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Ok, i'll admit it: i'm a guard player...with a crush on Space Marines. Anyway, I borrowed a mate's codex for a while and got inspired to write this...so yeah. Please post any thoughts/comments/criticisms

Shining Spears:
The Shining Spears are a Space Marine chapter unique in the Imperium as, unlike other chapters, they draw their recruits solely from the ranks of the Imperial Guard and Navy. Favouring long-serving veterans of the elite Stormtrooper regiments and even ex-commissars, they take the best of the best from the units they serve with in combat; pilots from the Imperial Navy, tank crews from the famed armoured regiments, tactical marines from the various infantry regiments and assault marines from many feral and usually technologically-backwards tribes. Even the most junior members of the chapter are experienced soldiers, and the chapter’s organisation has been adjusted appropriately.

Whilst they feature no ‘First Company’ of sorts, the chapter has Six Battle Companies, Four Reserve Companies and two Scout Companies, with highly elite members of each being assigned the few sets of Tactical Dreadnought armour the chapter possesses.

The Chapter specialises in almost every aspect of warfare, with each company focussed on a particular aspect. For example, the 1st and 2nd Companies focus on Orbital assaults, the 3rd and 5th on Armoured Thrust, the 11th Scout Company on Targeted Assassinations and Long-Range Combat and the 12th Scout Company on Reconnaissance.

Unlike almost all chapters, the Scout companies are not the beginning of a Shining Spears Space Marine’s career but a chosen path. Whilst parts of the 11th and 12th Companies are reserved for accustoming new recruits to a new method of war, the vast majority of these companies are composed of seasoned veterans, usually former Stormtroopers and Special Weapon Teams. To be a member of a Shining Spears sniper team is truly an honour and these marines are amongst the most elite in the chapter.

In war, the Shining Spears pride themselves on methodical targeting and restricted warfare. By doing so, their aim is t reduce civilian casualties. Unlike many Space Marine chapters (and even fewer Imperial Guard regiments), the Shining Spears aim to protect the civilian population at all costs; in many cases fighting against hopeless odds in order to defend outlying cities or letting the enemy escape in order to preserve the lives of 1000s. However, this does not mean that the Shining Spears show any mercy to their enemies; far from it. If an enemy position or commander is located in a populated area, they will usually send in snipers to eliminate them.

In one case during the Third War for Armageddon; ork warlord Nazdug had taken shelter in an Imperial Refugee Camp. Against the advice of the incumbent Shining Spears Chapter Master Uriel Nenture, Imperial High Command decided to launch a full-scale artillery-led assault on the camp. Hundreds of thousands of refugees were killed along with only a few orks. With the assault elements pinned down on the outskirts of the camp, five Imperial Guard artillery regiments were brought up, turning the entire camp into a moon-scape over the next three weeks. However, Nazdug and most of his warriors survived, building an underground complex and fortifying the shell craters. Finally giving in to Nenture’s demands, the Shining Spears dispatched three sniper teams into the camp (a total of twelve men). Within two days, Nazdug and his entire retinue had been killed by the poisoned bullets. Without their leader, the remaining orks were quickly annihilated by vengeful Imperial troops.

Ok...so what does that mean on the tabletop?

Available Units:

0-1 Chapter Master
Space Marine Captain
Space Marine Chaplain
Space Marine Librarian
-HQ units may only take Terminator Armour if they are joining a Terminator Squad

Tactical Squads
Scout Squads (at least half must have sniper rifles-rounding up)
Rhino
Razorback
Drop Pod
Veteran Scout Leader: (Sergeant Telion)

0-1: Terminator Squad/ Terminator Assault Squad (One Terminator Squad Total)
0-1 Dreadnought/ Ironclad Dreadnought (One Dreadnought Total)
Techmarine
0-2 Vanguard Veteran/ Sternguard Veteran Squad

Assault Squad
Land Speeder Squadron
Land Speeder Storm

Devastator Squad
0-1 Thunderfire Cannon
0-1: Land Raider + Variants
Predator
Whirlwind
Vindicator
Tank Ace: (Brother-Sergeant Chronus)

Interesting idea, but I always thought that the process to make a space marine needed to start when they where kids. About the specializing, it reminds me of the eldar aspect warriors, so some people might give you grief for that, but its your chapter and it seems like a neat idea. Have fun with it.

guardpiper wrote:Interesting idea, but I always thought that the process to make a space marine needed to start when they where kids. About the specializing, it reminds me of the eldar aspect warriors, so some people might give you grief for that, but its your chapter and it seems like a neat idea. Have fun with it.

-Yes, you're right about the first..oh well, some recent technological advancement?
-I wasn't actually thinking of Eldar Aspect Warriors when I made that, it was more the idea of taking the best of the Imperial Guard/Navy and making them 'super-awesome' =)

The Battle of Carnith

The Shining Spears’ most famous battle is that over the planet of Carnith; 461-462.M40.


The Shining Spears
Though only 20 years old, having being founded in the aftermath of the Second War for Armageddon, the Shining Spears had built-up quickly. Under the leadership of the former Cadian General Uriel Nenture, the Shining Spears quickly skimmed the best warriors from those regiments they had fought besides; Cadians, Steel Legionnaires, Elysians and Tallarns to name a few. Each unique regiment had in own method of waging war and these were fostered; helping to create the chapter’s organisation to this very day.

However, the chapter was still incredibly poorly-equipped. Indeed, even Nenture and his command squad fought many battles in the last days of Armageddon in Carapace armour. Also, despite recruiting some of the best Imperial tank crews in the system, the chapter suffered terrific casualties; often taking Rhinos or Razorbacks into battle against looted Leman Russ Battle Tanks. Following the first battles, many of their crews reverted to their Guard equipment until heavy tanks could be brought in from other chapters, most notably from their parent chapter; the Salamanders. When the first Predator tanks arrived, the Chapter took them into battle almost immediately; swiftly annihilating all opposition through deft manoeuvres and mutual support from their Whirlwinds and Basilisks.

As fighting died down on Armageddon and reverted back to the counter-guerrilla campaign similar to that prior to the war, the Shining Spears withdrew to regroup, rearm and most importantly; populate. The chapter had taken six hundred recruits over the course of the last days of Armageddon, and taken over a hundred casualties. Of the barely five hundred that remained, many had yet to undergo the process to make them a space marine and had been simply fighting as un-augmented humans in carapace armour under chapter-markings; some using hellguns or lasguns.

However with the aid of local forge worlds largely untouched by the fighting; the chapter began to assemble their equipment and Battle Barges; their bases of operations. Within only a few hurried years, the chapter was almost up to full strength-approximately 1200 (including the extra scout companies). However they only possessed two sets of Tactical Dreadnought armour, a single Land Raider and no armoured Dreadnought sarcophaguses and many of their brothers had only recently been gifted their sets of power armour; indeed many sets were still Mark 5 or 6, whilst most of the marines they fought beside already had the Mark 8 armour. Despite these shortcomings, the Shining Spears were capable warriors; ready to face any threat to the Imperium. Such a threat was soon to come as the forces of Chaos once again spread their tendrils into Imperial territory.



Carnith
Carnith was hardly a peaceful planet. Set deep in the Segmentum Obscurus, Carnith’s powerful manufacturing capacity and large-scale Imperial dockyards had long been sought after by the forces of Chaos.



Descent into Chaos:

September 9th 460.M41: Carnith’s Imperial Navy Tracking Station reports several craft approaching the planet. Navy Cruisers are scrambled once they reach the exclusion-zone around the planet but find nothing. Technological malfunction is blamed.

September 12th 460.M41: Three neighbouring villages on a remote part of the planet declare themselves for Chaos. Local Planetary Defence Force (PDF) elements quickly crush the rebellion within the hour, destroying all three villages and murdering their population.

September 18th 460.M41: Another group of villages declare themselves for Chaos. They are similarly crushed and suffer the same fate.

October 7th 460.M41: With more and more villages declaring themselves for Chaos, Carnith attracts the attention of the Ordo Herectus.

November 1st 460.M41: An Ordo Herectus inquisitor arrives after further rebellions and immediately begins to search for the cause. She quickly uncovers a number of rebel camps hidden in the planet’s remote polar regions.

November 14th 460.M41: Hive Cylonus declares itself for Chaos, PDF assaults are defeated and Carnith’s Imperial Governor calls for aid. Two Imperial Guard Regiments are dispatched but they too are defeated before the walls of the hive.

November 25th 460.M41: First sighting of Alpha Legion Chaos Space Marines amongst the fighting in Hive Cylonus. Imperial Governor takes personal command of the fighting around the Hive. As the outer wall is breached, the Governor disappears.

December 8th 460.M41: Carnith’s First Minister, ruling in the missing governor’s stead sends out desperate calls for aid. Fourteen Imperial Guard Regiments are sent but they fail to restore order as the rebellion spreads and more and more forge-cities declare themselves for Chaos.

December 19th 460.M41: A raid on the capital city of Hive Medinis is launched by Alpha Legion Chaos Space Marines. The entire Imperial Ministry is captured or killed and the control nodes for the planet’s defences are taken. The traitors turn the orbital guns on the orbiting Imperial Dockyards; destroying them within a week.



February 23rd 461.M41: Carnith’s calls for aid are finally placed in the hands of an official with power. Requests are placed with a number of Space Marine chapters. However; sudden ork incursions in the Galactic south-West and North-East mean that only the Shining Spears are able to respond quickly.
March 30th 461.M41: The Shining Spears’ battle barges enter high orbit. Imperial Guard reinforcements of over thirty regiments are either delayed or destroyed by a sudden expansion of the Eye of Terror.



The Assault:

The Shining Spears arrived to find a planet in desperate circumstances. Only two of the seven hives still held out against the horde of traitors outside. The capital of Hive Medinis had fallen, cutting off all communication with the outside galaxy. In addition, four of the five main forges had declared themselves to the Chaos gods and were now churning out hundreds of Leman Russ Battle Tanks and Chimeras every month as well as countless stockpiles of weapons and equipment.

As the first of the Shining Spears’ Battle Barges Fire of Armageddon entered High Orbit, it was immediately engaged by the those Imperial Navy vessels that had declared themselves for Chaos or had been captured along with the planet’s orbital defence guns. The Fire of Armageddon was heavily damaged and some of the chapter’s escort vessels were destroyed. However, the Shining Spears were able to quickly fight their way through the blockade and destroy the traitors’ vessels, leaving them as floating lifeless hulks amongst the wreckage of the once-mighty Imperial Dockyards. The Shining Spears then launched a direct assault on the northern polar orbital defence gun. Deploying from Thunderhawk gunships and making extensive use of Close-Air-Support from specially designed Thunderhawk ground-support aircraft, the raid was brutal and successful; but costly.

With an opening smashed in the planet’s orbital defence; the Shining Spears quickly redirected their single Battle Barge to support the defenders of the largest of the loyal hives; Hive Androse whilst a lone Strike Cruiser swept in to deploy the Angels of Death. With the 1st and 2nd Companies in the lead, the Marines dropped right into the heart of the advancing traitor hordes, annihilating companies at a time. Former PDF regiments with their heavy equipment proved to be a threat until heavy equipment could be brought in by Thunderhawk. The fighting continued for two days until finally the traitors retreated; heavily bloodied.

However the Hive was not yet secure. Despite under heavy bombardment from the Strike Cruiser Spirit of Hades and the Battle Barge Fire of Armageddon, the traitors were able to regroup and prepare another attack against the Hive. During the brief respite, the Shining Spears’ Chapter Master Uriel Nenture took personal command of the planet’s force. He immediately began to receive reports from the other hives under threat of attackers giving up and streaming south towards Hive Androse. Nenture took the advantage and ordered the immediate evacuation of civilians. Thunderhawk gunships as well as Imperial Navy landers began to ferry loyal citizens into refugee camps on nearby planets.

The Shining Spears also took the time to dig-in around the Hive. Shoulder-to-shoulder with their former comrades in the Imperial Guard, the marines fortified the lower levels and repaired the tattered walls in preparation for the traitor’s inevitable assault.

The traitors arrived at the walls to find it held firmly against them and struck fiercely at the main gate. Mobile Regiments mounted in Chimeras raced towards the walls as Basilisks and Manticores pounded the walls. The Shining Spears and the Imperial Guard comrades sheltered from the traitor’s barrage in their crudely-prepared defences; the hive’s now strong walls proved too hardy for the traitor’s artillery to pound the defenders into submission. After over a week of constant shelling with the traitors themselves under heavy orbital bombardment, a section of the hive’s wall collapsed and the traitors surged forwards. Uriel Nenture rallied his chapter and a titanic battle erupted in the kilometre-wide breach. Superior firepower counted for little at such close range as the marines engaged the traitors at the length of a chainsaw, scything through the ranks. Nenture himself led from the front, cutting down all before him.

Seeing their allies’ assault falter, the Alpha Legion commander directed the artillery to recommence. The breach was quickly turned into a moonscape as loyalist fought traitor amongst the shudder and explosions of heavy artillery. A hundred martyrs were made that day as the Shining Spears fought to the last man to hold the breach. Eventually Nenture committed the tanks of the 3rd Company; a score Predators advanced along the length of the breach, crushing traitors by the hundreds and covering their treads slick with gore. Tank commanders fired their weapons at mere meters, with many traitors being killed not by the holy explosions of the blessed ammunition but by their sheer impact; many shells not being able to arm before smashing into their hated former-brethren.

Just as the battle turned in the loyalists’ favour the Alpha Legion commander himself and his brethren committed themselves to the battle. Veterans of thousands of years of warfare, they tore through marine and guard alike. Inspired by their example, the traitors surged forward. The Shining Spears’ allies fled from the breach in sheer terror but the marines stood firm. Most were now out of ammunition, fighting with combat knives or rifle-butts against the power swords of their opponent. However, the marines fought for the people that sheltered behind them, not at the whim of their commander.

The Shining Spears fought ferociously, driving the traitor marines back until Nenture himself came face-to-face with their commander. A veteran of a thousand campaigns, the traitor was able to gain the upper hand, bringing his power fist down in a wide arc. Despite Nenture’s armour being made by the finest of armourers, the blow tore his pauldron from his shoulder and broke the bone; driving him to his knees. With sheer grit, Nenture drove himself to his feet, the traitor’s next blow deflected by the loyalists’ crackling relic blade. Undaunted, the traitor raised his fist for another blow but Nenture struck first, swinging his blade in a wide arc, he cut the traitor’s arm from his shoulder, seeing it fall lifeless to the ground. The traitor collapsed but the wound clotted instantly. In a last ditch effort the traitor raised his bolt pistol, but Nenture detached that arm as well with another wide sweep and effortless dispatched the commander with a downward stab. The crackling blade sliced through the ancient set of power armour, killing him instantly. With the death of their commander, the remaining Alpha Legion retreated. Seeing their masters retreat, the mass of traitors that remained also gave up the fight, fleeing north in total disarray; abandoning their equipment.



Foothold:

With Androse now secure, the Marines now directed their attention to retaking Hive Medinis. In fighting similar to that they would have undertaken during the days as Imperial Guardsmen, the Shining Spears fought their way across the plains of Carnith, destroying army after army sent against them with lightning armoured strikes and supporting fire from the Fire of Armageddon. As the marines reached the outskirts of the hive, Imperial Guard reinforcements began to make planetfall.

As the un-augmented humans assaulted the walls of the hive, the marines swept from the sky like Angels of Death, making a drop-pod and Thunderhawk-led assault on the upper spires. Caught between the hammer of the Imperial Guard and the Spear-strike of the Space Marines, the traitors were quickly crushed. Taking command of the more minor orbital defences, the marines were able to destroy the still traitor-controlled Southern Orbital Defence Gun, allowing further Imperial reinforcements to land; including elements from several other Space Marine chapters.

Despite heavy casualties over four weeks of fighting, the Shining Spears refused all suggestions of their withdrawal from the remainder of the campaign, determined fight on until the planet was liberated from the grasp of Chaos. Shining Spears scout squads were to play an important role in the remainder of the campaign, gathering invaluable intelligence which allowed Space Marine strike forces from other chapters as well as their own to strike at the heart of the rebellion. Finally, the traitor’s overall commander was located; hidden safely beneath one of the main forges. Despite Nenture’s stern advice, the Imperial commander immediately ordered an orbital bombardment of the forge. Nenture knew that the forge, captured in the early days of the war was operated by loyal Imperial citizens forced to work at gunpoint. Nenture appealed the decision but it was rejected, to which Nenture threatened violence against the commander. With honour guard in tow, the situation was only resolved by the intervention of one of Nenture’s former comrades inside the Cadian High Command. As the Imperial Navy cruiser tracked into position, in a move that he would later blame on technological malfunction; Nenture ordered a directed energy blast against the Navy cruiser, overloading and frying its electrical systems.

The disabling of the cruiser allowed Nenture the opportunity to deploy elements of the 11th Company; those specialising in targeted assassinations into the forge. Deploying at night twenty kilometres from the forge by Thunderhawk gunships, the former Imperial snipers were quickly able to infiltrate the forge by morning, making their way into the lower levels unnoticed. There they were able to quickly locate the enemy commander. Using their scope’s in-built pic-capturer they able to send a clear picture of the commander and his lieutenants back to the Fire of Armageddon milliseconds before blowing their heads apart with high-calibre explosive shells.

Upon receiving the picts from the scouts, Nenture immediately forwarded to them to the Ordo Herectus. With their commanders dead, the remaining traitors fell back in disarray or surrendered. Neither group were shown any mercy as over the next month, all remaining traitors were rounded up before being burnt at the stake in a mass-execution largely organised by Nenture. The funeral pyres of a hundred thousand traitors burned the area around Hive Medinis so bright it was blamed for several cases of blindness amongst Imperial Navy crewmen. As the screams of the families of the Imperial Governor and his ministers resounded from the tallest spires, the Fire of Armageddon with its silver warriors; slick with gore, slipped away. The Silver Spears had suffered horrific casualties but had proven themselves as a chapter to sceptical non-believers. Moreover, they had seen the bravery of Carnith’s soldiers and left not only with its brothers but with a new complement of recruits.

Leave thoughts/comments. Don't mention fluff-fault already identified =) .

colonel584 wrote:

guardpiper wrote:Interesting idea, but I always thought that the process to make a space marine needed to start when they where kids. About the specializing, it reminds me of the eldar aspect warriors, so some people might give you grief for that, but its your chapter and it seems like a neat idea. Have fun with it.

-Yes, you're right about the first..oh well, some recent technological advancement?
-I wasn't actually thinking of Eldar Aspect Warriors when I made that, it was more the idea of taking the best of the Imperial Guard/Navy and making them 'super-awesome' =)

Tech advances would be tough to justify because the general GW trend seems to be that gene-seed techniques are becoming less stable over time (unless you belong to the Ultramarines or Imperial Fists). You could say that they recruit from the most promising White Shields of various regiments so that they have already proven themselves as loyal subjects before induction. The IA article is pretty specific that between 13 and 16 is when the various organs need to be implanted.

I like the idea of veteran IG being absorbed into a chapter. The alternative I would suggest is having the sons of proven Guardsmen being selected at birth and being trained for specific roles throughout childhood by the Chapter. Think "Ender's Game" type situations, only probably more deadly. Gives you superbly trained recruits at the minimum.

Sounds like a half decent idea, especially as it reeks of Eldar

Well, for one, the name is already taken(Shining Spears aspect). As was mentioned before, one of the key things about SM indoctrination and re-engineering is the age requisite--the general age range seems to be 12-16, maybe as old as 17.

I would suggest going for an elite(but non-SM) organization that operates independently and/or outside of standard jurisdiction(a la Death Watch).

I second PanzerLeader on the pick another base army comment. I'll ignore the obvious Eldar referances and suggest a counts as Demonhunters army. I think their codex would allow what you are going for and you could acctually field this army on the TT. Your fluff wouldn't affect the game play, except for maybe the sniper rifle bit, and it would give us more cool stuff to read. Field test + Batt. Rep. Please?

You're breaking my heart with the sniper rifle preferance! How many times do we say avoid taking Heavy Weapons in Tac. squads? Do you think it's any differant just because they're Scouts? "Wait up Sarge, Johnny wants to shoot something... Darn he missed, now he has to reload before we can get moving again"

statu wrote:Sounds like a half decent idea, especially as it reeks of Eldar

That was never my intention. I actually took the name from the Order of Knights I created for my Empire army; The Knights of the Shining Spear.

(Disclaimer: The fluff above is totally fictional, any reference to Eldar is completely coincidental and is not intentional....)


Automatically Appended Next Post:

ComputerGeek01 wrote:You're breaking my heart with the sniper rifle preferance! How many times do we say avoid taking Heavy Weapons in Tac. squads? Do you think it's any differant just because they're Scouts? "Wait up Sarge, Johnny wants to shoot something... Darn he missed, now he has to reload before we can get moving again"

Yeah I know Snipers aren't exactly the best weapons, but they're rediculously cool and you can create a lot of fluff around them..ie the assassination company.

I can't like it. "geneseed only works on a certain age" is one of the basic rules you have to follow when you make a space marine. I'd imagine that the effects of using it on an adult are terrible, and that any technology that enables its use on older humans would revolutionize space marines across the Imperium. It's too significant. Why do they have to be space marines anyway? Why not just have them be an army of veteran guardsmen?

Fine; takes enlistments from the promising recruits of training facilities.

Looks pretty cool
Anyway if you start getting any problems about Eldar just pick one you like from this link.
http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/shining

It's a nice idea, I'll admit that it was a tad too long and I'm going out in a sec (so tl;dr) buuut if I were you I'd adapt it to say that they're CHILDREN OF veteran guardsmen who've proved themselves etc.. As technology *is not* advancing concerning geneseed manipulation.

Orrrrrr

You could always make up some rubbish about guardsmen's memories/brains/whatever? being transferred into cloned kiddies' bodies?

Radiant Spears? Sounds too nice...

colonel584 wrote:Fine; takes enlistments from the promising recruits of training facilities.

The advance in the tech is simple.. they clone the guardsmen a child body and transfer their brain patterns over. Then they make a marine out of them. Maybe they even kidnap the guardsmen.. Stockholm sydnrome would make them loyal soon enough.

They found this machine that does it for them or whatever. You could even says its xenos tech and they have to hide the ability.

Go for it.

I like it, i always admire people who put alot of effort into the fluff element. And the idea of taking guys already in the armed forces of the imperium is really cool, even if it might contradict some of the already written stuff, i mean, GW do it all the time anyway!

Good job.

I actually like the idea of "inherited skillset/consicousness". This organization could be composed of, basically, super-soldiers--not in the sense of individuals whose attributes exceed human potential, but those who reach it in all aspects.

This is going in almost as revolutionary a way as age-agnostic marine indoctrination, but it would be interesting. Technically, the technology to do it already exists, but is probably only barely understood(if at all) anymore. I'm referring to how SMs seem to inherit both physical and, possibly(?), mental traits of their chapter's primarchs. Although, the latter could just be a result of the battle philosophies and codes of conduct and such drilled into them more than anything else.

Thanks for the comments