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The Pale Wraiths chapter hails from the world of Cadorius and guards a sector that lies close to the hostile Tau Empire. The Pale Wraiths are known for their extensive use of hit and run tactics as well as favoring surprise strikes over brutal head on assaults. They have very few psykers amongst their ranks, as their geneseed is incompatible with most psykers and the Marines of the chapter view most of these individuals with undisguised contempt. Due to this fact, Librarians are few amongst their ranks and none hold very high ranks inside the chapter besides the ranks that only Librarians can fill. Their sector is known for the influence that the burgeoning Tau Empire exerts on it as more and more of their worlds start to second guess Imperial rule and consider alliance and assimilation with the xenos. This problem has plagued the chapter since its founding, but has reached great severity as of late. The Tau have proven themselves to nimble and cunning adversaries, and have in short order effectively cut off most of the 1st and 9th Company from the rest of the chapter during an ill fated counter attack on Tau forces encroaching upon the boarder worlds. The Chapter is now struggling to bring the rest of its companies to bare in order to break the envelopement that the Tau have set up around the Terminator and Devastator companies, but it looks like the fight will be a long and bloody one as both opponents circle each other and wait for the other's patience to finally fall through.

Army-wide Rules: Unknown Corruption, Encriclement, Strategic Planning

Unknown Corruption: The Pale Wraiths believe that psykers are an unknown quantity that pose more risk than reward in any situation. No Librarians may be taken in a Pale Wraiths army, as the Wraiths do not allow the psykers that they do have in glorious battle.

Encirclement: The war with the Tau has resulted in most of the Terminator armored brethren and most of the Devastator Marines in the chapter being trapped behind enemy lines and not able to be used to combat further threats that are developing across the sector as the Tau take to the initiative and push their advantage. A Pale Wraiths army may only have one unit of Terminators or Assault Terminators and only one unit of Devastator Marines.

Strategic Planning: The grave nature of the current situation that the chapter is in has forced the leaders of the Pale Wraiths to be far more careful in locating enemy weak points and striking the enemy while they are unaware. A player using the Pale Wraiths may reroll the roll to seize the initiative or force an opposing player to reroll it, whether the roll is successful or not.

Special Character: Captain Armus Julius

Points Cost: 165

Captain Julius has served in many campaigns throughout the Pale Wraith's history, most notably against the Tau in the vicious battle of Jungendar in which he hunted down of the Tau battlesuits through intelligent use of a jump pack and a meltagun during the fighting retreat that he staged just before the Chapter Master rallied several companies and launched a successful counter attack that mauled the attacking Cadres badly. Though he is more of a lone soldier than a leader, he is far from unwilling to turn down help and has proven himself to be a savvy and opportunistic soldier who has won many personal victories through the use of unorthodox tactics. He has fought with the Tau many times and has proven himself a better than them each and every time.

WS-6 BS-5 S-4 T-4 W-3 A-3 I-5 Ld-10 Sv-3+ 4++

Wargear: Cleansing Brilliance, Jump Pack, Chainsword, Power Armor, Iron Halo, Frag and Krak Grenades,

Cleansing Brilliance: This meltagun was crafted by the Pale Wraiths' best artificers in order to make a suitable weapon for such a deadly individual as Captain Julius. It has been used to dispose of many deadly opponents, from tanks to battlesuits to even a few Chaos Space Marines that were randomly thrown out of the Eye of Terror one unfortunate day. This weapon counts as a Mastercrafted Meltagun that can cause instant death regardless of toughness.

Special Rules: And they Shall Know No Fear, Combat Tactics, Independant Character.

Any ideas for special army wide rules or special rules or wargear for this chapter/character are appreciated. Likewise, any comments and/or criticisms of the chapters idea or the current rules are quite welcome.

Nice, that's some good fluff there mate, I especially like the name, very unique!

Colours?

Not sure on the colors so far. I was thinking maybe something like light gray and some light blue to help make a sort of urban color motif to fit their need to hit and then melt away in the city.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Also, thanks for the compliment about the fluff. I try to make the pros and cons of the chapter fit in with the universe and so forth, and I think I did a good job with it.

Nicely done, nothing overly powerful and the self-imposed limitations are strict enough without totally gimping the army as a whole. While it's nice to field more than one termie squad, I usually don't have more than one.

I am currently at a lose for special rules for Captain Julius. Any ideas in that regard are greatly appreciated.

Well, if the chapter is known for hit and run tactics, it stands to reason that he could replace Chapter Tactics with Hit and Run. I'd also allow him to grant infiltrate to the squad he's attached to, to represent them favoring surprise assaults.

Alright, I'll need to redo the point cost then, but how about these ideas for his rules?

Wraith Assault: The Pale Wraiths strike from the shadows with swiftness and surety in their attempts to catch their enemies off guard and then often disengage in order to avoid their enemies' inevitable counter attacks. Both Captain Julius and the squad that Captain Julius is with have the Hit and Run special rule and may choose to use his initiative value during the roll off if he and/or the squad have charged into assault in order to represent a successful surprise attack.

On the Point: Captain Julius prefers to lead the first attacks against the enemy in person in order to get a better assessment of their morale and fighting ability. He often leads his attacks through the dead of night and engages the enemy at ranges far too close for the comfort of most but perfectly acceptable to him. The squad that he is with has the Infiltrate and Scout USRs.

Nice job. Interesting. Very good. Or you could do this for your librarian. No Librarians may be taken.
And if i we're you i would beef up your hero with a certain an axe. Because what chapter other than the space wolves and blood angels has a special axe?

I think the fluff is a lot more realistic than a lot of people come up with. Maybe you should invent a few more characters, are we allowed to suggest any?

Any suggestions and ideas for special characters are greatly appreciated as well as any ideas to expand the fluff.


EDIT: Also, instead of an axe, how about a falchion that wounds on a 4+? Something like this...

Harkness's Hacksword: This old weapon was used by a Space Marine called Harkness during several battles on the deathworld of Karthenum against native pirates who had been harassing the nearby worlds. It was put to excellent use in cutting through the underbrush and was used to slay the mighty Karthenum Snake Beast whose deadly poison is said to be so powerful that even void whales may taken down by a single bite. Since the fateful battle in which the mighty Harkness proved his superiority over the deathworld, the blade has been maintained by the artificers of the chapter with a coating of the beast's poison generated by the toxin sacs that were cut out of the beast and then brought back to the battle barge as a trophy. This weapon counts as a poisoned weapon that wounds on a 4+ and conveys the Move Through Cover Special rule to the squad that Captain Julius is with.



EDIT: So, another idea for a special character came to mind after looking at the Master of the Forge and getting some ideas for one of them.

Marcus Pelius, Master of the Forge of the Pale Wraiths Chapter

Points Cost: 190

Marcus Pelius is a very well regarded individual amongst the Pale Wraiths. While vehicles are considered by some chapters to be simply a means to an end, the Pale Wraiths believe that vehicles are the key to their form of hit and run attacks and precision strikes. Anybody who spends a great deal of effort on working on the Predators and Rhinos that the chapter possesses are therefore given thanks and deemed worthy of respect, but the Master of the Forge has done much to earn even greater respect than his position normally entails. His constant work during the last several centuries has resulted in many of the Chapter's vehicles being recovered when many Techmarines thought that they had been damaged beyond repair, and his continued maintenance and careful ministrations over the machine spirits of the Wraiths' equipment has been credited by many of the Marines for allowing the equipment to often function longer and through far more campaigns than it had any right to. Tankers inside their Predator Tanks often search for his assistance after major battles as his amazing skills have brought more than one tank back from the brink in time for the next offensive. Beyond that, he has often been able to assemble some of the most prized relics that the Chapter has, even when most of said relics were missing parts and needed extensive salvage operations before they could be brought back into working order. His mechanical genius is not his only gift, however, and his willingness to provide return fire against any enemies that dare to launch attacks against the Chapter's vehicles has been noted by many commanders.

WS-4 BS-5 S-4 T-4(5) W-2 A-2 I-4 Ld-10 Sv-2+

Type: Bike

Force Organization Slot: HQ

Wargear: Artificer Armor, Beacon of Annihilation, Space Marine Bike, Frag and Krak Grenades, Servo-Arm.

Beacon of Annihilation: The Beacon of Annihilation is a Conversion Beamer of extraordinary accuracy that is able to be tuned to produce certain types of energy from matter instead of just creating a beam of often random power. It was put together by Pelius after the longest standing Predator Tank in the Chapter was irreparably damaged by Tau railguns. Upon the sight of the destroyed machine, it is said that Pelius almost seemed reticent as he pulled the most valuable components of the vehicle out with his servo-arm and bid the machine spirit a farewell before it was put through the forge to broken down into material to produce more tanks. With the components of the tank in hand, he took the necessary materials from them to complete the Conversion Beamer that had been rendered unusable a few millenia previously and had been disassembled and locked away in the Chapter's vaults. He christened the new weapon the Beacon of Annihilation, and put it to good use when a Tyranid Splinter Fleet bore down upon Cadorius. When determining the scatter of the Beacon of Annihilation, roll 3d6 and pick the two lowest results and add them together. The weapon uses the profile of the Conversion Beamer, except that it additionally has the rending attribute at all ranges to represent the tuning that the weapon receives to augment its penetration through armor.

Special Rules: And They Shall Know No Fear, Combat Tactics, Independent Character, Blessing of the Omnissiah, Bolster Defenses, Industrious Forgemaster.

Industrious Forgemaster: Marcus Pelius is a very good technician and is able to do the maintenance of many Techmarines. This means that companies that he is assigned to have significantly reduced the logistical demands due to his speedy work and diligence. Any upgrades on vehicles in an army that includes Marcus Pelius has a five point discount to represent his ability with machines.

I like it; is it a Raven Guard successor chapter?.

Go ahead with the global libby and psycher ban; maybe extend it to all special characters as well as Inq allies? That would seem fair in response to Hit-and-run as chapter tactics.

I didn't really put much thought into which chapter this one would be a successor to, but thanks for the suggestion. So far, I was thinking of not making a Chapter Master but maybe making a second in command or some such person as not all chapters follow the Codex to the letter. Btw, Gavin Thorne, thanks for the idea about the chapter tactics but I was thinking that making a Chapter Master isn't as much fun as making his underlings first.

Okay, here is my idea based on the fluff I have seen so far: a kind of spin-off of sergeant telion.

Gnaeus Scipio
Captain of the 10th company.
Points: 95

WS 4 BS 6 S 4 T 5 W 2 A 2 I 5 Ld 9 Sv 4+

Type: infantry, independent character
Wargear: Camo Cloak, Modified Sniper rifle, Scout armour, Iron Halo, meltabombs.
Special Rules:
Scout
Flush 'em out! Scipio has fought Tau pathfinders for many years and has learnt their strengths and weaknesses. Any scout squad in an army with Scipio may take either a flamer or a heavy flamer in addition to the normal weapon allowance.
Scrambler: Scipio carries a beacon that emmits a scrambling signal, making it nearly impossible for nearby enemies to get a lock on their intended targets. Any enemy vechile within 12 inches of Scipio must rerolls successful hits with main weapons, defensive weapons are not affected.
Modified Sniper: Scipio carries a sniper rifle with he has modified himself. It uses the normal profile for a sniper with the exception that it's max range is 40 inches and it counts as having AP 1.

This idea behind this character is that since tha Tau extensively use hit and run tactics, the Pale Wraith's scout company must be very experienced in comparison to other chapters, and their leader had to be very accomplished.

I'm not sure whether this guys should be taken as a HQ or just an add-on to a scout squad.

This is a very interesting idea, and he seems more like the type to be guiding a unit directly instead of acting like a commander. I think that the Toughness 5 doesn't make much sense, but then again some fluff could also be use to justify this like maybe a near miss from a Tau Railgun ripped him up a bit and then he got augmented with bionics or something like that. The scrambler rule doesn't quite match up with his sniper rifle as it means that he'll be needing to outflank or infiltrate in order to have an appreciable effect. Perhaps bionics could be used to justify Relentless for him, or maybe he could have a shotgun or something similar, though that is very different from Telion.

Well I kind of took the idea from cassius who is T6. I thought he needed a bit of survivability against small arms fire. Okay maybe he could have a heavy flamer himself? Twin linked and he can use it like an assault weapon?

That would be an interesting idea. Twinlinked infliftrating heavy flamers will ruin lots of people's days.

Brutii11 wrote:Well I kind of took the idea from cassius who is T6. I thought he needed a bit of survivability against small arms fire. Okay maybe he could have a heavy flamer himself? Twin linked and he can use it like an assault weapon?

Sorry to nitpick but heavy flamers are assault weapons.

Given the hit-and-run flavor aspects of the chapter, maybe it makes more sense to allow scout squads to take flamers (with some additional points cost) instead of sniper rifles, so you would have a close-assault unit that has some bp&ccw, and some templates?

Scripo could be re-written to be a telion-type unit upgrade carrying a TL-HF.

Nobody would really ever last long trying to out-shoot the tau, ya know?