Legiones Astartes (Ultramarines) Homebrew rules rationale

Ultramarines Tactical Squad by Ilqar on Deviantart

Hey all,

 

Now normally I dislike home brew rules – I generally find them to be the wish listing of someone who finds out that his army isn’t as powerful as the fluff makes it out to be. However, given the plethora of information coming out about the Horus Heresy and the new Legiones Astartes special rule which replaces And They Shall Know No Fear for Space Marines, I decided to give home brew a go with the Ultramarines (which I realize makes me open to wish listing). Here’s my take:

As mentioned earlier, the major differences between Heresy-era Marines and 40k Marines is the lack of ‘And They Shall Know No Fear’ (ATSKNF), which is a fairly touchstone feature of their ‘modern’ counterparts. Instead, they get a version called ‘Legiones Astartes’ which is designed to be complemented by the particular legion that an army represents. So for instance, when taking a World Eaters army, you would have the Legiones Astartes (World Eaters) special rule. At its core, Legiones Astartes manipulates the manner in which Marines interact with the Leadership aspect of the game, allowing them to attempt to regroup at full Ld regardless of casualties.  The major difference between this and ATSKNF is that they can be caught in a sweeping advance, as well as not being immune to Fear. 

The overriding philosophy behind writing the rules for the Ultramarines is that it couldn’t replace Legiones Astartes nor interfere with its regular function, which simply giving them ATSKNF would do. In addition, any rule that was written had to remain true to the fluff and reflect a few core things about the Ultramarines, both advantageous and disadvantageous, and given the ‘jack-of-all-trades’ reputation of the XIII, it was no easy task:

• Their famed discipline: “He has the most disciplined military force in the entire Imperium, and given the quality of the other legions, that is quite a claim” (Know No Fear, p. 37)

• Relative hubris as the largest legion: “We’re to lend a little gloss to the clumsy reputation of the Word Bearers by operating in concert. And we’re to demonstrate the authority of Horus by jumping twenty full Chapters to his whim” (Know No Fear, p.41)

• Guilliman’s ability to leave a conquered planet in better shape than when he invaded it: “He liberated countless worlds from the domination of aliens and foul Chaos renegades, but where some of his brother Primarchs left a trail of death and destruction in their wake, Rouboute brought peace and fresh prosperity…. Guilliman’s genius for planning campaigns ensured that the planet’s population and industry suffered the minimum amount of collateral damage” (Index Astartes III, p.25)

To take other legions’ examples, the Iron Hands’ rules reflect primarily their propensity for ranged combat and bionics, reducing incoming fire’s effectiveness and ensuring that it is difficult for them to do anything except advance and shoot. The Salamanders, rather obviously, reflect their strength of will in facing overwhelming odds, predilection for heat-based weaponry, and the high gravity of their world. None of these rules are overwhelmingly ‘good’ or ‘bad,’ but are rather designed to reflect primarily the fluff and particular dispositions of the Legion in question.

With that, here is my take on Legiones Astartes (Ultramarines):

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Legiones Astartes (Ultramarines):

All models and units with this special rule are subject to the following provisions:

-Legiones Astartes: Units with this special rule may always attempt to regroup at their normal Leadership value, regardless of casualties.

-Know No Fear: A unit which contains at least one model with the Legiones Astartes (Ultramarines) special rule can move, shoot (or run) and declare charges normally in the turn in which it regroups (in addition to the 3” Regroup move). If a unit containing one or more models with this special rule is caught by a Sweeping Advance, they are not destroyed, but remain locked in combat instead.

-Progenitors: Units containing at least one model with the Legiones Astartes (Ultramarines) special rule cannot benefit from the warlord trait of an allied character or an allied Independent Character's leadership score.

-Responsibility of Transhumanity: Any unit with the Legiones Astartes (Ultramarines) special rule can never be equipped with Phosphex bombs, Rad Grenades, or Rad Missiles. In addition, they may not take an Allied detachment in which any of these items are present. Note that this does mean that Ultramarines armies may not include Legion Destroyer Squads or Moritat Consuls.

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As mentioned previously, the aim of these rules are to reflect the above fluff aspects of the Ultramarines, without overwriting the established rules given in the Horus Heresy books or being overwhelmingly advantageous or disadvantageous. Going with the philosophy of “don’t rock the boat” meant that I wanted whatever rules I gave the Ultramarines to already have an established precedent in the game. Thus, Know No Fear is closely related to ATSKNF, but does not allow Ultramarines to automatically regroup (none of the Legions do), and does not make them immune to Fear (which is reflected in the Death Guard’s ‘Remorseless’ rule, and does not reflect the Ultramarines at this time period exceptionally well, given all the oddities of the galaxy that they haven’t encountered yet). In addition, it does not interfere with or invalidate the established Legiones Astartes rule. The Progenitors rule is a disadvantage based off of the Sons of Horus’ rule Bitter Pride. Given the sheer size and scale of the XIII and the pride they take in being one of the most capable and accomplished Legions would mean that submitting to other Legion’s authority might prove difficult for an Ultramarines unit. That is not to say they wouldn’t do it, but rather the resulting confusion in rank hierarchy and structure between the Legions would mean that the Ultramarines would likely default to their own leadership in times of crisis. Finally, given the Ultramarines’ close adherence to the philosophy of the Great Crusade and building rather than destroying, I decided that Destroyer-classed weapons such as Rad grenades/missiles and Phosphex bombs had no place in the Legion, as well as the units that would carry them.

At any rate, that’s my rationale for writing the Legiones Astartes (Ultramarines) rule. Let me know what you think!