Every Space Marine is a truly legendary warrior, but even among the thousand or more Chapters that exist, there are a select few who have earned the greatest fame. Some date back to the fabled First Founding, while others have earned their name through sheer excellence and unquenchable zeal – regardless of their reason for renown, they all fight in a way that sets them apart.
These five Chapters are the stars of our penultimate Faction Focus, and with so much to get through, we can only skim their surface. Rest assured, there’ll be plenty more to see when their datasheets arrive later this month.
Overview
Though their methods of warfare may differ, the Dark Angels, Space Wolves, Blood Angels, Black Templars, and the Deathwatch all draw from the same millennia-old training regimens. As such, they retain the Oath of Moment army rule – each Chapter is instead represented as a Detachment with its own rule, Enhancements, and Stratagems.
This means that any Space Marine army can choose to use these Detachments should they see fit, provided they abide by their restrictions – no matter how much you love Librarians, you won’t be taking Space Marine psykers in a Righteous Crusaders Detachment. The main one you’ll need to worry about is that you can’t mix in units with a different Chapter’s keywords, so no non-Space Wolves named characters or Deathwing Terminators in the Champions of Russ Detachment, for example
Dark Angels
The Dark Angels don’t focus on a particular style of combat, choosing instead excellence in all forms of war. Despite their mastery of plasma weapons, swordplay, and high-speed interdiction, it’s their unshakable Grim Resolve that they’re truly famed for – a dour and practical outlook to warfare.
Buoyed by their ability to hold objectives to the very last man, the Deathwing can teleport right into the heart of the battle as an immovable barricade, safe in the knowledge that points will be scored no matter the cost.
The Deathwing Command Squad packs a laundry list of special abilities, including the only Apothecary you’ll find in Terminator armour. His Narthecium can bring back a whole Terminator every single turn – that’s up to four Wounds of value for shield-bearing veterans!
Finally, the Dark Angels have recently been joined by a leonine celebrity from days of yore. Yep, it’s Lion El’Jonson. If you missed out on the Lion and Retinue box, you won’t have long until the Lord of the First gets a solo release. We had hoped he would make his individual debut before the new edition came out. However, we also wanted to ensure enough had been made to fulfil demand for such an incredible model. We're making more, and we will therefore be putting him up for sale as one of the first Warhammer 40,000 miniatures released after Leviathan drops.
To make up for it, here’s his datasheet. He’s a beast – and you can check out how he stacks up against his bluer brother here.
Space Wolves
The chalk to the Dark Angels’ cheese, the Space Wolves are ferocious front-line fighters who love nothing more than a good scrap, a loud chorus, and a big old tankard of Fenrisian mjød. Their Chapter maintains a proud history of storytelling, with Characters competing to fulfil Deeds Worthy of Saga in the midst of combat – the better to boast about when the battle is inevitably won.
But beneath their boisterous behaviour and irrepressible wildness, the Space Wolves are as valiant as any other Space Marines, despite their disdain for the dictates of the Codex Astartes. Instead of Guilliman-approved battle formations, they form their warriors into specialist units like Wolf Guard and Blood Claws, even in the age of Cawl’s Primaris Space Marines.
One of the more recent developments are the Hounds of Morkai – expert hunters who daub their bodies in runic sigils and carry special equipment to hunt down psykers. They equip themselves in the style of Reivers, but with a unique vox-amplified howl that scrambles empyrean currents as they close in for the kill.
Blood Angels
The Blood Angels are perhaps the most beloved and respected Chapter in the galaxy, known for their glorious self-sacrifice and willingness to defend every one of the Imperium’s citizens. Yet despite this nobility, their gene-seed harbours a terrible flaw, and the Red Thirst urges them to acts of unbelievable violence in the heat of close combat.
When this compulsion for bloodshed fully clouds the mind of a Blood Angel and transforms into the infamous Black Rage, they’re inducted into the forlorn ranks of the Death Company. Here, they are shaped into a weapon of pure, mindless fury, that only a dedicated Chaplain can soothe enough to accomplish basic battlefield tasks.
Many of their successors have risen to fame, like the bloodthirsty Flesh Tearers. Their Chapter Master, Gabriel Seth, is a great example of the way named successor Chapters work in the new edition – gaining all of the benefits of their parent Chapter’s Detachment but without the ability to mix Epic Heroes.
Did we mention he’s an absolute blender in close combat? Throw him at a huge mob of Ork Boyz and watch the heads fly.
Black Templars
Have you ever felt like the galaxy could do with a bit more faith and love for the God-Emperor? The Black Templars agree, and the Templar Vows they swear provide a choice of powerful abilities for every Adeptus Astartes unit in your army.
Their ability lets them choose at the start of the battle to fight on whatever terms best suit their game plan, but let’s not fool ourselves – whichever vow they swear, the end results will be dished out with a chainsword.
The Sword Brethren dominate up close, wielding a variety of weapons to cut down elites and chaff alike. Their Vow-sworn Bladesmen ability gives the Black Templars commander even more decisions to make, choosing between more attacks and more damage.
Deathwatch
The Deathwatch are not a Chapter per se, but rather an organisation that takes the best and brightest of the Space Marine Chapters for dedicated xenos hunting. The demands of their missions – which might find them chasing down Aeldari one day and rooting out a Genestealer Cult another – require flexibility above all, and all Deathwatch Veterans are trained to enact varying Mission Tactics at the perfect moment to succeed against impossible odds.
The heart of a Deathwatch force is its Kill Teams, which combine the skills and equipment of many different Space Marine units into a complex, adaptable team. Deathwatch Veterans are the apex of this philosophy, kitted out as necessary for long-range firepower or crushing melee combat, and with a particular knack for bringing Death to the Alien.
There’s only one more Faction Focus left in our series, and it’s a doozy – the Adeptus Titanicus wants a piece of the new edition, and they’ve brought their own datasheets along to show off how big their numbers go. Even if you don’t pack any of the insanely powerful god-engines in your army case, you won’t want to miss it, in case a Warhound darkens your deployment zone in the not-so-far future.
