2d4chan - User contributions [en]

Ultramarines

2018-09-14T03:35:07Z

2601:647:4E80:7DC0:211E:7B64:3DD6:6E3F: /* Overview */

{{Infobox Spess Mahreen Chapter
|Name = Ultramarines
|Heraldry = [[File:Smurfpauldron.jpg|140px]]
|Battle Cry = "Courage and Honour!" and "We March for Macragge!"
|Number = XIII
|Founding = [[First Founding]]
|Successors of = N/A
|Successor Chapters = Roughly 65% of all Chapters.
|Chapter Master = [[Marneus Calgar]]
|Primarch = [[Roboute Guilliman]]
|Homeworld = [[Ultramar|Macragge]]
|Specialty = Jack of all trades. Obsessed with strategy, tactics and [[Codex Astartes|discipline.]] Basically Greco-romans IN SPESS!!
|Strength = Above 1000 Marines
|Allegiance = [[Imperium]]
|Colours = Ultramarine Blue, white & gold (For the most famous Second Company. Other Companies use different colors)
}}
{{Topquote|Battles are won by [[World Eaters|slaughter]] and [[Codex Astartes|maneuver]]. The greater the [[Creed|general]], the more he contributes in maneuver, the less he demands in slaughter.|Winston S. Churchill}}
{{topquote|Our Presence Remakes the Past!|The Banner of Macragge}}

The '''Ultramarines''' (More commonly known as Ultrasmurfs) are a chapter of [[Space Marines]], probably the most famous and well-known (both within the [[Warhammer 40,000]] universe and without). [[Games Workshop]] considers the Ultramarines their chapter of choice, and the Ultramarines represent the standard upon which most other Space Marine chapters are based. Why Games Workshop would want a Space Marine chapter whose symbol is a <s>toilet seat</s> <s>upside down Omega (℧)</s> repulsive reverse vagina is beyond us. They have an easily recognizable blue-with-gold-trim colour scheme that the [[Thousand Sons]] decided to rip off post-heresy. (technically that's only the second company but who ever heard of an ultramarine player not painting his army blue and gold) - the blue colouration, coupled with the small size of the minis, has lead them to be nicknamed "Smurfs" by some. [[Rick Priestley]] was originally inspired to promote the ultramarines heavily in publications of White Dwarf after a dream he had whilst staying around a friends house in which he claims the miniatures began speaking to him, this partly lead to his eventual dismissal from [[Games Workshop]] in 2010.

A squad of Tactical Marines are the protagonists of the 40k-based movie surprisingly titled "[[Ultramarines:The Movie|Ultramarines]]".

==Overview==
[[File:NroL23W.jpg|left|350px|thumb|All said and done, the Ultries can be badass.]]
The Ultramarines are perhaps the closest to what many would consider a 'modern' military (more like Marie Sues) among the Adeptus Astartes. Strategy, planning and the minimization of casualties is the basis of any Ultramarine battle-plan and their central concept is that of a well drilled, immaculate army of soldiers who execute their duty with professionalism and competence. [[Alpha Legion|"Information is victory"]] is essentially the Ultramarine way, more so than most other Chapters. Though they are much more relaxed with regards to discipline than the [[Red Scorpions|Forge World's favoured]], or [[Hammers of Dorn| those other guys]]. Even before they had reunited with their Primarch, it had been noted that the XIIIth Legion was strongly inclined towards the adoption of carefully thought out battle plans, an established chain of command, and an aversion to inflicting collateral damage. These tendencies were intensified further by their extensive study and practice of the [[Codex Astartes]], which covers a very broad range of battlefield situations and doctrines to live by. Thanks to each and every one of them training and living by it, their companies operate like a smoothly functioning combat machine with every unit functionally interlocking with every other. However, as much as this by-the-book discipline was their strength, it is often also, like the real-life ancient Roman Legions, their weakness, since the few situations that the Codex Astartes did not prepare them for tended to catch them flat-footed, lacking the flexibility to properly respond. The initial Tyranid invasion and the [[Necrons|Damnos incident]] exemplify such situations, where the unconventional nature of their enemy nearly led to their defeat. It doesn't matter how smoothly your forces function if you don't actually have a way to win the battle.

That being said, they are extremely good at adapting to a threat once the initial shock has passed . In the aftermath of their near-defeat to the Tyranids, the Chapter would go on to crush Hive Fleet Kraken as a coherent invasion force as well as create an entire unit dedicated to fighting this particular threat (Almost as if they are a chapter that is protected by a mystical armour) ,called the Tyrranic War Veterans. These specialists would become highly sought after by the Deathwatch due to their experience and knowledge and was even augmented by survivors from [[Scythes of the Emperor|other Chapters]] that suffered the wrath of the Tyranids. During the Horus Heresy, an entire force of 1000 Ultramarines was decimated the initial Night Lord of invasion of Sotha. Despite being caught off guard at first due to their unfamiliarity with the Night Lord's unconventional tactics, they began to adapt fast to their enemy's fighting style and by the end of the battle, achieved a near 20-1 kill ratio over their traitorous cousins. Although they may be weak to a new enemy or new tactics, they have a superb reactivity once they have the information they need.

They’re not warriors or knights, but soldiers; a professional fighting force dedicated to defending the 500 Worlds of Ultramar and serving the interests of the larger Imperium beyond. A standing army that is the byproduct of a prosperous Star Empire to whom they owe their existence to. This is seen in their combat doctrine. They don’t have any specializations themselves because they are supposed to adapt to whatever situation presents itself and act accordingly. They are a fluid and malleable fighting force that is supposed to assess the situation, gain every scrap of intelligence/battle data they can, and then change themselves into whatever is required to get the job done; be it a blunt hammer or a precision blade.

The [[Primarch]] of the Ultramarines is [[Roboute Guilliman]] (aka Robot Girlyman and about a thousand other highly appropriate names: Big Bobby G, Rowboat Gillman, The BIG RG, Rawbutt Girlyman , The Great Papa Smurf, God-Emperor of smurfs, Rubbybutt Jellyman Ex. Ex.) and it was he who wrote the (in?)famous [[Codex Astartes]] after the events of the [[Horus Heresy|Daddy Issue Invasion]], prescribing each Space Marine chapter to a mere thousand warriors to ensure that no one man would ever command the loyalty of an entire Space Marine legion again. At least, that was the plan, but Roboute Guilliman himself never got to see it come to light, as he was [[Battle of Thessala|mortally wounded]] by a poisonous attack from his bro, the Traitor Primarch [[Fulgrim]], and he had been kept in stasis by the Ultramarines for thousands of years, only being revived through the actions of Archmagos Cawl and the Ynnari ten thousand years later (Working with Xenos? HERESY!).

The Ultramarines base their ideals upon the teachings of super-Ultra Smurf daddy, who ended up on a neo-Roman planet and soon adopted their way of thinking. They believe in individual strength to strengthen the whole ([[Chaos|and not for the betterment of one self]]), and in following the rules, however strict they might be. This way, order is maintained in all things. Courage is, naturally, also a big thing to them, since it goes with the idea of the individual working to better the whole. All this means that the Ultramarines are very, ''very'' good at doing their job, as long as they are prepared for it and works alongside the rest of their Chapter, but tend to be completely stumped when a situation, which their planning and reasoning can't immediately deal with, comes up.

The Ultramarines are also notorious for disregarding much of the wider Imperium in favour of their own worlds, the famed ''500 Worlds of Ultramar''. This has earned them much hate from in-universe factions, who don't like how they essentially go "Screw you guys, we'll just make our own, sort of working empire!"; One of Fulgrim's [[Iterator|iterators]], who had the ear of powerful members of Terran court, once said that ''"The Lord of Ultramar sees little else besides the primacy of his own culture."'', and also Malcador and the Emperor were not surprised when Guilliman chose to defend his 500 worlds rather than get his hands dirty with the Horus Heresy. Many elegen/tg/entlemen dislike this as well, since it sort of makes the Ultries seem they know better than the rest of the Imperium, while still being lauded as being some of the most honourable Chapters in the entire galaxy. Though in the Ultramarine's defense, they're probably the most successful space marine chapter in the galaxy, considering that they defend and maintain hundreds of worlds, and those worlds are some of the most prosperous, meritocratic worlds in the entire Imperium. Even with their duties in Ultramar, the Chapter still sends warriors out into the wider galaxy, making significant contributions at [[Armageddon]] and at [[Ultramarines Honour Company|Cadia during the]] [[Black Crusade|13th black crusade]].

[[File:SpacemarineGettingArmoured.PNG|500px|right|thumb|Sparing nothing on the awesome factor.]]
All of the other Space Marine legions [[Space Wolves|save one]] (or maybe [[Dark Angels|two]], depending on how you look at it, maybe [[Angry Marines|three]] if you count anger and most likely [[Black Templars|four]] when thinking about it) adopted the Codex and split up into multitudes of smaller chapters, and most Space Marine chapters today follow the practices found within it, although some like the Space Wolves and the Black Templars have refrained from implementing it. Few are as rigid in pursuing the use of the Codex as the Ultramarines, though. Where most other Chapters like the [[Imperial Fists]] and [[Raven Guard]] looks to it for guidance when encountering unfamiliar situations, the Ultramarines see the Codex as a sort of "holy book" and follow its instructions to the letter. Ironically, Guilliman himself believed this to be misguided and noted that the Codex was never meant to replace the ability to act on one's own judgments. But [[Grimdark|Irony]] is a strong force in 40K universe.

Because they are the poster-boys for Space Marines, they are perhaps the most famous Chapter in the general 40k fandom, but are widely hated by many denizens of [[/tg/]]. This may initially have been due to their popularity - the Space Marines in general suffer something of a backlash from fa/tg/uys because of their overwhelming popularity with the annoying young children that infest the hobby, and the Ultramarines are the most popular of them all - but of recent editions the blatant favouritism displayed by certain Games Workshop writers towards the Chapter have earned them considerable ire, especially from fans of other Space Marine chapters that get slagged off in the process. This is mainly the fault of [[Matthew Ward]]'s 5th edition Space Marine Codex, which explicitly claimed that the Ultramarines were superior to all other Space Marines (In 2nd edition it was explicitly stated.) and was not helped by Ward's own poor fluff-writing skills (see [[#Quotes|Quotes]] below). However, more recent fluff has served to bring the Ultramarines back to their "Space Roman" roots, making them far less objectionable than they were in the past. Forge World's Horus Heresy line has been particularly kind to them, giving them a variety of stylish Heresy-era gear, all of them with that "The Glory That Was Rome" vibe.

==First Edition History==
[[Image:UltramarinesRT.jpg|thumb|right|Fig.1.1: An Ultramarine, note the [[Beakie]].]]
{{Oldschool}}

[http://www.scribd.com/doc/118383071/WD97-Chapter-Approved-Index-Astartes| Back in the] [[Rogue Trader (Sourcebook)|first edition]] of Warhammer 40,000, in an article co-written by [[Rick Priestley]]. The XIIIth Legion were actually traitors and were banished to the Eye of Terror along with the other traitor legions. The modern day 40k Ultramarines were established on new years day 001.M32, which would make them a Third Founding chapter. They received all of the [[Gene Seed|gene-"sperm" & implants]], rituals and paraphernalia of the original legion.

Not only that, they only received lordship over the world of [[Macragge]] AFTER the First Tyrannic War. And though they did have different names for all of their company captains and command staff, they were/are still commanded by a man named Marneus Calgar.

The implications of this would be startling if we use the ''"everything is canon, but not necessarily true"'' stance that GW has adopted when regarding fluff inconsistencies. Hinting that Guilliman's marines were [[Imperium Secundus|heretics and traitors]] and were eventually banished from the Imperium.

However, attempting to reconcile this old origin story with "modern" Ultramarines is extremely difficult, we can only coherently insert it into the current state of play if we assume there is a second chapter out there called the "Ultra-Marines" with a chapter master and homeworld of the same name and the same level of involvement with the Tyrannic Wars. Though what completely knocks this old fluff out is that it ''also'' has possession of the body of [[Roboute Guilliman]] so it has to be a retcon though it still opens the door to conspiracy theories or that Marneus Calgar is [[Lugft Huron|in command of multiple Chapters]].

The other possibility is that when the Ultramarines were declared traitor and forced into the eye of terror, Guilliman, recognising his plans for [[Imperium_Secundus|Imperium Secondus]] were about to topple with the death of [[Sanguinius]] (who had been declared ruler as a means to placate the Emperor and the other legions), Guilliman had himself cloned and a portion of his legions most pure geneseed moved to the Eastern Fringe and [[Macragge]] to ensure survival of the Ultramarines, The Ultramar Empire and the Imperium Secondus concept as its eventuality. This occurred just as the rest of the legion (Including the original primarch) were declared traitor and forced into the eye. It would also suggest, given the appearance of Guilliman's wounded body in stasis on Macragge, that it was in-fact the clone that was killed by [[Fulgrim]] and the real primarch still resides either in the eye of terror or the immaterium with the remains of the Ultramarine Traitor Legion.

In either case, somehow one of the two possible Guilliman's was returned to Macragge and placed in stasis <strike>post-mortem</strike> after being Mortally-Wounded. If you accept the cloning of Guilliman, this all makes sense; he wanted to ensure his empire survived and having been declared traitor, cloned himself and sent the clone to rule over the new Imperium, the clone being mortally wounded by [[Fulgrim]] en-route. Or somehow, and for some reason, a traitor primarch was dragged out of the eye of terror and kept in stasis on the opposite side of the galaxy. Given the stupidity of that second line of thought, the clone being the primarch on Macragge is a much more likely situation... Especially as if his wounds heal and the clone recovers he would be able to continue acting out the original Guilliman's plans for a second imperium with its epicentre based within the Ultramar Empire and using Space Marines created from the remains of the purest legion-stock geneseed.

Or, infinitely more likely, it's just old fluff which went the way of the [[Squats]] after Rogue Trader, and we should hope so, because if it isn't, we also have to reconcile the space marines being entirely beaky space cops.

== Name & Breaking the Hyphen ==
The Ultramarines are not named because they are 'Ultra' as in 'Superior'. They're called "Ultramarines" because their home sector is [[Ultramar]] and their armour colouring is coincidentally called "Ultramarine Blue".

The overseas section of the Portuguese Empire was referred to as ''Ultramar'' (''waaaaaaaaaaay'' beyond the sea). Given the great distance between Ultramar and [[Terra]], it's a fitting analogy.

In early versions of the Lore, "Ultramarines" (As they are now known) are spelt in a myriad of different ways. Rick Priestly himself describing them as "Ultra-Marines". Other versions include "Ultra Marines", "The Ultra-Marine Chapter" and <strike>"Smurfs"</strike> {{BLAM}} amongst many other iterations. In all instances, and all cases (even accounting for the First Edition lore above) it can be assumed the lore refers to the same Chapter or Legion. Punctuation matters, just not in 40K...

==Ultramarines post-Ward==
{{MattWard}}
[[Image:Ultraknights.jpg|thumb|right|Ultramarines, from the days of [[Awesome]].]]
{{topquote|Our love is nothing but the blues, baby, how blue can you get?|B.B. King}}
{{Topquote|Listen to your blue-clad wretches yelling of courage and honour, courage and honour, courage and honour. Do you even know the meaning of those words? Courage is fighting the kingdom which enslaves you, no matter that their armies outnumber yours by ten-thousand to one. You know nothing of courage. Honour is resisting a tyrant when all others suckle and grow fat on the hypocrisy he feeds them. You know nothing of honour.|[[Angron]], proving that a stopped clock is right twice a day}}

Unless you are new here, then you should be well informed by now over the really [[Skub|skubtastic]] history involving the [[Ultramarines]] and the dreaded [[Matt Ward|Ward]]. While Ward was indeed responsible for the immense [[butthurt]] and [[Rage|rage]] caused on [[/tg/]] and to [[1d4Chan]] itself (Seriously just look at the pages history, it was a war on green and red edits), Ward himself wasn't completely at fault here, [[Games Workshop]] is just as much to blame for their irresponsible and careless attitude in handling fluff to a ''clearly'' biased player and gave him the green light to write whatever things Ward could come out with. However after Ward's unexpected quite departure in 2014 (He came back in 2016 though, just hope he can control his Ultramarine urges now), the Ultramarines have been getting....less of the limelight like they used to back in the heydays of Codex: Space Marines 5th Edition. Nowadays, the [[Blood Angels]], [[Space Wolves]], [[Dark Angels]] and even the [[Deathwatch]] are getting more in the spotlight. While the Ultramarines are still the de facto mascots of WH40K, it seems that the post-Ward era has seen the return of more...diverse forms of Space Marine Chapters. Furthermore, the [[Horus Heresy]] lineups made by our favorite [[Forgeworld]] has been giving the Ultramarines and the rest of the Space Marine Legions an equal respect in both their lore and crunch which was unthinkable back in the day, "The [[Salamanders]] and [[Raven Guard]] get their own moment to shine without the Ultras overshadowing them? How preposterous!" would be the most likely answer if went back in time and told our past selves over this. Additionally the Forgeworld model for [[Roboute Guilliman]] has been well received by fans with some commenting that of all the [[Primarch]] models, Guilliman's was one of the best designed and posed. What does this mean for our (in)famous blueberries? A redemption of sorts? Winning back the crowd? Earning back the respect it once had? The answer could be all of them. Whatever is the case, the legacy of Ward and the Ultramarine fiasco did impact the way players see the Ultramarines and the Space Marines to an extent either negatively or positively (More inclined to the negativity though). But seeing as how GeeDubs still has the [[Robin Cruddace|Cruddhead]], it can be seen with some sigh of relief that GeeDubs seems to be back to their grips now in terms of fluff at least.

==Tabletop==
Throughout most of GW's history the Ultramarines have been portrayed on the tabletop as the "standard" space marine chapter, to the point where most other chapters are represented as "Ultramarines +,- variable X". [[Dark Angels|More]] [[Grey Knights|popular]] [[Space Wolves|chapters]] often get [[Blood Angels|their own]] codices, but less popular chapters get relegated to sets of advantages and disadvantages on top of the Ultramarine baseline. At certain points in GW's sordid tabletop history this has led to Ultramarines being literally vanilla marines with no bonuses whatsoever, where the '''only''' advantage to taking them is their wide selection of characters, and other times such as 7th edition where with the right builds and the right tactics, you could statistically beat out the Blood Angels and Space Wolves in assault, and Dark Angels and Imperial Fists in shooting. 8th Edition is probably the best they've ever been while not being quite as cheesy as they were in the past. Their strategies, characters, chapter tactics, and warlord trait all grant bonuses to command points, to the point where you can get the effective use of 20(!) command points on stratagems in a 2000 point game, leading to an army with massive tactical flexibility. Gone are the days were you can butcher melee dedicated forces in close combat, and out-shoot the gun-factories of the universe, a bunch of damn sues who win because they are - of course - the BEST EVAR. Now you get the Ultramarines as they should be: a versatile but non-specialized army with the tactical and strategic flexibility to make the most out of any situation.

==Notable Members==
[[File:1280346485348.jpg|thumb|right|While most believe the story told by the Ultramarines, eye-witnesses paint a different story...]]
*[[Marneus Calgar]], [[Marneus Calgar#Gathering Storm|Regent of Ultramar]] and Chapter Master of the Ultramarines. His accomplishments include being thoroughly ripped apart by the [[Swarmlord]] (by that we mean all his limbs, a large portion of his body and his eye), and single handedly holding off an Ork Waaagh! for 9 days all by himself. However, his crowning moment is his defeat of an Eldar Avatar of Khaine in 1 vs 1, hand-to-hand combat, which is typically killed by the same effort it takes to kill a Khornate Bloodthirster - never mind that the thing is made of molten metal and over three times his size. He also had a rematch with the Swarmlord and won.
*[[Severus Agemman]], captain of the Ultramarines First Company. He was Captain of the Second Company, and Sicarius' commanding officer before being promoted after the First Tyrannic War. There isn't much fluff about him besides being overshadowed by his former subordinate Sicarius. As first Company Captain he's Calgar's appointed successor, however much of the chapter thinks it will be Sicarius instead of him. Agemman is aware of this possibility and isn't very happy about it.
*[[Cato Sicarius]], the captain of the Ultramarines Second Company, is kind of a glory hog, but he's arguably earned his right to be a braggart through his skill at arms. Was taken on as a ward by the primarch after his resurrection, mostly because Cato's brash, forthright personality reminded him of Aeonid Thiel, whose counsel Guilliman greatly missed.
*[[Uriel Ventris]] is the captain of the Ultramarines Fourth Company and the main character of Graham McNeil's Ultramarines novel series. Notable for destroying the [[Daemonculaba]].
*[[Ortan Cassius]], a chaplain of the Ultramarines, is one of the oldest Space Marines alive and [[Bjorn the Fell Handed|not yet placed in a Dreadnought]]. The Tyrannic War Veterans were his idea.
*[[Varro Tigurius]], the Ultramarine's Chief Librarian, has enough psychic prowess to make psychic contact with the Hive Mind without going bonkers in the process.
*[[Torias Telion]] (aka; Sean Connery made [[Grimdark]]) is an Ultramarine Scout Sergeant. A skilled sniper, other chapters have borrowed him to train their scouts occasionally. He also has an impressive mustache.
*[[Captain Titus]] is a Captain of the who the fuck knows company (if the trim of his pauldrons are accurate, he's Captain of the 2nd Company). He gained prominence (will gain prominence?) on the forge world of Graia, trying to keep a whole Waaagh! from stealing all the bitz for themselves while keeping a probably radical Inquisitor happy. Also there's a portal to the warp letting out Daemons and Chaos Marines to go on a jolly old pub crawl. He is also one of the few Ultramarines who clearly states that the Codex Astartes is not meant to be a mental straightjacket. Thus, he is [[awesome]].
*Chaplain Varnus, an Ultramarines Chaplain dispatched to Lorn V. For perhaps the first instance in recorded time, he is a Space Marine who actually respects the Imperial Guard and couldn't ask for a better force (barring his own company).
*Aeonid Thiel: A sergeant during the Horus Heresy. Despite being seen as a rule breaking maverick for proposing battle simulations of Space Marines fighting one another, he ends up playing a major role first in the Battle of Calth, then in laying the groundwork for the Ultramarines post-war, including the red painted helmets for sergeants. Also served as the co-writer of the Codex. Promoted to Captain of the 2nd Company at the time of Guilliman's wounding, his ultimate fate is unknown.
*Sergeant Cornellus: A sergeant of an embarrassing squad. Notable for killing [[Eliphas the Inheritor]] the first time, stopping a daemon invasion and finding the Ultramarines Scrabble set all while sounding like a baby
*Smurfette: The only female member of the Ultramarine chapter.

==Quotes==
{{topquote|Chapters (not descended from Guilliman's geneseed) are disciples who owe their genetic inheritance to another [[Primarch]], but follow the [[Codex Astartes]] as keenly as their divergent heritage allows. While primarily composed of successor Chapters, this group also includes several Chapters of the [[First Founding]] - notably the [[Imperial Fists]], [[White Scars]] and the [[Raven Guard]]. <s>These chapters can never be Ultramarines, for their gene-seed is not that of [[Roboute Guilliman]]. Nevertheless, they will ever aspire to the standards and teachings of the great [[Primarch]].</s>|Fucking [[Matt Ward]]...}}
{{topquote|(Chapters who do not emulate the Ultramarines) are aberrants; chapters who, through quirk of gene-seed, mutation or stubbornness, eschew the Codex Astartes in favor of other structural and combat doctrines. Some, such as the [[Blood Angels]] and their successors, strive to be worthy of Guilliman's legacy, but their recalcitrant gene-seed drives them ever further from it. Others, such as the [[Space Wolves]] and the [[Black Templars]], remain stubbornly independent, looking to [[Primarch|their own founder's]] ways of war (which is hilarious for the Templars) and caring little of how they fare in the eyes of others. These aberrant Chapters were always few in number and their presence diminishes with each passing decade, for their gene-seed is no longer the source of fresh Chapters.|[[Matt Ward]], Ultramarines player, codex writer, [[Codex]]: [[Space Marines]], 5th Edition, p. 25.}}
{{topquote|The Ultramarines are undoubtedly the best Space Marines ever. Yes, really! Thanks to the heritage of Guilliman and their myriad heroic deeds, the Ultramarines are the exemplars of the Space Marines. With a few fringe exceptions who have severe mutations ([[Blood Angels]]) or stolid stubbornness ([[Space Wolves]] and [[Dark Angels]]) all [[Space Marine Chapter|Space marine chapters]] want to be like the Ultramarines and recognize [[Marneus Calgar]] as their [[spiritual liege]].|Matt Ward, Ultramarines player, codex writer, in the [[White Dwarf]] interview celebrating the release of Codex: Space Marines.}}
{{topquote|But your teachings…" "Are yet flawed," said Guilliman. "No one, not even one such as I, can anticipate every possible outcome of battle. My words are not some holy writ that must be obeyed. There must always be room for personal initiative on the battlefield. You and I both know how one spark of heroism can turn the tide of battle. That knowledge and personal experience can only be earned in blood, and the leader in the field must always be the ultimate arbiter of what course of action should be followed.|[[Roboute Guilliman]], making a point that his successors would quickly forget about and [[Matt Ward|the writer above]] would ignore.}}

==Daily Rituals==
04:00 - The Ultramarines rise up from their sleep in their marble-encased sleeping chambers. The Primarch has already been awake for some time, having lost the need for sleep as a side effect of his revival.

04:30 - Morning Prayers. The Ultramarines conduct morning prayers on why they are the SECOND TO TEH EMPRAH! and how all other chapters view [[Marneus Calgar]] as their ''Spritual Liege.''

05:30 - Codex Astartes. The Ultramarines are indoctrinated and reminded on the rules and values of the Codex Astartes. Guilliman makes a note to break the news of his Codex revisions gently so his gene-sons don't go into conniptions.

08:00 - Morning Firing Rites. The Ultramarines enter target practice with spiritual guidance from Chaplain Ortan Cassius, who manages to only occasionally go off into furious rants about "The goddam bugs".

09:00 - Battle Practice. The Ultramarines leave for Macragge's Colosseum to train against each other, the local Macragge fauna and Battle Servitors.

10:00 - Morning Meal. While later than some chapters, the Ultramarines feast upon a light meal made of fruits, biscuits and light meat by the Chapter serfs. The serfs are thanked soon afterwards in a manner of respect.

10:15 - Tactical Indoctrination. The Ultramarines head to see the latest battle plans and which military techniques that can best complement the Codex Astartes. Guilliman reviews the most recent major warzones of the Imperium and prepares battle plans for the forces deployed there.

10:30 - Meetings with the Spiritual Liege. Whilst the rest of the Ultramarines practice reciting the Codex Astartes, the leaders from each of the Ultramarine's companies discuss political, social and military affairs of Ultramar and the Imperium at large. When the Primarch has the opportunity to be present, discussions and tactical briefings on his long absence last for hours, with plenty of facepalming and sighing from said Primarch.

11:00 - Afternoon Wargames. The Ultramarines conduct [[Tabletop Miniature|miniature wargames]] to best simulate strategic and combat play which can be learned and adapted in real life combat.

13:00 - Midday Meal. A light meal of cheese, bread, meats and vegetables is prepared by the Chapter serfs.

13:30 - Codex Astartes. More indoctrination of the Codex Astartes are read to ensure that the Ultramarines never diverge from the book of Guilliman. The Primarch privately wonders how his words about the Codex being a guideline could have been misinterpreted so badly.

15:00 - Evening Firing Rites. The Ultramarines enter target practice.

16:00 - Battle Practice. The Ultramarines are now dropped into the wilderness of Macragge to fend off the local fauna and flora there. The animals and plants killed are sent to the Chapter Serfs for more ingredients.

17:00 - Evening Prayers. The Ultramarines gather together to pray on why they are the chosen chapter and why the Ultramar System is the best system.

18:00 - Nighttime Firing Rites. The Ultramarines take target practice in the night to further hone in their nocturnal experience.

19:00 - Battle Practice. The Ultramarines descend to one of the neighboring planets in Ultramar to further fight the planet's local fauna and flora, as well as the various nasty things Nurgle has been attacking Ultramar with lately.

19:30 - Daily Medical Checkup. Whilst the rest of the Ultramarines are busy practicing their combat prowess, the long hours of having to keep the entire Imperium afloat has left Roboute Guilliman in a state of dismay, anger and minor facial injuries due to repeated facepalming. [[Apothecaries]] try and fail to warn their Primarch that continued usage of the facepalm will eventually give the Avenging Son a concussion. Any battle-brothers who have come into contact with the forces of Nurgle are painstakingly decontaminated to prevent the spread of any warp-contagion.

20:00 - Evening Meal. A feast made from the creatures slain by the Ultramarines earlier on is cooked in the finest ingredients. Cooking it perfectly gets the serf a purity seal of valor while cooking it imperfectly forces the serf to be read the entire Codex Astartes section on cooking.

21:00 - Cleaning up Guilliman's chambers. The Ultramarines go and clean up their Primarch's marble chambers after Macragge's daily tourist traps are closed for the night. Despite the Avenging Son's frequent absences from Ultramar, they like to be sure his quarters are just as he left them.

22:00 - Free Time. The Ultramarines get free time. Some continue to read the Codex Astartes, others pray to the Emperor while some go out of their Fortress Monastery to catch up on the local news and political affairs as well as hanging out with the citizens of Macragge.

24:00 - Rest Period. The Ultramarines descend back to their marble-encased sleeping chambers to rest, save for Guilliman who is needed elsewhere in the Imperium.

==Some music==

*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wTXrLsZvVI Their theme] done by [[HMKids]].
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rt1M8iZNHpQ Their theme] from Chaos Gate. Became a major meme among Russian 40k fans due to some deliciously stupid [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBg9ZAqBifQ misheard lyrics] and made ultramarines associated with soup in Russian community.
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pf9AaTV4-yw A track] from their official movie.

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Spacemarine.jpg|[[Iron Hands|Sgt Pasanius didn't want that hand anyway.]]
File:Warhammer ultramarine take 2 by faroldjo.jpg|Say what you want about Ultramarines, but their Honour Guards looks pretty boss.
File:Ultramarines concept by Malkavian7515.jpg
File:Pimp Suit.png|Captain Cato Sicarius' power armour, also known as the Mantle of the Mary Suzerain
File:CodexSM EPUB Cover.jpg|Ultramarines got the front cover of the Space Marine Codex and admittely looks fucking cool for it.
</gallery>

==See also==
*[[Who Watches Them]]
*[[Macragge heresy]]
*[[Ultramarines Honour Company]]
*[http://www.scribd.com/doc/118383071/WD97-Chapter-Approved-Index-Astartes| The past wot got remade by their presence - the original Chapter Approved write up of the "Ultra-Marines."]

{{Template:Marines-Official}}
[[Category:Warhammer 40,000]][[Category:Imperial]][[Category:Space Marines]][[Category:Matt Ward]]

Ultramarines

2018-09-14T03:34:34Z

2601:647:4E80:7DC0:211E:7B64:3DD6:6E3F: /* Overview */

{{Infobox Spess Mahreen Chapter
|Name = Ultramarines
|Heraldry = [[File:Smurfpauldron.jpg|140px]]
|Battle Cry = "Courage and Honour!" and "We March for Macragge!"
|Number = XIII
|Founding = [[First Founding]]
|Successors of = N/A
|Successor Chapters = Roughly 65% of all Chapters.
|Chapter Master = [[Marneus Calgar]]
|Primarch = [[Roboute Guilliman]]
|Homeworld = [[Ultramar|Macragge]]
|Specialty = Jack of all trades. Obsessed with strategy, tactics and [[Codex Astartes|discipline.]] Basically Greco-romans IN SPESS!!
|Strength = Above 1000 Marines
|Allegiance = [[Imperium]]
|Colours = Ultramarine Blue, white & gold (For the most famous Second Company. Other Companies use different colors)
}}
{{Topquote|Battles are won by [[World Eaters|slaughter]] and [[Codex Astartes|maneuver]]. The greater the [[Creed|general]], the more he contributes in maneuver, the less he demands in slaughter.|Winston S. Churchill}}
{{topquote|Our Presence Remakes the Past!|The Banner of Macragge}}

The '''Ultramarines''' (More commonly known as Ultrasmurfs) are a chapter of [[Space Marines]], probably the most famous and well-known (both within the [[Warhammer 40,000]] universe and without). [[Games Workshop]] considers the Ultramarines their chapter of choice, and the Ultramarines represent the standard upon which most other Space Marine chapters are based. Why Games Workshop would want a Space Marine chapter whose symbol is a <s>toilet seat</s> <s>upside down Omega (℧)</s> repulsive reverse vagina is beyond us. They have an easily recognizable blue-with-gold-trim colour scheme that the [[Thousand Sons]] decided to rip off post-heresy. (technically that's only the second company but who ever heard of an ultramarine player not painting his army blue and gold) - the blue colouration, coupled with the small size of the minis, has lead them to be nicknamed "Smurfs" by some. [[Rick Priestley]] was originally inspired to promote the ultramarines heavily in publications of White Dwarf after a dream he had whilst staying around a friends house in which he claims the miniatures began speaking to him, this partly lead to his eventual dismissal from [[Games Workshop]] in 2010.

A squad of Tactical Marines are the protagonists of the 40k-based movie surprisingly titled "[[Ultramarines:The Movie|Ultramarines]]".

==Overview==
[[File:NroL23W.jpg|left|350px|thumb|All said and done, the Ultries can be badass.]]
The Ultramarines are perhaps the closest to what many would consider a 'modern' military (more like Marie Sue) among the Adeptus Astartes. Strategy, planning and the minimization of casualties is the basis of any Ultramarine battle-plan and their central concept is that of a well drilled, immaculate army of soldiers who execute their duty with professionalism and competence. [[Alpha Legion|"Information is victory"]] is essentially the Ultramarine way, more so than most other Chapters. Though they are much more relaxed with regards to discipline than the [[Red Scorpions|Forge World's favoured]], or [[Hammers of Dorn| those other guys]]. Even before they had reunited with their Primarch, it had been noted that the XIIIth Legion was strongly inclined towards the adoption of carefully thought out battle plans, an established chain of command, and an aversion to inflicting collateral damage. These tendencies were intensified further by their extensive study and practice of the [[Codex Astartes]], which covers a very broad range of battlefield situations and doctrines to live by. Thanks to each and every one of them training and living by it, their companies operate like a smoothly functioning combat machine with every unit functionally interlocking with every other. However, as much as this by-the-book discipline was their strength, it is often also, like the real-life ancient Roman Legions, their weakness, since the few situations that the Codex Astartes did not prepare them for tended to catch them flat-footed, lacking the flexibility to properly respond. The initial Tyranid invasion and the [[Necrons|Damnos incident]] exemplify such situations, where the unconventional nature of their enemy nearly led to their defeat. It doesn't matter how smoothly your forces function if you don't actually have a way to win the battle.

That being said, they are extremely good at adapting to a threat once the initial shock has passed . In the aftermath of their near-defeat to the Tyranids, the Chapter would go on to crush Hive Fleet Kraken as a coherent invasion force as well as create an entire unit dedicated to fighting this particular threat (Almost as if they are a chapter that is protected by a mystical armour) ,called the Tyrranic War Veterans. These specialists would become highly sought after by the Deathwatch due to their experience and knowledge and was even augmented by survivors from [[Scythes of the Emperor|other Chapters]] that suffered the wrath of the Tyranids. During the Horus Heresy, an entire force of 1000 Ultramarines was decimated the initial Night Lord of invasion of Sotha. Despite being caught off guard at first due to their unfamiliarity with the Night Lord's unconventional tactics, they began to adapt fast to their enemy's fighting style and by the end of the battle, achieved a near 20-1 kill ratio over their traitorous cousins. Although they may be weak to a new enemy or new tactics, they have a superb reactivity once they have the information they need.

They’re not warriors or knights, but soldiers; a professional fighting force dedicated to defending the 500 Worlds of Ultramar and serving the interests of the larger Imperium beyond. A standing army that is the byproduct of a prosperous Star Empire to whom they owe their existence to. This is seen in their combat doctrine. They don’t have any specializations themselves because they are supposed to adapt to whatever situation presents itself and act accordingly. They are a fluid and malleable fighting force that is supposed to assess the situation, gain every scrap of intelligence/battle data they can, and then change themselves into whatever is required to get the job done; be it a blunt hammer or a precision blade.

The [[Primarch]] of the Ultramarines is [[Roboute Guilliman]] (aka Robot Girlyman and about a thousand other highly appropriate names: Big Bobby G, Rowboat Gillman, The BIG RG, Rawbutt Girlyman , The Great Papa Smurf, God-Emperor of smurfs, Rubbybutt Jellyman Ex. Ex.) and it was he who wrote the (in?)famous [[Codex Astartes]] after the events of the [[Horus Heresy|Daddy Issue Invasion]], prescribing each Space Marine chapter to a mere thousand warriors to ensure that no one man would ever command the loyalty of an entire Space Marine legion again. At least, that was the plan, but Roboute Guilliman himself never got to see it come to light, as he was [[Battle of Thessala|mortally wounded]] by a poisonous attack from his bro, the Traitor Primarch [[Fulgrim]], and he had been kept in stasis by the Ultramarines for thousands of years, only being revived through the actions of Archmagos Cawl and the Ynnari ten thousand years later (Working with Xenos? HERESY!).

The Ultramarines base their ideals upon the teachings of super-Ultra Smurf daddy, who ended up on a neo-Roman planet and soon adopted their way of thinking. They believe in individual strength to strengthen the whole ([[Chaos|and not for the betterment of one self]]), and in following the rules, however strict they might be. This way, order is maintained in all things. Courage is, naturally, also a big thing to them, since it goes with the idea of the individual working to better the whole. All this means that the Ultramarines are very, ''very'' good at doing their job, as long as they are prepared for it and works alongside the rest of their Chapter, but tend to be completely stumped when a situation, which their planning and reasoning can't immediately deal with, comes up.

The Ultramarines are also notorious for disregarding much of the wider Imperium in favour of their own worlds, the famed ''500 Worlds of Ultramar''. This has earned them much hate from in-universe factions, who don't like how they essentially go "Screw you guys, we'll just make our own, sort of working empire!"; One of Fulgrim's [[Iterator|iterators]], who had the ear of powerful members of Terran court, once said that ''"The Lord of Ultramar sees little else besides the primacy of his own culture."'', and also Malcador and the Emperor were not surprised when Guilliman chose to defend his 500 worlds rather than get his hands dirty with the Horus Heresy. Many elegen/tg/entlemen dislike this as well, since it sort of makes the Ultries seem they know better than the rest of the Imperium, while still being lauded as being some of the most honourable Chapters in the entire galaxy. Though in the Ultramarine's defense, they're probably the most successful space marine chapter in the galaxy, considering that they defend and maintain hundreds of worlds, and those worlds are some of the most prosperous, meritocratic worlds in the entire Imperium. Even with their duties in Ultramar, the Chapter still sends warriors out into the wider galaxy, making significant contributions at [[Armageddon]] and at [[Ultramarines Honour Company|Cadia during the]] [[Black Crusade|13th black crusade]].

[[File:SpacemarineGettingArmoured.PNG|500px|right|thumb|Sparing nothing on the awesome factor.]]
All of the other Space Marine legions [[Space Wolves|save one]] (or maybe [[Dark Angels|two]], depending on how you look at it, maybe [[Angry Marines|three]] if you count anger and most likely [[Black Templars|four]] when thinking about it) adopted the Codex and split up into multitudes of smaller chapters, and most Space Marine chapters today follow the practices found within it, although some like the Space Wolves and the Black Templars have refrained from implementing it. Few are as rigid in pursuing the use of the Codex as the Ultramarines, though. Where most other Chapters like the [[Imperial Fists]] and [[Raven Guard]] looks to it for guidance when encountering unfamiliar situations, the Ultramarines see the Codex as a sort of "holy book" and follow its instructions to the letter. Ironically, Guilliman himself believed this to be misguided and noted that the Codex was never meant to replace the ability to act on one's own judgments. But [[Grimdark|Irony]] is a strong force in 40K universe.

Because they are the poster-boys for Space Marines, they are perhaps the most famous Chapter in the general 40k fandom, but are widely hated by many denizens of [[/tg/]]. This may initially have been due to their popularity - the Space Marines in general suffer something of a backlash from fa/tg/uys because of their overwhelming popularity with the annoying young children that infest the hobby, and the Ultramarines are the most popular of them all - but of recent editions the blatant favouritism displayed by certain Games Workshop writers towards the Chapter have earned them considerable ire, especially from fans of other Space Marine chapters that get slagged off in the process. This is mainly the fault of [[Matthew Ward]]'s 5th edition Space Marine Codex, which explicitly claimed that the Ultramarines were superior to all other Space Marines (In 2nd edition it was explicitly stated.) and was not helped by Ward's own poor fluff-writing skills (see [[#Quotes|Quotes]] below). However, more recent fluff has served to bring the Ultramarines back to their "Space Roman" roots, making them far less objectionable than they were in the past. Forge World's Horus Heresy line has been particularly kind to them, giving them a variety of stylish Heresy-era gear, all of them with that "The Glory That Was Rome" vibe.

==First Edition History==
[[Image:UltramarinesRT.jpg|thumb|right|Fig.1.1: An Ultramarine, note the [[Beakie]].]]
{{Oldschool}}

[http://www.scribd.com/doc/118383071/WD97-Chapter-Approved-Index-Astartes| Back in the] [[Rogue Trader (Sourcebook)|first edition]] of Warhammer 40,000, in an article co-written by [[Rick Priestley]]. The XIIIth Legion were actually traitors and were banished to the Eye of Terror along with the other traitor legions. The modern day 40k Ultramarines were established on new years day 001.M32, which would make them a Third Founding chapter. They received all of the [[Gene Seed|gene-"sperm" & implants]], rituals and paraphernalia of the original legion.

Not only that, they only received lordship over the world of [[Macragge]] AFTER the First Tyrannic War. And though they did have different names for all of their company captains and command staff, they were/are still commanded by a man named Marneus Calgar.

The implications of this would be startling if we use the ''"everything is canon, but not necessarily true"'' stance that GW has adopted when regarding fluff inconsistencies. Hinting that Guilliman's marines were [[Imperium Secundus|heretics and traitors]] and were eventually banished from the Imperium.

However, attempting to reconcile this old origin story with "modern" Ultramarines is extremely difficult, we can only coherently insert it into the current state of play if we assume there is a second chapter out there called the "Ultra-Marines" with a chapter master and homeworld of the same name and the same level of involvement with the Tyrannic Wars. Though what completely knocks this old fluff out is that it ''also'' has possession of the body of [[Roboute Guilliman]] so it has to be a retcon though it still opens the door to conspiracy theories or that Marneus Calgar is [[Lugft Huron|in command of multiple Chapters]].

The other possibility is that when the Ultramarines were declared traitor and forced into the eye of terror, Guilliman, recognising his plans for [[Imperium_Secundus|Imperium Secondus]] were about to topple with the death of [[Sanguinius]] (who had been declared ruler as a means to placate the Emperor and the other legions), Guilliman had himself cloned and a portion of his legions most pure geneseed moved to the Eastern Fringe and [[Macragge]] to ensure survival of the Ultramarines, The Ultramar Empire and the Imperium Secondus concept as its eventuality. This occurred just as the rest of the legion (Including the original primarch) were declared traitor and forced into the eye. It would also suggest, given the appearance of Guilliman's wounded body in stasis on Macragge, that it was in-fact the clone that was killed by [[Fulgrim]] and the real primarch still resides either in the eye of terror or the immaterium with the remains of the Ultramarine Traitor Legion.

In either case, somehow one of the two possible Guilliman's was returned to Macragge and placed in stasis <strike>post-mortem</strike> after being Mortally-Wounded. If you accept the cloning of Guilliman, this all makes sense; he wanted to ensure his empire survived and having been declared traitor, cloned himself and sent the clone to rule over the new Imperium, the clone being mortally wounded by [[Fulgrim]] en-route. Or somehow, and for some reason, a traitor primarch was dragged out of the eye of terror and kept in stasis on the opposite side of the galaxy. Given the stupidity of that second line of thought, the clone being the primarch on Macragge is a much more likely situation... Especially as if his wounds heal and the clone recovers he would be able to continue acting out the original Guilliman's plans for a second imperium with its epicentre based within the Ultramar Empire and using Space Marines created from the remains of the purest legion-stock geneseed.

Or, infinitely more likely, it's just old fluff which went the way of the [[Squats]] after Rogue Trader, and we should hope so, because if it isn't, we also have to reconcile the space marines being entirely beaky space cops.

== Name & Breaking the Hyphen ==
The Ultramarines are not named because they are 'Ultra' as in 'Superior'. They're called "Ultramarines" because their home sector is [[Ultramar]] and their armour colouring is coincidentally called "Ultramarine Blue".

The overseas section of the Portuguese Empire was referred to as ''Ultramar'' (''waaaaaaaaaaay'' beyond the sea). Given the great distance between Ultramar and [[Terra]], it's a fitting analogy.

In early versions of the Lore, "Ultramarines" (As they are now known) are spelt in a myriad of different ways. Rick Priestly himself describing them as "Ultra-Marines". Other versions include "Ultra Marines", "The Ultra-Marine Chapter" and <strike>"Smurfs"</strike> {{BLAM}} amongst many other iterations. In all instances, and all cases (even accounting for the First Edition lore above) it can be assumed the lore refers to the same Chapter or Legion. Punctuation matters, just not in 40K...

==Ultramarines post-Ward==
{{MattWard}}
[[Image:Ultraknights.jpg|thumb|right|Ultramarines, from the days of [[Awesome]].]]
{{topquote|Our love is nothing but the blues, baby, how blue can you get?|B.B. King}}
{{Topquote|Listen to your blue-clad wretches yelling of courage and honour, courage and honour, courage and honour. Do you even know the meaning of those words? Courage is fighting the kingdom which enslaves you, no matter that their armies outnumber yours by ten-thousand to one. You know nothing of courage. Honour is resisting a tyrant when all others suckle and grow fat on the hypocrisy he feeds them. You know nothing of honour.|[[Angron]], proving that a stopped clock is right twice a day}}

Unless you are new here, then you should be well informed by now over the really [[Skub|skubtastic]] history involving the [[Ultramarines]] and the dreaded [[Matt Ward|Ward]]. While Ward was indeed responsible for the immense [[butthurt]] and [[Rage|rage]] caused on [[/tg/]] and to [[1d4Chan]] itself (Seriously just look at the pages history, it was a war on green and red edits), Ward himself wasn't completely at fault here, [[Games Workshop]] is just as much to blame for their irresponsible and careless attitude in handling fluff to a ''clearly'' biased player and gave him the green light to write whatever things Ward could come out with. However after Ward's unexpected quite departure in 2014 (He came back in 2016 though, just hope he can control his Ultramarine urges now), the Ultramarines have been getting....less of the limelight like they used to back in the heydays of Codex: Space Marines 5th Edition. Nowadays, the [[Blood Angels]], [[Space Wolves]], [[Dark Angels]] and even the [[Deathwatch]] are getting more in the spotlight. While the Ultramarines are still the de facto mascots of WH40K, it seems that the post-Ward era has seen the return of more...diverse forms of Space Marine Chapters. Furthermore, the [[Horus Heresy]] lineups made by our favorite [[Forgeworld]] has been giving the Ultramarines and the rest of the Space Marine Legions an equal respect in both their lore and crunch which was unthinkable back in the day, "The [[Salamanders]] and [[Raven Guard]] get their own moment to shine without the Ultras overshadowing them? How preposterous!" would be the most likely answer if went back in time and told our past selves over this. Additionally the Forgeworld model for [[Roboute Guilliman]] has been well received by fans with some commenting that of all the [[Primarch]] models, Guilliman's was one of the best designed and posed. What does this mean for our (in)famous blueberries? A redemption of sorts? Winning back the crowd? Earning back the respect it once had? The answer could be all of them. Whatever is the case, the legacy of Ward and the Ultramarine fiasco did impact the way players see the Ultramarines and the Space Marines to an extent either negatively or positively (More inclined to the negativity though). But seeing as how GeeDubs still has the [[Robin Cruddace|Cruddhead]], it can be seen with some sigh of relief that GeeDubs seems to be back to their grips now in terms of fluff at least.

==Tabletop==
Throughout most of GW's history the Ultramarines have been portrayed on the tabletop as the "standard" space marine chapter, to the point where most other chapters are represented as "Ultramarines +,- variable X". [[Dark Angels|More]] [[Grey Knights|popular]] [[Space Wolves|chapters]] often get [[Blood Angels|their own]] codices, but less popular chapters get relegated to sets of advantages and disadvantages on top of the Ultramarine baseline. At certain points in GW's sordid tabletop history this has led to Ultramarines being literally vanilla marines with no bonuses whatsoever, where the '''only''' advantage to taking them is their wide selection of characters, and other times such as 7th edition where with the right builds and the right tactics, you could statistically beat out the Blood Angels and Space Wolves in assault, and Dark Angels and Imperial Fists in shooting. 8th Edition is probably the best they've ever been while not being quite as cheesy as they were in the past. Their strategies, characters, chapter tactics, and warlord trait all grant bonuses to command points, to the point where you can get the effective use of 20(!) command points on stratagems in a 2000 point game, leading to an army with massive tactical flexibility. Gone are the days were you can butcher melee dedicated forces in close combat, and out-shoot the gun-factories of the universe, a bunch of damn sues who win because they are - of course - the BEST EVAR. Now you get the Ultramarines as they should be: a versatile but non-specialized army with the tactical and strategic flexibility to make the most out of any situation.

==Notable Members==
[[File:1280346485348.jpg|thumb|right|While most believe the story told by the Ultramarines, eye-witnesses paint a different story...]]
*[[Marneus Calgar]], [[Marneus Calgar#Gathering Storm|Regent of Ultramar]] and Chapter Master of the Ultramarines. His accomplishments include being thoroughly ripped apart by the [[Swarmlord]] (by that we mean all his limbs, a large portion of his body and his eye), and single handedly holding off an Ork Waaagh! for 9 days all by himself. However, his crowning moment is his defeat of an Eldar Avatar of Khaine in 1 vs 1, hand-to-hand combat, which is typically killed by the same effort it takes to kill a Khornate Bloodthirster - never mind that the thing is made of molten metal and over three times his size. He also had a rematch with the Swarmlord and won.
*[[Severus Agemman]], captain of the Ultramarines First Company. He was Captain of the Second Company, and Sicarius' commanding officer before being promoted after the First Tyrannic War. There isn't much fluff about him besides being overshadowed by his former subordinate Sicarius. As first Company Captain he's Calgar's appointed successor, however much of the chapter thinks it will be Sicarius instead of him. Agemman is aware of this possibility and isn't very happy about it.
*[[Cato Sicarius]], the captain of the Ultramarines Second Company, is kind of a glory hog, but he's arguably earned his right to be a braggart through his skill at arms. Was taken on as a ward by the primarch after his resurrection, mostly because Cato's brash, forthright personality reminded him of Aeonid Thiel, whose counsel Guilliman greatly missed.
*[[Uriel Ventris]] is the captain of the Ultramarines Fourth Company and the main character of Graham McNeil's Ultramarines novel series. Notable for destroying the [[Daemonculaba]].
*[[Ortan Cassius]], a chaplain of the Ultramarines, is one of the oldest Space Marines alive and [[Bjorn the Fell Handed|not yet placed in a Dreadnought]]. The Tyrannic War Veterans were his idea.
*[[Varro Tigurius]], the Ultramarine's Chief Librarian, has enough psychic prowess to make psychic contact with the Hive Mind without going bonkers in the process.
*[[Torias Telion]] (aka; Sean Connery made [[Grimdark]]) is an Ultramarine Scout Sergeant. A skilled sniper, other chapters have borrowed him to train their scouts occasionally. He also has an impressive mustache.
*[[Captain Titus]] is a Captain of the who the fuck knows company (if the trim of his pauldrons are accurate, he's Captain of the 2nd Company). He gained prominence (will gain prominence?) on the forge world of Graia, trying to keep a whole Waaagh! from stealing all the bitz for themselves while keeping a probably radical Inquisitor happy. Also there's a portal to the warp letting out Daemons and Chaos Marines to go on a jolly old pub crawl. He is also one of the few Ultramarines who clearly states that the Codex Astartes is not meant to be a mental straightjacket. Thus, he is [[awesome]].
*Chaplain Varnus, an Ultramarines Chaplain dispatched to Lorn V. For perhaps the first instance in recorded time, he is a Space Marine who actually respects the Imperial Guard and couldn't ask for a better force (barring his own company).
*Aeonid Thiel: A sergeant during the Horus Heresy. Despite being seen as a rule breaking maverick for proposing battle simulations of Space Marines fighting one another, he ends up playing a major role first in the Battle of Calth, then in laying the groundwork for the Ultramarines post-war, including the red painted helmets for sergeants. Also served as the co-writer of the Codex. Promoted to Captain of the 2nd Company at the time of Guilliman's wounding, his ultimate fate is unknown.
*Sergeant Cornellus: A sergeant of an embarrassing squad. Notable for killing [[Eliphas the Inheritor]] the first time, stopping a daemon invasion and finding the Ultramarines Scrabble set all while sounding like a baby
*Smurfette: The only female member of the Ultramarine chapter.

==Quotes==
{{topquote|Chapters (not descended from Guilliman's geneseed) are disciples who owe their genetic inheritance to another [[Primarch]], but follow the [[Codex Astartes]] as keenly as their divergent heritage allows. While primarily composed of successor Chapters, this group also includes several Chapters of the [[First Founding]] - notably the [[Imperial Fists]], [[White Scars]] and the [[Raven Guard]]. <s>These chapters can never be Ultramarines, for their gene-seed is not that of [[Roboute Guilliman]]. Nevertheless, they will ever aspire to the standards and teachings of the great [[Primarch]].</s>|Fucking [[Matt Ward]]...}}
{{topquote|(Chapters who do not emulate the Ultramarines) are aberrants; chapters who, through quirk of gene-seed, mutation or stubbornness, eschew the Codex Astartes in favor of other structural and combat doctrines. Some, such as the [[Blood Angels]] and their successors, strive to be worthy of Guilliman's legacy, but their recalcitrant gene-seed drives them ever further from it. Others, such as the [[Space Wolves]] and the [[Black Templars]], remain stubbornly independent, looking to [[Primarch|their own founder's]] ways of war (which is hilarious for the Templars) and caring little of how they fare in the eyes of others. These aberrant Chapters were always few in number and their presence diminishes with each passing decade, for their gene-seed is no longer the source of fresh Chapters.|[[Matt Ward]], Ultramarines player, codex writer, [[Codex]]: [[Space Marines]], 5th Edition, p. 25.}}
{{topquote|The Ultramarines are undoubtedly the best Space Marines ever. Yes, really! Thanks to the heritage of Guilliman and their myriad heroic deeds, the Ultramarines are the exemplars of the Space Marines. With a few fringe exceptions who have severe mutations ([[Blood Angels]]) or stolid stubbornness ([[Space Wolves]] and [[Dark Angels]]) all [[Space Marine Chapter|Space marine chapters]] want to be like the Ultramarines and recognize [[Marneus Calgar]] as their [[spiritual liege]].|Matt Ward, Ultramarines player, codex writer, in the [[White Dwarf]] interview celebrating the release of Codex: Space Marines.}}
{{topquote|But your teachings…" "Are yet flawed," said Guilliman. "No one, not even one such as I, can anticipate every possible outcome of battle. My words are not some holy writ that must be obeyed. There must always be room for personal initiative on the battlefield. You and I both know how one spark of heroism can turn the tide of battle. That knowledge and personal experience can only be earned in blood, and the leader in the field must always be the ultimate arbiter of what course of action should be followed.|[[Roboute Guilliman]], making a point that his successors would quickly forget about and [[Matt Ward|the writer above]] would ignore.}}

==Daily Rituals==
04:00 - The Ultramarines rise up from their sleep in their marble-encased sleeping chambers. The Primarch has already been awake for some time, having lost the need for sleep as a side effect of his revival.

04:30 - Morning Prayers. The Ultramarines conduct morning prayers on why they are the SECOND TO TEH EMPRAH! and how all other chapters view [[Marneus Calgar]] as their ''Spritual Liege.''

05:30 - Codex Astartes. The Ultramarines are indoctrinated and reminded on the rules and values of the Codex Astartes. Guilliman makes a note to break the news of his Codex revisions gently so his gene-sons don't go into conniptions.

08:00 - Morning Firing Rites. The Ultramarines enter target practice with spiritual guidance from Chaplain Ortan Cassius, who manages to only occasionally go off into furious rants about "The goddam bugs".

09:00 - Battle Practice. The Ultramarines leave for Macragge's Colosseum to train against each other, the local Macragge fauna and Battle Servitors.

10:00 - Morning Meal. While later than some chapters, the Ultramarines feast upon a light meal made of fruits, biscuits and light meat by the Chapter serfs. The serfs are thanked soon afterwards in a manner of respect.

10:15 - Tactical Indoctrination. The Ultramarines head to see the latest battle plans and which military techniques that can best complement the Codex Astartes. Guilliman reviews the most recent major warzones of the Imperium and prepares battle plans for the forces deployed there.

10:30 - Meetings with the Spiritual Liege. Whilst the rest of the Ultramarines practice reciting the Codex Astartes, the leaders from each of the Ultramarine's companies discuss political, social and military affairs of Ultramar and the Imperium at large. When the Primarch has the opportunity to be present, discussions and tactical briefings on his long absence last for hours, with plenty of facepalming and sighing from said Primarch.

11:00 - Afternoon Wargames. The Ultramarines conduct [[Tabletop Miniature|miniature wargames]] to best simulate strategic and combat play which can be learned and adapted in real life combat.

13:00 - Midday Meal. A light meal of cheese, bread, meats and vegetables is prepared by the Chapter serfs.

13:30 - Codex Astartes. More indoctrination of the Codex Astartes are read to ensure that the Ultramarines never diverge from the book of Guilliman. The Primarch privately wonders how his words about the Codex being a guideline could have been misinterpreted so badly.

15:00 - Evening Firing Rites. The Ultramarines enter target practice.

16:00 - Battle Practice. The Ultramarines are now dropped into the wilderness of Macragge to fend off the local fauna and flora there. The animals and plants killed are sent to the Chapter Serfs for more ingredients.

17:00 - Evening Prayers. The Ultramarines gather together to pray on why they are the chosen chapter and why the Ultramar System is the best system.

18:00 - Nighttime Firing Rites. The Ultramarines take target practice in the night to further hone in their nocturnal experience.

19:00 - Battle Practice. The Ultramarines descend to one of the neighboring planets in Ultramar to further fight the planet's local fauna and flora, as well as the various nasty things Nurgle has been attacking Ultramar with lately.

19:30 - Daily Medical Checkup. Whilst the rest of the Ultramarines are busy practicing their combat prowess, the long hours of having to keep the entire Imperium afloat has left Roboute Guilliman in a state of dismay, anger and minor facial injuries due to repeated facepalming. [[Apothecaries]] try and fail to warn their Primarch that continued usage of the facepalm will eventually give the Avenging Son a concussion. Any battle-brothers who have come into contact with the forces of Nurgle are painstakingly decontaminated to prevent the spread of any warp-contagion.

20:00 - Evening Meal. A feast made from the creatures slain by the Ultramarines earlier on is cooked in the finest ingredients. Cooking it perfectly gets the serf a purity seal of valor while cooking it imperfectly forces the serf to be read the entire Codex Astartes section on cooking.

21:00 - Cleaning up Guilliman's chambers. The Ultramarines go and clean up their Primarch's marble chambers after Macragge's daily tourist traps are closed for the night. Despite the Avenging Son's frequent absences from Ultramar, they like to be sure his quarters are just as he left them.

22:00 - Free Time. The Ultramarines get free time. Some continue to read the Codex Astartes, others pray to the Emperor while some go out of their Fortress Monastery to catch up on the local news and political affairs as well as hanging out with the citizens of Macragge.

24:00 - Rest Period. The Ultramarines descend back to their marble-encased sleeping chambers to rest, save for Guilliman who is needed elsewhere in the Imperium.

==Some music==

*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wTXrLsZvVI Their theme] done by [[HMKids]].
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rt1M8iZNHpQ Their theme] from Chaos Gate. Became a major meme among Russian 40k fans due to some deliciously stupid [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBg9ZAqBifQ misheard lyrics] and made ultramarines associated with soup in Russian community.
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pf9AaTV4-yw A track] from their official movie.

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Spacemarine.jpg|[[Iron Hands|Sgt Pasanius didn't want that hand anyway.]]
File:Warhammer ultramarine take 2 by faroldjo.jpg|Say what you want about Ultramarines, but their Honour Guards looks pretty boss.
File:Ultramarines concept by Malkavian7515.jpg
File:Pimp Suit.png|Captain Cato Sicarius' power armour, also known as the Mantle of the Mary Suzerain
File:CodexSM EPUB Cover.jpg|Ultramarines got the front cover of the Space Marine Codex and admittely looks fucking cool for it.
</gallery>

==See also==
*[[Who Watches Them]]
*[[Macragge heresy]]
*[[Ultramarines Honour Company]]
*[http://www.scribd.com/doc/118383071/WD97-Chapter-Approved-Index-Astartes| The past wot got remade by their presence - the original Chapter Approved write up of the "Ultra-Marines."]

{{Template:Marines-Official}}
[[Category:Warhammer 40,000]][[Category:Imperial]][[Category:Space Marines]][[Category:Matt Ward]]

Blood Angels

2018-09-14T03:23:21Z

2601:647:4E80:7DC0:211E:7B64:3DD6:6E3F: /* Daily rituals of the Blood Angels */

{{Infobox Spess Mahreen Chapter
|Name = Blood Angels
|Heraldry = [[Image:Blood_Angels_Pauldron.jpeg|center|140px]]
|Battle Cry = "For the Emperor and Sanguinius!"
|Number = IX
|Founding = [[First Founding]]
|Successor Chapters = [[Angels Encarmine]] Angels Penitent [[Angels Sanguine]] [[Angels Vermillion]] [[Blood Drinkers]] [[Blood Legion]] [[Blood Swords]] (claimed otherwise in Codex: Blood Angels 5th Edition by [[Matt Ward]], so take that as you will) [[Exsanguinators]] [[Flesh Eaters]] [[Flesh Tearers]] [[Knights of Blood]] [[Knights Sanguine]] [[Lamenters]] [[Red Wings]] [[Carmine Blades]]
|Chapter Master = [[Dante]]
|Primarch = [[Sanguinius]]
|Homeworld = [[Baal]]
|Specialty = Rapid assaults, close combat, being ''fabulous''
|Strength = ~1000 Marines
|Allegiance = [[Imperium]]
|Colours = Red with black detailing
}}
{{Topquote|Man is neither angel nor beast, and the misfortune is that he who would act the angel acts the beast.|Blaise Pascal}}
{{Topquote|From his Blood are we born! From his essence are we made! From his passion comes our art! From his nobility comes beauty. From his might stems justice. From his thirst is born righteous rage!|The Final Charge of the [[Lord of the Rings|Rohirrim]]--err, Blood angels.}}
{{Topquote|We are born of the blood, made men by the blood, undone by the blood; Fear the old blood.|Provost Willem, ''Bloodborne''}}

The '''Blood Angels''' were the 9th [[Space Marine]] Legion created by the [[Emperor]]. They are so named because of their tendency to
use blood as a central symbol of their particular warrior-monk rituals, and because of their susceptibility to the [[Red Thirst]], a wild bloodlust that arises in them during battle. If he fails to control his Red Thirst, a Blood Angel may succumb to the [[Black Rage]] (the [[Grimdark|Grimdarkest]] of Daddy Issues), after which he becomes a completely insane killing machine with no regard for his own safety who will try to destroy the Emperor's foes even if all he has left is a bloody stump of one leg. This has led to the Blood Angels being viewed as basically vampires [[Meme|IN SPEHSS]], and unfortunately as the [[Twilight|Team Edward]] to the [[Space Wolves]] [[Twilight|Team Jacob]]. If you are not already completely indignant, see the second image at the bottom of the page for additional [[rage]]. We'll wait. …...Yeah, how much does that blow? Here's the good news, though: that's pretty much the only thing that sucks (PUN) about the Blood Angels. Everything else is [[awesome]] apart maybe from [[Skub|'nipple' armour]], but the rest is all cool, angelic and bloody and all.

The cause of the Black Rage basically amounts to the most epic case of an absent-daddy complex ever. Just with a high chance of being skullfuckingly angry/awesome at the same time. You see, during the [[Horus Heresy]], the Blood Angels' [[Primarch]], [[Sanguinius]], was slain by [[Horus]] himself just before the Emperor destroyed Horus. This subsequently [[RAGE|fucked up]] the mental stability of all future generations of Blood Angels, and when one of them is overtaken by the Black Rage, he literally believes he is Sanguinius and relives in vivid detail the final battle with Horus and his traitor legions at the Battle of [[Terra]].

Oh, and [[Hive Fleet Leviathan]] have been coming to devour their homeworld [[Baal]] for a few editions while it is also being attacked by a [[Khorne|Khornate]] army led by their ancient enemy, the [[Bloodthirster]] [[Ka'bandha]]. 8th edition "progressed" the story with the attack and [[Devastation of Baal|devastation of the Baal]] system where the Blood Angels and almost all their successor chapters were ready to receive them. Both moons were stripped of all life (yummy yummy radioactive wastes) and the main planet was wrecked with trillions of bugs, with the last survivors making one last charge--facing their fate like men in the ruins of the planet.

This is when the [[Great Rift]] opened up and cut Baal from the real space, yet the [[Tyranids]] on the ground forgot about the synapse shenanigans and continued to enjoy their first winning campaign since like forever. By the time the Warp was stable, all the bug-ships had vanished and Ka'Bandha had wiped out everything on one of Baal's moons--but in an odd show of his tsundere side for the Blood Angels, primarily summoned his lesser ilk to fight off the Tyranids, until the chapter master of the [[Knights of Blood]] chapter, Sentor Jool, engaged the Bloodthirster in single combat, which sounds stupid, but actually comes off completely fuckawesome and manly...while also being a pretty stupid thing to do.

Luckily for them the cicatrix maledictum had royally fucked up the hive fleet, completely disappearing some portions and annihilating the rest. The Blood Angels last stand culminated in Dante further fucking over the hive mind in a good bout of fisticuffs with the [[Swarmlord]]. The [[Legion of the Damned]] and the [[Sanguinor]] provided timely reinforcement--with true salvation arriving when the warp storms abated and the arrival of the [[Indomitus Crusade]]. Though [[Roboute Guilliman]] confided later that all they really had to do was finish off the stragglers that had survived the fleet and the warp storms--which was a nice clean way to provide some dignity to the severely depleted Sons of Sanguinius for the fanboys who had already been rolling their eyes over their [[Spiritual Liege]] coming to save them.

Baal Primus is a blasted shithole now (well...more of one, anyway) and is now uninhabited. In an odd show of [[noblebright]], Guilliman ordered the mechanicus to terraform Baal Secundus back into its paradisal state before the long night, [[Wat|apparently something they've long been able to do, they just kept it shitty to make for better (read:Tougher) recruits.]] Afterwards Big Bobby-G in a decidedly bro-tier move made Commander Dante the Warden of Imperium Nihilus--effectively ceding command of wholly HALF of the Imperium (the shitty half maybe...) and restored their ability to create new marines, provided fresh [[gene-seed]] and were granted the ability to produce new [[Primaris Space Marines]] along with all of the existing Primaris marines with Sanguinius' bloodline. They capped off the noblebright with allowing all the mortal boys who fought in defense of Baal to become Blood Angels, no questions asked, as they had already proven their worth defending their world. So a bit of a rollercoaster of emotions that day, to say the least.

==History and Background Fluff==

[[File:Blood angel aspirants.jpg|300px|thumb|left|Welcome motherfuckers, have some blood. You'll be as pretty as us in no time.]]

The Blood Angels' Primarch was [[Sanguinius]], who was best known for being a [[Pretty_Marines|pretty]] [[Mutant]], a charismatic guy with a bad temper that made him look like Satan, and he was apparently a total bro. Basically, to the Space Marine legions and the rest of the Primarchs, he was [[This Guy]]. They all loved him. Even Horus, after he fell to [[Chaos]], lamented that Sanguinius in particular was no longer by his side. He also had a pair of huge, angel-like wings; no one is sure if this had something to do with the radiation on Baal or if he just came out of his birthing pod like that, but the citizens of Baal nearly killed him for it when he was found at the site now known as Angel's Fall. ([[Emperor|Emprah]] have mercy on anyone who uses the [[Mutant|m-word]] around the Blood Angels, though.) Many of the Blood Angels imitate the power and majesty of their beloved Primarch's wings by focusing on jump pack assaults, so the Blood Angels and their successor chapters doctrinally see a lot more [[Assault Squad]]s than the typical Space Marine army. Their current Chapter Master is [[Dante]], the oldest non-Dreadnought-interred loyalist Space Marine in history.

They had a brotherly rivalry with the [[World Eaters]] (if only the [[Imperial Fists]]/[[Iron Warriors]] and [[Ultramarines]]/[[Word Bearers]] could have managed that…) which got pretty messy when the [[Horus Heresy]] started. Also, they are one of the only chapters that can call on its successor chapters and reasonably expect more than just a courtesy call back, [[Angels Vermillion|even the ones]] [[Flesh Tearers|that don't like them all that much]]. The only other ones that we can find who can do that are the [[Dark Angels]] (<s>for obvious reasons</s> ANY IDEA THAT THE DARK ANGELS AND THEIR SUCCESSORS ARE CONNECTED IS FALSE THE DARK ANGELS ARE THE MOST LOYAL TO THE IMPERIUM!), [[Imperial Fists]] and the [[Wat|Ultramarines]] (redundant statements since the majority of chapters with successors do this, since the Wolves and Salamanders don't even have successors that just leaves two chapters with successors who can't). This is pretty justified for the Blood Angels, as all Blood Angel descendants are united by the twin curses/blessings of Sanguinius. So you mess with one of them too much, you might just get an entire legion attacking you. Or if it were during the Time of Ending, you might get them to unite to defend their ancestral homeworld, Baal.

[[File:Warhammer 40K blood angels wallpaper (1).jpg|300px|thumbnail|right|A Marine putting the 'blood' in 'Blood Angel'.]]

The Blood Angels' themes and motifs are drawn from vampire and Faustian mythology as well as some Catholic traditions. They [[Beakie|commonly fly (with jump packs)]], [[Twilight|are eternally youthful]], [[Vampire|drink blood, and sleep in coffins]]. They are also noted for naturally living longer on average than the Marines of any other chapter. When a Blood Angel dies, a [[Sanguinary Priest]] (what they call their [[Apothecaries]]) extracts his gene-seed using a device called an exsanguinator. When it comes time to implant it in an Initiate, the Initiate must receive it by drinking from a Blood Chalice ('insanguination'), which also contains the essence of Sanguinius. The story of [[Mephiston]], the Blood Angels' chief librarian, closely parallels the legend of Faust, a scholar who sells his soul to the devil in return for great knowledge and power (hell, he's named after the manifestation of the devil in the story, Mephistopheles or Mephisto). The names of their special characters and vehicles have an Italian flavor—Dante, the Furioso Dreadnought, Brother Corbulo. Corbulo, known as the chapter's High Sanguinary Priest, carries the Red Grail, which contains the blood of Sanguinius himself. Also, do we have to point out that the word 'sanguis' literally means 'blood' in Latin? Well, there you go.

In times of dire need, they are aided by the [[Sanguinor]], a guy who seems to be a Blood Angel in a more literal sense. Maybe he's some psychic manifestation of the Chapter. Maybe he's a ghost of Sanguinius. Nobody knows. The important thing is that he enjoys piledriving [[Bloodthirsters]] from space, killing [[Eldar]] [[Khaine|Avatars]], and killing a bunch of Night Lords, saving Dante's life in the process as it was otherwise a textbook suicide mission, a redemptive one, to be specific. In recent Black Library tales he appeared to lead Blood Angels brethren in a heroic last stand against Hive Fleet Leviathan, where the squad sergeant [[anal circumference|punched a hole in a Carnifex's chest]] [[Awesome|after being impaled, allowing the rest of his squad to live]]. He took off after that, but not after he managed to [[Noblebright|renew the Astartes' faith in humanity.]]

==Combat Doctrine==

[[File:Helmet Colours.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Helmets for the Blood Angels play a very important part in their chapter—easy color coding to identify squad type ''and'' an incentive to keep your sexy face covered to [[Nemeroth|prevent easily avoidable death by helmetlessness]].]]

The Blood Angels took the establishment of the [[Codex Astartes]] as official Space Marine doctrine with [[Imperial Fists|notably less]] [[Space Wolves|bitching than]] [[Salamanders|other chapters]] due to the death of their Primarch and the onset of the Black Rage. They follow the strictures of the Codex as far as they see wisdom in it: the chapter is comprised of a thousand Blood Angels and divided into ten companies, each of which is headed by a captain. The First Company is comprised of veterans, and the Tenth Company is comprised of Scouts and Neophytes who have not yet become full Marines. Obviously though, none of the blood rituals and other [[Pretend|weird shit]] is Codex-approved.

Like their brethren in the [[Raven Guard]] though, the Blood Angels have a natural predilection for using jump packs and their own free will ([[Ultramarines|as opposed to blindly]] [[Red Scorpions|following the Codex]]). Due to their chapter's [[Black Rage|curse]], they have had to tweak things a bit; once they complete their training as Scouts, Blood Angels immediately go into [[Assault Squad|Assault Squads]] rather than [[Devastator Squad|Devastator Squads]], as the Codex Astartes would have it, though not only because of these little scamps' brashness. The constant close combat also allows Blood Angel officers to identify the noobs who can control their Red Thirst as well as those who cannot, and thereafter keep tabs on the latter group. Devastator Squads in the Blood Angels Chapter are reserved for Marines who have better control of the Red Thirst than most, because heavy fire support isn't very useful when the people providing it have psychopathic ADD.

The few Blood Angels that decide they don't like jumping like maniacs into swarms of enemies, and instead prefer biking like maniacs into swarms of enemies, are regarded as some of the best biker Marines in the Imperium, following closely behind the [[White Scars]] and the Dark Angels' [[Ravenwing]].

==Tools of the Trade==

[[File:Tumblr niexunCRca1tvfheeo1 1280.jpg|300px|left|thumb|[[Sanguinius]] proclaimed, "War is an art form," and the Blood Angels said, "Well, that sounds [[Pretty Marines|absolutely fabulous]]. Get me some gold."]]

Blood Angels are known throughout the Imperium to be master artisans. Their long lifespans allow them time to perfect whatever trade they set their mind too, whether they are crafting the infamous, hand-sculpted artificer 'nipple' armour, [[What|bolters worth more than an Imperial hive city]], or even if they're simply painting vehicles and power armour. The philosophy behind this practice is that you cannot hope to know the value of what you're fighting for if you cannot understand its beauty.

Blood Angels are also known for their prevalent use of [[flamer|flamers]] and [[melta]] weapons. While they don't employ them as plentifully as the [[Salamanders]] do, they are nearly as masterfully constructed. The Sons of Sanguinius have taken a liking to the hand flamer, which gives them the assault capability of a flamer, but leaves their sword arm free to use in close combat. Heavy flamers can also be found in many of their Tactical Squads as an assault deterrent as well as on the side sponsons of Baal Predators to compliment the Flamestorm Cannon, which ruins any infantry unit's day.

They also reeeeeeally like the Inferno pistol. Nearly everyone has one, including the [[Dante|Chapter Master]].

The aforementioned Baal Predator is a unique tank manufactured by the Blood Angels. It is an anti-infantry assault tank equipped with [[Dakka|twin-linked assault cannons and heavy flamers]] that was acquired in a pre-heresy campaign that nearly broke all their relationships with the Mechanicus. Even to this day, things are still a bit touchy. Luckily, the Techmarines of the chapter quickly reverse engineered the overcharged "Lucifer-class" engines onto nearly all their vehicles.

The Blood Angels' de facto relic weapons are called Glaive Encarmines—'glaive' apparently meaning 'sword' in this case rather than the halberd-type weapon it's associated with ("glaives" comes from the Latin "gladius", the common short sword of the legionnaire so there you go). They're made out of a mono-filament metal called 'angel-steel' and are purportedly so perfectly crafted that they never bend or warp. The secrets to their manufacture are jealously guarded by their Artificers. This is represented by their master-crafted universal special rule. They come in two flavors, a Carmine Sword or a Carmine Axe.

==The Red Thirst, The Black Rage, and You!==
The Blood Angels and their successor chapters have a genetic defect in their gene-seed known euphemistically as "The Flaw". It seems to have much more representation in the [[fluff]] than in the [[crunch]], but that's standard fare for a life-threatening, damnation-courting mutation that can pop up at any time.

===Red Thirst===

[[File:BA's.jpg|thumb|left|500px|[[Ultramarines|You'll never see a Blood Angel go]] "Oh nooooes, a fleet of nice squishy flesh-bugs coming to devour our system, we're doooomed...". Maybe because it's an excellent way to let loose for a bit.]]

The Red Thirst is what makes the Blood Angels space vampires,<s> or Team Edward </s> {{BLAM}} {{BLAM|PURGE THE UNCOMFORTABLE THEMATIC PARALLELS OF POPULAR CULTURE!}}

The [[Red Thirst]] has been a part of being a Blood Angel since the [[Great Crusade]]. Sanguinius went to great lengths to hide it from the Emperor for fear of being [[First Founding#Two Unknown Legions|expunged from the Imperium]], although odds are that the Emperor already knew. He even introduced [[Chaplain]]s to the Blood Angels legions before the Edict of Nikaea, not just to monitor psykers, but to look out for brothers who might be giving into their bloodlust.

In the lore the general effect is that the Red Thirst makes a Blood Angel an [[Angry Marine]] with a thirst for actual goddamn blood. Thus most Blood Angel Chaplains require certification for anger management therapy before they get the job. Their duty is to ensure that the assorted Marines are not showing signs of bloodlust, and to throw them into a battle if they are [[Grimdark|so they can stave off total madness a bit longer]]. However, all battle-brothers who suffer the effects of the Flaw long enough will eventually become overrun with their rather literal thirst for vengeance, succumbing to the Black Rage. After this, their lives will consist of utterly suicidal front-line charges to [[rip and tear]] the enemy as much as possible, before they eventually receive an honorable death in combat against the Emperor's foes. Those unlucky enough to survive to the end of the battle will either be given [[Blam|the Emperor's Peace]] by [[Astorath]], or [[Grimdark|imprisoned within the Tower of the Lost as a hopeless, dribbling maniac until they are required on the field of battle once more.]] This happened in Devastation of Baal, where the victims of the curse were seen as having mutated into hulking beasts who moved on all fours like gorillas. They were released to hold off the hordes of Daemons and Tyranids.

[[File:Blood-angel-dantewontdie.jpg|thumb|right|300px|I told you about the Red Thirst bro! Also, quite funny the artist shares his name with the BA chapter master.]]Some chapters are more susceptible than others. The imaginatively named "[[Blood Drinkers]]" are notorious amongst their allies for allegedly leaving exsanguinated corpses wherever they show up. On the upside, Blood Drinkers are one of the few chapters who have [[Deathwatch (RPG)|tangible rules]] regarding how they handle the Red Thirst: if they have recently sated themselves, they gain a boost to WS, and suffer penalties to morale checks if they refrain from feeding.

On the tabletop, this has historically been changed in every single incarnation of the rules as GW continually changed their minds over how the Thirst should be represented; in 7th edition, they just give the flat bonus of Furious Charge to everything (including dreadnoughts); but if you get a bunch of Blood Angels together in the correct FOC or formation, then they also get +1 to Initiative when charging (''á la'' old-school Furious Charge), which is a very strong advantage. In 6th edition, Red Thirst had the odd consequence of occasionally making a unit Fearless and Furious Chargers if they give into the temptation, though independent characters had enough control over themselves that they were mostly immune, with a [[Erasmus Tycho|few]] exceptions. Going further back, into 3rd edition, the Red Thirst made a bit more sense and was something to actually be wary of, as your units had a potential to lose control at the thought of blood and move out of position towards the enemy. This really wasn't [[fun]], especially if your Devastator Squads didn't pull that critical round of shooting.

New in 8th it comes back with a vengeance. Allowing any infantry who charged, has been charged, or is performing a heroic intervention, to add +1 to the to wound roll. Meaning, when red thirst is in affect, [[awesome|you'll never be wounding on anything worse than 5+]].

===Black Rage===

[[File:Death company by fonteart-d6ay2k7.jpg|250px|thumb|Note the ancient, unfathomable fury, and run away pissing yourself.]]

On the other hand, the [[Black Rage]] is the Red Thirst's angrier, more troublesome brother. You know, the one who dresses in black all the time, and who shows up at random times to complicate your life and embarrass your family. It's a terminal state in which the battle brother has not only succumbed to the Red Thirst, but has had a total psychotic breakdown. Or if you're feeling particularly poetic: it's the psychic scream of a dying demi-god that got stuck in his progeny.

Battle-brothers who succumb to the Black Rage are overcome with visions of Blood Angel battles during the [[Horus Heresy]], and a few even imagine themselves to be [[Pretend|Sanguinius battling Horus on his battle barge]]. This of course has the unfortunate side effect of making them completely lose touch with reality, fighting a battle that they can never ever win since the outcome of the hallucinations has already occurred. On the plus side though, their disconnection with what is going on around them turns them into immensely powerful warriors, since each and every one of them believe in some way that they are Sanguinius.

Long story short, a Marine afflicted with the Black Rage will become even angrier than an [[Angry Marine]], and with even less self-control(which means they are effectively each Nightbringer crossed with Commissar Fuklaw. If you happen to be in the same star system of one of these, pray to the god emperor they don't sense you. If you don't happen to worship the God-Emperor, silently hope your gods are OK with suicide, because the alternative is too nightmarishly gruesome for even Games Workshop to describe in sufficient detail). If this happens in a war zone, they are quietly organized into small squads and their armor is painted black by a chaplain before the worst of the hallucinations take over. If they aren't killed in battle or get off the leash somehow, [[Astorath]] will come and execute them on the battlefield since no other Blood Angel has the stomach (or outright skill) to kill his own battle brothers.

The [[Death Company]] is a group of Blood Angels on the battlefield who are afflicted by the [[Black Rage]]. Every force of Blood Angels and their successor chapters has one, though [[Flesh Tearers|some]] are more susceptible than [[Lamenters|others]], which makes those chapters' responses to the occurrence of Black Rage quite varied. The [[Flesh Tearers]] and the renegade [[Knights of Blood]] chapters both have an uncanny predilection for all-out, balls-to-the-wall assault—hoping to die in battle honorably before the rage takes them. In the Knights of Blood's case, they fought with the zeal of the [[Black Templars]], the fury of the [[World Eaters]], and the excess of the [[Marines Malevolent]] in such a perfect way that they got kicked out of the [[Imperium of Man|cool kids club]] and branded renegades for their excess collateral damage against allied forces. The Flesh Tearers very nearly joined that shit list, and were only forgiven by the Blood Angels when [[Plot armor|Astorath personally intervened on their behalf, citing that their brutality would be a necessity in the near future]].

On the tabletop, this essentially allows you to bring a squad of [[Khorne Berserkers]] without the [[Khorne]], but with more customization options. You can also take several squads if Astorath has shown up, as he always seems to know where and when his brothers will succumb.

As with the Red Thirst, [[Games Workshop|GW]] keep changing the rules with these guys; nowadays you can purchase units of Death Company as Elite choices for your army at a not-insignificant cost, whilst in 6th they were Troops, but were so far down the path of being drooling lunatics that they couldn't hold objectives, and you could only have one squad unless [[Astorath]] was watching. In ancient times, it used to happen spontaneously for free, and you had to roll for squads at the start of battle, potentially losing members of squads you already paid for to bulk up your Death Company, which made fluff-sense. But at least you chose which model to take off, and sending a veteran sergeant to the Death Company was the only way of giving power weapon/fists (excluding the chaplain) to the squad. Losing a [[Terminator|Termie]] or tooled-up honour guard made you cry though...

'''UPDATE:''' As of the 6th edition rulebook, Blood Angels and Necrons are Desperate Allies. For reference, Necrons can form the exact same alliance with the [[Black Templars]]. This implies that the whole scenario with the Necrons and the 'Nids was part of the then-upcoming Necron fluff change wherein the Necrons went from omnicidal kill bots to an actual empire capable of politics and forming alliances

'''UPDATE ver 2.0:''' As of 7th edition the entire allies matrix was rewritten. ALL Imperium forces are Come The Apocalypse with Necrons now.

==Daily rituals of the Blood Angels==

[[File:Dawn of War.jpg|200px|thumb|left|alt text|Dante pwns some noobs as [[Astorath]] and [[Mephiston]] look on.]]

04:00 - Reveille - The Blood Angels are roused from their coffins to start the day. 
04:10 - Grooming - The Blood Angels take the time to comb their hair and brush their teeth. Special attention is given to their fangs. Even more special attention is given to their long, flowing, golden hair. 
04:30 - Morning meal - A light meal is prepared by the chapter serfs for the Blood Angels. Consuming a chapter serf is explicitly prohibited. 
05:00 - Morning prayer. 
06:00 - Morning firing rituals - The Blood Angels assemble for target practice. Due to an ancient clerical error, the Blood Angels are in possession of an excessive amount of a heretical series of books from the pre-Imperial days of Terra called the [[Twilight|Twilight Saga]], which they use for target practice by the thousands. 
07:00 - Battle practice - The Blood Angels begin practice in the battle cages. Frequently, the Blood Angels will forgo their bolters for melee weapons. The usage of fangs in combat practice is considered heresy. Using fangs to drink blood is extra Khornate heresy. 
12:00 - Midday meal - The Blood Angels consume a light meal made for them by the chapter serfs. The chapter serfs are still explicitly off the menu. 
13:00 - Deep strike training - The Blood Angels practice their deep strike maneuvers. Pretending to fly like a bat is heresy. Transforming into a bat or black mist to fly is extra Tzeentchian heresy. 
16:00 - Evening firing rituals. During this time, several Blood Angels also practice the shooting style of a legendary Terran gunslinger known as Nosferatu Alucard, a proto-Blood Angel who was said to have slain thousands of daemons alone using only two blessed stub pistols. 
16:55 - Milk and Cookies Break. Drinking blood instead of milk or dipping cookies in milk is strictly banned. Doing both is considered heresy. Dipping cookies in blood is extra Khornate heresy. 
17:00 - Staring contests - Dumbasses who want to challenge Chief Librarian Mephiston to a menacing staring contest do so now. Usually it's just the neophytes who don't know any better. 
17:15 - Round up - Staring contests end, and those who went mad while staring into Mephiston's eyes must be tracked down in the fortress-monastery and culled. 
17:30 - Evening prayer. Special attention is given to how fabulous Sanguinius was and why they can't wait to tear the heretical Chaos faggots multiple new assholes (hint, it involves blood). 
19:00 - Evening meal - A feast is prepared by the chapter serfs, usually of animals who were killed during the deep strike training. The chapter serfs ''may'' be consumed depending on how good the first two meals were. Using the Red Grail in drinking contests is explicitly prohibited by order of the Sanguinary Priests. 
19:30-All lose Death Company personnel are rounded up, heavily sedated, and locked into their stasis cell for the night. 
20:00 - Free time - The Blood Angels are allowed a few hours of free time to do as they please. Some reflect on their duty to the Emperor and the deeds of Sanguinius. Others play vidya games. [[Pretty Marines|Some just pose moodily and bare-chested in front of a mirror]]. Still others will engage in artistic activities. A GOOD vampire movie is often shown for the Blood Angels' entertainment. 
00:00 - Rest - The Blood Angels retire to their coffins for the evening.

==Notable Members of the Blood Angels==
*[[Sanguinius]] - Primarch. Snaps [[Bloodthirster]] spines over his knee and decapitates [[Keeper of Secrets|Keepers of Secrets]] for the [[lulz]].
*[[Meros]] - Apothecary during the Horus Heresy. Sacrificed himself so that Sanguinius could righteously fuck up a Keeper of Secrets.
*Dominion Zephon - Crippled Blood Angel who represented the Legion on Terra before the Heresy. [[Awesome|Took on Drach'nyen in the Webway]] with a chainsword despite only recently having the feeling restored in his limbs, living out the "drive me closer" meme. All around elegan/tg/entleman able to play the harp well enough to make mutants weep and able to fight just as well. Counteracts the insipid autism of Diocletion Coros during Master of mankind by being just a swell dude. Also, makes a Knight Baroness' panties reenact Genesis 7:17
*[[Dante]] - Current Chapter Master. Dude's mad old and prefers not to mention anything about having a Necron's cell phone number.
*[[Mephiston]] - Chief Librarian and resident rape train. Scariest motherfucker this side of the [[Eye of Terror]].
*[[Corbulo]] - High [[Sanguinary Priest]]. Sees far, just not far enough, into the future.
*[[Astorath]] - Keeper of Sanctity and the dude who kills Death Company nutjobs when they nutjob too hard.
*[[Lemartes]] - Chaplain and the Guardian of the Lost, and the only Blood Angel to hold the Black Rage in check. Ranks #2 behind the Eversor Assassin as the most 40K thing in 40K.
*[[Karlaen|Arenos Karlaen]] - 1st Company captain and total bro. Has a model thanks to 7E's Deathstorm Box.
*[[Donatos Aphael]]- 2nd company captain.
*[[Erasmus Tycho]] - 3rd company captain. Proof that [[Your dudes]] has a reason to exist. Sadly could not quell the Black Rage, but still worth a fight no doubt.
*[[Moriar the Chosen]] - Matt Ward's excuse for making generic Death Company Dreadnoughts a thing.
*[[Rafen]] - Longest living Blood Angel mook in any of the Blood Angels book series.
*[[Sanguinor]] - May or may not be Sanguinius reborn...or Azkaellon...or a warp entity created by the longings of the Blood Angels...or all three together...DAMMIT! IT'S COMPLICATED.
*[[Acrion]] - Random captain that thought he could stand up to [[Abaddon]] during the 7th Black Crusade. He couldn't.
*[[Thalastian Jorus]] - Fuckawesome Reclusiarch that succeeded in standing up to Abaddon--killed ''all'' his [[Bringers of Despair|Honour Guard]], thoroughly wrecked the [[Black Legion]] by utilizing [[Wat|guerrilla tactics with the Death Company of all things]] AND became one of like 3 people in the Imperium to go toe to toe with the despoiler and come out on top, gravely wounding Abby before Thalastian was killed by the Black Legion.
*[[Chapter Master Slamguinius|Brother Slamguinius, the Slambane, 9th lord of slamfuckery]] - The newest hope to rise out of the Blood Angel's 8th edition codex, and by far the punchiest thing to ever come out of one of our codices from a basic Captain template in recent years.

==See Also==
*[[Warhammer 40,000/Tactics/Blood Angels(8E)|Tactics/Blood Angels]]

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:The Red Angel.jpg|Manly Vampires, IN SPESS!
File:Admit It.jpg|You know it to be true.

</gallery>

{{Template:Marines-Official}}
{{Blood Angels}}

Blood Angels

2018-09-14T03:22:48Z

2601:647:4E80:7DC0:211E:7B64:3DD6:6E3F: /* Daily rituals of the Blood Angels */

{{Infobox Spess Mahreen Chapter
|Name = Blood Angels
|Heraldry = [[Image:Blood_Angels_Pauldron.jpeg|center|140px]]
|Battle Cry = "For the Emperor and Sanguinius!"
|Number = IX
|Founding = [[First Founding]]
|Successor Chapters = [[Angels Encarmine]] Angels Penitent [[Angels Sanguine]] [[Angels Vermillion]] [[Blood Drinkers]] [[Blood Legion]] [[Blood Swords]] (claimed otherwise in Codex: Blood Angels 5th Edition by [[Matt Ward]], so take that as you will) [[Exsanguinators]] [[Flesh Eaters]] [[Flesh Tearers]] [[Knights of Blood]] [[Knights Sanguine]] [[Lamenters]] [[Red Wings]] [[Carmine Blades]]
|Chapter Master = [[Dante]]
|Primarch = [[Sanguinius]]
|Homeworld = [[Baal]]
|Specialty = Rapid assaults, close combat, being ''fabulous''
|Strength = ~1000 Marines
|Allegiance = [[Imperium]]
|Colours = Red with black detailing
}}
{{Topquote|Man is neither angel nor beast, and the misfortune is that he who would act the angel acts the beast.|Blaise Pascal}}
{{Topquote|From his Blood are we born! From his essence are we made! From his passion comes our art! From his nobility comes beauty. From his might stems justice. From his thirst is born righteous rage!|The Final Charge of the [[Lord of the Rings|Rohirrim]]--err, Blood angels.}}
{{Topquote|We are born of the blood, made men by the blood, undone by the blood; Fear the old blood.|Provost Willem, ''Bloodborne''}}

The '''Blood Angels''' were the 9th [[Space Marine]] Legion created by the [[Emperor]]. They are so named because of their tendency to
use blood as a central symbol of their particular warrior-monk rituals, and because of their susceptibility to the [[Red Thirst]], a wild bloodlust that arises in them during battle. If he fails to control his Red Thirst, a Blood Angel may succumb to the [[Black Rage]] (the [[Grimdark|Grimdarkest]] of Daddy Issues), after which he becomes a completely insane killing machine with no regard for his own safety who will try to destroy the Emperor's foes even if all he has left is a bloody stump of one leg. This has led to the Blood Angels being viewed as basically vampires [[Meme|IN SPEHSS]], and unfortunately as the [[Twilight|Team Edward]] to the [[Space Wolves]] [[Twilight|Team Jacob]]. If you are not already completely indignant, see the second image at the bottom of the page for additional [[rage]]. We'll wait. …...Yeah, how much does that blow? Here's the good news, though: that's pretty much the only thing that sucks (PUN) about the Blood Angels. Everything else is [[awesome]] apart maybe from [[Skub|'nipple' armour]], but the rest is all cool, angelic and bloody and all.

The cause of the Black Rage basically amounts to the most epic case of an absent-daddy complex ever. Just with a high chance of being skullfuckingly angry/awesome at the same time. You see, during the [[Horus Heresy]], the Blood Angels' [[Primarch]], [[Sanguinius]], was slain by [[Horus]] himself just before the Emperor destroyed Horus. This subsequently [[RAGE|fucked up]] the mental stability of all future generations of Blood Angels, and when one of them is overtaken by the Black Rage, he literally believes he is Sanguinius and relives in vivid detail the final battle with Horus and his traitor legions at the Battle of [[Terra]].

Oh, and [[Hive Fleet Leviathan]] have been coming to devour their homeworld [[Baal]] for a few editions while it is also being attacked by a [[Khorne|Khornate]] army led by their ancient enemy, the [[Bloodthirster]] [[Ka'bandha]]. 8th edition "progressed" the story with the attack and [[Devastation of Baal|devastation of the Baal]] system where the Blood Angels and almost all their successor chapters were ready to receive them. Both moons were stripped of all life (yummy yummy radioactive wastes) and the main planet was wrecked with trillions of bugs, with the last survivors making one last charge--facing their fate like men in the ruins of the planet.

This is when the [[Great Rift]] opened up and cut Baal from the real space, yet the [[Tyranids]] on the ground forgot about the synapse shenanigans and continued to enjoy their first winning campaign since like forever. By the time the Warp was stable, all the bug-ships had vanished and Ka'Bandha had wiped out everything on one of Baal's moons--but in an odd show of his tsundere side for the Blood Angels, primarily summoned his lesser ilk to fight off the Tyranids, until the chapter master of the [[Knights of Blood]] chapter, Sentor Jool, engaged the Bloodthirster in single combat, which sounds stupid, but actually comes off completely fuckawesome and manly...while also being a pretty stupid thing to do.

Luckily for them the cicatrix maledictum had royally fucked up the hive fleet, completely disappearing some portions and annihilating the rest. The Blood Angels last stand culminated in Dante further fucking over the hive mind in a good bout of fisticuffs with the [[Swarmlord]]. The [[Legion of the Damned]] and the [[Sanguinor]] provided timely reinforcement--with true salvation arriving when the warp storms abated and the arrival of the [[Indomitus Crusade]]. Though [[Roboute Guilliman]] confided later that all they really had to do was finish off the stragglers that had survived the fleet and the warp storms--which was a nice clean way to provide some dignity to the severely depleted Sons of Sanguinius for the fanboys who had already been rolling their eyes over their [[Spiritual Liege]] coming to save them.

Baal Primus is a blasted shithole now (well...more of one, anyway) and is now uninhabited. In an odd show of [[noblebright]], Guilliman ordered the mechanicus to terraform Baal Secundus back into its paradisal state before the long night, [[Wat|apparently something they've long been able to do, they just kept it shitty to make for better (read:Tougher) recruits.]] Afterwards Big Bobby-G in a decidedly bro-tier move made Commander Dante the Warden of Imperium Nihilus--effectively ceding command of wholly HALF of the Imperium (the shitty half maybe...) and restored their ability to create new marines, provided fresh [[gene-seed]] and were granted the ability to produce new [[Primaris Space Marines]] along with all of the existing Primaris marines with Sanguinius' bloodline. They capped off the noblebright with allowing all the mortal boys who fought in defense of Baal to become Blood Angels, no questions asked, as they had already proven their worth defending their world. So a bit of a rollercoaster of emotions that day, to say the least.

==History and Background Fluff==

[[File:Blood angel aspirants.jpg|300px|thumb|left|Welcome motherfuckers, have some blood. You'll be as pretty as us in no time.]]

The Blood Angels' Primarch was [[Sanguinius]], who was best known for being a [[Pretty_Marines|pretty]] [[Mutant]], a charismatic guy with a bad temper that made him look like Satan, and he was apparently a total bro. Basically, to the Space Marine legions and the rest of the Primarchs, he was [[This Guy]]. They all loved him. Even Horus, after he fell to [[Chaos]], lamented that Sanguinius in particular was no longer by his side. He also had a pair of huge, angel-like wings; no one is sure if this had something to do with the radiation on Baal or if he just came out of his birthing pod like that, but the citizens of Baal nearly killed him for it when he was found at the site now known as Angel's Fall. ([[Emperor|Emprah]] have mercy on anyone who uses the [[Mutant|m-word]] around the Blood Angels, though.) Many of the Blood Angels imitate the power and majesty of their beloved Primarch's wings by focusing on jump pack assaults, so the Blood Angels and their successor chapters doctrinally see a lot more [[Assault Squad]]s than the typical Space Marine army. Their current Chapter Master is [[Dante]], the oldest non-Dreadnought-interred loyalist Space Marine in history.

They had a brotherly rivalry with the [[World Eaters]] (if only the [[Imperial Fists]]/[[Iron Warriors]] and [[Ultramarines]]/[[Word Bearers]] could have managed that…) which got pretty messy when the [[Horus Heresy]] started. Also, they are one of the only chapters that can call on its successor chapters and reasonably expect more than just a courtesy call back, [[Angels Vermillion|even the ones]] [[Flesh Tearers|that don't like them all that much]]. The only other ones that we can find who can do that are the [[Dark Angels]] (<s>for obvious reasons</s> ANY IDEA THAT THE DARK ANGELS AND THEIR SUCCESSORS ARE CONNECTED IS FALSE THE DARK ANGELS ARE THE MOST LOYAL TO THE IMPERIUM!), [[Imperial Fists]] and the [[Wat|Ultramarines]] (redundant statements since the majority of chapters with successors do this, since the Wolves and Salamanders don't even have successors that just leaves two chapters with successors who can't). This is pretty justified for the Blood Angels, as all Blood Angel descendants are united by the twin curses/blessings of Sanguinius. So you mess with one of them too much, you might just get an entire legion attacking you. Or if it were during the Time of Ending, you might get them to unite to defend their ancestral homeworld, Baal.

[[File:Warhammer 40K blood angels wallpaper (1).jpg|300px|thumbnail|right|A Marine putting the 'blood' in 'Blood Angel'.]]

The Blood Angels' themes and motifs are drawn from vampire and Faustian mythology as well as some Catholic traditions. They [[Beakie|commonly fly (with jump packs)]], [[Twilight|are eternally youthful]], [[Vampire|drink blood, and sleep in coffins]]. They are also noted for naturally living longer on average than the Marines of any other chapter. When a Blood Angel dies, a [[Sanguinary Priest]] (what they call their [[Apothecaries]]) extracts his gene-seed using a device called an exsanguinator. When it comes time to implant it in an Initiate, the Initiate must receive it by drinking from a Blood Chalice ('insanguination'), which also contains the essence of Sanguinius. The story of [[Mephiston]], the Blood Angels' chief librarian, closely parallels the legend of Faust, a scholar who sells his soul to the devil in return for great knowledge and power (hell, he's named after the manifestation of the devil in the story, Mephistopheles or Mephisto). The names of their special characters and vehicles have an Italian flavor—Dante, the Furioso Dreadnought, Brother Corbulo. Corbulo, known as the chapter's High Sanguinary Priest, carries the Red Grail, which contains the blood of Sanguinius himself. Also, do we have to point out that the word 'sanguis' literally means 'blood' in Latin? Well, there you go.

In times of dire need, they are aided by the [[Sanguinor]], a guy who seems to be a Blood Angel in a more literal sense. Maybe he's some psychic manifestation of the Chapter. Maybe he's a ghost of Sanguinius. Nobody knows. The important thing is that he enjoys piledriving [[Bloodthirsters]] from space, killing [[Eldar]] [[Khaine|Avatars]], and killing a bunch of Night Lords, saving Dante's life in the process as it was otherwise a textbook suicide mission, a redemptive one, to be specific. In recent Black Library tales he appeared to lead Blood Angels brethren in a heroic last stand against Hive Fleet Leviathan, where the squad sergeant [[anal circumference|punched a hole in a Carnifex's chest]] [[Awesome|after being impaled, allowing the rest of his squad to live]]. He took off after that, but not after he managed to [[Noblebright|renew the Astartes' faith in humanity.]]

==Combat Doctrine==

[[File:Helmet Colours.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Helmets for the Blood Angels play a very important part in their chapter—easy color coding to identify squad type ''and'' an incentive to keep your sexy face covered to [[Nemeroth|prevent easily avoidable death by helmetlessness]].]]

The Blood Angels took the establishment of the [[Codex Astartes]] as official Space Marine doctrine with [[Imperial Fists|notably less]] [[Space Wolves|bitching than]] [[Salamanders|other chapters]] due to the death of their Primarch and the onset of the Black Rage. They follow the strictures of the Codex as far as they see wisdom in it: the chapter is comprised of a thousand Blood Angels and divided into ten companies, each of which is headed by a captain. The First Company is comprised of veterans, and the Tenth Company is comprised of Scouts and Neophytes who have not yet become full Marines. Obviously though, none of the blood rituals and other [[Pretend|weird shit]] is Codex-approved.

Like their brethren in the [[Raven Guard]] though, the Blood Angels have a natural predilection for using jump packs and their own free will ([[Ultramarines|as opposed to blindly]] [[Red Scorpions|following the Codex]]). Due to their chapter's [[Black Rage|curse]], they have had to tweak things a bit; once they complete their training as Scouts, Blood Angels immediately go into [[Assault Squad|Assault Squads]] rather than [[Devastator Squad|Devastator Squads]], as the Codex Astartes would have it, though not only because of these little scamps' brashness. The constant close combat also allows Blood Angel officers to identify the noobs who can control their Red Thirst as well as those who cannot, and thereafter keep tabs on the latter group. Devastator Squads in the Blood Angels Chapter are reserved for Marines who have better control of the Red Thirst than most, because heavy fire support isn't very useful when the people providing it have psychopathic ADD.

The few Blood Angels that decide they don't like jumping like maniacs into swarms of enemies, and instead prefer biking like maniacs into swarms of enemies, are regarded as some of the best biker Marines in the Imperium, following closely behind the [[White Scars]] and the Dark Angels' [[Ravenwing]].

==Tools of the Trade==

[[File:Tumblr niexunCRca1tvfheeo1 1280.jpg|300px|left|thumb|[[Sanguinius]] proclaimed, "War is an art form," and the Blood Angels said, "Well, that sounds [[Pretty Marines|absolutely fabulous]]. Get me some gold."]]

Blood Angels are known throughout the Imperium to be master artisans. Their long lifespans allow them time to perfect whatever trade they set their mind too, whether they are crafting the infamous, hand-sculpted artificer 'nipple' armour, [[What|bolters worth more than an Imperial hive city]], or even if they're simply painting vehicles and power armour. The philosophy behind this practice is that you cannot hope to know the value of what you're fighting for if you cannot understand its beauty.

Blood Angels are also known for their prevalent use of [[flamer|flamers]] and [[melta]] weapons. While they don't employ them as plentifully as the [[Salamanders]] do, they are nearly as masterfully constructed. The Sons of Sanguinius have taken a liking to the hand flamer, which gives them the assault capability of a flamer, but leaves their sword arm free to use in close combat. Heavy flamers can also be found in many of their Tactical Squads as an assault deterrent as well as on the side sponsons of Baal Predators to compliment the Flamestorm Cannon, which ruins any infantry unit's day.

They also reeeeeeally like the Inferno pistol. Nearly everyone has one, including the [[Dante|Chapter Master]].

The aforementioned Baal Predator is a unique tank manufactured by the Blood Angels. It is an anti-infantry assault tank equipped with [[Dakka|twin-linked assault cannons and heavy flamers]] that was acquired in a pre-heresy campaign that nearly broke all their relationships with the Mechanicus. Even to this day, things are still a bit touchy. Luckily, the Techmarines of the chapter quickly reverse engineered the overcharged "Lucifer-class" engines onto nearly all their vehicles.

The Blood Angels' de facto relic weapons are called Glaive Encarmines—'glaive' apparently meaning 'sword' in this case rather than the halberd-type weapon it's associated with ("glaives" comes from the Latin "gladius", the common short sword of the legionnaire so there you go). They're made out of a mono-filament metal called 'angel-steel' and are purportedly so perfectly crafted that they never bend or warp. The secrets to their manufacture are jealously guarded by their Artificers. This is represented by their master-crafted universal special rule. They come in two flavors, a Carmine Sword or a Carmine Axe.

==The Red Thirst, The Black Rage, and You!==
The Blood Angels and their successor chapters have a genetic defect in their gene-seed known euphemistically as "The Flaw". It seems to have much more representation in the [[fluff]] than in the [[crunch]], but that's standard fare for a life-threatening, damnation-courting mutation that can pop up at any time.

===Red Thirst===

[[File:BA's.jpg|thumb|left|500px|[[Ultramarines|You'll never see a Blood Angel go]] "Oh nooooes, a fleet of nice squishy flesh-bugs coming to devour our system, we're doooomed...". Maybe because it's an excellent way to let loose for a bit.]]

The Red Thirst is what makes the Blood Angels space vampires,<s> or Team Edward </s> {{BLAM}} {{BLAM|PURGE THE UNCOMFORTABLE THEMATIC PARALLELS OF POPULAR CULTURE!}}

The [[Red Thirst]] has been a part of being a Blood Angel since the [[Great Crusade]]. Sanguinius went to great lengths to hide it from the Emperor for fear of being [[First Founding#Two Unknown Legions|expunged from the Imperium]], although odds are that the Emperor already knew. He even introduced [[Chaplain]]s to the Blood Angels legions before the Edict of Nikaea, not just to monitor psykers, but to look out for brothers who might be giving into their bloodlust.

In the lore the general effect is that the Red Thirst makes a Blood Angel an [[Angry Marine]] with a thirst for actual goddamn blood. Thus most Blood Angel Chaplains require certification for anger management therapy before they get the job. Their duty is to ensure that the assorted Marines are not showing signs of bloodlust, and to throw them into a battle if they are [[Grimdark|so they can stave off total madness a bit longer]]. However, all battle-brothers who suffer the effects of the Flaw long enough will eventually become overrun with their rather literal thirst for vengeance, succumbing to the Black Rage. After this, their lives will consist of utterly suicidal front-line charges to [[rip and tear]] the enemy as much as possible, before they eventually receive an honorable death in combat against the Emperor's foes. Those unlucky enough to survive to the end of the battle will either be given [[Blam|the Emperor's Peace]] by [[Astorath]], or [[Grimdark|imprisoned within the Tower of the Lost as a hopeless, dribbling maniac until they are required on the field of battle once more.]] This happened in Devastation of Baal, where the victims of the curse were seen as having mutated into hulking beasts who moved on all fours like gorillas. They were released to hold off the hordes of Daemons and Tyranids.

[[File:Blood-angel-dantewontdie.jpg|thumb|right|300px|I told you about the Red Thirst bro! Also, quite funny the artist shares his name with the BA chapter master.]]Some chapters are more susceptible than others. The imaginatively named "[[Blood Drinkers]]" are notorious amongst their allies for allegedly leaving exsanguinated corpses wherever they show up. On the upside, Blood Drinkers are one of the few chapters who have [[Deathwatch (RPG)|tangible rules]] regarding how they handle the Red Thirst: if they have recently sated themselves, they gain a boost to WS, and suffer penalties to morale checks if they refrain from feeding.

On the tabletop, this has historically been changed in every single incarnation of the rules as GW continually changed their minds over how the Thirst should be represented; in 7th edition, they just give the flat bonus of Furious Charge to everything (including dreadnoughts); but if you get a bunch of Blood Angels together in the correct FOC or formation, then they also get +1 to Initiative when charging (''á la'' old-school Furious Charge), which is a very strong advantage. In 6th edition, Red Thirst had the odd consequence of occasionally making a unit Fearless and Furious Chargers if they give into the temptation, though independent characters had enough control over themselves that they were mostly immune, with a [[Erasmus Tycho|few]] exceptions. Going further back, into 3rd edition, the Red Thirst made a bit more sense and was something to actually be wary of, as your units had a potential to lose control at the thought of blood and move out of position towards the enemy. This really wasn't [[fun]], especially if your Devastator Squads didn't pull that critical round of shooting.

New in 8th it comes back with a vengeance. Allowing any infantry who charged, has been charged, or is performing a heroic intervention, to add +1 to the to wound roll. Meaning, when red thirst is in affect, [[awesome|you'll never be wounding on anything worse than 5+]].

===Black Rage===

[[File:Death company by fonteart-d6ay2k7.jpg|250px|thumb|Note the ancient, unfathomable fury, and run away pissing yourself.]]

On the other hand, the [[Black Rage]] is the Red Thirst's angrier, more troublesome brother. You know, the one who dresses in black all the time, and who shows up at random times to complicate your life and embarrass your family. It's a terminal state in which the battle brother has not only succumbed to the Red Thirst, but has had a total psychotic breakdown. Or if you're feeling particularly poetic: it's the psychic scream of a dying demi-god that got stuck in his progeny.

Battle-brothers who succumb to the Black Rage are overcome with visions of Blood Angel battles during the [[Horus Heresy]], and a few even imagine themselves to be [[Pretend|Sanguinius battling Horus on his battle barge]]. This of course has the unfortunate side effect of making them completely lose touch with reality, fighting a battle that they can never ever win since the outcome of the hallucinations has already occurred. On the plus side though, their disconnection with what is going on around them turns them into immensely powerful warriors, since each and every one of them believe in some way that they are Sanguinius.

Long story short, a Marine afflicted with the Black Rage will become even angrier than an [[Angry Marine]], and with even less self-control(which means they are effectively each Nightbringer crossed with Commissar Fuklaw. If you happen to be in the same star system of one of these, pray to the god emperor they don't sense you. If you don't happen to worship the God-Emperor, silently hope your gods are OK with suicide, because the alternative is too nightmarishly gruesome for even Games Workshop to describe in sufficient detail). If this happens in a war zone, they are quietly organized into small squads and their armor is painted black by a chaplain before the worst of the hallucinations take over. If they aren't killed in battle or get off the leash somehow, [[Astorath]] will come and execute them on the battlefield since no other Blood Angel has the stomach (or outright skill) to kill his own battle brothers.

The [[Death Company]] is a group of Blood Angels on the battlefield who are afflicted by the [[Black Rage]]. Every force of Blood Angels and their successor chapters has one, though [[Flesh Tearers|some]] are more susceptible than [[Lamenters|others]], which makes those chapters' responses to the occurrence of Black Rage quite varied. The [[Flesh Tearers]] and the renegade [[Knights of Blood]] chapters both have an uncanny predilection for all-out, balls-to-the-wall assault—hoping to die in battle honorably before the rage takes them. In the Knights of Blood's case, they fought with the zeal of the [[Black Templars]], the fury of the [[World Eaters]], and the excess of the [[Marines Malevolent]] in such a perfect way that they got kicked out of the [[Imperium of Man|cool kids club]] and branded renegades for their excess collateral damage against allied forces. The Flesh Tearers very nearly joined that shit list, and were only forgiven by the Blood Angels when [[Plot armor|Astorath personally intervened on their behalf, citing that their brutality would be a necessity in the near future]].

On the tabletop, this essentially allows you to bring a squad of [[Khorne Berserkers]] without the [[Khorne]], but with more customization options. You can also take several squads if Astorath has shown up, as he always seems to know where and when his brothers will succumb.

As with the Red Thirst, [[Games Workshop|GW]] keep changing the rules with these guys; nowadays you can purchase units of Death Company as Elite choices for your army at a not-insignificant cost, whilst in 6th they were Troops, but were so far down the path of being drooling lunatics that they couldn't hold objectives, and you could only have one squad unless [[Astorath]] was watching. In ancient times, it used to happen spontaneously for free, and you had to roll for squads at the start of battle, potentially losing members of squads you already paid for to bulk up your Death Company, which made fluff-sense. But at least you chose which model to take off, and sending a veteran sergeant to the Death Company was the only way of giving power weapon/fists (excluding the chaplain) to the squad. Losing a [[Terminator|Termie]] or tooled-up honour guard made you cry though...

'''UPDATE:''' As of the 6th edition rulebook, Blood Angels and Necrons are Desperate Allies. For reference, Necrons can form the exact same alliance with the [[Black Templars]]. This implies that the whole scenario with the Necrons and the 'Nids was part of the then-upcoming Necron fluff change wherein the Necrons went from omnicidal kill bots to an actual empire capable of politics and forming alliances

'''UPDATE ver 2.0:''' As of 7th edition the entire allies matrix was rewritten. ALL Imperium forces are Come The Apocalypse with Necrons now.

==Daily rituals of the Blood Angels==

[[File:Dawn of War.jpg|200px|thumb|left|alt text|Dante pwns some noobs as [[Astorath]] and [[Mephiston]] look on.]]

04:00 - Reveille - The Blood Angels are roused from their coffins to start the day. 
04:10 - Grooming - The Blood Angels take the time to comb their hair and brush their teeth. Special attention is given to their fangs. Even more special attention is given to their long, flowing, golden hair. 
04:30 - Morning meal - A light meal is prepared by the chapter serfs for the Blood Angels. Consuming a chapter serf is explicitly prohibited. 
05:00 - Morning prayer. 
06:00 - Morning firing rituals - The Blood Angels assemble for target practice. Due to an ancient clerical error, the Blood Angels are in possession of an excessive amount of a heretical series of books from the pre-Imperial days of Terra called the [[Twilight|Twilight Saga]], which they use for target practice by the thousands. 
07:00 - Battle practice - The Blood Angels begin practice in the battle cages. Frequently, the Blood Angels will forgo their bolters for melee weapons. The usage of fangs in combat practice is considered heresy. Using fangs to drink blood is extra Khornate heresy. 
12:00 - Midday meal - The Blood Angels consume a light meal made for them by the chapter serfs. The chapter serfs are still explicitly off the menu. 
13:00 - Deep strike training - The Blood Angels practice their deep strike maneuvers. Pretending to fly like a bat is heresy. Transforming into a bat or black mist to fly is extra Tzeentchian heresy. 
16:00 - Evening firing rituals. During this time, several Blood Angels also practice the shooting style of a legendary Terran gunslinger known as Nosferatu Alucard, a proto-Blood Angel who was said to have slain thousands of daemons alone using only two blessed stub pistols. 
16:55 - Milk and Cookies Break. Drinking blood instead of milk or dipping cookies in milk is strictly banned. Doing both is considered heresy. Dipping cookies in blood is extra Khornate heresy. 
17:00 - Staring contests - Dumbasses who want to challenge Chief Librarian Mephiston to a menacing staring contest do so now. Usually it's just the neophytes who don't know any better. 
17:15 - Round up - Staring contests end, and those who went mad while staring into Mephiston's eyes must be tracked down in the fortress-monastery and culled. 
17:30 - Evening prayer. Special attention is given to how fabulous Sanguinius was and why they can't wait to tear the heretical Chaos faggots multiple new assholes (hint, it involves blood). 
19:00 - Evening meal - A feast is prepared by the chapter serfs, usually of animals who were killed during the deep strike training. The chapter serfs ''may'' be consumed depending on how good the first two meals were. Using the Red Grail in drinking contests is explicitly prohibited by order of the Sanguinary Priests. 
19:30-All lose Death Company personnel are rounded up heavily sedated and locked into their stasis cell for the night. 
20:00 - Free time - The Blood Angels are allowed a few hours of free time to do as they please. Some reflect on their duty to the Emperor and the deeds of Sanguinius. Others play vidya games. [[Pretty Marines|Some just pose moodily and bare-chested in front of a mirror]]. Still others will engage in artistic activities. A GOOD vampire movie is often shown for the Blood Angels' entertainment. 
00:00 - Rest - The Blood Angels retire to their coffins for the evening.

==Notable Members of the Blood Angels==
*[[Sanguinius]] - Primarch. Snaps [[Bloodthirster]] spines over his knee and decapitates [[Keeper of Secrets|Keepers of Secrets]] for the [[lulz]].
*[[Meros]] - Apothecary during the Horus Heresy. Sacrificed himself so that Sanguinius could righteously fuck up a Keeper of Secrets.
*Dominion Zephon - Crippled Blood Angel who represented the Legion on Terra before the Heresy. [[Awesome|Took on Drach'nyen in the Webway]] with a chainsword despite only recently having the feeling restored in his limbs, living out the "drive me closer" meme. All around elegan/tg/entleman able to play the harp well enough to make mutants weep and able to fight just as well. Counteracts the insipid autism of Diocletion Coros during Master of mankind by being just a swell dude. Also, makes a Knight Baroness' panties reenact Genesis 7:17
*[[Dante]] - Current Chapter Master. Dude's mad old and prefers not to mention anything about having a Necron's cell phone number.
*[[Mephiston]] - Chief Librarian and resident rape train. Scariest motherfucker this side of the [[Eye of Terror]].
*[[Corbulo]] - High [[Sanguinary Priest]]. Sees far, just not far enough, into the future.
*[[Astorath]] - Keeper of Sanctity and the dude who kills Death Company nutjobs when they nutjob too hard.
*[[Lemartes]] - Chaplain and the Guardian of the Lost, and the only Blood Angel to hold the Black Rage in check. Ranks #2 behind the Eversor Assassin as the most 40K thing in 40K.
*[[Karlaen|Arenos Karlaen]] - 1st Company captain and total bro. Has a model thanks to 7E's Deathstorm Box.
*[[Donatos Aphael]]- 2nd company captain.
*[[Erasmus Tycho]] - 3rd company captain. Proof that [[Your dudes]] has a reason to exist. Sadly could not quell the Black Rage, but still worth a fight no doubt.
*[[Moriar the Chosen]] - Matt Ward's excuse for making generic Death Company Dreadnoughts a thing.
*[[Rafen]] - Longest living Blood Angel mook in any of the Blood Angels book series.
*[[Sanguinor]] - May or may not be Sanguinius reborn...or Azkaellon...or a warp entity created by the longings of the Blood Angels...or all three together...DAMMIT! IT'S COMPLICATED.
*[[Acrion]] - Random captain that thought he could stand up to [[Abaddon]] during the 7th Black Crusade. He couldn't.
*[[Thalastian Jorus]] - Fuckawesome Reclusiarch that succeeded in standing up to Abaddon--killed ''all'' his [[Bringers of Despair|Honour Guard]], thoroughly wrecked the [[Black Legion]] by utilizing [[Wat|guerrilla tactics with the Death Company of all things]] AND became one of like 3 people in the Imperium to go toe to toe with the despoiler and come out on top, gravely wounding Abby before Thalastian was killed by the Black Legion.
*[[Chapter Master Slamguinius|Brother Slamguinius, the Slambane, 9th lord of slamfuckery]] - The newest hope to rise out of the Blood Angel's 8th edition codex, and by far the punchiest thing to ever come out of one of our codices from a basic Captain template in recent years.

==See Also==
*[[Warhammer 40,000/Tactics/Blood Angels(8E)|Tactics/Blood Angels]]

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:The Red Angel.jpg|Manly Vampires, IN SPESS!
File:Admit It.jpg|You know it to be true.

</gallery>

{{Template:Marines-Official}}
{{Blood Angels}}