How GW Can Grow 40K With 5 Marine Minis
At the start of 8th Edition, Nottingham can expand the game with 5 easy character models. Who are they?
For decades, GW has let their characters mnitures lead their rules. For example, many Space Marine Chapters only got rules when they had an accompanying IC model to lead their army. This happens with a great many faction and is not limited to Imperial Space Marines.
I’ll hit the Xenos in a later article, but today I want to focus on the Space Marines and their Traitor brethren. The followong factions have no named characters to call their own, and thus are often shortchanged in the rules department. Worse, each of these are important parts of the 40K background and deserve the attention. There is absolutely no reason these factions shouldn’t have a mini when folks like the Flesh Tearers get ICs.
Iron Hands
The only remaining loyal first founding chapter without an IC to call their own. My suggestion:
Stronos served for years as Iron-Captain of Clan Garrsak before he was inducted into the Iron Hands Chaplaincy, eventually traveling to Sacred Mars for training as a Techmarine. His reverence of the machine and hatred of weakness earned him a place on the Clan Council, and his ruthlessness and desire to succeed made him the logical choice to be the de facto Chapter Master of the Iron Hands, taking all power and responsibilities for campaigns involving multiple Clan Companies and seceding power back to the Clan Council upon the end of the campaign. It is a testament of his skill as a leader and warrior that the Clan Council has appointed him Commander for over three consecutive centuries.
Stronos is an avid believer in firepower and considers it the only tenet of battle. He longs for the day when his entire Chapter can ride into battle on Razorback assault transports and believes these vehicles to be the pinnacle of battlefield effectiveness. Like many in the Iron Hands, he is also a follower of the Cult Mechanicus and worships the Omnissiah.
Iron Warriors
Can you believe it – no one in 30 years for the crowd-favorite Iron Warriors… I think a named Warsmith is a requirement at this point. There can be only one:
Honsou is the Warsmith of an Iron Warriors Grand Company. He is notable for leading an army 17,000 strong, comprised of Traitor Marines, Xenos and Renegades, in the Invasion of Ultramar in 999.M41. Honsou’s gene-seed originated from “Honourable” Soulaka, an Iron Warriors Apothecary who was murdered during the Horus Heresy by Fabius Bile, who was then responsible for melding Soulaka’s gene-seed with that of an Imperial Fist, likely Captain Felix Cassander. After an accident in Bile’s laboratory, the container holding Soulaka’s gene-seed was partially defaced, leaving only the words “Hon Sou”.
Night Lords
If you want twisted criminals – or REALLY love Batman and 40K you will agree these guys need their own IC. I say go with the man who has the dark crown:
Zso Sahaal was a captain of the Night Lords legion prior to the Horus Heresy dubbed in his legion the Talonmaster. He earned his rank of First Captain after the death of Sevatar. When the Heresy began Sahaal’s loyalties lay with his primarch and so served him well throughout. Sahaal believed devoutly that the Emperor had betrayed Curze and his legion. Before the Night Haunter‘s death it is believed by Sahaal and others he was prepared to be his heir. However, the Callidus Assassin M’Shen took Sahaal’s inheritance of the corona nox before he could be undisputedly declared the heir. Sahaal pursued the assassin in which reports confirm he had the Corona Nox and left without the first company to protect his inheritance until the Eldar ambushed his ship and attempted to take the corona for themselves. It was here Sahaal was trapped in a warp storm that lasted 10,000 years.
Due to his later fleeing of the 1st Company during his retrieval of Corona Nox during the Eldar attack he is dubbed by some as “the betrayer”.
Word Bearers
Such an easy one. These guys clearly need a named Dark Apostle and there is one obvious choice who is still mortal. – He’s also maybe the most guilty individual in the galaxy:
Erebus is one of the most prominent members of the Word Bearers Chaos Space Marines and a member of the Dark Council of Sicarus. He was the harbinger of the Horus Heresy, instrumental in converting first Lorgar and then Horus to Chaos. Erebus refers to himself as the Hand of Destiny, the mortal instrument of the plans of the Ruinous Powers.
After the defeat of Horus at the Battle of Terra, Erebus fled into the Eye of Terror with the rest of his Legion. He is currently a member of the Dark Council, the ruling body of Sicarus and is often engaging in power struggles for control of the Legion with Kor Phaeron. During the 13th Black Crusade of Abaddon the Despoiler, Erebus would appear leading an army of Word Bearers across the Cadian Sector, sacrificing millions of human captives to summon a vast army of Daemons across the Sector
Alpha Legion
I am Alpharius! Now there is a certain counter-argument that these guys should never get an IC (because all other ICs are really Alpha Legion operatives), but I say let them have some spy vs spy fun. Here’s my nominee – maybe a perfect example of what an Alpha Legion Lord should be:
Traveling across the Imperium, a Alpha Legion Chaos Lord known as Phocron was responsible for the deaths of entire worlds through acts of sabotage, war, and terrorism undertaken by his vast network of Cultists and agents. Pursued by an unnamed Ordo Hereticus Inquisitor for nearly a century, in the end the Imperium discovered his hideout, the derelict space station and space hulk Hydra’s Eye. However despite taking the station and cornering Phocron, the Inquisitor was shocked to find that “Phocron” was an identity and alias used by many Alpha Legion members. There had never been a true Phocron, it was merely a name to organize cultists and agents across the Imperium. Moreover, now that the identity was compromised the Alpha Legion had decided to discard the identity anyway. Worse still for the Inquisitor, a member of the Alpha Legion had made his face identical to his own, indicating that he was the new identity to replace Phocron.
It think GW’s new “triumvirate box sets” are perfect for things like this. They craft a narrative involving several of these chapters and drop 3 of them into a boxed set. DONE!
~Next time, the xenos. Who would you choose for the Marines and CSMs?
