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Hi all,

As part of my expanding SM force I've been considering a lot about their potential backstory and some fluff, mainly some daydreams or random thoughts I've had while modelling or otherwise bored. Apologies if this post is a bit dull at first, I'm dividing my attention between writing this and a Master's lecture.

The main focus of my chapter is one which focusses on technological improvement and efficiency, with little thought as to the Mechanicus' view of "All technology is scared and must never be modified". This means that while relations with the Mechanicum are tense and volatile, they are able to create unique wargear and modifications to existing equipment that ensure better battlefield efficiency, as well as the reverse-engineering of certain Xenos weaponry, a grave sin in the eyes of the Machine God. As a result, the chapter has access to a number of unique weapons and equipment, represented in the Wargear and Relics section.

The chapter (haven't thought of a suitable name yet but I think the Halo Guard has a nice ring to it), have made several attempts to harness the power of temporal fluctuations and rifts due to the homeworld's proximity to the Halo Stars, a region which the chapter has guarded since the Argus Prime incident of 553.M40 (may write a short bit of fluff of that if anyone's interested). As such, the use of Quantum weaponry and temporal-based psychic abilities gives them an equal footing against the various horrors that occasionally enter realspace through the Halo Stars.

As such, here are the rules. I want to give them a theme that time and physics are their main weapons, if you get me.

Chapter Tactics - Halo Guard
- A detachment with this Chapter Tactics gains access to Quantum and Needle weaponry,and the Chronomancy psychic discipline and Temporal Relics. In addition, Cult Mechanus and Skitarii allies are treated as Desperate Allies, and such forces gain Hatred against models from this detachment.

Quantum Weapons
Quantum Weapons utilise contained particles of antimatter, which when focussed and emitted as a beam display unique temporal effects on the target. Some victims may find themselves aged hundreds of years in a heartbeat, or even removed from the space-time continuum alltogether. Any model with a Boltgun may replace it with a Quantum Blaster for 5pts. Models with access to the Range Weapons section of the armoury may take a Quantum Pistol for 5pts, and those with access to the Heavy Weapons section may take a Quantum Cannon for 25pts.

Quantum Pistol - Range 8", S4, Ap-, Pistol
Quantum Blaster - Range 18", S4 Ap-, Assault 2
Quantum Cannon - Range 24", S4, Ap- , Heavy 1, Blast

Quantum Weapons - After resolving all wounds from a unit hit by a Quantum weapon, roll a D6 on the following table to determine any additional effects. Vehicles are unaffected

1 - No effect.
2-3 - Time begins to slow for the target, whereas to their perspective the battle is accelerating around them. The target moves 1" less in any move, run, charge or sweeping advance moves it makes in it's next turn.
4-5 - Time repeats itself, and the target experiences the attack a second time. Resolve an additional shooting attack against the target with any Quantum weapons the firing unit has. This additional attack does not cause a roll on the Quantum table however.
6 - Time begins to rip apart, due to the combined temporal forces. The target may be removed from the timeline completely, ceasing to exist. The target unit must take a number of Toughness tests equivalent to the number of unsaved wounds caused on the target. For every unsaved Toughness test, one randomly-determined model is removed as a casualty with no saves of any kind allowed. Gargantuan Creatures instead take D3 wounds that may not be saved by any means.


Needle Weapons - Reverse-engineered from Xenos races encountered within the Halo Stars, the crystals fired from such weapons explode in close proximity to each other, causing devestating flesh wounds and armour cratering. (I based this on the Halo Needler, as it's a good concept that I have yet to see within 40K).

Needle Rifle - Range 24", S4, Ap5, Heavy 3, Shardstorm

Shardstorm - Before resolving wounds against a unit hit by a Needle weapon, you may exchange the standard hits for more powerful ones. For every 4 hits on the target, you may exchange it for 1 S7 Ap3 hit instead. Any remaining hits are lost.

For example - A unit with 5 Needle Rifles fires at a unit of Tyranid Warriors, causing 9 hits. The controlling player may exchange 8 of those hits to instead inflict 2 S7 Ap3 hits on the target, with the 1 remaining hit discarded.


Chronomancy Discipline


Primaris - Quantum Shock - Warp Charge 1 - This is a blessing with a range of 12". The target receives a +1 bonus on any rolls on the Quantum Table they make until the end of the turn. If the Psychic Test fails however, the target receives a -1 modifier.

1-2 - Timeshift - Warp Charge 1 - The target is pushed several minutes into the past, and find themselves out of phase with the rest of the battle. This is a malediction with a range of 18". The target is immediately moved to it's previous position in the controlling player's last movement phase. If the target arrived from Reserves, disembarked from a Transport or otherwise has nowhere to move, it does not move but must take a Pinning test instead.

3-4 - Temporal Acceleration - Warp Charge 1 - This is a blessing which affects the caster's unit. The affected unit may re-roll any movement-based rolls they make in this turn, such as difficult terrain, run moves and charge distances.

5-6 - Chronoshield - Warp Charge 2 - The psyker casts a bubble of temporal energy around his unit. Bullets and shells that enter this field suddenly rust and decay within a matter of nanoseconds, while laser and exotic weapons find themselves distorting and dissipating. This is a blessing which affects the caster's unit. Any ranged attack that targets the affected unit must re-roll successful hits for the duration of the player turn.



Relics of the Halo Guard

Protector Gauntlets - 30pts - The Protector Gauntlets contain a unique energy field that augments the user's current protection, at the cost of energy consumption, as such they can only be used momentarily during the battlefield. One use only. Declare you are using the Protector Gauntlets at the start of any player turn. The affected model receives a +1 bonus to any saves they make during this turn (to a maximum of 2+). Feel No Pain and IWND saves are unaffected.

Sunfury - 25pts Sunfury was one of the crowning glories of Techmaster Agaeus before his assassination by a Skitarii peacekeeper unit . Range 24", S7 Ap2, Assault 3.

Quantum Accelerator - While set to replace the Quantum Blaster as the mainstream weapon of the Halo Guard, difficulties in producing such a weapon mean only a handful reached the battlefield before the plans were shelved by Techmaster Maccadus. Range 24", S4, Ap-, Assault 5, Quantum.

Work in Progress

Emeralite Blade -

Animus Venator -

Shroud of Retribution -


So initial thoughts? Like I said at the start, this may be a bit mish-mashed as I'm currently in a lecture but I've been thinking for weeks to put my ideas to paper.

"Quantum Weapons - After resolving all wounds from a unit hit by a Quantum weapon, roll a D6 on the following table to determine any additional effects. Vehicles are unaffected."

I would change the wording of this to: "If a unit takes an unsaved wound from a weapon with this rule..."

"6 - The target unit must take a number of Toughness tests equivalent to the number of unsaved wounds caused on the target."

I would change this to: " The target unit must take a number of toughness tests equal to the number of models in the unit..."

Besides that, I like it. Not much to go "WOW" at but at the same time it won't leave your army useless for taking this chapter.

It's pretty neat and from a quick glance not overtly broken (unsure on the 6 result for quantum weaponry), however it should be pointed out that from the fluff your chapter is 90% sure to be branded tech heretics and would have to be renegades.

 Brennonjw wrote:
It's pretty neat and from a quick glance not overtly broken (unsure on the 6 result for quantum weaponry), however it should be pointed out that from the fluff your chapter is 90% sure to be branded tech heretics and would have to be renegades.

Yeeesssssss, Join the dark side Valkyrie....

I might add something to the chapter tactics. (Note, I’m also going to suggest restricting the weapons, more on that later) If you are giving whole factions the ability to hate you, “desperate allies” does not cover it. Come the Apocalypse. Besides the gear, the CT doesn’t actually do anything. How does your chapter maintain their techmarines? They are normally trained on mars/with the admech. Your chaplains OK with this level of heresy? Just trying to figure out if you need/want more restrictions.

I would not give the quantum weapons to every battle brother. IMHO that’s going a bit too far. On the charts to replace special/heavies and characters? Sure. But the bolter is the iconic weapon of the space marine and should be kept.

I’d like to see you get something unique without rolling on a table. Your quantum weapons will succeed in time manipulation, slowing down the game. I think if you stick with normal USRs you could get something that captures the flavor of being un-stuck in time, without all the overhead of a chart and then followup actions from that. Blind, Pinning, Concussive, Strikedown. Maybe pick 2.

You don’t say who can get needle guns, and at what cost. Again, I’d recommend them to be kept as special weapons. From a practical standpoint, you are inventing a new mechanic that is going to play out a lot like rending.

If you are going to work up a new psychic discipline, you should follow the format of the others. Primaris, plus 6 powers.

You should avoid things that require people to remember what happened last turn. Where exactly did they come from? Is there someone else in that space now? In CC? I like the concept of a lag-spike rubber banding here, but the mechanics are a little rough. I might move the target up to 6” towards their table edge, or something with a fall back move.

Temporal acceleration and the shield look good.

Other powers you could add:
Some witchfires. You have quantum guns. a smite and/or storm power would tie in with the rest of the theme.
Blessing to let one of your units move again. (double-time) Or more powerful shoot again. Give a unit locked in CC an extra set of swings.
Blessing to increase the I, A, or WS of a unit.

Relics:
Gauntlets seem a little week. but have the potential to stack with things like stormshields, so could be critical at the right time. Overall probably OK.

Sunfury is a bit over the top. You want a better plasma gun, that’s fine. But I’d adjust one thing. The extra shot, plus the change to assault, plus the lack of gets hot is at least one to many changes. Particularly if you hand it to a BS5 character.

Points for the quantum relic? It’s probably OK.

 Nevelon wrote:
I might add something to the chapter tactics. (Note, I’m also going to suggest restricting the weapons, more on that later) If you are giving whole factions the ability to hate you, “desperate allies” does not cover it. Come the Apocalypse. Besides the gear, the CT doesn’t actually do anything. How does your chapter maintain their techmarines? They are normally trained on mars/with the admech. Your chaplains OK with this level of heresy? Just trying to figure out if you need/want more restrictions.

I would not give the quantum weapons to every battle brother. IMHO that’s going a bit too far. On the charts to replace special/heavies and characters? Sure. But the bolter is the iconic weapon of the space marine and should be kept.

I’d like to see you get something unique without rolling on a table. Your quantum weapons will succeed in time manipulation, slowing down the game. I think if you stick with normal USRs you could get something that captures the flavor of being un-stuck in time, without all the overhead of a chart and then followup actions from that. Blind, Pinning, Concussive, Strikedown. Maybe pick 2.

You don’t say who can get needle guns, and at what cost. Again, I’d recommend them to be kept as special weapons. From a practical standpoint, you are inventing a new mechanic that is going to play out a lot like rending.

If you are going to work up a new psychic discipline, you should follow the format of the others. Primaris, plus 6 powers.

You should avoid things that require people to remember what happened last turn. Where exactly did they come from? Is there someone else in that space now? In CC? I like the concept of a lag-spike rubber banding here, but the mechanics are a little rough. I might move the target up to 6” towards their table edge, or something with a fall back move.

Temporal acceleration and the shield look good.

Other powers you could add:
Some witchfires. You have quantum guns. a smite and/or storm power would tie in with the rest of the theme.
Blessing to let one of your units move again. (double-time) Or more powerful shoot again. Give a unit locked in CC an extra set of swings.
Blessing to increase the I, A, or WS of a unit.

Relics:
Gauntlets seem a little week. but have the potential to stack with things like stormshields, so could be critical at the right time. Overall probably OK.

Sunfury is a bit over the top. You want a better plasma gun, that’s fine. But I’d adjust one thing. The extra shot, plus the change to assault, plus the lack of gets hot is at least one to many changes. Particularly if you hand it to a BS5 character.

Points for the quantum relic? It’s probably OK.

I agree which pretty much all of this.

- I'd change your alliance to IOM armies to Come the Apocalypse (tech heresy!)
- Leave the quantum weapons and needle weapons as combi-weapon and special weapon replacements, or alternatively just re-use the needle pistol rules from the Inquisitor book.
- Streamline the quantum weapons (less charts)
- Less book-keeping on Timeshift.
- Sunfury needs a points increase. It's only 10 points more than a plasma gun, gets 3x the shots at max range, and loses Gets Hot.
- No points for the Quantum Accelerator, so I can't make a judgment.

Aside from that, I'm not that fussed.

While I personally dislike it from a fluff perspective (I'm a bit of a purist, but that's not important here), I have to echo both Nevelon and Sgt_Smudge. The power of moving the unit back is quite simply not going to work. Imagine forcing a 30-man blob back. Not only is it nearly impossible
to remember where everything was, its very tedious for any horde player and asks a lot of questions. Do they roll MtC if they go back into cover? DT tests? Less is more when making rules. I'd probably stick with pinning at a -1, or forcing a go to ground, or have them act as though they're in difficult terrain. Still fits the theme/fluff while being significantly easier to deal with.

Less is more. Less charts and exceptions. If you need an example to explain it, its probably too complicated.

Ok I've made a few changes to the ideas, based on the feedback I've received. Any significant changes I've made I've put in red

 mrhappyface wrote:


"6 - The target unit must take a number of Toughness tests equivalent to the number of unsaved wounds caused on the target."

I would change this to: " The target unit must take a number of toughness tests equal to the number of models in the unit..."

I'll keep it as it is, as your suggestion allows a single model with a Quantum Pistol to wipe out half the unit, which would be grossly overpowered.

I'm not sure how the Quantum Table would slow the game down by any significant amount compared to other factors such as Synapse and Chaos Boons. I want Quantum to have something unique like Grav, and just putting USRs on it wouldn't have that unique factor or really represent time manipulation IMO.

Perhaps if its easier it could be changed to something like "Roll D6 at the start of every turn, all Quantum weapons have that USR for the turn, with the 1-6 results being Blind, Concussive, Master-Crafted, Strikedown, etc.



Chapter Tactics - Halo Guard
- A detachment with this Chapter Tactics gains access to Quantum and Needle weaponry,and the Chronomancy psychic discipline and Temporal Relics. In addition, Cult Mechanus and Skitarii allies are treated as Come the Apocalypse.

Quantum Weapons
Quantum Weapons utilise contained particles of antimatter, which when focussed and emitted as a beam display unique temporal effects on the target. Some victims may find themselves aged hundreds of years in a heartbeat, or even removed from the space-time continuum alltogether. Any model access to Special Weapons may take with a Quantum Blaster for 5pts. Models with access to the Range Weapons section of the armoury may take a Quantum Pistol for 5pts, and those with access to the Heavy Weapons section may take a Quantum Cannon for 25pts.

Quantum Pistol - Range 8", S4, Ap-, Pistol
Quantum Blaster - Range 18", S4 Ap-, Assault 3
Quantum Cannon - Range 24", S4, Ap- , Heavy 1, Blast

Quantum Weapons - After resolving all wounds from a unit hit by a Quantum weapon, roll a D6 on the following table to determine any additional effects. Vehicles are unaffected

1 - No effect.
2-3 - Time begins to slow for the target, whereas to their perspective the battle is accelerating around them. The target moves 1" less in any move, run, charge or sweeping advance moves it makes in it's next turn.
4-5 - Time repeats itself, and the target experiences the attack a second time. Resolve an additional shooting attack against the target with any weapons the firing unit has. This additional attack does not cause a roll on the Quantum table however.
6 - Time begins to rip apart, due to the combined temporal forces. The target may be removed from the timeline completely, ceasing to exist. The target unit must take a number of Toughness tests equivalent to the number of unsaved wounds caused on the target. For every unsaved Toughness test, one randomly-determined model is removed as a casualty with no saves of any kind allowed. Gargantuan Creatures instead take D3 wounds that may not be saved by any means.


Needle Weapons - Reverse-engineered from Xenos races encountered within the Halo Stars, the crystals fired from such weapons explode in close proximity to each other, causing devestating flesh wounds and armour cratering. (I based this on the Halo Needler, as it's a good concept that I have yet to see within 40K). Any model with access to Special Weapons may take a Needle Rifle for 10 points.

Needle Rifle - Range 24", S4, Ap5, Heavy 3, Shardstorm

Shardstorm - Before resolving wounds against a unit hit by a Needle weapon, you may exchange the standard hits for more powerful ones. For every 4 hits on the target, you may exchange it for 1 S7 Ap3 hit instead. Any remaining hits are lost.

Chronomancy Discipline


Primaris - Quantum Shock - Warp Charge 1 - This is a blessing with a range of 12". The target receives a +1 bonus on any rolls on the Quantum Table they make until the end of the turn. If the Psychic Test fails however, the target receives a -1 modifier.

1 - Timeshift - Warp Charge 1 - The target is pushed several minutes into the past, and find themselves out of phase with the rest of the battle. This is a malediction with a range of 18". The target is immediately moved 2D6" towards the controlling player's table edge. If the target arrived from Reserves, disembarked from a Transport or otherwise has nowhere to move, it does not move but must take a Pinning test instead.

2 - Work in Progress

3 - Celestial Surge - Warp Charge 1 - This is a blessing which affects a unit within 12". The target unit receives +1 to their Initiative and Attack stats for the remainder of the turn.

4 - Temporal Acceleration - Warp Charge 1 - This is a blessing which affects the caster's unit. The affected unit may re-roll any movement-based rolls they make in this turn, such as difficult terrain, run moves and charge distances.

5 - Infinity Implosion - Warp Charge 2 The Psyker unleashes a compressed force of negative quantum force at the enemy, ripping apart the unfortunate foe in a multitude of gravitational pulls. This is a Witchfire power with the following profile.

Range 12" S6 Ap1, Assault 1, Blast

6 - Chronoshield - Warp Charge 2 - The psyker casts a bubble of temporal energy around his unit. Bullets and shells that enter this field suddenly rust and decay within a matter of nanoseconds, while laser and exotic weapons find themselves distorting and dissipating. This is a blessing which affects the caster's unit. Any ranged attack that targets the affected unit must re-roll successful hits for the duration of the player turn.



Relics of the Halo Guard

Protector Gauntlets - 30pts - The Protector Gauntlets contain a unique energy field that augments the user's current protection, at the cost of energy consumption, as such they can only be used momentarily during the battlefield. One use only. Declare you are using the Protector Gauntlets at the start of any player turn. The affected model receives a +1 bonus to any saves they make during this turn (to a maximum of 2+). Feel No Pain and IWND saves are unaffected.

Sunfury - 25pts Sunfury was one of the crowning glories of Techmaster Agaeus before his assassination by a Skitarii peacekeeper unit . Range 24", S6 Ap3, Assault 3.

Quantum Accelerator - 20pts While set to replace the Quantum Blaster as the mainstream weapon of the Halo Guard, difficulties in producing such a weapon mean only a handful reached the battlefield before the plans were shelved by Techmaster Maccadus. Range 24", S4, Ap-, Assault 5, Quantum.

Paragon Cuirass - 50pts
The last known piece of a long forgotten pattern of Power Armour, the technology contained within this inpenetrable armour boosts the user's resilience far beyond that of regular Astartes.
A model with the Paragon Curaiss has the Feel No Pain (3+) rule and a +1 Toughness boost (this does affect the models' Instant Death threshold).

Emeralite Blade - Crafted from the heart of of a dying sun, the Emeralite Blade takes on the appearence of a standard-issue power sword. Those who fall prey to its edge find themselves drained of hope and energy, with wounds unable to heal despite inhumane physiology or alien metabolisms.

S+1 , Ap3, Melee, Lifedrain
Lifedrain: A model wounded by this weapon loses the effects of Feel No Pain or It Will Not Die for the rest of the game.

Animus Venator -

Shroud of Retribution -

So initial thoughts? Like I said at the start, this may be a bit mish-mashed as I'm currently in a lecture but I've been thinking for weeks to put my ideas to paper.

The 6 result for quantum weapons might be a bit much, considering a tac squad with those could dunk on a lot of t4 and below multiwound models (my friends dante deathstar would cry just looking at that) and yes I know 6s don't happen that much, but sometimes they do. ;^) the psychic power which moves the enemy unit back a turn is also a bit much because it effectively could just keep the most dangerous thing away from you for a good amount of turns. Cool ideas tho

#1ShieldBrother3++ wrote:
The 6 result for quantum weapons might be a bit much, considering a tac squad with those could dunk on a lot of t4 and below multiwound models (my friends dante deathstar would cry just looking at that) and yes I know 6s don't happen that much, but sometimes they do. ;^) the psychic power which moves the enemy unit back a turn is also a bit much because it effectively could just keep the most dangerous thing away from you for a good amount of turns. Cool ideas tho

Remember they only make as many rolls as they lost wounds, so its not that bad as all Quantum weapons are AP -

Timeshift is much better now as theres nothing i need to remember, its just a normal fallback move.

All in all, interesting, though some of these are gonna need some playtesting.