Deathwing
The Deathwing is the Dark Angels' name for their First Company; currently led by Belial. Unlike the First Companies of Codex Astartes-compliant Chapters, the Deathwing exclusively fights in bone-white Terminator armor, and never forms power-armored Veteran Squads.
Function and Strength
They are part of the Dark Angels' Inner Circle, the secretive cabal that hunts the Fallen Angels, members of the Dark Angels Legion who (allegedly) fell to Chaos during the Horus Heresy -- in fact, the traditional way to join the Inner Circle (and thus earn promotion to a Company Master, Librarian, or Interrogator-Chaplain) is to be inducted into the chapter's secrets during their time in the Deathwing. It should be mentioned that Azrael was inducted directly into the Deathwing Knights without passing through the "lower" ranks of Deathwing, meaning that there are exceptions.
The Ravenwing are the exception to the promotion rule, having their own Inner Circle in the Black Knights where their veterans are gathered, taught the truth and from which their new captain is chosen. It also explains how Sammael became captain without ever donning the old bone white blast suit.
The old 6e Dark Angels codex was sketchy about how many members make up the Deathwing, though heavily implied that it's more than just a "mere" 100. The newer 7e codex plays with this even more, on one page stating an exact number of squads that the Deathwing is reported to have all while the previous page leaves just as much open to debate and assumption... The "official" list for 999.M41 denotes twenty regular squads and up to three squads of Deathwing Knights, plus the Command Squad. So if assumed to be at full strength could total around 235+ members (already way more than an Ultramarines successor would have) but the book also goes on to state that their true number is a carefully guarded secret and that the availability of the Deathwing's support assets are deliberately obfuscated to outsiders. By the way, this applies to the Ravenwing and Inner Circle too. - Note that these are 5-man squads, for a total of 120 Deathwing, not 235 as implied above. Standard size for a terminator/bike squad is 5, while the standard size for other marine infantry units is 10.
With the fact that each of the Unforgiven chapters also appears to include a similar formation (though under different names) implies that the original Dark Angels Legion had a metric butt-ton of terminator armour lying around that no-one else knew about, which is "a luxury few chapters can match" and in fact other chapters like the Novamarines and Minotaurs are considered exceptional in that they can muster that many suits or Terminator armour for their veterans when the Unforgiven do it as a matter of course.
History
Like the Ravenwing, the Deathwing have a different colour scheme from the rest of the Dark Angels, wearing bone white Terminator armour. Deathwing armour originally retained the black and white colour scheme of the Dark Angels Legion, but according to Chapter legend, a group of Terminators under Captain Ezekiel (birth name Cloud Runner, no relation to the Chief Librarian) returned to the Dark Angels ancient recruiting world of Plains World to find that the planet had been overrun by genestealers. Rather than subject the planet to Exterminatus, at the urging of Librarian Lucian (real name Two Heads Talking), the Terminators, all natives of Plains World, decided to fight off the genestealers and save the native humans. They proceeded to undergo Plains World's death ritual, where warriors would paint themselves in ashes, but since they didn't have that, they repainted their armour white. Succeeding at the cost of everybody but Captain Ezekiel, the Dark Angels later returned and reclaimed the Terminator, which would be kept white as a remembrance of the Terminators sacrifice.
- The story was written way back in 2nd edition, and doesn't really gel with current 40k canon (especially the parts where 300-year-old veterans are worried about dying of old age). It's also speculated in story that the legend was just made up by the Inner Circle to as a means to prepare the Dark Angels for eventually learning about the Fallen (warriors long gone from their homeworld returning to find outside influences corrupting it bears more than a little similarity to Lion El'Jonson coming back from the Horus Heresy to find Luther had fallen to Chaos).
Tabletop
Deathwing Terminators are not very different from Terminators available to Codex Chapters, but are loaded up with a plethora of special rules. The fluff states that very few Dark Angels forces ever travel without being accompanied by at least one squad, because they never know when evidence of the Fallen might turn up. But when they have their mind set on something they go all out. This is represented in-game by a Deathwing Strike Force detachment, allowing up to 123 terminators to take the field '(generally a poor tactical decision NO WAY! WHO DOESN'T LOVE HAVING 123 TERMINATORS when your opponent has 1230 ORK BOYZ? 10 to 1? Deathwing eat those odds for BREAKFAST.)'.
Ever since the 6th Edition Codex by Jeremy Vetock (praise be his name) the Deathwing now rape Chaos Space Marines, which makes perfect sense considering it is their primary duty to take down the Fallen. HERETICS and this has carried on into the 7e codex.
The regular Deathwing have some handy new rules such as the ability to split-fire, and are more accurate on the turn they arrive, and have access to Plasma Cannon, which while not entirely useful, on a terminator is awesome. Furthermore, individual Deathwing terminators can choose their weapon selection, rather than having it relatively fixed as in other chapters.
They also have a unique unit: the Deathwing Knights who are the the Elite-within-the-Elite; each armed with an AP3 power mace and storm shield. Nothing says repent like a WS5/T5 Terminator with a mace the size of a man charging at you with the hammer of wrath!
As before; Dreadnoughts can also be members of the Deathwing gaining the same bonuses against the Fallen. HERETICS, as their terminator armoured brothers.
- The "-wing" suffix has come to be used as shorthand to refer to other all-Terminator armies, like Draigowing, where Kaldor Draigo allows a Grey Knights army to take Paladin (super-Terminator) squads as Troops, or Loganwing, where Logan Grimnar (of the Space Wolves) causes Wolf Guard (which may be Terminator-armored) to count as Troops. As of 7th edition, most codices let you run -wing armies through ways other than force chart position manipulation, but /tg/ remembers.
Space Hulk: Deathwing
Streum On Studio, the developers behind E.Y.E: Divine Cybermancy, is currently developing a first-person shooter featuring Deathwing Terminators in a Space Hulk setting. Not a lot is known about it yet, except that it's being made in the Unreal Engine 4 (meaning pretty damn good graphics) They recently released a trailer, which looks fucking awesome.
- And here is the second official trailer with extra-TROLLING pop-mariachi music, who needs bland gothic chants anyway? (Ah! The RAGE!)
- And here is the better edition, a little editing by some fans
- some FAGGOT with no inspiration decided to make a more GRIMDARK cookie cutter action movie trailer version.
Gallery
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Follow me you assholes! 'n pray to the Emprah We don't run in to any fucki'n genestealers!
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The Models of the Deathwing Knights Are as awesome as you'd think.
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You pray to be on the good side of these guys when they're around.
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Showing how much they would take on anything,
but seriously how big is that fucking genestealer!?Scything talons, crusher claws, those things on its back... thats a carnifex.
