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Of Wraiths and Shadows 



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The shadows moved through the inky corridors. Fleeting shadows that floated in and out of sight, but always cloaked by swollen umbras. Flashes of silenced bolter fire occasionally lit up the gloom, illuminating dark figures. They were silent, although the telltale static of vox networks could occasionally be heard. A squad leader raised a hand, forming a fist. The shadows disappeared and a the gun-flashes stopped. A sound punctured the silence, the slit of a blade on flesh, and a man toppled over, materialising out of the darkness. Their target dead, the shadows vanished from the encampment and soared into the sky on whining jump-packs.

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First post! Woohoo!

Like a few of the you on the forum, my entrance-point into 40k was the Dark Vengeance box set. They were my first ever Warhammer army, and thus looked like a dead, chewed up member of an endangered species that my cat may have generously gifted me after a successful hunting session. They weren’t great. Anyway, a while ago I posted a thread on another forum, the Bolter and Chainsword, requesting people to help me find a new chapter to play. Everyone was great, and I discovered the Black Guard. For those of you unfamiliar with the Black Guard (and I’m assuming that’s pretty much all of you ), they are a second-founding chapter, with the gene-seed of the Raven Guard. What makes them interesting for me, however, is their origins. During the Heresy-era, Corvus Corax’s elite bodyguards, the Shadow Wardens, were nearly completely destroyed during the Dropsite Massacre. Corax reorganised them into the Black Guard, which later became a second-founding chapter. What’s cool about this is that they were the most stealthy and sneaky of the legion of stealthies and sneakies So, back to the Dark Angels. I figured that I might as well repurpose them, and now that I have LOADS of bits n’ bobs left over from the BoP set, I have a lot of conversion opportunity!

The one issue with the Black Guard is that there isn’t a heck of alot of existing fluff about them. Every cloud has a silver lining, however, and this just means I have more opportunity to be creative! So, what do we know about the elusive Black Guard, apart from the basic backstory I posted above? Well, I’m going to take a few creative liberties here; they started off as an elite honour guard specifically for the role of guarding Corax. We know that they were incredibly talented at staying out of sight while guarding him, and keeping to the shadows. Being honour guards, the Wardens’ main use would be in face-to-face MAN FIGHTING. We can assume that the Shadow Wardens passed on their martial mantra/ethos onto their resulting chapter. And, knowing 40k, it is most likely that the Black Guard have stubbornly adhered to these teachings. So, maybe the Black Guard are a very stealth-oriented assault force? As they are still a Raven Guard successor, there would still be an emphasis on snipers/infiltrating scouts. There are no mentions of abnormal chapter size, so it’s a safe bet that the chapter is normal size (~1000 marines).

We know of one Black Guard campaign - a battle where their 3rd company bombarded a Tyranid attack with artillery before an assault-based counter-attack. We could assume that this is normal, and the Black Guard commonly use excessive firepower. But, the campaign was led by the Master of the Forge (Germanicus), and so the strategy may have a been atypical, with a heavier lean towards mechanised artillery, etc. One other titbit of information, however, is the short blurb in the seventh edition Space Marines codex: "This Chapter believes in the timely application of overwhelming firepower to defeat their foes. Masters of the careful ambush, the Black Guard deploy massed batteries of Thunderfire Cannons and Vindicators to annihilate their enemies in an instant." So, it would appear that the chapter uses a combination of massed artillery, infiltrating/ambushing scouts, and the good ol' Raven Guard assault marines.

Now, the Black Library may eventually release something concerning the Black Guard, which may make my army totally wrong. In that case, I think it’s best to have a relatively rounded, ‘generic’ force just in case. A bit of everything, but a heavier slant towards stealthiness and melee fighting, with a large contingent of artillery providing support. Of course, this is only my interpretation of the chapter. I’d welcome other people’s interpretations or criticisms of my ideas. I also am posting this on my BnC blog (http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/329936-of-fire-and-forge-update-any-thoughts/), but I'm currently debating whether to predominantly use Dakka or BnC, so if there's enough interest here, I'll reconsider my current arrangement.

- Foamy

I look forward to this.

Love it when people put a lot of thought into expanding a little-known area of 40k fluff

Looking forward to this, and great ideas so far!

Showtime wrote:I look forward to this.

Ynneadwraith wrote:Love it when people put a lot of thought into expanding a little-known area of 40k fluff

Looking forward to this, and great ideas so far!

Thanks guys! I'm developing a few characters, and have started a couple of models, so expect updates soon!