Hello Dakka, I have never written any proposed rules before, but recently I have noticed the Legion of The Damned in my brother's codex. I thougth maybe I could come up with a few modified rules so that you could field an entire army of them rather than just as a section of a space marine army. And so, without further ado, here is the beginning of my efforts:
Background- From Lexicanum.com
The Legion are afflicted by a warp contagion that destroys their sanity; as it progresses their bodies decay, but they grow in supernatural strength. Each Marine is rapidly approaching the moment when he will succumb to the contagion. Combat can initiate the final stages of the disease, in which the Marine reaches a peak in power and enters a berserker state.
The Legion has no formal organisation - it fights as a single body of troops. The only tactic possible to such a formation is to steam-roll over the enemy by a steady advance.
The Legion is not a part of any Imperial force, and employs an unusual modus operandi. Apart from driving them insane, the contagion heightens their psychic awareness considerably. One result of this is the way in which the legion selects and attacks targets. These matters are left entirely to the process of divination provided by the mystic Emperor's Tarot. This tarot is supposedly bound within the psychic will of the Emperor and is used throughout the Imperium as both a pastime and a form of divination. It is an undeniable fact that attacks seem to fall in 'the right place at the right time'.
In the year 963.M41 the Fire Hawks were sent to the Crows World subsector against Eldar pirates. The entire chapter-fleet, including the chapter's mobile space-fortress Raptorus Rex1, made a successful warp jump from the Piraeus system 120 light years to Crows World. The five ships, over eight hundred brethren, and two thousand other personnel expected to reach Crows World within no more than 12 hours. They never arrived.
Twenty years after the event the chapter was officially declared lost in the warp and presumed destroyed. The great Bell of Lost Souls tolled a thousand times, and it said that the Emperor himself ordered a Black Candle to be lit in the Adeptus Chapel of Fallen Heroes.
On 9667986.M41 a routine Imperial patrol passed through the Ork-held system of Jakor-tal. The squadron uncovered altogether unexpected scenes of devastation. The limited facilities available to the patrol could uncover no clue to the identity of the attacking forces. The incident was noted and passed into the records of the Administratum.
A rash of similar incidents within the same and adjoining sectors aroused the interest of the Inquisition but no sign of the intruders was discovered for almost a year. Then, a patrol ship in the Maran sub-sector narrowly avoided a collision with a space-craft at the Cift jump-point. The patrol ship was entering the Cift system as the unidentified craft was leaving. Alerted by the close encounter, the patrol crew scanned the entire jump-area and discovered two long cylindrical objects within the intruder's projected flight-path. These were hauled aboard and proved to be standard space-coffins without identification markings.
The coffins were shipped back to earth and opened by the Adeptus Mechanicus. The coffins themselves were identified as belonging to the Absolute, one of the spacecraft from the vanished Fire Hawk fleet. Inside were the armoured remains of two Space Marines. The unconventional armour colours and unofficial insignia puzzled the investigators, but serial numbers tallied with equipment made by or issued to the Fire Hawks. The armoured suits were expected to house members of the lost chapter, and were carefully broken open. The bodies within were human, but further identification proved impossible due to their advanced state of decay.
Almost a year later a besieged Imperial research station received unexpected help. The garrison had been attacked by Ork pirates. After three hours of fighting the situation looked hopeless. Then, without warning, the Orks found themselves attacked from the rear. Within half an hour, several hundred Orks had fallen to the mysterious, power armoured figures. Then, as suddenly as they had appeared, the warriors vanished. This time they left behind a banner - the gnarled chapter flag of the Fire Hawks - and inscribed upon it was the motto In dedicato imperatum ultra articulo mortis (For the Emperor beyond the point of death). As well as the banner there was a recorder and sundry other sealed items. These were shipped to Terra.
From the data contained in the recorder the Administratum was able to determine exactly what had happened to the lost chapter. Following their warp-jump the entire fleet had been caught within a warp-storm of terrific intensity and forced to endure the attacks of powerful warp entities. Ship after ship was destroyed. Soon only one craft remained. By a daring warp-exit manoeuvre the craft burst out of warp-space, emerging far in the galactic east, thousands of light years off-course and beyond even the psychic light of the Emperor.
The original survivors numbered two hundred brethren. All gene-seed had been lost, all initiates killed, and most of the chapter's masters were gone. None of the ordinary human staff have survived at all. To make matters worse the brethren had changed. This change became more obvious over the next few months. Skins began to blacken and blister, flesh began to fester and putrefy. Slowly they began to die. Within days of the transition into normal space it became obvious that the chapter had been exposed to some form of dangerous mutation or disease. It took many years to navigate a way back into the Imperium, during which time almost half the brethren succumbed to the malady. Those who remained were no longer sane. Pain and despair had driven even their hardened minds beyond the point of rationality. Doomed to agonising deaths, they gradually became obsessed with their fate. Now they only wanted to die. But they were still marines, still loyal to the Emperor and humanity. They would not die without a purpose.
So began the unstoppable war of the Legion of the Damned! The marines elected to remove all insignia from their armour. Instead their armour would be black, decorated by each brother with whatever emblems of death he chose. Most brothers employed a similar theme - skeletons, bones and skulls.
All ranks and companies were abolished, most of the chapter's officers were already dead and the remaining warriors were too few to make up a fully functioning chapter hierarchy. All brothers were to be equal before death - levelled by the certainty of their assured extinction. The warriors decided to expend their lives attacking enemies wherever they could be found. The disease had robbed them of their sanity, but not their loyalty!1
General Rules
Due to all Legion of the Damned units deep striking, before the game begins, one of the legion player's troop choices must be deployed on the table, however, they will count as having the scouts rule and will therefore have the opportunity to perform a scout move at the beginning.
The legion of the Damned exists for equality, and, although there is a form of rank structure, all damned legionaires regard each other with as much respect and dignity as they would themselves, as a result, all legion of the damned legionaires receive the 'Look Out - Arghh!' special rule, this allows any wounds taken to be re-allocated to another member of the squad, in order to show how they will always put themselves after other members of the legion.
HQ
Legatus Legionis- 200pts
Wargear: Power Armour, Chainsword, Frag and Krak Grenades, Ring of Fire
WS BS S T W I A
Ld Sv Special Rules
6 6 4 4 5 5 4 10 3+ Fearless, Slow and Purposeful, Unyielding Spectres, Aid Unlooked For, Rain of Fire, Independent Character, Iron Will
Options:
-The Legatus Legionis may replace his chainsword and/or bolt pistol with: A boltgun (Free), A combi-melta,-flamer,-plasma (+10pts), A storm bolter (+3pts), A power sword, storm shield, lightning claw,plasma pistol or storm shield (+15pts), A power fist (+25pts), A relic blade (+30pts), A thunder hammer (+30pts) or A glaive of Eternity (+45pts)
- Replace power armour with Armour of the Damned (+15pts)
-Take melta bombs (+5pts)
-Take digital weapons (+10pts)
-Take hellfire rounds (+10pts)
-Take auxilary grenade launcher (+15pts)
-Replace power armour, bolt pistol, chainsword, frag and krak grenades with terminator armour with storm bolter and power sword (+40pts)
-Replace Terminator armour's storm bolter/power sword with: A combi-melta,-flamer,-plasma (+5pts), Lightning Claw (+10pts), Thunder Hammer (+20pts) or A Glaive of Eternity (+45pts)
-The Legatus Legionis may take a Space Marine Bike (+35pts/+45pts). If Terminator armour armour is chosen, use the second cost in the brackets.
Troops
Damned Contubernium (1 Sergeant, 4 Legionaires)- 155pts
Wargear: Power Armour, Frag and Krak Grenades, Boltgun, Bolt Pistol
Base No.
WS BS S T W I A
Ld Sv Special Rules
Damned Principalum 1 5 4 4 4 1 4 2 10 3+ Fearless, Slow and Purposeful, Unyielding Spectres, Aid Unlooked For
Damned Legionaire 4 4 4 4 4 1 4 2 10 3+ Fearless, Slow and Purposeful, Unyielding Spectres, Aid Unlooked For
- May include up to 3 additional legionaires (+30pts per Model)
-The Damned Principalum may replace his boltgun and/or bolt pistol with: A chainsword (Free), A combi-melta,-flamer,-plasma (+10pts), A storm bolter (+10pts), A plasma pistol (+15pts), A power weapon (+15pts) or A power fist (+25pts)
-One Damned Legionaire may replace his boltgun with one of the following: A flamer, meltagun, or plasma gun (+20pts)
-One Damned Legionaire may replace his boltgun with one of the following: A heavy bolter (+10pts), A missile launcher (+15pts), A plasma cannon (+20pts), or a lascannon, multi-melta or heavy flamer (+30pts)
Wargear
Name Effect
Armour of the Damned Counts as Artificer Armour
Glaive of Eternity Counts as a Relic Blade that hits at strength 7, ignores armour saves and gives rending.
Ring of Fire Allows invulnerable saves for the wearer and all other models within the same squad or 5" to be re-rolled if failed
Special Rules
Name Effect
Aid Unlooked For The Legion of the Damned always start the game in reserve abd always arrive by Deep Strike, even in missions that do not normally use these rules. Note that the Legion of the Damned are renowned to arrive wherever they are most needed, so you can re-roll the deep-strike scatter dice if you wish.
Descent From the Heavens Due to all legionaires arriving from deep strike, all transports are skimmers and are never tanks. They also all gain the deep strike rule and are able to use it even in scenarios that wouldn't usually allow it.
Ethereal The Legion of the Damned are far stronger than normal space marines, and some are able to withstand forces that should kill them outright. They are immune to instant death.
Fearless
Iron Will
Look Out - Arghh! If a legionaire in the squad takes a wound, it may be reallocated to another member of the squad, with a maximum of two wounds allocated to each legionaire, unless this is impossible due to wound quantities. Whereas the wounds would be spread as evenly as possible.
Rain of Fire A Legatus Legionis of the Legion of the Damned is able to call down a bombardment of epic proportions, enough to decimate squads. This ability can be used once per game in his shooting phase, providing that he did not move in the preceding movement phase (Though he may later assault if the controlling player wishes). Calling down a Rain of Fire counts as firing a ranged weapon with the following profile): Range-Unlimited, Strength-10,
AP- 1, Type-Ordnance 1, Barrage
Scarce Armoury Due to the legion being a chapter on the brink of extinction, specialized eqipment is rare and very hard to come by. As a result, only
HQ or elite choices are allowed to take jump packs, terminator armour, armour of the damned, have space marine bikes or have dedicated transports. Other transports may be used, but only
HQ choices may have dedicated ones.
Slow and Purposeful
Unyielding Spectres The Legion of the Damned are impervious to even the deadliest weaponary. Their saving throw is invulnerable.
Warp Contagion Due to every legionaire being afflicted by a deadly virus from the warp, if a psychic attack is made against them and is successful in killing the legionaire, there is a possibility of the user being killed by the re- bounding of the psychic energy. As a result, when a legionaire is killed by psychic forces, the attacked must roll one D3, on a one, he takes a hit equal to the one recieved by the legionaire, on any other result nothing happens.
I'm sorry that not all of the rules have been filled in, but these are only ones from the rulebook/codices that I do not have to hand at the moment.
Planned Units
I am also planning a dropship based around the stormraven/valkyrie, and a lower strength commander to act as a halfway-house between the legatus legionis and the Principali.
(By the way, the names and squad structure are from the Roman army, I chose this due to it being a 'legion', but I may change it if people find it too confusing!)
Please be as honest as possible with me, I only want fair and playable rules that I'll be able to use with my friends when we play
40k, I will happily make any modifications as the community suggest.
Many Thanks
Will20017
P.S.
Sorry for the really rather long post!
1500pts- Cadia 126th/122nd [ashamed]150pts painted
