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Index Astartes




Hi Bunkerers and Bunkerettes,

With the announcement of the new Space Marine codex I got a little bit excited about doing a new army. Now that my Dark Angels are up to about 2.5k I was feeling the green fatigue and was looking for something new. I decided, as with most things we do here at the Beard Bunker, to start with building a theme, a concept and a style. After a few discussions and changes of mind I came up with something, and it's slightly different to my normal thing. For a start there isn't going to be any tanks what so ever. Blasphemy I hear you cry. Well, be patient little Beardlings and all will be clarified. How? Well I shamelessly stole a concept from a Mister Mike Fogg, and wrote an Index Astartes. So, without further ado, I present the Sons of Rhea (pronounced Re-aah).



                                                                Index Astartes
                                                                 Sons of Rhea

Founding

The Sons of Rhea was founded at the request of the Ultramarines after the second war of Armageddon with the view to creating a force specialising in aquatic operations such as ship boardings, anti-submersible actions and general underwater work. This was in response to repeated use of surface and submersible craft by Ork raiders and an increase in Tau underwater mining operations.

Chapter Badge



History

After the founding the Sons began the search for a suitable homeworld. The decision to adopt the Pylos system was made due to its composition of several oceanic worlds. The population, whilst nominally loyal to the imperium, were largely overlooked and regularly raided by both Human and Dark Eldar raiders. The first test for the Sons was to claim the world and secure it from the raiders. A series of bloody but brief engagements soon settled the Human threat. The Dark Eldar menace was only increased by the Sons presence as the xenos only saw the defense and counter assault put up by the Sons as an extra element to the game. The Sons 2nd Watch is permanently stationed in the Pylos system to counter the regular raids.

The Sons have been involved in several notable actions against submerged Tau facilities. In these missions the Sons gained the tactical advantage by using drop pods to deploy troops directly into the facilities via low level orbital launches and only engaging the drop pod’s arrester rockets after the pod had plunged through the ocean above and penetrated the outer hull of the mining stations causing a great deal of damage and disorientation among the defenders.

Other notable actions by the Sons involved elements of the 3rd, 5th and 8th Watches making a pre-emptive assault against an Ork Kil-Kroozer making it’s way into the outer reaches of the Armageddon system. They successfully deployed via assault ram and beat their way into the heart of the ship to disable the engines, which left the ship at the mercy of the imperial navy, which took no time destroying the vessel.

The actions of the Sons of Rhea have gain a certain amount of praise and admiration from Space Wolf commanders for their use of shock and awe tactics, particularly when during the Battle of Thresslax the Sons 5th and 6th Watches deployed unannounced directly into the path of the main assault of Hive Fleet Colossus. This prevented the flank of the Space Wolves being overrun. This action cost the Sons dearly as both Watches were reduced to just a handful of Marines before the Space Wolves could provide support.

However, they have gained an equal amount of criticism from many chapters for recklessly interjecting in several situations unasked for. Of note was the occasion when the Sons 4th Watch decided that the Imperial Fist’s siege of a Chaos Cultist strong hold was too cautious and decided to deploy via Drop Pod directly into the main stronghold without sending notification to the Imperial Fists about the action. This disrupted the carefully planned assault and caused the Imperial Fists to launch their assault early.


4th Watch Brother-Sargent

Homeworld

The Sons of Rhea hail from the Pylos system, a series of Oceanic worlds with extensive underwater mining operations. Only 3 of the 6 planets in the system are habitable, Pylos 3, 4, and 5.

Pylos 1 is far too close to the system’s Class A Dwarf star and the surface is mostly molten rock.

Pylos 2 and 3 orbit the star at roughly the same distance and on a similar orbital pattern but remain on opposite sides of the star. The Twins, as they are known locally, are twice standard Terra sized and are tropical at the equator and temperate bordering in tundra at the poles. The Twins are densely populated and are geared to the mining and processing of heavy metals. However, there are few land masses and those that do exist are only just big enough enough to house the transport hubs and spaceports. The population are confined to floating hive cities that anchor to the seabed to conduct the mining operations.

Pylos 4 is much smaller, half standard Terra and further out than 2 & 3 resulting in a much harsher environment with temperatures only making it above freezing around the equator and has substantial ice fields at the poles. The ice rarely has a chance to compact completely as the surface water is constantly rocked with storms and underwater earthquakes. Even though the planet has a greater land mass above the surface these storms, combined with the mountainous nature of what is available, meant the planet was never colonised. The Twins provided a far more appealing climate and a far greater yield of resources. It was on Pylos 4 that the Sons of Rhea built their fortress monastery.

Pylos 5 was once a habitable, if cold world but was stripped of its atmosphere and surface water by a shift in the stellar winds. It is standard Terra sized and suffers from gravitational fluctuations due to its irregular solar orbit. It is however used by the Sons as a training and proving grounds. The airless environment and unpredictable changes in gravity make it the perfect simulation for both nautical and void based assaults.

Pylos 6 is a tiny ball of ice far removed from the star. The surface is completely frozen and the planet, largely unaffected by the gravity of the star and too small to hold a moon in it’s grip has no tectonic activity and is cold to the core. The only thing of mention is a small monitoring station crewed by an unfortunate imperial guard garrison.

Organisation


The Sons follow the Codex Astartes for the vast majority of their organisation. With a few minor aesthetic variations.

A Company is usually referred to as a ‘Watch’.

The Scout Company are normally known as ‘The Deckers’. This is either referring to the recruits being taken freshly from the decks of one of the Hive Ships or because of the local underhive word for Ten being Deca.

1st Watch Veterans wear the same helm colours as their brethren, they are only distinguished by the white shoulder pad and knee markings of the 1st Watch. All Sergeants and Honour Guards wear White Helms. All Watch Commanders (Captain equivalent) wear Bronze Helms.


3rd Watch Brother
Combat Doctrine

The Sons preferred tactic is a direct assault and close quarters combat/firefights. They specialise in Assaults on shipping, both terrestrial and space-borne. However, these tactics can be employed on fixed defenses and emplacements. They thrive on any situation where they are fighting in close confined spaces. They tend to equip themselves with Bolters, Flamers and Meltaguns.

A standard assault pattern would involve Sternguard/Tactical Squads supported by Devastator Squads using Heavy Bolters/Multi Meltas/Heavy Flamers and Ironclad Dreadnoughts making the initial breach either via Drop Pod or assault ram and creating a beachhead. Assault/Vanguard Squads and Terminators would then be used to either breakout or to flank and counter charge depending on the situation. Deckers in Storms would be used to contain the perimeters and catch any escaping foe or to fill gaps in the line. Landspeeders are used for longer ranged heavy support and tank hunting etc.

The Sons also do not keep any land vehicles and rely on being air-mobile. The Sons always deploy using either Assault Rams and Drop Pods when they need to punch straight into an enemy ship. Thunderhawks and Storm Eagles are used for standard deployments and the Deckers almost always deploy via Landspeeder Storms. Fire Support comes from Land Speeders and Close Support from Dreadnoughts. The Sons favour Ironclad pattern Dreadnoughts.

Battle Cry

Call -’The Trident is thrown...’
Reply - ‘... and the earth shall shake!’


By creating this I've given myself a firm idea about the structure, styling and tactics of the Sons of Rhea. This will guide the unit choices, how I play and which games I decide to use the Sons in. It was important for me to create something different to the Dark Angels, I didn't see the point in doing something too close to what I'm used to. Also, this was something with tactics outside of my comfortable 'lets shoot it with a big tank' zone. So, this was a fluffy post. I'm working on the first few models and will be able to put up some pictures soon!

Thanks
Maisey

Comments

  1. And I thought you slept through all those Brian Cox documentaries...?!

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  2. Awesome stuff, my only question would be why does a specifically aquatic oriented army list flamers as a primary weapon of choice? Meltaguns I can see working underwater as they instantly turn waer into steam, but not flamers. I can well imagine bolters having a special harpoon-like round to keep their kinetic energy when passing through water, and torpedo type missiles, and lasers are probably fine, but flamers would surely not work?

    That asside, sounds like you've come up witha really good and original themed army. Don't envy you all the white painting, but I think it'll look awesome.

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  3. Just imagine what a flamer will do in the confines of a ships corridor or compartments. Not all their work is actually in the water but in things in, on, and under the water.

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