachings but remaining broadly faithful to Guilliman's basic principles.Furthermore, the Codex has been reanalyzed, reinterpreted and modified countless times over the centuries, including most recently by Guilliman himself. Regardless, the Codex Astartes remains, as it has always been, the Space Marines' authoritative guide to waging war. As such, it is revered by every battle-brother as a holy text; the wisdom of the ancients serving as both scripture and the unbending rod by which they are measured.These guidelines have evolved in practice from Chapter to Chapter over the millennia, and the treatise and wisdom of hundreds of military thinkers have been absorbed in their own battle philosophies. The Codex Astartes is revered as a sacred text, and many Chapters regard its recommendations as sanctified by the Emperor Himself.
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Codex Astartes - Firstborn Marine Chapter Organisation: The original dictates of the Codex Astartes before its revision in the Era Indomitus stated that a Space Marine Chapter should be split into 10 companies of 100 Space Marines each, plus a Space Marine captain, Apothecary, Standard Bearer and Chaplain for each company.Existing outside the company level organisation, each Chapter has an Armoury consisting of the Chapter's Techmarines, main battle tanks, and other armoured vehicles, a Librarium consisting of the Chapter's Librarians, a Chapter Fleet and the Chapter Master, plus various headquarters staff and the Chapter's servitors and Human Chapter serfs.
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Codex Astartes - Veteran Company: The 1st Company of a Chapter consists of Veteran Squads and/or Terminator Squads. Support for the 1st Company consists of Land Raiders and Venerable Dreadnoughts.Only the 1st Company may use the Chapter's hallowed suits of Terminator (Tactical Dreadnought) Armour, if it is lucky enough to possess any.
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Codex Astartes - Battle Companies: The 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th Companies of a Codex-compliant Chapter are known as "Battle Companies" and they all have the same tactical organisation.Each Battle Company is split into 6 Tactical Squads, 2 Assault Squads and 2 Devastator Squads comprised of 10 Space Marines each. Some companies also make use of Command Squads comprised solely of Veterans to protect their officers or other specialists like Apothecaries and Chaplains.The Assault Squads can instead be deployed as Bike Squadrons or on Land Speeders.Battle Companies often use Rhino and Razorback dedicated transports, and commonly deploy Dreadnoughts for heavy fire support.
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Codex Astartes - Reserve Companies: The 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th Companies of a Chapter are its "Reserve Companies."The 6th and 7th are comprised entirely of Tactical Squads, the 8th of Assault Squads and the 9th of Devastator Squads.Like the Battle Companies, the Reserve Companies also make extensive use of Rhino and Razorback transports, though Dreadnoughts are usually only found in the 9th Company.The 6th Company can be entirely deployed on Space Marine Assault Bikes and the 7th on Land Speeders. The 8th Company can use either Space Marine Bikes or Land Speeders.These forces are held in reserve to be deployed at the discretion of force commanders as tactical situations evolve, often to bolster weak points or aid in breaking through enemy lines at specific locations.
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Codex Astartes - Scout Company: The 10th Company consists entirely of Scout Squads and is often not 100 Astartes-strong as stringent recruitment standards do not provide a steady flow of neophytes to many Chapters.As such, the 10th Company is the most lightly armed and is most often used as a reconnaissance or guerilla force. Scout Marines are sometimes mounted on Space Marine Bikes, but do not use Rhino or Razorback transports.
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Codex Astartes - Era Indomitus Chapter Organisation: The above scheme of Space Marine Chapter organisation has been revised in the years since the birth of the Great Rift at the dawn of the Era Indomitus, the alterations made to the Codex Astartes by the resurrected Primarch Roboute Guilliman and the introduction of the Primaris Space Marines into the Adeptus Astartes.As before, the organisation of a Space Marine Chapter in the wake of the Ultima Founding of the Primaris Marines comprises 1,000 battle-brothers.In comparison to the teeming multitudes of the Emperor's original Space Marine Legions this is few indeed, yet history has proven time and time again that such an elite gathering of martial strength can conquer star systems and even alter the fate of the galaxy itself.After the resurrection of Roboute Guilliman in ca. 999.M41 and his restoration as the ruling lord commander of the Imperium and Imperial Regent, the Codex Astartes was revised for the new era of the Dark Imperium that began with the birth of the Great Rift and the demands of the Indomitus Crusade.Under the revised organisational scheme, each of the ten companies of a Chapter still boasts one hundred warriors, led by a captain -- a veteran of countless wars -- and now often two lieutenants as sub-company leaders. A company is still organised into ten squads of ten Space Marines, each led by a sergeant.The strategic deployment, disposition and leadership of these companies is regulated by the Chapter Command, while their armoured support requirements are fulfilled by the Armoury.However, the guidelines in Guilliman's updated Codex provide for up to twenty squads of five battle-brothers. Furthermore, recent precepts allow for each Battle Company to be reinforced with auxiliary warriors. These additional squads are reassigned from the Reserve Companies.
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Codex Astartes - 1st Company: Of the ten companies, the 1st still consists of the Chapter's most experienced Veterans, and is therefore the most powerful. The Veterans of the 1st Company are still trained to fight in Terminator Armour. It is extremely rare for the Veteran Company to be deployed en masse -- its units normally take to the field alongside the Chapter's Battle Companies.Whether they be Primaris Marine Intercessors, Vanguard Marine jump troops or Terminator-armoured strike squads, they are often denoted as the Chapter's pre-eminent warriors by their white helms.
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Codex Astartes - Battle Companies: The revised Codex Astartes decrees that the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th Companies are still designated as Battle Companies, each nominally broken into two demi-companies of roughly equal size and composition. These generally carry the weight of a Chapter's combat duties. Battle Companies consist of at least six battleline squads, two close support squads and two fire support squads.Battle Companies provide their commanding officers with a flexible force that can respond to rapidly shifting tactical objectives at a moment's notice.Squads within Battle Companies may be broken down and deployed across a variety of roles should it be required; for example, were six battle-brothers to take to the field as Aggressors, the remaining four warriors of their squad might find roles piloting Invictor warsuits, driving the strike force's Rhino APCs and the like. Or Assault Squads, a type of close support squad, may be deployed as Bike Squads or Land Speeder crews and, just as with their fire support brethren known as Devastators, may take to battle as Centurion warsuit pilots.Many Space Marine strike forces are constructed around squads drawn from a single Battle Company, heavily reinforced by elements of the Veteran, Scout and Reserve Companies.
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Codex Astartes - Reserve Companies: The Reserve Companies are entirely composed of squads of the same designation. They normally act in support of the Battle Companies and provide a source of replacements for any casualties suffered by the frontline formations.Typically, the 6th and 7th Companies both comprise ten battleline squads, while the 8th Company consists entirely of close support squads and the 9th entirely fire support squads.Their main function is to reinforce the Battle Companies, providing a source of replacements for any casualties suffered on the front line and thus ensuring the Adeptus Astartes retain their effectiveness in protracted or bloody campaigns.Furthermore, the Codex now allows for each Battle Company to be bolstered with additional squads reassigned from the Reserve Companies; the presence of these warriors can take a company's numbers temporarily above the traditional limit of 100 Astartes, lending them the additional strength to overcome especially challenging foes.The 6th Company also trains in the use of Assault Bikes and may be deployed entirely as Bike Squads or Outrider Squads.Similarly, squads of the 7th Company are trained to fight with Land Speeders, Storm Speeders and Stormtalons, often acting as a light vehicle reserve formation.The 8th Company is the Close Support Company and is most often used in an invasion role, or wherever a strong, hand-to-hand fighting force is needed.The 9th Company is the Fire Support Company and is the most heavily equipped company in the Chapter, and its heavy cannon-toting Astartes provide unparalleled fire support to their more lightly-equipped comrades.It is also not uncommon for the Reserve Companies to form hard-hitting specialised forces in their own right. They may be deployed to seize or defend important objectives in larger conflicts, the concentrated firepower of so many fire support battle-brothers or the line-breaking fury of massed close support warriors proving the decisive factor in many such engagements.The specialised nature of each of the Reserve Companies sees them deployed in quite specific circumstances. The battleline warriors of the 6th and 7th Companies will often act as crews for large, independent formations of the various armoured vehicles deployed by the Chapter, allowing commanders to field entire companies of anti-grav skimmers, battle tanks or other swift assault vehicles.The highly mobile nature of the 8th Company's close support squads -- often equipped with Jump Packs or embarked aboard transport vehicles -- sees them used in a rapid assault role, as well as wherever a strong hand-to-hand fighting force is needed.The 9th Company, being the most heavily equipped in the Chapter, is used to bolster defensive lines and strongholds, as well as provide long-range support.In most Chapters, Space Marines progress through the Reserve Companies -- from the 9th through to the 6th. During his time in the Reserve Companies, a battle-brother will prove his mettle while learning new methods of warfare.
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Codex Astartes - Scout Company: The Chapter's 10th Company is still its Scout Company. The majority of its members are neophyte Scout Marines -- those whose combat training, physical transformation and cultural indoctrination into the Chapter is still incomplete -- but the company now also contains a standing force of ten Vanguard Space Marine squads.These warriors can be called upon to conduct a variety of stealth operations behind enemy lines.The revised Codex Astartes dictates no formal size for a Scout Company as the rate of recruitment is not fixed, meaning that some Chapters will be able to field comparatively large 10th Company formations while others must husband their limited resources carefully.
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Codex Astartes - Chapter Armoury: All companies, except the Scout Company, maintain a small fleet of Rhino, Razorback and Repulsor armoured transports. The Veteran 1st Company also has a permanent complement of Land Raiders of different patterns and Stormraven gunships for carrying Terminators into the heart of battle.A Chapter's other armoured vehicles form a pool, maintained by the Armoury, that company captains can draw upon. Many companies also include a number of Dreadnoughts of different patterns, including the Primaris Marines' Redemptor Dreadnought.Every company has its own Dreadnoughts; after being interred in the metal sarcophagus, it is customary for a fallen Space Marine to fall under the care and maintenance of the Chapter Armoury, but to remain a part of the company in which he served. Not only are these venerable and mighty warriors valuable battlefield assets for the devastation they can wreak upon the foe, but they are also the living embodiment of their company's history and traditions. Each Dreadnought has its battle honours inscribed into the very metal of its encasement by the Chapter's artificers to celebrate the many brave actions in which it took part.Whilst each company has a number of its own transport vehicles, the majority of vehicles in a Chapter are maintained by its Armoury. When the need arises these armoured fighting vehicles are deployed as massed spearheads -- wholly independent from the companies and commanded by a senior officer -- or requisitioned individually by a captain to support their company.In the latter case, the vehicles are given badges appropriate to the company they will serve and are assigned a simple numerical designator. This number is repeated on the crews' badges, if the vehicle is not manned by a Techmarine novitiate from the Armoury.Upon its creation, a Space Marine battle tank is given a name that reflects its role as a protector of the Chapter's brethren. From that point onwards, the vehicle is as much a part of the Chapter as the Space Marines themselves, and over the years its many deeds will be celebrated as greatly as those of the Chapter's flesh and blood heroes.
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Codex Astartes - Chapter Headquarters/Command: A Chapter also includes a number of officers and specialists who exist outside of the formal organisation of the companies. These individuals are known as the headquarters or command staff, and they will often stride out to lead a strike force in battle, or provide essential battlefield support, spiritual leadership, psychic capability and destructive combat prowess.Included amongst their rarefied ranks are the psychically-empowered Librarians of the Librarius, the bellicose Chaplains of the Reclusiam, Apothecaries from the Apothecarion, standard-bearing Ancients and the mechanically adept Techmarines and their servitors.Although the Codex Astartes describes a number of ranks and responsibilities held by the headquarters staff, only those officers with an active martial role actually accompany the Chapter to war. There are relatively few senior officers with noncombatant roles -- such as recruiting and training new members or administrating the Chapter -- as most of these types of duties are performed by Human Chapter serfs.In addition to their rank, captains of the Chapter are still often assigned Space Marine Master titles which include other functional responsibilities. These include such positions as the Lord of the Household, the Chapter Master's Secretarius, the Master of the Fleet, the Chief Victualler, the Master of the Arsenal, the Master of Recruits and the Master of the Watch.Over all of these mighty warriors still presides the Chapter Master, elevated from the greatest of the Chapter's captains. He alone is responsible for the deeds of the Chapter, and answers directly to the Administratum.Chapter Masters may select an Honour Guard that are in addition to the company roll, although not all Chapter Masters choose to do so.
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Codex Astartes - Vanguard Marines: Vanguard Space Marines are reconnaissance and infiltration experts, equipped to operate alone in enemy territory for extended periods of time and intensively trained in shadow warfare tactics and sabotage techniques. Vanguard strike forces are tasked with achieving full-spectrum superiority over the foe.Every facet of the opposition's war machine must be dismantled, from supply routes and infrastructure to communications and logistics. Morale must be utterly sapped through non-stop harassment by terror troops and assassination of key individuals. The ultimate goal of this relentless campaign is to leave the foe crippled and helpless before the advance of the main Space Marine battleline.Every newly recruited and created Primaris Space Marine spends time in the 10th Company learning the full range of Vanguard combat techniques, from the mobile fire support duties of the Suppressors and the expert sniper-combat of the Eliminators, to the terror raids of the Reivers and the point-blank gunfighting of the Incursors.The Primaris battle-brothers keep their Vanguard skills honed even after they move on to other companies, meaning that at a moment's notice they can don any of the various types of Mark X Phobos Power Armour and go to battle as Vanguard Space Marines. Even Veterans of the 1st Company can swiftly reprise such duties, combining the benefits of their vast wealth of combat experience with the specialised and wholly lethal infiltration-and-sabotage tools of the Vanguard.When a full-sized Vanguard force deploys into battle they often do so with armoured support from Invictor Tactical Warsuits and Impulsor transports, not to mention the leadership of captains, Librarians and the like also armed and armoured for stealth warfare.An elite, fast-moving, silent-striking force of this sort can secure victories through ambush, sabotage and assassination that a far larger army could never achieve through brute force alone.
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Codex Astartes - Terminator Strike Forces: Individual squads of Terminators are most often deployed as ultra-elite support for the Battle Companies. However, there are times when a Chapter will mass the majority -- and in exceptionally rare cases, even the entirety -- of its Terminator-armoured brethren and send them into battle as an utterly devastating strike force.This occurs most commonly when an infantry assault is required against a confined and inimical location. Clearing xenos infestations out of vast space hulks, striking at the heart of heretical fortresses and staging boarding actions against super-heavy enemy war engines are all examples of duties that Terminator forces excel at.Equally, some Chapters may furnish their Terminator Squads with transport in the form of gunships and battle tanks, and field them as swift and utterly unstoppable assault forces. The risks involved in such an action are high, for every suit of Terminator battle-plate is an irreplaceable relic, and those who wear it to battle are scarcely less valuable -- should such a force suffer heavy losses or, worse, be annihilated, their Chapter may never truly recover.Yet it is a risk often worth taking; a hundred Terminator-armoured Space Marines supported by Land Raiders and Stormravens possess more than enough martial might to lay low the most monstrous of foes, or conquer an entire world in the Emperor's name.
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Codex Astartes - Chapter Fleet: The Codex Astartes makes provision for every Space Marine Chapter to maintain its own combat-capable fleet. Indeed, some Chapters are entirely fleet-based, roaming the galaxy aboard armadas of voidcraft that between them serve the same functions as other Chapters' fortress-monasteries.The majority of each fleet comprises frigates and strike cruisers, well-armoured and heavily armed warships that excel in line-breaking, blockade-running and planetary drop-assault operations.Many Chapters, especially the older and more established amongst them, also retain a handful of battle barges; these potent voidcraft are every bit as formidable as Imperial Navy battleships, and often serve as the storied flagships of each Chapter's fleet.It is in the launch bays of such warships that the Chapter's Drop Pods and Boarding Torpedoes wait to bear the warriors of the Chapter into war. Their launch decks, meanwhile, house squadron after squadron of fightercraft and gunships ready to swarm out and defend their parent craft or support ground forces in battle.
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Codex Astartes - Siege Tactics: When manoeuvres break down and rapid strike offensives prove impossible, the Codex Astartes offers two solutions: bypass the heavily defended area, or besiege it. The Astra Militarum might enter into attritional sieges that last solar decades or longer, but such is not the way of the Adeptus Astartes.Space Marine siege tactics are many and varied, with most involving a complex series of choreographed attacks. Defences are probed and then distracted as assaults breach the enemy line or take the heavily defended objective.The Space Marines have a number of vehicles designed for besieging foes, such as Vindicators and Ironclad Dreadnoughts, that are ideal at bringing maximum firepower to bear against any fortress. There is no force in the Imperium that can exploit an enemy weakness more rapidly than the Adeptus Astartes.
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Codex Astartes - Stealth Tactics: The small but elite forces of the Space Marines put a high value on the element of surprise. Sometimes this can be achieved through speed -- rapid strikes that deploy before a foe can counter.While such sudden assaults are a hallmark of the Adeptus Astartes, they are also able to utilize stealth attacks in a manner few other forces can emulate. By using auto-senses and sophisticated scanning equipment, some Space Marines learn to avoid visual detection, dodging patrols or enemy pickets when needed.Sniper teams secret themselves in commanding overviews. Assault Squads and Grav-Chute bearing Reivers are silently air-dropped into position, while Scout Marines in Cameleoline Cloaks steal into position.When the attack comes -- coordinated to the millisecond -- it is a perfect example of the combined arms approach espoused so often in the Codex Astartes. Brief but bloody assaults follow, throwing the foe into disarray while other elements of the attack join the fray, be they massed Rhino transports disgorging troops or Drop Pods hurtling down from the skies.While nearly all Chapters regularly employ covert operations, some, like the Raven Guard, are particularly adept at such missions. Their ability to stalk their prey from the shadows is the stuff of legend.
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Codex Astartes - Anvil Strike Force: Sometimes, a mission or adversary will demand that a Chapter must mobilise the entirety of its Armoury. In these instances, fully armoured battle groups are gathered, and truly does the ground shake beneath their treads.Led by captains mounted in Land Raiders or other tanks, they trundle forward, enemy fire pattering off their thick armour before they answer with a murderous barrage of their own.There are many types of armoured strike force, each tailored to suit the needs of its Chapter, the foe or the terrain. An Anvil Strike Force is perhaps the most famous of these, the strictures for its formation and use dating back to the creation of the Codex Astartes.The annals of the Space Marines are filled with glorious accounts of the Anvil Strike Force's might.In the wilderness of the Halo Stars, Captain Dauuk of the Iron Hands led just such a mechanised strike force into the Warren Worlds. There, among the caustic yield-nests of the Heretek cults, his Predators stalked the sentient mecha-fauna, blasting apart the Chaos worshippers and their daemonic allies.No Space Marine, not even an Iron Hands battle-brother, could have lived long in that toxic place, though the tanks of Dauuk's strike force endured, and scoured the planet clear of threats in less than a solar week.The Aurora Chapter is particularly well known for their lightning-fast armoured assaults, leading the way with Land Raider spearheads supported by Land Speeder suppression forces.Brother-Sergeant Antaro Chronus has led many armoured attacks for the Ultramarines, and he has won much acclaim for incorporating aerial support and using transported troops to hold the territory won by his vehicular assaults.The Repulsor grav-tank unleashed by the Primaris Space Marines in the Era Indomitus has added further power to the armoured might of the Adeptus Astartes.
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Codex Astartes - Drop Assaults: Unheralded, the peaceful skies are torn asunder with a violence so sudden that the Human eye can barely follow. Across untold planets since the days of the Great Crusade, the arrival of the Angels of Death has signalled defeat for the enemies of the Imperium.Surgical drop assaults are swift deployments of ground-based forces by vertical take-off and landing aircraft such as the Thunderhawk or Stormraven, or by Drop Pods launched straight from orbit.While there are many tactical variants of the surgical drop assault, and a host of different force compositions, all rely on speed and surprise. They are used to seize and hold vital terrain, to misdirect enemy forces, or to seek and destroy key enemy commanders, defences or war engines.Many an Ork WAAAGH! has been halted in its tracks by a Space Marine drop assault. Billions of Greenskins have been left to squabble amongst themselves after their Warboss and his entire bodyguard were annihilated by a sudden assault that came from the skies.The fabled Defence Laser batteries of Ixx were so powerful they could destroy any fleet that entered orbit, yet they fell prey to a Space Marine assault that opened the entire planet up for invasion.When rebel armies surrounded the planetary governor's palace on Dhrax, the Astra Militarum could not react quickly enough, but an Ultramarines holding force arrived from the skies to keep the governor safe.Many Space Marine Chapters have a preferred method of planetstrike assault -- such as the Drop Pod and Land Speeder Skyhammer Orbital Strike Force favoured by the Raven Guard -- but much depends upon the situation and the forces at hand.No matter its composition, the timing and coordination of a vertical assault are always vital. With correct landing coordinates, Drop Pods can be the ultimate terror weapons, hurtling out of the sky to land at the very heart of the foe.Before the enemy can react, the occupants deploy -- either assaulting or blasting their opponents at close range. Landing in rapid succession, the Space Marines can quickly turn a staggered foe into a routing one. Mistime or misplace the drop assault, however, and the Drop Pods will be picked off one by one, the enemy able to concentrate their fire and seize back the initiative.When arriving by Thunderhawk or Stormraven, it is vital for the Space Marines to provide aerial support; Stormhawks keep the skies clear while Stormtalons make strafing runs to ensure the landing vehicles can deploy those inside.The most savvy of Astartes commanders will use a combined strategy: close support forces air-dropped in concert with a Drop Pod assault, while Stormravens deploy more squads, and even Dreadnoughts, to keep the foe off balance. By striking hard and fast, a Space Marine drop assault can sweep the battlefield of targets and be gone even before the smoke clears.
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Codex Astartes - Heraldry: The Codex Astartes contains detailed sections pertaining to the heraldry of Space Marine Chapters. These dictate that a Space Marine should display his Chapter's badge upon his armour's left shoulder guard, whilst his right shoulder guard should show his squad markings.The Codex also states that a Space Marine should incorporate his company's heraldic colour into his armour, displaying it on the trim of his shoulder guards.The Codex suggests a number of variations on this basic system and even advises that each Chapter periodically revise its markings to confound the foe. This has led to myriad differences between the many Codex Chapters and to some having varied their appearance over the millennia.Each Chapter has its own unique power armour colour scheme and Chapter badge; however, Codex-compliant Chapters all follow a common heraldry system, though there are many slight variations from the system described below.
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Codex Astartes - Company Colours: Each company has a unique colour that its members wear, commonly on their power armour's shoulder plate rims, but some Chapters use chest eagles, bolter cases, knee plates, helmets or other parts of a Space Marine's power armour to designate company number.1st Company - White or Silver - Members of the 1st Company should also paint their helmet the company colour.2nd Company - Yellow or Gold3rd Company - Red4th Company - Green5th Company - Black6th Company - Orange7th Company - Purple8th Company - Grey9th Company - Blue10th Company - Nominally white, however the company colour is not displayed on the members' armour because they are Scouts.
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Codex Astartes - Squad Markings: The left shoulder plate of a Space Marine in power armour always shows the Space Marine's Chapter badge. Squad markings are shown upon a battle-brother's right shoulder guard, except in the case of some older marks of Space Marine power armour that instead display them upon knee plates or within the Chapter badge itself.The right shoulder plate shows the squad badge, which indicates the tactical specialty of the squad the Astartes belongs to and the number of his squad within his company. Veteran Squads use a Maltese cross, Battleline Squads use an arrow, Close Support Squads use four perpendicular arrows pointing outwards and Fire Support Squads use an inverted V.Space Marines in Terminator Armour wear the Crux Terminatus on their left shoulder plate, and their Chapter badge on their right shoulder plate.A sergeant's badge of rank is the red skull and is often displayed on the left shoulder. The Codex leaves the display of back banners to the sergeant's discretion.Space Marine helmets frequently display rank and battle honours, either through colour or insignia. Red helmets, for example, are reserved for sergeants, whilst a white helmet or laurel design denotes Veteran status.Veteran sergeants typically wear both colours, incorporating a white stripe down the centre of their helm.Whilst company colours are typically displayed on the trim of a Space Marine's shoulder guards, they can also be displayed on helmets, chest Aquilas, knee plates or even on the squad markings.
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Codex Astartes - Vehicle Markings: The Codex Astartes has many pages devoted to regulations for the markings and heraldry of a Chapter's war machines and armoured vehicles. However, just as with Space Marine armour markings, the Codex also warns about complacency and the danger that enemy intelligence can pose.Because of this, the Codex encourages Chapter Masters to occasionally review their markings and offers many variants and alternative icons that can be displayed upon Space Marine main battle tanks.Space Marine vehicles are generally painted in the livery of their Chapter. In addition to displaying the Chapter's icon, the vehicle's hull is also emblazoned with unit, squad and company markings, although the exact placement and application of these varies according to the Chapter and the vehicle in question.In addition, the most ancient vehicles may display mottos as well as honour badges and names; for their roll of battle victories is as illustrious as that of any breathing hero of the Chapter.Indeed, though every Dreadnought is assigned an identification number, this is quite often superfluous; every one is a famous hero of his Chapter whose names and histories are known even to raw recruits.Troop transports, Centurion warsuits and armoured vehicles such as Assault Bikes, Attack Bikes and Land Speeders carry the same heraldry and organisational squad markings as the Space Marines that crew, or ride inside them.Space Marine tank crew typically display their vehicle's Chapter numerical designation within a roundel upon their right shoulder guard. Whilst every company maintains a permanent number of Rhino armoured transports, other vehicles are attached based upon an individual mission's requirements. When a vehicle is attached to a company, a small roundel shows the company's number and/or corresponding colour.Chapter symbols are displayed prominently on the hulls and turrets of Space Marine vehicles. Space Marine battle tanks and Dreadnoughts are assigned a unique identification number within the company. This is typically rendered as a numeral upon the vehicle's hull.
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Codex Astartes - Army Campaign Badges: When fighting alongside other forces of the Imperium of Man, it is common for the Imperial commander to choose a simple symbol to act as the campaign badge. This army badge is used for the duration of the campaign and identifies every squad and vehicle in the task force.Normally painted upon the hull of Space Marine vehicles and the greave of a battle-brother's armour, it is not uncommon for these badges to be incorporated into an individual's heraldry as a permanent honour somewhere on his power armour after the campaign's completion, either to commemorate exceptional deeds or as a mark of remembrance for the fallen.
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Codex Astartes - Officers and Specialists: Captains - Wear the heraldry of their company, sometimes embellished with their own personal heraldry.Librarians - Wear blue armour, irrespective of what Chapter they belong to so that they can be immediately identified by their brethren, and wear their Chapter badge as normal. This practice is now widely ignored, even among the more Codex-compliant Chapters.Chaplains - Wear completely black armour, irrespective of what Chapter they belong to so that they can be immediately identified by their brethren, and wear their Chapter badge as normal.Techmarines - Wear red armour traditionally, irrespective of what Chapter they belong to so that they can be immediately identified by their brethren, but some, Ultramarines Techmarines in particular, choose to sport their Chapter colors predominantly while still being heavily adorned with red. They wear their Chapter badge as normal.Apothecaries - Wear white armour traditionally, irrespective of what Chapter they belong to so that they can be immediately identified by their brethren, but some, Ultramarines Apothecaries in particular, choose to sport their Chapter colors predominantly while still being heavily adorned with white. They wear their Chapter badge as normal.Sergeants - Wear the same heraldry as their squad, but carry the squad's banner, which displays the Chapter badge and the squad's number, plus a red skull (the symbol of a sergeant). Sergeants often paint their helmets red, or in some cases wear a red skull in the centre of their helmet instead.Veteran Sergeants - Wear the same heraldry as their squad, but carry the squad's banner, which displays the Chapter badge and the squad's number, plus a red skull (the symbol of a sergeant). Veteran sergeants often paint their helmets red like standard Space Marine sergeants and add an additional white stripe or laurel wreath that indicates their Veteran status.Terminators - Veteran battle-brothers, usually of the elite 1st Company, who make use of Tactical Dreadnought Armour. In normal power armour, their Veteran status is often designated by a white helmet and a Maltese cross worn on their shoulder plate as their tactical specialty symbol.
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Codex Astartes - Codex-Compliant Chapters: The Chapters that rigidly follow the word of the Codex Astartes are sometimes referred to as "Codex-compliant Chapters" or even simply "Codex Chapters." These Space Marines adhere to the Codex as the model for their organisation, identification markings and tactical doctrine. The Genesis Chapter, Red Scorpions, Praetors of Orpheus, Black Consuls, Novamarines and Hammers of Dorn, are strong examples of these vehement Codex Chapters. Of all of the Codex Chapters, the most famous is the Ultramarines, the Chapter of Roboute Guilliman himself.Many Chapters, however, do not adhere so rigidly to the Codex patterns laid down for organisation or other processes. These Chapters are further shaped by their homeworld or the personality of their primarch, while still maintaining Codex compliance in many ways.The Adeptus Terra has never decreed it necessary to enforce the Codex absolutely. Indeed, it is doubtful whether it could. However, with subsequent Foundings, they have always favored the Ultramarines' gene-seed and created many new Codex Chapters from their line.With the passage of time, some of these Chapters have subsequently strayed from the strict letter of the Codex, introducing new variations but remaining broadly faithful to the principles laid down by Roboute Guilliman many thousands of Terran years before.
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Codex Astartes - Blood Angels: The Blood Angels generally adhere closely to the organisation laid down in Roboute Guilliman's Codex Astartes, and the Chapter's Astartes are equipped in a similar manner to most other Space Marines.However the Blood Angels and their successors among the Sanguinary Brotherhood that share their primarch's gene-seed collectively suffer from the Red Thirst and Black Rage which has lead to the necessity of several Codex deviations.
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Codex Astartes - Dark Angels: The Dark Angels make use of very different terminology when referring to the Chapter's officers as compared to that commonly used by other Space Marine Chapters.This is because the Dark Angels have continued to draw upon the ancient military traditions of The Order of lost Caliban in organising the Chapter. In general, this terminology is also replicated in most, but not all, of the Unforgiven Successor Chapters of the Ist Legion.
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Codex Astartes - Deathwatch: Although formally counted as a Chapter, the Deathwatch has a highly unusual organisation since it serves as the Chamber Militant of the Inquisition's Ordo Xenos, which bears little resemblance to that laid down in the Codex Astartes.While a regular, Codex Chapter is organised so as to be highly mobile and flexible, and to be deployed almost anywhere in the galaxy on short notice, the Deathwatch often focuses on one threat, in one region. This means that a Watch Commander is able to tailor his forces to the task at hand.Some watch fortresses stand guard over vast Ork empires, ever ready to oppose the nigh-unstoppable invasions they periodically unleash. Others guard against more shadowy threats, far harder to detect yet every bit as dangerous. Still more face a myriad of foes and must constantly adapt to an ever-changing strategic situation.The Deathwatch has access to all of the specialised war machines used by other Chapters, and more. Even if a watch fortress makes no regular use of such equipment, it keeps mothballed stocks of everything from Attack Bikes to strike cruisers, for use as and when required.In structure, the Deathwatch does not adhere to the strict organisation of squads and companies that the Codex Astartes dictates. The only relevant tactical unit is the Kill-team, which may be organised and equipped in any way the Watch Captains deem appropriate. In one mission the team may go to war on Space Marine Assault Bikes, and in the next mounted on a mighty Land Raider.Those battle-brothers with the requisite knowledge might go to war clad in hulking Terminator Armour, or in lightweight Scout Armour with Cameleoline Cloaks. Occasionally, several Kill-teams are combined into a larger force, a sure sign that a highly dangerous foe is to be faced.It is perhaps inevitable that Space Marines new to a term of service in the Deathwatch might experience a period in which they must adjust to this foreign mode of organisation.This is especially the case when it comes to Chapters that adhere rigidly to the Codex Astartes, such as the Ultramarines and their successors. In practice, a battle-brother who could not adjust would not be sent to the Deathwatch, and those that do are often the most highly effective of warriors.
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Codex Astartes - Space Wolves: The Space Wolves strongly resist the central command structure of the Imperium. The sons of Leman Russ never fully bowed to the dictates of the Codex and certainly do not now.Theirs is a philosophical deviance. Given that they live for the honour of battle, it is almost certain that the younger Space Wolves will abandon a standard tactical structure in favour of simply rushing headlong at the enemy, howling at the top of their lungs.
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Codex Astartes - White Scars: Following the defeat of Horus, during the tumult of the Second Founding, Jaghatai Khan was amongst those primarchs who willingly embraced the wisdom of Roboute Guilliman's great work, the Codex Astartes.Ever since, the White Scars have adhered to the teachings of the Codex, but have always maintained the long-ingrained traditions of their own culture alongside them.
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Codex Astartes - Sources: Codex Adeptus Astartes - Space Marines (8th Edition), pp. 8-10, 14, 73, 84, 93, 100Codex: Blood Angels (5th Edition), pp. 7-8, 25, 27, 40, 80Codex: Dark Angels (6th Edition), pp. 11, 14-15, 17, 33, 35, 46Codex: Space Marines (4th Edition), pp. 7-9Codex: Space Marines (5th Edition), pp. 7-9, 21-22Codex: Space Marines (6th Edition), pp. 8-15, 246Codex: Space Marines (8th Edition) (Revised Codex), pp. 6-21, 184-185Codex: Space Marines (9th Edition), pp. 7-41Codex: Space Wolves (5th Edition), pp. 9, 14Codex: Ultramarines (2nd Edition), pp. 9-10, 12-13, 17-19, 22-23, 25, 28-30, 32-36, 39Deathwatch: Core Rulebook (RPG), pp. 12-15, 38, 43, 45, 52, 54, 79, 153, 174, 182-184, 312How to Paint Space Marines (2004), pp. 34, 36, 38, 40-42, 44-48, 93-95Insignium Astartes: The Uniforms & Regalia of the Space Marines by Alan Merrett, pp. 9-38, 40-49, 51Index Astartes I, "Codex Astartes: The Holy Tome of the Space Marines," by Rick Priestley and Andy Chambers, pp. 11-16Index Astartes III, "Warriors of Ultramar: The Ultramarines Space Marine Chapter," by Graham McNeill, pp. 18, 22Warhammer 40,000: Rulebook (6th Edition), pp. 168, 187, 225, 389, 403White Dwarf 299 (UK), "Creating a Chapter," pp. 72-75Age of Darkness (Anthology) edited by Christian Dunn, "Rules of Engagement" by Graham McNeillArmageddon (Novel), by Aaron Dembski-Bowden, pp. 464Stratagem (Audio Drama) by Nick Kyme
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Codicium Aeternum - Codicium Aeternum: The Codicium Aeternum, also sometimes referred to as the Grimoire of True Names, is one of the most valuable and dangerous texts in possession of the Ordo Malleus, the division of the Inquisition that specialises in fighting the daemonic servants of the Ruinous Powers.
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Codicium Aeternum - History: The origins of the Codicium Aeternum are shrouded in mystery, and no one truly knows when the titanic endeavour of writing the Codicium Aeternum began. The Codicium contains the information the Ordo Malleus has earned in bloody battle against the daemons of the Warp. It serves as a compendium of the most powerful Greater Daemons thus far encountered by the Inquisitors of the Ordo Malleus and the Space Marines of the Grey Knights Chapter that acts as the Holy Ordo's Chamber Militant.The Codicium focuses primarily on recording each daemon's True Name, as knowing the daemon's true identity considerably weakens the foe in battle. The volume also contains a recounting of the daemon's previous clashes with Imperial forces, the successful rites for its banishment and a determination of the banishment's duration according to a reading of the Emperor's Tarot.No one truly knows how many copies of the Codicium Aeternum exist or where they all may lie. It comes as no surprise that given the highly sensitive material it contains, only the most experienced and trusted Inquisitors and Inquisitor Lords may consult or even own a copy. The Inquisitorial Archives on Tethys, one of the moons of Saturn that has been claimed by the Ordo Malleus, currently holds a mere two copies of the Codicium Aeternum.The original copy, long thought lost or forgotten as a matter of precaution, was discovered to have been stolen from the archives by the Renegade Inquisitor Gholic Ren-Sar Valinov, an agent of the great Daemon Prince of Tzeentch, Ghargatuloth. Following the banishment of this mighty foe, Inquisitor Nyxos deemed it profitable to manufacture a second copy which consisted of an updated version of the original. This would indicate that several more or less up-to-date variants of the Codicium Aeternum may exist within the Imperium.
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Codicium Aeternum - Content: The Codicium Aeternum contains much information on the most powerful daemonic entities, including:Angron, Daemon Primarch of the World EatersCherubaelDoombreedGhargatulothN'Kari
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Codicium Aeternum - Trivia: The Codicium Aeternum seems to be a mixture of both the Malleus Malificarum ("The Hammer of the Witches"), the 15th century treatise on witchcraft extensively used to justify countless witch trials in Late Medieval / Early Modern Europe and later pseudo-scientific publications on demonology and occultism that were quite popular in the 19th century.These included the Dictionnaire Infernal (1818) of Jacques Auguste Simon Collin de Plancy. The Codicium Aeternum's equivalent in the Warhammer Fantasy universe -- The Witchhunter's Handbook -- was published in 2006 by the Black Library.
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COG - COG: A COG is a robot utilised by the Leagues of Votann for various labour and military tasks. Unlike the Ironkin, a COG is an unintelligent machine that lacks true self-awareness, and is little more than a robotic drone similar to an Imperial servitor or Servo-skull that is able to follow the simple commands of its Kin masters.Many COGs are outfitted with anti-gravitic engines that allow them to float, while others are placed within humanoid robotic bodies similar to those used by the Ironkin that allow them to carry out those tasks that require more physical dexterity.COGs possess many different variants, with some specialised for basic repair and maintenance tasks, others for manual labour with the Leagues of Votann Guilds, and still more serving as robotic bodyguards for various important Kin like a Brôkhyr Iron-master on the battlefield.More specialised variants accompany the Grimnyr into battle, and are outfitted with barrier-tech that allows them to better focus the psychic energy the Living Ancestors are able to draw out of the Warp.
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COG - L-COG: An L-COG is a COG that has been specialised to provide manual labour. Unlike other COG variants, which normally are outfitted with anti-gravitic engines that allow them to float across any surface, an L-COG is outfitted with a humanoid robotic form that is very similar to that provided to their truly self-aware Ironkin counterparts.On the battlefield, L-COGS are often involved in logistical efforts, moving weapons, supplies and other materiel around for a Kin Oathband. More directly, an L-COG accompanies members of a Cthonian Beserk squad into battle who have been tasked with wielding the potent Cthonian Beserk Mole Grenade Launcher. That warrior needs the extra pair of robotic hands to transport and maintain his wargear and its ammunition.
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COG - CORV: A CORV is a specialised COG drone that serves as a companion for the Leagues of Votann's Grimnyr. Outfitted with a form of psychoactive barrier-tech, two CORVs serve as robotic assistants to a Grimnyr and possess the ability to help the Living Ancestor better focus the psychic energies they draw from the Immaterium.Each CORV is outfitted with an Ancestral Warding Crest for defence and an Autoch Pattern Bolter to help protect the Grimnyr while they prepare to unleash their Empyrean abilities.
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COG - E-COG: An E-COG is a COG variant that has been specialised to aid the Kin's Brôkhyr engineers and artisans in their various technological tasks. On the battlefield, three E-COGs accompany an elite Brôkhyr Iron-master to aid them in their attempts to repair and maintain Kin vehicles and to provide defence.Unlike some other COGs, E-COGs are often outfitted with highly dextrous manipulator arms that allow them to carry weapons or other devices and engage in tasks that require fine dexterity, such as vehicle and machine repair.E-COGs that accompany an Iron-master possess anti-gravitic engines and are outfitted with either a Plasma Torch, an Autoch Pattern Bolt Pistol or manipulator arms.
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COG - Trivia: The term CORV may be derived from corvus corax, the Latin binomial species name for the common raven. This is because the Leagues of Votann Grimnyr's appearance is also reminiscent of the mythological depiction of Odin as the god of wisdom in Norse legends, with the two CORVs taking the place of Odin's twin raven companions, Huginn and Muninn. Additionally, the CORV's Ancestral Warding Crest is shaped like a raven's head.
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Cog Mechanicum - Cog Mechanicum: The Cog Mechanicum, also called the Opus Machina, is the ancient symbol used to represent the pre-Horus Heresy Mechanicum, the present Adeptus Mechanicus and the religious faith of the Tech-priests known as the Cult Mechanicus.The sigil has been in use since before the signing of the Treaty of Mars in 739.M30 that incorporated the Priesthood of Mars into the newborn Imperium of Man.The emblem, a hybrid Human/cyborg skull in front of a mechanical cog, represents the fusion of Human flesh with the machine that is the goal of every Mechanicus adept.The members of the Mechanicus believe that slowly replacing portions of their organic bodies with more "pure" bionic replacements leads to a greater spiritual union with the Omnissiah, the physical avatar of the Machine God in the mortal realm who represents the sum total of all knowledge in the universe.
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Cog Mechanicum - Sign of the Cogwheel: The Sign of the Cogwheel is a universal hand gesture used to show one's allegiance to the Cult Mechanicus, similar to the Sign of the Aquila used in the wider Imperium of Man. It is used as a respectful neutral greeting or farewell gesture, mainly when one is unsure of the recipient's rank and/or the proper etiquette.The Sign of the Cogwheel has its user splay the fingers of both hands wide and interlace them together, possibly rolling the hands against each other. This symbolises the meshing teeth of the cogwheels in the Omnissiah's sacred machines. The Cogwheel gesture is often accompanied by a nod or slight bow.
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