Legion of the Damned
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| Legion of the Damned, formerly Fire Hawks | ||
|---|---|---|
| Battle Cry | None | |
| Founding | 21st Founding | |
| Successors of | Ultramarines | |
| Successor Chapters | None | |
| Chapter Master | Stibor Laezaerek (at time of disappearance) | |
| Primarch | Roboute Guilliman | |
| Homeworld | Raptorous Rex, formerly Zhoros and Cousteau XI | |
| Strength | No more than 200 | |
| Specialty | Showing up to turn the tide | |
| Allegiance | Imperium of Man | |
| Colours | Black with bone and flame coloring (though that may be actual flames), formerly red and yellow | |
Perhaps one of the most BADASS Space Marine Chapters. EVER
They are Space Marines that were mutated, killed, and trapped in the warp, all the while remaining faithful to the Emprah. Put simply, imagine the zombie/spirit of a Space Marine that kills things that are bad. They constantly suffer, but make up for it popping up from the Warp and saving endangered IG regiments.
GW has given them an ID crisis, because it can't make up its mind between a ever-growing army of GOOD badass dead people, something original, or a dwindling group of badass mutated Space Marines that are slowly getting killed by mutation.
Recently got a new squad look that comes with a sergeant that looks like a GODDAMNED CHAPLAIN!
Fire Hawks
The Legion of the Damned was originally a Space Marine chapter known as the "Fire Hawks", made from the geneseed of the Ultramarines (or so they claim). They made a name for themselves during the Age of Apostasy, where they fought well and were rewarded with the destruction of their homeworld, Zhoros, by thermal bombs. After this, Sebastian Thor gave them a massive Great Crusade era void fortress, the Raptorous Rex, in commemoration of their deeds. They became a fleet based chapter as a result.
Afterwords, they participated in the Badab War on the side of the loyalists, where they were reduced to about 22% effective strength (thought the Rex was instrumental near the end of the war).
They were next called into action against Eldar pirates, and made the 120 light year warp jump with their entire chapter (the Rex, five other ships, and more than 800 battle brothers). They never arrived. 20 years after they disappeared, the Bell of Lost Souls rang 1000 times in their honor and they were declared lost in the Warp. Supposedly, the Emperor himself ordered a black candle lit for them. The Fire Hawks were no more and the Legion of the Damned was born.
Return
The emergence of the Legion of the Damned was slow at first, starting with destroyed worlds and unmarked coffins containing marines whose equipment serial numbers matched Fire Hawk records. A few years after their disappearance, however, they emerged to help an Imperial garrison besieged by Orks. They quickly dispatched the xenos and vanished, leaving behind only a recorder, some sealed items and their chapter banner on which was inscribed the words "motto In dedicato imperatum ultra articulo mortis" or for those of you who don't speak gothic "For the Emperor beyond the point of death"
The recorder revealed what happened to the ill-fated Fire Hawks. Basically, they got their shit royally fucked. After making the transition to warp space, they were caught in a terrible warp storm. All but one ship was destroyed, and only 200 marines escaped the warp, appearing in the galactic east; so far east, in fact, that they were beyond even the Emperor's light. Not only this, but all geneseed had been lost and the survivors were afflicted with a warp affliction which caused them to rot, slowly destroying their bodies and sanity. But, unlike some failures, they manned up and decided to use it to their advantage and continue their fight for the Emperor. They decided to repaint their armor black (possibly because even in their insanity they remembered how awesome chaplains were) and cover themselves with bones and fire. They also did away with any kind of organization, instead becoming an unstoppable horde bent on destruction. Most lore describes the Legion of the Damned phasing in and out of reality and instead of having flames painted on their armor they are instead wreathed in warpfire and their armor is pitch black and destroyed in some places which reveals the bones of the wearer, further emphasising on the zombie ghost space marine theme.
They figure out where they are needed most by using the Emperor's Tarot, a deck of psychoactive crystal cards that are said to be linked directly to the Emperor. I'd imagine how frustrated they would be when thy discover that Emperor's Tarot was made by Lorgar (not doing a good job of proving you're not a God, Emps).
Tl;DR: Very grimdark.
In Game
Many people consider them limited due to their high point cost and slow and purposeful special rule. This is "balanced" by being able to reroll their deepstrike, 2 base attacks, and a 3+ invulnerable save (plus access to heavy and special weapons). Sadly, being slow, they will probably get stuck somewhere and not do much and, though a suicide melta squad sounds like a good idea, they are generally considered too expensive for such a task.
They used to have a special character, Sergeant Centurius, who had a skull that ate souls and brought a downed legionnaire back into the fight.
Thankfully, 6th edition buffed them by changing the Slow and Purposeful rule: now, instead of taking Difficult Terrain tests every turn, they simply can't Run in the Shooting phase or make Sweeping Advances. Yeah, they can move the full 6 inches every turn now, just like normal marines.
In latest Space Marine codex (6th edition), they gained Fear (making them even more scary) and Flaming Projectiles (all ranged attacks have Ignore Cover rules) rules. Not only that, their special weapons and heavy weapons become cheaper than last edition. If you give them plasma gun and plasma cannon, they can become really nasty with the Flaming Projectiles rule. Despite their fluff ("The bolters carried by the Legionnaires, though in aspect no different to those borne by other Space Marines, discharge flaming projectiles that can pierce the strongest armour"), the Flaming Projectiles special rule simply makes their shots ignore cover. With a description like that, you'd think they'd have something like the Thousand Sons, and have AP3 bolters or something.
Nostalgia: - There used to be rules for entire armies of Legion of the Damned way back in 3rd Edition, in the good old days of Chapter Approved which used the Space Marine codex as a base and offered variant rules for gameplay (much like modern day supplements... except they were only the cost of a White Dwarf). While they were not as badass as they became in 6th, you still got an entire army of space marines with 6++ saves and the ability to deep strike.
Gallery
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Back in 2nd Edition.
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Their 5th Edition minis.
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Notice how the Imperium banner is not getting consumed while the Chaos Star is starting to melt away.
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Their Epic minis.
