"Furious Angels" - BA Successor Chapter

[realitycheque]

I played Blood Angels in 2nd Ed, and now I come back to the game I find I don't have anywhere near enough assault marines to be able to play them properly - so I've decided to repaint my army in new colours. Because of the BA iconography over some of the models, I've decided to make my new chapter a BA successor chapter that was based around the Codex Astartes with a major change based around their history. The main colour is going to be red, as I've just painted a Stormlord and Drop Pod in BA colours and don't want to have to change too much as it took me 4 months to finish the bloody tank

Fluff in normal text, commentary in italics.
1st + 2nd versions in black, 3rd in red, 4th in blue.

Chapter: Furious Angels (named after a Rob D track that I absolutely love)
Founding: 26th - 738.M41 (one of the latest chapters, perhaps a bit too eager to prove themselves)
Chapter Number: 573 (replacing a chapter lost in the 11th Black Crusade)
Gene-line: Blood Angels, via Sons of Sanguinius (not direct decendants, but still cousins with the Blood Angels)
Colours: Red with black greaves. Insignia is as pair of crossed silver swords encompassed by a golden halo.
Home-world: Ashima (named after an ancient godess of Fate, from the same pantheon as Baal), a backwater planet in the Centarus Arm region of Segmentum Ultima abandoned during the Horus Heresy. The planetary crust and surrounding moons are rich with raw materials needed to make adamant and other strong materials. The population are loyal thanks to the liberation of the planet from the Dark Eldar, who were farming the planet for slaves and resources for over five thousand years. (I don't get to fight Dark Eldar, so I figure I should have a reason they're not seen in this area of space very often - they had the crap kicked outta them!)

The inhabitants of Ashima are separate tribes, who each control an area very carefully defined using half-understood astronomy as a guide. The exceptions to this are the Hasis tribe, who hire themselves out to other tribes and turn low-tech raw materials into finished goods; and the Canii, who lead the tribes in worship to Shamayim (their name for the God-Emperor) as itinerant preachers and also facilitate inter-tribal relations.

History: After numerous Dark Eldar raids from the Centarus Arm, the Imperium retaliated during a brief respite between the 10th and 11th Black Crusade. A full task-force of Guard, Titan Legions set out, along with a new Space Marine chapter - the Furious Angels. Over a period of 10 years the Imperium slowly drove the xenos back into the webway, their initial attacks succeeding wonderfully due to the complacency of the DE, who had not been serious challenged since the Altaioc craftworld left that area of space 1500 years earlier. Eventually the crusade petered to a halt, beset from all sides by DE raiders emerging from the webway to strike at supply trains and the vulnerable flanks of the fleet.

After 8 months of being unable to retaliate due to their foes retreating at the first sign of resistance, the Furious Angels were approached by an emissary from Altaioc - wary of it being a trap but desperate to swing the war back into their favour before the Eye of Terror vomitted more traitors back into Imperial space, the Furious Angel Chapter Master (at this point a mighty warrior by the name of Malat the Fair) went alone into the Eldar transport to meet with their unholy Farseer. This Farseer offered to lead the Furious Angels into the webway, in order to ambush their dark kin as they returned from a raiding mission and destroy them once and for all - Malat eventually accepted, but only after 3 days of fasting and prayer to the beloved Emperor to ensure his decision was not swayed by his own desire for glory and revenge.

The raid itself went perfectly at first, the Dark Eldar ambushers routed and their encampments utterly destroyed... however, wary of the ease in which warriors could travel from place to place through the webway, Malak vowed to end this threat to the region of space his chapter were destined to protect. As the victorious marines moved back through the mystic tunnels of the Eldar, squads of Devestators lead by techmarines and librarians carefully analysed the surface of the webway until they were confident they could at the very least break sections of it apart from the main trunk leading through that part of the galaxy... unfortunately, their attentions did not go unnoticed by the Eldar.

Realising their plan, the Farseer sent a mighty Avatar and legions of Aspect Warriors to deal with their former allies. A fierce battle broke out, the Space Marines quickly reacting to the betrayal but being unfamiliar with the terrain they soon got split up into various side tunnels, attacked from all sides by the sneaky Eldar in vicious hit-and-run attacks. Squad after squad died on both sides, brought down by the Avatar and the Terminator Armoured Malat respectively. In a situation like this, a clash of the titans was inevitable - Malat emerging from a corridor to find himself a spearlength from his foe. Unfortunately for Malat he swiftly found himself outclassed by the shard of Khaine when the Wailing Doom was impaled through his armour and chest like they were made of paper.

Collapsing to the ground, Malat dragged himself against a wall... only to realise he was against one of the major joins that his Techmarine subordinates had described to him. With his dying breaths, Malat ordered his command squad to lead the remnants of his chapter out of the webway - and then overloaded the powersource for his armour. The resultant explosion tore through the psychic supports of the tunnel, shattering the webway into many smaller pieces.

The Guard Commanders waiting outside the entrance were overjoyed when the first scouts emerged with tales of glory and the defeat of the piratical raiders, but eventually it appeared that it had been a pyrritic victory at best - of the thousand marines that entered the webway, less than one hundred emerged. Not all of the missing marines had fallen however, several of the Furious Angels reported being cut off from their squadmates when the webway collapsed... and those squadmates could potentially have emerged from the webway anywhere within the subsector.

A hasty conclave made up from the surviving half dozen Librarians and Chaplains met in order to discuss the future of the chapters, and nominated Aliden, the previous Scout Captain of the 10th, as Chapter Master. Fully expecting him to concentrate on rebuilding the Chapter's companies with a massive influx of scouts they were completely taken aback when he instead chose to disband all formal formations! As a result of the huge reduction in their numbers the Furious Angels could no longer afford to allow the bulk of the chapter to specialise, and so the newly risen Chapter Master Aliden decided to consolidate the companies and even the squads into one large organisation. All surviving members painted over their squad markings in white, to symbolise their lost brothers and the fact they fought as one from that point on. No more would the Furious Angels expect to fight alongside their squadmates until death or promotion, but would be individually picked for missions based on their skills and quirks. 5 of the surviving squad leaders were elevated to honourary Captain, each one specialising in a certain aspect of war and each able to select from anyone within the chapter in order to best ensure victory. As a result of this decision and their small numbers, the Furious Angels are all well known to each other, and share a bond of loyalty beyond that of even an average Astartes.

The Chapter decided to build their new fortress on Ashima around the old entrance to the webway, from which they have sent exploration parties to nearby systems in order to look for their missing brothers. Currently Aliden focuses on victorys that can be won quickly and cleanly, as he is loathe to risk his depleted forces in a protracted fight with the enemies of man - but as more and more of the chapter return to the fold the Furious Angels are able to commit greater numbers to the conflicts.

In order to maintain maximum flexibility, training is conducted differently to that within other chapters. Still in possession of their full complement of strike cruisers but with a drastically reduced number of infantry the Furious Angels have plenty of spare capacity on board their space faring vessels, and so have converted large portions of each into a quadruply reinforced training area. At the beginning of each day every Astartes not taking part in duties elsewhere is randomly assigned to a position in a training squad in order to give them experience with every weapon in the chapter's arsenal, in any environment the ship can recreate, alongside each of their brothers, and in every level of command. In this way the chapter commanders can be constantly aware of each marine's strengths and weaknesses and who has leadership potential.

Captain Faure has been tasked with hunting down the missing brothers, equipped with as much as the chapter can afford to spare. He travels the subsector with a select few, tracking down any rumours of Astartes or hints of a webway portal. These troops specialise with flamer and melta weapons as they are often called on to crack the heaviest of defenses around and inside webway gates and so perform hit and run attacks within the disrupted fey corridors in order to recover captured or fallen comrades. Every geneseed recovered from a dead Astartes brings the chapter a tiny bit closer to full strength and so is a cause for great celebration. His formal position is Keeper of the Honour Roll, a list of all Furious Angels missing after the Centarus Campaign. He works closely with Dorill (below) who's ability with the Imperial Tarot has led to Faure arriving in key places only hours after a sighting rather than days or even weeks.

Chief Librarian Dorill is keeping a secret from his chapter, and is praying to the Emperor that it doesn't cost him his soul. Towards the end of the rapid retreat from the webway, Dorill because seperated down a small off shoot from the main tunnel and eventually came across the also retreating Farseer and his warlock coven. Several of the witches were killed by a gout of mental fire before they saw him, but while cutting down the rest of the warlocks he realised he had left himself open to the Farseer's witchblade! Just in the nick of time he threw himself at the treacherous xenos deflecting a blow that would have broken his spine by a bare inch, instead it stuck clean through his chestsplate and through his third lung. At close range the strength of the Astartes was more than a match for the frail eldar, even with his terrible wound, and before too long the Farseer lay dead on the floor his pale bloodless skin reflecting the odd blues and purples of the webway tunnel. Bending down with a grimace, Dorill went to pick up the fallen witchblade as a trophy, and his mind registered odd sparks of powerful psychic energy in a gem encrusted bag on the Farseer's belt - as the tunnel started to groan ominously he snatched the bag and sword and sprinted from the webway. Days later, when the immediate concerns had been dealt with and a new Chapter Master selected, Dorill settled down to investigate the bag, which was found to contain 5 bright stones that resonated like the mind of an Eldar psyker. After much experimentation, he found that the stones could be used to enhance the predictive nature of the Imperial Tarot. After each use, Dorill tells himself that he can stop using them when they've found just a few more lost brothers - but with over 900 Furious Angels missing, he worries that by the time the work is done, his soul will be damned. He takes the risk for the good of the Imperium, but still dare not share his experiments with anyone for fear he will be condemned.

(I've written up the history like this as I wanted to have a very small chapter to match the models I have - but with the potential to get larger without having to indoctrinate lots of new blood. As I buy each new squad, I will write a small piece of fiction to trace their journey home to their brothers.)

Leaders of Note: (I'll fill in the names as I come up with fluff and make the models for them)
Serenal Aliden, Chapter Master (needs a bit more fluff about him rather than his plans, counts as Kantor)
Bathor the Swift - Scout Captain (needs fluff, counts as Shrike)
Erasmus Faure - Keeper of the Honour Roll (counts as Vulkan Hestaan)
Rigan Vigor - 1st Captain (needs fluff, counts as Sicarius)
Agamon Dorill - Chief Librarian (counts as Tigurius)
The Phoenician - Biker Captain
? - Terminator Captain
? - Mechanised Captain
? - Master Chaplain
? - Master of the Forge
? - Terminator Librarian

Any gaps I've missed? I also need to write up some fluff for the Stormlord the chapter has as it's flagtank

[ze_poodle]

You're not going to believe this. I was listening to the Matrix soundtrack, and as I clicked on this thread Furious Angel started playing. I was like "heh, coincidence" and then read that you named them after the damn song. It's a good song.

Anyway, the fluff is solid and very detailed, especially the section on your homeworld. Having your Chapter Master sacrifice himself for the mission is a time-honoured and much-worn plot device, but at least you didn't have him jump up and bitch slap the Avatar like he was the Nightbringer on crack. Too many people do that.

What really concerns me is how stupidly similar this is to my own BA fluff. My background was that I played a company of Blood Angels who were utterly decimated during a botched drop pod assault on Hades Hive during the Second War for Armageddon, and they were forced to mass-recruit eighty new Scouts to bring the company back to battle-readiness. In their first campaign after reconstructing, they meet some Eldar, fight them, team up with them, then fight them again. I had the same idea you have - making up new fluff for new units as I bought them and used them in games.

And I had a Terminator captain. Anyway. Great minds.

[realitycheque]

You're not going to believe this. I was listening to the Matrix soundtrack, and as I clicked on this thread Furious Angel started playing. I was like "heh, coincidence" and then read that you named them after the damn song. It's a good song.

I was having some serious trouble coming up with a name that sounded like a Space Marine chapter - and then the song came on, and the choice was made for me.

Anyway, the fluff is solid and very detailed, especially the section on your homeworld. Having your Chapter Master sacrifice himself for the mission is a time-honoured and much-worn plot device, but at least you didn't have him jump up and bitch slap the Avatar like he was the Nightbringer on crack. Too many people do that.

Yeah this was supposed to be a raised middle digit to the Ultramarines and Calgon in particular - Malat was too hopped up on adrenaline to realise he'd bitten off WAY more than he could chew and if you're dead anyway, might as well take a few of the bastards with ya!

What really concerns me is how stupidly similar this is to my own BA fluff. My background was that I played a company of Blood Angels who were utterly decimated during a botched drop pod assault on Hades Hive during the Second War for Armageddon, and they were forced to mass-recruit eighty new Scouts to bring the company back to battle-readiness. In their first campaign after reconstructing, they meet some Eldar, fight them, team up with them, then fight them again. I had the same idea you have - making up new fluff for new units as I bought them and used them in games.

And I had a Terminator captain. Anyway. Great minds.

Well I don't have a Terminator Captain any more! I don't have a the model, so I thought I'd get him killed off

[rafis117]

Wonderful story. Very good.


A few VERY minor issues; the craftworld in question is called Altaioc, and the Eldar are referred to (to distinguish them from their DE cousins) as Craftworld or Exodtie Eldar (if they live on Craftworlds or Exodite worlds, respectively); not "unfalled" Eldar.



Beyond that, superb story, love that you kill off characters who do stupid stuff; like going up against someone with twice your mass, skin that's ON FIRE, and a sword that is nearly HIS height, nevermind one's own. Very Song of Ice and Fire

[realitycheque]

A few VERY minor issues; the craftworld in question is called Altaioc, and the Eldar are referred to (to distinguish them from their DE cousins) as Craftworld or Exodtie Eldar (if they live on Craftworlds or Exodite worlds, respectively); not "unfalled" Eldar.

This is what I get for copying the name from an unofficial galaxy map

[chenyboy]

sounds like a very cool chapter. go for it.

[rafis117]

Feel free to take any/all of the below idea, I feel that it complements your story nicely, but it is your army and they are your models; You are judge and jury. GW is the executioner.



Although I doubt that you have the models for a deathwing, it would be very cool and you should include it in your story; Deathwing and Ravenwing equivalents.

Basically, after their losses, they were divided into three units; The Bulwark, The Hammer, and The Eagle. Those who are proficient at space combat are known as The Angels.



The Hammer is composed of their elite units, and instead of company markings, the chapter symbol is adorned with a hammer held in an Astartes gauntlet, fingers pointing down. They are the hammer-stroke of the Emperor's Fury and behind them is the driving force of the Imperium.


The Bulwark is their general shooty-units, A mighty defense against the unclean, the unholy, the inhuman, the heretical. They rain death from a distance, rather than close with their enigmatic and capricious foes. They are the marksman who deliver Holy Wrath from afar. They adorn their pauldrons with an Astartes gauntlet, fingers pointing down, wreathed in fire and blood.


The Eagle, the symbol of the God-Emperor of Man himself, strikes fast to obliterate foes before they can muster their unholy defenses against His warriors. The Asartes, the Angels of Death, who harry the enemies of Man, who strike as the wind and know no fear. An Astartes, fresh into his armor, moves faster than the human eye can track. An Assault Marine moves faster than most Space Marines can react to. These are the warriors that exploit gaps in the enemy formation, a scalpel to complement the Hammer. They adorn their shoulder pads/tanks with an winged Astartes gauntlet, pointing down.


Their command forces were the sole units to retain their previous markings, and it is considered the greatest honor that a Furious Angel can achieve to be able to paint a black skull wreathed by silver wings on their right shoulder armor. Any Marine who bears such markings needs no more credentials.




Any balanced taskforce draws from all three of these groups, using each skill set in the way that the Eldar use their Aspects. It has been said, that the Furious Angels fight with the skill of the Eldar, the fury of their Curse, and savagery equaled by few.

If you wanted to incorporate this, all that you would have to do is repaint their unit markings, or if you really wanted a Deathwing or a Ravenwing, you would have one. Feel free to change any and all of the material here, it was a cool idea that I had late at night (doing math work, of all things).

[realitycheque]

If you wanted to incorporate this, all that you would have to do is repaint their unit markings, or if you really wanted a Deathwing or a Ravenwing, you would have one. Feel free to change any and all of the material here, it was a cool idea that I had late at night (doing math work, of all things).

Nice idea - and I may steal it when the Chapter has more than 60 warriors - but for now I'm going to have no squad or unit markings at all - they'll be painted white as a mark of respect for their lost brothers and as a symbol that they are not complete without them

[rafis117]

Ooh, and another add-on:

Recruits into various groups would have a wire-frame image of the group's logo, in black.

Many marines specialize in more than one aspect: lightning war and shooting, for example. So they would put both the of their logos (and whether or not they are a recruit in each) on their right pauldron. So vanguards with jetpacks would be both Hammers and Eagles. Some assault marines might be Eagles and Hammer novices.

Only one who is an accepted brother in ALL THREE may ascend to paint their right pauldron with the ancient cross of the veterans, similar or identical to the Index Astartes one (normal Codex: Space Marines). These would mainly be the honor guard of the Captains (of which there are three, each one an all-around master but a specialist among those). Only one who is a veteran may ascend to wear the Command emblem.

[realitycheque]

OK that's the next bit done! Had loads of ideas last night so scribbled them down and made narrative out of it this morning

I've updated the first post - added stuff about the selection of the new Chapter Master, the training methods used, and two new heroes of the Chapter (Dorill and Kaure).

New stuff is all in red.