VEHICLES
OF THE ADEPTUS ASTARTES
THE IMPERIUM OF MAN
The Imperium of Man, ruled over by the Immortal God-Emperor of Terra, is a collection of worlds which stretches across the entire galaxy. It is an empire that has survived over ten thousand years since the Emperor's ascension to the Golden Throne (1). Despite being beset by alien attacks from without as well as treachery, mutation and heresy from within, it is the greatest empire in human history, encompassing over a million worlds.
To live under the reign of the Emperor is to live in dark and cruel times. The galaxy holds many threats, from hideous bloodthirsty aliens to secretive malign forces which threaten the very survival of Mankind itself. To combat its enemies the Emperor's servants rely upon the vast armies of the Imperium. Countless billions of Imperial Guardsmen form the backbone of the Irnperium's fighting forces, aided by the Imperial Navy, the holy Sisters of Battle, the Skitarii and tie Titan Legions. Most honoured amongst the Emperor's forces stand the Adeptus Astartes – the Space Marines. Each Space Marine is a genetically enhanced super-human warrior, taller, stronger, and faster than any man and knowing no fear in battle. The Space Marines are the shield of Humanity and it is said that no foe can stand before them!
THE ADEPTUS ASTARTES
The origins of the Emperor's elite Space Marines stretches back to before the founding of the Imperium. During the 'Age of Strife' (2) Earth was cut off from the rest of the galaxy by fierce warp storms, preventing interstellar travel. It is believed that it was during this period of isolation that the Space Marines were first developed, under the direction of the man who would later rise to become the Emperor.
It is believed that the Emperor's objective was to create a breed of elite warriors, possessing super-human strength and endurance and unswerving loyalty. In secret laboratories deep below the Earth's surface genetic scientists engineered the Emperor's design. Legend has it that he then led the first prototypes of these elite warriors to reconquer and unify Earth, subjugating the barbarian tribes and rival factions to become sole ruler of the planet. Then, as If the Emperor had foreseen it, the warp storms suddenly abated, and he could lead his new warrior-breed in a Great Crusade across the galaxy to rediscover and liberate Mankind's lost colonies.
Before launching the Great Crusade the Emperor created the first true Space Marines. This was the First Founding (3). The 19 genetic implants were perfected, powered armour and 'bolt' weapons were developed, and most importantly, the Primarchs were created. The Primarchs were the pinnacle of the Emperor's genetic engineering. Twenty perfect beings, whose genetic data could be used to improve and speed up the development of the thousands of Space Marines needed for the coming wars.
Legend has it that an accident occurred and the Primarchs were scattered across the galaxy, a setback which slowed the development of Space Marines, but did not stop it.
Driven by his own foresight the Emperor led his Space Marines and conquered world after world, hardening his warriors in battle, honing their strategic and tactical skills. As the Crusade spread out from Earth the Primarchs were rediscovered, and the Emperor was reunited with his lost sons. Each Primarch was given command of a legion of Space Marines, his own sons, created using his own genetic material. It was the Primarchs, leading their legions, who took the Great Crusade to the far edges of the galaxy, and created the Imperium of Man.
It was during the wars of the Great Crusades that the Space Marine Legions, (later to be broken down into Chapters in the wake of the Horus Heresy (4)) gained a reputation for ruthless efficiency. Space Marine recruits are brainwashed into fierce loyalty to their Emperor. Many have a xenophobic hatred of all alien races, or anybody they deem to have betrayed their master. As the 'Protectors of Humanity' any means justify the ends. All traitors must be punished, all rebellions crushed, all mutants cleansed. It is their holy duty, and they must not fail! Because of this ruthless attitude Space Marine Chapters are viewed with fear and awe, and long ago earned the nickname – the Angels of Death.
THE ORIGINS OF SPACE MARINE VEHICLES
Most Space Marine vehicles owe their origins to the Standard Template Constructs of the Age of Technology (5). First developed to supply colonists with reliable, easy to manufacture technology as Humanity expanded into the cosmos, the basic STC designs became the backbone of fighting vehicle designs during the Great Crusade. The standard Rhino hull is the prime example. It is one of the oldest STC designs still in use, and provides the chassis for many other armoured fighting vehicles, from Whirlwinds to Predators to the Sisters of Battle Immolator.
Just as it can be said that the Great Crusade created the Space Marines, it was the requirements of constant warfare that created many of the Space Marines most common fighting vehicles. Specific examples are covered later in this book, but it is known that recognisable vehicles, like the first Rhinos and Predators, were operating during the Great Crusade. At the time they were not restricted to use by the Space Marine Legions, there is evidence that the Imperial Army also used the same standard vehicles. In the thousands of years since those legendary times many vehicle designs have been lost. Knowledge and science have become so debased that the Adeptus Mechanicus are not willing to recreate them. Some vehicles, like the Land Raider, have been lost and rediscovered. Other designs have been handed down from generation to generation, for thousands of years, with very few changes.
CONSTRUCTION OF SPACE MARINE VEHICLES
Construction of most Space Marine vehicles takes place in the Chapter's forges. Each Space Marine Chapter has its own base, usually referred to as a Fortress-Monastery (6). Heavily defended within the Fortress-Monastery are the Chapter's Apothecarion, Chapels and Armoury.
Each Chapter has an officer responsible for supplying the armouries with vehicles and munitions. 'Master of the Forge' is a high ranking and honourable position amongst the Chapter Master's headquarters staff. The Master of the Forge reports directly to the Chapter Master. Under the Master of the Forge are all the Chapter's Techmarines, Servitors, Techno-mats and the forge's slave workers.
The Techmarines oversee the construction of new vehicle chassis, although each Chapter has its own traditions and rituals of construction they follow a broadly similar pattern. Manned by Servitors, Techno-mats and slaves, the Chapter forges manufacture the required components and assemble them. The complete chassis – be it Rhino, Land Raider, Land Speeder etc, is then blessed and censers and forecast and read. Interpreting the omens indicates what type of vehicle the Machine Spirit within is, so a Rhino chassis may then be remarked tо become a Predator Annihilator, Razorback or Vindicator. The vehicle is then returned to the forges to be completed. The additional equipment required is fitted before the ceremonies of naming and awakening are performed. The naming ceremony gives each individual vehicle its unique name, examples include the Salamander' Rhino 'Nocturne's Hammer', or the Iron Hands Land Raider 'Cestus' and 'Metallus Gravus'. Some Chapters proudly display this name, others prefer to keep it secret.
The ceremony of awakening is the initiation of the Machine Spirit of the vehicle into the Chapter. The Machine Spirit within is awoken from its slumber. Once this ceremony is complete the vehicle has been passed fit for service and is handed to the armouries for storage and required. The Master of the Forge will allocate new vehicles to the fighting companies in need of replacements, or store them as pert of the Chapter's central poll of heavy armour.
Not all Chapters have the facility to make every vehicle they require. For instance, the largest vehicles, such as Thunderhawk gunships, require vast manpower to construct. Some Space Marine Chapters have ties to local forge worlds. The Adeptus Mechanicus and Space Marines have sworn mutual oaths of service to the Imperium and ancient charters exist which require forge worlds to support Space Marine Chapters where needed. In these cases, the vehicle will be constructed to order, and can only be supplied to the specific Chapter. Strict monitoring ensures than these vehicles do not fall into less trustworthy hands. Once complete, the new vehicle is delivered to the Chapter's Fortress-Monastery.
The strict security around such arrangements is required because Space Marine vehicles are amongst the most advanced technology available to the Imperium. Many of the systems within are secret, and help to give the Space Marines an edge in battle. They cannot be allowed to fall into the hands of rebels or spies who might turn them against the Imperium.
Most Chapters have ties to local forge worlds, who are responsible for training the Chapter's Techmarines The Adeptus Mechanicus hold no power over the independent Space Marine Chapters, but the souls of their machines and vehicles must be correctly tended; this is the Techmarine's task. Each serves an apprenticeship on a forge world as part of their training, some even travel to Mars to learn from the master Tech-magi. They are initiated into the ancient lore of machines and technology before returning to the Fortress-Monastery.
ORGANISATION & COMBAT DOCTRINE
Space Marine combat doctrine is very different to that of Imperial Guard forces. It is largely dictated by the size of a Space Marine Chapter. Space Marines are only required to take on the most important and toughest missions. Combat doctrine can be generally described by the terms 'Rapid response, rapid strike.' Space Marine Chapters lack the numerical strength to hold or dominate large areas of ground, instead they provide forces for short deployments with specific objectives.
Organisation of Armoured Units
The Space Marines operate a very flexible command structure and although each Chapter is divided into 10 companies, these only provide a pool of troops which can be freely mixed to create Strike Forces, Task Forces or Battle Groups. A company may fight together as a single unit, but is more often split up into smaller combined arms forces. Strike forces are generally organised around a core of Tactical squads, supported by specialist Assault or Devastator troops and armoured units.
Each company has its own compliment of Rhino transports, Land Speeders, Dreadnoughts and Bikes, but the heavier armour is all drawn from central armoury, which is another 'pool' from which resources are drawn at need. The only exception to this is the Chapter's First Company, who maintain their own compliment of Land Raiders as transports for their Terminator squads. No company will permanently have Predators, Vindicators or Whirlwinds as part of its strength, but will be allocated them on a mission to mission basis.
When a Strike Force is dispatched on a mission its commander will request assets from the central armoury. The Master of the Forge, in consultation with the Chapter Master's Headquarters and the Strike Force commander, will allocate vehicles suitable for the mission.
The crews for armoured vehicles are all full Space Marines, and are often referred to as Custodians of a vehicle. Most crews are drawn from the Tactical squads of the Chapters Sixth and Seventh Companies. All Space Marines have some training in the use of armoured vehicles. Driving Rhinos and armoured formation tactics are part of a recruit's basic training. Later, Space Marines specialise in armoured operations and tactics, being trained in the operation of larger vehicles and basic maintenance. All Space Marine vehicle are fitted with spinal interfaces which a Custodian plugs into their powered armour and Black Carapace (7) allowing a Space Marine to become part of his vehicle, giving him an intuitive 'feel' for a vehicles controls and systems.
An example of Strike Force organisation is the Executioners Chapter Pursuit Force, deployed on Khymara during the Badab War (8). It contained elements of 2nd, 7th, 8th and 10th companies, under the command of Captain BeIloch of 2nd company. Each company provided its own Rhino transports and bikes, whilst 7th provided all the Land Speeder variants and the Custodians for the vehicles drawn from the Armoury.
EXECUTIONERS CHAPTER – KHYMARA PURSUIT FORCE
Commander: Captain Belloch
2-i-c: Chaplain Khalil
Libraries: 1 Codicier
Apothecarion: 2 Apothecaries, 6 Servo-meds in Rhino
Second Company: Captain, Chaplain, Apothecary. Standard Bearer
1 Assault squad on 6 bikes and 2 attack bikes
4 Tactical squads in 3 Rhinos and 2 Razorbacks
2 Devastator squads in Rhinos
Seventh Company: 4 Land Speeder, 3 Land Speeder Tornados, 1 Land Speeder Typhoon
4 Tactical squads (operating as vehicle crew) Eighth Company: 3 Assault squads in Rhinos Tenth Company: 2 Scout squads on bikes
Armoury: 4 Techmarines, 14 Servitors
1 Land Raider Prometheus, 2 Land Raiders
2 Predator Destructors, 1 Predator Annihilator
4 Whirlwinds
1 Damocles
TO&E
161 men, 30 armoured vehicles, 18 bikes
Deployment of Armoured Units
Infantry are the core fighting force of all Space Marine Chapters. Heavily armed and armoured Space Marines, operating in Assault, Tactical and Devastator squads form the backbone of most Space Marine Strike Forces. Other arms are deployed to support this infantry and rarely operate independently.
The combat task of a Space Marine armoured unit is to deliver the decisive blow to an enemy at the critical point. It is deployed to break an enemy defensive system, and in close co-ordination with other arms, to destroy the most dangerous hostile units. The paramount principles of tank deployment and tactics are co-operation with the infantry squads. The infantry-tank assault force concentrates a Space Marine Chapter's fire and shock power into a narrow sector for breakthrough and deep penetration operations. This is the preferred offensive method used by most Chapters for ground operations in the 'open field'.
The deployment of heavy armour by Space Marine Chapters is always for a specific mission or role. Tanks are not used for general advances, operations to seize or hold ground or for prolonged siege warfare. A Chapter of only 1000 men cannot sustain long deployments. Short term operations, rapid strikes, attacking fast with overwhelming force is the Space Marines' modus operandi. During an extended campaign, after each deployment troops will usually be recalled to their Battle Barge (9) to re-arm and refit, before being redeployed to the surface for subsequent missions.
Many common missions preclude the use of heavy armour. Examples include ship-to-ship boarding actions, infiltration missions for sabotage or intelligence gathering (often carried out by lightly equipped Scout units), tunnel fighting and planetfalls – which require a landing zone to be secured before heavier equipment can be landed safely.
As well as the armour and infantry units, Strike Forces also include artillery assets. To a Space Marine commander, traditional artillery is of little value. The nature of Space Marine operations means that there is often little time to establish artillery positions or for the lengthy work of reducing an enemy's fighting strength by bombardment. Artillery is invariably of the mobile, close support variety, able to move with the rest of the forces and deliver salvoes of fire to saturate a target before or during an assault. Space Marine Chapters do not possess heavy artillery capable of reducing enemy bunkers, pillboxes or walls at long ranges.
The heaviest firepower available to a Force Commander is provided by the Chapter's fleet. Orbital bombardment by the heavy weapons of a Chapter's Battle Barge or Strike Cruiser is a very blunt tool for a surgical strike force. Inaccurate, although devastating, an orbital strike is used to prepare the ground for a major assault, for destructive fire against large targets or for harassing fire. It might be able to hit a city or a map grid, but it cannot be relied upon to hit a specific target, such as fortifications within that city or a moving target, such as an enemy tank column. It lacks the speed to react to new targets or the accuracy for counter-artillery battery fire. Other factors also restrict its use. Space ships must be pre-positioned in low orbit around the planet, which is not always possible during rapid assaults.
