Editing Death Smiths (section)

==Warband Combat Doctrine== 
Unlike most other warbands that possess a very limited amount of highly venerated Daemon weapons, the Death Smiths keep stashes of them in their arsenals. This allows them to equip at least every Ironmonger of their squads with one, turning otherwise unremarkable formations into unstoppable machines of death. This allows the warband to more than compensate for their small numbers, picking on foes much numerically superior to them and still annihilating them completely. Artificer armour is also much more common amongst the Death Smith than in any other Space Marine formation in the Galaxy. While even the low-ranking apprentices are highly encouraged to customise their suits of power armour, the Ferromancers wear protection that rivals the legendary armour suits of the Primarchs.

Due to their focus on Daemon weapons, the Death Smiths are by and large close combat specialists. However, that does not mean that they eschew ranged combat completely. Every Great Forge keeps a large number of Daemon engines, particularly Forgefiends, to offer heavy support to their troops. The Third Forge, led by Athanasius Turriano, is especially notorious for inventing and building horrible new Daemon engines, most of which are sold or rented to other warbands. The Death Smiths look with disdain at tanks and Helbrutes, considering them clumsy and inefficient, although most great Forges field several Contemptor pattern Dreadnoughts armed with Thunder Hammers.

Their favourite tactic on the battlefield probably stems from their experience as smiths, as they like to catch the foe between the hammer and the anvil. They use concentrated fire from the ranks of their heavy support units to make the enemy forces retreat in search of a cover, subtly driving them into the wall of their close combat specialists. Notoriously difficult to execute perfectly and dependant on the battlefield landscape, this manoeuvre has helped the Death Smiths win many battles without any casualties at all. But even if it fails, the warband still poses a grave threat to whoever dared provoke their ire, for even without any tactics at all they are still a force to be reckoned with.

===Warband Organisation===
An extremely small warband by any standards, the Death Smiths only include a measly 500 members. In spite of that, their superior equipment has allowed them time and again to stand their ground against such formidable foes as the Ramparts or the Green Men. Since their main focus is not on warfare, but on smithcraft, instead of combat units they are divided into seven Great Forges, each one of which comprises 50 members. Six of them are led by Ferromancers, Warpsmiths of matchless skill and power and pupils to Ilmari Wieland himself. All of them possess strong characters and personal philosophies which shape the Great Forges they lead and the weapons they make. Directly subordinate to the Ferromancer is the Conclave of Ironmongers, a circle of seven master smiths who have proven their skill with the hammer. The Ironmongers are granted with personal smithies and allowed to forge Daemon weapons. Each one of them has about six Apprentices, ordinary Chaos Marines who study the art and craft of smithing under them. Every Apprentice dreams of one day replacing his teacher, but constant sabotage from their peers ensures those dreams remain just that.

Every Great Forge resides in a citadel which houses the smithies of its Ferromancer and Ironmongers as well as numerous armouries, slave pens, living quarters for the Apprentices and fortifications. Each citadel reflects the personality of its master. For instance, the Second Forge resides in a slender copper spire piercing Adranum's storm clouds, the Third Forge is based in a colossal construct, a castle moving across the planet's barren landscapes on its creaking spider-like limbs, and the Fourth Forge operates from an enormous brass steamboat sailing around in a lake of lava. But the most imposing one of them all is the one belonging to the First Forge. Led by Wieland himself, it has no Apprentices at all; instead, each one of its members is an accomplished smith wearing Terminator armour into battle. Their citadel is an iron castle suspended on chains in the orifice of an active volcano. Regular eruptions can't damage it thanks to the protective runes the Hammerfist has inscribed on its walls. An elevator shaft reinforced with adamantium leads from the suspended castle's cellars down through the volcano orifice straight into the planetary core. It is there that Wieland's personal smithy is situated, one that is forbidden to anyone save its master. The greatest artefacts of evil ever to exist were created there. 

Apart from smiths and their apprentices, the warband also includes around fifty hired Techmarines and Apothecaries personally picked by Wieland. Although the Death Smiths have learned to respect them and value their skills, they are still treated as suspicious outsiders. But even then, not even the Ferromancers dare slight those mercenaries, for Wieland's personal protection extends over them.

===Warband Naval Forces=== 
A comparatively small and passive warband, the Death Smiths have no real need for a fleet. As a result, they only possess a single Battle Barge, the Anvil of Doom. Originally the very spacecraft Wieland and his followers used to escape from Terra, over the millennia it has been so heavily customised that now it is barely recognisable. Since its current primary function is slave hunting, whole decks of the ship have been rebuilt into a nightmarish prison filled with death traps. The unused part of the living quarters has been turned into vast forges to accommodate the needs of the Death Smiths. The corrupting influence of the Warp has also left its mark on the Battle Barge. Because of it, the lower levels of the ship are now flooded with lava that strangely doesn't seem to damage its hull or maintenance systems.

Apart from the Anvil of Doom, the warband has a number of smaller spacecrafts, some of them belonging to different Great Forges. But even so, their fleet remains a means of transportation only. Whenever faced with the prospect of a naval clash, the Death Smiths prefer to flee rather than accept the challenge. Their disdain for void confrontation could perhaps be traced back to Wieland, who considers naval warfare the ultimate form of coward's combat, even worse than hiding from the enemy in metal boxes.